Banana Pancakes

Well I'm back in the land of Banana Pancakes, otherwise known as Thailand.
It's been so long since I have posted anything and I hardly know were to start in filling you in. I am still traveling with Katy; although we do go our separate ways in just 5 days :( I know being on my own again will take some getting used to, especially eating alone, but I'm looking forward to a change in scenery and I think Indonesia is exactly what I need.

Ok, now where did I leave off...

We left for Hoi An, a city known only for it's tailors, and needless to say by the time we left my previously almost empty backpack was bursting at it's seems and I was forced to buy a second bag. Thank goodness we stayed for only 48 hours. Next we bused to Nha Trang where I originally planned to stay for 4 days and then made it 8. We dove, tanned, joined a booze cruise and generally just chilled out. It was absolutely the most relaxing place I have ever been to and it took all we had to get in that bus and drive away. In Nha Trang I heard some rumors of a town that had some freak swell action and had some ridable waves, I begged Katy and she agreed that we should detour to Mui Ne. Unfortunately when we arrived the ocean was glass. I sat on the beach transfixed by the kite boarders though; if we had enough time to spend a few more days there I would have forked out the $200 to take lessons. We did join a half day tour though; saw the sun rise, went to see some sand dunes, a fishing village and strange red rock formations (if only I'd paid attention in Geography!!!) I loved the sand dunes and gave a go at sand sledding, it's fun going down but not so much getting back up again. After Mui Ne we finally made it to Ho Chi Minh City. We were running out of time at this point so we fired through the main attraction, the Cu Chi tunnels, and made a break for the Cambodian boarder. [The CuChi tunnels were used during the war by local rebel fighters] Leaving Vietnam was tough; I loved everything about the place, the crazy motorcyclists, the food, the people, the accommodations with the world's most comfortable beds and the quickly changing countryside.

We crossed the Cambodian boarder and I was immediately overwhelmed by the poverty. I'd seen thousands of shacks along the roads of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam but the image in Cambodia was the first to make me sick with sadness. Driving along you could see into the homes, you saw how little they live with, in the fields you noticed how anorexic the cattle look and the heaps of garbage gathered everywhere. I was riveted to these images when I noticed something that completely changed my view on poverty. As we passed a small pond I saw children playing in the water, they were jumping off a rickety dock onto a black inner tube, they looked happy and oblivious to the filth around them. After seeing them I started noticing details I couldn't see before, pink curtains in some of the houses, people everywhere building and adding onto their homes, kids playing jump rope with elastic bands. I wonder what that stretch of road will look like in 10 years, or even 5, everywhere you look people are building. I kept having to remind myself this area was surrounded by war until the 1980's. I also kept thinking about poverty vs. happiness, we all know that wealth does not ensure happiness and I've seen that poverty does not sentence you to misery; so what is the secret?
Anyways,
We headed straight for Northern Cambodia to the city Siem Reap. Siem Reap boasts one of the most famous religious structures in the world, the Angkor Temples. People say they loose themselves in the temples and spend weeks, even months, wondering the massive site. At $20/day in 40 degree weather while surrounded by thousands of pushy tourists Katy and I did it all in under 6 hours. It was amazing and if it was a little cooler I would have wanted to stay and explore every nook and cranny. March 17th, St Patrick's Day, found us in Siem Reap where I was more than a little surprised to find an Irish bar and even more surprised to find myself drinking green beer while in Cambodia. It's a strange world. The next day we were caught in a freak (thats what the hostel owner called it) thunder shower. This storm followed us from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville and finally to Koh Chang, Thailand. I blame myself for bragging about our 40+ weather to the people back home, I am sorry. We arrived in Phnom Penh and hired a tuk tuk diver to take us to the top 4 'must sees' in Phnom Penh. Unfortunately the area has a sad and gruesome past and the sites we went to were related to the Khmer Rouge's genocidal 1975-79 rule. The Lonely Planet says is perfectly in their travel guide "Your heart will race at Angkor Wat, one of the world's greatest achievements, only to haltingly derail when faced with the impact of humankind's darkest moments...A visit to sites commemorating their[the Khmer Rouge] atrocities will paralyse your soul and enlighten your mind...you'll never look at the world the same again." Before starting us out on our day of depression our driver took us to a driving range were, while in Cambodia, I fired my first gun which of course was an AK47. Katy and I each fired 7 rounds and our target showed 5 hits, sadly we do not know who actually hit the target. Once the fun was over we made our way to the 'Killing Fields' a place were, for over 3 years, the Khmer Rouge brought people to be executed and their bodies left in large pits. I'm still reading up on the history behind it all and I'm still reeling from the fact that I did not learn about this when I was home, or in school for that matter. After the Killing Fields we went to the prison that held the prisoners before sending them to the fields. The prison was originally a secondary school before it was shut down and reopened by the Khmer. The prisoners were anyone who appeared to not follow the Khmer; they were teachers, monks, peasants, children, doctors, politicians, mothers... they have only uncovered 30% of the graves at the Killing Fields and recovered nearly 9000 bodies. We walked the fields and caught up with a couple who had hired a guide, eaves dropping on his explanations I found out that all the scraps of cloth we could see in the ground are the actual clothes of the victims, he also said that because the graves were so poorly filled in you could see bone fragments sticking out for the soil. At the entrance of the fields a monument was built to hold the skulls recovered from the 160 pits they uncovered. Luckily I heard, from other backpackers, of a school you could visit that was just behind the fields. I walked over and while I watched the students play soccer I spoke to one of the teachers about differences in Canadian and Cambodian education systems, the conversation and the sounds of the children playing helped ease some of the weight of the fields. After visiting the prison we went to another pagoda, I don't remember much of it, all the pagodas are molding into one. The next morning we headed to Sihanoukville, a small beach town in Southern Cambodia, and spent the next 2 days chilling out. We originally planned to stay there for 4 or 5 days but the storm caught up to us again and we decided to head for Thailand, and hopefully better weather.
Right now I'm on Koh Chang, and Island in the Eastern Gulf of Thailand. I heard so many amazing things about this Island and one of the hostels, The Treehouse Lodge, that I set aside an entire week to be here. Katy and I could not handle the Treehouse, so we escaped the 24hour party and settled in a different area. Today we rented a motorbike and explored a bit of the island, it is nothing like I expected, after much disappointment we booked our tickets to take us back to the mainland to the very urban town of Pattaya. I don't think I will fall in love with the place, but Katy has friends there and I'll be in Indonesia in 5 days, so I'll go along.
Well now that you're all caught up I'll give you my 2 reasons for not writing sooner; 1-I have no money and can't afford to use the computers, and 2-I had no idea how to even begin to put into words everything I saw, so I waited till I had more time to reflect on what I was writing.
Oh and when I say I have no money, I have money, just no working bank cards to get to the money. Ahhh I love how these things seem to happen. It's a funny story, remember to ask me about it when I get home:) (Rachel, there's a whole second part to it:)but you knew that would happen, why wouldn't it?)
Well enough chatting, here's some pics to fill in the visual gaps.
Love you all
I'll be home in 90 days :)

Halong Bay


Ninh Binh


Traffic in Vietnam...



One of the many peddlers who were Vietnam war victims


Nha Trang; booze cruise and beaches,




Miu Ne






Ho Chi Minh City




SiemReap; Angkor Temples






Keeping the hostels clean is hard work... Especially when you're 6.


Phnom Penh






Sihanoukville, oh so beautiful.

Heading South

After a month of rambling through the hills, seeing countless temples, small villages and having small children chase after my motorbike, I've decided to beeline for the beach so I can do some maintenance on my much faded tan.

I landed in Hanoi, Vietnam 10 days ago. I spent 2 days in Hanoi where it was busy, loud, dirty and I loved it. There is an energy in Vietnam that Thailand and Laos are missing. Katy and I signed up for a 3 day tour through Halong Bay. We spent 2 full days sailing through the 3000 islands only stopping twice, once to hike 3 hours to a beautiful look out, and also to jump into Kayaks and spend 3 hours kayaking around some of the islands. We spent the last night on one of the islands, cant remember the name, but it was bizarre. Since I'm here during the slow tourist season all the towns are eerily quiet; the island we stayed at had crazy lights everywhere like a carnival and all pubs/clubs were blaring music, but there was NO one in the clubs and the streets were empty. I felt like I was at the carnival a day too early.
I've decided, against my better judgment, to stick to buses in Vietnam. In Vietnam they have the best system for backpackers, open ended bus tickets. I've purchased a ticket for Saigon, I have a month to get there and I can get on and off the bus anytime I want. Our first stop was Ninh Binh, a quiet town which boasts the Tam Coc and a floating village. The Tam Coc is a river surrounded by beautiful rice fields and mountains. The locals are out working in the fields as you paddle by, the workers are men and women of all ages, working in a foot of mud and 6 inches of water. We hopped on a canoe styled boat to paddle along the Tam Coc with two local women as our guides, I grabbed a paddle and started helping out, every local we passed laughed, shouting things to our guides; I guess the tourists don't usually paddle but, as I tried to explain to our guides, if I'm alright with paying $5 to get in a gym at home I should be happy to help paddle during a 5 hour canoe ride that was costing me only 2.50$. The next day Katy and I rented a motorbike and tried to find the floating village. Luckily we got amazingly lost and, instead of reaching the tourist-ridden village, we rode for 4 hours through dozens of villages and rice fields. Later that night we hopped on a, supposed, 10 hour bus ride to Hue. The bus left Ninh Binh at 10pm and arrived in Hue at 6:00am; we arrived 2 hours early because the driver had no apparent desire to live and drove like an absolute madman; there was no chance to sleep because the bus was shaking violently from the speed. 6am we arrived safely in Hue. Not wanting to waste any time we joined a river tour that left at 8am, stopped at 4 different sights and returned us, exhausted, to our hotel at 5pm. It was a long day.
The next day brings me to today, it was wonderful, we'd originally planned to visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) but after listening to another backpacker describe the 10 hour bus tour we decided against it. Instead we rented a motorbike and got lost in the hills. Another amazing day filled with beautiful sights and friendly people. I love Vietnam.
Tomorrow morning I board the bus again, this time only for 4 hours, to Hoi An. We will spend only 2 days there and then head to Nha Trang, where I have no intentions of doing anything but suntan, swim, dive, and surf(if the timing is right) for 4 relaxing days. We are calling it our 'vacation for our vacation'.
I hope life is treating you all well.
If you are wanting to leave a comment and are having troubles you can email me directly at poolegirl@gmail.com
miss you all.

Time flyes when you're in Loas

First of all I must send out a Happy 11th Birthday to my eldest Niece Kennadee. I'm so sorry I am a few days late :(

These kisses are for you



I've spent the last 10 days travelling through Laos and am now in Hanoi, Vietnam. There is the craziest intersection here, I'm trying to find if it has a web cam on it cause you have to see the chaos. I think the cross streets are Le Thai To and Hang Dao, but I'll have to do some more research on that one.

My last 2 days in Thailand were spent on a 'Trekking' tour hiking to a mountain village in northern Chang Mai.
On the way to the village we stopped for a 2 hour elephant ride. It was a lot like the horse rides at home, except the elephants did not follow each other as well. Our elephant kept wondering off to eat trees, and I mean trees, he'd start pulling the whole thing over until someone ran up to stop him. This is the German guy I was paired up with. I've learnt my lesson to always ask how old the people who've already signed up are. During my trek I was the youngest person by about 20 years :) It was annoying because they complained about everything, but they made me laugh too, like when this guy turned to me after the photo and said "its like our honeymoon photo!"... I wonder if I can crop him out?'...

After the elephant ride we hiked for about 2 hours. The temp was 35 degrees so I wasn't about to complain about the temperature of the waterfall we stopped at. It was freezing by the way :P



The thing the other travellers complained the most about was our accommodations. Fortunately for me I've been sleeping on rock-hard $3/night hostel beds so I was prepared for 'Hotel California'.

Once we were settled in our guide took us for a short walk to tell us about the history of the village ( I don't know how to write the name of it cause I only have it in Thai) during the walk he gathered some grub, which he later gave to a family we passed and they ate it. I was hoping he'd bring it back for us to try, that'd been a good story.



There was no electricity so we started a campfire. I impressed all the German travellers with my fire-building skills but quickly used up all the wood we'd gathered; the guide solved this problem by showing me a house that was being demolished and told me to use the wood off of it.




The trek ended on Feb 13, and with my visa expiring in less than 24 hours I headed for Laos.

I left Thailand on Feb 14 and travelled by slow boat (appropriately named, maybe the most boring/cramped experience thus far) for 2 days and arrived in Luang Prabang. I met so many people who are going the exact same route as I am and am now travelling with Katy from London. We stayed in Luang Prabang for 3 days, hit the night market and went to an amazing waterfall.






The money in Laos is Kip, the exchange is 7,700 Kip/$1 Can. This is me holding 1,000,000 Kip.



I didn't know this before, but because monks do not work they rely on the public to provide them with food. Every morning at sunrise they walk the street and people put rice in there pots. This is called Oms (I think)



After a few days I headed south for Vangviang, the tourist attraction there is a river that has innertubes you can rent and multiple bars lining the banks of the river. Each bar is in competition to have the largest rope swing, at first I was too nervous and too aware of the dangers to try, but after a little liquid courage I was swinging off the highest one. Didn't bring the camera with me for that one, planned to do it again the next day but for some strange reason I was very ill during the night and slept most of the following 2 days. Luckily I was sick in a town that is obsessed with movies and 'Friends' reruns; every restaurant you enter is a giant living room with all the tables and chairs pointing at various TVs. I hadn't watched TV since I left, so I watched 3 movies in a row.
Sunset in Vangviang


I left Vangviang and bused to Vientiane. I've been travelling everywhere by either bus or boat and after the trip to Vientiane I was tired of the nail-biting trips and decided to just fly to Hanoi.
This is the plain Fokker 70


I was planning on calling Hanoi home for a week, but the lady at the hostel I'm staying in says that I need only 3 days and then I will be bored, so it looks like I'm gone again to 3 days :)

I can't believe how quickly time is going, I'll be back in less than 4 months!!!

Kennadee, I love you and I hope you had an amazing birthday!

The Big "V"

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!

Monkeys Galore

In Phuket Town I met the most amazing couple. They were French and although neither of us spoke each other's language (apart from my sad/rusty French skills) we chatted for over 2hours and discovered that we both had our bellies pierced!



I forgot to mention that I went diving while in Phuket. The turtles were loving our table scraps.



This is the view from the dorm in Koh Phi Phi, 'The Rock', not bad for 200 Baht/night :)



This is Koh Phi Phi the morning we boarded Juno.



This is us sailing to 'Monkey Island'. Appropriately named...



Look how cute they are playing like humans in the hammock...






Until they get tired of all the pictures and start to chase you.
I felt like the Paparazzi... No pictures PLEASE !!!



And this is us leaving Monkey Beach; can't wait to go back one day.



Sailing 'The Juno'



This is me in the Kitchen cleaning up after dinner. I thought all the guys would get a kick out of this one, I'm strapped into the kitchen by a harness.



It was so sad to leave Juno. I was miserable the entire 14 hour trip to the opposite cost to Koh Phangan. I got over it quickly though once I sat in the hammock on the porch of my very own bungalow and drank in the view... Can't tell from this shot, but I thats the ocean just beyond those trees.



Devin rented a motorbike and we took off around the Island.
One of the beaches we found was called 'Malibu Beach'.
The sand was so soft; it was amazingly beautiful :)



So we decided to stay awhile. Ain't life rough?


Also on our motorbike tour we found an Elephant Safari. It cost 15 Baht to feed the elephants bananas. This elephant is only 2 years old. It was good because they appeared well looked after, which is the only reason I would support them and give them the 15 Baht.



We also found a random hiking trail to a lookout. The lookout was a bit of a disappointment because of a few clouds; but I found things to amuse me along the way...

Like GIANT spiders



And Monkeys that clear coconuts from trees :)



This one did not chase me and instead smiled for the camera.



I was inspired to try one of the coconuts the next day.
Coconut milk does not taste sweet like I expected;
the locals had a good laugh though :)

Feb 8th already!?!

Wow,

I didn't realise so much time had passed since my last up date.

Ohhhh so much to talk about:)

I stayed at the OnOn hotel for 4 nights. I struggled to get my but in gear to get out of Phuket when suddenly, as I was writing in my journal, the biggest bed bug I've ever seen (not that i've actually seen one before) ran across my bed!!! I looked everywhere but couldn't find it, I slapped on the bug spray, put on long pants and socks in 32 degree weather and tried to sleep. I couldn't so I started to journal again. This time 2 bugs ran up from beneath my bed. I caught both of them; one was full of blood but the other wasn't, how much you wanna bet that the blood was O-, I also found 2 more under the mattress. Anyways that was all the motivation I needed and the next night I was sleeping on the Island Phi Phi.
Koh Phi Phi is a beautiful island, it was one of the worst hit in the tsunami and there is construction everywhere, I'm afraid to think of what it will look like in 2 years, it is also the most expensive of the islands. As soon as I stepped off the boat I was surrounded by locals trying to get me to their hotel. I turned to one lady and asked what the cheapest place went for, she told me 1000 baht! I was paying 170 at OnOn!!! I asked for something 500Baht or less and her answer was "500 Baht! There's the boat, but a ticket 300 baht and go back to Phuket!" I was so shocked! I started wandering down the road trying to look like I knew where I was going so locals would stop asking me "you have accommodations?" when a guy came out of a dive shop, equipped me with a map and headed me in a better direction. Later down the road another diveshop guy came out to direct me. 25m after that a local stopped me to ask if I had accommodations. I didn't and it was crazy hot so I asked him what he was offering, he had a place that was 700 baht/night. I told him I could not afford it and turned to walk away, as I did he called me back and hesitantly told me of a secret place called 'The Rock' that was only 200baht/night. 1000 Baht my but!!! I headed to the hostel (it was a dorm) and thankfully changed into my swim suit:) back to the beach I went!!!
I was tanning with one of my dorm mattes when he started chatting with a guy who'd just arrived on his dingy from his yacht. Next thing I know we've been invited to spend 3 days cruising around southern Thailand for only 500 Baht/day. We agreed to meet him the next morning.
That night I met up with 4 Canadians from Calgary and Toronto. We hit the bar, I never seem to be in the mood to go out here (probably because it feels like a giant high school house party on all these islands) so I headed back to the dorm; totally excited about the yacht trip.

This is turning into a really long entry... sorry:P

At 6:30am I boarded the ship 'Juno' with 2 other random travelers and the owner. Tom is a retired American navy officer and the other 2 people were Abbie from England and Luke from Australia. Tom took us to 2 Island, Koh Moc and Koh Lanta; we swam in caves to hidden beaches, sailed to various beaches (at one I was chased by 2 monkeys) and slept on the 20m yacht. It was the best thing to happen as of yet and it was fun cause Tom expected us to help out, cooking, raising the sail, other things that I can't remember the names to...

I sadly left Juno to get to Koh Phangan on the Eastern side in time for the 'Full Moon' party. I can't say I've ever been so embarrassed to be a foreigner, i can't believe the locals put up with that month after month. It was disgusting people were too drunk, I found one girl wondering in nothing but her underwear who had no idea where her hostel was or how to find her friends!!! I left after only a couple hours, went back to my side of the Island. I was renting a bungalow for only 100baht a night, I stayed there for 5 days, it was so nice to be able to go grocery shopping and actually plan meals for myself:) I met up with one of the Americans I met in Bangkok. Devin had a motorbike so one day we took off and trekked through the mountains. One of the risks here is getting hit by falling coconuts, one bungalow down the beach had one go through it's roof! As we were touring around we found a guy who had a monkey on a leash. The monkey was trained to climb the tree and pull off all the coconuts. The guy goes around the island and people hire him to clear the trees, beats raking leaves :)

I finally figured that my tan was not going to get much darker; so I left the south and headed north. It took me 28 hours of busing but I made it. I'm staying at the Banana hostel. It's only costing me 80baht/night so I think I'll stay here for a bit, at least a week anyways. Internet is cheaper here so you can expect to hear from me alot over the next few days... I'll try to get the monkey pics up for you (yes, I got a picture just before the monkey started to chase me)

Today was the first day I felt horribly homesick. I stopped taking the 'tourist' buses and grabbed the bus here that's similar to Greyhound. It's cheaper, they supply the food, only bad thing is you are completely isolated cause not many people speak to you. Nothing like 28 hours of isolation to make you miss the people you love:)

Kari.