Unlike our previous bus journey's we decided to do this one during the day as the prospect of being awaken at 3am to cross the border was not appealing at all. At least during the day we could appreciate the scenery and watch where our passports went. For $25 the process could not have been any smoother. The $20 was for the visa and the $5 was for the guy who was running around filing in the form, collecting the passport and telling us where to go. Talk about smooth! The only thing I didn't expect was a drunk German man's foot secretly pop up next to my face while I was on the bus! I then turned and nudged Charlotte and we both burst out in laughter and looked back at Charlotte's other travelling friends (who'd we had bumped into after watching and reading about their travel through Charlotte's Facebook) who were trapped as the German man had also pushed his seat way back. What a man! Throughout the whole journey he was grunting and drinking beer and when the bus stopped before the ferry crossing, he was subject to children hanging off him! He was a very strange man.., Even Charlotte and Mark had a brutal experience as they walked outside; kids grabbing her bracelets because she wouldn't give them money and poor Mark had a punch in the stomach for also refusing to give money.
After arriving safely into Phnom Penh it was interesting to see how developed the city was. Not what I was expecting Cambodia to be! The main road we were on was clearly developed for tourists as the alleys, we were told were a little dangerous at night because of the poor kids who would attack you for money. We'd heard a little horror story from our roomie about kids who raided a tuk tuk full of tourists too, which so didn't help the imagination from thinking the worst.
One Stop:
Apart from being on the fourth floor and in a place with no elevators the atmosphere of the hostel was pretty chilling and calm. On both nights we watched movies until on the last night we heard a massive bang behind us (me, Charlotte, new girl Vanessa and a guy who asked me if I was from India- not the first time I was asked that) downstairs and the transformer had blown. The poor guy at reception had no clue and called the owner who turned up and started to bat the outside switch with a broom whilst balanced on his motorbike. Nice! We were later reinstated with a bit of electricity (think I was more wounded about not finishing the film. Luckily once the power was back on, I got to finish it! Phew. It was World War Z) once I made it up the stairs I realised the wifi wasn't working so made my way back down to tell the man at reception. I found him sleeping so I got ready to write a note when the pen clicked and he woke up! Uh oh! Think I have a WiFi problem.
The morning was a little tragic... No electricity and no lights in the bathroom meant Ed pulled out his head torch to visit the loo What a genius! Whilst myself and Mark found that the bathrooms had electricity on the second floor so we scooted on down the many stairs to have a hot shower and light.
Killing fields:
The journey there in a tuk tuk was mental at one point we thought we were going to fall out of it! But as we drove towards the outskirts of the town you could see the real Cambodia, similar to India, it had a quiet work ethic feel about the place where the parents were wrking and the children were at schoo. We were individually guided around the fields with an audio guide and learnt of the horrific tragedy which occurred here. The skulls, bones, pieces of cloth and even the weapons used to kill the innocent people we all on show. The worst part of it was the tree which was used by the Khmer soldiers to kill babies. I won't gross you out about it on here but the film 'the killing fields' is definitely worth a watch. One of the more hardest places I've had to visit whilst travelling.
A bumpy road into the sunset and onto Siem Reap:
And what a bumpy road it was! We all took it in turn to a sit on the back seat in the corner which endured the hardest of the bumps... what a journey! The boys were so traumatised by the thought of going back by the road that they chose to fly back to Phnom then stopover in Singapore and on to Krabie (what a journey)!
Siem Reap:
What a city, equipped with its own pub street and a brand new One Stop Hostel (with only two floors because none of the buildings can be taller than Ankor Wat) it's another unexpected gem. Equipped with its own night market and street of bars and restaurants it was an awesome night out on the street, deciding which song from which bar to dance to!
The whole city has a safe and friendly feel to it and everyone knows a good amount of English to help us get by. Definitely one place I will be back to visit if any.
Temples:
Obviously the main reason to come to Siem Reap was for the temples and they did not disappoint! They were tiring to walk through but beautiful all the same. The heat was the hardest to get past but once you did boy was it epic. We ended the day watching the sunset on Ankor Wat and escaping from the monkeys! What a way to end the mainland...
Next stop Singapore!
After arriving safely into Phnom Penh it was interesting to see how developed the city was. Not what I was expecting Cambodia to be! The main road we were on was clearly developed for tourists as the alleys, we were told were a little dangerous at night because of the poor kids who would attack you for money. We'd heard a little horror story from our roomie about kids who raided a tuk tuk full of tourists too, which so didn't help the imagination from thinking the worst.
One Stop:
Apart from being on the fourth floor and in a place with no elevators the atmosphere of the hostel was pretty chilling and calm. On both nights we watched movies until on the last night we heard a massive bang behind us (me, Charlotte, new girl Vanessa and a guy who asked me if I was from India- not the first time I was asked that) downstairs and the transformer had blown. The poor guy at reception had no clue and called the owner who turned up and started to bat the outside switch with a broom whilst balanced on his motorbike. Nice! We were later reinstated with a bit of electricity (think I was more wounded about not finishing the film. Luckily once the power was back on, I got to finish it! Phew. It was World War Z) once I made it up the stairs I realised the wifi wasn't working so made my way back down to tell the man at reception. I found him sleeping so I got ready to write a note when the pen clicked and he woke up! Uh oh! Think I have a WiFi problem.
The morning was a little tragic... No electricity and no lights in the bathroom meant Ed pulled out his head torch to visit the loo What a genius! Whilst myself and Mark found that the bathrooms had electricity on the second floor so we scooted on down the many stairs to have a hot shower and light.
Killing fields:
The journey there in a tuk tuk was mental at one point we thought we were going to fall out of it! But as we drove towards the outskirts of the town you could see the real Cambodia, similar to India, it had a quiet work ethic feel about the place where the parents were wrking and the children were at schoo. We were individually guided around the fields with an audio guide and learnt of the horrific tragedy which occurred here. The skulls, bones, pieces of cloth and even the weapons used to kill the innocent people we all on show. The worst part of it was the tree which was used by the Khmer soldiers to kill babies. I won't gross you out about it on here but the film 'the killing fields' is definitely worth a watch. One of the more hardest places I've had to visit whilst travelling.
A bumpy road into the sunset and onto Siem Reap:
And what a bumpy road it was! We all took it in turn to a sit on the back seat in the corner which endured the hardest of the bumps... what a journey! The boys were so traumatised by the thought of going back by the road that they chose to fly back to Phnom then stopover in Singapore and on to Krabie (what a journey)!
Siem Reap:
What a city, equipped with its own pub street and a brand new One Stop Hostel (with only two floors because none of the buildings can be taller than Ankor Wat) it's another unexpected gem. Equipped with its own night market and street of bars and restaurants it was an awesome night out on the street, deciding which song from which bar to dance to!
The whole city has a safe and friendly feel to it and everyone knows a good amount of English to help us get by. Definitely one place I will be back to visit if any.
Temples:
Obviously the main reason to come to Siem Reap was for the temples and they did not disappoint! They were tiring to walk through but beautiful all the same. The heat was the hardest to get past but once you did boy was it epic. We ended the day watching the sunset on Ankor Wat and escaping from the monkeys! What a way to end the mainland...
Next stop Singapore!
 |
| Pub street all lit up at night. Its one big party every night on the street. |
 |
| The killing fields. |
 |
| This is the place where women and children a were killed. |
 |
| A road in Cambodia on the way to Siem Reap |
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Friday, 10 January 2014Getting Stuck Inn In Hoi Chi Minh
(thanks for the title Charlotte)
Unlike Bangkok when we got dumped in the middle of a crossroad, we arrived in Hoi Chi just opposite the hostel and all that was required was a morning stroll through the park. We'd read that there was a small tradition of waking up early to exercise in the cities and had always said we should go see it but I'm going to say none of us are morning people (especially not me. There's been times where I've skipped breakfast for an extra ten minutes in bed)! Walking through the park you see people of all ages, including old, playing the feather game, traditional Vietnamese stretches and badminton. It was a little bit of heaven walking through and seeing badminton being played outside in a park in a massive city. Kill me now we're my exact words! Obviously we knew our room wouldn't be ready but we carried on heading towards Vietnam Inn Saigon (little note: I'm guessing there are better hostels in Hoi Chi Minh the best thing about this place is the rooftop bar) and decided to put our bags down and do breakfast. Compared to the hostel's we'd been staying in this was definitely at the bottom. No service with a smile, lack of English, mix up with money during check in- the best bits about this place are the other travellers you can meet, the centrality of the place and the spa sofas we napped on till our dorm was ready! I'm not even going to get started on the showers... but I just want to say ew. Hoi Chi and it's history: Before coming out to Thailand and Vietnam I think I was just naive to the history of the countries and areas. Leaving now, no longer is that the case and it's made me want to understand and read more about what has happened here, when I get home. And to an extent also learn about my family history and if any of my family was subject to any of this. It was horrendous. The way the museum remembers what happened during the war made me physically upset. The images of the soldiers shooting children and slaughtering families was disgusting, especially seeing one which had an American solider smile whilst holding a corpse! As if that wasn't bad enough there were horror stories about the effect of Agent Orange, a toxic gas the US released during the war, and its impact on the children born in the families of those involved or in the area at the time. It was hard walking around the museum knowing maybe in 20 years time there may be a museum in Afghanistan telling similar stories. As well as visiting the War Remnants Museum we also took a half day trip to the Chu Chi Tunnels. Even today I still can't really understand why the US were attacking families so far away from the main Saigon city making them find shelter under the ground and creating tunnels to live in. I even had a chance to crawl through a tunnel (it wasn't one of the originals as no way in hell would I have fit through one of those) and found it so hard to move and breathe whilst in it. At one point I also encountered a spider on the wall just after an exit but knew it was only a little way to the end but powered through. Little did I know the tunnel would get a little narrower towards the end and was grateful to hear the tour operators voice (and the light) at the end of the tunnel. The rest of the time in Hoi Chi Minh city was pretty cool. Amazing night skyline where a lot of the bars and places lit up at night, amazing food (as always) and friendly people. During our walk to the museum we decided to indulge in a light snack (and Vietnamese coffee) and met a lovely local who directed us to the museum and just wanted to talk to us to practise his English. There was a big thing about safety though as crime was high. During our stay we were told of a few horror stories about people's stuff getting pulled off them and pick pocketed in public by motorbike people so we were extra vigilant (even though one night I was openly walking and playing with my phone and purse in my hand... stupid stupid stupid)! One night we had a fun little game of the feather in the park with a local boy (who was purposely 'bumping' into Mark before), a lovely local man (who was teaching Charlotte how to kick it) and two Australians (who called us Poms- I hadn't heard that in ages, not since being in India with my lovely cousins years ago)! It's a really cool kind of culture seeing the park being used, again at night by all ages. This would be our last stop in Vietnam and we had decided to catch a day bus to Cambodia for the visa thing! Myself, Charlotte, Ed and Mark had travelled from the top of Vietnam to the bottom in nine days and what an adventure! Sleeping on sofas, sleeper buses, double beds and bunk beds its been an awesome historical, cultural adventure... bring on Cambodia (fingers crossed they let us in at the border)!
Tuesday, 3 December 2013When in Bangkok...
As they say, do what Romans do? Don't think that quite goes but this weekend we were heading to Bangkok. The city of... erm... Dreams? Well we going to Bangkok, not sure if I mentioned that!
A four hour minibus journey!... The traffic getting out of the Kanchanaburi provence was good and I started catching up on writing my blogs (still a little behind but I'm catching up slowly, I have a several hour train journey tomorrow without any WiFi so I'm planning on bashing them out). The traffic when we hit Bangkok, however, was stand still. It took us the same journey time to get to Bangkok to get through to Bangkok to the minibus station. Once we eventually got there we also had a terrible time getting a taxi to our hostel. It's like no one understood where we needed to go or they just didn't want to take us there (we were kicking ourselves after this though... If we had caught the skylink we would have made it to our hostel in under 20 minutes), but as we didn't know this... when we eventually got a taxi (after a quick 50TB Mocha and a dose of WiFi to Google map the hostel address) it took us another hour to get through another load of traffic to the famous Sukhumvit Road (which is similar to the a46 towards Lincoln but with restaurants, hostels and shopping outlets on both sides). We were in Bangkok. To be honest, I was expecting to see massive skyscrapers and an amazing skyline and I was a little disappointed. It wasn't quite like what you see in the movies. Hi-Sukhumvit was my first real experience of a hostel and I'm glad to say it was damn good. We had a mixed dorm room for the eight of us and shared toilets and showers (to be honest, all I need is a place to wash my hair and a decent loo facility and I'm a happy girl). The common area and rooftop (I'll come back to that) was cosy and clean and I would definitely recommend this place to people looking for a place to stay in Bangkok. Friday night was... Eventful? Yup that's the word I'm going to use. We all scrubbed up and went to grab some street food before we headed to Nana, an area famous for it's nightlife. And it didn't disappoint, after a cheeky few drinks at Mark and Ed's four star hotel, we walked towards a street full of VW camper vans selling drinks and a few loud bars. We didn't get into the club called Levels, because of the flipflops and shorts but were safely taxied to a place called Insanity and ended the night there! Exploring Bangkok was hot on our agenda (after a long late lie in) so we headed to Siam Discovery Centre where it literally felt like we had walked into the Highcross and Bullring combined. Apart from the aquazone on the basement level we explored the stores and headed towards, what I like to call, the Selfridges bit of Bullring and food court of the Trafford centre combined to grab some food. Fazed and distracted by the sizzling smell of an Indian sizzler, KFC, McDonalds, multiple sushi and Thai street food outlets, we hesitantly made a decision to eat Thai (when in Thailand... eat Thai!). Rooftop songs and a taxi singalong: With a guitar in his hand and after casually spilling three drinks over himself, Wilson provided us with rooftop entertainment as we enjoyed the night time Bangkok skyline. The bright lights from the buildings contrasted against the black and grey polluted sky and the surrealness of being in Bangkok was amazing. Truly the best part of being in Bangkok... till now. A cab full of girls and a taxi driver 'lost' in Bangkok would be a night never to forget (and a great film storyline). Singing along to the Lion King soundtrack, One Direction and All Saints (sometimes in perfect harmony too), we were driven around Bangkok for an hour to find the club, Levels (yes, we were rejected the previous evening but there was no harm in trying again)! Best 100TB we spent!! After that, the rest of the night was met with disappointment after being denied entry into Levels (again!- who knew the age to go clubbing was 20?!), and rain. But a good chicken shawarma for 80TB totally filled a gap and ended the night with my appetite satisfied (yes, food being mentioned again). Sunday, market day! A few of the LoveTEFL group headed home while me, Wilson, Rob and Olivia went to scope out Bangkok market. The skylink journey there was packed and as we passed the market on the train, it looked like it went on for a mile... That's how big it was! We literally spent a good three hours looking for goodies and stuff to buy to take back home. I ended up with fairy lights, an elephant bag and a new side bag (as the one I took from home was withering away). You need a whole day there to get through the entire market. We met an Australian traveller who told us this was his second day here and that he still hadn't made the whole way round. We were definitely coming back to this at the end of our trip! The journey home was a solemn one as it meant an end to a breathtaking, hectic and memorable weekend in Bangkok. But I knew I would definitely be coming back... Maybe to celebrate New Years?
Monday, 25 November 2013Waterfalls and Weekend Two in Kanchanaburi
OMG I thought buses back at home were bad but this one! So we finished at about 12.30 on Friday (after lunch obviously) and waited for about 45 minutes (I mean come on I know theres Thai time, but really??) to catch a bus into Kanchanaburi central. We were charged 20 TB this time each for the journey... Being a proper tourist we didn't realise we shouldn't pay extra (so shame on us once but never again as it only usually costs 15 TB). We then got the two seater taxi from the bus station to Noble again as we knew the others were staying there (we didn't feel so bad this time for the driver as he was a lot younger and was taking his time about getting us there too). At Noble we were given a crappy room (like an actual hut on the river with a shed as a shower). I mean come on, here was me looking forward to washing my hair (do not mess me about with that) so we went back to reception, met with Charlotte and Olivia and decided we'd just look somewhere else and asked for our room money back (little did I know, the cheeky little taxi driver got 50 TB for dropping us there and she gave us 350 TB back instead of 400... I wasn't going to argue for £1ish so we just took it and left).
Enter a brilliant little place, Tara's BnB- literally round the corner from Noble and was just 250 TB for two nights for a room with shared showers and loos (first time for everything as I've never done this before... actually I may have done but not in a country far from home on my ones... and it was really good actually, would definitely do it again). (Just got totally distracted from writing this blog and just watched One Direction's performance on the X Factor... multiple times). Before we came across Tara's we walked past Peng Pong and spotted someone eating a tasty looking plate of fish and chips... So after we'd checked into Tara's we made our way back there and nommed (yep you guessed it) a cheeky fish and chips and went back to the room, showered up and knocked out as tomorrow was going to be a long day. So Saturday morning. Rain. Rain, the one thing all of us were not hoping for because we were going to do a waterfall and elephant trekking day for Olivia's birthday! We met with the rest of the group for a 8.00am pick up and also had a little happy birthday sing song as Olivia got onto the bus. A little rain was not going to stop us! We got to Erawan Falls (fun fact: Its called Erawan after a three-headed white elephant in Hindu mythology. The seven tiered falls are said to resemble the Erawan- thank you Wikipedia!) and unbeknown to us the guide failed to mention we would have to trek up to the of the waterfall and that the road to beautiful scenery would be hazardous and frightening. The rain had made the paths a little muddy and it was a little fun slipping and watching some of us slip here and there. Now I'm not much of an outdoor walking person and the weight of my bag clearly reflected that. In it was my tablet, passport, camera and phones (none of it was waterproof by the way. Clearly not one of my brightest moments but anyway...) Typical me slipped and landed on my fat ass as I went to step over some stones in the water to take a 'better' picture... I wasn't impressed. Walking around in a wet pair of jeany shorts are highly not recommended. But all seven waterfalls were worth the Indiana Jones trek up to the top waterfall (along the way myself and Charlotte thought it'd be good to get a cheeky selfie or two and accidentally lost the rest of the group. We made it to the top 30 minutes after they did more weathered than the rest of them) and as they say... What goes up must come down! It was an experience, an experience you should all endure I mean endeavour, trekking up and down a waterfall hill/ mountain thing in damp pumps and wet jeans... And poor Charlotte at one point had to be gently helped by a German man who kindly over took us in the next opportunity he had. Like I said if I was to ever pitch this to anyone I'd say don't read this and just look at my pictures... joke. It's beautiful and even the walk up, past the six waterfalls to the top one is worth every minute. Just remember its a jungle and there is mud so take someone with you to carry your stuff and watch out for the fish in the water. Its a little odd at first as they surround you and 'suck' on your skin but they're harmless and takes nothing away from the beauty of the waterfalls and location. Not even the rain could dampen our spirits... My hair and clothes maybe but not my spirit... Well at certain points it did but I got past it, I admit I had my moment (maybe even moments I'd say). After being told we only had six minutes to eat, when we eventually made it back to the bottom, we shovelled in our complimentary lunch (delicious... well I guess anything would have been nice as I was starving- I know hard to believe but you can't take food up with you after the second waterfall) pad thai with chicken. We were waved back into the minibus for the second part of our day... Elephants. Elephant Camp: So we got to the elephant camp and I was dying for the loo (having full swimming gear on was not going to make it easy! Anyhoo...) we quickly realised it wasn't as amazing as we thought seeing elephants would be. Here's why. We seen the elephants get poked and kicked -and ok I know they have thick skin- but it's an animal still right? I couldn't even bring myself to place my foot on the elephant to sit on it. Have no idea what came over me... I think its that's same feeling I get when I have to step on a spider (for those that know me... Absolutely not true! Spider equals fear. Well I think I'm slowly getting ok to spiders, theres a few living in the bathroom back at the hut and I'm pretty ok with them there, even though the first thing I do is still pop my head round the door to check there are no beasts in there! Again, anyway...) It was myself and the birthday girl on one and we were in so much shock and despair throughout the whole ride. Our 'driver' of the elephant was poking the elephant to go down some steps which it clearly didn't like the look of (after getting kindly pushed by Ed and Marks elephant, scaring the crap outta us!) and kicked because it didn't want to go in the water (at this point both myself and Olivia were screaming no, don't make it). So all in all, by the end of it we had Justin B's Baby song in our head and so much sympathy for the elephants kept there. It wasn't the elephant experience we wanted but an elephant trek it was. And to remember the experience we brought a photo which has our elephant driver making a heart sign with his hands... ironic really. (Also did a little bamboo rafting, not the kind of rafting you expect... Just a bamboo boat which was tied to the back of speedboat which took us out down the river then left us with a boy to paddle us back to shore- we weren't quite sure what to make of it to be honest). So back onto the minibus we jumped en routed to the death railway. Still a little damp from the waterfall, hair in disarray and all of us feeling the hunger, the death railway was really the least thing we were interested in. But the history behind it was impressive, the reasons for which it was built and the short amount of time it was built in would have been interesting to hear if the guides voice was loud enough to reach the back of the minibus. Beautiful views and a little opportunity to buy elephant print trousers and mini elephants were all perfectly timed as the train was on 'thai time'. We got on to the train and off the train 20 minutes later to then go see the bridge over the river Kwai (my uncle gently reminds me its a film I should watch... When I get back maybe). I brought a coconut and enjoyed a little Indian style coconut water and off we set back home, the only discussion home was to decide if we should get changed, ready to go out, or eat first (EAT FIRST). Enjoyed the best vegetable spring rolls ever (up until then) and then showered (washed my hair again) and was off to enjoy a night out for Olivia's birthday. We really enjoyed the food and ambiance at Peng Pong and decided why not have breakfast there too. Beans on toast with a bacon rasher (why are they called rashers?) and wrote a postcard or two and off we went back home (well not the UK...). Back to school for week two! Also just an FYI... I'm still waiting to upload my camera pictures. All these pictures I post with my posts are all just taken on my phone. I'll have a pure picture post soonish. Images 1. Mango smoothie (mmm icy and refreshing) 2. Journey to the hotel from the bus station 3. Fish and a little portion of chips 4, 5 & 6. Waterfalls (can't remember which one) 7. Wooden bridge (not going to lie, it was a little scary) 8. Little selfie before we got repeated from the rest of the group 9, 10 & 11. More terrain and waterfall 12. Making our way down bamboo to a bamboo raft 13. Train to Kanchanaburi on the death railway 14. Nice little path en route to the waterfall 15. Bridge over the river Kwai 16. Coconut 17. Spring rolls and noodles (burger... Not mine... I mean I was hungry but not that hungry) The elephant pics are on the camera... Sorry, hopefully upload some soon! x                  
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
|
