Hey All:) So I've been exploring this city, looking at the waterfall (bloody lovely... the water was so cool and refreshing... it was a weird powdered blue, like sherbet suspended in the clear water... it was almost too blue... it was so hot walking to the top of waterfall that jumping into the cold water was perfect:), watching the monks walk through the city in the morning collecting peoples gifts of food to help them live and eat while they live their monk life (a bit of a touristy-underwhelming event in reality but I'm glad I went:)... and that's all in the pictures I've put up... My plan for the rest of this Laos trip is a day bus to Luang Namtha in the far north to trek in the real wilderness and visit tribal people... then down to the den of alcoholic gluttony in VienVieng to see people tubing and getting stupidly drunk but leave before my own soul begins to dissolve through mere proximity!), then off to the capital, Vientien, before a 30 hour bus journey to Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam)... that's the plan... tonight I'm gonna watch a replay of the clasico (barca v Madrid) because it was meant to be liquid football so I can't miss it! (I've watched quite a bit of football here but it'll be off limits in the far north so I'll enjoy it while it's here:)
... Mongolia... Mongolia... Mongolia... It's time to briefly discuss the amazing time I had in Mongolia before it slips out of my ear like so many "good" ideas... it was great, just 4 days but certainly the highlight of the Transiberian express... we had a young girl (Odka) as our guide for the 4 days and she was the best guide we had in all of that trip... she even took us to a night club in Ullanbattar and missed a family celebration in the process (although it was a bit of a weird one, to celebrate her nephews first haircut... apparently a big deal!)... the night club was cool ('Strings') with a live band from the Philippines who were really good but seemed desperate to sing the Black Eyed Peas' collective hits! and also the guitarist went a bit over the top when he started enacting suicide during a rendition of 'Killing me Softly'! ... everything felt a bit kind of, isolated in Mongolia, even in the city... so I didn't want to get lost in the city and in the night club... it was a bit crazy... I saw a drunk Mongolian business man get pulled out of the crowed for being a bit lairy and dragged by about 6 bouncers into one room... wait 10 minutes... then he was dragged (slightly less animated) out the front door (Mongolian bouncers take no shit)... Then we spent two nights in the desert like national park near Ullanbattar where we lived in Ger-tents with people coming in to stoke our fire (not a euphemism) during the cold cold night, rode horses, and generally feel peaceful... they educated us about nomadic life and Gengis Kahn through movies (one of which had been taped from bbc northwest back at the last (2005 or 6) election)... we visited a Nomadic family... spoke with a nomadic woman in her tent as she served us traditional tea (milky with salt... weird but nice) and some not so delicious snacks (like rotten dry cheese... I has to focus to swallow that)... we asked her questions through Odka but we didn't have much to say to each other and the difference in our worlds was highlighted when the Nomadic woman asked, 'What kind of livestock do you have in England?' ... I had to resist the temptation to ask the specific definition of 'livestock' and just said, 'like cows and that' (not as Karl Pilkington-esque as that sounds!)... we learnt a game called 'ankel bones' which is cool and traditional and nomadic and I bought a set to play at home and bore you all with later (I can literally hear the groans of 'Not another bloody game' float over the horizon and I can imagine Dad frantically trying to look busy or asleep to avoid playing it next christmas;)... (almost done)... I really enjoyed horse riding after initially being reticent... I was actually the only person in my group to break into anything close to a canter (when the horse guide (he didn't have a bad throat... boom boom) came to whip my horse on the ass I initially panicked... but it was actually cool to fly through the desert like a lost hobbit on his horse (an Ozzie girl, Masina, said my accent sounds like that of a hobbit!)
... so ok, I'll finish now... off to the night market for some pre-football food... after my slightly arsey last post I thought I should assure you that I've now made some new friends and am not longer the grumpy loner I was on my first day here;) ... there's Julie and Jason the Americans and Venisha the Londoner (she's coming with me to Luang namtha... so I have a hiking buddy:)
... so keep well everyone... I'm good and have finally updated about Mongolia:)... keep well all... I'll update you all post trekking:)
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Monday 29 November 2010
Alms giving to monks
Finally recovered from the 5.30am early start to see alms giving to the monks... Was a little disappointing but am still glad I went.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Laos
Sunday 28 November 2010
1000 hits!!
Over 1000 hits!! Thanks for reading everyone... Stay tuned for the next installment (and yes, I will write about the great time I had in Mongolia eventually:)
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Saturday 27 November 2010
Slow boat along the Mekong.
... So here I am in the lovely city of Luang Probang... I'm here to regail you with tales of my two and a half day journey here... it might be a bit of a struggle though as the keyboard on the hostel computer is so well used that all the letters have faded, so I need to type using my memory of the old qwerty keyboard (so far so good... there is another computer, but the 'n' is broken on that keyboard!).
... My first impression of Laos is quite positive... it kind of strikes me as a ferrile version of Thailand... a rough diamond... a jack-the-lad! ... but anyway... the boat...
... (Jesus some of the people here are getting on my metaphorical tits (I'm now in one of my lone ranger spells where I pretty much fly solo until lonliness gets the better of me and I become social again)... it's clear a group has formed here and it seems that the group is as impenetrable as a Yale-brand chastity belt (sorry!)... You're forced to sit on the periphery while I listen to a guy trying to jam to music with a harmonica he can't play and listen to a ginger kid (although there is nothing wrong with that in itself) chatting up a dutch girl by talking what can be only described as bullshit (describing Johanna Newsome as the true voice of American folk, Tom Waits as the direction jazz should have taken, and discussing the existentialism of society... yawn!)... but please alert me if I'm being a hypocrite, as that is a common occurrence... anyway, after the claustrophobia of the boat I think these sentiments might just be a reaction to wanting a bit of downtime)...
... so, the boat... To get from Pai to Laos I decided to take a slow boat up the Mekong river to the city of Luang Prabang... we left Pai at 8pm and arrived at a Thai border town at 3.30am... slept in a shithole til 7am (literally, there was petrified cat shit on one of the sofas!)... then we were driven on the back of a pickup truck to the boarder (I say we but I was really alone, just a mini-bus of us from the same tour agent in Pai... I got to know a few of them on the boat, but more about this later)... I already had my Laos visa so just had to wait for the others in the group to get theirs on arrival and then we set out for the boat...
Humm, I've become a bit board with this writing just now... I need to work on my concentration... also, having the football highlights in the corner of my vision is not helping... we spent two days on the slow boat going down the Mekong with an overnight stop at some place I can't be bothered to look up the name of... it's called the slow boat for obvious reasons, there was an alternative of a 6 hour speed boat but I've heard that you're left shaking for days from the experience if you don't end up strewn on rocks... I'd heard horror stories about the state of the boat... about cramped conditions and basically having a horrible time... as I waited for the bus from Pai to the Boarder, some smug Dutch C-word kept saying how bad he'd heard the boat was and how glad he was to be catching the bus... on and on and on... I wanted to say something but only I would look bad then... why put fear into other people? Just to try and justify your own decisions? (There is probably a tad of bitterness here and a fact that I wasn't sure of my own decision to take the boat after all the stories I'd heard)... but the boat was beautiful if a bit long (6 hours on day one and 9 on day two)... it wasn't rocky and the first day there was plenty of space to sit and read and drink and be merry (some folk got a little over merry on the first day, polishing off bottles of whisky etc (all travellers)... needless to say, they were less merry the next day)... the second day was more cramped but not ridiculously so... a mix of my currently (slightly;) grumpy mood and the fact that fellow travellers seemed a little bit try-hard (although maybe I wasn't trying enough) led to a little bit of frustration until I finally lost myself in my book... there were some cool people though who I had a nice little chat with without having to go too deep into the boring rigmarole of listing the countries I've visited, my age, what I've been doing with my life, what are my plans for the future... but my patience was tested when an Irishman from Skilgow mistook a question of, 'What music do you like?' with 'List every band you've ever heard of.' (and he didn't even mention the Smiths!)... I felt a little uncomfortable in the place where we spent the night stop... it seems like everyone is a drug dealer there... I got offered dope with my room, with my meal, offered a happy (read, opium) pancake... but to be fair, you say no once and they leave you alone... In Luang Prabang it's less of a problem although I did get offered some when walking around this morning... a tuk tuk driver smiled and asked, 'tuk-tuk?', 'no, thanks'... then his face immediately changed to intense seriousness as he asked, 'Marijuana?' with a sneer which screamed terrible John Wayne impression... but a simple 'no' sufficed (that's all you need to do kids, just say no!)...
The scenery from the boat was spectacular, palm-treed and lush and green... random beaches with wild-buffalo... occasional stops in the middle of nowhere to let locals off or to allow local children on to sell souvenirs, bananas, or even beer (an 8 year old selling 2 beers for 100 baht... I couldn't tell if I was outraged with the kids selling booze or just the price!)... the river was strewn with rocks all over... a driver needs to be alert and skilled to stop crashing into rocks or to avoid swaying too much in the whirlpools along the river... local families even sat on the boats roof on the crowded second day. ... the driver was skilled and managed to steer us into the smallest possible collision with rocks when the engine failed at one point (everyone started to panic a little bit (especially the inebriated ones) but they soon had the old girl moving again:)...
... O might not choose to take the slow boat again... but I'm very glad I took it:) ... I now need to plan my days in Laos... I might go to the north to trek for a day or two before heading to that boozy tubing place to watch the human zoo of apocalypticly drunk humans teetering on the boarder between euphoria and oblivion... and then maybe go to the capital before catching a flight or 24 hour bus to Hanoi in Vietnam... these are all rough plans... today I just acquaint myself with this beautiful city as well as relax and read and drink and eat... then tomorrow maybe I'll visit the local waterfall and have a swim:)
... OK, keep well all... I hope I'm not boring you all too much with this blog:)
... My first impression of Laos is quite positive... it kind of strikes me as a ferrile version of Thailand... a rough diamond... a jack-the-lad! ... but anyway... the boat...
... (Jesus some of the people here are getting on my metaphorical tits (I'm now in one of my lone ranger spells where I pretty much fly solo until lonliness gets the better of me and I become social again)... it's clear a group has formed here and it seems that the group is as impenetrable as a Yale-brand chastity belt (sorry!)... You're forced to sit on the periphery while I listen to a guy trying to jam to music with a harmonica he can't play and listen to a ginger kid (although there is nothing wrong with that in itself) chatting up a dutch girl by talking what can be only described as bullshit (describing Johanna Newsome as the true voice of American folk, Tom Waits as the direction jazz should have taken, and discussing the existentialism of society... yawn!)... but please alert me if I'm being a hypocrite, as that is a common occurrence... anyway, after the claustrophobia of the boat I think these sentiments might just be a reaction to wanting a bit of downtime)...
... so, the boat... To get from Pai to Laos I decided to take a slow boat up the Mekong river to the city of Luang Prabang... we left Pai at 8pm and arrived at a Thai border town at 3.30am... slept in a shithole til 7am (literally, there was petrified cat shit on one of the sofas!)... then we were driven on the back of a pickup truck to the boarder (I say we but I was really alone, just a mini-bus of us from the same tour agent in Pai... I got to know a few of them on the boat, but more about this later)... I already had my Laos visa so just had to wait for the others in the group to get theirs on arrival and then we set out for the boat...
Humm, I've become a bit board with this writing just now... I need to work on my concentration... also, having the football highlights in the corner of my vision is not helping... we spent two days on the slow boat going down the Mekong with an overnight stop at some place I can't be bothered to look up the name of... it's called the slow boat for obvious reasons, there was an alternative of a 6 hour speed boat but I've heard that you're left shaking for days from the experience if you don't end up strewn on rocks... I'd heard horror stories about the state of the boat... about cramped conditions and basically having a horrible time... as I waited for the bus from Pai to the Boarder, some smug Dutch C-word kept saying how bad he'd heard the boat was and how glad he was to be catching the bus... on and on and on... I wanted to say something but only I would look bad then... why put fear into other people? Just to try and justify your own decisions? (There is probably a tad of bitterness here and a fact that I wasn't sure of my own decision to take the boat after all the stories I'd heard)... but the boat was beautiful if a bit long (6 hours on day one and 9 on day two)... it wasn't rocky and the first day there was plenty of space to sit and read and drink and be merry (some folk got a little over merry on the first day, polishing off bottles of whisky etc (all travellers)... needless to say, they were less merry the next day)... the second day was more cramped but not ridiculously so... a mix of my currently (slightly;) grumpy mood and the fact that fellow travellers seemed a little bit try-hard (although maybe I wasn't trying enough) led to a little bit of frustration until I finally lost myself in my book... there were some cool people though who I had a nice little chat with without having to go too deep into the boring rigmarole of listing the countries I've visited, my age, what I've been doing with my life, what are my plans for the future... but my patience was tested when an Irishman from Skilgow mistook a question of, 'What music do you like?' with 'List every band you've ever heard of.' (and he didn't even mention the Smiths!)... I felt a little uncomfortable in the place where we spent the night stop... it seems like everyone is a drug dealer there... I got offered dope with my room, with my meal, offered a happy (read, opium) pancake... but to be fair, you say no once and they leave you alone... In Luang Prabang it's less of a problem although I did get offered some when walking around this morning... a tuk tuk driver smiled and asked, 'tuk-tuk?', 'no, thanks'... then his face immediately changed to intense seriousness as he asked, 'Marijuana?' with a sneer which screamed terrible John Wayne impression... but a simple 'no' sufficed (that's all you need to do kids, just say no!)...
The scenery from the boat was spectacular, palm-treed and lush and green... random beaches with wild-buffalo... occasional stops in the middle of nowhere to let locals off or to allow local children on to sell souvenirs, bananas, or even beer (an 8 year old selling 2 beers for 100 baht... I couldn't tell if I was outraged with the kids selling booze or just the price!)... the river was strewn with rocks all over... a driver needs to be alert and skilled to stop crashing into rocks or to avoid swaying too much in the whirlpools along the river... local families even sat on the boats roof on the crowded second day. ... the driver was skilled and managed to steer us into the smallest possible collision with rocks when the engine failed at one point (everyone started to panic a little bit (especially the inebriated ones) but they soon had the old girl moving again:)...
... O might not choose to take the slow boat again... but I'm very glad I took it:) ... I now need to plan my days in Laos... I might go to the north to trek for a day or two before heading to that boozy tubing place to watch the human zoo of apocalypticly drunk humans teetering on the boarder between euphoria and oblivion... and then maybe go to the capital before catching a flight or 24 hour bus to Hanoi in Vietnam... these are all rough plans... today I just acquaint myself with this beautiful city as well as relax and read and drink and eat... then tomorrow maybe I'll visit the local waterfall and have a swim:)
... OK, keep well all... I hope I'm not boring you all too much with this blog:)
My weird pillow.
This pillow saved my ass (literally) on the two day slow boat on the Mekong. I don't really get the maggot love thing though:s ... I'll blog on the whole thing soon:)
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Laos
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Cycling in Pai
So it's my last day in Thailand... my 30-day stamp expires on the 28th so I better hot-tail it out of this joint... off to Laos... I'll take the bus to the border, cross a river (the Meekon, maybe), and then take a two day boat down to Luang Prabang in Laos... so I've been in the north of Thailand for a while now but it's convenient that my visa expires because I can imagine getting stuck here... floating in Jelly, it's sweet but I'm going nowhere fast... I'm not sure about Laos ... I've heard many things about the place and alot of people love it but a lot of people only go there to do tubing (float down a river on an inflatable tube and bars along the river throw you a line and pull you in, offer you a free shot and then get you truly pissed... I hear they serve ridiculous things like opium pizzas (wtf?)... some Americans I met here in Pai (seemingly squeezed straight from the script of some teen movie which seems to revolve around getting as many crude jokes and as much soft core porn in 90 minutes as possible... don't get me wrong, I loved 'American Pie' at 15... but now I've gone all arty farty)... anyway, these Americans described the tubing (in a place called Viang Vieng) as Spring-break on crack... the sighing of my soul echoed in my head when they said this (they were actually nice and friendly these Americans... just overtly textbook)... I think I'll give it a miss)... but I also hear there is great nature and all that in Laos... so I guess I should keep an open mind...
Pai, this hippy (or as a French-girl (Emma) said, "EP") haven, has been quite nice and relaxing... if you've read what I wrote about Koh Chang then just copy and paste much of that description here (sans-sea/beach)... Yesterday (as I alluded to in an earlier post) I thought it would be a good idea to cycle around the peaceful roads around Pai and visit the Canyon and waterfalls and hot springs (cycling also seemed like a good idea because a scooter seemed like a bad idea)... Jesus wept it was knackering... some people might know me as the highly-athletic specimen who is seemingly fatigue-proof on the football field (sic (I always wondered but I think that 'sic' means that I'm being sarcastic... rather then look it up on Wikipedia, I'll just leave it in))... but a couple of months without exercise have turned me into a slightly less fit person (if that can be imagined)... I had a simultaneous aching of my thighs, calves, ass, soul and dignity as I struggled up yet another bloody hill with scootered people slowing down next to me to say hello... piss of you smug bastereds! ... I cycled with a French girl I met called Emma who as it turned out is a bit of a dab-hand at the old cycling game... she was always that frustratingly elusive dot on the horizon, mocking me until the dot passed into the unimaginable void in front... ... ... (I love ellipses... I learnt that word yesterday:)) when I thought I could feel no more broken, tired and dejected... forever wishing that the end would come, whether that be the end of the road or some other more finite road... at that very point a 8 year old (ish) girl cycled past, enthusiastically smiled and said, "Hello!"... ... ... :(
... but of course I exaggerate... it was a good choice to cycle and as soon as I'd got back, had a shower, had a meal, and had a beer... I felt good and happy with my choice to cycle... my muscles ached pleasingly as I had another beer and played cards with a french girl (Emma), an Ozzie girl (Masina), and two Dutch girls (Melissa and name-unknown)... (my girl-heavy travels continue... it's really great but I did long to sit with the "lads" (oi oi) and watch the Champions League (TM) last night (well done Spurs)... the cycle was through lovely, peaceful and safe roads with a lush green landscape around and the sun in the clear sky slapping me on my factor-50 lathered neck... as well as those landmarks I mentioned there was also what seemed to be some kind of Elephant district where all the trekking companies were based and so we saw some cool elephants (although one was trying repeatedly and in vain to escape the chain around his foot (do elephants have a foot or is it a hoof?), constantly fiddling with the chain with his trunk as well as non-stop testing the strength of the chain... it wasn't the happiest thing I've ever seen)... ... ... so all in all, once I'd toweled down and all that, it was nice:)
...today I leave Pai on the 8pm bus, so today is relax on soft, bum-friendly chairs day:) ... blog is done, so now I'll take a few more pictures of this place and then settle down to read 'Infinite Jest', the 1,200 page book I'm enjoying but eternally resenting having to lug round with me!
Keep well everyone and catch little random nuggets of madness from me at my twitter page at ... usually contributed to when I find a bar with wifi... so there may be the odd, failed attempt at forced humor on it... but isn't that what Twitter is all about?
Anyway, miss you... keep well:)
P.S.I've finally decided to use spell check on my blog:)
Pai, this hippy (or as a French-girl (Emma) said, "EP") haven, has been quite nice and relaxing... if you've read what I wrote about Koh Chang then just copy and paste much of that description here (sans-sea/beach)... Yesterday (as I alluded to in an earlier post) I thought it would be a good idea to cycle around the peaceful roads around Pai and visit the Canyon and waterfalls and hot springs (cycling also seemed like a good idea because a scooter seemed like a bad idea)... Jesus wept it was knackering... some people might know me as the highly-athletic specimen who is seemingly fatigue-proof on the football field (sic (I always wondered but I think that 'sic' means that I'm being sarcastic... rather then look it up on Wikipedia, I'll just leave it in))... but a couple of months without exercise have turned me into a slightly less fit person (if that can be imagined)... I had a simultaneous aching of my thighs, calves, ass, soul and dignity as I struggled up yet another bloody hill with scootered people slowing down next to me to say hello... piss of you smug bastereds! ... I cycled with a French girl I met called Emma who as it turned out is a bit of a dab-hand at the old cycling game... she was always that frustratingly elusive dot on the horizon, mocking me until the dot passed into the unimaginable void in front... ... ... (I love ellipses... I learnt that word yesterday:)) when I thought I could feel no more broken, tired and dejected... forever wishing that the end would come, whether that be the end of the road or some other more finite road... at that very point a 8 year old (ish) girl cycled past, enthusiastically smiled and said, "Hello!"... ... ... :(
... but of course I exaggerate... it was a good choice to cycle and as soon as I'd got back, had a shower, had a meal, and had a beer... I felt good and happy with my choice to cycle... my muscles ached pleasingly as I had another beer and played cards with a french girl (Emma), an Ozzie girl (Masina), and two Dutch girls (Melissa and name-unknown)... (my girl-heavy travels continue... it's really great but I did long to sit with the "lads" (oi oi) and watch the Champions League (TM) last night (well done Spurs)... the cycle was through lovely, peaceful and safe roads with a lush green landscape around and the sun in the clear sky slapping me on my factor-50 lathered neck... as well as those landmarks I mentioned there was also what seemed to be some kind of Elephant district where all the trekking companies were based and so we saw some cool elephants (although one was trying repeatedly and in vain to escape the chain around his foot (do elephants have a foot or is it a hoof?), constantly fiddling with the chain with his trunk as well as non-stop testing the strength of the chain... it wasn't the happiest thing I've ever seen)... ... ... so all in all, once I'd toweled down and all that, it was nice:)
...today I leave Pai on the 8pm bus, so today is relax on soft, bum-friendly chairs day:) ... blog is done, so now I'll take a few more pictures of this place and then settle down to read 'Infinite Jest', the 1,200 page book I'm enjoying but eternally resenting having to lug round with me!
Keep well everyone and catch little random nuggets of madness from me at my twitter page at ... usually contributed to when I find a bar with wifi... so there may be the odd, failed attempt at forced humor on it... but isn't that what Twitter is all about?
Anyway, miss you... keep well:)
P.S.I've finally decided to use spell check on my blog:)
P.S.
Don't forget I'm also tweeting on Twitter at http://twitter.com/listentome23 ... For nuggets of nonsense from my travels, go there:)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Something I liked
This is just something cool from the book I'm reading at the moment, 'Infinite jest' by David Foster Wallace... A wise old whiskery fish goes up to three young ones and says, "morning boys, how's the water?" and swims off. The three young fish watch him swim away and look at each other and go, "What the fuck is water?" and swim away.
... Don't worry, an actual blog post coming soon:)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
... Don't worry, an actual blog post coming soon:)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Cycling around Pai
Was going to do a big blog today but am completely knackered after cycling around Pai so it can wait until tomorrow... Here is a pic of me at the Pai canyon... My legs were a bit too wobbly to enjoy it though.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Pai
Monday 22 November 2010
Sunday 21 November 2010
Tiger
So I saw a baby Tiger today... kind of a dream of mine I think... I miss my Suki (for any Russian readers, that's my cat's name (you see in Russian Suki means, 'Bitches'... although yes, I do miss my bitches as well!))... So I went for it even though it was a little expensive... and yes, I considered the big moral issues about human contact with large wild animals such as tigers... I'm not sure if I made the correct moral descision but at least I saw it and can to some extent banish the thought that the cat's are drugged or sedated to allow human contact... they are wild-animals (albeit, hand reared) and so you have to handle with care... they can be unpredictable and I'm sure they could wipe you out with a swift cuff to the face... ... when I first walked up and saw the other people with the tigers they were lying there all limp and I thought, 'Oh Christ, they do sedate them... bloody hell, I've spent all this money on something I'm gonna feel guilty about.' ... but as I was waiting one properly perked up and was being a little scamp (what a lovely word:), they were lively but probably slightly perturbed at their midday nap being disrupted... I also read on the net suggestions that they are not treated that well by the keepers but I don't think so... they weren't being cruel... they were just treating them like (I'm gonna sound stupid here) like cats... they wern't excessivly rough with them if they started getting a bit too playful (coz , let's face it... these baby tigers had bloody big paws... if they grabbed your arm and did that playful nibbling-while-kicking-away-with-their-legs thing you'd be in trouble... I really enjoyed it... and even though it was a little bit expensive (by Thai standards, not English), it was a bit of a dream and was probably the first paid excursion I've done since I left the VodkaTrain tour... To be fair, although I think the tigers are treated ok and not drugged or anything, the issue remains of them being kept tame and controlled and having their valuable midday nap time adulterated by us pesky humans... it was a bloody lovely experience but definatly not an essential thing... I'm going to use a Tony Blair, Iraq war kind of get out about choosing to go and say, 'I made the correct decision based on the evidence I had at the time.'... I'm glad I saw with my own eyes but I guess my concerns about potential overt cruelty distracted me from the basic issue/problem of allowing people to pay for all this contact with such a rare, beautiful and wild creature...
... ... but it left me with a warm glow... this time yesterday I was feeling low and lonely... I was ready to learn violin just so I could sadly emphasise my lonliness with music while I quenched my thurst for human interaction with my own salty tears... ... ... but then this girl from Oz started chatting to me (her name is Messina... what a lovely little name (Football ramble reference))... then along came a German lad she'd met called Sebastian... then my English mate Herve (half-Belgian), we played pool, then checked out the cracking lantern festival which happens each year on the November full-moon... Suddenly my lonliness dissappeared into the night sky like so many paper lanterns... The sky was full of these lanterns... I let two off myself and made a wish each time (as is the custom)... it was really cool and festive atmosphere... people out on the street, with friends and family... it was cool... ... ... but they clearly don't have the same anti-fireworks adverts we have in England... they were going off left, right and centre... it was like a very flamboyant war was going on (you'd have loved it Jay)... those fireworks which go off like a mushroom were exploding only meters away from people, landing in the road among the heavy traffick, or borrowing under water to unleash a huge upward serge of water like someone had just dropped in the worlds biggest pebble... even I started to fill with a little bit of fear (the dog in my hostel literally wet itself because of the sound of bangers near the hostel... the poor confused little scamp)... Then I headed off to meet Martina (one of the Italian girls I met in Koh Chang... she came to Chiang Mai for one night as she was flying to the south from here tomorrow) and a friend of hers (Nora, a french girl of half Morrocan descent) and we had drinks and it was cool... and then today I went to the Tigers and then got befriended by a Canadian girl just now... not so lonely any more:)) ... my line for this life as a lone traveller is that we have lots of friendship-one-night-stands (maybe I've already mentioned this)... you meet people and have an intense, whirlwind friendship (you are more open and willing to speak because you are alone but also together in this strange boat travelling around the world)... but just as you think you may have made a friend for life (which in this whirlwind takes like a day-and-a-half), you go your seperate ways... maybe to meet somewhere else on the circuit but probably not... but it is a great way to interact with people and is only sad when you are tired and you start to wonder where your next friend will come from (often, that friend is sat next to you while you think all these sorry and lonely and neurotic thoughts)...
... My parents now know how much I hate haggeling and so this morning, as I set off to get a Tuk-Tuk to the Tiger place I didn't look forward to negotiating the price for a Tuk-Tuk to pick me up, wait and bring me back... I asked at the hostel how much is a fair and usual price and they said 300 Baht... so I was thinking, 'Ok, ok, Just go with 300, don't mess about, if they take it all good, if they don't they are taking the piss, it's a fair price'... I nervously ambled up to the first tuk-tuk I saw, I asked how much... '150'... I felt compelled to literally bite his hand off then and there... I'm starting to think that if Bangkok is the disease, then Chiang Mai is the cure... it reminded me of a story I heard about Leeds United in their recent period of Champions league success, before they pissed all their money away and went into melt-down... They were signing Seth Johnson (1 England cap, his middle names are 'Art' and 'Maurice'... thank you Wikipedia:) from Derby for 7 million... he was going in with his agent to agree wages... before they walked in to the office his agent said to him, "We're not gonna take a penny less then 20 grand-a-week."... they walked in and Risdale (Leeds Chairman) said, "We'll not pay a penny more then 40 grand-a-week."... que another literally-bite-their-hand-off type situation...
... Tomorrow I go to Pai in the mountains for a couple of days... it's meant to be hippysville and quite cool... then I'll take the slow boat to Laos (I know you're probably thinking, 'What's the slow boat?'... well I'll save that little beauty until next time... what a tease;)
Keep well everyone... I'm going to try and post a couple of Tiger photos up soon:))
... ... but it left me with a warm glow... this time yesterday I was feeling low and lonely... I was ready to learn violin just so I could sadly emphasise my lonliness with music while I quenched my thurst for human interaction with my own salty tears... ... ... but then this girl from Oz started chatting to me (her name is Messina... what a lovely little name (Football ramble reference))... then along came a German lad she'd met called Sebastian... then my English mate Herve (half-Belgian), we played pool, then checked out the cracking lantern festival which happens each year on the November full-moon... Suddenly my lonliness dissappeared into the night sky like so many paper lanterns... The sky was full of these lanterns... I let two off myself and made a wish each time (as is the custom)... it was really cool and festive atmosphere... people out on the street, with friends and family... it was cool... ... ... but they clearly don't have the same anti-fireworks adverts we have in England... they were going off left, right and centre... it was like a very flamboyant war was going on (you'd have loved it Jay)... those fireworks which go off like a mushroom were exploding only meters away from people, landing in the road among the heavy traffick, or borrowing under water to unleash a huge upward serge of water like someone had just dropped in the worlds biggest pebble... even I started to fill with a little bit of fear (the dog in my hostel literally wet itself because of the sound of bangers near the hostel... the poor confused little scamp)... Then I headed off to meet Martina (one of the Italian girls I met in Koh Chang... she came to Chiang Mai for one night as she was flying to the south from here tomorrow) and a friend of hers (Nora, a french girl of half Morrocan descent) and we had drinks and it was cool... and then today I went to the Tigers and then got befriended by a Canadian girl just now... not so lonely any more:)) ... my line for this life as a lone traveller is that we have lots of friendship-one-night-stands (maybe I've already mentioned this)... you meet people and have an intense, whirlwind friendship (you are more open and willing to speak because you are alone but also together in this strange boat travelling around the world)... but just as you think you may have made a friend for life (which in this whirlwind takes like a day-and-a-half), you go your seperate ways... maybe to meet somewhere else on the circuit but probably not... but it is a great way to interact with people and is only sad when you are tired and you start to wonder where your next friend will come from (often, that friend is sat next to you while you think all these sorry and lonely and neurotic thoughts)...
... My parents now know how much I hate haggeling and so this morning, as I set off to get a Tuk-Tuk to the Tiger place I didn't look forward to negotiating the price for a Tuk-Tuk to pick me up, wait and bring me back... I asked at the hostel how much is a fair and usual price and they said 300 Baht... so I was thinking, 'Ok, ok, Just go with 300, don't mess about, if they take it all good, if they don't they are taking the piss, it's a fair price'... I nervously ambled up to the first tuk-tuk I saw, I asked how much... '150'... I felt compelled to literally bite his hand off then and there... I'm starting to think that if Bangkok is the disease, then Chiang Mai is the cure... it reminded me of a story I heard about Leeds United in their recent period of Champions league success, before they pissed all their money away and went into melt-down... They were signing Seth Johnson (1 England cap, his middle names are 'Art' and 'Maurice'... thank you Wikipedia:) from Derby for 7 million... he was going in with his agent to agree wages... before they walked in to the office his agent said to him, "We're not gonna take a penny less then 20 grand-a-week."... they walked in and Risdale (Leeds Chairman) said, "We'll not pay a penny more then 40 grand-a-week."... que another literally-bite-their-hand-off type situation...
... Tomorrow I go to Pai in the mountains for a couple of days... it's meant to be hippysville and quite cool... then I'll take the slow boat to Laos (I know you're probably thinking, 'What's the slow boat?'... well I'll save that little beauty until next time... what a tease;)
Keep well everyone... I'm going to try and post a couple of Tiger photos up soon:))
Saturday 20 November 2010
Friday 19 November 2010
Chiang Mai
So as you might have seem, I'm in Chiang Mai... it's nice to be out of Bangkok and especially to be in such an unusual place... it has the weird feeling of a little town... there's a city wall and a mote... I'll use the word quaint (a hell of a word)! ... It was a bit of a treck to get here... 12 hours from 6pm to 6am on a bus... I was sat next to some sort of sea-cow of a man... like someone had taken the mass of three of me and put it into a skin coloured lycra suit and roughly bashed it into the shape of a man... I'm being unfair because I'm grumpy because he deprived me of sleep and comfort (and also, he'll never read this anyway!)... ... ... Do you ever get that moment when your on a bus or something and someone nods off next to you and slowly their heads descends until it's on your shoulder with a small trail of dribble working its way down your sleeve like a viscous river? ... I once had it on the bus home from Glastonbury, I sat down and a beautiful girl sat next to me, I fell asleep only to wake up with her sleeping heavily with her head in my lap... needless to say she was embarrased when I woke her up... and somewhere in my neurotic, adolescent mind I though, "Maybe she fancies me?"... (Jesus, why did I write that! (I meant that retorically, hence the absence of a question mark))... anyway, last night I woke with a 19 stone sea mammel on my shoulder... I could suddenly empathise with clostraphobics... also, he refused to wake up... I periodically had to edge him over to his side which sighing and looking out of the window whistfully (I'm not totally sure that's the right word)...
... ... The biggest surprise has been the people really... maybe you could sense that I was feeling a bit touchy about being badgered all the time by people selling stuff etc... making new friends until the moment it was clear I wasn't going to spend money... well in Chiang Mai people (locals) have come up to me... they have started innocous conversations ("Where are from?", "How long have been in Thailand?")... the kind of questions which usually lead to a sales pitch which often contains the statement, "Only one stop." (Which makes you furiously say (Semi shout... like those walking people in the olympics... they do that funny walk but it's not quite a run), "No stops!"... which seems weird, to tell a taxi driver no to stop and also to insist that he goes on the meter rather then a fixed price... seems a dangerous recipie)... anyway, where was I... Ah yes, so innocuous questions lead to advice from the local about where to visit... 'Ah here we go, here's the sales pitch' I smugly thought with psudo-wisdom... but it didn't come to that... we just had a friendly conversation and they gave me advice about places to visit... it was a miraculous and beautiful moment where I could just relax and not tense up whenever a local started to talk to me:)
I met an English guy in the hostel and we walked around the city today... in a temple they has this garden with loads of buddist sayings hung on the trees... they were really interesting nuggest like, 'There is no saturating the fire with fuel' (still haven't worked that one out) and 'Constant dripping wears away the stone' (slightly easier to understand) ........ They even have a monk-chat thing (makes me imagine like a sex-line advert with monks pouting while on the phone) where you can sit and chat with the monks and ask them about their life and about buddist teachings etc... really interesting and I might have a proper sit-down with one some day before I leave (I did chat to one today but this was before I'd lost my tension about locals trying to tell me stuff so I sat with him feeling very uncomfortable and wondering what a monk might try to sell me... but they seem genuine and helpful and all so I might have a chat... also, in the temple, some lads were kicking around like a large hacky-sack kind of thing soing keepie uppies and it rolled to me and kicked it back... christ I wanted to play... it was like giving a coke addict a sniff... damn you, I'd love a kick-a-bout right now! :)
... Tonight we'll explore the night market and then maybe tomorrow my Italian friends Ullrika and Martina will pop over here and I can catch up with them (although me and the English lad have agreed to watch the football... what ever bloody game is on:)... also it's a festival here this weekend, everything looks like it's proper gearing up... I'm not really sure what happens but I've heard talk of those flying paper latern thingies... well when I see it I'll be able to divulge more and even post a couple of snaps... until then I'll go... probably for a nap:) (Oh how I love my new life as a cat... just sleeping and eating:)
Keep well all...
P.S. Congrats to Dave and Maz for winning the Twix and Milky Way respectivly for commenting on my blog:)
... ... The biggest surprise has been the people really... maybe you could sense that I was feeling a bit touchy about being badgered all the time by people selling stuff etc... making new friends until the moment it was clear I wasn't going to spend money... well in Chiang Mai people (locals) have come up to me... they have started innocous conversations ("Where are from?", "How long have been in Thailand?")... the kind of questions which usually lead to a sales pitch which often contains the statement, "Only one stop." (Which makes you furiously say (Semi shout... like those walking people in the olympics... they do that funny walk but it's not quite a run), "No stops!"... which seems weird, to tell a taxi driver no to stop and also to insist that he goes on the meter rather then a fixed price... seems a dangerous recipie)... anyway, where was I... Ah yes, so innocuous questions lead to advice from the local about where to visit... 'Ah here we go, here's the sales pitch' I smugly thought with psudo-wisdom... but it didn't come to that... we just had a friendly conversation and they gave me advice about places to visit... it was a miraculous and beautiful moment where I could just relax and not tense up whenever a local started to talk to me:)
I met an English guy in the hostel and we walked around the city today... in a temple they has this garden with loads of buddist sayings hung on the trees... they were really interesting nuggest like, 'There is no saturating the fire with fuel' (still haven't worked that one out) and 'Constant dripping wears away the stone' (slightly easier to understand) ........ They even have a monk-chat thing (makes me imagine like a sex-line advert with monks pouting while on the phone) where you can sit and chat with the monks and ask them about their life and about buddist teachings etc... really interesting and I might have a proper sit-down with one some day before I leave (I did chat to one today but this was before I'd lost my tension about locals trying to tell me stuff so I sat with him feeling very uncomfortable and wondering what a monk might try to sell me... but they seem genuine and helpful and all so I might have a chat... also, in the temple, some lads were kicking around like a large hacky-sack kind of thing soing keepie uppies and it rolled to me and kicked it back... christ I wanted to play... it was like giving a coke addict a sniff... damn you, I'd love a kick-a-bout right now! :)
... Tonight we'll explore the night market and then maybe tomorrow my Italian friends Ullrika and Martina will pop over here and I can catch up with them (although me and the English lad have agreed to watch the football... what ever bloody game is on:)... also it's a festival here this weekend, everything looks like it's proper gearing up... I'm not really sure what happens but I've heard talk of those flying paper latern thingies... well when I see it I'll be able to divulge more and even post a couple of snaps... until then I'll go... probably for a nap:) (Oh how I love my new life as a cat... just sleeping and eating:)
Keep well all...
P.S. Congrats to Dave and Maz for winning the Twix and Milky Way respectivly for commenting on my blog:)
Thursday 18 November 2010
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Plans yet to be put into action
Well here I am again... I'll try to blog to y'all now about stuff seeing as I'm in a better mood and less tired then the last few days... for the first time I've really had to "make plans" and sort things out... tonight I get a 12 hour overnight but to Chiang Mai and today and yesterday I have sorted out my Vietnam and Laos visas (I know I can get the Laos one at some boarders but I wanted to avoid the faff... also it was nice to have like a task for the day:)... I've changed my on going flights to allow me more time in South East Asia (although I'm still trying to make sure everything has been changed properly as the e-ticket thing has become quite complicated seeing as Joe isn't travelling with me any more yet is still listed as the 'lead passenger' on some parts of the ticket... a technicality, I'm sure (I was travelling with Joe but he had an accident in St.Petersburg which required brain surgery and so (obviously) he had to return home... so yeah, if anyone was wondering why I hadn't mentioned my travel mate, that is why! ... I know it sounds kind of vague but a blog isn't really the place to chat about all that stuff in St.Petersburg (what happens in St.Petersburg, stays in St.Petersburg... and all that crap) ... but in the future I'll regail/bore people with the story on a strictly face-to-face basis (although I'm not sure where video calls on skype fit into the strictness of that!... anyway, back to today))... so it's been good to assert my own plans on this trip although I was initially very reticent and probably will still worry a little until I'm actually out of Bangkok and then out of Thailand and putting these plans into action:) ... when I said goodbye to my parents and thought about the planning I needed to do and the visas I needed to aquire I felt a bit lost for a moment... I felt like a (not another bloody simile!) salmon who'd swam downstream with ease and wondered what all the fuss and worry was about, only to turn and see that he was meant to be going the other way and taking the harder route (that might go down as the worst simile so far... that's it, I'm giving them up for life!)... but that soon passed and I took action and it now feels like things are progressing:)
... that is not to suggest that I've not enjoyed Thailand, I really have... Koh Chang was great and I had a fantastic time here with my parents... but I'm totally bored of Bangkok... I've spent too long here and the Khao San Road is getting to me a bit... ... ... 'No I don't want a bloody wooden frog', 'No I don't want a friggin' laser pen', 'Of course your meter's not broken', 'you said the wifi was free'... so I'm looking forward to experiencing some new places... also it seems that I might meet the Italian girls from Koh Chang up north which will be really great because they were nice and seemed to find it funny when I spoke English in an Italian accent (they'll regret their (probably) fake laughs soon enough:)...
... Although I'm not in the Hostel-de-sex-festival this time, it seems aquard experiences seem to follow me about... There was a quite "flamboyant" waiter in a resturant I visited with my parents... we were pretty sure he was gay... he bantered with us and it was all quite funny... the day after my parents left I bumped into him working in a different resturant I went to for lunch... he asked where "Mum and Dad" were and seemed really interested and talkative... about halfway through the meal I got the feeling he was quite strongly cracking on to me... whenever I wanted to order something the waitress would always call him down to serve me even though he was meant to be working behind the bar... he kept sitting down to chat and touched me a lot... on the upper arm... I started to feel very uncomfortable... maybe he just wanted to be friends... and if so, well I'm ignorant... but I felt incredibly uncomfortable... I've never eaten rice so fast in my life!
... As for my time with my parents, it was good... we spent most of our time in Koh Chang (and I'm sure I've already gone on about that enough previously)... we then returned to Bangkok and I showed them the giant reclining buddha, the weekend market, MBK etc etc... ... ... ...
... and there we have it... I'm burnt out with this typing game... it's all gone for another day... When I have more input and stimulus greater blogging results will follow... Without all the necessary ingredients a cake just isn't a cake, and at the moment I'm a pancake... hopefully Chaing Mai will provide all that's necessary to turn this blogging pancake into a delicious victoria-sponge of a journal (Shit, another simile... damn my obtuse nature!)...
Keep well people:)
... that is not to suggest that I've not enjoyed Thailand, I really have... Koh Chang was great and I had a fantastic time here with my parents... but I'm totally bored of Bangkok... I've spent too long here and the Khao San Road is getting to me a bit... ... ... 'No I don't want a bloody wooden frog', 'No I don't want a friggin' laser pen', 'Of course your meter's not broken', 'you said the wifi was free'... so I'm looking forward to experiencing some new places... also it seems that I might meet the Italian girls from Koh Chang up north which will be really great because they were nice and seemed to find it funny when I spoke English in an Italian accent (they'll regret their (probably) fake laughs soon enough:)...
... Although I'm not in the Hostel-de-sex-festival this time, it seems aquard experiences seem to follow me about... There was a quite "flamboyant" waiter in a resturant I visited with my parents... we were pretty sure he was gay... he bantered with us and it was all quite funny... the day after my parents left I bumped into him working in a different resturant I went to for lunch... he asked where "Mum and Dad" were and seemed really interested and talkative... about halfway through the meal I got the feeling he was quite strongly cracking on to me... whenever I wanted to order something the waitress would always call him down to serve me even though he was meant to be working behind the bar... he kept sitting down to chat and touched me a lot... on the upper arm... I started to feel very uncomfortable... maybe he just wanted to be friends... and if so, well I'm ignorant... but I felt incredibly uncomfortable... I've never eaten rice so fast in my life!
... As for my time with my parents, it was good... we spent most of our time in Koh Chang (and I'm sure I've already gone on about that enough previously)... we then returned to Bangkok and I showed them the giant reclining buddha, the weekend market, MBK etc etc... ... ... ...
... and there we have it... I'm burnt out with this typing game... it's all gone for another day... When I have more input and stimulus greater blogging results will follow... Without all the necessary ingredients a cake just isn't a cake, and at the moment I'm a pancake... hopefully Chaing Mai will provide all that's necessary to turn this blogging pancake into a delicious victoria-sponge of a journal (Shit, another simile... damn my obtuse nature!)...
Keep well people:)
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Just an update (and the word of choise for this update seems to have been, 'metaphore')
So it's been a little while and I thought I should show my face (metaphorically of course, you'll have to imagine my actual handsome face... interestingly I'm thinking of branching out into the world of mustaches... I know it would probably be a fatal blow in my attempted to meet people... walking up to people with a grin and a whispy moustache... ... ... maybe a mustache isn't such a good idea... anyway)... ... I'm a bit sleepy and tired today after the last night with Mum and Dad before they returned home... I'll probably come back tomorrow to recall specific details but just to say here that it was really good to see them... as I've said before, we found our equilibrium and then the closed system of our conjoined travel proceeded smoothly... like making mirange (I really don't know why I've chosen this metaphore!... actually I'm gonna abandon this metafore but leave the sentence as a reminder of how easily a metaphore can go wrong... ... ... Jeez, I am tired!)...
... So now, phase 3 of travelling commences... now it's down to me to sort out all the crap necessary and get a plan of action to visit Northern Thailand as well as Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia... My passport is at the Vietnam embassy overnight for the visa... then I'll probably nip up to Chaing Mai to see what all the fuss is about... ... ... It's a bit daunting but it'll be OK... I'm not gonna plan the ass off the jaunt around South East Asia, but I want to try my best to make sure I get in and out of the countries as smoothly as possible:) ... boarders should be interesting with all the 'Visa on arrival' stuff in Laos and Cambodia... let's see if I look like a mug ready to be scammed (maybe 'look' isn't the word... let's just see if I am a mug)...
OK, I'm gonna go now... this was less of a blog then an update (you decide if they are really different)... but I'll probably be back tomorrow with another obtuse (or do I mean obscure?) blog about everything I've (and my parents) have done in the last week or so as well as some accompanying nonsense...
Love to all... well, except for guys who I will instead extend my hand for a metaphorical hearty handshake;)
... So now, phase 3 of travelling commences... now it's down to me to sort out all the crap necessary and get a plan of action to visit Northern Thailand as well as Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia... My passport is at the Vietnam embassy overnight for the visa... then I'll probably nip up to Chaing Mai to see what all the fuss is about... ... ... It's a bit daunting but it'll be OK... I'm not gonna plan the ass off the jaunt around South East Asia, but I want to try my best to make sure I get in and out of the countries as smoothly as possible:) ... boarders should be interesting with all the 'Visa on arrival' stuff in Laos and Cambodia... let's see if I look like a mug ready to be scammed (maybe 'look' isn't the word... let's just see if I am a mug)...
OK, I'm gonna go now... this was less of a blog then an update (you decide if they are really different)... but I'll probably be back tomorrow with another obtuse (or do I mean obscure?) blog about everything I've (and my parents) have done in the last week or so as well as some accompanying nonsense...
Love to all... well, except for guys who I will instead extend my hand for a metaphorical hearty handshake;)
Friday 12 November 2010
My bungalow.
About £7 a night... A bit expensive... Oh well;)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday 11 November 2010
Koh Chang is seeping into my blood:)
... Well I've been on this island of Koh Change for... well I don't know how long, but as time has passed I've slowly embraced the warm cocoon of life on the island. You arrive looking at the dogs sleeping like stones in the road, not flinching as scooters veer past carrying the uncomfortable look of a westerner who doesn't really know what they're doing... you're amazed by the lethargy and the slow pace... but it slowly welds into your own thinking and you live the life of a tired cat or dog... a life punctuated by sleeping and eating only to come alive as the sun receeds and the thud of some god-awful dance music creeps into the air from the location of which ever bar has decided to do a party-come-drink-offer-come-free-bbq... I lost track of the days as I began to impliment a siesta into my daily routine... my days read like the diary of a school kid, produced under duress for some assignment... wake up, breakfast in the bar of a thousand wooden phalluses (ok, already not that school-ish in content), read, lunch, sleep, dinner, drink, bed... a basic routine but undeniably true... when you do take some excursion (see the picture of my visit to a waterfall yesterday... my chest is so white you could project a film on it) you need the next day to be extra lazy just to recover...
... OK, my first digression... a man has just entered the internet cafe and unscrewed a bottle of whisky from 7-11... it's only 3pm!
... little details of life here become big... you soon begin to feel (relatively) local... you see the prices for rooms rise as they crank up to the high season... you see the lobsters develop on the beach side-by-side with those fortuante enough to turn brown... you see the ladyboy sitting on the balcony of her bar winking at the men going passed (whisky man just answered the phone... he clearly has no confidence in the microphone of his phone)...
... even the ants in my shower room fascinate me... they live in the heating unit... ever time I have a hot shower they escape and run to the hills (as I write that, Iron Maiden singing the line is unavoidable... it is like the voice in my head cannot say the term 'run to the hills', but instead invites Bruce Dickenson in to sing it for me acopella... as an aside, Bruce Dickenson is a commercial pilot, he actually flew Liverpool to a recent Europa League game)... I finish my shower and they return home... cursing and checking their insurance policies like some unfortunate peoples living on some flood plane in Gloustershire (not exactly topical, I admit)
... ... ... In short, I'm enjoying this vast change of pace but it is time to move soon... we will return to Bangkok on Saturday and Mum and Dad leave on Tuesday... then I will plan my assult of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and visit Chang Mai on my way to one of those so talked about but so unfamilure destinations...
(now whisky man has a beer drinking thing with him... I'm usually good at guessing nationalities but I cannot place these guys... they look Russian, speak English like Norwegians but speak a language which floats somewhere between Polish and Portugese in my estimations... what an enigma this piss head is)
... I should probably explain that 'the bar of a thousand phalluses is just a really nice bar but which has lots and lots of wooden carved penises of various sizes all over the place... you don't notice them at first but then as I sat opposite my parents I noticed the giant phallic carvings either size of them and the nob-mobile hanging from the ceiling... but my cricky, they do a lovely stir-fry:)
... I feel that this visit may have proved somewhat of a success with my parents... slowly the comparisons with India receed and they begin to enjoy this place for its own merits... it's quite satisfying to see them enjoy things like the elephant trekking and swimming in the ice cool pool below a forest waterfall... (and as I write this, at this vary moment, they stroll past the window of the internet cafe... they're off changing money, I guess my heavy eating habits are eating into their funds (no pun intended)) ... (Whiskey man just farted loudly)
... this post only comes because I've decided to forgo today's nap... (Whiskey man's friend is called Ivan) ... so I'll find a hammock in a bar and read some more of 'Infinite Jest'... ... (another fart from the man only known as W!)... ... ... this posting has been quite an undertaking... I've worked up a sweat despite sitting as close as possible to the fan... 3pm is too early to undergo such intense exercise!
... I really need to finish now... Whiskey man is standing behind me chatting to Ivan, I don't want him to read this... he might lash out in a whiskey-fuelled rage... although I think it's too hot to get angry... let's just let bygones be bygones and settle down on a hammock with an ice cold bottle of Chang beer... anyone fancy joining me?
... OK, my first digression... a man has just entered the internet cafe and unscrewed a bottle of whisky from 7-11... it's only 3pm!
... little details of life here become big... you soon begin to feel (relatively) local... you see the prices for rooms rise as they crank up to the high season... you see the lobsters develop on the beach side-by-side with those fortuante enough to turn brown... you see the ladyboy sitting on the balcony of her bar winking at the men going passed (whisky man just answered the phone... he clearly has no confidence in the microphone of his phone)...
... even the ants in my shower room fascinate me... they live in the heating unit... ever time I have a hot shower they escape and run to the hills (as I write that, Iron Maiden singing the line is unavoidable... it is like the voice in my head cannot say the term 'run to the hills', but instead invites Bruce Dickenson in to sing it for me acopella... as an aside, Bruce Dickenson is a commercial pilot, he actually flew Liverpool to a recent Europa League game)... I finish my shower and they return home... cursing and checking their insurance policies like some unfortunate peoples living on some flood plane in Gloustershire (not exactly topical, I admit)
... ... ... In short, I'm enjoying this vast change of pace but it is time to move soon... we will return to Bangkok on Saturday and Mum and Dad leave on Tuesday... then I will plan my assult of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and visit Chang Mai on my way to one of those so talked about but so unfamilure destinations...
(now whisky man has a beer drinking thing with him... I'm usually good at guessing nationalities but I cannot place these guys... they look Russian, speak English like Norwegians but speak a language which floats somewhere between Polish and Portugese in my estimations... what an enigma this piss head is)
... I should probably explain that 'the bar of a thousand phalluses is just a really nice bar but which has lots and lots of wooden carved penises of various sizes all over the place... you don't notice them at first but then as I sat opposite my parents I noticed the giant phallic carvings either size of them and the nob-mobile hanging from the ceiling... but my cricky, they do a lovely stir-fry:)
... I feel that this visit may have proved somewhat of a success with my parents... slowly the comparisons with India receed and they begin to enjoy this place for its own merits... it's quite satisfying to see them enjoy things like the elephant trekking and swimming in the ice cool pool below a forest waterfall... (and as I write this, at this vary moment, they stroll past the window of the internet cafe... they're off changing money, I guess my heavy eating habits are eating into their funds (no pun intended)) ... (Whiskey man just farted loudly)
... this post only comes because I've decided to forgo today's nap... (Whiskey man's friend is called Ivan) ... so I'll find a hammock in a bar and read some more of 'Infinite Jest'... ... (another fart from the man only known as W!)... ... ... this posting has been quite an undertaking... I've worked up a sweat despite sitting as close as possible to the fan... 3pm is too early to undergo such intense exercise!
... I really need to finish now... Whiskey man is standing behind me chatting to Ivan, I don't want him to read this... he might lash out in a whiskey-fuelled rage... although I think it's too hot to get angry... let's just let bygones be bygones and settle down on a hammock with an ice cold bottle of Chang beer... anyone fancy joining me?
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Oh, what a spectacle!
Women, please tear your eyes away from the white chested sex-pavilion of a man to enjoy the waterfall in the background:)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Koh Chang
Saturday 6 November 2010
Well in the words of Staind... 'It's been awhile'
Well here I am again... As always too much has happened and as everyday passes it leaks out of the gap between my ears... I'm sat in a beach front internet cafe on Koh Chang (Elephant Island) in Thailand... the Thai guy next to me is watching the video of 'I do it for you' by Bryan Adams... I finally escaped Bangkok after about 5 days in what eventually seemed to be an almost Caligulaic hostel... I should have guessed it... I'm on the drinking street of Bangkok... the bars literally sell buckets of alcohol... the risk of a nascent sex festival breaking out was high... fair enough to the lucky devils but please show some discretion and be a little bit quiet when you're humping in a room with 20 other people at 4am... The noise woke me up so I went to the toilet... one shower cubical was similarly occupied... ... the room wasn't so bad really and that wasn't a major disturbance really... the 22 beds we set up in like cubicles of two queen size bunk beds... at night a blind could be pulled down to divide the bunks up so it really wasn't that bad... one morning I was up early and so was the guy in the bunk below me... we were quietly trying to sort out things out in the relativly small floor space provided (smaller relative to larger floor spaces)... to make some room for us I decided to lift up the blind between the bunks in our cubical... I slowly pulled the blind up to reveal two guys sleeping in each others arms in the adjacent lower bunk... suddenly the idea of creating more space had back fired and the area felt very small... needless to say, I lowered the blind once more... ... ...
... except for making me feel uncomfortable and maybe a little bit lonesome the hostel was pretty good... (The Thai guy is now watching 'Heaven' by Bryan Adams... what ever will be next? And will he save 'Summer of 69' to last?)... After initially feeling like a lost little squirrel in this big city of booze and sex and ping pong shows I actually began to meet people and have a decent time... We had a halloween party at the hostel organised by some the the hostel flies (those people who just seem to hang around at the hostel... think, the cool kids in 6th form who would all sit around the stereo and laugh loudly (no bitterness intended))... I met an American Italian called Alex and a Yeovillian called Nicki... we had a blast (I clearly spent too much time with Americans!)... ... ... ...
... Oh no, it's happened... I've fizzeled out... my brain never seems to co-operate when I try to write things chronologically... I lost my train of thought and now I'm stranded here waiting for a bus... ... anyway... My parents came to visit... It was great to see them but at first my mind refused to adapt and I feel really shy travelling with them... but after a couple of days we established our travelling equilibrium and all is well... they are now off gallavanting (read: booze, sex and rock and roll) and I can miander around like I love to without frustrating anyone including myself... we went to a big like kind of dock/pier thing today which was really cool called 'Bang Bao' (see my last posted picture)... ... I hope they like it on this lovely little island I visited before... to be honest, I'm feeling the pressure of being the guide, blind leading the blind comes to mind (interestingly, there are a couple of Slovakian guys here... one is blind, the other can't speak English... but once their powers combine they are fine:) ... anyway, I met some girls on the bus from Bangkok here (it seems like such an unusual coincidence that I keep befriending girls)... two Italian girls (Marty and Olly... the later is a German speaking Italian which is weird) and a Polish girl (Kasha)... they've been cool to hang out with although I suffered today because we went to a party on the beach and didn't get back till 3am and I had to meet Mum and Dad at 10am (this morning I had that unmistakable feeling that my stomach wanted to escape through my mouth and my skull was tightening around my skull like a Boa constrictor... I haven't seen the girls today but will catch them later... I gave them a short lesson in the Philosophy of Matthew Ovens while slightly inebriated and it may have caused them to cower in fear or worship me like some Buddha-esk fella (I'm thinking the latter, but I would)
... Within 4 hours of Mum and Dad meeting me in Bangkok a Taxi driver tried to convince me I needed to go to a Thai brothel... it was slightly embarrasing because Mum and Dad were also in the taxi and he enjoyed showing them the same female laiden literature he was using to convince me that it was a good place to diver my attention... ... I didn't go to a Ping pong show in Bangkok but people told me about it... I loved the description, "It was really rather sad", followed by, "They used a dart to burst a moving balloon"... I was happy to experience that vicariously through others...
I had one of those feet massage thing where little fishes eat the dead skin off your feet... A Dutch man came up to me while it was happening and said that there were lots on my feet which meant they were really dirty... thanks! ... but my feet felt wonderful after... the cleanest ever! ... the sensation is weird... kind of like my feet are dissolvable asprin, slowly fizzing apart in the water... you should try it one day (that was weird, I wrote like I was speaking to one person... I just can't figure out who that person is)...
... OK, now I've totally lost the plot of this post... lots of things have dissapeared and become jumbelled... Mum and Dad told me how people have been enjoying this and I think my ego has swelled and I can't produce the goods anymore... I'm like Oasis after Definatly Maybe... never the same again...
Ok, I'm gonna go now... the sun is a little weaker so I can actually survive on the beach without literally melting (not literally)...
Keep well all... I hope you've enjoyed my difficult second album... I'm off to listen to some Bryan Adams;)
P.S. Dad ordered a curry for lunch... they asked, "Do you like it spicey?"... he said 'Yes, of course'... ... ... needless to say, lolling (laughing out loud) ensued as he finally discovered what 'Spicey' means in Thai:)
Keep well all:)
... except for making me feel uncomfortable and maybe a little bit lonesome the hostel was pretty good... (The Thai guy is now watching 'Heaven' by Bryan Adams... what ever will be next? And will he save 'Summer of 69' to last?)... After initially feeling like a lost little squirrel in this big city of booze and sex and ping pong shows I actually began to meet people and have a decent time... We had a halloween party at the hostel organised by some the the hostel flies (those people who just seem to hang around at the hostel... think, the cool kids in 6th form who would all sit around the stereo and laugh loudly (no bitterness intended))... I met an American Italian called Alex and a Yeovillian called Nicki... we had a blast (I clearly spent too much time with Americans!)... ... ... ...
... Oh no, it's happened... I've fizzeled out... my brain never seems to co-operate when I try to write things chronologically... I lost my train of thought and now I'm stranded here waiting for a bus... ... anyway... My parents came to visit... It was great to see them but at first my mind refused to adapt and I feel really shy travelling with them... but after a couple of days we established our travelling equilibrium and all is well... they are now off gallavanting (read: booze, sex and rock and roll) and I can miander around like I love to without frustrating anyone including myself... we went to a big like kind of dock/pier thing today which was really cool called 'Bang Bao' (see my last posted picture)... ... I hope they like it on this lovely little island I visited before... to be honest, I'm feeling the pressure of being the guide, blind leading the blind comes to mind (interestingly, there are a couple of Slovakian guys here... one is blind, the other can't speak English... but once their powers combine they are fine:) ... anyway, I met some girls on the bus from Bangkok here (it seems like such an unusual coincidence that I keep befriending girls)... two Italian girls (Marty and Olly... the later is a German speaking Italian which is weird) and a Polish girl (Kasha)... they've been cool to hang out with although I suffered today because we went to a party on the beach and didn't get back till 3am and I had to meet Mum and Dad at 10am (this morning I had that unmistakable feeling that my stomach wanted to escape through my mouth and my skull was tightening around my skull like a Boa constrictor... I haven't seen the girls today but will catch them later... I gave them a short lesson in the Philosophy of Matthew Ovens while slightly inebriated and it may have caused them to cower in fear or worship me like some Buddha-esk fella (I'm thinking the latter, but I would)
... Within 4 hours of Mum and Dad meeting me in Bangkok a Taxi driver tried to convince me I needed to go to a Thai brothel... it was slightly embarrasing because Mum and Dad were also in the taxi and he enjoyed showing them the same female laiden literature he was using to convince me that it was a good place to diver my attention... ... I didn't go to a Ping pong show in Bangkok but people told me about it... I loved the description, "It was really rather sad", followed by, "They used a dart to burst a moving balloon"... I was happy to experience that vicariously through others...
I had one of those feet massage thing where little fishes eat the dead skin off your feet... A Dutch man came up to me while it was happening and said that there were lots on my feet which meant they were really dirty... thanks! ... but my feet felt wonderful after... the cleanest ever! ... the sensation is weird... kind of like my feet are dissolvable asprin, slowly fizzing apart in the water... you should try it one day (that was weird, I wrote like I was speaking to one person... I just can't figure out who that person is)...
... OK, now I've totally lost the plot of this post... lots of things have dissapeared and become jumbelled... Mum and Dad told me how people have been enjoying this and I think my ego has swelled and I can't produce the goods anymore... I'm like Oasis after Definatly Maybe... never the same again...
Ok, I'm gonna go now... the sun is a little weaker so I can actually survive on the beach without literally melting (not literally)...
Keep well all... I hope you've enjoyed my difficult second album... I'm off to listen to some Bryan Adams;)
P.S. Dad ordered a curry for lunch... they asked, "Do you like it spicey?"... he said 'Yes, of course'... ... ... needless to say, lolling (laughing out loud) ensued as he finally discovered what 'Spicey' means in Thai:)
Keep well all:)
Friday 5 November 2010
Thursday 4 November 2010
Showing Mum and Dad Koh Chang
So now I'm on the island of Koh Chang showing my parents Thailand during their two week visit... Looks like I've found something to keep them occupied:)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Koh Chang
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