"The Adventures Of Grant"

Saying farewell to Vietnam, we then flew to back to Bangkok, Thailand amidst the infamous 'red shirt' protests (although peaceful at the time I was there thank god!). I had my final night bus experience down to southern Thailand, the next day, bound for the luring islands of Ko Tao and Ko Phangan!

I didn't get to explore Kao Tao anywhere near as much as I would have liked due to the food poisoning that was still very much active in my body. We had planned a snorkeling trip there (as its meant to be one of the finest dive sites in the world!) but had to cancel it in the end.
From what I saw of the island it looked very nice, but I'm not in the position to recommend or otherwise. Regardless, islands are islands I guess, there is never much in the way of cultural, architectural or historic value!

Ko Phangan means one thing and one thing only - FULL MOON PARTY!!!! For my more 'mature' readers the full moon party is basically as it says on the tin - a party held every full moon on the beach of Haad Rin, in Ko Phangan. Generally about once a month. Initially started in the 80's by a group of hippies, it has now become probably the most famous beach 'rave' in the world! People literally come from all corners of the globe just for this party!

• for the younger generation that also haven't heard of the full moon party.... you should be ashamed of yourselves - where have you been!!??

The full moon party was excellent fun! EVERYONE covers themselves in body paint and spends from dusk till dawn, literally, dancing the night away on the beach! There were fire dancers, fire hoops, music pumping out from the various bars - Its sooo much fun!!! Amazingly I bumped into, I counted, 7 different people that I had met along my travels - including people from all those months ago when i was in OZ!!?? Unbelievable! Just goes to show what a small world it is!
Again, 'buckets' of alcoholic cocktails are the name of the game there. For £3 you get half a litre of alcohol and your choice of mixers!

• A couple of those and you don't know if that multi-coloured leprechaun is actually an inebriated Irishman with a size issue or indeed a figment of your imagination... either way he made good conversation at the time!

I would like to add that I was the 'last man standing' of the group that I went to the full moon party with... going to bed at an impressive time of 9am! + 50 cool points for me!
Its also worth pointing out that I lost all but one of my 'team member's' within 5 minutes of entering the human maze of a beach! They average 5,000-10,000 people at every full moon party!

Check out some photos of our body art - Ben painted the awesome spurs cockerel on my back (even without knowing what it is meant to look like!) and one of a guy jumping through the ring of fire... so many people had burnt tissue... mmm...

Full moon party 3

After spending a couple of 'recovery' days after the party we then made progress to Phuket. We were only in Phuket for 2 days so I didn't get a long time to explore, we just spent the bulk of the time relaxing on the famous Patong beach. Extremely touristy as you would expect, very busy. Its rather shameful claim to fame of being the worlds sex tourist capital is evident there too

Next we hopped on a ferry and visited Ko Phi Phi for the remaining 3 days of my travels. The much awaited island of Ko Phi Phi! This is famous from the film 'the beach'. A film starring Leonardo DiCaprio about an American boy who goes off backpacking to Thailand and finds a secret island! A likeness to Ben's situation really. However in the film Leo befriends an attractive french girl who he falls in love with... in this case Ben had to make do with an Englishman suffering from chronic bowel movement and a Bobby Charlton 'comb-over'.... I tried to put on my best French accent and a bit of lipstick - but he wasn't having any of it! hehe!!!
Some beautiful beach snaps for you and one of Ben and I on our last day together... emotional!

So the end of my journey has come. This is the 20th and indeed my final blog entry!

I started this blog the very morning I left good ol' blighty on Wednesday 13th May 2009, nervous and anxious. So many emotions filled my head. I was Apprehensive, daunted, excited. Wondering if I'd made the biggest mistake in my life, leaving my home, job, family & friends.

I end this blog, sometime after my return, on Sunday 4th July 2010 with a warm heart and an abundance of amazing memories. I had the most fantastic time of my life and I wouldn't change any of it! I met soo many wonderful people and have made some truly great friendships.
Special mention go to Andy Morse form Canada and Ben Alessio from the states, both of whom I spent nearly 2 months travelling with. I love you guys!
Of course there are so many people I could mention but Andy and Ben were the 2 that I spent the most time with and enjoyed every minute... the laughter, the tears, the sweat!

Along my travels I visited and thoroughly explored 7 countries. I had 14 flights, 1 helicopter ride, 4 train journeys, drove 3 different camper vans and embarked on literally hundreds of bus and boat journeys!
I tried many new sports and activities including; skydiving, horse riding, ab-seiling, zorbing, rock climbing, canyoning, diving, sailing, sand boarding, shooting (rather large guns!), wake boarding, sea kayaking..... and enjoyed every one of them!

So what do have I come away with? Whilst I firmly believe I am still the same Grant Pearce. I feel more relaxed and at peace. Seeing so many cultures and receiving so much warmth from strangers has definitely opened my eyes to the world. Travelling like I did was a magical experience and has broadened my horizons in so many ways.
As I knew I would, I missed my family and close friends tremendously. Although I have never taken the important people in my life for granted, I think it really does remind you just what they mean to you when you are on the other side of the world, alone. Seeing everyone again after being away for such a long time (11 months) was such a lovely feeling. I had a brilliant welcome at the airport by some of my family and an excellent welcome home party!
That was the best year of my life. I am so glad I embarked on that wonderful journey and experience.

Here are the initial photos at the the airport where I was re-united with my family - including meeting my gorgeous nephew Tait for the first time!. I just love the one where mum is running down the walkway towards me in tears, holding the union jack in front of all the bemused onlookers - hehe good girl!

welcome home 3

welcome home 2

welcome home 4

welcome home 1

So to this end, I revert back to my favourite phrase that was said to me many years ago by a very wise, special man "life is a journey, travel it well" - and so I have , dad

I hope you enjoyed following me on my travels,

Lots of love to you all,

Grant Pearce x

Hello y'all

I'm now back in England as you know and taking the time to finish my travel blog! This will be a rather large installment as lots to write about in Vietnam (sorry about that!).

Once again the journey from one country to another could have been smoother (in this case from Cambodia to Laos). But I will not dwell upon this.
Still travelling with Ben, we arrived at our first stop - Ho Chi Minh city. Or for all us U.S/Vietnamese war buffs - 'Saigon'. It has been renamed since the war in respect to the much loved leader at the time; Ho Chi Minh. More about him later!
This was a typical big Asian city. Lots of hustle & bustle activity, particularly on the roads - absolute mayhem! Have never seen anything like it! I cant seem to find a photo but there were literally thousands of motor bikes flooding the roads - a sight to see for sure!

I was looking forward to Ho Chi Minh city as it is in southern Vietnam where most of the war attractions seem to lie. First up was the war remnants museum in the city itself. We spent a whole day exploring this fabulous museum. Ben and I had met 2 Canadian girls (more Canadians would you believe!) that same day and they joined us in visiting the museum. Probably the worst decision they have ever made because needless to say they were waiting for us for considerable time at the exit, hehe! It was very informative and extremely interesting for me personally and I learnt much more about the war. Their 'angle' on the stories and displays were very anti - U.S. branding their soldiers war criminals (as expected I guess). They had a large area designated to 'agent orange' which was a chemical that the U.S famously used with dire human consequence. The U.S claim it was used solely to clear the forests, the Vietnamese insist it was designed to harm people, including innocent civilians. It ended up disfiguring thousands of Vietnamese and to this day they blame many of the disabled/disfigured new born's on the atrocity.
Ben, being an American (and a sensitive soul), found the whole day particularly poinient.
They had lots of war planes, tanks and guns used in the war on display outside.
Check out some snaps:

Vietnam - war museum 2

Vietnam - war museum 1

Whilst in Ho Chi Minh city we visited the 'cu chi' tunnels! This was something that I was looking forward to seeing and definitely one of the highlights of Vietnam! In case you are not familiar with them, the cu chi tunnels are a well preserved war site. They are a network of tunnels in which the Vietnamese (Vietcong) dug and lived in during the war! They even cooked in them! Very impressive stuff! The tunnel system in cu chi runs for 200km!!! truly outstanding to think they were all hand dug during the conflict!! The Vietcong or 'VC' were arguably the most resourceful fighters the world has ever seen!
Our guide for the day was enthusiastic and certainly made it more enjoyable! They had a large selection of working traps on display which he showed us - really barbaric, but that's war I guess!
They have a section of tunnels that tourists are allowed to enter through a slightly enlarged trap door (because us westerners are all fatty's hehe!). The tunnel goes of for a couple of hundred metres! I of course was the first volunteer. It certainly wasn't for the Claustrophobic, my elbows and head took a bit of a hammering through the pitch black, cramped tunnels! Was all good fun though, check me out:

Vietnam - Cu chi tunnels 1

Vietnam - Cu chi tunnels

We also visited the nearby 'Caodai great temple'. Caodaism is an obscure religion native to Vietnam. Its actually quite an interesting concept - they worship all gods from all religions. (fair play, they cant lose that way come judgement day hehe!). I'm not entirely sure if the translation came across correctly, so don't quote me on that!
The temple was quite colourful so have a look at some photos:

Vietnam - Cadoi Great temple 2

Vietnam - Cadoi Great temple

Next up would be the seaside town of 'Nha Trang'. Before we got there we had to endure another night bus ride. This was the first time we hadn't been put in the back row, so we finally had our very own recliner seats. More importantly we didn't have any 'neighbours', as previously I had been stuck between Ben and a fat man... both times!!! Here is a photo of a previous back seat scenario before said fat man was present!

Vietnam - Night bus

Nha Trang is Vietnam's premiere beach/party destination... so of course something we had to check out! In fact Ben and I did far more partying than sight seeing... too much partying, if that's possible! Though I have to say, aside from the beach, there isnt a great deal to see. We did however get on a boat trip, which was always going to be pretty touristy.
They promised to visit 3 islands and have a floating bar (the latter was the main attraction for Benjamin). Well, in total, we visited 1 island (which incidentally you had to pay 20,000 Dong to set foot on it, that's only 70 pence, but in true British style I refused and stayed put on the boat with a few others in protest hehe!) and there was no floating bar! We did however, have the delightful treat of witnessing the Vietnamese crew performing as a live band/karaoke...
It wasn't all bad, we did meet some cool people on the boat and generally made the most of a less than ideal situation - as you have to do whilst backpacking sometimes. That's definitely one life lesson that I have learnt in Asia, just to make the best of a situation and not get frustrated or angry..... just simply go with it. And for sure the same applies to the infrastructure there (although it has to be said that Vietnam, like Thailand is a million light years ahead of their neighbours; Cambodia and Laos).
Oh and I must mention the awesome fish & chip shop bar we found in Nha Trang. Run by a very friendly Aussie dude... needless to say I went consecutively!
Here is some shots of Nha Trang:

Vietnam - Nha Trang 1

Vietnam - Nha Trang 2

We then went to 'Hoi An', not to be confused with 'Hanoi' the capital city.
Hoi An is definitely the place in Vietnam to get tailored suits or dresses! I reluctantly declined on the dresses, but instead opted for a 3 piece tailored suit. Ben and I chose THE best shop in town for this (there are literally hundreds of market stalls or shops of which to choose!). At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. It set us back $200, though you could pick one up for half that. But its not often you get a tailored suit, so we splashed out! Finished off with a Tailored shirt and a silk tie.
It was a very professional establishment and we had to go back a couple of times for final adjustments etc. I must admit is was really nice to get pampered after 10 months on the road! Check out the posers haha:

Vietnam - Hoi An suit 1

Vietnam - Hoi An suit 2

Vietnam - Suits

Hoi An is more than just a shoppers paradise, it also has well preserved local architecture. We took time whilst there to visit 'my son' which are old ruins from the cham empire. The ruins were very rustic, which I always prefer compared to manicured temples. Like every time, it seemed, when we visited temples or ruins, it was a roasting day!! Anyway take a look for yourselves:

Vietnam - my son temples 1

Vietnam - my son temples 2

In places Hoi An itself is still a very charming town, like one would have imagined it to be back in the day. Though I do recollect an occasion walking back to my guest house, alone, in the early hours (and yes, I was sober!) through the maze of the marketplace... an eerie silence befell, rats scurrying, ghostly shadows, random noises. One of the only times I felt a little un-easy... its ok, I can admit that - I've got big shoulders hehe!
Here are some photos of Hoi An:

Vietnam - Hoi An 1

Vietnam - Hoi An 2

Next up was the neighbouring town of Hue. The town itself was pretty underwhelming. We, like most, visited Hue for its proximity to the royal tombs and Pagoda's. We visited 2 royal tombs (Tu Duc and Khai Dinh) both of which were very different but equally impressive.
We also visited some pagoda's, in particular 'Thien Mu'. This was the home of 'Thich Quang Duc' who famously, publicly burnt himself to death on his car in 1963 to protest the policies of president 'NGO Dinh Diem' (the guy that the U.S placed into power during the war). * This will be of interest to all you 'rage against the machine' fans out there (Bruv/Rich ..etc) which has the photograph of Mr Duc burning himself, on one of their album covers!
Here are some photos of the Royal Tombs and Pagoda we visited:

Vietnam - Royal Tomb 1

Vietnam - Royal Tomb 2

Vietnam - pagoda

Whilst in Hue we went to the citadel and the purple city. Both less than impressive, in particular the purple city. Basically there is no city, just grass and a faint wall outlines where it once stood, thanks again to our friends across the Atlantic!
The Vietnamese have funding form the government to rebuild the purple city. And yours truly has actually played a part in this! One of the carpenters working there was busy chiselling a design into the door panelling and he let me try my hand at it! My efforts didn't mirror that of his, but I was glad to have the chance! Very cool!
I was going to add 'I shouldn't give up my day job'... but of course I don't have one! ... whoever laughed at that is a bad person!

Vietnam - restoration 2

Vietnam - restoration

We then travelled north to the capital, 'Hanoi'. At that point in time I had just booked my flight home to the U.K which meant my time schedule was going to be tight over the remaining 3 weeks! For the first time on my travels, I was dictated by a fixed date. As I still wanted to see southern Thailand and its islands, I was fast running out of time! For this reason Ben and I decided to fly from Hue to Hanoi (no more 15 hr bus journeys for us, heh!).

Hanoi itself, again similar to all the other south-east Asian capital cities, is very busy and not too attractive. Whilst there I enjoyed making use of the motorbike taxi's. Though it would never be allowed in the U.K due to health and safety i.e. no helmet and the traditional erratic driving/riding out there! It still amazes me today how relatively few accidents there are! Organised chaos is the best way to describe it. Although it has to be said that motorbike injuries are the most common backpacker insurance claims in Asia apparently! For me personally, unscathed, it was all good fun. Here is a pic of me and my friend Missy from N.Z on a bike:

Vietnam - Hanoi

During our time in Hanoi, we as always, visited a few buildings of architectural importance. First up and most impressive was the 'Ho Chi Minh' mausoleum. As briefly mentioned earlier, Ho Chi Minh was the president that rallied the people and fighters of Vietnam that eventually defeated the U.S. He is a very popular figure in Vietnam and his embalmed corpse now rests in a glass sarcophagus in a mausoleum (despite his wish for cremation!). The mausoleum itself is immaculate. You are ushered into the building like a human conveyor belt. You cannot speak. You certainly cannot use photography! You cannot even stop walking, I guess due to the amount of human traffic.
Once in you walk single file (all very communist!) up some stairs into the main chamber, around the glass sarcophagus (with Mr Minh staring at you) and back down some stairs the other side. Ho Chi Minh is extremely well preserved, considering he died in 1969, its actually quite astounding. Quite eerie to see but definitely an interesting experience!

We also saw the Ho Chi Minh museum (man they love this guy!!) which is a bizarre arty mish mash of information on Vietnam - the displays were very good though. We also saw the temple of literature, which was the country's first university.
Check out me and my buddy Ho Chi, who has also adopted the 'number 1' finger pose!

Vietnam - Ho chi minh

Hanoi also happens to be the launching pad for Halong bay and Sapa. So we ventured next to Halong bay! This was one of the places that attracted me to S.E Asia. Halong bay consists of over 3000 islands rising from the sea, many of which have caves. Unfortunately, for once, my timing was not ideal as I arrived at the worst time of year - minimising visibility. It was however, beautiful, regardless. In fact the mist gave the place a mysterious, atmospheric quality:

Vietnam - Halong bay 4

Vietnam - Halong bay 5

Vietnam - Halong bay 3

Ben and I booked ourselves onto a 3 day/2 night cruise on the one and only backpacker boat. There were about 25 of us on the boat and a mixture of sexes. The first day was spent as a group kayaking around some of the numerous islands. The water was a gorgeous emerald green colour and very flat - ideal kayaking conditions. We stopped by a cave, moored our kayaks and entered on foot. By our surprise, a company had 'supposedly' hired this cave for a wedding party! Awesome idea for a venue! They had candles everywhere, in every nook and cranny possible. Its kind of a shame on one hand as it just goes to prove that in this world, no matter where you are, everything is for sale for the right price! Anyway after some discussions between the party organisers (who were still setting up) and our guide, we were able to walk through the first main chamber. We then donned our head torches and squeezed our way through some tunnels out into an open air clearing. This place was quite remarkable as it had a huge water pool! Ben was the only one brave enough to go in, but soon retracted after he realised the water was stagnant! Oh, I forgot to mention the huge cave spider that I spotted on-route! Naturally 'I had to' bring it to the attention of all the girls as they passed underneath the arachnid! Its the kinda guy Iam !
Once we returned to the boat after the kayaking, we had a cracking meal, enjoyed drinks, card games and dancing well into the early hours. A typical backpacker night!

The next day we were dropped off at an idealic cove where we had rustic bamboo huts as our sleeping accommodation, literally right on the beach! We had the island to ourselves!
Check it out:

Vietnam - Halong bay 1

Vietnam - Halong bay 2

Some spent the day relaxing, others (like me) played beach volleyball, ping-pong and football - this place was pretty much heaven for me it has to be said!! But the best thing of all, was the chance to learn wake boarding! (wake boarding is the same as water-skiing but with a board instead of skiis).
So we went out in the speedboat in 2 groups of 4. I went with 3 Aussies in my group which meant that would be the underdog big time! (Aussies are all amazing at every water sport possible!). Not to mention of course that I was the only wake board virgin!
As you all know by now, the deep blue is not an enticing place for me, but especially with the knowledge that it was jellyfish season and had previously just seen a huge jellyfish the day before whilst kayaking!
So as expected, the 3 Aussies on my boat were all proficient at the art of wake boarding. Two of them (a couple) even threw in a trick or two for safe measure! Well if you count changing hands as a trick? To me it was bloody amazing and a million miles away from anything I could possibly do! My task, as set to me, was to 'stand up' on my first attempt - which I did - unfortunately followed by face-planting into the sea.... at quite some speed let me tell you! Ahhh you should have been there! That is the bad part - no one tells you what happens when you fall, oh-no! I'll tell you what happens! What happens is; the speed boat drives off and leaves you while it prepares to loop around and pick you up. That's right people, you are sitting there in the deep blue ocean, jelly-fish infested, possibly shark infested for about 30 seconds. You of course cant see the bottom and it seems an eternity before the boat returns, you grab back onto the line and start the process all over again!
I had about 5 goes in total and manged to stand up every time! Generally not for very long... but I was up OK, Dammit!!! On one occasion I managed to stand up for a minute or so which I was pretty proud of!

• Before setting off I had mentioned to one of the Aussie guys that I planned to 'do the superman' pose (leap in the air and hold on single handed with one arm and the other on my hip!) during one of my attempts. But after experiencing the not-so-soft sensation of crashing face first into the water, it wasn't going to happen! -5 man points!

I really enjoyed wake boarding and would totally do it again if I get the chance! Great fun!!
Ben also had his 1st experience at wake boarding and was very good by all accounts! Damn those pesky Americans - they always have to be the best, hehe, just kidding dude! Though I kicked ass in the beach volleyball games (I happen to be a pro ever since I made it into the 'all-star' beach volleyball team in Menorca 99' - isn't that right Rich!? ).
Take a look at some wake boarding action shots:

Vietnam - Halong bay wakeboard 1

Vietnam - Halong bay wakeboard 2

Vietnam - Halong bay wakeboard 3

We continued in our new theme of lots of places to see, not much time to see them in! So on the 3rd evening we arrived back from Halong bay, we jumped onto the night train (not literally people... that would have been silly!) bound for the mountain region of Sapa in the far north. This was my first night train experience and turned out to be a real treat because unlike all the night buses we frequented, the beds were fully horizontal and for once we had ample leg room - bliss!

We opted for a 2 day/1 night trek in Sapa. Previously in Hanoi we spent considerable time seeking a Sapa trek that would maximise the distance walked but minimise human/tourist traffic. We wanted the ultimate experience. Our decision would prove to be a costly one, albeit indirectly, but more on that later!

So we arrived in Sapa at about 6am and were whisked away to a hotel by a man holding one of those big cards with your name on it. Of course our card had Mr. Benjamin Alessio on it rather than Mr Grant Pearce! I am still yet to be important enough to have one of those welcoming cards!
Once at the hotel we were greeted by our guide and then invited to delve into the FREE buffet breakfast! The hotel was plush, the breakfast, divine! It was for sure the biggest and tastiest breakfast I have enjoyed in all of my travels! Certainly not a backpackers brekkie, but we had paid a premium for this trip and I guess you get what you pay for! Ben and I got our moneys worth, make no mistake about that!
Our guide 'Tu' was a local boy raised in the town of Sapa. A similar age to us, Tu was a very funny character and spoke very good English - a nice contrast to most of the Asians.

We set off around 10am and it was an extremely misty morning (visibility no more than a meagre few metres) yet surprisingly warm. Tu lead us through a couple of villages including the 'black Mhong people' and the 'Zao people'. All the while he was enthusiastically explaining there different customs and attire.
Sapa was absolutely stunning, refreshing. Mountains of staggered paddy fields as far as the eye could see! So peaceful. A million miles away from home in every sense! Beautiful! Its just how I had imagined Asia to be - green, agricultural.... men ploughing the fields alongside roaming water buffalo's. Absolutely breathtaking and a highlight of my travels for sure!
I think you'll like these:

Vietnam - sapa 3

Vietnam - sapa 6

Vietnam - sapa 2

Vietnam - sapa 5

Vietnam - homestay 2

Vietnam - homestay 1

Our beds were surprisingly comfortable and Ben and I both enjoyed a good night's sleep. Breakfast, again, was plentiful and tasty! However shortly after brekkie, just before we were due to set off and carry on the trek, Ben quickly became very ill. We gave him some time but his condition deteriorated. We then agreed between the 3 of us to abandon the remaining bulk of the trek. Tu and I then paid a visit to a nearby village of the 'red Zao people'. they are named so because when the women marry they have to wear a red hat for the rest of their lives. They are also my favourite tribe because they are the only Vietnamese who don't have dog on the menu! Whilst in their village I was invited to go into a house. It was extremely basic, as you would expect. Two main rooms; the first had an elderly guy weaving a basket. The second had a guy cooking some food for the livestock in a HUGE pan! Up on racks were 2 massive guns used for hunting - made almost entirely of wood! It was all very interesting and hard for me to imagine living such a limited lifestyle.... certainly made me appreciate all the luxuries back home!
Here is a snap of the villager cooking on the large pan, me high-fiving a village boy and also walking across the most hell-raising wooden bridge ever!:

Vietnam - sapa village

Vietnam - sapa 1

Vietnam - sapa 4

We returned back to the home stay, where Ben was whisked back to the nearest road via motorbike. We rejoined at the roadside and got an awaiting mini-bus back to the hotel. Tu was very attentive and apologetic during all of this. You could see he was genuinely worried about Ben's health.
Once back at the hotel, Tu took Ben to a pharmacy in the town of Sapa. I bumped into 2 kiwi girls that we had previously spent some time with and went off to dinner with them (poor old Ben! ).
However, things took a turn for the worse. I started feeling nauseous and lost my appetite would you believe!!? Shock horror! By the time I returned from dinner our minibus transfer to the train station was waiting. So Ben and I sheepishly jumped in! It was an hours drive to the train station. Now bearing in mind Sapa is up in the mountains, the journey couldn't have been worse! More twist and turns than an Olympic diver! To add to this there were no open windows and I was crammed in between 2 other people. I felt so sick and was worried about vomiting over people in the bus! The journey seemed to take an age. When we finally arrived I barged out of the minibus, dived into an adjacent guest house, ran into the toilet.... I will spare you the details at this point!

Once at the train station, we had an hour before the night train was due to depart. Tu, thoughtfully had called ahead already and arranged for us to spend this hour in a guest house room, so we could lie down (or in my case, hug the toilet!).
We eventually made the short walk to the train station. When the horn sounded, Ben and I glanced at each other with a sudden dread. Normally we would have simply missed the train and forsaken the $30 until we felt better in the coming days. However, because we had such a tight schedule (this is why I generally travel on a wim!) we had a flight to catch 4 hours after reaching our train's destination (flying from Hanoi back to Bangkok, Thailand). So we had no choice and had to board the night train!

Similar to a plane, the trains in Vietnam keep the toilet doors locked until the train departs (because the toilet waste get flushed out onto the track!). This meant a whole agonising 10 minutes until I could meet the acquaintance of Mr. 'Armitage shanks'
I pleaded desperately (initially) to the female guard 'manning' the carriage. As expected she denied me access ('access denied!') which is typical of the Vietnamese's obligatory custom of following the rulebook. My plead turned a bit more aggressive, more out of frustration than hope! Still she refused. I returned back to the room, conversed with (another) middle-aged American couple sharing the room with Ben and I. Then after a couple of minutes I got that dreaded 'heaving urge' sensation, and immediately jumped up. I ran to the train exit door (next to the guard) and projectile vomited to the other side of the platform!! At least 3 metres - quite impressive!!
I continued being violently sick for a minute or so. Never before have I experienced such a bout of vomiting so aggressively! (all of this was in front of my dear friend; the female train guard! hehe! On my way back onto the train I made my feelings known to her.... this I cannot document!).
Moments later the train started moving and my condition got worse. I visited the toilet a total of 9 times that night! each time I vomited and had diarrhea SIMULTANEOUSLY! I had headaches and severe fever... again worse than anything I have experience before!
I have honestly never felt so bad in all my life. Being on the night train became a massive hindrance as you would probably imagine! It also stripped me of my dignity! I will spare you the gory details, but due to the severity of the diarrhea I ended up changing clothes multiple times and in fact had to dispose of one pair of under AND shorts!! Fresh clothes would only stay so for 20 minutes or so until the cycle started all over again. So I gave up the fight and spent a very large portion of the night sprawled out in the 'cool' corridor, just outside the toilet, in just my underwear!! Not just any underwear, I had to use the last pair I had - my backup pair; tight shiny red boxers bought from the market! hehe! It was the last pair I had!
Take a look at a reconstruction to what all the other passengers would have stumbled upon, lurking outside the toilets, hahaha!!!:

Vietnam - boxers

• ....ok so I wouldn't necessarily have been blowing a kiss like that! ... and probably a lot more sweaty!!

At 5am the train arrived back at Hanoi. Ben and I managed to visit a pharmacy on route to the airport. I was over the worst at this point but the nausea and 'milder' diarrhea lasted another week. It has put me off Asian food somewhat and spent my remaining time eaten western food. It turns out I had severe salmonella poisoning! A truly awful experience!

Vietnam as a whole was thoroughly enjoyable. I must point out that prior to entering Vietnam, Ben and I were constantly warned by other travellers about the aggressiveness of the Vietnamese! Many accounts of verbal and physical threats and indeed robbery! It almost put us off going there in a way, but its always important to make up your own mind. I have to say that the majority of the Vietnamese were really friendly. Some real characters. I would say, however, that some of the North Vietnamese were quite 'hard' people. Generally just in the capital Hanoi. I had a couple of disagreements with cab drivers there, which could have escalated should I have allowed it to. But its only a couple of isolated incidents and I wouldn't by any means warn people off visiting Vietnam as it is so beautiful and has lots to offer.

I will do the next and final blog very soon! It will be a very short entry, just covering my last 2 weeks in southern Thailand!
I will leave you with a couple of different bike shots; ME driving the cyclo rider around one night and check out this motorbike on the motorway - talk about loading up!
See you soon!

Grant x

Vietnam - Hue

Vietnam - ho chi minh city

Hello readers!

Still travelling with Ben, the Californian, we arrived at the border crossing at 'voen Kham' from Laos to Cambodia. It was quicker than that of my previous experience. Although they still charged a $1 fee for a 'quarantine' area. This consisted, literally, of a toy gun/laser being pointed at your forehead and taking a reading, a process that lasts all of 1 second (I'm not totally convinced it wasn't just simply a toy gun as we both 'supposedly' had exactly the same temperature... I'm not a doctor, but....).
To add to this, I manged, yet again to arrive at a border crossing on a Sunday, and thus incurring another $1 fee... hmm....
In fact the whole journey was pretty farcical. It was supposed to be an 8 hour journey from the southern Si Phan Don islands of Laos to our final destination of Ban Lung, Cambodia (far east). It ended up, however, taking 11 hours. But this is a custom you soon become used to in Asia - the transfer/journey times ALWAYS take longer than you are originally informed!

Out first town in Cambodia, on the way to the aforementioned 'Ban Lung' was a place called 'Stung treng'. Its a very busy, dirty town that offers little more other than being the main transfer hub to routes in northern Cambodia.
At this point I'd like to mention that the food on the road was shocking! Throughout our time in Cambodia, every pit-stop we made, offered very basic Cambodian food... or gruel as I liked to call it. The quality of the food was extremely poor - definitely the worst food I have ever digested! I remember one place in particular with distaste. Trying my best to play it safe and not sample the obscure meat on offer, I decided on a noodle soup. It always comes with a mix of Vegetables, this time, to my delight with carrot and greens. It soon became apparent though, that the vegetables were not of the fresh nature! Oh no. The edges were all browned off and the taste was awful! For sure it was rotten! Not only that, my little friends, the ants had made another appearance again. After a long journey I was even more unimpressed with what I had to make do as lunch. I almost refused to pay. But since it was only about a pound, I did. Partly because I literally didn't have the energy to argue!

The road to Ban Lung was basically a dust road that lasted for several hours, bouncing the bus around all over the place - quite an experience! To add to this the red dust was seeping in - something the locals are obviously used to as they wear these scarf like things to cover their mouths. Ben and I just adopted the coughing and spluttering approach!
Despite the ordeals, we were keen to get to Ban lung, partly because it is slightly off the beaten track I guess. The other reason was the lure of a blue crater lake which was there. This crater lake, named Yaklom, was enticingly described in the guide book as a 'cracking sapphire blue crater lake'. Whilst not quite as impressive as it sounded, we weren't too disappointed as it was quite beautiful and very serene. We met a few other backpackers there and enjoyed an hour or 2 splashing around in the lake. Take a look:

Cambodia - ban lung

Lake Yaklom was part of a day tour we organised. WE each had our own 'moto' driver and we jumped on the backs of the bikes enjoying an afternoon venturing through various villages and seeing various temples and waterfalls (yes more waterfalls, that was the last time to date, I have seen more than enough waterfalls to life a lifetime!). Ban lung is an area which grows cashew nuts - my favourite nut, for those that don't know! It soon became evident why they are so damn expensive! The tree, grows this red or yellow fruit, shaped a bit ;lie a pair, but slightly smaller. Each of these fruits grows just 1 cashew nut on the end of it! So not only do you not get that many nuts per tree, but you also have to spend time picking and de-shelling them! Never again will I take, the majestic of nuts, the cashew - for granted!

The people in the villages of Ban Lung were so lovely. It was very evident that they don't get many westerners there. Kids would run out from their front gardens and wave as we drove by, often screaming hello with much enthusiasm. I even manged to get it a couple of 'hi-fives' as we rode past! hehe!
A truly magical experience and one that I'm so glad we did - it seems the 'Real' Cambodia has a lot to offer!
Ben and i swapped cameras so we could each snap each other riding along through the villages on our own respective camera's. I'm not saying that I'm a better photographer than Ben, but I took loads of great shots incorporating waving children and village houses.... this is the best that Ben got.... (hehe, just kidding bud!)
Oh and you will probably notice that the driver gets the helmet, hehe! Risky I know, but what can you do?

Cambodia - ban lung 2

My moto driver in particular, "Rek", spoke very good English and was very knowledgeable and generally good fun. We then decided to go to a karaoke bar with him and the other backpacker we met at the lake. Unfortunately, there was a big downer before the night had even started. Walking from our guest house to the karaoke bar in the town, there was an accident between a motorcycle and a 4x4 vehicle. The biker was thrown up not the air, hit the windscreen and landed on the floor. Although we are pretty sure it didn't end up being fatal, the guy had blood coming from his head, but was moving. I guess, in a fortunate twist of fate, I was trailing the rest of the group by 100 yards or so as I had a call of nature. I only heard the bang and didn't actually see the accident, on the contrary to the others. I guess for once my weak bladder turned out to be a bonus. Two of the girls in the group actually went home soon after as they were really shaken by the incident.
We did all have a good night at karaoke, eventually forgetting the the accident. Big thank you to 'Rek' who was a great guy!

On a brighter note, we stayed at a really nice guest house in Bang Lung run by a lovely family. The 3 resident kids were adorable and we had a lot of fun playing with them.... well in fact I was generally getting beaten up after they discovered my biceps, of which they were besotted with for some reason (I was wearing a tank top or 'wife beater' as they are known in OZ!). They were obviously quite an affluent family (as far as affluent goes in Cambodia) and the 2 older children spoke very good English. They even took our orders for meals there! It was so surreal having an 8 year old girl take your order, but extremely charming!
Here is a pic of me and the little girl playing thumb wars.......... I lost 2-1 ....................

Cambodia - ban lung thumb wars

We then travelled to the centre of Cambodia, its capital city - Phnom Penh.
Again, as always, a very busy/noisy city. But it does have many nearby places to visit. The first and perhaps most frequently visited, is the infamous (see I'm learning, Ed! ) genocide museum in Tuol Sleng, aka 'S-21'.
The S-21 security office was transformed from a school into a prison by the Democratic Kampuchea leader Pol Pot. This so called security office was designed for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture and killing once the 'confessions' from the detainees were received. Of course the confessions were received after months of torture. S-21 was one of the worlds grandest (on scale) acts of genocide in recent history.

Pol Pot and the 'DK' party wanted to turn the country into an agrarian state. Concentrating on maximising the farming production, particularly rice. He despised forward thinking and individuality. Anyone with a good education, that could speak foreign languages for example, were sent to the interrogation prison an brutally killed. They were considered spies or people out to destroy the new Cambodia. People in or related to the former party in charge were also all sent to S-21.

There are similar aspects to the Pol pot regime and that of the Nazi's. Like Hitler, Pol Pot was a compete hypocrite as he spoke fluent French and had a very good education! But PERHAPS, arguably, Pol Pot was even more ruthless than Adolf Hitler in the way that the Cambodians were killed. But more about that and the 'killing fields' of Choeung Ek in a minute.

The Tuol Sleng genocide museum is starkly chilling because the 'museum' is essentially untouched from the days when it was actually S-21! You walk the halls that the 'prisoners' walked. You are free to stand in the cells and to walk around the interrogation/torture rooms that now act as informative displays! Complete with blood stains on some of the floors! Its all very real there! There is a wooden pole in the yard, once used for physical education for students was turned into an interrogation and torture machine (people were tied upside down and endured the ol' water dipping treatment in a tank below).
The cells were absolutely tiny, literally shoulders width! The front of the buildings were covered in a fishnet of barbed wire preventing prisoners from committing suicide or escaping.
You watch a documentary whilst (which isn't easy!) in the museum and there are many rooms with bundles of information. But you do come away from it all slightly confused. There is no real fluidity to the story being told and time frames etc. All very random. Its a great place to visit though, and I do like the rawness of it in a way - it shouldn't be glossed over for sure. But it is all of course, very, very sad. But its important to witness these things and realise how cruel the world can be.
Out of over 10,000 people enrolled, only a handful of prisoners ever survived the S-21 prison. Most were bludgeoned to death to save on the 'precious' bullets. This is evident on some of the skulls on show which have large pick axe holes in or big depressions.

Here are some photos, including rather controversially, some of the skulls exhumed from the mass graves - displayed in a cabinet. I wasn't sure how ethical taking photos of these were, but after some thought I decided to. Many people did, but I apologise if it offends - though its a personal choice:

Cambodia - S21 Prison 2

Cambodia - S21 Prison

Cambodia - S21 Prison 3

The way in which the Cambodian people were ruthlessly murdered becomes more evident when we also visited the killing fields of Choeng Ek. There were very few people here, partly because we visited at the end of the day. Partly also, I guess because there isn't much to see apart from some open mass graves which have been taken over by nature, thank god. Literally only a handful of tourists in the whole complex, it gave the whole thing an atmospheric, yet somber mood. One of the most horrific things of which you learn and indeed see, is the 'Killing tree'. This tree was used to kill the infants and babies of murdered parents - in fear of future reprisal or vengeance attacks! The way in which they did this could not have been more barbaric. The 'guard' would hold the baby/infant by the ankles and swing its head into the large tree until the blows finally ended their poor innocent lives! Its an absolute disgrace and so worrying that the human minds of so many can not only think, but also act out these crimes. Truly, truly unbelievable.

Can you believe that the DK were given seats in the UN before the regime was properly investigated!!!!???
Its worth noting here, that there were ( I think, don't quote me on this) 5 main leaders of the 'DK' in total. One of which was called 'Duch' and was the chief of the security office. He is the only leading member to admit to these crimes during the ongoing trial. He amazingly has issued an apology. In my opinion it cannot be sincere, no normal person would allow nearly as much psychotic torture and murder as he did. Red tape has delayed the trial for so many years and it is taking an eternity to finalise. The evil Pol Po, typically, has escaped any retribution due to his death a few years back. The others are still awaiting their fate, but of course deny any wrong doing as they were 'unaware' of the brutality of their regime... yeah right....
It then leads you to wonder how all the guards could perform such acts of brutality? Sure they were brainwashed. They were of course had the option of kill or be killed. Maybe they did believe the people they were killing were indeed out to topple the regime? But to be so barbaric!? Even more so with the infants and babies? Surely no one could do that? could you? There are many personal accounts from these people i the S-21 person which I find interesting. Many of them don't show remorse for their actions claiming they had to do it. Its a hard one to call, I sure hope none of us ever get put into that situation.... one thing is for sure, its certainly is a no win situation!

Approximately 17,000 men, women and children were slayed there. I did will not attach attach any photos of the killing fields. As I said - mainly grassy mass graves and the killing tree of which I couldn't bring myself to snap.

Once again on a brighter note (sorry its a pretty grisly blog this time round!!) we also visited the royal palace in Phnom Penh. The royal palace was very impressive, I particularly liked the well manicured gardens there. though its not surprising as the current king resides in part of the compound there!
Within the complex is the extravagant silver pagoda. Its floor is covered with 5 tons of silver!! 5000 tiles to be exact (ish!) and then there's the life sized solid gold Buddha weighing in at 90kg!! Oh and did I mention its encrusted with not 1 but 2086 diamonds , the largest being 25 carrots.... er I mean carats!
Check out some snaparoo's of the royal palace and its silver pagoda (cant take photos inside the building unfortunately):

Cambodia - Royal Palace

Cambodia - Royal Palace 2

Cambodia - Silver Palace

Next up was Siem Riep. The city in itself has a really nice, cool vibe to it. Probably my favourite in Asia so far. The nightlife was really good and the food, even better!
We did see the ghetto parts of it too during one of our drives out of town:

Cambodia - Siem riep

Everyone comes here to visit 'Ankor Wat' which boasts being the worlds biggest religious building!
Ben and I commandeered a tuk-tuk driver for the day to take us around the many, many various temples in the area. I had huge (literally!) expectations of Ankor wat itself. I was a tad disappointed when I finally explored it. For one, the front and side of the building had massive scaffolding complete with a not-so-in-keeping green meshing. But that's just bad timing I guess. Secondly, it just wasn't as 'attractive' as I thought it would be. Sure it was impressively large (the bas-reliefs surrounding the inner temple is 800m long!) but was not as intricate as others I have seen. I guess I have been spoilt by all the stuff I ave seen on my travels, eh!
Here is a couple of shots of the big beast:

Cambodia - Ankor wat 3

Cambodia - Ankor wat

Cambodia - Ankor wat 2

Another impressive temple we saw was 'bayon'. This temple is really cool as it has 216 massive faces peering down at you!
And then there was 'Ta Phrom'. This was very very cool due to all the huge tree roots that over hundreds of years have engulfed the stone work. This complete with all the crumbling masonry,it really makes you feel like Indiana Jones! in fact scenes from the film 'Tomb Raider' (with Angelina Jolie..mmmm... sorry...um where was I....) were filmed here!
Check out some snaps of both:

Cambodia - Bayon

Cambodia - Ta Phrom

Cambodia - Ta Phrom 2

The next day we decided to go to a landmine museum. This was setup by a former boy-soldier and was an un-official museum. Very small but actually quite informative. An interesting fact for you; nearly all of the worlds landmine producing countries signed a declaration (pretty sure it was called the Ottawa treaty or something like that) where they agreed not only to destroy their current stockpiles but also agree not to produce any more landmines. This includes all of the worlds super\powers apart from a handful including the U.S. and not surprising the Russians... hmmm... I wonder why?
The guy that runs this museum, the former boy soldier, has spent the last few years of his life clearing landmines by hand!! He is of course very unorthodox and the government do not approve of him. Mainly because they carefully map out areas which when completed , they can be sure is a safe zone. He tends to be a bit more random and doesn't document his findings.
Fair play to him though - he possibly has the biggest balls in the world!??

The next day we did something that I have been looking forward to sooo long.... no sex change (not this time anyway!).....no, we went to the firing range!!!!
Out of respect we didn't do it on the same day s the landmine museum (although our driving insisted on taking us there, we just couldn't do it out of guilt!).
Our driver drove down this long, dusty. bumpy dirt track to reach the Firing range, passing by, would you believe the Cambodian Army training centre!!

When we arrived we didn't know what to expect. There were a couple of huge Anti-aircraft guns outside, left over from the war, rusting. We of course jumped on and pretended we were right there in the action - Including making our own sound effects! hehe! Such big kids! It has to be said there is something about boys and guns that just excites every one of us. A bit like girls and babies I think!
We were ushered into the building and saw the huge wall of all the different guns you can hire to use! Its was mind blowing, truly! There were quite a few to choose from. I guess we expected to only be allowed to fire the small guns, but oh no, this is Asia baby! With our eyes as wide as saucers and with more testosterone in the air than on a rugby pitch, we were given a 'menu'! haha, a menu! of guns! Soooo surreal!! Can you imagine that at home!?
So what would we choose!? each bullet cost about $1 roughly, depending slightly on the fire arm. We took ages deciding, each of us recollecting a scene in a Vietnam war film or in my case video games... I then had a brain wave! If we each chose a different weapon, we could swap over halfway through the round and thus both getting a taster of each weapon. So we did! Ben chose the classic AK47! I chose, the most expensive item on the menu, but man it was worth every penny - the PKMS (a Russian machine gun that fires 600 bullets a minute! Thanks for the heads up Ed) + 500 man points for me right there boys!!

We were both surprised on the power of these guns, especially the PKMS! The sound was incredibly loud and the instructor guy had to stand behind us and hold our shoulders due to the massive 'kick-back'. My adrenaline was pumping so hard when I was behind that bad-boy (the gun people, not the man, the gun!). Its kinda easy to see how friendly fire occurs or even civilian casualties, you do kinda get a berserk sensation in your mind. I was perspiring constantly and found it difficult to see as my eyes were stinging like crazy - not to mention the ol' shaky finger! I got a bit trigger happy and wasted all my bullets in seconds hehe! Ben was a little more controlled.... rather surprising considering he's a yank! Ooh low blow, apologies, haha!
Talking of the instructor, well he spoke little English. There was very little instruction and health and safety consisted of a really cheap pair of visors. It was really quite mad really. But awesome!
We then spent at least 3o mins in the yard posing with all the other guns. I had an amazing day, totally recommend it! Please note people, guns are bad! They are not toys! :P
Check us out. The first photo with Ben choosing form the 'menu' and the 3rd pic of me is awesome, I look like a crazed man right there hehe:

Cambodia - firing range 1

Cambodia - firing range 2

Cambodia - firing range 4

Cambodia - firing range 3

We then had to travel back to Phnom Penh again to pick up our awaiting Vietnam visas that you have to pre-arrange. I also bought book on the S-21 prison from a landmine victim. I didn't really want the book (it was actually a really hard read and I didn't get past the 4th chapter!) but it was so hard to say no. The guy had no arms and approached us at our table in a cafe. For once I was a soft touch (i guess after all the recent things I had seen) so I gave him the $5, which was well over the odds for a counterfeit book, but hey, I'm only human! Besides they don't get any government funding like they would back home. I also bought 3 oil paintings in what would be the first of a few purchases on my travels thus far!
Here is a photo of Phnom Penh at sunset, though it does gloss over a city which is generally very dirty and not very attractive:

Cambodia - Phnom Penh

And so we went to our final destination in the kingdom of Cambodia - Sihanoukville. This is the most southerly point in Cambodia and has a nice stretch of coast that we were keen to discover after weeks of sweltering heat! I want to add at this point how hot Cambodia really is! It generally sat in the mid 30's but the humidity is extraordinary! Most days Ben and I showered 3/4 times and that is no exaggeration! We went through t-shirts like no one's business. In the end we invested (wisely!!) in a few of those wife beater's (tank-tops!).

Sihanoukville was a very chilled out place! I had never even realised Cambodia had sandy beaches, especially none as nice as they turned out to be! The water there was the warmest O have ever experienced! And that is a very impressive statement considering I have been to many of the worlds finest beach destinations! (hark at me!). The night life, life many beach towns, was also really good so we spent a few days there relaxing!
We spent a complete day on the beach messing around with some other people we had met and made friends with 2 cheeky Cambodian boys who loved playing football with us!
Have a look at the main beach including a HUGE jellyfish that had washed up:

Cambodia - Sihanoukville jellyfish

Cambodia - Sihanoukville 4

The next day Ben, I and the people we made friends with, decided to charter our very own boat for the day and visit a couple of the islands! It was a gloriously hot and sunny day, as every day seemed to be in Cambodia! The main island we spent considerable time on, and for good reason was 'bamboo island'. Oh my lord was it nice! I could not believe my eyes when the boat moored up. Very quiet as not many tourists seem to go there - god knows why!? It was soo beautiful, definitely one of the best beaches I have seen!!
As per the main island, the water was incredibly hot here, even more so. Ben and I left the others for a stroll around (No it wasn't a romantic stroll, although he is a very good looking boy. Too good looking for my liking! But if a 'wing-man' is better looking than you, then he isn't your wing-man man! Damn you Ben! hehe!!) and found vast stretches of extremely shallow water that the blistering sun had heated! It was so hot that we literally couldn't stand in the water, it was crazy!!
We took some drinks along on the boat with us and all had a fantastic time and getting tanned up to boot!!
Here is some pics of stunning bamboo island:

Cambodia - Sihanoukville

Cambodia - Sihanoukville 2

Cambodia - Sihanoukville 3

We then booked a bus trip to Vietnam. We had specifically requested a route that would take us from left to right along the coast of Cambodia through a border into Vietnam. However once on the bus it soon became apparent that we would be taking the popular route to Vietnam which takes you up back Into Phnom Penh (our 3rd time!!) and then across to Vietnam! Very annoying! Arghhh!!

So finally, I have to give testament and credit to the Cambodian people. After all the recent turmoil they have endured, they are some of the most charismatic people you will ever meet! In fact I would go as far as saying they are my favourite of all the people in Asia. Cheeky and chirpy! I can recollect one time at a market stall when a woman (the stall owner) jokingly offered to sell her baby girl to me for $1 as a walked past! We all had a bit of banter and then her husband offered the same woman (his wife) to me! She insisted $14,000 was a good price, he kept on saying "special discount for you". Hilarious!

I loved my time in Cambodia and would recommend it to anyone, as long as you don't mind very long bus journeys!

I look forward to seeing you all very soon, hope you enjoyed this installment - it took me long enough!

Lots of love, the almost 'retired' traveller,

Grant =)

Greetings from warm climates

Myself and the 3 Canadian girls arrived at the Thai/Laos border in the morning. As we failed to 'fast-track' our visa process the night before (by paying the guest house to go there first thing in the morning) we had a long, arduous experience!
The border is essentially the huge, Mekong river, which runs through s.e. Asia and acts as a boundary in this case between the aforementioned nations. On the Thailand side of the river (town known as Huay Xai), we had to queue up and get our exit visa stamp. We then boarded a small ferry boat which took us on the small journey across the river to the Laos side. Then we had to fill out a Laos entry form. Once this was done we then had to queue up to get our visa. This was the interesting part. There were about 2 hundred people wanting to do the same thing. However it was completely farcical. There was no queue as such, just a horde of people all fighting to get to the 2 operating booths...2!! Not only this but as it turned out.... to wait/queue up and give in your passport was a complete waste of time. What you soon figure out, is that step 1 is to simply battle your way to the front and hand your passport in. Then step 2 is to wait while the clerks process your visa. Once they have processed it, they then hold up you passport (bearing in mind there are two hundred people between you and the clerk!) so you can identify it and THEN you make your way back to the front and hand over the $$$. Once that is done, you fill out part of the visa, then go to a third desk and hand it in again!!
This process took 3 hours I tell you!!! What a nightmare!!! I mean surely the Laos government can devise a quicker and more controlled border cross!! ha! What can I say, that's Asia for you! All part of the fun here!

Immediately upon arrival into Laos we embarked on a 2 day slow boat journey on the Mekong river, heading south to Luang Prabang! This involved two, 7 hour 'leg's' and an overnight stay in the village of Pak beng in between.
This would be my first guest house in Laos and it soon became apparent that the quality of the accommodation didn't match that of Thailand. I shared a twin room with one of the girls. Our room, whilst very cheap, was also very poor! The bathroom was flooded with back filled sewage water and when I went to the reception desk to ask for another room...the concierge had suddenly vanished for the night.... immediately after us entering the room... hmmmm co-incidence!??
Lucky for us we had the other 2 girls down the hall so needless to say we shared their bathroom for the night!
Once showered up, we went to a nearby restaurant and I had my first and last locally caught fish from the Mekong river. I thought I would shun the western options on the menu and try some local cuisine..... on this occasion it wasn't the best move! The 'mutant' fish had like a rind of fat on it (similar to a rump steak) and was very pungent! It was served with rice, but the fish was so overpowering I didn't finish the meal.

We met some Australian guys on the boat and the second day went really quickly due to lots of fun and games (Danielle brought a card game from back home called Wizard, which i can highly recommend!).

So after 15 or so hours on the water, we arrived to the laid back town of Luang Prabang. This is the second biggest town to Vientienne, the capital city. I absolutely Loved it there and have to say it was my favourite town in the whole of Laos! Luang Prabang has a definite French influence as regards to its cafe's and cuisine owing to their once control here. Lots of crepes, coffee and baguettes to be enjoyed!
Here is a sunset shot by the Mekong river followed by a photo of the humourously named temple of 'Xieng thong wat':

Laos Luang Prabang sunset

Laos Luang Prabang wat

Once again our hostel cleanliness was really poor... but then again what do you expect for 4GBP a night I guess!! This time I was the most envied man In Laos due to sharing a room with the 3 girls.. there were two mattresses butted against each other! Hehe if only I wasn't such a gentleman eh!!??
Though it was far from romantic - when I initially laid down on the bed, a massive cockroach came sprinting out form under my pillow and ran straight across my arm! Fair play to the girls though because they didn't get squeamish about it at all!! Their made of strong stuff, them Canadians!!

Other than kicking back in this relaxed town and savouring its culinary delights, the main pulling point is the beautiful 'Tat Kuang Si' waterfalls! This is a series waterfalls and turquoise water pools 30km outside of town. At the bottom, where you first arrive is a tranquil pool of refreshing cool water, surrounded by an exotic array of flora. After enjoying this section all to ourselves we continued on up the paths to the next section which had a rope swing attached to a tree on the side of pool. Naturally, being the male of the group, I had to be the 'Guinea-pig' and so was the first to try it out! It was good fun and we all had a few goes at being tarzan/Jane! There were many sections of pool and waterfalls and we all had a great day exploring them all!
Check out some pics:

Laos Luang Prabang waterfalls 2

Laos Luang Prabang waterfalls 1

Laos Luang Prabang waterfalls 3

Our next stop was Vang Vieng. Our minibus broke down on the way there, fair play to our trusty driver though, who fixed it at the roadside in an hour or so! We met an American guy on the bus, whom I roomed with in my duration there. Oh and again, the room was awful... we had no sink in our bathroom, just a toilet and a hose/shower! So shaving and brushing one's teeth became quite interesting for sure! Vang Vieng is by far the most bizarre experience I think I have endured! Its kind of like Ibiza on a river in the middle of an unassuming, poor country. Definitely one of the most fun places to visit, but there is absolutely no culture there. Its famous for the tubing on the river. essentially you rent an inflated rubber tube, sit in it and the slow current takes you down the river for about 2 hours, passing by bars and various rope swings/zip lines along the way! I have to admit that I never made it past the 3rd bar (the first 3 bars are the most popular and are within 300 metres of each other!. Hordes of people do this every day. Some people stay there for weeks and weeks! Its crazy in theory, people floating down a river absolutely intoxicated, in the middle of the afternoon! But it does kinda work to be fair! I really enjoyed the swings and zip lines! I eventually plucked up the courage to tackle the biggest zip line, no doubt aided by dutch courage! I did however, decide to hold on all the way until the handle hits the 'stopper'..... worst decision ever! Because of the length of this zip line, I gained a lot of momentum and speed. By the time I hit the 'stopper' I was flung helplessly into the drink..... unfortunately for me, this involved 2 unintentional back flips and then greeting the water head first..... with my eyes open..... I cannot tell you the pain I was in...... temporarily blinded, I surfaced to a raucous applause by the watching crowd in the bar! I then swam against the current back to the bar... hehe!
The nightlife was equally thriving. The main bar gives out FREE buckets of alcohol (remember those from Thailand, right!?) in happy hour. Incredibly I never quite made happy hour, always 3/4minutes late and always trying to make up an amazing excuse for my lateness in hope for a freebie! Unsuccessful!

Whilst this was fun for a couple of days, (and it really was!) it became tiring in more ways than one. The drinking culture was huge there and one incident in particular signaled time to move on. To cut a long story short, it involved a group of guys, extremely intoxicated in a bar on the river. The guy in question was a Kiwi. Egged on by his friends, he threw up and then began to eat his sick off the floor!! It gets worse.... there was a local boy who worked at the bar, who was trying to clear up his 'mess' only to find the Kiwi guy, pushing him out the way so he could finish the job!! Disgraceful! I mean can you imagine what kind of image that gives us westerners!? The fact that most of the watching crowd found this hilarious, was just as shocking! I mean I am no saint, and we all do silly things when we are drunk, but that was just too much for me!

• As this is blog is of course designed to update you guys/girls on my travels and experiences - its also a kind of diary for me, personally. That is why sometimes I feel the need to include these stories that may seem vulgar. sorry!*

The river and the surrounding mountains were breathtaking, which is why, on one hand its a shame that it has been invaded by the party theme - have a look:

Laos Vang vieng 1

Before we left, the girls and I decided to try our hands at rock climbing! The girls have done this before, but I never have and have always been keen to see how I fared. My fear of heights, was a burden, but once again I wanted to try and beat the phobia. Physically i was very confident in my climbing abilities because I figured I had the perfect physique.... pretty strong and agile with little weight.
We had a really good group and the guides were excellent! There were 2 sections of walls, both in the forested area next to the river. It was a very hot day as per usual in Laos which added to the toughness of climbing. My first climb wasn't particularly successful. I failed to listen to one of the most important rules of climbing ; use your legs to push , not your arms to pull! Apparently this is a common theme for male first timers - girls are generally better because they naturally use their legs whilst us guys seem to want to use our arms! By the time that I came down from my first climb, my forearms were absolutely shattered! But after a rest I heeded their advice second time around and completed the wall in a good time.
I enjoyed the day but wasn't quite as good as I thought I would be, mainly owing to the fear of heights which consistently hindered me. The girls, on the contrary were excellent! All of them! Like little monkeys, except less hairy.... slightly! Hehe just kidding girls! Brittany actually broke her toe towards the end of that day, but was so brave and dint complain once! Very proud of her - a real trooper!
Anyway take a look at the action:

Laos Vang vieng rock climb 1

Laos Vang vieng rock climb 2

Laos Vang vieng rock climb 3

We then made our way to the capital city - Vientienne. To be honest a quite unimpressive capital city. Whilst nowhere near as busy or smoggy as Bangkok, it had no atmosphere and unlike its counterpart not too many places of interest to visit.
We rented bicycles out for the day to explore the city (the proper 'old skool' granny bikes with baskets hehe!). It turned out to be good fun and a recommended way to see a city! On our 'tour de Laos' we visited some temples, naturally (what else!?). One of them had a monk there which started conversing with us in his broken English! This was indeed a treat for us all because they don't generally talk and seem quite shy, introverted and generally un-approachable. We were very lucky! After chatting about Buddhism, we then went onto the finer things about life - football! It turns out he supported Man utd! Being a man of the cloth, he escaped the beating of his life, hehe!
Take a look at one of the temples and a pic of me and my knew found friend:

Laos Vientienne 1

Laos Vientienne monk

Vientienne wasn't all bad of course. The food in particular was awesome! We found a cafe )called 'full moon cafe' for the record) which served amazing western food! I gorged on many culinary delights, including my all time favourite desert - Belgian waffles with cream! Oh yes, sooo good! *I would like to point out that this was my first desert in Asia, so no judgments please!

I also managed to watch another spurs game live on TV in one of the bars!
After watching Spurs v Bolton in the FA cup, I walked back to my guest house alone. Once again my bearings failed my slightly and I ended up taking a wrong turn, as a result was walking a nearby back street. The road was dark and deserted. Next thing I know someone was whistling at me from the side of the road... yup.... that's right, another lady boy would you believe!? 'She' beckoned me over, of course I ignored and casually continued on my 'merry' way. Mounted on a scooter, she then rode over to me and started stalking me! "where you going, I like you" she said in her creepy voice! Man, I was so scared!!! I picked up pace and she continued to ride along side me! I have never felt so frightened in all my life! It sounds silly, being a grown man, but I was actually scared! Not sure how that works really but there we go. Now, I need to ask you all a question, and please, answers on a postcard - Is it wrong to hit a ladyboy?? I'm confused as to what that would go down as in a court of law!? :P

• Thankfully for you... no picture attached!

The girls and I went our separate ways in Vientienne because our travel itineraries are so different. They have a much shorter time frame and although I love travelling with them, I didn't want to miss out of seeing places (and they of course didn't want me too). We met an American guy called Ben (from California) a couple of days prior, who I decided to travel with for the foreseeable future.
Ben and I both had similar time frames and were both keen to get slightly off the beaten track. Our next place to scout out was Savannaket.
We were forced to book a night bus from Vientienne because all the sleeper buses (with beds) were full! The 8 hour bus journey turned out worse than planned due to yet another breakdown - at 2am!! I particularly had an unhappy journey because when I went out to investigate (like all good men do, pretending that I knew something about mechanics!) I managed to tread in the only mud patch I have seen in Laos. It was bloody deep and completely covered my flip-flops, feet and ankles..

So we arrived in Savannakhet at the healthy time of 5am! Bleary eyed, we decided to get a couple of hours kip on the bus station benches, whilst being feasted on, unaware, by hordes of mosquito's! (and I mean hordes, the most I have ever seen in my life to date!)
Savannaket is only a Small town with nothing really to see other than the 'true' daily lives of the Laos people. We only spent a few hours there. We were literally the only westerners, which was cool! However, we did luck upon the morning ritual on the 'feeding of the monks'! In essence, townsfolk wait at the roadside to offer food and other offerings to groups of monks patrolling the streets. I have wanted to see this, and again, particularly in a normal, non-touristic environment.
Take a look at some photos of the 'feeding of the monks', an atmospheric snap of Savannaket itself and a young girl burning rubbish on the roadside:

Laos Savannaket monks 1

Laos Savannaket monks 2

Laos Savannaket 1

Laos Savannaket girl

Next up was the town of Pakse. This town is the launching pad for the surrounding areas. This town is pretty small and low key. We did however have a 5 star meal on the top of a posh restaurant (pretty much as posh as it gets in Laos). Good food and awesome views for the tidy sum of about 90,00 Kip (7GBP)! Absolutely the most expensive meal I had in Laos, absolutely the most tasty! Naturally I ordered a fillet steak!

Bolaven Plateau was the main reason of venturing east to to Pakse. The bolaven plateau is a green haven away from the dusty roads and towns. It features many waterfalls inc 'Tad lo' which was particularly beautiful.
Check me out in the midst of things in the first photo and then an awesome shot of two random monks relaxing on the nearby cliff:

Laos Bolaven plateau waterfall 1

Laos Bolaven plateau waterfall 2

We did a tour which also incorporated a coffee and tea plantation - tried fresh coffee bruv, you would have been in heaven! This stuff was like syrup - soooo strong but sooooo good!
We also visited the village of 'Bane Kokphong'. Very nice, traditional village complete with puppies AND piglets suckling on their respective mothers! Lots of love in that town obviously!! My kinda place, hehe!
The village have an interesting tradition. While alive they they build their own coffin. When they die, the family put them in the coffin which is generally left under the house (on stilts) or in a farm. They are left for 3 years, then their bodies are excavated and the ground bones/ashes are put into a jar. So its a mix between a traditional burial and cremation at the same time in a way!? Intriguing, if not somewhat strange.
Here are some snaps of the village, including a newly built coffin and a classroom:

Laos Bolaven plateau village 2

Laos Bolaven plateau village 3

Laos Bolaven plateau village 3

Laos Bolaven plateau village 1

The last place we visited in the area was Champasak. Noted for its aptly named temple - 'Wat Phu Champasak'. Very rustic, crumbling temple - exactly what I envisaged the temples in Asia to all look like. Though nowhere near as grand as the well manicured/preserved wat's of Thailand, it didn't disappoint:

Laos Champasak wat 1

Laos Champasak wat 2

After the Indiana Jones temple thing, we then moved to the southern most point of Laos - 'si phan don' aka '4000 islands'.
Again we got a local bus, this time it was an even better experience. Ben and I hailed the bus down from the main road (as you do here) and jumped on the back. There was no space anywhere so we were hanging off the back, sitting on huge rice bags! Literally jam packed with locals and their various wares and food! At one point there were 4 of us on the back!! It was 2 hours like that, along an extremely dusty road, but thoroughly enjoyable! I donned my Ipod and kicked back gazing at the open countryside as the wind rushed through my hair - good times!! (oh and for the record, I played the Kings of Leon album - 'because of the times'. Very important to play the right choice of tunes people, very important).
Check out 2 photos, one of me on my 'seat' and Ben helping the locals pile even more goods into the Bus:

Laos - local bus 1

Laos - local bus 2

So we arrived to 'Si Phan Don'. As Laos is land locked, this is of course freshwater. We hired mountain bikes out and cycled two of the bigger islands adjoined by a bridge installed by the french back in the day. They had awesome bike trails and was a brilliant way to spend a few hours checking out the islands. We also saw 2 waterfalls; 'khone phapeng' which is the largest in S.E. Asia (volume) and 'tat somphamit' which was equally dramatic!

The islands also house the only freshwater dolphins in the world (I think, don't quote me on that... Chris Finch, any ideas?). So we decided to go dolphin spotting on a small river boat and were in luck. Although I didn't get any telling photos, we saw 2/3 of these so called 'Irrawady dolphins'. They are considered the ugliest dolphins in the world, but I couldn't deny or confirm this, because as stated didn't quite get close enough!

On a downside, the food service there was appalling...... it took on average 1.5 hours for our meals to arrive and on NOT ONE occasion did Ben and I get our correct food/drinks! Not once and please bear in mind we were there for 3 days!! However you do get used to it and after a while becomes quite charming in a way because they really couldn't care less on the service! At one restaurant, by the river, we had swarms of midges around us and literally in our food! My rice was literally moving! Believe it or not I just ate through it and gave up trying to remove the bugs - free protein right!?

• previously in Champasak, I ordered an ice coffee in a cafe which was swimming with dead ants. Again I happily consumed - you just have to 'suck it up' in Asia! (the pun king returns!)

Si Phan Don is a very chilled, sleepy, laid back place! Ben and I sought accommodation on the riverside, which consisted of our own hut for 3GBP! The hut was literally furnished with just a bed and we had a communal shared bathroom. The view was absolutely fantastic, aided with glorious sunsets! Check me out lazying in my hammock on my very own balcony, with a couple more shots of the islands:

Laos - 4000 islands room with a view!

Laos - 4000 islands 1

Laos - 4000 islands 2

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Laos. Warm weather and notably, very warm people. They are unassuming, quiet people but always happy and smiling despite their lack of commodity and wealth.
Oh and while I think of it, I have let you all down. I have now have an addiction of ........... ice coffee! I drank 2 or 3 cups a day (although 1 cup sets you back abut 40pence!). Oh and baguettes! Lots of baguettes!

I have now booked my flight back to London, on the 6th April!!! Am so looking forward to seeing everyone again! In the mean time, will do my best to keep you updated (have finished Cambodia and am currently in Vietnam so waaaay behind on the blogs!)

Love as always,

Grantx

I will leave you with some more photos of Laos:

Laos monkey

Laos market fruit

Laos sunset

Hey folks!

So I was back on my lonesome yet again and this time not only another new country to explore but another continent too!
This, the first part of my south-east Asian leg was initially in Bangkok, Thailand.

I was off to a bad start from the very first moment at the Sydney kingsford-smith airport. I was told at the check-in desk that due to Thai government regulations, I wasn't allowed to board the aircraft until I had proof of onward travel! (I, as always opted to buy a one-way flight to Thailand so that my flexibility remains un-breached). I had actually read about this red tape somewhere previously. However I sought advise, online, on a travel forum. They informed me that they had never heard of 'proof of onward travel' and that I would be fine, and in any case could blag my way out of it. Sadly not. I was totally misinformed and it proved to be costly!
Time was running out, I had 30 minutes left until check-in closed. So the only way out of this was for me to purchase another flight, from the airline (jetstar), which would prove onward travel. The cheapest was a flight from Bangkok to Singapore which set me back 300 dollars! Being a flexi pass I could then cancel the next day for a refund (minus 35 dollars 'administration fee'). So I did. I thought to myself "Good ol' Jetstar have done quite well out of me!". However, as luck would have it, by the time I received the refund a week later, I actually got $15 more than I paid! There was also no sign of the $35 admin fee - get in there!!!

So I arrived into Bangkok safely. But it wasn't to be the last of my 'unusual' day. I got talking to 2 American girls at the airport and managed to share a cab with them (they were going 'near' my destination). Everything was rosie, they got to their hostel, jumped out and paid their share of the cab. Then it was me and the cab driver. After a communication barrier, I finally managed to communicate that I wanted to go somewhere else 'hence' me producing the map and directions to my hostel. The map was also in Thai. The hostel wasn't far away, maybe 10/15 minute walk. You would 'assume' that the next part to follow, would be a short, casual drive to my accommodation and ultimately, nice warm comfy bed in which to unwind after a long day. No.... The cab driver, clearly not knowing where to go, decided to drive around aimlessly for about 5 minutes. Then randomly pulling over asking other cab drivers directions. He then took me back to where we started and wanted me to walk as he was 'sure' that we were in the right place to begin with. I calmly explained that i knew for a fact that it wasn't. So we started again and between the 2 of us found my hostel. It is a new hostel and I'm told the cab drivers always struggle to find it. To be fair, it is a coffee shop/hostel and unless you know its there, well, you wouldn't!
After paying the cab driver and tipping him 10baht (20 pence) of which he was delighted with, I stepped out onto the street at which point I had the generously warm welcome of 2 feral dogs mating next to me and a lady-boy asking me if I wanted a "good time"..... after my long day and arduous affair, I wont tell you my reply.... ("not today, thank you, in my best English voice )

My first day in Bangkok was a busy one! I got talking to a kiwi guy in my room and although he was just passing through, we seemed to have the same itinerary; the Buddhist temples or 'wat's' as they are known here.
On the way to the very famous 'grand palace' we were approached by a guy who was extremely helpful in telling us which temples in the area we should visit etc.. and even outlined them on a map. He then called over a tuk-tuk driver and explained where he should take us. We were both hesitant at this point because we planned on walking and I didn't trust 'our new friend'. I told Brad I wasn't interested but he argued that at 40 baht (50 pence), it was cheap - which was true. So eventually we both agreed to hire a tuk-tuk, because lets face it, you cant go to Asia and not get in a tuk-tuk! It was great fun! Pretty dangerous really as you are not strapped in at all and they have open-sides. Not too mention the crazy driving over here - which I'm, sure you have already heard about!

After the first couple of temples the driver turned round and asked us if we wanted to have some suits made. We declined and he got really, really upset and pleaded with us to go and have a look. Basically it turns out that if we stepped foot in the shop, the cab driver gets a fuel voucher from the owners which ultimately pays for his fuel (no prizes for guessing who our mysterious friend was working for!). Anyway after some arguing we agreed we would go to the shop so he could get his voucher but we wouldn't buy anything. That's how it panned out. We were in the shop for 2/3 minutes walked out empty handed and the tuk-tuk driver got his voucher. He then took us to our next destination, except this time he didn't wait for us. When we came out he had vanished - he had got what he wanted. But then again so did we - we hadn't paid him the fare (that was to be given at the end of our journey) so we basically had free transport for the day! Result x 2! It seems everyone was a winner... well except the suit factory..
The temples and their Buddhas were stunning - Particularly the famous 'Grand Palace' where the king used to reside. The Buddha's came in many variations; standing, sitting, reclining, emerald, golden. The temples were really colourful and quite exquisite. Being my first time in Asia it was the first time I have seen their architecture and I really liked it - especially the multi-tiered roofs!
We went to many of the temples that day as we took advantage of our hostel's location in 'old Bangkok'; which housed most of the wats's. We saw a variety of impressive statues, bells and gongs along the way.
Check out some pics including the golden palace and the reclining Buddha (which incidentally is a staggering 46m in length):

Bankok grand palace 2

Bankok grand palace 1

Bankok - lying buddha

Bangkok - sitting buddha

Bangkok temple 2

Bangkok Budda 1

The following night I made some more friends in the hostel and we all went to, (now how can I put this, being a family show!?) an 'adult entertainment venue' for the evening . Six of us went in total, splitting the sexes 50/50. So clearly the night was meant to be light humoured. So we went to a Thai restaurant and after a relaxing meal, arrived at the 'venue' in high spirits. Before going in we agreed with the tout that we would all have free entry and the drinks would be 100 baht (2 GBP). Happy with that we went in and were ushered to our seats. An occurring theme of the lady-boys taking a shine to me continued when 'it' came down from the stage, stood next to me and asked me to buy her/him a drink!? I declined naturally. 'It' returned to the stage but during the 'act' (which involved little more than dancing topless oh and in case your wondering yes he had implants!) kept gesturing over to me much to the enjoyment of Carrie, one of the girls I was with! ..... why me!!??? I have never felt so nervous in all my life!
Unfortunately this was not to be the least of my worries. Two of our group decided it wasn't for them and didn't like the atmosphere so left after a few minutes. The rest of us were also getting edgy and decided amongst ourselves that we were going to leave after we finished our drinks. All of a sudden the waitress came over and plonked down a bar tab of 7,800 baht which equated to about 150GBP!! For 6 drinks!!!?? As we began to argue the point a couple of other staff came over to join the heated debate (well i say 'WE' Brad and one of the girls didn't say boo to a ghost, so was left to myself and Carrie, although surprisingly more so from Carrie!). The manager came over and we continued to protest. I was waiting for a secret door to open any second and out pop some heavies! Knowing that I was with 2 girls and a guy that was as good as a rabbit caught in headlights, I wasn't to optimistic about my chances!
Thankfully, they eventually agreed on the original price, so we paid 600 baht (12 GBP - considerably less than their original ridiculously extortionate price!). Fair play to Carrie though, she ended up doing most of the work in getting us out of trouble with here factual, yet strong approach! Quite funny actually, as she speaks the queens English! hehe! Sorry Carrie!
We were all relieved to be outside and its not a situation I would ever like to find myself in again. As it turned out we met 2 middle-aged women that had the same thing happen to them previously, except THEY PAID the asking price! More fool them, but i guess extra intimidating for them! (they didn't have the imposing physical prowess that IS 'Grant Pearce'... ok maybe not :P).

Bangkok wasn't a city I would ever go out of my way visit again. Aside from the appealing Buddhist temples, I found it very polluted, smelly, murky and humid. The polluted sky never seems to allow sunlight to properly penetrate it. Most of the people I encountered there are out to scam you in anyway possible. It was a sight to see and as always I'm glad I did, but its not for me.

My first impressions of Asia (Thailand) was 'quirky'. The food, surprisingly, I adore. The people are generally really nice, very resourceful but always eccentric. One food stall owner I stumbled upon had a cart of fresh fruit. To quell the beating sun, he fastened a small branch to the side of the cart and placed a fully opened empty crisp packet on top to act as an umbrella! Awesome!!
Health and safety doesn't exist! I was wandering the backstreets of Bangkok one afternoon when i stumbled upon a chippy, carving wood with one hand complete with lit cigarette in the other... bearing in mind the WHOLE floor was covered in wood shavings! Their safety issues is also made apparent with the tuk-tuk and other various modes of transport! Another common vehicle are the red buses which are actually like pick up trucks with roofs and open backs!
The toilets are extremely unclean, always. You have to squat as they have no seat and they also have no flush so you pour in some water from a tub in the vicinity.
Check out a typical Thai toilet, a row of a tuk-tuks and a red 'bus' (featuring Carrie!) * I hope you feel proud that you got a mention in the same sentence as a toilet Carrie! :P:

Thai toilet

Thai tuk-tuk

Thai bus

I spent the next day visiting yet more temples with Carrie. We got on very well so I decided to join her on a flight to the north of Thailand;Chiang Mai. I was heading in that direction regardless but originally planned to take the 10 hr bus to save some cash. But as Carrie was only out in Thailand for a 2 week holiday (poor bugger! hehe!) I thought it would be cool to spend some more time with her.

Chiang Mai, also a city, yet far smaller, was the complete opposite to Bangkok. Sunlight, fresh air and friendly locals was a welcome relief to that of its big brother further south. The center is housed in a huge old square boundary wall which runs for a mile or so in length.
The hostel which we stayed in, Green Tulip house, was one of the best places I have been to on my travels so far. Really clean, good location and more importantly lovely staff. Run by two women; Nine and Stella we were really made to feel at home.

The first night there, I persuaded Carrie to accompany me to see some Thai boxing. There were 7 fights I think all grouped in weight, which is standard in any martial art/boxing bout. The ring was surrounded by bars on all four sides which gave the whole thing a really good, enjoyable atmosphere. While it was serious, the flow of alcohol and in particular the hilarious half time show of blindfold Thai boxing made it a relaxed affair. That's right folks - blindfold Thai boxing - sooo funny!!!!!
We both had our first whiskey 'bucket' that night. Literally a plastic bucket, like you would find at a seaside destination, except this time filled with whiskey, mixer and ice! There were 2 options of the menu, small or large. Intrigued about seeing this I asked the waitress to explain the difference between the sizes. Apparently a small was a half bottle of whiskey and a large was a whole bottle!!!! I couldn't believe it! Naturally we went for the small!
Totally blown away by the whole thing, and no doubt still in shock, when asked for my choice of 2 mixers I went for coke and redbull....... coke and redbull .... mixed.... in a bucket of ice..... with half a bottle of whiskey!!?? It was the weirdest drink I have ever had..... don't ever ask for coke and redbull people, it doesn't go (although kinda tasted of coffee, or maybe that was just my intoxicated tongue doing the thinking!?!) :P
We had a really, really good night and Carrie absolutely loved it - which she was quite surprised about. We ended the night in a bar called 'ladyboy' .. YES the staff were all lady boys, NO I didn't want to go in, YES Carrie dragged me in, NO I'm not a pervert, YES I was scared....it was Carrie's idea!!!!
Have a look at some photos from the night, first up 'the bucket' (of which we shared 2, naturally!) :

Thai Bucket

Thai boxing 1

Thai boxing 2

Next we embarked on a 2 day/1 night trek in the mountains. There are many touristy treks to go on here in Chiang Mai, so we deliberately sought out a trek which would be in a small group and one which didn't have you bumping into other groups along the way. So we found one that would take us hiking up the highest mountain in Thailand - Doi Ithanon.
Luck man that I am, our group consisted of myself and 5 girls (inc Carrie). I must say I wasn't disappointed when that became apparent!
We set off an a 2 hour drive part way up the mountain and had some lunch (egg fried rice!) at the start of the national park. It was then time to climb to the summit of one of the tallest peaks on Doi Ithanon! The trek took about 3 hours to reach the top and believe me it was exhausting!! The ascent had us walking through very dense jungle all the way! We were all absolutely shattered! (though I think the previous night's whiskey buckets had an impact of Carrie and I!) . I was so proud and impressed with all the girls to be honest because I really struggled and Im a pro at hiking these days don't you know!? :P
Once we reached the top we had 30 minutes break and savoured the breathtaking (quite literally!) views! A mass of leafy mountain peaks and dense valleys below for as far as the eye could see! Absolutely stunning! It made the intense trekking totally worthwhile! Also at the top of the peak was a tiny temple!
Take a look for yourself:

trek - Doi Ithanon view 2

trek - Doi Ithanon view 3

trek - Doi Ithanon temple

trek - Doi Ithanon view 1

We then made the descent down which took slightly less, in 2 hours, but equally demanding! like the previous journey straight up the mountain pretty much, this was literally straight down and the vertical challenge took its toll on the whole group. Just about everyone including the guide, stacked it!!! I did it a couple of times but Carrie had the honours totalling well over 5 falls, we kinda lost count in the end! It was good for morale though!! Hilarious!
Eventually we made it back to our starting point and then we had a short ride in a pick-up truck to the Pond Noi village. Situated in the mountain which is a mixture of the 'Mhong' and 'Karen people'.
The Karen tribe women wear those intriguing gold coils around their neck, hence the name 'long neck tribe'.
Here is a photo of a little girl:

Karen 'long neck' tribe girl

trek - village accommodation

We then toured around the village we had stayed in and saw them making Thai Whiskey (from rice) and getting ready for a big annual party where they planned to sacrifice a pig. Interestingly, they had 2 churches at either end of the village, protestant and catholic. This is due to the tribal mix of the mountain villages.
There were children playing some kind of traditional game using stone 'spinning tops' and string. Literally hours of fun for these kids - so different from our up-bringing with its video games etc! They were pretty sweet yet cheeky at the same time, here is a bit of a group pic:

Trek - Children group photo

Next up was a short trek to a nice waterfall! The water was cold and very murky - not something I have become used to in the clear blue waters of Oz and N.Z! However, being the hero that I am, was first in to brave the conditions! And it was cold let me tell you! I immediately made my way to the bottom of the waterfall. It was amazing and was very stereotypical in the sense that it had a small 'chamber' where you can be between the jagged rocks and the water! Enough room for a couple of people in fact. You can even have a conversation under there but the water is pretty loud. I at that point was in danger of denting my 'hero' status and managed to swallow a mouthful of water.... choked and spluttered accordingly! Hehe! But as I was out of sight, managed to save face and by the time I existed the 'chamber', I was as fresh as a daisy - that's right people!! :P
Have a look:

trek - waterfall

Trek - food 2

Trek - food 1

It was then time to do some bamboo rafting before heading back to the city. Had a really good time and enjoyed my first taste of tribe/village life!

Before Carrie got the plane to the southern islands of Thailand (she was on vacation after all) we went to have our fist Thai massage together.... by blind people! We thought it was a nice way to give unfortunate people a chance to earn a living, after all I imagine in a country like Thailand they probably don't get the same or indeed any financial support from the government as they would back home in the UK.
Our kind hearts were soon replaced with sore bodies! well mine at least! Carrie had a female and I had a guy. She had a firm but enjoyable massage by all accounts but my guy absolutely annihilated me! Carrie, lying next to me, found my 'ordeal' highly funny as she constantly described to me the weird bone crunching positions he was putting me in!
My first experience of a traditional Thai massage wasn't a pleasant one! Mind you for 4GBP an hour you cant really grumble!! I tipped him, purely out of sympathy..

• My love of Thai food, or swallowing the river water eventually caught up with me and gave me the mother of all poopie pants! After hours of toilet hogging and 'other' complications I decided to go to the hospital. In true tuk-tuk drivers fashion, the driver tried stitching me up with an over the odds price, even though I asked to go to the hospital! I mean fair enough they are trying to make a quick buck, but for god's sake man have some compassion! Christ, I was clearly not feeling well and he still tried it on knowing that I needed hospital attention!! I guess that's capitalism eh!? Hehe! Out of spite I laughed at him and proceeded on foot. Twenty minutes later, after giving it some, and a tired sphincter I arrived soaking wet with sweat and a bruised ego! He had the last laugh! I'm never doing a walk like that again in those circumstances! * Hmm the previous sentence reads differently to how I imagined.... :P

Back at the hostel, 'Nine' and 'Stella' (sharing the same name as my nan and auntie by the way) really looked after me. They wouldn't ever bring me the food that I ordered in the guest house, always rice soup because it is kinder to your belly. hehe they made me chuckle. They were really sweet.

On a brighter subject, take a look at some snaps of Chiang Mai city:

Chiang Mai temple 1

Chiang Mai temple 2

Chiang mai river

After recovering, I then embarked on my highly awaited trip to the elephant conservation centre! I spent 2 days and 1 night there, in the mountains around Chiang mai.
There are a few different elephant companies that offer you the chance to be a 'mahout' (their master essentially) and learn to ride , control and perform tricks with the elephants. Personally, I find that degrading, so opted for the only REAL conservation park in Thailand (and probably s.e. Asia).
It is a non-profit organisation founded by a woman named 'Lek'. She grew up in a village in one of the mountains outside chianig mai and had an elephant as a pet when she was a girl. Fed up with the traditional methods in controlling and using the elephants she decided to start the conservation park about 15 years ago.
With donations she has now setup a huge park where she rehabilitates and keeps elephants either rescued from cruelty or illness.
Typically Lek has to buy the elephants from their owners. Sometimes they are only 'leased' to her so she can rehabilitate or treat them. The the owners sometimes want them back so they can carry on working them.
Elephants unfortunately are seen as domestic working animals here. Amazingly, shockingly they have no more 'right's or protection than a donkey or a cow!!
Elephants are huge (literally) in terms of tourism for the Thai people. Whether it be elephant riding, elephant painting and other degrading acts they are also used for logging!!
One of the biggest issues with the above is the traditional method that the Thai's use to 'break' the elephants and ultimately control them through fear!
We watched a documentary at the conservation park showing footage of the horrendous ordeal that ALL working elephants face!
In short, (and I don't want to ponder too long on this because it is literally the most upsetting thing I have ever seen!) they make a wooden cage where they trap the elephant. Normally when they are quite young obviously. Once in the cage they starve the elephant of food and water for days, along with sleep deprivation! And this is the nice part! During all of this, literally 10/15 guys repetitively beat the elephants with sticks - many of which have nails attached to them!!! Even small children imitate their fathers by joining in! Its f*cking disgusting!! If and when the 'trainers' think the elephants will is broken, they release it from the cage and parade it through the village. At this point the elephant is absolutely exhausted yet of course so frightened and depressed. They have 10' of ropes cast around each limb to control it whilst still beating and stabbing away. I know its cultural differences here, and I for one have learnt a lot about this in the last year, but its barbaric! Its awful to watch - I was finding it extremely hard not to have the tears rolling down my face (being the big softy that I am!).

At the park you hear of the many stories of pain and anguish that the elephants endured before being rescued. I will tell you one story in particular which is still physically evident on the elephant today. Tokia - was a female logging elephant working in Thailand for years. She fell pregnant but they still worked her every single day. She actually gave birth whilst dragging some logs up a hill!!! The baby hit the floor, rolled down the hill and as a result of this, died. Naturally, like most mammals, Tokia was distraught and immediately became depressed. She then refused to work! So in their brilliantly caring nature, the loggers catapulted a stone into her eye which blinded her. After hours of getting Tokia to start working again, still she refused. They then savagely stabbed her remaining eye, blinding her completely!! The nature park ended up 'buying' Tokia from the loggers and she has been there for quite sometime ever since. Although completely blind, 2 other female elephants welcomed her into their family and they totally look after her. Its quite sweet really because when Tokia gets lost or nervous, she blows her trumpet at the other female rushes over - its truly amazing! Here are a couple of photos, Tokia is in the middle 'being protected' :

elephant trio talking

elephant trio

Anyway, so Lek is realistic to realise that working the elephants here, be it through tourism or industry will not go away for a long time. She is not trying to change that just yet but instead trying to prove to the Thai people that the old traditional 'breaking' method is not humane and not needed to gain an elephants respect and control. What she wants to do is revolutionise the way in which the Thai's can train elephants through love and trust - like you would a dog or a horse even. To help achieve this, she has obtained an orphaned baby boy. Also another baby was born a few months ago. So in the coming months and years she wants to prove that you can have an 'obedient' elephant without beating the sh*t out of it.
The industry is keeping close tabs on Lek's project but at the moment highly skeptical that it will work. I hope it does, else the brutality will continue.

During my time there I had the opportunity to feed and wash the elephants on more than one occasion. They love being washed and of course being fed! You literally cannot feed them fast enough! Once washed, they then go and roll around in the mud which is used for sun and insect protection! Its hilarious seeing these huge beasts rolling around!

Some interesting facts for you. There are only an estimated 30,000 Asian elephants left in the world! Of which only 3000 Asian elephants reside in Thailand - a figure decreased from 100,00 at the beginning of the 20th century!
They eat 10% of their body weight, daily! Bearing on mind they can reach up to 3/4 ton - that's a lot of food! In the park they get fed bananas, corn and watermelon.

Elephants are truly majestic creatures; powerful yet so gentle, beautiful and gracious. I absolutely loved my time there. Just seeing them interact with each other naturally is so nice.

Despite being the national symbol of Thailand and also quite a sacred animal, they are treated soo cruelly. I cannot understand that.

ok so that's the green peace bit over! :P

Check out some more photos of my time there including the last pic with the stand off between dog and elephant:

me washing elephant

elephant 'jungle boy'

elephant beach invasion

jungle boy playing in water

me feeding elephant

elephant head

elephant vs dog showdown

I then re-united with 3 of the Canadian girls i met in New Zealand! Brittany, Danielle and Valena came over to tour some of S.E.Asia with me (minus Jodie unfortunately). They have a much tighter time schedule so we will basically see how far we can go together (I of course want to be with them as long as possible but don't want to rush things and miss out on anything).
It was really good to see the girls again and we were all excited to travel we each other once more.
We spent a couple of days in Chiang Mai visiting the night market.... hmmm... what have I got myself in for travelling with 3 girls! :P
We also had a Thai massage, their first and my second. I was hoping for an improvement and wanted to give it a a second chance!
This time around I got a girl. It was absolute heaven and we all enjoyed it so much that we all extended our massage from the standard 1 hour to 30 mins more! Mmmmmm..... Thai massage.......

We crossed the border to Laos soon after which I will cover in my next blog. It wont be as big as this one!

I must say I totally love my first taste of Asia!! I am so glad I decided to come here before heading home as it is a totally different experience travelling here compared to Australasia - the food, the language, the culture.

Miss you all back home!

Grant Pearce signing out! XX