A Strange Turn Of Events

Hmmm, England in Winter...I didn't think I'd be here. Right now as I write this I should be staggering around Sydney Harbor in a drunken stupor having seen in the New Year under an explosion of bright fireworks lighting up the Opera House. Realistically I would be asleep in a park somewhere as I couldn't afford an outrageously priced hotel, stone cold sober as the drinks are so expensive having seen a few blurry flashes of fireworks in the sky from 10 kilometers away. Alas neither of these are true as I am sat on a couch back in the amazing small town of Bury St Edmunds in England.

Due to family reasons we are taking a break in our trip, we arrived back in the cold on the 20th December and started work the next day...grrrr...work. Out next flight is booked from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne and we will be picking this up again in February.

It was a long time since my previous travelly post so lets give you a swift overview of what we got up to.

Thailand after Pai...

Lopburi, I didn't catch rabies.

Ayutthaya, Nice temples and a lovely break from the craziness of Bangkok

Bangkok, Crazy

Train Ride, Hungry followed by an evening in a random town called Don Sak with no-where to eat so Pot Noodles for dinner.

Koh Phag-nan, Full Moon party craziness

Koh Lanta, Rainy

Koh Phi Phi, Stunningly beautiful and took Kinga to an all you can eat buffet and a boxing match #Romance!

Phuket, one night, up at 3am

Kuala Lumpur, Disappointing at first but pulled through in the end

Myanmar/Burma, Loved it

Yangon, Expected nothing but loved it

Mandalay, Expected loads but disappointed

Bagan, Temples and greatness

Back to Yangon, loved it again

Malaysia

Kuching, Borneo, Very nice people.

After that, Bury St Edmunds, center of the universe!!!!

So, that brings you up to date. There are so many stories in between like sweet chili mackerel and pee-ing by the side of the road in Myanmar but i can't write them right now. If your lucky i will in the future...or you'll have to buy the book!

Happy New Year everyone, roll on 2014!

Pai and stuff

Been a while.....

Well...what to say. It's been so long. I think last time I was writing was in Chaing Mai after a rather pleasant meal.

So we left the next day to go further North to a small town called Pai. I cannot tell you how many people told us we had to go there, so we did. We don't like to disappoint people. When we ask for further information as to why we should go 3 hours out of our way, along a hellishly bendy road in a speeding mini bus round rather large, mountains drops no one could really give us a reason apart from, it's just lovely...we were sold. So 3 hours after a hellishly long speeding mini bus ride rounds hairpin bends and sheer mountainous drops we got to Pai. We were not disappointed, so beautiful. We were there for 4 nights staying in our little bungalow with a hammock out front just relaxing. We met a lovely couple from Berlin, Agathe and Manu, who we spent a lot of time with. We hired motorbikes and visited and jumped off waterfalls, struggled to get to the top of scenic viewpoints and stupidly decided to go to a hot springs. The later not a great idea when it is 36 degrees outside of the water. We did make it to the source of the hot springs where the water comes out at a fresh 80 C. Luckily there was a sign warning us not to boil eggs, I was relived to have seen it because I was just about to crack mine out and organise some soft boiled. Aside from this we had an amazing, relaxing time tubing down the river for a couple hours and eat a lot of food. 

The food was good overall, we were a little worried when on our first day the first restaurant we sat in had a small menu that included delights such as noodle soup with pig entrails and pork blood soup. We ended up going elsewhere! I did get an opportunity to enjoy a local delight as I was offered the chance to try a chicken heart, quite crunchy and made me gag a little but I managed to keep it down. Wouldn't kill another chicken soon to get to it's heart though.

On our first evening we found a great bar serving draught beer (kind of a luxury round here) and got to know the owner. He is a great guy and on our final night played live music for us. To begin with we were the only people in the bar but the music was attracting people in. As the owner was busy singing (kind of) I took the role of bar tender and started dishing out the beers. In the end a couple of folk musicians came and played, with me on the boxy drum seat thing and Kinga with a child's tambourine it turned into quite a jam session. 

After 4 days of relaxing, eating, making good friends and getting annoyed at hippies it was time to return to Chiang Mai. With regards to hippies, I am all for peace and love and saving the planet and stuff. I just don't feel the need to grow my hair into an un washable mess, sit around and get high while talking about some species of toad that is under threat of extinction due to the expansion of the local chicken factory. You know that super expensive, healthy soy latte with organic sugar and probably weird lentil stuff in it that you are arrogantly boasting how healthy it is just loud enough so we all have to listen in...how can you afford it hippie? Capitalism or selling drugs? Sorry about that, rant over

The way back to Chaing Mai was great as we hired a motorbike instead of getting the speeding minibus and rode the most amazing road ever on a beautiful sunny day. Since we returned and people have asked us about Pai all we could say was...you have to go, it's lovely. Pai is a place that is hard to explain.

By that evening we had landed in Bangkok and went straight to Khao San Road, centre of the drink, dancing and good times. It was a crazy assault on the senses. Having come from possibly one of the most chilled out towns in the world straight to here, we lasted about 30 minutes before getting grumpy and going to bed.

The next day we just wandered before meeting up with Kym and Devin who we had previously shared our barbecue with in Chaing Mai. We also got to meet Kym's cousin, Sam, and her husband, Des, and had a pretty damn good night. That pretty much sums up what Bangkok was to us, lazy day followed by a few drinks with friends followed by a lazy day. Normally the lazy days were not out of choice, well, I guess a bad choice made the night before when I said yes to another bottle of Samgson.

We did work a few other things out, Bangkok is loud and a bit smelly, it really helps if you have someone who is local to help you out and a mix of hangovers and pushy market sales people and tuk tuk is not good. When you walk past a market stand there is a certain technique you need to perfect to keep things as peaceful as possible...

1) Study the merchandise as you approach but make no movement, no matter how small, towards the stall. Pay close attention to the angle of your hips and shoulders, the slightest lean and the game is over.

2) If you see something you like the look off, study where the owner of the stall is and approach from their blind spot.

3) have a look but don't pick it up, they can sense it.

4) If you don't like it you have around a three second window to beat a hasty retreat, make sure you are counting in your head on your approach.

5) DO NOT make eye contact.

6) If you want to study further pick it up and prepare yourself for first contact.

7) DO NOT look interested or show excitement, it could be the flipping Holy Grail but do not let them know you like it, instead say "it's alright, but there's a better one down there." and point the other way.

8) Put it back down even if you want it, look at something else while they are breathing down your neck. Casually point back to it and ask "How much do you want for it?"

9) Negotiations are on, get the best price you can.

10) Feel guilty when you realise you are haggling over what is about 20p and end up paying more than they are asking for. This step is optional but I always find myself doing it!

Right now we are in a small town just outside of Bangkok while we wait for our visas to Myanmar to be sorted, they should be ready in a few days time. Tomorrow is a trip to a town called Lopburi where they have a temple full of monkeys, I am part convinced that I will go to feed them and catch me some rabies!

And that is that. I am sorry it has taken so long for me to write this, I know you all miss us so much and really look forward to these posts.

Big love and stay safe. 

Additional,

Having written this last night I am now adding in about the most amazing day ever. We visited Lopburi and I didn't catch rabies. I did however have monkeys climbing all over me and grooming me, it was amazing. In Lopburi there are so many monkeys mainly centred around one temple known, funnily enough, as monkey temple. They are free and wild, come and go as they like and are worshiped by the locals. Once a year they even hold a feast in their honour where they put food out for them. It was amazing to walk around there and just watch and enjoy being so close to them. One even managed to steel a mobile phone off a local, it was crazy to see them try to get it back but they know what they are doing. The naughty monkey was sat at the top of a telegraph pole while someone threw mangoes and rice up to it. The idea being that they catch the mango and drop the phone. It worked well, sadly no one caught the phone so it smashed on the floor, now the unhappy owner has lost their phone and their mango! Hehe, clever monkey!

That is it!

Egg Custard

Our last couple of meals have been quite interesting, we visited another barbecue place just outside the North East corner of the old city. We walked past it everyday and it looks like a real locals hangout. It must seat over 200 people under a simple roof with a buffet in the middle full of different cuts of raw meat. You have a bucket with fiery coals in the middle of your table with a cooking plate on top and away you go. We went with a couple of friend we met and had a great time, the food was good, just unsure what we were eating most of the time. A couple of nights before that we spent the night buying various types of street food from the night market, between the four of us we sampled most things available. Most of the food were simple mystery balls or meat on a stick, we worked out that at one point the balls were octopus and the meat was pork belly but as for the rest of it we have no idea. We all survived with no ill effects and got to try some lovely...and some rancid...food. I think meat always tastes better on a stick. Last night we had a very disappointing experience at a Japanese restaurant. I had teriyaki beef as a set meal which included miso soup (good), the beef and rice (fine) and egg custard. Now in my mind the egg custard was going to be like a custard tart back in the UK, just without the tart bit, but nicely sweetened and a nice finish to the meal. Having demolished all my other food rather promptly I set on my egg custard. When I touched it it was warm which I wasn't expecting, but custard is often warm so I'd go with it and with my mouth watering, waiting for that sugary goodness I dipped my spoon in a placed it in my mouth. My initial reaction was to spit it straight out again but I don't think Kinga would have been to happy being covered in what I can only describe as egg custard. It was like warm egg flavoured half set cream. Salty, eggy, just generally nasty and has no place on the table of torture victims let alone paying customers. Add into it the fact my mouth was fully expecting a lovely creme brûlée style dish please understand how upset I was with this vile creation that had made its way onto my palate. Being me I returned to it for another four bites before finally giving up and classing it a lesson learnt. Upon reflection I must admit when I think of the term egg custard that was pretty much what you should be getting, if you order it in England and get this wonderful, velvety, sweet temptation then you should be surprised and delighted that in fact tastes nothing like warm egg juice. Kinga's side of the meal, while underwhelming, was ok.

All this talk of food brings us nicely onto our next point from the other end. Although many place here do have Western style toilets it is always advisable to take toilet paper with you because here they like to you a little thing we know as the bum gun or bottom rocket. It is effectively a hose pipe with a high pressured gun on the end that you stick between your legs and give it a good squirt. As a man you want to be a good aim as a high power squirt straight on to your dangling custard eggs creates quite a moment on uncomfortableness. Out of interest I thought I'd give the bum gun a go and to be honest I am quite impressed, quick, efficient, makes you smile, seems like Asia could be onto something. There are only two major drawbacks, getting your head around who may have been holding the gun before you and when you are finished, how do you dry yourself. I went into that toilet knowing full well I was ready to give it ago, I was so confident I left the toilet paper outside. Impresses after a quick rinse I was now soggy, no hand towels, no tissue, nothing. I just had to pull my shorts up and hope no-one would walk behind me for the next hour or so as the questionable patch on my bum dried up. Of reflection I would recommend giving the gun ago, but still take your paper, I wonder how the locals dry themselves.

Surviving a scary night

Last words special update

As I write this I truly believe I am about to die in some horrific way. We are currently trying to get some sleep in a place called Samoeng Resort just outside a small town in the middle of nowhere up a mountain somewhere. The resort has about 30 or so individual bungalows spread across a wide area, we are the only people here. 

The day started off great with hiring a moped and going to an elephant sanctuary and getting kissed by an elephant before hitting the road and coming out here. The road is a 100km loop out of Chaing Mai known as the Samoeng loop. It is possible to do in one day but we decided to break it up with an over night stop and found this place.

We were shown to our bungalow and were instantly underwhelmed by the general repair but accepted this was the way it was going to be. We got back on the bike to go into the town to find something to eat which is when the rain started, and boy did it rain. By the time we got there we were soaked through, luckily there was a small clothes shop selling really cheap stuff so we could get something for tomorrow. We found a little place to eat then bought some snacks off a very nice old local who spoke a little English and we cam back to "The Resort". 

As nighttime slowly crept up it was starting to feel quite creepy, we are the only people here, there were lots of strange noises outside that sound like footsteps, there was something on the roof, every little noise got to us. The door was shivering in the wind knocking each time as if there was someone trying to get in. I bet this place is great when it's busy but when you are the only people it gets quite unsettling. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement behind Kinga's head, like a ninja I jumped up and pounced on the snail that was about to attack her and chucked it outside while she just froze. Wondering what was happening I explained I was just saving her life, no biggie. I chuckled to myself as I threw it outside thinking how lucky he is that I am not Vietnamese. After that minor scare I thought back to the old man in the town and realised every horror movie has a creepy old man, normally works at a petrol station, who asks questions like "so where are you staying?" Just like he did. I turned to tell Kinga but she didn't want to know. Then...the power went out. Lights out, TV off, no staff around, this is it. I know all heroes on TV grab a flashlight and go and check, sadly we didn't have a flashlight, I'm not a hero and they normally are the first ones to die anyway. So I asked Kinga to go check it out, she also said no. 

So now here we are, my iPad our only source of light, every noise in the dark has been amplified by ten and I swear there are footsteps outside, the building has someone on the roof and there is a snail out there currently forming an army to get some revenge. I only hope he is so slow it will take a day to two and we'll be gone. So as I fall asleep I write these final words so that in the future they may hopefully make a horror movie out of our story. Sadly, realistically, if we do get killed it will probably be a robbery as we have money and an iPad and these words will never be read as this iPad will be sold to some dude, probably named Mr Kim. That's not a comforting thought either......

This hasn't worked for a while

Awaiting their next victims

Hasn't been used in a while, probably because no one lives long enough!

Well, we survived, I think the killer came in but when he realised I sleep naked he probably ran away, most people would.

Chiang Mai time

After 54 hours of travelling we finally made if from Luang Prabang to Chaing Mai, Thailand. Currently sat by a pool (in someone else's hotel) waiting to get kicked out but will see how it goes!

So the slow boat was quite an experience, if you want the full report it will be on my website soon, I completely understand why they call it the slow boat now. 10 hours on the river day one followed by another 11 hours on day two. We arrived in Huay Xay, the border town in Laos at 7pm, sadly too late to catch a crossing as the border closes at 6pm. Just up from the arrival point we found a dodgy little guest house to stay in which was cheap, we figured we'd have some nice accommodation soon so we can rough it for one more night. That night I am happy to report that we had our first submission to a round of food poisoning and it wasn't me. Poor Kinga spent more time in our dodgy guesthouse bathroom wishing her surroundings were slightly nicer than she did in the bedroom. I was, very supportively, staying out of the way, in bed, sleeping. She must have been up about 5 or 6 times, got to love South East Asia. 

The next morning, although slightly tired, she was showing no knock on effects, she's a warrior and we were off to Thailand. We crossed the border easily and went to get the bus to Chaing Mai only to be told it was full...shit. It was easy to get from the boat to the bus station, when you get stamped in at the immigration office there are pick up trucks waiting for you. When you ask how much they point to a board which has two prices, 30 baht to the bus station or 50 baht to the hospital, they are the only two options! I guess they don't have much faith in the crappy little boats that take you across the river. Fortunately at the bus station we weren't the only people in this situation and between 11 of us we managed to charter a private mini bus for only a couple of dollars more than we would have paid on the big bus. Not only was it more comfortable but we arrived into Chaing Mai in half the time. It was good for something to finally work out for the better.

While Chaing Mai has been nice it feels a bit weird as we have suddenly reached the point where we don't know what we are doing. All of our planning so far had been around being in Luang Prabang for the festival, that has now past so we are kind of lost. We hired mopeds one day and went out to an amazing place called Tiger Kingdom where we got to pose with big tigers and play with baby ones, that was great, probably wouldn't want to do it the other way round though. Aside from that it's been a really lazy few days. We found a large night market and I bought some pants, Kinga has been seeing her fist lady boys dotted around and seems unsure what to make of them, we have eaten a lot of food and now we are relaxing and planning our next adventures. Tomorrow we will be hiring a moped again to ride through the mountains and hopefully visit some hill tribes, maybe ride an elephant. To rent it we will probably go to the same place as I did get a rather nice pink helmet to wear for my safety...and their amusement. After that who knows........I think I am going to go have a massage now. Take care.

We are sailing

I am currently writing this sat on a boat cruising up the Mekong river to the Thai border. I am not sure if we will make it to Thailand tonight but fingers crossed, nothing booked and no expectations. So let's catch up.

Luang Prabang is amazing, so beautiful, every way you turn is another postcard shot. From the golden pagodas contacted by the bright orange gowns of the young monks to the palm trees reaching out over the Mekong River and the the jungled mountain side back drop. Just stunning. Our first day was a lazy day as most first days are, just sauntering around taking pictures. Luang Prabang is a quite a compact town so you end up bumping into people you recognise. We met 3 groups from different hostels that we were talking to on the plane, it creates a really relaxed, friendly atmosphere. 

We visited an amazing waterfall, when you arrive you walk up past a bear sanctuary before reaching the swimming area. Here is a smaller waterfall you get to jump or dive from into a lovely pool. There is also a rope swing for a more unconventional entry. There was on point where a Chinese girl was going for a swing, it is quite intimidating up there and, understandably, she paused for a long time building up confidence to make the leap. This drew a bit of attention and before you know it she had a pretty large audience. Every time she bent her knees to jump but pulled out you could feel the anticipation building. Finally she launched herself off the tree to loud cheers from the engrossed crowd but the cheers suddenly turned to worry as she failed to let go and was quickly swinging back to where she'd launched from and the rocks below. We collectively took a breath of concern, but she held on and was swinging out again. Impromptu chants from the swelling crowd of drop, drop were echoing around the pool as the rope ran out of momentum and she was left hanging like a bucket about to be dropped into a well before finally letting go of the rope and plunging into the water. As she resurfaced alive she did so to a rapturous round of applause and cheering. Sadly, the poor German man who back flipped of a waterfall before following it up with a very impressive somersault from a rope swing was greeted with silence, no one batted an eye lid, bloody show off!

After our cooling swim we headed onwards and upwards, we didn't realise what was coming. After plenty of small turquoise lagoons being loaded by their own little water fall we rounded a corner only to look up and see a magnificent waterfall, casually eroding the rocks below with immense success. With a typically Laos lack of healthy and safety, beside the waterfall was a loosely worn mud track enabling you to climb to the top, I'd guess it's around 100 metres. Apart from the leeches it was easy going up but once there you are quickly reminded that waterfalls always look better from the bottom. After a hairy climb down again, flip flops aren't ideal, we were leaving this wonderful piece of nature behind.

On the Sunday night the town put on a farewell festival for us. Other people said the festival was to mark the end of rainy season and to thanks the water gods for the Mekong river and all the prosperity it brings. Also to apologise for misusing the water, I knew the real reason behind it. The festival in the evening was a spectacular event and we are so lucky to have been there for it. All the boats that we have witnessed being built all week are lit up and paraded through the streets before being cast away in the water. The boats were stuffed with food and money as an offering and a thank you to the gods. I am not sure if the gods ever receive the offerings, I think there is a little man waiting around the corner with a fishing rod reeling the boats in and helping himself to everything on board, but that's just the sceptic in me! The atmosphere was buzzing as tourists and locals alike joined in the celebrations, floating candles in homemade mini rafts, lighting lanterns with various degrees of success. I would imagine looking up to see if your under a tree before lighting a lantern would be a prerequisite, but it turns out that not the case. As the evening celebrations were dying down we saw a crazy man dancing in the street who invited us to join his family in celebrating, I firmly believe it is unlucky not to do what a crazy man dancing in the street invites you to do so we sat with them. They didn't really speak too much English so the conversation wasn't flowing but the home made rice spirit definitely was. An hour or so of drinking we were lucky that the police arrived to enforce the curfew and shut the party down so we had the chance to flee and stumble back to our hostel. It was such a privilege to get the opportunity to sit and enjoy the company of some locals on such a day, I even got to take part in some crazy dancing on the street with my new friend.

After a night of rice spirit fuelled shenanigans we were off at 7am the next morning, needless to say I wasn't feeling my best. The first 9 hours on the boat before getting to Pak Beng were spent sleeping and eating. Once again we are being treated to nature at its finest, the river and jungle, this is how people have been travelling up and down the mighty Mekong for centuries, looking around outside you can imagine it hasn't changed for millions of years, right now I could be anywhere in time. Well, the iPad on my lap gives away that it is definitely post 2012, but apart from that there could be dinosaurs over the hills!

I guess that's it for now, overall loved Luang Prabang, Thailand I am not too excited by but I hope it will surprise me, fingers crossed.

Extra; Kinga's reason for not going into the National Muesum in Luang Prabang "it's just a bunch of stuff". I think that's the concept of a museum!

Travelling again

So as I write this we are on our way to Laos, Luang Prabang. This was the journey I had been dreading, I hadn't properly explained it to Kinga but it involves 30 hours on a sleeper bus, with no toilet over bumpy jungle roads, basically Hell. In a sick way I was quite looking forward to it, I see uncomfortable bus journeys as a rite of passage for travellers, the harder the journey the more you deserve the destination. Anyway, I sat down and over breakfast explained how this leg of the journey will work, where we will get on and off the bus, how we sleep on the bus and just ask when we want to go to the toilet and he will stop to let us do our business at the side of the road. I am currently sat on a plane! Funnily enough, even my softest "it'll be over before you know it" didn't work. To be fair it's probably worked out well for me as it's just an hours flight as opposed to 30 hours on a bus and I get a good excuse when we talk to fellow travellers about our journey from Hell. 

So where did I leave you last?

We only had one day in Hue so we booked a tour, a cruise on the perfume river and checking out some of the mausoleums in the area. Hue used to be the capital so some pretty important people died around here and thier burial sites were pretty spectacular. The perfume river is so called as upstream there are loads of blossom trees that drop their load into the river, as it floats through the city it creates a wonderful perfumed aroma. I think that was probably right a few decades ago, now it smell like every other Vietnamese city, like mopeds. 

That evening we were back on the train heading to Hanoi, we had stocked up on pot noodles so we missed the banana leaf gate incident again. This time the train was pretty good, I slept well at least.

We arrived in Hanoi and just had a relaxing day. As a City Hanoi seems a little more peaceful than HCM did, there is a large lake and park and less people to sell you stuff, that's good for my weight allowance! During our time here we wandered around the Botanincal Garden which included playing with a monkey. It was in a cage but had a little stick, it looked like he was trying to prise the bars apart. If you tried to take the stick from him he wasn't happy. After a while I think the tables turned and he was playing with us. He kept holding the stick out for us then pulling away at the last second, cheeky little guy. Apart from that we basically just walked a lot and looked at things.

The next day was what we were looking forward to, Ha Long Bay. HLB is the epitome of Vietnam. Crystal clear water with rocky limestone outcrops towering over you, covered in lush mini jungle. Ever since I was a boy I looked a pictures of this place and similar wanting to someday go there and now is my time. It is a 4 hour bus ride there, do the cruise around the bay and visit a floating island before a 4 hour bus ride back again. It will be a long day but well worth it. So we got on the bus and 4 hours later we were there, I could just see the outline of the nearer peaks on the horizon. We were told to wait, so we did, we waited...and waited...and waited. After about an hour the guide came back and told us all boats have been cancelled due to a typhoon of the coast further south, I was distraught. Of all the days for an Asian country to finally give a shit about health and safety? We were left there for another 2 hours, sitting on the hard concrete floor being teased by the horizon before we were hearded back onto the bus and back to Hanoi. That was probably my only chance to be there and we got so close. One thing you learn as you go round though, is no matter how bad you have it, someone has it worse. There was an American family who were staying in in HCM, flew up especially to visit Ha Long, stayed one night and were flying back that evening. Eight people all together wasted all that money and probably had a crap time like us!

Most evening were spent drinking Bia Hoi at beer corner. That is actually the name of an area, funnily enough I liked it there. Bia Hoi translates to fresh beer and it is that simple made during the night and sold to next day. It has no preservatives in it so it has to be all sold by then end on the day or it will go off. I was more than happy to do my bit to help, oh it is also outrageously cheap, about 20p a pint. We made a few friends over some fresh beer, sitting on the street on our little plastic stools. The sad thing is the beer normally runs out by 10, but at 12 the police come round and shut every one down. We did find a lock in one night but otherwise we have been well behaved. Quality wise it is like a light lager but it all depends on how much the owner has decided to water it down that day.

So all in all a few good days interspersed with extreme disapointment but we are safe and well and now in Luang Prabang, Laos. Hope you are all well. Photos to follow so keep an eye out.

Additional...I saw something on the way to the airport that you wouldn't think possible, a man asleep on the back of a moped whilst being driven at speed, either that or he was dead, strange to see.

Who's in Hue

After one hell he'll of a bus journey we have arrived at our latest destination, Hue in mid Vietnam. It's nice to get the front seat of a bus but I'm never sure if it's a good idea. Last time I managed it was on a journey in Colorado, crossing Loveland pass during a raging blizzard we were relying more on blind faith and ignorance. I am still not sure how we got through that as the bus didn't bother to slow down. Today's was slightly different, it was more about the state of the bus and the driver. If he wasn't on his phone he was reading, normally driving with no hands. I noticed the speedo didn't work, turned out not to be an issue as I don't think we ever reached 30 mph. When it rained on the outside it rained on the inside too, to be honest i am surprised it even started, it normally took a few attempts. Anyway, that's how we got here but how did we get there far? It all started back in Ho Chi Minh (HCM)

Our first day was a classic sightseeing trip in the rain. We took in all the local spots while battling with mopeds and risking life crossing the roads. It seems as long as you can miss the big things, buses and cars, the little things will miss you. I think you just have to hope that they want to hit you less than you want to be hit! 

In the evening we got to catch up with an old friend of mine who used to work with me in Aspen. He took us to a locals place to eat snails, I don't think Kinga was too keen but she tucked in and put on a brave face. It is always good meeting up with old friends. In Vietnam they all seem to sit around in very small plastic chairs drinking and eating. I asked my friend about this and he said its because they're all small, everyone looks normal sized to me. It is always funny to see, the chairs wouldn't look out of place in a kindergarten. When you finish you just chuck all your rubbish on the floor, they come along pick up the table and chairs, sweep underneath and by the time you look back they are ready for their next snail muncher. 

Following day we did a tour, it was ok, a highlight was a canoe trip through the jungle, reminded me of some computer games I used to play based on the Vietnam war. In the evening we met some English teachers and had a few beers and a chat with them, it was a fun night, we also found a roof top bar that managed to rip us off, they always do but I always fall for it.

Next morning was spent at the War Remnants Museum. They have a lot of military hardware out front and then loads of photos. It was another emotional trip. There was a whole section with picture of survivors of agent orange, a chemical used to clear the forests. 3 generations on and there are still birth defects from surviving families, it was a horrific act of warfare. I can't believe that in the US they have admitted the side effects of the chemical and compensated their veterans, even Korean veterans, but nothing has been said about the Vietnamese people. Hundreds of thousands have been effected, the effects are also hereditary so their kids and kids of kids are still being effected. Not so much as an acknowledgement.

Aside from that the museum was pretty one sided, full of propaganda but well worth a visit. Photo that stands out is a picture of a Viet Cong group taking 1600 hostages alive...doesn't say what happened a day later, I bet they didn't stay in that condition. Anyway, war is shit and we all know that.

In the evening we caught the overnight train to go to Hoi An. It was long and bumpy but we survived. The food wasn't too good and that wasn't helped by the lack of English spoken by the staff. We bough one thing, this is how it went..

Me "What's that?"

Food lady "Banana leaf"

Me "I see that, but what's inside?"

Food lady "Yes"

Me "Yes?"

Food lady "Yes...Inside"

Me "But what's in there?"

Food lady "Yes"

Me "Is it rice?"

Food lady"Yes rice"

Me "So there's rice in the banana leaf?"

Food lady "Yes, banana leaf"

Me "Ok, why not?"

Guess what, it wasn't rice inside if there, it was a steaming while lump of gelatinous gloop. One taste and we were gagging! Digging deeper into it we found some kind of meat but we had decided train food may not be for us so it went in the bin and we tucked into our Oreo's.

We arrived in Hoi An on about 1 hours sleep behind us so we went straight for a nap. In the evening we went for a walk, I was tired and in some kind of super grump. HCM was full of mopeds, constantly beeping and coming at you, it gets so annoying the amount of times you have a moped appear in front of you and make you jump. Hoi An was nowhere near as bad but still very annoying and I was in no mood for it. I think I was about 2 beep away from beeping someone in the face. It's a shame really as Hoi An was a really nice town, at least I got some good pictures.

 The next day we though if you can't beat them join them so we hired mopeds and became beeping mother beepers ourselves. Kinga was a little timid at first but didn't take her long to get into it. We used them to check out some beaches and had a much needed relaxing beach day. The hard thing is when your staying still is people try to sell you stuff, my problem is I like all of it so we will be coming back with plenty of stuff! Kinga's development has been quite fun, there was a whole list of things she wasn't going to do, here's how it went;

Day 2 riding in tuk tuks

Day 4 drinking ice

Day 5 eating salad

Day 7 sitting down on the toilet seat (in hotel rooms)

Day 11 riding a moto (back of motorbike)

Day 14 hiring a moped!

Funny, maybe it's something to do with the fact she is also now drinking beer, she even admitted she liked it tonight!

I guess that brings it up to date, this is the second time I have written this as the first one got lost somewhere, so when I say it's time for me to go to bed that was originally written over an hour ago so now it is definitely time!

Goodnight!

Ho Chi Minh

So we have made it to Vietnam where we have both instantly become millionaires! Sadly that works out to around 40 quid.

It was a complete mix of emotions in Phnom Penh mixing celebrating the Cambodian ancestors day holiday then visiting the killing fields and s-21 torture prison but let's start from the beginning.

Our first full day in Phnom Penh (PP) was spent at the killing fields and torture prison. Both myself and Kinga were shocked at what we were learning. I have a vague recollection of the name Pol Pot but before now I couldn't have told you who he was. If you don't know he was the leader of the Khamer Rouge, communist party that came into power in 1975. Between then and 1978 he set about killing as many people as he could and did a pretty good job of it. It is estimated that somewhere between 2-3 million Cambodians were slaughtered in 3 years. What is stunning and hard to believe they were all his people, is they weren't killed over religion or land, they were killed if they had an education or if they wore glasses or even said something against the government. But they wouldn't stop there, they would kill your whole family, wife, kids, aunts and uncles so there would be no one left with a vendetta. One of his quotes "to keep you is no gain, to lose you is no loss". The killing fields is one of many sites of mass graves, the prisinors had to dig their own grave and were then buried alive as to not waste any bullets. 

Leaving the killing fields feeling incredibly somber we then cheered ourselves up by going to a torture prison. S-21 is an old school that was turned into a prison when Pol Pot closed down all the schools in Cambodia a day after taking control. It is simply incredible what 1 mans vision can do, the school has been left much the same and it is an incredible Erie sensation you get walking around. Most people were lied to about where they were being taken and would end up here, being tortured to give a false confession of something or other, steeling rice from the state for example, before their final stop the killing fields. Around 40,000 people went to that prison, only 7 people came out of it alive, horrific stuff.

On the way between the two the mood was slightly lifted by a torrential downpour where the roads were turned into rivers and riding in a tuk tuk is no the best way to stay dry. Every car that went past soaked us that little bit more!

The following day was slightly easier, we wandered down for a relaxing stroll along the riverside area. I think it must be their main tourist area as it looks impeccable compared to the area we were staying in. Here was also the focal point of the Ancestors Day public holiday. It is an opportunity for people to pay their respects to the dead. It is an interesting celebration, follow this link if you want to read more. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pchum_Ben

The evening was rounded off back at the hostel with a pool party, we met some nice people and over indulged in some gratuitous drinking, sometimes you have to!

I guess that's it for today's history lesson, so. Far all is well, no vomiting or dodgy belly, no arguing, all going surprisingly well. The border crossing from Cambodia to Vietnam was a completely different experience, easy and seamless. We had a quick walk around Ho Chi Minh (formally Saigon) and it is crazy out there, still feeling a little delicate from the pool party we ended up running away from the madness back to our room. Now time to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Made it to Phnom Penh

Wow, been a crazy few days. The trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap was a bit of a trial but we made it in one piece, it is in the travel advice section if you want to read about it. Having left Siem Reap we are now in Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia shattered after another long bus journey.

Our first day in Siem Reap was just spent relaxing, the hotel we stayed in was amazing, beautifully looked after and really friendly staff. We had a free arrival drink, lovely dinner and free 30 minute massage, can't be bad. Siep Reap is a lovely little town and the people are so friendly. You are constantly harassed to use a tuk tuk or buy something but never in a malicious way. There are always smiles even when you say no. I guess the harassment comes with every tourist area. The biggest issue was what is referred to at the "milk scam", there are young girls carrying around babies asking the tourists to buy milk for them at the markets, when they do and split up the girl goes back into the market, returns the milk and splits the profits with the shop keeper. It is so hard to refuse to give money  knowing what is happening. Like any other business they have bosses and it was wired to see 5 girls with babies handing money over to their...controllers I guess you'd call them.

Any hoo, so Siem Reap is all about temlpele and Angkor Wat, we had a day exploring loads of them and it was amazing. All built around 1000 years ago and still standing like Elton John, a little crumbly around the edges but the heart is still there.

In the evening we had dinner at a local restaurant and chatted to the owner all night learning about Cambodias struggles and history. A lot of stuff happened that I never even knew about but will be learning more about that in the next few days here in Phnom Penh. It was interesting to hear him talk about the latest rigged elections and the knock on effect to people working into the tourism industry and the to learn that Angkor Wat, which gets over 3.5 million visitors a year, is run by the Vietnamese so the Cambodians don't make much from that. It seems the people here really struggle to get by, it really reminds me of Africa. After dinner we chanced across a little school that is open from 5pm to 7:30pm offering free English lessons to poor kids who can't afford to go to school. It is run by a chap called Jimmy who is a tuk tuk driver by day and teacher by night. We spoke to him and offered to help the following day. It was a holiday so the kids were playing games and having a good time. Jimmy pu both myself and Kinga on the spot by getting us up to the front of the class to talk about England and Africa which was nerve racking but went well. After that we helped serve dinner and pour drinks before dancing with the kids. It really was an emotional experience and we were so happy to help out, if just for 1 day. At the moment they are trying to build a second site, if you are interested you can track them down on Facebook at Jimmys Village School. Please take a look.

Ok so that's Siem Reap in a nutshell, aside from a couple of wanders along pub street and cheap dodgy massages. The bus ride here was 5hrs of nice driving and then 5 hours of hellish road. I a, so proud of Kinga for surviving it. I had my first opportunity to buy bugs to eat but haven't dared yet!

Hope all is well,

Matt and Kinga

Jet lag sucks

It is 2:40am local time, neither of us can sleep, bus to catch in a few hours time. I think tomorrow will be designated a grumpy day!

Arrived

Well here I am in Bangkok, after 27 hours we arrived. Our 3 hours at Singapore airport flew by with so much too see there including butterfly gardens and a sunflower garden over looking the runway. It was a bit of a trial trying to find our hotel after having a tourist information man point out the wrong one. Getting there involved crossing a very busy road, not easy in Thailand but we found a technique, follow a sacrificial local!  The hotel serves food and cold beer, so we were both happy! It turns out having minimal plans for your first day is a good idea as in defiance to my assumptions that I am immune to jet lag we both managed to sleep in until 2:30pm! Hopefully today will be better as we need to catch a bus at 8am.

Today, well, this afternoon was nice and relaxed. We went to book our train for tomorrow only to find out it wasn't running due to flooding so we had to use our back up plan of the bus. I'd have much rather been on the train but to be honest the bus option will be far easier. After booking that we went to the River City shopping mall as Kinga needs a bag, typical woman, but on the way found an amazing temple. I have researched it since but cannot find any information about it. Getting to the mall was slightly disappointing for one of us as it was a fine arts area and had lots of amazing crafts to look at. It was like being in a museum, but free if you don't buy anything, but we consoled our lack of bag buying by having a half hour massage each. 

A bit later, after a bit more walking we fed at a nice locals restaurant we came across. Very cheap and very friendly, maybe I won't be thinking the same tomorrow and then headed home. We caught a tuk tuk, he offered "shopping, eating, ping pong show", it was my turn to be disappointed as we just opted to come back to the hotel. I did managed to get my first injury after I decided to kick the crap out of a paving slab, I may be bleeding...but you should see the state of that slab now, otherwise a pretty uneventful day. Off to Siep Reap tomorrow, Siep Reap translates to Siamese defeated, made me chuckle about the idea of re-naming Dover Germany defeated. Don't think it would go down too well!

Looks after yourselves

M

New book has arrived

I have finally managed to release the Three Peaks book.  It's a travel diary from our challenge but also an advice book.  it will list all the stuff you will need, what to expect, mountain rescue advice and helpful websites.  As well as that it has advice on how to raise money and make the most of your fundraising opportunities and an interview with our driver to see what he went through while we were romping up and down mountains.

If you are thinking of taking on the peaks then it will be a great resource.

On another note, it is now less than 2 weeks before we leave to Asia.  Researching like crazy but I know when I am out there it will probably count for nothing.

Look after yourselves.

The Begining

Here it is, the Blog, going to be quiet for a little while but very soon stories will be told.