Penang 2

We enjoyed Penang so much that we're both doing an entry.

I was shocked when Bec chose to stay in the cesspit, it hummed so much it overpowered my BO, but then realised she was exhausted and couldn't take finding somewhere else after a long journey. After we saw the ugliest ladyboy prozzies and rats as big as monkeys(!) she somehow had an energy surge. When I went had to nip out and buy some water from our new hotel and encountered the prostitutes again I wasn't sure whether they were touting for business or trying to recruit me!

Penang is an island on the NW coast of Malaysia and was a colony before Singapore so there's plenty of British history, but I couldn't persuade Bec to come to the museum (she wouldn't go in Phnom Penh either until she'd finished watching Bridget Jones). The new buidlings are equally impressive and here's a random roundabout with a fountain.

We visited a tropical fruit farm and naturally I had to take a pic of Bec next to a cactus so that I could type - "Here's a prickly object and a cactus!" (She's sitting next to me as I type - suddenly the monkeys don't seem as scary). There were all sorts of exotic fruits to discover - starapples, pomelo, durien, yellow watermelons, mangostine, jackfruit, rammutan (literally hairy balls) dragonfruit and did you know that a banana tree only has one yield of one bunch of bananas and that's all; the tree has be chopped down and another grows in its place. There was an Arab family going round with us and the guide kept asking if we knew the names of fruits as we approached them - the young Arab girl said about one fruit"Oh, I know this one, it's an applepine!"

The Eastern and Oriental hotel where we had the Malay buffet is a 19th Century hotel and previous guests have included Kipling (Rudyard not Mr), Somerset Maughan and Graham Greene. We kept up the high class of guest ; )

Food and filth in Penang

Penang is our first taste of Malaysia - and it tastes fantastic. It's a very mixed place, lots of old English colonial style buildings in amongst classic Chinese and Malay architecture. Most people seem to be either Indian or Chinese and all run restaurants or hawker stalls.

Our first impression was very different - we were dropped off at a guest house (recommended in Lonely Planet) that was an absolute dump, so instead we checked into one over the road that was slightly better, but still pretty grim, but bearable for 6 quid. After dinner we were dreading going back to it so we decided to look for something better for the following night. After we left the ladyboy prostitutes, open sewers and rats of the Lonely Planet's recommended "good guest house" street we found the rest of Penang to be full of decent, but reasonable hotels. We checked into one straight away and only went back to the ghetto to collect our ruck sacks - even though we'd paid up front!

As I said we spent most of our 2 days in Penang eating. Here's some pics of a posh hotel we went to for a posh Malay Buffet, and at the other end of the scale here's me at a Bombay Mix stall in Little India and here's Gav enjoying a curry at a hawker stall next door - they just slopped all the different bits of curry onto a bit of banana leaf - delicious.

Morecambe Beach

Here are some more pics of Morecambe beach(!) Fresh coconuts from the tree to my tummy in minutes!

We left Koh Samui to go to Malaysia on Monday 17th and while the journey itself was long but uneventful I managed to lose yet another possession, a half-read book, bringing my total to 2 pairs of sunglasses (plus one broken pair - after going through 3 pairs of sunglasses and 2 pairs of goggles in Courchevel), one pair of swimming shorts and a book. That's not bad for me so far (haven't lost my mobile though like Bec - though she claims it was stolen), amazingly my NAS ballpoint pen lasted the whole ski season but ran out mid way through a Su Doku the other day. Thanks Prithvi.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NEIL

I've just spoken to Neil to wish my little bro' a happy birthday - have a great BBQ with all the gang and hello to everyone. Wish we were there, having a Singha beer in your honour.

He's 33 by the way!

love Gav and Bec

Ramblers Anonymous

We're going to Bali in a couple of weeks and staying for a week at the hotel where we honeymooned. Obviously that's a bit more expensive than our usual accommodation so we've tightened our belts on recent guest houses! (see left)

It's been a while since I had a ramble so here I go with some amusing stuff that has happened to us so far.

How to make the Owens happy: when we got to Luang Prabang (Laos) breakfast was included. The receptionist told us that breakfast started at 7am. "What time does it finish?" I asked. "When you are ready to have it." Cue happy Mrs O as she contemplated all her lie-ins!. At breakfast the next day we were handed the menus. "What can we have?" "Anything, until you are not hungry." Cue Homer Simpson style thoughts from Mr O. Sharpen your pencil young man, we may be here a while!

In Siam Reap (Cambodia) we had 60 channels in the room. While I was watching some new cartoon movie about cars a voice on the screen suddenly announced "Sorry to interrupt the movie but could somebody collect a child from the confectionary stall." A pirate DVD on Cambodian TV. What have you got to say about that, Ste?

Mopeds are a constant source of wonder for us. We've seen a family of 6 on the back of one, someone carrying a ladder. 4 (yes 4) live pigs strapped onto the back, a basket of piglets, someone with a passenger carrying 7 garden chairs and one pulling an articulated lorry at the Cambodian border.

As well as the places we're visiting we're enjoying the travelling too. On the way back from Laos to Bangkok we travelled 1st class on the train from Nong Khai to Bangkok- our own compartment, choice of dinner, a sink and beds. It warmed us up nicely for the chauffeur driven Tesco car in Bangkok!

The traffic lights in some cities have a countdown (top pic) to show how long you have to wait. The longest I've seen is 140 seconds. There's a few of you (certainly Owens) who would be a little bit frustrated by that.

Nearly finished now - here's a Norrvy reference especially for Steve H. The road from the Cambodian border to Siam Reap took 7 hours. The last 80k took 3 hours, it was like driving down Consul Street for a whole day. There are so many holes that the driver just drives on the best bit of road so there were lots of times where we were heading towards another car, bus or lorry and then swerved at the last minute.

We're off to Malaysia on Monday for a week as we make our way down to Singapore for the flight to Hong Kong. Unfortunately we missed Noel Clarke (family friend of Bec) as he travelled the opposite way around Thailand and Cambodia but we may meet a blast from the past in Hong Kong...

Koh Pangan - Full Moon Party

As Bec said we arrived on Koh Samui on Monday night and found out that the full moon party on nearby island Koh Pangan was on Weds. Good timing as always, as we thought we'd missed it after seeing what we'd presumed was the full moon on the ferry crossing from mainland Thailand to Koh Samui (bottom pic)

The party atmosphere was what you'd expect really - youngsters happy from drink or drugs and throbbing dance music akin to the acid scene of the late 80s (although Bec tells me it didn't hit Northwich 'til the early 90s!). We had a few drinks, took in the some of the "chill out" tunes and despite my initial misgivings enjoyed ourselves before getting a speed boat back to Koh Samui. The sea was really choppy but Bec was cackling like a witch as the boat bounced bone crushlingly on and over the waves.

We're not doing much here at all apart from relaxing on the beach and reading a lot. Yes, we're having a holiday!!

The Sea at last

We've made it to the sea at last! It's great to have a sea breeze to cut through the humidity. The Cambodian beach resort of Sihanoukeville is pretty basic, just beach hut type hotels and a few bars and restaurants. But the beaches are quiet and the waves are massive.

Like everywhere in Cambodia there are plenty of beggars and hawkers. The beach hawkers tend to specialise in either selling 'lobsters', selling friendship bracelets or selling massages or threading (like hair waxing but with a twisted bit of thread). Gav kept the economy going by feasting on 6 lobsters as an afternoon snack - for 1 US dollar!, and buying a friendship bracelet(?) and a string dolphin(???) I invested in getting my legs threaded and gav had a shoulder massage (I think his rucksack is too heavy for him). The masseusse was dieing to thread his back. She (and all the other 100s of hawkers) kept saying how horrid his hairy back was and called him a big hairy monkey! He wouldn't let her near it - shame.

While we were here we went to the national park and did a treck through the rainforest to a deserted beach - no hawkers or beggars - bliss!

We left Cambodia on Sunday and headed to the other side of the Bay of Thailand. It was a marathon journey. Our coach got into bangkok at midnight on Sunday so we found a bar to watch the world cup final in. At 4am they kicked us out so we went to MacDonalds for an hour then got a cab to the station at 5am only to find that all the trains to where we wanted to go were full. So we jumped in another cab and went to the bus station. We got on a bus at 7am and arrived at 5pm. We made the last ferry of the day to Kho Samui by the skin of our teeth and finally went to bed at 9.30 and slept like babies. 36 hour journey. Easy!

The other side to Cambodia

Staying around Siem Reap - the nearest city to Angkor and it's temples is a sobering process. There's a lot of wealth around due to the tourists and the hotel chains but there is also poverty and despair.

When we first visited Angkor Wat we passed a children's hospital with hundreds of families waiting outside to be seen. It's quite routine to see beggars with no arms or legs as they've been blown up by landmines (children and adults). On our last day in Siem Reap we visited the floating village and it made us both feel very uncomfortable as we soon discovered that was the sole purpose of the visit. To intrude and observe on their way of life. It felt like a human safari park. The top pic shows how the people live - in floating homes. The way of life is different from anything we know and that's OK, the fact that we were visiting them and they were not gaining anything from it was hard to take.

The 2nd pic shows a sign that this patch of land has been checked for landmines and is clear. It's not just rural areas (the main road from Poipet the border town was being checked as we drove along).

The last pic shows the holes where the jewels that have been stolen from the statue.

When you look at Cambodia as a whole you need to take all this into account when you see how desperate people are for tourists' money (beggars and street hawkers) and while we have both gained from the experience of Cambodia we had mixed feelings when we left. We tried to do our bit by donating blood, buying from landmine victims or supporting restaurants that employed and trained street people but it never felt nearly enough.

Templed Out

After 3 days of viewing the temples Bec told me that she was "templed out". This meant I was on my own for the day. Obviously her last words to me were "Please be careful and don't wander off." She needn't have worried.

As there was only me and the tuk tuk (like a rickshaw but powered by a moped) driver we didn't need the chariot part so he just gave me a "backie" instead. This meant we could go further quicker and we could visit the lesser known temples.

The top pics are from Bakong - I was the only visitor there at the time. So peaceful. It's in a pyramid style and all 4 side are symmetrical. The lion's face (it's as tall as me) was the most complete model that I saw over my 5 days of visiting Angkor and its surroundings. A lot of the monuments of animals, Gods or kings have been destroyed or looted, especially the heads of buddhas and elephant trunks (as you can see). At the museum in Phnom Penh we could see the statues that had been rescued. But it was no substitute for seeing them in their rightful places.

At first you can't see me in the last pic but I just wanted to show the size of this huge tree. Again this was another temple that had been destroyed by nature. You need a guide to visit here (Beng Mealea) as you have to climb over the ruins in places. Obviously I knocked my head on an overhanging branch and knocked my shades off but luckily the guide could get to them, otherwise I'd be on to my 4th pair of sunglasses rather than 3rd!

Ta Phrom - The Temple the jungle ate

Day 3. We visited my favorite temple. It was abandoned to the jungle some time in the 16th Century. It's amazing, it looks like the trees have come alive and stepped into and on the buildings. It was used as the set for Tomb Raider.

The pictures speak for themselves, but look what happened when I left gav on his own for 5 mins!

Bayon - faces in the jungle

This was our second day. When Angkor Wat was attacked, the king decided to move house and built a new town and temple a few hundred metres away, Angkor Thom is the town and Bayon is the temple at the centre. They used these massive face sculptures to protect the new site. They are very striking, they are on every turret on all 4 sides. 55 in total.

The palace has a terrace called terrace of the elephants. While we were looking at a terrace with elephant carvings and statues I said to gav "we need to find the elephant terrace next". "Perhaps this is it Bec!"

Angkor Wat

The good news is gav has finally had a hair cut.

The area around Siam Reap is covered with Khmer temples, dating from the 9th to 13th century. The biggest is Angkor Wat. It was massive, very impressive - a small town rather than one building. We got there at 5.30 AM!!! to see the sun rise. The sunrise was a bit of a non event but the temple was stunning.

The complex measures about a square mile and is surrounded by a massive Moat. There is a long causeway that goes out to the temple. It's built on 4 levels, the stairs going up to the top level are verysteep and narrow. There are engravings all the way round the temple, and engraved Devitas (women) carved next to the doors. It took us about 6 hours to look round it!

The first pic is the temple reflected in one of the lakes, within the moat. The second is me within the grounds, No.3 is gav at the Library, (a tiny annex of the main temple - this shows you just how vast everything is). 4 is 2 naggers according to gav, me and a 7 headed snake known as a naga. 5 is two carved devitas, there are over 1500 throughout the temple, each one has a different face and lastly is the main temple from the back - each direction has its own entrance so it's almost the same from N, S, E & W

And now over to Gav to tell you about his little adventure .....

I shouldn't be allowed out on my own. When we got to mid-morning and Bec needed a catnap in the shade (she had been up since 4:30! boy, was she in a bad mood first thing!) I wandered off away from the main area down a dirt track. About 100 yds from Bec I came to a T-junction and turned left. On both sides of the dirt track were thick trees and it was so peaceful seeing as though there were hundreds of tourists only 100yds away.

About 70 or so yards down the track a big grey dog emerged from the forest, but its shoulders rippled like big cats' shoulders do when they're walking. The creature sat down in the middle of the track and I could see it more clearly - it was a monkey, about 2ft tall! I couldn't believe it how lucky, a real live wild monkey! I couldn't believe that I didn't have the camera so I turned back to go and get it. When I got back to the T-junction and started towards Bec another one popped out ahead of me, between me and Bec. That's when I realised I wasn't in a zoo and my path back to Bec was blocked by a WILD MONKEY. I'm a townie - the nearest I get to wildlife are the geese at Sale Waterpark!

I turned back and came to the T-junction, the first monkey was walking towards me, I turned round and so was the 2nd one. Don't panic. I walked away from them as calmly as I could and wondered where this path would lead. After about 10 seconds I glanced over my shoulder to see how far away they were and I shuddered as there were 4 of them now. I carried on "not panicking" down a track that could be a dead end. Why did I get myself into these situations -after swimming in the waterfall I'd wondered off and got lost and had to wade through a stream to get back on the path.

I thought I'd just check one more time to see if they were still following me, so I chanced a look and then I panicked. Their big brother had joined them, he was head and shoulders taller than them and was going for a mid-morning jog; towards me! "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.." I kept repeating these words, maybe I was praying.

It seems ridiculous now but I really did think that they were going to attack and kill me. I wondered whether I should pick up a nearby log for protection or would this provoke them? Just then the pat turned a corner and I've never been so pleased to see Japanese tourists in my life they were about 100 yds away crossing a path. At least they'd be able to video me being killed(!) I hurried towards them not daring to look behind me. They were long gone before I got there but at least I could see Angkor Wat again now. Just then a guy on a moped went past and he must have read the fear in my face as he stopped and offered me a lift - I could have kissed him. I told him I'd just seen 5 monkeys, he wasn't surprised, there were lots here he told me. He didn't laugh at the stupid townie foreigner he just took me back to Bec.

"I have your husband." he shouted cheerfully to Bec. Now I was safe I was excited again. "I've just seen some monkeys!" "Aww, why didn't you take the camera?" I started to tell her the story that I'd never been as scared in my life. Naturally Bec was concerned and laughed all the way through it...