TravelStream™ news feed for member edsanoz on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/edsanoz en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:31:08 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1174982280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1174982280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1174982280/tpod.html Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:31:08 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Angkor Wat, Cambodia

I finally decided to do a rewrite on this place, looking back on it now I didn't do it justice and of course Ma has been onto me since I put the original entry up to tell me it was rubbish and do something about so here we go. This is the big one. We spent 3 days going around this place and still didn't even get close to seeing everything although we did see the main temples. Its bloody huge. And in our 3 days we got up for 2 sunrises and 2 sunsets. So as you can imagine we were pretty tired after all that, especially since we had a going away party for Linn and Ib in the middle of it all as well.Angkor Wat is a temple in itself, but the name has been used to describe all the temples in the area. The area around Siem Reap (the town near Angkor Wat) is dotted by what seems like hundreds of different temples. They were built over a long period of time by successive kings whose goal was to outdo the previous king and build something bigger and better than anything else. Our first day consisted of getting ourselves booked into a hotel going for a wander around Siem Reap and procuring ourselves a tuk-tuk driver to take us around the various site as some of the site are upto 30km away from Siem, but for the adventurous you can cycle to the nearby temples quiet easily. (we weren't that adventurous)Next morning we got up good and early 5am and got ourselves to Angkor Wat in time for sunrise. The place was mobbed but what a view to see first thing in the morning. A huge moat, 190 m wide, was dug all the way around Angkor and the only way across, is over a massive stone walkway. As big as it looks from the outside I never imagined how big it would be once I got in there. The outer wall encloses 200acres, just to give you an idea .In its hay day it was a city in its own right about 1 million people I think none of which lived in the main temple, as it was sacred. There is nothing left of these dwellings and most of that space has been taken up by forest now.Through the main gate and the temple is another 10minutes walk (slow pace) along another straight stone walkway. Angkor Wat is the biggest and best preserved temple in this area, hence its popularity. The only downside to Angkor Wat at dawn is that it faces West so as the sun rises from the East over the backend of Angkor Wat you are slighly blinded and don't get to fully appreciate it which is why we went back at sunset to see the front end of it fully light up. We made our way to the main temple and was taken a back by the detail of the carvings. Everything has some sort of carving from floor to ceiling. The four walls on the perimeter of the main temple (187 by 215 m) have bas reliefs telling different stories from Hindu and Buddhist religions. These are very detailed carvings about 5 feet high that run the full length of each wall. Some of the scenes depicting epic battles between good and evil and eventually ending in goods triumph.  Making our way into the inner we were met by a series of steep steps leading upto the center tower. To get up here your using hands and feet such was the gradient. But the view when we got there was worth it. From here you could see all around the surrounding countryside and was one of the most peaceful places I have been to on this journey so far. Getting up was hard enough coming down was ridiculous. I saw a few people who looked as though they were about to cry. they were so terrified at the thought of getting down. We spent a while just sitting there in silence and taking it all in. All in all we spent the best part of 4 hours just wandering around here, but we had to move on as there was loads more to see and besides the poor tuk tuk drivers were still sitting outside waiting for us. After that we made our way to Angkor Thom. This is another collection of temple including Bayon (the 200 odd faces) and Ta Phrom (the one with all the trees growing out of the temples). Bayon we went to the first day and then again at sunrise on the third day. Because it faces East, at sunrise it is spectacular to see as the faces begin to light up one after the other as the sun get higher in the sky. But for pure atmosphere, unreal beauty and character Ta Phrom was by and far my favourite place. It has been used as a setting to a number of films the most recent and famous being Tomb Raider 1. As you walk around the temples you are faced with huge root systems from various tree creeping along the walls, or growing down each side of a door way. To see these tree then tower into the sky is amazing. Most of the temples where reclaimed from the forest but this is an example of the forest being left alone. There is some management so that it doesn't get worse and looking at some of the walls still standing the trees roots seem to be holding it up. From certain views it just looks like a huge hand coming down from the sky and grabbing onto a wall or temple.Our second day ended quiet early for 2 reasons. 1 it was around 40degrees and impossible to go more than 10 steps before having to take a break, but to be fair this was caused because 2 we were out the night before to say goodbye to the Swedes and hungover like hell the next day. Our third day though we again got up at sunrise and headed out to Bayon. After a bit of looking around there we headed out to Banteay Srei. It lies bout 30km away from Siem Reap so tis quiet a tuk-tuk drive away. Banteay Srei is not particulary big but is famous for its very detailed and deep carvings. The temple is made from red sandstone which gives it its brilliant colour, especially when the sun is shining (which was in plenty supply, another 40 degrees odd). The site has been restored over the last number of years and its not possible to get right up close to the inner section of the temple as it has been roped off. One of the best things and sometimes worst about Angkor Wat are the kids around the place. They are everywhere trying to sell you everything from postcards to bracelets. Sometimes it can get a bit much to be surrounded by kids all of whom are looking for (and probably need) money. However the other side of it is that most of these kids are absolute characters and even when they try to be sad they just can't do it and end up breaking down with laughter. Its easy to see why Angelina adopted one of the kids after she left here. These guys are as smart as hell as well. Two of the best examples that I met were 1 guy about 5 or 6 trying to sell postcards to me one day when I was eating. Because you get so many tis easy just to say "No thanks" and after a few more times asking you the kids generally move on. But not this lad he stood there silent for a minute and again asked "You buy?", again I said no so he went silent for another few seconds before asking again "You buy?". Again I said no thanks and again he said me to buy. This went on for a minute or so before we started to race each other to see who could say their line the fastest so the conversation ended up "Buy?" "No" "Buy?" "No" "Buy?" "No" "Buy?" "No", until he started laughing. At that point I reckon he deserved it so I gave him a dollar or two for the postcards.The second example was this kid here. Again she's maybe 5 or 6 and again was trying to sell us something. She put on the poor me for a few seconds before she started laughing away. She was selling another set of postcards and as most the kids do, while she showed em to us also counted them out from 1-10. Once she got to 10 she then started to count em out again French, then German then Italian and some other languages that I didn't recognise. Mini for the laugh started to count in Irish "haon, dó, trí.." it was at this point another kid interrupted him with "ceathair, cúig, sé, seacht, hocht, naoi, deich". Although we had heard Irish being used before by local kids it was still amazing to hear it from kids so young. Anyway they hung around talking for 20 minutes or so posing for pictures, taking our cameras and taking pictures of us etc.  It was great to see how happy and friendly these kids are. They have very little money but their not on the bread line either and seem to enjoy their lot. So after 3 days and 400 or so photos you can imagine I ain't going to be putting all them up. I also didn't cover everything that we saw in those three days, there are loads more pictures of places that I didn't talk about. But as I said these temples and ruins are everywhere and there is so much to see tis impossible to talk about it all.However Mrs Horan should be receiving a CD with all my pictures on em on it so if anyone is really that interested you should have a chat with her, she also has a BRILLIANT BOOK WITH LOTS OF PICTURES AND STORIES EXPLAINING ANGKOR WAT IN DETAIL which I'm sure she is currently reading and thoroughly enjoying.Anyway I hope ye enjoy the pics!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182222240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182222240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182222240/tpod.html Wed, 04 Jul 2007 07:22:33 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Koh Tao, Thailand

Now this was a great spot. I saw practically nothing of the island itself as I spent every day in the resort which ran the dive course. My main reason for coming here was to learn how to dive and get my PADI certificate. I had heard bout this spot a long time ago and is known as the cheapest place to get your diving credentials. Mini and myself enrolled in and were sent straight to class. the first thing to get was the basic Open Water certificate. Its a 2 and a half day course with the first half of the day spent in a swimming pool getting the basics and the other 2 days comprising of dives in the sea. Along with the course we were givin a manual to read and had some tests to do along the way. It turned out to be easier than I expected. The toughest part of the course was at the start when we had to swim for 200 meters and then thread water for 10 minutes. Seein as though I can't swim worth shite that was a real challenge, but I got through it.The course was run by a guy called Assar (spelling may be wrong) and also had a Swedish lady called Verica and a French guy called Max looking after us. The last 2 mentioned were brill and we ended up having a great laugh with them.The first of our dives we got to see some of the wonderful coral that lives in the area. It was a strange feeling jumping into the water with a big tank of air on our backs, but it was made easier by the fact that I had done a basic dive when I was in Vietnam. The water in this area is spectacular. We has visibility of 30+ meters which is brilliant apparently and temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius, even at 30 meters down. The third day we did two more dives and also had our final exam which luckily everyone passed. That night we all had a few drink, one to celebrate the fact that we passed but for me mainly because it was the last time Mini and meself would be traveling together as he was heading to India. Its fair to say we celebrated in style with Max and Verica along with us for the occasion. Mini headed off the next day and I decided to hang on to do the advanced course. A few of the guys that were on the Open Water course also did the Advanced. That consisted of an Irish couple Tom and Maria (well she didn't do the advanced so Tom became my "Buddy Diver") and a Dutch couple Taco and Karin. This part of the course didn't have any tests to complete instead we had 5 dives over two days. The most impressive of which was a night dive and a 30 meter dive where we swam beside sharks and ended up having one guy come within 5-10meters of us. We even managed a pic but the visibility wasn't great so the pic is a bit hazy, but you can still see him. The night dive was just so peaceful. I had all these horror imagine of not seeing a thing and getting lost and feeling claustrophobic etc. We were givin lamps to have a look around. But at one part of the dive Poli our instructor got us to turn off our lights. It was amazing, we could still see shadows and outlines as the light from the moon was making its way down. We also got to see some of the wildlife that you don't see during the day like barracudas and sting rays. All in all I had a great time here and had some great fun with the guys we met. Unfortunately I had to go for two reasons one the silly women that looked after the rooms wouldn't give me the room for the same rate I was paying previously (you get a cheaper rate if your doing a dive course there) and secondly the weather has started to get a bit shite. It being rainy season and all so instead I decided to head to Koh Phi Phi.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1183087020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1183087020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1183087020/tpod.html Wed, 04 Jul 2007 06:49:43 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Bangkok, Thailand

Well I've nothing new to add here really except its been great South East Asia and I'm going to miss ya. But I am looking forward to getting my ass to Australia. It may be way more expensive but there will be a western normailty that I'm looking forward to getting back to. And I won't have to barter for everything (I hope) and when they insult me I'll understand what their saying (again I hope). The final 2 pics are two of the women that worked in the Green house guest house and looked after me. I stayed here everytime I went to Bangkok. They were a little cranky when we first arrived but we managed to win them over. Anyway Sydney here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182135720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182135720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182135720/tpod.html Wed, 04 Jul 2007 06:41:58 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Koh Samui, Thailand

Well the idea was to go to Koh Tao directly but when we got to the port we were told there were no more boat to Koh Tao till the next day, so we ended up getting a boat here instead so we'd be closer for the trip the next day. We only stayed one night and I wish we hadn't to be honest. The place where we stayed is covered in pubs clubs and every 2 feet someone ask you if ya want a new suit. It was bloody expensive as well, the beach hut where we stayed was a dump and I generally didn't like the place.  I wouldn't have even bothered writing anything about it only for the fact that I got pick pocketed by a few lady boys and had my wallet stolen. Mini had his camera nearly stolen by the same bastards only for the fact that he had the camera tied to his pants it would have been gone without even realizing it.Anyway the short version is that the next morning the lady at reception said that she got a phone call from another hotel who had found my wallet. Luckily for me I had left the hotel receipt in the wallet and it had my room number on it. They had taking the money obviously enough (there wasn't that much in there anyway) but had left everything else. The only other thing of any value in there was my ATM card, I normally don't bring it with me but had forgotten to leave it in the room this night. And they actually tried to guess the numbers cause the bloody thing won't work anymore. Well I couldn't really care bout that, I have my credit card so I'll be sorted one way or the other. I suppose I should be thankful that they actually put everything back into the wallet before firing it on the ground. Anyway was glad to get out of there, stupid place!!!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1183000500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1183000500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1183000500/tpod.html Wed, 04 Jul 2007 06:39:33 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Phuket, Thailand

This was another 1 day stop while I waited to get my flight back to Bangkok. The area I stayed was Patong Beach which is the busiest part of Phuket. Again this was another island affected by the tsunami but there's no sign of that now. Its a big bustling not particularly nice but has some lovely beach's. Again due to the weather the red flags were up all over the beach so I didn't venture in to see. The night life is Phuket is lively to say the least. There are a huge array of bars, I counted 3 or 4 Irish bars alone, nightclubs, Thai boxing rings, restaurants and lots of old men and young thai women. The area is pretty notorious for it. Having said that not every place is that bad and there were a few safe havens, like the irish bar (but it was dull) however the Aussie bar was excellent spot.Anyway I was away to bed early to catch me final internal flight in Thailand to Bangkok before heading to Sydney in a few days.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182913620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182913620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1182913620/tpod.html Wed, 04 Jul 2007 06:36:23 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

I took an overnight boat to get to here. I ended up staying only one night because of the weather but would loved to have stayed longer. Koh Phi Phi was one of the islands hit hard by the tsunami. It actually made up of two island Koh Phi Phi Don and Koh Phi Phi Leh. Those of you movie buffs would recognize Koh Phi Phi Leh as the island that "The Beach" was filmed on. The island is completely surrounded by limestone cliffs that can be visited as part of a day trip. Don't think anyone lives there. But as I said I wasn't there long enough to appreciate it. If I ever do come back, first off I'll make sure its before Christmas (when the weather is supposed to be great) and second will def make a trip to this part of the world again. Koh Phi Phi Don is the largest of the two islands and is where everyone stays when in this area. There isn't a huge amount to the island. Its basically full of resorts, bars, boat taxis (and their drivers annoying you every 2 seconds trying to get business) and not much else. The main reason that people come here is to dive. The dive sites around here are meant to be some of the best in Thailand. That was my reason for coming here too.Ah well maybe next time!!!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1181129280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1181129280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1181129280/tpod.html Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:58:49 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Chang Mai, Thailand

We spent a long time here, partly due to the fact that Mini applied for his Indian visa which takes a week or so to process and partly because we really liked the spot. Its the biggest city in Northern Thailand but again with the feel of a small town. The old part of the town is completely surrounded by a walled moat which is still intact.  Here the Thai government have put restrictions on buildings near the moat. They have for the most part not allowed any tall buildings to be built in the area, this has helped to keep the character of the city. The city is surrounded by hills and mountains, inside the city are a number of impressive Wat Temples. There are a number of different markets to go buy whatever you want and a huge selection restaurants serving some of the best food that I've had in Thailand not to mention the pubs. They have plenty of things going on here to keep ya occupied. We took things at a fairly relaxed pace spending 2 days doing a trek over the mountains and staying at a small village. Doing a bit of Bungy Jumping and a small bit of shooting just to keep us occupied. The trek consisted of a 2 day 1 night trip. We were collected early in the morn and driven out to visit an orchid farm, that was followed by a quick trip to the Long Neck village. Here all the women have placed ring in their necks to extend them. They start early in their life and keep adding rings until the age of 45 or so. The main objective here is for them to try and sell their goods. There wasn't really an authentic feel to this place, that their only there because the likes of us keep coming. But then again every day all they have are tourist coming upto them to take pics of em, I suppose I'd lose my enthusiasm as well if I was them. We then took a trip to do a bit of elephant riding. I wasn't too impressed with this bit. I didn't particularly like the way some of the Mahouts treated their elephants and wouldn't ever do it here again if I were to come back. Having said that there were some nice views and it was very impressive to see the sort of terrain that these guys can cover. The final part of the day was a few hours of a trek over the bloody mountains. There was a group of about 10 of us as well as a guide. Bout 10 minutes into it I was regretting going. If it wasn't bad enough going over a mountain we were also going through jungle. The weather wasn't the best and bout half way into it, it really started to pour down. Which was the last thing we needed when we were already walking on narrow mud paths with some pretty impressive falls. It was slow going as we were sliding quiet a bit. Besides that though the views were fantastic and as we walked along we were able to pick lychee's directly from the trees and eat. They are a sweet fruit that taste brilliant. Our day ended in a small village where our guide and a few other cooked for us a nice meal and we sat around and had a few drinks and a chat. The next morning woke up to the treat of about 60 mosquito bite on my feet. Little fecker had really gone to town on me. The day involved another few hours trekking over the mountain but at least this time it was dry. We went to visit a small waterfall where we were able to do a bit of a cliff jump into the water below (well 1 or 2 meters to be fair). Our day was to finish with a white water raft down the river (unfortunately it didn't last that long) and a spin on a bamboo raft (which spent most of the time touching the bottom from the amount of people on it.) And finally before we got our bus back we were able to have a look at them chopping up a bit of freshly killed pig. At nights in Chiang Mai we found ourselves a nice local bar that we went to pretty much ever night. The Chiang Mai Saloon. Besides the great food there the staff were good fun with a few free shots thrown in for good measure every now and then. Twas also the place where we met another few Irish and a French couple whom I married. I even wrote an official document. So if anyone needs someone to marry them off, just give me a shout the rates are cheap enough. Meself and Mini rented ourselves a few motorbikes and made a trip out to a bungy site. Twas only 50 meters but its feckin high when your up there looking down and I was bricking it . The jump is directly over a small lake and the idea was that I was going to get a head dip as I hit the lowest point. That never happened but I did have a great laugh and can't wait to try those New Zealand jumps. One of the last activities we did was to head to the local guns clubs, pick up an array of different guns and have some fun. The guns included a pump action shot gun, a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver (6 shooter), a Gloc .45 and some other .45 hand gun (I'm sure Darren will be able to tell me what is was when he sees the pics). The kick from the hand guns was unreal, and the shot gun was just great fun. I got a video or two thrown up for ye to look at. Besides that the rest of the time in Chiang Mai just involved walking around to the various Wat Temples and the town in itself. It is one of the few places in SE Asia that I could live in if I had to move. The only downside been that its not near the sea. The next stop for us was Koh Tao where Mini and meself would learn how to dive, wohooooo
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1180351140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1180351140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1180351140/tpod.html Sun, 01 Jul 2007 02:19:06 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Dong Det, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Well  I met up with Mini and the Piltown gang in Vang Vieng. They were there a few days ahead of me so they had all the tubing and fun already done and dusted. We were all heading down to The Four Thousand Islands so we decided to kayak down to Vientiane and from there get an overnight bus to Pakxe and finally another bus to Dong Det. I have to say I was under whelmed by the the four thousand islands. Although the area is beautiful to look at I was expecting more. Of course the fact that my small bag got robbed by some dodgy minibus driver, I've no proof but I know it was that little bollix, probably didn't help in my impression of the area. Luckily though there was nothing of monetary value in the bag, just some books and bits and pieces that I've been collecting since starting my travels. That was the most annoying thing to have lost as I was going to put them into a scrap book when I got back. Bastard!!!!! Anyway now thats out of the system,  we met up with 3 Canadian girls that the guys had met in Vang Vieng and we arrived in Dong Det. This is a small island, that only has electricity from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. We stayed in some huts, they were nothing special but enough for us to get a sleep in. And it was run by a very crafty elderly Laos lady. She was a bit of a dragon and their food sucked but there was a lovely restaurant nearby so it wasn't too much of an issue. We spent two or three days here. The first day involved a boat trip off to see the rare fresh water Irrawaddy dolphins. These guys were close to extinct but are making a bit of a comeback in Laos due to a government funded program to teach the local fishermen about how and where to put their nets. The dolphins are worshiped by the Laos as they believe them to be some sort of decedent of some god or another. Anyway our dolphin spotting consisting of sitting on a rock in the middle of the river for 20 minutes or so and off in the distance we would see what could have been anything popping out of the water every so often. We were told it was the dolphins but who knows. After that we were taking to one of the biggest waterfalls in Laos if not SE Asia. It not the height of the waterfall but the volume of water that is passing through it. Its absolutely huge and really impressive. The next day we hired a few bikes and went for a wander around. We cycled along some muddy paths to a Wat Temple. This was followed by trip to another waterfall. All the way along the local farmers were ploughing the fields getting them ready for harvesting rice. I'm sure the pics will remind some of the older folks back home of the good old days with the horse and single plough. The only difference here is they used water buffalo. At the end of the day Minis buddies and the Canadian girls headed off back to Pakxe in order to catch a flight to Cambodia. Meself and Mini continued our trip to another island for one night before heading back to Bangkok and up to Chang Mai. I was kinda glad to get out of here and move on. Although Laos was really beautiful and I absolutley loved Northern Laos, Southern Loas left a sour taste in my mouth. And I wasn't the only one to have trouble. While in Bangkok I met a dutch guy who was on the islands with us. He told me that since I last saw him he had fainted 4 or 5 times so was booking a flight home to Amsterdam to get checked out. However after he got off the islands and was waiting for a bus he passed out again. He had a vague memory of being carried under some trees by a few locals. When he woke up ALL his bags were gone. He went in search and saw a kid with a spray can that belonged to him. He nabbed the kid and made him take him to the rest of his stuff. He got to the kids home where his parents had all his stuff taking out of the bags and were sorting through it on the table. He just marched in there and started shouting and repacked. Luckily for him he got everything back and even more lucky was spotting the kid. Anyway I was heading to better places hopefully and looking forward to it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1180170180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1180170180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1180170180/tpod.html Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:48:37 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Phonsavan, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

I got meself a local bus down to Phonsavan this time complete with a guy up front with a bloody big machine gun. Tis kinda strange that they have these boys for the local buses but not for the "VIP" buses. Any which way I got talking to another Irish guy Barry from Cork he was a good laugh so when we got to Phonsavan we decided to go halves on a room and book a tour for the next day. Phonsavan is famous for a number of things, one of which of course is the Plain of Jars, the second of which is the prize for been one of the worlds most bombed areas. In fact in some of the villages UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance) are still dotted around the ground. It seems to be a normal part of life and a program has been in place for a number of years to teach the local not to touch them when they come across one, lots of lives and limbs have been lost this way and also a major program to clear the areas. The one thing I regret is not seeing the village made of bombs. Here the villagers have used bomb casings for everything, they put a bunch together to form fences, their used to as stilts for their houses as utensils etc. I only stayed here for one night as there really isn't a huge amount to do. Phonsavan is a small town and the only main attraction is the Plain of Jars. So I booked a tour of the sites the next day and off I went. The Plain of Jars refers to a number of different sites with huge stone jars dotted around each of the sites. And seeing as though the experts can't even agree on their purpose there's very little chance I'll be able to enlighten ye. Some believe they were used as funeral urns, others believe they were used to store food. Apparently the local believe that a race of giant used to live there and they were used to hold Lao Lao/ rice wine. I prefer the locals version myself. Anyway our day comprised of going to 3 of the sites and a visit to a local village, where we were shown the process they use for making Lao Lao and also treated to a taste of it. The views around here are fabulous, with rolling green hills. It kinda reminded me a lot of home in some ways, the only major difference being that everywhere you looked the landscape was covered in huge holes, bomb craters. Anyway our day finished and I booked myself a ticket back to Vang Vieng to meet up with Mini and his buddies who had made their way up.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1179107940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1179107940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edsanoz/china-2007/1179107940/tpod.html Sat, 30 Jun 2007 09:12:50 -0400 Me on my tod going around China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Aus and finally New Zealand, phew, happy days

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Luang Phabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Well after a nice long bus trip over more big mountains and fabulous scenery and another numb ass we finally got to Luang Phabang. Luang Phabang is one of the nicest and most relaxing places in Laos. It's a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site with old french colonial architecture covering the town. It was at one point the capital. The town has a small feel with about 30,000 or so living there but is very easy to navigate. There are plenty of things here to keep ya busy, hiking, biking, trekking etc none of which we did. Instead we decided to go with the flow of the town and mainly relax. Having said that we did move about a bit. We managed to go see waterfalls, black bears, a tiger (kinda),  take a boat trip up the Mekong to visit the cave of thousand Buddhas, as well as a local village where you could buy a nice bottle of Lao Lao (rice wine) complete with a cobra snake inside, there was also the choice of scorpions, huge millipedes and geckos. Apparently its a required taste but is good for the circulation according to one of the local men. We also did a 2 day stay at an elephant camp where we got to look after a few elephants. At nights then we had the local markets. There was the Hmong market where you could buy a range of goods from bed covers to knives to the infamous reptile filled bottles of Lao Lao, (one bottle of which has been winged home to the folks complete with cobra, just hope its still there when I get back).On our first morning I got up nice and early (5.50am to be exact) to view the giving of the alms to the monks. This is where all the monks from the local Wats walk in procession through the streets with a canister to receive food from the local people. The monks in these parts do not cook for themselves and so rely on the local people to get their food. Most of what they receive is rice, as they pass by they open the lid on their can and a fist full of sticky rice is deposited. I bought myself some bananas and passed them out as they passed by. The whole thing is don't in total silence with just the odd "Thank you" from some of the monks. It really was a lovely experience to see. Later in the day we went to visit some of the Wats where the monks live. The one thing about these guys is that they are eager to talk to ya. If for nothing else but to practice their English, they are always pleasant and always have a smile. They are some basic rule when meeting a monk, women are not allowed to touch any part of either the monk or his clothing and you should never be standing over them. If they are sitting you should too.We booked ourselves a trip to go live with the elephants. Well to be fair we lived in some top class room that was part of the sanctuary. They had 5 or so adult elephants and 1 baby (3 years old). All the elephants were saved from the logging industry where the elephants were treated very badly, one had lost an eye when a chain snapped and hit her. Others were giving drugs so that the elephants could keep working longer hours and one have abrasions and scars on her underside where they think she may have been stabbed with a knife in order to keep her in line. Here they are treated really well, with their day starting about 6am and finishing about 2pm. We got out to the elephants ronf 10am or so. They were already fully strapped with the basket on their backs. Mine was to be Mae Cam, an elephant in her 30's. Her Mahout (elephant handler/rider) brought her to the stand where I was supposed to hop into the chair on her back, instead he decided I should go on the neck and him in the back, where he spent most of the hour long trek sleeping and singing when awake. It was bloody scary sitting up there, and hard to keep balance constantly having to readjust myself so I wouldn't fall off. My job was to be the Mahout but I had very little to do with what direction she went.After the trek we bought some bananas to feed to the girls and went for lunch. We then came back and hoped on the elephants again to take them up into the jungle where they would stay the night. The next morning was an early start to go collect them again. Dee and Mini went off ahead on their elephants while I waited for my one to show up. This time we got on the old fashioned way. She lifted one of her legs which I stood on then had to grab onto her ear and hoist myself up. It wasn't very graceful but I got there. Again I sat on the neck with my Mahout behind me and another elephant behind us. If I though it was bad enough trying to balance when they walked it was much more difficult when they ran. My guy decided he wanted to have a race with the guy behind. Under my laughing I was bricking it but we made it down to the river, where the elephants walked in up to the top of their backs and we proceeded to wash them with a big brush. It was an amazing and fun experience and one which the girls really look forward to.We finished by bringing them back to the huts where they would be strapped up again and ready for the next lot of visitors. Once done we went and had our breakfast after which we did a 4 hour kayak back to Luang Phabang. This was also the place where Dee and Eugene were to leave us and head for India so we had ourselves a few the night before they left and headed to the local disco. Well it wasn't upto much but at least Dee was a hit with the local lads. The next morning we said our goodbyes and shed a tear or two as the guys drove off. After that Mini headed to Phonsavan/Plain of Jars while I hung around for another day and rented meself a bike to go for a look around. Its one of the nicest spots in Laos and was glad I had went there, but couldn't stay there forever so the next day I headed to Phonsavan too
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