Thursday, February 21, 2008

Human Beings Do Horrible Shit to Each Other. Regularly.

CHIANG MAI: What else did I do in PP? Shopped around, which was difficult given that it was Chinese New Year, walked around, saw an elephant drinking coffee in a cafe (seriously), enjoyed a quite beer at the Foreign Correspondent's Club overlooking the river and visited the Royal Palace which was, at best, ok.

I also did the genocide highlights including Tuol Seng prison where people where tortured during the Khemer Rouge regime. It's a converted school that's been largely left in it's original condition. I also visited the killing fields where several thousand skulls have been arranged in a memorial stupa. Their are numerous mass graves littered around the grounds. Great photo ops for tourists.

It was horrible stuff but I couldn't quite sink to the levels of despair of my fellow tourists. I was actually talking to my mate Shaun about it and we both agree that just generally traveling through Bosnia is a lot more traumatic. The reminders of war and genocide in that country are unrelenting. And while it was upsetting I've seen memorials and museums dedicated to this kind of shit in Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, Mostar, Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Riga, Talinn, Moscow and St. Petersburg, amongst others. Human beings do horrible shit to each other. Regularly.

What fate befalls our young hero?

CHIANG MAI: Another week in Asia, and another week spent in one place not doing too much of anything. This time it's Chiang Mai, enjoying the hospitality of Soi 3 and Paul and Marissa. Haven't really done anything of note other than wander the city, look at fish in the moat, meet up with a few travellers from along my journey, read, eaten and watched films. More or less what the doctor ordered.

On Monday I'm off to Bangkok and then on to Krabi before arriving at Koh Jum for my first beach spell since... god knows when. Properly I suppose since St. Sebastian or Sitges back on the first Spain trip in 2006. What a long time ago that seems. Will our hero still remember how to swim in the ocean?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Eight Days on Sunrise Boulevarde

KHAO SAN: So the greatest gap in my blog so far would be the eight day odyssey that was Don Det, one of the islands in Si Phan Don (4000 Islands) in Southern Laos. The place is so named because the Mekong fans out dramatically at this point creating, well I didn't count them, but something like 4000 islands. Some of them are huge and inhabited while others, like some of the islands in Thailand, are little more than rocks with a tree growing on them. Don Det, is the backpacking mecca.

It basically consists of two streets, one Sunrise Boulevarde, and the other the Sunset Strip, lined with bungalows that face the river. In the hinterland there are rice paddies and abandoned stupas which provide a reminder of the island's simple past as a farming community. The two streets actually ring their way around the entire island, a six or seven k round trip if you're up for it.

My daily routine was simple. Wake up early. It's Lao, nobody sleeps in. Eat some breakfast and navel gaze for a little while. Wander up Sunrise Boulevarde and choose a bicycle. After two days I had this sussed. Every shop on the island has identical bikes but I found the place with the newest ones which meant brakes, no thrown chains and no flat tyres. With my bum in the saddle I would cycle back to the bungalow, collect my shit and then ride down the end of the island and across the old railway bridge to Don Khong (another island). Taking a detour through a wat, I headed down to the big waterfall for a look at the churning water and then on to "the beach".

The beach was a little sandy cove carved out, I guess, from the churning seasonal rains that dramatically transform the landscape. The place provided ample opportunities for swimming down some gentle rapids, rock hopping and jumping. But best of all was swimming out to the rocks that protected the cove, clambering over them to the other side and then swimming alone in a vast, open section of the Mekong with only the very occasional fisherman for company. There is something incredibly eerie about being fifty metres from shore, surrounded by cliffs on all sides, and being completely and utterly alone. I could have actually swum to Cambodia, but I got halfway there and then started to think about this picture of a giant eel held aloft by about fifteen marines and got spooked and swam back.

The other great thing about the beach was watching the fisherman, who also act as impromptu tour guides, touting for customers to see the 'rare' Irrawaddy dolphin. "Dowfin, dowfin, you see downfin?" was the standard pitch. But the guys spoke virtually no English and spent most of the day drinking and playing cards. When there were no girls sunbaking on the beach they would sit up under the shade but when there were girls around they would sit down by the beach leering at them, speculating on their ages and nationalities. Priceless.

Another outstanding element of Don Det was the food. Three nights we ate buffallo steaks with mashed potato, another night a French chef I befriended cooked for all of us while on still another night we had an entire duck and chicken barbequed for us.

It was also the first time I've really had a group of guy friends to knock around with since arriving in Laos. Other than the Japanese crew that is, but this was different. There was Shaun, an engineer from Sydney, Mike, a cynical Texan English teacher living in Taiwan, Matthieu, a French chef in search of a restaurant, Andrew, an American viticulturalist living in Melbourne and Jeremy, perhaps the biggest wanker I've met all trip. It was a good crew to hit up the nightly beach parties, complete with a resident water buffalo, in style.

I mean that's not all I did in Don Det. One day I hired a kayak and explored the treacherous currents of the Mekong, including the numerous, massive rocks that are submerged everywhere and dramatically alter the flow of the river. There was a whole lot of nothing on Don Det. Just sitting around watching the sunrise or set.

Oh and I also visited the preperations for a Laos housewarming. This involved a group of women sitting around, working well past midnight, butchering a water buffalo. When I arrived there was only a thick cord of spine, like a bloody lump of 4X2, left but about eight women were eagerly clevering away at various parts of the animals anatomy. In another part of the compound we watched some guys shave a dead pig before hacking off it's head and dragging it's entrails out. Delicious.

So that was Don Det. But it was a whole lot more...

Henna Tattoos or Hair Braiding: What Do I Need for Southern Thailand?

KHAO SAN: So I am back on the strip again. Fighting my way through the throng of Diesel knock offs, hair braiders, drunk Northerners and Bob Marley t-shirts in search of a cheap internet cafe. Still I'm only here for less than 24 hours and last night wasn't too bad. Went out with an American girl who I met on the bus from Siem Riep. She was a bit of a dick but her two friends were pretty cool. We ended up cruising to Chinatown at about 1:00 in the morning. Clowning around buying beer and food and then cabbing it back to Khao San to watch two idiots get pummelled by bouncers. Drinking more beer and then walking back to our guesthouse in the rain. Tonight I'm off to Chiang Mai on a bus. The train was sold out, but I've got a week of relaxation, DVDs, possibly cereal and books awaiting me.

Oh and if anyone is interested, the bus from Siem Riep to Bangkok is a piece of piss. Nothing like the nightmare Lonely Planet makes it out to be.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Heading South Along the Mekong

PHNOM PENH: Okay I just re-read some posts and realised I'm repeating myself, however, I thought I'd try and drag this blog into the twentieth century with a recount of my trip down to Don Det. Leaving Vientiane I endured an hour or so of karaoke as I tried to get comfortable with the little Laos man sprawled out in the bed next to me.

The next morning I arrived in Pakse and had to wait around in a hammock for a couple of hours until somebody left. There are no actual sites in Pakse so I just walked around the blissfully quiet transport hub, shared a drink with a girl I met who was looking for a room (it's always hard to find accommodation in Pakse)then went back to the hostel and slept the sleep of the dead.

The following day I trekked out to the public bus terminal for a bus down to Champasak, site of the famous Wat Phu. The bus was crowded and uneventful except for the makeshift ferry that took me across to the other side of the Mekong. Champasak is another one of those sleepy towns on the Mekong that Laos seems to specialise in. I found a room, got some lunch and then hired a bike for the 8k cycle to the ruins. Unfortunately I didn't check my bike adequately and my metal steed proceeded to turn the leisurely cycle through the Mekong Valley into a cross continental marathon.

The ruins themselves were interesting enough. Not particularly big but featuring some good carvings and the views across the valley are stunning. A nice little warm up for Angkor. After the horrible cycle back to the guest house I spent the rest of the evening watching the sun sink over the Mekong then just watching it flow by quietly in the dark.

The next day I got up. Went to Don Det and watched as my itinerary was cruelly massacred before my eyes.

Dazed and Confused

PHNOM PENH: This is one crazy, crazy town. Haven't really had too much time to do any sightseeing yet. Been busy looking for a new camera though it's difficult since most of the shops seem to be shut for Chinese New Year. But then I keep getting conflicting stories about when Chinese New Year actually is. Last night we had a rather large party in the guesthouse next to mine and then kicked on at Heart of Darkness, a bar that Lonely Planet considers one of SE Asia's classic night spots. Whatever that means... Still got wankered and had a great night.

The night before I had to sleep out on the deck smothered in mosquito repellent. Then I was up early enough to get a room and a decent sleep. Tomorrow I'm off to do the tourist things and then head up to Siem Riep for some Angkor action.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Happy New Year

PNOMH PENH: So I finally made it off the island and now I'm sleeping in PP in Cambodia. In fact I only made it out of Laos, despite planning to stay a week-and-a-half, with only a day left on my 30 day visa. Trekked all the way down from the border last night, it was sad to fly through some places I would have liked to stop at but 4000 Islands in southern Laos claimed all the spare time I had left.

When did I finally arrive it was almost 10 and I must have checked a dozen different guesthouses before somebody finally offered me, and as it turned out four others, a spot on a verandah overlooking the hideously polluted lake fringing the backpaker district. But I got some dinner, drank some beers, played pool and cards until I was good and drunk and then collapsed into a deep sleep. Today is Chinese New Years so who knows what excitement that will hold. I'm trying to hook up with Paul so I'll probably have to drop into an internet cafe later and I'll add a little more on my 4000 adventures.