Three go wild in Thailand

Wellllll, hellooooo blog faithfuls. Apologies for being slow in writing, but things have been moving very quickly since we arrived in Thailand, and I just havn't had time to update you all. I have been recieving many requests for news, so seeing as we are pretty much planted on the beach on our paradise island, I thought I could spare the time!! hehe

So, where did I leave you all last time...Oh yes, Nele and I were returning to Bangkok to meet with Laura and continue our adventures.


We met Laura without any trouble and became a merry band of three. After a quick discussion and a few drinks of celebration in the backpacker haven of Kho San road, we decided to hot foot it up to Chang Mai in the North for the following days, before heading down to the party island of Koh Pangyan for the legendary full moon party. That gave us 5 days to "do" the North. Without hesitation, we booked ourselves on the overnight train from BKK to Chang Mai the next night. During the day in the 'Kok, we decided to lounge about in our favourite garden cafe in an alley behind mighty Koh San, where, to my later dismay, I chose to consume a......TUNA SANDWICH. The said Tuna delight was considered "a little dodgy" at the time of consumption, but not enough to put off the hardened traveller like myself. It was only later, when I came down with an EXTREME fever, total bloating and bodily redness, accompanied by extreme diahorrea did I regret the lunchoen choice.



Lukily I was well enough by suppertime to hop on the train to the cloudy North. The experience of catching a train in BKK is about as opposite to the experience in India as you could hope for - the station was clean and peaceful, the train was waiting on the correct platform, and was clearly marked in English. There was also LOTS of random guys in uniform (at every corner) checking your ticket and smilingly sending you the right way. Of course in India, there would be many people everywhere, but they would all nod and gesticulate wildly if you asked them anything (they wouldnt know what you had asked!) and then they would ALL send you the wrong way (they wouldnt know the way, but wouldnt like to tell you that. They would prefer to send you SOME way, rather than say they didnt know). Cute! I love India....

Anyway, the train itself was also very well organised - we were herded into the sleeper carriage, and allocated our beds, then given a slap up meal before we fell asleep to the motion of the train. Laura hasnt been to India of course, and was a little disturbed by the grimeyness of the train, but Nele and I were nothing but impressed with how clean and efficient it was...

On arrival in Chang Mai, we met a really batty Thai lady called Mama Honey on the station - she told us she had a couple of guest houses, and that we should go and stay. We immediately liked her, although she was a little mental to deal with at 6am in the morning....so we gave in and let her take us to her hotel. It transpired to be one of the best value hotels I have stayed in - clean and decent with a SWIMMING POOL!! TRES BON.

After settling in, Mama Honey walked us to the ATM herself, and then assisted us to spend all the money we had just withdrawn on activities around Chang Mai booked through her travel desk! We didnt mind though. She was also very keen to get us to meet her nephew and son, both of whom were 29/30 thai business men who were looking for wives!! hehe.

Next day, we spent being driven around the district by Bong (Mama Honeys nephew). We took in lots of shops (ahem) and also the botanical gardens (very impressive waterlily and lotus flower collection) and the Orchid and butterfly farm. Lovely.

The following day we headed out for an EXTREME view of Chang Mai - ATV/Quadding and White water rafting. We were met by the rafting guides who were a pair of crazies! They took us to the ATV centre and waited while we zoomed about the district on our quads for 3 hours. The ride was EXCELLENT! we went up to the highest point in the district via unmade roads leading through paddy fields, produce fields and finally thick tropical forest. We zoomed through mud and undergrowth with great gusto, and on the way back (which was on a paved road), I got my quad up to 60MPH! Yeowzer!

After a long and bumpy ride into the hinterlands around the town, we came to the start of the river for our rafting experience. We joined lots of others on the trip (about 8 boats went down the river) and had a very wet and wild time. The rapids were quite high due to the water levels, and I did a bit of rapid surfing without the boat!! xtreeeeeme....

Next day, Bong came to take us out again, this time to a nearby Elephant conservation centre, which started life as an elephant training centre for the logging industry, which changed usage as soon as elephants in logging became outdated. Its now a sort of care home for the elderly eles as well as a hospital for injured and donated animals. It was OK in that they seem to be doing a lot of good work, but also distasteful in that we were subjected to an "Elephant show" where fat americans pay to be a mahoot for the day and order elephants about.....

On the way back we were taken to a hot spring - I thought it would be a little trek out into the forest to a hot spring where we could swim, but in typical Thai style, it transpired to be an organised government run park where you could (in an organised fashion) swim in a hot swimming pool, or boil an egg in a concrete pool made just for that purpose. There were also fake geysers and egg sculptures all around the gardens. A bit sterile for us, and it started to rain, so we retreated back to the car and asked Bong to take us back to the hotel.

Next day we chilled out until it was time to get the train back to BKK. We had a day in the 'Kok and then hopped on ANOTHER train, this time to Surat Thani in the South, where we were going to catch a ferry to the party island of Koh Pangyan in time for the famous FULL MOON PARTY. On the train, we met lots of people who were heading the same way as us - apparently this full moon party was the 20th anniversary party, and was going to be BIIIIIGGGGG! How Exciting....

When we arrived in Surat Thani, it was obvious the party was bringing people in especially from all over Thailand. The ferry people where having cardiac arrests trying to fit everyone into the busses down to the port. We made it in time to catch the right ferry, and peacfully cruised over to the islands. On the 2.5 hour journey, we met a hotel rep, who told us about a lovely sounding little hotel on the beach made up of beach huts - sounded just our sort of thing, so we booked in for a couple of nights. When we arrived on the island, we were herded into the back of a van which sped through the palm lined lanes to our little beach. WELL, it couldnt have been more beautiful if it had tried!! Clear azure water, blue sky, white powder sand...magical. We eagerly checked in and went for a swim. Our spirits were very high and we were really looking forward to the next days...

Progress

Last couple of days have been spent hanging around Luang Prabang. Pol told me that when she had been here last year, it was her favourite town - and now I can see why. It really merits its World Heritage Site status - an old French colonial town and also the main hub for Buddhism in Lao, every turn you make, you come across another beautiful sight- monasteries, temples, old French architecture and French cuisine. Lovely. Its also the confluence of two important rivers -the Khan river and the mighty Mekong.

We have been wandering the streets, shopping, looking at temples, eating croissants and generally relaxing. Beautiful.

Tonight, we are on the night bus again...this time for 12 hours....back to Vieniane to catch our flight to Panom Penh and back to Bangkok! Whew!

Extreme Rubber Ringing

WHY did we plan to go on the night bus (or ANY bus in actual fact?) that was the thing running through my mind when we set off from Tha Khek. We were on another disco bus. It was 11;30 pm, we were KNACKERED and there was an almighty storm raging outside.

Luckily by 12 they had turned off the noise, and we were able to spread out a little bit. Didnt make much difference to our ability to sleep - the bus was plummeting at high speed through the night, swerving and breaking violently through an all out storm. After 10 hours of night and movement, we arrived very worse for wear at our destination, Vientiane - the capital of Laos. From the instant we arrived, it was obvious we were in the capital - more people here to rip you off, and less kindness and friendlyness.

We bartered with a jumbo wallah for half an hour, and then jumped into his machine. We then had to wait another 45 minutes until he filled the rest of the jumbo up with other people. By this time I was in a strop. I was tired and ready to kill the man - we were paying over the odds for the whole vehicle, and he proceeded to make us wait to get to the hotel and make more money by filling up the machine with others. RAHHHHRGH!

I was then REALLY ready to poke his eyes out with a blunt stick when he dropped us of....AT THE WRONG PLACE!!!!! Luckily Nele was in less of a bad mood than me, and was able to pacify me a little. Also the tension was broken when we had to walk through a bit of roadworks, and Nele fell over in the mud - face down, in a white t-shirt, underneath her huge backpack. We burst out laughing, as it couldnt get any worse!!!

Mud splattered and shattered we ended up in a nice hostel and crashed into bed at about 7am....peace reigned.

At about 12noon we both woke up refreshed and decided to get the first bus OUT of Vientiene to our next destination - the extreme sport capital of Laos - Vang Vien.

This time, we caught a tourist bus - which had NO TV!!!! Amazing!!!! The journey was short and sweet -3 hours without any hitches at all. LOVELY. We arrived in VV and immediately checked into a beautiful little hostel. VV is a really beautiful town surrounded by a river valley and a very high mountain range - spectacular to look at.

Once again, a storm started and raged throughout the night - beautiful forks of lightening.

Next day we had booked the classic activity of VV -TUBING. This consists of floating in a rubber ring down the river surrounding the town. The course of the river ensures marvellous scenery and a very tranquil ride - except in high season when the river is known for being lined with bars serving beers to tossy tourists - so they gradually get more sloshed as they go down the river. Luckily for us, as its low season and high rainfall time, there was no-one there to hamper us. Us two and my waterproof bag were picked up by a tuk tuk and driven upriver 3km, where we were unceremoniously dumped by the rivers edge. Nele immediately started to look a bit white.....the river was RAGING...... Not the tranquil flow we were led to believe it was!! (Rainy season effect again!!) By the time we had turned around to question the driver, he had dissapeared into a cloud of dust....
SO, with no other action left open to us, we hopped into our rubber rings and jumped into the river! extreeeeeeeeme man!

After the initial fast section, the river widened and we slowed down to a veritable float, so we neednt have worried. Didnt stop Nele hanging on to me the whole journey though! ahhhhh!

We came to the end of the run, just as the river quickened up again, and we had to jump off our rings into rushing water - which wasnt so easy to deal with - but at least we made it out within half a mile of the proper stopping point!!

The journey itself was brilliant - tranquil, serene, and really spectacular scenery. Wonderful.

Next day we were on the move again. To the Northern Capital, and a World Heritage Site, Luang Prabang.

Oh My God, I think we just ran over a chicken.....

After a very pleasant day in Siem Reap doing nothing, it was time to catch our flight bound for Pakse in Southern Laos. Another adventure beginning!

The flight went off very well and we arrived bright and early into this pretty Laotian town. We had a vague plan to hire a car and drive ourselves though Laos at high speed (we have only 10 days for the whole country) but soon after arrival, that idea was quashed by the Lao tourism people who told us that its simply "not possible" to do that. Ho Hum. Never daunted, we hopped into another hybrid of the rickshaw, which is unique to Laos- the "Jumbo" which is a small flat bed truck converted into a rickshaw. It goes damn fast and can hold up to 10 people in the back.

We commandeerd our own jumbo and asked the cute and helpful man to drive us out of the city on a high speed 250km circuit of the Bolvean Plateaux where we were promised by Lonley Planet we would see many beautiful waterfalls and also tribal villages where the people are quite primitive and all the ladies puff on Opium. Sitting in the dust drenched back of the Jumbo, we proceeded to drive at almost the speed of sound, down unpaved roads, throwing up gravel, chickens, goats and small children as we passed. At one point, I was dozing off, and I was woken by an alarmed Nele saying the immortal "Oh my god, I think we just ran over a chicken" and then glancing back down the road, we see a cloud of dust and chicken feathers flying in the air!!!

We stopped at a beautiful waterfall, and then proceeded to go and have a look at the villages. We were treated to a completely unpretentious visit to several villages, where we were able to wander through the stilt houses and visit people as they did thier daily things. The people were dressed mostly in traditional clothes, although some of the men were in western. They did indeed keep thier coffins under thier houses, and the women (and girls, from the age of about 13) did indeed puff on opium pipes...ALL the time......

We saw the ladies making thatch for thier rooves, also several fruit markets, and finally we came across a weaving village where they were making wonderful Laos fabrics. At every turn there were beautiful Laos children running around playing with sticks and chasing piglets. Magical. All the people we came across were furiously interested in us, and very very smily...all cracking up when we talked to them and the kids crawling all over us in interest. Even as we rode in the back of the Jumbo, people would zoom right up to the back on thier scooters and smiling broadly, wave until they caused themselves to swerve and nearly fall off.

We roared back to Pakse in our Jumbo, taking in all the sights enroute - lush greenness as far as the eye can see, mountains and rice paddies, people in pointed Laos hats sewing the fields, buffaloes employed pulling carts and ploughs, stilt houses, smiley ladies carrying babies and baskets strapped to thier backs. Also, Monks - obviously Buddhism is the main religion here in Laos, and monks, in thier beautiful safferon robes are very commonly seen - everywhere - on bikes, on busses...in fact there is a young monk sitting next to me now in the internet cafe - must be on buddha.com or something....

Next day we were to experience our first Laos bus - buoyed by our experience with the disco bus in Cambodia, we confidently booked ourselves on the 10 hour bus from Pakse to Tha khek, which is a frontier town (Thai boarder) halfway up the Southern part of Laos, which promised us lots of untouched eco adventures. As soon as we got on, I regretted it.....we not only had disco-vision (a TV blaring out) but it was REALLY loud, and unceasing. Now, with a good book, I can normally close out all distractions - but this was even getting through to me.....Laos TV is a thing on its own. First programme was a Laos version of Ant and Dec's Saturday night show - two young men in oversized suits in front of a big dance troupe wearing leopard skin doing a sort of line dancing cum dad dancing. Next they were joined by four "hilarious" old guys, who I think were comedians - each had a day glo suit in orange, green, yellow and pink. They kept hitting each other with plastic table legs (at the point of contact there was always a cartoonish "whack" or "pow"noise) Then it downgraded into a very very poor pantomime - lots of Laos guys badly dressed as women - all hitting each other. According to the Laotians on the bus, this was the funniest thing they have ever seen in thier lives. To Nele and I, it was definately a kind of torture. In the end, I stuffed paper in my ears, and Nele put her bag on her head.

The journey was made even more interesting when we stopped at a market for the others on a bus to pick up a few essentials. The market turned out to be a meat market, where such delicacies as live snails, live toads, dead rats, dead squirrels, dead kingfishers and buckets of blood (which transpired to be calfs bollocks) were the plat du jour.

The rest of the journey, we had to share our bit of the bus with a bag of dead squirrels. THE SMELL!!!!! Oh my GOD......

When we finally arrived in Tha Khek, we kissed the ground and then headed for our hostel -just in time, as we were then hit by an almighty thunder and lightening storm, the like of which we havnt seen since Kovalam. Big forks of lightening and swooshing rain like a bucket of water being thrown over your head. Lovely!

In the Tha Khek area, we had read that there were some interesting caves to explore, as well as rivers to kayak down, and lovely jungle walks to do. We had only one day, so we enlisted the help of a local tour company - who organised a Tha Khek oddysey for us for the following day. Our guide Death (yep, that was his name) was a young Lao student studying and teaching English, so he was very friendly and keen to practise his language.

Next morning Death turned up with a motorbike rickshaw (another hybrid in Lao -a motorbike with a cart on the back to seat 4/6 people) and we were off! This time, we didnt go at such a breakneck speed, so it was more enjoyable - seeing the marvellous scenery passing us by.

First visit was the Hermit Cave, where I had a rather typically Absterly moment, where bum surfed down a muddy slope (the guide told us that it was fine to go rambling in the forest in the wet season in flip flops....) and then proceeded to have hysterics on seeing a rather innoculous green snake (I burst into tears....ahem) The cave was lovely, but flooded (wet season again!) so we couldnt go inside.

Next was another cave, which reminded me a lot of a scary version of Cheddar gorge -well sorted for tourism -lots of walkways and steps - but also all crumbling and dripping with water. Beautiful staigmites and tites though. The cave was well lit with striplights, although I did notice that most of the electric cable was underwater...so we had the added excitement of dodging death as well....This second one was called the "walk and talk" cave....

The story of the caves goes, that the Hermit lived in the cave, and had a beautiful daughter. One day a novice buddhist monk came along and spotted the girl, and charmed her into coming to the other cave...where they walked and talked (of course!). Apparently the Hermit was a bit pissy that the little monk did this. There the story ends.

Next we were due to go for a swim in the river followed by a peaceful cruise on a dugout canoe through sunken forests. Enroute to the river, our rash tuk tuk driver decided a bit of off road adventure was required, and we got unmovably stuck in knee deep mud. All three of us had to get out of the vahicle and push, as we sank deeper and deeper in the mud as well. You can imagine what we looked like afterwards - mud splattered like we had been wrestling! That added to my already caked bum was a sight to behold!!

Onwards we went - to the riverside for lunch and a swim - except we couldnt swim because the river was raging and also very muddy -wet season again! we are soooooo great at planning....

Lunch consisted of grilled fish, sticky lao rice and dried fish that was like eating high fish flavoured leather shoe insoles.

After another shocking overland drive in the tuk tuk, we arrived at the prescribed place where we were meant to meed the canoe. It never arrived, and so Death had to go and find the man. Apparently, as it rained in the night, he thought we werent coming....???

I really enjoyed the canoe trip, although Nele wasnt so enamoured, as she doesnt like boats or water, and we were about 1 inch away from the surface of the water in a dugout canoe, and the owner was constantly bailing out! She panicked at one moment and started to bail furiously for him!!!

Last on our agenda for the day was a visit to the legendary Buddha cave, where, legend has it, a man i n 1997 climbed up a cliff hoping to catch bats for his dinner (nothing surprises me any more about Laotion food habits!) and came across a cave which contained more than 200 ancient buddha images - carvings and statues. No one knows how or when they got there. Today, it has become a real pilgrim site, and is a beautiful fascinating place. We clambered up into the cave and sat a while in meditation of the beautiful images before us.

Exhausted after our adventures, we headed home to the hostel for a well earned shower and dinner before we hopped onto the night bus to Vientiane.

Fried Locust and Vegemite

The rest of the day in Bangkok was spent sorting out our onwards plans and then getting an early night. The only problem with that was that neither of us could get a wink of sleep. We tried everything...counting sheep...talking...not talking...a cool shower...lying the other way round on the bed...listening to music.... everything. SO, at midnight (our flight to Cambodia was at 7am next morning, meaning getting to the airport at 4.30am) we decided to give in and GET UP again! On venturing out of our hotel, we found that the 'Kok was as hopping at that time as it was in the day - taxi's zooming around with blue lights underneath them, shops open selling all manner of things, food vendors, pubs, clubs and bars, all doing a brisk trade.
We decided to go for a midnight snack at a cake shop we had found the previous day. Now, if you are a regular follower of Absterstravels, then you will know that in India, there is no hope as far as cakes go. They are near non-existant, and when you do get one, it is dry and yukky. Great for the waistline, but bad for moral. Now, Thailand (well, Bangkok) on the other hand, is a different WORLD! The shop we found had a positive ARRAY of mind bending cake combinations. A veritable HEAVEN for the cake lovers amongst us. Without any hesitation, Nele and I seated ourselves in the large leather sofa's amongst the aircon white washed art covered cafe, and ordered THREE pieces of cake - one chocolate with a layer of dark, white, and milk choc mousse, one fruit, with cream and tropical fruits and one apple pie. We couldnt whittle down the choices to less than three pieces...that alone was hard enough. Several coffees later and a filling of cake, and we were the happiest girls in the 'Kok that night. WOW that is SO worth getting out of bed for!! Dawn was creeping over the city, so it was time to go to the airport to catch our flight to Cambodia.

Needless to say, we arrived in Penom Penh a little worse for wear after not sleeping at all the night before. Cambodia on first sight was slightly poorer than Thailand, but nothing like India of course. We checked into a basic but nice enough hotel in Penom Penh (the capital) rested for a couple of hours, and then headed out to have a look at the night market - which was mainly food, in the strangest combinations we have seen so far. It seems that Cambodians have a penchant for dried fish, squid, animal innards and other unidentified dried bits of flesh, both animal and foul. Also, there were lots of stalls which were rotisserie of ducks (heads on), whole fish and cow tongues..... Also in the market they had a vast array of fruits and veg, including the most stinky of them all ( I knew they had them before I got there, because I could smell them) Durian. The whole place was bustling with housewives poking fruit, tasting things, spitting and shopping with avengence. The market was surrounded by the Cambodian alternative to Rickshaws - Cyclo's and Moto's. Cyclo's are basically an armchair on the front of a pushbike, and Moto's are a moped with a little carriage attached to the back - which can take 3 people in safety, but, this is Asia - so is more usually seen carrying up to 10 people.

It started to rain (its really humid and warm here, but not as hot as India) and so we headed back for an early night - as the next day was sightseeing around the city.

Next day we hired a Moto for the day and headed out for a hardcore sightseeing day. First was a fastrack education about the troubles Cambodia has experienced in its recent history - the rule of the Khamer Rouge, and the horrors of this dictatorship ruled by Pol Pot. Basically, Cambodia was taken over by Communist fundametalists throughout the 70's, whose attitude was to destroy anything that deviated from the communist path - like music, history, art and traditional religions and values. This meant all people were expected to either join the Khamer Rouge to become the ärmy"or were expected to work the fields for the production of food for the nation. There were no other careers allowed, it was one or the other. Anything historical (like ancient monuments, art and historical sites) had to be destroyed, churches and sites of worship were also destroyed. People were kept under strict subjegation, and if they dared to do anything which wasnt allowed in the regime (like sing a song for example) then they were immediately tortured and then killed. No second chances. It seems hard to believe now in a rational society which we live in, but the Cambodians were under the rule of these fundaMENTALISTS for over 10 years - during which time Cambodia was closed to the outside, both physically and media wise, to ensure no intervention from outside. Hundreds of thousands of people were tortured and killed in the most horrific ways, the army were merciless.

After Pol Pot was overturned in the late 70's the country began a long convalescence, and only now are people really recovering. Everyone we met in the older generation had a haunted look about them, and most wouldnt talk about the "bad time" except our guide at the "Killing fields" just outside of Penom Penh - these were where the KR brought people by the hundreds to be killed. We walked round the peaceful crater pocked fields looking at the tree where babies were smashed against infront of thier mothers until they were just pulp, we looked at the special kind of palm which had a serrated edge - which was used for slitting throats as it was cheaper than bullets. We looked at holes where hundreds of bodies were dug up, all with smashed skulls indicitive of hammer killing. Our guide took us round the site shaking and smoking, suddenly coming out with "the young guys today....dont know they are f*cking born" and ...."this is where I saw my parents butchered"

Needles to say, it was a harrowing experience. Not one to repeat, but it really brought home the very recent history of Cambodia to startling life.

Then, in a spectacular itinerary faux par, we were taken to the infamous Cambodian shooting range (it was about 200 metres from the killing fields) at which we were offered a mindblowing menu -

AK47(Kalashnikov)
M16
Tommy Gun
Colt .6 handgun
Machine gun
Land air rocket launcher
Hand grenade
Coke
Fanta
7Up

You were not allowed to take any pictures of the setup, and for USD25 you could shoot a paper target with an AK with 25 bullets. For 200, you could launch a Land/Air rocket launcher or throw a few hand grenades. Freeking heck! Of course it was all illegal and knocked off from the army barracks next door....

We hightailed it out of the shooting range and headed back to PP to further our education on the Genocide - at S21 jail. This was a converted highschool at which deviants from communism were interred for the single purpose of torture. All the people interred there had thier photos taken, and so the whole place is covered with eery pics of the hundreds of people who passed through these spooky halls. The legend says that the place tortured people mercilessly until they made false confessions and then they were taken by the truckload to the killing fields. There were no concessions - women, babies, children, men and disabled people, they were all tortured. They used electric wires, hanging, fingernail pulling, water torture, whipping, isolation and overcrowding. We saw rooms were the last people were tortured (7 people were tortured to death while the US forces were marching into Penom Penh to liberate it ) and the photos of the bodies are displayed in the rooms - the tools of the torture and the beds the people died on are all on display in each room. The other block houses the cells - which are 2metres by 1 metre like wooden hutches. This is where the mothers with babies were kept, until they were killed of course... God -its a horrible place.... The walls themselves seem to exude evil.

After that, we had an upturn in the mood of the day, we visited the famous buddhist temples around Penom Penh - which are very ornately decorated, and in some cases displaying old buddha statues which were rescued from distruction. The best of these was displayed in the Silver Pagoda at the Royal Palace - a solid silver Buddha, which is adorned in thousands of diamonds - including one in each of Buddha's eyes - beautiful.

After that, we went to the central market, where we saw lots more food vending - Not much to report, except I bought the most disgusting soft drink I have ever encountered.

Next day we were on the road again - to Siem Reap, the nearest town to the Jewel of Cambodia - Ankor Wat Temples. We didnt know what to expect from a 6 hour bus journey, but our fears were allayed when we saw our coach - it was more luxurious than anything we had seen in India -a positive disco bus. It was Cerise pink, both inside and outside, had a lower floor for luggage (and live ducks it turned out) and a bathroom in fake mahogany effect. The upper floor was cerise and contained 30 seats and lots of pink curtains, as well as 5 TV's, screening, yep, Cambodian Karaoke......

For 6 hours, we had a full bus of Cambodians singing along to lift music. I would have gone out of my mind if we hadnt had walkmans and the front seats where we couldnt see the screen. Enroute, we stopped for a wee break, and all the Cambodians came back onto the bus with the bus snack of choice, which is fried locusts. Nice......

We arrived in Siem Reap and checked into a nice hostel which was in the LP, and therefore chokka full of backpackers of all types. Nice and sociable.

The Moto driver who had driven us from the bus to the hostel was very cool, so we asked him to take us round for the following few days. His name was HONG, so his nickname between Nele and Me instantly became "like a Donkey" and in the end "Donkey" Ahhhhh!

Next day we asked Hong to take us to the floating village on the local massive lake/reservoir - which he did with speed and style. We hired a boat (Nele and I had by this time picked up A.N.Other to share our costs - cool Denrick from Luton) and cruised through the chaos of the floating bazaar - selling everything you could possibly think of which could fit on a boat. Then as we moved further down the river, we saw many floating houses - which have a look of a static caravan made out of wood afloat on platforms of wood, as well as a floating school, complete with a basketball pitch and football pitch - all floating, as well as two churches, fish farms, pig and chicken houses, and countless house/shops and huts all merrily bobbing on the water. The river widens into the beautiful lake, where there are large fish, croc and watersnake farms. We visited a fishfarm, and it happened to be lunchtime...the people there were snacking on boiled turtle and fried water snakes. YUM-YUM.....

Later that day, we were to get our first glimpse of Ankor Wat - as we were to get our passes from the office , after which we get a "free sunset!"

After much hilarity getting our passes (we had to have our photo taken for the pass) we were trollied off to the entrance to the hill temple which presides over the ruin complex. After puffing up the hill, we were rewarded with a spectacular view over much of the Ankor complex - also a beautiful sunset. The only drawback was that we shared it with about 500 other people....we hoped the rest of the temples wouldnt be this crowded (its even low season now, so who knows what it would be like at high season).

Ankor wat is a small part of the whole complex - which spreads itself over a massive 40km square in this area. Ankor Wat is the biggest temple of the group, but its not the famous one with all the faces - that is Ankor Thom - the central temple called the Bayon.

Next day was our first full day of "temple hopping"and it was truly AWESOME. We visited Ankor wat at dawn, carried on to Ankor Thom to see the Bayon, the Elephant temple and the one with all the trees growing out of it (you must have seen the pics) Beautiful! The place was 60% destroyed by the communists under Pol Pot, and yet, its still by far the most beautiful archeological site I have ever visited. All the temples are covered in detailed and stunning carvings, and there is active conservation going on all over the site.

Through the next three days, we visited different parts of the site and saw all the major temples and ruins throughout the whole place. What an amazing place! I would love to spend a whole week there and just wander through these mesmerising sites again. Each temple is a short drive away from the others, so Hong came into his own! Also, one of the temples is 15KM away from the rest - so we managed to see a bit of Cambodian countryside as well. Marvellous.

One of the days, we went into a supermarket on the way home...and gues what? Joy of joy.....they had VEGEMITE on the shelves! I was so excited I took a picture for posterity!!! Of course I bought some, and so now Im Vitamin b-ed up to the MAX.

After all our temple hopping, we are spending today getting ourselves together before flying to Southern Laos tomorrow......

Calcutta and The 'KOK

So, I got on the train from Varanasi to Calcutta overnight. Not the best journey yet, but at least I was unhindered, and I had my very own whole compartment. Not bad.

On arrival in Calcutta, I immediately wished I had planned to stay longer - its a beautiful and interesting city. A bit like Mumbai, there are very few rickshaws, so you have to go with the clapped out and speeding taxi's - which in Calcutta are still all Ambassedors (the only place in India which I have seen them in this capacity) LOVELY! Having survived the journey to the hostel, I had a lovely reunion with Nele. We got a little bunch of girlies together from the hostel and all went out for a cup of tea - in the swealtering heat. Not too bad though because there is enough to distract you in Calcutta. Beautiful decaying buildings, trams, policemen in white uniforms directing the noisy traffic - who look like they are John Travolta.

The city is very old and very green. People seem welcoming but very poor.

Next day very early we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Bangkok without knowing WHAT to expect!

WELLLLLLL, never did I expect it to be like THIS!!!! Nele and I are having a reverse culture shock!! Bangkok is CLEAN, QUIET, PEACEFUL, ORGANISED and there is absolutely NO HASSLE! Soooooooooooooooo easy!!!! We are wandering around in a total daze.....

Its all alright though, as we are heading to Cambodia tomorrow, which we hear is less developed, so we will be right at home!

Dawn over the Ganges

The next day, having spent another magical sunrise on the holy river, and then spent an afternoon getting lost in the streets and alleys of the city, I started to understand the attraction of Varanasi. It really IS the most unique and enchanting places I have ever been. I think its something about the light..... The atmosphere is heavy with noise and smells - horns, bells, singing, chanting, cow pats, insense, burning (bodies, rubbish and cowpats...again) there is no peace whatsover, but here, above all, I have felt most deeply...well....at peace! very strange seeing as im usually so insensitive to spiritualism (take my experiences with the Guru's for example!)



When you cruise down the river, you can see seething humanity crowding every ghat, men and children soap themselves up to the extreme covering thier whole faces and bodies with foam, and then plunge into the brown water. Kids are gaily splashing around with plastic bottles attached to them with bits of rag - these are Indian floatation devices of course. Ladies are swimming fully dressed, and combining personal cleansing with washing the weeks clothes. They will then stretch out yards and yards of beautiful saree's along the banks of the river to dry. The Swami's are preying in thier particular Gange way (chest deep in the water, swooping the water up in thier hands and then pouring it back into the river, then plunging into the river wholesale). The colour and smell and activity is just overwealming.

In the backstreets, every corner you turn, there is another decaying beautiful temple, shrine or shop. Its the perfect imaginary Indian town - streets flocking with dirty children, holy men, beautiful women in saree's and men on pushbikes. The air is smoky and so everything takes on this etherial feeling...like a fairytale. Magic.

Next day, I am escorted on a days sightseeing by one of the boys from the guest house. In the season he works as a guide for one of the posh hotels, but as its low season, he is kicking his heels a bit, and has time to show me around. Nice! We tour all the main temple sites of Varanasi, including the Golden temple (which is beautiful, but a total rip off, because you are not allowed in, and you pay USD15 to go and look at the outside from a neighbouring rooftop...it is gold, but BIG WOW...), the Monkey temple (very pretty, but has recently been bombed by terrorists, so its security is stricter than that at the airport) The Durga temple (Durga is one of the female Hindu gods, and she kicks ass) and finally, the big Shiva temple in the Varanasi University grounds. Of course, Varanasi IS Shiva (it is the place that the Hindu main man came down from Heaven with his newlywed bride Parvati and landed for thier honeymoon). The Shiva temple consists of a huge Shiva Lingham (willy shaped thing) and also a cool sculpture of a cow, which is of course, Shiva's vehicle (hence why cows are sacred in India)

Last of all, we visited my guide's wedding astrologer - he had to check something with his alignment for his upcoming wedding. We walked and walked through the tiny smoky alleys until we came to a small blue door in a house at a dead end...it was all very mystical. We were then shown into a room where the Baba was - an ancient Indian man with grey hair, stubble, and thick as you like Indian national health glasses. He (the guru) then proceeded to consult several ancient almanac's, poring over the numbers and symbols in them, and answered my guides questions! It was like a personal visit with the (spiritual) alchemist. Of course, I just HAD to ask him to "do me" as well - he spent ages working out my "chart" and ended up by telling me that I was going to have a great future...details will be told to my nearest and dearest, but suffice to say, it was all good!

My experiences in Varanasi have ensured that I shall be returning - its such a magical place. I was very sad to have to leave.....