Ahhh... no time to craft this one, I'm just gonna blurt it all out.
In Saigon / Ho Chi minh city, hanging with Emma and luke. It is SO GOOD to see old friends I tell ya... I think I'm over travelling alone. Except in India, cause in India MAGIC HAPPENS!! Can't wait to get there on Monday, it's going to feel like coming home I bet...
So, Em and Luke are teaching English here, making sheeeetloads of money and spending very little (this is the cheapest place I've found in SE Asia). They are staying out in Tan Binh near the airport, a local district where other foreigners are as rare as hen's teeth. We saw another guy last night in the mall and both balked somewhat. Being the only forries means prices are local and don't get bumped up, and as a result I have been amazed at how cheap everything is. Beer for 50 cents (I'm converting to American dollars now after using their dollars in Cambodia), 'Pho' (delicious noodle soup) for 70 cents or so, a motorbike ride into the city for a couple of dollars... prices do vary somewhat but they are ridiculously cheap, especially considering how much English teachers can earn (LOTS!!). I'm seriously considering coming here myself after my travels in Europe this summer, although the pollution would get me down I think. However, I am noticing a marked difference on the motorbiikes after purchasing a baby blue face mask for 10 cents at the supermarket last night.
The FOOD is amazing. Rice noodle soups are common, and they come with a plate of Vietnamese mint and lettuce, and chilli sauces to flavour them with. MMM... this morning we had traditional pancakes - rice flour and eggs fried with mushrooms adn tofu inside (we got the vegie version) with mint and lettuce on the side again. Everything tastes so fresh and healthy, I love it...
The people are lovely too and I have not been scammed once, which is probably due to the fact that I'm not staying in the touristic area. Even there though, people are lovely. And how can I begrudge them bumping up their prices by a couple of dollars? This is a country that, like Cambodia, has been truly screwed over. I have just returned from the War Museum and the fact that the U.S took it as their right to 'save' the Vietnamese from Communism makes me boil inside. How frickin arrogant! I know it's years ago, but still, wars like Vietnam are still going on in other parts of the world... it's hard not to get cynical about it.
Another thing it's hard not to get cynical about it CLIMATE CHANGE. There are 4 million motorbikes on the streets every day here, and the pollution on the streets is horrid. It really puts into perspective how hopeful, optimistic and slightly naice New Zealand is when we talk about reduing our carbon emissisons. I mean, great! But how about Vietnam or China changing their ways? New Zealanders are small fish when it comes to the changes that need to happen. I'm glad we can do our bit, but after being here.... the problem seems MUCH bigger than simply turning off yoru lights when you leave the room... every little bit helps they say, but I for one wish that Siagon would sort itself out a decent public transport system... even Delhi has a metro now! I'm excited to use it...
I am TIRED though. I put my neck out whilst sleeping one night and received some really good acupuncture for it yesterday (ten bucks, plus seven for herbs). Lovely English speaking doctor, clean sterile premises and non-reusable needles. Plus I guess that after moving around wuite a lot since leving Thailand I' m actaully more physically exhausted than I realise, so it's been nice to just chill out at their hotel while they've worked...
That's enough for a while. Eloquence can wait. SO very tired and meeting Em for another shopping session soon, so going to go and recuperate for half an hour or so until then... much love to all xxxxx
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Getting my grump on in Phnom Penh
ARRIVAL
As a Western woman in Cambodia, you're likely to be festooned with calls of "laydeee, you want tuk-tuk?" wherever you walk. In Siem Reap, I found this quaint and friendyt enough, but in the gritty desperation of the capital, it's just downright frustrating.
My temper begins to fray as soon as our night-bus arrives in the city centre at 6 a.m on a Saturday. As if we are suddenly in India, we are confronted by a mob of tuk-tuk drivers wanting to whisk us away to a guesthouse of their choice and my usual patience evaporates as I struggle to even push through their swarm. At this hour, it feels worse than my beloved India and I am amazed at the difference between the two Khnmer cities.
My day gets worse as I realise my Vietnamese visa, needed for the following night-bus journey (shudder), is in fact invalid and I have to pay $US60 for a 24 hour rushed job, especially because it's a Saturday. Bastards! I tell myself it's only money and try to somehow get my grump OFF, but so far it doesn't seem promising...
LOSING IT
After a few hours sleep, I attempt to walk into town - a seemingly easy task - and notice a sea of pink blossoms falling swiftly over the dirty street. After whipping out my camera to catch it on film, I am obviously too distracted to aim correctly for my bag again and SMASH!!! My camera falls to the grubby pavement, breaking open before my disbelieving eyes. I am sorry Sam-girl - I know you said it was worth nothing when you gave it to me recently, but I still feel bad for my clumsiness. I have to laugh at the fact that my continual search to capture aesthetic beauty has only culminated in a lack of spatial awareness! Blimmen romantic...
It's only an old camera, I tell myself, and proceed to walk on, thinking I know the way. Well, after an hour of wrong turns and literally 50 tuk-tuk offers I accept that yes, I am in fact bloody LOST and accept a ride, before getting lost AGAIN and getting a second ride right to the door of my chosen restaurant, 'Friends' which employs ex street kids and teaches them hospo skills etc. I take one look at the menu in my hunger and thirst and one word stands out to me - MARGARITA!!! It is a pineapple and chilli number, and freakin' delicious if truth be told. Along with my Asian mango and rice noodle salad tapas, I'm pretty much in food heaven. I miss my band terribly right now though, wishing they were here and knowing that they would LOVE this. I realise I may in fact be tiring of travelling on my lonesome... hhhmmm...
NGO GOODNESS
In the city-guide that I picked up for free in a travel agency in one of my lost moments, I read about another NGO-esque business called 'Daughters of Cambodia', which this time focusses on offering girls involved in sex-trafficking new vocational choices. One of them, a lovely shy girl, gives me a great foot massage and I venture up to the third floor of their plush gift shop to watch a documentary about the Sisters programme, ending up crying at the plight of young girls whose families sell them off to have sex with strangers so they can support them! I heard somewhere that about 50% of sex-workers here are also HIV positive and leave 'Daughters' vowing to educate myself more on the plight of women and support such projects. Knowing that lots of wealthy male tourists come to Phnom Penh to buy sex from these girls makes me boil inside... This city certainly has a lot of good things going on, as did Siem Reap - it's just that Siem Reap was so much gentler on the soul than this capital city is...
A FAILED NIGHT OUT
Sure, I've been into a pretty pure lifestyle recently, but I've heard about the night life in this town and wish to sample some for myself - WISH being the operative word. I eat alone in a pretty average restaurant, stumble upon a Cambodian batucada band playing for free in the street and walk for ages trying to find the Led Zeppelin bar which is described as a must for music lovers, as the bar-man supposedly spins some rare B-sides from a classic era. I walk, and walk, consulting my map in the dim streetlight and avoiding dusky corners, but it's no good. I can't find my way around in this rabbit warren of a town, so I admit defeat yet again, and get a motorbike ride back to the hostel. Bit of a mixed day really - time to sleep it off I think...
DESOLATION ROW - THE GENOCIDE MUSEUM
After a breakfast of Salak Ko Kau Sop soup - a classic vege dish of eggplant, snake beans, bitter melon, pumpkin, jackfruit, papaya, green banana and veges (sound weird? It was amazing! and may change my view of Khmer food - Siem Reap's selections were pretty average really, but one thing I can say for the capital is that its eateries are impressive) I brace myself for a visit to Tuol Sleng, the school-turned-prison-turned-genocide museum set up to acknowledge the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge in 1975-9. I'm not looking forward to it at all, but go because I feel I should and that it'll help me understand just how dicked over this country has been.
It IS horrific. What shocks me the most is that this is a former high-school, which the Khmer Rouge outlawed (all people with glasses were executed because intellectual looking people were a bad thing, for crying out loud). The marks on the blackboards do not fit into this nightmarish place, and I notice some handwritten maths sums in pen on the wall above the bloodstains on the floor. This is as awful as Auschwitz, and maybe even more given that the crimes were so much more recent! And that the trials of the murderers are only now beginning to be brought into justice. One of the school/prison blocks has a floor of information about the perpetrators (besides "Brother Number One", Pol Pot, who died a few years back) and I am shocked to realise that each of the bastards has two or three lawyers defending them, at least one of these lawyers from the West! And I wonder who would ever stoop so low to defend such monsters.... I can't understand it...
In the grounds between the buildings is a tall metal pole that children used to exercise around before evil descended over the country. I read a plague and see photos of prisoners being tortured on this same pole and even have to avert my eyes from some of the photos as they are too terrible to behold. As well as the seas of faces of the victims and young soldier-puppets, and glass cases of bullet-holed skulls, it's pretty emotionally draining to say the least. They say that museums like this one are set up so we will never forget, but I wonder why similar things are going on in the world right now? Libya, Guantanamo, Iraq, Palestine-Israel... Was the annoyingly cynical London guy from my last guest house right in that he said conflict was an integral part of human nature and we'll always be fighting one another until the end of time? Will I ever believe this and turn cynical or hardened myself? Geez, I hope not... but this place shocks me as I see the pens the size of a small mattress that prisoners lay in before being tortured to death and watch videos of family members crying into the camera. I know that if I pass the pineapple-chilli margarita place on my way home that I'll be going in as this experience has been waaaaay too sobering.
RELIEF
Instead of this however, a foot massage will suffice and as I get pampered I read Lucretia Stewart's "Tiger Balm" about her experience of Indo-China in the 1990's. It's clear that tourism is good for this country - the numerous NGO's and yearly capital it brings in - and I'm glad I'm here to be a miniscule part of it. It's not been entirely pretty however...
As I write this I have a few hours left to wait until my bus journey to Vietnam. Cambodia has been both a delight and a torment. I do recommend it - Siem reap is one of the loveliest cities I've ever visited - and Phnom Penh could be fun I guess once you learnt to ignore the hustle and bustle and found a pack to kick around with. Right now though, I'm glad I'm going to meet up with some lovely friends - Luke and Emma - in Saigon and look forward to a whole week in their company...
As a Western woman in Cambodia, you're likely to be festooned with calls of "laydeee, you want tuk-tuk?" wherever you walk. In Siem Reap, I found this quaint and friendyt enough, but in the gritty desperation of the capital, it's just downright frustrating.
My temper begins to fray as soon as our night-bus arrives in the city centre at 6 a.m on a Saturday. As if we are suddenly in India, we are confronted by a mob of tuk-tuk drivers wanting to whisk us away to a guesthouse of their choice and my usual patience evaporates as I struggle to even push through their swarm. At this hour, it feels worse than my beloved India and I am amazed at the difference between the two Khnmer cities.
My day gets worse as I realise my Vietnamese visa, needed for the following night-bus journey (shudder), is in fact invalid and I have to pay $US60 for a 24 hour rushed job, especially because it's a Saturday. Bastards! I tell myself it's only money and try to somehow get my grump OFF, but so far it doesn't seem promising...
LOSING IT
After a few hours sleep, I attempt to walk into town - a seemingly easy task - and notice a sea of pink blossoms falling swiftly over the dirty street. After whipping out my camera to catch it on film, I am obviously too distracted to aim correctly for my bag again and SMASH!!! My camera falls to the grubby pavement, breaking open before my disbelieving eyes. I am sorry Sam-girl - I know you said it was worth nothing when you gave it to me recently, but I still feel bad for my clumsiness. I have to laugh at the fact that my continual search to capture aesthetic beauty has only culminated in a lack of spatial awareness! Blimmen romantic...
It's only an old camera, I tell myself, and proceed to walk on, thinking I know the way. Well, after an hour of wrong turns and literally 50 tuk-tuk offers I accept that yes, I am in fact bloody LOST and accept a ride, before getting lost AGAIN and getting a second ride right to the door of my chosen restaurant, 'Friends' which employs ex street kids and teaches them hospo skills etc. I take one look at the menu in my hunger and thirst and one word stands out to me - MARGARITA!!! It is a pineapple and chilli number, and freakin' delicious if truth be told. Along with my Asian mango and rice noodle salad tapas, I'm pretty much in food heaven. I miss my band terribly right now though, wishing they were here and knowing that they would LOVE this. I realise I may in fact be tiring of travelling on my lonesome... hhhmmm...
NGO GOODNESS
In the city-guide that I picked up for free in a travel agency in one of my lost moments, I read about another NGO-esque business called 'Daughters of Cambodia', which this time focusses on offering girls involved in sex-trafficking new vocational choices. One of them, a lovely shy girl, gives me a great foot massage and I venture up to the third floor of their plush gift shop to watch a documentary about the Sisters programme, ending up crying at the plight of young girls whose families sell them off to have sex with strangers so they can support them! I heard somewhere that about 50% of sex-workers here are also HIV positive and leave 'Daughters' vowing to educate myself more on the plight of women and support such projects. Knowing that lots of wealthy male tourists come to Phnom Penh to buy sex from these girls makes me boil inside... This city certainly has a lot of good things going on, as did Siem Reap - it's just that Siem Reap was so much gentler on the soul than this capital city is...
A FAILED NIGHT OUT
Sure, I've been into a pretty pure lifestyle recently, but I've heard about the night life in this town and wish to sample some for myself - WISH being the operative word. I eat alone in a pretty average restaurant, stumble upon a Cambodian batucada band playing for free in the street and walk for ages trying to find the Led Zeppelin bar which is described as a must for music lovers, as the bar-man supposedly spins some rare B-sides from a classic era. I walk, and walk, consulting my map in the dim streetlight and avoiding dusky corners, but it's no good. I can't find my way around in this rabbit warren of a town, so I admit defeat yet again, and get a motorbike ride back to the hostel. Bit of a mixed day really - time to sleep it off I think...
DESOLATION ROW - THE GENOCIDE MUSEUM
After a breakfast of Salak Ko Kau Sop soup - a classic vege dish of eggplant, snake beans, bitter melon, pumpkin, jackfruit, papaya, green banana and veges (sound weird? It was amazing! and may change my view of Khmer food - Siem Reap's selections were pretty average really, but one thing I can say for the capital is that its eateries are impressive) I brace myself for a visit to Tuol Sleng, the school-turned-prison-turned-genocide museum set up to acknowledge the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge in 1975-9. I'm not looking forward to it at all, but go because I feel I should and that it'll help me understand just how dicked over this country has been.
It IS horrific. What shocks me the most is that this is a former high-school, which the Khmer Rouge outlawed (all people with glasses were executed because intellectual looking people were a bad thing, for crying out loud). The marks on the blackboards do not fit into this nightmarish place, and I notice some handwritten maths sums in pen on the wall above the bloodstains on the floor. This is as awful as Auschwitz, and maybe even more given that the crimes were so much more recent! And that the trials of the murderers are only now beginning to be brought into justice. One of the school/prison blocks has a floor of information about the perpetrators (besides "Brother Number One", Pol Pot, who died a few years back) and I am shocked to realise that each of the bastards has two or three lawyers defending them, at least one of these lawyers from the West! And I wonder who would ever stoop so low to defend such monsters.... I can't understand it...
In the grounds between the buildings is a tall metal pole that children used to exercise around before evil descended over the country. I read a plague and see photos of prisoners being tortured on this same pole and even have to avert my eyes from some of the photos as they are too terrible to behold. As well as the seas of faces of the victims and young soldier-puppets, and glass cases of bullet-holed skulls, it's pretty emotionally draining to say the least. They say that museums like this one are set up so we will never forget, but I wonder why similar things are going on in the world right now? Libya, Guantanamo, Iraq, Palestine-Israel... Was the annoyingly cynical London guy from my last guest house right in that he said conflict was an integral part of human nature and we'll always be fighting one another until the end of time? Will I ever believe this and turn cynical or hardened myself? Geez, I hope not... but this place shocks me as I see the pens the size of a small mattress that prisoners lay in before being tortured to death and watch videos of family members crying into the camera. I know that if I pass the pineapple-chilli margarita place on my way home that I'll be going in as this experience has been waaaaay too sobering.
RELIEF
Instead of this however, a foot massage will suffice and as I get pampered I read Lucretia Stewart's "Tiger Balm" about her experience of Indo-China in the 1990's. It's clear that tourism is good for this country - the numerous NGO's and yearly capital it brings in - and I'm glad I'm here to be a miniscule part of it. It's not been entirely pretty however...
As I write this I have a few hours left to wait until my bus journey to Vietnam. Cambodia has been both a delight and a torment. I do recommend it - Siem reap is one of the loveliest cities I've ever visited - and Phnom Penh could be fun I guess once you learnt to ignore the hustle and bustle and found a pack to kick around with. Right now though, I'm glad I'm going to meet up with some lovely friends - Luke and Emma - in Saigon and look forward to a whole week in their company...
Friday, March 25, 2011
More of the journey: Siem Reap, Cambodia
I will leave Siem Reap tonight for Phnom Penn and have a whole sweltering afternoon to kill, so thought it might be time to update this thing. Especially considering this hostel has free internet. They also fill up my water bottle for free too, bless them. I mean, I would be happy to pay, but if I can avoid buying another plastic bottle then I will. I did buy a 'life straw' before I came but it's proving to be quite awkward to drink through - I will persist when I get to a place I will stay in for a while, perhaps Ho Chi Minh....
Anyhoo, I spent two days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat, Stunning, mostly, although I have to say I found the main one the least impressive. Perhaps it was the sheer amount of people there, or something about the layout but it didn't do much for me. It did have some amazing reliefs etched into the ancient walls however - a depiction from the Ramayana and another relief depicts "The churning of the sea of milk", where gods and demons alike assist the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea as Vishnu sees fit. Quite impressive really. These temples were originally Hindu and it's interesting to note the number of old decapitated Hindu statues as the Buddhists allegedly lopped the heads off of rival gods.
Ta Promh temple was pretty striking however, with trees growing up amongst the concrete ruins. The scene of part of 'Tomb Raider' with Angelina J (which I've never seen by the way), it is pretty awesome and I could imagine guerrillas running from the enemy and protecting the temple jewels...
Even more impressive however is 'Bayon', a temple which features 200 odd faces carved into stone of Lokesvara (รก lord who looks down', basically a bodhisattvsa)'. I take so many photos and wander around in circles for quite a while, covering the same ground but never tiring of the scenery.
We go to a temple 'Banteay Srei' which is far-out in terms of impressiveness as well as distance if that makes sense... It is 30 kms out of town so we have to pay our tuk-tuk driver double due to the distance and the price of petrol. It is worth it however, as it is almost fairy-tale-esque with reddish pinkish stone and known for the detail in its carvings.
After two days of temple hunting I am pretty beat... our hostel has a POOL in it which is, quite frankly, totally awesome! And I have a space where I can do yoga on the third floor so I'm pretty content with m y current abode by all accounts.
Come evening time, and I visit the night market to haggle gently over scarves, sunglasses and dresses. I stop for a bout of reflexology when I'm tired (half an hour for 2USD and I didn't even have to bargain - that is the fixed price) and my masseuer is small but oh so strong. She (and her friends, who are hanging around watching films and shrieking their heads off when their male friends come to throw a fake lizard at them) laugh at me when I draw breath at the fierceness of her acupressure. Youch! But I tell myself it's all good, and by the time I leave I literally feel amaaazing... and walk on to get my first ever pedicure (also 2USD) and toe colour. It's so nice to feel pampered - I usually completely neglect my feet and as a result they're somewhat traveller skanky.. but not for long! Within half an hour I float back to my guesthouse with the intention of showing them off. Unfortunately the bar has been overtaken by much younger travellers than I (oh, I remember those days!) playing drinking games so I shy off to my dorm room and manage to get a fantastic and much needed early night.
I have a whole day to fill in Siem Reap before my midnight bus so I've been spending it walking the streets and enjoying a lovely salad lunch at the 'Peace cafe' which runs yoga classes although not on the days I've been here. I'm sitting chilling and reading a great Phnom Penn publication about art and the new Khmer generation of artists and bloggers etc, when all of a sudden I notice a sly monkey approaching my table. I mean, I'm much bigger than him but I haven't been too fond of monkeys since I got chased by one in India a few years back. I slowly slink away with the internal excuse that I need to pay my bill, but deep down I know I have let him win and vow not to be such a pussy in future.
Next stop is the blind massage clinic I think... and a $3 film about the Pol Pot regime which plays 3 or 4 times a day in the Night Market. Oh the possibilities. Right then, time to get off this machine and get back on out there... over and out xxxx
Anyhoo, I spent two days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat, Stunning, mostly, although I have to say I found the main one the least impressive. Perhaps it was the sheer amount of people there, or something about the layout but it didn't do much for me. It did have some amazing reliefs etched into the ancient walls however - a depiction from the Ramayana and another relief depicts "The churning of the sea of milk", where gods and demons alike assist the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea as Vishnu sees fit. Quite impressive really. These temples were originally Hindu and it's interesting to note the number of old decapitated Hindu statues as the Buddhists allegedly lopped the heads off of rival gods.
Ta Promh temple was pretty striking however, with trees growing up amongst the concrete ruins. The scene of part of 'Tomb Raider' with Angelina J (which I've never seen by the way), it is pretty awesome and I could imagine guerrillas running from the enemy and protecting the temple jewels...
Even more impressive however is 'Bayon', a temple which features 200 odd faces carved into stone of Lokesvara (รก lord who looks down', basically a bodhisattvsa)'. I take so many photos and wander around in circles for quite a while, covering the same ground but never tiring of the scenery.
We go to a temple 'Banteay Srei' which is far-out in terms of impressiveness as well as distance if that makes sense... It is 30 kms out of town so we have to pay our tuk-tuk driver double due to the distance and the price of petrol. It is worth it however, as it is almost fairy-tale-esque with reddish pinkish stone and known for the detail in its carvings.
After two days of temple hunting I am pretty beat... our hostel has a POOL in it which is, quite frankly, totally awesome! And I have a space where I can do yoga on the third floor so I'm pretty content with m y current abode by all accounts.
Come evening time, and I visit the night market to haggle gently over scarves, sunglasses and dresses. I stop for a bout of reflexology when I'm tired (half an hour for 2USD and I didn't even have to bargain - that is the fixed price) and my masseuer is small but oh so strong. She (and her friends, who are hanging around watching films and shrieking their heads off when their male friends come to throw a fake lizard at them) laugh at me when I draw breath at the fierceness of her acupressure. Youch! But I tell myself it's all good, and by the time I leave I literally feel amaaazing... and walk on to get my first ever pedicure (also 2USD) and toe colour. It's so nice to feel pampered - I usually completely neglect my feet and as a result they're somewhat traveller skanky.. but not for long! Within half an hour I float back to my guesthouse with the intention of showing them off. Unfortunately the bar has been overtaken by much younger travellers than I (oh, I remember those days!) playing drinking games so I shy off to my dorm room and manage to get a fantastic and much needed early night.
I have a whole day to fill in Siem Reap before my midnight bus so I've been spending it walking the streets and enjoying a lovely salad lunch at the 'Peace cafe' which runs yoga classes although not on the days I've been here. I'm sitting chilling and reading a great Phnom Penn publication about art and the new Khmer generation of artists and bloggers etc, when all of a sudden I notice a sly monkey approaching my table. I mean, I'm much bigger than him but I haven't been too fond of monkeys since I got chased by one in India a few years back. I slowly slink away with the internal excuse that I need to pay my bill, but deep down I know I have let him win and vow not to be such a pussy in future.
Next stop is the blind massage clinic I think... and a $3 film about the Pol Pot regime which plays 3 or 4 times a day in the Night Market. Oh the possibilities. Right then, time to get off this machine and get back on out there... over and out xxxx
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Bangkok to Siem Reap
I manage to sleep for some of the bus ride. just as well, as a 7 a.m start didn't leave me much time for dozing the night before. Planning on an early night, I had been walking home to my guesthouse when Mai called me over to Mustafa's bar (a converted combi van). Mustafa is a sweet guy, almost Maori looking and although he makes his margaritas a little too sweet I will forgive him this small flaw because of the sheer amount of wonderful encounters I have there. Mai is reunioning with her friends from Antwerp (first time I've seen so many Belgians all in the one place) so I soon turn to my left, where a stunning Italian cat-eyed dreadlocked and tattooed Italian woman is singing 'Que Sera Sera' with Tom from Munich. Her name is Sprilli which means something like 'full of sparkle and full of life' and after meeting her for two minutes I know it suits her perfectly. Soon Inbal and Asaf from Israel join us and within the hour we are discussing god, religion, love and life in the muggy Bangkok night. And needless to say I don't go to an early bed as planned - I love these chance encounters with other like minded travellers. I simply love travelling darling - it suits me I think.
So now, as the bus moves through the east of Thailand I prepare myself for the changes I am about to see in the two countries - where Thailand is lush and pretty cushy to travel in actually, I know Cambodia will be a completely different experience.
The border crossing goes fairly well, although straight away I notice a smell that will reoccur many times over the next couple of days - Jess, who I'm with, describes it as an undeniable mixture of excrement and fish sauce. It's SO hot and the sweat is literally pouring off me, and I'm so glad I have upgraded to a taxi instead of the bus I was going to have to wait another two hours for. It turns out to be the best decision I made all day and we travel two hours to Siem Reap in air-con comfort. Funny how my travelling choices have changed some as I have aged - I would never have considered this cushy mode of transport back in the day.
Siem Reap reminds me of India quite a lot. Golden brown dirt roads welcome us, and the city is a mass of convoluted alleyways as well as wide French-influenced streets. Everything is paid for in dollars, and I'm amazed at how little everything costs. We eat Vietnamese fresh spring rolls and tofu curry / soup for dinner, refusing the myriad offers of a 'fish massage' ( there are tanks everywhere! apparently these 'Dr Fish' eat away your dead skin and feel pretty awesome, if their ads are anything to go by). The night market is filled with frogs bounding amongst the cushion covers / notebooks / clothes / scarves / wooden instruments and we watch where we're going hawkishly, being as we are two vegetarians not really keen on squashing any of the tiny creatures. The evening is still so hot and I can't believe there is actually a sign advertising a spa sauna experience - unbelievable! I'm finding it quite hard to adjust to the heat, but I suppose I have only been away two weeks or so.
My hostel is quiet, clean and comfortable and I sleep well, waking up to a great yoga practise on the balcony. I wonder what the locals think of us lucky Westerners with so much more money than they've ever known and I am amazed at their kindness. A case in point is Pen, who serves me my breakfast (again, fresh spring rolls and tofu curry). We talk for half an hour and he tells me all about his experience of the Khmer Rouge in the seventies - how he watched half of his village disappear, either from execution or starvation, and how he was spared his life because he was a simple labourer and not a bourgeious doctor or teacher. I would have been killed, I know. It's hard to comprehend how much Cambodia has been shafted, a fact which makes their friendliness even more astounding. As Pen tells me all of this, he is joyfully bouncing his nephew 'Lashskmi' on his hip (I know it's a Hindu goddess name so I admit I may have misheard him) and he finishes by telling me how lucky he is to have two children of his own and so many family still around him. What a man. I am humbled by his acceptance of his lot and ability to look forward to a future after such a rough ordeal.
I already love Cambodia after only half a day. On my way back to my hostel I meet 'Chai' who gives me a free ride back there, no hassles, no nothing. Even the hawkers are friendly and accepting of the word 'no', something I found lacking in comparatively wealthy Thailand and in India. I go to find Jess to see if she's ready to experience the beauty of Angkor Wat, glad I have booked for a few days longer.
So now, as the bus moves through the east of Thailand I prepare myself for the changes I am about to see in the two countries - where Thailand is lush and pretty cushy to travel in actually, I know Cambodia will be a completely different experience.
The border crossing goes fairly well, although straight away I notice a smell that will reoccur many times over the next couple of days - Jess, who I'm with, describes it as an undeniable mixture of excrement and fish sauce. It's SO hot and the sweat is literally pouring off me, and I'm so glad I have upgraded to a taxi instead of the bus I was going to have to wait another two hours for. It turns out to be the best decision I made all day and we travel two hours to Siem Reap in air-con comfort. Funny how my travelling choices have changed some as I have aged - I would never have considered this cushy mode of transport back in the day.
Siem Reap reminds me of India quite a lot. Golden brown dirt roads welcome us, and the city is a mass of convoluted alleyways as well as wide French-influenced streets. Everything is paid for in dollars, and I'm amazed at how little everything costs. We eat Vietnamese fresh spring rolls and tofu curry / soup for dinner, refusing the myriad offers of a 'fish massage' ( there are tanks everywhere! apparently these 'Dr Fish' eat away your dead skin and feel pretty awesome, if their ads are anything to go by). The night market is filled with frogs bounding amongst the cushion covers / notebooks / clothes / scarves / wooden instruments and we watch where we're going hawkishly, being as we are two vegetarians not really keen on squashing any of the tiny creatures. The evening is still so hot and I can't believe there is actually a sign advertising a spa sauna experience - unbelievable! I'm finding it quite hard to adjust to the heat, but I suppose I have only been away two weeks or so.
My hostel is quiet, clean and comfortable and I sleep well, waking up to a great yoga practise on the balcony. I wonder what the locals think of us lucky Westerners with so much more money than they've ever known and I am amazed at their kindness. A case in point is Pen, who serves me my breakfast (again, fresh spring rolls and tofu curry). We talk for half an hour and he tells me all about his experience of the Khmer Rouge in the seventies - how he watched half of his village disappear, either from execution or starvation, and how he was spared his life because he was a simple labourer and not a bourgeious doctor or teacher. I would have been killed, I know. It's hard to comprehend how much Cambodia has been shafted, a fact which makes their friendliness even more astounding. As Pen tells me all of this, he is joyfully bouncing his nephew 'Lashskmi' on his hip (I know it's a Hindu goddess name so I admit I may have misheard him) and he finishes by telling me how lucky he is to have two children of his own and so many family still around him. What a man. I am humbled by his acceptance of his lot and ability to look forward to a future after such a rough ordeal.
I already love Cambodia after only half a day. On my way back to my hostel I meet 'Chai' who gives me a free ride back there, no hassles, no nothing. Even the hawkers are friendly and accepting of the word 'no', something I found lacking in comparatively wealthy Thailand and in India. I go to find Jess to see if she's ready to experience the beauty of Angkor Wat, glad I have booked for a few days longer.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Leaving paradise
Everything has a time and a place. And as we know, we all have to move on sometime. Everyone has their time to leave a place, and this seems to be mine.
At least I'm not doing it alone. Some of my dorm sisters are coming along too - Mai and I will take the night train to Bangkok while Maike and Jessie will travel to a National park where Jessie used to live once upon a time. So at least the jeep to the ferry terminal is filled with my friends. We leave with laughter and girlish energy and lots of goodbyes to those staying behind. I have so enjoyed connecting with so many amazing females on this trip so far - it's been something really special.
The boatride from Thong Sala to Surat Thani, the mainland, is beautiful. It's hot hot hot and we hang our legs over the side and stare into the greeny blue mass of sea below. I would dive in if I could, I'm so dehydrated. It's PACKED though, with full moon partiers all trying to sleep off their hangovers in their fluoro shorts and wristbands. I'm so glad I didn't go - why would I leave for horrible Haad Rin when Haad Tien was so amazing and had incredible dance parties every week anyway? Beats me... after a while a few drops of rain fall on my page and my parched skin, and I welcome it fully until we pass under a particularly grey cloud and get soaked to the skin. It's actually quite cold for a while, but soon enough the boat moves away from the grey and we are wringing out our sarongs and hanging them out to dry, keeping an eye on our 'laundry' so it doesn't get lost overboard.
But all too soon, the boatride is over and I say goodbye to my German and Dutch sisters with the intention of reunioning in Holland with them in July. As I sit and write this on the bus to the train station, it begins to hit me what I am leaving behind. Tropical paradise. Morning yoga on my platform by the sea. Papaya and watermelon fruit salad with fresh orange juice. The Sanctuary and so many open hearted like minded souls. Meditations, all that sweating, evening time dancing at 'Spice' bar, Saturday morning dance parties. Letting the ocean soothe my myriad of mosquito bites. Amazing amazing conversations with near strangers (not strangers for long...), morning hugs, workshops, open mic nights, Tuesday films under the stars. My SISTERS! Our dorm. Those beautiful black and bright red millipedes that you have to be careful not to squash and the striking lone hornbill in the tree outside. Spending so much money on delicious Sanctuary cocktails. On my last night I help prop up the bar with the Norwegians and it's so good. So good. And then there are the jungle walks, the rainstorms, the full moon reflecting off the water...
My heart is so open, and now it aches some as I leave it all behind. I never learn; I will always be a dreamer and a romantic. I listen to The Beatles on my i-pod and wonder if I'll ever find a place like Haad Tien again. Rain falls outside and I feel so many things. Everything is beautiful. And no, I'm not 'on' anything besides the prana in my charging heart. It's charging full power. I really feel like I will visit this place again soon. It justs feels too damn good not to. But as for now, there is stuff I gotta - and wanna - do, like visit my lovely friends in Saigon via a trip to Cambodia. There is much to look forward to. I'm just glad I went to Haad Tien first, so now I'm carrying this energy inside with me as I go. I have a feeling that everything is going to work out just fine...
At least I'm not doing it alone. Some of my dorm sisters are coming along too - Mai and I will take the night train to Bangkok while Maike and Jessie will travel to a National park where Jessie used to live once upon a time. So at least the jeep to the ferry terminal is filled with my friends. We leave with laughter and girlish energy and lots of goodbyes to those staying behind. I have so enjoyed connecting with so many amazing females on this trip so far - it's been something really special.
The boatride from Thong Sala to Surat Thani, the mainland, is beautiful. It's hot hot hot and we hang our legs over the side and stare into the greeny blue mass of sea below. I would dive in if I could, I'm so dehydrated. It's PACKED though, with full moon partiers all trying to sleep off their hangovers in their fluoro shorts and wristbands. I'm so glad I didn't go - why would I leave for horrible Haad Rin when Haad Tien was so amazing and had incredible dance parties every week anyway? Beats me... after a while a few drops of rain fall on my page and my parched skin, and I welcome it fully until we pass under a particularly grey cloud and get soaked to the skin. It's actually quite cold for a while, but soon enough the boat moves away from the grey and we are wringing out our sarongs and hanging them out to dry, keeping an eye on our 'laundry' so it doesn't get lost overboard.
But all too soon, the boatride is over and I say goodbye to my German and Dutch sisters with the intention of reunioning in Holland with them in July. As I sit and write this on the bus to the train station, it begins to hit me what I am leaving behind. Tropical paradise. Morning yoga on my platform by the sea. Papaya and watermelon fruit salad with fresh orange juice. The Sanctuary and so many open hearted like minded souls. Meditations, all that sweating, evening time dancing at 'Spice' bar, Saturday morning dance parties. Letting the ocean soothe my myriad of mosquito bites. Amazing amazing conversations with near strangers (not strangers for long...), morning hugs, workshops, open mic nights, Tuesday films under the stars. My SISTERS! Our dorm. Those beautiful black and bright red millipedes that you have to be careful not to squash and the striking lone hornbill in the tree outside. Spending so much money on delicious Sanctuary cocktails. On my last night I help prop up the bar with the Norwegians and it's so good. So good. And then there are the jungle walks, the rainstorms, the full moon reflecting off the water...
My heart is so open, and now it aches some as I leave it all behind. I never learn; I will always be a dreamer and a romantic. I listen to The Beatles on my i-pod and wonder if I'll ever find a place like Haad Tien again. Rain falls outside and I feel so many things. Everything is beautiful. And no, I'm not 'on' anything besides the prana in my charging heart. It's charging full power. I really feel like I will visit this place again soon. It justs feels too damn good not to. But as for now, there is stuff I gotta - and wanna - do, like visit my lovely friends in Saigon via a trip to Cambodia. There is much to look forward to. I'm just glad I went to Haad Tien first, so now I'm carrying this energy inside with me as I go. I have a feeling that everything is going to work out just fine...
The People in My Neighbourhood
So, time to talk about some of the people I'm staying with in order to fill in some of the gaps.
I am staying in the 'Zorba' dormitory for 300 baht a night. This seems like a lot to stay in a dorm and it is I guess, but I love it. For a few days the people in the dorm don't change too much and it begins to feel like a family. There are 15 beds I think, and at one stage we are all women but for one lovely Dutch man, Ben, a gentle soul who doesn't seem to mind us sprawling over his mattress to talk to his neighbours and doesn't bat an eyelid at our various states of undress. We make jokes about the dorm being a harem, but really, there's never any question of it being anything other than awesome. He is the most unlikely harem dweller anyway!
I am connecting with so many beautiful women - must be something in the air at the moment. My closest friends of the moment are in the same room. I meet Maike first, a blonde blue eyed osteopath from Hamburg who is also one of the happiest people I've met in a long time. She is also an amazing therapist, giving me three sessions of cranio-sacral osteopathy which completely blow me away. Malibu Coke is her drink of choice and I love dancing with her. Then there is Jessie, all Dutch and cool and calm and wise, with beautiful eyes that remind me of a good friend from New Zealand. We plan a dorm reunion at her place in Zeeland for July, as all of the ladies are Eurpoean except me, and I will be there at that time anyway. Bring it on I say!
Mia sleeps next to me and boy does she wake up early! Born in Madagascar, she lived in France for a long time but now resides in London and came over here spontaneously with 500 pounds, which sounds likea lot but doesn't actually go too far here in Haad Tien where things are so much more expensive. I've already given up caring however, as this place is so incredible I would continue to do so for a while longer... Across from Mia is Mai - all these M names! - and she is from Antwerp in Belgium. Mai is fun and always bouncing around with lots of energy and movement and brown bouncy locks that sprawl over her pillow in the morning like tentacles. She speaks Flemish, which goes well in this dorm room as Carolien is the third Dutchie along with Ben and Jessie. She has been fasting for 5 days and just begins to eat again before I leave. She does so with absolute glee! We seem to have similar taste in music also as she plays the same Bon Iver songs I love and introduces me to Bonobo - they are great!
So, those are the coolies in the dorm in which I live... there are others of course but I don't see them so often... Fabienne from Switzerland, Joanna the Engish girl with the incredible smile and Liz from Ireland who has the most amazing Maori tattoo I've seen in a while. In another dorm, the louder one above the Sanctuary restaurant, resides Laaura, another Londonite all long and lithe and beautiful. Seems to be a lot of Dutch and a lot of English at this time, and so many of them blonde! Go the blondes! I'm loving it... Laura gives me her pink shawl to wear in a rainstorm because foolishly, I have absolutely nothing warm to wear - wasn't really counting on thunderstorms, but they are beautiful so I don't mind. Erika is another beautiful blonde who lives in London, although she hails from Sweden originally. She is a life-coach and runs an incredible fre workshop about manifesting what you really want in life. We all sit around while it pours down outside and sip chai while we concoct sacred symbols to bring change into our lives. It is a powerful session actually, and I go out buzzing with good feelings about everything in particular.
Kari (previously referred to as Carrie) is yet another blondie, a yoga teacher from Norway & I meet her on my first evening when she is looking smokin' in a gorgeous red dress. I connect with her straight away and we talk about yoga whilst drinking cocktails. I love this abaility to balance a yogic life with a little bit of the party lifestyle also. It's important to me. Balance, you know? I may have mentioned already, but Kari gives Maike and I two amazing yoga sessions in which she rubs tiger balm into our temples while we lay in savasana and sings prayers to end the sessions. With the waves crashing below us on the yoga platform by the sea, it's truly blissful.
Fleassy hails from Brighton and is travelling around the world without taking planes, something which I admire lots. She's a muso and a truly ruling performance poet and runs body percussion workshops. I jump up on stage with her workshop crew for open mic night and we have something of an impromptu jam. It's fun. She's on her way to New Zealand eventually and I know she will meet many of my friends. Exciting!
Okay, so that's some of the sheilas (ha ha, don't mind the New Zealand-ism) I have met. I do meet some great fellas as well, although it's really the ladies I'm making deep connections with. But Sebastian, an English-German psychologist, and Will from Ireland are the first guys I meet. They are fun and always up for going out, although I refrain from doing so for a whole week due to my self-imposed yoga routines. Once the weekend comes I have a few drinks and it's great. These two nights are spent at 'Spice', an absoltuely beautiful resturant / bar which ticks all of my boxes - amazing smells, decor, food, tunes, staff... Curly haired Stu reminds me so much of my friend from Brighton that I am convinced that they must know each other (they don't). He bartends with Aaron who I have fun singing with and has heaps of New Zealand music on his computer which I get kinda excited about. And then we have Adam, a New York stand up comedian who hosts the open mic nights at the moment - a lovely guy. I first see Vincent on one of these open mic nights (well, my only open mic night to be honest - I wish I could stay for another one...). He plays lovely instrumental guitar and is an ex art-teacher so we have a great conversation in Spice about this as well as trying to sort out the world's problems in a night... good times.
There are so many other amazing people that this is but a few of them... I'm sad to leave this place after only 8 days and feel I could stay a lot longer, but this is how it is... I know I will be back one day though. It would be such a treat to get back up on that open mic stage again, and continue to prop up the bar with Kari and Edle, or to swim in the beautiful ocean with Maike after our morning yoga... sigh... but I move on. Onwards children! There is still more life to come...
I am staying in the 'Zorba' dormitory for 300 baht a night. This seems like a lot to stay in a dorm and it is I guess, but I love it. For a few days the people in the dorm don't change too much and it begins to feel like a family. There are 15 beds I think, and at one stage we are all women but for one lovely Dutch man, Ben, a gentle soul who doesn't seem to mind us sprawling over his mattress to talk to his neighbours and doesn't bat an eyelid at our various states of undress. We make jokes about the dorm being a harem, but really, there's never any question of it being anything other than awesome. He is the most unlikely harem dweller anyway!
I am connecting with so many beautiful women - must be something in the air at the moment. My closest friends of the moment are in the same room. I meet Maike first, a blonde blue eyed osteopath from Hamburg who is also one of the happiest people I've met in a long time. She is also an amazing therapist, giving me three sessions of cranio-sacral osteopathy which completely blow me away. Malibu Coke is her drink of choice and I love dancing with her. Then there is Jessie, all Dutch and cool and calm and wise, with beautiful eyes that remind me of a good friend from New Zealand. We plan a dorm reunion at her place in Zeeland for July, as all of the ladies are Eurpoean except me, and I will be there at that time anyway. Bring it on I say!
Mia sleeps next to me and boy does she wake up early! Born in Madagascar, she lived in France for a long time but now resides in London and came over here spontaneously with 500 pounds, which sounds likea lot but doesn't actually go too far here in Haad Tien where things are so much more expensive. I've already given up caring however, as this place is so incredible I would continue to do so for a while longer... Across from Mia is Mai - all these M names! - and she is from Antwerp in Belgium. Mai is fun and always bouncing around with lots of energy and movement and brown bouncy locks that sprawl over her pillow in the morning like tentacles. She speaks Flemish, which goes well in this dorm room as Carolien is the third Dutchie along with Ben and Jessie. She has been fasting for 5 days and just begins to eat again before I leave. She does so with absolute glee! We seem to have similar taste in music also as she plays the same Bon Iver songs I love and introduces me to Bonobo - they are great!
So, those are the coolies in the dorm in which I live... there are others of course but I don't see them so often... Fabienne from Switzerland, Joanna the Engish girl with the incredible smile and Liz from Ireland who has the most amazing Maori tattoo I've seen in a while. In another dorm, the louder one above the Sanctuary restaurant, resides Laaura, another Londonite all long and lithe and beautiful. Seems to be a lot of Dutch and a lot of English at this time, and so many of them blonde! Go the blondes! I'm loving it... Laura gives me her pink shawl to wear in a rainstorm because foolishly, I have absolutely nothing warm to wear - wasn't really counting on thunderstorms, but they are beautiful so I don't mind. Erika is another beautiful blonde who lives in London, although she hails from Sweden originally. She is a life-coach and runs an incredible fre workshop about manifesting what you really want in life. We all sit around while it pours down outside and sip chai while we concoct sacred symbols to bring change into our lives. It is a powerful session actually, and I go out buzzing with good feelings about everything in particular.
Kari (previously referred to as Carrie) is yet another blondie, a yoga teacher from Norway & I meet her on my first evening when she is looking smokin' in a gorgeous red dress. I connect with her straight away and we talk about yoga whilst drinking cocktails. I love this abaility to balance a yogic life with a little bit of the party lifestyle also. It's important to me. Balance, you know? I may have mentioned already, but Kari gives Maike and I two amazing yoga sessions in which she rubs tiger balm into our temples while we lay in savasana and sings prayers to end the sessions. With the waves crashing below us on the yoga platform by the sea, it's truly blissful.
Fleassy hails from Brighton and is travelling around the world without taking planes, something which I admire lots. She's a muso and a truly ruling performance poet and runs body percussion workshops. I jump up on stage with her workshop crew for open mic night and we have something of an impromptu jam. It's fun. She's on her way to New Zealand eventually and I know she will meet many of my friends. Exciting!
Okay, so that's some of the sheilas (ha ha, don't mind the New Zealand-ism) I have met. I do meet some great fellas as well, although it's really the ladies I'm making deep connections with. But Sebastian, an English-German psychologist, and Will from Ireland are the first guys I meet. They are fun and always up for going out, although I refrain from doing so for a whole week due to my self-imposed yoga routines. Once the weekend comes I have a few drinks and it's great. These two nights are spent at 'Spice', an absoltuely beautiful resturant / bar which ticks all of my boxes - amazing smells, decor, food, tunes, staff... Curly haired Stu reminds me so much of my friend from Brighton that I am convinced that they must know each other (they don't). He bartends with Aaron who I have fun singing with and has heaps of New Zealand music on his computer which I get kinda excited about. And then we have Adam, a New York stand up comedian who hosts the open mic nights at the moment - a lovely guy. I first see Vincent on one of these open mic nights (well, my only open mic night to be honest - I wish I could stay for another one...). He plays lovely instrumental guitar and is an ex art-teacher so we have a great conversation in Spice about this as well as trying to sort out the world's problems in a night... good times.
There are so many other amazing people that this is but a few of them... I'm sad to leave this place after only 8 days and feel I could stay a lot longer, but this is how it is... I know I will be back one day though. It would be such a treat to get back up on that open mic stage again, and continue to prop up the bar with Kari and Edle, or to swim in the beautiful ocean with Maike after our morning yoga... sigh... but I move on. Onwards children! There is still more life to come...
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Life at The Sanctuary... still in Haad Tien!
They do say that this is a place that you can never leave and it turns out to be true. Most people I meet have been here for at least a month, but I know I have only a week at the most as my flight to India leaves in two weeks or so. I curse my forward planning... I don't like being limited like this, but at least I can get a small taste of paradise so I know where to come back next time...
My life has pretty much been like this for the past week:
Awake around 7 for my own yoga practise on an aforementioned yoga platform overlooking the sea. Carrie, a new Norwegian friend offers to take a couple of free classes for Maike and I, which are really lovely. While we lie in savasana, she rubs tiger balm into our temples and forehead and sings prayers. SIGH - god it's nice to reconnect with yoga.... pure sattvic bliss!
After yoga, jump in the aqua sea. Make mental note to find out whether or not the baby blue jellyfish are poisonous or not.
Drink a juice or eat fruit salad and share life stories with some of the amazing women I keep meeting here. There are so many of them! And so many are blond as well for some reason - maybe cause most of them come from Holland, Germany or Norway... go figure...
Sunbathe in the pebbly sand
Eat Thai coconut soup / massaman curry / one of the delectable salads from 'The Sanctuary' menu
Climb hill back to dormitory for afternoon nap
Afternoon pilates class
Swim in the aqua sea again
Every evening there is something happening at The Sanctuary or surrounding guesthouses. There is "Mixed tape Monday" which is perfect for music junkies like me who take their i-pods in and play their favourite songs to other music enthusiasts. We hear some Russian bluegrass and Israeli gypsy tunes as well as local musos from Brighton, and of course, New Zealand...
On Tuesday we watch "Exit Through the Gift Shop" from a projector, lying under the stars. I've seen this documentary about Banksy and other graffitti artists before, but it's even better the second time around.
Wednesday... I'm sure there is something happening but I don't leave the dorm, instead having an amazing in depth conversation with my new sisters from Holland, Germany and Belgium.
Thursday.. open mic night. I'm loving it... I momentarily fall in love with someone called Lars who plays the harmonium... listen to Asaf play the melodica... play some songs myself... take part in a human percussion impromptu workshop on stage and listen to some 7 year olds tell jokes about cows. It's a great night...
And now it's Friday, the night of the weekly all night party in Haad Tien. No alcohol has touched my lips in a while now, so perhaps it's time to let loose with a Sanctuary mohito or two. So long as the music is good and the people are grooving, I'll be right in there. Full moon tonight also - bonus!
I don't know how I'm going to leave on Sunday... at least I have my ticket now... but there have been so many beautiful moments here, it will stay with me for a long time I know...
xxxxxx
My life has pretty much been like this for the past week:
Awake around 7 for my own yoga practise on an aforementioned yoga platform overlooking the sea. Carrie, a new Norwegian friend offers to take a couple of free classes for Maike and I, which are really lovely. While we lie in savasana, she rubs tiger balm into our temples and forehead and sings prayers. SIGH - god it's nice to reconnect with yoga.... pure sattvic bliss!
After yoga, jump in the aqua sea. Make mental note to find out whether or not the baby blue jellyfish are poisonous or not.
Drink a juice or eat fruit salad and share life stories with some of the amazing women I keep meeting here. There are so many of them! And so many are blond as well for some reason - maybe cause most of them come from Holland, Germany or Norway... go figure...
Sunbathe in the pebbly sand
Eat Thai coconut soup / massaman curry / one of the delectable salads from 'The Sanctuary' menu
Climb hill back to dormitory for afternoon nap
Afternoon pilates class
Swim in the aqua sea again
Every evening there is something happening at The Sanctuary or surrounding guesthouses. There is "Mixed tape Monday" which is perfect for music junkies like me who take their i-pods in and play their favourite songs to other music enthusiasts. We hear some Russian bluegrass and Israeli gypsy tunes as well as local musos from Brighton, and of course, New Zealand...
On Tuesday we watch "Exit Through the Gift Shop" from a projector, lying under the stars. I've seen this documentary about Banksy and other graffitti artists before, but it's even better the second time around.
Wednesday... I'm sure there is something happening but I don't leave the dorm, instead having an amazing in depth conversation with my new sisters from Holland, Germany and Belgium.
Thursday.. open mic night. I'm loving it... I momentarily fall in love with someone called Lars who plays the harmonium... listen to Asaf play the melodica... play some songs myself... take part in a human percussion impromptu workshop on stage and listen to some 7 year olds tell jokes about cows. It's a great night...
And now it's Friday, the night of the weekly all night party in Haad Tien. No alcohol has touched my lips in a while now, so perhaps it's time to let loose with a Sanctuary mohito or two. So long as the music is good and the people are grooving, I'll be right in there. Full moon tonight also - bonus!
I don't know how I'm going to leave on Sunday... at least I have my ticket now... but there have been so many beautiful moments here, it will stay with me for a long time I know...
xxxxxx
Haad Tien, Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand.
My Ko Pha Ngan experience really begins with a boat ride. Of course, I could talk about the 18 hour bus/boat/jeep journey to Haad Rin, but it's best left forgotten I think, particularly as I'll have to do it all over again to get back to Bangkok soon. And Haad Rin itself is best left forgotten - the sheer amount of beauty lost in the strips of beachside nightclubs promising to "fuck you up on a bucket". A 'bucket' is just that - a bucket of red bull, whiskey and coke, drunken through straws by willing participants. Something I took part in in my first trip to Thailand many years ago, but nothing I want to be part of now.
BUT across from the grossly over-developed Haad Rin beach lies an island paradise at Haad Tien. You can get to it by boat or by road - and as I'm by the sea, my choice is obvious. After unsuccessfully trying to lower the sea taxi price for about 3/4 of an hour with two Frenchies, we all give in and decide to suck it up and pay the extra 100 baht each as we're all dying for a shower after our insanely long journey from Bangkok. Turns out we don't even have to wait until we get there, as the waves are intense and soak us all. I'm mostly loving it, besides the jolting of my tailbone everytime the boat rises and falls, CRASHING into the waves. The two Thai sailors are laughing their heads off, deliberately tipping the boat to scare us, saying "you pay extra for free shower!". It's pretty funny, but we're all glad when we get there, throwing our luggage and my guitar overboard onto the sand and preparing to find somewhere to stay.
I check into "The Sanctuary", an upmarket guesthouse with an emphasis on fasting / detoxing / yoga / tantra / meditation... along with a bar menu with expensive cocktails too! Such are the contrasts on this island - some come to drink clayshakes and analyse what comes out of their colonics (I'm serious! Once you meet the fasters, expect to be drawn into a conversation about their poos!) while others are buying drugs from the dodgy guy down the road and partying all night, every night. Ah well. I've already decided I'm here to reconnect with yoga, so I pay 300 baht to stay in a dorm room and accept that I'm going to be spending a lot more money here than I would usually. You get what you pay for I guess... it sure turns out to be worth it anyway, although I just don't know it yet...
The dorm is lovely, and soon I meet my first friend Maike from Hamburg, Germany. She shows me around the island and we drink our first smoothies from the impressive (and expensive) Sanctuary menu. Hhmmm.. for some crazy reason I choose spirulina, cucumber and mint and it's pretty disgusting actually... I'm laughing at myself and my self-imposed health kick.
I have this 'moment' while Maike and I are exploring the coconut palm fronded island. We discover a yoga platform overlooking the sea where waves throw themselves onto huge rocks below, and I get the feeling that THIS IS IT!!! This is life and it's beautiful, and I've waited so long for this trip, and I feel that I always want life to be this beautiful, wherever I am... and that we all DESERVE to live lives as wonderful as this... I have a similar conversation about this later at a table with some new friends, crosslegged and eating our curries, the ocean in the distance providing the perfect soundtrack to our evening. As we eat, a Californian gypsy comes over and impresses us with his magic tricks, turning a red ball into three while it's inside my closed fist and I have no qualms about reaching into my wallet to help pay for his dinner. I admire his ingenuity, and remember that this will be me in a few months on the streets of Europe, singing for my supper...
My first day coming to an end, I drag my aching tailbone off to an early bed, crawling under my mosquito net and listening to the rhythmic breathing of all the other bodies in the dorm, each with their own story. I feel completely safe here, and comforted, and at home...
BUT across from the grossly over-developed Haad Rin beach lies an island paradise at Haad Tien. You can get to it by boat or by road - and as I'm by the sea, my choice is obvious. After unsuccessfully trying to lower the sea taxi price for about 3/4 of an hour with two Frenchies, we all give in and decide to suck it up and pay the extra 100 baht each as we're all dying for a shower after our insanely long journey from Bangkok. Turns out we don't even have to wait until we get there, as the waves are intense and soak us all. I'm mostly loving it, besides the jolting of my tailbone everytime the boat rises and falls, CRASHING into the waves. The two Thai sailors are laughing their heads off, deliberately tipping the boat to scare us, saying "you pay extra for free shower!". It's pretty funny, but we're all glad when we get there, throwing our luggage and my guitar overboard onto the sand and preparing to find somewhere to stay.
I check into "The Sanctuary", an upmarket guesthouse with an emphasis on fasting / detoxing / yoga / tantra / meditation... along with a bar menu with expensive cocktails too! Such are the contrasts on this island - some come to drink clayshakes and analyse what comes out of their colonics (I'm serious! Once you meet the fasters, expect to be drawn into a conversation about their poos!) while others are buying drugs from the dodgy guy down the road and partying all night, every night. Ah well. I've already decided I'm here to reconnect with yoga, so I pay 300 baht to stay in a dorm room and accept that I'm going to be spending a lot more money here than I would usually. You get what you pay for I guess... it sure turns out to be worth it anyway, although I just don't know it yet...
The dorm is lovely, and soon I meet my first friend Maike from Hamburg, Germany. She shows me around the island and we drink our first smoothies from the impressive (and expensive) Sanctuary menu. Hhmmm.. for some crazy reason I choose spirulina, cucumber and mint and it's pretty disgusting actually... I'm laughing at myself and my self-imposed health kick.
I have this 'moment' while Maike and I are exploring the coconut palm fronded island. We discover a yoga platform overlooking the sea where waves throw themselves onto huge rocks below, and I get the feeling that THIS IS IT!!! This is life and it's beautiful, and I've waited so long for this trip, and I feel that I always want life to be this beautiful, wherever I am... and that we all DESERVE to live lives as wonderful as this... I have a similar conversation about this later at a table with some new friends, crosslegged and eating our curries, the ocean in the distance providing the perfect soundtrack to our evening. As we eat, a Californian gypsy comes over and impresses us with his magic tricks, turning a red ball into three while it's inside my closed fist and I have no qualms about reaching into my wallet to help pay for his dinner. I admire his ingenuity, and remember that this will be me in a few months on the streets of Europe, singing for my supper...
My first day coming to an end, I drag my aching tailbone off to an early bed, crawling under my mosquito net and listening to the rhythmic breathing of all the other bodies in the dorm, each with their own story. I feel completely safe here, and comforted, and at home...
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Just a quick update...
Sawadee Kaa! From Ko Pha Ngan... this is just a super quick update to say I won't be writing anything until I get back to Bangkok as email is so ridiculously expensive here - about 9 NZD an hour!!! Insane-ness... but as we are on a private beach I guess they can charge what the hell they want as there is nowhere else to go... so more from me soon! xxxx
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Kickin' back in Bangkok
Bangkok smells exactly as I remember: slightly rancid. Sour milk comes to mind for some reason, or something else unwashed. Although of course it depends which alleyways you wander down. In the more bohemian quarters of Khao San, incense wafts alongside an array of Indian-esque tunes, which is music to my ears compared to the hideous blockbusters blaring at top volume from various cafes next door; ones I will never visit. Then there are the food smells: Pad Thai sizzling on hotplates all along the main touristic drag, or deep fried stick insects behind the temple area where I'm staying. And as soon as you step onto the roads of course, you can't escape the exhaust fumes fighting to be sniffed. Most people learn to assertively charge on across the road, otherwise they'd be waiting there and getting tuk-tuked at for a looong time.
After a longwinded, sleepless journey (two plane rides separated by a layover) I am refreshed almost straight away by an incredible hour long massage from a place right next door to my guesthouse (how convenient!). For a mere 8 bucks (200 baht) it feels pretty damn swell, and it hits me that I have ARRIVED. Finally! I had been feeling somewhat anxious on the plane and perhaps purposeless, wondering whether or not it was enough for me to just drift in Asia for a while. Now that I'm here I know that my answer is... YUSS! And not even purposeless, but opportune and a perfect chance for me to get back into yoga, meditation, papaya juices and all the other things that make me my strongest bestest self, but that for some reason or another I have neglected over the past few years (all my own doing I might add).
After my massage it strikes me I haven't eaten anything since my questionable in-flight dining experience of lentil and potato mash, so I decide to wander down the drag to see whether May Kai Dee's vegetarian oasis is still running from the same premises. After all, some things do change in seven years - there is no longer a free internet cafe on the corner, although the sign is still there and when I enquire about it, an Israeli dude from a travel agency gives me free internet anyway, bless him. But back to the story - I am in luck! At May Kai Dee's the food is even better than I remember and I'm soon too full of a carrot salad with an unidentifiablly delicious dressing and a coconut, seaweed and seitan (mock meat) curry. Yuuuummmm! Along with a papaya, guave and watermelon juice mix it pretty much tops my day off and I venture back to the Bella Bella Guesthouse almost ready for bed to find out it's only 4.30 Blimmen jetlag...
So I think I'll go to Ko Pha Ngan tomorrow on the night bus and beach it up for a spell. After another massage of course - the best 200 baht I could think of spending. Already my body is thanking me after a couple of years of being pretty much ignored! So bring on the health kick... although I am tempted by the cafe fridges full of Chang beers, they will just have to wait. Yoga, yoga, yoga...
xxxx
After a longwinded, sleepless journey (two plane rides separated by a layover) I am refreshed almost straight away by an incredible hour long massage from a place right next door to my guesthouse (how convenient!). For a mere 8 bucks (200 baht) it feels pretty damn swell, and it hits me that I have ARRIVED. Finally! I had been feeling somewhat anxious on the plane and perhaps purposeless, wondering whether or not it was enough for me to just drift in Asia for a while. Now that I'm here I know that my answer is... YUSS! And not even purposeless, but opportune and a perfect chance for me to get back into yoga, meditation, papaya juices and all the other things that make me my strongest bestest self, but that for some reason or another I have neglected over the past few years (all my own doing I might add).
After my massage it strikes me I haven't eaten anything since my questionable in-flight dining experience of lentil and potato mash, so I decide to wander down the drag to see whether May Kai Dee's vegetarian oasis is still running from the same premises. After all, some things do change in seven years - there is no longer a free internet cafe on the corner, although the sign is still there and when I enquire about it, an Israeli dude from a travel agency gives me free internet anyway, bless him. But back to the story - I am in luck! At May Kai Dee's the food is even better than I remember and I'm soon too full of a carrot salad with an unidentifiablly delicious dressing and a coconut, seaweed and seitan (mock meat) curry. Yuuuummmm! Along with a papaya, guave and watermelon juice mix it pretty much tops my day off and I venture back to the Bella Bella Guesthouse almost ready for bed to find out it's only 4.30 Blimmen jetlag...
So I think I'll go to Ko Pha Ngan tomorrow on the night bus and beach it up for a spell. After another massage of course - the best 200 baht I could think of spending. Already my body is thanking me after a couple of years of being pretty much ignored! So bring on the health kick... although I am tempted by the cafe fridges full of Chang beers, they will just have to wait. Yoga, yoga, yoga...
xxxx
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Coffs Harbour, Australia
It's getting near that time where I should really start writing properly. I've been on the road for a few weeks now, in New Zealand until a couple of days ago, but all of that time has been spent with friends, reconnecting and celebrating, which didn't leave me much time for reflecting on the journey, so to speak...
So I'm in Coffs Harbour with my brother's family - Him, his partner and their two kidlets (2 1/2 and 8 months). Lovely family time, much humidity and hopefully some learn to surf lessons! Wooohoooo.... however, the writing is not flowing at all so perhaps it will take a trip to Bangkok and beyond (beginning next Wednesday) for that to occur... who knows?
In brief, here's what's been on my mind and in my consciousness lately...
Devastaed by the ChCh earthquake... all my friends safe which is an immense relief, but so sad for others losses... quite unbelievable really... a sad sad time... have cuahg tup with lots of old friends up and down the North island which was amazing... went to a beautiful love-fest of a wedding in Raglan which was truly inspiring and an amazing place from which to leav Aotearoa ( I flew out the following day). I feel like I've fitted a lot into the last few weeks which has been awesome... I'm just getting back into writing so at the moment my words are sporadic and somewhat unflowing. This too will pass. I better go, not because it's late, but because I'm bound to be woken by an eager 2 1/2 year old with armloads of stories in the morning, bless....
Much love everyone
xxxx
So I'm in Coffs Harbour with my brother's family - Him, his partner and their two kidlets (2 1/2 and 8 months). Lovely family time, much humidity and hopefully some learn to surf lessons! Wooohoooo.... however, the writing is not flowing at all so perhaps it will take a trip to Bangkok and beyond (beginning next Wednesday) for that to occur... who knows?
In brief, here's what's been on my mind and in my consciousness lately...
Devastaed by the ChCh earthquake... all my friends safe which is an immense relief, but so sad for others losses... quite unbelievable really... a sad sad time... have cuahg tup with lots of old friends up and down the North island which was amazing... went to a beautiful love-fest of a wedding in Raglan which was truly inspiring and an amazing place from which to leav Aotearoa ( I flew out the following day). I feel like I've fitted a lot into the last few weeks which has been awesome... I'm just getting back into writing so at the moment my words are sporadic and somewhat unflowing. This too will pass. I better go, not because it's late, but because I'm bound to be woken by an eager 2 1/2 year old with armloads of stories in the morning, bless....
Much love everyone
xxxx
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