Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Day 24
Got up early and went to "watch" people train mma as my mother had forbade me from doing it myself. It was so hot and it looked as if all the guys who were training were knacked. I then went back to the beach for a while and chilled out. I then went back to "watch" the afternoon session. It was still really hot and must have been really tiring for this who did the morning session as well. I then went to get some BBQ with some of the guys who had trained. It was really delicious chicken breast and burgers. I then headed back to watch the evening class which was really informative and different. For some reason all that watching had madee really tired so I headed back and took a quick nap. I was rudely awoken by the two Canadian girls from the night before who were going to look for a club in the city. Not wanting to let them down and the promise of meeting up with some philipino girls eventually gt me out of bed and we went out. The main club scene was the other end of the island buy we found a pretty good one near us. Luckily for the grandparents that are reading this no alcohol was consumed and I was in bed by 11.
Day 23
I have a feeling that all future blog posts will be quite boring and follow a similar pattern.
Got up relatively early and headed for the beach. Spent all day sun bathing, surfing and reading. It so relaxing but I have a feeling that I've got burned. In the evening I met up with some Canadian veils and went out for a couple of beers. During the evening I found out that one of them hadn't watched the shawshank redemption so with little else going on we headed back and watched it back at the hostel.
Got up relatively early and headed for the beach. Spent all day sun bathing, surfing and reading. It so relaxing but I have a feeling that I've got burned. In the evening I met up with some Canadian veils and went out for a couple of beers. During the evening I found out that one of them hadn't watched the shawshank redemption so with little else going on we headed back and watched it back at the hostel.
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Day 22
Drifting in and out of sleep we arrived in Phuket around 8:30. I ignored all the tuk-tuk drivers and headed straight for an internet cafe in order to check the address of the hostel i wanted to stay in. It said it was only a 5 minute walk from the bus station so i decided to walk it. Turns out it was more like 15 which in the heat and with a backpack meant i arrive absolutely dripping with sweat. I booked in and immediately went for a shower and a quick nap.
At around 11 i went down to the communal area where some people were discussing going to the beach. I asked if i could tag along and it turned out it was only one guy trying to convince the others to go so he was keen. We then were joined by a guy who was from spain (well an island of the coast of spain which is a separate state and hated being referred to as spanish) and a girl from manchester. By the time we all assembled we thought we'd catch the 12 o'clock bus. Then another girl wanted to come and she'd just be 5 mins. It was 40 mins without a word so we decided we should just go. The a couple of people wanted food so we went and got that eventually i think we caught the 1:30 bus and got to the beach around 2. He was pretty empty, boiling hot and had some crazy waves, awesome. There were tons of stalls offering surf board rental for 3pounds/hour and i was sorely tempted but the waves were huge and knowing i had no idea how to steer and not wanting to hit anybody i decided to leave it until tomorrow. Instead we met an aussie guy who taught us how to body surf, which is pretty much surfing but using your body as the board. It was pretty cool and helped you work out the timing and by the end we were managing huge surfs, almost as much as the surfers, just using our bodies.
We caught the bus back at around 5 which was the slowest thing i have ever seen, it averaged around 10km an hour as it was going really slowly past the beaches in order to try and pick others up, it was a nightmare and took us almost 1.5hours to get back.
We then all went out for a meal where the girl from manchester told us about a couch surfing party in Patong (the main party area in phuket) I had no idea what i was but it sound pretty cool so i said id go. After trying to find someone to take us there we haggled with a man who said he's take us there and then back at whatever time for 800baht. 16pounds between all of us. It doesn't sound like much but in Bangkok we were doing hour long taxi rides for about 2 pounds, this was only 10km away. It turned out they were all about the same price so we decided to discuss if it was worth it. Turns out a couch surfing party isn't as cool as it sounds. Couch surfing is where you sleep on someones couch when you need somewhere to stay in a new city or whatever. It had been organised through the couch surfing website to have a party on phuket but it sounded to me like it would just be a lot of weird people getting drunk together (anyone who rents their couch out to a stranger is either broke, a hippy or a rapist). We decided not to go and instead stay in and watch the champions league final instead. It was a good choice as a girl returned to the hsotel after having been to it and said it was just a quiet BBQ for an hour...
I tried staying up for the football (it started at 2 here) but got bored and went to get a good nights sleep so i could hit the MMA hard tomorrow morning.
At around 11 i went down to the communal area where some people were discussing going to the beach. I asked if i could tag along and it turned out it was only one guy trying to convince the others to go so he was keen. We then were joined by a guy who was from spain (well an island of the coast of spain which is a separate state and hated being referred to as spanish) and a girl from manchester. By the time we all assembled we thought we'd catch the 12 o'clock bus. Then another girl wanted to come and she'd just be 5 mins. It was 40 mins without a word so we decided we should just go. The a couple of people wanted food so we went and got that eventually i think we caught the 1:30 bus and got to the beach around 2. He was pretty empty, boiling hot and had some crazy waves, awesome. There were tons of stalls offering surf board rental for 3pounds/hour and i was sorely tempted but the waves were huge and knowing i had no idea how to steer and not wanting to hit anybody i decided to leave it until tomorrow. Instead we met an aussie guy who taught us how to body surf, which is pretty much surfing but using your body as the board. It was pretty cool and helped you work out the timing and by the end we were managing huge surfs, almost as much as the surfers, just using our bodies.
We caught the bus back at around 5 which was the slowest thing i have ever seen, it averaged around 10km an hour as it was going really slowly past the beaches in order to try and pick others up, it was a nightmare and took us almost 1.5hours to get back.
We then all went out for a meal where the girl from manchester told us about a couch surfing party in Patong (the main party area in phuket) I had no idea what i was but it sound pretty cool so i said id go. After trying to find someone to take us there we haggled with a man who said he's take us there and then back at whatever time for 800baht. 16pounds between all of us. It doesn't sound like much but in Bangkok we were doing hour long taxi rides for about 2 pounds, this was only 10km away. It turned out they were all about the same price so we decided to discuss if it was worth it. Turns out a couch surfing party isn't as cool as it sounds. Couch surfing is where you sleep on someones couch when you need somewhere to stay in a new city or whatever. It had been organised through the couch surfing website to have a party on phuket but it sounded to me like it would just be a lot of weird people getting drunk together (anyone who rents their couch out to a stranger is either broke, a hippy or a rapist). We decided not to go and instead stay in and watch the champions league final instead. It was a good choice as a girl returned to the hsotel after having been to it and said it was just a quiet BBQ for an hour...
I tried staying up for the football (it started at 2 here) but got bored and went to get a good nights sleep so i could hit the MMA hard tomorrow morning.
Day 21
Another lesson in lazy travelling today. We got up pretty early but just faffed around doing not much for a while. Went out to the nearby parked and just sat and relaxed before getting breakfast or a melted cheese toasty (very thai). We faffed around some more before heading back to the hotel in order to check emails and get some more money. As soon as we got in the rainy season started again. It was absolutely pouring so we decided to stay in for a while. After it had been rainy constantly for about an hour we decided to just to go out in it. Hugh was leaving today and so we all decided we would as well. Tiggy and Susie were going to Chaing Mai, i was going down to Phuket and Hugh was going to London to work for a bit which was/is pretty cool. There were a few things we each needed to pick up/book so we all put swimming trunks and old t-shirts on headed out. It was nuts, we were soaked through in about a minute but it wasn't cold at all. Just like having a constant shower. Everyone looked at us like we were mad but we decided we'd made the right choice instead of trying to dart between shops or use an umbrella (which offered little protection in this rain). We went and did our last bit of shopping and booked our tickets and the headed back. After showering, packing up and checking out Hugh had to leave to catch his airport bus so we walked him down and had another emotional goodbye. At around 5 the girls had to catch their bus so i walked them down and said goodbye, i was starting to think everybody was trying to get away from me...
My bus was supposed to be at 5:30 but the man arrived at 6. He took me on a huge walk all around the area picking up different people from each hotel (the reason i'd booked with my own hotel was so i'd get picked up from it not to walk around picking everyone else up). At around 7 we all pilled in to a minibus which took us to the station. In broken english the driver explained that the bus would arrive around 7:30 and depart at 8. He told us to wait at platform 17 pointed us in the rough direction and left, great.
We waited at the platform until the bus finally arrived at 9:15 and left at 9. It had taken me 3.5 hours just to get on the bus...
I was the only westerner on the bus bar a really fat old guy who was sat next to a tiny, really pretty thai girl (A great reminder of the fact we were in bangkok). The bus was in fact pretty good, reclining chairs instead of beds but after watching most of Born on the 4th of July i crashed out and didn't wake up until 6 the next morning.
My bus was supposed to be at 5:30 but the man arrived at 6. He took me on a huge walk all around the area picking up different people from each hotel (the reason i'd booked with my own hotel was so i'd get picked up from it not to walk around picking everyone else up). At around 7 we all pilled in to a minibus which took us to the station. In broken english the driver explained that the bus would arrive around 7:30 and depart at 8. He told us to wait at platform 17 pointed us in the rough direction and left, great.
We waited at the platform until the bus finally arrived at 9:15 and left at 9. It had taken me 3.5 hours just to get on the bus...
I was the only westerner on the bus bar a really fat old guy who was sat next to a tiny, really pretty thai girl (A great reminder of the fact we were in bangkok). The bus was in fact pretty good, reclining chairs instead of beds but after watching most of Born on the 4th of July i crashed out and didn't wake up until 6 the next morning.
day 20
We slept in until late and then went to go get breakfast, delicious noodles again.
We didn't really do much until 3 when we found out "the Hangover 2" was being released today. Its a film about some people who get really drunk and have a wild night in bangkok so we thought it appropriate to go see it. We went to the huge mall called MBK and booked our tickets before getting a McDonalds and doing some shopping. The film was awesome and may or may not have been quite an accurate representation of my first night in bangkok.
These guys had been travelling way longer than me and introduced me to a different "lazier" style of travelling which was pretty refreshing considering i'd been doing only 1-2 days in most places for the last 2 weeks and having to blitz it.
In the evening one of the canadians was going home after 6 months of travelling so we went out for a classic street food Phat Thai and street cocktails. I was approached by a guy selling hammocks and although i really wanted one couldn't be bothered to haggle tonight. The man started at 750baht (around 15pounds) and we all just kpet saying we weren't interested etc. He seemed really keen and kept pestering us but when he dropped the price to 150baht (about 3pounds) me and tiggy both bought one.
We were joined by some really old Australian guy who proceeded to tell us about how he was crazily racist and hated pretty much everyone then just when we thought he done enough he went on to talk to us about he was raped as a child. It kinda ruined our last night with Giles and we just wanted him to leave us alone.
Giles had to leave at 10 so we all walked him down to the bus for the airport and said goodbye. I felt bad having only known him 2 days but he had been travelling with his brother for 6 months and susie and tiggy for a month so they were pretty down. We tried to go clubbing to cheer ourselves up but it was pretty poor in Ko San road so we decided just to go back to the room and get drunk and talk. We even managed to string my newly bought hammock up between a bed railing and the door handle which was pretty awesome. It turned out to be really nice we stayed up until 3 or 4 just discussing the stupid australian man then our views on everything and Susie actually managed to make me reduce my hate for religion something i never thought possible. Gap years change everything!
We didn't really do much until 3 when we found out "the Hangover 2" was being released today. Its a film about some people who get really drunk and have a wild night in bangkok so we thought it appropriate to go see it. We went to the huge mall called MBK and booked our tickets before getting a McDonalds and doing some shopping. The film was awesome and may or may not have been quite an accurate representation of my first night in bangkok.
These guys had been travelling way longer than me and introduced me to a different "lazier" style of travelling which was pretty refreshing considering i'd been doing only 1-2 days in most places for the last 2 weeks and having to blitz it.
In the evening one of the canadians was going home after 6 months of travelling so we went out for a classic street food Phat Thai and street cocktails. I was approached by a guy selling hammocks and although i really wanted one couldn't be bothered to haggle tonight. The man started at 750baht (around 15pounds) and we all just kpet saying we weren't interested etc. He seemed really keen and kept pestering us but when he dropped the price to 150baht (about 3pounds) me and tiggy both bought one.
We were joined by some really old Australian guy who proceeded to tell us about how he was crazily racist and hated pretty much everyone then just when we thought he done enough he went on to talk to us about he was raped as a child. It kinda ruined our last night with Giles and we just wanted him to leave us alone.
Giles had to leave at 10 so we all walked him down to the bus for the airport and said goodbye. I felt bad having only known him 2 days but he had been travelling with his brother for 6 months and susie and tiggy for a month so they were pretty down. We tried to go clubbing to cheer ourselves up but it was pretty poor in Ko San road so we decided just to go back to the room and get drunk and talk. We even managed to string my newly bought hammock up between a bed railing and the door handle which was pretty awesome. It turned out to be really nice we stayed up until 3 or 4 just discussing the stupid australian man then our views on everything and Susie actually managed to make me reduce my hate for religion something i never thought possible. Gap years change everything!
Day 19
Unfortunately there's not much to report for this day. It was all about trying to relieve my money issues. With only 70p left and no way to get any more money out it was pretty scared. I still owed the hostel for the previous two nights and had no money to find somewhere to sleep for this night and the current one was full. All i had to do was to call up halifax and ask them to unblock my card but when you've got no money making an international phone call is quite difficult.I most of the day wandering the streets aimlessly looking for inspiration but when i completely ran out of money for water or food i decided to head back to the hostel to conserve energy. I hoped that by 16:00 my parents would be up and could offer more advice. Fortunately the receptionist at the hostel said i could sleep at hers and she'd cook me dinner, oh yeah! Unfortunately for her i asked a friend to take some money out of the ATM and i'd bank transfer it to him, money issues sorted. I paid back to hostel and then went out to get some food and water, oh how i missed water. Later that evening i found out Susie and Tiggy were also in bangkok so i agreed to meet up with them. Susie gave me the address as "rambuttri" near Ko San Road which i assumed was the name of their hostel. I asked the taxi driver to take me there and was quite surprised when he knew the exact one seeing as there are so many hostels in bangkok. Turns out Rambuttri isn't the name of a hostel but the name of a road with about 50 hostels on it. I said just drop me off and i'll find it, with no idea how.
Just as i left the cab i found out why it was called the rainy season. It absolutely bucketed it down, i was getting soaked but more importantly my bag was. I dived into the nearest open place which happened to be a hostel and left my bags in there to go looking. I ran up and down the street in the pouring ran for 5-10 trying to find them to no avail. I went back to the hostel i'd left my bags at and went to use the computers in order to see if i'd missed something in the message or if she'd given me directions. Just as i sat down a voice behind me said "Ben Almond?!?!?!" I turned round and it was Tiggy. Of all the maybe 50 hostels on the road i accidently stumbled into the one they were staying at and even then it was only because we were both using the computer at the same time that we met. Crazy!
I checked in and the said hi to Susie who introduced me to their two canadian friends they had been travelling with for a month who were really really cool. The room however was not, it was dirt cheap for a reason. It was a tiny box room with the worst bed ever and really hot, might have to take the receptionist up on her original offer...
In the evening we went for some street food indian which was huge and really cheap before picking up some super cheap whisky from 7/11 and going back to the room, just like england! We consumed some beverages and then they said they would take me out in Ko San road as i hadn't been before. We went in to 1 or two clubs which were pretty empty and full of westerners, it was just like being back home. I told them about the club i went to the day before and they said it was worth a shot. It turned out to be awesome. We were the only westerners in the club and everyone was really friendly and loved us.
Just as i left the cab i found out why it was called the rainy season. It absolutely bucketed it down, i was getting soaked but more importantly my bag was. I dived into the nearest open place which happened to be a hostel and left my bags in there to go looking. I ran up and down the street in the pouring ran for 5-10 trying to find them to no avail. I went back to the hostel i'd left my bags at and went to use the computers in order to see if i'd missed something in the message or if she'd given me directions. Just as i sat down a voice behind me said "Ben Almond?!?!?!" I turned round and it was Tiggy. Of all the maybe 50 hostels on the road i accidently stumbled into the one they were staying at and even then it was only because we were both using the computer at the same time that we met. Crazy!
I checked in and the said hi to Susie who introduced me to their two canadian friends they had been travelling with for a month who were really really cool. The room however was not, it was dirt cheap for a reason. It was a tiny box room with the worst bed ever and really hot, might have to take the receptionist up on her original offer...
In the evening we went for some street food indian which was huge and really cheap before picking up some super cheap whisky from 7/11 and going back to the room, just like england! We consumed some beverages and then they said they would take me out in Ko San road as i hadn't been before. We went in to 1 or two clubs which were pretty empty and full of westerners, it was just like being back home. I told them about the club i went to the day before and they said it was worth a shot. It turned out to be awesome. We were the only westerners in the club and everyone was really friendly and loved us.
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Day 18
Luckily as i had definitely not been out the night before i was able to get up early and go out to do the city.
We took the sky train to the Grand Palace which was amazing. If only "cash my gold" could see it. I also saw the emerald Buddha and couldn't really see what all the fuss was about, it was tiny but apparently its all about national pride.
Then we went to Wat Pho which was pretty incredible, especially the colossal Buddha. Unfortunately i had forgotten my camera so we decided to go back and get it so i could take some photos. When we tried to re-enter they tried to make us buy a new ticket for roughly $14 which we didn't want to do so i don't have any photos of either of them. Here is a link to Google images which will have far better photos than i could have taken
Grand Palace: http://www.Google.co.th/search?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=grand+palace+bangkok&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
Wat Pho: http://www.Google.co.th/search?q=wat%20pho%20bangkok&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1366&bih=613
Afterwards we decided to check out the huge mall (MBK) which is ridiculous, i don't think there is anything in the world you cant buy in there. We ate in the special food court place which was really cool. You were given a card when you entered and the whatever you buy you just swipe the card and then pay at the end. There were loads of different stalls each representing a different country and their types of dishes. There was almost too much choice, in the end i went for pita bread and humus, special thai fried rice and a couple of meat skewers. A weird combination but it was soo good. We then found out that we get free iced teas just for being foreign, bonus! Absolutely stuffed we decided to chill out and go to the cinema on the 8th floor. We watch Thor for about 2pounds (instead of the ridiculous amounts you pay in england) which was really good.
On the way back we got caught in the most horrendous rain ever. We were absolutely soaked in about 10 seconds, it was nuts!
In the evening we got some street food from outside our hostel, BBQ'd beef and pork with rice and loads of really really hot chilli sauce (i think i've lost all my taste buds for ever).
At the hostel the girl who worked at reception said she'd take us out and show us a really good club which was cool. We played some drinking games which was really fun as we had a different person from every continent in the world so there were loads i hadn't played before.
After constant delays while the reception waited to get off work we all went to the club. She told us it was really cheap to buy spirits by the bottle for the table (it was even cheaper than we could get them in the 7-11) and a good night was had by all.
Hopefully by the time you read this post there will be some odds and sods of photos on facebook. I've had some free time today so i've uploaded all the pics on my camera which are kinda of a mish-mash as i've been deleting some as i go as i've run out of space but i rarely deleted from the front, i just deleted random ones (as i have them all backed up) so there not in a great order and theres chunks missing but you'll get the idea.
We took the sky train to the Grand Palace which was amazing. If only "cash my gold" could see it. I also saw the emerald Buddha and couldn't really see what all the fuss was about, it was tiny but apparently its all about national pride.
Then we went to Wat Pho which was pretty incredible, especially the colossal Buddha. Unfortunately i had forgotten my camera so we decided to go back and get it so i could take some photos. When we tried to re-enter they tried to make us buy a new ticket for roughly $14 which we didn't want to do so i don't have any photos of either of them. Here is a link to Google images which will have far better photos than i could have taken
Grand Palace: http://www.Google.co.th/search?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=grand+palace+bangkok&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
Wat Pho: http://www.Google.co.th/search?q=wat%20pho%20bangkok&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1366&bih=613
Afterwards we decided to check out the huge mall (MBK) which is ridiculous, i don't think there is anything in the world you cant buy in there. We ate in the special food court place which was really cool. You were given a card when you entered and the whatever you buy you just swipe the card and then pay at the end. There were loads of different stalls each representing a different country and their types of dishes. There was almost too much choice, in the end i went for pita bread and humus, special thai fried rice and a couple of meat skewers. A weird combination but it was soo good. We then found out that we get free iced teas just for being foreign, bonus! Absolutely stuffed we decided to chill out and go to the cinema on the 8th floor. We watch Thor for about 2pounds (instead of the ridiculous amounts you pay in england) which was really good.
On the way back we got caught in the most horrendous rain ever. We were absolutely soaked in about 10 seconds, it was nuts!
In the evening we got some street food from outside our hostel, BBQ'd beef and pork with rice and loads of really really hot chilli sauce (i think i've lost all my taste buds for ever).
At the hostel the girl who worked at reception said she'd take us out and show us a really good club which was cool. We played some drinking games which was really fun as we had a different person from every continent in the world so there were loads i hadn't played before.
After constant delays while the reception waited to get off work we all went to the club. She told us it was really cheap to buy spirits by the bottle for the table (it was even cheaper than we could get them in the 7-11) and a good night was had by all.
Hopefully by the time you read this post there will be some odds and sods of photos on facebook. I've had some free time today so i've uploaded all the pics on my camera which are kinda of a mish-mash as i've been deleting some as i go as i've run out of space but i rarely deleted from the front, i just deleted random ones (as i have them all backed up) so there not in a great order and theres chunks missing but you'll get the idea.
Monday, 23 May 2011
Day 17
The Hungarian girl was the best room mate ever and woke me up just in time to catch the buffet breakfast at our hostel which was really tasty, loads of fruit, cereal and pancakes. I had booked my bus to Bangkok for 12 so just lounged around in the hammocks with Jack until the bus arrived. DISCLAIMER: here comes another moan about a bus...
The bus we had to take us to the border was pretty poor. The aircon didn't work so we had all the windows and the doors open. There also wasn't enough room for the bags so they were all stacked on top of us which made the pretty cramped bus very cramped. We also seemed to stop every 30mins for a toilet break and much as i have a tiny bladder it was absolutely ridiculous.
The boarder crossing was pretty interesting, the us dropped us off at the cambodian side and just turned round and left immediately. We got our passports and visas checked then went sent through a door. It led outside where there was just 500m of completely empty tarmac with cambodian soldiers standing on one side and thai ones on the other. It felt a bit like a prisoner swap from a movie. At the thai side there was much umming and ahhing about what my passport was and if it was valid (my new temporary one is white and looks weird) they eventually let me through.
At the other side there was a bus waiting for us and for once i cant complain. It was an airconditioned minibus with enough room for everyone and the bags were actually put in the boot. The people on it were really cool, they all spoke english and everyone got on great. It was only a 3 hour bus ride but we were all best friends by the end of it.
When we arrived we decided to trust hostelworld.com and went to the best rated one even if it was 20mins outside the main touristy bit. It was a good choice, its really nice and the staff are amazing. When we came to check in the girl on the desk was really funny and we had great banter. She also told us to book online as it $3 cheaper which was really cool if a bit weird with us just using her computer to book the room while checking in. She even let me put down a HMV gift card, a subway loyalty card and 57p as my room deposit as i didn't have any baht.
Pretty knacked i was ready to go to bed but Jack really wanted to go out and show me some bars as he's been before. I am acutely aware there are multiple generations of my family reading this so i'm going to say that i definitely did not go out in Bangkok and instead got an early night...
The bus we had to take us to the border was pretty poor. The aircon didn't work so we had all the windows and the doors open. There also wasn't enough room for the bags so they were all stacked on top of us which made the pretty cramped bus very cramped. We also seemed to stop every 30mins for a toilet break and much as i have a tiny bladder it was absolutely ridiculous.
The boarder crossing was pretty interesting, the us dropped us off at the cambodian side and just turned round and left immediately. We got our passports and visas checked then went sent through a door. It led outside where there was just 500m of completely empty tarmac with cambodian soldiers standing on one side and thai ones on the other. It felt a bit like a prisoner swap from a movie. At the thai side there was much umming and ahhing about what my passport was and if it was valid (my new temporary one is white and looks weird) they eventually let me through.
At the other side there was a bus waiting for us and for once i cant complain. It was an airconditioned minibus with enough room for everyone and the bags were actually put in the boot. The people on it were really cool, they all spoke english and everyone got on great. It was only a 3 hour bus ride but we were all best friends by the end of it.
When we arrived we decided to trust hostelworld.com and went to the best rated one even if it was 20mins outside the main touristy bit. It was a good choice, its really nice and the staff are amazing. When we came to check in the girl on the desk was really funny and we had great banter. She also told us to book online as it $3 cheaper which was really cool if a bit weird with us just using her computer to book the room while checking in. She even let me put down a HMV gift card, a subway loyalty card and 57p as my room deposit as i didn't have any baht.
Pretty knacked i was ready to go to bed but Jack really wanted to go out and show me some bars as he's been before. I am acutely aware there are multiple generations of my family reading this so i'm going to say that i definitely did not go out in Bangkok and instead got an early night...
Day 16
Despite the late night the day before i got up at 7 in order to get to the temples early. While having breakfast i talked to a guy called jack who was doing the same so we agreed to share a tuk-tuk he just had to wait for his friend who would meet us at 8. The friend didn't turn up until 9:30 but was hilarious so we let him off.
The driver took us to Ankor Wat first (the famous one) and it was incredible. It is absolutely huge and i've never seen anything like it. He dropped us off just outside and we had to walk to the temple. On the way we were swarmed by loads of little kids trying to sell us stuff who despite only being about 6-7 spoke perfect english.
To get into the complex you have to walk across a huge bridge spanning the 100m wide moat and through a really impressive gate. Once inside you get a true gist of how huge the place is. The outer walls enclose multiple smaller temples and a huge amounts of open space and even a couple of lakes. On the walk to the main complex i bumped into a couple of guys i had met on the ha long bay trip 2 weeks ago. It's crazy how you can bump into people you'd never thought you'd see again. Then again everyone's doing kinda the same route so i shouldn't be that surprised.
The main temple is awe-inspiring (running out of adjectives here), the intricacy on all the wall carvings is amazing and it's still in great condition despite being 1000years old. There was a lot of climbing up damgerous steps (with signs warning of death everywhere and the guide book saying that they had to close this area for a while due to the number of deaths) which was both exhausting and scary made worse by the 35degree heat.
I stupidly wore long trousers and a shirt i order not to get bitten by malaria mosquitoes (i was the only one) and so i was absolutely covered in sweat at this point. Luckily the view at the top made up for it. You could see the whole complex and appreciate the fact that it is totally surrounded by jungle and marvel at how on earth they built something like this.
After Ankor Wat we went to get something to eat and mid way through the meal the driver let out a comic girly scream and pointed to the table. There was the biggest spider i have ever seen and it ran straight at Jack. He freaked out and knocked his plate everywhere, we couldn't stop laughing for 10 mins.
After we had calmed down a little we visited a couple of different temples which were also pretty impressive but nowhere near the scale of Ankor Wat. The last temple we visited was probably my favourite though, even better than Ankor Wat. It had been over run by jungle and had trees growing through it and was in the middle of nowhere, it looked like a ancient lost city out of tomb raider.
In the evening we (The dad, the two new girls from our dorm, a hungarian and a dutch girl and loads of really fit Finnish girls that the dad somehow knew) went an had another street BBQ which was awesome and then went and got a fish massage. It was really weird and kinda pointless but relaxing after a while. We then headed back to pub street and played a couple of drinking games and then went clubbing. We had a great night and all went swimming at 5am which may not have been the greatest idea but was pretty fun...
The driver took us to Ankor Wat first (the famous one) and it was incredible. It is absolutely huge and i've never seen anything like it. He dropped us off just outside and we had to walk to the temple. On the way we were swarmed by loads of little kids trying to sell us stuff who despite only being about 6-7 spoke perfect english.
To get into the complex you have to walk across a huge bridge spanning the 100m wide moat and through a really impressive gate. Once inside you get a true gist of how huge the place is. The outer walls enclose multiple smaller temples and a huge amounts of open space and even a couple of lakes. On the walk to the main complex i bumped into a couple of guys i had met on the ha long bay trip 2 weeks ago. It's crazy how you can bump into people you'd never thought you'd see again. Then again everyone's doing kinda the same route so i shouldn't be that surprised.
The main temple is awe-inspiring (running out of adjectives here), the intricacy on all the wall carvings is amazing and it's still in great condition despite being 1000years old. There was a lot of climbing up damgerous steps (with signs warning of death everywhere and the guide book saying that they had to close this area for a while due to the number of deaths) which was both exhausting and scary made worse by the 35degree heat.
I stupidly wore long trousers and a shirt i order not to get bitten by malaria mosquitoes (i was the only one) and so i was absolutely covered in sweat at this point. Luckily the view at the top made up for it. You could see the whole complex and appreciate the fact that it is totally surrounded by jungle and marvel at how on earth they built something like this.
After Ankor Wat we went to get something to eat and mid way through the meal the driver let out a comic girly scream and pointed to the table. There was the biggest spider i have ever seen and it ran straight at Jack. He freaked out and knocked his plate everywhere, we couldn't stop laughing for 10 mins.
After we had calmed down a little we visited a couple of different temples which were also pretty impressive but nowhere near the scale of Ankor Wat. The last temple we visited was probably my favourite though, even better than Ankor Wat. It had been over run by jungle and had trees growing through it and was in the middle of nowhere, it looked like a ancient lost city out of tomb raider.
In the evening we (The dad, the two new girls from our dorm, a hungarian and a dutch girl and loads of really fit Finnish girls that the dad somehow knew) went an had another street BBQ which was awesome and then went and got a fish massage. It was really weird and kinda pointless but relaxing after a while. We then headed back to pub street and played a couple of drinking games and then went clubbing. We had a great night and all went swimming at 5am which may not have been the greatest idea but was pretty fun...
day 15
Got to learn to start updating my blog daily, keep forgetting where i've been and whats happened.
Got up early and booked a bus to siem reap. As always with buses it was horrible, but this one was especially horrible. There was no aircon and the bus was tiny, even i struggled with leg room let alone the giant candian sitting opposite me. I got a tuk-tuk to the hostel i had booked which took about 40mins and only cost $1 (although they are very slow). I stayed in a dorm room with 6 other people who were all really cool but 3 of them left an hour after i checked in (they swore it wasn't because of me) so it became quite empty. The hostel it's self was pretty awesome, it had a pool table, a table football, a pool, tv room with loads of films and most importantly a good selection of hammocks.
When happy hour started ($0.5 a pint) i went down to the bar with a guy from my room who had just finished a 2month motorbike tour of vietnam with his son. He was really interesting and had some good tips about travelling. We then headed into town to "pub street" to get some food. We had an amazing street food BBQ with a huge steak for only $1.50 and some kebabs. We then went into a couple of the bars which were absolutely packed despite it being a sunday. As it was just one long street there was so much competition that the drinks were incredibly cheap and everyone was trying to drag you in. I also found a great place that did normal pizza for $4 or the happy hour special of "happy pizza" for $3. I resisted the urge but we saw 2 french guys who were a right state.
I realise most of these blog posts are just me recounting how drunk i got i'm trying to make them more interesting but i don't think theres too much i can say about a bus ride...
Got up early and booked a bus to siem reap. As always with buses it was horrible, but this one was especially horrible. There was no aircon and the bus was tiny, even i struggled with leg room let alone the giant candian sitting opposite me. I got a tuk-tuk to the hostel i had booked which took about 40mins and only cost $1 (although they are very slow). I stayed in a dorm room with 6 other people who were all really cool but 3 of them left an hour after i checked in (they swore it wasn't because of me) so it became quite empty. The hostel it's self was pretty awesome, it had a pool table, a table football, a pool, tv room with loads of films and most importantly a good selection of hammocks.
When happy hour started ($0.5 a pint) i went down to the bar with a guy from my room who had just finished a 2month motorbike tour of vietnam with his son. He was really interesting and had some good tips about travelling. We then headed into town to "pub street" to get some food. We had an amazing street food BBQ with a huge steak for only $1.50 and some kebabs. We then went into a couple of the bars which were absolutely packed despite it being a sunday. As it was just one long street there was so much competition that the drinks were incredibly cheap and everyone was trying to drag you in. I also found a great place that did normal pizza for $4 or the happy hour special of "happy pizza" for $3. I resisted the urge but we saw 2 french guys who were a right state.
I realise most of these blog posts are just me recounting how drunk i got i'm trying to make them more interesting but i don't think theres too much i can say about a bus ride...
Friday, 20 May 2011
Temp blog post
End of day 10
We went wandering the town for somewhere to eat and matt found this awesome little local place that did nodle soup and not much else. It was super cheap and delicious, and despite the locals laughing at us for not knowing what to do with all the spices and sauces it was great fun. On the way back to the hotel we bumped into a canadian guy who had been on our night bus to hue.We decided to all go out for a beer which turned into several and then i found a place that served vodka redbull buckets for $1.50. The night gets a litle hazy from then on but got some great stories...
Day 11
Perhaps the buckets weren't such a good idea as we had to be up and out at 8 to go see the cu chi tunnels. Draging our selves out of bed we made it down to the hotels breakfast (omelette and bread) and then onto the bus for our tour. We were massively delayed leaving while the driver tried to get people in off the street in order to fill up the bus. Me and Matt chose the worst possible seats which weren't fixed down properly and had no leg room so the journey there was pretty bad. Once we arrived we saw a massively pro-vietnam film on the war against the "the american devils" and then our guide showed us round the site. It was the same as last time but still pretty cool seeing how the built the tunnels and how intricate they were. I managed to fit down the same hole i did 3 years ago (thanks to the fantastic diet that is "paying for your own food", side note but i've lost about 2kg already). I then (and the significance of which is lost on all but my family) went through the tunnels! They turned out just to be dark tunnels as i had suspected. Later on we went to the shooting range where matt fired a pretty big machine gun.
We returned home around 3 so went to check in to our next hotel. It was incredible, a true 5 star hotel. the room was huge and had loads of free stuff to nick! After checking in i went to get my passport sorted so walked down to the embassy. Apparently i needed a copy of my flight itinery and was told to come back tomorrow.
On returning to the hotel we went for a swim in the pool and some guests that were leaving gifted us a half drunk bottle of rum as they couldn't take it with them, result!
In the evening we went out for a meal at a different noodle place which was nice but not as good as the first.
Shattered from the early start we decided just to go to bed and fell asleep to some CSI on the TV.
Day 12
Really shit day sorting out visa.
That sentence pretty much sums up the day but i'll elaberate for those of you that have nothing better to do.
I went to the embassy at 9 and handed in all my documents and she said come back at 3 and it will be ready.
I returned at 3 and had to pay $180 for this new temporary passport (will have to get a proper one for more money when i get back to the UK). It also listed the countries and the exact days i'll be visiting them so i don't have any flexibility anymore so had to count visiting laos out. Next i had to get a new visa as the old one was lost with my passport. After waiting around for an hour (apparently no one knew what a queue was) i eventually saw the man who could give me a new visa. He said it would be a week before i could get a new one. I explained that i didn't have a week as i had to get a bus tomorrow. He said if i wanted it tomorrow i'd have to pay $200 and $25 for the visa. I told him i didn't have the money for that, all he had to do was use a stamp, it takes 2 mins. I soon realised it was just a bribe for him and so tried to haggle him down. After 30mins of getting nowhere and shitting myself that i'd be stuck in nam for another week i resorted to crocidille tears. Not my proudest moment but got him down to $25 and $25 for the visa. He said come back at 9 tomorrow to pick it up. Exhausted and broke we resorted to having instant noodles in our 5 star hotel room before getting an early night.
Day 13
Got up early and had the an awesome breakfast buffet at the hotel, with cearal, bacon, omelettes etc.
Headed off early to the visa place to make sure i had enough time to catch my 12:00 bus. i arrived at 8:30 and was told that he had to wait for his boss to arrive at 9. At 9 i asked again and he said his boss would be late in, try again at 11. I told him i had to catch my bus and he said he could do it earlier if i gave him another $100. I told him i'd wait. At 11 i asked agin and he said his boss is still not in and that he would do it for $75. I told him i really needed to catch the bus so he said wait. At 11:15 i begged him to do it as i'd miss the last bus for the day. He opened his draw, took out my passport and gave it to me. He had it done the whole time. WHAT A WANKER!!!
I then rushed back to the hotel to pick up my bags, said goodbye to matt who was going home and let him know i was all sorted then rushed to the bus station to catch the bus. In typical asian style the bus didn't leave until 1:30 while the driver rounded up passengers to fill out the bus.
After a small delay at the border while they tried to work out what my emergency passport was we got into cambodia. On the bus ride i was sat next to a cambodian girl who had been studying in america for the last 2 years. She was really nice and told me what to see and where to go etc. She even said she'd take me out to the clubs where all the locals went instead of the western bars but i was knacked so i said i meet her tomorow. We eventually arrived at 8 and i got a moto to the cheapest hotel i could find. $1 a night but you get what you pay for. The owner had to remove 2 cockroaches from my bed when we entered, there was no fan or air con, one of the windows was missing glass and there was no shower, just a squat toilet. I was so tired i didn't care and just fell asleep.
Day 14
I got up early and promptly checked out. I quite like cheap and rough places as it's part of the experience but i needed a shower. I looked up a hostel for $6 a night online and it was awesome. Had a pool, a pool table, really friendly staff and was prety central. I spent the day doing cultural stuff inlcuding s-21 prison and the killing fields which is harrowing and i probably should have done them on seperate days. I saw far too many dead bodies and skulls for one day. To cheer myself i up i went to the market and seeing as i had run out of clean t-shirts bought myself a couple of new ones to tie me over until i could find a launderette.
On returning to the hostel i bumped into the canadian from the night bus again and we went for dinner. It was really nice and super cheap. Later that evening we met up with the cambodian girl from my bus and she took us to loads of great abr and clubs. Drinks were crazily cheap and things got a little hazy after the first couple of bars but i have some great stories.
We went wandering the town for somewhere to eat and matt found this awesome little local place that did nodle soup and not much else. It was super cheap and delicious, and despite the locals laughing at us for not knowing what to do with all the spices and sauces it was great fun. On the way back to the hotel we bumped into a canadian guy who had been on our night bus to hue.We decided to all go out for a beer which turned into several and then i found a place that served vodka redbull buckets for $1.50. The night gets a litle hazy from then on but got some great stories...
Day 11
Perhaps the buckets weren't such a good idea as we had to be up and out at 8 to go see the cu chi tunnels. Draging our selves out of bed we made it down to the hotels breakfast (omelette and bread) and then onto the bus for our tour. We were massively delayed leaving while the driver tried to get people in off the street in order to fill up the bus. Me and Matt chose the worst possible seats which weren't fixed down properly and had no leg room so the journey there was pretty bad. Once we arrived we saw a massively pro-vietnam film on the war against the "the american devils" and then our guide showed us round the site. It was the same as last time but still pretty cool seeing how the built the tunnels and how intricate they were. I managed to fit down the same hole i did 3 years ago (thanks to the fantastic diet that is "paying for your own food", side note but i've lost about 2kg already). I then (and the significance of which is lost on all but my family) went through the tunnels! They turned out just to be dark tunnels as i had suspected. Later on we went to the shooting range where matt fired a pretty big machine gun.
We returned home around 3 so went to check in to our next hotel. It was incredible, a true 5 star hotel. the room was huge and had loads of free stuff to nick! After checking in i went to get my passport sorted so walked down to the embassy. Apparently i needed a copy of my flight itinery and was told to come back tomorrow.
On returning to the hotel we went for a swim in the pool and some guests that were leaving gifted us a half drunk bottle of rum as they couldn't take it with them, result!
In the evening we went out for a meal at a different noodle place which was nice but not as good as the first.
Shattered from the early start we decided just to go to bed and fell asleep to some CSI on the TV.
Day 12
Really shit day sorting out visa.
That sentence pretty much sums up the day but i'll elaberate for those of you that have nothing better to do.
I went to the embassy at 9 and handed in all my documents and she said come back at 3 and it will be ready.
I returned at 3 and had to pay $180 for this new temporary passport (will have to get a proper one for more money when i get back to the UK). It also listed the countries and the exact days i'll be visiting them so i don't have any flexibility anymore so had to count visiting laos out. Next i had to get a new visa as the old one was lost with my passport. After waiting around for an hour (apparently no one knew what a queue was) i eventually saw the man who could give me a new visa. He said it would be a week before i could get a new one. I explained that i didn't have a week as i had to get a bus tomorrow. He said if i wanted it tomorrow i'd have to pay $200 and $25 for the visa. I told him i didn't have the money for that, all he had to do was use a stamp, it takes 2 mins. I soon realised it was just a bribe for him and so tried to haggle him down. After 30mins of getting nowhere and shitting myself that i'd be stuck in nam for another week i resorted to crocidille tears. Not my proudest moment but got him down to $25 and $25 for the visa. He said come back at 9 tomorrow to pick it up. Exhausted and broke we resorted to having instant noodles in our 5 star hotel room before getting an early night.
Day 13
Got up early and had the an awesome breakfast buffet at the hotel, with cearal, bacon, omelettes etc.
Headed off early to the visa place to make sure i had enough time to catch my 12:00 bus. i arrived at 8:30 and was told that he had to wait for his boss to arrive at 9. At 9 i asked again and he said his boss would be late in, try again at 11. I told him i had to catch my bus and he said he could do it earlier if i gave him another $100. I told him i'd wait. At 11 i asked agin and he said his boss is still not in and that he would do it for $75. I told him i really needed to catch the bus so he said wait. At 11:15 i begged him to do it as i'd miss the last bus for the day. He opened his draw, took out my passport and gave it to me. He had it done the whole time. WHAT A WANKER!!!
I then rushed back to the hotel to pick up my bags, said goodbye to matt who was going home and let him know i was all sorted then rushed to the bus station to catch the bus. In typical asian style the bus didn't leave until 1:30 while the driver rounded up passengers to fill out the bus.
After a small delay at the border while they tried to work out what my emergency passport was we got into cambodia. On the bus ride i was sat next to a cambodian girl who had been studying in america for the last 2 years. She was really nice and told me what to see and where to go etc. She even said she'd take me out to the clubs where all the locals went instead of the western bars but i was knacked so i said i meet her tomorow. We eventually arrived at 8 and i got a moto to the cheapest hotel i could find. $1 a night but you get what you pay for. The owner had to remove 2 cockroaches from my bed when we entered, there was no fan or air con, one of the windows was missing glass and there was no shower, just a squat toilet. I was so tired i didn't care and just fell asleep.
Day 14
I got up early and promptly checked out. I quite like cheap and rough places as it's part of the experience but i needed a shower. I looked up a hostel for $6 a night online and it was awesome. Had a pool, a pool table, really friendly staff and was prety central. I spent the day doing cultural stuff inlcuding s-21 prison and the killing fields which is harrowing and i probably should have done them on seperate days. I saw far too many dead bodies and skulls for one day. To cheer myself i up i went to the market and seeing as i had run out of clean t-shirts bought myself a couple of new ones to tie me over until i could find a launderette.
On returning to the hostel i bumped into the canadian from the night bus again and we went for dinner. It was really nice and super cheap. Later that evening we met up with the cambodian girl from my bus and she took us to loads of great abr and clubs. Drinks were crazily cheap and things got a little hazy after the first couple of bars but i have some great stories.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Day 10
Dreaded night bus turned out to be dreadful again. No toilet, tiny leg room (even for midgets like me), me and matt the only non-vietnamese on the bus so no one to talk to and no sleep. May have to reassess my plans about getting another 6 throughout my journey....
We arrived at the hostel we thought we wanted to stay in at 6am and it was closed so we moved on to the second choice. They only had $20 a night rooms but tired and desperate for the toilet we checked in. We were told the room wasn't available until 9 but managed to get in at 7:30. The room was fine, just what we wanted, apart from the fact it was on the 7th floor with no lift.
Absolutely exhausted we crashed until 12 before i insisted we do something with the day. We crawled out of bed, got lunch and headed out into the city. We helpfully answered a couple of questionaires from vietnamese university students about whether or not we had eaten ho-nog soup (aparently chicken and noodles) during our time in vietnam.
We eventually found our way to the war remnants museum which was pretty impressive and had changed significantly since the last time i visited. It was very harrowing especially the floor dedicated to prisoner torture and the effects of agent orange. Next we went to visit the palace but it was closed, so we took a couple of pictures from the outside and said we'd go back if we had time later this week. Obviously feeling the effect of the sun (or my dad has finally got to me) i suggested the botanical gardens, matt must have also been feeling the sun as he agreed. Half way through the walk it started chucking it down and thinking that trying to see the gardens in the pouring rain was a bad idea we got a taxi home. It's now 6:30 and we're waiting to have dinner and then see what the club scene is like in Vietnam's capital!
We arrived at the hostel we thought we wanted to stay in at 6am and it was closed so we moved on to the second choice. They only had $20 a night rooms but tired and desperate for the toilet we checked in. We were told the room wasn't available until 9 but managed to get in at 7:30. The room was fine, just what we wanted, apart from the fact it was on the 7th floor with no lift.
Absolutely exhausted we crashed until 12 before i insisted we do something with the day. We crawled out of bed, got lunch and headed out into the city. We helpfully answered a couple of questionaires from vietnamese university students about whether or not we had eaten ho-nog soup (aparently chicken and noodles) during our time in vietnam.
We eventually found our way to the war remnants museum which was pretty impressive and had changed significantly since the last time i visited. It was very harrowing especially the floor dedicated to prisoner torture and the effects of agent orange. Next we went to visit the palace but it was closed, so we took a couple of pictures from the outside and said we'd go back if we had time later this week. Obviously feeling the effect of the sun (or my dad has finally got to me) i suggested the botanical gardens, matt must have also been feeling the sun as he agreed. Half way through the walk it started chucking it down and thinking that trying to see the gardens in the pouring rain was a bad idea we got a taxi home. It's now 6:30 and we're waiting to have dinner and then see what the club scene is like in Vietnam's capital!
Saturday, 14 May 2011
day 9
Although it's only the morning of day 9 i thought i should try and get ahead of myself as i've been quite behind recently. Still nowhere where i can upload photo's properly. I managed to get 4 up on flickr before i gave up with it taking 1 hour to upload one photo. Also recently photo taking has reduced due to our proximity to water, i think i've only taken 3 in the last 2 days compared to the 40 a day i was taking before.
Also got our first batch of laundry done, it's incredible how quickly im going through t-shirts. I got a couple of shorts, all but 1 of my t-shirts and some other stuff for only 1pound.
I'll write this is future tense and try and change it into past when i get a chance.
Today we're going to the beach again, if we can find a cheap boat trip to go snorkelling we'll take it if not we'll work on our non-existant tan and go swimming. We'll then try and get a good meal in before another dreaded night bus to ho chi minh.
Also got our first batch of laundry done, it's incredible how quickly im going through t-shirts. I got a couple of shorts, all but 1 of my t-shirts and some other stuff for only 1pound.
I'll write this is future tense and try and change it into past when i get a chance.
Today we're going to the beach again, if we can find a cheap boat trip to go snorkelling we'll take it if not we'll work on our non-existant tan and go swimming. We'll then try and get a good meal in before another dreaded night bus to ho chi minh.
Day 8
We booked our night bus to Nha Trang for that night so decided to spend the day as relaxed as possible. We headed to the beach and spent most of the day sun bathing and swimming in the sea. Generous amounts of factor 50 ensured that i didn't get a tan but luckily Matt is one of the whitest people known to man so i can still pretend i'm vaguely tanned when standing next to him.
We rented our room for the day so we had somewhere to leave our bags and could shower before heading onto the night bus which turned out to be a great choice when returning as hot and sandy as we did.
After dinner we headed out to catch the night bus which was one of the ones we had feared. Cramped and no toilet, 13 hour journey here we come :(. When we got on the front was packed with vietnamese but the top back row of five beds all together was free. Thinking we were the last stop me and matt took over the back 5 like the naughty kids at school and spread out thinking we'd made the best of a bad situation. Unfortunately there were 2 more stops and although the vietnames avoided us like the plague at the last stop we were joined on the back row by 3 eastern europeans. Meaning we had to cramped together like 5 people sharing a double bed. It also meant we had to move over to the side where the top of the lining of the coach was full of holes. This meant our feet were blasted by fully on air con while our heads were melted by what smelt liek really hot exhaust fumes.
That trip was quite possibly the slowest time has ever travelled.
We arrived at 6am and got a taxi straight to a hotel and checked in. As it was 6am they didn't have a clean room available but we were so shattered we decided to take it anyway. One bed had been slept in but the other hadn't. I shotguned the un-slept in bed but as i went for a quick shower matt blatently disregarded the rules of shotgun and removed my stuff from my bed and added his own. Too tired to argue i flipped the matteress on the other bed, got out my sleeping bag and went to bed.
We set the alarm for 1 so we didin't waste the whole day and got up and went to the beach. It was a beautiful, practically empty, 4km of white sand. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and swimming. I really wanted to do some water sports but found out that morning that somehow Matt had booked a $200 a night hotel for our last 2 nights and with money already short there was no way i could afford it.
In the evening we took advantage of even more great happy hour deals but keen not to make this turn into a drinking holiday we avoided the clubs and headed home early in order to get up for the beach tomorrow and prepare ourselves for the night bus tomorrow
We rented our room for the day so we had somewhere to leave our bags and could shower before heading onto the night bus which turned out to be a great choice when returning as hot and sandy as we did.
After dinner we headed out to catch the night bus which was one of the ones we had feared. Cramped and no toilet, 13 hour journey here we come :(. When we got on the front was packed with vietnamese but the top back row of five beds all together was free. Thinking we were the last stop me and matt took over the back 5 like the naughty kids at school and spread out thinking we'd made the best of a bad situation. Unfortunately there were 2 more stops and although the vietnames avoided us like the plague at the last stop we were joined on the back row by 3 eastern europeans. Meaning we had to cramped together like 5 people sharing a double bed. It also meant we had to move over to the side where the top of the lining of the coach was full of holes. This meant our feet were blasted by fully on air con while our heads were melted by what smelt liek really hot exhaust fumes.
That trip was quite possibly the slowest time has ever travelled.
We arrived at 6am and got a taxi straight to a hotel and checked in. As it was 6am they didn't have a clean room available but we were so shattered we decided to take it anyway. One bed had been slept in but the other hadn't. I shotguned the un-slept in bed but as i went for a quick shower matt blatently disregarded the rules of shotgun and removed my stuff from my bed and added his own. Too tired to argue i flipped the matteress on the other bed, got out my sleeping bag and went to bed.
We set the alarm for 1 so we didin't waste the whole day and got up and went to the beach. It was a beautiful, practically empty, 4km of white sand. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and swimming. I really wanted to do some water sports but found out that morning that somehow Matt had booked a $200 a night hotel for our last 2 nights and with money already short there was no way i could afford it.
In the evening we took advantage of even more great happy hour deals but keen not to make this turn into a drinking holiday we avoided the clubs and headed home early in order to get up for the beach tomorrow and prepare ourselves for the night bus tomorrow
Day 7
Today we decided we wanted to explore the local area so wandered around looking for a tour. Some locals said they'd give us a tour on their mopeds and after trying to haggle the price we settled on helping them with their english, lunch and a couple of beers (to be consumed after the tour had finished). They drove us up to Da Nang's famous china beach and into the mountains which was really cool. On the way back we had to get past rush hour traffic which may well be the scariest moment of my life. There are next to no raod laws in vietnam and most of them are ignored. We had people driving the wrong way down a road, everyone changing lanes all the time with no indication, people pulling out at junctions just infront of us and crazy amounts of beeping. Thank fully we made it back in one piece and after kissing solid ground gave the guides enough to get them completely hammered.
After a quick swim at the hotel (that's right a swimming pool in a $3 a night hotel) i went for a shower. This is when i found out why it was $3 a night, there were 2 cockraoches in the shower. As i shouted through to Rich to have a look a millipede fell from the ceiling. Being the rugged adventurer i picked them up and put them in the bin (a fact i would live to regret later).
We then went out and found some of the most amazing street food ever. We found a lady selling sandwhiches and i asked for a cow cheese one (what a rugged adventurer i am). Luckily she ignored it and filled in up with everything she had at her disposal including some fish pate, a mystery meat and chilli sauce. It was the best sandwhich i had ever eaten and everyone agreed so we wrote her a sign to display telling passer's by to get a sandwhich as they were amazing.
We then moved on to a different street seller who made the greatest meat and pineapple noodles ever.
It being our last night with Rich and Ash before they headed back up to Hanoi we hoped to make it a big one. We went for drinks in quite a swanky bar (still with great happy hour deals) before deciding to move on to a club or similar. Unfortunately it started absolutely pouring with rain, the like of which i have never seen. Seeing as the club we wanted to go to was 4km away and open air we decided to call it a night and went home. By moped. Who decided it would be great fun to driv through every puddle he found. We returned soaked through and i just wanted to go to bed.
This is where my decision to not kill the cockroaches earlier haunted me. There were two of them on my bed. Luckily i was still sober enough to deliver two fists of justice, flip my matress over and go to bed.
After a quick swim at the hotel (that's right a swimming pool in a $3 a night hotel) i went for a shower. This is when i found out why it was $3 a night, there were 2 cockraoches in the shower. As i shouted through to Rich to have a look a millipede fell from the ceiling. Being the rugged adventurer i picked them up and put them in the bin (a fact i would live to regret later).
We then went out and found some of the most amazing street food ever. We found a lady selling sandwhiches and i asked for a cow cheese one (what a rugged adventurer i am). Luckily she ignored it and filled in up with everything she had at her disposal including some fish pate, a mystery meat and chilli sauce. It was the best sandwhich i had ever eaten and everyone agreed so we wrote her a sign to display telling passer's by to get a sandwhich as they were amazing.
We then moved on to a different street seller who made the greatest meat and pineapple noodles ever.
It being our last night with Rich and Ash before they headed back up to Hanoi we hoped to make it a big one. We went for drinks in quite a swanky bar (still with great happy hour deals) before deciding to move on to a club or similar. Unfortunately it started absolutely pouring with rain, the like of which i have never seen. Seeing as the club we wanted to go to was 4km away and open air we decided to call it a night and went home. By moped. Who decided it would be great fun to driv through every puddle he found. We returned soaked through and i just wanted to go to bed.
This is where my decision to not kill the cockroaches earlier haunted me. There were two of them on my bed. Luckily i was still sober enough to deliver two fists of justice, flip my matress over and go to bed.
Day 6
After arriving by night bus we (me, Matt, Rich and Ash) decided a huge meal was in order. The guide book suggested the local market so we set off in that dirrection. After what turned out to be an hours walk in sweltering heat we finally found the market and headed inside trying not to make eye contact with all the people selling "real, real" watches for "cheap! cheap!". We found a small stall selling god knows what but tired and exhausted we sat down. Turned out it was a variety of grilled meats and a gloupy soup. Still not feeling great from the day before and the bus journey i declined the soup but demolished what seemed like a whole animal of whatever the mystery meat we were eating was.
Still having 3 hours until we had to get the next bus to hoi an we decided to do some cultural stuff and headed off to the city's citadel. It was apparently modelled on china's fobbiden city and was huge with multiple different area dedicated to different roles in the city. What was also interesting was the chunks missing from the walls and building due to gun fire and bombs during the war.
Cultural quota filled for the day we headed back to the bus to take us to hoi an.This one was a little more like the sort we were dreading smaller and no toilet but it was only 4 hours so we thought we'd manage. We met some really cool people on the bus including a couple who had only inteded to be away for 3 months and had now been away for almost 2 years non-stop.
When we arrived in hoi an matt decided he was going to stay in a ridiculously nice 5 star hotel so he got a taxi to his hotel miles away from the rest of us. The rest of us now being me, rich and ash from hanoi and two guys we met on the bus from hue, Oliver and martin. They had come all the way down from china and had been travelling 3 months already which was pretty cool. After trying to decide which hotel to stay in for about an hour we just gave up and went in the one the bus dropped us off at. At only $6 a night Ash wanted his own room but Rich and I shared a room. With no word from matt we assumed he had checked in to his hotel, realised how awesome it was and never wanted to leave so we headed out without him. We wandered around for a bit before finding a resturant that did 5,000 dong pints (about 12p) and decided that would be good.
After the meal we kept wandering around the town when a man and a woman came up to us on a moped. They handed us a flier for a local bar that did a "buy any drink and you get a free rum and coke" happy hour and offered to give us all a lift there. We said yes and an army of moped turned up to take us all there. When we arrived it was pretty dead but it had walls covered with drunken scribbles and a pool table so we decided to stay. I team up with Ash who wanted rum and cokes, and i wanted beers so i bought the cheapest beer (10,000dong) and he got a free rum and coke and then we split the cost. Seeing as alcohol was so cheap we decided to play a couple of drinking games. Quite a few people joined in and soon we had most of the bar playing drinking games with us. At about 12 a load more people on mopeds turned up advertising a club on the beach with another really good drinks deal so we all hoped on and went. The club was really cool, it had a swimming pool, table football, pool table, dance floor and a beach. Again the night gets a little hazy but got more great stories about skinny dipping and dance-off's.
Still having 3 hours until we had to get the next bus to hoi an we decided to do some cultural stuff and headed off to the city's citadel. It was apparently modelled on china's fobbiden city and was huge with multiple different area dedicated to different roles in the city. What was also interesting was the chunks missing from the walls and building due to gun fire and bombs during the war.
Cultural quota filled for the day we headed back to the bus to take us to hoi an.This one was a little more like the sort we were dreading smaller and no toilet but it was only 4 hours so we thought we'd manage. We met some really cool people on the bus including a couple who had only inteded to be away for 3 months and had now been away for almost 2 years non-stop.
When we arrived in hoi an matt decided he was going to stay in a ridiculously nice 5 star hotel so he got a taxi to his hotel miles away from the rest of us. The rest of us now being me, rich and ash from hanoi and two guys we met on the bus from hue, Oliver and martin. They had come all the way down from china and had been travelling 3 months already which was pretty cool. After trying to decide which hotel to stay in for about an hour we just gave up and went in the one the bus dropped us off at. At only $6 a night Ash wanted his own room but Rich and I shared a room. With no word from matt we assumed he had checked in to his hotel, realised how awesome it was and never wanted to leave so we headed out without him. We wandered around for a bit before finding a resturant that did 5,000 dong pints (about 12p) and decided that would be good.
After the meal we kept wandering around the town when a man and a woman came up to us on a moped. They handed us a flier for a local bar that did a "buy any drink and you get a free rum and coke" happy hour and offered to give us all a lift there. We said yes and an army of moped turned up to take us all there. When we arrived it was pretty dead but it had walls covered with drunken scribbles and a pool table so we decided to stay. I team up with Ash who wanted rum and cokes, and i wanted beers so i bought the cheapest beer (10,000dong) and he got a free rum and coke and then we split the cost. Seeing as alcohol was so cheap we decided to play a couple of drinking games. Quite a few people joined in and soon we had most of the bar playing drinking games with us. At about 12 a load more people on mopeds turned up advertising a club on the beach with another really good drinks deal so we all hoped on and went. The club was really cool, it had a swimming pool, table football, pool table, dance floor and a beach. Again the night gets a little hazy but got more great stories about skinny dipping and dance-off's.
Day 5
Feeling a little worse for wear i decided i should take this day slowly. We had a leasuirly stroll around hanoi's central lake and wandered the streets getting accosted by various street sellers. Afterwards we decided we may as well visit Ho Chi Mihn's mausaleum which turned out to be a waste of time as it was shut. We then went back to the Hanoi backpackers in order to wait for the night bus to take us to Hue. While there we met up with quite a few people from the ha long bay trip and asked everyone what they planned on doing next. When we told them that we were taking the night bus down to hue that evening they laughed at us, apparently there have been a few horror stories about th night buses. One guy had just gone up to hanoi from hue that morning and said it was the worst 14 hours of his life. The bus was small, smelly, bumpy and cruicially for people with tiny bladders like myself it had no toilet! Panic set in and all consumption of water stopped and all fingers were crossed.
When the bus arrived it was practically full except for a few choice seats, i had to have the one above the toilet, but thank god it actually had one. Also this meant that my bed was twice as long as everyone else's so i could stretch my little legs out. Rich and Ash were also on the same bus along with some people form halong bay. The bus wasn't actually that bad, we got to watch the expendables in vietnamese and i actually got to sleep for some of it. At 8am we arrived in hue opposite "The Google Hotel", not sure it was official...
When the bus arrived it was practically full except for a few choice seats, i had to have the one above the toilet, but thank god it actually had one. Also this meant that my bed was twice as long as everyone else's so i could stretch my little legs out. Rich and Ash were also on the same bus along with some people form halong bay. The bus wasn't actually that bad, we got to watch the expendables in vietnamese and i actually got to sleep for some of it. At 8am we arrived in hue opposite "The Google Hotel", not sure it was official...
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
First couple of days
What a couple of days! It's been amazing.
Firstly i've got to appologise for the spelling in this post, the keyboard i'm using doesn't have a h,y or u key so i'm having to copy and paste them in. Secondl for the lack of photos, i've got some and will upload wen i have more time.
Day 1 (friday)
Flight was fine, didn't get muc sleep but arrived in Hanoi at 9 after a brief stop in Hong Kong. Was out of the airport and roaming te city at 10:30. Now to find the hotel, unfortunately no one had heard of the cit gate hotel and te taxi dropped us off in the centre instead. After going to the tourist information centre we got an address and got another taxi to go find it. He dropped us off at te address but there was no hotel to be seen. After wandering aimlessl around for about an hour we finall found it, tucked away down a small alley. We went in but te hotel didn't have a booking for us. After arguing that we had already paid online matt was forced to use a computer to show her the conformation email. Turns out we hadn't booked the city gate hotel, we had booked a different hotel. Noting down the address we headed back out with our tails between our legs.
Hot, frustrated, thirsty and without sleep matt decided to buy a bottle of water, he went to the nearest shop and asked how much a bottle was, the man signaled 5. Unfamiliar with Vietnamese money Matt handed the man 500,00 dong and walked away, 5 minutes later he realised the man meant 5,000 dong and he had just paid almost 20pounds for a small bottle of water...
After another 2 taxi's unable to find the new hotel we finally found it, walked in, desperate for a room we tried to check in. Apparently they didn't have a booking for us either...
After lots of arguing and phone calls to people who could speak english we were again forced to prove to them we had booked using the email, turns out it was for the hotel next door.
Having finally found the correct hotel we went up and showered and decided what to do next. Not wanting to ruin our body clocks i suggested we power through until the night to sleep. After returning from the room i realised i couldn't find my passport. i emptied my bag but to no avail. During all the picking up and putting down of bags, taxi rides and wrong hotels i must have left it somewhere. Disaster! Still without sleep i explained my situation to the hotel reception who were great. They told me everything i needed to do and phoned the embassy. Apparently i needed to go to the police station and file a report to say i'd lost it before the embassy would do anything. I headed off to the police station to file the report but no one spoke english. After a difficult game of pictionary trying to explain that i'd lost my passport (including pictures of countries and aeroplanes) they gave up trying to guess and wrote a note for me to take back to the hotel. Once again they were great and explain the situation to the police and told me what i needed to do. Write a report of the event in english and Vietnamese! After the formalities of starting the letter with something along the of "Great nation of vietnam, comunist, free, happy" I tried my best to pad out "i lost my passport, i don't know where" into a full paragraph and luckily one of the hotel staff agreed to translate it into Vietnamese for me.
They told me it would be ready on monday at 5pm so i decided to go and book our trip to ha long bay.
Following my ex boss' advice i went into hanoi backpackers hostel and booked a three day tour for 80 pounds including accomdation, travel and food. Totally exhausted from the day we decided to eat in our hotel restaurant and went to bed at 7.
Day 2
We had to be ready for our trip to Ha Long bay at 8 so we got up at 7, rushed a quick breakfastat the hotel and got ourselves to hanoi backpackers. Here we got the bus for 4 hours up to halong city. We all shuffled around and i got to talk to some really interesting people and the time flew by. Once in the city we took a small boat out to the bigger boat we would be staying on that night. Once there it was announced the bar was open so the 40 or so people on the tour all rushed to get the beers in, it was 1 o'clock. Sitting on the top deck of the boat soaking up the sun with a beer in hand was perfect. Next it was lunch which was an awesome collection of various fish they had caught that day, fresh fruit and lots and lots of rice. The drinking continued and by 5 o'clock a significant proportion of the boat was smashed. Sun bathing on top of a boat, with beautiful scenery, chatting to loads of new people was great. At around 3 the boat stopped and we all got to jump of the boat and swim around. Drunk people and jumping off boats didn't really mix and there were a significant number of belly flops. Next we all got to have a paddle around in some kayaks and visit some caves. Just before dinner the rooms were dished out and as luck would have it me and matt got the one with the un-closable door. Dinner was much the same as lunch and still delicious. At around 8 happy hour started with 2-4-1 drinks and the drinking games began. The tour guides organised some great games and everyone was having a good time. The evening was filled with crazy stuff such as the tour guides all doing a naked conga through the boat, a banning of wearing shorts and saying the word "drink" or any variation of it was punishable by 10 press ups. Beverages were continued to be consumed and the eating area was transformed into a dance floor. It was a great night but everyone went to bed at around 5 and breakfast was at 7..
Day 3
For the second day of the tour we would be staying on a place called castaway island, a beach in the middle of halong bay with some huts on it. We were the only ones on it and it was beautiful. During the day we could go rock climbing or kayaking, play volley ball and relax. The climbing was amazing, really difficult and it got so many cuts but the views were worth it. In the evening the drinking continued with many more games and everyone was joining in. At 2 in the morning we went for a night swim which was incredible because the water was full of a touch sensitive photo-algae, which basically means the sea lit up as you swam. Again the festivities ended around 5-6 with breakfast at 7 the next day... Sleeping on the beach sounded like a great idea at the time but the tide came in lighting fast which meant none of us really got any sleep.
Day 4
After a breakfast of just bread we got back on the boat to head home. Everyone feeling the effects of 2 days of non-stop drinking and no sleep i thought the trip home would be pretty quiet. I was wrong. A group of boys started drinking vodka red bulls with breakfast and were absolutely smashed (or maybe they never sober up) by 9. The boat was transformed into a karaoke boat with the most appalling renditions of various classics. When we returned we booked into another hotel on the recomendations of some of the guys we were with which was really nice but unfortunately the bathroom wall were made of glass and right next to the beds so showering was a tad awkward.
That night we went out with the guys that recommended the hotel (a pilot and a DJ) and had a really nice meal before moving on to "the bucket bar". It had 2-4-1 cocktails, a pool table, a table football and we met some girls from sweeden who shamefully beat us twice at table football.
Suddenly a gong was sound to anounce 2-4-1 on buckets had started. I got a vodka red bull one (or two as one was free) which consisted of a half pint of vodka topped up with red bull. The night gets a little hazy from then on but i've got some great stories.
Will probally edit this in a couple of days as i'm really hot and hungover at the moment.
Vietnam is the best place on earth!
Firstly i've got to appologise for the spelling in this post, the keyboard i'm using doesn't have a h,y or u key so i'm having to copy and paste them in. Secondl for the lack of photos, i've got some and will upload wen i have more time.
Day 1 (friday)
Flight was fine, didn't get muc sleep but arrived in Hanoi at 9 after a brief stop in Hong Kong. Was out of the airport and roaming te city at 10:30. Now to find the hotel, unfortunately no one had heard of the cit gate hotel and te taxi dropped us off in the centre instead. After going to the tourist information centre we got an address and got another taxi to go find it. He dropped us off at te address but there was no hotel to be seen. After wandering aimlessl around for about an hour we finall found it, tucked away down a small alley. We went in but te hotel didn't have a booking for us. After arguing that we had already paid online matt was forced to use a computer to show her the conformation email. Turns out we hadn't booked the city gate hotel, we had booked a different hotel. Noting down the address we headed back out with our tails between our legs.
Hot, frustrated, thirsty and without sleep matt decided to buy a bottle of water, he went to the nearest shop and asked how much a bottle was, the man signaled 5. Unfamiliar with Vietnamese money Matt handed the man 500,00 dong and walked away, 5 minutes later he realised the man meant 5,000 dong and he had just paid almost 20pounds for a small bottle of water...
After another 2 taxi's unable to find the new hotel we finally found it, walked in, desperate for a room we tried to check in. Apparently they didn't have a booking for us either...
After lots of arguing and phone calls to people who could speak english we were again forced to prove to them we had booked using the email, turns out it was for the hotel next door.
Having finally found the correct hotel we went up and showered and decided what to do next. Not wanting to ruin our body clocks i suggested we power through until the night to sleep. After returning from the room i realised i couldn't find my passport. i emptied my bag but to no avail. During all the picking up and putting down of bags, taxi rides and wrong hotels i must have left it somewhere. Disaster! Still without sleep i explained my situation to the hotel reception who were great. They told me everything i needed to do and phoned the embassy. Apparently i needed to go to the police station and file a report to say i'd lost it before the embassy would do anything. I headed off to the police station to file the report but no one spoke english. After a difficult game of pictionary trying to explain that i'd lost my passport (including pictures of countries and aeroplanes) they gave up trying to guess and wrote a note for me to take back to the hotel. Once again they were great and explain the situation to the police and told me what i needed to do. Write a report of the event in english and Vietnamese! After the formalities of starting the letter with something along the of "Great nation of vietnam, comunist, free, happy" I tried my best to pad out "i lost my passport, i don't know where" into a full paragraph and luckily one of the hotel staff agreed to translate it into Vietnamese for me.
They told me it would be ready on monday at 5pm so i decided to go and book our trip to ha long bay.
Following my ex boss' advice i went into hanoi backpackers hostel and booked a three day tour for 80 pounds including accomdation, travel and food. Totally exhausted from the day we decided to eat in our hotel restaurant and went to bed at 7.
Day 2
We had to be ready for our trip to Ha Long bay at 8 so we got up at 7, rushed a quick breakfastat the hotel and got ourselves to hanoi backpackers. Here we got the bus for 4 hours up to halong city. We all shuffled around and i got to talk to some really interesting people and the time flew by. Once in the city we took a small boat out to the bigger boat we would be staying on that night. Once there it was announced the bar was open so the 40 or so people on the tour all rushed to get the beers in, it was 1 o'clock. Sitting on the top deck of the boat soaking up the sun with a beer in hand was perfect. Next it was lunch which was an awesome collection of various fish they had caught that day, fresh fruit and lots and lots of rice. The drinking continued and by 5 o'clock a significant proportion of the boat was smashed. Sun bathing on top of a boat, with beautiful scenery, chatting to loads of new people was great. At around 3 the boat stopped and we all got to jump of the boat and swim around. Drunk people and jumping off boats didn't really mix and there were a significant number of belly flops. Next we all got to have a paddle around in some kayaks and visit some caves. Just before dinner the rooms were dished out and as luck would have it me and matt got the one with the un-closable door. Dinner was much the same as lunch and still delicious. At around 8 happy hour started with 2-4-1 drinks and the drinking games began. The tour guides organised some great games and everyone was having a good time. The evening was filled with crazy stuff such as the tour guides all doing a naked conga through the boat, a banning of wearing shorts and saying the word "drink" or any variation of it was punishable by 10 press ups. Beverages were continued to be consumed and the eating area was transformed into a dance floor. It was a great night but everyone went to bed at around 5 and breakfast was at 7..
Day 3
For the second day of the tour we would be staying on a place called castaway island, a beach in the middle of halong bay with some huts on it. We were the only ones on it and it was beautiful. During the day we could go rock climbing or kayaking, play volley ball and relax. The climbing was amazing, really difficult and it got so many cuts but the views were worth it. In the evening the drinking continued with many more games and everyone was joining in. At 2 in the morning we went for a night swim which was incredible because the water was full of a touch sensitive photo-algae, which basically means the sea lit up as you swam. Again the festivities ended around 5-6 with breakfast at 7 the next day... Sleeping on the beach sounded like a great idea at the time but the tide came in lighting fast which meant none of us really got any sleep.
Day 4
After a breakfast of just bread we got back on the boat to head home. Everyone feeling the effects of 2 days of non-stop drinking and no sleep i thought the trip home would be pretty quiet. I was wrong. A group of boys started drinking vodka red bulls with breakfast and were absolutely smashed (or maybe they never sober up) by 9. The boat was transformed into a karaoke boat with the most appalling renditions of various classics. When we returned we booked into another hotel on the recomendations of some of the guys we were with which was really nice but unfortunately the bathroom wall were made of glass and right next to the beds so showering was a tad awkward.
That night we went out with the guys that recommended the hotel (a pilot and a DJ) and had a really nice meal before moving on to "the bucket bar". It had 2-4-1 cocktails, a pool table, a table football and we met some girls from sweeden who shamefully beat us twice at table football.
Suddenly a gong was sound to anounce 2-4-1 on buckets had started. I got a vodka red bull one (or two as one was free) which consisted of a half pint of vodka topped up with red bull. The night gets a little hazy from then on but i've got some great stories.
Will probally edit this in a couple of days as i'm really hot and hungover at the moment.
Vietnam is the best place on earth!
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Preparations
Unfortunately travelling isn't as easy as first thought, just getting up and going wasn't really an option.
First things first, i needed some money. Luckily a well connected family allowed me to get a job working for comet in their head offices followed by a stint in parking services at the council. Living at home and behaving like a poor student allowed me to gather the funds i needed, next choice, where to go?
I have loved south east Asia when I've been before and was determined to go back. It's a really easy place to travel round and everything is so cheap! I decided to do the standard gap year route through Vietnam, Cambodia and finishing off in Thailand. Route sorted, now who to go with?
Having been abandoned by all my friends who went and got a better education panic set in as to who to go with. Would i have to do it all alone?!? Luckily i was saved by my good friend Matt who also fancied a trip to Asia. Wingman found we started trying to plan where we wanted to go. After many planning meetings and long hours trawling the internet we decided we couldn't be bothered with this silly feminine "organising" thing and decided to wing it. With just the first and last night's accommodation booked finding somewhere to sleep will become part of the adventure.
After deciding where, when, who with and how I realised i still had to sort out what i was going to take.
Being a guy this was pretty easy, shorts, t-shirts and trainers. I thought i was ready to go but luckily my mother couldn't help but have a moan at me. Apparently i needed other stuff like medicine, sun cream and pants.
With some last minute purchases on the day before i left, a top up of my injections and downloading every Vietnam war film ever made to my iPod i was ready go.
Sugar McLovin is headed for 'Nam!
First things first, i needed some money. Luckily a well connected family allowed me to get a job working for comet in their head offices followed by a stint in parking services at the council. Living at home and behaving like a poor student allowed me to gather the funds i needed, next choice, where to go?
I have loved south east Asia when I've been before and was determined to go back. It's a really easy place to travel round and everything is so cheap! I decided to do the standard gap year route through Vietnam, Cambodia and finishing off in Thailand. Route sorted, now who to go with?
Having been abandoned by all my friends who went and got a better education panic set in as to who to go with. Would i have to do it all alone?!? Luckily i was saved by my good friend Matt who also fancied a trip to Asia. Wingman found we started trying to plan where we wanted to go. After many planning meetings and long hours trawling the internet we decided we couldn't be bothered with this silly feminine "organising" thing and decided to wing it. With just the first and last night's accommodation booked finding somewhere to sleep will become part of the adventure.
After deciding where, when, who with and how I realised i still had to sort out what i was going to take.
Being a guy this was pretty easy, shorts, t-shirts and trainers. I thought i was ready to go but luckily my mother couldn't help but have a moan at me. Apparently i needed other stuff like medicine, sun cream and pants.
With some last minute purchases on the day before i left, a top up of my injections and downloading every Vietnam war film ever made to my iPod i was ready go.
Sugar McLovin is headed for 'Nam!
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