Phuket!

Ok SORRY I've been so slack.. the last few days of our trip were spent in Phuket, pretty much doing nothing.. hence updating the blog would have interfered with the 'nothingness' and there really isn't that much to report on anyway!

We had prebooked ourselves a Deluxe Room at the Rayaburi Hotel at Patong Beach to celebrate the end of our 2 month adventure (and to try and cheer ourselves up about the fact that we were about to return home to work/study!).

Our days consisted of lying on sunloungers on the very-crowded Patong Beach, reading, swimming, shopping, eating.... that's it. I can tell you that I am not missing the constant "G'day Mate, want a suit?" or "Hello lady, you want massage?" that followed us wherever we went!

One night we ventured to the infamous Bangla Rd to check it out, and I can safely say that it was the seediest place we've been on the whole trip! Prostitutes everywhere, Thai girls (or ladyboys? hard to tell sometimes) dancing on bars, PingPong Shows etc etc. Absolutely packed with people! There were guys carrying around big iguanas, trying to get tourists to get a photo with their iguana so they could charge them money. Those things really freak me out... which is why I went running when about 5 guys with iguanas started cornering me. ARGH. There were also a group of ladyboys in costume standing on the side of the street getting people to take photos with them (and charging for it, of course). I went up for a photo... "Hold me!" squealed the ladyboy, so I obliged.. even though I'm not entirely sure why they'd want me to hold them, considering I'm a female. Steve didn't want a photo, but the ladyboys protested (Steve has a way with Asian men...) so Steve decided to lose his inhibitions and get a photo too. Turns out the ladyboys really like Steve too, as evidenced by the way one of them held Steve's hand to their 'breast'. Check the photo out, it's hilarious. Funny how they got a lot closer to Steve in his photo than they did to me in my photo....

After that we decided to escape Bangla Rd and head down to the beach and check out the party that they were throwing for the Chinese New Year. We lit up a paper lantern (which I've always wanted to do!) and sat in the sand watching it float away.

Next day was Valentine's day and we spent the day lounging around in true Phuket fashion. We both got Thai massages, and went to a really nice restaurant literally on the beach for dinner and delicious dessert. It was a really nice way to spend the last night of our trip!

The next morning we took a taxi to the airport, on the way we reminisced and made a list of things we would and wouldn't miss about SE Asia.. actually I might post that here on the blog if I can remember it all!

After aaages lining up at Phuket airport (there was a 10m line just to get in the door.. they really need to redesign that airport!) we caught our first flight to Singapore. At Changi airport we had a stopover for a few hours in which we used the free foot massage chairs, free internet and visited the Butterfly Room! Changi really is the best airport.

The flight to Brisbane was great.. I love Singapore Airlines. Plenty of leg room, seats recline a fair way back, your own personal screen and heaps of movies and tv shows etc, AND the food is great! Only problem I found was that they only turned the lights out for about 2hrs and then served breakfast straight away... which didn't allow for much sleep! We arrived at Brisbane airport at about 6am. It felt so good to be back on our home turf and to hear Aussie accents, even though it meant we were no longer travelling.

I've added a Thailand photo album.. but then realised really how 'on holiday' we were; we took about 4 photos in Thailand! oops! Sorry guys! But hey, we had fun :)

Amiee x

Baaaangkok

Flew to Thailand yesterday morning. Was THE longest airport check-in/customs etc process we've had to go through in both airports! Took an expensive taxi to the backpacker area, Khao San Rd. Hotels, restaurants, shops EVERYWHERE. There's even a Burger King, McDonalds, and Subway.. no surprise really. We did our usual trick of Amiee sitting somewhere with our bags while Steve runs from hotel to hotel finding the best value room. This time I sat in a cafe and enjoyed a coffee shake (I was staaarving at that point). We then went and checked in to our room, and then went and ate some Pad Thai and fresh orange juice. I was feeling very sluggish and not at all well, which is unusual considering how much shopping there is to do here! I had to sit down on the gutter.. Steve suggested he take me back to the hotel, which turned out to be a good idea because as soon as I got into the bathroom I threw up my entire stomach contents. First time I've had food poisoning the entire trip and it happens within a couple of hours of getting into Thailand! Great. Felt a lot better afterwards though, had a bit of a nap and then went shopping :)

Shopping was exhausting due to the amount of failed haggling.. they try to charge ridiculous prices here for things, compared to what we've been paying for similar items in the rest of South East Asia. We're going to head to the big markets today and are hoping the prices might be a bit more reasonable. Thinking the prices on Khao San might be more expensive because it's so touristy. Had some encounters with some very unfriendly shop assistants yesterday, most notable was the guy running the bookshop we were browsing in. I saw a big book on 'Thai Architecture' and reached up and got it from the shelf to look at. He came over, took it out of my hands, showed me the price (RIDICULOUSLY overpriced at 1800 baht = $60AUD) and then put it back up on the shelf. Bastard. Not sure how he's expecting to sell it ever if he won't let anyone even look at it. Hmphf.

Had a quiet night reading books in our room, despite staying on a very rowdy party street. Was not up to going out after recent food poisoning! Spending the day in Bangkok today, and then flying to Phuket early tomorrow morning :)

Amiee x

Mui Ne... then back to Saigon!!

Spent 2 nights in Mui Ne.. not really much to do other than kite surf (if you're into that sort of thing.. was way too expensive for us to give it a go at this stage in our trip).. although there are some really cool sand dunes nearby.. the place looks like a mini Sahara desert! Photos to come soon.

Today we've completed our grand circuit and have made it back to Saigon! Would have loved to have had twice the time to do it, but we've done pretty well with the time we've had, I think! Tomorrow morning we fly over to Bangkok, and then the following day down to Phuket where we commence the final stage of our trip: lying on a beautiful beach and doing as close to nothing as possible. Have started to try and come to terms with the fact that we'll be home soon.. but trying not to think about it toooo much as it makes us sad... except for the fact that going back to Australia means seeing friends and relatives, of course ;)

Amiee xx

Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang!

Just realised it's been about a week since my last post so I thought I should probably update!
After Hanoi, we arrived in Hue via a sleeper train and spent a night there. Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam at one point, so we spent the morning visiting some of the monuments, mainly the Citadel. The architecture is a lot more 'oriental' here. We found the Citadel a bit underwhelming; most of it had been demolished, demolished and rebuilt at some point in history, or was currently being rebuilt. Inside the Citadel was a forbidden city where the Emperor spent his personal life (and which housed the Emperors' concubines; consequently only male servants who were eunuchs were allowed to enter - which we found amusing). We thought the Emperor's Reading Room was nice, but we were disappointed to find that you couldn't actually enter the building. We snuck a peak inside and saw a few shoes, clothing etc.. it looked like one of the employees were living there!

Next we took a fairly short bus ride (only about 4 hours) to Hoi An. Most beautiful town we've visited so far.. AND home to hundreds of tailors and cobblers! AND a gooorgeous quiet beach. Perfection! The lovely old buildings around Hoi An have been beautifully preserved and refurbished and it just creates such a great atmosphere. The streets were decorated with colourful paper lanterns ready for the Tet (New Year) celebrations, and there are countless little restaurants and bars overlooking the river. Ah I just can't describe well enough how amazing it is! On the first day I went a bit crazy with getting clothes and shoes made (Steve was off exploring Hoi An by bike hehe).. but hey, it would cost at least 3x the price in Aus AND everything fits perfectly (except for 1 pair of shoes but that's a long story!). We took the lovely 4km bike ride to the beach, which is a gorgeous wide stretch of sand with hundreds of palm trees and enjoyed a fresh coconut.. ahhh the sererenity :) I love palm trees. We were sad to leave Hoi An but we were running out of time and had to get back on the road.

After a rather (thankfully) uneventful sleeper bus journey (on which we actually got some sleep!!!) we arrived early yesterday morning in Nha Trang, a the beach city of Vietnam. We spent the morning catching up on some sleep (even though we slept on the bus, the many times we woke up during the night tends to reduce the quality of the sleep!), and then did some sight-seeing. The highlight of our stay here is definitely our visit to the Thap Ba Hot Springs; we had so much fun there! For $5 each we went through a huge process of various treatments. First, a hot mineral spring shower before soaking in a mineral mud path for several minutes. We both agree that the mud bath was definitely the most fun.. and you could float on the mud so easily! Next we had to lie in the sun for a few minutes (for all the muddy goodness to absorb into our skin??) before taking another hot mineral spring shower to rinse off. We then had some hot spring 'hydrotherapy' which involved walking through a 'hallway' of high pressure water jets. Not sure what that was supposed to accomplish really. Then we got into a hot mineral spring water bath.. it was so hot we felt like lobsters. After we couldn't stand the heat any longer, we had a shower under the mini waterfall. I could see a group of Asian men watching us and giggling amongst themselves. Steve jumped into the hot spring pool while I spent a bit longer in the waterfall, at which point I was approached by one of the giggling Asian men (the spokesman??).

Spokesman: "Your boyfriend is very handsome!"
Me: "Uh.. yes he is.. you like him??"
Spokesman: "We all like him!"

Looks like I've got some competition here! Steve couldn't work out why I was giggling so much when I joined him in the pool! Hehe.

Today we visited an amusement park called Vinpearl Land on an island off-shore. They've built 'Vinpearl' in giant white letters on the top of the island (Hollywood-style) that can be seen clearly from the mainland. Very subtle. The cable-car ride over to the island was very scenic.. it's supposedly the longest cross-sea cable-car? We got to Vinpearl Land at about 11am and practically had the place to ourselves! We spent the first hour-ish in the Indoor Games area.. a giant arcade where all the games were free! There were some super-ridiculous arcade games! There was one that was a racing game, but instead of pressing buttons like normal.. you had to scream into a microphone to make your player accelerate.. although I found that hysterical laughter works just as well as yelling! We rode fake horses, threw coloured balls at a game-screen (it was part of the game!), went on a '4D' virtual rollercoaster ride, and got zapped by dodgy pistols in a shooter-game. Having developed square eyes, we took a stroll down to the water park section. It looked just like an Australian water-park.. except there is no way in hell that some of the slides would be approved in Australia! Most of the slides that you went on without tubes acted a bit like a grater, taking skin off your back! And a lot of the slides dumped you into a kiddy pool at the end, rather than one that is actually deep enough! My favourite was a slide called the 'Tsunami' in which you were dumped (in a double tube) into a half pipe (so steep that we actually 'got air' at a point!) and then slid up and down the sides until you lost momentum and were dumped (literally) into a kiddy pool... except we didn't lose momentum quite as quickly as we were supposed to (thanks to Steve pushing us off the sides!) and we slammed into the side, narrowly avoiding concussion. I think the fear of death definitely added to the thrill of the rides... because although part of you knows that the rides are fine.. another part says.. "well.. this is Asia....... what if...".

Unfortunately we have to leave tomorrow morning to spend a couple of nights in Mui Ne. This whole 'limited time' thing sucks. We're definitely coming back! Seriously.

Goodnight!!
Amiee x

Halong Bay

We got back to Hanoi yesterday after visiting Halong Bay for 2 nights. Halong Bay itself was very beautiful even though the weather wasn't perfect for it. It was the first time on the trip we've actually done part of an organised tour and we struggled a bit getting told what to do and how long to do it for! Our buddy Stu came with us for the last few days of his trip before flying home to Manchester yesterday :(

On the first day of our Halong Bay trip we got picked up by the cruise company in a mini-bus and taken to our junk boat. We were a bit shocked to find that the 3 of us were the only Westerners on the boat with us; we had a Vietnamese couple who didn't speak English and a father and son from Malaysia who were lovely. We cruised around the islands a bit, before arriving at 'Surprise Cave'. It's called 'Surprise Cave' because of the bits of stalagtite/stalagmite formations that supposedly look like various things like a penguin, a turtle, buddha, a Vietnamese King, Romeo & Juliet, a lion...... to me it just looked like a cave but I could see the resemblence in some of them if I squinted a bit? The biggest surprise of all was the penis shaped formation.. which would look less like a penis and more like someone pointing their finger at something, had it not been suggestively illuminated with pink light. After all the excitement of Surprise Cave we went kayaking around for a while, stopping/beaching ourselves at Bonau cave and having a look around and then continuing to aimlessly paddle around the islands.

The night-time activities on the boat involved the crew singing karaoke (loudly), so the 3 of us decided to opt for a game of cards in our room.

The second day we were taken to Cat Ba island (the biggest in Halong Bay and the 2nd biggest island in Vietnam) for some hiking. I was thanking God I'd decided to wear proper shoes rather than flip-flops after slipping and climbing up very steep and slippery muddy paths and over and around rocks. The hike took us to the top of one of the island's peaks where there was a 30m viewing tower. The tower (which we fondly nicknamed the 'Tower of Tetanus') was completely rusted and despite the sign at the bottom stating 'Max. 5 people', the guy in charge was letting 10 or more people up at a time. After our brush with death, we were surprised to find that we had to slide back down the way we came, past people that were still trying to clamber up. Very safe! :)

We were then taken to Cat Ba town for lunch and a bit of a stroll, and then back to the harbour to be picked up and taken back to our boat. While we were waiting at the harbour I was put to work by one of the local hawker ladies and carried around her snacks for her, hassling my fellow tourists. She was schooling me in what to say and everything.. very entertaining, and a great way to pass time! It was nice to find a hawker with an actual sense of humour! I ended up making 40,000d (about $2) in sales for her ;)

When we got back to the boat we had new company (the others decided to stay on Cat Ba for the night), a group of Thai women. They had had a bit of a bad run so far; they only got to kayak for 30minutes, and were even more pissed off when the boat crew commandeered the only sofa-booth on the boat and refused to let them sit there to play cards, even when asked politely! So we all decided to keep away from the rude boat crew and play cards on our back balcony. Steve got sick twice on the boat from the food, and they tried to make me pay US$3.50 for breaking a glass!! Left a bit of a sour taste in our mouths (literally for Steve.. haha) but we enjoyed Halong Bay itself.

We're leaving Hanoi on a sleeper train tonight for the old capital of Hue. The staff at the hotel here have been so absolutely amazing.. the best service I have ever encountered! They come and sit and talk with us while we wait for our complementary breakfast to be cooked, they let us leave our luggage here while we were in Halong Bay, they booked our train for us and let us check out late at 5pm, and soon they are going to come with us to the train station to show us where we need to be so we don't get confused by all the people grabbing us! I highly recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Hanoi.. it's called the "Hanoi Boutique Hotel" on Bat Su Street. Amazing.

Amiee x

Back in 'Nam...

We spent the last 2 nights in Luang Prabang, Laos. The bus ride from Vang Vieng was very scenic and quite enjoyable, even though it took about 7 hours to travel 230km. The jagged mountain ranges in the North of Laos are just so beautiful. We were lucky enough to meet up again with our dearest travel buddies in Luang Prabang, which made the place even more fun. There is an amazing bar on the riverfront called Utopia, and, unlike other 'Utopia' bars we've been to on this trip (there seems to be one in every town..) it wasn't seedy at all! Darts, foolsball (spelling?), beach volleyball, giant Jenga.. all under a giant thatched gazebo with landscaped tropical garden. You can probably tell that I'm in love with the place! Megan and I were talking to the manager the day before Aus Day and convinced him to have a big Australia day party and put up flyers around the town, which he did! Smart man.

On Australia Day, Steve & I + our dearest Melbournite travel buddies, Megan & Lewis, plus Stu from Manchester, our token English buddy who we trained to say "I'm from Sydney" in an Australian accent for the day, all met up for breakfast and then headed out to Kouang Si Waterfalls. THE MOST amazing waterfalls I've been to! They were so gorgeous! There was the main huge waterfall, and then many tiers of small waterfalls spilling into turquoise swimming pools. The place looked like a landscaped very-flash tropical resort's swimming pool. PLUS to top it off.. there was a rescue centre for Asiatic Black Bears there, so we got to have a look at them too. Afterwards, we all met up for for drinks and nibblies in the courtyard of our hotel, and then went to Utopia. The manager let Megan and I 'DJ' for the night + we got a couple of free drinks, because the whole Aus Day party had been our idea! Unfortunately there is a Laos-wide 12AM curfew so Utopia shut, but we found a bowling alley on the outskirts of town that stayed open until 3AM... so that's where we finished off the night! An amazing Australia Day, even if we are in Laos!

We all woke very tired this morning, met for breakfast, and said our goodbyes to Megan & Lewis. We were all a little heartbroken. We do get to keep our token Englishman, Stu, for a bit longer though, as he flew with us to Hanoi in Vietnam this afternoon, where we are currently. We decided to pay the extra and get a flight to Hanoi rather than taking the 3-day bus trip, as we are quickly running out of time! Our plane was tiny and even had propellors, but the view was absolutely gorgeous, and despite it only being a 1-hour flight, they fed us! :D

We'd heard a lot of stories from people about Hanoi being a bit unfriendly and full of scams, and within an hour of arriving we'd already found that to be true. The airport is waaaaaay out of town, so you have to get the bus or share a taxi. As there were 3 of us, we decided just to share a taxi. We agreed with the 'taxi pimp' (the guy who organises the taxi fare, and then takes us to the taxi) that we would pay a total of 250,000d between the 3 of us, but when we got into town, the taxi driver demanded another 20,000d. As he didn't speak a word of English, we couldn't establish what the hell the extra fee was supposed to be for, but despite our protesting, we were made to pay it anyway. On top of that, he didn't take us to the hotel we had asked to be taken to (which had been recommended by Meg&Lew), but another hotel in a parallel street. The hotel guy then tried to tell us that his hotel was in fact the hotel we had wanted to go to, despite being on the wrong street, and having a completely different name. When we pointed this out, he tried to tell us that it was owned by the same people, which is a load of crap, so we made the taxi driver take us where we had originally intended. Sheesh.

The recommended hotel was full, but we found another really nice one with amazing customer service. Our hotel guy spent ages with us helping us go through the different companies that offer boat tours around Halong Bay and then booked it for us (he used to be a tour guide apparently), + he gave us a free drink each, free breakfast in the morning, and is making sure that they have a room available for us when we get back from Halong Bay. Oh and we get to keep our increasingly heavy luggage here, and just pack a backpack with a couple of changes of clothes. He also recommended a Vietnamese restaurant for us, which was AMAZING. Mmmmmm! Cost us about $13 between the 3 of us. Such good value.

Anyway, very tired now so I'm going to bed; just thought I should do a bit of an update before we leave tomorrow. We'll be in Halong Bay on a 'junk' boat for the next 2 days doing kayaking, caving, hiking etc etc. It's going to be amazing! :D

Amiee x

Still in Vang Vieng...

This place just doesn't let you leave! We originally planned for 2 nights here.. but after tonight, we'll have been here for 6! I blame the 2 days of crappy rainy weather though. I can see why some Westerners just stay here permanently and work in the bars for free food & accommodation. As much as I really want to leave and keep on going.. I also kinda want to stay..... hopefully the spell will be broken once we hop on the bus to Luang Prabang tomorrow.

Our time is running out waaaaaaay too quickly. The first half of our trip we took so slowly because we felt like we had soo long overseas... and now it's like AAARGH where has our time gone?! We need more time!! We're definitely going to have to come back! Why can't we just be millionaires now and just travel as often and for as long as we want?? I do miss friends & family back home.. but we've just made so many awesome friends over here as well!

We had a really fun time last night when we arrived back at our guesthouse from tubing, went to pick up at our key at reception, only for them to tell us that they don't have it. They then proceeded to tell us that WE had actually taken the key.. which was all lies, because we distinctly remember putting it on their counter, and there is no way we would have taken it tubing with us! So they continued to blame us for losing it, and to top things off... there was no spare key!!! Steve and I then proceeded to freak out because we thought someone must have taken the key from the counter and taken all our money/passports/cameras/ipod etc from our room. The only English speaking Lao woman at the office informed us that she remembers us leaving WITH the key (BULLSHIT!) and that we had to wait for a locksmith to come (God knows how long that was going to take!). Steve and I weren't very happy at this point.. and very worried that all our stuff would be gone, so Steve decided to climb in through the bars in the windows (I have absolutely no idea how he managed to fit!). PHEW.. all our stuff was safe.. but we still couldn't leave to go have dinner because we couldn't lock our room. I went and found the main guesthouse woman to try and explain that we had managed to get the door open, but we still needed a key, but failed to do so because she spoke pretty much no English whatsoever. I tried to get her to go and get the English speaking woman so I could talk to her, but she didn't understand that either. We got her to come so she could see that we had got into the room... but that then made her think that we had the key afterall! So we then tried to explain that no we did NOT have the key, and that Steve had gotten in through the window. To achieve this, Steve had to demonstrate going through the window again, which made the woman yell a lot and threaten to call the police and have Steve arrested, for 'breaking in' to our own room. Another Lao girl came out who spoke a little English and said something about the possibility of a drunken family member of the guesthouse owners taking our key by accident before going out to party, and yet the other 2 main guesthouse women were still angrily blaming us for losing the key and denying any possibility that they had lost it. Confusing stuff. So then we had to wait for a 'locksmith' to come and fit a new lock (no doubt at our expense!). I went and met our friends for dinner while Steve waited and helped the locksmith. Finally we had a new lock and a key (+ 2 spares for the guesthouse!). Just as the locksmith finished.. the non-english speaking guesthouse woman (the one that had been yelling a lot) came out sheepishly with a key she had found and asked if it was ours. Which it was. Apparently the key had been in the drawer of the reception counter the entire time. She said sorry, but I am still not happy with them! And this morning, the guesthouse women have been glaring at me! God knows what for, considering it was entirely their fault! Gah. Fun times had by all, but at least it worked out for us in the end!

Steve has gone rock climbing for the entire day today, which should be amazing. I opted not to go to save money (plus a whole day would be a bit too long for me)... Steve's the main rock climbing enthusiast. After I finish posting this I'll probably be really original and go and watch some Friends! Haha.

Having a great time & loving life.
Amiee xx

Vang Vieng

I could never get sick of the scenery here! Huge tree-covered limestone mountains jutting out everywhere, incredibly blue lagoons and creeks.. it's very gorgeous. It reminds me of the Glasshouse Mountains but 50x more intense. Haven't got any good photos to show yet, though, because it's been a bit rainy!

The day before yesterday we hired mountain bikes and rode 6km out to a cave (I forget its name) and lagoon. The cave was absolutely huge and very interesting to explore! We've had to postpone tubing and rock climbing due to the rain.. I really hope it clears up soon! It feels like wasted time when you can't do anything!

The town of Vang Vieng is very crazy and very tourist-oriented. There are heaps of 'surf shops' selling Billabong and Roxy boardshorts etc, you can buy TimTams and Mars Bars etc from most shops, Pantene Pro-V and Lynx deodorant are even available! Almost every restaurant is constantly playing episodes of Friends or Family Guy. Going shirtless is not very acceptable in Lao culture, but most Western guys strut around the streets in just their boardshorts anyway. I've also seen several girls wearing nothing but bikinis around the streets, probably on their way home from tubing... I just think it's very disrespectful! There are always drunk Westerners around due to the numerous riverside bars offering free whiskey shots and cheap 'buckets' of alcohol. Not to mention the availability of weed, opium, and 'mushrooms' in most bars. There is supposed to be a 12am curfew in Laos, but some of the bars down on the river manage to stay open past that most nights; there is always the loud ruckus of Westerners heading home after they shut. Last night it was about 130 when they all got back to town; I could tell from all the shouting and door slamming. I'm not having a big whinge, I'm just trying to give an illustration of what it's like here! I really feel for the local Lao people, they must be so sick of all the tourists and having to constantly listen to Friends and Family Guy episodes!

Our motorbike wounds are healing well, and we're both healthy and happy :)
Amiee x

Laos album

Don Det & Vientiene

So we finally made it to Laos!

We spent a couple of nights on the island of Don Det in Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands) on the Mekong River. Very picturesque and laid back. We stayed in a little bungalow with just a bed and a mosquito net, with our own little verandah and hammock over the water. Not much to do but walk around and explore the island.. we also took a little boat tour around the islands at sunset, which was lovely.

We then took an overnight bus to the capital of Vientiene. Can't say it was the best night's sleep I've had.. in fact it was probably in the top 5 worst. It was a sleeper bus with beds, which is all good in theory, except the beds were narrower and shorter than a single mattress, and one ticket buys you half that bed. So 2 people are crammed onto the one tiny bed! Luckily I'm travelling with Steve because I can't imagine having to share with a stranger! Well actually, I can.. because we were 'lucky' enough to get the back row, which consisted of supposedly enough room for 5 people and so it was an Amiee sandwhich between Steve and Random Strangers. I learnt that I can't actually sleep with strange people invading my personal space!

We arrived in Vientiene at about 6am and walked around trying to find a spare room in a guesthouse for a couple of hours; everywhere was full or out of our price range! We eventually found a place though and I got my much needed catch up on sleep. Vientiene is nice.. a lot more orderly and clean than all the other major cities we've visited.. and no constant honking!! I find it interesting that just across the Mekong is Thailand! You can just glance over and there it is! Maybe I find that so fascinate having only lived in Australia where we're an island and have no neighbouring countries?

This evening we've arrived in Vang Vieng. If Contiki was a town, this would be it. Heaps of young people, heaps of bars, very much catering to Western taste (I found a packet of M&M's!!!!). Some people would turn up their noses and say that it's too 'touristy' and that this isn't the 'real' Laos... we know.. but so far we like it anyway. There's tubing, caving and rockclimbing etc for us to do over the next few days so no doubt we'll have a lot of fun here.

I'll post some photos soon, I promise.
Amiee x

Stuck in Cambodia.

Over the past few days leading up to our departure from Cambodia we have run into more problems than we have encountered over the entirety of our trip. First there was the bus ride from hell, then the motorbike accident (which caused us to stay an extra day). The day after the accident we were almost attacked by a centipede and a snake (Steve says the centipede was cool). Today we were supposed to catch a bus from Ban Lung (where we've been staying) to Don Det in Laos. The bus arrived in Stung Treng just fine, but upon arrival at 1130AM we were told that we had to wait until 2PM for the bus. We kinda just wanted to get going, but we were ok about the wait. Then a few minutes later, we were told that there had been some sort of hold up with the bus, and that it wouldn't be here until 4PM. We were a bit annoyed but, having already bought and paid for the ticket, realised we didn't have a choice and sat and waited. At 4PM we were told that the bus was late, but it was on its way... a bit over an hour later we were told that it had broken down, and that we have to stay the night here, in Stung Treng, a hole!
Will we ever get to leave???????? Team morale is at a low... PLEASE CAMBODIA LET US LEAVE TOMORROW!!!

Heading to Laos!

Just a quick reminder that my overseas phone won't work in Laos, so don't bother texting it, just use Steve's mobile number.
Wounds are healing but quite sore, especially Steve.
Amiee x

Motorbikes are dangerous too.

Yesterday, being scarred from our busride from hell, we decided to take a mini-van to Ban Lung instead. It was a 12-seater mini-van, and we had 22 people and a caged bird crammed into it. Bigtime sardine experience. Steve and I shared the backseat with 2 Danish people, and we luckily didn't have anyone in our laps, unlike most of the other people in the van. At one point there were even 2 men sharing the drivers seat! We also had a flat tyre along the way (a large portion of the journey was by dirt road) but apart from that, not very eventful.

Today we hired a couple of motorbikes along with 2 other travellers we had met in order to go and visit some of the waterfalls around town. The local 'tour company' wanted to charge us $15 each for them to take us out there, which they strongly suggested because apparently we would get lost. It only cost $6 to hire the motorbike for the day, plus 11,000 riel to fuel it up, so we saved a lot of money and didn't get lost. Unfortunately, our fellow traveller, Stu, skidded off his bike on some loose gravel and took a chunk out of his knee so deep that we could see his knee-cap etc. Luckily fellow traveller, Chloe, who was on the back of the bike, was fine; just some minor scratches. Steve took Stu back and did some first-aiding while we waited at the waterfall, but we decided that we should really find him a doctor as it really needed stitches. We knew the people we hired the bikes off spoke very good English, so we went to them for help (and to let them know what happened to the bike) and they took Stu to a DR where he got sown up.

On our way back to our Guesthouse for lunch, however, a 4WD sped accross the intersection in front of us, Steve braked, and we came off our motorbike. Luckily we were wearing helmets, and we weren't driving very fast; the driver of the 4WD didn't even stop. Apparently most people around here don't know much about road rules. I got lucky with just a bit of gravelrash on the back of my forearm, but Steve has it all up his arm and down his side, basically all the way down to his undies. We got taken to a DR and he cleaned all the dirt out, which I think was more painful than the actual accident. Now we've just got to keep the cuts clean! gah..

Buses are dangerous.

Just a quick post tonight. Today we took the bus from Siem Reap to Kratie and it was quite literally the worst bus ride of our lives.

It was fine for the first few hours, but it all went downhill when the bus stopped in the middle of no-where and we were told to get off. The only explanation we could get was that another bus would be coming soon, however we were slightly concerned because our tickets had already been taken from us. The second bus was the ride from hell. We were seated at the back because they were the only seats left, and the second back row of seats were partially broken, so they were sitting basically in our laps for a long portion of the journey. Then at one point, the driver (who I think must have been world-weary by the way he was driving) went over a bump/ditch too fast and slammed on the breaks, which caused everyone in the back couple of rows + the broken seats which weren't properly attached to the ground, to jolt upwards and forwards very abruptly. We were half asleep at the time; when I came back down I landed on the arm rest rather than the seat, and the seat in front of me almost impaled my foot. The result is a large upcoming bruise on my butt, skin off my toes, and an impaled thong.

To top things off, when we were forced off the bus the first time, I needed to go to the toilet but we were literally in the middle of no-where. I could see a little hut protruding over a ditch that looked like an out-house so I pointed and asked "toilet?" to which I got a nod, so I proceeded to the hut. When I got there, there wasn't a door.. and there wasn't even a hole in the floor.. it was just bamboo slats. I was confused as to what I was supposed to do so I just decided to hold it. The next stop was several hours later, after the near foot impaling incident. When we got to the stop, there was only 1 toilet, and all the women had to line up. The bus driver decided that the toilet stop should only continue until all the men had finished doing their business, so he began to blast the horn. In desperation I decided to do what a few of the other women had done, and go behind the shed. However, as I began to do so, a 60-something German woman decided to do the same. Probably one of the most awkward situations of my life.

We are now in Kratie, heading to Ban Lung to check out some waterfalls tomorrow. Dreading another bus trip.
Amiee x

Angkor Day3

Our last day at Angkor! By this point we were a bit 'templed-out'... so we only went out for the morning and then came back in time for the Hotel's free buffet breakfast ;)

We went back to Ta Prohm for the sunrise again, seeing as the first time, the batteries ran out on Steve's good camera and we had to settle for my 'point&shoot' camera which really is nothing compared to the quality of the photos from the other camera. Getting there before sunrise was still very eerie, despite having done it before!

Afterwards, we decided to end our temple-exploring with Angkor Wat. We got our tuk-tuk driver to drop us off around the back of the temple instead, as it's impossible to get a good shot with the hundreds of tourists and the renovation scaffolding covering the front. It was a lot nicer visit this time; the temperature was cooler and there were less crowds. We witnessed a very strange group of people... one of which decided to take her skirt off and walk around in her undies, impersonating the monkies... which was a bit odd (this is a 20-something woman I'm talking about, not a child!). Somewhat entertaining, although very innapropriate considering we were in a temple. Good thing the monks didn't see her.

Last night in Siem Reap tonight, heading to Stung Treng tomorrow!

Angkor Day2

Today we were up before dawn again, this time to watch the sunrise at the Bayon temple (the one with all the faces) at Angkor Thom. We were happy to find that yet again, we had the place to ourselves for a while, apart from a few hundred bats zipping around above us (they live in temple towers)!

After exploring Central Angkor Thom for a few hours, we checked out the famous Angkor Wat. By that point in the morning, though, it was getting very hot and the lighting wasn't any good for photos (the sun made it all look very 'washed out). So tomorrow we're going to go for a proper visit in the early morning. Unfortunately the central tower is currently under restoration (and has been for a while!) and the scaffolding and green shade cloth they have covering part of it makes Angkor Wat not so photogenic! It's also sad that you can no longer climb the very steep stairs to the top of the central tower; it's closed off to tourists because people kept slipping and hurting themselves!

We are really enjoying Siem Reap; it's the most beautiful place we've been in Cambodia, probably because it's the biggest tourist spot. We are lucky enough to be staying in an actual hotel here as a Christmas present from Mum, and upon arrival we were upgraded to an executive suite; very flash indeed! It's going to be hard to go back to our usual $5-$10/night accommodation!

Adding a separate slideshow on the left for our Angkor photos (you can click the slideshow to be taken to the actual albums, where you can see the photos in full size).

Amiee x

Angkor Day1

I can't believe we are actually in Siem Reap!! I have wanted to come and visit the Angkor temples for quite literally the last 10 years. Why does a 10 year old decide she wants to go to Angkor? Tomb Raider of course!! I loved the film, and it is what sparked my interest in Cambodia way back then.

Yesterday we bought our 3day Angkor passes at 5pm so we got to see a free sunset. We went to the most popular site to watch the sunset, Phnom Bakheng. Hundreds of people scramble over the hilltop temple to try and get the best spot and best photos of the sunset; it looks like a total circus. I really wasn't that impressed by the spot but Steve took a couple of photos anyway.

This morning is when the fun began!! We decided to visit Ta Prohm (the Tomb Raider temple) for the sunrise because I'd read that the ambience of the temple is pretty much ruined by the constant and unavoidable crowd, and I thought that there'd be less people willing to wake up early enough to watch the sunrise there. We organised for our tuk-tuk driver to pick us up at 4:30am.. we were there at 5am.. not realising that the sun doesn't rise til just before 6! The temple was completely dark except for the light of the moon, and it was only the 2 of us there! It was an incredibly eerie experience to say the least!! We had Ta Prohm all to ourselves until a bit after sunrise when 3 people showed up, and we barely knew they were there.

Afterwards we visited Pre Rup, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Khan. Pre Rup is a pyramid-type structure, and not really anything THAT spectacular. Ta Som had a good feel to it, and it was small, but interesting (and we had the place to ourselves, except for a few monks!). Neak Pean is an interesting little temple in the middle of a big (man-made) pond, with 4 other ponds around it. Preah Khan was pretty much Ta Prohm on a massive scale!

More temples tomorrow, uploading photos now.
Amiee x

Battambang

Today we took a tuk-tuk out to the countryside around Battambang. Our driver took us to the 'bamboo train' for a ride, which is actually a bamboo raft on railway tracks, powered by a small motor. It was OK.. but a complete rip-off for the price. Instead of stopping somewhere apparently scenic where you supposedly have a view of villagers working in the countryside, we stopped in a little 'village' where they wanted us to buy drinks. After declining the drinks we went for a little stroll to see where they made bricks, and the local women wanted to charge us $2 just for looking/taking a photo! Ick.

We then went to Wat Banan and climbed the 300-something steps to the summit. Well worth it though; the temple is about 1000 years old! It was a shame to see that a heap of people (mostly Cambodian school children - I'm guessing) felt the need to write/carve their names into various parts of the temple!

Tomorrow we bus to Siem Reap!

Pursat

Pursat is a province of Cambodia, and also the name of its capital city, which is where we have been for the last couple of days. We went to visit our sponsor child we have through Sustainable Cambodia. We were the only Westerners, and the only people who spoke English, on our bus over there. We had to catch the bus to Battambang, but then get off halfway when we got to Pursat. It was a bit risky because we had no-one who we could ask to let us know when we were in Pursat, so every town we went through saw me trying to gesture to the man in front of me, asking which town we were in. At one point I glanced out the window to see "PURSAT GUESTHOUSE" on a sign, and then what followed was something like:

Amiee: Pursat?!?
Bus Crowd: Pursat?
Steve: This Pursat??
Bus Crowd: Pursat
Amiee: We get off Pursat!
Bus Crowd: Pursat?
Amiee: Yes! Pursat!

At which point the bus crowd got the bus driver to pull over and let us out!

Pursat really doesn't see many tourists, and we really notice the difference. Here, we're a bit of a novelty still. The cute little girl sitting in front of us on the bus here thought we were hilarious and couldn't take her eyes off us the whole way (she wasn't so sure about Steve's beard though...). For the first time since we've left, we actually had trouble communicating because no-one speaks English (or if they do, very little), so Steve and I are doing our best to learn a few words/phrases. We've been eating at a restaurant that benefits children who have been victimised by various awful things; they did all the cooking and serving etc and it was really yum. The bill for a whole meal came to 15,000 riel, which equates to about $3.75US... we gave them a 5,000 riel tip and the girl was just so astonished and so grateful! It was very lovely, and a lot different to the kids in tourist areas that EXPECT you to give them things and ask for it.

New Years Day we were meant to visit our sponsor child, Lakana, and then tour around the villages and see all the projects that Sustainable Cambodia has in place, except Steve decided it'd be fun to get food poisoning instead. We think it must have been the fried eggs he had for breakfast, although I had an omelette and was fine... maybe he was just unlucky. Anyway so after a bout of vomiting and losing his voice from it all, the SC guys thought it'd be best to take him to hospital. We were very lucky to have the SC people with us so they could translate, especially when the doctors decided to give Steve an injection in his butt. I was frantically trying to make sure that yes, it was a sterilised needle, before they jabbed it in him! After about an hour of being in the hospital, we decided it would be best for Steve to just rest at the guesthouse (where there weren't any passersby stopping and staring at him through the windows). A good time had by all!

Yesterday we went to visit the various villages surrounding Pursat that are supported by SC. The highlight was definitely visiting the preschools; the kids are just so cute. We noticed that they had so little to play with there; one preschool had a couple of wooden building blocks, and another had just 1 skipping rope, and yet the kids were very well behaved. We then visited Lakana and her family, which was lovely, even though she is very shy :) She wants to be a doctor or a nurse when she grows up, her mother explained that it is because her siblings often get sick and she wants to be able to care for them. Very sweet girl.

The women at the Pursat Guesthouse are just absolutely lovely and very helpful. Yesterday I wanted to go to the local psar (market) to find some toys to buy for the preschools. After doing some charades-style acting with the woman to try and explain, she hailed me down a moto and told him exactly what I was after, where to take me, and then haggled a fair price for me! I think the moto driver was a bit world-weary though, because instead of slowing when he came to an intersection, he decided just to constantly blast his horn in the metres leading up to the intersection, and then just drive on through at full speed. This was all well and good until someone failed to realise what the constant honking meant, and I almost ended up smooshed to death (ok so maybe 'smooshed to death' is a bit dramatic... but it would have hurt!) by another moto; the guy skidded and almost came off his bike to avoid us... about 30cm away!

This morning we left Pursat and caught a bus to Battambang, where we are staying for the next 2 nights before heading to Siem Reap!