Distance covered since last blog: 900km
As I have mentioned previously, I broke my camera in China and it took me a while to buy a new one, so in the interim I took lots of photos on my iPod. Unfortunately I lost my iPod recently, and with it all the photos of South East Asia. This is a pretty well travelled part of the world by the younger generation however, so maybe you have visited some of the places I went to and already know what they look like. So anyway, writing this on August 29th, let me think back to what I was doing on July 18th…
My final day in Vietnam was spent at the Cu Chi tunnels outside Siagon. These are a vast network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the ‘American War’ (as they call it in Vietnam). I was in a group of about ten and was the nerd that nobody likes, asking questions every 30 seconds, holding up the tour in the scorching heat, but I learnt a lot! Lunch was a typical serving of what a Viet Cong soldier would have eaten during the war, which we ate in the tunnels – a bowl of rice. I supplemented it with a tube of Pringles once I resurfaced. I had stayed in Siagon longer than I planned because my room had a television which was broadcasting the Open Championship, so I rushed home from the tunnels in the afternoon, bought some noodles and a few lagers and settled in for an evening of golf.
The next morning I made my way down to the bus terminal at the designated time of 7am (feeling a little bit worse for wear I admit). As it turned out the bus didn't leave for two hours, so I was able to hit a nearby tourist restaurant and order a huge Full English breakfast. The border crossing between Vietnam and Cambodia was simple enough, and before I knew it I was checking-in to the Spring Guest House in Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh. I've heard all sorts of differing opinions on Phnom Penh, but I can comfortably say it is my favourite of the SE Asian capital cities. It's barely even a city in fact, more of a big town, which makes it easy to walk around. Cambodian food has a big reputation, so I went straight out to track some of it down. I pushed the boat out and spent $4 on a squid curry and rice which was top draw. As you may be aware, Cambodia has some pretty tragic recent history and visits to some of these sites were at the top of my 'to-do' list. First of all was S-21, a converted school which was used by the Khmer Rouge government (1971-74) to torture anyone considered an enemy of the state - which was pretty much everyone. While I appreciated the poignancy of it, I was a little bit underwhelmed and felt that I was mainly looking at empty room after empty room where something bad once happened. I posed for a few photos with some kids on a school trip, chatted to a Samoan bloke about rugby, then hopped on the back of a motorbike and headed to my next destination - the Killing Fields. Now this was really dark. Most inmates at S-21 were tortured, stuck in a lorry, taken to this surprisingly small field, then clubbed to death (to save bullets) and chucked in a pit. In the centre of the site is a structure containing 8,000 excavated skulls which I took a brilliant photo of (RIP iPod). Sorry to kill the buzz, but it's impossible to write about my 'Khmer Rouge Day' without mentioning these traumatic things. I got over it with a lovely beef curry on the river front.
Next on the predictable tourist route through Cambodia is Siem Reap, the 'gateway' to Angkor Wat and all its surrounding temples. This was a much more upbeat day out, anything Buddhist is usually fun, and I spent six hours exploring the temples with my tuk-tuk driver Michael. I probably should have left Siem Reap the next day, but they have a road in town called 'Bar Street' that I simply had to spend another day/night exploring. The third and final destination on my whistle stop tour of Cambodia was Battambang, a town Thomas assured me I had to visit. I took his advice and embarked on a 5 hour coach journey (where I was almost sick after overindulging on Bar Street), only to find I had arrived in the middle of a monsoon. I stuck it out for two days, but when the rain refused to relent I left, having barely ventured further than a literal stones throw from my hotel. Besides, I was keen to move on to one of the places I've been most eager to get to for this entire tour - Bangkok.
My bus dropped me right on Khao San Road, a real hub of activity 24 hours a day and an ideal place for young travelers to find cheap accommodation, drinks, street food etc. I asked a taxi driver to point me in the direction of my pre-booked hostel - he laughed and told me it was a 30 minute drive away. Bad start. Once I arrived however things started to look up, as I was immediately invited to have a beer with some youngsters (21/22) because I was 'the most interesting looking person' they had seen all day. Obviously one beer turned into 7 or 8, which then developed into bottles of the brilliantly named 'Hong Thong' rum. The group had swelled to about 15 people by this stage and there was talk of heading out to the nearby 'Sex District' and catching one of Bangkok's famous 'Ping Pong Shows'. I was pushing hard for this, and happily soon enough we were strolling down a strip of neon lights, blaring music and hundreds of Thai blokes trying to sell us all sorts of delights. In the end we decided on the wonderfully named 'Super Pussy' and I settled down in the front row with a Dutch girl and the cheapest drink available - a $6 beer. Needless to say soon enough there were all sorts of items flying about - pens, plastic darts, shot glasses and of course ping pong balls. I was hit square in the chest by a flying banana from about 12 yards away. Credit to the girl - 'Super' indeed! Next stop was the nearby 'Gay District', which for some reason has drinks at half the price - this might be to make up for the fact that you are being constantly hassled by lady boys. I wasn't complaining though: cheap whiskey and coke and friendly lady boys to chat to (and just to confirm, chat with them was all I did). At 5am I decided it was time for breakfast (ripped off - $7 for a small bag of peanuts) then back to the hostel for a nightcap glass of Hong Thong on the roof to watch the sunrise with the rest of the crowd who had lasted the distance. Great debut night in Bangkok!
The next day was almost a complete write-off, until I forced myself to leave the hostel at 3pm and head back to Khao San Road and get myself some of the famous street food. I managed to blag myself a free tuk tuk, with the agreement that I visit the driver's friends tailors on the way. I spent 5 minutes browsing various fabrics with absolutely no intention of buying anything. Once the owner realised this he lent in close to me and whispered 'You want girls? I have girls upstairs'. Bangkok eh?! I left with no suit or girl, and made it to Khao San. There is a real hussle and bussle about the area which I would have enjoyed more had I not been so disgracefully hungover. Within 30 minutes I was really struggling and took cover in a bar with air conditioning and watched a replay of some Italian domestic football. Once I felt suitably recovered I hit the street and went on a small eating binge - one Pad Thai noodles, 3 BBQ skewers, a BBQ chicken wing and some stir-fried beef in an English muffin. Top draw! The following day I actually manned-up and did some proper sight-seeing of Bangkok, which mainly consists of the spectacular Grand Palace in the centre of town, but I feel like once you've stared 'down the barrel' at an incoming banana, you've seen about as much of Bangkok as you need to.
Next stop was Krabi, a town right down in the south of Thailand which is a useful port for getting to nearby islands. I took an overnight bus from Bangkok to Krabi, and as usual I barely got any sleep and arrived in one of my usual bad moods and almost immediately threw a strop. Everyone else was whisked away in helpful taxis while I had to wait like a mug for 20 minutes while my driver finished his breakfast! Eventually he let me in the minibus, but then said we weren't going to leave until more people arrived, then he buggered off for a cup of tea with his mates! The only good thing about having to wait so long was that I had time to come up with this brilliant play on words: I was crabby in Krabi! I didn't hang around too long, and took the ferry to the island of Ko Phi Phi, once again on Thomas' recommendation. This time he got it right, and I spent 4 days on this idyllic little island. I can't really explain specifically what I did on Phi Phi, but most of my days included many, if not all of these things: reading on the beach, snorkeling, fresh seafood lunches, ice cold beers and football on the big TV in JJ's bar. I started getting photos again, so here are a couple which hopefully act as some sort of explanation as to why I loved it so much there:
I stayed one day longer on Phi Phi than I planned because I was loving it so much, which meant that I no longer had time to make it to Kuala Lumpur by bus if I was to be there in time to meet Morts on August 11th. Therefore I had to take the rather extravagant step of flying from Krabi to KL, and landing just 12 hours before Morts was scheduled to arrive. Or so I thought...
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