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.
Friday, February 26, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, February 19, 2010
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)!!
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)!!
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 :)
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 :)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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
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