We’re leaving on a jet plane…….

24 February 2007

I am ashamed to say that when Chris first mentioned the Aki Ra’s Landmine Museum my reaction was ‘I am not sure I want to go there’ imagining a museum with various mines and ammunition…..that was until I read the blurb in the Lonely Planet and knew it was something that went far beyond artillery and was not something we could miss!

Landmines are a huge, huge problem that Cambodians have to deal with in their every day life. The legacy of landmines in Cambodia is one of the worst in the world and continues to haunt generations long after the ceasefire of any war. Over 40,000 Cambodians have lost a limb to landmines (many more have lost their lives) – a statistic which is not surprising when you visit the country. A number of victims are forced to begging to survive as Cambodia does not have social security or disability benefits! It is estimated that somewhere between 4 and 6 million mines are dotted throughout the Cambodian countryside – the victims usually farmers trying to earn a living and children innocently playing!

In 1997 100 countries recognised how evil landmines are and signed a treaty banning the production – however superpowers (if one can use that moniker in this respect!) such as China Russia and USA have refused to sign the treaty.

Aki Ra, a humanitarian and more so and incredible human being, conducts and educates Cambodian citizens about landmine safety and defusal. Aki Ra, living in Cambodia at the height of the civil unrest was conscripted by the Khmer Rouge as a child soldier. At the age of five he laid his first landmine – at the age of ten he was competent with a gun – now he has now devoted his life to removing landmines!

Aki’s commitment does not stop at the removal of the landmines; Aki and his wife have unofficially adopted a number of children who have fallen victims of landmines and with the help of donations he is supporting these children through their education and in some instances university. I was fortunate enough to talk with a couple of the children at the museum who were far more proficient in English than I am in Cambodian leading to an impromptu lesson for me where I struggled to ask simple questions in the Khmer language. The children told me they enjoyed going to school and we talked about the sports they enjoyed playing and what they wanted to be when they were older which ranged from using their language skills as tour guides to becoming doctors.

The museum, education and demining projects are non-profit organisations that rely solely on donations from visitors. I have not done Aki or the childrens personal stories justice in this blog so I have included a link on the right hand side – for those of you that would like to read on about the fantastic work Aki and his wife carry out and the hope they bring to many Cambodians young and old.

23rd February 2007

The name ‘Angkor Wat’ did ring some distant bells in my alcohol impaired, culturally starved memory, but until we arrived here in Siem Reap, North Eastern Cambodia, I had no idea of the wondrous nature of this historical site, that rightly represents a source of national pride for all Khmers (and the centre piece of the national flag!).

The temples of Angkor were the capital of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer people. There are over 100 temples in the area, built between AD 800 and 1400. Each ruling King strove to improve on his predecessors efforts by building larger, more elaborate, perfectly symmetrical temples that culminate in the world’s largest religious building, Angkor Wat. The temples were abandoned to nature during the 1600s and were effectively swallowed by the surrounding jungle. As the area has slowly opened up again in recent years (following the return of peace to Cambodia), the temples have been cleared to different extents, making for a real ‘tomb raider’ style exploring experience (although sadly lacking Angelina Jolie!).

We had grand plans of heading to the temples for sunset on our first evening in Siem Reap, but unfortunately, an over running afternoon knap put paid to that idea! Eager to make up for lost time, we headed out early the next morning with our new found friend / guide Cobb, and his trusty Tuk Tuk. Our first stop was Angkor Wat itself, the big daddy!

As we approached Angkor Wat, we were both awestruck by the size of the surrounding moat! At 190m wide, the moat forms a perfect rectangle measuring a mere 1.5km by 1.3kms! After negotiating our way through the dozens of Khmers selling refreshments outside the temple (a welcome opportunity to re-hydrate, this place is so hot it hurts!) and the seemingly billions of Korean tour groups, we made our way onto the causeway and across the moat. Crossing the moat felt to me much like walking down the mall on the approach to Buckingham palace, although in a more spectacular setting! When we entered the temple itself, we were simply blown away (thankfully not by a land mine – see next blog!). The temple is constructed of HUGE sandstone blocks, and is in surprisingly good condition. We spent the next 3/4 hours wandering around the place, trying to take it in (and navigate the dangerously steep steps!). I can’t possibly begin to describe how special this place is, Angkor Wat is simply awesome!

After a spot of lunch, our next stop was the temple Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is very different to Angkor Wat, much smaller, but having been left to its own devices alongside the advancing jungle, equally impressive. Ta Prohm was used as the set for some of the scenes in the film tomb raider, and after our obligatory shots by the ‘tomb raider’ tree, we spent a couple more hours wandering around the ruins, almost in isolation (thankfully the Korean tour groups had gone back to town for lunch!). The trees really are swallowing this temple up, and the huge roots intertwined with the stones of the temple make for some awesome sights!

Next up was Angkor Thom, a huge walled city in the heart of the site. Here we leisurely wandered around the ‘terrace of the elephants’ and the ‘terrace of the leppar king’, before heading down to Bayon temple. Bayon is unique among the temples of Angkor, made up of 54 huge towers, over 3 levels, each topped with 4 enormous smiling faces carved into the stone. That’s 216 smiling faces, enough for everyone to grab a quiet moment, and a photo with a smiling face, despite the return of the 12 billion Koreans!

To end the day, we headed up the hilltop temple of Phnom Bakheng to take in the sunset with Angkor Wat in the background. As the sun set in the hazy sky, we reflected on what had been a great day. In my view, the temples of Angkor are on a par with Machu Picchu in Peru, but there are so many more, totally different sites to explore, and they are all in really close proximity. It would be possible to walk around the sights in a couple of days, but thankfully we had Cobb and his Tuk Tuk to ferry us around and save our legs for the exploring inside the sites themselves.

Next morning we were up at 4.30am, to grab our spot at Angkor Wat for sunrise. Despite the early start it was definitely worth it, the sunrise over the ancient temple outshone (sorry!) the sunset of the previous evening.

From here we headed out to 2 of the more remote sites. As you move away from the main temples, the crowds quickly diminish, but unfortunately so does the paved road! Still, Charlotte and I still managed to grab some sleep, despite being thrown around in the back of our Tuk Tuk!

Our first stop was Banteay Srei, a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva. The temple is cut from a pinkish stone, with some of the most unbelievably detailed carvings you could imagine! From here we headed out to the even more remote Kbal Spean site, which involved a 2 mile trek through the jungle to reach an intricately carved river bed, also known as the ‘river of a thousand lingas’.

We had a 2 hour return journey to Siem Reap through some beautiful country side, where unfortunately, the local Khmer people are struggling to exist in extremely poor conditions, and work the land which is still plagued by mines. To their unparalleled credit, the Khmer people always have huge smiles on their faces and love to interact with tourists, not surprisingly enjoying the peace after so many horrors in the last 30 years or so. Cambodia is an amazing place!

19th February 2007

The Lonely Planet is the travelers guide of choice. We have found it to be be a great tool for our travels, although we have been wary of relying on it as we don’t want to miss out on dicovering places for ourselves. That said, the LP is great at warning us about little scams in each of the places we have visited. So when we found a huge box dedicated to ‘The Scam Bus’ which takes tourists from Bangkok to Cambodia very slowly so they arrive late at night and get dropped off at some guesthouse where the prices are high and the bus gets commision, we decided to do some research.

Chris found an abvsolutely cracking internet site:

http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-overland-bkksr-self.htm

where Gordon Sharpless gives a step by step guide to crossing the difficult border.

In order to beat the tourist rush hour we had a 4.30 am start to get to the bus station for the 5.30 am local bus. The first task (other than opening our eyes at that time in the morning!) was to persuade the taxi driver that he needed to put his meter on, as they can be reluctant to do so. Once we arrived at the bus station went straight to stall number 23 (thanks Gordon) and got our ticket before heading to the 7-11 store which Gordon had mentioned (the detail eh!) to get some snacks for the journey.

We boarded the bus and settled down for the 4-5 hour journey with both of us catching up on much needed sleep. Just before we arrived at the border town of Aranyaprathet we were stopped by military which came on the bus to check our passports in a bid to catch any illegal crossings. Four people were carted off the bus – fortunately it was not us!.

We were then dropped off by the bus and caught a tuk-tuk to take us to the crossing for 80Bahts (all as Gordon had predicted). When at the border we had read that we would be stopped by numerous people offering to get us our Visas along with very cute children which would try and rob us. We were approached by one very cute child but before he had chance to complete his opening sentence a guard shouted making Chris, myself and the child jump out of our skins.

We proceeded through passport control to get our exit stamps, which went very smoothly considering the longs queues for Thai and Cambodian nationals.

Next stop – Visa office. To get to the Visa office we had to walk across the border and under an impressive archway bearing the sign “Kingdom of Cambodia”. The only other bording crossing we have done on foot was the Peru-Bolivia crossing in South America.

After an unsuccessful visit to the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok we were left with the task of applying for our visa at the border crossing. We had heard that ths could be a lengthy process unless you complied with the immigration officials demands of a bribe. We approached the desk and were asked to fill out a form and provide a passport photo (not trying to gloat now but we came prepared with said photo!). Despite a very large sign above the visa desk stating the price of US$20 for the Visa we were informed that the price was Baht1,000 (which works out more than US$20!). We had plenty orf baht to pay this but we had both agreed we were going to pay the US$20 even if it meant a couple of hours wait …..it’s the principle of the matter you see! Anyway after much ‘discussion’ where we informed them that we only had dollars and the big fat sign said the cost was $20 the tout gave in and let us approach the counter. After passing our forms and passports to the chief of immigration (or so his offical stamp stated!) he leant in to Chris and said

“How about extra Baht100 per person”

To which Chris replied “How about No, No No!” – The extra No’s were merely to get the point across.

So we waited and ten minutes later we were through accompanied by our Cambodian Visa’s and feeling we had won the moral high ground.

The journey did not finish there. Next we had to negotiate a taxi to take us to Siem Reap, our destination. However negotiations were not the order of the day and we had no choice but pay the US$20 per person for the shared taxi (we shared with Jayesh – a guy from London)….we had read that the taxi should have been $40 in total but a ‘taxi Mafia’ opperates which means that you have no choice to pay the price on offer and apparently as it was Chinese New Year the price was higher!

It is difficult at times to know who exactly you should be paying and who you have absolutely no obligation to……we have both commented that we would hate not to pay someone who we should strictly be paying…all we have to rely on (other than Gordon) is our instinct.

So there we were in our taxi and everything had gone smoothly so far. After stopping at the taxi mafia rank out of town where our driver passed on the ticket for the taxi which his mafia boss had issue when we paid we were through and onto the open road.

The road we travelled was reminiscent of the road we travelled to get to the Amazon pampas…..bumpy, dusty and full of potholes. The Lonely Planet notes reports that an airline company is paying a political party a bribe not to sort the road out which is logical if not a bit corrupt! So here were were with three hours of bliostering heat, plastic seats which meant that we were soaked with sweat before we could spell ‘deodorant’ and to top all that there was about a hundred mosquitos in the taxi.

We had bought malaria tablets for the remainder of our journey whilst in Bangkok (for a very cheap price I would like to add!) as Cambodia is an area where Malaria is prevalent. The tablets did not alleviate our unease however having lots of the little blighters hovering in our faces and landing on the flesh we had uncovered (and in this heat it was alot of flesh!). So once again the buddhist principles went out the window and we set about killing the pesky critters – by the end of it I was the mosquito terminator!

The journey was uncomfortable but we passed the whole three hours mesmerised by the scenery. The poverty in Cambodia is apparent immediately (very similar to Bolivia) on crossing the border. There are children with little clothing, dirt tracks for roads, people bathing and washing in dirty pond water and shacks for housing. Yet there are people smiling, waving and greeting us wherever we go….it is truly humbling. We have both commented that we feel more at ease in Cambodia in comparison to Thailand as the people seem genuinely friendly and welcoming. That said we have only travelled the heavily treaded tourist route in Thailand therefore the comparison is not entirely fair.

On our journey to Siem Reap we also saw a number of motorbikes with a couple of pigs strapped on the back ….unfortunately the driver was going to fast for us to take a photo….that would have been a ‘keeper’ and not a ‘delete-er’!

Tomorrow we are heading to the largest religious structure in the world – Angkor Wat- for another interesting and educational day!

18th February 2007

Our first day in Bangkok started early, stepping off the night bus from Koh Tao at 4.30am. Night buses are something we will not miss when we hang up the backpacks in 50 days time. On paper they are a traveler’s best friend, a free nights accommodation and the chance to sleep through the several hundred km’s you cover between destinations. The reality is somewhat different, as you arrive with a stiff back and red eyes, having managed only short bursts of sleep in between various interruptions (e.g. the person in front of you reclining their seat into your knees, the person next to you snoring – I always get the seat next to Charlotte!, the kamikaze moves being pulled by the driver as he fights to stay on schedule / awake).

On arrival we took a Tuk Tuk to our hostel, which unsurprisingly was closed at 4.30am, so we grabbed a seat on the terrace, and waited around the 4 hours or so before we could check in. We dumped our bags, took a quick shower and headed straight back out for our first adventure in Thailand’s capital city.

Our first stop was the Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Walking from our hostel we were stopped twice by locals trying to tell us that it was closed today. This is the prelude to a well publicised scam! The ‘helpful’ individual firstly offers to take you to another attraction, and en route takes you to a ‘random’ shop selling gems and offering the once in a lifetime opportunity to act as an agent for the outlet in your own country, with the promise of huge profits! It all ends in tears when you leave, minus your money and in possession of some not so valuable colored glass! Obviously you would have to be pretty stupid to fall for this scam, and we politely declined the offers of help. Unfortunately this and other scams seem to be the norm in Thailand (or at least the tourist trap areas we have visited), inevitably the dishonesty of a few makes you skeptical of all the locals offers of help, which kind of takes away from the overall experience of traveling here.

The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha are on one huge sight by the banks of the Chao Phraya river. The buildings were impressive, and the gold leaf covering the temples was dazzling in the morning sunshine. The highlight of the visit for me however was definitely seeing Charlotte in the short sleeved pastel green shirt she was lent to cover her shoulders when in the temples, bring on middle age!

After the grand palace we went to the Temple of the reclining Buddha, dodging a couple more scam artists en route. This Buddha is 46m long and lying on his side in a pose representing the passing into Nirvana. All we need now is to find the temple of the Buddha walking on his hands to complete the full set of all possible Buddha images! Feeling all temple’d / buddha’d out, we retreated to our hostel to get some relief from the scorching sun and the choking pollution of Bangkok’s streets.

As a great man once said, when in Rome, wear flip flops. So, for our first sample of Bangkok’s notourious nightlife we headed out to the red light district. Before taking in the ping pong at Patpong, we warmed up with a couple of large changs (beers) on the equally famous Khao San Road, the ultimate travelers ghetto! Khao San is wall to wall bars / hostels / shops selling all sorts of knock off goods from CDs to Levis. In the road itself are various food stalls selling Thai foods and some tourist dishes of locusts, deep fried scorpion and maggots! The road has a real energy, especially after dark, when the hundreds of neon signs and sound systems pump up. From here we jumped into a taxi where the ‘fun’ really began!

Our taxi driver tried the obligatory scam of taking us somewhere different to our request in order to earn himself some commission, but when we rumbled him he kindly decided to take us to Patpong. This area started out as a destination for American troops looking for some ‘R&R’ during the Vietnam war, but nowadays is full of tourists like ourselves enjoying the vibrant night market and / or looking to take in one of the ‘shows’ on offer in the neighbouring bars.

We eventually ventured into a bar, but before we could even take our seats we were subjected to yet more scam tactics! Ordering 2 beers, which should have cost 200bht, the evil barmaid firstly demanded another 200bht, despite the fact we had handed over a 500bht note. Slightly confused we tried to explain that 2 beers at 100 bht each was 200 bht, and in fact she owed us 300bht change. This did not compute and she began shouting at us, demanding more money. Trying to avoid a scene, we simply handed back our beers and asked for our money back, so we could leave and go somewhere a bit friendlier! Now she denied we had even given her any money, and suddenly lost the ability to speak English! Eventually we managed to get our beers and sit down without having to pay any more cash (I’ll spare you the details!). We stayed for about 2 minutes, before realising that this place wasn’t really for us, and we headed to the door to the sound of balloons being burst by darts being fired out of women’s bits, nice!

The next day we set out to try to get hold of some Cambodian visas from the embassy prior to our planned next trip to Siam Reap. Bangkok has a really poor public transport network, especially if you are staying in the west of the city like us, so this journey involved taking a river boat, followed by the sky train and took the best part of 2 hours! When we arrived we found that the embassy had moved to the other side of town, things just aren’t going our way here in Bangkok! We decided to give up on our visa mission, opting to take our chances with the corrupt immigration officials at the border instead. So from here we took a leisurely 4/5 hour stroll back across town to our digs, taking in the huge Chinatown (preparing for new years celebrations!) on our way.

The next day we headed out of town to the weekend market at Chatuchak on the outskirts of the city. This is the biggest flea market in Asia, and you can buy absolutely anything here, from fake designer clothes to fighting cocks! We strolled around the place regretting the fact that we couldn’t really engage in too much shopping as we didn’t want to carry everything through Cambodia and Vietnam. Next time Gadget, next time.

On our final day in Bangkok, we chartered a long tail boat along with and Irish lad who was traveling on his own. We both really enjoyed this trip, and got to see some of the non touristy areas of Bangkok on the other, residential bank of the city. The canals that work their way through the inner suburbs are almost black with pollution, but this doesn’t stop the locals jumping in for a swim, very brave! We got to see a floating market and were surprised to see lots of fish managing to survive in the water, and even a large lizard, which had someone in the boat shouting ‘Crocodile!’.

This brought about the end of our first visit to Bangkok, we will be back here for a couple of days in April before flying back to the UK. It is fair to say that Bangkok did not really do it for us on this visit. I’m sure the areas we have visited in Thailand so far are not representative of the ‘true’ country, as with the exception of Koh Tao, it has felt like being on a package holiday in the med, surrounded by even more dubious characters! Hopefully when we arrive back here, in the city of angels, at the end of our trip, our experience from these few days will help us find a way to enjoy more of what I’m sure this huge city has to offer.

14 February 2007

Firstly thanks to Belinda Carlisle for the title of the blog, although it is not technically correct as we have both agreed that Fiji was more our idea of heaven but Koh Tao has definately come in second on the Island ratings.

We chose Koh Tao, which translates as Turtle Island, as our next destination as we had heard it is not as touristy as the other Islands off the East Coast (pretty much the way Koh Samui was in the 80’s). We were not disapointed. we secured a beach bungalow facing out to the crystal blue waters where we spent every evening watching the sunset with a few Chang beers and a good book (Chris has finally got around to reading the Da Vinci Code and I am reading a book Chris picked up on Koh Phi Phi called ‘Phra Farang’ which is about an English guy who left his successful career to become a Buddhist Monk).

The first day on the Island was spent doing little more than laying in the sun, cooling off in the shallows or snorkelling further from the shore. It was bliss.

Although our beach bungalow had a superb view, it was a little basic inside; however still knackered from the boat ride to the Island (and with the help of a few Changs) we had no problem getting to sleep. That was until I woke Chris and I would presume all the neighbouring bungalowees at 4am with shrieks of ‘ughh! Get it off me! Get it off me!!’. We both jumped out of bed with me explaining (perhaps a little hysterically) something had bitten me on the back. The culprit? – a freaking cockroach! Well the cockroach was fast – too quick for Chris to scoop him away to another site far away from our bungalow so he sadly paid the ultimate price with his little cockroach ‘human-back’ munching life taken by the bottom of Chris’s flip-flop! Out the window with any of those buddhist principles I was vowing to adopt!

We decided to adopt the locals chosen form of transport to explore the rest of the Island and hired a motorbike. With Chris driving and me on the back we hit the dust-tracks and headed to a little beach where we had read the snorkelling was good. The road was alot tougher than expected with us nearly losing control on one accasion only for Chris to regain control but not before slicing the top of his big toe on a rock (the lesson: flip-flops were not designed for motorbikes…..killing cockroaches – yes…….but not motorbikes).

We later found another gem of a beach where we watched the reef sharks from a little restaurant overlooking the bay before heading down for some more sun/snorkelling action.

If we weren’t relaxed enough we marked the end of each night on the Island with a Thai massage/oil massage or foot massage. We were a bit wary of the Thai massage having heard reports that the Thais get you iin a vice-like grip but it was an amazing experience which left us both drooling on the pillows as we were in a sleep like state dispite being twisted every which way! We have vowed to have another in Bangkok – purely as a comparison!

The three days we spent on the Island were a wonderful way to relax and prepare us for the hustle and bustle, mayhem and debauchery Bangkok has to offer.

11 February 2007

We arrived in Phuket and got dropped off at the hostel we had specified (at least that was what we thought!) – it turned out to be called a very similar name and was unsurprisingly double the price! So we set off by foot to find the one we wanted. After nearly a mile of walking with our backpacks we found the place and fortunately it was great – we had the biggest bed I have ever seen and our own private bathroom with a proper toilet (not the squatties – a simple hole in the ground- that are common out here yet difficult to negotiate sucessfully!) and to really make our day it came with toilet paper! We were staying on Patpong beach which is one of the top tourist destinations in SE Asia and was another place which was pretty much flattened by the tsunami yet apart from the odd video entitled ‘The Tsunami’ which you can buy there is little by the way of evidence of the mass destruction – this can only be credited to the local people’s resiliance.

As our stay in Phuket was going to be short (partly due to the number of tourists everywhere)we quickly downed tools and headed out to the beach after grabbing a quick bite to eat. The beach itself was pleasing but the water reminded us of the Kava we had drunk when on Fiji – dirty dishwater! After getting my fill of the sun I headed back for a lie down and to get some use of the television set that came with our room with Chris following me back a bit later after a couple of propositions along the way.

Phuket was our first introduction to Thailand’s much publicised sex industry with go-go bars, hostess bars and ladyboys a plenty!

When walking around Patpong you can’t help but notice the number of western men in their late 30s – 60s (and invariably with a big beer belly – OK maybe I am streotyping!) walking around hand in hand with young and attractive Thai women. It is an odd site. I understand (although am not ignorant to assume this is the scenario for every coupling) that the women see a western guy as having money and along with the money comes new opportunties or maybe just an element of security….. and the guys, well they get a young beautiful bird hanging off their arm 😉 I do not really know what I think of it all. If both parties are happy with what they get out the ‘relationship’ then who am I to judge, yet at the same time I can’t help thinking that all things being equal the young women would not go near half the men they are with. But things are not equal so unfortunately this is stark reality in Phuket.

We headed out down the main strip to take in the ‘nightlife’ and headed to one of the hostess bars where the girls working there will keep the men company in a bid to get the men to spend more at the bars. However we were not there for the women – we were there for the football! Much to Chris’ delight we watched Newcastle secure a 2-1 win over Liverpool (Mat – that must have hurt?) and celebrated the night away with a bunch of Aussies we met in the bar.

Having experience all we had planned to in Phuket we headed off the following day on our journey across the mainland to Koh Tao, and island of the east coast of Thailand. The journey began with 5 hours in a hot mini-van which we were expecting to take us to the port in Surat Thani where we planned to have a meal and then use the internet before catching the overnight ferry (on which we had booked beds) to Koh Tao. Well that would have been a big ask apparently seeing as we are now in Thailand’s tourist route where everyone wants your money! Instead we were dropped off in someones restaurant in the middle of nowhere where we had to remain till our connection took us to the port two and half hours later. Hungry as we were we stood firm in our resolve to not order food and watched the disney channel for the duration! The wait did give us opportunity to get speaking with a Danish guy who was taking his Thai ‘girlfriend’ up to Bangkok to try and get her a passport/Visa so he could take her home to Denmark with him. We sat watching them for a while and communication between was limited to the odd English word and sign language.

Eventually our connection to the port arrived by way of a suped up boy racer car with all the trimming including a racing steering wheel, big exhaust, neon lights and the front bodywork caved in! Not having our tickets for the boat (which we had paid for) we asked for them only to be told the driver was buying them for us when we got to the port. Left with little alternative we got in – Chris in the front and me sat with his backpack on my lap as there was no room in the boot because the strereo system took up all the available space! Having given up all means off communication over the blaring euro-pop tracks we found ourselves down a back alley and the driver getting out. What happened next remains a little of a blur but it went something like this.

Man approaches car.
Man shakes hands with driver.
Driver slips man money.
Man slips driver small package which one can only assume to be Class A drugs.
Charlotte: “Was that drugs?”
Chris: “Yep”
Charlotte: “Oh shit!!!”

No further dialogue was need as we both knew what the other was thinking…..here we were in a country where you can be incarcerated for a good 25 years (if you are lucky) for being found with a stash of Class A drugs and our driver had us and our packs in his boy racer in the middle of some dodgy part of town and all we could do was roll with it (by this time I had discounted the option of flinging the door open and running. wailing, from the car to hide up some alternative back alley). So roll with it we did only to find ourselves at the port before the next euro-pop track ended! Big relief.

We unloaded our packs quickly, collected our ticket and turned to the ferry to be faced with a freight ferry onto which 12 rather fat, snorting, pigs were being loaded to provide the Island with its pork, ham and bacon needs for the next year or so! This was not what we expected but once again we rolled with it. We boarded the top deck which was at least under cover but to find our bed we had squat as to not hit our heads on the roof. We found our ‘beds’ which were mattresses lined up on the floor which I reckon had a ratio of two people to a single mattress space. Not only were we uncorfortably close to each other but we were also uncomforatbly close to the travellers next to us….which was only magnified during the night when the girl next to Chris kept trying to put her arms around him and the girl next to me took to kneeing me in the small of my back! The outcome – not much sleep that night!

But we arrived in one piece and if there is any truth in the quote “What you get by reaching your destination isn’t nearly as important as what you become by reaching that destination” then being freaked out, knackered, bruised and irratable is the way forward!

11th February 2007

We have now been in Thailand for 1 week, and wow, is this place ‘different’!

We traveled up from the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, on the overnight bus last Sunday. The journey involved a brief stop in Ipoh, northern Malaysia, where we spent the couple of hours we had to kill trying not to be mugged! Ipoh was not a very nice place, there was a really intimidating atmosphere and lots of ‘ladies of the night’ walking the street…..after a quick coffee we headed back to the relative safety of the bus ticket office.

When the overnight bus pulled into the depot we boarded along with the other passengers. We quickly realised there was something not quite ‘right’ about the 2 glamorous ladies in the seats in front of us, yep you guessed it, we had our first confirmed ‘lady boy’ sighting! I have quickly come to realise that ‘lady boy’ is an inappropriate term, as it almost sounds sweet and innocent, but trust me, there was nothing sweet and innocent about these two stocky, six footers, doused in enough perfume to kill a heard of elephants! When they reclined their seats fully and their heads were just inches above our laps, I nearly jumped out of the window…..needless to say I didn’t sleep too well on the journey north to Hat Yai!

We got off the bus in Hat Yai, our first stop in Thailand, with plans to have a lazy day and get an onward connection to Krabi. However, before we had even reached the pavement, someone had grabbed our bags from the bus and was busy loading them into a Tuk Tuk! When we raced over to him he practically bundled us into the Tuk Tuk as well (it was at this stage I realised he wasn’t trying to steal or bags!) as he whisked us off to his ‘travel agency’ (i.e. small garage on the outskirts of town!) to sell us some onward tickets! When we realised we had no Thai currency, I was taken on a moped ride by some random guy, back to a cash-point. Within about 30 mins we found ourselves back on a bus heading north to Krabi, safe in the knowledge that we had probably paid about 10 times too much for the tickets! Welcome to Thailand, these boys can sell!

We were only in Krabi for one night, so wasted no time in grabbing a local bus out to Wat Tham Sua (aka the ‘tiger temple’). It was a pretty cool place, although the temples all seemed to be overrun by monkeys! We walked up the 1200 steps to the main temple on top of the hill where we had great views out across the surrounding countryside and the islands in the Andaman sea. On the way back down I got chased by a monkey which stole my bottle of water, we were gutted, it was about 40 degrees so the water would have come in handy, but I guess the monkey thought that also!

The next day we headed out by boat to our first island destination, Koh Phi Phi. Phi Phi was devastated by the Tsunami in 2004, but has been pretty much rebuilt now. The guidebook sold us Phi Phi as an idyllic paradise island, which it certainly was! The island raises vertically out of the ocean, with sheer limestone cliffs that stretch up over 100m. The beaches aren’t too shabby either, Maya beach being used as the location for the Hollywood film the beach! Phi Phi is definitely beautiful, but unfortunately everyone knows it, therefore it is very crowded, especially at this time of year which is peak season for Thailand’s tourist industry!

Whilst on the island we engaged in plenty of lazy sun bathing and snorkeling on the coral reefs. We also continued to fuel our new found obsession with diving, heading out by speed boat for a day at two submerged pinnacles in the Andaman sea, Hin Daeng and Hin Mouang. We were told the chances of sighting a whale shark (the biggest fish in the world), at these sites was good. Unfortunately the whale sharks didn’t show up but we did get to see a leopard shark which was pretty cool, and lots of Giant moray eels!

Whilst on the island we also took a day trip out by ‘long boat’ visiting bamboo island, and some more secluded beaches away from the crowds, including monkey beach, which as the name suggests is a beach with monkeys on it! On this trip we got to watch the sunset out on the ocean, which was a truly amazing sight! The sun was a perfect circle of glowing orange fire, without a cloud in the sky, and as it ducked under the horizon of the still ocean you could almost here it sizzle! Unfortunately the battery on our camera had given up by this stage so you will have to take my world for what a gorgeous site it was!

After 4 days relaxing in our beach bungalow on Koh Phi Phi, we reluctantly dragged ourselves down to the ferry terminal to sail north to Phuket. Phi Phi is a really beautiful place, although the crowds do detract somewhat from the islands appeal. It is easy to imagine that 20 years ago, before the crowds of tourists flocked here, (and the inevitable ‘Irish’ bars opened) that Phi Phi would have been absolute heaven!

4 February 2007

The morning of Chris’s 29th birthday begun with the sweet sound (erhemm!) of me singing happy birthday to him followed by a mad dash to the bus station to catch the first bus to The Cameron Highlands.

After a bumpy four hours, during which Chris was as quiet as a mouse reading a copy of ‘four four two’ he had managed to get his hands on (memo to self – next year all I need to do is buy him ‘four four two’!), we reached our destination – Tanah Rata. Tanah Rata which means ‘flat ground’ is the main township nestled in the Cameron Highlands and is one of Malaysia’s most popular get-a-way destinations due to the cooler climate (approx 25 degrees during the day).

The Highlands are named after William Cameron, a British colonial government surveyor who discovered the plateau during a mapping expedition in 1885. The Cameron Highlands then grew during the colonial era when British planters realised the potential of its fertile mountain slopes for growing tea, then a prized commodity and today it is home to Malaysia’s biggest tea plantation – The BOH Tea Plantation.

Wanting to make the most of Chris’s birthday (not simply marking it with a bumpy bus journey and a copy of ‘four four two’) we dropped our bags off and boarded a local bus where we then sat for the best part of half an hour while the bus conductor shouted at the local school children making some children get off the bus to board an alternative bus. The poor children were then immediately shouted at by the driver of the other bus and sent back to the one we were sitting on – this continued with the children never really making it back to either bus before they were turned around again. Eventually some sort of agreement was reached and the dizzy children were back on our bus and we were off on our days adventure.

We were heading for Malaysia’s biggest Tea Plantation. The Lonely Planet helpfully noted we had to disembark when the bus reached a vegetable stall (we were hoping the vegetable stall owner had not found a better patch since the time the book went to the publishers) and then head off on foot up the intersecting road….so this was exactly what we did. What the Lonely Planet did not mention is that we had to head up the intersecting road for 40 minutes before we got to the factory and tea rooms. However this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we walked through the plantation and were able to take in the beautiful rolling hills covered in tea plants.

On reaching the ‘BOH’ factory we learned why BOH has ‘Ummph!’ and all about the process behind a good cup of tea. We then enjoyed Chris’s official birthday drink – a pot of gold blend BOH – with a scone overlooking the plantation. It was all really quite civilised (a first time for everything eh!).

On returning to Tanah Rata we found a Chinese restaurant and enjoyed a nice evening meal. Following the meal Chris decided he wanted to sample another locally produce – strawberries, so he ordered desert of strawberries and ice-cream. He got to his last mouthful and spat out (fortunately!) a large shard of glass that had been in the ice-cream! Chris, still in shock at his narrow miss of having his insides ripped to shreds, sat still while I marched the glass up to the management to complain (although even I have to admit it did look suspicious that the ice-cream had been devoured in its entirety!) the outcome being that the ice-cream was on the house!

That brings me to today. This morning we had the most wonderful Indian pancakes ‘Roti Canai’ with bananas for breakfast and then headed of into the Jungle for a 5km Jungle Walk taking us past waterfalls and landslides.

Tonight we leave on an overnight bus into Thailand. Sadly our time in Malaysia has been far too short but in order to extend our stay here we would have to compromise our other plans for Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam; which we have decided is not something we want to do at this time. Unfortunately we simply can’t see everything!

2nd February 2007

After 3 days gentle introduction to life in South East Asia, courtesy of the clean, safe, orderly, and surprisingly good (if lacking a little ‘je ne sais quois’) Singapore, we headed north by train Kuala Lumpur, capital city of Malaysia.

For once our timing was spot on, we had arrived in town just in time for the Thaipusam festival. Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated on the full moon of the Tamil month of Thai (a.k.a. 1st Feb this year!).

On the day of the festival, devotees shave their heads and undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion. At its simplest (and least painful!) this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but the hard core Hindus get into acts of self mutilation, by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with skewers (ouch!). The most spectacular practice is the ‘vel kavadi’, essentially a portable altar up to two meters tall, decorated with peacock feathers and attached to the devotee through 100 hooks pierced into the skin on the chest and back! It is said that the devotees are able to enter a trance, feel no pain, do not bleed from their wounds and have no scars left behind (reah right!).

It so happens that the largest celebration of this festival takes place in Kuala Lumpur, with the pilgrimage following the 14km route from the city centre to the spectacular Batu Caves. The festival attracts up to 1m worshipers (and a fair handful of tourists!).

We set out early in the morning by bus to the caves, our devotion clearly not strong enough to walk the 14kms! When we arrived the festival was in full swing, with hundreds of thousands of people making their way up the 272 steps to the caves, past the 43m high gold statue of Lord Murugan (the Hindu version of the angel of the north, but a little less rusty!).

It was a spectacular sight (check out some of the photos, arghh!) and we spent the whole morning soaking up the atmosphere. We made one attempt to join the worshipers going up to the caves but beat a hasty retreat as the crowds became over bearing. It was full on enough just watching the goings on, the devotion of the worshipers to walk all the way from town, in the heat of the day, either carrying heavy pots or impersonating kebabs is unbelievable (I’m glad that celebrating Christian festivals involves nothing more painful than eating too much chocolate!).

After the fun and games at the festival, we headed to the other side of the city to visit another sacred site…..the Bukit Jalil national sports stadium….the venue for the 1998 commonwealth games!

Charlotte competed at the games 8 years ago, so we went up to have a look around the venues for old times sake! We managed to get into the swimming pool complex to have a look around, although Charlotte declined my challenge of doggy paddle a race! It was great to see the place where Charlotte had raced, having previously only seen it on the TV!

The next day we headed up to the Petronas twin towers, in the heart of the business district of the city. We joined in with the other tourists and went up to the viewing bridge between the towers at level 42! The buildings are incredible, once the tallest skyscrapers in the world at 452m, they now hold the slightly less glamorous title of the tallest twin towers in the world. With a taste for tall buildings we then headed over to the sky tower, for another aerial view of the city (I have to thank Charlotte for indulging my weird obsession with tall buildings…but it was the eve of my birthday!).

On our final evening in KL, we headed out for a celebratory meal, stumbling across a great little restaurant for our first decent curry since leaving Leeds (the things you miss about home eh!). We both enjoyed our brief visit to Kuala Lumpur, the experience of the Thaipusam festival being one of the highlights of our trip so far!

30 January 2006

Well we made it in which is always a great start when the welcoming signs at the airport convey messages of death!

When you are aware the country you are entering imposes an immediate death penalty for drug traficking, despite the fact you packed your backpack yourself and you like to think of yourself as an up-standing responsible human being, it still doesn’t stop all sorts of scenarios entering your head where the said backpack has been tampered with or your dirty laundry smells like old sausages to the sniffer dog who decides to scratch at your pack looking for his fix only for you to be surrounded by ten five foot tall policemen waving their guns at your face (make that chest!).

First impressions of Singapore? Clean, futuristic, shoppers haven! (think dettol – think the jetsons – think Posh Spice’s idea of Utopia), but after spending a day walking around the city it is clear Singapore has so much more to offer. Singapore is home to a multi-cultural society which is reflected by the four official languages – English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Four and half million people occupy 269 square miles (New Zealand has only four million in 103,735 sq miles) yet the state is meticulously kept and statistically Singapores crime rate is placed way below that of other Asia-Pacific cities. You see size doesn’t really matter! (ahem!);…..because Singapore is a city-state the city government is also the national government therefore the city gets exactly what it wants, more green spaces, re-developed housing projects to accomodate the city’s less affluent, more food-courts! However we both agree that the city seems to lack a ceratain character! It almost seems too squeaky clean…on two separate occasions we have witness public bins being scrubbed clean (something you would never see in London – or many other places to be honest!).

So – on to the food – a subject close to my heart as you all know. Around the city are various Hawker markets where you can pick up a meal for about S$2-3 (approximatley a pound (there is unsurprisingly no pound symbol on this keyboard!)) and the food reflects the multi-cultural society – you can get any variety of Asian food from stuff that would not be misplaced on a menu at home to stuff that I wouldn’t even care to hazard a guess at what type of animal it is – that being it is of course an animal? But I’ll tell you something – it all smells delicious!

I must admit I have so far only dipped my toe in the ocean that is Singapore cuisine, playing it somewhat safe with a prawn Laksa (noodles served in a coconut curried sauce) and a chicken curry (the best we have had since leaving home 😉 but I can promise you I am going to branch out and make the most of the food while I can (Dad – you better widen those door frames for when I get home!).

So what exactly have we been up to?

Well I reckon we must have walked about 20 miles in the 2 days we have been here. The first day was spent walking around all the colonial district taking in some amazing buildings that have been either immaculately kept or loving restored, checking out chinatown which is currently in the midst of the chinese new year celebrations (its the year of the pig and we fully intend to honour that 😉 ) and the quays.

We spent the first evening with a visit to Raffles hotel for an obligatory Singapore Sling in the Long Bar (did you know Raffles was not actual created by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles but four Armenian brothers called The Sarkies?). The visit was a little more poignant than simply an excuse to have the famous cocktail. Chris’ grandpa was in Singapore during the Second World War and stayed in the hotel following the end of the Japanese occupation; so like he always did, we raised our glasses ‘to absent friends’. Later that night we wandered around until our legs could no longer keep us upright!

Our second day began with a few stretches to loosen the tight muscles and then a bus trip to Chiangi Museum and chapel to learn more about the plight of Singapore during the Second World War. With neither of us having ever paid my attention to history at school the visit was certainly educational but more so moving and humbling to read stories of the hardship and awful circumstances that both men and women, old and young endured as a result of the Japenese occupancy. The museum is a wonderful reminder of the people who fought and all to often gave their lives for the liberty of future generations.

The afternoon was spent wandering around ‘Little India’ and visiting temples which were bustling with activity and venturing out to Sakya Muni Gaya -The Temple of 1000 Lights which houses a 15m Buddha which takes up most of the Temple and is surrounded by lots (nust short of 1000!) of fairy lights which flash when an offering is made (very Kitsch in my book!). We late retraced our steps from teh day before into Chinatown for our evening meal. After our fill of Singapore Noodles we caught the cable car over to Sentosa Island which lays to the south of the city. The reason for our visit was to see the Musical Fountain, laser and fire show.

Sentosa is described by the Lonely Planet as akin to Disney World so we were not really expecting much. However the show was absolutely fantastic! The fountains move in time with the music, lasers are projected onto the fountains and then all of a sudden numerous cartoon animals begin dancing around in a giant wall of water. Truly wonderful! We couldn’t help thinking it would be the perfect venue for an amazing nightclub;)