Laos

My guide book says that travelers who go into Laos from any other SE Asian countries "utter a distinct 'ahhh'" when they arrive in Laos. My first thought was that this statement was absolute bollocks as most guide books have a propensity to exaggerate.
I crossed the Thailand Laos border via Chiang Khong into Huay Xai. I did get a bit of a hassle from the Laos customs as they charged more for travelers paying baht than those paying in dollars to by a 30 day visa into Laos.

The small town of Huay Xai isn't much for natural beauty, stunning architecture, or the atmosphere. It is a place for travelers who are traveling to other destinations. The one distinct feature about Huay Xai is that there are no Tuk Tuk drivers vying for business and rarely anybody hassles the travelers with trinkets and souvenirs.

I stayed in a guest house called BAP Guest house and met a nice Korean girl (lady rather as I found out that she was 8 years senior although she did not look it).
The next day I left for Luang Prabang via "slow boat" down the Mekong river. The first ride took 6 hours to a small transit town called Pak Beng.

Pak Beng was indeed known for people either going down or going up the Mekong river to other destinations. What was unique about Pak Beng was the atmosphere. Another unique characteristic about this town was that the electricity of the entire town was fueled by a small generator. This meant that electricity of the whole town was due to turn off at some point in the night.
Despite being a small tourist town, Pak Beng had it's charms. I had the first East Indian dinner in SE Asia while I was in Pak Beng. I can't recall the name of the restaurant but their Mutton Vin Aloo, buttered chicken, and cauliflower with green peas created festive flavours in my mouth.

The people in Pak Beng were very much relaxed compared to all the other locals I've met in other SE Asian countries. At first I wondered why this was so, but soon I discovered a major possible factor that may contribute to the relaxed atmosphere. After getting of the slow boat, I was approached by the usual crowds of locals who query travelers for guest houses. What was also queried was the business for Ganja. At every turn I found that some local would come up to me and attempt to sell me marijuana. At night time I even found several locals sitting around in small caffes sipping strong Laos coffee and smoking a generous sized joint.

The "magical" time of Pak Beng came when the generators where shut down and the lights went out. I was sitting in front of my guest house balcony at the time and I can recall every bit of things that contributed to the relaxed atmosphere. Since the moon light was the only light source, after the lights went out I could see silhouets of houses and the mountains that were paralleled to the Mekong river. After about 10 minutes numerous fireflies came out from their hiding and flew around in front of the guest house balcony to create the country side atmosphere that I once felt living in Korea.

Journey so far

Bangkok --> Surat Thani --> Ko Tao --> Chumpon --> Ranong --> Ko Chang --> Ranong --> Ao Luk --> Krabi --> Hat Yai --> Kuala Lumpur --> Taman Negara --> Kuala Lumpur --> Pulau Pangkor --> Kuala Lumpur --> Phuket --> Ko Phi Phi --> Ko Lanta --> Trang --> Bangkok --> Aranya Prathet--> Poipet --> Siem Reap --> Angkor Wat --> Siem Reap --> Poipet --> Aranya Prathet --> Bangkok --> Ayuthaya--> Phisanulok --> Sukhothai --> Chiang Mai

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is one of the 7 wonders of the world. My first impression of the temple ruines that once was the crown Jewel of the vast Angkor empire was absolute amazement.

Then I thought to myself, "How could a country that once was such a great empire and hosts one of the wonders of the world be so poor?". Cambodia had its woes in the recent decade when Pol Pot took over and slaughtered millions of people in just few months.


It seems that everything can be bought with just 1 US dollar in Siem Reap Cambodia.

sidebar - Siem Reap is the city that houses the millions of tourists that visit Angkor Wat every year. Siem Reap means Siamese Defeated.

Your local taxi/tuk tuk driver is the pimp, the drug dealer, and your tour guide. In every street corner and in every temple you can find a child no older than 10 years of age who speaks 3 - 5 different languages. He/She knows how to say the following in the languages of choice:

1. Mr/Mrs, give me a dolla.
2. Mr/Mrs, want pineapple?
3. Mr/Mrs, want to buy post cards? 10 for 1 dolla
4. Where you from? followed by - Capital of the country that one is from

Cambodian people are extremely smart. Even though the country is poor, the people adapted to their situation uniquely and took advantage of the fact that so many millions of people (especially Korean, Japanese, and Chinese tourists) that come to see the pride and joy of their country every year.

Poipet II

Story so far:

1. I'm in Poipet (Cambodia).
2. The bus station is run by the local mafia.
3. The mafia pays the police.
4. The police keep the locals under control by prohibiting competition from other small taxi drivers and transport companies.

After being used as a bate, I was back at the bus station separated from the rest of the group and my buddy Igor.

As soon as the taxi stops and I get off to talk to Goon 1 and the rest of his mafia crew. I tell him to fuck off and inform everybody at the bus station to NOT take any buses or taxis from the bus station. While I am doing this the 2 Germans get scared and decide to pay $60 US to get a taxi to Siem Reap. Pussies....

Sidebar - I was informed later that the 2 Germans were pulled over on their way to Siem Reap and got charged an extra "highway fee" by the local police (or some dude in a police costume).

Determined not to get ripped off and give money to the local mafia, I decided to talk to another group of people. There I met Matt the brave English fellow (if you are reading this Matt, I sincerely respect you for your bravery and courage), Hoshi the Japanese, and 2 Swedish girls who later ditched us.

After explaining the whole deal to Matt, we decided to venture out to the edge of the town to see if we can pick up local taxi instead of the one run by the mafia.

When we started walking towards the main road, a new fellow that I have not seen before approached us on bike and started speaking in an angry tone. He stated that he was the police and that we had to take the bus or taxi from Atta or we will be picked up by the local mafia and etc, etc...

I was a bit hesitent as first as I did not know if this fellow was really the local police but Matt directly asks him to see his badge. At first the fellow seemed hesitent but he eventually produced a card that said "Immigration Card". Immediately after seeing this card Matt said

"I saw this card a hundred times and I don't want to see it again. This is fucking bullshit"

and grab the card from the guy forcefully and threw it on the ground. At this point the fellow claiming to be the police got even more angry and said

"I cut you now!"

to Matt and started to rummage through his pocket for something. At this point I thought he was looking for a pocket knife or perhaps a gun so I immediately threw my back pack on the ground and got prepared to back Matt for violence that may ensue. When the guy pulled out a small cell phone and pretended to start dialing for back up I was extremely relieved and felt that I had accidently soiled myself :-)

Observing the obvious anger of the guy Matt immediately changed the course of the argument and apologized for throwing his "badge" on the ground. At this point we told him to go away and we walked towards the main road.

Upon walking for about 10 minutes on the main road towards Siem Reap, we were approached by a local on a dusty yellow moped who discreetly told us to continue to walk away from Poipet towards Siem Reap and a taxi will be waiting for us. A few moments later, the fellow who claimed to be the police approached us again on his moped and offered a taxi for 3 of us at $60 US. I offered him $45 for the 3 of us and he kept persisting on $60. We then told him that we were talking to Siem Reap and to leave us alone. After saying something in broken english, he took off.
About 5 minutes later he came back saying that he can arrange a taxi for the 3 of us for $45. I told him no and lowered the price to $30. He got pissed off and stated that I originally said $45 before. I told him to fuck off again and in about 5 minutes he did.

Finally we arrive at the edge of the town. At the left corner were standing the guy who claimed to be the police, the local on the yellow moped who approached us earlier, and another local on a black moped. Each of them had there own taxis and obviously were very hungry for our US $.

We took the taxi offered by the fellow who claimed he was the police because it was $30.

Lesson learned: What matters is the principle, not the money.

Poipet

Out of all the days on our journey, the first day in Cambodia was probably the most interesting yet frustrating time we've had.

We crossed the Thailand Cambodia border from Aranya Prathet to Poipet. When we arrived at the border we were approached by a young fellow who seemed to be around my age. I can't recall his name but I will refer to him as Goon 1 for the rest of this post.

Now Goon 1 seemed to be a very friendly fellow. As he spoke some english, I asked him how to say Hello and Thank you in Khmer (the Cambodian language of choice) and he kindly replied with the correct answers. He then proceed to tell us that he worked for a bus company in Poipet and will "help" us to get there as he would like to generate business for his bus company.

So Goon 1 took us through the Customs and told us to pay for the Cambodian visa which will allow us to stay in Cambodia for 15 days. When we got through the Customs and proceeded to the visa purchase counter we were approached by another Cambodian who told us we had to pay 1000 baht (roughly $33) when the sign above said the visa costs $20 US.

sidebar - the visa counter price was $20 not 1000 baht: Scam #1

When we got through to the Cambodian side of the border, sure enough Goon 1 was waiting for us. He then told us that we were to ride in 2 buses that would take us to the main bus terminal.

sidebar - the main bus terminal in Poipet is not an actual bus station: Scam #2

We would later learn that we needed to be persistent with the $20 US visa.

Once we arrived at the bus station Goon 1 started to refer to me as his friend. He then proceeded sell me the ticket to Siem Reap which was very expensive. At this point, the story gets a bit complex.

At the bus station we met Sarah and Josey (sisters from England), Chad and Cori (Texans with incredible "Southern Charm"), Benjamin (the flamboyantly Cool French fellow), 2 Chinese couples from Gwang Ju, and 2 German homosexuals named Hans and Frans - I refer to them as homosexuals because they wimped out on me later, but I'm ahead of myself.

After our introductions to each other we inquired about the bus ticket price and the taxi rental price. We sent out scout parties to various parts of town as the bus ticket was priced at $10 US and the taxi rental price was at $60 US. The taxi was only big enough to fit 4 people. After walking around for a while we started to realize that the local taxi drivers and the locals in general were avoiding eye contact with us and even refrained from talking to us even though we initiated the conversation. At this point, some of us realized that we were being followed by some people from the bus company who were on motor bikes. The bus company's name was Atta.

After walking a short distance away from the bus station, we turned into the main road. After walking for about 10 minutes we came across a taxi driver who was willing to take all of us; we would have to rent 3 taxis but he would charge us $30 US per taxi instead of the $60 US quoted by the bus company. Please remember that we were still being followed by the people from the bus company.

With the good news of the deal at hand we headed back to the bus company to inform the rest of our group. Once we loaded all our gears and backpacks and started to head out we were met with criticism from the people at the bus company including Goon 1. We neglected them comments and walked towards the taxi driver. When we got to the taxi driver he changed his original position and declined our offers profusely. At this point some of us were pissed off as the temperature was hot and the road was dusty.

After we were declined by the taxi driver we decided to head back to the border. Once we arrived at the border we were approached by a local on a moped who asked us if we needed some taxis to Siem Reap. He told us to head to a certain restaurant near the border. At the restaurant we made a deal with the taxis drivers who were conveniently hiding at the back alley of the restaurant from the bus company goons. Because there were 12 people in total, we rented 3 taxis with 4 people in each taxi at $40 US per taxi which is $10 US per person.

I was assigned a taxi with the 2 Germans and as soon as I got into the taxi, it took off. At first I didn't give much thought to the abrupt departure of my taxi but slowly I realized that this taxis was driving around to the back alley ways and around the same bus station that attempted to rip us off. At this point I thought to myself "Oh $h!t, we're being fcuked". The next set of events that happened will be embedded within my memory forever:

1. A guy in a police uniform knocks on the front window of the taxi
2. The taxi driver opens the windows and speaks to the guy in the police uniform

sidebar - I refer to the police as the "guy in the police uniform" because one cannot tell who is the real police and who is not.

3. The taxi is rerouted back to the bus station.
4. I realize that our taxi was used as a bate so that other taxis can get through to Siem Reap.
5. FUCK!!!!!

Aranya Prathet

Gateway to Cambodia.
Small town.
Some type of night festival.
Singers and dancers.

Journey so far

Bangkok --> Surat Thani --> Ko Tao --> Chumpon --> Ranong --> Ko Chang --> Ranong --> Ao Luk --> Krabi --> Hat Yai --> Kuala Lumpur --> Taman Negara --> Kuala Lumpur --> Pulau Pangkor --> Kuala Lumpur --> Phuket --> Ko Phi Phi --> Ko Lanta --> Trang --> Bangkok --> Aranya Prathet

To Cambodia

Didn't want to go but had to...


Leaving Ko Lanta was painful. It was the most beautiful island I have witnessed so far in Thailand as well as the most relaxing (Ko Tao + Ko Chang - All the hassles).

Because of our lack of an itinerary we were lucky enough to get the 3rd class ticket from Trang to Bangkok. Trang was reached by taking a minibus from Ko Lanta. On the minibus we met 2 gorgeous Swedish girls who ever travelling to Kuala Lumpur via Hat Yai.

Note to self - travelling with unknown + hot women is much more interesting than travelling with ones friends.

The train ride was an experience on its own. When the tickets said 3rd class, we really did not know what to expect. After we got on the train, the meaning of 3rd class was shoved down our throats.

To begin, all the 3rd class carriages did not have A/C but fans. Because of the hot temperature and all the passengers, the carriage cart became a sauna. The synergetic factors that added to the experience was the smell that I can only describe as a night club washroom + east side Vancouver.

The ride was around 13 hours so naturally we were expecting to sleep on the train. I had never been so wrong in my life.

Sidebar - people left ALL the windows open and the fans were turned on.

When the sun set, at first it was refreshing to feel the cool night breeze that was flowing through the open windows. Naturally we went to the very back of the last carriage and started a very superficial yet entertaining conversation with Thais who spoke virtually no english. What was interesting was that the SE Asia phrasebook I had taken with me was more handy to the Thais than to me. They were flipping through the phrasebook like there was no tomorrow just to tell me their names and where they were from. One particularly friendly Thai named Tom even taught us how to roll a cigarette using a palm leaf.

When we got back to our seats we found that the ladies in front of us were using our seats in correspondence with theirs to make a bed.

Sidebar - 2nd and 1st class seats have nice comfy beds which we saw after the ride.

Thus we began our brief but interesting quest for our sleeping area. Once we started moving towards the upper carriages we saw some interesting sights. Some of them include, locals whom were sleeping on the ground using new paper as a thin layer of protection from the train floor and themselves, kids who fell asleep standing up, and my personal favourite the baby that was sleeping upside down.

When we finally found an empty set of chairs to sleep on little did we know that the previously described stench would permiate through and into our souls. Our sleep on the train was as follows:

1. We fall asleep
2. 10 minutes later the train stops for no apparent reason. Because the air stops circulating, the stench comes back and chokes was awake
3. We get used to the stench and fall back to sleep
4. Bunch of merchants selling food and beverages jump into our cart and shout at the top of their lungs of the goods that they are selling
5. We wake up again
6. The merchants bugger off once the train starts moving.
7. We fall asleep.
8. The cool night air eventually turns cold.
9. We awake up.
10. Goto step 1 until we arrive in Bangkok

The result of the ride was caked on dirt + sweat + blood from bug bites + narcosis from the stench. When I took a shower once we arrived in Bangkok, I dare say that it was the best shower I had taken in my life.


Let this post be a warning to all and the future note to self:

WHEN IN THAILAND, DON'T RIDE THE TRAIN IN 3RD CLASS.

Ko Lanta

Back in Thailand.


I love this country - especially the south.

After being in the big city - Kuala Lumpur - for a week, it is nice to be back in a beach bungalow scuba diving with the fishes twice everyday. The traffic in Kuala Lumpur is bad enough to drive Mr. Rogers angry.

Ko Lanta is a small island off the west coast of Thailand near Krabi. It is not yet developed as some of the other popular tourist islands (i.e. Ko Tao, Ko Pha Ngan, Ko Samui, etc...). Life is slow on Ko Lanta. The locals run most of the hostels, restaurants and stores but the dive shops are run by the farangs.

Diving in Ko Lanta is supreme compared to Ko Tao. The visibility is quite good and the marine life are a plenty. Even the over all atmosphere of the Advanced diving course was much mellower when compared with the dive factory that is Ko Tao.

Our dive sessions included depth of 20 - 30 meters. While we were down at depth we saw schools of small red fish that makes a "wall of fishes". Other marine life that we saw include octopus, sea snake, ghost fish (family of sea horse), puffer fish, and heaps of other marine life that are a part of the ocean ecosystem.

Sidebar - note to self, buy a camera casing for under water for next dive.

I am afraid that I am slowly getting addicted to scuba diving. When I am underwater, the rules of the above world do not apply. I feel as though I am just another creature of this planet visiting an unfamiliar territory. Then all the western influences just wash away with the under water currents.

From Ko Lanta we will travel to Bangkok and catch a train to north Thailand and hopefully into Siem Reap.

Thaipusam

Wikipedia sayz:

Thaipusam (Tamil: தைப்பூசம்) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb). Pusam refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates both the birthday of Lord Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (lance) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman.

Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting. On the day of the festival, devotees will shave their heads undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). At its simplest this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers is also common. The most spectacular practice is the vel kavadi, essentially a portable altar up to two meters tall, decorated with peacock feathers and attached to the devotee through 108 vels pierced into the skin on the chest and back. Fire walking and flagellation may also be practiced. It is claimed that devotees are able to enter a trance, feel no pain, do not bleed from their wounds and have no scars left behind. However, some of the more extreme masochistic practices have been criticized as dangerous and contrary to the spirit and intention of Hinduism

To this day, I have never seen that many brown people (East Indians) in one place at the same time. Mind you, I live in Surrey BC, Canada which is the East Indians' home away from home.



The tour of the Batu cave usually takes about 20 minutes when the cave is empty (please refer to my flickr photos). But this 1.5 million people, it took about 3 hours from and back to the entrance.

Another salient characteristic of Thaipusam (besides the amount of people) is the sound of the beating drums. Before the devotees make their journey up the 272 stairs, they seemed to get "psyched" for the journey ahead by listening to the fast beating of the drums and dancing in circles while carrying their kavadi (which looked extremely heavy).
I don't know what it is, but one can feel a presence when he/she hears those drums beating. One can almost feel the enchanting effect of the drums when listening carefully:



As wikipedia describes, the devotees pierce their skin in the strangest places and perform feats solely based on faith that I have not yet observed in any religion (including my own)







After observing Thaipusam, only one statement remains in my mind - "No religion in this world has ANYTHING on Hinduism, Thaipusam, & its devotees". Also I felt ashamed for the fact that I do not give my religious dues solely out of laziness & lack of faith.