Bangkok - homeward bound

Well, That's about it. Catching a flight at 7:25 this evening.

Just a few notes though.

Everyone should do this kind of trip.

Not necessarily back-packing. But a trip where you ditch the group tours.

To hell with tour buses and guides with microphones.

Make a plan that leaves room for scrapping 'the' plan.

Take a detour whenever you feel like it.

Experience the local public transport.

Make "getting lost" a part of your itinerary.

Meet new friends from all over the world practically everyday.

Become an ambassador for your country.

Learn swear words in 10 foreign languages.

Learn the word "Cheers" in 10 more.

Taste food whose last rites haven't been said as yet.

Get your self invited to a local's house.

Come back with stories to tell your grand kids.

I've not made it sound exciting. It just is.

Going back home now.

Cambodia - Ban Lung

Wow.

It's so different from anything else I've seen. And I love it.It' s like something out of an Enid Blighton book.

Children run out of their houses screaming HELLO.

When you say Hi back, they scream Hello even louder.

Absolutely everyone smiles.

The hills are green. The whisky nasty. And nothing here is made to order-.

Let me explain.

Ban Lung in the Ratankiri province.

The road to ban lung from Ratankiri is described as the bastard child of the devil himself. 6 hours of up, down, up, down, swerve, ... and repeat that for a couple of hours. I fortunately got there in 6 hours. Other backpackers I met took 24 hours to get there. Their bus broke down 3 times.

Enough about the roads. Or that road at least.

The first day I teamed up with a Danish guy called Mikel and visited the 7 step waterfall. The road to the waterfall is only called a road because the trees have been cleared from that path.It is the worst road I have ever been on. And if they ever pave it, the place will LOSE it's charm.By the end of the 1 hour journey you're covered with red mud from head to toe. Like orange smurfs.Both sides of the road are lines with the greenest rubber trees I've ever seen. And of course, kids jumping out of their huts screaming HELLO.

I did think the 7 step waterfall was amazing. Till I saw 2 more waterfalls the next day.These places are only seen in movies and nowhere else.Think of this hollow gorge, huge rocks and trees all around, with a waterfall on one side. You can get behind the waterfall into a cave. Or swing from vines - Tarzan Style and jump into the water.

The two similar ones are Ka Tien and Ka Chang. All of them sound like cash registers don't they? (kaching kaching).

After that the lake. Oh the lake. How do I describe this one. It's supposed t be a meteor lake. And is almost perfectly round - again surrounded by trees.I hooked up with a nice bunch from the hotel to go to the water falls and the lake.

Found a nice tree that bends over the deep end. Climbed up to around 15 feet. And Splash.

Trust me, when you're up there, it's scares the hell out of you. And you can't tell people the water dripping from your pants is the water from the lake. Because you haven't jumped in as yet.

But it's absolutely amazing. The water is clean, cool and can see through the water for about 6-7 feet.

Can't get enough of this place.

And the evenings are as much fun.

Justin - the Cambodian born Australian boy

Scot - The spaced out American from California.

Janine - the Dutch girl who like potatoes

Sandra - the German who claimed she was a vegetarian (animal cruelty was her reason) - but wore leather shoes.

And Dominic - The British chap who would close his eyes and recite poems after a couple of drinks.

The locals drinks which mess with you.I tried a questionable one called Tiger whiskey. Ooooh fire!

Ban lung has so far been my favourite place.Right now i'm back at Kratie.But all that later.

Cambodia - Day 1

Hit siagon by 6:30 in the morning, and had to rome the streets till 11:00 which is when I had to catch my bus.

With no public restroomsin sight I had a serious problem on my hands. And in other places.

All the locals in Saigon thought i was smiling, and politely smiled back.

I wan't smiling.

I was straining.

1 hour of walking the streets and alas! A public restroom. It's not easy, but the job had to be done.

The bus trip wasn't all that bad. 4$ extra, and the Cambodian visa comes to you in hand. No mucking about with officials.

Just some getting on and off the bus at the border.

So, what can I say about Cambodia.

First impression is a that it's little over whelming.

Children with arms lost greet you at the ferry leading to the city.

Poverty is humbling here.

I made my way to the lake side to find a place to stay. Not such a good idea. Almost everything is full. Found a place for 5$ which is a 10 ft x 10 ft room. If not smaller.

The bathroom is a commode with no lid. And if you want to have a bath, you've got to dance around a bit. Like doing a mexican hat dance around the commode.

I'm gonna be so graceful when i get back to India.

But the lobby is great. lake side view, a pool table in the centre and a wide sony flat screen with dvd movies constantly playing.A small hite dog runs around with a plastic bottle in his mouth. If you don't throw it, he gets a bit pissed off. An hour later he has a lady's handbag which he proudly displays to everybody.

I wish I could upload some pics, but the connections are a bit slow here. It'll take forever to put them up.

Will let you know how tomorrow turns out.

Whether you want to know or not.

jonathan

Vietnam - Nha Trang Diving

Diving is amazing. And inexpensive - ish. (45 $ for two dives)

Briefing

Getting briefed by a vietnamese guy is not good.

Phang is a sweet guy who we can't understand. He kept saying you need to SWINKALIE. And I kept asking my diving mates what the hell he was saying, because you can't escape the briefing if it's your first time. But nobody bloody knew.

A french dude clarified.

Equalise! Aaaaah.

Going down isn't easy. You have to breathe only through your mouth, and the first 2 minutes is a little overwhelming. Because he left me 7 metres down on the ocean floor and went back up to get my other 2 diving buddies.

I'm thinking - "okay... I want out. I want out. I want out. Hey... look at the pretty yellow fishy."

And then it's all good.

He doesn't hold on to you and if you're comfortable, you swim around the reef.

The underwater signs though are a little confusing.

A thumbs up means I want to go up.

A thumbs down means I want to go down.

And three fingers up with your thumb and index finger making a circle means - everything's okay.

So you're 20 feet down and he asks "everything okay?" in sign. And I say thumbs up! You know.. it's great... and he starts to take me on top.

So he's pushing the button(air valve) that takes me on top .

I'm pushing the one that takes me down, and we doing our own little jive in the ocean. Who says I can't dance?

But the corals and the fish you see down there are amazing.

I can't imagine that it's as good as Thailand, but it's still good. Another dive later and we were heading home.

That's when the Canadians, Mark and his cousin, invited us to their hotel to use their pool.

So me and this Chilean friend - Fernanda are paying 4$ per night for our rooms.

The Candians Ryan and Mark and paying 135$.

We just got scared that if we walk through the hotel entrance the doors would starts beeping, sirens going off "Poor people alert, poor people alert"

Anyway, we use their pool and then made them feel bad about staying there.

Today their shifting out.

Caught my 10 hours bus ride to Saigon in the evening. My next bus to Cambodia is at 11:00.

Wish me luck.

Vietnam Ninh Binh.

Landed up at a hotel called the mini queen.

For 5 dollars you get a room with 2 beds, fans,hot water,and cable where you can watch OC and friends in vietnamese. The Owner - Luong is extremely sweet and helpful. But I don't like the way he and his family rub my tummy when their talking to me.

"Yeah, this is the second coming of Buddha right here. Let's rub his stomach and make some money."

Tried the street food today. The girls were fascinated by my struggle and helped me out. Even taught me to speak a bit of vietnamese. Guess no one can escape the charm eh?

8:30 in the morning, me and this girl from Australia - Sally got on to Xe Oms (motorcycle taxis) that take you around the place for the day.

Ninh Binh is gorgeous.

First stop - a road side market. Walked around while the locals kept pointing to my beard and laughing.I'm getting used to this. Sally was having a tough time too. This really old man kept close to her with a big smile that wouldn't disappear.

Really big smile.

And he was really old.

His smile said it all. - "You me - Ping Pong - All night long"

The first river cruise is on a diesel boat that takes you to a drop off point where you can trek to a cave. No great shakes.Met Michael and elly here too (Australians from the same hotel).

Ozzies Ozzies everywhere.

The second one is on a narrow river surrounded on both sides by huge limestone rock. Two Vietnamese women row you around for about 2 hours through the river and into caves between the rocks. Breathtaking.

I can write about it, but I promise you, I'll never do justice to it. And the photos will just give you an inkling.

The evening at the hotel was a blast. 4 Aussies, an old French couple who were part of the Goan hippie culture in the 70's and the little Indian boy. Couple that with some local beer and vodka and you're not shpeaking sho well after that.

Even though I checked out in the morning, Loung gave me a bathroom to shower and freshen up. He has my permission to rub me tummy ANYTIME.

Caught a bus to Hue at 9:30.

Just my luck. It's a Vietnamese video coach. And this ride is 12 hours.

...... to be continued.

Vietnam - Halong Bay

Halong Bay.

Very pretty.

You have to take a bus into Halong city, and then a boat to tour the bay. Hundreds of rocks jut out from the ocean like mammoth chess pieces. All you Lord of the Ring lovers...this place is like something out of a movie.

You stop over at some of them to check out the lime stone caves. Surreal formations in each of them. And the guides have a legend for everything.

The boat trip was a great opportunity to unleash the Indian goatee boy to the united nations.My favourite was Raphael from Spain. Raphael tells me he is a Yoga instructor whose sanskrit name means Warrior of Death!

Another guy from Holland (can't remember his name) kept finding excuses to curse me.

Holl: "You're not staying on the boat with us?"

Jon "No"

Holl: Bastard. Anyways... there's a guitar there.. play something.

Jon: " I don't play to well"

Holl: Bastard.

Sweet guy.

Anyway, here comes the good part. Didn't sleep on the boat because I wanted to check out Cat Ba Island. The only only inhabited places amongst all those big rocks.

So I get there only by 6:00. And it's getting dark soon. So I walk to this beach which my Lonely Planet guide says you can get cheap accommodation.

I managed to rent a tent. Great.

Right on the beach. Brilliant!

At night all you can see are the silhouettes of huge limestones in the ocean and the stars above. Spectacular.

Everybody suddenly goes home leaving you on the beach alone. Bloody scary. It might sound amazing. But trust me, it's pee-in-your-pants scary when you don't have any company.

This is a beach surround by rock on all sides... one of which has a gangway to takes you around to the mainland.

So you're in your tent.. Trying to sleep. And you're thinking... the Ninjas will come down the mountain and steal my money.

On that boat there... the ninjas on it will swim here and take my money.

Maybe they'll throw their pointy star weapons from there. I won't have a chance to explain to them that I don't have any money in my fanny pack!

At 8:00 in the morning when you wake up to the waves.... your thinking this wasn't such a bad idea.

Today I just made my way from Cat Ba island to Ninh Bin.

More updates later.

Vietnam Day 1 - Hanoi

Problem one

16,800 vietnamese dong is around 50 rupees.How the hell am I supposed to know when I'm getting ripped off? Every time the cyclos (cycle ricks) or the motorcycle taxis quote a price, I quickly whip out ten fingers figuring out what's the Indian equivalent.Once we agree on the price and I'm sitting in comfortably, I quickly realise that i could have bought a tiny country with that money.

Second problem - Food.

It looks delicious. Every nook and corner has a restaurant with people sitting on stools that are 12 inches high on the foot path. Not only is my paunch rebelling, I spent a good one hour trying to find a restaurant that's empty.They ONLY use chopsticks. And I don't want to locals pointing at the Indian who has long dropped his sticks in his duck soup and is now trying to use the noodles as makeshift cutlery.

Number three - Maps

I've realised I can't read maps. And Hanoi doesn't make it easy on you. Millions of lanes that sound like triple X kung fu movies.I asked a cyclo to take me to Yen Thai, which was 10 minutes away. Half an hour later we're at Kenthai. A posh hotel whose residents found the goatie boy quite interesting.

Number 4 - perceived libido

Every taxi driver seems to think that I would like, and I quote, "Good Masaa. only ten dollah. Bootiful woman. You no want masaa. Masaa all body."

But the place is really beautiful. The people dress like the vietnamese fashion week is on 24/7 on the streets. I've still to try the street food. But it looks great and smells even better. I've taken in a prison museum, water puppetry, art galleries, and a cold beer with some grilled pork.

Life is good.

Pictures are yet to come. Till next time.