Myanmar - Yangon

Yesterday I picked up my Visa from the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok and this morning I flew into Yangon.Here we found out and are still registering the fact that Yangon is no longer the capital city of Burma and hasn't been for the last two years. The new capital, where we as foreigners are not allowed to go is a small place (not even a city), still under construction in central Myanmar and the population there consits only of the military working there. This was our introduction to Myanmar. The Inn we are staying at had an airport pick up for us and on the way to the hotel, already we felt the warm and friendly nature of the locals. Unlike other hotel pick ups, these guys talked aand laughed with us, pointed out all the famous sights along the way and were just so friendly. The MotherLand Inn 2 that we are staying at is a clean and welcoming place and here too the staff have smiles on their faces and always ready to answer the millions of questions we have. Breakfast is included, so after eggs and bread, cake and coffee (we once again have good coffee here, not as delicious as lao coffee but a much bigger improvement on the Thai coffee) orange juice and bananas we decided to go explore. We had been up since half past three this morning to catch the bus to the airport and then check in but just being here in Myanmar gave us the incentive to keep going. So we took a taxi to the downtown market and from there we just walked around the downtown are and saw some of the big buildings and pagodas around. But all day we have seen no other tourists. We have been the only two girls walking around and we still have to pinch ourselves to remind us that this is real. I don't even know how I can describe this place in the little time I have. Yangon is completely and absolutely untouched by tourism. There is no tourist infrastructure at all and after coming from Khosan road in Thailand this is just the best feeling being here. There are no restaurants or bars, no tourist areas dedicated to the needs of backpackers and package tourists. There is nothing here except for normal everday life as it has been for probably as long as the people here can remember. Men walking around in their longhys, everyone chewing beetle nut (pan), every pavement available covered on both sides with street vendors selling a huge variety of food andevery other thing imaginable from an old nintendo to Jane Austen books. But the best thing so far has to be the people. Everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone has smiles from us and warm hellos. We stand in a street corner looking at the map in the lonely planet and within seconds someone will stop and politely ask us if they can be of any help at all. We take photos of the food vendors and the children and no one wants any money in return for it. Someone stops to give us directions and we immediately assume it's a taxi driver looking for some double fare customers but it doesn't happen. We get our directions are wished a warm welcome and a good stay and then he continues walking. The rest of south east asia has made us so suspicious that people just being nice here and wanting nothing in return is a constant surprise to us but a very pleasant one. There are people who are vary of our cameras and then we just put them away but for the most part we have just been walking around taking a hundred photos. But this is not a rich country at all. It feels like an ancient city and at the same time a very poor city. The buildings are extremely old and not looked after at all. The big side streets are just dirt roads. There are shanty houses and people living in extremely poor conditions and yet out in the middle of all this, once in a while will appear a beautiful and big five star hotel. The contradictions of everyday life intertwined with richly decorated gold pagodas and big hotel is just amazing to see. After walking around downtown for a couple of hours we went back to the hotel for a much needed nap and now in the evening we decided to walk along the Yangon river thinking that we could sit in a cafe and watch the sunset and maybe have a proper dinner in one of the restaurants. We had imagined it to be like Cambodia and Laos with lots of little outdoor bars and cafes along the river but we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the river front and there were no bars and no cafes and no one but locals. There were men who had tied their longhys up into shorts and were playing football along the tarmaced river bank area as the monks sat and watched the game and families who had just come for an evening walk, fathers and mothers playing with their little babies, children flying kites, vendors selling steamed peanuts and other snacks. It was just great. There is no sing of tourism here at all. As we walk along the river bank, the locals smile and greet us. In a place like this I would normally feel threatened and wouldn't even dare to pull my camera out but here we feel completely safe. We get stared at a lot but we also get the smiles and the hellos and everyone is ready and willing to explain to us everythinhg that is new to us. They are warm and friendly and generous and for once we are not seen as walking money machines. It's a great feeling being here among the most friendliest people I have met so far in my travels. And then we went looking for a good dinner. But this place is so untouristic that there are not even any restaurants for us to go and eat it. The ones that are recommended in the lonely planet are just a few rare little places spread out in the side streets but they are all empty. There are no tourists here:) except us! We went to two of them and they didn't even look like restaurants but someones garage with a few tables and a cooker. So we ended up sitting on really low stools at one of the street corners on the pavement eating nan freshly baked in a clay oven and beans with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. And now we have found probably the only place in Yangon which has hotmail aavailable. Hotmail has been blocked by the government. This is just one of the most amazing places I have been too and I have to keep reminding myself that I am actually here.

In Burma

I leave for Burma very early in the morning and will be there till the 14th. There is no hotmail there and I doubt I will be able to get onto my blog page either. So I guess that means no emails. But if I can I promise to send postcards and update you all on my adventures when I get back to Bangkok.

Bangkok

We have now been to Bangkok for three days but the most exciting thing for me has been going to the Burmese embassy and trying to get my Visa. I am so excited about flying to Burma on Wednesday, I don't even mind the fact that what was supposed to be a completely overland trip has now been broken by a return flight from Bangkok to Yangon. I have heard nothing but beautiful things about Burma and though the politics weigh on my conscious I am sure I've made the right decision to go. There have to be ways in which I can spend my tourist dollar there and help the locals instead of lining the pockets of the military. I guess I will have to wait till I get there to find out.
In Bangkok we have seen some of the major sights, one of them being the majestic and magnificent complex of the Royal Palace. Every inch of it is covered in beautiful and detailed patterns. It was just so stunning, I didn't even know how to capture the beauty and grandeur of the place in my photos. And then we have been to the big golden stupa at the top of the hill and got amazing 360 degree views of the city. Yesterday the Thai people all over celebrated the festival of 'Loy Krathong' ...there were people all day, all over the city preparing small candle floats that they would later that evening take to the river. These were made all from natural materials, the base -a slice of the trunk of the banana tree surrounded with banana leaf shaped in triangles and then decorated with orchids and marigolds and candles in the middle. Everyone dressed up and in the evening with floats in hand went near the riverside where the local firemen had volunteered to lower the floats into the river for the locals. And then like stupid tourists we just expected and waited for a fireworks display but we were very pleasantly surprised when we saw instead of fireworks lighting the sky, huge boats beautifully decorated floated by. It was something completely different and looked so beautiful.
The rest of our time here so far has been spent hanging out around our cacooned tourist area of Khaosan Road. Some of the guest houses here play the movie, 'the beach' continuously and apart from restaurants, bars, guesthouses, dodgy massage parlours and people trying to sell us ping pong shows! and white smoke, there isn't that much here. All the tourists in Bangkok are in this area and I don't really like that whole atmosphere. If I wanted to sit in a 'Traditional British Pub' I wouldn't have bothered leaving Britain. I'd much rather find a local place which served local beers and food. We have spent three days here but thankfully now we are moving around outside of Bangkok. We're going to see the famous floating markets tomorrow and I think I'll just be glad to see something different. I pick up my Visa for Burma on Tuesday so until then we're stuck in Bangkok. The people here are nice, I have good company and there is plenty of good food and a huge variety of it..so it's not all so bad.

Lampang -Thailand

Suji offered Peter a bed at her place too so we all set off to her place. It was pure luxury being driven around and for the next few days we got very used to this. There was no need for maps, buses, haggling for fiar prices with tuk tuk drivers....we just got into the car and were taken to new and exciting experiences. We hadn't showered for two days so after a much awaited cold shower we were ready for some dinner. We went to pick up Suji's cousin and then we spent the evening tasting the local cousin at one of the local restaurants. We walked along the night markets and just exchanged gossip that had been long overdue. It was just the perfect way to end the day. And we were so happy to be here in Thailand. The next few days we experienced Thailand the way the Thai's experience it themselves. We spent the next morning at one of her cousin's graduation, taking photos and then the celebration lunch went on till late into the night. Bottles of whisky were emptied at an amazing pace and even the boys got on stage to sing and dance. We had a great time hanging out and celebrating the Thai way. With little sleep, the next morning we were exhausted but we were up early for Juan Mauels sports day. He was so excited, we had to go cheer him. But this was like no other sports day. There were children dressed in all sorts of beautiful and traditional dress and the whole thing began with a parade down the street to the sports ground. It was hot and the children had been up early and understandably with all the elaborate costumes and the layers of make up they were grumpy but they kept going. The parade was so formal and the children marched with one gloved hand behind on their back. At the sports ground there were speeches and then performances of Kung Fu and hula dancing...it was amazing how good the little girsl were at keeping the hula on their waists and then finally the relay race. Juan came forth but he ran like a champ. After lunch and a much needed haircut (my hair was down to my waist and now it's down to my shoulders and much easier to look after) we drove to Suji's grandmother's house. A small village outside town where she grew up and wher most of her family still lived as farmers. Everyone knew everyone and it was so small you just walked around for 20 minutes and you would have seen every house in the village. Surrounding it though were golden rice fields and we were meant to help harvest the rice and the mushrooms but we arrived too late and everyone was coming back home after a hard days work harvesting. We visited all the houses one by one and said hello to the aunts and uncles and grandparents that we had gotten to know the day before at the party. They were so warm and welcoming and being there watching the mist rise over the rice fileds as the sun set was just one of the best moments in these travels. Back at home we walked around the corner to the noodle stall and had some hot and fresh noodle soup for dinner. It had been a long but really nice day and we went to bed tired but happy. Sunday Anne drove us to a national park an hour away and we walked along a beautiful waterfalls and sat in cosy little housed pools with water in them from the hot springs nearby. It was a perfect way to end the weekend and we felt realxed and ready to move on again.Monday we got to the Mountains in Chiang Mai and managed to see some of the most famous sights in Chiang Mai. The queens winter residence, Wat Doi Suthep and the Hmong village. But the most interesting part was staying with Suji's aunt. Her place ws one of the rows of shops selling tourist gear opposite the royal palace. It was a shop selling traditional clothes, jewellery and food and drink. Behind the shop she had her kitchen and at the top in the small attic was where she and her sister lived. With so little space it was incredible that three quarters of the attic was turned into a big and beautiful shrine, not only for Buddha and Ganesh and other Buddhist important figures but also for the Royal family who here in Thailand are as revered as the gods themselves. She showed us photos that she was so proud of, of her meetings with various members of the roya family and then took us to one of the nearby stands for dinner. It was so strange, they had a community of their own here, lives that they had build here for many years and yet most tourists would only see the rows of shops selling all sorts of souveniers. As we sat there eating our freshly cooked noodles we listened to the local gossip, tried to learn a few phrases of Thai that they were so keen to teach us and just soaked in the friendly and hospitable nature of that little community of souvenier vendors. Next morning we took the tuk tuk and went down to central Chiang Mai and here we have spent the last two days sight seeing. I have been to see the various hill tribes and also some traditional thai long nail dancing. We've missed out on the elphant shows and the cookery schools....just seemed too touristic. And now we move on to Bangkok.

Along the Mekong and into Thailand

It was sad to leave Luang Prabang but it was also time to move on. We decided that getting the boat up to Northern Laos and from there crossing into the Thai border would be the best way to enter Thailand and also get to Lampang, near Chiang Mai, which is where my friend lives. It was time for a friendly face, and a home to unpack for a few days in. The fast speedboats seemed like the way to go, an adventurous ride along the Mekong but the prices were too high and being the budget travellers that we are we decided to settle on the two day slow boat option. We set off early in the morning from Luang Prabang and that night we would be spending in the small northern town of Pak Beng. The Mekong here is very different to the Mekong we spent three days crossing getting from Vietnam to cambodia. Here the Mekong is untouched. On bothe sides it is surrounded by mountain ranges covered in lush green forests, the banks (because the rainy season is over) have turned into beautiful beaches and in the river itself the dropping level of water means that there are huge rocks that just out of the water. There is no life along the river and it is extremely peaceful. Unlike Vietnam where there were rows of houses on stilts and a constant hub of activity in and around the river, here there is nothing but just the occasional boat gliding along. Tourism has yet not touched this part of the world. There were no tourist stops along the way, no stops for venders to come and sell snacks to tourists at exhorberent prices. It was a good thing that we had some bread and cheese with us. We watched the boat as it navigated the rocks in the river, listened to music as we watched the beautiful landscapes pass us by and only when it started getting dark and we had not yet reached Pak Beng did we start to worry about the pace of the slow boat. In the dark we sat praying and hoping that the flashlight the conducter was holding would spot the rocks in the river before the boat hit them. We slowed down even further and when we finally got to Pak Beng there was no spot for us to park the boat. Our asses hurt from sitting on hard wooden benches all day on the boat, we were hungry, tired and getting more and more worried. Finally a compromise was made and the boat was moored. We had to step across three other boats to get to the bank, walk up it's beach in the dark, up a steap hill and then into the restaurant balcony of a very posh hotel. All this we did in the dark. Getting to the hotel, we walked through it all dirty, tired and sweaty with, what seemed like, our huge packs, on our backs and tried to find a guest house for the night. Pak Beng, even though a small towm in the remoter part of Norther Laos is also a midpoint for those crossing either way between Laos and Thailand. Guesthouses are not in the abundance here so when we walked around, everything was full....we were the last boat to arrive into town. After walking around a bit we managed to find a room and also some hashish if we wanted it. We said thanks to the rooma nd no thanks to the fun stuff and after a quick dinner of friend rice ( we were on the last of our kips and didn't wanna change any more money) we had an early night. Next morning we were more prepared. With a few snacks and a packed sandwich for lunch we went to find the port and with tickets in our hand we boarded the boat a second time ready for our final leg of the journey along the Mekong. Here we met Peter, the American and chatting to him all the way made the day go quicker. But also this time we had food to keep us going and we knew exactly what to expect. We could just enjoy being on the river and watch the stunning landscapes pass us by. The only signs of life, an occasional bird, or small villages tucked away high in the forests or the bare patches where the hmong have been using the slash and burn form of agriculture. But the journey was shorter and we got to Hoy Xai, teh border town before dark. On the other side of the River was Thailand and we could see the royal yellow flags everywhere. But also we saw roads and signs of civilization that confirmed to us that on the opposite side of the river was Thailand. We celebrated with dark Lao beer and our final Lao meal of sticky rice and vegetables. After another early night, it was another early morning. We were up and ready for our delicious Lao coffee before we took the boat across and entered the gates of Siam. Before we knew it we had our exit stamp for Laos, we had crossed to the other side by boat and got our entry stamps for Thailand. And we didn't even shop at the duty free along the river bank:) It was all so quick and simple. Crossing borders by land is definitely much easier and simpler. No customs and waiting around for departure gates and the rest of it. From there we took a luxury Thai bus to Chiang Mai and from Chiang Mai a local bus to Lampang. We timed it so perfectly we didn't even have to waste time hanging around waiting for buses. we arrived in lampang at 6:00p.m and there Suji was waiting for us with all her work mates. It was such a nice feeling to see someone familiar, someone who I knew before my travels began and also knowing that for the next few days we wouldn't have to do anything but would just get looked after completely. Our minds and bodies could take a break.

Vientianne and Luang Prabang - Laos

The more time we spend here and the more we travel around Laos, the more we fall in love with this exquisite country. When we were in Tibet it felt like we were in another place and another time and that feeling has returned here in Laos. Time has stood still here in Laos and with it's stillness kept all it's beauty, tradition, culture and spirituality. Vientiane, the capital, is unlike any other capital city I have been in before. It is very calm and easy going and more of a provincial town than a capital city. We spent our days there walking around the beautiful Wats (Buddhist temples), sitting on the banks of the Mekong watching the sun set and drinking the most delicious Lao coffee. A small city, it was just nice to walk around and enjoy the quite calmess of the city (a contradiction in itself).
And then we took the bus to the UNESCO city of Luang Prabang. We had been told ever since we entered Asia that this was one of the most beautiful places to see and if the bus ride was anything to go by, it seemed that what we had been told was all true. The 8 hour bus ride through winding mountain roads was had breathtaking landscapes all the way. Green, lush mountains and valleys, small villages along the way and always in the background a beautiful vista of the lines formed by the mountain range. We have now been in Luang Prabang for 4 idyllic days and are in no rush to leave this beautiful untouched corner of the world. We feel extremely lucky and even more priviledged to be here. Times are moving very quickly for this country and especially for this city and I think a few more years and the magic of this place will be completely captured and lost in the tourism that is slowly creeping up. There are plans to extend the exsisting airport so that boeings can land. Need I say more. At the moment it is a cultural and religious place. A small city set surrounded by mountains and with the Mekong running through it. You sit at a roadside cafe and there a motorbike will pass by every 2 minutes instead of a continuos stream of hundreds of them. Bicycles are the nexy big form of transport. Cars are rare and the ones that we do see are brand new and very recently acquired. There are no buses or trucks or anything like that. We were told that 2 years ago even motorbikes were rare and if you sat at a local cafe you'd see one pass by every half an hour. It is a place where time stands still. Mornings start very early, we have been up at 5:30 in the mornings to give alms to the monks with the locals, and the city sleeps early too.
This is what life is like here for me....A day in Luang Prabang......
5:30a.m --- sit on the pavement with all the locals with a basket of sticky rice or a bag of sweets and wait as the monks leave all the wats and walk along in a line passing us and collecting their food for the day. We are blessed everyday and cannot think of a better way to start the day.
6:00 --- back to bed for a few hours...
8:30 ---breakfast at a local cafe.....as we sit there drinking delicious Lao coffee with freshly baked warm baguettes, we watch the monks walking by, with umbrellas to shade them from the sun, going to school, parents bringing their children, dressed in uniforms that keep with the traditional dress,to school, on motorbikes.
9:30 ----walk into town and we watch as people start the day setting up food stalls to sell noodle soup with fresh salad, lemon and red hot chillies, baguette with pate, sticky rice and chicken.......women steaming rice in big baskets on charcoal fires, boiling big pots of long, white noodles.....and then as we walk some more there are home industries.......women sitting at home with piles of steaming hot salty rice pressing it into bamboo rings and leaving there out to dry to make rice cakes......women sitting there gossiping and stitching detailed traditional patterns and landscapes on tapestries and bags and cushion covers to sell at the night market for the few tourists who are lucky enough to be here
11:00 ----- It's saturday and we have taken a tuk tuk to a suburb 10 minutes out of townto watch a cock fight. It's a small brick ring built in someone's backyard surrounded by men waiting for the fight to begin. The two cocks are being cleaned and prepared by their owners in one corner and then it is time to place them in the rink. slowly you can feel the tempo rising, the excitement and the testerone building up. We could stay and watch 6 more fights but noodle soup is calling and we will come back tomorrow for a bit more excitement.
12:30 ---- sit on low stools and eat the hot and freshly prepared noodle soup with a squeeze of lemon in it and a few red hot chillies t o give it an added kick. To calm our burning mouths.....a delicious fresh fruit shake made from mangoes, bananas, pineapples, dragon fruit, papaya.....
1:20 ---we catch the local bus to the Kuang-si waterfall...an hour later we are there enjoying the crystal clear waters. We sit under the falls surrounded by lush green vegetion and with only a few locals to keep us company and share their picnic with us.
5:00 -- It starts to get cold and we grab our scarves and jumpers from the hotel, walk around to the Wat, talk to a few monks who are always ready and willing....they like to practise their english, at times in the smaller wats we sit with them for the evening prayer and just get taken away by the sound of their beautiful voices singing and chanting..
7:30 --- a quick walk around the local market as the local sit there wrapped up from the cold selling silk scarves and bags and various other traditional items. As they wait for someone to come and spend a few kips, they sit there hand making the items they are selling......embroidering, carving....
8:00 --- a dinner of Lap...local soup ..at the Cafe's along the Mekong and after a few Lao beers...it's an early night as the city itself shuts down and everyones goes to bed early on these cold nights.

We drink Lao coffee, explore the Wats, talk to the monks, walk around, go outside town to explore the area around and generaly just fall into the pace of life that exsists here. Time stands still or passes slowly and with it we feel like we have entered another world that will very soon in a few years disappear.

Pakse - Southern Laos

My first day in Pakse, Laos. When I first arrived here yesterday evening, I walked around the tour agencies but to go anywhere or see anything of the area, it was an expensive business. I found out why Laos is not for the budget traveller. But there are always ways around and always local transport. So walking around I asked the various motorbikes and other forms of transport on three wheels if how much it would cost me to get to the nearby towns and the ruins of Wat Phou, an old monastery ruins. Luckily I found a guy who was ready to take me for $10, a bargain and so I decided to go with him. The next morning was an early rise and at 6:00am I was waiting outside the Great Wall hotel where I was staying. By the way for $3 I have a beautifully clean and spacious room at the very top with a huge balcony overlooking the whole of Pakxe. It's an absolute bargain, especially when the other hotels start at $12. Did I not already mention that everything in South East Asia works in dollars. Even though the currency is plummiting, here it is as strong as it ever was.
Anyway, so my guy was late turning up and so I made a deal with another motorbike driver and as we set off the guy from yesterday turned up, following us and chastising him for nicking his day's owrk. Anyway, I swopped back to my original driver, he rode the motorbike and I sat in the umbrella seat that was attatched to it. But he asked if I'd rather sit on the motorbike as a passenger and we could get rid of the umbrella seat and I was all YES. So on our way to the village of Champasak and War Phou we made a detour and stopped at his friends house. A local house on stilts, built in the middle of a forest clearing> I wasn't going to get these experiences sitting on a tour bus. And as the driver and his friends set about detatching the umbrella seat from the motorbike, I sat and watched the daily life. The grandfather and grandmother sat with the daughter-in-law and the grandchildren on the verandah watching from high up, all the excitement of a foreigner being in their compound. It was very early in teh morning. The kids were getting ready for school, sitting with mum eating their sticky rice for breakfast. The teenager who wasn't going to go to school till the afternoon, sat on a bed on under the shade of the house carving himself a spit bullet gun out of wood. And teh grandmother chewing bettle nut. It seems like a lazy life, but I guess the hard work comes when it's time to sow or harvest and not much to do in between.
So leaving the umbrella seat behind, we went on the motorbike, not a moped or anything like that, it was a proper motorbike, on our way to Champasak. It was just the best way to travel. As we got to the river we had to cross over and to do this the locals have built ferries for teh motorbikes. Two wooden canoes, joined together by a platform made of wooden planks and at the end of one of the canoes, a small motor to whizz us across. The same sort of system works for the big ferries that transport cars and buses across too, except instead of two canoes, they join together three.
On the other side we came to the small village of Champasak. Very quaint and very rural at the same time. Bufallos cooling off in water pools, children studying in open air classrooms (schools are just big huts with partitions and holes for windows and doors. beautiful Khmer houses, with ornately carved banisters and people, mostly women again, walking around with their vietnamese cone hats and their tools on their way for some hard work at the rice paddies. The ruins of Wat Phou, after having been to Angkor were just a big disappointment, but nothing is ever that disppointing. I sat down and talked to the local women there, using gestures and drawings of course, and they showed me how they made their banana leaf and flower decorations that they use in their prayers. And then I got blessed by one of the old women with some orange thread around my wrist. Why is orange such a symbolic colour?
And since the day was still young, I decided that we could go to the village of Ban Pha Pho. I had read somewhere that this was where they had working elephants and the ethnic Suay group of people. The driver had never been there before either and so thinking that it was just a few more kilometers away, he agreed to take me there. But we rode and rode and soon the tarmac road turned off onto narrow, jungle dirt trek and we kept going and going. I loved every second of it. It had rained heavily the day before so the dirt track in places had just turned to huge puddles of water, the small hills going up and down were covered in mud and in other places the trek was so narrow that we couldn't help but brush into all the flora and fauna. It was two hours and a water stop at one of the local forest dwellings before we got to Ban Pha Pho. The driver was exhausted, especially since we had been riding in the midday heat. I was exhausted but at the same time absolutely thrilled to have had the ride. The village itself was beautiful, set in the middle of a forest. Buy there were no elephants around and certainly the people did not look any different to the people in Pakse. We were directed to the elephant school where I was told that the war and the bombing had pushed the Suay further into the forest near to the border with Cambodia. The elephants....there used to be 90 of them.....loads for such a small village....but once again with the bombing, there were only 10 left now and they were in the forest. For a small fee, I could go trek and see them, and even though I was hot and tired and completely exhausted, I had come to see elephants and I was not about to leave without seeing them. So one of the trainers/keepers took me into the forest and there were two majestic looking beasts. The elephants were deep in the forest and got a little nervous as we entered their territoty. We could only stay for a short while without disturbing them too much and the leeches were getting to me anyway. So I had seen my elephants, not the way I had pictured in my head, walking around the village carrying wood, but instead in the forest.
After a lunch of sticky rice and vegetables, it was time to make our way back and this time we know the road, if I can call it that, that awaited us. Before we got to Pakxe, we had to pick up the umbrella seat and this time it was the end of the day. All the neighbours had come around for an end of the day gossip and to see what all the excitement was in the compound. The kids were all playing, boys football and the girls jumping rope, literally. Two of them would hold a string stretched out and the the others would jump over it to get to the other side. the string got higher and higher and the acrobati abilities of the girls more amazing, especially since they were jumping with bare feet on a dirt floor. With the umbrella seat back on, I was glad for a proper seat, having ridden on the motorbike from 7 in the morning till 6 in the evening meant that my ass was a little sore:) Not that I am complaining, every second of it was thrilling. Back to Pakxe and all I could think of was a shower and my bed.
Next day was going to be another early start. I had to be up before 6:00 am because that is when all the monks leave the monasteries to go and collect their alms from the local people. Dressed in their orange robes, with their vessels they walk in a line along the streets collecting stick rice and other food and blessing the locals. I walked along the street and found a group of women waiting with tehir baskets of sticky rice and water and a white scarf around their shoulders. I asked if I could wait with them and take a few photos and they were more than happy for me to sit with them. A minute or two later along the horizon we saw appear a line of orange, the women picked up their baskets and went to kneel along the roadside, and tehy asked me to join them. So I did and as one by one the monks walked past opening the lid of their vessels, I put a handful of sticky rice in it. Religious or not it was a very nice way to start the morning. I could take a few photos but at that moment I guess that wasn't so important. And then I spent the rest of the day just walking around town and taking it easy, catching up on my journal and getting ready to take the bus the next morning to the capital of Vientiane.
But this morning, I found out that I did not check my ticket properly and my bus left last night. So I have had to pay for another one and just hang around here a bit more. It's okay I guess, I would easily spend 7 quid on a few drinks back home and this way I get to catch up on my blog.

Southern Cambodia and entering into Laos.

A bus from Phnom Phen took me to the southern town of Stung Treng. The landscape changed as we entered the southern region of Cambodia. Less populated and a lot more forest area. But There is not much to do in Stung Treng, it's just a sleppy border town and so after an afternoon there, the next day I would take the bus into Laos. It is not as yet so easy to go by River and therefore very expensive but thebus journey was just as fascinating. First I had to cross the Mekong at Stung Treng by river and there on the other side a bus awaited me taking me through jungle trek through to the immigration post for exiting Cambodia. Here to get my exit stamp, they wanted a dollar but I stood firm and the pockets of the officials in this case remained unlined. But the office itself was a little wooden hut on the edge of the forest. Amazing. And then a change of bus and another twenty minutes in and another shack surrounded by forest. I was at the Laos immigration point. Here unfortunately he would not stamp my passport till I gave him the dollar and so I caved in. Both sides are corrupt but I guess on the Laos side they are more sassy and make you pay up first.
After that it was a long bumpy ride through more forest dirt treks and then I was in the southern most town of Laos, Pakse. And here Laos has come alive for me. It is almost an untouched place, mostly french tourists....i guess they have that sense of adventure....but also quite expensive. The Laos government, in order to get ways from the Thai model of cheap backpackers has kept their advertising to only certain coutries and with the prices high, attracts only a certain kind of tourist..in other words, no stingy backpackers I guess. But my first full day here in Laos has been a reminder of why I love Asia.....monks and motorbikes.

Angkor

Watching the sun rise over Angkor was just a breathtaking sight. As I stood there with all the other tourists who could be bothered to get up that early, we watched from across the pond as slowly the sun rose over the 5 towers of Angkor Wat. It was everything I had imagined it would be and more. I guess I hadn't imagined the local cafe owners shouting 'hot coffee' in the background as they touted for customers to serve them hot vietnamese coffee for breakfast. But otherwise it was calm and serene as we all watched the colours of the sky over Angkor change and as soon as the sun was up, the temple loomed majestically over us. Inside the temple, there walls all around were carved with the figures and stories from the myths of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Originally a complex of Hindu temples, it was then taken over by a Buddhist king and then once again returned to Hindu kings. After walking around Angkor Wat, the 'jamboh' a cambodian version of the tuk tuk, took us to Angkor Thom. And this was more stunning than Angkor. The towers of Bayon, the main temple in Angkor Thom are covered with 49 Buddha faces. One of the faces is the one used on the Cambodian currency notes. After walking around this complex we went to the temple of Prea Khan. Now this was what I had pictured in my head. This is how I had seen Angkor on a Tv documentary and decided that one day i had to see it. When I fist saw Angkor in a documentary, it was the French,always the adventurers, who were trekking through dense forest vegetation and they discovered all these boulders with carvings and slowly the whole sight of Angkor was discovered. Before i went into teh Angkor complex, I imagined I would be trekking through dense forest treks to find myself suddenly standing in front of towering temples thousands of years old. Instead it is all very civilized, there is an official entrance where you buy the 2 or 3 day pass which requires a photo. They even have a camera man on sight taking the photo for you if you don't already have one and then you travel via motorbikes or jamboh's or even cars along dirt roads and at some point even tarmaced roads to get to the Various temples. But Prea Khan is stunning because it's the jungle temple. It's where they shot tomb raider and the temple stands untouched. There are huge trees spurting out of the temple walls and roof, roots, hundreds of years old causing havoc to the structure of the temple. We spent the next two days walking around the various temples, always as we entered a temple, there would be a whole group of kids tring to sell us bracelets and water and other crafts that they had made. These kids are really sassy though. It's amazing how much they have absorbed from hanging around the tourists all day. extremely intelligent, they have an answer for every question and their ability to speak the basics in any major foreign language you asked them to, just amazed me.
Having fulfilled my dream and roamed around Angkor for 2 days I was ready to get back to Phnom Phen and them towards the south of CAmbodia from where I would enter Laos. But we deided to stay in Phnom Phen for a few days. We met a dane who had been staying there a while and knew the place well enough to show us around. And there is nothing better to have someone who knows the place show you around it. So we spend the weekend getting to know Phnom Phen. We walked along the riverside and spent the night sipping cocktails along the front which is lined with bars. We saw bats in the middle of the day, hanging from a tree right in the centre of town at one of it's main junctions, walked through the markets, and went to the backpacker area near the lake where we saw the sun set. But the time I was most grateful for having Jacob, the Dane, around was when we visited Tuol Sleng, a former Khmer rouge s-21 prison, not just for the history of it but just as moral support. The prison is actually on the sight of what used to be a secondary school and later also had a primary school next to it. From the outside it looks like all the other regular schools in Phnom Phen, except withhout the kids in white and blue uniforms and the playgrounds full of motorbikes and bicycles. This school houses photo upon photo of the millions, literally, of victims of Pol Pot and the Khmer rouge regime. They documented their crimes so well that these records now provide a light on the horrendous side of humanity. The classrooms with small cells built in them, and the chains still on the floor, are just a horrible place to be in. The graphic pictures and explanations of the torture carried out there is just emotionally scarring. And we were only there for half an hour. Imagine having to live through a regime like that....it's just unimaginable. And I guess still we don't learn and people carry on with wars all over the world. How can people be so greedy for power that they have no qualms about treating people worse than humans?
The prison is somewhere everyone should visit once in their lives.....seeing it in person just brings home the reality of human nature when it seeks power and control.