Jabba's Blog

The last leg of our South East Asia tour would be played out in Northern Thailand and it was action packed and full of fun. Chang Mai is not what I expected at all, this is the launching pad for trips to see tribes and go Elephant trekking so I thought it would be quite remote, it was totally opposite it was very very modernised, the centre has an old moat and city wall protecting it but there were so many bars and restaurants. Chang Mai has many wats, every road you turn down there is probably a wat waiting for you in all its glamour we visited the main ones Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chang Mein and Wat Chedi Luang.
Something that Kerri really appreciated was the night market that is here every night and it massive. As I said Chang Mai is the lauching pad for trips and that was the main point of coming here, we booked 3 trips whilst we were there for 3 consecutive days so it was an action packed period.

The first trip we went on had a combination of activities, Elephant trekking, bamboo rafting and a visit to some tribal villages. The main purpose of this trip was to see the tribes, first we went Elephant trekking, we were placed on a seat on the Elephants neck. Elephants eat around 150kg of vegetation a day and drink around 40 litres of Iron Bru, just checking your still paying attention its actually water, it was no suprise then that the Elephant
munched the bunch of bamboo we brought her in a matter of minutes. We took off and the Elephants massive trunk reached backwards and immediately grabbed at the bamboo, its trunk is like a hover. We walked up to a top of a hill and back down again, on the way up we walked through a path with steep mud banks on either side so we were a bit worried if the Elephant decided to go a bit crazy there would be no where to run, we particularly got worried when our Elephant started to make some strange, sharp movements we realised it was actually rubbing its butt against the mud bank very very funny. The Elephants just constantly eat and whilst on the trek they would rap there trunks around branches like a snake and rip them off with ease, the Mahoot(Elephant trainer) would tell the Elephant off and to make it move they would hook its ear with a wooden stick with an metal hook at the end, we wasnt sure if this was mis treatment or not. We then went Bamboo rafting which was fun, the rapids were small thank god, and we stoof up on the raft, the water was very shallow...in the water we saw a snake. We trekked to a Mong and Karen tribe
village even though they live very modest lifes somehow we were expecting something different, something I guess a bit more primitive????? Apparently the Government here give tribes alot of incentives to come down from the higher mountains and farm instead and growing drugs to sell, a major money provider is opium production. We trekked to a waterfall that was pretty powerful mainly due to the fact that it was flowing through a narrow mouth at the top of the falls, trekking to the waterfall we saw another water snake that was around 1 metre long....

The next day we had another activity, a cooking course, now this was something Kerri really wanted to do but I thought it would be fun as well and we were right it was a really enjoyable day. We were taken to a market to learn about the certain produce we would be using, and were told how to look at which produce was good to use. Then we drove to a suburb and went into the Chefs house, we were taken into the Kitchen room that had 12 seperate cooking stations with chopping tables. We learnt how to cook many dishes and it was great fun, we also got to eat alot of what we made... I have to say I never knew cooking could be so fun. The best bit of the day was when we were using the woks and we made massive flames shoot up out of them, some people dropped their woks it was hilarious. We received our certificates and cooking books and headed home it was a lovely day.

We saved the best to last and on our final day in Chang Mai we went on an Elephant Mahoot course where we fed, trekked, instructed and washed the Elephants it was an excellent and tiring day. We had a slight introduction and went to feed the Elephants, they were all in an area of the ground and were chained with ones leg, there were mature adults and even a baby, you hold food in your hand and they literally walk up to you and grab it with their trunks or you just shove it in their triangular slimy mouths...it can be quite daunting when these beast wlk towards you at first but you get use to it. We were then placed on the Elephants and had a lesson in how to instruct them when sitting on there necks. We had to learn 6 instructions to direct the Elephant, below are the instructions and how they sound in English not how they are spelt in Thai.

Forward = "Pie"
Left/Right = "Pay-Pay" hook ear with rod
Stop = "How"
Back = "Toy"
Leg up "Song Ka"
Lift = "Soon"

The hook that we thought on the previous trip was used to hurt the Elephant is used to direct the Elephant, it doesn't hurt them its more of an annoyance, but they are wary of it. We broke for lunch and whilst we did we had a little show two Elephants we mating..or nearly, the bull wanted to but the female was having none of it and I am not suprised you should of seen the size of his weapon also would you wanted to get down to it with 10 Thai Mahoots cheering you on. After lunch we went on our trek this took around an hour and a half and was pretty tough of the groin area. We went up and down some steep muddy hills and again the Elephants constantly ate the Vegetation, it was a surreal feeling commanding a massive Elephant, knowing full well if it wanted to do what the hell it liked it could and there is nothing I could have done. There skin is harsh and leathery, they are tough and so powerful, the neck and massive and there ears constantly flapped against you. Whilst on the Elephant you have to quick behind its ears to go forward or right and left, the constant rubbing of its skin against yours causing grazing to your skin. The Elephants are very skillful
when navigating challenging paths, they have great balance and place their feet very carefully and with precision. After the trek we got to wash the Elephants in a pool, it was great fun scrubbing there skin and cleaning them, they loved it. That was it for the day it was really, really tiring but so much fun and we were really happy we done it.

Next stop was Pai, the hippy chill out paradise notorious with Hippy 70's culture. The route from Pai to Chang Mai was awful, I don't get travel sickness but we were in a minivan going round winding roads in the hills, it was really gut churning and to top it all off a girl feel asleep on me this happens alot when you travel but when it happens to you it is a really awkward situation. Pai is a very small town and the town itself doesn't set the heather alight its the surrounding hills that does that. One of the days we were there we hired a moped and explored the surrounding environment, we drove through lovely countryside and the hills in the background make it picture perfect. We went to various waterfalls, a Canyon, a Wat and a World War II memorial bridge, at the end of our trip we drove past the airport...it is literally a piece of tarmac in the middle of a field surrounded by a 6ft barbwire fence, obviously security is very tight. We then moved on to Bangkok our time in South East Asia was drawing nearerto an end. From Bankgok we would travel by train to Kanchanaburi to visit the Bridge over the River Kwai and Hell Fire Pass. From Nathon train station in Bangkok we travelled straight to Nam Tok to get a taxi to Hell Fire Pass. The Bridge over the River Kwai and the railway line running through it was built by Japanese POW in WWII, it was designed to transport materials to support the War movement in Burma, the part of the track known as Hell Fire Pass is a set of track laid where rock was cut out of the mountainside by Japanese Prisoners' of War. The work was back breaking and the conditions were horrendous to work in, many men were injured or killed cutting through the mountainside. We then went to a Museum near HFP, that was very informative we then travelled back to Kanchanaburi where we stayed for the night. The next day we were up early to visit places of interest around the town. First was the JEATH Museum which is run by Monks and is inside a replica POW hut, the museum was OK but was mainly newspaper cutting and pictures. Next was the Thai-Burma Railway centre which was the best Museum out of all three, opposite the museum is the Allied War Cemetery which is in a very neat condition. Last but not least was the Bridge over the River Kwai, did you know that the Bridge was not actually over the original River Kwai but as many people came to the Bridge to pay their respects they would often call it The Bridge over the River Kwai so the quick thinking Thais' just renamed the river. The Bridge was very packed with a number of people walking back and forth and some of the walk ways are pretty narrow so fat westerners like myself have to take extra care with our footing. When trains come over the Bridge they go at a very slow pace, but people are not ushered off of the track there are side standing areas. The bridge although built for the wrong reasons is an amazing structure.

After our trip here it was back to Bangkok where we flew to Singapore, we stayed here for a night...the night when Formula One was in town. We were walking the streets at night and we actually thought we could hear the F1 cars. The next day we ventured around the shops and as before I mentioned the stupid amount of shopping centres here, well one of the shopping centres were blaring out F1 car sounds on a loudspeaker, so no we didnt hear the F1 cars last night. This was our 3rd time in Singapore and I am not really keen on the place so was really glad when we departed for our flight to Australia. I believe we spent just about enough time in South East Asia, near the end it was getting a bit tiring mentally due to the fact that there is alot of the same stuff we needed a change of scenary so I was really happy we were going to Aus but having said that I really enjoyed my time in S.E Asia and am very glad I done it.

At the Laos Vietnam border we didnt have enough US Dollars to pay for the Visa, the gentlmen Brian we met lent us the doe which was nice of him. Vienteine was a bit of a let down, the accomodation choice was very poor and the city is not very big at all. The best bit about the city was a place called "The Full Moon Cafe" where we could get free wireless and had some of the best food we have had in months, the cafe also did ipod music and films for really really cheap. We did walk about the city and went into the National stadium, ate at the night market. The best bit about being there was the news I received from home, Lisa is pregnant where Baby Liam.

We travelled to Vang Veing by coach and the scenary is absolutely breathtaking it reminds me very much of Malaysia but is more untouched. When we arrived at Vang Veing the heavens just opened and it rained cats and dogs we got drenched. Vang Veing is the home of tubing, which is basically getting a big rubber dingy and floating down the river from bar to bar. Tubing was great fun and we picked a great day for it, at each bar that you go to they have a massive swing, zip line or slide so we had some fun on them. Another great thing about Laos is the Beer Lao, which is around 70p for a large bottle, hence me drinking more. Whilst we were on the river we didnt drink to much, you hear stories of people dying here and you are not suprised as people getting very intoxicated. When chilling out we would get food, drink and watch friends repeats. On our last day in Vang Veing we decided to go on a Kayaking trip, now we havent had the best of luck with water so far but we decided to give it a go. We first visited some water caves, walking through to them from the river bank you have to walk through the rice paddy fields and through tiny villages, I have never seen so much greenery in all my life, green fields, green trees, green limestone karsts it was just stunning. For the underwater caves you get on a tube and pull yourself along with a wire, you are underground for around 45 minutes and you have an electric battery back for our head torches that daggled in the water. We aslo visited the Elephant Cave and then Kayaked down the river via the rapids to the tubing, we did really well and only fell in once, saying that the rapids were not big at all. The scenary was just lush going down the river and we decide to stopped at the tubing bars and have some fun, we went to a bar that had a tug of war mud pool and mud volleyball court. We met up with Dutch Nicky who arrived on our last night here which was a shame but we plan to meet again in Aus.

We then moved on to Luang Prabang where we met up with Charlise and Simon again, and also saw Brian as we did at tubing. It was great to see them again especially in a lovely town like Luang Prabang, and when we arrived it was Charlises' birthday so we went out for a meal and walked around the massive night market. Luang Prabang is another French Colonial town which is very pretty and has many cafes and cake shops, it rained alot but was
suprisingly welcoming as we havent had much so far on our travels.Laos has a strict curfew where all bars and shops have to shut at 10.30, this is so people can get up and give offerings to monks early in the morning. We decided to go to a waterfall just outside of the city, we have been to a few waterfalls on our travels already but this was a serious waterfall, it was really powerful, the water thundered off the rocks. We trekked to
the top and were literally in the water at overlooking the fall. The water was so fresh and clean, I even drunk some. At night we had a wicked DIY BBQ meal, the girls shopped in the market where we saw a snake that all the locals backed off, we then parted our ways with Simon and Charlise which was sad as we had a great time together hopefully we will see them again soon.

We then took a 2 day boat trip up the Mekong River to get to the Thai border, it was really tough, the seats were very uncomfortable we did get to see lots of the country thoguh which was great. we stopped at our town to stay midway, along the route we constantly stop off at villages to pick people up and drop people off. Its really funny as along the way you always see kids playing, one time I saw a whole football match being played and everyone
was stark naked it was hilarious, another time we saw a group a naked kids running up and sliding down a river bank, they were running around in a circular motion they looked like lemming it was sooo funny. Also along the route we saw lots of Buffalos which we love, even albino ones. We stopped at this one village and it was like everyone came to see the boat, there was one poor little girl who was an albino, I couldnt help thinking what her life
was like. We made it in just enough time to get the ferry across the border crossing into Thailand where we decided to get a mini-van straigh away to Chang Mai, we were knackered.

The bus took around 7 hours to get from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh/Siagon City the capital of the South, we were about to receive a lovely welcome in Vietnam not.....
One thing you should do before you enter a country is check the exchange rate, thus when someone prices something you know whether they are ripping you off or not. The bus dropped us off where Taxis and hotel touts were waiting, we decided to jump in a taxi whilst in the taxi the meter seriously jumped or was my eyes playing tricks on me after 7 hours on a bus, we went on, another issue for some reason our cards were not working in the ATM so we had no money apart from 50,000 dong. So this taxi driver is driving us around ATM to ATM and the meter is going up and up, we stop where we want to be and work out the money which came to like $18. Usually I am quite quick to shoot down con artists but what did we know, we didnt even know the exchange rate or the relative price of things in Vietnam but something wasn't right considering hotel rooms cost around $8. So I said to the guy we werent paying his price but we would give him like $5-10 dollars which was still bloody extortionate,
when Kerri whipped out the 50k(2 pound) dong note he grapped it and drove off.. I was ragging but angry with myself for being unprepared. After the annoyance of the cab we were in the middle of Siagon with our bags and no money, now this is where the madness of travelling come in someone walks past me and says "Hello John" I turned round and its Charlise from Tibet, our Saviour now. So we meet up with Simon and Charlise plus Dutch Nicky again and they lend us some money, when you travel you meet people along the way and then you will more than likely see their faces again in one random place or another. All in all it was a very stressful start to Vietnam, as they say first impressions.....well I focus on our last impression of Vietnam and laugh at the first now. We stayed in Vietnam for 19 days and it was the best country we have been to so far.

In Siagon we visited the War Remenants Museum and just outside the Chuchi Tunnels. The War Remenants Museum is very educational but again very disturbing and the Vietmanese
dont hold back when giving to the yanks. The US are protrayed as a barbaric killing machine in Vietnam, they were, they shouldn't of even been there. Worse of all was the "Agent Orange" chemical bombs they used, as well phosphorus gas, it still effects many people today. Agent Orange was used by the US to kill crops but this chemical has extreme effects on humans and the Americans knew this, people get cancer and other illnesses from it, but worse still it is passed from generation to generation when they have a child, many children here are being born with some quite disturbing deformaties.

I decided to stay up until 2am as Celtic played Arsenal, I actually watched the match with a group of Celtic fans, a rangers fan and a gooner...quite an experience. We had a good laugh and a drink and when I went back to the hotel it was shut and I had to wait until 6am to get in. During this time I decided to get some noodles and was amazed to see old
people up early marching around and doing all kinds of exercise, what was even more sobering was the prostitutes that pulled up on motorbikes and basically chased after me....very scary.

Next was the Chuchi tunnels and this was my best trip to date, even though I was slightly hung over and had about an hour sleep. Our tour Guide was a man called "Bin" but wanted to be called "Mr Bean" and he was hilarious. He actually served in the US Navy against the Vietmanese in the war and when the war was lost by the yanks the North Vietmanese put him into prison for 5 years for re-education. Along with his knowledge and the information given to us on the tour it was a very informative day. The Chuchi tunnels were a network of tunnels in Chuchi spreading to surrounding areas and eventually covering over 200 miles, some tunnels went right under a US Army base. The tunnels were a complex network that locals and the Viet Cong lived and worked in, some tunnels went as far as 8-10 metres below the ground and had kitchens, war rooms, family rooms and martial suites. What the whole trip demonstrated to me was how strong and resilient the Viet Cong Fighters were, in an instance they could pop up and ambush the enemy then be gone within a flash. On the tour they also had a gun range and I fired 10 rounds of an AK47, I couldn't believe how bloody loud it was my ears were defeaned. The best bit though was when we went into one of the tunnels it was so narrow and sometimes dark, no place for people with colosphraphbia.

We got the overnight train to Nha Trang, where we stayed for around 5 nights and just relaxed. We got a hotel room for $9 a night with two double beds, a balcony, air con, satelitte tv and a bath.... yes a bath at home this is not a luxury but we hadn't had a bath let alone warm water for 2 months. We were very lazy here and stayed in bed reguarly to midday. The Beach wasn't great but the town was pretty nice, it had a British seaside town feel to it. The best bits of Nha Trang were watching satelitte tv in the room...notably football, going to a beach side pool that had its own brewery, riding a tadem bike around like mad and eating massive BBQ skewers in an eat as much as you can restaurant... Nha Trang was about chilling out and recharging the batteries and thats just what we did. We moved onto the adorable French Colonial town, Hoi An, after a 10 hour sleeper bus journey. Hoi An is a town where you can get almost anything tailor made, mainly suits and dresses and so on.... you walk in to shops here and they hand you next catalogues to view and select the clothes you want. Kerri has some nightmares getting some stuff and had to go back several times until they met her satisfaction, she even got some shoes made, I only got some shorts and a shirt tailor made which I was happy with. We again hired some bikes which are very popular in Vietnam and found our way about, this is by far the best way to do things in Asia and is also the cheapest. What we loved about Hoi An was the chilled out vibe especially at night when by the river restaurants would have laterns alight... they looked very pretty, what was also great was the French influence not just on the buildings but on the cafes and the patisseires where we ate Cheese Cakes and Brownies.

We travelled to the capital Hanoi by bus, Hanoi is in the North, we had to stop at Hue for a period of time but didnt get to see much, one thing we did see was a truck with music blaring from the speakers with all sorts of animals chained to it including bears and monkeys, little kids were chasing it, trust me it looked very safe. The bus journey took about 18 hours or so and believe me its quite scary waking up to flashing lights and screaching cars with the bus swerving, people here drive on whatever side of the road they want. Hanoi is obviously alot more built up than some of the smaller towns, but you can see the difference between Siagon which is more westernised. Hanoi does have its hustle and bustle but seems alot more Vietmanese, I quite liked it. The main lake was a hub of activity and its very beautiful especially in the evening, again there were old people exercising, people playing badminton and strangely enough, mobile weight scales. What we learnt from Hoi An is that the Government send out messages in the early hours of the morning for people to get up and excercise... trust me it will wake you up it sounds like an ice cream van playing xmas carols. Whilst in Hanoi we went to Lenin Park and his statue. The park was totally unimpressive, the lake inside it was being dug up and it smelt, there was also some official on the gate who was trying to charge us a stupid price to get in, Communist backhanders...
I was disappointed that we never got to see Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. In Vietnam the traffic is mental, manily motorcycles, when you cross the road you just walk out and people swerve round you and somehow miss you its utter madness. We booked up to go on a tour of Halong Bay and whilst we are away from Hanoi we will miss the independence celebrations that they have been preparing for...ah well.

Halong Bay was absolutely beautiful, we slept on the boat for the first night, our boat had a lower deck with rooms, a middle deck with a restaurant and an upper deck with a sunbathing area. We first visited the caves at Halong Bay which we very cool and wet, we then went Kayaking around the bay....it was very beautiful especially one of the coves that was full with rainforest, we went back to the boat and had lunch. We moored up for the night and had some fun by jumping off the top deck of the boat and diving, at night we chilled on the top deck with others and had some drinks, we got speaking to two Latvian guys on the boat who had travelled absolutlely everywhere by car even Africa, they had drove from China to Vietnam but their car is currently stuck on a bridge between China and Vietnam as they didnt have a permit for Vietnam to drive.

The next day we were dropped off at Cat Ba Island and went trekking for a couple of hours at Cat Ba National Park, we trekked up some steep paths to an iron tower view point that was 10 metres high. It was really really high but worth every bit of the hike for the views, which were stunning. We stayed the night at Cat Ba Island and didnt do much as we were really tired, we were very disappointed that there were no independence day celebrations. We then had a mega day plus of travelling, we would go back to Hanoi and then take a bus right away to the Capital of Laos, Vienteine. The total travelling time was around 32 hours from Halong Bay to Vienteine, we were travelling back to Hanoi on a mini bus when it took the wrong turning, it then tried to reverse down a dual carriageway, on our bus were a group of Dutch cyclists who went absolutely berserk. On our sleeper bus to Laos we met a guy called Brian who we would meet alot along the rest of our trips through South East Asia. Looking back we could of probably spent more time in Vietnam, a place we fell in love with but we had to leave on the day we did as the VIP bus only ran once a week.

Rising at 4am in the morning with little sleep is never a good thing, especially when you have to get on a local train in Thailand that has hard wooden seats, I suppose you get what you pay for, 1 pound... coincidently thais go for free. We then got in the middle of another scam, the tuk tuk driver that picked us up from Aranyaprathet station took us to a place to get our Cambodian Visa, there was something dodgy about this place it looked distinctively unofficial. The Gentlemen serving us tried his best to ensure us this was the
Cambodian Embassy even showing us some ID and pointing to a Graffiti sign on the wall that said "Cambodian Embassy", something didnt seem right so I went for a walk, a very short walk infact 20 seconds down the road was the official Embassy, the guys from the shop were simply walking to the Consultate and charging a bomb for the visa and plus they were lying through their teeth.

We walked through the border and then got a bus to a bus station...confusing huh, here they supplied buses and taxis to the main places in Cambodia. We actually jumped in a Taxi to Siem Reip with another couple, Brazilian Ricardo and Spanish Laura, they were actually very nice and it was funny when Laura fell asleep on Kerri in the cab we couldnt stop laughing. The taxi dropped us off at a tuk-tuk station just outside of town instead of the actual town, usual procedure in Aisa to spread the love... I mean wealth.
The tuk-tuks drive you to your hotel for free but try to get you to go on a tour with them, we were too tired to contemplate any further trips and told the tuk-tuk guy we would speak tomorrow, the next morning the guy was sitting there waiting for us. Siem Reip is a French influenced and quite modern city, it has bars and restaurants, surounding the city is the Temples of Angkor-the capital of the Khmer Empire. We decided to do a tour of the temples and got our one day pass, the longest pass is three days some people explore even further, it is a nice thing to do but after being in Tibet we were all templed out and the temperature is also very hot in the day so it makes your patience very short. So we done a quick one day tour but it was enough for us, the temples are very beautiful and were left undiscovered for over 300 years after the Siam invaded Cambodia in the 16th century or something. We visited Angkor Wat which is the biggest and most popular of all the temples, it is situated amongst beautiful scenary, a moat and lush green gardens surround its outer walls. We visisted the Bayen temple that has many stone faces that look like something out of the film Labrinyth, Angkor Thom, Bophoun, and Ta Prohn. Ta Prohn was the most
impressive to me and featured in the Tomb Raider, the Temple literally has trees growing out and around it with massive roots hugging the large grey stones.

The Temples of Angkor are the main attraction of Siem Reip hence why we busted out of here early to get the bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. The landscape in Cambodia is very beautifully driving from Siem Reip to Phnom Penh there are vast green plains, alot of them were flooded with water that strecthed for miles upon miles. On our first night in the capital we had a walk around, we ventured to the square surrounding the indepedence momument, here they had a water fountain with a light show that was quite fun. What suprised us most was the number of people out and being active, there were people playing badminton and all kinds of ball games as well as large groups of people doing dance class following a standalone instructor at the front, it was really fun to watch.

Our time in the capital was both very educational and much needed, some of the things we saw at the S21 Museum and the Killing fields were shocking, but after seeing alot of ancient history in the previous months modern history was much needed. The S21 Museum was actually a school that was converted into an interrogation and toture centre when the Khmer Rogue took control in Cambodia. The complex was broken up in to a number of building blocks that was surrounded by steel and barb wire fences. Building A had a number of cells with a single iron bed in each, captives were chained to beds and totured with a number of instruments, on the wall of each room was a picture of one of the 14 mutilated bodies found in the rooms when the Khmer Rogue were toppelled by Vietmanese Forces. Walking from Buling A to B you pass a hanging post where prisoners where strung up with hands tied behind backs, left dangiling in the air, when they lost consciousness they would be dunked into a tank of water laced with chemicals to bring them round again. Building B had a number of brick and wooden prison cells probably 6 x 3 ft, barbed wire was placed on the outside of the buildings to stop prisoners jumping to their deaths. Building C had identity pictures of all of the totured victims that entered the S21 interrogated and toture centre, there were men, woman and children, young and old the Khmer Rogue did not discriminate in who they killed. The tour was very sobering and you cannot seriously understand the depths human beings will go to.

We went on to visit the Royal Palace, we wasn't overly impressed by it and thought it was a bit of a waste of time and money. Next stop was the Killing fields this place was horrific. Anyone who was accused of counter revolutionary activity were brought to Killing fields like this and killed, children were killed to stop them seeking revenge when they were older. To save bullets the Khmer Rogue would usually club people to death and burying them whilst partially alive, babies were swung by the legs and had their heads smashed against a tree...cracking their skulls and killing them. Walking around the killing fields bones petrude from the floor, we saw clothes in the ground and worse of all a tooth. Pol Pots regime was bloody brutual killing over 2 million Cambodians, so much for liberation.

One of the more cheerful trips we had in Cambodia was a visit to a local Orphanage, before we went we stocked up on toys and food(rice). Even when buying goods for the orphanage people will try and rip you off, we had a tuk-tuk driver take to get some goods and drop us at the orphanage. First we stocked up on toys and then rice, when buying the rice
you have to buy massive sack like 25kg worth at a time there were two different types of quality, now initially I thought the rice was pretty expensive for an Asian country but then the guy said you should buy a certain type of rice because of the quality. Hmmm... now I am not tight but I am thinking will orphans really be bothered about the quality of their rice or will they be happy to receive food, also how much can you tell the difference in rice anyway its not a product like salmon etc and its not a 5 star restauarant either. So we went to the Orphanage with toys and rice in hand, the kids literally run up to you taking the food and sweets hugging you and holding your hand. We messed about with the kids for a little bit playing somes games and read how they came to this predictament the usual stories
were there parents had HIV, were deceased or terminally ill... seriously we dont know how lucky we are in the UK.

So we got to the Thai Border via Malaysia, we would be passing through the south-eatern section of Thailand - an area in which the British Consulate advises against travel due to it being the home of Islamic rebels. The difference here though is that they are fighting for their own autonomy in the region rather than a foreign invader and usually attack Government property etc, but it doesn't make it right or excluded the fact that people have been killed and tourists are in danger. We walked across the border and got our 15 day Visa, then jumped on the back of two moped taxis that took us to the bus station (more like shop) to get our tickets.

The bus Journey from the Border to Krabi would take 9 hours and the threat of a terrorist attack was quite unnerving but it was a pleasant journey if not long. Along the motorway there were several military blockades this made us feel a tad more secure. We arrived at Krabi at 2.30am and was dropped in Krabi town which was 45mins from where we wanted to be in Ao Nang, we jumped in a cab which wasn't a cab and stayed in a grubby little place in the middle of a desolate town that had dogs and weirdos roaming around it.

We were eventually able to get to Ao Nang and this was the start of a 4 day stay in Krabi. Krabi is a place of many beautiful beaches overlooked by limestone karsts and what was even better was that it was low season in the western side of Thailand so our fantastic room was only 250bt a night. From the beach you can see many of the islands that rest off shore including Ko Phi Phi. We would generally sunbathe in the day and eat or have a little drink at night, we visited a nice little bar a few times that was run by a Dutch guy called Marco who had a Thai Wife. The bar had a nice pool table and some decent music and best of all were the stawberry dacquiris that me and Kerri were sinking with pleasure.

We did a boat trip to Ko Phi Phi and its surrounding islands and my fear of water is getting worse especially after WWR in Kathmandu, we were on a 20/30 seater speed boat and the sea just threw us about for fun. We were seated up near the front so were feeling the bumps more when the boat slammed over the waves, what was even worse though was when the boat was hit on the side by a wave it really made us think the boat would capsize. All in all the trip was pretty disappointing we went to various places: gorgeous Bamboo island where we snorkelled, the Viking cave which we actually just went past due to work on it, Monkey Island
which was actaully one of the best bits of the trip... having monkeys eat from your hands, the Lagoon where "The Beach" was filmed, we had lunch at Ko Phi Phi but were disappointed we didnt actually get to take in what the island was about, then we snorkelled and this was great.. Kerri lost a ring, glasses and god knows what in the water, I dropped my snorkelling gear and luckily the guy could see it and dived down to get it, the fish were amazing and the sea erchants really freaked me out the way they just look at you from the sea bed, a guy on the beach got chased by monkeys which was fun to watch.

Next on the Agenda was the Full Moon party, we would have to get a bus and a ferry to Ko Phangan. On the mini bus to the ferry Kerri got quite chatty to a girl who was with her partner they were off to Ko Samui, they were suppose to fly from Krabi but for one reason or not they never, we parted company but would meet again and learn about a close escape they had. So we checked into the Sea Garden Resort in the Thongsala area of Ko Phangan, the resort was absoultely goregous and we were in the room next to Kerri's cousin Lisa and her friends Vanessa and Lucy. It was great for Kerri to meet up with some family, also for Lisa who has been travelling for 8 months and was at the end of her travels. Full Moon makes the island a hectic place, many people come, hotel prices jump and people get drunk or off their tits on drugs....its quite a scene. Unfortunately we were 30 mins away from the main area Haad Rin and had to get a songwathee every night on their winding roads. We spent another 4 nights at Ko Phangan and had some good fun within our little group, the Full Moon party was absolutely outrageous but great, the beach was packed. We drunk buckets and danced the night away and the morning, its not so fun when the sun comes up. A massive fight broke out of
the beach between some locals and foreigners, it was pretty mad but these musclely westerners all done houdinis when the locals stuck together, they were coming from everywhere... up through the sand the whole lot it was like watching a jackie chan movie. The beach even had a medical area for people that were off their faces it was quite funny watching people asleep on the beach with a crazy party going on around them. What was weird about where we stayed was a Traditional English Pub called "The Masons Arms" that was in the middle of nowhere but served roasts and pints, it was great and something of a rarity in Aisa, I did get my flip-flops nicked from me here though.

We would leave Lisa and her friends to go on to Ko Samui, we wouldnt see them again until Bangkok in a few days. Like Ko Phangan, Samui had changed alot from the first time we were here 4 years ago, it is so modernized now and really caters for tourists, for us its lost some of its edge. We met the couple mentioned above in a travel agency of all places, we knew there had been a plane crash in Samui whilst in Ko Phangan, they informed us they had tickets on the crashed airplane but had got the Ferry instead-close call. The weather was overcast and we werent as impressed as before so we stayed 3 nights before another long day of travelling to Bangkok. We had to get a Ferry and Taxi to Surat Thani train station for the train to Bangkok, this was our first experience of Thai trains and I was pretty impressed. We were on seats facing eachother and at night they converted into beds, one up one down with full bedding. We arrived at Hualamphong station in Bangkok at 6am,
then jumped in a taxi to Ko San Rd, walking along a street where the hotels are at that time in the morning is an experience, basically its like a freak show full of lady boys, young thai women, ravers getting home and freaky old men who look like Keith Richards. We met up with Kerri's cousin and friends again they were to depart that night to go back home to London... rather them than me, we had an interesting day in Bangkok, it was the Queens birthday so there were celebrations everywhere.

We flew into the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpar and didnt arrive until very late at night. The next day we explored the city and went to the Petrona Towers, unfortunately we got up to late and couldnt get tickets to go up the towers, they are impressive and very high. We went to some other areas of the city on the monorail and ate in the China Town district in the evening. The next day we got up to get a bus to Jerantut where we would book on a trip to go to Teman Negara National Park. We had to get a coach to the Jetty then a very rickety wooden boat 3 hours upstream to Teman Negara NP. We arrived at Kuala Tahan the town opposite the
national park where people stay, everything was booked up there was no place to stay apparently they were filming a Bollywood Movie in town so the accomodation was packed out. We were going to actually rent a tent and sleep on the river banks but a couple of Germans, who we had met on the boat, told us they had arranged to get a boat upriver to stay at a Holiday Park, we went there and booked into a dorm for the night.

In the morning we got up to go trekking in Teman Negara NP, we went on a tree canopy walk that was extremely high but very fun, we also went to a summit view point and a swimming spot where we ate lunch. The park and the nature along the boat trip to and from Jerantut are very beautiful as is alot of Malaysia. We went back to Jerantut and got the train to Wakof Bakuru, the train was quite an experience rattling through the rainforest to its destination we were delayed around 2 hours which wasn't fun at all. The whole point of coming here is so that we can go to Puala Pehentian National Park, at our hotel we booked a taxi and a ferry to take us there in the morning. The islands are stunning with many beaches, no roads and covered in rainforest we checked into a dormitory and it was full with British people which was quite strange as we havent met so many on our travels.

We really relaxed here on the beautiful beaches, you could go into the water and literally walk out for metres without it going above your waist. We went out with the gang from the dorm to have some dinner and drinks, the highlight of dinner was when a cat fed its kitten a mouse under the table...nice. At night we were having a drink and a dance and tasting the notorious "Monkey Juice", which is rum, then the police raided the island none of the places selling alcohol had any licenses to sell it so for the remainder of the time on the island the party was shut down. The rest of the time on the island we sunbathed and chilled out at night there were some crazy thunderstorms. We woke up one morning and Kerri decided she wanted to get out of paradise which I was suprised at but it was cool because she wanted to get to the Full Moon party on time to see her cousin.

So we set out in a hurry to get across the border and catch the late bus to Krabi, we got the ferry back to the mainland and booked a taxi to the Malaysian-Thai border. The taxi driver we had was quite old and I thought he was going to die in the taxi, he was coughing so wildly it was quite nasty, either he was on his way out or he has swine flu, I covered my face with my top.

After a great week in Bali we had to head back to Sinapore for a night before we flew to Kucking in the Sarawak province of Malaysian Borneo. We had a proper chance to view Singapore and the city. This place has got to have the most shopping centres in the world, there is one on like every corner.

So we flew to Kuching and surprise, surprise our Air Aisa flight was delayed, from here we would stay in Malaysian Borneo for around 2 weeks and have some great adventures in the Natural environment.
As stated above the first place we arrived at was Kuching in the Sarwak province of Borneo, Borneo is spilt up into three main land areas Malaysian Borneo, Brunei and Indonesian Borneo. As we found on our travels in Malaysia the people here are very nice and over helpful its beyond belief, this allows you to be very relaxed in your new surroundings.

At Kuching we visted Kubah NP, one of three National Parks here, the place was just beautiful and we trekked for around 4-5 hours. The first trail we went on was to a Waterfall, that was not unbelievably stunning but demanded some respect for its beauty. The water at the waterfall is so clear and is a reminder of what effects humans have to the cleanliness of the environment.
From here we trekked to the Summit view and were in for a real treat, trekking through the rainforest is a sweaty experience as it is so humid, on the way to the Summit we trekked through dense rainforest and we knew we were getting higher and higher but couldn’t view out across the land due to the trees. When we arrived at the summit there was a raised wooden platform and when you climbed it you can see for miles upon miles, the view is picturesque. During our time in Kuching we also went to the Orang-utan wildlife Sanctuary, this was a great experience, you have to arrive at feeding times to see the animals come on to the feeding platforms as they actually live in the wild of the National Park. At first not a lot was going on, then from no-where Orang-utans were migrating in from all directions via the tree lines provided, watching them pose and eat is so much fun but like anything after seeing it for about 30 mins or so it gets a bit repetitive, but the best was truly saved
for last when out of the rainforest a mother came baby in arm, upon seeing this everyone was yelling “Its a baby”. The mother who finds it harder to climb with the baby in tow, got down and walked to the feeding platforms and was literally 2 meters away from us.

From Kuching we flew to Miri, which is also in the province of Sarawak. This is where we first started to notice the human destruction of the rainforest. We came to Miri to visit a place called Niah Caves, a place where the earliest modern human (homo-sapien) remains were found. To get there we had to get a bus from Miri to Batu Niah, along the way all you can see is rows and rows of Palm Oil Trees, they go on for miles and have replaced the natural rainforest that once existed. The trekking at Niah Caves National Park was not as bad as Kubah as they have created a wooden walk way for most of it. The “Great Cave” where the human remains were found were absolutely massive, something like 250m wide and 60m high, in this cave they also found tombstones and tools used by the cave men and women.
The cave is now used to gather Guano dung and bird’s nest. In the dark, dingey caves you will see bambo scaffolding and wooden lines hanging from the cave ceiling, these guys actually risked their lives climbing this high up. The next stop we went to was the “Painted Cave”, this is where cave men had painted on the caves, the paintings told a story of where people go after the die, they would build something called death ships and with the body they would stocked the ship up with goods needed for the after life.

We left Miri to go to the Sabah province of Borneo, and the home of MT Kinabulu, we got our Air Asia flight to Kota Kinabulu the capital. The city itself isn’t very large and has a mixture of modern shops and market stalls, many of the shopping centres reminded us of the old Arndale. About a 30 minute rid on a jetty from Kota Kinabulu is the Tunku Abdul National Park, a number of small islands where you can go to chill out, do watersports, and snorkel looking at the tropical fish. We chose to go to an Island called Manukan, the island is pretty beautiful with just a few restaurants, no roads etc etc. The water is so clear
you can see thousands of fish swimming around, we didn’t go snorkelling as it was jelly fish season and whilst we were there some people got stung. We were there for a couple of hours then all of a sudden the storms came, everyone legged it to the jetty platform and were huddling under a tiny roof away from the rain. The jetty back was a terrible experience, we were right at the front meaning we were getting stung by the rain and the boat was bumping so hard that it was harsh of the bottom.

From KK we travelled to a place called Sepilok, it took 6 hours from KK, and is home of the Sepilok Orang-utan Sanctuary and the base for our jungle river boat tour, on the way we passed MT Kinabulu. The Orang-utan Sanctuary was not so impressive, it is probably the most famous here but I don’t think it was as good as the one in Kuching, it was definitely more informative and we watched a short documentary about the Sanctuary.
We then found our way to Uncle Tan’s, the tour operator for the Jungle River boat tour. It took us nearly an hour to drive to the Jungle Resort, we had to go along a very bumpy road that was part of a Palm Oil Plantation, I couldn’t believe my eyes. We must have drove a good 15km inland from the main road and it was thick with Palm Oil Trees stacked up in very neat rows and columns, going through I don’ think I saw any wildlife no birds, no monkeys, nothing. We arrived at the Kinabatangan River and loaded our boats with all the equipment needed, the waters were dirty brown, the banks covered with slick brown mud, and all of this was surrounded by dense rainforest- just stunning. Our accomodation for this trip is a hut, with no front door, inside is a matress covered by a mosquito net, to be honest I was not comfortable with having no door all sorts could get in. We went out on our first River tour and spotted marquee and probiscous monkeys, Lizards, eagles and much more. Arriving back at the camp a party atmosphere was in full swing, we munched down dinner then went out for our night boat tour. This was quite scary, all our guide had was a very powerful spotlight to see into the darkness, everytime there was a splash in the water people jumped with the fear that it might be a croc. I will never know how our guides spotted some of the wildlife they did- especially in the dark, they would spot an animal and put their huge spotlight on it, they would spot anything from Lizards to small Kingfishers up in the trees. The scariest bit was when we spotted a baby croc on the banks, we were all watching it and knew the mother was nearby when we heard a splash in the waters near the boat, you could cut the tension with a knife. We went back to the lodge and joined the party, the Malaysians like to sing alot and out loud.

We went on other boat trips and saw similar animals it was great to see Orang-utans in the wild, we also went on a trek at the afternoon it was very hot. We spotted all sorts of spiders and insects, Kerri took a turn for the worse and got very faint, at one point I thought she was going to collapse I was very worried, we had to go back to the lodge and rest. It was a great little trip but I was absolutely gutted we never saw a large croc
or a male orang-utan. We departed the lodge and went back to the Ops-Base to catch a coach to Kinabulu National Park, on the bus they play all kinds of Ku-Fu Ninja Movies and they seem to love bloody Steven Seigel. We were dropped at Kinabulu NP and the weather was quite poor, the fog had came into the hills and it was raining and very cold. When we got off the bus we asked the ticket man where our hostel was and he just pointed down some road that was covered in fog and you couldnt see 5 metres down, being on the edge of some steep hills and a main road with lorries and all sorts driving through it we decided not to walk and got a cab.

Whilst at the hostel we met a very nice Danish couple Sabastian and Gitte at dinner, we decided that we would go trekking with them in the National Park the next day. We didnt trek the Mountain but went on some trails in the Park, the facilities there were very modern and some of the resorts were very upmarket. We decided we would trek from the base of the Mountain to the Headquarters of the park, the trail we took ran along the river
and we had some beautiful views of the rainforest, it was quite slippery and challenging in some places. The worse thing about the trail was a sewage pipe running adjacent to most of the river which looked very ugly. We were making good time and got to near the end of the trail and took a turning that we thought was correct but should of been blocked off, we got lost for a good half an hour and it was getting dark and rainy, the route got pretty hairy any wrong foot and you could be in serious trouble. We made it back on the right track and then home, when we got home and showered we realised that we were bleeding quite heavily on the legs..
...argh Leeches.

After a reasonablly short flight from Singapore we arrived at beautiful Bali in Indonesia, after going through the formalities of Passport control and getting a new Visa we headed to the Kuta area of Bali and managed to check into a nice little place called Sorga Hotel. This was the start of a very relaxing week for us both. Bali is a pretty cool place and is like the Australian Ayia Napa or something similar, so many Aussies flock here for their holidays, many young pups getting absolutely trashed at night and sobering up on the beach in the morning. The Balinese people are really cool aswell and have this kind of cool Beach, Rock vibe thing going on, they all seem to be covered in many tatoos.

During our week here we mainly chilled out on the Beach, bartered for some accessories such as my cool hat or Bintang beer vest, or, as I did... get a crazy Mo-Hawk haircut for like one pound fifty. Probably the best bit about Bali was having our first surf lesson with Odessey Surf Club, even though it was a begginners lesson we had so much fun and both got up on the board quite regularly. The surf club also provide a Camera man taking photos of you throughout your lesson and we got some excellent photos of us cruising the waves or heading face down into the water after buckling on the board.

On the surving trip we met a Canadian Guy called Kevin who had come to Bali on his own after being on business in Singapore, we found a lot of people doing this, we arranged to meet up later for drinks. The weirdest thing happened we were walking around after a few drinks with Kevin when he decided to pop back to his hotel and change into some shorts, as we were walking he pumped into a couple he knew from back home at High school called Lyndsey and Jayson. This seems to happen to a lot of people when they are away, you will be in the most random place and meet people you havent seen for years or people you have met like a
month ago on a different tour. They turned out to be a really nice couple and we went out to a nightclub and had some drinks, it was a real good night.

I must admit I did feel a bit uneasy in and around some of Bali’s bars, the bombings which happened a few years ago are still fresh in the memories of Australians and the Balinese, the memorial here highlights that and is a great tribute to those who lost their lifes in this tragic event.

Well hello again……….now I know my last post came across as a bit of rant about India, but it wasn’t suppose to be that way. Our adventure would carry on to Nepal and Tibet where we would meet some really cool people, a lot of them had done similar travels to us and shared the same gripes about Northern India, conversely a lot of them had been to different parts of India and couldn’t speak highly enough of it.

To get to Nepal we had a killer trip ahead of us, which consisted of an 8hr train journey from Varanasi to Gorahkpur, then a 3hr bus journey on a local bus packed to its limit, and then another 9hrs bus ride from the Nepalese border to Kathmandu.

When we finally arrived at the border town of Sunali we were absolutely shattered, instead of getting on another bus for the long haul we decide to stop nearby at a place called Lumbini. On the Nepalese side of the border we decided to get a taxi with 3 Swiss girls who we had met on the previous bus journey. They told us they were going to be staying in a Korean Monastery, it was free and you got feed, all that was needed was a donation at the end of your stay. We thought it would be cool and plus its only one night and the experience would be good.

Lumbini is the birth place of Buddha and is the Mecca of every Buddhist. Buddha’s birthplace is actually situated in a place called the secret gardens spanning over 2.5 sq km, it is full of wildlife and has a Monastic Zone where many countries from around the world have constructed temples/monasteries such as the Korean one we would be staying in. At the Monastery they were constructing a huge temple that hadn’t been completed but look amazing as it was. Girls and boys slept in separate dorms, I was in a dorm with a South Korean guy, he was pretty cool if not a little weird, but we had a laugh anyway. Unfortunately our stay in Lumbini would be extended as there was a bus strike in Nepal apparently these are very common, so we stayed 2 nights in total, there wasn’t a lot to do and we were very happy to get out of there. I must admit I do admire Monks and Nuns in living a very simple life and making sacrifices, but it is something I couldn’t do to be honest. We got chatting to a Chinese guy called Scott who was a Buddhist and he discussed with us a lot of aspects of the religion, mediation is very important to Buddhists as it was how Buddha found enlightenment, it helps develop concentration and tranquility, Scott said the only way to explain it was after you have mastered it you were able to control your mind and not let your mind control you. Apparently there is a course at the Monastery where you can go away and mediate for 10 days, you are not allowed to talk and you are not suppose to think……..

On the morning of going to Kathmandu I felt like I had been dug up, I was vomiting and let’s just say I was on the toilet a lot, Kerri was in a similar way. The drive to Kathmandu took 7 hours and we drove through some amazing hills and valleys, we also met a couple of Dutch girls on the way and ended up following them to the “Kathmandu Peace Guest House” in the Thamel district. We were in Kathmandu a total of three nights just before our tour to Tibet, for two of them I was in a pretty bad way and stayed in bed, the final day I felt a lot better and we managed to get a lot of stuff sorted for our trip to Tibet. I was gutted that I never got to see more of Nepal as it’s so beautiful, the atmosphere here is a lot more relaxed and less hectic than India and when you say “No” to people they leave you alone. Kathmandu in particular looked really cool with good night life and more modern faculties.

We rose at 4.30am on Staurday 20th June to embark on out Tibet trip, we were taken to the bus that would take us to the Tibetan border, it was very uncomfortable but at least we managed to meet the others on the trip. Driving to the Border in Nepal there are some breath taking sites, the hills and valleys, the flowing rivers and draw bridges, and the shear drops to the side of the bus. I must admit this was a very scary journey on an old rickety bus, at one point the driver had to maneuver around a bend with water flowing over it, I still don’t know how he done it and failure would have meant certain death.

We reached the border and I was told by the guide that the book I purchased in Kathmandu about the Tibetan Uprising was not a good idea to take into Tibet (silly me), which is controlled by the Chinese, in fact anything with pictures is not allowed and pictures of the Dalia Lama are forbidden. The strictness of Chinese rule in Tibet would be felt throughout our travels and this was just the start, we eventually crossed over Friendship Bridge (which you are not allowed to take pictures of) and went through Chinese customs that took and age. On the Tibet side (not Chinese) we were put into Land Cruisers and was paired up with a delightful English couple called Charlise and Simon who would accompany us on the rest of our travels in Tibet.

Now in Tibetan Land we drove to a nearby restaurant and had some lovely food. We then drove on but had to wait for hours while a road was being renovated, basically you could get through but the Chinese do not give a time limit on we they finished work so literally we had to sit around and wait and the top of a hilly valley until we got clearance. It was getting very dark and the weather closed in on us, we didn’t reach our Guest House until very late in the evening.

The next day we were up early again, I had a nice if not short sleep. We traveled by land cruisers though the hills and mountainous Naylam Pass and then onto Lalingla Pass (5050m above sea level) where we had views of Mt. Makalu and Mt. Xixapangm. At this point my head was pounding and I was really light headed and dizzy, our first real signs of altitude sickness and it wasn’t nice. The road here is either very good or poor in places, and there seemed to be unnecessary mud bumps put into the road hmmmm, everywhere along the route you see groups of Chinese workers renovating parts of the road, they literally all live in a massive tent by the side of it, at night it must be freezing, I am not sure if this is accurate but someone said that the Government tell them they have to work there and ship them out. At one point we got some views of Mt. Chooya and Everest but cloud cover made it pretty poor viewing.

We stopped for lunch and I was drugged up with Diamox to relieve the altitude sickness, lucky people had come prepared unlike me. We had some really nice food for lunch and the cuisine is a vast improvement from what was on offer in India, what was not was the toilets, basically they are rank. At the restaurant lets just say there is a concrete room with a hole in the floor, and below is a pile of…well you know what, and what makes in more disturbing is half way through your business you realize there is a goat below you eating lunch( I just missed its head, target practice needed). On route to Latse one of the Landcruisers got stuck and there was a group effort to get it free, on arrival at Latse we were told their was a big Military presence and not to take any photos as we would end of under interrogation.

We left Latse and headed for the next town Xigatse, the home of the famous Tashilumpo Monastery and seat of the Panchen Lama. There are 4 main temples here and the dorms hold arund 600-800 monks, overlooking the monastery is a massive hill that pilgrims climb and place flags for good luck. The main temple was very impressive and contains a 26 metre tall statue of Buddha; the other temples were not as impressive but held their own shine. At one point some renovations to a temple were going on by the locals, they all hold long sticks with a circular piece of concrete at the bottom, with they pounded the newly laid concrete with - I guess to flatten it, whilst doing this they are organized into rows then chant and sing, which was very impressive. At night we retired to the Hotel with friends and had a laugh, I did say Hotel didn’t I…at last luxury and a good night sleep, to be honest I have missed Chinese TV J.

Next port of call was Gyanste, here resides the Naija Temple and the gyangste pachu moastery. Inside the grounds is a Stupa that was built in 1427 and is 32.4m high containing 108 cells that hold venerable mural paintings and holy images. There are so many, all impressive in their own right but it gets very tedious looking at all of them on one visit. At night a group of us went to a Yak Restaurant and watched the locals dance the night away. I knew it was time to call it a night went one guy started talking so intensely about the production of coffee that he needs to be put on decaffe and our Dutch friends started talking together in their native language, which sounds so much like English that one minute you think your involved and the next find out you don’t understand what is going on.

We were mid-way through our trip and headed out for our last stop Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. We rode through the Karo La and Kambala Pass and witnessed some stunning views including a brilliant glacier. Then we drove pass Yamdrok Tso(the turquoise lake), which is absolutely stunning and spans for miles, at one point we stopped to take pictures and throw stones into the lake, a girl in our group went really close to the edge of the lake like others bare footed, she then just sunk in the mud knee deep, in the panic or should I say laughter I came out with the phrase “Hurry! Don’t help here take photos”, which everyone did ha ha ha.

We arrived at Lhasa and checked into another lovely hotel, just down the street from us was the Jokhang Temple and market place, this is a major pilgrimage place for Tibetans to come and pray, the ritual is to walk around the temple many times in a clockwise fashion and every three steps pray by clasping hands together pointing to head, mouth and body(meaning mind, speech and body) then sliding on the floor in a diving fashion. This is constantly repeated around the temple, at one point this woman nearly took me and Kerri out, all I can use to describe the way she was diving was the Jurgen Klinnsmann celebration it was hilarious. We went round the market stalls and haggled with the traders, I brought some prayer beads and the woman I was bartering with kept saying “You laugh last, you laugh last” that made us roll about in laughter.

During our time in Lhasa we visited the Potala Palace this is a symbol of the political and religious struggle of the Dalai Lama. The relics here are absolutely stunning, but again seeing so many at once takes the shine off of them, as they all seem so similar. We also went inside the Jokhang Temple which is broken into Tibetan, Chinese and Nepalese quarters and is said to be built over a Lake that had demons in it. On our final full day we went to visit two more monasteries, I along with others in the group were all “monasteried” out and it was a struggle getting round them. We found out Michael Jackson died, that created and mix bag of response from the group and in general no-one believed it. We visited the Drepung Monastery and the Sera, it was all much of a much-ness for me now, but I was glad I went to the Sera because Monks have open debates in the courtyard which is very funny as after they make their point they make a noise and slap their hands together.

Saturday 27th June we departed Tibet, some of us were catching the train to China (somewhere I’m gutted we are not going to see now) and others like us were getting the plane back to Kathmandu. I am very glad we came on this trip to experience Tibet, which is a wonderful place with beautiful people, also we made some good mates and had a laugh with a group that was a mix bag but very tight in the end. On the plane to Kathmandu you get to see a glimpse of Everest and the Himalayas, literally the peaks rising above the clouds as it was not a clear day. We had the monster India-Nepal trip in reverse to look forward to, but we decide to scrap that and stay in Kathmandu for a while, we would get a flight to Delhi from here and have a good opportunity to see Kathmandu. For the next few days we hung out with people from our Tibet trip in Kathmandu mainly Flo and Julia (a lovely dutch couple), Jewish Roy and Canadian Jessica as well as others. Over the next two days we would have lots of fun, we visited Durbar Square and booked White Water Rafting.

On the Sunday I had a day I would never forget for the rest of my life, let’s just say White Water Rafting was a very scary experience. We were told we would go through three rapids together at various points along the river, for the most part the river was calm and the scenery breathtaking, we went through the first few rapids fine and also enjoyed witnessing the sheer power of the river as we swam in it. When we came into the last rapid disaster struck, we nearly capsized and four of the six of us feel into the rapids, we were crunched through the rapids and on the rocks of the river bed. It seriously hurt, Kerri had some major bruises, I smacked my knees and my butt which has remained tender and black up until now. We survived though but were all shaken. At the end of the ride there was a dead cow floating in the river I couldn’t help but think it might have been one of us. Then to top it off all injured and battered we had to get a local bus home, which was packed and the only space was on the roof. After our first experience I wasn’t too confident, but we did it anyway and it was very relaxing until it started to rain. One funny point of the rafting trip was going down stream past locals from villages, at one point two little kids ran from their house screaming “Kokoura” which translate to white people. The next day we flew to Delhi and departed from our friends that we were sad to leave, we had a great laugh and will hopefully meet again soon. From Delhi we fly to Singapore and then onto Bali for some maxing and relaxing.

Peace out

Jabba

I have written this bit at the end for anyone who is interested on the Tibet-Chinese conflict………………………………….

I’m not going to claim that I am an expert by any means in the history of the conflict between Tibet and China, but from my time there a little bit of reading this is a sketchy summary of it. Before the Cultural Revolution of China in 1950, the Tibet region was of interest to many foreign powers, and was ruled by the Chinese and Tibetans’ separately during this time. At the time of the Second World War China never really had an interest here due to the pressing commitments of war, even though there was minor military/government presence, it was disregarded by Tibetans’.

In the pre 1950’s period Tibet had its own political leader, the Dalai Lama, and government. During the Cultural Revolution, China invaded Tibet seeking to gain its territory, a lot of the land and possessions were inherited automatically by the Chinese Government, including the destruction of ancient Monasteries and the theft of all their valuable possessions. Tibetans suffered harsh treatment and many were basically made slaves of communist China. In 1959, Tibetans staged an uprising to try and overthrow the Chinese that ended in disaster, during this time the Tibetan Government and the Dalai Lama fled and remain exiled in Dhamasala, Northern India where they seeked refuge.

For the next two decades China had a policy of destroying Tibetan Culture, Society and Religious practice. Tibetans were severely oppressed, many killed and many fled to India over the mountains of Nepal. China also had a policy of moving vast amounts of the Chinese population into Tibet, thus drowning out Tibetans and making them a minority in their own land. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that a change in the Chinese administration in Tibet brought major reforms, religious suppression was lifted slightly and land redistributed to locals, until this period Tibetan culture and customs was unnoticeable in the motherland.

What the Chinese Government do not seem to understand is that Tibetans will never be Chinese, even by inheriting their provinces into China, or through the political reeducation of Tibetans, or by bringing in modern facilities and businesses to the region (which are more beneficial to the Chinese population that reside there), Tibetans are Tibetans, they are a proud people who want to be independent and to restore their nation to what is was pre 1950, with the return of their own Government and the Dalai Lama.

Throughout Tibet there is a major Chinese presence that is unnerving to a tourist let alone a local. Even driving through the desolate areas in Tibet there are Chinese Military trucks and check points every so often. On reaching Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, its gets worse, troops regularly parade around the Jokhang Temple and Market area with their arsenal of display. Tibetans’ are constantly under the surveillance of the Chinese, and their freedom is severely restricted. This fact was demonstrated many times, our tour guide a native Tibetan, was not really allowed to speak about the current situation and when we went into Monasteries and Temples he would provided an description of the history, it was not uncommon to see an unclothed member of the Chinese Government sneak into the background and listen to what was being preached. I did have a discussion with him in private and he only answer a few select questions, but basically said the Chinese portray that Tibetans have freedom but Tibetans do not feel free. In our group many individuals tried to speak to native Tibetans who just point blankly refused for fear of being watched. Another astonishing fact I learnt was that Monks have to be registered and seek approval by the Chinese Government if they want to live and study their religion at any of the Monasteries, a major privilege and custom in Tibetan culture.

Above all of this, what amazes me the most is the paranoia of the Chinese state, Tibetans’ are not violent people, this is against their religious beliefs. The most dramatic events in the history of their “rebellion” are mass protests, riots, throwing stones in retaliation to the provocation they receive from the Chinese Militarily who have regularly killed unarmed, innocent Tibetans. The Tibetan fight for independence and the return of their exiled Government and the Dalai Lama continues, this is something I can never see happening under Communist rule in China as they are unwilling to give up the territory they have possessed and the thought of an independent political region under Communist jurisdiction is unthinkable.

So how can I sum up the North of India…Taj Mahal, River Ganges, some big forts, constant harassment and a food choice of curry, chow mein or if your lucky Mc Donalds.

After our stay in Goa we flew to Jaipur the “Pink City”, which is situated in the state of Rajastan, this place is a desert. The heat here is immense, but we did stay for 3 nights mainly because the accommodation was so nice. We stayed at the Hotel Pearl Palace, like many hotels in Jaipur it has a roof top Restaurant and another “top floor” to just relax and look across the whole city. The first day we got there we went for a little stroll and it gave us an insight to how our stay was going to be, we were constantly harassed by “tuk-tuk” drivers, kids run up to you begging, there are so many homeless people its surreal.

The next day we decided to get a tour of the city, we hired a “tuk-tuk” driven by a nice guy called Yusi. Jaipur is quite a big place but in its centre has the old city, this is where you actually notice the pink of the city….the old city walls are pink and surround the city palace aswell as some other well known attractions here and the many crazy bazaars. Further out of the city are some massive forts and temples such as Amer and Jaigurh Fort aswell as the Monkey Temple dedicated to the sun god, which actually believe it or not had real monkeys there who all run at you when you feed them monkey nuts, quite scary. The pink city was not so apparently pink to me, this is due to the fact that over the years many modern (if you can call them that) buildings have been place around it and has sort of drown out the main attractions.

Agra would be our next stop and our first experience of Indian trains, let’s just say its mayhem initially but after a few tries you get the hang of it. What you can expect is no attendants visible to help you on the platform, people in your sleeper bunks with no ticket that you have to turf out, open doors, people sitting on the roof, rubbish just chucked out of the windows etc. We finally arrived at Agra, Agra Fort station to be precise and got a “tuk-tuk” driver to take us to our hotel, this guy was the Indian version of Roy Chubby Brown, he said we were guests to his city and we were his friends so if your lonely come to India you will find more friends than a life time will need.

After checking into to our hotel we got a tour of the city by Roy in his “tuk-tuk”, whilst driving in the distance you see this huge, beautiful structure just sticking out….the Taj Mahal. The plan was to visit the Taj tomorrow, but today we were going to take in the rest of Agra’s sites. We visit various tombs, saw people and water buffalos relaxing in the Yamuna River, visited the baby Taj and Agra Fort, which by the way is not bad for a boring old fort and is in good condition. We also went to the banks of the River just to the rear of the Taj and got some amazing photos, later we went to a rooftop restaurant and got a lovely view of it at sunset.

The day we actually went to visit the Taj we rose at 5am to see it at sunrise. This was a really nice experience in the morning its very cool, there are little touts and people around to harass you so its nice and relaxing. The Taj is surrounded by some well groomed ornamental gardens, which from its raised marble platform it over looks. To the east and west of the Taj are identical mosques, and at each corner of its marble platform are four minarets that look amazing at sunrise. The best moment was when we actually entered the Taj, its is a beautiful marble structure that holds the tombs of Emperor Shah Jalan and his second wife(who the Taj was built in memory of), when your inside the centre it’s a weird feeling as when people started talking there is a buzz like a thousand people are speaking. After rising early we relaxed in our room all day, and decided to get out of Agra and go to Lucknow by overnight-train.

Lucknow was properly our worse experience in Indian, when we arrived there was no place to stay, there are so many homeless people on the streets aswell as animals, people constantly bagger you and try and rip you off, and the heat is immense. We visited a place called the Residency that was built for the British Raj and is a renowned place for the Indian uprising against the Britis, the walls of various buildings here are still littered with bullet and Cannon ball holes. To be honest this place is a dump and we decided to leave after one night to go to one of India’s holiest cities Varanasi.

We got the train to Varanasi a place where cremations are made on the river banks of the Ganges. Tuk-tuk drivers can only take you so far as they are not allowed or should I say can’t get down to the ghats where the river is. The main reason for this is because of the tiny alleyways that lead down to the ghats from the town, this was some experience. The alleyways are lined with shops and hotels and are absolutely filthy, there are flies everywhere, cows, dead cows, rats, dogs, rubbish and poo everywhere. What was quite funny was when a bull was marking his terrioty with the others, and kinda barricaded kerri against an cycle ricksaw.

The Ganges is a really spiritual place people come from all over India to cremate family members or wash and swim in the river for good Karma. One night we went out on a boat and went up to one of the burning Ghats where they do the cremations, it was a morbid experience. We could actually see a torso and a head in the fire. At one point a family carried a relative down to the river to wash the body; at this point they lifted up the material coving the face which we saw. We were told that bodies are cremated here apart from people who are said to be pure such as babies, kids, pregnant women and holy men….I guess your wondering what happens with these right, well they are tied to a stone and drop in the middle of the river, something we would believe a whole lot more on our next boat trip. From here we went along to the main Ghat where ceremonies are done every night to bless the Ganges, there are literally hundreds of people witnessing this every night and the experience is amazing.

We also took a boat trip at sunrise, which again was peaceful for the same reasons as the Taj. Like anyone at 4.45am in the morning you can be a bit weary eyed but trust me you will soon sober up when you see a dead body floating in the water next to you. Even this early in the morning so many people are up, doing yoga, preaching, washing clothes and generally bathing in the water. For the next couple of days we bummed around to get a break, we spent our time watching movies in the hotel, getting a massage, watching street cricket which was great and also heards’ of water buffalos cooling down in the river.

From here we will be getting the train to Gorakhpur and then a bus journey to the Nepalese border at Sunali. I have seen some great sites here in Northern India but to be honest will be please to move on. I think I have had a big culture clash here and haven’t really taken to the Indian people. You are constantly harassed here with people trying to rip you off, people will literally follow you in the street trying to sell you something even though you have said no a thousand times. You have men trying to take photos of Kerri which is annoying but at the same time quite sad (not that’s shes ugly lol) as she is dressed in normal clothing to us but obviously to some saddos here she is not. People literally stare in your face, I am not talking about the odd glance I mean for a good minute, so my staring skills have increased. They are some disgusting habits here, apart from taking a toilet in street people will generally hawk up flem very loudly. Another thing I really don’t like is when they chew a thing called paan which is a mixture of beatle nut and leaves, basically it leaves your mouth looking like its bleeding and people just spit this in the street and when you see it on the floor you want to puke. To sum it up Kerri had not been well in Varanasi and at one point was sick in the street, a guy came up to us trying to sell something and just started watching.

Obviously the main reason for a lot of this is poverty and lack of facilities and you start to really appreciate how good we have things at home. What has been disappointing is the fact we haven’t had a real chance to meet the locals. We have met some nice Indian people in the hotel and on the train which coincides the fact they aint selling you anything, we also met a boy called Mogalee who started singing Back street boys in the street to me..

Peace out

Love Jabba and Kerri