Asian Adventure

Cambodia

ambroom — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:19:00 GMT

We arriv3ed in Cambodia at midnight and found a really nice tuktuk driver called Kevin!He took us to a hostel which was nice and we settled in and went straight to sleep. It was just me, Bridget, Laia, Sarah and josh.

The next day we went for a walk and saw quite a few beggars. We were just having a chill day as we were all still tired when we saw Magda, who we hadnt seen since Vang Vieng and we went out to the night market to watch a film about the Cambodian genocide, that was interesting and we went out to the Anchor What? bar which is really good as you get to write your name on the wall and they play really good music. Me, Sarah and Laia said goodbye to Magda, thought about doing an all nighter and thought against it.

We got back at 2:30 and had to get up at 4:00am to see the sunrise over the Angkor Wat. Kevin picked us up and we found a nice spot and watched the really unspectacular sunrise whilst getting bitten to death by mosquitos!!

We walked up to the Angkor wat and it wasnt really how i expected it to be. we walked round it and it was interesting but just not that amazing! we then went to see all of the little temples around the Angkor wat and they were really good to see. We only did half of them and booked kevin again for tomorrow. We went out that eveing and watched traditional Apsara dancing which was really good fun and then to Angkor wat bar where we saw the people we travelled down to 4000islands with, Lillie, Ned and Mike. We went to a really weird club where they had a karaoke room which was really hillarious and another club where there were no lights and very small people inside!

The next day we did the rest of the temples and a bit of shopping. We left for Phenom Penh the capital the next afternoon. We got to phenom penh after quite a few hours. Went for a walk around and food and slept.

The next day we got picked up by Lucky the tuk tuk driver and went to the killing fields which was interesting but sick as the showed us the tree where they would hold the babys by the feet and bash there heads against it to kill them, we saw the mass graves and it rained today for the first time i had seen and we could see teeth and clothing petruding up from the ground. We then went to s-21 prison where they tortured people and there was still blood stains on the floors it was horrible.

We went out that eveing as it was Laia and Sarahs last before going to Vietnam so we went to a club which was ok and then went to Pontoon which was a club on a boat whcih was really good fun.

The next morning Saraha and Laia left so me, Bridget and Josh went to a market and went out again as it was josh's last night out!! Me and Bridget left the next day for our 24 hour bus ride4 back into Laos so we could catch our flight to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

Laos

ambroom — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:16:00 GMT

We went for a drink at Hive bar with some of the people off our bus and then went down to the river and played cards untill very late. The people we met were called, James, Adam, Josh, Laia, Sarah, Magda and Mary.

The next morning we went to a really amazing waterfall which had pools at the bottom where wyou could swim and they were the perfect colour of turquiose and they werent cold and there were rope swings etc, it was very good.

We noticed that in Luang Prabang we hadnt seen the sun, it was hot but when you looked up there was no blue sky or suna and it is because they burn the crops to make the soil better and it got to a point where there was ash falling from the sky it was really weird.

We met up with our friends again later that night and went to a bar called Eutopia down by the river to watch the "sun set" that we couldnt see at all!!!

On my birthday we travelled 6hours to Vang Vieng, found a nice hostel and went out to Bucket bar at night which is an outdoor club. All of us went except Mary.

In Vang Vieng we went tubing everyday which consists of swimming down the river or hiring a tube, they throw our rope with bottle tied to the ends and they drag you in and you drink at all the pubs along the riverside, they give you free shots of snake whiskey as you climb up, you get head bands and wrist bands. You can go on swings into the river too. There is mud volleyball which is alot of fun.

Vang Vieng also has restaurants where they have a few tvs at the front and speakers and all the seats face forwrds like a sofa and you can watch friends, family guy or simpsons over and over again, when you walk past it isjust silence as people are eating and watching.

Vang Vieng had really good night life which were all outdoor clubs along the river. Bucket bar where they serve drinks in buckets was our favourite and limbo bar next door was fun watching all the drunk people trying to go under or jump through flaming hoops!

We then travelled down to the 4000 islands with our friends except James and Adam who already left to other places, and some more people we met at the hostel. It took a long time and we had to get a bus to Vietniane and then a sleeper bus which was kind of fun. There were bunks bed all the way along the bus and the beds were for 2 people but were the size of a single so me an Laia were squeezed in together and the others were all squished in some other spaces and we listened to Laos Karaoke for an hour until they thankfully turned it off!! we tried to sleep but it was hard with the laos lady Hocking her throat right next to out head!was sick but they do it alot here! We then got off the sleeper bus at Pakse and got on another bus to the edge of Loas and then a boat to the 4000 islands. We found a hostel and went down for a swim. Me, Laia and Bridget found a really nice place to swim and swam over to a little deserted sandy island and sunbathed. The water was as warm as being in a bath even though it was really deep. There were fish that would nibble at you toes but that was all. That eveing we went out to a restaurant and then Reggae bar!

The next morning we moved to a new hostel which was a wooden hut looking out toward the river with 2 hammocks on the balcony and an amazing view of the sunset. It was very basic but really cheap and good fun. The shower was in a seperate hut with only a candle for light!

The next day we went kayaking with everyone which was really good fun. At the start i got stuck with the guide who kept answering his phone so we wnet really slow! Then i went in with Ned and for the rest in with Laia. We stopped to see a really big waterfall and then we stopped for lunch on a cambodian island. We then stopped again and saw the rare Irrawady Dolphins which was really good. And then Kayaked back to the island where we watched the sunset from the Kayak!! Was really good. The guide told us after that we kayaked 10km which we were all really proud of as the wind was against us but really good fun!!

We had another chill out day where we just swam and sunbathed.The next day we left for Cambodia so we got a boat and then a bus, which broke down!and then another bus and arrived in Siem Reap at midnight after a 14 hour journey!

Flight of the Gibbon and Laos

ambroom — Fri, 5 Mar 2010 19:38:00 GMT

We travelled to the Foerst and got our helmets and Harnesses and started out. We pretty much zipped from platform to platform and it was really good fun. We also abseolaed and did rope bridges!!Was really good fun. The closest we got to a gibbon was hearing them in the background!

Tp get to Laos we got a 6 hour mini bus with 6 other boys, i bought some sickness pills which made me very sleepy so i was fine!we stopped off a few times but it wasnt a bad journey and got there soon enough.

We stayed overnight with about 25ish other people travelling to Laos in nice wooden hotel rooms. 8:30 in the morning we got on the mini bus again, this time with some other people and travelled 2 minutes to the border, got our visas and a stamp and got on a "ferry" and crossed the river to Laos which took all of 40 seconds, so when we were in Thailand you could see Laos very clearly, if you were really desperate you could swim to Laos.

We then got on the minibus again and started off on the 20 hour journey to Luang Prabang so took another travel sickness tablet and i was fine!!we had to go by mini bus as it is that hot that the Mekong River has dried up so you cant travel by boat which is the nicer way to travel. The roads did not have tarmac of any sorts on them, i learnt alot along the way of how roads are built...in SE Asia anyway as all the roads were under construction. We were in a bus with some nice poeple which was good, the biggest saviour was my neck pillow which was just wonderful!and of course the ipod as there isnt much else to do. There were no toilets along the way only bushes, which arent to diferent from squat toilets anyway!!

We arrived in Luang Prabang at midnight and were just left and to;d to walk around and find a hostel, luckily we had booked ahead so got a tuk tuk and went straight there. This morning we had our included breakfast and went out to the market and saw pretty much everyone that we travelled with so are going for a drink later.

Xorbing and Pai

ambroom — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:02:00 GMT

Xorbing- We booked to Xorbing and got picked up from Ben GH and taken to an extreme sports centre where we watched people bunjee jumping off of a crane over a man made lake. It was really good and people were jumping together and it didnt even seem all that bad only a 2 second fall.

We then went off the Xorb. Bridget got strapped in first, then i jumped in and got strapped in. We were then pushed down a ramp, i was going backwards, it was a funny feeling just rotating in perfect circles!!we then hits the lake and had to unbelt ourselves being careful not to fall out of the hole. The walk on water like a hamster!! I recommend it, its not very scary though!!

We found out about Pai through lonely planet and hearing some of the other people in Ben GH talking about it. Its description was, A hippie town up in the hills with a relaxed and festival atmosphere all the time. And it has lived up to this.

The journey here was ridiculous. It started off ok, were were picked up in a Pickup Truck and squeezed in with our backs and 6 other people who were all hoping we werent going to be travelling the whole way like this. We then got taken to the bus station and got in a minibus (more like a big car)and started on our way, withing 30 minutes it stared to get windier and windier, it was like going around round-abouts constantly, it wasnt fun!!This continued for 3 hours and we all felt awful. We arrived and i rang the Darling View Point Guest House to come and pick up up, he did and then were were shown to our room. The entire GH is made of wood, the walls in our bedroom are thatched, there is a really nice and big landing and balcony with cushions and hammocks.

I then walked into town and it was just like being at a festival, dirt tracks for paths, decking along the river with hippies sat drinking, people playing acoustic guitars and flutes made of bamboo and jangly things hanging from trees. To get into the town you have to walk across a bamboo foot bridge which has seen better days but the view is amazing, it is like looking at a water color painting or something out of Pocahontas.

The town reminds me of a sea side town, there are lots of cafes and pubs and places offering tours and shops selling hippie clothes.

At night time the stalls come out selling really nice food for pennies, some times not even pennies as 5 Baht is 0.02p!!

We then found out be reading the numerous t-shirts for sale that the reason why we hated the journey so much was because it was 762 bends.

However tomorrow we are going back to Chiang Mai so must face all those bends again!!

Photos: Thailand

ambroom — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:54:00 GMT

Photos: Thailand

ambroom — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:21:00 GMT

Chiang Mai

ambroom — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:03:00 GMT

I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand country side, and i love it.

I am staying in a gueshouse hostel called Ben Guesthouse and they make you feel right at home as they are soo friendly!!For 1.90 a night with ensuite.

We have just come back from a trekk through the Jungle. We got picked up and stopped on the way at an Orchid farm which is good if you like that sort of thing!! then on to the snake show which was hillarious where they were pretty much throwing snakes at you and catching them just in time so the snakes dont have chance to get a proper hold of you...it was really funny and the Snake men were doing generally all sorts of strange things with different breeds of snakes.

We then went to the Long Neck Karen Tribal Village, which is where the ladys have gold rings around their necks, they add one every year after the age of 10 thus giving them a rather long neck!! Strange as when we were watching them work it did look as if it was restricted them an awful lot as they couldnt really bend down properly!!But whatever floats your boat!

We then got driven to the base of a very big mountian, had lunch, given some bamboo sticks and started walking, the first bit was uphill, which was fine as i thought we werent possibly going to walk ALL the way to the very top of the mountain...well...we walked for 1 hour in the blistering heat up hill with very few flat bits and had a very well earnt 10 minute break.

We started to walk again and it was soo steep it was no longer walking but climbing, when i looked up i could not see an end to this rediculous climb of a walk, i then found it very hard to breathe and decided to stop, but found after i stopped that i still couldnt breathe i got very frustrated indeed and wanted this stupid walk to be over!! Every peak that we came to was never the top untill about 2 further more hours of walking just uphill in 30 degree heat we reached the tribal village.

We were shown to our long house made of bamboo and reeds and decided where we were sleeping. We had to have a shower after our hell of a climb up here and found the toilets and showers to be together in 2 little huts, squat toilets and a very basic shower all made our of bamboo. We had the choice of showering in the one hut with not one spider but a whole cluster on top of each other to make what looked like one very big hairy spider or the shower with the bee that lives in it, i got the one with the bee...lets say we did not have great experiences and did not stay in long enough to get very clean.!!!

We had dinner and chatted with our group that we trekked with and would be doing everything with which was 2 girls from Isreael Maya and Leore, a Korean lady called Park, Yuka, Hero-Mu and Shigar from Japan and Leena and Daniella from Germany...it was a very good group.

We then slept in the long hut and got woken up by a chorus of 500 cockerels all crowing unbelievably loud for hours, one after the other.

We had breakfast and started walking which made me hyperventilate at just the thought of walking another step but it was all down hill but due to the steepness of the climb you had to concentrate very hard on where you were walking.

We reached a water fall and had a swim then continues to the Elephant park and got to ride an elephant, they feel very rough skinned with very coarse hair sticking out, but its trunk kept sucking at me and its ears kept flapping it was the cutest thing ever!!

The we did white water rafting which was really good fun, we were in a boat with Maya and Leore and Shigar which made it even better as we got on well with the 2 girls. The bamboo rafting which was meant to be relaxing but we got stuck on the rocks and even broke a bit of the boat on the rock, our guide fell in and so did Shigar!!

Was so much fun/ very very tiring!!

My first dorm

ambroom — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:24:00 GMT

The morning we checked out of the Sinad Hostel near Khao San road i was shattered as it was just soo loud all night just because of tuk tuks and motorbikes mainly. And we had a 1 fan in our room to keep us cool all night so it was a bit warm!we got a tuk tuk to the grand palace but when we got there a thai man said, thais through that entrance and tourists through that entrance as it was an important day for bhuddism then when we got there another man said that the tours were all booked so will have to go back when we get back in Bangkok we did however see a 47 meter tall Bhuddha. It was then time to leave and go back down to Silom road near sukhumvit road near the royal Asia where we were staying in a dorm.

Our stay at the YHA Hostel was good, the staff were really friendly and me and Bridget were in the room on our own for hours so we had the chance to go on the skytrain again as we wanted to go to Siam shopping, we got confused at the very straight forward station a number of times having our tickets sucked away by the wrong machines and then going on the train the wrong way but eventually we found shopping heaven, a mall like i had never seen before filled to the brim with everthing you could ever possibly want to buy only its half the price of England, may just stop off there before we fly home, we are allowed 35kg after all!!

When we got back to the dorm after feasting on street stall food we were shattered and started to think that we were going to be alone in the dorm with an empty bunk bed but 2 30 year old German girls came in and told us that they were flying to Indonesia, Bali, Australia, Vietnam and cambodia all in 1 month. Finally we met some other people who were travelling!!I did sleep really well to the conostant noise of the air conditioning which blocked out the noise of the skytrain going past every 5 minutes however there were mosquito flying above my head and little black bugs that if you squished them would explode leaving blood everywhere, it was disgusting so has to sleep in my sleeping liner all night. The next one we have booked cost 1.94 pound so i dread to think what that one is going to be like but can t wait to see the countryside and maybe an Elephant or 2. :P

We checked out this morning and went to pick up our passport from the Vietnam Embassy in Bangkok as you cannot get them from the border, it went smoothly and was straight forward much better that the ones in England.

Catching our sleeper train tonight to Chiang Mai tongiht at 6:00

Khao San Road

ambroom — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:44:00 GMT

Have just checked out of the Royal Asia, was really nice had breakfast included which was really good, although we had an invasion of red ants in bridgets bed so we will no longer keep sweets of any kind open in our room. And 8 mozzie bites. The Air con was good while it lasted!!We booked our train ticket to Chaing Mai today with Dominiques help and we have travelled up to the famous Khao San road today via taxi and are staying in Sanid Guest house on Samsung road, a room big enough to swing a cat if you dont mind it bumping its head! and a fan also a very, very thin matress, but still really like it.

Went into Khao San road and we LOVE it, there is 1 million stalls selling amazing clothes i could just stay here forever and shop, im glad we are only here for 1 night as i wouldnt have any money left.

Tomorrow we check out at 12:00 but we are getting up early and travelling to the Grand Palace which isnt too far from here, a tuk tuks ride away and then head back down to Sukhumvit Road where we are staying in a dorm with 2 other people, we will see how that goes! i have invested in a few padlock and hopesfully wont be with any dodgys!! We are picking up our Vietnam visas tomorrow from the embassy and then get our sleeper train up to Chaing Mai, all 12 hours of it!!

Will add pictures soon! Having an amazing time but trying not to shop too much!

So far soo good

ambroom — Sun, 7 Feb 2010 04:16:00 GMT

Flew into the mumbai and saw all the slums and people in them, was really hot and had to go all the way to the other side of the airport to catch the next plane.

In Bangkok now, enjoying it alot, everyone is friendly and food is cheap etc.

They obviously dont give you cups when you ask for coke here they give it you with a lot of crushed ice in a plastic bag with a straw!!

Went for a foot massage today, we ended up with foot, legs, arms and neck massage, that is what they class as foot massage, was amazing!!