Hi everyone, we're back again! Now, you're all going to have to prepare yourselves for a few rather dramatic shocks during this blog - so keep yourselves as calm as possible, you have been warned!
SUNDAY 27th May
As you know, we made our way back to Bangkok today. The hostel we were staying at in Kanchanaburi kindly called for a taxi to take us back to the bus station, almost as soon as we arrived a bus pulled up outside, which was destined for Bangkok, so we bought a couple of tickets and were soon aboard heading off again. Once in Bangkok we had to get in another taxi so that we could get to the train station. When we arrived, we bumped into a young lady who told us that most of the tickets for the overnight train had been sold (but we're not sure that was true, as it's low season at the moment) and she took us to the tourist information office to find out about getting a bus to Koh Tao instead. We decided it was cheaper and more convinient to get the bus (as we were also able to buy our boat ticket to the island at the same time and would be dropped off at the pier itself). The guy we were talking to also asked us about diving and showed Steve a few places he could do a PADI Open Water Diver's Certification. He ended up having a look on the internet (the most expensive one we've used - 20 baht for 5 minutes!) for reviews about the places he said he could get special deals for him, but some of them had very mixed reviews, so he decided we would wait until reaching the island to make a decision about where to stay and to do his diving course.
We had to wait for ages at the train station - we arrived mid-afternoon and our bus didn't leave until 21.00! So we sat around reading, playing cards, getting bored! We popped out for dinner across the road from the train station and ended up having to stay there for ages, as the most enourmous rainstorm started! We finally decided to make a run for it and only got a little bit soggy on the way back, and even saw a dog being shampooed in a really deep puddle! Finally the time came to board the bus and spend 7 hours on it being taken to Chumphon Pier. Neither of us got too much sleep, as would be expected being cramped up on a bus, but it could have been worse!
MONDAY 28th May
In the very early hours of the morning, we arrived at Chumphon Pier and got our stuff unloaded from the bus. We ended up having a couple of hours of waiting before it was time to get on the boat and be taken to Koh Tao, but we were soon on board and after a couple of hours we were pulling up on the shores of 'Turtle Island'.
Our first stop was breakfast (an introduction to the expensiveness of island-living as well!) and then it was time to scope out some of the hundreds of diving resorts! We'd heard about a place called 'DivePoint' and so eventually headed there and found it to be a really nice place and it was an absolute bargainous price (presumably due to the low season) of 130 pounds for a 4 day PADI course, inclusive of 3 nights accommodation as well! Now, one of the first shocks of this blog is about to come up, so get ready! After months of telling Steve that he was welcome to do a diving course, but to NEVER expect me to do it too (due to my well known completely irrational fear of sharks) - I actually signed up to do the PADI course as well!
We started today, in the afternoon and watched some videos and then had homework (it was like being back at school), to read and complete the questions in chapter one, two and three of our PADI manuals. However, we were so tired though, that at about 22.00 we'd only finished the first chapter and were so tired that we ended up going to sleep!
TUESDAY 29th May
We began the day with classroom work. We went through the questions from chapters one, two and three with our PADI instructor (a very nice German lady called Alexandra). We also had to complete some multiple choice quizes about each of the chapters as well. We then watched a couple more videos and it was time to venture out for the first time! We got changed into swimmers and then met Alex to go out on the boat with a load of other divers.
First of all we had to prepare all our equipment ourselves and check it worked etc, we then got kitted up and checked each others kit was working properly and then it was time to jump in! It was pretty scary having to jump in off the back of the boat, but we managed to do it and then made our way to the shallows, where we were able to stand up with our heads above the water so we could practise some diving skills. To get back to the boat, Alex took us for a mini 'dive' and we swam along the bottom and got to see tropical coral reefs, anemones, millions of different tropical fish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and goodness knows what else! After our lesson, we were allowed to do some snorkelling on our own, whilst we waited for the other divers to come back to the boat. So we went and explored the reef some more on our own. When we got back, we were both so excited that we'd made our first step into the world of diving and it was so excilerating to see a whole new underwater world that we've never experience before - it was wicked!
Our evening was spent doing more reading though, as we had to complete chapters four and five tonight - which we finally managed to do by about 23.30!
WEDNESDAY 30th May
This morning we met Alex for our final classroom work, of going through chapters four and five and doing another quiz, before having to take our final exam! It was kind of nerve-racking, but each of us only got 1 question out of 50 wrong (you're allowed 12 wrong answers in total), so we were very pleased.
In the afternoon we got to complete our first and second open water dives. We had to complete a few skills in the process, but most of the time was spent swimming around and exploring the amazing flora and fauna! It was just incredible - the water was so blue and clear, you could see so far! There was also so much to see, clown fish, crown-of-thorns starfish, clown trigger fish, titan trigger fish (one of the most dangerous fish to divers, as it's very terratorial and over a metre in size - not diver friendly)! We saw lots of different varieties of corals, as well as tonnes of other fish! It's just so hard to explain everything we saw - you need to be able to see it for yourselves to understand properly how breathtaking it is! You might be able to get some impression of what it was like, as we bought ourselves an underwater camera and our instructor took photos for us!
We finally had a free evening tonight, but ended up spending most of our time packing up our bags, as we had to check out the next morning before our last 2 dives of the course! The accommodation was nice, it was basic, but the problem was that it was only a fan room and we could never get any breeze through, so it was just like an oven all of the time, no matter what we did! So we've had a couple of very hot and sweaty nights, with relatively little sleep, which is a pain, as diving itself is pretty tiring and so you need lots of energy to do it!
THURSDAY 31st May
We went diving first thing this morning and unfortunately there was a storm last night and so the water was much rougher than it has been over the other 2 days and I very much felt the effects of it! I was just about OK on the way there. We got our kit sorted out and put it all on straight away and were in the water and beginning our 3rd dive. Once we were underwater, I felt fine - thankfully! This dive site was further out than the previous two and was a mass of huge reefs and rocks and we felt like we were constantly swimming through millions of fish scattered around. Now, here comes the next shock for the blog and this is a HUGE one! I have actually swam past a real live, wild shark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so flipping scary! It was about 3 metres long and only about 10 metres away from us! After a bit of hyperventilating, we were moving on again, enjoying the reef. Alex showed Steve an urchin, which ended up pricking his finger - he later on showed me that he was bleeding, so along came some more hyperventilating, as sharks can smell a single drop of blood from 2 miles away, so I was now petrified the flipping thing was going to come back in attack mode this time (Steve wasn't bothered though, as it was only a pinprick)! As you can expect I used a lot of air up on this dive, but we were soon ascending and getting back onto the rocky boat!
We had to wait a while before we could go for our fourth dive, so we had some breakfast on the boat and were then taught how to use a diving compass. I started to feel more sea sick, so Steve and I got back in the water to do some snorkelling, but it didn't make me feel any better, so I was glad when Alex started to pass us our gear to go back under. Once under I felt better again. We had to do a few more skills with Alex, which I managed to get a bit flustered on at one point, as my regulator came out of my mouth and I was gulping in water and not air! But we were soon back on the reef and had the shock of seeing another 2 sharks, although these ones were very far away and possibly not quite as scary?! We saw much of the same as before - millions of fish, anenomes, urchins, sea cucumbers, we even saw a lion fish (very poisonous) - we just saw too much to list really! It was soon time to get back onto the boat, wait for the other divers to return and then make our way back to land. Unfortunately on the return to land, seasickness got the better of me and I wasn't a well bunny! But I did feel much better afterwards (I think it's pretty impressive that this was the first time I've been ill in the 2 months we've been away though)!
We finally got back to wonderful dry land (although I felt like I was still bobbing up and down) and filled out our log books and PADI certification forms. So we are now both qualified PADI Open Water Divers! So, if you ever go to DivePoint in Koh Tao and look us up in their book of qualified divers, we'll be there!
After all the paper work, we got our luggage together and got a taxi to further down the island on Sairee Beach to spend a couple of days resting and relaxing before moving back onto the mainland to continue our adventures!
Well, we think that's about all there is to know at the moment. Apologies for another long blog! We also hope you managed to survive the rather impressive shocks as well! Hope everyone is well, missing you all loads and looking forward to some more comments from you all!
Thursday 31 May 2007
Sunday 27 May 2007
Grand Palace and the Bridge on the River Kwai
Hi everyone! We've found time to update you all quickly before we leave Kanchanaburi (we'll be off packing our bags once we've finished blogging) and so here's a fairly short (for once) update of the past few days.
THURSDAY 24th May
After having a relaxing evening last night we decided we would try and get up early today so that we would hopefully have some time wandering around when the heat would be slightly less intense than during the middle of the day. Although we'd wanted to get up early, we hadn't intended on getting up at 06.30, which is what happened, as although we set our alarm for 07.30, we hadn't put it back an hour once we got to Bangkok - whoops! Oh well, it meant we had a nice early start, although it didn't mean we had any relief from the heat, we just missed all of the tourist crowds!
We went to the Grand Palace first of all. It was a really nice place - amazingly ornate too! Every facade, of every building, had some kind of decoration on it, whether it be ceramic tiles, mosaics of mirrored tiles, paintings, or building completely covered in gold! There were many different temples there, including the Emerald Green Buddha Temple, which must have been one of the most intricately decorated places of the whole Palace! It was also being renovated at the time (which made us reminisce about China), so some of the decoration on the outside parts of the building we couldn't see clearly. Unfortunately some of the most beautiful parts of the Grand Palace we were unable to photograph, so we'll have to do our best to describe it to you when we get back! The whole Grand Palace complex has undergone major renovation since around the time of the 60s we think - there was a whole museum dedicated to showing how the renovation was undertaken, why and where etc (although it was mostly in Thai, so we couldn't understand very much, but it was still interesting).
Once we'd wandered the enormous complex of the Grand Palace for a few hours we (well, Steve) decided to go and have a little look at the camera shops we'd found when we were first in Bangkok. Unfortunately it took an age for us to get there, as to start off with we got off at the wrong stop on the water taxi and then we proceeded to get a bit lost and disorientated. During our wanderings we did come across a really nice flower market (mum [Pauline], you would have had a field day there I'm sure), so we did get to see some new parts of Bangkok which was quite nice (although it would have been nicer if it wasn't scorching hot)! We finally came across the camera shops again and we then had to look at several different shops with the same lens in to find the best price and we finally found the newer version of the lens he wanted, which was cheaper than the older version, so he bought himself the EF 70-200mm lens he's been wanting for ages!
We had wanted to go to the Teak Mansion as well (we were able to get free admission, as we'd been to the Grand Palace), however, by the time we got back to the hostel, it was already 15.30 and the mansion closed at 16.00, so we had to give it a miss. We decided to get freshened up instead and spent the evening working on our plans for the next week or so, so that we would have some idea of where to go and what transport we need to use etc.
FRIDAY 25th May
We spent the morning getting our bags packed up once again and paying our bill at the hostel. It was then time to make our way to Kanchanaburi. We hopped in a taxi to take us to the bus station, where as soon as we arrived we were 'jumped' on by a man we presumed was a tout, I suddenly realised he was the 'conductor' for a bus, which was going to Kanchanaburi and was about to leave - so we managed to jump on and were on our way. Poor old Steve reacted badly to his malaria tablet again this morning and so spent most of the bus journey feeling really sick, but he managed to sleep a lot too!
After 3 hours on the bus, we made it to Kanchanaburi and got a tuk tuk to the guesthouse we wanted to stay at. After we'd freshened up we decided to go to the Thai-Burma Railway Museum. It was really interesting and also very sad to realise the desolate and gruelling conditions inflicted upon the PoWs. It's amazing that anyone managed to survive. What was also very shocking was that the Japanese had agreed that should Thailand be invaded by the Allied Forces, then all of the PoWs should die. They did this by the most inhumane methods - forcing them to go on death marches and if they managed to survive this, then they were put on starvation rations! They had a weird respect for the dead and allowed them to be buried in marked graves and also allowed their comrades to hold a ceremony for them, which the Japanese often attended themselves. We only had 40 minutes to look around the museum though, as it closed at 17.00, so we were soon on our way again and decided to visit the Bridge on the River Kwai.
SATURDAY 26th May
We spent the day on an organised trip which took us to several places. We started off spending 4 hours at the Erawan Falls. There were lots of different 'steps' (plunge-pools) we were able to have access to, and some of which we were also allowed to swim in. It was very beautiful there, as the water was a blue/aqua colour and there were some fantastic limestone formations there too. We went swimming in the pools to cool off, but the pools also had lots of fish in them, which would come up and suck at you if you stayed at all still! It made me jump every time, as you couldn't see the ones which were around your legs and feet! Steve jumped when he was floating on his back and a fish sucked his earlobe! After 4 hours of exploring the falls, we had lunch.
Our next stop was at the railway itself. We went to the Krasae Caves, which weren't very interesting, as we could only walk into them for about 30 metres and there weren't any interesting rock formations or anything. At the entrance of the cave, there was a statue of Buddha and an alter for people to worship at, but that was it.
It was then time to catch the train and ride on the Death Railway (so called due to the thousands of PoWs who lost their lives working on the construction of the railway). The ride lasted 30 minutes, but we were sat on the side of the train with the less scenic view, as it was so busy. Steve managed to sneak a few peeks though, and said we weren't really missing anything.
Our last stop of the day was at the Bridge on the River Kwai. It was a good job we went last night, as we were only given 15 minutes to have a look around, so we wouldn't have had any nice photos, if we'd relied on today's visit alone.
After our long day, we were pretty tired, so we ended up freshening up and then having dinner at the hostel, as we couldn't see any nice places near by.
SUNDAY 27th May
Today we're back to travelling. We're catching the bus back to Bangkok and will then catch the overnight train to Chumphon, so that we can get the ferry to Ko Tao and do some serious relaxing and beach-bumming for a few days! Although Steve's going to do a PADI course in diving - he wants me to join him, but I'm not sure yet, you'll find out if I'm brave enough to do it soon!
Well, that's about all there is to know at the moment. We've enjoyed our flying visit to Kanchanaburi and will be passing through Bangkok for the last time today. We'll keep you updated with our plans for moving around. Missing you all!
THURSDAY 24th May
After having a relaxing evening last night we decided we would try and get up early today so that we would hopefully have some time wandering around when the heat would be slightly less intense than during the middle of the day. Although we'd wanted to get up early, we hadn't intended on getting up at 06.30, which is what happened, as although we set our alarm for 07.30, we hadn't put it back an hour once we got to Bangkok - whoops! Oh well, it meant we had a nice early start, although it didn't mean we had any relief from the heat, we just missed all of the tourist crowds!
We went to the Grand Palace first of all. It was a really nice place - amazingly ornate too! Every facade, of every building, had some kind of decoration on it, whether it be ceramic tiles, mosaics of mirrored tiles, paintings, or building completely covered in gold! There were many different temples there, including the Emerald Green Buddha Temple, which must have been one of the most intricately decorated places of the whole Palace! It was also being renovated at the time (which made us reminisce about China), so some of the decoration on the outside parts of the building we couldn't see clearly. Unfortunately some of the most beautiful parts of the Grand Palace we were unable to photograph, so we'll have to do our best to describe it to you when we get back! The whole Grand Palace complex has undergone major renovation since around the time of the 60s we think - there was a whole museum dedicated to showing how the renovation was undertaken, why and where etc (although it was mostly in Thai, so we couldn't understand very much, but it was still interesting).
Once we'd wandered the enormous complex of the Grand Palace for a few hours we (well, Steve) decided to go and have a little look at the camera shops we'd found when we were first in Bangkok. Unfortunately it took an age for us to get there, as to start off with we got off at the wrong stop on the water taxi and then we proceeded to get a bit lost and disorientated. During our wanderings we did come across a really nice flower market (mum [Pauline], you would have had a field day there I'm sure), so we did get to see some new parts of Bangkok which was quite nice (although it would have been nicer if it wasn't scorching hot)! We finally came across the camera shops again and we then had to look at several different shops with the same lens in to find the best price and we finally found the newer version of the lens he wanted, which was cheaper than the older version, so he bought himself the EF 70-200mm lens he's been wanting for ages!
We had wanted to go to the Teak Mansion as well (we were able to get free admission, as we'd been to the Grand Palace), however, by the time we got back to the hostel, it was already 15.30 and the mansion closed at 16.00, so we had to give it a miss. We decided to get freshened up instead and spent the evening working on our plans for the next week or so, so that we would have some idea of where to go and what transport we need to use etc.
FRIDAY 25th May
We spent the morning getting our bags packed up once again and paying our bill at the hostel. It was then time to make our way to Kanchanaburi. We hopped in a taxi to take us to the bus station, where as soon as we arrived we were 'jumped' on by a man we presumed was a tout, I suddenly realised he was the 'conductor' for a bus, which was going to Kanchanaburi and was about to leave - so we managed to jump on and were on our way. Poor old Steve reacted badly to his malaria tablet again this morning and so spent most of the bus journey feeling really sick, but he managed to sleep a lot too!
After 3 hours on the bus, we made it to Kanchanaburi and got a tuk tuk to the guesthouse we wanted to stay at. After we'd freshened up we decided to go to the Thai-Burma Railway Museum. It was really interesting and also very sad to realise the desolate and gruelling conditions inflicted upon the PoWs. It's amazing that anyone managed to survive. What was also very shocking was that the Japanese had agreed that should Thailand be invaded by the Allied Forces, then all of the PoWs should die. They did this by the most inhumane methods - forcing them to go on death marches and if they managed to survive this, then they were put on starvation rations! They had a weird respect for the dead and allowed them to be buried in marked graves and also allowed their comrades to hold a ceremony for them, which the Japanese often attended themselves. We only had 40 minutes to look around the museum though, as it closed at 17.00, so we were soon on our way again and decided to visit the Bridge on the River Kwai.
SATURDAY 26th May
We spent the day on an organised trip which took us to several places. We started off spending 4 hours at the Erawan Falls. There were lots of different 'steps' (plunge-pools) we were able to have access to, and some of which we were also allowed to swim in. It was very beautiful there, as the water was a blue/aqua colour and there were some fantastic limestone formations there too. We went swimming in the pools to cool off, but the pools also had lots of fish in them, which would come up and suck at you if you stayed at all still! It made me jump every time, as you couldn't see the ones which were around your legs and feet! Steve jumped when he was floating on his back and a fish sucked his earlobe! After 4 hours of exploring the falls, we had lunch.
Our next stop was at the railway itself. We went to the Krasae Caves, which weren't very interesting, as we could only walk into them for about 30 metres and there weren't any interesting rock formations or anything. At the entrance of the cave, there was a statue of Buddha and an alter for people to worship at, but that was it.
It was then time to catch the train and ride on the Death Railway (so called due to the thousands of PoWs who lost their lives working on the construction of the railway). The ride lasted 30 minutes, but we were sat on the side of the train with the less scenic view, as it was so busy. Steve managed to sneak a few peeks though, and said we weren't really missing anything.
Our last stop of the day was at the Bridge on the River Kwai. It was a good job we went last night, as we were only given 15 minutes to have a look around, so we wouldn't have had any nice photos, if we'd relied on today's visit alone.
After our long day, we were pretty tired, so we ended up freshening up and then having dinner at the hostel, as we couldn't see any nice places near by.
SUNDAY 27th May
Today we're back to travelling. We're catching the bus back to Bangkok and will then catch the overnight train to Chumphon, so that we can get the ferry to Ko Tao and do some serious relaxing and beach-bumming for a few days! Although Steve's going to do a PADI course in diving - he wants me to join him, but I'm not sure yet, you'll find out if I'm brave enough to do it soon!
Well, that's about all there is to know at the moment. We've enjoyed our flying visit to Kanchanaburi and will be passing through Bangkok for the last time today. We'll keep you updated with our plans for moving around. Missing you all!
Wednesday 23 May 2007
Rain, rain, and yes ... more rain (don't you just love the rainy season)!
Hi again, we're back in sunny (but now also rainy) Thailand - Bangkok at the moment, to be precise. We can't believe that we are now entering the last month of our stay in South East Asia - it's crazy, as it just feels like it's going so fast! Anyway, we'd best update you on our last few days in Hong Kong, so here goes!
MONDAY 21st May
We actually managed to get ourselves up relatively early this morning - all of our own accord (very impressive stuff, as we can be pretty lazy at times)! We made our first stop the Post Office, it was an interesting activity to do! We had absolutely no idea what we were doing and we think we confused most of the staff there with our bizarre questions and incompetence! The amount of stuff we've managed collect so far is impressive! So we got that sent off and it only took us an hour or two (we kid you not) to get it all sorted out!
Our next stop was the Hong Kong Museum of Art. We ended up spending three or four hours here just sauntering around the exhibition halls. This art museum was what I'd expected the one we visited in Beijing to be like - it was full of 'real' Chinese art, modern and historic. There were very few pieces I disliked and we had a really nice time there. There was a whole exhibition on calligraphy, which is so beautiful and it's amazing that there are so many different styles of script to deal with. The scrolls of landscapes, flowers, animals and everything else under the sun were also very intricate and truly amazing, we wished we would have been able to buy some of them!! There was also an exhibition of gold and jade artifacts. The amazing detail in the jewellery and other objects was just breath-taking, especially some of the jade bowls, which were so thin they were translucent, but then they also had the most intricate relief carving on them as well!
Unfortunately by the time we left the museum, the rain had well and truly set in again and so we decided to not get drenched by going to Kowloon Park. Instead we pottered around, ducking into the shelter of shops here and there (mainly camera shops so that Steve could look at different lenses and flashes and things for his cameras). We stopped for a light dinner and then went to the harbour. We wandered up onto the 'balcony' overlooking the harbour and watched the light and sound show. It's actually in the Guinness Book of World Records, as it's the longest running, permanently run light and sound show. It was quite good, there were quite a few different buildings involved and there were even lasers! It only lasted 15 minutes and was free, so we can't grumble really!
After the show, we went back to the grungy hostel we were staying at. It must be the worst place we've stayed so far. It's really tiny (but everywhere is in Hong Kong), and there is mould almost everywhere in the bathroom, the toilet leaks, it has a really horrid dank, musty smell to the room and beds and there isn't even a window! Having to spend 3 nights there is 3 nights too many!
TUESDAY 22nd May
Today we had loads of things planned, but unfortunately due to the wonderful weather we were scuppered! It absolutely poured with rain for almost the entire day! We set off from the hostel and went straight to the harbour to catch the ferry to Hong Kong Island. As the cloud was still so low it was covering the tops of the buildings, we decided to go to Man Mo Temple first. We got pretty wet making our way there. The Temple was free to get into (we almost fell over with shock at this, as normally in China you have to pay to get in and then pay extra to actually see anything within the place you've gone to)! It was very small and was almost spooky in a way, because it was dark and there was a thick hazy smoke from the burning incense. There were incense everywhere - coils of various sizes were hanging from all over the ceiling, and there were also lots of sticks that had been offered at the different altars as well. The Temple is the oldest in Hong Kong, and is still an active place of worship. We didn't stay very long though, as the Temple was very small.
After leaving a small donation we went to leave, but found that the rain was coming down the hardest it has since we arrived! So we dashed for the shelter of a nearby coffee shop to wait out the downpour. We ended up sitting there for some time and although the rain had only subsided a little, we decided to go out again anyway. We made our way to the Zoological and Botanical gardens. We were absolutely soaked through by the time we arrived and just kept getting wetter as we walked around! It was interesting to walk around and see lots of different plants and animals, but as always it was sad to see animals caged up. As we were so wet we ended up not spending an age at the gardens (luckily it was another free attraction to visit).
We decided that we couldn't have come to Hong Kong without going up Victoria Peak, and so our next stop was the Peak Tram to take us to the top. When we arrived we went straight up to the rooftop viewing point. Unfortunately, although we were above the rain, we were in fact surrounded by thick clouds and so we had a somewhat bleak outlook! It was just completely white! Disappointingly we made our way down again and went outside. We had wanted to go to Victoria Park and then walk down (rather than getting the tram back down), but we could barely see 10 feet in front of us and so didn't want to risk getting lost and also didn't want to get caught in another torrential downpour! So we clambered despondently back onto the tram and went back down.
We made our way back to the ferry, stopping off at a few more camera shops on the way for Steve's benefit! Once back on Kowloon, we wandered for a little while, grabbed some dinner and some breakfast for Wednesday morning and then headed back to the hostel to pack our bags ready for our flight the next day.
WEDNESDAY 23rd May
Our last day (well, half-day) in Hong Kong, and guess what?! It rained again! Well, at least it wasn't blissfully beautiful weather, and Victoria Peak was still shrouded in thick clouds, so it was a fitting end to a very rainy stay! We got ourselves ready and checked out of the hostel and then negotiated the underground (which is amazing - it's really nice and cool down there, it's beautifully clean, and also the edge of the platform has a glass screen along it so you can't fall onto the tracks and there are doors along it which open with the train doors, it's so wicked) and after a bit of a walk we caught the airport shuttle bus. We ended up arriving with loads of time to spare as usual, so we had to wait around before being able to check-in. Once checked-in we had some lunch and then wandered around for a while. We ended up not keeping a very good eye on the time and found that we had less than 10 minutes to get to our gate for boarding! It was also at this point that we realised we were miles away from our gate too! We had to catch the airport train (much like the underground we'd caught earlier) and after catching that we had to run, full pelt down 3 of those flat escalators and then a bit further before we arrived at the flaming gate! To say the least we were a tad out of breath when we finally arrived about 3 minutes late. Thankfully there were still people queuing to board and we weren't the last people to get on the plane either!
It was a pretty good flight, although the take-off and landing were much wobblier than any of the others we've had, which made it rather scary, and as usual, we ended up having a meal, when we thought that we were only going to be provided with refreshments!
We got to Bangkok after about 2.5 hours of flying and were swiftly through immigration, our bags were even some of the first to come out onto the conveyor belt things and so we were out of the airport really quickly. We were going to get the bus into Bangkok town, but it ended up being cheaper to get a taxi. So we got loaded in and as usual, the driver didn't know where to go (although at least this one could see - unlike the one we had last time we arrived in Bangkok), so he phoned the hostel (whilst driving - at least the other guy pulled over to the side of the road and stopped) to ask for directions. We got stuck in traffic and he also got a bit lost, but after another phone call we were at the hostel!
That's about all there is for you to know at the moment! We've got a day of exploring Bangkok and will then be starting our touring. We're not entirely sure how long we want to stay in places, so it'll be a bit whimsical, but it should be fun and adventurous! Hoping everyone is well, still missing you all and don't forget to keep commenting, it's lovely to hear from you!
MONDAY 21st May
We actually managed to get ourselves up relatively early this morning - all of our own accord (very impressive stuff, as we can be pretty lazy at times)! We made our first stop the Post Office, it was an interesting activity to do! We had absolutely no idea what we were doing and we think we confused most of the staff there with our bizarre questions and incompetence! The amount of stuff we've managed collect so far is impressive! So we got that sent off and it only took us an hour or two (we kid you not) to get it all sorted out!
Our next stop was the Hong Kong Museum of Art. We ended up spending three or four hours here just sauntering around the exhibition halls. This art museum was what I'd expected the one we visited in Beijing to be like - it was full of 'real' Chinese art, modern and historic. There were very few pieces I disliked and we had a really nice time there. There was a whole exhibition on calligraphy, which is so beautiful and it's amazing that there are so many different styles of script to deal with. The scrolls of landscapes, flowers, animals and everything else under the sun were also very intricate and truly amazing, we wished we would have been able to buy some of them!! There was also an exhibition of gold and jade artifacts. The amazing detail in the jewellery and other objects was just breath-taking, especially some of the jade bowls, which were so thin they were translucent, but then they also had the most intricate relief carving on them as well!
Unfortunately by the time we left the museum, the rain had well and truly set in again and so we decided to not get drenched by going to Kowloon Park. Instead we pottered around, ducking into the shelter of shops here and there (mainly camera shops so that Steve could look at different lenses and flashes and things for his cameras). We stopped for a light dinner and then went to the harbour. We wandered up onto the 'balcony' overlooking the harbour and watched the light and sound show. It's actually in the Guinness Book of World Records, as it's the longest running, permanently run light and sound show. It was quite good, there were quite a few different buildings involved and there were even lasers! It only lasted 15 minutes and was free, so we can't grumble really!
After the show, we went back to the grungy hostel we were staying at. It must be the worst place we've stayed so far. It's really tiny (but everywhere is in Hong Kong), and there is mould almost everywhere in the bathroom, the toilet leaks, it has a really horrid dank, musty smell to the room and beds and there isn't even a window! Having to spend 3 nights there is 3 nights too many!
TUESDAY 22nd May
Today we had loads of things planned, but unfortunately due to the wonderful weather we were scuppered! It absolutely poured with rain for almost the entire day! We set off from the hostel and went straight to the harbour to catch the ferry to Hong Kong Island. As the cloud was still so low it was covering the tops of the buildings, we decided to go to Man Mo Temple first. We got pretty wet making our way there. The Temple was free to get into (we almost fell over with shock at this, as normally in China you have to pay to get in and then pay extra to actually see anything within the place you've gone to)! It was very small and was almost spooky in a way, because it was dark and there was a thick hazy smoke from the burning incense. There were incense everywhere - coils of various sizes were hanging from all over the ceiling, and there were also lots of sticks that had been offered at the different altars as well. The Temple is the oldest in Hong Kong, and is still an active place of worship. We didn't stay very long though, as the Temple was very small.
After leaving a small donation we went to leave, but found that the rain was coming down the hardest it has since we arrived! So we dashed for the shelter of a nearby coffee shop to wait out the downpour. We ended up sitting there for some time and although the rain had only subsided a little, we decided to go out again anyway. We made our way to the Zoological and Botanical gardens. We were absolutely soaked through by the time we arrived and just kept getting wetter as we walked around! It was interesting to walk around and see lots of different plants and animals, but as always it was sad to see animals caged up. As we were so wet we ended up not spending an age at the gardens (luckily it was another free attraction to visit).
We decided that we couldn't have come to Hong Kong without going up Victoria Peak, and so our next stop was the Peak Tram to take us to the top. When we arrived we went straight up to the rooftop viewing point. Unfortunately, although we were above the rain, we were in fact surrounded by thick clouds and so we had a somewhat bleak outlook! It was just completely white! Disappointingly we made our way down again and went outside. We had wanted to go to Victoria Park and then walk down (rather than getting the tram back down), but we could barely see 10 feet in front of us and so didn't want to risk getting lost and also didn't want to get caught in another torrential downpour! So we clambered despondently back onto the tram and went back down.
We made our way back to the ferry, stopping off at a few more camera shops on the way for Steve's benefit! Once back on Kowloon, we wandered for a little while, grabbed some dinner and some breakfast for Wednesday morning and then headed back to the hostel to pack our bags ready for our flight the next day.
WEDNESDAY 23rd May
Our last day (well, half-day) in Hong Kong, and guess what?! It rained again! Well, at least it wasn't blissfully beautiful weather, and Victoria Peak was still shrouded in thick clouds, so it was a fitting end to a very rainy stay! We got ourselves ready and checked out of the hostel and then negotiated the underground (which is amazing - it's really nice and cool down there, it's beautifully clean, and also the edge of the platform has a glass screen along it so you can't fall onto the tracks and there are doors along it which open with the train doors, it's so wicked) and after a bit of a walk we caught the airport shuttle bus. We ended up arriving with loads of time to spare as usual, so we had to wait around before being able to check-in. Once checked-in we had some lunch and then wandered around for a while. We ended up not keeping a very good eye on the time and found that we had less than 10 minutes to get to our gate for boarding! It was also at this point that we realised we were miles away from our gate too! We had to catch the airport train (much like the underground we'd caught earlier) and after catching that we had to run, full pelt down 3 of those flat escalators and then a bit further before we arrived at the flaming gate! To say the least we were a tad out of breath when we finally arrived about 3 minutes late. Thankfully there were still people queuing to board and we weren't the last people to get on the plane either!
It was a pretty good flight, although the take-off and landing were much wobblier than any of the others we've had, which made it rather scary, and as usual, we ended up having a meal, when we thought that we were only going to be provided with refreshments!
We got to Bangkok after about 2.5 hours of flying and were swiftly through immigration, our bags were even some of the first to come out onto the conveyor belt things and so we were out of the airport really quickly. We were going to get the bus into Bangkok town, but it ended up being cheaper to get a taxi. So we got loaded in and as usual, the driver didn't know where to go (although at least this one could see - unlike the one we had last time we arrived in Bangkok), so he phoned the hostel (whilst driving - at least the other guy pulled over to the side of the road and stopped) to ask for directions. We got stuck in traffic and he also got a bit lost, but after another phone call we were at the hostel!
That's about all there is for you to know at the moment! We've got a day of exploring Bangkok and will then be starting our touring. We're not entirely sure how long we want to stay in places, so it'll be a bit whimsical, but it should be fun and adventurous! Hoping everyone is well, still missing you all and don't forget to keep commenting, it's lovely to hear from you!
Sunday 20 May 2007
Cooking, Cycling and Farewells!
Hi everyone, we don't have too much to update you on today and it might be pretty brief as it's so expensive to access the internet in Hong Kong (slightly regretting deciding to stay for a whole extra 3 days, as it's wrecking our budget)!
THURSDAY 17th May
We started off the day with a refreshing bicycle ride - we had some rather ancient mountain bikes, but luckily they weren't uncomfortable ones, so we set off on our merry way to see the limestone karst, countryside scenery around Yangshou. We did quite a lot of off-roading which was very bumpy work when you don't have the best gears or suspension systems in the world! But we got along well and made quite a few stops to take photos of the scenery and men ploughing the rice paddies with their ox etc. We went to a rice-wine distillery on our cycle - we think it was actually someones home as well and it seemed to be a bit of a bath-tub operation in a way, but Lucy, our local guide, explained how the rice was fermented before being cooked and distilled. At the end of the explanation, we were allowed to try some of the rice-wine, although Steve tried some, I gave it a miss, as it doesn't really agree with me! We stopped off at the Moon Hill Cafe, a few people decided to go and climb the hill to get some photos (including Steve of course, but I was too lazy to go), most of us waited for them at the Cafe and treated ourselves to some nice cold drinks instead! Moon Hill is an arch perched on top of a hill - so it looks like the moon rising over the hill, it's pretty cool and the view of the mountainous scenery was spectacular from the top. Once people were back from their walk, we all cycled to a nearby farmers house to have some lunch. We were allowed to have a look around the farmers house, it was very basic and simple and certainly makes you appreciate all of the luxuries we have at home! It was soon time to make our way back to the hotel and so we all set off down the road back into Yangshou town.
In the afternoon we had optional activities to take part in and Steve and I each had a class to go to - Steve did water colour painting. He only actually used black ink and learnt how to paint bamboo, he says he was really awful at it, but I thought it looked really good (we have the proof to show you when we get home)! I did a calligraphy class and learnt how to hold the brush, write Chinese numbers from 1 to 10, learnt how to write 'person', 'wood', 'tree' and 'forest', as well as my name in Chinese characters. Katherine in Chinese means beauty and success, whilst Stephen means King and wisdom! After our classes we made a couple of purchases - Steve got a 'chop' (a type of Chinese stamp, or seal), with his name carved into it in Chinese characters and I got a silk-lined, rice-paper scroll with my name written on it in Chinese characters!
FRIDAY 18th May
This morning we started off by going to a cooking class with a few other people from the tour. We got picked up in the morning at our hotel and started off at the fresh produce market, where we were introduced to lots of traditional Chinese ingredients, as well as fresh meats (including food dog) and tonnes of other food products! We then got taken to our class just outside of Yangshou. We made 4 dishes - an 'eggplant' (or aubergine) dish with garlic, ginger and chili paste etc, Beer Fish, Chicken and Cashew nut, and steamed vegetables stuffed with pork meat. It was all pretty good and it was great to learn how to use a wok properly (as well as clean it) - we've been doing it so wrong! But poor old Steve was very ill whilst we were there and so didn't sample very much of his own cooking!
After cooking we had a free afternoon to ourselves before having to get ready for the overnight train. Steve and I didn't do too much, as he wasn't feeling well, but we did manage to go out for dinner with everyone in the early evening and Steve even ate dinner! At 19.00 we were packing our bags onto the bus to take us to the train station in Guilin. The train was really nice and very similar to the ones we went on before, but we experienced the hard sleeper carriage this time around and so had 6 people in a carriage, which was open to the corridor. We managed to sleep well though and so now feel complete having experienced all of the sleeper styles on offer to us on overnight trains in China!
SATURDAY 19th May
We arrived at Shenzen this morning and had the task of crossing into the administrative region that is Hong Kong. We got a couple more stamps in our passports and we were then piling onto the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway), which took us into Kowloon. We made it to the hotel, which was pretty posh and dumped our bags and headed straight for the shower to freshen up! Unfortunately, since arriving it was chucking it down, but we decided to go for a wander anyway! We ended up looking in camera shops for a lens for Steve, but they're all lots more expensive than in Bangkok (despite being second hand), so we'll probably get one when we go back to Thailand. After getting thoroughly soaked through, we decided to head back to the hotel to get dried off before dinner - thank goodness they provided hair-driers in the hotel rooms! After dinner we ended up having a bit of a party, as Chris's birthday is on the 20th, so we all stayed up until midnight, having a few drinks and a giggle together, it was great fun, although tiring!
SUNDAY 20th May
We had to get packed up and checked out of the hotel today. We made our farewells to everyone on the tour, as it's the end of the tour today. It's sad having to say goodbye to everyone, as we've made some great friends, but things have to come to an end. It's just going to feel like such hard work trying to get things sorted for ourselves again! After saying goodbye and getting checked out, we headed over to our next accommodation, a couple of the guys from the tour came with us, as they wanted to see if our hostel had any accommodation for them too, so we all got a taxi together. The hostel is OK, but it's pretty dreary and I can't wait to not have to stay there anymore - it will certainly give us the impetus to get out and do lots, as we don't want to spend too much time in the room (it's certainly the worst place we've stayed so far, 3 nights feels like 3 nights too long to be staying there)! I'm sure we'll survive though! We went out once we'd got our bags into our rooms and went to find some breakfast. We then wandered around, as just like yesterday it was still pouring with rain! We went to a bookshop and Steve bought the Hobbit and then we had some lunch before going to see the new Spider-man movie to kill some time whilst it was still raining.
That's about all that we've done since we last blogged. Hopefully the weather will clear up for at least one of the days that we're here, if not there are a few museums etc we can go to. We're not sure what we'll do for the rest of the afternoon/evening, although we do want to see the light show later on, but it doesn't start until 20.00. Anyway, that's about all for now, hope everyone is doing well, hope you had a good birthday Andie, and hope you're enjoying your resting mum (Pauline) - keep everything stable for the next appointment! Missing you all!
THURSDAY 17th May
We started off the day with a refreshing bicycle ride - we had some rather ancient mountain bikes, but luckily they weren't uncomfortable ones, so we set off on our merry way to see the limestone karst, countryside scenery around Yangshou. We did quite a lot of off-roading which was very bumpy work when you don't have the best gears or suspension systems in the world! But we got along well and made quite a few stops to take photos of the scenery and men ploughing the rice paddies with their ox etc. We went to a rice-wine distillery on our cycle - we think it was actually someones home as well and it seemed to be a bit of a bath-tub operation in a way, but Lucy, our local guide, explained how the rice was fermented before being cooked and distilled. At the end of the explanation, we were allowed to try some of the rice-wine, although Steve tried some, I gave it a miss, as it doesn't really agree with me! We stopped off at the Moon Hill Cafe, a few people decided to go and climb the hill to get some photos (including Steve of course, but I was too lazy to go), most of us waited for them at the Cafe and treated ourselves to some nice cold drinks instead! Moon Hill is an arch perched on top of a hill - so it looks like the moon rising over the hill, it's pretty cool and the view of the mountainous scenery was spectacular from the top. Once people were back from their walk, we all cycled to a nearby farmers house to have some lunch. We were allowed to have a look around the farmers house, it was very basic and simple and certainly makes you appreciate all of the luxuries we have at home! It was soon time to make our way back to the hotel and so we all set off down the road back into Yangshou town.
In the afternoon we had optional activities to take part in and Steve and I each had a class to go to - Steve did water colour painting. He only actually used black ink and learnt how to paint bamboo, he says he was really awful at it, but I thought it looked really good (we have the proof to show you when we get home)! I did a calligraphy class and learnt how to hold the brush, write Chinese numbers from 1 to 10, learnt how to write 'person', 'wood', 'tree' and 'forest', as well as my name in Chinese characters. Katherine in Chinese means beauty and success, whilst Stephen means King and wisdom! After our classes we made a couple of purchases - Steve got a 'chop' (a type of Chinese stamp, or seal), with his name carved into it in Chinese characters and I got a silk-lined, rice-paper scroll with my name written on it in Chinese characters!
FRIDAY 18th May
This morning we started off by going to a cooking class with a few other people from the tour. We got picked up in the morning at our hotel and started off at the fresh produce market, where we were introduced to lots of traditional Chinese ingredients, as well as fresh meats (including food dog) and tonnes of other food products! We then got taken to our class just outside of Yangshou. We made 4 dishes - an 'eggplant' (or aubergine) dish with garlic, ginger and chili paste etc, Beer Fish, Chicken and Cashew nut, and steamed vegetables stuffed with pork meat. It was all pretty good and it was great to learn how to use a wok properly (as well as clean it) - we've been doing it so wrong! But poor old Steve was very ill whilst we were there and so didn't sample very much of his own cooking!
After cooking we had a free afternoon to ourselves before having to get ready for the overnight train. Steve and I didn't do too much, as he wasn't feeling well, but we did manage to go out for dinner with everyone in the early evening and Steve even ate dinner! At 19.00 we were packing our bags onto the bus to take us to the train station in Guilin. The train was really nice and very similar to the ones we went on before, but we experienced the hard sleeper carriage this time around and so had 6 people in a carriage, which was open to the corridor. We managed to sleep well though and so now feel complete having experienced all of the sleeper styles on offer to us on overnight trains in China!
SATURDAY 19th May
We arrived at Shenzen this morning and had the task of crossing into the administrative region that is Hong Kong. We got a couple more stamps in our passports and we were then piling onto the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway), which took us into Kowloon. We made it to the hotel, which was pretty posh and dumped our bags and headed straight for the shower to freshen up! Unfortunately, since arriving it was chucking it down, but we decided to go for a wander anyway! We ended up looking in camera shops for a lens for Steve, but they're all lots more expensive than in Bangkok (despite being second hand), so we'll probably get one when we go back to Thailand. After getting thoroughly soaked through, we decided to head back to the hotel to get dried off before dinner - thank goodness they provided hair-driers in the hotel rooms! After dinner we ended up having a bit of a party, as Chris's birthday is on the 20th, so we all stayed up until midnight, having a few drinks and a giggle together, it was great fun, although tiring!
SUNDAY 20th May
We had to get packed up and checked out of the hotel today. We made our farewells to everyone on the tour, as it's the end of the tour today. It's sad having to say goodbye to everyone, as we've made some great friends, but things have to come to an end. It's just going to feel like such hard work trying to get things sorted for ourselves again! After saying goodbye and getting checked out, we headed over to our next accommodation, a couple of the guys from the tour came with us, as they wanted to see if our hostel had any accommodation for them too, so we all got a taxi together. The hostel is OK, but it's pretty dreary and I can't wait to not have to stay there anymore - it will certainly give us the impetus to get out and do lots, as we don't want to spend too much time in the room (it's certainly the worst place we've stayed so far, 3 nights feels like 3 nights too long to be staying there)! I'm sure we'll survive though! We went out once we'd got our bags into our rooms and went to find some breakfast. We then wandered around, as just like yesterday it was still pouring with rain! We went to a bookshop and Steve bought the Hobbit and then we had some lunch before going to see the new Spider-man movie to kill some time whilst it was still raining.
That's about all that we've done since we last blogged. Hopefully the weather will clear up for at least one of the days that we're here, if not there are a few museums etc we can go to. We're not sure what we'll do for the rest of the afternoon/evening, although we do want to see the light show later on, but it doesn't start until 20.00. Anyway, that's about all for now, hope everyone is doing well, hope you had a good birthday Andie, and hope you're enjoying your resting mum (Pauline) - keep everything stable for the next appointment! Missing you all!
Wednesday 16 May 2007
Bridges and Paddies Galore
Hi everyone, we've got a few days for you to catch up on. We've been out in the stix for a while and so not been able to do it sooner, but it's not too long, so bear with us!
SATURDAY 12th May
Not a lot happened today. We popped out to grab some brunch- style food, as we had our first lay-in since the Intrepid Tour started! We wandered around the streets near to the hotel and when we got back we ate our food before starting the mammoth task of trying to get our washing back! Oh my gosh, we just kept going around in circles, as we paid for the washing, but then we couldn't get them to understand we needed it back right then, as we were meeting up with the rest of the group so that we could leave and go to Chengyang! We finally managed to understand one another and we got our washing back! We then piled into taxis to take us to the bus station, ready for another long afternoon of travelling. We were soon at Chengyang and being picked up by the hostel's minibus service and going to stay with the Wu family for a couple of days. We got our things into our rooms and then sat down to a terrific meal - Mrs. Wu was an amazing cook! Afterwards we sat around chatting together, as Chengyang is a small village and so there wasn't a lot else to do. Our hostel had a beautiful view of one of the most famous and most visited Wind-and-Rain bridges in the area. They're built as a social place for people to meet and trade, as well as offering protection from the wind and rain. They're also built entirely of wood and without a single nail!
SUNDAY 13th May
First thing in the morning Tim (one of the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Wu) took us for a countryside/village walk for about 4 hours. It was really interesting to get to watch people doing their daily things, for example working in the rice paddies, working in their shops, killing and plucking chickens etc. It was quite sad though, as we saw a group of people in their white mourning dress and so we knew somebody had died. It was soon time to head back to the hostel though for lunch. We had some free time afterwards and sat and chatted some more, or read books. Later on we went to the Village Cultural Show, we saw men and women of all ages performing traditional Dong songs and dances, we had rice wine and even had to join in with the dancing at the end! We were all pretty useless at it, but it was good fun too! After the show, some people decided to walk to the top of a nearby hill to take some photographs, while the rest of us went back to the hostel. It was another quite evening of sitting around and chatting after we'd had dinner.
MONDAY 14th May
We had another mammoth day of travelling today. We were up bright and early so that we could make our way to Longji. We had to catch 3 buses, not all of which seemed to be of the most sturdy construction and it also turned out to be the bumpiest bus ride in the world, as the road was under construction! Unfortunately I was desperate for the loo on one bus and the driver kindly pulled over so that I could jump out, I managed to hide myself from the view of the people on the bus by jumping down a verge, but I completely forgot that people coming the other way would be able to look down onto where I was! I also found out afterwards, that the 2 men sitting behind Steve and I on the bus were very interested in what I was doing! So 3 bus journeys and my highly embarrassing debacle later we were in Pingan (Longji)! We had to walk up a fairly steep hill for about 20/30 minutes to get to the hotel we were staying at. It was a really nice place and as soon as we arrived we had lunch, as we had to wait for the rooms to be made ready for us. We had a couple of hours free, and we ended up watching people from the viallge carry a very heavy electricity transformer up the steep hill, as there was a power cut - it was avid viewing and also really nice to see most of the village all going out to help. After this, we went for a short walk up to a viewing point on the hill to have a look at the view, unfortunately it was a bit hazy and so we couldn't see too far. After sitting for a while at the top we headed back down for dinner.
TUESDAY 15th May
We were up very early today so that we could do our 4 to 5 hours trek through the Longji Rice Terraces. We managed to set off by 07.00 so that we would miss the midday heat of the Sun. It was an amazing trek, it was hard work at times though (with six steep hills to climb up), but definitely worth the views! Construction was started on the terraces 700 years ago and they were only finished in the early 1900s. It's just amazing to think and see that people do climb the hills every day to get to the terraces and other villages. It's such hard work, as most of the terraces aren't large enough to get an ox in, so they have to be farmed by hand - back breaking working we can assure you! The views were just spectacular looking over the vast areas that have been cultivated and seeing the Sun reflecting off of the flooded paddies. We finally made it to Dazai around 12.00! We had a banquet lunch and then spent the afternoon and evening watching DVDs and playing cards! Some people, including Steve, were not being lazy bones and decided to go to a couple of the view points near to the hotel we stayed at and so went for another hour of trekking!
WEDNESDAY 16th May
We spent the morning and part of the early afternoon on buses again today and most of us slept the whole time, as we are all so exhausted! I know that I spent the majority of every bus ride asleep! We had a rather 'exciting' moment on our first journey, as we came across a rather large landslide which had completely covered the only road available in a heap of mud and rubble! We had to disembark the bus and scramble across the fresh landslide - one of the most unnerving things I've ever done, especially as there were 2 diggers on the top of the landslide at the time! We made it across in one piece and were able to hop on a bus which had to stop as it was coming up the road towards Dazai! So after another 3 bus journeys (with no stops for the road-side loos this time) we arrived in Yangshou and had a 10 minute walk to get to our hotel. We had a little bit of time to get freshened up before we went out for lunch together and we now have the whole afternoon and evening to please ourselves!
We think that's about all there is to update you on this time around. For once there's not too much for you to plough through! We're still having a great time on the tour, it's been so great seeing more rural China than we were able to see in Beijing and Xi'an. We only have another 4 days on the tour though, it will certainly be strange being on our own again after all this time! It will be odd having to sort out our own transport and accommodation again - but I'm sure we'll get there in the end!
Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for all the comments, it's nice to know that you're enjoying the blog! Missing you all as usual, but not suffering from homesickness for once! Looking forward to your comments.
SATURDAY 12th May
Not a lot happened today. We popped out to grab some brunch- style food, as we had our first lay-in since the Intrepid Tour started! We wandered around the streets near to the hotel and when we got back we ate our food before starting the mammoth task of trying to get our washing back! Oh my gosh, we just kept going around in circles, as we paid for the washing, but then we couldn't get them to understand we needed it back right then, as we were meeting up with the rest of the group so that we could leave and go to Chengyang! We finally managed to understand one another and we got our washing back! We then piled into taxis to take us to the bus station, ready for another long afternoon of travelling. We were soon at Chengyang and being picked up by the hostel's minibus service and going to stay with the Wu family for a couple of days. We got our things into our rooms and then sat down to a terrific meal - Mrs. Wu was an amazing cook! Afterwards we sat around chatting together, as Chengyang is a small village and so there wasn't a lot else to do. Our hostel had a beautiful view of one of the most famous and most visited Wind-and-Rain bridges in the area. They're built as a social place for people to meet and trade, as well as offering protection from the wind and rain. They're also built entirely of wood and without a single nail!
SUNDAY 13th May
First thing in the morning Tim (one of the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Wu) took us for a countryside/village walk for about 4 hours. It was really interesting to get to watch people doing their daily things, for example working in the rice paddies, working in their shops, killing and plucking chickens etc. It was quite sad though, as we saw a group of people in their white mourning dress and so we knew somebody had died. It was soon time to head back to the hostel though for lunch. We had some free time afterwards and sat and chatted some more, or read books. Later on we went to the Village Cultural Show, we saw men and women of all ages performing traditional Dong songs and dances, we had rice wine and even had to join in with the dancing at the end! We were all pretty useless at it, but it was good fun too! After the show, some people decided to walk to the top of a nearby hill to take some photographs, while the rest of us went back to the hostel. It was another quite evening of sitting around and chatting after we'd had dinner.
MONDAY 14th May
We had another mammoth day of travelling today. We were up bright and early so that we could make our way to Longji. We had to catch 3 buses, not all of which seemed to be of the most sturdy construction and it also turned out to be the bumpiest bus ride in the world, as the road was under construction! Unfortunately I was desperate for the loo on one bus and the driver kindly pulled over so that I could jump out, I managed to hide myself from the view of the people on the bus by jumping down a verge, but I completely forgot that people coming the other way would be able to look down onto where I was! I also found out afterwards, that the 2 men sitting behind Steve and I on the bus were very interested in what I was doing! So 3 bus journeys and my highly embarrassing debacle later we were in Pingan (Longji)! We had to walk up a fairly steep hill for about 20/30 minutes to get to the hotel we were staying at. It was a really nice place and as soon as we arrived we had lunch, as we had to wait for the rooms to be made ready for us. We had a couple of hours free, and we ended up watching people from the viallge carry a very heavy electricity transformer up the steep hill, as there was a power cut - it was avid viewing and also really nice to see most of the village all going out to help. After this, we went for a short walk up to a viewing point on the hill to have a look at the view, unfortunately it was a bit hazy and so we couldn't see too far. After sitting for a while at the top we headed back down for dinner.
TUESDAY 15th May
We were up very early today so that we could do our 4 to 5 hours trek through the Longji Rice Terraces. We managed to set off by 07.00 so that we would miss the midday heat of the Sun. It was an amazing trek, it was hard work at times though (with six steep hills to climb up), but definitely worth the views! Construction was started on the terraces 700 years ago and they were only finished in the early 1900s. It's just amazing to think and see that people do climb the hills every day to get to the terraces and other villages. It's such hard work, as most of the terraces aren't large enough to get an ox in, so they have to be farmed by hand - back breaking working we can assure you! The views were just spectacular looking over the vast areas that have been cultivated and seeing the Sun reflecting off of the flooded paddies. We finally made it to Dazai around 12.00! We had a banquet lunch and then spent the afternoon and evening watching DVDs and playing cards! Some people, including Steve, were not being lazy bones and decided to go to a couple of the view points near to the hotel we stayed at and so went for another hour of trekking!
WEDNESDAY 16th May
We spent the morning and part of the early afternoon on buses again today and most of us slept the whole time, as we are all so exhausted! I know that I spent the majority of every bus ride asleep! We had a rather 'exciting' moment on our first journey, as we came across a rather large landslide which had completely covered the only road available in a heap of mud and rubble! We had to disembark the bus and scramble across the fresh landslide - one of the most unnerving things I've ever done, especially as there were 2 diggers on the top of the landslide at the time! We made it across in one piece and were able to hop on a bus which had to stop as it was coming up the road towards Dazai! So after another 3 bus journeys (with no stops for the road-side loos this time) we arrived in Yangshou and had a 10 minute walk to get to our hotel. We had a little bit of time to get freshened up before we went out for lunch together and we now have the whole afternoon and evening to please ourselves!
We think that's about all there is to update you on this time around. For once there's not too much for you to plough through! We're still having a great time on the tour, it's been so great seeing more rural China than we were able to see in Beijing and Xi'an. We only have another 4 days on the tour though, it will certainly be strange being on our own again after all this time! It will be odd having to sort out our own transport and accommodation again - but I'm sure we'll get there in the end!
Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for all the comments, it's nice to know that you're enjoying the blog! Missing you all as usual, but not suffering from homesickness for once! Looking forward to your comments.
Friday 11 May 2007
Karaoke and Beach Parties!
Hello again everyone! It's been ages since we last posted - sorry about that, but we're out in the stix a lot of the time on this part of the tour and so we haven't had much opportunity or time to be honest! We'll fill you in now though and we're sorry if it takes a while!
SUNDAY 6th May
We started off this morning by meeting a few of our group and Nok to go to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum together. We set off at about 07.00 and by 07.30 we'd arrived. The rules were pretty strict there, we had to leave our rucksacks at a luggage hold, although we could take in a handbag with money etc in it. But we weren't allowed cameras or phones and after leaving our bags we had to go through metal detectors and put our handbags through an x-ray machine. We then had to queue for a little while and as we got closer to the Mausoleum, we had to stand in pairs in the queue, with our arms by our sides, not speaking, no sunglasses on, no chewing gum and I got pulled aside and had my handbag checked again to make sure I didn't have a camera or anything in it. We then filed into the Mausoleum and walked around Ho Chi Minh's body and left again. You weren't allowed to stop at all and one woman who was bowing to Ho Chi Minh was forcibly moved on! Once outside we had a look around the grounds of where Ho Chi Minh worked and lived. It was quite nice and the wooden house he lived in was beautiful. After walking the grounds we headed off for some breakfast and decided we wanted to go to Hanoi Prison (built by the French to subdue any Vietnamese uprisings - Ho Chi Minh was actually imprisoned here). It was quite a subdued visit, as like most prisons, the conditions people were forced to live in were pretty dank and awful.
Steve and I decided to do our own thing after this and went in search for a book-swap-shop for Steve so that he could get something new to read, but unfortunately we couldn't find one that actually sold English books and he is being picky and wants to read Lord of the Rings! So we went and had a nice cold drink and a sit down instead. Poor Steve had been a bit ill during the night and still wasn't feeling quite right, so we made our way back to the hotel and he had a bit of a sleep, which seemed to make him feel better.
At 18.00 we had our first group meeting with our new tour leader. We had to fill out our passport and insurance details etc and also introduced ourselves to one another, as we had 5 new people on the tour (including our new guide). Once we were introduced we went out to dinner and had a 'buffet' style meal - loads of dishes got ordered and we just helped ourselves to what we wanted!
MONDAY 7th May
Today we mainly travelled. We first of all had breakfast at Koto though and also ordered ourselves takeaway lunches. Our travelling started with a bus ride to the harbour, we then caught a public boat which took us to Cat Ba Island. We then got to the hotel and Steve and I found ourselves on the 5th floor at the top of the hotel - it was hard work getting up all of the stairs with hugely heavy backpacks on! We had the afternoon to ourselves, so we took a little wander around and got a couple of milkshakes to cool off. For dinner Sharon took us to the beach and it was pretty cool, as it was just us and a few locals there. We had another 'buffet' style meal and so got to try lots of new and very yummy new dishes! After eating we were invited to join the locals bonfire beach party - it got pretty raucous with lots of dancing and shouting! After getting completely puffed out by dancing around on the beach we headed back towards the hotel and stopped for a drink on the way.
TUESDAY 8th May
Today was really great! We started off by having a motorbike tour of the Island, it was a great way to see the less touristy areas. It was slightly odd for me not being behind Steve on his bike, and Steve felt odd being a passenger, but it was still so much fun! We stopped halfway round to have a tour of 'Hospital Cave'. A Vietnamese War Veteran showed us around the cave, as he had actually lived there during the war. It was amazing to think that soldiers had used it as their home, it felt so claustrophobic and was so dank and dark, it must have been pretty miserable at times. Although he showed us how they used to entertain themselves - he sang us a couple of songs and showed us the swimming pool and cinema they were allowed to use! After the tour of the cave, we were back on the bikes and whizzing back to the hotel again. We had a short while to get our swimming things together, as our next stop was a boat ride in Halong Bay. When we'd reached the Bay we were allowed to go for a swim whilst lunch was being prepared for us. The boys were all throwing themselves in the water from the top of the boat and we got some pretty cool photos of them! After lunching on the boat we went for a kayak ride around the Bay, stopping on a deserted beach for a bit of R and R on the way around! We were then being taken back to the harbour through some very rough waters! We then had the evening to ourselves and so Steve and I decided to have our first dinner on our own since starting the tour! So all in all it was a fantastic day and hopefully we'll have lots more like it!
WEDNESDAY 8th May
Today we headed for the border town of Lang Son in preparation for crossing the border on Thursday. We had some stops on the way though. We caught a private boat from the Island back to the mainland and on the way we stopped off t Sung Sot Cave. It was pretty cool, it's so different from the limestone caves you get in the UK. The stalactites and stalagmites are much larger and the majority of them have joined up to form giant columns of pitted white calcium. The scale of everything was really vast and it was also quite fun, as they'd put loads of coloured neon lights everywhere, so it felt like a nightclub! Once we'd wandered through the cave, we finished our journey to the mainland and then got a private bus to Lang Son. We had one more stop, this time at Hong Ngoc Humanity Centre. This centre teaches the victims of chemical warfare (mainly children from the Vietnam War) and teaches them a traditional trade e.g. lacquer ware, embroidery etc etc. I ended up buying an outfit from there, a traditional Vietnamese dress - it's a dark blue jacket/dress with white embroidery and a pair of white trousers, all of it is in silk and I bought it for less than 25 pounds! I think I look OK in it, Steve certainly liked it, so hopefully his taste has been impeccable! We then finished our journey to the border town. We had a little free time, during which Steve and I had a wander around the market, which was ridiculously busy and we then went to a hotel a couple of buildings down to have a group dinner.
THURSDAY 10th May
Today we were up early. We started off with a short bus ride to the border. It didn't take too long to get everyone through and we were soon back in China - it almost felt like going home! So with a couple of new stamps in our passports we were bundling into another bus and heading to Huashan. We arrived early in the afternoon and so after popping our belongings into our individual stilt houses we had lunch at the hotel. We were then taken by rather rickety tuk tuks to the river so that we could have a trip down river to see the Huashan Mural Paintings. These paintings are 2400 years old, but no-one knows anything about them, not even how they painted them on the shear cliff face or how they managed to scale up/down it to paint them, when some of them are over 100 meters high! Baffling stuff, but also impressive - something very important must have happened to have justified them going to so much effort! The afternoon was left for us to do our own thing. We did some washing and then Steve went out to take some photos and before we knew it it was time for dinner, which we had at the hotel. Afterwards we had a very noisy karaoke party - it was great fun, even if I am now deaf in one ear!
FRIDAY 11th May
Today we've mostly been travelling, we left Huashan at 08.00 and 3 buses later were arriving in Liuzhou at around 14.00. I had lots of fun trying to explain to reception that I wanted some laundry doing and asking whether it would be possible to get it back before 12.00 tomorrow and asking how much it would cost, but we finally got there and it's all been sorted out! Steve and I haven't done much, we unsuccessfully tried to buy Steve some more deodorant and have since been blogging away! We're off to dinner soon so we'd better get going!
We hope you're all well, still missing you all, but I think my bout of homesickness has subsided a little now!
SUNDAY 6th May
We started off this morning by meeting a few of our group and Nok to go to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum together. We set off at about 07.00 and by 07.30 we'd arrived. The rules were pretty strict there, we had to leave our rucksacks at a luggage hold, although we could take in a handbag with money etc in it. But we weren't allowed cameras or phones and after leaving our bags we had to go through metal detectors and put our handbags through an x-ray machine. We then had to queue for a little while and as we got closer to the Mausoleum, we had to stand in pairs in the queue, with our arms by our sides, not speaking, no sunglasses on, no chewing gum and I got pulled aside and had my handbag checked again to make sure I didn't have a camera or anything in it. We then filed into the Mausoleum and walked around Ho Chi Minh's body and left again. You weren't allowed to stop at all and one woman who was bowing to Ho Chi Minh was forcibly moved on! Once outside we had a look around the grounds of where Ho Chi Minh worked and lived. It was quite nice and the wooden house he lived in was beautiful. After walking the grounds we headed off for some breakfast and decided we wanted to go to Hanoi Prison (built by the French to subdue any Vietnamese uprisings - Ho Chi Minh was actually imprisoned here). It was quite a subdued visit, as like most prisons, the conditions people were forced to live in were pretty dank and awful.
Steve and I decided to do our own thing after this and went in search for a book-swap-shop for Steve so that he could get something new to read, but unfortunately we couldn't find one that actually sold English books and he is being picky and wants to read Lord of the Rings! So we went and had a nice cold drink and a sit down instead. Poor Steve had been a bit ill during the night and still wasn't feeling quite right, so we made our way back to the hotel and he had a bit of a sleep, which seemed to make him feel better.
At 18.00 we had our first group meeting with our new tour leader. We had to fill out our passport and insurance details etc and also introduced ourselves to one another, as we had 5 new people on the tour (including our new guide). Once we were introduced we went out to dinner and had a 'buffet' style meal - loads of dishes got ordered and we just helped ourselves to what we wanted!
MONDAY 7th May
Today we mainly travelled. We first of all had breakfast at Koto though and also ordered ourselves takeaway lunches. Our travelling started with a bus ride to the harbour, we then caught a public boat which took us to Cat Ba Island. We then got to the hotel and Steve and I found ourselves on the 5th floor at the top of the hotel - it was hard work getting up all of the stairs with hugely heavy backpacks on! We had the afternoon to ourselves, so we took a little wander around and got a couple of milkshakes to cool off. For dinner Sharon took us to the beach and it was pretty cool, as it was just us and a few locals there. We had another 'buffet' style meal and so got to try lots of new and very yummy new dishes! After eating we were invited to join the locals bonfire beach party - it got pretty raucous with lots of dancing and shouting! After getting completely puffed out by dancing around on the beach we headed back towards the hotel and stopped for a drink on the way.
TUESDAY 8th May
Today was really great! We started off by having a motorbike tour of the Island, it was a great way to see the less touristy areas. It was slightly odd for me not being behind Steve on his bike, and Steve felt odd being a passenger, but it was still so much fun! We stopped halfway round to have a tour of 'Hospital Cave'. A Vietnamese War Veteran showed us around the cave, as he had actually lived there during the war. It was amazing to think that soldiers had used it as their home, it felt so claustrophobic and was so dank and dark, it must have been pretty miserable at times. Although he showed us how they used to entertain themselves - he sang us a couple of songs and showed us the swimming pool and cinema they were allowed to use! After the tour of the cave, we were back on the bikes and whizzing back to the hotel again. We had a short while to get our swimming things together, as our next stop was a boat ride in Halong Bay. When we'd reached the Bay we were allowed to go for a swim whilst lunch was being prepared for us. The boys were all throwing themselves in the water from the top of the boat and we got some pretty cool photos of them! After lunching on the boat we went for a kayak ride around the Bay, stopping on a deserted beach for a bit of R and R on the way around! We were then being taken back to the harbour through some very rough waters! We then had the evening to ourselves and so Steve and I decided to have our first dinner on our own since starting the tour! So all in all it was a fantastic day and hopefully we'll have lots more like it!
WEDNESDAY 8th May
Today we headed for the border town of Lang Son in preparation for crossing the border on Thursday. We had some stops on the way though. We caught a private boat from the Island back to the mainland and on the way we stopped off t Sung Sot Cave. It was pretty cool, it's so different from the limestone caves you get in the UK. The stalactites and stalagmites are much larger and the majority of them have joined up to form giant columns of pitted white calcium. The scale of everything was really vast and it was also quite fun, as they'd put loads of coloured neon lights everywhere, so it felt like a nightclub! Once we'd wandered through the cave, we finished our journey to the mainland and then got a private bus to Lang Son. We had one more stop, this time at Hong Ngoc Humanity Centre. This centre teaches the victims of chemical warfare (mainly children from the Vietnam War) and teaches them a traditional trade e.g. lacquer ware, embroidery etc etc. I ended up buying an outfit from there, a traditional Vietnamese dress - it's a dark blue jacket/dress with white embroidery and a pair of white trousers, all of it is in silk and I bought it for less than 25 pounds! I think I look OK in it, Steve certainly liked it, so hopefully his taste has been impeccable! We then finished our journey to the border town. We had a little free time, during which Steve and I had a wander around the market, which was ridiculously busy and we then went to a hotel a couple of buildings down to have a group dinner.
THURSDAY 10th May
Today we were up early. We started off with a short bus ride to the border. It didn't take too long to get everyone through and we were soon back in China - it almost felt like going home! So with a couple of new stamps in our passports we were bundling into another bus and heading to Huashan. We arrived early in the afternoon and so after popping our belongings into our individual stilt houses we had lunch at the hotel. We were then taken by rather rickety tuk tuks to the river so that we could have a trip down river to see the Huashan Mural Paintings. These paintings are 2400 years old, but no-one knows anything about them, not even how they painted them on the shear cliff face or how they managed to scale up/down it to paint them, when some of them are over 100 meters high! Baffling stuff, but also impressive - something very important must have happened to have justified them going to so much effort! The afternoon was left for us to do our own thing. We did some washing and then Steve went out to take some photos and before we knew it it was time for dinner, which we had at the hotel. Afterwards we had a very noisy karaoke party - it was great fun, even if I am now deaf in one ear!
FRIDAY 11th May
Today we've mostly been travelling, we left Huashan at 08.00 and 3 buses later were arriving in Liuzhou at around 14.00. I had lots of fun trying to explain to reception that I wanted some laundry doing and asking whether it would be possible to get it back before 12.00 tomorrow and asking how much it would cost, but we finally got there and it's all been sorted out! Steve and I haven't done much, we unsuccessfully tried to buy Steve some more deodorant and have since been blogging away! We're off to dinner soon so we'd better get going!
We hope you're all well, still missing you all, but I think my bout of homesickness has subsided a little now!
Saturday 5 May 2007
The Wheels on the bus go Round and Round and Round and Round ...
We think this blog is actually shorter than any others, as we haven't really done anything for 2 days, apart from sit on a bus! So you shouldn't need too many cups of tea or coffee to get you through this one!
WEDNESDAY 2nd May
After blogging you, we went back to the hotel and had a wonderfully refreshing shower - it's amazing how human it makes you feel again! Then we met up with Chris, Kim, Claudia and Nok for dinner and we went to a bar/cafe. When we got back to the hotel we bumped into Luke, Harry and Eric who were about to go bowling, so we tagged along too. Only 6 of us ended bowling and Steve and I lost terribly! But Steve's bowling technique was something to marvel at (it had me in stitches at times)! After our thrashing we decided to head back to the hotel again, as we had an early start the next day.
THURSDAY 3rd May
Steve got a bit frustrated this morning. Before breakfast he decided to pop out to go to the book-swap-shop and to the bakery. However, just like last night, the bookshop was still closed, but he did get a banana loaf from the bakery for us to snack on on the long bus ride ahead of us. So we sat and had breakfast together and whilst I finished getting our things ready, Steve decided to try the bookshop one last time - but he came back defeated, as it was still closed! He was a bit disappointed, so we've now got to keep our eyes open for a book-swap-shop! After all this running around, it was time to meet in the foyer with our mountains of bags and get the minibus loaded up. We were soon on our 7 hour bus journey to Lak Sao. It was a pretty uneventful journey, ambling along the roads with beautiful mountain views. We stopped for a couple of 'happy breaks' (loo stops to you and me) and also stopped for lunch at a noodle bar. We finally made it to Lak Sao in the middle of a torrential rainstorm - yay, the start of the rainy season is upon us! After dumping our bags we traipsed down the road to the only restaurant in Lak Sao. It wasn't fantastic and it was a tad overpriced, but it was edible none-the-less! Then it was back to the hotel for an early night, as we had to be up at 06.00 the next morning.
FRIDAY 4th May
We were up at 06.00 this morning and by 07.30 we were on the bus and starting our 10 hour journey to Hanoi, Vietnam! After an hour or so we hit the border and piled into customs/immigration control to have our passports checked. It took a while to do, as there were already people waiting and one of our group had managed to get their passport wet at some point and so immigration were reluctant to let them through! But some smooth talking from Nok meant we were finally on our way and joining up with a new driver who would take us the rest of the way to Hanoi. Now, we thought that the Chinese roads were bad, but the Vietnamese are just plain scary! They undertake the most nail-biting manoeuvres and only just manage to finish them with about a hairs-width to spare! Trust me, don't go on the roads in Vietnam if you have a nervous disposition! After a few 'happy breaks', a stop for lunch and a few almost squished cyclists, we were pulling up outside our hotel for the next few nights (ironically called the Victory hotel) - it only took us almost 12 hours to get there! We had dinner at a noodle bar near by and then collapsed into bed!
SATURDAY 5th May
Today was a fairly easy day. We started off having breakfast at Koto - where they take underprivileged young people and train them to be chefs (kind of like what Jamie Oliver did in the UK) and it was really nice. So after stuffing ourselves on the buffet Nok took us to the old quarter and then left us to our own devices. Steve and I started off at the huge market. It was a bit disappointing really, as we were hoping that there would be lots of traditional craft things there, but there were just tons of mass-produced souvenirs and a massive haberdashery. So we went to have a walk around a lake in the centre of the old quarter and also visited the temple in the centre of the lake as well. We then went to the Temple of Literature, which was really nice to wander around, but unfortunately the exhibitions were only in Vietnamese, so we didn't always know what was going on! But there were some plaques with information on elsewhere and so we got the general gist of what was going on! After having a wander around, on the way back to the hotel, we popped into CraftLink, run as a non-profit organisation which sells traditional Vietnamese crafts etc at fair prices. Unfortunately there weren't a huge amount of things there that we could have bought, but we did treat ourselves to an incredibly beautiful photo album. Once back at the hotel we popped in the shower and then came and blogged! We're off to the water puppet show in about 20 minutes and then off out to dinner and tomorrow the first half of the tour finishes - we lose 5 people (including our guide) and gain 5 new people (including a new guide) who will join us for the last 2 weeks through China and Hong Kong!
Hope everyone is well and as usual missing you all - suffering from homesickness again, so feeling a little bit flat, but I'll get over it again soon!
Sammy - we've tried rambustan and we do like it very much - along with the mangostein! Hi to everyone in Bangor too!
WEDNESDAY 2nd May
After blogging you, we went back to the hotel and had a wonderfully refreshing shower - it's amazing how human it makes you feel again! Then we met up with Chris, Kim, Claudia and Nok for dinner and we went to a bar/cafe. When we got back to the hotel we bumped into Luke, Harry and Eric who were about to go bowling, so we tagged along too. Only 6 of us ended bowling and Steve and I lost terribly! But Steve's bowling technique was something to marvel at (it had me in stitches at times)! After our thrashing we decided to head back to the hotel again, as we had an early start the next day.
THURSDAY 3rd May
Steve got a bit frustrated this morning. Before breakfast he decided to pop out to go to the book-swap-shop and to the bakery. However, just like last night, the bookshop was still closed, but he did get a banana loaf from the bakery for us to snack on on the long bus ride ahead of us. So we sat and had breakfast together and whilst I finished getting our things ready, Steve decided to try the bookshop one last time - but he came back defeated, as it was still closed! He was a bit disappointed, so we've now got to keep our eyes open for a book-swap-shop! After all this running around, it was time to meet in the foyer with our mountains of bags and get the minibus loaded up. We were soon on our 7 hour bus journey to Lak Sao. It was a pretty uneventful journey, ambling along the roads with beautiful mountain views. We stopped for a couple of 'happy breaks' (loo stops to you and me) and also stopped for lunch at a noodle bar. We finally made it to Lak Sao in the middle of a torrential rainstorm - yay, the start of the rainy season is upon us! After dumping our bags we traipsed down the road to the only restaurant in Lak Sao. It wasn't fantastic and it was a tad overpriced, but it was edible none-the-less! Then it was back to the hotel for an early night, as we had to be up at 06.00 the next morning.
FRIDAY 4th May
We were up at 06.00 this morning and by 07.30 we were on the bus and starting our 10 hour journey to Hanoi, Vietnam! After an hour or so we hit the border and piled into customs/immigration control to have our passports checked. It took a while to do, as there were already people waiting and one of our group had managed to get their passport wet at some point and so immigration were reluctant to let them through! But some smooth talking from Nok meant we were finally on our way and joining up with a new driver who would take us the rest of the way to Hanoi. Now, we thought that the Chinese roads were bad, but the Vietnamese are just plain scary! They undertake the most nail-biting manoeuvres and only just manage to finish them with about a hairs-width to spare! Trust me, don't go on the roads in Vietnam if you have a nervous disposition! After a few 'happy breaks', a stop for lunch and a few almost squished cyclists, we were pulling up outside our hotel for the next few nights (ironically called the Victory hotel) - it only took us almost 12 hours to get there! We had dinner at a noodle bar near by and then collapsed into bed!
SATURDAY 5th May
Today was a fairly easy day. We started off having breakfast at Koto - where they take underprivileged young people and train them to be chefs (kind of like what Jamie Oliver did in the UK) and it was really nice. So after stuffing ourselves on the buffet Nok took us to the old quarter and then left us to our own devices. Steve and I started off at the huge market. It was a bit disappointing really, as we were hoping that there would be lots of traditional craft things there, but there were just tons of mass-produced souvenirs and a massive haberdashery. So we went to have a walk around a lake in the centre of the old quarter and also visited the temple in the centre of the lake as well. We then went to the Temple of Literature, which was really nice to wander around, but unfortunately the exhibitions were only in Vietnamese, so we didn't always know what was going on! But there were some plaques with information on elsewhere and so we got the general gist of what was going on! After having a wander around, on the way back to the hotel, we popped into CraftLink, run as a non-profit organisation which sells traditional Vietnamese crafts etc at fair prices. Unfortunately there weren't a huge amount of things there that we could have bought, but we did treat ourselves to an incredibly beautiful photo album. Once back at the hotel we popped in the shower and then came and blogged! We're off to the water puppet show in about 20 minutes and then off out to dinner and tomorrow the first half of the tour finishes - we lose 5 people (including our guide) and gain 5 new people (including a new guide) who will join us for the last 2 weeks through China and Hong Kong!
Hope everyone is well and as usual missing you all - suffering from homesickness again, so feeling a little bit flat, but I'll get over it again soon!
Sammy - we've tried rambustan and we do like it very much - along with the mangostein! Hi to everyone in Bangor too!
Wednesday 2 May 2007
Arduous Journeying?!
Right, incredibly annoyed at the moment, as we've just spent over an hour writing a post and the stupid computer decided to delete it for no flaming reason at all, so we've now got to try and remember what we wrote before and write it all again! So this version may be a bit briefer than normal as we're working against the clock and actually want to do other things than sit in an internet cafe for hours today!
SUNDAY 29th April
After blogging to you all on Sunday it was absolutely hammering it down with rain and within seconds of having got back on our bikes we were soaked through! Steve spotted a nice little cafe, so we pulled over sharpish and dashed inside. The food was really lovely, but it was also a tad expensive. We sat in the cafe for ages waiting for the rain to ease off and we were eventually able to leave. We had a little explore of Luang Prabang on our bikes and decided to stop off for a massage. We were trying to find a place called Mekong Massage, but ended up somewhere else. To me, the massage place seemed a bit run-down and unprofessional, but Steve was happy to give it a go, so we asked for 2 all over body massages. We went upstairs and at this point I chickened out of the massage, as I didn't fancy laying around in only my knickers, so I opted for a foot massage instead - which I'm very glad about as my masseuse was more of a torturer! It was one of the most agonising processes I've ever had to endure and it took all the strength I had to not scream in pain! So I'm quite glad the pain was restricted to my feet and lower legs. But at the end she did a 'mini massage' on my head, shoulders and upper back and it felt as though she was going to break my collar bone and make me pass out when she started thumping my back with all her might! Steve was having a lovely time next to me and even almost fell asleep - I think he got a bit of a shock when the woman started massaging his buttocks though! So after an hour we left the massage place - Steve feeling refreshed and relaxed, whilst I felt bruised and battered! We went back to the hotel, as we didn't want to be late for the cooking class. It was a bit disappointing in the end, we'd expected there to be separate stations for each of us and to be able to prepare and cook each dish ourselves. However, it was more of a group cooking experience and our part consisted mainly of watching the 'teacher' and his assistants rather than doing much ourselves. The food we cooked was Lap (minced meat with lime and chili's etc), curry, spring rolls and a peanut sauce for the spring rolls. The 'teacher' also demonstrated how to make a papaya salad. The food was nice though, although the Lap and papaya salad were far too spicy for me!
MONDAY 30th April
I can't believe that I actually managed it (and I'm even shocked Steve managed it first), but we were up by 05.30 this morning, so that we could go and watch the monks collecting alms. Nok took us to get some sticky rice, which a few of us bought to give to the monks as they came past. I wasn't very good at dividing it up, as we were only half way through the line of monks by the time I ran out of rice! It was quite odd seeing people living in this way still, especially as we've seen so many monks wandering around listening to I-pods and taking photos with digital cameras etc! After this we walked around the fresh produce market - we saw some mighty weird things - huge slabs of meat out in the sun covered in flies, live frogs pinned together to keep them from jumping away so they then had broken and bloody legs, ox tails and ducklings in tiny cages not big enough for 1 let alone the 4 of them squashed inside etc! There was also tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and rice etc. After wandering around we made our way back to the hotel and saw ridiculously overladen motorbikes, speaking of which, Steve and I saw one the other day with a family of 5 on, plus a bag of shopping! Once back at the hotel, we had a shower, breakfast and packed up before getting all of our gear on the bus to get to Vang Vieng. The journey was pretty long, and unfortunately one of our number came down with a sickness bug on the way, but other than that nothing eventful occurred, except for the beautiful scenery - which got more and more amazing as we approached Vang Vieng and entered limestone karst country! The guesthouse was pretty basic and the town itself is nothing amazing, so Steve and I were glad to be staying only one night. Once we arrived and were assigned rooms, we were able to head out and grab some lunch. We ate with some of the group, but then broke off on our own and had a wander around Vang Vieng. I got some nice baggy 3/4 length trousers to keep cool in. We decided to head towards the Namsong and cross over the river (which we had to pay to do - and realised half way across we could have waded through the river for free) to get to some caves. We finally got to the pay-point for the caves and thought we were at the entrance, but after another 10 minutes of walking, we realised we had to walk part-way up the mountain to get access to the cave! We needed to be back for dinner though and torrential rain was heading our way, so we decided to go back to the hostel instead. We made it back in time for dinner and without getting drenched!
TUESDAY 1st May
We had a free morning to do what we wanted. So Steve and I decided to head back to the banks of the Namsong to relax for a couple of hours after breakfast. We ended up bumping into some people from the tour and made ourselves comfortable in some riverside 'huts' with a nice cool drink. We ended up chatting, skimming stones, paddling and watching the local children playing in the river for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing and the scenery so beautiful! The river was crystal clear and we had an unobstructed view of the beautiful lushly green mountains it was awesome! Although the sun was beating down, we managed to stay cool in the shade of the huts. After a couple of hours we headed off to have some lunch, we stopped at a cafe the others were raving about from yesterday - but Steve and I didn't understand what all the fuss was about! Afterwards we had to get our stuff together, so that we could load the minibus back up and get to Vientiane. It wasn't too long a journey, but it was along another windy mountain road (although not as bad as that death trap of a 'road' we drove along in America). We were soon in Vientiane and getting settled into our rather nice hotel and Nok took us to a really nice restaurant for dinner.
WEDNESDAY 2nd May
After breakfast Nok showed us where we could get US dollars from and Vietnamese Dong and pointed out the morning market (which incidentally is open until 16.30?!). She left us to our own devices and Steve and I struck out on our own. We wandered around the market and managed to get a couple of cotton tops to wear, as we're having to change our tops at least every day as it's just so hot and t-shirts are far too clingy to wear in this humid weather! After our wandering and spending we went and got some more US dollars on our way to see the Laos version of the Arch de Triumphe. It's not particularly spectacular, as it's really just a lump of concrete - which was donated by the US so an airport strip could be built, so the ex patriot's refer to it as the vertical runway. The arch isn't finished, which is a shame, as the inside of it is stunningly decorated with glazed tiles etc, so we imagine if it was finished that it would be fairly beautiful. After seeing the arch we went to find some lunch and ended up bumping into people from the tour again and so we went and had lunch at a pizzeria together. Then we came and blogged and now there's not much of the afternoon left (as I've blogged twice in a row now), we're not sure we'll do much else, although we do need to find more suntan lotion and we desperately need showers too - I don't think we've ever been so clean, as we're showering at least twice a day!
Andie - glad you're keeping up with the blog and enjoying it. It must be pretty good if we've almost convinced you to live from a backpack for 4 months, although I'm not surprised we've totally convinced you! Good news with the PhD stuff, loads of luck, let us know how it goes.
Mum (= Pauline) - Glad the gardening is coming along well, looking forward to seeing it all finished - you could throw us a garden party when we get back! Still enjoying the posts, they make us smile every time! Visting the locals was really good, but we didn't get to speak to them at all, our guide just showed us around. But it is cool having someone there who has a detailed knowledge of the things and places etc we visit. Got a postcard to send from Roger today and also got a photo of him!
Dad (= Charlie) - glad you're having fun with your pick-axe, although it sounds like no-one else is! Thanks for the clarification on the origins of the comments, I'm not sure I would have worked it out otherwise! It certainly made us giggle! Steve's glad you're depriving mum of pear pie - keep up the good work! By the way, the Duncombe family dictionary online (patent pending) is fantastic! Also good news about the surprise at work - bet it was unexpected but a surprise!
Well, that's it for now folks. We've got a couple of days of hectic travelling ahead of us, so we probably won't be able to post again until we're in Hanoi, which we reach on Friday 4th. Hope you're all well and not getting too bored by our insanely long posts! Still missing you all and looking forward to seeing you in another 3.5 months!
SUNDAY 29th April
After blogging to you all on Sunday it was absolutely hammering it down with rain and within seconds of having got back on our bikes we were soaked through! Steve spotted a nice little cafe, so we pulled over sharpish and dashed inside. The food was really lovely, but it was also a tad expensive. We sat in the cafe for ages waiting for the rain to ease off and we were eventually able to leave. We had a little explore of Luang Prabang on our bikes and decided to stop off for a massage. We were trying to find a place called Mekong Massage, but ended up somewhere else. To me, the massage place seemed a bit run-down and unprofessional, but Steve was happy to give it a go, so we asked for 2 all over body massages. We went upstairs and at this point I chickened out of the massage, as I didn't fancy laying around in only my knickers, so I opted for a foot massage instead - which I'm very glad about as my masseuse was more of a torturer! It was one of the most agonising processes I've ever had to endure and it took all the strength I had to not scream in pain! So I'm quite glad the pain was restricted to my feet and lower legs. But at the end she did a 'mini massage' on my head, shoulders and upper back and it felt as though she was going to break my collar bone and make me pass out when she started thumping my back with all her might! Steve was having a lovely time next to me and even almost fell asleep - I think he got a bit of a shock when the woman started massaging his buttocks though! So after an hour we left the massage place - Steve feeling refreshed and relaxed, whilst I felt bruised and battered! We went back to the hotel, as we didn't want to be late for the cooking class. It was a bit disappointing in the end, we'd expected there to be separate stations for each of us and to be able to prepare and cook each dish ourselves. However, it was more of a group cooking experience and our part consisted mainly of watching the 'teacher' and his assistants rather than doing much ourselves. The food we cooked was Lap (minced meat with lime and chili's etc), curry, spring rolls and a peanut sauce for the spring rolls. The 'teacher' also demonstrated how to make a papaya salad. The food was nice though, although the Lap and papaya salad were far too spicy for me!
MONDAY 30th April
I can't believe that I actually managed it (and I'm even shocked Steve managed it first), but we were up by 05.30 this morning, so that we could go and watch the monks collecting alms. Nok took us to get some sticky rice, which a few of us bought to give to the monks as they came past. I wasn't very good at dividing it up, as we were only half way through the line of monks by the time I ran out of rice! It was quite odd seeing people living in this way still, especially as we've seen so many monks wandering around listening to I-pods and taking photos with digital cameras etc! After this we walked around the fresh produce market - we saw some mighty weird things - huge slabs of meat out in the sun covered in flies, live frogs pinned together to keep them from jumping away so they then had broken and bloody legs, ox tails and ducklings in tiny cages not big enough for 1 let alone the 4 of them squashed inside etc! There was also tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and rice etc. After wandering around we made our way back to the hotel and saw ridiculously overladen motorbikes, speaking of which, Steve and I saw one the other day with a family of 5 on, plus a bag of shopping! Once back at the hotel, we had a shower, breakfast and packed up before getting all of our gear on the bus to get to Vang Vieng. The journey was pretty long, and unfortunately one of our number came down with a sickness bug on the way, but other than that nothing eventful occurred, except for the beautiful scenery - which got more and more amazing as we approached Vang Vieng and entered limestone karst country! The guesthouse was pretty basic and the town itself is nothing amazing, so Steve and I were glad to be staying only one night. Once we arrived and were assigned rooms, we were able to head out and grab some lunch. We ate with some of the group, but then broke off on our own and had a wander around Vang Vieng. I got some nice baggy 3/4 length trousers to keep cool in. We decided to head towards the Namsong and cross over the river (which we had to pay to do - and realised half way across we could have waded through the river for free) to get to some caves. We finally got to the pay-point for the caves and thought we were at the entrance, but after another 10 minutes of walking, we realised we had to walk part-way up the mountain to get access to the cave! We needed to be back for dinner though and torrential rain was heading our way, so we decided to go back to the hostel instead. We made it back in time for dinner and without getting drenched!
TUESDAY 1st May
We had a free morning to do what we wanted. So Steve and I decided to head back to the banks of the Namsong to relax for a couple of hours after breakfast. We ended up bumping into some people from the tour and made ourselves comfortable in some riverside 'huts' with a nice cool drink. We ended up chatting, skimming stones, paddling and watching the local children playing in the river for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing and the scenery so beautiful! The river was crystal clear and we had an unobstructed view of the beautiful lushly green mountains it was awesome! Although the sun was beating down, we managed to stay cool in the shade of the huts. After a couple of hours we headed off to have some lunch, we stopped at a cafe the others were raving about from yesterday - but Steve and I didn't understand what all the fuss was about! Afterwards we had to get our stuff together, so that we could load the minibus back up and get to Vientiane. It wasn't too long a journey, but it was along another windy mountain road (although not as bad as that death trap of a 'road' we drove along in America). We were soon in Vientiane and getting settled into our rather nice hotel and Nok took us to a really nice restaurant for dinner.
WEDNESDAY 2nd May
After breakfast Nok showed us where we could get US dollars from and Vietnamese Dong and pointed out the morning market (which incidentally is open until 16.30?!). She left us to our own devices and Steve and I struck out on our own. We wandered around the market and managed to get a couple of cotton tops to wear, as we're having to change our tops at least every day as it's just so hot and t-shirts are far too clingy to wear in this humid weather! After our wandering and spending we went and got some more US dollars on our way to see the Laos version of the Arch de Triumphe. It's not particularly spectacular, as it's really just a lump of concrete - which was donated by the US so an airport strip could be built, so the ex patriot's refer to it as the vertical runway. The arch isn't finished, which is a shame, as the inside of it is stunningly decorated with glazed tiles etc, so we imagine if it was finished that it would be fairly beautiful. After seeing the arch we went to find some lunch and ended up bumping into people from the tour again and so we went and had lunch at a pizzeria together. Then we came and blogged and now there's not much of the afternoon left (as I've blogged twice in a row now), we're not sure we'll do much else, although we do need to find more suntan lotion and we desperately need showers too - I don't think we've ever been so clean, as we're showering at least twice a day!
Andie - glad you're keeping up with the blog and enjoying it. It must be pretty good if we've almost convinced you to live from a backpack for 4 months, although I'm not surprised we've totally convinced you! Good news with the PhD stuff, loads of luck, let us know how it goes.
Mum (= Pauline) - Glad the gardening is coming along well, looking forward to seeing it all finished - you could throw us a garden party when we get back! Still enjoying the posts, they make us smile every time! Visting the locals was really good, but we didn't get to speak to them at all, our guide just showed us around. But it is cool having someone there who has a detailed knowledge of the things and places etc we visit. Got a postcard to send from Roger today and also got a photo of him!
Dad (= Charlie) - glad you're having fun with your pick-axe, although it sounds like no-one else is! Thanks for the clarification on the origins of the comments, I'm not sure I would have worked it out otherwise! It certainly made us giggle! Steve's glad you're depriving mum of pear pie - keep up the good work! By the way, the Duncombe family dictionary online (patent pending) is fantastic! Also good news about the surprise at work - bet it was unexpected but a surprise!
Well, that's it for now folks. We've got a couple of days of hectic travelling ahead of us, so we probably won't be able to post again until we're in Hanoi, which we reach on Friday 4th. Hope you're all well and not getting too bored by our insanely long posts! Still missing you all and looking forward to seeing you in another 3.5 months!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
