50c pick and mix. That's Hanoi.
Busy but slow. Yuck yet beautiful. Friendly and awful. It has it all. Just depends on what you pull out.
I spent about 4 nights here in all. It's like the port to all of the places around it.
My first day was spent sitting next to the nearby lake, just relaxing for once and as I'd planned, reading a book. I never actually read more than a few pages though as every 5 minutes I'd get approached by a local wanting to practice their english with me. I didn't mind one bit and I ended up teaching a group of uni students english out of a book they had.
Later when the sun had gone down, I headed back to my guesthouse; grabbing dinner on the way. When I got back I actually started reading but was shortly joined in the dorm room by 3 polish guys and a Catalonian. They were drinking and invited me to join them. We talked for a bit and then they headed off for the town and me for bed.
Didn't realise at the time what this meeting would bring about...
Sep 7, 2007
Best lunch ever!
Baguettes are only 2000 - 3000 dong over here or around 17c each Kiwi. That is with fillings of chicken, cucumber, sauce, veges, cheese and sometimes tomato. They always ask for 5000 but you cn haggle it down to the vietnamese price if you know it.
I also bought an ice-cream the other day and was asked for 10 000 dong (about 80c). Again, they really cost 5000 but you have to ask for it. Then while i sat eating mine, i watched two other tourists came along and pay 15000 each. Then the vietnamese lady came and laughed about it with me afterwards (o:
All this talk about food has made me peckish... time for some street food i think. laters all
I also bought an ice-cream the other day and was asked for 10 000 dong (about 80c). Again, they really cost 5000 but you have to ask for it. Then while i sat eating mine, i watched two other tourists came along and pay 15000 each. Then the vietnamese lady came and laughed about it with me afterwards (o:
All this talk about food has made me peckish... time for some street food i think. laters all
Let's start an epidemic...
Everyone comes to Asia worrying about all the diseases they might get. The one to look out for most is a smile!
Smiles truly are contagious over here. You say hello to anyone with a grin (especially little kids) and not only theirs, but your day brightens so much. Everyone loves to smile here.
So easy. So cheap. So happy.
So smile one for me back down under (o:
Smiles truly are contagious over here. You say hello to anyone with a grin (especially little kids) and not only theirs, but your day brightens so much. Everyone loves to smile here.
So easy. So cheap. So happy.
So smile one for me back down under (o:
Who's cheating who?
So when we haggle for a cyclo or a moto, they always start with a price 3 times what is normal. But even then it is still around 10 times at least cheaper than back home in NZ.
So who is ripping who off? Them for over charging but trying to make a living or us for haggling a price that is already rediculously cheap?
Teaching in Asia
Jo can give a better account of this than me as he's been at is for real (paid) for like 2 months now. see jomaworld.blogspot.com (Pics of kids from Laos school):
My first teaching was when I tried to read a book next to the lake in Hanoi. Every twenty minutes or so I would get approached by someone wanting to practice their english with me. I ended up teaching a group of school kids english out of books for a couple of hours but it was good fun. Also met a guy who wanted to take me out for a meal of cat and dog!
Hardest part is that they can't hear some of our sounds (and I can't hear the difference between some of theirs). 'Sh' sounds like 's' to them. Makes some words fun...
I also did a spot of volunteer teaching around the local schools of the villages around Vang viang in Laos. Here we had morning classes where we pretty much did what we wanted. If we weren't there to teach, the kids would have no teachers at all. I have to admit I didn't do too much teaching here anyways however as I was having way more fun just playing with them and at that age why not?
The night classes were a bit more serious and they understood english quit well. It was sort of like we were preparing them for jobs. Again, using books we helped improve their pronounciation and so on. Nice to give a little back for once.
Hue...
Right now I am in Hue and about to head off to Hanoi (Capital of Vietnam). It is proper monsoon today and after yesterday that is hard to believe.
V's for Vietnam...
Royal guys...
When we arrived at the bridge this guy on a boat saw us admiring his progress up the river with his two young kids and offered us a lift. We jumped aboard and went for a ride down the river. Nice still water. Perfect blue sky. Beautiful scenery on either side. Then I took the helm (that what it's called when you steer?). Instantly the kids were in fits of laughter, the boat was rocking every which way as I tried to keep us going in a straight like down the river. After about 20cm I promptly steered us straight into the bank. Fun times though and the owner didn't seem to mind (o:
The boat and his 'crew'...
Afterwards we met a farmer with his water buffalo who let me pet them - we couldn't work out if they'd attack us or not and so it was a very cautious approach up to them. The farmer just smiled when we tried to ask if we could pet them. In the end it turned out they were quite friendly and like the cows back home, they enjoyed a good scratch behind the ears - the horns were pretty intimidating though and I was ready to run if needed i have to admit. 
We had stayed until dusk at their house though and realised that we had better head off before it got so dark we wouldn't be able to find our way home. You're going to love the photos of the sunset! Amazing! Ricky took them and will send them on to me when he can. Truly amazing.
So peddling home we stopped for dinner art this cafe real quick. All the options were in Vietnamese but they let me wander around the cafe's kitchen looking into all the pots until i had an idea of what was on offer. Very friendly people! I had full access to their home! I ended up ordering fried baby frogs - delicious! I love frog it seems. They were so good! Then once we'd eaten (all of 80c NZ for about 40 frogs) we went frog catching with their daughter after laughing about how we'd love to try it - I put back all i caught though (o;
Then home to bed after a few tidbits off the street like vietnamese doughnuts, wontons and sweet breads.
Then today I awoke to solid rain. Extreme monsoon. Best yet. And I can't even begin to describe the thunder! Wow!!! I have never heard anything like it. It was like a bomb had gone off in the room next door. So loud! Like nothing I have ever heard in NZ - probably 10 times louder. Took my breath away.
But I leave Hue today so i figured i'd better do something. So i cruised to the market. Bought a t-shirt (i have to buy XL here and they're still tiny!) and some fruit and caught a cyclo home. Cyclo's are like lazy-boy seats attched to a bike behind. Cost nothing and are a pleasant way to cruise around the town.
Anyway, the roads right now are completely flooded in some parts of the town. To get here I walked up to my knees through water down the middle of the street. Even the cockroaches are dying and floating down the streets in droves. The rain just won't let up!
V's for Vietnam...
Yesterday was a perfect blue day. I spent it with an Aussie guy Ricky looking around. First we went to the royal cidatel which was so so to be honest. Some amazing building but to me they were just buildings. Yeah, not much to say about it. Here's some pics instead...
Me and Ricky...
Royal guys...
Getting friendly with the wildlife...
A building...
Another one... (see what I mean? They are all just buildings!! Cool ones admittedly but still)
Then in the afternoon we stopped being tourists and just went for a relaxing bike ride. First we headed for this bridge which supposedly has an amazing scenic ride to it amongst rice fields and rural villages etc. We rode along not really knowing where we were going and after giving up hope of finding the bridge we came upon a little cafe in the middle of no where.
We pulled in and spent the next hour drinking sugar cane juice and, while Ricky took a nap, I learnt how to play chinese checkers - really quite similar to Chess I think. Only problem is that the symbols on the tiles seem to change on every board and so once a few moves have been made i forget which are which (Bishop, pawn, castle etc - though they're not called that. Instead they are given names like 'motorbike', 'car', 'horse' and 'gun' over here depending on their moves). So after I had solidly proven I had no hope of ever winning a game we biked on only to find the bridge was just 50m down the road!
There were duck farms everywhere too with hundreds of the buggers...
When we arrived at the bridge this guy on a boat saw us admiring his progress up the river with his two young kids and offered us a lift. We jumped aboard and went for a ride down the river. Nice still water. Perfect blue sky. Beautiful scenery on either side. Then I took the helm (that what it's called when you steer?). Instantly the kids were in fits of laughter, the boat was rocking every which way as I tried to keep us going in a straight like down the river. After about 20cm I promptly steered us straight into the bank. Fun times though and the owner didn't seem to mind (o:
The boat and his 'crew'...
Afterwards we met a farmer with his water buffalo who let me pet them - we couldn't work out if they'd attack us or not and so it was a very cautious approach up to them. The farmer just smiled when we tried to ask if we could pet them. In the end it turned out they were quite friendly and like the cows back home, they enjoyed a good scratch behind the ears - the horns were pretty intimidating though and I was ready to run if needed i have to admit. Who's minding who?!
I spent a while talking with this guy - or it was more of both of us talking to each other in different languages and not really understanding anything and yet understanding each other perfectly. We were sitting on a grass ditch watching some kids play soccer and so I soon went and joined them with Ricky too.
The soccer was a great laugh with kids everywhere going every direction and laughing the whole time at us though god only knows why. We played till we were verging on heat stroke and then headed back for some more cane juice.
Afterwards we found it was only around 3pm so we biked off down a random road. A few km's on we found a side street and peddled down. We met some girls half way who kept telling us to turn around (I think they thought we were lost) but we kept on to see where it went. It ended in a residential area and when we got a dead end we found ourselves at someones house. They invited us in for tea and what followed was a replica of the conversation with the farmer only this time it involved about 14 of us!
They also invited us for dinner but sadly - very sadly! - we had to go as it was getting dark. Before we left they wrote a letter for me in Vietnamese which i didn't have clue what it was on about. I have since had it translated and it says how they were glad to met us, sad they couldn't understand english very well and that they would love to remain friends. Pity I'm off. They were a very welcoming and friendly family. And of course they had the daughter they kept trying to get to talk to us. Hahah. But they were really nice.
The family...
We had stayed until dusk at their house though and realised that we had better head off before it got so dark we wouldn't be able to find our way home. You're going to love the photos of the sunset! Amazing! Ricky took them and will send them on to me when he can. Truly amazing.
So peddling home we stopped for dinner art this cafe real quick. All the options were in Vietnamese but they let me wander around the cafe's kitchen looking into all the pots until i had an idea of what was on offer. Very friendly people! I had full access to their home! I ended up ordering fried baby frogs - delicious! I love frog it seems. They were so good! Then once we'd eaten (all of 80c NZ for about 40 frogs) we went frog catching with their daughter after laughing about how we'd love to try it - I put back all i caught though (o;
Then home to bed after a few tidbits off the street like vietnamese doughnuts, wontons and sweet breads.
Then today I awoke to solid rain. Extreme monsoon. Best yet. And I can't even begin to describe the thunder! Wow!!! I have never heard anything like it. It was like a bomb had gone off in the room next door. So loud! Like nothing I have ever heard in NZ - probably 10 times louder. Took my breath away.
But I leave Hue today so i figured i'd better do something. So i cruised to the market. Bought a t-shirt (i have to buy XL here and they're still tiny!) and some fruit and caught a cyclo home. Cyclo's are like lazy-boy seats attched to a bike behind. Cost nothing and are a pleasant way to cruise around the town.
Anyway, the roads right now are completely flooded in some parts of the town. To get here I walked up to my knees through water down the middle of the street. Even the cockroaches are dying and floating down the streets in droves. The rain just won't let up!
Dalat...
So what better place for recovery than up in the fresh air of the mountains and away from the coast where the heat and the cool water are constantly inviting you to swim.
So i headed for a place called Dalat. Beautiful mountain vistas where we (I had met up with a Canadian, a Hungarian and an aussie - poor me, haha) spent our time going for walks through forests to view waterfalls, the bush and a mixture of wildlife (not that we actually saw too much of this – mainly butterflies and birds).
All these tours were on motorbikes as well so I haven’t been scared off. I just pay a lot more attention now to the road!
Accomodation was also awesome. We had a $10 room with 4 double beds, fans, t.v., hot water showers etc. And for once the hot water was a welcome luxury. Dalat is frigging freezing! I slept with a duvet on each night. And this is coming from Nga trang where i slept at one stage with my feet in the fridge!
Cold times: Grant and Hungary looking miserable on our motorbike trip to a waterfall. We ended up stopping and going back for beer at a roadside stall until it passed...
Meals were also around $2.50 kiwi all day eating baguettes and noodle soups with tarts and danishes for dessert with hot soy milk - delish!
So i headed for a place called Dalat. Beautiful mountain vistas where we (I had met up with a Canadian, a Hungarian and an aussie - poor me, haha) spent our time going for walks through forests to view waterfalls, the bush and a mixture of wildlife (not that we actually saw too much of this – mainly butterflies and birds).
View over Dalat...
Me and a waterfall... (who zooms in when taking a photo of someone with a waterfall? Seriously?!)
Same waterfall... (zoomed out!)
The waterfalls were pretty cool but the largest in the area which makes a full semi-circle has been reduced by government water diversions (2005) used for irrigation and it is now half it’s former size and glory...
On the way to go trekking. This is Dustin the Canadian looking sexy...
We also went jungle trekking – myself and the Canadian. We headed off up a mountain road – tar seal – wondering if this is what they call trekking in Vietnam? After a few kms of this we were gettting a bit worried before we saw a trail heading off to one side advertising the highest peak around – 1950m.
Tar seal trekking...
We saw 'Zebras'. Seriously. They had painted black stripes on a white horse!
So we headed up and it was a change and a half walking wise. From tar seal to muddy overgrown paths but the change was definitely for the better! A little ways in the path split in 3 and of course we took the wrong one. An hour on we turned back as the path was heading into a valley and we wanted the peak. The path was also turning into solid jungle with the walkway dissapearing for metres at a time...
Anyone seen path?
So we cruised back, tried another path and met and American who said the peak was another 40 min away. Sweet as. It was here i noticed i now had a companion joining me to the top; a little leech had suckered onto me but i let him fill up and he soon left leaving only a tril of blood down my leg to remind of all the wonderful times we had had – and it bled for ages!
The sneaky wee ankle-biter...
One the way back down we met some Vietnamese oil tycoons who offered us a lift in their truck rather than having to walk for 3 hours. Bonus! They also offered to drive me home and since it was raining I jumped at the chance. I gave them the buisness card of where I was staying and the bus driver dropped me off "nearby" as he put it. This turned out to be a two hour walk! Should've stuck with Dustin and the bike! But I had kind of been hoping they's take me out for dinner (o:
The tycoons...
All these tours were on motorbikes as well so I haven’t been scared off. I just pay a lot more attention now to the road!
Accomodation was also awesome. We had a $10 room with 4 double beds, fans, t.v., hot water showers etc. And for once the hot water was a welcome luxury. Dalat is frigging freezing! I slept with a duvet on each night. And this is coming from Nga trang where i slept at one stage with my feet in the fridge!
Cold times: Grant and Hungary looking miserable on our motorbike trip to a waterfall. We ended up stopping and going back for beer at a roadside stall until it passed...
Meals were also around $2.50 kiwi all day eating baguettes and noodle soups with tarts and danishes for dessert with hot soy milk - delish!
Pineapples seemed to be the roadside food of choice here....
But after 3 days in Dalat i figured it was time to move on. I headed back to Nga trang, on to Hoe an, decided it wasn’t for me and am now in Hue – 23hrs of bus rides continuously! So ready for a bit of relaxation i think there are some nice beaches here somewhere...
Dairy farming Vietnam styles...
Nga Trang
Vietnams premier dive spot...
So who crashed their bike and can’t use it? Me! First day here we went for a swim as i figured salt water cures all. Maybe it was good for me but it stung like a million salted burning needles being poked under my skin while someone else poured vinegar all over them! I ended up ‘meditating’ on the beach trying to ignore the pain (o:
Next day was spent on a boat trip out to four neighbouring islands. It included a snorkel in a marine park (couldn’t see shite all and the coral was pretty wasted and a few lazy fish but not many). Instead the time was spent doing flips and jumps off the boat and happily enough, the sting had hugely reduced since yesterdays swimming episode.
Next was lunch on the boat – prawns, fruit, fried fish, rice, spring rolls, stirfry, tofu, sausage and on and on. We were very well fed! Then it was time for the floating bar.
Here they give you a life ring and you jump in the water and get fed wine by a floating bar man also in a modified inner tube. He kept grabbing people and pouring wine down their throats to a chorus of drunken westeners yelling “Jo!” which means cheers in Vietnamese and some other words i don’t remember. Then Dan (one of the americans with us) snuck up and tipped him out of the bar and became the barman giving out whole bottles of wine until everyone was happily tipsy.
Next was dancing on the boat deck to the sound of the boats own personal boy band – they were awesome! The drummer was playing on a plastic drum, an upside down dog bowl and a drum that was more duct tape than drum but he sounded superb.
Then it was on to an island to play sports (accompanied by a few bottles of wine we managed to weasel out of the guide) and then back to the boat and off to an aquirium. We never actually made it inside the aquirium either but spent the remainder of the day jumping off the boat again
All in all it was well worth it and we finished the day by all meeting at a beer bar before heading off to town.
Now, after chilling at Nga trang with Conrad, Dave and Lexi for 3 days; i have to leave. The problem is that they snore so loud at night! Like frigging jet-fighters taking off with a load of distressed elephants ridden by screaming babies inside!
No, but for real i have to leave as they are about to begin a few days of scuba diving and i need my motorbike grazes to heal and though the water is good for them, they need to be dry for a bit. And it is only 30US a day for 2 dives!!! Bugger!
So who crashed their bike and can’t use it? Me! First day here we went for a swim as i figured salt water cures all. Maybe it was good for me but it stung like a million salted burning needles being poked under my skin while someone else poured vinegar all over them! I ended up ‘meditating’ on the beach trying to ignore the pain (o:
Next day was spent on a boat trip out to four neighbouring islands. It included a snorkel in a marine park (couldn’t see shite all and the coral was pretty wasted and a few lazy fish but not many). Instead the time was spent doing flips and jumps off the boat and happily enough, the sting had hugely reduced since yesterdays swimming episode.
Next was lunch on the boat – prawns, fruit, fried fish, rice, spring rolls, stirfry, tofu, sausage and on and on. We were very well fed! Then it was time for the floating bar.
Here they give you a life ring and you jump in the water and get fed wine by a floating bar man also in a modified inner tube. He kept grabbing people and pouring wine down their throats to a chorus of drunken westeners yelling “Jo!” which means cheers in Vietnamese and some other words i don’t remember. Then Dan (one of the americans with us) snuck up and tipped him out of the bar and became the barman giving out whole bottles of wine until everyone was happily tipsy.
Next was dancing on the boat deck to the sound of the boats own personal boy band – they were awesome! The drummer was playing on a plastic drum, an upside down dog bowl and a drum that was more duct tape than drum but he sounded superb.
Then it was on to an island to play sports (accompanied by a few bottles of wine we managed to weasel out of the guide) and then back to the boat and off to an aquirium. We never actually made it inside the aquirium either but spent the remainder of the day jumping off the boat again
All in all it was well worth it and we finished the day by all meeting at a beer bar before heading off to town.
Now, after chilling at Nga trang with Conrad, Dave and Lexi for 3 days; i have to leave. The problem is that they snore so loud at night! Like frigging jet-fighters taking off with a load of distressed elephants ridden by screaming babies inside!
No, but for real i have to leave as they are about to begin a few days of scuba diving and i need my motorbike grazes to heal and though the water is good for them, they need to be dry for a bit. And it is only 30US a day for 2 dives!!! Bugger!
Beer hoi
Beer hoi is like kegs of home made beer sold on the street sides a glass at a time. Not the strongest but it's cheaper than drinking water!
$1NZ = 7 beers
Need I say more?
$1NZ = 7 beers
Need I say more?
Motorbike crash
Cruising home later that night, I total my motorbike. Like it's a write-off. I did a full 360 flip going around a corner when i hit some sand. - Why do I always forget to take photos of the good stuff?!
I had taken this corner and looked down to change down a gear as it wasn't working (the bikes were playing up heaps) and when i looked back up i was heading straight for a gutter and realised I needed to turn left, fast!
I went to do so, hit some sand and my bike jumped hard right instead, threw me into a metre deep gutter, did a full flip itself and then somehow we ended up together back on the road.
I had taken this corner and looked down to change down a gear as it wasn't working (the bikes were playing up heaps) and when i looked back up i was heading straight for a gutter and realised I needed to turn left, fast!
I went to do so, hit some sand and my bike jumped hard right instead, threw me into a metre deep gutter, did a full flip itself and then somehow we ended up together back on the road.
The gutter (taken out a bus window the next day)...
I was pretty good health wise - just heaps of grazes all over my body and face but the bike was pretty ruined. Leaking oil, pieces lying on the road etc. Had to hire a truck to take it back but I'm all good and i just paid off the owner so it's all good if a little crazy.
Just a few grazes...
Things looking scaby...
But we're now in Nga trang (Vietnam's premier dive spot) and i can't swim as it hurts like buggery!
Oh well. Life goes on.
Blue blue water (with a few plants)
After the sand dunes where even our toenails were sweating, we went and jumped into the nearby Lotus lake to clean off and cool down.
Moment we hit the water we got mobbed by a group of kids with a ball who raced over to play. We spent the next couple of hours throwing them into the water, going for cruises in their boat, eating the sugar cane and rambutan they provided, swimming some more, chucking the ball around and on the whole just having a great time. It was the best thing in Vietnam so far easy.
We headed off for home on a complete high. We also gave these little kids a ride home (about 8yrs old they were) or they gave us one as we let them drive and sat behind them with another kid behind us. And boy did they speed! Crazy little buggers.
But they didn't crash, unlike someone...
Moment we hit the water we got mobbed by a group of kids with a ball who raced over to play. We spent the next couple of hours throwing them into the water, going for cruises in their boat, eating the sugar cane and rambutan they provided, swimming some more, chucking the ball around and on the whole just having a great time. It was the best thing in Vietnam so far easy.
We headed off for home on a complete high. We also gave these little kids a ride home (about 8yrs old they were) or they gave us one as we let them drive and sat behind them with another kid behind us. And boy did they speed! Crazy little buggers.
But they didn't crash, unlike someone...
Muine tourists
Today (24th July) we went and did all the tourist sites on our bikes rather than the 5hr rush tours we were offered.
First was the fairy springs which is a really shallow stream surrounded by some really cool rock formations with some super puny waterfalls. It was actually pretty average and I wouldn't say it's a must see at all.
So once again, sighing in dissapointment at Muine, we headed off for the white sand dunes (the bikes are still kicking arse. Manuals too and so now i can ride both and it is pretty easy too. Although wait for the story further on...).
At the white sand dunes you ride down the slopes on plastic sheets in 100 degree temps and feel (and it looks) like you're at the desert. It was cool but what was way cooler was afterwards at the adjacent Lotus lake...
First was the fairy springs which is a really shallow stream surrounded by some really cool rock formations with some super puny waterfalls. It was actually pretty average and I wouldn't say it's a must see at all.
So once again, sighing in dissapointment at Muine, we headed off for the white sand dunes (the bikes are still kicking arse. Manuals too and so now i can ride both and it is pretty easy too. Although wait for the story further on...).
At the white sand dunes you ride down the slopes on plastic sheets in 100 degree temps and feel (and it looks) like you're at the desert. It was cool but what was way cooler was afterwards at the adjacent Lotus lake...
Fish-tastic...
Next day we headed off to the beach at Muine - a small fishing village famous for making fish sauce. This stuff makes the whole town stink!
We were so excited when we arrivedwith huge eyes and grins just imagining the refreshing beach. ahhh. cool water (o:
So we had a real quick lunch, checked in at a guesthouse ($1.75ea for a room with a T.V, air con, two fans, nice as bathroom etc) and then we cruised to the beach.
What did we see? Pollution everywhere! But we figured screw it, the water still looks cool and we were melting with our sweat showing signs of sweating itself. So we jumped in amongst the plastic bags and other floating debris with our dive masks, shove our heads under water and are hit by a layer of fish. I was like, "Awesome! Look at all the fish!".
Then I noticed they were all floating upside down. Sleeping maybe? All the marine life in Vietnam pretty much seems to be sleeping...
We figured it was pollution but i think it is actually from the fisherman as we later saw them drying dead little fish all along the shore edge - but the water is still real bad. Didn't manage a photo of it but I'll explain why soon.
So we're swimming in the water laughing about how crap it is and then a group of jellyfish stung me! Covered my back, my arm and my nipple in big red marks and lines. So we pissed off out of there pretty quick and went back for a shower because of the pollution. Conrad later got the squirts and we reckon it was from the water too.
Jelly fish marks. Weird huh? Except for the clear line on my arm, they were like blotches...
So pretty dissapointed, we hired bikes for two days and went for a ride that night. That was pretty cool. Then we slept and dreamt about how cool the next day was going to be...
Little kids
I don't think we've mentioned it but everywhere you go in Asia you get chased by little kids trying to sell you books and sweets and flowers etc. If you stop to play with them (like a game of cards or pool or something) they instantly forget what they're meant to be doing and become kids again.
They're real cool but it's sad they work till after midnight and the mums drag them around while they sell stuff using them as a ploy. But when you're just chilling with them it's cool!
Read 'Blue blue water' - another blog entry further on...
They're real cool but it's sad they work till after midnight and the mums drag them around while they sell stuff using them as a ploy. But when you're just chilling with them it's cool!
Read 'Blue blue water' - another blog entry further on...
Mekong delta...
The Mekong delta was my first package tour. It wasn't actually that bad but you don't interact with the locals at all. You constantly do stuff but it's all touristy as.
First we went by bus from Saigon. It's 70 kms in case you didn't know but you will by the end of the trip as the guide says it like a dozen times.
You then get a boat cruise down the river which is brown as hell and full of flotsam.
Next you visit the coconut candy shop - very nice! Here they melt coconut which sugar to make this toffee like stuff that is sickly but addictive. "take me to the candy shop" song has now been stuck in our heads for days!
The 'bee farm' follows. All 20 bees of it. You sample the honey, probably drink a years worth of their effort mixed with rice wine and then are loaded back on a boat.
The free lunch was pork with rice and spring rolls and some potato salad affair followed by a visit to the fruit farm.
Here you sampled all sorts of fruit (custard apple (yuk), pineapple (yum), watermelon (yum), dragon fruit (so so), jack fruit (so so), others i don't know the name of. While you're eating your meal is accompanied by music played by the locals (wasn't great to put it nicely).
You then get a paddle boat ride up one of the tributaries and back to the boat.
All together it was pretty cool but we only took 6 pics if that says anything? It was good but in a weird, kept you busy, kind of way.
Chu chi tunnels
Day 2 in Saigon was the Chu chi tunnels.
Kind of like this...
These are the tunnels the vietnamese dug during the Vietnam war (200km of them - by hand!). It was cool. We went through the original tunnels, got attacked in the face by bats , ate tapioca (like sweet potato and it's what they lived on during the war) and drank jasmine tea - yum!
The tunnels are only about 30 by 28cm entrances and the actual tunnels are tiny!
We also saw destroyed tanks etc, samples of their bamboo traps (heaps of them and they're all deadly and evil as hell) and samples of the bunkers etc where they lived, cooked and so on. I also got a 'sample' bomb fragment which i can add to my growing collection of random souvenirs.
Then we spent the night at a beer bar (we had asked to go somewhere to eat and this is where we were taken). When we arrived, some locals invited us to join their table and we ate and drank with them while watching soccer. It was awesome! One of them was a Vietnam vet too with bullet wounds and some crazy stories.
So we ate and drank too much and then cruised home...
On the way back however we made some detours. First we visited an old truck on the side of the road which we climbed into and which made us real dirty all over. Next was the electronic store where we danced in the middle of the shop and were displayed on every T.V in the four story complex and out on the road! All the staff stopped to watch. And we were all dirty )o:
Then food shops were hit before ending the night sitting in a gutter saying hi to everyone who walked past and talking with the locals sitting at the table behind us and the little children selling stuff.
Good day all up
Saigon (aka Ho chi minh city)
So the first spot I hit (have i written that before?) was Ho chi minh city (aka Saigon).
Arrived at night on my own but I had planned on meeting Conrad and co here so I had a backup. First I decided to grab some dinner and walking down the street I actually bumped into them. I spent the night sleeping on their floor (ended up sleeping here for 3 nights) and so my vietnam adventure was ready to begin. It was also my first night's experience of beer hoi (see later entry).
Conrad...
Arrived at night on my own but I had planned on meeting Conrad and co here so I had a backup. First I decided to grab some dinner and walking down the street I actually bumped into them. I spent the night sleeping on their floor (ended up sleeping here for 3 nights) and so my vietnam adventure was ready to begin. It was also my first night's experience of beer hoi (see later entry).
Conrad...
Dave...
Lexi...
The actual city here so far reminds me heaps of Bangkok... lots of cars and tourists etc. It is also over run with motorbikes. Think beehive mixed with an ants nest. There's about 5 million motorbikes in Saigon alone! The rest of Vietnam? Crazy!
Puppy love? Or the real thing?
Worried that if we stayed in Shianikville much longer we'd lose our minds, we headed back to Pnom phen. From here you can enter Vietnam and Jo needed to say bye to Sofas too before we headed off - the Cambodian girl he'd met. or that was the plan...
Back in Pnom phen we decided to stay for 3 more days for Jo's sake. At the end of these days I say I'm ready for 'nam but Jo needed a couple more still. I decide to head off without him as a day in Phnom phen is a day wasted when all you are doing is drinking and so we made a plan to meet up again in 'nam somewhere.
3 days then became 'another week'. Another week becames 'till the end of the month'. Till the end of the month became two and it is still going on.
Needless to say I did Vietnam on my own and Jo is still happy living with Sophass in Cambodia (o:
Happy times at the beach
Not sure how it started. Probably another drunk idea gone wrong. Somewhere along the way we decided to join with some english guys and play a game of pool and have a happy shake at every bar along Serendipity beach - that's about 20 of them. Our kiwi friends had had 3 a few nights before and told us it was way too much and that they were gone for days and had freaked out horribly. But naturally we ignored this sound advice and headed off into the night.
Happy shakes are fruit shakes blended with weed by the way.
Happy shakes are fruit shakes blended with weed by the way.
First bar we play some pool and somehow end up having two shakes. They tasted really nice though. We were using our own weed too as the english guys were heading to Vietnam and so had to get rid of theirs.
Afterwards, walking to the next bar, Jo and I are already feeling it. The first one hit us and I was in a nice place. The world was mellow, the sea beautiful, sun going down, nice walk, good friends and I was happily away with it all.
Then the second one kicked in and I was pretty gone. All of us were. We play some more pool (using our feet and our partners ears for stability etc and making fools of ourselves I'm sure) and then went for another shake. Bad idea. One once again quickly became two and we then moved on to the next bar. I was also given the weed for the last shake and told to put it into five shakes - it was a load. I messed up and it ended up in two; three of us shared them.
When they all hit we were not good. People were actually coming up to us in the bar and asking if we were ok; offering us water. Not sure how we looked or what was making them ask either. Another 20 minutes and I couldn't even communicate. Couldn't understand people or get any words out. Then a friend came and gave me a hug and told me the next day that I just freaked out.
I grabbed Jo and told him I needed to go. He agreed and we headed home to watch a movie. We put on Indiana Jones (The last chronicle) but the show was so trippy it made me feel ill and so I chugged water until I threw up. Jo just lay there looking like death with a frown.
A dog also ate my vomit and was stoned for the next two days while the owners tried desperately to work out what was wrong with him. I felt terrible about it but at the same time, whenever I looked at him I'd just start laughing as I knew he was fine; just stoned!
I still felt bad after being sick that night and had moved outside. Some girls we'd met walked past and said hello but all I could do was stare. I then went and checked on Jo and he looked bad. Curled up in a foetal position, shivering and making no sense at all. I checked on him a couple more times in the next hour then had to go to bed, leaving him in the movie room.
Next morning I felt pretty good but Jo was gone for days.
One shake is ok. Two is good. Three is bad and four is just madness. Haven't had them since.
Drunken antics
First night in Shianikville. I wanted to detox down while down at the beach asit seemed we'd been doing nothing but drinking in Pnom phen.
We eat dinner at Utopia's bar and the bar chick comes to see if we'd like a drink. Jo grabs a beer while I decline. I decline at least three more times over the course of the next half hour! I also explain I'm in detox. Then happy hour begins...
The bar girl comes over again and asks if I'd like a drink yet. I say no but she then explains how it's happy hour, the beers are only 25c and asks how I can possibly say no to that? Next thing I know me and Jo are chugging through the beers along with a couple of the guys around us. This included a giant of a kiwi - 6 foot 9 - and his 5 foot 2 french-canadian girlfriend.
We drink up (also get offered jobs at the bar) and then move on down to the beach. Here we play a bit of pool with the Kiwi and his girl and order some Mekong buckets (actual buckets of booze; whisky and mixer). We have the first one, complain it wasn't strong enough and get another. We complain this one tastes like lollies and demand yet another one - but stronger! This happens twice more with each time us asking for a stronger one until he finally just tips a whole bottle of whisky in for us.
Needless to say we were drunk as a skunk with six legs by the end of it!
We go to pay at the end and he tells us that we can pay now, tonight, 2moro or not at all (this is the owner and he's drunk as too). We naturally decide the last option sounds like a good choice and do a runner to the next bar.
Here Jo and I decide a swim is in order. We also decide to try and get everyone we can to join us. We strip down and then go 'collecting'. Picking girls up and carrying them in with us (none really minded) and the water was soooo good. Great times.
We then realised we were drunk, called it quits and headed for home - followed, and surrounded, by a group of Cambodian girls.
On the way a guy grabs my shirt and drives off on his motorbike - as a joke. I ran after him but I had no chance. So Jo jumps on some other guys motorbike and gives chase. So there is Jo, drunk as, driving a manual motorbike for the first time, chasing a guy who drives motorbikes for a living down a very wet and slippery road. i watch them reach the first corner and head out of sight. Or the Cambodian does anyway.
Jo just crashes straight into the gutter. He comes up unhurt though and only has to pay $2 to fix the gear lever on the bike which bent. The guy then gave my shirt back and off we went again, back to Utopia.
We finally reach the Guesthouse but find the gates closed and locked and there's an imposing 7 foot high fence surrounding the place with spikes all over it. With no other option open to us, we scale the fence and drop in. I land on the guard dog who promptly bites my lip and we then learn there's a security guard who lets you in when you knock - could have told us! Jo heads off to bed but I decide I am a little pekish and join a Cambodian guy for a quick midnight feast across the road.
We go in and I order a noodle dish for me and a beer for him. I then find I have no money (lost/stolen at the beach). The guy tells me not to worry and pays for my dinner! Awesome. The bar girl then gives me a beer. I explain I have no money but she says not to worry and they start giving me more beers and bottles of water for free. They're also cracking up and I'm guessing that me eating noodles with chopsticks is not the smoothest of operations when drunk.
After a bit I started getting the feeling they were trying to get me wasted and that the guy next to me wasn't straight. I freak and run back to the guesthouse. Forgetting about the guard, I climb over once more, this time ripping my shirt in the process.
Next morning we also find that Jo has lost his shirt and shoes on the way home. We also have no idea where our dignity ended up.
But it was fun and I wouldn't trade the night for a whole packet of gum!
We eat dinner at Utopia's bar and the bar chick comes to see if we'd like a drink. Jo grabs a beer while I decline. I decline at least three more times over the course of the next half hour! I also explain I'm in detox. Then happy hour begins...
The bar girl comes over again and asks if I'd like a drink yet. I say no but she then explains how it's happy hour, the beers are only 25c and asks how I can possibly say no to that? Next thing I know me and Jo are chugging through the beers along with a couple of the guys around us. This included a giant of a kiwi - 6 foot 9 - and his 5 foot 2 french-canadian girlfriend.
We drink up (also get offered jobs at the bar) and then move on down to the beach. Here we play a bit of pool with the Kiwi and his girl and order some Mekong buckets (actual buckets of booze; whisky and mixer). We have the first one, complain it wasn't strong enough and get another. We complain this one tastes like lollies and demand yet another one - but stronger! This happens twice more with each time us asking for a stronger one until he finally just tips a whole bottle of whisky in for us.
Needless to say we were drunk as a skunk with six legs by the end of it!
We go to pay at the end and he tells us that we can pay now, tonight, 2moro or not at all (this is the owner and he's drunk as too). We naturally decide the last option sounds like a good choice and do a runner to the next bar.
Here Jo and I decide a swim is in order. We also decide to try and get everyone we can to join us. We strip down and then go 'collecting'. Picking girls up and carrying them in with us (none really minded) and the water was soooo good. Great times.
We then realised we were drunk, called it quits and headed for home - followed, and surrounded, by a group of Cambodian girls.
On the way a guy grabs my shirt and drives off on his motorbike - as a joke. I ran after him but I had no chance. So Jo jumps on some other guys motorbike and gives chase. So there is Jo, drunk as, driving a manual motorbike for the first time, chasing a guy who drives motorbikes for a living down a very wet and slippery road. i watch them reach the first corner and head out of sight. Or the Cambodian does anyway.
Jo just crashes straight into the gutter. He comes up unhurt though and only has to pay $2 to fix the gear lever on the bike which bent. The guy then gave my shirt back and off we went again, back to Utopia.
We finally reach the Guesthouse but find the gates closed and locked and there's an imposing 7 foot high fence surrounding the place with spikes all over it. With no other option open to us, we scale the fence and drop in. I land on the guard dog who promptly bites my lip and we then learn there's a security guard who lets you in when you knock - could have told us! Jo heads off to bed but I decide I am a little pekish and join a Cambodian guy for a quick midnight feast across the road.
We go in and I order a noodle dish for me and a beer for him. I then find I have no money (lost/stolen at the beach). The guy tells me not to worry and pays for my dinner! Awesome. The bar girl then gives me a beer. I explain I have no money but she says not to worry and they start giving me more beers and bottles of water for free. They're also cracking up and I'm guessing that me eating noodles with chopsticks is not the smoothest of operations when drunk.
After a bit I started getting the feeling they were trying to get me wasted and that the guy next to me wasn't straight. I freak and run back to the guesthouse. Forgetting about the guard, I climb over once more, this time ripping my shirt in the process.
Next morning we also find that Jo has lost his shirt and shoes on the way home. We also have no idea where our dignity ended up.
But it was fun and I wouldn't trade the night for a whole packet of gum!
Shiankville
We came for the beaches, the sun, snorkelling and chilling in hammocks.
What we've got is rain, wet manky sand, murky waters and no hammocks cause it's raining and actually freezing for once.
But we're staying at this free guest house called Utopia owned by some kiwis we met at the pool party in Pnom phen and it's awesome! It's a really laid back lifestyle again and a perfect way to relax while we earn back the kilos we somehow lost in Thailand.
Utopia has dorms for free, a free steam room (really nice), free movie room (great for relaxing in during the storms) and absolutely amazing food! All vegetarian but oh so good. Their tofu amok curry is the best dish I have eaten in Asia. They also have awesome music for once.
Most nights were spent drinking anyway so the rain didn't bother us too much as we missed a lot of the days sleeping. We did manage to make a couple of mornings though and it was even sunny for a few of them (o:
On one we went and played soccer at the beach and spent the afternoon swimming at Hawaii beach with a group of 11 others who we'd met the night before. Otherwise we visited the market and just relaxed.
What we've got is rain, wet manky sand, murky waters and no hammocks cause it's raining and actually freezing for once.
But we're staying at this free guest house called Utopia owned by some kiwis we met at the pool party in Pnom phen and it's awesome! It's a really laid back lifestyle again and a perfect way to relax while we earn back the kilos we somehow lost in Thailand.
Utopia has dorms for free, a free steam room (really nice), free movie room (great for relaxing in during the storms) and absolutely amazing food! All vegetarian but oh so good. Their tofu amok curry is the best dish I have eaten in Asia. They also have awesome music for once.
Most nights were spent drinking anyway so the rain didn't bother us too much as we missed a lot of the days sleeping. We did manage to make a couple of mornings though and it was even sunny for a few of them (o:
On one we went and played soccer at the beach and spent the afternoon swimming at Hawaii beach with a group of 11 others who we'd met the night before. Otherwise we visited the market and just relaxed.
S 21
This is where some pretty bad mass genocide occurred in Cambodia back in the 70's during the Khmer Rouge with Pol Pot. S21 is a torture / interogation place where 14000 people went and only a dozen survived.
I wouldn't say visiting this place did much for me. I don't need or want to see horror like that again. But i have to say that lots of people were writing comments like "how could this have happened?" and "This place is a good reminder for us so this kind of thing doesn't happen again" etc. Don't these people watch the news?! THIS STUFF IS GOING ON WORLD WIDE RIGHT NOW!
Mmmm. Not a place I'd return too.
2 day delivery or it's free!
Last night I ordered a chicken burger at the bar we were at and it arrived the next day! And it was beef!
This pretty much sums up ordering food in Asia (o:
This pretty much sums up ordering food in Asia (o:
Pnom phen baby shower...
Ok so it wasn't a baby shower but a party for some baby who was turning 1 month old.
The Cambodian girls we'd met the night before invited us to come along and it was the best night so far here! Free drinks, free food (really good Cambodian dishes and about five courses of them) and great music and dancing (they dance like retards over here!).
We ate and drunk our fill (the hosts seem to think barangs (Westeners) need more alcohol than everyone else, first giving us a box for ourselves which was promptly followed up by numerous more cans whenever we had less than two each!). We were full and content and then the dancing begins.
Everyone is dancing! Little babies to grannies. And the local tuk tuk driver. We joined in and it was lots of traditional dances which we tried our best to follow but the hands and the feet at once? Where was the white man shuffle!? it was great fun though and the tuk tuk driver Ton was the best worst dancer i have ever seen!
Another great night!
The Cambodian girls we'd met the night before invited us to come along and it was the best night so far here! Free drinks, free food (really good Cambodian dishes and about five courses of them) and great music and dancing (they dance like retards over here!).
We ate and drunk our fill (the hosts seem to think barangs (Westeners) need more alcohol than everyone else, first giving us a box for ourselves which was promptly followed up by numerous more cans whenever we had less than two each!). We were full and content and then the dancing begins.
Everyone is dancing! Little babies to grannies. And the local tuk tuk driver. We joined in and it was lots of traditional dances which we tried our best to follow but the hands and the feet at once? Where was the white man shuffle!? it was great fun though and the tuk tuk driver Ton was the best worst dancer i have ever seen!
Another great night!
Phnom phen
This place is tops!
We stayed at number 9 sister guesthouse but were told number 9 is where it was at and so this is where we hung out. Our first night we headed across to play a little pool and see what was going down.
When we first arrived, this irish couple invited us over to play some pool and we ended up spending the night with them and these Cambodian girls and some other friends of theirs.
We stayed at number 9 sister guesthouse but were told number 9 is where it was at and so this is where we hung out. Our first night we headed across to play a little pool and see what was going down.
When we first arrived, this irish couple invited us over to play some pool and we ended up spending the night with them and these Cambodian girls and some other friends of theirs.
Here is Jo with the two Cambodian girls; Supa and her sister Terry (kissing Supa)...
We played pool for a bit more and then we headed off to a pool party nearby. It was the first party of the month so it's the biggest they have I was told. Awesome night there i do agree! And the pool was full of ice so it was a luxury in the heat over here!
I spent half of it running away from this deaf Cambodian girl who i had accidentaly signaled to that I loved her instead of just friends, haha. Met a kiwi girl who owns a bar 'Utopia' down south that we will go stay with too.
We both ended up coming home the next day and we never even managed to use the room we'd booked into! Jo left with the others, I'm not sure when, and I left with this english girl to another bar. the next morning i was riding back home by motorbike (their form of a taxi) and was wondering how the hell i was gonna pay as i had no money left. but lo and behold, I passed Jo on the way still heading home! and asked him to lend me a buck and so a runner was avoided, haha.
Spent the rest of the time in Phnom phen drunk, visiting the left overs of the Khmer rouge and for me, visiting the local orphanges when Jo slept in (every day but he was with super...). We also hit the Russian market and bought some gifts for home and went to the local water park a couple of times - felt like we were 12 again and lovin it.
Air con? In Asia? Got to be kidding!
Our 'air con' bus from battambung to Pnom phen consisted of opening the front door as we travelled along. Awesome!
My 30hr bus ride in an air conditioned bus from Hanoi to Vientienne was the same but with windows added in too (o:
Battambang
Short story shorter, this place has nothing - except a train you can ride on the roof of but no one knows when it goes and it takes ages and you get robbed and yadda yadda. Doesn't sound too great. One night was heaps!
Happy happy foods
So all around Cambodia, weed is a common addition to the foods. If it is added the food acquires the name of "Happy.. whatever". Happy pizza and happy shakes being the most common (in Laos 'happy' means mushrooms have been added).
So one night we decided to try a happy pizza. Or two to be exact. And when you order the chef asks how happy you want it to be. Jo asked for 'extra' happy! so there we were waiting on two extra happy pizzas and we have no idea how bad they will affect us or how quick it happens or what!
i said to Jo we should eat like a quarter each 15mins to see what it's like and then within half an hour both pizzas were gone!?! But they tasted sooooo gooood! but we were laughing because what happened to our pacing ourselves?
We then chilled for around an hour and a half waiting to see what we'd feel and nothing happened! Dissapointed, we headed back to our room as we were pretty tired and we both promptly fell asleep. We both awoke like another hour later and the stuff had finally kicked in. Next time we'll try it for lunch instead so we can tell you properly what it does... (and no, we're not becoming druggies! But when in Rome, do as the Romans do... etc etc)
We've now moved on to Pnom Phen and last night we tried a happy shake. same thing - it takes a while to kick in. I actually didn't feel too much as i had a bit of a headache and i think this distracted me but Jo was pretty gone (maybe drunk too?).
haha, right now i have guy offering me Opium, weed, ecstasy etc right here on the street next to the internet cafe. crazy!
So one night we decided to try a happy pizza. Or two to be exact. And when you order the chef asks how happy you want it to be. Jo asked for 'extra' happy! so there we were waiting on two extra happy pizzas and we have no idea how bad they will affect us or how quick it happens or what!
i said to Jo we should eat like a quarter each 15mins to see what it's like and then within half an hour both pizzas were gone!?! But they tasted sooooo gooood! but we were laughing because what happened to our pacing ourselves?
We then chilled for around an hour and a half waiting to see what we'd feel and nothing happened! Dissapointed, we headed back to our room as we were pretty tired and we both promptly fell asleep. We both awoke like another hour later and the stuff had finally kicked in. Next time we'll try it for lunch instead so we can tell you properly what it does... (and no, we're not becoming druggies! But when in Rome, do as the Romans do... etc etc)
We've now moved on to Pnom Phen and last night we tried a happy shake. same thing - it takes a while to kick in. I actually didn't feel too much as i had a bit of a headache and i think this distracted me but Jo was pretty gone (maybe drunk too?).
haha, right now i have guy offering me Opium, weed, ecstasy etc right here on the street next to the internet cafe. crazy!
Rice slinging and mud wrestling
We were cruising back from yet another AWESOME day around the angkor wat temples when we saw some locals planting rice. We stopped to watch and realised they were actaully harvesting it. Then the lady saw us watching and invited us to join in. Now this really was awesome. And hilarious!
You grab a handful of rice shoots (look like grass) and rip them out of the mud and then dislodge the mud from the roots by smacking it against the underside of your foot. Sound easy?
Maybe if you're not a hopeless, apparently club footed drongo like us with no coordination at all. I swear i was missing my foot entirely half the time. Then everytime we did manage to hit our foot, a huge spray of mud shoots out straight into the face of who ever is closest to you.
We both finished up entirely mud covered but the monsoon came and washed it all away when we peddled home. On the whole it beats Angkor what feet and rice down!
You grab a handful of rice shoots (look like grass) and rip them out of the mud and then dislodge the mud from the roots by smacking it against the underside of your foot. Sound easy?
Maybe if you're not a hopeless, apparently club footed drongo like us with no coordination at all. I swear i was missing my foot entirely half the time. Then everytime we did manage to hit our foot, a huge spray of mud shoots out straight into the face of who ever is closest to you.
We both finished up entirely mud covered but the monsoon came and washed it all away when we peddled home. On the whole it beats Angkor what feet and rice down!
Angkor what?!
This place was worth a day. We spent three. Same as the temples, it all started to look the same after a while.
We grabbed bikes from our guesthouse and peddled around each day. After 8 hrs or so your arse is as flat as a pancake! Jo even got up at like 4am one morning to go see the sunrise - I slept (o: He didn't quite make it but it's the thought that counts. Right? Bugger that!
But it was definitely worth seeing. Amazing what these guys could build way back when. I reckon it would challenge builders today even. Just the size of it and the effort it must have taken. And there were some cool over grown parts...
We grabbed bikes from our guesthouse and peddled around each day. After 8 hrs or so your arse is as flat as a pancake! Jo even got up at like 4am one morning to go see the sunrise - I slept (o: He didn't quite make it but it's the thought that counts. Right? Bugger that!
But it was definitely worth seeing. Amazing what these guys could build way back when. I reckon it would challenge builders today even. Just the size of it and the effort it must have taken. And there were some cool over grown parts...
And there was a wonton street seller on the way and they were divine! Something to look forward to each day.
On the down side there were annoying stalls throughout the place with people yelling "Siir, siiir! You want drink?" etc And this "sir" is not at all how we pronounce it but is instead carefully constructed and pronounced to get the most annoyance and distance achieved each time. 100m off and your ear drums still take a beating!
Our visa has run out so we're off to Cambodia...
When we reached the border it was crazy! When we first arrived we were approached by an 'official' tourist guide who explained to us the local scams and told us to look out for guys in yellow shirts. He helped us get our visas and then pointed out a nearby truck which takes you to imigration free of charge. We did so and went through safely and then he helped us get to the bus station on another free-of-charge truck. By this time we're also being followed by a guy in a yellow shirt who is telling us not to trust the first guy and visa-versa. everyone is saying not to trust someone else except one guy who is standing there telling us to trust nobody (o: But they're in agreement the transport is free and as long as we're not paying money we're happy!
So we get to the 'bus station' which is this shocking little dive surrounded in mud that looks real unofficial (we're pretty sure it was the official one now after asking around). In actual fact, the whole of cambodia so far is one big mud pit and i've already seen more poverty in 2 days than in a month in Thailand. But it is to be expected at the border we're told and it should get better further in.
But back to the station...
We are now standing there with four different companies trying to sell us their bus ticket to Siem Reap (you go here to reach Angkor wat) and we're surrounded by a big mob of guys all yelling at you to trust them and not the other people and this is cheap and we'll give you a good price etc etc. I finally had had enough and walked off to another group where we were quoted 150 Baht rather than the first guys 300 baht. back we went to the first guys and got tickets for 150 baht from them after explaining the difference. They still tried for 200 but in the end it was 150 each (about $6 for 6 hours of bus ride). The reason we didn't go with the other group is that we had heard stories about cheaper bus rides that in the end didn't take you where you wanted to go or take you to a really expensive place to stay and by then it is late at night and no where else is open.
but we made it and stayed where our bus took us to at 'D and D backpackers' - $2 US each a night so we obviously had an ok bus. but it was real small and i'm sure you can get better as we were often passed by much nicer ones. so i don't know if we went with the official guys or not (I have serious doubts as they had no uniforms while the others did and their prices changed while the others we already cheap. and the others had police with them too). but Jo trusts them still and we made it so hey, all good.
The road you go on is nic-named 'the dancing road' as it is one big pot hole after another and is solid bumps the whole way. when you get off i swear you carry on jiggling for like an hour
Day two in cambodia and we've since moved to a new place to stay called 'The prince mekong villa' for $2.50 each a night but it comes with free bikes and breakfast and water refills (we're currently travelling on the bikes now and it is the best and cheapest way to get around here as everything is close and you're not allowed motorbikes for safety reasons). So next up is Angkor Wat...
When we reached the border it was crazy! When we first arrived we were approached by an 'official' tourist guide who explained to us the local scams and told us to look out for guys in yellow shirts. He helped us get our visas and then pointed out a nearby truck which takes you to imigration free of charge. We did so and went through safely and then he helped us get to the bus station on another free-of-charge truck. By this time we're also being followed by a guy in a yellow shirt who is telling us not to trust the first guy and visa-versa. everyone is saying not to trust someone else except one guy who is standing there telling us to trust nobody (o: But they're in agreement the transport is free and as long as we're not paying money we're happy!
So we get to the 'bus station' which is this shocking little dive surrounded in mud that looks real unofficial (we're pretty sure it was the official one now after asking around). In actual fact, the whole of cambodia so far is one big mud pit and i've already seen more poverty in 2 days than in a month in Thailand. But it is to be expected at the border we're told and it should get better further in.
But back to the station...
We are now standing there with four different companies trying to sell us their bus ticket to Siem Reap (you go here to reach Angkor wat) and we're surrounded by a big mob of guys all yelling at you to trust them and not the other people and this is cheap and we'll give you a good price etc etc. I finally had had enough and walked off to another group where we were quoted 150 Baht rather than the first guys 300 baht. back we went to the first guys and got tickets for 150 baht from them after explaining the difference. They still tried for 200 but in the end it was 150 each (about $6 for 6 hours of bus ride). The reason we didn't go with the other group is that we had heard stories about cheaper bus rides that in the end didn't take you where you wanted to go or take you to a really expensive place to stay and by then it is late at night and no where else is open.
but we made it and stayed where our bus took us to at 'D and D backpackers' - $2 US each a night so we obviously had an ok bus. but it was real small and i'm sure you can get better as we were often passed by much nicer ones. so i don't know if we went with the official guys or not (I have serious doubts as they had no uniforms while the others did and their prices changed while the others we already cheap. and the others had police with them too). but Jo trusts them still and we made it so hey, all good.
The road you go on is nic-named 'the dancing road' as it is one big pot hole after another and is solid bumps the whole way. when you get off i swear you carry on jiggling for like an hour
Day two in cambodia and we've since moved to a new place to stay called 'The prince mekong villa' for $2.50 each a night but it comes with free bikes and breakfast and water refills (we're currently travelling on the bikes now and it is the best and cheapest way to get around here as everything is close and you're not allowed motorbikes for safety reasons). So next up is Angkor Wat...
Mook's
At Koh Phi Phi we met this art director guy Mook - he has worked with heaps of famous people and is an awesome guy with like a million ideas in his head about everything.
Mook...
Actually there are probably more like a billion ideas in that head of his. Seriously. One of them he described to us was to clean up the river that is next to his house near bangkok (other side of river). this sounded like a great idea and so we went to stay with him for a few days to lend a hand.
little did we realise the size of his ambition! this river is being directly pumped into by like every house bordering it with all their waste and they tip their rubbish in it too. but the idea is good and maybe he can start something that will one day work - it is going to need government support i swear.
His house...
but we did go and stay with him and it was great. he's also making a school for the local children to teach them Muay thai (like kung fu yoga) and art and carving etc. he wants to get them off the streets, away from drugs etc.
Dinner at Mook's. Buffet in the middle which you slowly add to your bowl of rice. They eat like this for every meal.
the school is near a kind of slum area so it is a good idea as they have access to a lot of troubling stuff. The building for the school is located in this little oasis. it is like a garden paradise surrounded by water and palm trees etc. looks like you are back on the coast instead of next to the city of bangkok.
we spent two days with him and his dad cleaning the building up, fixing the floors, building chairs for the jetty and doing litter runs. all up it was a good time. and when we go back he thinks the school will be open and we can learn local carving from his dad etc too.
Building...
Cleaning...
Learning Moi Thai and later Yoga...
Survivor Pull Tooth Mission Extreme II
"Our" Bay:
We met three awesome Icelandic guys in Ton Sai when we came back from Ko Phi phi and while having drinks at the Freedom bar down at the beach one night the idea for a survivor mission was born. (Peter, Balli and Totti are all icelanders travelling down Thailand on their way to Malaysia where they plan to do a 9 day jungle trek...).
From left to right: Totti, Mark, Peter and Balli:
The idea was to spend a few nights on one of the nearby islands with only essential items of survival in order to have a real adventure. As the night went on and the beers began to stack up the items list began to shrink until someone suggested all we would need would be 5 items. We figured in the end this would have been a bit ridiculous and we decided that some luxury items (Like the icelandic pillows - tourists) would be allowed. In the end we all bought along our backpacks simply because we didn't trust leaving them with anyone on the mainland.
After struggling to find a longboat to take us out there we finally managed to persuade someone after waiting a day and a half. So there we were, three icelandics and two kiwis, heading out to a secret bay on Ko Poda which we had been told about by a thai guy.
The island was a good three kms from Ton Sai where we had been staying and uninhabited except for the tourist boats which anchored on the white sandy beaches on the opposite side to where we were staying. Our little "secret" bay turned out to be a small strip of sand with chunks of coral and rock strewn among the beach and flanked by 100 meter rock walls on all sides. There was a welcome limestone cave at one end which was also home to a number of smelly bats and a small "jungle" at the other where we found sufficient firewood.
It wasn't exactly the robinson crusoe coconut palm beach we had all been dreaming about and the only fruit tree was papaya which we didn't reall recognise and so tasted onl scantly. We had brought with us only 5 kg of rice and 60 liters of fresh water for a planned 2 night stay, because in our minds we had planned on finding plentiful fruit to flavour our rice diet.
As we hopped off the longboat and passed our gear onto the beach we were all so excited that nobody bothered to check with our longboat driver to make sure he would come back for us in two days time. We all seemed confident our gesturng and simple thai dialogue back at Ton Sai had been sufficient to get the message through...
As we made ourselves at home on the beach, found a cooking area and set up a place to sleep at night under the roof of the cave it became apparent that we were going to be confined to our little beach for the whole time on the island. The only way we were going to get away was by the sea.
We found a small grove of bamboo trees and decided to build ourselves a shelter around the cooking area, this soon turned into a rain catcher as we found that the cave provided us with enough shelter from the monsoon rain which whipped through in the late afternoon.
For our time on the island the worst insult was to be called "a tourist" as this diminshed any image of surviving which one might have been able to accrue and we all succumbed to being called this at some stage.
Our first night was spent in ignorance of the time to come and we used the only seasoning for the rice (soy sauce) plentifully and tasted the bland flavour of unripe papaya which we decided we would mix with the rice in the morning in the hope of making our meals more exciting.
We spent the next day fixing the water catcher (we managed to fill a liter over the course of the day) and experimenting with our limited ingredients in the cooking area. The pot we had borrowed from a friendly thai restaurant had enough space for a snack meal of rice each and so it was inevitable that with five hungry guys to satisfy we were constantly cooking the next ration of rice.
Me and Toddy made spears with bamboo and tried our hands at spear fishing and Toddy also made his own snorkel frm rubbish - awesome. We were pro's (naturally) but our spears sucked arse and we caught nothing. Lots of fish to be seen though...
Everyone excluding Jo also had several ailments before coming to the island. I had "toad skin", "scabies" and heat rash and Peter had Wylie the Worm and mushrooms. Apart from that everyone had heaps of cuts which never seemd to heal. While my condition improved (probably due to the copious amounts of anti-histamines I had been prescribed) the icelander's seemed to love infecting themselves more by picking at their wounds.
Jo. the onl healthy one of us, eventually slipped down some rocks during a monsoon downpour and cheese-grated his arm so that now we all had something to complain about.
On the third morning we were all starting to get over the rice diet, the soy sauce had run out and we were now down to seasoning with salt. We kept ourselves entertained by dreaming about various dishes we were going to consume when back on the mainland and playing poker with emtpy snail shells as chips. The winner was awarded one meal when back at shore, paid for by the rest.
As the supposed last day wore on and our apprehension turned to frustration at not seeing our longboat arrive we entertained ourselves with playing hopscotch on the beach and creating our very own hacky sac mini golf. As the weather turned from bad to worse we realised we weren't going to get picked up that day and resigned ourselves to another night on our beach.
Next morning Jo awoke before the others and saw a calm ocean. Hopeful the longboat driver would come and collect his 750 baht and just as he was getting really excited at being able to see chicken island in the distance, the weather turned to custard again (why custard?).
A few minutes later when the rest of us woke up, two kayaks came shooting round the corner one struggling to stay on course, the other heading into our bay. As one landed the other was blown across our bay and out of sight.
A guy and a girl hopped out of the first kayak and we recognised one as Matt from Wales who we had met at Ton Sai a few days earlier. He sprinted back into the water and swam out of sight to rescue the other kayak. Once all four had landed on our beach we were happy to see they had brought food with them .
But we soon realised there weren't rescuers and we were now looking at another day with 9 stranded people. Thankfully two were chicks which lightens the atmosphere a bit.
So we chilled for like a couple of hours and then me and Matt decided to try and kayak to Ton Sai to get help or at least let people know we were safe. Or mainly the new people as no one really cared we were missing (o: And i didn't really decide, Matt just volunteered me for the kayak!
So when the weather was at it's worst (blame the welshman as i wanted to wait a bit. Yes, i know. "What a tourist".) and after we'd tried phone calls (who had a local number?), we set off in a kayak for Ton Sai.
I can't even emphasise the wrath of the sea that day and the whole way out of the bay i was just praying we wouldn't flip as the guys on the beach would worry. Jo already thought it was a dumb idea as did all of us except for Pete who was jealous he couldn't go bcause of his gimp foot.
But we managed to get around the corner in the roughest sea i have ever kayaked in and then we flipped (o: But the water was warm so all good. We paddled around to the other side of the island and by now my arms are tired (diet of rice for four days afterall) and Matt must be feeling it as he had just kayaked for 2 hours from Ton Sai to get here!
So when in the distance we saw some squid boats we figured, f*#k it. We'll try them. So we paddled up to one and climbed aboard. No point bing shy about it. We then had an animated hand gestred conversation with the skipper (spoke one word of English - no) who agreed to drive us around even though he obviusly had not a clue what we were on about or where we wanted him to take us - what a champ!
Fisherman + Thai person = real nice person. So he drove us around to the bay (his boat was taking a pounding) and then me and Matt went and ferried the gear to the boat with Jo while the others swam across. By this stage there are 5m swells in the bay so landing in the kayak was stupid as it was rocky and i was not loving it! we flipped once with Jo's gear but otherwise made it on board safely and then got driven back to Ton sai.
There, the local climbers watched with interest as a squid boat (never usually in this close) off loaded of a random assortment of people and gear. We made it to the beach, after paying the skipper handsomely for his troubles, and grabbed ourselves a much deserved beer. We then went and gorged ourselves till we felt ill and later learnt our story had travelled around the whole climbing area and people we'd never even met knew all about it and us.
Note: see the icelandic guy's blog (follow link on the right column of our blog) for some more awesome photos...
Freshly arrived on the beach this is the view we arrived to:
All three sleeping quarters, hammock, tent and ground floor:
A "tourist"relaxing with his inflatable pillow:
The water catcher trying to do it's job:
Minigolf on the beach:
Rescued at last?
Shortly before it got bad...
We met three awesome Icelandic guys in Ton Sai when we came back from Ko Phi phi and while having drinks at the Freedom bar down at the beach one night the idea for a survivor mission was born. (Peter, Balli and Totti are all icelanders travelling down Thailand on their way to Malaysia where they plan to do a 9 day jungle trek...).
From left to right: Totti, Mark, Peter and Balli:
The idea was to spend a few nights on one of the nearby islands with only essential items of survival in order to have a real adventure. As the night went on and the beers began to stack up the items list began to shrink until someone suggested all we would need would be 5 items. We figured in the end this would have been a bit ridiculous and we decided that some luxury items (Like the icelandic pillows - tourists) would be allowed. In the end we all bought along our backpacks simply because we didn't trust leaving them with anyone on the mainland.
After struggling to find a longboat to take us out there we finally managed to persuade someone after waiting a day and a half. So there we were, three icelandics and two kiwis, heading out to a secret bay on Ko Poda which we had been told about by a thai guy.
The island was a good three kms from Ton Sai where we had been staying and uninhabited except for the tourist boats which anchored on the white sandy beaches on the opposite side to where we were staying. Our little "secret" bay turned out to be a small strip of sand with chunks of coral and rock strewn among the beach and flanked by 100 meter rock walls on all sides. There was a welcome limestone cave at one end which was also home to a number of smelly bats and a small "jungle" at the other where we found sufficient firewood.
It wasn't exactly the robinson crusoe coconut palm beach we had all been dreaming about and the only fruit tree was papaya which we didn't reall recognise and so tasted onl scantly. We had brought with us only 5 kg of rice and 60 liters of fresh water for a planned 2 night stay, because in our minds we had planned on finding plentiful fruit to flavour our rice diet.
As we hopped off the longboat and passed our gear onto the beach we were all so excited that nobody bothered to check with our longboat driver to make sure he would come back for us in two days time. We all seemed confident our gesturng and simple thai dialogue back at Ton Sai had been sufficient to get the message through...
As we made ourselves at home on the beach, found a cooking area and set up a place to sleep at night under the roof of the cave it became apparent that we were going to be confined to our little beach for the whole time on the island. The only way we were going to get away was by the sea.
We found a small grove of bamboo trees and decided to build ourselves a shelter around the cooking area, this soon turned into a rain catcher as we found that the cave provided us with enough shelter from the monsoon rain which whipped through in the late afternoon.
For our time on the island the worst insult was to be called "a tourist" as this diminshed any image of surviving which one might have been able to accrue and we all succumbed to being called this at some stage.
Our first night was spent in ignorance of the time to come and we used the only seasoning for the rice (soy sauce) plentifully and tasted the bland flavour of unripe papaya which we decided we would mix with the rice in the morning in the hope of making our meals more exciting.
We spent the next day fixing the water catcher (we managed to fill a liter over the course of the day) and experimenting with our limited ingredients in the cooking area. The pot we had borrowed from a friendly thai restaurant had enough space for a snack meal of rice each and so it was inevitable that with five hungry guys to satisfy we were constantly cooking the next ration of rice.
Me and Toddy made spears with bamboo and tried our hands at spear fishing and Toddy also made his own snorkel frm rubbish - awesome. We were pro's (naturally) but our spears sucked arse and we caught nothing. Lots of fish to be seen though...
Everyone excluding Jo also had several ailments before coming to the island. I had "toad skin", "scabies" and heat rash and Peter had Wylie the Worm and mushrooms. Apart from that everyone had heaps of cuts which never seemd to heal. While my condition improved (probably due to the copious amounts of anti-histamines I had been prescribed) the icelander's seemed to love infecting themselves more by picking at their wounds.
Jo. the onl healthy one of us, eventually slipped down some rocks during a monsoon downpour and cheese-grated his arm so that now we all had something to complain about.
On the third morning we were all starting to get over the rice diet, the soy sauce had run out and we were now down to seasoning with salt. We kept ourselves entertained by dreaming about various dishes we were going to consume when back on the mainland and playing poker with emtpy snail shells as chips. The winner was awarded one meal when back at shore, paid for by the rest.
As the supposed last day wore on and our apprehension turned to frustration at not seeing our longboat arrive we entertained ourselves with playing hopscotch on the beach and creating our very own hacky sac mini golf. As the weather turned from bad to worse we realised we weren't going to get picked up that day and resigned ourselves to another night on our beach.
Next morning Jo awoke before the others and saw a calm ocean. Hopeful the longboat driver would come and collect his 750 baht and just as he was getting really excited at being able to see chicken island in the distance, the weather turned to custard again (why custard?).
A few minutes later when the rest of us woke up, two kayaks came shooting round the corner one struggling to stay on course, the other heading into our bay. As one landed the other was blown across our bay and out of sight.
A guy and a girl hopped out of the first kayak and we recognised one as Matt from Wales who we had met at Ton Sai a few days earlier. He sprinted back into the water and swam out of sight to rescue the other kayak. Once all four had landed on our beach we were happy to see they had brought food with them .
But we soon realised there weren't rescuers and we were now looking at another day with 9 stranded people. Thankfully two were chicks which lightens the atmosphere a bit.
So we chilled for like a couple of hours and then me and Matt decided to try and kayak to Ton Sai to get help or at least let people know we were safe. Or mainly the new people as no one really cared we were missing (o: And i didn't really decide, Matt just volunteered me for the kayak!
So when the weather was at it's worst (blame the welshman as i wanted to wait a bit. Yes, i know. "What a tourist".) and after we'd tried phone calls (who had a local number?), we set off in a kayak for Ton Sai.
I can't even emphasise the wrath of the sea that day and the whole way out of the bay i was just praying we wouldn't flip as the guys on the beach would worry. Jo already thought it was a dumb idea as did all of us except for Pete who was jealous he couldn't go bcause of his gimp foot.
But we managed to get around the corner in the roughest sea i have ever kayaked in and then we flipped (o: But the water was warm so all good. We paddled around to the other side of the island and by now my arms are tired (diet of rice for four days afterall) and Matt must be feeling it as he had just kayaked for 2 hours from Ton Sai to get here!
So when in the distance we saw some squid boats we figured, f*#k it. We'll try them. So we paddled up to one and climbed aboard. No point bing shy about it. We then had an animated hand gestred conversation with the skipper (spoke one word of English - no) who agreed to drive us around even though he obviusly had not a clue what we were on about or where we wanted him to take us - what a champ!
Fisherman + Thai person = real nice person. So he drove us around to the bay (his boat was taking a pounding) and then me and Matt went and ferried the gear to the boat with Jo while the others swam across. By this stage there are 5m swells in the bay so landing in the kayak was stupid as it was rocky and i was not loving it! we flipped once with Jo's gear but otherwise made it on board safely and then got driven back to Ton sai.
There, the local climbers watched with interest as a squid boat (never usually in this close) off loaded of a random assortment of people and gear. We made it to the beach, after paying the skipper handsomely for his troubles, and grabbed ourselves a much deserved beer. We then went and gorged ourselves till we felt ill and later learnt our story had travelled around the whole climbing area and people we'd never even met knew all about it and us.
Note: see the icelandic guy's blog (follow link on the right column of our blog) for some more awesome photos...
Freshly arrived on the beach this is the view we arrived to:
All three sleeping quarters, hammock, tent and ground floor:
A "tourist"relaxing with his inflatable pillow:
The water catcher trying to do it's job:
Minigolf on the beach:
Rescued at last?
Shortly before it got bad...
Ton sai
After Ko Phi Phi we travelled to a place called Ton Sai. I could live there for a year!
It is a rock climbing mecca and the best place we have been so far. The atmosphere was amazing and the people made it perfect. We met and spent the week in a big come and go group of Norweigans, Swiss, Austrians, Aussies, Icelandic guys, Americans, Canadians etc etc. It really was that diverse!
And so some days I'd be off climbing with the Norweigan or the Aussie etc and Jo was off with someone else. All the people were amazing and we met more people there than on the whole rest of our trip- together! We'd go climbing with them, eating with them, deep water soloing with them (climbing over the water with no ropes) and so on. We plan on going back when we get to Thailand again.
The view from our favourite spot to hang out; Freedom Bar :
A popular multi-pitch route above Freedom Bar :
A popular starting wall featuring some easy to moderate climbs at Escher Wall:
The beautiful Phra Nang Beach from Escher Wall:
It is a rock climbing mecca and the best place we have been so far. The atmosphere was amazing and the people made it perfect. We met and spent the week in a big come and go group of Norweigans, Swiss, Austrians, Aussies, Icelandic guys, Americans, Canadians etc etc. It really was that diverse!
And so some days I'd be off climbing with the Norweigan or the Aussie etc and Jo was off with someone else. All the people were amazing and we met more people there than on the whole rest of our trip- together! We'd go climbing with them, eating with them, deep water soloing with them (climbing over the water with no ropes) and so on. We plan on going back when we get to Thailand again.
The view from our favourite spot to hang out; Freedom Bar :
A popular multi-pitch route above Freedom Bar :
A popular starting wall featuring some easy to moderate climbs at Escher Wall:
The beautiful Phra Nang Beach from Escher Wall:
Motorbikes
Easily up there for one of our best experiences in Thailand!
Haven't got a license? Don't know road rules? Can't speak the language or read the road signs? Never ridden a motorbike before? Wow! You sound perfect for driving in Thailand!
Haven't got a license? Don't know road rules? Can't speak the language or read the road signs? Never ridden a motorbike before? Wow! You sound perfect for driving in Thailand!
In Krabi you can get 125cc bikes for around 150 baht a day (when haggling, remember that 10 baht difference is like 50c so don't be a cheap prick about it - I was and then felt like an arse and paid extra anyway). And that price is for the whole day too.
Oh, and grab a helmut and definitely wear glasses as there are heaps of kamakazee, eye hating bugs out there!
But the bikes are awesome and road rules don't exist in Thailand! And speed limits only apply to to the local Thai. We were cruising past cops in 40km/h areas at over 100km/h and they'd just look up and be like "Ahh, a touristy farang. Let him go. Good for the economy".
So how fast you can get these bikes to go - can you beat 130km/h?? (Stu's record)
Anaconda!
So me, Jo and Stu (the dutch dude we'd met in Bangkok) were walking back from Ton Sai beach on Ko phi phi one night over the track to Ranti Bay. It was pretty late like 10 pm i think and real dark. We were just cruising along and Jo pulled out his torch for us to use. i was saying how there was heaps of moon light and you hardly even needed the torch. To prove my point i ran ahead down the path and then stopped to wait for them. All to the good.
Then we all started using the light but not really that much. I was saying how there were probably lots of lizards around and Jo said "Yeah and lots of snakes too". I replied that I didn't reckon there'd be that many and that me and snakes "are like this (indicating we're real close), anyways". Not 1 minute later and i feel this WHACK! on my shoe. So i look down, get Jo to point his light down and there on the track is this coiled up snake ready to strike again. And it's real close to all 3 of us now. So we jumped back and then walked real slow down the rest of the track but only saw one more. Scary trip back though I admit and we moved real slow.
I went snake searching the next night but i only saw this little purple and yellow snake looking thing. Pity cause at the time we didn't think about photos. The one that bit me was green with brown diamonds down it's back and a head shaped just like a viper! The other one was the same but brown. And thailand has a few species of viper...
Then we all started using the light but not really that much. I was saying how there were probably lots of lizards around and Jo said "Yeah and lots of snakes too". I replied that I didn't reckon there'd be that many and that me and snakes "are like this (indicating we're real close), anyways". Not 1 minute later and i feel this WHACK! on my shoe. So i look down, get Jo to point his light down and there on the track is this coiled up snake ready to strike again. And it's real close to all 3 of us now. So we jumped back and then walked real slow down the rest of the track but only saw one more. Scary trip back though I admit and we moved real slow.
I went snake searching the next night but i only saw this little purple and yellow snake looking thing. Pity cause at the time we didn't think about photos. The one that bit me was green with brown diamonds down it's back and a head shaped just like a viper! The other one was the same but brown. And thailand has a few species of viper...
Sep 6, 2007
Beach side bliss
We were feeling the excitement build as we left the mainland behind and headed for Ko Phi Phi. I had been wanting the beach side holiday since we had left NZ. And we were not to be dissapointed at Phi Phi!
The place was perfect. A beautiful island surrounded by coral reef, white sand and blue waters.
We first stayed at Runtee Bay across the island from the main beach. This place was awesome with brilliant snorkelling right off the beach. We'd just roll out of bed every day and go for a snorkel. Colourful fish, awesome corals, giant clams, seahorses everywhere. So much colour and life.
On the down side, the place is quiet. Like very quiet. It is also a back-breaking walk and a half over from the main beach and town (about 45mins) but we could have taken a long boat around if we weren't so scroogey (o:
But the walk can be cool too. There are frogs, huge land crabs, millions of skinks, rats etc, awesome bush and snakes! I even got bitten by one.
We also staed at Long beach for a night which is next to the town. We wanted a more backpacker kind of lifestyle with a few more people.
We visited the town at night and went to see Thai Kickboxing or Moi Thai as it's called at the Reggae bar. Turned out to be staged fights by pros (really didn't look that real but you could tell they were good and real quick) and then the bar staff let the tourists have a go against one another.
As you win free booze for fighting, there were quite a few. When we watched it got a bit out of hand at one stage and there was a huge brawl in the middle of the ring with the thai guys jumping in too to sort it out. Otherwise it was fun to watch though I wouldn't be caught dead ion there myself. The chick fights were the best as they seemed to be more for fun.
We also watched a lady boy show at the Apache Bar. The show was mmm. I reckon you could tell they were dudes or all except one who looked real female. Scary!
We also went for a dive but we both reckon NZ has better but each to their own and we did see some turtles and lion fish and snakes etc. We did one dive out around Phi phi Ley which is the smaller of the two islands and the other at Bida Nok, a small satellite island to Phi Phi Ley. And don't mention if you haven't dived in a while like we did or they make you do this stupid learn to dive again course which costs money and wastes precious diving time.
And i have to mention Samee's. It's this restaurant run by a guy who got ruined by the recent tsunami. He was rescued from under 3m of rubble and has since created an awesome place to dine with this really nice kid waiter who works for peanuts. They have really god fruit shakes! Mango and banana was our favourite.
We also staed at Long beach for a night which is next to the town. We wanted a more backpacker kind of lifestyle with a few more people.
We visited the town at night and went to see Thai Kickboxing or Moi Thai as it's called at the Reggae bar. Turned out to be staged fights by pros (really didn't look that real but you could tell they were good and real quick) and then the bar staff let the tourists have a go against one another.
As you win free booze for fighting, there were quite a few. When we watched it got a bit out of hand at one stage and there was a huge brawl in the middle of the ring with the thai guys jumping in too to sort it out. Otherwise it was fun to watch though I wouldn't be caught dead ion there myself. The chick fights were the best as they seemed to be more for fun.
We also watched a lady boy show at the Apache Bar. The show was mmm. I reckon you could tell they were dudes or all except one who looked real female. Scary!
We also went for a dive but we both reckon NZ has better but each to their own and we did see some turtles and lion fish and snakes etc. We did one dive out around Phi phi Ley which is the smaller of the two islands and the other at Bida Nok, a small satellite island to Phi Phi Ley. And don't mention if you haven't dived in a while like we did or they make you do this stupid learn to dive again course which costs money and wastes precious diving time.
And i have to mention Samee's. It's this restaurant run by a guy who got ruined by the recent tsunami. He was rescued from under 3m of rubble and has since created an awesome place to dine with this really nice kid waiter who works for peanuts. They have really god fruit shakes! Mango and banana was our favourite.
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