Sunday 6 January 2013

Honeymoon SE Asia Oct - Dec 2012



Travel Blog SE Asia.

Some photos of our trip

This document serves as a summary of the amazing SE Asian adventure Laura & I had for the final months of 2012. We spent 69 days travelling through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
It doesn't have the many funny moments we shared and the dozens of spectacular meals or funny run ins with touts, children and local animals but it is more of a good reminder of the places we went to and the sights we saw.  With the brilliant research skills of Laura and the unforgettable charm of SE Asia we have just finished our extended honeymoon. The foods, sights, laughs, people we have met.. all unforgettable and memories we will cherish forever.

1.The Plan
As part of our wedding plans we started dreaming of having a true extended break together and SE Asia seemed to be the obvious choice as it's so cheap to live, eat and travel for such an extended period.
Most of this time would involve a lot of travelling while the last few weeks would be chilling on beaches. Fiona Warner would manage my affairs back in London and I would check in with Fi sporadically. Apart from that we were mostly off the grid. We proudly carried two back packs that only weighed 10 pounds each. The main present from our wedding guests was a financial contribution to our honeymoon. It is the generosity of our family & friends that made this trip possible.


2.The Honeymoon
Anyone that lives in London will know that life is hectic and finding time for what is really important has to be managed. What a great way to start a marriage with an extended adventure together.
This trip has absolutely enforced this and we have spent almost every second together and both agree that we have grown exponentially as a couple. This writing feels like such a summary as every day had unique sights, sounds and experiences. This is just a skeletal reminder to assist in our reminiscing! On Flickr Laura has documented each place through photos although after two weeks of amazing beaches we stopped taking photos towards the end.

3.Intrepid Tour
Most of our trip was unstructured and we rarely planned more than two days in advance. If we liked a place we would stay longer (like Hoi An) or if the weather was terrible (like in Hue) we would keep on moving. The one structured part was a tour with 10 others and a great guide named Jack. We met some really super people on this tour who we have since been in contact with, had dinner with in other countries and shared photos with. We feel (just like our great group in Egypt) that we really had a super bunch and it was like the United Nations. Travellers from Switzerland, Iran, USA, Canada, Germany, Laura the Brit, and the usual wad of fun Aussies. Dinners in the evenings were hilarious and we were sort of amazed that we were always so much louder than the younger Contiki tour that seemed to have the same path as us through Northern Thailand and into Laos. Susan from Canada was the fun noisy drinking one whose company we really enjoyed, Bruce was the brilliant and oh so well travelled Aussie from Darwin. His Africa travel stories have given us a real thirst to travel through Africa…one day! I had Oliver to talk football with as he was a Werder Bremen fan. Matt, Nahid and all the team were brilliant. We missed them when it the tour was all finished but were equally excited to start our honeymoon, planning just one day at a time.


4.Thailand North
* Bangkok
What a city! We did it all. The Grand Temple, Wat Po, Wat a Run, the incredible floating market, the Sky Train, MBK, Siam Square, a Lady Boy cabaret, the largest market (apparently) in the world at Mo Chit and of course Khao Son Rd. The king was having a birthday so we had the good fortune to watch the regatta rehearsals on the main river. The chanting was great. The markets we saw, great temples, the foods, the smells and the scams we saw all made an amazing adventure and we simply loved Bangkok. We stayed at four places in Bangkok from a nice hotel when we first arrived (Laura thought I would appreciate it after arriving from the wilds of Papua New Guinea) to super cheap student accommodation.

* Night Train
The first full day with our Intrepid team concluded with the night train from Bangkok to Chang Mai. Our friend Hayley had raved about Channg Mai and we were keen to see it. We had grim expectations of the train but it was wide, comfortable and the Intrepid team made it a lot of fun. Even a romance on the first night on the train (while we slept) that survived the whole tour. I can't tell you what happened after the tour but the two of them (Swiss girl meets Aussie boy) were fantastic and handled all our teasing with great poise and fun. Waking up to a new city is always buzz even though the train look 5 hours longer then we were expecting.

* Chang Mai
As a group we had the day to choose a range of things and some went water rafting, others cycling. We chose to walk around the old city and enjoy the sights. The temples and all the architecture were stunning and it was a fun day out. We all had dinner near the night market and my meal came in a pineapple. Another brilliant meal. We would have liked to stay another day here but we was were on tour we had to move on.

5. Laos
Crossing into Laos was absolutely fascinating. Packed onto a small boat across the Mekong we crossed with our back packs slumped on top of us. Suddenly there was croissants, baguettes, French architecture, and French tourists galore. Yes Laos is an old French colony and it's immediately obvious. The difference from Thailand was immediate and fascinating.

* The Mekong
After being on the River Nile earlier in the year we were pinching ourselves as we started on a two day slow boat cruise up the Mekong. With the back drop of amazing mountains, elephants bathing on the side of the river and massive Buddhist temples it was a brilliant chilled out two days where we read, played games and got to know the Intrepid guys. Laura & I always read books that related to the area we were travelling in. I have never read so many books in such a short space of time. The Mekong is steeped in history with some grim history during the Vietnam war period. This was one of the most relaxing two days we had...until the end of the trip when we started to hit the beaches and islands.


* Luang Prabang

We love Luang Prabang. Just stunning in terms of French architecture, quaint shops, brilliant temples and dome of the most amazing water falls we have ever seen. Bright blue water, swimming under the falls remains a highlight. On the walk up to the waterfall was a Black Asiatic Bear rescue centre, we stood for ages just watching these magnificent creatures and laughing at their funny ways. Of course they were mostly sleeping, that was until the 60 strong group of Chinese tourists in matching pink hats came through with their megaphone.

The first night we went out for a Lao BBQ, possibly on of the best meals of the whole trip. The town itself has the BEST night market we encountered with everything handmade by the locals, it was beautiful. I now wish I had bought more gifts there but it was so early on in our trip and anything w bought we would have had to carry for two months. The town is set on two rivers and the price of the meals was insane. We would eat a meal and have a Laos beer for about £1. This of course only happens when you walk away from the ubiquitous tourist main strip. Laos is a Communist country and there is an 11.30pm curfew. Everyone must be in the place they are staying by midnight. It was quite surreal, but no one dares to mess with the government.

On the last day we got up at 5am to go give alms to the local monks. Monks live on charity in this part of the world and many locals go to donate food to literally hundreds of monks every morning. It was a real experience being there and seeing them all, from the very old to the very young all draped in orange with shaven heads. Later that day we hopped on a bus to drive to Vang Vieng stopping for lunch at an outdoor lookout over an incredible valley.

* Vang Vieng
Party town…well it was. But drunken Aussies seem to have played a major role in killing the fun here. A hammered Aussie recently died while tubing down the river so all the bars along the river have been closed down by the government. It seems they don't want Laos to attract 'that kind of tourist' and who can blame them? If you look at You Tube clips you can see the fun this town but the party is well and truly over. While Laura relaxed I went on a brilliant kayaking ride with a group from our tour. Ridiculously amazing back drop and great fun.


* Vientane
The capital of Laos. We spent our evenings at a bar over looking the Mekong and across at Thailand. A great place to visit and we enjoyed the markets and exploring a new city. We did go to a brilliant indoor food market at the local shopping centre, it sounds odd but it was truly local food. It was hard to tell what you were ordering and I think I ended up with chicken knuckles. Two days on a bus and finally we arrived in Hanoi.. one of our new favourite places in the world.


* Vietnam
Our Visas almost expired we spent so much time in Vietnam. We truly fell in love with this country and went from the very North to the South in a month.


* Hanoi
Our friend Loz will tell you that You cannot arrive in Hanoi without your jaw dropping, and she is right. How does the traffic work? Are there any rules? So many mopeds, many with families of 4+ on them. Babies squeezed in between Mum and Dad and a schoolchild hanging off the back and for some reason kids don't wear helmets. It's some sort of hypnotic thing and like fish swimming in a river it seems to work. You can tell who is in town for their first day as they mill about petrified at the side of the road. You just have no clue how you will ever cross the road. By day two you are part of the hypnotic trance and you just walk…yes into the traffic. They see you and just go round you. It is a sight to behold. The old quarter, the French quarter, the War Museum, a cafe for disadvantaged kids and queuing so long to get a glimpse of their hero.. " Uncle Ho " ( known to us as Ho Chi Minh of course. ) The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was fascinating and prompted me to read the biography of Ho Chi Minh. The book was heavy but I loved the learning of this Vietnamese hero. I couldn't tell you how many statues and images we saw of "Uncle Ho" but he is idolised…particularly in North Vietnam.

* Halong Bay
It's worth the couple of hours on a mini bus. We took a tour with a local tour group promising a unique experience away from the more crowded parts of the bay and the booze cruises. We were really hap with what we got, the boat, the back drop, kayaking to a deserted beach, the seafood on the boat, the squid fishing and the sailing around these crazy "mountains." At night wqe pulled into a little hidey hole in the Karsts and just anchored up. In the morning we went to a floating fisherman's village and a pearl farm. It was an incredible few days and we met a really lovely family based in Kuala Lumpur who we enjoyed some quiet ales with as we sailed along. I hope we see them again someday.

* Sapa and the night train
Another night train although this was was a little more hardcore. Vietnam is a loooong country and Sapa is virtually on the border with China . Sapa is famous for it's rice fields and the local Hmong tribes of Vietnam. They wear the most amazing local dress and this is a really unique part of the world. We went on a 12km trek but with all the tea breaks we hardly noticed. The locals are enterprising at best and the tourists are really hassled. As long as you embrace the banter it was a great experience. We stayed in a place with a breath taking view of the valley. It was the coldest few days of the trip, it rained a lot and a dense fog settled in over the valley every afternoon. It only made it more dramatic though. It was a great experience and I am glad we made the effort to go so far North.

* Hue
Two words; torrential rain. The temperature was great so we donned our waterproofs and went out wading. We have some funny photos of us walking through flooded streets. We even saw canoes being rowed through streets. We walked a few miles to the Grand Palace and had a brilliant evening in a crazy pack packer pub cheering on Arsenal with the crowd. (They beat Tottenham 5-2) It's genuinely amazing how popular English football is in SE Asia. The weather dampened our view of Hue and I hope one day we can go there again and see all the UNESCO sights, but instead we hopped on a bus to Hoi An.

* Hoi An
Famous for it's 400+ tailors, incredible French and Chinese architecture and amazing food. We stayed here way longer than planned. It was simply stunning (even if parts are quite touristy) and this where we went shopping! Oh yes we have particular vintage tastes so we took in patterns and we were thrilled with the result with two boxes then shipped to Sibhe in London who baby sat our packages.

* Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)
With the end of the rainy season still over SOuth Vietnam we skipped the beaches of Nha Trang and jumped on a flight straight to HCMC. We stayed with our friend Catherine and had a blast with Kyra from Adelaide who was also staying with Catherine. We booked a day tour with Intrepid and went to see all the sights in one day. The War Remenants Museum was particularly confronting. I wonder what it would be like to be an American going to this place.

There's a great little Swing Dance scene in Saigon and Katherine threw swing dance house party for us one night. We also went to the weekly swing dance with the Saigon Swing Cats and what a lovely group of people. We had a blast and was great to meet them. The city itself is way more Western than Hanoi but any new city is fascinating and we loved the coffee! ;)

7.Cambodia
In preparation for Cambodia we read a variety of books about the brutal and insane Khmer Rouge regime and also read a book about the modern day corruption in Cambodia. If you ask us if we would change anything about our trip it would simply be that we wish we had stayed longer in Southern Cambodia. A true paradise but without the massive amount of tourists that you find in southern Thailand.

* Phnom Penh
Visiting the Killing Fields and S21 (torture centre in middle of Phnom Penh) was confronting and slightly depressing. It's a must do but it is a real downer. It was amazing to be in Phnom Penh and my highlight was a meal at the FCC ( Foreign Correspondent's club.) It's a great old colonial building on the main street that looks over the river. We had a super meal and spent the night analysing all that we had read and seen. Fascinating place. Art deco market?


* Kep
After a tough bus trip, blew a tyre, on badly paved roads it was great to reach the beaches of Cambodia and a good break after the Killing Fields etc. We stayed up in the woods with a view of the sea. We go tup early and hired bikes and went down to the market to see them bringing in all the craps from the sea, bucket and buckets of the them. We carried on with our bikes down the coastal road encountering monkeys stealing the locals food and lots of Cambodians on holiday. They don't sit on the beach in bikinis like Westerners, they cove up from head to toe and rent shaded huts on stilts with hammocks where they sit in circles and chatter loudly and play cards. Fascinating. Kep has many grand houses from the pre-Khmer Rouge era that fell into disrepair, they are like wired haunted shells. We met a great ex-pat couple who live in Phnom Penh and shared a seafood dinner down at the Crab market. We tried peppered crab the local delicacy. Like all places this had it's individual charm with the local ladies balancing a massive range if things from pineapples to lobsters on their heads.

* Sihanoukville
Yes you could easily lose yourself here. Ridiculously cheap and the perfect spring board for some amazing islands. The first night we stayed in a slightly off blanche tree-house hut in Serendipity BEach, this is back packer central and built for late night partying. A great energy with a stunning back drop. We sat and watched the sunset with our Angkor beers and again pinched ourselves that we were in such an amazing part of the world.

* Koh Rong
The next day we took a boat over to Koh Rong. A truly off the grid on a remote island two hours south of the coast of Cambodia and staying in a tree house bungalow. http://treehouse-bungalows.com/
A remote and quiet beach with white sands and blue water and we were staying up high in a tree house overlooking our own beach. The generator was only used from 5-10pm so we were glad to have our head lamps in our packs. This was a really special place and we hope all our friends can visit here once in their lifetime. We had a great Italian meal on the pier  at this little hut run my an eccentric Italian lady. We paid the waiter $10USD to take us fishing in his boat the next morning and catching fish was easy and plentiful. I smile when I think of our time in a tree house with no windows as such but a massive mosquito net.

* Otres Beach
Mushroom Point Otres Beach | Port de Sihanoukville, Cambodia
Paradise. We stayed in a mushroom. A perfect bungalow on the beach with the bar, lampshades all shaped as mushrooms. Everything we did was no more than 25 meters from a beautiful beach. We miss this place and simply read, swam and enjoyed long chats, walks and dinners together. Another paradise that I hope we go back again one day. I also hope it stays undeveloped as the comparison to what has happened to places like Phi Phi Island in Thailand are alarming. This was a true honeymoon destination.

* Siem Reap
Time to leave the beaches as one of our main reasons for choosing Cambodia was Angkor Wat and Siem Reap is the place you have to stay at to see Angkor Wat. Seam Reap was probably our worst accommodation over our whole trip. Lip stick on the coffee cup, they burnt my shirts when washing and ironing them and the list goes on. We did find our favourite restaurant of the whole trip though and we will always talk about "The Nest."  Seam Reap has an insane night life and the nighty market is alive with relentless yet loveable hawkers and ' Pub Street ' is hilarious for so many reasons. Loved it.

* Angkor Wat
I wasn't quire prepared for the magnitude of Angkor Wat. It was a destination we had talked about for so long and suddenly a tuk tuk was picking us up at 4.30am so we could be there for the sunrise. So many tuk tuks. This really attracted the crowds yet the size of it meant it didn't matter. We spent five hours walking around and went back the next day at sunset. You see the temple where Angelia Jolie filmed tomb raider and you get hassled a little by the young touts but nothing can detract from the amazing experience this was. Just the southern entrance was a highlight for us. After seeing Abu Simbel in Egypt this year we felt like we had just seen another of the great wonders of the world.

Instead of flying to Bangkok on route to the southern Islands of Thailand we choose the long and cheap option. This was the longest and hardest day of our trip but still a great experience. The border crossing from Cambodia to Thailand was ridiculous and soul destroying. It's all part of travelling and the saving grace was that our next destination was Koh Lanta which was probably the most amazing beach of all our adventures. We stayed over night at Bangkok and stayed at an amazing guesthouse called the Old Bangkok Inn. It was a nice reward for the day we had endured.

8. Thailand South
* Koh Lantah
Sian Reap - Bangkok - Krabi Island and finally we arrived at a beach guest house called " Somewhere Else" on Koh Lanta. Our lovely bungalow was 30 meters from the most stunning beach and this was a really relaxing part of our adventure. The hammocks, massages on the beach, fruit plates for breakfast and hours of reading and swimming made this quite the heavenly experience. I did hire a wind surfer for an hour and relayed quickly my wind surfing skills needed some work. Great food here and the spiciest meal of the trip. I love spicy food but this was a challenge.


* Many small islands - Koh Ngai, Koh Chuek and Koh Ma plus the hidden Emerald Cave at Koh Mook.
A big green speed boat picks you up at the beach and along with some lovely Swedes we head off to explore the small islands of Thailand. Snorkeling, exploring the emerald caves, lunch on a perfect beach. It's a  great day out although the caves are bordering on comical with the over tourism of it. I think at one stage there was 400 of us in this little beach oasis at the end of the cave. You could only laugh.


* Phi Phi Island
We are glad we saw Phi Phi Island and the half moon parties and the natural beauty were interesting. We couldn't wait to leave though as after being spoilt on so many remote islands we were suddenly at a rock concert. Loud and rude Aussie and Brit tourists haggling over 10 Baht( a few pence) , the smell of raw sewerage, strange half built developments everywhere. It's only a theory but it feels like after the tsunami it was thrown up quickly with no planning to ensure the tourists kept coming and now it suffers. Lonely Planet describes Phi Phi Island as heading for an eco-disaster. Everyone wants to go here and I know I was buzzed about finally coming here. Underwhelming in many ways.


* Phuket
Phuket is an island and province of South Thailand, in the Andaman Sea. It is a diverse island with extremes. Great natural beauty and really nice quiet secluded places to the rather insane but fun Patong with all the go go girls and never ending night life. We did a little bit of everything on Phuket Island and also loved Phuket Town which tourists don't really bother with because it's not on the beach. It has this old town section where the old Indo-China architecture is brilliant and unlike the rest of Phuket.. feels like a normal city. one of our best meals of our whole trip cost 155 Baht (£3) here… including drinks.
It was in Patong that I sadly left Laura for 48 hours as I headed to Canberra for Grandma's funeral. Our final two days were at Kamala Beach and the red sunsets and meals on the beach were a fitting ending to the islands of Thailand. We also ran into our Canadian friend Susan randomly one evening at Kamala Beach which was just lovely to see her and share travel stories. As always, Susan soon had the whole venue at our table with everyone drinking and laughing. Susan has a special personality and has been travelling a very similar path to us although now she heads to Sri Lanka.


16. Christmas Hua Hin
Hua Hin is onn the Gulf of Thailand Thai people holiday and two hours south of Bangkok. APparently it's where the King goes for holiday. Mum & dad flew in to spend Christmas with us which was a treat and we stayed at the Novotel with the most friendly staff ever. Every meal consisted of great conversation as we discussed a range of topics from family history to border control stories to stories about mum when she lived in China. We did the family thing of talking about our top five highlights of the year and all those things. Most days were spent by the pool although dad had a suit made at a tailors so joining him for the fittings was fun. Christmas day involved the usual breakfast but all wearing either reindeer or Christmas hats. We then met up in our room and dad did a short Christmas style acknowledgement speech which was nice and then we shared presents. During the day we skyped  family which was good for our souls as even though or first and probably only Asian Christmas it was a slightly odd experience spending Christmas Day by a pool. Definitely the most relaxed Christmas ever. It was really special to spend it with my parents and I am great for their commitment to family and their efforts to fly up and meet us.

In Hua Hin we did our third cooking class and was fun to have mum & dad involved. A great group of eight with our Green Curry Chicken being our feature dish.


Grandma
During the honeymoon my amazing Grandmother passed away at the age of 99. I hear the news when we were on the beach in South Cambodia. I was quite teary for a morning but after that enjoyed telling so many fun and amazing stories about Grandma. He life was one to be celebrated and I flew to Australia for the funeral and Laura waited for me in Phuket. It was hard seeing my mum feeling such a sense of loss but there was a lot of joy at the funeral and the funeral was a perfect and fitting farewell for Grandma. Her four children and all the grand kids spoke so well and was really special to see everyone and spend the day together. Grandma was a true inspiration to me and all the family and will be missed greatly.

I also had a coffee with Sarah Ward at Canberra air port.


Laura has a list of books also but I added these as a reminder of what I read. As well as being an adventure and a great honeymoon, this trip has been so educational.
Some books made me laugh, a couple made me cry and the learning curve about the history and political terrain of the countries we visited were fantastic and really enhanced the experience.
I would not recommend all the below books so have put an asterisk against my favourites.


Books read.
SE Asia related:
* Ho Chi Minh: A life.   William J. Duiker
* Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a troubled land.        Joel Brinkley
Ghosts in Vietnam.   James Carter
The Proud Bastards.  E. Michael Helms
The Division of the Damned.    Richard Rhys Jones
Very Crazy G.I.   Kregg P. Jorgenson
* The Vietnam War: History in an hour.   Neil Smith
Ghosts in Vietnam James Carter
The war in Laos Kenneth Conboy
Tomorrow I'm Dead: How a 17-year old Killing Field Survivor Yom Bun
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & Northern Thailand : Including Guides to Angkor Wat, Halong Bay, Luang Prabang and more  - Planet, Lonely
* Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors    Pran, Dith

Comfort Woman: A Filipina's story of
Business and personal development:
* Secrets of Male Entrepreneurs Exposed.  Brentong Tong
Import/Export for Dummies.   John Capela

Rwanda related:
* Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust Immaculee Ilibagiza
* Ordinary Man: The true story behind Hotel Rwanda. Paul Rusesabagina
Rwanda, Blood Everywhere and Beyond.        Emmanuel Ngiruwonsanga
My Father, Maker of the Trees  Eric Irivuzumugabe
The Strategy of Antelopes: Rwanda after the Genocide  Jean Hatzfeld
Rwanda, Blood Everywhere and Beyond  Emmanual Ngiruwonsanga

England related:
I Am The Secret Footballer The Secret Footballer
The Hooligan Nights      Clarence Rock
Narrow Margins life on the waterways Marie Browne
Harry Redknapp - The Biography   Les Roopanarine

Random:
Fifty Shades Freed.   E.L. James
Sipping on the Nile - My Exodus   Jean Naggar












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