So we were joined onto the Wwoofing website and a few days later we were receiving e-mails from those we sent out with various people who were happy to accept us. We drew up a comparison table and a few sounded a bit too wacky and out there, free love was advertised on one of them! We ended up choosing Mathieu’s farm, because he was young and had an interesting background and had other Wwoofer’s staying there at the time. He was fairly new to the farming business (though Mathieu may prefer me to say way of life) and spent his younger years travelling the world by bicycle. He was living in Epernay, in the region of Champagne, a wealthy area that depends largely on excessive consumers who like to flaunt their affluence. But Mathieu doesn’t produce Champagne; instead he works with vegetables and is one of the few organic farmers in the region. I have to admit before leaving I didn’t care in the slightest about Organic farming and Organic food. The problem I had with Organic farming is the fact Organic food as we know it is sold in supermarkets, food which comes imported from farms all over the world whose foremost incentive is profit and mass production. Those that buy into it mostly don’t realise there is an organic lifestyle beyond that highly priced organic food, which is to consume less, live more locally and lead a healthier lifestyle. But the pitfall is most who buy organic food get it from supermarkets, which encourages consumerism, while buying imported food defies living locally and it is still debatable whether organic food is actually any healthier than those that contain pesticides. What I wanted was an authentic experience of small time organic living to get a sense of how you can take organic living beyond just eating organically and really implementing that philosophy of consuming less & living locally. That’s why I wanted to be a Wwoofer, thought I can’t really deny I also wanted a free holiday.

On Friday morning, around quarter to five in the morning we left for Paris. Most of my perceptions of Paris come from George Orwell’s classic ‘Down and Out in Paris & London’ and though George Orwell’s Paris is now over 75 years old, there had to be elements of that still living and I was hoping to find a city of talkers, casual wine drinkers and eccentrics. We arrived in Paris in the late afternoon and the sun was shining brightly above us as we stepped out onto the cobbled boulevards surrounded by the neo-classical bourgeois architecture that epitomises what Paris was and still is today. We got to a hostel and booked ourselves in. We were on the 6th floor which was accessible by an old creaky, winding staircase. Despite the venture we had to make going up and down each time, we had a pleasant view from the window, being able to see into everyones rooms to see how life in France’s busiest metropolis was progressing. That evening our time was spent outside one of Paris’s more expensive cafe’s enjoying a cold glass of beer looking out onto Republique square with it’s statue based in the centre settled there in 1883 to celebrate the formation of the republic, a political system that still survives today. We ended our evening with a delicious chocolate crepe which was cooked up in front of us. From tomorrow evening and for the next two weeks we both knew the tent wouldn’t provide the comfort that a spring mattresses does so we relished it’s benefits and I slept really really well.

Our second day in Paris flew by, and most time was spent shopping getting ourselves some last minute essentials for work on the farm. We did have time to stop and admire the fantastic panoramic view of the cities skyline from Galleries Lafayette’s top floor but by the time we had lunch we needed to get to the station to catch our train. We arrived in Epernay after zooming by miles and miles of France’s fresh grassy countryside, gazing happily from the window from the trains comfortable and spacious leather seats. Our first impression of Epernay is that it all seemed very French, and it was almost eerily quiet as we navigated around it’s front square towards the bus station. We were dropped off by the bus driver, and having lost all sense of direction we phoned Mattieu to ask for some help. We turned around and a man dressed up in a suit was waving in our direction. We both looked behind and saw no-one else he could of been calling over so we assumed it must be him, though we were a little surprised to see him in a suit. I judged his appearance and a series of thoughts flashed through my head, maybe he is just a rich farmer who doesn’t work actually work on the farm, he just sends out his ‘labourers’ there all day to sweat in the sun and ache from the painstaking work he forces them to do while he lives in his suit, lounging around and checking up on us occasionally, arriving at the farm in his flashy car, to shout at us “depechez-vous, depechez-vous!!!” My fantasy was soon proven wrong when we greeted Mattieu, it turned out he was going to a wedding, along with his wife Lady (yes that’s her actual name). They left just as we arrived so we only saw them briefly that day. We spent the rest of our afternoon and early evening cutting up cherries and talking to the two other Wwofers Carrie & Sara, who were originally from America and had been spending the past year studying in Europe. We loved their ideas of the British people as they enjoyed our views on the American people, and from that point forth the our own cultural exchange had been born, with a distinctive emphasis on language to the point that a dictionary would be written, but more on that later. For our first 100% Organic dinner we had couscous with various vegetables and water. It was fairly bland but then again I was hardly expecting five star dining. After a long day of commuting, we were ready to call it a night and we made way through the garden to where we would be sleeping.

It took me a good few days to get used to sleeping in the tent, and experienced a few nights feeling like I hadn’t slept at all. Yet, we were always woken up with most grand courteousness. Mathieu’s believes that no-one should be woken up to the horrid sounds of an alarm clock. So instead he would wake us up with music to slowly draw us into the day rather than being punched awake. Whether it was the didgeridoo, the classical guitar or some curious instrument he picked up on his travels, every morning you would wake up feeling calm and tranquil. Susan missed these wake up calls however having managed to worm her way out of the tent after the first night as she bought a thin and inadequate sleeping bag, and moved into the upstairs room in the house with the American girls. For breakfast we usually had homemade bread that we all helped bake together, with Jam, that again we all helped to make. It was always satisfying eating Breakfast, knowing that everything consumed was fresh and hand-made either by us or other wwofers. Once breakfast was over it was time to go over to the farm. The first day we went by car, and the first day was tough work. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and I think Susan felt the same. We were told create a pathway to divide the side which had already been planted between the unused soil on the other side. We were given sickles and were told to churn up the mud to create a pathway between the two. After a good few hours I was beginning to feel that I was contributing to the deterioration of Mathieu’s farm rather than the formation and in the remaining hours of the day I was very careful, choosing to look busy rather than continue the work and ruin his plot of land. The first day was definitely the worst of it.

To make things better the next day we were greeted with two new Wwofers, Daniel, a student from Germany and Rachel, a trainee wine tasting chef baking graduate from America. It was great to have new company, the community had expanded! We cycled up to the farm that day which we would generally do for the rest of our time there. It took us around 45 minutes. The ride itself avoided the busy roads and instead took us through Epernay’s most quaint little roads, passing the age old champagne distilleries who’ve gained a reputation to produce the most refined sparkling wine, exporting to happy customers all over the world. Once through, you join the main road and surrounding you to your left and right, you see the rows upon rows and fields upon fields of perfectly aligned crops that seem to stretch right on to the horizon. We all pedaled away in our group with our own racing bikes, each bike having the look that they could have taken part in any Tour de France race of past years. Though they were dated, rustic and creaky, still within them was the efficiency and craftsmanship with which they were created, and served us brilliantly for the 8 mile journey there and back every day. Work on the farm from that point forth was fairly straightforward. We focused on getting the second portion of Mathiue’s field cleared for when the tractor would arrive. In the coming weeks there was always promise from Mathieu of the tractors arrival, yet we never did see it do the wonders, and I’m still curious today whether the mysterious honk of machinery ever did turn up. Clearing the field was repetitive, but there was always a constant reminder of the work you had done, you only had to look behind you to see that. I chose myself to be Axing the tree stumps, working with Quentin, an impassioned french rastafari. Despite my non-existant French and his very basic English, he always struck me as a really genuine sincere guy, if only I spoke some half-decent French I would have made more of an effort to get to know him. We all had a go with the sickle to cut the long grass that covered the field but it was only Carrie who possessed the perfect ’rounders’ swing that was needed to get it done effectively. We worked pretty hard that day and were rewarded with a beautiful sunset in the evening, marking an end to the first day I really felt that we all did a genuinely good job.

On Wednesday, it was time for the weekly harvest ready for the market that would be taking place later in the day. We cycled up to the farm in the morning and got together some great baskets with strawberries, onions, lettuce, cherries & an assortment of herbs. Me, Daniel & Quentin sorted through Mathieu’s garage in the afternoon and the rest of the day we spent relaxing in the room upstairs swapping American, British & German music. Another new wwofer arrived that day, Allanah who was from Canada. Having had the afternoon and evening off on Wednesday we were expecting the next day to be on our hands and knees, coughing up dirt and getting sunburnt but we were in for quite a surprise. It was news to us that in the morning we would be going to a different farm. We were all filled with curiosity as we drove on past Mattieu’s farm and 10k’s out of epernay. It was a great little car journey as all are going through French farmland. Once we arrived we all got out of the car and greeted our new farmer. His name flies right over my head as I type now but he was a great chap. He was quite an old guy, maybe in his 50′s with a benevolent, friendly looking face. He gave us a tour around his farm with quite an interesting talk about the methods used in Organic farming before he set us off to work. I was working with Quentin again and we were laying a black ground sheet on a soil-ready cutaway portion of land. The sheet basically covers the soil, with holes in it so you can plant the plants into the ground. By the time I had planted 5 Quentin had already planted 20 but I was already accepting this would probably always be the case. We must have been working for maybe three hours and lunch was called, and oh my goodness gracious was it plentiful.

It was like a royal banquet in comparison to Mattieu’s peasant dinners and that is no over-exagerated statement. We had a wide variety of cheese, wine, salads, omelets with cherry cheesecake for dessert. It wasn’t just the quantity that made the difference, it was the taste, it’s the difference that divides Poundland & Harrods, just pure quality. I struggled finishing my 4th slice of cherry cheesecake, but once eaten, I leant back in my chair and gave my belly a satisfying rub, feeling chuffed with the mountain of food which I had just spent the last hour gorging on. Suddenly my view on organic (and vegetarian food for that matter) changed completely. It’s not what you eat, it’s how you cook it. And that meal was an archetypal example of what organic food should look and taste like. We all sat there feeling light headed and giddy, and as the food settled into our stomachs beaming smiles wandered all around the table that oozed conviction of complete satisfaction. A small hint of guilt began creeping into me as I starred over at Mattieu. He looked a little dejected and somewhat outdone and I was beginning to feel the looks on all of our faces were telling a story of great contrast in the way we seem at the end of a meal at Mattieu’s house. Then again the reason we were so pleased was because we were all excessively greedy eating that food, and retrospectively, what Mattieu was always trying to get through to us was how to live without that element of greed. We were happy because we hadn’t experienced the temptation of gluttony for a good few days, and as soon as it was there we relished it. And this is the source of the problem in our daily lives, we can afford to be indulgent and excessive in all walks of life and so we are. We always find ourselves forgetting the humility of the smaller things, such as the possibility at Mattieu’s to feed 12 people 3 times a day, on little to no money at all. In the heat of the moment though, we were exceedingly happy and all had a fantastic lunch and we thanked the farmers wife cordially at the end of the meal.

We spent most of the early afternoon having conversation at the table before we all went to lay ourselves down in the field for a siesta, basking pleasure in the warm sun and the sounds of the farm surrounding us. We worked an hour or two before we stopped again for some afternoon tea and had yet more time at the table talking instead of working (I wasn’t complaining). I was getting ready to go back to work and before I knew it we were saying goodbye to the friendly folk who gave us impeccable hospitality for the duration of our visit. We waved again as we drove off in the two cars, and we turned our heads back towards the road; and, reality. The rest of the evening we spent relaxing. Susan did my portrait that night and would do one for Daniel & Quentin in the next few days, all of which ended up on Mattieu’s wall by the end of the two weeks. Today though, I still remain bewildered with confusion as to why my portrait of Susan didn’t also go up, it was simply marvelous. On the friday we were at Mattieu’s farm again and I made a conscientious effort to work hard that day, to try and show Mattieu some gratitude for what he gives all of us. This did begin to wane by the end of the day, and me, susan & daniel took a break which went on a little too long. We decided to look over our shoulders and everyone was walking off with their tools and leaving and they hadn’t told us. Suddenly we felt a little outcast by the group, feeling as though we had been branded as the lazy ones.

Saturday morning and afternoon we had off because Mattieu was going to be at a wedding. Quentin was going up to Reims to see his girlfriend so some of us decided to tag along. Me, Susan & Daniel found ourselves chuffed about the whole situation because by the time of our return on Sunday we’d have gone 5 days without any real challenging work. We left at about 7 and arrived in Reims some 30 minutes later. Quentin took us out for a drink at one of the bars in the town square before dropping us off at the hostel we would be staying at and went on to meet his friends. We booked ourselves into a room, got our key and opened the door to find someone’s suitcase left there along with two bottles of expensive champagne, a crate of beer and lots of chocolate. “Look! They have bought us presents” Daniel says in his characteristic German accent. Obviously something was up so we decided to go back to reception after convincing Susan it was a bad idea to casually take a bottle of champagne. We hit the town after that and after failing miserably to find anywhere reasonably cheap to eat we ended up in the hole that is McDonalds. It felt all the more greasy and disgusting after a week of clean organic food. To make up for it though we spent the rest of the evening in another pleasant bar in the town square chatting away until closing time. We walked back to the hostel afterwards, and decided it was time to go to bed. Daniel went straight away snoring at sound levels almost too high to actually measure, all the while Me & Susan had to make do with listening to our iPods to try and filter away some of the unwelcoming noise. It was all quite amusing.

The next day was spent walking around Reims which is a lovely little town. The Cathedral there was beautiful so we spent some time ambling around inside taking some photos. When the service started we relaxed on the concrete blocks outside before feeling it was time to get some lunch. We decided to go for the chinese buffet which was a bargain at €10. We ate, and ate, and ate. Sweet & sour, spring rolls, pork, chicken, beef, all kinds of vegetables topped off at the end with some of the most rich and delicious ice-cream i’ve had in a long while. We were planning on spending the afternoon with a bottle of wine in one of the town parks but France is a complete standstill on Sunday except for the restaurants so the shops were all shut. Instead we had a long and drawn out beer in one of the cafes until Quentin called us to come and pick us up. We collected our bags from the hostel and were soon on our way back to Epernay. The weekend was over and it was time for the beginning of week two…

After grabbing a baguette for breakfast I met with the group at 9 for our journey to Luang Prabang. I was a little sad to be leaving Vang Vieng since we had so much fun there, definatly a place up there on the list to return to one day. It took a good 7 hours to get to Luang Prabang. We stopped for lunch on the way at a place that overlooked the Laotian mountains whihc was gorgeous. I had a mix of sweet & sour with green curry which was great. Once we arrived in Luang Prabang we had a walk with Ben into the town. We grabbed something to eat at one of the road side BBQ stalls before we had a gander around the market which offered a huge array of beautifully made handicrafts and textiles. Luang Prabang is a great little city (although coming from London i’d call it a town) and it has clearly tried it’s best a preserving it’s cultural heritage without being over-run by tourism. The streets remain quaint, quiet and relaxed, remarkably calm for the second largest city in Laos. Once we were done at the night market we wondered back to the hotel to get some sleep.

View of the Laotian mountains

A temple of Luang Prabang

4th May, Day 95: Luang Prabang

In the morning a guide gave us an introductory walk around the town stopping at a temple and pointing out to us all the areas of interest in town. We were meeting up with Ben later to go to the waterfall which was a 40 minute drive from town. We got into the nature park and first stopped at a sanctury which was dedicated to the protection of bears who’ve been exposed to the danger of poaching. The bears looked very timid and sweet through the electrified fence and look nowhere near as dangerous as we all know them to be. We continued our walk onto the first waterfall which had a swimming area. It was an icy-cold swim in there but a very refreshing one at that. The next place had a larger waterfall which everyone had fun jumping off. The largest waterfall (which was huge) you wern’t allowed to swim in but there was a pathway up to the top which we took. Being breathless and sweaty by the time we got up reminded me very much of the time we went trekking in Nepal. There was an excellent view from the top overlooking the waterfall below and the surrounding jungle.

It was a scenic drive sitting on the back of the jumbo with our legs dangling. We arrived back to the guesthouse and in the evening we went to a new restaurant which overlooked the Mekong river. I had a really good red curry which was thankfully spiced with some subtlety. After we finished we chilled out for a while and then used the restaurants beach volleyball court. We were all pretty horrific but gradually got the hang of things though I think we spent more time fetching the ball than actually playing. I only noticed on leaving that all the flowerpots had been made from used shells and the pillars that held up the restaurant were made from empty American bombs. We got back to the room and I think the rest of the evening was spent watching the football.

Alcohol & Insects, which according to our guide is what every Laos man needs to impress a women in bed

An old guy working on his silver

An example of the rather grand Buddhist architecture

A bear in his crib

The waterfalls

and in front of

5th May, Day 96: Luang Prabang

Our last day in Luang Prabang consisted of letting the day wane away slowly until the early evening where we climbed up to a temple on the top of a hill. We were preparing ourselves for a savage walk up there because from a distance the temple looks rather small, and we expected it to be much larger. And actually when we got up there the temple was disappointingly small but the view over Luang Prabang was stunning. We sat there for a while and watched the sun gather over the horizon until it disappeared underneath it. Throughout the time we spent there we had the chorus of hundreds of beeps and shutter clicks which was slowly driving us all a little crazy although most of us were very much part of that chorus so we can’t really criticize. We ambled our way back down the hill and went back to the guesthouse. We met up later to go bowling. We hailed down a jumbo driver who said we should go to the discotek first doing a very amusing impression in case we didn’t understand the word discotek. We told him nay but upon arrival at the bowling alley it really was dead in there so we went with his advice in the end and went to the discotek.

In all honesty the place we went was pretty tacky but we had a live band playing who had a different singer for each song, perhaps they were doing auditions, im not so sure. As they carried on the place began to fill out and we had a few drinks there before meeting our jumbo driver again at 11. He took us to the bowling which was absolutely packed although we did eventually manage to get a game set up. I ended up coming 3rd which isn’t so bad, Andy of course had to come 1st and Sara came 2nd. I did get two strikes though which I was rather chuffed about although it was probably a case of fluke rather than sheer skill. We got our jumbo man to take us back and arrived at the guesthouse at about 1 that morning.

On the banks of the Mekong

One of the slowboats that we would start our 2 day cruise on the next day

Sunset over Luang Prabang

And there we are again

Ollie & Andy’s best G impression

6th May, Day 97: Slow boat to Pakbeng

Today we would be starting our two day voyage downstream from Luang Prabang to the Laos/Thailand border. Our destination on this day was to Pakbeng and the journey would take us 10 hours to reach our destination. Most of the time on the boat was cooking noodles, eating pringles, doing crosswords, trying to get to sleep, listening to ipods, writing the diary and anything else that may pass the time. Although the journey was long on the appropriately named slowboat it was just nice to sit back and take in the scenery because if there’s nothing else to do while travelling in South East Asia there’s always something to look at from you’re seat. We arrived in Pakbeng at around half past 6 in the evening and checked into our guesthouse. We went for dinner in the evening and my belief is I had steak & chips though I can hardly remember. There was a bottle of the foul rice wine on the table which was complimentary (and on hearing that it took away it’s foulness) along with another bottle of the same concoction of rice wine with added insects, what a bonus! So we sat there chatting and eating happily away until we all felt it was time for bed.

View from the boat

7th May, Day 98: Pakbeng to Xuay Hai on the slowboat

So we had another day on the slowboat very much like the last one. We arrived in Xuay Hai in the evening and checked into our guesthouse. I went on the internet for a while before it was time to meet the group for our last evening meal in Laos. It would also be the last Beer Lao of the trip so we all made sure we got in a bottle each. We spent the evening chatting over what we’d done in Laos, what we found enjoyable and reflecting upon the time we’d spent there. Once we had eaten we made our way back to the guesthouse, ordered our breakfast for the morning and got an early nights sleep ready for tommorow.

Down on the Mekong

Fisherman

8th May, Day 99: Xuay Hai – Chiang Mai

We crossed the border in Laos early in the morning and got ourselves onto a boat which took us across the river and suddenly we were in Thailand! The flags were out in full force, pictures of the king were absolutely everywhere and we saw our first sight of 7/11 since we were in Bangkok. Ah how I love thee 7/11! It’s heaven for cheap food and great if you like to pursue you’re interests in being a non-responsible tourist by buying into a big ugly corporation. I for one despise big ugly corporations but 7/11′s do have the best air-conditioning in the world, so let’s just forget about that ethic for now (and for the next 3 weeks). 7/11′s are great if you’re on a budget as well, you can get a good meal that they’ll heat up for you for 40 Baht or so, albeit factory packaged and probably full of crap. So we went into 7/11 and got our lunch before we got back onto the minibus to continue our journey to Chiang Mai. We had arrived there by about 4 in the afternoon. We checked into our hotel called Serenity which was all pretty and lovely.

We met up with the group at about 6 and from there we went to a buffet which feeds 3000 people a night. It was absolutely massive! I think we were on table 236 or something equally excessive in number. I went up and got a plate of food, and then got another plate, then got another plate, then got another plate, and then felt sick. Towards the end of the meal a scary man dressed as a clown made me a really cool rabbit riding a bicycle, he even made him so he had a little willy, just charming, just the way I like it. He made things for the rest of the group too, such as a mythical wand for Simone, a spaceage hat for Suzie, and bears for Lucy & Sara (which also had willies). We left him a tip which he accepted warmly. Our next stop was the night market and we had a gander around there. I had no real intention of buying anything, the main thing in my mind was getting rid of the bunny on a bike which my pleasure of was wearing thin. Laura found a little kid and I gave it to him and quickly walked away on the possible chance he may have refused my charity, but I think he was pleased, I didn’t hear him start crying in the distance. We pottered around for a while and met back with the group at Maccy D’s and stopped off at 7/11 on the way back to buy a few drinks with the intention of having a little party type thing, sitting around in someones room drinking kind of thing… yeah. So we sat there and chatted, Andy had the squirts and spent most of the time in the room lying behind a bed groaning. We all started to get a little tired and called it a night. Goodbye to Laos! Full Moon Party Tommorow!!

No photo’s from today, I am just too lazy I know.

We croseed the border into Lao in the late morning. Compartively, Vietnam is much flatter than Laos and the scenery dramatically changed from the border to Vientiane. The mountains that seem to pop out of nowhere is the first thing you notice and ona whole Laos seems like much more of a jungle than Vietnam. The roads are that little less developed which meant oalot of bouncing bodies and no sleep on the way. We arrived into Vientiane in the late afternoon. It’s the most modest little capital city i’ve been to, I thought it was just a town we were passing rather than our desination. What this does mean is that it’s yet to recieve the rampant develoipment that Siam Reap of Ho Chi Min has and it retains a peaceful feeling as you amble down it’s street. We ate in the evenig at a restaurant sitting happily at the river and overlooking Thailand which was just on the other side. After we’d eaten we went to a bar and had some drinks. Since it was Suzie & Sara’s birthday we waited till 12 and gave them a good singing to. We got back at about 1. I tried to stay up for the Champions League but gave up in the end.

Lao’s sudden protruding mountains

29th April, Day 90: Vientiane

We got our free breakfast (just about on time) before we went on a walking tour with our guide around Vientiane. We saw a big stoopa, a presidential palace and an old buddhist temple before we headed to the cities gate where we climed the stairs which had a really good view over the city. The rest of the group went to Buddha Park while me and Ollie tried to sort out the local payment after Ollie also found his card to be clocked. I went around various places trying to call and either they couldn’t hear me or I couldn’t hear them. Eventually on the 4th attempt I managed to sort it all out. To celebrate I had a steap and chips which I commited would be the last of the trip. I managed to get most of the money out and get it changed at an okay rate. We ate at a nice restaurant in the evening and Ian & Becs gave the twins t-shirts that they had bought and we had all signed for their birthday. The restaurant had them a cake ready and they got free cocktails the lucky things. After the meal we had some drinks at the bar we went to the evening before. some of the group pitched in for a bottle of Tequila which we all shared at the hotel playing various drinking games witha deck of cards until we were all ready to go to bed.

30th April, Day 91: Vang Vieng

Today we were making our way to Vang Vieng which is the adventure capital of Laos which we were all very excited about. We were on a public bus which took about 5 or 6 hours. We arrived in Vang Vieng at about 2. We checked into our hotel and went to a place across the road to get some food. I had a really good bacon baguette. Baguettes originate in Laos frrom the french colonial influence which basically means all the bread in Laos is yummy! We had the first Beer Lao of the trip there which was really good. The group met with Ben in the late afternoon and we went down to the Bamboo Bar which had 7 or 8 huts each with 2 or 3 hammocks overlooking the river and the mountains beyond. We were all sipping a beer as the sun set over the mountains. I already loved Vang Vieng and that moment set the tone for the next few days we’d be spending there. We had a look at the rock bar and got another beer and a free whisky. On the thought we should eat before all this drinking kicks off we went back, showered and got some food down us. Me, Andy, Sara, Tacy, Lucy, Laura & Simone went to the bucket bar, it’s name being fairly self explanatory. We had a dance and a drink there and got back at about 1.

Approaching Vang Vieng

Women hiding from the sun

View from the hotel

Bamboo Bar, in the hammock

Menu

As the sun set

1st May, Day 92: Vang Vieng, Kayaking

Today we were going Kayaking down the river. The jumbo picked us up at about 10 and we went down to the river. To my suprise we were also going to a water cave. We drove for about 40 minutes on roads and then dirt track before we reached a local village. There we had a look at a sacred buddhist temple that was inside a large opening in the rockface. From there we walked onto the water cave. We had a swim around while we were waiting for the group ahead of us to finish. Then we were handed a rubber ring and a torch that we put on our heads (it looked just too cool) and we were all ready to go. The cave was lined with rope which was planted into the rock sowe could give it a tug which would guide us down through the darkness. It was a good laugh and lasted about half an hour. Once we were out a BBQ lunch had been prepared which was just delicious, barbequed pineapple is probably the best thing eve. It was a short walk back and a short drive to where we started kayaking.

Kayaking down the river is much more fun than the lake we kayaked on in Pokara. The scenery was just terrific and it’s all espcially lovely when you’re lying back in the kayak with the sun beating down on your face with the sounds of swishing water all around you. Me and Ollie capsized once which was hilarious and we got stuck on the river rapid rocks about three times. We all spent most of the journey getting everyone as drenched as possible splashing eachother with our ores. About 3km down the river we began to hear the faint sounds of musif until it got louder and louder and then we could make our people jumping from ropeswings and we realised we were in the tubing zone.

The music and atmosphere from all the river bars was pumping and everyone around looked like they were having an amazing time in Vang Vieng’s scorching afternoon heat. Outside most of the bars that line the river are ropeswings or zip-wires about 10-15m high thatn go straight into the water which are simply just a whole lot of fun. We stopped at a bar towards the end which was the highest ropeswing and also the deepest riverbed. If im absolutely honest I was bricking it the first time I went up (the 15m platform is deceptively high). Once it was time to kick off and swing it was fine but it was a good 2 or 3 swings before I mustered the courage to let go. After that I wanted to go again and again as did most of the others in the group but we had to get to the finishing point before it got too dark. We kayaked down to our ifnishing point just as the sun was setting and the locals were finishing their days fishing. We got back to our guesthouse and went for dinner after that. Two people were shouting free bucket at the bucket bar before 9. We got there just in time and had our own roofed hot in the corner where we sipped happily away. We went to the rock bar after that and had a drink there before we all felt we should get some sleep as we’d be going Tubing the next day and wanted to be full of energy.

Outside the water cave

Bamboo bridge to the village

Locals fishing

View from the Kayak

All action on the river

2nd May, Day 93: Vang Vieng, Tubing!!

We’d all been looking forward to this day since we started in Bangkok. We were going Tubing! Tubing in the most borken down terms is sitting on a rubber ring, floating down the river, stopping for a drink at each bar and on a whole, getting as merry as possible. We’d all bought Beer Lao t-shirts in different colours, each had a marker pen and were having a little competition on who could get the most signatures with each signature saying someones name and country. We got a jumbo about 4k’s down the river and began there.

By the time we got to the 3rd bar torrential rain started pelting down. It turned out to be warmer in the river so we floated around there sipping our beers before we decided to head to the next bar. The next place had it’s own mud bath and we all felt a huge mud fight was in order. Andy managed to put mud down my bum which I still haven’t got him back for. So we pelted eachother with mud for a good half hour before we showered donw and cleaned off all the dirt. The next place we went to were offering free shots. Each of the bottles of spirits had their own collection of insects in them to add to the flavour. I went for the rice wine and centrepeded which was pretty rank, basically it’s the rice wine that makes it horrible.

the next bar we went was the one we stopped off at the day before. We stayed there for quite a while passing our time on the ropeswing and enjoying the afternoon sun which had just come out. The next bar was a collection of tables and seats that were floating in the river. We spent some time there talking over another beer before we carried on floating down the river. The last bar we went to had a fire which was a good chance to warm up. We continued to float down the river, all the rubber rings cojoined with eachothers feet. Raalising it was beggining to get dark we made way for the riverbank and got a jumbo back into town. unforunatly suzie had lost her camera so our jumbo went back with suzie, sarah and ben to have a look for it. The jumbo took ages so most of the others got another jumbo while me and tacy walked back. Some nice fellos in another jumbo pitied us and got us in their jumbo for a free ride back into town.

Once we were back at the hotel I felt I should get a little kip before meeting the group again for dinner. We went down to the rock bar to liie on the hammocks and have another drink. We went to the Bucket bar and it was then I realised how tired I was. Along with Ollie, Suzie & Laura we made our way back to the guestohuse. Lucy, Simone & Sarah managed to do an all nighter, can’t believe the energy they have!

A view over the river

The group!

Enjoying the sun

Ollie & Suzie

By the river

The floating bar

Waiting for our Jumbo on the way back

Relaxing on the tube

The next leg of our journey through Vietnam would take us to Hue which is situated slightly higher than the rest of the country which meant the heat wouldn’t pose as much of a problem for our tour group, especially Andy. We would be getting there via Highway One which passes through some of the most scenic and stereotypically Vietnamese landscapes in the country. It was featured in the Top Gear Vietnam special so we were all looking for bits we reggonised. We stopped off for a few minutes on the way to take in some of the awe-inspiring views. We also stopped at a beach for a paddle though I think we all wanted a swim if we had the time. We arrived in Hue in the late afternooon. In the evening everyone else went to a traditional royal banquet diner which included costumes for a King & Queen, Eunuchs, Mandarins & Concubines. As I was trying to save money I gave it a miss and spent the evening catching up on my diary which was probably a good thing as it’s now the 5th of may and I’m still over two weeks behind!

A small rock

View

Highway One

China Beach (famous battleground of the Vietnam war)

21st April, Day 82: Hue

Today was probably the best day of vietnam so far. The day previous we had organised a motorbike tour around the villages and countrysie. It seemed fitting in a country full of motorbikes to be one one crusiing through Vietnam’s most beautiful areas. We met the others down in reception at about 8 in the morning and chose our driver. We cruised past rice fields, drove on small winding roads parallel to the river before we arrived at one of the locla villages. There our guides showed us an ancient bridge which supposedly gave lovers luck to couples wanting to have children. We went to a musuem nearby which was dedicated to agriculture and the harvest of rice, Vietnam’s industrial backbone. There was a funny old woman there who was demonstarting how all the equipment worked. Funny beacuse she was around 85 and could still use all these heavy bearing machines that I probably wouldn’t have the strength for. I suppose the strength comes from the sort of heavy labour that she’s used to and has been doing all her life. Our next stop was a big monostry 4km or so from the village. There we saw the monks doing there morning chants of prayer which were nearly rhythmic and slow enough to sedate all of us into sleep. From there we drove to a nunnery where we ate our included lunch which was delicious.

We said thankyou to all of them before we left and made way for one of the most important Vietnamese king’s ruins, so important that the name of him flies right over my head. The majority of what it used to be was turned into rubble by the Americans in the Vietnam war but there is something about that which adds a certain atmosphere to the place. Our next and final stop was an areana where Elephants and Tigers would have onced fought eachother. The tiger was always heavily handicapped with it’s jaws ripped out from it’s mouth before every match to make sure the Elephant would always win. We arrived back at Thai Son Hotel at about 4. After lots of confusion we all managed to leave tips for our drivers. In the evening we ate in a floating restaurant next to Hue’s riverside. Greg and Sara bravely went for the Frog while I went safely for the steak and chips. AFter we had finished eating there we went round to the DMZ bar. We had a shockingly bad game of drunk pool before we left and arrived back at the hotel around 2.

Crusing

Lots of little ducks

At the monostry

and after that my camera ran out of battery, I was gutted!

22nd April, Day 83: Hue, Overnight train to Hanoi

We had a free morning in Hue before we would be getting an overnight train to Hanoi in the afternoon. We had a fairly late start and the first thing to do was to buy new flip flops since my last pair lasted just 4 days. We wondered down towards the co-op mart where I bought my new flip-flops which looked crap but were really well made which I was ensuring would be my first priority. We bought some food for the train journey before catching a bit of last minute sightseeing around Hue’s citadel complex. We went around on cyclos which was the perfect lazy mans way of doing things. We saw a few old buildings before it was time to get back to the hotel to meet the group. WHen we did arrive back our group had already left for the train station. As it turns out, while we were lying back on our cyclos of our leader Hai was seraching the city on his motorbike trying tofind us. Our itinery said 3pm but it had obviously been changed when we wern’t listening. We got a cab straight to the station and luckily the train was 20 minutes late so we were saved by another bunch of peoples inability to keep on time. We were on the train and moving by about half 3. The train journey was about 13 hours and we arrived in Hanoi at about 4 in the morning.

Lots of flags

Remaining bullet holes of the famous battle in Hue’s citadel during the Vietnam war



Cyclos! Look brilliant don’t they?

..but it is basically a wheelchair with a bike on the back

By the river

Quite a bland building, liked the big Vietnam flag though

Relaxing on the road side

23rd April, Day 84: Hanoi

We got to the hotel a few minutes later. Because we only had day rooms for the morning the guys and girls were split up into a few different groups. Since 5 men couldn’t all fit in one double bed I was left with the bathtub while Greg was left with the floor. On hearing Andy’s suggestion of the bathtup I dived for the oppurtunity only to find a few minutes later the bath was designed for horse jockeys. Being 6 foot I changed my options and went for the floor. I couldn’t get any sleep so I ended up going to the morning arobics at Hanoi’s central lake, as a spectator (of course). I was constantly impressed with how many over 65′s there were evn though it was debatable whether their actions were worthy of being classed as excersice, but there were making more effort than I was so how can I mock them. We walked around the lake before returning to the Gold Hotel. I got some sleep while everyone else had a look around Hanoi. I woke up at around 1 and made my own way around looking at the Temple of Literature, Lenin Park and the national war musuem. I sat by the lake and was approached by two guys who wanted to learn english so I helped them out for an hour or so answering all the basic questions about family, hobbies and all that sort of jazz, quite fun really. In the evening we went to Le Pub which marked the start of a bar crawl around Hanoi with Ollie, John, Greg & Ryan. We arrived back about 3 and got some sleep in ready for Halong Bay in the morning.

Hanoi’s central lake

And again

Statue of someone important, maybe Ho Chi Min?

Delapidating temple

At the temple of literature

Lenin!

Lenin & Flag

A broken up B-52

The socialist flag reigns high over the captured American equipment

24th April, Day 85: Halong Bay

We left at about 10 in the morning to get to Halong Bay which is Vietnam’s most proud beauty spot. We boardfed onto our boat somewhere around mid-day and feeling hungry we decided to get our lunch which was included wqith the trip. The weather was pretty foggy and overcast but behan to clear up just in time as we started to approach the hundreds of lone scattered Islands. We stopped at one of Halong’s most impressive caves whihc was enourmous inside. Once we were done there we continued our venture through the Islands. Pictures say much more than words so i’ll leave you to look at those below. We boated around for an hour or two before we stopped for a swim in probably the most beautiful surroudnings i’ve ever swam in. We arrived in Cat Ba Island in the late afternoon where we would be spending the evening. For dinner we ate in a local place were I scoffed down yet another Steak & Chips. After that we headed down to the Blue Note bar where we spent the evening drinking till the early hours of the morning. Me & Andy ended up at someones hotel. I was talking with a nice 23 year old girl from New York who was a lawyer while Andy was being groped and sexually abused by a burly 25 year old girl from Devon. We left late and arrived back at about 5 in the morning.

Setting off from the harbour

The Islands just visible through the fog

View from outside the caves

Floating Village

Boat activity

Suns rays hitting the water

25th, Day 86: Hanoi

Feeling awful in the morning, as was Ollie we gave the morning kayaking a miss and grabbed some breakfast until it was time to meet the group for our fast boat back to the port. from there we got a bus to Hanoi and arrived in the afternoon. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the hotel room before we met the group later for our last dinner with those on the Vietnam leg of the tour. About half the group bought Same Same but Different shirts (a common phrase out in S.E.A) and customized them so they were all unique. John came down looking like peter pan and deciding he felt a little gay changed into something else, so funny. The meal was good and afterwards the others went to a bar and I headed back to the room not being able to face drinking 3 nights in a row.

26th April, Day 87: Hanoi

Our last day in Hanoi was a free day to check out and in to our new hotel where we were meeting the new arrivals to our group later in the day. We spent most of the day doing a little wondering trying to sort out the next and last (thankgod) local payment. To my annoyance I found my card was blocked and would have to cal lmy bank about it. We had a nice breakfast at a roadeside restaurant and had lunch at a posher place later on. We tried some of the hceap locally brewed beer on the street. It tasted a little funky but at 3000 dong you really can’t go wrong. All of a sudden it was nearly time to meet our new group and leader so we went up and showered and were back down by half 6. We only had two new arrivals this time and those were Lcuy and Luara, two girls from Yorkshire who were on gap years like alot of us. Our new leader was Ben who we presumed would be a bloke only to find it was a lovely 27 year old Thai women from Chiang Mai. I thought she was about our age when we saw her! Don’t think the orientals age as quickly as us. In the evening we went to the bar the other went to the previous evening and had a few frinks there to unwind the evening.

27th April, Day 88: Vinh

We met with the group early in the morning for our bus trip to Vinh, the border town between Vietnam & Laos. The bus journey pretty much took all day and we didn’t get to Vinh until the evening. We had a nice meal at one of the local restaurants. Me, Ollie, Zuzie, Andy & Sara went for a drink in a dingy bar before going to another that was equally as dingy. We had our own little pub crawl going on. I had a few cigs with Lucy and chatted on the balcony for a while before it was time to go to bed.

11th April, Day 72: Phnom Penh to Saigon (Ho Chi Min City)

We left early in the morning for Saigon having a long day of bus journeys ahead of us. The bus journey took around 8 hours with a lengthy wait at the border crossing. We arrived in Saigon in the late afternoon. It was good to be in another country, Vietnam now being the 5th so far of the trip. The first noticable thing about Vietnam is the motorbikes; they outnumber the cars at about 20:1 and that’s especially evident in Saigon where there are around 4 million motorbikes with a population of about 6 million. Something else noticable is that the stereotypical view that most vietnamese women wear Connicle Hats is indeed true! Brilliant.

Once we arrived in Siagon we chekced into the gold hotel where we had a musty smelling room. We went straight to an ATM where we withdrew, get ready for it… 4.8 million dong! (the equivalent of about £170) which was going towards the local payment for the next part of the trip. As it was easter weekend we all decided to do a secret santa sort of things where we all buypresents for eachother. We had a little trouble getting all our dollars together so we didn’t have much time to buy the gifts. Ollie was lucky in the fact that he stumbled on a mirror figurine of Allan (who he picked out of the hat) which was a baby wearing a ninja outfit and throwing a punch, it was uncanny! We were hoping that everybody else would see it.

We were giving the figts at dinner which would also be the late meal we would be having with our beloved Keasar. Very thoughtfully Sarah had spent the afternoon making a card with printed photo’s of the group which we all signed and left our messages for him. When we waited for our food we all gave the gifts. Andy bought a ‘Good Morning Vietnam’ t-shirt for John. The funny thing was John bought two of the same t-shirts earlier in different colours. John had laid them out on his bed (while andy was in the room) and he picked out the green one which Andy had bought and told Andy he didn’t like it. John played it off well thought at dinner pretending to like it even thought John and Andy both knew exactly what the situation was. The food was very nice and after the meal we gave Keasar the card and a small tip for his hard work. He gave a heartwarming speech before we left for the Go2 bar in twon. That evening also served to say our goodbyes to John, Hanna, Allan, David & Adriane. We ended the night and got back around 4 in the morning.

The traffic in Saigon!

The facemasks are a seeming neccesity for the Vietnamese

And more motorbikes…

12th April, Day 73: Saigon

We started our day with a brunch at a modern vietnamese pho restaurant. Pho is the basic meal for Vietnam which is a simple soup, not too heavily flavoured with either chicken, beef or pork. That made me feel much better. As we hadn’t seen any sights in Saigon we felt we should as after all we were only here once. We went for the War Remanants Museum as I wanted to learn a little about the war and how it’s affected the vietnamese people. We got a motorbike down, a form of transport I love in Vietnam. We got into the museum and had a look around. The way the information and photographs are put together is telling of a country still angry and bitter about the war and the impacts it’s hadd on the new generation of Vietnamese.

I suppose it depends how you look at it, it’s a combination of bitterness and the fact Vietnam is still communist, filled with propaganda where there’s only one side to the coin. Obviously what the Americans did was wrong, putting their fingers in pies they shouldn’t but the museum eludes so many seemingly important and obvious facts. They talk of all the american and the ‘puppet’ south Vietnamese casualties and deaths but I failed to find anywhere the numbers dead of the Viet Kong. Depite that it was still all interesting stuff you just have to take an objective viewpoint on everything. There was a moving (and fairly gruesome) exhibition on the use of Agent Orange by the americans and the longer term impact it’s had on people. Babies that are born with disfigured hands and arms, old men with huge tumours, it’s was quite disturbing and just beyond anything you can imagine.

In the courtyard there were displays of captured American military equipment and in the far corner was a replic a of the torture chamers used by the Americans on the viet kong. We left the museum and walked down the road. I got a Latte at this pretenciously overpriced coffee bar full of rich buisnessman and businesswomen in their pristine suits and silk ties. We had a chat with the owner whop turned out to have been to uni in Wales which was quite ufnny. he said he would’ve stayed there if his family hadn’t of forced him to come back to Vietnam. But he’s doing well plying into the new middle classes of Vietnam, their interest in coffee and the feeling of sophistication that comes with it.

We went back to the hotel for a while before we were due to meet the new people who would be joining us for the duration of the Vietnam leg. Among them was John, a 23 year old teacher from New Zealand, Vanya & Francis who are two in their late 20′s who met travelling in Australia, one is english and the other Irish, Greg who’s 30 and from Falmouth and then a mother and son Kerry and Ryan who are crom Cambara in australia. We met and chatted over a meal in a place not so far away. AFter we finihsed Hai who’s our new tour leader went through what we would be doing and collected the local payments. Settling the bill I went back and dfirted off to sleep.

No Photo’s from today, camera was out of battery

13th April, Day 74: Homestay on the Mekong

We had a relatively early start at 7 with abusy day planned en-route to the homestay. Our first stop was to the Vietnamese war tunnels which was a fine example of the ingenuity of the Viet Kong. The underground tunnels wind through a radius of a massive 250km. To start off we watched a short film which reminded me so vividly of the communist propaganda films I had seen while studying history. The film didn’t focus on the war in a broad sense but on the ‘american killing hero’s’ to quote the film. I didn’t feel I really learnt anything, supposedly the Viet Kong were absolutely marvellous and the Americans were just rubbish!

We left the video room and Hai who was acting as our guide showed us some of the traps that were used against the Americans which were all impressively gruesome. After that it was our turn to crawl through the tunnels ourselves. They had been made bigger for the tourists but it was still an incredibly tight squeeze getting through to the point it was a case of crawling on all fours. I only lasted a minute or so and am amazed that guyys would crawl through all day and the fact some 40,000 people actually lived down there. Still getting away from the B-52′s who were droppoing thousands of bombs and dispersing deadly chemicals all over Vietnam made staying underground a case of life and death. After that we were led to a shooting range where the rest of the group tried M60′s, AK47′s and other deadly weapons. The sound they make is completely deafening. I didn’t cover my ears for the first round and they were left ringing for a good 10 minutes.

Afterwards we tried out what would have been the Viet Kong’s diet. We tried a potatoe-esque vegetable which was dipped in lime and salt (which makes a brilliant sauce by the way) and also tried some of their tea which was very starchy. The next place we stopped was a coconut fudge factory which is one of Vietnams most popular sweets. We tasted them just after being cooked and they were fantastic. We saw the process which was fairly interesting before we were led to a local village to have some lunch. In Vietnam meals are comprised of about 5 or 6 courses. As sharing is an important part of eating no-ones food arrives ona their own plate. Instead you take turns to cut and dish the freshater fish, beef, pork, squid, prawns or whatever it may be. As with all the local food we’ve had it was amazing. After lunch we were led to the Mekong where we would be taking a boat to our homestay. We stopped on the way to a salt factory and a brick factory. We swapped boats as the river became narrow. The river instantly reminded me of the Vietnam war films we had watched by sitting in a low boat surrounded by a swampy river, palm trees and the neighbouring jungle.

We approached the homestay which was a large wooded hut surrounded by an open area of chairs and haqmmocks. After meeting with the owners we were led on bikes through the Vietnamese countryside to another place where we treid the local fruit. We returned to the homestay where we had yet more food waiting for us on our return. It was another 5 or 6 course meal finished with fresh pinapple at the end. The fried catfish and squid we had was particularly good. We had evening entertainment organised as 4 of the local villagers had a music show planned for us. It was rounded off after an hour or so by a man who served in the Viet Kong singing a love song about his wife he lost in the war. Our guide translated the song afterwards before we all gave them a round of applause and a little tip for their efforts.

Then it was finally time for bed and to say goodbye to our first day that really felt like we saw the real vietnam, away from the city and out in the countryside.

A tunnel opening

Hai showing us an impressive Vietnamese tank

The brick factory

Collecting the bricks

14th April, Day 75: Returning to Siagon

We all had sowers in the morning before we said goodbye to the family to leave for Nha Trang, a beach resort on the east coast of Vietnam. We got the same two boats back down the Mekong and arrived back at the bus at about 12. From there we had a 3-4 hour bus journey to Saigon. Saigon was as busy as we had left it. We chekced into our day rooms at the Gold Hotel and spent some time in the afternooon preparing for the overnight train which we would catch later.

We headed down to the co-op mart and bought pringles, biscuits and other such snack food. I had a burget at the resaurant above before we left to meet the others at the hotel. It was a quick journey to the station. We got onto the train and Hai before said it was built only a year ago but we were still suprised to see varnished pine cabins, immaculate bed and DVD players! We munched away with our snacks watching scrubs which Sarah had bought earlier. I drifted off to sleep by finishing my book ‘Among the Russians’.

15th April, Day 76: Nha Trang

We woke up at 4.30 in the morning at Nha Trang station. On the bus we coudl see the sunrise across the sea which looked gorgeous. We checked into the hotel which sat on the seafront. Everyone went straight to bed to catch up on the sleep they missed on the train. We woke up at about 10 for a boat trip which would take us around the Islands that haven’t seen the commercialism that Nha Trang has. We had a short drive to the port from where we caught our boat. We set off around 11 and happily made our way around some of the Islands before we stopped and did a little snorkelling. We didn’t see all that much in the water except a few water snakes and various smll fish. After we’d had a swim (which usually means bobbing around aimlessly) we made way for the island we’d stop to have lunch at. Because our boat was fairly big we couldn’t bring it all the way to the shoreline. So instead w eall got in bucket boats to get there. They’re large round ‘buckets’ made entirely of local bamboo. It all seeemd a little precarious getting in bus once we were going it was very pleasant. For lunch we had lots of seafood, beef, pork, soup & vegetables. after we had finished Hai gave us a little tour around the Island talking about the local industries and we talked to some of the local villagers using Hai as our translator.

We got back onto the boat and cruised leisurely back to the port stopping on the way for a little swimming. We had a rest in the late afternoon and went for dinner in the evening. We were going for a BBQ meal where the restaurant delivers all the food with your own barbeque and leaves the rest up to you. It was good fun to test our cooking skills with everyone else. We had some amazing beef and pork which was probably the highlight. Hai took us to a beach bar and the evening continued from there. Later that evening I went with Ian to another bar to watch the football. Ian had his drink spiked at the bar we were at before, and the motorbike driver took us outside a place. I got off the bike to pay the driver and he demanded twice the original price. An arguement kicked off and the next thing I remember was being on the floor getting punched in the face by a couple of Vietnamese while another guy was hitting me round the head with a wooden truncheon. I’m not sure what happened to Ian but I think after his drink was spiked he was pretty out of it and didn’t really know what was going on. I ran away from them and one guy continued to chase me. As I took off my flip flops to run away faster he hit me in the face again and stole my flip flops. I ran pretty fast and went round the corner, climbed someones garden fence and hid behind a wall for a good 10 minutes. Once I thought it was safe I ran to the beach and walked back to the Hotel from there. I found that 100,000 dong had been taken from my pockets but the rest of my money was still there. I found out from Hai the next day that they were robbers that prawl the streets of Nha Trang and that they’ll only take 100,000 notes from people, everything below that is above them apparantly, pah. The problem with the events that night is I lost alot of trust for the Vietnamese even though it was an isolated incedent, but it’s harder to get your head round that when you wake up with bumps and bruises all over you.

All aboard the bucket boats

It’s all looking very serious!

Our oreswoman

Looking out from the Island

Locals making nets for fishing

16th April, Day 77: Nha Trang & Overnight Train

Most of the grou woke up fairly late. We wen down to breakfast at around 12 so it was more of a lunch. Since the motorbike drivers stole my flip-flops Ollie lent me one of his so we could hop to the nearby eating place. We must have looked ridiculous, Andy certainly thought so as he spent the walk laughing at us.

As I was a little tired after being whacked in the head the evening before what I really wanted was a nice hearty breakfast. I went streaight for what promised to be an english breakfast, sasuage, egg, toast, bacon, hash brown, mushrooms, you know the sort of thing. What I was delivered was half a frankfurter, a small price of bacon which was made up of about 90% fat, uncooked toast (how that is possible I don’t know) a mushy hash brown and some uncooked mushrooms. I can confidently say it was the worst english breakfast i’ve ever hard. To top it off my bowl of fresh fruit arrived on an oversized plate to make what was on it look smaller and on it was one small piece of pineapple and one small piece of watermelon. I complained to the waitor asking for more fruit. She said ‘bannana’ and I said yes. A few minutes later a new plate arrived and gone was the pineapple and watermelon and left was a small soggy bannana cut up into 4 tiny pieces. i complained again to no avail. I was bitter enough about the whole situation to leave the plate of bannana by shoving it towards the waitor (not that they would’ve cared). Im sure they were doing their best but I what I’ve always hated and will continue to always hate is stingy portions!!! Rant about breakfast over.

I went to the hotel room and went to bed to catch up on missed sleep and to kip off the headache that was ruining my day. I woke up some hours later feeling much better. We would be getting an overnight train tonight so I went down to the supermarket to get some snacks. I got back and met with the group. We all had a beer on the way down to the station to prepar for the train journey. We spent most of that evening listening to music, playing cards and of course eating pringles. We woke up in Hoi An in the early hours of the next morning.

View from the hotel that morning

17th April, Day 78: Hoi An

Hoi An is world renown for it’s suit taloring which served as the general point of going there. That and the fact it’s surrounded by some of the most picture perfect countryside we’ve seen in Vietnam. Most of us went straight to bed upon arriving at the hotel. We all met back at 12 for a walking tour around town. Hai reccomended some tailors to us before we ent to a nice riverside restaurant where we had a fantastic lunch. Me and Ollie walked round for a while taking photo’s and I managed to get some new flip-flops for about $2 (we’ll see how long those last). We looked around the market before we retreated to our heavenly air-conditioning unit back in our roomn. Hoi AN is that bit hotter than Ho Chi Min and checking the forecast online it was nearly 40°C. I checked the weather in London and Hoi An was more than twice as hot and the weather back home has been ghood. But 40°C is just a whole new level, you can stand there doing nothing at all and sweat streams down youre face and you become a sticky stinky mess in a few seconds.

Thankfully we were treated to a swimming pool at the hotel so we went there to cool down in the afternoon and generally lazed about until dinner time. That evening Hai took us to a local place where we all sat drinking Hanoi beer and eating chicken noodles. AFter that we went to a karoke bar where you get your own pirvate room so it’s not as embarrasing. We were there for a few hours singing awful pop songs from the 70′s which was pretty damn hilarious. We got back to the hotel at about 11 and decided to call it a night.

Hoi An riverside

The decorative lamps that line the streets

Row row row you’re boat!

18th April, Day 79: Hoi An & It’s countryside

After having a good nights sleep we went to a nearby place to eat some breakfast. Today we were going on a bike ride around the Vietnamese countryside. Included was a visit to a pottery production place and lunch with our local guides family. Once we had our bikes ready we set off through the countryside. Vietnam really is beautiful, perfect paddy fields that stretch for miles with the plam trees and jungle in the distance set against the clearest of blue skies with the few wispy clouds that float around aimlessly. The open pathways you cycle on close in and condense until your going through small winding roads that cut through dense jungle and the villages it contains. We cycled round for a few hours before stopping at a pottery production house. We all had a go and like in Jodhpur my pot was awful but it was a better attempt this time as it was in one piece when I was finished with it. We had lunch at our guides house. What first arrived on the table we presumed was the main course. I ate lots of it before realising it would be another 6 courses before we were done. It was the best lunch of the tour so far, I could barely walk after we were finished, I was waddling out of the house like a fat man. After lunch was over we went back to the hotel, exahusted from the heat. Everyone had a swim in the pool and later I went into tow nto get some fake shorts. Everyone was going to the beach party later that evening so I got some sleep. After waking I grabbed a quick snack and met the other for a beer or two before we got on the bus for the beach.

When we arrived the beach party we were anticipating was non-existant except for the few grump locals who were sitting on their own in the corner. Luckily as the evening wore on the place filled out and we had a really good night. We bumped into some esher students which was a funny coincedence; we keep bumping into people we know! So weird. We arrived back at the guesthouse around 4 in the morning.

Our bike trip leader for the day

Basket view

How green is that paddy field and how blue is that sky!

Locals at work

White rose dumplings! Truely scrumptious

The bike ride continues…

The professional imagining what our pots will turn out like

19th April, Day 80, Hoi An

We had a late start to the day and began by going for a swim in the pool. Everyone was still feeling the evening before so we didn’t get too much done. We had a wander down to the market and got some lunch there. We tried some of the locally brewed beer which was a little funky. The lunch we had was probably the cheapest of the tour so far and it tasted great. Greg & Ollie went back to the guesthouse while I ambled around the market and got lost coming back. I ended up walking around in circles for a good 40 minutes or so until thankfully I saw Sara, Simone & Suzie who led me back. After arriving back I went to sleep and woke up for dinner in the evening. Sarah recommended a restaurant which we went to. It was outrageously expensive for what we got especially when we had such a cheap lunch earlier in the day. I ended up just buying a starter. I wondered back with some of the others and crashed out right away

Having returned late in the evening before we awoke later than planned feeling a little hazy from the evening before. We moved hostels in the morning, cheaper & without a/c whihc would spell a very sweaty awakening the next day. For breakfast we got what all tropical countires are good for and that is a huge bowl of fruit. Fruit is a godsend in this humidity. Since Bangkok’s only purpose of visiting was to meet the tour group we hadn’t really planned much in terms of sightseeing. Instead, we spent most of our afternoon looking through the market stalls on Khosan road looking for some lighter clothes for the tour. I got a few t-shirts and some shorts before we returned to our hotel in the early evening. We didn’t feel too much like having another night at the bars so instead we sat in the hostels restaurant watching a film. Due to no policing on copyright/public exhibition laws restaurants can happily pop in their pirate dvd’s and play it to eveyone in the restaurant which I think is brilliant. Unfortunatly the film we watched, ‘Wanted’ was absolutely terrible. We went to bed early that evening. Meeting the tour group tommorow which we’ve been long looking forward to, Can’t wait!

31st March, Day 61: Bangkok

I had a lazy start to the day while Ollie had to go to hospital to sort out some new malaria medication. I sat in the restaurant reading downstairs and drinking tea. Torrential rain began a few hours later and lasted all afternoon. I’ve never heard thunder so loud, very very impressive it was. After the storm had cleared and Ollie returned from the hospital we made our way to the New World City Hotel which was complete luxury in comparison with what we had come to be used to. We would be meeting our tour group there at 6 for a group meeting. We headed back out onto Khosan to get the local payment sorted. I managed to get mine all together but unfortunatly I maxxed out my ATM card so had no money for the rest of the evening. We met the tour group at the group meeting and our new tour leader Keasar who is brilliant. In our tour group we have three other gap year students, Simone, Suzie & Sarah, two honeymoon couples Ian & Becs and David & Adrianne, Andy who’s a teacher from bristol, John who’s an accountant from Reading , Hanna who’s a uni graduate from Southampton , Sara who’s a PHD student from Glasgow, Tracy who’s from New Zealand and a sound and light technition from Melbourne called Allan. After the meeting was over the group went out for dinner in town though me & ollie couldn’t afford it. We ended up getting a beer from a local place and having that before heading off to bed.

Rain in Bangkok

More Rain!

1st April, Day 62: Bangkok – Siam Reap

It was a shame to leave our hotel so early in the morning but we needed to get to Siam Reap at a good time so we could explore the town a little. We all met down in reception at 7 and awaited our bus to arrive. We got on the bus and were on it for around 4 hours before we approached the Thai/Cambodian border. The crossing took no time at all and in about 10 minutes we were standing on Cambodian soil. We got onto a different bus for the second leg of our journey and we arrived in Siam Reap in the late afternoon. We spent a few minutes on the internet before it was time for dinner. Keasar had reserved a table in a excellent restaurant (probably the best food we experienced in Cambodia) which had a free evening culture show on top, which included a wide variety of different traditional dance all performed by lots of pretty young girls, perfect! I had the Khmer curry which was absolutely delicious! And no spice, a very welcome change after all the burning mouths we had in India.

Returning to the guesthouse Keasar got us lost and we ended up walking in a huge loop. He greeted the realisation with his trademark laugh. On the way back me & ollie got some energy drinks for the morning. We would be going to bed, waking up at 2am for the football, going to bed at 4 and waking again at 5 to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat. We watched the football before getting our epic 1 hours sleep.

At the border…

The cultural dance show

And again..

2nd April, Day 63: Siam Reap – Ankor Wat

At 5am the alarm rang and we got out of the room downing our energy drinks in the hope it may serve as a sufficient supplement to the lack of sleep we had staying up all night watching football. We got onto the bus where we were introduced to our tour guide. He spoke very good english and was full of stories which I will mention later. We were at Angkor Wat 10 minutes later. The main part of the complex is surrounded by a large moat. A bridge crossing led us to the entrance gates and the main temple which lies beyond. Angkor Wat is what the Taj Mahal is to India, what the Red Square is to Russia as it’s the epitome of high classical Khmer architecture and is the primary destination for tourists to Cambodia. It was built for the King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city.

From wikipedia…

“One of the first Western visitors to the temple was Antonio da Magdalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it “is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of”. “

We walked through to a main patch of grass where we watched the sun rise over the temple. It was worth the early start as the reds, yellows, oranges of sunrise sat beautifully surrounding the temple. We went for breakfast for an hour or so before we started the walk around the temple complex. I had a gorgeous fruit soup which sadly I haven’t had the chance to come across since on a restaurant menu. The walk around the complex lasted until about lunchtime. From there we sheltered from the sun and I had another Khmer curry. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the other ancient temples that surround the main Angkor Wat complex. We couldn’t look at them all since they number over 1000. It is thought that Angkor had been the largest preindustrial city in the world with an urban sprawl of 3000 square kilometres with the closest rival being the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala which was between 100 and 150 square kilometres in total size. As you walk past buildings with 500 year old trees growing through the middle, walking past broken and smashed buddhist and hindu sculptures you really get the feeling you’re treading you’re footprints through the best & most true example of a lost civilisation. Some of the sets of Indiana Jones were based on Angkor and we saw one of the doors featured in Tomb Raider where some of our group did their best Angelina Jolie impressions. By the time it had come to late afternoon we were all feeling the heat and humidity and we headed back to the hotel. I went straight to bed and woke up again at Seven ready for dinner.

After a good meal we went to ‘Angkor What?’ to celebrate Ian’s birthday, one of the australians on the trip. It’s a busy bar situated on Cambodia’s Khoasan road equivelent. The night started at 9 and ended somewhere in the region of 4 in the morning. We had an objective which was to get everybody in our group a Angkor What? t-shirt. To do this we had to buy 2 vodka/rum/whisky buckets which gets you a free shirt. 28 buckets later we all had shirts and quite predictably we were all very drunk. A funny thing happened with our friend Jon. Not knowing where any of us were (we were in the same place all night) he got on a motorbike and asked the driver to take him everywhere in Siam Reap in the aim of finding us. A few hours later and $20 missing from his pocket he arrived back at the hotel where he waited our return. Poor Jon… we were laughing about that for ages. I left the others at the bar and got home at about 4ish where I went straight to bed. Fantastic introduction to Cambodia and the tour, a day of culture and binging; love it!

Angkor at sunrise, beautiful eh?

And theres another one

At the entrance

The trees that grow through the buildings

Our group!

Our guide explaning something

There I am

The mysterious faces carved into the stone

There they are up close

Buckets of fun at the Angkor What Bar

And there we all are again..

3rd April, Day 64: Siam Reap – Tonle Sap Lake’s Floating Villages.

The headaches from the evening before ran around most of the hotel rooms. For some reason me and Ollie decided to wake up at 10:30 which just dosen’t make sense having after having a long night. After much groaning we aquired the power to get ourselves up and down to the supermarket where we had a coffee and some bakery food. Intrepid makes a point about trying to eat in local places and not chain stores but the alluring concept of air conditioning is just too much to sacrifice by eating in a local place. We sat there for quite a while before we went on the net. A couple of hours later we met with the rest of the group for our boat trip to the floating village which is situated on Tonle Sap Lake and has a population of around 6000. We got onto the boat and we bounced along pleasantly on the river before arriving at the lake. I was quite taken back just how huge it is as it meets the horizon on most sides. The houses of the village range from elaborate rafts and barges to simple, covered fishing boats. It was interesting to see how well equipped some of the homes were, one even had the space for a pool table. Not sure I could live on a floating house though, it’d get too claustrophobic and I wouldn’t like the little things like not being able to go for a walk.

We stopped for a drink at one of the places and saw a snake and an alligator farm. Keasar demonstrated how dangerous the alligators were by attatching a can on a piece of rope and dangling it in front of their faces which he found hilarious. Keasar is a man of about 35 but has the giggle of a little kid, it’s really quite contageous and probably one of the best sounds of the tour so far. We got back onto the boat and headed back to town. On route we stopped at another local place where we all sat on hammocks driking a beer and watching the sun set over the cambodian jungle. It was yet another moment that i’ll just never forget, the image being completely instilled in my memory. Like the Taj Mahal, Jaisalmer Dessert, Lake Pewar & Poon Hill it was another realisation of how lucky I feel to be out here. We also tried BBQ Snake which was actually very nice, a little on the bony chewy side though but much better than I expected, reminds me of chicken.

We went back into town where we had an evening meal. I wasn’t that hungry and It wasn’t helped by the fact my food was really bland and tasteless. I left most of it. The group where heading down to the night market to have a look around. We ended up going and getting a fish massage which sounds interesting on first instant. Basically there are a pool of fish which eat the dead bits of skin from you’re feet. If you’re like me and ticklish on the feet it really is something that must be done, it was absolutely hilarious. we had a look around the market before we went back to the hotel. I was pretty much shattered so I went to bed quickly afterwards. Another fab day!

Approaching the floating village

A local transporting their produce

The suns rays over the sea

Alligator!

Our tour guide with his teasing stick and can contraption

The sun sets over the floating village

The fish massage!

4th April, Day 65: Siam Reap – Kampong Cham

We had an early start to the day so we could arrive at Kampong Cham by mid afternoon, a town situated by the mekong river. The mekong runs through China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia and is the 12th largest river in the world. It supplies south east asia with over 1200 species of fish & supports the fishing industry which had proved a lifeline for thousands of years. We spent a good 5 or 6 hours on the bus before arriving at Kampong Cham.

We stopped to admire the view from the banks before returning to the hotel to get ready for our bike ride. The bike ride would take us over a bamboo bridge and onto an island settlement. We were amazed how strong the bamboo bridge was over the river, there were 4×4′s driving over it although it was questionable how safe it all was. We got across and continued to cycle until we got to the town and stopped in the shade for a while. Half an hour later we visited a local school where we celebrated the cambodian new year with the locals by playing traditional cambodian games.

We had a tug of war contest between the guys and girls and we ended up breaking the rope, which was a funny site when all the men fell over onto eachother. We cycled back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. I had a little sleep, watched some football before going to the restaurant down the road. I had a good curry and we ended the night by moving down to the river to have a beer.

Bike Ride!

Basket view

A distant farmer in his fields

A temple typical of buddhist archetecture

Village games

5th April, Day 66: Kampong Cham – Phonom Penh – Homestay

We met the rest of the group down at reception at about 8. Today we would be going to the first homestay of our trip. We went by bus via Phnom Penh which is Cambodia’s capital city. We arrived around mid-day and Keasar led us to a big shoping centre to have a look around and get some lunch. We met with Keasar’s wife and six year old daughter. His daughter would be joining us over the next few days. For ljunch most of us had a break from Khmer food as we coudn’t say no to a restaurant dedicated to the sale of Pizza. I went for the meatiest badboy on the menu and got the pork deluxe which was as the description it sold itself on. As we were going to the homestay Keasar advised us it might be a good idea to get some presents for the kids at the village. We thought a volleyball would be good as it seems popular with the kids out here. Everyone else was more sensible and got books & stationary to help them with their learning.

We left Phnom Penh and got to the homestay in the late afternoon. We settled in one of the local homes and introduced ourselves to the family. We put our bags down and got a bus down the road to the village centre. There we had a talk wit hthe village leader about eco-tourism and the benefits it has on the local communities. He told us how the funds help to clear landmines left after the Khmer rouge, the construction of homes and the money to buy sustainable famring equipment to help tield the rice to eat and sell on for their local economy.

After that was done we played some village games with the locals. We played some in Kampong Cham but there was a new one where a boy and girl are blindfolded and one has to catch the other which was funny. Then we ate our dinner of local food which was delicious. We had local curries, pork, rice and vegetable soup. They kept bringing out the plates until we could eat no more. We went back tot he homestay and sat down with the family for a talk over some beers and soft drinks. The man of the house told us (through Keasars translation) of his time during the Pol Pot eata, how his dad was killed and what life is like now for him in the village. This went on for a few hours before the family went in and we continued on outside. Unforuantly we had left the light on in our room (which we blamed on John) so by the time we went up to bed our room was choc a bloc with insects. This included these huge flying beatle / grasshopper things that were buzzing around everywhere and crawling into our buds. We got rid of most of them and had a hot & sticky nights sleep without air conditioning, lovely!

Our place..

Getting blindfolded

The dance of shame for losing a game!

Dinner time!

6th April, Day 67: Homestay – Sihanoukville

I woke up at bout 7 only having managed a few hours sleep and went for a walk through the village to get some pictures. When I returned the others had woken up and we handed the presents over to the fmaily and their children. They recieved them warmly and we sat down with the kids to go through the books with them & teach them a little english. Andy & Sarah did really well with that, you could see the way andy was talking with them that he was a teacher. We said goodbye to the kids and their family and left for Sihanoukville where we would get the first glimpse of the sea of our trip; very exciting! The bus journey didn’t take long as the homestay was en-route and we arrived at Sihanoukville at around 1.

Keasar gave us a little tour of the town so we wouldn’t get lost later & we used this as a good oppurtunity to give our laundry in. We stepped onto the beach and were greeted with that fine white sand & crystal blue sea you find in tropical countries. The dirt cheap bars that alligned the strip were an added bonus later that evening. Having a burger & fries on a beach sounded fitting so I had that for lunch. We sat on the beach a while trying to avoid all the fly-like parasites that were trying to flog bracelets. We went back to the hotel to shower for the evening. That evening was spent enjoying the concept of a 25 cent beer and taking that concept too far. We got back at about 5 while Ian & Becs continued their night in a casino which lasted until the early afternoon the next day and apparantly coming back with a profit, very impressive!

The kiddies

A storm gathers at the beach

The group before venturing onto the beach

Angkor Beach!
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Jager bomgs for the evening!

7th April, Day 68: Sihanoukville

We left for the boat trip to the nearby Islands at 8 and by the looks of everyones faces that morning no-one had had enough sleep. We walked to the beach and boarded the boat which would take us to some of the beautifulk Islands that surround Sihanoukville’s south coastline. After about 40 minutes we stopped by an island to do some snorkelling & fishing from the boat. Me & Ollie were too tired for a swim so we sat on the edge of the boat doing some fishing. The rod was a simple contraption of fishing wire wrapped around a bottle using a piece of squid as bait. Some of us caught a few small fish although I had no such luck. The others in the water said they saw lots of fish snorkelling. We made way to an Island where we had out BBQ lunch. It was huge with bbq pork and beef, salad, garlic bread, khmer soup, curry, rice, potatoes, the choice was endless! After lunch we had a lie down in the sun & left significantly redder than we had arrived. We walked to the other side of the Islands and were picked up by our boat and we made our way back to Sihanoukville.

On the way back the skiesturned significantly darker and a storm was brewing. The rain began to lash down on the way back intensified by the swirling wind around us. We all got absolutely drenched & for the first time on the tour I catually felt the cold. We arrived back in Sihanoukville about an hour later. The sea felt so warm when we stepped off the boat. We all had a quick wade before heading off to the hotel to warm up. We met back with the group at 7 for dinner at the beach. Feeling tired and unimaginative I went for another burger. We ate there & headed back to the hotel. On the way back we bumped into Clemmie which was a nice suprise! We headed back to the beach for a drink and talked of our time travelling. I headed back with Andy & Sara and went to bed still exhausted form the evening before.

Aboard the boat

The fish look sad!

Island beach

The tide comes in

8th April, Day 69: Sihanoukville

I slept like an absolute baby the night before and didn’t wake up until about 11. I managed to nip in ontime for the free breakfast which was scrambled eggs & bread. We didn’t have much planned for the day but we decided we’d head down to the market to look for some bargains. We went by moto-rickshaw and got there some minutes later. We were a little dissapointed by the market, everything was either fake and really bad qaulity or just really bad quality. We left pretty quickly and got back to the hotel. Most of the others went down a hotel which had it’s own beach while Me, Ollie & Andy statyed behind and went on the internet for a while and got some lunch.

Within seconds of being outside the A/C room we were all sweating instantly. Andy was wearing all black which didn’t help too much on the old heat insulation. We sat down in a lunch bar and chose the seats based on table to fan ratio. We got a jug of cold beer, ordered our food & played some pool while we waited. Me & Ollie lost miserably to Andy both games, both of them being over within a minute or two. After we finished our food we went back to the hotel. We watched some football and I think I fell asleep at that point. Around 7 we went down for another evening at the beach bars. We met up with Clemmies tour group & ended up getting back at about 4, so a little earlier than last time! I crashed out as soon as I was back.

On the beach

How flattering!

9th April, Day 70: Phnom Penh

Our bus was due to leave from the hotel to Phnom Penh at around 7. I was fairly reluctant that I had to get out of bed but I did so in lightning speed. Ollie had only gone to sleep 10 minuters earlier after staying up all evening and was utterly confused by all the things going on. I had a queasy bus ride to Phnom Penh but arrived without anything too sickly happening. We chekced into Fancy Guesthouse which was indeed quite fancy. The owner is a bit of a nutter thought. We went into town and got some lunch. I got a Khmer curry, something I can’t get enough of in Cambodia. We went back to the hotel & stopped off to go on the internet on the way. In the evening we had dinner at a restuanrant in town the donates all it’s profits to alocal orphanage. The majority of the cooks were younger orphans while the waiters all seemd to be 16-18. The food was really food though andy was a little unpleased with the size of his lasagne which was about a bite & a half’s worth of food, the face he recieved the food with was absolute gold, like a 6 year old who’s just lost all his sweets. Once dinner was over we went back to the hotel. We were due to see the Killing Field tommorow morning so we all got an early nights sleep.

10th April, Day 71: Phnom Penh

We woke up to the end of a storm in the evening. I slept through it but apparantly there was torrential rain all night. Today we were going to S-21 and the Killing fields, the most revealing evidence of the attrocities of Pol Pot’s reghime. S-21 was used as a prison and torture camp for political prisoners while the Killing Fields were where they were sent afterwards. We arrived at S-21 at 9 in the morning. Our gudie introduced us to the prison. It was infact once a school and equipment which was once used in the playground had been turned into torture devices, a powerful juxtaposition really.

The first room we entered had a bed which would have then been connected to the electricity for ‘shock interrogation’ and a toilet can. To the left and hung on the wall was a picture of one of the prisoners who had been locked up here. The Khmer Rouge took photo’s of all their prisoners and the next room featured a display of the majority of those photo’s. Covering the room were people from any ages of 6-70, female or male, militans or non-militants, it seemed anyone could be an enemy to Pol-Pot and his Khmer rouge, a tale tale sign of a paranoid and self-deluded ruler. Other rooms included the basic prison cells which were around 100 x 120 cm, depressing brikc walls with nothing but toilet cans. Another room featured vairous skuills which were taken from Choeung Ek which we would visit next. The prison was depressing but more so because it only happened some 35 years ago and it only becomes genuinly disturbing when you come face to face with it all.

Choeung Ek was our next stop which was the drop off point for prisoners from S-21 for their execution. Over 20,000 were sent here, 8985 corpses of which have no been exhumed. Rags and crumbling bones still protrude from the mud and over the pathways you walk on and in the centre of it all there is a large memorial which contains open displays of victims skulls. They number at around 8000 and are catergorised by age and gender. We walked around the mass graevs about 30 of which are centred within the site and the other 97 lie outside it’s boundry.

We got back into town at about 1 and went to a restaurant. I had a pasta carbonara and some really bad hot orange juice. After that we haded to the market which was too hot & sweaty to bear. We ended up going to the national museum as we felt we should incorporate as much sightseeing & culture into our last day of journeying through Cambodia. In the musuem was comprised of a wide variety of ancient sculptures of the hindu and buddhist religions. We walked through there oblivious to what anything was or meant. We went back to the guest house to have an afternoon kip before dinner in the evening. We were going to go back to the orphan restaurant but upon arriving it was full so we went to one a few places down and had some good food there. After we finished we went back to the guesthouse to get some sleep.

Outside S-21

Shock interrogation room

Rules of Interrogation..

Faces…

And more

And some more

Prison cell

Skulls at Choeung Ek

Memorial from a distance

The national musuem

March 21st, Day 51: Trusili River Rafting

We left early in Katmandu to go Rafting. We met with a guy who on first appearances didn’t come across as the most trustworthy of people. He didn’t tell us who he was or what company he was working for so naturally we were slightly miffed by what was happening but we still obliviously followed him. I think that’s the way of business in Nepal (and India for that matter), just slightly unprofessional. But all was fine and we arrived halfway down Trusili river to start our rafting. We got kitted up and walked down to our raft. Most of the other tourists there were Nepali or Indian, infact the only other european there was a German guy who we talked to. Me and Ollie sat at the front of the raft where we took lead with the paddling for the others to follow. It was pretty relaxed, we paddled for a few minutes, had a break and then let the river carry us further down. The first few rapids we passed wern’t too vigorious but there were a few on our way down where we almost got completely submerged. Being at the front we naturally got splashed the most. All was good though as it was a nice relief from the scorching sun and we dried off within a few minutes. We carried on for another few hours before we reached our finishing point. We got out of the raft and went up to have lunch. We got what we thought was lunch and filled our plates and got seconds. We realised, as more and more food began to roll out that that was just the starter! We ate huge ammounts of dhal, rice, chicken & all sorts of other vegetables that i’ve never seen before. Some of the other Nepalese there offered us a few glasses of their homemade rice spirit. We gladly accepted & watched as they got merry and sang some traditional songs together. The people there were infact nearly all teachers, maths, english, science etc. The principle was there too and we had a good chat with him about the education system and the differences between Nepalese and English society. I was suprised to find out that around 90% of kids go to school which I found very impressive for a fairly poor country. Some of the teachers invited us back to their houses for a few more drinks but we had to kindly decline as we were camping out by the river in the evening. The rafting operators set up our tent by the river. It was good to be out camping, I should really do it a bit more in England. We got another meal in the evening before making our way back down to the river for bed. I won’t lie though, it was probably the most uncomfortable nights sleep i’ve ever had as we were basically lying on alot of big rocks. The sounds of the river nearby helped me to sleep though.

Walking down to the rafts

Ollie in the raft

The rest of our fellow boaters

That’s me

Our man dishing out all the food

Where we camped

March 22nd, Day 52: Trusili River rafting / Chitwan

I woke up for about the 6th time at 8. We went up to get a basic breakfast before we waited for the rest of our group to arrive. With us today were two chinese couples and a couple from singapore. Todays rafting was much more relaxed, there wern’t really that many rapids to speak of. Instead we simply glided down the river watching the scenery. We did come across quite a serious accident though by the riverbank. A goods delivery van, one of the old, clunky gas guzzling vehcles that fill so many of the roads in Nepal had tumbled down the edge of the hill and rolled down to the riverbank. It was complete carnage. We spoke to the people who were clearing it all up and they confirmed with us that both of the people in the lorry had died. Sad really, it isn’t at all suprising though. Not that the roads in Nepal arn’t properly looked after, it’s just the nature of driving on windy roads on cliff edges and Nepal just happens to be a country where about a good 60% of the roads are like that. We got to our finishing point and walked over a river bridge to the roadside town where we were treated to a good lunch. After that we got on the bus with the chinese couples who were also going to Chitwan. The bus ride, as always was bumpy and uncomfortable but it didn’t take too long to arrive. We got off the bus and jumped on a jeep which took us to our lodge. The scenery here on the outskirts of the National Park is full of farms and countryside with lots of quaint little houses sprawled all over the place. We arrived at the lodge and were greeted to a lovely little garden which all the rooms surround. We got settled into our room and then wondered down to the river. As the sun was setting the river changed to an orangy red colour and you could see men in their dug out canoos taking passengers to and from the other side of the river. It was great to watch the evenings river activity from a nearby beach type bar. We had a cold beer and let the evening unfold. We got back fairly late and went to bed snappy.

On the jeep to our lodge in Chitwan

As the sun was setting over the river..

March 23rd, Day 53: Chitwan

After having had two days of rafting we dedicated our first day in Chitwan to relax by the river and read, sheltering from the sun under big parasoles and ordering lots of icy cold drinks. We spent hours and hours reading as we watched the days activity by the river, men on Elephants came to the river for an elephant bath which was an interesting spectacle. We walked into town and looked around some of the shops before we bought some bread, sauce & tuna fish and made a picnic type lunch. After lunch we went back to the lodge to have a shower and relax in the garden courtyard. We ordered two big pots of tea and before we knew it it was time to head to the ‘stick dance’ in town. We were driven by jeep and we got into the church like hall and awaited the evenings performance. The dance is about the life of the Tharu village people & is a celebration of their survival here in Nepal. There were stick dances, and other performances such as a guy dressed as a peacock pecking people in the audience. There was also a fire dancer among other things. By the time we were back we found we were pretty tired. Spending all day relaxing does tend to wear you down! We went to bed ready for our two day walk in the National Park the next day.

Two dog companions relaxing in the shade

The Tharu culture programme

Dancing with fire

March 24th, Day 54: Chitwan National Park

We met our guide at about 7 in the morning and began our two day walk venturing into Chitwan National Park where there are 450 rhinos, about 100 tigers, two types of crocodile, monkeys, peacocks, bears and all sorts of other things. It was park regulations to have two guides, one at the front and one at the back & they had to armed with sticks. We asked our guide about whether he has encountered anything very dangerous and said that he hadn’t really but that his sister was killed by a tiger two years ago. We walked through the grasslands and spotted our first rhino. We crept up to it through the bushes before he turned our head and spotted us. Our guide said he was ready to charge so we quickly nipped back onto the road to avoid it. Within a few seconds the rhino was walking where we just were so we were lucky to get out fairly quickly. This was the only real danger we encountered for the duration of our walk and the rest panned out quite smoothly. We carried on walking before we stopped off to eat our jungle lunch which was prepared at our gesthouse earlier in the day. It was comprised of rice and vegetables, boiled eggs and fruit. Not the most exciting but it gave us enough energy to continue on walking. We got to a watchtower overlooking one of the parks lakes mid afternoon. From there we saw another five rhino’s in the distance being careful not to make to much noise to try and avoid them noticing our presense. We continued walking until we arrived at the town we would be spending our first evening at. It was a bit of a pigsty but it was sleepable. As ollie was resting in the room I went down to read and watch the sunset over the river before returning to get some dinner. We went to bed fairly early as we were quite exhausted after todays walk.

The dug-out canoes

And again…

Looking out onto the river

Sunset over the local village

March 25th, Day 55: Chitwan National Park

Our second day of walking was fairly unpleasant for me in the morning. I had got about 3 cuts and sores on my feet so found it pretty hard to walk and I was also running out of plasters to put on my feet. The fact that we didn’t really see anything other than a few pigs and deer didn’t really ligthen my mood up too much. So in all honesty I was fairly miserable in the morning. By the time we started in the afternoon however I was a little more upbeat. The walk became more plesant as It was all on a sandy track so I could walk without my flip flops on. We stopped off here and there before we finally arrived back at Sauraha. The walk was good fun & we were pleased we finished it without too many problems. On the whole it was much more relaxing than our trek as the land was nice and flat the whole way through. We got back into our rooms and I had probably the best cold shower i’ve ever had. I felt so much better once I was out. We went into town where we withdrew some money for our last evening in Nepal. We treated ourselves to a good meal and a few drinks at the local bars before returning to our beds knowing we had a good two days on the road ahead of us. We would be back in India tommorow, I was fairly excited to go back to somewhere I felt I knew a little more than Nepal.

And now sunrise..

Stagnant lake

March 26th, Day 56: Sonauli / Gorakhpur

Todays events would be mostly consumed by travelling. We did have one last activity in Nepal though and that was Elephant riding around Chitwan National Park. We had to wake up at six in the morning and we were ready by about 7. We arrived at the Elephant centre where we clambered onto our elephant. You feel really high when you’re up there. We plomped along the streets for half an hour or so before arriving at the entrance to Chitwan. We had our permits checked and we continued our journey into the park. Because the elephant scent overpowers the human scent you can get much closer to the animals without them running away. Within a few minutes we saw two rhinos and got really close to them. There was an adult and baby rhino chomping away at the grass below them. We also saw some more deer, another rhino and lots of peacocks. We arrived back at our hostel where we collected our things and were then taken to the bus stop by the hotel owner. There were three of us and all our bags on one motorbike. To our suprise it was actually one of the most comfortable journeys we’ve had for the suspention on the bike was really good. We boarded onto our bus which took around five hours to get to Sonauli, which is the border town between Nepal & India. As soon as I saw that ‘Welcome to India’ sign I suddenly lightened up a little. It was good to be back in coutry we grew to really know over the six weeks travelling there. Nepal remained for the duration a little annonomous as we stuck to the heavily tourist areas but in in India you are engulfed in the real India all the time. Within a few minutes of walking down the road you felt that typical Indianess everywhere. I call it Indianess just because I can’t really put a finger on what that im in India feeling is, you really have to experience it for yourself. We boarded a bus to Gorakhpur which took a few hours. We arrived at Gorakhpur and went into the train station. It resounded in our heads that we were back in India when we found our train would arrive three hours late. We didn’t really mind though. We went to a roadside dhaba and had a basic Indian meal before making our way back to the station. There we waited, and waited, and waited before our train finally arrived. We boarded our train and we were relieved to have some air conditioning on the coach. We went to bed pretty quickly, excited at the prospect of arriving back in Delhi for the third time the next day.

An adult Rhino

And again with it’s child

The nepalese Elephants

One of the other groups with us

Ploddering on through the grasslands

Our Elephant

On the bus… shame about the blurry photo, but a funny example of how the Nepalese imagine what London is like

Back to India!

and back to the basic meals

Train station

March 27th, Day 57: Delhi

As our train arrived late at Gorakhpur we didn’t turn up to Delhi until about 3 in the afternoon. It was raining when we arrived but It was that satisfyingly cool rain that you only get in really hot countries. Everything we did in Delhi was completely pleasing and brought a smile to my face. Just getting on an Indian train, an auto rickshaw and walking around the crazy streets brought back the six weeks prior to Nepal and all the experiences we encountered. We returned completely atuned and aware of how to deal with things and we found Delhi this time to be so much more simple than when we first arrived back in January. We got to Parganj and chuckled away at how ignorant and unaware we were when first came to India, how apprehensive we were of even walking down the streets. We walked down to Connaught Place to get our first Maccy D’s of the trip. It was guilty pleasures munching away such unhealthy but pleasingly delicious fast food in a country where it almost feels wrong that there is a McDonalds here. I don’t think you realise the power of global cooperations when you’re at home. But when you’re away travelling to third world developing counties like India and find that Coca Cola is absolutely everywhere and places like McDonalds, Subway and Dominoes have sprung up in some of the major cities it does make you think about it more. We finished our meal and walked back out onto Connoaught Place. We found a rickshaw driver who took us to Delhi’s mighty red fort. There we watched an evening sound and light show which was really impressive. Colours of lights unveil different buildings as they ‘speak’ their history of that building and what happened there. It was an accessible and entertaining way of learing some background to the fort. The only problem was halfway through it started raining which brought the mosquito’s out. They were vicious and I counted 36 bites on my right foot the next day. We ended up leaving because the rain became quite unpleasant. We headed back to Parganj where we got some food and went to bed.

The red fort

March 28th-29th, Days 58-9: Delhi / Bangkok

It was the last day of the first two months away and the second chapter of our trip was ahead of us. We were so excited that in the early hours of the next day we would be taking off and flying to Thailand. The last day in Parganj was spent preparing our things for Thialand, chucking some things out and buying other things that we felt we would need. We both agreed that being our last day we should go for a nice meal. We returned in the late afternoon to Piccadelhi which we had eaten at a a month or so prior. This time we ate from the ‘Little Venice’ section of the restaurant and I got some gorgeous grilled chicken in a lovely white wine & garlic sauce. We sat there and recollected over the past two months realising that we were now pretty much halfway through our journey. After we finished in Piccadelhi we went to a coffee bar before going to a few book shops where I purchased ‘Among the Russians’ by Colin Thubron which is a very, very good book. We spent some time on the internet and before we knew it it was 10pm and our taxi had arrived to take us to the airport. We got to the airport at about half 11 due to some heavy traffic on the road caused by a road accident. Our flight was at 1 in the morning so we had some time to sit around and read. We boarded at about half 12 and sat there waiting for it to leave. It’s only when the plane actually takes off and you feel that sudden light feeling as the wheels come off the ground that you really know that your holiday away is beggining. It was similar for us as it was the start of the other chapter of our journey. I was a little sad to be leaving India & Nepal, we had really grown to like it but the prospect of being in Thailand excited us more than anything. Because of this we didn’t actually get any sleep and the flight itself was only four hours or so. We arrived in Thailand at about 7 in the morning. The airport is really quite modern and I quickly realised it was only built three years ago. We got ourselves straight onto a bus which would take us to Khaosan Road where we would be staying at. Looking out of the window on the bus I couldn’t believe how many sky scrapers there were in one city. I had the Idea that on the scale of things, Thailand was almost as poor as India but it is unbelivably modern (at least Bangkok is). You can tell it has that Chinese and Japanese technological influence throughout the city and everything seems to just work. Coming from India the place just feels a whole lot cleaner and more structured and civilised. I liked it and coming to Khoasan road feels like we really were on a holiday. Khoasan Road is very very touristy with white people outweighing the Thai’s. All the same it’s nice to be in a commercialised spot from time to time. Although its more expensive it’s just good having all the conveniences. We booked ourselves into a nice hotel and were relieved to be in an air conditioned room. Thailand is much much more humid than India with temperatures at the moment reaching around 35 or 36 and with all the humidity going into a room and breathing cool, fresh air is simply the nicest feeling. We settled ourselves in before heading out on the street to explore. We ended up bumping into a guy who we met in Manali so we spent the day with him. I ended up leaving my bag in a restaurant which contained my passport and iPod which was pretty stupid. Luckily when I got back they had picked it up which was a huge relief! We drank into the evening at a local restaurant and got a little merry. We ended getting back quite late, about 3 in the morning. We were tired (and drunk!) slept like baby’s when we returned to the room.

A few photo’s below of Piccadelhi, great novelty restaurant

No photo’s arriving in Thailand i’m afraid, i’ll get more of Bangkok the next time we’re here.

We were going rafting the next day so needed to wake up at another ridiculously early time. Not much to talk about for the rest of the day…

Patan Square

Outside one of the temples

Patan’s pagoda buildings

flowers from the restaurant

We spent alot of the day meandering around in bookshops. That is actually pretty much it, with a little eating inbetween. I had an absolutely delicious chicken burito which is definatly worth mentioning. I’ll head down to another mexican sometime soon. But tonight we were dedicating ourselves to what we call getting ‘a few beers’. A pint or three down and our ‘few beers’ quickly turns into a few more, and a few more. So we checked out a few pubs eventually ending up in a traditional nepalese dance bar which was quite fun. Can’t really remember much… It was over a week ago. Please forgive me. So nothing to really talk about there, I hope I haven’t wasted any valuable minutes.

Mmm Burito’s

Trying out new things, part of the travelling experience eh, maybe not the hat though

A lovely way of saying Please don’t touch

We continued on our walk to Durbur Square passing a huge buddhist steepa on the way. Durbur Square minus the commercialism, the touts & the noisy traffic does make you feel you’ve moved back a 1000 years. As far as I understand, the square has been put on the world heritage list which ensures the buildings will be untouched and only preserved for others to witness it’s rich historical nature. We went to the royal palace museum which was dedicated to the last ruling King. Hundreds of pictures of the poncy fellow covered the interior and there was an obvious british gentleman influence to his character, clearly down to our imperial trade relations with Nepal. He reminded us very much of Oscar Wilde.

After walking around the museum we went to a local market which was based on a sqaure outside the musuem. Being out of season the sellers were clearly quite desperate and we got a few mementos of Katmandu at a very reasonable price. We then went to eat in a rooftop restaurant which boasted a panaramic view of all the pogada style rooftops that dominate Katmandu. After leaving we went to the nearest internet cafe. I finished my blog entry (just about) before Katmandu was hit by a big thunderstorm which resulted in a power cut all across the city. We left as torrential rain began to pound down upon the streets. The rain itself was filthy due to the polluted nature of Katmandu, down to the traffic it’s age old heavy polluting vehicles.

Once we got back to our guesthouse and had showered we decided to treat ourselves to some fine dining. Five star fine dining to be exact, the wonders of good currency exchange rates. We arrived at the Soaltee Crowne Plaza which is filled with various hotels with rooms which start at around $150 a night, a world away from our life in Thamel. The service inside the restaurant was pleasingly over the top and the food was, of course, absolutely fantastic. Our bill came to a sum which we could only just afford but it was completely worth it. I’ve never been in a restaurant so creme da la creme and it was nice to treat ourselves for just one night. We got back to Thamel and feeling tired, we went straight to bed.

Outside the city palace musuem

Outskirts of Durbur Square

Cycle Rickshaw men waiting for business

As we began to look at the menu

Then realising how pretencious it’s cover was…

Our free welcoming dish

Table decor