July and August 2005
I know its been a while since the last update, and apologies to all those who have emailed me .. just don't know where the time goes.. Anyway here is the last 7 or 8 weeks???
Spent my last week in Northern Laos in Phonsovan, Sam Neua, Luang Prabang and another night in Vientiane. Met Jen, an American journalist in phonsovan who was doing an article on the jars (see last update) anyway Jen is married to a singaporian musician (see later) and was flying into a little place called Birmingham!!!! with hubby Randolf, especially to see Pink Floyd at Live Aid ... and she kindly agreed to take some scarves (couldn't say no in the weaving village!) and stuff back for me .. neither of us even contemplated the "don't carry stuff for strangers" until much later! Oops! but obviously everything was fine!
So left Phonsovan on the local bus and headed up to Sam Neua to visit caves in Vieng Xia in which the Laos government lived for the 9 years of the american bombing, then took another local bus across mountains on what I would describe as tracks more than roads .. they come prepared however, at each wheel there are 2 tyres so that the bus can keep going if it gets a puncture .. we managed 2 by lunch time, but luckily not on the same wheel so made it to the local "garage" .. perhaps not Kwik Fit, but hey it seems to work! Sam Neua is what I would describe as one of the least touristy places I have visited on the trip (with the exception of Siberia!) however I sat down to fish and chips with vinegar on the table! Haven't seen vinegar since I left the UK! fabulous place even if just for the food .. I also had the best Laos meal of the trip Beef Laap .. A lao style salad of minced beef with lime juice, garlic, onions, mint leaves and chilli .. served with sticky rice and eaten with your fingers! I did have it in other places, but it just wasn't as good .. the restaurant was called Mitsampanh if anyone is passing!
Pretty much chilled out in Luang Prabang, having hot footed it there to see live aid as it was more on the tourist trail, it wasn't being shown, so did manage a few temples, the museum and generally wandered around. Another bus ride to vientianne with another unscheduled stop due to engine problems!! Laos transportation has been the most interesting of the trip so far!
Continuing my train theme I crossed the border and took an overnight one to Bangkok .... arrived to meet Rona, Tom (Rona's boyfriend) and Stuart .. And my contact lenses!! So was a very happy bunny! New bank card was also tested out in a few shops and seems to be working just fine!!!! I didn't realise I was missing retail therapy so much! However before boarding the train in NE Thailand I was chatting to a Chinese student over dinner and got the third degree about how easy it is for westeners to travel. I had breezed through yet another border, getting my 30 day visa without so much as a blink, yet he had been pretty much interrogated by the Thai border guards just for a 14 day visa .. I agree that it isn't fair! but I am not personally responsible!
Managed 14 days in Bangkok, not that I spent all my days there in the shops .. It was back to school for a ten day course in Thai Massage .. after nearly 5 months off getting up and doing a nine to four day is a bit of a shock to the system! The course was great and met Kim the Korean eternal massage student .. 10 courses under her belt and still on a quest for knowledge, Kenny the Chinese spa manager and Bogie from Austria amongst lots of lovely people. Unfortunately there was one irritating French man called Patrick and on day 6 I reached the end of my patience and refused to partner or speak to him for the rest of the course .. apologies to my fellow students who had then to put up with him more! and Bogie .. you have the patience of a saint!
So after 10 consecutive days of 9 to 4 I had lost the concept of weekends again! exhaustion lead me to Ko Samui for some R&R.
In Samui after a couple of days confined to bed (nothing too serious - sore throat etc) I managed a little diving and a lot of lying on the veranda or by the pool .. The diving was ok, until the sea got rough, the currents were strong and I managed to hyperventilate myself and my buddy to the surface from 9m down after losing my reg! (obviously got it back in but think exhaustion had set in) not the only incident of the trip ... one of the dive instructors managed to perforate an ear drum .. have decided I am a fair weather diver! As the weather wasn't so great so decided to head south to Malaysia and return to Thailand, Southern Laos and Cambodia after the Monsoon season.
Decided to fly from Samui to Kuala Lumpur due to troubles (bombings, shootings, kidnappings) in southern Thailand and fancied a short trip rather than another overnight train. Didn't realsie that there are two airports in Kuala Lumpur and a little disoriented when I arrived especially as we were obviously the last flight of the day and almost everything was closed ... and me with no malaysian currency! Managed to find a cash point and then shared a taxi in with a couple of american lecturers from New York .. Met them for dinner the next day .. we ate at the marriott .. effectively the cost of 4 nights accommodation .. but it was great .. New Zealand Lamb Chops and mashed potato .. I think I have been eating too much rice and noodles! and I am still craving Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding .. but will probably need to wait until australia for that.
Slightly different to my last visit to KL when it was the Mandarin Oriental (6 star), this time it was hostel living .. which was great, small hostel, really friendly and five minutes walk to lot 10 (shopping!) and the metro... 3 days in KL was enough, especially when the smog came in on the last day and it was hard to breathe, let alone see the sky line.. I hear that it got much worse so departed for the cool climate of the Cameron Highlands with my major purchase .. a new underwater casing for my digital camera. (you may notice there are a few more diving photos! luckily not too many as I am still practicing my photography skills)
Met Julia (crazy Australian) and Mathias (German student) in the hostel in KL and traveled up to the hills where I introduced Mathias to the delights of a cream tea with local tea and scones and strawberry jam .. we managed 3 in 2 days! A day of cooler weather was enough to see a tea plantation, butterfly farm, and short jungle trek .. before Julia and I headed to the Perhentian islands in search of sun, sea, sand and diving.
In 6 days on the perhentian islands you would think I would have found time to dive at least once! Long Beach is pretty much a party beach and obviously now a big draw for back packers .. it said in the lonely planet that people turn up and are seen lugging heavy back packs up and down the beach in blazing sun looking just to stay on this particular beach .. Thats was me!!!! (and others I hasten to add) and on the proceeding days I too lay on the beach watching the next boat loads of weary backpackers arrive to repeat the same process. The first night was spent in a 40 bed dorm, which was pretty much the only choice other than to sleep on the beach .. so Julia and I got up very early the next morning with very bad hangovers to secure a nice chalet for the rest of the week ... however after 6 days of very late nights or should I say early mornings I had to leave to find a quieter place to firstly recover and then dive.
Met loads of lovely people in Perhentians too many to mention but including Ela (from near Bristol) and Nigel (from Canada) and Ben from St Johns in Worcester, although I left Thailand to avoid the dreaded 18 to 21 bracket .. I take everything back I had a great time! Its the people not the age that matters! Managed a snorkeling trip on one of the days, with the laziest guide ever! Ela was pretty much our boat driver for most of the day, but other than lying on the beach the major activity of each day was finding something to eat before the evening entertainment began .. Never thought I would be jungle trekking at night! but hey there's a first time for everything!
Also got quite close to the wildlife .. including a very large monitor lizard! On the first afternoon after Nigel, Ela, Julia and I had walked the length of long beach when we had the bright idea that Nigel and I would be bag monitors (sit on sand and watch the bags is always a good option in my mind) so Ela and Julia could make the 10 minute jungle trek to the other side of the island to see if there was accommodation there .. anyway 30 minutes later they came back with stories of lizards they had encountered on their jungle trek .. I didn't say anything but just thought they were over reacting (in my mind lizards were smallish creatures) .. Not until the next day did I come to appreciate the size of the problem! Small Dragons, Crocodiles and Alligators came to mind as one thundered in front of me as we carried our backpacks to our new home along the paths at the back of the beach .. Its rare that I am stunned into silence! I haven't a photo of the big one (at least 5 foot long) but have almost a whole picture of a baby .. the damn things move to fast!
I did hear the diving was good on Perhentians so may just go back and stay on a quieter beach on my way back to Thailand ..maybe?
A short hop down the country on an overnight bus (Malaysia officially has the poshest buses of the whole trip!) and a boat ride took me to Tioman ... where they filmed south pacific! Strange as Tioman is in the South China sea????? I was there for 6 days, 8 dives and some serious chilling out .. Getting to like the beach life ..and managed to take some underwater photos as well. Arrived to stormy seas and spent the first two days watching the waves, lying in the sun and reading my book... Bliss! Diving was good, and visibility improved throughout the week except for one day, as one diver Malcolm wrote in his log book "Sarah decided to sit out the dive due to G&T fatigue" .. some truth in that as suffering from a hangover but did intend to dive until I got into the water and the surface current was so strong that I was doing an impression of a flag on a flagpole as I held onto the rope on the side of the boat! So I got out! .. why make life difficult!
The best dive was on the last day. On the first dive I was hanging around at the back trying to take photos of the largest Moray Eel I have ever seen (too dark unfortunately) .. as I turned to swim towards the others there right in front of me was Terance .. my turtle .. Officially mine as no one else saw him! managed to delete a couple of photos as I had used up the memory card and took a picture or two as he circled around me.. and the second dive we all saw a turtle, and with an empty memory card this time I took video footage! Apparently if I dive off Sipaden in Borneo I will actually get bored of seeing turtles.. we will see and now Whales are on the top of the "I want to see" list. ... never satisfied!
Leaving Tioman was quite hard as it was lovely, laid back and I pretty much chilled out there .. Michelle, Jeff and George (Geography student at Leeds) at Eco Divers were really great .. but I am going back in September when the visibility is meant to be really good. Anyway I took another very nice malaysian bus right to Singapore and having lived in a shack on Tioman, decided to have a few days in a small hotel in Little India. On Friday I met up with Jen (see Laos) and went to watch Randolf and his new band Embryo play an open air set on the harbour side in Singapore .. part of a 3 day event of up and coming bands. Felt as near to a groupie as I am ever likely to get, whilst Jen played official photographer for the night .. great fun and we ended sitting out until 4am chatting to their musician friends.
Other than that cultural highlight Singapore has pretty much been another excuse for my creditcard to see the light of day, and I will be leaving very shortly before I end up in trouble. I've never seen so many shopping malls in such as small area and as for toilets after the rest of asia what can I say .. I can cope with automatic flushing and water taps .. but automatic soap dispensers! Its the only country in asia where the toilets are better than in the west.
Still I have replaced a few tops and a very worn out pair of flipflops (never worn out a pair of flipflops before!), purchased a red filter for my camera housing :-) and a much agonized over diver computer/watch .. I will be sleeping in dorms and living on rice for a few weeks to make up for that purchase .. but its beautiful!
I did however get a freebie hairdo at Toni and Guy after being approached in the street by one of their trainees. I have covered the grey and have a nice headful of low lights (was looking a little sun bleached) It only took 4 hours! but who is complaining when its free and I have all the time in the world.
I will sign off for now, but I will try to update more regularly ...honestly! Off to catch a plane to Borneo tomorrow morning so hopefully next time I will have tales of jungle trekking, wild orangutan's, climbing the highest peak in asia (well maybe?) and more diving!
Sarah x
posted by Sarah Witcomb @ 11:34 pm
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