Hong Kong
Trip Start
Oct 31, 2007
1
9
Trip End
May 04, 2008
Hong Kong,
China
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Last blog so as usual, make yourselves comfy. Please have English Breakfast tea, wine gums and salt n vinegar crisps at the ready for my return. Yum Yum.
So from my brief stop in Bangkok, it was the over night train to Chiang Mai where we slept on bunk style beds in the cabins after a few beers in the 'bar carriage' arriving at Chiang Mai some 13 hours later. The first night in Chiang Mai consisted of watching Thai kick boxing followed by karaoke from the transvestite bar staff (and a few overly drunk English twats) surrounding the fighting ring. Entertaining it was.
The following days was spend learning to cook Thai food which was a great day and was stuffed by the end of the day ready for the 3 day trek starting the following morning through the mountains, rivers and waterfalls surrounding Chiang Mai. To say we were roughing it would be very polite so a whole day was required to wash and sleep when we finally returned to town 3 days later. Just glad we didn't have to eat the bugs and ant larvae that the guides were clearly enjoying.
Next day was the Flight Of The Gibbon, a 3 hour zip wire and abseiling tour through the rain forests, 120mtrs above ground. Very cool if a little tame for a bungy champion! haha
Night bus to the boarder of Thailand and Laos was the start of my worst ever journey. Following the all nighter bus journey, we were then stuck on a boat for 2 days, albeit through the beautiful scenery of the Mekong River. We had a laugh on the boat but the seats were so uncomfortable for those with meter long legs and after the third crash (yes i said THIRD!) and a small explosion in the engine room which soon turned to fire, we finally abandoned our shoddy ship. Sitting at the river bank waiting for another boat for two hours we were being warned that we may have to sleep on the banks until sunrise. Luckily our replacement boat arrived with sufficient daylight to get to Luang Prabang before sunset. To finish it off, it was getting dark and our replacement boat crashed into another parked boat sending a few people to the ground and leaving a gapping whole in the parked boat...i'm thinking the driver was either permanently drunk or stoned.
Luang Prabang in Laos is such a lovely place with many French influences and tourists. It also had an interesting way of making a little extra money by tourists paying in US$ and giving change in Kip, meanwhile we are converting to Bhat to compared with Thailand prices. Very confusing but still so cheap.
Next stop was Vang Vieng which i travelled to on my own so immediately booked myself on a tour the same day to get involved. Kayaking, mountain biking and caving turned out to be a great day, meeting more new friends that i would stick with for the few days in Laos and was pleased to met the first nice Canadian person i've met on my travels. So the following day was the main attraction of Laos for backpackers, no not the bars continuously playing friends on repeat, but the rubber tubing down the Mekong River.
Now i was skeptical about this in the same way i was skeptical about the Full Moon Party but what a great day it turned out to be. We all got our tubes, 12 people on a tuk tuk made for 6 and 12 truck wheel inner tubes drove us to the 'launch point'. From here, we floated a few hundred meters to the first bar on the banks of the river, consuming fruit shakes as it was still breakfast time and cooking in the baking sun, amazing views and a place for of people all having done the same things you have done in the last few months. Then a zip wire into the river to cool down and then to the rubber ring to float to the next bar. This continued for the whole day and was one of the cheapest funniest experiences of my trip.
Oh, i have a very funny story about an experience on a 'squatter' style toilet which all went a bit wrong and i wont elaborate on the detail unless requested. Lets just say my target practice wasn't the best that day...too much information i know.
On to the Capital, Vientiane meeting another group of French and Welsh for an amazing Italian meal (in the restaurant for 5 hours!) following by a game of bowling with super slippery shoes which meant you had not choice but to follow the bowling ball down the isle!
After visiting the slightly disappointing grand palace, we hit the best hotel in town and paid for exclusive use of the luxury swimming pools facilities. Hard life this backpacking lark!
Now to Cambodia, Phnom Penh and the killing fields. I wont go into detail but this place touches your heart and makes disturbed reading, especially as Kumar Rouge was around as little as 30 years ago. Sick, just sick.
We finished the day sitting by the lake watching the sunset exchanging travel stories and the usual UK/Oz banter with a couple of Aussies. Siem Reap and Ankor Wat followed for the next couple of days with the funniest part of this blog.
Amy, one of the Aussies asked for coffee with milk and what does the waiter say?????? Would you like sweet milk or breast milk!!!! no joke. Surprisingly she opted for the sweet stuff but the coffee clearly didn't go down too well. That evening was another surprise to see another friend i first met in New Zealand and then in the Malaysian rain forest and now here in Siem Reap.
The next day was the painful journey back to Bangkok along mud tracks.
So returning to Bangkok for the second time in my travels, i had a sudden feeling of contentedness. Sitting at the bar after a very long day in Humid, hot and polluted Bangkok, resting quietly at a outside table of a bar overlooking the infamous Khao San Road, listening to two Thai locals confidently strumming away at the strings of their guitars to the sound of 'King of the Road', US country style. Attracting many white tourists, the two entertainers received seldom applause from the miserable sods necking bottles of Changs.
The hazy polluted sky turned pink, daylight turned to darkness and the artificial lights illuminated. This beautiful night was the first i had spent along since Chiang Mai more or less 3 weeks prior and the alone time was much appreciated. I felt like that night summarized this whole travelling experience lark:
1. Two Thai's playing American country music in an Irish bar
2. Sky turns a beautiful pink a polluted smog cloud.
3. A Thai 'lady' walks passed strutting her high heels, fake boobs and Adam's apple.
4. A rat scurrying through some rubbish next to a table for two being served a chicken dish that would have be tasted by at least 50 flies prior to arriving at the table. But guaranteed the food would taste great.
5. My stomach shoots with pain and cramps slightly, meaning that the tummy bug is back for the 3rd time. The food really was lovely!
6. Sewers release a stench only available to those visiting Asia.
I bump into some travel buddies i previously met in Cambodia only to frustratingly having to say the final good bye two hours later.
These summaries travelling. Times you have are difficult, hard, painful, stressful and very different to being at home. The feeling however of witnessing and experiencing such different and amazing things make all the pain so worth while and on the contrary, somethings it was very easy, painless, relaxing, fun, exciting and exhilarating beyond expectation, sometimes very familiar to home too.
So now i've landed in Hong Kong and met with Paulo and haven't slept much since. Hong Kong is a place of money, beautiful restaurants and bars, all brand spanking new, which chance hands on a month basis only for another new bar / restaurant to emerge in its place. This place is a 24 hour city and it's a crime to sleep and miss out!
Since arriving in Laos, i've had second wind and really not sure if i want to come home but lack of funds and work means there isn't really a choice.
Today is a Monday and i'll mainly be recovering from the full on weekend and mentally preparing myself for the highest bungy in the world on Macau Island. 233mtrs, yes if you think of the 100mtrs you ran in Athletics, its nearly 2.5 times longer! a long long scary way but what better way to finish off the 6 months roller coaster?
So that's it, the last of the lengthy boring blogs. Now i hope you have been reading carefully as you will be tested.
Really looking forward to see all my peoples. Hope all are well. Back to reality.... x
