This is the blog/travel journal for Chris & Joanne Reilly from Glasgow, Scotland. After quitting our jobs and selling our house, we plan to travel around the globe for the next year.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

It's not all walking

We were picked up about 9:30 for our eco-trek into the Thai highlands north of Chiang Mai, as seems to be the norm in Thailand we were then driven about 2 Km’s and then shifted into another van. We had a short journey to a market to get supplies before we got going; well to be honest we never really got going. After driving for another hour we stopped off at a small hill village where we wandered about for five minutes, but there was nothing to see except some people trying to fix a pipe and snotty kids chasing chickens. It was then back into the van for another short drive to our lunch stop for fried rice and veg. By this point we were all wondering if we were going to do any walking at all today and the rest of the people we were with were starting to get a bit anxious.


Joanne and I had signed up for the three day trek, but everybody else apart from a Swedish father and daughter who were only here for two days. The group consisted of two Irish sisters, three women called Maria from Valencia, a sailor from Switzerland and Christophe and Charlotte from Sweden (but who now live in Provence, in the south of France). We eventually started walking just before two o’clock and we had a nice walk through some rice fields and small woods, but the walk was far from strenuous and our guide was as informative as the internet in a power cut. Don’t think for a second that we were trudging knee deep through rice paddies as its slap bang in the middle of the dry season and the ground was parched and barren. The most exciting it got on the first days trek was crossing logs over some small streams, one of the Maria’s suffered from Vertigo and had to hold on to my shoulder as we crossed a few of brooks. I decided about half way across to do a wee hop, skip and jump which didn’t go down to well as she hit me once she got off the log.

We arrived at another small village and were directed to the group’s hut, large mosquito nets hung from the roof covering our mattresses. You could almost hear the mosquitoes salivating as we piled in to pick our spot for the long night ahead, as the local flying vampire’s booked in for their European buffet. A small crowd of women and kids had congregated around the hut door selling bracelets and necklaces, if it looked like they weren’t going to get a sale they put some wares in one of the youngest kid’s hands and tried to embarrass you into buying something. We came away with two bracelets and a few smiles from the women and kids. During the time we had arrived a frail old woman was struggling to climb onto a long axle foot press to separate rice from its husk, she looked as if she was about to keel over at any moment but she had probably be doing the same thing every day since she could remember.




After dinner we sat around a camp fire for awhile and drank some beers, but most people decided to hit the bed early as we expected a heavy day of trekking the next morning. Nobody got a good night sleep as the cockerels doodle doodled doo all night and one of the Marias snored like an asthmatic water buffalo, much to the annoyance of Christophe and Charlotte who were sleeping next to her. We were woken at 7:30 for our breakfast before we started at 9:00 for our first short walk of the day, yeah the walks never really did get that difficult on the second day.

We arrived at a clearing in the forest and caught sight of the elephants that were going to be our transport for the next hour. Joanne bought some bananas to feed the elephants, and suddenly the five elephants made a beeline towards her with their trunks aimed for her hand. This gave Joanne a bit of a fright and she was off her mark pretty sharpish, luckily a few others bought some bananas so Joanne narrowly avoided being mauled by the hungry beasts. After the elephants had their fill of bananas we climbed on and set off for our slow procession through the forest. After horse riding in Bolivia and Camel riding in Australia this was by the far most leisurely of the three and apart from a few hairy moments going down an embankment also the safest.


Soon after the Elephant rides the group split with the two day trekkers heading one way and Joanne, Christophe, Charlotte and myself heading the other. We arrived a good hour early for lunch and our guide didn’t seem too happy that we were walking too fast, whilst we were all getting a bit frustrated at the lack of real walking. We then set off and had a nice leisurely walk across some more rice fields and pass many herds of water buffalos and cows. We arrived at our camp for the second night just before four and we decided to have a dip in the pool at the bottom of the fall. Big mistake as the water was absolutely freezing but after a few minutes it was almost bearable, there were no showers for miles so it was the only way that we were getting a wash that night.

Before dinner we whiled away an hour knocking cans off a fence with catapults, when I was a kid I always wanted a toy called Tin Can Alley but I was obviously a toe rag as Santa never did come up with the goods. I really enjoyed using the catapult and don’t remember ever trying one before, but I’ve said things like this only to be shot down a few seconds later by some knowing party. After a few shots I thought I was doing really well and was hitting the cans quite regularly but I was then challenged by the rather worse for wear cook who hammered me every time and I had to sing a song as a forfeit. After dinner we asked the guide if we could start earlier the next morning than the planned 10am start to do quite a bit more walking, but he threw a bit of a strop and got a bit snappy with Christophe while playing cards.


Next morning we set off 30 minutes earlier than the guide had wanted and he said he would try and find a longer, harder route but kept saying that he hadn’t been this way in eight months and that we might get lost. We didn’t get lost, and it was a bit more taxing than the previous two days but we still felt that we had been short changed. We arrived at a nice spot with a waterfall so we decided to have a dip in the water and chill for a bit as we realised we weren’t too far from our lunch spot. After lunch it was into the back of a truck and a short drive to the river for some bamboo rafting.


I hadn’t really thought too much about the rafting before arriving at the river, and I suddenly realised that we were going to be floating down a fast flowing river on five bamboo poles tied together. My fears weren’t allayed when I was nominated to stand at the back of the raft to punt us down the river as the other three sat in the middle. We managed to set off ok and it wasn’t too bad at first, a raft with four Germans in front was having quite a few problems and it looked like they were going to sink at any moment as they were sitting well below the water line. At one point I had to dive on my front as I was about to smash my head on a low trunk of a tree, but luckily I managed to stay on the raft even though now I was totally soaked. After about 50 minutes we arrived safe and sound at the finishing point where the bamboo poles back are sent to the start via a van. We were then packed off into a small van and taken back to our hostel, even though we weren’t too chuffed with the guide and the lack of walking we had a good time and would maybe do a bit more research in to what company we would use in the future.

Saturday morning we wandered into Chiang Mai and had lunch at the Cinnamon House which sold fantastic baguettes and iced coffees to die for. We had wished we had found this place on our first day and not near the end of our time here, but we did make three trips to it over the next day or two. It was such a nice day we headed to the park and found a nice spot to sit and read. The place was full of local families sitting under the shade of the trees, eating ice cream and enjoying the lovely setting with ornamental ponds and gardens.

Sunday morning after a slight detour to the Cinnamon House for breakfast we headed to the railway and bus station to try and find the best and cheapest way to Bangkok the following day. We decided to get the bus again as it was almost half the price and the times suited us better. Well we misjudged the scale of the map slightly and we were walking for over a good five hours there and back. We stumbled across a cool street market selling loads of interesting knick knacks for a lot less than the tourist orientated markets. We also found a sports shop selling football strips at ridiculously low prices, I’m not sure if they were sourcing them straight from the back door of the factory as they were 90% cheaper than the exactly same strip available in the adidas shop in the centre of Chiang Mai.

The bus turned into another saga, but you must all be fed up hearing about our nightmare bus trips. This time the air conditioning was on full blast and we almost froze to death sitting on the most uncomfortable seats with our legs straight out right at the front of the Double Decker supposedly VIP bus. But nevertheless we arrived safe and sound in Bangkok at 5:30am slightly cold and without any sleep.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Ready Steady Puke

We were picked up at the airport and threw our things in the back of a truck which stopped more times than it started, but it was a free lift so we couldn’t complain. We were staying at the Chiang Mai International Youth Hostel and on arrival were given the full run down of all the tours that they can provide (there were quite a few).

So we dumped our bags and walked into town which was a 45 minute walk from the hostel. We managed to find one of the luxury shops called “Boots” you might remember them, pharmacy come smelly goods shop and I had to have a browse (well I did buy some things). I only wish that they would have accepted my Advantage Card to get me some extra points. At night we wandered through the night market full of copy CD’s, t-shirts and plenty of other touristy knick-knacks to keep our attention in between the ear piercing shrieks of “MASAAAAAGE you want foot MASAAAAAAGE”. We ate in the Phon Non Café that night and Chris ate the classic Pad Thai (noodles) and I had an excellent bowl of Red Thai Curry.

We then went in search of some bars but found it difficult to find one that wasn’t either empty, full of Thai girls waiting for old western guys or full of old western guys with a really young Thai girls. So we opted for the Rock ’n’ Pizza to have a drink and watch the end of a Premiership game, it was nice to be able to afford another drink apart from beer after the prices in Malaysia.

On Sunday we went back to the shopping mall where we had been in the day before and Chris bought some computer software. We went to a couple of the temples firstly Wat Phra Singh which has Lanna architecture and murals and then Wat Chedi Luang which suffered a huge earthquake 1545 and was partially restored to stop it crumpling any further.


In the evening went to a bar which was showing an old Rangers game. Chris was hoping for the Celtic game to be shown, but as the bar only had one Swedish guy (who was married but wasn’t here for the ladies) and the rest were Thai girls patiently waiting. So we went back to the pizza place and Chris managed to get them to put the same channel on and guess what the Celtic v Motherwell game was on. He was one happy chappie but I’m not sure if was due to the drinks or the Celtic score.

We decided that we would watch the first half of the Man U v Liverpool game further down towards the hostel and went into a small bar. We sat for a bit and then a group of guys sat near us and one of them started to talk to us. He worked for a furniture company and was on a works night out at the ten pin bowling. His boss was telling him to tell us about his store and gave us his phone number so that we might go and buy some furniture. We tried to explain several times that we didn’t have house to put anything in but it was going in one ear and out the other. He continued to ply us with beer and ice, which is how the Thai’s drink their beer and we felt that we ought to buy them a beer or two back. We watched the game to full time 1-0 to Man U before heading drunkenly back to the hostel.

I was up early the next day as I had booked a Thai cookery class, but I only wished that I had stopped drinking about 10pm. I had some breakfast and was picked up and met every one in the group who were really nice. We stopped off at the market where we were shown the different types of veg/herbs that we would be using that day and for other Thai recipes.

We were then driven out to the school for our lessons. Our teacher was ‘Perm’ and was hilarious which made the class fly by. We made the Thai soup which was sweet/sour and absolutely delicious (even if I say so myself). We then made a stir fry dish with the option of having an “adventure” throwing water into the oil with the flames coming out of the top, the guy taking my picture didn’t manage to get the camera to work at that point but I did managed to take a cracking picture for an Aussie with the flames hiding the two people standing next to her.


We then made a Pad Thai (noodles), Penang curry and green curry. We were shown how to make sticky rice with it going into a salad and also a mango pudding which I could have eaten all day. Then we got to sit down and eat. By this point I was full but then I started to have pains in my stomach….I’d eaten something with prawns in it and spent the next half hour throwing up!! We packed what we hadn’t eaten into bags – well all of mine went in and I spent the next 45 minutes trying unsuccessfully not to throw up in the back of the truck.

Back at the ranch Chris couldn’t understand why I ran in and immediately went to the loo. He had spent the day using the laptop and on the internet. Later on we managed to get the hostel to heat up the food and Chris ate all that I had cooked – he said it tasted quite nice but I’m not sure if he was worried that I might have poisoned him also. We had a quiet night in.


On the Tuesday we visited the oldest Wat within the city walls aptly named Wat Chiang Man which contain the Crystal Buddha believed to have the power to bring seasonal rains and Buddha Sila. We wandered again through the night bazaar before buying some last minute supplies from Boots for our 3 day trek the following day.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

The Day I Read A Book

Another one of the bounus's of our trip is the chance to catch up with some books especially when your stuck on a bus or a train for over 24 hours. Thanks to everybody who have given us or swapped books along the way, it has been well apreciated.

Here's some of the book, click the titles for a small synopsis.

The Idea of India - Sunil Khilnani
Absoulute Altitude - Martin Buckley
D.I.Y. The Rise of Lo fi Culture - Amy Spencer
ChickenHawk - Robert Mason
What Should I Do with My Life? - Po Bronson


The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
The Brethern - John Grisham
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
1984 - George Orwell


One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kessey
Deception Point - Dan Brown
Shame - Salmon Rushdie
Clough The Autobiography - Brian Clough
Porno - Irvine Welsh


The Sorrow of War - Bao Ninh
The Third Man & The Fallen Idol - Graham Greene
Down Under - Bill Bryson
Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell
Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell


Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
Red Zone - Mark Frankland
Hitler's Peace - Philip Kerr
Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson
What do I want to do with my life? -
Ruthless.com - Tom Clancy & Martin Greenberg

We've probably read about another dozen or so that we can't remember at the moment. If anybody has read any good books lately, stick it in the comments box.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Malaysian Return

When we arrived back in Georgetown we headed straight to 75 Travellers Lodge only to be told that there was no room at the inn, so we spent the next twenty minutes plodding round Chinatown with our full rucksacks trying to find a room for the night. Luckily we got one which wasn’t too bad, it was massive with the only problem being that it overlooked a busy junction and there wasn’t much sound proofing. It was quite late but we managed to get some food in a busy restaurant which was showing the Manchester derby. As you would expect most of the locals were supporting Man United but there was a sizable crowd of backpackers in and they seemed to be supporting Man City. The game finished 3-1 to City and to make matters worse for the United fans, the last minute goal was scored by Robbie Fowler.

Next morning we moved back into Travellers 75 lodge and set out to explore the rest of the town as it was a glorious day. As usually happens when we’re out wandering aimlessly we managed to stumble on to something strange or bizarre. As we turned one corner we came upon a crowd milling about a non-descript building, but as we got closer we noticed that quite a few of the crowd were dressed in elaborate Chinese costumes and masks. When they saw us coming down the street they ushered us over and posed for our photographs and they couldn’t have been any more friendly. We didn’t really find out why they were dressed up but we think it might have been a dress rehearsal for some Chinese New Year celebration.














We then went to the large shopping centre to pick up some supplies and to have a look about, being a Sunday the place was mobbed so after a short while we escaped back out to the sunshine. We then headed back up through Chinatown to the esplanade hoping to take some photos of the old buildings that dot the town. As we cut across Padang Park, we could hear a band and what looked like from a distance a game where instead of a ball they used a large pole. On closer inspection it turned out to be some sort of display team who would flick a 20 ft pole up with their feet which had a massive trailing flag and the next guy tried to catch the base of the pole on his forehead and then try to balance it there. Once it was balanced he then tossed the pole up by his head for the next guy to catch on his head which was an extremely difficult feat and during the time we were there we only saw this happen once. This was all done to the accompaniment of a small band who tapped out a steady rhythm with drums and bells.


The promenade was mobbed with families taking in the late afternoon sun and the cool breeze from the sea, and where there’s a crowd you find the hawkers and food stalls. The best sellers seemed to be the bubble blowing guns for kids and the dried squids which seemed to be selling faster than the proverbial hit cakes. We made our way through the streets taking loads of photos of the Mosques, Churches and all the great buildings that are dotted about this part of town.

Monday morning we were up early to try and find some sun cream so that we could head back to the beach at Batu Ferringhi. When we left the shopping centre we noticed that half the street in the area had been closed off, and being the nosey types we wandered over to where a small crowd of photographers and onlookers had gathered. We could see a chalk outline of a body on the opposite kerb, and a forensic team gathering evidence. I asked one of the photographers what happened and he said that there was an electrical accident the previous night in the café bar across the road. A few days later the newspapers were reporting that it was a small bomb loaded with nails that had killed the customer and was not an accident.

The last time we went to the beach it was mobbed as it was a national holiday, so we were quite surprised when we got there to find only a handful of people on the miles of sand. It must have been quite a bit rougher out at sea as the beach was covered in debris and wasn’t that nice to swim in. It was a shame because the previous week the beach was spotless and the water although not crystal clear was not as murky as it was now. Nevertheless we had a nice afternoon reading our books and listening to some music on the quiet beach.

That evening Laura & Louise who we met the previous week in the hostel were also back for a night on their route back south after a few days on Langkawi. We chatted to the girls for awhile and arranged to meet up with Laura in Kuala Lumpur. We had booked the same bus company we used on the way up from the capital so we had no problems as the luxurious bus glided the five hours back to Kuala Lumpur.

We had booked a room at the Green Hut hostel this time in Kuala Lumpur and after a bit of a mix up with the rooms we eventually got our bags unpacked. The room had a small balcony but once again the walls were nothing more than Gyproc and we could hear everybody shuffling along the wooden floors in the corridor. We had a late lunch in a small Indian restaurant we visited the previous week for some mutton curry and rice and again we ate too much and didn’t bother having dinner that night.

We headed to the Petronas towers so that we could get some night photographs of the twin towers. We mistimed the sunset slightly so we had a wander around the manicured lawns and ponds of the small park at the foot of the towers and headed in for another look around the shopping centre. There was an interesting photographic exhibition about a Petronas sponsored Trans Himalayas mission in 23 four wheeled jeeps. The route of their journey passed through quite a few towns and cites we had visited in the last few months and it was interesting to see the photographs from Laos and the Chinese city of Kunming. Once it got dark outside we went out and watched the choreographed fountains dance in the ponds, and took some photos of the towers lit at night.


Next morning we had the unfortunate experience of being drawn into a conversation with an aggressive lowlife from Scarborough, who reminded me of the character Begbie from Irvine Welsh’s “Trainspotting” and “Porno” novels. I had just finished reading “Porno” on the bus down from Penang so that might be the other reason why I readily associated this character with the antagonistic thug portrayed with great menace by Robert Carlyle in the film “Trainspotting”. The guy from Scarborough didn’t say anything that was offensive or even antagonistic, but you could sense that just below the surface he was about to explode and I didn’t really want to be around when it happened.

We once again followed our familiar path to the Petronas Towers but this time we hoped to get tickets to the 44th floor and walk across the sky bridge that links the towers. The tickets were free but only so many are allocated per day, but luckily we managed to get two and after a short film we were hurtling up to the 44th floor. The lift took 43 seconds to reach the 44th floor and we then had about 10 minutes to wander about taking photos. Members of the public don’t have access to the higher parts of the impressive building, which at the moment are the second & third tallest buildings in the world 452 meters.


On the way back to the hostel we decided again to go for an early dinner and ended up in the Banana Leaf restaurant which always looked busy when we passed. No plates in this restaurant as the food is served onto a large banana leaf, we had this before in Hong Kong a few years back. Joanne went for a veg rice combo along with tandoori chicken which she managed to cancel when she realised how big her veg order was. I stuck to my new favourite, Lamb Biryani and once again I wasn’t disappointed and we both left the place suitably sated.

We had arranged to meet Laura at the hostel at seven and whilst waiting I observed a small incident with the character from Scarborough. A few young guys were watching a DVD of Benny Hill which was put on by guess who, after a few sketches I heard some of the young Scandinavian guys laugh at how dated and unfunny it was. After a few more comments, Scarborough man jumped up and snarled into one of the young guy’s faces, “Do you know what’s no funny?? Eh Do you know what’s no funny?? You saying this is no Funny….. now shut it or beat it”. Luckily Laura turned up shortly after this and we didn’t see much more of our new friend over the next few days, he is by far the most aggressive person we have met on this whole trip away.

Laura had brought along her friend Jenny (from the borders) and since we were all hungry we headed round to the next street which had hundreds of Chinese restaurants with tables on the street. After a quite a bland meal we headed down to Chinatown for a quick look about and ended up in another crap reggae bar which once again was playing awfully stuff like Maxi Priest and my bête-noir UB40, they had also ran out of Vodka which limited the girls choices of drinks. After wandering about trying to find a better bar we decided to cut our losses and head back to the Green Hut and have a few beers on the front terrace.

Friday morning and after a lengthy search for the bus stop, we found ourselves heading 15 Km out of the city to the Batu Caves. A Hindu shrine was built in a vast open space known as Temple Cave which can only be reached by climbing 272 steps. Once inside we wandered about looking at the small temples, trying to imagine how the place would look with the million or so pilgrims who flock here during the Hindu festival Thaipusam. During this festival some devotees take part in spectacularly masochistic acts like piercing themselves with swords and knives. At the temple I got talking to a Greek guy called Manos from Kos who wanted to have his photograph taken with me as he has so many Scottish friends, strange guy. After a while we jumped back on the bus and returned slightly disappointedly back into the city.


For our last night we headed back to the Banana Leaf restaurant with Laura and Jenny and the pressure was on as we'd been raving about it the previous night. Luckily they didn’t let us down and we all left very full, for what was an extraordinary cheap meal. After a short de-tour so that the girls could pick up bus tickets for their trip to Singapore the next day, we headed to the Ceylon bar back in the Golden Triangle near our hostels. Beers and cocktails all round for the next few hours before we called it a night as we were all on the move early the next morning.


We had a taxi booked to take us to the airport at 5:45am and when it arrived he told us there would be a 35 Ringgit (about £5) surcharge as it was before 6am, if only we'd checked the small print we could have saved a bit of cash. We'd booked the taxi extra early as I wasn’t sure how bad the traffic would be in the morning, but we sailed up the motorway and arrived well before we had to. We were also ready for Air Asia’s 15 kg baggage allowance as we had transferred most of the heavy stuff to our hand luggage and jettisoned all non-essentials. Both our bags were under the 15 Kg and we'd a hassle free trip to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Life's a Beach

After reaching Krabi we still had several hours before we would eventually reach our beach destination of Hat Ton Sai and we headed to the pier to get a boat. We were told that we would have to wait until we had at least 8 people or pay the full boat price and after an hour only one other person turned up so we decided to cut our losses and head for the “local bus”. It was in fact a converted truck with benches in the back and a luggage rack on the top so after dumping our bags we were off on a harem scarem ride for 45 minutes to Ao Nang. Once there we jumped straight on a long tail boat and were taken to our final destination. It was now about 5 o’clock and we still had to find accommodation.

We started to look from the beach upwards, but everything was full as we slowly worked our way up the steep hill. One place had a room but the price was extortionate, supply and demand market dictating the price obviously. A kind woman offered for us to dump our bags whilst we looked so I stayed with the bags as Chris went on a quick tour of the resort trying to find us accommodation. We eventually found somewhere which was a bit more expensive than we anticipated, but it was a nice bungalow with en-suite and we put up our mosquito net since we were in the middle of the rainforest.

We then headed down to the beach to catch the last few rays of sun and watch the sunset. We were also both rather hungry as we’d eaten very little during our travelling that day. We managed to find a table right at the beach in the restaurant, saw the sun slowly go behind the hill and a nice hazy glow settled around us. Our Thai food was great although the waiters didn’t have a clue and gave our food to other tables and brought us food that we hadn’t ordered so we weren’t really surprised that when we came to pay that the bill it was more than double what it should have been. We had expected the resort to be fairly busy but at 8pm it seemed fairly quiet so we headed back to chill in our bungalow.

The following morning after our breakfast we headed to the far side of the beach which took us all of about 5 minutes to stroll across and we settled ourselves down on the sand in between 2 rock climbing schools. Most of the people doing this were fit and fairly supple and we enviously sat and watched them scaling the face of the rocks and dangling by one hand or foot. We did feel a bit guilty of all the strenuous effort going on around us as we lay back and dozed on the beach.


As the sun lit up the beach I decided it was time for a dip in the sea, but unlike the beach in Penang this beach had lots of rocks and plenty of other fishy creatures there. There were sea cucumbers (huge long black things which do look like a cucumber), plenty of holes from which we saw a lobster like creature pushing the sand out of (Chris almost sat on one) and several fish floating around looking for some toes to nibble. Needless to say I didn’t spend that long in the water. We played with the straw ball that we bought some time ago in Laos and after 2 minutes trying to play keepy up we decided a volleyball type game might be more in store for me.

It was rather hot work in the sun and around 2 o’clock we decided to head to the shade and have some lunch. On our way back up to the hotel through the rainforest we saw several huge spiders with enormous webs between two trees sitting patiently waiting for their next victim. We also saw a huge family of wild monkeys which were being fed by the ladies from an “authentic” massage parlour. The monkeys roam around this part of Krabi and come here every couple of weeks, the parents were obviously taking the children out for a weekend jaunt. After watching their antics for a bit we headed back.


That night we ate in a rather bizarre place which took forever to bring food and met up with two guys from Sunderland (well Chris was certainly put straight by them after he called them “Newccastle United Supporters” – they were deeply offended). It was another quiet night on the beach and we headed to a reggae bar afterwards for our final beer of the night – unfortunately the music was the same 80’s/90’s crap reggae by the likes of Aswad and UB40 that we have come to associate with most of these bars in SE Asia.

Our plan the following day was to head over to Hat Rai Leh beach (pronounce Hat Reilly) which seemed to be a short walk over the hill from where we were and apparently there was a beautiful sandy beach there. So we headed up through the rainforest forgetting about the pesky mosquitoes, when we stopped to decide which track to take I suddenly had about 4 huge things sitting on my leg with a couple of them managing to draw blood. So we quickly brushed of the nasty things before running up the hill to get as far away from them as possible. These mosquitoes were huge and are probably the biggest I’ve seen on our trip. It was also quite an effort to get up over the hill and definitely not as easy as the boatmen had said the day before, when he was going to drop us off at the neighbouring beach.

When we arrived at the beach it was just as everyone had promised with the blonde sand and perfect clear water. We were scorched after about an hour and decided to head round to another beach which was also recommended called Perang. When we got there, we saw (we think) the same troupe of monkeys who entertained all the beach goers with their antics. They were being given plenty of food and seemed to live in the rocks above the beach.


This was another gorgeous beach and we headed for some shade in amongst many others by the huge rock caves. I bought some Pad Thai noodles off of a beach vendor which were delicious and later we walked across the beach before heading back to Rai Leh. We decided to see whether the tide was out rather than walk back through the forest and fortunately it was. This meant we could walk across the sand and rocks from Rai Leh to our beach avoiding the pools of sea cucumbers and crabs as we went.


Since we had caught a bit of sun we decided that we’d head back to Penang the next day to break up our trip to Kuala Lumpur. That night we ate in the same restaurant as the first night and I got a rather spicy Green curry with prawns, beef and chicken whilst Chris had the same only with a Red Curry. Afterwards we chilled on deckchairs in a bar with a beer and a cocktail staring at the stars and watching the guys doing their fire dancing. We’d seen a girl practising this with tennis balls on strings (the balls being the flames) but she kept on hitting herself and managed to whack her face with them. Fortunately, for her, she wasn’t practising with the real thing!


That night I was up most of the night due to the food being dodgy and Chris suffered briefly the next morning so we decided to make a dash for Malaysia. We started off at 9am in the morning for another boat/bus ride. It took us about almost 13 hours with two long uncomfortable minibuses and one rather rude driver to eventually arrive back in Penang.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Crash Penang Wallop

After checking the weather reports we escaped the grey skies of Kuala Lumpur and headed north east to the island of Penang in the Andaman Sea. As Joanne mentioned in the last update we had a great bus and it wasn’t too long before we were crossing the colossal 13.5 Km Penang Bridge (currently the third longest bridge in the world) that joins the island to the mainland a few miles south of the town of Butterworth.


After crossing the bridge I spotted a large Tesco supermarket and I was suddenly transported back to my troubled youth when dodgy nights in even dodgier bars & social clubs of Pollok seemed to be an all too regular occurrence. Worse still was the soundtrack to all these rubbish nights out seemed to be supplied by the awful Rick Astley, Sinitta and the rest of the Stock, Aitken & Watertorture clones. While still at school I packed shelves at Presto’s while my friend Gerry worked on the cheese counter at the local rivals Tesco. For some reason I was always invited along to their nights out, he probably thought if he had to endure them he might as well share the pain with someone else. Luckily I was saved from a life of dubious perms, leather ties and caterpillar moustaches by Stuart Murdoch (lead singer with Belle & Sebastian) when he handed me a flyer at the Barrowlands whilst watching The Fall. The flyer proclaimed that the Wasp Factory Club would be playing all of my favourites at the time; The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, House of Love, The Wedding Present and countless other exotic names. Naively up to this point I had never associated socialising in night clubs and bars with good music so this revelation changed my life and most weekends for years after I haunted the Indie clubs of Glasgow. Luckily soon after Gerry got a free transfer to City Bakeries the upmarket eating establishment in the heart of Glasgow and I escaped Prestos when it was closed down after shoplifters outnumbered consumers.

Anyway back to Penang and we pulled into a large bus station only to find that we were still forty minutes away from Georgetown the main settlement on the island. So with our full rucksacks we struggled onto a local bus where I nearly concussed a small lady as I tried to swing my pack into an empty seat. We arrived in Georgetown and we made our way to Chinatown and the 75 Traveller’s lodge which had been given a good write up in the Lonely Planet. They didn’t have a en-suite room so we were ushered into a small room that seemed very familiar, I’m not sure if it was from Cool Hand Luke, The Great Escape or maybe The Shawshank Redemption but it did seem dreadfully recognizable. I’m not saying that the walls were thin but we could hear the person in the next room breathing and I could almost make out the colour of his shirt through the gyproc.

We headed out for something to eat with the notion of maybe looking for somewhere else to stay the following day. We ended up in the Blue Diamond Café which sold tasteless Mexican fayre and I’m sure the chef would have great difficulty in telling the difference between Aston Villa and Pancho Villa. After scouting out a few more hotels and guesthouses we soon realised that for the money 75 Travellers lodge was probably as good as Georgetown got.

We had a good walk around the town and found many interesting but slightly rundown buildings from the town’s colonial past. Penang is the oldest British settlement in Malaysia predating Singapore and Melaka and was acquired by Captain Francis Light on behalf of the East India Company in 1786. One of the most notable differences in Malaysia from other places we have visited in South East Asia is the social mix; there are large Indian, Chinese & Muslim communities living seemingly quite peacefully alongside the Malays. Sitting alongside Georgetown’s colonial buildings and churches are numerous Mosques, Hindu Temples, Buddhist Temples and Chinese slop houses.

After our initial misgivings about the 75 Travellers Lodge we soon found out why it sits so favourably in the Lonely Planet guidebook, the owner Mr Low is one of the friendliest owners we have came across on our travels. Not only is he very funny, he also is a mine of information and is very helpful and honest about Penang’s attractions and the easiest way to travel around and off of the island.


The hostel also has a few tables at the front entrance for sipping teas and beers and is a great place to meet other backpackers to exchange stories and advice. On the first night we met two young Aussie guys who are on a whirlwind trip of SE Asia before they move to London. We also met a few girls from various parts of England who all support Manchester United and had travelled down from Thailand. The weather still wasn’t the best so we were thinking of maybe moving on in a few days, and after talking to Laura (one of the girls) we decided to maybe head to Krabi after she recommended some good beaches. One slightly disturbing thing about sitting out the front was the numerous rats that seemed to congregate nearby. We also saw quite a few in Kuala Lumpur and have now seen more rats in Malaysia than we’ve seen in the rest of the trip put together.


Next morning we went for Breakfast in the café next door and met Louise one of the girls from the previous night along with a German guy called Alex. After breakfast we caught the local bus to the beach at Batu Ferringhi about 45 minutes from Georgetown. As we got off the bus we also met Andrew and Guy the two Aussies from the previous night who were also looking for the beach. Luckily the sun had come out and we spent a nice afternoon on the beach chilling out and soaking in the balmy sea. That night a group of us headed to an Indian for dinner, which although was very nice was a bit expensive in comparison to most places in Penang.

We headed back to the hostel for a few more drinks; where we got talking to an American guy called Barrett who works in Bangkok. Barrett was down in Penang on a visa run as without having a proper working visa you have to leave the country every 30 to 90 days. Barrett also lives quite close to and is also going to the Bangkok Music Festival. After being tipped off by my brother about the festival and with him being able to book online we are now the lucky owners of tickets to see Franz Ferdinand, Oasis & Ian Brown on the 18th February in Bangkok.

On Wednesday we had another early start and were supposed to be picked up at 5am at the hostel, also waiting outside were Guy and Andrew who were on their way to Phuket and would be sharing a minivan with ourselves and another half a dozen people travelling north to Thailand. The van eventually turned up at 5:30 and we arrived in Hat Yai on the Thai side of the border at ten o’clock. We then transferred to another van and had another five hour trip to Krabi.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Oompa Lumpa slipped in Kuala Lumpur

We arrived in plenty of time for our flight with a cheap airline called Air Asia (similar to Easy Jet). We had bought bargain tickets as we didn't really fancy the lengthy journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok and we didn't bother to read the terms or conditions. On arrival our bags weighed in at a hefty 42kgs but we were only allowed 15kgs each so we were told we had to either pay $4 per kilo that was over or we could remove some things and put them into hand luggage. So off we went to the middle of the concourse to rummage around our dirty laundry, ditch any toiletries that we could and to remove as many heavy items as possible. We had to do this twice to get our bags down to 32kgs and they allowed us to carry the rest on as hand luggage even although there were only 30 people actually on the flight.

The rest of the journey was fairly smooth and we arrived in Kuala Lumpur on time. We had to get some money and as the ATM's on the ground floor weren't working an "employee" decided to show us up to another level where the machines were all in working order. It turned out this guy was actually a tout who wanted us to pay 20 pounds one way in a limo into the centre. We sidestepped his bargaining powers and managed to get a return journey for the same price from the airport taxi company. Then we were off and unlike the rest of the South East Asia the roads were straight and smooth - the first that we've been on since Australia in September. We were whizzed into the city to the Golden Triangle district in about an hour and were deposited at the Pujangga Homestay.

We went for a wander after putting some laundry in and went to one of the many huge shopping centres that KL has to offer. This place was filled with every electronic gadget so you can imagine Chris's delight. When we left the heavens had opened and there was a major downpour (you would think that by now we would remember to take our jackets) so we headed into a friendly Chinese restaurant for dinner. We waited for some time before the rain eventually died down enough for us to make a dash for home going undercover as much as possible. The only problem was that my trainers aren't very good in the wet and this along with tiled pavements was a recipe for disaster. Well the inevitable happened and I slipped down some stairs walloping my back and hitting my head in the process. I don't know who got the bigger fright Chris, the guy trying to help me up or me!! Round 1 to the Berghaus trainers.

On Saturday we decided to head up towards the Petronas Towers which is the second biggest building in the world standing at a mere 452 metres in height. The day had started off very grey and we went into the shopping mall beneath the towers in the hope that when we resurfaced the sky would have brightened. This place was huge with loads of designer stores and even a Marks & Spencers (although the stock was poor in comparison to back home). The weather was much the same when we came out so we headed to an Indian Buffet where I had a great Mutton Curry.


At night we walked to China town which had a market and we opted for a canteen style place for dinner where Chris had some noodles and I had some beef and rice from different stalls. A small can of beer in the shops cost about a pound (four times the cost in neighbouring Thailand) we're not sure if this has anything to do with Malaysia being a mainly Muslim country. So we realised that drinking in a bar was going to be expensive, we went to an Irish bar and got a pint of Guinness and a Corona which came to around 8 pounds, well we savored every last drop of those drinks before heading back.

The following day we went more window shopping only this time we managed to buy Chris a pair of sandals. We then went to one of the biggest shopping malls I have been in since Houston called Time Square. This place had an Imax Cinema, indoor fairground with a rollercoaster, thousands of shops and several department stores including Debenhams which covered over 4 floors. We spent several hours here before booking our bus tickets onto our next destination.

For dinner we headed to another excellent Indian buffet with mutton curry all round. My problem is that I don't know when to stop ladling the delicious food onto my plate and I ended up rolling out of here stuffed. Chris says I've not to mention the Clyde v Celtic game and please note that if anyone mentions it, it doesn't count as we are overseas.

Monday saw us doing a 15 minute trek with our bags to the bus station and we even managed to get on an earlier bus. The bus was the best that we have been on in all our travels, our seats were like huge armchairs with large armrests in between. They were so big that there was only enough room for 3 seats with 2 on one side of the bus and one on the other. So we settled back and enjoyed our 5 hour journey to Penang.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Angkor Temples

The last time we came to the Angkor Temples was in March 2004 and we only had one and a half hurried days to explore, so it was always on our agendas to return but we both didn’t think we would be back this soon. We had arranged to use the same Tuk-Tuk driver that Marc & Donna had been using the last few days. So he picked us up at our hotel and took us to the ticket checkpoint so that we could get our three day passes for the temples. If you get your pass after 4:30pm you can get sunset at the temples and your three day pass starts from the following morning.

Our first destination was Phom Bakheng not because it’s a particular great temple but it has the best views over Angkor Wat and surrounding countryside as the sun slowly slips into the night. When we got to the foot of the mountain and jumped out the Tuk-Tuk we were engulfed with swarms of kids trying to sell us soft drinks and postcards. The place was more like a fairground than an ancient temple as the smell of the food stalls blended with the stench of Elephants, which if you’re feeling lazy or just very rich you can hitch a ride with to the top of the hill. The climb up the hill was a lot steeper than I remembered from the last time and a bit rockier, or maybe it’s just me that’s aged a year in the last few days.

From the top of the hill we took some photos of Angkor Wat before climbing the temple to get the best view of the setting sun, but we weren’t the only ones with the same idea as we waited in turn with the multitudes to climb the steep narrow steps to the top. A few thousand people had got there before us so there weren’t that many great vantage points, but it was quite chilled watching the sunset. As soon as the sun had gone the crowd evaporated back down the side of the hill into the arms of the waiting hawkers, we managed to give them the slip and find our driver and head back into town.


We had arranged to meet Donna & Marc for dinner as it was their last night before travelling south to Phnom Penh. None of us were feeling that up for a big night, so we had dinner in the Red Piano bar again and headed to another bar to watch some football. After a couple of drinks we said our farewells again and headed back to our respective hotels.

Next morning we headed to the Ta Prohm temple which is quite famous now after it was featured in the movie Tomb Raider starring Angeline Jolie. Unlike most of the other temples in Angkor the 12th Century Mahayana Buddhist temple has been left just as it looked when the first French explorers set eyes on it over a hundred years ago, as the jungle has been left to overrun the place. We didn’t get too many great photos as it had clouded over but it was nice and cool walking under the canopy of the trees. We spent over an hour here before it got too busy with coach loads of tourists whizzing through snapping furiously as their guides machine gunned out the history of the jungle sanctuary.

We had a short journey to the centre of Angkor Thom and the Bayon temple which from a distance looks like a large pile of rocks. This changes as you get closer you suddenly realise that hundreds of faces are observing your approach. The temple has 216 massive benignly smiling faces carved into dozens of towers so no matter where you stand you cannot escape their stony gaze. The faces are said to represent the then King Jayavarman VII who was hoping his omnipresent moniker would keep his subjects in check predating George Orwell’s Big Brother character from his classic novel 1984 by over 800 years.


We had a good wander round and we stumbled across a sad looking old monkey sitting forlornly in a shaded corner. Marc had heard from a local guide that it had fallen out of a tree the previous week and that the rest of its family had abandoned it, so it now stayed in the temple and was being fed by the tourists. At one point we seen it sneak into one of the Buddhist shrines within the temple and try and pinch some of the offerings of fruit, but a elderly female monk chased it out with a broom and started shouting at it. There was also a fashion shoot going on with an Asian lady in a shiny suit with a gargantuan scarf draped over her shoulders giving all her best moves to a cameraman who had more lenses than Black & Lizars. After a stroll along the terrace of elephants and the terrace of the Leper King admiring all the impressive carvings, we decided to call it a day as we had still to move into our next hotel and we also planned to make it for sunrise the following morning.

We got picked up at out hostel at 5am and we made our way through the dark deserted streets of Siem Reap, as we approached the temples we could see quite a few other Tuk-Tuks heading in the same direction. Torch at the ready we made our way into Angkor Wat passing through the perimeter walls and climbing the first two levels. Luckily I remembered from our last visit that it was easier to climb to the highest level on the right hand side of the temple because of a hand rail, at this point we had about half a dozen people following us as we seemed to know where we going. We made it to the top quite quickly, it was probably made a bit easier because the torchlight only lit a few meters ahead and you couldn’t see how high and steep we were climbing.

We managed to make it to the top level in one piece and get a decent spot to sit and wait for the sunrise. After about an hour the sun was over the trees and the largest religious building in the world was now bathed in the orange glow from the morning sun. After a while we headed down the steps to get some breakfast and some photos of the lilies which were slowly opening up in the ponds in the moat surrounding the temple. We then headed back into the now almost deserted Wat and quickly found a spot to sit and sketch and chill out for a few hours. At one point a small kid who was collecting used cans and bottles became interested in our drawings and was curious to hear what I was listening to on my MP3 player, now there’s a ten year old Celtic supporting Cambodian boy running about saying he’s a massive Smog fan.




We then had an hour’s drive out to Bantay Srei, which was quite bumpy in the back of the Tuk-Tuk. When we got there Joanne headed to the toilet and I had a wander about, when I found a large algae covered pond. Just at the same time a herd of water buffalo decided to have a dip in the luminous green swamp, I tried to shout Joanne but she couldn’t hear me. It was amazing watching the lumbering giants straining to keep their heads above the waterline, but after a few minutes they had enough and climbed out the other side of the pond. Just as last one disappeared into the woods Joanne appeared missing the show.


Bantay Srei isn’t the biggest temple but what it lacks in size it makes up in detail, with almost every square inch of the pink sand stone walls covered in intricately carved scenes from Khmer history. After about half an hour it was back on the Tuk-Tuk and the bumpy trip back nearer to Angkor. We then visited three more temples; Ta Keo, Ta Som and the extensive Preah Khan. One of the nice things about the temples is that each one usually has a small band near the entrance playing amazing rhythmical music that really gives the place a nice atmosphere merging with chorus of million grasshoppers and other insects humming along. By the time we left Preah Khan it almost 4 o’clock and our driver was about to take us to another temple when we decided to change plans and head back to the hotel as it felt like we had been tramping temples for days.


One of the reasons we packed so much in to the second day of our Angkor pass was so that we could have one day just relaxing and enjoying the temples without feeling we had to rush round and see as much as possible. So today we didn’t bother with sunrise and headed to The Baphuon temple just after breakfast. The temple was painstakingly taken apart piece by piece by archaeologists before the civil war but the meticulous records were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. So when the archaeology teams returned they found thousands of stones but no idea where they should go. The temple seems like a giant jigsaw puzzle but an ambitious project is underway to stabilise the partial ruin and complete it.

Next to The Baphuon was a large clear pool where some local kids were swimming with some of the more acrobatic one’s where somersaults and back flips into the cool water. When the kids noticed us watching their antics they came round to our side of the pool and put on a show of even more complex dives and moves, some of them even posed like pumped up musclemen before performing their daring stunts. We knew where this was heading and pretty soon one of the kids was up asking for a dollar for each of them, we declined his invitation and to be honest they didn’t take it too bad as they waved us goodbye.


We then wandered along a dusty path behind The Baphuon and stumbled on to two other temples we hadn’t seen before, both were in a state of disrepair but what they lacked in finesse they made up in character. The second temple which we think is called Preah Palilay has massive trees growing alongside the main tower and the place is covered in spider’s webs with quite a few of the eight legged freaks darting about. We then stumbled on a small Buddhist temple where an old monk was throwing water over a family and their motorbikes. We found out from a kid selling coke that the family had come for a blessing to give them luck, they also brought their bikes to get blessed as it was cheaper than insurance.


In the afternoon we went back to The Bayon temple to sit and draw the giant faces. Before we left Scotland I don’t think either of us had drawn, sketched or painted since school which was quite a few years ago now. But after picking up some pencils and notebooks in China we have really enjoyed taking some time out to sketching in some scenic spot or chilled out bar. To be honest our drawings aren’t that good but that’s not really the point, as it’s one of the most relaxing ways to spend an hour or two in the sun. We managed to find a spot just above the throng of bustling tourists and once I plugged in my MP3 player, I didn’t even hear the Japanese guides shouting at their groups. I’m quite glad they haven’t adopted the megaphones that Chinese guides use with great gusto from the Great Wall to the Three Gorges.

As the sun slowly started to set we headed into Angkor Wat to take some photos with the late afternoon glow, once again climbing the dangerously steep steps. As we got to the top we realised there was a massive queue to get back down the steps with the hand rail so we decided to not hang about too long and head down other steps without the handrail before it got too dark. We got down safe enough but it did take quite a bit longer as we gingerly placed our feet carefully on each tiny ledge. We then headed out to the lily pond for our last photos of Angkor Wat as the day turned into night. Our Tuk-Tuk driver had said he would take us to the airport the next morning so we headed back to the hotel and for our final night in Siem Reap.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Out with the Old

We left Saigon on a bus that had seen better days but at least we managed to get to the border control without any major hiccups. We had to queue for over an hour at the Vietnamese immigration and we then crossed “No Man’s Land” into Cambodia where we went through in under 10 minutes.


On our next leg we were told that we were to go on one bus and our bags on another, we had heard so many stories about this and lo and behold at the other end you are parted from some of the nice things that you may have. So we politely declined and 4 of us with our baggage in tow and 3 other guys went on a smaller bus with no air conditioning. The windows were thrown open, we all had plenty of space to stretch out and we were off. The first part of our journey to Phnom Penh was fine, some great roads and scenery and then we stopped to wait for the ferry. We were harassed by the many hawkers pulling the windows open further, dragging your arms to give you what they were selling, beggars pushing in and a few even managed to get the door open. So onto the ferry for a short trip where the kids were banging on the windows and we gave them all the food we had left in our bags. The next stretch of road wasn’t that far but it took longer than normal due to major road works being carried out. It also didn’t help that our bus broke down but our driver had our vehicle fixed in no time and we were speeding along the road.

When we arrived we were driven directly underneath a building into the Kings Guesthouse reception where our bags were whipped off in anticipation of us staying there for the night which we did as the rooms were fine. For dinner we walked by many places selling hot pot but we really couldn’t be bothered with this so we went to the Wah Kee Chinese Restaurant where we ordered a beef dish which would have done both of us, but as usual not realising the size of the portions we also had a veggie dish and some spring rolls. Afterwards we waddled slowly back to the hotel.

The following morning we were up early for a bumpy and dusty bus ride to visit the Killing Fields just outside Phnom Penh which we had missed on our last trip to Cambodia. As we entered the grounds all you could hear was a chorus of “One, Two, Three, Smile – Take my Photo!” from the local kids trying to get $1. We walked up to the memorial stupa which contained a selection of the skeletons from the thousands of people who were buried here, the skeletons were sorted into age groups of male/female from babies to the elderly. It is a solemn sight to see with this being only a small fraction of the people who were killed during the Pol Pot regime. All of the skeletons were removed from the mass graves (or so they thought) but when the rainy season came this washed more remains up and only then was the full death toll actually realised. There were 86 mass graves with almost 9,000 bodies, the adult victims were killed by a blow to the head (as the Khmer Rouge didn’t want to waste bullets) and children and babies had their heads crushed against a tree trunk. We wandered around the grounds which had fields and rivers around it with locals farming and fishing, giving us time to reflect on what we’d seen before heading back onto the bus.


We didn’t realise that this trip also took us to the Sleng 21 prison, the last time we were there our guide told us about how the Khmer Rouge regime impacted on his family including the deaths of his brother and sister. Since there were a few new exhibitions we went back and wandered through the buildings remembering the harrowing story that we were told previously. This is the place where the Khmer Rouge tortured people before taking them to the Killing Fields to die. Photographs were taken of nearly all the inmates along with the guards each year and the negatives from those which were not destroyed by fire have been developed and put on display. When the Vietnamese came to liberate the Cambodians from the Khmer Rouge, the last remaining prisoners were tortured and left to die with only 6 actually surviving and with 2 being alive today.


On another floor of the prison are a couple of different exhibitions, one taking photos of reflections of visitors to the museum in the pictures of the inmates. Another one had photographs of the Khmer Rouge then and now with details of what they are doing and how they felt about what they did at the time. Many of them showed remorse for their actions and explained how they really had no option in doing what they did, but I still felt that a few of them really didn’t care about what they had done or the people they had killed. This was another thought provoking day for us and going to this prison is a must to understand some of the atrocities carried out by the Khmer Rouge on their own people. All the Cambodians want now is to see some justice, but none of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge have ever been brought to trial.

That afternoon we headed in the basking sunshine to the Russian Market which is a place filled with your copy gear just like “ra barras” and I managed to replace my well worn daypack with a fake North Face bag at much cheapness. There wasn’t that much else there that delighted us so we headed back to enjoy the last hour or so of sunshine on our balcony.

At night we decided to head to the backpackers area called Boeng Kak via a tuk-tuk. We thought that there would be more happening here but as we wandered up and down the main street we realised that this wasn’t the case and opted to go into the busiest bar “The Lazy Gecko”. We were asked did we want to join the quiz so we did at $1 each with the winner taking all. Chris’s eyes were glinting at the thought of the $6 prize money but unlike our last quiz he was second and a bit behind the winner, although he does think that this was a stitch up (he is such a bad loser at times).

Friday 30th was our bus journey to Siem Reap which passed very smoothly but on arrival our names had been passed onto another hotel with guys holding placards and shouting out “Chris Reilly” but we managed to give them the slip, avoided all eye contact and made our way via a cheap tuk-tuk to the City River Hotel since we had booked a supposedly “plush” hotel for Chris’s birthday.

We had been emailed by Donna and Marc (who we’d met in Laos) that they were in town and we wandered around in the hope that our paths might cross which they did. We also met Marita (a Dutch girl) and all of us had dinner in the Dead Fish restaurant which had at least 5 floors with traditional dancing and live singing. In addition to this there was a crocodile pit near the toilets with at least 50 of them all lying on top of each other with a few swimming in the water. Back home there would be so many regulations about keeping these animals but here it doesn’t matter there wasn’t even a fence on either side of the walk way that takes you over the other side. With signs up outside advising that they don’t do “Cheap Food” nor do they serve “cat, rat, dog or worm” we certainly weren’t disappointed with our Thai meal the soup in particular was fantastic but we left to find some bars with ‘Happy Hours’ for cheap beer when the dodgy two piece band came on.


On Hogmanay as we went to meet up with the guys in the Red Piano the heavens opened and just like Glasgow we were soaked to the skin in minutes. The only difference being that it wasn’t the usual freezing winds biting through your bones more like a Turkish bath with the humidity. Donna, Marc, Marita and Klaus (a Swedish guy) had just managed to miss the rain, so we soon dried off and all of us had a great meal. The main bar street had been closed off to traffic so after our sustenance we moved down to the middle of the road to “The Funky Buddha” and managed to get enough seats for us all.


Ben and Yvonne also came and joined us (we met this couple on the Killing Field trip in Phnom Penh) and we were all set to party. Each of the neighbouring bars were competing with their music so we had at least 4 or 5 songs going in our heads at once and then the dancing started.


Lots of tourists were bouncing the street kids up and down on their shoulders with some of them wearing masks and hats. Older kids had firecrackers which they shot out of bamboo canes so we knew we were in for a good night. We brought the bells in with a bottle of wine (cheap in flavour not in price) and then Donna decided that we had to sing “Auld Lang Syne” with only a few of us knowing the words. There were fireworks and floating candle lanterns lighting up the sky. Then it started to get messy as someone thought it was a good idea to have shooters (Tequila or B52’s) so we all had one and then a few more in between our rounds of beer. Along came a couple of Irish guys who we’ve bumped into on and off since Luang Prabang with whisky buckets which Chris had to have a souk out of since it was his birthday which was mainly whisky and not a lot else.

We were all up dancing in the street which wasn’t good enough for one of us who also had to get on a speaker for a couple of songs. Again we said our farewells as Klaus, Ben and Yvonne were all up early the next day to travel onto somewhere else (lucky for them eh?) and well we eventually made it back to the hotel for 5am and Marc, Donna and Marita went to the Angkor Temples to watch the sunrise.


We received a couple of early morning alarm calls at 7am wishing us a Happy New Year and Chris a Happy Birthday (thanks & sorry guys) as you can only imagine our sober state. We didn’t make it up for breakfast the following morning surprise, surprise and we just literally chilled out. That was until we tried to access the in-room internet access and found out there was none in our room so we then had to go through the palaver of changing rooms again. The access was behind a huge bed and despite all our efforts we were unable to get it working. What a big let down! We are thinking of renaming this hotel to something that rhymes with city!

At night we had a lovely dinner to celebrate Chris turning 35!! Oh I did get him some nice gifts, he particularly liked his croaking frog!! We then went back to the hotel to see if the Hearts v Celtic game was on TV and guess what Chris’s luck was in!! He managed to see the game live although after the first half I am sure he’d had rather not. With Celtic having a remarkable comeback from 2-0 down to winning 3-2 he ran around the room whooping his delight with YEEEEESSS!! And since it was his birthday I even celebrated a little with him. The things you do for love!!