After travelling all the way on dirt tracks from the Thai border we finally made it to Siem Reap and promptly fell asleep. In the morning we arose and ate some breakfast, score. We next took motorbikes to see Angkor, the huge temple complex that Cambodia is famous for. The temples were incredible and spread over such a large area we hardly saw anything even though we had the whole day. Angkor Wat itself, the largest of the temples is huge, far too big to convey in photos. That evening we ate in a tent with a mini gas stove - noodle soup obviously.
Next day we headed for Phenom Phen to see the silver pagoda and Pol Pots killing fields. The Pagoda was a bit disappointing as the silver floor tiles, of which it is noted for, had all been covered with carpets. The killing fields were pretty special though, we saw 8000 skulls displayed in a stuppa (big old tower) to remember the dead. The mass graves were still visible as pits in the ground and as it was rainy season, clothes and bones were visible just under the soil, washed up by the rain. Its odd to think we were standing on the site where just 25 years ago thousands of people were being killed, very surreal.
We only had this short time in Cambodia as we had the whole of Viet Nam to do before tea. So next day we left Cambodia and sailed across the Mekong into the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Our first port of call was Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), but renamed after the leader of the North Vietnamese who captured South Vietnam. The city itself is half french, half Asian, with patisseries, french bread, omelets, colonial buildings, slums, scooters and other weird methods of transport.
We visited the market and the reunification palace - which was closed. Then we went to the war remnants museum to see weapons from both sides and many pictures of civilians caught up in the violence and soldiers mutilated by shrapnel, carpet bombing and agent orange. We also visited the Co Chi tunnels which were used by the Viet Cong to hide from the Americans and South Vietnamese. They also launched the Tet offensive from these tunnels. We got to see the traps the Viet Cong devised to kill Americans, all pretty nasty. Also went inside a tunnel that had been enlarged for westerners. It was pretty small and very dark, but probably better than being shot. Later I shot an AK-47 at a target which was kinda scary and thrilling at the same time, quite an experience.
We then moved on to Dalat which is slightly up country and much more rural. Chris left to take a motorbike tour, with a group calling themselves the easyriders, all around the local area. Me and Pie decided we could better that and hired our own bikes for $5 a day and headed up country after trekking up a volcano and riding a luge at some waterfalls. The bike ride was great, all up through rural villages, getting treated like celebrities every time we stopped and seeing a different side to Viet Nam. We were trying to get to a place called Lak but we left a bit late and it got dark while we were still driving, so we were in the middle of nowhere and running out of petrol. Luckily however, we did find a petrol station and whats more they let us stay the night. We slept on this table with a flea ridden mattress, also had to wake up at 5.30 when the first customer arrived. Legendary travelling story. We did eventually make in to Lak and then headed back to Dalat after a quality meal in a shed. I fell off the bike twice a gashed up my arm and leg nicely, local woman washed my cuts with water from a well, how quaint, lol.
Bused up to Hoi An over the next two days which was some of the most horrible bus journeys ever, but we did make it eventually. In Nha Trang some massage people tried to steal our bags while we were being massaged, classic scamming the Westerners.
We met up with Chris, who was asleep of course and explored Hoi An.
Hoi An is really pretty and we had a nice morning walking around there before heading onwards to Danang where we hoped to catch a bus to Hanoi. Catching the bus was the least of our worries however as everyone at the bus company was gay and basically tried to rape us, properly disgusting. Nearly shot the place up, but eventually made it to the bus after a taxi driver tried to rip us of by pretending he was lost. But we didn't pay him, hahaha.
Finally we left our woes behind on a sleeping bus (with beds) which was very comfortable even though the beds were made for Vietnamese people (3 foot midgets).
Hanoi was my favourite city in Viet Nam. It had lots of French influence as well but was a much more attractive and interesting place to be. The old quarter was great fun to walk around, looked like the back streets of Paris. On the first day we saw Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum and saw the sarcophagus with his body preserved for all to see, really strange and quite an experience with all the guards dressed in white and everyone in silence. In the afternoon we visited Hoa Lo prison where American prisoners of war were kept in the war, they referred to it as the "Hanoi Hilton". Incidentally half the prison was knocked down a few years ago to build a large hotel. In the evening we attended a water puppet show, which is Viet Nam's crazy art form. Its held in a theatre with a pool full of water and the puppets dance on the water. All the puppeteers stand in the water behind a curtain and control the puppets with long wooden poles. Very weird but really good fun.
The next day we went to Halong bay, chartered our own boat that could seat up to forty people and drank beer whilst checking out one of the most incredible natural wonders in the world. They bay has rocks sticking up out of it: 200m tall monuments, like a massive underwater stone henge. It was truly special to see it and even more so that we had our own boat.
After that we trekked back to Bangkok with the best airline in the world - Air Asia.
We then promptly left and went back to Pattaya for the night and had a great time with the family and got to meet Pies cousin and her mate. We all got totally trolleyed and danced to AC/DC and Bryan Adams in the Easyrider bar, excellent.
This evening were going to enjoy our last cheap meal and watch Die Hard 4 before getting a massage and not sleeping as our flight is at 8 in the morning. Bring on Hong Kong.
My Route
Saturday, 30 June 2007
Sunday, 24 June 2007
Thailand (Chaing Mai, Chaing Rai, Pattaya, Bangkok)
Its been ages since I've written anything, i apologise. However, the reason so little has been written is that i have been so busy that there has been no time.
After me and Chris had been to Sukkotai (all the way back on 30/5) we attempted to catch our VIP bus up to Chaing Mai. The bus never appeared and we found out that it had crashed, score. So instead we caught a local bus and slept at the back on top of the engine because it was the only place that wasn't frozen with air con. But we did make it to Chaing Mai at 2am.
Got up late and explored the city. For lunch had some fusion food, slush puppy from 7-eleven and noodle soup and pork balls (which could well have actually been pork balls) from a shed by the road. The rest of the day we saw more temples and even more Buddhas. In the afternoon my massage didn't turn up because it was raining so we had beer instead with some nice Yankee girls we met.
The next day we jumped in a minibus for a trek up some mountains to see the Karen hill tribe. The hill tribes of northern Thailand are quite diverse and do things the same way as they have for centuries, apart from smiling for Westerners, which they did a lot of. They also did some weaving and let us shoot crossbows. We then went bamboo rafting and went for more elephant rides. Chris fell off the raft and did his level best to take us all with him, he didn't drown but it was still funny. He also fell in a waterfall a bit later.
The day after we went to see the Longneck tribe, called so because the women wear bronze coils around their necks to extend them up to 30cm long. Looks kinda crazy. Later we visited the white temple in Chaing Rai that is currently being built. The murals inside show the modern evils of the world like guns, the twin towers and for some reason neo from The Matrix. The temple itself was very surreal with sculptures of hands coming out of the floor under the bridge to the main temple building, symbolising the temple being above death. Also ate a buffet lunch which was belly-stuffingly good.
The next day we took a bus up into the hills to see Mae Hong Son, which is as far from civilisation as it is possible to go in Thailand. The village itself was beautiful, but our night in the guesthouse was far from peaceful. Firstly the whole hostel was full of cats (there was one under the bed in our room) and was run by this weird old English man and his very ugly Thai bride who decided to have a domestic at 4am. On the way back from Mae Hong Son we were held up because a lorry had fallen down the cliff in the middle of the jungle and took two hours to pull back up again. The scenery from the bus was captivating and made the six hour journey bareable.
Next day we hired motorbikes and headed up to the temple of Doi suthep, which is on top of a mountain about 10km from town. The temple was beautiful, all covered with gold and with some stunning views of the local area. Did have a snake fall on us from out of a tree, which was fun. On the way back down the mountain my bike ran out of petrol, despite the gauge being half full but I was rescued by a university student with a beer bottle full of Gasoline. I did get completely soaked on the way back though, but on the plus side I didn't crash into anything which is an improvement on the last time I hired transportation in Greece.
The next day was spent bumming around in Bangkok waiting for Pie to return from Laos. It involved movies, bowling and eating lots of food.
We did meet up with our windswept friend and also we met his uncle, Rick. Rick picked us up and took us all to Pattaya, where we met the rest of the family. We also met our apartments for the week, which were luxurious. That night we were given a grand tour of a selection of Pattaya night life. It involved glass mirrored tables, hot tubs, poles and and lots of women in various states of undress. The evening was hugely amusing and we all had a fantastic laugh at each other trying hard not to look at anything too closely. Later we saw some great bands play some rock and blues. Some of the best live music I've heard in ages. Also met a guy called Pop who's the best guitarist in Thailand, he certainly plays pretty sweet. The evening was finished off with a visit to a bar where the girls aren't really girls and interesting surgery was on display everywhere you looked. All in all one of the funniest and best nights out for a long time.
The next evening we spent some time in Jamesons, the Irish pub right under our apartments. We played a lot of pool with Richards two daughters, Abby and Paige, and listened to some great music down at Easyriders.
Our third day in Pattaya was spent at Ricks house by the pool with some excellent BBQ food cooked by his wife Harpick and some great beer brewed by some Germans.
Day four was spent at the driving range as we had all decided to play golf at the Pattaya Country Club. Some of the results were very entertaining and we all had great fun all be it with limited success. That evening we went to see a Ping Pong show, need I say more.
The next day we played golf all day and I won, yey. Chris played football for the team Rick coaches, in a friendly match. In the golf we had a three way bet, which pocketed me a cool 1000 Baht. My driving needs some work though. Had great fun riding the golf carts and pulled a sick hand break turn on the gravel.
The next evening we went to an all you can eat BBQ and listened to the Thai Elvis sing. He was actually pretty good. Next we played some pool on some decent tables that weren't all wonky. Finally we went to Easyrider, where we all got up on stage and played our instruments (Me - bass, Pie - guitar and Chris - drums), for a couple of songs, which felt awesome playing with such a quality band.
On Thursday we visited Koh Samet, an island just south of Pattaya. We lay on the beach all day before enjoying our final night on Pattaya at the Hard Rock Cafe listening to some more excellent music. I love Pattaya, its amazing, so much to do and so much fun.
On Friday we left Pattaya and headed back to Bangy Kizzle for Rach's birthday. We partied on the Koh Sahn Road backpacker style. It was great to see everyone. Big hello to Rach, Cam, Richard, Charlie, Bee, Lyd, Alice, Em - we here in the DDC love you all.
At six in the morning we awoke after two hours sleep and left for Siem Reap, Cambodia.
After me and Chris had been to Sukkotai (all the way back on 30/5) we attempted to catch our VIP bus up to Chaing Mai. The bus never appeared and we found out that it had crashed, score. So instead we caught a local bus and slept at the back on top of the engine because it was the only place that wasn't frozen with air con. But we did make it to Chaing Mai at 2am.
Got up late and explored the city. For lunch had some fusion food, slush puppy from 7-eleven and noodle soup and pork balls (which could well have actually been pork balls) from a shed by the road. The rest of the day we saw more temples and even more Buddhas. In the afternoon my massage didn't turn up because it was raining so we had beer instead with some nice Yankee girls we met.
The next day we jumped in a minibus for a trek up some mountains to see the Karen hill tribe. The hill tribes of northern Thailand are quite diverse and do things the same way as they have for centuries, apart from smiling for Westerners, which they did a lot of. They also did some weaving and let us shoot crossbows. We then went bamboo rafting and went for more elephant rides. Chris fell off the raft and did his level best to take us all with him, he didn't drown but it was still funny. He also fell in a waterfall a bit later.
The day after we went to see the Longneck tribe, called so because the women wear bronze coils around their necks to extend them up to 30cm long. Looks kinda crazy. Later we visited the white temple in Chaing Rai that is currently being built. The murals inside show the modern evils of the world like guns, the twin towers and for some reason neo from The Matrix. The temple itself was very surreal with sculptures of hands coming out of the floor under the bridge to the main temple building, symbolising the temple being above death. Also ate a buffet lunch which was belly-stuffingly good.
The next day we took a bus up into the hills to see Mae Hong Son, which is as far from civilisation as it is possible to go in Thailand. The village itself was beautiful, but our night in the guesthouse was far from peaceful. Firstly the whole hostel was full of cats (there was one under the bed in our room) and was run by this weird old English man and his very ugly Thai bride who decided to have a domestic at 4am. On the way back from Mae Hong Son we were held up because a lorry had fallen down the cliff in the middle of the jungle and took two hours to pull back up again. The scenery from the bus was captivating and made the six hour journey bareable.
Next day we hired motorbikes and headed up to the temple of Doi suthep, which is on top of a mountain about 10km from town. The temple was beautiful, all covered with gold and with some stunning views of the local area. Did have a snake fall on us from out of a tree, which was fun. On the way back down the mountain my bike ran out of petrol, despite the gauge being half full but I was rescued by a university student with a beer bottle full of Gasoline. I did get completely soaked on the way back though, but on the plus side I didn't crash into anything which is an improvement on the last time I hired transportation in Greece.
The next day was spent bumming around in Bangkok waiting for Pie to return from Laos. It involved movies, bowling and eating lots of food.
We did meet up with our windswept friend and also we met his uncle, Rick. Rick picked us up and took us all to Pattaya, where we met the rest of the family. We also met our apartments for the week, which were luxurious. That night we were given a grand tour of a selection of Pattaya night life. It involved glass mirrored tables, hot tubs, poles and and lots of women in various states of undress. The evening was hugely amusing and we all had a fantastic laugh at each other trying hard not to look at anything too closely. Later we saw some great bands play some rock and blues. Some of the best live music I've heard in ages. Also met a guy called Pop who's the best guitarist in Thailand, he certainly plays pretty sweet. The evening was finished off with a visit to a bar where the girls aren't really girls and interesting surgery was on display everywhere you looked. All in all one of the funniest and best nights out for a long time.
The next evening we spent some time in Jamesons, the Irish pub right under our apartments. We played a lot of pool with Richards two daughters, Abby and Paige, and listened to some great music down at Easyriders.
Our third day in Pattaya was spent at Ricks house by the pool with some excellent BBQ food cooked by his wife Harpick and some great beer brewed by some Germans.
Day four was spent at the driving range as we had all decided to play golf at the Pattaya Country Club. Some of the results were very entertaining and we all had great fun all be it with limited success. That evening we went to see a Ping Pong show, need I say more.
The next day we played golf all day and I won, yey. Chris played football for the team Rick coaches, in a friendly match. In the golf we had a three way bet, which pocketed me a cool 1000 Baht. My driving needs some work though. Had great fun riding the golf carts and pulled a sick hand break turn on the gravel.
The next evening we went to an all you can eat BBQ and listened to the Thai Elvis sing. He was actually pretty good. Next we played some pool on some decent tables that weren't all wonky. Finally we went to Easyrider, where we all got up on stage and played our instruments (Me - bass, Pie - guitar and Chris - drums), for a couple of songs, which felt awesome playing with such a quality band.
On Thursday we visited Koh Samet, an island just south of Pattaya. We lay on the beach all day before enjoying our final night on Pattaya at the Hard Rock Cafe listening to some more excellent music. I love Pattaya, its amazing, so much to do and so much fun.
On Friday we left Pattaya and headed back to Bangy Kizzle for Rach's birthday. We partied on the Koh Sahn Road backpacker style. It was great to see everyone. Big hello to Rach, Cam, Richard, Charlie, Bee, Lyd, Alice, Em - we here in the DDC love you all.
At six in the morning we awoke after two hours sleep and left for Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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