Sunday, 24 February 2008

New leader, beauty treatment and becoming an action hero!

When we last joined our hero, he was in Ho Chi Minh City taking in the sights and sounds of Vietnam...

I feel like an action hero. We went to the Cu Chi tunnels, a set of underground tunnels which the Vietnamese used to navigate around in the war. But I think it's really an action hero training ground! for me! I am now master of many skills! firstly, I am master of the earth! one minute you'll see me, the next...




























































Flash! I am gone beneath the earth! It reminded me a lot of Robin Hood. Once underground, me
and Sam and a couple of other brave souls traversed through dark and perilous tunnels!






















There were pools of water, secret openings, and even the occasional dead frog. I am now also master of traps, as I observed many vicious ones around the area:















I am also eater of great and scary beasts! like crocodile. I seem to have lost the photo, but we had to barbecue it ourself. Sam had Kangaroo. Believe me there were a lot stranger things on the menu, eg Scorpion, Turtle and even Goat's penis!

And without further ado, I am also master of weapons. Most people who know me will know that I love action movies, comics and video games. People that play the latter will know that an M60 is a belt fed ballistic behemoth, made famous by the Vietnam war, it has high power, a high rate of fire and massive recoil. Used by Rambo, The Punisher and Arnie in 'commando', I present a new hero to use the lead breathing dragon: Me.



The AK47 is the most popular gun in the world, with hundreds of variations its cheap to build and use. It's effective too, and put too great use here by Sam:



Finally, the Colt.45, used by both of us. The basic design of this gun hasn't changed in over 100 years, its .45 caliber bullets produce quite a kick, and a nasty hole in whoever's on the wrong end of one:







Surprisingly, it didn't cost much, for all of that, each of us must have spent about 12-15 quid.

We're also no strangers to even larger firepower (even if it was blown up 40 years ago):



















Plus, I tried some 'Snake Wine' which is like a relly nice whiskey, but made from snake venom, The bottles have real (albeit, dead) snakes and scorpions in them. So, there we go. I am an action hero. I look forward to killing you soon!

We met our new tour leader, Lam, who is really great and fun loving. He's also started calling me James Bond now and again...bizzare. Still, must be because I'm an action hero.

We travelled on the Night Train (bottoms up) to get to another Beach resort, Nha Trang which is breathtaking, more amazing than the last beach, I'm spending a day soaking in some rays tomorrow so I'll take plenty of pictures then.

Today I had fun at a Spa (What!? action heroes need to look pretty too) I got Massaged, Mud Bathed, Sun Baked and generally prettified. So, My journey up the coast of Vietnam has begun, and I have now been traveling for over two weeks! I hope I continue to make you all really jealous.

Go on. Watch the gun videos again. I know you want too.



Friday, 22 February 2008

A new country, illness and a goodbye

When we last joined our hero, he was heading out of the beach resort of Sihanoukville and into the bustling city of Phnom Penh...



The keyword for this blog is DON'T WORRY MUM! No pictures this times, since my camera is getting fixed. DON'T WORRY MUM! Saying goodbye to the beach, we headed for the city of Phnom Penh, our last destination in Cambodia. We went clubbing on the first night, mainly in a club called 'heart of darkness'. The literary among you will understadn the clever reference the club makes (that means you George, since you know that book cover to cover!). Basically, the film Apocalypse Now! was based on the book 'Heart of Darkness'. I went home early and for the rest of the night and the rest of the next day, I was violentley ill. Yay. DON'T WORRY MUM! It mostly passed by the night time of the next day, but I soon discovered everyone was suffering from one symptom or another. Our seasoned traveller, Dan, explained that it was being in a different country with lots of different bugs everywhere and the water that you come into contact with one way or another means everyone gets ill. It's the same in India, he calls it 'Delhi Belly'. DON'T WORRY MUM!

Moving out of Cambodia and into the capital of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City (where I write from now) was relatively painless, we made good time and I finished Northern Lights! I've now started the Subtle Knife.

Cambodia, overall was in retrospect a very poor country, its quite clear of that having come into Vietnam. No Tuk Tuk's, No Street Sellers, PLENTY of neon. It's partly a relief, not being bugged by beggers and street sellers, and being in a country that seems a lot more friendly, but partly I kind've got used to the sellers and the Tuk Tuk's...I sort of miss them! especially the Tuk Tuk's, dead cheap and as long as you're not in Bangkok they can take you anywhere, and it's always nice to haggle with them, it makes you feel less of a lost tourist!

The culture of a place cambodia and thailand too is very difficult to understand, since our skin colour means that we are an eternal target/victim for everyone to get every penny out of us. DON'T WORRY MUM! It has yet to be proved how many of the countries are like this, so far, Vietnam seems more civilised. An interesting thought is that this could be partly due to the political system. Vietnam is my first communist country.
I'm sure my Dad will say that all the countries I visit will be like thailand and cambodia...especially India. I expect that's right...tourism is important in any country. But in Cambodia, it seemed almost like it was the only thing that made any decent money. In Ho Chi Minh, there are big billboards for international companies, electronics shops that have Sony instead of 'Suny' and most importantly, KFC. And no, I haven't been there. Yet.
Under communism, perhaps its a lot easier to get people proper financial care...and proper jobs.
Still, it's only really my first day but it has been refreshing. The only thing I still can't get my head around in this country is the currency, you carry around hundreds of thousands of dong where ever you go, which is slightly confusing.

We said goodbye to our tour guide yesterday evening, he journeys back to Bangkok to start the WHOLE thing all over again. Yikes! He grew quite attached to our group, and us to him, so it was sad to see him go. We hope the next person is just as nice and friendly! We meet him tonight.

I am quite bored with TV now, as I do with my Ipod, I'm turning to Philip Pullman for my entertainment inbetween things.

By the way, I have been following the american primaries and may to a blog on them one of these days, but for now I'm looking forward to tommorow. It's a busy but enjoyable day, boat trips and caves etc. Will hopefully have pictures to upload next time, if I can get the camera fixed. Oh, and my watch broke too, which is a real catastrophe for me as many of you will know. I've got Sam's, he hates all watches with an almost zen like passion if that makes sense (If you have a watch, you're a slave to time, man...)

hope all is well in the UK, I think about a quarter of the way through the trip. maybe a fifth. cheerio!

Saturday, 16 February 2008

Football, Bikes and Beaches + pictures!












When we last joined our hero, he was heading out towards the coast and countryside of Cambodia, continuing his journey through the Mekong...


First thing's first, here are those pictures I couldn't upload last time:
























































































































































One bus ride after leaving Siem Reap and we're in the region of Kompong Cham. The beauty and peace of the countryside really hit me during my stay here. The first day we took a bike ride along a giant bamboo bridge (!) into the farming region the pictures say it all:












Kids would constantly be greeting (in perfect english) and attempting to high five us. People were farming tobacco and corn, the fields stretched for miles. I was enjoying myself so much, I completley forgot it was valentines day (I later admitted it was probably the best one I'd ever had!). The next day we travelled to our homestay (stopping off at a mouth watering ice cream bar, some american chain called Sweensens or something the best ice cream ever!). The homestay was amazing. The whole place was so peaceful and relaxing, I really clicked with it. I hope to find places like it in India:





















It was also one of our group's birthday:















And just for my mum:















The best bit of our time at the homestay was the epic England vs Cambodia football match between us and the locals, with the stipulation of 1000R from each player to be payed to the other team for every goal they score! Luckily it was 0-0 (debatable) but it was an awesome game, I will try and upload a picture of both teams soon, I can't now since it's on Sam's camera.


Today we travelled to the beach town, Sihanoukville and I sunbathed and swam. After embarrassing myself last time we went out drinking, I hope to regain some points by handling myself correctly when we go out tonight. Snorkoling off an island out to sea tommorow!


The group tour is so far demanding but fun, if anyones interested, me and Sam often look forward to time out with our beloved movie channel inbetween activities! speaking of witch, I've found a cinema in Sihanoukville which also has an Xbox/Wii section. Enough said.

Wednesday, 13 February 2008

New People, Snakes and Sunrises

When we last met our hero, he was in bangkok about to meet his tour group and start his journey around the Mekong...



I met the group on Sunday the 10th. Me and Sam were a little nervous not knowing who or what to expect. However I am pleased to report that our group is great, a mixture of about our age and middle aged.
Our Tour guide, Bouna, is great also. We all met on Saturday for a group chat and to go throught he plans, after which we went out for dinner (a repulsive fish for me, alcohol based liquid diet for the rest of the students). Quite happy to leave Bangkok now for something more peaceful, we started our long day to the border to get into cambodia in an awesome pimped out bus!
Unfortunetly after we got into Cambodia, we had a slightly less luxurious bus, with a bumpy road whih made trying to sleep an epic task, whichI couldn't achieve. At least I had a proper seat, though, one of the students, Charlie, got stuck with a red plastic chair.
On a similar theme, the poverty of the country is quite clear, everyone relying on the tourist industry. Children are constantly trying to sell you postcards and cans of coke. Our first day in Siem Reap we went to Angkor Wat, an ancient temple complex. We were there Sunrise till Sunset, seeing both in spectacular fashion.
We were guided round by a fun loving tour guide named 'Three Eye' who was always laughing at the lip rings, telling us about hindu mythology, or renacting his scene from 'Tomb Raider'which was partially filmed there.He also had a strange mix of a North London and Cambodian accent, much to our amusement. Angkor Wat was cool, but tiring. Few if any have strength or interest in a whole day of temple. But it was good to spend a whole day doing something, getting our moneys worth, and the temples really were awesome. or 'bloody orgasmic' as Three Eye would call them.
The next day we could lie in a bit, which was good because of the two early starts we had had the last two days. (and the night before, drinking) We did go to the breathtaking, but poverty strife floating village, with plenty of wooden shacks on stilts. Pirate like children were common, leaping onto our boat to try and sell us coke cans and beers. which had crocs and live catfish
The best bit was by far my encounter with a snake, which I wrapped around my neck. Awesome creatures.
Tommorow is another long travelling day, followed by a bike ride which should be cool. Despite the scenic countryside, we're all looking forward to getting to a white sandy beach soon!
Unfortunetly I can't show you any pictures because my camera just ran out of battery so I can't upload them! Also, the bike ride was yesterday because this is the first chance I've had to get to a cafe, since we've been in the countryside quite a lot, so I'll try and get to another cafe with lots of pictures and tell you about the bike ride soon.

Saturday, 9 February 2008

Lent and the importance of King Kong and Beer

Lent started on Wednesday. Traditionally, people will give up chocolate, or anger or on rare occasions, angry chocolate. But for lent this year I'm giving up Britain. Sure, technically I failed on the first day, since I was still in Britain, but we're allowed weaknesses once!
anyway, I am now officially on my trip! this is my first update, I'm sitting in an internet cafe which charges a very reasonable 1 baa a minute.
Me and Sam have settled in successfully. The plane journey was tough, and getting here was even tougher, since we picked the dodgiest taxi driver in all of Bangkok. It was a nail biting 30 minutes, dear reader, since we weren't sure If he was going to ransom just our backpacks or us! Luckily he did neither, but did discover after setting out on our journey that the hotel was much farther than previous expected and thus would cost 3 times what he quoted us. We didn't care, it was peanuts to us, whatever he charged. So, culture shocked, we wandered around our area, since we couldn't check in for another 5 hours, saw our first temple, and learned the invaluable task of saying 'NO' (in capitals) to anyone that approached us or talked to us.
It was a generally uncomfatable and unpleasant first our to our trip...lost in translation, everyone attempting to mug us for every penny we had, and not to mention the insane traffic and lack of zebra crossings!
But fear not attentive reader! Behold the thing that propelled us into the expert bangkokians you see before you now, article one:














A bar showing the movie King Kong

and two:















The greatest beer I have ever tasted!
Yes sir, there's nothing like the movie channel and a beer when you're in a new city at temperature 21!
After King Kong, They showed 'The Witches' at which point we met Annie and Michael, two cool post uni Brits who have been around for several days. So having acquired several tips and hot spots, we went back to the hotel, falling promptly asleep. We were meant to meet our two new friends and go see some boxing, unfortunately they never showed (even worse we were subjected to the last two thirds of the movie 'Vacancy'') so we hit Khao San road instead.














Imagine Camden in London but with more bars. By this point we were having an awesome time, I was especially excited by the fact you could by knuckle dusters knives, shurikens, throwing knives, batons, swords and hand tazers in this street, however I've decided to buy a hat instead.
We saw an acoustic band, which we thought Dom would enjoy:














and then found an interestingly enlightened symbol of capitalist culture:



















After painting the the town red, we've had a lazy morning. We woke up early thanks to our sleep paterns not adjusting, and watched Walk the Line (awesome Reese Witherspoon) and Teen Wolf (awesome dance moves), followed by Ultimate Avengers 2 (awesome superheroes) with a break for a MASSIVE buffet breakfast in between. We shall later partake in the swimming pool and a massage (!)
Tomorrow we begin the tour and meet the group, which should be good. All in all we're having a great time and have really settled into the whole backpacking thing. I'll also definitely start budgeting tomorrow.