Beth & Ben in Asia

The end

2006-05-01T10:33:00.000+01:00

Well all good things must come to an end and the same is true of our travels. We're back in Blighty now reveling in the chance to sit on a real sofa, grab milk from a real fridge and talk to people without having to revert to sign language. But what can we say about the last four months? How do you condense the experience of a lifetime into a few hundred words for you, our tireless and attractive readers, to soak up? All we can do is offer you these final words...

Beth
It has certainly been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Literally beathtaking. There were many many times when I felt like the luckiest person alive, to be in the most beautiful and fascinating places and indulge in four whole months with my lovely Ben.
My highlights were Sa Pa where we met and laughed with the locals in the hills enveloped by the most awe-inspiring scenery; our 3 days with our 'Easy Riders', where we were guided around the real Vietnam off the beaten track; the Great Wall and its exhilarating walk; and Halong Bay. You can't beat sharing an emormous chinese junk with a couple of mates and eight staff, surroundeded by the magical & mysterious scenery (read: cloudy) and do kyaking for the first time. We were able to eat the tastiest and most interesting and outlandish food in the world (Japan takes the biscuit with the mini squid in dumplings and octopus tentacle. Yum.)
And after the adventure when we're back at home, back to the grind, commuting, rush hours and willing the sun to shine, it feels like a dream. But I will always now have those amazing experiences, fabulous memories, a great relationship and a couple of holiday snaps thrown in.

Ben
It's been a blast, it really really has. I've had the most exquisite time wandering through South East & East Asia, meeting interesting and fascinating folk, experiencing lots of simply divine food and finally seeing, in the flesh as it were, some of the planet's truly beautiful sites. I've learnt a lot about the World and the odd little people who inhabit it, I've learnt more about myself and the way I cope (or don't cope as the case may be) with life's little eventualities and I've fallen in love with Beth all over again. This trip has given me so much and cost me so little in the grand scheme of things. Just four short months is all I had to pay for the memories I've picked up. And yet it doesn't matter how much I've got from all this there is still one undeniable truth. I still don't like bloody tofu.

Tokyo

2006-04-29T02:50:00.000+01:00

Tokyo, Tokyo. Wherefore art thou Tokyo. It's a funny ol' place this and one I can't help but feel we would've got more out of if we'd come here first, fresh off a 13hour flight, fighting jet-lag and finding ourselves bombarded by the sensory overload. As it happens it's very similar to any other city in the developed World... or so we thought. At first glance this is true and it's also true to say that for the majority of the daytime we have struggled to find things to do, (if you live in a city you tend to be at work or at home during the day afterall), that are either cheap or don't involve shopping in any way. There 'aint much, unless you wanna go see temples or shrines but frankly we've had our fill of those. So, desperate to take our leave of our slightly cabbagey room, we've taken to wandering the streets in search of the the Tokyo we'd been looking forward to meeting.
It would seem that Tokyo exists very much in the detail. As a city it's pretty much the same as everywhere else but it's the finer points that make it 'alien' and individual. The people go about their daily lives like all others but where else can you see gangs of suited business men bowing profusely to one another when they part company, where else will you see groups of girls walking the streets in impossibly ridiculous heels or dressed as dolls, where else will you see attendants guiding drivers into carparks as if it were a ancient and venerated ritual. The only people more insanely dressed here than the girls are the boys. I've never seen ginger hair, cowboy boots or ripped jeans worn with such vigour. They love it the boys here, it's like they're all living out a Manga-esque, James Dean International Playboy fantasy.

There's loads of vending machines everywhere dispensing key-chains and mobile phone dangles of characters from anything from Disney to Manga cartoons and it was in these and some of the better toy shops that I sought to find the perfect robot. I found a good one, not perfect mind, but good.

Tokyo is apparently the place in Japan to have sushi, (something Beth wanted to try properly), and so on Friday we headed off to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market to take in the ambience, marvel at the sheer variety of fish on offer and maybe grab ourselves some pukka sushi for lunch. Some of the creatures on sale at the stalls would've had graown men running for the hills in terror if they weren't dead, I tell you. All manner of beady eyes stare out from glass tanks at you and tentacles thrash out of buckets to grab your ankles and drag unsuspecting shoppers to a watery grave. Okay, I made that last bit up but if it had happened I would't have been surprised.

Anyhow, we'll be heading home from Tokyo soon, back to our sofa, bed and fridge. Back to walks along the seafront, talking to friends instead of e-mailing them, fretting over money, popping on a DVD, knowing what we're eating, wearing smart clothes, using toliet paper with gay abandon, Pat, visiting Waitrose, sausages, Marmite, proper tea - none of this green tea crap, the squarking of seagulls, weekends, beautiful parks and gardens, trees, Mabel our car, Dave our plant, Steve our hoover, music... oh God music, normal sweet music with a tune and no 'pingy-tingy' noise or screechy-screechy lyrics, knowing where my pants are, not living out of a bag, family and popping out with friends to the wonderful, beauiful, glorious pub.
But before we go, here's a little present for the lads. A highly exclusive pair of beauiful, firm melons.

They're 82 pounds!

Some things about the Japanese

2006-04-27T03:23:00.000+01:00

Japan is that kind of place that despite being in the East the culture is so Westernised that it feels a bit like being in London or Croydon or even Slough. There are however a few cultural differences that need to be noted:

All Japanese embrace technology, from young to old, the mobile is king, but when you see how long it takes to write a text in Japanese you realise why they spend so long on their phones, If they are not texting they are playing a game. All mobiles are 'clam-shell' mobiles but they are really, really cool. and the thinner and more angular the better. All phones MUST have at least 3 'dangles' hanging off them. I believe these are 'lucky charms' but everyone has them, young to old. Some people's dangles are larger than the phone itself.

All Japanese girls are 'Kookie'. Socks up to the knees, feet turned in, dangles hanging off mobile phones, teddies hanging off bags. A new fashion seems to be dressing like 'Little Bo Peep' and we have seen several other nursery rhyme characters wandering around the cities.

Ladies Shoes should be as high, pointy and sparkly as possible. The style of which would look more than a bit 'Sharonny' on any Westerner. The problem is that most Japanese ladies have wide, flat, turned in feet, hence they are unable to walk in said shoes.

Saying that though, the Japanese have a tendancy to look very cool. They can get away with a dress code that no Western person would ever dare. Hats are pretty much obligatory on the 25 to 35 year old casuals, knee high socks do look great, orange hair would appear to be the way forward. I am even warming to drainpipe jeans. In my book, Little Bo Peep is still a definate No-No though.

When posing for a photograph it is essential to make a 'PEACE V' sign with your fingers. No photo is complete without one. Apparently.

Politeness. The Japanese are more English than the English as far as politeness goes. Queueing is essential even when boarding the tube, you should stand in designated queuing spots. Politeness is paramount and bowing is as natural as breathing. People bow if they check your train ticket, say hello, give you your change, or just step in front of you on a busy street.

Japanese men are not small. This is an urban myth. In fact, in Tokyo most of them are positively tall. However, most entrances are small. Ben has been caught out by the small doorways many times over the last few weeks and is now not quite right in the head because of them. However, the small doorways are not, as he thought, there simply to annoy him, but rather because you should bow as you enter a room.

Falling asleep. We have seen many sleeping Japanese. In the most unusual places. The arcade, (where you need to shout to be heard), slumped against the fruit machine, in the ATM room outside the post office, in the foyer at the Park Hyatt. These sleeping japanese are usually suited and booted.

Pinging. Everything pings at you. All the time. Escalators, doors, pedestrian crossings, lifts, loo seats, trains, shop, toys, etc. And for no discernable reason other than just that they can.

Arcades Are full all the time, with kids at the weekend and with business men during the week. There seems to be a spending problem. People have more money than is strictly neccessary and feel the need to spend it on computer games, (shooting, football, fighting, DJ-ing, drumming, guitarring, gambling, slot machines, one arm bandits, casino), everything in this country is made into a computerised game. Including darts. No doubt there will be a 'sleeping in a busy arcade' game soon.

Talking and communicating. Everytime you enter a shop or restaurant, you are welcomed with the words 'irasshai' or 'irasshaimase', (May I help You), and although it may be obvious to the Japanese person that you are Western and have no grasp whatsoever of the Japanese language, anyone you come across will chat away to you in Japanese. I have taken it upon myself to chat away back to them in English. We have no idea what each other is saying, but at least the pleasantries are being taken seriously. For all I know our conversation may actually make some sense.

The are no bins. Anywhere.

Loo Culture. The Japanese have embraced the western style toilet in a way that should make any European thoroughly ashamed of themselves. The majority of Western style toilets are fitted with a seat warmer and 'bidet' settings. Spray, shower, osccilating, drying. I'm surprised there isn't a 'wipe with soft Andrex' setting. It has become so natural to have a warm seat that I actually jumped when I sat on a cold one.

Baseball and The Park Hyatt

2006-04-25T02:49:00.000+01:00

We'd booked an over night stop at a lovely Ryokan, (Japanese guesthouse), called 'Ryokan Katsutaro Annex' in Ueno district as a way of getting out of Takayama and into Tokyo a few days early. The place was great, the owners were very friendly and actually apologised to us that our fantastic room with TV, private bathroom and tea & coffee making facilities wasn't bigger. With a nice room to come back to we took our first steps into Tokyo and ended up at a baseball match of all things. Baseball is huge in Japan, it was introduced in 1873 and, after Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig visited in 1934 the Yomiuri started it's own team, The Giants are still Japan's most popular team and it was this team we were to see play the Hinsahn Tigers.

Neither Beth nor I know the slightest thing about baseball, our evening was full of comments like, "So is it like rounders where you can...", and "What's he doing now? Is he supposed to wiggle his bottom like that?", so we were really there just to soak up the atmosphere and try something new. At first we were positioned in the standing-room only section, jostling with the Japanese for a view of the pitch and trying not to spill our beers but three quarters of the way in a highly lovely couple appeared at our shoulders and offered us their tickets as they were just leaving. We thanked them profusely and walked down to our new seats closer to the action. Even if you don't watch the game there's plenty to keep you interested including the pretty young girls walk up and down the aisles carrying vats of beer on their backs and dispensing it from a nozzle 'Ghostbusters' style into plastic cups. Every so often play stops and the cheerleaders pop out to shake their booties whilst grown men dressed as animals fire t-shirts into the crowd from huge slingshots. Then they go back in and play resumes as if nothing untoward had just occured. It was all hugely exciting and we both came out grinning like idiots.

The following moring we packed up our bags, prepared ourselves to feel vastly underdressed and headed off for two nights at the Park Hyatt Hotel Tokyo where we'd booked ourselves a Deluxe King room as there were no ordinary King rooms left. From the moment we arrived we were treated like Kings. It was chuffin' brilliant. Everyone bowed and bid us 'Konichiwa Mr. Catchpole-san', (or something like that), our bags were whipped out of our hands and we were placed in the care of a highly charming man called Adrian who treated us like the Beckhams'.
The room was something else, about the size of our flat it contained the biggest bathroom I've ever had the pleasure of using, (including a sci-fi loo that had a heated seat, bidet and dryer function built in), a 32 inch plasma tv and entertainment unit, a dressing room, electric curtains, mini-bar and electric curtaains. We relaxed into our complimentary kimono robes & slippers immediately, popped on some music and let ourselves sink in to the luxurious bed linen. The view from the window, (we were on the 47th floor) took in the urban sprawl of Tokyo and, had the weather been better, we would've been able to see Mount Fuji in the distance. I don't believe that in the past four months I've been more relaxed than looking out over that view from such a beautifully tranquil room.
That first afternoon we ventured out and discovered in the basement a brilliant Deli and patisserie where we took lunch and bought some bits 'n bobs for a private supper in our room with the wine we'd got earlier from the local supermarket. After this we headed back, (we wanted to spend as much time in the room as possible - understandable I think), to make use of the room's DVD player and to watch several of the hooky DVDs we'd acquired on our travels.
After a heavy stint of DVD watching we felt in need of some exercise so we headed up to the pool where we swam for a bit and I weighed up the pros and cons of using the running machine against going back to the room to soak in the plunge bath whilst watching the TV in the bathroom. Guess which path I chose.

The following day we did much the same only leaving the room to marvel at the lovely, (and expensive), restaurants within the hotel and to wander aimlessly around the area. To our surprise we came across a lovely little exhibition of graphic art and a Conran shop in the same building.
That night we gave the 'New York Grill Bar' a miss, (it's the one Bill Murray & Scarlet Johensen use at the very top of the hotel in the film), as it involved a 10 pound cover charge each before you'd even bought a drink, and opted for the cover-charge-free bar on the 41st floor. The view was no less impressive and we whiled away our evening drinking cocktails and eating the complimentary nuts.
After two nights of this level of luxury you'll understand why we were so sorry to have to leave the following day. We took in one last swim and a bath and basked in the comfort of the room until 12 when we had to leave.
We were heading to Ikebukoro prefecture to stay in another Ryokan for five nights.

Fuji and the Shinkansen

2006-04-24T06:29:00.000+01:00

We saw Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen (tilting train). It looked exactly how it is supposed to look with a fresh sprinkling of snow from the previous day. Except that the foreground was slightly marred by the urban sprawl that is part of Honshu's landscape.

Oh, and we bought a Bento Box on the train. It was really tasty.

The Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Festival)

2006-04-23T05:24:00.000+01:00

Whilst in Takayama we popped our little botties onto a train and headed for neighbouring Furukawa to catch a big event on the local calendar, the somewhat mystifying 'Hakada Matsuri' or 'Naked Festival'. Well with a name like that it would've been stoopid to have not gone wouldn't it. The streets are decked with bunting and paper lanterns are hung from the lampposts. All along the length of the high street stalls appear selling toys that light up and whistle, others offering children the chance to win a fish if they can pick up a plastic duck out of a bucket of water with a mini fishing rod and a few selling masks and badges. Intermingled with these are a vast array of stalls selling all manner of tasty treats from candy-floss and chocolate coated bananas, through okonomiyake to fried chicken tendons. (I think I inadvertently bought some of these.) It's much like a fairground or festival in any other town really.

The highlight of the festival is the Okoshi Daiko, when boistrous young men parade around town at night in loincloths, (or more realistically - big nappies), drinking sake and banging drums attached to what resembles a huge cotton bud then climbing to the top of said cotton bud and balancing by their stomach whilst clapping and yelling. It was hilarious!

After this madness has died down a bit a load of nappy-clad chaps hoist themselves onto a kind of raft bearing one huge drum whereby they tie two of their number onto the drum and they then proceed to ride around town banging the drum, surfing almost, on a sea of people. It's all very strange. But bloody good fun to watch.

Takayama

2006-04-22T02:48:00.000+01:00

Well what can we say about Takayama... Nothing great I'm afraid to say. The guide book had lead us to believe that we'd be arriving in a beautiful Alpine village full of old Japanese houses surrounded by picturesque mountains and forests. In truth it's just like anywhere else we've seen in in Japan, but a bit colder. Everywhere in Japan is developed or developing. There's precious little countryside left even in areas such as Takayama in what's known as 'the Japanese Alps'. From our train window you can see the true extent of urbanisation as the one city blurs into the next and houses and commercial properties sprawl right up to the foot of the surrounding mountains. The weather so far in Japan has been shocking, far from the stable Spring weather Japan usually enjoys at this time of year, it's been devilishly cold & rainy. We also saw snow for the first time here in Takayama which lightened our mood for a spell.

There's one quite funky little street that's been 'preserved' and provides you with a great image of how people used to live in Japan. Unfortunately the image is rather mired by the fact that a lot of these ancient homes have now become shops selling tourist tat and rice crackers. We were staying at Minshuku Kuwataniya but what we didn't realise is that when it said that it had a shared 'hot-spring bath' it meant that that was the only washing option. So every morning I had to drag myself off to the bathroom where I followed tradition and sat on a little plastic stool and showered in the company of other men. Fortunately, being an early riser, I managed to avoid embarrasment by getting in early and getting the stool all to myself. The bath itself was cold.
The guide book said that Takayama was a small town and that you can walk across it in 25 minutes. We quickly realised that this was code for 'you can do everything of any interest in 25 minutes' and it wasn't more than two days before we were planning our trip out. Unfortunately this is holiday season in Japan and pretty much everywhere is booked and/or highly expensive so we decided to sit tight for a few more days and head to Tokyo early.
We did however go to see a rather beautiful historic village just outside of town called 'Hida-No-Santo' which is an open air museum piece comprising of a couple of dozen of traditional dwellings that had been dismantled and moved here from their original locations throughout the region. It's a fascinating look at the old way of life here in Japan and the buildings themselves are mostly of the wonderfully beautiful 'Gassho-Zukuri' type. A style of architecture developed to combat the pressure of heavy snow-fall and is typified by the steeply slanted straw roof. The name derives from the Japanese word for praying as the roof is said to resemble hands clasped together in prayer. Inside the houses it's easy to imagine how cold they would have been, there's precious little furniture and, as in all traditional Japanese homes, they'd sleep on tatami mats on the floors. Another unusual feature is the absence of a chimney, the smoke from the fire was used to 'cure' the wooden eaves and hel prevent insect infection. Clever people these Japanese.

Food wise we were okay, Japanese food really is a delight. The Hida region is home to Hida beef, a meat that's beginning to rival the famous Kobe beef for it's excellence and taste. We tried the beef, (cooked on a magnolia leaf with miso paste), in a wonderfully peaceful restaurant run by two slightly mad old Japanese women. It really is delicious.
As the weather drew in and our interest-level waned we spent more and more time in our room playing 'Scrabble', trying not to spend any more money and bidding our time until we could head to Tokyo. To pick ourselves up out of the duldrums we'd decided to treat ourselves and booked two nights in the Park Hyatt Hotel, made famous of course by being the setting of the 2003 film 'Lost In Translation'.

Just a quick addition...

2006-04-18T03:26:00.000+01:00

to our Kyoto post... For our last night we decided to head to a funky restaurant serving modern Japanese food called Grotto. It was absolutely amazing. We sat downstairs at a long counter where the chefs prepare the nine courses for you. Yep, you heard right people, NINE COURSES! They're all small courses thank God but very filling none the less. The head, (rather chubby), chef and owner sat us down and then dished out our food whilst telling us what each one was. It was so nice to get that kind of treatment and to have all this wonderfully presented food explained to us.
Here's what we had.

1) Cold pea soup with sesame pudding
2) Tuna sashimi (raw) with anchovy mayonnaise, salad leaves & fried garlic
3) Potatoe dumpling with a baby octopus inside & pickled wild grass
4) Thick ginger soup with snapper, cabbage & parma ham
5) A tasting plate of 7 different bits including an egg & asparagus omlette, eel sushi & Chinese pork spring roll
6) Tempura veg wrapped in sea bass in a fish stock
7) Poached beef & bamboo shoots & spinach
8) Rice with whole baby shrimp with pickled seaweed, mini flour dumplings in lemongrass soup
9) Strawberry ice-cream with wild leaf cake & Cream custard in a caramelised brown sugar & vinegar sauce.

To wash it down we opted for a glass of shochu on the rocks followed by a cool nama biiru, (draft beer). We left Kyoto very happy.

Kyoto

2006-04-16T07:16:00.000+01:00

Kyoto hit us hard after the wonderfull time we'd had in Hiroshima. It's a much larger city and seems impersonal as a result. It didn't help that when we arrived, (after a brilliant trip on a bullet train), the weather was frankly shockingly cold and very rainy which dampened not only our clothes but our spirits too.
We'd been told that Kyoto is the proverbial jewel of Japan and that thecherry blossom wold be in full effect so we were rather disappointed to find that it was on it's way out and that it looked a little drab against a grey sky. Our mood dropped a little further when we quickly realised that, unlike in Hiroshima, this was not a city to wander in. Everyone says that Kyoto is beautiful and, maybe we didn't see it in it's best light or maybe we weren't at our best, but we just didn't really 'get it'. It just seemed like any other big, sprawling, expensive city.
That said we have had some wonderful days here wandering around the ancient temples and eating fine food. We took the 'Path of Philosophy' from just behind our accommodation which, by the way, is a charming traditionalstyle Japanese house run by a very un-traditional mix of an American, a Scot & a Japanese woman, which boosted our spirits. It's a gentle stroll along a river and through toriis and shrines hidden in the woodland.

The river is bordered by cherry blossom trees and Japanese couples were out in force vying for a decent spot to have their picture taken arm in arm. The blossom really does add a wonderfully 'serene' quality to everything and I'm glad we've been able to catch it before it goes. Japan practically worships the blossom and it's appearance sends the nation in to a kind of frenzy, lovers sit under it, old women chat, men discuss things with their friends and groups lay out blue tarpaulins and picnic beneath it.
Unfortunately you do tend to get herded around the temples and the shrines and you're always accommpanied by large Japanese tour groups and before you know it youre back out on the street where you started. It made us realise why the Japanese tourists behaved the way they did throughout S.E. Asia, even in their own country they're corraled together and they beetle off taking pictures of each other in front of trees, rocks, toriis & shrines.

There's no sense of 'breathing in' a historic or venerable place just the need to visit it to tick it off their list.
It was here that we really started to miss home, the crap weather and the high cost made us very melancholy and we wished we could drop everything and head away from the rain to a small Greek island to get a tan and drink wine.
Luckily the rain eased off after a few days and Kyoto was once again looking good so we jumped on a bus and headed off to see the highly bling 'Golden Temple', (it really is all gold!), and a famous rock garden. The garden is a perfect example of the Zen philosophy as you can only see 14 rocks from any position which are placed within an immaculately raked gravel 'garden'. If one sits in contemplation one can see within the garden whatever you wish to see. A magical 15th rock should also appear once you've reached your spiritual zenith. We know it's there, we looked at the model. Here's the highly serene and zen-like garden.

To banish our homesickness we headed to an Irish pub, (called 'Tadgers' or something), to grab a taste of home and a Sunday roast. It was rubbish.

Miyajima day trip

2006-04-10T06:36:00.000+01:00

To break the monotony and in a bid to escape the crap wether we took a day trip to Miyajima, a wee island 45 minutes away by train. The island is home to what's known as Japan's third best attraction, a huge wooden 'torii' or gate that, when the tide is high, sits out at sea in a small bay. The tide was low however so the magnificent torii was mud-locked and all around it elderly Japanese folk dug and rooted around in the mud for cockles. All over the island wild deer run, or more truthfully sit, free and there's many warnings urging visitors to be careful as the deer have a tendancy to eat bag straps and boat tickets. We witnessed first hand a gang of deer attempting to eat a poor Japanese rickshaw driver... and his rickshaw.

The island is pretty small and we took a cable car up to the top to get a clear view of the rest of the archipelago. There are monkeys up there that also eat unsuspecting tourists but luckily they were off having their lunch. The view is great as was the walk back down through the trees that Beth & I took instead of paying 1000000000pounds to ride the car back down.

Hiroshima

2006-04-09T07:35:00.000+01:00

We arrived in Japan at Hiroshima not really knowing what to expect. Of all the places we've visited, Japan conjures up the strongest images in our minds. Images of Geishas tripping down streets, goth & cyberpunk styled kids playing with their mobiles while impossibly stylish young ladies totter around in expensive high-heels and old men bow to anyone and everyone. As it happens most of this is true it would seem. The Japanese are amazingly friendly, peacefull, stylish and desperately polite. From the moment we touched down we were treated so well that it made our head spin. This even applies to the 'friendly' customs official who, on seeing us wobbling through cutoms under the weight of our backpacks, politely dragged us off to one side and proceeded, politely, to root through all our stuff. They're so unused to seeing backpackers, (understandable considering the cost of this place), that they didn't really know what to do. The hooky DVDs we'd bought didn't bother them but they got quite confused over my sterile medical kit and syringes especially when they misheard me explaining that it was a 'sterile' kit and thought I'd said 'steroid'.
A bus journey later and we were in our hotel, it was only a simple 'Comfort Hotel' but we'd managed to get it on the cheap through the nice lady at the tourist information office. It was a mere 35pounds a night and not the 50pounds that we were probably going to have to get used to spending. It's amazing how expensive it is here. Probably no more so than at home but the difference is that you don't have to buy three meals a day everyday at home. We'd gotten used to being wealthy in S.E. Asia and here we were right back to where we are at home money-wise. Suddenly our accommodation budget had shot from $15 dollars a night to anything from 50quid up! On the plus side our room did have a cube-like bathroom and a toilet with a built in bidet that washed your bum with hot water. The hotel also had vending machines for instant noodles and beer! This was obviously a highly classy establishment.
There's also vending machines on pretty much every street corner selling pop, hot or cold cans of coffee and the humourously named beverage 'Pacori Sweat'.
Anyhow, we settled in to Hiroshima very easily indeed. It's a fantastic city with a brilliant small-town feel to it. It's just like any other city in that you can get everything you want and the transport allows you to go whereever you want, whenever you want and yet it's small enough to get to know in a couple of days. It's also rapidly becoming a very trendy area as more and more funky bars, (the kind you'd be pleased of in Brighton or London), and boutiques open up. The best thing about it is that these places are still relatively quiet and uncrowded as Hiroshima itself is a very peacefull town. The streets are lined with the uber-cool Japanese and we felt more than a little dour wandering about in our big 'North Face' coats and heavy walking shoes.
The first thing we did here was to visit the infamous 'A-Bomb Dome' & 'Peace Museum'. The dome is the old Prefecture building and was one of the only buildings left standing after the Americans dropped 'Little Boy' from the 'Enola Gay' directly above it back in 1945. It now stands as a reminder of the destructive power of nuclear and atomic weapons and it's a strangley beautiful sight as it sits there in the peace of the park bordered by the river and surrounded by cherry blossoms and families picnicing.
The Peace Museum is a more sombre affair as it charts the history of Japan & Hiroshima up until that terrible day and it's aftermath. The people of Hiroshima have taken it upon themselves to work towards a nuclear weapon free World and every year they hold an event to commemorate the destruction of Hiroshima and make the 'Peace Declaration'. In the entrance foyer to the museum there is a huge clock that counts the days since the last nuclear test and it resets everytime a new test is made. It was pretty startling to see that it was only at 40 odd days. The Hiroshimans(?) take all this in their stride and, though they are aware of their cities unique place in history, they're a very vibrant and upbeat people.
After the drama of the dome & museum a walk in the park was just what we needed and just what we did. We also walked the streets pausing only to press our faces up against the windows of high class and very stylish shoe and hat shops like hungry school kids. Beth mentally bought about a thousand pounds worth of shoes whilst walking from the park to the bar. The bar in question was called 'KOBA', this won't mean anything to those of you who aren't from Brighton but it made us feel a little closer to home as we sat in the bar and chatted to the bar man and his mate about the coincidence. He also introduced us to 'shochu', no, that's not his mate but a variation on 'sake' taht's apparently coming back into fashion with the young Japanese. It used to be the drink of choice for the drunks and the disillusioned but now, thanks to places like KOBA, it's on the up again. There are lots of different types made from things like rice, leaves and sweet potatoes, our fave was one distilled from brown sugar. We developed quite a taste for shochu over the next few days.
We also indulged in a local speciality called 'Okonomiyaki'. It translates as litterally 'cook anything you like' and it comes in the form of a pancake stuffed with cabbage, noodles and meat or fish that's cooked in front of you on a hot-plate and then smothered in a kind of brown sauce and eaten hot and it's absolutely bloody delicious!

Over the next few days the weather deteriorated a bit and the blue skies were replaced with clouds and outbreaks of rain so we spent a fair bit of time in shops looking at robots and wandering through the many arcades watching in awe as kids bashed away with perfect timing and lightning reflexes on some kind of crazy Japanese drum-based game of skill.

That night Beth & I bit the bullet and popped into a very Japanesey noodle shop and did lots of pointing at the menu & miming of animals until I got a lovely ramen noodle soup and Beth got some utterly great tempura shrimp & veg, with cold noodles which the waitress old her she had to dip into her pot of soy sauce.
All in all it was a great introducton to Japan and we left for Kyoto in very high spirits.

Beijing

2006-04-05T06:22:00.000+01:00

...is a queer sort of a place. On first inspection it's like any big city, only it seems spread out a lot more and someone, (possibly the government), appears to have coated the entire place in dust and dirt. It really is filthy. It didn't help that the weather wasn't great and just added to the whole 'musty' feel. For the first time since we left home we felt like we were actually 'travelling' and having to fend for ourselves. The first obstacle we encountered was finding an ATM machine, this we did with great aplomb by pushing our debit card into an imaginary slot and rubbing our finger and thumb together to recreate the internationally recognised symbol for 'cash' whilst a bemused security guard looked on. Eventually we stumbled across a cab driver who knew what we were after.
Cashed up and in a cab we headed to the Far East International Hostel where we were dumped by a tiny side street as cars can't actually drive down the street it's in. Having no idea where we were or how to communicate this I'm ashamed to say I had a bit of a paddy. Luckily two passing Aussies saw our plight and took us to the Hostel where we checked in to a room that, and maybe I'm being over generous here after Hong Kong, was so big we could actually pass one another on the way to the toilet.
That night we headed off into the streets of Beijing to find the renowned Li Quin Duck House, Beijing's finest purveyors of Peking Duck. Beth was practically salivating at the thought of the crispy duck pancakes as we wandered around down more and more residential streets trying to find the damn place. We were about to give up when like a sign from God three pissed up Beijing business dudes stumbled past and I spotted a handy sign on the fornt of a tri-shaw leading us on.
Inside the place was pandemonium. It's set in a roofed courtyard behind a run down old house in the corner of an unmarked street. Clearly everyone in there was celebrating just finding the place and the duck was flowing nearly as quickly as the beer. as you enter you're confronted with a wee chef working away in front of a huge brick oven and the smell of duck roasting over wood and herbs wafts over you tantalisingly as you stand in line admiring the pictures of the owner with various ambassadors and Geoff Hoon.

Once seated they roast a whole duck for you and then bring it up to your table to look at, much as a sommelier would do with a bottleof wine. I was tempted to run my finger along it's back, give it a lick and nod with aproval. They then cut it into slices and bring it back to you with a stack of pancakes, chopped cucumber & spring onion, and plum sauce. The duck is so moist and delicious that from the moment it arrived until we finished our plates we literally didn't utter a word. We went to bed happy.
The following day we headed off with a billion other assorted Chinese and tourists to visit Tiananmen Square. We'd been told, by the guidebook, that tourists often feel uncomfortable confronted by such a massive display of governmental power as the square but frankly I couldn't see it. For a start I'm sure it would've been more impossing if someone hadn't decided to build Chairman Mao's mausoleum smack in the middle of it. After the square we headed off to take in the infamous Forbidden City.

Here we got shafted as we'd been told that the audio tour guide was narrated by none other than Roger Moore but it turned out to be some unknown woman.

I wanted Roger! Despite this initial dissapointment we strolled around the Forbidden City marvelling at the fact that most of it was closed and covered in scaffolding, the sheer number of Japanese tour groups and the fact that it didn't feel in the least bit impossing, ancient or forbidden. Maybe we've become a little blase having seen so many historical sights in the last three months.
After the Forbidden City we stumbled into a park and into a Chinese tea house. Here we were served tea the traditional way by two young ladies. I was very happy. The tea was good and it was interesting to learn how tea is served and how it should be drunk. Women should hold their cup in a dainty fashion with just their thumb & forefinger, (symbolsing the phoenix and beauty), whereas men hold it in the full fist like a bear, strong and powerful. We slurrped away merrily and very nearly bought some had Beth not pointed out that we could probably pick some up in the shops for a third as much. They had nice teapots though.

We decided to head up to what's fast becoming the 'trendy' drinking area in Beijing which turned out to be remarkably like Hoxton. Funky bars line the streets and there's a very new looking lakeside development of cafe/bars & restaurants. We grabbed lunch here and had a beer or two whilst watching the young trendy Beijingers wander past. In the middle of our lunch and people watching, who should stroll past but Boris Johnson. I kid you not.

Beijing is a crazy place, it feels like it's on the cusp of a radical change. There's suddenly a kind of freedom for it's young citizens and there's a general feeling of renewal in the air. Kids walk around sporting designer label clothes and traditional dress whilst chatting on their mobiles outside funky bars. Maybe it's my ignorance of their troubled history or maybe it's just that a lot of places we've visited in the last three months have felt a bit like this, but I didn't really take it in as much as I feel I should've.

The following day we left bright and early on a rubbish coach to go visit 'The Great Wall'. A wall which apparently never worked as a barrier to the Monguls as they just bribed the sentries. A wall, which was once China's ultimate way of protecting itself and keeping people out, that is now used as a symbol of the new 'open' China on it's tourist visas.

The wall is seriously impressive. It stretches out for miles, (5000km to be precise), meandering over the crests of hills befor swooping down into valleys, disappearing momentarily from view. It snakes off in front and behind along the whole vista of China that spreads out before you. It's huge and impossing and we had to walk 10km of it in under four hours. Didn't seem too difficult to us either whilst we were stood booking it in the travel centre but, let me tell you, it's not easy when you have to clamber up loose rock, crumbling stone and steps that are so tiny that I could barely get my big toe on them.
We'd avoided Badaling and opted for the non-touristy part that runs between Simatai and Jinshanling which turned out to be a great choice as we had whole swathes of the wall to our little group of five, oh, and the various Chinese folk who kept joining us to try and flog us water, t-shirts and postcards. There really is no escape.
We walked and chatted, stopping every so often for snaps and a breather in a guard tower, marvelling at the scale of the thing and the astonishingly beautiful scenery around us.

It's such a remote area and it's so mercifully peaceful that it seems impossible to imagine the tourist nightmare that is the Badaling section. (Apparently they have camel rides there. Camel rides!). Damn windy though.
The following day we visited the Temple of Heavan Gardens in the rain and Beth made friends with a woman on a stall selling wafers and bought a bag of them which we munched whilst wandering back to the hotel. The temperature had dropped mightily and we spent a whole fiver each on a pair of North Face coats in the local shop.

The journey to Beijing

2006-04-02T06:21:00.000+01:00

From Hong Kong we boarded a train to make the 25 hourjourney to Beijing. We'd lashed the cash a bit and opted for the deluxe soft-sleeper option which got us a berth to ourselves complete with hot water, doilies, an illuminated message board displaying only in Chinese and a seemingly 'un-switch-offable' soundtrack of Chinese pipe music. Thankfully I worked out how to switch this off after about an hour. Anyhow, the cabin was great and we were highly thankfull that we didn't have to worry about anyone else in our small box which was to be our home for the next full day. China raced passed us at breakneck speed for most of the journey as we tucked into our feast of the old favourite Dairylea and ham sarnies, crisps, instant noodles, (which were surprisingly nice), choccie bics and a nice cheap bottle of red. Fortune had smiled on me that shopping trip and had blessed me with a small pot of 'Marmite' which we had for brekkie so everything was right in the World.
Eventually we pulled into Beijing station and set about trying to find ourlves a cash machine & a taxi to take us to our hotel.

Hong Kong

2006-04-01T07:15:00.000+01:00

After the Old World beauty of Vietnam, Hong Kong comes as quite a shock. Like London, New York or Paris but with a million times as many Burberry, Louis Vuitton & Tiffany's & Co. outlets, a chav's heaven. Although a heaving and pulsating city it's deathly silent in comparison to the streets of Vietnam. Orderly lights help you cross the road and the futuristic public transport network is clean, (eating and drinking on the tube, buses or trams is banned), and delay-free. Though by far the biggest shock was the cost. We have been wealthy these past 3 months in S.E. Asia and we are now back to feeling like paupers sneaking about amongst the wealthy designer clad Hong Kongites, who are exceedingly well groomed at all times. Another mistake we made was accidentally arriving during the 'Rugby Sevens' THE biggest event hosted annualy by Hong Kong that attracts all the rugger buggers from far Western climes. The bars were packed, everyone talking rugger and everything had increased in price by 50%.
The room we had booked - the most expensive yet - was inside the rather incongrousy named 'Mirador Mansions'. The name is more than a little misleading. The 'Mansions' are in fact an emormous block housing what can only be described as a labyrinth the scale of which the ancient Greeks would be proud of. Shops, restaurants and way to many hostels to be healthy are confined within these bleak and crumbly walls. On arrival we were led to our twin room and marvelled at the size whilst the owner apologetically explained that the hot water was broken and would we like to stay there tonight anyway? The room was aproximately 5' x 7' but it was okay because it did include a 24" TV and a 'bathroom'. The bath was about 2' long with the sink situated over the toilet. We dumped our bags and found the recommended 'Lee Gardens Guesthouse'. Although much the same set up, the rooms were brighter and the building block slightly less oppresive with a fabulously friendly old Chinese owner called Charly Chan and, although a shared bathroom, we jumped at the chance to change rooms the following night.

Now that we could settle ourselves for the next few days, we started exploring Hong Kong. It looks exactly like it does on the tin. As most shops, bars and restaurants are hidden within the confines of towering blocks, the streets are jam packed with neon signs advertising the myriad treasures that lie within the interiors of the buldings. 'Lee Garden guesthouse', (for those who are interested), is on the 8th floor (8/F) whilst there may be a dim sum restaurant or a tea house on the 2/F and a foot massage parlour on the 3/F. Whilst most other city's shop depend largely on passing trade, you really need to know what you are looking for here. It is also the best place in Asia to stock up on essentials and Ben made sure he got lots of packets of 'Percy Pigs'from M&S to keep him going.
That first evening we found a bar in Kowloon and slowly drank our very expensive lager whilst watching the sun set and the lights come on over on Hong Kong Island.
The weather was slightly disappointing and very hazy, but we still managed a walk around the Peak, accessed by the funicular tram. We really fancied a sandwich and bought some bread, 'Dairylea' and 'Bernard Matthews Turkeyham' from a supermarket along with some pickled onion flavour 'Monster Munch' and 'Quavers' for an impromptu picnic.

From the top there are great views of Hong Kong Island's Central district as well as the harbour and out towards Kowloon. The days passed quickly and on our third night we made friends with a lovely bunch of American Graphic designers who all work for Nike here in Hong Kong. Several Hoegaardens, and tequilla shots later they parted with some staff 30% discount cards for us as well as lots of insider knowledge about the city, (Don't stay longer than 2 nights, was one very useful comment). To nurse our hangovers the following morning we had THE best English breakfast in the World let alone Asia at 'The Flying Pan'. Tammy the American owner is very prowd of Hong Kong and gave us loads of tips about how else we could spend our time in this crazy city.

Hong Kong was nice an' all that but it confused us a bit and made us look forward even more to ournext stop, Beijing.

Hanoi (Goodbye to Vietnam)

2006-03-31T06:51:00.000+01:00

From our luxury trip in Halong Bay, we headed back to the headaches and intensity of Hanoi. The air pressure is heavy and the streets are loud and massively over-crowded. Hassle follows you and pounces on you at every corner. The phrases "Motorbike?" or "Fake Rolex?" merge with the constant tooting of horns to become background noise after a while. We hid in an internet cafe supping coffe and blogging for most of the day but managed a couple of laps of the lake in an attempt to do some sight seeing. It's crazy, old people meet to chat or perform their exercises or Tai Chi and young lovers canoodle and hold hands whilst gazing out over the lake. In the midst of the chaos it really is an island of carm and humaity.

The old quarter was however, too much. The narrow streets are jammed with bikes, honking and blasting while women carrying yokes laden with fruit either hassle you to buy or failing that ask if you'd like a picture of them for a dollar. Beth panic-bought another dress late that evening just in case Vietnam really was the cheapest country on Earth and we headed off for our last dinner in Vietnam.

It was with a very heavy heart that we left Hanoi the following morning, Vietnam really is the most incredible place. The people are so wonderfully friendly and resourceful. It's a beautiful country with enough intrigue and a battered enough past to make it fascinating yet the Vietnamese harbour no grudges and are rushing, arms open, into a new World that seems to be embracing them. It's genuinely touched us and we've both learnt a lot from Vietnam and her people. I'd urge all to visit but then it'd just become another tourist haven like Thailand, so don't. In fact, ignore everything I've said for the last month.

Halong Bay

2006-03-30T06:42:00.000+01:00

From Sa Pa back to Hanoi we splashed out and took the funky 'wooden train'. Or more realistically, the normal train that had some wood panelled cabins. Once in Hanoi we again made straight for Handspan Tours and went through the now obligatory bargaining to get ourselves a reduced price for a tour to Halong Bay. It couldn't have worked out better if we'd tried. Because we were wanting to go within the hour they put us on a huge Chinese style 'Junk' by ourselves.
Just the four of us on this highly posh boat with two members of crew for each one of us. It was brilliant. We felt like lords & ladies of the sea. The boat itself was something straight out an Agatha Christie novel, all dark wood and rattan seats. The crew served up an impressive lunch while we gulped down glasses of chilled white wine and sat on the roof marvelling at our luck and gaping in wonder at the truly mesmerising karsts that sit like silent sentinels in the perfectly still blue water. I can safely say that it was one of the true highlights of our trip.

En route we stopped at a cave, (a popular tourist stop), which we all entered a little begrudgingly as we wanted to spend as much time as possible on the boat. We soon changed our minds however once we'd entered the monstrous cavern illuminated by coloured lights. It was vast. There's a real humbling sense of scale that washes over you when cnfronted by such huge natural things like this. You feel so tiny and insignificant. This cave had lain undiscovered for an eternity, how many more like it exist beneath our feet. It looked for all the World like a set from a 'James Bond' film or 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'. I half expected to see Doug Maclure being chased around by a highly unconvincing giant lizard, or stage hands wheeling fake boulders or complicated bits of machinery back and forth. We've become so used to seeing these vistas in films through CGI or constructed as sets by highly talented designers but it's only when you see them first hand and created completely naturally that you really pause to draw breath.

Back on the boat we decided to dress for dinner, (naked dining is always so off putting), and crack open another bottle of white. This turned into another, then another and then another as we buggered about teaching Huong, (our guide), the finer points of cheating at 'UNO'.
The following day we left our big boat behind and headed off on a smaller vessel to try a spot of kayaking. Sophie & Simon had one up on us as they had given it a go in New Zealand so they were raraing to go. Beth & I were nervous, (it's not exactly something we were desperate to try), and just a little hesitant when it came to actually getting in the kayak, (especially given Beth's unswerving ability to fall into water at any given moment), but once we got going we had a whale of a time. There were a few gripes along the lines of, "Why aren't you paddling Ben?", "No. Left then right Beth. Left THEN right.", "Steer Ben, there's a huge boat coming!", but after a brief stop to re-adjust my position and fiddle about with the rudder we cracked it and stormed off into the afternoon. We kayaked through the most beautifully peaceful and still waters looking at the coral and azure blue fish just beneath us. We popped into small bays under archways worn away by the sea and we paddled leisurely through floating villages whilst dogs barked at us. It was great. We wanted to do it more but sadly our day came to an abrupt close.
Unfortunately that night we weren't able to stay on the boat and ended up at a rather huge and utterly souless hotel on Cat-Ba Island. It really was plop. Nice rooms and everything but after the majesty of our own private boat...
Dinner again was good as was the decider in our 'UNO' championship but it was rather sad to think that it was our last night with Sophie & Simon. They had another two days kayaking planned whilst we had to head back to Hanoi for our onward trip to Hong Kong.
They joined us for brekkie the following morning and we said our goodbyes. Beth & I had our wonderful boat all to ourselves on the way back, we felt like Lord & Lady Bumrush to quote a friend, but it fely strangely empty without our travel buddies.

Sa Pa

2006-03-28T06:02:00.000+01:00

Just thought we'd start this post with a lovely pic of our friends and travelling companions Sophie & Simon. They're terribly sophisticated as you can see.

The two characters you see above became our travelling companions for the next week or so and the arrangements worked out fantastically. After a flight to Hanoi we were able to book a four berth sleeper cabin to the mountain town of Lao Cai, the end of the line and jumping off point for Sapa, thus avoiding sharing with strangers. As always in SE Asia making the arrangements was seamless although a whole cabin wasn't available when we booked. This wasn't a problem though as the ununiformed chap who tried to steal our tickets at the gate was in fact exchanging our seperated berths for a single cabin. We were all highly excitable by this point especially as Beth narrowly managed to escape having the credit card swallowed by an ATM, (she swears it was in there for a full five minutes with no hint of return). The cabin itself was pretty good and quite spacious considering it had four of us in it and after watching Sophie get lary on two cans of Tiger beer and making progressively more and more silly noises whilst playing 'UNO', we finally went to sleep in relative comfort. When we arrived in Sapa we made a beeline for the tour agents who were surprised that we wanted to head straight out onto a two day hike that very day.

This walk was completely awesome, (meant in the very British way & not the overused US way). The views of surrounding mountains and layered paddy fields, soon led into mountain paths and we felt like we were completely immersed in the 'real' Vietnam.

There are many hill tribe villages in this part of Vietnam, most of them living in the traditional way as they have done for the past 100 plus years. The only difference being that they obviously rely heavily on tourists for their income and don't let you get any peace. Even up here in the mountains of Sa Pa there was no escape from the women selling shite.
We walked and chatted and passed through villages of different tribes, the differences between them are highly noticable, even to us uninformed tourists, and they're sometimes highly dramatic. The Black H'Mong for example are the ones who hassle you in huge groups whilst you're perched precariously on the edge of a water & buffalo shit filled paddy field. They do it in good humour though and actually help by holding your hand to lead you, you just have to be careful that they don't surrepticiously slip a crap tin bangle on your wrist whilst doing it and charge you a fiver. The women dress in beautiful black traditional costume with little leg 'putteys' which are apparently supposed to 'bind' their calfs to stop them becoming too muscular and unatractive from all the walking they do. They were all very sweet and highly persistent and took a scarily intense interest in our Sophie.

We stayed in a 'Homestay', i.e. the home of a local, belonging to a member of the D'Zao tribe, a delightful woman called 'Zum'. Her home was a delightful place set just far enough on the outskirts of her village to feel set apart and peaceful. The view into the valley, (though mist covered), was wonderful and we sat drinking beer contentedly until an army of Black H'Mong got wind that Sophie was in town and descended on us en masse.

The D'Zao are a much less 'in your face people'. They look down on the H'Mong for the way they pester tourists and spend the money they earn with no sense of saving. The D'Zao by comparison have learnt to use their money & resources well. Their homes are decorated well and often filled with antique furniture of the kind you'd pay a tonne for in a fancy shop in SoHo. They also like their telly & karaoke.
So, dinner was cooked up by our guide, (a veritable feast of incredible Vietnamese food), and then Zum cracked open the home made rice wine. It was at this point that things get a bit 'hazy'. Following a series of toasts to just about anything, (the host, the ladies, Zum's dead husband, the men, Zum, Simon eating fish), Zum would pop behind a suspicious looking curtain and reappear moments later with yet another bottle. There was truly no escape. Beth started babbling to our guide, I waxed lyrical about the differences between living in the East & West, Simon played with the TV and Sophie played with the dog. Through all of this Zum just kept refilling our glasses and giggling away to herself. It was an outstanding night. None of us can remember how we got to bed.

Here's our hostess laughing at some insightfull, witty and not at all drunken comment Beth made.

Our second day was undertaken despite foggy heads, (which I blamed on the mist and air pressure), and heavy feet. Again we strolled through some breathtaking scenery pausing only every thirty seconds so Beth could snap away at the landscape or at a passing butterfly or goat. Our reward at the end of this second day was a wee river that ended in a stunning pool of water into which we all tiptoed to swim. Well, Sophie did. I fell on my arse on a particularly slippery rock, Simon stood in the cold water talking himself into swimming and Beth doggy-paddled about avoiding the rocks. Sophie & I did eventually swim around the pool and found a wee little waterfall around the corner.

That night we treated ourselves to Shepherd's Pie at the 'Red Dragon' a worryingly realistic English pub jammed incongruously in the middle of Sa Pa's main street.

Hoi An

2006-03-25T04:45:00.000Z

We arrived in Hoi An by sleeper train and were very efficiently met at the station by the hotel taxi. The hotel was recommended to us by our Ching Mai trek friends Ethan & Rachel and it was superb. The best banana pancakes in the whole of S.E. Asia and fabulously helpfull staff. Hoi An is a beautiful town full of character with wonderful coffee shops mixed in with local restaurants nestling in amongst wonderfully rustic and ageing French colonial buildings. The streets are full of artists galleries, weaving and embroidery shops.. and tailors. Tailors, tailors tailors. You cannot walk more than 5 metres without passing one. We somehow got caught up in it all and managed to spend the next 4 days in tailors shops, choosing fabrics and having clothes fitted, altered and refitted. There's a lot of differences in the standards between some of the shops, but you really can't complain about the prices anywhere. Especially when a tailored suit can cost as little as $70.
On the first day we bumped into Sophie & Simon, some lovelies that we met though our Brighton friends Marc & Sorcha. From then on the four of us staggered from tailors to tailors pausing only for a cheeky beer, (or in Simon's case - a cheeky chocolate mouse), or a quick fish in banana leaf.
Our shopping became more & more frenzied as we egged each other on, "Go On Simon. Buy another thirty shirts.", and, "Wow! That pink dress looks great on you Sophie. Why not get another thirty in every colour of the rainbow?", and helped persuade one another that buying more and more clothes was in our interests as they were so cheap compared to home, better made and nicer than 'Hennes' and we'd not have any spare cash when we got home anyway. Simon eventually won the top prize and managed to buy 39 tailor made shirts in what felt like under an hour. Very useful for work especially when you have one for every day of the month and a few spare for those unforseen moments.
All of our plans of updating the blog and arranging the rest of our travels went out of the window as we desperately tried to squeeze in fittings at Yalay at 11am, 'Funky Fabrics' at 2pm and Number 27 at 5. Beth & I lashed ut on a few essentials too such as linen summer trousers, skirts and kimonos. Yes, you heard right. Kimonos. We also had a suit or two made.

On our last day we managed to get a moto to the beach for a couple of hours, which was blissful, but difficult to relax... Surely we had a fitting to be at?

Evenings passed wonderfully drinking a lot more than we should in great company and marvelling at how much food Simon can eat. He also did a truly amazing job trying new things he'd never dared to eat before. Fish being the main one. We were more than happy to find out that, as their millions of fittings had overrun, Sophie & Simon had decided to postpone their flights to Hanoi so that we could all head that way together.

Easy Riders Dalat to Nha Trang

2006-03-23T04:40:00.000Z

First off I have to say that the time we spent with our riders was possibly the best three days we've spent on this trip so far. It really was something special. Beth had never been on the back of a motorcycle before the previous day but her rider had taken great care and her confidence was up. It took a bit of a knock however when my driver Ly turned up with a new chap called Mo.
The ride was so ridiculously smooth that after about an hour we were both relaxing on the backs of our bikes and marvelling at the stunning scenery that passed us. We stopped at various points along the way to briefly visit different aspects of Vietnamese life with our guides, well... guiding us and providing an informative running commentary.
Among the gems we saw the first day was 'Chicken Village'. At first we thought this was going to be pretty much what it seemed but were proved wrong as it turned out to be named after a rather sad legend. The story goes that a local boy wanted to marry but to do so he had to go into the forest and find a chicken with five spurs on it's feet to present to his girlfriend's family. He died searching for this mythical creature and in his honour the villagers erected a huge stone chicken at the entrance to the village.
Later on we saw how incense sticks were made, something I never thought I'd ever care about but actually found quite facinating. The woman who ran this little cottage industry was mesmerised by Beth's camera and positively squealed with joy when Beth gave her a crash course in how to use it and she fired off a few snaps of the kids living with her. The kids practiced their English on us and fed us sour tasting fruit which I politely eat.
Another small home we visited grew cashew nuts and the old lady who was matriarch of the family stood to attention as Beth took her photo. It was upsetting in a way as she had such a characterfull and wise face but was so mortally ashamed of being dark skinned. Over here paleness is apparently next to Godliness and you see girls in the more cosmopolitan areas going to extraordinary lengths to prevent their skin going any darker.

Another family we visited took us in and shared green tea with us. Here too the kids were learning English and asked us our names and ages in between fits of giggles. It's amazing how furiously the Vietnamese are embracing change.

That night we stayed at a pretty basic but pleasant guest house on the shores of Lac Lake.

Our second day took us to the lake where we visited a village of long houses. These are exactly as they sound. Great long houses of what is essentially one communal room. Outside some of these houses, (apparently owned by the more traditional of the families as it's a practice that's dying out), were two sets of wooden steps. One carved with what can only be described as breasts. Apparently there is a set of steps for men and one for women to use when entering the property. Excellent huh?
On the roadside we stopped to watch a group of young lads mining and cutting granite, again a subject I probably wouldn't have lingered more than a second over if it was a BBC2 documentary and I'd accidentally switched over too, but strangely fascinating when witnessed in real life. We also saw the now obligatory waterfall and more coffee plantations.

Day three was full of rain. It was like biking through a bucket of water and we got soaked through to the bone, even through the double layers of waterproofs Ly & Mo gave us. However we're British and a spot of rain wasn't about to dampen our spirits now was it. No siree Bob. We took in many things on this last day including a rubber plantation and pretty sombre war memorial. The scenery we drove through on this last day would've looked so much better in more clement weather but it was pretty damn breathtaking all the same. The final mountain road to Nha Trang was particularly beautiful and Mo & Ly dropped us off to walk for a while. This whole area has suffered greatly at the hands of the American army. Apparently the US convoys had to move slowly through this region because the road was so precarious, as a consequence the Viet Cong, using the surrounding trees as cover, could take their time and pick the convoys off. The American's answer to this was to Napalm the entire area thus depriving the VC of their advantage. To make matters worse they then dumped thousands of kilos of herbicides to prevent the regrowth of trees and plants. The area is only now beginning to recover.
Anyhow, on a lighter note... food. The food we had whilst in the company of Mo & Ly was amazing. Up until this point we'd thought we'd been experiencing 'real' Vietnamese dishes but it soon became clear that the stuff they serve in restaurants to Westerners pales in comparison to what they serve the Vietnamese. Each lunchtime we were presented with five to six dishes of various things, each utterly delicious. The whole repast cost us just 20,000 Dong! That's around 75pence. This discrepancy was made even more obvious when we finished our trip in Nha Trang and made for the most basic looking eatery only to be given a Western version of the Vietnamese menu they'd whisked away as quickly as possible when we sat down. No doubt the Vietnamese dishes were not only nicer but cheaper too.
We left our riders in Nha Trang with heavy hearts and a promise that should we return to Vietnam we would definitely seek them out and secure their services. It's a promise I reckon we may just keep.

Dalat

2006-03-19T03:57:00.000Z

A few more hours in a mini bus later and we arrived in Dalat, the supposedly romantic capital in the central highlands of Vietnam. Its all very kitsch and pink and very cheesy. We stayed at another wonderful hotel with breakfast included and the only place so far where Ben could satisfy his Marmite craving. Dalat is famous for being the home of the 'Easy Riders', a biker tour guides who started as a group of about 20 war veterans with vintage European motorbikes who take tourists & travellers out to the more remote corners of Vietnam. There are now about 70 'Easy Riders' in total. To qualify they have to have a good motorbike, speak at least one other language fluently, have a wide knowledge of Vietnamese life and perhaps most importantly have to have been recommended by an existing rider. Some people have adopted their riders and travelled all the way from Dalat to Saigon or Hanoi for weeks on end. One step at a time we thought, a day trip into the surrounding coutryside was enough especially as previously you'd be hard pushed to find me on the back of any kind of vehicle with 2 wheels for more than a few hundred metres.
The riders take this all into account and our driver took everything very safely and slowly until you're ready for a bit more speed. It was a wonderful day we started at 8.30am and were driven through the central highlands, around mountain roads stopping quite often to be shown a part of real vietnamese life. We saw a local pagoda on the outskirts of Dalat, (again very kitsch with brighly painted dragons and a model story of Budha), we saw how coffee is grown, the coffee flowers smell like honeysuckle and passing coffee farms is wonferful. We saw silk worms and their cocoons, how rice wine is made and met some wonderful people on the way. Lunch was the best food we had eaten so far in Vietnam. Our drivers ordered a selection of the dishes of the day, meat, fish, vegetables, tofu etc about 6 dishes in total all cooked with enough sticky rice to feed an army, all for 20,000 Dong each. That's about 75p. (Incidentally, Westeners unfortunately cannot order this sort of food without a local with them it would seem). As the day went on and my confidence grew the feeling of being on the back of a bike on the open road became addictive. We finished the day at the 'Cazy House' which really was crazy. It's a huge 'Charly & the Chocolate Factory' style guesthouse which is constantly being added to. It's seriously nuts. Each room has a theme like, 'Tiger Room' or 'Gourd Room' and the whole thing is full of corridors that twist and turn in the shape of a massive, malformed tree made of concrete.
The 'Easy Riders' aren't that cheap and considering is costs about $5 by bus to the next town we had to carefully consider our options. We decided that the price of $260 each for a five day trip to Hoi An, (our next destination), was too much, but that we would adopt our guys for a three day journey to Nha Trang where we could catch a train onwards and besides, I wanted to see more of Ben on the back of his bike, who being a clear foot taller then his driver looked like Wallace and Gromit. Its one of the best decisions we have made.
We had one day free in Dalat before leaving with them. We bought and sent home some Vietnamese drip filters & some 'Chon' coffee which is coffee beans that have been eaten by weasels and then collected up after they've been pooed out. A delicacy that even the locals find amusing. Anyone want to pop over for coffee?
We walked around the lake and had some drinks at the beautiful and exclusive golf club where we raised a glass to Ben's Dad who was becoming Captain of his Golf club back in Blighty.

Mui Ne

2006-03-15T03:47:00.000Z

From Saigon we got a bus to the beach at Mui Ne. The 3 hour journey turned into a four hour journey after a puncture where we were stranded for a couple of hours, but the bus driver managed to make up the time. Very quickly! Eeek! It was great to be at the beach again, not the best one we've seen, but lovely to relax and take it easy for a few days. The bungalows were set in a beautifully landscaped garden and the staff were lovely. There was a very sweet girl serving our breakfast who responed with 'Yes' and a very puzzled expression to everything we said eg:
Beth: 'I'd like a pancake with chocolate sauce but no banana please'
Girly: 'Yes?'
Ben: 'And I'd like lipton tea with fresh milk'
Girly: 'Yes?'
The beach is famous for its strong winds in the afternoon and there are hundreds of kite surfers with various degrees of skill which made for some interesting entertainment whilst we were sunning ourselves & doing not a lot else.
In an effort to prevent ourselves merging with our sun loungers we took a day trip out to the 'famous' sand dunes of Mui Ne. There's some red ones and some white ones. The white dunes are hugely impressive, it was like walking into a film and I half expected to see Peter O'Toole & Omar Shariff come bounding over the horizon strapped to a pair of camels. This didn't happen of course but we did see loads of kids with sheets of plastic asking us if we wanted to dune-surf. We didn't. It looked rubbish. The dunes stretch for what seems like miles and it's a very incongruous site to behold smack in the middle of Vietnam. We tried a brief amble but quickly realised that distance is a very fluid concept when surrounded by the featureless roll of the dunes. It also has a habit of moving a lot beneath your feet.

We took in the red dunes at sunset, (also featuring kids with plastic), and they were equally impressive being of a deep and flawless terracotta colour. They reminded me of those slightly naff little bottles of coloured sand that always seemed to be for sale at seaside resorts. Only bigger. And more beautiful.
We treated ourselves, (again), to some great food at the local Italian and had real French wine. The staff attempted to teach us some very basic Vietnamese, (we're just about managing the basic 'please' & 'thank you's' now). For our last night we had a buffet dinner in the swanky 'Sailng Club' resort next door. Very nice.

Mekong Delta

2006-03-13T03:07:00.000Z

From Saigon we took an organised tour to the Mekong Delta, which was quite fun and interesting in itself with amazing scenery, but we were herded around from boat to boat with around 40 other people, which was a bit dissappointing. Our guide was great and we couldn't help but laugh at the way he talked. Something like this:
"Now we will enjoy a 3 hour Bus ride to My Tho. Now we enjoy the big boat to My Tho Market, please come back to the boat in twenty minutes. Twenty. Two-O. Twenty. Minutes. Enjoy the market for twenty minutes please."

"Now we will enjoy the big boat to Dragon Island Dragon. D-R-A-G-O-N Dragon Island, where you will enjoy your lunch. L-U-N-C-H lunch. Then you will enjoy a boat ride to Tortoise Island where we will enjoy the Coconut Candy factory and some traditional Vietnamese music." The tradition of which seems to be to get your voice to go as high and as strangled as possible whilst singing random words accompanied by a band who clearly don't know which way up to hold their instruments. "Then we will enjoy a rowing boat trip through the canals on Tortoise Island." Where the lady rowing our boat roaped me in to help and then expected a tip!

"Then we will enjoy a boat journey to the bus, bus to Can Tho including a ferry crossing in the pooring rain, and a motorbike & trailor to homestay." At this point we left our guide which was frankly a relief as we didn't feel like we had to enjoy our homestay but we really did enjoy it, lots of home made food and a lovely hut overlooking the river and some good company. Here's Ben making the most of the authentic decorations in the room.

The next morning we took a stroll through village, and a boat to a rather dissappointing floating market, another boat to a rice paper factory where we met with our previous days' guide and then a boat to a paddy field "Where we we will enjoy walking over the unbeleiveably thin and precarious Monkey bridge", or not as it turned out.

This was followed by yet another boat to yet another rice factory, boat to bus, bus to Saigon.

Vietnam - Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

2006-03-10T05:53:00.000Z

We took the bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon and it was a relatively painless affair. The hotel made us a packed breakfast and arranged a tuk-tuk to take us to the bus pick-up (approx 200 metres away) and we were settled on the bus riding through the city by 7.30am. After flying through the last two borders, it was quite exciting doing this one by land. Everyone in S.E. Asia looks after their tourists very well, and you are hearded through the administration with maximum SE Asian efficiency, (so it takes a few hours, but hey). By 4pm we were safely in Madam Cuc's Hotel 127, supping free juice and eating bananas. Its really not bad this travelling lark.

We took a stroll in the early evening to explore our new city. The first thing we had to do was cross the road. You are literally putting your life into the hands of several hundred motorcyclists everytime you do this. At the busy times, and at all other times now I think of it, there are motos coming at your from all directions as well as criss-crossing each other and weaving in and out. It's like water. There are no road rules here. Its each man for himself and the bigger you are the better chance you have of getting where you want to go. If you don't have a vehicle, you don't stand much chance. The idea, apparently, is to step into the road and walk slowly across the road. It's kind of like the slow walk across 'No-Mans-Land' we all know of from WW2 with probably as much chance of surviving. The motos will see you and drive round you and the few cars just have to slow down. It can be disconcerting when you are putting the theory into practice especially when a full speed moto driver is not looking where he is going and chatting away to someone on the other side of the road... Eeek. For the first half and hour we were totally mesmerised by the seething masses on the road and stood on the side grinning and laughing, (slightly hysterically). When we had made it across the single lane road it was time to tackle the roundabouts with roads of 4 lanes of traffic coming off them... We mentally wrote our wills.

Eventually we found ourselves in a kind of open public space between 2 of the main roads and discovered the Ho Chi Minh past time of choice, a sort of cross between football and badminton where a shuttle cock is kicked between any number of players. The idea being to keep it going for as long as possible. There were loads and loads of small groups of people playing, some in team colours, and we passed them all watching and grinning inanely at this crazy city.

Saigon is another one of these very cosmopolitan cities and I keep finding myself in shoe shops and silk shops where the clothes are beautiful and the service exceptional, (and the sizes too small dammit!), we are always automatically drawn to the fancy eateries and plush drinking establishments. Lunch was baked salmon with mango & spinach in citrus dressing and our early dinner drink was taken accidentally in the Sheraton Hotel bar. Ooops. Budget - Shmudget. Thankfully our dinner of simple noodle soup and Vietnamese spring rolls was included in the hotel price so we could justify this one day of extravagance.

The following day was spent on the internet. One thing no-one ever tells you about traveling is how long everything takes to organise and how long it takes to update and upload pictures onto blogs.

That evening, we met up with Rosie and Richard. Rosie is the sister of my lovely DK friend Emma and they looked after us exceedingly well. It was great to see some familiar faces and be able to chat away to them, instead of all that traveller/stranger small talk. In fact poor Rosie & Richard weren't able to get a word in edgeways and Ben & I talked ourselves hoarse. They took us to a very popular Vietnamese restaurant and then to a very authentic Irish pub. With a very authentic live band. We went back to the hotel happy, fed & watered. Thanks guys!

Phnom Penh

2006-03-06T06:02:00.000Z

With just two days until we were to enter Vietnam Phnom Penh was to be our last stop in Cambodia and we thought it fitting to finish on a high. That said we obviously came over 'a bit peculiar' and booked a day tour to 'The Killing Fields', the 'S-21 Prison Camp' and the Russian Market. It really was as depressing as it sounds.
The Killing Fields is a monument to the hundreds of Cambodians that the Khmer Rouge murdered. The people sent here were all Cambodian intellectuals, doctors, teachers, politicians etc, all of whom were seen as a threat to the Khmers. When the land was excavated they uncovered huge mass-graves containing the remains of men, women and children in their hundreds. The centre of this area features a tall tower containing the skulls of all those that were discovered, along with piles of clothes and other horrific finds. It's difficult to imagine the horrors that took place here, perhaps because we have more peaceful minds and can't envisage this kind of behaviour, but the sense that something truly terrible took place seemed to hang over us.
S-21 in many ways is even worse. This was once a school, a place of hope, peace and education, but the Khmer Rougeturned it into an internment & death camp. The silence here is deafening and you really do feel heavier as you read piece after piece about the unthinkable things that took place. It's essentially three wings around a courtyard in the centre of which are buried the bodies of the people the army found murdered in their beds when they liberated the place. These people had been hastily shot by the retreating Khmers and were found and photographed in their cells, the photos and objects found in the rooms on display now bring tears to your eyes.
Inside the buildings are hundreds of photos taken by the Khmers of all those imprisoned in the camp. All these faces, young and old just starring out at you with vacant eyes chills you to the bone.
Perhaps the most terrifying part of all this is the presence of some seemingly innocent exercise equipment in the yard. These were originally used for children of various ages to swing and play on or do their routine exercises. When the Khmer Rouge took over they took on a much more sinister purpose. People wre hung here until near death and then submerged in freezing water until they all but drowned. They were also tied here and flogged to literally within an inch of their lives.
We found all of this uterly bewildering, not only because of the unspeakable acts that man can commit but also because many of those executed or sent to camps like S-21 were members of their own party. I wish I could understand this more but then a part of me is glad that I don't. Suffice to say we didn't sleep well that night.
To cheer ourselves up the next day we took a wander around town and stumbled across an expat supermarket. This doesn't sound like fun I grant you but when we entered the deli and found that they stocked ham, cheese and olives we nearly fainted. Beth positively exploded and we lashed out on ham & olives. We ran from the supermarket clutching our bag of goodies like kids with stolen sweets and made for the nearest bench where we wolfed the lot licking our sticky fingers and giggling. That night we found a great restaurant that trains the homeless street kids to be chefs & waiters. The profits from the restaurant goes back into the training so we felt no guilt whatsoever in over-ordering and requesting the most expensive, (and uterly magnificent), juices the menu could offer. When you know you're helping the homeless an apple, lemongrass and ginger juice tastes so very good indeed.

Siem Reap to Battambang on the Tonle Sap

2006-03-01T05:45:00.000Z

From Siem Reap we took a slow boat across the Tonle Sap lake & rivers through the floating villages on our way to Battambang. Watching river life was amazing and bamboo huts of varying size & purpose appear out of the water and just kind of sit there on the surface. It's ethereal seeing these homes & businesses almost stranded out at sea. It's eerily quiet too without the usual background noise of traffic or the cacophony of yells and people talking. As we chugged past, as slowly as possible through the inhabited villages, people would paddle up on smaller boats to our bigger boat and drop off packages and passengers who wanted to go our way. Yet again the BBC World service had decided to lay on the guilt the previous day by focusing on the river people of Cambodia and their disappearing fish-stocks. It seems the larger fishing fleets are decimating the fish population and that the government is granting more and more of the waters to the bigger companies. The report also mentioned that the largest cause of death amongst children in these villages is drowning, often caused by the swell of the larger, tourist-filled, boats capsizing the smaller. We'd seen this and baulked at the stupidity and injustice of this and yet here we were, doing just that.
In the villages were houses, shops and schools which were buildings and huts that were literally floating on the river. In the wet season the lake tripples in size so a floating home has less of a chance of flooding. A pre-requisite of enrolling in a floating school is that you can swim. Rising out of the lake at scattered intervals are these vast crazy-looking floating fishing devices that look a medieval trebuchet with a massive fishing net attached to it which is lowered into the water via an enormous pully & lever system.

After a fascinating 4 hours, we changed to smaller boat that could make it around the tight turns in the river towards Battembang. Unfortunately all of the people on the big boat were transferred to the smaller boat. There were about 30 of us in a boat the size of a canoe. It was very hot and the drapes around the edges were lowered to keep off the sun. However, Ben and I got in near last which meant we got to sit on a plastic garden chair each instead of the wooden benches down the edges. We couldn't actually move or see anything and when ever the boat went round a very tight bend, which was constantly, Ben's chair legs would buckle and he would fall into the French couple on the right or the Swedish girl on the left. The scenery and river life would have been amazing, but we couldn't see anything from the boat. It was a miserable 4 hours.

Finally we reached Battambang, it was grim so we booked our bus tickets to Phnom Penh for the next morning.

The Temples of Angkor

2006-02-22T11:43:00.000Z

Roj, (our hired driver for the next three days), picked us up at 7.30am for the first of 3 day temple spotting. We had a very pleasant journey out to Angkor Thom, our first stop. Many people, (myself included), believe that Angkor Watt is esentially one big ol' temple, which it is. What I didn't know until I started to read up on it was that there is a whole complex of temples that tend to get lumped in together under the name 'Angkor Watt'. The complex covers an area so huge it'd be nigh on impossible to see them all in the three days we had so Roj was to take us to the 'best'.

Angkor Thom was our first stop and it really was spectacular. To get to Angkor Thom, (which is part of a 'mini-complex' called Banyon), you first pass through the south gate which is stunning in it's own right. The gate is approached by a stone bridge which is flanked on both sides by man-sized carved figures, (Smiling Gods on the left and frowning Demons on the right), both clutching a huge dragon. Sadly most of the heads are now replicas as most of these temples & Watts have been plundered.
Angkor Thom itself was unfortuantely festooned in Japanese tour groups so it was difficult to take in it's majesty for more than a few minutes at a time before a wee Japanese lass appeared in front of you doing the 'peace' sign in front of a beautifully carved relief while her mates snapped away and giggled like, well... like Japanese school girls really.
Outside Thom is the incredible Terrace of Elephants, a massive stone wall carved with the most intricate and beautiful depictions of elephants. The whole area really is a deeply moving place. Looking around we could see these vast ruinous temples slowly crumbling under the weight of the centuries, (and now under the weight of tourism), but this was surrounded by the most beautiful and peacefull scenery littered with other abandoned temple buildings that the surrounding jungle just couldn't completely swallow.

After fending off several hundred Cambodians who all wanted us to buy something, (all the stalls sell Tomb Raider on DVD along with a couple of other seemingly random Angelina Jolie films), we headed of to by far the most fascinating and wonderful of all the temples in Angkor, Ta Prohm. This is the temple that made Angkor internationally famous as it was the one used in the Tomb Raider film.
Bizzarely, just a couple of days previous on the good ol' BBC WORLD, Beth & I had watched with mounting horror a piece about the damage tourism was causing to Angkor. Apparently if you'd come here as little as five years ago you would've had the place pretty much to yourself, now it literally teems with life. Buses vomit out hordes of Japanese and Western tourists to clamber over these ancient stones and do in five years what nature and the encroaching jungle hasn't been able to do it several hundred. The frowning journalist showed one particular set off steps that were clearly ruined and mostly worn away and told us that just five years ago it was pretty much intact. The number of visitors to Angkor has risen by 40% in just one year. I very much doubt it can carry on in this way, it made us very sad and yet here we were doing exactly that. We like to think of ourselves as ecologically minded people and we did our best to respect the place and not to just crash about but there's no real 'structure' here so it's often impossible to get anywhere without climbing over something ancient.

Anyhow, rant over for now. Ta Prohm. It's stunning. You'll almost certainly have seen this place in pictures or on the telly, (or in Tomb Raider), it's the one with the trees growing out of it. Not in it's grounds or around it, but out of the actual rocks. It really is amazing. The roots of these huge trees, (which themselves look older than than some modern countries and have taken on a similar colour to the walls), twist in and out of the stones and trees perch precariously on top of arches are temple walls. It's the perfect symiosis. The roots are causing the structures to crumble and fall apart and yet it's now only these very root systems that are keeping the walls together. They look like some giant alien parasite, both feeding and destroying. Despite the presence of tourists it was remarkably quiet here and we took our time to soak up the peace in preparation to our visit to Angkor Watt.

Everyone knows Angkor Watt and it would seem everyone goes there too. It sits in an open space approached by a massive stone bridge wider than many in London. Even the hordes of tourists in their hundreds are made to look tiny and insignificant. The Watt itself is huge and covered around the edge by equally huge reliefs depicting legends involving Gods & Demons. They have such crazy stories, I'm sure there was one about a dragon who gave birth to a king and his brother in a sea of milk. Nuts.

Unfortunately the Japanese tourists were out in force and clambering up and down the tiny steps that were only ever meant for the Gods and a select few. Outside the Watt Beth & I settled down next two one of the ornamental ponds to watch the sunset behind Angkor. It's difficult to take in the full splendour though when there's a mini-village of stalls selling fizzy-pop and crap souvenirs just behind you. We did our best to ignore the constant cries of "Buy something?", or "You wan wata? One dolla." One young girl came up and plonked her little sister in Beth's lap and asked, (with a big ol' grin on her face), if we wanted her for a dollar. They have a great sense of humour here and know how irritating the whole selling thing can be to us. The baby was cute as hell and Beth immediately fell in love with it.

The next day Roj took us on what is known as the Grand Tour. We took in Preah Khan, Preah Neak Pean, Ta Som, Eastern Mebon, Pre Rup, Banteay Kdei & Sras Srang. I wish I could think of something to write for each of these but after a while they all kind of blur into one. There's only so many ancient rocks and bas-reliefs you can look at before 'temple-fatigue' kicks in. Preah Khan and Preah Neak Pean stood out in our memories though, the first because we got there around mid-day so all the tour groups were having lunch. Consequently we were two amongst only about twelve people there so it was possible to wander freely and soak up the quiet. Preah Khan also has the crazy 'tree becoming rock' thing going on.

Preah Neak Pean is a great mini-temple that sits smack in the middle of a man-made reservoir surrounded by four smaller pools. Each of the smaller pools, (that sit at the four cardinal compass points), contains a fountain shaped like a human head, a lion, an elephant and a horse. The tiny central island is a small sandstone tower next to which is a statue of a giant horse 'rescuing' drowning seamen from the waters.
Neak Pean was built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII who ruled in the late 12th century. The King ordered the construction of a vast reservoir to provide water to its' workers. Stretching a half kilometer by 900 meters, the artificial lake stored millions of cubic meters of water to irrigate the rice fields during the dry season. Neak Pean sits at the center of the reservoir.

That evening had amazing wine & food at a highly cosmopolitan bar called 'Linga', (Thank God for the French influence here), which was amazing but the place turned unexpectedly into a slightly seedy gay pick-up bar at precisely 8.58pm.

Our final day of temple spotting took us to a handfull of places that don't really need mentioning. The standout however was Banteay Srei or The Citadel of Women, a bizzare and utterly brilliant 'mini-me' temple of pink sandstone. It's just like one of the normal sized temples but shrunk down to mini proportions. It's brilliant. The reliefs are superb here and in a very good state of repair. You feel like a giant wandering about here and having to crouch under doorways, (something I've become used too here in the land of wee-people).

Our three days over we headed back to Siem Reap to sup coffee and devour cake in The Blue Pupkin, one of the finest coffee shops I've ever been in anywhere.

Cambodia - Siem Reap

2006-02-21T11:51:00.000Z

We flew to Cambodia to avoid the road trip and border crossing which we'd heard was an absolute horror and arrived in Siem Reap to find our airport pick-up driver Roj holding a sign for Mrs England. We followed Roj towards some lovely new cars that were all stylish and probably highly airconditioned but went right on past them to our personal mode of transport which can only be described as a motor scooter with a cart attached to the back. I can only describe it this way as that's exactly what it was. The scooter bit was missing all the dials and had no horn. The 4km journey to our hotel was our first literal taste of Cambodia, it tastes of dust. Hot dust.
The Cambodian government have obviously recently proposed an initiative that states that under no circumstances should any shop have a functioning pavement immediately outside of it. Seriously, the place is like Dresden. There's practically no pavement at all, anywhere. It's all been lovingly replaced by rubble, loose earth and vast trenches of water. A stroll through the town can be life threatening, either tripping over rubble, falling down big holes or being mowed down by Tuk-Tuk drivers.

Laos - Back to Luang Prabang (Beth takes the plunge!)

2006-02-20T19:11:00.000Z

We got lucky in Nong Khia and managed to join a group of French folk on a boat back to Luang Prabang so it only cost $10. Unfortunately whilst stepping on to the boat Beth, (still wearing her rucksack), decide that this was the best time to take a dip. The pier, (which was really just a few dozen bamboo poles floating near the boat), went one way and the boat went the opposite. Beth remained undecided as to which to go with and fell arse first into the water. Having got her sodden self into the boat she then stripped down to her pants to get changed. The locals looked on aghast at the free 'Stoopid Westerner' show in full flow.
I wish I had a picture to go with this but Beth had the camera so you'll just have to use your imaginations.
Back in LP I treated Beth to a few hours in a Spa as part of her birthday treat while I sat and had a beer. She came out looking radiant and with a slightly far-away look in here eyes. After that we headed to a great French restaurant where we splashed out on great wine and lovely food. I've never been so gratefull to the French in all my life as I have been of late, all through Laos & Cambodia you can get French wine & baguettes. After the dubious, overly-sweet approximation of bread they have in Malaysia & Thailand and the mostly rubbish lager a baguette and a drop of vino has never seemed so welcome a sight. They also put up some cracking houses.
I'll freely admit to being rather ignorant of the French Empire, up until now I didn't even think they'd had one, not on a large scale anyway, but there's evidence of it all over S.E. Asia, (except Thailand), and it's something I'll definitely have to bone-up on when I get back to Blighty.

Laos - Muang Ngoi Neua

2006-02-17T16:58:00.000Z

The boat trip to Muang Ngoi took us upstream along the Nam Ou through some spectacularly beautiful countryside where people washed their linen, mended their fishing nets or children just played on the riverbanks below sleepy looking villages, one of which was to be our temporary home for the next three days.
Muang Ngoi is a small village that has electricity for only a few hours in the evening and no roads. It's idylic in other words. We stayed in a 'harbour-front' guest house with solar-heated water for a mere $5 and reveled in the lack of modern distractions, there really was nothing to do here but relax.
It's funny thing but these places are gearing up in a huge way for tourism, apparently there's only been paople coming to Muang Ngoi for five years and they're going wholeheartedly after the 'new' income. Everywhere you turn there's building work, and every third house has become a guesthouse or restaurant. And it's not confined to the out of the way places either, we've seen it everywhere from Muang Ngoi to Siem Reap.
For our second day we took a walk inland to go see a cave, (very cavey), and then on through arid paddy-fields, now full of grazing buffalo, to Ban Na village where there was also building work in full flow and four restaurant/guesthouses at the mouth of the village. There we had a Coke with the smiley Nong & his wife. They didn't speak a word of English but we communicated as best we could as Beth dished out the cigarettes. They were very proud of their guestbook and looked on expectantly as we thumbed through the comments from backpackers the World over.
Muang Ngoi is just the kind of place that I'd love to return to in five years time to see how much it will have changed but then I'd probably find it depressing. In their pusrsuit of the toursit Dollar a lot of it's cahrm will be probably be lost and no doubt 24hr electricity, internet cafes and higher prices will change things. That said, it's exactly this money that they're chasing so vigorously that'll give their kids a better education and provide much needed medical facilities. Up until a short time ago Muang Ngoi didn't even have a school. Now, thanks to tourism, it does.
Reluctantly we headed off the following day back to Nong Khiaw to spend a night there before heading back to Luang Prabang.

Laos - Nong Khiaw

2006-02-17T16:49:00.000Z

The five hour bus journey to Nong Khiaw wasn't the horror we'd expected, (roads in Laos used to be amongst the worse you'd ever see), as most of the major roads are undergoing renovation on a large scale. Our driver did however have to stop in a small town to replace the oil filter. On the whole though the journey was actually really good fun. We got to see some great scenery as we jolted and rocked our way to Nong Khiaw.
Nong Khiaw is an odd place. It used to be seperated from it's sister settlement Muang Ngoi by the Nam Ou river until the Chinese kindly built a bridge to link the two. Now the Eastern side, (Muang Ngoi), is the kind of resort side while Khiaw is the business side as it has the dock. The town had clearly only recently acquired electricity as all the switches and junction boxes in the place were brand new gleaming white and didn't have a speck of dust on 'em. The place was also full of kids starring goggle-eyed at the telly all day long. I guess it's still a novelty for them but I don't hold out much hope for the next generation.
After the cosmopolitan style of Luang Prabang it was good to see how a small town operates and how they're dealing with the sudden interest from tourists. Guesthouses are springing up everywhere and I doubt it'll be long before they're closely followed by internet cafes and massage parlours.
The view from the bridge along the Nam Ou river was breath taking and it was blissfully easy to stand and gaze at the locals talking on the riverbanks, swimming in the water and doing the laundry whilst the rickety wooden boats shipped anything from pigs and charcoal to tourists up and down the river. This was precisely what we were to do the next day as we were taking an hour's trip upstream to Muang Ngoi Nuea.

Laos Luang Prabang

2006-02-17T16:29:00.000Z

The flight from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang in Laos was a pretty hairy affair as we were strapped into a wobbly old prop plane. You can really feel all the turbulence in one of those things. Though seeing Luang Prabang stretching out before us as we came into land made up for the bumpy ride. As soon as we landed we started to understand why Laos has a reputation as most beautiful and relaxing country in S. E. Asia. The tiny little airport is surrounded by palm trees and smiley cab drivers. It looked almost like an island destination in the South Seas.
When we arrived in LP itself we split into two fact-finding units, the girls went off to find accommodation whilst the boys checked out the local beer. (It was great, they suggested it and everything!) Once accomodation had been sorted we took a brief stroll around the town.
Luang Prabang is the most beautiful and relaxing town I have ever seen, it's just wonderful. It was a French colony way back and as a result has an amazing mix of Buddhist & French colonial architecture. The whole place sits on a riverine peninsula surrounded by mountains. Its no wonder it received a World Heritage sight status.
The place is a heady mix of cultures where slick modern restaurants and bars sit perfectly at ease alongside Wats and temples culminating in something that is simoultaneously historic and cosmopolitan. Its easy to see why people get stuck here.

Over the next five days Beth & I took in a few of the sites, (including many temples and the now obligatory waterfall), and took a fair few pictures but mostly we spent our time eating in great cafes during the day, then repeating the experience in the evening with Ethan & Rachael. Tough work travelling innit?

One thing we did experience was a night at the local theatre where the LP rep company put on a traditional display of dancing & music followed a frankly baffling piece of theatre about a princess and some gods. Thank Buddha they gave us a cheat sheet with the plot in English or I would never have worked out what the bleedinä hell was going on. Ethan sat there nodding sagely but later admited to not having had the sheet and therefore being in the dark the whole way through.
The music was interesting but I can't help but think that someone has played a cruel trick on them and given them fourteen different instruments, all of which went 'ting'.
We'd ended up staying the first night in a reasonable, but not great, guesthouse for US$14 so the next morning while Beth was lounging in bed I went off to find us a new place and we ended up in the excellent Sayo guesthouse. Id pulled a sneaky one on Beth & told her that I'd found a slightly more cheery room for a bit less cash when in fact I'd booked us in for two nights to the frankly majestic VIP room. It was huge! There was a big bed, a day bed, fridge (stocked) and telly with our first bathtub of the trip. Beth was over the moon and I earned a few more Brownie points.
After a while though we began to get the feeling that maybe we should see a little more of Laos so begrudgingly we booked a trip out to spend five days in the villages of Nong Khiaw & Muang Ngoi Neua.

Trek (Day three)

2006-02-16T17:51:00.000Z

That night the temperature dropped to -837 degrees, (seriously), in our communal hut but thanks to the miracle of Doctor Lee's wonderful sedatives and the fairly hefty walk we all slept much sounder.
Today was rafting day! The guides had spent the morning knocking up a bamboo raft or two for us to travel down the river on. And trust me they were as basic as they sound. Bamboo lashed together with twisted vine-like leaves, it was excellent. Ethan & I had to go at the back with our sticks to help steer the damn thing whilst Lucky 'drove'from the front. Beth & Rachel got the easy job of balancing in the middle and comparing serious issues such as damaged nails and yelling helpfull comments back at us such as "Left. Right. No, RIGHT!" [This is not true, if it wasn't for our balancing skills, the raft would have gone over due to some desperately bad steering down the back end of the boat. BD] Ethan & I lost our poles a few times but managed to get 'em back 'cos were true woodsmen and old hand at this boat/raft game.
Anyhow, the banter was great and we entered into a kind of race with the other raft whilst splashing one-another in a terribly grown up fashion which resulted in Soa boarding our raft to annoy us but Ethan got the upper hand and pushed him in. Hee-hee. See, not juvenile at all.
Eventually we got to the lunch spot utterly knackered and in need of a beer before we took the hour+ long trip back to civilisation. We stopped off along the way at a funky little butterfly/orchid farm. Which was nice. I can see why people become obsessed with orchids and spend their whole lives in search of rarer and rarer species, they're beautiful.
We'd found out that Racel & Ethan were getting the flight to Luang Prabang with us a couple of days later so we exchanged numbers and organised a big ol'Mexican dinner the following night with the rest of the group.

Trek (Day two)

2006-02-16T17:50:00.000Z

The following morning we all awoke and formed an orderly queue for the cold shower. After this we headed off on another walk over the hills through some amazing jungley jungle stopping off briefly at a sacred termite mound which Helmut bashed with a stick. Good idea Helmut.
The scenery here is quite spectacular and I couldn't help but feel as if we really had come somewhere untouched and that the rest of the World was so far away both in distance and in thought.
We stopped for a brief beer stop at an 'All Bar One' nesteld in the forest. Just joshing, it was a funky little hill village and it was around this point that Beth had a revelation... She'd done this exact trek before. The main reason she realised was that sitting beneath a hut was a woman weaving. It was the same woman. Weaving the same stuff. In the same place. Beth has an exact duplicate of this picture at home from five years before.

Lunch was taken at a kind of outpost like place where they keep the elephants for... well... elephant rides. We had to wait a while for ours as they only had two and we needed three. One of the drivers had wrapped his around a tree earlier that day and the other two needed refuelling and an emergency MOT.

Beth & I had done the elephant thing before so we let Lee take the drivers seat and sit on the poor beasts head. There were a few hairy moments when we went downward and realised that, unlike the previous occasion, we didn't have any kind of seat belt to keep us from toppling out. I could half see me doing a kind of comedy roll-slide out along the elephant's head and down his trunk to land legs akimbo in the dust.
The elephants trudged along and we all took snaps of each other whilst listening to Lee wax lyrical about everything from religion to the different species of bamboo until eventually we rounded a corner and caught a glimpse of our next destination. The picture before us was stunning. The river meandered past this incredible, stilted village that seemed to grow out of the side of the riverbank. It immediately put me in mind of all those Hollywood Vietnam war films, a rather sad image to conjure up. That night we again sat around a campfire watching Lucky make fools of us but this time we were treated our other guide's, (Soal), singing and guitar playing.
Again it was shockingly cold and I slept fitfully dreaming of elephants telling me how to grow bamboo, singing magicians, giant German termites and bloody roosters. The roosters sadly weren't a dream.

Chiang Mai - Three day trek (Day one)

2006-02-04T15:02:00.000Z

The day after our cookery class Beth & I set off on a three day trek up into the hills of northern Thailand to mingle with the hill tribes and no doubt battle with the elements and take a few cold showers. We both had a pinch of trepidation over this as we had no idea what kind of a group we would get, we'd been told it was a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 12. As it happened we got a bloody good group. We had the required crazed German by the name of Helmut who was definitely out to do his own thing. (Apparently he runs some kind of adventure tour back home so this was a kind of fact-finding mission. He kept dissappearing off to jump in streams or harass the locals.) We also had a mercifully un-loud American called Lee who turned out to be one of the most fascinating men we'd ever encountered, he'd done everything. I kid you not. He's an ER surgeon who is also a blacksmith & printmaker who's writting a book on diets and Nordic walking. He also speaks Japanese and lives on a huge farm in New York with two turtles called Martha & Not Martha. He was a great guy to talk with but...he didn't stop talking. Ever. Not once. Seriously.
Anyhow, the trek started off well with a brief stop at a waterfall were Beth & I stripped off and dived in along with our new found friends Rachael & Ethan, (who live on a highly exclusive boat), then quickly dived right back out again when we realised how chuffing cold the water was and how much the falls hurt.
After that we got the opportunity to dip our feet in a blissfully relaxing hot spring. Given the walk we had to take next I can't help but think we shouldn't have done that bit after, but hey, I didn't design the place.
The walk was tough for a confirmed lazy-bugger like myself. And it was hot. And my feet hurt. And I wanted my Mum. But the walk did have a purpose and that was to get us to our first hill tribe. Beth & I were dead excited about this and many questions raced through our minds. what would they be like? How would they react to us? Would we see true rural life? Where were we to sleep? As it happened it was a little dissapointing in certain aspects. We kind of just arrived in the village and then settled down to drink their beer. There was no big welcome, no dancing and chanting, no introductions or tour of the village. It all seemed a little awkward. "Hello, I've just come to see your quaint little village. I'm from the West you know. Goodness me, is that a mangy chicken? How terribly rustic. Would you mind if I used your internet access? No internet access you say, dear me. Well maybe I'll just drink your beer then." It all made me feel even more like an outsider than I'd expected. That said, it was a cool place, chickens & pigs everywhere and loads of dogs who were utterly failing to annoy the aforementioned chickens or pigs. When we asked a villager why the obviously hungry dogs don't eat the chickens he just chuckled and mimed chucking a rock at the dog's head. Guess that'd work.
After supper we sat around a campfire and our superb guide, Lucky, entertained us with a variety of tricks that all involved making us look daft. After which we headed off to our communal sleeping hall.
Suffice to say that where there's chickens there's roosters and the feckers made sure that my first night's sleep was a quick one. That and the astonishing cold that crept right down deep into my bones meant I didn't exactly curl up tight in the arms of Morpheous, more like that I arm-wrestled him in a confined space filled with water, roosters and other annoyances and lost spectacularly. Oh well, there was always tomorrow.

A bloody rooster.

Chiang Mai - Cookery course

2006-02-04T15:01:00.000Z

We flew to Chiang Mai in an effort to save time but when we got here Chiang Mai was 'full'. We wandered the streets getting irritable and eventually found ourselves a lovely guesthouse run by the equally lovely 'Jimmy' who helped us plan our stay in the city and before long we walked away having booked ourselves onto a cookery course and a three day trek.
The cookery course was fun, we were driven out of the city to a small organic farm to learn how to cook a handfull of Thai dishes. We went via the market where the fascinating world of rice was explained to us and ingredients were bought. The market was fun, there were pigs-heads, live fish and some great veg kicking around. The cooking itself was a real laugh but kind of dissapointing as all the prep, (as chefs say), was done for us. We all had our own station with utensils, oils and a burner and we were walked through green curry paste which we used to make a green curry funnily enough, stir-fried chicken in oyster sauce, Tom-Yam soup with prawns, Bananas in coconut milk and spring rolls.
The paste tuition was kind of redundant as we knew how to make it already as was the curry and the stir-fry. The Tom-Yam soup was new to us but not really something we'd make at home, (give us tomato or French onion anyday), the banana in coconut milk went an interesting shade of grey and frankly spring-rolls are a damn sight easier to buy. That all said though we did have a great time and the trip around the farm to teach us about the ingredients with the brilliantly named 'Bun' was really informative.

Here's Beth with a chilli. It's a green one.

Bangkok

2006-02-01T13:34:00.000Z

We'd booked ourselves into a highly recommended guest house called the 'Siam 2' as it had it's own pool and air-con. As it happened we needn't have bothered as we didn't use either. Nice to have the option though. Again we meet up with Marc, Sorcha & Woody and we trawled the Khao San road like good little tourists. It's nuts. There's a 'Boots' and endless stalls selling knock-off watches, bags and things. We fell for the cheap prices and bought a bag which lasted approximately three hours before one of the straps came off. Pay shit prices - get shit I guess. We also took the opportunity to grab a few cds, we would've bought more but Marc had bought the whole streets worth.
The KS road is interesting and everything but unless you want to buy knock-off Rolex watches, replica 'North Face rucksacks or t-shirts with huge 'Billabong' logos or the current Thai phrase "Same, same but different' then there's really no point going there.
Marc had told us about a great sounding cocktail bar that was on the 41st floor of a hotel and we wobbled off there to meet Sorcha, Nick and him. When we arrived the place was without doubt the plushest place I've ever seen that wasn't in 2D on a big screen with a Hollywood film star crashing around in. There was a bloody three-piece band playing to one fat man in the lobby for Buddah's sake and there was I in a t-shirt, well-travelled combat trousers and Birkenstocks. I felt marginally under-dressed it had to be said. My awkwardness increased when I got the bar's entrance on the 40th floor only to be told by a very friendly Thai woman that they didn't allow people in without shoes and I could borrow a pair if I liked. I panicked, got all flustered and had to phone Marc to ask him what to do. He texted me to let me know I was a berk so I borrowed a pair of leather loafers that were jsut the wrong side of the right size and walked, gingerly, up to the very roof of the building with Beth by my side barely suppresing a fit of the giggles.
The view and the place was astonishing. It's so high and there's no other tall buildings near it so you feel like you literally have your head in the clouds. It's amazing. The building is also very narrow so it has the impression that the slightest breeze and the whole thing will bend like a reed in the wind. The Thai planners had obviously taken this into consideration and planned an extensive guard-rail system to make you feel safe. They'd then taken that initial plan, screwed it up, chucked it in the bin and gone ith 'Daredevil Bob McCrazy's' idea and added a quarter-inch one instead.
The next day the Boases left and Beth & I walked around the city taking in a few sights. We saw the famous reclining Buddah and did some merit-making in the traditional way by paying money, took in a few Watts, (they all look pretty similar after a while), and took some snaps of a crazy mosaic temple. The architect of which had clearly taken his pet bull to the china shop when the inevitable happened and, (now that he'd had to buy all the smashed stock), had thought it a great idea to build a monument to his folly. I swear I saw a tea-cup in there somewhere.
We also took a wee little boat trip along the river, which was nice.
That evening we hit the night market and singularly failed to buy anything of any note. Beth was pretty pissed off that all the clothes were in Thai women's sizes i.e. ridiculously tiny. One stall holder even laughed at her when she asked if anything would fit her. I'm not even a woman and I've gotta say, "ouch!".

Ko Phagnan

2006-01-30T13:23:00.000Z

We had a bit of a stressfull journey to the island as we thought we were being scammed by the travel agent. They'd taken our money for a minivan & boat to the island but then it transpired they were actually sticking us on a public bus which was late. Even the owner stroking the hairs on my arm and looking bemused didn't calm our fears. As it happened we made the boat on time. When we got to the island though we had the 'pleasure' of meeting the incredulously named 'Space', a Brit lass who was living on the island and working in a bar. 'Space' - for God's sake! Anyhow, we had to wait a while as we'd agreed to split a cab with her and she was waiting for her, get this, blind traveller friend from Portugal. 'Space', (I can't even type that without laughing!), and her mate got out of the cab the beach before us and we headed along the lumpiest track I've ever known to meet Marc & Sorcha. We found Mr & Mrs Boase in a state of extreme relaxation sitting at a beach bar at the far end of the bay supping Singha beer and generally looking like the cat who got the beer. We had a couple with Marc and headed off to bed. It had been a long day.
The following day Ben developed a 48hour gastro-intestinal infection, (or 'the shits' as it's known medically), and had to spend the whole day within dashing distance of the latrine. Thankfully we were in a very lovely little hut in a very peaceful place so it was pretty good for convalescing.
Marc & Sorcha looked after Beth and kept her plied with Beer & food in much the same way as they do with Woody I think.
Once I was better we did all the usual things, eating, drinking and relaxing. We dabbled with the idea of snorkeling and visiting other beaches but frankly it was too darn lovely where we were. They had beer, excellent beach barbies and coconut shakes, why would we leave.

We had ourselves a massage and felt deeply relaxed, it was Ben's first time and he loved it, and it only cost us about 4 quid. Relaxation on the cheap is so good in Thailand.
The last day was a bit of a sorry affair as the Heavens opened, (again), thus signalling our time to move on. Marc & I had to trudge into town in the pouring rain in some rather fetching yellow & transparent rain macs cursing and swearing that we'd "Come to Thailand by mistake. We're not from England."
M&S took the sensible option and flew, (first class!), to Bangkok while we opted for 'divvy class' cab-boat-bus.
The bus on the mainland was exceptionally comfortable with the only main drawback being the choice of films. We were treated to that all time family favourite, light-hearted comedy extravaganza that is 'Hotel Rwanda'. Laugh? No. I cried. A lot. So did Beth. A lot. Then we got 'The Wedding Crashers' which involved a lot of boob shots followed by 'American Pie - Band Camp' which was pretty crude. I don't know if it's a cultural difference or they just don't vet or censor these things the way we do but they were hardly what I'd call suitable for a family oriented bus journey. We'd already been treated to a soundtrack on the catamaran featuring some rap artist singing his hit "F*** you, you Sh**". I kid you not. Google it if you don't believe me. Mercifully Bangkok came into view before they could show any more dubious films like "Die Screaming With Sharp Things In Your Head".

Khao sok

2006-01-29T19:28:00.000Z

From Ko Lanta we had an horrendous journey to Khao sok national park packed in a minivan with non-existent air-con. But it was so beautiful and tranquil that a shower in the fantastic jungle hut soon washed it all away. We treated ourselves to that old Thai classic - french fries (yummie potatoes Mmmmmm) and the lovely lady who served our drinks turned out to be a man. Interesting. From the cafe terrace we watched the monkeys across the river playing in the cave and were deafened by frogs and ciccadas, which we originally thought was an alarm in one of the huts as it was so ear-piercingly loud.
We went back to our hut and were confronted with the biggest insects I have ever seen that appeared to have become our new roomies. One was a cockroach about the size of a small child and I'm pretty certain had a beard though Ben said it was meerly a beetle in disguise. Ben did the manly thing and rid our bedroom of another huge beast and said the only thing he was concerned about was crushing the things antennae, although there was definitely fear in his eyes.
The next day we chickened out of the overnight trekking, which would'v involved a good few hours walking each day, and took an elephant ride instead. We were at the front of the pack and we came literally face to many-eyed-face with a huge jungle spider. We kept quiet about it and enjoyed looking back at our everso slightly annoying American companions freaking out at the sight of it dangling across their path. We could've sworn we heard it chuckle. On the way back to base we stopped off at a waterfall and were more taken with another, (or was it the same?), giant spider than the water. These things were big, had fearfully scary pointy legs sporting what looked like yellow knee-pads and moved in such a slow, deliberate way that you almost knew they were thinking, "You may be scared of us now but imagine how you feel when you wake up and find we've taken over the World and eaten all your furniture. Mwah-Ha-Ha!"

We ventured off into the national park in the afternoon and followed a well trodden path with plenty of pit-stops to look at lizards and... more mega-spiders, as well as a friendly monitor lizard who gracefully posed for a photo before disappearing into the undergrowth looking for a mega-spider to eat.
It was great being in the jungle and a brilliant stopping off point before our next beach stop on the other side of the peninsular to meet up with the family Boase.

Ko Lanta

2006-01-27T19:20:00.000Z

We got a long boat onto a ferry and after a beautiful journey, marred only by a German making a nuisance of himself, arrived in Ko Lanta. We stayed one night in a great hut on Khlong Khong beach, but the beach was narrow and rocky and not condusive to the relaxing beach holiday we had envisaged. We did however have some great Thai food and our first taste of Ko lanta was seen through the kerosene fumes of fire dancing set to some good old fashioned Scorpions rock. The next day we headed onto Khlong Nin beach where C&S suggested we go. The week was taken up with a bit of sea-bathing, a bit of sun-bathing, a bit of beer and a lot of good food. For the first time we were really able to relax and feel like we were on holiday. The following day we sat in the sun and had a beer and some good food... you get the picture. we finally managed to drag ourselves away about a week later and headed in-land to Khao Sok National Park in an effort to get away from beaches and actually see some stuff.

Thailand - Ao nang

2006-01-26T18:55:00.000Z

Our first stop in Thailand was Ao Nang on the peninsular west coast, and we received an exceptionally warm welcome from Claire & Scott who had booked us a fantastic room in town and pulled out all the stops for us. Scott treated us to some seafood laughably called 'prawns' but each one was the size of a large banana and had enough meat on it to feed a family. We managed to drink several cocktails and got our first taste of the Thai beaches with great company. The beach was a little on the 'busy' side though as throughout the day long-tail boats chugged in and out taking holiday makers to other islands. We also managed to catch an old 'A-Team' episode on Thai television, it was the one featuring Boy-George, cool huh?
The first night we ended up down a strip of bars that I've now christened 'Thai-Croydon', here we drank far too much and had ourselves a highly amusing night watching the Thai ladies, (in very short skirts), dancing provocatively in front of the western men. Aah the cultured life is sometimes so heady and overpowering.
Unfortunately the weather followed us from Malaysia and we were often peed upon resulting in applying sun-screen, five minutes on the beach, swearing, dashing to shelter and repeat. C&S recommended we go to Ko Lanta where they had had a wonderfully relaxing beach holiday with no rain... so Ko Lanta here we come...

Penang island - Georgetown

2006-01-24T12:55:00.000Z

Well whadya know! Little India, Chinatown & a Colonial district. Whadda the odds? Hee-hee. Georgetown is one of the most historic cities in Malaysia apparently and the whole of Penang is often refered to as Georgetown in much the same way as the bulk of Georgetown can be refered to as Chinatown. It's very Chinese.
We stayed in a nice little guesthouse that was owned by a sweet Chinese lady and had a cafe on the ground floor. The place was all old Chinese dark wood furniture and even older even darker wood floors but our room was still a little on the 'cell-like' side. The fan above our bed pretty much filled the room and spun at an alarming speed above us at night. I kept thinking it'd descend like in a cheap horror film and we'd have to dash for the door.
Anyway, we finally found ourselves a great little hawker's market and had great food - shame it was our last night in Malaysia really. It was no wonder they proved difficult to find, the stalls are a kind of bike-come-oven-stroke-kitchen affair and they just cycle up, light the wok and get woking. We also found an excellent samosa & bhaji dude who whipped us up some nibbles at lunchtime. I tried to find him again but trying to re-find a food stall in Malaysia is like... well, trying to re-find a food stall in Malaysia.
One of the big problems with travelling is that as soon as you get to a place you have to start considering how and when you'll be moving on and in no time at all we found ourselves booking our mini-van journey out of Georgetown to head off to our third country - Thailand. It was gonna be a five in the morning affair and the walk to the pick-up wasn't exactly pleasant. The charming little streets by day had become horrible by night. Lady-boys everywhere and kids on scooters eyeing you up and down and making several passes don't exactly make you feel safe as houses. It didn't help that we'd met a fellow traveller who'd had all her stuff snatched off her back that very day by 'kid-on-scooter'. When we got to the pick-up Lisa looked relieved and Dan let go of the pointy rock he'd been clutching for the last ten minutes.
The van journey was fine, if a little cramped, mostly 'cos of the company of Dan & Lisa and this really nice American guy called Xander and his new Swedish misses. The probelm with these van journeys is that they also serve as a kind of 'pick-up & drop-off' service for the drivers. I reckon they do twice as many miles as necessary just delivering stuff to their mates or families.
Anyhow, we breezed through Malaysian border control, (another stamp - yey!), and eventually got to the Thai border. The Thai border is a little more thorough than we'd been used to so far. They actually looked at your passport here. Though I was pretty sure I'd be deported immediately as the elderly Thai military guy patroling our booth looked so much like the villain in 'Team America' that I couldn't help but sine under my breath, "So ronery. I'm so ronery..."
So here we were. Thailand.

Kuala Lumpur

2006-01-24T12:40:00.000Z

Another great bus ride later we arrived in the stiffling heat that was Kuala Lumpur. We had been recommended a hostel to stay in near the bus station and went to the hotel of the same name by mistake. It was the worse place we stayed so far. Even with air-con it just felt weird, like a multi-story car park with beds. Anyhow we did have an amazing view over the Petronas Towers and the Menara KL Communications Tower, set off one evening with the most amazing lightning storm.

We went to see the Petronas Towers and went up the Menara Tower and saw some great views of the city. In the evening found an indian in-door market to eat at. Again, we explored Little India, and China town and drank many fruit juices. In the Chinese market a little man selling herbal hair restorative saw Ben, thought he had found his pension scheme and chased him around the market.

Next Stop George Town, Penang.

Malaysia - Malaka

2006-01-24T12:00:00.000Z

Travelling in Asia has a bad reputation, but our bus from Singapore to Melaka was a first class VIP most amazing bus ever. With only 3 seats across the row and plenty of leg room even for Ben, our 4 hour journey was genuinely a pleasure.

Melaka is a funny little place and the sense of adventure and anticipation we felt for our first Malaysian town and the beauty of the scenery as it rolled past our coach window was marred slightly by the appearance of a huge advertising board proclaiming that Tesco had arrived in town. At the bus station we were met by a friendly chap who put us in a taxi and sent us on our merry way to our hostel. We were not really sure what we were doing for food and after skirting around some dubious looking hawker food markets ended up in a noodle bar. There have been a steady stream of people and guide books telling us that in Malaysia we would be in food heaven for the price of a fizzy cola bottle, but we were having very little luck stumbling across these places. It wasn't until Georgetown that we were able to experience what the fuss was all about.

Every Malaysian town has a Chinatown, a Little India and a Colonial district and in Melaka we explored all of these as well as the Palace museum. Most of Chinatown was displaying red and gold decorations in time for Chinese New year. It was Ben's first taste of a proper Asian town and I think he was a bit taken aback, what with there being no pavement and most of the buildings crumbling down. The immense heat was a perfect excuse to stop off, very often, for fresh fruit juices.

They obviously put a lot of effort into the business of decorating their trishaws in Melaka. Everything is brightly coloured garlands of plastic and real flowers, bells that play 'She'll be coming round the mountain...' unbrellas and all manner of other things. There was even one done out in the Arsenal colours and another blaring out happy hardcore music... he didn't get that many rides.

Singapore

2006-01-23T16:25:00.000Z

What have we been up to so far I hear you ask. We'll quite a bit is the answer. We had a brief stay in Singapore which was odd and, unless you like your cities really clean and a little dull with it, frankly a bit of a dissappointment. We did however see a great New Year firework display at the harbour but then marvelled at how the Singaporeans, (who spent the whole time filming the display on their mobile telephones by the way - there was a sea of heads and then loads of little blue screens. It was like the modern equivalent of lighters at a rock concert), then all proceeded home in an orderly fashion in near silence without a single drunken yell of "Happy New Year!" or a manly hug given to a stranger. Odd. They call Singapore a 'fine city'. There's a fine for everything. Spitting - $500, jaywalking - $500. Keeps the city clean I guess but the sterility, after a day or two, is actually pretty disturbing. Hardly surprising though as, according to a chap we'd meet, they only have a resource back-up of four days. All the gas & 'tricity comes from Indonesia via pipe so if it goes tits-up they have less than a week in reserve. No wonder they're a little edgy.
Anyhow our hotel was pretty nice, good air-con room with a free bar-manager/information booth/crap magician/karaoke diva called 'Wilson' thrown in gratis. We met Wilson on our first night chatting, with his pilot buddy Christopher, to an English couple who'd been in Oz for a year called Dan & Lisa - they were to become our travel-buds for the next week. Wilson turned out to be a mine of information, (some of it probably dubious), and he seemed to love his job of drinking with the guests and ruining songs via the medium of karaoke. He did say every few minutes whilst pissed, "Damn I love my job."
After the New Year fireworks Dan & Lisa 'treated' us to a rendition of the Elton & Kiki classic "Don't go breaking my heart". They weren't good. In fact, had any of Elton's lawyers been within earshot I reckon they would've had a court order slapped on them before they'd finished the first chorus.
We also did what everyone apparently has to do in Singapore and visited Raffles for a Singapore Sling. Raffles looks nice enough and very high class from the outside but it's kind of Disney-ish inside and, being mere commoners, we could only drink in the commoners bar. A Singapore Sling set us back $20 each! To add insult to wallet-injury they don't even make 'em up there and then. Ours were poured, along with twenty others, from big jugs under the bar. To add even more insult they taste like shit. They're pink, fizzy and rank. Don't have one. Ever. Unless it's free.
So, marks out of ten.
Singapore - 4
Fireworks - 7
Breakfast - 2 (It's all overcooked hotdogs and a weird porridge stuff with onion in it. How can that be right?)
Singapore Sling - Minus several million.

Catch-up

2006-01-12T14:49:00.000Z

So, we've been a little quiet of late on the blog front and that's for several reasons, the chief of which being that we've not had a great deal of time... We're in Thailand now on the beach at Ko Lanta and we're staying put for a week on an incredible beach drinking pop, sunning our backsides and marvelling at how many Scandinavians & Germans there are here. They're everywhere!
Anyhow, we've been through Singapore & Malaysia so far, (we'll post more info on these later), and now we're starting on the Thai leg of our journey.
Singapore was a pretty big dissapointment to be honest. It's a nice enough city and a great way to ease ourselves into Asia but, unless you want semi-cheap electricals or a visit to Raffles then I'd not bother. It's very clean and sterile and a little dull with it. We did however see a cracking New Year fireworks display, more on that later.
All is well, we're not seasoned travellers yet, (we miss our bed too much), but we are enjoying being here immensley.

A quickie from S.E. Asia

2006-01-06T04:44:00.000Z

Hi all, just a quickie so you know we've not forgotten about you. We've frankly been having far too good a time watching New Year fireworks, failing to grasp chopsticks and flinging bits of food around in a casual manner, drinking... er... Carlsberg, (is there a favoured Malaysian tipple?), paying extortionate amounts of cash in Raffles for a 'SingaporeSling' and generally moving from place to place. It's all good, and so are we.
Here's a piccie.