Wandering around....

Blogiversary!

2011-11-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

7 years ago today, I arrived in Delhi for my first taste of Asia.
Here's my top photos from my travels, hope you enjoy!

CM Yogamala

2011-10-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Another weekend in Chiang Mai I decided escape the city and head to Yogamala. After a lot of waiting about, people got fed up and hired a red songthaew (there was supposed to be free transport). Quite a distance North of Chiang Mai, it was located at The Spa Resort. A very nice spot out besides some lush green rice paddies, with some great views back down the valley. A few stall were setup selling health & organic products, also the cathouse restaurant, which I had just eaten a monster salad at yesterday. Along with practioners of various new agey mediation type stuff. I watched a bit of yoga when I found out where the salas were. Everybody else seem to know what they were doing bringing their own yoga mats. I was just being nosy!

There was a few walking trails further up from the salas (which have amazing views!), I walked along through the shaded banana plantations, popping out on a dirt road. But this was out in the afternoon sun, and it was HOT! I peaked over the hills and saw the path stretch down and off in to the green mountains, and decided that I couldn’t be bother going down there as I would have to come back up the hill, and I didn’t have any water. Also it didn’t look the path would have many shops! Retracing my steps, I briefly chatted with some locals. (“Hey you! Where you going?! Hot? Yes very hot!”) Back down to the restaurant for a long cool drink.

There was a panel discussion on sustainable living, but it wasn’t really much of a discussion as everybody agreed “good idea”. One woman was from Cafe Compassion (which I later visited for a tasty lunch. It has an interesting veggy menu), another guy had helped push forward a interesting process, where consumers in the city purchase a subscription of organic vegetable to be delivered weekly for the duration of the farming season from the producers. That way the farmers know they can sell their vegs, and the consumer cuts out the middle man. It's known as Community Supported Agriculture

After that there was an good traditional band taecompai. After working in Bangkok the main guy had returned to Chiang Mai (Pai) to work on building up his own farm using traditional methods. He talked about how when in Thailand you buy the seeds and pesticide as one package. And how people told him was practicing permaculture and he’d never heard of it! Also the music was pretty good!
After all that healthy talk I headed back into Chiang Mai to chow down on a Big Mac :)

Flooding in Chiang Mai

2011-10-04T03:20:00.000-07:00

So some very heavy rain north of Chiang Mai led to the Ping river to burst it's banks.
Still people didn't seem to bothered as you can see in these photos

Just a mere puddle, no match for the motorbike
The Games must go on

I went back to the night bazaar road yesterday and you wouldn't even know it had been flooded.
Maybe people were more prepared/better warned, then when the last big flood back in 2005.

Hua Hin Jazz Festival 2011

2011-09-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

Oh a whim I decided to take a trip down south to Hua Hin and take in the Hua Hin Jazz Festival. It was over the weekend, so I could nip up and down and be back in time for my language class on Tuesday. I booked an AirAsia flight down to Bangkok and then took the new rail link into the city. One hop down the skytrain, and I was back in Victory Monument (near where I stayed the first time I was ever in Bangkok, waaay back in 2005!). From here minivan hurtle down to Hua Hin every 30 minutes or so, but I had just missed one. Anyway it takes a few hours to head south, and to get out of the Bangkok traffic jam.

On arrival I had booked into a little guesthouse, I thought it wise to book ahead due to the festival. I think I beat the evening rush from Bangkok getting there mid-afternoon, before the masses from Bangkok descend. I hunted down the guesthouse and took a room. Interesting place, Kings Home, not one for minimalism. Decor and bits and pieces everywhere! In my small room I had a pigeon, duck, two 8 foot rugs, a couple of hat-racks, a sun/moon mirror holder, and numerous other bits and pieces. Not very quiet when a motorbike roars past though.

At the festival site itself entrance was free! Always a good thing. It was situated down on the beach on a stretch near the Hilton. It was very chilled out, people just sitting on the beach and enjoying the music. You could purchase a sheet of plastic, from an enterprising local who had secured some old adverts to sit on if you didn't want a sandy bum. There was a few seats over at the side, but it was for the smoking section. The 1st band was good, a large orchestra type band with maybe ten people. A few other bands were a bit hit and miss some straying into Milk Tray territory.

The second day followed and more of the same, some student band who had wangled a spot on the bill, a singer-songwriter, Kina Grannis, from America, and then a consummate jazz band, Infinity, with finger popping bassist. After the acoustic guitar it was a lot louder and I moved back away from the front. Quite different atmosphere from Reading festival! You could sit in a spot and a girl would come round selling beer, didn't have to get off your butt at all! Except for food, had to move over to the side and I got something that I was entirely sure what it was. Something like dried & shredded pork(?) with a thinly sliced green papaya, and maybe fish sauce.

Some other artist, Ford & Friends came on to close the festival, they sounded vaguely familiar, I think I recognized a few of the songs, probably from adverts. I decided to spend another day after the festival in Hua Hin, I went for a nosy about and headed into some of the back streets, managing a loop. However it absolutely chucked it down and I got completely soaked! I tried drying out in the sun, but it never really reappeared. Oh well, soggily I returned to the guesthouse, and the next day I reversed the travel, zooming back to Bangkok in the minivan, and then off the airport and a flight back to Chiang Mai. An interesting little adventure, and cheaper than the ticket price for Glastonbury!
On the beach

Back in BKK

2011-08-18T03:20:00.000-07:00

After a long flight, followed by a long wait, followed by a long flight, I arrived in Bangkok after my flight from Glasgow via Dubai. I stayed in the backpacker enclave of Khao San Road for a few days.

Arriving at the hotel after 21.00, I realised I shouldn’t of told then that my flight arrived at 19:00, but rather add a couple of hours on that. Still they had a room! Wasn’t that hungry, so maybe just a few snacks, mmm, fruit vendor right outside, so some 10baht watermelon, and then some grilled corn brushed with butter and sprinkled with salt, and roti gluay for desert, followed by a quick beer Chang and people watching on Khao San. Then back for some much needed sleep.
I revisited a couple of favourite spots. Off to dinner for a tasty grilled red snapper at the busy grilled seafood restaurant on Rambuttri (Popiang House). Then a spot of blues at Adhere the 13th, the kind of intimate venue where the bass player has to turn sideways to let you get to the bar!

Walking past Krua Nopparat on Phra Sumen Road, a spot I had previously eaten, it had changed completely. Looked like it had been in one of those TV restaurant makeover programs! It use to be an old fashioned crusty place, now transformed into somewhere hip and trendy. Still, it looked busy enough. A few other signs of changes, as boutique hotels are sprouting up in what used to be a staunchly backpacker area.
I headed to Rannotskin to visit the grandeur of the Grand Palace again. Seem to a be a lot of troops there that I didn’t remember last time. Wearing a busby in the 30C heat and humidity, that’ll be fun.

I hunted down the oddly named restaurant Choechittr,. Set not far from the Grand Palace, it an old part of town dominated by shophouses. Probably not a whole lot separating it from other restaurants in the area, but it had been garnering rave review. A small hole-in-the-wall place with about 4 tables. I order the mee grop, sweet crispy noodles.

In the rainy season here now, Some proper tropical thunderstorms, you don’t want to get caught in. Getting adept at running from the hotel to the skywalk and through the malls to get from A to B. Still didn’t get round to buying that Lamborghini in Paragon.

Another night I popped into Saxophone, near Victory Monument, not far from where I’ve stayed before in Bangkok. Large band playing with five horns, song of the night was the jazzed up version of Spiderman!

I also visited a couple of museums, into the nearby BACC. Which houses some modern art, winding up a spiral walkway through the galleries.

Also I went to the new Musuem Siam, which after some talking, badly in Thai, with the ticket folk decided to let me in for student price (50baht), instead of the regular foreigner price (300baht).

Reasonably interesting it traced the history of Thailand, from the first settlement on the Chao Praya riverbanks, to the creation of Ayuthya, at the trisection of rivers, and the watery trade empire of its canals, through the wars with the (now Burmese) city states, and the eventual downfall of the empire. Then onto the foundation of Bangkok, and foreign influence on Thailand. Even had a retro American diner.

Then it was off to Chiang Mai, just zip along the express train to Suvarnabhumi airport in 15 minutes from Phaya Thai, no traffic jams!

Beach hopping in Koh Pha Ngan

2009-09-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Handily enough for me, the area of Bangkok I was staying in has a lots of small minivans which scoot off to different areas of Thailand. So from Victory Monument I was able to get a minivan to Hua Hin. It filled up in just 5-10 minutes and we were off… into the Bangkok traffic jams. After clearing a short distance, we turned off into a toll road and things picked up speed as the van hurtled south. A few hours later we stopped briefly at Chaam, before continuing on. Here the landscape is dotted with highrise condo blocks every couple of hundred metres down the beachfront to Hua Hin and beyond.

As I had left most of my stuff in Bangkok it was easy just to walk around with a small bag and check out rooms, eventually after asking a guesthouse for a room, they gave me a small Thai style apartment room in a ten room building. Across the road from old style wooden houses with fish drying on sticks. However also lots of building work on this small lane, more concrete condos popping up, I suspect the wooden houses will soon be disappearing.

That night I headed down to the nearby seafront restaurants, picking one I headed out to the edge of the wooden deck, where you could see some ships all lit up, presumably cruise ships, as well as the booming bright lights of the squid ships. I went for the seabass which has encrusted in salted and barbequed, it was delicious! After that I had a look around town and found some live music in an Irish bar. A few people were engrossed in watching the cricket for some reason, maybe it wasn’t a draw.

The next day I scoured around for some brekky and located a place selling bacon baguettes! However the bread was very chewy and I had a sore jaw at the end. A long walk along the beach eventually I popped back on to the road and into the mall. I was looking to pick up some new headphones, as mine were dead. I think I had another pair in my bag in Bangkok so I wanted a cheap pair to use for a week, however most of the headphones in the mall cost more than my MP3 player. Later I had a nosy around a large 7/11 and found some headphones, in fact the cheapest ones came with a radio. I headed over to Doi Tung where I had a tasty passion fruit slushy, but drank it a bit quick and got the dreaded brain freeze. Stay very still!

The previous day I had picked up a ticket to Koh Pah Ngan, so it was an early start, get the bus at the clock tower in Hua Hin, and then down to near Chumpon and a boat across to the island. This all takes a while and about 9 hours later I landed at Tong Sala on Koh Pah Ngan, after being stuck in a seat all day I was keen to stretch my legs and so started walking, I didn’t have an accommodation planned, so I thought I would likely see something that took my fancy. After a while not much jumping out, I eventually ended up walking all the way to Haad Rin on the other side of the island! Up and down some big hills, too. I grabbed a room and got some food, but the walk had tired me out. Had a look about, not full moon time, but still very quiet only a couple of souls in the Corner place, a few years ago when I was here it was packed, still no doubt in a couple of weeks when the full moon party swings into town things will be jumping again.

I ended up flagging down a songtaew back to Tong Sala for a 100 baht, and then another 100 baht songtaew took me up to Haad Yaaw (Long Beach). This is a decent beach, not too developed (yet!). The middle section has yet to have a resort on it, and you can see that nobody cleans that section, with a lot of driftwood, coconuts etc, unlike out the front of the other guesthouses/resorts. I read my book and drink banana lassis :) There is a bit of nightlife here with some music at night but not crazy like Haad Rin.

Next I walked north over to the next beach, Ao Mae Haad. I find a small bungalow on stilts close to the beach. A small island, Koh Ma, is connected to the mainland by an isthmus of sand, at high tide it becomes an island (just) with shallow waves coming in from both sides. Lots of construction going on here, with new bungalow sprouting up, and smoky rubbish being burnt, and buzzsaws sounding. Still down on the beach I got a massage on a platform and the only sound was the lapping of the waves, yep life if hard.

My next stop was a stroll over to Chaloklum, a long crescent of sand with a small Thai village and some fishing boats. I find a room at Rose Villa, where a Thamasat-based researcher is checking out the rooms, he was off next to Iceland, I suspect he may be in for a shock with the temperatures! I went out for a stroll and ended up at the Malibu resort, here they had beautiful sand with a few coconut trees for shade, very nice maybe I should have stayed here! I had a refreshing lemonade and then a paddle along the edge back into town, where the beach isn’t quite so nice, especially as you start approaching all the fishing ships. At night time I headed out for some grub selecting a restaurant called Aunjui. A beachside balcony seat allowed me to peer down and see the crabs running around at night, skirting the water’s edge. For something different I opted for tuna, however I forgot it was a lot meatier than something like snapper and struggled to eat it, as I had a whole fish. Strangely enough a lot of the time fish can be bought cheaper in Bangkok, maybe that is just the restaurateurs adding a huge markup!

A steep walk East brought me to my next stop, Haad Chom (Coral Bay). I got a bungalow right at the end of the beach, where I could hear the waves splash at night (well if my fan wasn’t cranked up full, I would have heard them :) Still a nice sea breeze, and a very comfy hammock for reading my book. I wanted to do some snorkeling here, and so grabbed a life jacket, snorkel and mask and headed into the blue yonder. The active corals are quite far out, maybe 50-100m. The water can be shallow depending on the tides, but all the coral here seemed dead, until you move out. Then the good stuff begins! I went out a couple of times, very nice fish and corals to be seen. Decent visibility but I wasn’t that keen on going out much further, I like to stick close to shore! I slowly made my way back to shore the second time, seemed hard going sometime you’re not sure if you’re moving much, kinda hard work. (Probably would be easier if I could swim instead of just splashing my legs and arm around and hoping for the best, of course!) After all that hard work I retreated to my hammock to listen to some music, and slap some aftersun on the back of my neck.

At dusk I went for a walk up the hill, beautiful mountainous green forest inland, looks like the kinda place where King Kong would live. A huge looking bird of prey with a white underside and a black top, lazily glided over the thermals, even from a distance it looked the kind of thing to keep the local stray dog population under control! Apparently there is a path to my next destination, but I don’t even see the start of it. Would be a tough hike, I decided to take the boat! A couple of French woman confirmed my decision they had been staying here for a week, and had tried to find the path with no success and they too opted for the boat.

After waiting for an hour for the tide to rise enough for the boat to be able to leave, the longtail sputtered along delivering us to Haad Kuat (Bottle Beach), a fairly small but very nice crescent of fine white sand backed by forest, possibly the nicest beach on Koh Pah Ngan. I found a tidy little garden bungalow, a little set back from the beach. Unfortunately a nearby river is stagnant and a bit smelly. Nosing around I spotted a house up top, maybe 200m above sea level, a lot of stairs anyway. Up there say a guy tapping away on his laptop, above a glorious view. Said he was a divemaster been out here for six months, the building was his friends house whom he was renting it from. Great views, but not sure about that climb, everytime you need something!

Back at the bungalow I decided to have a shave. The sink had a plug, but the metal into which said plug is inserted isn’t firmly attached to the sink, so not much use! Power here goes off between 16:30-19:00, maybe to give the generators a rest. I have a red snapper for dinner, quite busy with people watching a movie. Chatting with some of the staff, one is from Isaan (North-East Thailand), kinda far away from there, seems a bit crazy, the kinda of person that doesn’t realize that they are dancing, not walking :)

The next day I continue on I thought I was getting a taxi boat, but it turned out to be a 4x4. There is a red dirt road linking Haad Kuat with the rest of the island, and my next port of call, Tong Nai Pan, which has two beaches, Yay (Big) and Noi (Small). For no particular reason I opted for Tong Nai Pan Yay. This is like a cove, very little in the way of waves, like Lake Placid! Not much in the way of a village, just a handle of small shops, restaurants and a couple of bars back from the beach. The beach is fairly long, when you walk from end to end. I realised I could juggle sand, by scrunching up a ball, draining the water and leaving them in the sun for a couple of minutes, instant juggling balls! The only downside is that sometime they disintegrate mid-air :)

I decided to walk over to the other beach Tong Nai Pan Noi, but grab some lunch first. A sandwich shop had caught my eye on the way in. Walking in the German owner was lounging around listening to Reggae. Had been here ten years, I had a large baguette, and a browse through his English book selection. I picked up “The Insult” after about ten minutes of reading I decided I had indeed read if before.

Continuing up the steep hill, then down into TNPN. The road in has some advertisement for restaurants, things are a more upmarket here. Signs for wine bars and tapas. A bit different from the usual backpacker haunts. I had dinner here in a very swish restaurant with a big open kitchen, after sitting down at a beachside table, then they whipped the other tables away and everybody else went inside, still I had a nice view! I was going to go for a fish dish, but the waiter informed me that was a starter, when I though it was a main. I changed to a Thai duck dish. Pretty tasty it was too, not so spicy. Nice setting, but pretty pricy compared to my usual fare, over 10 quid for dinner (outrageous! :)

There was some sort of party at another restaurant where they were going to have some fire dancing, but I still had to navigate the path back to the other beach, so I gave it a skip. Luckily enough the half moon, had enough light to guide my back, except for when a motorbike shines their light in your face, I could see okay.

The day after it was back to Tong Sala in a bumpy songtaew ride along the dirt roads. I arrived fairly early, I was undecided whether to spend a night here, or head over to Chumpon. Eventually I went for the boat, and spending the night in Chumphon to break up the ride a bit. Turns out the pier in Chumpon, is more like 30 minutes outside Chumpon. Still I arrived in town, and spotted a new looking hotel out the bus window as we rolled into town. I head over but it was fully booked out by a business group, who were yet to arrive, all the keys laid on the desk. Still the had another room in the older wing that was okay. I had been through here years ago on my bike, but couldn’t really remember it. Again I would be leaving in the morning.

The next morning I woke early and headed to the train station to check out the times of the trains going North. I really should have done this the night before as I just missed one, and there basically wasn’t any more for the next 6 hours. I asked the hotel reception is I could get a minivan to Hua Hin, the said try this road, so I went there but didn’t see much, asking a local he wasn’t sure. I continued looking, then the local guy turned up again with his motorbike and dropped my back at a guesthouse (about 50m away from where I originally stayed) They had a bus in an hour going to Hua Hin. The guesthouse people got me a ticket and a “free” taxi to the bus stop (free in that I paid 100baht more for my ticket than the other people at the bus station!)

Anyway the bus rolled up and we chundered along the highway, stopped in various little places. After 3-4 hours I had to get off to change bus at Pranburi (turns out it wasn’t a direct bus, something the ticket seller neglected to mention). After twenty minutes a minibus started off to Hua Hin and we plodded along for another 30 minutes or so. Anyway I arrived and set of for the same room that was full but got another place. I again opted for the seabass as it was so tasty! The next day another minivan whizzed me back to Victory Monument where I picked up my bag and stayed a night, before flying into Vientiane in Laos to pick up a new Thai visa.

More Java and Sumatra

2009-06-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Next was Yogyakarta or Jogja. A short train ride from Solo, just one hour. I found a hotel and went out for a nosy. Walking took me to Jogjatronic, the wonderfully named electronics mall. After a spot of browsing in air-con goodness, I decided to stroll back.
The next day it was off to the Kraton, a walled village in the city. People here get to live for free, my becak driver informed me, but they can’t sell their houses. Guidebook says 25,000 people live inside the compound. Outside there was a bird market, with some bird food, such as maggots, ants and beasties squirming around in trays, ready to be served up to hungry feathered diners.

One night I decided to take in some culture and headed to the open-air Ramayana performance. The bus took us to the Prambanan temples, which is the backdrop for the theatre. A sheet of paper in English tells about the story, you can follow along here

Borobudur

One of the big attractions in Java is Borobudur, an ancient Buddhist temple built around 800AD. A very early morning bus from Jogja meant arriving there at 06:00. I was still expecting throngs of tourists, as it is Indonesia’s most popular tourist attraction, but it was surprisingly peaceful, well, in the beginning. Built on a hill, with the early morning mist sitting in the valley and surrounded by several active volcanoes, the Borobudur setting is spectacular. The stupa is huge, sitting on a 118m by 118m base. There is a north, south, east and west staircase leading up to the top, where the top stupa resides, amongst three circular levels, below which again are six square levels. The recommended route, is to walk clockwise around each level, progressing up one when a circuit is completed, a total walk of 5km. On the walls as you walk round are sculpted panels depicting Javanese life over a 1000 years ago, as well as images of Buddhist doctrine. Over 500 Buddha statues are also carved out of some of the 2 million estimated stones which make up the temple. At the top you get questioned by more students eager to practice their English for class, here easy prey is found due to the amount of tourists coming in on buses!

Jakarta

Onto Jakarta the capital of Indonesia, a massive city with a population around 8.5m.
I got reception to call me a taxi to take me to the train station as the guys hanging about outside were pedal-powered. 10 minutes, apparently, but nobody turning up. She said not to worry as the trains were usually late anyway! Reception phoned again, eventually the taxi turned up, by now time was short. He headed down the road, but it was blocked by the market, after a slow five (yes five) point turn, we were on the way, he charge along with the horn blasting. Then had to stop at the lights and get overtaken by all the motorbikes again. Arriving at the train station, I sprint (well lumbered as burdened by backpack) into the station. I jumped on the train, the last person to board, and the train left inside 30 seconds. Perfect timing :) After seven or eight hours the train lumbered into town. I was staying in the central Menteng area. This area seems to be home to some big houses, on surprisingly quiet side streets. Almost all the houses have large fences, or walls, topped with barbed wire or broken glass and a bored looking security guard outside. A shortish walk brings me to the oh-so-fancy Plaza Indonesia, where all the hi-so types hang out and do their brand-name shopping. I decided to take in some music, and went off to check out BBs, a small blues venue. After lots of wandering around, I finally gave in and asked for directions! Then I was pointed round the corner. The band wasn’t bad, except for a random karoker joining in who couldn’t sing. Another night I had a look in the Hard Rock Shop Café. Their definition off hard rock seems different to mine. The band were playing this

I left Jakarta for a few days heading to the slighter cooler climate of Bogor, about an hour away on the train. It’s a busy market town outside the train station, I walked out and down a street, took a couple of rights turns, along some more to find my hotel, turns out I could of just walk out the back of the train station, as I ended up 2 minutes from where I started. In the centre of Bogor is a large botanical garden, so I went for stroll around there. At the top of a small hill, overlooking the gardens, is a nice café for bite to eat. I had a fried banana with chocolate and cheese (complete with a red glace cherry on top).
Chocolate and cheese is quite popular in Indonesia!

Sumatra

As my flight to Medan was out of Jakarta I had to return back there for the hop across the water to Sumatra. This would be my fifth island visited in Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok & Gili Air) Only another 17503 islands left!
Once I found somewhere to stay, the first thing that struck me was the unusual minibus in Padang, it’s like Xzibit heaven, all the rides are painted bright colors and covered in stickers, with really low trims. Such as this

More here

I was staying not far from the coast, but not much of a beach in the city, rather brown with a lot of branches and junk on the sand. I went for a look at nearby museum and ended up with a guided tour as a student wanted to practice their English again. I headed for some Texas Fried Chicken for a quick dinner. I wanted to head for Bukittinggi, about 900m above sea level. I ended up getting a Kijang (Indonesian for deer, but actually a popular large car/people carrier) from the guesthouse. The driver zipped off to pick up some more passengers (and some medicine) to transport to Bukittinggi. The ride wasn’t bad, I was up the front, so plenty of space and only a few hours to get there, an unusual event for Sumatra as I would find out.
In Bukittinggi I headed to a masakan padang restaurant.

Beef rendang was very tasty, not sure about some of the other stuff!

I left my main bag at the hotel and went traveling light, after seeing some pictures and paintings in the museum I wanted to head to the Harau Valley to see the natural scenery. This was easier said than done. I got a bus from Bukittinggi to Payakumbuh and then jumped on the back of a motorbike taxi to the Echo Guesthouse, another guest took 5 local buses to get here! The problem with buses here is the only leave when full.

I got a basic room here, and went for a walk around, being dwarfed by the cliffs on either side. Very nice scenery, but not a whole lot to do. I went to the waterfall, but no recent rain meant no waterfall. That night we had a bonfire and some roasted corn.
I also wanted to visit Maninjau lake, which meant backtracking through Bukittinggi. With a German tourist I endeavored to get back. This meant a walk down to the village, then some waiting for a motorbike taxi, this had a sidecar which allowed a view while traveling instead of the back of the drivers head. This took us to the bus station, where the bus sat empty, a very bad sign. A long wait was inevitable; a local English teacher was sat in the bus station having tea, so we talked to him for a bit, and Ricky, who instantly pointed out his green eyes, which makes him very unusual for Indonesia.

After an hour or so the bus turned on the engine, which usually means only another hour or so to go! Eventually we rumbled off, only to stop after about 500m, now we wait on the main road, instead of at the bus station, for reasons we can only imagine. After another hour or so, with a slow dribble of passengers, they decide it is enough and we are on our way. After a total of about 6 hours I arrive back in Bukittinggi, with a distance travelled of around 45km! I would have been quicker on a bicycle.
Anyway I get some good luck and after only ten minutes the bus to Maninjau departs. I was shocked! A windy drive was the order of the day. The final descent is down through 44 hairpin bends, so you better get used to being thrown from side to side on a bus.

Down at lake level, I get off the bus as I’m told this in Maninjau, but have no idea where I actually am, I pick a direction and walk, aha, a guesthouse. I have a nice view of the lake out my window. But not doing much for the rest of the day, I have a bit to eat and an early night. The next morning I go for a walk west to the next village, but I left my hat and suntan lotion in my main bag, and get cooked in the strong sun. I find a small museum, but it doesn’t mean much it’s all in Indonesian. I hop on a motorbike taxi to take me back the 7km or so I walked. The driver gets me back in record time!

Small fish farms dot the edges of the lake, when I have a look in the other direction; I came across another English teacher, who talks better English than me. Turns out he used to work in Jakarta for 15 or years, before moving back to his village here. I have a drink and a chat with him. At another point, I see people pulling bags up from the lake filled with the fish, these will be off to markets all around Sumatra. Strangely enough there aren’t many lakeside restaurants but I do find one, with a little extended decking out on to the lake, making it a very nice spot for a meal and a drink.

Back to Bukittinggi, another bus, another twisty trip, this time we have a puker on board. Not just a little bit either, a full-on Exorcist event. Anyway I get back to Bukittinggi where I get all my stuff together, laundry washed etc. Now comes the fun bit, a 14 hour trip to Lake Toba, yay!

Around 4pm I left for the bus terminal in an angkot. This would weave its way through town before getting to the terminal. Meanwhile on board, a couple of locals thought the foreigner was strange and amusing so whipped out their cameraphone to snap a picture of me.

When I arrived at the bus station around 4:30 the bus was nowhere to be seen. A couple of touts latched on, trying to sell me tickets. I told them I had a reservation, for ALS (the bus company the hotel had made the reservation with) and he said I had to go to the office to get the bus. At this point you don’t know who to believe but as the bus was nowhere in sight, I hopped on his motorbike and off we went to the office. Seemed to be okay as the bus was there and I had ten minutes to spare. Or so I thought, of course the bus didn’t even come close to leaving at the scheduled departing time of five o’clock.

The usual thing in Indonesia is to try and get you on the bus and sit you down, and then you have to sit on the hot bus and be patient. Sometime the driver will come and turn on the engine and leave it running, a sign that you probably have another hour to wait!
Another Medan bound bus was at the terminal I had a peek inside and it was much better than my “executive” class bus, it was “super-executive” with 3 big reclining seats and even looked clean and new! But it was going past my stop of Parapat, it was heading North first.

My bus was full of bags of goods, wrapped in hesian sacks lying down the centre aisle. And some big bags crammed up the back making it impossible to get into the toilet, real handy on a 14 hour ride. I went to complain to the ticket man, he told me they would be taken off at a stop in a couple of hours time. Hmm, I was thinking he also told me the bus would leave an hour ago!

Eventually we got moving and hit the twisty road of Bukittinggi, like a series of connecting u-bends. These roads definitely weren’t built by the Romans. Things straighten out into just s-bends. And after a few hours, sure enough the big bags blocking the toilet were to be removed. Except nobody seemed to know how they got them on the bus in the first place, so lots of pulling and shoving, and squeezing and grunting got the heavy bags out in a timely half-hour or so. Then we shot off 1 mile and ended up outside the hospital, I asked somebody what was going on? “Accident”. Not quite sure, anyway we say there for another hour or so, before the busboy who was helping with the big bags, came out with his foot in a splint, I think he broke his toe by the looks on things.

We were off again, I was grateful for my new purchase of headphones, which plug your ears like, well, earplugs. This way I can listen to my own choice of music, and try and doze. Around midnight we stopped at a restaurant for some supper, not that many people seemed to be eating, but another hour stop, doesn’t really take that long to have a drink, but never mind. The rain had come on now, and it was pouring down. Slowly the bus filled up again, and off again. Past a precariously angled truck which had cut the corner too tight, and the tyre had slipped into the mud. Trundling on through the night, through the darkness (There are no street lights) Parts of the road are just mud and dirt, but mostly tarmac. Try and sleep, but head lolls off to the side as you go round incessant corners. I almost dozed off, but wake up and my head bounces off the chair.

Dawn slowly comes, not before the kid across from me puked up, but then the outside brightens up. We are still rolling along, now we stop for breakfast. Not feeling hungry, so just a cup of tea. Teh Manis is popular, comes out boiling hot, so just pour it into the supplied saucer and let it cool, then slurp it up. Except we stop here for almost two hours so not much rush. The spare wheel is added to a suspect looking gauged and baldy back tyre. Instead of replacing it, the just push one on beside it. And we’re off again, this time I spot a sign saying Batak, the people of Lake Toba. Can’t be far right? Wrong! The man behind points out Lake Toba, well so he says but it is still another couple of hour before I finally arrive at Parapat, the only person to get off. I disembark to the lonely Parapat bus station, look around, wait for the tumbleweed to roll out the way. Then somebody comes along asking if I want to go to the ferry, but I’m done with travel for today, I just want to get to a hotel and lie down. I get an angkot and end up in the nice Hotel Asari, aaah I finally made it. Tomorrow I can catch a ferry across to Tuk-tuk in Samosir, the large island that sits in Lake Toba.

Lake Toba itself was formed after a super volcano exploded 25 million years ago, a cataclysmic event which nearly wiped the humans off the face of the planet. It would make Krakatoa explosion seems like a pop tart. Off the ferry I found a room a short walk from the ferry. The small village of Tuk-tuk is set up for tourists, full of guesthouse and restaurants and shops, except nowadays there is hardly any backpackers in Sumutra, compared to the heydays of the 70s when it was firmly on the backpacker trail.

The guesthouse had some nice areas, ideal for lazing around and reading a book, while taking in the views. Actually kinda looks like Scotland, strangely enough! A short trip to a neighbouring guesthouse for a bit of variety and a spot of dinner. These were some really tasty chips, not French Fries, but proper chips! I made a mental note to return for some more. But tonight there was some entertainment at the guesthouse, some Batak music and dance would be performed. First the dancing, which was… underwhelming. It mostly involved clasping your hands together and waving them up and down, and then… well that was about it. Then came the second dance which involved the dancers clasping their hands together and waving them up and down. The handful of tourists watching were somewhat bemused. A third dance followed which had a bit of variety and by the fourth they had dragged up some spectators to join in.

After that the real action began, some Batak singing. Imagine a Mexican marriachi band with a Swiss yodeller and you have the beginning of a Batak band. Sprinkly liberally with some hearty shouts of “HORAS!” and it’s complete. Then came the drinking song, and the guy that looked like an Indonesian Freddy Mercury was hamming it up, staggering around drunk, lurching from table to table, clinking glasses.
Here is an example of Batak Singing

The next day I just had a walk through Tuk-tuk to the other side of town, very quiet here. Still I found somewhere for a bacon sandwich (according to some “Batak” means pig-eater!). Back near my guesthouse, there was a small dilapidated 4 hole crazy golf course, so I easily conquered that (in 50 odd shots). Another day I set off the next village over, an hour or so walk away. More of the stranged curved roof shops and houses, said to resemble buffalo horns, the roof slope off to points at each corner, looks needlessly hard to make, but still they most be able to cut the metal to fit otherwise it couldn’t be done!
When I arrived at the village, turned out to be a popular stop for a ferry cruise to stop and do a bit of shopping, so lots of Asian tourists cruising through the market, the boat soon left and it went back to being empty. After refuelling with some Pocari Sweat I strolled back home, for some dinner.

Time is running short and I need to be in Medan for my flight to Kuala Lumpur, so I had to set on an another long journey, a morning ferry ride back to Parapat, and then 4 or 5 hours on the bus to Medan, and a ride in a sidecar to the hotel. Anyway I arrived in Medan, just had one full day to nose around here. Seemed to quite a lot of old Colonial building but most of them had seem better days. The new building were the near omnipresent megamall, aaah air-con. Medan has year round humidity rate in the high nineties. The last day it was up and out early as my 08:45 flight had been moved forward to 08:00.

Everything went smoothly, and I arrived in KL, getting past the Swine Flu detectors (actually just heat dectors, checking for fevers) and immigration, then downtown where I tried to find the hotel I stayed in a few years ago, when I was last in KL. I remembered getting off the monorail at Imbi, so I repeated that. Then after a short walk realised I made the same mistake last time, should of stayed on till the Bukit Bintang stop, not that far a walk, but a bit harder in the sun with the pack. I was looking for the hotel but I came across another close to the same spot so just planted myself in there instead. After a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur nosing around some old spots, getting lost in the massive Times Square mall, watching Terminator Salvation and eating Secret Recipe blueberry cheesecake, I decided to leave the 35C heat and head for the somewhat cooler climate of the Cameron Highlands.

East Java

2009-05-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

After a couple of days in Kuta I headed north to Lovina, a bit quiter here, but just a short stay as I’m heading to Java. I got a minibus which alternately chundered and thundered down the road west. Crawling through the villages, stopping at clusters of people to see if they want a ride (wouldn’t it be easier if they flagged down the bus, as opposed to the other way about?) A quick stop for the drive to pray at a roadside shrine, making me somewhat wary of the road ahead, but it was fine. I got to the ferry terminal and onboard smoothly enough, after a short wait we were off. It’s only a small distance from Bali to Java, and should have been a quick ride, but there didn’t see to be anywhere for the ferry to dock, so we sat offshore waiting for a space to open up for half an hour. Once that was done, I was back on dry land and heading for the train station. Walking along the road, I was speared as a sudden gust of wind blow a roadside stall awning into my path as I was watching for traffic, so I walked straight into it, with the pole stabbing me in the chest, not much damage done though and I’m sure it gave the locals a good laugh. The train station is only a couple of hundred metres away from the ferry terminal, but with my full backpack in the midday sun, it seemed further. Anyway I safely secured a ticket for tomorrow heading to the oddly named Probolinggo. I decided to bed down for the night in Banyuwangi, the nearby town. Flagging down a bemo, I was on the way to Hotel Baru. The driver insisted on jabbering away even though I didn’t understand him. Sometimes in English, lots of numbers and times, “6 o’clock 5 thousand. 9 o’clock 7 thousand, no 10!”. Anyway I got to the hotel and dumped my stuff and headed across the road for a spot of lunch. It took all of one meal to get “Java Belly”.

The next day it was off on the train, I had booked a ticket in “Eksekutif” class, which meant air-con, which was acutally kinda chilly in shorts and t-shirt. 5 hours later I was at Probolinggo, and as I couldn’t be bothered with another 2 hour bus journey to my destination, Bromo, I decided to stay here for a night. I found a new hotel in the centre and went for a nosy about. As this isn’t a tourist town (most people bypass it from the outlying bus or train stations straight to Bromo), the locals aren’t used to hairy foreigners (I need a shave) walking around. Just walking down the street evokes shouts of “Hello Misterrrr!”

As it is a crowded 2 hour minibus ride up, up and up to Bromo, I decided to leave my main bag at the hotel and come back the next day, as an added bonus this meant I could get my laundry done as well. After separating everything out, I almost forgot to bring my (wonderfully repaired) camera. With everything set I headed off to the bus station. Here I was greeted by some guy pratically dragging me to the minibus to Bromo. Never quite sure whether to trust these guys or not. I decided to head back into the station, despite their protestations, and find out some more info. Seems they were right, although a few tour companies have a shuttle bus, the public bus was were the guy had pointed me. However the public bus only leaves when full, after an hour of waiting things were slowly filling up until…. another bus came along and took most of the passengers, but it wasn’t even going to Bromo! So back where we started waiting for people to fill up the bus. I got talking to a couple of locals, and they chatted with the driver. If I paid 60,000rp (3 times the price) we could go now, seemed like a good idea, as I felt I might still be waiting here tomorrow. Once I agreed, people crawled out the woodwork and jumped on the bus also. After some steep climbing and some roads where you don’t look down we arrived at Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, where you need to buy an entrance ticket. Price in Lonely Planet 4,000rp - actual price 25,000rp. Then I head to Lava View Lodge, price in Lonely Planet 150,000rp - actual price 350,000rp. (Tomorrow it increased to 400,000rp for high season) Ouch! But it was only one night and it had a great view over the landscape, so I just stayed there anyway. Seems my guide book prices may be a bit dated, published Jan 2007.

The hotel is situated right on the edge of the huge old crater wall, which is 10km across. Inside the caldera you can see down to the Sand Sea which is a wide expanse of, well, sand. A few kilometres away are the geologically new Gunung(mountain) Batok and Gunung Bromo, which spews out sulphuric steam and smoke. The plan was to get up early and climb up to the edge of Bromo for sunrise. I set my alarm for 4:30, but I was awake by 3:30 anyway when some jeeps arrived at the hotel to take away some other guests. I stubbornly refused to get up until my alarm went off, by which time most other people had gone. I jumped out of bed and sprinted out the door (well sleepily stumbled anyway). The torch had fresh batteries in it, and I was off down the steep dark road into the Sand Sea. A guy with a horse, kept along beside me, hoping I would change my mind and ride his horse. Down at the bottom and there was enough ambient light to see the volcanoes, but the torch is useful for seeing where you feet were going and for following the white markers. About half way across the sand sea, there was about enough light to see where I was going and I could dispense with the torch. I shook off the man with the horse with a sprint through the sand!

Turning left, I walked past the Hindu temple stationed at the bottom of Batok and then onto Bromo itself. Here the climbing started, and by this time I had peeled off a layer to just my t-shirt, while the locals were swaddled in layers of cloth. Steady progress was made with a few rest to catch my breath. Not sure how much difference there is in oxygen around 2000m above sea-level, or if it’s just unfitness! Daylight was here, but the sun hadn’t broken over the mountains, as I reached the bottom of the stairs. Up the 250 steps, and I had made it to the edge of the Bromo crater. Here I chatted with some other visitors, a large group of Indonesians and a Malaysian couple. I bought some flowers to chuck into the crater, in the past live sacrifices where thrown in. Looking down you can see the smoke rising up out a hole, surrounded by fissures, but no actual bubbling lava. Theoritically you could climb down into the crater, as evidenced by some writing in pebbles, but that didn’t seem a good idea at all, I figured the barrier was there for a reason! After taking in the sight, it was off back down the volcano, across the sand sea, back up the outer caldera wall and back to the hotel. The time 06:30. I went back to bed for an hour, before breakfast. After talking with the hotel clerk, it seemed there was a shuttle bus leaving at 09:00, seemed a good idea to get on that as I had booked a train ticket for the afternoon. I secured the last seat. Or at least that’s what I got told. We drove to a different hotel, and I got asked to leave the bus, somebody else had the seat and the bus was ful. A different bus would come along shortly to pick me up (yeah right, heard that before!) but sure enough another bus didn’t turn up, but not before another 3 people got crammed on my old bus. Rumbling down the mountains, we headed back into Probolinggo bus station. Only then did I realised that the other people on the minibus had a through ticket to Denpasar, seems like a horribly long journey to me, I was glad to get off after a few hours cramped into the small seats, and I don’t exactly have long legs.

A bemo took me back to the hotel, it was Saturday and it was full of boisterious school children and a boisterous driver. It was only 11:00 when I arrived back at Hotel Paramita. My laundry was done and my bag was still there, contents intact! I now had to hang about till be train at 14:00. Anyway eventually I was on my way to Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city with a population of 2.6 million. Arriving at Gubeng train station, I opted for a becak to take me to a nearby hotel, a bicycle driven with the passenger on a seat at the front, 10,000rp. Probably would have been cheaper in a metered taxi! Unfortunately the hotel was full so I had to go elsewhere, this time it was in a metered taxi.

The next day I set off into the old city, heading for the “Red Bridge”, here there was fierce fighting during Indonesia battle for independence. In fact, it was here in Surabaya that Indonesia battle for independence began. Apparently it is known as the “City Of Heroes”. Certainly seems to be lots of statues dotted around the city. Back across the bridge, marks the start of Chinatown. A busy area, filled with becaks and some of the biggest rats I have ever seen in my life! There was a dead one at the side of the road, look like a guinea pig.

I decided to have a splurge and spend a night at the fabulous Majapahit Hotel. This old colonial style hotel was built way back in 1910, so almost a century old. Upon checkin I was escorted to my room. Here they even had some fruit and chocolates laid out. The furnishings are very elegant, solid dark wood, gilded taps etc. A bit different from my usual residences. Even had somebody come in to turn the bed for the evening. Although when he asked, my brain didn’t click into gear and I was wondering what he was talking about! Set back from all the traffic, with green landscaped gardens it seems like a different world from outside, but within 24 hours I was back on the buses.

Off to Malang. When I arrived in Malang, it was raining but not much of a problem as I jumped in a taxi to a hotel. It continued to rain in the afternoons here, and I missed most morning as I was staying up watching the Champions League semi-finals which were being broadcast on local TV. I went for a walk in the alun-alun, which is a criss-cross of paths through a park. Some local students stopped and practised their English with me (complete with videotaping). So they are probably still trying to decipher my Scottish accent.

Oz & Beyond

2009-05-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

Sydney

I arrived in Sydney a day ahead of my parents, giving me a chance to scope out the surrounding environment of the Vibe hotel. We were situated just on the edge of things, about a half-hour walk down to Darling Harbour and about 15 minutes south of the looming observation tower. Orientation in Sydney seemed easier than in Melbourne.

The next day I met up with the parents in the hotel, with my mum looking out the 7th floor window onto the busy Sydney streets and spotting me. We headed off for a spot of brekky at the nearby two good eggs café. Our first day was a quick nosy round the regenerated Darling harbour, past the ships, anchors, lighthouse and to the welcome wall. This wall list the original arrivals and has thousands of names, out of these thousands my Mum spotted “MCLENNAN Alexander and family”.

In the afternoon we jumped on a bus to the world famous Bondi beach, pleasant enough, certainly busy enough. Folks thought it would be longer, but it’s a crowded little crescent of sand, the nearest beach to Sydney and of course very popular. A stroll to the headland gave a nice elevated view back over the bay. I didn’t see any sharks.

Next day it was back down to Darling Harbour and with perfect timing we hopped onto a public ferry to shuttle us off to Circular Quay in Sydney Harbour. The Sydney waterways are busy and look surprisingly clean! The ferry chugs along underneath the massive Sydney Harbour Bridge, anchored at either end by two massive stone buttresses. At the top tiny little toy people look back down at you. Continuing on you past some fancy, and likely very expensive harbourside housing, and on past a small marinas where there is a lot of money floating on the water in the form of yachts. Then past Luna Park, kinda like an Aussie version of Coney Island. Finally before docking there is the little matter of one of the most iconic buildings in the world, the Sydney Opera House.

Now, at The Rocks, the historic side of Sydney is here, or was here. There wasn’t a whole heap to see anymore, except for the old waterside bonded warehouses, now fancy restaurants. A closer look at Opera House beckoned, when walking around it you can get a better idea of the actual three dimensional shape, as opposed to a single jaggy building if often looks like. After nosing about there and taking photos, a walk in the park was next, we skirted the edge of the park, past the wedding (nice backdrop) and on through Hyde park and past a large cathedral, eventually arriving back at the hotel a little worse for wear.

Another day in Sydney, another beach. This time a half-hour ferry ride brought us to Manly ferry terminal. A short walk through the tourist-tat shops got us to the beach, the weather being a bit overcast, didn’t make it look sparkling, but after a long paddle down to the end the sun glimpsed out and, of course, it looks nicer in the bright sun. Bigger, but quieter than Bondi, it felt more laid back. After stocking up on some Ozzie pub grub (which is invariably higher than UK pub grub!) We tackled a walk up the hill and past a grand old renovated house/castle which was now yuppie flats. Oh yeah and there was a big black and yellow spider lurking in the hedges, ready to embroil any unsuspecting tourists. That night, we headed back down to the Sydney Harbour to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge all lit up, except that they weren’t. Okay there was some subtle lighting, but they must keep the fancy lights for special occasions.

Another day, and it was time for a bit of culture, so to the museum. We found it there was a tour, but our guide was likely to be mistaken for an exhibit so we had a look round at our own pace. Lots of stuffed animals, and some big dinosaurs, and some small scary velociraptors! Also this:

Wading with worms

Feeling the sand move under your feet in the surf is a wonderful feeling … but are you sure that the movement is just sand?

In beaches all over south-eastern Australia live Giant Beach Worms. These worms wriggle beneath the surface of the sand and can grow to two metres long.

Bait collectors take advantage of the worms’ feeding habits, pulling the worms out when they poke their heads up to feed.

Later we went to the Sydney Wildlife Centre, a sprawling animal complex near the waterfront. Full of creepy crawlies and a surprisingly fast tortoise. Loads of stick-insects in a tank, at first you see one or two then realise they are everywhere! A few snakes, lizards, skinks, and two headed weird reptiles. (One end is a fake head). Upstairs you pop out into the “outback” where the ‘roos roam free(ish) and the wombats amble underground. In another section a giant cassowary bird plods around looking to be fed.
Another section features koalas, aaaw! Then upstairs the butterflies flutter everywhere. Just next door to the Wildlife Centre is the Sydney Aquarium, another huge building. They have all the usual suspects of underwater colour, as well as some big tanks with tunnels, in here is frumpy looking lettuce-munchers, the dugongs, as well as lazy old turtle.

Byron Bay

Next stop is the airport and north to Ballina, where we pick up a rental car and return South for an hour to the old-style charm of Byron Bay, except it rains. Rains for 2 days.
In the lighter rain we have a look around, seems like a laidback little place, we find a nice restaurant for dinner. Seems to be one of these place people come for a few days and end up living here. Outside out apartment a Kookabury bird looks for scraps. Before we leave we head down to the beach and it looks slightly wild, now the rain has eased, but still the grey waves froth and pound just offshore.

Noosa

Now for a long drive up the coast to Noosa, the drive is fine, until we reach the centre. Here we are ambushed by roundabouts. Somewhere something went wrong and we are lost we ask a policeman for directions who draws a laughably complicated map of roundabouts, we get lost again, but eventually find the right road. However there is no number, just a hotel name. At the end of the road we find our place. A very nice resort style apartment with lagoons (swimming pools are old hat). Even I’m tempted in for a paddle. A trip to the nearby marina ensures some dinner at the second choice, the first restaurant has shut its kitchen for an early night.

Next day we have outrun the rain (for now) and it’s all clear blue sky. The next day we drive over to Noosa Heads and finally find a parking space. The place is full of surfers, we choose a more sedate stroll up a hill with great views back over the coast. Back in town we find a small bay, Sandy Cove, with shallow sparkling clear water and smooth sand. The glistening waterways and the bright sun, the blue skies combine to make Noosa look like postcard material.

Fraser Island

After getting on North to Hervey Bay we had a smooth passage over to Fraser Island on a catamaran. Here we stayed at the elegant Kingfisher Bay eco-resort. Cleverly shielded in the forest, it is barely visible from the jetty, made of lots of dark wood, and connecting walkways to the rooms. Fraser Island is the world’s largest sandbar island; basically it is made from sand not rock. The first night we watched the sunset and have a nice meal. My Dad opted for the Emu, Ostrich & Kangaroo combo meal deal, so I had a taste also. The rain has arrived at night time in Fraser Island, dumping around 50mm overnight.

Next day and it was off on a tour of the island. A strange beast of a bus ground its way up a small track, four wheel drive is a necessity here. The tour guide called this part the rollercoaster. Plenty of bobbing about, but once we got over that bit the rain had filled in many of the potholes, smoothing out the road. We headed off to a viewpoint where we could see a large sand dune, looking like desert as it blowed its way across the island, gradually moving from one side of the island to the other. On one side the sand is brown and full of nutrients, and metals which the plants and the wildlife extract, and then when it reaches the other side it has been stripped of all elements and is just silica, but this ‘empty’ sand has the pure white colour. After that we raced along 75 mile beach, the beach double as a highway, and has the usual road rules. Except that there might be some tourist standing in the middle of the road building a sandcastle, or perhaps a light aircraft will land on the road as it doubles as an airstrip. Along this beach, we stopped at the wreck of an old liner. Another stop was at the sandstone cliffs, were many different colours of sands can be seen stacked together, apparently. Better looking form afar as close up it looks just like rock! Zipping back along the road, a dingo was spotted, so everybody rushed out with their cameras, and the dingo turned her back and walked off. In the afternoon, we had a short trek through the jungle, spotted a few lizards, and looking at the natural sights, such as the colourful tree roots and an oddly fork-shaped tree. Back out the other side we hopped back on the bus and were transported to Lake McKenzie, a large freshwater lake. Here the rainfilled lake was crystal clear. Back for a biccy and a cup of tea, a monitor lizard lazily climbs a tree in search of eggs. Long way up to go if there is no food there!
Brisbane

After some twisty roads we arrived at our hotel, up a very steep street, almost underneath the big bridge. We headed down to the ferry terminal and over to South Bank, a sprawling civic space with gardens, museums, cafes and even an artificial beach. A few hours are spent nosing round the attractions, with the occasional stops for refreshments. Later that night we headed back down to the riverside for a drink at one of the restaurants beside the harbour, a short but steep walk from the hotel.

Cairns

Arriving at Cairns we got a short taxi ride to our apartment on the Esplanade, except the Esplanade is very long and we were at the very quiet end. After a long walk into town we finally discovered some life. A cluster of restaurants and bars, time from some fish and chips! After dinner we organized to go on the Quicksilver boat to the Great Barrier Reef. Here we were shipped off to the outer reefs onto a large pontoon. Then you could jump in semi-submersibles and take a tour round the reef (Good for those of us who can’t swim!) We had some good luck, seeing a stingray, a turtle and a shark as well as the expected underwater world of corals and teeming marine life. Back on dry land we went to a nice restaurant down the other end of the Esplanade, I had a delicious giant steak! Mmm

Darwin

Darwin still appears to be a little like a frontier town, or a small city. Certainly the smallest place we visited in Oz. We were only here for a couple of days, but they were Easter Friday, a national holiday and Saturday. So a fairly quiet time in Darwin, except for the noisy hotel. The hotel certainly wasn’t as nice here as the others, but survivable for a couple of nights. We headed into the park and a look round the quiet harbour, before heading into the central streets, and the pedestrianised strip. We head off on a long sweaty walk to the wharf for some lunch, only to find out that most of the fish in the cafes is imported, not locally caught. After an average lunch, we have to brave the heat and the sun to walk back to the centre for a look round the shops. That night we head off to Hanuman restaurant for another tasty dinner. On the Saturday a late flight out to Bali meant a lot of hanging around during the day, waiting until it is time to go to the airport.

Legian

Arriving late at night in Bali we zipped through immigration, picked up our bags quickly and avoiding being stopped in customs. We were met at the exit by the hotel and smoothly off into the chaotic Bali traffic, around 20 minutes later we were at the hotel in Legian. Having a couple of rooms booked, one quiet one noisy. The noisy room was beside the road, the next day I swapped for one away from the road, only to be beside a music pub.

The first day was a walk down the beach from Legian to Kuta. The beach is 5 minutes from the hotel but that 5 minutes involves walking past the sunglass sellers, massagers, watchmen, restauranteurs, motorbike drivers and of course navigating through the traffic. Once on the beach, walk left! A paddle along besides the crashing waves was as close as I would get to swimming. Not really a swimming beach, but popular with surfers, many coming over from Australia. Sunbeds are common with pasty foreigners sprawled out, maybe sipping on a coconut or more likely the local beer, Bintang.

One of the strange things about Bali is that you can turn a corner or nip into a restaurant and it feels like a different planet as the traffic noise dies away replaced by hypnotic background music, concrete replaced by gardens and heat cooled by chilled fruit juice.
A few stops like this are definitely called for when walking about. Then down the narrow lanes of Kuta were shops line the streets while cars, motorbikes and pedestrians jostle for space.

At night time we headed for the Indo-National restaraunt not far from the hotel. Strangely enough I had eaten here on my previous visit to Bali. I had a buterflied snapper and a taste of Dad’s lobster thermidore.

The next day we turned right heading along Legian street into Seminyak, with clusters of shops selling everything and anything. Turning right we headed down a dead end, but at least we saw a squirrel! Back up, we turned down Double Six street onto the beach again, but not before stopping off for a drink at a some quiet bungalows with a French owner. Maybe here I was attacked by ants, but somehow I seemed to be covering in red, itchy insect bites on my legs. (The mozzies went for the arms!)

Ubud

A quiet little hotel overlooking rice paddies was out accommodation in Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali. Although the hotel is quiet, the centre is still a busy little hub of broken pavements and motorbikes. A walk along the perilous pavements brought us to the Monkey Forest, where we bought a few bananas for our monkey overlords. Inside the shaded walkways lie monkey gorged on bananas, okay not all of them just the ones at the start of the route! Further in monkey clamber around in groups, mostly quite quiet until a fight breaks out and then everybody legs out to one end of the forest, little baby monkeys hanging grimly onto their mothers as they move en masse away from the danger.
Back outside a short steep walk away lies a nice café for a welcome long, cool drink.

Here we took in a Legong dance, we features some strange monsters, such as the mystical Barong playing in the forest, until a pesky monkey comes and irritates him. This is accompanied by local musicians bashing away on instruments such as the gamelan, kinda like a xylophonic drum system.

Another night we head off to a temple on the other side of town, tonights attraction here is a Kecak performance. The temple is wonderfully atmospheric with burning torches lighting the path to the temple grounds where the performance will take place, although not quite inside the temple itself presumably, as there are old ladies selling beer to the tourists.
Soon the Kecak begins and lots and lots of Balinese men begin chanting. Quite an audio experience as the rhythm and tempo varies. One human metronome chants “bub” throughout, while a lead Kecak-er really gets into it, working up a sweat, as he chants and sways. It’s one of these things that is just completely different and intriguing to watch.
Later a man comes out in a trance, riding a broom like a horse, he then kicks flaming coconuts around, this is where it’s dangerous to be in the front row of the audience!
Later he is wrestled to the ground and taken out the trance, and left looking exhausted. Hard to tell how much is real and how much is drama, but his feet did look very black!
We get a taxi back to Siam Sally a new Thai restaurant closeby our hotel for a late dinner.

Sanur

On the East side of Bali lies Sanur, original Bali holiday destination. Things here today are a bit quieter than the busy West side, which is home to Kuta, Legian, Seminyak etc. The beach is rather odd, as the waves break far out on a reef, a long way offshore. So don’t expect to hear much lapping of the waves. Our hotel was the Tamu Kami hotel, a nice older style hotel, where the owners would dine in their own restaurant, and wander round stick flowers in peoples ears. Slightly Fawlty Towers, but nice!
One night we go for a long walk down the beachfront looking for a good restaurant but didn’t see much, so heading back along the main road we came across a French restaurant, with an odd name like “ng nc” and entered in there. I had a delicious steak with roquefort sauce, very tasty!

On the farm

2009-03-20T16:56:00.001-07:00

After my job at Allianz had finished I had a few weeks to sort myself out before the lease expired. In typical fashion I left things to the last minute :) Then the day before I managed to arrange a place working on a farm through helpx.net. The deal is you work around four hours a day in exchange for room and board. This suits me as I have only 3 weeks before I have to be in Sydney. The farm is called Giddy Up GeeGees and is situated a 30 minute train-ride north east of Melbourne. The stop is called Diggers Rest, named because in ye olden days it was a common pit stop for gold miners traveling between Bendigo and Melbourne. It is also famous for the first powered flight to ever take place in Australia near the turn of the 20th century. The pilot, a fellow going by the name of Harry Houdini.

When I first arrived at the farm there were a lot a people here, a bit less now. The owner is Lena and has a six year old son named Cayd. As you might have guessed from the name, Giddy Up GeesGees, it is a horse farm. (Those who didn’t, go back to class). Lena teaches riding lessons for a variety of people. There are around 30 horses on the property which is spread over 40 acres. Charlotte, Sarah, Barky were helping out at the farm. Michelle is a full-time worker here. There’s also five dogs, Moby, a big rottweiler, Max, a collie, Pillow & Sheets a pair of Yorkshire terriers and Milo a bug-eyed Chihuahua. As well as three cats, Patch, Madeline and Puss-puss, oh and a few dozen chickens! Strangely enough they mostly all get along fine, except when Milo’s tail increases to 200rpm it means she’s going to try and lick the cats’ faces, which the cats are less than impressed with and dish out a flailing paw when patience wears thin.

The work at first mainly consisted of giving Barky a hand, or a pair of hands I guess. I was mostly holding onto stuff, which he was cutting up with a grinder. Fortunately I still have all my fingers. One day it was really hot and so we all done some housework such as scrub the fly poo off the ceiling. My other jobs were spraying weed killer, a small plant grows called Padinsons Curse, which is toxic to horses, the toxin builds in their livers, so that had to be eliminated. The spraying machine has a handle to pressurize the contained, unfortunately it broke off the first time it was used. I tried to bodge it back together but it still required some awkwardness to operate. Think of pushing your left hand from your armpit down to your waist, then repeat… for days! Anyway that finished up and it was on to painting the stables. The first thing was to dust down the panels and gates. Then smooth them down a bit before painting them. But things are very dusty, so sometime you just have to paint the dirt! After a while I got the second coat and things were looking good, certainly a lot brighter than before, but how long stables remains white I wouldn’t like to guess!

At the weekend I did a couple of trips up to Bendigo, which used to be a major gold mine. I did a tour of the mine where you go down about 60m underground. This was level 2 of 17. The 17th Level is over 400m down. Down in the lift we went, to don our hard hats and lights. Then through the corridors, the guide told us about how operates and fired up some of the machines such as the very noisy drill. Actually a lot less claustrophobic than I imagined, but the initial diggers wouldn’t of had it so spacious. On the surface there are some trays set up to pan from gold, but all I found was mud and rocks.

Back above ground I went to the Chinese Museum, as word of the discovery of gold spread, immigrants flooded into Bendigo and Ballarat, while Melbourne reaped the economic benefits. As a result of this influx many Chinese arrived from Canton, as the local economy had been badly damaged by the British during the Opium Wars. Some arriving as indentured workers. Other sending money back to their families and returned. Of course, others stay and some married Australian or European woman and settled. The result was a fairly large Chinese population, resulting in a Chinese temple and bridge being built in Bendigo. The museum itself houses Loong, the oldest imperial dragon in the world, also he’s huge winding his way around the perimeter of the museum. During festivals he would be woken from his sleep by lots of noise, such as Chinese firecrackers. (I was in Melbourne during Chinese New Year and the firecrackers ARE loud!)
Then dance through the streets supported by fifty people (and fifty relief dancers).

Also in Bendigo there is some pleasant park and an old style conservatory. Through the city runs the creek, from which the output from the mine is still output, so you might find some specks of gold, but it also outputs all the rocks and mercury which is used to chemically attract the gold. Up one of the streets is the art gallery which is quite nice. Nearby is a lookout tower for great views over the city.

Another weekend I head off to explore Malmsbury. Exiting the train I walked along the platform only to find out you can’t get off, have to cross back across the tracks. The train station has an old heritage-listed building, but it’s all boarded up (maybe awaiting restoration). So I went down the road a bit and past a boarded up hotel, bit of a ghost town feel. I saw a sign for the reservoir and headed off over there, a large aqueduct and lots of channels (around 500km) carries the water onto Bendigo.

Didn’t seem too much in Malmsbury so I headed back to the train station, but I couldn’t even find a timetable. There was a sign up about changed timetables next week, it also had a phone number, so I had to phone them up (and be on hold for ages) to find out the next train didn’t leave for 90 minutes. I decided to go for another stroll, turning the other way I spotted around 10 parked cars, what is this?! I headed down to investigate further, turns out this is actually the main bit of Malmsbury around ten shops and cafes, including the famous Malmsbury Bakery where I had a tasty steak and bacon pie for lunch. The other shops are art gallery and bric-a-brac-a-knick-knack shops. Some nice painting there actually but I didn’t have any walls to hang them on! Oh yes, also a large carved wooden wombat, and a botanical garden with a few ducks, although according to some local not as many in years gone by.

Another day I headed over to the Melbourne Zoo on the north edge of the city, a quick car ride with Lena & Cayd. A big park as we were there for a almost 3 hours and I didn’t see it all. Didn’t see any ligers. A large aviary was the last thing I visited, there I spotted some Ibis, which I recognised because they like to visit the farm!

G'Day!

2008-06-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

After an unventful 9 hour plane ride (uneventful is the best type of plane ride) I reached Melbourne, hopping on the bus, it whizzed into town. I had contrived to lose the booking/directions to the hostel somewhere between the airport and the central bus town. I did however manage to pick up a leaflet for the same place. After getting oriented upon exit I found the place okay.

Back in a dorm room again, 8 creaky bunk beds to the one room. I had two maps of Melbourne, the main city is situated on a grid running roughly North-East. One map had rotated the roads off to face East, while the other used North, somewhat confusing. Just close by the hostel is a park where the possums frolic after dusk. First time I just caught a glimpse I thought it was a giant-cat sized squirrel.

Just round the corner is the Queen Victoria Market, a bit of everything here, most of it junk, kinda like the barrows, but a bit more organised into a grid. Cafes all over the place, the ubiquitous breakfast here is a bacon and egg roll, very healthy :) Seem to be big on being outside, pretty much all cafes/restaurants have outside areas. Maybe this is just for the smokers, seem to be a lot of people smoking here, but maybe that's just because there is a lot of office blocks in the centre and it's more visible with people huddled in doorways.

I've been wandering around the streets trying to get a feel for Melbourne, seems like a nice place. Lots of parks and greenery. The central business district (CBD) in the centre is bound in by Parliament on the North, a park on the East, and the river to the South. Lots of stadiums for the sports mad Aussies. Two big ones in the city, Telstra Dome and the MCG, then a few other dotted around the fringes. Still not quite sure what Aussie Football Rules is all about, but here football is AFL and football is soccer.

There are a few subdistricts such as Port Melbourne, South Yarra and St. Kilda which all make up Melbourne, these are a bit further out from the city and can reach them by tram or bus. Haven't used them much mostly been walking everywhere as you see more. I walked out to St. Kilda have a look at the beach, but being winter doesn't look too inviting! One man and his dog was the only other people there, it's only a small stretch of beach, with a view back to the skyscrapers of the city. Again lots of cafes, and loads of cake shops stacked high with goodies. Then there is Luna Park an old rollercoaster. None of your corkscrews and whirls on this, it was built in 1923 and made of wood.

Back in the city, I went down to the relatively new Federation Square. A collection of various odd shaped buildings, one of which is the ACMI. I went in there tAo see Game On. A history of computer games, through the ages. You can play some old classics. I spent a while playing R-Type and Monkey Island!

Another day I headed over to the Melbourne Museum, I was there for a couple of hours, before they closed, didn't get to see everything though. Some of the aboriginal exhibitions were interesting, about the government taking the kids away to make them civilised. Crazy to think that their civilization is 30,000 years old, kinda puts Western history in a different perspective with a timescale like that!

Anyway not much happening on the job front at the moment, but I'll keep looking and see what I can find. Think I'm spending as much on food as anything else at this point. At least the portion are bigs, and I got a free muffin today from a cafe, because they forget about my egg & bacon foccacia.

Sitting in an internet cafe on Smith Street in Fitzroy typing this up, only $1 for wifi here but it is a fair walk from where I'm staying. Nearby is the busy Brunswick Street full of more cafes and bar, another separate district from the city centre. At least I've managed to avoid being attacked by dropbears

2008-03-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

After an hour delay we were winging our way up to Chiang Mai. Bags arrived quickly and jumped in a taxi. Checked in to the room only 20 mins after touching down.

On Saturday we visited Wulai road for the market. Strolling along encountered some Thais with colourful pointed hats, possibly something to do with the elections. The side effect for tourists at the election is the banning of alcohol for a few days. In the market everything from honey in a beer bottle to a buffalo skull is up for sale. After the market it was a walk down to the Airport Plaza for some Japanese food at Fuji restaurant, great colourful presented food and very popular with the locals.

The next day, again I was stuffing my face at the lunch buffet at Grand View hotel. All you can eat for 2 quid! That night it was back to the Sunday market, a different venue similar but larger than the previous market. Stopped off at a restaurant in the middle for some waterfall pork, a spicy little number. Mum and Dad both had the roasted chicken hacked into chunks. Traipsing around you can only see so much, but you have a good excuse at the end for a foot massage.

On Monday I had to get a new passport as my current one is full, so off to the consulate with a wallet full of cash, only to be informed a) they don't take cash and b) my photos are no good. So back the next morning to rectify that, while the parents had a look around the flower market and the Chinese temple. Also nearby is Warorot market aka Kaat Luang, which has a bit of everything for sale, in a large dimly lit interior. After all that, it was time to relax in one of Chiang Mai's cafe, such as the Siam Celadon Tea House, for a refreshing cool watermelon shake.

Wat Montien was another stop, but first opposite we entered another Wat. This one had a new silver outside, also it was decorated outside with some rather cartoony animal sculptures, one of which, a dog, somebody had slipped on a pair of sandals. As we were leaving a pair of guardian statues were being craned into places, as a couple of workers used long sticks to push the pesky power cables out of the way.

We sprinted across the road to Wat Montien, a golden Lanna style temple. The monk seem to be staring at me, then he spoke. He was from Laos and had noticed my "Sabai Dii" t-shirt I had picked up in Luang Prabang. He told us the temple held the only Lanna Buddha in Chiang Mai city, but here they couldn't ordain monks until something similar to cannonballs were placed in the correct auspicious locations.

Walking south, we visited a few more wats, before arrive at Wat Phra Singh. A large golden Buddha resides inside the peaceful hall. At this time though a small group of schoolgirls were chanting/singing inside. Now weren't far from Huen Phen a popular local restaurant. Here we had the Khao Soy, a mild (by Thai standards!) chicken curry soup served up with pickled cabbage, onions, cripsy fried noodles and soft egg noodles. Sounds strange, but a tasty dish. Back round the corner we entered Wat Chedi Luang, with a large 60m pagoda, surrounded by stone elephants. Even got a big fat red buddha in the temple grounds. We found the same small shop from a few years ago, still selling their wares. Another skin carving was purchased.

That night it was off to the rather trendy, but strangely named Mo'c Mo'l (Short for Monkey Club Moon Lover, obviously). Entering into a restaurant set round a pond with fountains and lily leaves. The portions were a bit on the small side here, but it left space for some banana fritters, although these turned out to be more like bread-crumbed and battered!

Next day was a hot walk along to Wat Jet Yod, an older style temple. A newish addition however had a beautifully jewel encrusted Buddha as the centrepiece. Around the ground older chedis contain the ashes of past Kings, but nowadays provide shade for stray dogs. A quick coffee and we continued on out way. This time we decided to head out to a plant market, but by chance came across another market nearby. The perfect place to browse for specific amulets, as evidenced by Thai collectors sporting eyepieces. An intriguing place, with rows upon rows of vendors selling their trinkets. Leaving there a local fish shop was spotted and we were dragged in there to have a look round!

Finally we made it to the intended plant market, where some seeds for Thai veg were bought, wonder if they will grow in the snow? :)
A fair collection of gaudy sculptures are on sale here, which would enhance any garden, but round the corner some plants and piles of orchids. Surprisingly big place, how many different plants can you sell. The answer seems to be LOTS.

Next day we visited Wat Suan Dok, which has a huge empty hall and back to back budhhas, outside the whitewashed chedis bliding in the midday sun. A short walk brings us to the Art Museum not much on at this point, a few strange modern art exhibits but mostly empty. A small cafe in the corner of the grounds provides a welcome refreshment drink. I opted for makhiang juice, whatever that is.

Heading up the hard-to-pronounce Nimmanhaemin road, we stopped of for some lunch at Kopitiam another cafe, serving Asian food. I had the Malaysian Nasi Lemak while Dad had some spicy seafood salad, in which he insisted that the pasta was some sort of unidentified pasta-shaped seafood. After lunch back for a read of the book, then later than night down to the Ping river for a more eating! The Riverside restaurant is a popular dining spot with a huge menu with some unusual items. This is place to be to sample "Fried chinless cabbage with chinless mushroom" or if your feeling really brave why not try the "veget arsine fried rice"

On the Saturday I met up with Barry who I went trekking with in Nepal, we headed off to the women's prison in the city where we got a massage from a couple of the soon-to-be released inmates! After a haircut, we met up with my folks for a look round the Saturday market on Wualai road. Similar to the Sunday not quite as busy though. After some browing and shopping, we headed back to Hillside 4 and to the large, very large restaurant next door. A massive football-pitched size Moo Kata style place. We sat a table number 342 or something! It's certainly a dining experience with troughs of raw meat and people running around with buckets of hot coals, while a curious Thai comedy troupe entertain on stage. Also purple donuts!

Sunday, it was off to The Pub for fry-up brunch. Then a trip to the nicely air-conditioned shopping mall. A lazy Sunday. Next day it was back to the markets, this time Kaat Muang or City Market. A large busy market selling cheap vegetables and assorted other unknowns :) Buy a carrier bag full of tomatoes for 25 baht. Or maybe some pig trotters, or a kilo of chillis, or some pla ra
if you've got a strong stomach. Then is back to Warorot Market to pick up some tea for posting home, along with some incense sticks. Of course that meant going past the material shop which gave Mum a chance to buy lots more stuff.

On the Friday we headed to Airport Plaza where Dad and I went to watch 10,000 BC while Mum went round the shopping mall. Then an iced coffee at Doi Chaang Coffe. Back sitting on the balcony when Dad spotted a fire, one of the billboards had burst into flames and now belching out black smoke. A fire engine came along and sorted it out, but by that time the fire had probably burnt itself out anyway.

That night a very nice meal at the fancy new Nimman Bar and Grill. Mmmm, a tasty steak with soup for started and ice-cream desert. Staff were over-eager though whipping away one dish and replacing the next instantly! Very nice setting in the new hotel in Chiang Mai.

The nexy day Dad and I hired a songtaew and headed up to Mae Sa Elephant Camp we missed the show (I caught when I went again with Neil, it was good, they rocked out playing the harmonica!) but Dad got his hat placed on his head by an elephant and we were lucky to come at the right time as a new baby elephant had just been born, only 5 days old. Looked a bit wobbly on it's legs, hiding in between mummy's legs most of the time. On the way back we quickly popped into the Orchid farm. Loads of different orchids very colourful.

The next day my parents headed back to Scotland and the day after Neil arrived, so back to doing the tour guide all over again!

The Big Mango

2008-03-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

I flew down from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and met my parents coming in from Glasgow. After a short wait we managed to meet up and get a taxi to the hotel in the midst of Bangkok spaghetti junction. Situated between roads, flyover, tolls and trains.

The first night we headed out for a stroll around the hotel, lurking underneath a bridge stood the dark mass of an elephant. In Thailand they are sometimes taken round pubs where patrons can purchase bananas to feed them. Headed along Petchburi road we stopped at a restaurant having some Thai food server up by an...erm flamboyant waiter.

With only 2 full days in Bangkok it was full speed ahead. Flagging down a taxi, the first stop had to be the Royal Palace. We headed inside to be confronted by the splendid grandeur of the temples. Very exotic and glitzy! Next, it was over to Wat Pho to see the giant lying Buddha, which barely fits inside the building. Round the back we dropped some 25 satang coins into the bowls, we all ran out of coins before the end of bowls.

Back outside we waited for a boat back into town, having to wait a while for the next free boat as the first boat was crammed full with people. After arriving back Taksin Bridge a nicely timed Sky Train arrived to take it back to Central Bangkok. On the skywalk we walked past the Erawan shrine, where a few dancers did a short performance. Continuing along the walk we headed out the heat into the air-con comfort of Central World. Up 6 or 7 levels, we found a Japanese restaurant for a late lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent browsing around the huge shopping mall. A quick taxi ride took us over to backpacker central, Khao San road. Strolling down the road for a nosy, we ventured onwards to Soi Rambuttri and found a busy seafood restaurant where Dad ate more fish, Red Snapper, I opted for a tasty Chicken Matasaman curry while Mum had a spice Red Chicken Curry. All washed down with some Chang Beer, a very busy first day in Bangkok.

Next day we headed to the Marble Temple, a beautiful temple made from (yep you guessed it) marble. And a lot of gilding. The outer courtyard holding different Buddha statues from near and far.

Then a walk through the leafy Dusit area, past the European styled Ananta Samakorn Throne Hall, and eventually round to Vimanek Mansion. However as this was Makha Bucha day the mansion was closed. Not to worry another taxi ride brought us to Jim Thompsons House, where we had the guided tour round the house and gardens. And just enough time for Mum to do some shopping. Crossing over the road we headed into MBK and up to Fifth Avenue for lunch.

Diving through the maze of interconnected walkways and shopping malls we arrived at Siam Paragon. Here Dad and I went and watch Jumper on the IMAX while mum continued shopping.
Later after some navigational difficulties we made it down to the basement. Located here is Ocean World. Heading in we walked past many large tanks, the main one 6m deep. We even took a glass bottomed boat to ride on the giant fishtank (definitely weird being in a boat, inside the basement of a shopping mall!) Saw some sharks and stingray and wonderful fish, all the water and glass really clean. Enough watching fish, now for some eating. We walked over to a seafood restaurant where I tried the sea bass.

Islands

2007-12-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

Heading south, I went down to Trang, a place that I had visited before when I cycled through it. Jogging the memory, I remembered the clock tower and night market, but not where I stayed. Still got a cheap room in a cavernous old building. They were a few different boats going to the islands, so I choose a random one, Ko Libong, wonder what is there. A van was to take me to the port, but the driver went to the wrong pier. "I drive limos in Bangkok!", he protested, "Never driven in Trang!". Still I made it to the right place, and after about an hour hanging around, a longtail arrived to ferry us across. I met up with Peter & Monica, who told me a recommended place to stay, so I headed off there (I had bought my ticket which included a motorbike ride) and they followed after some bargaining with the motodrivers. I decided to stay in the adjacent resort in a bungalow 30m from the beach. Later the other moved over. They are really only three resorts on this side of the island. Two of the them side by side and the pricier one is isolated further along the coast. I tried a spot of snorkeling but it wasn't a great success, only seeing a few fish.

The beach was nice, but not outstanding. I decided to have a small campfire on the beach, despite the rain earlier, managed to get it going with some soggy wood! But alas no marshmallows :(

Next it was off to Ko Mook, a nicer beach in a shallow bay of blue water. We had a look at a couple of place, then settle on the cheap Hat Farang Bungalows, which was a good deal. A bit busier to Ko Libong, with a handful of restaurants (mostly attached to guesthouses) to choose from. Good spot to lazily read a book or chat. One day we went snorkeling again and spotted a lot more fish and corals, then a cuttlefish appeared looking very weird and translucent. Being not very sure at the time what it was I kept my distance!

After that I headed over to Ko Lanta, which has a decent beach, certainly long, a good stroll from one end to the other. Still some trees at the beach side and not covered in hotels, yet. I had a wander around, pretty hot when the sun comes out to play, bit sunburnt. Had some barracuda for dinner one night, very tasty (or maybe just because I was very hungry!)

Around Nepal

2007-11-17T03:25:00.000-08:00

After resting I head south to the small town of Palpa. After hopping off the bus, I was crammed into a jeep for the ten minute ride up to town. Palpa is a traditional old town, and quite a change from the tourist scene of Pokhara. Narrow windy streets trail around the town, so it was long before I was lost, but not to worry after another 5 minutes I magically appeared back at my guesthouse. The next day I did a day hike along to Bagnas and beyond, a simple trail across the mountain ridges through some small villages, and farmland. Decent views, but a little bit hazy still. I chatted with a shopkeeper and then took the bus back, soon it was dinner time. I headed to Nanglo West for some Newari food. Sitting in the courtyard I had flattened rice with buffalo cholea (ginger & chilli) with potato curry. A bit different from the dal bhat, but interesting flavours.

Next stop was down close to the Indian border to the pilgrimage site of Lumbini, where the Buddha was born. Nowadays lots of Asian visitors to the Temple Development sites. Basically land set aside to build Buddhist temples for various countries around the world. I visited quite a few on my bike - Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian etc. Almost ran over a small turtle on the road, he must of escaped from a temple pond. Also visit the exact birth place of the Buddha, while I was contemplating under a tree, I heard "Uncle, uncle! Photo?" from a group of Indian tennagers. So I took their camera and was going to take a group photo, but they wanted me to be in the photo. Probably because I'm so handsome!

I was a bit templed out after that, so the next day it was off, I was planning on continuing to Chitwan, but I couldn't be bothered with all the bus rides that day, so I sat on the bus roof for a bit over an hour (which at Nepali speeds means around 15 miles along) then stopped travelling at Bairawa. Here I stayed at Hotel Glasgow :)
The staff there didn't seem to know where the name came from though. Just have a look around a normal Nepali town, very different from Thamel, nobody trying to sell me stuff!

Anyway the next day I got to Chitwan and was surrounded by the usual hotel touts. I picked the first guy to spot me, and went off to his hotel, same as the Annapurna Circuit, they don't make the money on the rooms, but on selling you a guide for trekking. So I only paid 100rupess for the room, but need to pay for permit for the park and also a required guide, in fact I ended up with two. One guide and the kitchen cook! Still he carried my bag :) Ram was the official guide and talking good English. Esram was the other guide, with a bit less English. The first day we came very close to a rhino, scurrying back down the round we rounded the corner and seeing it closeby. We ducked behind some trees to a safe spot, where we could watch it. Rhinos don't seem to move much. Don't like to be disturbed! In fact the next day we saw another rhino in the middle of the road and after watching and taking pictures we wanted to continue down the path, except a rhino was in the way! So Ram beat his stick to try and scare the rhino away, hoping the rhino would think an elephant is on the way. The rhino didn't seem much bothered by the beating of sticks, but evetually ambled off leaving the way clear to continue the trek. Also spotted some deer from a distance, but they don't hang about. A few wild pigs, and erm.. wild chicken. Quite a lot of different birds, stork, hawk, parakeet, hoopoe and kingfishers, and some peacocks flying through the air (never seem them leave the ground before!)

On the third day we headed to the other side of the park, actually part of the trek was along a road. Hmmm, not quite what I had expected, still very little traffic. At one point both Ram and Esram stopped, a sound was heard to the right, sniffing they thought it was tiger scent. We creeped back, two sounds in the jungle, one a pig snorting and the other a tiger. Apparently. Esram spotted some stripes in the dense jugle, I tried to follow his line of sight, but could see nothing. Then a motorbike came chugging along and the sounds were no more. That was the closest I would get to seeing a tiger. Saw a few footprints in the mud, but no actual sighting except for a tiger in a cage. She was caged as a young tigress after found running about in a village, caught by an old woman into a cloth sack. Her mother had killed four people, and the other two cubs had starved, so the decision was taken to place her in domesticity.

The fourth day wasn't that interesting as we walked back to Sauraha, where the hotels were. Did see some crocodiles, sitting on the banks of the river though. Again hard to see unless they are moving. Oh yeah, also had some mozzies, leeches and tics. Urgh!

2007-10-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

After a 7 hour bus ride I got out of the Kathmandu valley and over to Pokhara. Here is a tourist town built on the lake. We took a trip up to the World Peace Pagoda, situated high on a hill on the opposite side of the lake, with nice views across. Then a row boat back into town. However, the real reason to be here was to get the bus to Besisahar, the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit. We ended up getting cramming into the back of a jeep to follow a bumpy road down part of the way. Managed to get seven people in the back seat, okay two Nepalis were hanging on either door outside!
Finally it was time to start walking, just one hour on we reached our first village, Ngadi. Here we found some simple accommodation, and some food. Later that night a band of villagers appeared to entertain us with their music and dancing, before soliciting donations to their funds. The next days we steadily ascend. After 5 days we reached Upper Pisang at a height of 3400m. The night however would bring snow, and fall steadily throughout the day. Undeterred we set out for Manang around 4 hours away. We trudged onwards, stopping for some tea after an hour or so into the journey. The problem with this is when you stop moving you realise how could you are! So we headed on cancelling the soup, just wanted to keep moving. Eventually we arrived at Manang and hunted down a place to stay, Mavis's. Here they had an indoor heater, a luxury! The next day it was a 1 hour climb upto a stupa nearby for an acclimatization climb. At this altitude the oxygen is thinner and people can be affected by altitude sickness. This isn't determined by genetics, so it is a bit of an unknown factor, fitness plays no role in it. Yet it is still a long climb to the top. I have a rest day in Manang, while others head off on a day long walk to the ice lake. The next day we ascend another 700m to Letdar (4200m). The sky is an amazing blue, the mountains coated in fresh white snow, stretching around forming a panorama. The Annapurnas is mountain scenery on a truly epic scale, with six peaks over 7200m, and in Annapurna I, one of only 10 peaks in the world over 8000m. However they are also some of the worlds most deadly to summit, with a fatality rate of 40%, so I was happy to stick to the trek.

The next day it was onto Thorung Phedi, and then after a cup of tea. We pushed onto High Camp, up a very steep track. Almost an hour of huffing, puffing and shuffling we arrived at the final stop before the pass at Thorung La. High camp has a heated glass restaurant to view back down into the valley below. But tomorrow comes the big day, the day which has taken a week of walking to get to, the Thorung pass lies ahead. After a cold, somewhat restless sleep. It was up at 5:00 for some brekky, and off at first light. First the icy narrow path had a steep snow-covered dropoff. Don't want to fall down there! Then it was slow and steady towards the pass. The wind steadily increased, the nearer we got. One false summit was disappointing and energy sapping, but plugging away we finally made it to the pass! At 5400m is a huge evelation (17716 feet), to put it in comparison - the summit of Mount Blanc is 4808m, Ben Nevis 1344m.

Also very cold with the wind howling! Thankfully there is a little tea hut up there to celebrate with a cup of black tea for 80 rupees. And a fantastic tasting snickers, went down very nicely. But back in the wind, the trek isn't even half done, for despite ascended around 1000m, we now have to descend 1600m down the other side. I zipped down as fast as possible to escape the biting winds. After a while, they eased but still a long long way down to go till the first village of Mukinath. Still everybody arrived safely and it was time for a well earned beer in the sun! The party continued through the night, thanks to the fact the Nepalis wanted to play pool for beer :)

Another long descent brought us to Kagbeni for the much anticipated trip to YakDonalds! Rather disappointing though as the burger was tiny :( Still a nice little traditional village. We took an accidental illegal trip into Upper Mustang, only when we returned did we realise that we weren't allowed out there without paying the 700$ for 10 day permit :o

Then a long flat walk to Kalopani, where I picked up a stomach bug and spent the night clutching my stomach, which was making crazy noises. Still, surprisingly after 12 hours I recovered to walk onto Tatopani, but then my leg got sore (shinsplints?)
And I hobbled my way the final distance. Some were continuing on to do the Annapurna Sanctuary trek, but for me the trek was over. One final two hour walk with Steve, then a 2 hour jeep ride, and a 5 hour roof-top ride on the bus and I was back in civilization! Well Pokhara anyway, which has steak restaurants! I order the fillet mignon and got two steaks! I like this restaurant. So now just a bit of R&R in Pokhara, and some pigging out :) Well I did drop two belt buckle-holes, so I deserve my Pringles!

Kathmandu

2007-10-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

Dropped down into the Kathmandu valley and through immigration, change some money and find a taxi to take me to a guesthouse. One guy to drive the taxi and one other to try and talk me into going to his favoured guesthouse. Anyway got a bed in Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu. Full of restaurants, bars, trekking shops, souvenirs, tiger balm salesmen, rickshaws, taxis and tourists.

I had a look at Durbar square, the main square here full of temples. Here resides the Kumari, a young girl picked as a Goddess who makes rare public appearances. After becoming a woman she reverts to being a mere mortal and new Kumari must be found. The occasional cow wanders past among the pagodas and ad hoc markets. Nepal is 80% Hindu but also where the Buddha achieved enlightenment in Lumbini.

Another day I headed over to Patan which has a similar arrangement. This time however a festival was underway. A small group of men banged at their drums, others played their long horns, creating a sound like a train horn. Following behind in single file were most of the villages woman, hundreds if not thousands were dressed up in their Sunday best, some carrying offerings held in tiffins. Grouped in colour, the line stretched on through the backstreets. I ate my thukpa while watching the going ons.
They proceeded into a temple, but here some temple are only opened to Hindus, so I don't know what goes on inside and then they pop out the front door and disperse amongst the square. Elsewhere is Patan I stumbled across a busy market street, where people hawked their goods to the masses. I then bartered with the taxi driver to go back to the guesthouse, in theory you can use the meter but with the traffic jams and them driving round in circle I found settling on a price beforehand a safer bet!

Next I went to the hard to pronounce town of Pashupatinath. Here is a holy Hindu town where people are cremated on the riverside ghats. Each caste has their own space for cremation. A cremation was taking place when I arrived, didn't really want to intrude, despite some latched-on guide saying "Photos OK!". I shook him off and headed across the river. Here the members of the Royal family were cremated after the massacre.

Continuing on up the hill I passed through a small village, here you can see how things are very basic. However little kids are smartly turned out in their uniforms with oversized ID cards dangling round there necks. After a while I arrive at Bodnath to see the huge stupa here. Walking in you can see everybody walking round it clockwise. You can climb up the steps onto the base, as the prayer flags flutter in the wind and the gild reflects the sunlight. However the mould also slowly grows over the whitewash walls, changing them white to green.

The next stop is to the quieter town of Pokhara with it's large lake. I met up with Barry and we shall soon tackle the Annapurna's. But first we headed up to the World Peace Pagoda with a good view back across the lake and nice views of the town. Unfortunately cloudy and so views of the Himalayas in the background are nonexistent except for tantalizing glimpses in the early morning. Tomorrow we head for Besishar for the start of the trek and then it will be up, up and up for the long walk round the circuit and then the sanctuary trek to the centre and back. See ya in a month!

End of the ride

2007-10-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

After Uttaradit I continued south to the little town of Pichai, where I searched around for somewhere to sleep. Found one grotty place about 7km outside town, with a foaming guard dog on a chain, decided to head in to town proper, where I found pretty much the only hotel, which was charging 500 baht for a room situated beside a road where trucks rumble past. Had a look around town, main centre seems to be some small supermarket type shops. Find a restaurant and order the old standby or chicken fried rice. I can almost read some Thai menus now, although painfully slowly! I decided to have a beer to help me sleep so popped along to the karoke bar next door, where some drunk Thai guys were wailing into a microphone. Then they all clambered onto a flat-bed truck/tractor and went singing into the night. Time to retire and get an early start for the ride to Phitsanulok tomorrow.
I set off at dawn and managed to pick out the correct minor roads to meet up with a highway. Sometime the minor roads are better as they are quiet traffic wise, but the downside is they aren't maintained to the same standards. So I navigated along a potholed road, rolling through little villages, getting a few wide-eyed looks, farang!

With 25km to go I stopped off for some breakfast and some rehydration. Feeling tired but push on, turns into a slog although the road is flat. I take a wrong turn as I reach Phitsanulok adding more distance, although I'm trundling along in first gear by now. I spot a large building straight in the distance which looks like a hotel and continue slowly towards, only 2km away but seems to not be getting any closer. Anyway eventually I arrive and it's pricy but I check in, order a steak sandwich via room service (which didn't last long) and crawl into bed. I wake up about dinner time :) Have some food and retire to watch a movie, today was a real struggle on the bike, the next day reveals why. I move round the block to a cheapy hotel, when I pull my bike out, I notice the rear brake block is rubbing againt the rim, hmmm. I suspect I cycled the last 25km like this, as the rubber is worn down on one side quite a bit.

Quite a big place Phitsanulok, I went for a walk and came across the local wat/market/construction site. Don't think I'll be eating here as dust fills the air. I walk through the middle of the city and a Thai woman in front of me screams at the top of her voice. I had almost stepped on a snake! It slithered off into the bushes, probably over a metre in length.

Then I took the easy way back to Chiang Mai, hopping on the train. Although I could only get the sleeper train due to my freight (i.e. the bike) The train meanders alongs through the night, eventaully getting into Chiang Mai after ten hours or so. Returning somewhere you know is so much easier, I jump on my bike and take the short ride into town, as new arrivals haggle with tuk-tuk drivers. Soon back in town and I sell my bike, buy some shoes, zip down to Bangkok and fly past Everest and down into the Kathmandu valley!

Cycling along

2007-09-17T00:23:00.000-07:00

After Lampang if was off East. I had a look at my map and deciding that Phrae was a long way away I would split the ride and stop at a hotel indicated. So I set off on starting with a climb out of Lampang. The destination a small town with the rather odd name of Long. After another big climb (and walking and pushing uphill) I got to the summit of the hill and whizzed down the other side. Stopping off for a quick snack and drink at a roadside stall, I turned left to complete the ride on fairly flat ground. After asking lots of people I found the hotel and had a nice little bungalow for the night. I headed out for a look around stopping off at a restaurant for a late lunch at Sunflower restaurant. It was a family run place and was invited for more food/fruit but I was stuffed. I had a look around town in the afternoon, then tried to flag down a songthaew to return, but they were having none of it, and I had to walk back. I went back to the same restaurant for dinner where I ordered a glass of beer, but got a pitcher, oh well such is life :)
Next morning up early to head on over to Phrae. More hills! But not such a long ride and got into town in time for a late breakfast of Pad Thai wrapped in an omelette. Phrae is another quiet town, I had a few days rest here as my leg was still feeling not quite right. Lots of old wooden houses, apparently it is famous for the teak growing here, and on the ride out the road was lined with furniture shops. Not quite sure how they all stay in business, seemed to be loads of shops and no customers, but I guess one order is a lot of money. The ride down to Denchai was straightforward. Back on a main highway, so a bit more traffic, but a short flat ride no problems. Found a guesthouse eventually tucked into the back of the town. Finally get the shower working after nothing coming out of the tap. Later on I asked somebody in a shop if there was an internet cafe around and ended up getting driven around town on the back of his motorbike. First place was shut, second place only had games - no internet, third place somebody had died and there was a wake on, but fourth time lucky I found a place to check how many goals Scotland had sunk France by, just the one :)
Late afternoon because it was just a short ride this morning, I went for a leisurely whizz along the path between the paddy fields in the back of town. Even saw another foreigner in his Hawian shirt, must be a resident or very lost. Next day not quite off as early as planned, but should be an easy ride, but... Somebody put hills in the way again, I though it would be a flat ride and the railway runs down this way, but they diverge a bit and the road takes the "scenic route". But I find a turn off for Uttaradit and head down the marked 7kms. I arrive at a small fountain in the middle of a crossroad. Hmm, I thought this place would of been a bit bigger, but I find a nice hotel. That night I have a stroll around and find out the centre of town is a couple of km's away. I happen across some sort of event where I buy my twenty baht entrance ticket to see whats inside. Like a fairground event with some Thai bands and lots of food. I have a cup of sweetcorn with butter, mayonnaise and a spoonful of sugar. Hmmm. I think I prefer it savioury. Also try some rice which is a sweet. Sticky & chewy, but not bad. After that I head for the large tent with the pumping dance music and within they have... dodgems! Not quite sure people were understanding the concept, people would sometimes apologise when your rammed them, haha! I then had a go at knocking down the tins to win something, hmmm, these tins are sturdy, wouldn't dare suggest they are filled with sand!

On yer bike!

2007-09-06T00:09:00.000-07:00

I am back on the old bicycle. I thought I would take a looping trip over to Samoeng for starters. Probably not the greatest idea to start a cycling trip as getting there is really hard! I set off early, easy enough. Roll on past Huay Thung Tao reservoir and then the road links up to the main road to Mae Rim, not much traffic in the very early morning. At this point I decided I wanted a bungy rope to more securely fasten my luggage. So after hunting around and a bit of gesturing I managed to get one and tie up my bag onto the rack of the bike in a better fashion. Then after Mae Rim the hills start, big long high hills at that! I slowly climbed up past the snake farm and the orchid farm, up past the waterfall and elephant camps and up to the top of Mae Sa Valley, and then roll down into Erawan Valley, overtaken by some guy standing on the seat of his motorbike for unknown reasons! But soon it was back to where the climbing begins again.

I wanted a seat for a rest, but none was to be found, nothing about here. Everything is green and lush except the road. Very little around here, no shops or restaurant of farms, just forest. Nowhere to stop, oh well just sit and the side of the road and eat my cashews nuts and replenish with some warm water from the water bottle. Lots of bike pushing, not much riding by now. Arrrgh the sun is getting hot. I hope round every corner for the summit, but the road keeps climbing. But eventually it does get there and I am rewarded with a little fruit store where I get a drink of some less than sparkling water poured into a bowl. I buy some green fruit, like a large apple, nice and refreshing. Round the next corner I stop and rest at a great viewpoint where the scenery stretches away down into the distance, rolling valleys of greenness!

And what a downhill it was around 12km, tempered by the knowledge that I would have to climb back up out of Samoeng valley. I ended up at Samoeng resort 2/3km from town proper. Quiet place, restaurant shuts at 6pm! After walking for a mile or so I managed to find a restaurant which was still open for some noodles (a previous place claimed they had no food left!) I had a rest day here and a rather excruciating leg massage. The next day it was time to leave, with the alarm set for 5:40 to ensure an early start. Not much cycling, "No power" as they say. Lots of pushing the bike for a long way back up this time round the other side of the mountain towards Hang Dong. Again the same as on the way here, when I did get to the top I whizzed down hitting speeds upto 65km/hr (which seems very fast on a bike) and straight past a little town sat in the basin of the valley, there went my chance for food! I clambered back up another really steep hill, by this time the sweat was pouring off my t-shirt onto my shorts, always a stylish look. One final crazy steep climb and I got to the summit and then it was coasting back down hill. Stopped off at a little restaurant, but nobody there. Continuing on I found a welcome village with a handful of places to eat. Some pork fried rice for breakfast! Continuing (mostly) down hill, I got back to a place I recognised and decided to push on to Lamphun. I tried to take a short cut on the minor roads, but probably ended up longer and the road hugs the river which winds and meanders South eventually reaching Lamphun where I ask around for a hotel. Find one opposite a Wat and collapse after a quick shower.

The next day another early start as I want to head over to Lampang nearly 80km away. I've cycled a fair portion in the other direction of this road so knew a little what to expect. I remember a big hill about half way with lots of shrines and a classic motorway services point. I set off feeling okay, but within an hour my legs were feeling heavy. I reached the uphill and got off and pushed. I thought it would take an hour, but the summit was closer than I remembered and then it was another nice downhill stopping off for some grub at the service station. Finally with just 10km left the sun decided to burn through the clouds and heat things up, grrrr :(

Anyway I reached Lampang and now have a few rest days, my arms are a bit red and legs stiff so a few days off the bike should fit in nicely. I picked up a tourist brochure and the first thing said Lampang has "Widely Acceptable Coal", so should be an exciting few days :)

Bako && KK

2007-06-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

After Kuching, it was a bus and a boat north to Bako National Park. I just turned up and got a bed, which may of been fortunate as the next day was full. After arriving I went for a walk. Selected the Bintang walk which loops through the forest and takes 3-4 hours. First a short walk along a boarded walkway to get to the start of the trails. Then the first 1km was hard work, being in thick rainforest is very humid. Hot and sweaty as the path climbed sharply in the first section. I breifly saw some proboscis monkeys crashing through the jungle, although I was never to get a very good look at them. After reaching a peak, there was a bench to rest upon and a taped off barrier behind. I had a peak down the crevice and it was a LONG way down.
Then jungle thinned out and gave way to rocky ground, some small pitcher plants don't offer much cover from the sun. The path had a trickle of water running through clay and sand, on top of hard black volcanic rock. Very different from the rainforest which I soon re-entered. Got back to the headquarters and slurped down a bottle of water and a coke. Considering going for a second walk but I was knackered. Watched the bearded pig (who has a giant nose and tiny eyes) roam about. Looking for scaps, didn't exactly seem wild or bothered by humans. The macques were less bothered by humans again, and sat watching the cafe waiting for the moment to pounce and steal anything they can get their sticky fingers on. A few raids into the canteen to steal bananas!
Later I took a short stroll down the boarded walkway and watched the proboscis moneys from a distance. Also in the distance I saw a big creature walking like a crocodile, but I think it was a monitor lizard.
About 8pm a few of us went for a night walk with a guide and our torches. The guide spotted a big spider, and a fluroscent mushroom but otherwise we saw very little, but there can be no guarantees as it's not a zoo!

The next day I had to check out at 11am, but arranged with a couple of people to share the boat ride back at 3pm. So went for a another walk this time to the next beach along, signposted as only 800m it should be easy, right? Nope, seemed like the longest 800m I've walked. Up and down a lot as you go over the cape to get to the next bay. One scary point where you have to go across a small hole, the top of a grotto, but the only way is by walking across tree roots! After that I descended down and came out at the small bay. I saw some mudskippers which were cool, looked strange closeup. They were all sitting on the same rock peeking over the top.

I headed back to headquarters as I was out of water, and got some food. After lunch I decided on final walk up to the cape above the main beach, nice view up there but I didn't take my camera. Back on the boat we were zooming along when we did a u-turn, there on a pipe in the middle of the river sat a crocodile sunning itself. We went quite close enough in the boat! Then back to the mainland where after waiting for a while got the bus back to Kuching. The next day I flew up to Kota Kinabalu.

Kota Kinablu centre is a long strip of roads sandwiched between the seafront and the green hills behind. Actually I think some of the flat land is reclaimed from the sea. Having a look around, it seems a bit more rough and ready than Kuching. Large market as the seafront, rows of shophouses, lots of basic coffee shops/restaurants. I had some nice beef sate from one. However things take an upturn as you enter one square where there is a popular new mall and pricier restaurants and the like. I had nice fish and chips at a restaurant, served in the pan for some reason. (I still prefer newspaper) Of course the chips, weren't chips but fries. Still never mind, eh? As it was the weekend I went for a beer. Walked into an Irish pub were a Malaysian band (with a japanese drummer) were playing The Shadows. Then a Philipino singer joined and they played some other old songs. I had a look elsewhere, as I was walking past I heard another band and the singer saying there were going to play another rock song so I walked in there. But he was being sarcastic as they launched into a rendition of My Way. I was conned!

On Sunday there was a flea market where you could buy some jewellery, biscuits, maybe a siamese fighting fish or some nailclippers? Mostly junk! Or stuff I can get cheaper in Thailand. As there is approx. 10 baht to 1 ringgot easy to compare prices. Tomorrow I shall head off to Mount Kinabalu National Park, but finding out more information I don't think I'll be doing the climb.
1) You need to book accommodation on the mountain way in advance.
2) If you want to have a chance of having a clear view you should arrive at sunrise. Which means you have to get up at TWO AM and climb up in the dark with a torch. Hmmm
Of course it could still be cloudy :)

Kuching

2007-06-25T04:10:00.000-07:00

After some roti canai for brekky (okay brunch). It was off to the Cat Museum, Kuching is the city of cats after all. Hopping on the city bus took me to the museum, well the bottom of a big hill upon which the museum resides. After sweating my way up it was inside to the cat-o-rama.
Where else can you find such tenious links to cats as here? Like the Cats in Music section, with posters of Cat Stevens and Curiousity Killed the Cats. I particularly liked the dress up the cats as musicians section :) And if that wasn't strange enough I bought a ticket for "Katz" where 10 people dress up with cat makeup and costume and dance around. Kinda of Andrew Lloyd Webber meets tribal dancing. Didn't seem very popular as there was only 2 other people watching. I was dragged up on stage to show my blow dart pipe blowing skills. Performing admirably I nailed a balloon on my very first shot.
Then it was back to Kuching where the Sunday market was taking place (as it was Saturday...) I picked up a pair of Raybans for 3rm (about 50p!).
Next day I had a look round the Sarawak musuem which had some decent art pieces, some good longhouse models, and some so-so natural science exhibits. Across the road some archieological stuff from the caves, way back in the good old days 40,000 years ago. Some more rain, seemed to be easing off, so I mad a dash and nearly got struck my lightning, seemed to explode right above me, gave me a headache. AND the rain quickly came back on strong.
After looking at the price of the tours, I decided it was time to do some DIY so I rented a crappy motorbike and set off for the Crocodile Farm, quickly getting lost. I stopped and asked somebody, showing them my not very good map. They could point me in the direction of the Orangutan sanctuary only, no problem I wanted to go there as well. So I set off for Semmengoh Orangutan sanctuary and after a while I came across a sign for the crocodile farm, carefully navigation! Crocodiles tend not to do much except when they are eating, so they just lay around looking sleepy. A few other animals but nothing much to talk about, just don't let the rabbits get mixed up with the crocs.

After that I try to find the orangutan sanctuary, at one place the road was being worked on so I stopped, and then the starter died. After lots of kicking, it engaged and I was off again but I ended up miles away going towards "Borneo Road" or some such place.
I decided I better turn around, again getting stuck where I had to stop for roadworks. Started again after 5 minutes. By this time the petrol was getting a bit low, so I pulled into a Kampung and found a corner shop which sells petrol by the plastic bottle. After filling up, I cooled off with a coke on the bench outside, why the locals kids gawked at me, then ran away. Feeling refreshed I hit the open road again determined to at least get back to Kuching. As I was heading back, I whizzed past the sanctuary, a quick u-turn and I got inside. The engine cut again and I decided I would be quicker walking the last 1km if I wanted to get there in time for the feeding. The orangutans are semi-wild so they roam free, but usually turn up for the free food when hungry. They have 23 in all, I think 4 turned up. Looking very non-plussed about the camera-snapping tourists. Just turn their backs!

Anyway I made it back after a few more cut-outs (Note I'm blaming the motorbike not me!) Actually the traffic here is quite reasonable. Especially once you get out the city, not that many motorbikes :) A lot quieter than Chiang Mai! Just a shame about the lack of signs. After being on the bike most of the day I'm now a rather red shade of red from sunburn. I'll have to hide inside tomorrow.

Arrive in Kuching, Borneo

2007-06-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

About ten hours after leaving Chiang Mai I arrived in Kuching, in the West of Malaysian Borneo (an island split between Malaysia and Indonesia). I dumped my bag and went out for a look around. Seems like a modern clean city, on the taxi ride through town didn't see many people walking about. The Sarawak river runs through the city, splitting it in two, although most of the built up area is on the flat south. A fort on the north rises above the city, and a new construction of a large dome takes place under floodlit cranes. A cluster of large hotels are situated near the riverfront. As I was thinking there wasn't many tourist around, a big cluster of people spilled out the Hilton. Walking towards me a separate couple of tourists pointed at the group behind me and asked "Is that David Beckham? Yes it is!"
So I turned round looking at the tour group again, maybe David Beckham and his entourage? Nope, they were pointing at the 20 foot advert of him selling a phone.

After wandering around some more, I settled into a basic restaurant for some turmeric beef, which wasn't really worth the wait! Back to the hotel and find out that it next door is the dreaded top-volume karoke bar, a power cut saves the day and I get some sleep. I move into a quieter hotel the next day. Kuching being a compact city is easy enough to walk around for the most part, although the heat and humidity can be rather oppressive. I decided to visit the Sarawak Cultural Village a 40 minute drive away. After chatting with the hotel owner I purchased a "tour" i.e transport and entrance ticket, which was marginally cheaper and the van picked me up from the hotel. I was the only one in that van, passing along some nice green scenery, with a steep forest-clad pinnacle rising up from the ground. At the village there is a variety of longhouse (traditional architectural houses for the locals). The longhouses sit on stilts, with an angled log, with narrow notches carved out serving as steps. Inside a few local people sitting about, when I said I was from Scotland, one of the guys said he used to support Celtic (boo!), until he bot bored of football (hah!). Now more interested in rugby, aah, the benefits of satellite TV.

I managed to snare some free fruit from a leftover party, after a quick snack, it was onwards to the Penan tribe. Well actually it was just one guy. More of a lean-to shack rather than a longhouse as the Penan are traditionally nomadic hunters (although the government tries to settle them). Here the had a long metal rod, which has used to burn through a piece of bamboo. Just turn the rod back and forth for a MONTH and you have a blowpipe. (Hope you don't make a mistake). I stepped up for a go at the blowpipe skills, deep intake of breath, press lips against the pipe and quickly exhale! And the dart dribbled out the end...
At least the next few times it worked better, couldn't hit the target of a can though. With a poisoned tipped dart, hunt of all animals is possible.

Next stop was the Orang Ulu house, a huge longhouse built nestled into the hill. Upstairs they were playing music, something resembling a guitar, with a large flat bit of wood, with a few strings, odd placed frets, and tuned for droning. Then a few people danced around, kinda of slow and graceful, until I got dragged into it. After that, a quick stop in a sword hut, where with a fire and some belows, some hammers and somebody that knows what they are doing you can get a sword.

Another house had a medicine room, with something akin to wood oragami, with birds and insects representing the physical manifestation of illnesses, with the local quack would identify and cure. (At least I thinks that how it works!) The last hut was the Chinese pepper house, where the pepper is collected, thrashed and dried. Some samples of "Bird's Nest"
which is hugely expensive, collected at great risk and then served up to big wigs. Hmm, I wouldn't of thought bird mucus wouldn't of been that tasty.

Finally there was a show which highlighted the tribal dances, one of them featured bamboo poles being danced around, one of these carefully timed pieces, where if it goes wrong, you get your ankle broken!

Enveloped in smog...

2007-03-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

I’m moved from the guesthouse into a condo on Huay Kaew Road. Much bigger than my old room and with fridge, tv etc. Got a nice balcony up on the thirteenth floor (or 12A floor according to the room numbers) overlooking the city. Not that currently you can see much due to the farmer burning all the lands. Not just in Thailand but in Laos, Myanmar & China also, enveloping the North of Thailand in a thick smog. Hopefully there will be some rain, in fact the experts were flying around in helicopters trying to “seed” the clouds for some rainmaking, but the humidity is low and it doesn’t want to rain then it doesn’t want to rain, and the last rain in Chiang Mai was way back on the 12th October! Not helping matters is the fact the Chiang Mai sits in a geographical bowl and the low weather system sits on top stopping all the smog escaping. Still the weather people say it will be better this week with some winds to dissipate it.

Before all this icky smog arrived I had cycled down to Huay Tong Tao a few times. A pleasant lake area with simple wooden shacks dotted around the perimeter. I was there before 10 a.m. and it is pretty much deserted although I’ve heard it’s a popular picnicking spot with the Thais at the weekend.

I decided to have some toast, which was all going well with the bread, the butter, and the toaster all working nicely, however first thing on my shopping list is a knife…Speaking of food, I met up again with Dieuwke (who I met in India) she was here doing a massage course and we went for food at the huge moo kata restaurant where you cook you own food from the buffet. They were pouring out baskets of mangosteen which were disappearing almost instantly, people taking handfuls at a time. All the food you can eat for 100b not a bad deal as there is a great selection. But very hot there, we drank 4litres of water between us!

Still doing the Thai language class in the afternoon, if I want to get some lunch before I had to leave home around 12:00 and if I return on foot I don’t get back until 16:00, so half the day vanishes, leaving me barely enough time to loll around :) In the class there is quite a mix of people. A 19year old Japanese woman, a 70 year old Japanese man, a Greek Buddhist nun, an American, German and a Dane. (walk into a bar…)
Either the teacher speaks too fast or I listen too slow, as I have a hard time following along. I’m always the one in the class that doesn’t understand (wheres my dunce cap!) I think I might repeat the same class again, as plenty of people do. The German guy has been coming to AUA on and off for twenty years and he’s still on the second class! Still he at least speaks good Thai (and then forgets it again.)

Recently went along to watch the Old Firm game at the Irish Pub, showing in a small corner while the majority of people watched the English FA Cup game. I had some Irish Stew for dinner, not bad. I was the only one that jumped up when Rangers scored, so I guess the other people weren’t Rangers fans. Can only watch some of the early kick off games over here, unless you stay awake for a 03:00am kick off! I’ve got a DVD player in the condo so I joined a rental shop, and got my free gift (free with the 169baht membership) a stylish plastic clock adorned with teddy bears. I rented out The Banquet, another Chinese film. I’ll save you the bother of watching it, everybody dies! Speaking of films, after speaking with Sly I turned down the Rambo part, creative differences you see… (Actually I never heard back from them after applying to be an extra!)

Back up to Chiang Mai

2007-02-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

When I arrived here there were a few days left of the 3 month long Royal Ratchaphreuk flower festival, so I toddled along. That's a whole lot of flowers they've got there, over 2 million apparently, and a large side to walk round. They were selling season tickets with people going half a dozen time to see round all the exhibits. They had gardens from many different countries, imported into the site along with some companys having displays. Then there were lots of other gardens, among which the popular orchid centre. More here for the nosy. In a typical move nobody has planned what to do with the site now that the festival has finished, but a company had been contracted for the next two years for upkeep at the tidy sum of $$$.

Oh yeah, while I remember if anybody has a spare million baht (service not included!) they want to give me, I could go down for a fancy dinner in Bangkok. I have been hunting around for somewhere to stay, traipsing around Chiang Mai looking at condos, seems busy this time of year, but I think I have finally found somewhere to stay. Only problem is it is occupied so have to wait a few weeks to move in. Oh well.

In the meantime I should be studying my Thai as I signed up for the 2nd course at A.U.A. I took the first one last year, and now have realised how little I can remember. Also the book was a lot bigger than I remember now I need to memorise 250 pages in the next week. Could be a tough class!

I went along to the cinema and watched "The Curse of the Golden Flower", an expensive Chinese epic (handily dubbed into Thai!) with subtitles. The verdict? Needs more soldiers :)

Oh yeah! Speaking of movies I applied for a part in Rambo :)

Back in Bangkok

2007-01-28T00:56:00.000-08:00

So I arrived in Bangkok and decided to stay near the SkyTrain this time, I found a hotel tucked round the corner from the National Stadium. I was somewhat jet-lagged all the time I was here in bed before 10pm every night. But on the plus side I did wake up early, like 4 a.m. hmmm. Anyway I did manage to pop back over to Wat Po, which houses a giant lying down Buddha. Last time I forgot my camera, but this time I got some snaps, kinda of hard to fit it all in the photo though. The grounds around the main Buddha are also nice, the last time I was there they were almost shutting up shop, this time I had a chance to stroll around and look at the other temples. After that I hopped across the Chao Praya river to Wat Arun aka The Temple of Dawn. This old temple if pictured on the 1 baht coins, so almost familiar! Taller than I realised at 67m, but your not allowed to clamber up to the top.

I took the boat down to the central pier and then hopped off at Lumphini Park for a nosy about, but starting to feel tired I head back to the guesthouse, where I zonked out. Another day I had a look round the shopping malls, seems to be loads of giant malls now. I didn't realise some of them were so big. After getting lost in MBK I exited that and skipped (not literally) through Discovery and the Siam Centre to get across to Siam Paragon. This is the posh one were you can buy your Cartier watches etc. I opted to head over to the big IT mall, Pantip Plaza and picked up a cheapo MP3 player for less than 15 quid. Does the job, and as a bonus a pony scrolls across the screen when you switch it off. All the walking made me tired again and my feet felt like pancakes by the time I returned.

Another day I headed over to the nearby Jim Thompson House. This was a group of Thai style houses that had been assembled into a large single house, some linked together with walkways. Some of these were transported from up to 100 miles away and reassembled. It was quite interesting as there was also a tour briefly telling you the history. Jim Thompson seems to be credited with single handled making the Thai Silk industry what it is today. On his return he showed the editor of Vogue the silks used in Asia and the soon became very fashionable and desirable items.

I wandered off down and lane and notice a bridge over the canal, I had previously in Bangkok jumped on one of the small boats from Banglamphu. A bit of a squash, but it looks like that may be a thing of the past. Now large power boats hammer down the canal sloshing the water around the narrow canal in their afterwake, probably enough to sink any small boats!

After a few days in Bangkok it is back up to Chiang Mai again, where I plan to stay for a while.

Update

2007-01-28T00:38:00.000-08:00

Long time, no update!

Well I went back to Scotland for the festive period, a long journey but worth it to see some familiar faces and one new one!

It was cold back in Scotland, neccessitating four layers of clothing before venturing outdoors. Then when Hogmannay rolled around, a stormed kicked up and blew the trains away (well at least enough to cancel them for the evening)

The trouble with not updating blogs often is that you forget everthing that happened, so I'll just leave this entry rather threadbare.

Lombok & Back to Bali

2006-12-11T23:29:00.001-08:00

After leaving Gili Air it was back to mainland Lombok and I decided to stop off at Sengiggi beach. A small-ish bay on the West coast, one of several judging by the bus journey, each is separated by a high pass up the mountains to the next. Quite a few boats in the harbour, and some yachts drifting further out to sea. I went for a stroll along the waterfront and was ambushed by students practising their English. Armed with notebooks and tape recorders they launched into a quick interview with the usual where do you come from? Still at least quite a few people had at least heard of Scotland. In fact, Highlander seems popular here. One guy asked me if the story was true! Probably thinks we run around lopping off heads in the quest for immortality. Braveheart, bagpipes, whisky and guys in skirts are the other cultural icons sometime known.

Come Saturday night time it was quite lively with a few bands playing in open air pubs. Playing mostly English language songs with the occasional local song thrown into the mix. Mixed in with the ever popular English Premier League kicking off at 10p.m. and the pub was fairly busy. Obviously a lot of Asians watch the footy as Chang and Air-Asia advertise yet only sell in Asia.

The next day I continued down to the capital of Lombok, Mataram. A busy little town I decided to take the local transport back to Bali, as I had mostly been taking tourist buses. Getting from Sengigi to Mataram was fairly easy, changed at one point and was shepherded onto the next bemo by the driver. I had a look at a couple of temples in Mataram but they were far from spectacular. Next I headed along to the Lake Park which was also unimpressive, a muddy square of water. The central point of town seems to be the mall. Feeling in the mood for a burger I headed into McDonalds, where it was crawling with kids having a birthday party. McDonalds seems to have got in on localisation big time. Strange to watch somebody in there eating rice & egg with their fingers.

Leaving Mataram was a bit tougher, I headed down the bemo stops and after agreeing a normal price hopped aboard. The ferry is about 10 miles away, it took over 2 hours to get there! Most of sitting in the bemo, waiting for other passengers. Now and again he would drive up and down the road, trying to get more people before returning to the start and switching off the engine. I slipped my hat over my face and tried to go to sleep, but it was too hot inside. Eventually he crammed enough people in so we left, to pick up more people by the roadside. Anyway I got to the ferry 30 mins before it left, I though I would of got the previous ferry 90 minutes before but never mind. As soon as you reach the entrance of the terminal people are coming up trying to sell you tickets. I just ignored them (like the Police!) and walked up to the counter. People who sell the real tickets sit behind desks and wait for customers, not run about chasing people! Onto the ferry and yet more people selling everything and anything. Food, water, tshirts etc. Then 2 minutes before the boat leaves they all dash off. Obviously they don’t get their tickets checked at the entrance, must sneak past the security guard in the morning, or pay him. Anyway it was back to Padang Bai, I was going to push on to Kuta that evening but I couldn’t be bothered, so I spent another night in Padang Bai. The next day I went to get the bus, but a local festival was beginning so no buses for two days, hmmm. After a walk around the ferry area, I quickly arranged for a chartered car, only 5000 more than the bus. Sharing with one other person who was going to the airport. Picked up another couple of people and then it was back to Kuta. Except the driver dropped us off somewhere else, and we swapped to a bus. No extra money said the driver and then headed off. And then more waiting…

Finally got back to Kuta. Just as well the woman who charted the car wasn’t in a hurry to get to the airport! A few more days in Kuta before my flight back to Kuala Lumpur. I had timed it for 30 days in Indonesia, more than that and you need to apply for a visa beforehand, at least that seemed to be the rules, although when I flew in to Bali the customs guy asked me if I wanted 60 days, you just pay double. I had some more strolling around here, getting to know the area a bit better. In the South, you have Tuban and then heading North you get to Kuta beach proper and Legian, and if you continue you get to Seminyak, which is the super posh area. One of the road is simply a line of restaurants up here. Another houses a couple of art galleries for those wanting to purchase some original pieces. A far cry from the cheep and cheerful stalls in Kuta. One night I went out, popping into the bar for a happy hour drink. All was quiet until around 30 Norwegians descended, they had spent a couple of months here for school and had just finished there last exams, so they were in high spirits. Somewhere along the line I ended up drinking whisky with a bunch of locals, before heading onto Joe’s Place as one of the locals played there on Tuesday, not that it was a Tuesday or even open, but I met up with a couple of people I had seen the first time I was in Kuta. So I had a few more drinks before staggering home. Didn’t do much the next day, except stay clear of alcohol.

Food! A couple of Indonesian dishes that I’ve liked here are Gado Gado, a healthy mix of crispy vegetables and Nasi Campur a mix of vegetables and rice, maybe some sate if your lucky. These are very open to interpretation and so finding a good restaurant is needed. The same dish can be totally different from one place to another. I had Nasi Campur in Bedegul and it was a pale imitation of the meal I had in Kuta. The added sate with the dish was lovely. Not too spicy, either.

Gili Air

2006-12-11T23:29:00.000-08:00

Leaving Padang Bai, we got the large ferry over to Lombok, taking around 4 hours. Then a bus up to the North arrived at Bangsal, where we got the public ferry over to Gili Air. The ferry being a long narrow boat capable of carrying about 20 people. No pier in at either end so you have to take off your shoes and clamber through the water onto the boat type while not dropping your bag in the water. Finally arriving at Gili Air we found some nice bungalows which had just been built by the French owner. Very nice and quiet place. Unusually quiet as the only means of transport around the island is horse and cart, no cars, no motorbikes here. The island is small enough to get around, a walk around the perimeter takes little over an hour. There is a small permanent local population of only 700 people living here, so when somebody says then know everybody they are not exaggerating.

Small restaurants dot the Eastern coast of the island. Most are simple places with small platforms with cushion for lounging on. Service is best described as “relaxed”. Most have a selection of fresh fish on display waiting to be grilled for hungry diners. If you look closley you can see that the fish have been caught by traditional spear fishing during the day.

A nice relaxing place for a few days. I often snorkled in the mornings, you could simply wade out to the coral from the beach. After talking to the guy renting the equipment he pointed me to a different site slightly further North up the coast. It was harder to get there as you either have to step on the dead coral shrapnel with your bare feet or stagger around with your flippers on. He saw me flapping around and then came out and showed my it is often easier to walk backwards with the flippers. Once there is enough water you can swim out further. He pointed out some different things, that I had noticed before most notable the clams. Swimming down to their mouths they would quickly closes up. Many different colors also. Another trick is spitting in your mask which makes it much easier to see and visibility is great here. A gentle current pushing you South along the coast so you don’t have to do much swimming. At one stage a huge dropoff occurs into the ocean, seems to me like standing at the edge of a cliff on a windy day! At the edges of the visibility some large fish swim in these deeper waters. During my time here I saw baracuda, angle fish, knife fish, clams, blue starfish, clown fish, mudskippers as well as countless unknown fish. Also got stung by some some small jellyfish, bit like a mosquito bite. Didn’t really notice until out of the water, but there are not posionous here so not a big deal.

In the afternoon, a spot of lunch at one of the beachside cafes and then spread out in the well balanced hamock on the veranda of the cottage and read my book. Maybe stop for a cool mango lassie, or drink a coconut. The days seem to drift by easily in places like this. Aah, life is tough :)

Lovina

2006-12-04T23:30:00.000-08:00

Continuing North I reached the coast again at the beach town of Lovina. A lot smaller than Kuta, it can easily be walked around. Consisting of lots of restuarants a few pubs, and a stretch of sand. Although the sand isn't as nice here, bit darker but okay. I rented a bike and cycled over to Sringraja the state capital. Much busier here lots of traffic when I joined up with the main road. I had taken the back roads to get there, which was hillier but quiter. I stopped off for a look around some statues. I think it was of the locals trying to repel the Dutch, not a great idea when you have a spear and they have a gun. A bit of Nasi Goreng for lunch, I dropped in at one of the small restaurants that line the road. I doubt they get many foreigners, but friendly enough and tasty food.

I came back to Lovina and then jumped back on the bike for an hour before sunset. I headed out the other direction and ended up cycling through a small village. Trundling along the dirt path between the coconut trees, trying to avoid angry dogs. See a few people who look suprised to see me.

Back into town and I had a look round the pubs, a couple of bands were playing. The first band wasn't that good, so I had a look elsewhere. The unmistakable riff of Smoke on the Water came thundering through the air, so I went in there. And for the rest of the night they played reggae, sheesh!

After Lovina I headed to the East Coast, the town of Padang Bai. A couple of Dutch people were travelling down there also. We had arranged it through the hotel for the bus to take us, but as there was only three people we ended up in a battered old jeep. It was a nice road winding along the coast for sections, before heading inland past the large volcano and on through the stepped land of the rice paddies, before emerging back beside the coast. I had a seat up front, so had a good view of the trip. Once in Padang Bai, I spent a couple of days there. The next day I headed over to Candid Dasa, a short bemo ride away. More of an upmarket resort area, with pricier restaurants. Not much beach here. The Lonely Planet says the barrier reefs were harvested in the 80's to provide lime for the concrete mix needed for the big new resorts. However without the barriers, erosion rapidly destroyed the coast. Within a few years, Candid Dasa was a beach resort with no beach. Some concrete barriers have been added to try and cope, but the damage had been done.

Back at Padang Bai, I had a beer with Paula and Frank. We were all going to the same place tomorrow. The Gili Islands.

Bedegul

2006-11-27T00:09:00.000-08:00

After Ubud I continued North to Bedegul a small village which the bus pass through on the way to the North coast. I decided to spend a couple of nights, arriving around lunchtime on the first day I got of the bus at Strawberry Hill which looked like a nice guesthouse perched on the hills with extensive views across Bali. Only one problem, it was closed for renovation. Oh well, setting out on the road, about 1km with the backpack into town proper up and over the peak of the hill. Arriving sweatily into the main area I had another couple of choices and so settled in to have a look about. A couple of kilometres away lies Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, a Hindu Buddhist temple built on the edge of the lake. I jokingly crouched down and asked for “Anak” (Child) at the ticket office and the guy smiled and let me in for half-price. Though I noticed I didn’t actually get a ticket and the money went straight in his pocket, still they would be closing soon. The temple itself has a couple of small buildings with Buddhist style layered roof stacked on top of one another. Always an odd number of levels. In the pleasant gardens surronding the temple I came across a strange statue of a pig looking a bit out of place.

The next day the plan was to rise early and have a go at climbing the mountain beside the lake, but… Well I never was a morning person but I set out after breakfast (Yes, before lunch!) After skirting round the lakeside I passed the caves as mentioned in the guidebook and then that’s where problems started. The trail got fainter and fainter, merging into the beach, and then the beach merged into the forest, and soon there was nowhere left to go. I retraced my steps but couldn’t find a clear trail. Oh well I gave up, and never even got above lake-level! A guide has offered his services the day before but he wanted $30. Maybe it is a bring-your-own-machette-to-hack-your-way-through-the-jungle trek, rather than a clear path up that I anticipated. So I fell back on a hastily created plan B, I would take a bemo over to the next town and have a look about there. After a while I was bouncing along to Pancasari. However, it turned out to a tiny place no bigger than the village I was staying. There was a rather dirty looking market, a school and the bus stop. As well as a few houses and the omnipresent mobile phone shop. So I just strolled back into town, stopping off for a tasty strawberry milkshake as the area is the strawberry capital of Bali.

Off for some dinner in a an empty restaurant. I opted for some fish from the freshwater lake, ended up with a plate of gourami. These places here cater for the day trade, where people pass by on their way to somehwere else. Maybe a bus will stop and everybody will wolf down lunch before hopping back on the bus and zooming off. Rather strange when everybody else leaves making it feel a bit of a ghost town. Sitting at table for 12 people, and I seemed to be the only tourist in town. Still at least there was a bar tucked away in the corner of the market, but this caters only for lunchtime drinkers, as it was shut before sunset, not much of pub with hours like that! A quiet night then and then next day it was North again to the coastal town of Lovina.

Ubud

2006-11-26T23:46:00.000-08:00

Arriving at Ubud I was met by some people touting business as I hadn’t planned anywhere to stay, I went along with one guy who had a homestay. Ubud is like a conglomeration of seven small villages. Still a small fairly quiet place, especially after Kuta. I headed down to Monkey Forest for a stroll along past the snatching monkeys. Somebody had their bottle of water nicked. Some people were feeding them bananas, which were quickly munched down. Some just look kinda bored. Among the shaded trees is a large real-size sculpture of two komodo dragons, you wouldn’t want to meet the real thing on a dark night, they are huge! One of the locals was telling me they have a poisonous bite, if bitten you have ten minutes to live! Not sure where legend meets fact here.

The owner of the guesthouse was one of the singers of the Kecak dance at night which I went along to see. Set in a small temple it plays out a story from the Mahabharata. Lots of singing and some dancing, some strange costumes, more chanting. A bad guy appeared looking strangely like the Grinch. Then after the story, a man did some firewalking, well sort of. More like kicking the fire apart! The fire was started with some coconut husks liberally doused in petrol and left to burn down. Then the guy came out riding a wooden horse, like a witch rides a broom. Strangely reminiscent of the Muslim ceremony I saw in Singapore, except this was Hindu. Seems to be in a trance, as at the end a couple of people rugby tackled him off the horse, and he flopped down on the ground sweating.

The next day I took a long walk between some of the villages in the outskirts of Ubud. Very nice scenery of green forest and lush paddy fields, terraced over the hills. I reached a small temple where a carved wall depicts Ganesh and some of his mates. An old lady quickly flicked water on me and then hand out for the 1000 rupiah for the blessing. Huh, what? Oh well I gave her the money and she let me take some photos and then she was all smiles. I clambered out the end of the temple and along a small stream and emerged in a rice terrace, I ascended up the ridges and then I came back to the road. Not quite the way I planned to continue but at least I was back on track for my next stop Elephant Cave. Not much of a cave, it must have been a fairly small elephant as the cave wasn’t that big! I had a chat with one of the people in the temple, she was learning Japanese so she could be a tour guide, and of course English too. Back on the road I nipped into a small museum where the curator/security guard showed me round as I was the only visitor. Of course a small donation was required at the end! But no entrance fee, so I just gave him a little and he seemed happy enough. Not that much to see here, a few archeological exhibits with some sarcophagus for the formerly important people.

Another day and it was off for nosy round the new botanical gardens. After a long walk I eventually reached it, seemed a lot further than the <2 km I had read. Anyway I went to the ticket office and it said it seemed expensive at 50,000 and instantly I got special price, out with the 40% discount stamp. Prices do seem very variable here, although sometime they have a take it or leave attitude, other times they are happy to barter. Like the geezers on the beach selling necklaces, pendants, watches, etc have their “sunset price” for the end of the day! Anyway I had a stroll round the gardens which were nicely set out although the tropical section had been closed due to flooding. Spotted a strange long-toed lizard with a yellow flash along the side. Eventually I managed to get my photo of it, before it disappeared into the undergrowth. After strolling around the gardens I again set out on foot up past a small village and round to the place where the herons sleep. I asked somebody at the gardens about it and they didn’t think there was that many birds, but they were wrong, hundreds if not thousands crowded the trees. Very distinctive with there white body and red spiky feathered head, like Punk birds with red mohicans!
Back into town, and after working up a thirst birdwatching it seemed like a good chance to try the Bali Hai beer. A bit on the smooth frothy side, I’ll stick to the Bintang which is crisper, yes I’m a lager connoisseur!

Bali

2006-11-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

And so it was off across the Equator for the first time, no doubt I’m supposed to be tarred and feathered and hung overboard for Trident to devour should he wish, but I skipped this ritual by taking the plane. Arriving at Bali, Kuta is just a short taxi ride away. I got dropped off at the edge of Poppies 1, the small narrow lanes here are known as gangs. They are a bit small for cars to pass along mostly, although plenty do try. I navigated my way sucessfully to my guesthouse of choice (The Oberoi was full!), a minor miracle that I didn’t get lost. That however was not to last long, on the next days exploration I was lost quite a few times. Around here there are lots of small restaurants known as warungs, lots of tourists shops selling the usual clatter and lots of guesthouses. If you head the right way you will pop out at Kuta beach, a long curve of decent sands, with decent waves. Of course Bali is surfing land, people traipsing about with their boards talking about “barreling through tubes”, yeah like totally dude!

As you walk around Bali you will get assailed with cries of “Transport!”, guys with motorbikes or taxis looking to take you for a ride. If you don’t get used to ignoring them then half the your trip will be spent saying “No Thanks”. Although Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country, Bali itself is actually Hindu. Or a slight variation on traditonal Hinduism as they are allowed to eat beef. Good for steaks, bad for cows. Dotted around the ground all over Bali are offerings to the various Gods. These are small squares of banana leaf, colourfully filled with flowers, paper, maybe some fruit or rice and generally topped off with a Ritz biscuit! Back down on the beach a bit further north of Kuta at Seminyak, I encountered a ceremony, where people were decked in fancy clothes and had large parasols. I didn’t really know what was going on looked like some sort of ritual. They threw some food and a bird into the waves, and then turned around and left. The bird got thrown about a bit in the waves, but eventually made it back to calmer waters, looking somewhat worse for wear. One guy plucked it up from the waves and placed it on dry land, but it just keeled over backwards. Nobody else seemed interested in the fate of the bird, so it must of served its purpose.

As th suns drops down out the sky, Kuta beach has the perfect view for sunsets. The surfers are still out there, not much daylight left. A few locals have grouped together for an energitic game of volleyball. Further south, the beach is lined with makeshift football fields as the guys scamper around in the sand chasing a round ball of air. No jumpers for goalposts here, a couple of sticks or two mounds of wet sand will do.

I had chatted to a couple of people at lunchtime, a Swiss woman and her Balinese boyfriend who owns a bar, so I met back up at nightime. There was a small band playing some live music, who were pretty good. A few more people turned up and we headed out to some of the clubs. No cover charge here so people straggle from one club to another until one of the clubs gets busy. Anyway by the time I made it back I was near enough supposed to be getting up for my bus to Ubud the next day. Suffice to say I slept in a bit, still it was a good night and I managed to get the ticket changed so the day after I did head off to Ubud.

Wandering Around....

2006-10-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

After Hangzhou I got a cheap flight down to Guangzhou staying again on Shaiman Island. It is so much easier finding your guesthouse when you’ve been there before! And now just a few short months later they had built a handy bridge over the highway. A few nice restaurants dot the island, perfect place for a slow lunch. Next a short train journey brought me back to Hong Kong again staying in the same place, the somewhat crumbling and optimistically named Mirador Mansions. From the outside of the building the surface is pitted with air-conditioning units, cheerily dripping water on unsuspecting pedestrians far below. A huge mixing pot of cultures is in evidence just by the way people dress. From saris to burkhas to suits and back, you’ll see it here.

I took a stroll around snapping pictures, coming across some sort of demonstration that had brought out the local TV crew. Although I doubt it was adhoc as small area was tagged as the demonstration area. The only other bit of English writing said “Legislation Now!”, so I’ve no idea what it was about. The Hong Kong media must be a lot freer than the mainland Chinese media. Down at the ferry there is people handing out leaflets about how practioners of a religious group, Falun Gong, are persecuted. According to them prisoners are being used as organ donors. Hospitals will arrange for liver transplants from freshly executed prisoners. More .here.

Onto Macau, which has a couple of fancy new expensive casinos added since last time I was here! Reports indicate it is expected to overtake the Las Vegas strip profit, and become the world’s premiere gambling spot. Did I mention the new six star hotel, they were fully booked so I had to stay elsewhere :) Oh yeah, one of the casinos is underwater…. strange place Macau. I opted for a rather delicious dinner in a nearby restaurant of which Macau has many. It was from here I flew over to Bangkok and into the fancy new airport. For some reason the Air Asia flight were already flying into Suavbhumi airport a day before the official opening. As they were only a handful of flights it was very quiet, allowing me to change my money and get onward transport without too much a headache.

A short stay in Bangkok, the most memorable event being sipping a beer on the 83rd floor of the Baiyoke Tower. Interesting to try and work out the layout of a big city from up in the sky. Back down on ground level a stroll around Khao San road is always interesting the ideal people watching road! Dotted around are people getting their hair braided, just browsing through the stalls, or sitting in a roadside café watching people watching the people go by. Good place to pick up some new books as well, I offloaded my LP China and bought a couple of novels. Food ranges from simple food on a skewer to the ubiquitous rice with something/anything dishes. I spotted a “British Café” which had fish and chips, but it didn’t really taste like home, where’s the grease??

I had to decide to nip back to Chiang Mai and pop into the dentist as they had advised that I need a filling, but I was flying to China the next day. I had one look at the dentists in China and decided it could wait. They are like barbershops where you are sat in a chair beside the window and then your teeth are all pulled out because of a verbal misunderstanding. At least that’s what I imagine would happen. I did go into one place but stumped them by asking if anyone speaks English.

So back in Chiang Mai but the next free time is not for ten days, and so off again. This time a winding bus ride through the hills to the valley hangout of Pai. A cluster of guesthouse, cafes and bars set pretty much in the middle of nowhere. A few long timers hiding out here, not surprising as you can get a house in beautiful surroundings for 4000baht/month. T-Shirt vendors sell shirts proclaiming “I did nothing in Pai” and yes it is a relaxing place, kick back read a book, listen to some music at night.

Quite lively on Friday with a few band playing on a stage in the main street. Some “imaginative” ska dancing was seen. Winner of the best dancer goes to the guy with the mullet, as he was also making the singer laugh when burning down the dancefloor. In contrast Saturday seemed dead, didn’t seem to be anything happening, maybe it was too early in the night, maybe it was Sunday? Easy place to lose track of the days! Anyway I decided to rent a bike and the weather gods decided to throw a bucket of rain on my head. I pushed on to Pai Canyon regardless. A curious natural phenomenon where a tiny ridge pathway is left while the surrounding ground has been eroded into a sheer drop. Only about 1/2m wide at some points, you should watch your balance if you don’t want to die! After surviving that I jumped back on the bike and past a World War II bridge built here. The idea being to push Japanese troops up from Bangkok to Burma. Over the river I looked about for a place to get a drink. I asked a Thai restaurant having a somewhat confused conversation. I thought they had coffee, but they were saying there is a café around the corner. I found this Café Del Doi, nice views over the Pai River here. After a refreshing grape juice back on the bike and past a handful of elephant camps, and just beating more rain to head back into Pai town proper.

I jumped on the bus onwards to Mae Hong Son, a small town of only 7000 people, but curiously enough with its one airport. A fact very apparent when I headed up to the temple on the hill and had a look out over the town. The airport runway strip appears slap bang in the middle of town! Trekking is probably the most popular activity out this way, but I just bought new shoes and have blisters breaking them in. Cue “Aaaaaw” from the audience. I thought I might take a bus or songthaew out to Fish Cave to have a look around, but after talking to the guesthouse staff it seemed that was ruled out. I would be able to get there, I just wouldn’t get any transport back! Oh well, at least I was given a free bottle of Lychee Wine, which taste as good as you would imagine. Some more live music here, although more traditional Thai music than most in Pai. There is a carnival in town at the moment bringing all the excitement with it. The most popular thing has to be bingo, closely followed by a game of pop the balloons with the darts and win a cuddly toy. Although it was mostly traditional music, it did lapse into reggae for a few songs, which was a bit unexpected. Shabba!

Heading back to the dentist in Chiang Mai, I broke the journey with another couple of days at Pai again. On the bus I met a young English bloke, Rob, who had been teaching English in a Karen village. The Karen are one of the best known hill tribe as some of the tribes wear the golden neck bracelets which depresses the collar bone giving the appearance of a long neck, hence the long-neck Karen tours. Although where Rob was teaching they didn’t have this practice. Having been on in the sticks for a couple of months, he was salvating at the wide choice of Western food in Pai. I think he lived of fish for two months. After a satisfying dinner, I had the exotic pork chops, we headed out to the edge of town to a bar called BeBop. But as there was a power cut nothing was happening, no music. Still at least you could see the Milky Way!

After the dentist in Chiang Mai I flew down to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I organised my plans for the rest of the year. One of the goods things about KL is the food and the fact I can read the menu (mostly)! Lots of Malaysian/Indian food is available for reasonable prices. Although I couldn’t find a thali, I settled for a Nasi Daging (spicy beef with rice) with a dosa (big crepe with a couple of dipping sauces). A simple breakfast if Roti Canai, flatbread with sauce and Milo Ais (Iced Chocolate Milkshake) Of course I had to have Ayam Goreng (Fried Chicken) always seems delicious in Malaysia. Another tasty dish was Ikan Bakar (Grilled Fish), stringray cooked on a hotplate. The fish was slitted and covered in salt, and then the sauce was rubbed in before being cooked on a hotplate with oil. Also very tasty, although the sidedish of sauce was too spicy for me. A stroll around, refreshed the memories, although I still got lost. Mostly in Times Square, a massive 10-13 level shopping mall, with 5 basements judging from the lift buttons (could be the carpark?) Next stop was a bus journey back up to the Spice Island, Penang. Well except all the buses were full, so I jumped on a bus heading North to the Cameron Highlands for a quick look about. Nice enough place, but probably better to stay outside the town in the natural surroundings, but that would entail an expensive resort! I took a stroll through the woods on a trail, heading up to the top of the hill and rising above was the watchtower. Good views from the top across the rolling hills, in the distance some rain coming in, back to the hotel! Next day I got the slow bus to Penang, going along down these winding roads takes hours

Hangzhou

2006-10-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

After a couple of hours on the train it was off to Hangzhou, renowned for its natural beauty. Well actual most of the scenery is centered around an artificial lake, so maybe not quite so natural, but still a nice place. Apparently one of the top places to live in China. Around the imaginatively named West Lake, inspiration for many Chinese painters and poets, there are a large number of cafes and restaurants many shaded by drooping trees. I suspect lots of money was spent in landscaping around here. Although most people outside of China probably have never heard of it, it has more people than the whole of Scotland (not unusual for Chinese cities!).

A swanky new shopping centre has just been opening promoting an on the up feel to the city, it seems to be a popular place to teach English, but more importantly it is THE place to go if you want to buy a pair of scissors, yep not just famed for it’s legendary West Lake it is also China’s number one place to stock up on quality scissor equipment! This was evident on a visit to the new museum, not quite sure if it is officialy opened as there was no ticket officer so no charge, extremely unusual for China, where most parks have an admission fee. A dazzling array of scissorial equipment was here in evidence, well okay there was a cabinet displaying a variety of scissors, i.e. different sizes. Round the corner lay a large collection of stuffed animals, showing the wildlife around Hangzhou.

Back outside some house boats cruise gently through the lake staying clear of the splattering of lillies. On the dry ground some sculptures lurk in amongst the park gardens. One sculpture however is in the lake, a large cow. Moo! Some work going on in the park with new sculptures, maybe for the Olympics. One other sculpture sits on the lake, looks like the God of Sea, but only two spikes on his trident/bident. In a noiser corner of the park, the crowds of old men gather for there is card games to be played, domino matches to win. In addition a few musicians scratch out their tunes, some better than others. Interesting to see the music sheets, with the tab-like notation not entirely sure if/how rythmn is notated, maybe it’s all in the interpration.

Shanhgai

2006-10-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Shanghai the weather had got wet, it had decided to rain… and rain. Undeterred by mere rain clouds I set out to have a look around. The guesthouse seemed to be basically the top floor of an old folk’s home, every time you go down the stairs the same old Chinese people are sitting in chairs, dreaming. Being a bit of a distance away from the main downtown area meant figuring out the buses, always a challenge in a foreign country. At least the bus stop was right outside the guesthouse. The main bus route leads down one big road to the riverside. Only trouble with this is all the bus stops are called Yannan Road. I just stayed on the crowded bus until the end of the line which ends at the Bund, Shanghai’s famous historical district. Lots of European architecture, home primarily to banks & high fashion stores now. Across the river stands a giant tower, this can be reached by taking the tourist tunnel underground. Not quite sure who come up with this strange ride. You hop on a small four-person train carriage and it rolls away down the tunnel as the psychedelic light show begins. On through more lights and “meteor showers” and waving air-people before reaching the other side. All very odd.

Over the river there are some giant shopping malls and more rain! I headed into a small museum which had some wildlife exhibits, but in a very Chinese way. The stuffed turtle was covered in coins and notes, as was the crocodile. Money thrown in by visitors hoping for luck. I noticed another turtle with coins on its back and notes covering the floor, I was a bit surprised to see that it was alive! At least it has its shell to protect itself from the coins being thrown onto it.

Another day I headed off to the art museum which was really rather good. There was a large cultural festival being thrown around this time so lots of exhibits. Some of them were somewhat curious, such as the room filled with toy JCB’s whirring about. Or the multimedia area where a camera is placed above a table and then a processed image is projected back onto the table. This allows a rather strange display where it looks like a river of colour flowing across the table, controlled by the placement of the cups and saucers, or even a wave of the hand which leave a wake or ripple of light. Mmm, hard to explain! Later at night I went for a drink, I got a glass of beer and a 3quid+ bill, “Happy Hour” the waitress explained, yikes! Turned out it was 2 for 1 as another one arrived when the first finished, so not so bad. I saw a poster for the Scottish Woman’s Cricket Team, I wonder what was greater the number of players or the number of spectators? Well anyway I managed to make it out without being Shanghaied<

Beijing

2006-09-25T01:02:00.000-07:00

First stop, the largest public square in the world, Tiananmen Square, full of milling crowds. At the south end sits the Front Gate however the walls are now gone and the gate is fenced off. Heading onwards Mao’s Mausoleum draws flocks of Chinese tourists as does the Gate of Heavenly Peace where a portrait of Chairman Mao resides below which tourists pose for photos. Around the park stony faced policemen and soldiers keep things in order, standing beside socialist statues. About the only thing allowed seems to be kites, some are large, others are strung together to create a line of twenty or so small kites.

Continuing North you get to Forbidden City, a million square metres and 999 rooms, although not all opened to the public. The Forbidden City is actual a museum, hosting all sorts of exhibits of how life was for the Emperors and friends. Seems like they basically stayed walled up in the centre of Beijing unless they really had to go out, in which case get the sedan chair. Maybe they spent their days drinking tea beside the rockeries in the garden.

I headed off to see the Chinese acrobatics at night. They were excellent! All sorts of displays from spinning plates to somersaults. People flicking five bowls through the air from one foot onto their heads, while riding a unicycle! There was one bendy gymnast doing impossible things. If you can do this you might want to join the Chinese acrobatics.

1) Lie on your back and do a full length wise 360 revolution, like a slow roly-poly.

Okay, now point all limbs up and repeat with a wineglass (or nine) on the palms of your hands, base of your feet and on your forehead. Yes, they always have to face the ceiling as you rotate. You would bet your mortgage it couldn’t be done, sounds impossible right? But somehow it was done!

Next day it was off for a stroll along a few of the old shops. Some guy was trying to sell me tiny shoes “Ming Dynasty!!”, yeah sure. A few old posters being sold with translations such as “You workers are going good.”. As well as the usual chop shops where you can get your named carved on a stamp, of course they convert your name into Chinese and then you come back later and pick it up. They probably give you a stamp that says “Duty Paid” or “Made In China” and claim it is your name!

After that it was down to The Temple of Heaven park, a pot pourri of all sorts of activities going on here. From people practising acrobatics to playing tennis, and everything inbetween such as hacksack, dominoes, bat & ball, selling rolexs, Chinese checkers, ballroom dancing or playing cards, it was all going on. I demonstated my acrobatic atheletism by catching hoops on my head! I had been watching these a handful of people practising with a soft aeroba/hollow frisbee throwing and then jumping up and catching round their necks. Then one guy motioned me to join them, actually pretty easy as the skill is more in the throwing than the catching, just duck your head a little at the right point.

Speaking of ducks, that night I headed to Quanjude Restaurant for the famous Beijing Duck or Peking Duck as it’s still better known. Yummy! It was delicious. Didn’t get a whole lot of meat off half a duck, but it was good quality, although I left the head/brains.
Just for comparative purposes I tried it somewhere else again whilst in Beijing, more meat but not quite as nice.

Next day I had a stroll through the commerical district where modern Beijing is found. Shopping malls line the pedestrianised area, as the tills ring out. In contrast to this the old alleyways (called hutongs) are a step back in time. People live, work and shop in these narrow lanes. At the entrance rickshaw drivers holler “Hutong! Hutong!” trying to entice lazy tourists to hop on for a tour, but these are perfect streets for walking.

For some food I headed off to Xuan Wang Home Cooking restaurant where I had some tasty sweet & sour cucumber, a dish for all those cucumber naysayers! Along with this deep fried spare ribs with pepper salt, another very tasty dish. Although a bit too much fat for my tastes. Then it was off to the Summer Palace a large park complex with the old buildings inside. This took quite a while to stroll around!

I went along to the Beijing Opera. This was a performance aimed at tourists, so they had subtitles broadcasted on a big screen throughout the show. Although sometimes the English was a bit wonky, it started with “I have left the nunnery in a hurry!”. A girl runs away to find her boyfriend, she is helped by an old boatman. It was quite clever the way the old boatman and the girl moved around as if in a boat. There was a couple of other stories and even some gymnastics thrown in as people somersaulted through the air.

“He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man” – Mao Zedong.
With that thought in mind it was up early(ish) the next morning to jump on the bus to Badaling where a portion of the Great Wall resides. It was actually fairly tough going, it was a lot steeper than I imagined it would be, but there was some handrails. Great view across the countryside where the wall snakes along the mountain ridges off into the distance. Whilst quite touristy it wasn’t as bad as the Lonely Planet suggests, although I didn’t go on the weekend. Plenty of space to move about, and I was expecting vendors selling stuff anyway. Some people cheat and take the cable car up, strangely enough there was a camel lurking on a section of the wall. I think he was just there for tourists to jump on and get there picture taken though. After knackering myself out, it was back to Beijing where I decided to stay for the Beijing Pop Festival.

The pop festival was held in Chaoyang park in the east of the city. A two day festival where a few Western bands were playing. It was certainly a bit different from the festivals in Britain. For a start there was no beer! A huge police presence kept things under control. The area in front of the stage was cordoned off for around 500 seats. The standing area was a 100m back from the stage. In the centre, from front to back, of the standing area police sat every 5m, no people were allowed to stand there. Every hour or two they would stand up and march off as new police came on duty. I did see one Westerner getting carted off with two policemen a limb, legs over head. He was taken off to a policevan with blacked out windows. The music was okay although the headliners on the first night gave the impression of wanting to be elsewhere. Not much crowd feedback, fairly quiet and subdued. The only time things got going really was with big haired 80’s spandex rocker Sebastian Bach (didn’t he die in the 18th century?) took the stage! The Chinese seemed to know his songs and sang along. After a bit of pushing at the front, extra police were quickly drafted in to sort out the barriers. Supergrass finished off the event and within 5 minutes, they annoucement that the festival has finished please disperse came over the tannoys and so I headed for Shanghai.

Datong

2006-09-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

I got a hotel opposite the train station in Datong, they didn't speak much English. Turned out I don't get a key for my room, I have to fetch the service person to open the door for me, strange. And I had to pay what I thought was a key deposit! (Still I got it back when I checked out)

I headed downtown to have a look at the nine dragon screen. Which is a screen with nine dragons on it (What would you do without me??). It's 45m long and apparently the oldest glazed dragon wall in China. At least that's how it's advertised. As that took all of about 5 minutes to see, I headed off for some food. Californian Beef Noodles from Mr. Lee was the dish of the day. Seems a bit strange for an American to be selling noodles to the Chinese, no? Or maybe it is the beef that is from California, anyway not nearly as good as Pingyao beef. Although not that far from Beijing the locals don't seem too used to tourists. When I was walking about town, you would often hear "Hello!?"

The next day a visit to the Hanging Monastery. A monastery perched on the side of a mountain. The reaon for this was that the local people were having troubles with floods and so put the monastery 100m above the river safe from harm. Now after the 1500 years of silt it sits 50m above ground. The river had now been dammed. Due to it's location, it is protected from the wind at the sides and rains from above and most sun (a mountain opposite blocks the light for all but 2 hours a day). This had allowed the wood to survive for such a long time, which is just as well given that we were traipsing round the narrow passageways. Inside many of the buddhas were headless having been hacked off by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. The fingers were cut off the main ones, the guide said the guards were too scared to chop off the head of the main buddhas.

Next it was off to Yungang caves. The caves are reputed to hold over 50,000 buddhist statues! The main caves are 5-20, these are in the best conditions and hold the largest buddhas. Buddhas everywhere! Some big, some small, some painted, some bare. The big buddhas were carved from the rock, a small tunnel is created 20m above ground level and then the process of carving begins downwards. Dragging the dirt back out the entrance tunnel, the buddha emerges from the rock and finally the main entrance is carved away creating the cave.

Pingyao

2006-09-21T01:27:00.000-07:00

Back in the good old days of the Ming and Qing dynasty this was a boom town establishing China's first bank. After the dynasty collapsed Pingyao remained pretty much unchanged and still has the old city wall round the centre. In 1997 Pingyao was listed as a Unesco World Hertiage Site.

I bought the ticket which allows you in to see most of the sights. The trick is finding them, as they are all listed in Chinese and you don;t get a map. Many old banks and their courtyards. Some job descriptions on the walls such as eyeing the colour of the silver. Stopping off at the main museum to have a look around. The exhbits range from a prison complete with brick bed and wooden pillow, to torture equipment and stocks. A strange wooden horse with a bed nails on its back confirms my intention to stay on the good side of the Chinese.

For some reasons lots of fire fighting equipement everywhere from buckets and spades to small bags of sands, they used to make sure a well had heated water in the winter in case of fire, no use trying to dip a bucket into a frozen well. Still most of the buildings are brick. Rather wet the next day and it just rained all day. I headed out for a quick look about and decided to pop back at 15.30 for a play. After getting soaked I found out the play wasn't on as it was supposed to be outdoors. Bit of a non-event.

I tried the Pingyao beef which is famous throughout China as being yummy and it is!
Very tender served up with potato a filling meal but excellent. So good I had the same next day as well. Set off the next morning on a bike to a temple a short distance outside town with a Canadian guy. Ended up pedalling through mud due to the amount of rain yesterday some of Pingyao was flooded, and where it wasn't muddy it was dusty. Not allowed any photos in the halls of the temple, which was a shame as the Canadian had brought a backpack full of photgraphic equipment. Inside was some strange carvings, reminded me of a backdrop for a play, with the mutiple levels of the carvings.

In the afternoon I headed up onto the city walls and took the 6km walk round the perimeter. Take some photos of rooftops and I even snapped a picture of the Ready-Brek pigeon. Pingyao is a bit more shambolic than most of the cities in China, more rubble and bricks holding down the roofs.

Xian

2006-08-30T04:14:00.000-07:00

** Due to my inability to read Chinese I clicked on the wrong button last time and didn't publish my posts, just noticed. So FOUR(4!) new posts for ya'll. This one being my hundredth post, I await a telegram from the Queen!

Arriving in Xian, nobody else seems to getting off the train which continued all the way to Shanghai. But at least I did get off at the right station. Actually on the Chinese trains you swap your ticket for a bit of plastic with your bed number and then 30-60 mins before the stop the conductor swaps your plastic back for your ticket (which you need to get out the station!). Well at least that's how it has worked so far.

My guesthouse was quite near the station, I just needed to turn right (or was it left) and walk along the road for 10 minutes. And then zonk out, never seem to sleep well on the trains. Anyhows, Xian is a large city with over six and half million residents, most of them milling around the train station. Not helping matters is the fact that there are several bus stations abutting onto this area. Large city walls surround the centre where the large bell tower sits in a traffic roundabout. A modern city it is filled with retail shops, shopping malls and lots of hairdressers for some reason. This being China, you don't just get a shop filled with shoes you get a street filled with shops filled with shoes, great if your Imelda Marcos. In the streets around there are some food stalls serving up chicken feet, pigs intestines and other such delicacies. I opted for a chicken dumpling, while it was certainly was a dumpling not sure if it was chicken (maybe sometime better not to know)

Next day I checked my guidebook, the 306 bus heads off to the Army of the Terracotta Warriors. Outside I had a brain freeze and jump on the 608 bus. Unsurprisingly I didn't make it to the Terracotta Warriors, but ended up with a tour of Xian Industrial Estate instead, ending at the bus washing area. By the time I make it back and re-check my guidebook half the day has gone, oh well there is always tomorrow.

Next day I checked my guidebook, the 306 bus heads off to the Army of the Terracotta Warriors. Outside I jump on the 306 bus, well not quite jump as there is a sizable queue of people (mostly tourists, hence the queue instead of a scrum). Arriving at the vast grounds, people jump off buses into electric carts to be taken up to the entrance. Or you could walk! I was mildly surprised to see that the price was still 90yuan, probably about the only tourist attraction that hasn't suffered a price hike, since my guidebook was written (way back in 2005)

Qin Shi Huang might have pegged it back in 210B.C. but his ego lives on. The Terracotta Army guards his tomb, and chances are, he may have been a bit of a meglomaniac. He did however unite China and standardise the currency and writing.

Inside you enter into Pit 1 and it is massive, football stadium sized, complete with football sized crowds! 230 metres by 62 metres, which by quick mental calculation (ahem) is 14,260 square metres. First discovered in 1974, only 4000 square metres have actually been excavated. So far 2000 warriors have been discovered, it is likely to hold another 4000! Originally all the warriors held bronze weapons such as crossbows, spears, axes, swords, halberds etc. Apparently more than 10,000 pieces have been recovered but are not on display. The warriors are lined up in battle formation, each crafted with unique facial features. Some horses are found at the rear of the pit wooden chariots were originally buried alongside. A bronze chariot has been recovered and is on display at the museum, alongside some impressive individual warriors and a fat guy who was the commander!

Pit 2 and 3 are much smaller, not nearly as much to see as Pit 1, although there is thought to be another one thousand warriors in Pit 2. Full excavation of the pits could take decades (That is what happens when you dig with a toothbrush!).

Back in Xian I had a gander at Big Goose Pagoda? (b-doom tisssshh!)
Set in pleasant garden surroundings, there was a few halls with some artwork to see. In the shop a wolf-headed man statue sticks it tongue out at you while menancingly holding a couple of sticks, strange. Also a black chicken roamed the garden! Did you know that even its bones are black? Well, now you do!

Chengdu

2006-08-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

If you can catch a glimpse through the crowds, through the fingerprinted glass and through the incubator, you may see what looks like a giant rat, but in fact it is a baby panda. Well at least that what the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base are claiming, and who can blame them after all pandas are big business. Want to rent one for your zoo? You'd better pony up a million bucks per YEAR. What you're not a member of our Panda renting club? No problem, fill out the application form and enclose a cheque for $600,000 and you can begin to rent out pandas immediately!

Still they do look cute & cuddly and a little bit daft. After traipsing through the park for a bit we came across one who was out and about in the early morning. Mind you for ten minutes he sat with his back to the visitors, eventually turning round for the whizz flash of the cameras. A couple more came out, rolled around, ate some bamboo, and went back to sleep.

In another bit of the park, a red panda lurked hiding behind the branches. Sulking at all the attention his famous black and white cousins get, while he has to sit here alone, with barely a camera click to keep him company. Back in the parking lot a maze of panda shops selling pandas of all shapes and sizes (but not colour!). Eek, I just want a coke!

Back in Chengdu my main landmark for orientation was a huge seven storeyed ship-shapped club. Down at the riverside park, old people were doing that old classic exercise of walking around backwards, which helps what??

Next day it was off to Leshan. Here there is a whole lotta buddhas and assorted other statues and carvings. A large buddha, dwarfing tourists appeared round the corner, but that wasn't even the Giant Buddha. Some smaller but still large carvings surrounded the stairs. Padlocks sprouting out the handrail for some reason, must be for blessings or luck I'm guessing. Inside the hall an impressive statue of Guanyin is carved into the walls, while not quite having one thousands hands, probably has more than a thousands fingers! After a bit more of a walk the Giant Buddha appeared. A supersized whopper of a Buddha. Officialy the World's largest standing Buddha at 71m, he's pretty damn big! Unfortunately he's also very popular, meaning the winding queue down to his toes was over two hours, longer than I cared to wait to see some giant toes. I had a look about the rest of the park, the other interesting sight was the hall of arhats at the Wuyou Temple. An arhat being a Chinese celestial being, these were modelled clay and painted each with unique posture and expression. Claimed to be 1000 of them, but I reckoned closer to 500. Still impressive though, but like a few places in China, no photos allowed :(

As I got back in Chengdu walked past an outdoor pub with a giant cinema screen showing Braveheart! Then there was a woman doing some crazy tea pouring, a long stemmed pot is twirled around the body and then poured into cups. Doing tricks like pouring with the spout on the knee, or over the back. Probably cold by the time they pour in it your cup!

Trekking TLG

2006-08-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

I arrived at the bus stop in the morning hoping to leap on a Zhongdian bound bus. Accordingly to the guide book there were around 11 buses a day heading up. Turned out to be 2. The next one was not for 4 hours. Some other people were in the same situation and we managed to haggle a mini-bus for a decent price. So off we went. Arriving after a couple of hours, me and Gene decided to stop for a bite to eat, while the other two were eager to set off immediately and had a pack lunch stowed in their packs. Gene is originally from America, but spent three years in Africa and now six years in South Korea teaching English.

TLG is better known as Tiger Leaping Gorge (by people who don't have to type out blog entries). Somewhere deep in the Tibetan plateau begins the Yangzi River, the third longest river in the world. It winds its way down through and across China all the way to Shanghai, 6300 km away. Here the Yangzi is squeezed between Haba Mountain and Jade Snow Dragon Mountain, creating the gorge where a tiger is said to have leapt across, hence the odd name.

Heading out from the lunch spot, we soon wondered if we were going the right way, as a large track veered off to the left, but with no signposts either way we decided on keeping straight. The high trail starts and at the first major bend, we reach a delta where we again get confused, shouldn't we be on the other side?? Nope, it turns out we are going round the corner, where we are greeted by the first sight of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain or Yulong Xueshan, which tops out at an impressive 5,500m. Continuing on we reached the 26 bends which is basically a big zig-zagging climb to the highest point in the trek. Sweatily we reach the summit as pose for the obligatory photograph with the mountains in the backdrop. A slight haze, desaturates the colour in the background and it looks like I've been cut and pasted into the photograph, but I really did make it up there honest!
It will hard to do justice to the spectacular scenery, or the steepness of the gorge in places, you just can't replicate that in a photograph.

About a couple of hours after the summit we dropped in to a guesthouse, where facilities were basic, but the food was pretty good! Tasty baba bread with chives. Here it has no yeast, served as a flat bread and better than it's doughy cousin served in Lijiang the later tasting like pizza base. The toilet is a trench, with mountain scenery. i.e. no door, the Chinese are not big on privacy!

The next day start early and soon underway, through small villages clinging to the mountainside, with the famous Chinese terraces farming style in evidence in patches. Sure footed mountain goats chew plants in perilous footholds. Onwards crossing over a waterfall, past noisy cicadas and more great scenery. Descending down the high path meets the low road. Arriving fairly early, Gene and I split, he wants to get the bus back to Lijiang, and I continue the trek. Pushing on is easy enough, just walking along the road rather than a path. I reach the ferry point and can see across the path as it zig-zags down the mountainside. I clamber down for an hour eventually reaching the ferry point, but there is no ferry! I climbed back up and make a choice, I can push on to the old ferry (and hope it is running) or head back to one of the guesthouses, about an hour walk back the way. I do the sensible thing and head back to spend a night in the guesthouse. Barely any traffic along the road and no telling how far till the next place with water.

Back at the guesthouse eat some food and zonk out. The next day, it is onto the old ferry, 3 hours down the road out the gorge and through a small village or two, past a handful of small rockslides. Up ahead a bang and dust floating up, as a lone rock fall from up above, a smattering of stones dot the road. On through a patch of sunflowers, and then wind down to the river. Squeeze past a herd of goats and jump onto the rustbucket of a ferry. On the other side I clamber up a really steep hill practically on all fours. Not until I get to the top and have an overview do I realise that the actual path takes a different route. Another 40 minutes or so gets me to the Snowflake hotel in the tiny village of Daju. Later on a French couple arrives and we have some tasty food with fried cheese & mushrooms, and a dish that seemed more Mediterranean than Chinese, with lots of tomatos and olive oil, all washed down with a beer. Next day hopped on a bus back to Lijiang and then it was onto Chengdu.

Into Lijiang

2006-08-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

Into Lijiang, another old town with cobbled streets, narrow alleyways, stone bridges and countless canals. Horrendous for getting lost in, despite lots of maps. At least I had my trust compass to point me North. In the hotel a classic sign in Chinglish, "Please don't worry if fire is occuring we hotel superior facilities to ansure you transmitted safely" Great! Keeping that in mind I set off for Black Dragon Pool, a large park which contained Elephant Hill. Quickly figuring out the prices in the guidebook are often useless for tourist attractions. Entrance price is listed at 20yuan, it has tripled to 60yuan. 4 quid to get into a park, sheesh! Don't think I'll be falling for that one again. Anyway inside there was a temple/school where scholars were learning about Naxi culture. The Naxi are one of the minority cultures around Lijiang. A Dongba is a head teacher, but this title is genealogical, only if your father, grandfather were Dongba, can you be a Donga. The teaching seemed to focus on preserving the culture. Naxi writing is interesting, the only heiroglyphic language still in use. A young student eplained this to me, and suggested he could get his teacher to write my name in the writing for free? but the paper was expensive!

After strolling through the mouth of a dragon, not a real one, I headed up a set of seemingly never-ending steps, slowly climbing Elephant Hill. The occasional pagoda, provide shelter from the sun and a welcome rest. It was getting cooler up here, but the sun still burns! Eventually I made it to the top for some great views over the old town and the new city. A sweaty Chinese made it to the top also panting something along the lines of Oh Baba!? By the time I got back down I was all jellied legged.

Back at the North of the old town, a couple of waterwheels provides what seems to be the obligatory photo-shoot in Lijiang. Chances are that my arms, back of my head is in several pictures. Try and slip past the hundreds of tourists taking pictures. Umbrellas, to block the sun provide a dangerous obstacle. Next to the waterwheels is a large cobbled town square, where there are some people in traditonal dress having a song and dance. They seem to be practising, there a bit hit and miss with the dance steps, but seem to be enjoying it, faces full of concentration.

Inside the old town the streets are lined with shops selling all sorts. Lots of tourists memorabilia and knick-knacks. Shops titled such as the nine meter sunshine camel bell shop?are there for all your one meter sunshine camel bell needs. If you have any money left in your wallet you can snack on some dried yak meat, which seems popular. Or maybe purchase a kitten. On past the three wells, not exactly wells in the traditional senses as the are interlinked with the current washing through them. The highest is for drinking water, the next if for washing vegetables and the third for clothes. Interestingly the are still used in the traditonal ways, as they would have been for centuries before.

Stopping for a drink at a cafe overlooking the square, there was some intriguing choices for the brave. You could feast on five kinds of chicken stomach, some deep fried milk flakes, throw in some silk worm and finish with the "delicious water animal"
At night as darkness fell, there was more music and dance in Sifang square. People danced in a large circle round a small bonfire, well until the police came along and saw people enjoying themselves and broke it up. A handful of people were sending candles down the canals. Buy a candle boat and make a wish!

Dali

2006-08-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Dali, I jumped off the bus and try to get my orientation. Hmmm, seems I'm not where I want to be I'm in Dali City rather than old Dali. I head back to the bus station and ask somebody how to get to old Dali. They probably get asked all the time by confused backpackers. Off on the number 4 bus into town, after about half an hour arrive and get a room. Dali is a walled city with some old pedestrianised cobbled streets making for a nice quiet atmosphere, except for all the tourists!

A walk around town and you can see some of the forts. They are supposed to be restored, but they look more like they have been rebuilt. Quite a lot of cafes on the corners, often with the ingredients sitting at the door. Or past the butchers where a large hunk of meat hangs skewered on a hook for days and a bundle of unidentifiable fur lies in a heap. The town lies in the shadow of a 4000m mountain and then at the edge of the town lies some farmland and beyond that Erhai Hu, a large lake. I went for a stroll up the mountain and came across something. Never quite sure what I抦 paying to get into, is it a temple or a show? Anyway it was a bit of both it seemed. And quite a few shops. Walking past the yaks I sharpened my archery skills with the ol?bow and arrow. I think I need more practice. Inside a room, the shopkeeper magically appeared. A few Chinese tourists were getting dressed up in regal clothes and getting there photos taken, Kings and Queens for the day.

Back outside trumpets were playing as man in robe strolled through the village and read from a scroll. Not quite sure what this was all about, but they went upstairs in a house onto the balcony and throw some unfurling cloth down from there. Then a bit more speaking and they throw some flowers off the balcony which a young Chinese guy caught. He was whisked off upstairs and quickly given ceremonial dress, I assume he was married to the princess. Not speaking Chinese, I was somewhat lost about what was supposed to be going on! Not to worry, immediately next was the international language of stilts. As a group of acrobats ran about on long stilts, to fast music. They manage to do some crazy whirly stuff where the central figure turns with two people hanging on flying through the air. And then they were gone, a quick two minute show.

Back down in town water flows continually through the roads of Dali, which is built on a slight slope. Many scenic spots have been made where tourists take turns being photoed. Old merchants with a long pole over the shoulder and two balanced baskets hawk fruit. Woman dressed up in traditional dress try and get customers for restaurants.

The next day I cycled out of town to the village of Xizhou. I went down the main road and after about 15km found the turn off, a rather small place. They seem to still use cart and horse for moving stuff about, or just passenger transport. Corn lies in the streets, and outside the houses grows vegetables and herbs. After a look about I passed what looked like a pasta drying factory! I headed down towards the lake and try to head back to Dali. At the lake there was no clear track, I passed a few fishermen sorting out their nets. I pushed on but had to turn back as the track vanished to be replaced by hopping from rock to rock across the edge of the water. So back along the roads, but cobblestones don't make for a great cycling surface!

Yangshuo and onwards

2006-08-05T23:36:00.000-07:00

I grabbed a room near the bus-stop. Yangshuo is only an hour or so ride from Guilin. The next day I went on a bike-tour, it was a scorcher. I even bought one of these big Chinese hats to stop my brain from cooking. The guide led me down a few narrow lanes and she was right I would have got lost if I went myself! It was pleasant if too hot to ride through this strange scenery. Up ahead was Moon Hill a bizarre structure where a circular hole appears in the peak. Nearby was Buddha Water Cave and I went inside for a look. Also a couple of small dogs came along to be nosy. A guide showed us round the interior. Stalactites, malacites and all things strange! Time had shaped the cave walls into weird shapes, like a curtain of rock. I tried to take some pictures but it was dark and couldn抰 see much on the screen, later I realised I still had the camera lens cover on. Doh!

A professional photographer was lurking in the caves popping up to snap us now and again. An annoying little boy proclaimed to his mother that he was going to be famous, everybody loved him as he kept getting his photograph taken. His mum had to explain that the photographer was going to try and sell them the pictures later.

Afterwards a bit more of ride around and then back, too hot! Time for some ice-cream. At dinner I headed off to a caf?and had some nice duck. Not very exotic compared to the other things at the back of the menu but nice. If you were feeling adventurous you could buy a snake. 揚lay with it, photograph it, watch it being killed. Eat the flesh, drink the blood and keep the skin!?Hmmm. Think I抣l stick with the duck.

Now I had a lot of travelling ahead. But I just went slow 慶os I抦 lazy. Back to Guilin and then down to Nanning, before hopping on the sleeper train to Kunming. Bit of confusion regarding the ticket. The ticket man said 搉o have?and so I said how about the day after tomorrow and then some confused occurred eventually I ended up with a ticket for tomorrow, strange I thought. I just had a seat instead of a bed for the 14 hour ride, groan. Anyway eventually into Kunming and fall asleep there! The next day I had a look about, another big modern city. I tried to goto the temple I came across a ticket barrier was quite sure what it was (temple or park or both?), I ended up in the zoo as it happens. Lots of peacocks here, no pandas (except for the cuddly stuffed variety). Apparently it was one of the top ten zoos in China, and it was less than impressive. Animals like leopards in tiny cages. Onto the 1000 year old Yuantong temple. Lots of smoke and incense here, also seemed to be handed out some food which was very popular! Don抰 know if this is a daily occurrence or not. Kunming is famous for across the bridge noodles, where you get a few plates of raw food, the noodles and a boiling hot broth. When the broth arrives you throw in the egg, ham, bacon, chicken bits, green veg, pickle and noodles, give it a stir and eat. Quite tasty actually! Next stop Dali.

Guilin

2006-08-05T23:35:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Guilin, the touts descended and I embarked upon the customary hotel finding mission. After going up 6 flights of stairs with my backpack I found a room, and upon returning to reception and some commotion. Eventually I was handed a phone with someone who spoke a little English and I was told I couldn抰 stay there! It was for Chinese tourists. I said I was a tourist in China, but to no avail. Yeah thanks for that, you couldn抰 of told me that before seeing the room? Anyway I found somewhere to stay. I had hardly slept a wink on the train with the air-con blasting in my face all night, I now had a cold. I dumped my bag and went out for a look about, and shortly afterwards decided to go back to bed!

It rained for three days at the remnants of a typhoon reached Guilin. When the sun came out it was quite a pleasant green city with a few parks and rivers. Lots of electric bikes, silently whizzing along the roads (and pavements). In reaching a bridge a pagoda or two was revealed to be hiding round the bend of the river. Underneath the bridge in the cool shade a group of woman were dancercising. In a park some of the structures seemed a bit tacky such as 揟he Crystal Bridge?made out of clear plastic, still the Chinese tourists seem to lap it up, cameras snapping away.

Back in the city, there is a pedestrianised walkway containing lots of cafes and shops, and fast food joints. A bit further on, in the North of the city lies Solitary Peak a limestone karst thrusting up 150m. At the bottom of the peak is a few caves and some chinese writing carved into the rock. After a some steep stairs a good view of Guilin can be had from the top. You can see more of the limestone outcrops in the distance and that would be like my next stop Yangshuo.

Guangzhou

2006-07-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Guangzhou from Hong Kong and went through customs again in the train station. Then some tourism guy started chatting to me about my hotel and how it had closed. Hmmm. I just ignored him and hopped on the subway. Quite far to my destination Shaiman Island. I came out the subway and staggered around trying to get oriented, eventually dragged the guide book from the bag and pointed at the Chinese characters, and the I was pointed in the right direction. I asked somebody else again and she look terrified at the prospect of the "foreign devil" talking to her!

This island use to be a trading post for the British at one point and has a few old colonial buildings. It is a bit quieter than the rest of the town, with less traffic and more trees. There is an adoption centre on the island and this means a lot of foreigners, mostly Americans, pushing prams about with Chinese kids. Lots of signs up in the shops "Free Baby Stroller!" etc.

I headed into town for a look about, I found a large park and had a stroll through that. It was bigger than I thought, and I popped out a different exit. At least there are signs pointing towards the metro. A good system for getting about. I had a look at the train station and decided I would get my tickets from the travel agent instead of trying here. I wasn't expecting the travel agents to be so busy, it was mobbed everybody is going on holiday it seems. Eventually I managed to procure a sleeping ticket to Guilin.

That night I had a look around the waterfront. This is lit up with lots of neon, not quite Hong Kong style however. Lots of old(ish) people doing ballroom dancing on the esplanade. Or skating, cycling, exercising or walking backwards (I think, they think that it's good for you). I jumped on the ferry and headed across to the other side, quite a lot of bars over here, but not that busy on a Tuesday. A few bands playing some tunes, not very good though. There is even the occasional country yokel type gawping at the female singer.

Hong Kong Phooey

2006-07-21T01:39:00.000-07:00

Just an hour boat ride from Macau, and I was in Hong Kong. The metro links the ferry habour to Kowloon, an island south of Hong Kong island. After asking for directions to the metro I ventured forth. I had been told to go down the escalators at Starbucks. After wandering around, my eyes spotted a "OF" between two pillars. The advertising people will be glad that I instantly recognised it as the OF from STARBUCKS COFFEE, freaky!
I popped out at Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) stop, a short walk and I arrived at Mirador Mansion where my guesthouse should be located. I entered the building as a tout asked "Room? Come!" and charged off expecting me to follow, I lingered right and there was a lift, and even a business directory thing on the wall naming my guesthouse. So up to the twelfth floor and there was Cosmic Guesthouse sure enough. Very small room for the price, but it is Hong Kong!
A few blocks down in Chungking Mansion, full of dodgy looking geezers hanging about occasionally trying to sell fake watches etc.

I headed out for a look around. I headed north into the Kowloon harbour area. Here a couple of museums and the waterfront are located. I jumped on the Star Ferry, which goes between Kowloon and Hong Kong proper all day, just a short ride and cheap, only 2.2$HK. Seems like more of a business district over here. Lots of skywalks linking everthing together. I got lost in some giant shopping malls, and had a giant bowl of Laska, which wasn't as good as in Singapore!

Another day I went up to Victoria's Peak on the tram. The tram ride is very steep! But a great view when you get to the top. I got there around dusk, when all the neon starts coming on. Back down at the riverside in Kowloon I saw the 8 o'clock light show, where the lights on the building flash on and off and change colour. Strange seing it on a skyscraper scale.

The World Cup Final was on while I was in Hong Kong so I went over to Lan Kwai Fong to watch the match. Most of the places were packed, with table reservations in place as long as you spent 200$HK/person. I stood outside! It was still really humid at 02:00 and there wasn't that much atmosphere. By halftime I was falling asleep so I went back and watched the rest from the airconditioned comfort of my bed.

Then it was onto mainland China. I decided to jump on the train to Guanzhuo (pronounced more like gwanjo), and escape the traffic. After a bit of hustle and bustle at the train station (okay pushing and shoving!) just to get inside. All luggage is put throw an x-ray machine, although I didn't see anybody actually watching the monitor, but the actual train ride whizzed along smoothly.

Macau

2006-07-13T22:55:00.000-07:00

After my passport was heavily scrutinised at customs I was eventually let in. After checking every stamp in my passport, they stamped me in with an expiry date of 01/01/2007. I was only staying three days. When I came out, my luggage has disappeared from the conveyor belt as everybody else had left. Luckily one of the staff had picked if off and I collected it. Then change money, and find the bus. Then get some coins for the bus. Then get lost on the bus ride. I was jammed up the back with my backpack. One of the locals asked me where I was going, it happened a couple of people were going the same way, so I tagged along, jumping on a local bus and getting towards the street I wanted. I found my hotel, hiding in a tea-shop. Just a lift, like an oven, which only stopped at the 3rd floor. Then opens out to a hotel.

So once I got settled it was getting dark, so I popped out for a look around. First impressions is that there is a lot of beef jerky everywhere. Seems to be shops selling all sorts of variations on every corner. I opted for some salted codfish for dinner with potatoes and eggs. Lots of eggs, not much fish or potatoes it turned out.

Lots of museums here, so I had a look around a few of them. The Maritime museum had lots of ship models, including a chinese vessel with large boulders on tall logs with hinges for dropping down and smashing enemy ships. A formidable looking weapon. Also a model of a large 7 story Chinese war ship which was supposed to "shock and awe" the enemy into submission. Apparently it wasn't actually much use in war, just looked good!

Macau used to be a Portugese colony, granted after fending off the pirates, so there is some influece noticeable in the architecture especially around the city square, with the paved wiggly lines in a piazza-type setting. I heard a few people speaking some sort of Portuguese language, with some English thrown in. Although apparently the population is now 95% Chinese. There is a F3 race course round the city, similar to Monaco. I ended up walking round it, not by choice, but because I couldn't find a way to get off the road as it is walled in. I just wanted to cross the island. Some landfills are in operation which created Fishermans Wharf, which seems kinda tacky, with faux Roman ampi-theatre and strange mascots in spring costumes. Also a landfill area is NAPE, which if filled with tower blocks, pubs and restaurants. Apparently the north of Macua is the worlds most densely populated area.

I had a look at the F3 museum and the wine museum the next day. It was only 2quid for a pass to the top 6 museums, so not epensive. I then had a look at St. Pauls Ruins which as you may have guessed doesn't have much left, just the front facade of the old church. A small crypt houses some religous art at the back.

At night time the casino lights come on, and the rich people come out to throw their money away. I headed down to Casino Lisboa, the most famous casino on the island, to watch the action unfold. But it wasn't that exciting. I guess most of the big money, is won and lost in private rooms, don't want to mingle with the riff-raff such as myself. The other problem was I didn't have a clue about how the games worked, who had won or lost. Some strange card games. At least I just about understand roulette. Not exactly fast-paced though. I headed off to the a new casino the American owned Sands casino. With hundreds of slot machines lining the walls. Here in Macau the call them "Hungry Tiges", with jackpots heading into the millions of Patacas. Needless to say I didn't win anything.

I had a spot of Nasi Goreng Indonesian style served in bamboo, and for something local a portuguese egg tart, yummy. Next stop is the short hop over to Hong Kong.

And more cycling!

2006-07-06T03:40:00.000-07:00

Sukothai - Tak 70km

Quite an isolated ride in some sections, not much about. Tak is a small river side market town. Had a nice dinner of duck, need the energy! I saw some more of the World Cup on the TV. Off to bed.

Tak - Thoen 95km

More long rides, as the options for stopping around are limited. I suspect they aren't many hotels in Thoen either. I found one (the one?) they seemed to have quite a lot of cyclists as there is nowhere else to stay. I had an attached "cycling room" for storing the bike. I checked the net and there is tour groups that go through here. I had chicken curry, which was mostly bones. And my banana roti wasn't great either. Next stop Lampang.

Thoen - Lampang 90km

Ouch my legs hurt. I have a rest day here in Lampang and get a massage where lots of bones snap and crackle. There is a few nice riverside restaurant with some bands. I had a beer, and then went back to the hotel by 9pm and zonked out.

Lampang - Chiang Mai 110km

A final big push and back to Chiang Mai. An early start was in order, and I managed to get out of bed! Done a quick 40km, before breakfast. Unfortunately I ended going in a rather circutious route to get on the main road. Stopped off at a service station for some noodle power. Gah, a few hills give me problems, but mostly its the relentess rotating as the distance slowly drops away. I decided to take a small detour through Lamphun, as the road is quieter than the superhighway. I've cycled a few time between Lamphun and Chiang Mai so I was back on familiar territory for the last 30km. Or I would of been if I hadn't taken a wrong turn. Anyway I eventually get back to Chiang Mai, and head for a late lunch at Mike's Burgers. Yummy!

Off to Bangkok now. Just need to sell my bike. A couple of hours before I need to leave somebody buys my bike, yah! Get back about half price for the actual bike.
I did 2529km total in 4 months or so. Now I'm going to Bangkok for two knee transplants :)

Sleeper train down to Bangkok and head off to Banglamphu. I headed into town for lunch, at the rather posh Siam Paragon. Still a food hall, but a touch more upmarket than Chiang Mai. Like the porsche and lamborgini showrooms on the 2nd floor (umm, how to you get the cars out??)

I have a shave at the barbers, hey I want my chin back!
I pick up a copy of Lonely Planet China for the astronomical price of 1300baht (Around 20quid)

I get a taxi to the airport and crawl through the Bangkok traffic. Plenty of time to check-in. Next stop Macau!

More Cycling

2006-06-24T00:42:00.000-07:00

Phayao - Chiang Kham 80km

A fairly flat ride to get to Chiang Kham. This is the beginning of the hills into Nan though.

Chiang Kham - Pha Lang Kha 45km

A tough ride up and down the mountains, started okay, but lots of climbing. Finally found the hotel, 5kms further on than advertised. At least I hadn't gone past it, always a worry when there is not much up ahead. Situated at the top of a mountain overlooking a valley, with a nice view. A simple bungalow is the order of the day. At night time, some food is cooked and shared with the owner, his friend and his daughter(?). Not quite sure who she was, she couldn't speak, but was Thai with pale-blue eyes, strange. The owner and his friend guzzled a bottle of whisky that night. I just had a small shot as it would be up early tomorrow to tackle the mountains again. I can see the road winding down into the valley and then up the next ridge.

Pha Lang Kha - Tha Wang Pha 80km

Aye Carumba! A swelteringly tough ride here. At 6a.m. I was whizzing down the mountain I had spent most of yesterday climbing. After about only 4km it was all over, a short flat section through the bottom of the valley before the climbing began again. By 7a.m. I made it out the other side of the valley but I was ready to go back to bed. While it might of been cooler early morning, still sweating buckets. Down the other side of this mountain leaving Pha Lang Kha, holding on to the brakes as the road is weaving down the mountain is a series of switchbacks. Down at the bottom I narrowly avoid a rummaging pig. My wheels rims are too hot to touch from all the breaking! The day continues up and down through seemingly never ending valleys. Up, up and up for ages, lots of bike pushing. And then an all to swift journey down to the bottom of another valley. I get some more water at a shop, they are few and far between in cycling terms here. After drinking thirstily, it's on and upwards, this time along a mountain ridge, fantastic scenery! Eventually a long down hill brings me to a small town, only (a relative term when mountains are involved) 10km from Nan. I ask some locals if the road to Tha Wang Pha is flat. "Mountains!", they say. My face falls, and they dissolve into laughter. Thankfullly they were joking, it's pancake road into town. Now, I just need to find a hotel. I was cycling past the post office when I here "HELLO!". I pulled over and asked somebody about a hotel, they gave me directions written in Thai to show people. After asking many people with my piece of paper I got there. I wouldn't of found it on my own!

Tha Wang Pha - Nan 45km

Back on the flat roads, which is just as well, as my legs are having a hard time on the slightest incline. After a few hours I make it to Nan, find a hotel, and have a look around town. I duck into the museum at the skies open and it pours for an hour. After that off for some dinner. Steamed Lemon Fish, not that you would know as it was doused in chillies. Oh well, I found a pub and watched Argentina destroy somebody. I decided to push on down to Phrae, as I needed to get the bus back to Chiang Mai in a couple of days for a dentist appointment.

Nan - Paradise Resort! 40km

There wasn't much in the way of accommodation between Nan and Phrae so I stopped off here. Seemed like I was the only one here. Suprising the solitaire playing staff, by being a customer. A got a little bungalow, and some lunch before a huge storm came in for the afternoon. Not much to do here anyway. At least the food was nice.

Paradise Resort - Phrae 80km

On down to Phrae, a fairly flat ride but I was needing a rest day! Rolled into town and got a room. I tried to explain to the staff that I was going to Chiang Mai and would be back, not sure they understood but never mind, by bike was still there when I returned. I had a look around town at the tourist sights, but not much seemed opened. I went along to Prathat Chai House, a big house made out of 130 logs of 300year old teak, then filled with cheap plastic souvenirs!
Some noodles and dough balls in the night market. Fairly quiet place, only a handful of foreigners here. I went for a shave, and ending up with a haircut as well.

Phrae - Si Satchanalai 131km!!

Things didn't get off to a good start as I headed out of town on the wrong road to Lampang. Mistake number two was trying to take a short-cut back to the main road. I ended up going through small villages alongside a river on a road that had no predilection for direction or directness. Apparently it led to Den Chai though, which would get me back on track. And after 40km I did indeed arrive at Den Chai, staring at a 25km to Phrae sign.
Then it was into the hills again, not as steep as the roads at Nan, more depressingly just a dead straight road rising and rising. Back to pushing the bike! It was getting hot again. Then I got soaked in the rain, most welcome! But all too soon, the sun was burning again. On and on I made it out of the hills, and down to Si Satchanalai. Now, I just had to find the Historical Park where I wanted to stay. I doubt I took the shortest route but I made it to Wang Yom just beside the park. It was late in the day an I just wanted a shower. Of course, it took ages to get the room sorted out. After cleaning it out (many places never seemd to be prepared for guests!) they found out the air-con didn't work. So cleaned out the one next door, and the shower wouldn't work. Eventually a geezer came along and fixed the taps. Hurrah! After a shower, I rightly felt like a bit of dinner. Unfortunately the hotel restaurant had closed already (it was before 19:00). Seems like everything here is set up for bus tours. Passed big restaurants and a beer garden (both closed) presumably busy during the day. Found a small Thai restaurant for a couple of dishes to fill me up and off to bed. Zonk!

Si Satchanalai - Sukothai 75km

The next morning I had a very quick look round the ruins and then onto Sukothai. Not many days left for cycling so I wanted to push on down to Sukothai and have a rest day there. After leaving late (arround midday) I ended up getting rather toasted in the sunshine. Now I've got a big red nose. I had a look around the ruins the next day. Quite impressive not as grand as Angkor Wat, but still on a large scale. Spread out over a large area it is fulls of ruins mostly from around the 13th century. They start to look all the same after a while though. Wat Sri Chum stood out as having a buddha almost encased in a large building, approaching it you can see through just a small gap.

Tommorrow it is onwards west to Tak, then north to Thoen, Lampang and finally back to Chianh Mai.

Chiang Saen - Phayao

2006-06-11T00:29:00.000-07:00

Chiang Saen - Mae Sai 45km

Just one big hill to get up and over and then fairly flat along almost a country lane till I reached Mae Sai. Here I got my new visa again. I was asked to show 10,000 baht for my stay, I didn't have it so I asked for an ATM and said it was I going to China and the guy said doesn't matter. Mae Sai is a busy border town lots of shopping spilling out on to the pavement and road selling all sorts. A short road through Mynamar links China to Thailand through which trucks rumble along. I decide I would check out Tham Luang (Big Cave) on my bike. It was about 6km away, I cam to a t-junction and took a right, I should of gone left. Anyway I got there eventually, nobody was about. My guidebook said you could hire lights there but it was spookily empty. Just a dark, dripping, dank entrance to a large cave. I went in about 5m and that was enough, back out into the sunshine. The cave is part of a green mountain spurting up out the plains rising high above Mae Sai. A lot bigger and steeper close up.

Mae Sai - Chiang Rai 65km

Back down to Chiang Rai, this time down the main highway. A fairly easy cycle but hot today, seemed a long way. Stop for cool drinks, at least no hills on this road. A bit late starting out, so I was hungry by the time I got to Chiang Rai and grab so lunch and lots of liquid.

Chiang Rai - Phayao 98km

Long ride, but flat, just seems to take forever, chugging along slowly. All about just keeping the pedals turning, not going fast! I stopped off at one of the rain/sun shelter for a rest. A truck pulled out and out jumped a Thai with a form, he wanted my to help fill in the English form, as a widowed friend wanted her kids to be Swiss citizens. After helping with that back on the road. Have a long lunch and a rest before continuing on. Eventually arrive in Phayao and cycle round in circles trying to find somewhere to stay. Decide on the Wattanna hotel, not too bad for the price. I've got a TV so I can watch some of the football. My legs hurt! The anniversary of the King's 60th Ascension to the throne is this weekend. A lot of people join in a parade to the local park. A big band, soldiers and civilians wearing the yellow t-shirt make up the throngs. I didn't think there was this many people here. Phayao is a small provincial town based on a artificial lake. I popped along to the main Wat, but undergoing repairs. Here is housed the largest lanna style buddha, but I get only a glimpse through the scaffolding. I visit the attached musuem, which even had exhibits in English, not bad for a small town. I am nearly the only foreigner in town. A bus comes each days and deposits a tour-group of foreigners for 20 minutes of coffee and a toilet stop before they are whisked off. I bumped into a couple of people who are actually living here, but they are working at the bible school. Now I'm addicted to ice-cream.

Tomorrow I set off for Chiang Kham, I suspect there may be hills involved!

Back in Chiang Mai (again!)

2006-06-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

Wed - Mae Chan to Chiang Saen - 35km

I found some dinner in Mae Chan, one of these cook 'em yourself types. I didn't feel so good a few hours later, I'm blaming that round squidy/fishy thing. But I managed to get on the bike and cycled along to Chiang Saen, at the North East border of Thailand. The Mekong runs down past Chiang Saen, across the other side is Laos. As flat a ride as I'm likely to get on the way here, barely a hill was climbed. Chiang Saen has some old ruins in the city and like Chiang Mai has/had a wall and moat surrounding the perimeter. I went for a look round the museum and then booked a bus ticket back to Chiang Mai. Why? Because I've got toothache :(. I decided I would rather take my chances with a dentist in CM rather than out in the country!
After a 5 hour bus journey, I dumped my bag at Kavil's Guesthouse. The owner was suprised to see me again. Then I headed off to Chiang Mai Ram the new hospital at the north-west corner of the moat. They had a dental clinic, at first I made an appointment for the following day, but after some persuasion I managed to see the dentist (just for an examination they said). Turned out my wisdom tooth need removed, so they gave me some antibiotics and then 30minutes later started the pulling and yanking and general unpleasant tooth-pulling type stuff. So I'm down a wisdom tooth and munching on pain-killers. A bit better today than yesterday when it was very sore, a big gaping hole in my gums! Went and saw XMen 3, quite good in a special effect sort of way. I'll head back up to Chiang Saen in the next day or two and return to cycling, need to go to Mae Sai and get my visa stamped on the 7th.

More Cycling

2006-05-30T04:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday - Chiang Rai to Akha Hill House - 23km

Akha Hill was only 25km or so away, so I was in no hurry to leave. About 11.30 I got unyderway. A pleasant ride with little traffic. I was stopped after about 10km by a man in uniform holding up the traffic as a funeral procession heading towards a wat. A single rocket whizzed into the air before exploding. I progressed onwards cyling down past the river, until a sign stating Akha Hill pointed left along a dirt track. Along there I headed making slow but steady progress. It was getting hot and no shade was to be found. I struggled on for a bit in the lowest gear before getting tired and resorting to pushing it uphill. The gruesome climb turned out to be a real monster. After an hour or so I struggled to the summit absolutely drenched in sweat. Then downhill, it was that steep that it felt like I was going to go over the handlebars! I made it down to a village and promptly bought a nice cold bottle of water, aaah. Still Akha Hill was another few km over rough road and a final very steep hill. But I had made it! Not exactly luxury rooms, but as it was up a mountain you have to share with the locals. The locals being mozzies, flying ants, giant spiders as big as my hand and the ever stupid moths. The Akha people are one of the hill tribes resident in the north of Thailand, each hill tribe has it own customs, clothes and even languages. Most of them there don't speak Thai.

The rainy season is here though and that's what it did. Still at least I had a nice view, as I read my book under the cover of my bungalow roof as the rain splattered down into the valley below. There was a couple of Austrians there the first night, and a couple of Mexicans and a Candian the next night. After a couple of nights I was ready to leave and get a decent sleep, and not worry about what was making that rustling noise during the night. Not quite sure what's worse seeing a giant spider above your head, or seeing that the giant spider is no longer above your head. The mosquito net was tucked in tightly!

I took the easy option out and threw my bike in the back of a pickup truck and got a lift back to Chiang Rai.

Tuesday - Chiang Rai to Mae Chan - 35km

A simple ride along the major highway, well it was once I located the highway. Plenty of space to ride, almost a lane to myself. I tried to eat a whole pineapple from a side of the road vendor for 10baht. I failed though, and gave the rest to the a nearby mangy mutt. The dog was owned by the vendor and I'm sure it thought, "Oh no not pineapple again!"

I found a place to stay easily enough, it even has a strange kind of porch/sitting room with a fridge with nothing but 2 bottles of water and a moth in it. I had a quick cycle about town and then headed back and finished off my book. I strolled into town just after five, to find it was all shut. Although I did find this Internet cafe place that I now type of. Harded to find somebody to but a ticket to use the computer though. I shall head off for a spot of dinner soon, if I can find an open restuarant!

Cycling North Thailand

2006-05-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

Day 1 (22nd) Chiang Mai to [null] (0km)

Drank too much Chang Beer last night playing some Scottish geezer at pool. Cycling postponed.

Day 1 (23rd) - Chiang Mai to Windmill Country (46km)

Even though I had the whole of yesterday to pack, I left it till the morning of departure. Typically I had too much stuff to cram into my daypack, but eventually by some quirk of fate I managed to zip it shut. The self-satisfied smirk was soon wiped from my face as I turned round to discover a spare inner tube pleading to be included on the trip. Eventually bags were packed, rucksacks stoved and helmets fastened. Strangely enough the rack on my bike was a lot narrower and my bad a lot wider than I anticipated. Still after ten minutes of experimentation I jury-rigged the daypack rather precariously to the rack. Didn't look the most stable of arrangements, but as long as it didn't drop off and land in front of a truck (like my last bike tour!) then I would be a happy chappy.

Soon I was weaving my way amongst Chian Mai's finest motorbike, tuk-tuks and songthaews, towards the river. My first mistake was to think I knew where I was going, the second was to think i would be able to get there. I ended up being forced along Chiang Mai's one way system. I did make it over the river and through the construction zone of the superhighway. However, I was not going in entirely the right direction. Still as I stopped at the traffic lights I surveyed the bloke idling his motorbike, he was carrying a package on the back attached with bungee ropes. Within ten minutes I had procured a bungee rope for the pricely sum of 10 baht. Now with the luggage safely attached I sped on in the slightly wrong direction. Soon, I took a swift left turn and 6kms more than needed I was back on track, the 118 to Doi Saket. I was easing my way slowly out of Chiang Mai. The traffic thinning the further I proceeded. Out on to the open road, free of traffic lights and now I even had a lane to myself, everybody else likes the fast lane. Building thinned out, greenery appeared, you could even breathe the air!

After an hour of so I reached the turn off for Doi Saket, the last point before heading into mountain wilderness. Stopped off here for a spot of brunch, chicken fried rice. Legs were already feeling a bit heavy. I'd hardly been out on the bike the last couple of weeks. Not a good sign especially as I knew what was up ahead, hills, big ones too. Even at this early stage I'd ruled out getting to Khun Chae National Park, 60km from Chiang Mai. I would instead head for the windmill place I had spotted whilst on the bus doing a visa run. After about 25km from Chiang Mai, the hills started. Big undulations at first and then a steep climb. The road split into three lanes, two up, one down. This allowed all the old bangers to crawl ever so slowly up the hill, not to mention the occasional sweaty Scotsman on a bike. I was soon in bottom gear, threatening to blow a gasket as I wheezed up the mountain. I stopped off for a well deserved breather at a shrine. Everybody in their cars beeps their horns when passing the shrine, maybe it is the god of Road Safety. Onwards and upwards I went (thankfully not much more upwards). Then down, down fast. Stopped at the top for a coke, at least in the middle of nowhere you can still get a drink at a stall in Thailand. Then a another stop for ice coffee and a flick through Architecture Monthly (it was either that or Thailand Tattler). Judging by the adverts, anybody reading this is interested in either a new kitchen stove or wealth management. After a lazy half hour I was back on the bike, shouldn't be far now. But then the sun came up to fry my brains! Eventually I arrived red armed and rosy faced. More expensive than I wanted to pay, but the owner was not for giving a discount. Well I did get 50baht off, which he got back as I guzzled five bottled of water in my stay. Besides I wasn't like I was going anywhere else. Cold shower, aaah! Then have a quick nosy about, it is a nice spot. Still not quite sure why there is a large windmill as there is never a steady breeze up these parts. I had some garlic chicken, but it didn't seem to keep the mozzies at bay :(

Day 2 (23rd) - Windmill Country to Suan Charin (103km)

I knew a long climb was the beginning order of the day, but it didn't make it go away. After a hearty ABF (2 egss, 2 sausages, 2 toast & 1 coffee) I was set, ready for an apres-brekkie nap that is. But this bike wasn't going to cycle itself over the mountain (at least not without me cannibalising a lawn-mower). Things started slowly and went downhill (or should that be uphill?) I couldn't get my legs into gear. They refused to go uphills and struggled even on the occasional downhill, not a good sign. After a few more rests, I stopped off at another shrine high on the hill. Here I spotted some brightly coloured birds one with slashes of brilliant red, the other yellow. So vibrant were the colours I wondered if bird-painting might be a national pastime. The certainly caught your eye. Somebody stopped off at the shrine I was at. I though maybe to place an offering for the Buddha, like I had seen in the past. That notion was quickly dispelled at they ran off into the woods clutching a bundle of toilet paper. A different sort of present then, I thought, time to be going. I leaped to my feet and pushed my bike up the next hill. Rounding the corner I spotted a sign for Khun Chae National Park. Indeed a splendid sight as I thought it was still 5km away. I knew that this meant the peak of the big hill. Soon I was whizzing down the other side of the mountain reaching speeds of 60km. Then on past what looked like a "Main Bridge out of order, drive through the mud" sign. It was indeed. Like a scene out of Glastonbury, the road had turned to sludge. Certainly not the easiest surface to cycle through and I ended up rather mud-splattered from the passing cars and my own treacherous bike! For a few more km's mud was dragged through the streets. Then a bit of cleanliness. That didn't last long. I had a made a mental note that the road was awful for about 15km, but it most of fallen down one of the folds on my cerebrum. The edge of the road was mostly dust and rubble held together with potholes. I had to push out to middle of the road for something to cycle on, but so did everybody else. Anyway, I came to to some hot springs. Not the sort to dip your toes in at 90C though. A strong smell of sulphur was in the air but that might just of been the eggs that were being cooked in the water for the tourists. In a "too little-too late" moment I purchased a small bottle of suntan lotion (for 300baht!) to try and keep my red bits pink. I thought I might stay at Wiang Pa Po but it was dusty and unappealing so I pushed on. After 30 minutes I saw a sign saying Wiang Pa Po - 3km. Huh? I guess that was some other town back there then. Still now the road was flat and after some Phad Thai I was feeling resurgent and soared along the road for another hour before fatigue started clawing again at my legs. The kilometres to Mae Suai slowly but surely ticked down. I arrived at a T-junction (how did this get a dot on my map?) I could take a left to Fang Oil well, I continued straight. Accommodation was available a short distance after this village. I checked my map and indeed it did look a short but bendy ride away. The road seemed to consist of giant U-shaped sections through the valley. Rounding a corner I could see the same road looping back in a giant curve. Still I pedalled on, as I was wondering if I was ever going to get somewhere, a fantastically welcome signed proclaimed the hotel to be only 200metres away, hurrah!!

I settled into a room and tried not to fall asleep, just yet. The restaurant, the only one for miles around, closes at 18:45. After that cycle, which by the dubious calculations of my bike computer burned off 1660 calories, I was feeling, what shall we say? - A trifle peckish. After munching down on the ever dependable chicken & cashew nuts, I tucked into a cheese & ham sandwich. There wasn't much else to do except a quick read of my book and off for an early night as I suspected that the translucent curtains would do nothing to prevent the room lighting up at dawn.

Day 3 (24th) Suan Charin - Chiang Rai (51km)

I woke up at 6am, promptly buried my head under the covers and got up at a more realistic time 3 hours later. After some toast & egg I was underway. It was going to be a relatively short day as Chiang Rai lay a mere 43km away. Again a slow start (note to self: double number of morning star jumps) but I had stopped in the right location, all those monster hills were safely behind me. Just some gentle undulations and mild climbs. Ahead lay highway number one, the Pan-Asian highway. Through this road you could (theoretically if not legally) traverse from Singapore all the way to, ooh, Skye! Instead I oped to go the quiet back road the 1211 into Chiang Rai. The 1211 barely had any traffic on it as I cycled along. The quiet road lent a lazy feel and a slow pace of life was in evidence. This stupor even extended to the dogs as they couldn't be bother to bark never mind chase me. Not one whimper! A fairly uneventful ride culminated in my arrival at Lek's house. A more reasonable priced guesthouse than the posh places of the past 2 days. I did pass a couple of intriguing signs on the way here though. First up "Fish Reserve & Buddhist Studies". Seemed a little odd until I cycled past a sign for the "Ostrich & Rottweiler Farm".

Oooh, I just found 50 paise (1/2 ruppee). Actually I didn't as your not supposed to take money out of India. Whew, a close call. Still it wasn't at all what I was looking for. That object being rather important if you want to leave the country. Yep, in an outstanding display of clot-headedness I left my passport in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow I return by bus, sigh...

Chiang Mai again...

2006-05-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

Parents popped into Chiang Mai for 3 weeks. Headed down the the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel (sounds posh, doesn't it?) to meet them for dinner. Ate at one of the four restaurants in the hotel. I had the steak, very predictable. The next day I was in tour guide mode and we went along to Wat Phra Singh, a large temple inside the old city. It was nice and quiet not many other visitors. A few small temples lay round the side and in the courtyard there were trees with Buddhist proverbs, but sometime the language didn't seem to translate very well. We nipped off for a cheap lunch at a small restaurant behind the Wat. Then with my unfailing sense of direction and map-reading skills we went through the back lanes of Chiang Mai. Not lost, merely taking the scenic route, ahem. After a while we got to the right destination Fern Forest Cafe for a spot of iced coffee among the cool water mist being sprayed into the leafy gardens. Later on back to the hotel for a spot of chinese grub, I plumped for the sweet & sour pork, but had a tasty of the duck as well which was yummy!

Come Friday, we went and had a nosy round the large Kad Suan Kaew shopping centre, a decent place to escape the afternoon heat. Just stay away from the Karoke Centre if you want peace and quiet. My apartment is closeby, so popped back there to have a look around and view my Songkran pictures taken with a waterproof disposable camera. Then on to have a strange tasting Italian strawberry soda at a local cafe, while Mum ended up with something like plum-coffee. Aaah, the joys of ordering food & drink in a foreign country. Back down the hotel for a spot of dinner in the beer garden, I opted for a big fish (tumtim?) on a plate while my parents pigged out on a five course dinner :)

Next day, a long lunch in a little garden cafe, Siam Celadon. Then a stroll throught the streets lined with textile shops and trinkets pouring out onto the pavement from the shops. Stopped at a stone/gem shop and Dad displayed his bartering skills with a Nepalese merchant, getting a few bits of polished glass for a steep price!! Onwards toward Warorot Market, just the place is you want to buy some smoked fish (the flies come free). A few bags of tea were purchased from the belly of the market. Outside on the West coast of the river flower vendors display their wares for the world to see. Seems to be a huge selection, with them often popping up adorning shrines and temples.

That night it was down the river Ping on a cruise. Dinner was served up with spring rolls appetizer and horses doovers(tm) consisting of pink fatty sausage, brown spicy sausage, mini-hamburgers and some veg. I had a couple of chicken breasts in lemon sauce with fried rice, more than enough! Nobody was deemed brave enough to order "Fried Chicken Knobbly Knees". A walk back through the night market centre found a climber high up on the wall, looked far too much like hard work to get up there with the overhang.

On Sunday was Doi Suthep a long road up the mountain eventually gets you to the bottom of the 300 steps to the temple. After puffing and sweating out way up there we were rewarded with a beautiful temple and good views stretching out across the geographical bowl in which Chiang Mai resides.

After Doi Suthep we stopped off at the Chiang Mai zoo and caught sight of the pandas, who were suprisingly active! One showed of his atheltic prowess as his slithed through a bamboo ladder upside down. I'm sure most people though he was going to fall on his head. Some some other animals included a very smelly hippo!

Sunday night it was over to the night market for a trek along the packed streets, cruising along through the throngs of people browsing. A little rain caused panic among the vendors and we took the oppurtunity to eat more food, after finding the Wok restaurant. Another decent dinner, I could get used to this!

The next day it was down the food market where there was some packaged frogs for sale. Also took in the nearby flower market. Later on rain appeared as we were going back through the textile and gems shops, the gem-dealers shop seemed to have a hole in it and the water was leaking over his jewelery. Still we managed to jump in a passing songthaew and escape back to the hotel pretty much dry.

Another day it was off in a tuk-tuk for some lunch beside Wat Suan Dok. Some helpful person helped us order as there was no English menu. (If it was down to me everybody would be eating Chicken Fried Rice) They recommended the fish and they were certainly right! It was delicious, simple fried fish in batter but very yummy. Also some chicken with spice maybe cinammon an unusual taste. We then nipped along to the Art Musuem close to the University. The had a nice elephant sculpture, made from smaller elephants. Hard to decribe, guess you just had to see. It is a large barn, but the paintings are mostly modern, no dusty old pictures here. Lots of vibrant colours and some strange paintings. Then we progressed along to Wat Suan Dok, where a huge golden centrepiece blinds you as the sun shines on it fiercely. Just next to it lies a large graveyard. Inside the temple a huge Buddha has company with several smaller Buddhas. Chatted to the monks, who were all from Cambodia for some reason. Not yet picked up a saffron robe though.

After that it was down to the park for some people watching. The power walkers were out in force, on particular chapped seemed to be circling the park every few minutes. A few guys were playing with takraw, a small woven football is used for keepy-ups. When they get serious a net is hauled out and the sport played is a cross between football and volleyball. A woman at the edge of the pond managed to hauk out a fish with her fingers and gave it to an old guy who wandered off outide presumably to cook it. That's some easy dinner.

Shopping at Ban Tawai the next day, an easy taxi ride to get there, but not much point in getting him to wait as we ended up staying there for about 4-5 hours grabbing lunch at a small cafe. Very hot today, but it started to spit rain in the afternoon. Problem was that the available transport was waiting for people who were shopping, so a bit stuck. Still after a bit of confusion, a policeman helped us out and somebody phoned for transport. Turned out to be a samlor which is basically a motorbike with a sidecar, so the three of us squeezed on to the sidecar for the short ride back to the main road. About a minute later we had secured a ride on a yellow songthaew going back to Chiang Mai, and then a red one back to the hotel, here they have a well-integrated transport system! Just not sure about the prices, the longest ride was the cheapest...

Dinner was at the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Centre. This was a case of sitting on the floor with a triangular cushion for support. Fried chicken and curried pork, cabbage, lettuce, sticky rice, normal rice & rice crispies (not the cereal!) were served up. Then some dancers were up on stage with huge long fingernails doing the (wait for it....) fingernail dance. Another danceer was a rather large geezer doing the sword dance, dancing amongst the swords on the ground and carrying them in his mouth.

Next day it was off into the Mae Sa valley for a stroll through the orchid farm. While not all the orchids were in bloom, more than enough were open for a colourful display. Quite a large area, they must of had thousands of plants. Afterwards is was on to the snake farm. Just in time for the show. The show was excellent, with the compere and his funny voice. "You can kiss the snake, but don't let the snake kiss you". It's not everyday you get to kiss a python. They snakes were almost in the crowd. Somebodys foot was almost fed to the big snake! Then they threw a bit of rope from a sack into the crowd, after saying all this stuff about jumping snakes, causing havoc. Half the people were running away!
After another hard day it was time to pop across the river to Dukes for a huge dinner of salad, fried, spare ribs & beans, yummy!

We decided to head south to Mae Wang elephant camp and hopefully see the elephants. However on arrival it was down a steep dirt path and over a shaky bamboo bridge, not for Mum! Dad & I went for a trek through the forest on the elephant. You climb up a small platform and then step on the elephants head to get on the seat. It was fairly steep forest which the elephant was clambering up. He seemed somewhat reluctant on the downward section which earned him a very solid CRACK on his head from the mahout. Then Nelly went back to the start and into the river to cool down and quick banana snack from Dad.

We stopped off at a small roadside restaurant and had a nosy round the local market, picking up a bag of tangerines. After a bit of fried rice with veg it was back to Chiang Mai and check out a few more temples on the way. That night it was off to a huge local restaurant which was certainly an experience. A huge buffet which you cook yourself at the table. Inside the table a bucket of hot coals is placed. Above this lies something like an upturned metal bucket which provides the hot plate to cook the meat, round the edge water is poured so you can boil the vegetables as well. Cheap, cheerful and fun, but very hot with the coals!!

The next day it was into the proper cooking as we took a Thai cooking course. This involved a trip down to a nearby market to pickup the ingredients. The instructor showed us the different veg & fruits available in Thailand. Then we traipsed back into the kitchen to cook up a storm in our woks! We managed to (mostly) make edible food. I somehow got volunteered to mash up the 20-odd chilies used in the curry paste, bashing away at a large mortar and pestle, and trying to keep it in the bowl. Plenty of food anyway, with 4-5 dishes prepared and eaten. Still don't like food as spicy as the Thais though.

After the cooking we went off to the Night Safari a short distance out of town, Chiang Mai's newest tourist attraction. We had a bried walk round the first trail but then turned back to ensure catching the English version of the tram rides. It was good as the animals came really close to you and provide an excellent view of them. Lots of deer, zebra, wildebeest, giraffes and elephants were nearby for our viewing pleasure.

A quiter weekend was upahead for the parents with a bit of relaxing by the pool, all these activities had tired them out. I meanwhile had to let Crawford buy me beer!! He was working in Bangkok and decided to pop up to Chiang Mai for a week for a spot of chilling.

We nipped across to the riverside restaurant for some decent Thai food and then looped back to the Kafe and the Blues bar for some SRV, then onto some other bar probably things were a bit hazy by then.

Next night we all went out for a buffet meal in the Mae Ping beer garden, before popping along to a bar or two with Crawford for some late night discussion about how bad Rangers have been this season :)

I made the obligatory visa run on Tuesday, but travelling VIP class which means a big decent seat with headrest and legrest. After the usual bureaucrocy another 30 days in Thailand. As the bus didn't leave for another few hours, I wandered back to the bus station from the border, getting alternately sunburnt and soaked by the changing weather. I then tried to find a park which I had seen signposted on the way into the bus station, but it would not be found. So instead I wandered into some goverment office which had a sign saying free internet, although I don't think they were expecting Johnny Farang to turn on their doorstep.

Next day it was off to Pom Pui, an Italian restaurant lurking in the sois of Chian Mai, for a long lunch to say goodbye to the parents. After fair too much food, jumped in a tuk-tuk and tried to find Fern Forest Cafe a misty garden cafe again hiding in the backstreets. After much navigating we stumbled upon the cafe and a welcome cool drink of ice-coffee. Soon it was time to say the goodbye, three weeks had whizzed by already and the parents were heading back to Sunny Glasgow. In a couple of days Crawford leaves and then for me it will be back on the bike for a few weeks or cycling, circling back to Chiang Mai for the 6th June, training it down to Bangkok, flying over to Macau, ferrying across to Hong Kong, and busing into China! (If all goes well...)

Songkran

2006-04-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

And so the Songkran festival arrived, this is when Thai's celebrate the New Year by dousing each other in water. Not a bad idea in this heat. It is supposed to be a gentle pouring of water on the shoulder, but throwing a bucket of water in a motorcyclist face seemed to be more enjoyable for the Chiang Mai residents!

I had planned to pick up a waterproof disposable camera to take a few snaps, didn't seem a good idea to take out my digital camera into the street, giving that elctronics and water have never been the best of buddies. However, my plan failed just like my memory as when I went to buy one the Kodak shop was shut. At least I managed to pick one up a different branch. Walking along beside the moat, people are dredging up buckets of sludgy moat water (at least it had been cleaned in anticipation of Songkran) and chucking them in the air. Water pistols and pumps are the weapon of choice for the festival which lasts from 3-10 days depending on the keeness of the participants, out in the country they start early.

The main city area was in general chaos as revellers took to the streets fully armed with buckets & pistols. Crawling along the road were pickup trucks with an oil barrel filled with icy water to splash unsuspecting victims, brrr. I think I wasn't dry for four days. Actually it mostly eases off as night falls, and you can go out for some grub and hopefully not get soaked. All in all an interesting experience!

CM continued

2006-03-04T23:03:00.000-08:00

After two weeks of Thai classes I can now say "I like chicken" and a few other useful sentences. Whether any Thai people can understand me is still open for debate. Cue quick Thai Lesson:

Thai langauge depends heavily on tones. There are 5 tones - low,middle,high,falling & rising. So "glai" with middle tone means far and "glai" with a falling tone means near. Unfortunately unless you are used to listening in for the tones they both sounds identical.

Although sometimes it is easier:

Nam - water
Som - orange
nam som - orange juice (i.e. water from orange)

pla - fish
nam pla - fish sauce (water from fish)

kaang - hard
nam kaang - ice (water hard)

nam dahn - sugar (water from erm.. sugar cane??)

And that concludes todays lesson.

There was a total of 12 people starting the course, but 2 swapped to the morning class, one opted for private lessons (as he could already speak some thai), another one dropped out, so down to 8 people. Supposed to study an additional hour for each other in the classroom, as the course goes quick. Need to try and remember lots of new words each day, although I'm finding that they soon drop out my head after a few days :( We even get homework! Writing a short story each day 7-10 sentences.

The weather is getting HOT, hardly ever see a cloud. Although sometimes a bit hazy maybe from smoke as the fields get cleared with fires.

A big festival happens next month, Songkran, seems to consists of people running about with water pistols, sounds like fun.

Chiang Mai

2006-02-10T01:43:00.000-08:00

After much footering about and miscommunication I found somewhere to plonk my rucksack for the next 3 months. Staying at a place just outside the North-East corner of the old city called Pacific Mansion. Nice to be in one place for a while and have things like a fridge for cheese & milk (and cereal for the first time in a year) and a kettle for Pot noodles (actually some Thai version, also available as rice porridge!) I have Milo but I need a Milo container before opening it. That should confuse some people who don't know what (or who??) Milo is!

Seeing as how my conversations in Thai generally follow the Hello, Thank you, Goodbye format, I decided to sign up for some Thai Language course at the AUA. Gah, now I need to remember how to use my brain for learning. I'm disregarding all those who say I should learn English. My spelling mistakes are because I'm not a native English speaker, I'm Scottish.

Found a few good cheap places for food. Actually one of them being the mall. A lot of malls in Asia seems to have food centres tucked away in the basement or flying high on the top floor. These places have a decent selection of vendors selling grub (no not actual grubs, you have to go to the outside markets for that!). You exchange your baht for coupons and pay with these for some reason. I used to try and work out what I would have, how much it costs, and then exchange my cash. But a much easier way it to get a 100 baht of coupons and then get your change. For some reason you can't hold on the coupons. In Bangkok some of the places have swish electronic cards instead of these coupons.

Also, just next door is a small restaurant. Some pretty spicy food, sometimes. I ended up with chilli tongue, where your mouth just throbs relenteless. Taking a swill of water cools your mouth for about 5 seconds before the fire restarts. Apparently the best way to cure is to eat plain rice. Which is fine until you realise that there is a tiny green chilli hiding at the bottom of the rice. A tastebud firework, a tongue scorching bonanza!

In a fit of erm.. fitness type stuff I bought another bike to whizz around Chiang Mai on. A useful way of getting from A to B, as long as it's not too hot. Have to try and get out of bed earlier and do the cycling in the morning while they day is cool(ish). There is a big mountain which looms over Chiang Mai and my room. Maybe before the end of my time in Chiang Mai I shall try and cycle to the top without dying. Unforutnately it's a mile high, so I need to build up to it!!

Went on a cycle to Ban Tawai, a self-proclaimed Tourist Village. Lots and lots of shops, selling all sorts of handicrafts and not so handy crafts. With signs like "Very Good and Very Cheap" or "Any price (as long as we make profit)". Reminded me of the stalls on Khao San Road with say "Buy/Sell Anything!". One stall even took that the terseness further with a sign simply proudly proclaiming "ANYTHING!!". However the best thing in this village, clearly was the seven foot Predator "robot" made from scrap metal. I want one! It would look excellent guarding an outside gate of a house.

Bangok Pt II

2006-01-26T20:15:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, another new thing in Bangkok the Siam Paragon. A big giant new shopping mall. It's kinda of more on the posh sides, with a gourmet supermarket and the like. But the most interesting thing was the 3D TV, no stupid glasses needed. It works suprisingly well, but not sure you wouldn't get a sore head after watching a lot of it. The packets of M&M's just burst out of the screen!

Joined onto the mall was the latest tourist attraction the Oceanarium. Comparatively expensive at 450bt, but didn't seem to detract the visitors as it got pretty busy. Lots of weird sea creatures swimming about, I liked the rays with the massive long tails. They were supposed to be doing a feeding show, but they didn't seem very hungry and ignored the food. There was a couple of seals there that weren't supposed to be there, but they had an empty display case due to the penguins being banned because of the dangers of bird flu!

They had a walkthrough tunnel and giant 6m depth tank, so the amount of water must be huge, just hope there isn't any cracks. They plonked a diver into the deep tank and they were talking away in Thai via a underwater microphone.

A small photo gallery finished the Oceanarium off, where you went to the "Exit", this being the entrance to the obligatory gift shop.

One last thing, whats with the strange drinks in the fridges of the 7-11 nowadays? There is Hello Kitty Collagen drink and Pepsi Latte, had the world gone mad??

Back in Bangkok

2006-01-23T19:13:00.000-08:00

So I had a flight with AirAsia back from Hanoi to Bangkok. Get to the airport with plenty of time. That's the thing about planes, lots of hanging about. Circled the airport like a bored tiger in a cage. The most interesting thing was watching these guys clamber about the roof with no safety harness moving among the beams to fix the lights. Rather them than me! After paying taxes on the ticket, you then have to pay the $14 departure tax, presumably it's one of these don't pay don't leave thingies.

Anyway, we defy gravity and pull away into the stratosphere (or wherever planes fly) and all is going well, it's only a 90 minute flight in theory....

Yep, some geezer in Bangkok decided to stage an airshow for Childrens Day tomorrow. Today happen to be the rehersal. Nobody seemed to realise that flying fighter jets and the like in and out Asia's busiest commercial airport, would cause a few problems, havoc in fact!

We ran out of fuel and had to parachute into Bangkok. Not really, we got diverted to Udon Thani airport, where we sat on the runaway for an hour or so. Eventually the captain said we would be taking off shortly now that they had refuelled. The guy behind me excitedly exclaimed "I knew it! I knew we were refuelling!". I didn't think much of his deduction powers, given that the large refuelling truck outside the window was attached to us via a large refuelling hose.

So off back up into the sky, where we circled Bangkok for another hour or so, burning up all this pesky fuel we had on board. We landed without incident (thankfully!) Then we get one of the shuttle buses to the immigration as we appeared to have landed nowhere near it. Typically I was stopped from going on the first bus, but was the first person on the second bus. Meaning that a busload of slow people were in immigration before me, I didn't even have any hand luggage, no fair!!

There is a separate queue for Thai Nationals and foreigners. In the foreigners queue was a Thai family, so one of the officals waved them to the empty Thai queue, this caused a lot of foreigners to assume that a quicker queue was possible and jumped behind this Thai family. The offical then pointed out the sign, much to the digruntlement of the tourists. To the back of the queue with the lot of ya!

After getting through immigration it was back in another queue this time for taxis, not going anywhere quick. At all. Chatted with a guy, going to the same place Khao San Road, got another couple of people and flagged down one of the taxis for a fixed fare (600bt). Only trouble was he was completely blocked in, made it out eventually somehow and into the traffic jam that is primetime Bangkok. Got into a room about 19:00. My flight was supposed to arrive at 14:30. Enough time to grab a bite to eat and meet up with Steve for a beer or few down at Soi Rambutri. Friday night and the place was heaving. Remembered how strong Chang is the next day...

Saturday, just had a stroll around Banglamphu. I thought I was heading straight South but then I turned up to the North of where I was staying, very odd. A quiet day, then when I tried to get to sleep I got munched on my bed bugs or some other horrible nocturnal insect, the previous night I had just crashed out so didn't noticed them. Spend half the night swotting the little buggers.

Unsuprisingly decided to move guesthouse the next day. I went into another nearby guesthouse where a customer was asking when they would get rid of the begbugs, about turn, quick march! I decided I would try and get a guesthouse near the BTS stations. Had a flick through my guidebook and found a place, but the taxi driver went elsewhere, so I tried somewhere else and as I walking towards a taxi pulled up and two people jumped out and checked in before me. No more rooms. I wandered around couldn't find anywhere so back to the guidebook, tried a different area of town the strangely named Soi Ngam Duphli. Got a place there, but wasn't sure where it was in relation to the Sky Train, not very near as it happens, but at least if was close(ish) to the Lumphini metro.

Met up with Steve again for a few quiet beers on Sukhumvit this time. Bit pricier round this area, seems like the Costa Del Sol of Bangkok sometimes!
I had booked my train ticket, nice and easy 2 minutes, not like India! This time I would be sure not to lose it. I had a look around about my new guesthouse and stumbled across a few small restaurant shacks. Didn't think there was much here but when I turned the corner there was about 50 buses parked there, this was the Suan Lum night bazzar. Loads of shops and a giant food court, just the place to devour a chicken! Like a lot of food courts, there is a coupon counter where you exchange your bits of paper for other bits of paper. Pretty tasty! They had some bad band playing way down at the front of the stage, thankfully far enough away to ignore :)

Hanoi

2006-01-11T23:56:00.000-08:00

Into Hanoi, I booked into a nice hotel for Christmas. It had wood furniture! Good to stay in somewhere a bit classier for a few days. Hanoi is one of these places where I find it incredibly easy to get lost. I now walk about with a LP map in my back pocket, it makes no difference. I had a small map with the hotel card, shoved in my back pocket. After walking around I tried to head back to the hotel, I was standing on the street corner looking at the map and the street names. Confused as to where my hotel was, of course when I looked over my shoulder I realised I was standing outside it, doh!

The hotel staff gave me a sheet of paper announcing their Christmas party starting at 20:00. So I went down to see what was happening. The entrance had been transformed with tables covered in food & drink. I was suprised they had gone to so much effort. Well, until I looked closer. The drink was mostly coke, wiith a few bottles of beer that wouldn't last long. The food seemed a little strange, plates of fruit, strange little sausages in wrappers cut in half, slices of bread and Laughing Cow cheese triangles. They fired off some glitter rockets outside. Five minutes later some old woman was screaming at the manger's kid for some reason. He was sulking at the argument continued. Then he grabbed another gliter rocket from beside the Christmas tree and ran towards the woman, but was restrained in time. He looked like a little spolit brat. Six year old with a red mohican, what's that all about? That was the most interesting thing at the party, anyway I had tickets for the water puppets, only a ten minute walk away.

I went outside on Christmas Eve to make my way to the puppet theatre. However I hadn't counted on the million or so people out on the streets milling around. Still I managed to get there just on time, as I moved through the crowds like a hot knife through butter. Darting left and right, up and down the pavement kerb along the road, dodging the gutters, motorbike, accumulated debris and of course the old people that stop for no explicable reason. At least you don't have people with prams in Asia (yet), just sling the kid over the shoulder and be done with it.

Taking my seat, the show started, James Bond himself couldn't of timed it better. The band on the left playing traditional instruments. One looked like the Vietnamese version of the spoons. Another plucked a single string unfretted instrument, with a vertical whammy bar. The stage was set out with the water at the front and the puppeteers hidden behind the backdrop. Apparently the art form orginated in the rice paddies. I must admitted I was struggling to work out how the done some of the stuff. At first I imagined it was just a puppet on a long horizontal pole as it walked across the stage, but then the characted turned round and walked back. I was sitting there puzzling for a while, but I guess they must be on a rotating disc. Quite clever. Then they puzzled me with the next one. A puppet fishing with a fish swimming around. The puppet is throwing his fishing line in an catches the fish bringin it out the water. I was going for the magic of magnets for this one, but just a guess.

After the performance, time for a quick drink. Popped into the groovily named Funky Munky, after eventually retrieving my change from the barstaff who seemed reluctant to give me my money back, I headed upstairs. Strangely enough bumping into Chris whom had thrashed me at pool in Hue. He was chatting with another London geezer. The drink flowed freely, helped by a few shots of vodka. Then off to the Titanic, for some late night drinks. Upon arriving we realised it was an actual ship. As long as it didn't undock a safe place to drink. They covered the pool table with a few planks of wood, hey presto, the worlds smallest dance floor. A good night, but not so good on Christmas day...

I'd arranged to met up again with Chris for some lunch. Somebody had recommended The Vine, saying it was an English pub. Turned out to be a very posh restaurant. Chris & I sat at the bar rather queasy, shaky and pale. We decided to go somewhere rather less stuffy. Try to drink the hangover away, really didn't work. So a quiet Christmas really, watched a movie on TV and an early night.

Changed over to a cheaper hotel, and went for a few more walks around town. Passed by Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. It was closed. Situated it a massive square with a large patch of grass intersected with a grid of small path, and lined with grandstands. I caught the changing of the guards where the white uniformed, medalled and armed guards frogmarch from way down the road. Either that or they were doing John Cleese Ministry of Funny Walk impressions. Typical though I didn't have my camera. Maybe not such a bad thing, as other tourists got shooed off from taking photos. Eventually I made it back to the Old Quarter, by this time my shoes were soaked and trashed. The next day some new shoes, and what the hell some new socks for me, it's Christmas! I think my new shoes have rubbed off my pinky toes, ouch!

New Year was fairly quiet. I had located an Irish pub, most of been the only Irish pub in the world that was empty on New Years Eve. Strange, considering it even had a talking leprechaun, what more could you ask for? Oh well, headed back into the tourist centre. Not much happening here either. Chatted with a few Aussies, they were off early the next day, so were having a quiet one. Somebody else had been working here as English Teacher for the past seven months. Midnight came and went with a small cheer, seemed to be more excitement when Chelsea scored.

I decided to head back to Thailand for a few months, China is very cold and it would be nice to unpack somewhere for a bit. I bought a ticket from www.airasia.com the asian equivalent of EasyJet. Cost about $50 once taxes are added, not so bad. Maybe it was cheap because its flying on Friday 13th! I'll just cross my fingers and wiggle my thumbs, that should see me sorted. As I plan to stay a while I tried to get the same Thai visa I had got in Malaysia via the hotel, big mistake, if you want something done right do it yourself.

I decide another purchase was in order, some dairy delights, some cheese! Now you wouldn't think it would be a difficult taks to buy some cheese & biscuits, would you? However in a place where you don't speak the lingo the simplest thing can turn into an ordeal. It actually went smoothly enough, just point to the cheese (some New Zealand Cheddar) and some Ritz biscuits. All was well until I returned home. I cut a slice of the cheese off and popped it in my mouth, hmm softer than I would of imagined, yeeurgh, this aint no cheese!! Turned out to be New Zealand butter, but refrigerated at a low temperature so it cuts like cheese. But all was not lost, my plain biscuits turned out to be oxymoronic "Kraft Cheese" biscuits, saved!

Another recent Christmas purchase was a small MP3 player. Takes 1 AAA batteries, I had bought some for 4000dong, I wanted some more but everywhere else seemed to inflate the price to 15000dong, strange. Well until I found out the batteries last about 5 minutes, hmmm. Makes those bus trips go just that little bit quicker though, if the batteries last. Now I have some groovy music to listen to! Your opinion may not necessarily agree...

Another night I had looked at my LP guide, some seafood restuarants were marked next to West Lake, tonights destination. I'm sure I forgot to take a turn and ended up walking in a massive circle. Still suprisingly after an hour or so I arrived. I guess they don't have many tourists. Not any English spoken. Not to worry I had come prepared with my one word of Vietnamese "Ca" which means fish. If pronounced right. I ended up with most of the staff around me trying to work out what the crazy foreigner wants. Eventually I pointed at a receipt which was lying about with "Ca". Aaaah, then the pointed my to come and pick the fish from a water cage. They brought out a whopper (not a BurgerKing product!), no way I could eat that. After some more gestures and writing it turned out they didn't have any fish less than 1.5kg. Not exactly a one person meal, or two for that! Oh well, back to restaraunts with English menus.

As my time in Vietnam draws to a close I only feel that it is proper that I should distill my hard earned knowledge, so here are the rules of the road in descending order:

5) Use of horn is mandatory at all times, even on empty streets.
4) The biggest vehicle has right of way at all times.
3) Traffic lights, one way roads and traffic signs only apply to other people.
2) Never look behind you before pulling out into traffic.
1) Conserve petrol, drive without lights.

Hue

2006-01-04T03:32:00.000-08:00

Arrived in Hue, and the usual clamour of touts waiting to take you off to their hotel. I went along with one which was a long two minutes away. Yet more rain! A larger place to get lost in than Hoi An. I took a quick motor bike tour round a few bits and pieces. I just went for lunch but got talked into visiting a few place. Banh Mi Bo Kho for lunch. Banh Mi is basically bread (baguette), Bo is beef which means Kho must be soup/stew. One of the nicer dishes I tasted in Vietnamese.

An old pagoda on a hill, where the monks were pruning the leaves of the trees to make them bare. Isn't that what Winter is for? A quick look at the citadel, not really much to see. Stopped off at a place where the machines of war, were on display. Well just really lying on the street. Giant artillery guns, tanks and other reminders of the war. One square armoured vechicle on display looking total impenetrable. Captured by the Vietnamese it said, and you can't just imagine how you could ever capture something like that. The moto driver said he had moved to Hong Kong for five years and then came back. As far as I could work out he fought alongside the US army. He talked about his brother maybe being allowed entry to the US, they were meeting with the embassy next year. His brother fought as lieutant, then the US pulled out.

Popped into the Demilatrized Zone pub, cause I liked the name. Met Chris an English geezer over here for three months, had a few games of pool with him. Actually five and lost every one. Pfff! I wasn't playing bad but just couldn't win a game. Potted all my balls except the black on my first shot, then potted the white and black on my next, grrr. That's not suppose to happen! Chris had picked up a motorbike in Saigon and riding up to Hanoi. Good luck, mate! As I mentioned before the traffic is pretty crazy, but it makes crossing the road an adventure, getting the adrenalin pumping. I fell like I'm playing Frogger. Have to move into an Asian mindset, of letting the motorbikes avoid you. Just walk out on the road and ignore them. The worst think you can do is stop, and give your rabbit caught in the headlight impression, as they invariably will drive behind you if you keep walking. But when you stop dead, problems occur, being whacked by a fast moving vehicle the primary problem. So go with the flow, cross your fingers and start walking!

Hoi An

2006-01-04T03:24:00.000-08:00

Hoi An is the next stop on the tourist route. Most backpackers buy open tickets from Saigon to Hanoi, where you can stop off at certain points. A bit insular, but cheap at around $20 for the whole bus ticket. Lots of shops offering suits and silks for various prices, probably depending on how rich they think you are. The central river had risen to the point of flooding. A bit more rain and I would be hailing boats to get about. Just a couple of nights here as I wanted to head to Hanoi for Chistmas. But being a small places not so much to do anyway. After a walk about town, I grabbed some of the local grub. Hoi An seems to have it's own special food. I popped into a restaurant with an empty stomach and looked at the menu. Six items on the whole menu, they most be specialists. I chose four from the six. Not really fond of prawns, but three from the six are prawn. The best one was Cau Lac, another noodle dish but a bit different from the omnipresent Pho Bo (Beef Noodles) which is eaten all day and night, all over Viet Nam.

After tucking that lot away, I went in search of the local brew. Again the beer is quite varied with different brands in different towns (well at least different labels!) After sampling a beer, I spotted a dart board in the corner. Time to test out the old throwing skills. Yep, as I suspected I was awful. But at least I mostly hit the dart board. I thought that a bit of practice I would get better, but after ten minutes that theory was disproved. I could hit the dart board, but that was about my overall control of these little flying javelins. Back to pool, at least I can play that! I met an Aussie, who fancied a game. After a while a few others joined in a little tournament. With the clear winner some Vietnamese pool wizard. I think he played a lot of billiards, which is popular here. I've seen a few tables without pockets. So either billiards, or Irish pool :) He was irratingly good, potting the black of four cushions. Must of been cheating somehow!

The next day I met up again with the Aussie (I'm awful rembering names, so I call him Bruce). Chatted with him about being in India, he was saying about staying in villages learning five languages. A bit different from my experience, but interesting to chat with. In Hoi An everything closes at 23:00, I was going to head off and get some kip as up early for the bus the next day. But everybody was heading off to an out of town bar which kept late hours (and variable locations!) so I was somewhat easily persuaded to come along. Late night drinking and early morning buses is the not the best mixture it most be admitted, but a good night nonetheless. Only four hours to Hue, so I just zoned out on the bus the next day.

Nha Trang

2005-12-28T00:13:00.000-08:00

Umm, why are we stopping the bus. Aaah, because we are about to drive through a lake, which no doubt was once a road. So after bumbling up and down the narrow bus to drag my trusty backpack to my seat at the back of the bus (all the cool kids sit up the back!). At least I had the foresight to put on the raincover. Unfortunately for me, the rain cover managed to do little more than collect the water on the inside to ensure a soaking wet bag. Hmmm, I'll find out later how much stuff is ruined.

Anyway wet bags inside the bus (now why didn't we do that before driving through the other big puddles??) and onwards through the lake. A quick view out the window confirmed my suspicion that I am driving through the sea. A more worrying sight upahead is a torrent of water rushing along beside the road. There lies a half overturned truck, and the remnants of a shack(or house?). We drive on creating waves leaving motorbikes struggling in our wake. On past a small boat, picking people up. Apparently the rains end in November in Viet Nam, unfortunately nobody told the rain gods this year.

Finally we make it! Hurrah, found once of the best value hotels in my travels, only 5$ for a really good room, with cable TV, fridge, bath and no big insects. But the rain continued. I was on the last bus in for the next few days. Not exactly ideal sight seeing weather. The beach was pretty trashed, I'd seen pictures and it looked quite nice. But now it was just covered in crap, mostly driftwood, which was slowly been scavenged off by locals packing it on the back of their ubiquitous motorbikes.

One day (okay part of the day) it did stop raining and after being cooped up I set off for a long walk in this direction (points finger randomly). It's always interesting getting out the centre of the tourist hotspots, as people reactions are quite different. After walking for an hour I stopped off at a small cafe, trying to decided whether the people were suprised, happy or horrified at the sight of a strange foreign guy. I got some pumpkin soup, leafy greens, pork rice, beansprouts, noodles & tea. All for less than a dollar (Although thats still FIFTEEN THOUSAND dong!)

I continued my wandering along, ended up getting stuck in a cul-de-sac. One kid, glanced up at me and looked terrified, like he was about to burst into tears. Memo to self, have a shave. After getting completely and utterly lost I just jumped on a motorbike and get driven home. Nice and easy! Although most motorbike taxi drivers are annoying still thankful when you have no idea where you are.

So after sitting out the rain in Nha Trang it was back on with the road show. Well until the night bus to Hoi An turned round after an hour and came back. Yipee! Try again next night. Obviously a lot of people were unhappy at this turn of events. However I later heard that the night bus the previous day has been stuck for 42 hours, hehe. Not so bad then. Basically the road had subsided down 5m for about 20m in length. The bus had to wait until the road fixers came and sorted it out.

The next day I made it smoothly to Hoi An. The tailor capital of Viet Nam, suit you Sir!

Dalat

2005-12-28T00:10:00.000-08:00

It was planned with military precision, as you will no doubt have assumed. As with all my travel plans, I had throughly researched how to get the 460 odd miles from sunny Saigon to Dalat and pre-purchased the ticket which would guarantee my hassle free journey.

Naturally, the Vietnamese had other plans. Having turned up a good 15 minutes early for my bus as instructed, I am told that it was the main office I was supposed to be at, not the place I bought my ticket. Not a major problem, as the main office was but a mere 2 mins brisk walk down the road, and I arrived there with ample time to spare. Upon handing over my ticket for the 7:30 bus (I knew it was 7:30 for 2 cunning reasons. 1: I was told the bus left at 7:30 when I bought the ticket, and 2: 7:30 was the time printed on the ticket.) So, anyhow, I had over the ticket and after a brief flurry of Vietnamese (not from me I hasten to add) I'm told that the bus doesn't leave till 8:00.

Ahh well, time to chill out on the plastic chairs for 30 minutes. An hour later, just around the time I was debating if beanbags would be a comfy and funky-alternative to uncomfortable plastic chairs, I was led away to be executed. No wait ... led away to another tourist agency and was herded right up the back of the bus with my uber-large, yet essential, backpack. As soon as I sat down I was told this was the wrong bus and dumped back on the pavement for another 30 minutes, before being put squeezed into a shuttle bus, un-squeezed back out of it and re-herded back onto the original bus.

Finally, we were on out way. I peered out of the steamed up windows watching the scenery fly past as we ambled along at walking pace. 5 minutes later I conclude that everywhere in Saigon looks pretty much the same before realising we've gone round in a circle and are back outside the tourist agency again.

"So are you here for the flower festival?" said the Vietnamese guy on the bus.
"Huh?". Apparently there was a big flower festival on in Dalat, as I found out when I arrived with poster and flags everywhere. A few hotels were full. And being notoriously bad at reading maps, I couldn't figure out how to get to a hotel in my guidebook. Of course, by that time it was dark, as the bus journey was chaotic.

More waiting about, then we finally got on our way. For about 10km. Then we sat on the edge of Saigon, while they shuttled more people from the town onto the bus. 3 hours later, we finally left Saigon!

So by the time I got to Dalat it was dark. I got a motorbike to take me to a hotel, he claimed it was very far, I thought it was near, but couldn't work out where I was on the map. He drove down a straight road, down a 180 on the roundabout and back. I assume this was to make it seem far away! Not very convicing. That hotel was full but I found another closeby.

Lots and lots of rain. Everthing is damp and soggy. And quite cold up here. I bought a fleece to keep me warm, then I walked outside just as I realised a fleece is a really stupid thing to wear in the rain, it turns into a sponge! Strangely enough it's got a small NFL logo, not exactly what you expect to pick up in Vietnam.

I went for a walk down to the festival site. Lots of small shops. I had what I thought was a cheese & ham toastie, but it turned out to be odd. It wasn't melted cheese on the gridle, but cake mixture. Odd. More like ham cake.

Another night I went back down to the festival and saw some traditional dancing around. Looked like a hilltribe judging by their clothes. They sang, danced to some music. Shaking their spears at the fire. Unfortunately this was done on a raised platform and you had to stand below on the steps, while the security made sure nobody was getting a good view! I saw a security guy pointed and talking at somebody, at first I thought he was tapping his baton on his boots, because I heard a clicking noise, but he the baton was a stun-gun which he was menancingly zapping. Not to be messed with! Later on I saw a van of more security/army guys pull up, what intrigued me was the letters on the side of the van looked Russian. Acutally when I arrived in Vietnam, I was slightly suprised to discover they use the Latin alphabet, albeit with some diacratics, as Thailand, Laos & Cambodia all use their own squigly scripts.

After that I head to the pub in Dalat. There only seems to be one pub in Dalat, so not much choice. The bar owner is a whizz at connect four! But I managed to beat him a couple of times using the little known Diemer-Duhm gambit. However once he had countered this, I couldn't even beat him by cheating, not so subtlely throwing in two bits at once! Vietnam is a bit like Laos, everybody is either going North or South, stopping along the same points. I chatted to a few people in there, and unsuprisingly bumped into them again the next night. Helped sharpen my pool skills.

I had considered heading through the highlands, but eventually decided to head back down to the coast at Nha Trang hoping to escape the rain. It certainly didn't work out that way though.

Saigon

2005-12-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Saigon and found a cheap place to stay, above an art shop, renting out small rooms for 3$. Complete with a big flying bug zooming about my room. I had managed to swat it outside but now he's back. Staying in the main travellers area, full of the usual travel agents, internet cafes and restaurants. I went for a walk about, getting lost as usual. Saigon is a large, spread out busy city. 95% of the traffic seems to consist of manic motorbike drivers, using their horn incessantly. Some areas of Saigon are quite posh, with fancy restaurants and designer clothe shops. Also prevalent are some large shopping malls, where they have embraced Christmas fever. Christmas tunes, such as Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, tinkled through the sound system, except the singing is in Vietnamese, kinda of like Name that Tune. Outside Santas and Christmas trees adorn the pavements (I almost said sidewalks? Turning American!)
Vietnam acutally had the largest number of Catholics in Asia (excluding the Philippines) with around 10% of the 78 million population.

While wandering around I came across the Ho Chi Minh City Musuem. Saigon had actually been renamed Ho Chi Minh City, after the leader who led the Viet Minh forces to defeat the French after WWII and make Vietnam independent. However the locals still call it Saigon. I went in for a look about, it talks about the history of the country, and exhibits from the American war (or the Vietnam war, depending on your point of view). Also outside a few old aircraft and a helicopter. After a nosy around there, it was time for a spot of lunch. I picked up a roll from a nearby bakery. Seems to be a tendency to throw whatever you can into a sandwich. This one had some not very good pork, a sausage and some salad
with relish, and something approximating pate.

Some of the streets are lined with Vietnam flags, usually alternated with the hammer & sickle flag for a sea of red. In the streets, people wear these point Oriental hats to keep the sun off. Also a lot of people with face masks against the traffic fumes!

The next day I went along to the Emporer of Jade Pagoda. A fancy Chinese temple with large statues of guys with giants moustaches! Outside a few turtles were being released/dropped into the pond. Maybe it was an auspicous day.

Next stop was the zoo/botanical gardens. Not the best zoo, but a welcome escape from the motorbike and their beeping and tooting. After that I took a stroll down the Notre Dam Cathedral, inside a service was going on, so I only had a brief glimpse at the interior, before getting gently shooed away. Come in or get out, no hanging around.

Back closer to the guesthouse, I put my bartering skills to the test for a couple of books. It went like this:
"How much for these two?"
"$10"
"No, $5"
"Okay, $9"
"No, $5"
"No, no you say $6, when I say $9"
"No, $5"
"Okay, $8"
"No, $5" I walk away.
"Wait, okay 100,000 dong."
Tries to mentally divide by 15,000
"No, $5"
"okay, okay 90,000 dong is $5"
"No it's not, it should be....erm....75,000?"
"80,000"
So I got my two books for around $5, although when I looked at them they have the orignal cover, but are clearly just photocopies!

I went off for some dinner, decide to get away from the tourist cafes. I found a little cafe full of boisterous old men, plastic tables littered with empty beer bottles, stray dogs nervously snatching scraps off the floor before skittering away. I went in and suprisingly they brought out an English menu. First thing was steak and chips, not exactly traditional Vietanamese food! Also everything on the English menu was more expensive. I pointed at something on the Vietnamese menu, costing about a pound. I'll have that I confidently declared. Got some funny looks, and the staff slightly relucantly agreed. I'm sure they would of preferred if I'd spent more money on the steak and chips!

Now some old women came round and tried to sell various little bits of food, peanuts, something wrapped in seaweed. As I didn't know what I was getting I just smiled and said No. But smiling seems to be taken as I really do want to buy something. Just out of interest I continued to smile and say No (maybe the don't understand no) while they go through every item they have to sell, pointing at it. Eventually they exhausted all items and got the idea and left. Then my meal turned up. The trouble with ordering by pointing at random things if your likely to end up with a big plates snails. Which is what I got. You are supposed to suck them out of their shells, but I didn't have much look. Then somebody brought over a paperclip to eek them out, but still not much luck. Then they gave me a bottle opener to smash them open! A few locals tried to show me how to slurp them out. I seemed to spend most of my time sitting there making snail-sucking noises. Not much meat in them anyway. Still the herb butter sauce was actually quite nice, and the beer very cheap (30p, at least half of what the tourist cafes charge). I checked the receipt to see that the item did match what I had picked, it wasn't just the staff having a laugh. I left still rather hungry, but the next day I had a full English breakfast costing more than my room! It's good to try some new food, but also some familar food once in a while is nice.

Up early to catch the bus to Dalat, shouldn't of bothered it took another 3 hours to eventually leave Saigon...

Phnom Penh

2005-12-09T06:41:00.000-08:00

At Phnom Penh, I stood on the rooftop of the hotel watching a large jeep trying to reverse over a big mound of rubbish. After a few goes it succeeded and escape it's parking spot on the pavement, where it had been blocked in by another car. At least these people need jeeps for their cities and roads, or should that be dirt tracks. Lots of riverside restaurants and pubs abound along the Tonle Sap river, although the Khmer food served here seems for the most part to be the same as usual Thai food. Of course, you can still get all sort of other food such as burgers, pasta, salads. I even found a cheap Malaysian restuarant for a bit of Tom Yam.

Phnom Penh had a bit of a "wild west" reputation. Seems to attract a few oddballs anyway! I was talking to a guy who had been held up by two gunmen with rifles. They took his phone, while his driver ran away. Not quite sure if the driver was involved. Then he had to go through the hassle with the police who demanded $20 to give him the documents he needed for his insurance claim.

A book I was reading about Cambodia, mentions a few interesting facts like how nobody seems to bother that a policeman on a $16 wage is driving around in a $50,000 car! Another incident that sticks in my mind from the book, was when a vice-deputy high up goverment guy, was annoyed after his plane was delayed. He motioned his driver to go to the boot where he took his AK47 and started shooting the passenger plane. Only minor damage was recorded. Later he said it was dark and couldn't see where he was shooting, but if these people worked for him the would all by dead. A policeman confirmed that it was illegal to bring weapons into an airfield and shoot planes, but no action was to be taken against him!

Flicking through the Phnom Penh post newspaper, I came across the police reports, where arrest are made. Lots of people getting "chopped" on the head with an axe (alway three times!) or being shot with AK47. Although the most unusual one was the report of a Cambodian man who had been taken to hospital with an arrow in his chest. He had been hunting rats with a crossbow at 04:20am when he accidentaly discharged the arrow into himself! Sounds like a Darwin award nominee.

One day I went along to Toul Sleng Musuem. A horrific reminder of the attrocities commited by the Khmer Rouge. In 197 Pol Pot's men took over this school and turned into Security Prison 21 (S-21). For the next three years, this would be used as interogation centre. Afterwards the people were taken to Cheoung Ek (the Killing Fields) and executed, often battered to death to save bullets. The school rooms on the ground floor were divided into individual cells barely big enough to lie down. Other rooms are bare except for a steel bed, with restraints and rusty tools. On the walls old grimy black and white photos depict the people strapped to the beds, black pools of blood lying below their emanicapated bodies.

In other rooms vast galleries consisting of mugshots of all the prisoner. Again the Khmer Rouge had a systematic methodology for execution. All prisoner are photographed with their relevant numbers. Unsuprisingly, you can see the fear in the peoples face. When one person was taken, their entire family was also taken. One wall of pictures shows just kids. Then they must abide by the regulations written on the sign:

1. You must answer accordingly to my question - Don't turn them away.
2. Don't try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that. You are strictly prohibited to contest me.
3. Don't be a fool for you are a chap who dare to thwart the revolution.
4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect.
5. Don't tell me about your immoralities or the essence of the revolution.
6. While getting lashes or eletrification you must not cry at all.
7. Do nothing, sit still and wait for my orders. If there is not order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting.
8. Don't make pretext about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your secret or traitor.
9. If you don't follow the above rules, you shall get many lashes of electric wire.
10. If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.

In another room, paintings depicting more horrors line the wall. People getting their finger snipped off, and soldiers throwing babies throw the air onto their bayonets.
Over three years an estimated 14,000-20,000 people went into S-21. There was 7 survivors.

Seim Reap

2005-12-07T02:28:00.000-08:00

Siem Reap

The temples at Angkor were built between the 9th & 13th century. At this time the Angkor empire covered a vast area, north to China and all the way west to the Bay of Bengal. At it's height over a million people are estimated to live in Angkor. However only the Gods were deemed fit to live in stone, so only the temples remain, the wooden houses & buildings long succumbed to the jungle. The temple were "discovered" by Henri Mouhot around 1860. From 1908, a French organisation has made the effort to reclaim the temples from the jungle and preserve them. The trees and plants slowly rip apart the stones, this is most in evidence at Ta Prom.

Ta Prom, a 12th century buddhist temple, has been left in the same state as it was when discovered. So trees sprout from the top of walls and inbetween the stones. Some areas are sectioned off, as they may collapse, bricks lay strewn about. Carvings are everywhere, in particular I liked a face nearly hidden by tree roots, smiling out at you.

Inside the fortified city of Angkor Thom, at the centre lies the Bayon. A temple with more than 200 strangely smiling faces staring down at you. Very odd!

The most famous temple though is Angkor Wat, the nearest temple to town. Surrounded by a huge moat, it sits on an island and is accessible across a long causeway. Then another wall surrounds the edge of the island. Outside the main temple is an 800m long series of baf reliefs. The central temple rises three storeys and 55m, so you get a good view!

Although one thing is, that to get up you have to climb some steep stairs. When you go down they suddenly look very steep! So, you have lots of people slowly crawling down from the top. I cycled around the temple a couple of days. By the third day I was pretty much 'templed out' but took a tuk-tuk out to see Angkor Wat for sunset one final time.

The next day it was off to the captial, Phnom Penh.

Bangkok

2005-11-26T02:17:00.000-08:00

Bangkok

I got the sleeper train back into Bangkok. There was a big festival that night, Loy Krathong. A kraythong consists of flowers and incense that can float in the water, and loy means float. During the day, kraythong sellers lined the streets, but at night the crowds appeared. It seemed like all the residents of Bangkok had come down to the river to launch their krathongs, it was heaving! I couldn't really seem much down at the river pier, although they also had a few shows put on. The occasional kraythong bobbed about, but the boats were making large waves and probably drowned most of them. I decided to head up to one of the bridges spanning the river for a better view. It seemed like everybody else had the same idea, but I managed to find a spot to watch the proceedings. I don't think I've ever seen so many cameras in the one place. Everybody was snapping away as the big boats came down the Chao Praya.

It was like a float parade on the water, with colourfully lit boats drifting along. At one stage the river was covered in boats, both floats and tourist boats, set against the backdrop of the illuminated Thonburi bridge. Some of the roads had been sealed off and crowds of people roamed the streets some singing a traditional song, about Loy Krathong. The long day & night took its toll and I retired for an early night.

The next day on Khao San road I bumped into a guy I had met in Penang. Went for a drink, and I made the mistake of trying the cuttlefish from the street vendor. DONT TRY THE CUTTLEFISH! I didn't feel well the next day. Anyway I survived and felt better later on, I had arranged to meet up for a korean barbecue. It was close to where I stayed before. I had eaten there before but didn't realise it was Korean-style. You get a big plate of raw meat (I recommend the pepper-steak!) and slap it on an upturned metal bowl which rests above hot coals. Then you try and cook it, turning (dropping) it with your chopsticks. A tasty meal and you can eat as much as you want for not much more than a quid. No wonder it is popular with the Thais. When we walked it in was full, but they soon made space and grabbed some chairs from somewhere. On the edge of the main dining area actually outside a BMW garage, next to a big group of rowdy students.

I went along to the Royal Palace, it was very busy with tourists. A huge complex with decorative temples and wats everywhere you turn! I saw the emerald buddha, a holy relic with magical powers and some natty clothes, which get changed three times a year, one for each season. It has been discovered inside a clay buddha. At one point, it was in Laos, I had seen a wat there that had been built to house it, but the Thais nabbed it back, much to the annoyance of the Lao people.

Next stop Siem Reap to see the temple of Angkor!

Vientiane

2005-11-20T00:06:00.000-08:00

I tried to find a room with a window, but they seem in short supply in Vientiane. Not exactly the "Paris of the East" judging by the state of the roads, open sewers and dust!
There seem to be a lot of roads being re-surfaced when I was there, or perhaps just being surfaced. This consists of one truck schlooping tar down, followed immediately by another with guys shovelling stones and then by a road-roller. Instant road!

Although one day, they had flattened the mud road and it rained. The next day I saw a truck halfway inside the road, it had sunk. Vientiane seems more like a small town, rather than a capital city. The local English paper runs to about 10 pages. Apparently the local Vientiane's eat almost a kilo of rice a day. A lot of rice!

I had a look around a few of the temples in town. One had a ridiculous number of buddhas in it!

I went along to see Laos play a friendly against a league team from Thailand, Bangkok Bank. Unfortunately they lost 3-1, but they did score the best goal, a thumping volley into the corner of the goal. The kick-off was a bit late, but after the game I went across the road to the Laos Cultural Centre to see some "Jodaiko" (Japanese for passionate drumming). It was good, as the drummer started off with a giant drum and a log for a drumstick! The crowd was funny as the all clapped wildly when he hits the drum. None of this being quiet during the performance! Then he did a little drumming number starting with a simple rythmn, and repeating with embelishments, until the rhythmn is stuck in your head. Next up, another drummer come on, to beat the other side of the drum. Started off gently, prancing about playful and then BANG! they start beating the crap out of the drum, almost like a martial art.

Vang Vieng

2005-11-10T01:11:00.000-08:00

After some faffing about with the buses, I got underway. I had previously bought a ticket for the bus but didn't turn up early enough and now the bus was full. Another 3 people were in the same situation. The overflow gets shoved on a minibus and leaves when it gets enough passengers. Although they put another guy going to Vang Vieng on an empty bus, instead of with us. Confusion reigns. Eventually he got moved onto the minibus and we got underway when one more person arrived. This being Laos we actually arrived before the normal bus, passing it on the way, although we left an hour later.

Vang Vieng primary reson for being on the tourist map is to break up the journey between Luang Prabang and Vietiane, otherwise it's close to a 12 hour journey. I doubt many people live here that are not dependent, if indirectly, on the tourist revinue. Lots of cafes showing Friends. All day. Every day. Odd.

A popular day trip is to float down the river in a tractor inner tube. I wasn't sure about this, but ended up following the trail when I went out for a walk. I walked down the road, stopping off at the small market for a quick nosy. After a while I reached an organic farm where they 'tubers' get dropped off. I decided to loop back and follow the river back down to town. The path comes and goes mostly along the river bank, through some shaded forest and back inland to farm fields. Dotted along the way are small wooden bars where people can refresh themselves with a BeerLao. At one bar there is a death slide, I stopped for a while to watch people slide along. One girl demonstrated how not to go on the slide. She let go nearly immediately at the top and plummeted into the water. Looked a long way down!

I passed a young boy who had been out fishing. Not of this line fishing for the Lao's! He had a spear and an old scuba mask. Also carried a fishing trap, which maybe left out overnight. One of these one-way traps, full of small fish and other squidgy stuff. At the riverbank there were these bright red dragonflies which posed nicely for my camera. Going back along through the village, I saw a big green praying mantis. And then I came across some strange beastie! At first I thought it was a twig in a spiders web, but I noticed it was alive. It floated about, although it was on a thread, it looked like it was flying through space. Very strange anyway.

After a hard days walk it was down to a riverside restaurant for a cool drink. There I chatted with a Japanese farmer. I had always imagined Japanese farming as a traditonal family thing pass down from generation to generation. But, it turned out he had just bought the farm (literally!). Then went for a game of pool, where the table was rubbish! The next night, some Irish geezer decied to arrange a game of killer, the prize a crate of beer. Needless to say, I didn't win. It was the tables fault!

At night I had walked past a Laos marriage. The band were playing some songs. Electric keyboard, electric guitar and vocals. Not sure how traditional that was! But they all got up and shuffled about. They didn't seemed to into the dancing anyway. The bride wore what from a distance looked like an intricate silk dress, while the groom had a white tuxedo ala Saturday Night Fever, smart.

Now it's on the Vientiane, the Paris of the East!

Luang Prabang

2005-11-04T01:38:00.000-08:00

After finding a guesthouse, it was time for dinner. I had a nice roasted fish at the street market. You can buy something from the stalls, and then get a plate of pick and mix from various veg, rice & pasta dishes. As much as you can fit on one plate for 5000kip. The money is a bit crazy here, prices are given in kip or dollars. Usually end up paying in baht and getting kip back, most confusing! After dinner it was off to a Halloween party at Hive. People had been handing out fliers when people got off the boat, so a lot of the people from the boat came along. Probably enticed by the promise of a free shot of lao-lao (local spirit) with the flier. It got pretty busy, the bar had at least put in some effort on the halloween front, with a skeleton halloween DJ and various other bits and bobs. Halloween special drink was pumpkin, whisky and lao-lao, eurgh! I'll stick to the LaoBeer, nice tasting beer which is very reasonably priced :)
The next day a few people were sporting sore heads. In the morning we went up to the small hill in centre of town, where lurked a small temple, but the main attraction is the view across town. Strangely enough there seem to be a lot more palm trees when viewed from above, rather than at street level. Gina & I managed to get a big group of ten people and hire a van to take us to the waterfall. A very scenic spot, where a few souls braved the cold water for a swim in the natural pool. I took a walk up to a higher level. After some stairs, you had to cross over a minor waterfall, but it meant I'd have to take my trainers off anyway. A bit slippy underfoot in places. There was a bamboo hand barrier, but in one place, it had been broken, I wondered what had happened to the person who had broken it? It was a long way down. You can see that Laos is getting into the tourist way, by charging for entrance to the waterfall and the walk up is surrounded by vendors. Some with just enough English to say "Buy something!".
After that it was a quick stop off at the Hmong village, which was a bit like a zoo. I don't think many people were impressed. Also all the children surround the tourists as soon as they get off the bus and start begging for money, obviously must work sometimes.
After a rather bumpy journey back it was time for dinner, back to the night market. I had my eye on a rather tasty looking chicken. I decided half of one would be more than enough, the vendor then set about it with a cleaver quickly chopping it into lumps, straight through all the bones.
The next day it was over to Wat Xieng Thong for a look about. A temple situated close to the delta of the Mekong and erm.. that other river. Inside one of the wats was a large funeral carriage for the king. I hadn't realised what it was at the time, but in the afternoon I went along to the former Royal Palace and they had a model and an explanation of what it was. The Royal Palace, was as you would expect very fancy. Specifically the main hall, the bedrooms were somewhat austere in comparasion.

Later that night I bumped into another person from the boat, who had a group of people going to see a performance of some Laos ballet. Not my usual thing, but I went along to see what it was like. Turned out to be a story from the Ramayana being re-enacted. We got the cheap seat up the back! It was reminiscent of the Indian Kathakali I saw in Kochi, probably because of the similar looking characters, with odd green & white masks and from the same text. Not bad, but I don't think I'll be a regular attendee.

The next day, was fairly lazy, I did however learn (& forget) how to make some Lao food. The dishes were beef laap & steamed fish. The beef was sliced up thinly and vegetables added, some chicken stock and chilli. The beef is cooked very quickly in a hot pan and mixed all together. I think I cut the beef a bit thick in places, so a bit raw in the middle! The fish was nice, with mint & lemon and greens added and then wrapped in a banana leaf package and place in a steamer for 15 mins. Yummy!

Laos

2005-11-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

I had asked the guesthouse in Chiang Mai if there were many buses to the border, they said they left every hour, so I headed over to the bus station at 10:00am to find out the only one leaves at 13:00. Oh well, I had wander around getting used to the backpack again. Found a mall nearby and sat in that for a couple of hours waiting for the time to pass. Then the bus took a lot longer than I expected and the upshot was that by the time I got to the border it was shut.
The next day I had to pay 200baht for overstaying my Thai visa for a day, fair enough. Unlike the people in front of me, who had been told that their visa was for 2month when it was only for 1. Ooops!

After a couple of minutes on a longtail boat, it was across the Mekong and into Laos. With the paperwork done, I went for a walk. One travel agent with a huge queue seem to be selling all the tickets, but if you walked another couple of minutes you got up to the main road. I decided to try and just get to the boat pier. So after talking to a driver, I agreed a price to go to the speedboat pier. On the way, we stopped to pick up a couple of locals and a new bicycle crammed into the back of the truck. Transport is a truck with the back roof taken off and a couple of benches placed inside. After a detour we dropped off the locals and then on the wait to the pier. Didn't look like I had saved any money by going direct to the pier, same travel agent ticket sellers there. After a lot of hanging about, I was told I could go now. I went down to the riverside and then there was some more hanging about. Basically you quickly learn that transports doesn't leave to schedule but when full. So we needed eight people to be crammed onto the speedboat. And I do mean crammed, I had my knees stuck under my chin for 3 hours, while an engine roared in my ears, the wind blasted my eyes and then later the rain smacked off my head. I was glad to get off, everybody else was continuing for 3hours down to Luang Prabang. I got off at Pak Beng, roughly half way.
I seemed to be the only foreigner here. I quickly found a cheap guesthouse nearby, and had a nosy about. A quiet little village, a few guesthouses and restaurants with English-written menus, and then it seemed like residential area with small huts. I walked past a pool hall, where some teenagers invited me for a game. They only played with four balls set in a diamond, potted by number. The table was in the worst condition I have ever seen! Still, they seemed to enjoy playing it. Later went for some food, a nice creamy chicken dish, quite mild, no chillies.

The next morning I went down to the pier to see what time the slow boat to Luang Prabang leaves, turns out a lot earlier than me getting out of bed. So another day in Pak Beng. Turned out to be good though. I tried to hire a bike from across the road, but as I wasn't staying in their hotel they wouldn't let me hire the bike. Hmm, interesting usually they just take your money!

As there wasn't much else to do I decided to go for a long walk. The road goes from the pier inland, yes there is only one road with no branches, so not much thought needed as to where I would walk! I continually passed small villages separated by a short distance, the further I went the more people stared at me! I continued on for a few hours, I had seen buses occasionally whizz past so I hoped I could take one back rather than retrace my walk. A few boys on their bikes had been talking to me as I walked down. I asked one if I could get the bus back here, he said I could wait here. So I stopped walking and waited. It seemed like half the village had come out to stare at me. I had a group of around twenty people a few safe metres away just standing looking at the strange foreign guy. The kid then suggested I buy some food from him. As I was a bit peckish, and I had noticed the complete lack of shops outside town I agreed. He ended up inviting me into his house, where I sat down on a tiny stool and they brought out the sticky rice (in a bamboo container) a plate of chilies and a plate of something else. It was dark inside, not helped by the fact that the twenty onlookers had crowd round the door to watch me eat! I dipped the rice into the chilies and found out they were very hot!! Then I turned my attention to the other dish, as they encouraged me to eat. Oooh, some French cuisine, escargot. Oh well, I didn't feel I could refuse, so I picked one up and pulled it out the shell and chewed. Actually not too bad infused with herbs, something similar to mint. But the idea doesn't agree with my stomach so I just had the one, then stuck to plain rice!
After I paid the old woman who had served the dishes 5000kip (25p??). She seemed happy enough, repeatedly thanking me, then back outside into the bright light. The kids then said I could take one of their bikes back to town. So I jumped on the bike and we set off, actually it was quite far. One of the kids made the mistake of trying to show off by going no-handys he wobbled left, right, bam straight into the ground. Unfortunately I was right behind and the bike had no brakes, and I crunched right into his bike, but luckily not him. Still, he had a few cuts, which he covered up quickly chewing some nearby plants and placing it on the grazes to act as a plaster and stop the bleeding.
Another kid tried to outrace me, hah, I'll show him, so we both pedalled furiously going neck in neck (he was a lot lighter than me, it was easy for him!!) much to the amazed looks of passerbys, seeing the crazy foreign guy whizz past on a local bike.
The next day I headed down early to make sure I got the boat, and a mere 8 hours later I arrived in Luang Prabang.

Chiang Mai

2005-10-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

After eventually arriving at Chiang Mai, I was beseiged by taxi touts trying to take you to their guesthouse. I decided I was just have a wander about, I had glanced at one of the maps and a guesthouse lay to the right. On reconsideration the map was probably upside down, as the reality is everything is to the left of the train station.

I had picked up a second-hand South East Asia LP at Khao San Road, but after checking it I found all the Chiang Mai pages had been ripped out. Anyway, I stopped one of these taxi-bus-songthaews and got him to take me to a guesthouse near the night bazaar.

Every night in Chiang Mai the pavements become crammed with street vendors selling their various wares. Although a lot of it looks like the same stuff! Then at the weekend there is the BIG night market in the old walled city. I went along to this and was suprised how busy it was. You end up just shuffling along slowly going with the crowds. No way out! Also as well as the usual handicrafts, there are some buskers doing their thing. Some traditional 4 string Thai instruments played with a bow, making strange noises.

One day I headed up the hill to Doi Suthep, a temple perched high above Chiang Mai. A series of steps leads you up to the temple itself. And there is a lot of gold used there! Golden pillars, golden statues, golden buddhas. Also a nice view back down to Chiang Mai itself. Quite a few cyclist stuggling up the big hill. Saw more cyclist in one day here than on my entire bike trip.

Tomorrow I head to the Thai border, where I should cross over the Mekong into Laos!

Bangkok

2005-10-21T04:18:00.000-07:00

Bangkok

In 2548, after cycling over 3 million metres I arrived in Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. Which translates to 'The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.' or more commonly known as Bangkok. In Thailand they use the Buddhist calendar which starts 543 years before the Christian calendar, so 2005 is 2548. The final distance from Singapore to Bangkok on a roundabout route, and skipping a few bits by boat came to 3020km (1877 miles). Anyway, after all that cycling I decided it would be good to spend some time in one place, so I went flat-hunting. There are some places advertised in the Bangkok post, so I phoned them up, but most of them were full. I went to have a look at one place, and on my way I saw another apartment for rent, so I went and had a look. I decided to take this one and I was up in the 13th floor. Just a studio room, bigger than the other ones I had seen. And it had a fridge to store my cheese slices in!

I was staying close-ish to the Victory Monument skytrain station. A ten minute walk or so, and then I could jump on the train elsewhere. The skytrain and metro work well, which is a lot better than can be said for the roads which are pretty much constantly snarled up with traffic all day. Plenty of taxis, but all they do is sit in traffic jams, creating a haze of pollution! And don't even think about trying to cross the road as a pedestrian. Best to use a bridge. While the cars might all be still, the motorbikes will be weaving their way through the chaos.

I hadn't heard much music on my travels, so it was nice to be somewhere with a music scene. So I saw some good bands. Whilst I was staying in my guesthouse in Banglamphu I went to see a blues band play in the stangely names Ad the 13th. Geogia's Blues Band or something they were called. They played 5 nights a week, so plenty of practice. I chatted to a guy who had seen them quite a few times before, he'd been coming back to Thailand for a few years now. After the gig, the band were heading off to another music place, Saxophone, and invited us along. So we jumped in a taxi and arrived at Saxaphone, where another band was pumping out the tunes. It took me a while to realise, but the Saxaphone pub, was besides my flat, so I was in there a few times. Jazz-tastic!

Also went along to the Rock Pub, (great name, that must of taken a long time to think of) complete with large neon sign that says "School of Rock!". The first band up, weren't taking themselves to seriously, playing "I will survive"! I think they had a new line-up, a bit hesitant. Mind you better than I expected for a Tuesday night. Then the next band up were old school Classic Rock. With a long haired frontman, who looked like he should be in a shampoo advert, the thumb-plucking fat bassist (why are most bass players fat?) , the nonchalant guitar maestro and a Spinal Tap-esque rotation of drummers! They used up three drummers! The singer asked for any requests, and someone shouted out Foo Fighters and then they ended up playing Come As You Are, by Nirvana. I don't think I've ever seen a guitarist so bored, as he plodded through the song. He had previously just outplayed Jimmy Page on an old Led Zep number.

Also popped along to see a Thai Folk Band. Well one drunk guy in the corner liked the songs as he sang along and clapped (out of time), but somehow having lyrics in an unknown language doesn't work for me. Another night I went along to Tokyo Joes, where a guy, Ryan Adam was playing eclectic accoustic songs. Kinda strange, but quite good. Also saw a band called Live after Nine, who had a slightly crazy electric fiddle playing front man. Played some old Irish songs (Aah, ooh, me-daddio there's whisky at the bar), as they were Canadian. The frontman had a wireless thingy so he could run about the pub as he played "the world's fastest fiddle song". Done a good version of the ants go marching in one-by-one!

Nearby at Victory Point there was a food court, one time I got some nice pork, rice, bbq sauce and some noodle soup. They also give you another clear soup to go with the pork. I made the mistake of finishing it before I had eaten all the rest of my meal, and the guy whipped it away and replaced it full again. Oh, I've only had 2 bowls of soup. Please, Sir, can I have some more? Also popular here is the English Premier league, due to the time difference it airs on Saturday night. When you see Thai guys slagging off each other teams.

I managed to catch the flu in Bangkok, so I slept a lot! (Yes, even more than usual) At least it wasn't bird flu! Somehow a month whizzed by and it was time to move on. I bought a sleeper train ticket to Chiang Mai, and then lost the ticket! I didn't know the number so I couldn't get it re-issued. Ended up with a normal seat for 14 hours. Numb bum!

Chaam & North

2005-09-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

I hopped on my bike for an hour and zoomed up the coast from Hua Hin to Chaam. I decided to grab some lunch and as I was walking along I saw some roast chickens looking all tasty. Then the guy came across and asked if I wanted pork and pointed at the large splayed pig on a spit above a charcoal burner. Looked good as well, so I had some of that. The guy asked whether I wanted 1 kilo or 1/2kilo, I chose the smaller. I kinda assumed that I most be getting ribs as 1/2kilo of just meat sounded a lot. He soon had the pig of the spit and quickly hacked off the leg. That was pretty much mine, no bones just a big piled plate of meat. After a lengthy time I gave up with a good portion eaten. The next two days I didn't feel so good! Spending my time in close vacinity to the bathroom.

After that I headed on North to Petchaburi. I was looking for a guesthouse when I went down a lane and the dogs started barking, and then a woman came out and told me it was a hotel. Even the one I was looking for, good stuff. After shoving bike & bags away I went for a butchers to see a few of the thirty odd temples that cover the town. There was a nice old teak building and also lots of buddha statues inside the main bot. I was taking a few photos (the monk said I could take photos inside) when some people come in and start praying, so I just wander off out their way.

The next temple had some nice stone carvings outside with scary faces and then one face looked strangley out of place, looked like Harry Potter! Not sure how that got there, one of life's little mysteries.

The next day continued on towards the town of Samut Songkhran. I was unable to find much info about here as the only hotel mentioned in my guide book was pricey. I stopped for lunch and asked somebody about accommodation and they just shook their head and said no hotel until Bangkok. Hmmm, that's not good! Another 80km and it would be very dark and very tiring! Still not too worry, they didn't know of what they spoke. Samut Songkhran turned out to be a busy little town with at least a couple of hotels, maybe more. I shacked up at one for the night, getting some rest before the big ride tommorrow -- Bangkok!

Hua Hin

2005-09-13T04:42:00.000-07:00

As I cycled into Hua Hin there seemed to be a lot of police and miltary lurking about. Turned out it was the opening day of the Kings Elephant Polo Cup, and some bigwigs were out hobnobbing. I had missed the opening ceremonies on that day, but I went along later to catch a bit of the play.

I just jumped on a motorbike taxi as I didn't recall seeing any signs on the way down. I must of cycled straight past it previously. Anyway, there were 32 teams playing in the tournament. First up were the All Blacks who started off with the Haka to frighten the opposition, who responded by signing some French ditty. Then everybody was up on there elephant with their mahouts(drivers) and polo sticks. And then the referees drops the ball and Action. The elephants lumber about while the players weild their sticks with abandon, all the time the commentator is trying to make it seem fast and furious. And then some poor guys get the jobs of pooper-scooper, gives you muscles hefting all that dung! The people and the players seemed a bit hoighty-toighty. I was almost expecting to get asked whether I went to Cambridge or Eton, haha.

The commentator mentioned that Chivas Regal team is apparently the best team in the world. They started against the Australian team at 0-3. However at least one of the Australians had only ever been on an elephant for 30 seconds. By half time it was 4-3 to Chivas Regal. Not much of a match, though.

Smited!

2005-09-10T00:53:00.000-07:00

I woke up in the morning to find my tyre flat. I pumped it up again, but after a few km (in the wrong direction) it was flat again. Grrr! So I got the tyre off and put in a spare inner tube. However, getting the final bit of the tyre onto the rim was proving a whole lot more difficult. After much stretching and groaning, still no further. Then a guy with a pickup truck drove past, reversed and offered me a lift back into town to the "bicycle shop". I didn't expect to find a bicycle shop out here in the middle of nowhere, and I was correct. Turned out to be a mechanics. Still, helpfull mechanics though! I just about managed to stop them from tearing off the tyre again, miming that I wanted it back on. Within a few minutes, with four pairs of hands and a couple of feet. The tyre was fixed. Huzzah!

So I continued on my way, after asking directions this time. After about another three kilometres, it started raining. Heavily. Shortly followed by a psssss noise, eerily similar to that of a tyre deflating. Yep, another puncture! I saw a sign for a hotel a short distance away, so I trudged along through the puddles pushing my bike. But when I arrived it was full of trimmed lawns and posh little buildings and they wanted 1200baht for the cheapest room, eek! As I contemplated walking all the way back to the mechanics, the manageress, Na, asked if she could help. Then she mentioned she had a pickup truck and could give me a lift. So back to the mechanics (who all snickered at seeing me again so soon) and the inner tube was patched, and my second spare inner tube used (who would of thought I had two spares!). And the price, for me, was free!

I had mentioned earlier to Na that I was planning to go to Bang Saphan, and she offered me a lift across there. Cool, I was kinda fed up with the bike by now. So I got a lift to the next town, and found a hotel with a reasonable price. A bad day into a good day, thanks to the friendly folk of Thailand!

Although, the guesthouse was literally in the middle of nowhere. I looked down the road to the right, nothing as far as the eye could see, and on the left a small shop, and then nothing! I tried to get some food at the guesthouse, I seemed to be the only person there. Lots of pointing involved. In retrospect I think, I must of gave them the idea that I didn't want Thai food, saying "No Thai" when they talked to me, meaning I didn't speak Thai. I ended up with a plate of rice and a deep fried omelette, then off to the shop for some donuts!

BangBurd

2005-09-05T05:35:00.000-07:00

I set off from Chumpon a bit later than planned, but I never did like getting out of bed. After circling round a bit, I found a road heading out (somewhere!). I thought this would be the road on my map which follows the coast, but eventually I got pushed back onto the main highway. After a bit more cycling, I went past a sign saying shortcut to Chumpon. I most of taken the long road. I headed back towards the coast and onto the minor roads. The surface isn't as good as the highway, but a lot less traffic. I bounced along through orchards and fruit fields and rubber plantations. Then tried to continue north. It was getting a bit late, so I stopped at the next place to see if I could find somewhere to stay, but no look. They pointed me off to the mysterious Bangburd resort. I saw a sign where it said KM but no number! After more cycling down minor roads, I asked some people, ah only 5km. After 5km I asked more people, 10km further on. After about 15km and getting dark I finally came into town. But not before all the dogs intown realised a stranger had entered. Now, I used to like dogs, but put me on a bike and dogs HATE me. Turning from Andrex puppies into huge crazed, rabid, slabbering hounds of hell intent on ripping off your leg at the armpit. I usually tried and whizz pass them before they realise. One time going up a slight hill I came across a placid looking beast, and thought I would try and amble past peacefully. It almost worked and then it went crazy and I was right beside it. Strangely, some music started blasting out from somewhere at the same time and it ran away. I'll stick to whizzing past in the future, god help me if I encounter a deranged whippet. Well, I finally found the hotel, and quite nice and quite pricey it was too. I got them down from 900baht to 600baht. I wasn't going to be going anywhere else at 19.00 and I was knackered. So much for a gentle re-introduction to the bike, after all the detours and hotel hunting, I'd done over 100km.

Chumphon

2005-09-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

I got the boat across from Ko Tao to Chumphon. Had to wait till everybody was off the boat until I could take my bike off. Another couple of German touring cyclist had ridden from Chang Mai in the north down to Chumpon, but now flying home. After eventually getting off the boat, I followed the bus to the main road into Chumpon about 7km away. It was starting to get dark. By the time I found a place to stay it was dinner time, off to a resturant for some Rad Naa. The next day, I tried to find a bike shop and after a while I found two, unfortunately neither could replace my spokes. Oh well, I found a travel agency and arrange to go over to Mynamar the next day. This will allow me a bit more time in Thailand, as my visa is a double entry, 2 month one. I need to exit and re-enter after the first sixty days, and then I get another sixty days. You need to pay $5 to get the visa for Mynamar. I dug around and came up with $4, so close! Still, I gave them some extra baht and I got rid of my $4. After a couple of hours on the mini-bus across to the other side of Thailand, we arrived at Ranong, where a car picked me up and took me along to the immigration office to get a Thailand exit stamp, and then onto the boat. The tour guy takes all the passports, and we trundle across to Mynamar, when we arrive, the guy hops out to the paperwork place and stamps all the passports and then after ten minutes jumps back on the boat. So I didn't even step foot on Mynamar soil. In that ten minutes Mynamar guys jump on the boat and try and sell cheap cigarettes and booze. Then back to the Thai Immigration office, then a car to the busstop and the minibus to Chumpon. Well, at least I got my visa extended.

Ko Tao

2005-09-02T05:07:00.000-07:00

I bumped into Dan, Marko & Nako at the boat departure, they were also going to Ko Tao, so we joined up. They were going diving, I was planning on some hectic reading under a palm tree. I did borrow Daniel's snorkel once, to go out and have a look. At first it was really sandy, but once you got out a bit further it was clearer and saw some fish. I think the times I went in Malayasia were better, but maybe if you jumped on a boat to once of the dive sites and snorkelled there it would be good. Still I saw some strange fish and corals. I was going to only stay for a few days, but a pleasant place, so I ended up lounging about for five days. All this sitting about doing not a lot but eating, drinking, chatting and reading is going to make getting back on the bike a lot harder!

There was good book shop, run by the slightly crazy Mr J. who has signs all over the island. "Mr J. buy anything!", "To be good tourist tip Mr J. Everyone happy!" etc. I bought The Curious Incident of the dog at night-time (or whatever it's called) and Mr J. deemed the purchase worthy of a couple of free rambutans. Another time some free bananas. I read "Rule of Four" also. Another hard day at the office :)

Ko Pha Nga

2005-09-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

After jumping on the boat from Ko Samui, I headed to Ko Pha Nga. From there I struggled my bike the 10km to Hat Rin. It was really tough going. I never seen roads that go straight up like that before! They go from flat to what felt like 45degrees. Needless to say, I spent most of my time pushing it up, and rolling down. I got to another big dusty hill, over the other side was the place I wanted to stay. But this was too steep, combined with the dust meant that when I tried to push my bike up I just slipped straight back down! As I was struggling with this a pickup from the guesthouse came along and gave my a lift the final 200m, good timing. I settled into my small bungalow towards the top of the hill, a scramble up and down. I went down to the restaurant for a beer and met Daniel, Marko and Nako. Dan and Marko were both French chefs, while Nako was Marko's Japanese girlfriend. Daniel had spent some time working in a restuarant on the west coast of Scotland, so he could understand my accent well! This is the kind of place where days are for sleeping and nights are for drinking. A week here was long enough. I watched the Old Firm game here, in a pub full of Celtic supporters, and none of them bought me a drink at the final whistle! I probably should of written this blog more recently as I can't remembered much about what happened a few weeks ago. Must be my age...

Surat Thani

2005-08-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

I grabbed some lunch in a cafe, with the intention of trying to find a bike shop to fix another broken spoke. However the owner started talking about being a film extra, so after a chat with her and a couple of other foreigners who were being ropped in as well, I decided to go along. I grabbed my bags and bike and threw it in the back of the pickup.

After a while of going round in circles, sign were spotted that pointed towards the "Location". Once there we signed disclaimer forms about being filmed, something along the lines of them having the rights for "eternity" throughout the "universe". Guess the lawyers are taking any chances given the wording. The film is called BlackBeard, so you can guess it's a pirate thing. Actually I think it is a mini-series rather than a film. It stars Angus MacFadyen, who played Robert the Bruce in Braveheart. Haha, guess his career has gone down the tubes! He's seems to have bulked up for the role, he was pretty podgy.

Then grabbed a bit of food, noticing that everybody else had their plates piled high and was wolfing it down. The food was better than I expected with a buffet of various meat, veg & fruit. After food we were off to costume to get changed. I was handed the role of customer, a bit disappointing I wanted to be a pirate. Oh well, maybe they would see my latent talent. After the costume change we were pointed off to the set. Actually the set was quite impressive, with a large clock tower and a few streets, as well as a pier with ships.

Being an extra larged consists of sitting around doing nothing, until you get collared by some staff. I was grabbed for a bar scene, and made to walk from A to B to C. You do one take, then hang about some more. "Back to one, everybody!" They fiddle with the lights and cameras and then you go again. Except this time a lighting rig is in the path where you were walking! After an hour or so, I was dismissed to go back to sitting around out of shot. We arrived at 14.30 and filmed/sat about through the night, breaking for "lunch" at 10.30, some cold hotdogs and sandwiches done the rounds later. It finished about 06.00 and about 07.30 by the time we were back at the hotel. Then back on the bus at 15.30 for the next days shoot. The camp seemed to split into two groups, people like me who are nosy and then the people who actually want to be actors. Some of the latter are the kind of people who suddenly break into song while walking along. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed on set, so I don't have photos of me in my costume. (Phew!)

Same thing, walk about the background while they shoot the scene. Walking back and forward for a few hours. Then another few hours while the set up the next scene and change the lights. Then we were in the distant, distant background. Basically moving shadows. Finished up around 03.00 I think, the bus was going to the pier to Ko Samui, so I joined them. As the bus was about to leave, a huge guy stepped on the bus and walked up to a German geezer and says, "I think you have something belonging to me. Can I have your bag?" The German guy, walks up the back of the bus and takes his bag off, while another guy spots a bag under the seat and drags that off as well. Turns out he nicked a couple of pistols from the set. Stealing a firearm is probably not a charge you want in Thailand! Eventually the bus was off, stopping at a 7/11 in the middle of nowhere. But they are obviously wise to this, as they had 3 or 4 staff on during the dead hours. As the bus was about to leave, an Irish guy notices his bag is missing. The German guy must of grabbed his bag! He stays at the hotel to get it sorted out. Later at the pier one of the staff turns up with the missing bag, but it turns out to belong to a middle age woman, which the German thief had taken. The Irish guys bag must of being on another bus or something. All very complicated. Oh well, I untied my bike from the back of the bus and got on the car ferry to Ko Samui, I wasn't really planning on going here, but nevermind. I got a hotel close to the pier and slept, a lot. 09.00 till 19.00, got up had some dinner and then back to bed and woke up at 13.00. I'm losing days! I was going to get the 11.00 ferry to Ko Phan Nga but I missed that so another day here.

More about BlackBeard

Thai Muang

2005-08-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

I continued heading North, as I edged near the end of Phuket I passed sombre signs "Death Body Container", "Thai Victims Identification Centre". Still a lot of rebuilding be done on the coasts. The more popular resorts are up and running but place like Ao Bang Tan still look like a building site. I think most of the places in my guide book, were washed away.

Over the bridge and back on to the mainland, I rode into Thai Muang. As I was idling through the streets looking for a hotel, a motorbike pulled along beside me. He said there was rooms on the beach at a restaurant if I wanted, so he gave me directions. I continued along and the guy, Santos, was at the restaurant. So I checked in and had a chat with Santos. He is a teacher here, and offered to show me about. I had a quick tour on his motorbike of the start of another National Park, passing a destroyed shrimp farm. He said that even if it was repaired the problem would be that nobody would want to stay here. Then along past some forested white ground, salt residue, killing any undergrowth between the trees.
He showed me the school where he was teaching. He is planning to build a catamaran, I had a look at the plans, very futuristic looking! A group of students were boat-building apply goopy lucking molten plastic to the boat, and smoothing other areas down. Japan had donated a couple of small motors for the longtails, certainly looked tidier than the boats I saw on Ko Phi Phi, I think those used discarded bus engines!

Santos dropped me back off at the room, and then later I went out for some food. As I was walking along I bumped into him again. There only is 2 other foreigners in Thai Muang, so you stand out. I had dinner with Santos. Interesting guy, he had cycled from Italy to Spain. He is a Sicilian. One of these annoyng people. who speaks this language and that. I asked him how may languages does he speak. Seven! Oh and a good bit of Thai. Also does a good human beatbox on the karoke!

Next stop was at Khao Lak. Seemed to be pretty deserted. Rained a bit. Ate pizza. Lots of diving shops here, just a quick stop and then continue North to Takua Pa. I was wondering if was good to find a hotel here, but after asking around, there was one behind the petrol station. I was glad I stopped here, if only because the next days ride was hard! It was one of those roads thats just seems to keep on climbing, around each corner you hope it will finallyfall away downhill, but no! Will okay eventually the downhill came about 7km from Khao Sok National Park. I barely had to pedal from the summit of the hill to the guesthouse.
Khao Sok

I got there about mid afternoon, and it barely stopped raining when I left. Okay it's a rainforest, what should I expect? I got some food at the guesthouse, and went for a look about not too busy here either. I stopped off at a bar and chatted with Lex, he used to work in England, so at least we could undertand each other, a couple of Austrians who were on holiday joined us later on.
The next day more rain, it abated after lunch and I decided to head into the park proper and put in a quick trek. The rain soon started again. The trail was wide, road-lik and muddy. After accepting the fact I wasn't going to stay dry, I happily trudged through the puddles. A couple of the routes were closed due to the weather, so I stuck to the easy ones. No fjording rivers, for me! The two treks follow the main path for the first 3km and then split up, supposedly to two waterfalls. The falls were really more like just tumbling over rocks, rather than anything majestic. Quite slippy near and on the rocks. I traipsed back, as my shoes were squelchy and being dry was appealing. I stopped off at the shop where two other trekkers were mildly dripping blood from there legs. I guess the rocks were slippy, maybe they tried the hard trails. Inside my room, all my clothes seem damp. My bags got a soaking from a thundershower on the way over. Not some much from the downpour as I managed to duck into a shelter, but from the surface water sprayed from my wheels onto the underside of the bags. After climbing over that big mountain, I had plan to go back the way I came and continue up the West coast, but a quick change of plan sees me continuing over to the East coast before heading north. Now I somewhere close to Phanom. The middle of nowhere basically! A nice ride flat ride through the limestone karts, I stopped at the top of a hill for a vaguely refreshing swig from my water bottle. I glance back over my shoulder, very dark and grey. I quickly zipped into a roadside shelter, and sure enough within five minutes it was puring down, again.Tomorrow I should hit the East coast and hopefully get my smelly clothes washed!

Phuket

2005-08-08T00:37:00.000-07:00

Phuket

Phuket Town

After cycling round in circles I decided to ask somebody where I was. I'd skirted past where I wanted to be and had ended up a few kilometres away. So heading back I finally homed in on my guesthouse after circling in ever decreasing circles through some one-way streets.

Not too much to see in Phuket Town itself. Although there seemed to be a lot of artists close to the guesthouse, sitting outside on the pavement painting away. Mostly reprodution from photographs. I managed to eventually find a bike shop to get my wheels trued and broken spokes fixed. After fixing the front wheel, the guy replaced the wheel. Then while working on the rear wheel, there was a POP and a PSSSSSssssss as the front wheel mysteriously exploded whilst sitting unattended on the upside down bike. Strange, but if your gonna get a flat tyre, the best place is a bike shop!

That night I happened upon a nice little cafe, with only a few tables. There was a small stage where a guitarist was playing music so I popped in to listen. He was pretty good, and started on some accoustic blues. Nice change from the squeaky Thai pop that you hear and definitely better than the noises coming out the karoke bars! After a while a guy who looked like an Asian Jimmy Page joined him, playing flurries of jazz runs. After a few songs Jimmy Page left and another guitarist started playing more bluesy accompaniments. He was supposed to finish at 12 o'clock by law, but ended up playing till 1. Turns out the guitarist owned the cafe and was from Singapore. Me and an American, who was calling out requests half the night, chatted away with him for a while afterwards.

Ao Bang Tao

I then headed across the island to the West coast to a beach called Ao Bang Tao. Nice enough but nothing special. A bit cheaper than the beaches to the south, although when I asked the hotel staff how much a room was I got the reply "One Million Baht!!", hmmm.

As luck would have it there was a Halal food festival event on when I was there. Usually I find out info like this the day after I leave! I headed along at night and ate strange food. First up was something akin to a burger, but in a deep fried crispy roll, very healthy! Not sure what the meat was. Washed down with some apple juices from small apples, tasted not as sweet. Also some mangosteen on a stick, a strange pancake with what looked like a quail egg and ketchup and some fried chicken. I had a go at a game where you get 12 darts and you have to burst six balloons in a row to win a prize. Sounds easy, right, well two of my "darts" bounced off the "balloons". Very suspect!! Darts don't bounce off balloons, they go pop.

Hat Nai Yang

After going up and down a some big hills I got to the next beach. Supposed to be a national park around here, but there are a few private guesthouses and hotels. Quite pricey here, so I only stayed one night. I found a room, which seemed to be the cheapest I was going to get, although actually a nice room and a bit cheaper than the crummy room at the hotel on the beach and for a bit less.

As I walked out to have a look around I felt a jabbing pain in the bottom of my foot I keeled over and picked a big nail out of my shoe. Somehow it had gone straight in perpendicular to the the ground. Any longer and I would of had a real sore foot, as it was it just pierced the skin and no more. Then I managed to whack my ankle off the wooden bed, ouch ouch ouch! After that I hobbled off for some dinner.

Down at the beach lots of people appeared at the tables. The place had looked empty during the day. I opted for sweet & sour fish. I got a bit of a suprise when it turned up. A huge plate, with a giant fish appeared on my table after a rather lengthy wait. They charge by weight, 35bt/100g, so I think they ran around till they found the biggest fish to give to the tourist!
I valiantly battled to eat the whole fish (well except the head, eugh) but I couldn't quite polish him off. Still it certainly filled me up. Then again a kilo of fish will do that to you. Yep, the fish actually weighed in at a kilo!
I staggered back to the hotel to sleep it off.

Ko Phi Phi

2005-08-02T02:19:00.000-07:00

I lugged my bike and luggage off the boat from Krabi. I had to chase after the bus in Krabi to find the right port. Not fair, the bus was a lot quicker than me, but at least I caught up enough to see where it went round the corners.

After getting alternately cooked and soaked on the boat over, I started looking for a bed. I trundled around on my bike, and somebody called me over, their room was a bit pricy, but pointed me across the room to a cheaper room. As I walked through the building site of the bottom floor I was a bit dubious but the room was okay. Later I realised that the top half of the building was missing. Tsunami damage, a lot still visible and evident in Ko Phi Phi.

I had a look around the beach, nice white sand, aquamarine water. I read my lengthy book for a while. Apparently there was a tsunami alert that day, but I didn't hear it, not very re-assuring.

That night I went along to a reggae bar to watch the Muay Thai (Thai Boxing), after all where else would you see the sport except a reggae bar. They had a full boxing ring up and after a long time with a guy outside ringing a bell trying to bring in customers, they combatants entered.

After some more premilinaries, such as bowing/praying in the 4 corners, and then more stretching/praying/warming up routines they were ready. The referee did a big sweeping hand movement like a chequered flag waver and they were off.

Standing pretty much toe to toe they traded a few hooks, mostly blocked. Then one thump pushed the received off balance and then a kick on the head knocked him down. Soon he dusted himself off and got back to business. The fight mostly continued on this route of punching, kicking trading blows. Then one would lost a bit of balance and the other attack. One attacker got the other guy to retreat and charged after him, but he deftly dodged to the side and the attacked ended up flying over the ropes out of the ring. Another time they were blocking blows, as one guy blocked a kick to his head he ready himself to send a kick, but the attacked continued with a roundhouse and flattened him, before he had a chance to react. He got back up but soon the fight was stopped as he got bashed again. It was quite interesting to watch though.

Another night I was walking past a restaurant and an Old Firm game was on the TV so I went in and watched it, 2-0 to Rangers! I then started talking to a guy, turns out he was from Clydebank. Had spent a year in Brisbane studying and now heading back to Scotland to fininsh his studies. He too was wondering why there was an Old Firm game on the TV! After some beer and some pool headed off and had a lie in the next day as the ferry to Phuket wasn't till 14.30.

Krabi

2005-07-22T02:46:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of days in Trang and then headed on North. Nice enough town, but really seems to be a transit point. I headed off to the night market and picked out some food. I got some chicken rice/salad thing, because I knew what it was! And then a kinda of sweet rice pizza/pancake munchie. It was quite nice, only with your eyes did you know it was rice, it tasted sweet with a crunchy exterior where it had been fried. Suprisingly filling, it had been cut up into six slices like a pizza.

I then moved onto to Pak Meng down at the beach, not much of a beach to be honest kinda dull looking sand. I had a wander around, not many tourists around these bits, certainly not just now anyway. The next day I set off for Khlong Thom, somewhere thats not even mentioned in my guide book. Luckily they had a hotel, well one hotel, so that's where I stayed. Get people kinda staring at you more when your out in the sticks, not exactly a tourist destination, but a stop 40km before Krabi.

The weather is a bit mixed, quite grey somedays, heavy rain appears and disappears, some ducking in and out of shelter. But othertimes just light rain, which makes it hard to decided whether to continue, hoping it will go away, or hide somewhere in a shelter.

Next day headed over to Krabi, the landscape started jutting out from the ground more and more forming these strange sheer sided limestone sculptures. After taking a rest day, it rained most of the day anyway, I headed off 8km to a buddhist wat situated at the top of ones of these pinacles. Lots of steps! No, really lots of steps! 1273 said the sign, I didn't count them. So I started off slowly and got slower, but although overcast still warm and humid and soon dripping in sweat. I guzzled my bottle of water. Eventually with quite a few stops I got to the top and it was at least a great view back over the landscape. After taking in the view and have a nosy round the various buddha statues I had to go back down. By the time I reached the bottom, for the second time time in Krabi, I could barely control my legs (The other time was Chang-related!)

Ouch, spent the past few days hobbling about, the back of my calfs are sore when I move my feet, like when I try and walk. I was supposed to be off to Ko Phi Phi today, I was ready to head off on the 10.30am ferry, till I found it is the 9.30am ferry. Oh well, another day in Krabi. Try again tomorrow.

Into Thailand

2005-07-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

Sawat Dii!

I'm now in a small town called Trang. I got the boat back over from Langkawi and cycled into the small state captial of Perlis, Kangar. After a bit of search round for a place to stay I had to settle for a overpriced dump! Nothing much in Kangar but a necessary stop, as the next stop was close to the border. The next day I headed off in the searing sun to get to the Perlis State Park. After pushing my bike up a really steep hill with far too many hairpin bends, it got a bit cloudy. Typical, here I am trundling up the hill getting cooked and when I reach the top the sun disappears. After coasting down the other side I finally got to Wang Kelian, a border town. I found the park easy enough as it's on the main road, only about 1km from Thailand. I turned out to be the only person staying there in the whole park, the accommodation is pushed inwards 1.2km from the road, so you feel you are in really in the middle of a rainforest. But rainforests being rainforests, it rained. Later on it dried up and I went for a quick trek along on of the trails till I reached a cave, but I didn't bother exploring any further and took the trail back up and down many stairs. I shouldn't of watched that bad horror film in Langkawi, Wrong Turn, about people who go into the woods only to be murdered by crazed inbreds (Yes, it was a poor Deliverance rip-off!) There was eight bed dorms, each housing eight people, and nine chalets, but just me there, spooky!!

Still nobody came charging through the door with an axe and the next morning I set off across the border. I passed through the Malaysian Deperatures with a small hiccup I had lost my disembarkation card. The stern man behind the counter groaned. I had to fill out another one. I asked for a pen, and he rolled his eyes. Then that pen stopped working. He slammed down another pen. The sign beside said "Service with a smile!". Yeah, right. Anyway after that was done, I saw a restaurant somewhat bizarrely situated after Malaysian Departures but before Thailand Immigration. So, I settled down to my last Mee Goreng in No Mans Land.

After lunch I rolled into Thailand. I hadn't been able to find a moneychanger in Kangar and the one at the border seemed permantely shut, so I decided I would almost loop back to Satun, which can be reached from Langkawi. I saw a sign in Thai and English for Satun, so I jotted down the Thai symbols, just in case. I was glad I had despite not getting lost the only indication I was heading towards Satun was the roadside markers ticking down the kilometres, but only in Thai. Not too far from Satun I ducked under a shopfront as the rain came on for a short while. I got a grilled lobster snack (crisps!) with my Malaysian Ringgot. Then I continue onto Satun. I found the hotel I was looking for with a good dose of luck, I looked up and I was outside it! I headed out to change my money, so set off for a bank. The teller told me that as they were a bank their rates weren't that good and I should go to the hotel round the corner and gave my the thumbs up! Okay, nice way of getting rid of customers!

The next day it was heading North to Pak Bara on the coast. I planned to stay in the inland town of Langu? as the detour to the coast added a roundtrip of another 20km on, but I couldn't find a hotel there. I headed off to the Pak Bara and found a nice guesthouse. I had a look into the travel agents to see what the deal with travelling to the islands is. After a bit of miscommunication, I found out the boat goes "sometimes", hmmm. Pretty much most of Pak Bara seemed closed. Most of the travel shops and such that lined the streets are shut for the low season. So not many boats during the monsoon season either. Yes, the monsoon has certainly arrived!
The next day I sure found that out! I ducked into a convient roadside shelter, as I looked ahead and saw the upcoming hill shiny with water. Just in time too, it pelted down for 30 minutes. I set on my way again, and after about ten minutes, the storm seemed to swirl round and the wind changed direction and caught up with me! This time it really unleashed. I ducked under another shopfront and watched as the roads become red rivers, the dust addding the colour. After another long time sitting watching, the rain eased. And I cycled off again, I was soon soaked from the surface water spray as much as from the remnants of the rain. I had hoped to find a hotel another 8km at the town of Palian. Turns out it not quite on the main road, 3km off to the side. I didn't see any hotels which was pretty disappointing as I was knackered and wet! Still as I cycled past a building site, I got the usual "Hello" ring out, followed by a "Where are you from?", so I stopped and found a guy that spoke English (he was a guide in Phuket during high season). He pointed me along to Tong Star Cape Resort. Said it was a bit more than I was wanting to pay but at this point I was really caring. After a rather bumpy road ride I got there and it was like the Mary Celeste! I had a look around, it was recently deserted, food in the fridge etc. I shouted out "Hello!" as loud as I could a few time, but the stillness was unbroken and the silence gave no token. I thought I would just hang about till somebody came along, half an hour later I was still waiting. It was going to get dark soon, so I went down to the nearest person and asked about the hotel, they jumped on their bike and motioned me to follow back to the hotel. More miscommunication, but they were off. They showed my the hotel, and then they started shouting "Hello" I explained I'd done this, and then he zoomed off again and brought back somebody with keys. So I managed to get a bed for the night. I nipped down to a restaurant and got some halting English questions asked from a "Learn English" type book. "What is your name, how old are you?" I had a look at the book and it contained useful phrases such as "Waiter, there is a fly in my soup!". Later on I switched on the TV and they had some sort of English lesson thing. The outcome seemed to be this sentence - People always believe the authorities have skeletons in their closets. So there you have it!

Next day I set off to Trang for a fairly uneventfull ride. The amount of people shouting out Hello is definitely greater than Malaysia. I stopped off at a restaurant and pointed at some food to see what I get. Not exactly mastered the language (That's Thai I'm talking about, not English cheeky!)

Langkawi

2005-07-12T01:12:00.000-07:00

After KL I grabbed a guide book & map for Thailand and jump on the first bus back up to Penang. After about six hours I arrived and stayed the night, getting a ticket for the early morning ferry to Langkawi. With not much sleep I arrived at Langkawi and had to cycle across the island to get to the budget accomodation, thankfully only 20km. Lately my sleep pattern has been a bit crazy, not helped by watching the Confederations Cup in the middle of the night. However when I arrived in Langkawi I made up for some sleep. I dozed off at 5pm woke up a couple of hours later considering dinner, but couldn't be bothered so went back to sleep and woke up the next day at noon, feeling much refreshed!

Langkawi is a curious mixture of fancy posh hotels and cheap duty free. There is only a handful of budget accomodations on the island, the majority is geared towards the high-end. Like the food, instead of fried rice, there is lobster thermidore on the menu, fresh from the dinnerside tank. A bit different from normal anwyay. I had some nice tomato soup with a hunk of fresh brown bread. Tasted very exotic!

I took a stroll down to Underwater World, a comparatively pricey aquarium, still I'll left them off as they had some penguins as well. After trying to take some photos of their fish and seahorses, I went back to the hostel and had a beer. The beer is only 3rm here! In fact in the shops a can of coke and a can of beer is the same price.

Another day I went for a cycle round the island, stopping off at a nice square for a spot to drink and then onto the crocodile farm. Luckily my timing was good and there was a small show starting in 5 minutes. This involved three guys dragging crocodiles about, sitting on them and sticking an arm in his mouth. Then there was somebody feeding the crocodiles. A big bucket of fish didn't last long, the trainer would throw 6 tied together and it would go straight down. A big fat one beside him pestered him for some more, and he got it as he was less than a couple of metres away.

The beaches and water aren't as nice as the islands on the east coast of Malaysia. Bit better after some heavy rain cleared the beach of stuff though. Strangely enough some of the Malaysian guys were watching Bo Selecta back at the hostel. I had a tuna salad makes a nice change from rice or noodles, I even found the olives edible!

Kuala Lumpur

2005-07-06T02:42:00.000-07:00

Groan, PC crashed while I was typing this, so once again...

I arrived in KL via the sleeper train, thought it was going to be quiet but, a group of guys arrived after a few stops celbrating one of their birthdays. Actually they piped down around midnight but still didn't get much sleep. Arrived in KL and headed out the train station on to the monorail and jumped off at Bukit Bintang, close to the city centre. Stopped off for some breakfast at a roadside restaurant, travelling with just one bag is a breeze, with another bag and the bike left at the hotel in Penang. Found a hostel and asked about the ticketing situation for the Petronas twin towers, turned out I better get a move on if I wanted a ticket. I arrived around 9am, behind a couple of hundred other tourists. After 45 minutes I got a ticket for the 10.15 viewing so I hung around for a hald an hour first. Once up there you get ten minutes to wander around the sky bridge, which is about half away up to the top, tourists aren't allowed any higher. Good views off into the distance, at that height people and cars are just dots. Well the view was worth the price, it cost nothing! (except time)

Next stop was the Batu Caves, lucky a bus passed by me with the sign for the caves on the front, so I jumped aboard. A few hundred steps later, I reached the huge mouth of the caves. I entered and then more stairs up and down before coming to a shaft which reaches right up to the top of the cave, letting in light. Here stands a few temples, the caves are pakced on certain religious dates by Hindu devotees, but just the tourists and the monkeys today. When I had my fill of the main cave, I was walking down and noticed the dark cave, so I went for a quick nosy. I ended up talking to a Swiss-Malay fellow who was working there, turned out he's starting his own company. Started talking about how his 4 ton tensile strength harness is great value at only 1ringot/metre, he'd been in the caves since 82, never mentioned if he got let out at all. After that I headed back to the hostel and starting chatting with some aussies, Tim & Nathan, and then went for a beer. We couldn't find the pub recommended by the hostel staff, but eneded up in the Cruise Club, full of crazy dancing Indian guys.

Next night we went along to the Hard Rock Cafe and watched a band play, quite good, but just cover songs. And the beer was pricy at 18rm/mug. Wandered back to the hostel and chatted to Jane & Simon till the early hours, Simon wandered off to get some food, one of the advantages of being in a big city, 24hr food.

Next day went to the bird park and took lots of photos of weird and colorful birds.
Interesting, I like the small black birds with the bright red eyes. Look like something out of a horror flick. Went for dinner with Jane & Simon, had some crispy noodle fishy soup with a few bits of beef. It was okay, nothing special. Simon bought some durian fruit to taste. I had another taste, and it still taste horrible. Simon brilliantly described it as tasting "of hate & regret". I guess he wasn't a fan.

After a few more beers that night, I rose the next day early (well before lunch, ahem) and headed off to pickup and guide book and map for Thailand, something I hadn't managed to get round to in the previous three days. Then I jumped on the bus to Penang. I asked the driver if I needed a ticket beforehand and he says no, then the conductor comes round and asks for my ticket, he rolls his eyes and shakes his head when I say I have none. He takes 27rm, five of which is slipped in the pocket.
But I think that is the smae price for a booking at the travel agent. Get back in Penang late, grab some 'Famous Hainanese Chicken Rice' and try and get some sleep, because I need to get up at 7am for the ferry to Langkawi.