M.C.Escher's 'Relativity' famously depicts a paradoxical architectural design of stairs, platforms and doorways that, despite your best efforts to escape, form an enescapable prison for the mind. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Escher%27s_Relativity.jpg
Replace the stairs with escalators, the platforms with designer stores and the people with rich sino-asian kids...and you have the Mallopolis that is Singapore - a veritable city of malls. Set in a tropical climate, one gets escalated from mall to mall, food court to food court, Gap kids to Gap kids and so on.
My first day there, fully aware of what to expect, I did a mall tour. Each block is another mall with connecting bridges. Even along a major six lane road that leads around the Colonial District, there's a sign that says "Shopping Mall" and an arrow pointing into a darkened fire exit staircase...but sure enough, it leads straight back into the wealthy, crowded stream of shoppers moving in and out of MacDonalds', Addidas stores, LV, ETC...
The Marina Bay Sands is an impressive new complex where a boat shaped platform sits 56 floors atop a three tower block hotel, from which one can see the entirety of Singapore. For the guests, it includes a rooftop restaurant and pool where, in an effort to push the limits of architecture and willing spenders' cash, the edge of the pool really is the edge of the building. The lifeguard needs a whole new set of skills, including sky diving.
The rooftop looks down on a bay where lines of balloons form the shape of Singapore and in the corner a new museum, oddly shaped like a fat fingered hand is being built. Having been rejected from the casino as I lacked my passport that day, I was alerted to the museum having been set alight by one of the welders working on the monstrous aberration of a building. A whole chunk of the building was lit up in flames, melting what looked like a plastic covering and charring the side of the building. It was hot enough to leak on and set alight the top platform of the cherry picker where the welders were working. As if watching a Sky One special called When Things Get Destroyed 3 with a commentator with a strong American accent narrating the incident, I gauked mouth wide open, fecklessly, as the two welders fearing for their lives and in panic, descended the extended beam of the cherry picker. Eventually, the fire died down naturally, after several failed attempts by the fire services to get to the site, since the only access way to the construction site...was by water. Unfortunately my camera had ran out of battery.
On the way back to the hostel, I was treated to a free performance by the Fillipino voice orchestra who, among others, performed Michael Jackson's 'Man in the Mirror' and 'Heal the World'. I couldn't help but be reminded of the famous YouTube clip of the Fillipino prison inmates forced to perform 'Thriller' for exercise (if you haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o). And a performance of 'Santa Clause is coming to Town', which felt really odd in a tropical climate.
It was an eventful day.
samedi 25 décembre 2010
Merry Christmas
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas to all my readers. I'm currently in Australia, taking a brief break from traveling to enjoy some family bonding over a mix of homemade and Mr. Kipling mince pies, a spectrum of cakes and vegetables that are out of season for the southern hemisphere this time of year.
You'll find me amongst the wrapping paper still floating settling after a flurry of excitement; boxes of new electronic items vomitting cardboard, polystyrene and instruction manuals; a box of Cadbury's Roses with only the fruit filled chocolates left (because nobody likes a cherry jelly filled chocolate over a hazelnut vanilla fudge supreme); Maltesers melting down the side of the couch; barely breathing, watching a film with our eyes closed as to put all our remaining energy into digesting a delightfully collossal meal and our respective weights in chocolate.
Happy holidays.
You'll find me amongst the wrapping paper still floating settling after a flurry of excitement; boxes of new electronic items vomitting cardboard, polystyrene and instruction manuals; a box of Cadbury's Roses with only the fruit filled chocolates left (because nobody likes a cherry jelly filled chocolate over a hazelnut vanilla fudge supreme); Maltesers melting down the side of the couch; barely breathing, watching a film with our eyes closed as to put all our remaining energy into digesting a delightfully collossal meal and our respective weights in chocolate.
Happy holidays.
samedi 18 décembre 2010
Fumble in the Jungle
My minibus turned up late, but much to my delight, I was the only one going to Taman Negara that morning - perhaps the weather had put everyone else off. The driver was an elderly Malaysian Hindu and second generation Indian. I've found that the older Malaysians speak excellent English because they grew up in a Malaysia that was still under British rule or if not, then the education system was still very much influenced by it. We had several hours to talk about Malaysia, its politics, history, ethnic diversities, etc...
He eventually noticed I was trying my best to keep my eyes open and so suggested I have a nap. The road to Taman Negara wound between the hills of the Cameron Highlands to descend into the jungle. As such, the car was constantly veering left, then veering right, then back to the left, etc... Lying horizontally being tilted up and down like a seesaw, blood and several of my organs would rush to my head for a handful of seconds, before being thrown into my feet, like the furniture inside a boat on choppy seas all sliding one way, then the other. One minute I was chewing on my Adam's apple, the next minute my lower intestines were halfway down my left leg; this wasn't going to work. Eventually the road leveled out and I managed to get just under an hour's sleep.
We arrived at the boat jetty in Kuala Tembeling at 11:30 am, the boat to Kuala Tahan, the town closest to Taman Negara's park headquarters, wouldn't arrive until 14:30. While waiting, reading the LP guide, sitting in the shade, I saw something moving in the longer grass on the bank of the river, just 10 metres away. It was a lizard, the length of my leg, its head the size of my hand (and if you've seen me play guitar, you know I have big hands) bathing in the sun.
I walked over slowly to try to get a closer look, but it knew I was coming so dived into the longer grass slightly further down the bank. It then popped its head up and watched me attentively, waiting for my next move - dare I compare it to the scene in Jurassic Park where the park ranger gets eaten by the Veloceraptor because he's keeping his eye on the one staring at him from the bushes, but it was exactly like that...minus the gory ending. I would have happily have turned around and headed back, it couldn't get much better than a giant lizard.
The LP guide said that the three hour boat journey sailing up river through the jungle to Kuala Tahan is a highlight for many. Well, I fell asleep. There were some great views, but after about 6 or 7 minutes, I was bored. Then the rain started. It hammered down all around us, but we barely got wet, even though all we had was a little tin roof separating us from the elements above (but not the sides). We went through two downpours of heavy rain before reaching camp.
The town was a collection of makeshift shacks on the banks of the river opposite the park entrance. The restaurants that line the river front are supported by floating barrels and made of, what looks like, discarded wood that has floated downstream. Everyone and his uncle sells tours of the jungle, though I think there are actually only a few companies (at least two), but everyone wants to be a commission making intermediary.
I decided to do a night jungle walk as, only planning to be there for 36 hours, I had no time to spare. The guide, clearly a veteran of this mini-jungle walk to the point of boredom, knew exactly where everything would be or was. We saw scorpions poking their heads and pincers out of their nests waiting for prey; snakes sleeping in trees; glow in the dark mushrooms; stick insects; and large spiders by the bucket load. He taught us that the trick to spotting them was to shine our torches at eye level out into the distance and any very bright, almost diamond like reflections, are spiders' eyes.
The next day, I was up early for my day long trek. I set off into the jungle at 9:00 for four and half hour trek, alone. There's only one trek available for those wanting to do a short day trip, and unfortunately, it's so overused, the likelihood of seeing any very exotic flora or fauna that this 130 million year old jungle has protected...is improbably low.
I followed the river upstream until I turned off to for a quick steep climb to the longest canopy walkway in the world. Suspended some 30 odd metres above the jungle floor, it was quite fun when I first stepped out on to it, swinging left and right on a plank of wood with some suspension wires either side, but by the end of the first walkway, I was ready to move on...though I had to finish it, then climb back up to continue on my trek. The climb continued to a peak at 344 metres known as Bukit Teresek which provides a great view of the jungle. I rested there a while to regain my breath before descending back into the murky depths of the jungle and far lesser used and far muddier trail.
At some point on my journey, I saw a small worm sticking straight up vertically from a leaf. I watched it bend over backwards, use (what I thought had been) its front end to stick to the ground, then flop over again and so forth. This allowed it to move in any direction, much like a slinky does going down a set of stairs. It wasn't until later, when after slipping in some mud, I found three crawling in my shoe, trying to dig through my sock to break the layers of my epidermis and suck on my blood. Leeches.
OK. Don't panic. You've read about this in the LP guide. You can handle this. 'Flick them sideways' was the advice I had read. I pushed my index against my thumb, holding back all the strength my spindly fingers could muster. I lined up the first one, squirming against my sock, I let loose a fury of index led power firing it into the bushes at a 45 degree angle. Score. One down. Two to go.
I lined up the second with a new found confidence. As it has a tendency to, hubris led me astray. The first flick didn't send this one flying, so he latched on harder, contorting its body in all directions. The second flick did nothing. Nor the third. It knew this was likely to be the only chance at a meal potentially in its lifetime, so it was fighting with all its might. I pulled my sock away from my skin to see if it had penetrated through; it moved with the sock, suggesting it hadn't. I took my shoe off, the third fell into it, so I catapulted it out with full force of my arm.
Now I was locked in battle with the second leech again, it trying to get into my sock and me, standing on one foot, holding the other in my hand, hopping in the mud and swinging my shoe around, all the while flicking incessantly in all directions like a trigger happy cowboy and trying not to lose my balance like a cartoon character on a tightrope. I can imagine that the local exotic birds looking down at me, sniggering and waging their bets on the leech, while I fumbled and grumbled.
A successful flick had the leech come off my sock, but try to latch on to my finger. I threw my hand like I wanted it to come off, launching the little shit into the bushes. I had felt a very light, but sharp pinch on my finger before I sent it packing to find a blood buffet elsewhere. I'll try to maintain the small scratch on my index was a leech bite, but don't hesitate to call me on it, if ever I bring it up.
Another few hours walk and I was out the jungle. I rewarded myself with my packed lunch, a shower and an afternoon nap. My shoes were so incredibly covered in mud, they were unrecognisable. Faithful companions through the Arava desert, halfway across Malawi to Livingstone and all across India, I sadly had to leave them behind, along with a t-shirt and a pair of linen trousers, so drenched in sweat and mud, they were beyond repair.
After a good night's rest, I was up early and on the bus back to Kuala Lumpur and the next day to Singapore.
He eventually noticed I was trying my best to keep my eyes open and so suggested I have a nap. The road to Taman Negara wound between the hills of the Cameron Highlands to descend into the jungle. As such, the car was constantly veering left, then veering right, then back to the left, etc... Lying horizontally being tilted up and down like a seesaw, blood and several of my organs would rush to my head for a handful of seconds, before being thrown into my feet, like the furniture inside a boat on choppy seas all sliding one way, then the other. One minute I was chewing on my Adam's apple, the next minute my lower intestines were halfway down my left leg; this wasn't going to work. Eventually the road leveled out and I managed to get just under an hour's sleep.
We arrived at the boat jetty in Kuala Tembeling at 11:30 am, the boat to Kuala Tahan, the town closest to Taman Negara's park headquarters, wouldn't arrive until 14:30. While waiting, reading the LP guide, sitting in the shade, I saw something moving in the longer grass on the bank of the river, just 10 metres away. It was a lizard, the length of my leg, its head the size of my hand (and if you've seen me play guitar, you know I have big hands) bathing in the sun.
I walked over slowly to try to get a closer look, but it knew I was coming so dived into the longer grass slightly further down the bank. It then popped its head up and watched me attentively, waiting for my next move - dare I compare it to the scene in Jurassic Park where the park ranger gets eaten by the Veloceraptor because he's keeping his eye on the one staring at him from the bushes, but it was exactly like that...minus the gory ending. I would have happily have turned around and headed back, it couldn't get much better than a giant lizard.
The LP guide said that the three hour boat journey sailing up river through the jungle to Kuala Tahan is a highlight for many. Well, I fell asleep. There were some great views, but after about 6 or 7 minutes, I was bored. Then the rain started. It hammered down all around us, but we barely got wet, even though all we had was a little tin roof separating us from the elements above (but not the sides). We went through two downpours of heavy rain before reaching camp.
The town was a collection of makeshift shacks on the banks of the river opposite the park entrance. The restaurants that line the river front are supported by floating barrels and made of, what looks like, discarded wood that has floated downstream. Everyone and his uncle sells tours of the jungle, though I think there are actually only a few companies (at least two), but everyone wants to be a commission making intermediary.
I decided to do a night jungle walk as, only planning to be there for 36 hours, I had no time to spare. The guide, clearly a veteran of this mini-jungle walk to the point of boredom, knew exactly where everything would be or was. We saw scorpions poking their heads and pincers out of their nests waiting for prey; snakes sleeping in trees; glow in the dark mushrooms; stick insects; and large spiders by the bucket load. He taught us that the trick to spotting them was to shine our torches at eye level out into the distance and any very bright, almost diamond like reflections, are spiders' eyes.
The next day, I was up early for my day long trek. I set off into the jungle at 9:00 for four and half hour trek, alone. There's only one trek available for those wanting to do a short day trip, and unfortunately, it's so overused, the likelihood of seeing any very exotic flora or fauna that this 130 million year old jungle has protected...is improbably low.
I followed the river upstream until I turned off to for a quick steep climb to the longest canopy walkway in the world. Suspended some 30 odd metres above the jungle floor, it was quite fun when I first stepped out on to it, swinging left and right on a plank of wood with some suspension wires either side, but by the end of the first walkway, I was ready to move on...though I had to finish it, then climb back up to continue on my trek. The climb continued to a peak at 344 metres known as Bukit Teresek which provides a great view of the jungle. I rested there a while to regain my breath before descending back into the murky depths of the jungle and far lesser used and far muddier trail.
At some point on my journey, I saw a small worm sticking straight up vertically from a leaf. I watched it bend over backwards, use (what I thought had been) its front end to stick to the ground, then flop over again and so forth. This allowed it to move in any direction, much like a slinky does going down a set of stairs. It wasn't until later, when after slipping in some mud, I found three crawling in my shoe, trying to dig through my sock to break the layers of my epidermis and suck on my blood. Leeches.
OK. Don't panic. You've read about this in the LP guide. You can handle this. 'Flick them sideways' was the advice I had read. I pushed my index against my thumb, holding back all the strength my spindly fingers could muster. I lined up the first one, squirming against my sock, I let loose a fury of index led power firing it into the bushes at a 45 degree angle. Score. One down. Two to go.
I lined up the second with a new found confidence. As it has a tendency to, hubris led me astray. The first flick didn't send this one flying, so he latched on harder, contorting its body in all directions. The second flick did nothing. Nor the third. It knew this was likely to be the only chance at a meal potentially in its lifetime, so it was fighting with all its might. I pulled my sock away from my skin to see if it had penetrated through; it moved with the sock, suggesting it hadn't. I took my shoe off, the third fell into it, so I catapulted it out with full force of my arm.
Now I was locked in battle with the second leech again, it trying to get into my sock and me, standing on one foot, holding the other in my hand, hopping in the mud and swinging my shoe around, all the while flicking incessantly in all directions like a trigger happy cowboy and trying not to lose my balance like a cartoon character on a tightrope. I can imagine that the local exotic birds looking down at me, sniggering and waging their bets on the leech, while I fumbled and grumbled.
A successful flick had the leech come off my sock, but try to latch on to my finger. I threw my hand like I wanted it to come off, launching the little shit into the bushes. I had felt a very light, but sharp pinch on my finger before I sent it packing to find a blood buffet elsewhere. I'll try to maintain the small scratch on my index was a leech bite, but don't hesitate to call me on it, if ever I bring it up.
Another few hours walk and I was out the jungle. I rewarded myself with my packed lunch, a shower and an afternoon nap. My shoes were so incredibly covered in mud, they were unrecognisable. Faithful companions through the Arava desert, halfway across Malawi to Livingstone and all across India, I sadly had to leave them behind, along with a t-shirt and a pair of linen trousers, so drenched in sweat and mud, they were beyond repair.
After a good night's rest, I was up early and on the bus back to Kuala Lumpur and the next day to Singapore.
Cameron Highlands
After three hours of sleep, I was up, my stomach churning, but ready for a five hour minibus. Unfortunately I chose the wrong seat and though the little Asian women next to me had plenty of space to stretch their little legs, I dared not ask to switch... even though my knees were firmly pressed under my chin, as the seat in front was broken, permanently in the reclined position.
Luckily I just missed the rain. The weather had been a major issue in deciding whether to come here and on to Taman Negara, but I had decided that the Eastern Monsoon wasn't going to stop me doing anything I wanted to do. I checked into a hostel where the only bed available was in a dorm in the attic of this chalet, though very clean and well kept, it was unfortunately at the top of the stairs and so quite noisy. I attempted to sleep for an hour before my tour, the rain somewhat soothingly hammering down inches from my face on the roof...unfortunately, the voices of the other guests weren't so soothing.
My afternoon blitzed through everything that a tourist would want to see in the Cameron Highlands (but nothing that the trekker might want to see). We started with the Boh Tea Plantations which were the highlight of the tour. The (tourist) factory sits in a valley surrounded by rolling hills of a labyrinth of bright green tea plants that don't grow taller than three feet and are separated only by a few inches. It's worth coming to the Cameron Highlands just for this view.
The rest of the tour involved a quick visit to a Butterfly Farm (most were dead, I imagine because it's the winter, so a bit of a morbid site), a strawberry plantation (actually just a shop with strawberry ice cream, waffles, etc...and a small plantation where you can pay an extortionate amount to pick your own), a Chinese temple and a rose garden (which we skipped).
If I could have stayed longer, I would have to do some of the long walking treks available in the area. Unfortunately, time was limited.
After all this, I was back in bed to rest up for the next day.
Luckily I just missed the rain. The weather had been a major issue in deciding whether to come here and on to Taman Negara, but I had decided that the Eastern Monsoon wasn't going to stop me doing anything I wanted to do. I checked into a hostel where the only bed available was in a dorm in the attic of this chalet, though very clean and well kept, it was unfortunately at the top of the stairs and so quite noisy. I attempted to sleep for an hour before my tour, the rain somewhat soothingly hammering down inches from my face on the roof...unfortunately, the voices of the other guests weren't so soothing.
My afternoon blitzed through everything that a tourist would want to see in the Cameron Highlands (but nothing that the trekker might want to see). We started with the Boh Tea Plantations which were the highlight of the tour. The (tourist) factory sits in a valley surrounded by rolling hills of a labyrinth of bright green tea plants that don't grow taller than three feet and are separated only by a few inches. It's worth coming to the Cameron Highlands just for this view.
The rest of the tour involved a quick visit to a Butterfly Farm (most were dead, I imagine because it's the winter, so a bit of a morbid site), a strawberry plantation (actually just a shop with strawberry ice cream, waffles, etc...and a small plantation where you can pay an extortionate amount to pick your own), a Chinese temple and a rose garden (which we skipped).
If I could have stayed longer, I would have to do some of the long walking treks available in the area. Unfortunately, time was limited.
After all this, I was back in bed to rest up for the next day.
vendredi 17 décembre 2010
The Blue Diamond
Off the plane and straight to the bus station...oh wait...where's the bus station? The LP guide was wrong. My world was turned upside down. Where the bus station should have been, stood only a concrete frame of a building, littered with the remains of a mall centric civilisation and the odd hard hatted Malaysian construction worker wandering around it, like a scene from a post-apocalyptic zombie film.
A travel agent across the road with a lone Malaysian standing at the door smoking - a sign of life that used to be! Maybe he'll know something. He knows exactly where the station is, but in a fit of rudeness chose not to tell me, and instead to ignore me completely. I felt it a good opportunity to release some of the anger I had me carrying around in my emotional backpack. Soon after, another travel agent was far more helpful and set me on my way. Stuck in traffic, it took over an hour and a half to get to the makeshift tent on the outskirts of the city that was the new bus station.
I was soon on the next bus to Georgetown on the island of Penang another 5 hours driving North. Buses aren't usually anything special, but this bus was different. The chairs were almost fully reclining couches with built in pillow and a furry rug like cover with an 80s vibe pattern. Quite tired from an early morning and long day, I slept most of the way ... until suddenly we had arrived.
Where were we? I had no idea.Was this the bus station in Georgetown? Let's wander around. The only thing that suggested any urban activity was a fair that was quickly shutting down. I finally figured out that the bus had brought us to a main bus station on the island just across the bridge to the mainland, but no further into the island. So Georgetown was a little way away yet. I hailed a taxi and was in the city centre with 20-30 minutes.
When I arrived at the The Blue Diamond hotel (the name of a very famous band, but also my dad's band back when he was at university), a dimly lit bar and restaurant were being harassed by a local cover band. Plenty of travelers were enjoying the ok music, but ghastly singing. I wandered through to the reception, but no one was there. Back outside, I looked at the band to see the drummer, an older Han looking Malaysian man, pointing at me with his drumstick. Eventually he gave up trying to tell me something through interpretative percussion, stood up slowly, put his drumsticks down and walked over "Hi, how can I help you?" he asked in perfect English.
He had a young boy show me the dorm. A few stained mattresses thrown into a large room; at best it was grim, and at worst, I could picture three rats wearing visors, smoking discarded cigarettes and drinking while playing a game of poker. No thank you. I took the room with a double bed and a shower, which though a little on the grim side, permitted enough privacy from the griminess to feel comfortable.
I awoke to find the city as dead as the night before. A small Indian restaurant was open for breakfast, so I ventured in, in hope of finding some Poori Bhaji. The waiter came over and I pointed to the closest thing on the menu to Poor Bhaji. He shook his head and pointed to a small section for Parathas (or Pratas as it's spelled here). Ok. I pointed to one under that heading. The waiter shook his head and then pointed to two of the ten items under that list. I gave up. Just bring me whatever.
Georgetown bloomed with life once 10:00 am struck. It has a strong colonial past as a former British port, chosen to rival the Dutch in the Straits of Melacca, a money making shortcut in getting between India and China. The Indians were brought here to work the tea plantations and with them they brought Islam and Hinduism. So there are plenty of mosques and colourful temples to be seen, often with a cross-pollination of influence (e.g. Chinese dragons and upturned roof corners on the biggest Hindu temple in Georgetown, opposite a Chinese temple and just down the road from the city mosque). Malaysia is the pinnacle of multiculturalism (regardless of it being officially a Muslim country) and Georgetown captures the older spirit of that multiculturalism.
In the afternoon, I visited Kek Lok Si temple. A top a hill a large bronze Buddha (currently shaded by a newly constructed Chinese style gazebo) stakes the title of largest Buddha in the world. A line of annoyingly tout like women run shops that line the steep climb up to the temple. Plenty of small rooms are filled with Chinese style Buddhas laced with the Hindu Swastika and a great view of Georgetown and Penang Hill covered in a lush forest.
That evening, I attempted to try some Baya Nonyan food, a local Malay people that have descendants from everywhere I imagine. Already feeling slightly queezy, a meat roll filled with lumps of indigestible fat, bone and gristle, covered in some greasy skin and turmeric flavoured rice, which quickly became very sickly, didn't help (and still makes me feel ill writing about it!). I cut my losses and didn't finish the meal.
The owner of the hotel/drummer of the band had seen my guitar the night I had arrived and suggested I jam with the band the next day. I was happy to oblige. The band were much better this evening however. The previous night they had let anyone come up and join them, so what I had heard that night was an out-of-tune straggler, not the actual band. During the evening, the singer and lead guitarist invited me up and handed me the guitar. Uh oh.
The bassist and drummer were awaiting instruction from me on what to play while the crowd stared on. Err do you guys know Jack Johnson? No...eeep. I did my best to explain the chords to the bassist and hoped he would just pick up on it as the crowd was getting impatient. I performed 'Sitting, waiting, wishing' and though the bassist didn't quite catch, on stunting the chorus, the drummer was quick enough to grab the beat. Luckily, some drunks started dancing, hopefully because they were enjoying it and not out of pity. Nonetheless, the song finished without too many more bumps.
A guy from the crowd jumped up and asked if I needed a hand on the bass. Unfortunately he still didn't know any of the songs I knew. I attempted to perform Obadiah Parker's acoustic version 'Hey Ya' by Outkast, but lacking a capo my hand soon began to cramp and I had to give up. Tail between my legs I handed the guitar back, was given a short parting clap and retreated to the safety of a computer.
The next day I left early for the Cameron Highlands, 5 hours East of Georgetown on the border between the state of Perak and Pahang.
A travel agent across the road with a lone Malaysian standing at the door smoking - a sign of life that used to be! Maybe he'll know something. He knows exactly where the station is, but in a fit of rudeness chose not to tell me, and instead to ignore me completely. I felt it a good opportunity to release some of the anger I had me carrying around in my emotional backpack. Soon after, another travel agent was far more helpful and set me on my way. Stuck in traffic, it took over an hour and a half to get to the makeshift tent on the outskirts of the city that was the new bus station.
I was soon on the next bus to Georgetown on the island of Penang another 5 hours driving North. Buses aren't usually anything special, but this bus was different. The chairs were almost fully reclining couches with built in pillow and a furry rug like cover with an 80s vibe pattern. Quite tired from an early morning and long day, I slept most of the way ... until suddenly we had arrived.
Where were we? I had no idea.Was this the bus station in Georgetown? Let's wander around. The only thing that suggested any urban activity was a fair that was quickly shutting down. I finally figured out that the bus had brought us to a main bus station on the island just across the bridge to the mainland, but no further into the island. So Georgetown was a little way away yet. I hailed a taxi and was in the city centre with 20-30 minutes.
When I arrived at the The Blue Diamond hotel (the name of a very famous band, but also my dad's band back when he was at university), a dimly lit bar and restaurant were being harassed by a local cover band. Plenty of travelers were enjoying the ok music, but ghastly singing. I wandered through to the reception, but no one was there. Back outside, I looked at the band to see the drummer, an older Han looking Malaysian man, pointing at me with his drumstick. Eventually he gave up trying to tell me something through interpretative percussion, stood up slowly, put his drumsticks down and walked over "Hi, how can I help you?" he asked in perfect English.
He had a young boy show me the dorm. A few stained mattresses thrown into a large room; at best it was grim, and at worst, I could picture three rats wearing visors, smoking discarded cigarettes and drinking while playing a game of poker. No thank you. I took the room with a double bed and a shower, which though a little on the grim side, permitted enough privacy from the griminess to feel comfortable.
I awoke to find the city as dead as the night before. A small Indian restaurant was open for breakfast, so I ventured in, in hope of finding some Poori Bhaji. The waiter came over and I pointed to the closest thing on the menu to Poor Bhaji. He shook his head and pointed to a small section for Parathas (or Pratas as it's spelled here). Ok. I pointed to one under that heading. The waiter shook his head and then pointed to two of the ten items under that list. I gave up. Just bring me whatever.
Georgetown bloomed with life once 10:00 am struck. It has a strong colonial past as a former British port, chosen to rival the Dutch in the Straits of Melacca, a money making shortcut in getting between India and China. The Indians were brought here to work the tea plantations and with them they brought Islam and Hinduism. So there are plenty of mosques and colourful temples to be seen, often with a cross-pollination of influence (e.g. Chinese dragons and upturned roof corners on the biggest Hindu temple in Georgetown, opposite a Chinese temple and just down the road from the city mosque). Malaysia is the pinnacle of multiculturalism (regardless of it being officially a Muslim country) and Georgetown captures the older spirit of that multiculturalism.
In the afternoon, I visited Kek Lok Si temple. A top a hill a large bronze Buddha (currently shaded by a newly constructed Chinese style gazebo) stakes the title of largest Buddha in the world. A line of annoyingly tout like women run shops that line the steep climb up to the temple. Plenty of small rooms are filled with Chinese style Buddhas laced with the Hindu Swastika and a great view of Georgetown and Penang Hill covered in a lush forest.
That evening, I attempted to try some Baya Nonyan food, a local Malay people that have descendants from everywhere I imagine. Already feeling slightly queezy, a meat roll filled with lumps of indigestible fat, bone and gristle, covered in some greasy skin and turmeric flavoured rice, which quickly became very sickly, didn't help (and still makes me feel ill writing about it!). I cut my losses and didn't finish the meal.
The owner of the hotel/drummer of the band had seen my guitar the night I had arrived and suggested I jam with the band the next day. I was happy to oblige. The band were much better this evening however. The previous night they had let anyone come up and join them, so what I had heard that night was an out-of-tune straggler, not the actual band. During the evening, the singer and lead guitarist invited me up and handed me the guitar. Uh oh.
The bassist and drummer were awaiting instruction from me on what to play while the crowd stared on. Err do you guys know Jack Johnson? No...eeep. I did my best to explain the chords to the bassist and hoped he would just pick up on it as the crowd was getting impatient. I performed 'Sitting, waiting, wishing' and though the bassist didn't quite catch, on stunting the chorus, the drummer was quick enough to grab the beat. Luckily, some drunks started dancing, hopefully because they were enjoying it and not out of pity. Nonetheless, the song finished without too many more bumps.
A guy from the crowd jumped up and asked if I needed a hand on the bass. Unfortunately he still didn't know any of the songs I knew. I attempted to perform Obadiah Parker's acoustic version 'Hey Ya' by Outkast, but lacking a capo my hand soon began to cramp and I had to give up. Tail between my legs I handed the guitar back, was given a short parting clap and retreated to the safety of a computer.
The next day I left early for the Cameron Highlands, 5 hours East of Georgetown on the border between the state of Perak and Pahang.
Edit
Apologies for the last post, it wouldn't let me either edit it or post anything new. I've now proof read it to an acceptable level.
mardi 14 décembre 2010
The horror, the horror
Phnom Penh is a dusty and smoggy city which is on the brink of becoming modern. Most streets are wide, traffic continuously moves though relatively safely and controlled (regardless of the stampede of roaring mopeds that can sometimes be unpredictable), most buildings are low (if more than just a line of shops in open garages, then not higher than a few floors) and a few recent tall, but not quite skyscraping buildings (there seems to be a lot of development on this front).
After an excruciatingly long walk from the bus stop to a street food restaurant mentioned in the LP guide, I was finally permitted to try the supposedly staple food (but very difficult to find in tourist areas): Bobor (mentioned below). I did however feel sorry for letting my stubbornness drag Sarah (the German girl) along for the ride...though I did carry her bag which was significantly heavier than mine (props to her for carrying it around SE Asia so far!).
We found a hostel then hit some of the major inner city sites. Apart from independence monument and the Royal Palace, there isn't much to see on that front. It was more interesting to see the city teeming with life (e.g. playgrounds full of kids and their parents, locals dancing in organised classes on the riverfront and the odd beggar cleaning their kids in the street).
Saturday was a very productive day. We started early with the Choeung Ek killing fields 15km South of the city. It's a small field of mass graves from the genocide perpetrated by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge from 1976 to 1979. A tower stands directly in front of the entrance with darkened glass casing up the middle and a cross-pollination of Chinese and Indian symbolism littering the upper levels with upturned roof corners, seven headed snakes and imposing Garudas. Built by the Vietnamese in the late 1980s, it contains the skeletons (literally) of 8985 people found on this site so far - this is just under half the total expected murdered at Choeung Ek.
After signing a forced, but nonetheless legally binding confession, often blindfolded and hands tied behind their backs, the guards (supposedly soldiers trained from adolescence to believe their victims to be criminals) would beat their victims with bamboo sticks, axes or farming tools (which I suppose represents the regime's genocidal obsession with agricultural based communism). The local farmers were completely unaware of this due to the loud party music used to cover up the screaming and Deet (insect repellent) used to cover the smell (and kill any survivors of the beatings).
Their skulls are on show in the centre of the tower. It's utterly harrowing to be stared in the face by the empty sockets of the consequences of one of the 20th century's worst atrocities and one of humanity's greatest flaws: the interplay of identity and violence (see Amartya Sen's book of the same title for more on this subject). The glass casing is open on one of the lower floors to display skulls that have been specifically beaten with an axe or bamboo stick. On the bottom floor are the rags and clothes worn by the victims.
Walking around the grounds, our guide pointed out bones in the ground. Small white fossils sticking out the dirt...one a skull, the other a jawbone, another a hipbone. Then the killing tree where mothers were made to watch their kids be bashed against it, before suffering a similar fate themselves - an important part of the regime was to kill of the intelligentsia, wealthy and elites to start back at year zero. By killing the children of those people, they were both destroying the grass at its roots and avoiding creating any rebels to the regime.
It's shocking in itself that something so atrocious could happen during our or just before our lifetime, but just as the Holocaust, Rwandan genocide, among others, it should remembered, lest we not repeat our mistakes. However, I was shocked at how the victims, having not chosen their fate, are on display for all to see. I can't imagine how it must feel to be a relative of someone who went missing during the regime's rule, to think their remains may be staring back at you in this glass casing. Why are they not given a proper burial? Why even dig them up? It hasn't been done in the concentration and extermination camps of the Nazi regime. My mum made a good point that it may simply be cultural differences. I'll have to leave it at that.
The museum of S-21 is similarly as harrowing, but more so because it has been left the way it was found, except for the bodies of 14 torture victims which were interred in the courtyard and photos in each respective room now display how they were found.
After this heavy morning, we hit the Russian market for some souvenir shopping and to get some last minute presents. Unfortunately poor, we had to walk back the immense distance to the hostel...and then even further on, as we were looking for a travel agent so that Sarah could buy her bus and boat ticket to Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam. Tired and exhausted, we made it back safely after an incredibly productive day.
On Sunday, I flew from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur and got on the first bus to Georgetown, Penang.
After an excruciatingly long walk from the bus stop to a street food restaurant mentioned in the LP guide, I was finally permitted to try the supposedly staple food (but very difficult to find in tourist areas): Bobor (mentioned below). I did however feel sorry for letting my stubbornness drag Sarah (the German girl) along for the ride...though I did carry her bag which was significantly heavier than mine (props to her for carrying it around SE Asia so far!).
We found a hostel then hit some of the major inner city sites. Apart from independence monument and the Royal Palace, there isn't much to see on that front. It was more interesting to see the city teeming with life (e.g. playgrounds full of kids and their parents, locals dancing in organised classes on the riverfront and the odd beggar cleaning their kids in the street).
Saturday was a very productive day. We started early with the Choeung Ek killing fields 15km South of the city. It's a small field of mass graves from the genocide perpetrated by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge from 1976 to 1979. A tower stands directly in front of the entrance with darkened glass casing up the middle and a cross-pollination of Chinese and Indian symbolism littering the upper levels with upturned roof corners, seven headed snakes and imposing Garudas. Built by the Vietnamese in the late 1980s, it contains the skeletons (literally) of 8985 people found on this site so far - this is just under half the total expected murdered at Choeung Ek.
After signing a forced, but nonetheless legally binding confession, often blindfolded and hands tied behind their backs, the guards (supposedly soldiers trained from adolescence to believe their victims to be criminals) would beat their victims with bamboo sticks, axes or farming tools (which I suppose represents the regime's genocidal obsession with agricultural based communism). The local farmers were completely unaware of this due to the loud party music used to cover up the screaming and Deet (insect repellent) used to cover the smell (and kill any survivors of the beatings).
Their skulls are on show in the centre of the tower. It's utterly harrowing to be stared in the face by the empty sockets of the consequences of one of the 20th century's worst atrocities and one of humanity's greatest flaws: the interplay of identity and violence (see Amartya Sen's book of the same title for more on this subject). The glass casing is open on one of the lower floors to display skulls that have been specifically beaten with an axe or bamboo stick. On the bottom floor are the rags and clothes worn by the victims.
Walking around the grounds, our guide pointed out bones in the ground. Small white fossils sticking out the dirt...one a skull, the other a jawbone, another a hipbone. Then the killing tree where mothers were made to watch their kids be bashed against it, before suffering a similar fate themselves - an important part of the regime was to kill of the intelligentsia, wealthy and elites to start back at year zero. By killing the children of those people, they were both destroying the grass at its roots and avoiding creating any rebels to the regime.
It's shocking in itself that something so atrocious could happen during our or just before our lifetime, but just as the Holocaust, Rwandan genocide, among others, it should remembered, lest we not repeat our mistakes. However, I was shocked at how the victims, having not chosen their fate, are on display for all to see. I can't imagine how it must feel to be a relative of someone who went missing during the regime's rule, to think their remains may be staring back at you in this glass casing. Why are they not given a proper burial? Why even dig them up? It hasn't been done in the concentration and extermination camps of the Nazi regime. My mum made a good point that it may simply be cultural differences. I'll have to leave it at that.
The museum of S-21 is similarly as harrowing, but more so because it has been left the way it was found, except for the bodies of 14 torture victims which were interred in the courtyard and photos in each respective room now display how they were found.
After this heavy morning, we hit the Russian market for some souvenir shopping and to get some last minute presents. Unfortunately poor, we had to walk back the immense distance to the hostel...and then even further on, as we were looking for a travel agent so that Sarah could buy her bus and boat ticket to Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam. Tired and exhausted, we made it back safely after an incredibly productive day.
On Sunday, I flew from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur and got on the first bus to Georgetown, Penang.
lundi 13 décembre 2010
"I'm going to the other side of the island! - You ain't going without me, Freckles"
After my last post, I attempted to organise a scuba diving trip. I decided to opt out because, though cheap, it wasn't worth the money to see a lack of interesting underwater life. Instead I decided to do a short trek across the small all but uninhabited island of Koh Kong off the coast of Sihanoukville with an Israeli guy who had lived there for the last two years as part of an investment project to turn it into a future scuba diving haven and mini resort for those wanting the remote island experience (without ever being too far from civilisation).
The seas on the boat ride there were almost sickeningly choppy. Unable to read, I had to sit forward facing, glued to the horizon, like one of the many statues I saw at Angkor, for two and a half hours. Upon arrival, it was clear that construction was still ongoing; the boathouse made from discarded semi-logs, the locals hard at work hammering and sawing while putting together precariously balancing frames for small huts.
The trek began by heading through an area that had clearly been deforested for building materials with lots of young and low bushes, but quickly sped up into an uphill climb into the jungle. At the peak, the jungle in front of us, we descended by climbing down boulders using a rope tied to a tree at the top. Vines wrapped around trees, wrapped around other trees, plants growing off anything and in any direction (some looked like potted plants that had been unpotted and thrown with a strong enough velocity as to make them stick to a vertical surface).
Each square inch was its own ecosystem. My Israeli guide told me about all the different plants and how the locals use different roots to make tapioca and jelly or woods to build their houses (which all end up crumbling to the ground after two years due to termite infestation), the environmental effects of the locals' deforestation and lack adequate waste system....as well as a few stories about Boa Constrictors and Vipers. I felt I was being guided by John Locke (no, not the political philosopher known for helping write the Constitution of North Carolina, but the conspicuously named character from Lost). For a moment I thought he would walk out the jungle with a boar on his back proclaiming lunch was ready.
The hour of climbing and descending to the other side of the island was followed by a boringly long walk along a beach (7km to be exact). We eventually stopped for lunch, then turned back.
Upon our return, I managed to sneak in a quick, refreshing and well-earned swim before jumping on the boat for another two and half hour boat ride. Luckily the seas had calmed and I managed to sleep.
I have plenty more to write, but unfortunately it's 2:00 am and I have a bus to catch in 5 hours...
The seas on the boat ride there were almost sickeningly choppy. Unable to read, I had to sit forward facing, glued to the horizon, like one of the many statues I saw at Angkor, for two and a half hours. Upon arrival, it was clear that construction was still ongoing; the boathouse made from discarded semi-logs, the locals hard at work hammering and sawing while putting together precariously balancing frames for small huts.
The trek began by heading through an area that had clearly been deforested for building materials with lots of young and low bushes, but quickly sped up into an uphill climb into the jungle. At the peak, the jungle in front of us, we descended by climbing down boulders using a rope tied to a tree at the top. Vines wrapped around trees, wrapped around other trees, plants growing off anything and in any direction (some looked like potted plants that had been unpotted and thrown with a strong enough velocity as to make them stick to a vertical surface).
Each square inch was its own ecosystem. My Israeli guide told me about all the different plants and how the locals use different roots to make tapioca and jelly or woods to build their houses (which all end up crumbling to the ground after two years due to termite infestation), the environmental effects of the locals' deforestation and lack adequate waste system....as well as a few stories about Boa Constrictors and Vipers. I felt I was being guided by John Locke (no, not the political philosopher known for helping write the Constitution of North Carolina, but the conspicuously named character from Lost). For a moment I thought he would walk out the jungle with a boar on his back proclaiming lunch was ready.
The hour of climbing and descending to the other side of the island was followed by a boringly long walk along a beach (7km to be exact). We eventually stopped for lunch, then turned back.
Upon our return, I managed to sneak in a quick, refreshing and well-earned swim before jumping on the boat for another two and half hour boat ride. Luckily the seas had calmed and I managed to sleep.
I have plenty more to write, but unfortunately it's 2:00 am and I have a bus to catch in 5 hours...
vendredi 10 décembre 2010
Culinary Frights and Delights
Cambodian delicacies involve eating anything that is fresh, cooked with subtle herbs and spices with a Pan-Asian feel that hints at a fusion of Chinese (fish, soy sauce, rice, etc...), Indian (curries, coconut, chapati/rotis) and French (chewy baguettes). Here are just some of the local delicacies and staple dishes I've tried over the last few days:
Amoc: A coconut soup with fish fried in a banana leaf (though you rarely get to see the banana leaf, so I'm skeptical of the street vendors preparation), is meant to capture the quintessential freshness of Cambodian food. There's some sort of stringy cabbage/seawood which is difficult to cut through. In taste, it's pretty good, subtle spices and coconut. In texture, it feels like someone has opened up an audio cassette, unraveled the tape and dumped it hot water.
Bobor (Rice Porridge): This is supposedly a staple dish of Cambodia eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lumps of rice floating amidst pork and seafood with a healthy amount of salt and Cambodian pepper (a speciality of the southern region). It's quite nice, but just as simple as the translation suggests. And it's also ridiculously hard to find in touristy areas...
Fried Cricket: Fried until crunchy and infused with herbs, these little critters provide a tasty but insubstantial snack. The shell is like an edible shrimp shell or a large fish scale.
BBQ Snake: I think we tried a simple garden snake, but communication isn't always as clear as needed when you're putting these foreign things in your mouth. There wasn't much meat along the spine, just small slivers I would pick off and pass out. It was a tasty but tough white meat, like a rubbery fish, with a bright red/orange skin that was like a thin rubbery crackling.
Tarantula: On the bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh (and then Sihanoukville), small stalls have bowls of crickets and huge fried, black, hairy spiders. Everyone took pictures of the spiders, but no one wanted to try it. I was dared to, but had just eaten a plate of friend rice - inhaling it for fear of the bus leaving without me - so feeling full, politely declined. But then, I thought there's no point in wasting time and bought one which I shared with the other travelers on the bus (I mostly gave out the legs, as after all, there are eight, more than I need). Fried in the same mix of herbs as the crickets, the legs, head and central part of the body taste the same as cricket, but far more substantial i.e. the outer shell is meaty, even though the inside is hollow. The bulbous part from which a spider spins its web isn't hollow and isn't very nice either. It tastes very powdery, like compacted raw flour, but looks and feels like solidified gelatin.
Comparable to a veritable jungle of culinary delights and frights, I can't say Cambodian food remotely compares to Indian food, but it's definitely exciting at every turn.
Amoc: A coconut soup with fish fried in a banana leaf (though you rarely get to see the banana leaf, so I'm skeptical of the street vendors preparation), is meant to capture the quintessential freshness of Cambodian food. There's some sort of stringy cabbage/seawood which is difficult to cut through. In taste, it's pretty good, subtle spices and coconut. In texture, it feels like someone has opened up an audio cassette, unraveled the tape and dumped it hot water.
Bobor (Rice Porridge): This is supposedly a staple dish of Cambodia eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lumps of rice floating amidst pork and seafood with a healthy amount of salt and Cambodian pepper (a speciality of the southern region). It's quite nice, but just as simple as the translation suggests. And it's also ridiculously hard to find in touristy areas...
Fried Cricket: Fried until crunchy and infused with herbs, these little critters provide a tasty but insubstantial snack. The shell is like an edible shrimp shell or a large fish scale.
BBQ Snake: I think we tried a simple garden snake, but communication isn't always as clear as needed when you're putting these foreign things in your mouth. There wasn't much meat along the spine, just small slivers I would pick off and pass out. It was a tasty but tough white meat, like a rubbery fish, with a bright red/orange skin that was like a thin rubbery crackling.
Tarantula: On the bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh (and then Sihanoukville), small stalls have bowls of crickets and huge fried, black, hairy spiders. Everyone took pictures of the spiders, but no one wanted to try it. I was dared to, but had just eaten a plate of friend rice - inhaling it for fear of the bus leaving without me - so feeling full, politely declined. But then, I thought there's no point in wasting time and bought one which I shared with the other travelers on the bus (I mostly gave out the legs, as after all, there are eight, more than I need). Fried in the same mix of herbs as the crickets, the legs, head and central part of the body taste the same as cricket, but far more substantial i.e. the outer shell is meaty, even though the inside is hollow. The bulbous part from which a spider spins its web isn't hollow and isn't very nice either. It tastes very powdery, like compacted raw flour, but looks and feels like solidified gelatin.
Comparable to a veritable jungle of culinary delights and frights, I can't say Cambodian food remotely compares to Indian food, but it's definitely exciting at every turn.
mardi 7 décembre 2010
Tomb Rainer
Another long day of buses had my head spinning by the time I traversed Cambodia, but I made it to Siem Reap safely around dinner time. I quickly found a friendly Tuk Tuk driver who suggested a hostel...usually I'm quite weary of such commission based proposals, but he was so shy and reserved, I figured he was genuine...and he was. A dollar a night for a dorm room in a semi-decent hostel - not too bad. However, my sleep was somewhat broken by the recurring concern for the possible presence of bed bugs. My worry was overstated, it was perfectly fine, though not perfectly clean.
I awoke early, rented a bicycle, and cycled to the city of temples. I wasn't sure whether I was going to spend two days seeing the sights or just one, but luckily the price of a three day ticket is equivalent to two days worth of one day tickets, so I just got one day. And by the end of that day, I was all templed out. Don't listen to Lonely Planet, a day is more than enough.
On the way in, there were hordes of tourists flocking in on buses and in the chariots of autorickshaws, overtaking me from all angles. At least I didn't have to worry about finding it, I could follow the stream of white all the way to the Ocean of Milk (see below).
I decided to skip Angkor Wat, the largest and most famous of all the temples, as being the most impressive, I thought I would save it for last. Instead I first approached Angkor Thom, crossing the moat on a large bridge manned with the heads of the past emperors of the Angkor empire all staring me down, each with a slightly different grimace. At the entrance to the central temple of Angkor Thom, known as Bayon, I met a friendly gay couple that were visiting the temples after a half marathon around them the previous day. I would end up running into them again and again.
Bayon was an impressive place to start. The bas-reliefs on its lowest level depict various wars between the Khmer people and the Chams (Chinese), a constant back and forth of roaring elephants, masses of soldiers and brahmans running up trees. The upper levels were more impressive as the emperor's head could be seen smiling wherever I looked and the temple tops towered above me.
I cycled on, heading East, and thought I would take a shortcut to the next temple. I suddenly found the path becoming more beaten and jungle like. I suddenly felt like I was in an episode of Lost, racking my brain for tips on boar tracking from John Locke. Having already been lost in Petra, I thought it better just to turn around and not waste my time. In retrospect, given the number of landmines in Cambodia left over from its several bloody wars, it was definitely a good idea.
I then started whacking out temple after temple. All very similar, they are based off either the Buddhist or Hindu temples of India, having been exported out here in the first half of the first millennium. They very much remind me of Mamllapurnam in Tamil Nadu, but much more intricate and bigger. Most were built between 10th and 12th century, shortly after those in Tamil Nadu.
One of the most impressive, but ultimately busiest, was Ta Phrom which has been overgrown by the jungle. Several trees have grown around the stone blocks carved with intricate stories and dancing Asparas, the roots pouring over walls and into the ground below, protecting but inextricably changing its structure. The second Tomb Raider was supposedly filmed here, involving a scene where Angelina Jolie picks a lotus flower before diving into a pool according to the LP guide.
At the next temple, I ran into some girls that I had very briefly met in Halong Bay on a boat tour. Though 2000km separated these two sites, it's still not that surprising to find travelers following the same path. They had joined forces with a guy that I had very briefly met on the bus from Hanoi to Hue in Vietnam. He had told them a bloated story about the bus hitting a telephone pole - I made sure the girls heard the true story that the bus had just pulled down some telephone wires and we sat and waited for an hour while the bus driver helped untangle them. It wasn't quite the drama they had been told.
I decided to stop for lunch at one of the many restaurants available along the journey. There I happened to run into the same gay couple I had met at the entrance. We ate together (I tried minced and bbq frog - the cliché rings trues - it tastes like chicken) and eventually once the rain let up, we continued on our separate ways.
More temples. More temples. And another bloody temple. I eventually found myself falling asleep in the courtyard of one. All of a sudden time had flown by and it was getting late. I wanted to make it to Angkor Wat before sundown, as I didn't really want to be cycling back in the dark. I rushed the 5km bike ride and made it there just in time.
Angkor Wat isn't as impressive as I had hoped. It is imposingly large, but does not have the wonder of the Treasury at Petra or even the Taj Mahal in Agra...hence why it only just missed out being the 7th Wonder of the World. The bas-reliefs on the lower level are however very impressive and, as a Hindu temple, depict scenes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana which I got introduced to in India.
The most interesting and as such most famous is the churning of the Ocean of Milk, the story of an epic battle between good, represented by Shiva, and evil, represented by a six headed snake and various demon gods, all in a tug of war. Shiva is in the form of a tortoise who, upon spinning, churns the Ocean of Milk to release some sort of syrup of immortality. I'm undoubtedly not doing it justice by describing it in such a lack of detail, but nonetheless it was great to see it before the light ran out. I can't say the same for the depiction of Lord Rama's battle with Lanka and his return Ayodhya represented on the last mural; the sun was too low to see it properly.
A storm was fast approaching as I left Angkor Wat, I quickened my pace and even began running as the dark clouds gathered overhead. I cycled as fast as I could, weaving in and out of the back lights of buses and tuk tuks in the dark for the 6km return to the hostel. Unfortunately I didn't beat the rain, but the rain did beat me. It was hammering down like the gods throwing a bucket of water on me from just off stage. I made it to the ticket booth where I found shelter for an hour to drain my shoes, trousers and t-shirt. I made it back to the hostel much later than I had planned, but nonetheless content that I had done it safely.
After a shower and another session of draining my clothes, I headed out for dinner. As soon as I hit the main road, I ran into the friendly gay couple again. They had already eaten, but decided to drink with me while I ate excellent Khmer bbq skewers. They had then planned to get massages, so I thought why not join them.
For $2, we sat side by side in an open courtyard just off the night market to receive a 30 minute foot, leg and shoulder massage. It certainly wasn't the best massage I have ever had, but it was excellent value and less unpredictable than my massage in Varanasi (and I like to think well earned after a hard day's cycling in the rain). The three girls giving us the massage followed a pattern that made it easy for them to follow each other, doing exactly the same technique at the same time. I must admit that I was overwhelmed with a sense of British awkwardness when all three girls worked their way up our calf muscles (safe), thighs (Danger Will Robinson), hips and crouch (not appropriate), then leaned forward resting their hands on the grooves of the lower Iliac crest. Luckily, they quickly descended back to the feet. Crisis averted.
A short night's sleep and another 12 hours of bus journey... I have now arrived in Sihanoukville. It lacks the gritty but fun flare of Siem Reap, as it is more of a relaxed seaside beach town. Tourism has rendered the locals bars, restaurants and other services exactly the same, though pricier, however. I feel myself getting bored already, though I have met two European girls with whom I am sharing a room. Some company should make this trip a little more bearable.
I'm hoping to spend the day scuba diving tomorrow and off to Phnom Penh for my final two days in Cambodia.
I awoke early, rented a bicycle, and cycled to the city of temples. I wasn't sure whether I was going to spend two days seeing the sights or just one, but luckily the price of a three day ticket is equivalent to two days worth of one day tickets, so I just got one day. And by the end of that day, I was all templed out. Don't listen to Lonely Planet, a day is more than enough.
On the way in, there were hordes of tourists flocking in on buses and in the chariots of autorickshaws, overtaking me from all angles. At least I didn't have to worry about finding it, I could follow the stream of white all the way to the Ocean of Milk (see below).
I decided to skip Angkor Wat, the largest and most famous of all the temples, as being the most impressive, I thought I would save it for last. Instead I first approached Angkor Thom, crossing the moat on a large bridge manned with the heads of the past emperors of the Angkor empire all staring me down, each with a slightly different grimace. At the entrance to the central temple of Angkor Thom, known as Bayon, I met a friendly gay couple that were visiting the temples after a half marathon around them the previous day. I would end up running into them again and again.
Bayon was an impressive place to start. The bas-reliefs on its lowest level depict various wars between the Khmer people and the Chams (Chinese), a constant back and forth of roaring elephants, masses of soldiers and brahmans running up trees. The upper levels were more impressive as the emperor's head could be seen smiling wherever I looked and the temple tops towered above me.
I cycled on, heading East, and thought I would take a shortcut to the next temple. I suddenly found the path becoming more beaten and jungle like. I suddenly felt like I was in an episode of Lost, racking my brain for tips on boar tracking from John Locke. Having already been lost in Petra, I thought it better just to turn around and not waste my time. In retrospect, given the number of landmines in Cambodia left over from its several bloody wars, it was definitely a good idea.
I then started whacking out temple after temple. All very similar, they are based off either the Buddhist or Hindu temples of India, having been exported out here in the first half of the first millennium. They very much remind me of Mamllapurnam in Tamil Nadu, but much more intricate and bigger. Most were built between 10th and 12th century, shortly after those in Tamil Nadu.
One of the most impressive, but ultimately busiest, was Ta Phrom which has been overgrown by the jungle. Several trees have grown around the stone blocks carved with intricate stories and dancing Asparas, the roots pouring over walls and into the ground below, protecting but inextricably changing its structure. The second Tomb Raider was supposedly filmed here, involving a scene where Angelina Jolie picks a lotus flower before diving into a pool according to the LP guide.
At the next temple, I ran into some girls that I had very briefly met in Halong Bay on a boat tour. Though 2000km separated these two sites, it's still not that surprising to find travelers following the same path. They had joined forces with a guy that I had very briefly met on the bus from Hanoi to Hue in Vietnam. He had told them a bloated story about the bus hitting a telephone pole - I made sure the girls heard the true story that the bus had just pulled down some telephone wires and we sat and waited for an hour while the bus driver helped untangle them. It wasn't quite the drama they had been told.
I decided to stop for lunch at one of the many restaurants available along the journey. There I happened to run into the same gay couple I had met at the entrance. We ate together (I tried minced and bbq frog - the cliché rings trues - it tastes like chicken) and eventually once the rain let up, we continued on our separate ways.
More temples. More temples. And another bloody temple. I eventually found myself falling asleep in the courtyard of one. All of a sudden time had flown by and it was getting late. I wanted to make it to Angkor Wat before sundown, as I didn't really want to be cycling back in the dark. I rushed the 5km bike ride and made it there just in time.
Angkor Wat isn't as impressive as I had hoped. It is imposingly large, but does not have the wonder of the Treasury at Petra or even the Taj Mahal in Agra...hence why it only just missed out being the 7th Wonder of the World. The bas-reliefs on the lower level are however very impressive and, as a Hindu temple, depict scenes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana which I got introduced to in India.
The most interesting and as such most famous is the churning of the Ocean of Milk, the story of an epic battle between good, represented by Shiva, and evil, represented by a six headed snake and various demon gods, all in a tug of war. Shiva is in the form of a tortoise who, upon spinning, churns the Ocean of Milk to release some sort of syrup of immortality. I'm undoubtedly not doing it justice by describing it in such a lack of detail, but nonetheless it was great to see it before the light ran out. I can't say the same for the depiction of Lord Rama's battle with Lanka and his return Ayodhya represented on the last mural; the sun was too low to see it properly.
A storm was fast approaching as I left Angkor Wat, I quickened my pace and even began running as the dark clouds gathered overhead. I cycled as fast as I could, weaving in and out of the back lights of buses and tuk tuks in the dark for the 6km return to the hostel. Unfortunately I didn't beat the rain, but the rain did beat me. It was hammering down like the gods throwing a bucket of water on me from just off stage. I made it to the ticket booth where I found shelter for an hour to drain my shoes, trousers and t-shirt. I made it back to the hostel much later than I had planned, but nonetheless content that I had done it safely.
After a shower and another session of draining my clothes, I headed out for dinner. As soon as I hit the main road, I ran into the friendly gay couple again. They had already eaten, but decided to drink with me while I ate excellent Khmer bbq skewers. They had then planned to get massages, so I thought why not join them.
For $2, we sat side by side in an open courtyard just off the night market to receive a 30 minute foot, leg and shoulder massage. It certainly wasn't the best massage I have ever had, but it was excellent value and less unpredictable than my massage in Varanasi (and I like to think well earned after a hard day's cycling in the rain). The three girls giving us the massage followed a pattern that made it easy for them to follow each other, doing exactly the same technique at the same time. I must admit that I was overwhelmed with a sense of British awkwardness when all three girls worked their way up our calf muscles (safe), thighs (Danger Will Robinson), hips and crouch (not appropriate), then leaned forward resting their hands on the grooves of the lower Iliac crest. Luckily, they quickly descended back to the feet. Crisis averted.
A short night's sleep and another 12 hours of bus journey... I have now arrived in Sihanoukville. It lacks the gritty but fun flare of Siem Reap, as it is more of a relaxed seaside beach town. Tourism has rendered the locals bars, restaurants and other services exactly the same, though pricier, however. I feel myself getting bored already, though I have met two European girls with whom I am sharing a room. Some company should make this trip a little more bearable.
I'm hoping to spend the day scuba diving tomorrow and off to Phnom Penh for my final two days in Cambodia.
samedi 4 décembre 2010
Good Morning Vietnam
Apologies for the delay. I think I mentioned in my last post that Jo was arriving the next day - well she did, safely at that, and left this morning, heading back to London after traveling a good chunk of Vietnam. To summarise, the last two weeks have been a montage of traveling related ailments and mishaps, with such little time to catch my breath in between, that I only now have found the time to write this post. I will do my best to make this brief and to the point with highlights characterised as best my memory can serve.
The first two days were spent in and seeing Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam since its reunification in the late '70s. The non-touristy parts of the city has the drab greyness of a British sky, that accompanies the standard Communist architecture, especially the more recent monuments. However there is a sprinkle of European and Far-Eastern spirits here and there due to the century of French colonisation and a strong Chinese influence that comes out in the older buildings (e.g. temples, assembly halls, pagodas, etc...) due to their millennium of Vietnamese occupation. The Old Quarter is particularly charming with generally little organised street lighting, but an orchestra of coloured lights coming mostly from shops that spill out onto the streets, overhanging Chinese lanterns and the stream of motorbike headlights that are in perpetual migration.
Compared to India, it's a sanctuary where I find peace and quiet, for Jo, it was a surreal chaos of sound, light, smell....and especially shopping. We made full use of the local shops, buying trinkets galore for relatives and friends back home, DVDs of questionable origin (that after viewing a few, have a tendency to switch between Russian and English as well as having a music that is so distorted and out of tune, it could be the soundtrack to a circus horror film), a miniature guitar (to keep my skills up), etc...Jo was quickly inducted into the world of street negotiation.
On the third day we did an organised tour to a national park called Tam Coc, South-West of Hanoi where we cycled a short distance in the rain between its odd but incredible geological protrusions (similar to those of Halong Bay, Tam Coc is known as the Halong Bay on land), boated through caves, saw two Chinese influenced temples/assembly halls for consecutive Emperors, that, in a story not dissimilar to Shakeapeare's Macbeth, involved a general killing the Emperor (and all other heirs) and taking his wife.
The fourth and fifth days were spent at Halong Bay - you haven't been to Vietnam if you haven't been to Halong Bay. The same rocky protrusions, rounded and covered in tropical greenery, but rising hundreds of metres from the water, are both intimidatingly imposing, but altogether make a very serene and calm setting. The water is incredibly calm on which sits fog that melds into the sky - especially because it was a cold grey English day when we went (after being forgotten at the hostel even though we were ready on time and waiting, the weather put a damper on our two day trip). We got to see an impressive cave only recently discovered, kayak on the water, enjoy several meals and sleep all on this large dhow. Unfortunately, Vietnamese food did not seem to agree with Jo, which meant the time on the boat was spent resting and avoiding the cold, rather than enjoying all the activities. We made the most of it nonetheless.
That night we took our first overnight bus journey in Vietnam from Hanoi to Hue, the old capital of South Vietnam after it was freed from the Chinese by Nguyen Hue. Jo's bad luck managed to get a last minute ticket on the bus, as she found herself being rudely awaken by an old American hippie dressed like a fisherman who decided that the best way to get to the toilet in the middle of the night was to climb over her rather than walk around the aisles.
We spent the day in Hue enjoying the Imperial City which, though not quite worth the trip there, was still good to tick off.
The next day we were on another bus to Hoi An where we spent two full days and nights. The capital of the cloth industry, Hoi An is known for its tailored suits and dresses. I regret not having enough time to sit down, pick out a suit and have it made from scratch, especially given how cheap it is (hopefully I can in China). The city is a quaint river side town with plenty of European and Chinese charm and thus attracts a lot of tourists. However for every tourist, there is a tout; the women running the market are as relentless as the Indian autorickshaw drivers. This began to grate our irritability with the locals. Nonetheless, we found a really nice restaurant that we enjoyed so much we went back the second night.
From Hoi An, we flew to Ho Chi Minh City to avoid another overnight bus. It was especially useful given than Jo was only here for two weeks - two more nights spent on a bus would have been two nights of holiday wasted. Another serving of bad luck meant that Jo had had a cold for a few days before the flight. Apart from the perpetual runny nose, drowsiness and general feeling of illness, this badly affected her sinuses which gave her an excruciating pain upon landing. Somehow we pulled through.
After checking in to a decent, but not special hotel, we wondered down the road to see the local area and perhaps organise a tour - we were particularly interested in finding a beach trip. A fortuitous encounter with James Heller and Laura Smith, a couple we know well from College of Law (in fact, James, Jo and I are signed up to the same firm and were in the same class together). They had been traveling China and Cambodia previously and had been joined in Vietnam by Laura's parents. They were headed to Mui Ne, a beach town four hours away, the next day. As such, we leaped at the opportunity - not only could we get to a beach and get back in time, but we could join our friends too.
Mui Ne was a sleepy resort town with a lot less traffic. We found a nice hotel with bungalows amidst a mini jungle and a buffet breakfast to feed an army. The next day, the sun shone brightly enough to break through the clouds and sunburn those not wearing any sunscreen (I learned my lesson in Goa). Jo's only piece of fortuitous genetic inheritance is her ability to turn any burn into suntan, so though red as lobster on day 1, she was golden brown by the time she got on her flight this morning. We rented scooters for an afternoon and wizzed around town to see the neighbouring fishing village and sunset behind it; Jo drove because my lack of coordination and sudden jerky movements aren't made for the delicate wrist action required for accelerating a scooter carefully and avoiding oncoming traffic. She really enjoyed it, so that worked out really well. That night I ate a small garlic baked shark, it was incredibly delicious. And on our last morning we went to see the sand dunes where we had a stalled attempt at sandboarding...or sandsledging to be more precise.
Overall Mui Ne was a great sunny end to our two week tumultuous cruise through Vietnam and for that, I thank James, Laura and her parents, who were gracious enough to invite us along, but above all else were great company.
Jo left this morning and I made a day trip to learn more about what we call the Vietnam war, but they call the American war, understandably. I first went to the Cu Chi tunnels, an hour and a half outside of Saigon (the old name of HCMC and also name of the inner part of HCMC), it was slightly shocking to see how the Viet Cong (the South Vietnamese Communists who were fighting the other South Vietnamese, Americans and other forces) laid gruesome booby-traps of rotating floors revealing bamboo spikes on which the victim would be impailed....especially since the background of the display had painted pictures of Americans stuck in the traps, bleeding and presumably screaming. Unphased by this, the remnants of an American tank or the crater left by a B52 bomber, most of the younger crowd felt the need to try the AK47s and M16s available at the on site shooting range. Now I realise my righteous indignation has a tendency to obviate fun, but I'm surprised that tourists would shamelessly fire the same guns that killed the people who died on that very spot (it's like joyriding a tank through the Somme). It's disgraceful that embracing open markets means allowing the locals and tourists to shame their own ancestry in what they believe to be a harmless mutually beneficial trade.
The tunnels nonetheless were scary. To think people lived and moved around down there is a testament to their will for survival.
Later in the day I was dropped off at the War Remnants Museum, a harrowing and obviously very biased account of the French Indochina war and American war. The pictures of the effects of Agent Orange (a chemical used to kill forestry, but had grave consequences for all life forms for generations to come) are too gruesome for even me to describe.
Overall it was a great holiday and I think, regardless of the stream of almost infinite bad luck Jo has while traveling, she still enjoyed the major sites...and especially shopping and beach. Above all else, I'm amazed at the resilience of my immune system. Not only did not get ill once in India, I didn't catch anything from Jo even though she had every ailment under the sun one after the other.
Tomorrow I take a 12 hour bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia...on with the journey.
The first two days were spent in and seeing Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam since its reunification in the late '70s. The non-touristy parts of the city has the drab greyness of a British sky, that accompanies the standard Communist architecture, especially the more recent monuments. However there is a sprinkle of European and Far-Eastern spirits here and there due to the century of French colonisation and a strong Chinese influence that comes out in the older buildings (e.g. temples, assembly halls, pagodas, etc...) due to their millennium of Vietnamese occupation. The Old Quarter is particularly charming with generally little organised street lighting, but an orchestra of coloured lights coming mostly from shops that spill out onto the streets, overhanging Chinese lanterns and the stream of motorbike headlights that are in perpetual migration.
Compared to India, it's a sanctuary where I find peace and quiet, for Jo, it was a surreal chaos of sound, light, smell....and especially shopping. We made full use of the local shops, buying trinkets galore for relatives and friends back home, DVDs of questionable origin (that after viewing a few, have a tendency to switch between Russian and English as well as having a music that is so distorted and out of tune, it could be the soundtrack to a circus horror film), a miniature guitar (to keep my skills up), etc...Jo was quickly inducted into the world of street negotiation.
On the third day we did an organised tour to a national park called Tam Coc, South-West of Hanoi where we cycled a short distance in the rain between its odd but incredible geological protrusions (similar to those of Halong Bay, Tam Coc is known as the Halong Bay on land), boated through caves, saw two Chinese influenced temples/assembly halls for consecutive Emperors, that, in a story not dissimilar to Shakeapeare's Macbeth, involved a general killing the Emperor (and all other heirs) and taking his wife.
The fourth and fifth days were spent at Halong Bay - you haven't been to Vietnam if you haven't been to Halong Bay. The same rocky protrusions, rounded and covered in tropical greenery, but rising hundreds of metres from the water, are both intimidatingly imposing, but altogether make a very serene and calm setting. The water is incredibly calm on which sits fog that melds into the sky - especially because it was a cold grey English day when we went (after being forgotten at the hostel even though we were ready on time and waiting, the weather put a damper on our two day trip). We got to see an impressive cave only recently discovered, kayak on the water, enjoy several meals and sleep all on this large dhow. Unfortunately, Vietnamese food did not seem to agree with Jo, which meant the time on the boat was spent resting and avoiding the cold, rather than enjoying all the activities. We made the most of it nonetheless.
That night we took our first overnight bus journey in Vietnam from Hanoi to Hue, the old capital of South Vietnam after it was freed from the Chinese by Nguyen Hue. Jo's bad luck managed to get a last minute ticket on the bus, as she found herself being rudely awaken by an old American hippie dressed like a fisherman who decided that the best way to get to the toilet in the middle of the night was to climb over her rather than walk around the aisles.
We spent the day in Hue enjoying the Imperial City which, though not quite worth the trip there, was still good to tick off.
The next day we were on another bus to Hoi An where we spent two full days and nights. The capital of the cloth industry, Hoi An is known for its tailored suits and dresses. I regret not having enough time to sit down, pick out a suit and have it made from scratch, especially given how cheap it is (hopefully I can in China). The city is a quaint river side town with plenty of European and Chinese charm and thus attracts a lot of tourists. However for every tourist, there is a tout; the women running the market are as relentless as the Indian autorickshaw drivers. This began to grate our irritability with the locals. Nonetheless, we found a really nice restaurant that we enjoyed so much we went back the second night.
From Hoi An, we flew to Ho Chi Minh City to avoid another overnight bus. It was especially useful given than Jo was only here for two weeks - two more nights spent on a bus would have been two nights of holiday wasted. Another serving of bad luck meant that Jo had had a cold for a few days before the flight. Apart from the perpetual runny nose, drowsiness and general feeling of illness, this badly affected her sinuses which gave her an excruciating pain upon landing. Somehow we pulled through.
After checking in to a decent, but not special hotel, we wondered down the road to see the local area and perhaps organise a tour - we were particularly interested in finding a beach trip. A fortuitous encounter with James Heller and Laura Smith, a couple we know well from College of Law (in fact, James, Jo and I are signed up to the same firm and were in the same class together). They had been traveling China and Cambodia previously and had been joined in Vietnam by Laura's parents. They were headed to Mui Ne, a beach town four hours away, the next day. As such, we leaped at the opportunity - not only could we get to a beach and get back in time, but we could join our friends too.
Mui Ne was a sleepy resort town with a lot less traffic. We found a nice hotel with bungalows amidst a mini jungle and a buffet breakfast to feed an army. The next day, the sun shone brightly enough to break through the clouds and sunburn those not wearing any sunscreen (I learned my lesson in Goa). Jo's only piece of fortuitous genetic inheritance is her ability to turn any burn into suntan, so though red as lobster on day 1, she was golden brown by the time she got on her flight this morning. We rented scooters for an afternoon and wizzed around town to see the neighbouring fishing village and sunset behind it; Jo drove because my lack of coordination and sudden jerky movements aren't made for the delicate wrist action required for accelerating a scooter carefully and avoiding oncoming traffic. She really enjoyed it, so that worked out really well. That night I ate a small garlic baked shark, it was incredibly delicious. And on our last morning we went to see the sand dunes where we had a stalled attempt at sandboarding...or sandsledging to be more precise.
Overall Mui Ne was a great sunny end to our two week tumultuous cruise through Vietnam and for that, I thank James, Laura and her parents, who were gracious enough to invite us along, but above all else were great company.
Jo left this morning and I made a day trip to learn more about what we call the Vietnam war, but they call the American war, understandably. I first went to the Cu Chi tunnels, an hour and a half outside of Saigon (the old name of HCMC and also name of the inner part of HCMC), it was slightly shocking to see how the Viet Cong (the South Vietnamese Communists who were fighting the other South Vietnamese, Americans and other forces) laid gruesome booby-traps of rotating floors revealing bamboo spikes on which the victim would be impailed....especially since the background of the display had painted pictures of Americans stuck in the traps, bleeding and presumably screaming. Unphased by this, the remnants of an American tank or the crater left by a B52 bomber, most of the younger crowd felt the need to try the AK47s and M16s available at the on site shooting range. Now I realise my righteous indignation has a tendency to obviate fun, but I'm surprised that tourists would shamelessly fire the same guns that killed the people who died on that very spot (it's like joyriding a tank through the Somme). It's disgraceful that embracing open markets means allowing the locals and tourists to shame their own ancestry in what they believe to be a harmless mutually beneficial trade.
The tunnels nonetheless were scary. To think people lived and moved around down there is a testament to their will for survival.
Later in the day I was dropped off at the War Remnants Museum, a harrowing and obviously very biased account of the French Indochina war and American war. The pictures of the effects of Agent Orange (a chemical used to kill forestry, but had grave consequences for all life forms for generations to come) are too gruesome for even me to describe.
Overall it was a great holiday and I think, regardless of the stream of almost infinite bad luck Jo has while traveling, she still enjoyed the major sites...and especially shopping and beach. Above all else, I'm amazed at the resilience of my immune system. Not only did not get ill once in India, I didn't catch anything from Jo even though she had every ailment under the sun one after the other.
Tomorrow I take a 12 hour bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia...on with the journey.
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