Travel Dairy
Well ok, this isn't really a travel diary, but it is a collection of group E-Mails that Dave and Jen have been sending all us here back home.I have slightly edited these entries so that they just pertain to their holiday - i.e.. I've removed the personal messages, instructions and any phone numbers... But that's all except for the odd spelling correction.
But enough dawdle... here are the entries...
DECEMBER 1999
S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 JANUARY 2000
S M T W T F S 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 FEBRUARY 2000
S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 28
Jen here now, giving Dave's typing a rest. Well ......the flight was fine, a little tetchy perhaps as it was the middle of the night, we got lost finding our hotel which is a chandelier extravaganza. We feel very out of place and as soon as the bell hop person left our room with a meagre 10 baht tip in hand (I didn't realise just how little a contribution that was) we laughed while throwing ourselves on the satin covered bed!!!!!!
Buddha's in gold, dodgy tuk tuk people who pretend to be very helpful, and are, sort of. I feel like I've been here a week not a few hours!
We are resting our feet for a while and enjoying the air con of a disgusting mega mart (globalisation is well and truly a shambles!).
Thanks for all the well wishes, we really appreciate it. It was a teary farewell and we will miss you more than we ever imagined, you don't know what you've got till you're gone and wandering a strange city with a different language and crazy malakas everywhere!!!
Please give our cuddles to Jarrah we have seen many puppies and are quite sad to be away from her. (yes that goes for Davey also).
Tonight we will go to the Thai festival (it is a Buddhist holiday today - we think, the tuk tuk drivers have told us this but you honestly can never tell).
Well this message time is a hell of a lot more chilled than the last. this place is amazing and once you manage to get a grip on the culture it is a hell of a lot easier. It really is a beautiful way of both being scammed and scamming others, this place is made for those like Az.
We went to a mega mega marketplace today its about 100,00 times bigger than Paddy's and with a hell of a lot more class. We haggled bargained and ate our way through, that seems to be the way of life here. Can't wait to get up north which we will be doing tomorrow going to the old capital, circa pre 18th cent looks great on paper.
I really love this whole experience though it really is just a case of " chill out and just let it all flow around you. Chrissy tell al that I am currently drinking and loving "Chang beer" that's the elephant one get pissed lager. Well that's about my techno fear for the night love you all folks and in the words of the blues brothers (the Quando scene) "don't you go changing".
Hey its Jen here now... well well well, bkk is crazy but actually very endearing. No more tuk tuk drivers taking us for weird rides, and hello yummy street stalls!!! The eating culture is incredible, food almost 24 hrs. a day. We ate tonight at a night market at the national sports stadium - beef soup with noodle (Dave), roasted chicken and green pawpaw salad and a few sweet nibblies that were great colours and indescribable. We never made it to the festival as jet lag caught us!!!
We are most certainly away from the satin sheets world of the asia hotel. We attempted to stay at a place recommend by Jack but was full although a very spunky boy answered the gate so we may well return there!!!!! Thai people are mostly wonderfully friendly and helpful. You cannot stand on a street lost without someone wanting to help you (whether they have ulterior motives or not). We are starting to haggle with the best of them although as you probably can imagine dave and I are the kindest and most polite hagglers known to man!!!!! We haven't purchased anything too extravagant - although this place is a shopping mecca (Jilly would love it!).
We head north tomorrow and then new years on Ko Mak a small island with our friends pip and warwick. we will write again soon and will even send pretty pictures.
There is so much to tell you all about the sights, smells, tastes etc. but unfortunately the baht are racking up.
We are having a gas gas gas, we have escaped the cities and are currently in old Sukothai, a world heritage historical village. We are staying with a huge and friendly family in a traditional Thai teak hose. There are chickens (Janey!!!) and dogs and puppies who are still suckling their mum (so cute) and heaps of family, it's great. The world heritage area is temple ruins, much like Ayutthaya (our last stop). We have met a german couple who we are currently hanging out with. They are very much like us and it's really fun to have 4 of us. The people in old Sukothai are great, although the choice in food is pretty limited and I'm pretty sick of fried rice and vegetables. We have hired bikes for the last 3 days and have biked everywhere today we rode into new Sukothai (the big town) to get Supplies and good food (yummy coconut soup).
We plan to chill out in old Sukothai and then we will head south to an island called Ko Mak. We will then go north again to Chaing Mai and then into Laos with the germans. Apparently there is a winter monsoon in Chaing Mai and the coldest temps for years, about 4 degrees is what we've heard - eeek!!! It's very funny to see the Thai people in sarongs and thongs with fur coats balaclavas and beanies, they think it's freezing. During the day is beautiful, much like Sydney weather, at night it is cooler.
Last night we sat around the family fire and used our trangia (thanks W & V) to make chai for everyone - I had heaps of fun buying the herbs and spices at the market.
There are so many sights and sounds that i couldn't describe them all. We are trying to get off the lonely planet trail a bit, and ride through villages etc rather than the main roads, it's much more fun. We feel a bit like movie stars in these areas, everyone wants to get your attention and wave and laugh at us. We had a man offer us a chicken today - I nearly wet my pants when he came up behind me with a chook in his arms!!!!!!
We had a very interesting encounter yesterday with a thai monk. We were at a ruined wat and this monk in his saffron robes came over to talk to us. He had 10 dogs with him and was very friendly, he brought what looked to be the bow of a bow and arrow. It was made of bamboo and had Thai writing all over it - he was adamant the aesa and i couldn't touch it but gave d and Ben a go. it's used for catapulting rocks at people, birds etc. He gave a couple of demos, the first he hit a nearby house roof, then he hit the neighbour!!!!! Buddhism here is very strange!! Monks smoke, eat meat, hit people and birds with rocks etc. etc. He was a funny man and kept saying to us "not amazing thailand, olympic thailand!!!"
We are not doing a xmas thing but will try to call some people. Our thai is improving and we are communicating reasonably with people most of the time, it really helps.
Anyway times up and dave is ready to move on and it's very hot in here they have heaters on! it's probably 20 degrees outside. Have a great xmas time, much love to everyone,
Hello there world and happy millennium non-event. Hope the world outside hasn't really gone crazy. This has been our first day in the outside world for about a week. We spent the big one on a great and mellow little island complete with lost hippie travellers and very drunk yet happy Thai's. New years was made much more Thai by hanging out with a bunch of very very very pissed locals singing and playing drums and drinking and playing pool. No language barrier when your drunk just lots of banging on table drums glasses etc. and gesticulating wildly.
Apart from this we have spent the last week just plain chilling having a daily routine of wake up swim, eat ,swim, eat , walk ,swim ,snorkel, finishing the whole thing off with more food some booze, more for me than Jen and maybe another swim. Shit, aint life hard when your a beach bum. I was secretly hoping the world would go nuts so we could live Gilligans island style, (I had already scoped the well bits of fishing gear and numerous coconut opportunities) oh well some dreams just never become reality. I hope everyone had blaster of a new years and got suitably slaughtered.Well I better go ,were off to Chanmai and then to Lao tomorrow, as well as buying jen some new boots cause the doufous left them on the island this morning oh well there was bound to be some things (people) who just couldn't cope with the millennium
Jennys just aren't y2k OK. love ya all and get a dog up ya haaaaaaaaaa.Helllloooooo everybody!!! (Grover style) as Davey said I hope the millennium was a big beat up fizzer world wide - ours was very mellow indeed and we are feeling suitably sunned and surfed, although I still prefer Australian beaches (is that treason). It was great to hear of all your crazy adventures. I have to admit i had a few pangs of homesickness when we toasted NYE Sydney time! But we had a bottle of australian wine for the occasion
The Dore is the place to be. In fact Daveand I are making posters and advertising it as a backpackers adventure holiday!!!!!! (Come and have a true ozzie adventure at the Quarkenaart
Palace in the Dore where you will experience real live floods , reptiles, old porn mags and roo shooters!!! plus chickens chickens chickens. ) it's a goer.
Sawasdee from Chiang Mai,
We are in the north of Thailand the moment, and have just spent a great 5 days in a place up in the mountains called Pai. It was soooo beautiful! It was the place that hippy minded Thai's from the big cities retreated to to be full time artists and musicians. We stayed in some bungalows in a medicinal herb garden run by a professional Burmese masseuse.We have been hanging out with Martin (hi Martin welcome to our geek mail) who we met before new years. We met up in Chiang Mai and had great intentions of riding motorbikes to Pai (not that any of us had ever ridden before) , so Dave went and hired a 100cc Honda dream, jumped on and in true Marlon Brando style revved the shit out of the bike into on-coming traffic only to discover that motorbikes and mountain bikes are a little different!
So Dave came back to me white as a ghost saying I don't know if it's a very good idea, so then I went and had a go on the bike and of course was a pro first go (ha ha ha) and loved it - I'm sure Dave will tell you his version. When Martin turned up he jumped on and did pretty much the same thing Dave did - I think it's a boy thing! So we decided to take the bus to Pai. Did I hear a sigh of relief mum???
In Pai we walked through rice paddies and watched farmers and water buffalo do their thing, walked past acres of banana plantations and pretty much smiled at all the very happy and friendly locals. We met an American couple who we ended up meeting every night for dinner, chai and many Chang beers. They were fascinating and had lived in Pakistan and Guatemala and had amazing stories to tell - we even found very bad french white wine and spanish red wine to enjoy ( this could be the cause of yesterdays tummy bug for me!!!).
Anyway so we hired motorbikes and had a bit more road time before heading to the mountains to a place called Sop Pong (I must point out that Jen piked on going the whole way). Along the winding road we stopped off at a waterfall (which I thought was shitty and not worth the effort) and had many tribal women offer us opium, in fact one woman nearly yanked dave off his bike in an attempt to lure him into a sale - very strange selling techniques in the hills.
We cruised up through mountain areas where traditional tribal people were farming and weaving cloth (and might I add selling it to tourists like us). It was gorgeous countryside and the best way to see it. We all had very thunderbirds like helmets and though we were pretty easy rider, I even offered to stash all our cash in the fuel tank, only i couldn't figure out how to open it.
We found a swimming pool just outside of Pai town. It was an oasis in the heat, which might i add is winter - no cold in sight. Anyway there are many more tales but we have places to go - we are crossing the border into Laos tomorrow, I'm very excited. love to everyone.
Laos was great and beautiful. Lao Lao is potent and very tasty rice liquor. Opium is abundant. Tribal people are beautiful, but unfortunately being lured into becoming little more than sales people in their societies. The jungle is amazing. I can't describe to you the country because it i so unique and different (although similar in some aspects - constant comparisons hey clare) to Australia.
We are in Chiang Mai in transit, heading to Vietnam on the 7th. Sick of the big city already so have been bowling (!) and shopping for new threads, we no longer look like travelling dorks, but now stylish and kind of strange white guys.
Have to be quick because we're off on our motor bike for a beer chang.
Hello comrades,
Coming into vietnam was quite interesting in that we had to fill out a form stating our present health, ticking boxes with different symptoms. Since Jen was running a high fever we didn't know what to do, so we lied and said no symptoms. apart from this it was very mellow with no crazy border or customs people not even any touts waiting for us (it was the middle of tet
and everyone was at home drinking).Currently in Hanoi having as usual a really great time. It really is an amazing town full of French influence, both gastronomic and architecture. We have been doing a bit of museum hopping and getting a bit of a feel for the amazing struggle these people have been through in their attempt to find some form of freedom and independence. Since the 1st century AD they have been fighting agonised colonial rule, starting with the chinese. Went to the Ho Chi Minh museum which was really great and very thought provoking. He was a really amazing guy with an amazing vision. The sad thing is that this vision has faded a lot due to economic and military pressures (I blame the us). The people have embraced capitalism with a zeal I almost cannot believe.
Other than that the place is beautiful with great sights sounds and very cheap beer. I have been thinking of your struggles in the land of unions ,dad, after attending the revolutionary museum, much socialist inspiring visions. I keep thinking that if these people can overcome their adversity then anything is possible (hopefully with a lot less bloodshed).
We went on a pilgrimage to the perfume pagoda yesterday joining with thousands of Vietnamese It was a little bit weird but still an amazing experience climbing up granite steps that were perfectly polished after hundreds of years of pilgrim feet. We hope to go to Ha Long bay in the next day or so, everything around here seems to be tours or pay through the nose so it seems safer to do it that way. Bit of a bummer but we will in time find the alternative routes, possible by motorbike once again (woo hooo, We dig what Dennis Hopper said to
Peter Fonda about time) (reference to Easy Rider for the un initiated).We have fond a great local street food and beer provider where the people are great and are teaching us a little Vietnamese, mostly pronunciation which is really hard. Ming the owner gave all of the late staying "tuoy" (foreigner in vietnamese) freshly printed 100 dong (god I love the name of this currency, I have a big wad of dong in my pocket at all times and am pleased to see everyone) notes which is a great tourist souvenir but worth nothing as 8000 dong to the Aus $.
We have done a little shopping getting an Oscar Wilde inspired green velvet coat for me and a super spunky silk doi an (national dress for Vietnamese women) for Jen. I just got ripped off buying a uncle ho hat because the woman took off the socialist star ( which is all I wanted it for
really) while I wasn't looking and then scarpered off at an amazing rate while the reality dawned on me. Oh well only a dollar.Food here is great noodle soup in almost infinite variety and masses of French pastries, it really is an amazing thing this Indochine fare. Sitting down on street corners eating with the locals and watching the world go by, always on dinky chairs which do their best to implant your knees on the side of your head. I think the Vietnamese must also have problems because I
haven't met any who are two foot tall (excluding the kids that is).
Hello there folks and welcome to Hoi an and the south of vietnam where the multitudes of Australian tourists before us have taught the locals how to say stuff like " G'daymate, how are ya cobber". So I have decided to continue this tradition by teaching "Get a dog up ya" and "how's it hangin". Best thing for the vietnamese I feel.
It's been a bit of a weird one since finally managing to draw ourselves out of Hanoi after about two weeks or so there. It really is a big difference to the rest of the northern bits. Hoi An though is a pretty funky place with shitloads of tailors and pretty bloody quick and cheap ones at that. I'm getting a green/ gold shimmering silk suit with all the trimmings and Jen's
getting numerous silky attire.Apart from that this place is really chilled out and has a very nice vibe to it. All the buildings are very old and the streets seem to hold so much history as well as a very quiet charm. The kind of place that has encaptured thousands of lives over many years, and is slowly releasing the vibe now that time has slowed enough. There is a very good beach nearby and a beautiful river which flows upstream and to the sea, this is what made this town. It's history is that of a seaport and big trading town, but this has been for thousand years or so. Surrounding countryside has many old hindu inspired ruins, just like a mini ankor wat, barring the fact that the americans bombed the shit out of it, it really is something.
As per usual we jumped on motorbikes to get there and the heavens decided to open up. Man I
think we said something bad to god one day, sorry buddy. The rain stopped enough to see the ruins then decided to start again as soon as we got back on the bikes. The best thing about it was seeing Jen looking like snoopy as the red baron, riding her motorbike complete with beanie and goggles. The beanies ear flaps flying in the breeze like ears with a serious look of
concentration on her face, a real moto fiend she is.Thanks for the description D, I don't know about moto fiend,.I find the concentration quite intense, there are cars, trucks, bikes, moto's, children, dogs, buffalo and potholes all to look out for as well as rain and direction...
Hello!!! Vietnam between Hanoi and Hoi An was pretty dismal, rainy and windy and cold. We stayed in a Truckin' town south of Hoi an where the trucks honk their horns ritually all day and night (I nearly went insane from the noise). I got grumpy and demanded that the hotel move us to a quieter room, well really we both got grumpy the place was awful - I named it the Gosford of hanoi! (sorry to those who have already heard this story)
We then moved to Hue by death bus (and made it.... just) where surprisingly enough it was wet (i think Hue is always wet) but we got to look around the old imperial palace, which was also destroyed by bombing. We also visited one of the old emperor's tomb - which was a gorgeous and extravagant garden complex, somewhere very very nice to spend your dying or even living days. We were rained off motor bikes in Hue and never got to make a camping trip to the national park nearby, so we moved south to Hoi An.
Hoi An is gorgeous, very touristy but so beautiful and a VERY prosperous town. Travellers here are all so well dressed, everyone is getting fittings for new threads and then wandering the streets in their new finery, happy to get out of the stinky cargo pants. We have also been sucked in and it is so fun. We found a great tailor and went a bit crazy with the cheese whizz, as dave has already alluded to. Someone will have to invite us somewhere so D can wear this
amazing Thai silk suit, it really is outrageous and very beautiful. I have had an ao dai made from vietnamese silk (i.e. traditional Veit dress), as well as some pants and a few chinese silk tops.
We are currently contemplating silk doona cover and pillowcases - although we seem to be forking out loads of dong and USD, it really is ludicrously cheap, no really!!!Hoi An also had very unique local foods specialities, which has been fun to try. One dish is called white rose, and it's rice flour dumplings with shrimp inside, presented on your plate like a bowl of roses. There are also wontons here to die for (or so Dave claims), and a special noodle dish called cao lao which is made only with water from a specific well in the town
(this has turned me off trying it, the wells look a bit festy to me).Overall Hoi An is food and shopping mecca and very beautiful surrounds and peaceful (no honking of horns) so for me it is heaven, for my bank balance it may be scary!