Cheryl & Neil Our Story

China at last!

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

China was the top of Cheryl’s “must do” list so, after places like Vietnam and Hong Kong, it was good to cross something off her list, in fact, long overdue. Her ultimate “must do” is to walk The Great Wall but that will have to wait until April/May.

Getting the visas in Hong Kong turned out to be a great plan with the whole process going perfectly and much cheaper than having to make two journeys to London. Getting out of Hong Kong and into China at Shenzhen was, quote Lonely Planet, “a breeze”. Get on the metro, one change onto the East Railway Line and, 45 minutes later, you’re going through immigration. Once through customs it’s a 500m walk to the main station.

Even though there wasn’t a single English sign, getting a ticket for the overnight sleeper was also relatively easy once we had shown the nice lady a copy of the trusty guidebook with its translation of Guilin, our destination, into Chinese characters. “Hard or soft sleeper”? “Soft please”. It was done, all we had to do was while away 5/6 hours. Downtown Shenzhen is very glitzy and the malls are full of very expensive brands, much like HK. Lunch was also easy as there were familiar HK brands in the malls.

Every new adventure brings at least one funny story and Neil had yet another while checking out the mall near the station. Going up the escalator he was followed by a young guy trying to sell him jeans, watches, in fact, anything you could think of. Neil kept silent as he always does. Up four flights and he was still trying to sell him stuff. As Neil started his descent his friendly salesman shouted, ‘you want Viagara”? At this point Neil could not hold out any longer and burst into laughter and shouted “no, no viagara, I don’t want to buy anything, only my lunch’!!! “You must want something, anything, you must buy something!” “Yes, my lunch”!! He went away.

Once on the train we found our cabin. Soft sleeper comes with 4 berths so we were pleased to find out that one of our room mates spoke Chinglish very well, in fact, he was very well educated and spoke very good English. He was very chatty and explained that he and 17 colleagues had been to Taiwan on business. They had flown into HK and many of them had followed the lead of their younger member, our room mate, and bought iPads. He spent much of the start of the journey showing them how to use it. He went off to speak with some of his other mates and returned shortly later to tell us that he had been able to switch his berth leaving us on our own……result!

The compartment was excellent. Very comfortable berths, carpet, a/c, sheets/quilts/pillows all provided and hot water in a flask to make tea/coffee (wish we’d known!). All in all, at £40 each to cover just over 1000kms, it was fab value. We did have a peep at hard sleeper class and decided that we had made a top decision. 6 berths in much narrower cabins, no lockable door, just open corridor with occasional seats for people to get away from their “room” mates! Yes, as we are worth it, a top decision.

We had taken provisions onto the train to see us through the journey which very soon ran out. Neil went up to the buffet car to find that the beer was sold out…..”what”? Two guys and a girl, who had been translating for him to the buffet attendant, had obviously drunk most of the beer on the train as they had multiple empties on the table. After much banter she talked Neil into buying a bottle of local hooch….mmmm….£1’s worth of fire!!

We both slept well and arrived in Guilin a little early at around 07.00. The guest house was only around a 10-15 minute walk and we were shown to our room without delay. Hot shower, breakfast and the day was on. The guesthouse is away from the centre of town which is great as it’s quiet with its own bar, garden (where this is being typed), and large rooms with funky art work on the walls. We’ve checked out some other guesthouses and decided that this one is OK.

Just a short walk away is a large shopping mall with a great food court offering many superb food options, on table BBQ’s and a large beer and a coke for 90p!

Guilin is much more China as we expected. While a lot of it is grey concrete it does have a lovely walk along the Li River, one of reasons we came here. The people are generally affluent, there is some poverty which we didn’t see in Shenzhen, but they are so friendly. The guys in the guesthouse speak great English and are helping us with planning our “off piste” adventure but communication with many locals is via sign language which can be hilarious for all concerned.

As we neared the hostel on our way back after dinner, a little guy in the security gates beckoned us in and played his musical instruments for us. He danced as he sang with his banjo then followed with an impressive tune on what can only be described as an elongated 2 string violin played with a bow but balanced on his knee. He giggled as his picture was taken, a thoroughly lovely old man.

We are getting cocky and decided that organised trips (tourist rip offs) are not for us. We’re leaving our baggage at the guesthouse to travel independently via local bus, to The Dragons Backbone Rice Terraces. We’ll be gone for 3 nights, finding beds on the way, so watch this space.

Hong Kong Highlights and a Confession

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

Our blog is as much a diary of our travels as it is news for people back home so
we do like to record news items for our future memories. Today, we are so excited for the people of Chile after the world has watched for 69 days while they rescue 33 trapped miners from deep underground. Fab news for everyone around the world to celebrate.

We started our HK sightseeing with breakfast at Cafe de Coral. Eggs, sausage, thick toast and coffee for 19HKD (£1.60). Then it was off to Star Ferries for the short cruise across Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island. Wow, what a view, this really is a stunning city. A short walk got us to the longest travelator/escalator in the world (we know how to have fun!). It’s 800m long and threads its way up the hill and takes 20 minutes from start to finish.
Downwards in the morning, to make it easier for the city workers, and after 10.00 a.m. it goes upwards. Neat huh?

Next was the gravity defying Peak Tram, a funicular railway that takes you to the top of Victoria Peak where the view of HK is spectacular.

Coming back down was quite weird as it is so steep and the towering apartment blocks and offices that are vertical appear to be leaning at really dodgy angles.

HK is so easy to get around with the Octopus Card. It’s the mother of London’s Oyster card that you can use on metro, buses, trams, ferries and in many shops and restaurants. HK was on Neil’s list of must see places to visit that he’s had since he was a kid……..he’s not disappointed as this really is a great city and well worth a visit. It’s clean, the people always want to help you as soon as you get the map out, it’s pedestrian friendly and is as exciting and attractive as Singapore but without being sterile…..HK is lived in and is one of the most vibrant cities we’ve visited.

The third day was spent trying to sort our onward travel to China. For those of you who think we do nothing, it’s taken a full day to review almost all the options on how to get out of HK and into China. It isn’t easy when you’re independent travellers but, after tomorrow, we’ll have it sussed…. we hope!

Day 4, Saturday, and a trip to Lamma Island. A leafy and car free place which we’ve discovered, after today, is the place that Kongers go at weekends to see green places, beaches and eat fresh seafood. Yes, it was very busy but it had a cool breeze and, apart from HK’s massive power plant, it was very scenic. If you didn’t want to stay in downtown HK then this is a very pleasant place to stay and the 20 minute commute on the ferry costs less than £2.

We then got a different ferry back to Aberdeen on HK Island, the opposite side to the business centre, and probably named after the massive fishing fleet that used to sail out of Aberdeen in Scotland. It is the typhoon shelter for all things afloat, especially the fishing fleet, and was just a heaving mass of boats….take a look at the pics. You will see sampans, big trawlers and small craft surrounded by 40 storey condo’s……an amazing sight.

Finally, we jumped on a bus for a very cheap sightseeing tour of new parts of HK. We were sat at the front and the most incredible part of the journey was where the bus, riding on a 20m high flyover, weaved its way down a steep single carriageway around several blocks of 40 storey condo’s. You could almost see the whites of the residents’ eyes, we were that close. Sorry, didn’t have time to get the camera out.

Sunday, and after a lay in it’s off to the flower market and all its wonderful smells and displays followed by a visit to the bird garden just along the road. British men play golf on a Sunday or go fishing or something. HK men take their treasured birds in their cages and go and show them off to other birdmen!! There’s also a small market for bird accessories and food including bags of live bugs. Fantastic sounds and beautiful colours.

Next was a visit to Kowloon Park for a lot of people watching. On a Sunday many of the KL domestic workers from The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia congregate on their day off to have fun, take pictures, gossip, picnic and generally relax on their day off. Some also get a tad beered up and some flirt with many of the readily available local guys looking for “a bit of company”. It was great fun and we got included on at least one set of photos.

After our picnic in the park we wandered off to the waterfront to watch the sound and light show which people watch from Kowloon across the water on HK Island. There’s music piped along the whole waterfront and the lights on the building opposite dance to the tunes. By opposite we mean about half a mile away across Victoria harbour.

As it’s Sunday, Neil has a big confession to make. Leanne and Paul listen up here!!!! For those of you who don’t know, Neil’s children are in their mid 20’s and for most of those years they have been trying to get dad into a well known fast food establishment. They have tried many things some of them downright unfair but they have failed.

Today, for the first time, Neil went into a McDonalds!!!!!!!! However, thankfully he did not make a purchase but, much in need of their facilities; let’s just say he left a deposit. Neil’s “Lovin’ It” as he considers that this is where all their food belongs!! Cheryl waited on the stairs to get evidence so take a look at the pic kids. Dad has one regret,…that you weren’t there to see him finally cross the threshold……sorry kids I guess I really do deserve that Big Mac that you promised to put in my coffin!!

Monday was torture! After the 2hr application process when we arrived we expected a 2hr queue to collect the visa for China plus a number of arguments. Our expectations were NOT met! In, pay, collect and out in 10 minutes…job done….result! With unexpected time on our hands we decided to go to the viewing platform in the Bank of China which gives an amazing view from the 43rd floor over Victoria Harbour towards Kowloon. 43 floors in 43 seconds.

Afterwards, we jumped on a tram and went to Happy Valley to visit the Mecca of HK’s horse racing fraternity and the home of, probably, the world’s most famous rugby 7’s tournament. The setting is superb, surrounded by condo’s that get a great view of the stadium which is also open to people to train and enjoy at leisure.

HK in summary? It’s many things that the rest of Asia is not. It’s clean, efficient, orderly, and tourist friendly and yet it is still Asia with all its colour, noise, smells and seething humanity……it’s for real! By the way, if you smokers want to give up then come here. It’s virtually impossible to light up anywhere but a designated area even if you are out doors. One other thing – there’s no bloody mosquitoes either – what more can a tourist want?

Next stop China; we’re filled with both trepidation and excitement. Our next blog might be a while, as we do not know how much China blocks Get Jealous and other blogging websites.

Our journey begins

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

The flight with Air Asia was fine. All our reservations about flying long haul
with a low cost airline were unfounded. Yes, there was no entertainment unless
you paid, and yes, if you paid the entertainment was limited, but all in all the
flight wasn’t bad…..in fact, at £100 a pop it was great value. We were lucky
to be able to sleep most of the way so the 12.5 hours did go very quickly.
Plus, curry for breakfast……..welcome to Asia!!

Once in KL we soon found ourselves in The Tune Hotel with our tiny, tiny room.
Funny, when we arrived the lady next door was sat outside trying to make sense
of her luggage and trying desperately to make it fit into the room along with
her husband and small child.

It’s good to be back in Asia……food court ambience of plastic chairs,
fluorescent lighting, echoing sounds and just the general hustle and bustle of
Asia. We both slept well again until about 03.00 a.m. when the jet lag played
its games. No problem, the remains of the bottle of duty free scotch soon sent
us back to sleep until the alarm got us up for the 07.00 a.m. flight to Hong
Kong.

We had checked in on line and so, still very sleepy, we arrived for the flight
with a minimum of time available. Straight upstairs and it wasn’t until we got
to security that we remembered that we had not been to baggage drop. Another
one of those “Oh sh*t” moments! Back down and through passport control “please,
we forgot baggage, is it OK to go back through?” We shot off to baggage drop and
finally got back to security in time but with one of the funniest moments yet.

We chose what looked like the shortest queue. However it soon ground to a halt
as a little Asian guy was sent back through the scanner 4 times before finally
emptying his pockets of all objects. His bag was then opened and the bemused
security guy pulled out a long metal tube followed by a huge plastic container.
It was an industrial strength garden sprayer! The security guy got up and went
across to show his boss what he had found. Eventually he returned to his post,
still grinning, and told the little guy he would have to have his bag checked
in. Now, why would you want to take an industrial sprayer into the cabin?
Answers on a postcard, or suggestions on the message board please.

Four hours later we arrived in Hong Kong and found our way to our hostel. Like
a lot of guesthouses in HK it consists of converted individual apartments spread
within an old crumbling tenement block of 16 storeys. Now, we had heard that HK
has the most expensive real estate in the world, and we had booked a budget room
for £23/night so we had low expectations. Our expectations were met, we had a
double room measuring 2.5 metres square, but it has a bathroom, it is clean, it
has a window (see pic for the view), and thankfully, as we are on the 13th
floor, it has full fire safety equipment.

We spent the afternoon queuing for our China visas, treated ourselves to an
‘Affluent Tea Set’ (because we are worth it), and finished the day with two
large bowls of noodle soup plus a beer all for 85HKD which is about £7. Pretty
damn cheap for one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Four Funerals and Di’s Ashes

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

Firstly, this is a very long story so if you’re reading this and it’s morning put the kettle on or if it’s evening then open the wine now.

The year started with the death of Neil’s mum in January which, although sad, was a release for her. Then suddenly, during the summer, Tricia’s mum and dad died within the space of a few weeks of each other. After so many years together they were so fortunate that one was not left to face years of loneliness Finally, Neil’s sister-in-law lost her mother. Unlike Neil’s mum, she was lucky to remain independent to the end, living in the house that she had lived in for over 50 years and slipped away quietly in her sleep.

Before Neil’s mum died, the family agreed with her that after her death, some of her ashes would be spread next to dad adjacent to his favourite fishing spot at Witcombe Lakes. She also wanted to be returned to her native Belfast which she left during war time.

So, we agreed a date in September when all four children would fly into Belfast and spread mum’s ashes around the grave of her mother and father……”simple”? ha, we wish!

We were staying on a caravan site near to Bristol Airport and Neil’s brother Bob agreed to pick us up after picking up his sister June en route. We were on the 06.40 a.m. “red-eye” and we thought the directions for Bob and June to find us were perfect but, sadly not, and after a lot of chasing around, running through the lanes in the darkness we finally met. We headed to the airport, parked the car and raced into the terminal. We were already pushed for time and then disaster. The queue for security was out of security, all the way down the stairs and well into the check in area. We have no chance of catching this flight we thought.

We managed to “jump” some of the queue by taking the lift but Bob chose to stay in the main queue via the stairs. We needed him…..he had the ashes! Anyway, the three of us got to the security scan machine for the boarding cards that we had printed at home as directed by Ryanair. June went through and headed straight for the baggage x-ray, Neil went through but Cheryl’s would not scan. The very unhelpful man sent us back down stairs to the Ryanair desk to get another one. He reluctantly agreed that we could pass through the Priority Check In queue on our return.

The two of us shot down stairs to the desk and obtained a new boarding card for Cheryl from the totally humourless Ryanair lady. Ran back up the stairs and pushed to the front of the priority queue. Even after reminding him of our situation the equally unhelpful man running the queue sent us to the back, as ‘other people have to pay for this fast track’ which by now was almost as slow as the normal queue. Now we’re really stuffed!

We finally got to the front of the queue and Cheryl’s card scanned this time. Mr Happy commented that this was the wrong card and, just as Neil was about to add to the staff shortage and commit murder, he waived her through. Neil’s card, which had already been scanned, failed to scan! Mr Happy called on a few colleagues to try their scanners but it still didn’t work. Finally, just before Victor “Neil” Meldrew was about to scream “I don’t believe it” he called another lady over and eventually she waived Neil through.
Mrs Helpful pushed us to the front of the baggage x-ray and we were through. On the other side we somehow managed to bump into June, but Bob was nowhere to be seen.

OK, all we have to do now is find Gate 14, through the shops (why do they assume that all you want to do in an Airport is buy perfume, booze and expensive handbags??), round the corner and up the stairs. Then another “oh s**t” moment….Bristol Airport had clearly been extended since we were last here, and staring at the unending gleaming white shiny corridor stretching for miles before us, ‘the stairway to heaven’ gate 14 was clearly on the other side of the airport. With minutes to go before takeoff Neil legged it to try and get the flight held. Cheryl and June power walked as fast as possible and eventually, to gain warp drive, June took off her heels and ran in her bare feet. The three of us, somehow, made it and were astounded to find the lady at the gate was sympathetic to our plight and agreed to page Bob. Before she had time Bob arrived along with the urn…….result!!

The flight was uneventful, thank heavens, and gave us a chance to calm down, until the landing when we must have dropped the last 50 metres to the tarmac like a stone…..ka boom! Then we were hit with the Ryanair fanfare over the tannoy. “Ta Ta Ta Taaaaa… Congratulations, you have just landed on yet another on-time Ryanair flight”. Cheryl joked, ‘more like you’ve just crash landed on yet another on-time Ryanair flight”!

Coffees were in order whilst we waited for Neil’s other brother Bill who was flying in from Heathrow. Bill arrived on time and, after he joked about his very dull journey, we headed to the hire car. Bob plugged in his sat-nav and we headed for Aunty Helens house.

About 10 minutes later we arrived in the right street. “Number 59” said Bob, “I remember it being on the left” said June, “I agree” said Bob. Neil piped in, “well, if it’s 59 then it’s on the right”. We arrived at 59 and we all jumped out and stood at the door as Bob knocked.
The door opened and a startled lady stood in front of us. Cheryl thought “she doesn’t look overjoyed to see her nephews and niece after all this time ” Neil thought, “she’s changed a lot in the last 20 years..” Bob spoke to the lady and after agreeing that this was number 59 he checked his diary. “Ah, sorry, we want 56 not 59”. We all burst out laughing and Bob apologised to the very confused lady who must have thought we were dissident republicans come to knee cap her.

Aunty Helen and Uncle Alec at number 56 on the left were actually very pleased to see us and made us a much needed cuppa. We sat and chatted for ages before the five of us plus Aunty Helen set off to the grave yard to sprinkle the ashes. We arrived and Aunty Helen strode off down the hill giving the impression she knew exactly where she was going. Alas we soon found out this was not the case, so we split up to look for the grave. Now this was a seriously big grave yard, acres of graves and stones to check.

We know this story is long so we’ll cut this bit short. After a number of calls to the local council offices we were no wiser as the location of the grave. A call to Neil’s other Aunty “Big Maureen” gave us hope, ‘out of the gate, down the hill and on the right’…….we tried all gates, all hills and everything on the right. Maureen’s husband, Uncle Eddie, was the only one who knew exactly where it was but he was in hospital undergoing heart surgery. So, after almost 3 hours, and having run Plan A and given Plan B a go, we decided on Plan C…..give up, return to Aunty Helen’s for lunch and to leave Neil’s mums ashes with her until Uncle Eddie got better and he could point someone in the right direction.

After lunch, we bid Aunty Helen and Uncle Alec farewell and headed into central Belfast. We were catching a bus to Dublin as were going to stay with Hugh who we met in Malaysia last winter. We said our goodbyes to June, Bob and Bill, “see you in 2011” then we headed into the bus station.

Now, this all happened on September 21st 2010. Today is October 2nd and Bob has just emailed that sadly Uncle Eddie died in the night having never recovered from his surgery.

Neil’s mum is now back in Belfast, where she wanted her ashes to go. She hasn’t quite made it to her parents’ grave, so Plan C, Aunty Helen’s kitchen, will have to remain as far as she gets for now.

If anybody out there can make contact with Uncle Eddie……..please send us a sign.

Green and Pleasant Land

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

This entry tells the story of our summer in the UK, and continues on from last year’s blog ‘It can be done!”.

It’s a bit of a cliché but it’s true – absence does make the heart grow fonder, and after spending seven months on our trip around SE Asia, we now truly appreciate this beautiful land which we are lucky to call home.

We finally got back to England in the middle of May after delays due to the infamous Ash Cloud. Green fields, bluebells, oak trees not palm trees, policemen without guns and joining an orderly queue at Heathrow immigration – it was good to be back.

It has been a great summer spent catching up with family and friends and exploring the UK in our caravan. Our tour this summer took us first to Yorkshire and The Peak District to visit Donna, Zoe and Matthew. Our regular readers will remember that the premature death of Steve, Donna’s husband, was part of the reason we took to travel. It was great to see them and so refreshing to hear them talk of him as though he was in the next room. Steve is gone but he clearly will never, ever, be forgotten. We spent around 3 weeks travelling over the Peak District enjoying long walks, National Trust and great weather.

After that it was down to Neil’s sister’s house in Gloucester for the formal opening of the “band stand” before heading off with June and Barbs to Glastonbury Music Festival. Wow, not a cloud in sight let alone a rain drop, and definitely no mud, just dust!. A fab weekend was had by all and we were glad of the bit of shade we managed to grab in the camper field. Major highlights? The Silent Disco, June’s face painting for her birthday, Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters with a guest appearance by Kylie, and, of course, Rolf Harris.

Travels continued to Devizes and Marlborough where we tracked down the 8 White Horses of Wiltshire. Then into Sussex and a stay near Uckfield to enjoy more gorgeous countryside, National Trust places, walking and generally enjoying being a tourist in our home country.

Next stop took us to Surrey to catch up with Cheryl’s sister Chris and husband Andrew and girls Jenny and Fiona. Our initial campsite here was short lived as it was under the Gatwick flightpath……something the brochure just happen to omit! It was no problem, plenty of liquid anaesthetic which kicked in around 11.00 p.m. and wore off around 05.45 a.m. as the first flight took off. Needless to say, we moved on next morning to the tranquillity of a site near Horsham which also had entertainment…..a herd of cattle, mostly bulls that just made us laugh so much with their crazy antics.

Catching up with Cheryl’s family was great including a day out with the girls and, the highlight, Capel Music Festival (a tad smaller than Glasto) opened by “Love ‘n Licks”, Chris on guitar and Andrew on base……not bad for their first gig!

Back to Bristol for a catch up on post and family before heading to Brecon. Here we had a great week walking the Beacons, absolutely stunning, before catching up with Steve and Denise. Steve and Neil lived next door to each other when they were at school and got into a number of scrapes when they were kids.

We also had a great couple of days with Chris ‘n Viv who were over from Oz to celebrate Viv’s mum’s 80 birthday. This included taking the Heart of Wales Railway Line from Llandovery to Knighton, something that Chris had been promising himself for years and we finally got to share it with him. A great day out. After Brecon it was off to Pandy near Abergavenny. Once again, lovely scenery and great walking plus a visit to Hay on Wye where every other house is a second hand book store!

We left the caravan in Bristol to fly to Belfast for an eventful day (full details are in the next diary entry). From Belfast we bussed to Dublin to meet up with Hugh for a visit to the west coast village of Roundstone in Connemara where he has a lovely cottage on the harbour. We met Hugh on our last trip to SE Asia. He had been insistent that we visit him and take a look at the pics. It is absolutely superb with incredible views and a Guinness & Chowder lunch to die for in the local pub.

Finally Devon and Dartmoor for some more walking, wind, rain and lovely countryside.
It’s getting a bit cooler now and Autumn is here ……..so it’s time to head to Stanstead and a plane to the warmth!

Many thanks to all the friends and family for their hospitality during the summer – there are too many to mention all by name, but you know who you are. Also apologies to the ones we promised to visit again before we left – busy, busy, busy having great fun and sorry we ran out of time. Chapter 3 here we come.

It ‘aint half hot mum!

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

We didn’t plan to be here at this time and, true to form, this is the hot season in S E Asia and it’s hot, hot, hot! Much of the time the temperature is around 38degs so we don’t do very much in the day. We swim in the pool early morning and late afternoon and have a choice of two beaches for long beach walks once the heat of the day starts to dissipate around 4pm. Swimming in the morning is so refreshing as the sun is still behind the hotel and the water is cool. The afternoon swim is very different. Whilst the sun has fallen behind the bungalows the water is so hot from the daytime sun that it’s like swimming in the bath. Each swim is about half a mile or 900 meters.

We also have the occasional trip via the courtesy minibus to the shopping mall in town, for lunch, massage and to top up on essentials. Most evenings it’s down to the local market for fresh supplies of fruit and salad. The fruit here is delicious and cheap, papaya, pineapple, watermelon, bananas and our favourite mangos now in season, 1kg of mango costs 60p. So ripe and juicy that you can’t help wearing it when you eat and needing a shower afterwards……gurt lush!! We’re bringing some seeds back home so hopefully Roy can get some growing in his garden.

So, what with our daily swims and weight training, (we’re using 6Ltr fresh water bottles as dumb bells!!) aided by a diet of salad and fruit, we’re living very healthily. Neil hasn’t had a beer for a couple of weeks although he has been having a little wine each evening. Final weight loss has been in excess of half a stone for both of us, about 1/3 of the target.

We’ve been having weekly traditional Thai massages as a treat. Neil’s have been quite pleasant and relaxing whereas Cheryl’s have been given by diminutive Thai ladies with hidden muscles, powerful thumbs, elbows and strength to rival Mike Tyson!

Whilst things have been getting nastier by the day with the ongoing unrest in Bangkok, life here in Hua Hin is sleepy. We’ve seen the pictures on the news but nothing actually has happened here. Our trip and from the airport keeps us well away from the centre of Bangkok so things have been fine. Things also seem to be getting closer to a settlement so coming back next winter could be on the cards again.

There was a big music festival on the beach and, just like Quy Nhon in Vietnam, the stars of the show are staying at our hotel. This time, however, the star isn’t a pretty boy but a good old fashioned Rock & Roll Band who partied before they went to the show and partied even harder after the show in the swimming pool…….made Keith Moon look like an amateur…..well…..by Thai standards.

Other entertainment includes the regular weekend events held at the hotel for local businesses, clubs and associations staying at the hotel. These are often held in the hotel garden which is a lovely place for an outdoor event. The evening ends with the ubiquitous karaoke…….always very BAD karaoke……but it keeps us very amused listening to the pitiful warbling of the punters who don’t actually appear to be having such a great time.

We’ve also had a real thunder & lightning display when we reckon about 2-3in of rain fell in around 30-40 minutes. It was incredibly heavy, the noise as the rain hammered on the roof was deafening and it was fun to watch from the relative dryness of our balcony.

Fortunately, we’ve got BBC World News so we’ve been able to keep up to speed with news and the election. It was great watching the results come in through the night, our time from about 6 a.m. onwards. The Beeb did not let us down with fabulous in depth coverage and comment. It felt like being at home with much confusion and inability to easily analyse the conflicting results. The pundits slowly came to the conclusion that we were indeed headed for a hung parliament. We’re enjoyed watching the courting threesome as they use teams of match makers to come up with a tempting dowry.

After this mornings announcement on the Beeb we would like to wish the happy couple, Davina and Nick, or is it David and Nicola, a long and fruitful relationship.

That’s it, we’re on our way home today and looking forward to catching up with children, family and friends…..see you soon.

It’s Official We have to Stay!

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

Our last few days in Vietnam were spent in Ho Chi Minh City. We had some shopping to do, Neils backpack was looking a tad torn and the trainers he brought with him were also well past their sell by date. So, we bought a new cabin sized wheelie case, solid and tough and with lots more security that we hope should see us through the next few years. The trainers, Nike and made here in Vietnam, were just £15.

On the day we shopped for the case the heavens really opened. We were lucky just to get to the indoor market but the noise on the metal roof was absolutely deafening!!! Real warm tropical rain.

Our last night was spent with our Vietnamese friends Tien & Phuc. We met them in Dalat in February during the TET Festival. Tien is an English teacher in HCMC and she was home in Dalat visiting family. We kept in touch and they took us to a Vietnamese Restaurant where we had some very delicious traditional foods in what was a very popular restaurant indeed. They are a lovely couple who told us lots about Vietnamese life, her dislike for the big city and her longing to go home to the mountain cool of Dalat and her family. She answered lots of our questions and, equally, we hope we answered her questions too.

The flight from HCMC to Bangkok was pretty uneventful as was our hotel near the airport…..good standard and we would use it again. Tomorrow would be the test……would we stay or would we go?.

Its a no brainer, Ash Cloud wins, we stay!!!! The earliest flight that Etihad could get us on was May 5th. We had already guessed that this would be the case and, as we now have a new 30 day visa and there are people much more desperate to get home than us, we decided to get home into the UK on May 13th.

So, was it to be 3 weeks in Bangkok?…..not a chance……3 weeks in the North?……too hot……..3 weeks on the Andaman Coast?……..too wet…….NO, ……back to Hua Hin where we started this trip back in October and the Hillside Resort and our favourite swimming pool. We looked at the cost of travelling into Bangkok and getting the bus to Hua Hin, about £30 for a 6 hour journey providing everything slotted into place. We felt that if we could get a taxi all the way from the airport for not much more then it would be worth it for all the hassle we would lose. RESULT: £40 door to door in less than 3 hours…..nice one!

Warm Rain

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

Were back in Nha Trang to extend the visas one more time before we head for home.

We were originally going to spend the last month of our trip chilling in Thailand, but we decided to stay on in Vietnam due to the political protests going on. We have to fly out of Bangkok to get home so fingers crossed that all will be ok with our overnight stay near to the airport. The airport hasnt been targeted by the red shirt protesters so far, but we do remember the chaos caused by the yellow shirts in November 2008.

Nha Trang seems so big, noisy and bustling after the relative calm of Quy Nhon. The place was packed on the Sunday we returned and it was difficult walking along the beach promenade as it was blocked by people, bicycles, and motorbikes. We are both getting really frustrated by the lack of consideration given to pedestrians so have decided to hold our ground when a bike is coming towards us on the pavement beeping for us to get out of the way, or driven at us or cut across us with the driver completely oblivious to the danger. Neil has even grabbed hold of bikes and their passengers to make sure they notice and this has shocked a number of bike riders so we suspect the locals just give way at all times. We have been surprised at the lack of accidents given the chaotic state of the traffic and some of the idiotic behaviour of both drivers and pedestrians we have seen.

Accidents do happen though, and we got chatting to an English girl in her twenties who was unlucky enough to come off the hire bike driven by her boyfriend as he skidded on gravel. Travelling at only 30km/hr she was wearing shorts and lost a fairly large strip of skin along her elbow, lower arm and all along her leg. It didn’t look too bad on the first day, and we were impressed with her positive, almost cheerful attitude despite her injuries. As the wounds dried up it started to look at lot worse and she was obviously in a lot of discomfort. Added to this, it turned out her travel insurance company, Insure and Go, were being really unhelpful and it appeared that they were looking for a loophole to avoid paying the claim. It didn’t help that the hospital doctor was cheerfully adding lots of expensive treatments and fictitious overnight stays to the bill!

There was no hire agreement as the bike was rented from a guy on a street corner so we suspect the insurance company will do all they can to prove they were not on the 50cc bike they hired, as most will not cover for more than 125cc. On her last day we found out the insurance company were sending an agent to look into it. We took her email address and will follow up to see how it all turns out.

We have enjoyed our last few weeks as there is a relaxed pace to life here. Its hot during the day so we are doing as the locals do and getting up at 6am for a 6km walk along the seafront. Its relatively cool at this time and the locals are out swimming, walking, running, Tai Chi, badminton etc. The beach is very quiet during the day, apart from the mad dog westerners frying in the sun. At 5pm it cools down and we join the locals once more for another long walk before dinner.

The food here is very good, especially in our favourite Italian restaurant, so it was a surprise that the dreaded holiday tum has struck……and Neil is suffering! I suppose it was about time. The very hot curry at Omars Tandoori Cafe probably didn’t help matters. Omars does have a slight reputation for dodgy food, but, there is a real Indian chef, the smells wafting from the restaurant are fabulous, and Neil had a craving for curry that got the better of him. Looking on the bright side, if this bug is anything like the one he picked up in Goa a few years back, he will lose about a stone in weight.

Neil writes: My dodgy tum, fortunately, comes without the sickness. However, Vietnam’s Vengeance, as I have named it does have one or two quirks. The first trip to the bathroom at 01.30 was accompanied by really chronic pains in the abdomen. After that, it was regular business as usual until dawn. That was the time that I started to ache and develop a fever, just like flu, so this is more than just a bad curry!! The fever lasted about 24 hours and left as quick as it arrived. During the following night I woke up around 05.00 to find myself lying in what appeared to be a river…..I had been sweating out the fever so much that the bed was very wet. Well, my side of the bed was wet but Cheryl’s was very dry and that was the way it was going to stay! The fever had completely gone and the next day went well, back to normal, walks along the beach, exercise etc. Its now 24 hours later and whilst the fever has gone the regular trips to the bathroom have come back. Oh well, still looking on the bright side at the weight Im going to lose.

Finally, after weeks of endless sunshine the rain came last night, thunder, lightning and heavy, heavy rain. But it is warm rain unlike our return home when we know the rain will definitely NOT be warm!

Next stop Ho Chi Minh City, (still called Saigon by most locals), for a couple of days before heading to Bangkok…..and Home……volcanic ash permitting!!

Off The Tourist Trail

Posted on April 4, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

The seaside town of Quy Nhon is a lot less touristy than Nha Trang, so much so that only one or two restaurants have menus in English. Whilst this did narrow the opportunities, we found enough variety to keep us covered for the three weeks we spent there. It was refreshing not to be approached by so many people wanting to sell you sun glasses, cigarettes or usher you into their restaurant.

Our hotel, The Seagull (in 3 weeks we didnt see a single seagull!!!), was right on the seafront and you can see from the pics that we had a stunning view from our superb balcony. We managed to negotiate a rate of $25 a night, including a splendid buffet breakfast, it was a little over our budget but it was very, very nice.

We didn’t see many westerners in Quy Nhon, only the occasional tour group in/out of the hotel staying 1 night before moving on the next day. This is a tourist town but not set up for or frequented by westerners. We spoke to a few guests in the hotel who looked Vietnamese but were proud to say they were from California, and had been living there since the end of the war. We learned that San Francisco has the largest population of Vietnamese outside the country.

We were here to do not very much and, to be fair, we were very successful so not much to blog about. However, here are a few snippets:

Mobile Music Man. Hows this for ingenuity. Get yourself a moto, fit on the back a very large car battery and amplifier, invest in a quality radio mic. and, hey presto, you have a mobile music business. Now you travel around town, singing all those favourite tunes outside all the restaurants in town. Just wander around the restaurant taking requests from the tables and pocket the cash!! Brilliant…… if not a tad annoying when youre trying to enjoy a quiet meal!
Another great business idea is the mobile ice cream man aboard his push bike with a large box at the front. Sure, nothing new here, it happens all over the world. But, playing the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly as your signature tune seemed to us to be inspirational!
Around the coast, about 5kms south, theres a Leper Hospital and Rehabilitation Site. They have their own private beach with gardens and you can visit for 5000VND (about 15p). It was surreal. Very quiet and clean, totally unlike Vietnam, and it had a small village attached to it where the cured can live and work in the gardens, rice paddies and fishing. Altogether a very pleasant place to visit and see disabled people just getting on with their lives rather than begging in the streets.
While we were here the town celebrated 35 years of Liberation from the US aggressors! A big party in town with lots going on and, in true Vietnamese style, very noisy. We even had a famous Vietnamese Boy Superstar staying at our hotel who gigged just one night at the town’s stadium as part of the celebrations. He was very pretty but we don’t know how good his singing was! Lot’s of filming and interviews in the hotel foyer seemed to be boring him to death!
Quy Nhon has a large University and we were often approached by students wanting to polish up their English. One girl, in particular, was studying to be an English teacher. We were out for our evening stroll and she politely asked if she could walk with us. She was the first person in her village to attend Uni and her English and vocabulary were excellent. She walked with us for almost an hour and it was great to have been able to help her.

Thats it, we said it was short so its now back to Nha Trang to extend the visa once more.

Buses, Beaches, & Bia Hoi

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

ts been a while since we wrote a blog and thats because we are well into wind down, chill out mode before the return home at the end of April. One thing we have learned is not to rush about from one tourist hot spot to another, desperately ticking off the must sees as we go. Its just as interesting to stay in one place and simply observe life going on all around you and appreciate the differences in culture and outlook. People get to know you and after a while you can have a bit of banter with them.

The bus journey from Dalat was eventful. We were on the 2.30pm bus, had seats at the front and were waiting for the bus to leave (it was only 25 mins late at this stage…….) when the drivers mate fiddled with a couple of switches and what looked like clouds of dry ice descended over the steering wheel. We laughed…..then decided to get off the bus….quick!! The people at the back were coughing and spluttering by the time they spilled out…hmmm..not good we thought. About 10 mins later, the bus guys put a young lad from their office in the bus, closed the doors, left him in for 5 mins,…. he lived, ….so it was back on the bus and off we went. Canaries and mining come to mind.

The scenery was spectacular as the road winds through mountains, climbing up and down, and swerving side to side round hairpin bends. After 3 hours, and on the steep downhill descent, there was a smell of burning. We pulled over and everyone got off the bus while the brakes at the back had 15-20 mins to cool off and stop smoking. Back on the bus and about 30 mins later there was a loud bang. This didnt sound good and the driver brought the bus to a slow halt just as he limped in to the normal stop restaurant. What fabulous timing to have a tyre blow out!

Everyone off the bus again for toilet break, food & drink while we waited for the driver & his mate to have their food before taking the bus for repairs in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. Set off again (about 2 hours late by this time) thinking it wont be long before we get to Nha Trang, only for the road to turn into a rutted dirt track for the next hour. Average speed was about 10km/hour. Finally we got to the sealed road and waited for the driver to put his foot down…..and waited….and waited….average speed did not get above 40-50kms/hour. We suspect that the brakes were now completely shot and the driver seemed reluctant to take any risks.

Finally arrived in Nha Trang around 8pm to be greeted by our friend Hugh pointing to the nearest watering hole……well done Hugh……..see you in 5 minutes we said!!

Nha Trang is a well established beach resort with a 6km beach, park like promenade and plenty of bars, restaurants and hotels geared towards both foreign and local holidaymakers. The westerners bake on the beach during the heat of the day and drift away by late afternoon. Thats when the locals arrive for huge games of football, family picnics on the beach and flying kites. The beach area is even floodlit at night!

We found a great hotel for $20/night a few steps away from a Bia Hoi where you get a litre jug of beer for 7000 VND (about 25p) and you get to sit on kiddie size plastic chairs and watch the world go by. The place is tiny but very popular and spills out into the street as nearby businesses close for the night. We enjoyed the great food on offer at the restaurants and were such frequent visitors to one Italian place we got a leaving present of a bottle of wine on our last night.

Next stop is Quy Nhon around 200kms up the coast.

Return to Vietnam Tet, Valentines Day and The Valley of Love

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

The bus journey from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City was much better than we anticipated including the border crossing that we thought would be such a pain.

We met up with Hugh in HCMC for dinner and a catch up on where we had all been. Next time we catch up will be in about a week in Nha Trang. HCMC continues to be such an exhilarating city, full of excitement for New Year, masses of colourful flowers, bikes everywhere, noise and just pure Vietnamese life at its most vibrant.

The next day we flew to Dalat, a city in the mountains that we hadn’t been to before. Despite the flight being like a maternity ward, lots of families with kids on holiday for The New Year, our first reaction to Dalat was that the temperatures were so much lower. So much so that even we felt more comfortable with a thin fleece on in the evening: of course, the locals are wearing anoraks and woolly hats!!

Our first couple of nights were spent at The Mecure Hotel in relative luxury care of a deal offered by Accor Hotels. Not much to write home about except that our 4* B&B cost us $5/night!! The only real item of note was that we had breakfast one morning with lookalike Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood. We moved to our usual guesthouse level for the rest of the week, and have to say that it was superb value compared to the $65 the Mercure should have cost. For $20 the room was just as good, the view of a pagoda from our room was better and the breakfast was superb. In guesthouse style we sat at the large communal table and got to meet and chat with fellow travellers. So much better than the clinical atmosphere and isolation at the Mercure.

Our sight seeing started with the cable car to Truc Lam Pagoda. It was such a lovely day, families out all dressed up in celebration of the New Year. The views were magnificent and everyone was so friendly.

Next day we visited The Crazy House, built by Mrs Dang Viet Nga who was inspired by Gaudi: need we say more!!?

After Crazy House, we visited The Summer Palace of King Bao Dai who reigned until independence from France in 1954. Built in the 30s the pictures say it all. Note the old guy who we found sleeping in a number of locations about the Palace.

Neil, a true romantic, celebrated Valentines Day by buying Cheryl a Gucci watch that cost a cool 80k!! Wow, what a guy!! Well, actually it was 80,000 Dong which at todays rate equates to £2.73 last of the big spenders!

Wednesday we visited The Flower Park. Mmmmm, nice but not quite what we expected and it didn’t seem to use its potential. Pleasant enough and just as well it wasn’t too exciting as Neils system was a tad over excited as it was.

Next day we took a local train to visit another Pagoda which is decorated using broken crockery! Its called Linh Phuoc and it was really amazing.

The colours are fantastic and the view from the top was superb. Our problems started when we went back to the station to find out we had missed the train!! Oh well, we weren’t the only ones as a local family had also got the times wrong. One hour later a bus arrived and we made it back to town cramped in with at least 3 million other people. Well, not that many but it was cosy and, thankfully, no pigs or chickens.

Finally, we travelled to the ultimate in kitschiness, Vallee DAmour, Valley of Love!! Its just beautiful park with lake and covering hundreds of acres of forest and hills with great views. Add onto that the truly Vietnamese touches of romantic statues , swan shaped paddleboats, cowboys and Indians, and very unrealistic wild animals, giving unlimited photo opportunities and you have a theme park that the locals adore!

Next stop the beach at Nha Trang.

Phnom Penh and The Killing Fields

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

Phnom Penh is a compact city, just as friendly as Siem Reap, but with a slightly more international feel about it.

The Royal Palace, whilst not as grand as the one in Bangkok, is grand enough for most mortals. Its not every day you get to walk on a solid silver floor comprising more than 5000 tiles each weighing 1kg……that makes about 5 tonnes of gleaming sliver. Sadly, a lot of the palace is unavailable for photography so memories have to come away in our heads.

Most of you will remember the pictures on TV of the brutal regime of Pol Pot in the mid/late 70s. Some of you, including our children, probably will not. Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 and immediately changed the course of Cambodian history. He was a communist revolutionary who believed in an agrarian regime. He convinced the people that the USA, still involved in neighbouring Vietnam, were about to bomb Phnom Penh. The pictures we saw of the capital city where we are staying, empty, really are quite eerie. Within 3 days he had turned Phnom Penh into a ghost town with everyone forced to march to the fields to begin 3 years, 8 months and 20 days of hard labour, brutality, torture and murder. During his reign, Pol Pot murdered around 2-3 million people, starting with intellectuals, foreigners, people with glasses and basically anyone else he felt like, including his own men towards the end. He wanted only peasants who he considered pure and who were least likely to question him. The final numbers will never be known but it represented between 20-25% of the population.

We visited The Tuol Sleng Museum in central Phnom Penh, just a 20 minute walk from our hotel. As you can see from the picture it used to be a school but Pol Pot turned it into a prison. It was called S-21, where innocent men, women, children and even babies were tortured using the same abhorrent techniques used by despots over the centuries. The prison contains pictures of many of them, the children looking frightened, women looking as though they werent sure what was happening and men resigned to their gruesome fate. We took only one photo, of the outside, and found the taking of detailed pictures by others nothing less than macabre.

We also visited The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek about 15 km outside Phnom Penh. This was where the inmates were brought after torture in Tuol Sleng to be given release from further suffering by brutal murder and a final resting place in a mass grave. Almost 20,000 men, women, children and babies were discovered here at the end of Pol Pot’s reign. The Memorial Stupa, which we pictured from a respectful distance, contains around 8000 skulls, bones and clothes protected by panes of glass and acts as a strong reminder of the brutality that went on. Once again, we only we could only look in amazement at the people taking close ups of the skulls of once proud Cambodians who will remain unknown for the rest of time.

We’ve said before how much we like Cambodia and its people so we will be back to spend our tourist dollar in a country that so badly needs it. Some people scramble through life on as little as 2USD a day that would buy you half of a very basic sandwich from Tesco!

Tomorrow we leave for Vietnam.

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

The friendliness of the Cambodians continues to delight us; even the hawkers aren’t pushy and also give a little friendly banter. A total contrast to the hawkers on the beaches of Goa; Rottweilers when they smell fresh meat. Chatting about it we remembered that even the immigration officials at the airport had a good morning, a smile and time to explain how the visa system worked. Most of you would agree that the term immigration official and the word smile just dont go together, especially those of you that have visited the USA.

On Wednesday we saw the sunrise over the big boy, Angkor Wat, followed by a number of other smaller temples. By smaller we mean standard or average as anything compared to Angkor is small. We didnt find it the most interesting compared to some of the others but its condition after around 900 years is quite astounding. Its size? Well, sorry boys, quite clearly 900 years ago size really did matter!! Its absolutely humongous which, sadly, the pics dont do justice. Believe us, or better still, come and take a look yourself.

Thursday we just chilled in Siem Reap, catching up on the blog, emails etc and took some pictures of some of the other inhabitants of our guesthouse, about a hundred crocs! The family who own the guesthouse also farm crocs in a large pool at the rear. As you can see from the pics some of them are pretty large. We didnt get near enough to measure them but the biggest ones must be over 4m…….big enough to handle Cheryl in one gulp! It was a pity that we missed feeding time. They get fed twice a month and on the day they got fed we were out templing.

Friday, last day of templing, and we started at 8am to take the 90 minute ride to Kbal Spean. Its a 1.5km hike through the forest up a fairly steep and difficult track. The end result was worth it as there is a carved river bed, The River of a Thousand Lingas, where you find carvings of Vishnu, Shiva and other Hindu deities. To come in the wet season would be a tragedy as most of them would be covered by the rushing water.

Following our walk back down the hill we visited Banteay Srei where the carvings were just so intricate and well preserved it looked like they had been done yesterday. This was a much smaller temple than most but what it lacked in size it really made up for in the complexity and condition of the stonework.

Neil writes: The vastness of Angkor Wat, the number of temples to visit in such a relatively small area plus the intricate and extent of the stonework makes Siem Reap a must see before you die. However, on the down side for me was that most of the temples follow a similar pattern of design and appear to me to be as much ego trips of the King at the time, as temples of worship. However, climbing to Kbal Spean this morning to visit the very atmospheric waterfalls and to see the carvings in the riverbed epitomised for me what is a true spiritual place of worship. No ego trips here, just a beautiful place to worship with some wonderful carvings in the water to express your commitment to your beliefs……wonderful and only around 1000 years old!

Finally, on our return trip we stopped at the Cambodia Landmine Museum which is also a rehab centre for victims. The founder, who did his stint as a child soldier (aged 5 to 13) with The Khmer Rouge laying some landmines before seeing the light, continues to this day to spend his life deactivating them. Around 4-6 million landmines dotted the Cambodian countryside and to this day men, women and children continue to die or be maimed by these horrors of war. A sobering end to our visit to Siem Reap and which also explains the number of amputees selling things in and around the town and the temples.

We finished the day with a trip to a Cambodian Beer Garden with Sambo for more draft beers and shouts of Jol moi or cheers when the glasses were raised. Back for dinner at the guesthouse, and were were delighted to find that Sony, who runs the place, had taken our advice to start selling simple cocktails. He had bought a range of spirits & mixers and we were invited to become temporary bar staff to make the first Gin & Tonics ever served at The Golden Mango.

Cambodian culture Ancient and Modern

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

Our flight back to Asia took us back to Kuala Lumpur for an overnight stop at the Tune Hotel in the airport before flying out to Siem Reap early next morning. Good job it was only one night as the room was pretty compact, we found it hard to find space for our two bags, each now weighing a paltry 10kgs (not bad for a six month trip dont you think??!!).. However, it must have been a problem for the guys who checked in after us! The family had two very large suitcases big enough for a small child to fit in, plus they also had the small child. The child could have slept in the case if they could have found space to put it in the room in the first place.

Anyway, were now in Siem Reap which is the home of Angkor , a World heritage Site, consisting of Angkor Wat, the biggest religious building in the world plus over a 100 other temples & relics. The central site alone covers 25 sq km, and in its heyday, boasted a population of around 1m people at the time when London was a mere pimple at approx 50,000! So, you can imagine how much history exists here as the temples start from around 800 AD to go on until 1400 AD. The most recent note of interest is that Ta Prohm was used as the setting to film Angelina Jolie playing Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.

So far, our first impressions of Cambodia are very positive. The people seem genuinely friendly, easy going and relaxed. Its hard to believe considering their recent history – Americans bombing the hell out of the country, including using the repulsive Agent Orange in the early 70s, the butchering regime of the Khymer Rouge and the subsequent civil wars that continued until the 90s. Siem Reap is a charming place with none of the grabbing nature that we found last year in Luang Prabang in Laos.

Talking of Luang Prabang, what a small world this is we live in. The day we arrived, at around 9am, we were about to check in when we heard voices from the breakfast area calling us and asking if we remembered them. Simply amazing, it was Betty and Graham from Nova Scotia in Canada who had the room next to ours in L P last March! Graham is 75 this year, has a beaming smile and a tendency to get into all sorts of scrapes (much to the annoyance of Betty). They both have an adventurous spirit and show absolutely no signs of slowing down. Heres us talking so positively about them when they told us about how inspired they were with us when talking to their friends when they returned home to Canada! They were so impressed with us travelling for such long periods that they have now extended their trip this year to almost 3 months.

A 3 day ticket to the Heritage Site, used over 7 days, cost 40USD and our first day was amazing, the sites provide one wow moment after another. It was also physically tiring as a number of monuments require clambering across ruins and scrambling up near vertical steps.

The pics just cannot capture the incredible atmosphere or the sounds of this place. We have our own tuk-tuk driver, Sambo, who for 12 USD/day takes us around the Temples and waits patiently while we play at being Indiana Jones and Lara Croft. He also supplies us with gallons of ice cold water, information on the various temples that we visit and he likes to drink draft beer with us. The day was finished off with sunset on the hilltop temple of Phnom Bakheng followed by dinner at the guesthouse. Who turned up to serve Neil a beer? Sambo!

Tomorrow we take on the big one, Angkor Wat, the worlds largest religious building, surrounded by a moat, (that makes our own English Castles look like theyre protected by a dripping tap), that is almost 200m wide and a mere 6.5km long…….wow! Were also going to be up at 5am to watch the sunrise which is supposed to be an awesome experience….can’t wait.

Return to KL

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

Apologies for the late entry of this blog but Im sure you appreciate the reasons. Were now back in the UK to send Neils mum off on her final journey so we took a little time out to put together this entry.

This blog entry covers our stay in KL from 5th Jan to our unexpected return to the UK on 15th Jan.

We came to KL last year and stayed with friends, Les and Maya. We did a lot of the sights together, some on our own, but sadly we lost most of our pics due to a fault with the camera.

We have returned to see them both again and to capture just a few of the tourist pics that we lost. They now have a pleasant house in a quiet suburb of KL with easy access to taxis and public transport for the short journey into town.

The highlight of our stay was a night out with one of the hash clubs (running & social clubs which are worldwide although started in the 1930s in KL, nothing to do with herbs….) that they belong to for a New Year Dinner entitled Shanghai Nights. It was a blast!!

Les was asked to play the prestigious part of Cai Shen, The Chinese God of Prosperity. He is a traditional part of the Chinese New year and Les was extremely proud of being given such a prestigious role especially as the Hash is predominantly Chinese.

The food was a 9 course banquet and there was free flow beer, red wine and very good quality whisky, a Chinese favourite. The meal was interspersed with a range of cabaret performed by the Hashers themselves; it was truly a fabulous experience that was finished off with plenty of dancing like your dad to endless party favourites.

Whiskey flows for Neil and his new best mates

We also had some time with Chen and Florent who we met on Langkawi Island over Christmas. We had a chinese lunch chosen by Chen and then went on together to the Petronas Twin Towers to take the some of the pics that we lost last year.

Its been good to get be back in the UK despite the cold damp weather, bbrrrrr we are looking forward to returning to 30 degrees. It has been a great to catch up with the kids, especially for Cheryl who only managed to spend around 36 hours with Alex during the whole of last year. It was also good to meet Leannes new man of several months which proved impossible before we left last year. Paul & co continue to look after the house and Bruno looked enormous as he had grown an oversized arctic fur suit to fend off the bitter winter…..hes going to shed an awful lot of hair when the spring arrives!!

I Love My Mum

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

Neil writes:

Our blog serves two purposes. First, to let people know what were up to, where we are and how things are going etc. The second reason is to have a copy on CD so that we can remember our life and travels when we can no longer get about and our memories are fading.

Sadly, some of the things that we write about are not just about having fun. Yesterday, January 10th 2010 my mother died. Of course Im deeply upset but my sadness is smoothed by a sense of happiness. Ever since my dad died 12 years ago my mum has always wanted to be with him. They were devoted to each other and my fathers death left my mum deeply unhappy. Shortly after his death she had a bad stroke and, to cut a long story short, shes been in need of constant care ever since.

For all these years she has had little dignity and whilst she has had excellent care, we really wouldn’t allow our pets to suffer such an existence.

Yesterday, she had all the pain and suffering stopped and for that I am so grateful.

Im very lucky to have had a mum and dad around to guide me in the formative years of my life. Many people dont have that privilege so I count myself extremely fortunate. Im also very lucky to have loved my parents and to have been loved by them, again something that some people dont enjoy. My book of life now closes another chapter as we make arrangements to fly back to the UK.

So, the blog is on hold for a while but normal service will be resumed in the near future.

Happy New Year from Langkawi Island

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Cheryl & Neil

We’ve been on Langkawi Island now for almost 2 weeks and life at Zackry’s Guesthouse remains as sociable as ever. It is such a great place to meet people, chat, swop stories and even make plans to meet up later in the trip. Niamh, pronounced Neev, is from Ireland and is Zack’s girl Friday. She looks after everything here at the guesthouse and makes sure that things run smoothly. Our room has lots of shade so it’s lovely and cool to sit outside our cabin and catch up on mail and our blog.

Christmas was great with a dinner on Christmas Eve of fish and chicken, Champagne provided by Florent from France and Chen, his Chinese girlfriend, to see in Christmas Day. On Christmas Day we had Roast Beef, washed down with fine wine and rounded off with lots of Old Jamaica Chocolate. The beef was excellent and it was fantastic to have a big slab of real meat on the plate for a change. Of course, there is nothing quite like a walk on the beach on Christmas day.

We have a great mix of ages and nationalities, Swedes, French, Chinese, Japanese, Serb, A Brit teaching in Brazil, Czech, Ozzies, Kiwi’s, and lots if Irish. We also have 3 Neil’s!! Let’s not forget the South African lady, Leana, who, over the last 2 years, has cycled all the way here – respect!.

This is a duty free island so things like drink and chocolate are relatively cheap. 2 litres of Bacardi costs £11 whilst a can of beer costs 25p. That’s cheaper than a can of Diet Coke!! But, cheap booze aside, we have been very good in trying to keep to the diet with only one trip “off piste” when Cheryl regretted those extra Bacardi and cokes and spent the next day in and out of bed feeling miserable. She says “when will I ever learn”? “Never dear, probably never”!!

We do like Langkawi, it’s fun here, but we do miss the peace and tranquillity of Koh Chang. Langkawi is really quite touristy with lots of people and bars etc. There are also the world’s worst invention – Jet Ski’s. Zack’s is at the quiet end of town so we have to walk to go to the main shops etc. Since last year there has been quite a lot of development so this is probably the last time we will come here.

The New Years Eve celebrations commenced with the customary curry and beers followed by drinks in the guesthouse bar. We also took a break from the partying to go down to the beach to watch the “posh” hotels fireworks. It was full moon and quite magical sitting on the powdery white sand, sipping our homemade raspberry vodka & orange cocktail and watching the amazing firework displays for around 4kms down the island. There were also hundreds of Chinese lanterns being lit and floated into the sky.

After the fireworks died down we wandered into Holiday Villas, (very expensive) and blended with the guests who paid over £50 each for the buffet and entertainment. We managed to get one of the waiters to take our picture with the very large 2010 sign in the background. You will see from the pics that we “liberated” some garlands which we took back to Zack’s to hand out. It was quite hilarious as we blatantly walked through the hotel with all the staff wishing us a Happy New Year as we left. We giggled like naughty children all the way back to Zack’s. Flushed with our success at party crashing Neil wants to up the ante and get a full dinner as well next year. We’ve come to the conclusion that out here if you are western you just need to look confident and you can get away with most things.

Partying at Zacks went on until we don’t know when as we can’t find anyone that remembers who went to bed last or at what time. After Cheryl’s misbehaviour of a few days earlier we were much more careful and we were tucked up in bed by about 2.30 a.m.

We are relaxing or a couple more days here before heading to the bright lights of KL.

Boats, buses, taxis and dodgy immigration officials

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Cheryl & Neil

The long journey south to Malaysia started with a bracing early morning ferry ride to Ranong. The rest of the day’s travelling to Hat Yai was to be by bus. Now the “guide” books all say that the bus should take 5 hours. Just take one look at a map and even an amoeba could work out that in a lifetime of dreams it just wasn’t going to happen in 5 hours. No, our experience of bus travel is to take the guide book time and add 50%. That meant we were in for an 8 hour trip. Neil’s patience had only been tested up to 5 hours so this wasn’t going to be one of his better days. However, the bus was comfortable and the trip wasn’t so bad and we’ve now raised his threshold to 8 hours “daytime” running.

The trip was made all the more pleasant by Lisa and Gary who travelled from the island with us. They were on their way to Penang and travelled with us to Hat Yai. We found a hotel near the bus station, tried the local food at the busy night market and spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering around the colourful stalls. Lisa discovered she was pregnant whilst on Koh Chang and there is a possibility that she may have twins so we wish them both the best of luck….and are they going to need it!! Lisa, now that you are famous perhaps you could post a message on our blog to let our readers know the result of your scan in Penang.

Next morning we struggled to find a quick breakfast so we had our very first hotdog from the 7Eleven and a very strong local coffee. The onward journey from Hat Yai to Satun to the ferry was a fairly uneventful 90 minute minibus ride. We then had to wait about 2 hours for the ferry to set sail on the 60 minute crossing to Langkawi Island.

The time passed quite quickly and having bought our ticket it was time to queue for immigration. Generally speaking S E Asian immigration officials are good humoured unlike their US and UK counterparts. However, as we had overstayed our visa by 2 days, something we had forgotten about, we were whisked away to the back office to sit before two officials. Here we go again…..in trouble crossing a border, but this time at least it wasn’t over smuggling a bottle of local whisky as in Singapore last year. To cut a long story short, and despite a made up story of being too ill to travel, we were fined 2000 Baht, about £40. We protested in vain over what seemed to be a very high fine for a 2 day overstay, only to see the money slip gently into the side pocket of one of the officials. Yes it’s annoying but we were in the wrong and that’ll be a lesson to us that we won’t forget in a hurry.

The crossing was fine and the taxi ride to Zackry Guesthouse pleasant so what started as a difficult day soon got slipped from our minds. We’re back on Langkawi Island for Christmas and New Year.

Too good to leave

Posted on December 20, 2009 by Cheryl & Neil

Things are so good here we changed our original plans and decided to stay an extra few nights but there was a good reason. The local Thai Bar (there are only 2 bars on the island) was hosting a free live ska/reggae band which we could not resist. These parties don’t happen very often so we felt obliged to give them our support.

We’ve been here almost 2 weeks, haven’t seen a cloud and yet, on the night it chose to rain…yah boo sucks!! (warm rain Paul, warm rain..) Did anyone care? Naaa, not a problem. The music was not bad at all for a Thai band with dreadlocks.

Things were going really well, when disaster struck!! The generator packed up at about 10.30 p.m. the place was in darkness, the rain continued to fall and more people squashed into the tiny bar area and the pungent aroma of weed strengthened. The locals started to sing and clap to keep the party going.

All in all, a fun night but a shame for the Thai rasta owner who organised it, as we suspect he makes an entire season’s profits on the party night.

Getting back to the bungalow was a laugh. After a few cocktails we had two options, both in total darkness. First, walk the extremely rickety bridge over the Khlong (canal) and risk falling into the mud up to your neck or to wade through the khlong further along the beach. We chose, with Lisa and Gary, to wade, as it was only knee high water to get to the party. However, the tide had risen through the evening. Cheryl was up to her chin in water and the wallet containing the money had to be dried out next day. But it was funny and we did laugh so much.

There was a bonus. As we were soaked we walked through the water along the beach at high tide. The fluorescent plankton in the surf was absolutely amazing….we’ve never seen anything like it. Stars in the sea.

Other things we forgot to mention in our original blog entry.

Electricity arrives in the bungalow at about 18.00hrs and goes off, around 10 or 11ish with about 5 minutes notice, from the man closing up shop. He does give you a candle.
The resort owner makes his own wine – elegantly served up in a beer Chang bottle sealed with plastic and an elastic band.
Our favourite restaurant has 2 Mynah Birds that mimic the owner’s hacking cough and throat clearing plus the sound of squealing brakes of the motor bikes as they pass.
Sven, local German resident, had his arse bit by a scorpion the other morning. That’ll teach him not to shake his shorts out before he puts them on.
Nothing is done in a hurry here, food is cooked from fresh and takes time…….lots of time.
Neil recognised a guy on the beach. He’s been travelling quite a few years, we first met him in Goa 5 and 4 years ago and now he’s here on the island in a different resort…..small world huh!??

Sadly we are leaving our island haven and are moving on tomorrow. Ferry boat at 8am then bus from Ranong to Hat Yai – Neil is already getting excited by the prospect of 8 hours on a bus.

Simples…..

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Cheryl & Neil

Life here on Koh Chang (Elephant Island) is probably what it was on most Thai islands when tourism was in its infancy. The island has no cars, a few motor bikes and two narrow concrete roads that go north south and east west. The rest of the island is just dirt trails through the cashew and rubber plantations. There is no hassle in the two mini markets or in the ‘heaving metropolis’ in the centre of the island where there are two further shops (one stocking designer ‘Prado’ flipflops!). Yes, that’s 4 shops in total on the island. Definitely no hard sell here. It is such a different place and it does take a little getting used to but the longer we’re here the more it’s getting under our skin. This is the slow pace that people often dream about but here it’s for real.

The journey here aboard the 24 seat VIP was relatively painless except that it wasn’t very comfortable nor did we get much sleep. Arriving bleary eyed in Ranong at 5 a.m. was fascinating as the town was still asleep and within 30 minutes it began to surface. Shutters opened, people began to set up tables with offerings and shortly after 6.00 a.m. the monks arrived to collect alms from the shop keepers….it was just a superb feeling watching a scruffy border town, not a tourist town, come to life.

Once on the longtail boat, we had a relaxing trip to the island. It operates like a bus, stopping at each resort allowing tourists to get off and locals to deliver important supplies of food, ice and drinks directly onto the beach. The ferry runs 3 times a day in the dry season and pretty much stops in the rainy season.

Our resort contains a UK resident, David, who arrived 10 years ago and now only goes home to renew his visa. He’s 70, knows all the gossip (for such a small island there’s lots of gossip) and even stays through the rainy season which is when most things close, most people leave the island except for a few hardened long stay Europeans and resident rubber and cashew farmers.

We’ve met some other really interesting people, Gabby from Canada and Olivia from Ireland. They met a few days ago and are travelling together via the island to Bangkok. Gabby is teaching English in Korea and Olivia is on her way home after a 12 month round the world trip. Gabby has gained our upmost respect when after a heavy night out, she had the presence of mind to throw up in her hand bag rather than the floor of a taxi…..much to the distress of her now knackered camera…hey, better than paying the clean up fine?

Hot news. Someone has had their clothes laundered and everyone is playing detective to find the owner of a pair of adult Superman Y-fronts seen hanging on the line. At the time of going to print no one is admitting liability.

Our cabin is right on the front of the resort, about 20 metres from the sea. Whilst the location is definitely 5* the cabin can only be described as having rustic charm. Wooden bungalow with easy access private bathroom, (that means no door!!). There’s a hammock on the deck that we fight over and a bed with mozzie net to make up for the gaps in the panels. It’s the ultimate in simple living. But it is home and it is quite fabulous to fall asleep at night listening to the waves…….zzzzzzzzz. Oh, and don’t forget that it costs just over £7/night!

The food here is fine and pretty cheap, and there is a large German influence here so the breakfast comes with some of the best homemade bread we’ve had since leaving the UK. There is also great fresh brewed coffee and an honesty system which means you just help yourself to beers etc and just fill in your book…….so, so civilised and trusting in 2009.

Whilst we type this in the bar the sister of the owner of the “resort” is doing some washing. She keeps singing, beautifully, and it keeps reminding us of the lady collecting water in the cartoon version of The Jungle Book…..we’re sure some of you will remember her voice. Again, as we type, the resident bar Gecko makes his “Geck-ko” call to the amusement of all here.

In summary, this is probably the nearest we’ll get to a rustic, unspoilt paradise. Life is the slowest we’ve seen on any beach we’ve been on. We thought Goa was laid back but that was “upright” compared to this place. There’s a good chance we’ll be back.

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