Ha Long and Ho Chi

Yet another early start was upon us and with breakfast not arriving on time, it wasn't the most relaxed morning either. On booking a different 2 day/1 night Ha Long Bay trip to girls (Cass and Jess) we had met the previous day, we discussed how it would be funny if we were on the same trip as we had paid different prices. However, when a minibus came the pushy driver/guide insisted we were both on the same pick-up and therefore the same trip. This was the start of a crazy level of disorganisation and set the tone for the next few days....

The 4 hour minibus ride passed without too much drama, just a lot of paddy fields and scooters transporting various crazy items including terracotta pots and caged chickens. Towards the end of the journey the Bay became visible and was looking as incredible as we had imagined. On arrival, the vast and numerous limestone karst formations seemed to be teasing us as we had to wait an hour for passports to be collected, bungs to be paid, and tenders to be located. When we did get to out Junk, we were very happy to see we had been upgraded to a "Du Lich" (Deluxe) boat rather than the standard we had paid for, bonus! This mean a significant upgrade in the quality of boat and the onboard food which was both delicious and volumous, just how we like it, so we decided to celebrate and crack open the beers with lunch, with our Canadian, American, French and Slovenian counterparts.

Luckily, we had also been graced with unlikely sunshine for the time of year which meant the next couple of hours were spent chatting on the sun loungers, catching sun rays, beers in hand, conversing with our new bezzers, and enjoying the incredible views this UNESCO World Heritage Site has to offer. Ha Long Bay, of both Top Gear and James Bond fame, failed to disappoint with its stunning vistas, the thousands of islands majestically rising out of the sea for miles into the horizon.

Our first stop was Sung Sot (translated "surprising") Cave, where we were told by our clueless guide that we should try and do it in 40 minutes as we were 'slightly' behind schedule and we needed to get kayaking before sunset. This proved to be no big issue, as we glided through these impressive caves in the allotted amount of time. However, on arrival at the pick up point another obligatory, seemingly pointless, wait ensued before our tender came to pick us up and take us round the corner to the kayaks. With tens of kayak available, no-one was overly worried until our guide explained we would have to wait for some paddles but as other groups seem to jump straight on it was becoming clear our guide had the decisiveness of a snail. Finally, after a prolonged long wait we got 30ish minutes of paddling in. We were last back as we had lost track of time in our pursuit to get as far away from the hoards of other tourists as possible and had found an uber cool dark cave with the World's Biggest Jellyfish inside, which put us off swimming somewhat...

With darkness setting-in, we proceeded to have an incredible dinner on the boat, accompanied by more beers and followed by some card games as very bad 80s music played. It was at this point we properly meet Adam, as Steve and I were playing cards with Jess and Cass. Adam the barman was very friendly and showed us some card tricks, before interrogating us as to whether we were married?..."No"...Did we have girlfriends?..."No"...Why not we are so handsome?...."Um just haven’t at the moment Adam". It was at this point until the end of the trip, Adam did not leave us alone, giving us back rubs and dodgy looks and not pestering the girls once. So if you ever meet an Asian man named Adam, stay away, as we have a 100% record for finding the ones that wouldn't look twice at Eve. With the beer pyramid starting to reach dizzying heights, the night didn’t last too much longer with everyone tired and another early start ahead, and the prospect of some of the comfiest beds in Asia.

A 7am breakfast got everyone up early before the 3day/2night trippers boarded their next boat as the 4 of us left waited, again, before slowly cruising back to terra firma. The 3 hour cruise took us back through a different section of the islands giving us more awe-inspiring views to savor. There is no doubt about Ha Long Bay is definitely worth a visit, even though the trip was disorganised and we didn’t do everything on our itinery, for 30 bucks which included all transport, food and accommodation, we had little reason to complain.

The journey back to Hanoi was slow and painful with both an integration from fresh travelers about OZ and getting torn apart by a Danish girl at Chinese Poker (who gets 4 2s!). We did however get back, completly shattered and checked in to our damp hotel and settled down to another United game.

With two more days in Vietnam's capital city, we took the first at a very slow pace, just adminating (as we love it so much) and taking in the culture and food. Hanoi's traffic certainly never gets boring or any safer. In the evening we took full us of free internet and booked the 4 Indian trains we need to take (as they get booked up well in advance) and managed to get the total 1945km journey for just over 12 quid, oh my India is cheap!

Today we decided to be more productive and went so see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Uncle Ho in his final resting place. To cover the 3km journey there we decided to take a rickshaw to complete the set of types of Vietnamese transport. This came complete with driver trying to sell us both Marijuana and "Boom-Boom", whatever that is... Unfortunately the Lonely Planet decided to lie to us and only the museum in the complex was open, which was interesting but hardly insightful with most of the text in Vietnamese. On the way back we hit up the Temple of Literature for yet more culture understanding before devouring a KFC at the expense at most of our remaining Dong.

Tonight it's off to Laos on the night bus and a border crossing known as one of the worst in SE Asia.....

Stu and Steves Water Puppetry Adventure

Ok, so after reviewing the vidoes we couldn't help but let you in on some action from the water puppetry. Unfortunately, due to larry's demise this is a bit of a hash, but hopefully you will get some idea...

Stories from on the water, in the water and watching the water

Health warning: This post is massive! Get a cup of tea and biscuits before attempting to read. Better yet, get a brandy.

The next day in Nga Trang was dedicated to the crazy lady in the hotel who recommended the days activity to us. Having mentioned the possibility of hopping on a day trip to visit some of the islands in the area she thrust 'Boat Number 4' upon us and promised it was one of the best available. For 7 dollars we were willing to take the gamble. It proved to be some gamble. Initially we weren't convinced; on arrival at the wharf we got on the most crowded barge imaginable with about a million Asian tourists. Only two Germans had skin the same colour as us or spoke English and they looked as confused as we did. Other boats all around were leaving with a much smaller and predominantly backpacker contingent. Anyway, we were there for the day so we decided to see the funny side. Then the tour began at about 5 million decibels over the tannoy in the local tongue and we had no choice but to laugh. Thankfully there was some broken English interpretation at the end for us. At the first stop (an aquarium we weren't particularly bothered about) the place emptied as everyone rushed ashore clutching cameras. We hit the sun deck with the Germans for some peace and quiet as unfortunately swimming wasn't allowed in this area :-( . When the rabble returned we moved on to the snorkeling spot at island number two (with further accompanying ear splitting commentary). Eager to get something out of the day we grabbed some gear and jumped in. Some good corals and fishies were about, but the snorkels were not attached to the masks, which is annoying as they can droop and fill with water, the masks leaked and then finally also decided to steam up. Oh dear. We had a swim about and headed back to the boat cursing our receptionist. Then things changed. We went to the third island which was the lunch stop followed by 'happy hour'.

The lunch spread appeared and was gargantuan and mighty delicious and then the crew somehow mustered a drum kit and some guitars to partner the microphones and the karaoke was unleashed. Bearing in mind that by this point we had decided the only reasonable thing to do was to hit the beers, and a number of the Asian contingent were of the same mind you can imagine the fun that was had. These guys cannot get enough of their karaoke!! We were not allowed to continue before 'the English' had done a Beatles number either so we launched into a pretty terrible rendition of 'Hey Jude'. So So funny. We were beginning to understand that from the start this trip was not about the swimming or the sights but that it was a party boat and the number one priority was a damn good time. To affirm this suspicion, next came the floating bar, which was essentially a lad in a big rubber ring with a basket of strong spirits and glasses who was jettisoned from the back of the boat. The simple instructions were that if you got in the water you got some free drinks. 'English' were first in, and we bobbed about getting steadily wasted. This was Gooooood. We partied our way back to shore and hugged the receptionist!! We later played some pool with the bar girls in a pub over dinner, who were surprisingly good and nearly shamed us, before surrendering to bed soon after.

After this we thought a bit of a chill was in order and would you Adam-and-Eve-it, we realised it was Grand Prix day, so we watched it. That was about it for that day, we had a bus to catch to take us to Hoi An and tailor shop Mecca...

After negotiating the usual fall out at the bus stop where you are half asleep and the whole world is waiting outside to sell you something, try to drag you into their hotel or whiz you somewhere on the back of a motorbike, we found a pretty smart little hotel with a pool and settled in. After a hearty breakfast stop we decided that there was no better time to wade into the confusion of Hoi An Towns' tailoring shops. I would say 90% of the places in this town want to make you clothes and everywhere you turn someone is trying to drag you in. Eventually, Lai, a particularly persistent so and so got us into his shop, mainly by virtue of the reviews he had on display outside which were in far to colloquial an English to be faked!

Then we got down to business. 'Next' catalogues in a mess around us, piles of potential materials stacked about the shop and nattering galore from Lai and his sisters as they tried to appease us we finally decided to get two smart casual shirts each (personal designs), a 'funky shirt' each in the most horrific material you have ever seen, and two sets of 'kung-fu' pants. Oh Yeah. Then we paid far more than we planned and left wondering what had just happened. We spent the rest of the day just wandering. After the big, crazy, cities we had been in Hoi An was a breath of fresh air and we just took lung full. As we were wandering we kept bumping into a lad who was on our bus so we thought it only right to have lunch with 'Phil'... a.k.a. 'RoboPhil', and also planned to meet for a few drinks that evening. The error of our ways was to meet in a bar that offered the dangerous mixture of alcohol and a free return bus to a beach party.

Completely not planning it we ended up having a very nice chat with RoboPhil and a Swedish couple before literally piling in a minibus (were talking people on everyone’s laps, and people in between these people and hanging out of windows, this is certainly one way to meet people!!). The beach party was at some sort of resort that also had a swimming pool. A few buckets and games of pool later everyone was in their underwear and in, English lads included. Then managing to get split up in the forest of lingerie somehow (oh no) we both made our way back, Stu on MotoTaxi, me in the free bus (thank god because Stu had all the money!!) to two completely different and completely random locations, mainly as a result of not being able to pronounce our hotel name, or known where on gods green earth we were. By some miracle we both found our way back to the hotel as the sun was rising and slept. After a minor lay in till the afternoon the next day we eagerly rushed to the tailors to collect our clothes. They were good. So good I may have spent even more money...

That evening we went out for dessert (we had been keeping very strange meal times through the day) and ordered a caramel cream, thinking it sounded great as we both liked caramel and cream. We received tiramisu. This is a poor menu spello even by Vietnamese standards. But when you are presented with it and asked 'caramel cream... you know?' you find that somehow you do.

Next up the multi leg journey to Hanoi, via Hue, upon which bus we met a couple of English girls who joined us for the couple of hours wander around the Citadel (Hue used to be the imperial capital) to fill the gap between buses. Overnight to Hanoi was not a pleasant experience, with the two of us somehow managing to find the beds either side of the rather fragrant on board toilet. Nice. More chaos on arrival, but we managed to fight our way through and persuade the owner of the worlds most dinky taxi that he really could fit four people in and take us what turned out to be a surprisingly long way across town to the old quarter. After bumbling about we managed to find a room in our extreme budget price range, with free breakfast allowing us to look past the somewhat extensive damp!

We figured it was only right to go and book a Halong Bay trip, so we did. We then went for a wander, ate strange and most probably unhealthy things from markets, nearly got run over several times and then also booked some water puppet show tickets for the evening. (Seriously, we have seen our fair share of mad traffic about, but this is another level. The volume isn't as great and the roads may be smaller, but they are all bloody Kamikaze!)

So that evening we got battered by the noise, smells and sights on the streets before eating a balcony based dinner and reaching the water puppet theatre. Thinking it only right to watch a bit of historic Vietnamese culture we went in with mixed feelings about how it would be. It was hilarious. Can't put it simpler than that, it was a damn good time. You will most likely understand if you see the videos... Possibly the best two pound we have spent.

This opened the door for Hanoi being the perfect ending to Vietnam. And in the morning we would start our Halong Bay adventure...

War and (very little) Peace (and quiet)

With Pompey safely in the FA Cup final and temperatures soaring into the 'my face is about to melt off' range we took the next day very leisurely only really leaving the hostel to explore local markets and go back to the incredible Indian restaurant we had frequented the previous night. We did however decided it was about time, considering how stressful the last 7 1/2 months have been to get a proper massage the next day. To try and increase our positive Karma and live to our new Buddhist ideals, we went to the 'Seeing Hands' massage parlour where all the staff are blind. That however did not reduce their ability to massage and we were treated to an hour of both relaxing and invigorating enjoyment as we seem to have more knots than a Boy' Scouts camp. I was told I was so tense and knotted I must lead "a very stressful life"...little does she know! This 4 pound massage finished off a good few days in Phnom Penh and so we headed for Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon) via the most backwards border crossing to date, why take all the passports if you have to re-hand them all back out 5 minutes later and on roads where there simply were no rules....

With plenty on the agenda and not much time in HCMC, we headed straight out in the morning and started our city wander that took in the market, independence palace and also the Vietnam War Museum. Not being experts on the war, we went in ready to learn and understand this large part of recent history. This however did not stop us being shocked at the facts, figures and pictures on show, in particular relating to the 'Agent Orange' chemical the US used with little restraint. Again posing questions of why noone stopped America and why other nations like NZ and OZ joined in to help?! Needless to say, definitely not Americas' finest hour. We then headed to book an Open Tour bus ticket to get us all the way to Hanoi, in doing so we found an operator that would give us a $5 discount if we went and spoke English to some local kids for an hour or so. Delighted to be presented such an excellent opportunity (and save some money) we quickly agreed and went back to the agent at the required time ready for pick up.

When we arrived our Moto-Taxis were ready and waiting to take us to the school, and having not taken one yet we were more than happy to jump on. However it only took 3 nano seconds before pure fear set in as HCMC traffic is crazy with scooters and motorbikes in their thousands on the road weaving in and out as they please. Thankfully, we made it to the school in one piece and met Mr Lee, the wise old Asian man who ran the programme and told us how we were to help the teachers teach the kids. So by now its gone from 'talk to' to 'help teach'. It wasn't long however before we had 40 kids each and a microphone and no teachers in sight! The next 90 minutes was then spent attempting to keep wildly excited Vietnamese children entertained with no lesson or native tongue, which was a task that certainly took us out of our comfort zone, by some considerable margin. With the bell marking the end of the chaos, we jumped back on the Moto's for some after dark road mayhem, cue a long lie down once back in the tranquility of our hostel. The volunteering did prove to be an excellent experience and well worth the effort; see, and you though we had just come traveling for one big Jollly-boys outing!


Our last day in HCMC was spent on a one-day trip to the Mekong Delta to see where this mighty river met the ocean. Unfortunately, it meant another early start, but with our guide, who's English name was 'Stiffler', bantering over the Mic and the rest of Saga-aged group chuckling the journey there wasn't too arduous. Once there, we started a whirlwind trip that in the space of a few hours managed to cover a boat trip across the Mekong to one of the islands, fruit tasting and experiencing local music, small wooden rowing boat trip (with cool pointed hats included), bee-hive visiting, honey tasting and snake holding, coconut sweet-making and tasting, horse drawn carriage ride and finally a slightly more leisurely lunch. Although busy, the trip didn't seem too rushed and was a great way to see the Mekong with limited time, which is an hugely impressive river that will be seeing more of on route through Laos. We also sat with two older gentleman over lunch who explained how to get a Retirement Visa for Thailand and how many 18 year old girlfriends that had, certainly one way to retire.

We are now in Nra Trang, Vietnam's beach haven. To get here we took a type of bus even we haven't seen yet, with no seats just reclining beds which sounds amazing, but with the roads needing a fresh layer of tarmac, can be liable to a lot of bouncing around. Still two more of those trips to endure before Hanoi. Today, after a cheeky power-nap, we have strolled around this noticeably cooler part of Asia and seen a Pagoda and a massive Buddha, more crazy traffic and brought some souvenir chopsticks, with cases, as we are now Asian food-eating experts.

N.B. If Buddhist monks live by the teaching and philosophies of Buddha himself in not eating meat or drinking alcohol, then how was Buddha such a fat lad when monks' are painfully skinny? Perhaps Buddha didn't quite practice what he preached....

The Jungle, Book selling children

In fact, because we would be crossing yet another time zone we essentially rose at 2.30 Cambodia time. To our great surprise breakfast had already been laid out (we are now of the opinion that cosmopolitan hostel is one of the best we have stayed in on the whole trip) so we munched away and set ourselves up for the day. A painless trip to the airport and a two hour flight later we hit the tarmac in Cambodia. After purchasing the first of a few very expensive visas we exited and met 'Adam' who had come to pick us up (Stu got very excited about seeing his name on a sign at this point). As we followed him through the car park we soon realised we weren't heading for a minibus or car but Adams' Tuk-Tuk! This was our first proper Tuk-Tuk experience (the ones in southern Thailand really don't count) and it was hilarious. After quite a size able journey Adam refused to accept a tip, but did recommend his services for vising the Angkor temple area over the next couple of days. It turned out his prices were very competitive, his English was pretty good and we liked him so after settling in and sampling very cheap and very delicious food from the guesthouse menu we planned a two day attack on the temples with him, the two days being the current day and the next!

So at about 11 o'clock, with us feeling like it should be about 6 in the evening we set off on his 'big loop' which included five temples of various forms and sizes. I can't really describe the atmosphere in and around the temples, but it was a damn good day. Adam whizzed us around and we were free to explore each one at leisure, taking as long as we pleased. As soon as we popped our heads back outside he would appear out of nowhere to take us to the next. The temples are magnificent and a Tuk-Tuk really is the way to see them, sheltered from the absolutely baking sun and humid heat (40+ and the humidity has to be experienced to be understood!!) as you travel with no effort required, at a fast enough pace to make a good day out of things with Adams entertaining anecdotes to boot. The other side of the day was the constant harassment by locals trying to sell you every imaginable product under the sun. All of them for a dollar it seemed. 'Cold drink for you', 'Pineapple Sir?' etc. Sometimes this is entertaining, but when little kids are trying to sell you postcards, or are tugging on your arm to persuade you to buy a book with little puppy dog eyes it can also be heartbreaking. You have to have a heart of stone to turn them down, but you simply can't buy everything!!
By the time we reached our guesthouse in the evening we were whacked, but fulfilled. It was OK though, because day two was sunrise at Angkor Wat, and a 5am start!! Straight to bed...

We woke up early and couldn't find Adam, then we realized he was sleeping in reception! After he emerged and saw us waiting he ran around like an idiot apologizing profusely despite there being absolutely no need. Thinking he may have compromised our chances of seeing the sunrise despite being maybe two minutes late, we sped to Angkor Wat at extreme speed overtaking all the other Tuk-Tuk drivers! We had not missed the show, and despite not getting the most beautiful or colourful of skies there is certainly an impressive atmosphere at this majestic and very well preserved Wat in the morning light. See photos! We spent a lot of time looking around and also fell foul of restaurant number eight who gave us good price on breakfast and a lady selling paintings completed using a spoon. We have these paintings rolled up in our bags and have absolutely no idea how we are going to keep them in one piece and get them home, but hey we got good price there too. In fact, we seem to be really lucky everywhere we go; we always get special good price. On this particular occasion we got special morning price. Just for us! How privileged we felt...

Anywho, after Angkor Wat, with the temperature soaring at about half past nine in the morning, we completed the rest of Adams' 'little loop' and once again had an awesome experience doing the rest of the more famous or unique temples in the area. By the time we reached the last one we were feeling a little 'templed out' but we felt it was well worth spreading out our exploring over two days, if only to spend some more time with Adam, who we realised had been taught English by someone who was very camp! That evening we sat around sharing stories with other people in the guesthouse and had planned to go out that evening with Adam and some of the other staff, including Mr. T, 'like in the A-team' who was great fun, but who also, after scooting back to get us in a rather tipsy state gave us a really interesting insight into how lax drink drive laws are and Cambodian dating/marriage. He had a few very heart wrenching stories relating to the very archaic cultural rules that still apply out here, which are genuinely very shocking. He also got an HIV test after simply kissing his first western girl... which was clear... and then got three more tests at his mothers demand just in case. Our early starts and the heat caught up with us though and unfortunately we didn't make it out and just continued to sit around talking to fellow travelers and other Cambodian staff and Adam as they dipped in and out.

The next day we completely changed our Asia plans (sorry mum, most of the dates on that email are now wrong!!) and after cycling into town and looking round some markets we headed straight to Phnom Penn where we have been holed up in Nomads with a couple of English girls from our dorm. The evening we arrived we went out for a few drinks together and yesterday, after going to the wrong museum, finding out the royal palace was shut and getting lost in a market we had a very sombre day as we explored S-21, a Kymer Rouge interrogation and detention centre and Cheung Ek killing fields, both being as horrific as they sound, shocking us to the core as we learnt about this countries troubled (and by god, recent) past. Even our Tuk-Tuk broke down in protest. We are still mystified a) as to how some of the atrocities committed under Kymer Rouge rule could have happened, and b) why no bloody bugger did a thing to stop it. The Kymer Rouge still had a recognized seat in the UN in 1990!!! What the F***.

In the evening we went to a curry house and made ourselves very ill by eating a huge selection of dishes and Lassi's (all you can eat rice and chapattis playing a part) before finding an Irish bar to watch the FA Cup semi in, getting very excited, drinking beer and then shamelessly celebrating in front of Tottenham fans. Mwah Ha Ha.

PS. Larry is dead. R.I.P.
PPS. Has no-one noticed the theme to the last few posts yet?!

Les Journey Miserables

So off to Ko Pha Ngan it was, easy as that, "no it's OK we don't want one of you combo tickets Mr Travel Agent, we will do it ourselves, we are super lads...". Uh Oh! In theory the plan was good, ferry, bus, ferry, simple. Unfortunately due to misleading information in the 'Traveler's Bible', the bus took longer that expected and the ferry was twice the price. We also missed the day ferry options so had to take the dreaded, cargo filled, night ferry. Luckly on arrival, we were impressed with the ferry's cribatronic set-up and the low patronage, with the boat only comprising of us, a Swiss stoner shell collector, a Thai family with hamsters and a few chickens. The ferry arrival was even nicely delayed by an hour making a 6am docking...

We opted to head for Haad Rin, the party town on the island. However, with Full Moon having been and gone, this town was pretty dead, but perfect for a chilled few days with both of us suffering from the horrific symptoms of 'Man Flu'. This also made accommodation easier to find, thus getting a centrally located private room in the 'Hill Side Bungalows' for a fraction of a Full Moon price.

After a wander around town, I decided to try and complete a secret travelling aim of catching a fish on each of the 4 continents (mainly to make Dad and Phil jealous) and with only Asia left to tick, I booked myself on a evening fishing trip for that day. With swift transport to the departure point and a rapid beer stop, I got our our long-tailed fishing boat with 5 Danish louts, a strange Russian couple and a Japanese chimney and headed out into the Gulf of Thailand. The fishing started slow with only the guide catching fish, stating how we were 'just gonna eat fry rice hahaha', however it eventually picked up with the female member of the Russian couple catching a huge White Snapper without really realizing what was happening, devastating! It of course wasn't long till I had hooked into a Snapper of my own and got the nod it was bigger enough for the BBQ later, happy! I even managed to sneak out a couple of Grouper whilst the BBQ was smoking away. After our feast of freshly cooked fish we headed back, only for our engine to blow at 11.30pm and have to get towed in with the Thai guides still laughing and joking away about how mad their wives would be, real super lads.

The next day came and it was time for the obligatory scooter rental day to circumnavigate the island. On route we saw a waterfall with no water, walked to a scenic viewing point sweating buckets before reaching a snorkeling destination in the islands northern region. Unfortunately the underwater world didn't quite match up to the delights of Ko Phi Phi but was good fun all the same, even with the world worst snorkels! The we took a nice leisurely cruise along the coast, stopping only to take in the beauty of the Island and it's surrounding seas. The big evening we had planned unfortunately never materialised because we were both shattered and the island was in a sleepy rest between moons. We did manage a quick viewing of Chelsea beating Utd which was much to the approval of the local Thai boys.

In an attempt not to repeat previous mistakes we brought one big ticket to take us back to KL that started by taking the night ferry. In preparation for this we spent our last day on the island just chilling, catching some rays, watching some F1 (that was in KL, nearly such good timing) and annoying our hostel owner by just smelling in his common area and not buying anything. Finally after one last meal with fried rice lady, our personal cook on the island we headed for our night ferry and the start of our 4 leg, 28 hour journey back for our Indian Visa!

The journey started very uneventful with only the night ferry getting in early (4.30am) causing any bant. However the full, cramped minibus from Surat Thani to Hat Yai (leg 2) induced much more excitement when after a seemingly routine stop, the driver lifted the seat and the engine decided to spontaneously combust making the minivan temperature reach boiling point, literally! Lucky what would have caused a 2 week delay in England was fixed in 20 minutes, new fan and all and off we went. Leg 3 and another cramped minibus over the border to Penang before hitting leg 4 with a Hitler-style conductor and a 1.30am arrival back 'home' to KL, smelling like very smelly people.

Being back in KL meant one thing, finally getting hold of a coveted Indian Visa which after two more visits to the office and 30 quid I can officially confirm we have! Happy days. To pass the time in KL we also frequented Batu Caves which houses the biggest statue of some Hindu person in the world but more impressive were the huge caves and crazy monkeys that were running wild inside. We also cruised around the Golden Triangle, the CBD of KL and got up the Petronas Towers to the view deck to marvel at this engineering master piece one last time.

Tomorrow we are off to Siem Reap in Cambodia, the home of Angkor Wat, just set the 3.30am start time into the Casio, could be a long day.....



P.S We hoped never have to say this, but unfortunately Larry the Laptop is terminally ill. Due to 7 months months of abuse he now rarely wants to turn and and even when he does its not for long. This may mean that blog posts from now on could be shorter (I can see you celebrating already) and have a lack of picture but we will try our best!

Treasure Islands

Having come to terms with our predicament in the fan room helped by a timely storm to cool the air we caught some sleep before arising and renting a Honda ‘Air Blade’ and a Honda ‘Click’ from our hotel. We zoomed off into the frantic Phuket traffic with only a couple of decidedly dodgy helmets to protect our precious bodies. Having decided to head to the ferry terminal and sort out transport for the next leg of our trip we promptly got lost, a fact that was clearly very evident to the MotoTaxi driver who kindly offered to show us the way for ‘no Baht’. We weren’t sure about this but he was true to his word and led the way asking for no payment... good job too, we may still be going round in circles if he hadn’t.

Having not bought the tickets we came for we instead headed north with more navigational success, but decidedly frayed nerves as we negotiated the truly crazy main roads, with people swooping around all over the place on their various scooters/cars/buses/weird contraptions. We made it to the protected rainforest and saw some elephants!! They are very strange animals indeed, I made friends with a baby who was clearly very happy to see us (the others were far too big and scary to approach!) and can also conclude that they don’t feel like you would expect either. Unfortunately these guys were being kept for rides and we weren’t sure about the conditions (some chains etc) which gives us a mild moral dilemma as we really want to do elephant riding in Chang Mai. We will have to find some with better homes. Anywho, onwards we went to a rather disappointing waterfall and a Gibbon rehabilitation centre, which had some gibbons in it. You heard it here first. We then whizzed round the top of Phuket and decided it was beach time, so we took a wrong turn and headed in completely the wrong direction for a while before realising the folly of our ways and turning round. After some dipping, a light toasting and our first Chang beer we continued tops off. Big call, but we figured if anything happened there was a 99% chance we would die, so we might as well go down feeling a little cooler and catching some rays. To our delight we made it all the way back in one piece through rush hour uber tight gaps traffic, parked the scooters and decided that was enough! We then went across the road and found an amazing little Thai kitchen, lovely food, 80p. No complaints here.

The next day we hit up the beach again and planned to catch the Grand Prix in a beach side bar. You cheeky buggers decided to move the clocks forward without telling us though so we missed the start. Good race though! And another nice Chang beer. On the way back we caught the usual bus which unusually stopped by the side of the road a little while later and told us we had to catch another bus ‘in five minutes’. To be fair, it was about five minutes but this transport was rammed. Like packed. Cue hanging on the back of the bus for half an hour through same perilous traffic complete with weaves. Health and safety really doesn’t exist here!

Having gorged on Phukets delights we boarded a ferry on a course for the Phi Phi islands, which are truly awesome. Possibly the most like paradise of all the crazy good places we have been on this trip. We flopped around the bustling little streets and sipped on fruit shakes from spring roll lady (Yoohoo!) and after getting our head around everything on offer we booked onto a full day cruise round the island the next day. Then we did something particularly stupid (even for us). We took the Reggae at teir word and went for the 'Burger challenge' See picture for the details of this challenge. See also how we would have thought there was a slim chance of us pulling it off and getting the most amazing meal free. However, we had not accounted for the onion rings. The burger was gargantuum but manageable under pressure, the chips were piled on, but possibly sinkable with only minor pangs of sickness. The BOWL of coldslaw was unexpected but not particularly filling so may have been boshable... but the onion rings. Oh my, the onion rings. Each one as big as your fist, and generously battered witht the most filling and sickly batter. There was no hope, from the outset we know we were doomed. I can't now look an onion ring in the face. Even after our best efforts we still had 18 left each. Thats the amount we had left mind, we had already sunk hundreds of the buggers. Needless to say that got their money and we got very sick.

What a day the next day was! With so many tourists on nearby Ko Pha-Ngan for the full moon party, there was only ten people on our rather large boat, and about 7 staff, who clearly decided that there was too many of them as well and proceeded to get pissed and smoke things while they took us round the highlights of the area, pointing out the best snorkel spots, which are probably ‘best’ in much greater contexts aswell, the best and most famous beaches (including Leo’s “The Beach”) and walks and swim spots. We saw so many corals and different types of fish, some in huge shoals in front of our faces I wouldn’t know where to start; I even glimpsed a reef shark. By the time we reached our stop for sunset and rain decided to join us we had had such a good day that we cut our losses and declared Chang-o’clock and got tipsy with the crew, playing tunes and dancing on deck in the rain. The party continued into port... and on into the evening! We met up later with a couple of girls we had met on the boat, drank more Chang and then headed to the Full Moon party that was going down on Phi Phi, on the beach. We got a free bucket of cocktail each (literally a small bucket) and made merry, before catching the Man U game at half one in the morning and then collapsing. Even the slightly dodgy looking, condensed form of red bull they have out here couldn’t keep us from our pillows.

Today has been our last full day here on Ko Phi Phi and we have just wandered and enjoyed its beauty, eaten even more spring rolls from spring roll lady and browsed the markets. Tomorrow we head back to the main land before making our way to Ko Pha-Ngan for no doubt more beach side boogieing.