I really should update these blogs more often as again I can barely remember what has happened since the last installment. But....
I made my way to Kampot from Sihanoukville where I checked into 'Magic Sponge' guesthouse where the owner was just as strange as the name. He had a creepy way of saying 'Oh you're welcome' when I thanked him for things which made me fear for my life ever so slightly. There was also no one else staying in the guesthouse which was slightly disconcerting. I went off to explore Kampot in the blazing heat, and discovered a very pretty river and not a whole lot else. Met a tuk tuk driver and let him persuade me to go to the Tek Chou rapids which was quite pleasant although all the water was brown and muddy. Nonetheless I had a little dip in the water (it was very hot) and watched some of the local kids fishing. On the way back my driver told me he wanted to take me to try some palm wine, so I agreed. He drove me along a bumpy dirt road to what appeared to be someone's garden, and we sat on the grass while a man climbed up a huge palm tree to collect the palm wine, which was brought to us in a bamboo shoot. It was a bit warm and frothy, and a bit strange but quite nice! Since there was still no one around in my guesthouse when I returned I took myself out for a solitary dinner and got an early night.
The next day I went on a tour to Bokor National Park. The description of the tour promised an hour's jungle trekking, amongst other things, but what the tour actually consisted of was a drive to some old abandoned buildings, and a look at a big ugly building site. Our guide talked to us for a long time about all the building works that were being planned, and then told us there was no point in doing the trekking as there were no animals to see and if he took us on a trek there would be no one to drive the mini van. So that was great. The one positive outcome of the day was that I met a couple of English guys (Bert and Simon), who later introduced me to a German girl (Johanna), so I spent the evening with them on a sunset boat trip along the river, and then dinner and drinks, rounding off the night listening to a local band playing at one of the bars. Unfortunately by the time I got back to my guesthouse the front gates had been locked. I went next door to the guesthouse Bert, Simon and Johanna were staying at to find that they were also locked out, but we all managed to climb over the barbed wire fence of their guesthouse and they let me sleep in their room for the night.
The next morning we all made our way to Kep, which is a very quiet and lovely seaside town. I rented a very rusty old bike and cycled around the town, visited the beach and the crab market, had an afternoon dip in the pool at our guesthouse and then had a delicious crab dinner with Bert, Simon and Johanna in the evening. The guys had to leave the next morning, but Johanna and I decided to visit nearby Rabbit Island. We stayed in a very rustic bungalow (a mattress on the floor) with an outside shower (bucket of water) for the bargain price of $2.50 each. Rabbit Island was very lovely and quiet, and we spent the day wandering around in the jungle, lying on the beach and getting massages. Unfortunately after a refreshing dip in the sea I got back to the beach to discover that my wonderful, GENUINE havaianas had been eaten by the local dogs.
Johanna and I made our way back to Kep the next day for one more night by the sea and then got a bus to Kratie in the hoping of finding some river dolphins. We found Kratie to be a fairly busy, very dirty market town with only one bar which was unfortunately closed on the day we arrived. We had a quiet night there, and then went off in search of dolphins the next day by way of a 10km tuk tuk ride passing through quiet villages with stilt houses and cute children and then an hour boat trip along the Mekong river. And dolphins we did see, which was very exciting. They didn't come quite as close to the boat as I would have liked, but the boat driver turned off the engine and as we sat there all around us we saw loads of Irrawaddy dolphins coming up for air - amazing. Back in Kratie the one bar in town was open that evening, so we rounded off the day with dinner and gin and tonics.
The next day Johanna and I parted ways and I made my way to Siem Reap... which I shall write about when I am less hungry. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Not wanting mango in Nha Trang, Drinking weasel poo in Dalat, Massive tanning effort in Mui Ne, Sipping 18p beer in Saigon, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Koh Rong (but it's Koh Right) - sorry I'm getting lazy with these titles
Hello all. I can barely remember all that I have done since I last blogged, but I will attempt to tell you about some of it... So after Hoi An Alice and I made our way to Nha Trang where we headed almost immediately to the beach for some more tanning time. This would have been a pleasant and relaxing experience if it weren't for all the women walking by trying to sell you things: 'You want mango?' 'Banana banana?' 'Massage for you?' One woman actually screamed WHY?! when we said we didn't want any mango for what must have been the tenth time. Still, we struggled on and managed to brown ourselves despite all of the challenges we faced. The next day we decided to venture out to Vinpearl waterpark/amusement park, which you had to get a cable car across the sea to. When we got there it was like a ghost town, with weird music blaring out as you walked past the shops, and huge plastic clowns (it turned out these were showers) dotted around the place. We tried out some of the water slides - some were fun and others were dangerous and a little bit painful - and then decided to dry off and head to the amusement park area, where we were fortunate enough to get there in time to catch the monkey show... This involved a group of monkeys dressed in brightly coloured shiny outfits cycling round in a circle on tiny monkey-sized bicycles. One monkey was riding a tiny rickshaw, whilst a smaller monkey sat inside holding a parasol. It was most surreal, although all the locals seemed to absolutely love it and were clapping their hands with glee. We left shortly after that. We went out in the evening and bumped into a couple of girls we'd met on the bus, so ended up having a wild old time drinking cocktails and playing connect 4 with the barman, before rounding the night off with a boogy in the very swanky Sailing Club.
After Nha Trang we made our way to Dalat for a bit of mountain scenery. The town centre wasn't anything too special to look at, but as we were walking around on day one contemplating getting a post dinner pastry we bumped into Emma, a girl we'd met in Halong Bay, which was very nice indeed, so we ended up spending the day with her. We wandered around Dalat's enormous market, buying strawberry sweets and coffee, and looking at (but not buying) the table of raw eyeballs that we came across. After that we went to have a look at The Crazy House, which is a weird Gaudi-esque house/hotel, built by a local lady with some zany ideas. Apparently when it was built a lot of the locals wrote to the architect, outlining their intention to tear the house down. Walking around the house was bizarre, and at times incredibly dangerous (there were some very high, very low-walled bridges, some of which led to unfinished bits of the building where there were just pieces of wood with nails sticking out). For a mere 30 dollars you could sleep in this house, but it didn't seem like anyone had opted for that, judging by the empty rooms and the general smell of damp and mustiness. On our second day in Dalat we went on an 'easy rider' motorbike tour with Mr Lee and Ocean, who were very nice and very entertaining. They took us away from the town centre, where we got to see some amazing mountain scenery, strawberry farms, coffee plantations etc. They stopped off at a nice waterfall which was again absolutely treacherous - I was only wearing flip flops and it was raining and we had to scramble over slippery rocks to get to the waterfall. They also took us to see silk being made, which was interesting but really quite disgusting as the whole factory was filled with boiled up silk worm carcasses, and also took us to sample some special 'weasel poo coffee' - this special treat is made from the coffee beans that are eaten and then pooed out by weasels. It was quite sour. After a long day of riding on the back of motorbikes we were very happy to go back and make use of our hotel's free hot tub on the roof.
After Dalat we got a bus to Mui Ne, for some more beach time. It turned out we weren't getting a bus, just a mini bus which was so full of people that one guy had to sit on a tiny stool in the aisle by the door for the whole four hour trip. To make things worse, the roads were quite windy, and I had one woman sat next to me puking into a plastic bag for a lot of the journey. To her credit, she managed to vomit very discretely. We spent a few days in Mui Ne doing little more than lying on the beach working on our tans and watching the kite surfers. We spent all of our beach time at Coco Beach resort, where the sun loungers were the most expensive of my life ($6), but for our money we did have a whole host of beach boys ready to run over to assist us if we needed our loungers repositioning, or if the water bottle was just a touch too far from our hands to reach it...We could probably have gone on lounging around like that for days, but Alice's flight home was fast approaching and we still had Ho Chi Minh City to see, so we booked ourselves on to a bus with the ticket we'd bought in Hanoi at the beginning of the trip. When we arrived at the bus stop the next day, however, we were told that our ticket wasn't valid and we would have to pay an extra $4 each. The woman in the office mumbled something about someone having called her to say we couldn't use our tickets, and just said that the guy who'd confirmed our bus reservation the night before 'didn't know'. We were very angry about this indeed and made a huge fuss, adamant that we absolutely would not pay anymore. However, when the bus was ready to leave the driver and his pal were of a different opinion and wouldn't let us on the bus. Furious, we watched it drive off and then stomped our way up the street where we found a different bus also going to Ho Chi Minh, so we paid $6 and got on that one...
Arriving in Saigon (it's too much effort to keep writing Ho Chi Minh City) were pleasantly surprised to find that we quite liked the city, and it felt like there was a lot more space to move than in Hanoi, where all the narrow roads and pavements were clogged with motorbikes. To be fair, the roads here were also clogged with motorbikes, but they were wider roads so it felt more spacious. It turned out Alison, who I'd first met in Vientiane was also in Saigon, so we went out that evening for drinks with her and her friends, rounding off the night by drinking buckets in deck chairs on the street. A few of the girls we were drinking with had warned us to be careful as drive by bag snatchings are very common in Saigon, especially late at night, so when it was time to leave we practically ran back to the hotel firmly clutching our bags to us. We made it back unscathed and unmugged, thankfully. The next day we went off to explore the sights of Saigon - wandered around the park, had a look at Saigon's Notre Dame cathedral, strolled by the reunification palace and visited the War Remnants Musuem, which was incredibly depressing as it featured a lot of pictures of Agent Orange victims. Still feeling a bit hungover after we left the museum we had to revive ourselves with an iced coffee and a doughnut at a nearby German bakery, before going off to explore the market. Shopping at the market was quite an amusing experience. We didn't come across any more eyeballs, but you couldn't walk past a stall without someone springing up from behind it shouting 'Hello lady you buy something? Looking please! How many you want? Good price for yooouu'. The next day was Alice's last day, and we got up early to go and visit the Cu Chi tunnels, which were used for fighting/hiding during the war. This was very interesting, although crawling around inside them was quite claustrophobic and not at all pleasant. We somehow resisted the temptation to fire a gun at lunchtime, although a lot of people were very keen which was obvious from the deafening sound of gun shots which made talking over lunch impossible. Alice left that evening which was very sad indeed, so to dull the pain of loneliness I met up with Alison and her friend Dominic, and went for a few drinks in a bar, rounding off the night with an 18p fresh beer which we drank on tiny plastic stools on the side of the road. We attracted the attention of a Vietnamese man keen to practise his English, and he took a particular shine to Alison, subtly making his intentions known by asking about the meaning of a word he had written on his hand, which turned out to be 'pubic'. I woke up the next morning with the beginnings of a flu, although managed to drag myself out of bed to go for lunch with Alison and Dominic, at a very posh restaurant somewhere away from the main backpacker district, and then for some expensive mocktails at a nice restaurant overlooking the river. When I got back, however, fever had set in again so I spent the rest of the night shivering in bed.
I got up the next day feeling a bit better which was lucky as it was the last day before my Vietnam visa expired so I had to get a bus to Cambodia. The six hour journey was pretty uneventful, although a bit confusing at the border as I was the only Westerner on the bus and no one else seemed to need to faff around with getting a visa. Arrived in Phnom Penh in the evening, and met up with Lilach, a friend I made in Vientiane, who took me off to a club to meet her friends and where we danced the night away. Despite only drinking about 5 drinks I woke up the next day with an absolutely awful hangover, and all I could do until midday when Lilach knocked on my door was lie in bed moaning watching Junior Masterchef Australia. Lilach dragged me out of bed though, and we went for lunch, lay on some grass in the middle of a busy street, and then found a delightful bakery which sold delicious ice cream, and which had comfy beds to lie on in an air conditioned room where they brought you minty fresh ice cold towels to put on your face. We stayed there for a while once we found it. I then went back to my hotel, thinking that I would finally undo my braids as they had become beyond disgusting. Considering how many plaits fallen out in the three months that they'd been in, I didn't think the process would take too long. 7 hours later, at midnight, weak from hunger and covered in sweat (no air con in the room) I finished doing my hair. Exhausted, I limped outside planning to go in search of food, and spied some of the guys I'd been out with the night before drinking on their balcony. I abandoned the dinner plan and went dancing with them instead, although I did have to leave fairly early to go and get some street food on the way home. I hadn't managed to see much of Phnom Penh the day before, so the next day I headed out to see the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng prison, and learn a bit about the Khmer Rouge regime. I did feel quite informed by the time I left, although also extremely depressed. I got chatting to a tuk tuk driver when I was eating lunch afterwards, and he told me a bit about his experiences. He was 5 when the Khmer Rouge came to power, and he lost his brother and sister, although when it all ended and he went back to his old house he was delighted to find that his cow was still there and recognised him. The tuk tuk driver told me about a nearby orphanage, and basically cajoled me into going to visit it and giving them some money to buy rice, which I did. The kids were very cute and the staff were very sweet. The next morning I went to visit the Royal Palace which was very beautiful but pretty expensive to visit and difficult to walk around in the absolutely blazing heat. After that I hot footed it to the bus station for my bus to Sihanoukville.
I arrived in Sihanoukville in the evening, and found the guys I went out with in Phnom Penh. I went out that night and there were absolutely hundreds of US navy guys in town.One actually sent over drinks to our table and then presented me with a rose, which I didn't think actually happened in real life... Unfortunately I was immune to his charms. The next day I lazed around on the beach and got assaulted by all manner of people trying to make me bracelets, do my nails, give me massages and thread my legs. Went out again in the evening and met a very lovely and very funny Irish couple on their honeymoon, so danced the night away with them. The next day I decided to go and visit one of Cambodia's islands, so got a boat over to Koh Rong, and it turned out Gill and Gerry (the honeymooners) were going too and staying at the same resort so I ended up spending most of my time with them. Koh Rong was amazing. Absolutely beautiful, and really quiet - there were just three resorts on the island and there didn't seem to be too many people around. I stayed at Paradise resort, run by an old German guy called Rudy who walked around smoking a spliff pretty much the whole time. His resort was really nice though, and the accommodation was just little wooden bungalows. I had dinner and many gin and tonics with Gill and Gerry, and we rounded the night off lying on the beach watching the lightning light up the sky. I got up the next day and went to explore the beach, a lot of which was completely covered in water, and the few bits of available sand was terrifyingly soft quick sand. I spent the morning swimming and clambering around on rocks looking at crabs and the afternoon reading and sunbathing before meeting up with the honeymooners again in the evening for cocktails and pizza. Unfortunately the otherwise wonderful experience was ruined slightly when I went to check out this morning, and Rudy was very angry with me for not having told him the day before that I was going to be leaving, as it meant he didn't have anyone to take my room. I apologised and said that I hadn't decided what my plans were before, and seeing as there wasn't much I could do about it I thought that would be the end of the conversation, but when I got up to pay for my breakfast he started going on about it again as if I was a naughty child. In the end I told him I didn't appreciate being spoken to like that and made a swift exit. I'm back in Sihanoukville today and achieved nothing more than having a lovely massage on the beach this afternoon. Off to Kampot tomorrow to continue my adventures.
And that concludes this epic blog, which I hope people are still reading since it takes me so long to write. Do let me know, by sending me all the latest gossip.
After Nha Trang we made our way to Dalat for a bit of mountain scenery. The town centre wasn't anything too special to look at, but as we were walking around on day one contemplating getting a post dinner pastry we bumped into Emma, a girl we'd met in Halong Bay, which was very nice indeed, so we ended up spending the day with her. We wandered around Dalat's enormous market, buying strawberry sweets and coffee, and looking at (but not buying) the table of raw eyeballs that we came across. After that we went to have a look at The Crazy House, which is a weird Gaudi-esque house/hotel, built by a local lady with some zany ideas. Apparently when it was built a lot of the locals wrote to the architect, outlining their intention to tear the house down. Walking around the house was bizarre, and at times incredibly dangerous (there were some very high, very low-walled bridges, some of which led to unfinished bits of the building where there were just pieces of wood with nails sticking out). For a mere 30 dollars you could sleep in this house, but it didn't seem like anyone had opted for that, judging by the empty rooms and the general smell of damp and mustiness. On our second day in Dalat we went on an 'easy rider' motorbike tour with Mr Lee and Ocean, who were very nice and very entertaining. They took us away from the town centre, where we got to see some amazing mountain scenery, strawberry farms, coffee plantations etc. They stopped off at a nice waterfall which was again absolutely treacherous - I was only wearing flip flops and it was raining and we had to scramble over slippery rocks to get to the waterfall. They also took us to see silk being made, which was interesting but really quite disgusting as the whole factory was filled with boiled up silk worm carcasses, and also took us to sample some special 'weasel poo coffee' - this special treat is made from the coffee beans that are eaten and then pooed out by weasels. It was quite sour. After a long day of riding on the back of motorbikes we were very happy to go back and make use of our hotel's free hot tub on the roof.
After Dalat we got a bus to Mui Ne, for some more beach time. It turned out we weren't getting a bus, just a mini bus which was so full of people that one guy had to sit on a tiny stool in the aisle by the door for the whole four hour trip. To make things worse, the roads were quite windy, and I had one woman sat next to me puking into a plastic bag for a lot of the journey. To her credit, she managed to vomit very discretely. We spent a few days in Mui Ne doing little more than lying on the beach working on our tans and watching the kite surfers. We spent all of our beach time at Coco Beach resort, where the sun loungers were the most expensive of my life ($6), but for our money we did have a whole host of beach boys ready to run over to assist us if we needed our loungers repositioning, or if the water bottle was just a touch too far from our hands to reach it...We could probably have gone on lounging around like that for days, but Alice's flight home was fast approaching and we still had Ho Chi Minh City to see, so we booked ourselves on to a bus with the ticket we'd bought in Hanoi at the beginning of the trip. When we arrived at the bus stop the next day, however, we were told that our ticket wasn't valid and we would have to pay an extra $4 each. The woman in the office mumbled something about someone having called her to say we couldn't use our tickets, and just said that the guy who'd confirmed our bus reservation the night before 'didn't know'. We were very angry about this indeed and made a huge fuss, adamant that we absolutely would not pay anymore. However, when the bus was ready to leave the driver and his pal were of a different opinion and wouldn't let us on the bus. Furious, we watched it drive off and then stomped our way up the street where we found a different bus also going to Ho Chi Minh, so we paid $6 and got on that one...
Arriving in Saigon (it's too much effort to keep writing Ho Chi Minh City) were pleasantly surprised to find that we quite liked the city, and it felt like there was a lot more space to move than in Hanoi, where all the narrow roads and pavements were clogged with motorbikes. To be fair, the roads here were also clogged with motorbikes, but they were wider roads so it felt more spacious. It turned out Alison, who I'd first met in Vientiane was also in Saigon, so we went out that evening for drinks with her and her friends, rounding off the night by drinking buckets in deck chairs on the street. A few of the girls we were drinking with had warned us to be careful as drive by bag snatchings are very common in Saigon, especially late at night, so when it was time to leave we practically ran back to the hotel firmly clutching our bags to us. We made it back unscathed and unmugged, thankfully. The next day we went off to explore the sights of Saigon - wandered around the park, had a look at Saigon's Notre Dame cathedral, strolled by the reunification palace and visited the War Remnants Musuem, which was incredibly depressing as it featured a lot of pictures of Agent Orange victims. Still feeling a bit hungover after we left the museum we had to revive ourselves with an iced coffee and a doughnut at a nearby German bakery, before going off to explore the market. Shopping at the market was quite an amusing experience. We didn't come across any more eyeballs, but you couldn't walk past a stall without someone springing up from behind it shouting 'Hello lady you buy something? Looking please! How many you want? Good price for yooouu'. The next day was Alice's last day, and we got up early to go and visit the Cu Chi tunnels, which were used for fighting/hiding during the war. This was very interesting, although crawling around inside them was quite claustrophobic and not at all pleasant. We somehow resisted the temptation to fire a gun at lunchtime, although a lot of people were very keen which was obvious from the deafening sound of gun shots which made talking over lunch impossible. Alice left that evening which was very sad indeed, so to dull the pain of loneliness I met up with Alison and her friend Dominic, and went for a few drinks in a bar, rounding off the night with an 18p fresh beer which we drank on tiny plastic stools on the side of the road. We attracted the attention of a Vietnamese man keen to practise his English, and he took a particular shine to Alison, subtly making his intentions known by asking about the meaning of a word he had written on his hand, which turned out to be 'pubic'. I woke up the next morning with the beginnings of a flu, although managed to drag myself out of bed to go for lunch with Alison and Dominic, at a very posh restaurant somewhere away from the main backpacker district, and then for some expensive mocktails at a nice restaurant overlooking the river. When I got back, however, fever had set in again so I spent the rest of the night shivering in bed.
I got up the next day feeling a bit better which was lucky as it was the last day before my Vietnam visa expired so I had to get a bus to Cambodia. The six hour journey was pretty uneventful, although a bit confusing at the border as I was the only Westerner on the bus and no one else seemed to need to faff around with getting a visa. Arrived in Phnom Penh in the evening, and met up with Lilach, a friend I made in Vientiane, who took me off to a club to meet her friends and where we danced the night away. Despite only drinking about 5 drinks I woke up the next day with an absolutely awful hangover, and all I could do until midday when Lilach knocked on my door was lie in bed moaning watching Junior Masterchef Australia. Lilach dragged me out of bed though, and we went for lunch, lay on some grass in the middle of a busy street, and then found a delightful bakery which sold delicious ice cream, and which had comfy beds to lie on in an air conditioned room where they brought you minty fresh ice cold towels to put on your face. We stayed there for a while once we found it. I then went back to my hotel, thinking that I would finally undo my braids as they had become beyond disgusting. Considering how many plaits fallen out in the three months that they'd been in, I didn't think the process would take too long. 7 hours later, at midnight, weak from hunger and covered in sweat (no air con in the room) I finished doing my hair. Exhausted, I limped outside planning to go in search of food, and spied some of the guys I'd been out with the night before drinking on their balcony. I abandoned the dinner plan and went dancing with them instead, although I did have to leave fairly early to go and get some street food on the way home. I hadn't managed to see much of Phnom Penh the day before, so the next day I headed out to see the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng prison, and learn a bit about the Khmer Rouge regime. I did feel quite informed by the time I left, although also extremely depressed. I got chatting to a tuk tuk driver when I was eating lunch afterwards, and he told me a bit about his experiences. He was 5 when the Khmer Rouge came to power, and he lost his brother and sister, although when it all ended and he went back to his old house he was delighted to find that his cow was still there and recognised him. The tuk tuk driver told me about a nearby orphanage, and basically cajoled me into going to visit it and giving them some money to buy rice, which I did. The kids were very cute and the staff were very sweet. The next morning I went to visit the Royal Palace which was very beautiful but pretty expensive to visit and difficult to walk around in the absolutely blazing heat. After that I hot footed it to the bus station for my bus to Sihanoukville.
I arrived in Sihanoukville in the evening, and found the guys I went out with in Phnom Penh. I went out that night and there were absolutely hundreds of US navy guys in town.One actually sent over drinks to our table and then presented me with a rose, which I didn't think actually happened in real life... Unfortunately I was immune to his charms. The next day I lazed around on the beach and got assaulted by all manner of people trying to make me bracelets, do my nails, give me massages and thread my legs. Went out again in the evening and met a very lovely and very funny Irish couple on their honeymoon, so danced the night away with them. The next day I decided to go and visit one of Cambodia's islands, so got a boat over to Koh Rong, and it turned out Gill and Gerry (the honeymooners) were going too and staying at the same resort so I ended up spending most of my time with them. Koh Rong was amazing. Absolutely beautiful, and really quiet - there were just three resorts on the island and there didn't seem to be too many people around. I stayed at Paradise resort, run by an old German guy called Rudy who walked around smoking a spliff pretty much the whole time. His resort was really nice though, and the accommodation was just little wooden bungalows. I had dinner and many gin and tonics with Gill and Gerry, and we rounded the night off lying on the beach watching the lightning light up the sky. I got up the next day and went to explore the beach, a lot of which was completely covered in water, and the few bits of available sand was terrifyingly soft quick sand. I spent the morning swimming and clambering around on rocks looking at crabs and the afternoon reading and sunbathing before meeting up with the honeymooners again in the evening for cocktails and pizza. Unfortunately the otherwise wonderful experience was ruined slightly when I went to check out this morning, and Rudy was very angry with me for not having told him the day before that I was going to be leaving, as it meant he didn't have anyone to take my room. I apologised and said that I hadn't decided what my plans were before, and seeing as there wasn't much I could do about it I thought that would be the end of the conversation, but when I got up to pay for my breakfast he started going on about it again as if I was a naughty child. In the end I told him I didn't appreciate being spoken to like that and made a swift exit. I'm back in Sihanoukville today and achieved nothing more than having a lovely massage on the beach this afternoon. Off to Kampot tomorrow to continue my adventures.
And that concludes this epic blog, which I hope people are still reading since it takes me so long to write. Do let me know, by sending me all the latest gossip.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Hounded in Hue and (w)Hole lot of Ants in Hoi An
You'll be pleased to hear that Alice and I survived the night bus to Hue, although it wasn't a particularly wonderful experience. We got picked up (about an hour and a half late) by minibus to take us to our bus, but the minibus was so full that a few people (including Alice and I) had to stand up, crammed in against the door. Got taken to our sleeper bus and found seats together, only to discover that one of them was absolutely soaking wet, and so were all the blankets. Niiice. But the driver produced a towel and some dry blankets so we settled down for our 14 hour journey. We were glad to have seat belts, because occasionally we would almost fly up and out of our seats - a stange sensation when you are lying down. I had a bit of trouble when I got up to use the toilet as the bus was lurching all over the place, and not only did the door not lock but it also kept swinging open while I was in there.
Anyway we arrived in Hue at about 9 in the morning, expecting to be greeted by a pick up from our hotel. Not only was there no one to meet us, but there were about 20 men all trying to hassle us and get us to go with them to their hotels. One in particular would not leave us alone, and even when I got angry and told him to 'PLEASE LEAVE IT NOW, OK JUST STOP NOW', this only encouraged him to go and get a leaflet about his hotel. But we made it to our hotel and checked in to our surprisingly delightful 12 dollar a night room.
In Hue we hired bikes and cycled around the city, and then went to the citadel (Hue's big hit) and walked around inside where there was the 'forbidden purple city' (former residence of the royal family way back when, and not remotely purple). That was really nice. On the way back we bumped into a Swiss couple also staying in our hotel so went for a boat ride on the river with them. The boat ride was odd; it seemed to just be someone's houseboat, although the only furnishings were some red plastic chairs and a TV with polystyrene around it. The ride wasn't particularly scenic, and once on board they tried to get us to pay for a load of extras which we didn't appreciate, but it was a pleasant way to pass an hour. Decided to leave after one night as we realised we were a bit pushed for time, so we left the next morning and got on a bus to Hoi An.
Arrived in Hoi An in the afternoon where it was delightfully hot and sunny. Walked around the beautiful, charming old town by the river, found a delicious ice cream shop, and generally maxed and relaxed. Got hounded some more in the market by people desperate to sell us everything under the sun which gets a bit tiring. There are absolutely hundreds of tailor shops in Hoi An, so we chose one recommended to us by our hotel and investigated getting some clothes made. I decided on a blazer and some chinos in the end. When we got back to the hotel after dinner I discovered an ant infestation on my bed which was deeply unpleasant. The next day we got motorbike taxis to the (very nice and quiet) beach and scorched ourselves all day long. Went back into town for another icecream, and then went out for a 12p glass of beer and some 75p cocktails - yum. Went to (a thoroughly cleaned, ant free) bed and woke up to find that it was absolutely pouring with rain, there was a power cut in the whole town and the ants had returned. After explaining for a long time that although 20 dollars might be a good price, we expected to pay that for a clean room without ants, we got moved to a much nicer room where we moped about for most of the day hoping the rain would stop. Hunger eventually drove us out, so we braved the rain which became absolutely torrential as soon as we stepped out and practically swam to dinner.
Woke up today to a sunny Hoi An so we wandered around the old town again, ate a final ice cream, and picked up our tailor made clothes. Now getting ready to get on another 12 hour sleeper bus to Nha Trang, where we hope the weather will stay nice as we need some more beach time.
EMAIL ME with all news big or small xxx
Anyway we arrived in Hue at about 9 in the morning, expecting to be greeted by a pick up from our hotel. Not only was there no one to meet us, but there were about 20 men all trying to hassle us and get us to go with them to their hotels. One in particular would not leave us alone, and even when I got angry and told him to 'PLEASE LEAVE IT NOW, OK JUST STOP NOW', this only encouraged him to go and get a leaflet about his hotel. But we made it to our hotel and checked in to our surprisingly delightful 12 dollar a night room.
In Hue we hired bikes and cycled around the city, and then went to the citadel (Hue's big hit) and walked around inside where there was the 'forbidden purple city' (former residence of the royal family way back when, and not remotely purple). That was really nice. On the way back we bumped into a Swiss couple also staying in our hotel so went for a boat ride on the river with them. The boat ride was odd; it seemed to just be someone's houseboat, although the only furnishings were some red plastic chairs and a TV with polystyrene around it. The ride wasn't particularly scenic, and once on board they tried to get us to pay for a load of extras which we didn't appreciate, but it was a pleasant way to pass an hour. Decided to leave after one night as we realised we were a bit pushed for time, so we left the next morning and got on a bus to Hoi An.
Arrived in Hoi An in the afternoon where it was delightfully hot and sunny. Walked around the beautiful, charming old town by the river, found a delicious ice cream shop, and generally maxed and relaxed. Got hounded some more in the market by people desperate to sell us everything under the sun which gets a bit tiring. There are absolutely hundreds of tailor shops in Hoi An, so we chose one recommended to us by our hotel and investigated getting some clothes made. I decided on a blazer and some chinos in the end. When we got back to the hotel after dinner I discovered an ant infestation on my bed which was deeply unpleasant. The next day we got motorbike taxis to the (very nice and quiet) beach and scorched ourselves all day long. Went back into town for another icecream, and then went out for a 12p glass of beer and some 75p cocktails - yum. Went to (a thoroughly cleaned, ant free) bed and woke up to find that it was absolutely pouring with rain, there was a power cut in the whole town and the ants had returned. After explaining for a long time that although 20 dollars might be a good price, we expected to pay that for a clean room without ants, we got moved to a much nicer room where we moped about for most of the day hoping the rain would stop. Hunger eventually drove us out, so we braved the rain which became absolutely torrential as soon as we stepped out and practically swam to dinner.
Woke up today to a sunny Hoi An so we wandered around the old town again, ate a final ice cream, and picked up our tailor made clothes. Now getting ready to get on another 12 hour sleeper bus to Nha Trang, where we hope the weather will stay nice as we need some more beach time.
EMAIL ME with all news big or small xxx
Monday, 3 October 2011
Very lazy Vientiane, Hellish trip to Hanoi and (not so) Sweltering Sapa
Hello! Losing a bit of momentum when it comes to writing this blog regularly as it is proving to be quite the time consuming task. Do let me know if you are reading this so I have some motivation to continue writing...
I spent a very uneventful 4 nights (I think) in Vientiane. Although the city was pleasant I wasn't a massive fan of it as it paled in comparison to Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng and there didn't seem to be much to do. Also I was sharing a dorm room with the most ridiculous man I have ever met. So I arrived in the evening and bumped into my friend, so went and got some tasty fried rice on a stick in the night market, then had an early night. I was in a three bed dorm; one of the beds was occupied when I went to sleep but the other guy was out. He was there when I woke up at about 8am the next morning, so we introduced ourselves. His name was Corey and he was from Tennessee (this was his first trip outside of Tennessee). He was in his early 20s. One of the first thing he asked me was if I minded if he smoked a spliff in the bedroom. I said I'd rather he didn't. He later told me his whole life story about how he had been planning to meet his girlfriend (of 6 months) in Vietnam so they could teach English together, he'd sent her 500 dollars and then she'd broken up with him, so he was angry and bitter, trying to proposition every girl he met and planning on finding work in Laos instead. He didn't lack confidence ('finding a job should be like shooting fish in a barrell', 'two weeks of training and I'm ring worthy' - on boxing), but he did lack manners and social skills (he told me I was unreasonably uptight when I said I didn't like people writing in my books and tried to smell my bag of dirty laundry). I could go on, but anyway his presence kind of marred my Vientiane experience. Other than talking to Corey I wandered around the city, visited the night market, people watched and watched the sun set by the river, but was a bit bored as there didn't seem to be much else to do and it would have taken me too long to get to anywhere else in Laos and still make it to Hanoi in time to meet Alice. I did have an amusing night out one night though, where we visited a bar where there was a live band playing YMCA, and finished off the night in a club on the second floor of a hotel which was full of lady boys, and which was playing Justin Bieber when I walked in; I danced the night away. Oh, and I also visited the Buddha Park one day, about 25km outside of the city, which was just a park full of Buddhist sculptures/monuments. Quite nice.
Anyway, I was glad to be leaving Vientiane, but very anxious about my bus journey to Hanoi, which I'd read bad reviews of (after I had paid for my ticket). I got picked up and taken to the bus station at 5pm, where I befriended some Dutch girls. They lent me a pen knife as I was having trouble opening a particularly pesky bottle of water. I then proceeded to cut my finger open and bleed all over the floor and the girls had to patch me up with steri strips... We got on board the 'VIP' bus, which was very far from VIP. It was a sleeper bus, so it had these weird fake leather seat things which fully reclined. No toilet though. The girls and I were forced to sleep in a row of 5 seats, rather than in any of the two seater sections as those were reserved for the locals, who clearly paid a lot less than we did. Sleeping in the row of 5 meant that the people in the row of 5 behind us had to clmb over us anytime they wanted to get out which was inconvenient. I was sat next to a local guy who seemed ok, but one of the Dutch girls was sat next to another local who tried to feel her bum in the night, until she screamed at him. Anyway we set off at about 6pm, stopped for dinner and a disgusting squat toilet break at about 9, and then drove to the border with Vietnam. We arrived at the (closed) border at 1.30am, where the driver turned off his engine, and where we sat without any aircon until 6.30am when it was light enough to get out and use the toilet. All the locals went promptly to sleep, with no qualms at all about spreading out and resting their legs all over us, snoring, and even playing music without headphones at one point. The bus was really hot and uncomfortable and absolutely stank of durian fruit as someone had put some in the luggage hold (it smells like sewage). I did not have a good sleep. We went through border control at about 7am, which was a disorganised mess with people pushing and shoving and absolutely no sign of any kind of system. Back on the bus where we got shouted at by the locals as 4 other girls and I decided we would all sit together on a row of 5 so we didn't have to have our personal space invaded by any men. We were supposed to get to Hanoi at 4pm, but the bus kept breaking down and a petrol smell kept pouring out so we didn't arrive until 7.30pm, 14km outside of Hanoi, where we had to get a mini bus to the city centre. Was very happy to be off the bus, and happy to find Alice waiting for me at the hostel. We went for some Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and a beer in the evening and then had an early night.
The next day we went out to explore Hanoi. Alice had booked us on to a free tour with a company called Hanoi Kids, where students wanting to improve their English take you around the city for free. We were taken around by two 21 year old girls who were simply delightful, and had ridiculously good English. Hanoi is absolutely mental. Motorbikes ALL over the streets so you cannot wait for a break in the traffic to cross the road, you just have to walk slowly and purposefully into the road and hope for the best. No traffic rules it seems, everyone just uses their horns a lot rather than brakes or good sense. It's quite treacherous, but also entertaining. The sound of horns all the time does get a bit tiring though. The old quarter was interesting, with it's narrow streets and people living their lives all over the pavements (impossible to walk on the pavements as people are cooking, playing cards, or even shaving their beards as I saw a couple of times). The girls took us to Ho Lao (I think) prison, where the French imprisoned a load of important Vietnamese people during their reign (I wish my head could hold the details of when this happened), and which was later used by the Vietnamese to hold American POWs during the Vietnam war. It was very interesting. Then we had a wander around the old quarter, looked at the sword lake (so called because of something to do with a turtle that took a sword and disappeared into the lake..?!) and went for lunch. The girls helped us order so we had a delicious selection of Vietnamese food including spring rolls and some kind of tasty honey beef. Then went to visit the Temple of Literature (was a university in the 11th century) which was pretty and interesting. We were glad to have the girls and their infintie knowledge as there wasn't a great deal of info written in English. Unpleasant incident on the way home. We were pondering what to do next, and a taxi driver was hanging around us trying to get us to go in his taxi. We decided to head towards a metered taxi, as some of the non meter ones are dodgy and rip you off, but this angered the man who had been hanging around so he stamped on one of our guide's feet. We walked off, and then the guy's mate came along and rammed the same girl in the legs with his motorbike. We hurriedly got into the metered taxi and shut the door, but motorbike man was still angry and he wrenched open the taxi door and violently kicked the same girl. It was horrible. We said goodbye to our Vietnamese friends after that, promising to add them on facebook - they were very sweet.
The next day we went on a trip to Halong Bay, which was absolutely marvellous, and it was blazing hot which was a surprise as it had been raining the day before. We were on a boat with three girls from my bus journey from Vientiane, and a few others. Halong Bay was really beautiful. We admired the view from the top deck of our boat, went to a cave and then went kayaking around the bay and rounded off the evening with some on board karaoke... Was more fun than I anticipated! Alice and I made a spectacle of ourselves in the evening by getting hysterical when we found a cockroach in our room and making the staff remove it (I let out some involuntary shrieks) but after that all was well. We were supposed to go to Cat Ba national park for some trekking the next day, but we had to go back to Hanoi because of an approaching typhoon, which was a shame.
Back in Hanoi we had som absolutely terrible rain so didn't achieve a great deal, despite our best efforts, although we did manage to sample 'coffee with egg' which the girls had recommended. Sounds awful, and I had been picturing scrambled egg in coffee... but actually it was really nice. Sort of like a sweet and frothy cappucino except stronger and creamier - delish. The following day it wasn't so rainy so we tried to get a bus to the museum of Ethnology which was a bit tricky at first but we made it on to the number 9, paid a cheap and cheerful 9p for our ticket and sat back feeling proud of ourselves. We were getting off at the last stop, so I fell asleep and was woken up half an hour later by Alice. I looked out the window and was dismayed to find that we were back where we had started. I just said 'shall we get a taxi then', which we did and made it to the museum where we learnt things about Vietnam's hill tribe groups and found an unexpected section on HIV - interesting but quite depressing. Went outside and caught a bit of a water puppet show, which was ridiculous. We felt like we were in some kind of dream... not a paticularly good one.
Had a night out one night with a girl I had met in Vientiane which was fun. We rejected the 1 pound beer in the bar as too pricey and found the same beer for half the price at a street stall next door (although admittedly it was warm and out of date) - gotta love a bargain. At about midnight we were told the bar was supposed to be closed so they crammed everyone who had been outside the bar drinking into what was already a very sweaty, packed bar and closed the shutter things. We had to bang on them to get out when we eventually wanted to leave...
After Hanoi we headed to Sapa on a surprisingly comfortable overnight train (didn't really sleep though for no apparent reason so we napped until about midday when we arrived). Sapa is very beautiful - amazing views wherever you look of green mountains and rice paddies. On our first day we went on a short walk to Cat Cat village, with a waterfall on route and some excellent scenery. Stopped off for lunch at a little tent/shack, and had a very tasty but modestly sized sticky rice in a piece of bamboo and some pork skewers. The next day we went on a 12km organised trek, led by a sweet hill tribe girl called Kho (or maybe Khu). She told us about how she gets up at 3.30/4am every day to cook. I couldn't be 'andling that. She also showed us a poisonous plant and told us that her brother ate some in order to commit suicide because he wanted to go to school and study but he had to get married instead. Quite a horrifying tale, but she told it quite matter of factly... The trek was very scenic and lovely, but quite tiresome and treacherous at times. A group of hill tribe ladies (some with babies on their backs) accompanied us and helped us all the way there. I wondered if they would be wanting a tip when we arrived, and as soon as we got to the village where we had lunch they whipped out their wares from their bags and tried to sell us everything under the sun. I was very grateful to my helper though, and also quite wanted a bag so let her sell me one.
Last day in Sapa today and then back on the sleeper train to Hanoi tonight. Then overnight bus to Hue tomorrow evening. Have a feeling we're going to be tired when we finally arrive in Hue!
Do send word from home and let me know all the goss.
xxx
I spent a very uneventful 4 nights (I think) in Vientiane. Although the city was pleasant I wasn't a massive fan of it as it paled in comparison to Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng and there didn't seem to be much to do. Also I was sharing a dorm room with the most ridiculous man I have ever met. So I arrived in the evening and bumped into my friend, so went and got some tasty fried rice on a stick in the night market, then had an early night. I was in a three bed dorm; one of the beds was occupied when I went to sleep but the other guy was out. He was there when I woke up at about 8am the next morning, so we introduced ourselves. His name was Corey and he was from Tennessee (this was his first trip outside of Tennessee). He was in his early 20s. One of the first thing he asked me was if I minded if he smoked a spliff in the bedroom. I said I'd rather he didn't. He later told me his whole life story about how he had been planning to meet his girlfriend (of 6 months) in Vietnam so they could teach English together, he'd sent her 500 dollars and then she'd broken up with him, so he was angry and bitter, trying to proposition every girl he met and planning on finding work in Laos instead. He didn't lack confidence ('finding a job should be like shooting fish in a barrell', 'two weeks of training and I'm ring worthy' - on boxing), but he did lack manners and social skills (he told me I was unreasonably uptight when I said I didn't like people writing in my books and tried to smell my bag of dirty laundry). I could go on, but anyway his presence kind of marred my Vientiane experience. Other than talking to Corey I wandered around the city, visited the night market, people watched and watched the sun set by the river, but was a bit bored as there didn't seem to be much else to do and it would have taken me too long to get to anywhere else in Laos and still make it to Hanoi in time to meet Alice. I did have an amusing night out one night though, where we visited a bar where there was a live band playing YMCA, and finished off the night in a club on the second floor of a hotel which was full of lady boys, and which was playing Justin Bieber when I walked in; I danced the night away. Oh, and I also visited the Buddha Park one day, about 25km outside of the city, which was just a park full of Buddhist sculptures/monuments. Quite nice.
Anyway, I was glad to be leaving Vientiane, but very anxious about my bus journey to Hanoi, which I'd read bad reviews of (after I had paid for my ticket). I got picked up and taken to the bus station at 5pm, where I befriended some Dutch girls. They lent me a pen knife as I was having trouble opening a particularly pesky bottle of water. I then proceeded to cut my finger open and bleed all over the floor and the girls had to patch me up with steri strips... We got on board the 'VIP' bus, which was very far from VIP. It was a sleeper bus, so it had these weird fake leather seat things which fully reclined. No toilet though. The girls and I were forced to sleep in a row of 5 seats, rather than in any of the two seater sections as those were reserved for the locals, who clearly paid a lot less than we did. Sleeping in the row of 5 meant that the people in the row of 5 behind us had to clmb over us anytime they wanted to get out which was inconvenient. I was sat next to a local guy who seemed ok, but one of the Dutch girls was sat next to another local who tried to feel her bum in the night, until she screamed at him. Anyway we set off at about 6pm, stopped for dinner and a disgusting squat toilet break at about 9, and then drove to the border with Vietnam. We arrived at the (closed) border at 1.30am, where the driver turned off his engine, and where we sat without any aircon until 6.30am when it was light enough to get out and use the toilet. All the locals went promptly to sleep, with no qualms at all about spreading out and resting their legs all over us, snoring, and even playing music without headphones at one point. The bus was really hot and uncomfortable and absolutely stank of durian fruit as someone had put some in the luggage hold (it smells like sewage). I did not have a good sleep. We went through border control at about 7am, which was a disorganised mess with people pushing and shoving and absolutely no sign of any kind of system. Back on the bus where we got shouted at by the locals as 4 other girls and I decided we would all sit together on a row of 5 so we didn't have to have our personal space invaded by any men. We were supposed to get to Hanoi at 4pm, but the bus kept breaking down and a petrol smell kept pouring out so we didn't arrive until 7.30pm, 14km outside of Hanoi, where we had to get a mini bus to the city centre. Was very happy to be off the bus, and happy to find Alice waiting for me at the hostel. We went for some Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and a beer in the evening and then had an early night.
The next day we went out to explore Hanoi. Alice had booked us on to a free tour with a company called Hanoi Kids, where students wanting to improve their English take you around the city for free. We were taken around by two 21 year old girls who were simply delightful, and had ridiculously good English. Hanoi is absolutely mental. Motorbikes ALL over the streets so you cannot wait for a break in the traffic to cross the road, you just have to walk slowly and purposefully into the road and hope for the best. No traffic rules it seems, everyone just uses their horns a lot rather than brakes or good sense. It's quite treacherous, but also entertaining. The sound of horns all the time does get a bit tiring though. The old quarter was interesting, with it's narrow streets and people living their lives all over the pavements (impossible to walk on the pavements as people are cooking, playing cards, or even shaving their beards as I saw a couple of times). The girls took us to Ho Lao (I think) prison, where the French imprisoned a load of important Vietnamese people during their reign (I wish my head could hold the details of when this happened), and which was later used by the Vietnamese to hold American POWs during the Vietnam war. It was very interesting. Then we had a wander around the old quarter, looked at the sword lake (so called because of something to do with a turtle that took a sword and disappeared into the lake..?!) and went for lunch. The girls helped us order so we had a delicious selection of Vietnamese food including spring rolls and some kind of tasty honey beef. Then went to visit the Temple of Literature (was a university in the 11th century) which was pretty and interesting. We were glad to have the girls and their infintie knowledge as there wasn't a great deal of info written in English. Unpleasant incident on the way home. We were pondering what to do next, and a taxi driver was hanging around us trying to get us to go in his taxi. We decided to head towards a metered taxi, as some of the non meter ones are dodgy and rip you off, but this angered the man who had been hanging around so he stamped on one of our guide's feet. We walked off, and then the guy's mate came along and rammed the same girl in the legs with his motorbike. We hurriedly got into the metered taxi and shut the door, but motorbike man was still angry and he wrenched open the taxi door and violently kicked the same girl. It was horrible. We said goodbye to our Vietnamese friends after that, promising to add them on facebook - they were very sweet.
The next day we went on a trip to Halong Bay, which was absolutely marvellous, and it was blazing hot which was a surprise as it had been raining the day before. We were on a boat with three girls from my bus journey from Vientiane, and a few others. Halong Bay was really beautiful. We admired the view from the top deck of our boat, went to a cave and then went kayaking around the bay and rounded off the evening with some on board karaoke... Was more fun than I anticipated! Alice and I made a spectacle of ourselves in the evening by getting hysterical when we found a cockroach in our room and making the staff remove it (I let out some involuntary shrieks) but after that all was well. We were supposed to go to Cat Ba national park for some trekking the next day, but we had to go back to Hanoi because of an approaching typhoon, which was a shame.
Back in Hanoi we had som absolutely terrible rain so didn't achieve a great deal, despite our best efforts, although we did manage to sample 'coffee with egg' which the girls had recommended. Sounds awful, and I had been picturing scrambled egg in coffee... but actually it was really nice. Sort of like a sweet and frothy cappucino except stronger and creamier - delish. The following day it wasn't so rainy so we tried to get a bus to the museum of Ethnology which was a bit tricky at first but we made it on to the number 9, paid a cheap and cheerful 9p for our ticket and sat back feeling proud of ourselves. We were getting off at the last stop, so I fell asleep and was woken up half an hour later by Alice. I looked out the window and was dismayed to find that we were back where we had started. I just said 'shall we get a taxi then', which we did and made it to the museum where we learnt things about Vietnam's hill tribe groups and found an unexpected section on HIV - interesting but quite depressing. Went outside and caught a bit of a water puppet show, which was ridiculous. We felt like we were in some kind of dream... not a paticularly good one.
Had a night out one night with a girl I had met in Vientiane which was fun. We rejected the 1 pound beer in the bar as too pricey and found the same beer for half the price at a street stall next door (although admittedly it was warm and out of date) - gotta love a bargain. At about midnight we were told the bar was supposed to be closed so they crammed everyone who had been outside the bar drinking into what was already a very sweaty, packed bar and closed the shutter things. We had to bang on them to get out when we eventually wanted to leave...
After Hanoi we headed to Sapa on a surprisingly comfortable overnight train (didn't really sleep though for no apparent reason so we napped until about midday when we arrived). Sapa is very beautiful - amazing views wherever you look of green mountains and rice paddies. On our first day we went on a short walk to Cat Cat village, with a waterfall on route and some excellent scenery. Stopped off for lunch at a little tent/shack, and had a very tasty but modestly sized sticky rice in a piece of bamboo and some pork skewers. The next day we went on a 12km organised trek, led by a sweet hill tribe girl called Kho (or maybe Khu). She told us about how she gets up at 3.30/4am every day to cook. I couldn't be 'andling that. She also showed us a poisonous plant and told us that her brother ate some in order to commit suicide because he wanted to go to school and study but he had to get married instead. Quite a horrifying tale, but she told it quite matter of factly... The trek was very scenic and lovely, but quite tiresome and treacherous at times. A group of hill tribe ladies (some with babies on their backs) accompanied us and helped us all the way there. I wondered if they would be wanting a tip when we arrived, and as soon as we got to the village where we had lunch they whipped out their wares from their bags and tried to sell us everything under the sun. I was very grateful to my helper though, and also quite wanted a bag so let her sell me one.
Last day in Sapa today and then back on the sleeper train to Hanoi tonight. Then overnight bus to Hue tomorrow evening. Have a feeling we're going to be tired when we finally arrive in Hue!
Do send word from home and let me know all the goss.
xxx
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Chiang Rai-Chiang Saen-Chiang Khong-Huay Xai-Pak Beng-Luang Prabang-Vang Vieng-Vientiane
Thinking of alliterative titles for all of the above places seemed like too big a task I am afraid.
So I met Sophie in Chiang Rai and we spent a day and a half exploring the small but nice town. Wandered around the night market, looked at a gold clock, ate a Thai sausage which was nice but was just a sliced sausage on a plate with some raw vegetables (that does not a meal make), and visited the White Temple. The temple was really beautiful, and completely different to any other temples I've seen. I was more than slightly perplexed by the paintings on the inside of the temple, which featured images such as the twin towers falling down, Spiderman, Superman and Neo from the Matrix, among other strange images, supposedly with some kind of symbolic meaning about reaching Nirvana but I didn't buy it. I then collected my laundry from the guest house, most of which had been dyed blue and therefore ruined, and we made our way to Chiang Saen, where it turned out there was nothing going on, not even the night market, which the Lonely Planet had promised us. We arrived too late to go to the centre of the Golden Triangle (where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet) so ended up having a quiet evening in our very jungly guesthouse (i.e. MASSIVE spider on toilet seat). We set off early the next day for Chiang Khong, which should have been a breeze as it was only 53km away, but which actually involved walking 2km down a road with our heavy bags on looking for the trucks to take us there, getting a taxi back down the road as we had walked too far and were too tired to walk back, and then waiting for about 2 hours for the truck to leave as the driver wouldn't go until it was so full that people had to hang off the back of it. We got dropped off somewhere half way, where we were told another truck would come to take us the rest of the way. This did not happen, so we had to charter a truck to take us there. We crossed the border to Laos in a tiny wooden boat which took about 2 minutes, and spent the night in quiet and not particularly interesting Huay Xai, before getting the slow boat the next day to Luang Prabang, stopping off at Pak Beng for the night on route. The slow boat journey was much better than expected; pretty comfortable and with absolutely beautiful views along the Mekong river. On the second day a group of locals who seemed to be moving house as they had so much stuff got on, and entertained everyone sitting around them by getting absolutely smashed on BeerLao, and playing a drinking game which involved spinning a ducks head in a sticky rice basket (whoever the head was pointing to had to drink). They were very friendly, offering cucumber to all the tourists and even trying to get us to join in on the drinking. Sophie and I spent 4 nights in Luang Prabang, which I absolutely loved. The city was really charming and beautiful, with amazing river and mountain views everywhere you looked, and some of the nicest people I have met so far on my trip. Days were spent wandering/cycling between eateries, drinking strong and sweet Lao coffee, sampling the Beer Lao, visiting temples and shopping in the night market. On our second night there we made our way to the nearby bowling alley where most tourists go once all the bars have closed, since everything closes at around 11pm in time for the midnight curfew. We expected the bowling alley to be a bar with some bowling on the side, but it really was just a brightly lit, standard bowling alley, where everyone was actually bowling. It was pretty funny though and we made some friends there. One evening just before it got dark we walked up the 300ish steps to Phousi hill and admired brilliant views of the city. On another day as we were on our way to go into a temple we got invited to have a beer with some locals inside their shop, where they tried to get us drunk in the middle of the day and told me I was Miss Luang Prabang. They were lovely and it was very amusing. One of the guys was a tuk tuk driver, so we agreed to let him take us to some waterfalls the next day, where we had a swim and saw some elephants.
After 4 nights Sophie had to leave to make her way to Bangkok for her flight home, so I left the next day and headed to Vang Vieng with an Australian guy called Glenn, who we met in the bowling alley. I was very sad to leave Luang Prabang though. The journey to Vang Vieng should have been 5 hours, but it actually took 8 on account of the recent mud slides that had blocked some of the roads as it had been raining so heavily. We were also delayed somewhat by the stop we made at a local market, where two of the passengers (one of whom later started driving the van) bought some live crabs, some dead birds and some chicken feet (the feet were a snack for the journey). Vang Vieng was as touristy as I expected, with every single bar/restaurant playing episodes of Friends and Family Guy on big screens, but the river/mountain views were again absolutely beautiful. On our first day Glenn and I rented bikes and cycled to a nearby cave. We thought the 7km journey would be a breeze, but unfortunately the roads were not really roads, just mounds of rocks, and because of the recent rain there were also some fairly huge mud puddles to wade through. It was really nice cycling through the villages though, and when we made it to the cave we were able to wash the caked on mud off our legs and have a swim in the lagoon. We then had to climb up a 200m practically vertical slope (there were steps so I may be exaggerating, but it was hard) to get into the cave, which was very dark and very slippery. By the time we got back into town we were filthy and tired, but it was good fun. The next day we decided to sample tubing, which is what everyone goes to Vang Vieng for. You hire a rubber tube in town, get driven to the river, get a boat to the first bar, then float to the next bars inside your tube where the staff throw you a rope to grab onto and haul you in. Optimistically, Glenn and I decided to share a tube, and I thought it would be a good idea to wear my bikini and just tie my dress around my neck so it wouldn't get too wet. Unfortunately the river was flowing faster than expected, and Glenn and I nearly drowned trying to get to one of the bars. We fell out of the tube, my dress floated off down river, and we gave the guy pulling us in rope burn. After that we just walked to the other bars.... We did manage to hold on to our flip flops and the tube, although it was pointless looking after the latter as in the end we made absolutely no effort to locate and return our tube, which meant we didn't get our deposit back (I think the tubing company makes a lot of money from tubes returned late or not at all). Aside from the near death experience the tubing was fun, the atmosphere at the bars was great, and the views were stunning.
I decided to leave Vang Vieng the next day as there isn't much to do there if you don't want to drink buckets again, so I got the bus to Vientiane on my own this afternoon. I arrived this evening, and luckily bumped into a girl I met in Pai, so we went and sampled some food at the night market. Haven't seen much of the city yet as it was dark when I arrived, so I am going to explore tomorrow.
Whoever is reading do keep me posted on news from you and from home. Lots of love xxx
So I met Sophie in Chiang Rai and we spent a day and a half exploring the small but nice town. Wandered around the night market, looked at a gold clock, ate a Thai sausage which was nice but was just a sliced sausage on a plate with some raw vegetables (that does not a meal make), and visited the White Temple. The temple was really beautiful, and completely different to any other temples I've seen. I was more than slightly perplexed by the paintings on the inside of the temple, which featured images such as the twin towers falling down, Spiderman, Superman and Neo from the Matrix, among other strange images, supposedly with some kind of symbolic meaning about reaching Nirvana but I didn't buy it. I then collected my laundry from the guest house, most of which had been dyed blue and therefore ruined, and we made our way to Chiang Saen, where it turned out there was nothing going on, not even the night market, which the Lonely Planet had promised us. We arrived too late to go to the centre of the Golden Triangle (where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet) so ended up having a quiet evening in our very jungly guesthouse (i.e. MASSIVE spider on toilet seat). We set off early the next day for Chiang Khong, which should have been a breeze as it was only 53km away, but which actually involved walking 2km down a road with our heavy bags on looking for the trucks to take us there, getting a taxi back down the road as we had walked too far and were too tired to walk back, and then waiting for about 2 hours for the truck to leave as the driver wouldn't go until it was so full that people had to hang off the back of it. We got dropped off somewhere half way, where we were told another truck would come to take us the rest of the way. This did not happen, so we had to charter a truck to take us there. We crossed the border to Laos in a tiny wooden boat which took about 2 minutes, and spent the night in quiet and not particularly interesting Huay Xai, before getting the slow boat the next day to Luang Prabang, stopping off at Pak Beng for the night on route. The slow boat journey was much better than expected; pretty comfortable and with absolutely beautiful views along the Mekong river. On the second day a group of locals who seemed to be moving house as they had so much stuff got on, and entertained everyone sitting around them by getting absolutely smashed on BeerLao, and playing a drinking game which involved spinning a ducks head in a sticky rice basket (whoever the head was pointing to had to drink). They were very friendly, offering cucumber to all the tourists and even trying to get us to join in on the drinking. Sophie and I spent 4 nights in Luang Prabang, which I absolutely loved. The city was really charming and beautiful, with amazing river and mountain views everywhere you looked, and some of the nicest people I have met so far on my trip. Days were spent wandering/cycling between eateries, drinking strong and sweet Lao coffee, sampling the Beer Lao, visiting temples and shopping in the night market. On our second night there we made our way to the nearby bowling alley where most tourists go once all the bars have closed, since everything closes at around 11pm in time for the midnight curfew. We expected the bowling alley to be a bar with some bowling on the side, but it really was just a brightly lit, standard bowling alley, where everyone was actually bowling. It was pretty funny though and we made some friends there. One evening just before it got dark we walked up the 300ish steps to Phousi hill and admired brilliant views of the city. On another day as we were on our way to go into a temple we got invited to have a beer with some locals inside their shop, where they tried to get us drunk in the middle of the day and told me I was Miss Luang Prabang. They were lovely and it was very amusing. One of the guys was a tuk tuk driver, so we agreed to let him take us to some waterfalls the next day, where we had a swim and saw some elephants.
After 4 nights Sophie had to leave to make her way to Bangkok for her flight home, so I left the next day and headed to Vang Vieng with an Australian guy called Glenn, who we met in the bowling alley. I was very sad to leave Luang Prabang though. The journey to Vang Vieng should have been 5 hours, but it actually took 8 on account of the recent mud slides that had blocked some of the roads as it had been raining so heavily. We were also delayed somewhat by the stop we made at a local market, where two of the passengers (one of whom later started driving the van) bought some live crabs, some dead birds and some chicken feet (the feet were a snack for the journey). Vang Vieng was as touristy as I expected, with every single bar/restaurant playing episodes of Friends and Family Guy on big screens, but the river/mountain views were again absolutely beautiful. On our first day Glenn and I rented bikes and cycled to a nearby cave. We thought the 7km journey would be a breeze, but unfortunately the roads were not really roads, just mounds of rocks, and because of the recent rain there were also some fairly huge mud puddles to wade through. It was really nice cycling through the villages though, and when we made it to the cave we were able to wash the caked on mud off our legs and have a swim in the lagoon. We then had to climb up a 200m practically vertical slope (there were steps so I may be exaggerating, but it was hard) to get into the cave, which was very dark and very slippery. By the time we got back into town we were filthy and tired, but it was good fun. The next day we decided to sample tubing, which is what everyone goes to Vang Vieng for. You hire a rubber tube in town, get driven to the river, get a boat to the first bar, then float to the next bars inside your tube where the staff throw you a rope to grab onto and haul you in. Optimistically, Glenn and I decided to share a tube, and I thought it would be a good idea to wear my bikini and just tie my dress around my neck so it wouldn't get too wet. Unfortunately the river was flowing faster than expected, and Glenn and I nearly drowned trying to get to one of the bars. We fell out of the tube, my dress floated off down river, and we gave the guy pulling us in rope burn. After that we just walked to the other bars.... We did manage to hold on to our flip flops and the tube, although it was pointless looking after the latter as in the end we made absolutely no effort to locate and return our tube, which meant we didn't get our deposit back (I think the tubing company makes a lot of money from tubes returned late or not at all). Aside from the near death experience the tubing was fun, the atmosphere at the bars was great, and the views were stunning.
I decided to leave Vang Vieng the next day as there isn't much to do there if you don't want to drink buckets again, so I got the bus to Vientiane on my own this afternoon. I arrived this evening, and luckily bumped into a girl I met in Pai, so we went and sampled some food at the night market. Haven't seen much of the city yet as it was dark when I arrived, so I am going to explore tomorrow.
Whoever is reading do keep me posted on news from you and from home. Lots of love xxx
Friday, 9 September 2011
Kicking back in Kanchanaburi, chilling in Chiang Mai and police raids in Pai
Ok so I've exaggerated a bit with the police raids in Pai but it made for a better title than anything else alliterative I could think of...
After Bangkok I moved on to Kanchanaburi, taking with me my new resolution to remain sober at all times. Kanchanaburi was very peaceful and pretty, although it being low season there weren't too many people around in the evenings. I stayed in a very sweet guest house with little bamboo huts and very nice views of the river Kwai. On the first day I went to look at the death railway bridge which had very beautiful mountain scenery but obviously a not so nice history of people dying whilst building the bridge. I saw a woman carrying her dog in a little backpack on the bridge which was most interesting, and met an Italian girl called Luna who I spent the rest of my time with. The next day we rented bikes and did some cycling in and around the city. We went to visit the WW2 cemetery which was quite moving, and learnt interesting things about the building of the bridge in the railway museum. Luna and I got a bit lost while cycling so when we saw a Westerner reading the lonely planet we followed him on his bike and hung around with him for the rest of the day. Went and visited a cave where there were lots of Buddha worshipping things placed randomly inside, and lots of bats. I met an English uni student called Eddy when I went out for dinner and kept him company in a reggae bar in the evening (I had an orange juice of course).
The next day I went back to Bangkok and then got on a sleeper train to Chiang Mai. The train was an absolute dream in terms of comfort and I got talking to an English girl and a German couple on the way which made the journey more interesting. Arriving in Chiang Mai at around 7am was nice as I got to see the monks walking the streets and collecting alms. The mountain scenery around Chiang Mai is beautiful, and I spent my days doing a lot of temple visiting and general wandering. Whilst sat down at one of the temples I was approached by a monk who asked if I would mind talking to him as he wanted to practise his English. I ended up talking to him for about an hour which was really interesting. He was very passionate about Buddhism and was very keen for me to learn the art of meditation. It got slightly awkward towards the end when I realised that we had been talking for about an hour, it was raining, and I was starving and he was showing no signs of wanting to end the conversation. I didn't feel it would be appropriate to mention that I wanted to go and get lunch as he had just been telling me that he is only allowed to eat one meal a day. I managed to extract myself though, and made my way to Doi Suthep, a temple on top of a hill with great views of the city. Whilst up on the hill I also visited the winter residence of the royal family, which I found distinctly unimpressive and not at all palatial. Maybe the Thai royal family are fairly low key in terms of their accommodation needs. The next day I did a cooking course, so I am now a culinary genius when it comes to Thai food. I particularly enjoyed the deep fried bananas which was a surprise given that I hate bananas.
Got a bit bored of Chiang Mai, even though it was nice, so I made a last minute decision to go to Pai, which I loved. Met some American girls on the way who I spent most of my time with. Pai is tiny but has a really nice, laid back atmosphere. We visited a hot spring spa resort on the first day which was quite pleasant except for the weird sulphuric smell and then went out with a big group of people from our guest house in the evening, including Tor, the owner of the guest house. When moving between bars Tor gave us all a lift in his tuk tuk, which we somehow managed to cram 10 people into, and also attracted a following of local street dogs. The police are really strict about licensing hours there, and whilst we were in one of the bars the owner suddenly turned off all the lights and music as the police were driving around closing bars down for the evening (hence the title). The next day the American girls and I tried to rent some motorbikes as we had an ambitious plan of driving ourselves to various sights around Pai. Some guys from the guest house gave us a practise session on their bikes first, which was just as well as we discovered that motorbike riding is hard. Luckily I managed to drive in a reasonably straight line down the road without driving through someone's fence and into their garden, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about one of the other girls I was with. The motorbike plan was then abandoned, in favour of riding on the back of other people's bikes. I found that much more fun and a lot less scary, and we had a marvellous day involving a visit to a canyon with amazing views and a swim in a waterfall. Then it was back to Chiang Mai for the night and then on to Chiang Rai the next morning, where I met up with Sophie, which was an absolute joy. We're going to get a reasonably early night today so Sophie can recover from her jet lag, and we plan to visit the golden triangle tomorrow, as part of our route to the border for our crossing into Laos.
I hope all is well with whoever is reading. Do send me your news and I will send more word soon.
xxx
After Bangkok I moved on to Kanchanaburi, taking with me my new resolution to remain sober at all times. Kanchanaburi was very peaceful and pretty, although it being low season there weren't too many people around in the evenings. I stayed in a very sweet guest house with little bamboo huts and very nice views of the river Kwai. On the first day I went to look at the death railway bridge which had very beautiful mountain scenery but obviously a not so nice history of people dying whilst building the bridge. I saw a woman carrying her dog in a little backpack on the bridge which was most interesting, and met an Italian girl called Luna who I spent the rest of my time with. The next day we rented bikes and did some cycling in and around the city. We went to visit the WW2 cemetery which was quite moving, and learnt interesting things about the building of the bridge in the railway museum. Luna and I got a bit lost while cycling so when we saw a Westerner reading the lonely planet we followed him on his bike and hung around with him for the rest of the day. Went and visited a cave where there were lots of Buddha worshipping things placed randomly inside, and lots of bats. I met an English uni student called Eddy when I went out for dinner and kept him company in a reggae bar in the evening (I had an orange juice of course).
The next day I went back to Bangkok and then got on a sleeper train to Chiang Mai. The train was an absolute dream in terms of comfort and I got talking to an English girl and a German couple on the way which made the journey more interesting. Arriving in Chiang Mai at around 7am was nice as I got to see the monks walking the streets and collecting alms. The mountain scenery around Chiang Mai is beautiful, and I spent my days doing a lot of temple visiting and general wandering. Whilst sat down at one of the temples I was approached by a monk who asked if I would mind talking to him as he wanted to practise his English. I ended up talking to him for about an hour which was really interesting. He was very passionate about Buddhism and was very keen for me to learn the art of meditation. It got slightly awkward towards the end when I realised that we had been talking for about an hour, it was raining, and I was starving and he was showing no signs of wanting to end the conversation. I didn't feel it would be appropriate to mention that I wanted to go and get lunch as he had just been telling me that he is only allowed to eat one meal a day. I managed to extract myself though, and made my way to Doi Suthep, a temple on top of a hill with great views of the city. Whilst up on the hill I also visited the winter residence of the royal family, which I found distinctly unimpressive and not at all palatial. Maybe the Thai royal family are fairly low key in terms of their accommodation needs. The next day I did a cooking course, so I am now a culinary genius when it comes to Thai food. I particularly enjoyed the deep fried bananas which was a surprise given that I hate bananas.
Got a bit bored of Chiang Mai, even though it was nice, so I made a last minute decision to go to Pai, which I loved. Met some American girls on the way who I spent most of my time with. Pai is tiny but has a really nice, laid back atmosphere. We visited a hot spring spa resort on the first day which was quite pleasant except for the weird sulphuric smell and then went out with a big group of people from our guest house in the evening, including Tor, the owner of the guest house. When moving between bars Tor gave us all a lift in his tuk tuk, which we somehow managed to cram 10 people into, and also attracted a following of local street dogs. The police are really strict about licensing hours there, and whilst we were in one of the bars the owner suddenly turned off all the lights and music as the police were driving around closing bars down for the evening (hence the title). The next day the American girls and I tried to rent some motorbikes as we had an ambitious plan of driving ourselves to various sights around Pai. Some guys from the guest house gave us a practise session on their bikes first, which was just as well as we discovered that motorbike riding is hard. Luckily I managed to drive in a reasonably straight line down the road without driving through someone's fence and into their garden, but unfortunately the same cannot be said about one of the other girls I was with. The motorbike plan was then abandoned, in favour of riding on the back of other people's bikes. I found that much more fun and a lot less scary, and we had a marvellous day involving a visit to a canyon with amazing views and a swim in a waterfall. Then it was back to Chiang Mai for the night and then on to Chiang Rai the next morning, where I met up with Sophie, which was an absolute joy. We're going to get a reasonably early night today so Sophie can recover from her jet lag, and we plan to visit the golden triangle tomorrow, as part of our route to the border for our crossing into Laos.
I hope all is well with whoever is reading. Do send me your news and I will send more word soon.
xxx
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Buckets in Bangkok
Hello. I made it to Bangkok in one piece, although the journey there was not the best experience of my life. I arrived at the bus station in KL in plenty of time for my 9pm bus. No one who worked there seemed to know which platform it was leaving from, although plenty of people saw fit to order me to walk all around the bus station with my heavy bag on. I asked all the bus drivers, no one knew where I was supposed to go. Eventually someone told me which platform it would be, so I sat there and waited. 9pm came and went but I was assured that it was ok and the traffic was just bad. At 9.30 I was told I had missed it, although I'm not convinced it ever turned up. Then one of the bus drivers shouted a lot on his phone in Malay and made me follow him around, then ordered me on to a different bus and told me to get off at somewhere I'd never heard of. He was very impatient when I said I didn't understand. It turns out I was being taken to a different bus station where I could pick up the bus I was supposed to be on, so that was ok. The bus dropped me off in the middle of nowhere at 5.30am, with no one around. Luckily a taxi turned up and took me to the border. Queued for ages twice because I was in the wrong place the first time but no one told me. Made it across the border, absolutely no westerners were around for any of this trip so far. Then I had to get an hour long mini bus ride to another town, where I bought my bus ticket to Bangkok. That bus journey was 12 hours. When I arrived in Bangkok there were very few people around again. A nice local lady told me which local bus to get, so I eventually made it to the backpacker district at about 10pm, absolutely exhausted despite having slept for most of the journey!
Haven't done much in Bangkok really, apart from eat and drink a lot, although I did visit the grand palace which was very grand. I met up with Charlie, the guy I first met in Singapore, which was nice. On my first day here a tuk tuk driver offered to take me to some sights, which actually meant he took me to a jewellery shop so he could get some commission. He then said he wanted to take me to another shop which I needed to look around so he could get a voucher for free fuel. He wasn't happy when I said no and insisted he take me to something worth looking at. He then took me to see a big Buddha thing, which was nice, but when I went back to get back into the tuk tuk he had disappeared, even though I hadn't paid him! I had no idea where I was, but was quite glad to be rid of him and I managed to walk back to my guest house so all was well. Also had an unfortunate experience with some women and some pigeons. As we were walking down the street they forced some bags of corn into our hands, insisting 'no you very lucky!' when I said I didn't want it. Then they ripped open the bags so we had hands full of corn so there was nothing to do except throw it to the pigeons, and then they demanded money for the corn. When I said no I thought the toothless old lady who had given it to me was going to hit me, and she actually started scratching one of the guys I was with who ended up giving her 3 quid! I was not impressed.
Went out drinking last night and today was a very bad hangover day, on account of the unnecessary number of buckets. I was very surprised when I looked at my watch and saw that it was 6am as I was leaving the bar this morning.. So I am now tee total, and my body is a temple.
I'm moving on tomorrow on my own, heading to Kanchanaburi, which I'm looking forward to. More updates to follow shortly!
Haven't done much in Bangkok really, apart from eat and drink a lot, although I did visit the grand palace which was very grand. I met up with Charlie, the guy I first met in Singapore, which was nice. On my first day here a tuk tuk driver offered to take me to some sights, which actually meant he took me to a jewellery shop so he could get some commission. He then said he wanted to take me to another shop which I needed to look around so he could get a voucher for free fuel. He wasn't happy when I said no and insisted he take me to something worth looking at. He then took me to see a big Buddha thing, which was nice, but when I went back to get back into the tuk tuk he had disappeared, even though I hadn't paid him! I had no idea where I was, but was quite glad to be rid of him and I managed to walk back to my guest house so all was well. Also had an unfortunate experience with some women and some pigeons. As we were walking down the street they forced some bags of corn into our hands, insisting 'no you very lucky!' when I said I didn't want it. Then they ripped open the bags so we had hands full of corn so there was nothing to do except throw it to the pigeons, and then they demanded money for the corn. When I said no I thought the toothless old lady who had given it to me was going to hit me, and she actually started scratching one of the guys I was with who ended up giving her 3 quid! I was not impressed.
Went out drinking last night and today was a very bad hangover day, on account of the unnecessary number of buckets. I was very surprised when I looked at my watch and saw that it was 6am as I was leaving the bar this morning.. So I am now tee total, and my body is a temple.
I'm moving on tomorrow on my own, heading to Kanchanaburi, which I'm looking forward to. More updates to follow shortly!
Friday, 26 August 2011
Boiling in Borneo and busting it over to Bali
So not quite as successful with the title of this one but you get the jist. Hello! My plans have started to fall by the wayside, unfortunately to the detriment of my bank balance but I am trying not to think about this too much (have spent double my daily budget so far but it can only get cheaper from now on, I am PRAYING).
So I spent a night in KL, before flying to Kuching in Borneo. I ended up going with one of the Irish guys from the Perhentians (Alan), which was a very nice turn of events indeed. We stayed in a very nice hostel, and spent a few days wandering round the town looking for meat on skewers, visiting a marvellous market with pets for sale, looking around some very rubbish museums (one of the highlights was a tiny photograph of a bike with the caption: 'bicycles are still used in Sarawak today'), and lying down to sleep at every possible opportunity (outside museums, on a square of grass surrounded by roads, on steps next to fountains - I blame the heat). Also went to an Orangutan rehabilitation centre where the orangutans are semi wild, and do their own thing most of the time but come along at feeding time for tourists to gawp at. I enjoyed that a lot and it was cheap! The entry fee was about 60p. We then waited for about an hour and a half for the return bus to turn up, before a kind man in a mini van told us we were waiting in the wrong place and drove us about a mile down the road to the right place. That was good, especially as the bus stop was by a market where we were able to buy more meat on skewers. Also visited Bako national park and spent a night there. Did a couple of treks, including one that led to a very beautiful secluded beach. Had a little swim in the sea and when I came back some monkeys had chucked my stuff around but luckily all they took was an empty food bag. I was supposed to head up to Kota Kinabalu, but unfortunately I somehow failed to organise myself properly to do that. Probably should have done that since I had a flight booked out of there, but never mind. I then made an impulse decision to go with Alan to Bali, where he was meeting his friends I met on the Perhentians. Trying not to think about the cost of that. We flew to Bali and then the next day got a slow boat and then a mini van and then another boat to an island called Gili Trawangan. The whole journey took about 8 hours. Gili T was very beautiful and relaxing. I was quite charmed by the little horse drawn carts jangling around the island all day long. Ate lots of good fish and delicious Gili Gelato, drank lots of local rum and generally had a relaxing old time. The accommodation was fairly disgusting (the toilet only flushed if you filled the cistern up with the shower first, there was no sink and they didn't bother to empty the bathroom bin before I arrived) but it only cost me 3.50 a night so I just tried not to spend too much time there.
After the Gilis we headed back to Bali. We splashed out on the fast boat for that as it only took an hour instead of 8 but it was awful. We were sat near the back and the fumes from the 5 engines, lack of fresh air and the ridiculously bumpy journey left me feeling terrible. We spent the last couple of nights in Kuta as it was near the airport. Kuta has a bit of a bad rep (I think it's like Ibiza for Australians) but I thought it was ok. Lots of surfers and market stalls, and a beach for me to lie on so I was happy. Went out in the evening for one of the guy's bdays and found a place that did free drinks between 10 and 11 and had free food. Took advantage of that!
Am now back in KL for the fourth time, and am having a day of catching up on emails. Parted ways with the Irish guys this morning after 3 hours sleep and got a 6am flight. I'm getting two buses to Thailand tonight at 9pm. The whole thing will probably take about 24 hours. I will stock up on snacks after the last hungry bus journey. Looking forward to Thailand though.
Send more word from blighty and from your fine selves.
Lots of love xxxxd
So I spent a night in KL, before flying to Kuching in Borneo. I ended up going with one of the Irish guys from the Perhentians (Alan), which was a very nice turn of events indeed. We stayed in a very nice hostel, and spent a few days wandering round the town looking for meat on skewers, visiting a marvellous market with pets for sale, looking around some very rubbish museums (one of the highlights was a tiny photograph of a bike with the caption: 'bicycles are still used in Sarawak today'), and lying down to sleep at every possible opportunity (outside museums, on a square of grass surrounded by roads, on steps next to fountains - I blame the heat). Also went to an Orangutan rehabilitation centre where the orangutans are semi wild, and do their own thing most of the time but come along at feeding time for tourists to gawp at. I enjoyed that a lot and it was cheap! The entry fee was about 60p. We then waited for about an hour and a half for the return bus to turn up, before a kind man in a mini van told us we were waiting in the wrong place and drove us about a mile down the road to the right place. That was good, especially as the bus stop was by a market where we were able to buy more meat on skewers. Also visited Bako national park and spent a night there. Did a couple of treks, including one that led to a very beautiful secluded beach. Had a little swim in the sea and when I came back some monkeys had chucked my stuff around but luckily all they took was an empty food bag. I was supposed to head up to Kota Kinabalu, but unfortunately I somehow failed to organise myself properly to do that. Probably should have done that since I had a flight booked out of there, but never mind. I then made an impulse decision to go with Alan to Bali, where he was meeting his friends I met on the Perhentians. Trying not to think about the cost of that. We flew to Bali and then the next day got a slow boat and then a mini van and then another boat to an island called Gili Trawangan. The whole journey took about 8 hours. Gili T was very beautiful and relaxing. I was quite charmed by the little horse drawn carts jangling around the island all day long. Ate lots of good fish and delicious Gili Gelato, drank lots of local rum and generally had a relaxing old time. The accommodation was fairly disgusting (the toilet only flushed if you filled the cistern up with the shower first, there was no sink and they didn't bother to empty the bathroom bin before I arrived) but it only cost me 3.50 a night so I just tried not to spend too much time there.
After the Gilis we headed back to Bali. We splashed out on the fast boat for that as it only took an hour instead of 8 but it was awful. We were sat near the back and the fumes from the 5 engines, lack of fresh air and the ridiculously bumpy journey left me feeling terrible. We spent the last couple of nights in Kuta as it was near the airport. Kuta has a bit of a bad rep (I think it's like Ibiza for Australians) but I thought it was ok. Lots of surfers and market stalls, and a beach for me to lie on so I was happy. Went out in the evening for one of the guy's bdays and found a place that did free drinks between 10 and 11 and had free food. Took advantage of that!
Am now back in KL for the fourth time, and am having a day of catching up on emails. Parted ways with the Irish guys this morning after 3 hours sleep and got a 6am flight. I'm getting two buses to Thailand tonight at 9pm. The whole thing will probably take about 24 hours. I will stock up on snacks after the last hungry bus journey. Looking forward to Thailand though.
Send more word from blighty and from your fine selves.
Lots of love xxxxd
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Melting in Malaysia
Hello!
As you may have already worked out I am now in Malaysia. After I left Singapore I went to Melaka where I spent a couple of nights in a delightful little hostel. Melaka was teeny tiny but quite charming. Lots of colonial history and pretty churches etc and plenty museums to feed my enquiring mind. Some of the museums were better than others; I wasn't a big fan of the literature museum which pretty much just consisted of laminated text about various Malay authors and where they grew up. It was the start of Ramadan when I arrived, and where I was staying was right next to where they do the call to prayer in the morning and evening, so I had that to wake me up at around 5.30am each day. From Melaka I went on to Kuala Lumpur, where I met a Canadian girl on a shopping mission so I ended up getting an excellent insight into the workings of shopping malls in KL (they're pretty much exactly the same as anywhere Western except the food courts are better). Aside from shopping I also visited the Lake Gardens (nice), the Petronas towers (impressive from the outside, couldn't be bothered to queue up at 8.30am to get a ticket to go up to the top...), and just generally wandered round examining markets and mosques. Also had a fish spa nibbling experience which was exceedingly tickly but nice, and a lot cheaper than in London (I think I paid 2 pounds). Had a wild night out on my last night, which started off in the Sky Bar with views of the Petronas towers and then moved to somewhere cheaper where it was happy hour all night.
After that I moved on to the Cameron Highlands with Andy, an Australian guy I met in KL. Stayed in a dingy guest house with grumpy staff, visited tea plantations (very beautiful), and went on a rainforest trek led by a topless, handlebar moustache-wearing guide with scary tattoos and some kind of animal horns on the front of his 4x4. The trek was good - got to see the Rafflesia flower in bloom, and had a little dip in a waterfall, then stopped off in a slightly dodgy Indian restaurant on the way home. The town where we were staying was really dead in the evenings which was a bit dull, especially as I wasn't keen to get back to my guest house too early, but we found a nicer hostel with a bar where we met some English girls (these Brits get everywhere) and spent the night playing cards and drinking beer.
The next morning we got the mini bus to Kuala Besut, and then the ferry to the Perhentian islands. The 6 hour mini bus ride was fairly awful, on account of the bumpy winding roads, my head repeatedly banging against the metal bar on the window, and my recently acquired travel sickness, but I made it in one piece. We stayed on Long Beach on Kecil island which was postcard beautiful but not at all long, and where all the guests were backpackers around my age. I went snorkelling on day two (and burnt my back) and saw and fed some pleasing tropical fish, sharks (didn't feed those) and a giant turtle. Days were spent scorching myself on the beach and occasionally mustering up the strength to get some food or a drink, and evenings were spent at the monkey bar listening to the charming local band and drinking 'monkey juice' (some kind of unidentified spirit that's a bit like rum that all the locals love - very tasty). All the people I spoke to were delightful, including Ladin (I can only guess at the spelling), a local boy who taught me his dance moves at the beach bar, and a group of Irish guys who were all very amusing. I could quite easily have stayed there for longer, if it wasn't for the flight from Borneo to Bangkok which is already booked, so I made my way back to KL today and am flying to Kuching tomorrow. The bus journey was 9 hours, but the long distance buses are much nicer than any we have in England so it was peachy. It would have been peachier if we could have bought some food on the way, but since it is Ramadan nowhere was selling anything to eat or drink.
Having a great time but I must have word from my cherished ones. Send me your tales from home and tell me things about the rioting! Absurd!
Lots of love! xxxx
As you may have already worked out I am now in Malaysia. After I left Singapore I went to Melaka where I spent a couple of nights in a delightful little hostel. Melaka was teeny tiny but quite charming. Lots of colonial history and pretty churches etc and plenty museums to feed my enquiring mind. Some of the museums were better than others; I wasn't a big fan of the literature museum which pretty much just consisted of laminated text about various Malay authors and where they grew up. It was the start of Ramadan when I arrived, and where I was staying was right next to where they do the call to prayer in the morning and evening, so I had that to wake me up at around 5.30am each day. From Melaka I went on to Kuala Lumpur, where I met a Canadian girl on a shopping mission so I ended up getting an excellent insight into the workings of shopping malls in KL (they're pretty much exactly the same as anywhere Western except the food courts are better). Aside from shopping I also visited the Lake Gardens (nice), the Petronas towers (impressive from the outside, couldn't be bothered to queue up at 8.30am to get a ticket to go up to the top...), and just generally wandered round examining markets and mosques. Also had a fish spa nibbling experience which was exceedingly tickly but nice, and a lot cheaper than in London (I think I paid 2 pounds). Had a wild night out on my last night, which started off in the Sky Bar with views of the Petronas towers and then moved to somewhere cheaper where it was happy hour all night.
After that I moved on to the Cameron Highlands with Andy, an Australian guy I met in KL. Stayed in a dingy guest house with grumpy staff, visited tea plantations (very beautiful), and went on a rainforest trek led by a topless, handlebar moustache-wearing guide with scary tattoos and some kind of animal horns on the front of his 4x4. The trek was good - got to see the Rafflesia flower in bloom, and had a little dip in a waterfall, then stopped off in a slightly dodgy Indian restaurant on the way home. The town where we were staying was really dead in the evenings which was a bit dull, especially as I wasn't keen to get back to my guest house too early, but we found a nicer hostel with a bar where we met some English girls (these Brits get everywhere) and spent the night playing cards and drinking beer.
The next morning we got the mini bus to Kuala Besut, and then the ferry to the Perhentian islands. The 6 hour mini bus ride was fairly awful, on account of the bumpy winding roads, my head repeatedly banging against the metal bar on the window, and my recently acquired travel sickness, but I made it in one piece. We stayed on Long Beach on Kecil island which was postcard beautiful but not at all long, and where all the guests were backpackers around my age. I went snorkelling on day two (and burnt my back) and saw and fed some pleasing tropical fish, sharks (didn't feed those) and a giant turtle. Days were spent scorching myself on the beach and occasionally mustering up the strength to get some food or a drink, and evenings were spent at the monkey bar listening to the charming local band and drinking 'monkey juice' (some kind of unidentified spirit that's a bit like rum that all the locals love - very tasty). All the people I spoke to were delightful, including Ladin (I can only guess at the spelling), a local boy who taught me his dance moves at the beach bar, and a group of Irish guys who were all very amusing. I could quite easily have stayed there for longer, if it wasn't for the flight from Borneo to Bangkok which is already booked, so I made my way back to KL today and am flying to Kuching tomorrow. The bus journey was 9 hours, but the long distance buses are much nicer than any we have in England so it was peachy. It would have been peachier if we could have bought some food on the way, but since it is Ramadan nowhere was selling anything to eat or drink.
Having a great time but I must have word from my cherished ones. Send me your tales from home and tell me things about the rioting! Absurd!
Lots of love! xxxx
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Sweating in Singapore
Hello friends!
I hope all is well with each and every one of you. I have been having a jolly time in Singapore, though I am often bathed in a fine layer of sweat. Matt's house is a dream pad, and his dad has been an excellent host. On the first night he took me for a drink on the roof of the cricket club and then dinner which was delightful. The next day I bought a ticket for the open top bus tour and zoomed around the sights, including the Singapore flyer (S'pore's equivalent of the London Eye), and Chinatown. Whilst in the Chinatown Heritage Centre I got talking to a guy from York, so he and I went for some noodles and a beer and then I joined him and some people from his hostel in Ku De Ta bar on the top floor of the Marina Bay Sands (look it up, it's splendid). It was ladies night so the first drink was free, but unfortunately after that I spent 26 dollars on a gin and tonic, and just a bit less on a corona... Oh well, it was worth it for the spectacular view and banging choons. Since then I have also been to the botanic gardens and a couple of other museums, including Battle Box, all about WW2, where I met a nice Indian man called Dave who was very interested in me because I'm English and he served in the British army. He made me promise to look him up next time I am in Singapore so that he can take me out for a beer! He did imply that I was fat though, saying 'oh that's why you...' and squeezing my arm when I said I had been enjoying the food here :(
I have just got back from the Raffles hotel where I supped on a Singapore sling. Off to Malaysia tomorrow morning (first stop Melaka), so I shall be bidding farewell to the life of luxury.
If anyone has remembered to read this, do send me a message and word from blighty.
Much love xxx
I hope all is well with each and every one of you. I have been having a jolly time in Singapore, though I am often bathed in a fine layer of sweat. Matt's house is a dream pad, and his dad has been an excellent host. On the first night he took me for a drink on the roof of the cricket club and then dinner which was delightful. The next day I bought a ticket for the open top bus tour and zoomed around the sights, including the Singapore flyer (S'pore's equivalent of the London Eye), and Chinatown. Whilst in the Chinatown Heritage Centre I got talking to a guy from York, so he and I went for some noodles and a beer and then I joined him and some people from his hostel in Ku De Ta bar on the top floor of the Marina Bay Sands (look it up, it's splendid). It was ladies night so the first drink was free, but unfortunately after that I spent 26 dollars on a gin and tonic, and just a bit less on a corona... Oh well, it was worth it for the spectacular view and banging choons. Since then I have also been to the botanic gardens and a couple of other museums, including Battle Box, all about WW2, where I met a nice Indian man called Dave who was very interested in me because I'm English and he served in the British army. He made me promise to look him up next time I am in Singapore so that he can take me out for a beer! He did imply that I was fat though, saying 'oh that's why you...' and squeezing my arm when I said I had been enjoying the food here :(
I have just got back from the Raffles hotel where I supped on a Singapore sling. Off to Malaysia tomorrow morning (first stop Melaka), so I shall be bidding farewell to the life of luxury.
If anyone has remembered to read this, do send me a message and word from blighty.
Much love xxx
Sunday, 24 July 2011
T minus not very many hours
This is mainly a practice blog but thanks to any keen readers. I'm off tomorrow and shall be posting updates here, please read them and send me word from home!
xxx
xxx
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