Our next day in amazing Luang Prabang we walked through town in the morning to the boat pier. Got on a long boat to the Pak Ou Buddha caves and Whisky Village. The boat journey along the Mekong was lovely in the sunshine watching locals on the river banks. Stopped at a small village where they make rice whisky and the locals gave us free shots of horrible smelling, quite nice tasting red 'whisky'. Some of us bought some bottles to take home. As we were walking down the bamboo bridge across the muddy banks to the boat, a group of boys from the village aged from about 3 to 8 ran after us, stripped off all their clothes and wangled their willies at us as we motored off down the river... Arrived at the caves that were like grottos in the cliff face, filled with damaged and discarded Buddha statues ranging in size from a centimetre to metres high, all staring out to the river. Strange sight.. At new year the locals come to the caves and bathe with the Buddhas in the river. Climbed a ridiculous number of stairs to the upper cave. On the way up we were approached by children holding tiny straw cages with little birds hopping about inside. We think they were trying to sell them to us but we would have only freed them, and we weren't sure if that was what we were supposed to do, or if it would be disrespectful.. At the top of the steps, being tight-arse travelers on tight budgets, we decided to brave the cave without renting a torch from outside and instead to hope our eyes would adjust to the dark. This cave was much bigger, could see the walls of the main room again filled with Buddha statues and strange ribbons and incense.. Saw the path that we thought led to the rest of the cave at the back of the room. Tried to find our way through with our pathetic iPhone torches.. Eventually gave in and stomped back to the entrance to get a torch. All the way back in, shined the torch down the path, cave wall, DEAD BLOODY END. Wasted money on stupid torch to explore the rest of the cave that didn't exist. Decided to make the most of the money we'd spent on the torch and shone it on every statue, every corner and every strange ribbony thing we could find. In the darkest corner I found a piece of paper on the floor, picked it up to see the other side was covered in photos of a little girl dying in hospital. All a bit spooked we made our way out..
In the evening we went to watch the sun set over the Mekong. Sat on a bamboo platform set out on stilts over the river bank and watched locals bathing in the water as the sun went down over the mountains. For dinner we went to a gorgeous Lao restaurant set in a garden with fairy lights in the trees and lanterns and candles and little log fires to sit around. So armospheric and magical, with fab music playing too. Had a selection of delicious Lao food that we all shared between us- stir fried green beans and beef in oyster sauce, green curry, Saikok Lao sausage with potato salad, and sweet and sour chicken. Em and I teamed up and played pool with two Lao guys. Managed a few flukey drunken good shots and ended up winning with ME potting the black... In Lao any workplace has a curfew of 12pm, so all bars have to shut at 11 in time for their staff to get home. We'd heard about a strange bowling alley on the outskirts of town that manages to stay open until 3 as it's not in central town, so we made our way there by touk touk. Found an odd little place full of drunken tourists, where we had lots of hysterical laughs playing a few games. I insisted on being on Bens team and didn't hit a single pin down all night, even though i'd adopted the two handed, bend over and swing between the legs throw.. Looking like a total plank..
The day after I was up early and couldn't make the other lazy arses get up so went out for the day by myself. Had a lovely time exploring town, waking along all the rivers and down the tiny alleyways past peoples homes. Took lots of photos and saw so many funny, interesting sights. Looked around Xiang Thong Temple, which was SO beautiful, with colourful, shining mosaics of elephants and monsters and jungles all over the outer walls. Was taking a photo of a pretty street as a group of men rushed out of a building carrying something, as they got closer I saw that it was an old man who must have collapsed and died...
Up at 5:30am the next morning to watch the monks Alms giving through the main street of Luang Prabang. Was a cool sight to see so many monks in their orange robes, walking silently in long lines, collecting offerings and foods. Browsed the early morning food market which was fab, full of interesting sights and smells. For the day Ben, Will, Em and me went back to Kuang Si Waterfall. On the wall in our hostel was stuck a map of how to find a secret swimming area, so we decided to try to find it. Couldn't really understand the map, but instead came across an old path cut into the side of a steep bank that was blocked off by a fallen tree and a big sign saying 'DANGER NO ENTRY'... We climbed under, didn't look very dangerous, just a bit wet and slippery with not much to hold onto to climb along the side of the bank. We made it across to where the path seemed to reform again. Climbed down a ladder, over a few rocks and gross spiders webs. Came through an opening in the trees to the most AMAZING waterfalls, one huge tall one, with smaller ones below it and little pools and huge rocks and plants and everything just so gorgeous. Wrapped our cameras in bags and swam across to a big rock in the middle. We were careful not to go in the direction the water was flowing- right off the edge of the next huge 50ft waterfall to the pools below where the rest of the people were swimming. Everything looked so magical and we had such an amazing time in the sun at our own secret waterfalls. Swam under the main fall and leant against the rock in the water on a ledge underneath, looking out through the water falling infront of our faces. Was a cave under there but it was too small to explore.. Such a perfect place. Felt so pleased with ourselves as we made our way back through the other pools and people at the end of the day. Most amazing end to the most amazing place.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Sunday, 28 February 2010
February 14th to February 22nd- end of Cambodia, Vientianne, start of Luang Prabang
Got ill again at the end of our few days in Sihanoukville. God knows what from, we've given up trying to understand all these tropical illnesses.. Before it all got bad I convinced myself I wasn't going to get ill and had a chicken korma as the hostel was running an 'Indian Night'. Possibly biggest mistake of whole trip.. Sped up the process and can't say I'll be able to look at korma the same way after the deathly way it made me feel while sicking it up in a smelly hostel toilet.. No food is nice to sick up but curry has to be one of the worst. Felt really bad for the rest of the time there, with Ben having to carry me to the bathroom, couldn't leave the room which I was so gutted about because Sihanoukville was lush :( but at least I had one lovely day there.
Over the next few days we made our way back up through Cambodia and over to Bangkok. From Siem Reap we booked a bus that took us all the way over the border. A tiny rickety old bus arrived to pick us up in the morning, and transfer us to the bus stop. We all crammed into the boiling hot bus with too few seats and our bags piled on top of us and looked forward to getting on the big coach with air conditioning.. Unfortunately it became clear when we drove straight past the bus stop that this wasn't just the transfer bus but actually the bus taking us the whole 8 hour journey.. Uncomfortable but funny.
The bus steward came round asking for tickets and we heard a raised voice at the back of the bus. Realised in disbelief that a huge fat man with his wife and daughter, who wasn't english but was giving us a bad name by speaking in it, was shouting at the poor ticket man: 'NO you say TICKETS PLEASE SIR'. Couldn't believe he was being so rude to someone who clearly couldn't speak English well, AND telling him to speak English in bloody Cambodia! He then carried on by pointing at the poor bus steward and telling him to behave himself. EUrgh vile man.
Made it to the border, and still weak and in a daze from being ill, accidently left a gorgeous elephant present I'd bought for mum on the floor somewhere while we were filling in immigration forms. Only realised I'd left it in another country once I'd gone through to Thailand. Was wrapped in newspaper in a plastic bag so convinced myself that it would end up at a rubbish dump where a poor child would find it while scavenging and treasure it forever...
At Bangkok we tried to catch a taxi to our hostel, but they didn't know where it was so we named some hotels near it. He caught onto one of the hotel names and decided to take us there. We thought this would work out alright as we'd just get out near it and walk to our hostel. Instead when we arrived at the hotel he'd understood the name of, he took us through big posh barriers to the smart hotel entrance and car park, where doormen came and opened the door for us and took our dirty old rucksacks from the boot. We got out, feeling ridiculous as a bunch of scruffy travellers surrounded by smart people in their smart outfits. Embarassingly explained to the doorman that we weren't actually staying here, to which he looked very relieved and sent us on our way.
The next evening we caught another fun sleeper train, this time up to the border with Laos. Woke up in Nong Khai where we got on a train across the 'Friendship Bridge' to Laos immigration. During the morning of our passing through immigration we noticed a tall, loud german man possibly mental, definitely drunk who barged his way to the front of every queue shouting various words at the back of peoples heads till they jumped out of the way in confusion, making one girl cry as he harassed her in a different language. Everybody seemed too scared to question him, he was clearly slightly off the rails.. Have no idea why they let him through the border but they did, as we got our taxi to Vientianne we saw him on the side of the road clearly just been kicked out of one taxi and trying to hail down another. Our driver went to stop for him but when we all screamed NOOO and tried to explain he was a nasty nasty man he kept driving.
Vientianne is the capital of Laos, but alot of it got destroyed during the Siam invasion, so there wasn't much to see. Had a few days exploring as much as we could and a nice night out at a pretty roof-top bar.
Took an 11 hour bus journey up to Luang Prabang through the mountains. Luang Prabang is such a beautiful French collonial city, surrounded on 3 sides by the Mekong river and another smaller one. The buildings are lovely, with so many pretty little alleys and streets to explore. Our hostel is called spicy Laos, the same company as the one we stayed with in Chiang Mai and equally fun and chilled out with free breakfast sat on cushions on the balcony. That evening we made our way to the night Market in town and had delicious chicken baguettes, where they grilled the chicken and made it all freshly infront of you. Had a mango, banana and pineapple fruit shake. SO GOOD. On our first day there we booked a trip to Kuang Si waterfall. Was more beautiful than we could have ever imagined, the water is so clean and blue, with amazing waterfalls and pools to swim in. Jumped in the first one we came across and all sat on top of a small waterfall with our legs dangling over before sliding in. Jumped down off a log that stuck out over the pool like a diving board, maximum a metre from the surface and I still screamed. I AM SCARED OF HEIGHTS. Moved up to the next pool with a rope swing to swing in from and a 6 metre high waterfall to jump off. Watched the boys climb the slippery tree and swing into the pool. I enjoyed swimming in the lush water in the sun while they threw themselves from crazy heights. They insisted I was missing out by not either doing the rope swing or jumping from the water fall. I explained that I hate heights and I am getting enough fun just being here.. But found myself at the top of the stupidly high waterfall with water rushing past my legs, hyperventilating and insisting I couldn't do it. Only jumped when a sarcastic cunt behind me asked 'are you ever gunna jump or what?'. HORRIFIC. Felt like I was falling to my death before I hit the surface and water filled my every oriface.. including eye sockets. I enjoy adrenaline rushes from things that at least involve more than a second of enjoyment before you're engulfed in pain.. Spent the evening browsing the fab night Market and buying some lovely souveniers for home. Love it here, my favourite place out of everywhere we've been, wish we had longer than 5 nights.
Over the next few days we made our way back up through Cambodia and over to Bangkok. From Siem Reap we booked a bus that took us all the way over the border. A tiny rickety old bus arrived to pick us up in the morning, and transfer us to the bus stop. We all crammed into the boiling hot bus with too few seats and our bags piled on top of us and looked forward to getting on the big coach with air conditioning.. Unfortunately it became clear when we drove straight past the bus stop that this wasn't just the transfer bus but actually the bus taking us the whole 8 hour journey.. Uncomfortable but funny.
The bus steward came round asking for tickets and we heard a raised voice at the back of the bus. Realised in disbelief that a huge fat man with his wife and daughter, who wasn't english but was giving us a bad name by speaking in it, was shouting at the poor ticket man: 'NO you say TICKETS PLEASE SIR'. Couldn't believe he was being so rude to someone who clearly couldn't speak English well, AND telling him to speak English in bloody Cambodia! He then carried on by pointing at the poor bus steward and telling him to behave himself. EUrgh vile man.
Made it to the border, and still weak and in a daze from being ill, accidently left a gorgeous elephant present I'd bought for mum on the floor somewhere while we were filling in immigration forms. Only realised I'd left it in another country once I'd gone through to Thailand. Was wrapped in newspaper in a plastic bag so convinced myself that it would end up at a rubbish dump where a poor child would find it while scavenging and treasure it forever...
At Bangkok we tried to catch a taxi to our hostel, but they didn't know where it was so we named some hotels near it. He caught onto one of the hotel names and decided to take us there. We thought this would work out alright as we'd just get out near it and walk to our hostel. Instead when we arrived at the hotel he'd understood the name of, he took us through big posh barriers to the smart hotel entrance and car park, where doormen came and opened the door for us and took our dirty old rucksacks from the boot. We got out, feeling ridiculous as a bunch of scruffy travellers surrounded by smart people in their smart outfits. Embarassingly explained to the doorman that we weren't actually staying here, to which he looked very relieved and sent us on our way.
The next evening we caught another fun sleeper train, this time up to the border with Laos. Woke up in Nong Khai where we got on a train across the 'Friendship Bridge' to Laos immigration. During the morning of our passing through immigration we noticed a tall, loud german man possibly mental, definitely drunk who barged his way to the front of every queue shouting various words at the back of peoples heads till they jumped out of the way in confusion, making one girl cry as he harassed her in a different language. Everybody seemed too scared to question him, he was clearly slightly off the rails.. Have no idea why they let him through the border but they did, as we got our taxi to Vientianne we saw him on the side of the road clearly just been kicked out of one taxi and trying to hail down another. Our driver went to stop for him but when we all screamed NOOO and tried to explain he was a nasty nasty man he kept driving.
Vientianne is the capital of Laos, but alot of it got destroyed during the Siam invasion, so there wasn't much to see. Had a few days exploring as much as we could and a nice night out at a pretty roof-top bar.
Took an 11 hour bus journey up to Luang Prabang through the mountains. Luang Prabang is such a beautiful French collonial city, surrounded on 3 sides by the Mekong river and another smaller one. The buildings are lovely, with so many pretty little alleys and streets to explore. Our hostel is called spicy Laos, the same company as the one we stayed with in Chiang Mai and equally fun and chilled out with free breakfast sat on cushions on the balcony. That evening we made our way to the night Market in town and had delicious chicken baguettes, where they grilled the chicken and made it all freshly infront of you. Had a mango, banana and pineapple fruit shake. SO GOOD. On our first day there we booked a trip to Kuang Si waterfall. Was more beautiful than we could have ever imagined, the water is so clean and blue, with amazing waterfalls and pools to swim in. Jumped in the first one we came across and all sat on top of a small waterfall with our legs dangling over before sliding in. Jumped down off a log that stuck out over the pool like a diving board, maximum a metre from the surface and I still screamed. I AM SCARED OF HEIGHTS. Moved up to the next pool with a rope swing to swing in from and a 6 metre high waterfall to jump off. Watched the boys climb the slippery tree and swing into the pool. I enjoyed swimming in the lush water in the sun while they threw themselves from crazy heights. They insisted I was missing out by not either doing the rope swing or jumping from the water fall. I explained that I hate heights and I am getting enough fun just being here.. But found myself at the top of the stupidly high waterfall with water rushing past my legs, hyperventilating and insisting I couldn't do it. Only jumped when a sarcastic cunt behind me asked 'are you ever gunna jump or what?'. HORRIFIC. Felt like I was falling to my death before I hit the surface and water filled my every oriface.. including eye sockets. I enjoy adrenaline rushes from things that at least involve more than a second of enjoyment before you're engulfed in pain.. Spent the evening browsing the fab night Market and buying some lovely souveniers for home. Love it here, my favourite place out of everywhere we've been, wish we had longer than 5 nights.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
February 12th to February 13th- Sihanoukville and pinky promises
Caught an early bus to Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh. Ben, Will and Saydi all were sick overnight so the bus journey was pretty horrid for them, Ben coming very close to having to be sick in his rucksack on the bus..
Arrived at our hostel called Mick and Craigs, owned by an English guy, so the restaurant menu was filled with delicious western food that we'd all been craving. The beach is so nice, with beach bars all along it, letting people sit on their sunbeds or swing seats for free. Em and me set ourselves up on an amazingly comfy swing seat, ranted away about how much we loved it here while we swung back and forth in the sun listening to the waves and chill out music from the bar.. So nice. Drifted off and awoke to a Cambodian lady stroking our shins and pulling disgusted faces. We realised she was referring to our leg hair and burst into laughter. She gestured that she would remove it all for us, but with our money left at the hostel we had to say no. Next thing we knew she'd pulled out a string of cotton and in weird twisting and pulling motions started plucking out Em's leg hair. Em started shrieking and flailing her legs all over the place, while the lady tried to hold her down. So so funny. Eventually managed to convince her we had no money and thank you but no thank you, before we realised what was going on she'd wrestled our little fingers into a pinky promise that we'd let her do it tomorrow..
Accidently caught the eye of a young boy carrying fruit on his head, who enthusiastically marched over and insisted I buy some fruit from him. Again had to try to explain we had no money, which he was very unimpressed by. He tried to force me into a pinky promise that I'd get my money and buy off him later but I wasn't falling for that trick again and sat on my hands. Eventually he settled with me telling him if I want fruit I'll be sure to find him and nobody else.
Two 15 year old Cambodian girls came over to sell Em and me some bracelets, again we had to tell them we had no money, which they responded with 'no money, no honey! But that's fine you take bracelet off us now and pay later, we trust you, you won't run away'. Instead they made us both a free friendship bracelet and we promised to buy a bracelet off them tomorow when we had money. They sat talking with us for most of the afternoon, spoke English PERFECTLY, using typical western phrases and making sarcastic jokes with us. We were amazed, can't imagine being only 15 and being able to speak and understand another language completely fluently just from learning it at school. They asked us if they could swap our mildly tanned skin with (in our opinion) their gorgeous brown tan. They're desperate to have pale skin. Got a bit embarassing when they shouted to some other Western boys on the beach that Em and I wanted to go bang bang with them in the sea... But they were very lovely.
Had another day on the gorgeous beach the day after, starting with beans on toast at the beach bar. The bar we were sat at was running a beach volleyball tournement that afternoon, and refusing to embarass myself by attempting to thump a ball over a net, I instead helped the bar man hand out leaflets down the beach for teams to come along. Ben, Will, Em and Lizzie formed a team and won the first match, but somehow a very drunk Scot had been nominated as the umpire and making it all up as he went along, just wrote down random teams who he thought might have won.
Am on a very tight budget, so decided I could only allow myself to buy the ONE bracelet from the lovely Cambodian girl we'd spent the afternoon talking to the day before, and unfortunately no money could be spent on fruit or leg plucking or massages. The girl found us again and like I promised I bought a bracelet from her. As I was handing over the money I heard someone shout my name, looked over only to my confusion to see the girl I'd promised to buy a bracelet from the day before. Looked back to the one I'd just paid, they looked identical.. In guilt and annoyance I realised I'd got confused and bought a bracelet from the wrong girl and collapsed on the bed while Em laughed and laughed. The girl I'd actually promised then came skipping over all smiley and excited for me to buy a bracelet. I could hardly refuse to buy one now, so spent the money I was saving for dinner and bought one from her too. Ahhhhhhh hilariously annoying. Ben said I was stupid and too nice, but he paid for my dinner anyway..
After that confusion I fell back asleep in the sun.. Awoke to find ourselves surrounded by people who'd wrestled us into pinky promises the day before. Can't deal with this guilt!!!! If I could afford it I'd buy something off them all.. Pinky promise followed by guilt trip is definitely a good sales tactic.. The fruit boy got moody with me and started stabbing fruit with his knife, I apologised over and over but he stomped off and sold some to the next people along the beach instead leaving me feeling like a terrible terrible person. The weekend we were in Sihankoukville was Chinese New Year, and one of the Cambodian girls we'd got talking to came over with a load of fireworks in her bag. She started throwing bangers around, making Em and me ridiculously tense with nerves. Went quiet for a while and I thought she'd eventually stopped. Next thing I knew bangers were being thrown at my bare back and I was yelping trying to bury myself under the sun bed, screaming for her to stop with her finding it hilarious. Love it here but so much for a relaxing day at the beach...
Arrived at our hostel called Mick and Craigs, owned by an English guy, so the restaurant menu was filled with delicious western food that we'd all been craving. The beach is so nice, with beach bars all along it, letting people sit on their sunbeds or swing seats for free. Em and me set ourselves up on an amazingly comfy swing seat, ranted away about how much we loved it here while we swung back and forth in the sun listening to the waves and chill out music from the bar.. So nice. Drifted off and awoke to a Cambodian lady stroking our shins and pulling disgusted faces. We realised she was referring to our leg hair and burst into laughter. She gestured that she would remove it all for us, but with our money left at the hostel we had to say no. Next thing we knew she'd pulled out a string of cotton and in weird twisting and pulling motions started plucking out Em's leg hair. Em started shrieking and flailing her legs all over the place, while the lady tried to hold her down. So so funny. Eventually managed to convince her we had no money and thank you but no thank you, before we realised what was going on she'd wrestled our little fingers into a pinky promise that we'd let her do it tomorrow..
Accidently caught the eye of a young boy carrying fruit on his head, who enthusiastically marched over and insisted I buy some fruit from him. Again had to try to explain we had no money, which he was very unimpressed by. He tried to force me into a pinky promise that I'd get my money and buy off him later but I wasn't falling for that trick again and sat on my hands. Eventually he settled with me telling him if I want fruit I'll be sure to find him and nobody else.
Two 15 year old Cambodian girls came over to sell Em and me some bracelets, again we had to tell them we had no money, which they responded with 'no money, no honey! But that's fine you take bracelet off us now and pay later, we trust you, you won't run away'. Instead they made us both a free friendship bracelet and we promised to buy a bracelet off them tomorow when we had money. They sat talking with us for most of the afternoon, spoke English PERFECTLY, using typical western phrases and making sarcastic jokes with us. We were amazed, can't imagine being only 15 and being able to speak and understand another language completely fluently just from learning it at school. They asked us if they could swap our mildly tanned skin with (in our opinion) their gorgeous brown tan. They're desperate to have pale skin. Got a bit embarassing when they shouted to some other Western boys on the beach that Em and I wanted to go bang bang with them in the sea... But they were very lovely.
Had another day on the gorgeous beach the day after, starting with beans on toast at the beach bar. The bar we were sat at was running a beach volleyball tournement that afternoon, and refusing to embarass myself by attempting to thump a ball over a net, I instead helped the bar man hand out leaflets down the beach for teams to come along. Ben, Will, Em and Lizzie formed a team and won the first match, but somehow a very drunk Scot had been nominated as the umpire and making it all up as he went along, just wrote down random teams who he thought might have won.
Am on a very tight budget, so decided I could only allow myself to buy the ONE bracelet from the lovely Cambodian girl we'd spent the afternoon talking to the day before, and unfortunately no money could be spent on fruit or leg plucking or massages. The girl found us again and like I promised I bought a bracelet from her. As I was handing over the money I heard someone shout my name, looked over only to my confusion to see the girl I'd promised to buy a bracelet from the day before. Looked back to the one I'd just paid, they looked identical.. In guilt and annoyance I realised I'd got confused and bought a bracelet from the wrong girl and collapsed on the bed while Em laughed and laughed. The girl I'd actually promised then came skipping over all smiley and excited for me to buy a bracelet. I could hardly refuse to buy one now, so spent the money I was saving for dinner and bought one from her too. Ahhhhhhh hilariously annoying. Ben said I was stupid and too nice, but he paid for my dinner anyway..
After that confusion I fell back asleep in the sun.. Awoke to find ourselves surrounded by people who'd wrestled us into pinky promises the day before. Can't deal with this guilt!!!! If I could afford it I'd buy something off them all.. Pinky promise followed by guilt trip is definitely a good sales tactic.. The fruit boy got moody with me and started stabbing fruit with his knife, I apologised over and over but he stomped off and sold some to the next people along the beach instead leaving me feeling like a terrible terrible person. The weekend we were in Sihankoukville was Chinese New Year, and one of the Cambodian girls we'd got talking to came over with a load of fireworks in her bag. She started throwing bangers around, making Em and me ridiculously tense with nerves. Went quiet for a while and I thought she'd eventually stopped. Next thing I knew bangers were being thrown at my bare back and I was yelping trying to bury myself under the sun bed, screaming for her to stop with her finding it hilarious. Love it here but so much for a relaxing day at the beach...
Monday, 15 February 2010
February 8th to February 12th- Phnom Penh
Early bus to Phnom Penh. Supposed to take 4 hours but took more like 8.. Eventually arrived at the capital, very different to Siem Reap, much more mental traffic. Picked up by our hostel touk touk driver who took us to Sunday Guesthouse. In the evening I made a trip with the boys to the nearest supermarket. The roads here are completely mad, don't seem to be any road laws or rules on right of way at junctions so people all just barge through, driving on whatever side of the road they want. Had to cross a particularly busy road, stood at the edge for ages waiting for a safe chance to cross. Eventually decided it was never going to get safe enough so made a dash for it. Made it across fine.. But a motorbike looked up and suddenly saw people crossing ahead of him so decided to brake hard, didn't need to because we had already made it to the other side.. But this caused big 4x4 shiny Lexus to bump into the back of the bike. Bike un-harmed so drove off leaving v. angry Lexus driver hammering his hand on the horn. Police on the side of the road finding the whole thing hilarious. Scared we were about to get shot by the angry Lexus driver we walked off very fast, feeling like stupid tourists..
Next day we had a tour of the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide museum (previously S-21 prison). Started with trip to killing fields, 14km outside Phnom Penh. Between 1975 and 1978 approximately 17,000 men, women and children who had previously been detained and tortured at S-21 prison were transported to the extermination camp now known as the Killing Fields. They were often bludgeouned to death to save bullets. There is a tree there called the Killing Tree, where babies and children were lifted by their ankles and swung against to kill them. Fragments of bone and clothing still stick out from the ground around the paths and mass graves. More than 8000 skulls arranged by sex and age were displayed behind glass panels in a memorial Stupa. Learnt that the officers at the fields scattered poisenous chemicals over the bodies to cover the stench and to kill any who had been buried alive..
In the afternoon we visited Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, previously S-21 prison. In 1975 the building was a school, but was taken over by Pol Pot's security forces and turned into what soon became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country. Of the 20,000 men, women, and unbelievably young children that passed through the prison, only 7 survived. The Khmer Rouge leaders were meticulous in keeping records of their prisoners. Displayed at the museum alongside eachother were photos of prisoners taken before and after torture. Particularly disturbing to see the photos of the tiny little children staring terrified at the camera, knowing they'd later been tortured and killed. S-21 claimed an average of 100 victims each day. We were able to walk between the rooms of the four buildings, containing tiny cells that caged individual prisoners, could still see blood stains all over the floors. The front of the buildings had been covered in sheets of barbed wire to prevent prisoners jumping down to commit suicide. Such a disturbing day.
The day after we organised another tour with the hostel touk touk driver to some of Phnom Penhs markets. Started with the Russian Market, didn't sell Russian things, just called so because of it's location or something.. Loads of souveniers so got on our bartering and bought some presents for home. Had a big night out, pre-drunk at the hostel until midnight then all squeazed into one touk touk to the Heart of Darkness club. Read in Lonely Planet to be very careful here of rich gangs of Khmers who bring their body guards along for fun to beat up anybody who pisses them off. Also discovered just before we left that someone was shot there in 2005.. But we had a fab time, all searched on entry so felt pretty safe. The club was really nice, saw the bodyguards but kept out of their way and were ridiculously polite to everybody to be sure we didn't get into any trouble.. Stayed there dancing till half 3ish then all very drunkenly made our way back to the hostel where none of us could sleep until 5 because couldn't stop our heads from spinning all over the place..
Ridiculously hungover the next day, felt like we'd been poisened. Finally made it out of the hostel in the afternoon and had a look around the National Museum. In a really lovely building with a garden courtyard in the centre where we could feed all the pretty coloured fish. Had green curry with pasta and chicken for lunch. Felt like an idiot asking insanely polite waiting staff if it was very spicy. They assured me that there was very little spice, which of course meant that by UK spice standards my mouth was on fire after one mouthful. Delicious anyway..
Next day we had a tour of the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide museum (previously S-21 prison). Started with trip to killing fields, 14km outside Phnom Penh. Between 1975 and 1978 approximately 17,000 men, women and children who had previously been detained and tortured at S-21 prison were transported to the extermination camp now known as the Killing Fields. They were often bludgeouned to death to save bullets. There is a tree there called the Killing Tree, where babies and children were lifted by their ankles and swung against to kill them. Fragments of bone and clothing still stick out from the ground around the paths and mass graves. More than 8000 skulls arranged by sex and age were displayed behind glass panels in a memorial Stupa. Learnt that the officers at the fields scattered poisenous chemicals over the bodies to cover the stench and to kill any who had been buried alive..
In the afternoon we visited Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, previously S-21 prison. In 1975 the building was a school, but was taken over by Pol Pot's security forces and turned into what soon became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country. Of the 20,000 men, women, and unbelievably young children that passed through the prison, only 7 survived. The Khmer Rouge leaders were meticulous in keeping records of their prisoners. Displayed at the museum alongside eachother were photos of prisoners taken before and after torture. Particularly disturbing to see the photos of the tiny little children staring terrified at the camera, knowing they'd later been tortured and killed. S-21 claimed an average of 100 victims each day. We were able to walk between the rooms of the four buildings, containing tiny cells that caged individual prisoners, could still see blood stains all over the floors. The front of the buildings had been covered in sheets of barbed wire to prevent prisoners jumping down to commit suicide. Such a disturbing day.
The day after we organised another tour with the hostel touk touk driver to some of Phnom Penhs markets. Started with the Russian Market, didn't sell Russian things, just called so because of it's location or something.. Loads of souveniers so got on our bartering and bought some presents for home. Had a big night out, pre-drunk at the hostel until midnight then all squeazed into one touk touk to the Heart of Darkness club. Read in Lonely Planet to be very careful here of rich gangs of Khmers who bring their body guards along for fun to beat up anybody who pisses them off. Also discovered just before we left that someone was shot there in 2005.. But we had a fab time, all searched on entry so felt pretty safe. The club was really nice, saw the bodyguards but kept out of their way and were ridiculously polite to everybody to be sure we didn't get into any trouble.. Stayed there dancing till half 3ish then all very drunkenly made our way back to the hostel where none of us could sleep until 5 because couldn't stop our heads from spinning all over the place..
Ridiculously hungover the next day, felt like we'd been poisened. Finally made it out of the hostel in the afternoon and had a look around the National Museum. In a really lovely building with a garden courtyard in the centre where we could feed all the pretty coloured fish. Had green curry with pasta and chicken for lunch. Felt like an idiot asking insanely polite waiting staff if it was very spicy. They assured me that there was very little spice, which of course meant that by UK spice standards my mouth was on fire after one mouthful. Delicious anyway..
Thursday, 11 February 2010
February 4th to February 8th- Siem Reap, Angkor, beards, birthday
We're staying at Bun Kao guesthouse. If you're ever in Siem Reap, the staff are unbelievably polite, friendly and helpful. Just have to sit in the lobby and you're brought a glass of cold water and fans around you switched on. There's a driver who gives you free touk-touk rides to town, AND breakfast is included. On our first day we took our free ride into town to look round the old Market. Siem Reap is so lovely, pretty river and buildings and old red dusty tracks. Lots of smelly meat and vegetable stalls at the Market, with so much unrecognisable meat, think they had skinned bats hanging up..
The next day we had our first day touring the Angkor temples. They're all so amazing and beautiful, unbelievable that they're from years around 800 AD and still standing. The jungle ones were particularly incredible, with HUGE trees growing out of the walls, they're massive roots winding around the bricks and doorways. The first temple was quite a long way from the others, and we had a lovely journey through Cambodian villages watching people go about their daily lives. Tiny little kiddies in oversized school uniforms peddling adult sized bikes home for lunch. Stopped to buy some delicious sugary sweet things from a lady on the side of the road. They're made from sugar palm liquid boiled down to solid then wrapped in leaves for packaging. When we stopped for lunch Ben got hit on by a Cambodian teenage boy who started stroking Ben's arm and giggling. He was so camp and very sweet, mouthing that he liked my freckles and that emily needed to comb her hair, then pulling a comb from his pocket and doing it himself. Was very funny. We realised he was deaf when someone came up and spoke to him in sign language. A cute little minx came and sat with us and asked for 'UK coin for me UK coin?'. They don't have coins in Cambodia so we fished out a 5p and gave it to her. She shoved it in her pocket then demanded another one.
For dinner we decided to go to a restaurant we'd read about called Cambodian BBQ to try some unusual meats. We ordered a big selection of crocodile, frogs legs, snake, chicken and beef to share. It was brought out to us as a huge platter of raw meat with cocktail sticks and little pictures of the animal so we knew which was which. They then lit this sophisticated BBQ thing that was set into the middle of the table. It had a ring of boiling water round the outside for us to cook the veg and noodles in and a big dome of heated metal for the meat. So we cooked it all ourselves, weird bunging big fat raw frogs legs on.. But was so yummy, snake the tastiest. Had some delicious passion fruit ice cream then made our way back to the hostel along the river to meet Tom and Lizzie who had just joined us in Cambodia. We're now a group of nine and it's loooovely. Ben and Will hadn't shaved for the whole month and were definitely getting past the attractive stubble to the beardy weirdy stage. Decided that as it had been a month it was time for the facial pubes to go. We'd gotten used to them and thought we quite liked, especially after they shaved it off and were all baby faced. But looking back at photos they really were disgusting.
Next day we continued our tour of the Angkor temples, Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, and Bayon, all so amazing. A few dodgy panic moments climbing ridiculously steep stone temple steps. Again we got approached by Cambodian kids at lunch. This time was a little girl of about 6 wanting us to buy bracelets. She spoke such good English especially for her age, saying things like 'NO yours not the same' when we tried to persuade her kindly that we already had some. And 'Same same but different.... you know capital of madagaskar?' before we had a chance to answer interrupting us with 'if you're wrong you buy!!'. Celebrated Ben's birthday night out a day early to save ourselves from hungover traveling. Really fab night out in Siem Reap bars on 'pub street'.
Spent Ben's birthday recovering from our hangovers sunbathing on the lush balcony at the hostel. Last day in Siem Reap, next to Phnom Penh.
The next day we had our first day touring the Angkor temples. They're all so amazing and beautiful, unbelievable that they're from years around 800 AD and still standing. The jungle ones were particularly incredible, with HUGE trees growing out of the walls, they're massive roots winding around the bricks and doorways. The first temple was quite a long way from the others, and we had a lovely journey through Cambodian villages watching people go about their daily lives. Tiny little kiddies in oversized school uniforms peddling adult sized bikes home for lunch. Stopped to buy some delicious sugary sweet things from a lady on the side of the road. They're made from sugar palm liquid boiled down to solid then wrapped in leaves for packaging. When we stopped for lunch Ben got hit on by a Cambodian teenage boy who started stroking Ben's arm and giggling. He was so camp and very sweet, mouthing that he liked my freckles and that emily needed to comb her hair, then pulling a comb from his pocket and doing it himself. Was very funny. We realised he was deaf when someone came up and spoke to him in sign language. A cute little minx came and sat with us and asked for 'UK coin for me UK coin?'. They don't have coins in Cambodia so we fished out a 5p and gave it to her. She shoved it in her pocket then demanded another one.
For dinner we decided to go to a restaurant we'd read about called Cambodian BBQ to try some unusual meats. We ordered a big selection of crocodile, frogs legs, snake, chicken and beef to share. It was brought out to us as a huge platter of raw meat with cocktail sticks and little pictures of the animal so we knew which was which. They then lit this sophisticated BBQ thing that was set into the middle of the table. It had a ring of boiling water round the outside for us to cook the veg and noodles in and a big dome of heated metal for the meat. So we cooked it all ourselves, weird bunging big fat raw frogs legs on.. But was so yummy, snake the tastiest. Had some delicious passion fruit ice cream then made our way back to the hostel along the river to meet Tom and Lizzie who had just joined us in Cambodia. We're now a group of nine and it's loooovely. Ben and Will hadn't shaved for the whole month and were definitely getting past the attractive stubble to the beardy weirdy stage. Decided that as it had been a month it was time for the facial pubes to go. We'd gotten used to them and thought we quite liked, especially after they shaved it off and were all baby faced. But looking back at photos they really were disgusting.
Next day we continued our tour of the Angkor temples, Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, and Bayon, all so amazing. A few dodgy panic moments climbing ridiculously steep stone temple steps. Again we got approached by Cambodian kids at lunch. This time was a little girl of about 6 wanting us to buy bracelets. She spoke such good English especially for her age, saying things like 'NO yours not the same' when we tried to persuade her kindly that we already had some. And 'Same same but different.... you know capital of madagaskar?' before we had a chance to answer interrupting us with 'if you're wrong you buy!!'. Celebrated Ben's birthday night out a day early to save ourselves from hungover traveling. Really fab night out in Siem Reap bars on 'pub street'.
Spent Ben's birthday recovering from our hangovers sunbathing on the lush balcony at the hostel. Last day in Siem Reap, next to Phnom Penh.
Monday, 8 February 2010
30th January to 2nd February- Full moon party and arrival in Cambodia
Full moon was so much fun. We went out for a meal first, a huge tropical storm started and again all the power on the island went out. We started to imagine what the full Moon party would be like with no music or lights.. Possibly tribal drumming.. Power was out for hours but eventually came back on and the music started. All down the beach different types of music playing from the different bars. Crazy fire dancers. Beach packed with everybody dancing, loads and loads of fun. Stayed up till sunrise for a swim in the sea. Then decided on going to an after party up on a hill that we'd seen fliers for. Starts at 7am and goes on all day. Got ushered into the back of a pick up truck that seemed to be a free taxi to backyard after party. Crammed in with way too many people, balanced against the roof on really steep bumpy tracks being thrown all over the place was pretty scary.. Made it to the top where we blagged our way in with free entry. Place was full of fucked bar staff who's shifts had ended and it was their turn to party, and people off their faces on mushroom shakes. Was on a fab location on a huge platform overloooking the beach. The Thai teenage boys who work the bars were behaving really strangely in the morning, clearly all fucked on something and getting agro and emotional at eachother and ripping necklaces from eachothers necks like they represented membership in some sort of gang.... Then crying and stroking faces and praying.. One of them fell onto the floor clearly having an epileptic fit but his friends seemed to think he just wanted to fight with someone so held him down...
Eventually made our way back to our hostel, coming across so many party people sound asleep on pavements and in doorways. Spent the morning recovering and sleeping on the beach, but kept having random stilltotallyfucked strangers coming and sitting next to me, rambling away a load of nonsense.
After a few days relaxing after the party we started our trip to Cambodia. First a ferry from Ko Phanghan back over to the mainland. Overnight sleeper train from Surat Thani to Bangkok. Overnight in a nice little hostel in the Silom area of Bangkok. Up at 4am for a taxi to the bus station. Bad day for Ben and Em to get sick, both of them feeling rubbish and really weak. Caught a bus to the border, where we managed to avoid all the touts and made our way through passport and visa control ourselves. Poor Em and Ben seriously struggling in the heat, sick, shits, and feeling like they'd pass out. We were really wary because have read so much about how so many people get scammed at the border town by taxi touts or people insisting that we have to change money and charging us ridiculous amounts. People trying to get you into buses that take you to the wrong guesthouse and make you pay stupid amounts to stay there.. So were a bit offish when a very friendly cambodian taxi tout came to offer his help. But he seemed to be ok so we went along with it, insisting that we'd only pay 10 dollars each for a taxi (some people get quoted 40 dollars each). Turned out he was actually very kind and looked after us all, constantly checking Ben and Em were alright, and shooing off anyone who tried to mess us about. We caught the shuttle bus to the tourist onwards transport station which is conveniently placed in the middle of nowhere, so when you get there you have no choice but to get the transport they offer. Our funny taxi tout bundled us into a taxi and off we went to siem riep feeling very bewildered that we seemed to have made it on our journey without being scammed.. Fell asleep and 3 hours later found ourselves apparently in siem reap but being bustled into a touk touk.. Now suspicious that this is where the scam starts and we get driven all over Siem
reap taken to various places where we're forced to buy things or dropped off at the wrong guesthose and refusing to take us any further. But they took us to the right place, with only a bit of trying to persuade us to hire them on a tour round Angkor Wat. We took his number to keep him quiet.. Our hostel is a gorgeous, old, brightly decorated building in a red dirt track village with huge leafy trees and plants. It's FAB. And right below our window is a crocodile farm with hundred or so big fat crocodiles snapping about...
Eventually made our way back to our hostel, coming across so many party people sound asleep on pavements and in doorways. Spent the morning recovering and sleeping on the beach, but kept having random stilltotallyfucked strangers coming and sitting next to me, rambling away a load of nonsense.
After a few days relaxing after the party we started our trip to Cambodia. First a ferry from Ko Phanghan back over to the mainland. Overnight sleeper train from Surat Thani to Bangkok. Overnight in a nice little hostel in the Silom area of Bangkok. Up at 4am for a taxi to the bus station. Bad day for Ben and Em to get sick, both of them feeling rubbish and really weak. Caught a bus to the border, where we managed to avoid all the touts and made our way through passport and visa control ourselves. Poor Em and Ben seriously struggling in the heat, sick, shits, and feeling like they'd pass out. We were really wary because have read so much about how so many people get scammed at the border town by taxi touts or people insisting that we have to change money and charging us ridiculous amounts. People trying to get you into buses that take you to the wrong guesthouse and make you pay stupid amounts to stay there.. So were a bit offish when a very friendly cambodian taxi tout came to offer his help. But he seemed to be ok so we went along with it, insisting that we'd only pay 10 dollars each for a taxi (some people get quoted 40 dollars each). Turned out he was actually very kind and looked after us all, constantly checking Ben and Em were alright, and shooing off anyone who tried to mess us about. We caught the shuttle bus to the tourist onwards transport station which is conveniently placed in the middle of nowhere, so when you get there you have no choice but to get the transport they offer. Our funny taxi tout bundled us into a taxi and off we went to siem riep feeling very bewildered that we seemed to have made it on our journey without being scammed.. Fell asleep and 3 hours later found ourselves apparently in siem reap but being bustled into a touk touk.. Now suspicious that this is where the scam starts and we get driven all over Siem
reap taken to various places where we're forced to buy things or dropped off at the wrong guesthose and refusing to take us any further. But they took us to the right place, with only a bit of trying to persuade us to hire them on a tour round Angkor Wat. We took his number to keep him quiet.. Our hostel is a gorgeous, old, brightly decorated building in a red dirt track village with huge leafy trees and plants. It's FAB. And right below our window is a crocodile farm with hundred or so big fat crocodiles snapping about...
Friday, 29 January 2010
January 27th to 29th- mad hostel, beach parties, and guns
After the horrific ferry ride we're safely in gorgeous Ko Phangan. Our hostel is owned by a wild 40 something English man and his Thai wife and children. He's been there for 20 years, clearly not wanting to grow up, walking around with an un-buttoned shirt, telling us stories of drug times, mad parties, becoming the hostel dj at night, which he's actually surprisingly good at, passing out on the sofa.. Cigarettes, alcohol bottles and various strange memorabilia lie around the bar area, along with a gun.... His life based around giving his 16 hostel visitors a wild time. His kids don't seem to have a bed and instead sleep on the sofas in the bar/lobby/dj area, and amazingly sleep through his booming djing combined with the music coming from 5 metres down the road at the beach parties.
The first night we spent at an amazing foam party on the beach. Dancing in the foam that came up to well over our heads was so much fun, not sure if you were going to drown, then running into the sea to wash it all off. There was a huge bolt of lightening followed by thunder and a tropical rain storm. So lush all dancing away on the beach in pouring rain. The storm caused a powercut and all the lights and music on the whole island stopped for a few scary but exhilerating seconds as we all suddenly found ourselves in PITCH black. The fire dancers here are mental, huge skipping rope set alight, massive circle formed, then pissed partyers encouraged to jump in and skip as they spin the flaming rope faster and faster. So many people being bashed over the head or getting themselves tangled in the firey rope... Thai kids younger than 10 spinning fire poi on platforms. They sell strange alcohol buckets here, and we had a major warning from the British embassy guy we met here about them. They each have a bottle of concentrated red bull type stuff in, which is banned in the EU, and Thai law state nobody should have more than 2 of them within 24 hours, when of course people are drinking far more than that. They make your heart beat far too fast apparently.. The concentrated red bull stuff is then mixed with coke, which makes it even worse. Then added to that is what is supposed to be vodka or whisky but in most cases definitely is something more like petrol. We've been drinking our own alcohol bought from a supermarket instead, but have had a few buckets and they're definitely interesting... Met so many lovely, friendly people, the atmosphere here is so happy I love it. Apart from the one fight last night in which a bench was smashed over someones head. Sent me into panicy tears, but think things were ok after half the crowd rushed in to break it up...
Spend the day times recovering on the beach in the sunshine. Ben and Will started a game where you have to throw a ball to hit a plastic bottle in the sand, when you hit it you have to move to a line further back and try to hit it from further and further distances. Weren't many people left on the beach so decided couldn't embarrass myself too badly considering my serious lack of sporting ability... Anyway, turned out that i beat both boys very impressively, hitting the bottle from the furthest distance long before they got past the first stage. HA HA HA. ;)
Last night we were drinking in the hostel bar, and me being my usual nosey self sat there people watching the people in the street, noticed a oddly-behaving, tattooed Thai guy swagger in to talk to our hostel owner. They were acting weirdly, and then slunk off across the road to a tattoo shop were the Thai guy pulled out a huge shotgun from his trousers. I seemed to be the only one who had noticed.. He then handed our hostel owner a smaller gun, which he snuck down his trousers and came back over to our hostel and hid at the back of a drawer.. Didn't feel threatening to us, he clearly moved here to live the gangster life style.. But the Thai guy hung around outside for a while, falling about looking a bit off-his face on something, then marched in muttering something to our hostel guy, they both rushed over to the drawer, grabbed the gun, the Thai guy rushed back outside and shoved this English man, grabbing him round the waist. This is when I decided I was about to witness a shooting a few metres infront of me and ducked down under the window waiting for the screams.. but it all jsut seemed to fizzle out.. Who knows.. This place is mad.
The first night we spent at an amazing foam party on the beach. Dancing in the foam that came up to well over our heads was so much fun, not sure if you were going to drown, then running into the sea to wash it all off. There was a huge bolt of lightening followed by thunder and a tropical rain storm. So lush all dancing away on the beach in pouring rain. The storm caused a powercut and all the lights and music on the whole island stopped for a few scary but exhilerating seconds as we all suddenly found ourselves in PITCH black. The fire dancers here are mental, huge skipping rope set alight, massive circle formed, then pissed partyers encouraged to jump in and skip as they spin the flaming rope faster and faster. So many people being bashed over the head or getting themselves tangled in the firey rope... Thai kids younger than 10 spinning fire poi on platforms. They sell strange alcohol buckets here, and we had a major warning from the British embassy guy we met here about them. They each have a bottle of concentrated red bull type stuff in, which is banned in the EU, and Thai law state nobody should have more than 2 of them within 24 hours, when of course people are drinking far more than that. They make your heart beat far too fast apparently.. The concentrated red bull stuff is then mixed with coke, which makes it even worse. Then added to that is what is supposed to be vodka or whisky but in most cases definitely is something more like petrol. We've been drinking our own alcohol bought from a supermarket instead, but have had a few buckets and they're definitely interesting... Met so many lovely, friendly people, the atmosphere here is so happy I love it. Apart from the one fight last night in which a bench was smashed over someones head. Sent me into panicy tears, but think things were ok after half the crowd rushed in to break it up...
Spend the day times recovering on the beach in the sunshine. Ben and Will started a game where you have to throw a ball to hit a plastic bottle in the sand, when you hit it you have to move to a line further back and try to hit it from further and further distances. Weren't many people left on the beach so decided couldn't embarrass myself too badly considering my serious lack of sporting ability... Anyway, turned out that i beat both boys very impressively, hitting the bottle from the furthest distance long before they got past the first stage. HA HA HA. ;)
Last night we were drinking in the hostel bar, and me being my usual nosey self sat there people watching the people in the street, noticed a oddly-behaving, tattooed Thai guy swagger in to talk to our hostel owner. They were acting weirdly, and then slunk off across the road to a tattoo shop were the Thai guy pulled out a huge shotgun from his trousers. I seemed to be the only one who had noticed.. He then handed our hostel owner a smaller gun, which he snuck down his trousers and came back over to our hostel and hid at the back of a drawer.. Didn't feel threatening to us, he clearly moved here to live the gangster life style.. But the Thai guy hung around outside for a while, falling about looking a bit off-his face on something, then marched in muttering something to our hostel guy, they both rushed over to the drawer, grabbed the gun, the Thai guy rushed back outside and shoved this English man, grabbing him round the waist. This is when I decided I was about to witness a shooting a few metres infront of me and ducked down under the window waiting for the screams.. but it all jsut seemed to fizzle out.. Who knows.. This place is mad.
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