My travel tales

Cambodge & Malaisie

stackattack — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:03:00 GMT

From Saigon we got the bus straight through to Siem Reap in Cambodia, which for a change was just bliss cause it was empty and we got a whole seat each to lie down on. After around 13 hours we arrived to find that Siem Reap was indeed flooded and the roads are total crap so getting to our hotel was just great. The town was very touristy, it was basically built to cater to the needs of tourists visiting Angkor Wat - which is just what we did for three days. There were literally hundreds of temples to explore it seemed a waste to try and cram it into one day and we were very glad at the end of it.

I couldn't even try to explain the size of the temples they were all enormous and beautiful. It was my first proper experience of anything as ancient and vast - I felt like I was on the set of Indiana Jones (and Tomb Raider as it was filmed there). Angkor Wat, the temple the area is named after (sort of) is the most famous and touristed temple and is definitely worth the adventure, however my favourite was the next one along, the Bayon Temple which had enormous faces all over it. Lots of photos to bore you all with when I see you again! Other temples had monkeys crawling all over them and trees growing through them and of course each entrance and exit had the usual people selling, begging and hasseling you for money. After the first day we decided to bring bags of food to give away as giving dollars away was pointless and you're told to discourage begging. After the three days we were definitely templed out but enjoyed every moment.

The ultimate highlight of the temples adventure was making friends and exchanging email addresses with two monks. They were my age and spoke english really well so it was nice to trade cultural stories and ask lots of questions - without touching them of course!

Siem Reap town itself was very cute, even if manufactured for tourists. There were little alleys with restaurants and bars which we spent most of our evenings in. Many bars do a 'drink till you get a t shirt' promotion, which we were obliged to do as all backpackers were. At one stage both Gill & I were brought to tears after a man with no arms and one leg came to us at our dinner table to sell us some books. To see someone suffer so much from a civil war and just trying to get by literally broke our hearts. It was so hard at times but we tried to give as much as we could without getting too crazy.

From Siem Reap we caught the bus to Phnom Penh, the capital which as most capitals have been so far, was dirty and smelly. When the bus stopped for a toilet stop we found the locals selling spiders the size of my hand which was awful to see... but even worse when they tortured you by letting ALIVE ones crawl all over them, which they tried to put on you. I was pawing the bus trying to get back in and all the little girls thought it was hilarious and wanted me to buy a spider from them (???). I have never looked forward to getting on to a bus more in my life. The bus then rewarded us with some Westlife karaoke which eased the anxiety.

In Phnom Penh we ate at a few restaurants which donated to charities which was nice to do although some of the kids walking the strip by the river were clearly at it and making a fortune as we sat and watched tourists feel sorry for the children and then buy them food or give them money, then the next load would come past and do the same. It was hard to pity them (even though they were very good actors) when you could see stuff like this happening everywhere. We visited the genocide museum which had a really cold feeling. It was a school which was converted into a prison/torture chambers and now a museum which shows the prison exactly as it was. We learned alot about Pol Pot, his regime and all the atrocities that occurred in Cambodia not so long ago. It was really unsettling to see the hundreds of photos of people who were killed, photos that they provided in their army applications where they look both happy and excited, not knowing their close future. After the museum we visited the Killing Fields, which is where most of the people who were tortured at the prison were sent to to be killed. I can't even explain the feeling you got when you saw fields of enormous grassy pits in the ground, with pieces of clothing and bone poking out. It was only found and opened to the public a decade ago and a monument filled with skulls to commemorate the death toll stands tall in the middle which is a haunting reality of how many people were killed there.

We flew from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur - which worked out to be much cheaper and faster than getting a bus/train back through Thailand to get to the islands at the south. We decided to splurge after a few dodgy hotels and stayed in a nice hotel which had a great view over the city. I must admit I did get a bit scared being so high up with all the earthquakes nearby but got over it when I realised what shopping awaited me. The next day we literally shopped til we dropped - for 12 hours. There are more shopping centres than I could count and it was all so cheap! It felt stupid buying gloves and warm clothes when the weather was still so hot but the retail therapy did the trick... it has definitely been awhile since I have splurged. In amongst the shopping I found a Boost juice bar which satisfied part of my home food homesickness (I can't believe Im even admitting that I miss food from Sydney when Im in countries like this) and shopped in the 3rd tallest building in the world. At the end of it we were utterly buggered and found some great Malaysian satay which ended a great day perfectly.

From KL we flew to Phuket... will fill you in on the island adventures when they're over!

Hoi An, Nha Trang & Saigon (HCMC)

stackattack — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 22:10:00 GMT

So before I delve into more storytelling I forgot to mention one thing in Hanoi - I was at a cafe having breakfast and this random Vietnamese man was taking photos of me and wouldn't stop! I tried to ask what he was doing and all he said was that he couldn't speak English but he thought I was very beautiful... Gillian tried to comfort me by telling me that he probably thought I was Angelina Jolie and that he'll be selling the photos to the papparazzi ... not so comforting! haha

After Hue we went to Hoi An which was just beautiful. It was once the major sea port for import/exports and is very influenced by the French. The first night we got there we tried the local specialties 'White Rose' which is a pork and prawn wonton type thing and another type of wonton that was deep fried and served with a tomato and pineapple salsa... a very interesting mix! On the way back from dinner we walked through tiny alleys lit with fairy lights (so gorgeous!) and bought some lanterns from a shop selling them for $1. It is so hard not to shop like crazy in these places! The next day the weather was pretty bad so we went to one of the many many tailors in Hoi An (I would say there are over 200). They had the pattern books for all the leading designers 09/10 collections... I was well restrained though and only bought 3 wool coats (must haves for the UK of course), 1 blazer and 2 dresses. As they were all made to measure I think it was pretty good value, $200 all together! After that we finally caught some good weather and rode bicycles for 8km to the beach. The beach was beautiful although the water isn't too refreshing, it must be at least 28 degrees - still nice to wash the immense sweat away. Oh I guess I must mention that I haven't ridden a bike since I was a small child so riding on the road was rather chaotic! Not so much for me, but for Gillian who had a small heart attack everytime i lost control of the steering inbetween a million flying motorbikes or flipped in the pot holes. I don't think I'll be riding on the road again unless Im in a place like Holland where the roads are apparently very flat (and have less motorbikes Im sure). Then we found a cute book exchange run by an American ex pat who had the perfect life, by the river surrounded by books and great air con. On our last day we did a day tour to My Son - a local religious temple site largely destroyed in the war, it was really good!

After that we headed to Nha Trang. The best way I could describe it is like the Vietnamese Noosa, very built up, very touristy and very expensive. The beach was beautiful though and we spent a few well deserved days by the water on sun beds working on our tans and eating lobster cooked on the sand by little ladies with portable bbq's. It was some well deserved luxury and a huge difference to the way we've been living! We also went to a spa for a day and sat in menthol-ish mud and hot springs which was bliss. Didn't stop the locals trying to sell us stuff though! Also got a bit homesick in Nha Trang - I missed Andrea's yr12 graduation which made me sad, apart from that I seem to be coping pretty well. Don't have too much time to miss home!

Then we headed to Saigon AKA Ho Chi Minh City, I was happy to see the end of our overnight bus series of adventures and unfortunately we were only there for 2 nights, expecting a similar city to Hanoi. It was equally as chaotic however had alot more character and so many cute alleys filled with restaurants and bars! We did a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels which were built during the war so that the Vietnamese people could hide from the Americans up to 25m underground. Considering their resources, it was all so well thought out and seeing all the war remnants really took you back to what it would've been like (as much as you can I guess without seeing all of the atrocities). Our tour guide was so cute and said that the tunnels were too big for all of our fat white asses... which was true, we went into a tunnel that was made bigger for the tourists and it was so small and claustrophobic, we were literally crawling on our knees for ages in the damp darkness with no air. I couldn't imagine hiding in there for months on end. We also did alot of shopping in Saigon buying DVD box sets, ended up spending about $100 and got 70 DVDs movies & box sets. I don't think I'll be bored for a very long time. Now in Cambodia so I will write soon!

Hanoi & Hue

stackattack — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:54:00 GMT

Hanoi just got more and more chaotic! The next day we went to Halong Bay which is about 3 hours north of Hanoi. The weather wasn't the greatest but we sailed on a 'junk' boat all day inbetween limestone rocks and walked through caves. On the way home there was a huge car accident in front of our tour bus where a motorcycle was wrapped around a car wheel and bodies and bikes were everywhere... it was horrible to see and even worse that it was on a really busy street and not a single person stopped to help! By the time we got back to our guesthouse we were utterly buggered but the night wasn't over yet... we realised that the security box in the room had been broken into... luckily we had most of our valuables with us and nothing was stolen but it was really unsettling. To drown our sorrows we went out for dinner and had a few drinks at some of the local bars... one in particular was really cool - called 1/2 man 1/2 noodle it had a really good vibe about it.

The next morning we checked out of where we were staying and tried to explain to the manager what had happened in the room. All he could say to justify what had happened was that it was part of the cleaners duty to make sure everything was cleaned through(!?). The hotel is constantly mentioning their status on trip advisor... I look forward to giving them a terrible review cause it topped off a terrible stay in a chaotic city.

That evening we got another overnight bus (12hrs) to Hue, the nations previous capital. The bus was a sleeper, which was far more comfortable than the other transport we have done overnight trips on but we stupidly chose the back seat with 5 beds when the bus was empty... and regretted it when the bus was filled at the next stop!

When we arrived in Hue the next morning we were completely harassed by locals trying to get us to stay at their hotel, it was raining, we were both tired and just not in the mood... I think the local people got quite a few glares and snappy remarks! We finally reached out hotel of choice and it was very basic (for $6 a night) but the family that run it are just gorgeous and were ready to help us with anything we needed. It poured for the entire time that we were in Hue so unfortunately we didnt get to see much, but had a great dinner of local specialties (satay pancakes) and listened to the ever present amazing south east asian tunes of the 1990's that seem to follow us all around the region. I think I've heard the Backstreet Boys more in the last month than I have in my entire life... Bliss.

Today we caught a shorter bus to Hoi An where we are now - the place where people get designer clothes made for small change... I think this is a dangerous place for me to be with spending money!! :-)

Luang Prabang in a nutshell

stackattack — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:39:00 GMT

Ok so since I last blogged alot has happened (including me trying to blog a few days ago and when I was almost finished there was a power surge and I lost it all - so it's only now that I willingly return to try again...).

The bus ride from Chiang Mai to the border was in one word - horrendous. Nobody got any sleep and it was the bumpiest road I've ever been on. Gill and I were squeezed into a seat right at the back with all the luggage - lots of fun. When we got to the border at 6am we surrendered our passports to a man who disappeared on a motorbike... but as we were all so tired and over the whole journey that nobody seemed to care. It turned out that he met us at the border and we got our visas after an hour of waiting in the heat. Then it was back on another bus, this one was first class in comparison to what we had spent too many hours on already so in the half an hour that it took us to get to Vientiane we all managed to squeeze in some sleep.

After we checked into the guesthouse we got some much needed sleep and in the evening wandered around town getting our bearings about the place. We headed to Sunset Bar which is in a treehouse on the Mekong River and we watched the sun set (incase the name didnt give it away). The Mekong divides Laos and Thailand at that point and next to where we were there were young boys on either side shooting pellets at each other. It was the first time I have ever been able to see one country from another and I found it quite amusing.

We got up early the next day to check out some temples/wats and get the most out of the day because pretty much as soon as we arrived we decided that we didn't want to spend too much time in Vientiane. One of the wats we visited was the oldest in town and had over 10,000 buddha statues in it. We tracked down another one which had an emerald buddha in it too - but we never got to see it because we were too early. After the wats we found an anz bank which made my day - until I realised that I was still charged the exorbitant withdrawal fees despite being an anz customer. We went to the local markets and bought a few dvds to keep us occupied and then headed to the 'Arc de Triomphe' which is just like the one in France (apparently) except that it's decorated with Laos designs. When we were there we found out that the USA donated the cement that was used to make the Arc for an airport landing strip so it's nicknamed the Vertical Runway in town and is a bit of an eyesore.

After the AdT we got in a tuk tuk with some monks and helped them practice their English as they were studying it at uni - they were so so so polite and friendly. We headed to the last Wat of the day Pra That Luang and it was conveniently closed for an hour at lunch time. We managed to avoid the insane heat under some trees and chatted to a tuk tuk driver who at first was trying to rip us off with a tour of the city but then realised he wasn't going to get anything out of us and told us about the 'falang' - which is the Lao word for white folk. One of his mates came over to sell us some ice cream and when we said no all we could hear him say was 'falang this falang that'... I would've loved to know what they were saying! In the end we unded up buying ice cream off him so I hope it wasn't too bad!

That evening we had dinner at a restaurant owned by some Australian expats. It definitely cured my food homesickness for awhile... I seem to be missing more little things like Boost Juice and Sushi Train than I thought I would in a region that has such amazing food. That night we were woken up at around 1am by the most intense lightning that I have ever seen in my life, I was actually terrified for our safety as it was cracking on buildings all around where we were staying and the room we were in was lighting up every time. After the storm passed over us we went back to sleep and were both woken again with the roof leaking on our faces because it was raining so heavily... so then after much negotiation with the people at the reception they let us change rooms... according to them it was no big deal as it was almost day time... at 2 am... !

The next morning we got a bus at 6 am to head up to Luang Prabang. When we got there that evening we checked out the local markets and found a vegetarian buffet food vendor which charged 5000 kip for a plate... which is less than $1AUD. We ended up going back there a few times because the food was so good (and cheap). The next day we discovered another treehouse type place named "l'etranger" (after Camus) which is a cafe & book exchange, which has over 50 different teas and the cutest tea pots. We ended up spending hours there for the next two days hiding from the occasional rain by sipping tea and reading.

The next day we got a tuk tuk to Pak Ou caves which are ancient caves that are filled with hundreds of tiny little Buddha statues and sweated over hundreds of steps there and back. That evening we went back to the markets for a vegetarian feast and some shopping, where there was a girl who couldn't have been older than 8 trying to sell me a toiletry bag... "miss you like this? its so pretty look, I know you want to buy, look at all the colours"... she did not stop after I declined numerous times but I never ended up buying one... and after I passed by her a few times the same evening she'd recognise me and say "I know you you want to buy bag". There was another lady who was selling slippers who I went to purely out of sympathy and ended up buying two pairs from her for $2 aud... I bartered with her and got her price down by half her original offer, but felt so bad at the end that i ended up giving her an extra few thousand kip (not even a dollar) because I felt so bad. When we got back tot he guesthouse I was on the verge of tears because I felt so sorry for her - it really pulls the heartstrings even if you are chasing a bargain!

The next afternoon we went to the airport to catch the plane to Hanoi and I ran into a guy that was a few years below me in High School who I did Rock Eistedfodd with... there were literally 10 people on the plane it was such a small-world encounter it blew my mind! We ended up sharing a cab into Hanoi and he stayed at the same hotel as us so we ended up checking out Hanoi's crazy town and getting some dinner from some street vendors when we arrived! Crazy!

Chiang Mai

stackattack — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:03:00 GMT

Ok so since I last blogged I've had my first experience of 'Thai belly'... aka was stuck in the room for a day with food poisoning. It wasn't as bad as it could've been (the only major annoyance was having to reschedule our trek) so after a day of relaxing (and heaps of tlc from the people at our guesthouse) I was ready for some more adventures.

That evening we went to the infamous Chiang Mai night markets which we very touristy, I did buy a patch however which kept me happy but nothing else was too appealing.

The next morning we were up early for a tour we did with two other people staying at our guesthouse who are just lovely. We started the trip by going to a butterfly and orchid farm - some butterflies were bigger than my head and quite scary! It was quite hard to take photos of them but some were stunning. After that we went to an elephant camp where we rode elephants on seats. It was amazing, we were up there for ages roaming through jungle and the guide was really nice and taught us heaps... After about 20 minutes the guide jumped off the elephant and we all had a turn of riding the elephant by sitting behind its ears. It was so scary going down hill! When we got back to the camp we fed the elephants bananas and my elephant sneakily stole the bunch I bought for him!

After the elephant camp we headed to the jungle and did an hour trek to a waterfall - halfway there it started to POUR with rain so we were absolutely soaked but we embraced it as we were all so hot from walking in the heat. Halfway to the waterfall we stopped at a 'hotel' in the rainforest... aka a shack and just before I sat down a centipide that was the size of my forearm just casually scuttled past me and all the Thai people went crazy and killed it with machetes... guess I was pretty lucky - they said it was really dangerous because it was so enormous!

The waterfall was spectacular and by the time we got back to the car we were buggered but the journey wasnt over yet. We drove to a nearby river and did a 4km whitewater rafting trip which was so much fun, I thought I was going to die at some points - it was so exhilerating. After the whitewater rafting we floated for another kilometer on a bamboo raft which was so relaxing ducking in and out of mountains.

By the time we got back to the guesthouse we were all so exhausted and hungry that we couldn't be bothered with language barriers and hunting down food. So we went to a diner around the corner and got a burger. It was just what we needed.

Today we did a full day Thai-cooking course. We learnt (and ate) so much. We made Pad Thai, spring rolls, Chiang Mai noodles, red curry paste, Hot and Sour prawn soup and banana fritters. Amazing.

Tonight is our last night in Chiang Mai and tomorrow evening we have another enormous journey ahead of us... a 15 hour bus trip to Laos (hopefully sans chickens). Not sure if the mobile will work but i'll let you all know!

Bangkok to Chiang Mai

stackattack — Wed, 9 Sep 2009 22:09:00 GMT

Ok so the next morning we went on a tour of the floating markets a couple of hours out of Bangkok. They were insane, floating down a river with a million other boats with ppl screaming things at you left right and center trying to get you to buy stuff. I got away with only buying a small fan (cause I was dying from the heat) but I definitely restrained myself. After the markets we got a speed boat around the rest of the riverbends to see the community who live on houses that are literally on the rivers edge, they wash, go to the toilet and drink all the same water... It was definitely an experience to remember.

That evening we caught the 14 hour sleeper train to Chiang Mai. As it was only $25 you can imagine the state it was in. The lower bunk was the sweet deal but as I picked the top bunk there was some definite suffering. You were held in the top bunk by two pathetic seat belts (no railings) and every move the train made you felt x 894375. It goes without saying that I barely got any sleep that night and by the time the train was running 4 hours late (with no mention from anyone on the train as to what was happening) I was in a fantastic mood. The other amazing part of that experience was that the closest toilet to us was one of those squatting things. I tried not to drink anything so I didnt need to go and broke the seal at 14 hours... awful experience. What made it even more terrible was that after 1500 hours we found a 'normal' toilet at the other end of the cabin :-(

After the train we were VERY happy to arrive in Chiang Mai and it is a beautiful place. The guesthouse we are staying at is only $6 a night and the staff are amazing. We've been following their food recommendations and eating at all these local places we never would've entered amongst the locals and eating like kings usually for no more than $2. We went to the best ice creamery that had political cartooned decor - statues of Ho Chi Min as a rockstar etc and it was great. Last night I was dead by 9 oclock and was up and ready this morning for more adventure.

The ladies who run the guesthouse took us on their motorbikes (me on the back of a motorbike for the first time - still can't believe I did it) to a part of town where taxis are cheaper and they haggled for us which was great. We got a taxi-type car to the top of an enormous mountain with a temple on the top and hung out with some monks for awhile, they blessed us too which was really nice.

Once we got back to the bottom of the mountain we headed to the city center and got some lunch for $1 - the best satay sauce I have ever had. Then we went to the women's prison and bought some cheap slippers and got a foot massage at some crazy markets for $2. After all the shopping we had a much needed beer at the towns Irish pub. There really is one in every town, and there were signs for 'Farangutans' all through it - Farang is the local term for white folk or foreigner haha.

Now back at the guesthouse we've aloe'd our sunburns and are getting ready for a night on the town after some more dinner recommendations. Tomorrow we're doing a jungle trek on elephants and some rafting... more stories soon!

Crazy Bangkok

stackattack — Sun, 6 Sep 2009 21:05:00 GMT

So after a very long flight and bus trip we finally made it to our hostel in Bangkok - which is clean and has very friendly staff and was exactly what I needed after 13 hours of travel.

Woke up this morning at 5am unable to sleep so I planned some adventures for the day. Had a very nice very cheap breakfast at the hostel for $2, eggs toast croissant coffee juice etc - a great start to the day and headed out to the shopping hub of the city. Firstly it must be mentioned that the traffic here is INSANE. It is almost impossible to cross the road without running out of the way of a flying vehicle, no matter what colour the lights are. I've gotten into the habit of following the Thai people when they cross cause they have it worked out very well :-). One thing that impressed me was that the traffic lights have countdown timers next to them so you know exactly how long you'll be waiting until the light is green again. Brilliant.

The shopping centres are incredible. I could spend days inside just looking at all the shops and advertisements. We bought a Nancy Chandler's map of the city which is really helpful and found our way down to the streets.

From Siam square we got in our first Tuk Tuk to head to another part of town. The drivers are clever dudes, ours quoted us a price of 150 baht (around $5 aud) and we managed to barter with him getting it down to 20 baht. He seemed pretty impressed that we weren't stupid enough to take the first price.

The Tuk Tuk ride was my first near death experience of the trip, there were several times when I just held on for dear life in hope that I would survive darting across 5 lanes of heavily congested and fast paced traffic... somehow we made it out unscathed. However despite the fact that we arranged to be dropped off at the train station to book our next part of the journey, we somehow conveniently managed to be taken to two separate dodgy travel agents wanting to give us 'special price today only' holiday packages, which were of course crazily over priced and not what we needed. Eventually after stern words with the driver we got our tickets from the right place and headed back to the sky train to take us to the weekend markets. There we helped some gorgeous little Thai students with their english as they were on a school excursion and it restored my faith in the Thai people.

The markets were fantastic. Aside from the fact that it was boiling hot and I was a sweating frizz ball we managed to buy pad see ew from a street vendor for $1.50 and it was amazing. There are tables of fresh herbs and salad for you to garnish your own dishes with and it is just perfect. I also managed to find my first patch of the journey which completed my day and bought a pair of knock off ray bans for $3.

We just booked a trip to the local floating markets for tomorrow morning and are heading to the red light district to see what its all about... no doubt I'll have some more stories soon!