Holiday in Thailand pt2

Today has been short but productive

I started by getting a tuktuk back to the tailors to get any required adjustments made to my suits and organise getting them shipped back home. The tuktuk driver charged me 60baht for 7 minutes driving and place me some distance away from the tailors before directing me the wrong way down the street and driving off.

Fortunately at this point my luck changed and I bumped into a man who turned out to be the manager of the tailors I was going to. We headed to the shop and he asked me about my time in Thailand before taking me up to his office and the fitting rooms. I was shocked to find the trousers and shirts already complete (with no need for adjustments). He explained that they had a factory outside of Bangkok employing about 10,000 people!!!!. Normally they did large orders that were sent to Italy where the labels are added. The label usually says something like Armani or Versace and at this point the price goes up by 500%. They don't normally sell to the public at the price I got (the price Armani pay) I had caught the last 90 minutes of an annual 1 week promotion.

After we had taken care of business he suggested I went for a cruise on the Chao Praya (The main river in Bangkok). I agreed and he left his shop to take me by taxi. I felt guilty that he even paid for the taxi until I remembered how much I just paid him for the suits.

The cruise was on a traditional longtail boat with the tiller, engine, shaft and propeller all connected in a long line on a single 2 axis bearing. This means the guy driving can just point the propeller any direction he wants as deep below the water as he wants and just twist the throttle. They work quite well. The boat went down lots of little side channels lined with quaint ramshackle houses on stilts. It was nice to get away from the bustle and fumes of the city and breathe fresher air for a while. All I had to do was sit in the boat and take pictures of whatever I wanted, fine by me.

After a while my driver stopped by a house. I looked up and saw a little old man with a long pole on the end of which was a yellow plastic bucket full of bread. He told me "20Baht to feed the fish". I looked down and the boat was surrounded by big fish. It looked like fun so I shoved 20Baht in the bucket and grabbed a loaf. I tore off a chunk and lowered it into the water. The fish went mental! I got drenched as they tore the bread out of my hands. However it was fun. and we got pictures. before carrying on.

The next stop was next to a little old lady bobbing up and down in the middle of the river in boat filled with souvenirs. I bought a small wooden Buddha, a small wooden frog that makes a noise that is not unlike croaking when you rub it's back with the stick it has kept in it's mouth and a bottle of beer each for me and my driver out of an ice box she kept next to her. It suddenly dawned on me that fish, bucket guy and souvenir boat lady were waiting for us and all the other longtail boats running tourists up and down the river and the drivers knew this. Nice arrangement.

After that I walked through the city and got lightly ripped off by a little old lady. Without asking me she grabbed my hand and filled it with bird seed repeatedly telling me it was "All OK". I then got mobbed by pidgeons wile she told me I owed her 300Baht. Damn!!!

Finally I managed to get back to the hotel before today's instalment of the monsoon showed up.

Tomorrow I hope to see the Golden Mount, The Jade Buddha and maybe the Koh San Road. In the evening I catch the overnight train to Surat Thani and then the ferry to Koh Samui. White sandy beaches, blue seas, palm trees and large drinks served in coconut shells here I come.

Holiday in Thailand pt1

I arrived in Thailand yesterday and was hit by an immediate culture shock. Even in the cities Cambodia is pretty quiet. Bangkok is a vast bustling metropolis by comparison. The traffic is chaotic and full of mor large cars, buses and huge 4x4's.

Today I headed out and hired a tuktuk for 60Baht an hour to take in some of the sights. The Cambodian tuktuk is a calm, sedate and civilised affair. Almost like taking a cruise. The Bangkok tuktuk is painted in bright colours, has a set of rear indicators and brake lights inside in front of the passengers face and they go at brakeneck speeds with the engine going at about 5 billion rpm. The effect is like riding pillion on a funfair ride.

At one of the temples I paid for a guide who spent about half an hour taking me round the temple of Wat Benchamobophit. Unfortunatly he was almost incomprehensible except for his repeated stories of how he used to be a kickboxer in his youth.

I also (after recieving the advice of several people) went to an export tailors where I got measured up for a couple of suits at a ludicrously low price. As I am going to a wedding soon and needed a new suitit seemed like a good idea. I am part happy and part regretting it oh well.

Here is Thailands largest sitting Buddha It is very large and covered in 24c gold leaf

Holiday in Cambodia pt3

Unfortunately my time in Cambodia is drawing to a close. I just checked out of my hotel and am now sitting in the bar spending a couple of hours relaxing before a car arrive to take me to the airport.

Cambodia is an amazing place and I would recommend it to anyone. It is true that it is still recovering from it's tragic history and there is incredible poverty. However there amazing sights and the people are very warm and friendly. The temples of Angkor are vast and breathtaking. A couple of stats I picked up while I was here.

• An estimated 40,000 elephants were used during the construction of the temples.
• The Angkor Wat has an estimated mas of approximately 3,600,000,000 tonnes

The best advice I can give to anyone visiting the temples is not to take money or at least to claim you have no money. If the locals selling souvenirs see you buy anything they will swarm on you like piranha. They refuse to take no for an answer, will rip you off if possible and will try to sell you something even if you bought something off them 5 seconds before. The best place I found for tourist shopping looking for unusual gifts is the night market at Siem Reap. Less pressure, lots of variety and much fairer prices.

Unfortunately I managed to sprain my ankle while trekking back from Kbal Spean yesterday but it is already feeling better.

In a little over an hour my Car arrives to take me to the air port and then it's on to the excitement and bustle of Bangkok

I will blog again after looking around

Here is picture of me at the Angkor Wat

Holiday in Cambodia pt2

I just visited Bantay Srie and Pre Rup, two beautiful and magnificent temples in the Angkor built in a time when the people in the region were mainly Hindu. The temples contain many images of Brahma, Vishnu and even Kali. There are also monkeys and elephants. Since getting to Cambodia I have taken over 300 pics and that is just the start. Expect a major Flickr update when I return.

The journey out was an 1.5 hours by Tuk tuk as Bantay Srie is one of the most remote of the temples. The tuk tuk is an open carriage with a canopy pulled by a moped. It is the most relaxing a civilised way to travel I have ever experienced especially when your driver hands you a wet flannel and bottle of water from the ice box he has stashed under the front seat. I sat and watched the Cambodian countryside roll past enduring a light shower to be replaced by brilliant sunshine by the time I arrived at the temple. The countryside consisted mainly of palm trees and rice paddies. There are also lots of children holding bits of string with a water buffalo on the other end. The buffalo seem to just stand around grazing and regularly adding to the richness of the soil ;-)

The homes are mostly single room open wood and palm leaf structures on stilts with the occasional 2 story marble and glass 4 bedroom house to make you question exactly how the local economy works.

The roads are pretty good quality as Siem Reap probably draws more money than anywhere else in Cambodia from tourism. Angkor is one of the greatest sights in the world and there is a constant flow of tourists even in the rainy season. The only hazards are tourist coaches coming up behind you hitting their horn to remind you that they are bigger and faster and water buffaloes that have a lot of mass and no road sense.

When you arrive at any of the temple you are immediately surround by kids as young as four all trying to sell you second hand guide books (some are to other countries!!!), CD's of local music, T-shirts, silks, DVD's. They start by being very sweet but after about 30 seconds become very very irritating. They all ask you where you are from and when you say England they greet you with cries of 'Lovely Jubbly'. This time I went to a stall and bought two silk scarves (not for me). I tried haggling and we eventually agreed on a price. I handed over the money and heard a mass groan from behind me which I immediately knew meant 'look at how much over the usual price the stupid westerner paid'. I am such a sucker must try harder but to westerners the haggling thing is a bit alien and these guys are good.

I have decide to try taking no money but giving out pens instead. The children all go to school and need these things and it will help feel a bit less guilty about not buying another guide book I don't need (I have 4 now).

I am heading out in about an hour to do a tour of the grand circuit ending with sunset at the top of Preah Pithu Temple.

Despite the many problems faced by Cambodia it's people are warm and friendly and the scenery is beautiful.

Here is a tiny taste of the pictures taken today: -

Holiday in Cambodia pt1

Anyone following this blog will realise I haven't posted anything for a very long time. Many people would apologise but I will simple explain. I haven't had anything interesting to say.

That has changed because I have just started a 3 week holiday in Cambodia and Thailand.

Yesterday was my second day in Phnom Penh. Cambodia is a country of opposites. The friendliness of the people against the misery they endured during the Khmer Rouge era. The wealth of the palaces against the heartbreaking poverty on the streets. It is also deceptively expensive unless you can say no to the beggars. Giving $1 to a small child or maimed survivor of Pol Pot's nightmare is a way of signalling every beggar within half a mile to swarm on you and you walk away $40 poorer and if you lucky in possession of stuff you didn't even want. It is strange that I experienced this very thing outside the palace grounds where one of the buildings has a floor made of 5.3 tonnes of silver. They have obviously realised I am an easy target.

I also visited S-21 and Choeng Ek

S-21 started as a high school and was converted into the most notorious prison in the Pol Pot era. Presided over by a man known simply as 'Dutch' S-21 saw as many as 20,000 people die inside its walls. Torture methods included beatings, waterboarding, snake bites, scorpion stings, pliers, submerging in filthy water and hanging from a gallows made from the schools original rope climbing frame. The ordinary prisoners were placed in cells built inside the classrooms (1 room converted to 11 cells 2-3'x5' and a corridor). VIP prisoners had larger cells where they were shackled to an iron bedstead with a metal box and a plastic bottle for toilet arrangements and allowed to starve to death. Babies were simply dropped down a well at the back. Visitors to S-21 are welcome and I was taken round by a woman in 50's who told me about the things that happened. She also told me she lost her child and husband there. Photography is allowed but there are signs saying that smiling and laughter are not allowed out of respect for the dead. They are not necessary.


Anyone who hadn't been killed, starved to death, or committed suicide was taken to one of the killing fields (of which Choeng Ek is the most famous) where they would be executed (digging their own graves first if required). Methods of execution included having their throats slit, decapitation and gunshot to the head. Babies were swung repeatedly against the nearest tree and then dropped into one of the mass graves. The reason the Khmer Rouge killed babies is simple, they didn't want them growing up and seeking revenge.

There is a path at the back of Choeng Ek that twists backwards and forwards between deep pits. I walked down this path with my Tuktuk driver and guide Visal who lost his entire family to the Khmer Rouge. He explained that each of the many pits surrounding us was an excavated mass grave some held over 400 bodies. There are even signs saying 'Please don't walk through the mass graves' they are almost comical at first. I listened him talk as he tried to hold back the tears, suddenly he put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. I looked down and realised that even though I was sticking to the path I was about to trip on a human bone (possibly a femur) sticking out of the mud. Cambodia has a lot of rain and bones are still being uncovered by the elements. next it was some partly uncovered baby clothes

In the centre of Choeng ek is a stupa (The Buddhist version of a mausoleum). It is a beautiful tower of white marble with glass on each side you can go inside as long as you go barefoot. The centre of the stupa contains many glass shelves full of thousands of skulls, jawbones and babies clothes dug up from the graves. For a dollar you can buy a flower and some incense to place outside. I bought the flower and the incense removed my shoes and socks and knelt barefoot in front of the stupa. I placed the flower in the vase and the incense in the pot of sand with those already placed by other visitors, closed my eyes and tried to think of a suitable prayer (a tricky task for an atheist). My first thought was to pray that the people responsible all suffer for what they did. My second thought was simply to pray that it never happens again. I feel both prayers were pointless. for there first prayer ther could never be enough suffering to make up these crimes and for the second prayer it similar events are still happening around the world.


Today I leave for Siem Reap. I am sure the treasured temples of the Angkor will be uplifting and wonderful (expect a more optimistic blog entry next time). I have dreamed of seeing them for years and I am not sure I brought enough memory cards.

Graffiti

Graffiti is something that I have mixed feelings about. Usually it is just ugly tags that make an place look depressing. However occasionally you see something that just makes you smile. Here are a few I have seen recently: -

• Anything can't happen in the next half hour (written on the back of a seat on a train I was commuting to work on)
• Go on take a sickie (Written across the bridge at Milton Keynes station)
• Life is not about the number of breaths you take but on the number of moments that take you breath away (Written on a bicycle chained to railings in London)
• London Midland trains suck (Written on another train seat (not witty but very accurate))

And my all time favourite written in huge letter across an entire cliff in New Zealand "Chutney, Fuck Yeah".