We spent three nice days in Battambang, recovering from the traumatic boat with some good food, luxurious air-con, BBC World News, and a swimming pool. No doubt the highlight of our stay was the trip we took out to the countryside with our best tuk-tuk driver yet: Mr Tim.
He started off by showing us a temple that was once a Khmer Rouge prison, proudly informing us that its not in the guide books, and a recently built memorial. He was remarkably understated when he told us that he was actually a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. 46 years old now, he was 11 when they took power, and 16 at liberation. He told us that his experiences very much mirrored the book that we'd all read. He showed us old Khmer Rouge hospitals, explaining that Pol Pot had killed all qualified doctors and nurses, so there was no proper treatment, and no medicine; he told us that he'd lost his entire family (mother, father, brother and sister) in one of the hospitals.
He showed us villages where they made fermented fish paste (probably one of the worst things I will ever smell), and rice paper, an 11th century temple, and a 1950s pepsi factory. We sat and had a Sprite with him, and he told us the most amazing anecdotes - our fave was one about the Vietnamese trying, and failing, to steal a solid gold buddha.
After a few days we took a 10 hour coach journey - with just a box of raisins - to Sihnoukville on the southern coast. Very nice down here (apart from all the gap yar types), and extremely cheap, so we're sticking around.
xxxxxx
Monday 26 April 2010
Sunday 25 April 2010
CAMBODIA
Hello!
Yet again I've left this too long, and I lack the discipline to make anything concise, so I'm sure this will be long...
Last time I wrote we were in Phuket, making our way to Bangkok, to catch a flight into Cambodia. We'd hoped to have a day in Bangkok - it happened to be Thai new year, and normally the whole city turns into a huge water fight. Should have been incredible. Unfortunately that was also the day the Red Shirts started kicking off, the whole thing was canceled, and we camped out in an airport hotel instead.
We were very happy to finally get to Phonm Pehn. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in South East Asia, and Phonm Pehn felt like our first proper experience of a S E Asian capital. MENTAL traffic: seeing car is extremely rare and scooters ("motos") fly around in hoards carrying entire families. Alot of travellers hire motos themselves, but that was never going to be us lol, so we have got highly accustomed to travelling by tuk-tuk (a carriage pulled by a motorbike).
On our first day in the city we visited S21; originally a school, it was used by the Khmer Rouge for torture and imprisonment of victims, and is now a genocide museum. Still looked very very much like a school, which was very disconcerting - one information board detailed the use of PE equipment for torture. In Europe the school would probably have been turned into a swanky museum, but it was for the most part left just as it was in 1979 - all the more creepy. We bought a book there - First They Killed My Father - a survivors memoir. I read the entire book before we visited the Killing Fields the next day - which made it slightly easier to relate to the incomprehensible suffering that had happened there. From the Killing Fields we went straight to the Royal Palace - the splendor of which providing a massive contrast to what we'd just seen. The 95kg solid gold diamond encrusted buddha cheered me right up lol. The palace was incredible - Dad, you would have loved it!
Besides seeing the sights we had a pretty quiet time in Phonm Pehn. We arrived at the start of Khmer New Year - so besides a few tourists going about their business, some kids playing with water pistols, and the occasional group of dancing folks, the whole city had pretty much shut down for the 3-day period we were there. New Year is massive here because Cambodians DON'T HAVE BIRTHDAYS (I know!) - instead they all get a year older at new year - and if you ask a Cambodian his birthday he won't have a clue.
Next Stop: Siem Reap - home to Angkor Wat and the rest of the temples of Angkor. Before going I was embarrassingly ignorant about Angkor Wat - dubbed "8th wonder of the world" - the creation of which was a feat as grand in scale as the Egyptians and their pyramids. We had a great day seeing the temples (had to pack it to one day as its just about the most expensive thing you can do in Cambodia): got up to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat (slightly cloudy, but we were very glad of the cool temperatures), saw incredible Bayon heads, and scrambled over ruins (feeling alot like tomb raider). We had a break at lunch before heading back out in the afternoon for some more fun-packed-temple-action, and an elephant ride up to the highest temple to see the sunset. The entire day we were whizzed about by a patient tuk-tuk driver; we lost him at one point, conducted a very awkward search (didn't actually know his name lol), and eventually found him asleep lol. Polished off our perfect day with a traditional Khmer meal - which was very nice, served on banana leaves and all that jazz, although Rach almost through up at one point lol.
Putting all our faith in the Lonely Planet as usual we decided to catch a boat to Battambang that promised to be "the most enchanting boat trip in Cambodia". At 6.30 am we were picked up and packed into a minivan - 4 of us on the 3 seater back seat (one of which was a giant French man), and dropped at a jetty just outside the town. I wasn't too surprised when the boat bore absolutely no resemblance to the picture on our ticket. But initially we were comfortable enough, about 15-20 tourists on board we had plenty of room, even though we couldn't stand up. When we got going, though, I forgot all about the minor discomfort because the view from the boat was incredible. We wound through waterways, gliding through floating villages - seeing how people literally live on the river was amazing: people fishing, cooking, washing clothes, brushing their teeth, washing their hair, playing, and larking about. We passed floating houses, shops, schools and churches. It was early morning so we saw people stumbling straight out of their hammocks and into the water. The photos I took say it a lot better than I can, but I've never seen anything like it. The problem was, though, that the river was really too low to carry a boat full of tourists, and we got stuck every 20 minutes or so. The silent and elusive captain-man could normally get us going with his big stick, but often the engine failed, or they couldn't get it into gear, occasionally we were directed to pile ourselves to the front of the boat to try and redistribute the weight. At one point they made all the men get off and walk - casually reminding them to watch out for landmines. We were promised arrival by 12.30, but when we stopped at 12 for a toilet break (think Slumdog Millionaire) my hopes were not high. By this time too we'd gained another 20 or so passangers, and we were packed in tight, the Cambodians were happy as larry though - our legs are about twice as long as theirs. 6 hours later we arrived in Battambang. All in all I'm glad we did it - though I know Abi and Rachel would not say the same.
I'll carry this on tomoz. Its sweatsville in here, and the others are good to go.
Much Love
xxxx
Yet again I've left this too long, and I lack the discipline to make anything concise, so I'm sure this will be long...
Last time I wrote we were in Phuket, making our way to Bangkok, to catch a flight into Cambodia. We'd hoped to have a day in Bangkok - it happened to be Thai new year, and normally the whole city turns into a huge water fight. Should have been incredible. Unfortunately that was also the day the Red Shirts started kicking off, the whole thing was canceled, and we camped out in an airport hotel instead.
We were very happy to finally get to Phonm Pehn. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in South East Asia, and Phonm Pehn felt like our first proper experience of a S E Asian capital. MENTAL traffic: seeing car is extremely rare and scooters ("motos") fly around in hoards carrying entire families. Alot of travellers hire motos themselves, but that was never going to be us lol, so we have got highly accustomed to travelling by tuk-tuk (a carriage pulled by a motorbike).
On our first day in the city we visited S21; originally a school, it was used by the Khmer Rouge for torture and imprisonment of victims, and is now a genocide museum. Still looked very very much like a school, which was very disconcerting - one information board detailed the use of PE equipment for torture. In Europe the school would probably have been turned into a swanky museum, but it was for the most part left just as it was in 1979 - all the more creepy. We bought a book there - First They Killed My Father - a survivors memoir. I read the entire book before we visited the Killing Fields the next day - which made it slightly easier to relate to the incomprehensible suffering that had happened there. From the Killing Fields we went straight to the Royal Palace - the splendor of which providing a massive contrast to what we'd just seen. The 95kg solid gold diamond encrusted buddha cheered me right up lol. The palace was incredible - Dad, you would have loved it!
Besides seeing the sights we had a pretty quiet time in Phonm Pehn. We arrived at the start of Khmer New Year - so besides a few tourists going about their business, some kids playing with water pistols, and the occasional group of dancing folks, the whole city had pretty much shut down for the 3-day period we were there. New Year is massive here because Cambodians DON'T HAVE BIRTHDAYS (I know!) - instead they all get a year older at new year - and if you ask a Cambodian his birthday he won't have a clue.
Next Stop: Siem Reap - home to Angkor Wat and the rest of the temples of Angkor. Before going I was embarrassingly ignorant about Angkor Wat - dubbed "8th wonder of the world" - the creation of which was a feat as grand in scale as the Egyptians and their pyramids. We had a great day seeing the temples (had to pack it to one day as its just about the most expensive thing you can do in Cambodia): got up to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat (slightly cloudy, but we were very glad of the cool temperatures), saw incredible Bayon heads, and scrambled over ruins (feeling alot like tomb raider). We had a break at lunch before heading back out in the afternoon for some more fun-packed-temple-action, and an elephant ride up to the highest temple to see the sunset. The entire day we were whizzed about by a patient tuk-tuk driver; we lost him at one point, conducted a very awkward search (didn't actually know his name lol), and eventually found him asleep lol. Polished off our perfect day with a traditional Khmer meal - which was very nice, served on banana leaves and all that jazz, although Rach almost through up at one point lol.
Putting all our faith in the Lonely Planet as usual we decided to catch a boat to Battambang that promised to be "the most enchanting boat trip in Cambodia". At 6.30 am we were picked up and packed into a minivan - 4 of us on the 3 seater back seat (one of which was a giant French man), and dropped at a jetty just outside the town. I wasn't too surprised when the boat bore absolutely no resemblance to the picture on our ticket. But initially we were comfortable enough, about 15-20 tourists on board we had plenty of room, even though we couldn't stand up. When we got going, though, I forgot all about the minor discomfort because the view from the boat was incredible. We wound through waterways, gliding through floating villages - seeing how people literally live on the river was amazing: people fishing, cooking, washing clothes, brushing their teeth, washing their hair, playing, and larking about. We passed floating houses, shops, schools and churches. It was early morning so we saw people stumbling straight out of their hammocks and into the water. The photos I took say it a lot better than I can, but I've never seen anything like it. The problem was, though, that the river was really too low to carry a boat full of tourists, and we got stuck every 20 minutes or so. The silent and elusive captain-man could normally get us going with his big stick, but often the engine failed, or they couldn't get it into gear, occasionally we were directed to pile ourselves to the front of the boat to try and redistribute the weight. At one point they made all the men get off and walk - casually reminding them to watch out for landmines. We were promised arrival by 12.30, but when we stopped at 12 for a toilet break (think Slumdog Millionaire) my hopes were not high. By this time too we'd gained another 20 or so passangers, and we were packed in tight, the Cambodians were happy as larry though - our legs are about twice as long as theirs. 6 hours later we arrived in Battambang. All in all I'm glad we did it - though I know Abi and Rachel would not say the same.
I'll carry this on tomoz. Its sweatsville in here, and the others are good to go.
Much Love
xxxx
Saturday 10 April 2010
HELLO!
I'll start with my birthday (also our first day on Langkawi). It started with a pair of Ray-bans from Abi and Rach (THANKS GUYS), and ended with a reggae bar on the beach. Inbetween there were excellent pancakes and a man who was extremely generous with a bottle of tequila, as well as two Indian/Saudi/Iranian (really) guys who were very funny and easily impressed with our moves and our knowledge of song lyrics. O yeah, and there was also a very funny conversation that centred around the mistranslation of "handsome stranger": "so you want to meet a strange man? And you only care that he's handsome?" lolz. We spent the next couple of days sunbathing and enjoying some good local food on the island before hopping up the coast to Koh Lanta - leaving Malaysia and entering Thailand.
The journey to Koh Lanta felt like one of our longest yet. Passed between a taxi, a ferry, a coach and a tuc-tuc (a rickety van with no real seats), we never really knew where we were, and were quite sceptical that we would ever actually arrive at our destination. All was forgotton, though, when we did arrive: after 12 hours in transit we couldn't believe our luck when we found ourselves surrounded by amazing hut/treehouses that sat right on a beautiful beach. The extremely friendly owner, An, (obviously seeing that we were flustered) invited us to dump our rucksacks, "relax, and check it out"; he shushed our quries about ATMs (we had literally no cash on us) and told us we could pay for everything when we left. So we took to a little hut on the beach, ate to our hearts content, and laughed merrily at the fact that we were allowed to stay here for 3 pounds a night. We ended up staying 6 nights, rather than the 2 we'd orginially planned, the relaxed atmosphere was so contagious.
Eventually visa worries dictated that it was time to move on, and we headed north to another island: Koh Phi-Phi. On arrival I was struck by how much it looked like a windows desktop (the one with the thai long-boat particuarly). Phi-Phi felt alot more touristy, and it was way more expensive, but probs more beautiful than Lanta - lots of pure white sand, turquoise water, sheer green-topped cliffs, and pretty long boats dotted about. We'd only planned to stay one night because it was so expensive, but once we were there we decided we might as well see the island properly and stay 2. And we did have an amazing (if dramatic) day, beginning with tsunami panic. Oblivious, we got up and started for the beach, only for the hotel owner to tell us that we couldn't go to the beach because a tsunami was coming, and people were running from the beach. All the staff were frantically ringing family who lived in other places along the coast, and there were hoards of people moving up to find higher ground, Abi even saw a girl running and screaming. Our friend at the hotel insured us that we were safe there as we were quite high up, and told us to stay put. Feeling a bit weird we had breakfast and waited to see what would happen. As it turned out it didn't hit Phi-Phi, and we started to see people walking back down (one guy in the skimpiest boxers I've ever seen - he must have really panicked). An American ex-pat told us that her and her husband couldn't find anything on the internet, and that the island was safe. Feeling grimly lucky we eventually carried on with our day, and headed to the beach as normal (though we did find it eerily quiet).
By the afternoon things really had got back to normal, and we decided that a tsunami def was not coming our way, and we were safe to hire a long boat around the island. First stop Monkey Bay, colonised by a massive group of seemingly tame monkeys - they were really cute until they turned on each other, and then on us. I think someone tried to touch one of them, they went mental, and I was suddenly slightly worried that I hadn't had that Rabies jab. Next we stopped at a lagoon where we jumped off for a swim, and then went onto a reef where we snorkelled - even better than Fiji - we were totally surrounded - I was just amazed that none of them touched us when they were all so close. Last stop was Maya Bay - famous for being the beach from The Beach - which loved up to expectation in its beauty. We were back on the boat just in time to see the sunset.
Back on dry land we decided to finish off the day with (literally) a bucketload of alcohol. The Thais seem to have embraced the binge drinking culture - or perhaps they know their market - because the streets in Phi-Phi were lined with stalls selling buckets with whole bottles of spirits. We chose one to share containing a bottle of vodka, a bottle of sprite, and a small mystery bottle (which we later learned was some sort of Thai red-bull - basically amphetamines). We drank on the beach - comparing (non)tsunami stories with some Canadians who had had to run up from the beach.
We're in Phuket now, waiting to get a night bus to Bangkok, to get a flight into Cambodia. In transit: feels like the longest journey of my life.
Jamie - hope your exams have gone ok. Who am I kidding... you don't read this.
Much Love
xxxxx
I'll start with my birthday (also our first day on Langkawi). It started with a pair of Ray-bans from Abi and Rach (THANKS GUYS), and ended with a reggae bar on the beach. Inbetween there were excellent pancakes and a man who was extremely generous with a bottle of tequila, as well as two Indian/Saudi/Iranian (really) guys who were very funny and easily impressed with our moves and our knowledge of song lyrics. O yeah, and there was also a very funny conversation that centred around the mistranslation of "handsome stranger": "so you want to meet a strange man? And you only care that he's handsome?" lolz. We spent the next couple of days sunbathing and enjoying some good local food on the island before hopping up the coast to Koh Lanta - leaving Malaysia and entering Thailand.
The journey to Koh Lanta felt like one of our longest yet. Passed between a taxi, a ferry, a coach and a tuc-tuc (a rickety van with no real seats), we never really knew where we were, and were quite sceptical that we would ever actually arrive at our destination. All was forgotton, though, when we did arrive: after 12 hours in transit we couldn't believe our luck when we found ourselves surrounded by amazing hut/treehouses that sat right on a beautiful beach. The extremely friendly owner, An, (obviously seeing that we were flustered) invited us to dump our rucksacks, "relax, and check it out"; he shushed our quries about ATMs (we had literally no cash on us) and told us we could pay for everything when we left. So we took to a little hut on the beach, ate to our hearts content, and laughed merrily at the fact that we were allowed to stay here for 3 pounds a night. We ended up staying 6 nights, rather than the 2 we'd orginially planned, the relaxed atmosphere was so contagious.
Eventually visa worries dictated that it was time to move on, and we headed north to another island: Koh Phi-Phi. On arrival I was struck by how much it looked like a windows desktop (the one with the thai long-boat particuarly). Phi-Phi felt alot more touristy, and it was way more expensive, but probs more beautiful than Lanta - lots of pure white sand, turquoise water, sheer green-topped cliffs, and pretty long boats dotted about. We'd only planned to stay one night because it was so expensive, but once we were there we decided we might as well see the island properly and stay 2. And we did have an amazing (if dramatic) day, beginning with tsunami panic. Oblivious, we got up and started for the beach, only for the hotel owner to tell us that we couldn't go to the beach because a tsunami was coming, and people were running from the beach. All the staff were frantically ringing family who lived in other places along the coast, and there were hoards of people moving up to find higher ground, Abi even saw a girl running and screaming. Our friend at the hotel insured us that we were safe there as we were quite high up, and told us to stay put. Feeling a bit weird we had breakfast and waited to see what would happen. As it turned out it didn't hit Phi-Phi, and we started to see people walking back down (one guy in the skimpiest boxers I've ever seen - he must have really panicked). An American ex-pat told us that her and her husband couldn't find anything on the internet, and that the island was safe. Feeling grimly lucky we eventually carried on with our day, and headed to the beach as normal (though we did find it eerily quiet).
By the afternoon things really had got back to normal, and we decided that a tsunami def was not coming our way, and we were safe to hire a long boat around the island. First stop Monkey Bay, colonised by a massive group of seemingly tame monkeys - they were really cute until they turned on each other, and then on us. I think someone tried to touch one of them, they went mental, and I was suddenly slightly worried that I hadn't had that Rabies jab. Next we stopped at a lagoon where we jumped off for a swim, and then went onto a reef where we snorkelled - even better than Fiji - we were totally surrounded - I was just amazed that none of them touched us when they were all so close. Last stop was Maya Bay - famous for being the beach from The Beach - which loved up to expectation in its beauty. We were back on the boat just in time to see the sunset.
Back on dry land we decided to finish off the day with (literally) a bucketload of alcohol. The Thais seem to have embraced the binge drinking culture - or perhaps they know their market - because the streets in Phi-Phi were lined with stalls selling buckets with whole bottles of spirits. We chose one to share containing a bottle of vodka, a bottle of sprite, and a small mystery bottle (which we later learned was some sort of Thai red-bull - basically amphetamines). We drank on the beach - comparing (non)tsunami stories with some Canadians who had had to run up from the beach.
We're in Phuket now, waiting to get a night bus to Bangkok, to get a flight into Cambodia. In transit: feels like the longest journey of my life.
Jamie - hope your exams have gone ok. Who am I kidding... you don't read this.
Much Love
xxxxx
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