Arriving in New Zealand at 11am on a cold, dreary Tuesday it was hard to concieve only 12 hours before we were sweating buckets on a street corner eating roti in Singapore's cosmopoliton 'Little India' Apart from the accents around us we could have just arrived back at Heathrow everything seemed so normal compared to the diverse culture we had experienced in South East Asia. The only thing that seemed similar to Laos or Vietnam was the difficulty in actually getting into the country, but with new challenges! The grilling we got at customs was unreal, despite showing proof of onward travel to australia in 5 weeks and our tickets for the Kiwi experience - we were spoken to rudely and treated as though we were in the wrong despite having more than enough documents to prove who we were and our purpose. After escaping jobsworth central we caught the bus into town to stay at Nomads. Definitely a party hostel but luckily our room was quiet in the day so we could sleep off the jetlag and try and get through the worst of the horrible colds we had caught due to the change in climate and the recycled air of the plane.
We had four days in Auckland in all, pushing back our kiwi bus by two days in order to get better. Exploring Auckland was fun but a little odd, there seemed to be hardly anyone around! The actual centre of the city is tiny, but the suburbs are sprawling. It's the same all over New Zealand, a lot of houses are quite large, all with gardens and no estates as such, more blocks like the states, every house is an individual shape, size and colour creating an interesting patchwork effect. We visited the art gallery, walked the whole city and the harbour, had tons of birds sitting in our hands while we fed them bread in the park and ate great Chinese food. We also had to do a little shopping for jumpers and thermal socks -chilly! I also went to my first rugby game and met an all black!
On September 6th at 8:30am it was time to jump on the kiwi bus. we were introduced to our driver, Flea who drove around some more sights of the city as we picked others up. She took us to a city look out on top of a dormant volcano which was really windy! Some people on the bus didn't like how scheduled it was, but we had plenty of free time and it was a welcome break from long walks in Asia with heavy rucksacks hunting for a place to stay. or first stop out of Auckland was cathedral cove, a one hour walk down to a deserted beach. The views on the way down were incredible. Then onto our lovely little hostel Turtle Cove and we all had a group meal and got to know the other 35 people on the bus. Sam did awesome at the killer pool competition beating off 15 others twice in the night to win free drinks!
We set off early the next morning for Rotorus, stopping on the way for an hour walk through a disused goldmine and for photos in hobbiton! Rotorus is famously one of the smelliest places on earth (the geothermal activity causes natural hot springs, boiling mud, gizers and a distinct whiff of rotten eggs) It is also the town in New Zealand with the highest percentage of native Maori people -the original settlers of the country in arouond 1350 We visited the Te Paua visitor centre and had a guided tour learning all about the origins of New Zealand. We saw the second largest giza in the world and there was a kiwi house but they were hiding unfortunately. We also saw a giant bubbling mud pool (think the bog of eternal stench in Labirynth). Straight after the museum it was only a fiv eminute drive down the road to the luging. luging is basically like human mariokart down the side of a moountain. You take a cable car to the top and then dry sledge to the bottom. It was really great fun and I only crashed into a pile of mud once! Hurrah! Back to the hostel after for a sunet dip in their natural thermal swimming pool - so nice and toasty it was hard to believe it was not man made! The hostel put on a free bbq that evening and we got to know people better with a free beer and and hot dog.
On the way out of Rotorua the next morning we visited a farm show which explained all the different types of sheep are bred and for what purpose. There are four million people in NZ and 47 million sheep (make what you will of that) The best bit of all was the animal nursery, they had a 4 day old lamb in there called Poppy. sadly her mum rejected her but she was getting a lot of love form everyone else! I got to hold her for about 20 minutes and she bleated and just fell asleep in my arms! Next stop on the bus trip was Waitomo, for caving, glowworm tours, black water rafting. Sam and i skipped this activity to save cash and had a very nice chilled afternoon instead. That night was the first boozy night of the trip, drinking bottles of wine at curley's bar and bonding over games of 'ring of fire'
Waking up the next morning, suitably hungover (and already freaking out about the impending skydive that afternoon) the bus left for Taupo. We stopped on the way for a couple of walks. One to check out some caves around Waitomo and another just outside Taupo to visit Hukka falls, a selection of white water rapids and a waterfall that churns out 7 olympic sized swimming pools per minute. So much pressure and froth is created that it gives the water a stunning aquamarine colour. So beautiful despite the drizzly, grey day we saw it on. as we came into Taupo the rian got heavier and the skydive was cancelled. Next morning the rain cleared and the sky was clear - judgement day had arrvied!!! They took 8 of us in a minibus out to the dive site and it was only 20 minutes from arrival through to suiting up and getting on a very tiny plane. 5 out of 8 of us opted for the 15,000 ft jump, making it a 20 minute flight up, one minute of cheek billowing freefall and another 10 minute parachute ride down over the lake. The scariest part was definitely the plane journey, your instructor shows you a height level gauge once every 5 minutes so you know how high you are. sam was sat at the back (jumping last) with me in front and then 3 other girls from our bus jumping before us. when we reached 10,000 ft we had to sit on our instructors laps to fasten onto them. At 13,000 ft we had to put our oxygen masks on and the fear was building - no way back no though. i think he would have thrown me out no matter what i said! We hit 15,000ft, the plane door opened and the the first, then the second girl just disappeared. As the third sat on the edge of the plane my instructor pushed me forward, i gave Sams hand a squeeze and told him i loved him half convince it was the last time i was ever going to say it! The fear hit crisis point now as my video guy climbed out on top of the plane and i swung my feet over the edge. Ah this isn't so bad i thought as all i could see was cloud, but 2 seconds later the clouds parted and you could see the outline of New Zealand below like a tiny map! I jusrt went numb and the instructor pulled my head back against his shoulder, i felt a sense of falling and air in my face as we somersaulted out of the plane taking 9 seconds to reach maximum velocity. you find yourself in sensory overload. i barfely remember more than ten seconds of the freefall because the adrenalin just takes over. It felt like no time until the parachute opened and everything went quiet. apart form my screaming and whooping about how amazing it was of course! We floated back down to the gorund and i got to watch Sam coming into land too. he landed a lot more gracefully than me - on his feet, whereas my legs were like jelly and i just fell on my bum. after a lot of jumping around we went back to the hostel and had our bus chartered a boat out onto the lake and we had some beers and a bbq and the sun shined for the first time since we had been in NZ!
The next stop was River Valley lodge. A big house set by itself in a valley 45 minutes from civilisation by a white water rapid river. Unfortunately the rafting trip we were so excited about was cancelled, the rain had been so bad that the river was running to high and fast for it to be safe. Instead i rented a hot tub with 4 other girls down by the river, very relaxing sat there listening to the waterfalls. next stop was Wellington and despite our plans to stay for 3 nights and explore the city we were having so much fin with our bus we decided to only spend one night and move onto the South island at 7am the next morning. This left just enough time for a big party at the hostel and then onto the hostel bar. Jaegerbombs caused much havoc!!! Sam had to stand outside and have a naan bread before he even went into the bar as the pre-drinks him him pretty hard : p Muchos fun had on the North Island. Cannot wait to see what the South will bring!
Monday, 18 October 2010
Saturday, 4 September 2010
***GUEST BLOG FROM SAM - HOT OFF THE PRESS***
Review of Singapore - Written 4th sept, auckland, New Zealand
Currently listening to: http://hypem.com/track/1014812/MSTRKRFT+-+Heartbreaker+ft+John+Legend+Wolfgang+Gartner+remix+
Sophia has done such a great job of updating the blog for the last 4 months we thought it was finally time i did some work, so here's my little run down of our time in Singapore.
After staying at my cousins house in Kuala Lumpur for around a month it was a bit strange to get up early, with our rucksacks on and actually leave our comfy beds, pool and fun times with family behind. But Singapore was calling before our flight out of Asia and it didn't disappoint.
After so many crappy train and bus journeys we really lucked out and got great seats for the train to Singapore. So much leg room and a table; my cousin clare also packed us a massive lunch - it was basically travelers first class all the way! Customs was ultra smooth and we pulled into Singapore train station at around 5pm. We traveled up to little india intent on staying at this hostel we had read about but as we were walking to it we spotted a hostel called The Prince of Wales, with cheaper dorm rooms and a cool little bar downstairs we didnt need much persuading to stay. It turned out to be a great decision as we met a couple of german girls who had had bed bugs at the other hostel. We've had enough of those already thanks!
We then decided to go check out the legendary malls of Singapore - ok so we don't have much money to go shopping but when theres a whole road with malls lining the way for miles its hard not to go in a couple for a browse. They are the most efficient and clean places i think i've ever seen; and anything you could imagine is for sale. It's a shoppers paradise and with toilets that are better than those at the Ritz (no, seriously) its easy to get lost and sucked in to spending everything you've got. We resisted temptation however and went for another trip to the cinema. With frozen strawberry yoghurt in hand we went to see Grown Ups. I think I can safely say is one of the worst films we have even seen. We felt a bit self conscious as every other person in the cinema was roaring with laughter but I promise you never watch that film, don't even rent it or download it - its time in our lives we'll never get back. The frozen yoghurt was good though!
The next day we decided to walk up to the botanical gardens. On the way it started to rain so we dashed into another mall to wait it out, and upon realising we had a 2 for 1 voucher at Swensens the icecream buffet was just calling to us. With over 50 different types of icecream, waffles, pancakes, 8 different cakes, made to order sundaes, a chocolate fountain and all the toppings you can ever think of it would have been wrong not to! So an hour later and feeling suitable stuffed with a variety of things not helping the waist line we left for the botantical gardens. As with everything in Singapore it was neat, well laid out and every detail was immacuately conceived and implemented. Gardens have never been so interesting. A definite highlight was walking around a massive lake when sophia noticed 2 swans swimming after this large ripple in the water, then without warning a 5 foot monitor lizard jumped out and ran into the bushes about 20feet in front of us. Now thats not something you see every day. We then went to the orchid gardens which had some of the craziest plants you've ever seen. Sophia was in her element taking hundreds of photos and it was only the threat of another storm that sent us back to the hostel.
Later that day we went to Raffles for the almost compulsory Singapore Sling - well sophia had that and i picked the strongest drink they had, a Long Island iced tea. Delicious. With the cocktails costing a fortune we didn't feel guilty working through the complimentary monkey nuts and i think every one else felt the same as every square inch of the floor was covered with spent shells. Our pockets a little lighter we ventured down to the harbour quays to take in the Singapore night life. Wandering down the waterside we didn't fancy paying almost $14 dollars for noodles when a couple of miles across the border they cost no more than a couple of quid but we did find mugs of beer for a pound!! When a pint in a pub can cost $15+ this was a real find and a few cold beers over looking the river was a great way to end a really long day.
The next day we were up early to go to the zoo. We had heard a lot of good things about this place and we definitely weren't disappointed. With monkeys allowed to roam free in the tree tops and all the animals in open air enclosures with either just a fence or moat sepearting you (except some of the wild cats such as jaguars and lepards - they have a tenacy to climb and escape!) you really felt close to the animals. Sophia even managed to feed her favourite animal, giraffes. It was like watching a small child get exactly what they wanted for christmas; and seeing her hand get slobbered by and over zealous giraffe was highly amusing. We wandered around for hours with particular highlights being the monkeys, giraffes and feeding time at the juguars and white tigers. If anyone ever gets to visit Singapore i highly reconmend you go visit the zoo. They also have a night safari, bird park and soon a water safari, think Noahs ark but less fire and brimestone / sin / guys with beards!
That night we saw an offer at the Mandarin Oriental for halfprice cocktails and free steak sandwiches. When traveling on a tiny budget the words half price and free are like magnets, you just can't resist them, so off we went. I did have to wear jeans and shoes for the first time in 4 months so i was smart enough to be allowed in and it felt all kids of weird but it was definitely worth it. Sophia went for the apple martini while i had a classic vodka martini and it was definitely up there with one of the tastiest cocktails we've ever had. Just after we had gotten over how nice the surroundings were and the quality of the cocktails, fresh steak sandwiches were handed round. After 2 hours, 2 cocktails and about $50 of free steak sandwiches we left feeling very satisfied - who said you can't travel in style on a small budget. It was a great way to mark out last night in Asia, completely different to the time we had cheese sandwiches and water for every meal for 5 days but I wouldnt change a thing.
The next day i ate as many curry puffs and roti (my two favourite foods in Asia) as our remaing dollars would allow and headed to the airport for our flight to Nz. Singapore was a great way to finish off Asia but after all the sites we've seen and the great people we've met, im pretty certain we'll be back touring Asia the next chance we get.
Currently listening to: http://hypem.com/track/1014812/MSTRKRFT+-+Heartbreaker+ft+John+Legend+Wolfgang+Gartner+remix+
Sophia has done such a great job of updating the blog for the last 4 months we thought it was finally time i did some work, so here's my little run down of our time in Singapore.
After staying at my cousins house in Kuala Lumpur for around a month it was a bit strange to get up early, with our rucksacks on and actually leave our comfy beds, pool and fun times with family behind. But Singapore was calling before our flight out of Asia and it didn't disappoint.
After so many crappy train and bus journeys we really lucked out and got great seats for the train to Singapore. So much leg room and a table; my cousin clare also packed us a massive lunch - it was basically travelers first class all the way! Customs was ultra smooth and we pulled into Singapore train station at around 5pm. We traveled up to little india intent on staying at this hostel we had read about but as we were walking to it we spotted a hostel called The Prince of Wales, with cheaper dorm rooms and a cool little bar downstairs we didnt need much persuading to stay. It turned out to be a great decision as we met a couple of german girls who had had bed bugs at the other hostel. We've had enough of those already thanks!
We then decided to go check out the legendary malls of Singapore - ok so we don't have much money to go shopping but when theres a whole road with malls lining the way for miles its hard not to go in a couple for a browse. They are the most efficient and clean places i think i've ever seen; and anything you could imagine is for sale. It's a shoppers paradise and with toilets that are better than those at the Ritz (no, seriously) its easy to get lost and sucked in to spending everything you've got. We resisted temptation however and went for another trip to the cinema. With frozen strawberry yoghurt in hand we went to see Grown Ups. I think I can safely say is one of the worst films we have even seen. We felt a bit self conscious as every other person in the cinema was roaring with laughter but I promise you never watch that film, don't even rent it or download it - its time in our lives we'll never get back. The frozen yoghurt was good though!
The next day we decided to walk up to the botanical gardens. On the way it started to rain so we dashed into another mall to wait it out, and upon realising we had a 2 for 1 voucher at Swensens the icecream buffet was just calling to us. With over 50 different types of icecream, waffles, pancakes, 8 different cakes, made to order sundaes, a chocolate fountain and all the toppings you can ever think of it would have been wrong not to! So an hour later and feeling suitable stuffed with a variety of things not helping the waist line we left for the botantical gardens. As with everything in Singapore it was neat, well laid out and every detail was immacuately conceived and implemented. Gardens have never been so interesting. A definite highlight was walking around a massive lake when sophia noticed 2 swans swimming after this large ripple in the water, then without warning a 5 foot monitor lizard jumped out and ran into the bushes about 20feet in front of us. Now thats not something you see every day. We then went to the orchid gardens which had some of the craziest plants you've ever seen. Sophia was in her element taking hundreds of photos and it was only the threat of another storm that sent us back to the hostel.
Later that day we went to Raffles for the almost compulsory Singapore Sling - well sophia had that and i picked the strongest drink they had, a Long Island iced tea. Delicious. With the cocktails costing a fortune we didn't feel guilty working through the complimentary monkey nuts and i think every one else felt the same as every square inch of the floor was covered with spent shells. Our pockets a little lighter we ventured down to the harbour quays to take in the Singapore night life. Wandering down the waterside we didn't fancy paying almost $14 dollars for noodles when a couple of miles across the border they cost no more than a couple of quid but we did find mugs of beer for a pound!! When a pint in a pub can cost $15+ this was a real find and a few cold beers over looking the river was a great way to end a really long day.
The next day we were up early to go to the zoo. We had heard a lot of good things about this place and we definitely weren't disappointed. With monkeys allowed to roam free in the tree tops and all the animals in open air enclosures with either just a fence or moat sepearting you (except some of the wild cats such as jaguars and lepards - they have a tenacy to climb and escape!) you really felt close to the animals. Sophia even managed to feed her favourite animal, giraffes. It was like watching a small child get exactly what they wanted for christmas; and seeing her hand get slobbered by and over zealous giraffe was highly amusing. We wandered around for hours with particular highlights being the monkeys, giraffes and feeding time at the juguars and white tigers. If anyone ever gets to visit Singapore i highly reconmend you go visit the zoo. They also have a night safari, bird park and soon a water safari, think Noahs ark but less fire and brimestone / sin / guys with beards!
That night we saw an offer at the Mandarin Oriental for halfprice cocktails and free steak sandwiches. When traveling on a tiny budget the words half price and free are like magnets, you just can't resist them, so off we went. I did have to wear jeans and shoes for the first time in 4 months so i was smart enough to be allowed in and it felt all kids of weird but it was definitely worth it. Sophia went for the apple martini while i had a classic vodka martini and it was definitely up there with one of the tastiest cocktails we've ever had. Just after we had gotten over how nice the surroundings were and the quality of the cocktails, fresh steak sandwiches were handed round. After 2 hours, 2 cocktails and about $50 of free steak sandwiches we left feeling very satisfied - who said you can't travel in style on a small budget. It was a great way to mark out last night in Asia, completely different to the time we had cheese sandwiches and water for every meal for 5 days but I wouldnt change a thing.
The next day i ate as many curry puffs and roti (my two favourite foods in Asia) as our remaing dollars would allow and headed to the airport for our flight to Nz. Singapore was a great way to finish off Asia but after all the sites we've seen and the great people we've met, im pretty certain we'll be back touring Asia the next chance we get.
Thursday, 26 August 2010
26th August 2010 - Clares house - Kuala Lumpur
We left off last time with Sam and I getting ready for our trip to "The Beach". It went without a hitch and we were definitely glad we did not pay for the more expensive trip as it seemed we got everything the same! Our tour group was just us and four really nice British girls who were just on a three week holiday. We sped through the lagoons and crystal clear water, stopping for photos of the monkies and snorkeling along the way. As we pulled into Maya bay it looks just like the movie (and it still need to re-watch it again!) It was quite busy when we arrived and though it is always preferable to see things when no one is there you can't really expect it at such a touristy destination. The beach did quiet down after an hour and we sunbathed and had a picnic on the beach and swam and posed for photos. A really great half day trip with some great photos.
That night we decided to go out for some (very rare) drinks! The prices on Phi Phi are astronomical!! They were charging 16 GBP for a bottle of wine (and it was Jacobs creek!!) and the buckets were almost a fiver. We ran around the town, following various 'free bucket' and happy hour offers until we were suitably trashed enough to visit the most entertaining bar on the island - Reggae Bar. The bar is set up with lots of seating around a boxing ring and tourists can just into the ring and Muay Thai fight each other. the rest of the evening was spent getting very rowdy and cheering and shouting! We also saw a rat on the way home that was the size of a large cat!!! Spent the whole of the next day recovering and generally arguing with our hotel as they were trying to rip us off. i got so angry i made the guy cry and he tried to throw us out but managed to smooth it over for a couple of hundred baht. I would have happily left but as the whole island was full, we were hungover and stuck on an island it made sense to make him stop crying really, despite him being a bloody idiot
We left Phi Phi and Thailand the next day and were headed to Penang in Malaysia. 3 hour boat and 10 hour bus and border crossing later we crossed the long bridge over to Penang island. As soon as you cross the border you can tell the difference in culture! Buddhist temples turn into Mosques and Churches and shacks on the side of the road turn into 5 stars hotels and high rise office blocks. In the large cities and towns Malaysia is supremely western. After walking around the centre of Georgetown hunting for a room for an hour (and seeing some rooms you wouldn't force your worst enemy to stay in) we plumped the extra 4 quid a night and stayed in the 6 day old Banana guesthouse. Our room was stifling and only had a weak fan but it was clean. We wandered out in search of food in Chinatown and stumbled upon the 'Red Garden' a food court with all the locals singing and line dancing to old English songs! brilliant! we ate and drank and ended up back there every night! Fantastic atmosphere. The next day we explored Georgetown on a walking tour from our guidebook. Saw all the monuments and tried some Indian Ghee fudge while walking in Little India, also had a fantastic curry. That night we walked out of town to another food court and tried some 'mui nee' curried noodle soup with seafood. very tasty! Also tried the famous Penang Chicken and rice. We had heard such good things about the rest of Penang (really big and modern island) so we decided to rent our last motorbike, Sam was amazing and so confident on the roads despite being busy duel carriageways, but everyone drives on the left here so that made it easier. Although it did not make the directions easier - the whole place is a maze and it took 2 hours of driving round town before we found the right coastal road to take us north round the rest of the island. On our quest we did find the 'Temple of Supreme Bliss' which offered stunning views of the city and amazing ponds and statues. Bar Angkor Wat it was the most impressive we have seen. We visited the spice garden and had lunch with a lovely older Malaysian couple in a cafe jutting out over the sea. They had been married 25 years and were telling us how in love they still were - beautiful. We then were out in the sticks and driving through the mountains on coastal roads, the only bike on the road with stunning views all around us. That was really special. Had a bit of a nightmare getting back - totally lost on the maze of roads and running out of petrol...long, but made it back with ten minutes to spare!
You would think we would have slept well after such a busy day but no...with only 2 hours sleep due to uncomfortable beds and boiling room we were up ready to catch a bus to the Cameron Highlands at 6am. We heard temperatures we so much cooler up there so were excited for some rest bite. We were piling our bags into the back of a crammed mini bus when we met two other travelers trying to fit theirs in too. Kate and Tom, brother and sister travelers from Nottingham. Introductions done and lots of chat on the bus and before we knew it we were traveling with them for almost 2 weeks having a fantastic time! We arrived in the Cameron Highlands about 12pm and despite being knackered Sam and I were booked on a countryside tour of the key attractions in the Highlands. We visited a Rose Garden with an amazing view and some very questionable Disney statues...., a strawberry farm where we had the best strawberries and ice-cream i have ever eaten, a honey bee farm, a temple and the fantastic Boh Tea plantation. We had a free tour through the factory looking at all the steps of turning the leaves into tea and looked out over the tea plantations, our guide even showed us how to pick and gave us some really interesting information on the history of the industry. We stayed for another couple of days, enjoying the cool weather, wandering around the markets and eating the most amazing curries and cream teas!
We missed the beach a bit and so decided to head off to the Perhentian Islands with Kate and Tom. A 3 hour mini bus ride with amazing scenery followed and we were dropped at some random cafe for 2 hours while waiting for our connecting bus. Sam and i wandered off in search of chocolate and wandered down this little lane by a school - it was let out time and the road was filled with boys and girls. Everyone stared at us so much, and giggled when we waved or tried to speak to them. Some of the boys could not speak very good English but were all putting peace signs up to us and the girls were staring at my bare shoulders! Some followed us into the shop and some of the girls waited to see what chocolate i picked and then queued up behind me to buy the same one! It was really quite moving actually - the same thing happened all the way back to where we were waiting for the bus, some kids shouting 'hello,how are you,where you from' all as one big word and the making peace signs,we made them back at them and they seemed really excited and happy - it was just amazing. Moments like that are what the trip is all about.
The bus finally arrived and we drove for another 3 hours to the speedboat dock, more queuing and signing things that say they are not responsible for anything - had to sign a LOT of those in SE Asia!!! We were then at the port and they split us into two boat loads. We had to all make a 4ft jump off this high wall down onto the wooden jetty and as i had run back to buy a coffee shake i was the last one with everyone watching and cheering as i had to make this jump. pressure much??? well, jumped it and cleared it thankfully although i smashed my knee and nearly knocked Sam over. The speedboat ride was really really fun - the sort of thing you pay a lot of money for in the UK. It went ridiculously fast, bounced up and down and you had to hold on for dear life but it was great!!! We arrived on Perhentian at around 7pm and the four of us trecked about looking for an affordable dorm as we heard all prices on this island were sky high and there was zero cash machines or places that took cards. We found a hostel called 'New World' run by a french guy called Alex and got 4 beds for 30 ringit each (6 pounds a night) The dorm was fine, dubbed 'the fridge' for its metal walls and freezing cold air-con (no complaints here) we had a little section with 4 beds and all had to put mozzie nets up over out bunks because they were everywhere. It was also 6 quid for a can of bug spray and Sam and i could go through one every 48 hours. expensive. The toilet and washing facilities were really bad but hey - you are right on the beach. We went out that night and ate curries and fresh fish from the BBQ and had a few beers and some shisha. awesome fun. Headed to a tiny shack of a beach bar called Black Tip and danced to the live band, guitar, vocals, bongos and violin - doing covers of Kings of Leon, Eurythmics and U2. A great party atmosphere. We spent the next few days lazing on the beach ten steps from our dorm and swimming in the clearest most perfect water i have seen on the trip, or anywhere! it was really perfect. Sam and Tom also decided to blag some free drinks by dressing up as ladies for ladies night - unfortunately i don't think anyone else saw the tiny sign advertising it and they were the only men on the whole beach dressed up!!! Amazing!!! They got lots of funny looks and i saw one girl double-take at Sam and then say to her mate 'Shit i thought that girl had a beard then!' Hilarity ensued...... We did have a couple of early nights (all that sunbathing takes it out of you...) and one night we woke up at 1am to hear a woman screaming outside our dorm door and some general chaos ('Don't you touch me you french bastard!!'). It really sounded like a woman was being attacked. We all jumped up, got dressed and went to see what was going on, there was no need to panic apparently. Alex - the guy running the hostel had fired a Malay woman who worked in the cafe and she had gone off, got totally WASTED on monkey juice (a deadly whiskey called orang-utang) and tried to stab him with a carving knife! wicked! who needs Eastenders??? He had tried to push her away and that was what we heard. She kept us up for another 2 hours screaming, slamming doors and generally abusing everyone! We got that nights stay half price - bonus.
The only excursion Sam and I did on Perhentian was a day snorkelling on our 3 1/2 year anniversary! It was out of this world. One the first stop we got to swim with a giant turtle - just incredible! we also swam with sharks, sting-rays, parrot fish, clown fish, dories, nemos, angelfish - you name it - it was there. You could just literally swim inside the giant schools of fish and they came right up to your mask. The coral was every colour of the rainbow and really bright - it was like giant underwater alien cities. i wish i could describe it more but you just can't.....
After almost a week we reluctantly left as we were out of cash - having spent 300 pounds between us in a week - just so expensive. We got the morning speedboat back to mainland and had to split up with Tom and Kate - who were heading to the jungle of Taman Negara national park, however we couldn't afford this so we headed down the coast to Cherating. It to us a long time to find a place to stay, and when we did it was extortionately expensive! (who said traveling in Asia was always cheap? they were wrong!!!) Cherating had a beach which was ok and looked good for surf but after being in Perhentian it was just plain tame. We did have some fantastic chicken curries at a tiny local cafe though, and we went on a mangrove boat tour. We learnt all about the life cycles of fireflies and where they lived and then drove out on boats to see them. The guides flashed these special lights and they all left the bushes and trees and flew around the boats. Apparently the Chinese believe if fireflies are attracted to you then you are very lucky - so lucky i was as they all seemed to gravitate towards me and land in my hair flashing away, i also managed to catch lots in my hands and show them to the kids sat behind us which was fun. Could not take any pictures of this though as the flash on cameras can kill them as they are so sensitive. On the way back to our bungalow we saw the most amazing site. A womans cat had just had kittens and a monkey had run in and snatched one away! It was just sat on the side of the road holding this kitten in its' arms and would not let it go. The woman was desperately trying to swap her kitten for a teddy to give to the monkey but it was having none of it. i think it just wanted its own baby.
Off to Kuala Lumpur next and a 6 hour bus ride before the Petronus towers start to appear on the skyline. We arrive at Clares house after a very long and lost taxi ride. It has been so lovely to meet Sam's family, play with the kids and have some home comforts of British food, comfy beds, TV and internet. We met up with Tom and Kate another few times when they arrived in KL. Sightseeing at Lake Titiwangsa (epic name), seeing the power lifting world championships, lake boating, art galleries, chinatown, bukit bintang shopping district and TGI's! Clare and Paul kindly said we could house sit for them for 3 weeks while they were on holiday in the UK. Sam and i have spent the time, cooking, shopping round the markets, swimming in the pool, walking the dogs and generally relaxing after such a hectic 3 months. It has just been fantastic. We even managed to catch Lauren and Harri as they passed through and spent a day sightseeing with them. It is now August 26th and our time in South East Asia draws to a close. We are staying here until the 29th to see Sams second cousin henry on his birthday and then we head to Singapore for 4 days before flying to New Zealand. We will be visiting the world famous zoo, going on a night safari, trying the local delicacies, visiting galleries, orchid gardens and museums, having a Singapore Sling in raffles hotel and trying to blag our way to a bar with a great view to take those memorable pictures of the skyline. You would think we would feel satisfied that we have seen this part of the world, and while we have loved every moment and seen amazing sights - it has only opened doors for so many other places...what about Indonesia? India? Borneo? China? Japan? Hmmm. Bye Bye SE Asia. Don't have too much fun while we are away, we will definitely be back soon.
That night we decided to go out for some (very rare) drinks! The prices on Phi Phi are astronomical!! They were charging 16 GBP for a bottle of wine (and it was Jacobs creek!!) and the buckets were almost a fiver. We ran around the town, following various 'free bucket' and happy hour offers until we were suitably trashed enough to visit the most entertaining bar on the island - Reggae Bar. The bar is set up with lots of seating around a boxing ring and tourists can just into the ring and Muay Thai fight each other. the rest of the evening was spent getting very rowdy and cheering and shouting! We also saw a rat on the way home that was the size of a large cat!!! Spent the whole of the next day recovering and generally arguing with our hotel as they were trying to rip us off. i got so angry i made the guy cry and he tried to throw us out but managed to smooth it over for a couple of hundred baht. I would have happily left but as the whole island was full, we were hungover and stuck on an island it made sense to make him stop crying really, despite him being a bloody idiot
We left Phi Phi and Thailand the next day and were headed to Penang in Malaysia. 3 hour boat and 10 hour bus and border crossing later we crossed the long bridge over to Penang island. As soon as you cross the border you can tell the difference in culture! Buddhist temples turn into Mosques and Churches and shacks on the side of the road turn into 5 stars hotels and high rise office blocks. In the large cities and towns Malaysia is supremely western. After walking around the centre of Georgetown hunting for a room for an hour (and seeing some rooms you wouldn't force your worst enemy to stay in) we plumped the extra 4 quid a night and stayed in the 6 day old Banana guesthouse. Our room was stifling and only had a weak fan but it was clean. We wandered out in search of food in Chinatown and stumbled upon the 'Red Garden' a food court with all the locals singing and line dancing to old English songs! brilliant! we ate and drank and ended up back there every night! Fantastic atmosphere. The next day we explored Georgetown on a walking tour from our guidebook. Saw all the monuments and tried some Indian Ghee fudge while walking in Little India, also had a fantastic curry. That night we walked out of town to another food court and tried some 'mui nee' curried noodle soup with seafood. very tasty! Also tried the famous Penang Chicken and rice. We had heard such good things about the rest of Penang (really big and modern island) so we decided to rent our last motorbike, Sam was amazing and so confident on the roads despite being busy duel carriageways, but everyone drives on the left here so that made it easier. Although it did not make the directions easier - the whole place is a maze and it took 2 hours of driving round town before we found the right coastal road to take us north round the rest of the island. On our quest we did find the 'Temple of Supreme Bliss' which offered stunning views of the city and amazing ponds and statues. Bar Angkor Wat it was the most impressive we have seen. We visited the spice garden and had lunch with a lovely older Malaysian couple in a cafe jutting out over the sea. They had been married 25 years and were telling us how in love they still were - beautiful. We then were out in the sticks and driving through the mountains on coastal roads, the only bike on the road with stunning views all around us. That was really special. Had a bit of a nightmare getting back - totally lost on the maze of roads and running out of petrol...long, but made it back with ten minutes to spare!
You would think we would have slept well after such a busy day but no...with only 2 hours sleep due to uncomfortable beds and boiling room we were up ready to catch a bus to the Cameron Highlands at 6am. We heard temperatures we so much cooler up there so were excited for some rest bite. We were piling our bags into the back of a crammed mini bus when we met two other travelers trying to fit theirs in too. Kate and Tom, brother and sister travelers from Nottingham. Introductions done and lots of chat on the bus and before we knew it we were traveling with them for almost 2 weeks having a fantastic time! We arrived in the Cameron Highlands about 12pm and despite being knackered Sam and I were booked on a countryside tour of the key attractions in the Highlands. We visited a Rose Garden with an amazing view and some very questionable Disney statues...., a strawberry farm where we had the best strawberries and ice-cream i have ever eaten, a honey bee farm, a temple and the fantastic Boh Tea plantation. We had a free tour through the factory looking at all the steps of turning the leaves into tea and looked out over the tea plantations, our guide even showed us how to pick and gave us some really interesting information on the history of the industry. We stayed for another couple of days, enjoying the cool weather, wandering around the markets and eating the most amazing curries and cream teas!
We missed the beach a bit and so decided to head off to the Perhentian Islands with Kate and Tom. A 3 hour mini bus ride with amazing scenery followed and we were dropped at some random cafe for 2 hours while waiting for our connecting bus. Sam and i wandered off in search of chocolate and wandered down this little lane by a school - it was let out time and the road was filled with boys and girls. Everyone stared at us so much, and giggled when we waved or tried to speak to them. Some of the boys could not speak very good English but were all putting peace signs up to us and the girls were staring at my bare shoulders! Some followed us into the shop and some of the girls waited to see what chocolate i picked and then queued up behind me to buy the same one! It was really quite moving actually - the same thing happened all the way back to where we were waiting for the bus, some kids shouting 'hello,how are you,where you from' all as one big word and the making peace signs,we made them back at them and they seemed really excited and happy - it was just amazing. Moments like that are what the trip is all about.
The bus finally arrived and we drove for another 3 hours to the speedboat dock, more queuing and signing things that say they are not responsible for anything - had to sign a LOT of those in SE Asia!!! We were then at the port and they split us into two boat loads. We had to all make a 4ft jump off this high wall down onto the wooden jetty and as i had run back to buy a coffee shake i was the last one with everyone watching and cheering as i had to make this jump. pressure much??? well, jumped it and cleared it thankfully although i smashed my knee and nearly knocked Sam over. The speedboat ride was really really fun - the sort of thing you pay a lot of money for in the UK. It went ridiculously fast, bounced up and down and you had to hold on for dear life but it was great!!! We arrived on Perhentian at around 7pm and the four of us trecked about looking for an affordable dorm as we heard all prices on this island were sky high and there was zero cash machines or places that took cards. We found a hostel called 'New World' run by a french guy called Alex and got 4 beds for 30 ringit each (6 pounds a night) The dorm was fine, dubbed 'the fridge' for its metal walls and freezing cold air-con (no complaints here) we had a little section with 4 beds and all had to put mozzie nets up over out bunks because they were everywhere. It was also 6 quid for a can of bug spray and Sam and i could go through one every 48 hours. expensive. The toilet and washing facilities were really bad but hey - you are right on the beach. We went out that night and ate curries and fresh fish from the BBQ and had a few beers and some shisha. awesome fun. Headed to a tiny shack of a beach bar called Black Tip and danced to the live band, guitar, vocals, bongos and violin - doing covers of Kings of Leon, Eurythmics and U2. A great party atmosphere. We spent the next few days lazing on the beach ten steps from our dorm and swimming in the clearest most perfect water i have seen on the trip, or anywhere! it was really perfect. Sam and Tom also decided to blag some free drinks by dressing up as ladies for ladies night - unfortunately i don't think anyone else saw the tiny sign advertising it and they were the only men on the whole beach dressed up!!! Amazing!!! They got lots of funny looks and i saw one girl double-take at Sam and then say to her mate 'Shit i thought that girl had a beard then!' Hilarity ensued...... We did have a couple of early nights (all that sunbathing takes it out of you...) and one night we woke up at 1am to hear a woman screaming outside our dorm door and some general chaos ('Don't you touch me you french bastard!!'). It really sounded like a woman was being attacked. We all jumped up, got dressed and went to see what was going on, there was no need to panic apparently. Alex - the guy running the hostel had fired a Malay woman who worked in the cafe and she had gone off, got totally WASTED on monkey juice (a deadly whiskey called orang-utang) and tried to stab him with a carving knife! wicked! who needs Eastenders??? He had tried to push her away and that was what we heard. She kept us up for another 2 hours screaming, slamming doors and generally abusing everyone! We got that nights stay half price - bonus.
The only excursion Sam and I did on Perhentian was a day snorkelling on our 3 1/2 year anniversary! It was out of this world. One the first stop we got to swim with a giant turtle - just incredible! we also swam with sharks, sting-rays, parrot fish, clown fish, dories, nemos, angelfish - you name it - it was there. You could just literally swim inside the giant schools of fish and they came right up to your mask. The coral was every colour of the rainbow and really bright - it was like giant underwater alien cities. i wish i could describe it more but you just can't.....
After almost a week we reluctantly left as we were out of cash - having spent 300 pounds between us in a week - just so expensive. We got the morning speedboat back to mainland and had to split up with Tom and Kate - who were heading to the jungle of Taman Negara national park, however we couldn't afford this so we headed down the coast to Cherating. It to us a long time to find a place to stay, and when we did it was extortionately expensive! (who said traveling in Asia was always cheap? they were wrong!!!) Cherating had a beach which was ok and looked good for surf but after being in Perhentian it was just plain tame. We did have some fantastic chicken curries at a tiny local cafe though, and we went on a mangrove boat tour. We learnt all about the life cycles of fireflies and where they lived and then drove out on boats to see them. The guides flashed these special lights and they all left the bushes and trees and flew around the boats. Apparently the Chinese believe if fireflies are attracted to you then you are very lucky - so lucky i was as they all seemed to gravitate towards me and land in my hair flashing away, i also managed to catch lots in my hands and show them to the kids sat behind us which was fun. Could not take any pictures of this though as the flash on cameras can kill them as they are so sensitive. On the way back to our bungalow we saw the most amazing site. A womans cat had just had kittens and a monkey had run in and snatched one away! It was just sat on the side of the road holding this kitten in its' arms and would not let it go. The woman was desperately trying to swap her kitten for a teddy to give to the monkey but it was having none of it. i think it just wanted its own baby.
Off to Kuala Lumpur next and a 6 hour bus ride before the Petronus towers start to appear on the skyline. We arrive at Clares house after a very long and lost taxi ride. It has been so lovely to meet Sam's family, play with the kids and have some home comforts of British food, comfy beds, TV and internet. We met up with Tom and Kate another few times when they arrived in KL. Sightseeing at Lake Titiwangsa (epic name), seeing the power lifting world championships, lake boating, art galleries, chinatown, bukit bintang shopping district and TGI's! Clare and Paul kindly said we could house sit for them for 3 weeks while they were on holiday in the UK. Sam and i have spent the time, cooking, shopping round the markets, swimming in the pool, walking the dogs and generally relaxing after such a hectic 3 months. It has just been fantastic. We even managed to catch Lauren and Harri as they passed through and spent a day sightseeing with them. It is now August 26th and our time in South East Asia draws to a close. We are staying here until the 29th to see Sams second cousin henry on his birthday and then we head to Singapore for 4 days before flying to New Zealand. We will be visiting the world famous zoo, going on a night safari, trying the local delicacies, visiting galleries, orchid gardens and museums, having a Singapore Sling in raffles hotel and trying to blag our way to a bar with a great view to take those memorable pictures of the skyline. You would think we would feel satisfied that we have seen this part of the world, and while we have loved every moment and seen amazing sights - it has only opened doors for so many other places...what about Indonesia? India? Borneo? China? Japan? Hmmm. Bye Bye SE Asia. Don't have too much fun while we are away, we will definitely be back soon.
Saturday, 17 July 2010
July 17th - Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Through this trip I have set myself the challenge of reading as many classic novels as I can via my Nintendo DS!
So far I have read:
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Alice in Wonderland
Little Women
Around the World in 80 Days
Jane Eyre
The Importance of being Earnest
Sherlock Holmes
Gullivers Travels
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Vanity Fair
Phantom of the Opera
Sons and Lovers
The Three Muskateers
Mansfield Park
Persuasion
Emma
What Katie Did
Got to keep going!
So far I have read:
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Alice in Wonderland
Little Women
Around the World in 80 Days
Jane Eyre
The Importance of being Earnest
Sherlock Holmes
Gullivers Travels
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Vanity Fair
Phantom of the Opera
Sons and Lovers
The Three Muskateers
Mansfield Park
Persuasion
Emma
What Katie Did
Got to keep going!
Thursday, 8 July 2010
8th July, Ko Phi Phi, Thailand
Left of last time just before the full moon party, we spent some time crusing around the island on a motorbike, which was ridiculous amounts of fun!! found very secluded beaches and it felt like we were scooting around the set of LOST all day long. Driving through the mountains which are lush and green, covered with trees and everyones cruising around tooting at each other! The sea is beautiful, shallow and warm as bathwater, really calm, perfect for swimming!
On the night of the full moon party we were due to catch a taxi at 11:30pm and a giant storm broke out at 9:30pm with raging winds, constant lightening and torrential rain! hmmm, the rain didn't stop and until 3am we were raving on the beach in the rain. This was all helped by the special 'shakes' that they sold at the party, oh and also the LETHAL buckets. Like a sandcastle bucket filled with neat vodka and a 'splash' of red bull. ouch. Full moon party itself was really fun but didn't live up to the hype of itself. Partying hard at a festival beats it hands down. There was some good tunes but there was a dark side. So many couples having sex in the sea, the same sea that most guys (and some girls who have no shame) use as the toilet. We actually saw one couple going at it and literally 6 feet away a guy was pissing in the water towards them. hilarious but also makes you want to vomit. gross. Full moon also had its dangerous aspects: one bar had erected a vertical slide coming down from the roof (very rickety) with two fire torches at either end of the bottom of the slide. We stood for a while watching the madness, long enough for me to see one girl slice her foot open so deep blood was spurting from it, she must have hit a vein; we also heard later that one girl had slid down and caught her whole head on fire from the torches, like her hair and her face, all in flames, and that she was running around for about 30 seconds before everyone stopped freaking out and forced her to the ground to roll her in the sand. People were in tears from just having witnessed it. Sam and i left at 5am as the party was petering out and only the people passed out on the floor and the people chewing their faces off were left, time to go home!!
Chilled out most of the next day, watched the atrocity that was the England-Germany game and had a great bbq at the hotel. Met a lovely couple the next day form Cape Town, Hardi and Micki -had a great time with them driving around on our motorbikes, we took them to our favourite beach and we swam and chatted for hours and in return they took us to this place thye said they had a great meal, turns out you could cook all your own meat and fish at the table and add rice, noodles and veg. so so tasty and felt great to do a bit of cooking again!
Time to say goodbye to Ko Phangan now - was a really great week. Headed to Samui which is only 25 mins by ferry and were SO disappointed. We got dropped on the main road and were quite upset to find pizza hut, mcdonalds, burger king etc. RANK! We booked a room for 500 baht for one night and within 2 hours of being there we had booked our onward travel to Ko Lanta. Samuis nicest, most secluded beaches all belong to resorts which were way out of our price range and the main town had zero atmosphere, such a step down form the lovely Ko Tao and Phangan.
We left the next day at 6am and took the 12 hour journey (3 buses / 3 boats) to Ko Lanta, we headed to Ancient Realm resort as recommended by our South African friends who had stayed there 2 weeks before. They were not wrong, for 600 baht we had a lovely bungalow with air con, tv, fridge, dvd player and movie library and TEA AND COFFEE MAKING FACILITIES! that was awesome, we stayed there 5 nights! They had two dogs who we played on the beach and in the sea with. and we spent 2 days on a motorbike discovering the island. Saw loads of monkeys and a GIANT monitor lizard which looked like a massive black alligator. Had a very chilled 5 days, not many trips or things to do on Lanta as it's one of the least popular islands to visit and it's low season at the moment and it was really dead, all the shops, bars and tour agencies closed. which was a shame but we don't really have money to do the trips anyway so therefore it was quite nice for us just biking around the deserted roads!!!
After 5 nights on Lanta we decide to make our way to the phi phi islands (pronounced pee pee!) Phi Phi Don is the main island with bars, resorts etc. (although there are no roads and the only way to get to the resorts is along the beach - difficult at high tide - you have to swim home from town!!) Phi Phi Leh is an island just next to Phi Phi Don. - it was made famous by the movie "The Beach" and Ao Maya bay is the beach which was classed as perfect paradise. We are actually going on a day trip to visit this bay (and 4 others) tomorrow morning! Very excited! Unlike the Full Moon Party Phi Phi really lives up to it's hype. Everyone and all the guide books say this is the prettiest island so as the ferry made it's way over i was a little sceptical, but as we pulled into the bay it took my breath away. Perfectly clear waters, lush sunshine and everyones smiling and happy and snorkelling round the bays. really amazing. We are staying on a resort quite a bit out of town, tough when you have to swim and hike over the rocks to get to bars etc. so after a couple of perfectly secluded days here on the beach and chilling with the thousands of kittens that seem to be around we are moving hotel tomorrow to a cheap little room we found in town today. means we can have a couple of days nearer the action before we head to Malaysia. (no i will not be swimming with my bag we have a longtail boat picking us up at 730am!)
Speaking of, time for some shut-eye before the trip tomorrow.
Onwards to Malaysia!
Ko Phangan - Ko Samui - 30mins
Ko Samui - Ko Lanta - 12 hours
Ko Lanta - Ko Phi Phi - 6 hours
On the night of the full moon party we were due to catch a taxi at 11:30pm and a giant storm broke out at 9:30pm with raging winds, constant lightening and torrential rain! hmmm, the rain didn't stop and until 3am we were raving on the beach in the rain. This was all helped by the special 'shakes' that they sold at the party, oh and also the LETHAL buckets. Like a sandcastle bucket filled with neat vodka and a 'splash' of red bull. ouch. Full moon party itself was really fun but didn't live up to the hype of itself. Partying hard at a festival beats it hands down. There was some good tunes but there was a dark side. So many couples having sex in the sea, the same sea that most guys (and some girls who have no shame) use as the toilet. We actually saw one couple going at it and literally 6 feet away a guy was pissing in the water towards them. hilarious but also makes you want to vomit. gross. Full moon also had its dangerous aspects: one bar had erected a vertical slide coming down from the roof (very rickety) with two fire torches at either end of the bottom of the slide. We stood for a while watching the madness, long enough for me to see one girl slice her foot open so deep blood was spurting from it, she must have hit a vein; we also heard later that one girl had slid down and caught her whole head on fire from the torches, like her hair and her face, all in flames, and that she was running around for about 30 seconds before everyone stopped freaking out and forced her to the ground to roll her in the sand. People were in tears from just having witnessed it. Sam and i left at 5am as the party was petering out and only the people passed out on the floor and the people chewing their faces off were left, time to go home!!
Chilled out most of the next day, watched the atrocity that was the England-Germany game and had a great bbq at the hotel. Met a lovely couple the next day form Cape Town, Hardi and Micki -had a great time with them driving around on our motorbikes, we took them to our favourite beach and we swam and chatted for hours and in return they took us to this place thye said they had a great meal, turns out you could cook all your own meat and fish at the table and add rice, noodles and veg. so so tasty and felt great to do a bit of cooking again!
Time to say goodbye to Ko Phangan now - was a really great week. Headed to Samui which is only 25 mins by ferry and were SO disappointed. We got dropped on the main road and were quite upset to find pizza hut, mcdonalds, burger king etc. RANK! We booked a room for 500 baht for one night and within 2 hours of being there we had booked our onward travel to Ko Lanta. Samuis nicest, most secluded beaches all belong to resorts which were way out of our price range and the main town had zero atmosphere, such a step down form the lovely Ko Tao and Phangan.
We left the next day at 6am and took the 12 hour journey (3 buses / 3 boats) to Ko Lanta, we headed to Ancient Realm resort as recommended by our South African friends who had stayed there 2 weeks before. They were not wrong, for 600 baht we had a lovely bungalow with air con, tv, fridge, dvd player and movie library and TEA AND COFFEE MAKING FACILITIES! that was awesome, we stayed there 5 nights! They had two dogs who we played on the beach and in the sea with. and we spent 2 days on a motorbike discovering the island. Saw loads of monkeys and a GIANT monitor lizard which looked like a massive black alligator. Had a very chilled 5 days, not many trips or things to do on Lanta as it's one of the least popular islands to visit and it's low season at the moment and it was really dead, all the shops, bars and tour agencies closed. which was a shame but we don't really have money to do the trips anyway so therefore it was quite nice for us just biking around the deserted roads!!!
After 5 nights on Lanta we decide to make our way to the phi phi islands (pronounced pee pee!) Phi Phi Don is the main island with bars, resorts etc. (although there are no roads and the only way to get to the resorts is along the beach - difficult at high tide - you have to swim home from town!!) Phi Phi Leh is an island just next to Phi Phi Don. - it was made famous by the movie "The Beach" and Ao Maya bay is the beach which was classed as perfect paradise. We are actually going on a day trip to visit this bay (and 4 others) tomorrow morning! Very excited! Unlike the Full Moon Party Phi Phi really lives up to it's hype. Everyone and all the guide books say this is the prettiest island so as the ferry made it's way over i was a little sceptical, but as we pulled into the bay it took my breath away. Perfectly clear waters, lush sunshine and everyones smiling and happy and snorkelling round the bays. really amazing. We are staying on a resort quite a bit out of town, tough when you have to swim and hike over the rocks to get to bars etc. so after a couple of perfectly secluded days here on the beach and chilling with the thousands of kittens that seem to be around we are moving hotel tomorrow to a cheap little room we found in town today. means we can have a couple of days nearer the action before we head to Malaysia. (no i will not be swimming with my bag we have a longtail boat picking us up at 730am!)
Speaking of, time for some shut-eye before the trip tomorrow.
Onwards to Malaysia!
Ko Phangan - Ko Samui - 30mins
Ko Samui - Ko Lanta - 12 hours
Ko Lanta - Ko Phi Phi - 6 hours
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Scroll down!
For those who have not read in 10 days or so, scroll down to the Siem Reap post on 17th of June and read them backwards to be in order!
25th June - Ko Phangan, Thailand
So going back to the 15th of June now we arrived in Siem Reap and headed to our couple of chosen guest houses, one which was full and one which was dirty. We then headed to a place call Garden Village which was recommended to us by some travellers on Phnom Penh. we checked out two of their rooms, refused a bungalow that was falling down and went for a very shabby and basic room instead but at least it had a fan and toilet even if not furniture or hot water and the sink was not plumbed in so when you brushed your teeth you had to be careful you didn't spit on your feet! It had a really nice bar/cafe upstairs where we had a great curry, cheap beer, football on the big screen and met some really nice people. It doesn't matter so much that the room sucks if it's cheap and there is somewhere else nice to sit in, until i started getting bitten. there must have been bugs in all the wicker chairs as I had 6 bites in about 30 minutes on my back and arms. everyone else had the same so it must have been the furniture. I then heard two seperate groups of people talking of bedbugs which made me very paranoid about sleeping there but there wasn't a choice, so I had plenty of beer so i could pass out without laying awake worrying about it. lo and behold I had only been asleep an hour and i woke up with my face burning (my face and hands were the only parts of me actually showing as i was fully clothed in bed (with socks!) just in case) the bastards had bitten me 5 times on the face and all over my wrists and were running rife all over the bed and in the pillows. woke Sam up, packed and at 1am they put us in another room which was so dirty - really horrible. but at that time we wouldn't have been able to move to another room as everywhere closes up for the night. Got out of there first thing the next morning!! headed to a different hotel who were just perfect! lovely balcony to watch the sunset with a cold Angkor beer. They said they would do a Thai Visa run for us and have a 3 month visa back to us in 48 hours for 30 USD each. Awesome. and they sorted us out a tuk-tuk to take us to see the temples the next day for a good price.
Now to the highlight and actually, real reason for going to Cambodia. The temples of Angkor. sounds mystical and amazing right? well, it is. truly deserving of the title 'one of the eight wonders of the ancient world' these temples were built by the rulers of Angkor over a thousand years ago. The temples span over a massive space and each temple was built by a different ruler in a different time period. In terms of history and culture it really was the most awesome structures i have ever seen. How they managed to build these temples 1000 years ago and make the carvings they made, transport the stone and create mathematically perfect symmetry between all the building is just amazing. We decided to get up at 4am and get there for sunrise as the views of Angkor Wat (one of the largest and most famous temples) are supposed to be amazing. Speeding along in the tuk-tuk at 5am to the gates with a very groggy Sam and we reached Angkor Wat. i was surprised how many people were about especially as it was low season but i suppose there were about 200 watching the sunrise just at this one temple. One thing i loved about the temples was that it was so hands on! hardly any ropes or 'don't climb this' signs unless its dangerous. Yuo really can walk through all the banquet halls, touch everything, climb on everything. you could really imagine what it was like. There was only 5 other people we saw inside Angkor Wat at 6am (most people watch the sunrise and explore it later when the light is better but we wanted to explore is deserted) so it was really special. We spent the whole day exploring the temples. Bayon was incredible too. 32 stone towers with Buddha faces - I can't even really explain it. you will have to wait for the pictures. : )
We managed about 12 hours until we had to leave. A day in the heat was just such hard work. By 8:30am you couldn't stop the sweat pouring off you and the heat makes your breath all shallow, its weird! We paid the tuk-tuk driver some extra money to drive us out of Angkor for an hour to a lesser known temple and to visit the landmine museum, which is run by a guy called Aki Ra, he was a child soldier for the Kmer Rouge and has himself laid hundreds of thousands of mines. He tells stories of the horrific killings he did when he was only 11. laying mines and leaving poison magazines of bullets for the enemy. when they found them and tried to use them the poison would be released and they would die. also putting explosives in the middle of cigarettes, the first half would smoke ok but then the enemy would have their head blown off ore at least their hand. As he got older Aki Ra realised the damage he was doing to his country and now safely deactivates land mines all over Cambodia (approx 4 million still active) for free and also runs the museum and a school for children who have lost limbs from land mines.
We left Siem Reap the next day for Ko Tao. This involved a bus to the Thai border to be officially stamped out of Cambodia and into Thailand. We were told we would have a bus to take us, but the guy running it said we would have to jump in a car (to the bus station we thought) or we would miss out bus the other side of the border. So he crammed 6 backpackers in one taxi. a couple in the front seat next to the driver and four of us in the back. For two hours we drove manically, with no seatbelts. crazy stuff. you may think as you read this we are being foolish and unsafe, but this is literally the way things work here. It's a very different culture! once the hellish car ride was over we crossed the border all fine and there was a much comfier minibus (with a whole seat each woohoo!) waiting for us. Met some really cool people on the bus, a polish girl called marie who came out for 3 weeks in feb and was still going! she ended up training to be a Laos nun for a month. Random. also a guy called Monk who works as a DJ on Ko Tao. So at about 7pm we get dropped off back at Koh San Road. It felt so weird being back in Bangkok - this was where we were 7 weeks earlier and when we hadn't travelled at all. You feel so much more savvy and comfortable. so it was quite fun to be back and we went back to a bar we loved with our big rucksacks for a few hours while we waited for our night train. Jo and Matt who we met in Hanoi, North Vietnam happened to wander past our table in Bangkok and stopped to have a beer with us. They were waiting for their Indonesian visas to come back so were stuck there for a few days. It's really weird how you keep bumping into people you saw in a different country a few weeks ago! Got a taxi to the station (after alot of bargaining. 200 baht (4 pounds) down to 60 baht (1.20)) and picked up our pre-booked tickets from the nice man waiting for us! Caught the night train to Chumpon (7 hours of agony as the woman in front was crushing me and i couldn't sleep!) and then a connecting bus to the ferry port and 3 hour ferry ride and we arrive in Ko Tao!
A woman accosted me on the pier offering fan rooms for 300 baht (6 pounds) and said we could have a free lift and if we didn't like it we still didn't pay for the lift. Sam and I jumped on the back of her truck with a nice swiss girl and headed off to take a look. It was basic but bug proof so we took it! 5 minutes walk from the action but so much cheaper (accommodation on Ko Tao is pretty expensive if you are not diving) Ko Tao certifies more divers than any other place every year, so with Sam and I unable to dive this did mean we were set apart from the action a little, but we still loved Ko Tao. Sairee beach was so nice, the first proper powder white soft sand and awesome sunsets we have seen. We had some great food, watched a lot of the football and chilled out for 5 days. first time we have properly stopped for weeks. We also rented our first motorbike (the way every tourist gets around on the islands) and explored. Found a great cafe right at the top of a mountain with some amazing views. Although the bike couldn't get up the hill with two of us on so muggins here had to walk to 60% gradient hill. Sam did offer to walk but i didn't fancy dying as i tried to handle the bike.
We arrived on Ko Phangan yesterday and to our hotel. The boat ride over was so beautiful, dangling legs over the edge of the boat, watching the waves and clouds while blasting tune son the ipod, really good. Our hotel is ok. Pretty darn expensive to eat or get washing done. (All the Thai islands are pretty much western prices. 4 pounds for some nachos / 3 pounds for a beer cocktail) which pretty much sucks. so we are going to be well over budget here whether we like it or not! Just about to go and rent a bike to explore the island and check out some cool beaches, waterfalls and temples. Full moon party tomorrow - 26th June. It may take a little of the pain out of not being at Glasto....but not all of it!
Map followers:
Hoi An - Nha Trang - 12 hours
Nha - Trang - Ho Chi Minh City - 12 hours
Ho Chi Minh City - Phnom Penh - 6 hours
Phnom Penh - Siem Reap - 6 hours
Siem Reap - Ko Tao - 22 hours (2 hour taxi, 1 hour border cross, 5 hours minivan, 3 hours wait, 7 hours train, 1 hour wait, 3 hours ferry)
Now to the highlight and actually, real reason for going to Cambodia. The temples of Angkor. sounds mystical and amazing right? well, it is. truly deserving of the title 'one of the eight wonders of the ancient world' these temples were built by the rulers of Angkor over a thousand years ago. The temples span over a massive space and each temple was built by a different ruler in a different time period. In terms of history and culture it really was the most awesome structures i have ever seen. How they managed to build these temples 1000 years ago and make the carvings they made, transport the stone and create mathematically perfect symmetry between all the building is just amazing. We decided to get up at 4am and get there for sunrise as the views of Angkor Wat (one of the largest and most famous temples) are supposed to be amazing. Speeding along in the tuk-tuk at 5am to the gates with a very groggy Sam and we reached Angkor Wat. i was surprised how many people were about especially as it was low season but i suppose there were about 200 watching the sunrise just at this one temple. One thing i loved about the temples was that it was so hands on! hardly any ropes or 'don't climb this' signs unless its dangerous. Yuo really can walk through all the banquet halls, touch everything, climb on everything. you could really imagine what it was like. There was only 5 other people we saw inside Angkor Wat at 6am (most people watch the sunrise and explore it later when the light is better but we wanted to explore is deserted) so it was really special. We spent the whole day exploring the temples. Bayon was incredible too. 32 stone towers with Buddha faces - I can't even really explain it. you will have to wait for the pictures. : )
We managed about 12 hours until we had to leave. A day in the heat was just such hard work. By 8:30am you couldn't stop the sweat pouring off you and the heat makes your breath all shallow, its weird! We paid the tuk-tuk driver some extra money to drive us out of Angkor for an hour to a lesser known temple and to visit the landmine museum, which is run by a guy called Aki Ra, he was a child soldier for the Kmer Rouge and has himself laid hundreds of thousands of mines. He tells stories of the horrific killings he did when he was only 11. laying mines and leaving poison magazines of bullets for the enemy. when they found them and tried to use them the poison would be released and they would die. also putting explosives in the middle of cigarettes, the first half would smoke ok but then the enemy would have their head blown off ore at least their hand. As he got older Aki Ra realised the damage he was doing to his country and now safely deactivates land mines all over Cambodia (approx 4 million still active) for free and also runs the museum and a school for children who have lost limbs from land mines.
We left Siem Reap the next day for Ko Tao. This involved a bus to the Thai border to be officially stamped out of Cambodia and into Thailand. We were told we would have a bus to take us, but the guy running it said we would have to jump in a car (to the bus station we thought) or we would miss out bus the other side of the border. So he crammed 6 backpackers in one taxi. a couple in the front seat next to the driver and four of us in the back. For two hours we drove manically, with no seatbelts. crazy stuff. you may think as you read this we are being foolish and unsafe, but this is literally the way things work here. It's a very different culture! once the hellish car ride was over we crossed the border all fine and there was a much comfier minibus (with a whole seat each woohoo!) waiting for us. Met some really cool people on the bus, a polish girl called marie who came out for 3 weeks in feb and was still going! she ended up training to be a Laos nun for a month. Random. also a guy called Monk who works as a DJ on Ko Tao. So at about 7pm we get dropped off back at Koh San Road. It felt so weird being back in Bangkok - this was where we were 7 weeks earlier and when we hadn't travelled at all. You feel so much more savvy and comfortable. so it was quite fun to be back and we went back to a bar we loved with our big rucksacks for a few hours while we waited for our night train. Jo and Matt who we met in Hanoi, North Vietnam happened to wander past our table in Bangkok and stopped to have a beer with us. They were waiting for their Indonesian visas to come back so were stuck there for a few days. It's really weird how you keep bumping into people you saw in a different country a few weeks ago! Got a taxi to the station (after alot of bargaining. 200 baht (4 pounds) down to 60 baht (1.20)) and picked up our pre-booked tickets from the nice man waiting for us! Caught the night train to Chumpon (7 hours of agony as the woman in front was crushing me and i couldn't sleep!) and then a connecting bus to the ferry port and 3 hour ferry ride and we arrive in Ko Tao!
A woman accosted me on the pier offering fan rooms for 300 baht (6 pounds) and said we could have a free lift and if we didn't like it we still didn't pay for the lift. Sam and I jumped on the back of her truck with a nice swiss girl and headed off to take a look. It was basic but bug proof so we took it! 5 minutes walk from the action but so much cheaper (accommodation on Ko Tao is pretty expensive if you are not diving) Ko Tao certifies more divers than any other place every year, so with Sam and I unable to dive this did mean we were set apart from the action a little, but we still loved Ko Tao. Sairee beach was so nice, the first proper powder white soft sand and awesome sunsets we have seen. We had some great food, watched a lot of the football and chilled out for 5 days. first time we have properly stopped for weeks. We also rented our first motorbike (the way every tourist gets around on the islands) and explored. Found a great cafe right at the top of a mountain with some amazing views. Although the bike couldn't get up the hill with two of us on so muggins here had to walk to 60% gradient hill. Sam did offer to walk but i didn't fancy dying as i tried to handle the bike.
We arrived on Ko Phangan yesterday and to our hotel. The boat ride over was so beautiful, dangling legs over the edge of the boat, watching the waves and clouds while blasting tune son the ipod, really good. Our hotel is ok. Pretty darn expensive to eat or get washing done. (All the Thai islands are pretty much western prices. 4 pounds for some nachos / 3 pounds for a beer cocktail) which pretty much sucks. so we are going to be well over budget here whether we like it or not! Just about to go and rent a bike to explore the island and check out some cool beaches, waterfalls and temples. Full moon party tomorrow - 26th June. It may take a little of the pain out of not being at Glasto....but not all of it!
Map followers:
Hoi An - Nha Trang - 12 hours
Nha - Trang - Ho Chi Minh City - 12 hours
Ho Chi Minh City - Phnom Penh - 6 hours
Phnom Penh - Siem Reap - 6 hours
Siem Reap - Ko Tao - 22 hours (2 hour taxi, 1 hour border cross, 5 hours minivan, 3 hours wait, 7 hours train, 1 hour wait, 3 hours ferry)
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
23rd June - Ko Tao , Thailand
ok - i left off last time as we were getting on a sleeper bus from Hoi An - Nha Trang. Well it was quite the adventure, sleeper buses surprisingly comfy actually! although its all about being on the bottom as i was on the top and got rocked around all night. we drove through the mountains on some very windy narrow roads during a lightning storm! Sam napped like a baby but i couldn't sleep as the road was so bumpy. Started pulling near to Nha Trang at around 5am just as the sun was coming up on a Sunday. Was really surprised to see town and the beach literally packed. thousands of people were jogging, playing tennis/badminton, stretching or doing aerobics in little groups all around the beach area- at 5am!!! Sam and i couldn't check into the hotel till 8am so went for breakfast, chatted to an old expat called Pete, and went for a long walk on the beach and watched all the locals for a few hours, so much fun. Once we had checked in we headed to a place on the beach where you could rent loungers and swim in a pool for a small fee. chilled there all day, pretty much paradise, great weather, great food and drink, very relaxing! It also served the most delicious Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) which had a spicy thai broth, chicken, veg and noodles. for 1.20. yum) We did some culture stuff the next day in Nha Trang - visited a pagoda, met a 99 year old monk, burned some incense, and saw some amazing giant Buddha statues! Went out for some beers and games of darts that night as we were so tired from the very very long walk to the pagoda.
As we loved Nha Trang so much we decided to stay another few days and visit the mud baths and also Vinpearl theme park (Vietnamese Disneyland - kind of) but in order to do this we needed to majorly save some cash as we are already over budget by paying for lots of trains, visas, buses and accommodation being much for expensive than we thought for somewhere clean. so to save for our next adventures we bought bread from a street vendor and laughing cow cheese spread from the mart and ate spread cheese sandwiches for 4 days straight. hmmm - vegetables never tasted so good after that!! but we had a little more cash and headed to the mud baths. where basically sam and i sat in a giant clay tub with some locals for half an hour and you just keep drenching yourself in it! then you have to go and sit in the sun and let it all cake onto you, then wash it off with a mineral shower and then head to the hot spring pools - 39 degrees C! like a hot bath swimming pool. really relaxing.
Headed to Vinpearl the next day -really hot sunny day, took a cable car (the longest one in the world to go over water apparently) across to the vinpearl island and spent some time going on the rides. sam foolishly got on one without seeing what it did first and it proceeded to hang him upside down and spin for 10 minutes. not happy when he got off so we went on the carousel to calm him down! ; ) Loads of free arcades at Vinpearl and a giant waterpark which we spent all day on the slides and the wave machine. The food served there i wouldn't give to a dog so it was a hungry day with lots of 7up!! went on the little roller coaster there a few times and got a great video of us on it! Saw a great water light show at the end of the day where they use coloured fountains in time to classical music which was fun!!
Had 5 nights overall in Nha Trang and caught the late night bus to Ho Chi Minh City on the 6th day, after watching the world cup opening ceremony with the lady who ran our hotel. she was so sweet, you just wanted to hug her! zonked out on the night bus and found a hotel in Ho Chi Min the next morning at 6am. Had a chilled 2 days in Ho Chi Min, went to the re-unification palace and the war museum. had some horrible photos and information all about agent orange and the war and it was really horrible to find out about, but i did not know all the details of the Vietnam war so it was interesting to fin out their history. Wandered around a lot of the city and stopped to watch a lot of the world cup every day - i've seen more of this world cup than any other!!!! Also called in at the cinema and watched ' From Paris with love' - new Travolta movie which we liked!
Next up was to head to Cambodia. Border crossing went like a dream we had a really good tour company taking care of everything for us! 50 usd for us to get into the country though! arrived in Phnom Penh in the afternoon and literally couldn't even get down the steps of the bus for all the people screaming at me to go with them for taxi/tuk tuk/hotel/bar - we had to push through with people screaming at us to get our bags and despite saying no thank you the whole time about 4 guys followed us quite a way down the street still trying to get us to go with them, saying our guesthouse was far even though we knew it was a 5 minute walk. i think the key out here is to plan when you are going. we don't book any of our accommodation ahead but we do decide 2 guesthouses we want to check out and just walk to them so we don't get scammed or ripped off. Phnom Penh was actually so disappointing. its really not developed yet and most of it really seems like a slum. horrible to say it but it really was, we just hated it. The only good thing was really cheap beer Angkor (draft for 50 cents - 30p) and the western pizza we ate!! we headed to the Thai Embassy as we needed to extend our thai visas (when flying into thailand you get 30 days, but if you cross a land border you only get 15 days and we plan to be in Thailand for 5 weeks so we have to apply for a longer one). However when we arrived they told us we couldn't submit a visa application until the next day and although the visa itself is free at the moment because of all the political disruption in Thailand - the Cambodian officials take this to mean they can make some extra cash and therefore you have to bribe them to do you Visa for you. We found a couple, Paul and Rachel form London in the Embassy who had taken this option and were just getting shouted at and had been waiting there for hours. we decided there was no way we wanted to stay in Phnom Penh and had to bribe to get our passports back so decided to figure something else out. We booked a bus to Siem Reap for the next afternoon and just got up early the next day to visit S21 - the prison where Pol Pott slaughtered around 7,000 people between 1975-1979. All the information we read there was really harrowing and seeing all the torture chambers and reading about the victims was horrible. Only 7 people were found alive in S21 when the prison was liberated in 79 and these prisoners had manager to keep themselves from being murdered by having a skill, artist, carpenter etc. The really amazing thing was that one of the survivors was actually at the museum and was taking a tour of it himself. he was stood next to the photo of the 7 prisoners that were found alive and he looked so healthy (now 79) next to the emaciated version of himself 40 years ago. loads of people were having their photo taken with him but Sam and i didn't want to be like that and just went up to him and bowed to him instead and he seemed really happy we did that and bowed back to us. Sam and i have done that a lot actually. sometimes there are local scenes and people that have to be enjoyed in the moment and it's really rude to take photos or just tacky. so many foreigners sticking cameras right in the locals faces treating them like an attraction and not people. so as much as i can tell you here there is nothing like the sights, sounds and smells of experiencing it first hand.
Will Sign off here as Internet time has run out and its so expensive here. Will have to do the rest tomorrow when we are moving islands/hotels and will hopefully have free internet.
As we loved Nha Trang so much we decided to stay another few days and visit the mud baths and also Vinpearl theme park (Vietnamese Disneyland - kind of) but in order to do this we needed to majorly save some cash as we are already over budget by paying for lots of trains, visas, buses and accommodation being much for expensive than we thought for somewhere clean. so to save for our next adventures we bought bread from a street vendor and laughing cow cheese spread from the mart and ate spread cheese sandwiches for 4 days straight. hmmm - vegetables never tasted so good after that!! but we had a little more cash and headed to the mud baths. where basically sam and i sat in a giant clay tub with some locals for half an hour and you just keep drenching yourself in it! then you have to go and sit in the sun and let it all cake onto you, then wash it off with a mineral shower and then head to the hot spring pools - 39 degrees C! like a hot bath swimming pool. really relaxing.
Headed to Vinpearl the next day -really hot sunny day, took a cable car (the longest one in the world to go over water apparently) across to the vinpearl island and spent some time going on the rides. sam foolishly got on one without seeing what it did first and it proceeded to hang him upside down and spin for 10 minutes. not happy when he got off so we went on the carousel to calm him down! ; ) Loads of free arcades at Vinpearl and a giant waterpark which we spent all day on the slides and the wave machine. The food served there i wouldn't give to a dog so it was a hungry day with lots of 7up!! went on the little roller coaster there a few times and got a great video of us on it! Saw a great water light show at the end of the day where they use coloured fountains in time to classical music which was fun!!
Had 5 nights overall in Nha Trang and caught the late night bus to Ho Chi Minh City on the 6th day, after watching the world cup opening ceremony with the lady who ran our hotel. she was so sweet, you just wanted to hug her! zonked out on the night bus and found a hotel in Ho Chi Min the next morning at 6am. Had a chilled 2 days in Ho Chi Min, went to the re-unification palace and the war museum. had some horrible photos and information all about agent orange and the war and it was really horrible to find out about, but i did not know all the details of the Vietnam war so it was interesting to fin out their history. Wandered around a lot of the city and stopped to watch a lot of the world cup every day - i've seen more of this world cup than any other!!!! Also called in at the cinema and watched ' From Paris with love' - new Travolta movie which we liked!
Next up was to head to Cambodia. Border crossing went like a dream we had a really good tour company taking care of everything for us! 50 usd for us to get into the country though! arrived in Phnom Penh in the afternoon and literally couldn't even get down the steps of the bus for all the people screaming at me to go with them for taxi/tuk tuk/hotel/bar - we had to push through with people screaming at us to get our bags and despite saying no thank you the whole time about 4 guys followed us quite a way down the street still trying to get us to go with them, saying our guesthouse was far even though we knew it was a 5 minute walk. i think the key out here is to plan when you are going. we don't book any of our accommodation ahead but we do decide 2 guesthouses we want to check out and just walk to them so we don't get scammed or ripped off. Phnom Penh was actually so disappointing. its really not developed yet and most of it really seems like a slum. horrible to say it but it really was, we just hated it. The only good thing was really cheap beer Angkor (draft for 50 cents - 30p) and the western pizza we ate!! we headed to the Thai Embassy as we needed to extend our thai visas (when flying into thailand you get 30 days, but if you cross a land border you only get 15 days and we plan to be in Thailand for 5 weeks so we have to apply for a longer one). However when we arrived they told us we couldn't submit a visa application until the next day and although the visa itself is free at the moment because of all the political disruption in Thailand - the Cambodian officials take this to mean they can make some extra cash and therefore you have to bribe them to do you Visa for you. We found a couple, Paul and Rachel form London in the Embassy who had taken this option and were just getting shouted at and had been waiting there for hours. we decided there was no way we wanted to stay in Phnom Penh and had to bribe to get our passports back so decided to figure something else out. We booked a bus to Siem Reap for the next afternoon and just got up early the next day to visit S21 - the prison where Pol Pott slaughtered around 7,000 people between 1975-1979. All the information we read there was really harrowing and seeing all the torture chambers and reading about the victims was horrible. Only 7 people were found alive in S21 when the prison was liberated in 79 and these prisoners had manager to keep themselves from being murdered by having a skill, artist, carpenter etc. The really amazing thing was that one of the survivors was actually at the museum and was taking a tour of it himself. he was stood next to the photo of the 7 prisoners that were found alive and he looked so healthy (now 79) next to the emaciated version of himself 40 years ago. loads of people were having their photo taken with him but Sam and i didn't want to be like that and just went up to him and bowed to him instead and he seemed really happy we did that and bowed back to us. Sam and i have done that a lot actually. sometimes there are local scenes and people that have to be enjoyed in the moment and it's really rude to take photos or just tacky. so many foreigners sticking cameras right in the locals faces treating them like an attraction and not people. so as much as i can tell you here there is nothing like the sights, sounds and smells of experiencing it first hand.
Will Sign off here as Internet time has run out and its so expensive here. Will have to do the rest tomorrow when we are moving islands/hotels and will hopefully have free internet.
Thursday, 17 June 2010
17th June - Siem Reap, Cambodia
ok it's has been a really long time since a wrote and so much has happened! i'm looking at endless pages of notes in despair! but here goes nothing - perhaps ill do it in two parts!
Last time i wrote i was in Hanoi - north Vietnam about to catch a train to Hue! well catch it we did and 11 hours and some very uncomfortable upright sleep later we were approaching hue. Sam is loved by all the locals here (they love his name and also that he is a westerner with black hair. he has had a LOT of positive comments about his good looks. quite a lot of the male variety - even as i'm stood right with him!! haha) so at 8am on the train the locals ply him with beer, white rice whiskey and lychees. he tried to imply it was too early for him to drink but they just laughed and forced it on him more. the language barrier and sams endless politeness mean he could not refuse and soon was drinking the whiskey and they turned to give him a 'cheers' every 2 minutes! it was the only english word they knew!!
arrived at our hotel in hue. we chose it because it had a pool and it was just 40 degrees C so hot. you actually cant drink enough water to counteract the perspiration!!hue had a festival on which was cool, lots going on and a cool backpacker street with a good vibe and nice food. visited the citadel and wandered around. nice place.
caught the train to danang which was one of the most scenic stretches in vietnam, this is definitely true. great views - the little i saw!! but not so great when you have to pay more than everyone else for your ticket (foreigner tax!), and get stuck in a seat with no windows so had to peak around to try and get glimpses. and that the ladies in front of us had their seats right back and the guy behind me kept pushing my seat forward - it felt a little like i was in a coffin!!then the air con cut out and everyone was close to passing out! so we were actually really glad to get off that train!!
also on arriving in danang it was the most disappointing place. really just a commuter town and airport hub. people are trying to hustle and rip you off so so much. you cant walk down the street without people following you, shouting at you and getting really angry when you ignore them! but you have to ignore them because once you even open your mouth and speak to say 'no thank you' it will take twice as long for them to leave you alone. i hate to be seen as an ignorant tourist as i love socialising with local people but sometimes you really are trapped. it is never unsafe in any way - i have not felt in danger at any point during this trip. they just want my money in any possible way! not to say this is everyone of course, we have met our fair share of gems among the locals but im trying to give a gist of how much hard work just walking down the street can be in some places. even our hotel 'manager'/scam artist was dodgy!
so - onto another place first thing the next day and we take a very crazy kamakaze bus to hoi an! literally brakes on buses/scooters/cars dont get used very often, just horns and accelerators!! scary! hoi an is pretty awesome as it goes!!! nice hotel with great pancakes and free bikes to ride to the beach (6km). The town is literally full of tailors and cafes and not a lot else but it was really quaint and nice to wander round for a few days. you can really see all the french influences in the building styles, same as laos. cycling to the beach on the kamakaze roads was pretty interesting to say the least, not so bad out of town but the junctions when there is no right side of the road to be on and no traffic lights or other road rules obeyed it's sketchy!! we had our first beach fix and despite it being cloudy all day sam and i both got burnt really badly! despite many layers of suncream too!!! also a lady who refused to give up trying to sell us trinkets. she came and sat with us on the sand, literally a foot from us and stayed for about 15 mins, about once every minute asking us to buy something and would not give up. the only way to respond is to not respond, so that was a pretty awkward 15 minutes of silence!!! the waves on china beach were pretty damn strong and this was at its supposed quietest time! enough to body board without the board but one wave in every three was enough to go right over your head and drag you around a bit so after a few lungfuls of seawater i gave up and left sam to it who was in his element, elegant as a dolphin!!
sam and i found a home away from home in hoi an at cafe 43, such amazing food, so so cheap and uno cards for major games in the evening over a very cheap beer. - 3,000 dong a glass - 10p. we also did a cooking class there and learnt to make our own spring rolls, chicken curry and pork and cabbage soup from scratch. we got to know the whole family working there and had so much fun with them all. such a nice family - really didn't want to say goodbye to them.
we then caught our very first sleeper bus to nha trang - fully laid down seats on the top deck of a bus -but it was a pretty rough ride......
i'm going to have to leave it there for tonight (all this happened over a week ago-im actually in siem reap, cambodia today and off to ko tao tomorrow. a little behind with sending news,)
will post the rest of vietnam and cambodia asap.
lots of love to all.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
hue - danang; 2 hours
danang - hoi an; 90 mins
Last time i wrote i was in Hanoi - north Vietnam about to catch a train to Hue! well catch it we did and 11 hours and some very uncomfortable upright sleep later we were approaching hue. Sam is loved by all the locals here (they love his name and also that he is a westerner with black hair. he has had a LOT of positive comments about his good looks. quite a lot of the male variety - even as i'm stood right with him!! haha) so at 8am on the train the locals ply him with beer, white rice whiskey and lychees. he tried to imply it was too early for him to drink but they just laughed and forced it on him more. the language barrier and sams endless politeness mean he could not refuse and soon was drinking the whiskey and they turned to give him a 'cheers' every 2 minutes! it was the only english word they knew!!
arrived at our hotel in hue. we chose it because it had a pool and it was just 40 degrees C so hot. you actually cant drink enough water to counteract the perspiration!!hue had a festival on which was cool, lots going on and a cool backpacker street with a good vibe and nice food. visited the citadel and wandered around. nice place.
caught the train to danang which was one of the most scenic stretches in vietnam, this is definitely true. great views - the little i saw!! but not so great when you have to pay more than everyone else for your ticket (foreigner tax!), and get stuck in a seat with no windows so had to peak around to try and get glimpses. and that the ladies in front of us had their seats right back and the guy behind me kept pushing my seat forward - it felt a little like i was in a coffin!!then the air con cut out and everyone was close to passing out! so we were actually really glad to get off that train!!
also on arriving in danang it was the most disappointing place. really just a commuter town and airport hub. people are trying to hustle and rip you off so so much. you cant walk down the street without people following you, shouting at you and getting really angry when you ignore them! but you have to ignore them because once you even open your mouth and speak to say 'no thank you' it will take twice as long for them to leave you alone. i hate to be seen as an ignorant tourist as i love socialising with local people but sometimes you really are trapped. it is never unsafe in any way - i have not felt in danger at any point during this trip. they just want my money in any possible way! not to say this is everyone of course, we have met our fair share of gems among the locals but im trying to give a gist of how much hard work just walking down the street can be in some places. even our hotel 'manager'/scam artist was dodgy!
so - onto another place first thing the next day and we take a very crazy kamakaze bus to hoi an! literally brakes on buses/scooters/cars dont get used very often, just horns and accelerators!! scary! hoi an is pretty awesome as it goes!!! nice hotel with great pancakes and free bikes to ride to the beach (6km). The town is literally full of tailors and cafes and not a lot else but it was really quaint and nice to wander round for a few days. you can really see all the french influences in the building styles, same as laos. cycling to the beach on the kamakaze roads was pretty interesting to say the least, not so bad out of town but the junctions when there is no right side of the road to be on and no traffic lights or other road rules obeyed it's sketchy!! we had our first beach fix and despite it being cloudy all day sam and i both got burnt really badly! despite many layers of suncream too!!! also a lady who refused to give up trying to sell us trinkets. she came and sat with us on the sand, literally a foot from us and stayed for about 15 mins, about once every minute asking us to buy something and would not give up. the only way to respond is to not respond, so that was a pretty awkward 15 minutes of silence!!! the waves on china beach were pretty damn strong and this was at its supposed quietest time! enough to body board without the board but one wave in every three was enough to go right over your head and drag you around a bit so after a few lungfuls of seawater i gave up and left sam to it who was in his element, elegant as a dolphin!!
sam and i found a home away from home in hoi an at cafe 43, such amazing food, so so cheap and uno cards for major games in the evening over a very cheap beer. - 3,000 dong a glass - 10p. we also did a cooking class there and learnt to make our own spring rolls, chicken curry and pork and cabbage soup from scratch. we got to know the whole family working there and had so much fun with them all. such a nice family - really didn't want to say goodbye to them.
we then caught our very first sleeper bus to nha trang - fully laid down seats on the top deck of a bus -but it was a pretty rough ride......
i'm going to have to leave it there for tonight (all this happened over a week ago-im actually in siem reap, cambodia today and off to ko tao tomorrow. a little behind with sending news,)
will post the rest of vietnam and cambodia asap.
lots of love to all.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
hue - danang; 2 hours
danang - hoi an; 90 mins
Friday, 4 June 2010
5th June 2010 - Hoi An - Vietnam - Recipe 3
Sam and I had a mini cooking course yesterday with a Vietnamese family and we learnt how to make 3 dishes! i thought i'd share the recipes on here for 2 reasons. 1 - im bound to lose the piece of paper i wrote them on before i get home and 2 - you might fancy making one of them!
3. Chicken Curry (makes one portion, but will serve 2 with rice)
200g chopped chicken
1 small bowl fresh whole milk
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 white onion
1/4 carrot
1 tomato (or 3 cherry toms)
small hand full roughly chopped cabbage
1/2 courgette (we actually used 1/4 of a vegetable called choco, kind of looked like an avocado. you might be able to find it in an asian supermarket but courgette would be just as tasty)
Roughly chop all veg, halving the cherry toms.
Seasoning:
1 teaspoon garlic
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
pinch of salt.
Add all of the above seasoning to the chopped chicken and mix.
Get a pan nice and hot and add two tablespoons of vegetable oil. allow the oil to heat and add another teaspoon of garlic to the oil and cook until brown.
Add the chicken mix and cook until meat has browned.
When brown add the carrot, onion and courgette and cook until the onion is soft (medium)
Add to the pan; toms, cabbage, curry powder and milk.
Cook until the milk boils and you see a little water coming from the milk (roughly 5 mins)
serve with rice and naan bread!
ENJOY!!!!!!!!
3. Chicken Curry (makes one portion, but will serve 2 with rice)
200g chopped chicken
1 small bowl fresh whole milk
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 white onion
1/4 carrot
1 tomato (or 3 cherry toms)
small hand full roughly chopped cabbage
1/2 courgette (we actually used 1/4 of a vegetable called choco, kind of looked like an avocado. you might be able to find it in an asian supermarket but courgette would be just as tasty)
Roughly chop all veg, halving the cherry toms.
Seasoning:
1 teaspoon garlic
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
pinch of salt.
Add all of the above seasoning to the chopped chicken and mix.
Get a pan nice and hot and add two tablespoons of vegetable oil. allow the oil to heat and add another teaspoon of garlic to the oil and cook until brown.
Add the chicken mix and cook until meat has browned.
When brown add the carrot, onion and courgette and cook until the onion is soft (medium)
Add to the pan; toms, cabbage, curry powder and milk.
Cook until the milk boils and you see a little water coming from the milk (roughly 5 mins)
serve with rice and naan bread!
ENJOY!!!!!!!!
5th June 2010 - Hoi An - Vietnam - Recipe 2
Sam and I had a mini cooking course yesterday with a Vietnamese family and we learnt how to make 3 dishes! i thought i'd share the recipes on here for 2 reasons. 1 - im bound to lose the piece of paper i wrote them on before i get home and 2 - you might fancy making one of them!
2. Pork and Cabbage Soup (makes one large cereal typle bowl)
250g Pork diced.
200g Cabbage roughly chopped to your liking.
1 bowl of water (not quite full as this is the bowl you serve in and need to leave room for the pork and cabbage)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (the garlic they used seemed to be marinated so may be best to buy the jarred one)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Mix all the seasoning to the diced pork and stir well.
Get a heavy bottomed deep pan very hot. then add 3 tablesoons vegetable oil and allow to heat. Add another tablespoon of chopped garlic to the oil and cook until garlic browns. (30 secs roughly)
Add the pork mix and fry for 90 seconds until meat has browned.
Add the bowl of water and bring to the boil.
Add the cabbage and bring back to the boil.
Simmer for around 5 - 6 minutes.
Serve
2. Pork and Cabbage Soup (makes one large cereal typle bowl)
250g Pork diced.
200g Cabbage roughly chopped to your liking.
1 bowl of water (not quite full as this is the bowl you serve in and need to leave room for the pork and cabbage)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (the garlic they used seemed to be marinated so may be best to buy the jarred one)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Mix all the seasoning to the diced pork and stir well.
Get a heavy bottomed deep pan very hot. then add 3 tablesoons vegetable oil and allow to heat. Add another tablespoon of chopped garlic to the oil and cook until garlic browns. (30 secs roughly)
Add the pork mix and fry for 90 seconds until meat has browned.
Add the bowl of water and bring to the boil.
Add the cabbage and bring back to the boil.
Simmer for around 5 - 6 minutes.
Serve
5th June 2010 - Hoi An - Vietnam - Recipe 1
Sam and I had a mini cooking course yesterday with a Vietnamese family and we learnt how to make 3 dishes! i thought i'd share the recipes on here for 2 reasons. 1 - im bound to lose the piece of paper i wrote them on before i get home and 2 - you might fancy making one of them!
1. - Vegetable Spring Rolls.
Ingredients:
Small handful Shitake Mushrooms
1/2 carrot
1/2 white onion
large chunk of Tofu
3 spring onions
1 egg
Rice Paper
1 sweet potato
1/2 Courgette
(Instead of the sweet potato and courgette we actually used this local root called Taro but i dont think its very common in the uk and it actually tastes rank! so ive substituted for sweet potato and courgette)
Seasoning:
1 teaspoon garlic roughly chopped
1 teaspoon corse black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch of salt
Chop all the vegetables into VERY VERY thin strips, no more than 7cm long, and add into a bit bowl. Add all the seasoning and mix well.
using scissors cut the rice paper into strips around 15cm wide and 25 cm long.
Whisk the egg into a seperate bowl.
put around a tablespoon of the mix onto one end of the rice paper in the centre. careful not to put to much in - buyt this is trial and error as we found out!!
roll the spring roll halfway down the rice paper, then fold the corners towards the body of the spring roll to make a parcel. finish rolling the spring roll and use a generous amount of the egg to glue it all down. place on a plate the seal facing down to use the weight of the spring roll to stick itself. repeat until mix runs out.
Heat a deeep, heavy bottomed pan with vegetable oil until its very very hot. make sure there is plenty of oil so the spring roll can float in it. Drop the spring roll into the oil and cook until both sides turn yellow, frequently turn the spring rolls. they take roughly 5- 6mins to cook.
drain on kitchen roll and serve with sweet chili sauce, soy or a hot red chili sauce....
Red chilli pepper sauce: mix into a mini sauce bowl: 1 teaspoon garlic, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, small red chilli (chopped), a quarter of a lime squeezed and a squit of fish sauce.
SERVE. YUM.
1. - Vegetable Spring Rolls.
Ingredients:
Small handful Shitake Mushrooms
1/2 carrot
1/2 white onion
large chunk of Tofu
3 spring onions
1 egg
Rice Paper
1 sweet potato
1/2 Courgette
(Instead of the sweet potato and courgette we actually used this local root called Taro but i dont think its very common in the uk and it actually tastes rank! so ive substituted for sweet potato and courgette)
Seasoning:
1 teaspoon garlic roughly chopped
1 teaspoon corse black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch of salt
Chop all the vegetables into VERY VERY thin strips, no more than 7cm long, and add into a bit bowl. Add all the seasoning and mix well.
using scissors cut the rice paper into strips around 15cm wide and 25 cm long.
Whisk the egg into a seperate bowl.
put around a tablespoon of the mix onto one end of the rice paper in the centre. careful not to put to much in - buyt this is trial and error as we found out!!
roll the spring roll halfway down the rice paper, then fold the corners towards the body of the spring roll to make a parcel. finish rolling the spring roll and use a generous amount of the egg to glue it all down. place on a plate the seal facing down to use the weight of the spring roll to stick itself. repeat until mix runs out.
Heat a deeep, heavy bottomed pan with vegetable oil until its very very hot. make sure there is plenty of oil so the spring roll can float in it. Drop the spring roll into the oil and cook until both sides turn yellow, frequently turn the spring rolls. they take roughly 5- 6mins to cook.
drain on kitchen roll and serve with sweet chili sauce, soy or a hot red chili sauce....
Red chilli pepper sauce: mix into a mini sauce bowl: 1 teaspoon garlic, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, small red chilli (chopped), a quarter of a lime squeezed and a squit of fish sauce.
SERVE. YUM.
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Sat 29th May - 7pm - Hanoi, Vietnam
Ok so where did we leave off last time - just about to get a mini bus to vang vieng! it seems like ages ago now!! The bus took around 7 hours through very high and windy roads through the mountains. LOTS of unscheduled stops at dirty roadside shops trying to make you buy something or pay to use the disgusting bathrooms although they dont even deserve that name!! the driver eats like a king and smokes like a chimney and there are obviously pre-set rules as to where he will bring tourists in return for his dinner. At one stop i did see the most beautiful monkey (think lion king) all chained up out the back of this house. it was such a beautiful creature and such a shame to see it looking so unhappy. it tried to communicate with us using amazing facial expressions and waving its arms around. i think he just wanted to be free. such a shame. would have been more humane if they had killed it and eaten it if they needed food, it was just cruel.
Arrived in vang vieng around 9pm and headed for a guesthouse. room was nice with a great view of the mountains but had many ant and other bug issues as most places seem to have!!! just crashed that night and went for a wander the next day - i was not too impressed with vang vieng town - it seems to be built just for people to be hungover in. no culture at all. just built for the tubing. we had some really average food and watched some friends (massive tvs up in the bars showing friends/family guy/simpsons 24/7!) Went for a long walk that night and to some bars, chatting to the people who ran them, who were all in their 20's and american/canadian or english. generally 'working' (getting drunk and playing loud music, serving the occaisional beer to someone else) its easy enough to get a work visa for laos apparently and people dont get paid but get free food and cheap accommodation so just do it for a year or so. but we met some great people who gave out a lot of free buckets so that was good! We then went to the one locally owned bar called JD's and played pool and chatted to the owner. they dont pay taxes over here but if the police show up and ask for money you just have to give it to them as its so corrupt. JD had a giant machette under the bar for protection. (sam had to a have a photo with it) Also loads of laos girls hang around and try and get the foreigners to chat them up and take them back to their hotel, but as sex is illegal in laos unless you are married the girl disappears as soon as she knows where their room is and the police turn up 5 mins later and fine them 500 USD. ouch.
went tubing the next day and oh what incredibly dangerous fun this is!!! you basically rent a giant rubber ring and get a tuk tuk to the starting point, but there are so many bars serving buckets of vodka red bull, whiskey etc and all the bars are in the first KM of the 3KM course. you float down the river and people pull you into their bar and you get out, dance, party and drink until you float 20 meters down to the next one! at each bar there are giant rope swings and slides that are so high and catapult you into the river. sam still has the bruises and i took a massive chunk out of my finger. we went out there at 2pm and came back at 6pm after only having down 1km. oh dear. next day was a total right off as we were both so hung over. but it was really fun at the time!!!
We left the next day for hanoi and for a very long journey. 4 hour bus south to vientienne, the Laos capital and we left at 10am. got dropped off at 2pm to a horrible, dingy expensive resturant and were ditched and told we would be picked up at 5pm to get to the bus station for our 7pm bus. so a not needed 5 hour pit stop already. sam and i refused to eat at the horrible place and managed to find the laos version of pizza hut and indulged in our first western food, air con and refillable drinks, so the wait wasn't too bad. Although when we arrived to catch our sleeper bus (we splashed out as the journey was so long) we were told they had overbooked the sleeper bus and there was no seats for us and nothing we could do as the next sleeper bus wasn't for 3 days. the guy tried fobbing us off and tried to give us a cheaper, upright, uncomfortable bus for the 14 hour overnight journey for the same price. errrm NO! you really have to fight your corner a lot over here or you get ripped off. whatever price you are offered for anything you normally pay less than half of it if you are willing to haggle long enough. we argued for and hour and half and he finally gave us half our money back and we still had to get the upright bus as we had no choice. but at least we didn't pay double what it was worth. the staff on the bus were so so so rude all the way. we left at 7ish and only drove 2 hours before we stopped for an hour for the drivers to have dinner. then we drove till 1am and parked outside a guesthouse where we were told we were not moving again till 6am and had to pay for a guesthouse or sleep on the bus. sooo not happy at this point. we refused to pay for the guesthouse so slept on the bus, luckily enough people stayed in the guesthouse that we could recline the seats a bit but it was pretty horrible and no bathroom. thank god for valium at this point!!! During the night there was the most almighty storm that kept me awake. it doesn't just rain here it just monsoons and it's so loud and the thunder was literally shaking the bus from side to side. thankfully we did leave dead on 6am and got the border about 9am. border crossing are just madness here. about 200 people fighting to get to 4 windows, (we had to pay 54 USD each in vang vieng for someone to do a visa run for us or we would have had to stay in vientienne for 2 nights to wait for it. sketchy handing your passport over but we met enough people who had done it to give it a shot and it was fine.)they snatch your passport and process it at the border and then it goes to another window where the teller doesn't speak and english and just flashes the picture page at you and u have to tell if its yours over 50 heads and if it is push to the front and give her some money or she wont give it back. wicked. it was not the best journey in the world but definitely an experience!
Arrived in hanoi about 9pm. got lucky with a nice hotel in the old quarter and went out for dinner with ben, miranda and a new couple from cardiff, matt and jo. we all ate a street cafe which i didnt think was that tasty, crispy noodles and beef. and there was so much rubbish in the streets and i saw many a roach so was happy to head back the hotel, no bedbugs -woohoo! and also the foot is better! and bites are down to around 5 at a time! all feels a bit better with the world. Spent the next day wandering round hanoi. went to the prison museum and saw all the cells the american pow's were kept in etc. was really interesting. also walked around the massive lake in the centre of the city and people watched. booked a 3 day/2 night boat trip to Halong bay and cat ba island leaving at 8am the next morning. we went to a water puppet show which told old vietnamese legends and tales through the medium of music and water puppetry. sounds weird. but was really entertaining for an hour!
The boat trip around halong bay was awesome! on the way the guide told us a lot about hanoi. population was below 2 million in 1991 and is now over 5 million! and there are 2.5 million scooters + cars in the city! the traffic is mental. not many crossings. you literally have to walk out and let the bikes swerve around you. definitely a knack to it and not for the faint hearted!! Took a cruise round halong bay which has over 2000 grass covered islands in it. visited a really amazing cave, went back to our boat, anchored in the bay and swam off the side of it, then had a banquet with the 12 other people on our ship. got chatting to everyone and met a nice couple in their 50's called shirley and laurie who are from auckland, they gave us their card and we are going to have dinner with them when we get there. also a really nice young couple called gavin and haley who are from sydney so hooking up with them too when we get there. did a little mini squid fishing off the side of the boat and went to bed. had a nice en suite room, but a roach here and there. they are everywhere and there are so many different types!!! even flying ones!!
The next day we headed to cat ba island (right out of the jurassic park movies!) traveled around, went to another amazing cave, had another banquet lunch and headed out to monkey beach where, ironically, we saw no monkeys. this was a really touristy beach for the locals and they really don't take care of their own beaches and places. rubbish everywhere., even our guide said the foreign tourist beaches were much nicer. was really disappointed as this was our first beach, but had a great night out with gav and haley. headed back the long journey to hanoi the next day.
had a chilled couple of days in hanoi, ate at some cool cafes, had a great chicken and vegetable curry tonight, literally amazing! sam visited the embalmed mausoleum of ho chi minh and the museum next to it! we also went to see iron man this afternoon and wandered around a crazy mall! hanoi's is a great city, we are sad to leave it but we leave tonight at 11pm. (hence lots of time to write this while waiting for our train.) 10 hours. oh joy. in the uncomfy seats as thats all they had left and sam and i arnt even sat together. the only bad bits about traveling are the long journeys and the bugs!!!
Siging off now!
phia and sam xxxxx
vang vieng - vientienne - 4 hours
vientienne - hanoi - 27 hours
hanoi-halong bay & cat ba island - 5 hours each way
hanoi - hue - 12 hours
Arrived in vang vieng around 9pm and headed for a guesthouse. room was nice with a great view of the mountains but had many ant and other bug issues as most places seem to have!!! just crashed that night and went for a wander the next day - i was not too impressed with vang vieng town - it seems to be built just for people to be hungover in. no culture at all. just built for the tubing. we had some really average food and watched some friends (massive tvs up in the bars showing friends/family guy/simpsons 24/7!) Went for a long walk that night and to some bars, chatting to the people who ran them, who were all in their 20's and american/canadian or english. generally 'working' (getting drunk and playing loud music, serving the occaisional beer to someone else) its easy enough to get a work visa for laos apparently and people dont get paid but get free food and cheap accommodation so just do it for a year or so. but we met some great people who gave out a lot of free buckets so that was good! We then went to the one locally owned bar called JD's and played pool and chatted to the owner. they dont pay taxes over here but if the police show up and ask for money you just have to give it to them as its so corrupt. JD had a giant machette under the bar for protection. (sam had to a have a photo with it) Also loads of laos girls hang around and try and get the foreigners to chat them up and take them back to their hotel, but as sex is illegal in laos unless you are married the girl disappears as soon as she knows where their room is and the police turn up 5 mins later and fine them 500 USD. ouch.
went tubing the next day and oh what incredibly dangerous fun this is!!! you basically rent a giant rubber ring and get a tuk tuk to the starting point, but there are so many bars serving buckets of vodka red bull, whiskey etc and all the bars are in the first KM of the 3KM course. you float down the river and people pull you into their bar and you get out, dance, party and drink until you float 20 meters down to the next one! at each bar there are giant rope swings and slides that are so high and catapult you into the river. sam still has the bruises and i took a massive chunk out of my finger. we went out there at 2pm and came back at 6pm after only having down 1km. oh dear. next day was a total right off as we were both so hung over. but it was really fun at the time!!!
We left the next day for hanoi and for a very long journey. 4 hour bus south to vientienne, the Laos capital and we left at 10am. got dropped off at 2pm to a horrible, dingy expensive resturant and were ditched and told we would be picked up at 5pm to get to the bus station for our 7pm bus. so a not needed 5 hour pit stop already. sam and i refused to eat at the horrible place and managed to find the laos version of pizza hut and indulged in our first western food, air con and refillable drinks, so the wait wasn't too bad. Although when we arrived to catch our sleeper bus (we splashed out as the journey was so long) we were told they had overbooked the sleeper bus and there was no seats for us and nothing we could do as the next sleeper bus wasn't for 3 days. the guy tried fobbing us off and tried to give us a cheaper, upright, uncomfortable bus for the 14 hour overnight journey for the same price. errrm NO! you really have to fight your corner a lot over here or you get ripped off. whatever price you are offered for anything you normally pay less than half of it if you are willing to haggle long enough. we argued for and hour and half and he finally gave us half our money back and we still had to get the upright bus as we had no choice. but at least we didn't pay double what it was worth. the staff on the bus were so so so rude all the way. we left at 7ish and only drove 2 hours before we stopped for an hour for the drivers to have dinner. then we drove till 1am and parked outside a guesthouse where we were told we were not moving again till 6am and had to pay for a guesthouse or sleep on the bus. sooo not happy at this point. we refused to pay for the guesthouse so slept on the bus, luckily enough people stayed in the guesthouse that we could recline the seats a bit but it was pretty horrible and no bathroom. thank god for valium at this point!!! During the night there was the most almighty storm that kept me awake. it doesn't just rain here it just monsoons and it's so loud and the thunder was literally shaking the bus from side to side. thankfully we did leave dead on 6am and got the border about 9am. border crossing are just madness here. about 200 people fighting to get to 4 windows, (we had to pay 54 USD each in vang vieng for someone to do a visa run for us or we would have had to stay in vientienne for 2 nights to wait for it. sketchy handing your passport over but we met enough people who had done it to give it a shot and it was fine.)they snatch your passport and process it at the border and then it goes to another window where the teller doesn't speak and english and just flashes the picture page at you and u have to tell if its yours over 50 heads and if it is push to the front and give her some money or she wont give it back. wicked. it was not the best journey in the world but definitely an experience!
Arrived in hanoi about 9pm. got lucky with a nice hotel in the old quarter and went out for dinner with ben, miranda and a new couple from cardiff, matt and jo. we all ate a street cafe which i didnt think was that tasty, crispy noodles and beef. and there was so much rubbish in the streets and i saw many a roach so was happy to head back the hotel, no bedbugs -woohoo! and also the foot is better! and bites are down to around 5 at a time! all feels a bit better with the world. Spent the next day wandering round hanoi. went to the prison museum and saw all the cells the american pow's were kept in etc. was really interesting. also walked around the massive lake in the centre of the city and people watched. booked a 3 day/2 night boat trip to Halong bay and cat ba island leaving at 8am the next morning. we went to a water puppet show which told old vietnamese legends and tales through the medium of music and water puppetry. sounds weird. but was really entertaining for an hour!
The boat trip around halong bay was awesome! on the way the guide told us a lot about hanoi. population was below 2 million in 1991 and is now over 5 million! and there are 2.5 million scooters + cars in the city! the traffic is mental. not many crossings. you literally have to walk out and let the bikes swerve around you. definitely a knack to it and not for the faint hearted!! Took a cruise round halong bay which has over 2000 grass covered islands in it. visited a really amazing cave, went back to our boat, anchored in the bay and swam off the side of it, then had a banquet with the 12 other people on our ship. got chatting to everyone and met a nice couple in their 50's called shirley and laurie who are from auckland, they gave us their card and we are going to have dinner with them when we get there. also a really nice young couple called gavin and haley who are from sydney so hooking up with them too when we get there. did a little mini squid fishing off the side of the boat and went to bed. had a nice en suite room, but a roach here and there. they are everywhere and there are so many different types!!! even flying ones!!
The next day we headed to cat ba island (right out of the jurassic park movies!) traveled around, went to another amazing cave, had another banquet lunch and headed out to monkey beach where, ironically, we saw no monkeys. this was a really touristy beach for the locals and they really don't take care of their own beaches and places. rubbish everywhere., even our guide said the foreign tourist beaches were much nicer. was really disappointed as this was our first beach, but had a great night out with gav and haley. headed back the long journey to hanoi the next day.
had a chilled couple of days in hanoi, ate at some cool cafes, had a great chicken and vegetable curry tonight, literally amazing! sam visited the embalmed mausoleum of ho chi minh and the museum next to it! we also went to see iron man this afternoon and wandered around a crazy mall! hanoi's is a great city, we are sad to leave it but we leave tonight at 11pm. (hence lots of time to write this while waiting for our train.) 10 hours. oh joy. in the uncomfy seats as thats all they had left and sam and i arnt even sat together. the only bad bits about traveling are the long journeys and the bugs!!!
Siging off now!
phia and sam xxxxx
vang vieng - vientienne - 4 hours
vientienne - hanoi - 27 hours
hanoi-halong bay & cat ba island - 5 hours each way
hanoi - hue - 12 hours
Monday, 24 May 2010
Sent May 18th - Luang Prabang, Laos
So we had the two day boat trip along the mekong river which was AWESOME! the scenery is just incredible. massive picturesque mountains covered with forest on either side with clouds all floating in between them. loads of fisherman and tiny villages dotted around. often you would see 20 children all swimming in the river and waving at us. Herds and herds of water buffalo splashing about too. they are kind of like a cow crossed with a hippo. they do that really cute twitchy thing with their ears that hippos do -i love that! sam and i managed to get some comfy aeroplane style seats next to this american guy called Dave (26) and opposite two girls from leeds (verity and cara - 19) and Walter from Holland (19) We ended up chatting to them for the 7 hours down the river it took to get to Pakbeng (our stop for the night) played cards and drank lots of beer lao! We are actually still with all of them!
Very strange, they stop the boat a lot on the way down the river to let the locals on and off at remote villages and carry goods between. (even giant lizards!!!) At one village we stopped in about 20 kids aged around 10 got onto the boat with baskets of beer, cigarettes and food and were trying to sell it to you so there was lots of shouting and haggling going on! really exciting to watch but a shame these kids have to do this every day.
We got a nice room in pakbeng - went out for a great curry with everyone from the boat. it was so muggy that the weather broke that night and there was the most almighty storm at am, cutting off all power to the whole village! there was about 20 lightning flashes a minute and the loudest thunder i have ever heard! and our fan had stopped working so you kind of laid there listening to the storm and trying to sleep but sweating so much! thankfully that storm broke the weather slightly and the next morning was cooler.
Back on the boat again at 9am - 630pm - napped, played cards and read again with our new friends, also met a couple from New zealand called ben and miranda who joined us too. when we arrived in luang prabang we searched or a guesthouse for ages but eventually all of us filled a family owned guesthouse for 40,000 kip a night per room (3.50) it was only a fan but a really big ceiling one! sam and i have pretty much decided to downgrade to fan rooms to save money and treat air con as more of a treat now and again as its eating our budget and we were finding ourselves with not much money to do trips. After check in we all went for dinner and had a wander round the extensive night markets that seem to be in every town! and sell everything from t-shirts - lamps - jewellery to snake whiskey (yes there is an actual cobra in the bottle!!! - apparently the venom in the snake makes the whiskey so strong you hallucinate!)
Bite wise things are are a little better but not much - get around 5 new ones each day despite being covered in spray and reapplying 6 or 7 times a day!! but no bedbugs for the last 3 nights so have got some sleep which was good! only really bad thing is i have so many bites on one foot that its swollen to twice normal size!! the heat makes everyones feet swell but this is worse! my ankle is literally a golf ball!! its been really painful to walk so ill probably hit the doctors in vang vieng if it doesn't get better in a couple of days.
Yesterday we went up to the waterfalls which were just so beautiful and the main attraction in Luang pranbang. there was a bear sanctuary at the bottom which was nice as they have been rescued from poachers but the waterfalls are truly the best bit! massive blue pools of spring water that you can swim in and rope swings to jump off the rocks and in. loads of fish in them which nibble your feet if you stay still too long! Sam hiked all the way to the top! when i say hike i mean hike! he had to climb up and through the waterfall itself in flip flops! he went with dave whereas my foot was bad so i couldn't do it so i stayed at the bottom with walter and the girls and swam. the spring water really helped all my bites tho which was nice. until i bashed my foot on a rock while jumping in just before we left and bruised it all as well!!! typical!
We had an hour long massage yesterday at a spa here for 40,000 kip it was a thai-lao massage whatever that means but it seriously hurt! the whole process was really painful but you can feel the benefit after! i think ill go for an oil massage next time as thats the realxing one! We went out to a bar called hive last night which was really cool, owned by a french guy and a guy form manchester so the music was really good. but rules are so strict here that everything and i mean EVERYTHING completely shuts and boards up by 11:30pm! by then me,sam, dave and walter hadnt finished drinking so a tuk tuk diver convinced us he would take us to a club outside of town. it turned out to be a local gay club full of lao men on the pull who were very happy to see the boys i came with. ; ) they all got chatted up it was so funny, but all in good spirits and not dodgy at all. we danced for another couple of hours and were all in a big circle with the locals having dancing competitions. really good fun. woke up slightly hungover this morning and am off to get some food to take on the bus in a sec. we leave for vang vieng (7 hours away) at 1pm (12pm now) on a minibus with the others. not really looking forward to it as the ride is supposed to be really bumpy and in the mountains. hmmmm.
will sign off now!
for map followers.
chiang kong - pakbeng - 7 hours
pakbeng - luang prabang - 7 hours
next stop: luang prabang - vang vieng - 7 hours
Very strange, they stop the boat a lot on the way down the river to let the locals on and off at remote villages and carry goods between. (even giant lizards!!!) At one village we stopped in about 20 kids aged around 10 got onto the boat with baskets of beer, cigarettes and food and were trying to sell it to you so there was lots of shouting and haggling going on! really exciting to watch but a shame these kids have to do this every day.
We got a nice room in pakbeng - went out for a great curry with everyone from the boat. it was so muggy that the weather broke that night and there was the most almighty storm at am, cutting off all power to the whole village! there was about 20 lightning flashes a minute and the loudest thunder i have ever heard! and our fan had stopped working so you kind of laid there listening to the storm and trying to sleep but sweating so much! thankfully that storm broke the weather slightly and the next morning was cooler.
Back on the boat again at 9am - 630pm - napped, played cards and read again with our new friends, also met a couple from New zealand called ben and miranda who joined us too. when we arrived in luang prabang we searched or a guesthouse for ages but eventually all of us filled a family owned guesthouse for 40,000 kip a night per room (3.50) it was only a fan but a really big ceiling one! sam and i have pretty much decided to downgrade to fan rooms to save money and treat air con as more of a treat now and again as its eating our budget and we were finding ourselves with not much money to do trips. After check in we all went for dinner and had a wander round the extensive night markets that seem to be in every town! and sell everything from t-shirts - lamps - jewellery to snake whiskey (yes there is an actual cobra in the bottle!!! - apparently the venom in the snake makes the whiskey so strong you hallucinate!)
Bite wise things are are a little better but not much - get around 5 new ones each day despite being covered in spray and reapplying 6 or 7 times a day!! but no bedbugs for the last 3 nights so have got some sleep which was good! only really bad thing is i have so many bites on one foot that its swollen to twice normal size!! the heat makes everyones feet swell but this is worse! my ankle is literally a golf ball!! its been really painful to walk so ill probably hit the doctors in vang vieng if it doesn't get better in a couple of days.
Yesterday we went up to the waterfalls which were just so beautiful and the main attraction in Luang pranbang. there was a bear sanctuary at the bottom which was nice as they have been rescued from poachers but the waterfalls are truly the best bit! massive blue pools of spring water that you can swim in and rope swings to jump off the rocks and in. loads of fish in them which nibble your feet if you stay still too long! Sam hiked all the way to the top! when i say hike i mean hike! he had to climb up and through the waterfall itself in flip flops! he went with dave whereas my foot was bad so i couldn't do it so i stayed at the bottom with walter and the girls and swam. the spring water really helped all my bites tho which was nice. until i bashed my foot on a rock while jumping in just before we left and bruised it all as well!!! typical!
We had an hour long massage yesterday at a spa here for 40,000 kip it was a thai-lao massage whatever that means but it seriously hurt! the whole process was really painful but you can feel the benefit after! i think ill go for an oil massage next time as thats the realxing one! We went out to a bar called hive last night which was really cool, owned by a french guy and a guy form manchester so the music was really good. but rules are so strict here that everything and i mean EVERYTHING completely shuts and boards up by 11:30pm! by then me,sam, dave and walter hadnt finished drinking so a tuk tuk diver convinced us he would take us to a club outside of town. it turned out to be a local gay club full of lao men on the pull who were very happy to see the boys i came with. ; ) they all got chatted up it was so funny, but all in good spirits and not dodgy at all. we danced for another couple of hours and were all in a big circle with the locals having dancing competitions. really good fun. woke up slightly hungover this morning and am off to get some food to take on the bus in a sec. we leave for vang vieng (7 hours away) at 1pm (12pm now) on a minibus with the others. not really looking forward to it as the ride is supposed to be really bumpy and in the mountains. hmmmm.
will sign off now!
for map followers.
chiang kong - pakbeng - 7 hours
pakbeng - luang prabang - 7 hours
next stop: luang prabang - vang vieng - 7 hours
Sent 11th May - Chiang Mai
First time we have got to internet in a while - have been in the tiny town of Lampang which was really cool - we were almost the only westerners there!! we are the 'Fe Rang' (tourists!) although after our ten hour train ride we arrived at our guesthouse at 5am. no one was up till 7am so we just had to sit and wait outside and despite soooo much bug spray i got 40 bites all over my legs (i counted) so they have been giving me some serious grief over the past few days. when its hot and i'm sweating they itch so bad but i got some hydrocortisone cream from the pharmacy which really helped so they are calming down a bit now.
went to the elephant sanctuary on sunday - it was a special place which looks after elephants who have been sick or abused. They all seemed so healthy and happy it was nice. they also did a show where they played thai nursery rhymes on xylophones. painted amazing artwork with their trunks - we really wanted to buy some but couldnt have carried it - and all curtseyed to you! we fed the babies bananas and corn and they were so friendly would give you sweaty trunk kisses on your face! we also had an elephant ride through the jungle and waded through lakes with them.
In Chang Mai at the moment in northern Thailand. its really cool! and we met some American girls on the bus here who we had drinks with last night and they are really fun to be around. they are sisters in the early 30's though. its weird you see some groups of 18 year olds but most people traveling are in their 30's,40's, 50's, 60's!!! So we haven't made too many friends yet but we are off the beaten track at the moment as most young people only head to southern Thailand to the islands.
We just had dinner from a street vendor - some of the best noodles EVER!! we had so much food, Thai chicken soup with coconut and lemongrass, chicken pad Thai, stir fried vegetables and rice and it came to 2.50 for both of us!! on the way home though 3 stray dogs ran at me and grabbed my trouser leg and started to drag me away, now i hate cruelty to animals but i was pretty glad when i saw sams foot come out of nowhere and give the dog a kick on the snout to let me go and we had to run awya from them!
We can only really eat at night as its too hot during the day - 40 degrees C - and its a muggy tropic heat so very very sweaty - definitely the hottest temps we have ever been in - and the locals are all saying its unusually hot for this time of year. there is lots of thunder and crazy lightning but no rain yet - you cant even eat ice lollies because they melt too fast! its 7pm and i'm still sweating so much - hahaha! and haven't got a tan (YET) because its just too hot to go out in the middle of the day!
no cockroaches yet which is wicked but lots of geckos - they are everywhere!! but they are so scared of us that u don't have to worry about them crawling on you or anything and they eat the bugs so that's good. stayed in some nice guesthouses (and some not so nice) the one we were in yesterday was so shabby so we moved this morning and found a spotlessly clean one with amazing artwork, a pool and roof terrace overlooking the mountains. and for the same price of a tenner a night (500 baht).
We love our guesthouse so much so we might stay another couple of days. debating whether or not to do a cycle tour or go to the tiger kingdom (you can feed one month old cubs!!!) but as we are in a city its pricey so we may just walk around a lot more!! like 50 quid for both of us to do a day trip which is a lot considering meals are 2.50 for both of us and accommodation is 10 pounds a night. we are doing really well at sticking to our budget of 25 a day for both of us though!! we have been taking out ten days of money at a time to reduce bank charges as they charge you 5 GBP a time.
For map readers:
Next stop in a few days in Chiang Khong either Thursday or Friday- where we will pick up our Laos visas and book our long boats down the Mekong. Our boat down the mekong leaves from Huay Xai and goes 6 hours down the river to Pakeng where we stop for a night and then back on the next day for another 6 hours before we reach Luang Prabang in Laos.
Sent 6th May - Bangkok
here now. its thursday - 538 pm. (8 hours ahead of you) and HOT. so so so so so hot!
got here all fine-no sound or sight of any trouble at all - its fine. our room is clean which is nice so its all good.
had a little walk round earlier this morning but it was so hot and muggy we had to come back to our air con room - just about to head out again now. massive thunderstorms last night.
everyone is nice here. locals can speak good english. everyones trying to scam you to sell you a tour or some horrible tat but its cool, we are well aware how to deal with that. 'Mai chai' = NO!! : )
You can buy everything on ko san road! a tailored cashmere suit? deep fried cockroaches? a picture of you with an iguana on your shoulder? hmmm no!
met some cool people so far - soo many tourists around, brits, americans, french, german, spanish - the lot.
leaving here sat morning to catch a 10 hour train to lampang. which will be cool. more rural and will get to see some scenery on the way. a city is a city at the end of the day. bangkok is dirty, smelly and full of stray animals and scammers! hmmmm. very excited for lampang, will be visiting the elephant sanctuary on sunday.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Itiinerary...
....has been narrowed down - im sure it will change as we go but here is what we have so far:
Thailand
May 5th - Bangkok
May 8th - Lampang
May 10th - Chang Mai
May 13th - Chiang Kong
May 14th - Mekong River Boat
Laos
May 16th - Luang Prabang
May 18th - Vang Vieng
May 21st - Vientiane
Vietnam
May 25th - Hanoi / Halong Bay
May 28th - (Travel Coast of Vietnam)
June 6th - Ho Chi Minh City
Cambodia
June 8th - Phnom Penh
June 10th - Siam Reep
Thailand
June 12th - Kanchanaburi
June 15th - Chumphon
June 16th - Ko Tao
June 24th - Koh Pha-Ngan
July 1st - Ko Samui
July 7th - Ko Phi-Phi
July 10th - Ko Lanta
July 14th - Trang
July 15th - Songkhla
Malaysia
July 17th - Kuala Lumpur
Once we get to KL we will have a base with Sams cousin for a bit. May well catch a boat to indonesia and island hop, a flight to Borneo or a flight to Bangalore in India to visit a friend. All we know is the date we will end up in Singapore
Aug 28th - Singapore
New Zealand
Sept 2nd - Auckland for three nights
Australia
Oct 4th - Melbourne for seven nights
The rest is TBC
Thailand
May 5th - Bangkok
May 8th - Lampang
May 10th - Chang Mai
May 13th - Chiang Kong
May 14th - Mekong River Boat
Laos
May 16th - Luang Prabang
May 18th - Vang Vieng
May 21st - Vientiane
Vietnam
May 25th - Hanoi / Halong Bay
May 28th - (Travel Coast of Vietnam)
June 6th - Ho Chi Minh City
Cambodia
June 8th - Phnom Penh
June 10th - Siam Reep
Thailand
June 12th - Kanchanaburi
June 15th - Chumphon
June 16th - Ko Tao
June 24th - Koh Pha-Ngan
July 1st - Ko Samui
July 7th - Ko Phi-Phi
July 10th - Ko Lanta
July 14th - Trang
July 15th - Songkhla
Malaysia
July 17th - Kuala Lumpur
Once we get to KL we will have a base with Sams cousin for a bit. May well catch a boat to indonesia and island hop, a flight to Borneo or a flight to Bangalore in India to visit a friend. All we know is the date we will end up in Singapore
Aug 28th - Singapore
New Zealand
Sept 2nd - Auckland for three nights
Australia
Oct 4th - Melbourne for seven nights
The rest is TBC
Monday, 22 February 2010
Preperations in full swing!
The key things that need to get sorted before we leave:
Decide route and book flight tickets (Route decided and flights are being booked in 12 days!)
Insurance
Jabs
Credit Card
Various Cash cards, discount cards, phone sims.
Find a way to keep the mozzies at bay (definitely the most difficult of all!!)
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