I know, I know. No blog postings in over three months. What have I done in the that time? Well, I can't go into too many details (this would end up being the War and Peace of blog postings if I did), so here is a summary of sorts:
I flew into Bangkok from Mumbai on January 31. The relative modernity of Thailand compared to India was striking, but not unwelcome. I spent time in Bangkok basically chilling out and decompressing from India - with a minimum of sightseeing mixed in - before heading north to the city of Chiang Mai.
While I was in Chiang Mai, I did a three-day, two-night jungle trek, which included staying a night in a hilltribe village, another night in the jungle, and a turn at riding elephants. There were eleven of us on our trek: an outstanding group of people, from several countries (hello to Marco, Ben, Wil, Clair, Xanthe, Evan, Rachel, Nicola). We ended up hanging out together when we got back to the city, renting scooters for a day and visiting Doi Suthep, a temple (and mountain) located 15 km outsdie the city.
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| Trekking in the jungle |
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| The trekking crew... |
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| ...a few days later, on scooters to Doi Suthep |
After Chiang Mai, made my way to the Thailand-Laos border with my German travel buddy Marco. We crossed into Laos and took the two-day slow boat down the Mekong River to the city of Luang Prabang, the beautiful, former royal capital of Laos. It was here Marco and I connected with a new group of excellent people. One of the highlights was the visit to the Kuang Si waterfall.
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| At one of the many waterfalls at Kuang Si waterfall. I'm happy to be there. |
I traveled with the group to Vang Vieng for a night, and we parted ways as I made my way to Ventiane, the capital of Laos, to catch a flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This was at the beginning of March, and it was here that I met up with my new travel partner, Kerry, who came over from Canada to travel with me through Cambodia and Vietnam for three weeks.
Our visit to Phnom Penh consisted mainly of visiting the notorious Killing Fields and the former S21 prison, a legacy of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime. Not surprisingly, visiting those two places evoked similar feelings as my visit to Auschwitz in Poland last fall. The difference is how recent the Khmer Rouge's massacre of 3 million of their fellow Cambodians really was: only thirty-odd years ago, within my lifetime. The most sobering and eerie aspect of walking through the Killing Fields is that you would still see bits of human bone and clothing that would be pushed up by the soil with each rainy season.
After Phnom Penh we spent a few days on an island off the coast of Cambodia: Koh Rong. We stayed in a treehouse bungalow, right on the beach. Our three night stay there was, in so many ways, a definite highlight of my entire trip: Secluded beaches, excellent seafood, crystal clear water. As close to paradise as I've ever been. And by secluded, I mean NO ONE else to be seen on the beach for half a kilometre or so in either direction. Koh Rong isn't very developed...yet. But I indications are that this little bit of paradise will be open to the developers very soon. It's a shame, but I'm glad I got to visit it while I could. If we didn't have onward travel plans, I think we would've stayed longer...
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| Sunrise from Koh Rong treehouse bungalow |
Our next stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap to visit Ankor Wat. The temples were fairly impressive, but to be honest, I was not as blown away by them as I thought I would be. You can blame this on my visit to Petra (in Jordan): I think it has spoiled temples (and all ancient structures) for me - it has set the bar high. A surprise highlight was our visit to the ACODO orphanage to see the children put on an amazing and charming performance of traditional Cambodian dance.
The orphanage impressed me so much, I returned in April to volunteer for a week, teaching English. More on this later.
From Siem Reap, we flew to Hanoi, Vietnam. Hanoi's traffic was insane. Crossing the street was a challenge, but one quickly got used to it (note: when crossing the street with someone, it is crucial that one of you takes the lead. Any indecision and unpredictability on your part will NOT end well for you! We did fine.).
While we did spend a couple of nights in Hanoi, it was mainly an access point for our Halong Bay boat excursion. We did a three-day, styling (and I mean STYLING) boat ride through the less-traveled eastern part of the bay. The limestone islands which jut out of the ocean are truly impressive, whether the weather was overcast and foggy (which gave things a mystical feeling) or bright and sunny. We were fortunate to experience both types of weather. The trip included kayaking around some of the islands and absolutely fantastic meals, both on the boat and, on one occasion, on an island beach.
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| Halong Bay |
After Halong Bay, it was a hellish-but-could-have-been-worse overnight bus ride to the charming central Vietnam city of Hoi An. A few days there - which included taking a Vietnamese cooking class - and then on to the zero-western-tourists (or tourists of any stripe, actually) beach town of Quy Nhon, for a last blast of beach action.
This was followed by an India-esque overnight train to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). Visited the Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong created havoc for the Americans and South Vietnamese throughout the Vietnam War. If you saw the effort put into these tunnels, and the hardships endured in doing so, you'd agree that the Americans and the South never had a chance at winning the war. It is at the Cu Chi tunnels where they have a weapons range: we took a turn at firing an AK-47. It was kinda cool. But man, are those guns loud. You have no idea until you experience it.
Kerry's trip ended in Saigon – she flew back home. I stuck around Saigon for another day or two, visiting the War Remnants museum, to see the Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnam War (or the American War, as they call it). I then headed west to the coast, again, to Mui Ne. It was here that I experienced one of the beautiful moments of my trip: on the way back from visiting the sand dunes Mui Ne is famous for, flying down the highway on scooters with my American friends, Vince and Kristine, with the ocean on one side, the setting sun on the other. It was this same afternoon that I took my now-famous (among my Facebook friends, anyway) ostrich ride. (Be my Facebook friend, and see the photo!)
Wow, this is one long post. Well, I AM trying summarize (?) three and a half months. Feel free to take a break, grab a snack, go the toilet, whatever...I'll wait here for you...(cue Muzak)....
Okay, welcome back. So, from Mui Ne, I high-tailed it to Dalat, in the central highlands, where I re-connected with English friends Tonia and Daniel (whom I originally met in Laos), joining them on a four-day Easy Rider motorcycle tour through through the highlands, ending up back in Saigon. Along the way, we visited hill tribes, rice wine makers, silk factory (as in, from silk worms), visited bombed-out bridges from the war, and more - much too much to mention. My driver and guide, Mr. Bin, was funny, knowledgeable and a had a knack for taking killer photographs. We visited the Cu Chi tunnels at the end of our tour – Tonia and Daniel hadn't been yet. My second time around, I returned to the firing range and fired an AK-47 AND an M16. My aim had not improved any since my first visit.
From Saigon, I took a bus back to Cambodia, back to Siem Reap to – as I mentioned above – volunteer at the ACODO orphanage. Tonia and Daniel joined me. It was a rewarding and unforgettable experience. I'll never forget the children, and I plan to go back some day. I think my experience at the orphanage deserves more than just a mention in a blog post, but that's all I can put for now. Click here for the ACODO website.
From Siem Reap, back to Thailand, back to Bangkok...right smack dab in the middle of Songcran (New Year), where the custom is to purify yourself - and everyone else - with water. Therefore, there were water fights all over Bangkok. This was a hell of an experience, which turned into - briefly – a hellish experience when I left my moneybelt, with my passport and my bank cards, in a taxi. After two or three hours of panic and stress, they were thankfully recovered. It did put a bit of the damper on my Songcran spirit.
We were back in Bangkok in order to make our way down south to Ko Jum, a small, less-touristy island near Ko Phi Phi. Tonia and Daniel had been there earlier in their trip and had made many friends. We stayed at bungalows run by their ever-smiling and hospitable friend Eak for a bit less than a week. A highlight for me was the boat excursion to Ko Phi Phi: blue-green waters and the best snorkeling I have ever done.
I sadly parted ways with my lovely friends, Tonia and Daniel – we had been traveling together for the previous four weeks - who were moving on to Malaysia, while I was returning to the north of Thailand. I wanted to visit Pai - a town I had missed my first time around. It's a cool little artsy-hippy town north-west of Chiang Mai. I spent a week in Pai, doing a whole lot of nothing. Well, actually I did some yoga, rented a scooter for three days and toured around the countryside.
I went from Pai to Wat Tam Wua, a Buddhist forest monastery roughly 60 km from Pai, where I did vispassana meditation for seven days. There were other foreigners, along with Thais and, of course, the monastery's Buddhist monks. Accommodation was provided free of charge (though donations accepted) as were the two daily meals (breakfast and lunch only – no evening meal for Buddhist monks). You slept on a thin mat on a wooden floor - but it actually wasn't too bad. We had meditation sessions in the morning and the afternoon, and a shorter meditation in the evening. The setting of the monastery was beyond picturesque.
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| Tam Wua forest monastery |
There - you're caught up, sort of. Until the next post...
Andrew
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