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!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Kathmandu
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
End of the ride
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!
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!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Cycling along
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!
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!
Thursday, September 06, 2007
On yer bike!
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 :)
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 :)
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Bako && KK
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 :)
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 :)
Monday, June 25, 2007
Kuching
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.
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.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Arrive in Kuching, Borneo
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!
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!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Enveloped in smog...
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!)
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!)
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Back up to Chiang Mai
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 :)
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 :)
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Back in Bangkok
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.
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
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.
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.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Lombok & Back to Bali
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.
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
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 :)
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 :)
Monday, December 04, 2006
Lovina
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.
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.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Bedegul
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.
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.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Ubud
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Bali
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Wandering Around....
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
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
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Hangzhou
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.
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.
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