Sawadii-kha!
So we're back in Bangkok, and we've had another 'holiday'; this time it's been an actual holiday and not a fake holiday where we spend all of our time schlepping around and having places to be and things to do. This actual holiday has involved.. well, nothing. And it's been GREAT! We checked into a relatively nice hotel with a pool and seats for schloching about, and we've spent the past couple of days just relaxing and winding down before our wonderful 15 hours of flights tomorrow. We're saving money and the stress of an early start by going to the airport at 11pm tonight, for an 8am flight tomorrow, although I don't know how good a night's sleep we'll get hanging around in Departures at the airport.
We've been to Khao San Road market a few times, to get the last few bits and pieces, and I've managed to get my nails done, but generally there is nothing to report nor take photos of. It's been GREAT though, did I mention that?
The border crossing was indeed stress-free, somehow it all worked despite our coach leaving 45 mins later than it should've done while we sat in the bus while it went nowhere, before being told "bus broken. you change bus.", and then once we'd changed, the bus we'd been on originally just drove off, ostensibly not broken. Luckily we got to the border before there was really much of a queue, and at the other side I managed to schmooze a bit and get us on a cheap minibus to Bangkok. The journey was quick but the driving was APPALLING - the driver had no clue what clutch control was, or indeed that it might be desireable to maybe stop and start gradually, rather than stop-start-stop-start and driving mere centimetres from the vehicle in front, and this was mostly apparent in the worse traffic I've ever seen outside of horriffic hold-ups on the M25; there was no accident and neither was there a particular problem, this was apparently normal for Bangkok with the sheer weight of traffic meaning it took us as long to get from the outskirts to the centre of Bangkok, as it did for us to get from Aranya Prathet on the border, 140km to Bangkok. Speaking of which, I've just surveyed my passport which looks AWESOME with all the visas and stamps etc. It's not a reason to travel of course, but it's a very happy by-product.
So if I can get back on the free wifi at Abu Dhabi when we connect, I'll post a further update, but otherwise, expect us back all being well on Tuesday night. Ps thanks TfL staff for striking today/tomorrow, that's really what I want to deal with after a 3-week schlep around South-East Asia plus a whole day's worth of flying. Planning on getting the Picadilly Line to Green Park, changing to the Victoria line for 1 stop, and then getting the national rail to Nunhead. If the transport gods are listening, can you please do me a massive favour and keep that route free, please?
Lots of love to you all and see you very soon!
xxxxxx Louise
Monday, 6 September 2010
Friday, 3 September 2010
Siem Reap
Good evening, although it feels a lot more like the middle of the night, such has been our sleeping/waking pattern over the past day or so. We woke up at 4am this morning to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise, and then explored that and the surrounding temples until about midday, before collapsing back into the tuk-tuk and returning to the town. The temples were mind-blowing and very impressive; sunrise wasn't as good as it could've been as it was cloudy, but seeing the morning light bathe the temple and a perfect reflection in the water in front of it was absolutely stunning. I have lots of pictures, but to be honest you'll do much better to just google image search "Angkor Wat" for an idea. We had a tuk-tuk driver taking us from place to place, although he wasn't the one we'd pre arranged the day before: upon arriving at the Siem Reap bus station, we found a tuk-tuk driver and agreed that we'd pay him 15 dollars to take us to our hotel then, and then to drive us around the next day, and even though we didn't pay him anything yesterday and he would've had a guaranteed job today, he didn't turn up! We waited about 20 mins and then decided that we'd miss the sunrise if we didn't leave soon - so we found another driver, who agreed on 10 dollars for the day and ended up being really nice, like at one point during the intermittent torrential rain, we'd hopped out of the tuk-tuk to use the toilets, and then the rain started again, so he came to find us (about a minute-long walk in the driving rain) with two umbrellas so we could get back to the tuk-tuk in relative comfort :D
There was one incident/altercation when we were sitting across the lake/big puddle from Angkor Wat at about 6am with all the other tourists (there are SO MANY JAPANESE TOURISTS HERE, HOW DO THEY ALL AFFORD IT?!!?) sitting on red plastic chairs, and the stall-holders were flogging their wares (from the moment you leave your tuk-tuk at the entrance to all the temples, you're accosted by people offering LADY YOU WANT BRACELET? I HAVE COLD DRINK JUST ONE DOLLAR. YOU LIKE T-SHIRT? and one of the stall-holders came over and tried to get us to go to his food stall, just the usual until he said that his stall was number 007 and his name was James Bond. I'm not really a film-afficionado but I didn't recognise him: but then again I've only seen the Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery films so what do I know. Anyway, he kept insisting that since we were sitting on 'his' chairs, we had to buy a coffee from him. We went to a different stall when we did eventually want breakfast (one where they hadn't tried to tout us and where no-one else was sitting; they're all offering exactly the same food for exactly the same price and I wanted to discourage hassly selling), we found that all the stalls had EXACTLY THE SAME chairs! He still had a go at us on our way back past him, and insisted that we had lied and stolen the use of his chairs. Sigh.
Anyway, so temple exploration was fun, I enjoyed feeling like Indiana Jones and scaling perilously steep stone steps in the rain, and generally not understanding how they managed such amazing structures. But it got to about midday, we'd been up for 8 hours and it was enough.
Following that, we had some lunch at a place offering FREE FI-WI, and then ice-cream / sorbet. (Mark, I expect you at Heathrow on Tuesday evening with a HUGE tub of raspberry ripple). Ricky was going to get a fish massage (where you put your feet into a tank of fish who, apparently, enjoy nibbling the dead skin off your feet - although I don't know how the fish are able to communicate their culinary likes/dislikes to the proprietors), but ended up not due to rain and logistics, ie. came back to the hotel because of rain, and then didn't get changed and go out because we both fell asleep for several hours. So now, although it's only 7.30, it really feels like the middle of the night, and we're ready for sleep very soon, especially since we have a 4.30 start for the schlep back to Bangkok - not really looking forward to that, but it's overland schlep or expensive flight.
Siem Reap is nicer than you'd imagine, given it's just the town that houses the millions of visitors who flock to see the ancient temples. We're staying at a Burmese/Khmer guesthouse where the staff are super-super-nice and helpful and we've got our cheapest room yet, with the television that just keeps on giving. We've had a lot of animal programmes, including animal programmes with snakes/spiders that Ricky insists on watching even though he's deathly afraid of them - he's doing it right now!!
Anyway, to bed now I think. Hopefully the next time I update will be following a straightforward border-crossing and I will be non-stressed and generally serene and calm. Fingers crossed!
Lots of love,
Louise xxx
There was one incident/altercation when we were sitting across the lake/big puddle from Angkor Wat at about 6am with all the other tourists (there are SO MANY JAPANESE TOURISTS HERE, HOW DO THEY ALL AFFORD IT?!!?) sitting on red plastic chairs, and the stall-holders were flogging their wares (from the moment you leave your tuk-tuk at the entrance to all the temples, you're accosted by people offering LADY YOU WANT BRACELET? I HAVE COLD DRINK JUST ONE DOLLAR. YOU LIKE T-SHIRT? and one of the stall-holders came over and tried to get us to go to his food stall, just the usual until he said that his stall was number 007 and his name was James Bond. I'm not really a film-afficionado but I didn't recognise him: but then again I've only seen the Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery films so what do I know. Anyway, he kept insisting that since we were sitting on 'his' chairs, we had to buy a coffee from him. We went to a different stall when we did eventually want breakfast (one where they hadn't tried to tout us and where no-one else was sitting; they're all offering exactly the same food for exactly the same price and I wanted to discourage hassly selling), we found that all the stalls had EXACTLY THE SAME chairs! He still had a go at us on our way back past him, and insisted that we had lied and stolen the use of his chairs. Sigh.
Anyway, so temple exploration was fun, I enjoyed feeling like Indiana Jones and scaling perilously steep stone steps in the rain, and generally not understanding how they managed such amazing structures. But it got to about midday, we'd been up for 8 hours and it was enough.
Following that, we had some lunch at a place offering FREE FI-WI, and then ice-cream / sorbet. (Mark, I expect you at Heathrow on Tuesday evening with a HUGE tub of raspberry ripple). Ricky was going to get a fish massage (where you put your feet into a tank of fish who, apparently, enjoy nibbling the dead skin off your feet - although I don't know how the fish are able to communicate their culinary likes/dislikes to the proprietors), but ended up not due to rain and logistics, ie. came back to the hotel because of rain, and then didn't get changed and go out because we both fell asleep for several hours. So now, although it's only 7.30, it really feels like the middle of the night, and we're ready for sleep very soon, especially since we have a 4.30 start for the schlep back to Bangkok - not really looking forward to that, but it's overland schlep or expensive flight.
Siem Reap is nicer than you'd imagine, given it's just the town that houses the millions of visitors who flock to see the ancient temples. We're staying at a Burmese/Khmer guesthouse where the staff are super-super-nice and helpful and we've got our cheapest room yet, with the television that just keeps on giving. We've had a lot of animal programmes, including animal programmes with snakes/spiders that Ricky insists on watching even though he's deathly afraid of them - he's doing it right now!!
Anyway, to bed now I think. Hopefully the next time I update will be following a straightforward border-crossing and I will be non-stressed and generally serene and calm. Fingers crossed!
Lots of love,
Louise xxx
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Saigon to Phnom Penh
According to the BBC, it's 93 fahrenheit here. According to the Louise weather forecast it is HOT HOT HOT. And humid, so very humid. I've just returned from a sweltering round of haggling and schlepping in the Russian Market (so-called because lots of Russians used to go there, not because they sell lots of big furry hats) under a tin roof, which was about as breezy as it sounds. I keep dabbing at my face with a napkin, but I'm still glistening constantly (women don't sweat, they glow). However, I absolutely love Phnom Penh, and have decided that it's my favourite place on this whole trip (unless Siem Reap turns out to be nice, which is doubtful since it's just a launch-pad for the zillions of visitors to the ancient Wats of Angkor etc.). The people of Laos were certainly lovely, and Luang Prabang was wonderful, but Phnom Penh has a certain something about it that makes me want to come back – and this is the first place I've been to that feels like I could live and work here (though obviously London remains my one and only true love in terms of home).
The Khmers are very friendly and non-hassley (general offering of tuk-tuks/motorcycle rides excepted) and their relentless cheeriness in the face of all that has gone before (upon which much more later) is admirable and infectious. Plus, vitally for me, the food is lovely and sort of a Thai/Indian fusion with superb coffee and baked goods. Phnom Penh is a surprisingly cosmopolitan city (we've found the best bakery/cafe ever that I would just about LIVE in if they had a branch in London) with a branch of PriceWaterhouseCooper and a bustling commercial centre plus a thriving arts scene, the architecture of the temples and even just the buildings is stunning, and best of all it's set on a lake (Tonlé Sap). Ricky and I are in accordance that we're not really beach people, but we are city-with-a-large-body-of-water people. There's a huge strip of bars/restaurants/pubs along the lake, and at night it feels really safe to walk around. So Phnom Penh has completely taken me by surprise and I love it a little bit. Which is funny, because we only stopped here for logistical reasons; we didn't want to do the whole 10-hour coach journey from Saigon to Siem Reap, and thought “hey it's a capital city, there must be stuff to do”.
History time.
The Khmer empire used to (as in, first to ninth century AD) be the biggest and best in the whole region, before a whole host of tragic and unfortunate events caused it to be as it is today, which is still developed, but far less so than the other countries in the region, even little Laos. This is thanks to various episodes, including but not limited to French colonisation and inter-nation warring with its neighbours. (the town next to the most famous point for tourism in Cambodia, Siem Reap, undiplomatically means “Siamese defeated”). The difference in living conditions was palpable upon crossing the border; and even though Phnom Penh is fairly gentrified in parts, there are many many pockets that remind me far more of India than any other urban settings in ex-IndoChina. There are a fair few beggars around too, many who have lost limbs presumably due to landmines, and others who I would guess have just suffered unfortunately from the reality of a country trying desperately to repair itself after the regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. In three years and eight months, the country was systematically disassembled and all culture, industry and academia was completely destroyed (wearing glasses was enough to have you arrested and tortured/murdered as an intellectual). Overnight, thousands of people were rounded up and marched out of their home city, town or village, and put to work for 12-15 hours a day of gruelling manual labour, with very little to eat. Reading about it on paper is one thing, but actually visiting the museum really forces you to confront it. This morning we visited Tuol Sleng or S-21, which was a school until the Khmer Rouge turned it into a centre for detaining, torturing and murdering those who they saw as opponents of the regime. Unsurprisingly, this was just a thin veil for rounding up innocent people for no particular reason and then forcing them to confess to things they hadn't done. With the exception of a few displays and placquards which describe conditions, the school has been left as it was found in 1979, and opened as “evidence” (their term not mine) of the atrocities committed which they say amount to genocide. Lonely Planet says “Tuol Sleng was the largest incarceration centre in the country. The long corridors are hallways of ghosts containing haunting photographs of the victims, their faces staring back eerily from the Past. Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge leaders were meticulous in keeping records of their barbarism...when the Vietnamese army liberated Tuol Sleng in 1979, there were only 7 prisoners alive at S-21, all of whom had used their skills such as painting or photography to stay alive.” Needless to say, it was incredibly harrowing; I felt nauseous the whole time I was there and we both had to have a pretty lengthy time-out when it all got a bit too much. Obviously it wasn't the most pleasant of mornings, but you can't come to Cambodia without trying to understand what has gone before, which helps to put things into context. The recentness of Pol Pot's regime means that everyone in the country will have either experienced it personally, or their parents will have done. And the casualty/death toll means that many know someone who perished due to the brutality. As I used to close my work emails with at the Department of Health, “happy to discuss further if necessary”, but seriously it is a topic that I've become fascinated by, so always up for talking/learning more about it. More info at www.dccam.org, and www.yale.edu/cgp.
We had some lunch to recover (at a wonderful cafe across the road, serving incredible healthy dishes with the proceeds going to good causes), and then Ricky came back to the hotel to lie down, while I braved the aforementioned market, and am pretty pleased with the proceeds of my efforts and haggling skills, which I have now honed to a T. Oh and this morning in the cafe I had the best coffee of the trip, along with a cream-cheese bagel and an old copy of Glamour magazine. Now I'm sitting outside the hotel on the netbook, while Ricky has gone to get a massage and I have told him NO EXTRAS, or if he does then I'm not accompanying him to the Sexual Health clinic once we get home. Yesterday was a long, pretty much uneventful coach trip to get here, and once we arrived it starting raining torrentially, meaning we were trapped in our hotel, although we did go for a wander along the lake later on. I found affogato, an Italian dish, which combines my two favourite things in the world; vanilla ice-cream drowned in a shot of espresso. I struggle to find that in London outside of Italian cafes, but it's here in Phnom Penh. Just another thing that has impressed me greatly!
So tomorrow we're up early, 4-hour coach to Siem Reap, resting/pottering for the remainder of the day, and the next day having an epic early start to see Angkor Wat for sunrise, followed by as many further temples as we can cope with before the heat forces us to retreat to our hotel. And then we have to make our way back to Bangkok overland; apparently the border crossing is tiring but nothing that a bit of bribery can't fix (wave dollars and they open up another booth, thus saving you the 2-hour-long queue in the blazing, relentless heat). I'll see if my morals win out over comfort.
BBC World Service informs me that Tony Blair couldn't even wait til my return to publish his memoirs: how rude! I take it that the country will kindly refrain from reading/commenting upon it until I get back, pleaseandthankyou.
That's enough from me, something from you now please :)
Louise xxx
ps. Phnom Penh has nothing to do with pens, but rather is named after a temple (Wat Phnom) that was founded by a lady called Penh. So there.
The Khmers are very friendly and non-hassley (general offering of tuk-tuks/motorcycle rides excepted) and their relentless cheeriness in the face of all that has gone before (upon which much more later) is admirable and infectious. Plus, vitally for me, the food is lovely and sort of a Thai/Indian fusion with superb coffee and baked goods. Phnom Penh is a surprisingly cosmopolitan city (we've found the best bakery/cafe ever that I would just about LIVE in if they had a branch in London) with a branch of PriceWaterhouseCooper and a bustling commercial centre plus a thriving arts scene, the architecture of the temples and even just the buildings is stunning, and best of all it's set on a lake (Tonlé Sap). Ricky and I are in accordance that we're not really beach people, but we are city-with-a-large-body-of-water people. There's a huge strip of bars/restaurants/pubs along the lake, and at night it feels really safe to walk around. So Phnom Penh has completely taken me by surprise and I love it a little bit. Which is funny, because we only stopped here for logistical reasons; we didn't want to do the whole 10-hour coach journey from Saigon to Siem Reap, and thought “hey it's a capital city, there must be stuff to do”.
History time.
The Khmer empire used to (as in, first to ninth century AD) be the biggest and best in the whole region, before a whole host of tragic and unfortunate events caused it to be as it is today, which is still developed, but far less so than the other countries in the region, even little Laos. This is thanks to various episodes, including but not limited to French colonisation and inter-nation warring with its neighbours. (the town next to the most famous point for tourism in Cambodia, Siem Reap, undiplomatically means “Siamese defeated”). The difference in living conditions was palpable upon crossing the border; and even though Phnom Penh is fairly gentrified in parts, there are many many pockets that remind me far more of India than any other urban settings in ex-IndoChina. There are a fair few beggars around too, many who have lost limbs presumably due to landmines, and others who I would guess have just suffered unfortunately from the reality of a country trying desperately to repair itself after the regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. In three years and eight months, the country was systematically disassembled and all culture, industry and academia was completely destroyed (wearing glasses was enough to have you arrested and tortured/murdered as an intellectual). Overnight, thousands of people were rounded up and marched out of their home city, town or village, and put to work for 12-15 hours a day of gruelling manual labour, with very little to eat. Reading about it on paper is one thing, but actually visiting the museum really forces you to confront it. This morning we visited Tuol Sleng or S-21, which was a school until the Khmer Rouge turned it into a centre for detaining, torturing and murdering those who they saw as opponents of the regime. Unsurprisingly, this was just a thin veil for rounding up innocent people for no particular reason and then forcing them to confess to things they hadn't done. With the exception of a few displays and placquards which describe conditions, the school has been left as it was found in 1979, and opened as “evidence” (their term not mine) of the atrocities committed which they say amount to genocide. Lonely Planet says “Tuol Sleng was the largest incarceration centre in the country. The long corridors are hallways of ghosts containing haunting photographs of the victims, their faces staring back eerily from the Past. Like the Nazis, the Khmer Rouge leaders were meticulous in keeping records of their barbarism...when the Vietnamese army liberated Tuol Sleng in 1979, there were only 7 prisoners alive at S-21, all of whom had used their skills such as painting or photography to stay alive.” Needless to say, it was incredibly harrowing; I felt nauseous the whole time I was there and we both had to have a pretty lengthy time-out when it all got a bit too much. Obviously it wasn't the most pleasant of mornings, but you can't come to Cambodia without trying to understand what has gone before, which helps to put things into context. The recentness of Pol Pot's regime means that everyone in the country will have either experienced it personally, or their parents will have done. And the casualty/death toll means that many know someone who perished due to the brutality. As I used to close my work emails with at the Department of Health, “happy to discuss further if necessary”, but seriously it is a topic that I've become fascinated by, so always up for talking/learning more about it. More info at www.dccam.org, and www.yale.edu/cgp.
We had some lunch to recover (at a wonderful cafe across the road, serving incredible healthy dishes with the proceeds going to good causes), and then Ricky came back to the hotel to lie down, while I braved the aforementioned market, and am pretty pleased with the proceeds of my efforts and haggling skills, which I have now honed to a T. Oh and this morning in the cafe I had the best coffee of the trip, along with a cream-cheese bagel and an old copy of Glamour magazine. Now I'm sitting outside the hotel on the netbook, while Ricky has gone to get a massage and I have told him NO EXTRAS, or if he does then I'm not accompanying him to the Sexual Health clinic once we get home. Yesterday was a long, pretty much uneventful coach trip to get here, and once we arrived it starting raining torrentially, meaning we were trapped in our hotel, although we did go for a wander along the lake later on. I found affogato, an Italian dish, which combines my two favourite things in the world; vanilla ice-cream drowned in a shot of espresso. I struggle to find that in London outside of Italian cafes, but it's here in Phnom Penh. Just another thing that has impressed me greatly!
So tomorrow we're up early, 4-hour coach to Siem Reap, resting/pottering for the remainder of the day, and the next day having an epic early start to see Angkor Wat for sunrise, followed by as many further temples as we can cope with before the heat forces us to retreat to our hotel. And then we have to make our way back to Bangkok overland; apparently the border crossing is tiring but nothing that a bit of bribery can't fix (wave dollars and they open up another booth, thus saving you the 2-hour-long queue in the blazing, relentless heat). I'll see if my morals win out over comfort.
BBC World Service informs me that Tony Blair couldn't even wait til my return to publish his memoirs: how rude! I take it that the country will kindly refrain from reading/commenting upon it until I get back, pleaseandthankyou.
That's enough from me, something from you now please :)
Louise xxx
ps. Phnom Penh has nothing to do with pens, but rather is named after a temple (Wat Phnom) that was founded by a lady called Penh. So there.
Monday, 30 August 2010
Au Revoir; Viet-Nam
It's our last night in Saigon and indeed Vietnam - tomorrow we leave on a coach for Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and we remain there until about the 5th September and then it's back to Bangkok to unwind before the return flight back to London! We have two border crossings to look forward to, fingers crossed they will be uneventful and smooth. Hours and hours on coaches though; predictably I went through my book far too quickly and have had to buy a copy of an Irvine Welsh book which has been photocopied (blatantly) but is quite legible. Plus I have lots of episodes of Peep Show and films like Apocalypse Now / Full Metal Jacket, thanks to Ben. I watched about half of Apocalypse Now last night and am enjoying it so far, although in the context it's quite hard to take, as you find yourself seeing the Vietnamese as the enemies, because the US troops are essentially shooting anyone wearing a cone straw hat. Which reminds me, it's funny to see that Vietnamese people do actually wear those cone hats in every day life - it's not just a touristy gimmick! Apparently it's to protect them from the sun / keep their skin fair (a sign of wealth/beauty), and so commenting on a Vietnamese woman's "great tan" would NOT be taken well!
So, home time, nearly. I can't believe how quickly it's come around - but I am very much looking forward to it. Although we've managed to find a few home comforts here, it's still no substitute for actually being at home with all of your friends and family with you (and Radio 4..), and actually I love London too much to be away for any long period of time. I suppose it's lucky I'm pretty much tied to London through my new job! Home comforts; namely tonight's dinner, which we ate at the Chabad Centre in Saigon (mum/Sandra, I hope you're proud) - Shakshuka for me, Schnitzel for Ricky - and it was lovely and reasonably-priced, especially for Kosher food. They were really welcoming too, and it was lovely although quite strange to chat to Jewish people in Vietnam (although not as strange as finding Jewish people in Laos - who were then on my flight from Luang Prabang to Hanoi, I don't know if I mentioned that!). Other home comforts have included finding a supermarket today: those who've seen me in an overseas supermarket will know exactly how much joy this brought me, and indeed it did make my day/week.
We arrived in Saigon at 4am on a train (17 hours, I wish that the people we were sharing the berth with understood the meaning of BEDTIME), slept a couple of extra hours, and then went off in search of the War Remnants museum later on this morning. The museum shows the Vietnamese side of what we'd refer to as the Vietnam war. Although I was familiar with the casualty rate and general facts of the war, (from my degree/reading about the terrible terrible history of the region on the aforementioned train journey), I wasn't aware of the fall-out from Agent Orange, on both Vietnamese and American survivors. Of course the museum was very propagandist/biased, but even bearing that in mind, visiting the museum was an extremely harrowing, distressing experience. I feel pretty strongly that America shouldn't have been in Vietnam to start with, and the whole event was absolutely tragic, and certainly the most pointless of all the 20th century wars. Anyway, less politics, Louise. After the museum we visited the Royal Palace and saw the tank that ended the war, still in situ from when it rammed through the gates in 1975.
I owe some of you email replies and I'm sorry I've been remiss, will write back as soon as I get a while on the internet (this has been typed out at breakneck speed). In the meantime, thank you all so much for your very welcome comments/emails, which have made me smile lots.
Anyway, we've enjoyed our short visit to Saigon - it's very bustling like Hanoi, but a bit less stressful. The name "Saigon" conjures all sorts of images, and it has been all that I expected but also completely different. That makes no sense to me, either. Also, you can really see the French influence here in all the architecture and especially the delicious coffee and cinnamon buns. I like to think that all of the schlepping about (my fault entirely, I just like exploring on foot! - my navigation skills have done us well, surprisingly) has helped to burn off any excess calories from the baked goods. Sweet chilli sauce is fat-free anyway, right?
So farewell, Vietnam. It was lovely knowing you, if just for a short while. And we had just about got the hang of crossing the road.
P.S. Thanks for all the pho.
Love,
Louise xxx
So, home time, nearly. I can't believe how quickly it's come around - but I am very much looking forward to it. Although we've managed to find a few home comforts here, it's still no substitute for actually being at home with all of your friends and family with you (and Radio 4..), and actually I love London too much to be away for any long period of time. I suppose it's lucky I'm pretty much tied to London through my new job! Home comforts; namely tonight's dinner, which we ate at the Chabad Centre in Saigon (mum/Sandra, I hope you're proud) - Shakshuka for me, Schnitzel for Ricky - and it was lovely and reasonably-priced, especially for Kosher food. They were really welcoming too, and it was lovely although quite strange to chat to Jewish people in Vietnam (although not as strange as finding Jewish people in Laos - who were then on my flight from Luang Prabang to Hanoi, I don't know if I mentioned that!). Other home comforts have included finding a supermarket today: those who've seen me in an overseas supermarket will know exactly how much joy this brought me, and indeed it did make my day/week.
We arrived in Saigon at 4am on a train (17 hours, I wish that the people we were sharing the berth with understood the meaning of BEDTIME), slept a couple of extra hours, and then went off in search of the War Remnants museum later on this morning. The museum shows the Vietnamese side of what we'd refer to as the Vietnam war. Although I was familiar with the casualty rate and general facts of the war, (from my degree/reading about the terrible terrible history of the region on the aforementioned train journey), I wasn't aware of the fall-out from Agent Orange, on both Vietnamese and American survivors. Of course the museum was very propagandist/biased, but even bearing that in mind, visiting the museum was an extremely harrowing, distressing experience. I feel pretty strongly that America shouldn't have been in Vietnam to start with, and the whole event was absolutely tragic, and certainly the most pointless of all the 20th century wars. Anyway, less politics, Louise. After the museum we visited the Royal Palace and saw the tank that ended the war, still in situ from when it rammed through the gates in 1975.
I owe some of you email replies and I'm sorry I've been remiss, will write back as soon as I get a while on the internet (this has been typed out at breakneck speed). In the meantime, thank you all so much for your very welcome comments/emails, which have made me smile lots.
Anyway, we've enjoyed our short visit to Saigon - it's very bustling like Hanoi, but a bit less stressful. The name "Saigon" conjures all sorts of images, and it has been all that I expected but also completely different. That makes no sense to me, either. Also, you can really see the French influence here in all the architecture and especially the delicious coffee and cinnamon buns. I like to think that all of the schlepping about (my fault entirely, I just like exploring on foot! - my navigation skills have done us well, surprisingly) has helped to burn off any excess calories from the baked goods. Sweet chilli sauce is fat-free anyway, right?
So farewell, Vietnam. It was lovely knowing you, if just for a short while. And we had just about got the hang of crossing the road.
P.S. Thanks for all the pho.
Love,
Louise xxx
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Leaving Hoi An..
..on the opposite of a jet-train, since it takes 20 hours to get us to Saigon. Our second and last day in Hoi An was lovely and quite relaxed since we're going to have a hectic schedule from here on out. The cookery course was brilliant, probably the best thing I've done in the whole trip - and I am furnished with expertise and recipes with which to attack you all in the near future. Expect an invitation for Ban Xeo and Pho very soon :P It was a really good course too, including a walk through the market with a lady explaining what all the foods were, and seeing where all the fresh fish gets brought in and cleaned, ready for sale. Apparently the market starts at 3am! Then we got a boat to take us to the restaurant/cooking school which was about a 25-min cruise and passed some lovely scenery, to a secluded place, on an island seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We were given (our second) welcome drink, something like pineapple/orange/grenadine/coconut juice, led through the herb garden, to the lesson itself, which lasted around 2 hours and was very hands-on: it was mostly him doing a quick demo and then getting us to replicate it. I can't remember the Vietnamese names for everything he showed us, but it included summer rolls, sweet chilli dipping sauce, Vietnamese pancakes, rice paper/noodles from scratch, aubergine in a clay pot, and fish sauce. Everything is easily replicated at home, especially since I can get my hands on all of the ingredients in nearby Vietnamese restaurants. Then we ate our delicious foods, cruised back to Hoi An, and went to the hotel room where we fell asleep for a bit (clearly from the effort!). In the evening we had another lovely meal at Streets, a stroll around town to see the nightlife, in which we participated.
Taxi's here so better go, to be continued! xxx
Taxi's here so better go, to be continued! xxx
Friday, 27 August 2010
Sin Jow, Hoi An!
Good evening, from a thunder and lightening storm - riddled Hoi An. A few minutes ago I told Ricky to get out of the pool since it was pretty much the worse possible place to be during this weather. However, the place itself - Hoi An - is pretty much the best place we could've come to right now. As you might've gathered from posts, Ha Noi was pretty stressful, owing to the fact that our days consisted of a lot of effortful schlepping around, while the city's traffic, people, crumbling pavements, and typhoon weather, all did their best to stand in our way. So Hoi An is a welcome antidote to all of that. Faded, gentle, languid, easy-going, friendly; these are all adjectives that spring to mind. Another UNESCO world heritage site, I believe, which explains why, like Luang Prabang, it is incredibly well-maintained and tidy, and all of the shops/restaurants etc have standardised signage. Very neat. I think it'd be a good honeymoon town, you could have lovely slow strolls through the old town or by the harbour. Just lovely!
We started with lunch, which was at a nice place called Streets - I was reading about it from newspaper clippings they had on display, and essentially it's similar to Jamie Oliver's "15" in Hoxton - that is, it's run by a generous benefactor (a New Yorker who was struck by the poverty he encountered on a visit to Saigon and who decided to set up a charitable organisation to do something about it), and employs disadvantaged youths, sets them up with jobs and skills, and gets them on a path to a better life that would've otherwise been out of their grasp. Oh and the food is delicious and reasonably-priced: I had my favourite food so far, some summer rolls with lots of fennel, prawns (massive prawns!!) and sweet chilli dipping sauce, and this was followed by a local noodle speciality. And the service is great. We then came to this hotel on recommendation from some backpackers in Ha Noi, and have found ourselves with an astonishingly good package for $13, including the aforementioned pool, plus FOUR HOURS of happy hour a night. A cursory meander round the town (there's no other way to get about really, everything is so relaxed!) has shown lots of tailors and clothes shops, plus souvenirs, restaurants, bars, and some very pretty museums and temples/pagodas. We've booked onto a cookery course for tomorrow, which I am very excited about - plus it's called the Red Bridge restaurant :D it includes a trip to a local market, a 25-min cruise to their restaurant and recipes etc to take home. And suddenly there's the rain - wow that is incredibly heavy! Maybe we'll eat at the hotel tonight...
So, last night.. The water puppet show was actually really enjoyable - the music was stunning and the show itself was cute, apparently the style of puppetry is of provincial origin, and came about during a time of flooding - very pragmatic! The traditional Vietnamese instruments and costumes of the orchestra/singers were gorgeous, too. And the train was fine - we shared a little room with four Vietnamese people who were pleasant but essentially ignored us, in the most pleasant way possible.
We're planning to stay here for another day or so, and then get a train to Saigon. I'm expecting Saigon to be stressful too, but I don't want to not see it so we'll maybe book into a slightly nicer hotel, or take an organised tour. Plus the food is apparently incredible there, so it'd be silly not to include it on my gastronomic pilgrimage. Speaking of which, I bought the coolest t-shirt ever, it's a parody of iPod stuff and says "iPho" with four cartoon squares underneath showing silouhettes of a bowl, cow, noodles and chopsticks. I think it was essentially made for me, and buying it has gratified me more than probably any material possession should =D
Lots of love/pho,
Louise xxx
We started with lunch, which was at a nice place called Streets - I was reading about it from newspaper clippings they had on display, and essentially it's similar to Jamie Oliver's "15" in Hoxton - that is, it's run by a generous benefactor (a New Yorker who was struck by the poverty he encountered on a visit to Saigon and who decided to set up a charitable organisation to do something about it), and employs disadvantaged youths, sets them up with jobs and skills, and gets them on a path to a better life that would've otherwise been out of their grasp. Oh and the food is delicious and reasonably-priced: I had my favourite food so far, some summer rolls with lots of fennel, prawns (massive prawns!!) and sweet chilli dipping sauce, and this was followed by a local noodle speciality. And the service is great. We then came to this hotel on recommendation from some backpackers in Ha Noi, and have found ourselves with an astonishingly good package for $13, including the aforementioned pool, plus FOUR HOURS of happy hour a night. A cursory meander round the town (there's no other way to get about really, everything is so relaxed!) has shown lots of tailors and clothes shops, plus souvenirs, restaurants, bars, and some very pretty museums and temples/pagodas. We've booked onto a cookery course for tomorrow, which I am very excited about - plus it's called the Red Bridge restaurant :D it includes a trip to a local market, a 25-min cruise to their restaurant and recipes etc to take home. And suddenly there's the rain - wow that is incredibly heavy! Maybe we'll eat at the hotel tonight...
So, last night.. The water puppet show was actually really enjoyable - the music was stunning and the show itself was cute, apparently the style of puppetry is of provincial origin, and came about during a time of flooding - very pragmatic! The traditional Vietnamese instruments and costumes of the orchestra/singers were gorgeous, too. And the train was fine - we shared a little room with four Vietnamese people who were pleasant but essentially ignored us, in the most pleasant way possible.
We're planning to stay here for another day or so, and then get a train to Saigon. I'm expecting Saigon to be stressful too, but I don't want to not see it so we'll maybe book into a slightly nicer hotel, or take an organised tour. Plus the food is apparently incredible there, so it'd be silly not to include it on my gastronomic pilgrimage. Speaking of which, I bought the coolest t-shirt ever, it's a parody of iPod stuff and says "iPho" with four cartoon squares underneath showing silouhettes of a bowl, cow, noodles and chopsticks. I think it was essentially made for me, and buying it has gratified me more than probably any material possession should =D
Lots of love/pho,
Louise xxx
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Leaving (Ha Noi) on a Jet Train
Or probably less of the 'jet' since it takes 14 hours to get there - but look up the distance from Ha Noi to Danang on googlemaps, it's a pretty long way there! Our train leaves Ha Noi at 11pm and arrives halfway down the country at about 1pm. From Danang we get a bus to Hoi An, which we are very much looking forward to, since it sounds lovely in the book and everyone we mention it to, who have already been there, smile and say "ahh, Hoi An...'. It'll certainly be good to get out of the city - unfortunately, Chiang Mai followed by Luang Prabang had rendered me extremely chilled-out and happy and relaxed; I say unfortunately, because that made it even more of a shock to be confronted with the buzzing, bustling reality of Ha Noi.
We've had a good time here, and (touch wood!) haven't been run over yet - crossing the road in Ha Noi requires a great deal of courage and faith - there are a million motorbikes, plus a good handful of cars/busses/bicycles thrown in for good measure - and there isn't any point waiting for a gap to cross because there is NEVER A GAP, just slightly lighter traffic so that the vehicles are able to go around you. And they do try very hard not to hit you, so what you do is that you firstly approach the road and try to work out which lane is which (although they can and do use any lane for any direction/turning), and see if anything is reversing in the middle of the road, and then you take a deep breath, and slowly start to cross. Best not to stop in the middle of the road. Just keep going, very slowly and very gradually, and you and the motorbikes judge each others' paths, and you go around each other. Every road crossing feels like a mini-victory! I think Vietnamese are much better drivers than Brits; some of the manoeuvres are just spectacular and seemingly death-defying.
Anyway, what have we been up to? Well, I've been trying to immerse myself in Vietnamese food with limited success - today I ordered some unknown Vietnamese food and it was literally hit and miss - 50% success rate. I stopped eating the 'miss', a lumpy white porridge dish (savoury) with bits of maybe-but-almost-definitely-not-chicken in it, when I noticed that there were jellyish chunks too. Probably an eye? They didn't taste good, anyway. We also went to a proper 'bia hoi' den, which is a little cafe-type thing on a street corner, but open to the elements, with tiny blue plastic stools, and I had a home-brewed beer which was surprisingly good. Ricky has managed some great Western meals too, although sadly the salad has to be removed because of threat of stomach problems. We've also been to a couple of museums - the National Museum was disappointing, but yesterday we visited the old Prison which was used to house, firstly the Communist revolutionaries during the first half of the 20th century, and latterly the U.S. pilots who got shot down during the Vietnam War, including the one and only John McCain. That was ABSOLUTELY fascinating and really quite harrowing too - the exhibits included a guillotine, and they'd kept the original cell blocks so you could peek inside. Funny how biased it was, too; according to the display, the Communist revolutionaries were tortured non-stop (I don't doubt that), while the POWs got to play netball etc and had a ball of a time. I'm not sure it was that cut-and-dried but anyway. We stayed in a proper backpacker hostel, in a dorm, with some Dutch people who were typical Dutch - excellent English-speakers but really weird. One of them was saying he sometimes crosses roads here just for the "FUN" of it!!
Ha Noi is a fascinating city; I don't think I would want to stay much longer though - the people range from ignoring us to being mildly rude - although a few have been quite sweet. I guess I've just been massively spoilt by the Northern Thais / Laotians. It's hilarious how many Japanese tourists there are too, all posing with their fingers in a V-sign and wearing those 'traditional' Vietnamese conical hats, which I reckon to be the equivalent of the tourists in Westminster wearing "I [heart] London" and "OXFORD UNIVERSITY" tshirts... I just got my nails painted with a very pretty and intricate flowery pattern, for just over 2pounds which is pretty wicked. While they were drying we were all watching telly, a TERRIBLE soap opera was on, it was dubbed so I guess it was Chinese originally? Anyway, I left before my nails were thoroughly dry because I couldn't take it any more. It's been interesting here though, especially it's been INCREDIBLE getting my favourite food (Pho) which costs over 8pounds on Kingsland Rd (so-called 'little Hanoi'), for 90p with a coke here. Might make me fancy Vietnamese food a bit less when I get home though! So highlights for both of us (we've discussed this..) have been:
- getting crayons at the restaurant last night and decorating the table cloth (it was paper and yes we did ask first..)
- the Prison museum
- walking around the lovely lovely lake in the middle of the Old Quarter, and the Pagoda/temple in the middle which you access by a bridge: it's just so peaceful round there and a very welcome respite from the bustle of the streets
- the ice-cream. There's a place called Fanny's, which seems to be the equivalent of Baskin Robbins. We are planning to hit it up for dessert later.
- seeing chickens in the road -- this was Ricky's; I wasn't fazed after the cows wandering the streets in India :P
So now we're off to catch a show, it's a Ha Noi speciality of water puppetry - I gather that it's in Vietnamese so we won't necessarily grasp the whole plot, but it's accompanied by traditional Vietnamese music and hey, we need a bit of culture! We didn't get to the Mausoleum to see Ho Chi Minh unfortunately [along with Lenin, Stalin and Mao, he's one of only four leaders to be embalmed], but I've tried to make up for it by learning all about him. Fact: it was his last wish to be cremated. Oops!
Looking forward to a rest on the train later, and catching up with some reading :)
Lots of love,
Louise (with Ricky) xxx
We've had a good time here, and (touch wood!) haven't been run over yet - crossing the road in Ha Noi requires a great deal of courage and faith - there are a million motorbikes, plus a good handful of cars/busses/bicycles thrown in for good measure - and there isn't any point waiting for a gap to cross because there is NEVER A GAP, just slightly lighter traffic so that the vehicles are able to go around you. And they do try very hard not to hit you, so what you do is that you firstly approach the road and try to work out which lane is which (although they can and do use any lane for any direction/turning), and see if anything is reversing in the middle of the road, and then you take a deep breath, and slowly start to cross. Best not to stop in the middle of the road. Just keep going, very slowly and very gradually, and you and the motorbikes judge each others' paths, and you go around each other. Every road crossing feels like a mini-victory! I think Vietnamese are much better drivers than Brits; some of the manoeuvres are just spectacular and seemingly death-defying.
Anyway, what have we been up to? Well, I've been trying to immerse myself in Vietnamese food with limited success - today I ordered some unknown Vietnamese food and it was literally hit and miss - 50% success rate. I stopped eating the 'miss', a lumpy white porridge dish (savoury) with bits of maybe-but-almost-definitely-not-chicken in it, when I noticed that there were jellyish chunks too. Probably an eye? They didn't taste good, anyway. We also went to a proper 'bia hoi' den, which is a little cafe-type thing on a street corner, but open to the elements, with tiny blue plastic stools, and I had a home-brewed beer which was surprisingly good. Ricky has managed some great Western meals too, although sadly the salad has to be removed because of threat of stomach problems. We've also been to a couple of museums - the National Museum was disappointing, but yesterday we visited the old Prison which was used to house, firstly the Communist revolutionaries during the first half of the 20th century, and latterly the U.S. pilots who got shot down during the Vietnam War, including the one and only John McCain. That was ABSOLUTELY fascinating and really quite harrowing too - the exhibits included a guillotine, and they'd kept the original cell blocks so you could peek inside. Funny how biased it was, too; according to the display, the Communist revolutionaries were tortured non-stop (I don't doubt that), while the POWs got to play netball etc and had a ball of a time. I'm not sure it was that cut-and-dried but anyway. We stayed in a proper backpacker hostel, in a dorm, with some Dutch people who were typical Dutch - excellent English-speakers but really weird. One of them was saying he sometimes crosses roads here just for the "FUN" of it!!
Ha Noi is a fascinating city; I don't think I would want to stay much longer though - the people range from ignoring us to being mildly rude - although a few have been quite sweet. I guess I've just been massively spoilt by the Northern Thais / Laotians. It's hilarious how many Japanese tourists there are too, all posing with their fingers in a V-sign and wearing those 'traditional' Vietnamese conical hats, which I reckon to be the equivalent of the tourists in Westminster wearing "I [heart] London" and "OXFORD UNIVERSITY" tshirts... I just got my nails painted with a very pretty and intricate flowery pattern, for just over 2pounds which is pretty wicked. While they were drying we were all watching telly, a TERRIBLE soap opera was on, it was dubbed so I guess it was Chinese originally? Anyway, I left before my nails were thoroughly dry because I couldn't take it any more. It's been interesting here though, especially it's been INCREDIBLE getting my favourite food (Pho) which costs over 8pounds on Kingsland Rd (so-called 'little Hanoi'), for 90p with a coke here. Might make me fancy Vietnamese food a bit less when I get home though! So highlights for both of us (we've discussed this..) have been:
- getting crayons at the restaurant last night and decorating the table cloth (it was paper and yes we did ask first..)
- the Prison museum
- walking around the lovely lovely lake in the middle of the Old Quarter, and the Pagoda/temple in the middle which you access by a bridge: it's just so peaceful round there and a very welcome respite from the bustle of the streets
- the ice-cream. There's a place called Fanny's, which seems to be the equivalent of Baskin Robbins. We are planning to hit it up for dessert later.
- seeing chickens in the road -- this was Ricky's; I wasn't fazed after the cows wandering the streets in India :P
So now we're off to catch a show, it's a Ha Noi speciality of water puppetry - I gather that it's in Vietnamese so we won't necessarily grasp the whole plot, but it's accompanied by traditional Vietnamese music and hey, we need a bit of culture! We didn't get to the Mausoleum to see Ho Chi Minh unfortunately [along with Lenin, Stalin and Mao, he's one of only four leaders to be embalmed], but I've tried to make up for it by learning all about him. Fact: it was his last wish to be cremated. Oops!
Looking forward to a rest on the train later, and catching up with some reading :)
Lots of love,
Louise (with Ricky) xxx
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Luang Prabang to Hanoi
Good evening, Vietnam! (I've wanted to say that for a while..).
Ricky and I are enjoying the relatively lavish comfort of a 'boutique hotel' in celebration of my birthday. We tried to go out for a celebratory dinner and managed to eat pizza as planned, but although we ordered beef and BBQ ribs, we actually ended up with tuna and hawaiian, respectively. Still, although our dinner bore no actual relation to what we'd intended, it was actually really nice. Afterwards we had the most incredible ice-cream ever (Ricky found milk flavour, which made him about as happy as I've ever seen a grown man who wasn't cooking meat over an open flame while drinking beer) I wanted to order something that was called BOAT OF DOOM, but on re-examination it was actually BOAT OF DREAMS, so had banana&Baileys&coffee instead. Ricky paid - I've been told I should mention this. No but really, that was nice, and I had a lovely birthday despite the flight which we're not discussing right now but it was NOT PLEASANT.
Thank you for the birthday wishes too! I think we're going to sleep now, but I will write more about Hanoi (I have lots to say, as ever..) tomorrow.
Watch this space for pho very very soon. (it's available as part of the breakfast buffet!!!! this is even more exciting than the fact that our hotel room has towelling robes and slippers!)
love,
23 year-old Louise. xxx
Ricky and I are enjoying the relatively lavish comfort of a 'boutique hotel' in celebration of my birthday. We tried to go out for a celebratory dinner and managed to eat pizza as planned, but although we ordered beef and BBQ ribs, we actually ended up with tuna and hawaiian, respectively. Still, although our dinner bore no actual relation to what we'd intended, it was actually really nice. Afterwards we had the most incredible ice-cream ever (Ricky found milk flavour, which made him about as happy as I've ever seen a grown man who wasn't cooking meat over an open flame while drinking beer) I wanted to order something that was called BOAT OF DOOM, but on re-examination it was actually BOAT OF DREAMS, so had banana&Baileys&coffee instead. Ricky paid - I've been told I should mention this. No but really, that was nice, and I had a lovely birthday despite the flight which we're not discussing right now but it was NOT PLEASANT.
Thank you for the birthday wishes too! I think we're going to sleep now, but I will write more about Hanoi (I have lots to say, as ever..) tomorrow.
Watch this space for pho very very soon. (it's available as part of the breakfast buffet!!!! this is even more exciting than the fact that our hotel room has towelling robes and slippers!)
love,
23 year-old Louise. xxx
Monday, 23 August 2010
Luang Prabang
Evening!
I'm back at the JoMa bakery since they have reliable WiFi. You probably won't believe it but there was a powercut just after I wrote that; stop tempting fate, Louise. Anyway, have had a lovely day here- I have cyclist's arms from biking around in the midday sun. My travels saw me listening to my iPod (could still hear the traffic, don't worry) & going all over the town, including out into the province a bit too - I found a lovely waterfall & chatted to some builders there (they were meeker than English builders & didn't shout mysogenistic remarks at me - plus some Wats (temples) and met some young monks in training. They all wear vibrant orange robes & walk down the street carrying umbrellas to shield them from the sun. Then I went back to my favourite cafe ever & had the noodle soup again, & the waitress said "ah! Same as yesterday!" which was nice. I've just been pottering since then, struck up a few random conversations with locals & travellers including one guy who I think was either very stoned or just very chilled. Or maybe it's just that he was Australian (how many nationalities can Louise badmouth?).
Oh and I had the fish on a stick, it was... Better in concept than execution, let's just say that.
So it's my birthday tomorrow! Ricky has been in touch to say he's arrived safe & well in Bangkok, so all being well we'll meet in Hanoi airport tomorrow evening & check in to a nice hotel as a birthday treat. Earlier on, I might have a big BeerLao to celebrate & take my mind off the fact that I'm terrified of going on another Lao Air flight. Happy birthday to me! But seriously, a breakfast of huge coffee & bagels on the bank of the Mekong river will be a wonderful way to start my 23rd year. I miss you all a lot though.
So what's the news in England? I know it's summer recess but I'd still like feeding with tidbits about politics/Government stuff, plus some other current affairs. BBC won't translate from Thai and I haven't watched the news for a week- I'm getting desperate!
Off for an "Oleo milkshake" (Mark, special shout-out to you here) and some more Peep Show and my anti-malarials. Jet-setting indeed!
Love,
Louise xxx
I'm back at the JoMa bakery since they have reliable WiFi. You probably won't believe it but there was a powercut just after I wrote that; stop tempting fate, Louise. Anyway, have had a lovely day here- I have cyclist's arms from biking around in the midday sun. My travels saw me listening to my iPod (could still hear the traffic, don't worry) & going all over the town, including out into the province a bit too - I found a lovely waterfall & chatted to some builders there (they were meeker than English builders & didn't shout mysogenistic remarks at me - plus some Wats (temples) and met some young monks in training. They all wear vibrant orange robes & walk down the street carrying umbrellas to shield them from the sun. Then I went back to my favourite cafe ever & had the noodle soup again, & the waitress said "ah! Same as yesterday!" which was nice. I've just been pottering since then, struck up a few random conversations with locals & travellers including one guy who I think was either very stoned or just very chilled. Or maybe it's just that he was Australian (how many nationalities can Louise badmouth?).
Oh and I had the fish on a stick, it was... Better in concept than execution, let's just say that.
So it's my birthday tomorrow! Ricky has been in touch to say he's arrived safe & well in Bangkok, so all being well we'll meet in Hanoi airport tomorrow evening & check in to a nice hotel as a birthday treat. Earlier on, I might have a big BeerLao to celebrate & take my mind off the fact that I'm terrified of going on another Lao Air flight. Happy birthday to me! But seriously, a breakfast of huge coffee & bagels on the bank of the Mekong river will be a wonderful way to start my 23rd year. I miss you all a lot though.
So what's the news in England? I know it's summer recess but I'd still like feeding with tidbits about politics/Government stuff, plus some other current affairs. BBC won't translate from Thai and I haven't watched the news for a week- I'm getting desperate!
Off for an "Oleo milkshake" (Mark, special shout-out to you here) and some more Peep Show and my anti-malarials. Jet-setting indeed!
Love,
Louise xxx
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang
Sabadee!
I'm now tucked into a little cafe in the centre of Luang Prabang, Laos, via an hour's flight courtesy of Lao Air. The flight itself was beautiful in terms of scenery, but a little worrying since I was in a tiny plane (AT7 if that means anything) - propellor and all. LP is already my favorite place so far - the people are SO sweet and it's a lot cheaper here too! On recommendation from people I met in Chiang Mai, I'm staying in a guest house right next to the main rd & night market, it's 4,000kip/night which is under £3.50, ad the street food is incredible- you can get a whole fish on a stick for £1.20, will try that tomorrow, and a plate of buffet food (noodles, spring rolls, chicken curry etc) for 80p, which is what I went with in the end. Met a couple while eating, it transpired they live in Herent Drive, Clayhall, & are members of Clayhall shul- they thought I was brave being on my own, I thought they were brave backpacking in their 50s. We all thought it was amazing that we met on the other side of the world.
Dad, I finally found someone who supports Arsenal, I have a picture to prove it!
Anyway, it's very beautiful here- the plan is to hire a bicycle tomorrow for about 50p and have a look round the city & temples, before heading to a local cinema to catch a film - you hire a latest release & a room for like £2, then more street food (the Oreo milkshake is beckoning but I'm stuffed from the buffet) and maybe a coffee & a cinnamon bin from the Scandinavian bakery. That means Scandi food, not prices!!
Just saw An altercation between some young Lao men- they're not unceasingly nice then! A policeman stepped in to break it up- there's the People's Democratic Republic then for you. My guest house room has an amazing sign with my favourite ever example of broken Engrish, will take a photo or maybe write it here tomorrow. In the meantime, these are from Lao immigration forms (ps I now have the coolest visa ever in my passport) :
"please complete the form in block lathers"
"I certify that the stalement made by me in this form are true, comprete and conect to best of my belief".
Until the next update,
many loves
Louise xxx
ps. I finally had the first thing even close to pho, t a lovely place on the bank of the Nam Khan river, the Arthouse cafe, and it was simply amazing. Yes!!
I'm now tucked into a little cafe in the centre of Luang Prabang, Laos, via an hour's flight courtesy of Lao Air. The flight itself was beautiful in terms of scenery, but a little worrying since I was in a tiny plane (AT7 if that means anything) - propellor and all. LP is already my favorite place so far - the people are SO sweet and it's a lot cheaper here too! On recommendation from people I met in Chiang Mai, I'm staying in a guest house right next to the main rd & night market, it's 4,000kip/night which is under £3.50, ad the street food is incredible- you can get a whole fish on a stick for £1.20, will try that tomorrow, and a plate of buffet food (noodles, spring rolls, chicken curry etc) for 80p, which is what I went with in the end. Met a couple while eating, it transpired they live in Herent Drive, Clayhall, & are members of Clayhall shul- they thought I was brave being on my own, I thought they were brave backpacking in their 50s. We all thought it was amazing that we met on the other side of the world.
Dad, I finally found someone who supports Arsenal, I have a picture to prove it!
Anyway, it's very beautiful here- the plan is to hire a bicycle tomorrow for about 50p and have a look round the city & temples, before heading to a local cinema to catch a film - you hire a latest release & a room for like £2, then more street food (the Oreo milkshake is beckoning but I'm stuffed from the buffet) and maybe a coffee & a cinnamon bin from the Scandinavian bakery. That means Scandi food, not prices!!
Just saw An altercation between some young Lao men- they're not unceasingly nice then! A policeman stepped in to break it up- there's the People's Democratic Republic then for you. My guest house room has an amazing sign with my favourite ever example of broken Engrish, will take a photo or maybe write it here tomorrow. In the meantime, these are from Lao immigration forms (ps I now have the coolest visa ever in my passport) :
"please complete the form in block lathers"
"I certify that the stalement made by me in this form are true, comprete and conect to best of my belief".
Until the next update,
many loves
Louise xxx
ps. I finally had the first thing even close to pho, t a lovely place on the bank of the Nam Khan river, the Arthouse cafe, and it was simply amazing. Yes!!
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Chiang Mai to Chiang Mai, via the jungle
EDIT: to add a couple of things, and also to be nicer about the French.
Evening all,
I'm laying on my front in bed with my legs up in the air and my ankles crossed, in the traditional "lazing about" pose. With the Yeah Yeah Yeahs playing, and the air-con on full, drinking diet coke. Hope that gives you a good picture :)
Feeling very dopey/content after the one-two knockout combination of a Thai massage and a good feeding from Ratana's Kitchen (again!), pumpkin/beef curry, noodles, diet coke and spring rolls. I think the total for the massage and the meal was 260 baht, which is roughly a fiver. This makes me amazingly happy. And dopey, as I said. It's currently 8.30pm here, and after I've written this post I'm going to watch some Peep Show and get some sleep, ready to get up at about 9 tomorrow, have a huge coffee and toast/jam with fruit salad, read in the sunshine in the hammock for a while, pick up my laundry, and then some sushi for lunch. It is a very tough life, isn't it? However, I then have catch a flight to Luang Prabang (Laos) on Laos Air, who fly small propellor planes so that'll be exciting and maybe a little bit terrifying when we land in the airport (a field).
Thank you all for your comments so far, it makes me ridiculously and disproportionately happy to see that I have another noodle when I log on :) To answer a few questions: Dad, the labyrinthitis (as the dr said, nothing to do with Bowie though) is a LOT better, it sounds ridiculous but I think the flight might've sorted it out, possibly equalising the fluid or something. It came back a teeny bit this morning but I'm pressing on with the Stugeron to get rid of it. Don't really want it kicking in on the plane, can you imagine feeling like you were falling very quickly, while at 37,000ft?! Ben, I did have some happy water in the village, it was like whisky only I actually liked it - it made me feel very warm inside and I fell asleep very quickly, although that might've been the 9km trek etc. Mark, I don't have my leopardprint cardi with me :( I do however have my scarf, so maybe next time I'll wrap it round my eyes a few times, and then "rawr" a bit just for effect. They will probably cage me and charge tourists 500baht to pet me (they do offer that in Chiang Mai. KTHXNO.).
SO. The trek: in which Louise finds friendly Parisians (who don't smoke Gauloises or shrug nonchlantly!)
I'd heard from Ben that this particular trek was really good (~£36 for two days and one night of trekking in Chiang Mai province, including a hike, swimming in a waterfall, hot springs, riding an elephant, bamboo rafting and meeting people who live in tribes in the hills of the hungle, 2x lunch, one dinner and one breakfast included), and also from a few people at the guest house who had done it already. They said it very much depended on the group that you had, however, and I was really hoping to meet lots of different people from various countries, of various ages, backgrounds etc. SO when I found out that it was either not do the trek, or do it with two other people (who I had met briefly and who seemed standoffish, abrupt, were a married couple and above all else were from Paris), I hesitated a fair bit. But decided to do it anyway - and I'm really pleased I did. They ended up being really sweet, and 35 so they were a bit protective of me when I was visibly scared of our bamboo raft capsizing. The guides didn't eat with us and the tribe people didn't greet us when we turned up, but I'm not under any illusions as to the 'authenticity' of the trek: it's the main thing that people go to Chiang Mai to do, and they must all get fed up of seeing a never-ending stream of tourists. However, when we spent a night in a village, we had a campfire and sat with lots of the Thais (not the women, strangely..) and while one of them played guitar there was general singing of Thai songs (them) and 60s British/American pop which they strangely knew. I expected things like the Beatles, but I didn't expect the Everly Brothers and Neil Young! So we all joined in with that, and it was very cosy and everyone bonded a bit, which was nice. Although no-one else knew the words to anything so it just ended up being me with guitar backing. The Thais did try, though, and my favourite bit (of the whole trek, I think) was singing Eric Clapton where the first line of Tears in Heaven came out as "I don't know my name.. if I see you in heaven". Better than the original?
I wouldn't say the entire trek was pleasant, mostly the bit where it was very very muddy and my shoes refused to grip so I kept slipping over :( and landing next to HUGE insects, and the bit where a beetle jumped out of a tree into my hair (this is the second time this has happened in 18 months, what is it with beetles and my huge hair?), but this was all more than compensated for by the highlights, and I am so pleased I did it - it was a great way to spend 2 days and the people were all really good company and interesting to talk to. My personal faves were the campfire, singing, drinking magic water (locally-made moonshine, SO STRONG) and looking at the stars/moon; the elephant ride which, after I got over the feeling that we were going to be thrown into the river, was really relaxing and funny when he kept stopping to grab entire branches in his trunk; swimming in the waterfall with a beautiful blue sky and beating sun - I literally felt like I was in an advert for a tropical paradise or possibly just Herbal Essences; and chatting to the guides on the trek, which took my mind off my aching legs - it was really interesting to find out about their lives and just generally more about Thailand. Oh and cuddling the cat and bunny in the village was great too - I don't think either of them carry rabies/Japenese B Encephalitis, right? SO all in all, good value for money and the French couple have very kindly offered to email me pictures they have that feature me - I revoke all of the stereotypes about the French I've ever propagated. I should also mention that the tribespeople were for the most part wearing European football shirts, loads of Man U/ Liverpool and I saw a numberplate earlier with Chelsea FC on it - no Arsenal I'm afraid, dad!
Anyway, I'll wrap things up now. Suffice it to say that Chiang Mai is really nice, I could easily spend another few days taking it all in. Like any great place it's full of tourists but I have found them to be without exception nice ones, and I do feel safe walking around here. The guest house is great too, they've been going since 1987 and the reason they're not in the guide book is, apparently, because the Lonely Planet asked them for money to be featured!! All the more reason to find my own places to stay and eat, or go on recommendations.
Anyway, I shall next update from Laos. In the meantime, please do keep commenting and emailing, it's very much appreciated.
Lots of love.
xxxxx Lou
Evening all,
I'm laying on my front in bed with my legs up in the air and my ankles crossed, in the traditional "lazing about" pose. With the Yeah Yeah Yeahs playing, and the air-con on full, drinking diet coke. Hope that gives you a good picture :)
Feeling very dopey/content after the one-two knockout combination of a Thai massage and a good feeding from Ratana's Kitchen (again!), pumpkin/beef curry, noodles, diet coke and spring rolls. I think the total for the massage and the meal was 260 baht, which is roughly a fiver. This makes me amazingly happy. And dopey, as I said. It's currently 8.30pm here, and after I've written this post I'm going to watch some Peep Show and get some sleep, ready to get up at about 9 tomorrow, have a huge coffee and toast/jam with fruit salad, read in the sunshine in the hammock for a while, pick up my laundry, and then some sushi for lunch. It is a very tough life, isn't it? However, I then have catch a flight to Luang Prabang (Laos) on Laos Air, who fly small propellor planes so that'll be exciting and maybe a little bit terrifying when we land in the airport (a field).
Thank you all for your comments so far, it makes me ridiculously and disproportionately happy to see that I have another noodle when I log on :) To answer a few questions: Dad, the labyrinthitis (as the dr said, nothing to do with Bowie though) is a LOT better, it sounds ridiculous but I think the flight might've sorted it out, possibly equalising the fluid or something. It came back a teeny bit this morning but I'm pressing on with the Stugeron to get rid of it. Don't really want it kicking in on the plane, can you imagine feeling like you were falling very quickly, while at 37,000ft?! Ben, I did have some happy water in the village, it was like whisky only I actually liked it - it made me feel very warm inside and I fell asleep very quickly, although that might've been the 9km trek etc. Mark, I don't have my leopardprint cardi with me :( I do however have my scarf, so maybe next time I'll wrap it round my eyes a few times, and then "rawr" a bit just for effect. They will probably cage me and charge tourists 500baht to pet me (they do offer that in Chiang Mai. KTHXNO.).
SO. The trek: in which Louise finds friendly Parisians (who don't smoke Gauloises or shrug nonchlantly!)
I'd heard from Ben that this particular trek was really good (~£36 for two days and one night of trekking in Chiang Mai province, including a hike, swimming in a waterfall, hot springs, riding an elephant, bamboo rafting and meeting people who live in tribes in the hills of the hungle, 2x lunch, one dinner and one breakfast included), and also from a few people at the guest house who had done it already. They said it very much depended on the group that you had, however, and I was really hoping to meet lots of different people from various countries, of various ages, backgrounds etc. SO when I found out that it was either not do the trek, or do it with two other people (who I had met briefly and who seemed standoffish, abrupt, were a married couple and above all else were from Paris), I hesitated a fair bit. But decided to do it anyway - and I'm really pleased I did. They ended up being really sweet, and 35 so they were a bit protective of me when I was visibly scared of our bamboo raft capsizing. The guides didn't eat with us and the tribe people didn't greet us when we turned up, but I'm not under any illusions as to the 'authenticity' of the trek: it's the main thing that people go to Chiang Mai to do, and they must all get fed up of seeing a never-ending stream of tourists. However, when we spent a night in a village, we had a campfire and sat with lots of the Thais (not the women, strangely..) and while one of them played guitar there was general singing of Thai songs (them) and 60s British/American pop which they strangely knew. I expected things like the Beatles, but I didn't expect the Everly Brothers and Neil Young! So we all joined in with that, and it was very cosy and everyone bonded a bit, which was nice. Although no-one else knew the words to anything so it just ended up being me with guitar backing. The Thais did try, though, and my favourite bit (of the whole trek, I think) was singing Eric Clapton where the first line of Tears in Heaven came out as "I don't know my name.. if I see you in heaven". Better than the original?
I wouldn't say the entire trek was pleasant, mostly the bit where it was very very muddy and my shoes refused to grip so I kept slipping over :( and landing next to HUGE insects, and the bit where a beetle jumped out of a tree into my hair (this is the second time this has happened in 18 months, what is it with beetles and my huge hair?), but this was all more than compensated for by the highlights, and I am so pleased I did it - it was a great way to spend 2 days and the people were all really good company and interesting to talk to. My personal faves were the campfire, singing, drinking magic water (locally-made moonshine, SO STRONG) and looking at the stars/moon; the elephant ride which, after I got over the feeling that we were going to be thrown into the river, was really relaxing and funny when he kept stopping to grab entire branches in his trunk; swimming in the waterfall with a beautiful blue sky and beating sun - I literally felt like I was in an advert for a tropical paradise or possibly just Herbal Essences; and chatting to the guides on the trek, which took my mind off my aching legs - it was really interesting to find out about their lives and just generally more about Thailand. Oh and cuddling the cat and bunny in the village was great too - I don't think either of them carry rabies/Japenese B Encephalitis, right? SO all in all, good value for money and the French couple have very kindly offered to email me pictures they have that feature me - I revoke all of the stereotypes about the French I've ever propagated. I should also mention that the tribespeople were for the most part wearing European football shirts, loads of Man U/ Liverpool and I saw a numberplate earlier with Chelsea FC on it - no Arsenal I'm afraid, dad!
Anyway, I'll wrap things up now. Suffice it to say that Chiang Mai is really nice, I could easily spend another few days taking it all in. Like any great place it's full of tourists but I have found them to be without exception nice ones, and I do feel safe walking around here. The guest house is great too, they've been going since 1987 and the reason they're not in the guide book is, apparently, because the Lonely Planet asked them for money to be featured!! All the more reason to find my own places to stay and eat, or go on recommendations.
Anyway, I shall next update from Laos. In the meantime, please do keep commenting and emailing, it's very much appreciated.
Lots of love.
xxxxx Lou
Update: earlier post
Hi, just back from the trek and the wifi is now working at the guest house which is great news as it means I don't have to go out hunting with my iTouch, but can sit on my bed/in the courtyard typing like Carrie Bradshaw (although I'm not talking out loud to myself, ie 'as I sat on the bed typing, I couldn't help wondering, was it that the men in Manhatten had a problem with commitment, or that I had COMMITTED TO HAVING A PROBLEM WITH THEM???!1 GEDDIT?!'). Anyway, later on I will do a proper update about the trek and Chiang Mai, subtitled "Parisians: not as bad as everyone says?", but for now, here's the update I wrote in Bangkok on my first day there. Enjoy! xxx
---------------------------------------
18th August: Abu Dhabi to Bangkok.
Good.. morning, is it? I've lost track. It's afternoon coffee time for me anyway, am composing this offline in Starbucks, Khao San Road. Predictably, my first meal in Thailand was Israeli – the cafe was called Shoshana's and I nearly died of happiness when I bit into the falafel and humous in pita. I feel like I have earnt it.
Lou gets scammed (nearly) #1:
Walking to the river to get a boat to the train station, a pigeon-feeding woman (as per Mary Poppins fame) tries to thrust a bag of maize into my hands, then when I refuse to take it (smiling), she tucks it into my rucksack anyway. Then, while I try to free it, she puts another two into my hands, one of which is already open, and this has the predictable effect of attracting ALL of the pigeons within a 100-yard radius. The only money I have on me is coins totalling 4 baht (~10p), or notes of 100 (£2). There's no way I'm giving her the 150 she demands, or anywhere near it, and she won't take the 4 that I apologetically try to hand over (smile smile smile), so I leave without giving her anything. Lesson learnt? Avoid crazy bird ladies.
To balance that out, however, my smarts have saved me a bit of money/stress, including ignoring the “friendly” advice I received while schlepping about looking for the train station that I couldn't book a ticket until 5pm so why didn't I use a travel agent like all the Thais do (yes of course, thanks for your advice but I might just go to the station anyway...), and bartering to get the tuk tuk between the two most touristey places in Bangkok for a fair price. Smiling is the key, I think.
So 11am Bangkok time, probably more like 4am in my head, I was thinking how odd that I woke up in Peckham a day ago, and after a blurry few hours travelling I'm now sitting in a tuk tuk, being driven haphazerdly at break-neck speed, surrounded by the exhaust fumes and general bustle of Bangkok. It's now started to feel like a proper adventure, rather than just a particularly strange brand of torture I'd decided to meter out to myself in order to make me appreciate my own bed.
Anyway, I hope the sport has been as exciting there as here, I watched a bit of the Volleyball Grand Prix in Shoshana's and I see that the Americans are currently 13-11 up against Thailand. Tense!
Until my next update, which will hopefully be fuelled by a little more sleep and a little less caffiene.
Xxx Lou
---------------------------------------
18th August: Abu Dhabi to Bangkok.
Good.. morning, is it? I've lost track. It's afternoon coffee time for me anyway, am composing this offline in Starbucks, Khao San Road. Predictably, my first meal in Thailand was Israeli – the cafe was called Shoshana's and I nearly died of happiness when I bit into the falafel and humous in pita. I feel like I have earnt it.
Lou gets scammed (nearly) #1:
Walking to the river to get a boat to the train station, a pigeon-feeding woman (as per Mary Poppins fame) tries to thrust a bag of maize into my hands, then when I refuse to take it (smiling), she tucks it into my rucksack anyway. Then, while I try to free it, she puts another two into my hands, one of which is already open, and this has the predictable effect of attracting ALL of the pigeons within a 100-yard radius. The only money I have on me is coins totalling 4 baht (~10p), or notes of 100 (£2). There's no way I'm giving her the 150 she demands, or anywhere near it, and she won't take the 4 that I apologetically try to hand over (smile smile smile), so I leave without giving her anything. Lesson learnt? Avoid crazy bird ladies.
To balance that out, however, my smarts have saved me a bit of money/stress, including ignoring the “friendly” advice I received while schlepping about looking for the train station that I couldn't book a ticket until 5pm so why didn't I use a travel agent like all the Thais do (yes of course, thanks for your advice but I might just go to the station anyway...), and bartering to get the tuk tuk between the two most touristey places in Bangkok for a fair price. Smiling is the key, I think.
So 11am Bangkok time, probably more like 4am in my head, I was thinking how odd that I woke up in Peckham a day ago, and after a blurry few hours travelling I'm now sitting in a tuk tuk, being driven haphazerdly at break-neck speed, surrounded by the exhaust fumes and general bustle of Bangkok. It's now started to feel like a proper adventure, rather than just a particularly strange brand of torture I'd decided to meter out to myself in order to make me appreciate my own bed.
Anyway, I hope the sport has been as exciting there as here, I watched a bit of the Volleyball Grand Prix in Shoshana's and I see that the Americans are currently 13-11 up against Thailand. Tense!
Until my next update, which will hopefully be fuelled by a little more sleep and a little less caffiene.
Xxx Lou
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Bangkok to Chiang Mai
Hi again! I am now back at the guest house, having had some beer and burgers (shh, it's an authentic travellers' experience) with some other travelly folk I met, three from Jersey (I now know a LOT about the island..more than I perhaps wanted to know) and one from Boston. It's nioe how people just chat to you here, can't particularly imagine it happening back home unless they were drunk maybe.
So I had a whole post written about Bangkok but it's on the laptop and I'm not, so I'll post that up at some point. In the meantime, here's what I wrote on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai...
So far loving the train, and it hasn't even left yet! Playing 'spot the Thai bride' is well fun, there's a couple across the aisle from me, sharing KFC- he's a cantankerous old Yank, she's a petite, sweet Thai lady maybe half his age. He should be a LOT cherrier considering how far above his weight he's punching.
(next morning
\
Turns out the lower berth is better. And that I don't sleep at all well with the light on, even if I've only had a total of 8 hours' sleep over the past (time zone stretched) 2 days incorporating 13 hours of flights. However, I still feel quite relaxed and am loving the train even so. It feels like a proper adventure now! I like my berth buddy a lot, she is Chinese and quite maternal even though she's younger than me, and she keeps feeding me awesome foods like Rambutan(?) which is like lychee except no prickles or stone inside. She gave me one to try and then when I liked it, broke off a massive branch and thrust it into my hands. Couple of funnies from the guide book...\
number 1, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is abbreviated to 'TAT'
number 2, one of the Temples in Chiang Mai is called 'WAT U MONG' which looks rather like the graffiti on the inside of the girls' toilets back in high school. This is literally like something out of Mark's fake guidebook, Phaic Tan.
-------end earlier writings.
So I'm off to bed in a bit, then being awoken at 7am to start my 2-day trek, after which I'll be back for a day and then probably fly to Luang Prabang in Laos. I did consider alternative methods of transport but they are either not happening right now because of the rainy season making roads unpassable (Laos roads aren't great at the best of times..) or just unpleasant, ie 2-day boat trip where there's nowhere to sit and it just turns into a giant sweatbox. I think for the extra money and time I'll save, it's worth it. And then I have a couple of days there before flying to Hanoi on my birthday to meet Ricky - so packing quite a lot in. Looking forward to seeing Ricky, everyone is very friendly and I've had some good chats with people, but it's not the same as seeing the friendly face of someone you know. I miss you all.
Lots of love,
Lou xxx
So I had a whole post written about Bangkok but it's on the laptop and I'm not, so I'll post that up at some point. In the meantime, here's what I wrote on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai...
So far loving the train, and it hasn't even left yet! Playing 'spot the Thai bride' is well fun, there's a couple across the aisle from me, sharing KFC- he's a cantankerous old Yank, she's a petite, sweet Thai lady maybe half his age. He should be a LOT cherrier considering how far above his weight he's punching.
(next morning
\
Turns out the lower berth is better. And that I don't sleep at all well with the light on, even if I've only had a total of 8 hours' sleep over the past (time zone stretched) 2 days incorporating 13 hours of flights. However, I still feel quite relaxed and am loving the train even so. It feels like a proper adventure now! I like my berth buddy a lot, she is Chinese and quite maternal even though she's younger than me, and she keeps feeding me awesome foods like Rambutan(?) which is like lychee except no prickles or stone inside. She gave me one to try and then when I liked it, broke off a massive branch and thrust it into my hands. Couple of funnies from the guide book...\
number 1, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is abbreviated to 'TAT'
number 2, one of the Temples in Chiang Mai is called 'WAT U MONG' which looks rather like the graffiti on the inside of the girls' toilets back in high school. This is literally like something out of Mark's fake guidebook, Phaic Tan.
-------end earlier writings.
So I'm off to bed in a bit, then being awoken at 7am to start my 2-day trek, after which I'll be back for a day and then probably fly to Luang Prabang in Laos. I did consider alternative methods of transport but they are either not happening right now because of the rainy season making roads unpassable (Laos roads aren't great at the best of times..) or just unpleasant, ie 2-day boat trip where there's nowhere to sit and it just turns into a giant sweatbox. I think for the extra money and time I'll save, it's worth it. And then I have a couple of days there before flying to Hanoi on my birthday to meet Ricky - so packing quite a lot in. Looking forward to seeing Ricky, everyone is very friendly and I've had some good chats with people, but it's not the same as seeing the friendly face of someone you know. I miss you all.
Lots of love,
Lou xxx
Chiang Mai
Sawaa dii kha (hello)!
Just a quick one as i've left the notebook at the guest house & am typing on my iTouch which is hard work, please excuse any typos.
It's 4.15 here and I've just had a late lunch - was looking for a particular place, on Ben's advice and was too stubborn to hail a tuk-tuk, so walked round in circles for an hour or so. I'm happy to report that it was worth it though! I do have lots and lots to say about Bangkok and my sleeper train journey, but that'll have to wait for my next update with netbook, hopefully dinnertime. Everything is going well so far, people are very friendly & helpful, and there are loads and loads of Westerners so you feel safe in the knowledge that it's a well-padded, well-worn travelling route. Am hopefully going on a 2-day trek tomorrow which includes bamboo rafting, elephants, hot springs & other fun activities. It's very very hot here so I'll probably come back mahogany-coloured (that is, reddish brown). Just going to get my breath back, before launching myself back into the heat & bustle of Chiang Mai! Hope you're all well. Until later, Lou xxx
Just a quick one as i've left the notebook at the guest house & am typing on my iTouch which is hard work, please excuse any typos.
It's 4.15 here and I've just had a late lunch - was looking for a particular place, on Ben's advice and was too stubborn to hail a tuk-tuk, so walked round in circles for an hour or so. I'm happy to report that it was worth it though! I do have lots and lots to say about Bangkok and my sleeper train journey, but that'll have to wait for my next update with netbook, hopefully dinnertime. Everything is going well so far, people are very friendly & helpful, and there are loads and loads of Westerners so you feel safe in the knowledge that it's a well-padded, well-worn travelling route. Am hopefully going on a 2-day trek tomorrow which includes bamboo rafting, elephants, hot springs & other fun activities. It's very very hot here so I'll probably come back mahogany-coloured (that is, reddish brown). Just going to get my breath back, before launching myself back into the heat & bustle of Chiang Mai! Hope you're all well. Until later, Lou xxx
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Peckham to Abu Dhabi
Dear readers,
I'm currently experiencing good old-fashioned Arab hospitality by way of free WiFi at Abu Dhabi Intl Airport - waiting for the second part of my outbound journey. So far it's been uneventful - the minor upsets were entirely my own fault (ie. getting on a bus at 5am in Peckham with no money on my Oyster card and no cash on me, thankfully the bus driver didn't deposit me in the middle of drizzly Peckham at night-time and I made it to Heathrow in good time), and thus far, I'm impressed with Etihad. On the flight I was sat next to a woman with a library book checked out of Redbridge Libraries - upon further investigation she lives in Gants Hill. Smaaaaaaaall world. Watched Edward Scissorhands and cried, which was almost as embarrassing as the laughing out loud I did while watching The Thick of It, the IT Crowd and Fawlty Towers.
Upon leaving the plane we were informed that, as it's the Holy Month of Ramadan, it's forbidden to eat or drink in public during daylight hours. Luckily this doesn't matter, as I would basically have to pawn this netbook (but won't, don't worry, Ben) in order to buy anything anyway.
I feel a bit tired and spaced-out -- it's 4.15pm there I believe, but I've been up for 12 hours and it feels a lot more like the new time my watch is displaying, which is 8.15pm. This morning I had a huge bout of "why am I doing this?", but I gave myself a stern talking-to and devised a list of Things That Are Out of My Control, along with things that are within it, to make myself feel better. An excerpt:
NOT IN MY CONTROL:
* the fact that it's drizzling and cold and windy
* the fact that it's pitch-black and I'm a bit scared
* the fact that I have booked plane tickets to Bangkok and have bought anti-malarials and made all necessary preparations for going to Bangkok, so I am /definitely/ going to Bangkok.
WITHIN MY CONTROL:
* how much I enjoy my trip.
So I did it, and then suddenly I was at Heathrow, and then on the plane, and then flying over the Balkans, and then Iraq, and now I'm here. And in a bit I'll be in Bangkok. All of that is pretty cool.
Will try and send some of the 40degree heat from Abu Dhabi back to England for you (please take it).
xxx Lou
I'm currently experiencing good old-fashioned Arab hospitality by way of free WiFi at Abu Dhabi Intl Airport - waiting for the second part of my outbound journey. So far it's been uneventful - the minor upsets were entirely my own fault (ie. getting on a bus at 5am in Peckham with no money on my Oyster card and no cash on me, thankfully the bus driver didn't deposit me in the middle of drizzly Peckham at night-time and I made it to Heathrow in good time), and thus far, I'm impressed with Etihad. On the flight I was sat next to a woman with a library book checked out of Redbridge Libraries - upon further investigation she lives in Gants Hill. Smaaaaaaaall world. Watched Edward Scissorhands and cried, which was almost as embarrassing as the laughing out loud I did while watching The Thick of It, the IT Crowd and Fawlty Towers.
Upon leaving the plane we were informed that, as it's the Holy Month of Ramadan, it's forbidden to eat or drink in public during daylight hours. Luckily this doesn't matter, as I would basically have to pawn this netbook (but won't, don't worry, Ben) in order to buy anything anyway.
I feel a bit tired and spaced-out -- it's 4.15pm there I believe, but I've been up for 12 hours and it feels a lot more like the new time my watch is displaying, which is 8.15pm. This morning I had a huge bout of "why am I doing this?", but I gave myself a stern talking-to and devised a list of Things That Are Out of My Control, along with things that are within it, to make myself feel better. An excerpt:
NOT IN MY CONTROL:
* the fact that it's drizzling and cold and windy
* the fact that it's pitch-black and I'm a bit scared
* the fact that I have booked plane tickets to Bangkok and have bought anti-malarials and made all necessary preparations for going to Bangkok, so I am /definitely/ going to Bangkok.
WITHIN MY CONTROL:
* how much I enjoy my trip.
So I did it, and then suddenly I was at Heathrow, and then on the plane, and then flying over the Balkans, and then Iraq, and now I'm here. And in a bit I'll be in Bangkok. All of that is pretty cool.
Will try and send some of the 40degree heat from Abu Dhabi back to England for you (please take it).
xxx Lou
Friday, 13 August 2010
Pho yes.
Welcome to my travel blog about, among other things, Pho. You'll probably have some questions, right?
"Yes, yes I do. Firstly, what is pho?"
Thanks for asking. Let's ask the internets:
"Wow, that sounds great. What other food do they have in that region?"
Here is more South-East Asian food I hope to be sampling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Vietnamese_dishes.
"So, Louise. I know you're flying to Bangkok, but I'm a bit shaky on the exact details of your trip thereafter. Any more details?"
Well, no, not many. I know that I'll be landing in Bangkok on the morning of the 18th, that I am flying from Laos to Vietnam on my birthday when Ricky will be joining me in Hanoi, and that we're both flying back on 7th September. Other than that it's all up for revision! But hopefully I will manage to pack in a cookery course or two, a massage, a 2-day cruise down the Mekong, an overnight train, lots of temples, lots of random chats with locals and travellers, and of course many many many noodles. Still hoping to see some of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The current plan is:
Bangkok (T) - Chiang Mai (T) - Luang Prabang (L) - Hanoi (V) - Hoi An (V) - Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City (V) - Siem Reap (C) - Bangkok.
"That sounds great. How are you feeling?"
Absolutely terrified/ridiculously excited.
So, I hope that's answered all of your questions. Until the next rambling update where it becomes yet more apparent just how improvised this trip is going to be (by design),
Louise xxx
"Yes, yes I do. Firstly, what is pho?"
Thanks for asking. Let's ask the internets:
Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef (pho bo) or chicken (pho ga). The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with basil, lime, bean sprouts, and peppers that are added to the soup by the consumer.
"Wow, that sounds great. What other food do they have in that region?"
Here is more South-East Asian food I hope to be sampling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Vietnamese_dishes.
"So, Louise. I know you're flying to Bangkok, but I'm a bit shaky on the exact details of your trip thereafter. Any more details?"
Well, no, not many. I know that I'll be landing in Bangkok on the morning of the 18th, that I am flying from Laos to Vietnam on my birthday when Ricky will be joining me in Hanoi, and that we're both flying back on 7th September. Other than that it's all up for revision! But hopefully I will manage to pack in a cookery course or two, a massage, a 2-day cruise down the Mekong, an overnight train, lots of temples, lots of random chats with locals and travellers, and of course many many many noodles. Still hoping to see some of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The current plan is:
Bangkok (T) - Chiang Mai (T) - Luang Prabang (L) - Hanoi (V) - Hoi An (V) - Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City (V) - Siem Reap (C) - Bangkok.
"That sounds great. How are you feeling?"
Absolutely terrified/ridiculously excited.
So, I hope that's answered all of your questions. Until the next rambling update where it becomes yet more apparent just how improvised this trip is going to be (by design),
Louise xxx
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