TravelStream™ news feed for member pricklyleaf on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pricklyleaf en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:53:12 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248500895/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248500895/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248500895/tpod.html Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:53:12 -0400 Life is for the living

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Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

I had been told to try to avoid spending time in Vientianne, or only spend one night there at the most, apparently the city is less that thrilling. As I had spent so much time travelling overland recently, I also decided that I really couldn't face the 2 day journey overland into Laos, so decided to go the flashpacker way and flew instead. It was also supposed to avoid the overland borders, where officials are notorious for ripping tourists off. It turns out that this didn't make much difference. Our tiny plane made a first stop at Savannakhet airport for us to get our visas. Why we couldn't just go straight to the capitol's airport I will never know. Perhaps the plane couldn't cope with flying for more than 40 minutes at a time. Sure enough, we all had to queue up to go and sit in a little room one at a time, where an official would staple our passport photo to our application form and demand $1 off us for the privilege, which was blatantly going straight into his pocket. Oh well, could have been a lot worse. Even the old trick of asking for a receipt in English didn't work. During the long wait in the airport I met two English guys. We then joined three Australian girls in getting a taxi into the city and finding somewhere to sleep for the night. Our taxi driver spoke no English, so phoned someone who could translate where we wanted dropping off. In the end, we just got him to drop us off in the centre. I was quite excited upon seeing the centre, in that it had proper buildings and shops and was clean and tidy. Not something I had seen for quite a few months. We went out for dinner and settled on a little cafe that didn't look like much, but the food turned out to be incredible. We had duck Laap, the local dish, although we were pretty sure it was pork! It was very minty. Eventually we retreated inside as we were getting attacked by insects. It's true that there aren’t huge amounts to see or do here, but we managed to keep ourselves occupied for three days. We headed to a cooking course which was very confusing, but the food tasted good. I don't know if I will ever work out what actually happened though! We also walked to a spa near a Wat (temple). It turned out to be a steam room infused with herbs in a rickety treehouse. Thankfully, they hadn't set it up until we arrived, so it took a while to get too hot, but once it got after 15 minutes, it became unbearable so we all quit and got a tuk tuk home after looking round the Wat. So, I can see why people don't like spending time here, but it was a nice break for me in relative comfort!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248167942/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248167942/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248167942/tpod.html Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:31:24 -0400 Life is for the living

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Booking the bus through Sinh cafe again, I had assumed it would be one of their buses taking us to Siem Reap, but was quite clearly mistaken as we promptly got dropped off in the middle of down at a make shift bus stop, which was basically a section of the pavement full of plastic chairs. Oh well. Thankfully here at least, the sellers weren't very pushy. Which is more than could be said for our next stop once we had got on our main bus. We were literally mobbed by people. Following my "go to the toilet whenever you get the chance on long bus journeys rule" (you never know when the next one will or won't be), I jumped off the bus, only to be surrounded immediately by people, mainly children trying to sell me fruit. Several off them followed me and anyone else brave/foolish enough on the short walk down to the toilet block. And all the way back up, shouting at us to buy. When eventually I did decide to buy a bag of pineapple off someone, I then got shouted at by another girl who had "told me" that I had to buy from her. Needless to say, she didn't manage to persuade me to buy anything more! The selling in Cambodia is certainly some of the most aggressive I've seen in Asia, or anywhere else for that matter. Of course there was no escape. As we desperately tried to get back on the bus, we realised the driver had locked the door, leaving us to the hawkers and the girl going around placing a giant spider on people, mainly to their bemusement. Eventually the driver finished his lunch and let us back on, nobody hesitated!At the next lunch stop a few of us stayed on the bus. A couple of locals were shouting down the bus at each other, I didn't really think much of it, although it was a little unusual. Soon enough, everyone was back onboard and we set off again. The girl I was sat next to commented on how fast we were driving suddenly. After being in Asia for a few months, I hadn't really noticed, I've kind of got used to the crazy driving here. But soon after there was a big commotion on the bus. Everyone, except for the 8 of us Farang (Westerners) started chatting very loudly and excitedly and looking round at everyone. This went on for a good few minutes whilst all of us tourists just exchanged very confused looks. I saw a shawl being pulled out of a bag at the back, so I thought maybe someone had been sick (not an unusual occurrence on these roads!). Then someone realised that the woman at the back had gone into labour, and was giving birth on the bus. It turns out the driver had put his foot down to try to get us to the nearby health centre on time. We pulled over and everyone started getting off. Still not aware as to what was going on, we decided to also get off, it seemed to be the thing to do.The two of us getting off last saw the baby shooting across the seat, and the 2nd person saw it fall onto the floor. We were getting pretty concerned as we didn't hear it cry. Eventually a man carried the mother out. There was a bit of confusion and he eventually was told to go to the house rather than the health centre across the road, perhaps that was where the staff were. A woman carried the baby off a few minutes later. The baby looked very blue and still, so we were really quite worried. After another 10 minutes, a lot of the passengers emerged smiling and laughing, so we can only assume that everything was OK. But we will never know.Arriving into a bus station, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, we were all assigned tuk tuk drivers. Mine begged me to give him a job and hire him to take me around the temples the following day. After he took me straight to the hostel I had requested and seemed like a very honest man I agreed to hire him. It broke my heart how desperate he was to work and how little opportunities there were for him. It is the low season here, where it rains nearly everyday for an hour or so, so things are particularly difficult at this time of year. Speaking to him the next day, we found out that his average monthly income was about 30 pounds a month, from which he must buy petrol for the tuk tuk, not to mention all the usual living costs. I'm almost certain that he lived in the tuk tuk, as he had a small compartment in the front containing a few worn clothes and other very meager possessions. Sadly, this is very common.Siem Reap itself is famous for what is billed as the 8th wonder of the world. Angkor Wat and the surrounding plethora of temples are some of the most impressive in the world for good reason. I invited a girl from my dorm room to join me on my day around the temples. We headed for the famous Angkor Wat first, before touring round several temples, everything from the Elephant and Baboon temples, to one with incredibly steep steps. For some reason, we felt compelled to climb up it, despite the fact it was really hot and you couldn't even fit your whole foot on the steps they were so small. Each step came up to about my knee and even higher where they'd been worn away. Health and Safety would have had a field day! It was pretty scary in places but we eventually managed to make it up to the top and joined the other few tourists who like us, were stupid enough to attempt the climb. We all stood looking down, wondering how on earth we were going to get back down there. Ever graceful, I did it the only way I know how, on my bum!My highlight had to be the so called Jungle temple. Huge trees grow out of the walls, covering them with dramatic root systems. Apparently some of Tomb Raider was filmed here, and I can certainly see why. We spent a little longer than planned in the temple as we managed to get completely lost and came out of the wrong exit. But never-mind, it meant we managed to find the photograph we were looking for. By the end of the day we were "templed out". (Quite a common occurrence when travelling through Asia!). But I have to say, they were certainly the most impressive temples I've ever seen, and well deserve all the publicity they receive.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248166841/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248166841/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1248166841/tpod.html Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:38:31 -0400 Life is for the living

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I watched from our bus window as platefuls of fried cockroaches came floating past. No I wasn't having a strange dream (you'd be lucky to get a wink of sleep on these roads!), the plates were in fact balanced upon the heads of the woman trying to sell us some. Another van pulled up into the line waiting for the short ferry. Almost immediately attention shifted, the van was surrounded within seconds. If you didn't fancy the cockroaches, there is always the giant seed pods. Hands grabbed through the windows as money, and what passes as food in these parts, were exchanged. Another car, another wave of attack.Cambodia has rather a reputation for being pretty full on with the hawkers. You don't have to look too far into its past to realise why. The poverty here is extreme.My journey over the border was very smooth. Which is more than can be said for the roads. Having had a cold in Saigon, I was worried that I would get stopped at the obligatory swine flu temperature checkpoint, present on every border these days. Luck was on my side when for some reason, they decided not to check my temperature, despite taking everyone else on the buses. The Cambodian quarantine did not sound appealing, so for this I was incredibly grateful. The bus dropped us off at a hotel quite a way out of town. As the rooms were cheap and I was feeling lazy, I decided just to stay there. I couldn't believe it when I walked into my room. It was huge! Housing not one, but two king sized beds, there was more than enough room to spare, and it even had a balcony. What on earth was I meant to do with all this space?! I had to go downstairs just to check the price again, for what I was getting, it was cheap even by Cambodian standards.As I was so far out of town and on limited time, I decided to hire a tuk tuk to take me around all the main sights of Phnom Penh. My senses were assaulted with smells and sights. People constantly ask you for money in some shape or form and are in obvious poverty, all this with a backdrop of extravagant palaces, temples and gardens. The less said about the smells, the better. Watching the world go by from the back of the tuk tuk was enjoyable. At one point I saw a new record sighting, 6 people somehow balanced on the back of a motorbike. 6!My first stop was the Royal Palace. I started wandering through and admiring the gardens, enjoying the stroll I only realised just in time that I couldn't go any further. Apparently the palace is still in use, I would have liked to have seen inside that bit! In the grounds of the palace that unfold as you walk through, sits "the silver Pagoda" So named because the floor is made out of solid silver tiles. You have to take their word for it on the most part, as the majority of the tiles are kept safely under a carpet to minimize damage. Some of the tiles are in great condition, and you can imagine what the pagoda would look like in its full glory, but sadly, the tiles are looking a little worse for wear. Still, now I can say I've walked on a floor paved with silver!The next stop was the National Museum. Not really much else to say about that one, it wasn't exactly enthralling.Lunch was a little random. My driver dropped me off at a roadside eatery, aka street cafe, which really is your bread and butter food whilst in Asia. My choices were duck stew, which was literally the whole duck, chopped up, floating around in a big vat. As I watched an entire foot float by, I pretty much wrote that one off, although it wouldn't be the first time I had found a bird foot in my food unexpectedly. Which left me with a dish which looked even worse, in the fact ti was totally unidentifiable. The final dish, looked like at least parts of it were edible, if not palatable, so I went for that one. I wouldn't exactly call it my favorite meal since I've been travelling.And then comes the serious bit. The Killing fields and the Toul Sleng (S21) Museum. I warn you now, some of this is quite graphic.Your first sight upon entering the killing fields is a tall structure (a stupa). You don't have to walk much further to see that it contained thousands of skulls, piled up on shelves as high as the eye could see. It was impossible to even begin to comprehend the scale of the brutality and the numbers of people killed during the Khymer Rouge routine. All were guilty of no crime. All were not just killed, but tortured. All because they were of the wrong parentage, educated, for being a doctor or a teacher, for trading in a free market. Horrific. And only 30 years ago. Walking on the paths in between the mass graves, with hundreds of people buried in each pit, you can see bones and even make out whole skeletons under your feet, coming through the worn away path. A sign points out "the magic tree" where speakers were hung to cover up any noises. From another tree in the grounds, babies were murdered by being hung by their feet and swung against it until they were dead. There were once windowless buildings where people were held for days on end, just waiting to be killed, because the amount of people coming through were too great. All in all, more than a quarter of the population of Cambodia was killed during this period. Everyone in Cambodia today has relatives or friends who were murdered.Toul Sleng aka S21 prison was once a school before the Khymer Rouge turned it into a prison and holding ground, the one stop before the killing fields. Today it is a museum, commemorating those affected. Barbed wire lines the balcony, a simple sign states that it was necessary to prevent desperate prisoners from committing suicide. Blood stains are everywhere, on the walls, floors, even the ceilings. Bullet holes pocket the walls, although most people were killed and tortured using more primitive weapons to save ammunitions. Ramshackle wooden and brick cells still remain, with barely enough room for a person to lie down. The larger cells display the remains of a "bed" and show graphic photographs of corpses that are barely recognizable as human, they have been so mutilated. Amongst the thousands of photographs of the victims, one really stood out. A woman stands holding her baby. The look in her eyes was all things at once, angry, challenging, compassionate, pleading, desperate, but most of all dignified. Desperate to protect the life of her baby, but at the same time resigned to their joint fate.Of course this is now all in the past. Cambodia certainly has its problems, but things can only improve from here on in, especially with the growing tourism to the country. Cambodian people live in poverty, but are incredibly hard working and want nothing more than to be able to earn their own living. Everyone I met was warm and friendly. I hope that things improve soon for them and they can overcome their troubled history.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651388/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651388/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651388/tpod.html Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:50:26 -0400 Life is for the living

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Getting overnight buses for two nights in a row was never going to be much fun. Lets face it, getting one is not much fun! I wasn't quite prepared for what I got however. On the bus from Hoi an to Nhe trang started off OK. We drove past a beautiful sunset over the mountains and reflecting in the rivers and lakes. We noticed our driver was a little crazier than most, constantly using the horn and driving too fast, but then at the first rest stop, the reserve driver took over and was fine. It wasn't until 2am when it was time for our drivers to swap again that the "fun" began. Everyone in the front half of the bus was immediately woken up by the constant honking again. The driver seemed to think that the horn was connected to the accelerator pedal as he honked even when there was nothing else on the road. Apart from the honking, he was going far too fast. I was, by some miracle, just drifting off to sleep, only to be woken up by the fact we were skidding over into the gutter on the right. (They drive on the right here). I didn't see what happened that time, but I certainly saw half an hour later when the driver zoomed round a corner in the middle of the road and nearly hit a huge HGV coming in the opposite directions. Both the bus and the truck slammed on the breaks and thankfully we didn't hit him. Even a bus wouldn't have had a chance against that lorry. At this point our relief driver also decided that it was a little too close for comfort and took over even though it wasn't his shift, driving us for the rest of the journey, much to the relief of everyone on the bus.Rather understandably, I wasn't looking forwards to the next journey. People always worry about the dangers from muggings etc when you are travelling, but really, road safety is one of the biggest dangers.I was very tired when I arrived in Nhe trang and worse than that, I stank and hadn't brushed my teeth for a very long time. Leaving my big bag in the bus office, I went in search of breakfast and a toilet where I could change out of my clothes and freshen up. For once I was grateful that all Asian toilets have a shower head in them. I had thought about getting a hotel room, where I could at least get a couple of hours sleep, but on the way to get food, I realised there was a beach. I hired a sun-lounger for a fraction of the price of a room and it was comfier than any bed I had slept in for a long time! I spent most of the day on the beach and in cafes before it was time to get back on the bus. Thankfully, it was a different set of drivers from the previous night and the trip down to Saigon (now known officially as Ho Chi Minh city, but nobody calls it that) was uneventful.I had managed to get a cold on the buses, so I didn't really do much in Saigon, trying to get my temperature down enough to cross the border and not be put in quarantine. With the swine flu epidemic, every border checks your temperature these days. It was nice to have a rest after the long journey!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651271/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651271/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651271/tpod.html Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:47:08 -0400 Life is for the living

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Hoi An, Vietnam

Since before my arrival into Vietnam, I had been looking forwards to my time in Hoi an. Apart from the fact I planned on having a bit of a 'holiday' here, basically meaning I was staying here for 7 nights instead of 2 or 3 and that I wasn't really going to bother with much sight-seeing, Hoi an is famous for its tailors. Its perhaps unsuprising therefore, that now the town has been taken over by tailor shops, leaving only a little room for the few shops selling souveniers and for the cafes. Which of course, all cater towards the tourists.I went in the shop with the intention of buying 2 suits, 2 dresses, a Winter coat and nothing more. 5 days later I left with 3 suits, 3 dresses, 3 shirts, a long-sleeved top and a pair of jeans and a Winter coat. I thought I did quite well to only buy one Winter coat...Still, I was pretty reserved in my buying compared to a lot of people. Its traditional here to buy far more than you intend to or can afford. But when you compare the prices to those at home and then take into account the fact that all the clothes are tailored to fit you perfectly, you choose the design, colour, fabric and even the stiching if you want, you really can't blame anyone for getting a little carried away! All the buying turns into a bit of a mission. Meeting up with people becomes tricky, as everyone works around the schedules of their fittings. Hours can be spent in the shops, choosing what you want to buy, being measured for each garment, going back for the clothes to be altered. And the experience isn't necessarily a pleasent one. I felt like I was about to feint during more than one of my measurings and had to sit down for a while. Hoi an is one of the hottest places I've been to and none of the shops have air con. But of course in the end, it is all worth it!Hoi an being a small place, I bumped into a few people I'd met earlier in the streets, and we went to dinner along the picturesque streets. Hoi an also happens to be a Unesco World Heritage site. I jumped on the back of a bike that a couple of girls had hired, and we cycled around for a bit before deciding it was far too hot. Thankfully, the cafe we stopped at had iced towels to cool us down!And so I spent a good week doing very little but enjoying every minute of it. And of course I spent far too much money, not just on clothes, but souveniers as well.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651105/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651105/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247651105/tpod.html Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:54:27 -0400 Life is for the living

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Hue, Vietnam

I hadn't really planned on stopping in Hue, nor did I know anything about it. But, as it happened to be a stop on my open ticket, I thought I might as well spent a couple of nights there. The overnight bus down to Hue wasn't as bad as an experience as people had me believe. That said, I wasn't too impressed with the fact my legs were covered in insect bites, and that the insects now seemed to be living in my sleeping bag. The driver laid off the horn after lights out and I didn't notice many near-death crashes along the way. I even managed to bag the only bed on the bus which was completely flat. Presumably, it had been left by everyone else as it was directly over the toilet, but as it wasn't smelling at this point, I decided to take the risk and go for the extra space. All the other beds were on a slight angle, your feet are underneath the upper body of the person in front of you, and as such were pretty cramped. Yet another advantage to being short!The hostel were offering a cheap day tour around the main sights of the city, and I decided it would be wise to take it, as I knew my sight-seeing productivity would probably be very low and short-lived otherwise. I was immediately glad of that decision as I met a group of lovely people. Our first stop was the "incense and hat making village". Really here, you should read tourist market, where they will make some incense and hats when the tourists arrive to try to convince them to buy some and then stop making as soon as the tourists leave. Nevertheless, it was nice to see how the incense is made traditionally, and the conical hats with their silhouetted designs when held up to light were quite novel.Once we had spent enough time at the market to convince the tour operators and stall holders alike that we were in fact, not going to buy anything, we moved on to the first tomb. The entire length of the river here is lined with the tombs of the Kings that used to rule Vietnam. Although some of the building was in disrepair, the main areas were all still in tact, and it certainly was impressive. The grounds themselves turned out to be huge. It was a beautiful setting along the river and into the forrest. Statues of soldiers and elephants lined up in front of the entrance. We desperately wanted to climb onto the elephant, but decided it probably wasn't a good idea, no matter how inviting it was!The last tomb we headed for was that of "the gay king". In case you didn't get that, he was "the gay king". That is the king that was gay. Our guide must have told us this about 30 times in the course of 10 minutes, and it began to be slightly amusing. We almost started taking bets on how many times he was going to say it in one sentence! The tomb was extravagant to say the least. The king actually taxed the population 30% of their wages in order to pay for the building, and rather unsurprisingly, he was not too popular for this. To get to the main chamber of the tomb, you must climb around 100 steps. This was so that everyone approaching the tomb had to look up to the King and could never look down on him as they had during his life. The main chamber itself is completely adorned with mosaic and in the centre a gold statue of the king sits atop his throne.Once we had managed to find our way down the stairs and collapse with exhaustion into the bus seats, we headed back to town for lunch. This turned out to be one of the best meals I ever had in Asia. It was a huge buffet and the food was all incredibly tasty. We headed to the Citadel feeling a lot fuller. The Citadel is the equivalent to the forbidden city in Beijing, only on a much smaller scale, partly due to the fact it was bombed flat during the war with America. The government are trying to rebuild it, which is a concept I always find strange as it is usually glaringly obvious which parts are original and which aren't, I can't get used to the idea of new builds being passed off as an old building. Its very common in this part of the world, which seems to be totally opposite to Western ideals.After waiting for our boat to realise we were waiting for it (the boat was sat in the middle of the river with the operators sleeping on deck), we all climbed aboard our "dragon boat". I hadn't actually realised we were going to be getting on the boat as part of the tour, I think I read the first two items of the description before I booked it, occupational hazard when you've been travelling for a while! The "dragon boat" consisted of two canoe style boats with a big hut balanced on top. We sat on the classic plastic garden chairs. In fairness, someone had fashioned two dragon heads at the front of the boat out of a bit of metal and painted them up.We sat on the baking hot boat for about 40 minutes as we crawled our way up the river. When we eventually got there, we arrived at a lovely pagoda. Monks of all ages from about 4 years old up to adult were all lined up fully robed, conducting a ceremony, which was great to see. I wasn't sure how much of it was for the crowd of tourists watching! Thankfully the boat ride back was both cooler and faster. We all met up for dinner and a walk later. Unfortunately this meal did not live up to my lunch. I made the mistake of ordering a ham, cheese and egg toasty, and hadn't anticipated the fact it would be the greasiest toasty I've ever seen with a fried egg sat on the top of the sandwich. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247650730/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247650730/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247650730/tpod.html Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:17:25 -0400 Life is for the living

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Halong Bay, Vietnam

The other must-see from Hanoi, is a trip to Halong bay. Wary of all the stories of dodgy tour operators, I opted for a trip with my backpackers hostel. After a 3 hour bus journey, during which the bus spent more time driving on the wrong side of the road and swerving vehicles at the last minute than the right, we were on our boat which was surprisingly luxury. The sun was shining, we all burnt ourselves on the boiling hot sun loungers and we listened to some music whilst we waited for the 2 last passengers to arrive. Their places had been taken accidental by a Dutch couple, who thought they could just get on the bus, and so the 2 people who were supposed to be with us, had to get a taxi instead. Once they arrived we set sail into the bay, having lunch and admiring the view.Before we were allowed into our cabins, we had to go on a sea-kayaking trip to view some caves. It was great rowing in between the huge limestone karsts on the blue water, although it was pretty hard work, keeping the kayaking going in the right direction. We landed outside the front of a cave, and after sending a few people on a mission to rescue a canoe that was floating away because it hadn't been tied up properly, we went on an exploration mission inside the cave. As this one hadn't been adapted for tourists, it involved rather a lot of squeezing through very small gaps, that I wasn't particularly happy about, but I only coped with because the cave wasn't very deep, and we broke out into the sunshine at one point. It turns out there was a lake in the middle of the karst, which was nice to see. We kayaked back, at a slightly slower pace than on the way there, whilst watching the sunset over our waiting boat and the surrounding landscape, very beautiful.Many of the group decided to go for a swim, jumping off the side of the boat, but just as a few of us were going to jump, a huge jellyfish floated by in our landing zone, so we decided against the idea! A couple of people did get stung over the couple of days, but thankfully, this time I wasn't one of them!The next day we said goodbye to a few of the group and headed to the Catba island area where the hostel own a private beach. We were told that the water was too choppy to get a boat across that day, so we had to get the bus, but somehow we weren't convinced that the group ever got the boat. It was a short ferry trip from the bus to the private beach, which turned out to be not finished, but still habitable. A group of us claimed one of the few huts (and when I say huts, the sides are all open) which had a finished roof. We were thankful to see we had mosquito nets here! We spent the day relaxing and playing cards etc. Dinner was a fantastic BBQ, and as we were all really hungry by this point, it didn't last very long. Late into the evening, it started to rain. This wasn't a problem under the shelter of the bar area. We all decided to brave the jellyfish (and rubbish) and go for a swim. In this part of the world there is an algae in the water that is phosphorescent. When you swim in the water, it looks like you are leaving trails of green glitter, it really is amazing. As the rain disturbs the surface of the water, the effect is even better. I've never seen anything like that before, I didn't even know it was possible!It was getting quite late, and still pouring with rain, and so I decided to get to bed. A little saddened by the fact no blankets or pillows were provided, and yet, we were told we didn't need to bring them, I lay down under my mosquito net. Drip. A huge drop landed on my arm. Drip. And now my face. Drip. You get the picture. The roof was anything but waterproof. Thankfully I had brought my waterproof jacket, and so I huddled under that, whilst trying to keep my bag dry, and grinned and bared the falling droplets on my legs. We all got totally soaked that night, and it wasn't exactly warm enough to be sleeping in shorts and no blanket either. Needless to say, we were all pretty thankful to be getting off the island.This time, we did get a boat all the way, and it turned out they really weren't lying about how choppy the water was. None of us particularly enjoyed that journey, and were feeling slightly worse for wear when we finally did get onto dry land!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247497580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247497580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1247497580/tpod.html Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:26:56 -0400 Life is for the living

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Sapa, Vietnam

I had been told that Sapa was a must-see in Northern Vietnam, so I gritted my teeth and paid the money for a 4 night mini-tour. 2 of those nights were to be spent on a train, a prospect I wasn't overly looking forwards to, having been warned that the trains in Vietnam are terrible. It turned out to be really nice, admittedly, we were on a soft sleeper (2nd class), but it certainly didn't live up to the horror stories.Sapa is famous because several minority tribes live and work in a relatively small area. I made it up in time to go and see the Sunday market, held by the Flower Hmong people. The flower Hmong tribe wear the most colourful clothes of the area, and probably more colourful than most of the world. Each dress is packed full with different coloured threads, although the men just wear a simple black trouser and top. The market was a huge mixture between people selling food, crafts for tourists, clothes for the locals and then sections selling live ducks, piglets and puppies (yes, they eat dogs here!) to take home and fatten up. I just couldn't get used to the sight of a very cute puppy being put in a shopping basket and carried home. We found another section in the back selling horses and cattle and general home wears, it was almost like an open-air department store during the Christmas rush. The whole place was jam-packed full with people, thankfully, nearly all locals and not just tourists!The rest of the day was filled with a short walk through some rice plantations, and a look in one of the villagers houses. It seemed a little random, being a group of tourists, turning up on someones doorstep for a look inside, but it would seem that this is a regular occurrence for the locals, and they didn't seem too bothered, considering they get paid for the privilege of being invaded for 10 minutes every so often. It was nice to see a real working house in operation.After a break for lunch, we hopped on another bus to head up to the actual town of Sapa. Apparently the road wasn't wide enough in places as we soon found out when a man on a bike (loaded up with pigs balanced in a cage on the back) started shouting at our driver. He then moved on to waving a huge stick at our driver in a rather intimidating way, all the while, his bus load of tourists sat in the back looking slightly confused and concerned. One of the woman sat in the front was from Australia, but had Vietnamese heritage and spoke the language. She translated the argument for us, which basically went along the lines of, now he's calling him a @#*&!, now he's saying he will kill him if he doesn't move out of the way. All because the road was too small and one of them would have to reverse a tiny distance to get past. Taking road rage to new extremes!Once in Sapa, we had little time to look around the market before dinner, which was possibly a good thing as it meant we couldn't spend all our money! The hotel turned out to be really nice, probably one of the nicest places I've stayed during my travels! I was quite sad we were only staying there for one night. The next day it was time for us to start our hiking. We were worried that it was going to be hard-going, but it turned out to be fine. We walked quite slowly through the humidity of the day, but we made it to lunch in a small cafe in the middle of the rice plantations in good time. The children of the village spent the whole time leaning through the "window" trying to sell us bracelets which was a little off-putting whilst we were eating our lunch!After making a few purchases from the children and also the women who had followed us all the way from our starting point, as is customary here, we walked the rest of our way to our homestay. We were really pleased with our accommodation, as it turned out it really was staying in someones house, rather than the hostels in the area that claim to be home stays, but actually aren't. Our hosts welcomed us with the help of our guide translating. We had time to have a walk around the village, which was mainly accommodation for the farming families, but there were clear signs of tourism moving into the area, with a few buildings being turned into shops to sell the handicrafts to visitors, and many sterilized "homestays" opening up.Our hosts prepared a lovely traditional meal for us. We spent the evening chatting, whilst being eaten by bugs, and then a couple of us invited the family to play some card games for us. The women declined, but the men obliged. We started simply, (remembering that our hosts speak no English, and we speak no Vietnamese!) so we had a few rounds of snap. One of the men got very excited, so we moved on to chase the ace. I've no idea how we managed to explain the rules, but somehow it seemed to work. During this time, our hosts fed us rice wine, the local home brew. Thankfully it wasn't very strong considering the amount they kept giving us! After a few more card games, and trying to learn to count in Vietnamese and English, we headed upstairs onto the balcony to our beds, which were surprisingly comfy considering they were just a mattress on the floor with a mosquito net.The next day, we trekked back round to Sapa. We picked a few huge cucumbers from the garden of a friend of our guide and paid the old lady a visit. We weren't allowed in the house, as apparently the lady was in the middle of a 3-day period of honoring her ancestors, symbolised by an upright stick outside the entrance to the house. No visitors are allowed in the house during this time, as it is believed they will bring spirits into the house with them. So she brought some chairs outside for us, and we ate the cucumbers. They actually turned out to be a little bitter in the centre, but were still very refreshing. We then went down to a waterfall for a bit of a swim before lunch. Soon it was time to go back to Sapa for a quick shop and a shower, before our very long and windy bus ride down to the train station. All of us felt travel sick on that journey, it was not pleasant.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1246006728/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1246006728/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1246006728/tpod.html Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:53:56 -0400 Life is for the living

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Hanoi, Vietnam

As always, it seems, the trip from the airport to the hostel certainly threw up many unexpected sights. That was, at least, once I had managed to locate my taxi driver. At first I just thought he was late. But after everyone else from my flight had disappeared off, I decided to call the hostel. This proved to be a lot of hassle in itself as I ended up having to buy a sim card and of course, got totally ripped off for the privilege paying about 3 times its worth and the woman was refusing to barter. Calling the hostel the lady told me to go and wait by the meeting point. The meeting point turned out to be non-existent. Asking a couple of people they all said there used to be one and told me a different place as to where it used to be. I decided to go back and stand by the gate. After a while a security guard came along, amongst all the usually taxi drivers drumming up business and asked me what I was doing. Eventually he made me go and sit down, obviously he felt some sort of urge to assert his authority. Can't have foreign tourists standing in the airport can we now?!Eventually, after many phone calls, both to the hostel and the driver, who spoke no English, calling me, somehow he managed to find me. Driving past 3 bikes each with a huge tree on the back (thick trunks and probably not much shorter than me) I wondered how on earth they were going to be transported, and how they got the things to stay on in the first place, and how the bikes hadn't fallen over. I also managed to spot 5 people riding on one motorbike, and a family of 3, who whilst the Dad was driving the motorcycle down the highway, the mother was changing the baby's nappy. As we got closer into the centre I got my first glimpse of life in Vietnam, everything, from restaurants to barbers, is conducted in the middle of the street. It turns out that this makes it pretty difficult to walk down the street, with having to avoid the people sitting on the tiny stools, the kind they use for reception class, every 2 metres, meaning you have to step out into the road a chance it with the huge volume of motorcycles driving down the street. Crossing the road is certainly a challenge. Basically, wait for there to be no cars and then just step out, staring the oncoming motorcycles in the eye and praying that they will swerve round you, which they will as that is how things are done here!Once I got over the culture shock, I began to really like Hanoi. Commercialism certainly isn't present here, which is pretty refreshing. People are very friendly, if you sit by the lake, people come and talk to you to practise their English and find out a bit about your life compared to theirs. And here, they genuinely are practising their English rather than just trying to sell you something/get your money in some other way. An IT student started chatting to me one day whilst I was sat here. It turns out, our lives have more in common than I thought they would. The big noticeable difference however, was the opportunities. In the UK, we have huge opportunities to get a good job, to travel, to live how we want to live if we are willing to work hard enough for it. In Vietnam, those opportunities are a lot harder to come by, if present at all. I had enough time in Hanoi to have a good walk around, the old quarter isn't too large. The markets are bustling with life, motorcycles squeezing down narrow alleyways, dodging women balancing baskets attached to a pole on their shoulders, piled high with food. The classic, conical hat is everywhere here, cheap, lightweight and effective, you possible couldn't buy a more practical hat!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1245575607/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1245575607/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pricklyleaf/1/1245575607/tpod.html Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:53:58 -0400 Life is for the living

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Macau, China

Passport stamp hunters as all travellers are, Maireas and I decided to head across to Macau for the day, so we could add an additional country to the list. Plus it gave us something to do. It turned out to be worth it, as once through the ridiculously long passport control queues, (apparently a lot of people had the same idea as us!), Macau turned out to have a lot going for it. Billed as being the Las Vegas of China, Macau is a former Portuguese colony, now taken over by huge casinos. Head into the centre of town however, and you are rewarded by stunning Portuguese architecture with a Chinese twist. The pedestrianised street winds its way round, leading you to the front of a Cathedral. Just the front mind you, as the rest of the building is no longer standing, only the front remains. Its lack of pretty much the entire building, doesn't seem to put any of the tourists of however. And of course you can buy your own miniature reconstruction to take home with you. Flat-packed for your convenience!Our trip over to Macau served another purpose for me. I finally found a dragon puppet, something I had been looking for, for ages. I had first seen them in Singapore and had been kicking myself since for not buying one. Not exactly the fanciest things in the world, but it keeps me entertained! Mainly due to the heat, we didn't spend very long walking around, and ended up doing quite a bit of people watching after Mairaes managed to pick-up a few last minute bits and pieces. After a trip to the bakery it was time for us to get the bus to the ferry port and head back over to Hong Kong.
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