Cambodia

Hello from Ko Samui, one of the Thai islands but for now we will update you on our week's trip to Cambodia.
We forgot to mention in our last entry that we actually went through part of the Cu Chi tunnels. I did 60 metres and got sick of it but Bourkie battled on and did the 90m. Im actually glad I got out after 60 cause it got much narrower after that. It was fairly well lit up but at times people moving forward blocked the light and you just had to go with it. I actually didn't have to get down on my hands and knees, I kind of shuffled along on my haunches but Bourkie got down and dirty!
Even though they had it ventilated but we were still hot coming out. They told us that they moved only so far(I cant remember) before having a look out boy to ensure everything was safe before moving on. What I couldn't understand was how they knew where they were going as there are turn offs in the tunnel but they aren't exactly signposted!
Anyway, getting back to Cambodia. We arrived in Phnom Penh in the early afternoon. It actually didnt take that long to get from Saigon.

We met a tuktuk driver with good English who drove us past the Independence Monument and the Royal Palace before taking us to some fine establishment along side the river.

After that we needed to get money out and we usually have the policy of getting money out of a bank's ATM rather than one on the street and aren't we glad we stuck by it.

Bourkie's card got swallowed. Gladly we didn't panic cause we knew we had to get it back. There was a number on the machine but all they could say was wait until the bank opens on Monday and you will get it back. My fear was that there were security men outside who said that they didn't have keys to the machine but I thought they would wait til we were gone and get it out, yes, this is a typical Clare thought.

We still had to get money out so I chanced it and it worked, thank god. Surprisingly all we could get out was US dollars and they were all 50's!Since we were a little traumatised after that we had a beer and several games of Connect 4.

Bourkie got to watch Arsenal V Aston Villa that night so that took his mind off the card. We were overjoyed that we had both Star Movies and True Sports- a tv addicts dream!

The following day was definitely the most sombre of the trip and we warn you that the photos could be a little upsetting.

We got a tuk tuk driver to take us to the Killing Fields(Choeung Ek) and to the Genocide Museum(known as S21). The killing fields are where the Khmer Rouge under the rule of Pol Pot killed over 20,000 people. At the beginning they were bringing 300 people here a day but couldn't keep up with that pace and started to kill people on the way and dump their bodies on the side of the road instead.

When we reached the Killing Fields it didn't look like there was much there except for a large monument built for the victims. As we walked closer we realised that this 4 storey building was filled with some of the victims skulls. We took off our sandals and walked inside. There were 15 or more levels of skulls, divided by the victims ages and some of their clothes on the bottom level.

After this distressing sight we made our way outside again where there were wooden information signs stuck in certain positions. Each one told of the areas where parts of the atrocities took place. As we walked further in we could see a series of mass graves.Its really hard to think that there are over 400 people in such a small area-see picture below.

As we walked between the mass graves we noticed that there were bones sticking up out of the ground. We realised then that only a small portion of the area had been dug up and the bones buried properly. The rest were still sitting where they had been for over 30 years. We heard later that in the Buddhist religion they believe that bones should not be moved from where originally buried. There is also victims' clothing coming out of the ground in alot of places which can also be seen in the photo here.

There was a tree there where the children were killed against and a pit next to it. Here is a photo of another such tree which used to have a loudspeaker attached with music playing to hide the noise being made. There was also clothes coming out of the ground by the tree here.

After this, we really couldn't take anymore and headed back to the tuktuk. But there was worse to come at the Genocide Museum in the form of pictures. The Genocide Museum(Tuol Sleng) was a school situated in the city which became a prison run by the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979. The name given to the school was Tuol Sleng- a very apt name since in Cambodian this means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill".

From 1975 to 1979, an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng (some estimates suggest a number as high as 20,000, though the real number is unknown). The prisoners were selected from all around the country, and usually were former Khmer Rouge members and soldiers, accused of betraying the party or revolution.Pol Pot became so paranoid that he just started to kill anyone that was seen as rising within the army's ranks.

When the Vietnamese invaded the country in 1979 they only found 12 survivors in the prison. The first rooms were taken up with photographs of the victims. The Khmer Rouge were meticulous in keeping records on each prisoner which meant a photo when they arrived and taking a biography of their lives until that point. There were people from every age group and some of the younger children smiled, oblivious to their fate. There were no photos however of the foreigners that were brought here. These were usually reporters who were trying to report on the war in Vietnam that had spilled into Cambodia.

Next there were three floors of larger torture rooms with the beds still remaining where you could see the blood that spilled from the victims still on the floor. On the wall hung a photograph depicting the victim as they were found shackled to the bed dead. We could only take two floors of this and thought this was the end of the tour. We made our way across the courtyard to other rooms with more photographs except these showed the people in death. Bourkie warned me not to look at some of these as they showed people after being shot dead, tortured with chemicals and other impliments. In the next building were rooms divided into cells. There were very rough walls built into sections in the room, none of these reaching the ceiling and only took one person each. They were about 2 feet wide by 4 feet long and were intended to stop any communication between people and keep them ignorant as to what was happening. This was a hard 2 hours spent and we needed a change of subject matter so we made our way to the National Museum.

Anyway the Palace was closed at 11 and we reached there about 10:45 and we had to catch a bus before it opened again so we missed it. So instead we took a photo from outside!

After this we made our way to the bus to Siem Reap which took 5 hours. The bus dropped us off about 5 km away from the town and we got a tuk tuk in with another girl called Sally. After we got accommodation we explored the town with Sally and had a couple of beers. We were commenting on how we thought that Australia would be very boring after S.E. Asia when an Australian asked to join us and was interested in where we would be going in Oz. Had he not heard us talking previously, obviously not cause he harped on about how great Australia was going to be. All I could ask was is there any mosies there? He replied no but I remain to be convinced!

We spent most of the night trying to decide how much of Angkor Wat and the other Wats we would see. A one day pass was $20 and a three day was $40 which is really expensive since our room was only $7. We ideally wanted to do 2 days but the tuk tuks were about $15 a day. We made the hard decision of cycling for 2 days. The next morning we got up a little too late to do the bigger circuit of temples suggested so we ventured to do just Angkor Wat , Angkor Thom with some other small ones.

The cycle was pleasant as it wasn't too hot but we still kept a steady pace.

There is a moat which is about a kilometre long around the Angkor Wat.

We then reached a ruined library just inside the main gates.

To give you an idea here are some photos of Angkor Wat as its difficult to describe its full glory.

After Angkor Wat we headed to Angkor Thom which is older than Angkor Wat and therefore more in ruins.

Again, I think the photos describe it best. Im sure if you are really interested in the history you will wiki it!

The picture we are showing is of the gate into Angkor Thom.

This picture is the main entrance of Angkor Thom- the temple is called Bayon.Angkor Thom is a collection of ancient temples.

and the next is a close up of the god(Lokesvara) that is depicted all over the temple.

The next temple in the series of Angkor Thom temples is Phimeanakas- thought this photo was cool with the monks! There was a really steep climb up to this by steps about 50 metres. Bourkie ventured up the steps that have been there for centuries and falling away, I however, found the ones made about 5 years ago!

The next temple we visited was Ta Keo.

Our last temple of that day was Ta Phrom which was our favourite despite the crowds of Japanese and French tourists there making it almost impossible to take photos!

By this stage it was getting dark so we set out on the road back to Siem Reap. It was about a 12km cycle, but unfortunately we asked a young local for directions and he sent us the most round about way which doubled our journey. And to top it off he tried to race us back even though his bike was falling apart. I started to get angry with him cause he was going right up on my back wheel. He made the mistake of trying to do the same with Bourkie but Bourkie gave him an almighty fright by veering into him, that he quickly dropped back and didn't race us anymore! At the end of day 1 in Siem Reap we had cycled over 40 km and just went to meet Sally for dinner before collapsing into bed to prepare ourselves for the following day.

The following day wasn't as hot, thank god. We did the large circuit of temples. By this stage our camera was full and we didn't get a chance to burn our photos onto a CD so we dont have any photos. Though at this stage Im sure you have gotten a good idea of what the temples looked like!

The following morning we jumped on a bus to go over the border to Thailand. We knew that we would have to change buses at the border but that was the least of our problems. We were picked up in a vintage mid-sized bus- well not much bigger than a minibus. We started to get surprised when the bus stopped several times to pick up more and more people. We were used to getting picked up, then dropped off to get a larger bus to make our journey. About 40 minutes into our trek and 20 people squeezed into the bus we realised that his boneshaker was taking us to the border. I was in agony cause my knees were completely squashed and got really bad cramps. Fortunately Bourkie's knee was okay.The worst part was that there wasn't actually a road to the border just a potholed dirt track. We literally bounced our way to the border. I actually managed to get some sleep, dont ask me how!

We got to the border around midday, just as the sun was at its hottest and had to stand with our bags on our backs for 20 minutes. After 5 I give up and put it on the ground.

When we got through the exit part of Cambodia and the entry part of Thailand we sat and waited for the next bus. This bus was fortunately alot nicer and suddenly there is a three lane highway on the Thai side. It was great to be back!

We were dropped at the Khao San Road, the backpacker district. It was really weird to be on a street with so many flashing lights, people trying to sell you trinkets and loud music. It's so Westernised compared to Cambodia.

We'll leave you here at Bangkok and pick up on our travels to the South of Bangkok and the islands.

Until then enjoy your last hours at work before the Christmas holidays!

South 'Nam

We last left you arriving in Hoi An which was quite flooded. Its a really nice town, kind of like Louang Prabang with French colonial style buildings but with more to do, well more shopping to do.

The town is filled with tailors that can produce any item of clothing you want. They all have catalogues of shops like Next and magazines where you can pick what you want or they will design something for you as well. With some of the clothes modelled outside, I couldn't resist. I got a winter jacket and pants and Bourkie got 3 shirts which were cheaper and better than those in Bangkok.

Hoi An is more of a sleepy town but close by is an ancient site which is called My Son.

The day we were there it was lashing rain and there wasn't much left after American bombings so we didnt stay too long. Bourkie did manage to get some amusement out of the day......

There is however this ancient Japanese bridge in Hoi An, and yes Bourkie is the model in all of the photos to show you the size in reality......his head for some reason looks superimposed in this photo!!! Notice the haircut- that of a 12 year old boy.....thats what humidity does....

We met Sile and Ailish from the slow boat and hung out with them for the rest of the evening and debated what to do next over pool and beer. There were rumours of the typhoon hitting the South of Vietnam and most people were staying North. As our visas were running out on the 1st of December we only had 2 weeks in Vietnam and had to move on from Hoi An.

The following day we headed to Nha Trang which is supposed to be a sea side resort for Vietnamese couples. Though it had gotten dryer at this stage it was still too cold to go swimming.

The only crazy thing we did in Nha Trang was buy two photocopied books, White Teeth by Zadie Smith for me and American Pyscho by Bret Ellis Easton for Bourkie.

Since there was little or nothing to do there we moved on after a night to Dalat.

Dalat is described in the guide book as a scenic mountain side honeymooners paradise where the French came to relax during their colonisation.

We were full of hope to see the real beauty of Vietnam but it was not to be had in Dalat. Especially since the drive up and down the mountain to get there was the best bit according to Bourkie, I was obviously asleep as I am for all of our journeys.

After being disappointed by so many places in Vietnam that were supposed to be scenic, we really wondered what Mui Ne would bring us. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun came out as we reached this 7 mile beach resort. There was one long street that ran parallel to the beach but all the bars and restaurants were on the beach side. There was loads of wind surfing and kite surfing there.

After a relaxing 2 1/2 days we forced ourselves to move on, sorry to leave.

Next onto Saigon(Ho Chi Minh) city. We hadn't heard great things before we got there, we heard it was really congested compared to Hanoi (which we found really bad) and kind of dangerous. But we were pleasantly surprised. Thankfully we were dropped into the bagpackers district and found a really nice room with satellite TV, our new addiction, especially True Sports and Star Movies!

We treated ourselves to an expensive coffee and muffin place across the way which had a small cinema upstairs. We got to see 'Balls of Fury' which was unexpectedly good with Christopher Walken. That night we booked to go see the Cu Chi tunnels outside Saigon.

The Cu Chi tunnels are named after the village Cu Chi where the Viet Cong built over 200 km of tunnels between the French and American wars. They brought us into a room showing a promotional movie for the Vietnamese war. They focused in on the story of a 16 year old girl who fought in the war and received medals for killing 10 Americans. As you can imagine the American tourists were disgusted at this. Next they brought us to some of the tunnels built during the French wars. They are tiny. Only people with a waist smaller than 34 inches can fit in.You can see how small they are, here is Bourkie's foot over it. I didn't even risk getting into them!

There was an American war vet there with his wife who took off his hat and just sat down when the guide showed us a blown up tank in which 4 American troops were killed.To be honest the guide wasn't too subtle in describing the incident where a landmine blew up the tank. It looked as if the tank was in the middle of a forest but the whole area had been cleared by 'Agent Orange'- basically a chemical that kills all vegetation.

But more about that later.

Next we moved onto the traps that the Vietnamese made for the Americans- they were some resourceful people in war. They sharpened bamboos and placed them in different ways in the ground. I think the photo describe it best.

Some of these had really nasty names such as the See-Saw trap, the chair trap, the leg trap, the fish trap and the folding chair trap. We will let you find out which one is which!

Along with these traps, they used to wear their sandels back to front so that the Americans thought they were moving in another direction. They also built kitchens underground with the smoke coming out of a vent 100 metres away. They created air holes for the tunnels that looked like ant hills. With the dirt that was dug out from the tunnels they built these ant hills and filled in bomb craters so the Americans weren't suspicious of tunnels in the area.

Outside the Cu Chi tunnels they were selling Vietnamese snake whiskey. We had seen it in other places but I had to take photos of these ones which were very clear. Do people actually drink from this?

As a follow on from this we went to the War Remnants Museum.

The first room was divided into several areas showing photos from the war, mostly from Time Magazine photographers who did not survive the war. Alot of those who went to Cambodia in search of the war there, which was not reported on, went missing.This museum had alot more photos of the American side of the war than Hanoi but most did not show the Americans in a positive light. To be honest, I got a really bad impression of the Americans after seeing this museum.

Outside they showed the machinery used in the war - I will just show one photo but it is of a gun mounted on a tank which can shoot bombs 30 kms away.

Inside the main part of the museum was devoted to the affects of Agent Orange and Napalm which was spread all across Vietnam and parts of Cambodia during the American war in Vietnam.

They had photographs of people whose skin was burnt off by Napalm(a liquid fire dropped from American planes) and photographs of children affected by Agent Orange(a chemical defoliant used to clear forests).They had deformed hands, arms and legs. The worst part was of the museum was two jars of preserved foetuses which were conjoined by the head and deformed twins and another deformed baby. American soldiers who came into contact with Agent Orange also had deformed babies years later after returning home or their wives suffered several miscarriages before having deformed babies.

They also had an area devoted to a village wiped out by a US soldier and his platoon who went on to become a US senator. It was only through sheer public force that he admitted what he had done. Only one person survived from the village by pretending to be dead.

There were some sick pictures showing how crazy some American soldiers became during the war. They dragged half dead bodies at the back of a tank and took pictures of themselves holding up half blown apart torsoes and standing over dead bodies.(Kind of like Abu Gharib prison in Iraq two years ago)!!.

After that traumatic day we went to the Notre Dame cathedral and had a relaxing dinner while watching American Gangster with Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe in our coffee house cinema. Its a really good film and helped lift our spirits if thats possible.

So that was our second week in Vietnam and it was time to move on.

On Saturday, 1st December we made our way over the border to Cambodia. We were sent inside to get our passports stamped and then had to convince a guy that we had proof of having gotten vaccinations which was funny since we had vaccinated ourselves against them!! When we got outside we realised that the bus left without us and had gone 2-3 kms down the road. The guy from the bus came out laughing at us thinking it was hilarious telling us to get a motorbike taxi to where the bus had stopped. This is where Bourkie got mad. He said 'you dont expect us to pay for that, do you?'. The guy started to look afraid and said no. Of course when we got there the guy on the motorbike started asking for money and I insisted that we got off and walked away. Well we ran into the bus and hid for a couple of minutes until we saw him drive away! But enough about that.

Okay we will leave it there and start from Phnom Penh hopefully tomorrow if we can drag ourselves away from the beach here on Ko Lanta island. By the way, how's the weather at home!!!!!!

Nam

Dear All,

It seems that every blog entry recently starts with an apology. This one will be no different. And we will give the same excuse, internet connections in Vietnam and Cambodia are really slow and with the number of complaints about the lack of photos, I really didnt want to do another entry without them.

We last left you in Hanoi which was over 2 weeks ago.

The day after we arrived we took in the sights of Hanoi-the Hoan Kiem Lake which is in the centre of the old city and has a temple in it. We asked someone to take this photo of us, YES it actually worked this time and then this Japanese woman grabs a hold of my arm and doesn't say anything except to pose for a photo that somebody else is taking for her. So I just grinned and ran off as soon as the photo was taken. So somewhere in Japan there is a woman showing her holiday photos with me in it!!

We also took in the Vietnamese Revolutionary Museum which went through all the struggles that the Vietnamese went through with the Chinese,French,Japanese and then the Americans. Of course the Museum was very anti-American since it was based in the Communist heartland in North Vietnam.

On the 18th we went to Halong Bay- UNESCO world Heritage site around 60km from Hanoi filled with large rocks jutting out from the bay.

There is a whole community of fishing villages on floating houses and there is even a school there.

Unfortunately it was overcast the day we were there so visibility was poor and it was difficult to get an idea of how far the scenery extended.

We also visited the Dau Go Caves which a fisherman discovered during a storm and has become part of the tourist attractions of Halong Bay. Though myself and Bourkie found it difficult to keep a straight face when the guide would point out dragons, lions and body parts in the stalagmites, they really had good imaginations.

The following day we headed to the Perfume Pagoda so called because the area is supposedly covered in the scent of a local flower. As part of the tour we were rowed upstream and then had to climb up a mountain to where the pagoda was in a cave. Since it was Saturday we treated ourselves to a night out in the Irish bar, Finnegans, with Irish girls we met on the 24 hour bus to Hanoi.

Tuesday, the 20th November we went to Ho Chi Minh's house which was very basic but had lovely grounds. Unfortunately we couldn't see Ho's body in the Mausoleum as Sept-Nov every year he heads to Russia for a holiday with Lenin for some R&R.

We then went to the Hanoi Hilton(Hoa Lo prison) which at first was difficult to see as most of the area is now taken up with the Hanoi Towers hotel and office block. This was a pretty grim museum going through the torture implements that the French used on the Vietnamese before 1954. There were only two small rooms dedicated to the Americans who were held here durnig the 60s and 70s.American tourists laughed at the photos depicting inmates 'singing songs of home','receiving best medical treatment' and'receiving gifts from home'. It was a prime example of communist propaganda in Vietnam.

That evening we took a sleeper bus to Hue which was a really nice treat as we usually just take a local bus and then end up getting no sleep. But this one was fancy.

We arrived into Hue early on the morning of the 21st. We were really motivated and just took a short rest and shower(cause Bourkie was really smelly) before renting bikes to cycle out to ancient temples and tombs outside the city.

The first pagoda(temple) we headed to was the LinhMu pagoda which was a 7 storey tower. It was a monk from here who set himself on fire in Saigon to protest against the American war in Vietnam.

We went to see some other tombs of previous kings but the most impressive was the tomb of TuDuc. This was about 4 acres big with temples and tombs for his wife and stepson.

The following day we walked around the imperial city in Hue which was bombed extensively by the Americans in 1967 during the Tet offensive.So there were just ruined walls to be seen.

That afternoon we took a bus to Hoi An even though we were warned about the possibility of the typhoon hitting the coast in the next couple of days.

Today we will leave you with the flooded Hoi An and hopefully we will be able to pick up tomorrow with more photos!!!

From Laos to Vietnam

Huge apologies for the length of time since our last entry. Every day has been taken up with sightseeing, meeting people in the evening or travelling. We are tired but we are going to relax for a while when we get to the Thai islands.
Okay we last left you at Louang Prabang. Such a nice town and its taken a long time to see another one.Unfortunately we missed the 'VIP' bus to Vang Vieng and had to get a local one. It really didnt look bad from the outside but when we got into the bus we had to climb over bags of rice that were 2 bags high all the way to the back of the bus. We piled on and when the bus was full,on arrived monks so the locals had to move. There is a rule that the back seat is kept for the monks in case they get on but tourists (who had missed their bus) sat at the back and the locals moved instead. Monks aren't allowed to look at women or sit next to them. Some seem strict but others love the attention of tourists. A while into the bus ride we heard a mobile phone ringtone of a Christmas jingle, we had a good laugh when a monk pulled a brand new flip phone from his robe!Stuart said that he saw a group of monks and one of them takes out a central locking remote and sees the lights flashing for a new Range Rover. They all jump in and turn on some tunes.
The bus ride was fine , scenery was absolutely beautiful as we were going from one mountain to the next which at some points was particularly hairy. Bourkie was sitting next to the window and only told me these things afterwards.
We got into Vang Vieng around6 and got somewhere to stay. We bumped into an Irish girl that we had met onthe slow boat to Louang Prabang and was all excited about the tubing and that she was going again tomorrow. The town has a lovely laidback atmosphere with bars where you can lie down and watch episodes of Friends,Family Guy etc. There was loads of Irish there after having come back from tubing. Basically its going down the river on a rubber tube stopping off at bars on the way. Unfortunately myself and Bourkie didn't actually make it tubing after enjoying the atmosphere a little too much the previous night and we were a little tired and emotional!
From there we got onto a local bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane which was only 5 hours. It was actually quite difficult to get somewhere to stay and Louisa,Stuart,myself, Bourkie and Jimmy had to wander around for a while to get somewhere decent and reasonably priced. We took a stroll around the city to get some of the atmosphere and found none.There was a mini arc de triumph and a fountain that was set to music from such artists as Ronan Keating and Shane Ward, a little surreal.The following day we made it our mission to get out of Laos as soon as possible since Vientiane was such a disappointment. We found a 24 hour bus for $18 dollars to Hanoi ,also known as the 'Hell Bus' which left that night.
The bus was a filthy, cold wreck driven by lunatics and one very strange man who slept at the back of the bus and made me want to cover myself from head to toe after he touched me. He ordered people to sit in particular parts of the bus for no particular reason even though there were plenty of free seats. I had put one of my bags on the seat next to us which he kept on moving from one seat to the other for people rather than telling them to sit in a free seat. He even asked two people to sit together so that the bag sat on two seats. At midnight they stopped the bus and turned off the engine. This was a very bad omen. They never turn off their engines, even when filling up their tanks. The poor innocent Irish girls on the bus thought they were coming back,we knew better. At 6am the drivers and the wacko from the back of the bus returned , refreshed and well fed.On we drove to the Laos border to exit and the Vietnam border to enter. When we got to the border we were literally at the top of a mountain and it was cold and rainy.We arrived in Hanoi at around 6 o clock. I actually didn't go to the toilet once since I had an aversion to squat toilets. A fear that I have now overcome. Ourselves and the Irish girls went to a backpackers place that they had booked but they had no rooms. We trudged through Hanoi trying to find somewhere to stay. After our traumatic bus ride we treated ourselves to a nice hotel for $30 for two nights.Okay I think this entry is long enough so we'll continue tomorrow. I have finally succeed in getting some photos onto Kodakgallery but have to copy the photos onto a computer first so will hopefully have photos on the blog tomorrow!!!Let me know if you have a kodakgallery account and I can share photos with you!!
Hope all the Americans had a great thanksgiving and prayed for us here going through the typhoon which is Vietnam at the moment!

Buses,boats and waterfalls-Laos style

I forgot to include some interesting things from our last blog entry.
We caved in and had Burger King on the Sunday and it was good, actually settled our stomachs a little bit. Talking about stomachs,lots of conversations with other backpackers have been based on our digestive movements but its common over here,everyone does it. But we have been lucky so far.Actually last night one guy came out of his bedroom while we were sitting on the balcony with others and just said 'Ive got to puke now,Ive got food poisoning'. It seems he wasn't the only one and his friend joined him quite frequently.
Okay so we've been in Laos for 4 days but boy was it a trek to get here, 3 days in total.
We really didnt have a clue, thinking it would be a couple of hours on a bus and 2 full days on a boat. It was 6 hours on the bus the first day to the village of Chiang Khong which is on the border with Laos. We had the name of the guesthouse with us and looked it up in our guidebooks and got all excited when we read the review that it had hot showers and ensuite bathrooms. We were sorely disappointed. It was 4 walls and a bed with shared bathrooms. Though the little village was cool with an English bookshop and bars when we could pick the film you watched so we watched Blades of Glory and Fracture which wasn't bad.The following day we got on a boat to cross the river to the border which some people thought was the boat for 2 days(will include pictures here later!). Went through immigration on the other side and made our way to the little port. There we were sat down and the guy who gave us the tickets engaged in some scaremongering which definitely worked on me. He said that we would be on the boat until the evening time and that we would stop at a village where only his guesthouse had electricity and the rooms would be $20.Unfortunately some girls booked his guesthouse and they were supposed to be met there but nobody showed up and they paid in advance.The guesthouse didnt even exist.Rooms turned out to be quite cheap and we got a lovely ensuite room(albeit with only cold water) for less than $8.On top of that he said everytime the boat stopped that the locals would try to take our bags off the boat.Oh and that the little village(Pakbeng) wouldn't accept anything but Laos kip(the currency). All complete bull. But to be sure we locked our bags in with an English couple who we have been travelling with for the last four days. Yes the village was basic and yes the electricity went out at 10pm but it wasn't all that bad since we fell in love with the Laos coffee- definitely try coffee with condensed milk,yum!
8th-Slow boat to Pakbang - The boat packed in about 100 people with bags in the back and had plastic garden chairs for around half the people which weren't secured to the ground.God was it slow, the first hour took forever but people started to socialise and there was some lovely scenery on the way. The first day they only sold beer(to the delight of the Irish on board) and at some stops locals came onboard with taytoes and soft drinks.
9th-Slow boat to Luang Prabang - In the morning we were up bright and early to get the boat and didnt really know where they were going to be. We started looking for the boat but then we could see loads of people on another boat and asked if it was going to Luang Prabang and jumped on. But we could still see that people were just sitting on the port as if they were waiting for another boat. This is not a place you just want to wait at as there is nothing to do and there would not be another boat for a day. We called out to some friends who finally came on board. They were told that there was going to be another boat but realised this was not going to be the case. We were packed in like sardines and there were little wooden benches instead of plastic chairs. Luckily we bought a cushion before we left Thailand, the fact that there was so many for sale was enough of a hint that they were needed.We reached Louang Prabang at around 6pm and there was some rush off the boat to get rooms. Basically every day the boat arrives in and everyone scrambles to get a room. Most dont have guidebooks but even though we knew where we wanted to go, there are few street signs telling you where you are. Finally we got somewhere cheap, again shared bathrooms but we were glad the panic was over. Due to my fantastic haggling abilities I got our room for 100,000 kip for 3 nights. Expensive eh? Not when you consider that there is 13,500 kip to the euro and our accommodation had only cost us 7.40 euro.
Everything here is cheap but its strange in other ways, breakfast cost us two nights accommodation and the beer is half a night's accommodation, but for 80 cent for 640ml(over a pint)where can you go wrong.
The town is really nice, small but a really laid back atmosphere. There is a French colonial feel here with wooden shutters and cafes on the street. It's been the first place where we can get baguettes(yum) and lovely coffee.Other than that there isn't any French spoken or french signs. The streets are lit up with old style lanterns and lovely night markets selling jewellery, bedclothes and cakes. The town shuts down around 11pm with our guesthouse closing its doors around 10:30 and you need a dancing licence for the late bars of which there are only 2!After 11pm everyone goes onto the bowling alley where there isn't a dancing licence. They all pile onto tuk tuks.Last night I saw about 20 people on a tuk tuk ,weighed down with people hanging off and scrapping the ground. Unfortunately they have a tactic of stopping the tuk tuk half way home and saying they have broken down so that people can mug you. Myself and two other girls were sitting on a street just about to go back to where Bourkie and the others were watching a soccer match when these two guys stopped and asked us if we wanted a 'good time'. We said no and we got up to leave. At this point the bars on the street had closed and there were only some people passing on mopeds. We walked on and they circled around and stopped when we were looking at a Wat and asked did we want see it. Again we said no and carried on. Suddenly,one of them jumped off the moped and snatched Louisa's bag. She turned and ran after him throwin a bottle of beer at him as well as the other girl. Since I was a couple of steps in front I didnt see what happened and thought he had just slapped her arse.It was only when she came back that she said he had gotten her bag. Unfortunately it was a light material one and he could break the strap.Distraught as we were,we realised that there was just a few euros worth in the bag and cards that he would need pins for. Nevertheless she cancelled all her cards but when she went to report it to the police they were closed.Amazingly, police here only have to fight crime from 9-5,Monday to Friday.Criminals dont need day jobs. Turns out as well that our guesthouse isn't the safest as a guy that we were talking to found one of the staff in his room when he came back a couple of minutes after leaving to get his passport. Supposedly a mouse ran into his room.You couldn't fit a piece of paper under the door. From this we have learned that we will now use our own locks for the doors. Other than that Lao people are really nice. Food is lovely just not as spicy as Thailand.There is one ATM in the town which usually has a queue and you are limited to taking out 50 euro at a time!

11th-Kuang Si Waterfall- Today we headed to this waterfall about 40 minutes from Louang Prabang in the back of an old pick up trunk.Apart from being really impressive size wise,its also a great place to swim.There are smaller waterfalls that can be jumped off and a rope to swing from. The guys suddenly turned into 5 year olds and had to be dragged out. There is also rescued bears and a tiger on the same site.

Tomorrow,myself,Bourkie,an English couple(Louisa and Stuart) as well two others James and Tara are heading to Vang Vieng. Further south,this is just a little town but known for loads of different activities such as tubing, zip-lining and rockclimbing. Some Irish girls(one from Knocknagree,Sile from the QuickPick shop!) are meeting us there tomorrow.Off we go on the road around 8am tomorrow morning for a 6 hour bus ride there.
We really hope its just as nice as Louang Prabang.
Still trying to work out our route to Vietnam but more on that later.
Talk to you soon
Richard and Clare

Jungle Boogie

We last left you on the night before getting the bus to Chiang Mai. We arrived there around late afternoon and found out that we weren't going trekking the following day so we went to the Irish pub, U.N Irish pub to watch the Arsenal V Man U game and just chatting to a Scottish guy and two lads from Galway. The Guinness(for Bourkie) and the cider(Clare) was nice, a tad expensive by Thai standards but we stayed for a few or more and the Scottish guy brought us to see the local 'delights'. Since we hadn't seen Thai lady-boys in Bangkok we couldn't leave the country without seeing them!The Galway lads got fierce nervous trying to figure out which was a real lady, one of them having already falling for a prostitute in Bangkok and now they are texting! We only stayed there for one and went on to get kicked out of another bar because we wouldn't pay for drinks that we hadn't ordered. The local femme fatale had ordered them in the hope that the Irish lads would be suckered into buying them and more. After that we called it a night.

The next day we walked around the Sunday markets.It was which was full of really cool trinkets and tit-bits.We landed in an Irish restaurant called the lucky leprechaun, Bourkie was hankering for mashed potatoes and boy did he get them!The bar was owned by a man from Limerick who had an accent like Terry Wogan and was married to a local girl. Savage meal with Guinness steak and kidney pie and the best club sandwich ive ever had with fried egg!
We got ourselves to bed early in preparation for the next day's trekking.

We met our group the night before which contained Irish, Danish, English ,Canadian and French and mostly around our age which made for really good craic. First we went to the authorities to give copies of our passport just in case they had to contact a family member if we died along the way which wasn't the best start!After lunch we went elephant riding for about 40 minutes. Bourkie got to ride the elephant without the guide but the elephant kept on blowing out slimy stuff from his trunk.The elephants weren't exactly free and we felt exploited in the sense that they kept stopping for the tourists to buy the elephants bananas. The elephants knew every time we were stopping cause they would bring their trunks back in a way asking for bananas as the guides didn't feed them, well while we were there anyway. They stopped to eat some of the vegetation every now and then. This was followed by a couple of hours trekking and then to a waterfall where everyone jumped in for a swim(I didnt have the courage). Glad in a way that I didnt,you should see the photos of Bourkie in the water in a state of shock under the waterfall. Unfortunately this computer doesn't even have a USB for us to plug our camera in.Again we will try in Laos to post photos.
On we trekked to the local village where we were staying after having trekked in total 8 kilometers over rough uphill terrain.We were all sharing a room on bamboo stilts.There was a bucket of water to flush the toilet and another to shower with though nobody ventured to take a shower probably cause they couldn't figure out which bucket to use! The locals kept to themselves apart from making us dinner and breakfast. Because it was dry we were able to light a fire and we all sat around singing and drinking in the jungle over 1000 metres above sea-level.
Today we trekked for a couple of hours uphill which was harder than yesterday, stopped for lunch before going bamboo rafting.The guide reckoned that we covered 15 km today which explains why we are both so tired now!
Bamboo rafting entails balancing 4 people and a guide on 6 long bamboo shoots tied together going down river. There is nothing you can do but embrace the coldness of the water. Bourkie was sitting at the back and had to use a bamboo to steer his way to avoid rocks and trees. We bought a funny photo of us on the water, wait til you see Bourkie's face!We returned to our guesthouse a couple of hours ago and are getting ready for our next journey, a two day slow boat along the Mekong River into Luang Prabang in Laos. To be honest we are glad that there isn't much effort needed for this as it seems we have been on the go since we arrived.
Our next entry im hoping will contain photos and will be brought to you from Laos in two days.
Until then,keep it real.
Clare and Bourkie

We wanted to include a picture of Thailand so that you can get a good idea of where we have been and where we are going but for some reason there is has been errors with this for the last few days, we will update the other posts with photos soon.
Cant believe its already been a week since we've left and what a week we've had, each day has been action packed!
Yesterday we left you with getting into Sukhothai at 4:30am, half asleep and absolutely exhausted. A guy approached us as we got off the bus to get a tuk tuk, trying to rip us off so I said that we would just wait for the bus so he reduced his price!The tuk tuks here are different with the passengers in front and the motorcycle behind. This we took to the old city of Sukhothai for 12 kilometers.
To give you some background, Sukhothai was the official capital of Thailand between the 12-1300s with we estimate over 50 temples and shrines adorned with sculptures and statues of Buddhas.
The old city is divided into 5 areas, central being the biggest, then north, south,east and west.
Having only gotten to sleep at 5am we could only cover the central area yesterday on foot which is covered with different Wats or temple ruins.
We woke up in a hard bed and a walled area for the bathroom with sink, toilet and shower. The shower is right next to the toilet so basically the whole of the bathroom gets soaked everytime we have a shower but we are most certainly not complaining, its a hot shower and we now know how to use the toilets in the more remote areas.
Today we went to the museum after breakfast but unfortunately it started to rain and we were stopped from exploring the other areas until later in the day when we rented bikes. We headed to the Northern part of the old city which is completely surrounded by a moat which is easily 50 metres wide.Afterwards we saw another Wat in Northwestern part where we saw the strangest thing yet. This fish was wriggling its way across the carpark over gravel and grass from and to god knows where. We were gobsmacked and watched it til it apparently stopped. After we came out it had gotten to the end of the carpark near the entrance where there was a little grassy hill to the river. He looked like he was out of stream so we helped him on his way. Bourkie tried to pick him up but he was too slippery. He was a kind of catfish with whiskers at the side of his head and he was quite big(we will add photos later!). We left content in the knowledge that we had helped a fish live another day.Next we headed onto the Western part which contains Wats on hills, by this time it was getting close to dusk so we climbed what looked like a wall 250 metres up a hill to another Wat. After this we really got concerned about the time as dusk here starts around 6 and its already dark by 6:30. We raced to a cross roads and with no recognisable places shown we took a chance, coming to the next crossroads we started to get worried but saw a sign for a Wat we recognised but it was still over 2 km away, in the end we cut through the central area and boy were we sweating by the time we got home. We reckon that we cycled around 10 km in about 2 hours with breaks to see the different Wats. We both agree that we really like Sukhothai but we are all Wated out and ready to move on. The highlights had to be the lovely Wats in the central area and the delicious local food with Thai green curries, thai omelettes, apple and coffee shakes!
But to be honest we have been very lucky with the weather, humid but nicely overcast and it only rained today and we are getting further into the cool season.
Tomorrow we get a bus to Chiang Mai which will take about 5 hours and is the second biggest city in Thailand. Here we have an action packed 3 days of trekking, elephant riding and rafting but more about that in the next few days.
Hope all's well at home and please keep us up to date with the goings on at home and thanks for your comments, keep them coming!
Love and Bubbles,
Richard and Clare

CIE Thai Style

Cant believe its Thursday already, having a hard time remembering all thats happened since Tuesday!
Because the jetlag hit us on the Monday, could not sleep on Monday night, actually stopped my alarm clock before it went off at 5:30am!
The van picked us up at 6:30am with our take away breakfast rolls and bags of fruit in tow, we headed West to Kanchanaburi with some other travellers(the mcdonaghs from galway,not!)
Bourkie woke me up 3 hours later, we arrived at the WW2 war cemetary at Kanchanaburi where the WW2 soldiers who died during the construction the bridge over the River Kwai and the railway known as the Death Railway, going from Thailand to Burma. Most soldiers were between 23-30 and from England, the Netherlands and Australia. Beautifully kept but very poignant.
Next we went onto the see the actual bridge over the River Kwai and took the death railway along the river.After that we got lunch at a floating restaurant on the river.Unbeknownst to us, there were extras to be seen, such as tigers, unfortunately we didnt bring enough money and presumed they were all in cages anyway. This French dude called Raphael got it into his head that he wanted to see caves and as there were only 3 of us left and because we are nice, we went along,as you can tell I was a little bitter but did enjoy them.
After dinner we got a speed boat to our 'hotel'. Raphael had told us that the floating hotel was nice so we had images of a flushing toilet and hot shower, we were to be disappointed. Basic is a nice word that we will use. After a couple of unfortunate tries on other toilets we figured out how to use these ones, throw away the toilet paper and use a hose to flush.....the shower was cold and did we know it, to say Bourkie was making strange noises was an understatement, I thought he was hyperventilating. I didnt have the courage to put my head under.
Next morning we headed to the Erawan national park where there is a 7 tier waterfall and it takes 2.5km uphill trek to get to the top with some makeshift ladders and steps, very glad we wore good runners but there was beautiful scenes.
We were brought back to Bangkok where we picked up our bags and passports with all our visas for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. One of the travel agents brought us to the train station where we expected to get the train further north to Sukhothai. That was not to be. There was a train strike, announced 10 minutes previous and they had no idea of when trains would run next. Our first reaction was whether we could get a bus to Sukhothai instead. With some help, we found out this was possible and raced to the North of the city through rush hour to the station. We thought that all tourists would have headed to the Mo Chit bus station in the North but noticed that we were the only 'non-locals' there!!!!!!! We couldn't understand why more didnt follow especially since we could see the tv and see people sleeping in the train station and we got a '1st class air-conditioned' bus ticket for half the price, CIE- eat your heart out, it only cost 7 euro each to take us to Sukhothai, 450km away.
Blurry eyed, we reached our destination at 4:30am after leaving at 10pm with air conditioned meaning air conditioning the whole time, whether or not its freezing, thank god they gave us blankets and even a little drink with a cake!
Well, we are hungry and there are cheap cocktails to be had so we will tell you all about Sukhothai tomorrow! Planters Punch all round!

Suits you sir!

Dragged ourselves out of bed in the early hours of the afternoon, jetlag really caught up with us today.
First stop, a suit fitting for Bourkie,all very stylish with silk shirt with suit and tie , ready and waiting for him when we get home.
On then to our travel agency where we picked up our tickets for tomorrow's adventure. Leaving our B&B at 6:30am and heading West to Kanchanburi on the Death railway across the bridge over the river Kwai to go trekking in the national park there for two days one night and then back to Bangkok for a couple of hours to pick up our visas for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos before heading further north on a night train to stay in Sukhothai to see the ancient city there.
Anyways we then went to the Golden Mountain, a buddhist shrine ontop of a hill with 400 steps to climb. Bourkie thinks he saw John Favraeu (famous from the film Swingers, a director and Monica's boyfriend in friends(the rich guy who wanted to become a kick boxer!)).
At around 5 we went to see the lying buddha, this 45 metre lying buddha in a building not much bigger,gold plated and absolutely huge!
While walking there we saw a dog on a tread mill and doors being carved with crests for Manu, Arsenal and Chelsea!
On through their city park, Sunam luang where there were stalls and everyone today is wearing yellow t-shirts in honour of the Kings birthday and for being in power for 60 years.
We saw the grand palace from outside, unfortunately too late to see the inside and had to cross 11 lines of traffic in rush hour to get to the touristy part of the city.
Its strange, we both had images of the city being alot more touristy but its only around the areas of Khao San that they are all stalls, bars , tattoo parlours,massage parlours , english book stalls and restaurants.
We got a lovely meal for 3.50 euros where they had a Galtee cheese calendar!!
On our way home we went to Starbucks for a treat where we saw a guy checking his hair in a mirror and his makeup, nice!

Robby Keane Superstar

Since Bourkie AKA Richard is upstairs watching the Liverpool V Arsenal game, I thought it would be a good time to update you all on our travels.
First though, the background.
Why now? Well since we were both finished jobs(parts of a job) in our careers at around the same time, it seemed a good idea to go travelling plus the fact that we had saved up enough money.
Did we seriously think about it before doing it? Probably not but I knew if I thought about it too much,id probably freak myself out. But so far so good.......
Arrived in Bangkok (not Singapore- inside joke) yesterday evening around 4 and got a taxi to your B&B, unfortunately Bourkie left his jacket in the taxi with his ipod and phone. It wasn't until an hour later that we realised that we had a receipt with the taxi driver's name and mobile phone number on it, we must have been about 10 minutes too late but he gave the jacket to the next people in the taxi not realising it was ours. However Bourkie's email address is on the itinerary so we are still hanging onto a little bit of hope that the people will email us knowing how important the phone and malaria medication are. Fingers crossed everyone.
Anyway, we realise that its not the worst thing to happen and there is no point in dwelling on it and we are trying to make the most of our time here.
This morning,we were up at 9 to meet Kim(a Belgian friend of ilses) at her hotel though we were ripped off by the taxi driver and dropped in the wrong place. I knew he was charging too much but we were late and I just wanted to get there. However I got to check my emails and had lovely pancakes and realised how friendly the Thai people were. Two guys stopped us to give us directions and a guy stopped us later, telling us where to go and stopping a tuk tuk(3 wheeled motorbike with carriage at the back) arranging for us to go around the city for a very cheap price- less than 50 cent!.
Along with seeing a black Buddha and praying for the guy there to pass his final exam tomorrow(im not exactly sure what in). Again we were asked where we were from and always asked whether we were from the north or the south of ireland. I get the feeling they think its two different islands but am impressed that they know it.

We stopped off at the government tourist office where we sent away our passports for visas for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos as well as booking the rest of our trip up North, trekking and spending a night in a campsite of the tribes people without electricity(a little scary) and getting the slow boat through half of Laos. After that we want to fly to Vietnam, work our way down south to Cambodia and then back to Bangkok to get a train to the islands in South Thailand. We aim to spend around 3 weeks in the island, bringing us down to Singapore for the 28th December so we should be in Phuket for Christmas Day!

We have been lucky with our B&B(http://www.wendyguesthouse.com/), they have been really helpful and our room is clean but small but for 20 euro a night, really good with breakfast, hot showers, air-con,hairdryer , 2 free bottles of water a day,and internet facilities.

I just cant get over how friendly everyone is, on our way to Golden Mountain this evening(which we were too late for) this guy stopped us, asked us where we were from and when we said Ireland he got really excited and said 'like Robby Keane,' really good player, Bourkie reacted in less than an enthuastic manner and then he replied ' Robby Keane, superstar!'. Its amazing how into soccer they are with tuk tuks covered in soccer stickers and all the games live on the 'true sport' channel with Sky commentors and a movie channel with up-to-date movies in English.

Haven't had a proper Thai dinner yet but looking forward to it, the food stalls smell lovely though on occasion they are necessary to hide the other not so nice smells. The streets are really clean but the congestion from the traffic is quite bad and we have noticed some people wearing masks.

We are staying close to Siam Square, in the mid- to south part of the city and there is a huge shopping centre close by with Boots and all clothes labels, if my bag wasn't full enough , I would definitely go travelling.

The weather is humid but as we are entering or are already in the 'cool' season, it really is okay with the sun not shining too much and some breeze every now and then. Would hate to see what the 'hot' season is like!

I was thinking that I would add some tips at the end of each blog so that those who follow after us will have some guidelines.
Tip 1 - If you are getting a taxi, ask for the meter to be used, if they say its not working, go to the next one and dont agree a price before getting in. We got one expensive taxi and there will be no others!
Tip 2 - getting a taxi from the airport into the centre of Bangkok is not expensive, less than 10 euro which is worth it when you have bags.
Tip 3 - try and contain everything into as few bags as possible with nothing loose, we learned the hard way, they can get forgotten.
Tip 4 - only bring travel size shampoos and conditioners etc. as most shops sell the travel sizes of everything from baby lotion to eye cream.

Okay, since most of you have fallen asleep before the end of this entry , im going to end this very long entry but the first one was always going to be a long one.
Talk to you soon,
Clare and Richard