OK, so it has been a while, but so much has happened and I have been in places where high-speed internet = dialup c.1992. Let me bring all of my eager fan(s) up to date. In short after Singapore I visited Malaysia (fun), Thailand (funner), and then Cambodia_funnest!
Longer version:
I travelled trainwise from Sing to Malacca, then onto Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia), and then to Penang island and George Town. Malaysia was fun, there are lots of things to see and do. KL is a big and noisy city. I stayed in KL China Town which is wild and exciting (which it is) and supposed to be dangerous and risky (which it was not_at least to me).
Let me diverge here from my narrative. Every where I went from Sing to Cambo everyone warned me about my next port of call. In Sing it was 'Don't go to Malaysia. They will steal/rob/etc. you'. The opposite was the reality. I am not sure just what it is, obviously local tourism v. next country tourism in one motive, people want to keep you local, but there was more. Most people in these countries do not travel far, most never leave their home town/city/village, so going to another country is a scary thing. Also, guide books_they are the same, eternally warning of dangers, dangers which never manifest. One example, several places I visited had warnings about teenage guys on motorbikes just waiting to steal your bag or anything else they can get a hold off (anyone remember the Michael Douglas flick (one of his few good ones) called 'Black Rain'?). This is just not true. However, it is the dream of every Asian boy older than 12 to own a motorbike. They work hard for a year or more to buy one, and then hang with their friends at street corners, and occasionally race to the next street corner. No harm, no foul (maybe a bit pointless).
Right now you could be asking yourself, 'How could I know this to be true?'. The answer, 'I went and spoke to these boys'. In George Town there is a street called 'Lover's Lane' (I will leave it to my readers to deduce why it is so named). The Lonely Planet guide warned against going there at night: theft, rape, pillage etc. So, tired of misleading advice, I went there and spoke to these bike boys. They were guys came from local villages, they worked hard, saved money, bought a bike, and then came to the 'big' city to make some bucks ferrying tourists around on the back of their bike (called 'moto' in SE Asia). These guys were eager to talk to me, practice their English (a SE Asian universal phenomenon), and ask about Australia (how can I get a visa?). So, when travelling, be careful, take precautions, but do not let travel advice stop you from leaving your hotel.
Back to Malaysia:
Malacca_in the good old days, Pirate City! Now a smallish, relaxed, quiet town. Designed for relaxed and sleepy expats, a little tourism, and the middle aged looking locals living there. It has a great museum, some interesting sites to see, and is worth a day or two of wandering around, but forget the exciting nightlife (if that is your thing).
Kuala Lumpur_big, noisy, chaotic (crossing the road is an adventure in itself). Again, nightlife not so exciting (imho), it is a muslim countiry trying hard to have fun, but does not work v well. Tourism, not a great deal: Batu Caves (big cave system just outside KL with hindu temples insides, worth a look), Patronas Towers (big twin skyscrapers with walkway between), Telecommunication Tower (look down from above). I found just wandering the streets to be fun, talk to a few locals (watch out for scams), and relax and watch the world go by. China Town is a great place to visit.
Penang Island/George Town_visitied on the advice of an English guy I met, and glad I did. In reality not too much to see for the average tourist: Penang Hill, a few temples and a 19th century Chinese mansion, but again it was the people (locals and visitors) who were the fun and interesting part of it all.
Thailand!!!! ('Hard man humble...')
I spent two weeks in Thailand. In case anyone is wanting some salacious goss here goes_yes, I did meet a girl on the streets on Bangkok. In fact she met me, she was working for a tourist company profiling tourists. So she stops me and says 'Can I ask you a few questions...'. Since she is v attractive the answer is a big yes. So, age, sex, money, marital (single) status. That evening I get a call in my hotel 'Can I show you around, be your tour guide?' he he he, yes I says. One thing quickly led to another and the second week or my two weeks in Bk was spent with Chimi.
However, on wider issues. I started in Thailand in the south. For those of you following international events, the south of Thaialnd is having trouble with muslims, or more accurately muslims in the south of Thailand are having trouble with the central government, which is harrassing them. There have been kidnappings and shootings. So of course I spent 3 days in a southern town called Hat Yai. This is a small town of ~150k people, but economically booming. It is also surrounded by jungle (the jungle the muslim terrorists/freedom fighters live in). So I went for an overnight jungle trip. Great fun: green green green, big trees and mulchy smell. If you are prone to claustrophobia I would not recommend.
After HY I trained to Bangkok. First impressions: big and noisy. The most noticable thing about Bk is the traffic congestion, it can sometimes take hours to get anywhere and traffic jams are common place. The new (1999) skytran (BTS) has improved travel immensely, but it is considered a little expensive for many locals. Bk is a fun town, many touristy things to do, lots of locals to chat to (practice Eng), hoards of expats, a captivating place. I found I could happily wander the streets for hours, looking at street markets, looking at hitech junk on sale in big big dept stores, and sipping coffee and watch the world go by.
A second digression: fat deadbeat expats. With the exception of Sing (no surprise) everywhere I went there were deadbeat, fat, western, male (no surprise) expatriates hanging around. These guys were usually in their 40s/50s or above, and they all had a story to tell as to why they were there (wife 'bitch/whore', business, family, drinking, etc._you get the idea). So they leave Smalltown wherever and travel to forget their troubles and end up in Malaysia, Thaialnd or Cambodia. There, they discover that their small life savings is not only enough to live on but enough to live on v well. They can get accomm, food, and a woman (wife/gf) for what in the west is small beer. So these guys live in these countries, getting fatter, playing cards and hanging out with attractive girls 1/3 of their age. Overall, not sure how to assess this situation_it is not the greatest problem facing the world, but, these guys are not the best ambassadors for the west.
I left Thailand with some regret, I was having a good time (see Chimi above), but I did want to see Angkor Wat, and that is in Cambodia so off I went, and I am v glad I did. Let me first tell you about the 'Bus Scam'. Here goes: you get on a bus in Bk and are told that you will be taken across the border into Camb, and then to the town of Siem Reap (which is the town next to Angkor Wat). The first part is true, but the border crossing was 2 hot hours of wasted time: passports stamped, bags checked (just what is anyone going to smuggle into Camb?), waiting in line, waiting, etc. Then the bus trip becomes the joke. When you arrive in Siem Reap you are taken not to the bus depot, but to a guest house whose owner has paid for the prviledge of having a bunch of western tourists delivered to his front door. That is the scam. However, not to worry. You can just walk and get a tuk-tuk (a common conveyance in SR: a motobike pulling a small wagon_much better than it sounds).
If anyone reading this is interested in going to SR in the near future do not worry about the 'scam', it is easy to ignore. There are always guest house rooms available in SR (1,001 hotels and more being built) and you are 100% safe, people love tourists in SR, tourism is the basis of the economy, also Cambs like westeners, westerners are seen as the good guys who will help modernise the country.
I travelled around southern Cambodia for about 3 weeks, and spent another 3 weeks in the town of Siem Reap. If you infer from this that I liked Cambodia your reasoning skills are working well. I loved the country! You may ask why: poverty, landmine victims, dirt, dust, disease, pot holed streets etc. But Cambodia is a vibrant place, the people are working hard to rebuild their country, and they have an optimistic outlook on life.
The temples of Angkor Wat are v impressive. Let me explain: in short between about the 9th and 13th centuries AD there was a Cambodian empire (kings killing people for territory and loot). Each king built a temple(s) to glorify the gods or buddha, and of course themselves. The biggest was Angkor Wat, and it is big. A great big causeay leading through series of walls to a great big inner temple. The idea was that the peasants gather outside on the grass and watch the aristos walk or be carried in to worship the gods. Whenever I see things like this I always stop and think about what a difference it would make to the lives of the locals if this much effort had been put to something more practical, like irrigation or sewage, but that is just me. The redeeming feature of imperial artifacts is that they make great tourist attractions. Cambodia has two main sources of foreign currency: tourism and garments.
AW is situated north of Siem Reap (~5kms). In the same area there are dozens of other temple complexes. Also around the rest of the country you will also find temples large and small in various states of disrepair. If you like big temples then Cambo is the place for you.
The capital of Cambodia is Phnom Penh. A city of contrasts. Along the river (Mekong) it is tourist city, expensive restaurants (and many not so), hotels, glitz. One block back the place is barren and shabby, two blocks back it is a different world: potholes, garbage on street corners, empty buildings, etc. However, it is not all this bad, the main streets are ok, there is traffic, there is even a smallish shopping mall! The central market, built in the 1920s to an art deco design, is a hoot to visit.
I also travelled in the south visiting the main southern city, Battambang, and many small towns and villages. As I was travelling in the rainy season this lead to a few weary days. My bus kept bogging down in mud. This necessitated the passengers disembarking, watching the now lighter bus struggle and spin its way forward, and then lugging themselves and their possessions to the now waiting bus_usually all of this in the rain. Most travellers (as opposed to mere tourists) experience something like this, however, Cambo has one unique variant. You may recall that landmines were liberally sprinkled around the country by the various combatants for various good (to them) reasons.
So, here is the story:
a. there are no landmines on or immediately adjacent to the main roads,
b. most landmines have been cleared in most of the country,
c. any landmines left no longer work (too old).
So, when slogging through the mud, carrying your backpack and bag, and your foot slips down and you realise that you have meandered from the road, do not worry. That hard thing in the mud your foot is on is 99% likely to be a rock, DO NOT WORRY, safe.
My time in the south was great fun (previous paragraph notwithstanding). The people were friendly (eaager to see a westener_the children would always wave and say 'Hello' (or 'goodbye'_they sometimes confused the two)), accomm and food cheap, and the country side beautiful, rich and green.
I also spent 5 days with some UNChicks (that is their self, same, own designation). These were Australian girls (again, that is how they refer to themselves) who work for the UN as semi-volunteers (they get paid a daily allowance, enough to live comfortably in Cambo). They work for the UN food acronym organisation (there are 1,000,000 different UN acronyms (and I never exaggerate), and I decided to forget them all). Their job is to find areas in Cambo which are food short and then drive (sometimes literally) big big trucks with rice from food rich areas to these food poor areas, and distribue same. Cambo has enough food but distribution is the problem. Living in the wild (local accomm or tents and backpacks) with these girls was fun (I mean girls and big trucks!).
I will add one observation to life in Cambodia, the people are tiny! I know Asians, on average, are smaller than Euros, but Cambos are even tinier. They are short and v slim. They make Thais look big. This does lead to one other conclusion, I can now see why Cambo was (or maybe is) a destination for child sex. The good news on this is that the police (normally corrupt and only mildly competent) are doing something about pedophiles (rather than simply taking their money), and there are effective campaigns against child sex.
After three months on the road, and not having visitied Vietnam and Laos as originally planned, I decided that it was time to come home. Things to take care of (unreciprocated missing of my cat), my goldfish died, papers to sign etc. So I booked a flight and here I am, back in the west, big screen tv, and clean streets. BORING. I am thinking of going back to Cambo soonish and teaching English for a while.
I hope you liked my travels, I certainly did!!
I will attach new pics soonest.
Longer version:
I travelled trainwise from Sing to Malacca, then onto Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia), and then to Penang island and George Town. Malaysia was fun, there are lots of things to see and do. KL is a big and noisy city. I stayed in KL China Town which is wild and exciting (which it is) and supposed to be dangerous and risky (which it was not_at least to me).
Let me diverge here from my narrative. Every where I went from Sing to Cambo everyone warned me about my next port of call. In Sing it was 'Don't go to Malaysia. They will steal/rob/etc. you'. The opposite was the reality. I am not sure just what it is, obviously local tourism v. next country tourism in one motive, people want to keep you local, but there was more. Most people in these countries do not travel far, most never leave their home town/city/village, so going to another country is a scary thing. Also, guide books_they are the same, eternally warning of dangers, dangers which never manifest. One example, several places I visited had warnings about teenage guys on motorbikes just waiting to steal your bag or anything else they can get a hold off (anyone remember the Michael Douglas flick (one of his few good ones) called 'Black Rain'?). This is just not true. However, it is the dream of every Asian boy older than 12 to own a motorbike. They work hard for a year or more to buy one, and then hang with their friends at street corners, and occasionally race to the next street corner. No harm, no foul (maybe a bit pointless).
Right now you could be asking yourself, 'How could I know this to be true?'. The answer, 'I went and spoke to these boys'. In George Town there is a street called 'Lover's Lane' (I will leave it to my readers to deduce why it is so named). The Lonely Planet guide warned against going there at night: theft, rape, pillage etc. So, tired of misleading advice, I went there and spoke to these bike boys. They were guys came from local villages, they worked hard, saved money, bought a bike, and then came to the 'big' city to make some bucks ferrying tourists around on the back of their bike (called 'moto' in SE Asia). These guys were eager to talk to me, practice their English (a SE Asian universal phenomenon), and ask about Australia (how can I get a visa?). So, when travelling, be careful, take precautions, but do not let travel advice stop you from leaving your hotel.
Back to Malaysia:
Malacca_in the good old days, Pirate City! Now a smallish, relaxed, quiet town. Designed for relaxed and sleepy expats, a little tourism, and the middle aged looking locals living there. It has a great museum, some interesting sites to see, and is worth a day or two of wandering around, but forget the exciting nightlife (if that is your thing).
Kuala Lumpur_big, noisy, chaotic (crossing the road is an adventure in itself). Again, nightlife not so exciting (imho), it is a muslim countiry trying hard to have fun, but does not work v well. Tourism, not a great deal: Batu Caves (big cave system just outside KL with hindu temples insides, worth a look), Patronas Towers (big twin skyscrapers with walkway between), Telecommunication Tower (look down from above). I found just wandering the streets to be fun, talk to a few locals (watch out for scams), and relax and watch the world go by. China Town is a great place to visit.
Penang Island/George Town_visitied on the advice of an English guy I met, and glad I did. In reality not too much to see for the average tourist: Penang Hill, a few temples and a 19th century Chinese mansion, but again it was the people (locals and visitors) who were the fun and interesting part of it all.
Thailand!!!! ('Hard man humble...')
I spent two weeks in Thailand. In case anyone is wanting some salacious goss here goes_yes, I did meet a girl on the streets on Bangkok. In fact she met me, she was working for a tourist company profiling tourists. So she stops me and says 'Can I ask you a few questions...'. Since she is v attractive the answer is a big yes. So, age, sex, money, marital (single) status. That evening I get a call in my hotel 'Can I show you around, be your tour guide?' he he he, yes I says. One thing quickly led to another and the second week or my two weeks in Bk was spent with Chimi.
However, on wider issues. I started in Thailand in the south. For those of you following international events, the south of Thaialnd is having trouble with muslims, or more accurately muslims in the south of Thailand are having trouble with the central government, which is harrassing them. There have been kidnappings and shootings. So of course I spent 3 days in a southern town called Hat Yai. This is a small town of ~150k people, but economically booming. It is also surrounded by jungle (the jungle the muslim terrorists/freedom fighters live in). So I went for an overnight jungle trip. Great fun: green green green, big trees and mulchy smell. If you are prone to claustrophobia I would not recommend.
After HY I trained to Bangkok. First impressions: big and noisy. The most noticable thing about Bk is the traffic congestion, it can sometimes take hours to get anywhere and traffic jams are common place. The new (1999) skytran (BTS) has improved travel immensely, but it is considered a little expensive for many locals. Bk is a fun town, many touristy things to do, lots of locals to chat to (practice Eng), hoards of expats, a captivating place. I found I could happily wander the streets for hours, looking at street markets, looking at hitech junk on sale in big big dept stores, and sipping coffee and watch the world go by.
A second digression: fat deadbeat expats. With the exception of Sing (no surprise) everywhere I went there were deadbeat, fat, western, male (no surprise) expatriates hanging around. These guys were usually in their 40s/50s or above, and they all had a story to tell as to why they were there (wife 'bitch/whore', business, family, drinking, etc._you get the idea). So they leave Smalltown wherever and travel to forget their troubles and end up in Malaysia, Thaialnd or Cambodia. There, they discover that their small life savings is not only enough to live on but enough to live on v well. They can get accomm, food, and a woman (wife/gf) for what in the west is small beer. So these guys live in these countries, getting fatter, playing cards and hanging out with attractive girls 1/3 of their age. Overall, not sure how to assess this situation_it is not the greatest problem facing the world, but, these guys are not the best ambassadors for the west.
I left Thailand with some regret, I was having a good time (see Chimi above), but I did want to see Angkor Wat, and that is in Cambodia so off I went, and I am v glad I did. Let me first tell you about the 'Bus Scam'. Here goes: you get on a bus in Bk and are told that you will be taken across the border into Camb, and then to the town of Siem Reap (which is the town next to Angkor Wat). The first part is true, but the border crossing was 2 hot hours of wasted time: passports stamped, bags checked (just what is anyone going to smuggle into Camb?), waiting in line, waiting, etc. Then the bus trip becomes the joke. When you arrive in Siem Reap you are taken not to the bus depot, but to a guest house whose owner has paid for the prviledge of having a bunch of western tourists delivered to his front door. That is the scam. However, not to worry. You can just walk and get a tuk-tuk (a common conveyance in SR: a motobike pulling a small wagon_much better than it sounds).
If anyone reading this is interested in going to SR in the near future do not worry about the 'scam', it is easy to ignore. There are always guest house rooms available in SR (1,001 hotels and more being built) and you are 100% safe, people love tourists in SR, tourism is the basis of the economy, also Cambs like westeners, westerners are seen as the good guys who will help modernise the country.
I travelled around southern Cambodia for about 3 weeks, and spent another 3 weeks in the town of Siem Reap. If you infer from this that I liked Cambodia your reasoning skills are working well. I loved the country! You may ask why: poverty, landmine victims, dirt, dust, disease, pot holed streets etc. But Cambodia is a vibrant place, the people are working hard to rebuild their country, and they have an optimistic outlook on life.
The temples of Angkor Wat are v impressive. Let me explain: in short between about the 9th and 13th centuries AD there was a Cambodian empire (kings killing people for territory and loot). Each king built a temple(s) to glorify the gods or buddha, and of course themselves. The biggest was Angkor Wat, and it is big. A great big causeay leading through series of walls to a great big inner temple. The idea was that the peasants gather outside on the grass and watch the aristos walk or be carried in to worship the gods. Whenever I see things like this I always stop and think about what a difference it would make to the lives of the locals if this much effort had been put to something more practical, like irrigation or sewage, but that is just me. The redeeming feature of imperial artifacts is that they make great tourist attractions. Cambodia has two main sources of foreign currency: tourism and garments.
AW is situated north of Siem Reap (~5kms). In the same area there are dozens of other temple complexes. Also around the rest of the country you will also find temples large and small in various states of disrepair. If you like big temples then Cambo is the place for you.
The capital of Cambodia is Phnom Penh. A city of contrasts. Along the river (Mekong) it is tourist city, expensive restaurants (and many not so), hotels, glitz. One block back the place is barren and shabby, two blocks back it is a different world: potholes, garbage on street corners, empty buildings, etc. However, it is not all this bad, the main streets are ok, there is traffic, there is even a smallish shopping mall! The central market, built in the 1920s to an art deco design, is a hoot to visit.
I also travelled in the south visiting the main southern city, Battambang, and many small towns and villages. As I was travelling in the rainy season this lead to a few weary days. My bus kept bogging down in mud. This necessitated the passengers disembarking, watching the now lighter bus struggle and spin its way forward, and then lugging themselves and their possessions to the now waiting bus_usually all of this in the rain. Most travellers (as opposed to mere tourists) experience something like this, however, Cambo has one unique variant. You may recall that landmines were liberally sprinkled around the country by the various combatants for various good (to them) reasons.
So, here is the story:
a. there are no landmines on or immediately adjacent to the main roads,
b. most landmines have been cleared in most of the country,
c. any landmines left no longer work (too old).
So, when slogging through the mud, carrying your backpack and bag, and your foot slips down and you realise that you have meandered from the road, do not worry. That hard thing in the mud your foot is on is 99% likely to be a rock, DO NOT WORRY, safe.
My time in the south was great fun (previous paragraph notwithstanding). The people were friendly (eaager to see a westener_the children would always wave and say 'Hello' (or 'goodbye'_they sometimes confused the two)), accomm and food cheap, and the country side beautiful, rich and green.
I also spent 5 days with some UNChicks (that is their self, same, own designation). These were Australian girls (again, that is how they refer to themselves) who work for the UN as semi-volunteers (they get paid a daily allowance, enough to live comfortably in Cambo). They work for the UN food acronym organisation (there are 1,000,000 different UN acronyms (and I never exaggerate), and I decided to forget them all). Their job is to find areas in Cambo which are food short and then drive (sometimes literally) big big trucks with rice from food rich areas to these food poor areas, and distribue same. Cambo has enough food but distribution is the problem. Living in the wild (local accomm or tents and backpacks) with these girls was fun (I mean girls and big trucks!).
I will add one observation to life in Cambodia, the people are tiny! I know Asians, on average, are smaller than Euros, but Cambos are even tinier. They are short and v slim. They make Thais look big. This does lead to one other conclusion, I can now see why Cambo was (or maybe is) a destination for child sex. The good news on this is that the police (normally corrupt and only mildly competent) are doing something about pedophiles (rather than simply taking their money), and there are effective campaigns against child sex.
After three months on the road, and not having visitied Vietnam and Laos as originally planned, I decided that it was time to come home. Things to take care of (unreciprocated missing of my cat), my goldfish died, papers to sign etc. So I booked a flight and here I am, back in the west, big screen tv, and clean streets. BORING. I am thinking of going back to Cambo soonish and teaching English for a while.
I hope you liked my travels, I certainly did!!
I will attach new pics soonest.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
pajamamama:
Thank you!
hope_114:
no theme.. any ideas??