Sunday, 28 November 2010
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Exciting Cambodian Bus Fun!
Hello!
Today Helen and I took an Exciting Fun Bus from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh north east to the town of Siem Reap. It took a mere 6 hours to travel 315 kilometres, due in part to the excellent condition of the transport infrastructure. I thought you may like to try and recreate this wonderful example of modern transportation in your own home, simply follow the steps below. Hopefully you too will feel something of the wonder of such an exemplary conveyance.
You will Need:
A washing machine with 'Fast Spin' cycle.
A medium sized rock
A large spring
The second least comfortable chair you own
A Cambodian Karaoke DVD
A Dehumidifier
A Lack of sleep the previous evening
6 Hours
Lets get on the Exciting Fun Bus!
1. Turn the dehumidifier up to '11'or highest equivalent setting.
2. Set the dehumidifier to 'Reverse'
3. Turn the heating up as high as it will go
4. Place the Spring on the washing machine and affix the chair to the spring
5 Put the rock in the washing machine and select 'Fast Spin' cycle
6. Put on the Cambodian Karaoke DVD, and adjust the volume so as to be not overly intrusive, yet impossible to fully ignore.
7. Sit on the chair and start the washing machine.
8. Repeat for 6 hours
Happy Bussing!!
Monday, 22 November 2010
Phnom Penh - Tragedies Past & Present
Yesterday we visited Tuol Sleng, a former school building put to horrific use by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's as the S -21 Prison. Within its walls, 17,000 people were tortured in the most unimaginably inhumane acts of a psychopathic, genocidal regime. Barely a dozen escaped alive.
The building itself is now a museum to the darkest reaches of human nature, each of the rooms remains intact, with rusty beds, implements of harm, and walls still splattered with blood. Each room contains a solitary Stark black and white photograph of a contorted, twisted and tormented soul. Another block has the former class rooms internally divided into tiny cells, the open spaces above the walkways outside the rooms covered in a web of rusted barbed wire to prevent escape via suicide. The third block contains photographs, implements and skulls. The mug shot photographs themselves an endless parade of the innocent, some just toddlers. I was struck by the sharp stare of some people, seemingly challenging the camera, as if knowing that these barbarous acts would never be forgotten.
There is, of course, a strange voyeurism to all this, some other visitor saw fit to take photographs or videos, something which left me aghast. We walked round together to begin with, but the weight of all this tragedy left us drifting from room to room. That there were organised tour groups compounded the sense that this place fits neither the mold of memorial nor museum quite adequately.
One image that will endure was that of a group of Cambodians, one of whom was around 40 and had lost his right hand. It is probable that this was due to an unexploded land mine, millions of which litter the land - there is around 1 amputee for every 290 people. He did something I saw no one else do - pick up a dented, rusted hand axe from one of the beds and turn is slowly in his hand. I can scarcely imagine what pain it inflicted. Yet he remained unflinching in calm reflection. A victim confronting these horrors more bravely than I ever could.
After all of this and a deep breth, we threw our selves into the other side of Cambodia - The annual water festival. The day before we had sat in a pavillion at the rivers edge and whatched the dragon boat race, full of cheers and whoops for the winners and the uninteligable commentry over the tannoy. This was followed by fireworks and huge boats replete with lights and effergies of temples. Last night we went instead to the main 'art street' and mingled with the crowds at a music festival in the adjacent park. We seemed to attract as much attenion as the main act, everyone seemed in jubalent, celebratory mood as the lights and sounds and smells swirled around us.
Then we awoke this morning to hear of the bridge stampede in the northeast of the town, more than 300 dead. Hearts heavy yet again. I hope this resilient and welcoming country will one day be able to truly celebrate, free of tragedy.
Andrew
The building itself is now a museum to the darkest reaches of human nature, each of the rooms remains intact, with rusty beds, implements of harm, and walls still splattered with blood. Each room contains a solitary Stark black and white photograph of a contorted, twisted and tormented soul. Another block has the former class rooms internally divided into tiny cells, the open spaces above the walkways outside the rooms covered in a web of rusted barbed wire to prevent escape via suicide. The third block contains photographs, implements and skulls. The mug shot photographs themselves an endless parade of the innocent, some just toddlers. I was struck by the sharp stare of some people, seemingly challenging the camera, as if knowing that these barbarous acts would never be forgotten.
There is, of course, a strange voyeurism to all this, some other visitor saw fit to take photographs or videos, something which left me aghast. We walked round together to begin with, but the weight of all this tragedy left us drifting from room to room. That there were organised tour groups compounded the sense that this place fits neither the mold of memorial nor museum quite adequately.
One image that will endure was that of a group of Cambodians, one of whom was around 40 and had lost his right hand. It is probable that this was due to an unexploded land mine, millions of which litter the land - there is around 1 amputee for every 290 people. He did something I saw no one else do - pick up a dented, rusted hand axe from one of the beds and turn is slowly in his hand. I can scarcely imagine what pain it inflicted. Yet he remained unflinching in calm reflection. A victim confronting these horrors more bravely than I ever could.
After all of this and a deep breth, we threw our selves into the other side of Cambodia - The annual water festival. The day before we had sat in a pavillion at the rivers edge and whatched the dragon boat race, full of cheers and whoops for the winners and the uninteligable commentry over the tannoy. This was followed by fireworks and huge boats replete with lights and effergies of temples. Last night we went instead to the main 'art street' and mingled with the crowds at a music festival in the adjacent park. We seemed to attract as much attenion as the main act, everyone seemed in jubalent, celebratory mood as the lights and sounds and smells swirled around us.
Then we awoke this morning to hear of the bridge stampede in the northeast of the town, more than 300 dead. Hearts heavy yet again. I hope this resilient and welcoming country will one day be able to truly celebrate, free of tragedy.
Andrew
Phomn Penh Cambodia
We're now in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh having arrived just in time for the Bon Om Tuk Water Festival. Its one of the biggest events in Cambodia's calender and half the population seems to have descended on the the city for the occasion! We arrived this afternoon and managed to find a half decent guesthouse with vacancies, so we dumped our stuff in our room and went to explore the festival. We had some tasty red curry noodles on the way, and then made our way to the riverfront where we could watch the dragon boat races. There were loads of them, all different colours, and trying different rowing techniques in attempts to win. As the day turned into night, lots of floating light displays on boats were paraded along the river, each with its own sound system blaring out, some better quality than others! There was also a huge firework display which was really impressive, so we had our guy fawkes experience, sort of, maybe a few weeks late! We sat in the Cambodian tourist boards separate 'pavillion' which was free for foreigners, so basically we were surrounded by westerners. It felt pretty weird in a kind of 'us and them' colonial kind of way as all the locals weren't really allowed inside the pavilion. So we only stayed for a bit, and then went to search for some dinner and an escape from the hectic crowds.
We found a great place doing tasty Vietnamese pho soup, and they gave us cold flannels to cool down, as well as free bananas for dessert - all for only 3 dollars! We also looked in at the Foreign Correspondents club, but again it was fully of westerners and the prices were basically the same as London, with a menu that was like a gastro pub! Very strange contrast! After that we wandered to a arena area where a big stage was showing performances of Cambodian singers and dancers, and it was surrounded by lots of food and clothes stalls. It was pretty intense though, so we caught a tuk tuk back to out hostel and chilled out in a nearby bar, where i got a double vodka and orange for only 75 cents!
So anyway, before we came to Phnom Penh, we were in Sinhoukville for about a week. We ended up staying a bit longer than intended because I got a bad allergic reaction to some mosquito bites, and had a horrible itchy red rash all over my legs. I was so worried about it I was going to see a local doctor to get some medication, but then Andrew suggested we call my dad, and he managed to give me a diagnosis on skype using a webcam! Modern technology eh! His prescription was to keep my legs elevated as much as possible, so we spent a couple of days chilling by the beach, drinking beers and relaxing - not so bad really! Once I'd rested for a couple of days we also went on another snorkeling tour to a nearby island which was pretty undeveloped, and not touristy at all. We stayed overnight in a really basic hut, with a free lizard in the bathroom, and snorkeled in nearby reefs over two days. All our food was included and there were quite a few other people doing scuba diving with the same package, so we had some good chats with lots of new people from France, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland. It was really relaxing, and all the swimming in the seawater really helped my legs. We booked bus tickets to Pnom Penh as soon as we got back though, as we're aware we still have a lot to see in a small amount of time.
Anyway, we will upload some photos soon and give an update on Thailand as I know there is a gap for that part of our journey! Helen x
We found a great place doing tasty Vietnamese pho soup, and they gave us cold flannels to cool down, as well as free bananas for dessert - all for only 3 dollars! We also looked in at the Foreign Correspondents club, but again it was fully of westerners and the prices were basically the same as London, with a menu that was like a gastro pub! Very strange contrast! After that we wandered to a arena area where a big stage was showing performances of Cambodian singers and dancers, and it was surrounded by lots of food and clothes stalls. It was pretty intense though, so we caught a tuk tuk back to out hostel and chilled out in a nearby bar, where i got a double vodka and orange for only 75 cents!
So anyway, before we came to Phnom Penh, we were in Sinhoukville for about a week. We ended up staying a bit longer than intended because I got a bad allergic reaction to some mosquito bites, and had a horrible itchy red rash all over my legs. I was so worried about it I was going to see a local doctor to get some medication, but then Andrew suggested we call my dad, and he managed to give me a diagnosis on skype using a webcam! Modern technology eh! His prescription was to keep my legs elevated as much as possible, so we spent a couple of days chilling by the beach, drinking beers and relaxing - not so bad really! Once I'd rested for a couple of days we also went on another snorkeling tour to a nearby island which was pretty undeveloped, and not touristy at all. We stayed overnight in a really basic hut, with a free lizard in the bathroom, and snorkeled in nearby reefs over two days. All our food was included and there were quite a few other people doing scuba diving with the same package, so we had some good chats with lots of new people from France, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland. It was really relaxing, and all the swimming in the seawater really helped my legs. We booked bus tickets to Pnom Penh as soon as we got back though, as we're aware we still have a lot to see in a small amount of time.
Anyway, we will upload some photos soon and give an update on Thailand as I know there is a gap for that part of our journey! Helen x
Monday, 15 November 2010
We're actually in Cambodia right now, but I will give a bit of an update on our week in Hong Kong, as it is well over due.
Random notes:
On the journey to Hong kong from Beijing we stopped in Guangzhou, and almost didnt make it on our connecting flight because we went to check our luggage hadn't been taken off hte plane be mistake (as this happened to one of our friends on our flight to moscow which stopped over in berlin). It was fine, but when we tried to get back onto the transfer route to the boarding gate for our flight we were stopped by security guards at every turn, as they had hyper security for the Asia games. It was a bit stressful, but we found our way to our flight to Hong Kong ok, and made it there on time.
We met Laura in HK and went to leave our stuff at her flat as we were staying with her for a few days. We went for an eye wateringly hot indian curry in a nearby food court in the evening, and then took the star ferry over the hong kong harbour to see the amazing skyline lit up at night.
The next day we went up victoria peak on an old tram and then for a walk around the top to get some great views. We walked back down the peak, which was crazily steep, back into the main city centre in Hong Kong island and grabbed a pizza slice to eat with a beer down on the harbourfront. Beer is really expensive in Hong Kong so the cheapest option is getting it from a 7 eleven and finding somewhere to sit! That evening we went out for dinner with laura's HK friends for one of their birthdays, at a Korean BBQ restaurant. It was really tasty. We cooked out own meat and fish on bbq's in the middle of the table, and it was accompanied by pickled vegetables, and seafood pancakes. We were stuffed after all that, but then a huge seafood soup was wheeled in for us all to share, with the various tentacles etc cut up with scissors, so that everyone got a taste. Laura's friends were all obsessed with France, so were really excited to hear that we have visited it many times and even speak a bit of French. My favourite part of the meal was the birthday cake, which was an ice cream cake with a crazy candle - it was a pink plastic flower with a sparkler in the middle. When the sparkler was lit the flower sprung open, and started playing a tune. Each of the flower petals had candles on the end too, so it didnt take long for the whole thing to start melting plastic onto the cake, and the music went a little wonky. It was hilarious. Later that evening, we went to meet Lawrence who had been at the Rugby all day with free drinks, so he was a little merry to say the least! We joined him with some 7 eleven beers and had a fun night exploring different bars before making our way back to laura and lawrences appartment.
The next day andrew went computer shopping with lawrence whilst laura and I went to explore some clothes shops in Kowloon. It was quite a nice change not to be constantly with andrew (and he felt the same -honest) after a month of constantly being in each other pockets 24 7! The boys also went to see Happy Valley - the HK horse racing course, whilst laura and I went for a drink on the IFC mall, with a spectacular view of the HK skyline. That evening Lawrence made a delicious home made curry for us all. It was really good to have home cooked food too, as we have had to eat out everyday since we've been away (apart from the dreaded instant noodles on the train - ugh!).
The next day we checked into a hostel further along HK island, as Laura's parents were staying with her later in the week. The hostel was actually really nice, considering we'd heard some horror stories about places in chungkiong mansions on kowloon - tiny beds and bathrooms with a shower directly over the loo. Our dorms were cosy, clean and comfortable, and pretty sociable for meeting people. If anyone is going to HK check out Yesinn hostel - its cheap and good value! That evening we went to Kowloon in search of some street food in Temple street market. We found a place that was heaving with locals (always a good sign!) and had a tasty curry rice pot, as well as deep fried prawn cakes - really yummy! Afterwards we explored the surrounding area, including the numerous tarot card readers, and the impromptu kareoke tents, which were only accompanied by people on keyboards, but no less entertaining, with cantonese versions of celine dions 'my heart will go on' being passionately sung.
The next day we went to Lamma island which is a mere 1/2 hour ferry away, but its a tiny tropical island, with no roads and lovely beaches. Its a world away from the hectic city of HK. We went on a scenic walk across the island and stopped by a quiet beach to have a picnic.
We also visited Hong Kong park on another day, which had a great walk through aviary - hence all the bird pictures on facebook! The park was very picturesque with lovely fountains and ponds, as well as feng shui areas. Laura also showed us around some great restaurants near our hostel, including lots of Japanese dessert places which did tofu pudding, snow ice, fruit soup and seseme filled rice balls. Nothing really that a westerner would recognise as dessert, but really tasty nonetheless! Dessert is a bigger passtime than drinking in HK, so there were lots of places to choose from.
Anyway, that was a quick tour of our Hong Kong adventure. More update on Thailand and Cambodia to follow!
Helen x
Random notes:
On the journey to Hong kong from Beijing we stopped in Guangzhou, and almost didnt make it on our connecting flight because we went to check our luggage hadn't been taken off hte plane be mistake (as this happened to one of our friends on our flight to moscow which stopped over in berlin). It was fine, but when we tried to get back onto the transfer route to the boarding gate for our flight we were stopped by security guards at every turn, as they had hyper security for the Asia games. It was a bit stressful, but we found our way to our flight to Hong Kong ok, and made it there on time.
We met Laura in HK and went to leave our stuff at her flat as we were staying with her for a few days. We went for an eye wateringly hot indian curry in a nearby food court in the evening, and then took the star ferry over the hong kong harbour to see the amazing skyline lit up at night.
The next day we went up victoria peak on an old tram and then for a walk around the top to get some great views. We walked back down the peak, which was crazily steep, back into the main city centre in Hong Kong island and grabbed a pizza slice to eat with a beer down on the harbourfront. Beer is really expensive in Hong Kong so the cheapest option is getting it from a 7 eleven and finding somewhere to sit! That evening we went out for dinner with laura's HK friends for one of their birthdays, at a Korean BBQ restaurant. It was really tasty. We cooked out own meat and fish on bbq's in the middle of the table, and it was accompanied by pickled vegetables, and seafood pancakes. We were stuffed after all that, but then a huge seafood soup was wheeled in for us all to share, with the various tentacles etc cut up with scissors, so that everyone got a taste. Laura's friends were all obsessed with France, so were really excited to hear that we have visited it many times and even speak a bit of French. My favourite part of the meal was the birthday cake, which was an ice cream cake with a crazy candle - it was a pink plastic flower with a sparkler in the middle. When the sparkler was lit the flower sprung open, and started playing a tune. Each of the flower petals had candles on the end too, so it didnt take long for the whole thing to start melting plastic onto the cake, and the music went a little wonky. It was hilarious. Later that evening, we went to meet Lawrence who had been at the Rugby all day with free drinks, so he was a little merry to say the least! We joined him with some 7 eleven beers and had a fun night exploring different bars before making our way back to laura and lawrences appartment.
The next day andrew went computer shopping with lawrence whilst laura and I went to explore some clothes shops in Kowloon. It was quite a nice change not to be constantly with andrew (and he felt the same -honest) after a month of constantly being in each other pockets 24 7! The boys also went to see Happy Valley - the HK horse racing course, whilst laura and I went for a drink on the IFC mall, with a spectacular view of the HK skyline. That evening Lawrence made a delicious home made curry for us all. It was really good to have home cooked food too, as we have had to eat out everyday since we've been away (apart from the dreaded instant noodles on the train - ugh!).
The next day we checked into a hostel further along HK island, as Laura's parents were staying with her later in the week. The hostel was actually really nice, considering we'd heard some horror stories about places in chungkiong mansions on kowloon - tiny beds and bathrooms with a shower directly over the loo. Our dorms were cosy, clean and comfortable, and pretty sociable for meeting people. If anyone is going to HK check out Yesinn hostel - its cheap and good value! That evening we went to Kowloon in search of some street food in Temple street market. We found a place that was heaving with locals (always a good sign!) and had a tasty curry rice pot, as well as deep fried prawn cakes - really yummy! Afterwards we explored the surrounding area, including the numerous tarot card readers, and the impromptu kareoke tents, which were only accompanied by people on keyboards, but no less entertaining, with cantonese versions of celine dions 'my heart will go on' being passionately sung.
The next day we went to Lamma island which is a mere 1/2 hour ferry away, but its a tiny tropical island, with no roads and lovely beaches. Its a world away from the hectic city of HK. We went on a scenic walk across the island and stopped by a quiet beach to have a picnic.
We also visited Hong Kong park on another day, which had a great walk through aviary - hence all the bird pictures on facebook! The park was very picturesque with lovely fountains and ponds, as well as feng shui areas. Laura also showed us around some great restaurants near our hostel, including lots of Japanese dessert places which did tofu pudding, snow ice, fruit soup and seseme filled rice balls. Nothing really that a westerner would recognise as dessert, but really tasty nonetheless! Dessert is a bigger passtime than drinking in HK, so there were lots of places to choose from.
Anyway, that was a quick tour of our Hong Kong adventure. More update on Thailand and Cambodia to follow!
Helen x
Friday, 5 November 2010
Back in Beijing
Although we've been in Jong Kong for a week, I didn't give much of an update on our last few days in Beijing after Xian. We got an overnight train back to Beijing, this time taking a second class carriage, which was much more comfortable and quiet, but not really that sociable, as the two chinese businessmen in our cabin promptly went to sleep as soon as the train set off. Still, it was a good nights sleep and we arrived back in Beijing early the next morning.
We managed to figure out which bus to get from the train station to the hostel, depsite all the signs being Mandarin, and checked in early to our hostel. They did western style breakfasts, so we had some french toast and Andrew had a fry up. After that we had a quick snooze, and then headed off to see the Olympics site, and after taking a few photos we decided to visit the water amusement park that's been built in the Aqua cube. It was pretty expensive, but we figured it was an unusal opportunity to swin in olympic water park. There were loads of great slides, and a huge wave machine. We were practically the only people there, so it felt like all the facilities had been laid on just for us! On the way back home we stopped by the night food market near Wafunjing and got some tasty noodles and dumplings, ignoring the options of sea horse, scorpion, cricket or, apparently, cat, on a stick.
The next day we went to do some bargin shopping in one of the fake markets, and andrew procured some fake converse (their labels are peeling off already) and I got a lovely '100% pashmina' scarf. The market stall holders tried to tell me this meant it was cashmere, but I just pointed at my own clothes and said yeah , 100% t-shirt, 100% trousers.... Basically, after much haggling, I got my fake scarf down to 25 yuan - about 2 pounds fifty.
That evening we decided to got back to the red lantern resturant district for food, and had some spicy sichian beef with loads of chillis and surprise pak choi, as well as spicy stirfied cauliflower with bacon that was cooked on its own little stove.
The next day we finally made it to a Great Wall tour and got up at the crack of down to be collected by our mini bus for a 3 hour drive to a much less touristy part of the wall where we were to go on a 'hiking' tour. It was just as beautiful as I hoped and many photo opportunities abounded. As it was autumn time the surrounding trees where all kinds of shades of yellow, orange and red which made for a gorgeous backdrop. We took a small picnic lunch with us, but by the time we got back to Beijing we were starving so we visited the cool hutong district near Beixingtao and got some dumplings in spicy sauce, cooked on a hot skillet with egg. This and some garlic brocolli with egg fried rice and a few beers sorted us right out. We had a few cocktails, avoiding the more random combinations (midori, absinthe and baileys anyone?), and walked back to our hostel for a well earned nights sleep.
More updates on Hong Kong to follow soon, probably once we get to Bangkok, Thailand which is our next stop!
We managed to figure out which bus to get from the train station to the hostel, depsite all the signs being Mandarin, and checked in early to our hostel. They did western style breakfasts, so we had some french toast and Andrew had a fry up. After that we had a quick snooze, and then headed off to see the Olympics site, and after taking a few photos we decided to visit the water amusement park that's been built in the Aqua cube. It was pretty expensive, but we figured it was an unusal opportunity to swin in olympic water park. There were loads of great slides, and a huge wave machine. We were practically the only people there, so it felt like all the facilities had been laid on just for us! On the way back home we stopped by the night food market near Wafunjing and got some tasty noodles and dumplings, ignoring the options of sea horse, scorpion, cricket or, apparently, cat, on a stick.
The next day we went to do some bargin shopping in one of the fake markets, and andrew procured some fake converse (their labels are peeling off already) and I got a lovely '100% pashmina' scarf. The market stall holders tried to tell me this meant it was cashmere, but I just pointed at my own clothes and said yeah , 100% t-shirt, 100% trousers.... Basically, after much haggling, I got my fake scarf down to 25 yuan - about 2 pounds fifty.
That evening we decided to got back to the red lantern resturant district for food, and had some spicy sichian beef with loads of chillis and surprise pak choi, as well as spicy stirfied cauliflower with bacon that was cooked on its own little stove.
The next day we finally made it to a Great Wall tour and got up at the crack of down to be collected by our mini bus for a 3 hour drive to a much less touristy part of the wall where we were to go on a 'hiking' tour. It was just as beautiful as I hoped and many photo opportunities abounded. As it was autumn time the surrounding trees where all kinds of shades of yellow, orange and red which made for a gorgeous backdrop. We took a small picnic lunch with us, but by the time we got back to Beijing we were starving so we visited the cool hutong district near Beixingtao and got some dumplings in spicy sauce, cooked on a hot skillet with egg. This and some garlic brocolli with egg fried rice and a few beers sorted us right out. We had a few cocktails, avoiding the more random combinations (midori, absinthe and baileys anyone?), and walked back to our hostel for a well earned nights sleep.
More updates on Hong Kong to follow soon, probably once we get to Bangkok, Thailand which is our next stop!
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