KL! Kuama Lumpur AKA Kash Loss

May 18, 2008

Alex (the Alex from France, not Canada!) and I were both up early in order to catch a bus to Kuala Lumpur (KL). All of the direct buses that day were fully booked, so we took a small detour to Ipoh first. It probably only added about one hour (at most) to our journey, and the cost was actually a bit cheaper (a total of 22 ringit, or CA$7) than direct fares. On top of that, our bus from Ipoh to KL was very comfortable! Only three seats across... and each seat gave us lots of space. It was like a super VIP bus. No toilet, though.

We found a cheap place to stay near Chinatown and wandered around. We got lunch at a shopping mall. After lunch, I went back to the hotel to use the cheap internet while Alex went to the Central Market to shop for souvenirs. She was on a four-month trip by herself around India and Southeast Asia. Her trip was going to be over in a couple of weeks, though, and the time to start shopping had begun.

Back at the guesthouse, the both of us met Christine (from Cologne, Germany). I had been to Cologne twice and Alex used to live there, so the three of us had much to talk about. We planned a trip to the ferris wheel that night to get a good view of the city skyline. We took the train and ended up wandering around for a while trying to find the place since our directions weren't great and we didn't have a map. We asked around a bit and a local helped us find the way. It was a longer way than we expected. We even had to walk along, under, and through a highway interchange! We didn't have to cross traffic anywhere, but it was a bit unnerving and we would have never found our way without our ad hoc guide.


The views from the ferris wheel were really good, but none of my pictures really turned out well enough for me to post here (except the picture above). I *am* starting to get frustrated by the limitations of my camera. I started to seriously think of getting something better when I got to Singapore. Christine had just bought one the day before and she was seriously loving hers. Sigh. I wanted a new camera, too.

We started the long walk back. On the way, we stopped for dinner and got two huge plates of Chinese vegetarian food from a street vendor along with some Carlsberg beers. Yes! The "Old Man Beer" of Canada became my beer of choice in Malaysia!

We originally wanted to go see the Golden Triangle area of KL that night, but the walk to the ferris wheel was too long. The three of us decided to meet up again tomorrow for dinner and drinks and then proceed to the Golden Triangle after that.

May 19, 2008

My camera battery had died last night and I discovered that I lost my Malaysian plug adapter in the Cameron Highlands. Alas, I had to wander around for most of the day without my camera. It felt like I was missing an arm.

Alex and I decided to go shopping and roaming around shopping malls. We took the KL Monorail to a random station in the shopping area and entered the first mall I saw. Alex thought that I intentionally chose THAT mall to go to. Not at all... it was just the first mall (of many) that I saw from the train station. My motives are rarely very complicated!

The shopping mall reminded me greatly of Harajuku (in Tokyo)! There were Asian teenagers walking around in trendy clothes through a mall with trendy cafes and trendy clothing boutiques. Alex and I had our morning coffees at an comic-themed cafe (not really anime, but more American comics) and walked through lots of stores buying t-shirts. I was VERY HAPPY to buy t-shirts there. My last time in Asia, I was unable to buy any clothes because of my size. Asian men and women are generally smaller than us Westerners, so buying clothes can be challenging. Since I lost so much weight, I was able to buy clothes that fit me! I tried on lots and lots of shirts, but only bought two. One was 10 ringitt (CA$3) and the other was an expensive 28 ringitt (CA$9).

I decided that KL doesn't really stand for "Kuala Lumpur." It stands for "Kash Loss!" I was going shopping, and I meant it! I also picked up a Fire Mario toy (about 20 cm tall). The most important purchase was yet to come, though.

Finally, it was time for me to buy contact lenses. There were a million and one places to buy them in KL and rumour has it that they were cheaper than Canada. So I decided to go for it. I picked up a 30 day supply of soft daily disposables for 160 ringitt (CA$51). Is that cheaper than Canada? I don't actually know for sure *shrugs*. The lenses were pretty basic though. They don't correct for my astigmatism, but that's okay. They were just to "try out" and see how much I liked them. I know they wouldn't perfectly correct my vision, but if I liked them enough, I could get better ones in the future.

What do I look like with my new lenses and T-Shirt? Somewhat like this:



I picked up a new Malaysian plug adapter on my way back to the hotel, too. No longer would I be unarmed.

That night, Alex, Christine, and I met up for drinks (or aperatifs, as Alex called them. Sounds much classier than the official Canadian word predrinking) at a Chinatown streetside restaurant. Tiger Beers were cheap and we drank a few before dinner.


Christine told us about this conveyor belt sushi place she walked past the other night. Alex had never had conveyor belt sushi (or kaiten sushi in Japanese), and it was official Kash Loss day so I was all in for the expensive stuff, too. Christine got a few unflattering pictures of me (you can find them somewhere on Facebook) with mouthfuls of big sushi rolls. Alex commented that sushi was not the kind of food you'd eat on a rendez-vous. Sloppiness aside, we all agreed the sushi place was very tasty. No ootoro, though.

After dinner, we continued to roam around the Golden Triangle area. The Golden Triangle is basically KL's ultramodern shopping area. Something like Shibuya in Tokyo, Times Square in New York City, or Dundas Square in Toronto. There were lots of malls, restaurants, cafes, and shopping outlets for international chains. The monorail snaked above all of the action below.


All throughout the Golden Triangle, we caught glimpses of the extremely picturesque twin Petronas Towers behind other buildings. These buildings lit up the whole night sky and it was hard to miss them. We had to go there! Beautiful pictures awaited us!

We wandered down the streets of the Golden Triangle and made our ways to the twin beacons of light. When we got there, we found an extremely luxurious shopping mall, the KLCC, at the bases of the towers. All of the big name brands were there, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Coach, Burberry. Alex told us about the Burberry purse she got for really cheap in Paris. She would never buy a Louis Vuitton bag, though. Everyone and their cousins in Paris carried bootleg ones. And I thought the practice of bootleg name brands was limited to Asia!

As planned, we managed to get good photographs of the towers, too. Here are some of the results!



It was NOT easy to get all of the towers in one shot. Thankfully my camera's wide angle lens was up to the task. I guess my camera had something going for it after all. Not many ultracompact cameras have wide angle lenses like mine.

The next day was a designated sightseeing day. Christine had some business at the Vietnamese embassy and post office to take care of in the morning. After she was done, she would meet up with me and Alex to roam the city.

May 20, 2008

In the morning, Alex and I started our sightseeing. We went to the Central Market first. The place was very touristy. There wasn't anything at this market that any local would want to buy, to be honest. We found a nice coffee shop though. Alex and I both appreciated our morning coffees and wanted only the best! Sure, there was a Starbuck's near our guesthouse, but we demanded better! Sorry to break the news, folks, but Starbuck's really isn't that good.

We continued our walk up to Mosjid Jamek (the Jamek Mosque). I had to put on robes to enter the mosque grounds. Alex had to put on robes and a head scarf. As non-Muslims, we were not allowed to enter the mosque itself, but could only walk around. Even with all the restrictions, it was still a pretty place to see. It was an oasis of serenity in the middle of a big, bustling city.


After the mosque, we walked around Little India. It was okay, but not really what I expected. It was mostly fabric shops. Not really my thing. I did pick up some tasty Indian sweets, though.

From Little India, we walked south to Merdeka Square, the same square where Malaysia's independence was proclaimed in 1957. It was surrounded by pretty colonial buildings. We met up with Christine there, who had taken care of her morning business.

I captured this photograph in Merdeka Square. It's probably my favourite "arty" photograph in KL. I think it has a nice composition!


We continued south along the busy streets of Kuala Lumpur and walked past the National Mosque. It's one of the largest mosques in Asia, but we were unable to enter it since prayers were going on while we were there.

The best part of the day was coming up, though! Behind the mosque was a big park. We walked past the farm of museums and art galleries and went straight to a place where we could lay down on the grass in the shade. We had been walking for hours in the sun, heat, and humidity, and a nice nap was warranted. Sightseeing is hard work, after all. That's why I don't do it that often. After the nap, I took a picture of a couple of monkeys at a monkey crossing.


This photograph, of course, is my revenge for the unflattering sushi pictures of me floating around on Facebook.

From the park, we walked back to our respective guesthouses for showers and to recharge before again going out for aperatifs and dinner. Dinner was just cheapo (but tasty) Indian food. After dinner we went to the Reggae Bar in KL's Chinatown for more drinks. Christine was leaving us in the morning, and we had to send her off well. Thankfully for Alex and Christine, it was Ladies Night at the Reggae Bar and they got cheap drinks. Unthankfully, they were out of Carlsberg beer, so I had to drink Tiger (bleck) which was still more expensive. Lame! I tried to get the Ladies Night discount by offering to show the barstaff my driver's license photo with my long long (and maybe some would say, lady-like) rock star hair, but they wouldn't go for it. Lame!

May 21, 2008

Today was my last day in the Malaysian capital. Christine had left for the Cameron Highlands, so it was back to just me and Alex. Our plans today weren't very ambitious. We had cheap Indian food for breakfast and then walked to the Times Square shopping mall. We were there to watch the movie Iron Man in air conditioned comfort! I'm not usually into superhero movies, but reviews said that it was really good, so we were up for watching it. We really wanted to watch the new Indiana Jones, but it wasn't opening until the NEXT day, so Iron Man it was.

When we got to Times Square we were pleased to see that Iron Man was playing in the mall's IMAX theatre. A 12:30 showing was super cheap -- only 7 ringitt (CA$2)! And that was with a free Coke! I guess watching movies in the middle of the day on a weekday really pays off!

We had time to kill before the movie so we looked for a coffee shop. Sadly, the only place we found that wasn't obscenely expensive was Starbucks. I knew that I had just knocked it before, but that's where we went.

The movie was pretty awesome. I really enjoyed it! I liked how the movie was plot and character driven, instead of boring eye candy like many movies. The CG was not "in your face." I approve.

I need to watch more movies on this trip, especially when they're only CA$2!

The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Alex and I went for dinner and beers. I ran out of money part way through so Alex had to buy some beers for me. She was supposed to be in Singapore at the same time as me, so I would pay her back then. I was leaving the country in the morning so I didn't want to take out any more money. It's very challenging to try and budget your cash so that you run out of money just as you leave a country. Sometimes it leads to last minute spending sprees or last minute fasts.

It was early to bed that night. I had to wake up at 6 AM so I could make it to the airport to catch my flight. Having to wake up at 6 made me sad. I was sleeping much better the past couple weeks. When I was in Laos and Cambodia, I was usually awake at 6 AM anyways. It wasn't by choice -- I was just unable to sleep in. I was doing much better now, though. I was usually sleeping in to 8 AM. That's a time that I can deal with!

Crazy Mario Video with Anime Soundtrack

I know that my blog is a travel-related blog and not one of those many blogs where people just post "cool things they see on the Internet." However, as I sit here in Scott Faber's condo waiting for him and his girlfriend to come back from work while sipping this Franziskaner Weissbier that I picked up at the Carrefour hypermarket in shiny downtown Singapore today while sightseeing, I just watched this 11-minute video and was in awe the whole time. Mario-related videos are usually pretty cool, but this one is just amazing! Some guy made custom levels and played them. The sounds from the game form the percussion section for the background music composed of some of the catchiest anime tunes. Just brilliant! It was so awesome, I had to post it here. After all, this is MY blog, and I'll post whatever I want!



--
Rob Szumlakowski
Singapore

New Photos Posted: Bali

Wow! I just left Bali last night and made it to Singapore. I'm staying at my friend, Scott Faber's, condo here and graciously taking advantage of his internet connection while him and his girlfriend are at work. Thanks Scott and Su!

Anyways, I've posted photos from my time at Asad and Anjali Jobanputra's wedding in Bali. Enjoy!

--
Rob Sz
Singapore

New Photos Posted: Malaysia

I've finally managed to finish posting my photo album for my twelve-day stay in Malaysia. There's a lot of cool pictures here!

Enjoy!

--
Rob Sz

Into the Mountains

This blog post is especially long. I used to feel bad about making such long posts, but several people have recently told me that they really enjoy my writing and didn't mind the length. I know that a few people are reading EVERY word I write, so this post is dedicated to my loyal readers. Enjoy!

May 13, 2008

It was an early start today. I wanted to catch the 8:30 AM bus from Butterworth (on the mainland across the harbour from Georgetown) directly to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia. To make it for that bus, I had to try and catch an early ferry. It was tiring, but it worked out. Thankfully, the ferry was free and the bus station was nearby.

Tanah Rata is situated at an altitude of 1200 metres above sea level in the Cameron Highlands. This mountainous region is famous for its tea plantations and vegetable farms -- both of which I would see many of in my stay there. The road to Tanah Rata was windy and steep. The bus had to work hard to take us there.

Several people (and the Lonely Planet Guidebook) had recommended Father's Guesthouse in Tanah Rata. I checked myself into. They had dorms for 10 ringgit each (CA$3), but they were crowded, so I decided to take a full room for myself. It was only 25 ringgit per night (CA$8/night), so it was no great cost. I wanted my privacy and the ability to sleep in late if I wanted. I still wasn't feeling the best, so I tried to pamper myself.

There were several other backpackers on the bus with me, so we went for lunch together in town. I was astonished by Tanah Rata. Surrounded by mountains, many of the buildings are built in a classic European style. I thought I was in Switzerland!



This second photograph looks strikingly similar to a photograph of a soccer field that I took when I was in St. Moritz. The resemblance was so uncanny, that I stopped to stare and fight off feelings of deja vu. Had I been here before? What's with this country?

Tanah Rata, however, is not really in Switzerland. The hills around the town are covered with jungle, not the usual type of forest you'd see in Europe. There's about a dozen official hiking trails around the town. Three of the guys from the bus (Fabian and Daniel from Berlin and a Belgian guy who's name I forget) decided to take on the easiest one. It's not that we were wussy men (hardly true at all), but it was already 5 PM and we knew it would be dark soon.

We trekked a short way and found ourselves at a waterfall! The waterfall was not very big though. The river was also filled with garbage. I was not impressed.


We continued on and climbed a steep hill to find ourselves at a lookout tower. The stairs were rickety, but the view of the town and the hills from the top were impressive. At least something was good about our hike!



We stayed and chatted for a long time before continuing. We didn't really know where we were going, but we continued on boldly anyways. The way back was much rougher than the way to the tower. Due to a lack of good trail markings, we had accidentally swiched from the easy tourist trail to a poorly maintained slog down a hill through the mud.

Nevertheless, we made it back before dark. All was good. On the way, we walked over this bridge. It was unremarkable, but we took this amusing picture there, so here it is:


On the way back into town, the German guys stopped for hamburgers at a fast food restaurant. These guys were eating machines and were always looking for food (even more so than I). There was a birthday party at the restaurant and it was filled with about 30 Malaysian kids. I waved at them and said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and they erupted in squeals of laughter and shrieking. One kid attempted to perform Power Ranger moves in front of my camera.


There was a woman in a sad chipmunk costume. It was so bizarre to see something like this in Malaysia that I had to have my picture taken with her.



May 14, 2008

Today was a big day! I signed myself up for a full-day tour of the Cameron Highlands. It was very memorable and I'm happy that I spent the money (80 ringitt, or CA$25) to do it. The tour was provided by the guesthouse. We spent the whole day driving around in tough Land Rover vehicles (made in England!) with very enthusiastic and charismatic tour guides, Sorya and Kumar.

The Cameron Highlands are famous for their tea plantations. In particular, the Boh Tea Plantation is well known throughout Malaysia for their excellent quality teas. This plantation was the first stop on our tour.

Wow. That's all I can say. The plantation was simply stunning. It was located in a valley in the mountains. Emerald green tea shrubs lined all of the hillsides. The valley floor undulated with small hills and it was mesmerizing to watch the light change and play over the tea plants. It was a gorgeous sight and I spent a long time trying to take good pictures. It was challenging since the sun was facing us, so here's the best I could come up with. I want a real camera :(



After the plantation we continued on and drove up to the top of the tallest mountain in Malaysia accessible by road. At 2013 metres, the wind cut through my hoodie and chilled me. When was the last time I felt cold? It must have been back in Canada in February.

Once the guides felt we had suffered enough from the wind, we descended down the mountain a bit and went for a trek through the jungle. Sorya told us that this rainforst was one of the oldest rain forests in the world, estimated at 130 million years old. Since it was on one of the highest points of Malaysia, this is one of the points that first emerged from the sea and the vegetation first took hold. However, because of the high altitude, the trees in the forest were small, not more than about 3 metres high. Sorya showed us catepillars, spiders, pitcher plants, herbs, and other kinds of plants.

The highlight of the day, for me, came after the jungle when we returned to the tea plantation. After a quick tour of the factory we had lunch at the cafe. Again, the view of the tea plantation was to die for. The tea and scones with strawberry jam that I had for lunch were, as well!


At the cafe of the tea plantation I was officially in a "happy place." As Alex remarked back in Laos, I am "a romantic" and live to savour moments. I was definitely savouring my moments at that cafe. I was drinking good tea, eating good scones (and rich chocolate cake), had an amazing vista, and was enjoying the company of entertaining people (the other people on the tour). The radio of the cafe played a song where the lyrics included the phrase, "Have you ever felt joy in your life?" Yes! I have! I was feeling joy at that very moment in the cafe.

From the cafe, we drove a long distance through a valley in the Cameron Highlands known for its vegetable gardens. There were some 2000 gardens in the valley. We saw greenhouses, terraces, and fields. There were terraced fields high up on the slopes of the valley. Once we reached the end of the valley, we could look all the way down the whole length of it, and take in a view with 2000 gardens all at the same time.

Once we left the valley, we continued through the largest jungle reserve in the Cameron Highlands. Since it was at a lower altitude, the trees were much higher here. Sorya showed us huge spiders, how to eat the inside of a banana tree, and other survival tricks. On the way out of the valley, I got to ride on top of the Land Rover along with the German guys Daniel and Fabian. Sorya knew how to drive that machine and made the ride extra bumpy for us. Owww... my poor boney ass. As we drove through the jungle, I started to sing a song: "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight!" Daniel and Fabian backed me up by singing, "A weem o way, a weem o way, a weem o way..."

Some pictures from the jungle:


Huge spider (probably about 30 cm wide)


Bee on flower

From the valley we entered an Orang Asli village, one of the few village of the indiginous tribes left in Malaysia. Orang Asli literally means "Original People." The young people of the tribes were getting caught up in a fervor of modernization and the villages were disappearing at a rapid pace. At the village, Sorya showed us how the villagers used blow guns and darts to hunt small game in the jungle. We had a chance to try the guns, too. I'm proud to announce that I was the first person to successfully hit the target, the sole of a flip flop!



After the blowgun demonstration Sorya showed us how the native people crush the seeds of a plant to create a dye that the apply to their faces. Since I played along with all of his other tricks that day, he eagerly used me as a canvas for his face paint. Sorya also showed us the staple food of the villagers: tapioca; their musical instruments: bamboo trunks and nose flutes; and a puzzle: twigs twisted with string. We tried to get the string out of the tangle of twigs, but I was unsuccessful. I can't even do these kinds of puzzles at home!

It really was a good day and I felt I was in a good place. That night, we had a drinking party back at Father's Guesthouse. I befriended David, from a village near Lake Simcoe in Ontario. He was 21 years old and had been traveling for three and a half years. He left home the day after he wrote his final high school exam. His mother had to email his report card to him. He was a very skilled budget traveler and I admired his tenacity. Even though I considered myself a budget traveler, too, his budget was much tighter than my own. I wonder how he did it. I also met Alexandra from Paris, France that night. The three of us formed a little group for the rest of our stay at Father's.


David is in the lower left and Alex is in the lower right of the above photograph.

May 15, 2008

Didn't do much today. Just walked up a mountain with David. Our hike took about three hours: around one mountain, through the jungle, and up another. David was very good at hiking and sprinted up and down the trail like a sure-footed mountain goat. I wasn't nearly so good, and meandandered up and down more deliberately. The views from the mountain top were nice, but don't look so fantastic from a camera, so I'll show you a picture of the jungle instead.


After we got back to the Guesthouse, David and I went for lunch at his favourite street vendor. Two old Indian women served us piles of rice and curry while we ate on plastic patio furniture on the street. The food was good, healthy, and cheap. I had lunch and dinner at this place three days in a row. Unlike in Penang, I didn't let my zest for good food go out of control and didn't overeat. I guess I was learning.



That night, David, Alex, and I wandered around the agricultural museum in Tanah Rata. Since we arrived close to closing time, we didn't have to pay admission. Despite the face that we arrived closed to closing time, we continued to wander the gardens long after the fact. Yay us! We saw many kinds of flowers, herbs, strawberries, and other fruits. We found a rose garden and literally stopped to smell the roses. Life is good when you have time to do things like that.

That night, the three of us visited some of the shops in town and bought liquors and mixes to drink. I was disappointed my the poor selection and high costs of beers in Malaysia. I know it's a Moslem country and they frown on alcohol, but why punish little old me?

May 16, 2008

Ow. Head hurt a bit in the morning. Too much vodka, rum, and tequila the night before. I blame the low quality of Malaysian liquor, not the quantity that I drank (which I feel really wasn't that much). I learned that in Malaysia there is a knock-off product for nearly anything. Why buy Absolut Vodka when you can buy the Malaysian made Privilege Vodka. The bottle even has the same distinctive shape. Why buy Captan Morgan's Rum when you can have Stanley Morgan's Rum for one third the price. The most personally insulting product was the Polska Vodka -- NOT made in Poland, but in Malaysia. The bottle even sported the Russian national symbol (a double headed eagle), not the Polish one (a white single headed eagle). As if!

Anyways, the weather in Cameron Highlands was chilly. In the day, it probably wasn't more than 25 degrees. In the night, it wasn't more than 15 degrees. Yes, that's cold (especially after being in places where the average temperature is like 30 degrees for the past two months). I didn't need air conditioning or a fan in the Cameron Highlands. Instead, I slept under three blankets to keep warm. I made myself a cozy burrow in my bed and was loathe to leave it. So what if my head felt wonky. I'd just stay in my warm bed longer.

My ambitions today were very minor. I spent much of the day in the internet cafe talking to people on MSN Messenger. I intended to write a blog entry, but I didn't write a single word. It had been a long time since I had chatted on MSN Messenger, and it was good to catch up with people.

I did go for a small hike, though, in the afternoon. I caught up with David and a Welsh girl, Kayley (this David guy always seemed to be talking to different girls! How does he do it?) after lunch at the same Indian street vendor. We walked on the same hiking path that I had gone on the day I arrived in Tanah Ratah and climbed the same lookout tower. Since it was the first time on the path for David and Kayley, I got to play the tour guide.

May 17, 2008

Another quiet day. I really enjoyed Tanah Rata. It was one of the good places on my trip. I remember the wise words of one Nick Taylor, whom I had met up with in Bangkok more than two months before. He said that if you like a place, then stay there longer. The next place you go might not be so nice. Enjoy a place while you can. That's exactly what I was doing in Tanah Rata. I was thinking of going to Melaka (a touristy city with colonial buildings -- probably similiar to Georgetown) or Taman Negara (a tourist jungle -- probably similar to Tanah Rata). In the end, I opted to skip both of those other places in favour of staying longer in Tanah Rata and Kuala Lumpur (KL).

However, tonight would be my fifth night here. It was time to move on tomorrow. Alex (the French girl I had been hanging out with in Tanah Rata) and I decided to move on to KL tomorrow. We went to the bus station and bought bus tickets. We would be leaving at 8 AM in the morning.

In the meanwhile, while walking the streets of Tanah Rata, I saw a guy walking around wearing a Roots T-Shirt. A sure sign of a Canadian. I struck up a conversation with the guy, who's name was Alex Spring (what is with me always meeting people named Alex? Nothing wrong with Alexes though, they seem to be nice people). When he said that he had studied engineering at Queen University in Kingston, Ontario, I jokingly asked him if he knew Jake Kaupp. He did, in fact, know Jake! Jake was his TA in some class. Wierd. Later, I emailed Jake. Jake remembered Alex, too. It's certainly a small world!

That night, Alex, Alex, Edwet (some random Dutch board game enthusiast) sat around the common room of the guesthouse and played San Juan, a card game that I had brought from home. I had picked up some Indian sweets the day before from a restaurant in town and we snacked on them. I won all three games, but Alex (the Canadian dude, not the French girl) came pretty close the second time.

There was more drinking in the guesthouse that night, but no one got that drunk. It would be an early morning tomorrow. Alex and I were off to Kuala Lumpur!

Trip to Penang

May 10, 2008

I was so excited! My last few days in Thailand were a drag and I was eager to move on to my next country, Malaysia. I took my time in the morning going for breakfast and packing. I made it to the bus station around 10 AM and caught a local bus south to the southernmost large city in Thailand, Hat Yai. The bus ride was longer than I would have liked (almost 4 hours -- most of it slogging through traffic in Hat Yai), but at least it was cheap - 100 baht (CA$3). As usual, I was the only foreigner on the bus. I watched the locals get on and off the bus the whole way down. At one point a monk in a saffron-orange coloured robe sat beside me. He commented on my iPod. I let him listen to some music. He says he enjoyed listening to the Arcade Fire.

I got to Hat Yai after 2 PM. I was beginning to feel antsy about getting to Malaysia. I wanted to go to the city of Georgetown on the island of Penang, but I felt that if I continued taking local buses the rest of the day, including the border crossing, and the continued picking up and dropping off of local, I might not even make it that night, or would get there super late and have a difficult time finding a place to stay. I decided to find a minivan straight from Hat Yai to Georgetown. As soon as I stepped off my bus, as usual, a tout asked me where I was going. I decided to play along and let him lead me to a travel agency that books minivans to various destinations. The fare was 390 baht (CA$13) and it would take 4.5 hours to get there. Since the van was supposed to leave at 3:30 PM it seemed like a fair deal and I booked it.

I had the option to book a minivan directly from Trang to Georgetown. It would have cost me 500 baht. By taking a local bus to Hat Yai then taking a minivan the rest of the way, I managed to save 10 baht (CA$0.30). Woopity doo!

I still had a fistful of baht leftover. I decided to hit up 7-11 and the food vendors to pick up a Cornetto (so much better than Drumsticks back in Canada), more drinking water, and various snacks for the road.

Sadly, my minivan was half an hour late. Happily, it was filled with interesting people to talk to. Although it was cool to play music on my iPod for a random Thai monk, it is also good to enjoy a ride with fellow backpackers after being relatively isolated for a few days. Other than random chance encounters, I have a difficult time relating and getting to know the locals during my travels. I'm much more confident associating with my fellow travels and I'm usually in better spirits when I am.

The border crossing took a while but was relatively hassle free. The Thai border card demanded 10 baht from each person exiting the country as an "overtime fee". True, it was like 6 PM on a Saturday night, but it still felt like one of the lame bribes that people of authority in Southeast Asia like to collect. Lame.

Immediately, I could feel a different vibe in this country. Some of the backpackers in my van were from England and were stunned at "how much England" the place looked as we drove on. We were driving on a proper motorway and didn't see the common shacks we saw everywhere in the rest of Southeast Asia. On the road, I snacked on my dried Jack Fruit chips.

We arrived in Penang at about 8 PM. At first, it didn't seem THAT late. However, Malaysia is one hour ahead of Thailand! It was actually 9 PM. Oh.

I decided to split a room with an American girl from the minivan, Brandy. She was taking the ferry to the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the morning and was only staying one night in Malaysia. We walked around Chinatown for a bit and rejected a few grotty guesthouses before settling on the same guesthouse that the minivan dropped us off in front of, the Banana Guesthouse. The travel agencies usually receive commisions when they drop off travelers in front of specific guesthouses. These guesthouses are usually worth avoiding, but the Banana seemed okay so we stayed there.

Sadly, I had too many Jack Fruit chips and ruined my dinner. I wasn't even close to hungry, even at 10 PM. Brandy and I sat at a streetside Indian restaurant. I enjoyed a banana lassi while she had curry.

Penang was hot and we only got a room with an inadequate fan. At least it was dirt cheap, 25 ringgit (CA$8), divided two ways. By this point, I think a combination of the heat and the feast of dried fruit was definitely making me feel wonky. I tossed and turned in bed and slept little.

May 11, 2008

In the morning Brandy had to leave. I decided to upgrade to a better room with air conditioner. It was definitely more expensive at 45 ringgit per night (CA$15/night), but I felt it was worth it. I should have known how important it was to have air conditioning.

The night before, we had exchanged money at a streetside money changer at an inferior rate. I only changed US$40 of bank notes. It was enough to live for a couple of days, but I would need to get more cash soon. It was Sunday, so none of the banks were open. I tried to use an ATM to withdraw cash, but the machine didn't like my card and decided to keep it. Ack! I'd have to come back the next day to get my card back. I didn't want to change any more of my US$ bank notes (saving them for emergencies), so I'd have to live off of my few ringgit for the day. I should be okay, but it was important to get my bank card back the next day!

I still felt tired and my stomach wasn't feeling right, so I decided to really take it easy today. There were other travelers in my guesthouse, but I didn't feel like associating with them that day. Instead, I did something that I hadn't done in a long time. It was Sunday, so I decided to go to church. It was pretty rare to be in a city with a Catholic church on a Sunday in Southeast Asia, so I took the opportunity. I was finding it hard to fill up time lately, especially when traveling on my own. Sitting in a church seemed like a reasonable use of time.

I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be a Catholic church in Georgetown. The city was founded by the British about 220 years ago and was a major hub in their trading empire for many years. There weren't just Catholic churches here, but Anglican, Presbyterian, you name it. On top of that, there weren't just Christian churches there, but Chinese Buddhist temples, Hindu temples, and Muslim mosques.


Mosque near my guesthouse in Georgetown

I knew that Malaysia was a multicultural mix of people, but it was stunning to see it in action. There were so many Indians, Chinese, Malaysians and people of European descent, too. It was so different from the other parts of Asia I had seen on this trip. Thailand was filled almost exclusively with Buddhist Thais. Laos had its Buddhist Laotians. Cambodia was filled with Buddhist Khmers. Yes, all three of those countries had their share of minority peoples, but they mostly lived in the hills in the jungles. Malaysia was a cosmopolitan melting pot of many peoples, and they all played major roles in the life of the nation.

After church, I spent most of the rest of the day resting in my air conditioned hotel room. I napped and played a lot of Puzzle Quest.

By the evening, I was feeling somewhat better so I ventured forth to find dinner. I read about a place with lots of Malaysian hawker stalls near the harbour. I wandered over there to sample some Malaysian food. I had a hard time ordering since I could read Malaysian and the English language menu was so limited. I ended up having this crazy fish with sweet and sour sauce with pineapple juice. It tasted good, but I don't think I'd really consider it "Malaysian food". Oh well.

While walking back to the guesthouse, I ended up walking behind these three girls. One of them was wearing a backpack that said "Europebound" on the back. That's the name of a chain of stores in downtown Toronto! I asked the girl if she was from Toronto. She said she was, but lives in Ottawa now. Neat! Her name was Arden. The other two girls were Patricia and Julia from Bavaria in Germany. We ended up walking around together and went for tea on a sidewalk cafe. Arden was leaving in the morning, but Patricia and Julia and I agreed to meet in the morning for breakfast.

May 12, 2008

In the morning, I met the German girls for breakfast at their guesthouse. We had struck a deal the night before, I would give them my used copy of my Lonely Planet guidebook for Thailand and they'd buy me a couple of cups of tea. By that point, I only had 5 ringgit left (CA$1.60), so it was a fair trade! They also threw in a map of Kuala Lumpur and a couple of transit cards for the Kuala Lumpur mass rapid transit. Cool! We agreed to meet up again for dinner.

After breakfast, I went to the bank to get my bank card back. It was easy to do since I was prepared. Before leaving Canada I had made a photocopy of my bank card, health card, driver's license, and birth certificate. When I showed the bank dude that photocopy of my bank card and driver's license, then showed him the same driver's license, he gave me my bank card without argument. I was so happy I had made that photocopy!

Nevertheless, I didn't feel safe using my bank card to get money from ATMs again. I tried to sell some traveler's cheques to the bank, but they didn't accept them. They refered me to the street side money changers. I was surprised that banks wouldn't accept traveler's cheques but random money changers would.

I was feeling better than yesterday so I spent the afternoon sightseeing around Penang. I didn't go to any of the "sights" or museums, but instead elected to wander around taking photographs. It's way cheaper!

For lunch, I wandered into Little India and had a mountain of food on a banana leaf for only 4 ringgit (CA$1.30). I ate so much, I wasn't really hungry again for like two days. I ate so much, that I felt ill afterwards. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Yes, I know I like to eat -- espcially tasty stuffs. But lately I keep going overboard. My appetite isn't what it used to be, so I guess I'm still getting used to being able to eat less? It's hard to say.

I walked past the harbour. Georgetown is not what I expected. It's a full blown tourist resort destination. There are lots of tall fancy hotels and condos. There was a huge cruise ship docked there with lots of tourists wandering around. It didn't look like any part of Southeast Asia that I had already seen. I even wandered through an old British cemetary.


That night I met up with Julia and Patricia again and went for dinner at the same Indian place I had been at with Brandy two nights before. It was apparently recommended to them by some locals for their good tandoori chicken. I wasn't really hungry (because of the massive lunch), so only had a paratha chopped up and mixed with chicken and egg. It tasted good, but I couldn't finish it. I talked with Julia and Patricia for a few hours. Apparently they had cyberstalked my on Facebook earlier that day and laughed at my profile picture of me in the German restaurant in Siem Reap. They promised me that I could crash at their place if I ever went to Oktoberfest in Munich. Someday, I intend to hold them to their offer. Haha.

They had to catch an overnight bus that left at 9 PM and I had to wake up at 6:30 AM so I could start my journey to my next destination, too. I hugged them goodbye and turned in early.

Southern Thailand

April 30, 2008

...Continued

So, yeah, I didn't really do much else that day. At night, I emerged to take pictures of the sunset and find some food. I found a cheapo Thai restaurant and got myself some Pad Thai. I had many a disappointing Pad Thai in Laos and after a while I had to refuse to get them until I got back to Thailand. Thankfully, the Thais know how to make a proper Pad Thai and I was not disappointed.

One of the big inspirations for me on my trip was this blog about the travels of Sean Connolly in 1994-1995. One of the places he went on his trip was Haadrin, just like me. One of my side goals for my trip was to shadow some of the places that he visited 14 years ago. One of the places he really enjoyed was a bar in Haadrin called the Drop In Bar. It's the location of the world famous Full Moon Party. Even though I wasn't in Haadrin to attend this party, I still wanted to see what the place was all about.

Well, since it was the off-season and in between big scheduled party events, Haadrin was VERY QUIET. There were a few tourists there, but not many. I got to Drop In Bar around 8 PM and they were just getting set up. There was no one there yet. I was impressed by the bar's setting though -- right on the beach. I asked when the place gets busier. The staff dude said that it would somewhat more lively around 10 PM. There was no way, in my exhausted state, that I'd be able to stay awake that long. I decided to get just one beer and sit around on the beach to drink it. After that, I made the long trek back to my bungalow and passed out for the night.

May 1, 2008

I was not satisfied with my bungalow. It was so far from town that if I had to return back in the dark while drunk, I knew I would fall down a hill into a ditch and never be found again. It didn't have air con, either, so it wasn't particularly comfortable. The only thing that was going for it was that it was cheap (350 baht/night = CA$12/night) I'm pretty sure that there was NO ONE else staying there either. Being a loner sucks, so my first agenda for the day was to move to a place closer to the action in the city.

I checked myself into the backpacker place called Same Same right in town. It was well located AND had air conditioning. It was really expensive though. The dude asked 800 baht for my room, but I got him to knock it down to 650 baht/night (about CA$21/night). For Thailand, that's ungodly expensive, but I guess its the normal sort of price for Haadrin. Oh well. I think one reason that I was able to knock the price down was because my room had a really funny smell in it. I didn't really like hanging out in there. Ugh.

That reminds me. There seems to be this cultural meme in Southeast Asia that I just don't understand. People everywhere have T-Shirts that same "Same Same" on the front, but "But Different" on the back. This instance of the Same Same guesthouse is not the first I've seen. It's really common, but I have no idea why, or what it really is supposed to mean. Anyone else know?

I had very little planned for the day. The most important thing I wanted out of Southern Thailand was the BEACHES. I wanted sun. I wanted to tan. I wanted to kill my farmer's tan once and for all. Swimming would be nice, too.

Haadrin has a really pretty beach. The water is crystal clear and really warm. You know how you often go swimming and the water is cold enough that you have a hard time walking all the way into the water. You edge yourself in slowly as much as you can tolerate. There's a certain point that you can't go any farther (usually about crotch level!) unless you force yourself in my jumping in all the way. This didn't happen in Haadrin. The water was so warm I was just able to walk in without worrying. Beautiful!

I spent the afternoon tanning, reading, and swimming. So relaxing. I loved it. When I had enough sun, I went back to my hotel and played on my Nintendo DS. I was totally addicted to the game Puzzle Quest.

In the afternoon I also went to a bar and watched the movie Planet Terror (from Grindhouse). I was the only person who was watching it. There were a few bars in Haadrin that played movies all afternoon and night to encourage people to come in. It was a business model that was common in Vang Vieng in Laos as well. While watching the movie, I enjoyed a coconut milk soup with bananas.

That night I went to another bar called The Outback Bar and watched some of the British Office. Sorry everyone, I think the American Office is much better. Maybe it's just because I've watched it more and I know the characters better.

At The Outback Bar I talked with a girl named Mish from Vancouver. She had unfortunately booked herself on a scam bus from Bangkok. Certain disreputable travel companies in Thailand offer dirt cheap fares for certain long distance routes (especially the Bangkok to Ko Pha Ngan route). These dirtbags sometimes use gas to knock the passengers out and steal their stuff. Mish had her iPod charger and her money stolen from her. Bummer. I let her borrow my iPod charger overnight so that she could at least charge hers. Who knows why the thieves didn't steal hers. We traded some books and made plans to meet up in the morning for breakfast so she could return the iPod charger.

Mish went to bed and I went back to the beach. Drop In Bar was still dead, but there was a decent crowd of people in front of this other bar called Cactus Bar. I chatted with some people, drank beers, and watched fire dancers.

May 2, 2008

I met up with Mish for breakfast and got my iPod charger back. She needed to go back to Bangkok to visit the Chinese embassy to get a visa. She was teaching in Shianghai and needed to go back soon. It turned out that she had to leave IMMEDIATELY since the night bus was already full and the embassy was closed that weekend. I said goodbye to my new friend and returned to the beach for more tanning.

I did even less today than yesterday. More reading, tanning, swimming, and playing Puzzle Quest. I tried to watch the movie The Golden Compass at another bar, but the quality of the bootleg was so bad that I had to walk out on it.

That night, I met up with a few people in town and went back to Cactus Bar for more drinks and watching the Fire Dancers. There was a pack of children roaming around the beach trying to sell crappy necklaces to tourists. They were RELENTLESS and VERY ANNOYING. I refused to buy their junk, even though it only cost 20 baht (CA 60 cents). I've seen enough children being forced to work in Cambodia and Thailand. A lot of kids are exploited like this in Southeast Asia. Kids should be kids -- not romaing around harrasing people at 11 PM trying to peddle wares. I had to be very forceful to get the kids to leave me alone. Gaaaak so annoying.

May 3, 2008

Today I was more ambitious and booked myself on a road safari around the island of Ko Pha Ngan. I really wanted to go snorkeling, but no snorkeling companies on any of the islands around there had optic goggles for me to use. Booo. I decided that I would buy disposable contact lenses when I got to Hong Kong next month and contented myself on the safari instead.

I was the only foreigner on the safari. There were about 8 Thai people that were also on it. The first stop was elephant riding. When I found out that the safari had elephant riding, I wanted to be sure that the animals were well taken care of. The guy at the travel agency (who DID seem really knowledgable), said that he had never heard any complaints and they should be okay. When I got there, though, I saw that they had two elephants chained up in the yard with tip jars around their necks. I was really sad for these elephants. I fed them bananas since I felt sorry for them. While I fed them the bananas, the elephants made a squeaking noise and bowed down to me. Cute, but I wasn't that impressed.

After the elephants we went to the Chinese Buddhist Temple. It was in a beautiful setting near the northern side of the island. I lit some incense and had my fortune read. I shook a box of sticks until one stick fell out. I remember having my fortune read in Tokyo a really similar way. I'm not sure if this is one of those fortunes that is ruined if you tell anyone, so I'm not sharing it here :P

After the temple, we went to a waterfall. I got to swim in it. The water was cool and fast. When I stuck my head back in the falling water, the force of the water pushed my head down and my feet up in the air, making for an amusing picture.

There were two options for the tour -- half and full days. The full day included lunch and snorkeling on top of the stuff I'd already done. I opted for the half day since the snorkeling wouldn't be that fun for me. However, since I was the only person that day who booked the half day, they decided to let me join them for lunch. While the rest of the people went snorkeling, I could sit on the beach. That sounded fine to me! Free food is always good! And, my only plan that afternoon would have been to sit on the beach in Haadrin anyways.

Lunch was good -- Massaman chicken curry (lots of peanuts in there), coconut soup, seafood salad, and lots of rice (as always). Lunch was at a resort with beautiful mountain and sea views.

The weather in Haadrin had been beautiful the whole time. Hot and sunny the whole time. However, right when I was getting back to town after the safari, there was a pretty big thunderstorm. Branches from palm trees were knocked down onto the ground. Our Toyota Land Cruisers made short work of them, though.. even when one branch fell down right on the truck.

That night, I had dinner at Same Same Guesthouse for the first time. I had looked at the menu before, and it had always seemed pretty expensive. However, everyone I talked to said that the food was really good and the portions were pretty big, so I decided to go for it. It was still raining, too, so I didn't feel like wandering around to find food. Southern Thailand attracts a lot of European tourists, and I think Haadrin, in particular, attracts many Scandinavian ones. There were a few restaurants in town that served Scandinavian food, and Same Same was no exception. I had some fantastic Swedish meat balls, smashed potatoes, peas, carrots, gravy, lingonberry jam. So good. I watched part of a soccer game on the big TV there (Manchester United vs. West Ham, I think). There were a lot of people watching the game, too. During half time, a little Thai girl (I think her parents owned the guesthouse) danced on the stage to music. Cute.

May 4, 2008

Today would be a long day of travel. I was picked up as 6 AM from my guesthouse and driven to the main pier in Thongsala. Then three hours in a ferry back to the mainland. Then about five or six hours on a couple different buses to the city of Krabi on Thailand's west coast. We got there somewhat late. It was raining most of the day. I wanted to go to Hat Ton Sai beach that night, but that would take almost another hour on a longtail boat then walking. Since it was raining, I decided to make the last leg of the journey in the morning and spend the night in the beach resort town of Ao Nang.

I think that today was the day of the massive cyclone in Myanmar. At the time, I had no idea that I was in a cyclone -- or the edges of one, at least. It rained most of the day. At times, the rain was very heavy. It was also pretty windy, too. Thankfully (for me, at least), there was very little damage in Thailand.

May 5, 2008

In the morning I took a long tail boat the rest of the way to Hat Ton Sai. Even though Hat Ton Sai is on the mainland, its on a mountainous peninsula and has no road access to the rest of Thailand.

My real goal was to see the beaches of Railay. Ton Sai, however, is very close to Railay (easy walking distance), less touristy, and much cheaper to stay at -- so that's where I stayed!

The weather was still somewhat rainy today -- not as bad as the day before though. When it wasn't raining, the sky was still overcast and dreary. Bleck.

There's four ways between Ton Sai and Railay. I knew that they were walking distance from each other before I got there, but I didn't know how complicated it really was. The most important factor is the tide.

1. The easiest way between Ton Sai and Railay was by long tail boat. This would cost about 50 baht (CA$1.60). You'd usually have to wait for the boat to fill up with passengers before it would leave. Expensive and inconvenient. Bleck.

2. If the tide was low, then you could walk directly from Ton Sai to Railay over the exposed beach in about ten minutes.

3. If the tide was somewhat higher, you could still walk along the beach between the two places. You might have to wade through the water about waist deep, though. You couldn't walk all the way around though, and would have to scramble between and over big rocks. It would take about twenty minutes.

4. If you didn't want to get wet, or the sea was rough, there was a walking path around the mountain between the beaches. It was a long haul, and would take like an hour.

The funny thing is, you could see the beaches from each other. Getting between them was the interesting part.

On my first day in Ton Sai I booked myself into a very cheap bungalow. It was no where near the beach. Cold shower only. Electricity only between 7 PM and 7 AM. Fan only (aircon? ha!). I didn't even have a mirror in my bathroom. For three days I didn't shave or style my hair. Haha. The bungalow was only 150 baht/night (CA$5/night).

I didn't really do much that day except walk around and take pictures. I tried swimming on the beach, but Ton Sai beach is too rocky to enjoy swimming at. I walked to Railay and swam a bit there. Much nicer. But the tide was coming up, so I didn't stay there long.

May 6, 2008

The weather was gorgeous today. Hot and sunny. Perfect beach weather. I walked the long way around to Railay and took lots of pictures. I really wanted to get to Pha Ngan beach at the far southern end of the island. Since the tide was high, I had to wade through nipple deep water along Railay West to get there. I was rewarded with the most beautiful beach I had ever seen. Dramatic limestone mountains coming right out of the mountain. Powdery white sand. Turquoise water. Fantastic.

After I got back to Ton Sai, I enjoyed a Mango and Sticky Rice for lunch and spent the afternoon at Freedom Bar -- a bar right on the beachside. The water was still high, so the beach didn't really exist. That's okay, they had a nice comfy patio with lots of pillows and mats to chill on. I was able to work on my tan just fine there.

May 7, 2008

I went to Railay again a bit today. The tide was high in the morning, so the beach was pretty small. Then it started to rain, so I escaped back to Ton Sai. Railay was really expensive, so I didn't really want to do anything there other than sit and swim on their beach.

Sean Connolly had been to Railay on his travels 14 years ago too. When he was there, though, there was very little tourist development. It was a quiet place with only a few travelers. I can see that it would be as close to paradise as anything. He got stuck there for weeks before he moved on. I wish that could happen to me, but it wouldn't be at Railay. There was just too much "stuff" there now. That, and the rain was uncool. It was like the rainy season in Thailand was started by hitting a switch. Before this week, it had barely rained on me at all in my two months in Asia. Now, it rained almost every day. I thought I had another few weeks before the rainy season really started. What a drag.

That night, I met up with a couple other travelers (Ryan from Vancouver and Karen from Scotland). We had a few buckets of cheap Thai Sangsom whiskey and coke at this really chill bar called Kasbah. The DJ played really good music (including some requests). It was the drunkest I had been in weeks. When I stumbled back to my dark bungalow, I fell and scratched the back of my leg. Ow.

May 8, 2008

It was time to leave Ton Sai. I needed to go to Malaysia next, but it was a bit too far to go the whole way in one shot. I decided a reasonable go would be to go to Trang first -- about halfway between Krabi and the Malaysian border.

I was not feeling well after my whiskey the night before. It was the first time I had ever puked on a bus.

Trang is definitely off of the tourist trail. I don't think there was anyone else staying at my guesthouse while I was there. I only saw like three other white people in the city -- and most of them were old white men with young Thai girls. Ugh.

Trang has a cool night market. Lots of vendors with cheap and good food! My favourite! I also bought a pair of shorts for 400 baht (CA$12). That night, they had a live Thai band. I watched them for a bit, but they weren't that good and it started to rain, so I left. I needed to play more Puzzle Quest!

May 9, 2008

Didn't have much appetite today. I wasn't really feeling well, to be honest. I couldn't have been the whisky, that was two days ago. I didn't really know what was wrong with me. I ate at the hours I was supposed to eat, but wasn't really hungry. I spent a chunk of the afternoon playing Puzzle Quest and using the internet. There really wasn't much to do in Trang, to be honest. My guesthouse actually had a TV so I spent a lot of time watching the news about the cyclone.

I wanted to hit up the night market again, but it was raining most of the afternoon, so they closed up early. Trang sucks. It was a good thing I was leaving in the morning.

Two New Photo Albums Posted: Cambodia and Southern Thailand

I've reached Trang in southern Thailand. Unlike most of the places I've been, the internet access here is CHEAP (50 cents an hour) AND FAST. Astonishing. Due to my good fortune, I've been able to catch up with my web albums.

Photos for Cambodia and Southern Thailand have now been posted for your viewing pleasure. Get ready to see lots of temples and beaches.

Enjoy!

--
Rob Szumlakowski
Trang, Thailand

Big Piles of Rocks and Return to Thailand

April 24, 2008

In the morning today we took a bus to Siem Reap. Located 300 km northwest of Phnom Penh, it took us about five hours to get there. We wanted to go to the cafe from yesterday to repeat that amazing breakfast, but we couldn't since our ride to the bus station picked us up at 6:30 AM. Bastards.

Cambodians are BY FAR the most crazy and aggressive drivers I have ever seen. There are very few rules of the road. Generally you drive on the right and pass on the left. However, if the left side of the road is free and its more convenient for you to be there, then help yourself. The horn is used very liberally. If you want to pass someone, then honk at them and go ahead. The bigger the vehicle, the more priority you have to pass people. Bicycle riders and pedestrians have to be as far right as possible in order to survive. Slow motorcycle drivers and tuk-tuks can stay in the right lane, but have to push as far right as possible is someone behind them wants past. Bus drivers go WHEREVER they want as long as they keep honking. For three hours, our bus driver honked and honked. He mostly drove in the left lane, but dodged and weaved as required. There were moments of sheer terror as oncoming trucks approached us and we dodged at the last second. Our five hour adrenalin rush cost us only US$5.

Alex and I were the only foreigners on the bus. As such, when we got to the bus station in Siem Reap we were immediately targeted by about FIFTY (at least) touts. It was low tourist season, and these guys were desperate for any business. They immediately spotted me and Alex on the bus (curse my white skin). They held up signs advertising guesthouses, tours, and rides up against the window and banged on it to get my attention. Alex and I were the last people off the bus and people tried to grab us by our arms or shirt sleeves to earn our business. There was only two of us and like fifty of them, so they felt the need to be aggresive to win our business.

Tout: "Ride. One Dollar. Anywhere."
Another Tout: "Where you go?"
Even Another Tout: "Stay my hotel."
Fifty other touts: more of the same.
Me: "Don't touch me."
Tout: "Let me get your bag."
Me: "Don't touch my bag."

I basically crawl into the cargo hold of the bus by myself in order to make sure that Alex and I are the only ones to hold our bags. I don't really trust these guys.

I spot one tout way at the back who holds up a sign with the name of the guest house that Alex and I picked out of the Lonely Planet. He wasn't being aggresive at all and looked like he was about to give up. I liked his attitude. I gave the guy the nod and tried to wade my way through the mob of touts to get to him. We got into his tuk-tuk. Some of the touts followed us and still tried to get our attention. Even though we were already IN a tuk-tuk, they were still offering us rides to places. Man, they were desperate.

The driver I picked out was named Mr Tu. He said he'd drive us to any guesthouse we wanted for free but he wanted to be our driver to the ruins the next day. How did he know we were going to the ruins? Easy... that's what EVERYONE does in Siem Reap. It's THE thing to do in Siem Reap. Heck... it's the only reason most people even go to Cambodia at all. The rate he offered us to take us to the ruins seemed reasonable, so we struck a deal.

The guesthouse that Alex and I picked out seemed pretty decent. Double room, air conditioner, TV, bathroom with sit down toilet (I still have not mastered the art of doing number two on a squat toilet) all for US$15. Split in half, that's not a bad deal! It must have been at least 35 degrees in Siem Reap during the afternoons, so we spent a lot of our time hiding from the heat in our air conditioned room.

We spent most of the rest of the day at the Blue Pumpkin cafe enjoying excellent real coffee and eating cakes. The waiter at the Blue Pumpking was extremely smiley with me. Most wait staff are supposed to be friendly, but this guy was looking at me, a lot. He told me that "my dimples made me not the same as anyone else." I think he was flirting with me, seriously. This was the second Cambodia dude who wanted me. What can I say... I'm a very sexy man. Sorry dudes, I don't swing that way, though.

We went to bed early because we had an extremely early start the next morning.

April 25, 2008

The alarm on my cell phone woke us up at 4:45 AM. Seriously. We had a lot of ruins to see today.

Mr. Tu picked us up at 5 AM and drove us to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise. Was it worth it? I'll let the photos tell the story.



I think they're pretty good.

Alex and I spent about 8 hours looking at ruins. Most were temples, but there were also some palaces, gates, and fancy walls. Most of the ruins were 1200 to 800 years old. Some were restored and super pretty. Others were in different states of disrepair. I won't bore you with the details of all the temples, since I don't even know all of them myself. Mr. Tu was not a tour guide -- just a driver. He tooked us from ruin to ruin and took a nap in his tuk-tuk while he waited for us to finish. He was the most laid back dude ever. I liked him.

Here's a few more nice pics, too.


I thought that trees like to eat water, nutrients and carbon dioxide. These tree likes to eat TEMPLES!


I took many many more photos. When I find myself at an internet cafe that has Picasa installed and isn't super expensive, I'll put them on my Web Albums for you.

By about 1 PM, we were tired and it was so hot that we called it a day. We told Mr. Tu to pick us up at 8 AM the next day and we went back to the hotel to rest and recuperate. Of course, we stopped off at the Blue Pumpkin cafe again for more coffees and cakes. They were so good the day before, that we had to go back!

April 26, 2008

Mr. Tu picked us up at 8 AM and took us to more temples. On the way, he got a flat tire on his motorbike. Ack. He managed to get it fixed pretty quickly, though.


I'll let the pictures to the talking for the temples. Again, we saw a lot of them. It's not really worth your time (or mine) to describe them all for you.



One thing that's astonishing about Cambodia (and Southeast Asia in general) is how much STUFF people load onto motorbikes. They will literally put a whole family on one bike (like dad, mom, and two kids). Sometimes you'll see them completely filled with dead birds on sticks, huge piles of hay. Here's a photo of one motorbike overflowing with sacks of something-or-other.



That night, Alex and I decided to go to a German/Swiss restaurant in Siem Reap. Why would we have German food in Cambodia? Because it was there. Also, they had Erdinger wheat beer, which is my favourite wheat beer in the world and I had to have it. Alex and I split an Oktoberfest Pot. It was filled with four kinds of sausages, more meat, scallopped potatoes, potato dumplings, beans, carrots, gravy, and sauerkraut. It was amazingly fantastically delicious.



This feast cost US$16 (split in two). The Erdinger beers were super expensive at US$5 each, but I deserved both of mine, dammit.

April 27, 2008

Mr. Tu picked us up at 8 AM again. This time, we decided to mix it up a bit and head to the lake south of Siem Reap. The lake, Tonle Sap, is the biggest lake in Southeast Asia. During the dry season, there's a whole population of people living on the lake in various floating vessels. There's schools, libraries, homes, a basketball court in the river channel leading up to the lake. On the lake itself, there's an entire village of Vietnamese people living on the lake and catching fish.


Many of the floating homes were in states of various quality. This home has definitely seen better days.

After the lake, Alex was officially "templed-out" and headed back to the hotel. I wasn't done yet. Mr. Tu unhooked the tuk-tuk trailer from his motorbike and we headed out to see a few more temples.

On the way, he got another flat tire! This time, it was on the highway, almost in the middle of nowhere. He dropped me off at a roadside stand and said something like "he'll be back real soon."

So, he was gone like forty minutes, but it was all good. There was a Cambodian family running the roadside stall. They didn't speak a word of English, but I still had lunch and a drink there. It was the cheapest meal I had in all of Cambodia. My food (something called "Panchayo" -- fried egg with minced sweet fish and bean sprouts topped with salad, more sprouts, spicy sauce, and peanuts) was only 25 cents. My can of juice was 50 cents. It was so tasty, I should have taken a picture. Sorry guys!


That last day of ruin exploration, I visited three more temples. The sign in front of this one says "Climbing at your risk." Yes... tourists were allowed to climb many of the temples around Siem Reap. It was great fun to climb around these big piles of rocks.

April 28, 2008

There would be no sight seeing today. It was a sad day. Not only was it our last full day in Siem Reap, but it was the last day that Alex and I would be traveling together. The next day, I had to return west to Thailand. Alex was going to stay a little while longer in Cambodia then head east to Vietnam. We had been traveling together for like six weeks. We became really good friends and made plans to meet up again in the future to travel again.

In honour of our new friendship, we declared today to be a "Day of Sloth." The Day of Sloth started with one last trip to the Blue Pumpkin Cafe for coffees and fresh bread. The breads at that bakery were amazing. We had a loaf each for breakfast, and bought more to take back for lunch.

Along with the bread from the Blue Pumpkin cafe, we got some bottles of wine, some Camembert cheese, a jar of Jack Fruit and Ginger Jam, and chocolate and had a feast in our own hotel room for lunch.



No Rob, you can't pour the delicious Jack Fruit and Ginger jam on the whole piece of Camembert on the whole loaf of bread. Sure the food was tasty, but it would have been wiser to eat it in small bits at once. Dumbass.

Jack Fruit is my favourite "new fruit" I've discovered in South East Asia. I've never had it before coming here, but it tastes so fantastic. I'm on a heavy fruit diet here, anyways. I'm getting lots of fresh mango, pineapple, and bananas here, too. The bananas in Southeast Asia are far tastier than the ones you find in supermarkets at home. They're smaller, but more flavourful. Go Asia!

It rained much of the afternoon, so it was a good thing we had our own feast in the hotel room. It was still sort of raining in the evening, but we managed to find our way into town to have one last meal of Cambodian food for dinner. We brought another bottle of wine with us. The food was really good and our waiter was super friendly (not in the same way as the waiter from the Blue Pumpkin, if you know what I mean). We talked with him for a few hours after dinner, enjoying desert, and some aperatifs. It was a fitting end to the "Day of Sloth."

April 29, 2008

Alex had to leave at 7 AM the next morning. She boarded a bus to Sisophon to meet up with Chris Goepfert. Yes! The very same Chris that traveled with us for three weeks in Laos was in Cambodia. I was sorry to miss meeting her again, but getting to Thailand again was too pressing for me.

Today was the start of the biggest single travel push I think I've ever attempted.

Step 1: a share taxi (US$15) from Siem Reap to the Thai border at Poi Pet. What's a share taxi? It's just a car and a driver. You buy one seat, like a regular taxi, but there can be other passengers and you go a greater distance. The share taxi (with an experienced driver), seems like the single best way to get from Siem Reap to the Thai border. Why is this? It's because the road is the single worst excuse for a road I have ever seen in my whole entire life. It was far worse than anything I had seen in Laos. It's 150 km long, but maybe only 50 km of it is paved (at most). The rest is dirt, bumps and potholes. Because of the rain the day before, the share taxi had to negotiate like 100 km of sticky, sloppy, gooey mud to take us to the border. The driver was a pro though. We saw countless trucks, buses, and motos stuck on the road. The driver drove his beat up Toyota Camry around the lot of them and only got stuck once. We didn't have to get out and push though. He managed to get out on his own. After one particularly gruesome section where we had to wait for like half an hour for the traffic and get past stuck vehicles, he took off the bumpy road with a cheer. I said, "You win!!" He laughed, said something in Cambodia and repeated back, "You win, you win!". The two Cambodia people in the back of the taxi enjoyed breaking free of the pain, too.



Why is this important route in such bad shape? Rumour has it that Bangkok Airways (which holds a 10 year monopoly on flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap) gives heaps of money to the Cambodian government to keep the road that way. With the road in such terrible shape, more people would be inclined to fly from Bangkok to Siem Reap. Evil bastards.

It took us 4 and a half hours to negotiate the 150 km from Siem Reap to the Thai Border at poi Pet.

Step 2: VIP Bus from the Thai border to Bangkok. When I crossed the border, I wandered around looking for a bus and this one guy asked me where I was going. I told him "Bangkok" and he helped me buy a seat on a VIP bus directly from the border to the train station in Bangkok. Usually, you need to take a tuk-tuk from the border to the Thai city of Aranya Prathet, 6 km away. The regular government buses leave from there. This guy sold me a direct ticket for 300 baht (US$10). Seemed like a good deal. The bus took about three hours to get the 275 km to Bangkok. I arrived at Hualamphong Train station in Bangkok at around 5 PM.

Step 3: Overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani. I decided that I would not stay the night in Bangkok but take an overnight train to my next destination, Surat Thani. While waiting for my train, the Thai National Anthem played in the train station at 6 PM. Everyone in the station (including all the foreigners) had to stand up while the song played. Kinda wierd.

Unfortunately they were sold out of second class sleeper seats, so I had to get a third class seat instead. There are no sleeper bunks in third class, just crowded, Thai-sized, seats. It was crowded. At least it was cheap: 357 baht (about US$12) for third class with air conditioning. I could have saved 100 baht (US$3) by going without air conditioning, but that wasn't happening. No way.

I did not sleep. It was 700 km from Bangkok to the train station near Surat Thani. We arrived at 7 AM the next day.

April 30, 2008

Step 4: As I groggily disembarked from the train, some guy asked me where I was going. I didn't have a ticket for my next destination, Ko Pha Ngan, yet, so he helped me out. One trick in Asia is that you have to sort out the good touts from the bad touts. There are almost ways some guys waiting for you when you leave a boat, bus, or train. Many of them are helpful. Many of them are scammers. I think I have a good feeling for telling them apart now... I don't think I've been scammed (too badly) yet by these guys.

Anyways, the guy sold me a combination bus and boat ticket to take me the rest of the way to my destination: the island of Ko Pha Ngan. The bus would take me to the boat pier at Don Sak. The boat would take me to Ko Pha Ngan (by way of Ko Samui). My ticket cost 320 baht (about US$11).

We arrived on the pier at Thongsala on Ko Pha Ngan about noon.

Step 5: Yeah, this is the last step. I needed to take a motorcycle from the pier to the beach town of Haadrin. It took only like 20 minutes and cost me 100 baht (about US$3).

All told, my travel push covered about 1100 km and it took me 28 hours with very little sleep. I was exhausted. When I got to Haadrin, I roamed around until I found a guest house and passed out.

Was it worth it? Probably. This was the view from the balcony of my bungalow.


Pretty good, eh?