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Published: January 2nd 2006
Welcome to Indochina
Crossing over from Thailand to LaosSo, as of tomorrow we will travel back to Bangkok and our little loop of SE Asia will be finished. Various emails have been sent out but here's a little summary of what we've been up to for those that weren't paying attention, mostly in chronological order and with place names conveniently highlighted for ease of viewing. Don't say we aren't constantly thinking of your needs.
Thailand
* In
Chiang Mai Rachael F and Jen went to Elephant School for 3 days where they learned to control (barely) and care for elephants - they even have the Mahout suit to validate their qualification
* Rachael B went to Cookery class and can now whip up a variety of authentic Thai cuisine - she will be our chef for the foreseeable future when we get back
* Hung out in Pai and did some hill trekking to a local village. Took in some amazing scenery - not that we didn't work bloody hard to get to it, the term 'hill treking' is wildly understated - and spent the night in a bamboo hut in the middle of nowhere. The advertised 'refreshing shower' was little more than a cold water tap
in the middle of the village. I suspect our efforts were the evening's entertainment for the other villagers.
* Travelled over to
Mai Hong Son over a very windy mountain path with breath taking scenery - allegedly some of the most rugged in Thailand
* Made our way to the border only to find it shut. Rach and Rach were one day late on their visas and feared imprisonment but after a slap on the wrist and heartfelt assurances that we wouldn't do it again, they let us in to the relief of all.
Laos
* Spent two days chugging down the Mekong river on a slow boat - numb bums all round;
*Chilled out for a few days in beautiful
Luang Prabang, a National Heritage site, visiting waterfalls and caves and doing too much shopping at the night market
*Jen and Rachael B visited The Plain of Jars, a curious archeological phenomenon where there are thousands of stone jars littering the area - some weighing several tonnes - and nobody knows why they're there. Freaky.
*Spent a day or two in
Vang Vieng a travellers trap where they play back-to-back Friends in all the cafes and serve
all manner of fried, Western food; Rach F went tubing down the river and took the opportunity to fling herself from a massive rope swing into the water *Visited Buddha Park in
Vientiene - the brain child of a hippy artist who has created hundreds of buddha images and put them all together. They range from the beautiful to massive to the downright wierd but as it's not necessarilty a religious site we took the opportunity to mimic many of the statue poses (something we still find disproportionately amusing) without risking bad karma
*Travelled back over the border to
Bangkok and flew to
Hanoi because it was, bizarrely, cheaper.
Vietnam
*
Hanoi has mixed reviews in the group - some hated it, some loved it - but it was a good place to introduce ourselves to Vietnam. It is split into The Old Quarter where the tiny streets each have a particular product to sell (they're even called 'shoe street'and 'basket street' so you know where to go. If you can speak vietnamese) and The French quarter, where many of the colonialists lived in the days of French rule.
* Walked over to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, a
So much for avioding the chicken flu
Nobody really knows the story behind this massive chicken. But it's pretty cool anyway place of pilgramage for many Vietnamese, but sadly (?) his body was in Russia so we couldn't see it;
* Spent some time in the Ho Chi Minh museum trying to make sense of the events of the past
* Visited the old prison which was used first by the French to house political prisoners and then, during the war, by the Vietnamese to detain French and, more usually, American POWs; * Walked around the lake at sunrise (or as near to it as we could manage) and watched the local people doing their morning exercises - an odd mix of jogging, Tai Chi and dancing to pop music
* Had a lot of ice cream at Fanny's Ice Cream Shop - yummy!
* Watched the amazing Water Puppets show - imagine Punch and Judy in a pond
* Took a two-day cruise to
Ha Long Bay and had a very relaxed time watching the beatutiful scenery go by - the area is famous for it's karst formations emerging out of the water and the extensive caves that can be found within them. Still a little unsure as to what 'karst' means exactly- I think it's a specific type of
rock. A very nice one to be sure
* Got the 'Hard Sleeper' night train down to
Hue - not as uncomfortable as 6 bunks in a small compartment with straw mats sounds, actually
* Walked around the Old City of Hue, where the Emporer used to live
* Took a tour to the
Demiliatarized Zone (DMZ) - the area arond the line that separated north and south durung the American war. Most of the important sights now are ruins - army bases and so on - or completely stripped of any buildings there once were so it was a bit difficult to imagine their importance in the conflict, but suffice to say that, although the sites were officially 'de militarised'', many soldiers on both sides still died here
* Had many, many clothes made in
Hoi An, a gold mine of tailors who can and will make anything for you, made to measure, in less than a day. Despite our vehement declarations that we'd only get one or two things before moving on we did, in fact, become so involved with chosing styles and fabrics that we shamefully managed to spend 5 days here without seeing any of the
sights in the area. Not even the Japanese Bridge about 200m down the river. The fact that there was severe flooding for much of our visit kind of excuses that. But not really.
* Had our legs threaded - a bizarre and unreasonably painful alternative to waxing - just to see what it was like. You live and you learn.
* Several dollars lighter but ironically several pounds heavier due to the extra holdall we have had to purchase in order to carry aforementioned clothing, we moved on to
Dalat, a pleasant little hill station where the temperatures so cool that on two occassions we had to wear jumpers. You have no idea what a fantastic feeling that is after 3 months of 30 degrees plus
* Joined up with some Easy Riders who took us for an excellent tour of the area on the back of their motorbikes.
* Jen and Rach F were then persuaded to take a longer trip all the way down to the coast with them. It was amazing - we got a great insight into the 'real Vietnam' and can describe in detail tofu production, tea manufacture, silk weaving, coffee bean growth and preparation
- amongst other things. We will be sure to bore you all with the finer details (and photos) upon our return.
*Spent a couple of days in
Mui Ne, a little beach town famous for its serene atmosphere - but tropical storms were a-brewin' so any chance of a few tanning sessions were dashed.
*Arrived in
Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon), visited the excellent War Remnants' museum (originally named The museum of Chinese and American War Crimes but subsequently toned down to avoid offending tourists) The name gives you some idea of the attitude that was evident throughout the whole museum, but it was, never the less, a very well put together and moving account of the war.
* Got caught up in the celebrations after Vietnam's victory over Burma in the football. The city was completely crazed - thousands of motorbikes beeping their horns and people singing an shouting all night! You'd have thought they'd won the World Cup - we were even coerced into buying very patriotic red and yellow sahses which drew great victorious cheers from everyone that passed us.
Cambodia
And so to Cambodia. Due to time constrictions we were only able to
spend 8 days here - not nearly long enough. Without a doubt the poorest place we have been to so far, the effects of the civil war still hanging over the country, but the people were among the friendliest and most helpful we've met, the land itself is beautiful and full of undiscovered treasures.
* In
Phnom Penh we visited the famous Choeung Ek Killing Fields where thousands of Cambodians were slaughtered and buried in mass graves during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. The site is little more than some holes in the ground now and is surprisingly peaceful so it is difficult to really understand what went on here - perhaps a very good thing.
* Visited Toul Sleng, aka S21, another remnant of the Khmer Rouge - a former high school that was used as a prison between 1975 and 79 to hold people, and more disturbingly the families of people, who were suspected to be enemies of the new regime: policemen, politicians, government officials, teachers, doctors, students etc. With the exception of 7 men who were found when the Vietnemese liberated Cambodia in '79 (and they survived only because the guards had no time to kill
A water buffalo
Pretty much everywhere. Isn't he funny? them before fleeing) , nobody ever came out of S21 alive. Guilty or not, they were all forced to sign confessions and then they and their families, women, children, infants, were taken to Choueng Ek. A very sobering day.
*Spent an afternoon at the Lighthouse Orphanage, for children who have been orphaned through AIDS, war or poverty. Despite having virtually nothing the children were all very welcoming and keen to talk to us and it was a very rewarding experience
*In
Siem Reap we visited the famous Temples of Angkar - Angkar Wat being the most well known. Splashed out on a guide and spent the day wandering about in the old ruins. As well as Angkar Wat, where we sat to watch the sunset, we saw Ta Phrom - where they filmed Tomb Raider - where massive tree roots cover the buildings and the jungle threatens to take over at any minute, Angkar Thom which used to be a massive walled city which housed over 1 million inhabitants at a time when London's population topped around 50,000, and a couple of others a bit furthe out whose mnames escape me now but were almost impossibly intricately carved and atmospheric.
Easy Riders
Dalat, Vietnam * Saw a one-man concert by a german doctor who has been in Siem Reap for over 20 years and is trying to raise awareness for the children's hospital he set up. In between explanations of his work and short films he played the cello. Really quite well.
...And that's about it. We leave for Bangkok this evening on what promises to be another fun-filled 15 hour night bus, before heading down to Singapore and India. We all gave blood this morning for the Children's hospital so we're sporting massive plasters and are taking it (unecessaily I admit) easy, making sure there's lots of time for cake. For re-fuelling purposes of course - don't want to overdo things.
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