our 12 month adventure!!

Cambodia... Khmer + proud of it.

sooz_and_claire — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:44:00 GMT

23/10/09
We board the bus to Phnom Penh a lovely 7hr jaunt+ usual standing around at the border crossing. We negotiated a tuktuk on arrival and headed for
a guesthouse in town $10- treat with hot water. For dinner we kept our promise and headed to Luna d'autunno- the Italian restaurant run
by Mike, who we met in Ko Phanang. Beautiful fresh pasta+ pizza, proper Italian!

24/10/09
Start out at 9am- head to S-21 prison museum, passing the sad sight of many beggers- amputees, polio sufferers, blind.
S-21 or Tol Sleng, was a harrowing experience. I'm so glad we went as it truely highlights the horrors + scale of what the Khmer Rouge did to
the people of Cambodia. It was a former school, taken over by the Khmer Rouge and turned into a mass prison. over 20,000 people
-men, women, children, oold people, passed through it's doors to be tortured and sent to their deaths in the 'killing fields'
Only 7 people ever survived after being sent here. We walk through rooms- former cells, containing row on row of ID pictures of every prisoner,
meticulously recorded by the Khmer Rouge. They were black + white photos, all with similar haircuts, their expressions you would never forget
-absolute terror in their eyes, a knowing look of their fate. I couldn't believe seeing photos of 70-80 year olds- how were they a threat?
It was upsetting. Next we saw a room containing many bones+skulls + some of theweapons used to torture + kill.
We walked through differnet floors containing the original cells, just as they had been left...tiny suffocating boxes, blood stains on the wall,shackles.
I had a real heart wrenching feeling walking round the empty cells, also a very haunted, uneasy feeling. claire had to leave then as it was so upsetting.
There were torture rooms- 14 victims were found dead here by the Vietnamese troops, killed as they were closing in on the prison. Each torture cells
is how it was found, on the wall a large photo showing how the victim was found in the room. So sickening. It also stuck us how barbed wire had been
strung up covering the different levels...to stop the prisoners from jumping + commiting suicide. I really feel for the Cambodian people.

Next we headed to the killing fields of Choeung EK. This was an extermination camp- mass pits of graves, where people were bludgeoned to death to save bullets.Approx 17,000
people died here in 3 years. today approx 8000 remains are housed in a glass memorial stupa.As we walk around, children beg through the fence for money/food/water. This place is strangely peaceful- impossible to imagine the horrors that happened here.
After such a depressing morning, we decided to head to the Royal Palace, such beautiful grounds and buildings/pagodas/wats. We both agree, the Khmer arcitecture is by far the most beautiful
out of the countries we've visited.
We freshen up for dinner and head to the FCC- thanks Dom for the lovely present! We stop at another bar on the river for a last beer.Suddenly the sad seedy world of Phnom Penh is noticable.
We get offered 'tuk tuk' we say no, then this is often followed by 'u want smoke, weed' ...'no thank you'. Also we see kids (selling books in the day) sat on the chairs of the bar, looking drugged up- stoned or glue sniffer. these kids often get hooked by dealers, making
them work on the street. We feel really uneasy walking back in the dark as it's so quiet, so we hop a tuktuk.

25/10/09
We get the bus to Kampot, thinking it would be 3 hours....7hours later we arrive + are greeted by about 15 tuktuk men. we pick the quietest one, not trying to sell us a guesthouse
+ head to 'blissful' guesthouse,Run by a mancunian guy, it's got good food, great music + cheap, cold Angkor beer...puuuurfect!we bag a $6 room + tuck into some oh so tasty Khmer food.

26/10/09
Have an indulgent lazy day (to save pennies) lie in + have breakfast. Book the Bokor Hill station trek for in couple days time. Wander round this sleepy riverside town + get some books.
we then spend the next few hours swinging in the garden hammocks, reading + drinking jackfruit shakes + beer. Oh how I miss work?!

27/10/09
We are picked up at 9am by our tuktuk man + taken to the Phnom chhnok caves, along the way wave + shout back 'hello!' to about 100 kids!such happy beautiful children here!
We arrive and meet 2 local boys-about 12 years old. such charmers+ brilliant english...they show us up to the caves + explain all about them,we see bats+ various rock formations, plus the 7th century shiva (temple) inside. We give them a couple of dollars
+they head off to school for the afternoon session.
Next we head to Kep, via potholed dirt tracks. It is a small fishing village, famous for it's black peppercorn crabs. We wander along the small beach, have lunch with our driver + then head past a whole neighbourhood of burnt out or rundown former beach houses and mansions,
destroyed by the Khmer rouge- they didnt like the hendonistic rich lifestyles in the area. We head back + chill (again) with more book reading....it's great as we never have time or we feel guilty about taking time to
read when we are at home.

28/10/09
Bokor Hill station trek ay!! Pick up at 7.30am in a 4x4 and head out to the start point, somehow 4 of us manage to squeeze in the front- our guide sits between the driver door and the driver!!!! amazing!haha.
17 of us trek non stop up a massive hill with our guide Try and at the rear, a guy with an AK-47 ' for our protection' apparently. We trek for approx 2 1/2 hours upwards, suffering in the very humid weather. Eventually
we reach a very rugged road built in 1902, where we all hop on the back of a pick up truck and are driven the 23km to bokor national park.
Gradually it gets much cooler, a welcome relief after weeks of humidity! We reach the summit and Bokor Hill Station, or the Royal Palace as it was originally known.
It was a hotel, built for expats in the 50s to come up for a holiday + have weather similar to home. During the Khmer rouge era, it was taken over by the Khmer rouge and used as a prison and base to fight the Vietnamese
across the valley. They would kill prisoners and then fling them over a sheer drop at the back of the hotel into the jungle below.

It is such a desolate, run down and eery place, with mist swirling upfrom the valley below. It has been likened to the hotel in 'The Shining', only this one has bullet holes init. There is a maze of corridors and floors to explore, so quiet inside- empty
+ weathered. Myself and Claire walk down into the basement + get such an overwhelming uneasy feeling that we had to hurry back up....very spooky down there indeed!
We also look round the old deserted post office and Catholic church. A real ghost town up here.
We head back down, picking up a couple of locals on the way we manage to fit 20 people on the back of the pick up truck...impressive! We then trek back down the hill for another 2hours + have the most fantastic beer+ amok on our return!

29/10/09
Another minibus, luckily only 1 hours drive this time, to Shanoukville, Cambodia's only coastal 'resort' + check into a $7 room. We do some wandering+exploring, swap some books
+ relax, it's sooo hot here!

31/10/09
Halloween!!! Lie in, sort out some more cheap ipod uploads + read, as I've come down with a cold. It's so hot + we don't get air con rooms (far cheaper!) so we decided to go to the
'cinema' ie. private rooms you can rent out with a massive TV, tons of DVDs + a fridge of beer, perfect cool down! Have yet more lovely Khmer food + then head to Monkey Republic
for the Halloween party.

1/11/09 (claire takes over the journal)
Today we just chilled again. We went to walk to Serendipity Beach as we wanted to see what it whas like. The beach has been lost recently to the typhoon Katana and
various other ones. There were still children there however, trying to sell us bracelets. They were friendly and not too hassling
though and made us laugh. We didn't buy any bracelets though! SIn the afternoon we went to a tattooist called Mark, Sinville Tattoos.
We had read on his website that he has links with a monk who did consultations and drawings of blessings. We have decided that
we want to get this done and than have it tattooed! So we have arranged to go to Pagoda with Mark tomorrow at 3.30 to meet Monk Moonron. Exciting!!
In the evening we went to a Teppenyaki Restaurant and shared some Tapas style Teppenyaki dishes, was lovely. It is good to just chill
for a few days and catch up with ourselves, as travelling all the the time is tiring and costs more money!

2/11/09
Chilled in the morning. 3.30 we went to Mark's tattoo place for our pagoda visit. We went by tuk tuk. At the moment it is a
special holiday of the full moon festival here in Cambodia and so we were expecting monk Moonron to be quite busy. He was, and so was
unable to do a proper consultation. However, there are some tattoo prayer designs that he has done for Mark and we would be able
to choose one of them ourselves. So we had a blessing by him. This was an experience! You kneel down in front of the monk and put your
hands together in the KNOP, which is like a prayer. You bow to him 3 times placing your hands on the floor in between each bow and knop.
Then we light some incense sticks and hold them in our prayer hands and we stand in front of the green buddah and wish. We did this
and then we had to crouch down on a step. There was us, Mark and another 2 Cambodian guys. We sat in a line. Monk Moonron then
chants over us and pours holy blessed water on us. Holy Soup really, as it contains petals and incense. We had buckets and buckets
poured over us. We were fully dressed too. This was an experience as I said! After the blessing, Sooz and I had to wring our
clothes out in the toilet as we were soaking! We then headed back in the tuk tuk. It is a shame we never got to have a proper
consultation with him, but we are set for our tattoo's tomorrow! Excited! Chilled again later.

3/11/09
Tattoo Day! (Sorry to the folks! more body art) We chilled in morning and then we went to tattoo place at 2.00. We chose our Cambodian prayer PARLY, which are both prayers
for good fortune and protection. They are situated on the shoulder areas. They are different ones, but similar meaning. We also
decided we would like a small word chosen by each other, for each other, t go on our ankle/foot. The Khmer language is really pretty.
Sooz chose the word LOVE for me as she says "it encompasses me as a person and for her love for me" (get the bucket).
I chose the words ONE LIFE for Soozy as a symbol to Matt her cousin.
So I went first. Won't go into too much detail but it was ok on the shoulder, but the ankle one was painful. It took 2.5hours.
We then had dinner and then Sooz's turn, another 2.5 hours. I must say that Sooz did not show if she was in pain as much as I
did with my expressive face. Therer were no oohs or ahhs though. We finshed late, around 1am in morning. Much cheaper than in UK too!

4/11/09
To day we chilled,internetted and nursed our tatt's and booked the bus for tomorrow to Battambang! We did pop up to the Pagoda
to take monk Moonron a box of fags to say thank you, but he was sleeping so we left a note for him. Monks do not have money
themselves, so he would be well chuffed with his smokes!

5/11/09
Today was a long day of bus travelling. The bus to Battambang took 10.5 hours in total, changing in Phnom Penh. When we got off
bus we asked an american guy if he was going to Royal Hotel and if he wanted to share tuk tuk. He was, his name is Ryan.
As we got off tuk tuk we booked the guy for tomorrow for the 3 of us to go on a tour. Share the cost which is good. Decent room
at hotel $8 with fan. There is a rooftop restaurant there, which was kind of the reason why we went there, but it was not atmospheric
at all really. We had some noodles, but the food was not that good. Ryan met us up there and we chatted. Also, another guy called
Joe from UK was there on his own and we got him to join us. He is going to come on the tuk tuk tour tomorrow with us too. Makes
it cheaper all round for everyone.

6/11/09
Tuk Tuk Tour day. He picked us up at 9.00am. First of all he took us to the bamboo train. This is an old train track with old style
trains. The bamboo train is a bamboo platform about 6ft by 8ft, placed on top of 2 steel rollers that enable it to move along
the track and stay on it....hopefully!! They used to use a metal handle to pump it along many years ago, but they now have small
engines on and they can reach upto 15kmph. We had 2 drivers. This is because, if you meet another bamboo train coming the other
way, then depending on how many passengers you have on board...someone has to disembark to the side and lift the train off. Trains
with the least passengers lose on this one, except if it carrying a motorbike, then the motorbike train wins! The cost of the
journey was $8, so $2 each. We travelled on the warped track for about 30 mins, stopped for a drink and went back. It was much fun!
It was a little bit like being on the Grand National at Blackpool, but without the up and downs. It was tough on the old bum when
we went over the joints in the track! Ouch!(sooz takes back over)....
Next we head to Phnom Banan, a stunning temple set at the top of approx 359 steps. after the hard climb (by which time a small local girl had attached herself to me- fanning me and giving me shoulder massages-
despite me saying no!) we reached the summit- it is said by locals to be the inspiration for Angkor wat- built in the 11th century, it is made up of 5 cham towers and has amazing views of the lands. I slip the girl a dollar,
which she seemed happy with.
Next we head to the killing caves, again accompanied by 2 local girls showing us around. We have a long slog in the midday heat up to the caves. We give a small donation to the pagoda at the enterance. Here we see the skylight to the cave, where the Khmer threw locals into the deep cave to kill them. Barbaric.
We walk down a different enterance to the bottom of the cave, here a nun (in white 'monk' robes) was sewing in front of a reclining buddha. To the side of her was a couple of small stupas, containing the smashed skulls and bones of the victims, I count at least 25 skulls, such a harsh reminder of the recent atrocities.
We walk uphill from here to Phnom Sampeau temples at the top of the hill and buy the kids a coke each. We get chatting to a monk at the top, who has set up a NGO - a charitable school, offering schooling to all. Claire gets his business card, as
it would be a great link to set up with her school for future funding, he appears very humbled. We donate a sum of money, which will purchase a new desk at the school. He then explains all about the buddha (gotama) images inside the temple. It's really fasinating. Although I consider myself non religious, I feel a strong connection with the
beliefs of Buddhism + definately believe in the morals that surround it. As we head down we see wide macaques monkeys running around and eating remains of coconuts.

We head back along a very dusty and potholed 'new' road, by which time we are all a shade of David Dickinson. We all regroup in the evening and head out to the street food by the river + have some tasty noodle soups + more beer. After another drink we head home, as there is not much atmosphere past 10pm.

7/11/09
Today is cooking class day at the smokin' pot- a restaurant supporting families with HIV/AIDS. we meet our group and head to the market to pick up the ingredients
We note the Cambodian markets are far less hygenic than the Vietnamese ones we've seen. We pick the fish (alive) then watch as the lady bashes the fish with the blunt end of the cleaver before
chopping off the fins/ gills then finally chops off it's head!! We pick up some other bits and bobs + head back.
We learn how to cook fish Amok, chicken lemongrass soup and beef lok lak ( claire is a lok lak guru) it is much fun + learn lots about fusion of spices in khmer cooking.
Here we meet Pauline a french girl travelling alone, so we all head off to the boat nooring to book our tickets for the following day to Siem Reap. Afterwhich we all decide to
have an afternoon bar crawl across Battenbang, as there was not much happening + at 75cent a glass, it would be rude not to. I discover taking a malaria tablet with beer on an empty
stomach isn't a good idea! so feel a bit off! Early to bed for the early boat.

8/11/09
We get the 6.30am pick up to the boat in the pouring rain, what a day to pick to spend on a boat eh! we are loaded up. a mix of travellers/ locals + produce on a smallish motor boat with wooden benches.
For the first 1 1/2 hours it's pouring rain!! then suddenly it clears up and the beaming sun comes out. We head up onto the tin roof of the boat, sunning ourselves and watching
the beautiful scenery of the Tanger/tonle sap rivers. I'd really reccommend the journey to Siem reap this way, rather than the boat from Phnom Penh. We wave at countless village children in ragged clothes - jumping up and down with excitement + beaming smiles.
We stop off at a floating village for some food...to mine+ claire's amusement a local dog hops on the boat and pees on some pineapples on the boat, a local is gunna have some sour pineapples to eat :-)tamworth, who we chat to.
We carry on through beautiful water logged landscape + via Chong Kneas- a complete village floating on the water. By the time we reach the port we are a tad sun+wind burnt, but worth it for the views.We meet another traveller, stuart, a lovely Boltonian, from We hop a tuktuk to Siem Reap + check into the lovely 'popular guesthouse' for a $6 room.
We head out with Ryan + Pauline for brunch at temple baras we are starving, $2.50 for chicken+fresh ginger, rice + a beer. magic! We have a look round Siem reap, it's a really great town with a great vibe to it. We meet at night again for some drinks on 'bar street' ....not suprisingly, we sleep very well!!!

10/11/09
Indulge in a rare lie in :-) then head to the blue pumpkin cafe with Pauline for brunch- lurvely breads (thank you french invaders!) we wander round the markt, plenty of 'hey lady, free for looking' 'you buyyy, cheeeap for you', we succumb and buy some kramers (traditional khmer
scarves). Next we venture in the formidable heat to Handicap International, where we bump into Stu again. We are taken around the rehab centre, that provides prosthetic limbs for land mine victims and RTA victims, also providing help for calpes and polio sufferers. Was good to see the
differences in care from country to country, and again how lucky we are for our NHS....don't knock it folks! There are mock up bikes, stepping stones, climbing frames, suspension bridges- all to simulate their home environments. On our way back to the hotel
we stop by a temple, pauline has some gifts for friends blessed and the monk tells me about my pali tattoo.
We hook up with the supreme Mr Heng, our tuktuk man, to sort out an arrngement for the next 3days and settle on a good price, have a fruit shake to celebrate the days ahead :-)
Evening we meet up with Pauline and Stu for dinner- $2.50 each with beer- cheap and sooo good. English food seems so bland at the moment!
We leave the restaurant and head back, on the way home we are surrounded by 'street kids' about 7-11 years old. I literally have 3 hanging off me. at one point lifting my arm up in the air and lifting the small boy off the ground
and carrying him along. They beg for food and money. It is heart breaking, but we can't give them anything, it simple feeds this way of living and they can never break out of the cycle. giving to NGOs or volunteering seems the way forward.
Seeing these things makes you realise how far Cambodia has yet to come from being cast back to the year zero.

11/11/09 TEMPLES OF ANGKOR, HERE WE COME!!!
8am start, we meet MrHeng and his pimped out Tuktuk...off we go!
We begin with Preah Kahn, an extensive Ankgor style complex, a great starting point! there are parts in ruin, trees intertwined around the stones, beautiful lintels carved about the doorways, eery yet peaceful hallways and tuneels to get lost in, away from the tour groups. They buildings are emmense,
I try to imagine what the people were like at the time they were built? what they did on a day to day basis around here?
How they constructed them?
Next, we head to Preah Nauk Pean- a cham tower, surrounded by an extensive moat filled with water. Again brilliant.
Two smaller temples followed- Prasat Ta Som and East Moneb.
Carrying on futher out of the complex by tuktuk we headed to Banteay Srei- Famed for its carvings into the red sandstone..beautifully intact, the detail is unreal. It's also nice to see they are restoring parts so the legacy continues.
Following Banteay Srei, we head to Bantrey Sambre, a more grey looking temple, very big ang grand, with a vast courtyard inside. deep inside we came across a monk chanting by a linga. He summonded me in first, chanting overme, holding my hand, then tying a red braclet around my wrist while chanting more and then
sprinkling it with holy soup- to bring me good luck. I felt very honoured. Next Claire went in- he asked her to put a book of palm scripts over her head,
and take a silver pin, in the other hand and put it into the palm script to choose a page (whilst making a wish) he looked at the palm script and he said it was good luck. There were some other people there that where able to translate for Claire.
Basically the story in the palm script was ofa poor boy, who went to the gods and was told he would be protected by them and that no-one could take away what he had in his possession or harm him.
We were very lucky I feel to have this experience in Angkor wat complex!!
Finally, we headed to our last stop of the day, Pre Nup- almost Aztec style pyramid, where we climbed the massive deep steps to the top to witness the sun setting over the paddy fields, a beautiful end to a beautiful day ;-)
In the evening the guys all headed out and I stayed put with a migraine like thing, lucky managing to shake it off by the next morning.

12/11/09
Woke up at 4.30am..(yes mum, I actually got up at this time) and set off with Mr Heng for the 5.30am sunrise over Angkor Wat. It felt like christmas morning, so excited to be witnessing
a sunrise over a wonder of the world. We sat towards the back wall to begin with amidst the morning dew with the old ipod in, a mystical special moment bonding us together (v hippy I know!)
We then moved to infront of the pond before the main building, a beautiful reflection created in the pond as the sun creeped over the towers. Beyond words really.
After a fresh black coffee fix we all caried on to explore around the grounds, mssive structures, courtyards, passageways, so so impressive!
We were feeling hungry so decided to pitch a spot for the mini buffet we brought along....
what better place than perched on the edge of Angkor Wat!!! made the bread and jam even more tasty :-) I spared a moment (perhaps 1/10th of a second) for you lot at home, running out the house with piece of toast in hand in the pouring rain, late for work :-)
I'm sure we ruined some people's photos of Angkor Wat at that moment...hehe.
We passed through the ancient Angkor Thom gates...a striking gate with Bayon faces on it, through to Bapum(small temple) surrounded by monkeys roaming around and onto Bayon ...a stunning maze like structure with many Bayon towers
with 'facebricks' (as stu put it) on each side. apparently it is a must see at a full moon, with amazing lighting. Next to Bayon we walked along the elephant terrace, built to overlook a mass area where the kings could watch sports.

We then headed to my favourite of them all, Ta Phrom. A temple amidst the jungle, it has been left to show the effects of the erosion and how the jungle 'reclaims' the ruins. this is the temple made famous by Tomb Raider movie, where Lara picks a flower and falls through the floor into...pinewood studios, england.
We did get quite excited to stand where good ol Angelina Jolie had tred (yes sad I know). I felt like an explorer ducking down into ruined corridors (again steering clear of the boarded walkway for japanese coachloads), seeing the tree roots twisting around the ruins, magical. We could have spent hours there, it was intoxicatingly stunning.
After such an early start we decided to head back in the afternoon, sampling more khmer food and a few cheeky Angkor draft beers.

13/11/09
Final temple day...
Headed to the further out to the Eastern temples of Lolei/ Bakong, Rolus temples dating back to the 9th Century, then back to Angkor Wat to re explore the vast temple in a different lighting. To finish off the day we went upto Phnom Bokheng- a temple ontop of a hill, overlooking Angkor Wat with very steep steps, I'm amazed some old dears managed it
up there!! Unfortunately many coach loads had the same idea, so it spoilt it slightly, we headed down early and headed back.
Did the usual in the evening, khmer food, beer, mojitos and various children hanging off us along the way home. Saw a very poor looking lady wit ha small baby crying, so gave her our bottle of water.

14/11/09
Said our goodbyes to Pauline (she was heading for Laos) and got our 6.30am pickup to the bus station where we met Stu. Got the local bus, 7hrs over to Kompong Cham, east of the lake.
and checked into a $5 room, the most minging we've had so far + overpriced for what it was! Had a dinner at a local restaurant- avoided the turtle, intestine, groin and frog on the menu and settled on some superb beef :-p
in various forms with fresh ginger, garlic and seasoning mmm + of course a draft Angkor beer. Wake up in the night thinking someone is tring to break in through a v flimsy door lock...just the wind, but then paranoid
and unable to sleep wind the luggage wire lock around the door handle and to the fan controls,lol.

15/11/09
Set off for Mondulkiri prefecture (the less visited 'wild east' of Cambodia). the 8.30 tuktuk picks us up promptly, good start we all think, then we get dropped at the 'bus stop' ie. a corner of a main road, to sit on tiny plastic chairs in the sun for 2 hours! after in broken english via a mobile phone call we were told..
the usual 'half hour' hmmm! the whole being eyed up and chatted up via sign language by local lads + ladies trying to sell us bread. As we waited we joked as mini van after minivan stopped, already full and everything in including the moped + kitchen sink- 'ooh this is ours' + 'and this one'...
then ours arrived........we were stunned to silence. A beat up van from the 80s. With already 15 people in it (and only 12 seats). We somehow squeeze on amongst families, someone wearing a 'wedding hat' as Stu pointed out. Many women in the standard brightly coloured pyjamas that they wear
anywhere + everywhere out here! We set off (picking up 2 more passengers along the way) 6 hours (4 of which were on unfinshed roads)of the most uncomfortable bumpy bus ride ever! so squahed!
Claire entertained us with wearing her travel cushion as a hat + spotting various mopeds with entire families perched on them.
Finally we arrive to Sen monoron a small town in Mondulkiri, only recently having electricity(according to the gammy planet). The usualchaos of drop off points met us, a couple of motor drivers tried to get us on the bikes but we refused and decided we would walk.
As we unpacked our bags there was a strange aroma....+ we were greeted by the sight of maggots crawling across the minivan floor around Claire's bag!A local's bag of food(avec maggot) had leaked out!also covering Stu's bag in some strange fish sauce like smelling stuff...mmm! We walked a coule of km
to the guesthouse and checked in, chose the usual cold water + fan rooms (after some deliberation and Stu's hilarious encounter with a tree frog in a room
We also book a trek for a day and then a homestay with the Pnong tribe. We check out the town- very small and quiet, not touristy at all, but find a khmer restaurant for a curry and then to bed.

16/11/09 - 17/11/09
We head out in the owners car to meet up with the guide, a cute little Pnong man with a red felt trilby.We then carry on to the starting point of the trek. Find it really sweet, when the guide isn't used to being in a car+doesn't know how to get the car door open or locked!
We set off with our non english speaking guide along a dusty track through fields and then into the Jungly area. We stop at a bunch of leaves bound together and the guide pulls them apart, causing hundreds of giant ants to spill out, he then grabs a load and eats them, saying mmm!
So Stu and I decide to try some too, quite a sweet taste actually ( Claire took our word on that and politely refused) Through the trek we followed elephant trails (me falling into a massive foothole), through head height grasslands and through trees via a pretty waterfall to cool down.
The main challenge of the trek was the 3 rivers we had to cross...we changed into our flipflops, well I did. Stu and Claire were sensible and had trusty tevas) then he signalled to follow him. The first river was upto groin height, but very strong and the river bed was full of nooks and boulders
Islipped about inside my not so supportive flipflops, inturn the flipflops slipped on the rocks as I clung to the guide (and at some points the guide clinging to me!) We made it,woop!! We watched as Clare and Stus ventured slowly across- Claire overcoming her phobia of open water. Stu used his 'Ray Mear survival technique' of
facing into the current and side stepping across, good work!! The next river was much the same, the guide had hacked off some branches to use as poles as we cross.
The final river he indicated would be deeper and he even seemed a little unsure about crossing......gulp. I steppedin off the embankment.......to find myself upto my bra in the river! A little deeped than he indicated! we struggled against the current and across, actually a tad worried at how strong it was...but we made it. Then watched heart in mouth
as claire and Stu battled across...well done all!!!! Fianlly after some leech attacks and 7 hours worth of trekking we made it over the brow of a hill to see the sunsetting as we approached the village. Such a welcoming site!! We were shown to where we would be staying for the night. Stopping in one of the families houses...a low style bamboo hut on raised
platform off the dirt floor. in the middle of the darkened hut a fire was burning away, as the family prepared dinner. The owner of our guesthouse arrived + We were shown over to the well to have a wash(as many people watched) and then shown the toilet- as he gestured over all the fields..all of this is the toilet! Claire's face dropped a little- not what a woman on her period wants to hear eh!
we freshened up and headed into the hut,as it was getting dark (usually by 6pm and there is no electricity).The bamboo soup was cooking over the fire..they hollow out a big bamboo shaft and place inside eggplant, beef, veg, chilis and water then perch the bamboo in the fire. Stu took some photo's which mesmerised the kids- wanting to see their pictures on the screen. Piglets and dogs ran loose around the floor of the hut as the women chatted away.
'You want to try cigarette' the guesthouse guy asked...passing a freshly rolled massive leaf shaped cone from one of the ladies. Wow- we felt like our throats had been ripped out...strong stuff!! As the women sat happily puffing away on theirs! We made excuses to go outside and promtly ditched the leaf ciggies so as not to offend!
Soon dinner was ready. we ate the soup and plently of rice...the soup was amazing!!!!! then we sat with all the men (some of the younger ones could speak a little english and vietnamese they learnt at school) we drank rice wine and chatted in various languages with them and learnt a little Pnong too!
The men then slowly dissapeared and we made our beds-thin blankets on the ledge with mossy nets over. This was possibly the worst night's sleep, or non sleep ever! It was so hard to sleep on- had major hip and back pain from the hard surface. Topped off with some of the familie's snoring and a giant moo-off between te buffalos at silly o'clock! Claire got me to head out with her, as she needed the toilet...so funny!! There were buffalo,cows, pigs all around.
I was convinced that I could see something moving in the bushes... while Claire was screamed 'arghh, something's gone up my bum!' (it hadn't) we quickly scurried back in..so funny.
Then as all was finally quiet...there was a sudden high pitched scream and stuart to my right was flailing ahis legs and arms everywhere + his mossy net all over the place. turns out...from claire who had seen it coming, a cat had been matching up and down a platform above us, unable to get down, it then decided Stu's net looked nice and stable, so launched off the platform and onto a sleeping Stu, scaring him to death!!!! soso funny, still get belly laughs as I'm typing it
up now!!
Finally we get up at 6.30am and venture out and walk aroound the small village. We watch the elephants with their Mahoots, children in torn battered clothes heading off herding cattle or picking berries with their siblings. I realise how much we wrap our chidren in our country, up in cotton wool. Here 10year olds are left to look after younger siblings, wander barefoot + work. We really don't know what we've got!
We say our farewells and get picked up by the guesthouse owner. He drops us in town and we head to the restaurant for a good breakfast. Some of the best banana pancakes I've had..mmm!!! Then we head back and fall fast asleep for 5hrs then have a lovely cold shower. We eat at the guesthouse as its cold and windy outside.

18/11/09
we say our goodbyes to Stu, such an excellent travelling buddy, as he was heading to Phnom penh ( I have since received an email informing us he made it there!) and we hang around for 45mins at the market before finally setting off in the minibus (actually with spare seats!!), the driverspeeds the whole way to Snoul, where we get off and negoiate finding which bus we change onto...they ask if we pay already to get to kratie and seem a little confused- a tad worrying. We are then
told to wait 'half an hour'. Hoping our bus would arive we sit and watch the world go by in this middle of nowhere town. We watch women load alot of snakes from a box into petrol cans and a lady with a make shift drip stand (a bamboo pole +newspaper)+ IV drip, wander around the market...an hour later a fancy coach was passing through and we are signalled to hop on..a nice bit of luxury for an hour, the rest of the way to Kratie. We arrive and wander through the moto men and walk to
the U-hong guesthouse and check into a nice $5 room. I realise I can't remember the last time I've had a hot shower!! wonder when I'll have one!
We book a tuktuk for the river dolphins then chill, lunch and dinner it + have a beerlaos.

19/11/09
We have breakfast (Claire still hasn't learnt to not order milk here..unless she secretly loves carnation milk?!) then set off a 9am, we pass 15km through villages and along the Mekong, such a peaceful place (but one of the first to be taken over
by the Khmer Rouge) We then hop onto a boat and he takes just us two out to where the Dolphins have been spotted today. Within 5mins we spot our first coming up for some air...woop! our first Irrawaddy Dolphin ( or tre pisout) - fresh water dolphin. Only about 100 remain in the Mekong, previously there were approx 1000, but they were hunted for oils during the Polpot regime.
They have bulging forheads and small dorsal fins. We watch about 4 in total, coming close by to the boat, then we moor on a sand bank in the middle of the river and watch them. We find it really captivating and we have big beaming smiles across our faces! After about 45 mins we head back and wake up our tuktuk man- snooozing in a hammock. On our return we go to Phnom Sombok and climb 460 steps upto the shrine, with lovely views of the mekong and very peaceful.
We arrived back and had lunch, then wrote/read as there was a powercut for 3 hours. Chilled out, then had dinner, while watching an old lady clean her false teeth by scrapping them with a knife, deeliteful!

20/11/09
We have a quick brekkie-got v excited by thebaked beans and HP sauce!! then jumped the 7.15am bus to Siem reap.Approx 10hours worth of good ol cheap local buses, as usual we are the only Barang (foreigner) aboard. change at Skuon and have some delicious pineapple ( the area's produce) watching various 'VIP' buses fly past.
Eventually our's arrives and we continue onto Siem reap. We check back in to the Popular guesthouse, trying our bit of Khmer out with the lovely staff there. As it's late, we head out for dinner ....more lovely khmer pumpkin and beef + Claire's Lok Lak. Mmmm.

21 + 22nd. We spend the next couple days exploring Siem reap, reading, drinking mojitos, fruit shakes and beer, as we couldn't get a trip to do some teaching or going to an orphanage sorted.

23/11/09
We say our sad goodbyes to the lovely staff at Popular guesthouse and set off for Bangkok, after a bus change and strange walk through 'no man's land' strip of casinos (as gambling in Thailand is illegal, they all come to the boarder to enjoy) between Cambodian border control and Thai border control, we then wait about 30mins for visa check.....while the man at bordr control actually had a HAND MASSAGE by a collegue!!!!
While a load of us queued! Infuriating at the time, but funny now! But soon we were loaded into a minibus and sailed to bangkok on their lovely smooth roads...we'd forgotten what it felt like to be on proper tarmac. We were dropped by the Kho san road and found some cheap 350 baht accomodation on Rambruttri road. We wandered down to the street vendors and had a chang and a 20bht Pad thai, people watching and realising it was soo much busier as it hit peak season.

24/11/09
We have an overdue lie in and then spend the day sorting buying some cheap sunglasses and vests- as all our tops were ruined by sun lotion, swaet and dust. Then we sort out the Tokyo accomodation(and have mini heart attacks at the difference in accomodation prices!) we soon recover by enjoying the lovely street food and fruit shakes on offer too :-)

25/11/09
our final day in South East Asia! We chill at the guesthouse and watch a movie they are screening, then decide to go out with style on our last night. We get ready-even put on a spot of makeup (shock horror!) and head out to the Koh san road.
We opt for a 'whiskey bucket' ie a bottle of sangsom whiskey, coke and red bull mixer in a sand castle bucket...my last encounter with this drink was at the full moon party, where I spent the following day on a ferry puking up. Good times!!
We polished off that quite nicely, then decided to head back. Unfortunately we walked past a Shisha bar and the guy 'forced' us in. We had an apple flavour shisha and ANOTHER bucket. Once we'd finished ( or claire did, I couldn't manage much) we walked back, Claire telling me she could only see double.
So I guided her up to the room and onto the bed. By this point I was feeling very drunk and was then sick in the loo. Feeling much better and sober I came out to find Claire looking very pasty! I grabbed the bin and for the next 2-3hours she was very ill, refusing to let me got to bed incase, she said'she choked or passed out'
Why do we always do this the night before w ehave to get on a plane or a ferry?! We will never learn eh.

26/11/09
The next morning we had to check out by 11am, so we headed out for a hangover brekkie- me banana pancakes and claire a wee fry up (Claire still looking like death warmed up). We then chilled in the lobby- that limbo of check out morning time and evening flight scenario.
We chatted to a guy we nicknamed triple x- because of his tattoo on the back of his neck was xxx, because he said he'd died 3 times...in a texan drawl. A very odd man, but who taught us some good advice...
*in old texan crazy man drawl* 'If a guy tries to strangle ya, here's what ya do, ya grab both their eyes and ya YANK them right off, then ya get your there thumbs and you gauge out their eyes. Then when they a reetchin for their eyes, ya get the web of your hand and ya JAM IT into their throat!' all this was accompanied by actions too, so bizarre and we nodde in agreement as we muffled our desire to burst out into
fits of laughter!!! It has kept us amused while travelling- we often give out this bit of advise,accompanied by the accent, to each other. We then made our excuses and made a swift exit to dinner, then got the link minibus to the airport.
Wooooohooo tokyo here we come!!!!

The Motorcycle Diaries...Che, u got nuthin' on us!

sooz_and_claire — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:36:00 GMT

claire- We just have to say that no amount of words can sum up this expereince we have had with BINH and HUY. They became like brothers to
us over the 9 days. Joking, play fighting, eating, drinking, chatting. They are 2 special guys and we heart them! We had an
adventure!!!! Thanks to them xxxxx

14/10/09 - Day One
Breakfast and meet at the cafe at 9.00am. We are both on track motorbikes, not low rider, as we are going over some rough roads in the mountains.
Our big bags get put in plastic bags and packed onto the back of the bike. A good back rest for us on there. We are all loaded up and ready to go...excited.
Helmets on, Sooz with HUY and me with BINH. Off we go!!!!
Fisherman Village - we stopped here and saw the boats, fisherman, fish etc. Was good to see the sale of fresh produce.
Bungalows - we stop here to see some posh bungalows that had started to be built on the coast line. Lovely. But the owner had to stop
as the price of fuel went up and he ran out of money!
Refreshment place - (There are lots of places in South Aisa where you can just stop and sit and get a drink/food with the locals)
we stopped here for a drink and Sooz said 'we have left the passports back at hotel!' - panic not, Binh phoned his mate and he biked them up to us within 20 mins.
Thank goodness. We feel safe though, as we are with the guys, bless them. 'no problem' says HUY.
We rode along and stopped at a worker place to see how bricks are made in Vietnam. The women are as much manual workers as the men,
if not more to bo honest. It the women who work the rice fields and work hard.Roads were mainly smooth to start but got
bumpier as we got into the mountains. Sore bum. Or 'monkey bum' as BINH would say! We always had the camera ready to take scenic
photos or photos of things on a bike. Gosh, how much they fit on and what they transport is mad!!! We stopped at a small place for lunch
and shared a variety of dishes between us. Only paying $1 each max for lunch. Ridiculous price and beautiful taste!!!
Riding to Buon Ma Thuot, we stopped outside a school. Well my goodness, the kids were screaming hello and waving! It was like
we were famous!! They were doing a little PE before hometime. We started to wealk over and they were screaming even more! We went inside the
playground and watched the teacher exercising with them. When it was hometime, they all ran over screaming. Any excuse to practice
their English. They do not see many foreigners here as we are on the open road, off the beaten track. We asked for photo and they were all
excited. We posed with the V signs all together! Bless them. We then ventured back and they were following and saying goodbye.
It was mad, I am guessing it was like being famous for 15 mins, lol!!! Passing through many villages we were waved at by children and adults.
This was something really special. You would not get this on a bus!!! We stopped at another worker place to see how they made wooden furniture
out of old trees. this was a good skill! Some beautiful carved furniture! We then stopped at a rubber tree plantation to see how rubber
is made! They slice the trees bark and let the white liquid drip into a bowl. Mad! Never would have thought it. There were
rows upon rows of trees, each strip owned by a different family. Come the late afternoon and a one hell of a sore bum, we arrived at our hotel
at Dray Sap waterfalls. (the bum thing gets easier apparently as you go along, and BIHN stops every hour anyway) Room is ok with
mosquito net, complete with a live frog jumping around...Sooz to rescue and catches it and puts it outside. We ate food with the family that run the hotel, which all the Easy Riders bring there travellers. There were only a few
others there though. We had lovely food shared with them and drank Rice Wine! good old rice wine....no headache next day they say....we shall see...We played some
games of trying to get money out from under a bottle and how can you stick a straw in a glass of rice and pick it up by it...interesting.....then to bed...we were greeted by
another frog in room...this time a tree frog, the ones that jump far....we left him in bathroom for evening...nice.

15/10/09 - Day Two
At brekkie we spotted a monkey in the trees! He was well within photographing distance. BINH said he had only ever seen
one a few times and it was rare to see! After brekkie we visited Dray Sap Waterfalls. They were beautiful! We crossed many bridges and walked for an hour. It was hot!
HUY took us on the walk. We felt the mist off the waterfalls and then we walked to a tiny swim area and dipped in. It was shallow
but good enough to dip. Until I lay on my back and nearly got swept down with the current under a small wood bridge...it could have been nasty! lol.
HUY hid in a tree with a big hole in and jumped out on us. He is nuts!
After we rode along some of the Ho Chi Ming trail. This is where the Viet Cong army were heading South to take over Saigon. There
is now a new road built along it. We stopped for lunch and had beef hot pot! yum yum. was great. BINH knows all the places to
eat from when he was a trucker guy before adn Easy Rider. We did lots of riding along windy roads, stopping at a coffee plantation and learning abou the beans.
We then went to see how they made mushrooms at a family home place. They are made in bags full of tree bark. Here there
was a python in a cage. Friendly they say. I was scared. The woman gets the python out and lifts it around Sooz's neck,
with Sooz helping as it was so heavy! About 9ft long and thick!!! I then had to put it's other end over my neck. I could not
beleive I had a snake around my neck. Sooz had the head!!!! Eek. It started to coil it tail around my arm...it was time to put it down
after a few photos by HUY. Scary!!!After riding for a bit, we stopped to see how granite is chopped up and sold over here. There
was a worker guy working chisleing it up, in the heat!!! hot hot. It is so cheap over here, I can hardly believe how much
you pay for granite in UK!!!! Robbery!!! We then went to Lak Lake, which was beautiful, we took piccies and then we rode to Lak Lake Resort.
It was posh! We had a swim in the pool which was nice. We have a posh room with air con and balcony view over the lake.
Over dinner and rice wine(again) we asked BINH and HUY if they could take us onto Mui Nie for a fourth day. They were happy to! Yay.

16/10/09 - Day Three
First of all we went to the market and waltzed around seeing foods there. It breaks my heart to see the little ducklings and puppies been
sold, but BINH assures me they are pets! The duck are bought to eat the rice fields once they have been harvested(usually approx 60 ducks strung upside down on the back of a moped). I still
think their future would be bleak after that though! Then we went to Lak Lake Village, where we gave some candy to the kids, bless them. The village is shack huts, but the government is
helping them to build better homes. The government wants them to live in city, but they are happy to live their simple life! Can't
blame them as they are happy as they are. We stopped for coffee in a nearby cafe place and we had a ball. Kareoke was on (approx 10am!)and the guys there
were singing. God they love kareoke in Asia!! The woman got me & Sooz to dance and we all ran in to house part and danced away.
It was funny! Everyone happy and smiling. BINH started dancing around like a monkey!!!! We bough some coffee here
as Buon Ma Thuot has the best coffee around. We got 2 of the strainer things for on the top of cups too. All good....
Setting off for Dalat, we saw many more coffee fields along the way. We stopped at a bee hive place where there were lots of boxes
of bees and honey(sooz-claire needed lots of encouragement tostand near the bees :-) ). They apprently move the boxes around Vietnam according to where the bees are. The flowers are here in the mountains
at the mo. Dalat is a cooler climate as it is higher. We saw curry plants. The rain set in and out came the waterproof trousers and jacket(hilariously baggy on sooz)
that BIHN and HUY provided us with. Thank goodness as it was wet!!! Then it cleared for lunch! Pho Bo, beef noodle soup=lush!
Near Dalat we went to a pagoda with the happy buddha at it. Happy buddha was certainly happy, and he was huge!!! A good 30m tall and
several wide! The story behind the happy buddah is tht he had many children. He did not know why. He finds out after he castrated himself, women
stole his 'wotsit'(sooz-the technical medical term for penis) and made themselves pregnant. He was confused at this, but very happy he had so many children. You often
see the big fat happy buddah in a statue with many children on him. This is why. We also went into the pagoda and saw the buddha with a 1000
eyes and 1000 hands. This buddha watches over everyone. We then had time to go to the Silkworm factory to see how silk is made.
This was very interesting. It comes from the silk worm cocoon. A tough process (especially on the boiled cocoon-as they heat up the worms insie start moving around to escape, then they are boiled to death!) and hard work.
After this we reach Dalat, it was cold!!! After showers we had fish hot pot local style and yet again more rice wine!!! We are very happy we
decided to carry on to Mui Nie tomorrow as staying in Dalat in the rain is not really a nice option. So it all worked out well.

17/10/09 - Day Four
Dalat is lovely...but wet! The buildings are very French as this was a favourite spot for the French. They gathered here as it was a
cooler climate. You could almost think you were in the French Alps with the houses and buildings. There is a flower garden we passed, a gingerbread
style church and a tower built which resembles the Eifel Tower. We had the waterproofs on as it was raining alot. We then went to visit
the Crazy House which was designed by a female architect who had family in Vietnam....lets say it was crazy...it was a bit like being
in something at Blackpool....The hotel area looked like it was a big veiny tree and we were in it, whichvarious plaster type animals
in various rooms...was crazy...we didn't stay long as it open plan and it was raining!!! There is a honeymoon suite there which
is amongst a big spider web...all very tacky...but apprently a lot of Vietnamses get married in Dalat because it is cold, and the heat
of wearing a dress!!! Leaving Dalat we went by a candy place in the jungle type area. They make sweets from fruits, very natural process...
very sweet!!! After we ventured on our journey to Mui Nie. Outside of Dalat we came to Chicken Village. Here there is a large statue of a chicken.
The village is mainly shacks. There is a woman there making silk scarves etc. Hard work on the process. Takes 3 days to make one!
The colours of the silk is made from natural substance like flowers and leaves. I bought a scarf and paid an extra $3 dollars for it
as the woman was lovely. She was so humble and said I had bought good luck to her family. Bless her. We passed peanut fields.
We drove a long way. We reached Mui nie and went to the Red Canyon, which was lovely to walk through. Only sad thing is it was made of sand
and travellers are carving names in it and stuff(bolton wanderers forever etc). It doesn't look good that way and its eroding it. Hopefully they will stop.
Then we went to the Sand dunes. Here, BIHN selected 2 boys to take us sledding down them. Now, the dunes were only small and not as spectacular
as we thought they would be, but then it was good fun. We tipped the boys. They tried for more, until we got back to the bikes by BINH who keeps and eye
on them. He tells them if you do good, you're good. Accept what you're given, otherwisde he will not bring his customers to them again.
lol. it was funny. BIHN is a good person of Buddhist religion. He cares for all and tells people to be good.
We book into hotel and chill. Meet 7pm for dinner of seafood. yum! we pick what we want. shrimp, squid, clams all amazing and sooooo
cheap still!!! A few pounds! BINH had bought his book with him for us to sign and we felt sad. Sooz and I had chatted already
about going to the Mekong Delta with them. We asked if they were able, and they were very happy to do the trip with us. BINH had
his brother at home picking up the other customers for him, so the work was shared out all good. We were happy, another 5 days ahead
of us for the Mekong with guys who know what they are doing there! Yeah!!

18/10/09 - Day Five
Sooz takes over the laptop....wake early, meet with our brothers- Binh + Hoi, and wander down to the 'fairy stream' a stream that has
carved out a small canyon and it's river bed is all sand, so head up it barefoot for about 40 mins then head back, via a small fish sauce production area(smelly) for a local
noodle, egg + some random meatball soup- lovely (apart from the strange meat,lol). We set off on the bikes, passing through markets and fishing villages. We stop for a short time at a memorial
and grave site outside Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC) thousands of mass graves from where the american troops dropped cluster +chemical bombs. hundreds upon hundreds read
'Cha Biet Tev' - name unknown. It's sad to think of families coming to pay their respects to missing sons/mothers/fathers, never really knowing if they are buried there
or not.
We head on and don our attractive waterproofs as a massive storm closes in, the rain absolutely buckets down and within afew minutes the highway resembels the mekong river, the boys carry on
at some points we are driving through calf deep water, but we safely make it through...thanks to awesome drivers. The traffic slowly starts to increase as we approach HCMC on the highway. there are literally hundreds of mopeds
and many crazy buses and lorries, horns sounding skimming past you. there are so many accidents here...now we know why! Eventually we reach our guesthouse in a suburb of HCMC, a little rattled from the last part
of the journey(the only time on the trip i felt scared). We shower and have more delicious food at a bia hoi- DIY beef hotpot + of course plenty of rice wine! some soldiers sitting next to us come over and put their
army caps on us + have a laugh, locals are so friendly here!

19/10/09 - Day Six
Hoi has his chain + types replaced,then we hit the road...soon Bihn's chain isn't working and we drive round some moto shops, we wait while his is fixed (his last chain he bought turned out to be a cheap chinese fake...so even
vietnamese get ripped off in their own country! Once repaired we head to the Cu Chi tunnels. We get a guide, dressed in traditional Viet Cong outfit to show us round.
There were over 200km of tunnels they constructed to fully live underground. right under the American troops! so intricate and clever, with traps inside,incase 'the enemy' got in. Also they used to place dead amaerican troops
clothes at the entrances inside the tunnels, so the sniffer dogs couldn't detect where the opens were. They would come up to get food/supplies at night or to snipe and duck back in in the day. Many of the tunnels have collapsed, but
I got to enter an original tunnel (tiny hidden hole) then close the lid...felt eery in the pitch black! We walked round to see the differnt bamboo traps they made (very barbaric) and how they made homemade mines from old shrapnel from US weapons.
We then got to travel down through a slightly widened tunnel (for the bigger westeners!) it was so hot and stuffy,we don't know how they coped. They just wanted to protect their land from invasion.

We carried on on the bikes for many many kms to the Mekong Delta (afew coffee stops, to prevent the monkey bum (numb bum) effect :-) We reached the large suspension bridge over to Ben Tre just as the sun was setting over the Mekong, a beautiful moment
to take in. We drove literally through the market to reach a small wooden boat, which we hopped on in the dark and made a pit stop at Bihns's friends mooring to buy 2kgs of live giant prawns, wriggling in the plastic bag (£6.60!). We headed across to the
Phoenix Island, seeing fire flies in the bushes and setting some free we had in a bottle.
Binh cooked up the prawns + we washed them down with 3 bottles of banana rice wine between us...leading to many drunken piccies with the remains of the prawns + then me being violently ill back in our room...
i still maintain it was afew less well cooked prawns (aswell as the wine).

20/10/09 - Day Seven
Wake up (feeling horribly hungover) and have pho Bo for brekkies, then walk round the island + 'fish for crocodiles'- a random inclosure of crocs which we dangled bits of meat off bamboo, until the lunge for them...they are so fast+powerful!
We hopped on a small local boat and headed back over to Ben Tre through small bamboo lined rivers, where we went to see how they make (+sample) their special coconut candy,mmm! then watcheda traditioanl band + ate plenty of fruit..gradually curing hte
hangover! we got back on the bikes and ventured further into the mekong delta, taking afew passenger (or bike) ferries. We vewntured to the market to buy ingredients for dinner- fresh thai basil, ginger, water lilly, rice noodles...then it came to chicken...
we headed to the 'meat area' with many interesting smells+sights to behold (animal rights organisations would have a field day here!). There we found the chickens, no suprise, still clucking away with their feet tied up. the boys had a feel of afew to find a nice
plump good'un, once found the lady grabbed it and shoved it into a plastic carrier bag- still flapping and clucking away! At this point (sorry claire) the tears start streaming down Claire's face, not knowing how upsetting this would actually be. The boys soon saw Claire
and being the good souls they were decided not to purchase it (..im sure it definately didn't stay sat there long!). Instead we opted for duck...dead..plucked ducks. 2 for £2- bargain!
The animal rights are so harsh here, I would become a vegetarian out of principle here...but the meat is good + fresh!

We headed on to Binh's friend's house. Dinner was cooked and we all sat on the porch floor to eat together-mum, dad, uncles, cousins etc! The mum+dad played a joke on claire by bringing the dish out with the cooked duck's neck, head, beak, tongue'n all, sat neatly on top. We all had a good laugh, plenty
of rice wine + lots of gestured conversation. It didn't seem to matter we spoke different languages, the barriers were broken.
In the morning we gave the mother some fruits and a bit of money, she was so humbled. It made me feel a bit emotional, these people live hard lives waking up at sunrise, working till sunset everyday.Yet they are so happy+ content.

21/10/09 - Day Eight
Say goodbye and set off through more winding roads and ferry crossings until we reach Can Tho, the biggest town in the Delta.
We arrived mid afternoon and decide to catch up on sleep and chill for awhile. We have dinner then join Binh and Hoi at a bia Hoi for afew cheapo
siagon beers + learn some general Vietnamese insults ;-)

22/10/09 - Day Nine, the final day!
We wake up very early and head to the dock, we charter a local guy to take us around the famous floating markets of Can Tho. There are many
barges selling fruits and veg- indicated buy a bamboo stick on each boat with whatever goods they sell onboard. we weave through the market,
it definately isn't as picturesque as we thought it would be...more like a wholesale market. We hopped on board a boat+ had a whole pineapple each for 25p,
then carried on along the river+ stopped for a traditional breakfast- like a cold white rice pudding, with alot of salt+sugar in,topped with
coconut....interesting (the hair in mine was particularly nice!). We stop at a cambodian pagoda in the delta (the Mekong delta was formally Cambodian land) and then carried
on towards HCMC, through manic traffic! We check in at the guesthouse and meet Hoi's wife.Then it was time to reluctantly say goodbye to Binh
and Hoi. We felt we'd become really close and we felt like crying. Binh had a tear in his eye as left. We will definately keep in touch
+highly recommend then to anyone!
We head out and have dinner+afew beers, feels really wierd without the guys there!

22/10/09
Lie in finally!! wander round, get some cheap ipod uploads, claire has a cheap pedicure + I have a facial- soo good to get the road grime out of
the old pores. We have dinner+ a good few beers, plus have crap celeb spot in the bar- the bloke who plays Natty in Hollyoaks. wow. lol.

Good morrrrrrrning Vietnam!!

sooz_and_claire — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:15:00 GMT

1st oct- sooz:
free breakie...usual bread, egg, jam. the get packed and get tuk tuk to Vientaine airport, as Hanoi airport repened today after typhoon. airport is speedy
and effcient, v different from normal Laos!a real class divide is sensed here- the poor in the bamboo huts, the rich jetting off.
We fly 'Lao air...later to discover their very ppor reputation, thank god we found out later!
a very cheap easyjet, with old european airplanes!
a lovely propeller plane, felt every bump+turn...i almost shat myself when the seatbelts sign lit up half way through the flight! anyways, we land safely, hooray!and brush off the touts at hanio airport...be careful if eery passing through here, for rip off taxi. and get 1 1/2hr transfer bus to central hanio for $3 each..bargain!
I have never seen so many mopeds! really crazy, there are no rules here, and a red light definately doesnt mean red!- check out top gear vietnam special to appreciate it!
they drive the wrong way, on pavements, on the phone etc!
Hanoi is a sprawling city, over 4 1/2 million i n 20 square mile and over 3 million mopeds.Its polluted, loud and overcrowded.
check into a $7.50 room- corrigated ron wall/door place, tiny and in a 3rd floor swatshop type place!.
We decide to get dinner....so so usy, the pavements are used as a mopedpark, so uyou risk life and limb by walking on the road. Crossing the road is then the next step
NEVER EVER run. if you do, you will get creamed by a car or moped. wlak very very slowly, the mopeds move around you! or if not then find a local who is crossing,
stand behind them and cross- a good human shield! we found the best one...walk behind a street cleaner,...we found one
pushing a wheelie bin and hid behind the bin!
anyway, we cross the road and find a beer Hoi stop..famous here,...look for signs, they are everywhere...tiny platic chairs/tables in the street with locals- 6000d a beer....20p!!!
the locals laugh at us...long legs...small chairs, but very cheap beer!!.
Next after a couple of beers, we find street food- a pho place...excellent noodle soup type meal.I sign 2 portions of the old lady making it, give her 50000dong. they bring it over and we enjoy with the locals. when we finish,
she comes over, signals we have not payed...she calls over2 vietnamese lads, to tell them, they say in english we not pay, we owe 20000dong. we say we have, and they disagree. we give another 20000dong, as we cant argue and don't want to beset upon, or attacked with her big cooking knife!we are so s0 angry and upset that they rip us
off just because we are 'westeners' white skinned! we stand in her way while she sweeps up to piss her off and i shout at her she's a liar. stupid cow. I hope karma exists and she chokes on her pho!!!
watch oout for 'tourist prices' folks, its a shame, but u gotta pay!!

2ndd oct
we wake + decide to check out as v isolated from other travellers. Take a short walk to Hanoi Backpacker's hostel....a grat
atmosphere, free internet+brekkie- well worth checking out if you want to mingle+meet folk. Check into the dorm + then we wander
off to explore the city. We walk around the walk+green areas, indulge in some ice cream at 'fanny's', lol, then we went to see the
water puppet show- a form of puppetry formed in Vietnam by villagers in rural areas- the water hides the mechanisms the puppeteers use.
It wasn't as spectacular as we thought it might be, but good to see a bit of traditional arts and music (although the musicians looked
so fed up..i guess they do the show about 5time a 365days a year!) We head back to the Hostel via a Bia Hoi, then take advantage of the 2 for 1 happy
hour at the hostel + BBQ on the roof. feeling full we decide to get an early night as we had booked onto the Halong Bay trip.

3rd Oct
We set off on our 3day Halong bay trip with the hostel, a good mix of 25 travellers pack out a couple of minibuses and we set off through the manic streets
of Hanoi on a 3hr journey to Halong. We arrive to a manic port +after a little wait, board a transfer boat to our main
'junk'- a 3 tiered wooden cruiser. The hrour is scattered with variuos sized junks and behind is a spectacular setting of thousands of limestone islands.They are
trying to get it recognised as one of the natural wonders of the we definately think it should be!! We cruise for an hour,through beautiful islands, eroded to form beautiful shapes. It is truely vast beyond expectation. We sun ourselves on the top deck,
have a leisurely vietnamese style lunch of prawns, squid, beef + noodles, during which time we have arrived into a bay of one of the islands, which is where we were to
moor for the night.
Then it was time to jump off the boat...the top of it!! i decided to pluck up the courage + jump...the 2nd girl to man up to do it! bloody high, but fun..
apart from the usual bikini issues involved when jumping into water! After splashing around for awhile, we all jumped into kayaks and paddled for 30-40mins to another island +clambered out into a cave opening.
The cave ...nicknamed the amazing cave, was full of stalagmites + tikes, small passes to squeeze under+ larger chambers. Eventually this lead to a vivid blue lagoon in the centre
of the island, closed off from the sea, really eerily quiet. We made our way back to the kayaks for the journey back, by which point the sun was setting over the beautiful
surroundings and mill pool like sea. After much 'discussion' about who was/wasn't paddling (claire was in the back seat+ i think took the odd 'rest',lol) we just about made it back...in the dark, managing to work
out which junk was ours (by this time about 10 boaats had moored here too)- there is no health+safety here!
We freshen up+fuel up on more lovely grub. We chat away to fellow travellers on the top deck + sip our cocktails. Also as it was the annaul
moon festival- celebration of the new year, that night, we celebrated with Vietnamese wine (ie. v sweet wine) + moon cake ( a very looose term 'cake' , resembling more like a pork pie on the outside, with various fillings on the inside...sweetened rice, pork or egg.) interesting!

4th Oct
Up at 7am, we transfer to a small boat + are taken 1hr to a remote private cove on a small island, so stunning,just for us- a coral beach, surrounded by cliffs(attracting free climbers) and lush greenery, heaven!
The island reps make us feel very welcome + we spend the day, snoozing in hammocks, sunning ourselves, attempting volleyball+ my first attempt at Wakeboarding... Claire
gave all her moral suppport from the boat, but it was a painful process of me repeatly hitting the water..but much fun though and not the last time i'll try!
We enjoy a BBQ dinner + play cards/drinking game with the reps, a fire dance by David, a mexican rep and generally chat+drink the night away. We head to bed as we are tired,
but overhear the guys shout plankton.. claire decides to stay in bed (ie. in a mossy net on a bamboo platform, overlooking the beach) while I run down into the water in the bay, we swish our hands around, which causes the plankton to glow...
it looks like fairy dust trailing behind you as you move, so so beautiful...ive you've seen the beach, you'll understand..or youtube it folks!)
ng process
5th oct
We say farewell to the beach + rejoin the main junk ship, back to the port + topping up our tan. On arriving back to the Hostel, we head out for dinner with Mary, Michelle, Anya, Henry, Diane+Natalie from the trip
to endulge in a cheeky bit of western food- stonebaked pizza (during which, everyone discusses their cravings for cheeses, fresh milk etc,lol)

6th oct/7th Oct
We Check out + we- us+anya, henry, Diane + Nat, decide to find the train station, to book our overnight train to Hoi An .We
endure the vietnamese queueing system- ie crowd round the booth on mass +push in ( at one point a lad actually started to peel my fingers off the side i was leaning onto block folk pushing past me!) + bought our
tickets (for 1/2 price what the hostel offered) for a 18hr 'hard sleeper' train ie. 2nd class 3 tiered bunk beds in compartments, with matresses about 1/2cm thick,lol.
We waste afew hours mooching round shops, stocking up on beers +snacks for the train,brunching and Pho Bo 'ing (DIY style noodle soup) it up,
We cram into the 6berth compartment, Diane+Nat thoughtfully saying they'd have the 3rd top bunks, as we were much taller+you couldn't even sit up!
We head down to the restaurant carriage- so we can actually sit upright somewhere + have a good few beers+chat with the girls to help the sleeping process.
During this time, a seemed to have attracted a strange middleaged vietnamese guy- randomly talking to me in vietnamese+staring at my hair...which he then touched, so i touched his hair back!
He then took the opportunity to sit next to me while claire went to the loo, he gestured to his phone, then took a picture of me + showed me that he'd made me his screensaver!!!!! a little freaky! i then gestured
with our camera to take a pic of him, which he then refused, got up+left!!!!! how rude! but very entertaining, as we were all in fits of laughter!!
We venture back and have a very broken nights sleep- rudely awoken by the old couple in the bottom bunk....talking at full volume at 3am, then coughing/spitting, luuurvely! I end up wandering round ( or should I say up+down the train)at 5am for an hour
then manage to sleep till 8am. Eventually we arrive in Danang+all share a taxi to Hoi An.

Hoi An is a charismatic,charming old town- an important old seaport, it has mixed influences of chinese, french and japansese background.
It is listed as a world heritage town. The impact of the typhoon the previous week, that directly hit Hoi An, seemed minimal- only debris and sand srewn across the roads and some trees blown down. They seemed to have
recovered quickly.
After checking afew hotels, we check into one that Henry negoiated down :-) then all headed for lunch as we were so hungry. Cafe 96, set in an old distressed aqua colonial building, by the river- indulged in superb tapas style dishes- eggplant, fresh springrolls,
chicken/lemongrass, white rose + cau lau (hoi an specialities) a recommendation for well cooked foodfresh, simple ingredients!
After still feeling hungry due to the smaller portions,a drink+a vietnamese style doughnut sorted us out!
Myself and claire branch off from the group, we wander through the old narrow streets, separating the yellow+aqua building + we book
onto a cooking course for the following day (thank you Andrew!!).(claire takes over blog.....Sadly we saw something awful on our walk after...a poor little kitten varely 6 weeks old was attacked
by 3 dogs. We weren't sure what it was at first and looked like they were fighting over a fluffy toy! Sadly, it was a kitten :o(.
Awful, we felt sick. We wanted to pick it up and take it to a vet or something, but we did not know what to do. The locals left it
on the road and it could barely walk. Sad. Could not stop thinking about the poor thing all day. After some chillage time we met up
with our friends we had been travelling with for dinner. (Onya & Henrique from Norway and Natalie and Diane from USA)
Had god food as always in Vietnam! And some Cocktails, always good!

8/10/09
Cooking Course Day!Yay! Went to Cargo Cafe for a breakfast. The best ever which a French influence to the cafe. Croissants, breads and jams.
Yummy. Got to place for 11am meet. Tour guide took us to Market for a walk around and we learned about the foods, vegs, spices and
fish sauce...the secret to Vietnamese cooking :o) Yum. The market was buzzing and full of atmosphere, can hardly explain in in words. Our guide was funny, cracking jokes and speaking great English!
Boat caught to Red Bridge Cooking Schoolalong the river. We could see the effects of the typhoon 10 days ago as all the banks of the river
were all awash with and flattened down.
At school again...we had clipboards with recipes and instructions for us to make notes. Classroom! The chef was funny, cracking jokes
and was really nice. We watched how to make a shrimp salad in a pineapple boat, but we were not to make this ourselves. We were going on
to the harder task of makinbg a rice pancake (spring roll ones). He made it look easy of course, but it wasn't of course!
Hot steaming pot of water with a linen cloth over, pancake on top and then slide it off the linen with a bamboo stick....Needless to say that both
Sooz and I smashed our first one...but we quickly did another and we were back in the game...roll it up with shrimp and salad, served
with chilli fish sauce...eat...yum..yum.
Then we observed a shrimp pancake and were set off to do our own...go! that was easier, we rolled it in another rice pancake after
and munched that too!!!
Next, we watched Eggplant Clay Pot dish and then went to cook our own. This was great and easy. Whilst cooking we were then shown how to
decorate the plates with fancy salad things....a tomato rose and a cucumber fan............complete disaster! My fan looked like a porcupine with halapetia!!! Sooz's
wasn't much better...My tomato rose was ok, and I helped Sooz with hers...Honestly, these left handers! tut tut :o)
Eggplant was cooked and time to eat it with food from restaurant. Shrip salad and baked fish..yummy yummy. Full full! Not getting
any lighter in Vietnam for sure..the food is just too damn good!
After, we met up with the guys and had dinner and shared our experiences of the day.

9/10/09
Cargo Cafe again for breakfast. Heaven! Then we hired some bicylces for the day! We were cycling to the beach. Was only about 20mins
and a little scary as the traffic in South EWast Asia does not seem to have any rules. The bigger the vehicle the more power they have for
you to move out the way. They beep at you to let you know they are there or overtaking...where as at home we see the use of horn as an angry thing...
very confusing! Anyway, we got to beach and parked bikes up. Chilled, went in Sea which was rough and choppy but warm...strong current.
We made up our own games of shotput and bowles with some old coconuts. Good fun. Cycled back in one peice and said good bye to Diana and Natalie
as they are heading to Saigon. Sad to see them go! We have had such a good few days with these guys. Met up later with Onya and Henrique in bar
Before & Now. Alos met up with Dan, Megan and Laura the Aussies off the Halong trip again. Caught up and had drinks and a laugh.

10/10/09
My Son Tour. This is a place with some old Cham temples there, from the old ancient Champa Kingdom 4th-13th century. A very holy land.
Our guide was a little hard to understand with his English (poor Onya and Henrique had no idea) but he was a nice guide. My Son means
beautiful mountain and you could see that in the background behind the valley temple. The bricks were put together with no mortar in between
and the craft wortk was excellent. Makes you wonder how they did it so many years ago. There was also a rock carved like a symbol
of both female and male genetalia (in a loose sense) that they would worship for fertility.
Sadly, the temple had been bombed during the Vietnam war and had destroyed some of the ruins. You could see bomb craters there too.
They are renovating in one area the runis. Was a good trip to see some of the architecture and history.
Afetrnoon we lunced and checked out buses for tomorrow. Met up again for dinner and went to a street food restaurant place with
a funny waitress who called herself Lisa. She was Vietnamese but had great English and a funny sense of humour!
On the move tomorrow, goodbye Hoi An - we have had a great few days here and defo one of the favourite places. Our mum's would love it
here with all the shops and cafe's!!!

11/10/09
Time to squeeze in a Cargo Cafe and some choc croissants to go! woo hoo. Said goodbye to Onya and Henrique. Sad times again as we have
had such a lovely time with these guys! Bus to Quang Nga had seats already laid back as it must be the sleeper bus that goes through the whole
of Vietnam. We thought we were on the bus for 7 hours, but it seems we were only on there for a couple of hours...when we were dropped off
in what seemed like the middle of nowhere! We had chosen to come to Quang Nga as there is a memorial here of the Mai Lai massacre and
we wanted to pay our respects. Well, we did not know where we were when we got off bus. I tried to ask some locals by showing them the map on the LOnely Planet.
They were trying to signal to us...we were losing hope...then a taxi appeared from nowhere...thank god it was not night time!!!
The locals had been directing us the right way and the taxi took us to the hotel. We booked in. There were no other tourists
anywhere to be seen, so we knew we were well off the beaten track here! lol. We watched TV in our room and then we popped to a local place
for a dinner of Vietnamese rice dishes. Yum. We were definately a spectacle as all the locals kept looking at us! Will got to
the memorial tomorrow and then bus station to continue South.

12/10/09
Son My Memorial in Mai Lai. We hired a taxi to take us there. Gosh it was v emotional. The memorial is basically the Mai Lai Village ruins.
The US had beleived that Viet Cong were hiding there and so they planned an attack on this village. An entire massacare of 504 villagers
including babies and old men and women. The memorial shows the foundations of the houses that were burned down,a recreation of the footprints of the US soldiers + villagers barefeet and also shows the
ditch where they were all lined up and killed in cold blood. There was also a small museum that showed awful pictures of Vietnamese killed, or about to be
killed. It was so sad. It also told of US that tried to stop the killing. What an awful time in history. Was a sombre mood (sooz cried)but glad we saw this important
piece of remembering the history and the suffering.
We then got taxi to take up to train station and we got tickets south to Nahtrang, a beach area. We had to wait a few hours.
We spent some time with locals sat at a little table with plastic chairs (the usual thing in the streets everywhere in Aisa). We had
some rice and pork and drank a beer. They obviiusly did not get many tourists here as we were a spectacle and everyone was looking at us.
Was amusing after a sombre morning.
Train to Nahtrang was un eventful, although the locals are really lovely nd heppy to help you with anything on train. Like where your seat is
or just to smile at you. We walked down to food cart and could only get more rice for dinner, which was not nice with whatever it came with...leaving the food
conversation there! Getting some fresh air between two train carriages, I was stood by a bag, which out of nowhere rolled over my foot and started
chirping...scared us half to death....bag of more than one bird/chicken of some kind moving around...poor things...definately not for the
Vegetarians out here...the poor things must have been scared so much..
We got to Nahtrang for 9.00pm and taxied to Sao Mai hotel with a roof top terrace room with air con for $10. all good.
It looks a busy place here in Nahtrang, lots of hotels competing against each other.

13/10/09
Breakfast at the Same Same But Different Cafe. Heading to beach to chill. Cross the road and we are approached by a Vietnamese guy
saying 'EEEEAAAAASSSSSYYYYY RIDER'. Now, Sooz had heard of this venture in the book and we were thinking of getting Easy Riders in Dalat, our next place South. You hire them to drive you around on a trip.
So he asks to chat to us, his name is BINH. He shows us his photos of some trips he does and shows us his reccomendation book by
other travellers. It all looked very good, so him and his friend took us to a cafe back by the hotel and sits us down and shows us the trips. He is not pushy in anyway
and said for us to think about it andf let him know. $50 each a day was the reason we had to think about it, but then we have our
wedding gift money and it is somehting we really wanna do. We looked at each other and said yeah, let's do it. How right we were to make
the decision and glad we were that BINH had seen us. You will understand why when you read our Easy Rider Diary Blog. Was awesome!
So we booked a 3 day trip to Dalat, through the Central Highlands. Excited!! We arranged to meet at 7.00pm for drinks later with BING and HUY.
We spent the afternoon on the beach, being hassled by beach sellers but they are so sweet and not too iritating like in Thai.
We purchased some bracelets of some :o) On the beach you can see and island opposite that has a Hollywood style sign on it
of the Vinpearl complex. Has completely wrecked to natural sight beauty of it. Why!!
7.00pm meet BINH and HUY and they take us on bikes a few mins to outskirts of Nahtrang city and we sit at a local place, small table and plastic chairs...
our favourite cheap way of Aisa. We had some Beer Hoi and Seafood Noodles and we chatted to night away. We became good friends in just a couple of hours
and were feeling really happy about the trip tomorrow! The beers anf food only cost £3.50 for all of us...cheap cheap when your with the
locals and not on tourist prices. BINH and HUY are lovely. BINH's English is fantastic and HUY is not so great at it, but very funny and lovely guy.
Very excited for the trip.......bring it on...read the Easy Rider Diary Blog....it was the best time and money spent and friends made...
the REAL VIETNAM!!!!!!!!

koh Samui(post detox),Chaing Mai,Laos-claire's bday!

sooz_and_claire — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:51:00 GMT

11/09/09 by claire...
Sightseeing today! We went to Naamang Waterfall. Expensive taxi there, another rip off tourist trap. He wanted to wait for us
to take us back, but we said not to as was guessing it would be cheaper on a bus/truck. Lovely waterfall, quite small.
Had a swim and chilled for a good hour(sooz interjects- claire got her toes nipped by crabs in the pool!). Got the bus/truck (sawngthaew) back and yes, it was much cheaper! We got dropped off at
at Hintai Yai rocks, the grandmother and grandfather rocks. They are called this as they resemble female and male
genetalia! They haven't been carved this way, it is just through natural erosion from the elements. The Thai's beleive them
to be sacred. The sea was lovely around here and rocks lovely..although the devil in us decided we were going to do some funny
shots of the rocks (perspective shots if you get what I mean)...was highly amusing :O) simple things eh!we soon stopped when we spotted a police officer. After this we walked
back down the whole length of Lamai beach to our usual spot (after going passed a busy tourist bar and trying to fend off a pack of Irish lads)
and we had some corn off our little corn/mangoooo man.
On the night time we went to Lamai for street food. The best pad thai ever tasted, and a manc guy spotted Soozy's accent and we got
chatting. Ray his name was and he had been living in Koh Samui for 4 years now. He recommended coming down tomorrow night as there
is a thai boxing fight on, free entry. Said we would see him tomorrow. We then proceeded to a lady bar (an area of bars with Thai's
dancing on podiums with poles in the middle) and had a cocktail. We ended up playing Connect 4 over the bar, where a young boy selling roses
came up to us and played. He had learning difficulties of some origin, and whooped everybody at Connect 4....(sooz says-think of rain man!!)
We tipped him afew baht and he wandered off. sooz-It's a bizarre culture, that the parents expose their children to over here...very open, slightly sad that they
don't really have a childhood, some of these children.

12/09/09
Today we just chilled on beach, sunbathing, taking in nice weather and had our usual corn off the corn/mango man. On the night
we had street food again, its so cheap at just 80p! The we got seated for the Thai boxing in the middle of all the girlie bars!
Ray came along and said hello. The fighting was men and women alternatively. The men were good and looked quite professional.
The story behind the women is that they are not real fighters and they represent one of the girlie bars each. So its a
competitive thing. Ray was telling us they may choose to do it if they have had bad luck in their family. Anyway, the men do this
dance ritual in the ring before they fight which is to purify the ring. The women don't however, as they are impure!!! If you
could see some of them you would see why. Anyway, a bit of blood and a few knockouts in the male fights. The women fights were funny!
Technique was slow and slappy, but some of them looked bitchily at each other. Girl fight! They come on wearing strings of money
around their neck. We wondered if this meant how many fights they had won, but apparently it is where they go around before hand
getting good luck money before they fight. Good luck obviously, as they get to keep it!
After fights we popped for a drink with Ray, got to have a lift on his Harley Davison motorbike. Soozy's dream to have a go on
one of them! We chatted and chilled, Ray dropped us back to hotel on bike. Shame we only just met at the end of our stay
here in Koh Samui!

13/09/09
Today we got transport back to Bangkok. Taxi, boat, bus, train, taxi! Overnight train to Bangkok. Did not sleep well!

14/09/09
Arriving back in Bangkok train station, we decided to book train ticket for tonight to Chiang Mai, North Thailand.
We got our passports and visas back safely. We interneted, which is a slow process in South East Asia! I decided to get my
hair cut. It is doing my head in as long at back and front, so sweat just awful and making it look a right mess...so i
went for it...£4, best hair shampoo i have ever had, head and neck massage whilst being washed(paul corbett take note...cheap employees,lol)...i nearly fell asleep!
Was a bit nervous, but it will grow. Gone for a short mowahawk stlye which can be worn flat too. Was well funny when she was
drying and straightening it, as she was straightening it right up in the air. I looked like I had stuck my finger in a plug
socket. Needless to say, she used razor scissors so god knows what damage it has done...but it looks fine...and it's less hot!
Paul my lovely hairdresser will save the day next year on our return!!!
We had to do some running around sorting changing our flights for the trip, but all sorted with a phone call for tomorrow now.
Tricky but we got there. We went straight from where we had to go to do that to the train station, early. Sat and chilled.
Some lovely Thai university students wanted to tape an extended conversation with us as part of their media project, so
that passed the time for a while and they were so sweet and grateful.
Train journey, we both booked top bunks so we could chat opposite each other, as we had been having a top and a bottom before.
We got chatting and drinking beer with our neightbour passengers. 2 Irish lads, 2 swiss girls and swiss guy Tobi.
Slept well on this train, must have been tired and the beer helped. Top bunks are much more comfortable than bottom, although hotter!

15/09/09
Train got to Chiang Mai at lunch time. Some stunning scenery on the way, jungle mountains. Northern Thailand is pretty!
Got taxi to Th Moon Muang (road) and spent some time walking trying to find a guesthouseout of the lonely planet.
Couldn't find it, maps confusing. Reckon it must have closed up! Found another one called Rendevous which includes brekkie
for £7.20. A bit pricey, but clean,free wifi and quiet. Dropped off laundry at an old lady next door and went for a walk around. Had
some street food, nice and cheap. Sooz went for a Thai massage (£4) where she was pumelled and pounded for an hour- even the toes where clicked! Chilled and
early to bed. Travelling on the trains and buses makes you well tired!

16/09/09
Had free brekkie if toast, fruit and coffee. I had to buy some Thai trousers as we were going temple visiting and my trek
pants were in the wash. Trousers are baggy and funky ( a little M C Hammer like) but all good! We did the temple walking tour
out of the lonely planet guide. Starting at Wat Chiang Man, the oldest wat in the city. Then Anusawari Sam Kasat, the bronze statues
of 3 Lanna Kings that locals leave offerings too. We then went into Chiang Mai city arts and cultural centre and learned some
history of the place. Then finally we went to Wat Phra Singh, the most impressive temple in Chiang Mai.
The we jumped into a tuk tuk for the first time! We went to Wat u Mong, which is a forest wat (temple). It was lovely here, no tourist (except us)
There were meditation tunnels that we got to walk in (creepy) and it was really peaceful. Lots of monks here going about their duties.
On the night time, we got another tuk tuk to the Night Bizaar (market) which was nice to look around. Although, most of the
sellers are selling similar stuff. SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT. Skyped Ma & Pa which was nice and Jo Jo too. We have decided we
are going to go straight to Laos tomorrow. We could venture up further in Thailand, but the trekking is meant to be the best
in Laos, so we have decided to go for it. Also, we want to make sure we see as much as we can of Laos before Vietnam.

17/09/09
Got bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Kong, which is where the border crossing is to Laos, over the Mekong. It took 7 hours and was
air con. We watched a mad slasher spirit movie in Thai( bit like the original 'the ring') on there, which was funny trying to follow what was going on+after the good old favourite of asia...karyoke video. Driver was
mental and drove dead fast around the bendy roads! Saw a stunning rainbow on route...+actually drove through the bottom!..no gold or small irish men sighted!a We arrived at 1930, too late to cross river, so we had to stay over. Booked
into Bamtilla guesthouse right on the river. Nice place. Went for a meal at a place over the road and had lovely food. Best
Massaman curry ever! chang+Early night as usual.

18/09/09 (sooz takes over blog)
Awoke early + had an awesome brekkie- best banana pancakes ever + claire- the eggs+bacon...+jam. walked down to the ferry port
and went through border crossing...hopped on the 'ferry' ie. old wooden longtail boat for approx 1minute across the mekong and into
laos at Huay Xia- border crossing number 2 and hopped on a tuk tuk to the bus station ( noted all the bus stations here seem to be
approx 2km from the main towns/areas...i think the governments must be trying to keep the economy up and tuktuks in business...
so if you're planning on travelling here...have plenty of 10,000kip notes on you!) we then hopped on the local bus...ie. decaying bus from the 60s,once in then boxes of
detergents/various items stacked +wedged aroud you- no need for seatbelts here! the road to Luang Nam Tha is still currently being
constructed as we found out- potholed/dirt track/mud track, winding roads over the mountains. Love the roads in Laos- think thats what
has kept it a bit more 'real' than Thailand,as it's a mission to get anywhere, plus the large amounts of dog/chicken/goat/waterbuffalo/small child
to avoid! anyways, we arrive at Luang Nam Tha bus station + get the tuktuk to town. we check the lonely planet and decide upon the
Zuela guest house- traditional building and totally spotless+lovely- only £3.50 a night for the room! eat at Manychan..good reck. amy!) then to bed as
Claire not feeling well after the journey.

19/09/09
Claire still not well...we think the aircon bus to blame...recycling germs,mmm. So generally potter and chill. Book 2 day trek into the Nam Ha NPA-national protected area with Green Discovery, an independant eco
tour group, that ensures local tribes benefit from the treks. Look round the local market + eat....we give the leftovers to a tribal lady, she gratefully piles it onto a banana leaf and shares it with 3 other ladies
,really heartbreaking to see...these ladies hang aroung the falang 'westerners' places all day trying to sell braclets they make
and collected unfinished bottles of water, so they can drink...true poverty.

20/09/09
set off for the trek at 8am- meet at the office and find that 5 other people have signed up for the tour- so should make it more fun! meet our guide Pon...or as claire mistakenly called him Porn, much to everyone's amusement, later on the
trek! and Ary- a 20year old from a khamu village, learning to be an english teacher.we drive to the start of the trek- a lantern tribe (descended from China)
We pick up the local porter who carrys up the lunch supply. We start the uphill climb througha mountain rice paddy- less water filled as a different kind of rice to the 'sticky' rice. Pon finds some wild growing cucumber and chops it up- welcomed
refreshment!! We continue uphill in the scorching sun and humidity into the jungle, through a narrow muddy path (which we all fell into at some point!)
There is a multitude of smells- mud, fragrant rice and overwhelming noise of insects and crickets. We see crickets, millipedes, the biggest butterflys and the odd spider.
Fianlly we stop for lunch and toilet break ( that's where we wish we were men...not easy being a lady in the jungle!..bring on the 'she-pee'.
Lunch consists of very Laos cuisine- fermented fish heads, beaut pumpkin salad, greens, egg plant salad adn standard glutinous rice, served up on a freshly chopped banana leaf.
We carry on, fuelled up + refreshed, up and down through jungle and bamboo fields to a village, where we sit with the elder and watch the children play (+ambush us later on as we leave!)
after more hours of slogging through jungle /river/paddy fields we reach the secluded village...another Lantern village. a small village
in the middle of the national park - approx 15 bamboo huts scatter a small area, chcikens, ALOT of pot bellied pigs/piglets, waterbuffalo and dogs roam freely. We note a pig with a wooden triangle around it's neck...see
later in blog!
We are greeted by women in traditional robes and scuffy cute children and shown the groups hut- a mud floored hut with raised communal platform to sleep on - luckily mossy nets provided- good protection from the critters+ the many spiders i spot
on the wall! we strip down into some appropriate clothing for washing and head down to the river to wash, so welcoming- cool refreshing water!!! dry off and sit on a platform next to river for well earned beerlaos + sprites! Pon and locals cook up dinner
over a fire inside(!?) the hut + it begins to darken- so the candles come out ( no electricity of course). Dinner is served up around upturned baskets and we are joined by the chief of the village.
Beautiful laos food- beef with hot thai basil, tomato salad, green pumpkin soup + more glutinous rice (as standard) ..etiquette is to roll small balls of rice and dip into the dishes, Lao people always eat together and share dishes.
as dinner draws to an end, the chief pulls out a home brew of Laos Laos- a 70%rice whiskey. He pours the first shot on the floor for the 'house spirit' (they
believe in spirituism, not bhuddism) and then one by one we are given a shot- rude to refuse!!! then another round goes round...then another!!!!!
feeling a bit happy, we get to ask the chief questions.....they elect a good man to be chief every 5 years, he helps decide any issues the village is having, the surrounding
villages generally get on, the village is 45yeras old at this current site, they work in their own rice fields and love having treks come,
as it is a good source for village income. The government had planned to move the village to the main road, but they are happy where they
are, some of the younger generations are wanting to move out, so they can get an education- as the schools is only a small hut and they learn basic laos reading +writing.
After the Leader leaves, we purchase a bottle of the home brew- 7000 kip- approx 50p! We share it amongst ourselfs- Leo,Jess,Tom, Caroline, Claire + myself and play cards + chat....while patrick (the other trekker, sleeps)
We all decide the venture outside to see if we can see any stars....
The most amazing site greets us.....miles away from any light pollution and a cloudless night- we see the entire universe....millions, no billions of bright stars lighting up the sky and the mistly edges of the milky way visible
another galaxy cleary defined. By far the most beautiful thing I have ever seen...word cannot describe it, but it made me cry from the complete
natural beauty...the best things in life are free + that memory will live on forever!To top it off, floating next to the river we spot many fireflies...nature at it's best!
We head drunkenly to bed and sleep soundly!

21/09/09
We wake early- approx 6am to the sound of the cockrell. Breakfast is prepared....suprise suprise...rice- egg fried. and coffee- the standard 50sugars + carnation milk they seem to love!
We spot the pig with the triangle collar- apparently it crashed through a villager's fenced off vegetable patch and wolfed the lot.....so the naughty pig, had a collar of triangle sticks put on it's head, to stop it squeezing
through the fencing!!! we meet the teacher of the village, and give him some pens and pencils we bought for the children,as a gift.
We set off- approx 6hours of jungle trek- up and down various slopes and streams...being a bit wetter in this area, we soon realised the area was covered in leeches, so every 10minutes we seemed to be pulling them off our
shoes/socks/ legs, they certainly can latch onto!! We reach a river, which we cross with a rickety bamboo boat and then carry on till lunch....more rice, greens, beef and pumpkins.
During the trek there are 2 sightings of cobra- deadly with no immediate medical care...Leo almost stepping on one! fianlly we reach the final Khamu village
delighted but very tired disco legs!!! I notice a bit of blood on my side- leech attack...but then take off my backback,
when I notice the concerned look on my fellow travellers faces....my back -white tshirt, is covered in blood! my beautiful wife reassures me andchecks my back, no leeches luckily, but a bleeding mole is to blame...pon applies iodine nd dressings...
by which time i have become the whole village attraction!!! embarassing!!! we get a pickup truck back, and have the best hot showers ever and cold beerlaos,non rice dishes for dinner!!

22/09/09
We catch the 8.30am VIP bus to Luang Prabang....a 9hours bus through winding, pot holed mountainous passes...it's overcrowed and claire's back is in agony :-( fianlly arrive in Luang Prabang
Find a family run guest house in the temple district- bargain £2 a night, very basic, but does the job! find some vege buffet streetfood and have 'a few' beerlaos!

23/09/09
Late brekkie of homemade raisin bread, wild honey + fresh laos coffee + fresh milk...heaven!!!! Luang Prabang is a world heritage listed town (in 1995), ensuring the frenchcolonial historical architecture is preserved.
Also there are no buses or trucks allowed in the town- keeping the tranquil and calm antiquity of the place. Hundreds of monks bussle about in their burnt sienna robes
I think this- we both agree is our favourite place so far...very boho!
We visit the royal palace museum- very educational and visit Wat Xieng Thong- stunning wooden wat...the best yet! have well earned coffee and cake, then chill. Evening consists of the night market- the most colourful, peaceful market, full of tribal and funky
clothes at cheap cheap prices.

24/09/09
Stock up breakfast on Banana pancakes + bread + butter for Claire, and get our pick up for the Pak Ou caves....This was a tuk tuk
drive and a longtail boat over the river to the caves. The lower cave was full of Buddah's and was not too impressive. The upper
cave was a good walk up lots of steps and you had to use a torch inside. We took pics inside. It is a place of worship where
people have left Buddha's over the years.
We headed back in tuk tuk and had a Loa style sandwich for lunch. Then we met Tuk Tuk guy again for the visit to Kuang Si Waterfall.
There were 3 more travellers joinging us on this one this afternoon. A german girl called Kristal and two Londoner's Kevin & Jade.
Chatting to them in Tuk Tuk about Cambodia. They said they had been to do some volunteering in a village where they had been
teaching English to the children in the school there, a classroom each. Have swapped Facebook info so we can get the details on this
as would really like to do this when we get there.That would be awesome!
Kuang Si Waterfall was beautiful. It is through the rock an forest. We walked to the top and saw the power of the water falling.
It was lovely. Soozy had a swim and wanted to have a go on this ropeswing...me too chicken to do anything like that of course...
she climbed the tree but couldn;t reach the rope..which wasa shame as she would have flew in I am sure...
There were also some bears there in a wildlife compound. They have been captured there to save them from poachers and from becoming
extinct. They are Asiatic Black Bears (Moon Bears) and they were sooooo cute. They were just chilling out on frames and tyres.
We headed back and agreed to meet later to go for a drink at Utopia, a bar you appratently MUST visit whilst in Luang Prabang.
We grabbed some food first and went to the night market to pick up more trousers!! We then met up with the guys and went to
Utopia bar. It is a place that is done up like you could be in Ibiza, wooden furniture, beach volleyball, low tables and cushions
to sit on. The beer was a little pricey but we sat and chatted the night away by the Mekong River. We chatted about alsorts.
Art, Drama, travelling. It's a shame we have to move on tomorrow. Really cool guys to chat to.

25/09/09
8am pick up from tuk tuk guy to bus station. 9am bus to Vian Viang. Unfortunately another air con bus, VIP. Expensive at $30 for both
of us. It was freezing on there and forgot to pack cardigans. We got a free meal at a stop off place though, which was ok. Traditional
Laos rice and veg. We arrived 500pm at Vian Vieng. Got a tuk tuk to Pan's Place. A cheap place, rooms weren't too great but it was cheap.
Popped out to eat. It is very touristy here, but we are only staying a day to go tubing on river tomorrow.

26/09/09
Woke up not feeling well (Claire). I reckon it's the air con buses as that is twice now after them I have had a bug type thing.
Anyway, had to pass on tubing as not great. Obviously, this is the only reason we came here so it was a bit of a pain, but
wasn't meant to be. I was a bit nervous about going anyway as there is a lot of drink and drugs around, so it wasn't such a bad thing.
We just chilled and bought some vests.

27/09/09 Claire's Birthday :O)
Jo Jo had text me te other day to say that she had put some money into our account for my birthday, a collection from the guys,
and we were to spend it on doing something nice or being in a nicer hotel. So we did!!!
We got up at 6am. Got bus at 7am to Vientiene, the capital of Laos. 4 hours journey on a local bus. Good. We arrived here and
got tuk tuk to Mali Namphu Guesthouse, a good one our of the Lonely Planet guide. We booked in for a Deluxe King Size room at $25
a night, for 2 nights!!!! woo hoo! Air con (not just a fan) an actual duvet, clean decorated, very hotel like. LUXURY, compared to
what we have been staying in. Strange to be frivolous with the money, but soooo nice to be somewhere posher for a bit. Thanks guys!!!
Anyway, by now it is 1230 and we were hungry, so we hunted out Joma Cafe and had fresh coffee with fresh milk (something hard to find in Laos
as they put sugary carnation stuff in when you aks for with milk and its sooooo sweet and vile) and we had a multigrain bagel
with pastrami, dijon mustard and salad. LUSH LUSH LUSH. Feels like home for a bit!
We then chilled on bed for a bit watching movies on the TV (yes a TV!!!) and we looked for some restaurants in the guide.
After finding some were closed later that evening, we found a lovely Bistro Dao Fa and had a lovely chilled meal.
Cocktail to start.
Main Meal
Homemade Icecream for pud.
Sooz glass of wine and me a beer...all for £15!!!! most we have spent on a meal :0)
Had a lovely birthday, lovely day, it was purrrrfffeeecccttt. Thanks guys for the money, it was well spent xxxxxxx

28/09/09
Woke up and had breakfast at hotel. French Breakfast = Banana + Bread.Strangest French Breakfast I have ever had?! Anyway, it's free.
We mainly chilled out today and went to the JoMa Cafe again. The food is sooo nice there and we have made the pact to chill
for a bit. We cannot leave for Vietnam until 1st Oct anyway, due to visa. So we are hanging out! Sooz tried bagel-pastami+dijon again and I had
a tuna melt, yum scrum! Earlier at the hotel we had been given a flyer, one not to ignore this time as it was a flyer about a
rehab centre that we could visit called Cope. So the guy, Nam, who chatted to us about it we said we would see him tomorrow.
We went to Khop Chai Den restaurant on the evening for an Indian vege curry...how very not Lao...hey ho. Really strange at the mo as I am just
not feeling hungry at nighttime....i must be ill. lol.

29/09/09
Been away a month today!! Breakfast at hotel, tuna sandwich and dragon fruit...again it is free! lol. Checked out of our posh hotel of luxury and
went down market, as we are on a budget. We walked to the Mixay Guesthouse. Not bad at all. Fan and hot water £6 approx, so much cheaper than my birthday
treat. Capital cities are generally more expensive we have found. Just like London I guess.
So we ventured to the Cope Rehab/Exhibition centre today. It was a very informative place about the war in Laos, effected from the Vietnam war.
There was a secret war on Laos, even though the Americans had signed a peace treaty in approx 1974...the secret service then started a 'secret war' against the spread of communism across south east Asia...although i don't really know how this benefited the US, and Laos was bombed terribly. The most bombed
place in the war. This really effected Laos with lots of unexploded bombies(sooz-as the mud/paddy fields cushioned the bombs when they hit,thus stopping them from exploding.approx 35%unexploded. Laos is the most bombed country in THE WORLD. the maddest thing is, even though the after affects are so apparent, they NATO army then used cluster bombs in the war in Yugoslavia/Bosnia, for the people to retuen after the war, to find their land strewn with unexploded bombs!!!). The after effects have been shocking and people are still dying from
bomns that are found still today. Mainly children and farmers, as they plough their fields-striking the bombies with their ploughs. This exhibition centre was set up
with lots of info on the horrible Cluster Bombs. We saw prosthetic legs made from bamboo and metal, and to how they are made today. Sooz
loved it, right up her street. There were some very sad true stories of how people were lost and how Laos is so poor as they could
not farm on their bomb ridden land. We also watched a documentary about the 'bombies' (cluster bombs). It was sad and shocking...Sooz- I
found it so interesting coming from working with amputees in the UK to the approach in Laos. This centre is a national centre, funded via charity , volunteer and government.
the people hear about it from afar and spend days travelling under their own stream just to see if they can be helped.
the range of home made prothetic limbs was amazing- made from the casing of US bombs!! they seem to just get on and deal with it..truely humbling.
the rehab centre will provide a new limbafter a team discussion and rehab starts. the stairs really amused me...attached was a mock up suspension bridge.. to teach patients how to walk on these again...as many come from rural villages.
I feel our patients wouls be muchmore grateful of the services they get back in the UK...these people in Laos don't complain or question...they are so so grateful.
The OTs must find it hard...doing a home visit....most are up ladders into a bamboo hut on stilts!
we learnt when some children/people are injured by a bombie..they then have the stuggle to find transport to take then hours to a hospital...
to find when they arrive...'no blood. no oxygen'
so then have to get to another hospital...or to just go home, and watch your child/relative die. truely heartbreaking.claire cont-.

We bought two Ban The Cluster Bombs T-shirts to support their work.
After this we walked back to hotel past Presidential Palace and Wak Saket.
We are debating flight or bus to Hanoi, Vietnam. We interneted but it seems so expensive to fly. The bus takes 24 hours, but
has been known to take upto 48 hours, so we are not sure. The recent typhoon hitting Central Vietnam/laos seems to have slowed things
down alot. We chilled and then ate out at Sticky Fingers Cafe for a guilty pleasure of Southern Fried Chicken, BBQ ribs and wedges!.
I am sure you are meant to lose weight when you travel, but I can see it at the moment! lol. Back to street food in Vietnam
we thinks, as it will be cheap!

30/09/09
Decision day, walked to Lao Airlines. Flights to Vietnam are $115 each, but we went for it. It will be our only domestic flight
in South East Aisa anyway. Makes a change from the bus anyway. Today really was just spent getting money and visting Joma Cafe again!
Went for a rooftop drink at night down this street where there are all stalls out. We found out it was a festival of celebrating
the end of the wet season. The mad and random stuff that was being sold on them was funny. Piles of shoes like a jumble sale,
clothes, drinks, loads of random dry goods. Busy and entertaining. We had tradiational Laos food at the Asian Cafe. Vietnam tomorrow!!!
Wooooo hooooo. Laos has been lovely, so lovely people. It's a shame we haven't headed South, but time and typhoons are not on our side!

stuff the detox...........i'll have a chang!

sooz_and_claire — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:18:00 GMT

7/9/9

Fasting detox today....too hard to say what we have done...other than feeling weak and tired and non communicative!! The colemas are evil, but getting the hang of them! Feeling vey empty....need food!

8/9/9

Still fasting...still weak....still need food...decision made...breaking the fast tomorrow before our bodies give up on us!!!

9/9/9

Broke the fast...no more detox drink to try and gulp. One last colema...and then food! woo hoo! we had some fruit and we were full!!!!! Feeling positive we took a walk down Lamai Beach...slowly as still weak...and then we walked to the shops and had a cuppa! nice! walked back, slowly again, and we had a salad. First day of breaking fast you have to eat raw foods....recommended for a few days...but not sure we want to be rabbits for that long!!!

10/9/9

Breakfast beach bar was calling us whe we woke ths morning....sooz....clair...come eat...and so we did....we would have ran there had we not still been feeing weak..sooz had porridge and i had museli..sustenance...happy days! Then we walked to shops and sat in a bar to wi-fi....sod it, lets have a chang!!

part 1-Bangkok to Ko Phan-ngan to Koh Sumai

sooz_and_claire — Tue, 8 Sep 2009 01:27:00 GMT

sunday 30/8/09
And so the story begins of our 12 months of travelling, first stop Thailand.
arrive blurry eyed after a 12 hour flight with Quantas (best airplane food ever!) pretty uneventful flight apart from the aussie girl sitting next to claire, suddeenly sitting bolt upright in her sleep, ten probably thinking claire was her boyfriend, then proceded to cuddle into claire and put her hand on claire's leg!hilarious!
We passed through customs and thermal imaging fine...no swine flu!

However the taxi was a different story.... we made our first error by not asking for a metered taxi and settled a price first (about 200 baht more than we should have paid) The driver then proceded to drive like a nutter- with to almost crashes into a level crossing and then a tuk tuk. I have vowed never to hire a moped here!

We arrive at the notorious Koh San road...a mecca for backpackers, and pitch up for the night at the Rambuttri village inn (thanks Dom for the recommendation)

How would we describe Bangkok?...polluted, crazy traffic, amazing cheap street food, tuktuks and endless hassle from street traders.

The following day we sorted our visas for Laos, cambodia and Vietnam, entrusting our passports with the company while we are in Ko Samui (im still hoping that they are there!) and booking train/bus/boat to Ko Pan ngan...later finding out we were again charged too much commission!
after that was sorted we headed off to see some sights...having been scared by the taxi driver + trying to save some pennies, we decided to walk...mistake number 3! if you've been to Bangkok, you'll know that there are often con artists that will be dressed up in business suits and will appear to stop for a friendly chat with you...he informed us it was a buddist holiday and our temples we were going to were closed..he suggested some other ones on a map and then directed to where sum tuk tuks were and said we could get then cheap (which is often a lie too, they will rip you off) so we headed for the other temples, by passing the tuk tuks and endless 'hey lady, you want tuk tuk' being shouted at us! saw the 'lucky buddha' in a pretty small temple,via Ratchadamnoenklang then headed back, improving on our road crossing/car dodging skills. By which time claire had amassed about 15 bites to her legs!ouch..pictures to follow!...lucky the chemists are great here- you can get anything..eg . valium to morphine over the counter, so some antihistamines+ steroid tablets were obtained + soon sorted her out. a well earned Chang beer and Pad Thai was in order then off to bed.

1/9/09
A busy Bangkok day.... Decided to make our way to the temples we were scammed out of not seeing yesterday. This time we brushed off scammer and tuk tuks (i found just blanking them works quiet well!)
First stop was the Grand Palace, build in the 1700s a stunning set of gardens, temples and buildings. Inside we saw the Emerald Buddha within a beautiful Gold Leaf temple...remembering not to point our feet towards the buddha (very frowned upon in Thailand). Next up was Wat Pho- the reclining Buddha. You may have seen this on the Beach. a massive gold Buddha and then more temple areas.
We headed back to Bangkok to grab our bags and jump the night train to Surat Thani...via a metered taxi- no messing now!
The train station has to be the most unbelievably smoggy black place I've ever been, like stepping back into victorian times.
We booked our 2nd class fan sleeper carriage and set off on the 12 hour journey, got chatting to some travellers and had a Chang, from one of the many sellers jumping on and off the train.

Eventually we arrived at Ko Phan ngan- after another 3hours boat/bus + sunburn :-(
We jumped into a jeep and headed towards a beach hut resort touted to us....get there- they are full, suprise suprise. so end up walking along the beach to the next place...... and stuck gold,'charm beach resort' greeted by gordie, a fellow Mancunian-honest and genuine, gives us a reduced beach hut for 3 nights, totalling £12 each for the stay....very basic mind..no flushing toilet, fan, within earshot from aweful thai karyoke + a number of Cockroaches along for the stay too!But great happy vibe, honesty bar + great food, We chill with a Singha beer and more lush noodles :-)
Then head off to the 'ladybar' with some fellow travellers for some drinks (no ping pong shows!).

3/9/09
Today we had booked onto a boat trip recommended to us by Gordon, the resort manager. The two French travellers were coming with us also. Turns out a total of 12 of us on the boat and it was a great day! We set sail on a non too sunny morning, but the weather soon picked up by lunch time! We are in rainy season so it's not blue skies, but you can still catch a few rays amongst the clouds.
We set sail first of all and stopped at a beach called Haad Khom and Bottle Beach, where we swam to shore and had a beer on the sand and a swim. There were some posh hotels here costing 20,000 Baht a night, which is £400...how the other half live..and we are paying £8! We had fresh fruit on the boat and sailed again. We saw all of the island, we passed the famous full moon beach of Haad Rin, this looked very touristy.
The locals say not to go swimming in it as they call it the Pee Pee beach,as at full moon parties all the men pee in the sea! Not good. I guess we will find out tomorrow at full moon party! We had a lovely lunch of Masaman chicken curry and green veg on the boat, the captain's home cooking. We then finished off with snorkelling at Koh Ma. Sooz snorkelled, I didn't. Was feeling a bit too chicken and was tired.
The captain chucked in some water melon so the fish would come near and they were all over Sooz, was funny to see! Pretty fish. Really enjoyed the boat, and although we appiled sun cream all day we got burnt!! Not good when carrying the old rucksack, never mind. It had to happen at some point! The day was great and we ate dinner and chilled to get an early night ready for tomorrow and the full moon party!

4/9/09
Slept til noon and chilled out today, ready for party. Ate lovely spicy beef pizza to line the stomach and we got off to the party with a taxi load of travellers from hotel. Bought some neon paint and did a little artwork on the faces and we were ready to party. Beach was busy, music pumping and with Sangsom Whiskey Bucket(on small bottle of whiskey/one red bull) in hand we were raring to go. There was a bit of rain and it was cloudy so you could not see the moon too well.
A good atmosphere with lots of different bars pumping out different music. We ventured up and down to find some funky music, but a lot of it was trancy and indie. Cheesey bar seemed the busiest, so that will tell you tyhe type of clientelle there! We enjoyed a boogie at various bars on the beach, in the sand, and 2 whiskey buckets later we were ready go hit the sack at 2.00pm! We had found a parting in the sky at one point and saw the moon and sent a message out to Kel and Mand,
our lovelt friends, who are following the full moon while we are away. Same moon around the world guys :O) We got some corn on the cob and head back in a scary fast taxi drive....but we made it thank goodness!!! We phoned the folks when we got back as we knew they were all at Mo's chatting Oz. Good to hear them x

5/9/09
Checked out hotel after a big breakfast (stuffing my face b4 retreat) and got a very rocky and windy boat ride to Koh Sumai, ready for our detox/retreat. Sooz barfed after, it was pretty rough! Taxi here and checked in to The Spa Resort on Lamai Beach. We had considered going and getting some food and starting the fast the dfay after, but we realised we had to pre-cleanse first and we ought to get that started! So the afternoon/evening consisted of 2 Liver Flush drinks (yuk yuk yuk) and a soup and a salad.
We were going to pre-cleanse for 2 days, but we have decided we are going to start the fast tomorrow. Feeling apprehensive about it, but we got to do it! Skyped Paulie which was fab, saw him and Mr H on webcam!!!!

6/9/09
7am get up for the first detox drink and my gosh it was vile. NOt as bad as the Liver Flush drinks, but not great. It is like swallowing a load of clay like substance. These are to be drank every 3 hours, 5 in a day. There are 2 lots of supplement capsules to take every 3 hours, 30 in a day. Will keep info for the fast programme, but it is intense. Then the dreaded momment came to learn about the Colema Instruction. We were feeling pretty apprehensive about a tube in a place the sun don't shine.
Trust me when I say we have consdered what on earth are we doing many times!!!!!! Well the colema was scary, hilarious and made us feel better of the headache and heavy feeling we had. After much talk of food and how long can we keep this up, we have decided that we are going to fast for 5 days and not 7. This is so we can break the fast safely before we head off back to Bangkok and sample some of the nice food they have on this lovely vegetraian restaurant here in the hotel. Looking at menu is torture!
We have just booked the train ticket for Sunday 13th instead of Tuesday 15th, cutting the stay shorter and getting back so we can head straight for Chiang Mai. We will be bored by then anyway, as not much to do here when you feel so weak!!!! Finding it hard to do nothing. Claire is reading books like they are going out of fashion...3 so far! We have 6 full days left here before we go Sunday morning...got a feeling will be well hungry and imancipated by then! Ha ha ha xxx
sooz +clairexx