http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/michaelpaddo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from michaelpaddo en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:27:21 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:27:21 +0000 ldquoHe follows us for long time nowrdquo M whispered nervously eyes flickering over the crowd around us. ldquoVery bad man. You know CNGrdquo Not personally so far thankfully but Irsquod heard a bit about them. The Uzbek branch of the KGB which had apparently survived more or less intact after the collapse of the Soviet Union. While they donrsquot inspire quite the same level of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Uzbekistan/Bukhara/blog-309238.html Kymys. Fermented mare's milk. I'd been looking forward to trying it ever since I decided to come to Central Asia but I guess I'd always had in mind just a small sip rather than the overflowing bowl Aitbek had just thrust into my hands. I gazed into it uncertainly for a moment fairly dubious about the tiny pieces of straw and strands of hair bobbing at the surface. But Aitbek just nodded encoura http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Kochkor/blog-303558.html The previous night's queasy cocktail of menace vodka turned uneasily in my stomach when I woke but I felt myself very quickly invigorated by the thought of what lay ahead... Three days up in the Tian Shan Mandarin for 'Celestial Mountains' a mountain range which LP claims comprises perhaps the finest trekking territory in Central Asia. I'd decided to explore it for myself rather than hiri http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Karakol/blog-300982.html The old man with the wooden leg grinned across the low table at me a mouthful of gold teeth gleaming in the candlelight. Raising his shot glass high he waited for the rest of the table to fall silent then looked me right in the eye and barked something in Kyrgyz eliciting growls of assent from the men around me. I didn't recognise the word but his sentiment was clear enough it didn't matter http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/blog-292707.html Like moths to a flame Prague's countless tourists swarm around the Old City streets flitting in and out of the endless identicallykitsch tourist shops alighting nowhere for long. For most cities however enchanting this would be enough to wear the charm thin very quickly... But Prague is an untouchably magical place a deepdreaming city of cobbled lanes Gothic spires and refreshingl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-125539.html My Year in Asia had always seemed to stretch endlessly out before me all the way to the distant curve of the horizon and into the vagueness beyond. So it was with a sense of real disbelief as well as sadness that I realised I only had three weeks left after returning from Burma And these three already inadequate weeks passed by ridiculously quickly a loud fastforward blur of parties http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-125538.html Pulling up his longyi Naung Naung proudly shows us the tattoo of a rabbit on his right thigh surrounded by a faded swirl of Pali inscriptions. This one makes me jump higher he explains his face deadly serious before pulling open his tattered shirt to reveal a tiger on his chest. And this one gives me courage This goes on for a few minutes as he shows us a succession of significant tatto http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-112415.html Lying on my back on the floor of the small hut the only sounds I'm aware of are the creaking of bamboo and the grating whine of mosquitos swarming closer. Two old ladies in whose home we are about to enjoy our first Burmese massage shuffle quietly around us in long faded longyis carefully arranging a selection of herbal oils on the floor beside us. Noticing me slap at a mosquito which has http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Bagan/blog-112416.html Leaning over to check how fast we're going 150 kmh I notice for the first time that the taxi driver has fallen asleep at the wheel. Behind us the road stretches out straight and long and I wander how long it's been since he nodded off. We nudge him gently with a cautious hand hovering over the steering wheel in case he wakes with a start. Instead he wakes slowly almost lazily and then g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-104543.html Clambering down from the rickety basecamp bunkbed I turn off the 2am alarm and wonder vaguely what was going through my mind when I packed for this trip. Already shivering in the frigid early morning air I blearily consider my woefully inadequate clothing options. Let me sum it up for you like this I'm about to climb to the summit of the highest mountain in South East Asia and I don't even ha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Kota-Kinabalu/blog-98686.html After the vague disappointment of Angkor Wat did Ta Phrom live up to my high expectations It did and more absolutely magnificent... The temple itself was impressive enough mighty stone structures covered in delicate carvings of flowers and seductive 'apsaras' heavenly nymphs carved balustrade window frames designed to look like wood arched passageways and so on. But what makes this te http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-89041.html After Jen left I decided I needed some time alone in a totally foreign place to clear my head and gain a sense of perspective. Cambodia was an impulsive but inspired choice with the vague plan being to visit Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Stopping briefly at the university to arrange next term's enrolment I set my room in order and then packed quickly. Photocopying the relevant secti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-88262.html It was time for the one part of my PADI Open Water Scuba Diving course I'd been quietly dreading... At a depth of 18m in the big blue sea I had to take my facemask all the way off briefly exposing my nose to the water and running the risk of breathing some in. This may sound easy enough to avoid but practising this skill in the shallow section of the pool the day before that's exactly what I' http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-85921.html We interrupt our regular broadcast to bring you a special report from Bangkok as the proverbial dust settles after the recent coup d'etat and life returns to normal... Thanks to all of you who've called or emailed over the last week to check how I was your concern is much appreciated but totally unnecessary To reassure you a little I thought I'd put up some photos I took the other day and t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-90854.html In contrast to its dubious distinction as the most heavily bombed country in the world between 1964 and 1973 the U.S. dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos roughly 30 of which failed to detonate and remain dangerous today my experience of Laos was of a peaceful extremely laidback and very beautiful place. Rugged limestone cliffs emeraldgreen forests pristine jungle waterfalls friend http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-85923.html Telling others about my Mum's visit I'm sometimes made to feel slightly embarrassed about the 'thrifty backpacker' style in which I showed her around a little of Thailand. This never lasts long though because I know for a fact that's the way she likes to travel as well. Not just for the money it saves but more importantly because you gain a richer experience and it just feels like more of an adv http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-76159.html It's 3am and I'm standing with a group of good mates on a white sand beach brightlycoloured 'buckets' grasped tightly in our hands howling at the glorious full moon high above. On the beach all around us fluorescent bodypainted travellers from every corner of the globe are dancing like crazy people. A few metres down the beach to my left a group of Thai fire dancers are whirling flaming stic http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-76158.html I know travel tales are at their best when they involve a few hairraising escapades daring deeds or at the very least a decent dose of discomfort... Unfortunately for you at least there'll be absolutely none of that in this entry as I set out to describe for you the idyllic life of an International Student at Rangsit University. For some more exciting entries check out some of my brother http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-76157.html Having put off this blog update for so long I'm now finding it surprisingly hard to cast my mind back to my last week in India. I can hardly believe it was only six weeks ago I think the vagueness of my memories may be partly due to the fact that I was fairly exhausted at the time I just didn't have the energy to get up to any memorable adventures. I also noticed around that time that whenev http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-64583.html If my last entry had a basic theme of camelrelated excitement I'd say that the theme of this one is going to have to be public transportrelated discomfort. Over the course of the week that this entry covers I spent roughly 45 hours on public transport all of it in the cheapest possible class. But before becoming intimately acquainted with India's public transport system I took a couple of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/blog-58318.html