12 hours of busses!
vwhiz.com/blog - its always an adventure
somewhere near here:
did this
saw these
8am, and all go
Been up on and off since 5:40, while hearing a loud american man
shouting next door to his Thai girlfreind! Apararntley he did not want
her to leave.
That and a late night fiddelling with my laptop and I feel a littlle
too wrecked for the run I had planned to the next beach in search of
lodgings that aren't so 1 expensive and 2 where my balcony is my own.
About 10:30 I then need to find the travel company which I stumbled
upon yesterday for my day on a long boat, visiting amongst over places
the location for the movie "the beach", it's what I wanted to see here
in Thailand, afterwards maybe it will be straight back to Bangkok to
meet Keely whose monkey sanctuary has gone a bit pairshaped.
I was discussing yesterday with Ali that it's not the same going on
holiday than it is to travel here, a day sunbathing sounds great if
you've been in an office for months, but the prospect of a day on the
beach burning, throwing money away on booze and ice creams then
returning to a toasty room or hut where all there's to do is wallow in
the heat and potentially change tshirt and drink.
Moan moan moan
Philip at Koh Phi Phi
Whats this?
Update and competition time.
Well im in Koh Phi Phi, I was meaning to edit all of the Myanmar entries, but now it just seems a waste of time. Well as I have a rant and Bangkok to update on.
In the mean time, do you know what this is?
April 25, 2009
Oreo and banana milk shake
Served with a smile! First treat of day… The drink
It's 5:30pm, 40 degrees and I'm having dinner quickly before I take a
bus to Koh Phi Phi, 12 hours overnight.
Hmm another smile from a different waitress some sort of conspiracy!
Time to dash I think
Xoxo
April 21, 2009
Myanmar
So it will be sad to leave this wonderful country, it has rocked the
boat completely, it was what we needed and wanted. A country unspoilt
by tourism, friendly people, resonable amounts of risk and ample
crazyness. This place has so much potential, but I do not want to sell
it too much because the beauty of this place is that it’s like it is
now.
Some may shoot us down for not adhering to the boycott, we can claim
lack of knowledge and ignorance as our excuse! We certainly must find
out more on this subject. And we all would like to come back, say hi
to our freindly hoteliers and restauranteers! And Ma Sue from the
Queen Inn LOL
April 20, 2009
Penultimate Day Inley Lake
So after my active morning yesterday things were rather sedate, we
went to an internet cafe and I left because I was driven mad by a loop
of rap music played over and over through some tinny headphones!
In the evening we were joined by three new people, from
Australia one of them was quite nice to talk too, I didn't really talk
to the couple. As ever the lady who runs the place who we refer to as
'Mother' asks everyone if their food was delicious? Not if it was ok?
Or good? Or how we found it! Just "delicious?" and yes it was!
This morning we were up at 5:50! We had breakfast and said goodbye to
our adopted german parents!
And by 6:30 we were on a long boat chugging towards the lake! About an
hour later we were zipping up narrow waterways, defined by floating
gardens of luscious green tomatoe plants. (I am reading a new book at
the moment it's very descriptive! Michael Days 'Slide' ), we passed
locals on their canoes and watched them rise and fall in the distance
on the wake from our boat, churning up the weed, orange mud and
polluting the calm morning silence with the awefull sound of a noisy
engine!
Getting closer to our first stop we saw many people looking at us and
making hand gestures, the universal STOP signal accompanied by a
torrent of Burmese directed at our obviosuly quite dippy driver who
was running us up a drying up canal bed!
We sat in a murky pool of mud, weed and most likely a whole towns
excrement (saying that, we didn't see any! It's an assumption, the
lake seems very clean and thriving) … We weren't going anywhere! So
the already greasy driver had to get out into the mud and try shift
us! Meanwhile all three of us were trying to rock the boat from side
to side in unison without ourselves falling in, to dislodge our selves
from the mud bank. While all this was going on an audience arrived and
some smiled, others waved but the majority just looked on in amazement
at the stupidity of our driver who they had obviously warned!
After getting onto the safety of marshy not quite dry but certainly
present land we proceeded to the road! We were just past the spa!
Where I'd have ended up yesterday if I hadnt have turned around.
We got to the spa which was a hive of activity even for being so
early in the day, a 10 strong workforce attending to the garden
grounds and permieter of the adjacent hotel.
We purchased our ticket after pondering our money situation? Where we
to use dollars or the local currency kyat! If we use Kyat it would
cost 6000 (about 6.5+ usd or more) if we use dollars it would be 5
Dollars. If we use dollars we certainly won't return home with them.
And if we use kyat it's more expensive!
Anyway after paying our money in a missmatch of currencies we
proceeded to the tourist spa area, we were given a tour of the whole
place prior to this but we decided that it would be best to avoid the
dark murky waters of the segregated male and female public swimming
pools, when I say swimming pool it was more the size and cleanliness
of a sheep dip.
Arriving at the tourist area we were greeted by three standard
swimming pool blue pools, two of which were full, one being refilled.
On my left the hottest of the pools contained what looked like a whole
hotels worth of dirty damp laundry! This was not the deep blue hot
early morning bath we were hoping for.
We proceeded to drop our undies and squeeze our ripened and slightly
patchy tanned selves into bikinis and speedos respectively, a couple
of us have been enjoying the food here a bit too much, and have been
caught by the increased photosensitivity side effect of our
antimalarials!
After a soak in the sulphury waters we left! Back on the path to our
mud covered driver who was waiting for us and chatting to a fellow
boat driver.
We then sat on the boat for what seemed like hours, not even going
that fast. It was our belief that the driver was trying to save
petrol. The only entertainment we found was the usuall for boat trips
I think here, well any form of transport. Hours can be wasted waving
and smiling at Monks, Children, old ladies, old men, fishermen,
farmers as well as fellow tourists, it seems a popular past time!
We then visited a Market around a pagoda, it was hardly inspiring
although there are some interesting shaped aubergines here, about 10
inches long and a lighter purple, more cylindrical too!
After a trip we had lunch at the View Point hotel, slightly deer by
local standards but amazing food and a very good green tomatoe, peanut
and mint salad.
Then we went online! So slow ;( wanted to send ma and pa emails…
None there from them tho grrrr
Xoxoi
—————————
Philip Anderson
"it's always an adventure"
http://vwhiz.com/blog