I love cocktails. (Oh...you knew that?? How, pray tell??!!)
So when I was told that, to celebrate the last days of freedom of my 'BFF' Caroline, before she walks down the aisle to her proud fiancee, Andy, a group of fun and funky hens would be scoffing down a great multitude of cocktails, I was overjoyed. But, imagine my excitment when it was added that, not only would we be scoffing...but we would be behind that mahogany bar, shakin' em up ourselves.
Revolution bar in Clapham Junction does feel like a second home to me sometimes, but never have I been so involved in the making of my own ice-cold drink. a shot here and half a shot there (and perhaps a little extra for good luck) and I was sipping on my own creation - the mintiest of mojitos with just the right amount of lime.
The bride to be's cosmo was worthy of Carrie Bradshaw and, with a peach bellini to wash down the chocolate fondue, we spent several hours of hilarity mixing it up with our fearless cocktail extrodinaires, batman and his trusty sidekick, robin.
Staggering our way onto the train out of CJ I herded our hens all the way to Leicester Square and the delishousness that is Browns...complete with stomach lining grilled chicken with hollandaise sauce.
Revived, we waltzed to the next place - Ruby Blues - for some classic R&B and a boogy on the dance floor...and finally onto Onanon...a huge club in Piccadilly circus where the music was cheesy and the punters quite interesting for people-watching purposes!
Quite a night! and one that required some recovery after an epic journey home...a memorable evening for an incredibly beautiful bride to be...next...THE wedding of 2009! We're practiced, our dancing shoes are broken in...bring it on!
stay tuned.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Normalcy (whatever that is)
So i have formal complaints made about the lack of blog updating over the past few weeks since we have been home.
Understandable - though I have wondered just how interesting my long hours spent slaving over job websites would be to people - no matter how hard i try to glam it up.
True, there has been more happening than that. Lets see...countless hours in pubs and restaurants and bars across Sussex and London catching up with this person and that person, dinner parties in small villages complete with grappa and wine, the odd trip to london to visit 26 pubs in 12 hours as we raced around the city Monopoly style, days spent in the Brighton sunshine (well, ok...the rain) with 'da boys' one day and 'da girls' the next....
We have fallen back into a rollercoster of social activity which, of course, suits me completely down to the ground. If only all the glamorous outings could really take my mind off the issue at hand...the fact that I am currently a homeless, jobless bum...!
I have been working on getting the issue resolved...as i say, countless hours sending off my cv and chatting on the phone to an endless array of recruitment agents. Considering the current climate I seem to have done quite well with 4 serious interviews in three weeks. I have even turned down one particular job...a scary decision to make but one must weigh up a few more weeks of job hunting versus a year (or two or three) in a job that my instincts are telling me I would hate...
Matt, on the other hand, has thrown himself back into work at PBE...ok, it's not ideal perhaps but, for the moment, it's keeping me in cocktails and him in beer...and, perhaps more importantly (or not) it's keeping us fed.
His parents have surprised him for his 30th by arriving at a cozy morrocan restaurant in Covent Garden unannounced...a reunion that bought tears to eyes and a bellydancer to our table. Having them here is so exciting as we introduce them to the friends who are our main reason for being back here and show them around our 'hood'...the little flat above the car yard where we used to live and all the local sights (a tour that took a grand total of five minutes!).
We are staying with the Weggs...I only hope that one day we will be able to pay them back for their incredible hospitatality! It mustn't be easy to have 2 aussies completely take over your house!! (believe me - i once had 5 of them...i know what it's like hey Ash!)
And so life goes on. week by week. This weekend Matt will be far far away exploring with his parents and I will be hitting london town yet again in true glam style...Caroline's hens night brings an array of cocktails and funky bars and sunday brings yet more chilled out catch ups...
stay tuned... (i promise to update regularly!!) xx
Understandable - though I have wondered just how interesting my long hours spent slaving over job websites would be to people - no matter how hard i try to glam it up.
True, there has been more happening than that. Lets see...countless hours in pubs and restaurants and bars across Sussex and London catching up with this person and that person, dinner parties in small villages complete with grappa and wine, the odd trip to london to visit 26 pubs in 12 hours as we raced around the city Monopoly style, days spent in the Brighton sunshine (well, ok...the rain) with 'da boys' one day and 'da girls' the next....
We have fallen back into a rollercoster of social activity which, of course, suits me completely down to the ground. If only all the glamorous outings could really take my mind off the issue at hand...the fact that I am currently a homeless, jobless bum...!
I have been working on getting the issue resolved...as i say, countless hours sending off my cv and chatting on the phone to an endless array of recruitment agents. Considering the current climate I seem to have done quite well with 4 serious interviews in three weeks. I have even turned down one particular job...a scary decision to make but one must weigh up a few more weeks of job hunting versus a year (or two or three) in a job that my instincts are telling me I would hate...
Matt, on the other hand, has thrown himself back into work at PBE...ok, it's not ideal perhaps but, for the moment, it's keeping me in cocktails and him in beer...and, perhaps more importantly (or not) it's keeping us fed.
His parents have surprised him for his 30th by arriving at a cozy morrocan restaurant in Covent Garden unannounced...a reunion that bought tears to eyes and a bellydancer to our table. Having them here is so exciting as we introduce them to the friends who are our main reason for being back here and show them around our 'hood'...the little flat above the car yard where we used to live and all the local sights (a tour that took a grand total of five minutes!).
We are staying with the Weggs...I only hope that one day we will be able to pay them back for their incredible hospitatality! It mustn't be easy to have 2 aussies completely take over your house!! (believe me - i once had 5 of them...i know what it's like hey Ash!)
And so life goes on. week by week. This weekend Matt will be far far away exploring with his parents and I will be hitting london town yet again in true glam style...Caroline's hens night brings an array of cocktails and funky bars and sunday brings yet more chilled out catch ups...
stay tuned... (i promise to update regularly!!) xx
Sunday, April 19, 2009
home sweet home
England is a funny place to love. More often than not people wonder loudly whether we are crazy...why do we live in a land of grey skies and warm beer over one of sun soaked beaches and barbeques? And sometimes I wonder it loudly myself. Loving two countries, worlds apart, can break your heart.
But england has charms of its own...in a cozy pub on an icy day surrounded by loving friends, the warmest of beers can taste like heaven. So many of the people I adore and hold dear live in Australia - there will never be any doubt about that...and so many of them live in England - there will never be any doubt about that either....my heart aches when I'm traveling, i miss my family and i miss my friends...not so carefree then i guess!
so arriving at the airport to the welcoming arms of some of our dearest friends was coming home. and to trudge around the corner that night in the pouring, freezing english rain for a cup of tea with more friends was coming home...and, the next day, cooking lasagna for yet more much loved friends and trooping down to the local for drinks with the whole crazy gang....THAT was coming home...I will never say that England will always be home but, for now...albeit with a whole quandary of questions and uncertainties and problems hanging over our heads...for now, it's home.
It was always going to be difficult to put down a few sticks once more. no one ever said it would be easy to start all over again...again....but this time we're lucky. we have friends here and what we would do without them i really and truely dont know...
For now England is home....but ask us again in 6 months....there's always sun soaked beaches and barbeques and another world full of our adored and most loved....
stay tuned. xx
But england has charms of its own...in a cozy pub on an icy day surrounded by loving friends, the warmest of beers can taste like heaven. So many of the people I adore and hold dear live in Australia - there will never be any doubt about that...and so many of them live in England - there will never be any doubt about that either....my heart aches when I'm traveling, i miss my family and i miss my friends...not so carefree then i guess!
so arriving at the airport to the welcoming arms of some of our dearest friends was coming home. and to trudge around the corner that night in the pouring, freezing english rain for a cup of tea with more friends was coming home...and, the next day, cooking lasagna for yet more much loved friends and trooping down to the local for drinks with the whole crazy gang....THAT was coming home...I will never say that England will always be home but, for now...albeit with a whole quandary of questions and uncertainties and problems hanging over our heads...for now, it's home.
It was always going to be difficult to put down a few sticks once more. no one ever said it would be easy to start all over again...again....but this time we're lucky. we have friends here and what we would do without them i really and truely dont know...
For now England is home....but ask us again in 6 months....there's always sun soaked beaches and barbeques and another world full of our adored and most loved....
stay tuned. xx
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Best and the Worst of It....a 6 month journey around the world...
Three continents. Twelve countries. 201 days. From the most western of worlds to the most eastern of worlds we have taken every conceivable form of transport to negotiate countless miles over the past 6 months. Memories upon memories....we have climbed mountains and snorkled with the fish, ate anything from duck tongue to the most succulent of steaks, partied in practically every place we've visited with some of the most amazing people we've ever met....ahhh - the people! we have met some of the best, some of the craziest and some of the most genuine...people from all over the world...thank you all for helping to make this trip so memorable.
Want some stats? Want the best memories? and the worst? Here's what we've come up with - so many memories...
Countries visited:
USA – New York State, Massachusetts, California, Navada, Washington
Canada – Quebec, Ontario, British Colombia, Alberta
New Zealand – North Island, South Island
Australia – Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory
Indonesia
Thailand
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Hong Kong
Macau
China
No. of days:
201 - from 29 September 2008 to 17th April 2009
No of £ spent:
Unthinkable amounts!
types of transport used:
car
overnight train
seated train
seated bus
overnight sleeper bus
local bus
rickshaw
cyclo
plane
dragon boat
cruise boat
junk boat
chinese trekker wooden boat
canoe
row boat
motorbike
scooter
bicycle
tandem bike
tube/underground
taxi
tram
jetboat
gondola
bamboo rafting
elephant
tuk tuk
and many miles on our own two feet!
Most delicious meal:
It had to be Aussie....juicy aussie surf and turf accompanied by aussie red on the banks of the Brisbane River.
Worst meal:
Matt – yellow-ish lasagna served at Italian restaurant in Chiang Mai, thailand...he was quite ill the next day!
Kirsh - Just the thought of a scorpian kebab - Beijing, China
Weirdest food:
Matt – duck tongue in Yichang, China
Kirsh - licking chicken's feet, Xian, China
Top 12 nights out (this was a hard one and try as i might i couldnt get it down to Top 10!!):
1) On 'the island' in Vang Viene, Laos - with our favorite spaniards, Jo, Blanca, Alberto and Jordi and a few Canadians thrown in for good measure...add some happy shakes and buckets and OH what a night!
2) Halloween. Vancouver, Canada with John (aka Buddy Holly!), Jorden, Marty and Christine...dress ups and live bands in THE funkiest nightclub in the whole of Canada!
3) Welcome home party. Toowoomba, Australia - Megs, Clare, Stace and the rest of the gang! home sweet home really doesnt get better until you fall down the stairs!
4) Full Moon Party, Koh Phangagan, Thailand - Em, Emily, Katie and some awesome Swedes...add a drinking game or two, buckets and a full moon on a thai beach - it doesnt get better
5) Belinda and Scott's wedding, Inverell, Australia - with a great crowd and a karaoke machine!
6) 1+1 bar, Xian, China - with our awesome Gap tour group, Serena, Doug and Andy and a bit of beautiful D-floor action from the boys
7) New Years Eve. Newcastle, Australia - with some of my fave people in the world - Ashman, Bundy, Toad and Jbot - plus all their mates and an awesome live gig
8) Gas Lamp District, San Diego – with Christy....the coolest yank in the USA and some of the worlds biggest margaritas!
9) Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong - with South African randoms, Hong Kong Rugby 7s and 'litre' beers...
10) Vegas, USA - with Erik and Lovisa, Charlene and Jo and a very lucky streak on the Roulette table
11) Banff, Canada - with our fab and funky 'Moose' tour group and more than a couple of 'ski shots'
12) Kao San Road, Bangkok, Thailand - with many a random on the street and the obligatory buckets
Top 4 Best Alcoholic Drinks
1) fishbowl margaritas in the Gas Lamp district of San Diego
2) buckets in Koh Phangan, Thailand and Vang Viene, Laos
3) glass of aussie red on the streets of Luang Prabang, Laos after drinking nothing but beer and spirits for 2 months
4) rice wine infused with dead roosters and snakes..for vitality...mmmm. The Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
Best Sporting Event Attended
Ice Hockey, Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, Canada
Best Late Night snack
Poutine, delish canadian snack of chips, gravy and cheese curd - sounds gross but OH so nice!
Worst hangover
Kirsh - Beijing, China...it's the rice wine that did it!
Matt – after night out with randoms drinking too much whisky in Bangkok
Longest time spent in transit
Vang Viene, Laos to Hong Kong – 28hrs via bus and plane
Top 2 hotel rooms
1) The Luxor, Vegas, USA
2) The Rio Casino, Macau
Worst hotel room
Boat on Yankse River, Three Gorges, China - think grotty, small and a bathroom in which you could shower whilst sitting on the toilet complete with the smell of sewerage.
Best hostel
San Diego, Downtown HI - funky rooms and within stumbling distance of the action
Worst hostel
New York – Central Park Hostel - old lady wandering round in only her undies the whole time didn't exactly create a wholesome family atmosphere.
Accommodation set in the most picturesque place
Matt – Franz Joseph, NZ - mountains and green green grass...and the occasional mooing cow
Kirsh – Junk boat on Halong Bay, Vietnam - looking out the window to majestic limestone mountains towering out of the sea...
Top 3 Shows:
1) 'Cirque du Solei', Las Vegas
2) 'Shanghai Acrobats', Shanghai, China
3) 'Chicago', Broadway, New York
Best Adventure Activity
Matt – Bungee jumping in Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh – Shotover Jet, Queenstown, NZ
Best Airline
Bangkok Airways from Bangkok to Koh Samui...free pastries and coffee...yum!
Top 4 Most Scenic Drives
1) The Canadian Rockies - everywhere you look is yet another eye-popping mountain or breathtaking lake...waterfalls, glaciers....for picturesque scenery you really can't go past the Canadian Rockies...
2) Boston – NY - autumn leaves...say no more.
3) Arthurs pass, NZ - the most breathtaking of mountains...
4) Te Anau – Milford Sound, NZ
Most Interesting Animal
Matt – Cresent Bear, luang prabang, Vietnam
Kirsh – glowworms, Te Anau,, New zealand
Best Beach
Box Beach, Nelson's Bay, Australia...with Ashman, Mitch and Elise...a beach to ourselves and the bluest, clearest water.
Top 3 hottest bars/clubs
1) 1+1, Xian, China
2) 'Ivy', Sydney, Australia
3) 'Roxy', Vancouver, Canada
Best Tourist Attractions
USA - Universal Studios,LA
Canada - Maid of the Mist boat, Niagra Falls
NZ - Boat cruise on Milford Sound
South East Asia - The Temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
China - The great wall of China, Beijing
Best Natural Wonder
USA - Whales Watching, Boston
Canada - Lake Louise
NZ - Milford Sound
South East Asia - Halong Bay, Vietnam
China - Limestone Mountains, Yangshuo
Most Breathtaking Moment
Matt - Bungee Jumping, Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh - first sight of Lake Louise, Canada
Scariest Moment
Matt - Bungee Jumping, Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh - About to get a tattoo, Auckland, NZ
Funniest Moment
Matt - 'I'm so Happy!' night out in Vang Viene
Kirsh - Matt, Doug and Andy and a stage in a nightclub in Xian
Most Interesting Cultural Difference
China - spitting on the street, talking loudly through shows....let alone the things they eat! ;-)
Best City (this could only be narrowed down by country and there were many contenders
USA -Matt - San Diego; Kirsh - New York and Vegas (i couldn't choose between them!)
Canada - Vancouver
NZ - Queenstown
SE Asia - Matt - Chiang Mai, Thailand; Kirsh - Luang Prabang, Laos
China - Hong Kong
What a trip of a lifetime...!!
and now, back to normalcy (whatever that is). stay tuned for wat happens next to bart and the bomb! xx
Want some stats? Want the best memories? and the worst? Here's what we've come up with - so many memories...
Countries visited:
USA – New York State, Massachusetts, California, Navada, Washington
Canada – Quebec, Ontario, British Colombia, Alberta
New Zealand – North Island, South Island
Australia – Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory
Indonesia
Thailand
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Hong Kong
Macau
China
No. of days:
201 - from 29 September 2008 to 17th April 2009
No of £ spent:
Unthinkable amounts!
types of transport used:
car
overnight train
seated train
seated bus
overnight sleeper bus
local bus
rickshaw
cyclo
plane
dragon boat
cruise boat
junk boat
chinese trekker wooden boat
canoe
row boat
motorbike
scooter
bicycle
tandem bike
tube/underground
taxi
tram
jetboat
gondola
bamboo rafting
elephant
tuk tuk
and many miles on our own two feet!
Most delicious meal:
It had to be Aussie....juicy aussie surf and turf accompanied by aussie red on the banks of the Brisbane River.
Worst meal:
Matt – yellow-ish lasagna served at Italian restaurant in Chiang Mai, thailand...he was quite ill the next day!
Kirsh - Just the thought of a scorpian kebab - Beijing, China
Weirdest food:
Matt – duck tongue in Yichang, China
Kirsh - licking chicken's feet, Xian, China
Top 12 nights out (this was a hard one and try as i might i couldnt get it down to Top 10!!):
1) On 'the island' in Vang Viene, Laos - with our favorite spaniards, Jo, Blanca, Alberto and Jordi and a few Canadians thrown in for good measure...add some happy shakes and buckets and OH what a night!
2) Halloween. Vancouver, Canada with John (aka Buddy Holly!), Jorden, Marty and Christine...dress ups and live bands in THE funkiest nightclub in the whole of Canada!
3) Welcome home party. Toowoomba, Australia - Megs, Clare, Stace and the rest of the gang! home sweet home really doesnt get better until you fall down the stairs!
4) Full Moon Party, Koh Phangagan, Thailand - Em, Emily, Katie and some awesome Swedes...add a drinking game or two, buckets and a full moon on a thai beach - it doesnt get better
5) Belinda and Scott's wedding, Inverell, Australia - with a great crowd and a karaoke machine!
6) 1+1 bar, Xian, China - with our awesome Gap tour group, Serena, Doug and Andy and a bit of beautiful D-floor action from the boys
7) New Years Eve. Newcastle, Australia - with some of my fave people in the world - Ashman, Bundy, Toad and Jbot - plus all their mates and an awesome live gig
8) Gas Lamp District, San Diego – with Christy....the coolest yank in the USA and some of the worlds biggest margaritas!
9) Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong - with South African randoms, Hong Kong Rugby 7s and 'litre' beers...
10) Vegas, USA - with Erik and Lovisa, Charlene and Jo and a very lucky streak on the Roulette table
11) Banff, Canada - with our fab and funky 'Moose' tour group and more than a couple of 'ski shots'
12) Kao San Road, Bangkok, Thailand - with many a random on the street and the obligatory buckets
Top 4 Best Alcoholic Drinks
1) fishbowl margaritas in the Gas Lamp district of San Diego
2) buckets in Koh Phangan, Thailand and Vang Viene, Laos
3) glass of aussie red on the streets of Luang Prabang, Laos after drinking nothing but beer and spirits for 2 months
4) rice wine infused with dead roosters and snakes..for vitality...mmmm. The Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
Best Sporting Event Attended
Ice Hockey, Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, Canada
Best Late Night snack
Poutine, delish canadian snack of chips, gravy and cheese curd - sounds gross but OH so nice!
Worst hangover
Kirsh - Beijing, China...it's the rice wine that did it!
Matt – after night out with randoms drinking too much whisky in Bangkok
Longest time spent in transit
Vang Viene, Laos to Hong Kong – 28hrs via bus and plane
Top 2 hotel rooms
1) The Luxor, Vegas, USA
2) The Rio Casino, Macau
Worst hotel room
Boat on Yankse River, Three Gorges, China - think grotty, small and a bathroom in which you could shower whilst sitting on the toilet complete with the smell of sewerage.
Best hostel
San Diego, Downtown HI - funky rooms and within stumbling distance of the action
Worst hostel
New York – Central Park Hostel - old lady wandering round in only her undies the whole time didn't exactly create a wholesome family atmosphere.
Accommodation set in the most picturesque place
Matt – Franz Joseph, NZ - mountains and green green grass...and the occasional mooing cow
Kirsh – Junk boat on Halong Bay, Vietnam - looking out the window to majestic limestone mountains towering out of the sea...
Top 3 Shows:
1) 'Cirque du Solei', Las Vegas
2) 'Shanghai Acrobats', Shanghai, China
3) 'Chicago', Broadway, New York
Best Adventure Activity
Matt – Bungee jumping in Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh – Shotover Jet, Queenstown, NZ
Best Airline
Bangkok Airways from Bangkok to Koh Samui...free pastries and coffee...yum!
Top 4 Most Scenic Drives
1) The Canadian Rockies - everywhere you look is yet another eye-popping mountain or breathtaking lake...waterfalls, glaciers....for picturesque scenery you really can't go past the Canadian Rockies...
2) Boston – NY - autumn leaves...say no more.
3) Arthurs pass, NZ - the most breathtaking of mountains...
4) Te Anau – Milford Sound, NZ
Most Interesting Animal
Matt – Cresent Bear, luang prabang, Vietnam
Kirsh – glowworms, Te Anau,, New zealand
Best Beach
Box Beach, Nelson's Bay, Australia...with Ashman, Mitch and Elise...a beach to ourselves and the bluest, clearest water.
Top 3 hottest bars/clubs
1) 1+1, Xian, China
2) 'Ivy', Sydney, Australia
3) 'Roxy', Vancouver, Canada
Best Tourist Attractions
USA - Universal Studios,LA
Canada - Maid of the Mist boat, Niagra Falls
NZ - Boat cruise on Milford Sound
South East Asia - The Temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
China - The great wall of China, Beijing
Best Natural Wonder
USA - Whales Watching, Boston
Canada - Lake Louise
NZ - Milford Sound
South East Asia - Halong Bay, Vietnam
China - Limestone Mountains, Yangshuo
Most Breathtaking Moment
Matt - Bungee Jumping, Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh - first sight of Lake Louise, Canada
Scariest Moment
Matt - Bungee Jumping, Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh - About to get a tattoo, Auckland, NZ
Funniest Moment
Matt - 'I'm so Happy!' night out in Vang Viene
Kirsh - Matt, Doug and Andy and a stage in a nightclub in Xian
Most Interesting Cultural Difference
China - spitting on the street, talking loudly through shows....let alone the things they eat! ;-)
Best City (this could only be narrowed down by country and there were many contenders
USA -Matt - San Diego; Kirsh - New York and Vegas (i couldn't choose between them!)
Canada - Vancouver
NZ - Queenstown
SE Asia - Matt - Chiang Mai, Thailand; Kirsh - Luang Prabang, Laos
China - Hong Kong
What a trip of a lifetime...!!
and now, back to normalcy (whatever that is). stay tuned for wat happens next to bart and the bomb! xx
Of Peking Duck and Other Chinese Whispers
We've been on the road, traveling, backpacking, seeing the sights and drinking in the culture of 12 different countries for 200 days. It is over. unbelievably, sadly, happily - the emotions i'm feeling are endless. Today is our last day as free and careless vagabonds before flying back to london tomorrow morning...at least until our next trip - as we all know travel is our addiction and we will work only till money allows us to follow our hearts to the next blank canvas waiting to be explored.... I'm excited to be returning to england. i've missed my friends there incredibly. i've missed roast pork and mashed potatoes. I've missed routine. i've missed understanding the language. i've missed understanding (most of!) the culture. I've missed knowing where to go to buy shampoo. But how could i have missed a life of nine to five in a life where one day is completely different to the next, where i can fall asleep on an overnight bus and wake up the next morning in a new city, a new state, a new country. And how could i have missed the miserable english weather when i have spend the greater part of 6 months following the sun around the globe and basking in its glory on golden beaches, watching it set over gentle, majestic rivers and sky-high mountains.
all good things must come to an end, i'm told, and what a way to end this trip with a bang - in the thriving, historical city of Beijing - rich with thousands and thousands of years of cultural heritage. this city tells the tales of wealthy dynasties and socialist ideals, of war and, only occasionally, of peace. We've seen a lot this trip - natural wonders, beautiful animals, the tallest of buildings....but what better way to culminate 6 months of awe inspiring wonder than to stand on the Great Wall itself and breath in the fresh morning air carrying the memories of thousands of years of history - a country once divided, finally united and, soon, a world power...the stories that wall could tell us if only it could speak....
We have tramped across Tinanaman square, imagining it filled with tanks and protesters....glided through a Forbidden City, the home and castle of many a vicious ruler and his thousands of loyal concubines. Watched monks performing kung fu, eaten succulent Peking Duck rolled in pancakes, and drunk cocktails by a lake in the Hutongs - tiny grey villages of one-room houses on narrow streets and curvy lanes where thousands of Beijing locals live their lives still abiding by ancient traditions and class structure beliefs. We have played cards whilst drinking rice wine and partied afterwards on flashy dancefloors while around the corner the locals are sharing toilets with 20 other families.
The city is exciting, its our grand finale. we're glad to be sharing it with those awesome guys we've become quite close to over the past 18 days in china over many a game of 'Arsehole' and many a shared experience.
Tomorrow we fly home to a real life...to our friends that love us and a country, not our own, but one that still, somehow, has control of our hearts.
stay tuned. xxx
all good things must come to an end, i'm told, and what a way to end this trip with a bang - in the thriving, historical city of Beijing - rich with thousands and thousands of years of cultural heritage. this city tells the tales of wealthy dynasties and socialist ideals, of war and, only occasionally, of peace. We've seen a lot this trip - natural wonders, beautiful animals, the tallest of buildings....but what better way to culminate 6 months of awe inspiring wonder than to stand on the Great Wall itself and breath in the fresh morning air carrying the memories of thousands of years of history - a country once divided, finally united and, soon, a world power...the stories that wall could tell us if only it could speak....
We have tramped across Tinanaman square, imagining it filled with tanks and protesters....glided through a Forbidden City, the home and castle of many a vicious ruler and his thousands of loyal concubines. Watched monks performing kung fu, eaten succulent Peking Duck rolled in pancakes, and drunk cocktails by a lake in the Hutongs - tiny grey villages of one-room houses on narrow streets and curvy lanes where thousands of Beijing locals live their lives still abiding by ancient traditions and class structure beliefs. We have played cards whilst drinking rice wine and partied afterwards on flashy dancefloors while around the corner the locals are sharing toilets with 20 other families.
The city is exciting, its our grand finale. we're glad to be sharing it with those awesome guys we've become quite close to over the past 18 days in china over many a game of 'Arsehole' and many a shared experience.
Tomorrow we fly home to a real life...to our friends that love us and a country, not our own, but one that still, somehow, has control of our hearts.
stay tuned. xxx
Monday, April 13, 2009
Shanghai Noon
1/5th of the world's cranes are in Shanghai making it one big construction site...2 years ago there were something like 60 skyscrapers...now there are hundreds...each one slightly closer to touching heaven...soon it will overtake Hong Kong as THE finanial centre of China and THE city to be for culture, shopping and the odd cocktail...already the city sparkles.
Now that we are hitting city after city with our tour group of partiers...including a troop of particularly interesting dancers in the form of Matt, Doug and Andy...we have hit our stride when it comes to the Chinese nightlife and we are showing them just how it's done in the west...heading out on our first night in Shanghai after drinking a bottle of barcardi, a bottle of smirnoff and a bottle of soy sauce between the 6 of us, we stumbled into 'soho', a club of white sofas, sparkling chandeliars and random tunes - anything from britney to jamiraqui had us bouncing on the dance floor, chatting to the locals and beating the pro dancers to the stage...outdone only by a group of breakdancers who almost put our boys to shame...but not quite...we tend to draw a crowd...the Chinese party elite adore us...and we adore being adored...
Waking up the next morning we stumbled down the Bund with it's beautiful skyline, river views towards 'Higher Ground'...a sunny restaurant offering steak and chips (yes please) where we met up with Caitlin and Alex and their little boy Jonty, old friends from Aus who just happened to be in Shanghai at the same time. A good old catch up and some chocolate cake later we all flew up the elevator to the top of the 'bottle opener', a fancy-smancy financial building offering views of the city from over 400 meters above the ground - the highest observitory in the world at the moment (till they do their thing in Dubai at least...)...
Meeting back up with our party people again we gave the beer a miss that night in respect for our hangovers and went instead to watch the Shanghai Acrobats...how, pray tell, does one realise that one's talent is to swing a hula hoop well enough to do it for a crowd? or to ride a motorbike with no hands round 'the ball of death'...or to balance 30 wine glasses on one's foot whilst upside down and twisted in half?? amazing stuff...though of course i could do it all....
We've seen gardens and shops and eaten and been drunken in the shanghai noon...and it's time to move on...one last train ride (oh thank goodness) and one last tub of instant noodles...and one last city. Beijing is the ultimate...the last hurrah before we return to a life of nine to five...at least for now....watch out beijing.
Stay tuned. xx
Now that we are hitting city after city with our tour group of partiers...including a troop of particularly interesting dancers in the form of Matt, Doug and Andy...we have hit our stride when it comes to the Chinese nightlife and we are showing them just how it's done in the west...heading out on our first night in Shanghai after drinking a bottle of barcardi, a bottle of smirnoff and a bottle of soy sauce between the 6 of us, we stumbled into 'soho', a club of white sofas, sparkling chandeliars and random tunes - anything from britney to jamiraqui had us bouncing on the dance floor, chatting to the locals and beating the pro dancers to the stage...outdone only by a group of breakdancers who almost put our boys to shame...but not quite...we tend to draw a crowd...the Chinese party elite adore us...and we adore being adored...
Waking up the next morning we stumbled down the Bund with it's beautiful skyline, river views towards 'Higher Ground'...a sunny restaurant offering steak and chips (yes please) where we met up with Caitlin and Alex and their little boy Jonty, old friends from Aus who just happened to be in Shanghai at the same time. A good old catch up and some chocolate cake later we all flew up the elevator to the top of the 'bottle opener', a fancy-smancy financial building offering views of the city from over 400 meters above the ground - the highest observitory in the world at the moment (till they do their thing in Dubai at least...)...
Meeting back up with our party people again we gave the beer a miss that night in respect for our hangovers and went instead to watch the Shanghai Acrobats...how, pray tell, does one realise that one's talent is to swing a hula hoop well enough to do it for a crowd? or to ride a motorbike with no hands round 'the ball of death'...or to balance 30 wine glasses on one's foot whilst upside down and twisted in half?? amazing stuff...though of course i could do it all....
We've seen gardens and shops and eaten and been drunken in the shanghai noon...and it's time to move on...one last train ride (oh thank goodness) and one last tub of instant noodles...and one last city. Beijing is the ultimate...the last hurrah before we return to a life of nine to five...at least for now....watch out beijing.
Stay tuned. xx
Friday, April 10, 2009
of skipping ropes and vodka chasers
the chinese like their games....mahjong, cards, dice....and, it seems, skipping rope....in a concrete world their exercise seems to be a group activity in any given courtyard in the city....hundreds of business men in suits and girls in heels join in the fun, skipping a big rope like 10 year olds, running in and out like pros...or kicking around a hacky-sack before rushing off to their offices with take out starbucks in hand. it's a sight to see...
and after a long day at work boy do these guys like to party! having scoffed 20 different types of dumplings last night we felt compelled to wash them down with a couple of cocktails at 1+1...THE bar of choice for the fashionistas and party elite of the city. We stood out like a sore thumb as we downed our Absolut but as the night wore on we got down and dirty with the best of the locals, our boys taking to the stage to strut their stuff as I cut up the rug with the chinese girls before we all staggered home in the wee hours...
it was good to let our hair down after spending most of the day perusing a beautiful 2000 year old treasure which i had been looking forward to seeing ever since we decided to come to china - The Terracotta Warriors. ordered by a young emperor thousands of years ago to protect him in the afterlife, the thousands of clay men and their horses stand in position, ready to fight. Each face is different and has personality plus...they are commanded by generals in a command centre and each carry weapons (or used to before they disintegrated) appropriate to their position. It is more than fascinating and a highlight for me....
today a spot of retail therapy - despite the fact that it's Good Friday....I guess the chinese don't put too much importance on Easter! and then yet another o/night train - this time to vibrant Shanghai...
stay tuned. xx
and after a long day at work boy do these guys like to party! having scoffed 20 different types of dumplings last night we felt compelled to wash them down with a couple of cocktails at 1+1...THE bar of choice for the fashionistas and party elite of the city. We stood out like a sore thumb as we downed our Absolut but as the night wore on we got down and dirty with the best of the locals, our boys taking to the stage to strut their stuff as I cut up the rug with the chinese girls before we all staggered home in the wee hours...
it was good to let our hair down after spending most of the day perusing a beautiful 2000 year old treasure which i had been looking forward to seeing ever since we decided to come to china - The Terracotta Warriors. ordered by a young emperor thousands of years ago to protect him in the afterlife, the thousands of clay men and their horses stand in position, ready to fight. Each face is different and has personality plus...they are commanded by generals in a command centre and each carry weapons (or used to before they disintegrated) appropriate to their position. It is more than fascinating and a highlight for me....
today a spot of retail therapy - despite the fact that it's Good Friday....I guess the chinese don't put too much importance on Easter! and then yet another o/night train - this time to vibrant Shanghai...
stay tuned. xx
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
sick aussies travel china
of all the times to get sick when traveling the world, our stint in china could well be the worse time to choose. funnily enough choice hasn't really come into the matter and Matt and I have both found ourselves struggling against a vicious fluey/stomach bug thing whilst catching overnight trains complete with squat toilets, phlem-clearing chinese and overactive heating systems...things could be better but we are soldiering on as we must in order to make the most of this amazing country.
We have reached Xian - the former imperial capital and spent the morning forcing down starbucks (thank God for global American brands and a breakfast that doesn't consist of some sort of noodle/rice/dumpling affair...)and cycling energetically on a tandem bike around the old city wall (turns out I don't particularly trust my husband when it comes to not crashing two-wheeled, two-seated death machines on 700 year old city walls...but you live and you learn). After stuffing up one bike by practically breaking off the back wheel, we made it around the 13km circuit and restored our energy with 'hot pot'...not the beef stew we might have been expecting but a delicious soupy mixture in which you cook your own little bits of beef, lamb or vegies, scooping them out when they're done with chopsticks (not an easy task) and washing the lot down with gulps of chinese beer...yum.
apart from the tricky health dilemmas we are still loving china and i particularly am glad to be back in a city...surrounded by pizza hut and maccas - time from a change from chinese food me thinks...!!
stay tuned. xx
We have reached Xian - the former imperial capital and spent the morning forcing down starbucks (thank God for global American brands and a breakfast that doesn't consist of some sort of noodle/rice/dumpling affair...)and cycling energetically on a tandem bike around the old city wall (turns out I don't particularly trust my husband when it comes to not crashing two-wheeled, two-seated death machines on 700 year old city walls...but you live and you learn). After stuffing up one bike by practically breaking off the back wheel, we made it around the 13km circuit and restored our energy with 'hot pot'...not the beef stew we might have been expecting but a delicious soupy mixture in which you cook your own little bits of beef, lamb or vegies, scooping them out when they're done with chopsticks (not an easy task) and washing the lot down with gulps of chinese beer...yum.
apart from the tricky health dilemmas we are still loving china and i particularly am glad to be back in a city...surrounded by pizza hut and maccas - time from a change from chinese food me thinks...!!
stay tuned. xx
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Gorgeous Gorges
We have spent the past three days sailing the Yangtze river in the Three Gorges, marveling at towering cliffs and technologically advanced dams....along with several hundred chinese tourists (we stood out like a sore thumb!) we have taken little boat trips down smaller streams branching off the river, listening to folk songs sung by the local minority boat men and singing our own (row row row your boat...!!!) in return.... Originally fascinated by the Three Gorges dam (well, matt was fascinated....can't say i was too much!) we became very blase about it as we spent much of our time stuck in the various locks on our way up the river, playing cards endlessly and the odd game of marjong...but the scenery, when it wasn't raining and misty, was stunning and the trip an experience - though if i see the inside of a boat again in the next month i think i'll scream! Luckily we're moving on to the cities next, tonight we make our way to Xian and the much anticipated Terracotta Warriors...
China is a culture shock, no doubt about it. The people are very different and there are some things we find quite an assault to our sensibilities (blowing nose goobies onto the pavement...nice...). Many are not used to seeing foreigners and we are stared at a lot....! often groups of girls will go into fits of giggles when they see us....the boys have been asked to have their photos taken with them as if they are celebrities...but often the locals will just wave happily and shout 'hello'! The food is crazy...chicken feet is a favorite and matt tried duck tongue and eels last night...i resisted using the fact i wasn't feeling 100% as my main excuse!! Duck head, intestines....fish head is a delicacy - especially the eyeballs....it's all a bit stomach churning at times but we have been living on a daily diet of delicious lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork and pork and mushrooms....
we are glad we are doing a tour as, not surprisingly, china is not set up for tourists and very few people speak english outside the cities. Our guide, Frank, gets us around with no hassle and is happy to share about his culture and, most importantly, explain the food! the company is good, the scenery is beautiful, the people are friendly....
there is much to discover here in china....stay tuned.
xxx
China is a culture shock, no doubt about it. The people are very different and there are some things we find quite an assault to our sensibilities (blowing nose goobies onto the pavement...nice...). Many are not used to seeing foreigners and we are stared at a lot....! often groups of girls will go into fits of giggles when they see us....the boys have been asked to have their photos taken with them as if they are celebrities...but often the locals will just wave happily and shout 'hello'! The food is crazy...chicken feet is a favorite and matt tried duck tongue and eels last night...i resisted using the fact i wasn't feeling 100% as my main excuse!! Duck head, intestines....fish head is a delicacy - especially the eyeballs....it's all a bit stomach churning at times but we have been living on a daily diet of delicious lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork and pork and mushrooms....
we are glad we are doing a tour as, not surprisingly, china is not set up for tourists and very few people speak english outside the cities. Our guide, Frank, gets us around with no hassle and is happy to share about his culture and, most importantly, explain the food! the company is good, the scenery is beautiful, the people are friendly....
there is much to discover here in china....stay tuned.
xxx
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Chinese checkers
overnight trains are something of an experience in China....catching one from Hong Kong to Guilin in China with our tour group - 4 intrepid travellers from britain and our chinese tour guide, Frank - we settled in for the night on our hard sleepers....'hard' being the operative word....! apart from being awake most of the night our sleep was good and we arrived in Guilin ready to explore china....only to find it was freezing and pouring rain....and it hasn't stopped.
We are in a little town called Yangshuo...a teeny tiny town at the base of towering, mist covered limestone mountains. Set on the shore of the Li river it is a picturesque tourist trap but, with the rain, we have actually spent more time in bed and in cafes drinking 2 for 1 cocktails than exploring. This afternoon, however, we are exploring rain, hail or shine, cruising down the river before going to a water and light show designed by the same dude who organised the olympic opening ceremony....should be a sight to behold!!
Stay tuned xx
We are in a little town called Yangshuo...a teeny tiny town at the base of towering, mist covered limestone mountains. Set on the shore of the Li river it is a picturesque tourist trap but, with the rain, we have actually spent more time in bed and in cafes drinking 2 for 1 cocktails than exploring. This afternoon, however, we are exploring rain, hail or shine, cruising down the river before going to a water and light show designed by the same dude who organised the olympic opening ceremony....should be a sight to behold!!
Stay tuned xx
Monday, March 30, 2009
This is how i roll baby...
Flashing lights, loud music, bonus rounds, WINNING! who doesn't love the pokies???!! I'm not much of a gambler myself usually but when I was in Vegas I found i have a lucky streak for 2 games...Roulette and the pokies (slots)...so, on arriving in Macau, 1 hour on the ferry from Hong Kong and the only place in China that you can gamble, we hit the casinos with a vengance.
We are putting stamps in our passports faster than you can say 'immigration'. Macau, like hong kong, is a state of china with pretty much it's own independence to do whatever the hell it wants. So it has become a kind of mini vegas - complete with the big names - MGM Grand, Wynn etc...i wiped them all out. Talk about a lucky streak - i managed to pay for our entire weekend plus some on a combination of roulette and pokies...paying for a gorgeous, lush 4 star hotel, incredible food, and many a delish cocktail from my winnings...thank you and goodnight!
Enjoying a celebratory cocktail after my streak of luck we settled in the bar of the MGM Grand, bopping away to an awesome covers band which had the place pumping with old school R&B...in one of their breaks they came over to have a chat with us...turns out one of them will be famous - he's auditioning for X-Factor and, since he's so awesome, i'm sure he'll be on tv...i'll be able to say 'i knew him when...'!! Towards the end of the gig they had a group of russians, all professional ballroom dancers from the Venetian casino nearby, on their feet and doing the sexy cha cha with more than a little pizazz...2 shows for the price of one...well none actually since it was free!! Needless to say one celebratory cocktail turned into several as we had a fabulous night, staggering home, once again, in the wee hours...
I still adore hong kong, love that it's so close to Macau and, to be honest, am dreading leaving. But leave we must and tomorrow we join our tour group to head up to mainland china - overnight train and all....once more we become the nomads.
I don't mind the backpacking life - it serves a purpose - but living it up is pretty cool too...that is how i really like to roll baby. ;-)
stay tuned. xx
We are putting stamps in our passports faster than you can say 'immigration'. Macau, like hong kong, is a state of china with pretty much it's own independence to do whatever the hell it wants. So it has become a kind of mini vegas - complete with the big names - MGM Grand, Wynn etc...i wiped them all out. Talk about a lucky streak - i managed to pay for our entire weekend plus some on a combination of roulette and pokies...paying for a gorgeous, lush 4 star hotel, incredible food, and many a delish cocktail from my winnings...thank you and goodnight!
Enjoying a celebratory cocktail after my streak of luck we settled in the bar of the MGM Grand, bopping away to an awesome covers band which had the place pumping with old school R&B...in one of their breaks they came over to have a chat with us...turns out one of them will be famous - he's auditioning for X-Factor and, since he's so awesome, i'm sure he'll be on tv...i'll be able to say 'i knew him when...'!! Towards the end of the gig they had a group of russians, all professional ballroom dancers from the Venetian casino nearby, on their feet and doing the sexy cha cha with more than a little pizazz...2 shows for the price of one...well none actually since it was free!! Needless to say one celebratory cocktail turned into several as we had a fabulous night, staggering home, once again, in the wee hours...
I still adore hong kong, love that it's so close to Macau and, to be honest, am dreading leaving. But leave we must and tomorrow we join our tour group to head up to mainland china - overnight train and all....once more we become the nomads.
I don't mind the backpacking life - it serves a purpose - but living it up is pretty cool too...that is how i really like to roll baby. ;-)
stay tuned. xx
Friday, March 27, 2009
Live it...love it
one minute you're walking through a maze of ancient streets with chinese vendors selling birds nests (for vitality and longevity), sea slugs and flying fox on a stick (complete with head and wings of course - how else would you eat a flying fox?)...a 5 minute tube ride later and you're drinking cocktails in a cosmopolitan bar surrounded by countless other cosmopolitan bars in Lan Kwai Fong - THE district of choice for the sexiest bars and the hottest clubs....
one minute you're on the seaside, bright white sand and english style pubs lining the street...half an hour later and you are back in the city, unable to see the sky for the skyscrapers, making your choice of restaurants from the hundreds in Soho, a choice of every type of cuisine under the sun...if only you could see it...
its a jumble of the ancient and the modern, the traditional and the technological...the asian and the european...this city has it all. Advertisements for HK use this slogan - 'Hong Kong...live it....love it'. I could do both. Already i love it...am IN love with it. And I think I could so easily live here given the right salary which would of course have me living right in the thick of things!
Yesterday we caught the famous Star Ferry across to hong Kong Island, excitedly speeding closer and closer to the heaven-touching skyline. We wandered through expensive shopping malls full to the brim with designer wears, before mozying along streets full to the brim of chinese medicine men and antiques from the Tang Dynasty....eventually we found ourselves in Lan Kwai Fong and settled in with a margarita to do some serious people watching. it's the world cup rugby 7s at the moment in hong kong and the place is overflowing with rugby boys from the uk, south africa and australia...and they were all in lan kwai fong to party on thursday night....the party spilled out on to the street, good spirits helped along by yard long beers hung around the necks of the punters and pumping music spilling out from the bars along the road. We were having so much fun meeting and chatting to people from all over the world that we stayed out drinking till 1am and almost missed the last train home....!
feeling slightly the worst for wear when we woke this morning we took things a little slow, catching a local bus to Stanley, a beachside resort only 30mins from Central, boasting a famous market of cheap clothing rip-offs and souvenirs. The fact that Hong kong city is so very close to beaches and cute little bays just makes it so much more livable in my mind...though i imagine that on a nice sunny day it would be standing room only around there. unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps, today it was pouring and we had the place to ourselves...well, us and some rugby boys from england. a 30min bus ride back to the city and we wandered the streets of Soho, spoilt for choice with the countless restaurants whipping up every cuisine imaginable....we settled on a homely little italian with huge servings of pasta and generous glasses of red...i can't tell you how much i have missed a good glass of red, normally my everyday drink, it was expensive and awful most of the way through SE Asia....lets just say i'm making up for it now...
I have a list of Top 5 cities I have been to. cities i love and would love to live in...it didnt take long for Hong Kong to comfortably make its way onto my list...Live it...Love it.
stay tuned. xx
one minute you're on the seaside, bright white sand and english style pubs lining the street...half an hour later and you are back in the city, unable to see the sky for the skyscrapers, making your choice of restaurants from the hundreds in Soho, a choice of every type of cuisine under the sun...if only you could see it...
its a jumble of the ancient and the modern, the traditional and the technological...the asian and the european...this city has it all. Advertisements for HK use this slogan - 'Hong Kong...live it....love it'. I could do both. Already i love it...am IN love with it. And I think I could so easily live here given the right salary which would of course have me living right in the thick of things!
Yesterday we caught the famous Star Ferry across to hong Kong Island, excitedly speeding closer and closer to the heaven-touching skyline. We wandered through expensive shopping malls full to the brim with designer wears, before mozying along streets full to the brim of chinese medicine men and antiques from the Tang Dynasty....eventually we found ourselves in Lan Kwai Fong and settled in with a margarita to do some serious people watching. it's the world cup rugby 7s at the moment in hong kong and the place is overflowing with rugby boys from the uk, south africa and australia...and they were all in lan kwai fong to party on thursday night....the party spilled out on to the street, good spirits helped along by yard long beers hung around the necks of the punters and pumping music spilling out from the bars along the road. We were having so much fun meeting and chatting to people from all over the world that we stayed out drinking till 1am and almost missed the last train home....!
feeling slightly the worst for wear when we woke this morning we took things a little slow, catching a local bus to Stanley, a beachside resort only 30mins from Central, boasting a famous market of cheap clothing rip-offs and souvenirs. The fact that Hong kong city is so very close to beaches and cute little bays just makes it so much more livable in my mind...though i imagine that on a nice sunny day it would be standing room only around there. unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps, today it was pouring and we had the place to ourselves...well, us and some rugby boys from england. a 30min bus ride back to the city and we wandered the streets of Soho, spoilt for choice with the countless restaurants whipping up every cuisine imaginable....we settled on a homely little italian with huge servings of pasta and generous glasses of red...i can't tell you how much i have missed a good glass of red, normally my everyday drink, it was expensive and awful most of the way through SE Asia....lets just say i'm making up for it now...
I have a list of Top 5 cities I have been to. cities i love and would love to live in...it didnt take long for Hong Kong to comfortably make its way onto my list...Live it...Love it.
stay tuned. xx
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Lots of Pics!
Due to lack of Wifi access in Laos and Cambodia photos have been few and far between...here they are - the Mekong Delta to Hong Kong...
Mekong Delta
Cambodia
Don Det, Laos
Vientiane and Luang Prabang
Partying in Vang Vieng
Hong Kong Part 1
Mekong Delta
Cambodia
Don Det, Laos
Vientiane and Luang Prabang
Partying in Vang Vieng
Hong Kong Part 1
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Hong Kong flu
When i was growing up Hong Kong was spoken about often in our home with fond memories and interesting anecdotes. When he owned a successful, Sydney based advertising agency back in the 70s and 80s my dad used to do a lot of business here - flying over often to wine and dine and to be wined and dined. 30 years ago, give or take 9 months, Mum decided to go along with him for a little holiday. She spent her days mozying around the city, shopping and having tea in the Penninsular Hotel, before being whisked off to meet dad and his clients for dinner. Needless to say they lived a little more of a high flying lifestyle than we are now but it's fun for me to imagine them here 30 years ago...loving the city so much that they seriously discussed emigrating here until mum went to the doctor one day back in Sydney complaining of the 'Hong Kong flu' that she must have contracted whilst on holiday and found out that actually she was pregnant...with me....I guess, in a way, this is actually my 2nd time in Hong Kong!
I wonder whether mum and dad ever made use of the 'Free Wednesday' days at the museums....? perhaps not, but, as the cheapskates we are, we did today...cruising round the interesting History Museum with its exhibits explaining the evolution of hong kong...from prehistoric nothingness to thriving, cosmopolitan city via wars and opium, colonialism and chinese handovers...it was very interesting since I had never really understood how the british managed to acquire hong kong in the first place (a very long and sordid story involving the importation of drugs....) and the exhibit explained a lot about the layout of the city and the psyche of its people. Next was the science museum...much like the one in london (though admittedly i've never been to that one!) Matt was as enthralled as the 10 year olds around us as he played with the exhibits. Even I was rather taken with the hall of mirrors (particularly the one that makes you look tall and thin!) and the optical illusion exhibition.
All museumed out we trudged across town looking for food...a bowl of wan ton noodle soup later and we were in the midst of the Temple Street night markets - stall after stall of chinese kitch, jade, fake handbags and souvenir t-shirts. since arriving in asia I have been checking out the handbags - waiting for the right ones to jump out at me...and finally i found them - a Jimmy Choo and a D&G - how true they are to the originals Im really very doubtful but they're still rather nice i feel...
it's been a long day. i'm finding the city exhausting after spending the past couple of weeks in quiet, sleepy laos...the bed in our closet sized bedroom calls and tomorrow is another day...hopefully this time we'll actually make it on to the ferry and over to Hong Kong Island itself.
stay tuned. xx
I wonder whether mum and dad ever made use of the 'Free Wednesday' days at the museums....? perhaps not, but, as the cheapskates we are, we did today...cruising round the interesting History Museum with its exhibits explaining the evolution of hong kong...from prehistoric nothingness to thriving, cosmopolitan city via wars and opium, colonialism and chinese handovers...it was very interesting since I had never really understood how the british managed to acquire hong kong in the first place (a very long and sordid story involving the importation of drugs....) and the exhibit explained a lot about the layout of the city and the psyche of its people. Next was the science museum...much like the one in london (though admittedly i've never been to that one!) Matt was as enthralled as the 10 year olds around us as he played with the exhibits. Even I was rather taken with the hall of mirrors (particularly the one that makes you look tall and thin!) and the optical illusion exhibition.
All museumed out we trudged across town looking for food...a bowl of wan ton noodle soup later and we were in the midst of the Temple Street night markets - stall after stall of chinese kitch, jade, fake handbags and souvenir t-shirts. since arriving in asia I have been checking out the handbags - waiting for the right ones to jump out at me...and finally i found them - a Jimmy Choo and a D&G - how true they are to the originals Im really very doubtful but they're still rather nice i feel...
it's been a long day. i'm finding the city exhausting after spending the past couple of weeks in quiet, sleepy laos...the bed in our closet sized bedroom calls and tomorrow is another day...hopefully this time we'll actually make it on to the ferry and over to Hong Kong Island itself.
stay tuned. xx
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
a city of culture....shocks.
I'm not sure that you could get much more of a culture shock than what we have experienced today...having spent the past few days relaxed by the riverside, unwinding with a beer and good company in Laos it was rather a shock today to land in the busy, busting, modern metropolis that is Hong Kong.
Dumping our bags in our closet...sorry, i mean hostel room....on the 8th floor of a building in Kowloon we descended to street level to pound the pavements and investigate our surroundings. A bit of exercise and some fresh - well, ok, not so fresh really - air helped to clear the cobwebs bought about by too many hours spent on buses and trains...it only took 28 hours it took us to get to Hong Kong from Vang Vieng via Thailand....!
Our wanderings this evening took us down to the tip of Kowloon where the lights of the immense skyscrapers of the Hong Kong skyline shimmer in the water of the beautiful harbour. nothing can really prepare you for the sight of a majestic city's skyline I find...but Hong Kong likes to surprise its visitors with a special little show to make this city stand out against its contemporaries of the likes of Manhattan, london and Sydney. A spectacular light show, choreographed to music, plays out every evening at 8pm. As we watched from the Kowloon side of the river the buildings on the other side, resplendant with global brand names galore, came to life with neon lights ablazing and lazer beams lighting the foggy night sky. All i could think was 'imagine if you were working late in one of those buildings....how annoying if your office light kept going on and off for the show...!'
First impressions of Hong Kong for me? exciting and vibrant. Im looking forward to exploring and am glad we have a decent amount of time to spend here...I have a feeling we'll find a lot of cool things to do!!
Stay tuned.xx
Dumping our bags in our closet...sorry, i mean hostel room....on the 8th floor of a building in Kowloon we descended to street level to pound the pavements and investigate our surroundings. A bit of exercise and some fresh - well, ok, not so fresh really - air helped to clear the cobwebs bought about by too many hours spent on buses and trains...it only took 28 hours it took us to get to Hong Kong from Vang Vieng via Thailand....!
Our wanderings this evening took us down to the tip of Kowloon where the lights of the immense skyscrapers of the Hong Kong skyline shimmer in the water of the beautiful harbour. nothing can really prepare you for the sight of a majestic city's skyline I find...but Hong Kong likes to surprise its visitors with a special little show to make this city stand out against its contemporaries of the likes of Manhattan, london and Sydney. A spectacular light show, choreographed to music, plays out every evening at 8pm. As we watched from the Kowloon side of the river the buildings on the other side, resplendant with global brand names galore, came to life with neon lights ablazing and lazer beams lighting the foggy night sky. All i could think was 'imagine if you were working late in one of those buildings....how annoying if your office light kept going on and off for the show...!'
First impressions of Hong Kong for me? exciting and vibrant. Im looking forward to exploring and am glad we have a decent amount of time to spend here...I have a feeling we'll find a lot of cool things to do!!
Stay tuned.xx
Monday, March 23, 2009
A tube to remember
there are some experiences you have when you're traveling that you know are unforgettable...you may have the photos to prove them, but, even without them you know those moments will be forever in your memory...
Such is the case with our day yesterday...tired and chilled and oh so slightly hungover we met our four Spanish friends from Barcelona and a couple of other mates from Quebec, Canada, for some tubing...the activity for which Vang Vieng is most famous. Grabbing our big rubber tyres excitedly and jumping on a tuk tuk for the 10min ride to the first bar on the river we discussed our plans - most people, when tubing, rarely get past the first 3 bars on the river, grabbing the rope being thrown to them they are pulled in by the crowds and the buckets and perhaps never leave till closing...spending the day jumping off the flying foxes and swings into the river...we, however, decided to tube all the way down the river first and then come back for the bar scene...good intentions don't always work out however - Matt and Alberto were enticed into the first bar early on for a beer to carry with us down the river...and so began the blissful ride, sipping on our beer laos as we floated, gazing up at the soaring mountains rising high from the banks of the river, letting the current gently sweep us along, sometimes getting a little stuck in the shallow bits and bumping faster down the tiny little rapids. It took us 3 hours to get back to the town...after another couple of stops for beer and refreshments (the Spanish guys had us craving a few olives to go with our beer - not so easy to find in the middle of laos unfortunatly - chips had to be the replacement)and by the time we got back it was a little too late to go back to the bars...
Not to be deterred we decided on a little nap (siesta?) before meeting up again for dinner and buckets back at the 'island'...the happening place for bars and debauchery. A quieter night definitely than the one before, but chilled and calm, enjoying the people watching and the company...
A day to remember...
we are now on our way to Hong Kong and it is sad to say the least to leave indochina. We have been traveling in this area for over 2 months now and have become accustomed to the ways of life here. We are used to seeing the same people as we move around the backpacker trail, friends and aquaintences, people to nod to in the street....but china will be exciting and a new adventure.
Stay tuned. xx
Such is the case with our day yesterday...tired and chilled and oh so slightly hungover we met our four Spanish friends from Barcelona and a couple of other mates from Quebec, Canada, for some tubing...the activity for which Vang Vieng is most famous. Grabbing our big rubber tyres excitedly and jumping on a tuk tuk for the 10min ride to the first bar on the river we discussed our plans - most people, when tubing, rarely get past the first 3 bars on the river, grabbing the rope being thrown to them they are pulled in by the crowds and the buckets and perhaps never leave till closing...spending the day jumping off the flying foxes and swings into the river...we, however, decided to tube all the way down the river first and then come back for the bar scene...good intentions don't always work out however - Matt and Alberto were enticed into the first bar early on for a beer to carry with us down the river...and so began the blissful ride, sipping on our beer laos as we floated, gazing up at the soaring mountains rising high from the banks of the river, letting the current gently sweep us along, sometimes getting a little stuck in the shallow bits and bumping faster down the tiny little rapids. It took us 3 hours to get back to the town...after another couple of stops for beer and refreshments (the Spanish guys had us craving a few olives to go with our beer - not so easy to find in the middle of laos unfortunatly - chips had to be the replacement)and by the time we got back it was a little too late to go back to the bars...
Not to be deterred we decided on a little nap (siesta?) before meeting up again for dinner and buckets back at the 'island'...the happening place for bars and debauchery. A quieter night definitely than the one before, but chilled and calm, enjoying the people watching and the company...
A day to remember...
we are now on our way to Hong Kong and it is sad to say the least to leave indochina. We have been traveling in this area for over 2 months now and have become accustomed to the ways of life here. We are used to seeing the same people as we move around the backpacker trail, friends and aquaintences, people to nod to in the street....but china will be exciting and a new adventure.
Stay tuned. xx
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Chill-laos
Laos is fast becoming one of my favorite countries that we've visited in South East Asia...we have spend a very interesting, chilled out couple of days in the former imperial capital of Luang Prabang before making the (once again fairly hidious) bus trip down to the backpacker haven of Vang Vieng...
Our days in LP were spent exploring caves hauntingly filled with ancient and discarded budda images, crazy temple caves which you can only walk in with a torch, the light picking up thousands of little budda statues in the far reaching corners...before diving into the clear blue waters of a swimming hole under a waterfall...freezing water straight from the mountains massaging my shoulders as i stood under the stream of water...bliss...
The nights have been spent eating and drinking with some Spanish friends that we originally met early on in Vietnam and randomly ran into again in LP...for a few days we will follow much the same backpacker trail through Laos and it's been fun to hang out with this group - a laugh a minute. We have sat outside in the warm evening air by the river drinking Beer Laos and barbequeing our own meat at our tables before heading to a wine bar to allow the Spanairds to experience the heaven that is a full bodied Australian shiraz...
Vang Vieng is quite a different scene from Luang Prabang...its all about cocktail buckets and tubing down the river, dropping into riverside bars on the way for a beer before finishing the day lounging in bars watching Friends re-runs. It's not exactly a typical 'Laos' experience, but fun for a few days...for hanging out with other backpackers and exchanging stories and anecdotes...tonight we will meet up with the spanairds again for some buckets of our own and tomorrw will try the famous tubing...
All too soon we will be leaving South East asia and moving on to China. It seems quite strange as we have been here so long - we have made a lot of friends on the backpacker circuit and have become quite used to everything that is Indochina...but all good things come to an end and China will be another adventure all together...
Stay tuned...xx
Our days in LP were spent exploring caves hauntingly filled with ancient and discarded budda images, crazy temple caves which you can only walk in with a torch, the light picking up thousands of little budda statues in the far reaching corners...before diving into the clear blue waters of a swimming hole under a waterfall...freezing water straight from the mountains massaging my shoulders as i stood under the stream of water...bliss...
The nights have been spent eating and drinking with some Spanish friends that we originally met early on in Vietnam and randomly ran into again in LP...for a few days we will follow much the same backpacker trail through Laos and it's been fun to hang out with this group - a laugh a minute. We have sat outside in the warm evening air by the river drinking Beer Laos and barbequeing our own meat at our tables before heading to a wine bar to allow the Spanairds to experience the heaven that is a full bodied Australian shiraz...
Vang Vieng is quite a different scene from Luang Prabang...its all about cocktail buckets and tubing down the river, dropping into riverside bars on the way for a beer before finishing the day lounging in bars watching Friends re-runs. It's not exactly a typical 'Laos' experience, but fun for a few days...for hanging out with other backpackers and exchanging stories and anecdotes...tonight we will meet up with the spanairds again for some buckets of our own and tomorrw will try the famous tubing...
All too soon we will be leaving South East asia and moving on to China. It seems quite strange as we have been here so long - we have made a lot of friends on the backpacker circuit and have become quite used to everything that is Indochina...but all good things come to an end and China will be another adventure all together...
Stay tuned...xx
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Monks on the Mekong
Luang Prabang is a heritage listed town on the banks of the mekong river in northern Laos. While once the thriving royal city of this country, the revolution and its subsequent removal of the monarchy left LP a sleepy little city albiet in a gorgeous setting. Since it's heritage listing however, tourist numbers have swelled and, other than monks in their orange robes walking down the street, its more likely to see a western face than Laos....
There's good reason for it though. With it's multitude of shimmering, ancient temples, riverside restaurants and opportunities for trekking and boating and general mayhem in the jungle this place is tonic for the soul...
Getting here, however, was a trip i would sooner forget. Northern Laos is incredibly mountainous and the roads here still leave a lot to be desired. It took us 9-10 hours (in despair i stopped counting...!) to get here from Vientaine...and afterwards we felt as if we'd been in a washing machine on the hot spin cycle (the air con that we'd paid extra to have had broken of course..) and our teeth were jarred from our heads being jerked...i'm sure i have a bruise on my shoulder from being thrown against the side of the bus...hmmm - as i keep telling myself....these are the experiences you get when traveling through South East Asia...enjoy them!! lol! It's not the destination, it's the journey and we did see some specacular sights when we weren't squeezing our eyes shut in preference to watching the bus narrowly miss the side of the cliff....
As we trundled along in 1st we were able to catch glimpses of village life around here...these mountain villages have no running water in their homes - and only the wealthier ones have any electricity. So at about 4-5pm it seems, all the families in the town go out to bath, the women wrapped in sarongs and the men in their undies...the babies naked...they wash themselves, their kids and their clothes in mountain spring water piped through to a central place, normally the side of the road it seems which is how i saw the ritual! We watched the older women threading leaves together to patch up the hut roof and kids chasing eachother along the dusty lanes...not necessarily an easy life I wouldn't imagine, but a peaceful one...
We ended up only spending a day in Vientiane before heading north to Luang Prabang...while there are quite a few sites to visit etc our day was spent mooching around the city looking for WIFI to do some banking. WIFI, it seems, is easier said than found in this country! but our day was rescued when we decided to get ourselves a stiff drink and some dinner down by the river and noticed a hullaballoo a bit further on....wandering down to investigate we found a fete in full swing...old french style, with toys and games from the 50s and little tables where you could sit and drink vin rouge. French tourists are in their thousands in Laos and, it seemed, they were all at the fete, celebrating and chatting...it was easy to imagine we were in some little French village along the Loire rather than a Laos city on the Mekong! It was all very oldy-worldy until we spotted a stage and heard some rock music...heading over we watched a modern dance troop and a Laos kid doing some of the best breakdancing i've ever seen...you see it all here in Asia...
Stay tuned. xx
There's good reason for it though. With it's multitude of shimmering, ancient temples, riverside restaurants and opportunities for trekking and boating and general mayhem in the jungle this place is tonic for the soul...
Getting here, however, was a trip i would sooner forget. Northern Laos is incredibly mountainous and the roads here still leave a lot to be desired. It took us 9-10 hours (in despair i stopped counting...!) to get here from Vientaine...and afterwards we felt as if we'd been in a washing machine on the hot spin cycle (the air con that we'd paid extra to have had broken of course..) and our teeth were jarred from our heads being jerked...i'm sure i have a bruise on my shoulder from being thrown against the side of the bus...hmmm - as i keep telling myself....these are the experiences you get when traveling through South East Asia...enjoy them!! lol! It's not the destination, it's the journey and we did see some specacular sights when we weren't squeezing our eyes shut in preference to watching the bus narrowly miss the side of the cliff....
As we trundled along in 1st we were able to catch glimpses of village life around here...these mountain villages have no running water in their homes - and only the wealthier ones have any electricity. So at about 4-5pm it seems, all the families in the town go out to bath, the women wrapped in sarongs and the men in their undies...the babies naked...they wash themselves, their kids and their clothes in mountain spring water piped through to a central place, normally the side of the road it seems which is how i saw the ritual! We watched the older women threading leaves together to patch up the hut roof and kids chasing eachother along the dusty lanes...not necessarily an easy life I wouldn't imagine, but a peaceful one...
We ended up only spending a day in Vientiane before heading north to Luang Prabang...while there are quite a few sites to visit etc our day was spent mooching around the city looking for WIFI to do some banking. WIFI, it seems, is easier said than found in this country! but our day was rescued when we decided to get ourselves a stiff drink and some dinner down by the river and noticed a hullaballoo a bit further on....wandering down to investigate we found a fete in full swing...old french style, with toys and games from the 50s and little tables where you could sit and drink vin rouge. French tourists are in their thousands in Laos and, it seemed, they were all at the fete, celebrating and chatting...it was easy to imagine we were in some little French village along the Loire rather than a Laos city on the Mekong! It was all very oldy-worldy until we spotted a stage and heard some rock music...heading over we watched a modern dance troop and a Laos kid doing some of the best breakdancing i've ever seen...you see it all here in Asia...
Stay tuned. xx
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Making tracks on the tracks of Laos
Spending an extra day lazing and eating and sleeping and floating downstream on tubes and cycling to pretty waterfalls on the remote Laos island of Don Det has meant we must now make tracks quickly...from the south to the north of Laos. There is so much to see and do in the next week or so as we explore this country, many many other travelers we have met going the opposite way to us rave about Laos and already i can see why. The Laos people are so laid back and their country has a dusty beauty...green fields dotted with calves and piglets, much loved puppies scamper down dusty backlanes. 'Roads' are actually tracks and no one seems to care. The food is fresh and full of seafood straight from the Mekong. So far we've experienced much less hassle than in other SE Asian countries we've been to...in fact, on Don Det, it was sometimes quite a job to get the shopkeepers or the waiters out of their hammocks for some service....definitely a change when you are used to people clamoring for your dosh.
So another overnight bus is in store for tonight. No big deal for us now as they are almost a second home - for better or for worse. We will spend a day in Vientaine, the capital city of Laos before making our way up to Vang Viene...another backpacker mecca for it's bars and tubing, but also for it's beautiful caves which we may or may not see, depending on the bars and the tubing.... ;-)
Time is running out now. Our trip will end in 4.5 weeks. I'm excited, SO excited to get back to England and play with my friends again...but how will I cope after being 'home' a month or 2...I worry about my perpetually itchy feet and wish there was a cream I could pick up at Boots to solve this problem. Apparently there's not any treatment for wanderlust apart from saving up the cash and hitting the road again. Already we are planning our next trip. It's an addiction.
But, for now, we must take each day as it comes and appreciate where we are today and where we will be tomorrow....
Stay tuned. xxx
So another overnight bus is in store for tonight. No big deal for us now as they are almost a second home - for better or for worse. We will spend a day in Vientaine, the capital city of Laos before making our way up to Vang Viene...another backpacker mecca for it's bars and tubing, but also for it's beautiful caves which we may or may not see, depending on the bars and the tubing.... ;-)
Time is running out now. Our trip will end in 4.5 weeks. I'm excited, SO excited to get back to England and play with my friends again...but how will I cope after being 'home' a month or 2...I worry about my perpetually itchy feet and wish there was a cream I could pick up at Boots to solve this problem. Apparently there's not any treatment for wanderlust apart from saving up the cash and hitting the road again. Already we are planning our next trip. It's an addiction.
But, for now, we must take each day as it comes and appreciate where we are today and where we will be tomorrow....
Stay tuned. xxx
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Beach
Our little island, Don Det, set among the Si Phan Don (4000 islands) of the Mekong river in Laos kinda has that feeling you get while watching the movie 'The Beach'...with our fave boy Leo....So many travellers, from all over the world converge here to do nothing but chill out, swimming, tubing down the river. If the mood strikes them perhaps a little kayaking...then all converge on one of the few bars which line the river of an evening to drink beer Lao and chill some more. Some never leave.
Its a simple place...electricity only from 6-10pm...the internet is sattelite and expensive so i must be quick..as for WIFI...????? If you're lucky your bungalow has a fan but you'll probably nap in the hammock out the front anyway...
We love it here. And we have already prolonged our stay by a day or so...unfortunately we can not stay longer but we need the break so we will continue to do nothing but...chill...
stay tuned. xxx
Its a simple place...electricity only from 6-10pm...the internet is sattelite and expensive so i must be quick..as for WIFI...????? If you're lucky your bungalow has a fan but you'll probably nap in the hammock out the front anyway...
We love it here. And we have already prolonged our stay by a day or so...unfortunately we can not stay longer but we need the break so we will continue to do nothing but...chill...
stay tuned. xxx
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tomb Raiders
Set deep in the Cambodian jungle, near the thriving city of Siem Reap, lies an ancient city...a source of national pride and the symbol of the Cambodian flag (and it's national beer!)....Angkor Wat.
Some call it the 8th wonder of the world and over the past 2 days we have clambered happily over the moss covered ruins of the formerly majestic temples...some are more than 80% in ruin - including the one that the movie 'Lara Croft, Tomb Raider' was filmed (during the making of this film Angelina Jolie fell in love with this country and decided to adopt one of it's children...). The rain today lent an haunted air to the grand structures, choked by jungle and the smell of incense. watching the sun rise (at an ungodly hour!) this morning over the towers of Angkor Wat itself i could not have felt more peaceful. As we made our way up to this beautifully restored temple at 7 in the morning we basically had the place to ourselves and were able to find a quiet corner and appreciate the age of this place...the history. Today ranks up there as one of my favourite days on this trip...suddenly cambodia, 'Kingdom of Wonder' has gone up a notch or 2 in my 'amazing countries' register!
The temples are what one comes to Siem Reap to experience...that and the 'happy pizzas'....so tomorrow we will leave. We need to make tracks quickly to Laos as we are running out of time now and still have so much more that we want to do! oh for another month!!! ;-)
stay tuned. xx
Some call it the 8th wonder of the world and over the past 2 days we have clambered happily over the moss covered ruins of the formerly majestic temples...some are more than 80% in ruin - including the one that the movie 'Lara Croft, Tomb Raider' was filmed (during the making of this film Angelina Jolie fell in love with this country and decided to adopt one of it's children...). The rain today lent an haunted air to the grand structures, choked by jungle and the smell of incense. watching the sun rise (at an ungodly hour!) this morning over the towers of Angkor Wat itself i could not have felt more peaceful. As we made our way up to this beautifully restored temple at 7 in the morning we basically had the place to ourselves and were able to find a quiet corner and appreciate the age of this place...the history. Today ranks up there as one of my favourite days on this trip...suddenly cambodia, 'Kingdom of Wonder' has gone up a notch or 2 in my 'amazing countries' register!
The temples are what one comes to Siem Reap to experience...that and the 'happy pizzas'....so tomorrow we will leave. We need to make tracks quickly to Laos as we are running out of time now and still have so much more that we want to do! oh for another month!!! ;-)
stay tuned. xx
Sunday, March 8, 2009
PP
The initials PP, in my mind, stand for Phnom Penh...the capital of cambodia and, i imagine, the most modern of its cities...but not long ago this busy city was rendered a ghost town by another 'PP'...Pol Pot....tyranical, evil leader of the gut wrenchingly murderous Khmer Rouge....
this morning began with yet another eye opening visit to a museum which spoke of untold crimes and inhuman torture. I think it is important to go to these places - in this case the toul sleng genocide museum which was once S-21, a prison of detention, interrogation, inhumanity, torture and murder...in vietnam, the war museum...these places bring to life and reality the history of yesterday, much more than reading a book will do. But it's horrendous all the same and, by the end of the visit, after viewing a movie about the regime, walking close to instruments of torture and the bare skulls of victims, viewing the hundreds of mug shots of solumn and scared victims, my emotions could not have handled a visit to the 'killing fields'where the victims throats were slashed before being buried in a mass open grave....
Instead we sat down to regroup and to marvel over the way that this country has also regrouped - all within my lifetime...there is wealth in this city - more so than i noticed anywhere in vietnam...so many more cars - in fact i don't think i've ever seen so many lexus 4WDs...but the devide between the very poor and the very rich seems so much more pronounced here. I'm more likely to give to the beggers here...there is no government help for them...we give bread to the children dressed in rags and don't mind tipping extra to a tuk tuk driver who goes out of his way to help...
But on sunday arvo here in PP people are happy...walking past a park we watched families out for a stroll...their babies chasing the pidgons...teenagers flirting under the trees and a group of boys playing football, dressed in their man city shirts...we could have been anywhere in the world...not least a country which was decimated only 30 years ago.
tomorrow we head out of pp and spend some more quality time with a bus as we head to Siem reap (SR) and the magnificent Angkor wat Temples.
stay tuned. xx
this morning began with yet another eye opening visit to a museum which spoke of untold crimes and inhuman torture. I think it is important to go to these places - in this case the toul sleng genocide museum which was once S-21, a prison of detention, interrogation, inhumanity, torture and murder...in vietnam, the war museum...these places bring to life and reality the history of yesterday, much more than reading a book will do. But it's horrendous all the same and, by the end of the visit, after viewing a movie about the regime, walking close to instruments of torture and the bare skulls of victims, viewing the hundreds of mug shots of solumn and scared victims, my emotions could not have handled a visit to the 'killing fields'where the victims throats were slashed before being buried in a mass open grave....
Instead we sat down to regroup and to marvel over the way that this country has also regrouped - all within my lifetime...there is wealth in this city - more so than i noticed anywhere in vietnam...so many more cars - in fact i don't think i've ever seen so many lexus 4WDs...but the devide between the very poor and the very rich seems so much more pronounced here. I'm more likely to give to the beggers here...there is no government help for them...we give bread to the children dressed in rags and don't mind tipping extra to a tuk tuk driver who goes out of his way to help...
But on sunday arvo here in PP people are happy...walking past a park we watched families out for a stroll...their babies chasing the pidgons...teenagers flirting under the trees and a group of boys playing football, dressed in their man city shirts...we could have been anywhere in the world...not least a country which was decimated only 30 years ago.
tomorrow we head out of pp and spend some more quality time with a bus as we head to Siem reap (SR) and the magnificent Angkor wat Temples.
stay tuned. xx
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The river runs wild
Its funny how the days can just melt away when you are cruising your way from one country to the next along one of the most spectacular rivers in the world...3 days ago we left Saigon, busy and bustling, and were transported to a different world...one where villagers sell their goods from the boats they live on...where fishing is survival and where the great Mekong River splits itself into thousands of canals and smaller rivers, the lifeblood of the millions of vietnamese who call the 'Mekong Delta' home...
It's been an interesting few days as we've meandered through markets, both on land and on river, watched and learned how to make coconut candy (yum) and husk rice (who ever knew rice needed husking??). We have drunk rice wine infused with dead, feathered rooster and coiled snake to make us strong (it had a decidedly 'dead bird' taste that i wasn't entirely fond of and I felt particularly weak kneed afterwards rather than strong!) and eaten frog stirfry with rice. We have rowed through floating villages and tasted exotic fruit....We have gone out for dinner with new friends and sat by the roadside like the locals drinking mango fruit shakes. we've seen women washing their children by the river's edge and children washing their cows...and, many waterlogged hours later we have found ourselves in the capital city of Cambodia, Pheomn Penh...
The children, in both Vietnam and Cambodia have been a highlight for me...while their parents are sometimes stern and intent on making money from us, their children are full of big smiles and waves. At one point yesterday (i think...) while leaving a ferry (one of many...) I stopped to watch some children playing nearby, jumping off a high fence into the river, screaming, shouting and laughing...as I got out my camera to take a photo of them one little girl clocked me, shouted 'hello!!' and made sure i had the camera pointed at her before performing a spectacular jump...leaping out of the water she came running up and grabbed my arm with her river doused fingers to practice the english she must have learned at school...'hello, how are you? what is your name?' On the whole the children are full of smiles, they love to wave at the foreigners and they are just so cute!!
As for Cambodia...well, it has been a very long day lazing around on boats (tough life..) and tomorrow will take care of itself. Perhaps we will visit the museum and, more dauntingly, a visit to the 'Killing Fields'.
Stay tuned. xx
It's been an interesting few days as we've meandered through markets, both on land and on river, watched and learned how to make coconut candy (yum) and husk rice (who ever knew rice needed husking??). We have drunk rice wine infused with dead, feathered rooster and coiled snake to make us strong (it had a decidedly 'dead bird' taste that i wasn't entirely fond of and I felt particularly weak kneed afterwards rather than strong!) and eaten frog stirfry with rice. We have rowed through floating villages and tasted exotic fruit....We have gone out for dinner with new friends and sat by the roadside like the locals drinking mango fruit shakes. we've seen women washing their children by the river's edge and children washing their cows...and, many waterlogged hours later we have found ourselves in the capital city of Cambodia, Pheomn Penh...
The children, in both Vietnam and Cambodia have been a highlight for me...while their parents are sometimes stern and intent on making money from us, their children are full of big smiles and waves. At one point yesterday (i think...) while leaving a ferry (one of many...) I stopped to watch some children playing nearby, jumping off a high fence into the river, screaming, shouting and laughing...as I got out my camera to take a photo of them one little girl clocked me, shouted 'hello!!' and made sure i had the camera pointed at her before performing a spectacular jump...leaping out of the water she came running up and grabbed my arm with her river doused fingers to practice the english she must have learned at school...'hello, how are you? what is your name?' On the whole the children are full of smiles, they love to wave at the foreigners and they are just so cute!!
As for Cambodia...well, it has been a very long day lazing around on boats (tough life..) and tomorrow will take care of itself. Perhaps we will visit the museum and, more dauntingly, a visit to the 'Killing Fields'.
Stay tuned. xx
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Miss Saigon
Pictures are worth a thousand words, they say...and a photo does not lie.
We are in Saigon...or, as it's now supposed to be known, Ho Chi Mihn City (though no-one seems to call it that except the street signs) in southern Vietnam....ground zero for the worst battles and atrocities of the vietnam war which ended less than 40 years ago. The battle scars run deep here.
My knowledge of the history of this war is rather sketchy i'm afraid...whether that's because i was asleep during history lessons at school or if it was never taught to us comprehensively i'm not sure, but i'm ashamed to say that before today it was limited to what i learned from hollywood movies and passing references to 'Nam'...But round here the people have not forgotten. Even back in Hue we wandered down the street beside hawkers selling 'war memorabilia'....scraps of medallions, dog tags, diffused bombs....obviously savaged off the battle fields...
And here in Saigon one of the main tourist attractions is the 'War Remnants Museum'. If I had been hoping to be enlightened about the allied philosophies behind the war and understand Australia's involvement in it, I would have been sorely disappointed. however, I was prepared for the fact that this country is still, justifiably, hurting and the story told here would be one sided...entirely the perspective of North Vietnam...communist propaganda not withheld...for Vietnam calls it the 'American War' and 'this is what America did to us...' was the theme....but pictures do not lie and the sights we saw as we took in the journalistic photos of the battlefields, farmer's bodies carelessly flung next to their ricefields, civilian mothers and their children lying dead in rough trenches, shot in the back of the head, the aftermath of the deadly 'Agent Orange' chemicals - the aftermath of which still affects the next generation today with horrific birth defects. This is not propaganda. These things happened. and they are heartbreaking to see. Whilst being an incredibly sobering experience, this afternoon this war, which i may or may not have learned about in history lessons, one in which my own country was involved for reasons I still do not entirely understand, became real...and heartbreaking and horrific as it was, it has helped me to understand this country and its people even more...understand why, in Saigon, almost everyone is young and it's rare, actually, to see an older man....understand why the people in this country are a just a little more hard-faced than their neighbours before they flash a beautiful smile and why this city, which was razed to the ground in the 60s and early 70s, is so brand spanking new. appreciate the fact that Vietnam, in less than 40 years, has picked itself up from devestation and begun to make something of itself...
Desperate to hear the other side of the tale I came back to the hotel and read what is probably a much less biased view of the war online...the conclusion I've come to is this - horrible, unspeakable atrocities were committed by both sides in this country....and tomorrow we will be even closer to understanding some of the conditions experienced by soldiers of the Viet Cong as we visit the Cu Chi Tunnels....
Saigon is not all about the past...the future is bright for this bustling city...one of my favorite asian cities so far for its energetic, pulsating vibe....we are staying in District 1, the undisputed heart of the city...within the 3 street triangle which makes up backpacker central here....cheap hotels, cheap beer, cheap 'pho'...and some familiar faces from cities further north....still, in the largest city in vietnam, we are running into people we know!! crossing the road is still taking your life in your hands, even more so here than in Hanoi, and the hawkers are still selling pineapples...but there is something exciting about being here...the promise of something special...a vibe which suggests hope...the suggestion of future wealth...a country well and truely on the mend.
stay tuned. xx
We are in Saigon...or, as it's now supposed to be known, Ho Chi Mihn City (though no-one seems to call it that except the street signs) in southern Vietnam....ground zero for the worst battles and atrocities of the vietnam war which ended less than 40 years ago. The battle scars run deep here.
My knowledge of the history of this war is rather sketchy i'm afraid...whether that's because i was asleep during history lessons at school or if it was never taught to us comprehensively i'm not sure, but i'm ashamed to say that before today it was limited to what i learned from hollywood movies and passing references to 'Nam'...But round here the people have not forgotten. Even back in Hue we wandered down the street beside hawkers selling 'war memorabilia'....scraps of medallions, dog tags, diffused bombs....obviously savaged off the battle fields...
And here in Saigon one of the main tourist attractions is the 'War Remnants Museum'. If I had been hoping to be enlightened about the allied philosophies behind the war and understand Australia's involvement in it, I would have been sorely disappointed. however, I was prepared for the fact that this country is still, justifiably, hurting and the story told here would be one sided...entirely the perspective of North Vietnam...communist propaganda not withheld...for Vietnam calls it the 'American War' and 'this is what America did to us...' was the theme....but pictures do not lie and the sights we saw as we took in the journalistic photos of the battlefields, farmer's bodies carelessly flung next to their ricefields, civilian mothers and their children lying dead in rough trenches, shot in the back of the head, the aftermath of the deadly 'Agent Orange' chemicals - the aftermath of which still affects the next generation today with horrific birth defects. This is not propaganda. These things happened. and they are heartbreaking to see. Whilst being an incredibly sobering experience, this afternoon this war, which i may or may not have learned about in history lessons, one in which my own country was involved for reasons I still do not entirely understand, became real...and heartbreaking and horrific as it was, it has helped me to understand this country and its people even more...understand why, in Saigon, almost everyone is young and it's rare, actually, to see an older man....understand why the people in this country are a just a little more hard-faced than their neighbours before they flash a beautiful smile and why this city, which was razed to the ground in the 60s and early 70s, is so brand spanking new. appreciate the fact that Vietnam, in less than 40 years, has picked itself up from devestation and begun to make something of itself...
Desperate to hear the other side of the tale I came back to the hotel and read what is probably a much less biased view of the war online...the conclusion I've come to is this - horrible, unspeakable atrocities were committed by both sides in this country....and tomorrow we will be even closer to understanding some of the conditions experienced by soldiers of the Viet Cong as we visit the Cu Chi Tunnels....
Saigon is not all about the past...the future is bright for this bustling city...one of my favorite asian cities so far for its energetic, pulsating vibe....we are staying in District 1, the undisputed heart of the city...within the 3 street triangle which makes up backpacker central here....cheap hotels, cheap beer, cheap 'pho'...and some familiar faces from cities further north....still, in the largest city in vietnam, we are running into people we know!! crossing the road is still taking your life in your hands, even more so here than in Hanoi, and the hawkers are still selling pineapples...but there is something exciting about being here...the promise of something special...a vibe which suggests hope...the suggestion of future wealth...a country well and truely on the mend.
stay tuned. xx
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Nha Trang
even travelers need holidays. We've been going pretty hard for a couple of weeks now - ever since we left the oasis that is koh phangan really....so we have used this beachside resort, Nha Trang, as a place to stop for a couple of days and take a breath.
We could be anywhere in the world....if not for the hawkers on the beach trying to sell us anything from massages to mentos we could even be somewhere on the east coast of aus...the area around the beach is as western as i've seen vietnam get...one can relax in a western style bar with a western style cocktail (albeit in a non-western sized bucket!), dance to western style music and choose from western style restaurants - anything from italian to mexican. Its comforting in a way since we have now been in Asia for a month and it's nice occasionally to have a few of the homestyle comforts.
So we've relaxed and read and slept and matt has been indulging in the odd massage on the beach. i have topped up my tan till i'm almost black and we are ready to move on again tomorrow...a day on the bus (joy) and we reach saigon.....back to the city for culture and fried noodles...
stay tuned.. xx
We could be anywhere in the world....if not for the hawkers on the beach trying to sell us anything from massages to mentos we could even be somewhere on the east coast of aus...the area around the beach is as western as i've seen vietnam get...one can relax in a western style bar with a western style cocktail (albeit in a non-western sized bucket!), dance to western style music and choose from western style restaurants - anything from italian to mexican. Its comforting in a way since we have now been in Asia for a month and it's nice occasionally to have a few of the homestyle comforts.
So we've relaxed and read and slept and matt has been indulging in the odd massage on the beach. i have topped up my tan till i'm almost black and we are ready to move on again tomorrow...a day on the bus (joy) and we reach saigon.....back to the city for culture and fried noodles...
stay tuned.. xx
Saturday, February 28, 2009
It's not the journey...it's the destination.
travelling is really not just about going from place to place and ticking off the sights....often, as the cliche goes, it is the journey, not the destination, that makes the experience one which makes you fall in love with a country or, alternatively, fall in love with your own country all over again.
we took another overnight bus last night from Hoi An to Nha Trang...a seaside resort town, with a beautiful beach and a westernised night life i believe. I say 'I believe' cause it's bucketing down outside and, since there's not much point exploring a beach in the rain I must believe the lonely planet guide....always a slightly dangerous item to put one's trust in, i find.
It seems that the concept of suspension in vehicles is one that has not yet been fully embraced by the vietnamese. Neither has the concept of paved roads on highways. both of which together make for an overnight ride much resembling a night spent on the spin cycle of the washing machine. I'm quite sure i was airborne much of the time. However, it's the experience isn't it...? it's vietnam.
Whilst on the subject of experiences...a word about toilets if i may? and i warn that my observations may not be for the faint of heart. Squat toilets don't bother me. I mastered the technique whilst under the influence of alcohol at a party in Turkey last year and now consider myself quite the expert. It's the western toilets which have the ability to bother me here....and one that i used at a roadhouse last night is a good case in point. The toilets themselves are always soaking because the Vietnamese do not use paper - they wash themselves. At least I hope that's why the toilets are wet. The floors are caked in mud and dust and what i hope is just water, and, if you don't roll up your trousers, so are their hems. The toilet i used last night had the added bonus of being completely infested by bugs of all types...on the floor, on the seat.... The light did not work...only the thin strip of light from above and below the door lit the way. The smell in these places is indescribable. The sink was caked in years of dirt and grime...there was no drain which i didn't realise until the water that i ran to wash my hands also splashed all over my feet. There are no magical solutions other than to hold your breath and put it down to a 'traveling experience'...however I do have a few hints for the next time you are in the orient. antibacterial hand sanitiser is your friend. It goes everywhere with me and i use it generously and regularly. However, it is like gold dust and I have not seen anywhere to buy more so, much as i'm tempted to lather it all over my body after using a toilet like this, i can not. Toilet paper is an even better friend and is also my constant companion...there is very rarely paper in public toilets. I have also recently become a friend of wet wipes in the absence of a shower...one swipe and you go from smelling rancid to smelling of baby powder and soap...breath deep....
it is hard not to become disillusioned with vietnam i find. The people here are hard. and justifiably so....they have been through so much in both recent and not so recent times...much of it at the hands of westerners. They blame the west entirely for the recent tragedies inflicted by the war here only 40 years or so ago...they hurt still...but they must let us in....we have money. they do not. and so we walk down the street with store keepers constantly yelling out...'you! buy something.'...grubby fingers reach out to pull our sleeves and draw our attention to the pineapple they are selling...or the beer nuts. but yesterday, an event restored my faith in the friendliness and resilience of the vietnamese. Sitting in a little cafe with half an hour till our bus was to leave, we gulped down some fried rice. getting up to pay and leave a young girl approached me and pressed an origami paper swan into my hand. It was, her friend translated, made just for me because she thought i was very beautiful. Touched and flattered, with tears welling in my eyes, i thanked her profusely. She did not want money. She was just being sweet and generous...i will treasure that little paper swan.
So now we are in a party town and might just let our hair down a bit...which, to be honest, we did on our last night in Hoi An too - with some friendly Spaniards and a great deal of 25p beer. it will be nice to chill out a bit as we've been going pretty hard. a couple of days here and then we move on to Saigon.
stay tuned. xxx
we took another overnight bus last night from Hoi An to Nha Trang...a seaside resort town, with a beautiful beach and a westernised night life i believe. I say 'I believe' cause it's bucketing down outside and, since there's not much point exploring a beach in the rain I must believe the lonely planet guide....always a slightly dangerous item to put one's trust in, i find.
It seems that the concept of suspension in vehicles is one that has not yet been fully embraced by the vietnamese. Neither has the concept of paved roads on highways. both of which together make for an overnight ride much resembling a night spent on the spin cycle of the washing machine. I'm quite sure i was airborne much of the time. However, it's the experience isn't it...? it's vietnam.
Whilst on the subject of experiences...a word about toilets if i may? and i warn that my observations may not be for the faint of heart. Squat toilets don't bother me. I mastered the technique whilst under the influence of alcohol at a party in Turkey last year and now consider myself quite the expert. It's the western toilets which have the ability to bother me here....and one that i used at a roadhouse last night is a good case in point. The toilets themselves are always soaking because the Vietnamese do not use paper - they wash themselves. At least I hope that's why the toilets are wet. The floors are caked in mud and dust and what i hope is just water, and, if you don't roll up your trousers, so are their hems. The toilet i used last night had the added bonus of being completely infested by bugs of all types...on the floor, on the seat.... The light did not work...only the thin strip of light from above and below the door lit the way. The smell in these places is indescribable. The sink was caked in years of dirt and grime...there was no drain which i didn't realise until the water that i ran to wash my hands also splashed all over my feet. There are no magical solutions other than to hold your breath and put it down to a 'traveling experience'...however I do have a few hints for the next time you are in the orient. antibacterial hand sanitiser is your friend. It goes everywhere with me and i use it generously and regularly. However, it is like gold dust and I have not seen anywhere to buy more so, much as i'm tempted to lather it all over my body after using a toilet like this, i can not. Toilet paper is an even better friend and is also my constant companion...there is very rarely paper in public toilets. I have also recently become a friend of wet wipes in the absence of a shower...one swipe and you go from smelling rancid to smelling of baby powder and soap...breath deep....
it is hard not to become disillusioned with vietnam i find. The people here are hard. and justifiably so....they have been through so much in both recent and not so recent times...much of it at the hands of westerners. They blame the west entirely for the recent tragedies inflicted by the war here only 40 years or so ago...they hurt still...but they must let us in....we have money. they do not. and so we walk down the street with store keepers constantly yelling out...'you! buy something.'...grubby fingers reach out to pull our sleeves and draw our attention to the pineapple they are selling...or the beer nuts. but yesterday, an event restored my faith in the friendliness and resilience of the vietnamese. Sitting in a little cafe with half an hour till our bus was to leave, we gulped down some fried rice. getting up to pay and leave a young girl approached me and pressed an origami paper swan into my hand. It was, her friend translated, made just for me because she thought i was very beautiful. Touched and flattered, with tears welling in my eyes, i thanked her profusely. She did not want money. She was just being sweet and generous...i will treasure that little paper swan.
So now we are in a party town and might just let our hair down a bit...which, to be honest, we did on our last night in Hoi An too - with some friendly Spaniards and a great deal of 25p beer. it will be nice to chill out a bit as we've been going pretty hard. a couple of days here and then we move on to Saigon.
stay tuned. xxx
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Hoi Hoi Hoi
It confuses me that most vietnamese cities on the backpacker trail begin with H...we are moving so very quickly that i often find myself wondering exactly where i am...but then, let's face it...i'm quite easily confused at the best of times, let alone when my brain has been unused, on the whole, for 4 months!!
Actually, we are in Hoi An...and, suddenly, I am in love with Vietnam. This town is exquisite...it's a magical mixture of shopping and the beach...alongside teeny tiny orange cottages and french colonial architecture....wondering around the old town last night i was transfixed by chinese lanterns lighting the quiet streets and atmospheric little bars inviting us in for local beers costing 25p....
Now,listen to this girls...Hoi An is famous for its custom made tailors and, as we have made our way down the coast of vietnam all anyone talks about when discussing Hoi An are the suits and the shoes they have had custom-made....the proceedure goes a little something like this....you duck into one of the many little shops along the street...sitting down comfortably with a cold bottle of water and the most recent Next catalouges (for the aussies Next is a very popular High Street shop in the UK....) Flicking through you point out the style of the clothes you want before picking out the materials from a large range on their shelves...less than 48hours and one fitting later you have yourself a custom made item...just for you....
As you can imagine, i could well have gone a little crazy here....however I (read matt)have managed to control the purse strings and have settled for a stylish business suit to win me (hopefully) a brilliant job in my first interview back in England (well, one can dream) and a pair of blue jeans without the gaping hole at the back which always seems to be my problem when buying off the shelf...Moving on the to shoe shop I was measured up for a gorgeous pair of black leather boots - riding boot style - which will be a perfect replacement to the pair I wore out last winter in England. I'm in heaven...
And while in Hoi An, while one's wardrobe is being improved, one can rent oneself a scooter and motor on down the 2kms to the beautiful, white sand beach with it's multitude of palm trees and chilled out vibe...we spent today there...taking a well earned breather and soaking up some vietnamese sun over a glossy novel before spending 75p on some seaside grub.
tomorrow we head on down the well trodden backpacker trail on another overnight bus...ending up in Nha Trang for more beach therapy...and maybe a party boat or two?? Who me?? ;-)
stay tuned. xxx
Actually, we are in Hoi An...and, suddenly, I am in love with Vietnam. This town is exquisite...it's a magical mixture of shopping and the beach...alongside teeny tiny orange cottages and french colonial architecture....wondering around the old town last night i was transfixed by chinese lanterns lighting the quiet streets and atmospheric little bars inviting us in for local beers costing 25p....
Now,listen to this girls...Hoi An is famous for its custom made tailors and, as we have made our way down the coast of vietnam all anyone talks about when discussing Hoi An are the suits and the shoes they have had custom-made....the proceedure goes a little something like this....you duck into one of the many little shops along the street...sitting down comfortably with a cold bottle of water and the most recent Next catalouges (for the aussies Next is a very popular High Street shop in the UK....) Flicking through you point out the style of the clothes you want before picking out the materials from a large range on their shelves...less than 48hours and one fitting later you have yourself a custom made item...just for you....
As you can imagine, i could well have gone a little crazy here....however I (read matt)have managed to control the purse strings and have settled for a stylish business suit to win me (hopefully) a brilliant job in my first interview back in England (well, one can dream) and a pair of blue jeans without the gaping hole at the back which always seems to be my problem when buying off the shelf...Moving on the to shoe shop I was measured up for a gorgeous pair of black leather boots - riding boot style - which will be a perfect replacement to the pair I wore out last winter in England. I'm in heaven...
And while in Hoi An, while one's wardrobe is being improved, one can rent oneself a scooter and motor on down the 2kms to the beautiful, white sand beach with it's multitude of palm trees and chilled out vibe...we spent today there...taking a well earned breather and soaking up some vietnamese sun over a glossy novel before spending 75p on some seaside grub.
tomorrow we head on down the well trodden backpacker trail on another overnight bus...ending up in Nha Trang for more beach therapy...and maybe a party boat or two?? Who me?? ;-)
stay tuned. xxx
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Hue's view
vietnam is looking up...Hue is a pretty city in central vietnam on the banks of the Perfume River (which couldnt smell less like perfume) and with gentle, tree-lined streets sporting little bars, cafes and restaurants.
yesterday, jumping a ride on a colourful dragon boat we cruised our way down the river, visiting temples, pagodas (the 2 are different - the vietnamese respect their national heroes in temples and worship their gods in pagodas) and the beautifully landscaped tombs of a past emperor...one who is famous for sleeping with five of his wives in one night with 3 of them falling pregnant. I guess he needs a tranquil resting place after that performance!
It was a relaxing day but we pulled out of seeing any other tombs and came home....i am sick you see. struggling with a lingering cold picked up on the junk boat in halong bay. a few nights of little sleep and some incredibly hot weather (37 degrees) are also helping to make life a little less fun...so i spent the night in bed feeling miserable while matt went out to play.
Pretty as Hue is, there is not too much to do here, so today we are outta here...heading further south to Hoi An which is known for its tailored made clothing and pretty old town....
stay tuned. xxx
yesterday, jumping a ride on a colourful dragon boat we cruised our way down the river, visiting temples, pagodas (the 2 are different - the vietnamese respect their national heroes in temples and worship their gods in pagodas) and the beautifully landscaped tombs of a past emperor...one who is famous for sleeping with five of his wives in one night with 3 of them falling pregnant. I guess he needs a tranquil resting place after that performance!
It was a relaxing day but we pulled out of seeing any other tombs and came home....i am sick you see. struggling with a lingering cold picked up on the junk boat in halong bay. a few nights of little sleep and some incredibly hot weather (37 degrees) are also helping to make life a little less fun...so i spent the night in bed feeling miserable while matt went out to play.
Pretty as Hue is, there is not too much to do here, so today we are outta here...heading further south to Hoi An which is known for its tailored made clothing and pretty old town....
stay tuned. xxx
Monday, February 23, 2009
saying Halong to a bay and goodbye to Hanoi
Halong bay, to the north east of hanoi, is purely majestic. A unesco world heritage listed site, the bay is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of limestone islands jutting up from clear blue water. The 'must do' on any trip to Hanoi, we found, is to jump a ride on a junk boat, sailing far into the bay and spending the evening over a cocktail watching the sun sink behind the islands before slinking off into your little cabin to be rocked to sleep by the waves. in our case, unfortunately, there wasn't much sun to speak of....in fact it is the first time since we left NZ that we have actually been cold (sorry to my dear friends in the UK....i'm afraid i couldnt resist the gloat!) but actually the fog and mist gave the bay a haunting beauty of its own. Hopping into kayaks on the first day we got down closer to the action - paddling gently (well, gently after matt had broken 2 oars by paddling not so gently...a very good way to piss off the kayaking powers-that-be we found...oops!) into a little section of the bay, surrounded by islands, greenery, monkeys....i felt like we could have been somewhere completely undiscovered. the silence was deafening.
Day 2 dawned with no electricity for a hot shower and an irrate vietnamese tour guide banging on our door demanding we show up for breakfast. oopps...in trouble again! but you take the good with the bad and really enjoyed our night floating on the seas. Our second evening was spent on Monkey island...we were the only group of people there, a deserted beach which just happened to sport lovely little bungalows and the best vietnamese food i've eaten yet. By this time we were tight with our fellow adventurers and we spent a very pleasant evening munching on vietnamese cuisine, chatting and sipping the odd vodka...in between shooing territorial monkeys from our front porch...
It was a relaxing few days away from the hussle and bussle that is hanoi....as we arrived back in the city the craziness of the place hit us again and we couldnt wait to get out....so we jumped straight on an overnight bus to Hue...
Overnight buses can be an oddity here in indochina....'sleeper buses', slightly more expensive than the normal version but infinitely more comfortable, contain rows and rows of bunkbeds....you literally can lay down almost horizontal and dream vividly of horns beeping and swerving motorbikes as you make your way down the country.
So we are now in Hue....a much more appealing city than Hanoi....with a peaceful river and tree lined streets. Tomorrow we are off to see some tombs which, hopefully won't be as depressing as it sounds, and tonight a few beers and some fresh spring rolls should see us through the night.
stay tuned. xxx
Day 2 dawned with no electricity for a hot shower and an irrate vietnamese tour guide banging on our door demanding we show up for breakfast. oopps...in trouble again! but you take the good with the bad and really enjoyed our night floating on the seas. Our second evening was spent on Monkey island...we were the only group of people there, a deserted beach which just happened to sport lovely little bungalows and the best vietnamese food i've eaten yet. By this time we were tight with our fellow adventurers and we spent a very pleasant evening munching on vietnamese cuisine, chatting and sipping the odd vodka...in between shooing territorial monkeys from our front porch...
It was a relaxing few days away from the hussle and bussle that is hanoi....as we arrived back in the city the craziness of the place hit us again and we couldnt wait to get out....so we jumped straight on an overnight bus to Hue...
Overnight buses can be an oddity here in indochina....'sleeper buses', slightly more expensive than the normal version but infinitely more comfortable, contain rows and rows of bunkbeds....you literally can lay down almost horizontal and dream vividly of horns beeping and swerving motorbikes as you make your way down the country.
So we are now in Hue....a much more appealing city than Hanoi....with a peaceful river and tree lined streets. Tomorrow we are off to see some tombs which, hopefully won't be as depressing as it sounds, and tonight a few beers and some fresh spring rolls should see us through the night.
stay tuned. xxx
Thursday, February 19, 2009
good morning vietnam
hanoi, vietnam....fast, furious, filthy, fearless...
i wasn't sure what i would think of vietnam. we all know how enamored i was by the 'land of smiles', thailand, and how sad i was to leave that beautiful, friendly country. As always i have entered this new country with an open mind and an eagerness to see and experience everything i can in the short time we have here....but i'm afraid vietnam is going to have to do better than it did in hanoi to impress me....
People don't tend to stay here long...it is, for most travellers to vietnam, a jumping point to other places in the north - Sapa or Halong Bay...and now i see why.
the place is crazy...the roads chocka-block full of death defying vespa riders flying in all directions, each leaning on their horns as they join the other 50 or so commuters in the middle of the intersection dodging eachother, pedestrians, petrified tourists and the odd chicken. I think i have used up my 9 lives just crossing roads today! At one stage matt and i stood at a 'crossing' by the side of the road just watching a wall of traffic coming towards us for about 5 minutes until finally a local came along and showed us how it's done. The trick, you see, is to walk confidently and slowly in front of the oncoming mass of vehicles, parting the motorbikes, rickshaws and taxis like the red sea...yes, they beeped their horns fiercely at us but they were doing that before we walked out in front of them too...the first time we crossed a road this way i truly thought i would die....but after a day of stepping out carefully in front of fast moving traffic i am still wary but so far so good...don't try this at home kids.
the place is filthy...while having a shower this evening my legs actually changed colour as the dirt washed off....despite the fact that i was wearing trousers today. through a crack in the pavement as we skirted past women making their lunch on the street, matt pointed out a scurrying furry creature under foot...a rat....mmm. well, so long as he didnt end up in our dinner...!
Am i not selling you this city? Here's the crunch. Today we were robbed. Only of the equivalent of £2 mind...but it's the principle really. We are pretty cynical travellers actually - sometimes i think we are too cynical...until now we have never been robbed or scammed, touch wood....but, even though i'd been warned of the scams in hanoi, this time they got us. We had been wandering around the area near the Ho Chi Mihn museum...I had been keen to go in and learn about this man who, it seems, this whole country still revolves around...but the museum was closing in 20 mins so, disappointed, we wandered away, deciding to head back to the old quarter near our hotel and find ourselves some non-rat infested dinner. We were approached by a man offering a cyclo (rickshaw) ride. we bargained him down to 50,000 dong - still pretty expensive but we were too tired to argue any more. The next thing we knew he had grabbed his friend and 2 motorbikes were standing in front of us...some cyclo! still, it would save our legs so we hopped on...gripping on for dear life as our drivers expertly negotiated the suicidal traffic, i was quite relieved when they pulled over...
trick 1 - we had asked to be dropped near the lake....there was no lake in sight but we were told it was 'just up the road'....yeah like by about 2kms! we were nowhere near our destination!
trick 2 - matt offered his driver 100 000 dong whilst asking if he had change. Yes, said the driver before taking our money and speeding off down the road and into the traffic....we never saw our change. he had robbed us of £2 and we were nowhere near our destination. we were livid!
but we realise that we were silly. we let our guard down, and we learnt from the experience. It was just a little thing really but its put a sour taste in our mouth about this city. We are keen to leave and are glad we only decided to spend a day here.
Tomorrow we are heading to somewhere much more scenic and serene...Halong Bay with its limestone islands rising majestically from the sea...we will sail around on a junk boat for 3 days, spending one night on the boat and another in a bungalow on monkey island, near cat ba island....the days will involve sunbathing on the deck, kayacking, swimming, and generally chilling. Sounds much more appealing than coping with the hassle of hanoi right?! i agree...
stay tuned.xx
i wasn't sure what i would think of vietnam. we all know how enamored i was by the 'land of smiles', thailand, and how sad i was to leave that beautiful, friendly country. As always i have entered this new country with an open mind and an eagerness to see and experience everything i can in the short time we have here....but i'm afraid vietnam is going to have to do better than it did in hanoi to impress me....
People don't tend to stay here long...it is, for most travellers to vietnam, a jumping point to other places in the north - Sapa or Halong Bay...and now i see why.
the place is crazy...the roads chocka-block full of death defying vespa riders flying in all directions, each leaning on their horns as they join the other 50 or so commuters in the middle of the intersection dodging eachother, pedestrians, petrified tourists and the odd chicken. I think i have used up my 9 lives just crossing roads today! At one stage matt and i stood at a 'crossing' by the side of the road just watching a wall of traffic coming towards us for about 5 minutes until finally a local came along and showed us how it's done. The trick, you see, is to walk confidently and slowly in front of the oncoming mass of vehicles, parting the motorbikes, rickshaws and taxis like the red sea...yes, they beeped their horns fiercely at us but they were doing that before we walked out in front of them too...the first time we crossed a road this way i truly thought i would die....but after a day of stepping out carefully in front of fast moving traffic i am still wary but so far so good...don't try this at home kids.
the place is filthy...while having a shower this evening my legs actually changed colour as the dirt washed off....despite the fact that i was wearing trousers today. through a crack in the pavement as we skirted past women making their lunch on the street, matt pointed out a scurrying furry creature under foot...a rat....mmm. well, so long as he didnt end up in our dinner...!
Am i not selling you this city? Here's the crunch. Today we were robbed. Only of the equivalent of £2 mind...but it's the principle really. We are pretty cynical travellers actually - sometimes i think we are too cynical...until now we have never been robbed or scammed, touch wood....but, even though i'd been warned of the scams in hanoi, this time they got us. We had been wandering around the area near the Ho Chi Mihn museum...I had been keen to go in and learn about this man who, it seems, this whole country still revolves around...but the museum was closing in 20 mins so, disappointed, we wandered away, deciding to head back to the old quarter near our hotel and find ourselves some non-rat infested dinner. We were approached by a man offering a cyclo (rickshaw) ride. we bargained him down to 50,000 dong - still pretty expensive but we were too tired to argue any more. The next thing we knew he had grabbed his friend and 2 motorbikes were standing in front of us...some cyclo! still, it would save our legs so we hopped on...gripping on for dear life as our drivers expertly negotiated the suicidal traffic, i was quite relieved when they pulled over...
trick 1 - we had asked to be dropped near the lake....there was no lake in sight but we were told it was 'just up the road'....yeah like by about 2kms! we were nowhere near our destination!
trick 2 - matt offered his driver 100 000 dong whilst asking if he had change. Yes, said the driver before taking our money and speeding off down the road and into the traffic....we never saw our change. he had robbed us of £2 and we were nowhere near our destination. we were livid!
but we realise that we were silly. we let our guard down, and we learnt from the experience. It was just a little thing really but its put a sour taste in our mouth about this city. We are keen to leave and are glad we only decided to spend a day here.
Tomorrow we are heading to somewhere much more scenic and serene...Halong Bay with its limestone islands rising majestically from the sea...we will sail around on a junk boat for 3 days, spending one night on the boat and another in a bungalow on monkey island, near cat ba island....the days will involve sunbathing on the deck, kayacking, swimming, and generally chilling. Sounds much more appealing than coping with the hassle of hanoi right?! i agree...
stay tuned.xx
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
of chiang and chang...
we have had so many new experiences in the past three days in chiang mai, north thailand, that I hardly know where to begin...
Chiang Mai is somehow of a different breed to bangkok....it's still a large city...frantically busy, crammed with tuk tuks and taxis and fabulous night markets. but somehow it is more chilled out and the people are a million times friendlier...
we have been relishing thai cuisine for the past 2 weeks...i have, quite seriously, lived on pad thai and could do so for several more weeks quite happily....and yesterday i learned how to make my own so that i can continue with my latest obsession in the comfort of my own kitchen...in fact i think a thai party might be in the cards if anyone fancies it??!! under the tutorship of a thai chef we visited a local market in the morning....inhaling the scents of barbequed fish and fresh fruit and veg, we learned about the more obscure of thai ingredients before heading back to Perm's house to cook up some delish dishes...alongside my (rather yummy, even if it didn't look conventional...!) pad thai I made some of my other faves - thai green curry, chicken and cashew stirfry and coconut soup while matt whipped up an amazing red curry, big fat noodles and sweet and sour stirfry...it was such a fun day - we met some great people and had a laugh, learnt a lot and played with food....what's not to love?
and today we traded saucepans for sneakers and woks for waterfalls as we trekked high into the mountains...another activity that Chiang Mai is famous for...travellers come from all over to spend 1, 2 or 3 days hiking in the hills around northern thailand to see what the jungle holds....does the lion sleep tonight?? but, since damaging my foot whilst dancing in the sand (as you do) i felt I could only cope with a couple of hours walk, a decision i was grateful for as travel hasn't exactly increased my fitness levels!!! The day began by leaving the walking to dumbo...magnificent creatures, the elephants plodded along while we rode high on their backs like kings....our 'chang'(thai for elephant) was a cheeky fella, preferring to throw his trunk back for any wayward bananas we might have in our possession than concentrate on keeping up with the others...quite often we had the baby trailing along beside us...only 2 years old he is about to be sent to a conservation camp to be trained but in the meantime he likes to play with the tourists...almost barging me over as i tried to pose with him for a photo....you'd think that, being as cute as he is, he might be used to the paparazzi!
after that magical experience we walked a way to visit a hill tribe...primitive villagers living in the hills around chiang mai...in the past they survived by trading opium. Nowadays the King of thailand has discouraged drug use and has encouraged other forms of agriculture which the villagers trade while their children go to school. Hot and bothered after trekking through thai dust we stumbled across a waterfall and took the opportunity for a swim in the fresh mountain stream before checking out another (more advanced) hill tribe village - that of the Karen tribe who migrated from burma and somehow, despite their simplicity, have satelite dishes and electricity set up in their little timber huts....
After a spot of lunch the final item on the agenda was a float down a river on a bamboo raft....not unlike punting down the oxford river but a tad more primitive...the raft is literally a few bits of bamboo strung together, controlled by a punter front and back...matt happened to be driver on ours which was slightly concerning but we quietly sailed down little rapids and slid between jutting rocks, watched by elephants on the side of the stream and surrounded by jungle....it was all rather idealic and dreamy and a perfect end to a brilliant day full of new experiences....
It will be sad to leave thailand...i have loved it here and i see myself coming back for more exploring (read 'shopping'!) sometime soon. But tomorrow we move on to Vietnam...Hanoi to be precise...a new and exciting country where lots of new adventures lie just around the corner...
stay tuned. xxx
Chiang Mai is somehow of a different breed to bangkok....it's still a large city...frantically busy, crammed with tuk tuks and taxis and fabulous night markets. but somehow it is more chilled out and the people are a million times friendlier...
we have been relishing thai cuisine for the past 2 weeks...i have, quite seriously, lived on pad thai and could do so for several more weeks quite happily....and yesterday i learned how to make my own so that i can continue with my latest obsession in the comfort of my own kitchen...in fact i think a thai party might be in the cards if anyone fancies it??!! under the tutorship of a thai chef we visited a local market in the morning....inhaling the scents of barbequed fish and fresh fruit and veg, we learned about the more obscure of thai ingredients before heading back to Perm's house to cook up some delish dishes...alongside my (rather yummy, even if it didn't look conventional...!) pad thai I made some of my other faves - thai green curry, chicken and cashew stirfry and coconut soup while matt whipped up an amazing red curry, big fat noodles and sweet and sour stirfry...it was such a fun day - we met some great people and had a laugh, learnt a lot and played with food....what's not to love?
and today we traded saucepans for sneakers and woks for waterfalls as we trekked high into the mountains...another activity that Chiang Mai is famous for...travellers come from all over to spend 1, 2 or 3 days hiking in the hills around northern thailand to see what the jungle holds....does the lion sleep tonight?? but, since damaging my foot whilst dancing in the sand (as you do) i felt I could only cope with a couple of hours walk, a decision i was grateful for as travel hasn't exactly increased my fitness levels!!! The day began by leaving the walking to dumbo...magnificent creatures, the elephants plodded along while we rode high on their backs like kings....our 'chang'(thai for elephant) was a cheeky fella, preferring to throw his trunk back for any wayward bananas we might have in our possession than concentrate on keeping up with the others...quite often we had the baby trailing along beside us...only 2 years old he is about to be sent to a conservation camp to be trained but in the meantime he likes to play with the tourists...almost barging me over as i tried to pose with him for a photo....you'd think that, being as cute as he is, he might be used to the paparazzi!
after that magical experience we walked a way to visit a hill tribe...primitive villagers living in the hills around chiang mai...in the past they survived by trading opium. Nowadays the King of thailand has discouraged drug use and has encouraged other forms of agriculture which the villagers trade while their children go to school. Hot and bothered after trekking through thai dust we stumbled across a waterfall and took the opportunity for a swim in the fresh mountain stream before checking out another (more advanced) hill tribe village - that of the Karen tribe who migrated from burma and somehow, despite their simplicity, have satelite dishes and electricity set up in their little timber huts....
After a spot of lunch the final item on the agenda was a float down a river on a bamboo raft....not unlike punting down the oxford river but a tad more primitive...the raft is literally a few bits of bamboo strung together, controlled by a punter front and back...matt happened to be driver on ours which was slightly concerning but we quietly sailed down little rapids and slid between jutting rocks, watched by elephants on the side of the stream and surrounded by jungle....it was all rather idealic and dreamy and a perfect end to a brilliant day full of new experiences....
It will be sad to leave thailand...i have loved it here and i see myself coming back for more exploring (read 'shopping'!) sometime soon. But tomorrow we move on to Vietnam...Hanoi to be precise...a new and exciting country where lots of new adventures lie just around the corner...
stay tuned. xxx
Monday, February 16, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
tuk tuk trouble
getting around bangkok is an adventure in itself. It seems that each mode of transport has it's own problems...the taxi's are reminiscent of the classic french movie, 'Taxi'...with their pink toyotas souped up to the max complete with spoilers and flashing neon lights, the drivers come with an extra dose of attitude. We have learned fast, mostly through experiences in bali, how to avoid being ripped off...often, im afraid, to the point of being unnecessarily suspicious when faced with a friendly thai...however when it comes to taxies, being ripped off seems par for the course. they refuse to go on the meter and bartering is difficult for a traveller with no idea where he's going...and when, as we did yesterday, you do succeed in getting them to switch on the meter, they rip you off anyway - driving miles in the wrong direction, hoping you don't notice.
The tuk tuk drivers are a breed unto themselves - simply crazy and often, it seems, with a death wish, for themselves, their passengers, and the chicken on the side of the road.. It is, I feel, a new form of high in Thailand as they get their kicks from driving down the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic....
and the ferries don't turn up at the port. We're not game enough to try out the buses!!
but so far we have survived with a few thrills and, once you do get to your destination, it's worth the ride. last night we turned up on khao san road...smack bang in the centre of the old part of the city, surrounded by quiet temples and the king's palaces, this henonistic road was the hippy hangout of the 60s. surrounded by hostels and cheap beer, things haven't changed that much. nowadays it's a tourist destination but you can still watch hoards of travellers arriving, packs on backs, to experience the bangkok vibe for themselves....and with its £1.50 cocktails and £4 buckets lining the street we played on that road for hours, meeting locals and travellers alike, perusing the markets and munching on spring rolls and pad thai for our midnight snack...
today, feeling slightly the worse for wear, we will pack up sticks and move on...this time to chiang mai in the north of thailand where we will learn to cook our own spring rolls, ride an elephant or two and cruise down a river on a plank of bamboo...
stay tuned... xx
The tuk tuk drivers are a breed unto themselves - simply crazy and often, it seems, with a death wish, for themselves, their passengers, and the chicken on the side of the road.. It is, I feel, a new form of high in Thailand as they get their kicks from driving down the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic....
and the ferries don't turn up at the port. We're not game enough to try out the buses!!
but so far we have survived with a few thrills and, once you do get to your destination, it's worth the ride. last night we turned up on khao san road...smack bang in the centre of the old part of the city, surrounded by quiet temples and the king's palaces, this henonistic road was the hippy hangout of the 60s. surrounded by hostels and cheap beer, things haven't changed that much. nowadays it's a tourist destination but you can still watch hoards of travellers arriving, packs on backs, to experience the bangkok vibe for themselves....and with its £1.50 cocktails and £4 buckets lining the street we played on that road for hours, meeting locals and travellers alike, perusing the markets and munching on spring rolls and pad thai for our midnight snack...
today, feeling slightly the worse for wear, we will pack up sticks and move on...this time to chiang mai in the north of thailand where we will learn to cook our own spring rolls, ride an elephant or two and cruise down a river on a plank of bamboo...
stay tuned... xx
Friday, February 13, 2009
temple tantrum
We have landed back in civilization with a thump....bangkok is a busy, dirty city but boasts some beautiful historical buildings and some great shopping! We are only here for 2 days and yesterday we felt the pressure to see as much as possible....so we started temple hopping...the grand palace with it's emerald budda temple (wat phra kaew)...the breathtaking reclining budda (wat pho)....by the end of the morning if I had seen another budda belly I would have screamed....
So we changed tact...hopping on a ferry we chugged our way down the dirty cho praya river towards the towering buildings of the modern city. skyscraper after skyscraper as far as the eye can see, bangkok is business central with many a shopping mall boasting shop after shop of designer goods...we mozzied round siam paragon, complete with a car showroom floor selling lamborginis, bmws and minis....
Our plan was to go back to our hotel for a shower before hitting kao san road - the famous backpacker hangout - but when we stumbled across a muay thai bout on the side of the street we were hooked and ended up watching an internatioal bout - thailand vs italy - for free! since we were still in town we decided to check out a night market and wandered around until our legs just simply wouldnt let us walk another step...
we will take it a bit easier today. we have discovered that, despite the hype, there actually isn't too much to do in bangkok and we will see what we want to see easily in the 2.5 days we are here. tonight we are hoping for those beers in kao san road and, beforehand maybe a touch of budda and a little bit more burberry...
stay tuned.. xx
So we changed tact...hopping on a ferry we chugged our way down the dirty cho praya river towards the towering buildings of the modern city. skyscraper after skyscraper as far as the eye can see, bangkok is business central with many a shopping mall boasting shop after shop of designer goods...we mozzied round siam paragon, complete with a car showroom floor selling lamborginis, bmws and minis....
Our plan was to go back to our hotel for a shower before hitting kao san road - the famous backpacker hangout - but when we stumbled across a muay thai bout on the side of the street we were hooked and ended up watching an internatioal bout - thailand vs italy - for free! since we were still in town we decided to check out a night market and wandered around until our legs just simply wouldnt let us walk another step...
we will take it a bit easier today. we have discovered that, despite the hype, there actually isn't too much to do in bangkok and we will see what we want to see easily in the 2.5 days we are here. tonight we are hoping for those beers in kao san road and, beforehand maybe a touch of budda and a little bit more burberry...
stay tuned.. xx
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Full moon magic
at the risk of sounding like a broken record, because i know ive said this several times before, one of my favourite aspects of traveling is meeting all sorts of interesting, fun, travel obsessed people from all over the world while on the road...sharing experiences, advice and a beer or 10...you can meet the world while seeing the world... And, since i have a very special talent for keeping in touch with new friends, it's not unusual for us to stumble across people we know again and again...if we're lucky each time in a new, exotic location...
and so it is with Em....a brissy gal who we met in Greece and who is now traveling with her mates Emily and Katie for 6 months round south east asia and india. Like all good backpackers they had heard of the magic of the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan and made tracks there pronto....
so on Monday, FMP eve, we all got together over pad thai to plan our attack on the party the next night before preparing our muscles for a full night of dancing with an energetic thai massage. fully cracked and pummeled we moved on to relax our brains back at the amsterdam bar....famous for it's chilled out vibe and breathtaking sunsets over the ocean...it was, we all decided, important to have an early night so we would be on our best form for the party. so we went our separate ways for pre-party sleeping. it cannot be said that we didn't strategise to the extreme for optimum full moon party enjoyment...!
FMP-day dawned on Tuesday and I was one very excited party animal. so excited, in fact, that I couldn't relax for my final planned afternoon sleep... Finally night fell, the full moon rose and our party night began. We went first to Em, Emily and Katie's resort and invited Mike, a swedish backpacker (the place was swarming with swedes who are prolific travellers) who we had met on our snorkelling tour a few days before. We had had a beer and a chat with him, discovered he was traveling solo and was a fun and funny guy and so included him in our plans. The resort had an 'all you can drink' deal which we made the most of...slurping down sang son, a potent thai rum, before moving on to 'buckets...the famous drink of choice at FMPs....basically a bucket like one a child might take to the beach, filled to the brim with alcohol....adults only thank you! Hanging out with another group of swedes who were staying at the resort it was aussie vs swede in an intense drinking game which took us close to midnight....and finally it was time to hit the beach...
Sensory overload...music pumping...bodies crashing past, dancing wildly....fire twirlers and fire rings....neon body paint...and a very full moon...
we tried to stick together but we had a big group of 10 including all the swedes and with thousands of revelers moving around on a small beach in the dark it was hard to even keep up with one friend....a few of us stumbled down the beach, making friends along the way before finding a bar playing music we liked and dancing, dancing on the sand...heading back up the beach again we miraculously ran into our friends the swedes, now covered with body paint and dancing ecstatically under the stars...the party was everything I had been hoping for and I had the time of my life...
but today we paid the price for our excess as we joined the hoards of hungover travellers, still in their sand coated party clothes and their neon paint, being herded onto the ferry and back to wherever it was they came from...our destination was bangkok...away from paradise and back to city smog...we could not have been in more different worlds....
It was sad to leave koh phangan...we had a great time there and I believe I have fallen in love with thailand. I could quite happily exist for the rest of my life on pad thai, chang beer and banana, chocolate and coconut pancakes that cost 30 baht(60p). But there is still a week left in thailand and many more adventures are just around the corner...
Stay tuned. xx
and so it is with Em....a brissy gal who we met in Greece and who is now traveling with her mates Emily and Katie for 6 months round south east asia and india. Like all good backpackers they had heard of the magic of the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan and made tracks there pronto....
so on Monday, FMP eve, we all got together over pad thai to plan our attack on the party the next night before preparing our muscles for a full night of dancing with an energetic thai massage. fully cracked and pummeled we moved on to relax our brains back at the amsterdam bar....famous for it's chilled out vibe and breathtaking sunsets over the ocean...it was, we all decided, important to have an early night so we would be on our best form for the party. so we went our separate ways for pre-party sleeping. it cannot be said that we didn't strategise to the extreme for optimum full moon party enjoyment...!
FMP-day dawned on Tuesday and I was one very excited party animal. so excited, in fact, that I couldn't relax for my final planned afternoon sleep... Finally night fell, the full moon rose and our party night began. We went first to Em, Emily and Katie's resort and invited Mike, a swedish backpacker (the place was swarming with swedes who are prolific travellers) who we had met on our snorkelling tour a few days before. We had had a beer and a chat with him, discovered he was traveling solo and was a fun and funny guy and so included him in our plans. The resort had an 'all you can drink' deal which we made the most of...slurping down sang son, a potent thai rum, before moving on to 'buckets...the famous drink of choice at FMPs....basically a bucket like one a child might take to the beach, filled to the brim with alcohol....adults only thank you! Hanging out with another group of swedes who were staying at the resort it was aussie vs swede in an intense drinking game which took us close to midnight....and finally it was time to hit the beach...
Sensory overload...music pumping...bodies crashing past, dancing wildly....fire twirlers and fire rings....neon body paint...and a very full moon...
we tried to stick together but we had a big group of 10 including all the swedes and with thousands of revelers moving around on a small beach in the dark it was hard to even keep up with one friend....a few of us stumbled down the beach, making friends along the way before finding a bar playing music we liked and dancing, dancing on the sand...heading back up the beach again we miraculously ran into our friends the swedes, now covered with body paint and dancing ecstatically under the stars...the party was everything I had been hoping for and I had the time of my life...
but today we paid the price for our excess as we joined the hoards of hungover travellers, still in their sand coated party clothes and their neon paint, being herded onto the ferry and back to wherever it was they came from...our destination was bangkok...away from paradise and back to city smog...we could not have been in more different worlds....
It was sad to leave koh phangan...we had a great time there and I believe I have fallen in love with thailand. I could quite happily exist for the rest of my life on pad thai, chang beer and banana, chocolate and coconut pancakes that cost 30 baht(60p). But there is still a week left in thailand and many more adventures are just around the corner...
Stay tuned. xx
Monday, February 9, 2009
just another day in paradise
what a busy and adventuresome couple of days it has been here in koh phangan....this island is relatively small and still fairly undeveloped as far as tourism goes though they are catching on and the days of 100 baht cabins on the beach are long gone. there is no airport and only a few roads....but there are an overwhelming number of beaches on which to chillax. the locals around here zip around on little scooters....so on saturday we figured 'when in rome' and got hold of a little vespa ourselves...skitting around the island we went first to haad rin, the venue for the full moon party (FMP) tomorrow night. this is definitely the commercialised, touristy part of the island and the beach was already swarming, the music already pumping...all pre 12pm and with the party still days away - it's going to be mad!
after a swim and a drink and a fair amount of people watching we moved on through the main town of thong sala - a rather depressing port town - and stopped for lunch on haad yao...with its swanky resorts this seems to be the domain of the richer, older tourist - mainly germans it seemed to me...moving swiftly on we ended up in mae haad where, when the tide is low, you can walk across to the teeny tiny island of koh ma. word on the street was that the place to be at sunset is 'amsterdam bar'...high in the hills near haad plailaem....a stoner's paradise definitely but the view of the sunset was to die for....
zooming back to our hotel via a thai bbq for dinner (where you cook your own food on a stove on your table) we encountered 'Arm' a very enthusiastic staff member at our resort who had promised us the day before that he would 'make on the beach' meaning, we figured out eventually, that he wanted to set up a table on the beach for us. we had forgotten, but he had not, and we walked down to find a candlelit table complete with carpets, flowers and a sign that read 'just for you...' so sweet! the least we could do was have a couple of beers for his efforts so we sat there contentedly, at our table on the beach, listening to the waves...
Yesterday was another day of exploration...joining a tour group we were promised a day discovering the island...first stop was an elephant sanctuary where we cuddled dumbo and fed him bananas....next we climbed a mountain....ok probably more like a hill....but it almost killed me just the same....it was jungle, no track, just stumbling over tree roots and trying not to fall down waterfalls - you know how it is....but it was worth the trauma - the view from the top was breathtaking
we recovered over lunch before checking out a chinese temple complete with budda, and a thai temple also complete with budda, but apparently a different budda....yeah- i didn't quite get that....finally we all jumped into a long boat and motored around the island to do some snorkelling amongst the stunning coral and pretty little fishes of the tropical reef before heading to bottle beach for a beer and some downtime chatting to our new friends - german, swedish, aussie and canadian - all here, of course, for the FMP.
today is a little more chilled. but tonight marks the warm up to the party....we are meeting with our friend Em and her travel buddies for lunch to plan our attack on haad rin tomorrow before heading back to amsterdam for another beautiful sunset....
stay tuned. xxx
after a swim and a drink and a fair amount of people watching we moved on through the main town of thong sala - a rather depressing port town - and stopped for lunch on haad yao...with its swanky resorts this seems to be the domain of the richer, older tourist - mainly germans it seemed to me...moving swiftly on we ended up in mae haad where, when the tide is low, you can walk across to the teeny tiny island of koh ma. word on the street was that the place to be at sunset is 'amsterdam bar'...high in the hills near haad plailaem....a stoner's paradise definitely but the view of the sunset was to die for....
zooming back to our hotel via a thai bbq for dinner (where you cook your own food on a stove on your table) we encountered 'Arm' a very enthusiastic staff member at our resort who had promised us the day before that he would 'make on the beach' meaning, we figured out eventually, that he wanted to set up a table on the beach for us. we had forgotten, but he had not, and we walked down to find a candlelit table complete with carpets, flowers and a sign that read 'just for you...' so sweet! the least we could do was have a couple of beers for his efforts so we sat there contentedly, at our table on the beach, listening to the waves...
Yesterday was another day of exploration...joining a tour group we were promised a day discovering the island...first stop was an elephant sanctuary where we cuddled dumbo and fed him bananas....next we climbed a mountain....ok probably more like a hill....but it almost killed me just the same....it was jungle, no track, just stumbling over tree roots and trying not to fall down waterfalls - you know how it is....but it was worth the trauma - the view from the top was breathtaking
we recovered over lunch before checking out a chinese temple complete with budda, and a thai temple also complete with budda, but apparently a different budda....yeah- i didn't quite get that....finally we all jumped into a long boat and motored around the island to do some snorkelling amongst the stunning coral and pretty little fishes of the tropical reef before heading to bottle beach for a beer and some downtime chatting to our new friends - german, swedish, aussie and canadian - all here, of course, for the FMP.
today is a little more chilled. but tonight marks the warm up to the party....we are meeting with our friend Em and her travel buddies for lunch to plan our attack on haad rin tomorrow before heading back to amsterdam for another beautiful sunset....
stay tuned. xxx
Friday, February 6, 2009
just a touch, a touch, of paradise...
allow me to describe the view i have as i type out this rambling entry to you...a hammock swings gently on the front porch of our tiny, thatched roof cabin under palm trees heavily laden with ripening coconuts...i can hear the tiny waves lapping on the shore and gentle, chilled out music from the speakers by the pool...if i manage, in time, to rouse myself from the crisp white sheets of the bed i will only have to step from our front step to the pool, i will pull one of the poolside chairs into the sun and read my novel...or write...10 steps more and my toes will be digging into white, glowing sand....deserted ban tai beach on the thai island of koh phangan...i would share the little thatched shelter on the sand with a cute white dog...presumably a stray but a friendly one nonetheless and hope he doesnt have a taste for cocktails...surely this is as close to a tropical paradise as one is ever likely to find in this day and age of beachfront highrises and commercialised coastlines....
we arrived early this morning after a 6am flight from bangkok - hell for poor matt who had met a thai speaking, nottingham born, indian guy in a bar near our hotel and had been shouted to one too many whiskeys last night (not too much sympathy from me i'm afraid!) ....but we made it with much less hassle than i thought we would....
i have just scoffed the best pad thai i have ever tasted and downed 2 beers...i'm full and relaxed in paradise....i am considering a swim....perhaps a nap....life is good and I wish we were staying here longer. the end of our time here will be given to hedonistic partying....the backpacker's ultimate party - the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin beach - about 15 minutes from here....even today the plane to samui and the ferry to koh phangan were filled to the brim with backpackers arriving for this mecca...many an aussie accent amongst the americans and europeans....many have obviously been on the road for a long time...tattered clothes and well used backpacks, messy dreadlocks...woven bracelets and charms bought in the asian cities where they have stayed for a day or two, perhaps even a month or two...they are the hippies of the noughties and we see them everywhere when we travel...but particularly here, following in the footsteps of the ones that paved the way in the 60s, 'finding' this island and trancing out for the first time under a full moon....then there were the fresh faces of the boys from sydney who chatted to me excitedly....they had only just arrived and will be heading back to sydney after the party...they have come all this way just for a few beers on a beach....but what a memorable few beers it will be....
until then, we shall enjoy a touch of paradise. Tomorrow we might rent scooters and dart round the island exploring....maybe hire a jetski or 2...or do a little snorkling....anything is possible in paradise...
xx
we arrived early this morning after a 6am flight from bangkok - hell for poor matt who had met a thai speaking, nottingham born, indian guy in a bar near our hotel and had been shouted to one too many whiskeys last night (not too much sympathy from me i'm afraid!) ....but we made it with much less hassle than i thought we would....
i have just scoffed the best pad thai i have ever tasted and downed 2 beers...i'm full and relaxed in paradise....i am considering a swim....perhaps a nap....life is good and I wish we were staying here longer. the end of our time here will be given to hedonistic partying....the backpacker's ultimate party - the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin beach - about 15 minutes from here....even today the plane to samui and the ferry to koh phangan were filled to the brim with backpackers arriving for this mecca...many an aussie accent amongst the americans and europeans....many have obviously been on the road for a long time...tattered clothes and well used backpacks, messy dreadlocks...woven bracelets and charms bought in the asian cities where they have stayed for a day or two, perhaps even a month or two...they are the hippies of the noughties and we see them everywhere when we travel...but particularly here, following in the footsteps of the ones that paved the way in the 60s, 'finding' this island and trancing out for the first time under a full moon....then there were the fresh faces of the boys from sydney who chatted to me excitedly....they had only just arrived and will be heading back to sydney after the party...they have come all this way just for a few beers on a beach....but what a memorable few beers it will be....
until then, we shall enjoy a touch of paradise. Tomorrow we might rent scooters and dart round the island exploring....maybe hire a jetski or 2...or do a little snorkling....anything is possible in paradise...
xx
Thursday, February 5, 2009
one night in bangkok makes a hard man humble....
we have stumbled into thailand today and, to be honest, i am quite glad to leave bali behind us....it has it's charms - friendly people and interesting scenery (when you get out of kuta town) but i found that i could not have taken too much more of kuta itself - the humidity, the rain, the hassle of the storekeepers...if we were to go back we would stay elsewhere...and if we were to go back it would be with plenty of money and an empty suitcase to stock up on D&G and Jimmy Choo handbags and quicksilver shorts....
I do try to be openminded about the places we visit and i am aware that i have travelled in western europe for many years - i know asia will be so very different and it is these differences that I am interested in discovering....but kuta (and i deliberately say kuta rather than bali...) just wasn't for me this time....
but now we are in thailand...in bangkok for less than 24hrs...apparently, according to the song, one night here makes a hard man humble....we'll see - it will definitely make us tired as we get up in the wee hours tomorrow and make our way to koh phangan....to white sandy beach and a little bungalow and a big, crazy, drunken party under a full moon...
stay tuned.... xxx
I do try to be openminded about the places we visit and i am aware that i have travelled in western europe for many years - i know asia will be so very different and it is these differences that I am interested in discovering....but kuta (and i deliberately say kuta rather than bali...) just wasn't for me this time....
but now we are in thailand...in bangkok for less than 24hrs...apparently, according to the song, one night here makes a hard man humble....we'll see - it will definitely make us tired as we get up in the wee hours tomorrow and make our way to koh phangan....to white sandy beach and a little bungalow and a big, crazy, drunken party under a full moon...
stay tuned.... xxx
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