Morning Everybody, we hope you've all had a fab Christmas. Ours was slightly unconventional to say the least, we had to keep reminding ourselves it was Christmas Day while we had a massage, had a rematch of underwater swimming and then went to the closest thing we could find to a traditional Christmas dinner (it had turkey in it). A four day Christmas treat at a luxury resort was pretty budget blowing so we made sure we got every pennies worth by not leaving the grounds for the entire time! Five pools, a golf course with driving range, eight restaurants, cinema and goodness knows what else kept us entertained well enough though. For the most part we just enjoyed dipping in the pool and going to the spa. Which reminds me, fresh from his hair salon experience Tony has now well and truly found his feminine side and had an hour long facial at the spa and then told me all about the various fragrances etc used afterwards! Shame then, that that evening before dinner we popped by the driving range and he hit 100 balls which made him so sweaty his white shirt was soaked through, so much for the cleansing then!
The next two days couldn't have been more different. We checked out of five star luxury and headed to the top of the highest mountain in SE Asia - literally. I was sold the trip based on information describing Mt Kinabalu as one of the easiest mountains in the world to climb and as long as you've got determination and stamina anyone can do it. Well let me tell you now I beg to differ! I haven't climbed many mountains I must admit, but if this was meant to be one of the easiest in the WORLD I may not be climbing too many more! At 4095.2 meters the summit is higher than anyone can ski in Europe or even in the US that we know of. The trail to the top is only 8.7km which should give you some idea of how steep it is. We set off at 9.40am on day one and were booked in to the last available accommodation at 3272m which was just about the top of the tree line. Unfortunately what was probably a pleasant trail at one point had been turned into a set of steps that were like doing stairs two at a time for three hours! The last hour and a half was spent much more comfortably over the natural terrain of boulders and stones. We arrived at Laban Rata and checked in to our room - I had bottom bunk Tony had top, the generator was broken so showers were out of the question as I could barely even wash my hands in the water it was so cold.
At 2am we had a light breakfast before heading off to do the final 2.7km climb to the summit in time for sunrise. I actually loved this part of the climb, we only had head torches in the pitch black and the going was pretty steep but it was really exhilarating and best of all it was cold, it was blowing a gale which meant we had hats and gloves and everything! I know to most people that sounds horrible but for someone who's thermostat breaks down at temperatures above 30*c it was fabulous! We made it to the summit about 5.35am and the sun popped up on the hour and all was good with the world.
That was until we had to come back down again. We were to walk the entire 8.7km downhill that same day, the top was so steep I had a few wobbles where I thought I was going down the quick way. A quick stop at the overnight shack for breakfast and we were off again. For anyone else with prematurely ageing knees or hips you'll know that the way down is so much worse than the climb. To cut a long story short it was such a hard slog all the way down, I won't go into it too much because I'll only end up using expletive after expletive! At the bottom I was hardly mobile without my walking stick that the guide had made me take the day before (at the time I thought he was a cheeky git but it turns out he saw the cripple in me!). But we finished in high spirits, mainly at my expense and headed back to town with our certificates of achievement in tow, feeling pleased with ourselves.
That was over 48hrs ago now and I can still hardly walk! Tony was really struggling yesterday too which made me feel a bit less ridiculous, but he has just shown me that he is now able to jog across the room (sort of!) so his recovery seems to be going better than mine. We tried a massage yesterday but it only caused pain!
We have flown to Sandakan today, I was tempted to ask the airline for special assistance! We are here to see the orang-utans, elephants, monkeys and crocs.
Happy New Year to everybody, see you all in 2011
Love Mr and Mrs McK xxx
Friday, 31 December 2010
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Merry Christmas
Good Morning Blog Fans!
We would just like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, hopefully everybody has been able to get to where they should be and the weather hasn't ruined anyones festive plans.
It's a positively balmy Christmas day here, the resort is decorated to the max and has non stop festive tunes pumping out in all public areas but it still feels like August to us.
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing we hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.
Lots of love Mr and Mrs McK xxx
We would just like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, hopefully everybody has been able to get to where they should be and the weather hasn't ruined anyones festive plans.
It's a positively balmy Christmas day here, the resort is decorated to the max and has non stop festive tunes pumping out in all public areas but it still feels like August to us.
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing we hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.
Lots of love Mr and Mrs McK xxx
Friday, 24 December 2010
Caves, Bats & Hair Styling
Morning All
We left you with the news that we were flying to Guning Mulu National Park. The flight was 30 minutes from Miri and as we flew inland huge banks of clouds started building over the forest. As we descended all we could see out the windows was a few tree clad hills peaking up through the clouds. It was a bit worrying entering the clouds, knowing that we were already below some of the nearby hills. Then our little prop plane started getting a right old bumping & shaking until the pilot suddenly gunned the engine and went up again. After a second similarly aborted attempt at landing he announced that the cloud was down to the ground and we would have to circle until there was a break in the cloud. Ten minutes later a break appeared, and like a dueling fighter pilot he dived through the gap and headed for the air strip. As soon as the wheels were down he put on maximum air brakes and foot brake before doing a handbrake turn at the end of the runway. No wonder he'd wanted to see the runway, Linford Christie could probably cover it in 20 seconds!
That first afternoon absolutely poured down so we lazed around a bit and made plans for the next couple of days. It's the rainy season here but that was the first time we've had really consistent rain rather than a heavy but short afternoon shower.
We spent the next couple of days doing short treks and river journeys through the national park. These included a forest trail to a small waterfall (alledgedly good for swimming below, but in reality the walk was better than the destination) and a tree top suspended canopy walk. We also visted 4 different caves, each pretty spectacular in their own right. Deer cave in particular was a sight worth seeing. The locals claim it's the largest known cave in the world and home to between 3 or 4 million bats. We walked through it in the late afternoon, and 3-4 million bats make an awful lot of guano with enough ammonia to clear the stuffiest of blocked noses. On leaving this cave we hung around just below the entrance in the hope of seeing one of natures phenomenal shows; the bat exodus. After 20 or 30 minutes a few small groups of bats exited the cave. We were just beginning to think that this wasn't all it was cracked up to be when the main body started leaving. For the next thirty minutes bats were pouring out of the cave and circling above before heading off for their nightly feast. Luckily for us they were not vampire bats and were only interested in insects. I have to admit though that it was pretty special and a we did feel quite privileged to witness this event.
We flew from Guning Mulu to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah yesterday (Wednesday). Although Sarawak and Sabah are part of Malaysia, they are semi autonomous and have their own immigration checks and passport stamping procedure. As such I'm claiming Sabah as the eigth country we've visited on this trip.
Tomorrow (Christmas Eve) we head to the five star Pacific Sutera Resort in Kota Kinabalu for a bit of Christmas luxury. We've booked in for three nights in order to make the most of the golf course, the spa, the gym, the Olympic swimming pool and the messing around pool with pool bar. In order to look presentable I decided today to get a haircut. Unfortunately all I could find was a 'salon' with a couple of nice Gok Wan type chaps. A bit over the top for a grade 1 buzz cut all over, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Now it normally takes me or Carol 5 minutes to complete the job but that was never on the cards in the Gok Salon. After 10 minutes of using the clippers . . . . and a comb!!!! I thought he was finished; but no!
I'll hand you over to Carol for her version . . . . .
The salon was in a massive hypermarket so I decided to have a browse while I was waiting for Tony to finish. I headed off and said I'd let him know if I left the level we were on. A few minutes later I popped by and said I was off to the other end of the mall but I'd see him back at the salon. A few more minutes later and I was back outside the salon and it looked like he was nearly finished because the guy was putting the clippers away, so i decided I'd wait outside. A couple more minutes passed and I turned around to see where he was and I couldn't believe my eyes - he was having his hair blow dried! At this point I'm now on my own in the middle of a huge mall absolutely bent double, crying with laughter! I compose myself and look around again and I can't see him anywhere, then see that he is out the back having his hair washed, this I thought was a nice touch to get rid of the stray hairs. The next time I glance over I see Tony walking back to the cutting chairs wearing a towel turban! This completely finishes me off, I can hardly breath and am now attracting the attention of onlookers. Tony spots me through the window and quicker than you could say towel turban it's gone and he is using the towel to dry his hair, trying to act like nothing happened.
Back to me. . . . . Having finished cutting my hair Gok picked up a hair dryer and said he'd use it to get rid of stray hairs. This was new to me but made a bit of sense so I thought ok, let's go along with this. He then removed the gown, but instead of going to the till he strolled to the back of the salon telling me to follow. Though slightly confused I followed him. He then indicated I sit in the chair by the hair washing basin. I told him I didn't need it washed but he explained it was also to get rid of any remaining stray hairs. Fair played I thought, you can't knock the guy for being thorough, although I did have to insist that he didn't shampoo also! He then wrapped my head in a towel and directed me to the front of the salon again. I was now caught between the embarrassment of everybody who walked past seeing me with my towel turban, and the hilarity of seeing Carol rocking with laughter. I asked him what the next step was, and when he said he needed to blow dry my hair before applying some products it was all I could do not to laugh in his face. I quickly removed the turban, handed him his money and joined Carol outside. For the next five minutes she could barely talk due to laughing so much. Even 10 hours later when she insisted on adding her version of events the tears were rolling down her cheeks again!
Our plans for after Christmas include climbing Mount Kinabalu before heading down to Sandakan and Sepilok on the east coast, but more on that next time.
That's all for now folks.
Lots of love
Mr & Mrs McK Xxx
We left you with the news that we were flying to Guning Mulu National Park. The flight was 30 minutes from Miri and as we flew inland huge banks of clouds started building over the forest. As we descended all we could see out the windows was a few tree clad hills peaking up through the clouds. It was a bit worrying entering the clouds, knowing that we were already below some of the nearby hills. Then our little prop plane started getting a right old bumping & shaking until the pilot suddenly gunned the engine and went up again. After a second similarly aborted attempt at landing he announced that the cloud was down to the ground and we would have to circle until there was a break in the cloud. Ten minutes later a break appeared, and like a dueling fighter pilot he dived through the gap and headed for the air strip. As soon as the wheels were down he put on maximum air brakes and foot brake before doing a handbrake turn at the end of the runway. No wonder he'd wanted to see the runway, Linford Christie could probably cover it in 20 seconds!
That first afternoon absolutely poured down so we lazed around a bit and made plans for the next couple of days. It's the rainy season here but that was the first time we've had really consistent rain rather than a heavy but short afternoon shower.
We spent the next couple of days doing short treks and river journeys through the national park. These included a forest trail to a small waterfall (alledgedly good for swimming below, but in reality the walk was better than the destination) and a tree top suspended canopy walk. We also visted 4 different caves, each pretty spectacular in their own right. Deer cave in particular was a sight worth seeing. The locals claim it's the largest known cave in the world and home to between 3 or 4 million bats. We walked through it in the late afternoon, and 3-4 million bats make an awful lot of guano with enough ammonia to clear the stuffiest of blocked noses. On leaving this cave we hung around just below the entrance in the hope of seeing one of natures phenomenal shows; the bat exodus. After 20 or 30 minutes a few small groups of bats exited the cave. We were just beginning to think that this wasn't all it was cracked up to be when the main body started leaving. For the next thirty minutes bats were pouring out of the cave and circling above before heading off for their nightly feast. Luckily for us they were not vampire bats and were only interested in insects. I have to admit though that it was pretty special and a we did feel quite privileged to witness this event.
We flew from Guning Mulu to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah yesterday (Wednesday). Although Sarawak and Sabah are part of Malaysia, they are semi autonomous and have their own immigration checks and passport stamping procedure. As such I'm claiming Sabah as the eigth country we've visited on this trip.
Tomorrow (Christmas Eve) we head to the five star Pacific Sutera Resort in Kota Kinabalu for a bit of Christmas luxury. We've booked in for three nights in order to make the most of the golf course, the spa, the gym, the Olympic swimming pool and the messing around pool with pool bar. In order to look presentable I decided today to get a haircut. Unfortunately all I could find was a 'salon' with a couple of nice Gok Wan type chaps. A bit over the top for a grade 1 buzz cut all over, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Now it normally takes me or Carol 5 minutes to complete the job but that was never on the cards in the Gok Salon. After 10 minutes of using the clippers . . . . and a comb!!!! I thought he was finished; but no!
I'll hand you over to Carol for her version . . . . .
The salon was in a massive hypermarket so I decided to have a browse while I was waiting for Tony to finish. I headed off and said I'd let him know if I left the level we were on. A few minutes later I popped by and said I was off to the other end of the mall but I'd see him back at the salon. A few more minutes later and I was back outside the salon and it looked like he was nearly finished because the guy was putting the clippers away, so i decided I'd wait outside. A couple more minutes passed and I turned around to see where he was and I couldn't believe my eyes - he was having his hair blow dried! At this point I'm now on my own in the middle of a huge mall absolutely bent double, crying with laughter! I compose myself and look around again and I can't see him anywhere, then see that he is out the back having his hair washed, this I thought was a nice touch to get rid of the stray hairs. The next time I glance over I see Tony walking back to the cutting chairs wearing a towel turban! This completely finishes me off, I can hardly breath and am now attracting the attention of onlookers. Tony spots me through the window and quicker than you could say towel turban it's gone and he is using the towel to dry his hair, trying to act like nothing happened.
Back to me. . . . . Having finished cutting my hair Gok picked up a hair dryer and said he'd use it to get rid of stray hairs. This was new to me but made a bit of sense so I thought ok, let's go along with this. He then removed the gown, but instead of going to the till he strolled to the back of the salon telling me to follow. Though slightly confused I followed him. He then indicated I sit in the chair by the hair washing basin. I told him I didn't need it washed but he explained it was also to get rid of any remaining stray hairs. Fair played I thought, you can't knock the guy for being thorough, although I did have to insist that he didn't shampoo also! He then wrapped my head in a towel and directed me to the front of the salon again. I was now caught between the embarrassment of everybody who walked past seeing me with my towel turban, and the hilarity of seeing Carol rocking with laughter. I asked him what the next step was, and when he said he needed to blow dry my hair before applying some products it was all I could do not to laugh in his face. I quickly removed the turban, handed him his money and joined Carol outside. For the next five minutes she could barely talk due to laughing so much. Even 10 hours later when she insisted on adding her version of events the tears were rolling down her cheeks again!
Our plans for after Christmas include climbing Mount Kinabalu before heading down to Sandakan and Sepilok on the east coast, but more on that next time.
That's all for now folks.
Lots of love
Mr & Mrs McK Xxx
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Longhouse Losers!
Hello again.
We've got a few days catching up to do but I'll try not to go on. Tuesday we set off in search of a traditional longhouse of the Iban people of Sarawak. On the way we popped in to Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre which is in another of Borneo's many national parks. Here they rehabilitate orphaned or caged orang-utans and then set them off to live in the semi-wild. They call it semi-wild as they still put food out for them in the season where the trees aren't in fruit so that the poor fellas don't starve. They have 27 apes at the moment and make no guarantees that you'll see any of them. We were lucky this time and saw four of them moving from tree to tree. One of them was a female that had an almost new-born baby clinging on to her like it's life depended on it. We were only there about 45 minutes but it was a real treat to see such amazing animals just getting about their business.
Onwards then to the longhouse. We had been picked up by Jo our guide who told us that nobody else was joining us on the trip so we had our own personal guide again. This has it's advantages and disadvantages as we were to discover that evening. We were driven halfway across Sarawak in a Proton that must've been at least 20 years old and the shocks and springs felt like they were the originals! On arrival at the longhouse we were introduced to the chief who was apparently either 95 or 97 years old. He had the traditional tattoos of the tribal folk including three that meant he had killed before, in times gone by these would've been enemies from other tribes that he would have beheaded but apparently they don't do that anymore and he had earned his fighting for the allies against the Japanese in WWII - reassuring!
After a quick look around we were shown to our quarters which was a cross between a barn and a cattle shed, although I must admit it didn't smell of poo! The long shed was separated into about 20 pods that were the size of a double "mattress" and not a cm bigger! That was it, no frills, in fact we both agreed that our treehouse was more luxurious! After about ten seconds I was thinking that I'm too old for this so goodness knows what Tony was thinking!
After dinner we walked back over to the longhouse to see all the locals and have a chance to stroll around looking at how they live their lives. The longhouse is a huge wooden building kind of like a terrace of houses that are all linked at have a verandah that is open and where most of their daily routines are carried out. When we got there everything got a bit awkward. First of all the ancient chief did a welcome dance in full tribal dress, then a young girl of about 20 did another and finally a young man did another. Well I say finally, that was in fact wishful thinking as next up was yes, you've guessed it - us! Luckily for us the dance was more of a shuffle with some twisty hand movements. Anyone that watched An Idiot Abroad on Sky1 will know exactly the sort of thing! All five of us shuffled our way around the dance mat to the great amusement of everybody.
Next thing you know everybody produces bags of souvenirs that they lay out as quick as a flash and we are sent on a circuit to have a look and see if we want to buy anything - awkward! We spend the whole evening wishing we were a group of 20 after all. After buying the odd bit of tat that we didn't want the locals packed up sharpish and all disappeared off to their own houses, the only ones left were some guys that were slightly worse for wear after an evening on home made whisky that wanted us to join them. We had two shots in the hope that they would help us get through the night.
Now I don't know if we've mentioned this but it's pretty warm here, 30*+ everyday with approximately 99.9% humidity (I estimate) and a shed with absolutely no air isn't the best place to spend the night, that's not to mention the twenty or so cockerels that all want you to know it's morning from about 3am which was about ten minutes after it cooled down enough to sleep!
A lesson in blowpipes used for hunting was a laugh the following morning. We were aiming at a dartboard they'd hung on the wall and were both surprisingly reasonable at it. Tony thinks he won as he scored a nine which is one off of the bull but his 2nd dart was a 4 which meant my 6 and 7 were good enough to call it a draw. I only just persuaded Him that UK customs really wouldn't appreciate a blowpipe in our luggage no matter how much he told them it was just for fun, luckily we were told how they make them and it only takes a year by hand!
We are currently in Miri, close to the Brunei border and are staying in the Imperial Hotel with some deserved luxury. Today we did a day trip to Brunei to see how the Sultan is getting on and it turns out he's doing pretty well for himself, gold plated palaces and mosques are a pretty good sign I'd say! The mosque in particular was worth the trip and made a nice change from temple after temple throughout the rest of SE Asia.
Tomorrow we are flying to Gunung Mulu National Park which is famous for it's caves and trekking opportunities. More sweating for us then!
Love to everybody.
Xxx
We've got a few days catching up to do but I'll try not to go on. Tuesday we set off in search of a traditional longhouse of the Iban people of Sarawak. On the way we popped in to Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre which is in another of Borneo's many national parks. Here they rehabilitate orphaned or caged orang-utans and then set them off to live in the semi-wild. They call it semi-wild as they still put food out for them in the season where the trees aren't in fruit so that the poor fellas don't starve. They have 27 apes at the moment and make no guarantees that you'll see any of them. We were lucky this time and saw four of them moving from tree to tree. One of them was a female that had an almost new-born baby clinging on to her like it's life depended on it. We were only there about 45 minutes but it was a real treat to see such amazing animals just getting about their business.
Onwards then to the longhouse. We had been picked up by Jo our guide who told us that nobody else was joining us on the trip so we had our own personal guide again. This has it's advantages and disadvantages as we were to discover that evening. We were driven halfway across Sarawak in a Proton that must've been at least 20 years old and the shocks and springs felt like they were the originals! On arrival at the longhouse we were introduced to the chief who was apparently either 95 or 97 years old. He had the traditional tattoos of the tribal folk including three that meant he had killed before, in times gone by these would've been enemies from other tribes that he would have beheaded but apparently they don't do that anymore and he had earned his fighting for the allies against the Japanese in WWII - reassuring!
After a quick look around we were shown to our quarters which was a cross between a barn and a cattle shed, although I must admit it didn't smell of poo! The long shed was separated into about 20 pods that were the size of a double "mattress" and not a cm bigger! That was it, no frills, in fact we both agreed that our treehouse was more luxurious! After about ten seconds I was thinking that I'm too old for this so goodness knows what Tony was thinking!
After dinner we walked back over to the longhouse to see all the locals and have a chance to stroll around looking at how they live their lives. The longhouse is a huge wooden building kind of like a terrace of houses that are all linked at have a verandah that is open and where most of their daily routines are carried out. When we got there everything got a bit awkward. First of all the ancient chief did a welcome dance in full tribal dress, then a young girl of about 20 did another and finally a young man did another. Well I say finally, that was in fact wishful thinking as next up was yes, you've guessed it - us! Luckily for us the dance was more of a shuffle with some twisty hand movements. Anyone that watched An Idiot Abroad on Sky1 will know exactly the sort of thing! All five of us shuffled our way around the dance mat to the great amusement of everybody.
Next thing you know everybody produces bags of souvenirs that they lay out as quick as a flash and we are sent on a circuit to have a look and see if we want to buy anything - awkward! We spend the whole evening wishing we were a group of 20 after all. After buying the odd bit of tat that we didn't want the locals packed up sharpish and all disappeared off to their own houses, the only ones left were some guys that were slightly worse for wear after an evening on home made whisky that wanted us to join them. We had two shots in the hope that they would help us get through the night.
Now I don't know if we've mentioned this but it's pretty warm here, 30*+ everyday with approximately 99.9% humidity (I estimate) and a shed with absolutely no air isn't the best place to spend the night, that's not to mention the twenty or so cockerels that all want you to know it's morning from about 3am which was about ten minutes after it cooled down enough to sleep!
A lesson in blowpipes used for hunting was a laugh the following morning. We were aiming at a dartboard they'd hung on the wall and were both surprisingly reasonable at it. Tony thinks he won as he scored a nine which is one off of the bull but his 2nd dart was a 4 which meant my 6 and 7 were good enough to call it a draw. I only just persuaded Him that UK customs really wouldn't appreciate a blowpipe in our luggage no matter how much he told them it was just for fun, luckily we were told how they make them and it only takes a year by hand!
We are currently in Miri, close to the Brunei border and are staying in the Imperial Hotel with some deserved luxury. Today we did a day trip to Brunei to see how the Sultan is getting on and it turns out he's doing pretty well for himself, gold plated palaces and mosques are a pretty good sign I'd say! The mosque in particular was worth the trip and made a nice change from temple after temple throughout the rest of SE Asia.
Tomorrow we are flying to Gunung Mulu National Park which is famous for it's caves and trekking opportunities. More sweating for us then!
Love to everybody.
Xxx
Monday, 13 December 2010
Monkey Business
Morning All,
Hats off to Air Asia, the local equivalent of Easy Jet. Three flights in one day, no significant delays and we arrived in Kuching, Borneo as planned on Friday evening.
On Saturday we did a little stroll around the town. It's actually the capital city of Sarawak but feels more like a town than a city. Sunday saw us head up to the Bako national park north of Kuching, and what a wonderful day it was. A short drive followed by a 20 minute boat ride took us to the start point of a number of marked trails. We'd already decided which trail we wanted to do, the one which claimed to have monkeys along it! The Gibbons in Laos had been heard but not seen so we thought we'd try again here. . . . And we didn't have long to wait before seeing some of the local primates. As we headed across the beach we immediately saw 3 or 4 Probiscus monkeys sitting in the mangrove trees munching on leaves. They could only have been about 25 metres away, and while certainly aware of our presence they were quite happy to carry on snacking. Minutes later we were accompanied by a little troop of Silver Leaf monkeys scampering across the beach. This all before we'd even got to the start of the trail. As we moved along they trail we saw quite a few families of Probiscus monkeys. Again they were not shy in our presence, moving along branches and leaping through the trees above us. It was so lovely to see them in their natural environment, you could almost imagine David Attenborough whispering a commentary beside us.
There are numerous signs and instructions about not feeding any wildlife so as to avoid the animals becoming dependant on humans. Unfortunately the Long Tailed Macaques have not read these. We stopped for lunch at the Park Ranger HQ. We were advised to avoid the tables on the edge of the decking as the Macaques are known to steal food from tables. Sitting slap bang in the middle next to four Aussie women we thought we were pretty safe. We finished our meal with no problems, as did the Aussies. . . almost! They had a few cans of Pepsi plus one muffin on their table when the Macaques stated putting in an appearance in a tree to the right of the decking. While we were all keeping an eye on these fellows another sneaky devil came strolling along the balustrade at the front of the deck. As we turned to look at him he suddenly charged across three tables, through the middle of the Aussies, knocking plates, cutlery and cans of drink in all directions, before scarpering up the nearest tree. After the initial shock had worn off they realised they were now minus one muffin! What a brazen cheek eh?
Other flora and fauna seen during the day included: a beautiful green Pit Viper, a pretty venomous snake but generally shy unless provoked, ebony trees and the carnivorous pitcher plants. We also saw a couple of wild boar, and a pond full of tiddly little cleaner fish. We'd paid US$3 for a 30 minute foot spa from these fellows in Cambodia and now we got a free natural treatment.
Tomorrow we are heading up river on a two day trip to visit the Iban tribal people.
Lots of love
Mr & Mrs McK xxx
Hats off to Air Asia, the local equivalent of Easy Jet. Three flights in one day, no significant delays and we arrived in Kuching, Borneo as planned on Friday evening.
On Saturday we did a little stroll around the town. It's actually the capital city of Sarawak but feels more like a town than a city. Sunday saw us head up to the Bako national park north of Kuching, and what a wonderful day it was. A short drive followed by a 20 minute boat ride took us to the start point of a number of marked trails. We'd already decided which trail we wanted to do, the one which claimed to have monkeys along it! The Gibbons in Laos had been heard but not seen so we thought we'd try again here. . . . And we didn't have long to wait before seeing some of the local primates. As we headed across the beach we immediately saw 3 or 4 Probiscus monkeys sitting in the mangrove trees munching on leaves. They could only have been about 25 metres away, and while certainly aware of our presence they were quite happy to carry on snacking. Minutes later we were accompanied by a little troop of Silver Leaf monkeys scampering across the beach. This all before we'd even got to the start of the trail. As we moved along they trail we saw quite a few families of Probiscus monkeys. Again they were not shy in our presence, moving along branches and leaping through the trees above us. It was so lovely to see them in their natural environment, you could almost imagine David Attenborough whispering a commentary beside us.
There are numerous signs and instructions about not feeding any wildlife so as to avoid the animals becoming dependant on humans. Unfortunately the Long Tailed Macaques have not read these. We stopped for lunch at the Park Ranger HQ. We were advised to avoid the tables on the edge of the decking as the Macaques are known to steal food from tables. Sitting slap bang in the middle next to four Aussie women we thought we were pretty safe. We finished our meal with no problems, as did the Aussies. . . almost! They had a few cans of Pepsi plus one muffin on their table when the Macaques stated putting in an appearance in a tree to the right of the decking. While we were all keeping an eye on these fellows another sneaky devil came strolling along the balustrade at the front of the deck. As we turned to look at him he suddenly charged across three tables, through the middle of the Aussies, knocking plates, cutlery and cans of drink in all directions, before scarpering up the nearest tree. After the initial shock had worn off they realised they were now minus one muffin! What a brazen cheek eh?
Other flora and fauna seen during the day included: a beautiful green Pit Viper, a pretty venomous snake but generally shy unless provoked, ebony trees and the carnivorous pitcher plants. We also saw a couple of wild boar, and a pond full of tiddly little cleaner fish. We'd paid US$3 for a 30 minute foot spa from these fellows in Cambodia and now we got a free natural treatment.
Tomorrow we are heading up river on a two day trip to visit the Iban tribal people.
Lots of love
Mr & Mrs McK xxx
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Where are those Gibbons?
Morning All
So, new flip flops eh? Not such a bargain after all. And I may even be back to the smelly Tevas for travelling yet! Two days of use and the padded soles have fallen off! The upside is they only weigh a gram now so I don't need to grip them with my toes to keep them on. This has resulted in a proper walk again and Carol can remove her ear plugs as my flipping and flopping is just a whisper now. The downside is that I've only got 1mm of leather between my feet and the road, so not too comfortable for any walk over 400 metres. It turns out you can't get a genuine bargain pair of leather Nike flip flops for under a fiver after all.
Our slow cruise up the Mekong took us from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai. We'd splashed out on the luxury boat which certainly meant no worries about overcrowding as we were two of only seven customers, matched by seven staff. This on a boat that can sometimes have up to forty people squeezed on board. Day 1 was a 10 hour cruise, arriving at a luxury 5 star resort near Pak Beng around 5pm. We had a gorgeous hillside wooden cottage with thatched roof offering stunning views up & down the river. First things first though, Carol insisted on the sitting tenant being evicted. Now I'm not normally squeamish about picking up spiders, but let me tell you, this fellow was big; and possessed a huge pair of fangs too. If you sat him on your hand he'd fill your palm and have his legs dangling over the sides! After a few minutes of chasing and moving furniture we finally cornered him, scooped him up and lobbed him out the window. We hoped he wasn't baby spider and that mummy spider wasn't somewhere else in the room watching events.
It would have been lovely to have spent the following day there, but it would have been very expensive, and we had an appointment with some gibbons. Day 2 cruising took us through lovely hills and mountain scenery, and a couple of stops for visits to the minority hill tribes. The Hmong village was particularly nice. The young children trying to sell us stuff really made us smile. They were not aggressive, spoke no English at all, but flocked around in the usual way offering embroidered bracelets for 5000 Laos Kip (about 40p). As our smallest denomination was 20,000 Kip, and there was no way the kids would have change, I handed over the 20,000 note and suggested we buy 4 items. Somehow, I don't know how for such an intelligent person, Carol lost count and picked up 5 items and the kids reacted as one. You'd have thought they'd just been told we were into devil worship and needed a small child to sacrifice. As one they all backed away, smiles replaced by looks of worry, and all gently 'oohing' and shaking their heads. We had no more small change so couldn't just offer the difference. Giving back one item wasn't cutting it either as none of them wanted to take back an item. In the end we had to get our guide to explain to the kids that it was just an accident.
Even with the above incident we ended up as heroes in this village. As we headed back down the hill to the river, an elderly lady of maybe 75-80 accompanied us. She was discussing something with a guide from our boat and talking to us in sign language. The gist of it was she could no longer see close up to do her embroidery. Back at the boat I offered her my reading glasses and she was delighted with them. She stood at the bank giving us the double handed, prayer like thank you until we were out of sight. If I'd done this earlier Carol may have even got her 5 little souvenirs without causing a diplomatic incident.
We arrived in Huay Xai around 4.30pm and checked in with the Gibbon Experience office as requested. Luckily they were still expecting us. The following morning (Monday) we had a safety brief before setting off on a three hour drive into the Bokeo province forest reserve. I can tell you from first hand experience that 4x4's may be great for off roading, but only when your sitting in them. If your on a bench seat in the back of a pick up, they are not so much fun. Luckily for the ladies in our group us four chaps were all gents and offered to sit in the back, giving up the comfortable seats for the girls benefit. There then followed a one hour up hill hike even further into the forest. Arriving at a little camp, we were split up between the various tree houses.
There are 5 tree houses in total, sleeping anything between 2 and 8 people. As we are on honeymoon they very kindly gave us a two person tree house which was also the closest which got no objections from us as we were both pretty sweaty from the walk. So, how to get in to a tree house fifty or sixty metres from the ground? Fitted with a harness you walk up through the tree clad hill behind the tree until you are above the height of the tree house. There you find (with the help of your guide) a zip line. Once hooked on to this you slide (or zip) down to a platform at the front of the house. Simple really. And it's the same for leaving but obviously on a different zip line. We were so lucky with our position. Literally below our tree was one of the longest zip lines in the forest at just under 400 metres. This led to a second line of approx 250 metres. Two further lines of similar length completed the circuit back to our tree with only a couple of minutes walking. Two of these lines were truly breathtaking as you glide 150 metres above the forest canopy zipping from one side of the valley to the other.
The gibbons are only active in the early mornings so we spent most of that first afternoon practicing the zip lines and getting to know the other guests. The nearest tree house to us was a 20 minutes walk away and had 8 people in it. Apart from a very short zip line into their tree house the nearest proper lines were the ones next to us hence they were over visiting us.
The tree house itself is fairly rustic to say the least. There is a large wooden floor, open sides all round, and a roof for protection from the elements. Even the shower & loo were alfresco so to speak. While this allows for wonderful views, it also meant we were open to the animals & insects, especially at night. It's dark by 6.30pm at the latest so the only thing to do is play cards by solar lights until you're so inundated by bugs you decide it's time to turn in. Instead of the normal mosquito net we had a 360* curtain. When you're lying behind a curtain and can hear things ferreting around below your tree (maybe a bear or lynx, or just a squirrel or rat) it certainly makes you realise your out in the sticks. Then just when you're nodding off something starts rustling around just the other side of the curtain. Who knows, another squirrel, a mouse, or more likely an owl, but whatever it was, it stole our bar of hand soap the cheeky devil!
The following two mornings saw us up at the crack of dawn trying to spot the gibbons. We heard them chattering away on both days but unfortunately for us we never got close enough to see them. Our next door neighbours (20 mins through the forest) were really lucky and actually spotted them from their tree house. Although they were about half a mile away they had a powerful telescope and were able to view the gibbons feeding and playing in the trees for the best part of an hour. Lucky them.
Tuesday saw us also take a guided stroll through the forest which involved visiting all the other tree houses, doing plenty of zipping, and getting loads of info about the forest from our local guide. We were fairly tired to say the least when we finally got back to our tree house around 3pm having been up at 6am after a slightly restless sleep.
On Wednesday, having risen at 6am for the gibbon patrol, we regetfully started our hike out of the forest at 11am. What a fantastic couple of days and a truly unique experience. Even though those pesky gibbons wouldn't come out to play with us, the whole trip was worth every penny and a real highlight of our trip.
The rest of the day ended up a long day travelling which involved crossing back into Thailand, just across the river from Huay Xai, and then continuing on to Chang Rai, arriving at 6.30pm.
We fly from Chang Rai to Borneo, via Bangkok and Kuala Lumpar on Friday so thought it would be nice to have a day to get organised. So much for those plans. Whilst going for a little stroll we find a shop with washing machines and tumble dryers only 200 metres from our hotel. The owner speaks very little English but we understand we can get all our laundry done for the same price (£1.30) as our hotel want to charge for one shirt or a pair of shorts. Like my Nike sandals it may sound too good to be true, but we still go for it. Soooooooooo, it turns out £1.30 does do all the washing, but despite the signs indicating tumble dryers, none of the machines actually tumble dry. So the rest of the afternoon and evening has been spent moving clothes around our hotel room from bath towel rail to curtain rail, from chair back to door frame in an attempt to get it all dry under the fans before packing for tomorrows early morning flight. The things we do to save a few pounds eh? Ridiculous I hear you all say. (not as ridiculous as spending 33 quid on washing . . .from Carol x)
Looking back on our short time in Laos, we realise we only stopped in four different places; but we have to admit to absolutely loving both the country and the people. The scenery is just stunning, mainly forests, mountains or rivers, and the people are similar to the Khmers and much quieter and relaxed than the Viets with none of the hard sell or bartering.
To quote Carol on a previous blog, tomorrow is a new adventure. Onward to Borneo.
Love to all
Mr & Mrs McK xxx
Ps. Apologies about the extended blog entry but this has been the first chance to update after a brilliant week.
Note from Carol. . . . Tony has really understated the treehouse, it was freaking us both out! After two nights I got up at 6am on Wednesday and the first thing that sprang to mind was how uterlly exhausted I was! The first night they had told us it was really cold at night so being one to feel the cold I wrapped up in longs (tucked into my socks to keep the nasties out!) and a t shirt with a long sleeve top close by if required. At midnight I woke up for the hundredth time and decided the cold snap wasn't to be - my hair was absolutely soaked with sweat! Now that I was awake I needed a wee which was possibly the worst wee of my life! The bugs congregate around the loo (which was a squatter) so I had to shoo them away before a world record quick squat! Needless to say I deliberately dehydrated myself the next day so a repeat of the nightmare was avoided! Something was flying around our tent type thing that was massive - we didn't see it but anything making that much noise must have been huge, it was like a helicopter! In fairness to the company though, nothing got through our curtains to try and eat us and I would go through it all again tomorrow.
So, new flip flops eh? Not such a bargain after all. And I may even be back to the smelly Tevas for travelling yet! Two days of use and the padded soles have fallen off! The upside is they only weigh a gram now so I don't need to grip them with my toes to keep them on. This has resulted in a proper walk again and Carol can remove her ear plugs as my flipping and flopping is just a whisper now. The downside is that I've only got 1mm of leather between my feet and the road, so not too comfortable for any walk over 400 metres. It turns out you can't get a genuine bargain pair of leather Nike flip flops for under a fiver after all.
Our slow cruise up the Mekong took us from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai. We'd splashed out on the luxury boat which certainly meant no worries about overcrowding as we were two of only seven customers, matched by seven staff. This on a boat that can sometimes have up to forty people squeezed on board. Day 1 was a 10 hour cruise, arriving at a luxury 5 star resort near Pak Beng around 5pm. We had a gorgeous hillside wooden cottage with thatched roof offering stunning views up & down the river. First things first though, Carol insisted on the sitting tenant being evicted. Now I'm not normally squeamish about picking up spiders, but let me tell you, this fellow was big; and possessed a huge pair of fangs too. If you sat him on your hand he'd fill your palm and have his legs dangling over the sides! After a few minutes of chasing and moving furniture we finally cornered him, scooped him up and lobbed him out the window. We hoped he wasn't baby spider and that mummy spider wasn't somewhere else in the room watching events.
It would have been lovely to have spent the following day there, but it would have been very expensive, and we had an appointment with some gibbons. Day 2 cruising took us through lovely hills and mountain scenery, and a couple of stops for visits to the minority hill tribes. The Hmong village was particularly nice. The young children trying to sell us stuff really made us smile. They were not aggressive, spoke no English at all, but flocked around in the usual way offering embroidered bracelets for 5000 Laos Kip (about 40p). As our smallest denomination was 20,000 Kip, and there was no way the kids would have change, I handed over the 20,000 note and suggested we buy 4 items. Somehow, I don't know how for such an intelligent person, Carol lost count and picked up 5 items and the kids reacted as one. You'd have thought they'd just been told we were into devil worship and needed a small child to sacrifice. As one they all backed away, smiles replaced by looks of worry, and all gently 'oohing' and shaking their heads. We had no more small change so couldn't just offer the difference. Giving back one item wasn't cutting it either as none of them wanted to take back an item. In the end we had to get our guide to explain to the kids that it was just an accident.
Even with the above incident we ended up as heroes in this village. As we headed back down the hill to the river, an elderly lady of maybe 75-80 accompanied us. She was discussing something with a guide from our boat and talking to us in sign language. The gist of it was she could no longer see close up to do her embroidery. Back at the boat I offered her my reading glasses and she was delighted with them. She stood at the bank giving us the double handed, prayer like thank you until we were out of sight. If I'd done this earlier Carol may have even got her 5 little souvenirs without causing a diplomatic incident.
We arrived in Huay Xai around 4.30pm and checked in with the Gibbon Experience office as requested. Luckily they were still expecting us. The following morning (Monday) we had a safety brief before setting off on a three hour drive into the Bokeo province forest reserve. I can tell you from first hand experience that 4x4's may be great for off roading, but only when your sitting in them. If your on a bench seat in the back of a pick up, they are not so much fun. Luckily for the ladies in our group us four chaps were all gents and offered to sit in the back, giving up the comfortable seats for the girls benefit. There then followed a one hour up hill hike even further into the forest. Arriving at a little camp, we were split up between the various tree houses.
There are 5 tree houses in total, sleeping anything between 2 and 8 people. As we are on honeymoon they very kindly gave us a two person tree house which was also the closest which got no objections from us as we were both pretty sweaty from the walk. So, how to get in to a tree house fifty or sixty metres from the ground? Fitted with a harness you walk up through the tree clad hill behind the tree until you are above the height of the tree house. There you find (with the help of your guide) a zip line. Once hooked on to this you slide (or zip) down to a platform at the front of the house. Simple really. And it's the same for leaving but obviously on a different zip line. We were so lucky with our position. Literally below our tree was one of the longest zip lines in the forest at just under 400 metres. This led to a second line of approx 250 metres. Two further lines of similar length completed the circuit back to our tree with only a couple of minutes walking. Two of these lines were truly breathtaking as you glide 150 metres above the forest canopy zipping from one side of the valley to the other.
The gibbons are only active in the early mornings so we spent most of that first afternoon practicing the zip lines and getting to know the other guests. The nearest tree house to us was a 20 minutes walk away and had 8 people in it. Apart from a very short zip line into their tree house the nearest proper lines were the ones next to us hence they were over visiting us.
The tree house itself is fairly rustic to say the least. There is a large wooden floor, open sides all round, and a roof for protection from the elements. Even the shower & loo were alfresco so to speak. While this allows for wonderful views, it also meant we were open to the animals & insects, especially at night. It's dark by 6.30pm at the latest so the only thing to do is play cards by solar lights until you're so inundated by bugs you decide it's time to turn in. Instead of the normal mosquito net we had a 360* curtain. When you're lying behind a curtain and can hear things ferreting around below your tree (maybe a bear or lynx, or just a squirrel or rat) it certainly makes you realise your out in the sticks. Then just when you're nodding off something starts rustling around just the other side of the curtain. Who knows, another squirrel, a mouse, or more likely an owl, but whatever it was, it stole our bar of hand soap the cheeky devil!
The following two mornings saw us up at the crack of dawn trying to spot the gibbons. We heard them chattering away on both days but unfortunately for us we never got close enough to see them. Our next door neighbours (20 mins through the forest) were really lucky and actually spotted them from their tree house. Although they were about half a mile away they had a powerful telescope and were able to view the gibbons feeding and playing in the trees for the best part of an hour. Lucky them.
Tuesday saw us also take a guided stroll through the forest which involved visiting all the other tree houses, doing plenty of zipping, and getting loads of info about the forest from our local guide. We were fairly tired to say the least when we finally got back to our tree house around 3pm having been up at 6am after a slightly restless sleep.
On Wednesday, having risen at 6am for the gibbon patrol, we regetfully started our hike out of the forest at 11am. What a fantastic couple of days and a truly unique experience. Even though those pesky gibbons wouldn't come out to play with us, the whole trip was worth every penny and a real highlight of our trip.
The rest of the day ended up a long day travelling which involved crossing back into Thailand, just across the river from Huay Xai, and then continuing on to Chang Rai, arriving at 6.30pm.
We fly from Chang Rai to Borneo, via Bangkok and Kuala Lumpar on Friday so thought it would be nice to have a day to get organised. So much for those plans. Whilst going for a little stroll we find a shop with washing machines and tumble dryers only 200 metres from our hotel. The owner speaks very little English but we understand we can get all our laundry done for the same price (£1.30) as our hotel want to charge for one shirt or a pair of shorts. Like my Nike sandals it may sound too good to be true, but we still go for it. Soooooooooo, it turns out £1.30 does do all the washing, but despite the signs indicating tumble dryers, none of the machines actually tumble dry. So the rest of the afternoon and evening has been spent moving clothes around our hotel room from bath towel rail to curtain rail, from chair back to door frame in an attempt to get it all dry under the fans before packing for tomorrows early morning flight. The things we do to save a few pounds eh? Ridiculous I hear you all say. (not as ridiculous as spending 33 quid on washing . . .from Carol x)
Looking back on our short time in Laos, we realise we only stopped in four different places; but we have to admit to absolutely loving both the country and the people. The scenery is just stunning, mainly forests, mountains or rivers, and the people are similar to the Khmers and much quieter and relaxed than the Viets with none of the hard sell or bartering.
To quote Carol on a previous blog, tomorrow is a new adventure. Onward to Borneo.
Love to all
Mr & Mrs McK xxx
Ps. Apologies about the extended blog entry but this has been the first chance to update after a brilliant week.
Note from Carol. . . . Tony has really understated the treehouse, it was freaking us both out! After two nights I got up at 6am on Wednesday and the first thing that sprang to mind was how uterlly exhausted I was! The first night they had told us it was really cold at night so being one to feel the cold I wrapped up in longs (tucked into my socks to keep the nasties out!) and a t shirt with a long sleeve top close by if required. At midnight I woke up for the hundredth time and decided the cold snap wasn't to be - my hair was absolutely soaked with sweat! Now that I was awake I needed a wee which was possibly the worst wee of my life! The bugs congregate around the loo (which was a squatter) so I had to shoo them away before a world record quick squat! Needless to say I deliberately dehydrated myself the next day so a repeat of the nightmare was avoided! Something was flying around our tent type thing that was massive - we didn't see it but anything making that much noise must have been huge, it was like a helicopter! In fairness to the company though, nothing got through our curtains to try and eat us and I would go through it all again tomorrow.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Half Way Already
Hello again.
This week has flown by and Tuesday marked the half way point of our journey. It's hard to believe time has gone so quickly but it's also great to know that we have the same amount of time we've already had to have new adventures and experiences. Here's a quick summary of our week.
We arrived in Luang Prabang on Monday evening after a surprisingly civilised journey from Si Phan Don. We spent Tuesday strolling around town looking at a temple or two and planning how to spend the rest of our time. We also had to try to find an opticians as I realised while we were in Si Phan Don that I hadn't seen my contact lenses for a while, we have the same prescription and I've been wearing Tonys since about the second day because his were more accessible. An empty rucksack later we found zero contact lenses. We asked around and after a few vague and confused expressions a waiter told us that we might find some in Vientiane (the capital city we hadn't planned on visiting). We couldn't believe our luck when the only opticians in town actually had our prescription in stock, this was then dampened by the fact they only had two boxes so we have enough for every other day at the moment until we get to another town. This wouldn't be so bad if Tonys reactaliight glasses worked properly and my prescription sunglasses had the correct prescription in them!
Wednesday was a brilliant day. We were up early and met up with a guide that spent the day with us. We started off on mountain bikes on the dirt roads outside of Luang Prabang, reaching an elephant training camp for rescued elephants where we had a ride through the jungle for an hour and a half. We then paddled down the slowest running river the world has ever known for about two or three hours. It was so slow that if you stopped paddling you just stopped altogether, no lazing around for us then! Then it was back on the mountain bikes to head back to town. We can definitely say that we earned our massage that night and we both think the Laos version is the best yet.
During our trip Tonys Teva sandals have become increasingly smelly and he has tried washing them but they still smell like wet dog, on flights or bus journeys he is akin to taking them off but this has become out of the question due to the stench. Yesterday he bought a pair of flip flops to wear whilst travelling. This has resulted in three things a) a ridiculous walk b) his toes ache from gripping the things on and c) the new world record on the most noise a person can make with each flip or flop! I've never heard anything like it! He as been better today but still needs practice.
Today we've spent the afternoon at Kuang Si waterfall. It's a series of waterfalls and natural swimming pools in perfectly turquoise waters about 30-40km from Luang Prabang. They really were something special but you'll have to take our word for it because we forgot to take the camera.
Tomorrow we head to Huay Xai, our last and most eagerly awaited stop in Laos. Huay Xai is a two day boat journey away and we have splashed out a bit for the trip. We have booked a luxury boat that stops half way at it's own five star resort for a nights accommodation and everything is included. We managed to get it half price as a last minute deal and it's still a bit pricey so we don't expect to see many other backpacks on board!
Huay Xai is where we are booked on to the Gibbons Experience. From Monday to Wednesday we will be living in the jungle tree top shacks with very few facilities so an ounce of luxury before we head off should be absolutely lovely. We may need another dose once we return!
We have both loved it here in Luang Prabang, we had certainly underestimated the level of development in Laos, anyone could be mistaken in thinking they were in an alpine town during summer months here. It seems they have overtaken the Cambodians and the Vietnamese in certain respects, particularly when in comes to the toilets - not a squatter in sight!
Love to everyone
Xxx
This week has flown by and Tuesday marked the half way point of our journey. It's hard to believe time has gone so quickly but it's also great to know that we have the same amount of time we've already had to have new adventures and experiences. Here's a quick summary of our week.
We arrived in Luang Prabang on Monday evening after a surprisingly civilised journey from Si Phan Don. We spent Tuesday strolling around town looking at a temple or two and planning how to spend the rest of our time. We also had to try to find an opticians as I realised while we were in Si Phan Don that I hadn't seen my contact lenses for a while, we have the same prescription and I've been wearing Tonys since about the second day because his were more accessible. An empty rucksack later we found zero contact lenses. We asked around and after a few vague and confused expressions a waiter told us that we might find some in Vientiane (the capital city we hadn't planned on visiting). We couldn't believe our luck when the only opticians in town actually had our prescription in stock, this was then dampened by the fact they only had two boxes so we have enough for every other day at the moment until we get to another town. This wouldn't be so bad if Tonys reactaliight glasses worked properly and my prescription sunglasses had the correct prescription in them!
Wednesday was a brilliant day. We were up early and met up with a guide that spent the day with us. We started off on mountain bikes on the dirt roads outside of Luang Prabang, reaching an elephant training camp for rescued elephants where we had a ride through the jungle for an hour and a half. We then paddled down the slowest running river the world has ever known for about two or three hours. It was so slow that if you stopped paddling you just stopped altogether, no lazing around for us then! Then it was back on the mountain bikes to head back to town. We can definitely say that we earned our massage that night and we both think the Laos version is the best yet.
During our trip Tonys Teva sandals have become increasingly smelly and he has tried washing them but they still smell like wet dog, on flights or bus journeys he is akin to taking them off but this has become out of the question due to the stench. Yesterday he bought a pair of flip flops to wear whilst travelling. This has resulted in three things a) a ridiculous walk b) his toes ache from gripping the things on and c) the new world record on the most noise a person can make with each flip or flop! I've never heard anything like it! He as been better today but still needs practice.
Today we've spent the afternoon at Kuang Si waterfall. It's a series of waterfalls and natural swimming pools in perfectly turquoise waters about 30-40km from Luang Prabang. They really were something special but you'll have to take our word for it because we forgot to take the camera.
Tomorrow we head to Huay Xai, our last and most eagerly awaited stop in Laos. Huay Xai is a two day boat journey away and we have splashed out a bit for the trip. We have booked a luxury boat that stops half way at it's own five star resort for a nights accommodation and everything is included. We managed to get it half price as a last minute deal and it's still a bit pricey so we don't expect to see many other backpacks on board!
Huay Xai is where we are booked on to the Gibbons Experience. From Monday to Wednesday we will be living in the jungle tree top shacks with very few facilities so an ounce of luxury before we head off should be absolutely lovely. We may need another dose once we return!
We have both loved it here in Luang Prabang, we had certainly underestimated the level of development in Laos, anyone could be mistaken in thinking they were in an alpine town during summer months here. It seems they have overtaken the Cambodians and the Vietnamese in certain respects, particularly when in comes to the toilets - not a squatter in sight!
Love to everyone
Xxx
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Hammock Heaven
Morning All,
Well, we did promise to update you when we'd done something, but I'm afraid it won't take long. Our plan for Si Phan Don was always to fall in with the Laos mind set of taking it easy and we seem to have managed that with consumate ease. We have spent nearly three full days reading and lazing in hammocks, only getting up to eat or get another iced shake or beer. It just seems the right thing to do down here. The only thing rushing is the river itself which flows quite fast around the islands. There was also a medical reason for the easy life. Carol rolled her ankle on the way here and had a bit of a niggle in it. That first afternoon we hired a couple of bikes to cycle round the island. We set a very gentle pace and it still only took a couple of hours including stops. By the end of it though Carol's ankle was quite painful and had ballooned up good and proper, so a period of R&R was definitely called for. If we were going to have a little injury this was perfect timing. The swelling had just about gone yesterday so we tested it with a cycle around the neighbouring island of Don Det with no nasty side effects.
Tomorrow we head north again. We've changed our itinery slightly, and rather than bussing it from place to place every day for the next five days, we're now going to fly straight on to Luang Prabang (LP). It will be a shame to miss the capital, Vientiene, but this at least gives us 3 or 4 days in LP. Everyone we've met who has been there advises us to spend more time in and around LP rather than in Vientiene.
So we spent one last day lazing around before we pack and hit the road again. All in all, Si Phan Don was exactly as we hoped it would be, a lovely little break in the middle of our trip. A riverside ratan cabin, beautiful sunsets, very relaxed way of life and recovery time for Carol's ankle.
Love to all
Mr & Mrs McK xxx
Well, we did promise to update you when we'd done something, but I'm afraid it won't take long. Our plan for Si Phan Don was always to fall in with the Laos mind set of taking it easy and we seem to have managed that with consumate ease. We have spent nearly three full days reading and lazing in hammocks, only getting up to eat or get another iced shake or beer. It just seems the right thing to do down here. The only thing rushing is the river itself which flows quite fast around the islands. There was also a medical reason for the easy life. Carol rolled her ankle on the way here and had a bit of a niggle in it. That first afternoon we hired a couple of bikes to cycle round the island. We set a very gentle pace and it still only took a couple of hours including stops. By the end of it though Carol's ankle was quite painful and had ballooned up good and proper, so a period of R&R was definitely called for. If we were going to have a little injury this was perfect timing. The swelling had just about gone yesterday so we tested it with a cycle around the neighbouring island of Don Det with no nasty side effects.
Tomorrow we head north again. We've changed our itinery slightly, and rather than bussing it from place to place every day for the next five days, we're now going to fly straight on to Luang Prabang (LP). It will be a shame to miss the capital, Vientiene, but this at least gives us 3 or 4 days in LP. Everyone we've met who has been there advises us to spend more time in and around LP rather than in Vientiene.
So we spent one last day lazing around before we pack and hit the road again. All in all, Si Phan Don was exactly as we hoped it would be, a lovely little break in the middle of our trip. A riverside ratan cabin, beautiful sunsets, very relaxed way of life and recovery time for Carol's ankle.
Love to all
Mr & Mrs McK xxx
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Goodbye Cambodia, Hello Laos!
Morning All,
First of all, I guess you may have seen the news about the tragic accident that happened during the water festival in Phnom Penh. To reassure you following our last entry, we were at the water festival in Siem Reap and were nowhere near the Phnom Penh disaster. From the little bit of news footage we've seen it looked horrendous and as we made our final passage north the mood of such a cheerful country had become somewhat sombre.
Our final journey through Cambodia was along the Mekong Discovery Trail in the north east. Our research had indicated that we should allow 3 or 4 days for this. However in reality the trail itself is still pretty much in its infancy and in fact peeters out half way along. This did not stop us having a cracking time in the first half that was ready for us! We went on a boat trip to see the endangered Irawaddy dolphins in the early morning and took about a million photos, most of which we had to delete because to the untrained eye they showed only river! It was a lovely tranquil setting; just our little boat plus two other tourist boats. For over an hour there was almost silence as the boats were just being paddled. All around we could hear the dolphins surface for air, then a quick glimpse before they went back under. They certainly were not interested in performing for us like sea water dolphins! After an hour the silence was broken. Yep, those bl***y Malaysians again. A fourth boat arrived full of them chattering away. Fortunately they eventually appreciated their surroundings and quietened down.
We spent the afternoon cycling around a small sand island that we can't remember the name of! It is a 3min ferry/fishing boat journey accross the Mekong from Kratie. The island doesn't have any cars, obviously there were a few of the mandatory hairdryers around but other than that it was wonderfully undeveloped. We had hired the normal bikes that we are slowly getting used to, they come complete with basket and bell, no suspension and slick tyres; seems reasonable for a pound!
Having done a few more touristy things in Kratie we decided to move up the river to the next place on the Discovery Trail, a town called Stung Treng. We have renamed this town Shouldn't Have Bothered! The Discovery Trail had yet to be discovered! We had arrived fresh and raring to go as we had booked minibus tickets for the two hour journey. This time we were savvy to their evil ways and decided that if we were to book 3 seats we would have a chance at comfort. Our cunning plan paid off, we were the only ones sharing our two seats! We could feel the Canadians eyes boring into the backs of our heads as they were 4 accross a skinny three seat row wondering why we were getting preferential treatment. They'll know better next time!
Needless to say our stay in Stung Treng was a short one. We got on a bus to Laos this morning and have arrived on a tiny island called Don Khon in Si Phan Don which is an archipelago of 4000 islands. We have a bungalow on stilts overlooking the river, the front porch/deck has a hammock which we intend to make great use of in the next few days.
We'll report again once we've done something!
Love to everyone xxx
First of all, I guess you may have seen the news about the tragic accident that happened during the water festival in Phnom Penh. To reassure you following our last entry, we were at the water festival in Siem Reap and were nowhere near the Phnom Penh disaster. From the little bit of news footage we've seen it looked horrendous and as we made our final passage north the mood of such a cheerful country had become somewhat sombre.
Our final journey through Cambodia was along the Mekong Discovery Trail in the north east. Our research had indicated that we should allow 3 or 4 days for this. However in reality the trail itself is still pretty much in its infancy and in fact peeters out half way along. This did not stop us having a cracking time in the first half that was ready for us! We went on a boat trip to see the endangered Irawaddy dolphins in the early morning and took about a million photos, most of which we had to delete because to the untrained eye they showed only river! It was a lovely tranquil setting; just our little boat plus two other tourist boats. For over an hour there was almost silence as the boats were just being paddled. All around we could hear the dolphins surface for air, then a quick glimpse before they went back under. They certainly were not interested in performing for us like sea water dolphins! After an hour the silence was broken. Yep, those bl***y Malaysians again. A fourth boat arrived full of them chattering away. Fortunately they eventually appreciated their surroundings and quietened down.
We spent the afternoon cycling around a small sand island that we can't remember the name of! It is a 3min ferry/fishing boat journey accross the Mekong from Kratie. The island doesn't have any cars, obviously there were a few of the mandatory hairdryers around but other than that it was wonderfully undeveloped. We had hired the normal bikes that we are slowly getting used to, they come complete with basket and bell, no suspension and slick tyres; seems reasonable for a pound!
Having done a few more touristy things in Kratie we decided to move up the river to the next place on the Discovery Trail, a town called Stung Treng. We have renamed this town Shouldn't Have Bothered! The Discovery Trail had yet to be discovered! We had arrived fresh and raring to go as we had booked minibus tickets for the two hour journey. This time we were savvy to their evil ways and decided that if we were to book 3 seats we would have a chance at comfort. Our cunning plan paid off, we were the only ones sharing our two seats! We could feel the Canadians eyes boring into the backs of our heads as they were 4 accross a skinny three seat row wondering why we were getting preferential treatment. They'll know better next time!
Needless to say our stay in Stung Treng was a short one. We got on a bus to Laos this morning and have arrived on a tiny island called Don Khon in Si Phan Don which is an archipelago of 4000 islands. We have a bungalow on stilts overlooking the river, the front porch/deck has a hammock which we intend to make great use of in the next few days.
We'll report again once we've done something!
Love to everyone xxx
Saturday, 20 November 2010
What Wat?
Morning All,
It appears the Cambodians do have a better sense of timing than the Vietnamese. We were only 15 minutes over the scheduled 5 1/2 hours: and the roads are far better than anything the Viets have built. Come to think of it, they are better than most of the West Berkshire roads.
That was 2 1/2 days ago, and since arriving in Siem Reap we have managed to fit in quite a few of the must see wats/temples of Angkor. These have included the obligatory sun rise over Angkor Wat which meant a 4.30am alarm call, the Bayon and the Baphuon of Angkor Thom and the Ta Keo. These are all in various states of degeneration/regeneration. Our personal favourite is the Ta Prohm which is a fascinating combination of thousand year old buildings and trees completely intertwined. They so obviously rely on each other for support now that it would be fatal for both if either one was removed. All of these places were of the type and scale that you just can't do justice in photos, they are so vast and yet so intricately detailed that even the David Baileys of the world would need to be on top form, needless to say we gave it a good go with our point and shoot though!
Luckily (??) for us when we came out of each of the arenas there were a thousand kids under ten ready and waiting to sell us packs of postcards with aerial and panoramic views. We have noticed a strict etiquette when it comes to street sellers - you should buy from the first person that approaches. As you all know we love a bit of etiquette so try our best to conform but it's not always easy when 8 kids run up and approach you simultaneously! Anyway, we get a pack of posties and walk away, the kids moan that they asked first etc etc but then give up one by one and peace resumes. That is until the smallest girl of the bunch who's no more than 5 follows us for about 400 meters repeating the following mantra "hey you, you by bracelet 3 for one dollar" over and over, this continued without her taking a breath until we turned to go out of sight of whoever she belonged to then she just stopped talking and walked away! Credit where it's due she was persistent but I think it's important not to give them money just to get rid of them, especially as we would be coming home early and broke if we start that sort of behaviour!
We spent this afternoon (Saturday) in the city of Siem Reap which is celebrating the annual national water festival. Whilst not completely certain of the reasoning behind it, it comes across as the Cambodian version of the Henley regatta. Except there are no toffs, the boats are about twice as long as an Oxbridge one, and the rowers face forward; all twenty two of them.
Tomorrow sees us on the move again, this time to Kratie and the Mekong Discovery Trail. We're hoping the bus is as good second time round as there is no real alternative long distance transport in Cambodia. So, where are we on our final night in Siem Reap? Sitting in a WiFi free bar in Pub Street having a beer. We've already decided that when we finish this beer we're Heading off for another massage. We got a bit addicted to these in Phu Quoc and also had a fab reflexology treatment session yesterday which was just perfect after a full day on our feet.
That's all for now folks. Hope you're all well.
Lots of love Mr & Mrs McK xxx
It appears the Cambodians do have a better sense of timing than the Vietnamese. We were only 15 minutes over the scheduled 5 1/2 hours: and the roads are far better than anything the Viets have built. Come to think of it, they are better than most of the West Berkshire roads.
That was 2 1/2 days ago, and since arriving in Siem Reap we have managed to fit in quite a few of the must see wats/temples of Angkor. These have included the obligatory sun rise over Angkor Wat which meant a 4.30am alarm call, the Bayon and the Baphuon of Angkor Thom and the Ta Keo. These are all in various states of degeneration/regeneration. Our personal favourite is the Ta Prohm which is a fascinating combination of thousand year old buildings and trees completely intertwined. They so obviously rely on each other for support now that it would be fatal for both if either one was removed. All of these places were of the type and scale that you just can't do justice in photos, they are so vast and yet so intricately detailed that even the David Baileys of the world would need to be on top form, needless to say we gave it a good go with our point and shoot though!
Luckily (??) for us when we came out of each of the arenas there were a thousand kids under ten ready and waiting to sell us packs of postcards with aerial and panoramic views. We have noticed a strict etiquette when it comes to street sellers - you should buy from the first person that approaches. As you all know we love a bit of etiquette so try our best to conform but it's not always easy when 8 kids run up and approach you simultaneously! Anyway, we get a pack of posties and walk away, the kids moan that they asked first etc etc but then give up one by one and peace resumes. That is until the smallest girl of the bunch who's no more than 5 follows us for about 400 meters repeating the following mantra "hey you, you by bracelet 3 for one dollar" over and over, this continued without her taking a breath until we turned to go out of sight of whoever she belonged to then she just stopped talking and walked away! Credit where it's due she was persistent but I think it's important not to give them money just to get rid of them, especially as we would be coming home early and broke if we start that sort of behaviour!
We spent this afternoon (Saturday) in the city of Siem Reap which is celebrating the annual national water festival. Whilst not completely certain of the reasoning behind it, it comes across as the Cambodian version of the Henley regatta. Except there are no toffs, the boats are about twice as long as an Oxbridge one, and the rowers face forward; all twenty two of them.
Tomorrow sees us on the move again, this time to Kratie and the Mekong Discovery Trail. We're hoping the bus is as good second time round as there is no real alternative long distance transport in Cambodia. So, where are we on our final night in Siem Reap? Sitting in a WiFi free bar in Pub Street having a beer. We've already decided that when we finish this beer we're Heading off for another massage. We got a bit addicted to these in Phu Quoc and also had a fab reflexology treatment session yesterday which was just perfect after a full day on our feet.
That's all for now folks. Hope you're all well.
Lots of love Mr & Mrs McK xxx
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Cambodia
Morning All,
Yesterday we experienced our first overland border crossing and let me tell those of you that find the immigration process at airports tedious you ain't seen nothing yet! We left Chau Doc in Vietnam at 7.30am on the "express" boat to Phnom Penh, we liked the sound of this rather than the other option of the slow boat as it is scheduled to arrive after a mere 5 hour cruise up the Mekong River with a quick stop halfway for immigration purposes.
We set off all optimistic and excited to be heading off to a new country and a new phase of our trip and we are soon wondering exactly how slow the slow boat would've been! We relinquish our passports within no time and then we also seem to relinquish our luggage too as we pull alongside another boat and a load of tourists get on our boat and all of our bags are put on their boat. A serious lack of English follows but it seems our bags are to stay on that boat because it's broken down and we'll get them back later. There really isn't much to do in this situation but just go with it.
A couple of hours later we get to the border - we're told to get off of the boat for 20 mins which we do for about 50 mins, then we're back on the boat and off again. There's still no sign of our passports, which was alarming to an old American woman who was proclaiming loudly to no one in particular that she wasn't going anywhere without her passport, just like she said she wouldn't be separated from her luggage!
10 mins later we were off the boat again and everything is slightly clearer. The previous stop had been stamping us out of Vietnam, now we need stamping into Cambodia. Over an hour later we are finally boarding the boat, we have our passports back, our bags have turned up and the annoying American woman is back on her original boat - perfect!
Half a lifetime later (7 hours in total for the 5 hour journey) we finally dock in Phnom Penh and immediately love it, we get a tuk tuk to take us to our hotel and in the five minutes it takes to get there we decide we need to stay here an extra night. After checking in we head straight back out and had lunch in one of the many riverside restaurants, we feel we could be in any European "riviera" Resort apart from lunch was cheap and the waiters were really friendly!
The rest of the afternoon and most of today has been filled with the compulsory tourist spots with our tuk tuk driving guide. The history of this place is even more staggering than that of Vietnam and it's even more recent which made for a slightly morbid but really interesting day today visiting the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge genocide and the prison they kept people in before killing them. Not a great day for cheesy holiday snaps but the mood was lightened in the afternoon with a visit to a temple where we saw a monkey steal a woman's lunch, run up a tree and eat it!
With a lack of trains and planes in Cambodia we have booked a bus to Siem Reap tomorrow which allegedly takes seven hours, it's 317km away and I have to say that I'm not holding out much hope judging by recent events.
Here's hoping Cambodia has a more realistic approach to timings!
Yesterday we experienced our first overland border crossing and let me tell those of you that find the immigration process at airports tedious you ain't seen nothing yet! We left Chau Doc in Vietnam at 7.30am on the "express" boat to Phnom Penh, we liked the sound of this rather than the other option of the slow boat as it is scheduled to arrive after a mere 5 hour cruise up the Mekong River with a quick stop halfway for immigration purposes.
We set off all optimistic and excited to be heading off to a new country and a new phase of our trip and we are soon wondering exactly how slow the slow boat would've been! We relinquish our passports within no time and then we also seem to relinquish our luggage too as we pull alongside another boat and a load of tourists get on our boat and all of our bags are put on their boat. A serious lack of English follows but it seems our bags are to stay on that boat because it's broken down and we'll get them back later. There really isn't much to do in this situation but just go with it.
A couple of hours later we get to the border - we're told to get off of the boat for 20 mins which we do for about 50 mins, then we're back on the boat and off again. There's still no sign of our passports, which was alarming to an old American woman who was proclaiming loudly to no one in particular that she wasn't going anywhere without her passport, just like she said she wouldn't be separated from her luggage!
10 mins later we were off the boat again and everything is slightly clearer. The previous stop had been stamping us out of Vietnam, now we need stamping into Cambodia. Over an hour later we are finally boarding the boat, we have our passports back, our bags have turned up and the annoying American woman is back on her original boat - perfect!
Half a lifetime later (7 hours in total for the 5 hour journey) we finally dock in Phnom Penh and immediately love it, we get a tuk tuk to take us to our hotel and in the five minutes it takes to get there we decide we need to stay here an extra night. After checking in we head straight back out and had lunch in one of the many riverside restaurants, we feel we could be in any European "riviera" Resort apart from lunch was cheap and the waiters were really friendly!
The rest of the afternoon and most of today has been filled with the compulsory tourist spots with our tuk tuk driving guide. The history of this place is even more staggering than that of Vietnam and it's even more recent which made for a slightly morbid but really interesting day today visiting the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge genocide and the prison they kept people in before killing them. Not a great day for cheesy holiday snaps but the mood was lightened in the afternoon with a visit to a temple where we saw a monkey steal a woman's lunch, run up a tree and eat it!
With a lack of trains and planes in Cambodia we have booked a bus to Siem Reap tomorrow which allegedly takes seven hours, it's 317km away and I have to say that I'm not holding out much hope judging by recent events.
Here's hoping Cambodia has a more realistic approach to timings!
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
On The Road Again
Morning All
Now where did we leave you? Ah yes, Phu Quoc. On our penultimate day we decided to check out the north of the island. As we felt like experienced bikers by now it just had to be done on the hairdryers again. So off we set up the dirt roads again. The main north to south highway was being upgraded from dirt to something (I wouldn't want to guarantee tarmac), but in the most haphazard manner. Anyway after 30km of roadworks and dirt track we roll in to the northern village of Bai Thom and find . . . . Virtually nothing! So we stop for a drink by the sea, dip our toes and head off onto a side road. 3km later I get a puncture. We limp back to Bai Thom not too hopeful, but low and behold, there's another fellow fiddling with a bike who looks up, nods his head, and sorts out a new tube in no time. This time it costs us 50,000 Dong (£1.50) as parts were involved!
So off we go again down the side road. This, according to the map will take us round the north of the island along the coast. Well after 20 minutes it just comes to an end in an isolated village. An old boy on a motorbike stops to help but speaks less English than we do Vietnamese. By pointing at the map and showing him where we are trying to go he gesticulated to follow him. Across a field, along sand paths ((not recommended), finally arriving at a fishing village. This was not a tourist spot, and again we were attracting looks of surprise from the locals. We found out later that some of these people never leave their village throughout their lives. The old boy happily points the direction to us. He's basically telling us to ride along the beach for the next few km. Having about 100km of motorbike experience under my belt by now I thought it best to decline this route, and we ended up retracing our route back to the main road. The rest of the day went by with no further issues you'll be pleased to know. And for the concerned out there, that's the last of our planned motorbike adventures you'll be pleased to hear.
Our final day was another lazy on the sun loungers. Carol was hilarious, for some bizarre reason she was not coping well with the sudden increase in temperature and kept going bright purple in the face quickly followed by an outpouring of sweat. Luckily 10 paces and she was in the sea to cool off. We haven't seen a reading but we think the temperature has been 35+'C for the last few days. Better than a cold, chilly frost eh?
We loved Phu Quoc, and not just for the laziness. It was a truly undeveloped island. 60km long north to south, and 19km at its widest, yet only 30km of tarmac road. How lomg it can stay like this remains to be seen, but if anybody is looking for an off the beaten track kind of place get yourself out here fast.
We departed Phu Quoc on the ferry and 2 1/2 hours later docked at Rach Gia on the southern tip of Vietnam. Then the fun began. We were headed for Chau Doc, up near the Cambodian border. We're still not sure if this particular chap was trying to help us or scam us. There is no train so we knew we had to get a bus, and the bus station is 5km from the dock. The usual motorbike taxi chaps were offering their services but we insisted on a taxi to the bus station. "Where you go? Where you go? Taxi very spensive?" was the regular shout. We thought they got our point when we told them Chau Doc, about 120km away. They still hung around though. When a taxi turned up, one of these guys jumps in the front and starts talking to the driver. We tell the driver to go to the main bus station but aren't convinced he's following our instructions. Nevertheless we arrive at a bus station and the taxi pulls up at a beaten up MPV with a sign for Chau Doc in the window. The tout then asks for over 4 times the meter reading fare. Following a bit of an argument we stand our ground and tell him we're not paying the 100,000 Dong (£3.20)he's demanding but only the 75p on the meter. We also tell him forget this dodgy looking van and head into the booking office to buy a ticket for one of the nice modern looking coaches outside. The receptionist informs us that this is only the Saigon terminal and that we should get a taxi to the main bus depot 7km away. All we've done so far is go 2km the wrong way! So we go to the main bus depot.
There is nothing less than fifty years old. The bus we need is a rickety looking thing, but the tickets cost only £1.90 each. Bargain. Then we find it only goes half way and we'll need to change to another bus. We're a bit short on options so agree to this. The bus leaves promptly at 12.10pm. It stops to pick up passengers at two bus stops before then pulling in to a petrol station for fuel. The driver then sits down at a street stall with a drink. After a few minutes we get chatting to the guy in front of us. He informs us the driver will leave once there are more passengers. We've only done about 400 metres! Fifty minutes later we head off again. About time too as Carol is still doing her purple face thing. We finally arrive at Long Xiem at 3.10pm. Three hours to cover 55km and we're only half way to Chau Doc! The friendly fella in front of us advises us against getting the local bus but to get a mini bus taxi instead. He kindly gets the bus driver to drop us right outside this booking office. Our enquiries reveal the next mini bus leaves at 3.30pm and costs 80p.
At 3.30 a transit van mini bus pulls up. It's ours, and it's absolutely bursting at the seams. We're told our bags can go in the boot and we can sit inside. Incredible! The open rear doors reveal two people already standing in the boot with bags wedged around them, and the sliding side door has a duel function. 1)The usual one of allowing access and egress, and 2)When closed it wedges in place the three people standing! Carol is lucky enough to be given a seat. I'm told my seat is the kids potty size plastic stool on the floor between the end of the bench seat and the side door. I literally wedge myself into this gap, the standing passengers get back on, as does the conductor type lad and we're off. After half a mile and four attempts the lad finally gets the door closed. We counted 25 people on board a 18 seat mini bus. So who had the worst seat? Not only did I have this ridiculous plastic stool, I also had to avoid getting my face in the conductor's armpit which was only centimetres from my head. Carol meanwhile was struggling to avoid his sweat dropping on to her as his face was almost touching hers. The numbers did become more bearable after about 10 minutes as people got off. . . . .and the journey only took an hour. With hindsight we wondered about the first tout. Was he trying to rip us off for a taxi ride, or did the 100,000 Dong include the dodgy mini bus ride to Chau Doc? From what we've seen of the Vietnamese over the last 4 weeks it's probably the latter and we could have been here two hours earlier at an extra cost of only 50p. Ah well, we won't find out now.
So now we are in Chau Doc. We've just celebrated our last dinner in Vietnam as tomorrow (Wed) we take the boat up the Mekong to Cambodia and Phnom Penh.
A new adventure now begins.
Love to everyone xxx
Now where did we leave you? Ah yes, Phu Quoc. On our penultimate day we decided to check out the north of the island. As we felt like experienced bikers by now it just had to be done on the hairdryers again. So off we set up the dirt roads again. The main north to south highway was being upgraded from dirt to something (I wouldn't want to guarantee tarmac), but in the most haphazard manner. Anyway after 30km of roadworks and dirt track we roll in to the northern village of Bai Thom and find . . . . Virtually nothing! So we stop for a drink by the sea, dip our toes and head off onto a side road. 3km later I get a puncture. We limp back to Bai Thom not too hopeful, but low and behold, there's another fellow fiddling with a bike who looks up, nods his head, and sorts out a new tube in no time. This time it costs us 50,000 Dong (£1.50) as parts were involved!
So off we go again down the side road. This, according to the map will take us round the north of the island along the coast. Well after 20 minutes it just comes to an end in an isolated village. An old boy on a motorbike stops to help but speaks less English than we do Vietnamese. By pointing at the map and showing him where we are trying to go he gesticulated to follow him. Across a field, along sand paths ((not recommended), finally arriving at a fishing village. This was not a tourist spot, and again we were attracting looks of surprise from the locals. We found out later that some of these people never leave their village throughout their lives. The old boy happily points the direction to us. He's basically telling us to ride along the beach for the next few km. Having about 100km of motorbike experience under my belt by now I thought it best to decline this route, and we ended up retracing our route back to the main road. The rest of the day went by with no further issues you'll be pleased to know. And for the concerned out there, that's the last of our planned motorbike adventures you'll be pleased to hear.
Our final day was another lazy on the sun loungers. Carol was hilarious, for some bizarre reason she was not coping well with the sudden increase in temperature and kept going bright purple in the face quickly followed by an outpouring of sweat. Luckily 10 paces and she was in the sea to cool off. We haven't seen a reading but we think the temperature has been 35+'C for the last few days. Better than a cold, chilly frost eh?
We loved Phu Quoc, and not just for the laziness. It was a truly undeveloped island. 60km long north to south, and 19km at its widest, yet only 30km of tarmac road. How lomg it can stay like this remains to be seen, but if anybody is looking for an off the beaten track kind of place get yourself out here fast.
We departed Phu Quoc on the ferry and 2 1/2 hours later docked at Rach Gia on the southern tip of Vietnam. Then the fun began. We were headed for Chau Doc, up near the Cambodian border. We're still not sure if this particular chap was trying to help us or scam us. There is no train so we knew we had to get a bus, and the bus station is 5km from the dock. The usual motorbike taxi chaps were offering their services but we insisted on a taxi to the bus station. "Where you go? Where you go? Taxi very spensive?" was the regular shout. We thought they got our point when we told them Chau Doc, about 120km away. They still hung around though. When a taxi turned up, one of these guys jumps in the front and starts talking to the driver. We tell the driver to go to the main bus station but aren't convinced he's following our instructions. Nevertheless we arrive at a bus station and the taxi pulls up at a beaten up MPV with a sign for Chau Doc in the window. The tout then asks for over 4 times the meter reading fare. Following a bit of an argument we stand our ground and tell him we're not paying the 100,000 Dong (£3.20)he's demanding but only the 75p on the meter. We also tell him forget this dodgy looking van and head into the booking office to buy a ticket for one of the nice modern looking coaches outside. The receptionist informs us that this is only the Saigon terminal and that we should get a taxi to the main bus depot 7km away. All we've done so far is go 2km the wrong way! So we go to the main bus depot.
There is nothing less than fifty years old. The bus we need is a rickety looking thing, but the tickets cost only £1.90 each. Bargain. Then we find it only goes half way and we'll need to change to another bus. We're a bit short on options so agree to this. The bus leaves promptly at 12.10pm. It stops to pick up passengers at two bus stops before then pulling in to a petrol station for fuel. The driver then sits down at a street stall with a drink. After a few minutes we get chatting to the guy in front of us. He informs us the driver will leave once there are more passengers. We've only done about 400 metres! Fifty minutes later we head off again. About time too as Carol is still doing her purple face thing. We finally arrive at Long Xiem at 3.10pm. Three hours to cover 55km and we're only half way to Chau Doc! The friendly fella in front of us advises us against getting the local bus but to get a mini bus taxi instead. He kindly gets the bus driver to drop us right outside this booking office. Our enquiries reveal the next mini bus leaves at 3.30pm and costs 80p.
At 3.30 a transit van mini bus pulls up. It's ours, and it's absolutely bursting at the seams. We're told our bags can go in the boot and we can sit inside. Incredible! The open rear doors reveal two people already standing in the boot with bags wedged around them, and the sliding side door has a duel function. 1)The usual one of allowing access and egress, and 2)When closed it wedges in place the three people standing! Carol is lucky enough to be given a seat. I'm told my seat is the kids potty size plastic stool on the floor between the end of the bench seat and the side door. I literally wedge myself into this gap, the standing passengers get back on, as does the conductor type lad and we're off. After half a mile and four attempts the lad finally gets the door closed. We counted 25 people on board a 18 seat mini bus. So who had the worst seat? Not only did I have this ridiculous plastic stool, I also had to avoid getting my face in the conductor's armpit which was only centimetres from my head. Carol meanwhile was struggling to avoid his sweat dropping on to her as his face was almost touching hers. The numbers did become more bearable after about 10 minutes as people got off. . . . .and the journey only took an hour. With hindsight we wondered about the first tout. Was he trying to rip us off for a taxi ride, or did the 100,000 Dong include the dodgy mini bus ride to Chau Doc? From what we've seen of the Vietnamese over the last 4 weeks it's probably the latter and we could have been here two hours earlier at an extra cost of only 50p. Ah well, we won't find out now.
So now we are in Chau Doc. We've just celebrated our last dinner in Vietnam as tomorrow (Wed) we take the boat up the Mekong to Cambodia and Phnom Penh.
A new adventure now begins.
Love to everyone xxx
Thursday, 11 November 2010
So Much For Doing Nothing!
We've had quite a busy 48hrs as it turns out, we've explored the northern waters of Phu Quoc scuba diving followed by a motorbike tour of the south (more of that in a minute) and to top it off we've even been trekking in the jungle/forest -I prefer jungle as it sounds more exotic!
I know we've only just come off of the motorbikes after numerous numb bum experiences but we thought we'd see what it like to actually be the driver for once so we rented some hairdryers on wheels from the resort here and hit the road. Believe it or not Tony has never actually ridden a motorbike before so it was I with a wealth of experience spanning some 6 weeks between 1999 and 2002 that led the way! The driveway out of our resort is unpaved and you may have heard that Vietnam has had a touch of rain over the last few weeks, well it has done nothing to help the muddy surface and Tonys first 200 meters on a bike proved to be a touch challenging! He handled it like a pro though (slightly annoying!!) and we got out unscathed. Turning right out of the resort we headed south on the welcomed Tarmac road, and everything was a breeze, until 400 meters on when the Tarmac ran out!
It doesn't happen too often that I am more experienced in something than Tony and I am the first to admit it I quite like it now and again and am prone to milking it a little bit! To cut a long story short at our first stop we were messing around taking photos of each other on the hairdryers when I showed him my best stunt (which was merely a u turn!) and unfortunately the hairdryers turning circle seemed to be akin to that of an oil tanker! Anyway I clipped the undergrowth at the side of the road and had a massive wobble, let out a little scream but then composed myself and just stopped. Tony praised me on a nice save and we went to set off again.
Not such a good save as it turns out, I had actually clipped the brake pedal and it was bent backwards and stuck on rendering the hairdryer immobile. After a quick spot of help from a group of teenage Vietnamese lads we (they) managed to free the brake enough to allow me to ride it to the nearest village. So that's what we did and we found something that looked like a garage but could've just been a man that was fixing his own motorbike, with a simple point of my finger in the direction of the brake pedal, he got to his feet with a smile that said "bloody tourists" and set to work. Brute force wasn't cutting it so in the blink of an eye two of them jumped on to my hairdryer and sped off. We are both just standing there wondering what just happened! A couple of minutes later they are back and it's been heated, unbent and is good as new! We had already had the discussion that this was prime "ripping tourists off" territory so cringed at the prospect of talking money. The chap put up two fingers and we thought that we'd totally got away with that one - 200,000 dong is about 6 or 7 pounds! Tony took two 100,000 notes out of his wallet and credit where is due the chap started gesturing madly - it turns out he wanted just 20,000! We gave him a massive tip anyway and set off carefully this time and the rest of the day was trauma free.
The trek through the jungle was noisy, buggy and somewhat sweaty! Whatever it was making all that noise (like a fire alarm) we didn't see them, we did however see numerous bugs (mainly of the mozzy variety) and the sweat was beyond belief. I reckon even Sure would shy away from shooting their next anti-perspirent anywhere near here! We didn't even get to reap the fruits of our labour. A waterfall with a pool big enough for a dip was waiting for us at the end of the uphill trek but on arrival we found a load of frogs hogging it, little green amphibians we could have coped with but these were the human French variety! So we dipped our feet in the small area they hadn't claimed and headed back down the long trail home.
You'll be pleased to know that the morning we spent diving went without a hitch and we had a lovely morning, it was so nice to be underwater again, particularly as the water was a positively balmy 28 degrees. It's been too long since we were last diving and we might even sneak another one or two in before we leave the island.
Other than that not much has been going on! Apart from getting slightly overexcited by the change in weather which resulted in immediate ridiculous bikini tan lines! Tony would like to stress that that's only me and he is still as white as milk!!!
Love to everyone xxx
I know we've only just come off of the motorbikes after numerous numb bum experiences but we thought we'd see what it like to actually be the driver for once so we rented some hairdryers on wheels from the resort here and hit the road. Believe it or not Tony has never actually ridden a motorbike before so it was I with a wealth of experience spanning some 6 weeks between 1999 and 2002 that led the way! The driveway out of our resort is unpaved and you may have heard that Vietnam has had a touch of rain over the last few weeks, well it has done nothing to help the muddy surface and Tonys first 200 meters on a bike proved to be a touch challenging! He handled it like a pro though (slightly annoying!!) and we got out unscathed. Turning right out of the resort we headed south on the welcomed Tarmac road, and everything was a breeze, until 400 meters on when the Tarmac ran out!
It doesn't happen too often that I am more experienced in something than Tony and I am the first to admit it I quite like it now and again and am prone to milking it a little bit! To cut a long story short at our first stop we were messing around taking photos of each other on the hairdryers when I showed him my best stunt (which was merely a u turn!) and unfortunately the hairdryers turning circle seemed to be akin to that of an oil tanker! Anyway I clipped the undergrowth at the side of the road and had a massive wobble, let out a little scream but then composed myself and just stopped. Tony praised me on a nice save and we went to set off again.
Not such a good save as it turns out, I had actually clipped the brake pedal and it was bent backwards and stuck on rendering the hairdryer immobile. After a quick spot of help from a group of teenage Vietnamese lads we (they) managed to free the brake enough to allow me to ride it to the nearest village. So that's what we did and we found something that looked like a garage but could've just been a man that was fixing his own motorbike, with a simple point of my finger in the direction of the brake pedal, he got to his feet with a smile that said "bloody tourists" and set to work. Brute force wasn't cutting it so in the blink of an eye two of them jumped on to my hairdryer and sped off. We are both just standing there wondering what just happened! A couple of minutes later they are back and it's been heated, unbent and is good as new! We had already had the discussion that this was prime "ripping tourists off" territory so cringed at the prospect of talking money. The chap put up two fingers and we thought that we'd totally got away with that one - 200,000 dong is about 6 or 7 pounds! Tony took two 100,000 notes out of his wallet and credit where is due the chap started gesturing madly - it turns out he wanted just 20,000! We gave him a massive tip anyway and set off carefully this time and the rest of the day was trauma free.
The trek through the jungle was noisy, buggy and somewhat sweaty! Whatever it was making all that noise (like a fire alarm) we didn't see them, we did however see numerous bugs (mainly of the mozzy variety) and the sweat was beyond belief. I reckon even Sure would shy away from shooting their next anti-perspirent anywhere near here! We didn't even get to reap the fruits of our labour. A waterfall with a pool big enough for a dip was waiting for us at the end of the uphill trek but on arrival we found a load of frogs hogging it, little green amphibians we could have coped with but these were the human French variety! So we dipped our feet in the small area they hadn't claimed and headed back down the long trail home.
You'll be pleased to know that the morning we spent diving went without a hitch and we had a lovely morning, it was so nice to be underwater again, particularly as the water was a positively balmy 28 degrees. It's been too long since we were last diving and we might even sneak another one or two in before we leave the island.
Other than that not much has been going on! Apart from getting slightly overexcited by the change in weather which resulted in immediate ridiculous bikini tan lines! Tony would like to stress that that's only me and he is still as white as milk!!!
Love to everyone xxx
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Planes, Trains and Automobiles?
Well almost, but not quite.
Morning again Bloggies.
We had a wonderful couple of days in the Delta. We spent half a day on the Ben Tre peninsula. Lam & Tu did us proud as usual. No package tours for us. We crossed the Mekong fairly early (ie before breakfast) for the very first time. This was our first sighting of the river we will soon be following northward through Cambodia and Laos. We transferred to a motor boat for a cruise down one of the wider parts of the river, before stopping for brekkie in the middle of a coconut plantation. Just as we were finishing our breakfast tour parties were arriving. We then travelled by horse & cart to a small punt type boat to check out the narrower channels. We always seemed to be just ahead of a tour party thanks to the contacts our guides had. Around 1pm we headed off on the bikes to Can Tho, our final stop on the main land. On Monday morning we said goodbye to the Easy Rider chaps, but not before they escorted us around the Can Tho floating markets. It was quite sad to say goodbye to Tu & Lam, they were really nice guys, and we'll definitely miss the bargains they sorted for us.
On Monday we caught a 30 minute, £19 flight from Can Tho to Phu Quoc Island. I mean, you just can't argue with that price can you! We are now chilled out relaxing at the Beach Club resort. OMG it is so nice to have unpacked, and stayed unpacked. We've even been able to get some washing done so I haven't had to use my last clean pair of boxers! What a relief eh? Well it surely is for Carol anyway!
Tuesday involved having a lie in, walking the 10 metres to the open air restaurant for breakfast, and then spending the day on the sun loungers, swimming, or having the old spa treatment. It's great I tell you. They come down to the loungers so you don't even have to move. We only been here 1 1/2 days and we're already on first name terms with the spa team!
It was actually also our one month anniversary so we splashed out and spent a whopping £15 on a slap up meal for two at a seafood grill restaurant. For that princely sum we had jumbo prawn BBQ skewers to start, surf and turf (steak and more prawns) with chips and salad then some watermelon to wash it down. Oh and a few beverages of course, it's almost impossible to spend money on food here!
Anyway, the sun is shining and we've got a lot of doing nothing to do!
Love to everyone xxx
Morning again Bloggies.
We had a wonderful couple of days in the Delta. We spent half a day on the Ben Tre peninsula. Lam & Tu did us proud as usual. No package tours for us. We crossed the Mekong fairly early (ie before breakfast) for the very first time. This was our first sighting of the river we will soon be following northward through Cambodia and Laos. We transferred to a motor boat for a cruise down one of the wider parts of the river, before stopping for brekkie in the middle of a coconut plantation. Just as we were finishing our breakfast tour parties were arriving. We then travelled by horse & cart to a small punt type boat to check out the narrower channels. We always seemed to be just ahead of a tour party thanks to the contacts our guides had. Around 1pm we headed off on the bikes to Can Tho, our final stop on the main land. On Monday morning we said goodbye to the Easy Rider chaps, but not before they escorted us around the Can Tho floating markets. It was quite sad to say goodbye to Tu & Lam, they were really nice guys, and we'll definitely miss the bargains they sorted for us.
On Monday we caught a 30 minute, £19 flight from Can Tho to Phu Quoc Island. I mean, you just can't argue with that price can you! We are now chilled out relaxing at the Beach Club resort. OMG it is so nice to have unpacked, and stayed unpacked. We've even been able to get some washing done so I haven't had to use my last clean pair of boxers! What a relief eh? Well it surely is for Carol anyway!
Tuesday involved having a lie in, walking the 10 metres to the open air restaurant for breakfast, and then spending the day on the sun loungers, swimming, or having the old spa treatment. It's great I tell you. They come down to the loungers so you don't even have to move. We only been here 1 1/2 days and we're already on first name terms with the spa team!
It was actually also our one month anniversary so we splashed out and spent a whopping £15 on a slap up meal for two at a seafood grill restaurant. For that princely sum we had jumbo prawn BBQ skewers to start, surf and turf (steak and more prawns) with chips and salad then some watermelon to wash it down. Oh and a few beverages of course, it's almost impossible to spend money on food here!
Anyway, the sun is shining and we've got a lot of doing nothing to do!
Love to everyone xxx
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Highlands to Delta, via Tunnels & Jams
Morning Bloggies,
Six days Easy Riding done and just one full day to go. Day 4 saw us start in the dry for the first time and also saw us leave the highlands. As we descended and continued south the mercury just kept on rising. It was a bit sad to leave the friendly, waving minorities behind. It was also a shame to leave the 'Good Life' taxis behind. These were basically a generator on wheels towing a flat bed trailer, a la Tom & Barbara Good.
We hit the Ho Chi Minh trail, and as this got close to the Cambodian border our two guides showed different emotions. Lam was concerned about getting stopped by the army who have a heavy presence in this area and the fact that he had been turned back on previous trips. Tu on the other hand felt he owned the road as his father was Viet Cong and had helped build it! For the record, our overnight stop was Dong Xoai.
Yesterday we continued south in the direction of Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon if you prefer. Around 50 miles north west of Saigon we stopped at the Cu Chi tunnels. This tunnel system was started in the late 1940's when the Vietnamese first started fighting for independence from the French. By 1975 there were more than 200km of tunnels stretching from Saigon to the Cambodian border. The big difference between Cu Chi tunnel system and the Vinh Moc tunnels in the DMZ was the that the Vinh Moc were built for the local people to live in and were therefore higher. The Cu Chi were solely built for fighting purposes and were much smaller. The Vietnamese had to crawl through them so you can imagine what it's like trying to get through them as a big old lardy westerner (Bones, they wouldn't even let you in coz you'd no doubt get well & truly stuck)? They have actually doubled the tunnel size in places for the tourists but we still had to crouch, or even crawl in places. I guess there is nothing amusing about war but one thing you just have to smile about was the US army building a base to try to locate and destroy the tunnel system. Unfortunately for them they built their base right above one of the tunnels. For a couple of years they couldn't understand why their ammunition stocks were disappearing so quickly until they finally discovered the tunnel right under them.
And then we got to Saigon. OMG. It was as crazy mad as Hanoi, but felt less polluted, and had a bit more order to the chaos. The junctions are still a free for all, and while there are more traffic lights than in Hanoi (not difficult seeing as there was only two sets there!), around half the motorbikes choose to ignore them. The big difference was the number of cars though. Hanoi had very few cars whereas Saigon has got quite a few, though nowhere near the number of bikes which probably number in the millions. We had to go through approx 10 miles of heavy traffic on the way in to Saigon, and then another 10 miles through solid rush hour traffic. All the drivers are expert weavers, not just our two guides. It's quite staggering that we haven't seen an accident here yet, although we've witnessed thousands of near misses; but hey, that's life in the cities here. In all honesty I think the only two options are a near miss or a collision so hat's off to everyone for all the near misses. That evening we didn't eat with our guides. Lam's son is at university in Saigon so he went off for a little reunion while Tu met up with an old school friend. So Carol & I became real tourists and satisfied our cravings for a bit of western food. Yes, rubbish I know but sometimes you just fancy a pizza, pasta or chips!
This morning we wandered up to a couple of sights in Saigon; The Reunification Palace and the War museum. Then south to the Mekong Delta. Temperatures down here are well over 30'C and the persistent rain of the first couple of days are well behind us. We're in My Tho tonight and will do a gentle day through the delta tomorrow to Can Tho. That will be our last full day Easy Riding so some of you will be able to let out a big sigh of relief. The motorbike tour has been absolutely brilliant. It's taken us to villages and sights we would never have found, had us eating in places we'd never have gone to (and paid the locals' prices), introduced us to minority people in their own homes on a one to one basis, and generally shown us a side of Vietnam we would not have found travelling independently or with an organised package. All in all worth every penny, and we've still got one day left.
On Monday afternoon we fly from Can Tho to Phu Quoc for 5 or 6 days. The thought of unpacking our bags and staying in the same place for a few days is very appealing, especially as I've only got one pair of clean boxers left!
Love to everybody, Mr & Mrs Mck xxx
Six days Easy Riding done and just one full day to go. Day 4 saw us start in the dry for the first time and also saw us leave the highlands. As we descended and continued south the mercury just kept on rising. It was a bit sad to leave the friendly, waving minorities behind. It was also a shame to leave the 'Good Life' taxis behind. These were basically a generator on wheels towing a flat bed trailer, a la Tom & Barbara Good.
We hit the Ho Chi Minh trail, and as this got close to the Cambodian border our two guides showed different emotions. Lam was concerned about getting stopped by the army who have a heavy presence in this area and the fact that he had been turned back on previous trips. Tu on the other hand felt he owned the road as his father was Viet Cong and had helped build it! For the record, our overnight stop was Dong Xoai.
Yesterday we continued south in the direction of Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon if you prefer. Around 50 miles north west of Saigon we stopped at the Cu Chi tunnels. This tunnel system was started in the late 1940's when the Vietnamese first started fighting for independence from the French. By 1975 there were more than 200km of tunnels stretching from Saigon to the Cambodian border. The big difference between Cu Chi tunnel system and the Vinh Moc tunnels in the DMZ was the that the Vinh Moc were built for the local people to live in and were therefore higher. The Cu Chi were solely built for fighting purposes and were much smaller. The Vietnamese had to crawl through them so you can imagine what it's like trying to get through them as a big old lardy westerner (Bones, they wouldn't even let you in coz you'd no doubt get well & truly stuck)? They have actually doubled the tunnel size in places for the tourists but we still had to crouch, or even crawl in places. I guess there is nothing amusing about war but one thing you just have to smile about was the US army building a base to try to locate and destroy the tunnel system. Unfortunately for them they built their base right above one of the tunnels. For a couple of years they couldn't understand why their ammunition stocks were disappearing so quickly until they finally discovered the tunnel right under them.
And then we got to Saigon. OMG. It was as crazy mad as Hanoi, but felt less polluted, and had a bit more order to the chaos. The junctions are still a free for all, and while there are more traffic lights than in Hanoi (not difficult seeing as there was only two sets there!), around half the motorbikes choose to ignore them. The big difference was the number of cars though. Hanoi had very few cars whereas Saigon has got quite a few, though nowhere near the number of bikes which probably number in the millions. We had to go through approx 10 miles of heavy traffic on the way in to Saigon, and then another 10 miles through solid rush hour traffic. All the drivers are expert weavers, not just our two guides. It's quite staggering that we haven't seen an accident here yet, although we've witnessed thousands of near misses; but hey, that's life in the cities here. In all honesty I think the only two options are a near miss or a collision so hat's off to everyone for all the near misses. That evening we didn't eat with our guides. Lam's son is at university in Saigon so he went off for a little reunion while Tu met up with an old school friend. So Carol & I became real tourists and satisfied our cravings for a bit of western food. Yes, rubbish I know but sometimes you just fancy a pizza, pasta or chips!
This morning we wandered up to a couple of sights in Saigon; The Reunification Palace and the War museum. Then south to the Mekong Delta. Temperatures down here are well over 30'C and the persistent rain of the first couple of days are well behind us. We're in My Tho tonight and will do a gentle day through the delta tomorrow to Can Tho. That will be our last full day Easy Riding so some of you will be able to let out a big sigh of relief. The motorbike tour has been absolutely brilliant. It's taken us to villages and sights we would never have found, had us eating in places we'd never have gone to (and paid the locals' prices), introduced us to minority people in their own homes on a one to one basis, and generally shown us a side of Vietnam we would not have found travelling independently or with an organised package. All in all worth every penny, and we've still got one day left.
On Monday afternoon we fly from Can Tho to Phu Quoc for 5 or 6 days. The thought of unpacking our bags and staying in the same place for a few days is very appealing, especially as I've only got one pair of clean boxers left!
Love to everybody, Mr & Mrs Mck xxx
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Off The Beaten Track. . . Completely!
Morning Bloggies.
Yes, we are safe and well. Sorry, we have not had a chance to update for a couple of days but will try to bring you up to speed now. We've just finished day three of the bike tour, but first of all back to day 1.
Mon 1st. We awoke to yet more heavy rain in Da Lat. The two guides (Tu & Lam) arrived at our hotel and offered us the opportunity of swapping from the bikes to a van. Bless them, all concerned about us getting wet. When we told them we'd still like to do the bikes they couldn't help their big smiles. The van option would have only required one of them and the other would have lost out on 7 days work. As it's fairly casual work the seven day tour with us is a pretty good deal for them and it would have been a shame to lose one of them. So wrapped in in our snazzy waterproofs off we went. We started off with a couple of tourist type things like a stop at a silk factory, starting off with the eggs and worms, following through to the finished product; and all done by hand or antiquated machinery at best. We also stopped off at a fairly impressive waterfall. Tu and Lam are really keen to show as many aspects of Vietnam as possible and the route we're taking passes through what the guides refer to as 'minority people' villages. Vietnamese account for approx 96% of the population with 12 or 13 (ethnic) minorities accounting for the remaning 4%. Some of these have as few as 1000 people. We stopped at a couple of these for a cup of tea and to see how they live.
Lunch was another feast at a restaurant the guides knew. Eight different dishes for the princely sum of one pound each. The only hitch during the day day was when a large stone flicked up and knocked the chain of my bike. No worries though, good old Lam had it sorted in no time.
We ended the day at a place called Lak Lake. Or Ha Lake on some maps. We'd done 163km up Highway 27 today,most of it in the rain, but had remained fairly dry inside all the waterproofs.
Tues 2nd. Shortly after heading off we stopped again for a drink a another minority house. These were Mmong people and they live in raised long houses. They don't seem to mind complete strangers just turning up for a drink out of the blue.
Two obvious signs that show we are well off the regular trail:
1) The state of the roads. Generally good surfaces, but with atrocious pot holes approaching and through the villages. They almost make West Berkshires roads look good!
2) The way the locals stop and stare as we pass, quickly followed by smiles, waves, or shouts of hello. Apparently they don't see many white folk around here. Indeed when we went out for dinner it was like an old western movie. As we entered the restaurant, if music had been playing it would have stopped as every head turned to look as us. It was as if someone had pressed the pause button for 5 seconds. Btw when I say restaurant, I use the term loosely. The setting was like an outdoor primary school dining room. The tables and chairs were probably a perfect size for 7 year olds... Or Vietnamese! Nonetheless we had another cracking 5 or 6 course meal, including a couple of beers each, this time for £2.50 each. It certainly pays to eat where the local hang out, especially when you've got a couple of chaps to translate.
For the record we stopped overnight at a town called Buon Ma Thuot in case anyone is following us that closely. Distance was about 140km. Oh yeah, and it rained again for most of the morning.
Wed 3rd. Started off raining again but at least today it stopped after an hour or two. Today mainly involved checking out the scenery as we turned west along Highway 14. Numerous waterfalls and minority villages, all still surprised to see two pale faces in town. Not much else to report apart from we're in Dak Mil, which is quite close to the Cambodian border and the locals are noticeably lighter in skin tone. Oh yeah, and as I write this at 10.30pm I can hear it's lashing down again. So much for the wet season finishing 3 weeks ago.
Tomorrow we head south following the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Fingers crossed the sun comes out as we drop out of the highlands.
Lots of love, Les McKs xxx
Ps Carol's not quite so smug about the waterproofs at the mo seeing as she has managed to split the crutch on two pairs in just three days!
Yes, we are safe and well. Sorry, we have not had a chance to update for a couple of days but will try to bring you up to speed now. We've just finished day three of the bike tour, but first of all back to day 1.
Mon 1st. We awoke to yet more heavy rain in Da Lat. The two guides (Tu & Lam) arrived at our hotel and offered us the opportunity of swapping from the bikes to a van. Bless them, all concerned about us getting wet. When we told them we'd still like to do the bikes they couldn't help their big smiles. The van option would have only required one of them and the other would have lost out on 7 days work. As it's fairly casual work the seven day tour with us is a pretty good deal for them and it would have been a shame to lose one of them. So wrapped in in our snazzy waterproofs off we went. We started off with a couple of tourist type things like a stop at a silk factory, starting off with the eggs and worms, following through to the finished product; and all done by hand or antiquated machinery at best. We also stopped off at a fairly impressive waterfall. Tu and Lam are really keen to show as many aspects of Vietnam as possible and the route we're taking passes through what the guides refer to as 'minority people' villages. Vietnamese account for approx 96% of the population with 12 or 13 (ethnic) minorities accounting for the remaning 4%. Some of these have as few as 1000 people. We stopped at a couple of these for a cup of tea and to see how they live.
Lunch was another feast at a restaurant the guides knew. Eight different dishes for the princely sum of one pound each. The only hitch during the day day was when a large stone flicked up and knocked the chain of my bike. No worries though, good old Lam had it sorted in no time.
We ended the day at a place called Lak Lake. Or Ha Lake on some maps. We'd done 163km up Highway 27 today,most of it in the rain, but had remained fairly dry inside all the waterproofs.
Tues 2nd. Shortly after heading off we stopped again for a drink a another minority house. These were Mmong people and they live in raised long houses. They don't seem to mind complete strangers just turning up for a drink out of the blue.
Two obvious signs that show we are well off the regular trail:
1) The state of the roads. Generally good surfaces, but with atrocious pot holes approaching and through the villages. They almost make West Berkshires roads look good!
2) The way the locals stop and stare as we pass, quickly followed by smiles, waves, or shouts of hello. Apparently they don't see many white folk around here. Indeed when we went out for dinner it was like an old western movie. As we entered the restaurant, if music had been playing it would have stopped as every head turned to look as us. It was as if someone had pressed the pause button for 5 seconds. Btw when I say restaurant, I use the term loosely. The setting was like an outdoor primary school dining room. The tables and chairs were probably a perfect size for 7 year olds... Or Vietnamese! Nonetheless we had another cracking 5 or 6 course meal, including a couple of beers each, this time for £2.50 each. It certainly pays to eat where the local hang out, especially when you've got a couple of chaps to translate.
For the record we stopped overnight at a town called Buon Ma Thuot in case anyone is following us that closely. Distance was about 140km. Oh yeah, and it rained again for most of the morning.
Wed 3rd. Started off raining again but at least today it stopped after an hour or two. Today mainly involved checking out the scenery as we turned west along Highway 14. Numerous waterfalls and minority villages, all still surprised to see two pale faces in town. Not much else to report apart from we're in Dak Mil, which is quite close to the Cambodian border and the locals are noticeably lighter in skin tone. Oh yeah, and as I write this at 10.30pm I can hear it's lashing down again. So much for the wet season finishing 3 weeks ago.
Tomorrow we head south following the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Fingers crossed the sun comes out as we drop out of the highlands.
Lots of love, Les McKs xxx
Ps Carol's not quite so smug about the waterproofs at the mo seeing as she has managed to split the crutch on two pairs in just three days!
Sunday, 31 October 2010
A Taste of the Real Vietnam
Today we had our taster day on the back of the motorbikes we are going to spend the next 7 days exploring south Vietnam on. I have to admit I've got the better deal, my guy not only speaks the better English but is also exceptionally short (and I mean shorter than Dickie and maybe even shorter than Suzy!) the advantage being I can see over his head as we're cruising along where as Tony only gets a side on view.
We had a days tour of Da Lat and it's surroundings and compared to yesterday we had a good weather day. That didn't stop our drivers recommending we wear waterproofs for the morning because showers were forecasted. I had an attractive army green combo going on which I did my best to carry off as normal attire, Tony on the other hand was given a royal blue two piece and the trousers fell some way short of his ankles! This is an indication of how difficult it is to find clothes to fit here - we both bought a pair of shorts a couple of days ago and both needed size XL - not great for the self esteem! We have found one advantage though, Tony was given a helmet to wear that actually fitted his pinhead!
After a great days sightseeing we were dropped off at our hotel and one of our guides asked us if we had plans for the evening which obviously we didn't, so he invited to his house for dinner to meet his wife and two young children which we gratefully accepted. We've just got back from a lovely evening of showing off our chop stick skills (or not!), making spring rolls and having a couple of beers. It was a real privilege to get to see a typical Vietnamese family and their way of life rather than the slightly false impression one gets as a tourist.
So, we head off tomorrow on our motorbike adventure and to all the nervous folk, we'll be careful out there (to be honest there's not much chance of high speeds as we will be two people, a 20kg backpack and whatever our guide brings on a 125cc motorbike!)
Love to everyone.
We had a days tour of Da Lat and it's surroundings and compared to yesterday we had a good weather day. That didn't stop our drivers recommending we wear waterproofs for the morning because showers were forecasted. I had an attractive army green combo going on which I did my best to carry off as normal attire, Tony on the other hand was given a royal blue two piece and the trousers fell some way short of his ankles! This is an indication of how difficult it is to find clothes to fit here - we both bought a pair of shorts a couple of days ago and both needed size XL - not great for the self esteem! We have found one advantage though, Tony was given a helmet to wear that actually fitted his pinhead!
After a great days sightseeing we were dropped off at our hotel and one of our guides asked us if we had plans for the evening which obviously we didn't, so he invited to his house for dinner to meet his wife and two young children which we gratefully accepted. We've just got back from a lovely evening of showing off our chop stick skills (or not!), making spring rolls and having a couple of beers. It was a real privilege to get to see a typical Vietnamese family and their way of life rather than the slightly false impression one gets as a tourist.
So, we head off tomorrow on our motorbike adventure and to all the nervous folk, we'll be careful out there (to be honest there's not much chance of high speeds as we will be two people, a 20kg backpack and whatever our guide brings on a 125cc motorbike!)
Love to everyone.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Goodbye Coast, Hello Highlands
Morning All
Just a short update for you today. Carrying on from our last post, we did indeed have a quiet mooch around Hoi An yesterday. In fact we mooched around on a couple of bikes. Not something we would ever dreamed of doing based on the traffic in Bangkok or Hanoi, but Hoi An is a similar size to Newbury and far quieter on the roads. The beach turned out to be a no brainer though due to a gale force easterly wind. We stopped just long enough to get the all over exfoliating sand blasting treatment, about 30 seconds, before heading back into town.
Further down the coast Nha Trang is apparently receiving the most rainfall in the whole world today, which is why we decided to avoid going there. The diving would be a little rough we thinks!
We flew to Dalat in the central highlands instead, arriving around 10pm. It was immediately obvious how an elevation of 1500 metres affects the temperature. It was around 18'C. Now you may all be crying out for that back in th UK but we've become accustomed to 28'or 29'C over the last few weeks so it felt decidedly chilly by contrast. It's rained heavily all day so we've been fairly lazy. We have arranged the next week or so though. We're doing a one day tour of the surrounding area tomorrow (31st). As long as that goes well we're 'Easy Riding' the following 7 days through the highlands all the way down to the Mekong Delta via Saigon. For those of you not familiar with easy riding it's basically riding pillion on a motorbike with a guide leading the way through territory usually unseen by tourist folk. We're not entirely sure what our accommodation will be like as it will include homestay type places but Internet access could be limited and blogging may well be sporadic. We'll do our best though.
Right, this was meant to be short and it's turned in to a right old waffle so I'll say that's all for now folks.
Lots of love
Les Mcks xxx
Just a short update for you today. Carrying on from our last post, we did indeed have a quiet mooch around Hoi An yesterday. In fact we mooched around on a couple of bikes. Not something we would ever dreamed of doing based on the traffic in Bangkok or Hanoi, but Hoi An is a similar size to Newbury and far quieter on the roads. The beach turned out to be a no brainer though due to a gale force easterly wind. We stopped just long enough to get the all over exfoliating sand blasting treatment, about 30 seconds, before heading back into town.
Further down the coast Nha Trang is apparently receiving the most rainfall in the whole world today, which is why we decided to avoid going there. The diving would be a little rough we thinks!
We flew to Dalat in the central highlands instead, arriving around 10pm. It was immediately obvious how an elevation of 1500 metres affects the temperature. It was around 18'C. Now you may all be crying out for that back in th UK but we've become accustomed to 28'or 29'C over the last few weeks so it felt decidedly chilly by contrast. It's rained heavily all day so we've been fairly lazy. We have arranged the next week or so though. We're doing a one day tour of the surrounding area tomorrow (31st). As long as that goes well we're 'Easy Riding' the following 7 days through the highlands all the way down to the Mekong Delta via Saigon. For those of you not familiar with easy riding it's basically riding pillion on a motorbike with a guide leading the way through territory usually unseen by tourist folk. We're not entirely sure what our accommodation will be like as it will include homestay type places but Internet access could be limited and blogging may well be sporadic. We'll do our best though.
Right, this was meant to be short and it's turned in to a right old waffle so I'll say that's all for now folks.
Lots of love
Les Mcks xxx
Friday, 29 October 2010
A step back in time.
Well, what can I say. First impressions were spot on. We both loved Hue. The DMZ tour on the 26th was a long old day. We had a ridiculously early (6am) start and didn't get back till nearly 7pm, but it was a really good day. The Vinh Moc tunnels were a real eye opener as well as a bit of a back breaker. These were dug and used by villages supporting the North Vietnamese during the war. They were not only used for storing and transporting all sorts of weapons and supplies but also were home to an entire towns population. Within the tunnel system were family quarters, eating rooms, treatment rooms and bathrooms. Of course most Vietnamese are under 5'7" so we spent 40 minutes bent double trying to avoid cracking our heads.
We were a bit tired that evening so decided to eat in our hotel rather than heading into town. Now this was a mistake I tell you! Having ordered our meals we were informed that there would be a 30 minute wait, but not told why. Just under 30 minutes later Carol spotted a what looked like a take away meal being delivered to the kitchen. And yep, two minutes later our luke warm dinner was served. Yuk!
We had a fab second day here. A more relaxed tour around some of the historical sites of Hue, including a few of the old imperial tombs and temples, plus a wander around the old citadel. For those who want the history lesson, Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam until 1945.
We spent the evening at our favourite haunt, the DMZ bar, watching the comings and goings of the mopeds. It's amazing how at home these guys are on them and how well the pillion passenger can balance. We saw numerous passengers sitting on the rear of the bikes with their knees pulled up to their chests, completely tucked up under the same rain poncho as the driver (poncho's rule cos it's far too hot for coats, even when raining). Alternatively they'll have an umbrella on the back of the bike.
Today (28th) we travelled south to Hoi An. The old part of the town is the main attraction, dating back 200 plus years, and is lovely to just stroll around. The numerous shops & stalls mainly consist of art galleries, restaurants and tailors (It was in Hoi An where the Top Gear boys got kitted out). We ended up buying a few more souvenirs which we're now going to have to post home tomorrow as our bags are already rammed. We're only two weeks in and this will be the second lot we've posted home. Finger's crossed they'll still look good when we're back home and not just look like travel tat!
We're planning on having a quiet mooch around town again tomorrow before catching an evening flight south to Dalat, and then on to the central highlands over the following days.
That's all for now folks.
lots of love from Mr & Mrs xxx
Ps Dickie, for your info the eggs are still working.
We were a bit tired that evening so decided to eat in our hotel rather than heading into town. Now this was a mistake I tell you! Having ordered our meals we were informed that there would be a 30 minute wait, but not told why. Just under 30 minutes later Carol spotted a what looked like a take away meal being delivered to the kitchen. And yep, two minutes later our luke warm dinner was served. Yuk!
We had a fab second day here. A more relaxed tour around some of the historical sites of Hue, including a few of the old imperial tombs and temples, plus a wander around the old citadel. For those who want the history lesson, Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam until 1945.
We spent the evening at our favourite haunt, the DMZ bar, watching the comings and goings of the mopeds. It's amazing how at home these guys are on them and how well the pillion passenger can balance. We saw numerous passengers sitting on the rear of the bikes with their knees pulled up to their chests, completely tucked up under the same rain poncho as the driver (poncho's rule cos it's far too hot for coats, even when raining). Alternatively they'll have an umbrella on the back of the bike.
Today (28th) we travelled south to Hoi An. The old part of the town is the main attraction, dating back 200 plus years, and is lovely to just stroll around. The numerous shops & stalls mainly consist of art galleries, restaurants and tailors (It was in Hoi An where the Top Gear boys got kitted out). We ended up buying a few more souvenirs which we're now going to have to post home tomorrow as our bags are already rammed. We're only two weeks in and this will be the second lot we've posted home. Finger's crossed they'll still look good when we're back home and not just look like travel tat!
We're planning on having a quiet mooch around town again tomorrow before catching an evening flight south to Dalat, and then on to the central highlands over the following days.
That's all for now folks.
lots of love from Mr & Mrs xxx
Ps Dickie, for your info the eggs are still working.
Monday, 25 October 2010
Peace and Tranquility - Ha Long Time Coming
Morning Blog Fans!
We have just spent the best three days in Halong Bay. After the typically uncomfortable mini bus journey out of the hustle and bustle of Hanoi we reached Ha Long City which is the gateway to the world heritage site of Halong Bay.
On arrival at Ha Long City it seemed we had swapped one rush hour for another as what seemed like a hundred boats jostled for position to pick up their customers for a weekends cruising. Once on board things quickly settled down, we headed out to sea and soon found the familiar calming influence of the open waters. After half an hour or so we were served lunch which turned out to be about seven courses and thus set the standard for the entire trip!
The second day was undoubtedly the best day of our trip so far. Everyone else on board our junk had only booked a two day trip but we had splashed out and gone for three full days, so early Saturday morning we were collected by a smaller junk and whisked away for a days activity. As it turns out we only picked up two more passengers so had pretty much a private tour of Ha Long Bay. We kayaked through cave after cave in the most peaceful surroundings possible, we almost didn't want to paddle because that was the only sound that broke the silence, there wasn't another soul around (other than the odd monkey that you could hear from time to time but never came out to play).
We were taken back to our original boat in time for dinner (7courses!) and after a day like we'd experienced we were looking forward to a couple of quiet post dinner drinks out on deck before hitting the sack. However, on arrival back at Hanoi Opera Junk we found a party of 20-30 Malaysian tourists had replaced the lovely crowd we had met on the previous day. What is the problem with Malaysians? I hear you ask, well nothing apart from their love of karaoke and the need to share this love with everybody else on board until the wee hours of Sunday morning!
Sunday morning saw more kayaking, this time around a local floating fishing village that housed about 500 people, it even had a small bank!
By 5pm we were back in hectic Hanoi. We had planned to catch the night train down to Hue which was a journey of about 11hrs in a sleeping carriage. Unforunately owing to the floods in central Vietnam the train couldn't get through and we would have had to off load and get the replacement bus for the last 500km. As many of you know, we struggle to come to terms with the replacement bus from Reading to Kintbury, let alone 500km! So reluctantly we had to book a flight.
But never mind, we are here now in Hue after a night in Da Nang and a 3hr train journey. From what we have seen so far Hue is brilliant. It has a great feel about it and from our brief wanderings this evening we are already considering extending our stay (it's got nothing to do with finding a brilliant bar).
Tomorrow we are heading to the DMZ or the Demiliterised Zone just north of here that will provide a history lesson for me and probably revision again for Tony!
Just a quick note for those that asked to be updated on Tonys constitution (which was mainly Dickie) not too bad so far, have had a slightly dodgy spell but nothing eggs for breakfast everyday can't sort out!!!
We have just spent the best three days in Halong Bay. After the typically uncomfortable mini bus journey out of the hustle and bustle of Hanoi we reached Ha Long City which is the gateway to the world heritage site of Halong Bay.
On arrival at Ha Long City it seemed we had swapped one rush hour for another as what seemed like a hundred boats jostled for position to pick up their customers for a weekends cruising. Once on board things quickly settled down, we headed out to sea and soon found the familiar calming influence of the open waters. After half an hour or so we were served lunch which turned out to be about seven courses and thus set the standard for the entire trip!
The second day was undoubtedly the best day of our trip so far. Everyone else on board our junk had only booked a two day trip but we had splashed out and gone for three full days, so early Saturday morning we were collected by a smaller junk and whisked away for a days activity. As it turns out we only picked up two more passengers so had pretty much a private tour of Ha Long Bay. We kayaked through cave after cave in the most peaceful surroundings possible, we almost didn't want to paddle because that was the only sound that broke the silence, there wasn't another soul around (other than the odd monkey that you could hear from time to time but never came out to play).
We were taken back to our original boat in time for dinner (7courses!) and after a day like we'd experienced we were looking forward to a couple of quiet post dinner drinks out on deck before hitting the sack. However, on arrival back at Hanoi Opera Junk we found a party of 20-30 Malaysian tourists had replaced the lovely crowd we had met on the previous day. What is the problem with Malaysians? I hear you ask, well nothing apart from their love of karaoke and the need to share this love with everybody else on board until the wee hours of Sunday morning!
Sunday morning saw more kayaking, this time around a local floating fishing village that housed about 500 people, it even had a small bank!
By 5pm we were back in hectic Hanoi. We had planned to catch the night train down to Hue which was a journey of about 11hrs in a sleeping carriage. Unforunately owing to the floods in central Vietnam the train couldn't get through and we would have had to off load and get the replacement bus for the last 500km. As many of you know, we struggle to come to terms with the replacement bus from Reading to Kintbury, let alone 500km! So reluctantly we had to book a flight.
But never mind, we are here now in Hue after a night in Da Nang and a 3hr train journey. From what we have seen so far Hue is brilliant. It has a great feel about it and from our brief wanderings this evening we are already considering extending our stay (it's got nothing to do with finding a brilliant bar).
Tomorrow we are heading to the DMZ or the Demiliterised Zone just north of here that will provide a history lesson for me and probably revision again for Tony!
Just a quick note for those that asked to be updated on Tonys constitution (which was mainly Dickie) not too bad so far, have had a slightly dodgy spell but nothing eggs for breakfast everyday can't sort out!!!
Friday, 22 October 2010
Massage Heaven to Traffic Hell
Morning All
We left you with the news that we were stranded in Bangkok. So what can you do but find a cheap hotel in the back packer area and relax for three days. Carol was in familiar territory here and we managed to use the free time constructively with foot massages, full body thai massages, plenty of cheap street stall food and the odd beer or too! As predicted our visas arrived on Monday evening so we were able to fly to Hanoi early Tuesday morning. Yep, another ridiculous 3.30am start. This time we didn't bother sleeping at all first, I think it was the stress turning to relief and excitement preventing us nodding off this time.
We arrived in Hanoi at 8.30am just in time for rush hour. We were greeted at the airport and taken to our hotel - again arranged by a cheeky email from Libby trying our luck and I can tell you she's good, this time we had wine and treats waiting for us in our room. No petals tho!
The journey to our hotel was mainly spent wide eyed. It's not often you are in a lonely minibus in a sea of mopeds and it's not often you see mopeds doing the jobs of transit vans, pick up trucks and school buses! It seems this is the norm for Hanoi though, among our personal favourites are: carrying at least 30 dozen eggs stacked in two piles and tied on with bungee cords down a dual carriageway; carrying scaffolding poles (in the fashion of jousting poles) in the city centre in rush hour with no one even looking twice and then there was the guy riding pillion that had what looked like a sheet of plasterboard on his lap acting as a sail! We are slightly disappointed that the record number of passengers per moped currently lies at four - could do better!
Every car, van or moped that travels by feels compelled to sound it's horn. As a result of this I think Tony has ruined the beep beep "pardon me" gag for a good while!
Overall I have to say that Hanoi is a crazy place but you do kind of get used to it. Crossing the road was ridiculous at first, you simply will never find a gap where it's safe to cross, but learning from the locals you just have to go for it and it works, the mopeds actually go around you. We have both noticed today that we have even stopped looking for half gaps!
The currency here is also ridiculous. The initial over excitement of being multi millionaires has long worn off and we are now finding the mental arithmetic slightly tedious, especially when bartering and you think you've driven a hard bargain until you realise after all your efforts you managed to save the princely sum of 30 pence!
We are heading to Halong Bay tomorrow for three days on a traditional junk. I think it's fair to say we are both ready to leave city life for a while and cannot wait for the peace and quiet of island life.
We left you with the news that we were stranded in Bangkok. So what can you do but find a cheap hotel in the back packer area and relax for three days. Carol was in familiar territory here and we managed to use the free time constructively with foot massages, full body thai massages, plenty of cheap street stall food and the odd beer or too! As predicted our visas arrived on Monday evening so we were able to fly to Hanoi early Tuesday morning. Yep, another ridiculous 3.30am start. This time we didn't bother sleeping at all first, I think it was the stress turning to relief and excitement preventing us nodding off this time.
We arrived in Hanoi at 8.30am just in time for rush hour. We were greeted at the airport and taken to our hotel - again arranged by a cheeky email from Libby trying our luck and I can tell you she's good, this time we had wine and treats waiting for us in our room. No petals tho!
The journey to our hotel was mainly spent wide eyed. It's not often you are in a lonely minibus in a sea of mopeds and it's not often you see mopeds doing the jobs of transit vans, pick up trucks and school buses! It seems this is the norm for Hanoi though, among our personal favourites are: carrying at least 30 dozen eggs stacked in two piles and tied on with bungee cords down a dual carriageway; carrying scaffolding poles (in the fashion of jousting poles) in the city centre in rush hour with no one even looking twice and then there was the guy riding pillion that had what looked like a sheet of plasterboard on his lap acting as a sail! We are slightly disappointed that the record number of passengers per moped currently lies at four - could do better!
Every car, van or moped that travels by feels compelled to sound it's horn. As a result of this I think Tony has ruined the beep beep "pardon me" gag for a good while!
Overall I have to say that Hanoi is a crazy place but you do kind of get used to it. Crossing the road was ridiculous at first, you simply will never find a gap where it's safe to cross, but learning from the locals you just have to go for it and it works, the mopeds actually go around you. We have both noticed today that we have even stopped looking for half gaps!
The currency here is also ridiculous. The initial over excitement of being multi millionaires has long worn off and we are now finding the mental arithmetic slightly tedious, especially when bartering and you think you've driven a hard bargain until you realise after all your efforts you managed to save the princely sum of 30 pence!
We are heading to Halong Bay tomorrow for three days on a traditional junk. I think it's fair to say we are both ready to leave city life for a while and cannot wait for the peace and quiet of island life.
Sunday, 17 October 2010
The Rough with The Smooth
Soooooooooo..........
Happy Birthday to me for Friday. Lovely lazyish day wandering around Bangkok and eating food from the various food stalls that are everywhere. Then we headed to a few bars to celebrate for the eve. This was the smooth.
Then along came the rough......brace yourselves! We headed home at silly o'clock and got our heads down, we were due an early morning call to get a taxi to the airport to fly to Hanoi at 3.30am so best case scenario we were lookin at a 90 minute power nap. Fantastic power nap it was too, we got up, showered and headed for a taxi. The one we managed to flag pulled over, loaded our bags and then apologised before popping the bonnet, tinkering about a bit and then returning and starting the engine, it didn't sound great!
Anyway, we arrived at the airport with no further stress and joined the queue to check in. It was here our morning took a turn for the worse and I'm still in complete and utter disbelief that we could be so ridiculous! To cut a long story short.....................It turns out you need a visa to get to Vietnam! We are not so completely rubbish to not know this but we hadn't realised that you had to pre-apply so that when you arrive it is already processed and they let you in. We assumed that like everywhere else you just get one organised at the border. Horrendous!
So we are back in Bangkok while premium priced express tourist visas are being processed, which of course cannot possibly be done at the weekend!
Luckily the hotel we have booked for Hanoi were really understanding and have just delayed our booking. Hopefully we'll be able to fly on Tuesday.
So tonight we had a two course meal with a beer each for less than a tenner - we'll make our money back in no time!
After a shell shocked 4 hours we are back in good spirits so we have survived our first test as Mr and Mrs!
Happy Birthday to me for Friday. Lovely lazyish day wandering around Bangkok and eating food from the various food stalls that are everywhere. Then we headed to a few bars to celebrate for the eve. This was the smooth.
Then along came the rough......brace yourselves! We headed home at silly o'clock and got our heads down, we were due an early morning call to get a taxi to the airport to fly to Hanoi at 3.30am so best case scenario we were lookin at a 90 minute power nap. Fantastic power nap it was too, we got up, showered and headed for a taxi. The one we managed to flag pulled over, loaded our bags and then apologised before popping the bonnet, tinkering about a bit and then returning and starting the engine, it didn't sound great!
Anyway, we arrived at the airport with no further stress and joined the queue to check in. It was here our morning took a turn for the worse and I'm still in complete and utter disbelief that we could be so ridiculous! To cut a long story short.....................It turns out you need a visa to get to Vietnam! We are not so completely rubbish to not know this but we hadn't realised that you had to pre-apply so that when you arrive it is already processed and they let you in. We assumed that like everywhere else you just get one organised at the border. Horrendous!
So we are back in Bangkok while premium priced express tourist visas are being processed, which of course cannot possibly be done at the weekend!
Luckily the hotel we have booked for Hanoi were really understanding and have just delayed our booking. Hopefully we'll be able to fly on Tuesday.
So tonight we had a two course meal with a beer each for less than a tenner - we'll make our money back in no time!
After a shell shocked 4 hours we are back in good spirits so we have survived our first test as Mr and Mrs!
Friday, 15 October 2010
One night in Bangkok
Morning All
We had a cracking time yesterday. We spent the morning at the floating market about 2hours from Bangkok. It's like the poor mans version of Venice and seems to have as many locals as tourists. The phrase "organised chaos" may well have been invented here. The place is crowded but there's no stress as everybody seems to accept the crowds. You just climb aboard a paddle boat and your "driver" just floats you up to a stall and you buy your food, clothes, souvenirs or tat before paddling on to the next one. After a couple of minutes a few details became clear, a)which stallholders were related to our driver b)if you point at ANYTHING it means you're interested in buying, even if you were pointing out something hideous and c)if you think you can outsmart them by pointing once you've floated past you are mistaken, it seems paddle boats can also do hand break turns!
In the afternoon we went to the bridge on the river kwai. If you don't know what I'm talking about then rent the film! The original bridge is no longer standing but it was still worth the visit to the museum and the commonwealth war memorial as well as the replacement bridge.
We had an amazing setting for our evening meal; the open air Vertigo restaurant on the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree hotel. Alfresco rooftop dining at it's best. The panoramic view of Bangkok was just stunning, and at that height it sounded such a peaceful city compared to it's normal crazed traffic self.
We will try to upload some photos for you when we can which should make for a more enjoyable read, and save us writing so much as we all know a picture says a thousand words.
We had a cracking time yesterday. We spent the morning at the floating market about 2hours from Bangkok. It's like the poor mans version of Venice and seems to have as many locals as tourists. The phrase "organised chaos" may well have been invented here. The place is crowded but there's no stress as everybody seems to accept the crowds. You just climb aboard a paddle boat and your "driver" just floats you up to a stall and you buy your food, clothes, souvenirs or tat before paddling on to the next one. After a couple of minutes a few details became clear, a)which stallholders were related to our driver b)if you point at ANYTHING it means you're interested in buying, even if you were pointing out something hideous and c)if you think you can outsmart them by pointing once you've floated past you are mistaken, it seems paddle boats can also do hand break turns!
In the afternoon we went to the bridge on the river kwai. If you don't know what I'm talking about then rent the film! The original bridge is no longer standing but it was still worth the visit to the museum and the commonwealth war memorial as well as the replacement bridge.
We had an amazing setting for our evening meal; the open air Vertigo restaurant on the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree hotel. Alfresco rooftop dining at it's best. The panoramic view of Bangkok was just stunning, and at that height it sounded such a peaceful city compared to it's normal crazed traffic self.
We will try to upload some photos for you when we can which should make for a more enjoyable read, and save us writing so much as we all know a picture says a thousand words.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Day One, Adventure One!
Evening all, we've arrived safe and sound. It's somewhere in the region on 1.30am and it's been left to me (Mrs McKeown) to tell you about our day as it was I who slept pretty much the whole journey and it is I that now can't sleep (it could also have something to do with the snoring to my right!)
Just a quick story for you as our journey was pleasantly uneventful. We arrived in Bangkok and after the security rigmarole we headed for the cash machine for some Baht. As reasonably experienced travellers this shouldn't have caused any issues, we used the cashpoint without a hitch and proceeded making our way out of the terminal. As we're strolling along with a grand in our pocket it dawns on us that it's odd such large sums of money come in a single 1000 note. Anyway after some recalculating we realised we had the princely sum of 20 quid to get us through 3 days in Thailand! Seeing our error we about turn to go back to the cash machine. As we do so we see a small Thai chap running,waving and shouting in our direction " Sir Sir, Please" we look around, nobody else is near us. It turns out the wee fella was waving Tony's bank card that we had left in the ATM! Lesson learnt.
We got to our hotel and thanks to Libby and her cheeky emailing we were greeted as the honeymooning couple, shown to our room where there had been a flower massacre - petals everywhere! In the bath they had run for us, all over the bed, everywhere! We also had a voucher for a complimentary 3 course meal in the lovely restaurant, so it's true what they say - you don't ask, you don't get! Thanks Libs x
So I should go - we're up at 5.30am tomorrow, we're heading to the floating markets and then to the bridge on the River Kwai for a history lesson, or revision for Tony I expect!
Love to everyone xxx
Just a quick story for you as our journey was pleasantly uneventful. We arrived in Bangkok and after the security rigmarole we headed for the cash machine for some Baht. As reasonably experienced travellers this shouldn't have caused any issues, we used the cashpoint without a hitch and proceeded making our way out of the terminal. As we're strolling along with a grand in our pocket it dawns on us that it's odd such large sums of money come in a single 1000 note. Anyway after some recalculating we realised we had the princely sum of 20 quid to get us through 3 days in Thailand! Seeing our error we about turn to go back to the cash machine. As we do so we see a small Thai chap running,waving and shouting in our direction " Sir Sir, Please" we look around, nobody else is near us. It turns out the wee fella was waving Tony's bank card that we had left in the ATM! Lesson learnt.
We got to our hotel and thanks to Libby and her cheeky emailing we were greeted as the honeymooning couple, shown to our room where there had been a flower massacre - petals everywhere! In the bath they had run for us, all over the bed, everywhere! We also had a voucher for a complimentary 3 course meal in the lovely restaurant, so it's true what they say - you don't ask, you don't get! Thanks Libs x
So I should go - we're up at 5.30am tomorrow, we're heading to the floating markets and then to the bridge on the River Kwai for a history lesson, or revision for Tony I expect!
Love to everyone xxx
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
We're Off! (almost!)
Testing Testing! As you are all aware we are new to all this malarkey so are trying to get to grips with blogging!
Having just had the best weekend ever, we are flying out later today.
Watch this space!!
Mr and Mrs McK
Having just had the best weekend ever, we are flying out later today.
Watch this space!!
Mr and Mrs McK
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