Vang Vieng & Vientiane

So now my time in Laos is gradually coming to an end. Tomorrow I have a flight to Kuala Lumpur, a night there and then a flight to Osaka! So I should write a little intitally about Vang Vieng.

 

It's a place for the young backpacker, there's no denying it although there a plenty of expats living there and there is some beautiful scenery. Then again, there is beautiful scenery in all of Laos, it's really a stunning place. The Nam Khan river runs through Vang Vieng (pictured) from its starting point in Luang Prabang. It is on this river, some four kilometres upstream from Vang Vieng, that the action is found. Vang Vieng is famous for tubing. I have no idea how this actually started, but at some point maybe 10 or more years ago someone came up with the idea that you hop on a tube (tyre interior) and float down the river to Vang Vieng. However, today it is much more than that, and quite possibly less. 

The idea of floating down the river appealed to me. I won't deny that, but I came to Vang Vieng to see the phenomenon that was the tubing culture, for down the river are more bars than you can poke a stick at. People tube from one to the next, get off, drink buckets (literally) of alcohol, and then onto the next. The result is generally people stay at the bars in the first 100 metres of the course and party. The music beats out, and the back packers are generally shirtless, drunk and high. I guess it pumps some money into the Lao economy. So THAT'S not a bad thing. However, if you are local who lived in the area all their life....

It gets dangerous too. At the moment the water levels are so low that the tubes take forever to get back to town, but the water must be a good two plus metres in the wet season, and I hear it moves like lightning. There are slides and zip lines across the river.... land in the wrong spot where it's shallow and you are in big trouble. People die every year. Enough said. I went down the river and stopped briefly at two bars but didn't drink. I wanted to make it back to Vang Vieng before 6pm when the deposit disappears for the tube, and I did. It was relaxing but a bit boring all told. Vang Vieng is a place for backpackers. There's an Aussie Bar there too, I watched football.

 

This is a view of the main road through Vientiane, the capital. I arrived yesterday and booked into the most grim room I've had for a long time. I'm out of there now. It's a pleasant and attractive place with a bit of a bad wrap from travellers. Okay, it's not the MOST interesting place on Earth, but there's a couple of things to see at least. The museum could be a lot better, somethings are labelled in English and some are not. I like to know about the more recent history of a place, and this was told mostly in photos. I would have really liked a timeline of events.

Today I did some mega site-seeing. I started with Patuxai - a sort of Arc De Triumph rip off which provided me with the above picture (taken from it). Inside were a lot of souvenir sellers. 

 

Above is the That Luang Stupa. This is the most important national monument in the country apparently, and gets on post cards a fair bit.

This is Haw Pha Kaew, another temple I saw. Very impressive stuff, inside are a lot of Buddhas. The column art is quite intricate too.
So Laos... What an amazing country. I leave tomorrow, and it's been a fleeting visit. And a hot one too, I am very thankful I have air conditioning tonight. Japan awaits in two days time, and I am excited about that. I am now keeping well clear of Tokyo and the north, as it seems prudent after what has happened there, but it will be interesting to visit and see how people's lives are even in the South.
Anyone who's thinking of going to Laos... don't hesitate. But maybe go January February when it's a bit cooler... Then again, I am a whimp when it comes to heat!

Loads of Jars, no jam in sight

This blog post sees me in the Lao city of Phonsovan. My last day in Luang Prabang was amazing, I visited the Kuang Si Waterfall, pictured below, and had a wonderful cool swim. Not far away 'Save the Bears' had a sanctuary for a few Asian Black Bears which was also very interesting.

 After the heat and fun of Luang Prabang, (yesterday) I took a long bus ride to Phonsovan on one of the world's windiest roads. Through the mountains there was just never a straight stretch anywhere! And what makes a long bus ride longer? When you break down of course! Half way through the journey the bus was making some unhealthy sounds, so we pulled over and the driver made a phone call. A two and a half hour wait ensued before another minivan arrived and whisked us to Phonsovan in just under three and a half hours. But sometimes these things are okay. We had a little bamboo shelter, a dam near us, farmland and mountains, it was cool... and quite a nice little spot for a relaxing break.

 Phonsovan is not an amazing place. Spread out, but not packed full of goodies really. The hotel is fine, the main road has a bit of traffic but there is that 'ghost town' feel. Nevertheless, the countryside around Phonsovan is incredibly beautiful and green, as is much if not all of Laos. Really full of farmland and jungle, it's quite the picturesque country. And Phonsovan has one of the more curious tourist attractions in all of South East Asia - The Plain of Jars.

 

Really, there are multiple plains of Jars, I was on a tour that saw three of them today, filled with these stone jars, some are only three or so feet high, others are massive, one measured up to 2.7 metres in height and was also suitably rotound. What is the secret? What aer they for? Som many jars - site one has some 300 plus. Well, to me and other in my group they seem like they were once tombs, that people weren't buried, but encased, as they once had lids. The age of these jars is said to be 2500-3000 years. A tradition that now appears a mystery. This is also the place to avoid the tourists, the jars only see 3000 a year. However, this area has a more recent and violent history that affects it to this day...

The area surrounding Phonsovan and incorporating the plain of jars was heavily bombed by the US from 1964 to 1973. There was more than 1.3 million tonnes of ordnance dropped on this region. This means land mines, bombs and cluster bombs, the size of a tennis ball which explode outwards spreading shrapnel everywhere. They estimate over 30% did not explode. So now they litter the countryside and could explode when enough downward pressure is used (ie people walk on them). It affects farming, destroys families. Why the US cared so much about LAOS going communist is a bigger mystery than Vietnam. A country that only recently reached 6 million in population whose majority are farmers. Poor, subsistence living by people who are warm hearted and Buddhist. So any answers???
A group called MAG works tirelessly clearing landmins and bombs from this area. They do amazing work.
http://www.maginternational.org/laopdr
This is a link, please follow it. This country is amazing. I love it. Highly recommend Lao to anyone.... Until next time!

Lazy Little Luang Prabang

Time goes by... apparently. Where it went, I'm not sure. But here I am in a new country - Laos. Whereas Vietnam is teeming with people - around 85 million, Laos sits next door, a little smaller, with a mere 6 million. Yes, this means it is quieter! And in my old age I am appreciating the quieter moments in life these days.

I hobbled into town flying Lao Airlines - formerly Lao Aviation with a pretty, ummm, poor safety reputation. But the little AT7 touched down in a cute little airport not far from Luang Prabang where visas are issued and paid for, passports are stamped and that's, well, about all.

The town itself is sleepy and possibly has more (white) tourists than locals. Things tend to close rather early - banks at three, museum at 4pm (although wouldn't let me in at 3.45pm). The temples here, as seen in one of the photos, are known as Wats. I have visited a few, including one atop a hill that overlooks Luang Prabang and I nearly died climbing. It's 100 metres high you know! The weather here has been 35 in the day and humid, which has been knocking me about and the exact opposite of my last week or so in Vietnam.

The Mekong river (see first and last photos) flows through Luang Prabang, joining with the Nam Khan river here in town. The town is sleepy day and even night, although there is a bit of a party section where you can have a few beers and be offered opium and any other drug you'd like to name. Good luck to you if you do and it turns out they are bad. I sometimes think I am getting old. So many young partiers out on the backpacking 'circuit' now. On my last night in Hanoi I discovered 'Hanoi Backpackers' with mostly Backpacking staff, lots of beers, people a lot younger than I and the game 'Beer Pong'. You have to throw a ping pong ball into cups of beer. It's apparently harder than it sounds, I didn't see one ball land in the beer. If it does land in the beer, I suppose you drink. Or the opposition does. Can't say I cared.

The above photo is inside the Pak Ou caves. I took a trip along the Mekong today in a boat - not the one pictured below. We passed that. More stair climbing was in order, and as you can see the caves are and have been used for worship since the 19th century I think it said. They don't hold your hand here like in Vietnam - off the boat, go see it, get back in 30 minutes. In case ye reader is interested, one of the bars had an 'Ethnik Fashion' Show on two nights back where clothes from different Lao tribes were shown to the audience. It was pretty interesting all said.

So tomorrow I aim to beat the heat and head out to a waterfall where much swimming can be had! Now, I think adopting the siesta approach to life makes a lot of sense...

Halong Bay

Howdy folks. Back in Hanoi for a day after visiting the beautiful Halong Bay. Well, the trip was okay, not everything I had hoped for but nothing ever is, right? RIGHT?

This here is the Imperial Cruise, the boat that would take me and others around the large area known as Halong Bay, in the north of Vietnam. Giant rocks protude from the water. It's eerie and beautiful at the same time. Perfect place to hide a boat if you planned to attack, and over the years many people have, French and Americans included. Unfortunately the weather was still cold, and with a wind chill factor over the ocean... well, I was one of a few to wake up on day two with a nasty cold.

The islands, rocks, waters are full of some interesting sites. Above are some caves we visited. Breathtaking really, beautifully lit for the tourists, giant caverns. A special place where the French and Americans hid at different times. The downside in the area are the tourists. So many of them everywhere, all pretty much following the same itinerary - which on reflection is an issue all through Vietnam. You arrive on a boat - all rather similar. The Imperial Cruise was a great boat, great staff, very comfortable cabins, the best bathroom I have had in Vietnam. Food was good and way too much to finish too!

So anyways, you have lunch, you see the caves, you go kayaking, have dinner... Day Two! The point is it's all standardised and leaves you wandering if there's a tour company out there doing anything different.

As you can see this cove and many similar boats. Day two was an issue. Bike riding on a special part of Cat Ba Island, the biggest island in the region, took us to a village called Viet Hai where Oreos and Coke were for sale. Naturally! :) But in fairness the villagers have such a limited choice in how to make money.

This is a view from behind the village. Actually, most of Vietnam is a lot cleaner than this. It was when we arrived at the hotel in Cat Ba Town  that things sort of fell apart. 1st of April is the opening of the tourist season. So all week long there is a festival in Cat Ba town. Tents adorning Ho Ch Minh  - was he also the founder of tourism in Vietnam? And LOUD LOUD music all night. Well, in fairness, it stopped at 1.30am and didn't resume until 5.45 am, just over four hours later! So no sleep for me. I was on Open Tours Vietnam, a fairly reputable company, but anyone coming to Halong Bay should definitely ask as many questions of their tour operator as possible because a bad night's sleep, compunded with a bad cold, does not make Andrew a happy boy. Especially as there were bungalows available in a secluded part of the island which would have been mega blissful. I thought in choosing the hotel I had made the better choice, but you need to be armed with all the facts!

A beautiful place though, Halong Bay. Cloud cover for the whole time was very disapointing though. In a few hours though, I say good bye to Vietnam, and hello to... Laos!

Hanging in Hanoi

Yes, sorry about the continuous silly titles, but I try to spice it up somehow. I am in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, as you may well have guessed, at the moment. Whilst a few days I was sweating like crazy, today I am not. It is damned cold here - well around 15 degree maximums. 

What can I tell you about Hanoi? It's got more bikes that Ho Chi Minh City for a start - and that's a LOT! The pollution is really noticeable here. My hotel in centred in the 'historic' old town. Lots of narrow alleys and motorbikes blocking your way. 

Lovely lake (pipctured below) known as the 'Returned Sword Lake'. It's am Athurian style legend that Heaven gave the Emperor many centuries ago a sword that that helped him defeat the attacking Chinese. A giant turtle or tortoise took it back at some point. The lake has walking paths all around it and where lovers talk and tourists snap. Interesting little temple on the island too.

 But Hanoi isn't all lakes and swords. No sir. I was up in time to get to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum yesterday. A long line of people queue up and slowly shuffle into the mausoleum where Ho Chi Minh's preserved body lies for all to see. A very... different sort of tourist attraction. He doesn't look the best to be honest, then again he died in 1969. However, his beard is very well preserved.
Below pictured is his museum where you can learn about the man at the head of Vietnamese independence. Again a rather skewed look at history, but interesting none the less. The Hoa Lo Prison Museum also shows a pro-Vietnamese version of events. The French kept political prisoners here in horrible squaller, whilst when the Vietnamese used it to hold POWs they were the most humane of captors you can imagine. Yes well, you'd have to ask the American pilots kept there.

Below is a street from the Old Town

 

So just a few more days left in Vietnam, including a trip to the much heralded Halong Bay. Unfortunately the weather won't be as warm as I would like, but still, it should prove rather spectacular... more when I return!

Hoi An and the throngs....

So. You know when you say you are going to Vietnam, people think kinda that's a bit off the track? Well, they are so totally wrong. I am here in Hoi An, the touristy touristy town that it is. This place is swamped. Okay, it's kinda on an inlet, but the tourists are everywhere! Okay, to my shame I am a tourist. I take photos and see the sights. And in fairness, it's a nice little plce with cute streets.

Vietnam is a curious entity for sure. There are a lot of tourists here, there are a lot of hotels, restaurants and bars. Far too many still for the tourists. They are competing big time with each other for a few thousand dong (the local currency). Okay, the hotel numbers aren't so bad, many are booked out here and there, but the restaurants - I don't know how they survive.

Walking around the old town of Hoi An - wait no, I rented a ricketey old bike which was great - so riding around the old town I had to screech to a halt regularly to avoid ploughing into groups of French tourists numbering 25-30 who were taking up the entire road from left to right. What can I say? There are a limited number of sights here from historical homes to 'Assembly Halls' (looking curiously like temples/pagodas) so it's hard to escape.

This morning I went to My Son, a Unesco listed site dating back to the Eighth Century. Full of tourists (including me I am not hiding). Well, it is Angkor's poor poor cousin. Who was really poor, and then got bombed by Americans. The best of it is the third picture I have included today. Still, something to see hey. And MUCH cheaper than Angkor.

Tomorrow I start my fifteen hour journey by bus to Hanoi. I have around a week left in Vietnam and then will be mosying on over to Laos. So for now....

River at Hoi An, opposite side featuring fishing boats

Dragon at the Cantonese Assembly Hall, Hoi An.

The best presevered temple at My Son, 25km from Hoi An. And some throngs.

Hue... to go!

Hey folks, just arrived in Hoi An from Hue. It's a bit of a back track but the hotels here were full so I pushed on to Hue and then went south to Hoi An.

Looks like my blog is being difficult too! Well Hue is really a nice little place. I liked it a lot. I arrived over quite a daring train journey from Nha Trang. The line is elevated along cliffs and the coast and you look straight down out of the window to see the raging sea crashing on the rocks. It was really cold the day I arrived too, this weather is very unusual. I was rugged up in my thermals, and used my sleeping bag and two blankets the first night.

The next day I visited the citadel, pictured above. It is huge, this is just the first section. It goes on and on and on! Some of it restored, some of it still in ruins, and if you go back far enough into the complex you hit something very unexpected - a tennis court!

By yesterday it had warmed up and was over 30 degrees again. I took a long day tour on boat and bus to see some places of interest. This was not our boat, this one carried, well, dirt. I caught a martial arts display which was very impressive (I entered with cycnicism too!). When a guy can crush mutliple ceramic tiles with his forehead, you have to be impressed right? Okay, so our tour guide spoke too fast and departed too much information to take in, but it was a good day.

This photo is of the first tomb we saw - that of Minh Mang. Similar to the citadel, it was still very impressive. More so as it rested on it's side.

It was tombs tombs tombs in the afternoon as my energy level fell. I was hacked! But at least I got to see the beautiful tomb of Tu Doc, its expansive gardens and grounds. Before I knew it it was today and I was on the bus to Hoi An. The journies continue! Vietnam is continuing to prove and amazing place to travel. Easy travel, beautiful, wonderful warm people. On the first of April I will be heading to Laos. So just ten days left in this amazing country.....



Photos of Dalat and Nha Trang

The Valley of Love, near Dalat.

Small train at Dalat station that took us up the hill and back.

Hills and greenhouses around Dalat.

Beach at Nha Trang.

Beach at Nha Trang - the weather is stormy now!

Na na na Nha Trang!

Yes folks it's time for another blog update.
I am now in Hue and I couldn't connect to blogger for some reason the other day but now I have!
I didn't do a lot in Nha Trang. I took it easy. It's the sort of place for doing that. Unfortunately the weather didn't want to help! Rain and cold for two of the four days. It's a pity because the beach is actually nice. There was some decent food there and a few nice bars and some really friendly people who kindly showed me around on the standard back of motorbikes. It's pretty touristy but I guess these days most of Vietnam is.
Next time I will try and fill my dear devoted readership in on Hue and provide some photos. Until then....

.... Different (?) Dalat

Getting away from the smoke and heat of HCMC was good. Dalat is up in the hills and is a fair bit cooler than HCMC, and with a comfortable room there there was little to complain about as I took in the footage of ravaged Japan and contemplated whether I will still be heading there. - answer, undecided.

Dalat has a lovely little narrow guage railway up to a pagoda which I enjoyed riding, and yesterday I did a city tour that took me on a cable car to yet another pagoda. Yes, there are a lot of pagodas here in Vietnam! After that there were other things of interest. A small 'roller coaster' went down a hill driven by gravity to the foot of a pretty little waterfall. Then it took me back up! Meeting some really friendly people, Vietnam is easy to travel around in and very friendly so I am giving it the thumbs up thus far, touch wood!

Then the tour took me to a palce called the 'Valley of Love'. Hard to explain... full of animal statues, swings, a lake, a chance to dress in traditional costume for photos.. quite a bizarre little place indeed. Still, the locals love it, it provides a cavalcade of photo opportunities.

I saw a few other things, but they were the more memorable ones. I have just arrived in Nha Trang, a beachside town where it's mid to high twenties and I plan to read and relax and write a bit even whilst I am here, and probably little else. See all you faithful readers in a few days!

Life, in Ho Chi Minh City

Tanks outside the Remnants of War Museum.
Bikes whizz pass as people play draughts in the street.

A form of hacky-sack played with shuttle cocks, played every evening in the parks.

Telecommunication madness.

Life in HCMC.

Ho Chi Minh City is a special sort of place really. Wide boulevards with trees and parks, life always on the go. More motorbikes than you can poke a stick at (which would be needlessly dangerous anyways), tourist hotels that bend over backwards for you... I heard some say they were bored by HCMC, others hated it. Not I, I found a certain affinity with the place in my four days there.

Now I am in Dalat, seven and a half hours by bus to the north-east, where last night I was greeted by horrible sights from Japan where I am due to visit next month. Will have to keep an eye on that situation. But for now let's talk HCMC.

As the photos testify it is quite a place. Craziness mixed in with a sort of calm, and a very chique and well air conditioned mall that I stumbled upon the other day! The wiring leaves a bit to be desired, that's he telecomunications that you can see in the picture. The power seems to be much safer, and indeed no black outs whilst I was in HCMC.

I braved the buses, the backs of motorbikes. I saw temples/pagodas, the reunification palace and the Church of Notre Dame. I spoke to a lot of locals, and partook in karaoke. The Daddy of them all though was the War Remnants Museum.

A somewhat biased account of the war that ravaged Vietnam from the early fifties through to 1975, it just goes to show the victors write the history. Some very confronting things in this museum too, a whole exhibit on the victims of agent Orange. Not for those with a weak stomach, there a photos of those affected both at the time and those born later. Why such a thing would be used (primarily to clear jungle) defies understanding. Anyone who says 'they didn't know the affects'.... that's a poor excuse for an excuse.

A moving exhibit as well to photographers/journalists who covered the conflict but didn't survive it. Whilst I was there a dignitary from Paraguay was also being shown the exhibits. Wonder what he made of it all. Outside the building stood planes and tanks, all American. Inside were the occasional bomb shells, all American. Interesting that all the remnants were American. It suggested the North Vietnamese didn't drop a bomb or do anything wrong...

But still. There you have it. I walked around HCMC and even did a Cu Chi tour without really thinking about the fact that 36 years ago this place was ending a horrible war that is burned into the memories of anyone involved and many more on that.

Yesterday I took a bus up to the highlands here - a place called Dalat. I have an extremely comfortable room and was last night transfixed to BBC World watching a disaster I can still on guess at the scale of. What a world we live in.

Venturing to Vietnam!

So here I am in Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City, sometimes still known as Saigon.

I should start a couple of days back. On Sunday, still in Singapore, I ventured to the Changi Museum, remembering the second world war as it was in Singapore, and the prison that was used by the Japanese to intern anyone they thought might cause them trouble. In short, a nice little museum, small, but effective. I was expecting to see a few more grizzly sights, but thankfully it was more contained. Interesting but I felt I wanted to learn more about the occupation which seemed to occur extremely swiftly on the back of people not believing the Japanese would actually come to Singapore.

Onwards and upwards. I found myself on a Tiger Airways flight after very little sleep from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City (hereafter referred to as HCMC) early Monday morning. Before I knew it it were we down in HCMC, an airport built right next to houses. I am looking down seeing the residential area thinking we are awfully close to them, a fence and we are down on the tarmac.

HCMC is quite a place. Unique in its own special way, it is certainly set up for backpackers. I have a lovely room on the sixth floor of this hotel, and the only thing missing is a lift! Aircon, double bed, fridge, TV... all I need. All the tours, buses and trains can be booked through here too, not to mention Visas for onward travel if needed. Outside it is backpacker central. Is that a good thing? Possibly... restaurants are overpriced for sure. But then I spent 8 dollars on burger chips and two drinks and thats not outrageous is it?

It's an area where people walk down the street and ply their wares. Sunglasses, photocopied Lonely Planets for very cheap prices and massages in the evening in your chair.

Yesterday I journied out on a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels and a strange temple in Tay Ninh. The 'Great Cao Dai Holy See' is dedicated to the mostly unknown religion 'Cao Dai' formed over 100 years ago recogizing an alliance between Victor Hugo, a Vietnamese poet and a Chinese revolutionary. It is a Christian sect. As a service took place the tourists, including a shameful me, piled in and watched and took photos. Many climbed up to the balconies to get a better view of the chanting and bowing. I tried to stand back at the back and justify this intrusion. How would one feel in a church in Australia if people came in and took photos? Hmmm.....

The Cu Chi tunnels are a group of tunnels stretching up to 200km, based around the area of Cu Chi, a little way out of HCMC. They were used in the.... "American War" as it's known here. I mean, the Vietnamese can hardly call it the Vietnam war can they?

Well, there are a range of things to see in the complex. I walked along the tunnel for about 15 metres but it's very cramped. Only about 1.2 metres high so very hunched over. They are at least twice the size now that they were in the 60s, as the VietCong used them to escape the opposition, or to pop out and suprise them. We also were shown a series of deadly traps used involving spikes. Amazing how many ways spikes can be used in a hidden hole in the ground. We also saw what life was like underground. Bomb shells from the Americans, and if you were keen, which I wasn't, you could fire off a few rounds from various guns. Shoulders optional, afterwards that is...

So more to follow. About to venture out into HCMC and see a few places today. So far I have only good things to say about Vietnam. Friendly, easy to get about, fairly clean streets too which I admit to not expecting! Very different from Singapore.... Photos when I get a chance, doesn't appear to be an attachment on this computer.

Singapore & the Future

So I am now into my fourth big day of the big trip.

It has already gone too fast for my liking!

Singapore has always been a strange entity to me. I never felt I understood it and I still don't. Where as Dubai and cities like it are built up from the influx of oil money, Singapore, a thriving metropolis with efficient public transport and many many more malls than Dubai, has always been a centre of commerce, built up over less than 200 years.

It's business that has made the city grow over time, and location has helped too. Riding the public transport here, the MRT, I saw first hand that technology is king. Everyone has some sort of device - or two - on their person, and they are incredibly absorbed in it. Getting a smile from someone on the MRT is like getting lemon juice from a nuclear reactor. Hmmm, I am king of the pointless analogies!

Still, I've been trying to spread the love and smiles with little success here. Apparently the mobile phone saturation is 140% in Singapore. That's more than 1 per person, and when you take into account the very young and the very old don't have one... yes well. Then there are the DVD and video file players, and little things to play games on... if technology went down tomorrow, so would everyone in Singapore.

Nevertheless, despite my constant musings on life in Singapore I have done a few little things since I have been here. There is some sort of resort island here called Sentosa. I took a ridiculously high cable car ride to get there. It passed over a giant cruise ship with well over 100 metres to spare. The island has many things of interest. A giant lion, Universal Studios things like that espeically built for the tourist.

I've seen many a mall, Clarke Quay, the hip entertainment district, found an old karaoke bar I visited in 2006 only to find it now full of hookers much to my chagrin. Marina Bay is nice, I decided to lie down there for a quick relax and was told by security that was strictly vorboden. Orchard road and its many underpasses left me giddy because of the number of people. All in their little digital worlds.

Please understand, Singaporeans are not rude or unfriendly. They just seem locked into their own little worlds.

Perhaps this is the future. And me travelling without a mobile...

This is all very familiar!

Hello folks hello folks!
The next big trip has begun! I am down safely in Singapore!
I have been having those pangs of worry (not mention an absoultely crazy lead-up week that I wasn't sure I would survive) about whether, at 35 I could still do this. Perhaps now I was the sort of traveller who could only stay in comfortable air conditioned digs with cable tv and room service. Hmmmm that sounds good right now...
but I digress!

Here I am in Ali's Nest, basically a homestay in a home.... ok that was obvious.... behind a sign that denotes some sort of trading company. Yes, no actual sign pointing out that this is the place. I have a cupboard with a fan and a padlock to keep the door closed. But this is just about the cheapest single room in all of Singapore, the boss is a nice guy and really friendly, and really it's all you need! The only thing that irks me is that I have to unplug the fan to charge my batteries!

So this is the first stop, we are under way! Vietnam beckons on Monday, there's some Laos, Japan, China... a lot of Asia as you can see!
so
to let you in on the preview - such as it is, around five and a half months of travel ahead, then to the Republic of Georgia, all going well, fingers crossed and touch wood, to teach English for three months.
Suppose I should learn to speak and write English first.......

My arm, the pin cushion

Yes today the immunisations started. My left arm is very sore indeed. Ahhh this is the sign that departure is not far away.

Preparations are in full swing. Eight days ago I didn't have my passport, today I have three visas - Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Cameroon. So that give you, dear reader, a hint as to some of the places I am visiting in this 2011 adventure. Three weeks to go now...

The Frustrations of getting one single Visa

So here I am, late January 2011. Yes, in just over a month - on the 3rd of March - I am heading off again for more fun and highjinx. Seems like all of a sudden I have 100,000 things to do and no time to do them in. I will be starting in Singapore, venturing to Vietnam, Laos and beyond...

So the blogs start up again. But I am blogging today in utter frustration about the time it has taken to get my visa for Kazakhstan!

Now I need to preface this by saying that the Kazakh Consulate has been fantastic and this is in no way their fault. It has been postal and courier services that have done my head in.

No Kazakh consulate in Australia (that processes visas I should add) so I needed to send my passport to Singapore where there is a consulate.

This I did on the 24th of December. It is the 28th of January today. I still have not got my passport back!

So needless to say.... Not happy Jan. I need four visas before I leave Australia - Kazakhstan, Cameroon, Vietnam and China. I gave myself over two months to get them. I still haven't got one and I have one month to go!

I followed up my passport arrival with the consulate. By the 9th of January they still hadn't received it. So I went to Australia Post who confirmed it left the country on the 28th of December. 11 days in Singapore and it hadn't been delivered to the consulate? So I had to call Singapore Post. Well, I tried tracking by their website first and that drew a blank. Then I called them and they said they tried to deliver it on the 3rd of January, no-one was there so they left a note and took it back to the PO.

Except that they left the note in a big building with various companies etc and the note was never received. The passport remained in Singpost without them trying to redeliver or contact anyone for a week and a half.

Mid-January now and they finally redeliver after I had called them and they had found it. Around a week to process, which is decent time, and my friend picks it up and mails it to me on the 24th January express post. They use TNT to deliver on their express post items, a courier company.

Yesterday at 1.10pm no-one is home when they try to deliver it. It is the middle of a working day. So I get the note and they take the passport back to their depot at Melbourne Airport. I call today. They are on strike today. There is a picket line outside their depot and anyways Melbourne Airport is 90 minutes drive minimum away and I have work soon. There will be a backlog due to the strike. It seems unlikely I will get my passport back before Tuesday 1st February.

I call this a nightmare. There's no doubt that this is the longest I have ever had to wait to get a visa. All I can do is wait. I have everything ready for the Cameroon visa the day I get my passport back. Fingers crossed....

Not the ideal way to start the trip. Of course, it hasn't officially started.

And no, I don't have time to get the visa whilst I am in Singapore! (there for four days, 2 of them weekend)

Photos from the Simien Mountains

Finally I have put up some photos from the breathtaking Simien Mountains in Ethiopia. Hope you all enjoy!

We trek, cattle graze

The trekking path to the left, road to the right.

Scouts are mandatory in the Simiens. They come with you as you trek. Nice guy. Keeps us safe from any animals.

First day of the trek. Packs, cooking gear and food loaded onto one of our trusty mules, dubbed "francis the talking mule".

Photos from Gondar

Here is the second installment of 'Photos I would have uploaded at the time if it were possible'. Yes, bit of a mouthful.

These tell the story of my visit to the town of Gondar - a bit of a hassley place by Ethiopian standards (read compared to Egypt quiet and serene) but an interesting place. Guess you'll have to scroll back a few posts to find out all about it!

Street in Gondar. There were a lot of 'ramshackle shacks' that were being lived in.

View of Gondar from a nearby hill.

King Fasil's baths - every epiphany they are filled (the bottom section) and people are baptised in their hundreds, if not more.

Castle inside the Gondar citadel, pretty much in central Gondar.

Next I have to upload photos from the Simien Mountains trek. That will be a challenge - so many photos and I have to choose five or six!

Photos from Lalibela

Cactus along the main road, Lalibela

Well safely home in sunny warm Melbourne now, I have the chance to finally add photos from Ethiopia - in stages mind you. I present six photos I took from Lalibela in this installment - more to come from the trip soon!

Church at Lalibelia (St Mercurius?)

Bet Griyorius (Church of St George)

Roads to the churches

Bet Maryam (Church of St Mary)

Priest inside Bet Medhane Alem

Bahir Dar back to Addis Ababa

Hey there folks
Well I'm in Addis Ababa again, and in less than 24 hours I will be on a flight home to sunny Melbourne!
In the last few days I travelled from Gondar to Bahir Dar, a warmish town on the shores of the rather large lake Tana. I visited the Blue Nile Falls from there, which were gushing at quite a rate. Sometimes they are pretty weak thanks to a hydro plant there, but for us they were certainly magnificant. Unfortunately no photos as yet.
The next day I took a boat on Lake Tana to the Zege Peninsula which is heavily forested - a bit of a jungle. We saw some monkies swinging in the trees and also visited a monastary after passing more souvineer stands than one could poke a stick at.
Yesterday I took a 5.30am bus to Addis Ababa from Bahir Dar which was pretty comfortable and arrived at around 3.30pm. When I get back to Melbourne I will write more - I want to write about this amazing country in general, and of course post many pictures!
Au Revoir until then!

Star trekking, across the Simiens... (part two)

DAY TWO
Gich Camp to Chenek (3600m) - 22km
Gich Camp was on a plateau akin to something from a far off moon. It was mostly short grass with these amazing trees that looked like part cactus (not prickly) and part palm tree, called the Lobelia. The mountains were all covered in some unique and different flowers as well.
We had two challenging climbs today, the first was to the peak of Imet Gogo, 3920 metres above sea level.
I pushed myself and felt a bit better. The last section to the peak was a bit of a scramble over rocks, and I was fairly exhausted by the time I reached the top. Magnificant views, peaks one way, smaller mountains all around. What a special place.
Off we went downhill, and then up again to the next peak. Less than halfway up my body started to tell me this was too much. I was nausius and the result was predictable. Better out than in right?
Yes. Our lunch was watched by the most common bird of these parts - the thinkbilled raven. A very odd looking bird indeed, almost completely black, like a raven but with the long bill of an African parrot.
I was feeling better and marched on to the top of Natia - at 4070 metres above sea level the highest point we would reach (the highest in all the Simiens is Ras Dashen at over 4200 metres). That felt like an achievement and the rest of the walk was mostly downhill to Chenek Camp. It was a little hairy though - along the tops of sloping cliffs at times!
This camp was much nicer, had a stream nearby and also many more trees. We had a fire too which we really should have had the first night. Helped enormously as the temperature dipped to about zero again.

DAY THREE - 3-11-09
Chenek to Sankabar Camp (3000m) 21km
Day three and I started to feel much better. I could take air into my lungs and climbing became easier, I was moving a lot faster, I presume I was adjusting to the altitude.
The walk was perhaps less memorable, and slightly more downhill than up, certainly the easiest of the days. We paused on occasion to see the Walia Ibex - a special sort of antler or deer endemic to the region. They seem to like to sides of moutains particularly. Saw some in a pack, but often in ones or twos.
Sankabar Camp was the busiest by far of all the camps. We had a couple of big groups there and a plethora of tents. These people were doing it mostly by bus though! However, our fire was the one popular with the locals. At one point we had about four or five scouts around it with their rifles - too bad if the jackals went for the group of 13 Germans...

DAY FOUR - 4-11-09
Sankabar to Debark (2800m) - 22km
The road winds back to Debark from Sankabar and is about 36km in distance. Our guide took us a shorter route. This could only be done one way however, instead of going around the mountain peaks, we went over them. And quite a few. It challenged the second day as the most difficult. The sun was beating down and there was little shade.
One group who'd been at Sankabar went with us to the first peak and then returned. They passed us on the road and waved from their minibus. We were not amused.
Early in the day we got really close to a group of Gelada Baboons. There was thirty or forty in some sort of family pack, it was the highlight of the day.
We kept going down then up again. The sun was murder, even though I was 98% covered. I applied cream after cream but soon I was burning on my ears and face. It went on and on, the scenery was less interesting, and more and more kids ran up to us cheerfully yelling 'Hello!' and asking for pens. The last hill to Debark was almost it. So very very steep, it was possibly the hardest twenty minutes of my life.
As we rejoined the road into town with 15 minutes of walking left, a bus stopped and offered us a free lift. Where was he three hours earlier??? No way, I was going to finish this. As I walked through the market I was in delrium, yelling hello to everyone like I'd just returned from war. The hotel was the sweetest site ever - Debark is very flat, but the hotel at four floors stands above with pride.
It was probably the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. 79 kilometres. The downs were in some ways has hard as the ups - very steep.
But I did it. Not for the enjoyment, but for the achievement.

Whew.
I now have a very nice hotel tonight in Gondar with multiple jets in the shower.
I earnt it.

Trekking the Simiens Part One

Hello folks of the world!
I am here in Gondar with internet for the first time in nearly a week. Somehow I survived. Let me tell you the story of the trek through the Simien Mountains I have just completed.

Unfortunately pictures seem not possible at this stage the computers here do not read my card unfortunately.

Day 0 : 31-10-09
Gondar to Debark
In preparation for the trip we left (that's myself and my two travel partners Graham and Nila) Gondar at around half past nine in the morning to head to Debark, at the foot of the Simien Mountains.
The bus was old, but left in good time and it was one person per seat. This didn't last, and a supposed three hour trip turned into five and a half hours. Through slum like villages but beautiful hills we rolled. People filling up the aisle, bags, baby vomit.... oh we had the works.
In Debark we ventured to the Simiens National Park Office to organise our trek for the next day. We needed - a guide, cook, scout (to protect us from naughty animals), and transport to the camp of Sankabar, from where we would start our trekking. Suddenly I turned around and all these people were already assembled! We bought some food earlier in Gondar and them some more with our cook in Debark, organised a tent and sleeping matresses as well as cooking equipment and we were one night's sleep awaay from the trek of a lifetime.

Day the One: Sankabar (3000m) to Gich Camp (3600) - 14km

I'll not lie - I was feeling decidedly seedy at 6am when I woke to start the trek. The hotel's toast was not an inspiring breakfast either. I sat in the bus, which I had understood was just for our crew, but they were giving lifts to others as well. At Sankabar we hired mules which would carry all our things over the mountains to our camp spot for the night. Our main packs, food, tent etc. There is nothing really out on the mountains so we had to take everything with us.
The trek began by nine thirty am with everything sorted. The views were amazing. The mountains are very green but not highly vegetated. There is a lot of wheat, grass and eucalyptus trees abound it seem here and all over Ethiopia.
We saw a waterfall and I soon got a stark reality of how it was to climb at altitude. Up one very steep hill I could barely breath, and was barely moving at all. Locals live in the Simiens and feed off the tourists. Suddenly a man was offering me a horse. NO! No way. Not so early. I pushed on.
The afternoon walk was easier, more downhill and flat. We had not had a lunch prepared though and had just eaten empty bread rolls. Not so good.
The last section was a long climb to Gich Camp. And boy was it hard on me. I started to feel very dizzy, and when I finally got there I was extremely light headed and blacked out for a fraction of a second. After some popcorn I scored a goal in a small football game the local kids were playing.
The temperature had dropped now (18ish during the day) and it was incredibly cold. Three people in a small tent kept us warm. Toilets were a fair distance downhill (and not pleasant) it was almost a mini-trek to get back up. One day over, three left!