Sorry it's been such a long delay since the last post... internet has been so slow that blogger.com hasn't wanted to work. LOL.
My last couple of days in Laos were ok.. we took a bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane (the capital city), took about 5 hours. We just had one night in Vientiane, did a brief walking tour, which basically consisted of a couple of temples and a drink by the rivereside. Just a big busy city really.. although not as busy as Bangkok or Beijing.
We has to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to get transferred to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap (Cambodia, for the geographically challenged). We said goodbye to our Laotian tour leader and got checked in for our flight.
Upon arrival in Siem Reap (which has a lovely airport), we got our visas and through immigration relatively quickly. Our new tour leader met us and got us to our quite posh hotel, the nicest we had been in so far. All I did for the rest of the afternoon was eat lunch and watch movies, it was so hot and I was so tired from the early wake up call; that's all I had energy for. That night we all went to a buffet dinner/cultural dance show, was okay, I was so exhausted that I didn't pay much attention.
Next day was a temple marathon.. starting with Angkor Wat, which was quite impressive but not quite as good as I was expecting, perhaps because it gets so much hype. Ta Phrom (sp?) was the next temple, where the tree roots are growing through/slowly destroying the temple, this is where Tomb Raider was filmed. Some locals call it Angelina Jolie Temple, lol. Several more temples followed, they were all very beautiful and impressive. The last item on the days agenda was a climb up a hill to watch the sunset, which was nice but then we got to witness (and get the brunt of) the rainy season .. the skies literally opened up and we were soaked. Coming down the footpath to the bottom of the hill, completely saturated, trying to keep my camera bag protected, with thousands of people around me and the daylight quickly disappearing, proved quite challenging. Finding the bus in the mess of people, tuktuk's, buses, cars, giant puddles, new rivers formed by the lack of drainage, and still trying my best to keep my camera from getting destroyed, was also quite challenging. Eventually I located the bus and got aboard, I was the second last to do so, everyone else was as wet as me. Camera - survived. Back to the hotel where we all ate in the attached restaurant, I was happy about this as my shoes were busy drying off and thus I just had bare feet to walk around in.
Our last full day in Siem Reap was relaxing.. slept in until 930, wandered the streets and the old market, sat and had drinks with my tourmates, spilled my drink all over my freshly dried shoes, had a TWO HOUR full body massage which was WONDERFUL, and cost $14. Lunch followed, then I was tuckered out from all of the exerting myself that I took a tuktuk back to the hotel and relaxed. Dinner in the hotel again this evening.
Next day we were off on a bus for Phnom Penh, about a 5 hour journey along relatively well-maintained road. The journey included a stop in a small village where the local specialty is fried tarantulas, which I tried (you eat the legs only).. tasted a bit like chicken. They had a nice marinade on them. They also had live tarantulas, which everyone was taking a turn holding, I was quite apprehensive about doing so but gave it a go anyways. Not so bad. Their fangs had been removed anyway.
Continued on to the big city, quite busy and dirty again (common theme around these parts!). Got checked into our hotel and had a short siesta before heading out again. We got tuktuk's to the Russian Market, which is probably one of the best indoor markets I've seen this trip so far. So amazing, anything you could possibly want, good bargains to be had. I had already done a bit of shopping in Siem Reap, so I followed my tourmates around and watched them bargain for lower prices. Quite entertaining. To the riverfront for dinner, then back to the hotel.
That brings us to today.. busy, busy day. Out the door at 800, where we had a cyclo tour of Phnom Penh city including the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and finishing at the central market. The central market was ok but not as good as the Russian Market. Had a lovely lunch and back to the hotel for a short siesta, and headed out again by bus.. visited the genocide museum and killing fields during the afternoon. Very, very sad and tragic what happened here, recent history really (the Khmer Rouge regime started in 1975). Was quite sobering hearing about the brutality that went on. I won't go on about it, google it and read for yourself.
After our days visit, we returned to the hotel and headed out to a lovely little restaurant/chef school for dinner. This school is staffed by former street kids who are learning to cook and serve.. was absolutely fantastic.
OK.. that was a long one. I'm off to bed shortly, we are on the bus to Kampot tomorrow (for one night) then Sihanoukville, which is right on the coast (Gulf of Thailand) for a couple of nights beachside time, then back to Phnom Penh for one more night. That's basically the end of the tour, I've got a bus ride to Saigon after that to start the last leg of this journey. I'll likely report again from Vietnam once I arrive.. Ciao!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Vang Vieng
The bus ride from Luang Prabang was 6 hours of HELL.
We got to the bus station at 8am, got on a barely air-conditioned rickety bus, and proceeded through very beautiful, mountainous countryside, where the driver accelerated into the sharp curves and honked the large blast horn at people (including small children), livestock, vehicles, etc that were on the side/in the middle of the road. Good times. LOL.
Vang Vieng is a lovely little town, made me feel a little homesick with the mountains to the north of the main part of town. Hotel is fantastic and super comfortable. We arrives mid-afternoon and caught a tuk-tuk to our accommodation, spent most of the rest of the day chilling out on the roof-top patio and eventually headed off to find dinner. Towards the end of dinner, and basically for the rest of the night, it poured rain and thundered like I have never seen in my life! It was fantastic. Slept very soundly.
Today we were up and out to one of the mountains where we climbed 147 steps up to a cave entrance.. was really cool (but not quite as big as the ones I saw in in Halong Bay, Vietnam). Myself and the girls (shocker I've befriended and spent most of my time with the women) spent some time at a riverside bar and then back to the hotel and our for lunch. Came back and found this lovely free wireless internet, yay! Sipping on a coconut shake as we speak.. mmmmmmmmm
Tonight will be an early night, we are off very early tomorrow morning, a 3 hour (and apparently less hairy) bus ride to the Laotian capital, Vientiane. Tomorrow is our last day in this lovely place!
We got to the bus station at 8am, got on a barely air-conditioned rickety bus, and proceeded through very beautiful, mountainous countryside, where the driver accelerated into the sharp curves and honked the large blast horn at people (including small children), livestock, vehicles, etc that were on the side/in the middle of the road. Good times. LOL.
Vang Vieng is a lovely little town, made me feel a little homesick with the mountains to the north of the main part of town. Hotel is fantastic and super comfortable. We arrives mid-afternoon and caught a tuk-tuk to our accommodation, spent most of the rest of the day chilling out on the roof-top patio and eventually headed off to find dinner. Towards the end of dinner, and basically for the rest of the night, it poured rain and thundered like I have never seen in my life! It was fantastic. Slept very soundly.
Today we were up and out to one of the mountains where we climbed 147 steps up to a cave entrance.. was really cool (but not quite as big as the ones I saw in in Halong Bay, Vietnam). Myself and the girls (shocker I've befriended and spent most of my time with the women) spent some time at a riverside bar and then back to the hotel and our for lunch. Came back and found this lovely free wireless internet, yay! Sipping on a coconut shake as we speak.. mmmmmmmmm
Tonight will be an early night, we are off very early tomorrow morning, a 3 hour (and apparently less hairy) bus ride to the Laotian capital, Vientiane. Tomorrow is our last day in this lovely place!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Luang Prabang
Our journey on the longtail boat continued down the Mekong after a sleepless night in Pakbeng.. hard bed.. power cut at 10pm (no fan).. toilet plugged.. good times. LOL.
We stopped at a couple of villages along the way, including one where the High Laos people live (Mhong tribe), and another where they make some particularly potent whisky. We also stopped at a cave with a Buddhist temple inside.
We arrived into the lovely city of Luang Prabang late in the afternoon and got to our hotel by tuk-tuk.. this place was much more comfortable. After settling in, we headed off for dinner, wandering through the fantastic night market on the way. Had pizza (best pizza ever) for dinner.. mmmmm pizzzza.
Next day.. super lazy. Breakfast at 10am after a fantastic sleep, just wandered the streets all day with a few of my Aussie tourmates and looked in shops, stopped for drinks/coffee, just chilled all day. Dinner by the Mekong River.
Today.. crazy adventure through the jungle. Five of us, plus our tour leader and a local guide, set out for a small village from which a trail leads through the jungle to another small town with a lovely waterfall. I wasn't going to go, but decided the exercise would do me good. En-route to the start point, the tuk-tuk (a four wheeled version for this trip), got stuck in the mud along the very bad road we were travelling, so much so we had to get out and push (all of us). The trek was fun, about 3 hours long, slipped in the mud and landed on my butt a couple of times, saw all sorts of interesting insects (none of which bit me, fortunately!), finally arriving at the town/waterfall area around 2pm. I was covered in mud.
The waterfall has a swimming area, which was full of freezing cold water, I lasted about 5 minutes. Had lunch in the small town before getting in a tuk-tuk again (same one, the fellow drove around to meet us) and heading back to town.
We arrived back to a hotel without power.. turns out the whole town was without power. Only lasted an hour, however it prevented me from having a shower and getting my shoes, camera bag, belt, and other items cleaned up. The whole process took over an hour when the power finally came back on! Good times.
Headed out for dinner around 7, went back to a small cafe to use their free wifi (yay free internet) and had a lovely sandwich... about to head back through the night market, hopefully will find myself a fridge magnet, before heading back to the hotel.. early night tonight, up at 6 tomorrow morning!
We stopped at a couple of villages along the way, including one where the High Laos people live (Mhong tribe), and another where they make some particularly potent whisky. We also stopped at a cave with a Buddhist temple inside.
We arrived into the lovely city of Luang Prabang late in the afternoon and got to our hotel by tuk-tuk.. this place was much more comfortable. After settling in, we headed off for dinner, wandering through the fantastic night market on the way. Had pizza (best pizza ever) for dinner.. mmmmm pizzzza.
Next day.. super lazy. Breakfast at 10am after a fantastic sleep, just wandered the streets all day with a few of my Aussie tourmates and looked in shops, stopped for drinks/coffee, just chilled all day. Dinner by the Mekong River.
Today.. crazy adventure through the jungle. Five of us, plus our tour leader and a local guide, set out for a small village from which a trail leads through the jungle to another small town with a lovely waterfall. I wasn't going to go, but decided the exercise would do me good. En-route to the start point, the tuk-tuk (a four wheeled version for this trip), got stuck in the mud along the very bad road we were travelling, so much so we had to get out and push (all of us). The trek was fun, about 3 hours long, slipped in the mud and landed on my butt a couple of times, saw all sorts of interesting insects (none of which bit me, fortunately!), finally arriving at the town/waterfall area around 2pm. I was covered in mud.
The waterfall has a swimming area, which was full of freezing cold water, I lasted about 5 minutes. Had lunch in the small town before getting in a tuk-tuk again (same one, the fellow drove around to meet us) and heading back to town.
We arrived back to a hotel without power.. turns out the whole town was without power. Only lasted an hour, however it prevented me from having a shower and getting my shoes, camera bag, belt, and other items cleaned up. The whole process took over an hour when the power finally came back on! Good times.
Headed out for dinner around 7, went back to a small cafe to use their free wifi (yay free internet) and had a lovely sandwich... about to head back through the night market, hopefully will find myself a fridge magnet, before heading back to the hotel.. early night tonight, up at 6 tomorrow morning!
Wonderful Laos (written 19OCT2008)
..where did I leave off.. oh right, night market in Chiang Mai.. wonderful place full of wonderful things. Louise (one of my tour mates) is probably one of the best marketplace bargainers I have ever seen. She got the price of a hangbag down from 9200 baht (about $300) to 5200 (about $175). It was truly amazing.
Oh yeah, and I finally had a ride in a Thai tuk-tuk, three-wheeled motorcycle taxi thing, brightly painted, some with lots of colourful lights. Was sooo fun. :)
Next morning, up at an obscene hour (5:30) for breakfast and off by 6:30 to catch the first of our two buses. This one was quite nice, air-conditioned, comfortable, better seats than Greyhound. We travelled three hours north to Chiang Rai, where I actually thought we were going to have a look around for an hour or two. We had a lunch/pee break and a bus change and that was it! Next bus.. old, rickety, much less comfortable, full to the rafters, not air-con.. but it soon emptied out and we had lots of room to spread out. Three hours on this bus as well, to Chiang Khong, where our lovely tour leader Ju bid us adieu as we were crossing the Mekong river, leaving Thailand and entering Laos, and Gecko's Adventures keeps their tour leaders local to each country.
We did Thai exit immigration procedures, and our new tour leader for Laos, Soun, was there to greet us and accompany us across the river. Super nice bloke, born in Laos, grew up in the states, moved back about 12 years ago. Off we went across the Mekong, got our visas at Laos immigration. Interesting fact here... each of the three nationalities represented in our tour group had a different fee, the Aussies at US$31, Brits US$36, and me, US$43. What the hell?? Should be those Aussies paying the most! LOL.
After completing border formalities (entering a small town called Bakeo), we walked to our guesthouse for the night, and set out for a look around town, including climbing about 150 steps up to a Buddhist temple, which offered lovely views of the river and town. Walked up and down the main drag before meeting back at the guesthouse to head out for dinner, where I tried the national Laos dish, which I can't remember the name of at this time but was very delicious! Laos beer, very yummy, simply called: Beerlao. Off to bed soon after dinner.
Up early-ish to start our boat cruise down the Mekong river... in a Laos longtail boat. Such a good way to see the countryside and be lazy at the same time! Our destination tonight is Pakbeng, a small town on the side of the Mekong. Along the way we had a delicious buffet on board the ship, stopped at a small 'middle-Laos' village (where people live a bit more traditionally), saw some amazing scenery, and got to Pakbeng about 430pm. Small little riverside town, like I mentioned earlier, haha. Quite quiet here, our guesthouse only has electricity from 6pm-10pm, so we dropped our stuff and went on a brief walking tour of the down, including the market, and a temple. All temples are Buddhist unless otherwise stated! Back to the guesthouse in time for beer and dinner with the bugs, and here I am writing away now. Off to bed before the 1000pm power cut off, so I have the fan to keep cool until I fall asleep!
Oh yeah, and I finally had a ride in a Thai tuk-tuk, three-wheeled motorcycle taxi thing, brightly painted, some with lots of colourful lights. Was sooo fun. :)
Next morning, up at an obscene hour (5:30) for breakfast and off by 6:30 to catch the first of our two buses. This one was quite nice, air-conditioned, comfortable, better seats than Greyhound. We travelled three hours north to Chiang Rai, where I actually thought we were going to have a look around for an hour or two. We had a lunch/pee break and a bus change and that was it! Next bus.. old, rickety, much less comfortable, full to the rafters, not air-con.. but it soon emptied out and we had lots of room to spread out. Three hours on this bus as well, to Chiang Khong, where our lovely tour leader Ju bid us adieu as we were crossing the Mekong river, leaving Thailand and entering Laos, and Gecko's Adventures keeps their tour leaders local to each country.
We did Thai exit immigration procedures, and our new tour leader for Laos, Soun, was there to greet us and accompany us across the river. Super nice bloke, born in Laos, grew up in the states, moved back about 12 years ago. Off we went across the Mekong, got our visas at Laos immigration. Interesting fact here... each of the three nationalities represented in our tour group had a different fee, the Aussies at US$31, Brits US$36, and me, US$43. What the hell?? Should be those Aussies paying the most! LOL.
After completing border formalities (entering a small town called Bakeo), we walked to our guesthouse for the night, and set out for a look around town, including climbing about 150 steps up to a Buddhist temple, which offered lovely views of the river and town. Walked up and down the main drag before meeting back at the guesthouse to head out for dinner, where I tried the national Laos dish, which I can't remember the name of at this time but was very delicious! Laos beer, very yummy, simply called: Beerlao. Off to bed soon after dinner.
Up early-ish to start our boat cruise down the Mekong river... in a Laos longtail boat. Such a good way to see the countryside and be lazy at the same time! Our destination tonight is Pakbeng, a small town on the side of the Mekong. Along the way we had a delicious buffet on board the ship, stopped at a small 'middle-Laos' village (where people live a bit more traditionally), saw some amazing scenery, and got to Pakbeng about 430pm. Small little riverside town, like I mentioned earlier, haha. Quite quiet here, our guesthouse only has electricity from 6pm-10pm, so we dropped our stuff and went on a brief walking tour of the down, including the market, and a temple. All temples are Buddhist unless otherwise stated! Back to the guesthouse in time for beer and dinner with the bugs, and here I am writing away now. Off to bed before the 1000pm power cut off, so I have the fan to keep cool until I fall asleep!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Who has a place to live??
I do I do!!
I found a place with the help of my buddy Francois from Vancouver, he introduced me to a friend of his in Melbourne, and we are going to be housemates, yay!
I found a place with the help of my buddy Francois from Vancouver, he introduced me to a friend of his in Melbourne, and we are going to be housemates, yay!
Crazy Bangkok (this is a long one, covers three days!)
Here I am.. at last. Well actually I'm in Chiang Mai now.. Bangkok was so busy I scarcely had time to write my blog!
Flight up from Johor Bahru was uneventful, apart from the fact that I forgot I was only permitted 15kg of checked baggage, and I had 18kg.. cost me a wee bit in extra baggage charges. Oh well. Made my connection through Kuala Lumpur without any trouble. Air Asia was quite pleasant actually.
Got to Bangkok, arriving at their shiny new airport, the name of which I cannot begin to pronounce. Found my way through immigration, picked up my bag and through customs, out into the arrival hall where there were people absolutely everywhere. Passengers, airport staff, 20,000 cab/limo drivers who all wanted your business.. good times. Got some Thai Baht out of the ATM and found a cab driver, and we were off.
There was some drama which included my cab driver yelling into his phone at someone to try to figure out where it was, the Thai language at high volume is not really a pleasant experience, LOL.
He found the hotel in reasonable time, cost me about 350 Baht (about $12) to come all the way from the airport (about 40 min drive), quite cheap really. Got myself checked in, showered, went out for a quick walk in the neighbourhood to have a look around, got some water, a SIM card for my phone, and headed back to the hotel for dinner (pad thai.. mmm) and Singha beer (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm).
After I got the phone thing figured out.. I waited until about midnight (so it was 10am at home) and got on the horn to Lindsay at my old office to see about changing my flight from Singapore-Sydney.. I've decided to curtail my itinerary after I finish in Vietnam, heading straight for Australia instead of going back to Thailand/Malaysia for 3 more weeks. I just decided it was too long and too complicated. Was super nice to talk to Lindsay, and 2 more phone calls and about an hour later, I had all my flights from Danang-Saigon-Singapore-Sydney all re-arranged. I had one night previously booked in a posh hotel at the Singapore airport, this change could wait until the next day. Off to bed.
Up at 730, out the door to breakfast, immediately after which I was picked up by my day-trip people to head out for my tour. We visited a few sites just outside of Bangkok, including a short river cruise on a traditional Thai boat, a visit to a farm where this yummy sugar candy-type stuff is made (can't remember what it was called), a fantastic cooking course where I got to make Pad Thai (mmmmmm), and a visit to an orchid farm to watch how they grew orchids out of a bottle.. was really cool :)
I met some lovely people from Australia, including one lady who chatted me up all the way back to the city, we ended up exchanging information and hugs at the end of the car ride!
Back to the hotel where I was promptly switched into another room, as I would now have a roommate.. a nice fellow from the UK. I had some things to do, among them getting my US$350 local payment, so off I went.. I found this enormous electronics shopping mall just down the street called 'IT World', I had really been thinking about getting one of those tiny notebook computers that are scaled back basically to do internet only, as practically every place I had stayed so far had wireless set up and I was spending a fortune in internet bills. So after much looking around I picked one up, then went to the bank machine to withdraw enough money to change to US dollars.. by this time I was so close to the time to meet my group that I could only ask one currency exchange place, who would not sell me US dollars. Booo.
Met my group, great bunch, only 8 of us (although this group is three different tours, so we will leave some as we go and probably pick more up). Five Aussies, two Brits, and me. Tour leader is just lovely :)
Went to another currency place as suggested by the tour leader, bought some USD, headed off to dinner, seafood red curry, omg sooooooo yummy, back to hotel and dropped into bed after a couple hours online.
OK this is getting long.. next day.. did the grand palace (sooo fantastic), reclining buddha, took a boat up one of the canals, and vegged out in the hotel the rest of the day, until it was time to head to the train station for our overnight train to Chiang Mai (14 hours). Train ride was fun, didn't sleep a whole lot, such are the joys of sleeper trains... got to our lovely little hotel in Chiang Mai in the morning, myself and one other girl did an elephant ride which was tons of fun.. every 3 steps the elephant went, up it's trunk came for a banana which we had been given to feed him. Was very fun, got lots of good photos, including the one they took of us. Back to hotel, here I am.
Phew. That was a long one..
Tonight doing the night bazaar..
Tomorrow we are off to Chiang Rai by bus.. then crossing into Laos tomorrow afternoon, can't wait!
Flight up from Johor Bahru was uneventful, apart from the fact that I forgot I was only permitted 15kg of checked baggage, and I had 18kg.. cost me a wee bit in extra baggage charges. Oh well. Made my connection through Kuala Lumpur without any trouble. Air Asia was quite pleasant actually.
Got to Bangkok, arriving at their shiny new airport, the name of which I cannot begin to pronounce. Found my way through immigration, picked up my bag and through customs, out into the arrival hall where there were people absolutely everywhere. Passengers, airport staff, 20,000 cab/limo drivers who all wanted your business.. good times. Got some Thai Baht out of the ATM and found a cab driver, and we were off.
There was some drama which included my cab driver yelling into his phone at someone to try to figure out where it was, the Thai language at high volume is not really a pleasant experience, LOL.
He found the hotel in reasonable time, cost me about 350 Baht (about $12) to come all the way from the airport (about 40 min drive), quite cheap really. Got myself checked in, showered, went out for a quick walk in the neighbourhood to have a look around, got some water, a SIM card for my phone, and headed back to the hotel for dinner (pad thai.. mmm) and Singha beer (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm).
After I got the phone thing figured out.. I waited until about midnight (so it was 10am at home) and got on the horn to Lindsay at my old office to see about changing my flight from Singapore-Sydney.. I've decided to curtail my itinerary after I finish in Vietnam, heading straight for Australia instead of going back to Thailand/Malaysia for 3 more weeks. I just decided it was too long and too complicated. Was super nice to talk to Lindsay, and 2 more phone calls and about an hour later, I had all my flights from Danang-Saigon-Singapore-Sydney all re-arranged. I had one night previously booked in a posh hotel at the Singapore airport, this change could wait until the next day. Off to bed.
Up at 730, out the door to breakfast, immediately after which I was picked up by my day-trip people to head out for my tour. We visited a few sites just outside of Bangkok, including a short river cruise on a traditional Thai boat, a visit to a farm where this yummy sugar candy-type stuff is made (can't remember what it was called), a fantastic cooking course where I got to make Pad Thai (mmmmmm), and a visit to an orchid farm to watch how they grew orchids out of a bottle.. was really cool :)
I met some lovely people from Australia, including one lady who chatted me up all the way back to the city, we ended up exchanging information and hugs at the end of the car ride!
Back to the hotel where I was promptly switched into another room, as I would now have a roommate.. a nice fellow from the UK. I had some things to do, among them getting my US$350 local payment, so off I went.. I found this enormous electronics shopping mall just down the street called 'IT World', I had really been thinking about getting one of those tiny notebook computers that are scaled back basically to do internet only, as practically every place I had stayed so far had wireless set up and I was spending a fortune in internet bills. So after much looking around I picked one up, then went to the bank machine to withdraw enough money to change to US dollars.. by this time I was so close to the time to meet my group that I could only ask one currency exchange place, who would not sell me US dollars. Booo.
Met my group, great bunch, only 8 of us (although this group is three different tours, so we will leave some as we go and probably pick more up). Five Aussies, two Brits, and me. Tour leader is just lovely :)
Went to another currency place as suggested by the tour leader, bought some USD, headed off to dinner, seafood red curry, omg sooooooo yummy, back to hotel and dropped into bed after a couple hours online.
OK this is getting long.. next day.. did the grand palace (sooo fantastic), reclining buddha, took a boat up one of the canals, and vegged out in the hotel the rest of the day, until it was time to head to the train station for our overnight train to Chiang Mai (14 hours). Train ride was fun, didn't sleep a whole lot, such are the joys of sleeper trains... got to our lovely little hotel in Chiang Mai in the morning, myself and one other girl did an elephant ride which was tons of fun.. every 3 steps the elephant went, up it's trunk came for a banana which we had been given to feed him. Was very fun, got lots of good photos, including the one they took of us. Back to hotel, here I am.
Phew. That was a long one..
Tonight doing the night bazaar..
Tomorrow we are off to Chiang Rai by bus.. then crossing into Laos tomorrow afternoon, can't wait!
Monday, October 13, 2008
i heart mandarin..
some ladies in the lobby are speaking mandarin to each other... makes me feel a little bit less homesick.. hehe
Paradise no more..
Well, stopped blogging for a few days because of the super-expensive satellite internet on tiny Malaysian island.. back on the mainland now so here I am again.
Pulau Perhentian was sooo lovely... my four nights there seemed like 2 weeks, time moved so slowly. I had the loveliest time.. basically did nothing.. except one day I rented snorkel gear and swam with lots of colourful fishies :) The fish there are not the least bit shy either..
The electricity 12 hours a day only was the only thing that took getting used to... and only because that meant no aircon.. it was bloody hot there.
Got back into Kuala Besut (where the the speedboats come in from the islands) about 12:45pm, after a fast and a bit bumpy ride.. was promptly met by a taxi driver who delivered me to my guesthouse in Kota Bharu - the nearest city with an airport. Tomorrow I fly to Bangkok, via Kuala Lumpur.
The guesthouse is very... basic. The toilets.. kinda work. My room is comfortable enough. I'm not complaining - it cost about $5 for the night, for a private room.
Just spent the afternoon relaxing, had a bit of a wander, eventually got some dinner and now am thinking about bed.. lol it's only 8:30pm. Who's almost 30? Who's getting old?
Pulau Perhentian was sooo lovely... my four nights there seemed like 2 weeks, time moved so slowly. I had the loveliest time.. basically did nothing.. except one day I rented snorkel gear and swam with lots of colourful fishies :) The fish there are not the least bit shy either..
The electricity 12 hours a day only was the only thing that took getting used to... and only because that meant no aircon.. it was bloody hot there.
Got back into Kuala Besut (where the the speedboats come in from the islands) about 12:45pm, after a fast and a bit bumpy ride.. was promptly met by a taxi driver who delivered me to my guesthouse in Kota Bharu - the nearest city with an airport. Tomorrow I fly to Bangkok, via Kuala Lumpur.
The guesthouse is very... basic. The toilets.. kinda work. My room is comfortable enough. I'm not complaining - it cost about $5 for the night, for a private room.
Just spent the afternoon relaxing, had a bit of a wander, eventually got some dinner and now am thinking about bed.. lol it's only 8:30pm. Who's almost 30? Who's getting old?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Paradise.
Had a nice, but bloody hot and humid final day in Singapore, bought my ticket for the train from Singapore to Johor Bahru (was going to take the bus and transfer to the train, decided this was easier!), and hung out with my new friend Catherine basically all day. We went back to Sentosa Island by way of the the skyride (gondola).. which was more expensive but super fun.
After bidding farewell to my new friend and the nice hostel owner lady (overheard her name mentioned at one point but now I forget.. lol)... off I went sweaty as can be to the rail station (only 10 minutes walk, fortunately). At the rail station you clear customs procedures, do you have anything to declare bla bla bla, then onto the train and up the track 25 minutes, you clear immigration out of Singapore and into Malaysia in one step (although I never actually got stamped into Malaysia, just out of Singapore). The train ride started out lovely.. basically double bunks running along both sides of the train (with privacy curtains).. I had a bottom bunk right next to the door. Good times. The door was opened by air pressure, which made a fun hissing sound, which people opened and closed ALL night, in addition to talking until wee hours of the morning. Long story short, I got about 15 minutes of sleep.
We pulled into Wakaf Bahru station (in northeast Malaysia) at about 845am, one of the conductors was nice enough to tell me we were there as it wasn't well signed or otherwise obvious. A taxi driver greeted me almost immediately, where I didn't believe the RM80 ($28) fare to get to Kuala Besut (which is where the ferry goes from out to the islands).. there was a sign posted in the station listing all the fares, which he showed me, and indeed it did say RM80. Sigh. $28 for a 90km taxi ride, poor me.
Friendly taxi driver, although he didn't say much on the hour long trip (during which he drove like a bat out of hell). Delivered me right to the front door of the ferry ticket sales office, I bought a ferry ticket, and paid the taxi driver (even gave him a tip, which he was very happy about.. not sure if tipping is the norm so I just did it, lol). The owner of the small ticket-sales office said I could leave my bag there while I waited for the boat, which I was only to happy to do.
Went to a little cafe across the street as it had been 15 hours since I last ate (14 hour train ride, 1 hour car ride).. had a yummy banana pancake and a coke, strange combination I know, but I was suddenly afraid of adventerous eating while travelling solo, so I kept it simple.
The ferry left at about 11am, I had to pay a extra fee as the islands are part of a marine park, I guess they charge the fee for maintenance, etc. Was about a 30 minute ride, we went to Pulau Perhentian Besar first (Pulau means island, Besar means large, in Bahasa Malaysia) and dropped off some folks, one of which was a nice girl from KL and I chatted with her a bit, then over to Pulau Perhentian Kecil (Kecil = small), which took about 5 minutes. I was very wet from the trip, we hit some rain on the way.
A smaller boat came out to pick me up (larger boat was too big to run up on the beach), I was on the beach of the second most beautiful place ever (the first being where I come from, perhaps I'm a bit biased!). Long Beach is the main beach on Kecil, with a number of beachfront chalets, a couple of bars, a few restaurants, a few scuba/snorkel shops, etc. I found my place after asking, as it was up in the trees a bit, slightly back from the beachfront. A nice guy got me checked in and showed me where my room was.. a bit dank and dark. I guess that's how it goes in a super humid environment that gets monsoons for 4 months of the year. No electricity at this place from 7am-7pm in the off-season, which is now. Each place generates their own power, as there is no supply from the mainland. Anyway, certainly comfortable. I had a bit of a nap and went to one of the restaurants for a bite to eat, mid-afternoonish by this point. Saw an enourmous monitor (sp?) lizard on the way to the restaurant, but couldn't get my camera out quick enough. Started to rain so I went and sat on my balcony, swatted away mosquitoes (another side-effect of the humid environment) until the rain stopped, and came down to write this rather enormous blog.
Internet is quite expensive here (by comparison to other places), so no photos until I get to Bangkok on the 14th, and I likely won't write another blog either :)
Ciao!
After bidding farewell to my new friend and the nice hostel owner lady (overheard her name mentioned at one point but now I forget.. lol)... off I went sweaty as can be to the rail station (only 10 minutes walk, fortunately). At the rail station you clear customs procedures, do you have anything to declare bla bla bla, then onto the train and up the track 25 minutes, you clear immigration out of Singapore and into Malaysia in one step (although I never actually got stamped into Malaysia, just out of Singapore). The train ride started out lovely.. basically double bunks running along both sides of the train (with privacy curtains).. I had a bottom bunk right next to the door. Good times. The door was opened by air pressure, which made a fun hissing sound, which people opened and closed ALL night, in addition to talking until wee hours of the morning. Long story short, I got about 15 minutes of sleep.
We pulled into Wakaf Bahru station (in northeast Malaysia) at about 845am, one of the conductors was nice enough to tell me we were there as it wasn't well signed or otherwise obvious. A taxi driver greeted me almost immediately, where I didn't believe the RM80 ($28) fare to get to Kuala Besut (which is where the ferry goes from out to the islands).. there was a sign posted in the station listing all the fares, which he showed me, and indeed it did say RM80. Sigh. $28 for a 90km taxi ride, poor me.
Friendly taxi driver, although he didn't say much on the hour long trip (during which he drove like a bat out of hell). Delivered me right to the front door of the ferry ticket sales office, I bought a ferry ticket, and paid the taxi driver (even gave him a tip, which he was very happy about.. not sure if tipping is the norm so I just did it, lol). The owner of the small ticket-sales office said I could leave my bag there while I waited for the boat, which I was only to happy to do.
Went to a little cafe across the street as it had been 15 hours since I last ate (14 hour train ride, 1 hour car ride).. had a yummy banana pancake and a coke, strange combination I know, but I was suddenly afraid of adventerous eating while travelling solo, so I kept it simple.
The ferry left at about 11am, I had to pay a extra fee as the islands are part of a marine park, I guess they charge the fee for maintenance, etc. Was about a 30 minute ride, we went to Pulau Perhentian Besar first (Pulau means island, Besar means large, in Bahasa Malaysia) and dropped off some folks, one of which was a nice girl from KL and I chatted with her a bit, then over to Pulau Perhentian Kecil (Kecil = small), which took about 5 minutes. I was very wet from the trip, we hit some rain on the way.
A smaller boat came out to pick me up (larger boat was too big to run up on the beach), I was on the beach of the second most beautiful place ever (the first being where I come from, perhaps I'm a bit biased!). Long Beach is the main beach on Kecil, with a number of beachfront chalets, a couple of bars, a few restaurants, a few scuba/snorkel shops, etc. I found my place after asking, as it was up in the trees a bit, slightly back from the beachfront. A nice guy got me checked in and showed me where my room was.. a bit dank and dark. I guess that's how it goes in a super humid environment that gets monsoons for 4 months of the year. No electricity at this place from 7am-7pm in the off-season, which is now. Each place generates their own power, as there is no supply from the mainland. Anyway, certainly comfortable. I had a bit of a nap and went to one of the restaurants for a bite to eat, mid-afternoonish by this point. Saw an enourmous monitor (sp?) lizard on the way to the restaurant, but couldn't get my camera out quick enough. Started to rain so I went and sat on my balcony, swatted away mosquitoes (another side-effect of the humid environment) until the rain stopped, and came down to write this rather enormous blog.
Internet is quite expensive here (by comparison to other places), so no photos until I get to Bangkok on the 14th, and I likely won't write another blog either :)
Ciao!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Photos
Photos may be delayed, I'm not sure how fast an internet connection I'll get in the Perhentian Islands.. if not, then I'll upload them from Bangkok.
Finally un-jetlagged!
My second full day in Singapore was fantastic, hung out with my new pal Catherine that I met at my hostel. We went to the famous Raffles Hotel and had a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar.. you'll notice I said 'a' Singapore Sling.. they were S$22 (about $16) each.
Had a coffee.. first one since I left the UK.. mmmmmmmmm latte. Sentosa Island was our next stop, basically a huge tourist attraction full of tacky tourist things, but they had a bit of a beach there which was nice, even if it looked a bit man-made.
Back to the Chinatown night market where we had yummy wonton noodle soup and veggies... and then my good friend/former co-worker Bernie, who was passing through town on a familiarization trip, called me and we were able to get together! We had planned this for this date from before I left Canada, but when I emailed her close to the date and didn't hear back, I was afraid I had missed her.. good thing I got a mobile phone here and she was able to reach me :)
We met up after Catherine and I parted ways for the evening, had a good chat and had a yummy fruit juice at one of the stalls in Chinatown, before heading home for the night. Lots of big hugs from her as well of course.
I was able to have a chat with Matt last night to report on how well the day was going, that was nice. :)
Next morning.. brings us to right now. I slept all of 4 hours last night, perhaps I was wound up from my day.. now I' m tired :( Hopefully I'll sleep on the train tonight.
Had a coffee.. first one since I left the UK.. mmmmmmmmm latte. Sentosa Island was our next stop, basically a huge tourist attraction full of tacky tourist things, but they had a bit of a beach there which was nice, even if it looked a bit man-made.
Back to the Chinatown night market where we had yummy wonton noodle soup and veggies... and then my good friend/former co-worker Bernie, who was passing through town on a familiarization trip, called me and we were able to get together! We had planned this for this date from before I left Canada, but when I emailed her close to the date and didn't hear back, I was afraid I had missed her.. good thing I got a mobile phone here and she was able to reach me :)
We met up after Catherine and I parted ways for the evening, had a good chat and had a yummy fruit juice at one of the stalls in Chinatown, before heading home for the night. Lots of big hugs from her as well of course.
I was able to have a chat with Matt last night to report on how well the day was going, that was nice. :)
Next morning.. brings us to right now. I slept all of 4 hours last night, perhaps I was wound up from my day.. now I' m tired :( Hopefully I'll sleep on the train tonight.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Exploring Singapore
Finally crawled out of bed at 11 this morning.. I heart jetlag.. missed the included breakfast with my hostel bed, oh well.
Met a nice girl from Perth at my hostel, we went for a wander to find lunch and have a look-see in Chinatown, and parted ways here. I spent a little more time in Chinatown, exploring the shops and finding out how to get my mobile phone hooked up, had a bubble tea, etc. Was generally less than impressed with Chinatown as a whole, turns out I missed a whole bunch.. more on that later.
My next stop was Clarke Quay, a collection of shops and restaurants along the Singapore River, quite nice, although very quiet (apparently livens up at dinner). Took a 45-minute river cruise, which wasn't all that informative or exciting, but saw some interesting things along the way.
Next stop Little India, loads of crazy shops and restaurants, spent some time sat down here just taking it all in, had an interesting yet tasty dinner (consisted of an enourmous super-flat pancakey thing with three dipping sauces), wandered the streets some more before heading back.
I decided to get off at the Chinatown station, seeing as I was familiar with how to walk back from there, and came out of the subway station right into the middle of a rather large night market, rivalled only by Hong Kong's night market. Every possible thing you can imagine, including suit-makers trying to pull me in.. already have plans for that in Vietnam. I enjoyed a nice Kiwi slushee juicey thingy, was super tasty, stopping at the mobile phone place to get hooked up before making my way back to the hostel. Met another nice Aussie, from Melbourne, had a short chat before she went off to bed.
The jetlag/super-extra-tiredness factor played havoc with my emotions towards the end of the day and I wound up having a wee cry on the phone with a loved one.. feel better now. Sometimes you just have to have a wee cry. Off to bed with me..
Met a nice girl from Perth at my hostel, we went for a wander to find lunch and have a look-see in Chinatown, and parted ways here. I spent a little more time in Chinatown, exploring the shops and finding out how to get my mobile phone hooked up, had a bubble tea, etc. Was generally less than impressed with Chinatown as a whole, turns out I missed a whole bunch.. more on that later.
My next stop was Clarke Quay, a collection of shops and restaurants along the Singapore River, quite nice, although very quiet (apparently livens up at dinner). Took a 45-minute river cruise, which wasn't all that informative or exciting, but saw some interesting things along the way.
Next stop Little India, loads of crazy shops and restaurants, spent some time sat down here just taking it all in, had an interesting yet tasty dinner (consisted of an enourmous super-flat pancakey thing with three dipping sauces), wandered the streets some more before heading back.
I decided to get off at the Chinatown station, seeing as I was familiar with how to walk back from there, and came out of the subway station right into the middle of a rather large night market, rivalled only by Hong Kong's night market. Every possible thing you can imagine, including suit-makers trying to pull me in.. already have plans for that in Vietnam. I enjoyed a nice Kiwi slushee juicey thingy, was super tasty, stopping at the mobile phone place to get hooked up before making my way back to the hostel. Met another nice Aussie, from Melbourne, had a short chat before she went off to bed.
The jetlag/super-extra-tiredness factor played havoc with my emotions towards the end of the day and I wound up having a wee cry on the phone with a loved one.. feel better now. Sometimes you just have to have a wee cry. Off to bed with me..
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sweaty Singapore..
OK.. I'm jetlagged so this will be short. The flight was not nearly as painful as I thought it might be.. Qantas is just lovely. They gave me an emergency exit row seat.. had extra legroom :)
Made it to Singapore and into the city without any major drama, got off at the right subway station... oh.. a side note.. this one deserves its own separate paragraph:
Their subway system is called SMRT!!! LOL. S-M-R-T, I am so smart..
anyway.. after much (ok, maybe only 15 minutes) wandering around looking lost, and a friendly Singaporean asking if I needed help, I got in a taxi and found my accommodation. I had to go back out to find money, cash only the nice lady said.. so off I went to the cash machine, picked up some food as well. Somehow I decided that spicy instant noodles would be a good thing to eat in this weather, LOL.
OK, I'm going to bed. Bye for now!!
Made it to Singapore and into the city without any major drama, got off at the right subway station... oh.. a side note.. this one deserves its own separate paragraph:
Their subway system is called SMRT!!! LOL. S-M-R-T, I am so smart..
anyway.. after much (ok, maybe only 15 minutes) wandering around looking lost, and a friendly Singaporean asking if I needed help, I got in a taxi and found my accommodation. I had to go back out to find money, cash only the nice lady said.. so off I went to the cash machine, picked up some food as well. Somehow I decided that spicy instant noodles would be a good thing to eat in this weather, LOL.
OK, I'm going to bed. Bye for now!!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Off to Singapore tonight..
Had a fantastic day yesterday, David showed me all around the harbour at Portsmouth, plus a bit of the city, was bloody cold but sunny :)
Went to a yummy Turkish restaurant for dinner.. have never had it before, was super tasty. Ate entirely too much.
Rainy today, so have just been staying inside and getting ready to head to the airport..
Might be a couple of days before I'm back online.. flight is very long, and by the time I arrive in Singapore I'll be ready to drop into bed I'm quite sure.
Bye for now.......
Went to a yummy Turkish restaurant for dinner.. have never had it before, was super tasty. Ate entirely too much.
Rainy today, so have just been staying inside and getting ready to head to the airport..
Might be a couple of days before I'm back online.. flight is very long, and by the time I arrive in Singapore I'll be ready to drop into bed I'm quite sure.
Bye for now.......
Friday, October 3, 2008
Back to the homeland.
My final day on Santorini was nice and super relaxing.. ate breakfast by the pool, met two nice couples just arriving at the hotel who were from Vancouver, put my feet in the Mediterranean, got packed up and Stelio the hotel owner took me to the airport.
Stelio and his wife Eva were absolutely lovely and I will most certainly be back to stay at their hotel.
One of the ladies from the bunch that I met from Vancouver reminded me to call my mother often and be safe.. obviously she's a mom, LOL.
No dramas on the flight, security at the itsy-bitsy Santorini airport doesn't exist, a lady was seeing some friends off, they had gone through security and she hadn't. She asked the sole security guy if she could go through and wait with them, he said no problem, for a little while. She didn't go through the metal detector or anything. LOL.
The Greek islands were just wonderful and I can't wait to get back there.
My friend David met me at Stansted airport in London. Major shock to the system as I stepped outside, it was bloody cold!! Yay October. haha
David is a friend that I met in Victoria about 10 years ago, but haven't seen since I moved to Vancouver in 1999. He's an English fellow, lived in Canada for a long time, and decided to move back to the UK. Very nice to see him again :) He lives in Southsea, near Portsmouth (a part of Portsmouth really), on the south coast of England. Was about a 3 hour drive from the airport.
We stopped along the way for a nibble and something to drink... arrived about 1130pm, had tea and a chat, and after a shower dropped into bed...
Stelio and his wife Eva were absolutely lovely and I will most certainly be back to stay at their hotel.
One of the ladies from the bunch that I met from Vancouver reminded me to call my mother often and be safe.. obviously she's a mom, LOL.
No dramas on the flight, security at the itsy-bitsy Santorini airport doesn't exist, a lady was seeing some friends off, they had gone through security and she hadn't. She asked the sole security guy if she could go through and wait with them, he said no problem, for a little while. She didn't go through the metal detector or anything. LOL.
The Greek islands were just wonderful and I can't wait to get back there.
My friend David met me at Stansted airport in London. Major shock to the system as I stepped outside, it was bloody cold!! Yay October. haha
David is a friend that I met in Victoria about 10 years ago, but haven't seen since I moved to Vancouver in 1999. He's an English fellow, lived in Canada for a long time, and decided to move back to the UK. Very nice to see him again :) He lives in Southsea, near Portsmouth (a part of Portsmouth really), on the south coast of England. Was about a 3 hour drive from the airport.
We stopped along the way for a nibble and something to drink... arrived about 1130pm, had tea and a chat, and after a shower dropped into bed...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
best day ever
.. well, it's up there anyway
woke up in a crap mood.. but as i have learned.. get outside asap and all is well. better, anyways. Had to go to the hotel manager because my toilet.. ahem.. wasn't taking everything away.
i rented a wee scooter today and pretty much saw all of Santorini (probably did 100km)
Was out to the east end of the island, saw the lighthouse, red sand beach (more like red cliff & rocks, not much of a beach), Fira, Oia (pronounced ee-ah), and lots of wee villages in between, + way up the highest mountain right in the middle of the island.
Oia was my favourite, at the far western end of the island. It did have it's share of tacky tourist stuff, but not as much as Fira. Oia is known for it's sunsets, facing west right over the ocean with no obstructions.. so after wandering through the town, I found a good perch to watch/take 25000 photos, and there I sat for a hour waiting. The spot gradually got more and more full of people basically doing the same.
Motored back in the dark, after stopping back in Fira, I really really wanted some Greek worry beads, and I had seen some earlier that I liked so I picked them up. Got a wee bit lost and ended up almost at the airport, but found my way again (island isn't that big, not to many places to go wrong!), gassed up the scooter (not a major purchase, lol) and back to Perissa Beach.
Found a yummy place called Grandma's Recipes for dinner, had a chicken pita gyro and yummy Greek salad. A very nice girl from Boston was working there and was very chatty.
Glad I had such a great day.. I've had some bouts of loneliness and homesickness, but not today.. hopefully the toilet will be fixed, LOL.
This is my last night in Greece.. I'll be back for sure, but bringing someone along next time :)
woke up in a crap mood.. but as i have learned.. get outside asap and all is well. better, anyways. Had to go to the hotel manager because my toilet.. ahem.. wasn't taking everything away.
i rented a wee scooter today and pretty much saw all of Santorini (probably did 100km)
Was out to the east end of the island, saw the lighthouse, red sand beach (more like red cliff & rocks, not much of a beach), Fira, Oia (pronounced ee-ah), and lots of wee villages in between, + way up the highest mountain right in the middle of the island.
Oia was my favourite, at the far western end of the island. It did have it's share of tacky tourist stuff, but not as much as Fira. Oia is known for it's sunsets, facing west right over the ocean with no obstructions.. so after wandering through the town, I found a good perch to watch/take 25000 photos, and there I sat for a hour waiting. The spot gradually got more and more full of people basically doing the same.
Motored back in the dark, after stopping back in Fira, I really really wanted some Greek worry beads, and I had seen some earlier that I liked so I picked them up. Got a wee bit lost and ended up almost at the airport, but found my way again (island isn't that big, not to many places to go wrong!), gassed up the scooter (not a major purchase, lol) and back to Perissa Beach.
Found a yummy place called Grandma's Recipes for dinner, had a chicken pita gyro and yummy Greek salad. A very nice girl from Boston was working there and was very chatty.
Glad I had such a great day.. I've had some bouts of loneliness and homesickness, but not today.. hopefully the toilet will be fixed, LOL.
This is my last night in Greece.. I'll be back for sure, but bringing someone along next time :)
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