Hi Peeps
I have been really busy the past few weeks so haven't had time to email (those beaches and clear waters are really time consuming.....)
After Myanma I went South from Bangkok to Thailands east coast and spent 3 weeks on Ko Tao island. Then to the west coast to see the limestone pinnacles at Krabi. South to Malaysia - Penang , Kuala Lumpar, into the jungle (not that KL isn't) in Tamar Negara for a few days, Malaka and then Singapore.....
Highs
- Diving and snorkelling in Thailand was excellent - saw loads of fish, sharks, octopus, squid, hard and soft corals etc... including Xmas Tree Worms which look like tiny colourful Xmas Trees underwater!
- Passed my Advanced Open Water PADI (diving certification) and did night diving and night snorkelling - just a bit creepy night snorkeling on my own!
- Limestones pinnacles rising out of thw water near Krabi - this is where they filmed 007 'The Man with the Golden Gun' in 1973. The bit they used in the film looks a lot bigger on the screen than it did in real life !! (But then in 007 films everything looks bigger than in real life !! - apart from the things that look smaller that is.....)
- Tallest buildings in the world in KL. The Petronas Towers are 452m tall and have 88 floors. The view is good but partly blocked by all the other tallest buildings in the world ! (Actually we could only go up to level 41).
- The oldest rainforest in the world - the jungle at Taman Negara in Malaysia in 130 million years old and is full of trees, bushes, trees, vines, trees and trees and is fantasticly beautiful. The trees grow up to 60 m tall and their surface roots seem even longer ! There are a few animals living there but there is just about zero chance of seeing any (even though you can hear them all night long !) as the jungle is very dark and denser than most US presidents. I spent the last night in a hide deep in the jungle with all the other people who booked it - except that no-one else did and I was alone !! Apart from the bumps on the roof that is ....well .. I mean you've all seen 'Friday 13th' right......
- Full Moon Party on Ko Pha Ngan - it had to be done as it is a bit of an institution. It was good fun but a just a tad over commercialised - maybe the highlight of the night was watching England beat Greece 2-0..........
- The food ! It's just great and cheap - even in S'pore you can get cheap food if you know where to go.....
- Night Safari in S'pore - definitely worth a visit - the best bit was going into a large cage with flying fox bats (the largest bats in the world) they are huge (half rat and half wing)but they are (nearly) cute really!
Not so Highs
- Having my camera stolen on Ko Tao (Ok so I shouldn't fall asleep on the beach at night) - luckily I didn't lose any good pictures....
- lascerating my hand on coral while diving. The worst bit is looking at all the green stuff coming out of my hand ..... After a bit I worked out that all the red light is absorbed by the water at that depth and so blood looks green. Well at least that's what I hoped it was......
- Being attacked by a Trigger fish whilst snorkelling. Thay are less than 0.5m long but are very fast, have big teeth and can easily bite off an ear. On Ko Tao they are very aggressive for no reason. I shoved my sandals in it's face but it kept attacking, 4 times in total. I was as scared - as a fish out of water ! And I didn't go near any trigger fish after that.
- Cost of S'pore (especially the beer). It wouldn't have been so bad but it was just the place for a party so we spent shedloads on the stuff.. and had a great time (I may have to stay in US$1 per night places in Indonesia though...)
- Culture shock in Malaysia and Singapore - the places are so westernised. Everyone had a mobile phone the first I have seen in months. KL has more McDonalds than any other place I have ever been. S'pore is more westernised than any western place I have ever been - where is all the dirt ??? At least they still have rats in S'pore although not a single pigeon ! Any
guesses?
And that was the posh places - now to the grime of Indonesia .......
Best Wishes
Luv
Pete
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 June 2001
Monday, 16 April 2001
Where 7 Chang Mai, Thailand --OR-- One Bus All The Way !?
Hi Guys,
Oh what fun I have had since last email (Hanoi) - some memorable journeys
(although not for the right reasons) and some serious chilling out........
When I first started travelling I asked a few people already travelling
whether their backpacks got heavier or lighter as they went on. They all
said that they got heavier because they picked up lots of books along the
way. As I don't tend to read many books this isn't likely to happen to me.
So now I have a backpack ladened down with about a dozen books !!!
First of all by bus from Hanoi across the border into Lao and to the capital
Vientiane where I spent a few days waiting for a visa for Myanma (Burma).
Then north to Vang Vieng - a tiny place famous only amoung travellers; and
then north again to Luang Prubang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the New
Year (aka water festival). Then a cruise no less, up the Mekong for 2 days
to the border with Thailand. If only it had been that simple...............
Best Bits
- Vang Vieng is a village with a few locals, loads of travellers and
virtually nothing to do...except play pool, drink beer (US 25c a large
glass) paddle down the river in inflatable canoes, visit some caves, jump in
some pools and just chill out... Big Time. So I spent a f e
w days there ...........
- not to forget the slow 3 hour trip down the river in inflatable inner tubes -
nothing could be more .........er........ nothing
- The water festival. Basically for several days anyone is allowed to soak
anyone else !! In Lao this consists of a few water pistols and a few
small buckets of water mainly being thrown at motorcyclists and other
motorised transport (although no one is exempt). However in Chang Mai (I
got here just before the end of the festival) it is taken slightly more to
extremes....... The streets are packed with pick up trucks packed with huge
barrels of water and people with extra large buckets to get everyone they see soaking wet. The amount of water thrown is immense .... you cannot go out on the street during daylight hours without getting soaked .... carrying passport, travellers cheques etc is not a good idea !
Worst Bits
- the journey from Hanoi to Vientiane. At 22 hours this was always going
to be an experience. However once you have paid your US$26 and given your
ticket to the bus driver as you board you are out on a limb..... (remember
it is guaranteed to be one bus all the way!!) Started 7pm. Got thrown off
the first bus at 2am by a busy road in the middle of nowhere -' you have to
get a different bus from here which leaves at 4am'. Bus no 2 left at 4am
and we get to within 20km of the border (at 7am) and we then have to get a
local bus - this is packed with sacks of grain, bags, people (although
strangely no chickens) and has negative legroom. Then up a huge moutain and
cross the border at a mountain shack at the top. Luckily we have been
promised a luxury minibus from just the other side of the border. 30km the
other side we stop in a small town and thankfully get off the ultra cramped bus! And the
transport for the next stage is a pick up truck (!) with a few seats in the
back. Unfortunately it is already full with 20 people crammed in and the 4
of us are supposed to pile in on top. After some heated 'negotiating' we
get given the money for the remainder of the journey and told to sort it out
ourselves....... So after carefully weighing up our options we realised we
didn't have any ........ so we end up standing on the tailgate of the pick
up holding on for dear life for a couple of hours as we sped on our way.
Then we stopped and a minibus appeared to take us the last 3 hours (bus no.
5 of our guaranteed 'one bus all the way' journey). Still it gives me
something to write about in my emails..............
- Luang Prubang - I expected this world hertitage site to be full of
buildings worth saving (like Hoi An in Vietnam) - but whilst this does have
some pre WW2 french architecture, it has more satelite dishes than charm !
- The jouney out by boat from Luang Prubang to the border is by boat (either
a 1,2 or 3 day journey depending on which boat you choose (the 1 day is very
fast and expensive). I and about 10 others chose the 2 day boat (my visa
expired on the 2nd day so I had to make it to Thailand by then). At
nightfall on the first day we failed to make our expected destination
(stopping at a small village very near the middle of nowhere [actually most
of Lao is the middle of nowhere] and found out that the 'captain' was on a 3
day schedule. So after 1.5 days we made the halfway point and at great
expense transferred to a fast boat and, a tuktuk ride and a ferry later,
just about made the border with 30 mins to spare. Could have done it in 1
day for what it eventuially cost me !!
It's funny how everyone thought of coming back to Thailand almost as coming
home to familiar things. So it's Hurrah for McDonalds then ?
Maybe that would be going just a bit far !!
There has been a slight change of plan - I have decided to go to Myanma
(Burma) for 1 month and this together with my addition excursions into
Cambodia and Lao mean that my original target of coming back in November
(when my ticket runs out) looks unlikely. Plan B is to make South America
by November and take in a few sights there (Patagonia, Carnival in Rio etc
) and come back home around Easter next year....
Luv
Pete
Oh what fun I have had since last email (Hanoi) - some memorable journeys
(although not for the right reasons) and some serious chilling out........
When I first started travelling I asked a few people already travelling
whether their backpacks got heavier or lighter as they went on. They all
said that they got heavier because they picked up lots of books along the
way. As I don't tend to read many books this isn't likely to happen to me.
So now I have a backpack ladened down with about a dozen books !!!
First of all by bus from Hanoi across the border into Lao and to the capital
Vientiane where I spent a few days waiting for a visa for Myanma (Burma).
Then north to Vang Vieng - a tiny place famous only amoung travellers; and
then north again to Luang Prubang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the New
Year (aka water festival). Then a cruise no less, up the Mekong for 2 days
to the border with Thailand. If only it had been that simple...............
Best Bits
- Vang Vieng is a village with a few locals, loads of travellers and
virtually nothing to do...except play pool, drink beer (US 25c a large
glass) paddle down the river in inflatable canoes, visit some caves, jump in
some pools and just chill out... Big Time. So I spent a f e
w days there ...........
- not to forget the slow 3 hour trip down the river in inflatable inner tubes -
nothing could be more .........er........ nothing
- The water festival. Basically for several days anyone is allowed to soak
anyone else !! In Lao this consists of a few water pistols and a few
small buckets of water mainly being thrown at motorcyclists and other
motorised transport (although no one is exempt). However in Chang Mai (I
got here just before the end of the festival) it is taken slightly more to
extremes....... The streets are packed with pick up trucks packed with huge
barrels of water and people with extra large buckets to get everyone they see soaking wet. The amount of water thrown is immense .... you cannot go out on the street during daylight hours without getting soaked .... carrying passport, travellers cheques etc is not a good idea !
Worst Bits
- the journey from Hanoi to Vientiane. At 22 hours this was always going
to be an experience. However once you have paid your US$26 and given your
ticket to the bus driver as you board you are out on a limb..... (remember
it is guaranteed to be one bus all the way!!) Started 7pm. Got thrown off
the first bus at 2am by a busy road in the middle of nowhere -' you have to
get a different bus from here which leaves at 4am'. Bus no 2 left at 4am
and we get to within 20km of the border (at 7am) and we then have to get a
local bus - this is packed with sacks of grain, bags, people (although
strangely no chickens) and has negative legroom. Then up a huge moutain and
cross the border at a mountain shack at the top. Luckily we have been
promised a luxury minibus from just the other side of the border. 30km the
other side we stop in a small town and thankfully get off the ultra cramped bus! And the
transport for the next stage is a pick up truck (!) with a few seats in the
back. Unfortunately it is already full with 20 people crammed in and the 4
of us are supposed to pile in on top. After some heated 'negotiating' we
get given the money for the remainder of the journey and told to sort it out
ourselves....... So after carefully weighing up our options we realised we
didn't have any ........ so we end up standing on the tailgate of the pick
up holding on for dear life for a couple of hours as we sped on our way.
Then we stopped and a minibus appeared to take us the last 3 hours (bus no.
5 of our guaranteed 'one bus all the way' journey). Still it gives me
something to write about in my emails..............
- Luang Prubang - I expected this world hertitage site to be full of
buildings worth saving (like Hoi An in Vietnam) - but whilst this does have
some pre WW2 french architecture, it has more satelite dishes than charm !
- The jouney out by boat from Luang Prubang to the border is by boat (either
a 1,2 or 3 day journey depending on which boat you choose (the 1 day is very
fast and expensive). I and about 10 others chose the 2 day boat (my visa
expired on the 2nd day so I had to make it to Thailand by then). At
nightfall on the first day we failed to make our expected destination
(stopping at a small village very near the middle of nowhere [actually most
of Lao is the middle of nowhere] and found out that the 'captain' was on a 3
day schedule. So after 1.5 days we made the halfway point and at great
expense transferred to a fast boat and, a tuktuk ride and a ferry later,
just about made the border with 30 mins to spare. Could have done it in 1
day for what it eventuially cost me !!
It's funny how everyone thought of coming back to Thailand almost as coming
home to familiar things. So it's Hurrah for McDonalds then ?
Maybe that would be going just a bit far !!
There has been a slight change of plan - I have decided to go to Myanma
(Burma) for 1 month and this together with my addition excursions into
Cambodia and Lao mean that my original target of coming back in November
(when my ticket runs out) looks unlikely. Plan B is to make South America
by November and take in a few sights there (Patagonia, Carnival in Rio etc
) and come back home around Easter next year....
Luv
Pete
Monday, 5 March 2001
Where 5 Phnom Penh, Cambodia --OR-- Wat No Angkor
Hi Everyone,
Since last email (Hong Kong) I have moved to hotter and much cheaper
countries - both good news - however there are some downsides..... I spent
a couple of weeks in Bangkok (which was far too long but I had to sort out
visas for Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) and then travelled by bus to Cambodia,
first to Siem Reap to see the temples at Angkor and then by boat to Phnom
Penh......
The good bits
- The temples at Angkor are incredible, of excellent quality and varied in style. Built by the
Khmer people as their capital city from 9th - 14th century only the temples
remain (only gods could live in stone buildings (temples) so all other
buildings were wooden and have long gone).
The crowning glory is Angkor Wat (the outline of the central towers appears
on the Cambodian flag [with which you are all no doubt familiar : )) ]which
is an incredible building (built 1113 - 1150 AD). It is surronded by a moat
200m wide and 5.5km long; the central building contains 3 levels and 1200sq
metres of stone carvings depicting legends and stories of the time. It is
in almost perfect condition despite the years and wars which have ravaged
the coutry. Said by some to be the greatest building ever conceived by the
human mind - the scale is awesome and the balance is perfect - it flows with the surrounding jungle... inspirational.
Definitely worth 3 days of my time and undoubtedly a highlight of the whole
trip.
- The Royal Palace in Bangkok - choc full of ornate and colourful temples,
chedis and monsters (guarding it all).
- Lying down buddha 46m long with feet 3m by 5m - and it was probably solid
gold .... or maybe it was painted gold .... or maybe you see so many gold
buddhas that after a while it doesn't really matter..... interestingly the
most sacred buddah in the whole of Thailand (in Royal Palace) in only about
1m tall - Even in Bangkok size isn't everything !!
- Talking to some monks at a temple in Bangkok about how they live their
life and ending up talking about Premiership football - thankfully none of
them supported ManU...
- The other travellers I have met - sometimes insane but always interesting
....... (like the Irish farmer who has been travelling for 4.5 years in an
effort to take a picture of his son's rabbit outside each of the famous
sights in the world before his son graduates from college ..... he claims to
have visited over 150 countries..)
The bad bits
- traffic in Bangkok is simply a nightmare - just trying to cross the main
roads is enough to have you certified insane and takes 10 mins - it's
quicker to take a taxi just to cross !! And Phnom Penh is nearly as bad -
few cars but an incredible no. of scooters/motorbikes. Incidentally
Cambodia is the 12th country I have been to this trip but the first place
where they drive on the right ..... not that you would notice !!
- Bangkok is just not a nice place!
- The number of cockroaches in my room. The Thai's get there own back by
frying and eating them.... no I didn't !
- The seedy side is alive and kicking - well I had to make sure it was still
there - girls wandering around in their 'night attire' entertaining the guys
(you really can do that with a string of razor blades)...and on a personal
level...No I didn't !
- Cock fighting - actually I meant the animals - possibly legal and
certainly common - but not very pleasant.
- The roads in Cambodia - they have no roads just dirt tracks with huge
holes in them - it took over 7 hours to go 152km - and it was not
comfortable !!!
The other bits
- The Killing Fields - A mass grave and a monument to the 1 million Cambodians murdered by Khmer Rouge (their own people) 1975-9 made of human skulls (they had a lot of them lying around...)
- S-21 A former school where the Khmer Rouge tortured thousands of people
before killing all but about 7 of them. Perfectly preserved (down to the 'tools' used) it
looks like it could have been used the day before I visited - a disturbing
place made worse by the pictures on the walls of each of the (short term)
occupants - men, women and children....
Next ... Out of here (on a terrible road) to Vietnam and HoChiMin City
(Saigon) ....
For those in UK, I hope the weather isn't getting you down in the foot and mouth too much.
Best Wishes
LuvPete
Since last email (Hong Kong) I have moved to hotter and much cheaper
countries - both good news - however there are some downsides..... I spent
a couple of weeks in Bangkok (which was far too long but I had to sort out
visas for Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) and then travelled by bus to Cambodia,
first to Siem Reap to see the temples at Angkor and then by boat to Phnom
Penh......
The good bits
- The temples at Angkor are incredible, of excellent quality and varied in style. Built by the
Khmer people as their capital city from 9th - 14th century only the temples
remain (only gods could live in stone buildings (temples) so all other
buildings were wooden and have long gone).
The crowning glory is Angkor Wat (the outline of the central towers appears
on the Cambodian flag [with which you are all no doubt familiar : )) ]which
is an incredible building (built 1113 - 1150 AD). It is surronded by a moat
200m wide and 5.5km long; the central building contains 3 levels and 1200sq
metres of stone carvings depicting legends and stories of the time. It is
in almost perfect condition despite the years and wars which have ravaged
the coutry. Said by some to be the greatest building ever conceived by the
human mind - the scale is awesome and the balance is perfect - it flows with the surrounding jungle... inspirational.
Definitely worth 3 days of my time and undoubtedly a highlight of the whole
trip.
- The Royal Palace in Bangkok - choc full of ornate and colourful temples,
chedis and monsters (guarding it all).
- Lying down buddha 46m long with feet 3m by 5m - and it was probably solid
gold .... or maybe it was painted gold .... or maybe you see so many gold
buddhas that after a while it doesn't really matter..... interestingly the
most sacred buddah in the whole of Thailand (in Royal Palace) in only about
1m tall - Even in Bangkok size isn't everything !!
- Talking to some monks at a temple in Bangkok about how they live their
life and ending up talking about Premiership football - thankfully none of
them supported ManU...
- The other travellers I have met - sometimes insane but always interesting
....... (like the Irish farmer who has been travelling for 4.5 years in an
effort to take a picture of his son's rabbit outside each of the famous
sights in the world before his son graduates from college ..... he claims to
have visited over 150 countries..)
The bad bits
- traffic in Bangkok is simply a nightmare - just trying to cross the main
roads is enough to have you certified insane and takes 10 mins - it's
quicker to take a taxi just to cross !! And Phnom Penh is nearly as bad -
few cars but an incredible no. of scooters/motorbikes. Incidentally
Cambodia is the 12th country I have been to this trip but the first place
where they drive on the right ..... not that you would notice !!
- Bangkok is just not a nice place!
- The number of cockroaches in my room. The Thai's get there own back by
frying and eating them.... no I didn't !
- The seedy side is alive and kicking - well I had to make sure it was still
there - girls wandering around in their 'night attire' entertaining the guys
(you really can do that with a string of razor blades)...and on a personal
level...No I didn't !
- Cock fighting - actually I meant the animals - possibly legal and
certainly common - but not very pleasant.
- The roads in Cambodia - they have no roads just dirt tracks with huge
holes in them - it took over 7 hours to go 152km - and it was not
comfortable !!!
The other bits
- The Killing Fields - A mass grave and a monument to the 1 million Cambodians murdered by Khmer Rouge (their own people) 1975-9 made of human skulls (they had a lot of them lying around...)
- S-21 A former school where the Khmer Rouge tortured thousands of people
before killing all but about 7 of them. Perfectly preserved (down to the 'tools' used) it
looks like it could have been used the day before I visited - a disturbing
place made worse by the pictures on the walls of each of the (short term)
occupants - men, women and children....
Next ... Out of here (on a terrible road) to Vietnam and HoChiMin City
(Saigon) ....
For those in UK, I hope the weather isn't getting you down in the foot and mouth too much.
Best Wishes
LuvPete
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
