Storms over Vietnam
3. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ 🌬 31 °C
Travel day today. There isn't an awful lot to say. 12 hours of it, give or take, were spent on a train.
Travelling from Hoi An to Danang by taxi, we made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. The waiting hall was full of soldiers, maybe a company or two. Collecting any group of Vietnamese men of that size, meant only one thing, card games. The waiting hall was more a gambling den, full of extremely animated soldiers, than it was a waiting hall. The trains were the only thing giving it away.
Having boarded the train, the sights out the window began to repeat themselves quite quickly, especially because so much of the countryside was covered in a few metres of muddy brown water, as a result of the heavy rain that the country has had over the past few weeks. That's not to say that there weren't some sights though.
There were cemeteries where the flood waters were lapping at the foot of graves. There were forests of fruit trees, with flood waters staining their lower branches. And there were plenty if water buffalo wallowing in the great brown river that had temporarily invaded their paddy fields.
Having seen more than enough Vietnamese train food pass us by on previous train trips, we decided that today would be the time to give it a go. There is nothing particularly fancy about the train breakfast/lunch/dinner, but it is something that the locals quite enjoy. It's pretty inexpensive by European standards too. And so we shared a meal of barbequed chicken pieces, tofu, sauteed cabbage and rice. It was quite delicious, and though it was served out of the most ratty looking catering gear, we both are yet to feel any gastro-intestinal issues. This is always a good thing.
Arriving into Nha Trang about 12 hours after leaving Danang, we ran the gauntlet of taxi drivers touting for business, got ourselves into the cab that we wanted, and headed to our hotel. After a quick check-in, it was time to head out for some dinner, at a local Indian restaurant. After a lot of Vietnamese it was time to for something slightly different.
First impressions of Nha Trang - it's a run down, budget version of Surfers' Paradise. with a large number of Russian visitors, judging by all the signage in cyrillic.
More news on Nha Trang to come.Lue lisää
Nah Trang (see what I did there)
4. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
After a blissful nights sleep we were awoken this morning by a child apparently being murdered next door. The best ear plugs in the world were not going to drown out this devil child, so at 6am I was up and ready to explore Nha Trang in the sunlight. After a run and a quick bite to eat, we made our way down to reception and out the front door and were welcomed by pouring rain. Boo. We quickly retreated and grabbed a hotel umbrella and made a break for the beach in between showers.
The beach is located 100m away from our hotel, but wasn't close enough for us to avoid the next shower pelting down. Turns out we were in the midst of a Typhoon and this was evidenced by the large swells which had caused a large Vietnamese fishing boat to become marooned on the beach (see cool photo below). This sight drew a large crowd comprising locals and tourists alike. We watched on as the fishermen tried to lighten the load on the deck by throwing off everything they could find including large crates of beer and water cylinders (the important things).
We decided to make our way to Tháp Bà Ponagar (a temple) and started walking along the beach towards it but were then hit by another shower. The umbrella wasn't really big enough to be comfortable for the two of us and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, and agitated with how wet I was becoming. Jamie told me to stop being a girl, I told him that I'm not a mermaid and no one likes the drowned rat look. So we changed tack slightly and went looking for a rain poncho (essentially a human sized plastic bag) for me, but not for Jamie, because he is sooooo hard. Reality was Jamie didn't want one because he said it will basically turn into a steam room under the plastic which will just cause me to sweat and become wet in the worst way possible. I didn't care (or I thought I didn't) until about 10 minutes later when my shirt became sticky and I started feeling extremely uncomfortable. Not wanting to be proven wrong, I continued wearing it while quietly dying on the inside. The lesson today was - always listen to the advice of a person who grew up in the Middle East when it comes to heat.
Nearing the temple, we crossed a river in flood with a strong current bringing trees and rubbish from upstream. The houses built on the banks on stilts, looked uneasy in the strong current, but I get the feeling these houses have seen many bad days. Finally, after walking for about 1.5 hours we finally made it to the temple. We looked around for about 30 minutes and then decided to head back to hotel via the beach to get out of the rain.
Walking back across the river via another bridge, we saw some interesting sights including a man taking a dump into the already brown river. Although this would be completely unacceptable in any developed country, here it is just the daily way of life, with a lack of toilets (or long drops) in the smaller houses. I think I will stick to the hotel swimming pool if I want a swim.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a small grocery store where we found some mango rum for VND60,000 or less than £3 pounds. Given it was this cheap, we didnt think we could go wrong, and took it back to our hotel room where we chilled out for the afternoon, and did some travel research for some of our upcoming destinations. We cracked open the rum and it tasted like pure alcohol, so, some mixers were a necessity and Jamie headed back down to buy some.
It wasn't long until we needed dinner. After perusing tripadvisor there weren't any wonderful authentic vietnamese options that offered a good vegetarian option, so for a second night in a row we headed for some delicious Indian.
Jamie's first impressions of Nha Trang still hold true. As my friend Angela put it, "A Russian Tenerife", where the signs in Russian outweigh the signs in Vietnamese. This place is definitely my least favourite in Vietnam to date. The rain certainly doesn't help either.Lue lisää
Angela AhmedFeeling honoured to have 2 mentions in your blog now....will make it my mission to get at least one more!! 😜
It was our least favourite place too! Phu quoc island is amazing if you get the chance 👍🤗
#NotOurNhaTrang
5. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Today is our second full day in Nha Trang. The weather has been pretty uncooperative with our holiday plans thus far, and this morning, it was not looking like that was going to change.
The plan in coming to Nha Trang, was to have a bit of a beach break for ourselves, about half way through our journey home. The beach is still here, though I think typhoon season has done a pretty good job of trying to wash it away, and replace it with the unwanted detritus disgorged by Vietnam's rivers. The city is working to clear the beach, but the volume of rubbish to remove is huge, and it's all done by hand. They will still be clearing the beach next month I think.
With the inability to head to the beach, we decided to head out to a nearby pagoda, after dropping our clothes at a local laundry place to be cleaned and dried. For the tidy sum of 6GBP, we were able to get 11kgs of dirty washing cleaned, dried, and folded. If only these services existed in the normal world. When we had the same service done in Beijing, it cost about 10 times as much per kg.
Thanks to the rain that has been falling persistently, the roads outside our hotel resembled muddy rivers, more so than roads. This made for an uncomfortable walk, as at times the water was close to knee height. There was also the issue of what was in the water. At the very least all the petro-chemicals washed off the road, at the worst, goodness knows.
Making it through the torrents of water, dodging the bow-wakes of buses and trucks, we made it to better drained streets, and casually made our way to the pagoda, via a coffee pitstop at a local cafe, and at the train station to buy our tickets from Nha Trang to Saigon. A top tip for the budget traveller: if you want keep costs down. Don't book anything online, or over the phone, or through your hotel. The cheapest way is to present yourself in person. By the time that someone has put their commission on the actual cost, you can easily be paying 50% more than the actual cost of travel.
On the way back to the hotel, through the hot, humid, and chaotic world of Nha Trang, we stopped at an Indian restaurant for a quick snack. Given the vast number of Russias in Nha Trang, trying to find food that wasn't super westernised Vietnamese, or just plain western, was quite hard. So chicken tandoori it was.
Getting back to the hotel, we wanted to relax a bit, and did so with another shower, and for Courtney, a foot massage before dinner. Sadly, you get what you pay for, and the foot massage that Courtney got was not the greatest. It was a bad sign, when a 12 year old was the one that rocked up to do the massage, and it didn't improve. After an hour of rubbing of legs (not feet) and disappointment, it was over.
Then it was on to one of the few Vietnamese restaurants in town that wasn't too western. The meal was half decent, but definitiely a bit too western for our tastes. We can't wait to get out of Nha Trang. It just isn't for us.Lue lisää
Angela AhmedI was wondering what had happened. Haven't heard from you for over a week. Settling in nicely with a cuppa to catch up on all your latest now! 👍
CJs Excellent AdventureHahaha we shall blame Jamie for this absence. He feel behind by a few days and I couldn't post my days until he had done his! 😀
The Story of Morrie the Marooner
6. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
After a few days of waking up to the rain pelting down on our window, it was a surprise to only be woken by Jamie's heavy breathing. I looked outside window to confirm that in fact my dream had come true, that I was going to get a beach day after all. Unfortunately, the day wasn't filled with pristine sun, with dark clouds still rolling in over the horizon but unlike days past, there were glimmers of sun popping through the clouds and this was enough for me to get my bikini ready to hit the sand.
After a quick and unfulfilling buffet breakfast which we are quickly getting over, we made our way down to the beach to grab a couple of deck chairs to try and gain a little more of a tan. As the rain and heavy winds had now stopped, operation float Morrie the boat was now in progress (marooned boat from our post two days ago) which comprised a large group of locals equipped with diggers of various sizes whose job it was to dig the boat out while the coastguard sat and waited for the perfect moment to pull it out using a rope tied around the entire boat. The boat isn't actually named Morrie, but I was talking to Teemu last night and he suggested it would be a good name. Anyway, the entire operation drew a crowd of locals and tourists who had obviously not been lectured in the essentials of digger safety and proceeded to stand in and around the vicinity of the diggers while they twisted and turned. Someone was lucky not to get their head knocked off. From the comforts of our deck chairs we had front row seats and watched on for 3 or so hours while various failed attempts were made to pull the ship into the water. During this time, we were also accousted by a large number of hawkers who were trying to sell all sorts including fruit, paintings, seafood and english novels. I pretended to be asleep so most of them approached Jamie. That in itself was hilarious to listen to, as if they had any hope of selling anything to a stingy accountant 😉!
After a few hours of this, we were getting over being solicited on the beach so we decided to make our way back to the hotel for a workout and a swim in the Infinity Pool. We headed to the hotel gym where it was the temperature of a Sauna. I proceeded to kill Jamie by getting him to complete a bikram HIIT workout. I felt a bit bad afterwards when he was close to heat stroke and I offered to go and buy him juice but being a stubborn arse he refused.
We made our way quickly to the infinity pool so Jamie could cool down and enjoyed the incredible views while I carried Jamie round the pool like a big baby.
It has been pretty chilled while we have been in Nha Trang, partly by necessity, partly by plan. Tomorrow (Jamie's birthday eve) we head to Saigon where things will be full on once more.Lue lisää
The road to Saigon
7. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
This morning was another train day. The train ride was only 7.5 hours from Nha Trang to Saigon, so nothing too extreme. And the train was only five minutes behind schedule, which given the tain had come all the way from Hanoi, was pretty good.
Unfortunately for Courtney, the train ride was not particularly pleasant. SHe had a pretty bad headache that had come on about two hours after we left the hotel. The one thing about the heat, is that you have to be careful with your hydration, and your salt intake.
The day before, we had done some aerobics in the hotel gym, and it was warm. There was a rather disgusting amount of sweat on the floor when we were done. Courtney had unfortunately not recovered sufficiently well from that session, and it came back to bite her the following day - today. And a train is no place to be feeling wretched. They are constantly rocking, they are loud, and they are bright, from all the windows.
When we arrived in Vietnam, we decided that the best thing to do would be to get to the hotel, have some dinner, and get Courtney to bed. That would allow her to reset, and be fit and well for the next day.
Checking into our hotel, we remembered that we had booked a room with no window. Given Courtney's condition, this was ideal, as there was no chance of any light pollution making her feel any worse than she already was.
Next we had an early dinner, at about 1730 - 1800, at a nearby Malaysian restaurant. We decided that we would be back to eating all Vietnamese tomorrow. The food was pretty average, and a bit overpriced by Vietnames standards, but given we are now in Saigon, the most wetsern city of the courntry, we weren;t sure if the price difference was just as rersult of a 'capital city' effect.
Having eaten Courtney, was feeling a bit better, and we went for a brief walk to get a quick look at our surroundings, ready for the next day. The biggest thing was the Ben Thanh Market, which sold everything from clothes, to electronics to gold, in addition to the ordinary fresh food and dry food. It was pretty touristy, but no a whole lot less touristy than Nha Trang. That is a very good thing.
After our quick look around, we were back at the hotel, and planning for tomorrow. It was still a very early night, and a very uneventful day.Lue lisää
Jamie's Birthday in Saigon
8. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Woooo today is Jamie's birthday! Happy Birthday Jam!
So a few months ago before we even left the UK, I planned the whole day so that I didnt have to think about it when the time came. Lazy or super organised I am not sure.
Anyway, I knew that we had a morning fill of eating so after I gave Jamie his first gift of the day (an Argentinian 2015 RWC rugby jersey that he was absolutely desperate for and couldnt find anywhere), I warned him to go easy on breakfast which given the crappy selection was relatively easy. On returning to our room, we found the hotel concierge standing outside with a cake in hand for the birthday boy. It was a lovely gesture and for someone that doesn't see the point in celebrating his birthday, he was already doing quite well out of the morning.
At 8.30am, we left our hotel for our secret destination which was the local markets where we were meeting our chef from the Saigon Cooking School (Present 2 for Jamie) who would take us on a tour around the markets showing us weird and wonderful things for purchase like live frogs, lamb brains and hearts before heading to the school to cook up a storm. We learnt how to differentiate many different herbs and what type of herbs go into making the base for Pho (including Star Anise and Cinnamon) and got to appreciate the art of making rice paper.
When we finally made it to the cooking school, we were shown the menu of everything we were going to learn to cook which included rice paper rolls, green mango salad and fried rice. We started with the rice paper rolls which were surprisingly easy to make apart from me over wetting the rice paper. Once I got the hang of that, we made two rolls complete with a satay sauce which was absolutely delicious and now fortunately I know how to make. Vietnamese food for everyone when we get home!
We moved on to the green mango salad where we got to make pretty vegetables just like you see in most Asian cooking and followed it up with some fried rice which was fast and stressful with everyone on the gas stations. At the end of our class we were presented with dessert where Jamie was serenaded with a Happy Birthday song. Cue awkward face from Jamie.
After class, I gave Jamie two choices - we could head up the Financial tower for a good view or do the more morbid activity and head to the War Remanants Museum which documents the atrocities of the Vietnam War and the effects of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese population. Jamie being Jamie chose the more morbid of the two and we treked north towards the museum. On this journey we were presented with a new phenomena, scooters driving at high speed along the pavements. No where was safe anymore, not even the footpath and I now had to pay attention to everything. This is hard for me as I am so unobservant and tend to zone out.
We made it unharmed to the museum and proceeded to learn about all the torture methods that were used on prisoners held at Phu Quoc Island Prison and their treatment in "Tiger Cages". The cages were mortifying, as they were surrounded with barbed wire and only provided enough room for someone to lie down. When that space was shared with 3 other people, you can easily see how this was a sick method of torture. After observing various jail spaces and the guillotine, we entered the main building. The museum comprises of numerous photographic exhibitions showcasing the treatment of the Vietnamese people, the wide ranging disabilities caused by the generational effects of exposure to Agent Orange and a homage to photographers who died while documenting the war. The photos ranged from soilders being decapitated by the Americans, children and their mothers being murdered and the hardest hitting of them all, the effects of Agent Orange on unborn fetuses. There are no words to describe the utter sadness I felt by looking at this awful history which was unfairly inflicted on these beautiful and friendly Vietnamese people that we have come to know over the past few weeks. I couldn't for the life of me understand why the Vietnamese do not hate America for all the ongoing pain the country has caused here. Humanity certainly has a lot to answer for and I cannot fathom how human beings can do this to one another.
I had to take a bit of time for myself while Jamie kept looking around the exhibition until I felt I could continue on with the day as planned and after a few hugs from the Birthday Boy, life once again felt a little more rosy.
We left the museum to head back to the hotel briefly before the evening plans took hold. We decided to make a quick stop at a coffee shop beside our hotel for a couple of drinks before getting ready to hit the town. 1 hour later, dressed a little more classy, we were heading to Jamies next present of the day, cocktails at the rooftop Shri bar. The cocktails were all Vietnamese concotions which came in the form of coconuts, ships and milk bottles. The view from the top was pretty amazing with the skyline lit up in technocolour.
At 6.45pm, it was time to head to the main attraction for the night - Noir Restaurant. The restaurant is completely pitch black to heighten your taste senses. The best part of this restaurant is that they hire disabled people (blind and deaf) to be the wait staff. The experience started by us being blindfolded and having to complete a childrens shape puzzle. Jamie started off well, but ended up putting a shape into the wrong hole and I overtook him and won where I got to remove my blindfold and watch Jamie trying to figure it out (see photo below). After this, the blind staff showed us to our table in the dark, which was done by me holding the shoulders of our waiter "Thom" and Jamie holding onto mine.
Once seated, it took awhile for our eyes to adjust to blackness and our hands to adjust to our surroundings. We were served wine, and Thom guided our hands individually to where our wine glasses were. Jamie and I managed to clink our glasses together for a toast without spilling any (I think). We were then served our entrees which was comprised of 4 items, 2 soups and 2 salads. I attempted to eat my first soup but ended up getting it mainly over the table. I figured out quickly that I needed to grab the small bowl and put it as close to my face as I could while using my cutlery and managed to eat the rest of the entree, main and dessert courses with ease. Jamie throughly enjoyed the experience and even though he is in his words "blind as a bat" he found it just as difficult to adjust as I did.
After dinner, we were shown what we were eaten on an Ipad to see if we had managed to guess what we had consumed. We had both managed to guess a number of our dishes but were stumped by a few.
And with all of that, dinner was over. We went for a late night walk down to the waterfront to see the buildings lit up at night and made our way slowly back to the hotel where we scoffed the cake because we could 😎🎂Lue lisää
Angela AhmedHappy Birthday Jamie! 🎁🎉🍸. Interested to hear what you think of Ho Chi Minh City v Hanoi. I preferred Hanoi; it felt more traditional somehow. What do you think? X
CJs Excellent AdventureI feel exactly the same, Ho Chi Minh could have been just any other city in my opinion but Hanoi was felt much more traditional and the food was 10x better!
Angela AhmedDefo!!! Missing the food already!! Loved the sound of the cookery course. I'm sending Kabir on a Vietnamese cookery course here in London for Xmas. Scrummy!! 🍲🍜🌯🍚
A walk with a slight hangover
9. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
The morning after can be a testing time, and this morning was no different. After a few drinks the night before, and a warm and humid climate, were both feeling more than a bit green. But we are on holiday, and we weren't going to let something as small as a hangover, restrict our day.
Given that we weren't at our best, we tried to keep the day as relaxing as possible. We spent it exploring more of the city on foot, and also taking the US Consulate up on an open invitation to watch the US election unfold at a conference centre they had rented out.
First stop on the walk was City Hall, followed by a wander down Nguyen Hue Boulevard, which runs between City Hall and the Saigon River. Along the boulevard we came across the obligatory statue of Ho Chi Minh, and the Saigon Opera House, which was unfortunately largely cordoned off as a result of construction work.
Saigon is building a mass transit system, that will include both subway, and elevated rail, and the area around the opera house will become a large subway station. With so much work going on, it wouldn't be surprising for us to come back to HCMC in ten years, and not recognise a thing.
Arriving at the water, we followed in around until we had to turn away to head towards the US consultate election party. The walk to the conference centre felt like it took forever, but in the end, it took exactly as long as we had expected it too. It was just incredibly hot. The election party was very well done, and very relaxed, given that it wasn't at the actual US Consulate, and all the security that that would entail. There were soft drinks, cakes, donuts, and all manner of other Americana for people to use free of charge. There were plenty of people there, including a very large number of Vietnamese, rather than American expats, which is what we had expected. It was definitely a Hillary room, and so the mood was more than a bit sombre, despite the fact that in all the time we were there, the election had yet to be decided. It just looked very ominous. And so it would turn out to be.
After watching the results of the American election come in, we wandered back towards our hotel and the Ben Thanh Street Food market to get some lunch. It is pretty safe way for tourists to dip their toes into the local cuisine. What we had was decribed as a fusion of Vietnamese and Western cuisines, but realistically, it was Vietnamese food for tourists. Very tasty, but very touristy. We could have had something more authentic, but we were just not feeling like thinking.
After our late lunch, we headed back to the hotel, and booked ourselves a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels for the following day. Research is important if you have the time, because the price of these tours can vary wildly, and no two people will pay the same price. How much you pay depends on the number of middle men you deal with, and how brave they are in their attempt to maximise their commission. We bought online as it was easiest. Hangovers have a tendency to do that to you.
Having booked the next days activities, it was time to go for a late afternoon walk, to try and find a gym for Courtney. We were directed to one by the hotel, but on arrival quickly decided that US$20 per visit was slightly more than was reasonable. So we placated Courtney's need to exercise by walking to the Central Post Office, and Cathedral, which are next to each other. Also next door, a McDonalds. We stopped and had an ice cream.
We then searched for an ATM that would accept out bank card, which was a bit difficult. But on the tenth ATM, one eventually gave us some money. Getting cash in Asia has been much harder than we would have liked. Whether it is technology, or the banks refusing to accept Mastercard, or the ATMs operating to normal bank hours, it has been a joy.
But having got some cash, we headed to get out dinner at a local vegan restaurant. We could be sure that way, that Courtney could have anything on the menu.
And then the day was over.Lue lisää
Speedboats and Cocktails
10. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
After the horrors of the election yesterday, we decided to keep ourselves busy and away from the news/wifi by taking a trip up the Saigon River by Speedboat to the Cu Chi tunnels. The tunnels were originally built during the French occupation but were mainly used in the fight against the South Vietnamese/Americans during the Vietnam War, 20 or so years later.
Our mini bus picked us up at our hotel at 7am, where we were shortly joined by Libby and Jason, a GP and fellow Accountant from Glasgow and within minutes we were talking like old friends, trading stories about Scotland and trying to convince them to move to NZ.
We jumped on the speedboat and took off up the river dodging river weeds and lillipads while being served a Breakfast comprising Bahn Bao, fruit and Vietnamese coffee. Libby and I were in such deep conversation that we hadnt realised that the boat had stopped and picked up other people halfway through our journey. After 1.5 hours on the boat, we arrived at the tunnels, and were quickly escorted off and into a bunker showing a propoganda video of the areas history. Before we came, I thought the tunnels comprised a small network close to the river, however the complex as a whole is over 250km in length. That is insane when you consider they were dug by hand or digging apparatus constructed out of Bamboo and that the only thing holding them open is the clay itself. No shot crete, netting or rock bolting here my geological friends.
We walked around a small portion of the complex, complete with the obligatory get in the tiny hole picture (see below). Our guide informed us that this tunnel (which is bloody tiny as it is) had to be made slightly larger due to an incident where a tourist got stuck in the hole and had to be cut out. She normally advises people if they are too big to get in, but in this instance she had turned around and was distracted when he jumped in the hole. Anyway, Jamie was the first in our group to give it a go and was followed by the majority of the men in the group, with the ladies being slightly concerned by their child bearing hips and the size of the hole. As the group was walking off, I jumped in the hole just to prove that us ladies could do it and got out quickly before I was attacked from anything in the dark depths of the hole (which there was nothing of course).
We continued our tour viewing various traps, bunkers and air vents before we arrived at the shooting range where you could pay to shoot a number of different guns ranging from the casual M16 shotgun, the AK47 and an M30. Not being the biggest fan of guns, I was a bit torn between whether I would give it a go or not. It wasn't until we were informed that all the money spent would go towards the victims of Agent Orange, that I decided I would give it a go and subsequently chose the AK47 to shoot my bullets into a stopbank. All I kept wondering was how much lead was in that soil. Geek. Jamie followed and chose the Carbine.
Our last stop on the tour was getting in the tunnels themselves and trying to navigate the 100m route. The size of the tunnel was about 1m high so to navigate them you had to do a squat shuffle. There were various exits along the 100m, so if your legs got too sore or if you got to scared you could come out. I made it to 60m before I decided I had enough, but Jamie went the whole way.
Before we jumped back on the boat, we were treated to a delicious Vietnamese lunch and sat around the table discussing travel plans, the US election result and Brexit with Libby and Jason and Gael and Steve who were on their honeymoon from England.
After lunch it was time return to Ho Chi Minh and I spent the majority of the boat ride talking to Steve and Gael about the rest of their honeymoon plans and their jobs as Air Traffic Controllers. I told them I had looked into becoming one once and I decided I probably wouldnt be that good at it as I have a tendency to zone out and that I had zoned out while watching the video earlier. The conversation took a more sinister turn when we started discussing the Vietnam War, Americas current relationship with Vietnam and then again the US election and what it could mean. The result has not sunk in for anyone yet, and I dont think it really will for sometime. One thing we all agreed on though is that Donald Trump being elected as president is not the scariest thing, the scariest thing is the number of people who support that rhetoric and think the same. The underlying feelings of everyone in the group is disbelief, horror snd fear. The world is all of a sudden a very scary place to be in.
After finishing our conversation on death and destruction, it wasn't long until we were back on land, and heading back towards our hotels. We had notionally agreed to meet up with at the Saigon Saigon bar later on, but it was "if we see you, we see you" and said our goodbyes to Libby and Jase and Gael and Steve and headed back to our hotel for a quick rest and to get a bit more glammed up for a night of cocktails.
On our friend Will's recommendation who had spent time here with the Australian Navy, we made our way towards the Grand Hotel Saigon to get some amazing views and mojitos from the rooftop bar. Within 10 minutes, we were joined by Libby and Jase and laughed at the irony that without even planning it, we found each other again, like it was fate. During this trip, we have met people that we have found instant connections with and Libby and Jase were no exception. I suppose likeminded people end up in the same place, but within minutes of meeting this morning, I felt like I had been friends with them for years.
Anyway three cocktails later and with the happy hour over, we decided to move on to the Saigon Saigon bar to make the most of their extended happy hour. This is where we ran into Gael and Steve and the four of us drunken kids interrupted their romantic evening together and proceeded to join them for a few more drinkies before they needed to head off to the Noir Restaurant where Jamie and I went the other night. Just after 7pm and at the end of the Saigon Saigon happy hour, we decided to move on quickly to the nearby Sheraton who had a happy hour which extended until 8pm where two more cocktails were ordered. Gael and Steve only had time for 1 more though and nearing 8.30pm we waved our goodbyes and wished them safe travels for the rest of their journey. The rest of us were quickly finding ourselves very VERY drunk, so at 9.30pm decided dinner was a must and settled on the Ben Thanh Market for dinner. We arrived and ordered a few Buns but it wasnt long until Libby started to feel unwell, and needed to go back to the hotel. We said our quick goodbyes and finished dinner and headed back to our hotel for much needed water and sleep.Lue lisää
Angela AhmedI heard about the earthquakes in NZ. Hoping that's not where you live and that your friends and family are safe. x
CJs Excellent AdventureHi Ange, we don't live in that area fortunately but alot of our friends and family do and have been affected but fortunately all are safe xx
A trip to Can Tho
11. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Today was another travel day, though a relatively short one. The journey from Ho Chi Minh CIty to Can Tho, only took about four hours or so. But to get on the bus, we had to go for a bit of a mission through HCMC to find the bus company's ticket office, to get a ticket, and then get to the bus station.
After being misdirected to the wrong ticket office by the reception at the hotel, and spending about 30 mins trying to find it, we headed back to the hotel, jumped in a taxi with our bags, and headed to the proper ticket office. On arrival, we had our tickets in two minutes, and were bundled onto a shuttle bus that would take us to the bus station.
On the shuttle bus, we met a German couple, Alex and Annie, who were heading to the same place as us. As luck would have it, they were sitting next to us on the bus proper, once we got on it, It is always nice to have different people to talk to.
The bus took four hours or so to get to Can Tho, including a stop at halfway, at a very well serviced roadside stop. It included a wee fruit market, dry foods market, and even electronic sales. There were also plenty of street food vendors too.
Getting off at our bus stop in Can Tho, we discovered that we were about 3km away from our hotel, so jumped in a taxi and made our way there. Our hotel had been built in a seemingly odd area. It was boxed in by an all day street market on one side, and by a car mechanic on the other. We couldn't fault the quality of the hotel, as our room was enormous, and coated in marble. And being on the street market meant it was always in the middle of the action.
Dumping our bags, we headed out to get some food, and quickly discovered that the area is very touristy. Can Tho has a lot of tourism that revolves around the Cai Rang floating market, and we think that many people like us, show up for a day, visit the market, and then move on. Unfortunately for us, this made finding a reasonably priced meal a bit hard. And by reasonably priced, I mean by Vietnamese standards. The food was also pretty westernised.
Having refueled with some food, we headed back to the hotel so that Courtney could could go for a quick run on the gym treadmill, and so we could make arrangements to get a bus the next day to Chau Doc and arrange a tour of the floating market. On the way to the room, we visited the roof of the hotel to get a good view of the city. It was slightly scary because it wasn't so much the roof we ended up on, but a platform built on top of the roof using little more that scaffolding and concrete. It didn't feel secure, so we headed back down once the photos had been quickly taken.
Back in the room we got everything sorted for the next day, and then headed back out for some dinner at what appeared to be a pretty authentic restaurant. It wasn't. It was yet another restaurant that served extremely westernised versions of Vietnamese classics. It was not pleasant, and that was a real shame.
On the way back from our dinner, we perused the local night market, which seemed to be where all the locals in the town were. It was mobbed.
And that was the end of the day.Lue lisää
Along the Mekong River
12. marraskuuta 2016, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Our day started bright and early to meet our tour guide who would take us on a small boat to the floating markets. We met Cho (our guide) in the hotel lobby at 6am and proceeded to walk through the lively market adjacent to our hotel towards the boat ramp where we boarded our boat, driven by a Vietnamese lady.
We bobbed down ther river for an hour, avoiding the bow waves of larger bully boats while observing the large amount of rubbish floating down river which kept getting stuck in the propeller. 1 hour later, and we arrived at the floating markets - a wholesale market where items like pineapple, sweet potato and watermelon are sold in bulk to local restaurant owners, market sellers and hotels. To determine what was for sale on each boat, a bamboo stick flying the boats produce is placed at the rear of the boat to entice buyers. Sellers come from far and wide from along the Mekong River and depending on the type of produce sold they stayed at the market for 1-2 days for items like pineapple or 1-2 weeks for items like sweet potato which has a longer shelf/boat life. Apparently the busiest time of year for the market is just before the New Year where watermelon is in high demand, as it is the main celebratory fruit.
The great thing about this market is that, as it is wholesale, there is no one hassling you to buy anything, so you get to lay back and enjoy the experience without fear of being targeted as a tourist. After a few trips around the market, we headed up a tributary to gain a bit more of an insight to the local way of life, with young children waving and yelling hello at us all the way. The children here are absolutely gorgeous and it warms my soul everytime I see them.
We made a stop at a local rice noodle factory where they make between 300-400kg of dried rice noodles per day which is sold to local restaurants. I thought this volume was excessive given the smaller population of the surrounding area but Cho informed us that this volume was no where near enough and the factory is one of two that services the local area to make sure they have enough rice noodles to keep them going. To make the rice noodles, the liquid (50% rice powder and 50% cassava powder mixed with water) is cooked on a circular hot plate for a few minutes and then placed on a sheet of bamboo where it is dried for 3 hours in the sun. After it has dried the rice paper is dipped in water for 1-2 seconds to make it softish before it is put through a rice noodle press, to turn a sheet into individual noodles. The noodles are then packaged up into 1kg bags and transported by bike to local restaurants. As the factory has two ovens, the inside temperature was incredibly warm and made it difficult to hang around too long, but the amazing workers do it everyday.
Just outside the factory we stopoed for breakfast comprising Vietnamese coffee, pho, pineapple and dried banana rice cake before making our way back to the boat to head back towards our hotel. On the way back we spoke to Cho about his options for immigrating with his real work as an engineer and methods for teaching English to others. Jamie recommended listening to the BBC World Service, I recommended anything non American. We weren't very helpful.
Back at our hotel, I managed to fit in a quick run before our shuttle bus was due to pick us up to take us back to the bus station. Our plan was to take a bus towards the Vietnam/Cambodia border where we would stop and stay in Chau Doc for the evening before taking a speedboat up the Mekong River into Cambodia and to Phnom Penh. The bus fares are very cheap, costing us only £4 pounds each on the local bus for a 4 hour journey. The bus even comes with free water and wifi. New Zealand could learn a thing or two from this.
On board the bus, we settled into watching a few tv shows on my tablet before we stopped at the halfway point so the driver could have some lunch. On arrival, Jamie got a pat on the back and turned around to find our friend Gauthier, who we met on the train from Moscow to Irkutsk. If there was any definition of a small world, this was it. The three of us stared and laughed in disbelief that in the middle of the Mekong delta, we had found ourselves on the same little bus. After a quick catch up during the break, we got back on the bus with promises of beers in Chau Doc later that night.
It was not long until we were off the bus again being transfered to a larger sleeper bus, which was massively more comfortable than the one previous. For the rest of the journey, I could lie back and message Mum, Kels and Maevie back home in New Zealand while transversing the banks of the Mekong.
We arrived at Chau Doc and quickly found our hotel, threw down our bags and hit the streets to try and book a boat that would take us up the river in the morning. We walked 1km towards the river until we arrived at the Victoria hotel which also had a speedboat service. We enquired and were told that their service was really only for hotel guests only but we could get on if we paid $89 USD pp. The prices on the internet indicated that other providers cost around $25 USD pp, so quickly left.
On our way back towards our hotel we ran in Gauthier again and together we worked out where to go and found a boat company who would take us for $25 USD. We toasted our success on not being ripped off with a few beers at a local street restaurant by the river before making our way back towards our hotel for dinner and sleep.Lue lisää
Teemu goes to Cambodia
13. marraskuuta 2016, Kambodza ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
This is the second time that I am writing this post. The weather is so warm that the tablet I was writing on overheated, and lost the entry that I had almost finished writing. This was upsetting. Not so much because it was a literary masterpiece, but because it took 45 mins of my time, and now it will take some more to write it out again from memory.
Back to the story of the actual day - not the writing of this post.
The day started at 0600, followed by a quick and dissappointed breakfast at the hotel, where I managed to spill coffee all over the table. Hrading back to the ticket agency where we procured our river boat tickets to Cambodia the night before, we met Gauthier just before 0700. From here we would be shuttled to the waterfront by the boat company.
After five minutes, a man showed up on a push bike, towing a trailer. This as it turned out, would be our transportation. Gauthier went first, and five minutes later we followed. Arriving at the jetty, we couldn't help but notice that Gauthier was missing. We were assured that he had been put on the boat that we could now see in the distance, and that we would be placed on the boat now tied up at the jetty. We waited on the boat for twenty minutes or so, as a group of Danish people arrived on a tour, and transferred from their bus to the boat.
Leaving the dock at about 0730, we headed north, to the border, and to Cambodia. On the way, we watched the Vietnamese on the river go about their daily lives. Some were fishing, some were crossing on ferries, others were either heading to or back from one of the many floating markets on Mekong River system, and others were transporting large volumes of sand and aggregate to cities for use in construction.
As we got closer to the Cambodia border, the number of dredging barges increased, as did the number of cargo ships, moored by the river side, and waiting for their next load of sand to cart back to town. The border between Cambodia and Vietnam was pretty obvious. There was line of 12-15 dredging barges stretching across the river, gathering up all the sediment newly arrived in Vietnam from Cambodia, via Thialand, Laos, Burma, and Tibet. I can only imagine that that section of the river bed is many times deeper than the remainder of the river, which itself is often 20m deep normally.
Making our first stop at a floating building, we disembarked to clear Vietnamese border control. In the waiting room, we were happy to see Gauthier, alive, well, and drinking a beer. He had made it onto the boat before us, just as we had been told. Though in this part of the world, you are never quite sure if assertions like that made by staff are entirely true.
After 30 mins off the boat, we got back on again, and then headed to the Cambodia border crossing. All the admin was handled from a compound on the river bank, though it was a strange place. There were hens everywhere, scratching for food, there were children playing, there was clothes hanging in a corner of the compound, and fighting cocks being fed in their cages in another. Not your typical border crossing, but we are entering another world to some degree as we go to Cambodia, so we shouldn't be too surprised.
Getting back on the boat, we headed to Phnom Penh. The difference between Vietnam and Cambodia was stark, even if just from the back of a river boat. In Vietnam, there were boats everywhere on any stretch of water, no matter how big or small the expanse of water. In Cambodia, we were on the Mekong River, 400 - 500m wide, and there was scarcely a boat to be seen. Only the odd motorised canoe, and occasional container barge.
That didn't mean there was nothing to see though. We saw a wedding by the water, on a plantation. Children playing in the water, and many farmers tending to their crops. The only industrialisation we saw was around Phnom Penh, were we passed an LPG/Oil port, followed by a container boat. Somehow a 150-200m LPG carrier had made it this far up the Mekong. It seemed very out of place, as such ships are usually confined to the sea.
Arriving in Phnom Penh we were dumped off the boat in the middle of nowhere. As we would discover, this was because of the Water Festival that had started that day, and would continue for another two. It involved boat races down the stretch of river where the river boat port was. While it was more than annoying for us, it was great news for the tuk-tuk drivers of Phnom Penh.
As we approached our hotel by tuk-tuk, the River Festival struck again, as the area around our hotel had been turned into a pedestrian zone. That meant that we had to walk about 1.5km, weighted down by our big bags. We arrived at the fancy hotel we had booked, looking quite dishevelled. Fortunately, after a quick shower, and chance of clothes we were ready to face the world again, and headed along to a vegetarian restaurant to have some lunch, and a cheeky drink. The beer was pretty good, though the G&T was more G than T, which made it hard going for Courtney.
After lunch we headed back to the hotel, an got in touch with Gauthier to try and meet up for a drink/dinner. Settling on a time, we got him at his hostel. There we met Brice ( a fellow Frenchman), and headed out into the night. Our hotel had told us there would be a fireworks show at 1900, but as it turned out, it started at 1800, so we missed that entirely. We did arrive at the waterfront to see a number of iluminated barges sail pass, to the delight of the throngs.
Having had a few drinks, we decided it was time for some dinner, and settled into the least touristy restaurant we could find, that served local food. The food was fine - nothing exceptional - though we did try deepfried tarantula. It was rather tasty, and I would compare it to eating snail. It was marinated in so much sauce, that there wasn't really a lot of flavour in the spider to taste. It mostly provided texture, which was crisy, a bit like a spring roll. Courtney being a complete aracnophobe was scared to go near the plate.
After dinner, we headed back to Gauthier's hostel, as it had the cheapest drinks US50c for a beer, and decent cocktails to boot. We played a few games of pool, and then headed back to our hotel.Lue lisää
Cambodian History - Genocide & Festivals
14. marraskuuta 2016, Kambodza ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
On our first full day in Phnom Penh, we decided to spend it learning about the atrocities committed against the Cambodian people by Pol Pot and his regime. This comprised a visit to the Ek Choeung Genocidial Centre (the Killing Fields) and the Tuol Sleng Prison Musuem.
Upon exiting our hotel, we found a Tuk Tuk driver named Mr Cow who agreed to take us on a return trip to the Killing Fields for $15 USD. We jumped in and started our journey, with Mr Cow stopping at key points of interest and telling us a bit about the history in each location. Cow told us about government corruption (pointing out the police taking bribes), the cost of living, the forced removal of local farmers and the reclamation of their paddy fields (used to grow crops such as morning glory) to build expat housing estates and the relocation of locals (with little or no government payout) to make way for large building developments. It's safe to say that although the Cambodian way of life has greatly improved since the reign of the Khmer Rouge, the country still has a long way to go in equal and fair treatment of the Cambodian people.
After about 40 minutes of driving along uneven roads through small villages, we arrived at the Killing Fields. The first thing I noticed when queuing to buy a ticket was signs which prohibited people from playing Pokemon Go inside the centre. It saddened and shocked me that these signs were required and that people had so little regard and awareness for the atrocities that were committed here. We later found out by reading the local newspaper that both the genocidal centre and the Tuol Sleng Prison museum were used as meeting points for Pokemon Go players which rightly drew anger from survivors and victims families. The shear ignorance is unbelievable.
Upon paying, we recieved our audio guide and commenced our tour of the museum which was as you might expect, harrowing. The tour takes you around the mass burial sites where small fragments of bone lie on the surface of the soil as the audio guide recounts stories of surviviors and soilders. Recovered clothes and larger bones are presented in glass boxes at various points throughout the tour which finishes off by showcasing over 3000 skulls in a large temple, which are identified by their age, gender and the method of murder. I had been warned that this place was a very difficult to come to, and by all accounts it was, but, it is also important to witness the evil that can be done by other human beings to ensure that you are able to do everything in your power to ever prevent it from happening again.
Feeling a bit washed out, we took a quick break by doing a little bit of shopping before we headed to the Tuol Sleng S21 Museum. Mr Cow (who had waited for us in the Museum), offered to stop and wait for us while we perused the Russian Market, so we took him up on the offer and went to explore the shop stalls and food hall. 1 hour later, with more elephant merchandise than I knew what to do with, we proceeded to the museum, where we said our final goodbyes to Mr Cow, who had been so warm and friendly and gave him some extra money for showing us his city.
Before the Khmer Rouge, the S21 was a school. During Pol Pot's reign, it became a torture centre, where thousands of men, women and children were sent to be interrogated and tortured, after which they were sent to places like the Killing Fields where they were murdered. Entire families (including children) were killed during this time for fear of retaliation and revenge being sought against the regime. The museum showcases the cells for both solitary and mass detention, pictures of prisoners and mechanisms of torture. Again the audio guide takes you through a number of first hand accounts while you walk around and witness the brutality of the human race.
We walked the 30 minutes back to our hotel, deep in discussion about how humans can be so cruel to one another whilst surrounded by hordes of Cambodians celebrating the Water Festival. This in itself suppressed the sadness I felt after spending the day witnessing crimes against humanity at its highest level. It was now the second day of the three day Water Festival and things were getting crazier by the minute. The water festival is held to celebrate the end of the monsoon season and the semiannual reversal of flow of the Tonlé Sap river. In 2010, 347 people were killed and 755 were injured in a human stampede. The annual festival was cancelled for the following 3 years and was only held again in 2014. However, the 2014 festival failed to attract the crowds and in 2015 it was cancelled again. So the Cambodian people have waited 2 years for this event and they were certainly in a mood to party.
We quickly dropped back in at the hotel for a swim and shower, before heading down to the waterfront to meet Gauthier and Brice to watch the fireworks in a cordoned off area with seats which was set aside especially for tourists, and adjacent to the Royal tent. We had the best seats in Phnom Penh (with the exception being the Royal tent) however, it felt weird being given special treatment to watch a local festival when the locals peered in through the fence from the outside.
Whilst in tent, we ran into our South African friends - Bianca and Jon, and decided to go for a few drinks before grabbing a bite to eat. We had a few happy hour beers and went on our merry way fo find dinner before I died of hunger.Lue lisää
Angela AhmedI'm sat here on the train on my commute to the City with a tear in my eye! Great writing, very moving. Thanks for the history lesson. x
Boat racing and Fireworks in Phnom Penh
15. marraskuuta 2016, Kambodza ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
Today was out second full day in Phnom Penh, and having been to the emotionally heavy sites of Khmer Rouge atrocities yesterday, we were looking for something a bit lighter today. It was also the third and final day of the Water Festival, the culmination of a huge party for the locals.
Setting out from our hotel, we dropped off some washing to be cleaned and folded, before heading to the waterfront and walking north. As we had left early, the racing associated with the Water Festival hadn't yet started, but there was still a lot to see along the embankment, as street sellers set up their shops, and families picniced on the grassy verges.
Eventually we arrived at Wat Phnom, a buddhist temple built on a wee hill, in the middle of a roundabout. Walking to the top, there were quite a few locals there, perhaps as a result of the Water Festival. For them it was an incredibly religious affair. For us, considerably less so.
Next, we headed to the central market, Psar Thmey. The idea was to book a bus to Siem Reap, but we weren't able to find the ticket office. We did manage to have a wander through the market itself, and found a great many wonders. The seafood section was particularly interesting. So many different fish, so many different snails, so many different crabs and lobsters,
Feeling a bit hot and sweaty, we headed back to the hotel for a half-day shower, and then headed out again to watch the finale of the Water Festival's racing, and secure our seat for the fireworks show that night. We watched about hour hours of racing, which was pretty exciting at times. Watching about 100 people paddle a boat at speed is spectacular, and it amazed us that despite all of the bouncing and flexxing of the boat hulls, they didn't ever split in two. Other excitement for the day: one of the two judges boats at the finish sank, and one of the crews on one of the racing boats had a fit and was carried to the hospital tent, by a sea of his teammates. If he had been conscious, it would have been one of the bext crowdsurfing moves ever. Unfortunately, this poor man was not doing too well.
After a few hours, we managed to find Gauthier in the mess of people at the tourists' tent, and sat down on the embankment itself, to be a bit closer to the action. As the racing finished, the winners were presented with medals by the King / Crown Prince (not sure which of the two it was), before they paraded up the river carrying the Royal swords, and standard. And then, as the day turned to night, the fireworks began.
We were pretty close to the fireworks barge, so had a very good view. THe view was so good in fact, that we could see the men running around on the barge lighting the fuses of all the fireworks. Whoever they were, they were very brave indeed.
When the fireworks were over, we had dinner at a restaurant staffed by disaffected youth being trained in hospitality. After dinner, there was time for a few drinks, and then it was time for bed.Lue lisää
Angela AhmedSo lucky that you managed to be there for the Water Festival. It sounds great and very entertaining. 🚣🏻🎊
Royal palaces and feasts
16. marraskuuta 2016, Kambodza ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Our last full day in Phnom Penh, and as the fesitval is over, a number of key attractions including the Royal Palace were open again. After a lateish breakfast, we found out that the palace was only open until 11am and reopened at 2pm. As we already had a cooking class organised for the afternoon, we had to make a very quick tuk tuk trip to the palace and arrived at 10.15am, so speed sightseeing was in order.
To enter the palace, you had to be covered up, so I had brought a long sleeve black running top with me and was wearing my jeggings, which was the stupidest idea in the book. Within minutes, I was sweating like a pig and cursing my choice of clothing attire. The palace was absolutely beautiful though, with the obligatory throne room, gold and silver elephants and temples on display.
We made it out of the palace grounds at 11am on the dot, where we decided to walk back to our hotel whilst being accousted by numerous tuk tuk drivers. It seems odd for anyone to walk anywhere here based on the looks we get from drivers when we say that we are happy to walk. Once back at our hotel, we decided to chill out for the few hours we had between when we arrived back and our cooking class. A quick change into pool attire and I found myself enjoying my book and drinking Mojitos on the side of the pool. The cost of Mojitos here varies from $1.5 to $5. At our hotel it was $5, so it certainly was a bit extravagent.
After getting a little more tanned, it was time to head to our Khmer Cooking Class, where fresh spring rolls, Beef (or for me, Tofu) Lok Lak and Banana Coconut Milk were on the agenda. We were also joined by a group of Canadians aged 50+ who were on a day trip from their cruise up the Mekong River. After a few introductions, we started on the first item of the day which was the dessert, as it needed time to set before being consumed. The basic ingredients were tapoica, gelatine, banana, coconut milk, water and sugar which was all boiled up in a pot and then poured into a dish to set at room temperature. Now it was time for the fresh spring rolls. After learning to make these various times in Vietnam, we thought we had this down, but the Cambodian roll theirs slightly differently and our first attempt turned out a little bit basic. Me, being the super competitive one, was just trying to beat everyone else to the finish line and I am pleased to report that I did. Once complete, we took our rolls out to the main dining area and spoke to the Canadians about our trip and enquired about theirs. They happened to be on a zooped up version of the cooking class and had two free drinks each included in their costs. Most of the ladies didn't want their second drink and "donated" them to Jamie and I, which was a lovely gesture.
Another mojito later and it was time to get cooking the main course "Beef Lok Lak" which consists of Beef/Tofu marianated in a sauce comprising tomato sauce, chicken salt, oyster sauce, salt and sugar and mixed with onions and garlic and topped with a fried egg. The dish which was surprisingly easy was absolutely delicious and will be definetely recreating this at home. We ate our mains and desserts proudly, and said goodbye to our Canadian friends, before making our way back to the hotel for a quick pit stop before going to meet Gauthier for a walk around the night markets. After a quick look around the clothing section of the market, we decided to grab a quick meal from one of the vendors and sat with the locals, on the ground mats. There was a bit of confusion about payment at the end of the meal which ended up with various Cambodians trying to translate for us to the owners. 30 minutes later, we managed to come to an agreement, paid and walked back to the hotel, feeling full and ready for sleep.Lue lisää
Phnom Penh to Siem Reap
17. marraskuuta 2016, Kambodza ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
The start to today was a bit stressful. We had to the bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap at 0945, which in and of itself, was not too much of an issue. The bus company was going to pick us up at the hotel, an hour or so before the bus left. At 0900 the shuttle hadn't arrived, so we got a local tuk-tuk to take us where we need to go. Unfortuntely for us, the traffic was atrocious, This meant that we had to walk half of the way, with our big bags on our bag, it 30+ degree heat, to make sure that we arrived on time. In the end, we got there with mins to spare.
Annoyingly, there were such heavy problems that the bus left an hour late. It didn't make us too late into Siem Reap though. The bus just cut the stops along the way a bit shorter. But 30 mins to have a lunch was more than sufficient it turns out, at a roadside cafe in some nameless little town along the way.
Arriving in Siem Reap, we made our way to the hotel. As there was a gym, Courtney went for a quick burst on the treadmill, and afterwards, we looked into how we were going to see the Angkor complex. We settled on bicycles, combining a bit of exercise, a bit of fun, and plenty of temples.
We also made contact with Bianca and Jon, a South African couple we had met on the boat from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh. We met them for dinner and a few drinks in town. Downtown Siem Reap is like what we imagine Bali to be like. A bit run down, with neon lights everywhere, and plenty of cheap booze.
The night ended after far too many drinks, and a tuk-tuk ride back to the hotel.
Nothing too exciting for a travel day, but somehow, we still managed to do some stuff.Lue lisää
Lullu BranderHi Coutney and Jamie, this is Laura, we met on the Transsibirian Train from Irkutsk to Ulan Baator. I'm reading with much interest your post and are thinking of doing a similar trip from Bangkok to Hanoi by train crossing Cambodia. Could you give me a few information how you bought the train and bus tickets and how you solved the visa issues for the different countries? Thanks in advance!
CJs Excellent AdventureHi Laura! Nice to hear from you, where are you now? So getting Cambodia you can only catch buses which we booked on the 12goasia website, while in Vietnam you can catch trains or buses. Depending on the route, the train or bus might be more direct, so you would need to research depending on your plans. When buying tickets for transport in Vietnam - always try and buy direct from the train station or bus company as you can often pay more than double if you dont and its really easy! We already had Vietnam visas before we left London but Cambodia is Visa on arrival for 30 days. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions 😁
Angkor What?
18. marraskuuta 2016, Kambodza ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Disclaimer - as I write this, I am still recovering from the ongoing effects of heat stroke, so if this makes no sense, or, I am not my usual self - you'll understand. More on heat stroke in a later post.
So, our day started after a bit of lie in to recover from the partying we did the night before and by partying, I mean drinking towers of cocktails. When most people head to Angkor around 5am to view the sunrise, we had a casual late breakfast, took our bikes and went to buy our tickets at 10am. Normally there are mass queues but it seems we were late enough to miss it all. Sometimes it pays to be lazy. After purchasing our day ticket for $20USD each, it was time to get going.
We decided on cycling the Grand Tour backwards (i.e. leaving Angkor Wat until last) and spent our day going from temple to temple, enjoying the sights, the trees and the cycling all the while becoming increasingly dehydrated due to the heat and lack of breeze. We made several stops to consume full strength soft drinks (so not me I know) just to get some sugar into our bodies as eating was not an option as it was too hot. The temples were just beautiful with each vastly different to one another (see photos). Jamie and I tried to work out a). Where did all the stone come from to make the temples and b). What drew them to this area in the first place. The plan was to educate ourselves on this later on by a visit to the Angkor Museum but.... more on that later.
We dodged downpours of rain in the late afternoon whilst walking around Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat and by the time we came to leave Angkor Wat (our last stop) it was torrential and we still had to cycle 13km in the twilight which was quickly turning to darkness with no street lights, no bike lights or reflective clothing. It was probably one of the scary/fun rides of my life, with the sound of the rain pelting down drowing out my giggles and pleas to the tuk tuk gods for one not to hit us.
We arrived back at our semi fancy hotel, drenched, and had to do what felt like a walk of shame back to our room. We tried to walk on our tip toes to reduce the sound of our shoes squelching across the floor while Chinese tourists stared at us like we had just shot a Panda (#tropicthunder).
After we had dried off, we went into town for a quick dinner for a debrief of the sights we had seen that day, unaware of the pain and sickness that was already making itself known within my poor body.Lue lisää
"Rest" Day in Siem Reap
19. marraskuuta 2016, Kambodza ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Yesterday we had cycled around the majority of the Angkor complex, which meant that today, there were significantly fewer places of significane to see. We could go and see some more of the complex. We could do nothing. But we has rented our bikes for two days, and today was the second day, and we were damn well going to make use of those bicycles.
Given the limited amount of time that Courtney has been able to spend in the gym recently, that was certainly a plus for her mental wellbeing. That being said, despite the intended cycle today, Courtney still made the decision to go for a run at the hotel gym anyway.
After a mediocre breakfast at the Regency Angkor, we headed out into the Cambodian day. At first we explored Siem Reap. Done in five minutes. And then we headed to Chong Kinneas, a town on the Tonle Sap, a large lake in central and western Cambodia. Chong Kinneas is described in the travelling literature as a cesspit, and open sewer, but as we were templed out, and wanted to do something active, this was our choice.
Unfortunately, things did no go to plan, and Courtney started to feel a bit faint, so we aborted our plans to cycle, and instead went for haircuts. By this stage, Courtney was looking pale, and not her best, which was only exasperated, when the Cambodian lady cutting her hair cut off a lot more than Courtney had instructed. However, once the first cut was done, there was no going back. Mens haircuts are bit more forgiving, though that didn't stop the lady from being a bit too gung-ho with her scissors. Courtney did manage a smile for a photo (below), but this was the calm before the storm and unbeknownst to both of us, her body was already in the throes of revolting against her.
Somehow we survived our haircut ordeal, and managed to get ourselves delicious smoothes to help. For Courtney, it was more for survival, as she struggled with the after effects of the day before and this mornings run at the gym. We found a nice vegetarian restaurant for lunch, and made sure the Courtney had her fill. Her body needed the energy to fight what was happening to it. At this point, things were bad for Courtney, but not catastrophic. That would come later.
Making our way by bike, back to the bus station we had arrived at the day before, we attempted to reacquire Courtney's wet gym clothes that had fallen out of her bag, and into the luggage well of the bus. Alas, they were still MIA. Though they have been found, supposedly, neither of us holds much hope of seeing them again. Though quite what someone would want to do with wet gym gear is beyond me.
Arriving back at the hotel, it was now clear, that Courtney's day was well and truely over. Her head was exploding, and her stomach was indicating, it wasn't so ironclad. And so we settled on the medicine of time immemorial - sleep. And while Courtney did that, I made a failed attempt to take back both bikes to the hire centre at once, by riding one, and pushing the other along side. I remember doing it often as a child, cycling away with a friends bike, and forcing them to chase after on foot.
This many years distant from my childhood, and with ridiculous Cambodian traffic on the road, I made the cautious decision after a few goes, to bundle everything into a tuk-tuk, and live through this exercise. On my way back, I picked up some water, some lemonade (Sprite, not Beyonce's album), and some ice cream for Courtney, in the hope that she would be okay later on, and would be able to have something. This was far from the case.
Courtney was now in the throes of extreme heat stroke. Her body, while dealing with hot and cold sweats, was forcibly trying to expel any and all liquids it could, from her digestive tract, Her headache had progressed to migraine standards, and truth be told, in that moment, Courtney would probably have embraced the peace of death if she could. It would be a horrible night of showers to regulate body temperature, stomach convultions, body aches and vomiting every half and hour, and a throbbing head that felt like someone was assaultng her brain with a baseball bat from the inside. The amount Courtney was writhing around in pain, it felt like I was sharing the bed with a snake.
Tomorrow is not going to be pretty.Lue lisää
Angela AhmedOMG!! Poor Courtney. After all that travel and eating off the streets, it's the weather that finally got you! About to read your next post, but from the title, I guess it's not a good day! 👎🤒😷
"I want to die" - Heatstoke Day II
20. marraskuuta 2016, Kambodza ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
I awoke in the morning feeling about 10% better than yesterday, but when I was only feeling about 5% yesterday, an additional 10% isn't really much of an improvement.
I spent the majority of my day lying in bed feeling sorry for myself, while attempting to watch movies in our hotel room. I settled on watching "Me Before You" which, if you haven't seen it, never watch it when you are feeling sick and vunerable. It made me cry like a little baby and didn't do much for my already gloomy outlook on life.
Fast forward an entire day and at 6pm, Jamie decided that after 36 hours of essentially not eating, I needed to attempt to if I had any chance of surviving the 20 hour bus ride tomorrow. He took me into town on a tuk tuk and when faced with the humidity of the Siem Reap evening, I quickly began to deteriorate. I had to go back to the hotel in a tuk tuk with a takeaway pizza in hand. Jamie stayed in town and ate dinner with Gauthier (who was now also in Siem Reap) as I didn't want him to have his whole time in Siem Reap ruined by the Party Killer Sicko.
When Jamie returned at 10.30pm, he was alarmed to find out that I had only managed to eat half a piece of pizza before I found myself throwing up again. Nearly fast asleep, Jamie made me get out of bed to eat more, quoting "You've got to be cruel to be kind" over and over again, while I looked at him with a mixture of despair and disgust. The thought of eating again filled me with fear.
Somehow I managed to keep this food down and fell asleep to the sound of Jamie murmuring something about him being right to make me eat, even if I had only managed a couple of slices.
Some words of advice - it kind of goes without saying, but never ever let yourself get heatstroke, there is no pain like it in this world.
Also sorry for the lack of pictures, there are just particular events in this world that shouldn't be documented 😷🤒.Lue lisää
Two buses to Chiang Mai (via Bangkok)
21. marraskuuta 2016, Thaimaa ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Day three of Courtney's heat stroke, and Courtney was feeling better, without yet feeling properly well again. She even managed to eat a piece of watermelon for breakfast this morning which is a sad reflection of how much she had improved and how far she had to go. Leaving the hotel bright and early, we made our way by tuk-tuk, to the bus station.
Bus station is a charitable term. As happens so often in this part of the world, the bus doesn't make use of a bus station proper, but instead operates out of someone's house and driveway. Today was no exception.
When checking in, we met a German guy, Tobias, who was on his way to New Zealand to work for a year. He was really interested to know what sort of admin he would have to do when he arrived, and as an accountant, I was more than happy to provide guidance on the less sexy parts of moving country: bank accounts, IRD numbers, car insurance, tax systems, etc. Courtney just sat the back of the bus, quiet and avoiding the world.
After about two hours, we made it to the Thai - Cambodia border, and were forced off the bus, and out onto the street with all of our luggage. Clearing Cambodian customs was easy. It just involved standing in a line and having your photo, and finger prints taken. That this was at the end of the trip did seem strange as this didn't even happen when we arrived in Cambodia, but who are we to question what the Cambodian Border Control are doing.
And then having cleared Cambodian border control, we walked through the hustle and bustle of Poi Pot town, to find the Thai border, which was not very well signposted. The amount happening in the town was quite crazy, as goods were walked across the border by porters, or pushed by men in trolleys, or pulled across in handd-rawn carts.
Arriving at the Thai border, we waited in a line for the better part of an hour, before we were finally processed, and allowed into the country. This was not ideal, as though the queue was in an airconditioned building, it only brought the temperature down to 25C, still pretty damn warm. Still recovering from heatstroke, this was not ideal for Courtney. Somehow she made it through though.
Back on the bus, and in Thailand now, we had wifi on the bus, which I used to do a bit more research for our new German friend. This was a mistake. For as long as I have been alive, I have been incredibly susceptible to motion sickness. The fact that I haven't had it for 25 years, is a testament to the fact that I am so careful not to get it. For some reason, that went out the window today.
By the time that we got into Bangkok, I could feel my stomach starting to churn, and I was fairly confident that things were going to take a bad turn for me. But we arrived in Bangkok safely, and said goodbye to our German friend, before making our way to another bus station, to get our onward journey to Chiang Mai.
It was here, waiting for the next bus, that everything went so very wrong. Realising that I was going to be sick from the motion sickness, I left Courtney, and went for a walk outside. I just went round and round the building in circles, like some dog making sure the area is clear before it lies down. And when I was behind the bus station, next to the air conditioning units, for maybe the fifth time, I was sick.
Knowing what motion sickness i like, I thought that though being sick is an awful experience, It was motion sickness, so now that I had been sick, I would be back to normal. Confident in my analysis of the situation, I grabbed my toothbrush, freshened myself up, and even had an ice cream too. My state of happpiness lasted all of ten minutes.
It then became very clear that this was not going to be a good night for me. As much as Courtney had had heatstroke over the past view days, I had similarly been suffering a heat injury myself, though considerably more mild. I had also been careful with my water intake on the bus, as I didn't particlarly want to be using the rather dark, dingy, and smelly toilet, if I could help it. This combination of factors, meant that I was on the cusp of dehydration, and by being sick, I had just pushed myself over the precipice. This was very bad.
By the time we were getting onto the bus to head to Chiang Mai, I had been sick a further two times, and was now bringing up bile as body convulsed, trying desperately to rid itself of anything in my stomach. On the bus, I was forced to visit the tiny little toilet with an alarming frequency, every twenty minutes, as my body revolted against me. All the time I knew that I was becoming more and more dehydrated, and that was only going to make the problem worse.
And with that, I settled on the executing my worst idea ever, and consciously ingested a compious quantity of water, in the hope that at least some of it would make it past my stomach, and into my blood. Drinking two litres of later, I used every ounce of my now very limit mental ability, to hold that water down for as long as I could. I managed 35 minutes, and then a torrent of water was expelled from stomach. Fortunately for me, it was a lot less than what I had ingested.
Seeing as my cunning planned had worked so well the first time, I repeated the trick again. This time, I held the water down for just over an hour before I was forced to make a run to the back of the bus. I even had time to get like 20 minutes of sleep.
And while all this was going on with me, I hadn't really had that much time to register that the accommodations on the bus itself, were not the best. The seats were narrow. You needed the body of a small child to fit into them. The leg room was negligible. Anything over 5 foot tall, and they were just too small. And the seats were crammed in tighter than Ryan Air could ever manage on a plane. This meant that when the person in front of you put their seat back, they ended up in you lap. And you had to spread your legs to ensure that the back of their seat was able to recline all that way too. It was awful, though I only registered that at the very end. For Courtney, it was a full 10-11 hours of hell.
It was a tough day. A very tough day.Lue lisää
Courtney's lonely day in Chiang Mai
22. marraskuuta 2016, Thaimaa ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
After the horrendous bus ride throughout the night, we found ourselves at the Chiang Mai bus station at 5.30am, approximately 1 hour ahead of schedule. Not really a surprise when the bus driver was driving like a complete and utter lunatic.
Our collective health status wasn't wonderful, Jamie had continued to be sick during the early hours of the morning while I was probably now functioning at about 50%, walking around with a killer headache and a sore stomach.
We caught a taxi to our hotel, where on arrival, we were able to check into our room at 6am for only an additional £8 pounds or $300 Baht. Happy with this arrangement, we quickly paid and made our way to our room, where Jamie turned the air con down to 16 degrees and threw himself into bed as fast as I could even put my bag on the floor.
After a quick 3 hour nap, I awoke and saw that Jamie now had a fever and became the best Nurse Nancy that I could conjure up while still feeling like death myself. After cooling Jamie down with some cool flannels and making him drink copious amounts of water with electrolyes, I went out for a walk to check out some of the temples while Jamie attempted to sleep off some of this illness.
The Chiang Mai temples are absolutely gorgeous and were very cheap to visit (about 50p to £1 pound a temple). It took me awhile to realise that there was more to the temple complex than the temple itself, with other monuments and smaller temples often located behind the main temple. I visited about 4 temples before I decided it was time for my first proper meal in nearly 4 days, and found a delicious thai restaurant to sit by myself like a loner. My lunch came to a grand total of £1.50 (70 Baht) which was delightful. I grabbed Jamie some takeaway Green Curry Fried Rice and headed back to the hotel with some electrolyte sachets obtained from a nearby pharmacy, large bottles of water and food.
Back at the hotel, I got Jamie out of bed, which, he moaned about. Fortunately, I had my arsenal from days earlier and just whispered the words "You've got to be cruel to be kind" and he got up willingly. Payback is a b*tch 😋.
After Jamie finished his lunch, he virtually pushed me out the door telling me I needed to go and see more of Chiang Mai and not to worry about him so much. I have now discovered, that when you love someone, and they feel that bad, it is very difficult to enjoy yourself and continue on like nothing is wrong.
To appease Jamie, I went and checked out a local park close to our hotel which meant I wasn't going to be away from him too long. I made a stop at a 7-11, where I picked up some soft drinks, some cashew nuts and Pocky. If he couldnt eat much at least he will be able to get some sugar and nutrient dense food (the cashews, not the Pocky) into him. When I finally got to the park, it was gorgeous. It is used as a recreational facility by the locals with an outdoor gym and running track and small fountains in between.
I decided to walk back to the hotel a slightly different way and made my way around the moat which surrounds the old town observing the old city walls which remain intact, if only just.
Upon returning to the hotel, Jamie still hadn't improved. So it was time to force feed him liquids before making a trip out to a local restaurant for dinner. My poor little Jam could only stomach spring rolls, while I tried a Northern Thailand speciality, Kow Soy, which combines wheat-and-egg noodles and a rich, fragrant curry broth. So delicious and again only about £2 pounds.
By the time we returned to the hotel, it was about 8pm and it was time for lights out in order for both of us to get more rest and recover before our big cycle trip tomorrow.Lue lisää
Cycle Tour - Day 1
23. marraskuuta 2016, Thaimaa ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Firstly, I would like to apologise to all our "fans" for my slackness. I will attempt to catch up on all my days in the next couple of days. Courtney of course, has done all of hers and is "patiently" waiting for me. Ha, patient.
This morning we were both still suffering the effects of heat stroke. Courtney less so, but without question, we were both very far from our best. Making sure that we were ready for the cycle trip as best we could be, we woke up early and got our bags packed, before heading downstairs to check out and havs some breakfast at the hotel.
The breakfast was pretty average, and inspite of my best efforts, my stomach had no where near recovered from its convulsions on the bus ride to Chiang Mai. The thought of food was bad enough, but the actual ingestion of food, which was required ahead of our bike ride, was horrendous. My stomach was very unhappy with me, and it would take a morning of concerted concentration to make sure that what I had eaten did not come back on me.
As anyone reading this may recognise, a personal condition like this, is of course an ideal condition to go on a two day cycle tour. If nothing else, I was travelling with a multiude of sugary and isotonic drinks, about 5L worth. If nothing else, that would get me through the day, hopefully.
Eventually, the cycle company came to pick us up in a pick-up, to ferry us to the start point of the trip, at a hotel not far away. There we met our travelling companions for the trip: Waana (our guide), Phoebe (from Sacramento, CA), and Pieter and Hanneloude (from Belgium). After the obligatory setup of our bikes, we set off for the countryside through the backstreets of Chiang Mai. The use of the backstreets was ideal, as it gave us an opportunity to see a bit more of the real Chiang Mai, and also meant that we could avoid the morning rush hour, which was more than a bit crazy.
After about an hour and a half of cycling, we made it out of the city, and into the countryside, following irrigation canals and single track roads north, towards the hills. Along the way, we stopped to watch a rice field being harvested. The combine harvesters were on tracks rather than wheels. which is a must when a rice field can spent most of the season a foot underwater. By this point I was about 3L into my liquid reserves with Courtney checking on me constantly to make sure I was ok.
Carrying on, we passed many more rice fields as we snaked along the top of dykes and irrigation canals towards the hills north of Chiang Mai. Our next stop was for some ice cream and cake at a local corner shop. While there we also had some banana cake. My stomach didn't like the fact that I had eaten food, but I needed the energy so forced it down. At the moment, eating any food is a chore, and brings no enjoyment whatsoever. It's a horrible world.
As we reached the end of the flat plains, and started to meet the roling hills of Chiang Mai, we started to pass more cattle, many of them staked to the ground by their owners. There was plenty of grass by the road side, and farmers wanted to make sure that they could fatten their cows with it, while makeing sure that daft beasts weren't going to step out in front of a car.
When we hit the hills, my legs were completely dead. I had only a bottle of Pepsi to keep me going, and a wee bit of water to help cool me down. I may have looked incredibly daft as I poured what water I did have over my chest and back, but it was the only thing that could keep me cool, and keep me from overheatingm tha abosolute last thing that I wanted.
Needless to say, when we arrived at our overnight accommodations, I was the last to arrive, and I was not looking my best. Fortunately, we were able to check-in, and I was able to have a quick snooze, when Courtney socialised down by the pool. I would join her in an hour or so, after my period of recovery.
Later on, when everyone else was repairing to their chalets, I stayed down by the pool to continue to try and cool my body down. All the Thai staff looked at me like I had grown another set of eyes. To them it was properly cold, and here was me down at the pool, doing my best to cool down further. Cold is all about where you are from in the world I suppose.
Next we had some dinner, family style, with plates and plates of different things piled in the middle of the table, for everyone to serve themselves. As we ate, the topics of conversation varied quite a bit, and somehow, we got onto the topic of the flora and fauna of New Zealand, especially the oversized animals that exist there, or did, before humans arrived. The Thai staff were amazed by the size of wetas, and questioned whether they were eaten at home. They were similarly amazed at the idea of a moa, and an eagle that ate moas.
It was a fun night, but because of strenuous ride there, we all called it a night before 2100. A tough day for those not feeling the best, and yet a fun day without question.Lue lisää
Angela AhmedWell, at last.....I was beginning to wonder what had happened to you both! Glad you're both feeling better and posting your travels again. Enjoying the read with a lovely cuppa!!
Cycle Tour - Day 2
24. marraskuuta 2016, Thaimaa ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
Instead of waking up to scooters tooting their horns, or the sound of street market vendors selling their early morning wares, we awoke to the sound of silence, which after 2 months was slightly disconcerting.
When I finally got my bearings and stopped freaking out over what insects were making some weird sounds outside, it was time to meet our tour group for breakfast before hitting the road for another 60km day of riding back to Chiang Mai. Jamie's health has improved slightly from the previous day and I was probably now at about 90%. Still not ideal when we were about to ride in the 33 degree heat again.
After serious fluid ingestion, we departed the hotel around 9am, and rode about 10km before making our first stop at a happy Buddha and enormous Buddha. After the obligatory photo taking and a look inside the temple, we continued on until we came across a local village Crematorium. Wanna explained that when a Buddhist dies, depending on your wealth, there is a 1-3 day mourning period (# of days dependant on the family's wealth as you need to feed the visitors each day). During this time, the deceased is embalmed and placed in a house where people can pay their respects and the family provides the visitors food/drinks. After the 1-3 days, the deceased is taken to the crematorium, where family, friends and monks pray before the coffin is taken either to an outside pyre to be burnt or the oven crematorium. In the north, the choice is normally the pyre, but this method has been banned in the south, and there is pressure from the government on northern villages stop them using the old ways.
If the pyre is chosen, the coffin is placed on top of dry wood and old tyres, where the family will pay their final respects by offering food, cigarettes and money to the deceased (items which they believe the deceased can take with them on their journey into reincarnation to start their new life). When the final goodbyes are said, the family leaves and the caretakers light the dry wood and tyres and stay with the deceased until the burning is complete which often takes 2 days. Once complete, a small portion of the ashes are normally split into three, one portion is kept in an urn at the house, one is spread in a place like a river and the other is sent to the local temple. The remainder of bone and ashes is then swept into a mound of dirt adjacent to the outside burial pit. When we observed the pit, fragments of bone and ash were evident near the surface. While this method is more traditional, it does take a lot longer than if an oven cremation was selected (which takes about an hour).
After a slightly morbid stop, we continued on to the most impressive temple I have seen to date, which was used by the Princess of Chiang Mai before she married the Prince of Thailand, marking the joining of Northern and Southern Thailand. We learnt how to pray which differs if you are female or male and discovered that some senior monks don't necassarily follow the simple life teachings of Buddha with private jets, large houses and 5 star holidays being acquired. After some ice cream and some amazing rice cakes covered in a chocolate flavoured icing, we cycled another 15km or so to Huay Tung Tao lake, a small recreational lake where locals visit to eat lunch at lakeside restaurants, to do a spot of fishing, feed the crazed fish or have a quick dip. We did 2 of the 4 and feed the fish, which resulted in a fish frenzy and had a spot of lunch in a small hut by the lake.
After lunch, it was another hour of cycling before we reached Chiang Mai, where we had to negotiate peak hour traffic and small back streets. We fortunately got back to our hotel in one piece. We got an obligatory team photo, said our goodbyes and made our way to our room for a quick rest in the beautiful air conditioning.
We decided to make a quick trip to the night market, before we headed for dinner, however, it didnt take long for my headache to return, and it was time to get a quick banana shake sugar infusion before another bout of heat stroke took hold. Dinner was a quick affair, as sleep was now more important. It will be nice when we are both returned to full health.Lue lisää
Becoming Thai Chefs
25. marraskuuta 2016, Thaimaa ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Today was our last day in Chiang Mai, and we spent it cooking, on a Thai farm, at a school. That may be obvious from the title of this post.
We were picked up at our hotel before nine, and made our way, via a local farmers market, to the cooking school, which was located on a farm, roughly in the middle of nowhere.
On the bus, we met Nate, an American travelling through Thailand, with his son and wife, though they weren't coming to the cooking school as planned, as his young son had taken ill, and required the loving attentions of a parent back at the hotel. This as it turned it, was a real shame.
As it happened, Nate's wife is a university professor, specialising in disaster management - something that Courtney has recently found herself rather interested in. To be able to speak to someone on the subject would have been incredibly helpful. Of more significance though, is that Nate's wife was taking a sabbatical from teaching, and it was being spent for the most part, in NZ. They were moving to Nelson/Marlborough for 6-7 months, for some fully immersive time in NZ. We offered as many pointers as we could, and made sure to mention that when they eventually made it up to Auckland, we would be more than happy to catch up for a drink, or brunch, or beach day. We are pretty easy.
Aside from Nate, coming from Colorado, in the US, there were people from all over the world, heading to the Thai cooking school on the bus. There were Australia's from Noosa, a Lithuania lady on a world tour, and an American couple from SoCal. Not quite the United Nations, but a reasonable mix of cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives.
After about an hour on the bus, we arrived at the farm, and set to being taught how to cook. On the bus ride in, we had all filled out paperwork to let the school know what dishes we wanted to do, where we had a choice, so we weren't all necessarily cooking at the same time, but we would all eat together immediately after making each course of our five course meal. This was where the best conversation happened, and the table felt very much like a family dinner, only without the relatives that you might otherwise see at such events.
After five hours of cooking and eating, it was time for us to head back into Chiang Mai proper. As we were getting the overnight bus to Bangkok, we had all our gear with us at the cooking school, and were fortunate enough to be dropped off at the bus terminal, as the bus made its way passed hotels dropping off everyone else. After a bit of hassle finding the correct terminal for our bus company, we found the ticket office, got out tickets, and set about wasting away the next two hours until our bus departed. Unfortunately, the bus terminal was rather spartan, and definitely warm, so we thought that the best thing to do would be to find some more comfortable surroundings for our wait.
This we found in a nearby shopping mall. Inside was a Tom N Tom's Coffee, the rough equivalent of Starbucks in Thailand, with prices to match. You could be forgiven for thinking that you were back in the western world, given the prices, but the place is clearly built for the Western crowd. It was air conditioned, and had wifi, and those were the most important things for us.
When the time came to get on the bus, we were relieved to see that our seats were much better than for the ride into Chiang Mai. We were on the top deck, at the front, with a huge window to watch the trip back to Bangkok, The seats were a bit narrow though, as there four in such row, which made it impossible for us to fit into the contours of the seats. This was uncomfortable. Similarly uncomfortable, was the fact that with nothing in front of us, and with slippery vinyl seat we didn;t fit into properly, we were forever sliding off the front of the seats, held in only by our seat belts at the waist. It quickly became apparent that tonight was not going to result in a great deal of sleep.
We lack the ability of people in this part of the world to sleep in almost any position, on almost any surface, in almost any local environment. Tomorrow morning is likely to be difficult.Lue lisää
Braving Bangkok
26. marraskuuta 2016, Thaimaa ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
After perhaps 2 hours of sleep on the fun and ever so comfortable overnight bus, we arrived at Mo Chit station at 5.30am ready (or in my case not ready) to face the day. We quickly jumped in a taxi to take us to our hotel and were met by a dude listening to thai talk back radio at full volume. He quickly realised that this wouldn't be to our tastes and switched to some epic party anthems to make it feel like we were in a 3 person dance party. I was much more interested in peace and quiet but knew this would not come for awhile. As our driver searched for the best choice of song to get the party started, I searched for a seatbelt which appeared to be missing from the backseat. I tried to contain my fear as the driver speed up on the motorway and prayed to the taxi gods that he didn't crash into anything in the next 20 minutes.
We arrived at our hotel slightly more frazzled than when we started the day, and attempted to check in early but the hotel was full and we would have wait until at least 10am for a room to become available. However, we were able to have a nice warm shower in the changing rooms by the pool to at least make ourselves feel more alive.
Once showered, we made our way out of the hotel and into the Bangkok wilderness ready to face the day head on. We found a cafe open that would make us some blended iced espressos (my new favourite thing) before we made our way by boat up the river to the Grand Palace.
By the time we got to the palace we were starving and walked around until we could find something light to eat. The lack of sleep made everything slightly more difficult and the decision of where to go took a lot longer than expected. We quickly ate at an overpriced cafe and made our way to the Palace, where we discovered that Jamie was not wearing the right attire and wouldn't be allowed in, in his current dress. We decided to come back on Monday, when it might not be as busy as it currently was. In light of our plans being thwarted, we decided to walk into the old town for a look around. On the way, we passed the main entrance for mourners to pay their respects to their King who recently passed away. Apparently over 35,000 mourners are attending the palace on a daily basis to pay their respects and never to miss a chance to make money, they certainly had the infrastructure to cope with pop up restaurants and shops everywhere.
As we walked around, I remarked to Jamie at how dirty and run down the place was. On first impressions, Bangkok certainly isn't my type of place, especially with the rubbish observed in the city's waterways (see photo). We decided to make our way to the Giant Swing, but when we arrived we noted that it was just a giant arch. Apparently there used to be a swing in this, but many people died using it and consequently they took it out. Smart.
We now found ourselves adjacent to the Suthattepwararam Temple and decided to go for a wander inside. We walked in to be greeted by 10 signs all telling us not to talk to anyone in the temple who would try and offer us cheap tuk tuks or other transportation services as we could be taken to pornography places or robbed. Feeling safe and petrified of opening my mouth, we paid our foreigner fee and proceeded to walk around avoiding eye contact and standing 10m away from the nearest person where possible. We saw probably our 100th Buddha on this trip but they are all spectacular in their own way.
Starting to feel a wee bit dizzy due to the lack of sleep, food and water we made our way south past what seemed like 100's of gun shops until we arrived at the Old Siam Plaza, a small little shopping centre comprising local vendors with a small indoor food market. We grabbed a mini shawarma each and sat on the stairs outside which was the only available bum space. I started to feel weak and dizzy in the sun, as I was probably still struggling with the ongoing effects of heat stroke. Jamie decided a McDonalds ice cream cone was in order so I could get sugar before we made a quick getaway back to the hotel for a much needed nap.
We grabbed a taxi, but it would probably have been faster if we walked given the horrendous Bangkok traffic. 1 hour later, we were back at our hotel and lying down. Jamie was getting worried that my heat stroke was making a come back so proceeded to feed me liquids and commanded that I slept for a couple of hours to try and recover. He is nurse militant to my nurse Nancy, but I can't help feel that he is right. I woke up around 5pm feeling more alive and we decided to get an early dinner at a local indian restaurant to ensure we had an early night. Gone are the days of Cocktails, right now, its the last thing we want.Lue lisää
Jamie in Hell - Markets and Shopping
27. marraskuuta 2016, Thaimaa ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Today was a shopping day. I was not looking forward to the day much, because I was not going to buy anything. Courtney was very excited by the opportunity to go to the Chatuchak Market. Depending on how much time we had left afterwards, we would also try to head to the middle of Bangkok to peruse the shopping streets there.
Given our experiences with traffic in Bangkok, we took the easy option of the BRT to get to the market. This is an elevated light rail system throughout some of Bangkok, that connects some of the bustier spots in town. It does however, completely miss a lot of the most touristy spots. Anyway, the BRT system is clean, tidy, cheap, and provides a great view of the world, as you ride about 20m above the rest of Bangkok. It took about 45 mins at most, to get from our hotel, to the market itself.
Once there, we launched ourselves straight into the depths of the market itself. We had the option of perusing the stalls on the outside of each building, but we felt that the best deals, and most authentic experience would be obtained by walking through the middle of each building. This was certainly the case, as there were far more locals in the middle of the buildings, than on the outside, where most people were tourists. The Chatuchak Market is quite good, because of the fact that there are still locals that go shopping there, but you can be sure the first price you are quoted as a foreigner is well above any price that a local will pay. Expect the starting point to be anywhere from 5-10 times the price at which you street vendor will actually sell to you quite happily. You just have to be willing to invest the time to bring the price down through actual haggling, and walking away. Walking away never fails to bring the price down by half, even if while standing there the price quoted is already the rock bottom, best price.
After three hours of 'shopping', which was mostly pursuing of random shops, with random things, that I didn't want to carry through the remainder of the trip, we stopped to get some fruit shakes to help get us through the hottest part of the day. At this point, I was starting to struggle in the heat, and had already consumed the large volume of liquids that I brought along, to stave off any deterioration of health, back towards heatstroke.
Refuelling complete, we went back to the shopping, and after five hours, decided that now was the time to make a move. The heat of the day, had now taken a pretty heavy toll on my weakened body, and it was time to head to somewhere cooler. Between the start of my bout of heatstroke, and this point, I had managed to lose 5kgs, none of which was liquid, which I had made sure to replace by consuming more liquids than I needed to.
For some cool air, and a chance for me to take a breather, as well as Courtney, who also wasn't feeling 100%, we headed to one of the downtown shopping malls, again via the BTS. Once there, we grabbed some food to share, and then went for a wander through the mall. Along the way, we passed a Louis Vuitton store, which at that moment, was occupied by some famous Thai people. They were no one to us, but to the Thais in the mall, they were very important. There was just a wall of people around the store, about 15-20 people deep, just hoping to get a glimpse of a man and a woman.
Wandering through the mall, it quickly became apparent, that we were not going to b able to buy much there. The Louis Vuitton shop was a bit of a giveaway, because next was Prada, then a Ferrari showroom, then Jimmy Choo, then a Porsche showroom, and so on.
We decided to head to the street, to see what we could find that was slightly more in our price range, though at this point, I must stress, that we were not actually looking to buy anything. After another half an hour, and another mall, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.
Shopping malls anywhere in the world are pretty similar, and Bangkok is no exception. This wonder of globalisation is pretty much identical the world over, and as such, we were over it.
Taking the BTS back to the hotel, there was time to cool down again in the room, before we headed out for dinner. As we were after something a bit different for dinner, having had Thai food consistently for such a long time, we decided on a local Lebanese place. This was a severe mistake.
The only good thing that we ate was the moutabal. The rest was some atrocious attempt at Lebanese food that would put mortify any actual Lebanese person. The pita bread, was not pita bread, it was a chapati. The shawarma was made with pan fried meat, chopped lettuce drowning in salad cream, and soggy chips. This was as far from authentic as you could get, and it was expensive too.
For some reason, the rest of the plebs in the restaurant, thought it was great. I can only hazard that they have never had proper food of any kind, never mind Lebanese food, once in their lives. This was a thoroughly disappointing way to end or night, so we stopped at a corner shop on the way back to the hotel, to grab an ice cream to enjoy on the short walk back.
This helped, but not nearly enough.Lue lisää