TravelStream™ news feed for member swhale on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/swhale en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:54:45 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1230021360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1230021360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1230021360/tpod.html Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:54:45 -0400 Indochina, including Thailand, Laos, Christmas in Vietnam and New Years in Cambodia.

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Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Up early to get down to the town's museums. Luang Prabang houses the kings home, now a museum of gifts of state. These range from beautiful Japanese murals to a model of the moon lander from the US that looked as though a kid had failed to copy a Blue Peter egg box and Fairy Liquid make properly and his parents couldn't be bothered to help with the sharp scissors. Next was a wander round a couple of temples and a monk craft shop which isn't my thing, but on the walk there we scouted out a few good bars and restaurants for later in the day. With not much to do at midday we retired to an air conditioned Internet cafe to research the next town and make a start on the blogging. Typically that got dull and we moved next door to a bar with enough bean bags for everyone, and early drinks. Suitably refreshed we climbed up 400 Bhudda lined steps to the top of a hill overlooking the town, which is a popular spot to watch the sunset. Seems we picked the same day as a specialist Japanese photo tour as 40 tripod wielding, utility coat wearing but quite short fellows had lined every inch of free space around the edge of the hill with cameras. I could see over their heads but the others got a bit irate. To be honest it wasn't much of a sunset anyway, but took an unexpected twist when a chap appeared from nowhere, presumably having free climbed the cliff face, and took position on the edge of the rock in front of the dismayed Japanese and started juggling. After recovering from making our way down the steps we wandered round the night Market looking for dinner but got distracted by Oreo milkshakes. We walked about for over an hour until we reached the other side of the market, conveniently close to one of the bars we'd noticed earlier which had a 2-for-1 happy hour from 6-9 which seemed to last until gone midnight. (The Hive bar).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1230425520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1230425520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1230425520/tpod.html Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:51:08 -0400 Indochina, including Thailand, Laos, Christmas in Vietnam and New Years in Cambodia.

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Chau Doc, Vietnam

Leaving the home stay we dropped in at a brick factory for some reason then carried on to the port to catch the ferry to Can Tho, the capital of the Mekong Delta. Here we had to wait a while for the bus in the rain so dripping wet started our 6hr bus ride to the Cambodian border.Nothing much happened so stopped off and helped a chap dig a huge hole, just to relieve the boredom. Not sure what the hole was for but he seemed happy.The bus showed a Vietnamese action movie called The Rebel after lunch, which was great but did prove that girly girls shouldn't be allowed to watch martial arts movies if they're going to scream "ouch!" at every punch and kick.Finally got to Chau Doc, were we waited the night so as to start the border crossing early in the morning. Would like to say I spent the afternoon doing something cultural but instead skipped lunch and went to the gym to watch Sean Connery in The Rock whilst getting a bit of exercise after sitting down all day. Dinner was on a floating restaurant that served a variety of dishes, each including frog and "not frog". Not sure what I had but am pretty sure it would have included gecko poo given how many were running round the ceiling.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1164912540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1164912540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1164912540/tpod.html Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:48:15 -0400 Beijing to Istanbul overland, then India and Nepal

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Kathmandu, Nepal

Number of countries visited: 10Distance travelled overland: 20,000km Beijing to Istanbul + 2,000km Mumbai to Kathmandu Distance travelled overall: 42,000km including flightsCircumference of the earth: 40,000kmDifferent types of transport used: 43 <i>if you allow the inclusion of some spurious ones: (taxi, train, plane, tram, furnicular, bus, sampan, boat, cable-car, moving walkway, toboggan, tarpaulin, donkey, donkey cart, donkey-drawn carriage, horse, minivan, random guy's private car, speedboat, cruise boat, raft, inner tube, flying fox, metro, camel (one humped and two), back of a pick-up truck, ferry, dodgem, roller coaster, ferris wheel, flight simulator, shank's pony, tuk-tuk, bicycle, jeep, dragon boat, small plane, hot-air balloon, auto-rickshaw, elephant, dug-out canoe and of course the Dragotruck)Narrowly missed out on a palanquin (felt sorry for the bearers).Photos Taken: 4102 - Don't worry, there won't be a slideshow
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1163833980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1163833980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1163833980/tpod.html Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:47:00 -0400 Beijing to Istanbul overland, then India and Nepal

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Panna Tiger Reserve, India

We drove to Panna Tiger Reserve and whilst the others set up camp in a clearing I wandered about and found reception who gave me the keys to a fully equipped tree-house with fans and en-suite bathroom for the princely sum of $4, so no tent for me tonight.5.30 in the morning we all boarded jeeps and headed off into the bush/jungle to spot some tigers. We saw quite a few things that tigers would eat, such as deer, antelope, cows and small children, none of whom seemed particularly concerned that there may be tigers nearby. The guide also seemed a bit vague on the last time a tiger had been seen in these parts and continued to point out small birds and interesting trees. We had fun, more at the expense of the lack of tigers than actually seeing anything great, but I would have appreciated one of the locals dressing up like Tony the Tiger and running across the road whilst shouting "They'rrre Great!". The afternoon was spent at Khajuraho temples, famed for their erotic carvings featuring combinations of men, women and at least one horse. Innuendo quickly grew tiring and we retired to a local cafe for the usual lemon soda with chai chaser.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1158320700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1158320700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/asia2006/1158320700/tpod.html Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:43:42 -0400 Beijing to Istanbul overland, then India and Nepal

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Song-Kul, Kyrgyzstan

Very cool 5 days living like Kyrgyz shepherds.We opened up the roof seats of the truck and whilst ducking power lines got very cold driving the truck off-road for 4 hours into the middle of nowhere, next to the Song-Kul lake where we found our homes for the next few days - yurts sleeping 5 people with just a couple of blankets for beds.Whilst in the yurts we did a number of activities such as hikes, making jam and cream and riding about on horses, which was a first for me. My horse did very little other than eat all day, apparently because I wasn't kicking it hard enough in the ribs, but that tended to make me feel a bit guilty, so I let the horse dawdle along at it's own pace.The first night we realised our yurt had seen better days and we could see the lightning and feel the rain dripping through the holes in the top.The second night the temperature got down to -10C, which was chilly, especially as the door of the yurt fell off...but in the morning the ground was covered in a thick layer of snow which made the lake and mountain look amazing.At this point 4 Germans rode up and asked if they could have the sleeping blankets we were using as they were expecting a hotel and were cold. Having just survived a night at -10 everyone was very attached to their 2 blankets and didn't really want to hand one over. Turned out they all had sleeping bags anyway and were just being greedy.After the sun came up and quickly melted the snows we were treated to a game of Goat Polo, where a goat is beheaded and the carcass used at the ball in a game between two teams of two (or randomly four?) and has to be wrestled from the opposing team and placed on a mat to score.Towards the end of the game a shepherd turned up and was quoted as asking "Excuse me, has anyone seen my goat?"[VIDS and PICS]
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228688880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228688880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228688880/tpod.html Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:31:52 -0500 Indochina, including Thailand, Laos, Christmas in Vietnam and New Years in Cambodia.

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Bangkok, Thailand

Heathrow, London At security it's very noticeable they're checking everyone by race. The only white guy that got checked was someone who thought it would be a good idea to go through a metal detector in cowboy boots with a two-inch metal heel. He got through security but was shortly carted off by the fashion police instead, who but a blanket over his feet rather than head to spare the shame. Plane ride went well. I accidentally checked in at the first class counter, who must have been used to fulfilling requests as they assigned me the bulkhead door seat. Got onto the plane and reclined into 5 feet of empty space in front of me, when to my horror a cot was placed on the other side of the aisle. The occupant briefly stretched upward, smiled at me and promptly fell asleep for the rest of the flight. Bangkok, Thailand Incapable of sleeping on the plane* so having been awake for upwards of 40 hours arrived in Bangkok at 0730 and headed straight to the markets. I'd been before but the others were keen to look round and I was happy trying to get them to eat bugs and worms. Very little seems to have changed in the last 4 years, so it was the usual array of wood and paper-craft. Only thing missing seems to be the stalls selling supposed antiquities, stuff like metal Buddha's, which I thought were banned by the government, but maybe they just ran out of old tat. By 2pm we all flaked and headed back via the Skytrain to the hotel, but were so tired it all went a bit awry and took far too long. After 4 hours and varying amounts of sleep we all got up again and headed out for our first Thai food, and the first meal of the day. We shared a few dishes at a street stall then retired to a typical travellers bar for a lot of Chang beer to put us to sleep until the next morning.* Should have had some of whatever the baby had - probably brandy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1229502840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1229502840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1229502840/tpod.html Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:45:05 -0500 Indochina, including Thailand, Laos, Christmas in Vietnam and New Years in Cambodia.

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Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Hotel breakfasts in Vietnam usually consists of square sliced white bread with an unpleasant odd sweet taste, and a cold fried egg. Despite Pak Beng being in the middle of nowhere this morning we were given freshly baked baguettes with unsalted butter and jam. Hopefully a taste of things to come and a sign that being brutally occupied by the French for a few years may not be all bad. Spent another 7 hours on the slow boat up the Mekong. Not long after leaving we pulled over to visit a Hmong village which seemed better organized than yesterdays. Another stop at a Buddha cave but I stayed down with the boat to chat to an incredibly drunk group of 40 Thai tourists, one of whom was lugging about a full size karaoke machine. The rest were lugging about full sized bottles of vodka at 10 in the morning.Eventually we made it to Luang Prabang where I accidentally insulted a room full of Americans over dinner. Silence ensued punctuated only by unhelpful giggling from the girls. A quick wander round town revealed a huge but not very varied night Market and was drawn in by the lure of a French cheese baguette. Despite the expectation of Brie or Rochefort, it turned out to be the rather less impressive, but much easier to store La Vache qui Rit, or Laughing Cow, 'cheese' so not really up to scratch. Past the night Market we came upon a street of decent bars and ran into a colleague of one of the girls who was trailing about with another girl who she'd met on the bus. This was the first time in a week I'd discovered a wi-fi signal so undoubtedly appeared rather rude as I pored over a huge batch of emails.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228948140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228948140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228948140/tpod.html Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:38:48 -0500 Indochina, including Thailand, Laos, Christmas in Vietnam and New Years in Cambodia.

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Pakbeng, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

We walked to the Thai-Laos border where we discovered the most huge chinese tour group, all wearing matching hats, coats and bags in a fetching shade of green.Also saw a dog in a negligee which I guess is Vietnamese food porn.A speedy long boat transferred us to the other side where we jostled with a crowd whilst the officials deliberated over our passports for an hour. Eventually we boarded a surprisingly luxurious slow boat, complete with a bar, for the first 6 hour trip down the Mekong. On the way we stopped at a remote village where the local kids were keen to show us their best cockfighting contestants. Arrival at Pak Beng was a bit of an anticlimax. The town was purely a stopping point halfway to Luang Prabang with no electricity so after a romantic candlelit dinner of cold rice and chicken skin we found three kids with the town's only generator. Rather than creating light or food they were using it to watch a Mr. Bean DVD so we joined them for a couple of episodes which whilst not my taste at home turned out somewhat considerably funnier when dubbed into Thai.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228811340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228811340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1228811340/tpod.html Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:35:04 -0500 Indochina, including Thailand, Laos, Christmas in Vietnam and New Years in Cambodia.

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Chang Mai, Thailand

Late start where I discovered the girls had crashed in my room. Should have packed pyjamas.Flight to Chang Mai took a while then a cramped 2 hour cab ride to the border where we stayed the night in a huge teak manor house overlooking the Mekong river. We could hear a huge party going on over the river in Laos so decided to have one of our own starting on the balcony. Suitably refreshed we headed to the only bar in town to watch the locals attempting Karaoke. This was pretty painful to listen to but the local BeerLaos turned out to be a decent anesthetic.Opposite the bar there was a chap making reading glasses from while you waited. They seemed to come in two strengths: Coke or Sprite. Shame he wasn't using the BeerLaos bottles - could have blamed all sorts on the beer goggles...Back at the hotel we discovered quite how thin the walls were when the night was pierced every few minutes by the sound of screaming and "What the hell is that?" followed by giggles as people discovered quite how many insects were sharing their beds.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1229067300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1229067300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/swhale/5/1229067300/tpod.html Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:31:28 -0500 Indochina, including Thailand, Laos, Christmas in Vietnam and New Years in Cambodia.

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Bangkok, Thailand

Went on a standard city tour round the Kings Palace and then a boat ride through the back waterways of the city, past peoples houses and back doors. [Rest of the day was Rated 18: Sorry Josie, look away now] Sitting on a boat doing nothing was surprisingly tiring, so we retired to a Dim Sum bar which turned out to be in a red light district. Avoiding the fish snacks we had a light lunch as that evening we were due a buffet dinner. Whilst we were eating a number of scantily clad ladies arrived on the street outside and peered in through the window as us, which seemed the wrong way round, but we carried on as the spring rolls were very good. Moving slightly down the road we dropped in for a coffee and the same happened again, then we headed to a bar and the same again, except this time there were hordes of westerners paired off with young and bored looking Thai girls. Should probably mention at this point that we're currently 2 boys and 4 girls, so are having to be disapproving anyway, but it was pretty creepy. Turned out we were the pot calling the kettle black. Anyway, we headed off to up the 77 storey Baiyoko Tower for an underwhelming buffet but then headed higher up the tower to an open air walkway on the 77th floor, for an amazing if drafty view over the city. On asking what to do next the girls unanimously agreed, with no hints or prodding, that they wanted to head to PatPong to see the Ping Pong show, which is neither Table Tennis or as Boris Johnson would say, Wif-Waf. A few pretend grumblings and a short taxi ride later we arrived in PatPong. From the taxi we spied a busy looking bar by the roadside so tried to get across the road towards it, instead being waylaid by two touts carrying a menu. Not wanting to complicate matters we carried on towards the bar and sat down, but the most persistent of the two stood by our table and thrust the menu into our hands. On closer inspection it wasn't a food menu as such, but a list of things that young ladies would insert into themselves. (Technically there was food on there, but you probably wouldn't want to eat it). Intrigued we followed him down a side alley and ended up standing outside a club called Sidewalk (there was one other, but I didn't want to be photographed near a sign offering Super Pussy). Inside was pretty quiet and we were greeted with some amusement by the staff - I'm guessing they don't get many predominantly female groups wandering in. Would have been worse if I've walked in and they'd cheered "Steve!, Welcome Back!" I arranged a kitty (or Super Kitty as I called it) then looked about a bit more. Obviously I'm only recording this so you never have to set foot inside such an establishment, so be grateful. We sat in a booth in the corner whilst up on stage 6 girls danced and looked generally happy to be there, which was more than I'd expected. One round of expensive drinks later the madam of the house wandered over and gave us the same activity menu as before, saying it was a rota that went in order as long as people were buying drinks. One of the girls piped up "We're only here to see the Ping Pong", so that immediately went to the bottom of the list, meaning we had to buy lots of drinks to keep it going. A new, considerably less attractive girl joined the others on stage, squatted and pulled out an improbably long string of fairy lights. Sadly it's hazy, but in my memory they were lit, although I couldn't hazard a guess where she would have put the battery... She wandered off then came back a few minutes later and pulled a series of razor blades out. Again, no idea how they could have got there - she should be more careful. Some time and a lot of drinks later the madam came and sat at the big spenders table, which turned out to be us. She started massaging my back and neck, asking where we were staying and whispering expensive nothings in my ear (2500 Baht a night if it's of interest). Annoyingly this was when the girls were shooting bananas across the room and with my back turned I couldn't see to duck the flying fruit. A few near misses later (both from bananas and madams) and it was time for the Ping Pong balls. The girls lined up on stage and assumed the firing position. A couple of our girls were placed on chairs in the middle of the room and given Ping Pong bats and told to return the serve. This was all fun until they got too competitive and nearly got one of the balls back where it came from, so having seen what we came for, and rather a lot more besides we made our excuses and left. One chap and two of the girls headed back for some sleep leaving the rest of us wide awake and in need of a bar. This wasn't easy to find after midnight, so we piled into a typical looking tuk-tuk which turned out to have some excellent modifications: every time the brakes were pressed the whole thing exploded into flashing disco lights . The driver of the party tuk-tuk knew a place that was open until 6am so we paid him a bit extra and headed off into the night. He deposited us down another side alley and watched with amusement as we opened the door of the 'late night bar' which turned out to be a brothel. Bored looking girls barely looked up as we wandered in, again confused by the presence of the English girls, so we ordered more drinks and took in the scene. Aside from us the only other patrons were a couple on the first night of their honeymoon, which seemed rather inappropriate. Eventually a seedy/needy looking guy wandered in and perused the girls. Selecting one he paid in advance then walked her towards a door which we assumed led to bedrooms, but peeking through seemed to just go to the outside garage - very romantic. By now it was 3am and there is limited fun to be had sat in the reception room of a brothel, so jumped back in the waiting Party tuk-tuk and laughed our way back to the hotel.
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