Laos and Cambodia

Yo y'all,

So...two days on a slow boat. One word: slow. Ok, the scenery was beautiful (for the first few minutes), the card games were fun (although we only knew 3 games and these got tiresome eventually), and it was nice to have time to chill out (until you realise you are stuck on a boat for TWO DAYS and it gets as boring as watching a snail race)... but the pre-eminent memory for this couple of days can be summed up in one word: slow. Despite the slowness, however, the residual effects of spending two days on a very slow boat down the Mekong (aside from an array of mosquito bites adorning my limbs and face) was that I met some great people. My new found loveliest people were Cat and Michelle, who helped me celebrate my birthday in Luang Prabang in some serious style. Luang Prabang is lovely. As an old French colony it has lots of yummy bread and cakes and wine, and other niceties. We spent a fabulous day sauntering round this UNESCO World Heritage town, visiting the Phu Si Wat, which sits atop a hill giving splendid views of the surroundings, musing around the Royal Palace's gorgeously decorated
interior, dallying with the monks at the Xien Muan Wat and pillaging the beautiful wares of the night market. After browsing the multi-coloured scarves and vast array of oranments, pictures, bags, coffee and jewelry in the remarkably chilled-out market, we went to dinner, had more wine, then after a few shots of Lao Lao (Lao brewed rice wine - as pleasant tasting as paint stripper), went to the bowling alley. It was a very fun birthday.

After a day's recovery, in which we ate more cake (good for hangovers) and went back to the night market to buy a few choice items, as well as spending a few hours splashing around in the fabulous nearby waterfall complex, it was off the Vang Vieng. This little town is a renowned jewel of the backpacker route, offering tubing, bars, alcohol and 'happy' shakes, all followed by a Friends sesh in a bar (and every bar played Friends from morn 'til night - no joke, *every* bar), and a centre point for exciting activities like caving and rock climbing. It should have been a less cultural, but fun highlight of my trip, but, alas, it was not to be. I was struck down by a mystery bug and spent my time there in bed sleeping it off. Just my luck! Cat and Michelle, meanwhile, went tubing and did all the fun stuff, then reported back that it was 'fun but not that fun' (which sort of consoled me, but not really) before bundling me off to Vientiane. And in Vientiane I did nothing for 3 days while I got better. On day 2 we did make a little excursion to the hospital to see if anything was really wrong. After being greeted by the receptionist who happened to be the doctor and probably also the cleaner, however, we started to doubt the usefulness of the visit. After she took my temperature with a dodgy thermometer and happily declared it was 28 degrees C and that I therefore has no fever (although it was easily 30 degrees outside), we were pretty sure our trip was pointless. And when she offered to take my blood to test for dengue fever, though my symptoms didn't match at all, we knew it was time to go back home to a big bottle of water and a lot more sleep. Thank goodness I started feeling much better the following day, as Laos medical services leave a lot to be desired and if I ever become rich I will set up a fund for services there. A scary reminder that aside from the touristy buses and western food on menus, Laos is still very much a developing country and the people there have very little access to health care and education. We are a very and often undeservedly lucky bunch in the developed world.

Anyhooo - after I had got better, Cat and Michelle flew off to Hanoi, which I was very sad about because they are brilliant, and left me to see a few sights. I went to check out Pha That Lung - a massive gold looking monument - and ambled off to the 'Champs Elysees' road, complete with fake Arc du Triomphe at one end and Presidential Palace at the other ( a definite take-off and nothing like the French counterpart!), wandered along the river front and went round a few wats. Vieniane is not exactly what one would term a tourist attraction, however, so it was straight off down to the laid-back south off Laos for me. Now, as much as I loved Don Det, a little island in the middle of the Mekong river where I did nothing but read and eat and became as interesting as a hammock-bound sloth-like icicle, half of the love affair I had with the south is the way I got there. The radical, multi-coloured, flurescent-lit, all singing, all dancing, pimped up, pimped out super-sleeper bus! It was great. Not only were the head and tail-lights luminescently lit in multiple colours, but the under carriage flashed from red to green to blue too. The in-house entertainment consisted of deliveries of un-nameable stodgy snacks and Lao-Thai karaoke from 7-11 pm. And, as if that wasn't good enough, the lyrics were also written phonetically in roman script so we could all sing along. Fantastic. And then there was the boat ride paddled by a a little man in a carved out log which nearly sank across the Mekong to get to the island - close, but no cigar in comparison to the pimped out mega bus. :-)

After the excitement of the mega bus and couple of days of nothingness in lovely Laos (one of my favourite countries) it was off to Cambodia for me. Good thing I had chance to get mellowed out in Don Det, as the journey to Phnom Penh was atrocious. To start with, there were 20 of us shoved into a a 12 seater minibus, where the seat backs were broken and the air-con didn't work. The back of my seat fell into the knees of the girl behind as the seat in front squished my own knees, thus meaning I had to sit cross legged and side ways to get any degree of bearable posture. Then it started to rain, and the window next to me wouldn't shut, thus drenching me thoroughly with the stream of muddy water cascading down my back for 4 hours. When they found us a new bus, however (after much kicking and screaming from us) it still wasn't up to scratch, being still only a 16 seater and having NO suspension whatsoever along Cambodia's infamously awful roads. We drove through mud slurries half a meter deep and fell into holes, got way-laid by unnecessary waits in random areas for no reason (well, the reason was that they wanted to make sure we arrived in Stung Treng too late to get a local bus, meaning that we would be forced to use their excessively priced onwards 'service' to Phnom Penh), had a 'flat tyre', meaning more waits in the middle of nowhere, an excursion through the jungle in pitch black because there was a 'hold-up' on the road...and didn't get dinner until 10pm because it took us this long to reach a restaurant where the driver would get commission. All of this served to get us into Phnom Penh at 2am, tired, annoyed, and very angry, to be dumped at a hostel where the driver would get yet more commission. What a scam! Fortunately there was a good group of us on the bus, and with a few songs, a few jokes and some seriously bad New Zealand music, we got through in one piece and, although this is exactly the kind of journey that gives tour agencies a bad name, I think my memories of it will be amusing rather than annoyed. My abiding most annoying memory is that the left indicator was stuck on 'on' and flashed the whole way there! Well, what can you do but laugh, really, when you are mud-covered, rain-drenched and about to get DVT and an epileptic fit from the orange flashing lights!?

The next day in Phnom Penh was packed with sight-seeing. Sadly, given Cambodia's genocidal past, the sights to be seen were not really enjoyable, but were crucial to understanding Cambodia and exactly how far it has come in the last few years. My visit to Tuol Sleng, or S 21, the secondary school turned into a detention and punishment centre by the Khmer Rouge, was overwhelmingly saddening. Along with numerous classrooms turned into torture chambers, there were rooms displaying thousands of mug-shots of the 'criminals' (blameless citizens) who were held there, and cabinets showing the instruments of torture and bones of those killed. Already utterly sobered by the complete inhumanity of the Khmer Rouge regime, a trip to the Killing Fields really hammered home the message that man-kind can really be incomprehensibly cruel. Here, amid the trees and grass, with the sun beating down and a light breeze blowing, we saw the Wat dedicated to those murdered, filled from base to tip with the smashed skulls of the dead. In now flower-covered pits lay the bones of children slaughtered indesciminately. One tree, called the 'Magic Tree', had a loud speaker attached, purposefully put there to play music louder than the victims' screams. The whole experience was a real eye opener on Cambodian history, but a reminder that such atrocities have occurred many times in our history and are still happening today.

To cheer ourselves up after the morning's visits, we went off to the Grand Palace to marvel at the Silver Pagoda and browse the palacial architecture. Afterwards a few cocktails in the Foreign Correspondents Club and a splash-out meal finished the day with a much needed high note. Next day, it was off to Siem Reap for a few days to check out Cambodia's ancient Knmer capital and wonder, Angkor Wat. Angkor was great. We hopped on some bikes on the first day and cyled off to see the great temple itself. As the world's largest religious building, it was pretty darn impressive. With bas reliefs all over the place, towering turrets, lakes and moats, there was plenty to see and it took a good 3 hours. Unfortunately I didn't get chance to climb the nearby temple on a hill to get that 'Angkor Wat' shot, but it was nonetheless grand. The subsequent temples we saw were also fabulous - Bayon, with its many faces smiling eerily and gzing in every direction - Ta Prohm, left to the elements and covered in tree roots, including 'that' tree route from the Tomb Raider film - and many, many others. It took a good 2 days to see them, with the second day riding round in a tuk-tuk (open air motocyle driven taxi), after which I was utterly templed out. It was still a good couple of days which I really enjoyed. The temples were an interesting back drop to Cambodia's more recent history, showing the wealth and power of the Khmer empire in its prime. A really poignant touch to the visit was the music played by landmine victims as we went around the temples. Men and women with lost limbs and severe injuries from landmines left from the conflicts Khmer Rouge period had learned to play instruments, and in small groups played some delightful traditional music to set the atmosphere in the temples. The contrasts and contradictions arising from such beautiful music accompanying such brilliant monuments played by people who had suffered the most awful injuries yet had risen above their misfortunes to celebrate their heritage and remaining abilities was deeply impacting. After going to the landmine museum and learning how there are still between 3 and 6 million unexploded mines in Cambodia and many injured or killed each day by them, I was really affected by the issue. Cambodian people have been through so much, yet have such indominable spirits and a wicked sense of humour. Their day-to-day is often riddled by poverty, with the evidence of landmines visible in many beggars and kids having to sell on the street to support their families. With a raging HIV/AIDS epidemic too, Cambodia has really struck me as a remarkable country in terms of the issues it has to face. Moreover, the people have struck me as grasping the true essence of 'life' - of being able to see the bright side and trying their hardest in the face of misfortune to make the best of their lot. Of course, there are those who take advantage of the tourism industry in unadmirable ways, and those who beg although they are still able to work, but generally I have been impressed greatly by Cambodia and its people.

A quick 2-day stop back in Phnom Penh to get a Vietnamese visa followed Siem Reap. Here I spent a good couple of days relaxing and doing not a lot, but also went to visit a local orphanage. Sarah, Eve and John and I took rice, books and play toys along with us and spent a wonderful afternoon with the kids. They taught us how to make paper flowers, played football with us, showed us their Apsara dances and sang songs in English. They completely showed me up by knowing more words to the macarena than I know, and were fantastic kids in every respect. They were all from poor or disadvataged backgrounds, many orphaned and some with parents who could not support them. Thanks to the orphanage, though, they are learning English, French and Japanese, and being taught a general curriculum so that they can go to state school when they are older. Incredibly, for the 72 kids there, they consume 50kg of rice per day, costing $30. Every bit of support is greatly appreciated, and the staff there are simply marvelous in their attention and support of the children. I had such a great afternoon, photographing the kids wearing my sun glasses, teaching them how to cat-walk and pose! It made my time in Cambodia extra special. When I get home and start earning, along with supporting Amnesty, which tackles issues like landmines and other humanitarian issues, I would also like to sponsor a child. Given how much of an impact Cambodia has made on me, I will choose to sponsor a kid here. I think it's the least I can do - I really wish I could do more.

That's it for Cambodia now, though. I've just picked up my Vietnamese visa, so it's off to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow, aka Saigon, where the tales of the 17th of 17 countries from my grand tour shall begin...

xxx

The rest of Thailand: Full Moon, Bridge on the River Kwai, Bangkok, Ancient Temples, Chiang Mai

Dear all,

Since the last time I wrote I have been having a super-lovely time doing very exciting things. After the interesting cultural excursion of Nakhon, I skipped up the coast and hopped over to Ko Pha Ngan where I jumped straight into the Full Moon Party action. I met up there with a friend I made in Malaysia, Roland, and Marian, with whom I travelled part of Australia's East Coast. Not to bore you with more of the same, but Ko Pha Ngan is another whtie sandy beach island with crystal blue waters and bright sunshiny days...yada yada yada. But, as I have mentioned already, Ko Pha Ngan is the island where all the cool kids go - the island of the infamous Full Moon Party. The build up to this party was pretty spectacular in itself: warm up parties on the beach drinking buckets (literally) of Thai spirits, watching fire poi performances, flip-flop swapping, party hopping and night long bopping. All good, but resulting in the mass induction of nocturnality for all tourists on the islands, the disappearance of breakfast, the turning of lunch into dinner and dinner into post-drink snacks. The party itself, however, was even more overwhelming. There were thousands, literally thousands, of people on the beach, all dancing away and drinking many more buckets than on previous night. People had come from all over the island to join the fun, as well as boat loads of people popping over from neighbouring Ko Samui. Marian and I had a brilliant time painting each others faces with luminous body paint and had, at one point, a veritable clintele of Asian ladies cuing up to have us paint their faces! We danced with lady boys, jived away on the podiums (I may have fallen off one and got an impressive bruise on my thigh) and lost our room key in the sand. Lovely stuff.

After recovering from the party, Marian headed off to Phuket to meet Olivia, while Roland and I joined the mass exodus of people from Ko Pha Ngan to Bangkok, and jammed ourselves into uncomfortably full boats and buses in a bid to find a quieter spot to wind down. This we found in Kanchanaburi. After a brief (15 minutes) stop in Bangkok to catch the bus to Kanchanaburi, better known as the city of the Bridge on the River Kwai, we found ourselves a nice little wooden shack floating right on the river. A great place to catch up on some sleep. In our couple of days here we visited the infamous bridge, went to the cemetaries of those who died, and made a trip to the museum where we learned the sobering details of how the Japanese built the railway line and bridge using POWs during WW2. The time we spent in Kanchanaburi coincided, fittingly, with ANZAC day. As Roland is a Kiwi, the poignancy of the historical happenings in Kanchanaburi took on greater import as the army representatives in Thailand commemorated the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died in the World Wars in the cemetaries of the city. On a lighter note, Kanchanabuir also afforded us considerable entertainment as the river is home to a Thai tradition of floating karaoke boats. Each night we would witness the hilarious attempts of the Thai tourists at singing (or whining) various Thai pop anthems as they drifted down stream in a flurry of gaudy lights. And from the quirky to the bizarre, we also took a cycle trip to some nearby cave temples which were made famous in 1995 by the murder of a British tourist by a drug addicted monk! Another odd activity to do in Kanchanaburi was to visit the tiger temple, where I stroked some rescued tigers (not scary at all, but very cute) and took lots of pictures of baby wild pigs. Great. So there you go - Kanchanaburi, a city of extremes.

After our couple of days of relaxing, museums and culture, Roland and I headed back to Bangkok to sweat it out in the backpacker ghetto of Khoa San Road. We holed up in a dump of a hotel costing us the princely sum of GBP 1.50 a night, where the beds were sandbags and the showers smelled (who said travelling is glamorous!?!) and set about ticking off the sights-to-see and things-to-do in Thailand's capital. We trawled around the superlatively stunning Grand Palace, where the mirror-mozaic exteriors of the architecturally impressive buildings glimmered dazzlingly in the sun, became very snap-happy in the temple Wat Phra-Kaew, and were awed by the biggest reclining gold Buddha image in the world. To temper the grandeur of Bangkok's showpiece sights, we went to Patpong to see a pingpong show, the details of which I will not go into here, and slummed it by eating the street-vendors wares back on Khoa San Road. We met up with Cassie, Jo and Michael - friends made in Malaysia - and got lost in the humungous Chatuchak market, which has over 15000 stalls! Just before leaving for our next destination, Arutthaya, I made a quick stop off at Jim Thompson's house. Thompson was an american architect who moved to Thailand after having served here in the US army. The house he built is comprised of 6 different teak wood Thai houses and is filled with beautful ornaments, pottery and sculptures from across Asia. Set in a lush tropcial garden, the house was a brilliant example of Thai architecture and art, and I happily whiled away a few hours browsing the silk printed pictures he had amassed. Jim Thompson set up the Thai silk trade between Asia and Western Europe and America, so I duly browsed the fabulous silk pieces that were on sale. Thompson disappeared on a walk in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, never to be found again...I'm glad that didn't happen to Michael and I when we went on our mapless trek a couple of weeks ago!

So...next stop, Arutthaya. Arutthaya was the ancient Kmer capital, and as such is home to many funky ruins of temples. I felt rather 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' as I meandered through the ruined remains, photographing Buddha faces trapped in tree roots and half-weathered statues. After just a day, however, it was time to move again, and we boarded the night train to Chiang Mai. I loved the night train. It had lots of comfy beds, it was air conditioned, and it was very exciting. I felt just like a child again and took sweeties with me and had a marvellous time (and slept well). Hurrah!

And then...Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the second largets city in Thailand and is the capital of the north and a hub of tourist activity. Although the city's temples are interesting and the Night Bazarre is the best market I have ever been to, it is the activities available to do from Chiang Mai that make it so popular. The first day was spent sight seeing and organising, but from then on I have been doing all sorts of wonderful things. I spent a day becoming the Thai version of Delia Smith with The Best Thai Cookery School (how's that for advertising!?), where the owner and teacher was absolutely brilliant. We visited a market where we were taught about the different herbs and spices, fruits and vegetables, available in Thailand, and were shown fermented eggs and how to make coconut milk and coconut cream. Afterwards we learned to make all sorts of yummy dishes from Pad Thai to Red Curry, srping rolls to mango and sticky rice. Our teacher was really funny and enthused about Thai cuisine and culture. I felt positively like a culinary goddess after this most enjoyable day and I can't wait to try out my new recipes at home.

Following my cooking escapade, it was off on a trek to do fun stuff in the hills. The first day's dirst stop was elephant trekking in the jungle. The elephants were adorable and very well cared for, and took us some rather circuitous routes through the jungle, stopping ever few minutes for another bamboo snack. The ride was actually pretty uncomfortable, but the novely of riding on an elephant was as good as that of stroking tigers. The afternoon's activity was a trek to a hill tribe, where we were to stay the night. Along with 10 other people, I slipped and slid down the slopes, battled the rain, and moaned my way through a 3 hour hike. Getting stuck in the mud and singing all the way was part of the fun, though, and when we arrived at the tribal village we had a wonderful welcome. The people came to talk with us and sing with us, they fed us beautiful green curry and rice, they showed us how they made handicrafts and sold some to us, and gave us special 'Lahu' (the name of the tribe) massages. The kids were fantastic and the tribe were so accommodating and hospitable that it made the whole experience unforgettable. After a good night's sleep in our wooden hut, it was off on a trek again, this time to a waterfall. As it had been raining a fair bit, the waterfall was in full force and made for some fun splashing around and trying to avoid the leeches. Following the waterfall, we trekked off again to the river to jump in a raft for some white water rafting, then swapped to a bamboo raft to float down the calmer stretch of river. And then back to Chiang Mai, exhausted and exhilarated :-)

Unfortunately the fun I had on the 2 day trek was tempered by the hill tribe trip I went on the following day. I went with Olivia, a friend I met through Marian, but the day was a definite eye-opener on the bad side of tourism. We did see several different tribes and went to an unremarkable orchid farm, but found the tribes to be dependent on tourism and were saddened by the ignorant treatment of the tribes by the other tourists in our group, who took photos of the most inappropriate scenes in very intrusive ways without asking the permission of the tribes people. The tribespeople hassled us to buy their handicrafts and were very despondent, making the day uninteractive and depressing. It just goes to show the swings and roundabouts of tourism, I guess, but it made me realise how delicate the balance between tourism and intrusion is.

And that's it for Thailand! Tomorrow I head off to Laos via the two day slow boat down the Mekong, where I will shack up for a couple of days in Luang Prabang to celebrate my 23rd birthday.

More soon.

xxx