There is a volcano in Berestagi which is very accessible, a few hours to climb up and down, so, after stocking up on chocolate and peanut pancakes, that is what we did. The trek to the top is a simple if tiring route to the crater where yellow sulphurous vents make the air smell, but look like something from another world. There are thousands of bowling ball sized stones in the crater which had fallen off the cliff face which surrounds the crater. People had arranged them to spell out messages, so we resolved to make the largest message in the whole crater, perhaps I am biased but it must have been 4 metres tall and almost 20 wide.
The trek down was far more difficult, it was slippery, rocky, steep, and in places it was difficult to find the path.
The end was rewarding however, we found a hot spring on the way down, nothing could possibly have been more welcome than some time on the hot water, although we did smell a little of sulphur for a while afterwards.
We got a cab home and spent the evening eating and watching rubbish films.
The following morning we sought started the trip to Lake Toba which entailed changing buses twice, and driving at break neck speed down some of the worst roads I had ever seen.
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Sandakan-Medan-Beristaggi
We arrive in Sandakan that evening and need some money, so we set out to the cash machine only for it to start raining leaving us stuck in supermarket. While not ideal, this did give us a chance to really survey what this particular supermarket had to offer. Turns out this place had a bit of a cash and carry style section where we bought plenty of chocolate straws, and about a million packs of popcorn for about 1 pound, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
That evening we had a nice meal with Tiffany on the waterfront before heading back to the guesthouse to watch Slumdog millionaire. The following morning we were forced to leave very early in the morning back to KK by the bus schedule. Despite the fact that we only needed to be there for about 6 that evening, the only buys that would get us there left at about 7.30. Unfortunately it turned out that bus wasnt in perfect health, and after spending about an our breaking down roughly every 5 minutes we were all shunted onto another bus, which meant sitting on the stairs as you enter the bus, this wasnt too bad in comparison to our previous experience of sitting on the floor on buses.
We still arrived in KK very early and so spent a few hours sitting in a cafe eating roti, drinking the cheapest drinks, and eventualy eating dinner.
At the airport we bumped into Ulrika who was on her way Bali, turns out Amelie had had a passport related nightmare and was stuck in KL.
We were on our way to KL, to spend a night in a cold, bright airport on a bench that simply was not designed with sleeping in mind. Having said that, I slept surprisingly well, and not even with the help of sleeping tablets.
The flight that followed was a bit of a sleepy blur but before we knew it we were in Medan, with a lovely new visa in our passports. We decided to take a hike to find an ATM, that was an error. Unfortunately a combination of a map with few road names, roads with few road names, and sleep deprivation lead to us walking in circles for what felt like hours until finally finding a ATM by complete chance, not the one we were looking for. We spent some time chatting with a guy who told us we were 'his teacher' before eating an unbelievably cheap meal.
There is virtually nothing to do in Medan so we got a tuc-tuc to the bus station and then for a bus to Berestaggi before sitting down in our guesthouse for a well deserved rest, non stop traveling for near enough 2 days had taken its toll.
That evening we had a nice meal with Tiffany on the waterfront before heading back to the guesthouse to watch Slumdog millionaire. The following morning we were forced to leave very early in the morning back to KK by the bus schedule. Despite the fact that we only needed to be there for about 6 that evening, the only buys that would get us there left at about 7.30. Unfortunately it turned out that bus wasnt in perfect health, and after spending about an our breaking down roughly every 5 minutes we were all shunted onto another bus, which meant sitting on the stairs as you enter the bus, this wasnt too bad in comparison to our previous experience of sitting on the floor on buses.
We still arrived in KK very early and so spent a few hours sitting in a cafe eating roti, drinking the cheapest drinks, and eventualy eating dinner.
At the airport we bumped into Ulrika who was on her way Bali, turns out Amelie had had a passport related nightmare and was stuck in KL.
We were on our way to KL, to spend a night in a cold, bright airport on a bench that simply was not designed with sleeping in mind. Having said that, I slept surprisingly well, and not even with the help of sleeping tablets.
The flight that followed was a bit of a sleepy blur but before we knew it we were in Medan, with a lovely new visa in our passports. We decided to take a hike to find an ATM, that was an error. Unfortunately a combination of a map with few road names, roads with few road names, and sleep deprivation lead to us walking in circles for what felt like hours until finally finding a ATM by complete chance, not the one we were looking for. We spent some time chatting with a guy who told us we were 'his teacher' before eating an unbelievably cheap meal.
There is virtually nothing to do in Medan so we got a tuc-tuc to the bus station and then for a bus to Berestaggi before sitting down in our guesthouse for a well deserved rest, non stop traveling for near enough 2 days had taken its toll.
Sepilok Orang-utan sactuary
Unfortunately Sepilok proved the most expensive place so far for both sleeping and eating. That said, i would definitely recommend it to anyone. Watching the orang-utans swinging from trees and eating bananas with amazing dexterity is something you really have to see with your own eyes. Perhaps the funniest moment was when one of the younger orang-utans pushed his bowl of milk off the platform and then after staring at the point where it had fallen for a while, turned to the feeder, gave him a classic shrug of the shoulders and then belly flopped into the rainforest below in search of the bowl. I think perhaps Robbie's highlight will have been when one of the smaller monkeys who roam the sanctuary fearlessly decided to make a jump for me and landed on my back, i immediately flung it off, in my opinion quite gracefully, this didnt stop robbie laughing all the way home.
We saw Tiffany at the sanctuary, still stiff, almost unable to walk from her climb. She was however very proud of herself, and very pleased that she had done it, good for her. Unfortunately her hostel was a bus ride away so we spent a an hour or so with her before going our separate ways. However we resloved to meet in sandakan that evening. Sandakan is only a short local bus journey away and we were there by late afternoon.
We saw Tiffany at the sanctuary, still stiff, almost unable to walk from her climb. She was however very proud of herself, and very pleased that she had done it, good for her. Unfortunately her hostel was a bus ride away so we spent a an hour or so with her before going our separate ways. However we resloved to meet in sandakan that evening. Sandakan is only a short local bus journey away and we were there by late afternoon.
Kinabalu National Park
The minibus to the national park from kk is only a few hours so we were there by lunchtime and ready to spend a day walking. Unfortunately the privatisation of the park meant that we would have had to pay about 20 pounds for a dorm bed, and the cheapest meal in the cafe was 10 pounds, we quickly turned our backs and went to find one of the hostels just outside the park set up for people just like us who are apauled by the park prices.
The place we found was nice enough, and the staff couldnt be more helpfull, so we ate quickly and set out for a walk in the park. It was far from strenuous, but fun enjoyable none the less. That evening we spent playing cards and watching BBC world news, mainly interested in the sports headlines. We spent plenty of time chatting with the hostel's newest imployee, a young indonesian guy who was very friendly.
Imagine our surprise when we wake the next morning to find that our beds have been sold to someone else and we have half an hour to leave. In our indignation two chocolate bars miraculously appeared in our pockets, no idea how that happened.
The hostel we found was a much longer walk from the park and after spending a hour or two walking backwards and forwards between place we were finally ready to go. Unfortunately disaster hit. We were walking along the side of the road, facing the oncoming traffic as just the way you are meant to when a taxi behind us tried a risky overtaking manouvre which resulted in Robbie's elbow making contact with the cab's wingmirror at high speed. How he got away with only a few cuts and grazes I have no idea. With blood running down his arm we decided to go back to the guesthouse to clean up his arm. All said and done we were in the park about 4 hours after we planned, nevermind i guess.
The walk we selected was only about 6km, but the last kilometre was almost sheer and we were both pretty tired as we reached our destination, a platform for viewing the impressive mt kinabalu. Neither of us were looking forward the walk back home, fortunately we got chatting to a student living in KL who had spent time stundying in the states. He had his car with him and so offered to drive us back to the park headquarters, at least we had some luck that day!
The plan was to flag down a bus heading to sepilok to see the world famous orang-utan santuary, unfortunatley all the busses were full and we ended up sitting on the floor. Personaly I would have prefered robbies seat, facing sideways, with a drip on his head, but at least he had something to lean on. Robbie disagreed saying that my seet facing forward, but being flung around the bus when going round mountain corners due to my lack of backrest.
The place we found was nice enough, and the staff couldnt be more helpfull, so we ate quickly and set out for a walk in the park. It was far from strenuous, but fun enjoyable none the less. That evening we spent playing cards and watching BBC world news, mainly interested in the sports headlines. We spent plenty of time chatting with the hostel's newest imployee, a young indonesian guy who was very friendly.
Imagine our surprise when we wake the next morning to find that our beds have been sold to someone else and we have half an hour to leave. In our indignation two chocolate bars miraculously appeared in our pockets, no idea how that happened.
The hostel we found was a much longer walk from the park and after spending a hour or two walking backwards and forwards between place we were finally ready to go. Unfortunately disaster hit. We were walking along the side of the road, facing the oncoming traffic as just the way you are meant to when a taxi behind us tried a risky overtaking manouvre which resulted in Robbie's elbow making contact with the cab's wingmirror at high speed. How he got away with only a few cuts and grazes I have no idea. With blood running down his arm we decided to go back to the guesthouse to clean up his arm. All said and done we were in the park about 4 hours after we planned, nevermind i guess.
The walk we selected was only about 6km, but the last kilometre was almost sheer and we were both pretty tired as we reached our destination, a platform for viewing the impressive mt kinabalu. Neither of us were looking forward the walk back home, fortunately we got chatting to a student living in KL who had spent time stundying in the states. He had his car with him and so offered to drive us back to the park headquarters, at least we had some luck that day!
The plan was to flag down a bus heading to sepilok to see the world famous orang-utan santuary, unfortunatley all the busses were full and we ended up sitting on the floor. Personaly I would have prefered robbies seat, facing sideways, with a drip on his head, but at least he had something to lean on. Robbie disagreed saying that my seet facing forward, but being flung around the bus when going round mountain corners due to my lack of backrest.
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Kota Kinabalu
Ignoring the fact it took 11 and a half hours, the bus journey to KK was quite exciting. We got I believe 8 passport stamps, the bus went in to Brunei, then back to Sarawak, back into Brunei, back to Sarawak, and then into Sabah. We also made friends with Aidy and Yanis, an English couple in the pus with us. Turns out that I actually had a few drinks with Yanis and some mutual friends back in Cambodia although it tool a while for either of us to remember, that was a strange coincidence.
That evening we managed to meet up with Tiffany again and then allowed Aidy and Yanis to teach us their illegal drinking techniques, for more info please contact Robbie with any questions.
There is depressingly little to really do in KK, but we both felt that we owed it to Anthony to go and see his museum, the Sabah museum. I would be lieing if I said it was the worlds greatest museum, however there were some interesting exhibits and both Robbie and I learned new things about Sabah. Well done Anthony, nice museum.
I spent most of the rest of the evening trawling around shopping centres in the search for flip flops in my size and one again, for the third time in this holiday someone decided to steal mine. The most annoying this was that this time they were rubbish flip flops, I was in need of new ones anyway. Robbie’s are nice and new, much better than mine, the same size, and were right next to mine, why did this drain upon society chose to steal mine despite better options, I will never understand the youth of today.
That evening Robbie Tiffany and myself had a great night out bowling, but we had to get her home early because she was climbing Kinabalu the next day. Kinabalu is SE Asia’s highest peak, we would be going to the national park, but Robbie and I had decided we couldn’t afford the 100 pounds it cost to climb, we were therefore suitably jealous of Tiffany.
Lambir Hills
After spending a single and uneventful night in Miri (during which we managed to see the community shield) we set out for Lambir hills. We had to go via the long distance bus terminal anyway and so decided to book our onward bus ticket to Kota Kinabalu. It turns out only one bus company runs this service and so the price was astronomical. In the search of a discount we tried lying, charming, complaining and flirting as well as offering oral hygiene advice. I am not sure which tac it was, but one of them worked and we were delighted to gain one up on the frustrating Borneo beaurocracy.
We arrived at the park and, after going through another ‘you really want to camp’ episode, pitched the tent and went to get some lunch. For some reason, and I still have no idea what it was it took us about 30 minutes to be served because every time the waitress looked at us she just burst out laughing, Robbie was convinced it had to be my fault.
It was only a 15 minute walk to a beautiful waterfall with a large pool and a beach. We wasted no time in getting into swimming gear and heading over for a relaxing swim in some of the most stunning surroundings I have ever seen.
It turned out we were the only tourists in the entire park that night, the café closed at 6.30 and there was a power cut soon after. We were forced to spend a memorable evening star gazing and having torches shone at us by Malaysians who had never seen a tent before!
Day 2 in Lambir and we resolve to climb the largest hill in the park in order to see the canopy from above. After about 2 hours of wondering aimlessly in the rainforest we arrived back at HQ, we didn’t really realize how lucky we were until later.
The real disaster was the small shower of rain, while the tent is only semi waterproof to begin with, it is not at all waterproof when the window is left open, my sleeping bag liner was soaked , all or Robbie’s stuff was fine. He informed me that the window was after all my responsibility. Hmm, I don’t remember agreeing to that!
So, undeterred we sat down for some lunch and set out for a slightly smaller hill. This time we found the path without incident. Unfortunately out long climb was not rewarded by clear skies, but we saw enough of the canopy to be satisfied.
After arriving back at HQ we packed up the tent and went to stand by the edge of the road to flag down passing coaches back to Miri in order to spend yet another night there. When we got to the guesthouse Alex was already there, avec new girl in tow. We spent the evening chatting and watching movies. We spent a long time chatting with a man named Dennis Along Along who worked at the hostel. Turned out this bouncy and optimistic man used to do very specialized work on Malaysia’s many oil rigs, being flown all round the country for his expertise. When he got kidney failure the poor man was tied to Miri by 4 times weekly dialysis, I could never have guessed something like that had happened to him, such is his outlook on life.
It was a relatively early as we had an 8 o’clock bus the next morning.
The Niah Caves
The journey to Niah was pretty straight forward and soon after lunch we were there, tent erect and all. When we arrived we had to register, when we asked where the campsite was there was a moment of pure comedy as she stood in disbelief that anyone could be stupid enough to want to camp.
After settling in we set off to the caves themselves. We were hoping to see the much talked about ‘bat exodus’. At dusk supposedly all the bats fly out of the cave, and are replaced by birds going in for a nights sleep. Unfortunately a small mathematical problem reared its ugly head. Our campsite was on the other side of a river, the boats stop running at 7, dusk is also about 7, and it is a 45 minute walk back to the boat. In true backpacker style we cut it as fine as possible, leaving only 20 minutes to sprint back the boat, we managed with moments to spare.
You may think that this meant the trip to the cave that evening had been a disappointment, but nothing could be less true. Who did we bump into but our favourite Dutchman Thierry, a slightly wiser, wittier and less gullible model granted, but Thierry none the less. That evening he came up with great quotes as ‘it is very dangerous to eat fireflies, they are very hot’ and ‘alex, I think 53.2% of the things you say are joking’. Unfortunately he couldn’t quite swallow Robbie’s revelation that locals at Gunung Mulu regularly murder unsuspecting tourists, shame.
The night that followed could never be described as a ‘good nights sleep’, but it could certainly have been worse. We woke surprisingly late, had a bit of breakfast and then head off to see the caves, which not even photos can do justice. We followed through the caves to see the cave paintings. The oldest of their kind in Asia. As you can imagine they were a little faded, but still amazing when it is considered just how long they have been there.
Caves finished we returned to the park HQ, who did we find? The Spanish womanizer Alex, and the two Dutch girls we had met in Kuching whose names I am still unsure about. They told us of the idiots staying in the tent In the middle of the sun, only to learn it was us. We agreed to meet them in Miri in a few days and set off, planning on making it to Lambir hills, home of many a beautiful waterfall.
Chif's crib - Miri
After the excitement with the chief et famile we were all in a hurry to get back to civilization, the irish boys had a flight to catch, and Robbie and I didn’t want to have to spend another night in Sibu, this in mind we asked the chief’s son if he could help us organise a taxi back into town, to which he replied that there was one already booked and on its way for 10.30, great we thought. So 10.30 came, and so did the taxi, we were just about to leave when a very sarcastic Italian woman started to make her presence known, turns out the taxi was actually for their package tour and so despite there being room in the van, and knowing they were stranding us there, the Italians got into there precious taxi and drove off, I am sure I saw smug smiles on all of their selfish Italian faces.
Panic over, about 10 minutes later a taxi arrived, he had actually been dropping someone at the village and was so willing to take us back into town for a cut price, bet that will wipe the Italians’ faces clean.
We arrived in Kapit with just enough time to grab some takeaway noodles and jump on the boat back to Sibu. We were treated to such quality motion pictures as ‘Night in the museum – 2’ and something with no English and lots of fighting.
To cut a long story short, turned out we could get to our next stop, the oil town of Miri that day, so we bid farewell to the Irish lads and jumped on the pus, not really thinking things through. We got on a 6 hour bus at 5.30, you do the math. Arriving in Miri predictably late even the schumacheresque driving of our cab driver could not get us to a hostel that was still open. Robbie and I were forced to seriously consider staying in a real hotel, shock horror. As it turned out our luck was in and at almost 1am we somehow stumbled into a lovely little hostel called Mita.
The plan had been to use Miri as a jumping point for Gunung Mulu national park, perhaps Sarawaks most famous tourist site and home to the largest limestone cliffs in the world. After a good nights sleep we walked to the tourist information, only to find that a trip to Mulu would not just stretch our budget, it would tear in to shreds and then burn the remains, Mulu wasn’t an option. There are however several other national parks in the region so we resigned ourselves to going to one of these instead. That night there were some world challenge kids in the guesthouse and they told us of the Niah Caves which sounded pretty cool. Then came a stroke of pure genius. We decided to buy a tent. The cost of camping in Niah is a fraction of a guesthouse. We managed to find the worlds worst (and cheapest) tent. Imagine one of those play tents for kids that you put in the garden, well it looked like that, but worse. I could almost lie straight in it, so spare a thought for poor Robbie. All said and done we loved it. Next morning we set off bright and early for Niah, very excited about our tent.
Wednesday 12 August 2009
Sibu and Kapit - Dinner with the Chief
Alex and I joined Eoghan and Cian, two Irish guys from Borneo B+B, on the 8.30 bus to Sibu; this in itself was a minor miracle as we failed to set an alarm and were still feeling the effects of the night before, even so we slept through most of the 6 hour journey and arrived not so refreshed in Sibu. Sibu is a relatively boring town and is used mainly as a jumping off point to travel up the Batang Rejang river, which is exactly what we intended to do the next day. As a result the highlight of Sibu was an afternoon swim in a local hotel's pool.
Early the next morning we headed to Kapit, which is a four hour boat ride up the river and the place to go for longhouse visits, which is what we intended to do - longhouses are the traditional dwellings of the Iban people who inhabit the interior of Borneo. It turns out that it is quite difficult to find a longhouse to stay in because cultural etiquette dictates that you are invited into a longhouse rather than just turning up. While attempting to find a suitable longhouse we met a Dutch guy called Thierrey who wanted to use a tour operator to visit a longhouse, this turned to be too expensive for the four of us so he went off on his own, which we were quite glad of because he was one of the most annoying people we've ever met. In the end we asked the tour operator which longhouse it was and decided to do the one thing you're not meant to do: turn up uninvited. So we hailed a taxi and headed for the Bundong longhouse.
We got the taxi driver to introduce us to the chief, or at least the chief's wife and she allowed us to stay overnight, as long as we checked with the chief when he returned. After a few drinks we were left to spend the afternoon wondering round the longhouse and it was a brilliant experience as we were immersed in the daily life of the longhouse. Eoghan was in his element playing wih all the children in the longhouse and we all joined in before heading down to the river for a swim. When we got back to te longhouse the tour group full of Italians and Thierrey had arrived and we all noticed a marked difference in the atmosphere and it was disappointing that the lively nature of the place suddenly disappeared and everything was more subdued with the arrival of 20 or so Westerners. We tried to get away from the group and ended up chatting with some locals and their English and genuine interest in our lives and home were as remarkable as each other. I found this conversation the most interesting and enjoyable because it is one thing seeing where they live but it is so much more worthwhile chatting and finding about everything from their family and religious beliefs to their education and which football team they support (more often than not Man Utd!).
We heard that the chief had returned so we went to seek his rubber stamp on us being allowed to stay and to our horror he asked for 150 ringitts to stay the night so we made preparations to leave because this was unaffordable. Luckily Eoghan's charm and silver tongue got it down to 40 ringitts so we stayed the night. We had dinner with the tour group and then the breakdown of communication with the chief became evident as we were beckoned back into the house and showed to our sleeping quarters, which were two double beds in the chiefs house! To put this in context everyone else was staying outside on the wooden floor, which is where we were expecting to stay. To make matters even better we were served supper of sweet tea and bread with coconut jam and spent the evening with the chief's family. So while everyone else got comfortable outside we slipped under our mosquito net, turned our fan on and went to sleep, result!
Our luck continued as we woke up and were served breakfast by the chief's wife, we have no idea why we got all this laid on but it seems that the chief thought we were asking to stay in his house rather than the standard procedure of sleeping outside. Either way we weren't complaining and had a nice chat with Thierrey in the morning who turned out to also be the most gullible person in the world and we were in our element with him. Some of the hilarity that ensued cannot be done justice in a blog so please ask Alex or myself at the next opportunity to fill you in. We caught a taxi back to Kapit, the chief saw us off personally, and then jumped straight on a boat back to Sibu.
Rob
Early the next morning we headed to Kapit, which is a four hour boat ride up the river and the place to go for longhouse visits, which is what we intended to do - longhouses are the traditional dwellings of the Iban people who inhabit the interior of Borneo. It turns out that it is quite difficult to find a longhouse to stay in because cultural etiquette dictates that you are invited into a longhouse rather than just turning up. While attempting to find a suitable longhouse we met a Dutch guy called Thierrey who wanted to use a tour operator to visit a longhouse, this turned to be too expensive for the four of us so he went off on his own, which we were quite glad of because he was one of the most annoying people we've ever met. In the end we asked the tour operator which longhouse it was and decided to do the one thing you're not meant to do: turn up uninvited. So we hailed a taxi and headed for the Bundong longhouse.
We got the taxi driver to introduce us to the chief, or at least the chief's wife and she allowed us to stay overnight, as long as we checked with the chief when he returned. After a few drinks we were left to spend the afternoon wondering round the longhouse and it was a brilliant experience as we were immersed in the daily life of the longhouse. Eoghan was in his element playing wih all the children in the longhouse and we all joined in before heading down to the river for a swim. When we got back to te longhouse the tour group full of Italians and Thierrey had arrived and we all noticed a marked difference in the atmosphere and it was disappointing that the lively nature of the place suddenly disappeared and everything was more subdued with the arrival of 20 or so Westerners. We tried to get away from the group and ended up chatting with some locals and their English and genuine interest in our lives and home were as remarkable as each other. I found this conversation the most interesting and enjoyable because it is one thing seeing where they live but it is so much more worthwhile chatting and finding about everything from their family and religious beliefs to their education and which football team they support (more often than not Man Utd!).
We heard that the chief had returned so we went to seek his rubber stamp on us being allowed to stay and to our horror he asked for 150 ringitts to stay the night so we made preparations to leave because this was unaffordable. Luckily Eoghan's charm and silver tongue got it down to 40 ringitts so we stayed the night. We had dinner with the tour group and then the breakdown of communication with the chief became evident as we were beckoned back into the house and showed to our sleeping quarters, which were two double beds in the chiefs house! To put this in context everyone else was staying outside on the wooden floor, which is where we were expecting to stay. To make matters even better we were served supper of sweet tea and bread with coconut jam and spent the evening with the chief's family. So while everyone else got comfortable outside we slipped under our mosquito net, turned our fan on and went to sleep, result!
Our luck continued as we woke up and were served breakfast by the chief's wife, we have no idea why we got all this laid on but it seems that the chief thought we were asking to stay in his house rather than the standard procedure of sleeping outside. Either way we weren't complaining and had a nice chat with Thierrey in the morning who turned out to also be the most gullible person in the world and we were in our element with him. Some of the hilarity that ensued cannot be done justice in a blog so please ask Alex or myself at the next opportunity to fill you in. We caught a taxi back to Kapit, the chief saw us off personally, and then jumped straight on a boat back to Sibu.
Rob
Tuesday 11 August 2009
Bako National Park - Monkeys, Ants and Waterfalls
An early start saw us head off to Bako for a day trip to one of Malaysia's premier parks. A bus and a boat got us in to the park, though the slightly annoying thing was me paying full price and Alex getting a student discount when I'm a student and he isn't!!! Anyway, Bako is most famous for it's probiscus monkeys and we saw two in the trees just as our boat pulled in; quite a positive start we thought. However, it turns out that that was our last encounter with nature, well apart from a trail of ants on our trek and another monkey just as we left. This lack of wildlife was no problem as the park was beatiful in itself. We had to be back for our boat in 6 hours so we decided to walk for 3 hours and see where we ended up and that turned out to be the Tajong waterfalls which followed and climb through the jungle and a scramble up a dry river bed. The waterfalls were...well impressive isn't the right word because they were about 3 foot tall, but they did provide ample swimming opportunity to swim in pool created by the waterfall. Cool and refreshed we headed back to Kuching and what I thought would be an early night due to our 8am bus in the morning but I was very mistaken as Alex and I shared two bottles of whiskey as we socialised back at Borneo B+B with Alex the Spaniard, James the PE teacher, Cian and Eoghan from Ireland and a few others. At some point we stumbled across the road to get some sleep before our early bus in the morning.
Rob
Rob
Kuching - Meow!
With Tom heading home Alex and I headed to Kuching, literally meaning 'cat', the capital city of Sarawak. Finding accommodation was pretty hard but we settled for the Borneo B+B. In the afternoon we headed to the Waterfront, the focal point of Kuching, and walked into a sea of people as the Sarawak Regatta was in full swing. This annual event is an amazing tradition in Sarawak and we witnessed dragon boat racing, local music and a cultural market. All in all it was just good fun for all the family, even though it was just Alex and me there! Seeing that our first day in Kuching was a Saturday we decided to join in on a game of Ring of Fire at our hostel before heading out on the town. By about 2am we ended up in a karaoke bar (about half of all bars have karaoke, it is crazily popular in this part of the world!) and Alex and I used our natural singing talents to clear the place out. With that accomplished we wandered back to our B+B after 3am.
Our late night led us to sleeping to almost midday the next day and this led to a couple of problems: first, we missed the Kuching Sunday market, which actually takes place on a Saturday, and got booted out of Borneo B+B because apparently we needed to re-check-in! Luckily there was place in a dorm across the road so we moved there before heading out to exlpore Kuching with Kevin, a French guy from Borneo B+B, and his Spanish friend who neither of us can remember the name of. The Sarawak Museum showcased all the wildlife in Sarawak but the stuffed animals looked like they hadn't been replaced since the museum was opened in 1912, but the one eyes porcupine was still very impressive... With Kuching being the city of the cat it has a liberal sprinkling of cat statuesso Alex and I decided to take a few of them in, including the Great Cat of Kuching, which overlooks the entrance to Kuching. I never knew cats could be so impressve or big! We planned to head to Bako national park in the morning so we opted for a quiter night and headed out for a meal with people from Borneo B+B before seeing Public Enemies, which we all enjoyed.
Rob
Our late night led us to sleeping to almost midday the next day and this led to a couple of problems: first, we missed the Kuching Sunday market, which actually takes place on a Saturday, and got booted out of Borneo B+B because apparently we needed to re-check-in! Luckily there was place in a dorm across the road so we moved there before heading out to exlpore Kuching with Kevin, a French guy from Borneo B+B, and his Spanish friend who neither of us can remember the name of. The Sarawak Museum showcased all the wildlife in Sarawak but the stuffed animals looked like they hadn't been replaced since the museum was opened in 1912, but the one eyes porcupine was still very impressive... With Kuching being the city of the cat it has a liberal sprinkling of cat statuesso Alex and I decided to take a few of them in, including the Great Cat of Kuching, which overlooks the entrance to Kuching. I never knew cats could be so impressve or big! We planned to head to Bako national park in the morning so we opted for a quiter night and headed out for a meal with people from Borneo B+B before seeing Public Enemies, which we all enjoyed.
Rob
Saturday 1 August 2009
Kuala Lumpur
On arriving in KL we made a bee line for China town, having been told that it was home to the cheapest digs. To get there we had to take the KL under ground, which is roughly a million times better than the tube, we never had to wait longer than about a minute.
That evening we set out to do something we had been wanting to do for ages, we saw Harry Potter. It maybe didnt quite live up to our expectations, but I dont think any of the reviews have been good, and we were glad to see it. The cinema was in a shopping centre full of western shops, everything from Gucci and Armani to Topshop, marks and spencer and even harrods.
The following day we woke up early to get tickets for the Petronas towers. They are one of the tallest buildings in the world and one can climb up about half way for an amazing view over the city from a sky bridge. We spent the rest of the day shopping in the markets and went out for dinner at the hard rock cafe as a tearful farewell to Tom. Tiffany managed to come and join us for dinner, and it was great to see her.
In the morning Robbie and I went to a Hindu temple, by complete chance we walked in and 'something' (excuse my ignorance) was happening, there was singing and dancing, and we really enjoyed it.
That afternoon we went out for an amaxing curry in Little india, mine came on a Banana leaf instead of a plate. We then went to see a friend of a friend of Robbies who has lived in Malaysia for 30 years. He was unimaginabely knowledgeable, even telling us about the time he guided Attenbrough around Borneo.
That evening we took Tom to the station. It was strange for us both. A guy called Toon who we called the 'dirty dutchman' said travelling is more intense than marriage, maybe he is right, we barely spent a minute apart for 3 months.
Robbie and I spent a night before flying to Borneo, which is where we are now.
That evening we set out to do something we had been wanting to do for ages, we saw Harry Potter. It maybe didnt quite live up to our expectations, but I dont think any of the reviews have been good, and we were glad to see it. The cinema was in a shopping centre full of western shops, everything from Gucci and Armani to Topshop, marks and spencer and even harrods.
The following day we woke up early to get tickets for the Petronas towers. They are one of the tallest buildings in the world and one can climb up about half way for an amazing view over the city from a sky bridge. We spent the rest of the day shopping in the markets and went out for dinner at the hard rock cafe as a tearful farewell to Tom. Tiffany managed to come and join us for dinner, and it was great to see her.
In the morning Robbie and I went to a Hindu temple, by complete chance we walked in and 'something' (excuse my ignorance) was happening, there was singing and dancing, and we really enjoyed it.
That afternoon we went out for an amaxing curry in Little india, mine came on a Banana leaf instead of a plate. We then went to see a friend of a friend of Robbies who has lived in Malaysia for 30 years. He was unimaginabely knowledgeable, even telling us about the time he guided Attenbrough around Borneo.
That evening we took Tom to the station. It was strange for us both. A guy called Toon who we called the 'dirty dutchman' said travelling is more intense than marriage, maybe he is right, we barely spent a minute apart for 3 months.
Robbie and I spent a night before flying to Borneo, which is where we are now.
Railay bay-Hat ton Sai
Railay is split into three parts, Railay west - full of expensive resorts, not quite our scene, Railay east - full of expensive resorts, not really our scene, and Hat ton sai, full of climbing enthusiasts with fishing trousers and dread locks, exactly our scene.
After getting off the boat we were just getting started on the rock scramble one must pass in order to get to ton sai, when we noticed another beach football match, while not quite as fun as the one o Phi Phi, it was a welcome way of running around and using some energy, even if the Thais didn't trust us enough to actually pass the ball.
Once we got were we wanted to go we found admittedly basic bamboo bungalows for 100b, that 2pounds for a whole bangalow. I strung up my hammock outside and I think we all realised immediately this was going to be somewhere we enjoyed, away from the hectic tourism business. This place has what must be one of the most chilled out vibes in the world.
Unfortunately we were not blessed with good weather on our one full day on the bay so we didnt get out onto the beach, nor did we manage to learn to climb, yet we still enjoyed the place, that tells a story.
The following day we checked out of our rooms early, knowing we had to be in Krabi that evening, but happy to spend a day on the beach first. Yes the beach was great, but that was not the most exciting thing to happen, a hurricane hit the beach! We were looking into the distance at the storm clouds coming when suddenly we noticed a tiny tube in the sky. I went off for a walk, and then suddenly the hurricane was on the water, throwing spray all over the beach before moving onto the beach and throwing towels everywhere. Dont worry mothers, it didnt cause any real damage, their was no real danger, but it was still very exciting!
That afternoon we headed to Krabi to spend a night before jumping on a flight to KL in the morning. That evening we somehow stumbled into a restaurant playing Dirty Dancing on the TV. Tom was so appalled that I had never seen it that we stayed and watched it all the way to the end.
After getting off the boat we were just getting started on the rock scramble one must pass in order to get to ton sai, when we noticed another beach football match, while not quite as fun as the one o Phi Phi, it was a welcome way of running around and using some energy, even if the Thais didn't trust us enough to actually pass the ball.
Once we got were we wanted to go we found admittedly basic bamboo bungalows for 100b, that 2pounds for a whole bangalow. I strung up my hammock outside and I think we all realised immediately this was going to be somewhere we enjoyed, away from the hectic tourism business. This place has what must be one of the most chilled out vibes in the world.
Unfortunately we were not blessed with good weather on our one full day on the bay so we didnt get out onto the beach, nor did we manage to learn to climb, yet we still enjoyed the place, that tells a story.
The following day we checked out of our rooms early, knowing we had to be in Krabi that evening, but happy to spend a day on the beach first. Yes the beach was great, but that was not the most exciting thing to happen, a hurricane hit the beach! We were looking into the distance at the storm clouds coming when suddenly we noticed a tiny tube in the sky. I went off for a walk, and then suddenly the hurricane was on the water, throwing spray all over the beach before moving onto the beach and throwing towels everywhere. Dont worry mothers, it didnt cause any real damage, their was no real danger, but it was still very exciting!
That afternoon we headed to Krabi to spend a night before jumping on a flight to KL in the morning. That evening we somehow stumbled into a restaurant playing Dirty Dancing on the TV. Tom was so appalled that I had never seen it that we stayed and watched it all the way to the end.
Koh Phi Phi
After a quiet few days on Lanta we were all looking forward to a bit more activity on the very tourist Phi Phi. The Island was used as the location for the film 'the beach'.
We only spent two full days on Phi Phi, I think we were slightly put off by the english lager louts, but nonetheless we all had a great time. On the first day we enjoyed the weather on the beach. We spent a day reading, playing frisbee, swimming, bat and ball, all the normal sort of beach 'stuff'. That evening we hit the town, particularly enjoying the bar with layed on thai boxing, and the beach party. I cannot speak for Tom or Robbie, but I only got home at about 8am that morning, the sign of a good night I think.
Predictabely most of the following day was spent asleep, although we did venture down to the beach at about 4 to find a hugely competetive game of beach football (faring vs thai) and played long enough that we could barely move for exhaustion. As I remember we then went for a treat, some rare western food before retiring early to play our favourite card game which has become a bit of an obsession.
With a few days to kill untill our flight to Kuala Lumpur we decided to go to Railay bay, a tiny little peninsula about an hour from Krabi. We had decided to get the boat at 9, but after waking up at 9.15 that was no longer an option, we started the journey at 2.
We only spent two full days on Phi Phi, I think we were slightly put off by the english lager louts, but nonetheless we all had a great time. On the first day we enjoyed the weather on the beach. We spent a day reading, playing frisbee, swimming, bat and ball, all the normal sort of beach 'stuff'. That evening we hit the town, particularly enjoying the bar with layed on thai boxing, and the beach party. I cannot speak for Tom or Robbie, but I only got home at about 8am that morning, the sign of a good night I think.
Predictabely most of the following day was spent asleep, although we did venture down to the beach at about 4 to find a hugely competetive game of beach football (faring vs thai) and played long enough that we could barely move for exhaustion. As I remember we then went for a treat, some rare western food before retiring early to play our favourite card game which has become a bit of an obsession.
With a few days to kill untill our flight to Kuala Lumpur we decided to go to Railay bay, a tiny little peninsula about an hour from Krabi. We had decided to get the boat at 9, but after waking up at 9.15 that was no longer an option, we started the journey at 2.
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Koh Lanta
Koh Lanta is a large island very near the famous Ko Phi Phi, however for some reason it has not developed into such a tourist spot and when we arrived in what is the off season the place was virtually deserted. With a little bit of encouragement we managed to negotiate a bungalow for the three of us, with air con, cable tv and a the nicest bathroom so far for 300b, that is 2pounds each! Consider we have paid more that that for a bamboo shack in need of waterproofing.
Day one on Ko lanta was a lazy affair, walking from bungalow to pool (we had a pool!) and back all day, before collapsing into bed with a few beers to watch england claim the second test, with english commentaty.
On day two we were a little more adventurous, getting out to explore the island and discovering a completely deserted beach. On it we found what i can only describe as a lump. I thought it was a washed up banana, Tom was convinced it was allive, but every time we tried to save it by throwing it into the sea it somehow found a way to roll back to us.
The Final Day on Lanta was some what of a dissapointment, a day of rain meant we could not really go to the beach, and the local football game we hed been invited to was cancelled.
Next stop Ko Phi Phi
Day one on Ko lanta was a lazy affair, walking from bungalow to pool (we had a pool!) and back all day, before collapsing into bed with a few beers to watch england claim the second test, with english commentaty.
On day two we were a little more adventurous, getting out to explore the island and discovering a completely deserted beach. On it we found what i can only describe as a lump. I thought it was a washed up banana, Tom was convinced it was allive, but every time we tried to save it by throwing it into the sea it somehow found a way to roll back to us.
The Final Day on Lanta was some what of a dissapointment, a day of rain meant we could not really go to the beach, and the local football game we hed been invited to was cancelled.
Next stop Ko Phi Phi
Kanchanaburi-Koh Lanta
Normally we don't bother blogging about journeys, but this was pretty epic, more our fault than anyone else's.
The idea was to go to a fishing village called Ranong, and from there get a boat to a tiny and rarely visited island called KO Chang. To get there was a few hours from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok, followed by a very long night bus. On arrival we found virtually no boats will actually agree to go to the island, the sea was too rough. So we hopped on a local bus which we thought would take us the Krabi (the port town for the next island - Koh lanta) Unfortunately it only took us part of the way, as did the next one, and the next one, and the next one. After Finlay arriving in krabi we spend a night before taking a bus to Lanta. After almost 48hours on the road we Finlay arrived, strangely I think we quite enjoyed it.
The idea was to go to a fishing village called Ranong, and from there get a boat to a tiny and rarely visited island called KO Chang. To get there was a few hours from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok, followed by a very long night bus. On arrival we found virtually no boats will actually agree to go to the island, the sea was too rough. So we hopped on a local bus which we thought would take us the Krabi (the port town for the next island - Koh lanta) Unfortunately it only took us part of the way, as did the next one, and the next one, and the next one. After Finlay arriving in krabi we spend a night before taking a bus to Lanta. After almost 48hours on the road we Finlay arrived, strangely I think we quite enjoyed it.
Wednesday 22 July 2009
Kanchanaburi - Ianapa, Kandahar or Cayman Islands?
Early the next day we headed off to Kanchanaburi which is the sight of the Bridge on the River Kwai and the POW camp that housed the workforce for the infamous Japanese death railway. We rented some bicycles and toured the city. We went up to the bridge, which looks nothing like the film, and crossed it to see the terrain the railway passes through which highlights the work it took to build it. Crossing the river we headed to Wat Phrae Noon, which is a cave temple - pretty self explanatory. An intricate system of caves houses hundreds of religious icons, mainly buddhas but a few others. Having already cycled a good 15km we decided to make our way back to our hostel via one of the war cemetries commemorating some of the 16,000 commonwealth POW who died building the railway. The cemetry itself was well kept and provided quite a moving moment for all three of us seeing the names of boys who had died, many younger than us now. Unfortunately, the respect and remembrance they deserved wasn't fully shown by the Thai family there who treated it as a play park.
Our map indicated a cinema in Kanchanaburi and being off season and not wanting to miss Harry Potter we tried to find it, with no luck so we headed back to our hostel. Having seen the sights of Kanchanaburi we headed back to Bangkok the next afternoon.
Rob
Our map indicated a cinema in Kanchanaburi and being off season and not wanting to miss Harry Potter we tried to find it, with no luck so we headed back to our hostel. Having seen the sights of Kanchanaburi we headed back to Bangkok the next afternoon.
Rob
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Bangkok - Wat Wat?
The so where next blog has an exciting moment today as Tom and Alex met up with none other than Robbie (ie me), not that fake one who they mentioned earlier but the real one. Anyway, Bangkok, how best to describe this most oxymoronic of cities?
After meeting Tom and Alex in Bangkok airport we took a cab ride into Bangkok with officially the craziest cab driver in the world - lane markings meant nothing to this guy! The Khoa San road is famed as backpackers central in Bangkok as this is where we duly headed and found a Spartan but relatively cheap room. The evening was spent ambling down Khoa San being offered everything from genuine ray bans and Armani suits to tasers and ping pong shows. Personally I wasn't in the mood for table tennis.
Our first full day in Bangkok was spent touring the sights that made Bangkok what it is. Rama I decided to move the Thai capital to Bangkok in the 18th century and build his royal palace and this is where we duly headed, despite at least 3 locals claiming it was closed, we weren't going to fall for their scams! The 90 acre sight contains an array of temples and royal residences all of which are as opulent as the next. The crowning glory of the palace is the 3 metre tall emerald Buddha which was made from a solid block of jade in the 15th century. After ambling round the palac we went to Wat Pho which houses a 49 metre long reclining buddha plated in gold, pretty impressive! Apart from his toes, which were all the same length, weird! In the afternoon we went to Siam Center which has 4 large malls adjacent to each other and enjoyed trying to brter with the stall holders who were selling 'genuine' designer clothes and goods. A few drinks back on Khao San and a great first day for me was done.
A nice lie in on our second day helped me get over my jet lag and in the early afternoon Alex and I headed off to Wat Traihit to see the Golden Buddha, which is a 3 metre solid gold statue, very impressive! We had rranged to meet Tom in Chinatown, or at least what we thought was Chinatown. The only problem was that we walked the wrong way for about 45 minutes! While it gave Alex and I a great opportunity to see the real Bangkok, away from the tourist trail, it did mean we were 50 minutes late meeting tom. Due to Chinatown not being where we thought it was we headed off to the night market. Unfortunately this involved heading through Patpong - Bangkok's red light district. We were constantly bombarded not only by seedy looking men offering us ping pong shows but the bars themselves bringing the so called entertainment right upto the street's edge. I think we all died a little inside while walking through.
Rob
After meeting Tom and Alex in Bangkok airport we took a cab ride into Bangkok with officially the craziest cab driver in the world - lane markings meant nothing to this guy! The Khoa San road is famed as backpackers central in Bangkok as this is where we duly headed and found a Spartan but relatively cheap room. The evening was spent ambling down Khoa San being offered everything from genuine ray bans and Armani suits to tasers and ping pong shows. Personally I wasn't in the mood for table tennis.
Our first full day in Bangkok was spent touring the sights that made Bangkok what it is. Rama I decided to move the Thai capital to Bangkok in the 18th century and build his royal palace and this is where we duly headed, despite at least 3 locals claiming it was closed, we weren't going to fall for their scams! The 90 acre sight contains an array of temples and royal residences all of which are as opulent as the next. The crowning glory of the palace is the 3 metre tall emerald Buddha which was made from a solid block of jade in the 15th century. After ambling round the palac we went to Wat Pho which houses a 49 metre long reclining buddha plated in gold, pretty impressive! Apart from his toes, which were all the same length, weird! In the afternoon we went to Siam Center which has 4 large malls adjacent to each other and enjoyed trying to brter with the stall holders who were selling 'genuine' designer clothes and goods. A few drinks back on Khao San and a great first day for me was done.
A nice lie in on our second day helped me get over my jet lag and in the early afternoon Alex and I headed off to Wat Traihit to see the Golden Buddha, which is a 3 metre solid gold statue, very impressive! We had rranged to meet Tom in Chinatown, or at least what we thought was Chinatown. The only problem was that we walked the wrong way for about 45 minutes! While it gave Alex and I a great opportunity to see the real Bangkok, away from the tourist trail, it did mean we were 50 minutes late meeting tom. Due to Chinatown not being where we thought it was we headed off to the night market. Unfortunately this involved heading through Patpong - Bangkok's red light district. We were constantly bombarded not only by seedy looking men offering us ping pong shows but the bars themselves bringing the so called entertainment right upto the street's edge. I think we all died a little inside while walking through.
Rob
Wednesday 15 July 2009
Ko Tao
We heard that the weather on Ko Tao was going to be slightly worse then on Ko Pha Ngan and this quickly became evident went our boat was bouncing around like a tennis ball. I, rather luckily seem to be immune from sea sickness but the same could not be said for alex who was using all his concentration on not throwing up. NICE!
We arrived and checked in to Mr. J's guesthouse but decided against buying his homemade condoms (buy 10 get 1 free). He was weird. During bad weather is not the best time to see Ko Tao and so we were unfortunate not to see it's true beauty. We made the most of what we could though, meeting up with Tiffany to explore the island; we found a beauiful secluded bay and also mini golf!!! Alex won :( but only just.
Next stop Bangkok to pick up Robbie, all that stands in the way is a 9 hours night boat to Surat Thani followed by a day of waiting for our flight bad times.
Tom
We arrived and checked in to Mr. J's guesthouse but decided against buying his homemade condoms (buy 10 get 1 free). He was weird. During bad weather is not the best time to see Ko Tao and so we were unfortunate not to see it's true beauty. We made the most of what we could though, meeting up with Tiffany to explore the island; we found a beauiful secluded bay and also mini golf!!! Alex won :( but only just.
Next stop Bangkok to pick up Robbie, all that stands in the way is a 9 hours night boat to Surat Thani followed by a day of waiting for our flight bad times.
Tom
Ko Pha Ngan
I think upon our arrival we proved what seasoned travelers we are now. Whilst everyone else was frantically running around searching for accommodation Alex and I decided to get some food and then leisurely took a stroll and managed to find the cheapest accommodation on the entire of Haad Rin beach (where the full moon party happens) and it came with a free hammock.
We spent the next couple of days on lying on the beach, inventing a new sport called "Alex and Tom's beach tennis", disturbing other people with our poorly aimed frisbee throws and generally relaxing. In the area there was an abundance of bars and restaurants that play friends all day (you thought e4 was bad) which originally we mocked but soon found ourselves strangely drawn to not mentioning an awesome falafal joint.
The night life on Ko Pha Ngan is something special. You start out with a couple of drinks in a bar before heading down to the beach to drink whiskey buckets. The leading entertainment, aside from the music is to watch thai men playing with fire in different ways the most intresting of which is a rope swing which tourists leap over until the eventually get hit by a flaming rope. We gave it a miss ourselves...
The climax of the weeks fun was the Full Moon Party on thursday. Early in the day the multiple bars and resorts along the beach begin erecting stages and dance floors in preperation for the evening. The party technically begins at about 5pm when the music starts but it's not until about 10.30-11 when everyone is suitibly drunk, suitibly painted in glow amd the moon comes up that the real fun begins. Alex and I spent most of the evening with Mark and Owen who we'd met on the beach a couple of days before. Eventually, well after the sun rises, the party begins to wind down and the last few ravers stumble back to their guest houses.
Too soon the party was over and we were making our way to Thong Sala port to go to Ko Tao
Tom
We spent the next couple of days on lying on the beach, inventing a new sport called "Alex and Tom's beach tennis", disturbing other people with our poorly aimed frisbee throws and generally relaxing. In the area there was an abundance of bars and restaurants that play friends all day (you thought e4 was bad) which originally we mocked but soon found ourselves strangely drawn to not mentioning an awesome falafal joint.
The night life on Ko Pha Ngan is something special. You start out with a couple of drinks in a bar before heading down to the beach to drink whiskey buckets. The leading entertainment, aside from the music is to watch thai men playing with fire in different ways the most intresting of which is a rope swing which tourists leap over until the eventually get hit by a flaming rope. We gave it a miss ourselves...
The climax of the weeks fun was the Full Moon Party on thursday. Early in the day the multiple bars and resorts along the beach begin erecting stages and dance floors in preperation for the evening. The party technically begins at about 5pm when the music starts but it's not until about 10.30-11 when everyone is suitibly drunk, suitibly painted in glow amd the moon comes up that the real fun begins. Alex and I spent most of the evening with Mark and Owen who we'd met on the beach a couple of days before. Eventually, well after the sun rises, the party begins to wind down and the last few ravers stumble back to their guest houses.
Too soon the party was over and we were making our way to Thong Sala port to go to Ko Tao
Tom
Ko Samui
We slept in Bangkok airport for a couple of hours before boarding our Bangkok Airways flight to Ko Samui. The flight was only forty five minutes and so seemed like a waste of time but it saved us a solid days traveling, plus we got a free snack!
Ko Samui has unfortunately become a popular spot for western tourists looking to take advantage of the readily available Thai prostitutes a lot of which are actually men... This was emphasised by our guest house's staff, all of which were ladyboys. Alex and I spent a lot of time watching Wimbledon, yes we know it's pathetic but we had to watch it, despite the best efforts of the prostitutes to distract us in the bars.
Soon enough we were treking along the beach to catch our boat to Ko Samui. I think we were both a little surprised that we were actually about to get to Ko Pha Ngan, home of the full moon party, something we had both been looking forward to from the start.
Tom
Ko Samui has unfortunately become a popular spot for western tourists looking to take advantage of the readily available Thai prostitutes a lot of which are actually men... This was emphasised by our guest house's staff, all of which were ladyboys. Alex and I spent a lot of time watching Wimbledon, yes we know it's pathetic but we had to watch it, despite the best efforts of the prostitutes to distract us in the bars.
Soon enough we were treking along the beach to catch our boat to Ko Samui. I think we were both a little surprised that we were actually about to get to Ko Pha Ngan, home of the full moon party, something we had both been looking forward to from the start.
Tom
Chiang Mai
After crossing the border at about 9am in the morning we entered Thailand and quickly found ourselves transportation to Thailand's second city, Chiang Mai. After sorting accommodation we experienced our first Thai curry and it was GOOD. The heavy rain meant we only had time to book onto a cooking course for the next day.
We were picked up early and taken to a morning market where we were given a detailed description of all the ingredients that we were going to be using in our curries. After this they took us to the "farm" where the owners grew a lot of the other ingredients needed. First lesson was how to make a curry paste after which we made a curry using our own paste. The other dishes they taught us were chicken with cashew nuts, pad thai, a chicken coconut soup and finally a sweet, banana in coconut milk.
In the evening we met up with Ulrika and Amelie and had a couple of drinks before Alex and I departed for Bangkok where we would catch a flight to Ko Samui. Thai islands here we come!
Tom
We were picked up early and taken to a morning market where we were given a detailed description of all the ingredients that we were going to be using in our curries. After this they took us to the "farm" where the owners grew a lot of the other ingredients needed. First lesson was how to make a curry paste after which we made a curry using our own paste. The other dishes they taught us were chicken with cashew nuts, pad thai, a chicken coconut soup and finally a sweet, banana in coconut milk.
In the evening we met up with Ulrika and Amelie and had a couple of drinks before Alex and I departed for Bangkok where we would catch a flight to Ko Samui. Thai islands here we come!
Tom
Tuesday 30 June 2009
Luang Phabang
Luang Phabang is another one of those towns whch are plintiful in Laos which are just really pretty. On arrival we went to the charming nightmarket which while having many hundred stalls, only stocked about 4 items, bags, scarfs, lanterns and bracelets. They were ver nice bags, scarfs, lanterns and bracelets though.
The following day we rented some bicycles and set out on a very ambitious 30km round trip to a famed waterfall, we soon saw a sign to a different waterfall and changed course. After a long hill climb and many many stairs we realised there are infact no waterfalls and set out on the far more enjoyable cycle home. The journey to the waterfall had been fine, for me, I was given a good price on a mountain bike with good gears in return for fixing the bike, much to the others irritation, all of whom had pretty rubbish shopping bikes, oh well, their loss.
Soon we set out on the 3 day journed to Chian Mai in Thailand. The journey consisted of two day long 'slow boats' then a night on the laos border before doing the final 4 hour bus to Chiang mai. Personaly I enjoyed the boat, it was cool, relaxing, we played cards, did some reading, and the scenery was amazing.
We stopped the first night in Pakbeng, where Tom was offered the challenge of a game of pro evo for a free meal, which he took and won, only to have the free meal skillfully removed 'i offered you, but you didnt accept'
The only exciting thing to happen in Houyxai, the boarder town was an all you can eat barbeque restaurant. Myself and boat friend Ben abused this as much as we possibly could.
Now we are in Chian Mai, and the next post will be written by Tom, a far more thorough journalist I feel.
Alex
The following day we rented some bicycles and set out on a very ambitious 30km round trip to a famed waterfall, we soon saw a sign to a different waterfall and changed course. After a long hill climb and many many stairs we realised there are infact no waterfalls and set out on the far more enjoyable cycle home. The journey to the waterfall had been fine, for me, I was given a good price on a mountain bike with good gears in return for fixing the bike, much to the others irritation, all of whom had pretty rubbish shopping bikes, oh well, their loss.
Soon we set out on the 3 day journed to Chian Mai in Thailand. The journey consisted of two day long 'slow boats' then a night on the laos border before doing the final 4 hour bus to Chiang mai. Personaly I enjoyed the boat, it was cool, relaxing, we played cards, did some reading, and the scenery was amazing.
We stopped the first night in Pakbeng, where Tom was offered the challenge of a game of pro evo for a free meal, which he took and won, only to have the free meal skillfully removed 'i offered you, but you didnt accept'
The only exciting thing to happen in Houyxai, the boarder town was an all you can eat barbeque restaurant. Myself and boat friend Ben abused this as much as we possibly could.
Now we are in Chian Mai, and the next post will be written by Tom, a far more thorough journalist I feel.
Alex
Vang Vieng
Vang vieng is a backpackers town if there ever was one. It is famed throught south east asia for it's 'tubing'. Tubing literaly consists of sitting in a tractor tyre inner tube and floating down the river, great fun in the sun. In Vang vieng however it is slightly different, the river banks are lined with bars serving unbelievabley cheap drinks. Each bar has either a 'swing' or a zip line, the sort of thing that throws you in to the water from anything up to about 8 metres in the air and would be about as legal as cannablism in the uk. Needless to say we all LOVED it, as does literaly everyone.
We later enjoyed an evening sampling the local nightlife before boarding yet another bus, this time to the town of Luang Phabang.
We later enjoyed an evening sampling the local nightlife before boarding yet another bus, this time to the town of Luang Phabang.
Vientiane
Vientiane while being the capital of Loas, is far from being a big city, a short 17 hour bus journey got us there on the morning of the 21st, ready to meet Ulrika and her friend Amelie that afternoon.
Probably the only activity of massive note in vientiane was how we avoided a small thai disaster. It turns out contrary to all advice printed in any book anywhere (perhaps a slight exaggeration) it turns out you cannot get a 30 day visa to thailand on arrival anymore, so we spent an extra day bumming around in Vientianne waiting for the Thai embassy to issue us with a visa.
Despite being small and unremarkable Vientiane was pretty, had a bustling market, and we all enjoyed a good long swim in the local pool.
Probably the only activity of massive note in vientiane was how we avoided a small thai disaster. It turns out contrary to all advice printed in any book anywhere (perhaps a slight exaggeration) it turns out you cannot get a 30 day visa to thailand on arrival anymore, so we spent an extra day bumming around in Vientianne waiting for the Thai embassy to issue us with a visa.
Despite being small and unremarkable Vientiane was pretty, had a bustling market, and we all enjoyed a good long swim in the local pool.
Si Phan Don, The Four Thousand Islands
Just on the border between Cambodia and Laos is an area of the Mekong river populated with many islands, i would guess at four thousand. That was our next stop, but before getting there there was the small issue of border crossing. Using our best good cop-bad cop routine we somehow avoided having to pay the 'stamp fee' aka bribe to get out of cambodia. Unfortunately despite pretending we had no money, asking for a reciept, asking to speak to a superior and sitting down and playing cards for 2 hours we failed at the laos side and had to be the ludicrous sum of 1 dollar.
On to don det, a beutiful little island very popular with backpackers. The place was pretty, and we enjoyed a day cycling around seeing waterfalls etc, but the wallpaper table beds were an aquired taste, so the following day we moved on to the next island of don khong.
It is difficult to know how to explain don khong, pretty without being spectular i think would be fair. We enjoyed some fantastic fish and a few good cycle rides before spending the evening drinking 'loa loa cocktails' with a Frenchman and a German whos name I cannot remember for the life of me.
On to don det, a beutiful little island very popular with backpackers. The place was pretty, and we enjoyed a day cycling around seeing waterfalls etc, but the wallpaper table beds were an aquired taste, so the following day we moved on to the next island of don khong.
It is difficult to know how to explain don khong, pretty without being spectular i think would be fair. We enjoyed some fantastic fish and a few good cycle rides before spending the evening drinking 'loa loa cocktails' with a Frenchman and a German whos name I cannot remember for the life of me.
Thursday 25 June 2009
Ban Lung
As soon as we got off the bus, we had decided that Ban Lung, like everything in existence, was a lot better then Kratie due to the fact that there was actually things to do. We arrived in the early evening and so found a hostel quickly before heading to Soup 63, a restaurant with two dishes, Grilled Beef and Beef Soup. The appeal is that you cook the dish yourself at the table so we quickly got our hands greasy and cooked our feast.
During the next two days, we rented bicycles and went around exploring the local area. The highlight was when we visited the Crater lake where we swam and lounged around with a combination of locals and tourists. A highlight is so often followed by a low point, so we we're not too surprised when the perfect weather we had enjoyed at the lake disappeared on the cycle home when the conditions we're so bad we had to stop off in a restaurant and enjoy a lengthy, and most importantly free, game of scrabble.
The real reason to visit Ban Lung is the national park and so for our final day in the area, and in fact Cambodia, we decided to book ourselves a jungle trek. We were picked up at about 8 am and to our delight discovered that there was two bikes between Alex, Tiffany and I so including drivers there was 5 people on two bikes, a very fun journey followed. We spent the following five or six hours trekking up hills, down hills through streams and ponds and dodging all the frightfully scary (well if your Tiffany anyway) insects. Occasionally we would stop off at a villagers house but they didnt seem overly pleased to see us. We all agreed that a trek is generally more exciting if there is a rewarding view or some fantastic minority village at the end which this trek lacked but it was a great experience none the less. That evening we were very knackered and so ventured out only to book our bus to Don Det in Laos before going to bed.
Tom
During the next two days, we rented bicycles and went around exploring the local area. The highlight was when we visited the Crater lake where we swam and lounged around with a combination of locals and tourists. A highlight is so often followed by a low point, so we we're not too surprised when the perfect weather we had enjoyed at the lake disappeared on the cycle home when the conditions we're so bad we had to stop off in a restaurant and enjoy a lengthy, and most importantly free, game of scrabble.
The real reason to visit Ban Lung is the national park and so for our final day in the area, and in fact Cambodia, we decided to book ourselves a jungle trek. We were picked up at about 8 am and to our delight discovered that there was two bikes between Alex, Tiffany and I so including drivers there was 5 people on two bikes, a very fun journey followed. We spent the following five or six hours trekking up hills, down hills through streams and ponds and dodging all the frightfully scary (well if your Tiffany anyway) insects. Occasionally we would stop off at a villagers house but they didnt seem overly pleased to see us. We all agreed that a trek is generally more exciting if there is a rewarding view or some fantastic minority village at the end which this trek lacked but it was a great experience none the less. That evening we were very knackered and so ventured out only to book our bus to Don Det in Laos before going to bed.
Tom
Saturday 20 June 2009
Siem Reap
On to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor. Angkor is an area comprising of several hundred stone temples in an area which is 220 km around. Most of the temples are around 1000 years old. The sheer logistics are unbelievable, not only is each temple made up of hundreds of thousands f stones weighing at least a tonne, but also the surface has been expertly crafted. Each must have taken hundreds of people many years to make. This was always going to be one of the highlights of the trip, and personaly I feel it definitely lived up to the hype. I went for 3 days with Robbie, Tone, Barron, and Gabriel. We had a guide and a tuk tuk for the first day, and then enjoyed exploring many of the less visited temles on bicycles for the following two days. The sheer scale is hard to descibe without photos, but with my camera cable in a bus at the moment, that will have to wait a few days.
Perhaps the funniest moment in siem reap was when I met some close friends of barron and robbies, some argentian girls they had been telling us about. They turned out to be the amazonian women who nearly murdered myself and tiffany when we beat them at table football.
On to the tiny Kratie for the group to once again be complete.
Perhaps the funniest moment in siem reap was when I met some close friends of barron and robbies, some argentian girls they had been telling us about. They turned out to be the amazonian women who nearly murdered myself and tiffany when we beat them at table football.
On to the tiny Kratie for the group to once again be complete.
Sihanoukville
Yes, the rumors are true, due to creative differences Alex and I split up and went our own ways for a while.
Tiffany and I caught a bus south to Sihanoukville but were not pleased when we were offered plastic stools in the isle for our four hour journey. After some gentle persuasion followed by some less gentle persuasion we we're in the seats we paid for and were on our way. Sihanoukville is on the coast with the golf of Thailand as so likes to model itself as a Thai island with its golden sand and clear water and general raving atmosphere in the evening it wasn't half bad.
During the day, Tiffany and I spent our time on the beach, lounging around in front of a beach bar that were happy to wait on you all day. We only left our sun loungers to take a dip in the cool sea and to take a break for our tanning in the hot sun. In the evenings we visited the many beach bars and guesthouses and took part in Ko Pha Ngan style "Full Moon" parties which we're fun but it remains to be seen whether they'll live up to the real thing.
Other then the huge number of Cambodians that came up to us on the beach selling bracelets or massages or other useless rubbish, the time on Serendipity beach was a well needed break in our hectic travel schedule and was greatly enjoyed,
Our next stop was Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Temples which was something we we're really looking forward to. The option is to get a one, three or seven day pass and as we were short for time Tiffany and I elected to go for the one day. Alex was in Angkor for longer then us and so he' will go into detail about it as there is no point us both failing to describe their wonder and beauty so I'll leave it up to him.
After Siem Reap, Alex and I decided to put aside our creative difference and unite once more to craft a great holiday plan. So, Tiffany and I traveled to Kratie where we met up with Alex and carry on our travels. Kratie has very little to offer other then the rare Irrawaddy dolphins and even they weren't that interesting and so we quickly moved on to Ban Lung which will be my next entry.
Tom
(pictures coming soon)
Tiffany and I caught a bus south to Sihanoukville but were not pleased when we were offered plastic stools in the isle for our four hour journey. After some gentle persuasion followed by some less gentle persuasion we we're in the seats we paid for and were on our way. Sihanoukville is on the coast with the golf of Thailand as so likes to model itself as a Thai island with its golden sand and clear water and general raving atmosphere in the evening it wasn't half bad.
During the day, Tiffany and I spent our time on the beach, lounging around in front of a beach bar that were happy to wait on you all day. We only left our sun loungers to take a dip in the cool sea and to take a break for our tanning in the hot sun. In the evenings we visited the many beach bars and guesthouses and took part in Ko Pha Ngan style "Full Moon" parties which we're fun but it remains to be seen whether they'll live up to the real thing.
Other then the huge number of Cambodians that came up to us on the beach selling bracelets or massages or other useless rubbish, the time on Serendipity beach was a well needed break in our hectic travel schedule and was greatly enjoyed,
Our next stop was Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Temples which was something we we're really looking forward to. The option is to get a one, three or seven day pass and as we were short for time Tiffany and I elected to go for the one day. Alex was in Angkor for longer then us and so he' will go into detail about it as there is no point us both failing to describe their wonder and beauty so I'll leave it up to him.
After Siem Reap, Alex and I decided to put aside our creative difference and unite once more to craft a great holiday plan. So, Tiffany and I traveled to Kratie where we met up with Alex and carry on our travels. Kratie has very little to offer other then the rare Irrawaddy dolphins and even they weren't that interesting and so we quickly moved on to Ban Lung which will be my next entry.
Tom
(pictures coming soon)
Monday 8 June 2009
Phom Penh
Who do we meet on the early morning bus to Phom Penh but the slightly unusual group of Robbie the Irishman, Barron the Texan and Gabriel the Brazilian who we had met at the Cu Chi Tunnels. When we arrived in Phom Penh the 3 of us, 3 of them and Tone (a Dutchman from a musical family whose siblings are called 'Rayme' and 'Bass') all set out looking for a hostel together. We found a perfect one with a massive bar/communal room and a free pool table overlooking the lake.
I don’t know enough about the Cambodian genocide to give a full history but here it is in a nutshell. A couple of French educated Cambodians lead by Pol Pot decided to create a utopian society, a perfect implementation of communism. The only way to this was if everyone was equal. They murdered intelligent people, people of non Cambodian ancestry, and virtually anyone they felt like. Cities were evil so they relocated everyone to the countryside with the plan of creating enough rice that they could gain any other commodity through trade with other communist states. The abolishment of money meant people could never leave the place of their birth as this is the only place they could claim food. All told about 25% of the Cambodian people died during the Khmer rouge regime which only finished in 1979. The Khmer rouge continued to have people on the UN council until 1992!
The world community knew nothing of the genocide in
On our first day in Phom Penh we visited an old high school which was used to torture and murder men women and children, even newborn babies, we then went to the 'killing fields' so named as this was where thousands were buried in mass graves.
Today was Tom's birthday, after giving him his presents and generally embarrassing him we set out hoping to see a Khmer rouge trial, we weren’t let in. We then went to watch Robbie try (and fail) to shoot a chicken with a Tommy gun before going to see the amazing royal palace.
When we got home it was time to unveil tom's birthday cake. It turned out the cd we had bought with 'happy birthday' on it designed to be played at full volume in order to embarrass tom in front of the entire hostel didn’t work, so we had to sing. The cake was beautiful and am sure tom will add a photo. This seems like a good time to mention Lydia, a large French girl who simply would not shut up, normally found screaming 'GABRIELA' at a pitch just on the range of human hearing, we all agreed, the most annoying person in the entire world. Just as we were cutting toms cake she comes over, sticks her finger in, and then says, do you mind. And then has the audacity to ask for a bit, did she not realise we hated her, its not like we were subtle about it!
That night we went out for Tom's birthday, for more details perhaps contact tom directly.
The following morning there were some teary goodbyes as I left for Siem Reap with Robbie, Barron Gabriel and Tone, while the others left for the beach. We are due to meet up again in the next few days, so we will update our contrasting fortunes then.
Saigon
Next stop the newly renamed 'Ho Chi Minh City', still refered to as 'Saigon' by everyone who matters. While it is no longer the capital city it is the largest city in Vietnam, the most important economically and the most westernised.
As we arrived in Saigon we were met by the heavy rain that seems to be whispering 'stupid tourist, why would you visit Vietnam during the rainy season' and so decided not to play our normal hotel finding game that goes something like this - how much is it - really, next door we can have it for much less - well ok, can we see the room - thank you we will come back in a minute. Instead we just chose one quickly to save us a soaking.
We had two complaints about the room, one was that the air con we were paying for didn't work and second that the door would lock. After a night's issues gave us new fire to go out and find another room. We trekked around Saigon for what felt like hours from one dirty overpriced room to the next, eventualy deciding to just go back to our original room and complain. Any gueses as to the problems in our room? well the door didnt lock because the do not disturb/please clean sign was getting trapped in the door, and the air con needs to be turned on to work, good use of a morning huh!
Next was to the revolutionary museum, this place was almost entirely unremarkable, apart from the endless stream of newlweds ligning up to have their picture taken on the stairs which we all found hillarious, especialy when the majority of the men had to where high heals or stand on higher steps so as not to be overshadowed by their taller wife.
After an unbelievable value lunch of a drink, rice, a main meal, soup and a desert all for 30,000 dong (1pound) we moved on to the war remnents museum. This was perhaps the most shocking museum I have ever been to. One must note before entering that in britain we certainly see the american point of view to the war, and in the museum there is a strong vietnamese bias, however even with all this in consideration some of the poictures of crimes commited by the americans are shocking. They dropped a chemical called agent orange, it is impossible to aim this perfectly and so thousands of innocent civillians were affected. Disfigured children continue to be born today as a result of the dropping of agent orange.
We finished off the day with a goat fondue, yes you heard right. Tom and I arrived at this highly recommended restaurant before tiffany. They had no english menue, and no english speaking staff. Tom and I decided to order a beer each while we waited. Clearly they misuderstood and brought a cauldren of soup, or so we thought. We knopw the restaurant only serves goat so presume the large chunks of meet floating around were goat, and the small pieces we were given to dip in were also goat. Personaly this was my favourite meal by a mile.
Day two was fairly uneventful, we went to the laos embassy to get a visa, and this was near enough it. Strangely while going for a walk i bumped in to Jo, a student teacher we had met in Ha long bay. She promised me she would talk us out and show us a good time in saigon that night, and seeing as she walked 15 minutes back to the hotel with me, and then waited in the lobby while i ran up to get toms number so she could call us and let us know the plan. That call never came. Jo, if you are somehow reading this, I hope you are proud of yourself!
Last day in Saigon and we went to see the famed 'Cu chi tunnels' a network of tunnels about 200km in length built to hide from the americans. For me the most amazing thing were not the animal traps they used to catch and kill american soldiers, or the fact that people lived in there for 17 years, or even the fact that girls as young as 12 wielded guns and fought the americans, for me it is that the tunnel entrances are completely open. The americans knew where the tunnels were, and how to get in, but they knew that they were not vietnamese, they would be lost and as good as dead in the 80cm by 80cm tunnels.
That night we went to a nightclub full of vietnamese prostitutes, a worthy way to celebrate our last night in vietnam, next stop phom penh in cambodia...
As we arrived in Saigon we were met by the heavy rain that seems to be whispering 'stupid tourist, why would you visit Vietnam during the rainy season' and so decided not to play our normal hotel finding game that goes something like this - how much is it - really, next door we can have it for much less - well ok, can we see the room - thank you we will come back in a minute. Instead we just chose one quickly to save us a soaking.
We had two complaints about the room, one was that the air con we were paying for didn't work and second that the door would lock. After a night's issues gave us new fire to go out and find another room. We trekked around Saigon for what felt like hours from one dirty overpriced room to the next, eventualy deciding to just go back to our original room and complain. Any gueses as to the problems in our room? well the door didnt lock because the do not disturb/please clean sign was getting trapped in the door, and the air con needs to be turned on to work, good use of a morning huh!
Next was to the revolutionary museum, this place was almost entirely unremarkable, apart from the endless stream of newlweds ligning up to have their picture taken on the stairs which we all found hillarious, especialy when the majority of the men had to where high heals or stand on higher steps so as not to be overshadowed by their taller wife.
After an unbelievable value lunch of a drink, rice, a main meal, soup and a desert all for 30,000 dong (1pound) we moved on to the war remnents museum. This was perhaps the most shocking museum I have ever been to. One must note before entering that in britain we certainly see the american point of view to the war, and in the museum there is a strong vietnamese bias, however even with all this in consideration some of the poictures of crimes commited by the americans are shocking. They dropped a chemical called agent orange, it is impossible to aim this perfectly and so thousands of innocent civillians were affected. Disfigured children continue to be born today as a result of the dropping of agent orange.
We finished off the day with a goat fondue, yes you heard right. Tom and I arrived at this highly recommended restaurant before tiffany. They had no english menue, and no english speaking staff. Tom and I decided to order a beer each while we waited. Clearly they misuderstood and brought a cauldren of soup, or so we thought. We knopw the restaurant only serves goat so presume the large chunks of meet floating around were goat, and the small pieces we were given to dip in were also goat. Personaly this was my favourite meal by a mile.
Day two was fairly uneventful, we went to the laos embassy to get a visa, and this was near enough it. Strangely while going for a walk i bumped in to Jo, a student teacher we had met in Ha long bay. She promised me she would talk us out and show us a good time in saigon that night, and seeing as she walked 15 minutes back to the hotel with me, and then waited in the lobby while i ran up to get toms number so she could call us and let us know the plan. That call never came. Jo, if you are somehow reading this, I hope you are proud of yourself!
Last day in Saigon and we went to see the famed 'Cu chi tunnels' a network of tunnels about 200km in length built to hide from the americans. For me the most amazing thing were not the animal traps they used to catch and kill american soldiers, or the fact that people lived in there for 17 years, or even the fact that girls as young as 12 wielded guns and fought the americans, for me it is that the tunnel entrances are completely open. The americans knew where the tunnels were, and how to get in, but they knew that they were not vietnamese, they would be lost and as good as dead in the 80cm by 80cm tunnels.
That night we went to a nightclub full of vietnamese prostitutes, a worthy way to celebrate our last night in vietnam, next stop phom penh in cambodia...
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Hoi An
After leaving Hue as swiftly as we had arrived, we caught a rather poorly air conditioned bus to Hoi An. We had heard great reviews from a lot of travellers about Hoi An and ipon arrival we quickly realised that the main attraction of Hoi An is clothes. Suits, trousers, jeans, t-shirts; whatever clothes you want you can have custom made to fit in Hoi An. Tiffany quickly raked up a rather large bill but we managed to resist the urge to get a tailored suit.
A few miles outside the city we quickly came across what we had heard were the best beaches in vietnam and we weren't disappointed. We spent the best part of two days just relaxing on the golden sand or floating through the warm sea. It was a very welcome break from our very hectic schedule over the last week or so. We also managed to find another football match to demonstrate to the locals how football SHOULD be played. At least until we landed oursleves with a couple of grusome foot injuries.
We had also heard rumours of a pretty good nighlife in Hoi An, which we sampled on a couple of occasions and found it was great, if not a little overpriced. We on two seperate nights ran into past friends from our travels; firstly we found Seth from our Sa Pa trip in the "Same Same not Different" bar before running into Brad, who was on our Ha Long Bay trip, in the very same "Same Same not Different" bar.
Tonight we're catching an overnight bus to Nha Trang, where we'll probably stay for one or two nights.
Tom
Saturday 23 May 2009
Hue
Luckily this is only a very short entry, I have had to three in a row and am running out of stamina. Hue is very much on the backpacker route, but everyone we met told us how the ancient citadel and pogada are the only really things really worth seeing. Thatin mind we took a 14 hour sleeper bus and arrived in Hue at 8.30, then got back on the bus that afternoon to take us to Hoi an.
The sleeper bus I must say could have been worse, however the poster promised 'large and luxurious toilet'-there was no toilet. It also promised 'american suspension so bus always inbalance'. The beds were effectively double beds and I had to share with a german guy with no sense of humour at all. Having said all that, 12 hours passed relatively quickly.
Now we are in hoi an, a pretty small town, and it will be toms turn on the blog next.
Alex
The sleeper bus I must say could have been worse, however the poster promised 'large and luxurious toilet'-there was no toilet. It also promised 'american suspension so bus always inbalance'. The beds were effectively double beds and I had to share with a german guy with no sense of humour at all. Having said all that, 12 hours passed relatively quickly.
Now we are in hoi an, a pretty small town, and it will be toms turn on the blog next.
Alex
Ha Long Bay
For those of you wh
o watched 'that top gear episode' ha long bay is where they turned their bikes into boats, basicaly loads of rocky islands just off the coast. The only real way to get there is as a day trip from hanoi so we returned from sapa and booked ourselves onto the next 3 day tour of ha long bay. While the food was a tad repetetive the trip turned out to be really good fun with some other fun backpackers to drink with and to joke with. On the second evening we found some guy on the street selling homebrew beer for 5,000 dong a glass, that might sound a lot, but it is actualy about 15p!
For those readers who came with us to europe last summer, Tom and I made and enemy in Ha long bay. We met the campest german man I have ever seen, he was from munich and on hearing we enjoyed the hoffbrauerhaus he declared 'it is smelly and dirty, and I dont even like the decor, its not even that traditional ya', a quote tom and I have been having endless fun repeating.
Next onto the ancient city of Hue..
Alex
o watched 'that top gear episode' ha long bay is where they turned their bikes into boats, basicaly loads of rocky islands just off the coast. The only real way to get there is as a day trip from hanoi so we returned from sapa and booked ourselves onto the next 3 day tour of ha long bay. While the food was a tad repetetive the trip turned out to be really good fun with some other fun backpackers to drink with and to joke with. On the second evening we found some guy on the street selling homebrew beer for 5,000 dong a glass, that might sound a lot, but it is actualy about 15p!For those readers who came with us to europe last summer, Tom and I made and enemy in Ha long bay. We met the campest german man I have ever seen, he was from munich and on hearing we enjoyed the hoffbrauerhaus he declared 'it is smelly and dirty, and I dont even like the decor, its not even that traditional ya', a quote tom and I have been having endless fun repeating.
Next onto the ancient city of Hue..
Alex
Friday 22 May 2009
Sapa
Sapa is a small town in the mountains north of Hanoi. It is surrounded by hundreds of ethnic minority villages, mainly with chinese routes. We caught 9 hour train at 10 oclock from hanoi with new friend Seth, a 6"5" canadian in tow. Having made the rookie error of choosing a 'soft seat' for the train ride none of us of got any sleep that night, I found it cramped and stuffy, spare a thought for poor Seth who is yet to find a doorway he can get through without stooping.
The train did not actualy take us all the way to sapa but to nearby town 'loa cai', so we found a minibus who promised to take us direct to sapa. Unfortunately there is not such thing as a minibus with spare seats in Vietnam so we circled the town looking for potential passengers untill not only were there no free seats, but noone in the bus could feasably move an inch.
The hour drive had a few highpoints such as seeing another bus full of tourists embeded in the cliff face, and the several p0ints where the poor overloaded bus was but seconds from giving up.
After spending a night in sapa it was time to leave on our respective trecksl. Tom, Seth and myself had opted for a 2 day treck with a homestay while tiffany had a trip to an ethnic minority village followed by a day treck.
Anyway I am waffling, the reason to visit sapa are the amazing views so with a quick mention to trekking buddies heather rosanne and lydia I move on to the photos.
Alex
The train did not actualy take us all the way to sapa but to nearby town 'loa cai', so we found a minibus who promised to take us direct to sapa. Unfortunately there is not such thing as a minibus with spare seats in Vietnam so we circled the town looking for potential passengers untill not only were there no free seats, but noone in the bus could feasably move an inch.
The hour drive had a few highpoints such as seeing another bus full of tourists embeded in the cliff face, and the several p0ints where the poor overloaded bus was but seconds from giving up.
After spending a night in sapa it was time to leave on our respective trecksl. Tom, Seth and myself had opted for a 2 day treck with a homestay while tiffany had a trip to an ethnic minority village followed by a day treck.
Anyway I am waffling, the reason to visit sapa are the amazing views so with a quick mention to trekking buddies heather rosanne and lydia I move on to the photos.
Alex
Friday 15 May 2009
Hanoi
We can now join vets and say that we've been to 'Naam. Our welcome to Hanoi consisted of a fairly grubby infra-red in ear thermometer being pushed into our ears, swine flu is becoming rather irritating to say the least. We, with the help of the airport security found a reliable taxi company that took us to our hotel. There was a noticeable rise in comfort and vast drop in fun in the hotel compared to a hostel. We had our first taste of street food which was very cheap even considering the fact that we were ripped off. After a great night sleep we decided to move to a much more social hostel that had pretty good facilities including a BBQ on the roof.
After we settled in, we headed out to explore and quickly located "Lenin Park" where Alex and i challenged the locals to some football. There was no arguements who were the bet
ter players, even if it did cost us the skin on our feet and a couple of toenails. We then drank coconuts by the side of Thein Quang Lake, awesome!!!!
Yesterday we decided, after getting drenched when the heavans opened, that Tiffany deserved a shopping trip and were delighted to try out a bit of battering and we didn't do too badly but i'm sure our skills will improve. Alex then purchased a great pair of "bose" headphones.
Last night we signed up for "Snake Village" where we first handled snakes before they were slaughterd in preperation for a numerous course meal. The highlights were drinking shots of snake blood complete with heart meat and snake bile (and you thought snake bite was a drink...) which were liquid courage for the four or five courses of snake meat, each prepared in a different way. Then the snake wine (although it tasted and was the strength as whiskey" began to flow. Bad move.
Today we all felt very delicate and so we took it easy, visiting the temple of literature which was very relaxing, after which we grapped dinner which we managed to drag out for an hour or two; The restaurant had air con.... We're just about to jump on a train up to Sa Pa where we're hoping to do some trekking and finnaly discover which of the three of us has the most appropriate footwhere (i hope it's me :D).
Tom
After we settled in, we headed out to explore and quickly located "Lenin Park" where Alex and i challenged the locals to some football. There was no arguements who were the bet
ter players, even if it did cost us the skin on our feet and a couple of toenails. We then drank coconuts by the side of Thein Quang Lake, awesome!!!!Yesterday we decided, after getting drenched when the heavans opened, that Tiffany deserved a shopping trip and were delighted to try out a bit of battering and we didn't do too badly but i'm sure our skills will improve. Alex then purchased a great pair of "bose" headphones.
Last night we signed up for "Snake Village" where we first handled snakes before they were slaughterd in preperation for a numerous course meal. The highlights were drinking shots of snake blood complete with heart meat and snake bile (and you thought snake bite was a drink...) which were liquid courage for the four or five courses of snake meat, each prepared in a different way. Then the snake wine (although it tasted and was the strength as whiskey" began to flow. Bad move.
Today we all felt very delicate and so we took it easy, visiting the temple of literature which was very relaxing, after which we grapped dinner which we managed to drag out for an hour or two; The restaurant had air con.... We're just about to jump on a train up to Sa Pa where we're hoping to do some trekking and finnaly discover which of the three of us has the most appropriate footwhere (i hope it's me :D).
Tom
Tuesday 12 May 2009
Singapore
What is there to say about Singapore, seemingly it is made up of little india, chinatown and the arab district. Getting between them is easy enough on an MRT (mass rapid transport) that puts our tube to shame. Our hostel was just on the edge of little india, where all the hostels are. It had only been open just over a month, the beds were soft enough, the TV was bigger than at home and the slightly podgy guy running the place was happy to chat inbetween giving away red bean ice cream lolly pops, and organising playstation tournaments. All in all a pretty decent place.
On Monday Tom and I had an epic battle in the art of 'Power smash3' in the arcade, We drew a huge crowd and there was much (imaginary) applause when I finaly prevailed in the tiebreak. My next challenger was a 15 year old singaporean with freakishly quick hands, I was suitably embarrassed.
The rough guide to south east asia describes eating as 'one of the undeniable pleasures of singapore'. I have to say I agree. Food is of course the most important aspect of any stay and the selection of indian, chinese and malay food was very much to my liking.
All too soon we had to wave goodbye to our new friends Scotty Zee, Jess and Adrian, plus Lisa who couldnt even be bothered to wait around to say goodbye (im not at all bitter).
While sitting in singapore's 'budget terminal' we had a grand total of s$2 (about 80p) to spend. We occupied ourselves making brass rubbings of places in singapore. They really shoud provide that quality of entertainment in Heathrow.
Now we are Hanoi (where we met a slighty jaded Tiffany,who we were SO excited about seeing because she is a little bit awesome(thanks for your input tiffany, always appreciated)) and the chaos has stepped up three notches.
In the next few days we will either be off to the mountains, or the beach but for now, over and out.
Alex
On Monday Tom and I had an epic battle in the art of 'Power smash3' in the arcade, We drew a huge crowd and there was much (imaginary) applause when I finaly prevailed in the tiebreak. My next challenger was a 15 year old singaporean with freakishly quick hands, I was suitably embarrassed.
The rough guide to south east asia describes eating as 'one of the undeniable pleasures of singapore'. I have to say I agree. Food is of course the most important aspect of any stay and the selection of indian, chinese and malay food was very much to my liking.
All too soon we had to wave goodbye to our new friends Scotty Zee, Jess and Adrian, plus Lisa who couldnt even be bothered to wait around to say goodbye (im not at all bitter).
While sitting in singapore's 'budget terminal' we had a grand total of s$2 (about 80p) to spend. We occupied ourselves making brass rubbings of places in singapore. They really shoud provide that quality of entertainment in Heathrow.
Now we are Hanoi (where we met a slighty jaded Tiffany,who we were SO excited about seeing because she is a little bit awesome(thanks for your input tiffany, always appreciated)) and the chaos has stepped up three notches.
In the next few days we will either be off to the mountains, or the beach but for now, over and out.
Alex
Sunday 10 May 2009
Are we nearly there yet?
Yes, in fact we've arrived. After leaving our respective parents teary-eyed at security at Gatwick, we swiftly boarded our shiny Emirates plane ready to start our voyage. The flight was fairly uneventful, helped along by a good choice of films and music as well as the 5* cuisine (ish). After a short stop in Dubai, where neither of us had any money, we boarded our connecting flight to Singapore and i think the magnitude of the trip actually started to hit home. We landed slightly early in Singapore and, other then certain questions being raised about someone's trip to Argentina, we passed through customs quickly and found ourselves finding room for our bags on the train. Our first hostel is pretty cool, except maybe the rather...old fashioned... toilet (to put it one way.) Feeling rather exhausted from our journey we took it easy this afternoon, strolling around the streets and into the various shops and "flea" markets before heading back towards the hostel stopping off for a very modestly priced supper. Plans for the rest of our time in Singapore...SLEEP!!!
Tom
Friday 8 May 2009
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