Monday 1 November 2010
Is anyone still reading this?
Because if not, I'll stop doing the blog. I'll be home in a couple of weeks anyway.
Saturday 30 October 2010
October 6th-8th, days 173-175, Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia
We stay in a small town on the edge of a large national park, an area of ancient rainforest. The attraction here is the availabiloty of hiking in the jungle. The one everyone went on was to the rope bridges suspended between trees right up in canopy, giving a unique vantage point on the beauty of the jungle, not to mention an Indiana Jones-esqe feeling of adventure.
October 8th-11th, days 175-178, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
So we head from the peace and tranquility of the islands and jungle to the busy metropolis that is KL, the capital of Malaysia. It's a rich international city of bright lights and sky-scrapers. It's a shame that Joy is now suffering from a nasty cold and so can't go out much. The most impressive thing is, of course, the Petronas Towers with their sky bridge linking them about half way up. Someone, who may have been a tout, informed me that the tickets were all sold out for that day, but a group who had booked tickets hadn't turned up, so I could have on of theirs for RM110 (Malay Ringits), about £30.
Thirty quid to go up and say 'oooh! aaah!' at a view of a city where the most impressive thing you won't see because you're in it? I think not! Later I became glad of my decision as Ben told me that they are normally on RM10! Maybe I'm becoming scam and tout proof, a lesson I learned in the school of hard knocks, a valuable lesson if travelling.
KL is also rather sad, because it's here that people start to leave the trip. We say goodbye to James and Kay, Maggs, Neil and Kylie, and Kaye, all people who six months ago we were just starting to get to know and now it's hard to imagine that we'll never see some of them again. We've travelled thousands of miles with them and shared the joy of wonderful experiences and the hardship of difficult experiences together. They've all flown on to Australia, some because it's home, some for more travel.
October 11th-13th, days 178-180, Kuala Lumpur - Melaka, Malaysia
Melaka is a World Heritage town and rich in maritime history. It's an important historic port in a strtegically important place, and stop-over for many ships en route between the far east and middle east. As such it has a maritime museum, and it also looks rather European thanks for colonial influence. It is also home to some good seafood resturants. Well worth a trip to if you happen to be in KL for a few days, it's close enough for a day trip.
Here, more people disappear. We have a party night in a bar/restuarant with live singing and a good atmosphere the night before the Borneo crowd head off for their 3-weeks extra trip. Goodbye to Kirsten, Lesley, Roberta, Barry and Pauline, Simon, Ben. Again, people who have been our travelling companions for six months, and some of whom we might never see again. Now there's only seven of us left.
October 13th, day 180, Arrival in Singapore, the end of the Odyssey Expedition!
That's it. We've completed the Odyssey Expedition. There are times, such as waiting in Baku for the boat to Turkmenistan, of the intense heat of that bushcamp in Uzbekistan and coming down with heat-stroke, when I wished I was safely at home, wondering why the hell I wanted to do this. At those times I really thought I woundn't finish it. Now I have. I don't think I'd have done without the wonderful support of Joy, and the friendly encouragement of Simon and James.
The border crossing is quite smooth, except for the customs officials taking a very keen interest in Pete's collection of large knives, causing an hour's delay. That's nothing compared with the 12 hours at the Kazakhstan border, we've all learnt patience. Then we're through and headed to our hotel for tonight. Singapore is an island city-state, but not all the island is built up. The part that is looks like the richest, cleanest, tidiest and most well organised place we've seen since Europe. The apartment blocks look like you'd need at least a 6 figure salary to live there. A very high standard of living for those who can afford it. Tne city itself is a lot of modern sky-scrapers, including one group of 3 tall buldings with what looks like a large boat resting on top of them. Most impressive.
No visit to Singapore is complete without a visit to Raffles Hotel to have a famous Singapore Sling. Everything in that bar costs an arm and a leg, so it's only one drink there. For me, the Singapore Sling finally marks the end of the Odyssey trip. Anything we do now is entirely up to us to organise.
We stay in a small town on the edge of a large national park, an area of ancient rainforest. The attraction here is the availabiloty of hiking in the jungle. The one everyone went on was to the rope bridges suspended between trees right up in canopy, giving a unique vantage point on the beauty of the jungle, not to mention an Indiana Jones-esqe feeling of adventure.
October 8th-11th, days 175-178, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
So we head from the peace and tranquility of the islands and jungle to the busy metropolis that is KL, the capital of Malaysia. It's a rich international city of bright lights and sky-scrapers. It's a shame that Joy is now suffering from a nasty cold and so can't go out much. The most impressive thing is, of course, the Petronas Towers with their sky bridge linking them about half way up. Someone, who may have been a tout, informed me that the tickets were all sold out for that day, but a group who had booked tickets hadn't turned up, so I could have on of theirs for RM110 (Malay Ringits), about £30.
Thirty quid to go up and say 'oooh! aaah!' at a view of a city where the most impressive thing you won't see because you're in it? I think not! Later I became glad of my decision as Ben told me that they are normally on RM10! Maybe I'm becoming scam and tout proof, a lesson I learned in the school of hard knocks, a valuable lesson if travelling.
KL is also rather sad, because it's here that people start to leave the trip. We say goodbye to James and Kay, Maggs, Neil and Kylie, and Kaye, all people who six months ago we were just starting to get to know and now it's hard to imagine that we'll never see some of them again. We've travelled thousands of miles with them and shared the joy of wonderful experiences and the hardship of difficult experiences together. They've all flown on to Australia, some because it's home, some for more travel.
October 11th-13th, days 178-180, Kuala Lumpur - Melaka, Malaysia
Melaka is a World Heritage town and rich in maritime history. It's an important historic port in a strtegically important place, and stop-over for many ships en route between the far east and middle east. As such it has a maritime museum, and it also looks rather European thanks for colonial influence. It is also home to some good seafood resturants. Well worth a trip to if you happen to be in KL for a few days, it's close enough for a day trip.
Here, more people disappear. We have a party night in a bar/restuarant with live singing and a good atmosphere the night before the Borneo crowd head off for their 3-weeks extra trip. Goodbye to Kirsten, Lesley, Roberta, Barry and Pauline, Simon, Ben. Again, people who have been our travelling companions for six months, and some of whom we might never see again. Now there's only seven of us left.
October 13th, day 180, Arrival in Singapore, the end of the Odyssey Expedition!
That's it. We've completed the Odyssey Expedition. There are times, such as waiting in Baku for the boat to Turkmenistan, of the intense heat of that bushcamp in Uzbekistan and coming down with heat-stroke, when I wished I was safely at home, wondering why the hell I wanted to do this. At those times I really thought I woundn't finish it. Now I have. I don't think I'd have done without the wonderful support of Joy, and the friendly encouragement of Simon and James.
The border crossing is quite smooth, except for the customs officials taking a very keen interest in Pete's collection of large knives, causing an hour's delay. That's nothing compared with the 12 hours at the Kazakhstan border, we've all learnt patience. Then we're through and headed to our hotel for tonight. Singapore is an island city-state, but not all the island is built up. The part that is looks like the richest, cleanest, tidiest and most well organised place we've seen since Europe. The apartment blocks look like you'd need at least a 6 figure salary to live there. A very high standard of living for those who can afford it. Tne city itself is a lot of modern sky-scrapers, including one group of 3 tall buldings with what looks like a large boat resting on top of them. Most impressive.
No visit to Singapore is complete without a visit to Raffles Hotel to have a famous Singapore Sling. Everything in that bar costs an arm and a leg, so it's only one drink there. For me, the Singapore Sling finally marks the end of the Odyssey trip. Anything we do now is entirely up to us to organise.
Friday 8 October 2010
September 13th - 17th, days 150-154, Bangkok, Thailand
The journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok didn't quite go to plan. We had hoped to get the same bus all the way, but the buses all stop at the border, and we have to take everything off and and get onto another bus. I've often wondered what happens when a country where they drive on the right (Cambodia) shares a border crossing with one where they drive on the left (Thailand) - how to they sort out the traffic flow when they switch sides? Answer - they don't. Just no vehicles cross. Simple!
So we all get off a large, luxury, air-conditioned coach in Cambodia, and then squeeze onto minibuses in Thailand. These minibuses go for perhaps 2 or 3 minutes before stopping, and we all have to get off again. Still in sight of the border, almost. Then we need to get onto another set of minibuses which, amazingly, manage to get us all the way through to Bangkok. This bus fiasco will return to haunt us all later on...
I had been looking forward to Bangkok for a while now. It's supposed really great, it must be, all the tourists and backpackers flock there in their countless millions. Over my time there, however, I'm really starting to wonder why they all come. There's a really good Indian restaurant here, but surely they don't all come for that? Or is it the Palace? Or the massage parlours and the reclining Buddhas? No, it's be beer and the sex, I think. There's lots of beer, and as for sex, well.....
We looked round the Royal Palace and Temple Complex. That was glittery in the extreme, much more so than the one in Phnom Penh, but that's not surprising. There's a model of Angkor Wat there, too, although they have taken some liberty with that by giving it 4 extra spires. We saw the real thing, gloat gloat gloat.
The best thing about Bangkok (apart from the Indian Restuarant) is the river bus, but boat trips are always fun, and this one is seriously cheap.
September 17-20th, days 154-157, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
From the hustle and bustle of Bangkok to the relative peace and quiet of semi-rural Kanchanaburi. We have a nice resort on the banks of a river, which would have been the River Kwai had the River Kwai actually existed. The bridge over the river is real enough, and so it the hard work and suffering of all the POW's and locals who built it. It's close to where we are staying so we can walk down to it and cross over (looking out for trains) and think how privileged we are to walk across the bridge which gives its story to the "Bridge Over the River Kwai", although apparently it doesn't even feature.
On the final evening, we head back to Bangkok again to catch an overnight bus down south for the Island Week.
September 21st-28th, days 158-165, Koh Tao, Thailand
This is the Island Week, where we all do our own thing, a holiday in a holiday, a week off from travelling, a very welcome break. Some went to Koh Samiu, some to Koh Phagnan, some stayed on the mainland and beached around there, and 4 of us went to Koh Tao, the best place in Thailand for diving courses. I had already done some diving with BSAC (British Sub-Aqua Club) but that was a long time ago and I was quite out of practice and unable to prove my qualification, so I though I'd start again. An intoductory PADI course wasn't going to break the bank, and PADI probably doesn't really stand for 'Pay And Die Instantly'. In the end I did SSI (Scuba Schools International) Open Water and SSI Advanced.
Here's the 10 dive sites I visited during this week:
Japanese Garden
Laemtian Bay
Ao Leuk
Chumphom Pinnacle
Hin Wong Pinnacle (deep training, 30m)
Laemtian Caves
South West Pinnacle
Shark Island
White Rock
In the end we decided not to meet up with the others just yet, we wanted to spend the 7th night here, skip the National Park and meet up with the group in Penang, Malaysia. So, on 28th September, we caught the boat back to Chumphon, then the bus from the ferry to the train station. The train was due to leave for Butterworth, the closest station to Penang just over the water, at 10pm. It's an overnight sleeper, which is quite a comfy way to travel, and we're used to it now, we did in in China. About 8am, the train stopped at the border with Malaysia, so we got off with luggage and passports for the border formalities. The train took about 12 hours in total, then we got the ferry across to Penang.
September 29th - October 2nd, days 166-169, Penang, Malaysia
A city of faded colonial splendour. Unfortnately very much gone to seed, but Joy liked it. It wasn't short of historical sights once you know where to look, but it's not the sort of place where you can just wander round and chance upon interesting things, like you can in so many of the cities weve been to. It is also a lot less tourist-oriented after the excesses of Thailand - the streets aren't full of bars, restuarants, internet cafes and wi-fi spots, travel agents and hostels. There are a few, but not many. Perhaps a welcome change, but maybe I've gone soft.
That brings me to a question - what's the difference between tourists and travellers? Which are we? One of two of the group are very vocal on that subject and think that tourists are beneath comtempt. Someone said (a very good answer, and I forget who) "Travellers see what they see. Tourists see what they are shown". I'm not sure where backpackers fit in, but backpackers follow other backpackers and go to backpacker places. Penang isn't really a backpacker place yet, but it's coming. I like to think of us as 'Guided Travellers'. We are not completely shielded from the reality of the places we visit like tourists are, we are not shown everything, we go out and see it ourselves. But we are looked after.
Penang has a bustling cooked food market with many food stalls with a common seating area, even a band and dancing. It really comes to life at night, it's good cheap food and a good atmosphere.
After Penang, we moved on to Kuala Besut, a small no-horse town on the East coast. This a stopping off point for getting the boat to the Perhantian Islands tomorrow.
October 3rd-6th, days 170-173, Pulau Perhentian Besut, Malaysia
Three nights on the Perhantian Islands - a tropical island paradise with clear water, sandy beaches, jungles, sun, and a smattering of resorts, some look quite luxurious, others look more modest. The intrepid travellers we are, we have the more modest. Most of the time here is spent on the beach on in the sea, exploring the reef while snorkelling. Snorkelling is quite fun, I have to admit, although not a patch on diving it is more relaxing. I saw much sea-life including a stingray and many other species I can't name. I never was and never will be any sort of naturalist, and have the ability to miss some large and obvious things, such as sharks and barracudas.
The journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok didn't quite go to plan. We had hoped to get the same bus all the way, but the buses all stop at the border, and we have to take everything off and and get onto another bus. I've often wondered what happens when a country where they drive on the right (Cambodia) shares a border crossing with one where they drive on the left (Thailand) - how to they sort out the traffic flow when they switch sides? Answer - they don't. Just no vehicles cross. Simple!
So we all get off a large, luxury, air-conditioned coach in Cambodia, and then squeeze onto minibuses in Thailand. These minibuses go for perhaps 2 or 3 minutes before stopping, and we all have to get off again. Still in sight of the border, almost. Then we need to get onto another set of minibuses which, amazingly, manage to get us all the way through to Bangkok. This bus fiasco will return to haunt us all later on...
I had been looking forward to Bangkok for a while now. It's supposed really great, it must be, all the tourists and backpackers flock there in their countless millions. Over my time there, however, I'm really starting to wonder why they all come. There's a really good Indian restaurant here, but surely they don't all come for that? Or is it the Palace? Or the massage parlours and the reclining Buddhas? No, it's be beer and the sex, I think. There's lots of beer, and as for sex, well.....
We looked round the Royal Palace and Temple Complex. That was glittery in the extreme, much more so than the one in Phnom Penh, but that's not surprising. There's a model of Angkor Wat there, too, although they have taken some liberty with that by giving it 4 extra spires. We saw the real thing, gloat gloat gloat.
The best thing about Bangkok (apart from the Indian Restuarant) is the river bus, but boat trips are always fun, and this one is seriously cheap.
September 17-20th, days 154-157, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
From the hustle and bustle of Bangkok to the relative peace and quiet of semi-rural Kanchanaburi. We have a nice resort on the banks of a river, which would have been the River Kwai had the River Kwai actually existed. The bridge over the river is real enough, and so it the hard work and suffering of all the POW's and locals who built it. It's close to where we are staying so we can walk down to it and cross over (looking out for trains) and think how privileged we are to walk across the bridge which gives its story to the "Bridge Over the River Kwai", although apparently it doesn't even feature.
On the final evening, we head back to Bangkok again to catch an overnight bus down south for the Island Week.
September 21st-28th, days 158-165, Koh Tao, Thailand
This is the Island Week, where we all do our own thing, a holiday in a holiday, a week off from travelling, a very welcome break. Some went to Koh Samiu, some to Koh Phagnan, some stayed on the mainland and beached around there, and 4 of us went to Koh Tao, the best place in Thailand for diving courses. I had already done some diving with BSAC (British Sub-Aqua Club) but that was a long time ago and I was quite out of practice and unable to prove my qualification, so I though I'd start again. An intoductory PADI course wasn't going to break the bank, and PADI probably doesn't really stand for 'Pay And Die Instantly'. In the end I did SSI (Scuba Schools International) Open Water and SSI Advanced.
Here's the 10 dive sites I visited during this week:
Japanese Garden
Laemtian Bay
Ao Leuk
Chumphom Pinnacle
Hin Wong Pinnacle (deep training, 30m)
Laemtian Caves
South West Pinnacle
Shark Island
White Rock
In the end we decided not to meet up with the others just yet, we wanted to spend the 7th night here, skip the National Park and meet up with the group in Penang, Malaysia. So, on 28th September, we caught the boat back to Chumphon, then the bus from the ferry to the train station. The train was due to leave for Butterworth, the closest station to Penang just over the water, at 10pm. It's an overnight sleeper, which is quite a comfy way to travel, and we're used to it now, we did in in China. About 8am, the train stopped at the border with Malaysia, so we got off with luggage and passports for the border formalities. The train took about 12 hours in total, then we got the ferry across to Penang.
September 29th - October 2nd, days 166-169, Penang, Malaysia
A city of faded colonial splendour. Unfortnately very much gone to seed, but Joy liked it. It wasn't short of historical sights once you know where to look, but it's not the sort of place where you can just wander round and chance upon interesting things, like you can in so many of the cities weve been to. It is also a lot less tourist-oriented after the excesses of Thailand - the streets aren't full of bars, restuarants, internet cafes and wi-fi spots, travel agents and hostels. There are a few, but not many. Perhaps a welcome change, but maybe I've gone soft.
That brings me to a question - what's the difference between tourists and travellers? Which are we? One of two of the group are very vocal on that subject and think that tourists are beneath comtempt. Someone said (a very good answer, and I forget who) "Travellers see what they see. Tourists see what they are shown". I'm not sure where backpackers fit in, but backpackers follow other backpackers and go to backpacker places. Penang isn't really a backpacker place yet, but it's coming. I like to think of us as 'Guided Travellers'. We are not completely shielded from the reality of the places we visit like tourists are, we are not shown everything, we go out and see it ourselves. But we are looked after.
Penang has a bustling cooked food market with many food stalls with a common seating area, even a band and dancing. It really comes to life at night, it's good cheap food and a good atmosphere.
After Penang, we moved on to Kuala Besut, a small no-horse town on the East coast. This a stopping off point for getting the boat to the Perhantian Islands tomorrow.
October 3rd-6th, days 170-173, Pulau Perhentian Besut, Malaysia
Three nights on the Perhantian Islands - a tropical island paradise with clear water, sandy beaches, jungles, sun, and a smattering of resorts, some look quite luxurious, others look more modest. The intrepid travellers we are, we have the more modest. Most of the time here is spent on the beach on in the sea, exploring the reef while snorkelling. Snorkelling is quite fun, I have to admit, although not a patch on diving it is more relaxing. I saw much sea-life including a stingray and many other species I can't name. I never was and never will be any sort of naturalist, and have the ability to miss some large and obvious things, such as sharks and barracudas.
Sunday 19 September 2010
Angkor Wat
September 10th-13th, days 148-151, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Siem Reap - Tourist town. The one reason to come here is nearby Angkor Wat.
As far as ancient temples go, this one beats them all. Built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and part of his capital city, Angkor Wat is the largest, best preserved and most impressive of the Wats in the whole complex, and still remains an important religious centre, now of Buddhism but formerly of Hinduism.
Even for someone like me who has very little appreciation of history, it is a wonderful place to see, even with many tourists, it's still large enough to swallow them, and even with the scaffolding which ruins the classic view across the moat.
Enough of my inane twaddle, on with a few out of the millions we have of Angkor Wat and the other Wats in the complex...
Siem Reap - Tourist town. The one reason to come here is nearby Angkor Wat.
As far as ancient temples go, this one beats them all. Built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and part of his capital city, Angkor Wat is the largest, best preserved and most impressive of the Wats in the whole complex, and still remains an important religious centre, now of Buddhism but formerly of Hinduism.
Even for someone like me who has very little appreciation of history, it is a wonderful place to see, even with many tourists, it's still large enough to swallow them, and even with the scaffolding which ruins the classic view across the moat.
Enough of my inane twaddle, on with a few out of the millions we have of Angkor Wat and the other Wats in the complex...
Thursday 16 September 2010
Vietnam - Cambodia
August 24th-27th, days 129-132, cross into Vietnam, Hue City
My first impression of Vietnam was the fair city of Hue (does not rhyme with Hugh), and I was once again reminded that we are no longer intrepid travellers, boldly going where few westerners have gone before. In Hue, it's easy to find a bite to eat and a beer or 6 in a little bar or restaurant where they don't try and talk to you in their language, then look confused when you shrug your shoulders and babble incoherently back at them. In other words, everything's just so easy. They speak English (like pretty much all of their customers). Just like Laos, welcome to Backpacker Land. I think it'll be like this for the rest of the trip.
Hue is full of bars, restaurants, backpacker hostels, and tailors. If I make it sound like the hell-hole Vang Vieng I certainly don't mean to, because it's a lovely place - despite a booming backpacker industry, it still feels like a real town, not just a tacky resort.
The main historical site is the Citadel - Hue was the capital of Vietnam a few hundred years ago, and the Citadel was the royal palace. It was heavily damaged during the Vietnam War, but now there are signs of restoration.
The Perfume River flows through Hue. One guide said that if all Chinese piss into river, Vietnam would flood. I can believe it.
August 27th-30th, days 132-135, Hoi An
Now we are nearing the coast. The beach is anything from 2km to 7km away, depending on who you ask. It's been a long time since I've seen the sea - not since 15th May (day 28) and a long way - a whole continent ago. The whole of Asia. That's not counting the Caspian, of course, because it's just a big salty lake.
But it's very hot, so it's still too far away. The hotel has a swimming pool, and relaxing in the pool with a beer in my hand while a huge thunderstorm is in progress really is rather fun. It's a great way to shelter from the rain.
Close to Hoi An is the My Son Temple Ruin. Built by the Champa people about 1000 years ago it was lost and undiscovered in the jungle until the 19th century and then bombed by the Americans in the Vietnam war because of an alleged Viet Cong encampment. Luckily the damage is confined to just one part, so much of it is still visible, with only the ravages of time showing.
August 30th-September 2nd, days 135-138, Jungle Beach
The trip is 3/4 of the way through! Sometimes I wondered if I'd make it this far. Glad I have.
As we enter the final quarter of the trip, we finally reach the sea at the other end of Asia. Asia's big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may thing it's a long way down the street to the chemist but that's just peanuts to Asia...
Jungle Beach is a backbacker resort run by a Candadian, where the accommodation consists of bamboo huts set amongst palm trees just yards from the beach. A standard day's activities involve swimming, reading, relaxing, swimming, turning up for meals, swimming, relaxing, and more swimming. The only thing you have to worry about is turning up for meals on time.
Swimming here at night is extra special. You can look around you, see the countless stars in the night sky above and countless more stars in the sea below, the phosphorescent plankton. The water glows with it's own eery light whenever you move through it. It is beautiful and unforgettable.
September 2nd-5th, days 138-141, Saigon
Saigon couldn't be any more different from Jungle Beach. After a painfully long bus journey we are now in a huge city, far from the relaxing serenity of the beach. We are now surrounded by millions of people, tuk tuks, cars, trucks, and more motorbikes than there are atoms in the universe.
The most memorable experiences here are the War Museum (in Vietnam, the war in which the Americans were so soundly thrashed is called "The American War"), where one can see exhibits of original US war machinery such as tanks, giant flame throwers, delivery systems for nasty chemicals and various other unpleasant things. With all this lethal hardware it's staggering how they managed to lose. The main body of the museum, however, is taken up with photographs and explanations of alleged atrocities and war-crimes perpetrated by the Americans during the war - destroying whole villages, murdering unarmed villagers including the women and children, torture, destroying the jungle and arable land with chemical and biological agents, the list goes on, and the mind boggles. I cannot help wondering how much of this is purely Vietnamese propaganda and how much is really true. In another part of the museum, however, there were pictures of the global protests over the unjust war, including, I'm pleased to say, the protests in America, including deserting soldiers and the man who burned himself in front of the White House.
The following day there was a trip out to nearby jungle where the main attraction is the tunnel system used by the Viet Cong when hiding from the US troops. There are 3 distinct layers of tunnels, but only the top level is open to tourists. The top layer is about 60-80cm (2'-3') and about 40cm (18") wide, the lower levels are an even tighter squeeze. Some of us crawled along in the tunnel for 100m. I wouldn't have liked to have hidden down there for extended periods, one could easily become very claustrophobic. Some people took one look at the start of the tunnel and backed out there and then. What makes it even trickier to negotiate was how, at certain intervals, there'd be a hole in the floor you need to lower yourself through and then the tunnel continues at a lower level, before rising again.
September 5th-8th, days 141-145, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Another day, another border crossing, into a country working hard to rebuild itself after Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge tried their very best to destroy it in the 1970's. Where Vietnam is very established now on the backpacker trail, Cambodia is rather less so, but catching up fast.
Our first stop is the captital city, Phnom Penh. The most memorable sight here is what once was a school. The Khmer Rouge (KR) had no use for schools so they converted it into a prison. They converted to the classrooms into cell-blocks by buiding extra walls inside, converted the physical education apparatus into torture implements, and added liberal helpings of barbed wire. On display were many hundreds (a very small number really) of victims of S.21 as it was called. There were a total of 20,000 people imprisoned here over the years. Seven survived.
After this somewhat harrowing visit, there was a trip out to the Killing Fields. When Vietnam invaded and liberated the Cambodian People from the KR in 1979, they discovered a site of mass graves some 15km out from the city. Now many of the victims remains have been moved to more dignified housing in the form of a memorial monument housing countless skulls and various other bones, as well as remains of clothing. The final resting place of countless people executed for crimes such as being teachers, doctors, lawyers, monks, and pretty much anyone who isn't a peasant.
In some ways the most tragic thing of all is that Pol Pot himself lived to a ripe old age and eventually died of natural causes in the 1990s. He got away with it scott free, one of the most evil people to have ever lived.
On a happier note, we also saw the Royal Palace (Cambodia once again became a Kingdom in the intervening years since the KR was banished) which is very beautiful, and had a happy evening celebrating Simon's birthday in the Foreign Correspondents Club.
September 8th-10th, days 145-147, Battambang
A fairly quick journey later and we leave Phnom Penh and arrive in Battambang. Everyone wants to call it Battenburg. It's more of a local town, not so much a tourist town, although backpackers are starting to find it, and the usual crop of hotels and restaurants is starting to sprout. Didn't do much here, it was time to relax and celebrate Simon's other birthday.
My first impression of Vietnam was the fair city of Hue (does not rhyme with Hugh), and I was once again reminded that we are no longer intrepid travellers, boldly going where few westerners have gone before. In Hue, it's easy to find a bite to eat and a beer or 6 in a little bar or restaurant where they don't try and talk to you in their language, then look confused when you shrug your shoulders and babble incoherently back at them. In other words, everything's just so easy. They speak English (like pretty much all of their customers). Just like Laos, welcome to Backpacker Land. I think it'll be like this for the rest of the trip.
Hue is full of bars, restaurants, backpacker hostels, and tailors. If I make it sound like the hell-hole Vang Vieng I certainly don't mean to, because it's a lovely place - despite a booming backpacker industry, it still feels like a real town, not just a tacky resort.
The main historical site is the Citadel - Hue was the capital of Vietnam a few hundred years ago, and the Citadel was the royal palace. It was heavily damaged during the Vietnam War, but now there are signs of restoration.
The Perfume River flows through Hue. One guide said that if all Chinese piss into river, Vietnam would flood. I can believe it.
August 27th-30th, days 132-135, Hoi An
Now we are nearing the coast. The beach is anything from 2km to 7km away, depending on who you ask. It's been a long time since I've seen the sea - not since 15th May (day 28) and a long way - a whole continent ago. The whole of Asia. That's not counting the Caspian, of course, because it's just a big salty lake.But it's very hot, so it's still too far away. The hotel has a swimming pool, and relaxing in the pool with a beer in my hand while a huge thunderstorm is in progress really is rather fun. It's a great way to shelter from the rain.
Close to Hoi An is the My Son Temple Ruin. Built by the Champa people about 1000 years ago it was lost and undiscovered in the jungle until the 19th century and then bombed by the Americans in the Vietnam war because of an alleged Viet Cong encampment. Luckily the damage is confined to just one part, so much of it is still visible, with only the ravages of time showing.
August 30th-September 2nd, days 135-138, Jungle Beach
The trip is 3/4 of the way through! Sometimes I wondered if I'd make it this far. Glad I have.
As we enter the final quarter of the trip, we finally reach the sea at the other end of Asia. Asia's big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may thing it's a long way down the street to the chemist but that's just peanuts to Asia...
Jungle Beach is a backbacker resort run by a Candadian, where the accommodation consists of bamboo huts set amongst palm trees just yards from the beach. A standard day's activities involve swimming, reading, relaxing, swimming, turning up for meals, swimming, relaxing, and more swimming. The only thing you have to worry about is turning up for meals on time.Swimming here at night is extra special. You can look around you, see the countless stars in the night sky above and countless more stars in the sea below, the phosphorescent plankton. The water glows with it's own eery light whenever you move through it. It is beautiful and unforgettable.
September 2nd-5th, days 138-141, Saigon
Saigon couldn't be any more different from Jungle Beach. After a painfully long bus journey we are now in a huge city, far from the relaxing serenity of the beach. We are now surrounded by millions of people, tuk tuks, cars, trucks, and more motorbikes than there are atoms in the universe.
The most memorable experiences here are the War Museum (in Vietnam, the war in which the Americans were so soundly thrashed is called "The American War"), where one can see exhibits of original US war machinery such as tanks, giant flame throwers, delivery systems for nasty chemicals and various other unpleasant things. With all this lethal hardware it's staggering how they managed to lose. The main body of the museum, however, is taken up with photographs and explanations of alleged atrocities and war-crimes perpetrated by the Americans during the war - destroying whole villages, murdering unarmed villagers including the women and children, torture, destroying the jungle and arable land with chemical and biological agents, the list goes on, and the mind boggles. I cannot help wondering how much of this is purely Vietnamese propaganda and how much is really true. In another part of the museum, however, there were pictures of the global protests over the unjust war, including, I'm pleased to say, the protests in America, including deserting soldiers and the man who burned himself in front of the White House.
The following day there was a trip out to nearby jungle where the main attraction is the tunnel system used by the Viet Cong when hiding from the US troops. There are 3 distinct layers of tunnels, but only the top level is open to tourists. The top layer is about 60-80cm (2'-3') and about 40cm (18") wide, the lower levels are an even tighter squeeze. Some of us crawled along in the tunnel for 100m. I wouldn't have liked to have hidden down there for extended periods, one could easily become very claustrophobic. Some people took one look at the start of the tunnel and backed out there and then. What makes it even trickier to negotiate was how, at certain intervals, there'd be a hole in the floor you need to lower yourself through and then the tunnel continues at a lower level, before rising again.
September 5th-8th, days 141-145, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Another day, another border crossing, into a country working hard to rebuild itself after Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge tried their very best to destroy it in the 1970's. Where Vietnam is very established now on the backpacker trail, Cambodia is rather less so, but catching up fast.Our first stop is the captital city, Phnom Penh. The most memorable sight here is what once was a school. The Khmer Rouge (KR) had no use for schools so they converted it into a prison. They converted to the classrooms into cell-blocks by buiding extra walls inside, converted the physical education apparatus into torture implements, and added liberal helpings of barbed wire. On display were many hundreds (a very small number really) of victims of S.21 as it was called. There were a total of 20,000 people imprisoned here over the years. Seven survived.
After this somewhat harrowing visit, there was a trip out to the Killing Fields. When Vietnam invaded and liberated the Cambodian People from the KR in 1979, they discovered a site of mass graves some 15km out from the city. Now many of the victims remains have been moved to more dignified housing in the form of a memorial monument housing countless skulls and various other bones, as well as remains of clothing. The final resting place of countless people executed for crimes such as being teachers, doctors, lawyers, monks, and pretty much anyone who isn't a peasant.
In some ways the most tragic thing of all is that Pol Pot himself lived to a ripe old age and eventually died of natural causes in the 1990s. He got away with it scott free, one of the most evil people to have ever lived.On a happier note, we also saw the Royal Palace (Cambodia once again became a Kingdom in the intervening years since the KR was banished) which is very beautiful, and had a happy evening celebrating Simon's birthday in the Foreign Correspondents Club.
September 8th-10th, days 145-147, Battambang
A fairly quick journey later and we leave Phnom Penh and arrive in Battambang. Everyone wants to call it Battenburg. It's more of a local town, not so much a tourist town, although backpackers are starting to find it, and the usual crop of hotels and restaurants is starting to sprout. Didn't do much here, it was time to relax and celebrate Simon's other birthday.
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Into South-east Asia - another catch-up
August 3rd, day 108
We are in an unexpected city, a bonus. Yesterday afternoon a group of us, suffering serious withdrawal symptoms of Western food, went in search of a McDonalds, I'm ashamed to say. After walking for about an hour, some of us decided that it wasn't worth it. I'm pleased to say that I had no McDonalds swill. Instead, the splinter-group of rebels went to a small cafe selling dumplings for an insanely cheap price. Lovely.
Chengdu is famous for its Pandas. So the morning is spent seeing them in their sanctuary. They have remarkably intelligent looking faces when you see them for real, not like the gormless look they always seem to get in illustrations. We feel quite privileged to see such a famous but very rare animal in the living flesh.
August 4th, day 109
Since we had to say farewell to our truck, we have to use other transport. In some ways, it seems more real when you are on public transport with locals going about they daily business. So while it's a shame to lose the truck, it's also a good thing that we had the adventure of an 18 hour overnight train from Chengdu in Sichuan down to Kunming in Yunnan.
So late afternoon, we boarded the train. It's not quite what I had in mind. I was expecting a cabin with 2 pairs of bunks, sleeping 4 of us, all fellow Odyssey travellers. But no. It was not cabins, it was 3 bed high bunks without doors, without privacy, full of Chinese. We had all top bunks most of the way along the length of the carriage, with many Chinese families below us.
Sounds bad, but it was strangely fun. Being in such close contact with the local people was an adventure we'd have missed out on if we hadn't lost the truck. We would also have missed out on the amazing city of Chengdu and the pandas. That evening on the train, several of us went to the restaurant car and drank the bar dry whilst marching up and down drunkenly, wearing the ticket inspector's cap, much to the amusement of the train staff.
August 5th, day 110
The train lights and cheesy canned musak come on at 7am, which is horribly early for one with a mild hangover. No need to get out of bad, though, the train won't arrive in Kunming for a few more hours yet, and our top bunks are above head-hight so afford some limited privacy.
The day is quite un-eventful, Kunming looks quite interesting but we are only here for one night. Joy and I celebrate our penultimate night in China with a bottle of Chinese wine. It's very cheap but actually quite nice.
August 6th, day 111
We board the coach to take us to Jinghong. Once again we are on public transport but outnumber the Chinese. It's a long journey but the coach is luxurious and air-conditioned and showed some very cheesy films on TV screens.
Jinghong is a picture-postcard Chinese town with traditional looking but all new looking buildings on the banks of a river. It is the Mekong, so we are a stone's throw from South East Asia, the final section of this epic trip.
The evening is spent eating excellent food on a restaurant terrace on the banks of the Mekong.
August 7th-11th, days 112-116, Luang Namtha in Laos
Another day, another stamp in the passport. We take a public bus from Jinghong in Yunnan, China down to Luang Namtha in Laos. On first impressions Laos appears poorer but a lot more relaxed. A green riot of hilly jungle interspersed with flat rice paddies with the occasional worker in conical straw hat and water buffalo surrounds us as we proceed slowly on bumpy roads.
Luang Namtha is a small town in the far north of Laos and on first impressions appears very western tourist-oriented in a way I have not seen yet, especially in China where a western face is a rarity. Many restaurants line the main street, with menus in English. I'm glad to see they all sell Laos food, not just pizzas and burgers.
There's not so much to see and do in the town itself, the main reason to be here is the activities on offer. Find a group of confused looking backpackers and there's an activities booking office nearby, where you can book everything from a 2-day hiking and kayaking experience in the jungle to a cooking course. Joy and I plump for a day's jungle hiking on one day and a cooking course on another. I could describe both endlessly but I'll just say that the hike was hot, tiring, and absolutely brilliant. What an incredible wonderful and unique environment the jungle is. Shame the people round here take great delight in cutting it all down.
August 12th, day 117, Nong Khiew
We spend one full day relaxing in this tiny village on the banks of the great Mekong River, and 2 nights in typical jungle accommodation - bamboo huts on stilts. We sleep under mosquito nets, which is really very cosy.
August 13th-16th, days 118 - 121, Luang Prabang
The trip is 2/3 the way through!
It takes a few hours to travel from Nong Khiew to Luang Prabang by riverboat. This is a lot more exciting than a dull boring bus! On the way there we stop at a Buddha cave, not as big as the one in China but still impressive.
Luang Prabang is a small town, but bigger than Luang Namtha, on the Mekong. The guidebook says it has 33 temples (or 'wats'), which makes this town a fairly dim 0.033 kilowats (ha ha ha!) Anything which isn't a Wat in Luang Prabang is probably a bar/restaurant so it's a great place for evening entertainment.
At 5pm every day, one of the roads in the town centre closes to traffic and fills with market stalls for the Night Market, a fascinating place to wander around and see what interesting things are on sale.
On one of our days here, we go on an elephant ride. A quick bus and boat trip out to the jungle and we arrive at the Elephant Sanctuary. We start with a gentle ride - the elephants are fitted with a bench for 2 and we ride around for a while. After, we wash the elephants. This involves riding the elephant bare-back as it wades through water, and then dips itself down under the water. You get just as wet as the elephant does. It's a lot more fun than the actual ride.
A quick swim under a waterfall later and it's back to Luang Prabang and several beers.
August 17th, day 122, Vang Vieng
A town completely devoid of any redeeming features. Full of very tacky western tourist bars with happy hour promotions. A club 18-30 town. Avoid.
August 18th-21st, days 123-126, Vientiane
The capital of Laos, actually quite a big town on the Mekong, and over the Mekong lies Thailand. No bridges here, strangely, no border crossing.
Vientiane is not as nice as Luang Prabang, not by a long way, but there are certainly some interesting things to see.
At the end of a long boulevard is Laos' answer to L'Arc de Triomphe is Paris. It looks a little bit like it except with a more Asian look and none of the charm and grace of the original. You can climb up to the top and take in the views. The sign describing it says "from a closer distance it appears even less impressive, a monster of concrete". I couldn't have put it better myself.
From there we go to That Luang, the most impressive stupa in Laos, and the national emblem as pictured on banknotes. This is large, tall, brilliant gold, and closed fror lunch. Never mind, we can still see it.
August 22nd, day 127, Phu Hin Bun
Two nights, one full day, in a national park. The accommodation is once again the jungle standard - bamboo huts on legs, sleeping under a mosquito net. Judging by the bites we picked up, we weren't the only ones under the net.
The highlight of this section is the magnificant cave. We all got in boats on the river, and a short way upstream the river entered a cave. The boat drove into the cave, and we all turned on our torches. Before too long, we were so far inside that the only light was torchlight, around us only blackness. The cave was a good 20 or 30 meters high in places, and 15-20 meters wide. This is a truly magnificent cave.
About 15 minutes in, we were able to get off the boat inside the cave at a raised dry bit. Here, the cave was illuminated with atmospheric lighting to highlight stalagtites and stalagmites, and we went off on foot to explore this part of the cave.
Then back in the boat and continue further into the cave. After a while we saw daylight and shortly after came out the other end and had a picnic lunch beside the river before the return journey through the cave.
August 23rd, day 128, drive to Savannakhet
Savannakhet is a border town, because tomorrow we head into Vietnam. Shame the border in question here is the Thai border, but at this latitude Laos is very narrow. Nothing much to note about this town, just a night stopover en route.
We are in an unexpected city, a bonus. Yesterday afternoon a group of us, suffering serious withdrawal symptoms of Western food, went in search of a McDonalds, I'm ashamed to say. After walking for about an hour, some of us decided that it wasn't worth it. I'm pleased to say that I had no McDonalds swill. Instead, the splinter-group of rebels went to a small cafe selling dumplings for an insanely cheap price. Lovely.
Chengdu is famous for its Pandas. So the morning is spent seeing them in their sanctuary. They have remarkably intelligent looking faces when you see them for real, not like the gormless look they always seem to get in illustrations. We feel quite privileged to see such a famous but very rare animal in the living flesh.
August 4th, day 109
Since we had to say farewell to our truck, we have to use other transport. In some ways, it seems more real when you are on public transport with locals going about they daily business. So while it's a shame to lose the truck, it's also a good thing that we had the adventure of an 18 hour overnight train from Chengdu in Sichuan down to Kunming in Yunnan.
So late afternoon, we boarded the train. It's not quite what I had in mind. I was expecting a cabin with 2 pairs of bunks, sleeping 4 of us, all fellow Odyssey travellers. But no. It was not cabins, it was 3 bed high bunks without doors, without privacy, full of Chinese. We had all top bunks most of the way along the length of the carriage, with many Chinese families below us.Sounds bad, but it was strangely fun. Being in such close contact with the local people was an adventure we'd have missed out on if we hadn't lost the truck. We would also have missed out on the amazing city of Chengdu and the pandas. That evening on the train, several of us went to the restaurant car and drank the bar dry whilst marching up and down drunkenly, wearing the ticket inspector's cap, much to the amusement of the train staff.
August 5th, day 110
The train lights and cheesy canned musak come on at 7am, which is horribly early for one with a mild hangover. No need to get out of bad, though, the train won't arrive in Kunming for a few more hours yet, and our top bunks are above head-hight so afford some limited privacy.
The day is quite un-eventful, Kunming looks quite interesting but we are only here for one night. Joy and I celebrate our penultimate night in China with a bottle of Chinese wine. It's very cheap but actually quite nice.August 6th, day 111
We board the coach to take us to Jinghong. Once again we are on public transport but outnumber the Chinese. It's a long journey but the coach is luxurious and air-conditioned and showed some very cheesy films on TV screens.
Jinghong is a picture-postcard Chinese town with traditional looking but all new looking buildings on the banks of a river. It is the Mekong, so we are a stone's throw from South East Asia, the final section of this epic trip.
The evening is spent eating excellent food on a restaurant terrace on the banks of the Mekong.
August 7th-11th, days 112-116, Luang Namtha in Laos
Another day, another stamp in the passport. We take a public bus from Jinghong in Yunnan, China down to Luang Namtha in Laos. On first impressions Laos appears poorer but a lot more relaxed. A green riot of hilly jungle interspersed with flat rice paddies with the occasional worker in conical straw hat and water buffalo surrounds us as we proceed slowly on bumpy roads.
Luang Namtha is a small town in the far north of Laos and on first impressions appears very western tourist-oriented in a way I have not seen yet, especially in China where a western face is a rarity. Many restaurants line the main street, with menus in English. I'm glad to see they all sell Laos food, not just pizzas and burgers.
There's not so much to see and do in the town itself, the main reason to be here is the activities on offer. Find a group of confused looking backpackers and there's an activities booking office nearby, where you can book everything from a 2-day hiking and kayaking experience in the jungle to a cooking course. Joy and I plump for a day's jungle hiking on one day and a cooking course on another. I could describe both endlessly but I'll just say that the hike was hot, tiring, and absolutely brilliant. What an incredible wonderful and unique environment the jungle is. Shame the people round here take great delight in cutting it all down.
August 12th, day 117, Nong Khiew
We spend one full day relaxing in this tiny village on the banks of the great Mekong River, and 2 nights in typical jungle accommodation - bamboo huts on stilts. We sleep under mosquito nets, which is really very cosy.
August 13th-16th, days 118 - 121, Luang Prabang
The trip is 2/3 the way through!
It takes a few hours to travel from Nong Khiew to Luang Prabang by riverboat. This is a lot more exciting than a dull boring bus! On the way there we stop at a Buddha cave, not as big as the one in China but still impressive.
Luang Prabang is a small town, but bigger than Luang Namtha, on the Mekong. The guidebook says it has 33 temples (or 'wats'), which makes this town a fairly dim 0.033 kilowats (ha ha ha!) Anything which isn't a Wat in Luang Prabang is probably a bar/restaurant so it's a great place for evening entertainment.At 5pm every day, one of the roads in the town centre closes to traffic and fills with market stalls for the Night Market, a fascinating place to wander around and see what interesting things are on sale.
On one of our days here, we go on an elephant ride. A quick bus and boat trip out to the jungle and we arrive at the Elephant Sanctuary. We start with a gentle ride - the elephants are fitted with a bench for 2 and we ride around for a while. After, we wash the elephants. This involves riding the elephant bare-back as it wades through water, and then dips itself down under the water. You get just as wet as the elephant does. It's a lot more fun than the actual ride.
A quick swim under a waterfall later and it's back to Luang Prabang and several beers.
August 17th, day 122, Vang Vieng
A town completely devoid of any redeeming features. Full of very tacky western tourist bars with happy hour promotions. A club 18-30 town. Avoid.
August 18th-21st, days 123-126, Vientiane
The capital of Laos, actually quite a big town on the Mekong, and over the Mekong lies Thailand. No bridges here, strangely, no border crossing.
Vientiane is not as nice as Luang Prabang, not by a long way, but there are certainly some interesting things to see.
At the end of a long boulevard is Laos' answer to L'Arc de Triomphe is Paris. It looks a little bit like it except with a more Asian look and none of the charm and grace of the original. You can climb up to the top and take in the views. The sign describing it says "from a closer distance it appears even less impressive, a monster of concrete". I couldn't have put it better myself.From there we go to That Luang, the most impressive stupa in Laos, and the national emblem as pictured on banknotes. This is large, tall, brilliant gold, and closed fror lunch. Never mind, we can still see it.
August 22nd, day 127, Phu Hin Bun
Two nights, one full day, in a national park. The accommodation is once again the jungle standard - bamboo huts on legs, sleeping under a mosquito net. Judging by the bites we picked up, we weren't the only ones under the net.
The highlight of this section is the magnificant cave. We all got in boats on the river, and a short way upstream the river entered a cave. The boat drove into the cave, and we all turned on our torches. Before too long, we were so far inside that the only light was torchlight, around us only blackness. The cave was a good 20 or 30 meters high in places, and 15-20 meters wide. This is a truly magnificent cave.
About 15 minutes in, we were able to get off the boat inside the cave at a raised dry bit. Here, the cave was illuminated with atmospheric lighting to highlight stalagtites and stalagmites, and we went off on foot to explore this part of the cave.Then back in the boat and continue further into the cave. After a while we saw daylight and shortly after came out the other end and had a picnic lunch beside the river before the return journey through the cave.
August 23rd, day 128, drive to Savannakhet
Savannakhet is a border town, because tomorrow we head into Vietnam. Shame the border in question here is the Thai border, but at this latitude Laos is very narrow. Nothing much to note about this town, just a night stopover en route.
Tibet has finally beaten us
July 28th-30th, day 102-104, Lingzhe
We head to the next town on the route, Lingzhe.
There has been some very severe weather further east and the Yangtze River is in flood in various places. The weather is easing now, but it has damages the road ahead, which is closed undergoing repair. We therefore have to stay here and wait. This is a problem, because so does everyone else who wants to use the road, and all the hotels are full. One phone call to Lilly's agency later, and some rooms to magically appear, so we check into the hotel and wait.
2 days later, we receive the news that the damage to the road is much more severe than we thought, and so another detour is necessary. There is another route through Tibet, but the Chinese are reluctant to grant us a permit to travel that way, instead suggesting leaving Tibet the way we came in, to the North and back through Golmud in Qinghai Province, and east from there. This is no good to us, it's a very long way and would completely blow the schedule.
Pete then announces that we will arrange for a permit to get us out of Tibet to the south, and into Nepal, we would have a few days in Kathmandu, and then fly to Bangkok from where we'll explore South East Asia. Meanwhile, we'll head back to Lhasa again and wait for the permit.
July 30th - August 2nd, days 104-107, in Lhasa again
Well, the permit to leave via the Nepal border will take about 2 weeks to issue from Beijing, so that's out, for us at least. The only way forward now is a flight to Chengdu in Sichuan Province. The truck can't continue the journey with us, which is a bit sad, and there also can't be any more camping. It'll all have to be cheap hotels and public transport from now on.
On the last full day in Lhasa again was spent sorting out what luggage we don't need any more (no more camping, no more cold weather) and the stuff we don't need will stay on the truck, and we'll pick it up again from the truck when it arrives back in the UK. The plan for the truck is for Pete to wait in Lhasa for the Nepal Border permit, drive it to Kathmandu, then get one of his friends to come out and pick it up and drive it home via India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Europe.
August 2nd, day 107, Flight to Chengdu
Meanwhile, it's goodbye to the truck and the first flight of the trip. It's disappointing to have to fly, because now we won't get to complete the crossing of Asia over land. It's only a short internal flight, but it still feels like cheating. We really have no choice, though.
We have a free afternoon exploring Chengdu. It's a huge sprawling city of some 15 million.
We head to the next town on the route, Lingzhe.
There has been some very severe weather further east and the Yangtze River is in flood in various places. The weather is easing now, but it has damages the road ahead, which is closed undergoing repair. We therefore have to stay here and wait. This is a problem, because so does everyone else who wants to use the road, and all the hotels are full. One phone call to Lilly's agency later, and some rooms to magically appear, so we check into the hotel and wait.
2 days later, we receive the news that the damage to the road is much more severe than we thought, and so another detour is necessary. There is another route through Tibet, but the Chinese are reluctant to grant us a permit to travel that way, instead suggesting leaving Tibet the way we came in, to the North and back through Golmud in Qinghai Province, and east from there. This is no good to us, it's a very long way and would completely blow the schedule.
Pete then announces that we will arrange for a permit to get us out of Tibet to the south, and into Nepal, we would have a few days in Kathmandu, and then fly to Bangkok from where we'll explore South East Asia. Meanwhile, we'll head back to Lhasa again and wait for the permit.
July 30th - August 2nd, days 104-107, in Lhasa again
Well, the permit to leave via the Nepal border will take about 2 weeks to issue from Beijing, so that's out, for us at least. The only way forward now is a flight to Chengdu in Sichuan Province. The truck can't continue the journey with us, which is a bit sad, and there also can't be any more camping. It'll all have to be cheap hotels and public transport from now on.
On the last full day in Lhasa again was spent sorting out what luggage we don't need any more (no more camping, no more cold weather) and the stuff we don't need will stay on the truck, and we'll pick it up again from the truck when it arrives back in the UK. The plan for the truck is for Pete to wait in Lhasa for the Nepal Border permit, drive it to Kathmandu, then get one of his friends to come out and pick it up and drive it home via India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Europe.
August 2nd, day 107, Flight to Chengdu
Meanwhile, it's goodbye to the truck and the first flight of the trip. It's disappointing to have to fly, because now we won't get to complete the crossing of Asia over land. It's only a short internal flight, but it still feels like cheating. We really have no choice, though.
We have a free afternoon exploring Chengdu. It's a huge sprawling city of some 15 million.
Sunday 5 September 2010
Another Catchup - Tibet
July 15th, day 89, Golmud - Bushcamp en route to Lhasa
The most notable feature of the day was the roads and how they start to conspire against us now we're nearing Tibet. Around here the standard way to do roadworks is to close the whole section of road and build another temporary road to the side. These temporary roads are narrow, rough, and very very muddy. Chinese lorries are very big and overloaded and frequently get stuck in the mud so nothing can pass in either direction. Here we are delayed by about 2 hours.
Apart from the traffic jams, the road starts to wind up higher and higher mountains, and we go over a pass of more than 5000m altitude. I've kept on popping the Diamox and this is helping me to adjust to the thin air, so the altitude is not a huge problem apart from getting breathless more easily than usual.
That night we come down a hill and camp amongst the mountains at about 4600m altitude.
July 16th, day 90, another bushcamp en route to Lhasa, entering Tibet
Today we are half way through the trip!
Another high pass at 5000m+ brings us into Tibet. Tibet is where Tibetans wish they could live independently of China and the Chinese are having none of it, so every few km along the road there are police checkpoints where our papers are checked, and we are given a minimum time limit for arriving at the next checkpoint a given distance away. The Chinese are very touchy about Tibet and foreign tourists have no right of travel without very strict limits, and we may only travel on a specific route as determined by our permit. Welcome to Tibet, Land of the Oppressed!
July 17th-21st, days 91-95, in Lhasa
As we enter the second half of the trip we are treated to a wonderful long rest in a luxurious hotel after the fairly rushed itinerary since Dunhuang. Right next door to the Yak Hotel is an excellent bar/restaurant called Dunya, run a European man and aimed at Westerners. I do like Chinese food but sometimes one craves something more familiar and this hits the spot perfectly. The Yak Sizzler is highly recommended.
Our time in Lhasa is spent as a mixture of a well earned rest and some sightseeing, including the world-famous and stupendous Potala Palace. A very impressive and iconic building best viewed from the outside. Lhasa is an amazing place, well worth a visit, and one of my favourite cities on the trip so far.
July 21st, day 95, Lhasa - Shigatze, start of the Westward journey to Everest.
A horribly early start, 7am departure, and only 250km to go today, apparently. As it turns out, it really does take all day to do the distance.
We run into another of those by now infamous Chinese roadworks, with lorries getting stuck in the mud. As soon as one clears, and we move a bit, then another one gets stuck and we all stop again. Right in front of us, a lorry ends up with a wheel off the road and balancing precariously over a river, but there's still enough of it on the road to block it completely. So, as well as the large, unstable loads they carry, they are also driven by people who don't know what they're doing. We are stuck for several hours, until, quite miraculously, the road crew actually finish the road and re-open it, so we are able to reverse off the temporary road, back onto the proper road, and continue on our way.
Tonight is a hotel in Shigatze, nowhere near as nice as the Yak Hotel, but it's OK.
July 22nd, day 96, bushcamp en route to Everest Base Camp.
We enter Qomolangma National Park. It's just like an international border complete with passport control, and it takes as while to get in as we all queue up to have our passports and visas inspected. Whilst I respect the way the Chinese appreciate what thay have and do their best to protect it, sometimes it seems over-zealous. But we are in Tibet, a land where very few foreigners are allowed to go except for the tourist Mecca that is Lhasa. So a few minor formalities aren't going to detract from the experience.
We bushcamp that night just past a small village, just as the road starts a long upwards course. From your camp we can see the road continuing up the mountain with countless switch-backs as far as the eye can see. Tomorrow's travelling will be fun.
Meanwhile, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. We are lucky to get our tents up before the rain comes in, heavy and prolonged. It's a miserable evening for weather, and we have a 4am departure tomorrow, so it's an early night for everyone.
July 23rd, day 97, Everest Basecamp
We get up 3:30am and pack up the tent in the darkness. Thanks goodness the rain has stopped for now. As we start on our way, the rain starts again, lashing at the windows of the truck. In the darkness we climb the countless switch-backs on the way up, and the rain gradually turns to snow as we gain altitude.
That afternoon we arrive at a large semi-permanent looking camp full og Tibetan yurts with grandiose-sounding names such as 'Everest Hotel' or 'Tibet Hotel'. We are assigned to about 5 people per 'hotel' - this is where we stay tonight.
This afternoon we get very lucky - the clouds clear to reveal Mount Everest in all her glory. From our camp, several tens of kilometers away from the mountain proper and at an altitude of about 5000m, the sight is unforgettable. Mere words and photos just don't do it justice.
July 24th, day 98, Heading East Again
We leave the Tourist base-camp and Everst behind and head back the way we came. Just another long day in the truck as we continue our journey Eastwards across Asia after our little detour. The journey to and from Everest is arduous, the roads not great, but it's certainly worth it. Many travellers have seen Everest from Nepal, no where near as many from Tibet.
Tonight's bush-camp is in a very nice spot and it's my turn to cook again. Amazingly it stays dry, although there's an impressive thunderstorm going on in the distance.
July 25th, day 99, to Gyantze
Gyantze is a small and scruffy town with almost no redeeming features. Just a single night's stop at a hotel.
People are starting to get frustrated with Lilly, our Chinese guide. She tells us today that our planned Eastward journey along the Tibetan Highway cannot be bushcamps as originally planned, but must be in Hotels, and the Chinese authorities want us to register with the police whenever we arrive in town. Apparently we are also being tracked. This causes frustration - we are all Westerners unaccustomed to such state control.
July 26th, day 100, Last bushcamp, at back of a traffic jam
Our progress today was halted by a traffic jam. High on a mountain side we can see the cause - a lorry and slipped and become stranded in the mud, and is blocking the road. Nothing can get past. By this time the afternoon is well advanced so, despite our instructions we set up camp right where we are. Nothing is moving today, that's for sure.
No-one seems to remember the 100th day party tradition. I think the unfortunate circumstances of our camp are not really appropriate anyway.
27th, day 101
First thing, I look up the hill and see that the lorry is still stuck there. We decide to head up there anyway as far as we can go, then most of us get out and walk the rest of the way to the stricken lorry. Its left-hand wheels are in a deep groove off the side of the road.
Another lorry behind attempts to pull it out in reverse, but the driver in the stuck lorry steers the wrong way and only makes it worse. He seems not to understand steering in reverse. The lorry in front can't do much - apparently it tried earlier and mashed its gear-box in the process. The only remaining option is people-power, so a tow-rope is attached to the front, most of the Odyssey group and about 50 Chinese and Tibetans grab the rope, the driver puts it into gear, and we all pull. I never thought I'd play tug of war against a lorry, but who knows what bizarre things will happen on a journey like this.
We eventually get going at about lunchtime. The lorry is not actually free, but it's been moved enough to allow things to pass. It takes about an hour to clear the tailbacks, but eventually we're through and on our way to Jiacha, a small unfinished looking town we should have been at yesterday.
Out hotel room is a cell without windows, but it's only one night.
The most notable feature of the day was the roads and how they start to conspire against us now we're nearing Tibet. Around here the standard way to do roadworks is to close the whole section of road and build another temporary road to the side. These temporary roads are narrow, rough, and very very muddy. Chinese lorries are very big and overloaded and frequently get stuck in the mud so nothing can pass in either direction. Here we are delayed by about 2 hours.
Apart from the traffic jams, the road starts to wind up higher and higher mountains, and we go over a pass of more than 5000m altitude. I've kept on popping the Diamox and this is helping me to adjust to the thin air, so the altitude is not a huge problem apart from getting breathless more easily than usual.
That night we come down a hill and camp amongst the mountains at about 4600m altitude.
July 16th, day 90, another bushcamp en route to Lhasa, entering Tibet
Today we are half way through the trip!
Another high pass at 5000m+ brings us into Tibet. Tibet is where Tibetans wish they could live independently of China and the Chinese are having none of it, so every few km along the road there are police checkpoints where our papers are checked, and we are given a minimum time limit for arriving at the next checkpoint a given distance away. The Chinese are very touchy about Tibet and foreign tourists have no right of travel without very strict limits, and we may only travel on a specific route as determined by our permit. Welcome to Tibet, Land of the Oppressed!
July 17th-21st, days 91-95, in Lhasa
As we enter the second half of the trip we are treated to a wonderful long rest in a luxurious hotel after the fairly rushed itinerary since Dunhuang. Right next door to the Yak Hotel is an excellent bar/restaurant called Dunya, run a European man and aimed at Westerners. I do like Chinese food but sometimes one craves something more familiar and this hits the spot perfectly. The Yak Sizzler is highly recommended.
Our time in Lhasa is spent as a mixture of a well earned rest and some sightseeing, including the world-famous and stupendous Potala Palace. A very impressive and iconic building best viewed from the outside. Lhasa is an amazing place, well worth a visit, and one of my favourite cities on the trip so far.
July 21st, day 95, Lhasa - Shigatze, start of the Westward journey to Everest.
A horribly early start, 7am departure, and only 250km to go today, apparently. As it turns out, it really does take all day to do the distance.
We run into another of those by now infamous Chinese roadworks, with lorries getting stuck in the mud. As soon as one clears, and we move a bit, then another one gets stuck and we all stop again. Right in front of us, a lorry ends up with a wheel off the road and balancing precariously over a river, but there's still enough of it on the road to block it completely. So, as well as the large, unstable loads they carry, they are also driven by people who don't know what they're doing. We are stuck for several hours, until, quite miraculously, the road crew actually finish the road and re-open it, so we are able to reverse off the temporary road, back onto the proper road, and continue on our way.
Tonight is a hotel in Shigatze, nowhere near as nice as the Yak Hotel, but it's OK.
July 22nd, day 96, bushcamp en route to Everest Base Camp.
We enter Qomolangma National Park. It's just like an international border complete with passport control, and it takes as while to get in as we all queue up to have our passports and visas inspected. Whilst I respect the way the Chinese appreciate what thay have and do their best to protect it, sometimes it seems over-zealous. But we are in Tibet, a land where very few foreigners are allowed to go except for the tourist Mecca that is Lhasa. So a few minor formalities aren't going to detract from the experience.
We bushcamp that night just past a small village, just as the road starts a long upwards course. From your camp we can see the road continuing up the mountain with countless switch-backs as far as the eye can see. Tomorrow's travelling will be fun.
Meanwhile, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. We are lucky to get our tents up before the rain comes in, heavy and prolonged. It's a miserable evening for weather, and we have a 4am departure tomorrow, so it's an early night for everyone.
July 23rd, day 97, Everest Basecamp
We get up 3:30am and pack up the tent in the darkness. Thanks goodness the rain has stopped for now. As we start on our way, the rain starts again, lashing at the windows of the truck. In the darkness we climb the countless switch-backs on the way up, and the rain gradually turns to snow as we gain altitude.
That afternoon we arrive at a large semi-permanent looking camp full og Tibetan yurts with grandiose-sounding names such as 'Everest Hotel' or 'Tibet Hotel'. We are assigned to about 5 people per 'hotel' - this is where we stay tonight.
This afternoon we get very lucky - the clouds clear to reveal Mount Everest in all her glory. From our camp, several tens of kilometers away from the mountain proper and at an altitude of about 5000m, the sight is unforgettable. Mere words and photos just don't do it justice.
July 24th, day 98, Heading East Again
We leave the Tourist base-camp and Everst behind and head back the way we came. Just another long day in the truck as we continue our journey Eastwards across Asia after our little detour. The journey to and from Everest is arduous, the roads not great, but it's certainly worth it. Many travellers have seen Everest from Nepal, no where near as many from Tibet.
Tonight's bush-camp is in a very nice spot and it's my turn to cook again. Amazingly it stays dry, although there's an impressive thunderstorm going on in the distance.
July 25th, day 99, to Gyantze
Gyantze is a small and scruffy town with almost no redeeming features. Just a single night's stop at a hotel.
People are starting to get frustrated with Lilly, our Chinese guide. She tells us today that our planned Eastward journey along the Tibetan Highway cannot be bushcamps as originally planned, but must be in Hotels, and the Chinese authorities want us to register with the police whenever we arrive in town. Apparently we are also being tracked. This causes frustration - we are all Westerners unaccustomed to such state control.
July 26th, day 100, Last bushcamp, at back of a traffic jam
Our progress today was halted by a traffic jam. High on a mountain side we can see the cause - a lorry and slipped and become stranded in the mud, and is blocking the road. Nothing can get past. By this time the afternoon is well advanced so, despite our instructions we set up camp right where we are. Nothing is moving today, that's for sure.
No-one seems to remember the 100th day party tradition. I think the unfortunate circumstances of our camp are not really appropriate anyway.
27th, day 101
First thing, I look up the hill and see that the lorry is still stuck there. We decide to head up there anyway as far as we can go, then most of us get out and walk the rest of the way to the stricken lorry. Its left-hand wheels are in a deep groove off the side of the road.
Another lorry behind attempts to pull it out in reverse, but the driver in the stuck lorry steers the wrong way and only makes it worse. He seems not to understand steering in reverse. The lorry in front can't do much - apparently it tried earlier and mashed its gear-box in the process. The only remaining option is people-power, so a tow-rope is attached to the front, most of the Odyssey group and about 50 Chinese and Tibetans grab the rope, the driver puts it into gear, and we all pull. I never thought I'd play tug of war against a lorry, but who knows what bizarre things will happen on a journey like this.
We eventually get going at about lunchtime. The lorry is not actually free, but it's been moved enough to allow things to pass. It takes about an hour to clear the tailbacks, but eventually we're through and on our way to Jiacha, a small unfinished looking town we should have been at yesterday.
Out hotel room is a cell without windows, but it's only one night.
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