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.
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