TravelStream™ news feed for member danstravelworld on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/danstravelworld en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:06:39 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/danstravelworld/5/1258790304/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/danstravelworld/5/1258790304/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/danstravelworld/5/1258790304/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:06:39 -0500 Wat? Again...

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Quick updates for you all. Not huge amounts to report. Same sort of stuff. We've stepped up the English campaign in teaching more now. Rather than hammering footballs at 8 year old kids in goal and claiming my skills of footy have improved we're working on a slightly more structured approach of teaching now.

The day does include football and/or fishing though. As the youngest are at school in the afternoon we tend to be more productive with the older lot.

Theres a load of pics attached and I don't have time to edit them really so if there's a load of duplicates I apologise. It's because the kids take the camera for the day until the battery dies! Some of them are of the buddha in the countryside nearby, which is a weekly jaunt, especially when visitors arrive. Others are from Bon Um Tuk - the water festival featuring heaps of racing at the end of the rainy season. See what you think...
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Siem Reap, Cambodia

So we decided after a fleeting visit to stay on at PACDOC Orphanage outside Siem Reap. There are heaps of these types of orphanages around Cambodia and we did want to visit one, we've just ended up staying on to volunteer here.

The place is set in a rural setting of Siem Reap Province and is fairly primitive. The water is bore hole courtesy of Unesco & a Japanese project and the food is from donations only. The boys sleep outside, whilst the girls sleep in a covered area. The small classroom was built on site by a Singaporean team of volunteers.

Each child is given 3 meals a day and a safe place to stay - the main purpose of PACDOC. Otherwise many of them end up as street kids.

They get very little publicity as they are further out of town, so less visitors means less food and the consequences can be obvious. Step up the marketing campaign of me in Siem Reap chatting up strangers and sending them over laden with bags of rice and food. It works...

Each child gets a half day at government school (although they each have to pay a teacher weekly anyway as the salary is so low) and some of the olders pay an extra $3 a week for English lessons. My teaching skills are currently being honed to help. Surprisingly, I quite enjoy it. Selfishly realistically, it is very rewarding. Although we play football every day and go fishing quite a bit. I bought a load of tackle in town (about $3 worth) and the kids just made the rods from bamboo.

We have made ourselves quite at home in Siem Reap. Staying with Prom at Golden Takeo has been the best. We've become good friends (we're the same age, same interests etc) and he treats us like family. Courtesy of him we get the room, but he takes us out for meals, insistent on paying and hooks me up with anything I need. If I know a man who can, it's Prom. We've got a good circle of friends here, mainly Tuk-tuk drivers who work for him and it's a fab place.

Speaking of Tuk-tuk drivers, we cycle every day to the orphanage as it's only 12km one way (nice straight flat road - just psycho drivers) but if we take big stocks like 25kg bags of rice then we use one of the guys. We did find a great chap at the beginning who's laugh became infectious. I ended up teaching him how to use his email and we now exchange basic emails once a while. How technology advances eh? I book a tuk-tuk by email or sms.

We've also got a nice local in town - slap on the end of the main drag. They were concerned one night when I left at 9pm. They thought we were sick! Again, great people. It even got to the point last night where I served myself and just wrote my own bill. The staff were busy eating (much of which they gave to me) and serving the others.

We even hooked up with Peter & Craig, off of Ombersley Road drinking team for a couple of nights as they passed through on their hols! We enjoyed a nice meal of BBQ frog (actually delicious) and compulsory beers.

All in all, everything is good. Cambodia is still rife with corruption. Everything demands a 'tax' but thanks to Prom I know the score now.

Thats all folks...if you know anyone who wishes to visit whilst on hols, please put them in touch. The visit to the orphanage is free, just bring something with you. A smile is best! Thank you very much to the donations we've received as well. We'll photograph your deliveries and send them off.



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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Rocked up here after a pretty early flight with a nice 'free transfer' from the airport. It is free but you're expected to hear the pitch as soon as you're outside the airport (take me for your trip etc - we did). All in good humour I might add. I wasn't sure I'd make it out after a child next to me spent the whole flight choking all over the place. Hand?

So after our quick interlude we're on the road into Siem Reap. Last time we were here it was a town fairly focussed on one main road through the middle. A nice place, but clearly spread out now. Angkor being the main attraction there are literally hundreds of places to stay. From $5 a night to $1000 a night (ours is $6 and really good). If you need cheap, clean, quality accommodation please visit Golden Takeo. They have a website and a great owner to boot!

We had said we'd return here, but we'd said that about most places and in all seriousness it's pretty tough to go back to all of them! We did agree on one thing - we did want to see Angkor Wat in the rainy season (its just come to the end) with all the lush greenery and moats full to the brim. It didn't disappoint thankfully.

Our first evening was spent with some Brits on hols and getting over excited about the cheapness of things again. Most bars offer 50cent beers here, but we've shown our loyalty to Banana Leaf, a fairly popular place (it has a whacking great screen on the street, cheap beer and live football - where else was I going to go really?) Needless to say Sunday was a bit of washout but we got some stuff prepped.

Day One at Angkor we took pushbikes around some of the further out temples (after a brief run through the main one) and cleared nearly 40km of cycling we found out after. There are signposted routes to cycle round and we hit the biggun. Water aplenty thankfully. It was darn hot.

The entire complex is far more structured now, with tarmaced roads throughout nearly all the areas and wooden walkways keeping people off the temples. Rope barriers stop you climbing all over the things (thankfully). Two of the big sites here are currently closed due a Mexican tourist falling to his death and a tree also doing the same.

The kids are still here with the where you from, what country, your PM is Gordon Brown, your capital city is London etc etc etc. They've still got a fairly sharp witty answer for anything you reply.

One girl was trying to sell me bracelets really hard. When she said buy them for your girlfriend I said I don't have one (Cath was with me), she smiled and spent the next 5mins explaining to me I don't have a girlfriend because I don't buy girls presents. Maybe I should start with 10 bracelets for a dollar? Bless em...

Day 2 (Big Brother style) and Nan, our tuk-tuk guy from the airport collects us at 8am as we venture out to the temples about 60km away. They form part of the complex but there are 3 smaller 'mini-sites' that are spread around. It's a days run to cover them anyway. After I queried his initial price I swallowed my pride as I realised it was over an hour to the first one! A really good day to be had, including a 'small' walk upto some waterfalls where the carvings from a temple remain in the hills and a nice heavy rainstorm mid tuk-tuk ride. We dried off in about 2 minutes thankfully. It's not exactly cold.

Few beers in town again with the couple from the first night and hit the hay for another day of cycling! I'll leave the boring descriptions out for this one and you can view the pics.

Noticed about being out & about again that my nails seem to grow at a phenomenal rate - is it the heat or what? Answers on a postcard...

I usually use this platform to vent anger about football and sport in general, but I'll refrain (marginally). All the results went against me this weekend! At least WRFC got a bonus eh? What a way to ruin my Saturday night watching the might of Stoke. Madness. Well done Liverpool I suppose, as a neutral. I'll do my best to keep winding you all up on facebook though (I've got quick access to it on my iPod now as well so won't be far behind - great little device). Good to see 30M of crap in the form of DB still playing like a bag of for Mancs too. What an investment that was!

We're now working at an orphanage nearby doing some bits there so look out for the next entry for some great pics.

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Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

All good trips start in KL. They certainly do with the advent of Air Asia X, the international arm of Air Asia. We were both pleasantly surprised with the flight (actually Cath hated it, but thats planes in general). Huge seats made it nice and comfy. Food was great. Always is.

Anyhoo, Caths birthday pressie was the first couple of nights in the sweet Traders Club Room staring right over the twin towers. Including our free evening bar and snacks we worked it so we could eat and drink inclusive all day. Cracking place. Hence some fairly boring pics for most! I do never tire of seeing the towers though to be honest. Amazing feat.

Same old stuff in KL, only our fave soup haunt had the shutters down when we arrived. Crisis was averted when a guy outside said it was only for the day.

Onwards and outwards North East a bit to the temples of Angkor Wat again. Wanted to return here to see some more of the sights and enjoy it in rainy season so off we trot...

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Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I fancied my birthday in my favourite place so we planned to get here in time, plus we had a flight home on the Friday.  A quick power nap to shake off the bus and we had a nice day shopping in KLCC (my choice) after the best breakfast in the world at one of my haunts - a Chinese Ramen Noodle & Fungi soup which is just the spiciest thing in the world but bizarrely addictive.  Alongside that a Po (the steamed pie things I mentioned before) full of spicy minced pork.  Mmmmm....

We did have plans to go for a slap up meal in town and then beers up by the Petronas, but to be honest, we both kind of prefer it in Chinatown.  It's a good craic going up those parts at night, but Little India & Chinatown are just as good.  We went to a regular place, where the owner sorts us out with a perfect people watching seat (we should get discount at this place by now) plies us with Tiger and spent the whole night here eating, drinking, being merry and generally having a ball.  It was a really really good night and we made the correct decision by choosing it.

Wee bit of shopping the next day in Petaling (they've got rid of all the good stalls now and only license holders work there - something about fire risk, blah blah) and we're stood in a stall grabbing some stuff when a massive storm starts.  If you've not been there, some parts of the area are covered by corrugated sheet plastic roofs, elevated in curves at about 15m up.  This means it stops some rain and the sun but a crap load still pours in.  We're stood in one shack when there's a huge flash of lightning and a massive smashing sound, everyone screams and points at the stall we're in (it's about 2.5m wide by 2.5m deep this 'stall') we stand still and then another smash right on top of our head.  We instinctively hunch and cower, Cath goes out to have a look, the lady screams no, the other stall holders are still pointing at us, I'm just thinking 'not now, not the last night' and then we see the rest of the roof crash around the front of the stall.  The sheets of roof (1/2inch corrugated) are smashed all over and on top of where we were stood.  As we leave you can see the water gathering on these roof sheets high up, just begging to collapse.

A swift exit before our early start and extremely choppy flight home...two meals for me everytime - get in.

So we're back visiting briefly before off again soon...watch this space....
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Pulau Perhentian Besar, Terengganu, Malaysia

We got chatting to a lad who worked at a dive centre (he was on a booze run for them all to the mainland due to the lack of it on the islands) on this slightly larger island who said to give it a try.  It's allegedly more expensive so the traveling fraternity give it a wide berth, but he was right, it turned out to be absolutely awesome.  Perfect beaches, the ocean was clearer than tap water and fantastic weather, including some monster storms.  The small island was good, don't get me wrong, just not quite as nice.  

With our last few days before we make moves back to the UK we wanted some quality tanning action, but it was too hot most of the time so we took some snorkeling action in on a trip and hired a sea canoe.

We stayed at Mama's which had a fairly good monopoly on this area with everything from budget rooms to expensive rooms, but we had the cheapest going with a sea view - perfect.  

Food in the evenings mainly consisted of BBQ Catch of the day so we gorged on fresh fish, prawns and squid.  All excellent.  Consistently.

On the day we hired a canoe, we were about 30m off the coast and a huge turtle popped up next to us to breathe, so Cath insisted we bob there for about 20mins before we zipped off around the island.  Just for the record, if you think I look like a Burberry Chav in the pics, I had to wear a cap pointing up, with a neck scarf due to the incessant sun and being out on the sea!  No comments welcome.

We reached another beach round the coast, taking on some water and had a good paddle back.  I had a good paddle back.  Cath had a good relax back.

Snorkeling here was fantastic.  We took a small boat, just the two of us and a lad who worked in our restaurant with his mate came to show us the best places and didn't let us down either!  More turtle action, plus a huge reef shark.  1.5m in length (no bull) and the fattest thing in the world swimming along beneath us.  The best thing was the clear sea everywhere - staring down to the bottom to watch a big old turtle eating was great.

After a monster storm came that night we had a night bus waiting for us at the other end and breezed into KL about 530am on my birthday....

 

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Pulau Perhentian Kecil, Terengganu, Malaysia

A cheap flight from Bali drops us off back in KL so we can connect straight to a bus/train north. As the pilot taxi's to the terminal, he welcomes us with the local temperature and climate, fast facts on KL, the standard 'oh and drug trafficking carries the mandatory death penalty here' before sweeping up with: 'thanks again for flying with Air Asia and may the force be with you'.  How I laughed.  I only heard one other raucous laugh burst out a few rows in front from a Geordie.

Due to it being school hols we couldn't get a bus or train that day or night so grabbed a bus the next morning.  After an uneventful journey, we arrive late in the evening of Kota Bharu and stay the night in a spotless Chinese place called Persona.  Kota Bharu is pretty much just a jumping off place for the islands.  It has lots of its own charm but most come straight through the town, which is a little bit of a shame to be fair.

Nonetheless, we did the same(!) and hop out to the small island in the morning by speedboat.  Not quite the perfect idyllic place we anticipated, it was thin on the ground for action.  Certainly no bars due to the state being a fairly strong Islamic State.  It was available but just expensive and not on display.  Having researched this beforehand we arrived prepared.  Thank you Bali Airport Duty Free.

As there is more than one island on this archipelago we had a walk across this island from Coral Bay to Long Beach, again, quite quiet during the day so we decided to take on the advice of an Aussie Divemaster we spoke to on the boat and island hop to the next one...

One thing of amusement here.  As it's a jungle island, stuff in the jungle is in general larger.  Not my stuff sadly, but creatures.  Ants that could steal your backpack if you don't concentrate, gecko's that are a foot long.  Monitor Lizards the size of small cars.  You get the point...
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Sanur, Bali, Indonesia

Arriving by bus, we were dropped on the beachfront at the wrong end of town. After a good hour's pounding I stumble upon Bintang Bungalows, meet the quaint Aussie owner and the nice Indonesian staff.


Probably the best value for money accommodation yet, we had a downstairs bright, cool lounging area with our own fridge and a great big bed upstairs looking out over the pool. With a small shared kitchen to boot it's a great place to save a few quid. Now what we found best about this place, aside from being about £8 for the room, was the fridge! Popping to the supermarket and shopping to stock up the fridge was fab. I left some space for food if that's what you're wondering. We were also next to the night market, eat all you like for less than a quid basically sells me every time!


First day we got there we had a late lunch and the biggest portion of noodles ever. Seeing the size of the Dutch guy who owned the restaurant, we began to understand why. That reduced evening meal to Po's. They are a dough type of pie all across Asia, steamed to perfection with different fillings. Usually cost about 20p each.


So, a couple of beers later and I try and get to bed about 10ish. At 215am my alarm hollers and I'm down the stairs, beer in hand and off to watch the Champs League. Thankfully I hunted out Bali International Sports Bar earlier. With a massive screen and a big sign outside advertising late opening for the football I wander down.


Except the 6ft 'open tonight 1am - 6am' sign has gone. And obviously the place has now closed and everywhere is desolate. Some sports bar. Luckily I knew of another proper sports bar that was open but a good 20min walk away. It's now 2:40am and my aim was to not turn up leaking all over. Ignoring the buttmunch taxi driver trying to find out which hooker I was after, (he wouldn't leave me alone so got a round in international language) I finally rock up to Lazer Sports Bar. A real bar. And a darn busy one at that. Plonk myself down, order a beer at the bar, avoid the Brits and the whistle goes. Great timing. Chat to the guy next to me and ask if he's Dutch - no, German (doh!) turn around and ask the other side if he's German too and promptly offend the Dutch guy. Chew the fat with these chaps until 5am and a lacklustre performance by the Mancs later and then make moves back to my bed. Bit of a shame really although I've no doubt there was many a happy face at home. On a lighter note, I received about four jokes about it from home. All quite funny, but all from Liverpool fans...glad I already have a crap team eh ;-)


At least me and Stu G had a winning side that night. We adopted Barca after a tour of the ground. The infamous day of the picture-taking. More reasons I'm not allowed cameras.

Following day was a bit of a wash out due to overnight activities and we really only hung out here to save a couple of quid for the weekend as it was close to the airport!


We did the meet the affable Martin who lives there. Nice Aussie chap to have a few cold ones with and put the world to rights, sitting next to the pool. Nice environment just needs a change of owner, which it would appear, is currently on the cards. Nothing personal, just needs some changes for fresheness.


Saturday heralded the cup final but it also had AFL! We watched Freo against Richmond, a real nail-biter right to the end (Cath had to look away for the last minute) but a cracker nonetheless, followed by the dismal start to the Lions tour and cup final on the bug screen.


A fond farewell to Indonesia and a really fantastic country. We didn't even scratch the surface to this place but vow to return to see some of the Eastern shores. If you come here, get your 60-day visa in advance. It makes life so much easier...
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Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

After a smooth 'snooze' cruise, we hit the shores of Bali again, loaded with recommendations from travellers and locals of do's and don'ts and where to head, common theme being to avoid Kuta.


When I was younger I had imagined Bali as a small place with a long beach line attracting the visitors. I've come to realise that you could comfortably spend a month or two, just around Bali with it's coastline, beaches and beautiful interior.


First stop is Ubud, billed as the cultural centre of Balinese history and lifestyle. Arriving in new places there's always a tout of some order waiting. We came to rely on these folk in SE Asia where a lot of people avoid them. It's not 'independant' enough. Screw that I figure - if it's no good then move on. Saves me walking in an oven carrying a pack and a Cath. In fairness we only tend to use them if they work there or run the joint which is usually the case. So we meet the lovely owner of Warsa Bungalows in the heart of Ubud. Sadly his car didn't seem to have the capacity to carry us, so we trudge through town checking out some other places en route and drop off at his place. A nice swimming pool but the rooms turned out quite tatty for the price. It's easy to check places out quickly but not check doors, fan, bed, toilet, shower etc etc. We figure better value for money elsewhere but crash there for the night and go a-wandering.


Ubud, as well as being portrayed as the cultural centre, is also the place to stretch the budget and the belly. There's a wealth of restaurants catering for everyone here and a lack of food courts or stands. But hey, why not splash out once in a while?


That evening we order a feast of amazing Balinese food and decide to try Bali wine. Holding my nose, prepared for the blast I try it. Great! Nice cold white wine. So, couple of hours later and a bottle of wine done we head out feeling most satisfied.


Following morning we make our way to Ubud View Bungalows which is far better, minus the swimming pool! The view from our room is fantastic with a postcard image of paddy fields and palms.


During the day we visit the local highlights and do some shopping at the market. A monster of a storm keeps us on our balcony late afternoon, but with such a view we weren't too fussed. It gave us a chance to see the giggidee bird. A bird that sounds just like Quagmire and made me laugh everytime it flew by.


After breakfast is kindly served on our balcony (cup of tea waiting for us when we woke!) we hire a nice man and van for the day.


First stop was Elephant Caves, a Hindu shrine outside town. A series of ornate carvings have been made here, cut into the hillside. Quite intricate they're hundreds of years old but most have fallen foul to nature of the years and look like piles of rubble. On closer inspection you can see the carvings across the rocks.


About half an hour along we arrive at Guning Kawi. Another series of huge carvings set into the hillside. When I say huge, I mean 30ft high. Someone carved these by hand as well! See the pics. They're another set of memorials in effect. A good hike down means a hot trudge back up to our man.


Final trip of the day is to visit a coffee plantation here. As the rain begins we wander through the plantation looking at all the spices and note the civet cat. This is the animal that eats the red coffee berry, fails to digest it, reverse parks it with the rest of it's lunch and someone sifts through it to get the bean back. Yum. It then gets sold to Londonites for about £30 a cup. Sells for thousands in Australia and The States too.


We try the different coffees and teas they have on sale. To be fair no pressure or obligation to buy anything either. All very nice.


Yes we tried it. Had to pay a few bucks for it though. Tasted like coffee oddly.


To bid a fond farewell to this beautiful town we used one of the many spas available here. On arrival I was presented with a pair of hospital pants, the mesh things, and told to put them on by Julian Clary. As I explained I won't be wearing these even if he paid me I transfer into adequate board shorts and roll the legs up.


First up a massage for an hour and a half with me and Cath on those funny beds next to each other with some chill music. Couldn't quite relax though so just took the pain as Clary tried to paralyze me, twist my leg off and finish by prodding my belly button for some reason. I stopped him there for fear of giggling.


Then they scrubbed our bodies with some spices until a layer of skin came off. Gross. I flicked some of mine across the room to Cath. Entertained me for 10mins.


After being doused in some body cream we had a hot flower bath. Quite good for £15 for both of us.


Couple of Bali Hai's (brew) to recover and the best tuna steak ever and bed beckoned. Tired me out that massage! Leaving Ubud by bus we head East to Sanur...
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Gili Meno, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Another island-hop and we drop off onto the sandy beach of Gili Meno. The last of the three Gili's...



Leaving Cath by the port I head off up coast to find digs (standard procedure I didn't just leave her!) and about an hour later come across Good Heart Bungalows. It is right out the way, on a secluded beach with a thatched bungalow raised by a (dangerous) staircase with a bathroom underneath. Including breaky for Rp100,000 per night it's another steal.





I spot a horse-cart next to the place and decide to pop back, grab Cath and the bags on the local transport (no vehicles and very few people!) and save ourselves the sweating in the midday sun. It was a half hour walk to be fair on soft sand.







Hmm...highlights here were beach action really. We did some amazing snorkelling spotting two decent hawksbill turtles and even swam with one out to sea until he grabbed his air right in front of us and dived into the darkness. It was a good 300m off the beach to a decent shelf and the diving was only about 8m, so with 20m+ visibility it was near perfect. Excellent fun. Cath was stoked swimming along with the turtle so it made our day. She'd never been so up close and personal with them. We also spotted a stripy scuba diver and a group of Japanese tourists snapping away under water, fully clothed. Nutters.





One minor irritation here was the cockerel that lived, apparently, in our bathroom underneath my bed. It went ape every hour from 10pm. 3 assassination attempts were both in vein, so the iPod took a pounding.

For some reason this giant bug flew into me and hung on for a bit. Gross.


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