i am now back in bangkok, again, and each time i return it feels more relaxed and comfortable. i will admit now, as i dont think i did it when i first got here, that when i first arrived it scared the crap outta me, but now - me being the experianced traveller i am i kinda like it.
pattaya i didnt like so much, i think i am about 40 years to young to fully appreciate it for what it is. although plenty of westerners, of a certain age, seemed to enjoy it. so i only stayed a couple of nights and got back here on saturday. did some crazy shopping and bought enough clothes to ensure that i had to buy a cheapo bag to transport them back home.
i got introduced to the craziest street in bangkok - soi cowboy - by the ex-number 1 in germany at table tennis and have spent a couple of nights really 'living it up' before i go back. also found a nice little indian restaurant which is showing the cricket and so have been camped there the last 2 days, praying for the good old english weather to help us out. touch wood it looks like it might just do it for us.
so its my last night in bangkok and to be honest i am planning to go out on a high - my plane leaves tomorrow night at 6 so i figure i have all day to sleep off whatever i do tonight and it would be a good way to finish the trip off.
so as this journey draws to a close i thought i might do a list of my high and low lights. so;
Thailand
highs - Ko Phi Phi, tiger temple at khanchanaburi, jungle treking, oh and the thai lasses
lows - stupidly long bus journeys
Laos
highs - tubing in vang vieng, fast boat to luang prabang
lows - being sick out of a bus window
Vietnam
highs - doing my padi course, nha trang, shooting a double barrel shot gun and an ak47
lows - halong bay, 3rd degree burns on my chest
Cambodia
highs - killing fields
lows - bed bugs and everything else really
Malaysia
highs - teman negra, shopping in KL
lows - perthian islands
i have really enjoyed my time here and hopefully i will never forget it - although my memory is friggin useless. anyway it might give me an excuse to come back.
to all those i have met, i thank you - for without you it wouldnt have been the same. dont get me wrong - i didnt like all of you, and you do meet alot of idiots over here (mainly english it has to be said) - but i wouldnt have changed it.
maybe see you next time - looking at going to the following places, hopefully sooner rather than later - central america, south africa, europe, canada, south america, india..............................
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]]>when i got to khanchanburi i managed to find a cheapo room, near the river kwai. first thing that struck me was the size of place in general - they advertise it as a little town when in reality its a decent size. the main draw for me of going at all was the tiger temple run by monks, where you get to sit and stroke etc wild tigers. i have met so many people who have done it and said that its an awesome thing to do. so when i got there i looked into it striaght away and was told that now no one is going there because of a dispute with the tour companies. nightmare and i was gutted. a couple of days later i made enquires and found that if you get a taxi they might take you.
in the end it took me standing on the street for a couple of hours flagging down random folks to get one booked. the only other problem was a lack of people to go with me - in order to share the cost of it. went back to the guesthouse and basically acted as a tour guide for the temple and managed to get 5 other people to come along with me. result.
the day was really good and the tigers were great. got a few pictures of me stroking them and cuddling them - wild, non chained tigers. hopefully the disposable camera did its job and they will come out ok. afetr we return 'my' group went out for a few drinks and a meal and i felt like a tour operator - although no one gave me a tip! that night two of them, an aussie couple, stayed up with me to watch the england game and spent a small fortune drinking sangsom. all three ofus felt shocking yesterday on the trip back to bangkok, before we split and i went to pattaya.
i did a tour of hell fire pass the historical site, erawan waterfalls and then a 2 hour train ride back along the railway and over the bridge. it was pretty good and very cheap - last minute and cancellation of another trip meant they gave it me for half what it should have been.
the waterfalls were probably the highlight, as it is a 7 stepped jobby. the walk upto the 7th step was long and steep but worth it for the swimming. no one tells you about the fish, i mean you can see them, some pretty big but no one tells you what they do. the little buggers bite you, well clean you as you sat there, which was strange/painful/strangely nice.
my cheapo room turned out to be a bit of a nightmare really - i got bitten badly everynight by ants on my feet - again. so they are back to being a real mess. thats one thing i will def not miss about asia.
so i think i will stay here tonight and then maybe head back on saturday or sunday to bangkok before i fly out on tuesday.
everynight untill i leave will be taken up by watching the 5th and final ashes test, in which i have no doubt england will stuff it up.
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]]>anyway on Phi Phi i found i nice guesthouse to stay for the 10 nights i planned to stay and it turned out that i was the first person to stay there since the reopening after the tsunami. maybe thats why he gave me such a reasonable (well for phi phi) price. it turned out the guys working/owning the place was mental and inisted that every night we had a little party to celebrate the fact that he had a customer(s) in. this turned out to be an event which took place everynight whilst i was there and often ended in a near by bar.
whilst i was there i decided get off my arse and do some volunteering work with a charity on the island. as a result i did various 'exciting' tasks such as gardening (strimming) the memorial garden, picking up litter from the beach and moving collected rubbish into a pile so it could be burned at night. it was good to feel like i was doing something useful and giving something back, especially as it was my second time there.
despite this i wanted to do something more tangible and actually see the benefits from what i was doing. so i offered my services to Ahn and Dunm the guesthouse owners. they couldnt believe that a paying guest, wanted to work for free. but 'shockingly' they let me work for nothing for 5 days. i painted the outside of the building, helped to dig the foundations of the next project (toilet block of a camp site) was let loose with an nail gun and even put up curtains in the rooms. on my last day of 'working' i went to the pier with them to drum up business and get some guests for the finish rooms.
between the 3 of us we managed to fill the guesthouse and had a 'little' party in that honour. this ended up in a bar called hippies and it was the half moon party night. it was pretty good from what i remember of it untill i had an arguement with a bartender about the lack of change he had given me, and he decided it would be good to smash a bottle over the back of my neck and get me thrown out. the cuts and bump my neck has more or less healed now and the 3 day headache i had has gone. i still dont know what i said to him but as he didnt speak much if any english i guess i will never know.
anyway for all my efforts with the guesthouse they got me totally drunk everynight - an exercise which became even more enjoyable when we got a group of swiss lasses to stay. and strangely i must have done something right as they offerred me a job working within the empire. they are planning to build a 2nd guesthouse, a campsite and a bar in the next 6 months. i saw the plans for it all and it looks pretty good and he said i could work in any of them and have free accomodation and a small salary. its a nice thought but i took it with a pinch of salt, despite that fact he has got my email address and my mobile phone number so you never know.
i had a day off from working and getting beat up and went snorkelling with black tip sharks. i wanted to go diving but no one was doing the wreck dive so the sharks got my attention. it was brillant and as you didnt have a tank on your back you didnt scare them away straight away and got to swim around a group of them before they realised what was going on and buggered off.
so i am now back in bangkok, at the same guesthouse as before doing the same stuff as before i guess - like nothing has changed in the time since i first arrived. i am staying here for 2 nights i think and then i am off to either pattaya or khanchanaburi, probably the later first as i think i am more likely to wanna stay there for an extended period, what with the tigers etc.
only ten days left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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]]>caught the ferry back across to ko samui and then from there a taxi and another ferry back to the main land, where chaos engulfed us. due to the demand for extras shed loads of people had turned up for it so there werent enough buses etc to take us all and everyone got split up from friends etc. managed to get on an early bus and got a pretty nice bungalow right on the beach with air con, fridge and a tv. the best room we had had for ages. i had to go straight away for a fitting for my costume - a red coat no less, army dude type chap. got back at midnight and got up the following day at 4.30 for the pick up.
we were all driven about an hour into the middle of the countryside. had food and then everyone got changed and was ordered down to the set to start being extras. sounds like fun but straight away it was clear it wasnt going to be much fun at all. the first 2 days were the hottest that they had whilst filming and people were struggling with the heat. the main problem being that everyone had to stay in costume all day - for me that meant a shirt, a waistcoat a thick knee length jacket, knee length socks, long trousers, black shoes and chaps - plus a sword and a pistol oh and a hat. the sweat pured off me for the entire two days and at times i thought i was going to pass out from it.
other people were worse - one blokes shoes start to melt into the floor and one got water blisters up his back and arms from wearing the coats. anyway i only lasted two days of this (14 hour days dont agree with me) and contented with my acting and number of potential on scene moments i decided to stay in bed on the third day and sleep - which i achieved pretty well, managing 15 hours. after which i chilled out on an empty beach for the rest of the day - all for free.
that night there was a shin dig at one of the hotels and we hitched a ride to it and had a good night chatting to the crew and other random people from the set.
yesterday they drove us to the main city and then i had to decide where i wanted to go - two choices being back to either ko samui or ko phi phi. i missed the bus to ko samui so i caught the one to ko phi phi, which is where i am, after a night in krabi. the boat across was shockingly rough (again) and the weather is throwing it down still now a couple of hours later - the island is starting to flood due to it.
i am staying here for at least 10 days and got a cheap room on that fact, i plan to do some helping out with http://http://www.hiphiphi.com/and also maybe some diving if my cold clears up and if the weather improves maybe some sunbathing - who knows !?!?!
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]]>in the evening i went out to watch the footie and to have a few cheeky drinks, which turned into a all nighter and as a result i didint get to bed till stupid oclock in the morning. next day caught the ferry to Koh Phangan with lucy and also the guest house owner from Luis guesthouse in Lamai. i would reccomend anybody to stay there as its small, cheap but with a massive tv/stereo system and free pool table and a small bar. added to this Lui is icelandic and completly nuts and his mrs is a thai lady who is crazy - it made for a really good week - by far the best guesthouse i have stayed in so far on my travels. we all really got on so we invited him to come wityh us to the next island up for a few days untill the movie work starts.
first night on the island was the half moon party and as it looks likely that i will miss the full moon party i proceeded to enjoy the moment/evening. it was ok but nothing really special - the main problem is that everybody comes here especially for the parties so they are maybe on 2 week holidays and so they are clean, unsmelly, smartly dressed folks whilst i am none of the above for more than about 30 minutes a week (at a push). these people have been nicknamed - "makeup backpackers" and they are everywhere here. its not even an especially nice island - its ok but not as nice as Ko Samui in my view.
despite that we decided to rent bikes and see a bit of the island for a day, we were warned that the roads werent great and that tourists are always crashing into things. 5 minutes out of the main town area where we are staying we found the first crash site where a bloke had hit a car. managed to avoid anything of this sort for the rest of day and caught the sun nicely, as it was boiling all day.
today i have been diving - in 'one of the best dive sites in thailand' but dont believe the hype on that one. we dived sail rock, which is 40 minutes out to sea and it was ok, but not as good as other ones i have done. the best part was a vertical swim through called the chimney where you are enclosed all the way around apart from going up -it was pretty cool but the water quality was poor and there wasnt anything really big to see.
anyway hollywood beckons so i better go..........
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]]>since i last wrote i spent a day in KL, doing some tourist stuff - the petronas towers etc and a bit more shopping. left the following day to go back north and to teman negra, which is pretty much in the centre of the country. turned out to be a bit of a mission as it required a 4 hour bus trip and then a 3 hour boat trip up the river to the jungle, with various waiting around thrown into the mix. arrived quiet late at night and found the cheapest, dirtiest hostel around and duely took out a dorm room. there isnt much to do at night there, and there is no alcohol anywhere, at all, none. there is a few cafes etc on the river front, which float and a few hostels on the land but apart from that nothing.
the following day we went to the main attraction of the area - the longest canopy walk in the world. had to cross the river to get into the national park and straight away were confronted by a large, very poisonous (so we were told) green snake. its about an hours walk to the start of the canopy walk and there werent many people around so it felt pretty good walking through the jungle on little dirt tracks. the canopy walk itself is good but if you dont like heights dont do it - think basically ladders laided down and held together by ropes of various sizes, about 50-60 metres up from the ground, between the trees. there wasnt too much to see in terms of animals but we did see rabbits (!?!) a few birds and a couple of monkeys. from the cnaopy walk you can go a variety of ways back and we decided to take the hilly and longest route back, as we thought it would be a laugh. it wasnt and it took friggin ages in the mid day sun, with no water on a path pretty much overgrown for most of the way. we encountered more monkeys and a little black and yellow snake which wasnt very happy to see us.
on the way back you walk along the river and you can swim etc, so we cooled down and then headed back to the hostel for a long cold (cant remember when i last had a hot shower on this trip) shower. when we got back there was no water in the hostel and it remained off untill after we left the next day. found a cafe which amazingly enough had a tv and a playstation 2 and more importantly Pro Evo (football game for those of you who dont know) and spent a couple of hours beating all the locals at it - maybe my uni days werent a complete waste!
left the next morning at stupid oclock to catch a 2 hour bus, followed by a 4 hour bus, followed by a 2 hour bus and then a 2 hour boat ride to the perthian islands. it was all going swimmingly untill we got on the boat and as normal the weather turned and a storm blew in and chased us across the sea to the islands. half way there the heavens opened and it rained for the remainder of the trip across. the boat cant actually land on the beach so you have to catch a little taxi boat to get ashore - these are not covered and as it was throwing it down still, everything i owned got soaked - it was like standing underneath a hose pipe on full blast.
we didnt have anywhere to stay on the island but we were told that it shouldnt be to hard to get. this was wrong and i would advise anybody going to book ahead. people had been sleeping on the beach and on shop floors the previous night as there wasnt a single room free on both of the islands - even the expensive ones were taken. we walked the full stretch of the beach front on both sides (long beach and coral bay)and found nothing - bugger all. apart from a.....tent! a small smelly two man tent - which was sized in asia so it was more like a 1 man tent. we took this as there was nothing else and didnt fancy sleeping in the rain. so soaked to the skin we stuffed all are stuff in and followed suit, it was shocking and the smell and heat inside it was worse than the lack of space. i ended up going outside and sitting on the empty beach at 4 in the morning to cool off - i got bitten for my efforts.
searched and searched the island again for somewhere to stay the next day, but again everywhere was full and everywhere had waiting lists for the next 3-4 days. some of the expensive ones - talking $20 a night each were free but its just too much. also everything on the island is a rip off, from rooms to food to beer and the beaches are ok but not a patch on Ko Phi Phi. for all the above reasons we left the next day and caught a fast boat back to the main land, in the search of a shower and a wash. so that was the perthian islands in 24 hours!
the 2 hour boat back was smooth (ish) and we caught a taxi to the border of thailand, as there are no buses that go. it took 2 hours followed by walking across the border. we were told it might be closed to westerners and that people had been attacked recently, but we found it a breeze and a lot easier to do than the cambodia to thailand border. we had to get a moto taxi with all are, still wet geat to the train station in order to head north. we caught a 3 local train (think chickens on board) upto to Hat Yin. by this point we were bored stiff so start raving to some tunes on the ipod - much to the locals amusement. Hat Yin is the place were the thails and malays have been fighting recently and 500 people have been killed since the start of the year. we didnt want to stay, as you can imagine so we raced around the train station and just caught a connecting train to Surrantti, which took a further 7 hours, arriving just before midnight and still without a wash.
got another horrible little hostel that was close to the train station and managed to have a shower after close on 60 hours without one. we got woken up at about 5.30 by an explosion from down the street and people shouting at each other. i was so knackered i just rolled over and went back to sleep - the next day it turned out to be a small bomb that blew up a car/truck. so we left there quick smart and headed to the pier on a couple of local buses, which took about 5 hours in total. the ferry across to Ko Samui was brillantly smooth and we found a hostel no problems on Lamai beach. all my clothes apart from what i was wearing was dispatched to the washing depart in an attempt to make them smell go (i can report this was quiet successful, but 2 t-shirts have bitten the dust) we went out to a foam party that night and had a few, to many well earned drinks.
the following day went and slept on the beach only to be woken up by a lady giving my 'baby elephant feet' as she described them a pedicure -lucy had set me up. in the evening we went out with the crazy owner of the hostel - an icelandic bloke and an english couple from the hostel for a few drinks. we went round all the seedy bars and clubs and got some wicked photos of us with various lady boys and semi attractive women.
basically as the islands are so close to bangkok they get alot of 2 week holiday'ers coming here so its very seedy in parts. but good for the male ego to walk down a street and have wonmen chase you and hold onto you etc, strange but true. also in the bars they give you free shots of rum etc and then you sit and play connect four with a semi naked, semi attractive thai lass - its weird, very very weird. needless to say if you want anything you can get it very quickly and i assume very cheaply.
i am planning to explore the island on a rented bike in the next few days and more importantly they have a mini golf course which will be getting my attention for an afternoon
most of my travelling is now behind me in terms of distances and i think i will stay here till the weekend - they have the ashes live and all the football a boy could want, planning to watch liverpool tonight, it starts at 1.45 in the morning. before going to the full moon party and then west i think. as i have come back into thailand quickly i am going to have to go to probably burma to do a visa run - which should be fun !
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]]>also i had a day diving, with a dive team from the island, my 5th and 6th dives on the trip. it was similar to the dives in vietnam but with a little more wildlife and a numerous leopard sharks, which were quality to swim with and around.
another highlight was the trip i did around the islands to the surrounding bays and coves. this included a trip to Maya Bay (the bay from the beach movie), monkey cove and various reefs in which to snorkel. i would reckon doing it in a longtail boat, instead of a massive motor boat with 50-60 people on it - as it was there was only 2 of us. the fish in the coves were actually better than what i saw on the dives and the volume was huge. they werent shy in coming close and i got a nip off one of them.
also on the island i saw a couple of thai boxing fight nights, which is something i wanted to see. it makes boxing look like childs play and is alot more physical. everytime the boxers came out to fight the guy in the bar put on 'eye of the tiger' i couldnt help but smile.
the boat across to Phuket was rough and i duely return my breakfast to the world, twice. stayed in a hostel suggested in the LP, god knows why though it was a dump. jumped on a local bus down to Patong beach to see what it was like - stayed for about 2 hours before i had to leave. think costa del sol, with a rubbish beach. not my sought of thing. the other reason for going was to have a look at the hostel where a british guy murdered 2 tourists 10 years ago. acually made it inside by staying i wanted a room and asked for the floor were he killed them. so i had a one in three chance of being in the room were he killed and then cut up there bodies. nice.
so caguht the plane yesterday and got down here, checked into a suitably shocking hostel and went and had a shopping spree. well just one stall but it took me ages. i have acquired 35 of the latest movies on dvd - everything is a lot cheaper here than in bangkok, apart from beer and a room, so i am going to do my shopping here and travel with it back up north.
worked out that i have now done over 7500 km since i first arrived in bangkok and think that is quite enough travelling, so this is as far south as i go. i think i will return to the uk in september, i dont really want to see anything else in Asia so there is no real point staying.
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]]>got off the boat to be met with destruction everywhere and a very tangable mood of sadness. despite that people are so very very pleased to see you and more importantly your wallet. but here it is different as they need it to live and more importantly get there lives back in order.
the beaches are still awesome and the diving etc (booked 2 for tomorrow) still are running so there is no excuse for not coming there are a few bars and the main tourist street is pretty much back to normal now, its just a lack of hotel rooms as they are still being pulled down and rebuilt. there is plenty of aid work that still needs to be done and i plan to do some before i fly down to malaysia on the 1st, if not i will stop on my way back up and help then. my intend trip to indonesia has been cancelled due to the earthquake and the fact that 2 western aid workers have been kidnapped and killed within the last month, exactly were i was planning to go.
if you are worried about the threat of a tunasmi hitting before you come here dont worry. we were woken up by banging and screaming from the hotel staff, when they had first heard about the threat. the whole island is aware of it straight away and you are taken up to the highest ground and told to stay there. they dont just go and leave you - infact they were offering tourists drinks and food etc despite the fact that it was 1 in the morning.
so dont worry and just come along and give something back to paradise!
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]]>spent a day doing very little in Phnom Penh but did manage to sell half the library i have been carrying around and bought a book more relevant to my travels - the girl in the photograph, its good, have finished it already. had a few drinks and a meal with lucy as it was are last night together before we went are differing ways.
next morning i caught a 6.45 bus to sihanoukville, which is down on the coast. cambodia seems to be like vietnam in the fact that you have to be ready early and then wait for the mode of transport to arrive sometime later. it rained from about an hour south of Phnom Penh till i passed almost the exact same spot a day later. thats because there is (was) a monsoon in attendance. so i arrived got soaked finding a hostel, went to see what the beach was like got soaked, went for a wander to see if the diving was still on - it wasnt and i again got soaked. the icing on the cake being that all power went off for most of the night. i promptly booked a ticket, via the use of candle light, back to phnom penh for the next day. in total i spent close on 10 hours for a few beers in the dark and the rain! one thing the bus journeys have done is allowed me to focus on planning -this was done in an attempt to divert the attention away from a rather smelly local lady. my plan is (subject to numerous changes) to go through southern thailand into malaysia and down, maybe hitting indonesia dependent on time.
anyway i got the bus back to the capital and then just managed to catch a connecting bus to Siem Reap, in order to avoid wasting an afternoon. so i arrived here yesterday after roughly 12 hours on a bus to the most hassle i have encountered so far. people were pulling you off the bus in all directions in an attempt to get you to use there services - i was told that, that is what india is like,if its true then i am not going. it was messy and people were being pushed to the floor in the chaos, one guy picked up my backpack and put it on his bike so i had no choice but to use him, as it turns out he was pretty good and best of all free - well the lift to the guesthouse was.
i went for the usual wander around the new place and found, well, bugger all pretty much - it is alot alot smaller than i thought it was going to be and very smelly. i organised my moto for this morning and basically went to bed early. the guy, called ron, picked me up this morning at 6.45 (thats am,and my 3rd sub 7.00 start in a row) and drove me around the sites of the temples and wats. to be honest i was only really impressed with the Bayon (all the faces carved into the rock) and Ta prohan (which is where they filmed Tomb raider) Angkor wat itself is only impressive due to its size, but as it is being rebuilt and maintained its just to clean for its own good. Ta Prohan is mush nicer as the jungle has been allowed to grow through it and is slowly destroying it, but it looks more real and feels like it should - despite the tourists it was easy to find a quiet spot to sit and ponder.
i only brought the 1 day ticket and am glad i didnt opt for the 3 day ticket which was my original plan. i am not one for buildings etc really and after my, what turned out to be, 6 hours doing the rounds i was well and truly templed out.
so tomorrow i leave for bangkok and you guessed it its another stupidly early started of a 6.30 pickup. not sure what i feel about going back there as i didnt really enjoy it the first time, but then i will be glad to get out of cambodia. i havent warmed to the country at all and to be honest if i was travelling again i would just miss it out altogether, or do it in 4 days quickly.
bring on the islands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well due to computer problems i was unable to post the above when i was till in cambodia so i am now back in bangkok.
got in last night on a journey that is supposed to take 10 hours but ended up taking closer to 16 hours. the road from SR to the border was shocking and so bumpy that you couldnt eat, sleep, drink or read it was mental. met up with lucy again last night and swopped stories from are time apart. going south tonight to Krabi on yet another 16 hour bus journey, this time with the added bonus of it being overnight, so no sleep again.
getting back to bangkok was strange and it felt alot nicer than the first time and like i was a veteran in the travelling world compared to a newie - this time around i wasnt stood looking at maps and saw people doing that made me smile.
have been trying to upload all my photos but it aint happening in this place so i might go and try it elsewhere, as my camera memeory is full again from the temples.
i really, really hate buses - i dread to think how many more hours i have to spend on them before i finish my trip.
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]]>the bus we booked onto basically ripped us off by promising a large air con bus, however we got a small non air con bus packed to the rafters with people sitting on the floor for good measure. the bus took us from saigon to the border crossing. we were first off the bus and grabbed all bags etc and headed off for the visa / passport checks, in an attempt to be first in the line. this plan worked very well and we were through the vietnam side of proceedings quickly enough (10 mins per person) so we set off on the 300 metre walk across no mans land - we werent in vietnam but werent in cambodia so i have no idea where we were. the check point / entry is being built so there is rubbish everywhere and the heat had started to take effect so we were sweating by the time we reached, what can only be described as a 'hut' which was the crossing. after another 10 mins signing various bits and pieces we were in and headed down the dirt track to where we were told the bus would be waiting.
when we got there there was no one insight apart from a friendly taxi driver. the tour guide eventually turned up, minus a bus, and said that we wasnt sure if it was a big or small, with or without air con bus. we had already waited for 45 minutes and still no one had turned up so i asked the taxi driver how much to take us to phnom penh, as a laugh to pass the time. to are complete surprise he said you can rent the car for $10. so we jumped straight in and enjoyed a 2 hour taxi ride straight to the guest house we had been told to go to, all the way in air con comfort and listening to bob marley. last night we saw two people from the original bus to the border and they said that the bus was worse on the cambodian side and that it took almost 5 hours to get here - what a result!
the backpacker area is strange as it is situated around a lake, so when you sit out on the decked area you can forget that you are in a big city as the noise etc doesnt effect you. also the streets are small and close together with a surface made up of rubbish and grit, its a bit like a getto. the first night in cambodia was spent with dans (drunken dan the RAF man) mum who now lives over here. so she showed us round and introduced a few people she had helped and one brillant thing about last night was that the hostel is right on a lake, the west side of which the sunsets over - the colours were amazing and i took about 10 pictures. we stayed in the hostel despite the fact that the first room we rented had a rat in it, so we moved rooms and last night discovered a family of frogs in the bathroom - who strangely enough go mental when you spray them with water.
yesterday has been spent at the killing fields, which was got to on the back of a bike on the worst road i have ever been down, where due to pol pot about 2 million people were killed by cutting there throats. they had skulls piled as far as you eyes can see and it freaked me out abit. all these countries (laos, vietnam and cambodia) have had such terrible war crimes committed against them (all of which involved the good old USA in some capacity) and yet they are all so generally nice people. here they dont even try and rip you off, which is strange and a first on this trip. also it seems that it is more expensive here, you have to pay in dollars so i think its the fact that you hand over 1 instead of say 15,000 so it makes it more real.
i have booked my ticket to go south to Sihanoukville, saving myself a buck by leaving at 6.30 (it all helps) in the morning, so after tonight i will be back to travelling by myself. i am unsue of how long i plan to spend down there but it looks like i can go from there to battambang, thenn to siem reap instead of having to come back to phnom penh and then heading northwest. anyways i will keep you informed.
off to watch the movie - ''the killing fields'' about the war
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]]>i went to the cu chi tunnels just outside saigon on a tour, the tunnels are the actual ones the viet cong used in the war and they are just as they were then. so there was alot of history and stuff to look at about the war, then you get to crawl through 90 metres of the tunnels if you want, with tourist exits every 30 metres. out of 30 tourists only 3 made it through all of it and i can proudly say that i was one of them. your only down there for about 15 minutes but by the time you get out at the other end the sweat is just pouring off you in a stream and the dirt is welded to your legs and arms.
but wait it gets better, they have got a firing range there where you can buy bullets to fire through a variety of weapons. so i turned into Arnie for half an hour and bought 20 bullets for an ak47 and 20 shot gun cartridges. so i fired an ak47 and a double barrel shot gun. it was bloody ace! the pump action on the shot gun was brillant and i felt like i was some sort of war hero mowing down badies. also the noise they made was probably the loudest i have ever heard, especially as it was just by your ear. i have 3 brillant photos with me in full swing firing the guns. one of my highlights of vietnam. its funny that when you dont expect something to happen it makes it all the more enjoyable.
saigon is alot nicer than hanoi for a variety of reasons, the main one being that it isnt as big and is alot less hectic. i think the fact that it isnt as hot down here also helps.
this afternoon i went o see the war remnants museum, which is shocking. tanks and planes are around the outside of the main building and graphic pictures inside. included in which are still born babies which have two heads or three legs and no arms due to the chemicals that the yanks dropped on the country and some of these babies were 'born' as early as 1990. its crazy the level of suffering the country still has due to the actions of 30 years ago. it made me wonder if iraq will become a tourist trap in 20/30 years for the gulf vets? as the wars are similar, only time will tell i suppose.
anyway you might have noticed that i am back to 100% now after 2 days of feeling terrible, (did i tell you all that ?!?) not sure what it was but it seems to have passed through the system.
i am off into wonderful, slighty dodgy (so i am told) cambodia tomorrow morning on another 8-9 hour little bus trip. still travelling with lucy as she couldnt be arsed to go today so it will turn out that we will have done the whole of laos and the whole of vietnam together, although in cambodia she is going west and i am going south.
I'll Be Back / You Feeling Lucky Punk ? remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>when i last wrote i was in hoi an and badly sunburnt(it turns out that i gave myself 3rd degree burns), since then alot has happened. firstly the bus down from hoi an was as usual eventful to say the least.
we were last to be picked up so had the choice of the last 2 seats, me being the gentleman that i am i let lucy pick first and as a result i ended up sitting next to a smelly old man, bad enough you think but....it turns out that the bloke had been travelling down the country and hadnt stopped in hoi an (in a sense just going straight through to nha trang) the person who sat next to him for the previous part of the journey had gotten off in hoi an, however it turns out he was missing certain items of his belongings - namely his wallet and money belt and passport, which after much searching were all found in the old guys bag! a petty thief! the bus driver refused to throw him off the bus so i was left sitting next to him for the next 14 hours, as you can imagine i didnt get much sleep.
got into nha trang at about 8 in the morning and set about doing the usual thing of finding somewhere to crash out for awhile. again found the cheapest twin room at $5 in a small hotel. lucy wanted to go and book her diving for the next day so i went along to see how much a course would be. i always thought thailand would be the cheapest place to learn but i managed to get it for $150 for a four day course. so the next day i sat in a classroom watching videos and answering questions relating to scuba diving.
the fun didnt really start till lunchtime the following day when we got to go into the water for the first time. the pool we used to complete the tasks was disgusting and had far to many bits and pieces in it to make it an enjoyable 4 hours. so i was disappointed to say the least, however the next day when we got out onto the open water and did some proper diving it was everything i had imagined it would be - the colours and shapes of the coral and the numerous fish made it hard to take it all in. so i had 2 dives that day going down to 12 metres and the following day 2 more dives going down to 18 metres all of which i really enjoyed and loved every second of them. each dive lasts about an hour but the time just disappears when you are chasing fish around or swimming through caves in crystal clear, warm waters. i could go on and wax lyrical about the diving for ages but i will stop myself there and move on.
the hotel we were staying in, turned out appeared to be somewhat of a safehouse. an aussie guy was living there under the protection of the family as he owed money for drugs and various things. it explained there strange attitudes and the bizzare questions they constantly asked.
the next day we intended to catch the bus down to Mui Ne, however we managed to miss the bus first time around. after a few frantic phone calls a bike came and picked us up and took us to where the bus was waiting. fair enough you think but my driver didnt have a hand on his left side, just a stump and his right hand had fingers which looked alot like toes (i assumed it was a birth defect as a result of the war) i has amazed that he could ride a bike let alone with me and all my gear on the back.
so we made the bus, getting the last 2 seats again and had another 5 hours on the bus. its funny how when your travelling a 5 hour trip almost becomes easy and routine, whereas back home if someone said a trip involved a 5 hour bus journey i would laugh at them and not do it.
arrived in Mui Ne and found a bungalow right on the sea front with a nice little beach. on the hole there wasnt alot to do there apart from the sandboarding which we planned to do the next day so we set about having a few drinks and relaxing in the hammocks overlooking the water.
the next morning we caught a motorcycle taxi to the sand dunes and i proceeded to throw myself down large dunes on a plastic board. really good fun and brought out the kid in me thats for sure. its like sledging but without the cold, although i prefer snow to sand. that night we went to the 'hot rock cafe' for a few drinks and some food but it wasnt that good and we ended up back at the hotel pretty early. so i decided to go and sit on the beach and look up at the stars and think about nothing, just letting my mind wander to random things. when i went back to the room i was greeted by a cockroach, two moths, 3 geckos and numerous ants and flys - after abit of a killing spree i fell alseep straight away.
yesterday we caught a bus down to saigon (or hcmc, if you prefer). for some reason i felt really bad and managed to sleep for pretty much all of the trip. when we got here, i just couldnt stand up and felt exhusted so lucy found us a hotel and i promptly fell alseep from 6.30 last night till 9.30 this morning. i feel better now but still not 100%.
the general plan is to visit 2 or 3 war sites of interest tomorrow and then i think i will leave the next day for cambodia. i dont like planning but i think i will stay there for about 2 weeks as there isnt masses to do and the time could be spent better elsewhere. i think lucy is leaving tomorrow for cambodia which is a shame really as we both said that it would have been nice to leave vietnam as we entered, together.
other stuff;
have met alot of people who have done or are doing some sort of teaching aboard, in order to travel and earn some money at the same time. it looks fairly easy to got into and might take as little as a month to convert my degree. its not something i have considered doing before but the possibilities appear endless - china, japan, thailand, jakarta, central and south america etc.
lucy and i have made up numerous stories along vietnam tos top us getting hassled, especially lucy. turned into a game of sorts which includes changing are names, nationality, time away and are relationship - so far i ahve been friend, boyfriend, brother and husband. the game stopped recently when lucy took it one step to far by saying that we both supported arsenal and hated liverpool with a passion. theres a line and she crossed it
Hoi An - Nha Trang - Mui Ne - Saigon remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>hoi an is a little town, built apon the fact that every second shop is a tailors who will tailor make clothes for you at a very reasonable price very quickly. people i have met have spent over $2000 here - myself i have just spent about $20 - on two pairs of shorts.
the other main attraction is that there is a lovely - brillant beach which was what just what the doctor ordered. spent yesterday there and promptly got burnt again - i dont know why i keep getting burnt but i do. so this morning i am a little bit sore in the stomach region - something i hope will ease before tonights little trip. the beach is the a typical gorgeous beach which you expect to find in asia - something which has been sadly lacking so far. the water is warm and clear and the sand golden - it really was picture postcard stuff. it was good to swim again i went out to have a closer look at the fishing boats moored off the beach.
the bus ride down from hue wasnt to bad as we managed to get some seats away from the sun and a few locals got off on route and we acquired those seats as well - shame it was just 5 hours and not a 12 hour jobby.
when we got in we found the cheapest hotel we could and set about exploring. bumped into the irish lads from laos, who were just leaving to go south and they told us what to do and what isnt as good around town.
the following day was spent in between tailors and internet cafes. my memory on my camera was full and i attempted to upload the pictures to a website to free the space. this is still a work in progress but i have most of them now - apart from hue and hoi an.
yesterday i did something pretty stupid really, i think it might be down to sun stroke from the beach but i went for a hair cut. now you would think that this would be some big chain of barbers around vietnam. nope. think little half naked guy in a small shop with 1 mirror, who interestingly enough didnt speak any english - at all. my motorcycle driver who picked me up from the beach ensured me that he was good and he spoke ok english and translated what i wanted. it would appear that his english isnt very good either. so i now have pretty much no hair at all. add this to a brown / red ish face and i looked pretty strange last night when i went for a few beers.
thats about it really, as i said i am off to nha trang tonight which is supposed to be even better than hoi an, in terms of beaches. there is a good backpacker vibe with some all night parties going on, plenty of watersports to undertake and plenty of interesting islands to explore.
i will use the time wisely and set about researching the jet ski business idea which i have had for a while now. i think i may have got an accountant/manager already on board but there are plenty of opportunities for others to get involved. please send cv's to my email address
Hoi An remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>after i last wrote in hanoi, i didnt manage to buy the posters i wanted because someone stole in there before i went back and bought the two i wanted, so i had to settle for 2 copied rare oasis cds from down the road. i have alot to thank these boys for, as they recently stopped me going insane.
the bus down from hanoi was packed to the rafters, although with alot of locals and not many backpackers. it was pretty uncomfortable but i have had worse trips, the main problem was the weather. we drove through a thunder storm for the first 3 hours, the display of forks across the sky was impressive but the rain made the crazy driver even crazier and he appeared to speed up rather than slow down. this led to a couple of near misses with the on coming traffic and one of these left me with a sizeable lump on my head as i smacked into the window. after that any small chance i had of sleeping was removed and i preceeded to listen to every single oasis track, in release date order no less, for the majority of the trip.
this gave me alot of time sitting in the dark thinking. i have come to the conclusion that you should never miss an opportunity to take a leak, stretch your legs or get wet when travelling. i also came up with some business ideas - ymca dolls which dance and move, patent pending, and a service which scans in and copies your family photo albums to disk, so that they can be stored in alot of places, in case the house burns down. the last one got me quite excited at 3 in the morning and i think that is how i willmake my first million.
when i got into hue, after the 14 hour trip the usual carnage greeted me. as you attempt to get off the bus people grab you and your bags and try and take you to there guesthouses. dont what you need after 30 hours without sleep. did manage to find a decent cheap one and me and lucy have both got a double bed and air-con, plus fan at a good price and the first air-con i have had for a week or two. both are bags had somehow managed to get wet in storage and smelt lovely, another batch of washing was dispatched.
i didnt really want to waste the day so i went for my now traditional wander around a new town, without a map, in order to explore. ended up going to the citidel and the forbidden city which were nice but alot of it was destroyed in the war. for you war buffs out there - the movie 'full metal jacket' was filmed here. after that went and got some bait (blame the geordies in leeds (you know who you are) for that, after a while it rubs off on you) in an empty bar and got them to put the recently acquired cds on, while we played pool. we had a couple of drinks and chilled out, glad to be out of hanoi. got talking to the owners and there little 20 month old son showed up. now i am not a baby person, but this little guy was cute, no question and funny, so we stayed there pretty much all afternoon baby sitting.
on the way back to the hotel i spotted a tour operator and for some reason i booked myself on a 13 hour tour of the area for the next day leaving at 06.00 - whats the O stand for for? O my god its early. after which we spotted the bar which is suggested to go in the lonely planet (why is it called the lonely planet?) and headed inside. the DMZ bar is good and there was a healthy mix of locals and travellers. the walls are covered in the scribbles of travellers and the management encourage you to join in. i found a suitable spot and left my mark - nothing is more precious than independence and freedom, rob jude '05. we ended up staying in the bar playing pool and to be honest my memory is slighty faded, but i am assured that i did manage to win 7 games in a row - i was so good that people came in and watched me beat the locals and clapped my every shot. people who know me will know that, that doesnt happen very often, if at all.
i have no idea what time i went to bed but the alarm the next day at 5.50 didnt do me any favours. i went down and got the bus - which was late (shock). the trip was good, although it involved alot of sitting on a bus, depressingly going back north on the same road i had come down on the previous day. the tour took in all the major war sites of the area, apart from a cemmentary, which i really wanted to see but no one goes there.
after the halong bay tour and problems, it was apparent to me that the operators just put you all on the same tour, no matter how much you paid. so i booked the cheapest one possible at 7$, it turned out that other folks doing the sametour paid well over double that.
the first stop was at war site, where the americans had 6000 people based, before they were overun by the viet cong. there is still the airstrip behind the display hall - which was very graffic, people dead and dieing. a local man was walking around selling war junk - i couldnt help myself and purchased a original viet cong medal, which every solider got and an american dog tag, a R.E Powell of the USMC, who i assumed lost his life in the surrounding hills.
after this we went to see a bridge built with funding from cuba, the site of the trail, the dmz zone, the bridge which split north and south and then the vinh moc tunnels. as they were just used for hiding and not fighting they are quite big and i could just about walk through. 300 people lived down there during the war in an attempt to avoid the bombs, it must have been horrible and the 400 metre section which you allowed to view was enough for me.
got back at around 7 and met lucy who had done a different tour to me - of the perfume river - which she said wasnt very good. went for a drink and something to eat at the DMZ bar again and met a few interesting folks - an AC milan fan who i had a good laugh with about the football. i added another note to the wall in this honour -'JC IS MY HERO'. we stayed in there till closing and then wander back and i fell alseep fully clothed on the bed. today i am doing nothing much and i am glad ofthe fact. tomorrow i head south to hoi an, which is supposed to be really really nice so that should be good.
HUE, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble 'n' Grub. remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>have been kicked out of the hostel and have a few hours to kill before the next leg of the journey down to Hue. in an attempt to not get sweaty before the bus i thought i would tell you all about my, very good, day in hanoi.
after i wrote the blog this morning i went to see Ho Chi Minh's body at his mausoleum complex. got on another manic motorbike and sped across town. then you file in through a large building in a never ending line, of which i was pretty much the only non-local. you wait around and then enter a small little dark room where there is a glass sarcophagus with his body in. he doesnt look to happy to be there and it was strange to see him, a little old man who i have read so much about, who committed countless war crimes, all of which went unpunished. the locals walked past and weeped etc, and he has been dead for 30 odd years!
after this i went for a massage. no dont get the wrong idea or anything. i went for a lonely planet one where i was assured that no extras would be offered. the lonely planet once again was wrong. i say no more. despite that i had a quality hour long, full body (well almost) massage and felt truly bloody brillant afterwards. so much so that i went and had some lunch and a beer or two.
i have been considering eating snake - there is a village around hanoi where you can eat it 10 different ways in a meal, but it was a bit of an effort to get there so i didnt bother. there is also a dog meat restaurant but i couldnt do it to dave and the clan so i had to settle for, wait for it...pigeon! really tasty but not much meat on it. i tell you i felt a million dong at that point (although thats about 30 quid). washed down with a couple of ales. now thats how travelling should be.
after this i wandered through the town until i came across the Ho Lo Prison Musuem. it was used by the french for killing the locals when they were in power and the locals to annoy the yanks during the war. all the stuff in there is pretty one sided - about how the americans had committed war crimes etc and how despite this they were treated with the upmost respect whilst they were pow's. then you walk through into the rooms the pow's were kept - rows of chains which bolted arms and legs in fixed positions for 20 hours a day. the floor wasnt level, so if they went to the toilet it would run back down into there faces.
also in the complex were shot down pilots suits and equipment and from the french era a guillotine.
after this i found a random little local bar and promptly got hussled out of a beer by a little vietnamise lady whilst playing pool.
it felt like i have achieved alot today but looking back i havent really - but i have really enjoyed myself today - hopefully the bus journey will not spoil it for me tonight
this it really but in other news -
god damn liverpool are playing t.n.s at wrexham and i am 10,000 miles away, this has not pleased me
my sleeping bag has bitten the dust - i have bought a silk liner instead for a couple of bucks. the bag was big and hot and i never really used it, so i thought i would trade it in for something alot smaller and lighter. it has done me proud but the oz bag is no more.
tempted to buy some original war posters, as i think they would look really good in my house which i will no doubt get at some point. they give you a tube which to store them so i think they might cope with the next 4 months but they are 10$ each and i have spent, more than usual today.
if i make it to hue on the overnight bus i will write again soon, but first i am having a day chilling out doing nothing before i hit the original tunnels used by the viet cong - this i am really looking forward to.
take it easy
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]]>some of the stuff i forgot yesterday:
hanoi is a maze of little streets with a complete random mix of shops. on an average street its normal to have a little 'normal' shop, next to a motorcycle shop, next to a steel merchants - who will be welding in the street, next to a hotel, next to a rubbish tip, next to a 'high class' bar, next to a undertaker, next to a carpenter - who again will be doing his trade in the middle of the street. its just so strange, but now a little bit appealing. when i first arrived i didnt like it but now i have grown used to it and warmed to the city. when you get on the back of a random, normally drunk, guys motorbike and speed through the streets it makes you feel like you are a local and that you belong- maybe thats why my feelings have changed. had another one last night after meeting up with a couple of people i met on halong bay / cat ba island tour. after i had argued with him about the price for 5 minutes he set off and straight away offered to sell me books, a bike, local illegal booze, drugs and a woman for the night - in that order and within a minute. i declined all ( i was knackered! )
yesterday i went to see the perfume pagoda which is a couple of hours drive west of hanoi. again it was boiling and as the traffic was its normal crazy chaotic self it actually took closer to 4 hours to get there. to all people travelling in vietnam - DO NOT GO TO THE PERFUME PAGODA ITS A CON. i have no idea why the lonely planet has it as one of the must do things in vietnam. when you arrive a little old lady rows up the river, which did have the potential to be roomantic if you were a couple in love, which i am not so it just dragged and i could feel myself burning in the morning sun. when you get there its a little village next to the river and then you wander around looking at a few caves and then walk to the top on a steep path. the hills etc were pretty amazing but just very similar to that of the entire countryside of laos. the perfume part of it is supposed to be the flowers inside the caves, the only perfume we could smell was that of urine. added to this was the fact that there were a number of americans in the group who - shockingly - wouldnt stop moaning about everything.
one of the highlights of the day was the fact that i saw some strange rice paddies. they have graves right in the middle of the fields and just work around them - they are scattered all over the place and not clustered together - i guess it is the ultimate recycling !
despite what i said at the top of this update about enjoying myself, travelling has turned into a bit of a hassle at the moment. due to lucy, as above, and the fcat that i havent had a long sleep for a week and have been up everyday early, after late nights. my plan is to get to hue and chill out for a few days before i do anymore tours. hue is a good place to do this i am told and they also have the vihn moc tunnels which are the orignal viet cong tunnels they used to spank the americans.
i am going to start to put links at the end of these updates, as i am i cant find anywhere to upload my photos. so it will give you an idea of the things i have been doing.
perfume padoga -
http://www.terragalleria.com/vietnam/vietnam.perfume-pagoda.html
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]]>i am now safely into life in Vietnam - although i dont think i will ever fully get used to it. we flew into hanoi on thursday morning after getting up at stupid o'clock to check in. the airport was tiny and would probably fit into the check in lounge of heathrow, only 6 planes leave a day. i had heard some horror stories about air laos, but i can assure you that it was a good flight and despite the cloud cover an easily landing (there have been reports that the planes couldnt land in clouding weather, as they dont use computers and if they cant see they cant land). shared a taxi with some other backpackers going in a similar direction to us and headed for the old quarter of hanoi.
after bangkok i thought i was used to the chaos of a big city in asia - how long i was. it is like bangkok on speed - bikes dont stop, even if trucks are fast bearing down on them, people just walk out into the street and cause bikes to screeh to a halt and the beeping is constant, even when it appears that nothing is in the way they still beep. it didnt help that the taxi diver tried to con us and take us to his friends hotels in an attempt to drum up some extra business. in the end we all jumped out in the middle of nowhere and wandered till me and lucy found a guesthouse. lovely little thing, as it had no windows and was painted pink - also it was boiling in there and the little fan couldnt cope with it, so we stayed hot all night. by this time, after about 3 hours in hanoi we both agreed that it was best to leave as soon as possible and as the weather was hot the logical destination was halong bay and the BEACH (i have been waiting for this about 4 weeks). so we went for a wander around to find a travel agent that was cheap (ish) and booked a 3 day 2 night trip around the bay and cat ba island. sounded great, sleeping on a boat (not a sailing one, sorry dad) swimming from the side, a trek on the island etc etc.
anyway after we booked that we walked around the lake in the centre of hanoi in an attempt to avoid the sun and the millions of people. my camera was still eating batteries like tomorrow so i got some rechargeable ones and a charger - to save a few quid in the long run.
on the way back it started to rain, again like never before and we took shelter in an irish bar - which had free pool and darts and an expansive collection of music from sting to the police, which got boring very quickly. we ended up staying and drinking for about 4 hours before the rain stopped and we attempted to find the hostel, which was down so little tiny back street. due to another stupid o'clock start for the trip to the seaside we btoh went to bed early ish.
the trip to halong bay is supposed to be one of the must do things in the whole of vietnam and i can agree that this is the case.
the guy we booked with promised to pick us up from the hotel and take us to the bus, he arrived right on time on a little scooter. what followed was a brillant little adventure. as i was taking all my stuff with me i had my big backpack, funny enough on my back and the day sack on my front, on the back of a tiny scooter driven by a crazy little vietnamise man. i couldnt hold on as there was nowehere to hold to and i didnt fancy putting my arms around a man, so, as he sped through the morning traffic, stopping for nothing and peeping at everything i just hoped i would get to see the sea. looking back it was probably one of the highlights of my trip so far as it was completely out of the blue and really good fun.
so we got there and despite the cramped little bus which we had to sit on for 3 and a half hours and the hour waiting in the midday sun for the guide to book a boat, only when we had arrived the landscape and limestone formations are stunnning. the boat took 5 hours to reach cat ba island on route stopping at some caves, a floating village - it had a school, shop and pub - all floating miles away from the main land on little pontoons. when we arrived on the island it was clear that they hadnt booked a boat for us to sleep on and that what we were told wasnt going to happen. this didnt really bother me to much as i found out that we still had paid less that everybody else and that we had all the meals included, whilst they didnt. still it was annoying to know that you had been lied to. the next day we had a 4km trek up and and down a hill and it was hotter than the sun. by the time we reached the top everybody was covered head to toe in sweat and it dripped off us with an alarming rate. the walk was good, although the view wasnt, really. but it was fun and it felt like you had achieved something at the end. afterwards we were taken back to the hotel and had lunch before it was beach time. we walked the 2km or so in the sunshine and i could feel myself burning already. when we got there it was empty, so i headed straight into the merky water to cool off and relax. the cove had an island just off it and i thought it might be fun to attempt to swm to it, i started heading out to sea when this little bloke on the shore starts shouting and blowing his whistle at me with increasing distress. i returned to be told that you can only swim within certain bouys, which annoyed me somewhat. anyway my mission was over and i had managed to get into the sea at last. the sun got to hot to sit in and we headed back round the cove to the first little beach, to be greeted by close to a thousand vietnam people goign mental - it was like the costa del sol - packed. it turns out the beach is always empty till this time as they cant take the midday sun and so wait till later on before heading out to the beach.
in the evening there was a free live 'gig' in the street and we met up with some people off the original bus and had a few beers and games of pool. i thought about attempting to start a mosh pit but no one seemed interested and the idea fell on deaf ears.
today we had to again get up at a daft time to maek the trip by boat back to the main land and set about having a go at the tour guide about the lack of service. we moaned at him for a while and in the end we managed to get two free nights accomodation, which more than makes up for the lack of sleeping on a boat.
tomorrow i am off on another little day trip then i plan to see ho chi minhs remains and then head south out of hanoi. but i will keep you all updated, also thinking of heading into malaysia before i return
for info on halong bay -
http://www.terragalleria.com/vietnam/vietnam.halong.html
Good Morning (from) Vietnam remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>i am now in vietiane, the capital of laos and have actually managed to make a decision about my future plans. i am flying, with lucy, dan left this morning to return home, into hanoi on thursday morning, before i think we go are different ways. it took alot of dithering around to come to that but the bottom line is that we didnt think we could take the 24 hours on a bus and bit the bullet and paid abit extra.
Vang Vieng was a nice little place to chill out for a few days and enjoy the countryside. i went tubeing down the river. by that i mean floating on an innner tube of a bus/lorry tyre downstream. its was a laugh and pretty good fun, although it rained for most of it. along the way there are plenty of little bars and cafes which throw ropes at you so you dont float past. they all have rope swings and places to throw yourself off into the muddy water, which i did twice - the second without much grace (was going for the whole forwrd double tuck, but managed to go arse over tit and land on my back.
had a few nights out around the town and found a nightclub - strange little place but funny. much like the town itself - the best place to eat and chill out was run by a lady-boy, but people put up with him/her because the food was so good. dan was especially taken by the place and he would frequently be found relaxing in the bar. the actual town was like a little bangkok - bars played dvds all day of friends to attract westerns in, that sort of stuff.
apart from that i went to look at some caves across the river, on the only bridge left standing by all the recent rain. good view from the top but it was a bit to well done - electric lights etc. but worth a look
left there yesterday to get down to the capital of laos, on a reasonable journey of 4 hours ish.as soon as we got off the bus we dumped into one of the irish lads, its a small world. this place is strange really - not what you think of a capital of being and its got the city smells which i had forgotten about. god only knows what hanoi will be like -similar to bangkok is what i have been told. so i think i will be going straight east and heading for halong bay and the coast.
i will let you know how i am getting on in vietnam in the not to distant future and will hopefully have some "good" news about my degree (fingers crossed and all that)
other news is that my burnt legs are now peeling, i will leave you with that thought
How You Doing ? remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>i have started to do a little travelling with dan and lucy as we were basically doing the same thing in laos before everyone goes to do different things (dan is a helicopter pilot in the raf and has been based outside shrewsbury for the last year - random or what). its nice to travel with other people for a bit as it makes it alot easier - tickets etc and you dont have to do every little thing yourself.
since i last wrote i have moved south from luang prabang in two, eight hour journeys by laos public bus. the first being to phonosvan to see some 'massive jugs'. the journey was a bit of a nightmare as it was on a dangeours route through the centre of country. not sure if i was relieved or frighten by the sight of a 'guard' on the bus carrying a ak47 over his shoulder! this is due to hijack attempts and bombings by rebels in recent times, although not for a couple of years. i thought at one point that we would need it......... a load of local men got on the bus in camo gear and one sat next to me on the bus, we were pretty high up and driving through cloud so you couldnt see much, as we came round a corner there was a truck parked across the both sides of the road with men shouting and waving there arms. straight away all the men who had just got on stood up and moved towards the bus - i promptly had my heart in my mouth thinking that something bad was about to happen to us. anyway the guy had just broken down and the men standing up turned into a regular thing.
the route itself was very slow due to a unreasonable road surface and the fact that we were going into the mountains. the previous nights activities with the irish lads ( came back to are hostel and had a little party in a spare room ) came back to us all and made us feel ropey. by the time we got there it was again raining and pretty miserable and we went to the first hostel that offered us a room. it was pretty good and i had a bungalow to myself, very nice with a huge and i mean huge double bed in it. we arranged a trip the next day to see the attractions and they put a video on about the secret war in laos, to give us a little history. i didnt realise that the trail from the vietnam war came so far inside laos and the fact that the usa dropped more bombs on laos than they did in the first and second world wars combined, crazy. the problem being that millions of tonnes of bombs that didnt go off are in the fields and surrounding countryside - killing thousands of locals a year. although the locals use the disarmed bombs for all sorts of things - signposts, fencing, ash trays and hanging baskets to name a few.
the trip was good. we went to visit a field of bomb craters, a russian made vietcong tank and then the plain of jars. this is three different sites of massive stone jars, which no one knows how they got there or what they are for. it was pretty impressive and the largest one was 600 tonnes. went out for an indian meal before an early night as they was a curfew in place on the town at 10.00 crazy or what. started to pack my bag singing along to the ipod when the lad who lived in the hostel came in and offered me a beer free of charge, in return for me teaching him some english words. so i sat there for an hour or so getting drunk and teaching a kid english while he teached me laos.
this morning had to be up and at the bus station for 6.45 to catch the bus to vang vieng, i wasnt feeling to great after the nights antics. the bus was a bit better than the first although we had live animals in crates with us this time and a pyscho bus driver who loved to play his local music loud over the speaker system. all the locals were being sick out of the window and i thought when in rome...... so i did, twice and felt a whole let better for it. arrived at around 2ish and got a pretty good hostel at a bargain price of about 1 pound 50. this place is nice and chilled out and there seems plenty to do - mainly caving, tubing and hire motor bikes. all of which i reckon i will do in the next couple of days. unsure of my plans for the future - want to see southern laos but it will involve four 13 hour bus trips and i would only have 2 days there. so i might attempt to bring forward my vietnam visa a week and head across to hanoi and then visit southern laos when i am in cambodia in a couple of months.
hope everyone is fine and dandy wherever you may be
rob
The Centre Of Laos remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>10th june - i went to visit a snake farm and then a monkey show in chaing mai. the snake farm was mental- three guys in a ring just messing about with deadly snakes and annoying them in order for them to react and so try to bite them. the guy got biten by a deadly snake on the arm but it just got his t-shirt and then his crotch aswell. there were also letting them wander into the stands where people were sitting it wasnt good but everyone made it out in one piece. the monkey show was less dangerous and just didnt feel right to me - although seeing a monkey riding a bike round a pool was funny but just wrong somehow.
11th june - i had a trip to visit longneck - those of you that have been reading this alot will know that this was cancelled the first time! it was a long day and on route we visited an orchid farm, butterfly farm and the chaing dau caves. the caves were really impressive and there were various routes yo could do. due to being stuck with a wingeing pair of massively overweight korean ladies and a pair of sick germans we had to stick to the shortest possible route which had electric overhead. i wanted to do the mile route by touch light but they werent having any of it. after this we stopped for lunch and then i thought i was back home in wonderful wales or that penley car sales had gone global as the bloody mini van broke down - in the middle of nowhere. we were stuck for about 3 hours before a replacement truck showed up. we got to the village and had a wander round and up into the hills to see the women. its a con though as there necks arent any bigger than normal people - its a traditional thing to protect the neck from getting bitten by a tiger. the only reason it looks longer is cause it goes down further on the chest. anyway got back really late and just went to bed - via an aussie pub for tea. at one point we were so far up north that you could see china!
if anyone is in chaing mai visit - richly guest house, heaven beach bar, the wall and the kafe.
12th june - left chaing mai but the first bus was full so had to wait untill midday. ended up watchin the tyson fight in a random little bar and then got on another mini bus for another 6 hours to reach the border. the bus was full of english and we all ended up staying at the same guest house - overlooking the river and laos on the otherside of the water. one of the lads lived on brudenell mount at the same time as me in leeds, small world. needless to say drink followed and a movie or 2 - sin city is so strange.
the next day i was told that i had to leave at 7 so got up again at stupid o'clock but didnt leave till 9. went through passport control and then got on a dodgy ferry to cross into laos. then met a british couple of travellers who were catching the same boat as me. ended up waiting around for somemore people to arrive and we didnt get onto the 'boat' till around 12ish. i say 'boat' - think tea tray with a 16v engine strapped to the back and 7-8 backpackers wearing the worst lifejackets and riot gear head wear and packed in with are feet around are ears. the noise was crazy and you got wet and it just hammered along for 6 hours at 45 mph. with the guy dodging rubbish, rocks and tree litter along the way. it was fun but dangerous. the worst thing being the wake of other boats. it was the kinda ride you would pay to do for 15 minutes on a purpose built course then get out and think shit that was stupid. on a two occasions we came close, very close to turning it over and we all thought that we were going swimming! as a result this morning my back is black and blue from the bumping around and my arms and legs are sunburnt, badly.
we were relieved to arrive - thats for sure and it felt like we had achieved something special! the problem is that two boats set off form the border and only one made it to luang prabang last night. basically there is a boat of 6 irish lads missing on route and we dnt know if they broke down or if they crashed.
i quote the lonely planet ' a ride in these boats is a major thrill. for others its like riding on a giant runaway chainsaw and a nightmare that cant end soon enough. speedboats as well as being deafingly loud, kill and injure several people every year, as they frequency tend to flip and disintegrate on contact with any solid floating debris, which is plentiful'
nice!
a few general things about thailand that i have gathered so far - if you have a whistle you are held in high esteem, bikes and volvos are everywhere (penley car sales southeast asia expansion i can see it now) people pack cars and vans so that they are mini-mobile skyscrappers and thai lasses have no concept of love - if you can support them financially they were stay with you!
not sure what my plans are from this point - my visa doesnt start for vietnam till the first of july so i have got just over 2 weeks here and there seems alot of things to do and see so i will let you know a route at some point.
take it easy and if in laos take the slow boat !
sabquai - dji laos remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>i headed out of bangkok on the overnight train to chaing mai and straight away i felt a million times happier (this isnt just me, everyone up here hated bangkok and the backpackers escape up here). although the actual journey wasnt the most fun i have ever had. you get given a seat, which faces another seat on the train. these two seats fold out and down and around to form two bunk beds, one on top of the other. great you think for a 13 (although it turned out to be nearer 15) hour overnight ride. however the problem is that these are built for thai folks - rightly as its there country - and so dont allow big and tall british types to lie down and sleep. this meant that we ( i was within a group of lads from the uk) had to sit around drinking and generally being loud. the thai folk who were also within the same car as us didnt take to kindly to this and so called the railway police and mayhem followed. which was fair enough but it was about 10.30 and we didnt realise that we were causing a problem. all were threatened with being thrown off the train - which abruptly meant that all fun and games ceased.
when we arrived in chaing mai, late, the backpacker hostels were waiting with land rovers and general 4x4 vehicles to whisk us away to the various places. i found mine and met a couple of lads from england (mike and ben) and a couple of lads from canada (scott and john) - who were all doing the same trek as me. got to the hostel and chilled out and showered etc then i went for a little wander to visit some nearby temples before the rain put pay to that little idea. my god it can rain plenty up here.
on the way back to the hostel met mike and ben and we decided to head towards the night market to see what designer knock offs we could acquire. it turned out that the only thing we all brought was a lovely orangemack for the trek.
on route back to the hostel we stopped for a cheeky drink or two at a couple of bars and then found an absolute quality bar. its called 'heaven beach' and its near an irish pub on the less touristy side of town. the bar had a live band playing a host of classical rock n roll and indie tunes, with cheap drinks thrown into the mix. we stayed and drank random thai beer and cocktails till 3.30 the next day. it was pretty good although the next day i was to pay for it.
i was supposed to be going on a day trip to chaing rai. leaving at 7.00 in the morning - admit it you know whats coming! i didnt go, but i did manage to stumble down to say so and they have rearranged it for this saturday. so that day was pretty much a write off as i stayed in bed till roughly lunchtime and felt pretty ill all day. but is was worth it i can assure you.
the next day we set off on are trek into the jungle 2 hours west of chaing mai, after meeting the other two members of the group - an aussie (fiona) and a brit (dan). first we were taken to an elephant 'village' and had a ride on one. sounds great yes - picture in your head lovely hot day, great for pictures. nope - thunder and lightening and rain like only thailand seems to be able to rain - so no pictures. still it was a unigue experiance and alot of fun despite the weather. after that we were driven to a restaurant at the side of the road to have lunch and then onto the drop off point.
we walked, carrying all food and clothing, for about 3 hours and we arrived at two bamboo huts on the hill side by a river. it was awesome to just dive straight in fully clothed to wash away all the sweat and dirt from the walk. the huts, were built by the travel company and are only used by them, have a camp fire and table inbetween. the fire was used to cook and then we sat around it as Lar and Uootai, the guides, told us stories about there culture and the various things that happen in the jungle including the region of jungle spirit. we all went to bed pretty early and attempted to sleep. no one slept much due to the intense sound of the insects and wildlife which was just the otherside of the bamboo.
we woke to a traditional thai breakfast and glorious weather and set off to climb the highest mountain in the region at 1700 metres. the weather didnt last though and soon all were soaked to the sink with a mixture of sweat from underneath the macks and the rain which came down like someone had a hose pipe on above your head. the hut at the top of the mountain was a brillant site and we ate the packlunch of thai noodles (which were wrapped in leaves picked the previous day) with chop sticks which Lar had craved on route. and then the rain eased and stopped and we looking out across the jungle beneath us - a breathtaking view. after the brief stop we headed towards the village which was to be the base for the night. it took another 3 hours of hard walking to reach it through some thick vegetation and by this time the rain was back. when we arrived all bar dan had at least one leach attached to them, myself i had one on each leg, combined with blisters and bites.
the village was isolated from the outside world, and without any power. we were welcomed into the village in a tradition way and ate with the villagers, as the rain continued to batter down. the weather forced them to cancel the show which they do and we were given a talk instead. no one spoke english or even thai as they have there own language - karen, so the guides translated it all. after the talk we headed but to are bamboo hut and showered in the worlds smallest and coldest shower. we were then invited to drink rice whiskey with the elders of the group in a cooking hut. jesus that stuff is strong and it was only afterwards they told us that its strength was close to 55% and the locals drank it as if it was water. we also had a few chang beers and then headed to the sleeping room. Lar followed with a guitar and the children of the village came in and sang songs for us. we, slightly encouraged by the effects of the local brew, returned the gesture with - old macdonald had a farm, wonderwall by oasis and then the show stopper of - youve lost that loving feeling, re top gun. although they couldnt understand what we were saying i think they got the picture!
this morning we woke at 6.30 with heavy heads from the local brew and i for one was sad to leave. we hiked for a further 3 hours to a waterfall - in for once complete sunshine (promplty buring the crap out of my neck and arms). again all jumped straight in fully clothed to wash the sweat off. after that a further 1 1/2 hour walk to the pick up spot, which was only interupted by the site of 4 poisonous snakes and 3 large frogs.
we were picked up and taken back to the same place as we had lunch on the first day. this was followed by bamboo rafting ! sounds strange and it was. basically 4 large pieces of bamboo placed sideby side and fastened in the tradtional way with a bloke at the front with another piece of bamboo for steering. we sat, partly in the river, along the 25 foot raft and promptly went down stream over grade 2 rapids. it was mental and people were falling out all over the shop -funny but looking back now it was quiet risky but alot of fun.
got back to the hostel at around 4.30 had a shower and got dry for pretty much the first time in 3 days. sorted my gear out and handed in some washing - bargain price of about a pound to do everything - and there was alot of dirty stuff.
my trainers have pretty much had it now so i was going to go and see if my luck had changed at the market. but its throwing it down again and i am starving so i might leave it till tomorrow.
on sunday i am venturing north and east and leaving thailand to have a gander at Laos for three weeks. have been told its breathtaking but due to its undeveloped nature i am not entirely sure of internet access so it might be a while before i write again.
take it easy folks
Fun, Sun And Lots Of Water In The Jungle remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>Since i last wrote things have been eventful in bangkok. i finshed the tourist hot spots by going to the grand palace and the vimanek mansion - the worlds largest all teak building and the old home of all the previous kings / rulers of the country. it was pretty impressive considering that there isnt a single screw in the whole place. there was also a thai dance display which was ok but lasted 40 minutes or so and the time dragged towards the end.
after the mansion i wandered round to the zoo, which was not far away. it was clear that the zoo is lacking resources in every department and the animals, which they were sadly lacking, didnt look to healthy and very bored. i suppose this has got to be expected when you consider the conditions which some of the people live in on the streets and alleyways.
for me the city is one of extreme contrasts - next to tourist spots and even the royal residence there are shacks were people live, backing onto old, drity still water which smells like and probably is a toilet. it is a bit of a culture shock and makes you feel how lucky you are to live where you live back home - where ever that may be.
was going to attend a tradition thai boxing night but i meant two scottish lads and ended up having a 'few' drinks on khao san road - which ended in what some would say was dancing and others would say was stumbling about in the rain and mayhem in the wee small hours with a group of dutch travellers. i guess the thai boxing will have to wait till i come back to bangkok if i cant find it anywhere else in the meantime.
i have been hearing great things about the south and the islands so i cant wait to get going and get down there in a couple of months, also i have been told of the islands on halong bay, vietnam which sound very tempting to me - in the meantime i am going north to chaing mai. i have got to catch the overnight, 12 hour, train up there tonight. i have already booked on a mountain trek that includes rafting, elephant treking and staying in tradtion, village accomodation for 3 nights. also the same travel company arranged a trip to see the longneck women (where the strech the womends necks with steel rings so they are oversized - not sure of teh cultural meanings of this yet-but will let you know) my 30 day visa for laos and the 2 day 1 night boat ride actually into the country.
i am really looking forward to leaving bangkok as for me that is not what travelling is all about - sure i am glad that i came but i prefer the smaller out of the way places that isnt wall to wall backpackers and everything on a plate for you. hanoi is supposed to be less like this although southern thailand is - but least there is the sea! i think my body needs the sea - it seems unnatural to be constantly this hot and not be able to go for a swim to cool down. but i guess that will have to wait another 3-4 weeks before i get to the islands on halong bay for that.
tips on dealing with the tuk tuk drivers - just say that you have already been to the shops and get a price for the trip without any shop stops - otherwise you will find yourself in numerous tailors wandering around so the driver can get a free petrol token, although the trip will cost you less but take longer - catch 22 i suppose.
Up Up And Away remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>it took me ages to find the hotel, i took the lonely planets advice and saved meself a few quid by getting a cheap taxi from outside the airport and not inside. dispite this the guy didnt know where it was and just dropped me off on the main strip of khao san - figuring that i looked like a 'newie' and he could get away with it. i wander around for a bit before i saw the sign, which led me down a small alley into another world completly. all the little alleys branch off into numerous side streets and markets, which have less hussle and bussle then the main strip. the main strip is best described as crazy - every turn people attempt to sell you things from trainers and hats to massages and women. none of which i have taken up (yet)
the hotel itself the sawasdee bangulumpu inn is what i pretty much what i expected - no windows but thankfully a fan, small box like room but it is pretty quite compared to the main strip, apart from the fact that the love the boy band blue and constantly seem to play them over the tannoy.
after i got in and attempted to make myself feel human again by showering and shaving i had an intended 'little' kip to get over the travelling - reckon i had roughly 4 hours sleep within a 45 hour period. needless to say i woke about 5 hours later, not feeling any more awake. but the explorer in me thought i better make tracks and a little look round. i went for a wander along the main backpacker street and tried to get myself used to life on the road again.
after that i went back to the hotel and promptly fell alseep straight away, waking at roughly 3 o'clock this afternoon feeling normal again.
havent done much this afternoon but was wandering round the stalls looking for the things i forgot - a watch, a pen and paper and an adaptor - when the storm hit and the lightening started so i ducked in here to update you all.
over the next few days i am planning on exploring the places of interest in and around bangkok, whilst attempting to sort out which route to take north and where to enter laos. think i will stay in bangkok till the weekend and make tracks to the less touristy areas further north.
i will attempt to keep this as upto date as possible.
Finally remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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]]>People who know me will know that I am generally a pretty laid back person and that it takes alot for me to be properly excited about forthcoming events. I can confirm that I am now 100% BUZZING about my forthcoming 5 month (ish), solo adventure, which begins in alittle over 50 hours.
My bag has been pretty muched packed and repacked for this last week and I am definatley going for the less is more approach to backpacking this time around. All visas and injections have been paid for and every imaginable item of travel apparell has been researched and acquired where necessary.
I 'promise' to 'frequently' update this as and when I am able, to inform anybody who cares about my travels and allow you to experience things that I have done and seen.
I hope this can be of use to fellow travellers, before and during there travels and I will be completly honest in all my accounts and reviews of things I have done in each country.
Take it easy and next time I write I imagine I will be in Bangkok.
Hello & Goodbye remains copyright of the author budjude, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.
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