Side Saddle

So all the ladies in Phnom Penh ride side-saddle on the mopeds. And they also wear elbow length gloves to protect their skin from sun damage and ageing, along with the visor down on their helmets.Very glamorous really. 

Today at lunchtime I had a few errands to run, to the pharmacy and to the shoe-maker. When I went to get on the moped I realsied that I was wearing a skirt and would have to go side saddle, rather than hitching it up. So I did it. It's quite tough, strong stomach muscles are required to prevent wobbling and falling off. It was great fun! Except that the shoes I wanted the cobbler to make for me were copies of a pair of Fendi E800 heels, which they said they could not do. What kind of shoemakers are they?!

Photos of Vann Molyvann's Capitol Theatre

The roof space

   

 

    

  

Phonm Penh Stinks

Ever see the Labyrinth movie with David Bowie? Well the writer must have gotten his idea for The Ball of Eternal Stench from this city. This city was certainly not built on Rock and Roll, it was built on rubbish and sewer smells. We have to keep the windows open in the Studio to keep the fans working well and the smell actually gets blown around the room. There is no escape. Except my upstairs bedroom which is lovely. Anyway I no worries, I'll just buy some fresh flowers tomorrow and pray the bin-men come.

There is lots to do here. Every evening there is something to do. Lots of cultural Apsara dancing by sort of charity schools who try to keep the kids off the street. One of the cafés on the riverfront shows Kymer history movies throughout the day. I can't wait to go to a Cambodian Shadow Puppet show. Never mind the outdoor aerobics everywhere. There is a photographer who gives day tours to temples combined with photography lessons, so I'll do that on my next day off. We worked hard all weekend. Some Finnish Architectural lecturers were to come into us this afternoon. We are in return going to their presentation on Thursday at the Architectural college. Gotta get my business cards printed before then! Not for seeking employment, but everyone gives them out here for friendship or networking or coffee dates or ...outdoor aerobics.

 I went for a walk the other morning and got lost only to find myself at 'Small Bikes' motor bike rental shop. Indiana Jones upstairs told me that an Irish guy owned it with his wife so I went to say hello and get directions. Big fella called Ronan from Tallaght. He told me all the stories about the building sites in Dublin and cool things he said to people and how right he was about everything and how he was taught in school by a CIE bus conductor who knew nothin about n-e-tin. I don't know how I kept a straight face. In fairness he knew all about the buildings I was studying. Can't wait to go for a beer with him. 

Now, last night when I was actually on Skype to Amanda, the power went. It usually (usually?!) goes for about 15 minutes but it was out for 2 hours. We took our chairs and sat on the stoop. Indiana Jones came down and an american girl chatted too. She playes frizbee everyday, all day from 9am. Ultimate Frizbee. It's 37 degrees here. I think she's a sicko with a death wish. I can't move for the heat, I hardly know my own name.

Woman's Day is massive here, it's a matriarchal society. The men move into the women's family homes, God love them. The Ancient Queens carried the royal blood line. They just let the men they married rule, or think they were ruling. Clever ladies.

Being Woman's day Today the Boss and I went to see some of the buildings I'm supposed to be drawing. It was great. They were so fantastic. One was a theatre converted to a pool hall / table tennis hall, packed out with the ever energetic Cambodians. We snook around and walked up stairs we were not supposed to. He actually knocked a padlock off a gammy door and we almost got locked into the University. Well he does have an ID card. I'm getting one tomorrow.  

Some pictures to follow. 

This time of night, around 10pm a guy walks up and down the street and side alleys beating a tune on a bamboo stick. He's doing it right now. A little rhythm, but it's different every night. Tic, tica tic tic,  tic tica tic tic. It means The Noodles are Ready. Where? I don't know. Maybe at the end of the street. 

I'm looking forward to my fresh flowers in the morning already now.

Maeve in Cambodia

Here's Whom I'm working, volunteering for in Cambodia:

http://www.vannmolyvannproject.org/Home_Page.html

http://www.vannmolyvannproject.org/IMAGES.html

After an overnight sham of a bus journey form Koh Samui to Bangkok, we were dropped close to but not at the landmark Koh San Road at 5am. A torrent of taxi drivers tried to scam us into non-metered taxi's to here there and everywhere. Funnily enough when Amanda and I were in Bangkok, taxi's and tuk-tuk drivers often refused to take us to where we asked. If our money wasn't good enough for them then, it's not good enough for them now! (that's awful, they are pretty poor, bad Maeve).
So I walked a little bit with some other lost tourists, found a tourist bus to the airport for E3, instead of the E20 in a taxi. The first bus was leaving at 7am. A french guy and a girl were waiting too so I asked them if they wanted to play some pool. It got us over the language barrier and passed the time. It was neck and neck to the black ball everytime! Worthy opponents. One or two sneaky 'hand of God' hand balls was just pay back for you-know-what. They were French.

The waiting around the airport was fine except for the continuous urge to shop. I have no money. I have never had any money. Where does this 'Queen of Sheeba' attitude come from? Who knows. I fought my battle through duty-free and came out unscathed, wallet firmly closed.
Did I mention the 'Support' link on the Vann Molyvann project webpage for donations? Seriously. I love rice but for breakfast lunch and dinner. Oooh maybe I'll put some tomato ketchup with my rice for dinner and spoil myself.

Anyway, everytime I checked the big screen to see which gate I needed to go to, it changed. So I would walk down to F1 and then the screen would say E6. I'd trudge to E6 and it was F1. They'll mess with you mind those Thais. Mess with your mind. Luckily with my steely sense of what planes look like through windows I found it eventually at F3. A Russian Roulette style of airport experience. 


I have to thank my Mum and Dad for giving me the confidence for traveling alone so easily. When I was 16 they let me fly from ballet school in Lyon to meet them in Nantes. I felt so grown up! When I passed through the gates in Phonm Penh to see my tuk-tuk driver waiting for me with my name on a card, I greeted him with almost with the same elation as seeing my Mum and Dad in Nantes all those years ago. Off we whizzed to meet my new boss Billl Greaves at the storefront architecture studio. He is a lovely Canadian New Yorker. At the moment it's Bill, myself and two Cambodian architecture students working on surveying and drawing these amazing buildings. 
Some Finnish architects students were in town so we went to their exhibition where I met some lovely people. A Sweedish lady Freija gave me her card with the view to meeting up. She lives here with her sister while they run an Interior Design Business. Their last client was the Prime Minister's daughter so quite a La Di Da clientele. Another  'hot shot' Cambodian Architect gave me his card too. I better get some printed! Back of a beer mat, would that do? (refer to donations section earlier). It was a fun night and everyone seemed to LOVE living here. It's kinda skanky but it definitely has it charms. 
I have a simple ensuite bedroom above the studio. The boss lives on the ground floor, a motorbike driving archaeologist (complete Indiana Jones - 'I'm so sick of biking around looking at ruined temples!')and his family live above and a German couple on the top floor. Our neighbours are some locals and also some born again Christians who are trying to convert the tuk-tuk drivers to the one 'true' God. The Kymer heritage is so beautiful with it's mix of Hinduism and Buddism I cannot understand this. Why does charity always seems to come at a price? After the tsunami in Thailand certain religious organisations only offered support in exchange for conversion. Horrible.
(refer to donations section above) Only kidding.

Maeve:

So Amanda and I have separated. We'll have to split custody of our newly acquired pet Maingy Dog Ralph. I hope he is  not emotionaly scarred,  if even aware that we have left our honeymoon retreat Bo Phut Fisherrman Village, Koh Samui.

I am about to board a flight back to Cambodia. While in Pheonm Pehn a few weeks ago I made contact with a local programme to survey and document some FrenchCambodian Buildings in danger of demolishment.

The Vann Molyvann Project. Google knows it.

I scheduled a skype interview from Thailand and was asked to come and help. It is volunteer work but I have free accommodation above the drawing studio. I'm so happy and excited about it.

Boarding now. Missing Amannda and David. Life works in funny ways.

xx

Maeve

Koh Samui Pics

Hopping from longtail boat onto Krabi ferry mid-crossing

Ang Thong National Park

Vertical climb with a rope. Essential Health and Safety

Romantic Honeymooon dinner for Amanda and Maeve

 

I wanted to buy the monkey and set him free, only 800 Batt, but he would just run back to his owner for dinner!

Koh Samui - A fisherman's village & a speedboat

Koh Samui airport is so dinky. Upon arrival, a small and colourful train-like vehicle takes passengers from the plane to baggage claim. Maeve & I decided to stay in BoPhut while on the island. BoPhut is a little fisherman's village on the north-east coast of Koh Samui. We arrived at our accommodation, aptly named Eden, to find orchids strewn over our pillows and pretty flowers adorning the shelves. It was a far cry from our pixie-pad living arrangements in Koh Jum. So, delighted with ourselves, we headed out for dinner. We found a pretty restaurant over-looking the sea. It was ever so rosemantic, soft ballad music, candlelight, orchids bringing a pop of colour to every table. We came to the conclusion that we were in honeymoon heaven. After a lovely meal we decided to skedaddle into Chaweng (or as we like to say "schwing, Wayne's World, party time"). Chaweng is the biggest town on the island. It is well known for its nightlife. Maeve felt it was quite like Ibiza. We found ourselves a bar on the beach that had low-lounger-like-seating. A man walked past and put a monkey on my shoulder and said we could pay to have our pictures taken with it. Maeve was so upset for the little monkey; she asked the man if she could buy the monkey and set him free, the man said 8,000 baht.... I guess everything has a price. I told Maeve that the monkey would probably run back to the man anyway; the monkey still cuddled his owner and held onto him for protection. It's sad considering the man is cruel bringing a little monkey out to loud bars when all the monkey wants to do is sleep.

The following day we came across (our soon to be favourite restaurant) The Happy Elephant. This restaurant is amazing, beautiful dark teak timber, intricate stained glass chandelier, and an abundance of elephant themed decor. The staff are so helpful, happy, and polite. We loved the restaurant so much we actually bought their t-shirt! (no kidding). There was an elderly Thai man singing Elvis songs in the restaurant. Maeve and I put in a request for a couple of Elvis ballads. We clapped and smiled after he finished each song. He was delighted with our enthusiasm. He then broke into the Roy Orbison classic, Pretty Women, and was pointing at us and smiling. After he finished his set he came over and thanked us as it was his first night singing in the restaurant. 'Ah! Bless!

For our activity, we joined a tour going to Angthong National Marine Park. We had an early start and the itinerary included breakfast on the ferry. Maeve was up, eyes open, walking around but she really wasn't awake. The women can't function without breakfast, it's like breakfast is her batteries and she needs some battery fuel before her engine fires up. Two croissants, a banana, and two cups of coffee and bing... Maeve was awake! We met a bunch of Kiwi lads on the boat, they were similar minded and just laughed and joked and took the piss out of everyone. It was 8am and the guys were a barrel of laughs. A German was on the boat drinking beer for breakfast with the full Bayern Munich strip on, he was a sure target for ridicule. It was a fantastic day; we kayaked, climbed a 500m vertical height, and snorkeled. Did I mention we climbed a 500m vertical height..... I'm not kidding it was so difficult and dangerous. We had to hang onto a rope the whole way to leverage ourselves up. The climb got increasingly difficult as we got closer to the summit. Thankfully, we made it in one piece and the view was phenomenal.

We were due to travel to Koh Phangnan for the full moon party but we discovered we could stay on Koh Samui and take a speedboat to the party. We loved our honeymoon land so much we decided to stay. Lucky for us we did, as we met the loveliest couple that evening. Luke and Vicky are from Brighton. We were seated next to them for dinner. Maeve & I had decided to try a carafe of Thai white wine. We got what we ordered and it was utter plonk. I said we'll just pretend that it was the Australian wine we ordered and pour this muck back in the carafe. Luke was sitting beside us laughing, seeing the brazenness of our actions. We got our Australian wine and from there we struck up conversation with our new buddies. We all decided to meet at The Happy Elephant (but, of course) for dinner the next evening and then catch the speedboat to the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangnan.

Koh Phi Phi and Koh Jam Pics

Fire Skipping Rope on Koh Phi Phi Beach

Long Tail Boat

Taxi / sheep carrier Koh Jam

Sun Set Koh Jam

Koh Jam

Koh Jam is really difficult to get to. From Phi Phi we would have had to get an hour long ferry south to Koh Lanta and then get on the Krabi ferry. While this ferry passes Koh Jam the longtail boats come out to meet it and pick you up. The two ferry times didn't even allow for a connection. But we really wanted to go to Koh Jam because not many people do and it's quiet and peaceful. There is always a way around a difficult situation to I just started phoning the accommodation on Koh Jam to ask about how to get there. A lovely woman called Maoie at Golden Pearl bungalows said they would send a longtail to Koh Phi Phi the following day to PICK US UP. Amazing. It cost about 4 Euro more than the ferries and was only an hour long.



We stayed out a little later than we should have that night and had only had about three hours sleep when we had to check out. The hotel manager was giving us grief because we were ten minutes late and was trying to charge us. I said 'Amanda do you mind if I lay into this fella before he charges us?' and Amanda gave me permission. I told him it was a disgrace that our safe broke three times during our two day stay and in fact he should refund us because it's not like we have a problem with hotel safes and can’t work them. Which is actually hilarious because we have broken almost every hotel safe we've had.


So we skidaddled out of there, got banana nutella crepes for breakfast and found our longtail and boat man. We spent a lovely hour from island to island and when we came ashore the boat men took our bags for us, helped us off the boat and brought us up the beach to our hotel, where the reception had a fresh pineapple juice with a flower in it waiting for us. They gave of a choice of two huts in a coconut grove. We settled out stuff in our new pixi-pad and hit the beach and realised we had found "happy hangover land'.


This island was amazing, only dirt roads and motorbikes. The taxis are a sheepcart stuck on the side of a motorbike. We had a beautiful dinner at the Koh Jam Lodge just down the beach from our Golden Pearl Bungalows. Koh Jam Lodge is so lovely, beautiful Thai teak carved panels and hanging lanterns. It's designed in such a way that no mechanical ventilation is necessary, taking advantage of the off shore breezes I would definitely like to come back here on holiday. It's so safe and tranquil. The kids can run around naked and play on the beach and swing on the coconut trees. Most of the visitors are northern European and Scandinavian. We found an amazing bar run by the local postman Bung called Coco Bar. It had a giant swing with cushions. We saw wild monkeys. New Bungalows next door had actual tree-houses to rent on the beach. I'm telling ya, happy hangover land.


Everything was so easy here, when we asked at our hotel reception where to buy tickets to get off the island we were told the hotel longtail collect us at 8.30 the next morning and bring us to meet the Krabi ferry. Off we went the following morning, Amanda and Maeve and our two boat men. They stopped the engine in the middle of the sea which confused us until we saw 4 or 5 more longtails coming towards us. The boat men tied the boats together and sat drinking beer smoking cigarettes, singing songs and taking the mick out of the tourists. Talk about the chilled out life style. No worries. Hakuna matata


The Krabi ferry loomed on the horizon and it was all action. The boat men scurried back to their respective longtails and revved up their engines. I think they were having a race to see who could tie up to the ferry first. Initially I wasn’t sure the ferry would even stop and that we would have to ‘Indiana Jones’ ourselves onto it, but it did stop. Unfortunately. All the longtails tied up to the ferry and we were helped onto the big boat. We gave a sad wave goodbye to our remote island paradise and looked forwards to Krabi, the airport and our flight to Koh Samui.

Koh Phi Phi

Well well well. We've made it to Koh Samui.
We flew from Saigon to Phuket or Fuckit as we like to call it. Immediately on the Air Aisa flight we were delighted to be back with lovely Thai people. On asking the airhost if we could have a glass of wine he thought it was hilarious and said we could have lots of wine when we landed. It wasnt really that funny but it was nice to see happy smiley people again. Everyone just laughs at us in our faces here in Thailand. It is as if we are wearing big red noses and dont realise.
We got the ferry to Koh Phi Phi the next morning. It was a cool town. Narrow windy little streets. It's shocking to realise it has all been rebuilt in the past 5 years since the tsunami. We thought the night life was a little lacking, quiet beach bars playing 1980's eurovision music. On the way home to hit the leaba we were told there was a beach party at the beach close our hotel. Well, we got a shock when we got down there. Dear God. There were 4 beach clubs with blaring music and an actual hoop of fire with drunk people jumping through it! Seriously. Then the locals but the Hoop Of Fire out and set a giant skipping rope on fire, two guys stood on stools either side to swing the thing and people took turns to skip, barely lasting three or four skips before falling over and kreeling themselves. The air reeked of the smell of singed hair. Amanda wouldnt let me do it. Wait till you see the pictures.
We didn't partake in the fire action but had good fun. We met these americans and entertained ourselves discussing the double meaning of words. For example when we say "pissed' we mean drunk but the Americans mean angry. And we say 'taking the piss' means pulling your leg. One of the guys was trying to keep up with us and act like he knew all the meanings already and started saying "yeah yeah yeah I piss on the shit all the time!" Jaynee, Amanda and I nearly fell of our seats laughing. We are still laughing about it.

Our next port of call was Koh Jam, also called Koh Pu. So we're leaving Pee Pee to go to Poo
Please forgive my colourful use of language in this last section.

Ho Chi MEAN City

The last night of our tour brought us to Ho Chi Minh City. The city was extremely quite when we arrived due to the Chinese New Year. The New Year was on Sunday 14th February, we arrived on Wednesday 17th February, and we were told that the city would not be back in full swing until at least Saturday 20th February. That's a heck of a lot of time off for New Year's.

Nevertheless, we were in high spirits after a fascinating time spent in Cambodia. Our group headed out for our final shin-dig. After a night of fun we decided to return to our hotel. Maeve & I were crossing the street (just outside our hotel) arm-in-arm, when a man on a motorcycle whizzed by us and pulled my bag from me. He yanked the strap so hard the bag snapped off me and sent me in a spin. We watched as the man drove off with my bag in hand, drama, drama, drama!! It was a really shocking thing to have happened and it really shook us up. My camera was in the bag so I was devastated to have all my pictures taken from me. Thankfully I had saved some pictures to Facebook so all is not lost. After talking to reception we realised things could have been a whole lot worse, she told us a story of a lady who had been dragged down the street by a motorcycle thief. We also met a man who had been pushed to the ground and had his tooth front teeth knocked out from a similar attack. Stolen stuff is better than broken Amanda or Maeve!!

So dusting ourselves off and picking ourselves us, in typical pixi-minx style, we decided to visit some of the sites. Ho Chi Minh City is quite cosmopolitan. There are some beautiful buildings and lush green parks. The traffic is bonkers, as pedestrians we are modes of transport in our own right. It's a game of dodge the moped, which are the predominant vehicles in use. Unlike Cambodia, it's compulsory to wear a helmet whilst driving a moped or motorbike. The helmets are quite cartoonish. Some of them are very Tin-Tin-esque or Penelope-Pitsop-like, there are even helmets in the shape of hats (a la Mary Poppins). All these quirky attributes helped us warm to Vietnam and we now leave with some fond memories (to hell with the Ho Chi MEAN motorcylce driver)!!

Photos from Ho Chi Minh City....Saigon

 

 

 

 

 

Old McDonald had a farm e-i-e-i (SHUT THE F#CK UP) o!!

So our next stop was Chambok where we stayed with a local family. Fila, our guide, translated so we could communicate with the family. The family members that live in the house are a husband (aged 90), a wife (aged 80), and their daughter (aged 35). The couple have eight children in total, seven children are married and one daughter is unmarried. The family were so kind, friendly and cheerful despite a harrowing story of being chased out of their house by the Khymer Rouge. The elderly lady told us she had no idea how long they had to run for, she just remembers shots been fired and literally having to run for her life across rice fields.

The only daughter not to have married lives with them. The daughter admired our pale skin and said she disliked her dark skin. We told her that people use fake tan to get darker skin where we are from, and she said she'd love to make her skin lighter (nearly all the skin care products here have whitening agents in them) but she can't afford the cream. I think she feels if she had lighter skin she might attract a man to marry her. She is uneducated as the family couldn't afford to educate her. She was shocked when we told her it was a different time of the day where we were from, she had no clue of timezones, she's probably never seen a globe or a map of the world. The whole experience was so humbling. It just goes to show, us Westerners, have little to complain about. I have to say, I hope the Buddhists are correct in their theory on reincarnation. It's horrible to think that this is the only life these people will have and they will never have a chance of a better life.

On a lighter note, the sleep we had (or didn't have) in their house goes down as one of the weirdest sleeps of our lives. There was music blaring from a neighbours house until the wee hours of the morning and at 2:40am the cock-a-doodle-doos started. Then like an orchestra new animals decided to voice themselves and we had pigs, geese, dogs, cats, and of course the cockerel topped the whole symphony off. It was comical but kind of distressing. I woke up feeling abused from such a lack of sleep and Maeve felt like she'd been beaten across the head with a stick for about 20 minutes. At 6am we were up out of our beds to hike to a waterfall, we felt a bit like lemmings, we were confused about what had happened during the night (at Old McDonald's crazy ass farm) and how we'd come to be hiking at such an un-Godly hour. Thankfully we got to swim in the water below the waterfall and it made up for all the bizarre happenings of the night before :)

Getting down with the locals

For our last day in Siem Reap, Fila took us to the local school to visit the children and give them notebooks and pens. The children are absolutely adorable, so sweet, and eager to practice their English. Maeve & I decided to write inspirational messages in the back of some of the notebooks so the kids would find them. We wrote things like, learning is fun, stay in school, and love your Mum & Dad. After visiting the school, Fila took us to his parents house for lunch. They had prepared the most delicious meal ever. We then took ox driven carts back to our bus. In the afternoon we visited the floating villages. There are floating houses, shops, and even a floating church. We stopped at one of the floating shops and we were greeted by a young boy walking around with a python around his neck. He was fearless with the snake and took great pleasure in scaring us unsuspecting tourists. We went to a local families house for dinner and we ate spiders legs.... hippy jibbys or what!! But in fairness, they were quite tasty, tasted just like chicken :)

Ankor Wat Photos

Ankor Wat at 5am

Reflection in the pond before the main Temple

  

 

Main Temple at dawn

 

Stone Lions at entrance steps

  

 Reliefs carved and sculpted post construction

Lady's Temple

Reliefs carved and sculpted pre construction and hence much more delicate

Trees cannot be removed bacause they have undermined the structural integrity of the 

temples to the point that they are part of the structure now.

 

Locals

 

Apsara  Dancers / temple hot chicks

Sex Education from the Locals

Ankor Wat meets Karaoke

So we were up bright and sparky (4:45am) to visit Angkor Wat and watch the sunrise. There is a moate around the temple and our guide (Fila) advised us to be careful walking over the bridge due to the darkness. Maeve came about two steps short of falling into the moate, Fila gave her his head lamp to ensure she stayed dry and above water. Angkor Wat is amazing, it took 37 years to build and it's clear to see why. There is detail in every cornice of the structure. The walls were constructed first and then they carved images into the stone. One of the images which is repeated throughout the temples is the Apsara. The Apsara were beautiful women that dressed up in intricate costumes and danced for the people in the temple. Our guide told us in modern English they would be called "hot temple chicks". After visiting Ankor Wat we continued traveling around visiting other temples, including the one featured in the Tomb Raider movies. For our encounter with wildlife today, I took a ride on an elephant and Maeve nearly got attacked by a monkey. I have no idea what Maeve was doing to upset the monkey, he was sitting there all coy and then all of a sudden he opened his eyes and mouth so wide I thought his teeth would fall out. He looked like he was stunned and then starting running over to Maeve. Thankfully, he quickly came to his senses when the rest of us squealled.
After the hectic day visiting the temples it was time for some hijinks. Our group went to a bar, which led to a club, and then a karaoke bar. The karaoke bar was a private padded room with brightly covered designs in fake leather, a loony bin for the drunk and disorderly me thinks. We had the entire room to ourselves, five of us (four from the group and the tuk tuk driver). The tuk tuk driver was dead serious and was belting out ballads from the 80's. We on the other hand, well lets just say we won't be winning the X-Factor next year :) On the way home the tuk tuk, tuk tuked... we ran out of petrol and had to walk our drunk little selves home. What a day!!

Last Few days in Bangkok

We moved to our new hotel in Bangkok to begin our Intrepid tour into Cambodia and Vietnam. We met our guide Fila, a Cambodian, who is lovely, interesting and enthusiastic about our tour.
When we were leaving the hotel for the day we asked the hotel porters where we could get a Tuk-Tuk, a motor-bike taxi with a cart of 4 seats attached and they just laughed at us. I think they thought we sounded like chickens the way we said it..tuk tuk tuk.
This was the day for sight-seeing. We saw Wat Po with the giant reclining Budda 40 feet long. It was pretty amazing, all covered in gold leaf. They build the Budda first and then the temple around it. He protects all of Bangkok. Another temple had a wide gold-leaf door jamp so when you passed through, it is said you become a renewed person, all new and fresh and good. Great for hangovers we thought.
For the craic we had our Fortunes told. A little old man with round spectacles and a little hat and a beard in a plait was our man. Very authentic. He told me I sometimes lost the head and needed to meditate more! That when angry I see an elephant like an ant, as in I don't think about the consequences. He said I am good at my artistic job because I think carefully about the emotions of the clients. He said I had a boyfriend who lived very close to my house, behind it.Which is all true. And of course he said I was going to have FIVE kids and lots of cash. I don't believe in all that fortune stuff but it was definitely a fun experience. And I'll definitely meditate more. Some of the Thais were queuing up and had notebooks to write down what he said, they must completely live their lives according to their advice.
We found a nice street for dinner called Phra Atit,(up and at it) very close to Koh San Road but much more chilled. We tried to go home early but kept finding nicer cute little bars.
Tomorrow Ankor Wat in Cambodia

Stay Far Far Away from the Khao San Road

So we went to see what all the fuss was about the Khao San road last night. When we asked the taxi driver to take us there he started laughing. He laughed at us basically the whole way in. We actually thought he was a bit mental. When we found a bar we liked had some Thai curry and some beers, we were being so judgmental. Looking around at all the other drunken eejits, saying things like "what do these people DO all day? Just drink all night and sleep all day and don't even go and see the amazing stuff Bangkok has to offer! Loosers". We thought we were so responsible and ladylike and grown -up. Fast-forward to 18.35 the next day when I wake up with that awful feeling. "Amanda, what time does your watch say? We were supposed to go to the Vietnamese Embassy today BEFORE 16.30".
So we had completely lost the run of ourselves, become those people we were judging but worse because now we had no passports to go on our trip to Cambodia, leaving Sunday evening.
We stragetised, planned pragmatically what we had to do. We hopped in a taxi and headed to the embassy. it was now 20.15 and it closed at 16.30. I pushed the door and weirdly it was open. We met a man and literally begged him. Amanda went red in the face with all the pleading. She was really excellent. He went and got an office worker who told us to wait. Then they opened the whole embassy and brought us in and gave us a bit of a hard time but gave us our passports! Unbelievable. The Thai people are so nice. Now we can go on our tour and don't have to show up a day late and be all embarrassed with our heads hung low. We're back on top! Responsible. Organised.

 

Siam Square

  

Koh San Road Buckets

  

 Wat Pho

 

Amanda Maeve from Dublin to Bangkok

First of all flying with Ethiad Airlines is like getting on the plane to Heaven. All cream and white interior with mood lighting, polite airhostess, lots of movies to choose from AND your own arm-rests. The food was, dare I say it, yummy. We could see our landing into Abu Dhabi Airport in the desert because our dvd screens showed the captain's view from the cockpit. Arriving in Abu Dhabi was like actually having gone through the Pearly Gates and were in an eternity of cleanliness and serenity.
Our Hotel Cha-Da Bangkok is lovely. We were so glad to have a shower and go out in search of food. Of course we accidentally chose the poshest place in the Rough Guide for our dinner. A restaurant of little temple like buildings on columns in lotus flower ponds. Luckily it was closed and we were directed to restaurant 'Eat Me'. The taxi / rally driver brought us down a dark alley to this little oasis of modern thai architecture, a first floor restaurant around a courtyard of bamboo plants, low lighting, low seating and trendy clientele. Well we fit right in.
The thai waiter had learned a Scottish type of English and while giving us tips on getting around the city he said things like "take a wee walk around here", one bar was "bonkers" and "you know what I mean like"!
The menu was amazing. especially the Chili-chocolate ice-cream. It's freezing...but yet burns! A very confusing culinary experience.


Bangkok is SPOTLESS. It's very well kept. All the taxis are candy colour with metalic paint. All the cars look like they have been washed this morning.
The traffic is mental but we got the Sky-Train today which glides through the city four stories above ground level. It's spotless too, when were ascending the stairs to the ticket station there was a woman washing the stairs with soapy water and polishing the chrome.
Maybe we'll have a different opinion when we get into the city centre.


We don't mean to be annoying everyone with being away when people are headwrecked with the recession. It is so crap for everyone. This is just a bit of escapism on our part.