I spent three weeks total in the Philippines, one at the beginning of August, one at the end of August beginning of September and one at the end of September. I had no issues using the ATM's in SM Clark during my first two stays in AC, however on the third i was given a suprise by my bank. Knowing that i was returning to the Philippines I had converted most of my cash (with the exception of 6 dollars) with the knowledge that I could just run to SM Clark and use an ATM if I needed more money, or for larger purchases use my Visa (all issued by the same bank).
Part of my plan was to head to Boracay for a Saturday through Monday, and return to Manila from Boracay to head home on Tuesday. I booked with the travel agent in the hotel on Friday for two people to go to boracay, hotel and flights for 15K peso, it was a package deal and worked out to be the easiest for me. Once everything was arranged the travel agent let me know that everything needed to be paid by 2PM. I said no problem and headed over to SM Clark to use the ATM. I used the first ATM and got the message to contact my Financial institution, having gotten this message in the past, i simply went to another ATM as I had in the past and the problem should be resolved, i went to the next atm and got the same message, and again at the third and fourth, not sure what was going on, i paid attention to the message at the fourth ATM and realized i was attempting to withdrawal more than the maximum allowed by the ATM. Damn, i blocked my card and would need to call my bank to unblock the card, i went back to the travel agent and let her know what i had done and she was cool, i asked her if their were any alternatives, and she said she could run it through as a visa payment, cool, i handed her my card and was willing to suck up the 7.5% fee attached to the credit card purchase. My card came back declined, shit, this isn't good, the block from using the ATMs wouldn't affect a visa purchase, at this point i've got a minimal amount of peso's in my pocket and not nearly enough to pay for the trip. I tell the travel agent that i need to contact my bank, but that they won't be open for another 7 hours cause their based in the US and don't have any type of after hours support. She was comfortable with that and said she would leave the tickets and info at the receptionist of the hotel and to just leave the money for the tickets their and they would release them to me when i paid.
At 8:00 i called my bank and made sure that their was not issues, their was a block on my card from trying to withdrawal at too many ATM's, and she did inform me that that should not have affected my Visa purchase. The Visa purchase was explained to me by customer service to be declined due to an update to the system, some kind of maintenance and upgrade to the system they were attempting to do when it wouldn't inconvenience any customers. This i took as complete bull shit but the card was working again and thats all i cared about. So now that that was fixed it was back to SM clark to use the atm again. This time i got the same message, this wasn't making sense, why was my card still not working, i again tried additional ATM's and after still getting the same message to contact my financial institution i called the bank again. This time, as with each time i called i advised them that i was in the Philippines and didn't have a lot of phone time, so of course knowing this the daft cow at customer service put me on hold for 7 minutes. I hung up and called back and got another, ever so pleasant customer service agent who advised me that my bank had placed the Philippines on their blacklist....meaning that all ATM and Visa purchases would not be allowed from that country due to the increased amount of fraud that was emanating from the country. My initial though was Oh Shit....I didn't have enough money on me to pay for to the trip to Boracay, pay for my hotel, take a taxi to the airport, pay the departure fee if their was one, or pay for any food in boracay once we got their....i was trapped in the third world with no money, i didn't even have enough to take a bus back to manila to catch my flight home.
In a panic i immediately start calling family back home, i finally get ahold of my grandfather in Alaska, and he agrees to western union me money. I call him back an hour later and everything is set to pick up. I go to four Western Unions, two are closed and two are out of money, i didn't realize their were so many WU's until Sunday, but its 2AM and I still don't have any money and have been told by the security guard at the two WU's with no money to come back at 8. Shit, i'm supposed to leave for Boracay at 6 AM to catch the 8 AM flight out of Clark. Well looks like i'm not going, i've got to get the money issue resolved before doing anything, hindsight tells me that i probably could have gone to a WU in Boracay. At 8 AM i go to another WU in AC to try to get the wire transfer, not a proficient person with the intricacies of Western Union i wasn't aware i needed the MTCN number, after playing phone tag with my Grandfather for 2 hours i finally get the number i need, fill out the form and submit it for payment. 10 minutes later the clerk tells me that he cannot find the payment, i tell him to check again. Now another wave of panic comes over me, I call my grandfather back and review the receipt with him, and low and behold we find the problem, the money went to Poland. He goes back to the Western Union, hoping its not closed at this point to try to get this fixed, only he doesn't go to the WU where he did the transfer from, he calls me back to let me know that he's not able to get this resolved until morning. A side note with a lot of irony, the clerk at the western union in the US was Filipino. The plot thickens, the town my grandfather lives in is having a festival that starts on Saturday and the town essentially closes down for it, so this may not get resolved in Monday. Now this sends me into a panic attack...i'm stuck, and a monday resolution means late monday night before the transfer can be fixed, leading possibly into to Tuesday Philippines time (theirs a 16 hour time difference between where my grandfather is and the philippines) and my flight leaves 6:30 AM Tuesday.
In a state of panic all afternoon (waiting for morning in the US), i pace around the hotel until 8 PM so that i can call another family member to attempt another wire transfer in the off chance that the one my grandfather sent doesn't come through. I get ahold of my father to send money, he graciously (even though i woke him up) went out and did it right away. My luck was beginning to change, i check back in with him an hour and a half later and the transfer has gone through, i get the MTCN number and were good to go. As i get around to head out to the WU, i get another phone call a couple hours later that the transfer my grandfather had sent has gone through. Its now after midnight and I'm ready to head out and collect, again the same situation as the night before, only this time all the WU's are closed. This is really starting to get old.
Sunday Morning has now come and I'm still without a means to pay for anything at this point. I have informed the hotel of my situation, and they are very understanding, this morning they have agreed to help me find a WU that is open, and has money. Jackpot they find one. I get a trike and a member of the hotel staff goes with me, as now i have over a 1000 us waiting for me. I get to the Western Union, fill out the necessary forms and 20 minutes later am walking out with money in my pocket. i think i may have even skipped out of the western union, a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
What really chapped my ass through all of this is that my bank didn't even notify of the change, you'd think having used my cards in 11 countries (including the philipines on two different dates) they would have made some sort of notification. Even today i'm still not able to find anything on my banks website to tell me what countries my cards will not work in. As for the trip to Boracay, The person i was taking has been able to rebook for november 9th. I covered those fees upon checking out of the hotel so she's all set.
So next course of action for me is to establish an account at an international bank like HSBC prior to my next visit to make sure that this doesn't happen again.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Thailand to the Philippines
http://picasaweb.google.com/pdullock/Brunei?authkey=n24us40fJ0c#
So after the disappointing news from United I decided to do the easiest trip, and that was to Brunei. This would require me flying to Kuala Lumpur, then to Brunei, back to Kuala Lumpur then to the Philippines. This seems convoluted and out of the way but it was actually 100 USD cheaper than flying from Thailand to Brunei round trip then to the Philippines.
I left Thailand on the 23rd, early in the morning to get to the Bangkok airport, i flew Air Asia (great looking stewardesses) to KL, with a few hour layover, and headed to Brunei, it was a taxing day as i didn't get much sleep from the night before, and spending time in airports isn't actually the time of your life. The only odd thing that happened was after clearing immigration the customers agent wanted to have an in depth conversation about 9/11. Now I'm all about random conversations but this topic was not one that i wanted to have with a customs agent in a Muslim country. It felt like he was setting me up to say something bad either about the US or Islam, and either way i just answered his questions with a lot happened and has happened since then, avoiding giving him a personal opinion which he was pushing for. The flight to Brunei was good, i met a couple from New Zealand (actually he was from New Zealand, she was from London, and they both were living in Australia) who were transiting through Brunei to explore Borneo, they had some interesting stories and were getting anxious as their trip was coming to a close as well and they were both excited to go home and see their families.
Landing in Brunei and clearing immigration was a breeze, i thought i would be issued a visa on arrival, but it was much more simplistic and a stamp in the passport and I was off. After exiting the airport, the couple I had met and I decided to share a taxi into the city, as the taxi's didn't use meters and we were heading toward the same area. (the capital city isn't that big, and it takes about 20 minutes to drive from one side to the other and just a little more time to traverse the country). As we went to the Taxi stand line and stood their alone we did notice one odd thing, their were no taxis. We asked an airport employee if we were in the right queue, and she said yes, but that their were a minimum number of taxi's and they didn't always come to the airport, or even go out. She told us she would call the taxi company and send some out to the airport, and we thanked her. The taxi driver was a nice guy, his name was Ossie, and he spoke great english and had quite a decorated past. He served in the Brunei Army, and then on the Sultans personal detail on his private plane. I got the impression that he was retired and driving a taxi for something to do. We dropped the new zealand couple off at their hotel first, then to my hotel. I got Ossies contact information and asked him how much he would charge to hire him for the day for sight seeing, he quoted me $75 for the day (8 hours total), this was a bargain, and less than it cost to hire the taxi in Batam.
The next day i slept in, the bed at the hotel i stayed was probably one of the softest i had slept in at any point on the trip, i had breakfast and hung out at the hotel lounging until around 11 and then checked out. I had the receptionist contact ossie to pick me up to see the sights. She asked me how much i was paying for the day, and when i told her she seemed shocked and amazed as most of the taxi drivers apparently charge from 25-35 dollars an hour to do sightseeing.
The trip around the capital city was nice. We started at the National Museum and took around 2.5 hours to go through it. The collections included the sulatans private peices detailing the history of Islam, the oil and gas industry in Brunei, daily life, indigenous plants and animals and then a section on the sultans of Brunei (which has the longest hereditary monarchy in history). One interesting thing was that the museum did not allow any photography outside of the main lobby so i had to lock my camera in the lockers provided. In fact i think i was the only visitor to the museum, and was suprised that after around 15 minutes in the museum Ossie the taxi driver had joined me, he asked if I minded him going through the museum with me as he had not been their since it opened. I didn't mind, and he was able to explain some of the items related to the history of Brunei which was just like having a tour guide.
After the Museum we headed out to the coast to see the fish market and see the beaches, which were vacant, not a single customer, or beach goer, this didn't suprise me as we were in the middle of Ramadan. After the beach we headed to the Sultans residence, i was a bit disappointed that more could not be seen from the street but what could be seen was still impressive. The archway along the drive way was huge, and at the end of it in front of the house you could see a large fountain, and above the tree line you could see a gold dome. The house itself cost around 3 billion to build, and is opened to the public during a festival in October, and by opened, residents of Brunei can go meet the Sultan and are given complete access to the house, you could actually go to the fridge and help yourself to whatever leftovers might be available!
After the sultans house we headed to the national mosque, it was quite impressive and reminded me of the national mosque in KL. From their is was to the National Mausoleum where the sultans are buried. Just like in Cambodia I was shocked by the lack of personal space with the dead. the Mausoleum was built right on top of the graves of those that were their before, in fact their were breaks in the foundation where grave markers were. The other interesting point with the NM was that in addition to the Sultans and their spouses, the graveyard also served as the final resting place for the inhabitants of the water village. The next stop was a walk to the end of the parking lot of the NM to view the Water Village itself. This is an impressive set up and really seems a contradiction to Brunei in that it at one point was the wealthiest per capita country in the world, and still remains one of them. The Water village is self sufficient, a Mosque, Apartment Buildings, schools all built right over the river. The government of Brunei is systematically rebuilding the water village starting with the parts that are the most run down. The houses that we could see seemed to be quite decrepit and one even had quite a lean t to it, almost to the point where it looked like it was about to fall over.
Once back in the car, Ossie asked me if I wanted to go to the Malaysian border for a beer, and let me know that their were girls their as well. He suggested the Malaysian border because Brunei is a dry country and you can bring alcohol into the country but not find any when your their. This was only after 4 hours of touring the country. I asked him if their was anything else to see, he quickly responded no, we've seen it all. We drove around for a while longer before heading back to the airport at 5. This was three hours before my flight left, but as it was Ramadan, I felt guilty asking him to take me somewhere to eat and having to eat in front of him so I settled on Chicken Tocino at the Jollibee in the Brunei airport. This would mark the only time that i would eat at a Jollibee throughout my entire trip.
Once back in KL i made the genius decision to sleep at the airport. My flight landed at 11, and after clearing immigration it was close to 11:30, and my flight to the Philippines left at 7:30 the next morning. This meant i had 6 hours, and to get a hotel would only leave me with approximately 3 hours to sleep, not a sound investment, and as I had yet to sleep in an airport on the trip, i was up for the experience. The Low Cost Terminal for those interested is very uncomfortable, they are redoing the main roadway in front of the terminal and had cordoned off the section at the terminal with corrugated steel walls in effect expanding the "lobby" area in front of the terminal. Several benches had been sporadically placed around where this new road had been poured as well as on the sidewalk, people were sleeping everywhere, benches, luggage trolleys, on the ground, it was like the pictures you see of the airports in the US when massive amounts of flights are canceled during the holidays. Apparently i wasn't the only one with the idea of sleeping in the airport to ensure catching an early morning flight.
Once i was checked in for the flight i met an interesting Filipino women named Ilene (she had her name written in large block letters on her soduko puzzle book) who was very interested in me meeting her 18 year old niece. Almost to the point of being adamant, like having her meet us at the airport when the plane landed. As politely as I could i declined her offer, and almost suggested she go into selling used cars.
Back in the Philippines.
So after the disappointing news from United I decided to do the easiest trip, and that was to Brunei. This would require me flying to Kuala Lumpur, then to Brunei, back to Kuala Lumpur then to the Philippines. This seems convoluted and out of the way but it was actually 100 USD cheaper than flying from Thailand to Brunei round trip then to the Philippines.
I left Thailand on the 23rd, early in the morning to get to the Bangkok airport, i flew Air Asia (great looking stewardesses) to KL, with a few hour layover, and headed to Brunei, it was a taxing day as i didn't get much sleep from the night before, and spending time in airports isn't actually the time of your life. The only odd thing that happened was after clearing immigration the customers agent wanted to have an in depth conversation about 9/11. Now I'm all about random conversations but this topic was not one that i wanted to have with a customs agent in a Muslim country. It felt like he was setting me up to say something bad either about the US or Islam, and either way i just answered his questions with a lot happened and has happened since then, avoiding giving him a personal opinion which he was pushing for. The flight to Brunei was good, i met a couple from New Zealand (actually he was from New Zealand, she was from London, and they both were living in Australia) who were transiting through Brunei to explore Borneo, they had some interesting stories and were getting anxious as their trip was coming to a close as well and they were both excited to go home and see their families.
Landing in Brunei and clearing immigration was a breeze, i thought i would be issued a visa on arrival, but it was much more simplistic and a stamp in the passport and I was off. After exiting the airport, the couple I had met and I decided to share a taxi into the city, as the taxi's didn't use meters and we were heading toward the same area. (the capital city isn't that big, and it takes about 20 minutes to drive from one side to the other and just a little more time to traverse the country). As we went to the Taxi stand line and stood their alone we did notice one odd thing, their were no taxis. We asked an airport employee if we were in the right queue, and she said yes, but that their were a minimum number of taxi's and they didn't always come to the airport, or even go out. She told us she would call the taxi company and send some out to the airport, and we thanked her. The taxi driver was a nice guy, his name was Ossie, and he spoke great english and had quite a decorated past. He served in the Brunei Army, and then on the Sultans personal detail on his private plane. I got the impression that he was retired and driving a taxi for something to do. We dropped the new zealand couple off at their hotel first, then to my hotel. I got Ossies contact information and asked him how much he would charge to hire him for the day for sight seeing, he quoted me $75 for the day (8 hours total), this was a bargain, and less than it cost to hire the taxi in Batam.
The next day i slept in, the bed at the hotel i stayed was probably one of the softest i had slept in at any point on the trip, i had breakfast and hung out at the hotel lounging until around 11 and then checked out. I had the receptionist contact ossie to pick me up to see the sights. She asked me how much i was paying for the day, and when i told her she seemed shocked and amazed as most of the taxi drivers apparently charge from 25-35 dollars an hour to do sightseeing.
The trip around the capital city was nice. We started at the National Museum and took around 2.5 hours to go through it. The collections included the sulatans private peices detailing the history of Islam, the oil and gas industry in Brunei, daily life, indigenous plants and animals and then a section on the sultans of Brunei (which has the longest hereditary monarchy in history). One interesting thing was that the museum did not allow any photography outside of the main lobby so i had to lock my camera in the lockers provided. In fact i think i was the only visitor to the museum, and was suprised that after around 15 minutes in the museum Ossie the taxi driver had joined me, he asked if I minded him going through the museum with me as he had not been their since it opened. I didn't mind, and he was able to explain some of the items related to the history of Brunei which was just like having a tour guide.
After the Museum we headed out to the coast to see the fish market and see the beaches, which were vacant, not a single customer, or beach goer, this didn't suprise me as we were in the middle of Ramadan. After the beach we headed to the Sultans residence, i was a bit disappointed that more could not be seen from the street but what could be seen was still impressive. The archway along the drive way was huge, and at the end of it in front of the house you could see a large fountain, and above the tree line you could see a gold dome. The house itself cost around 3 billion to build, and is opened to the public during a festival in October, and by opened, residents of Brunei can go meet the Sultan and are given complete access to the house, you could actually go to the fridge and help yourself to whatever leftovers might be available!
After the sultans house we headed to the national mosque, it was quite impressive and reminded me of the national mosque in KL. From their is was to the National Mausoleum where the sultans are buried. Just like in Cambodia I was shocked by the lack of personal space with the dead. the Mausoleum was built right on top of the graves of those that were their before, in fact their were breaks in the foundation where grave markers were. The other interesting point with the NM was that in addition to the Sultans and their spouses, the graveyard also served as the final resting place for the inhabitants of the water village. The next stop was a walk to the end of the parking lot of the NM to view the Water Village itself. This is an impressive set up and really seems a contradiction to Brunei in that it at one point was the wealthiest per capita country in the world, and still remains one of them. The Water village is self sufficient, a Mosque, Apartment Buildings, schools all built right over the river. The government of Brunei is systematically rebuilding the water village starting with the parts that are the most run down. The houses that we could see seemed to be quite decrepit and one even had quite a lean t to it, almost to the point where it looked like it was about to fall over.
Once back in the car, Ossie asked me if I wanted to go to the Malaysian border for a beer, and let me know that their were girls their as well. He suggested the Malaysian border because Brunei is a dry country and you can bring alcohol into the country but not find any when your their. This was only after 4 hours of touring the country. I asked him if their was anything else to see, he quickly responded no, we've seen it all. We drove around for a while longer before heading back to the airport at 5. This was three hours before my flight left, but as it was Ramadan, I felt guilty asking him to take me somewhere to eat and having to eat in front of him so I settled on Chicken Tocino at the Jollibee in the Brunei airport. This would mark the only time that i would eat at a Jollibee throughout my entire trip.
Once back in KL i made the genius decision to sleep at the airport. My flight landed at 11, and after clearing immigration it was close to 11:30, and my flight to the Philippines left at 7:30 the next morning. This meant i had 6 hours, and to get a hotel would only leave me with approximately 3 hours to sleep, not a sound investment, and as I had yet to sleep in an airport on the trip, i was up for the experience. The Low Cost Terminal for those interested is very uncomfortable, they are redoing the main roadway in front of the terminal and had cordoned off the section at the terminal with corrugated steel walls in effect expanding the "lobby" area in front of the terminal. Several benches had been sporadically placed around where this new road had been poured as well as on the sidewalk, people were sleeping everywhere, benches, luggage trolleys, on the ground, it was like the pictures you see of the airports in the US when massive amounts of flights are canceled during the holidays. Apparently i wasn't the only one with the idea of sleeping in the airport to ensure catching an early morning flight.
Once i was checked in for the flight i met an interesting Filipino women named Ilene (she had her name written in large block letters on her soduko puzzle book) who was very interested in me meeting her 18 year old niece. Almost to the point of being adamant, like having her meet us at the airport when the plane landed. As politely as I could i declined her offer, and almost suggested she go into selling used cars.
Back in the Philippines.
Monday, September 22, 2008
A Quick Update (9.22.08)
I talked to united this afternon, to change my flight home from 9.30.08 to 10.14.08 it would cost me 1,400, which is more than i paid for the round trip flight....based on this new information i'm coming home one the 30th....this also means that Australia and New Zealand are out of the questions. I'll be taking off from Thailand tomorrow to Kuala Lumpur and then to Brunei, returning to Kuala Lumpur. From their its to Hong Kong, over to Macau then back to the Philippines. The discombobulated route is based on price, its cheaper to fly to Hong Kong take the ferry to Macau then fly from Macau to the Philippines. Go Figure. See everyone soon!!!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Laos
5 Hours after crossing the border with the insufferable bus driver(s), who by the way put on the Aqua's (I'm a Barbie Girl) Greatest Hits video disc at full volume upon leaving the border just to be that guy we arrived in Vientienne the capital city. The Irish lasses ran to an ATM to pay me back the 40 USD they borrowed to get their visa's and bailed, in fact they payed me back 500,000 Kip, which was well over 50 USD, i even tried to give them 100k back and they balked, at least something good is happening to my karma. We managed to hook up with 7 germans who were looking to go to the same place we were Viang Vien. We managed to hire a private minibus for 50,000 kip a person (1:8652), and because their was now nine of us we had much more bargaining power for a 9 passenger minibus. The drive took 4.5 hours and was hell, the road was very comparable to the one to Siem Reap, filled with potholes and very dangerous, as this one was winding up and down mountains. The kicker was that the driver was feeling ill and continually rolled his window down, thus increasing the tempeture in the back of the minibus by 10 degress making everyone miserable, it only took 5 times each time he rolled it down for him to roll it back up. We arrived in Vang Vien shortly after 9 and it was pitch black out. We wandered around town, the germans with their lonely planet guides, and James and I just following not really wanting to get involved in the decision making process they were debating in German. Finally after looking at 3 guest houses the germans sent the two ladies of the group out to find the guest house as they were the ones vetoing each one we came across. We finally settled on one in the center of town, for a whopping 30K Kip a night (less than 4 dollars). To boot several of the germans thought they were paying too much. The room was complete with a bed, bathroom (no flushing toliet), and a table, what more could we ask for.
The purpose of going to Vang Vien was the tubing. What this involves as many can guess is floating down a river in an inflated innertube...the kicker is that their are 15 bars along the river that you can stop at as you go along, each complete with either a rope swing, or zip line that you can take out into the water. While tubing the first day (yes I went more than once) we ran into several English guys who liked to have a good time, they had brought with them several bottles of vodka and 16 bottles of red bull, the good times were a going!!! As the day went on the courage, albeit liquid, increased in many of the tubers whom where taking more and more risks on the swings. These swings were probably 30 feet above the water and at their pinnacle you were probably 40-50 feet above the water when you let go. I got brave on the first swing, made it to the top and nearly barfed from how high up I was....i did however try the zip line at the second bar, and decided that that was my adventure on the swings and lines for the tubing adventure as when i hit the water my feet touched the bottom, I'm all for excitement, but that was a little too real for me.
The second day in Vang Vien was essentially much of the same, we started tubing around 11 and made it back around 6:30 thus losing 20K Kip from our deposit, for those that could still walk (from the alcohol not injury) i'm not sure they even noticed. We relaxed in the evening heading off to Bucket Bar where you could get about a pint of whiskey and coke in a bucket for 20K kip and sit in a hammock and people watch. A good end to a two hard days of floating down the river.
Day three we were packed and ready to get back to Thailand, James flight home is on the 23rd, and he still has friends that he travelled to Thailand their. One of the deals we made while trekking was that we were to be back in Pattaya by the 19th, and low and behold at 9:02 our taxi from Bangkok pulled into the hotel where we were going to stay!
One thing about Laos is that the natural beauty is everywhere, the mountains the rivers, the people. Not much commercialism their, its one of the few places (countries) to not have any major fast food chain, not even a KFC. Vang Vien wasn't really experiencing Laos though, as the towns people were probably outnumbered by tourist, you definitely saw more white faces than asian faces walking the streets at any given time of the day. I would go back to Laos, its very laid back, and very serene, a good place to go if you need to get your head on straight and work shit out. next time it will be for more than 3 days!
Next stop after Thailand is still to be determined, a trip to South Korea may be making its way back into the itenerary, which means that my trip will more than likely be extended by 2 weeks, to the middle of October. Aside from South Korea, its looking like New Zealand or Australia (which ever comes in Cheaper and its a dead heat right now), Brunei, probably a quick stopover in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore to get out to any of the places listed above, and then back to the Philippines to come home.
For those actually following this back home, this takes me to where I am currently at in my trip sitting in an Internet Cafe in Pattaya Thailand!!!
The purpose of going to Vang Vien was the tubing. What this involves as many can guess is floating down a river in an inflated innertube...the kicker is that their are 15 bars along the river that you can stop at as you go along, each complete with either a rope swing, or zip line that you can take out into the water. While tubing the first day (yes I went more than once) we ran into several English guys who liked to have a good time, they had brought with them several bottles of vodka and 16 bottles of red bull, the good times were a going!!! As the day went on the courage, albeit liquid, increased in many of the tubers whom where taking more and more risks on the swings. These swings were probably 30 feet above the water and at their pinnacle you were probably 40-50 feet above the water when you let go. I got brave on the first swing, made it to the top and nearly barfed from how high up I was....i did however try the zip line at the second bar, and decided that that was my adventure on the swings and lines for the tubing adventure as when i hit the water my feet touched the bottom, I'm all for excitement, but that was a little too real for me.
The second day in Vang Vien was essentially much of the same, we started tubing around 11 and made it back around 6:30 thus losing 20K Kip from our deposit, for those that could still walk (from the alcohol not injury) i'm not sure they even noticed. We relaxed in the evening heading off to Bucket Bar where you could get about a pint of whiskey and coke in a bucket for 20K kip and sit in a hammock and people watch. A good end to a two hard days of floating down the river.
Day three we were packed and ready to get back to Thailand, James flight home is on the 23rd, and he still has friends that he travelled to Thailand their. One of the deals we made while trekking was that we were to be back in Pattaya by the 19th, and low and behold at 9:02 our taxi from Bangkok pulled into the hotel where we were going to stay!
One thing about Laos is that the natural beauty is everywhere, the mountains the rivers, the people. Not much commercialism their, its one of the few places (countries) to not have any major fast food chain, not even a KFC. Vang Vien wasn't really experiencing Laos though, as the towns people were probably outnumbered by tourist, you definitely saw more white faces than asian faces walking the streets at any given time of the day. I would go back to Laos, its very laid back, and very serene, a good place to go if you need to get your head on straight and work shit out. next time it will be for more than 3 days!
Next stop after Thailand is still to be determined, a trip to South Korea may be making its way back into the itenerary, which means that my trip will more than likely be extended by 2 weeks, to the middle of October. Aside from South Korea, its looking like New Zealand or Australia (which ever comes in Cheaper and its a dead heat right now), Brunei, probably a quick stopover in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore to get out to any of the places listed above, and then back to the Philippines to come home.
For those actually following this back home, this takes me to where I am currently at in my trip sitting in an Internet Cafe in Pattaya Thailand!!!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Vietnam, Laos
Vietnam is a really fascinating place, in HCMC (Saigon) the people are extremely friendly and the food is excellent. Most of the restaurants serve food that is both Vietnamese, as well as that with a french twist. The local stands are primarily for noodles and they in and of themselves are very tasty. I also noticed that sandwiches are a huge hit, especially on a 12 inch baguette.
Visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, it became very apparent some of the atrocities mentioned during the fighting their. Our tour guide, while speaking decent english, lacked a considerably when it comes to couth. Part of the tour of the tunnels was a display on the different tactics the VC used while fighting, including the many different traps used to maim, and or kill the US soldiers. Our guide actually made the comment when referring to one of the traps that it was his favorite.
After the tunnels we headed back to the hotel to make sure our bags were safe and see any of the parts of the city that the three of us wanted to prior to departing at 7. The bus at seven was a first for all of us, we were taking a sleeper bus to Na Trang, a beach community about 10 hours up the coast. The bus would arrive their at around 6AM. The bus was cool, it was laid out with three rows , Beds. Each person to themselves, their was a small shelf to store anything one might need through the journey, as well as space where your feet went to hide your travel bag out of site. When the bus arrived we decided to take a walk directly to the beach. James is a huge surfing fan, and had heard that their were decent waves in this part of Vietnam. The sea was really still, so we didn't have any surfing conditions, we decided to head back to the city to have breakfast, and then plan out the day, and figure out where we had to go to next to get me to the Border by the 15th, and Gustaf to Hanoi for his flight on the 16th.
Our travel agent in Saigon, Merina, a very attractive and educated Vietnamese American, had an office in Na Trang that we camped out it to store our bags and whatnot. We booked our travel to Hue, the next stop on our journey north before we seperated for James and I to head to the border and Gustaf to head to Hanoi. After sorting out our travel plans our next site to visit was the beach, we all were somewhat exhaused from the travel, and decided a relaxing afternoon at the ocean was just what we needed, we opted for some cabana's near a swanky hotel that cost us 25000 VND (1:16,652), and played in the ocean for several hours. Our bus to Hue wasn't leaving until 6 so we had time to spare and unwind. Hue is the gateway for one of two border towns, Vinh being the other, with Laos. Both borders do Visa on Arrival, I had my visa for Laos, James did not, therefore those two border crossings were our only options unless we were to fly. The Sleeper bus to Hue was for 14 hours, absolutely horrible, the beds however were confortable, so we didn't much complain, i just didn't sleep at all so that made for a horrible day in Hue. We arrivd in Hue without incident and decided to try to find travel arrangements as soon as possible. The hotel where the bus had dropped us off at had a travel agent, being that we all were cranky, tired, and just not in the mood to search out a deal to save us a dollar or two we opted to make the arrangements with the hotel we were standing in front of. The arrangements we made were for Gustaf to take a bus to Hanoi, and for James and I to take a bus to the Laos border via Vinh. We had to travel that route as that was the only way we were going to get a bus to Vientiene Laos. the bus would travel from 5 until just after midnight, when we would arrive in Vinh, change buses for the border and arrive at the border aroun 3AM. From the border we would travel to Vientiene and arrive their around 4 PM. This was to be the worst bus experience we would have. While in Hue we decided to see the sights, we hired three (one for each) pedi cabs to give us a tour of the city, this took approximately one hour and cost us 50K Dong a piece (less than 4 dollars). When the bus arrived we were presented with the awkward presence of our group splitting up. Gustaf was booked on a different bus, and we would not be seperating in Vinh, but at that moment.
The bus from Hue to Vinh was a sleeper. Upon arriving in Vinh, an italian gentlemen was woken and told rather abrubtly (pigeon english) that his stop was here and he was to get off. What wasn't communicated is that this stop was also for James and I to switch buses. We determined that the bus was not in Vinh but just south, so the Italian got back on the bus (which he should not have) and a lot of confusion ensued to the point of if James and I were to switch buses their. He and I had gotten off the bus simply to smoke a cigarette, if not we would have never gotten off the bus. It was finally determined that James and I should have switched buses, and that the bus we were to get on was not pulling out of the stop and beginning to head down the road. A couple of loud whistles from James and many people yelling got the bus to stop and back us so that we could get on it. This was a sitting bus, so it was quite uncomfortable as the back seat and several other seats were being occupied by the bus staff and not available to PAYING CUSTOMERS. This bus crew turned out to be the rudest and most disrespecting bunh we had come accross on all the buses we had taken on this leg of the journey.
The border crossing with Vietnm and Laos also proved to be an adventure, as with entering Vietnam, all the passports were collected and taken to the immigration officer, after they were stamped however the bribes came into play. Each person was reqiured to pay 20K Dong, or 1 USD to retrieve their passport, what a load of crap, and to top things off, as the passports were stamped and cleared mine had somehow been set aside as the the only American on the bus. That really pissed me off, after having not slept for a day, told I had to pay to get my passport back, not for the stamp, as all the passports were already stamped, and the rude bus drivers I was close to cracking. I Paid the money for my passport and they handed it over after me having to ask and point to my passport three times, not sure the game they were up to but it wasn't funny from my end. After walking about a 1/2 mile to the Laos border the fun began again. James did not have any photos left for his visa, and did i mention the border crossing is at the top of a mountain pass, the scenery was simply breathtaking. We arrive at the Laos immigration and James finds out he can simply pay a dollar for not having pictures or 2 dollars for the pictions, I'm sure the choice is obvious for what he did. After he cleared immigration i went through, the ass behind the immigration counter attempted to charge me for my visa again, then the daft cow takes my passport to the cashier window to confirm the giant red PAID stamp and leaves it there, when he comes back i asked where my passport was and pointed to the cashier, i about flipped, so i went and got my passport and finally he understood that my visa was procurred prior to arrival and that he needed to stamp my frickin passport, which he did and was able to walk from their to the bus where the driver felt the need to stand behind me shouting GO GO GO, at this point i had about had it, if I was someone else, i probably would have thrown the cocksucker through the winshield.
all right for now, next up tubing in Vien Viang!!!
Visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, it became very apparent some of the atrocities mentioned during the fighting their. Our tour guide, while speaking decent english, lacked a considerably when it comes to couth. Part of the tour of the tunnels was a display on the different tactics the VC used while fighting, including the many different traps used to maim, and or kill the US soldiers. Our guide actually made the comment when referring to one of the traps that it was his favorite.
After the tunnels we headed back to the hotel to make sure our bags were safe and see any of the parts of the city that the three of us wanted to prior to departing at 7. The bus at seven was a first for all of us, we were taking a sleeper bus to Na Trang, a beach community about 10 hours up the coast. The bus would arrive their at around 6AM. The bus was cool, it was laid out with three rows , Beds. Each person to themselves, their was a small shelf to store anything one might need through the journey, as well as space where your feet went to hide your travel bag out of site. When the bus arrived we decided to take a walk directly to the beach. James is a huge surfing fan, and had heard that their were decent waves in this part of Vietnam. The sea was really still, so we didn't have any surfing conditions, we decided to head back to the city to have breakfast, and then plan out the day, and figure out where we had to go to next to get me to the Border by the 15th, and Gustaf to Hanoi for his flight on the 16th.
Our travel agent in Saigon, Merina, a very attractive and educated Vietnamese American, had an office in Na Trang that we camped out it to store our bags and whatnot. We booked our travel to Hue, the next stop on our journey north before we seperated for James and I to head to the border and Gustaf to head to Hanoi. After sorting out our travel plans our next site to visit was the beach, we all were somewhat exhaused from the travel, and decided a relaxing afternoon at the ocean was just what we needed, we opted for some cabana's near a swanky hotel that cost us 25000 VND (1:16,652), and played in the ocean for several hours. Our bus to Hue wasn't leaving until 6 so we had time to spare and unwind. Hue is the gateway for one of two border towns, Vinh being the other, with Laos. Both borders do Visa on Arrival, I had my visa for Laos, James did not, therefore those two border crossings were our only options unless we were to fly. The Sleeper bus to Hue was for 14 hours, absolutely horrible, the beds however were confortable, so we didn't much complain, i just didn't sleep at all so that made for a horrible day in Hue. We arrivd in Hue without incident and decided to try to find travel arrangements as soon as possible. The hotel where the bus had dropped us off at had a travel agent, being that we all were cranky, tired, and just not in the mood to search out a deal to save us a dollar or two we opted to make the arrangements with the hotel we were standing in front of. The arrangements we made were for Gustaf to take a bus to Hanoi, and for James and I to take a bus to the Laos border via Vinh. We had to travel that route as that was the only way we were going to get a bus to Vientiene Laos. the bus would travel from 5 until just after midnight, when we would arrive in Vinh, change buses for the border and arrive at the border aroun 3AM. From the border we would travel to Vientiene and arrive their around 4 PM. This was to be the worst bus experience we would have. While in Hue we decided to see the sights, we hired three (one for each) pedi cabs to give us a tour of the city, this took approximately one hour and cost us 50K Dong a piece (less than 4 dollars). When the bus arrived we were presented with the awkward presence of our group splitting up. Gustaf was booked on a different bus, and we would not be seperating in Vinh, but at that moment.
The bus from Hue to Vinh was a sleeper. Upon arriving in Vinh, an italian gentlemen was woken and told rather abrubtly (pigeon english) that his stop was here and he was to get off. What wasn't communicated is that this stop was also for James and I to switch buses. We determined that the bus was not in Vinh but just south, so the Italian got back on the bus (which he should not have) and a lot of confusion ensued to the point of if James and I were to switch buses their. He and I had gotten off the bus simply to smoke a cigarette, if not we would have never gotten off the bus. It was finally determined that James and I should have switched buses, and that the bus we were to get on was not pulling out of the stop and beginning to head down the road. A couple of loud whistles from James and many people yelling got the bus to stop and back us so that we could get on it. This was a sitting bus, so it was quite uncomfortable as the back seat and several other seats were being occupied by the bus staff and not available to PAYING CUSTOMERS. This bus crew turned out to be the rudest and most disrespecting bunh we had come accross on all the buses we had taken on this leg of the journey.
The border crossing with Vietnm and Laos also proved to be an adventure, as with entering Vietnam, all the passports were collected and taken to the immigration officer, after they were stamped however the bribes came into play. Each person was reqiured to pay 20K Dong, or 1 USD to retrieve their passport, what a load of crap, and to top things off, as the passports were stamped and cleared mine had somehow been set aside as the the only American on the bus. That really pissed me off, after having not slept for a day, told I had to pay to get my passport back, not for the stamp, as all the passports were already stamped, and the rude bus drivers I was close to cracking. I Paid the money for my passport and they handed it over after me having to ask and point to my passport three times, not sure the game they were up to but it wasn't funny from my end. After walking about a 1/2 mile to the Laos border the fun began again. James did not have any photos left for his visa, and did i mention the border crossing is at the top of a mountain pass, the scenery was simply breathtaking. We arrive at the Laos immigration and James finds out he can simply pay a dollar for not having pictures or 2 dollars for the pictions, I'm sure the choice is obvious for what he did. After he cleared immigration i went through, the ass behind the immigration counter attempted to charge me for my visa again, then the daft cow takes my passport to the cashier window to confirm the giant red PAID stamp and leaves it there, when he comes back i asked where my passport was and pointed to the cashier, i about flipped, so i went and got my passport and finally he understood that my visa was procurred prior to arrival and that he needed to stamp my frickin passport, which he did and was able to walk from their to the bus where the driver felt the need to stand behind me shouting GO GO GO, at this point i had about had it, if I was someone else, i probably would have thrown the cocksucker through the winshield.
all right for now, next up tubing in Vien Viang!!!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Cambodia, Vietnam
Cambodia Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/pdullock/Cambodia?authkey=-i61t-AXzZo#
Vietnam Pictues: http://picasaweb.google.com/pdullock/Vietnam?authkey=m3zr9eC5H4I#5252214682838385090
To Start i want to apologize to everyone for not publishing any pictures yet, i will post pictures when i get back, the drawback to posting via the iPod and internet cafes is that they do not always have card readers for the memory cards for my camera's. believe me i have a lot of pictures and will go back through the blog and insert links to galleries.
Cambodia is a country that i am very glad i visited, however, i have no intention of going back. The country in and of it self had a dirty and dangerous feeling, that feeling you get when people are WAY to nice to you. The bus to Cambodia was through the Poi Pet border in Cambodia, this was anarchy at its finest, i am overly relieved that i made the decision to travel via an organized tour. On the bus from Thailand were two gentlemen, one from the north of England named James (think football hooligan), a great guy who was chasing the waves through SE Asia and was a first time travellor through these parts of Asia, and a Swede named Gustof (we called him Christof for the first three days not realizing that wasn't his name), also a first time travellor. We made a great pair walking blind through some of these places.
We recieved visa's on arrival that were not offered by Cambodia, so we stoped about a 1/2 mile from the border at a mom and pop restaurant, this was the first time a complete and utter stranger walked up and just said, "passport" and held their hand out. We filled out the immigration/Visa forms and paid our 1200 Thai Baht (1:34) and ordered the lunch, the women just disappeared, my first thought was where in the hell is my passport, the communiction lacked a just a little. The border for thailand was quite organized, the queue was set and we just came up and got stamped, our passports were steadfastly returned to us as we entered the immigration station, complete with cambodia visa's. Once we cleared immigration for Thailand we entered the no mans zone, straight out of the wild west, their were touts everywhere, people pushing carts that were gargantuan, and no clear direction of where we were to go or what we were to do. then out of no where the cambodian hgalf of our organized travel group (us three guys) shows up and guides us to the cambodian immigration place. This is a small room thats about 100 degrees and just awful, its packed with foriengers trying to get into cambodia, which in and of itself isn't not a hard thing to do, as they seem to let everyone in. We stood just jumbled in this room for about an hour before walking through officially in Cambodia, the other side was no better than the wasteland between the immigration stations. Our guide had let us know that the bus we were supposed to take was not leaving for another three hours, and not air conditioned, we were not keen on that idea due to the outside tempetue was the same as inside the immigration room. The side deal we made was for 1500 TBT for the three of us (500 a piece) for a private taxi (air conditioned) to Siem Reap. The road was absolute shit on the way their. Theere was plenty of construction, but this project which they project they will complete in one year will probably take 10, one thing about south east asian countries, expecially the poor ones is that they mix the cement by hand in buckets, no cement trucks or big mixers in most places. So imagine a highway overpass being done with hand mixed cemement.
Arriving in Siem Reap was a relief, the hotel i stayed at ended up being 5 star, and i only paid 27 a night for on an internet deal through asiatravel.com. the other travelors i was with found a half way decent place for 13 about a mile away from the hotel i was staying at. We went out that night and got our first taste of sanitized cambodia. Siem Reap is designed entirely for tourists, the bars are all western and the street food is close to nil in the "bar street" area. We ended up going to a dinner show that night that had an international buffet. It was hard to tell what food was cambodian, or if cambodians had a food that was signature to their country, their was kim chi in the buffett if that helps explain what i mean by "international". After the show we headed down to the bar street and kicked back a few cold ones. A street kid, dressed fairly nice was hawking three books for 5 a piece. he spoke great english, and was very quick on his feet. James bought one of the books and the damn thing was a photocopy, it was quite amusing to tell you the truth, but the kid suckered him bad, and this would be a recurring theme through cambodia of getting taking advantage of.
We had arranged a tuk tuk driver the first evening in Siem Riep for 16 a person for the three of us. come to find out later this was almost double the going rate for the tuk tuks to take to ankwar wat. We started at Ankwar Wat at 8 AM and this place was absolutely massive, the temples were huge, and the intracacy of the carvings and detail where truly overwhelming. After about 5 temples we heard people saying seen one, seen them all, but they all had a different feel, and each had their own unique feel and theme. The coolest one of course was the Jungle Temple that was used in the movie tomb raider, the trees growing through the actual temple were huge, the temble was 1000 years old, and it was estimated that the trees were 600 years old. At 4:00 we called it a day at the temples, after walking through the main temple of Ankwar Wat (each temple had a unique name with the biggest being Ankwar Wat, the area was also known as Ankwar Wat).
After sweating probably 2 pints of water, we headed back to the hotels, meeting up at mine (it had a pool) for a swim, it didn't suprise me that the water was proably 95 degrees, like bath water. we hung out in the pool for close to an hour then headed to the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) This i always thought was in Pnom Penh, but it appears that it has franchised out. The orginal FCC was a haunt for British reporters in cambodia through the war and before, now its just a hotel and restaurant.
We caught the early bus to Pnom Penh, and stayed the night their. We saw the Killing Fields, and the Genocide Museum. Pnom Penh, in and of itself was really dirty, and did not feel safe at all. The Killing fields were absolutely the most disturbing thing that I have ever seen, having been through the holacaust museums in DC and LA, this was 100 times worse. The Killing fields in and of themelves are 83 mass graves, the largest site that pol pot created. Their is an estimated 343 mass graves throughout Cambodia that the Khmer Rouge created. As you walk through the Killing fields themselves you follow a dirt path, we hired the tour guide for 10 dollars and it was ore than worth the money. As you walk along the path, he explains how the site of the killing fields was a chinese cemetary, and that was the cover used to hide the smell from the bodies by the KR. As we walked along, the tour guide scuffed some of the ground bent down and pulled a tooth out of the dirt, they are not really sure how much more is left in the actual site, or if their may potentially be more bodies not uncovered. Each time the rain comes or the river rises more is uncovered and shifted around. As you continue along the path, their are clothes in the dirt, and even bone fragments sticking up through the ground. Absolutely mind boggling to wrap your head around as you go through it. Its like being in the middle of the atrocities, which in a way you are. The tour finishes with the actually memorial, a temple building with approximately 30 shelves spaced about 2 feet apart with nothing but skulls that were removed from the ground.
All three of us were sick to our stomachs as we left the killing fields, the atrocities of the KR were just horrendeous, their were 6 million people living in Cambodia when Pol Pot took power, it is estimated that he killed 2 million Cambodians, we then went to the genocide museum. The musem is also known as SO21, its a former high school that was converted into a camp for the KR to torture their victims. One building is open cell areas, and the other two buildings are set up with the cells and photographs of the victims and of the actual results of their tyranny. Again very disturbing.
In the afternoon we caught a bus to Ho Chi Minh City. The bus took 6 hours. On the bus they passed out the Immigration cards for Vietnam, then collected everyones passport. This was quite organized, as we went through the cambodian border, a complete 180 from the Poi Pet border with thailand, it was extemely organized, i am a firm believer that the tour company greases the border agents. The passports that were collected earlier were turned over to the cambodian immigration. Everyone is asked to get off the bus, and then the border agent calls each persons name and they can get back on the bus. At the Vietnam side, same thing, only this time everyone crowds into the immigration building, and when the Vietnamese are done they bring your passport out and you can go through. Vietnam at the border seemed a bit dirty, with trash everywhere, but as we got into HCMC it was much cleaner, and the city doesn't have a coming after you feel like Pnom Penh. I'm currently in HCMC and the city has a very nice feel. Got in late and got a hoel in the backpacker area. If this is what backpacking in asia is like, I like it, one of the better hotel rooms i've had. Took the day on the 11th to relax, all of us have been running ragged for some time so it was a nice relief. Tomorrow the plan is to see the Cu Chi Tunnels outside of HCMC and then to Tra Nang a spectatuclar beach area.
Vietnam Pictues: http://picasaweb.google.com/pdullock/Vietnam?authkey=m3zr9eC5H4I#5252214682838385090
To Start i want to apologize to everyone for not publishing any pictures yet, i will post pictures when i get back, the drawback to posting via the iPod and internet cafes is that they do not always have card readers for the memory cards for my camera's. believe me i have a lot of pictures and will go back through the blog and insert links to galleries.
Cambodia is a country that i am very glad i visited, however, i have no intention of going back. The country in and of it self had a dirty and dangerous feeling, that feeling you get when people are WAY to nice to you. The bus to Cambodia was through the Poi Pet border in Cambodia, this was anarchy at its finest, i am overly relieved that i made the decision to travel via an organized tour. On the bus from Thailand were two gentlemen, one from the north of England named James (think football hooligan), a great guy who was chasing the waves through SE Asia and was a first time travellor through these parts of Asia, and a Swede named Gustof (we called him Christof for the first three days not realizing that wasn't his name), also a first time travellor. We made a great pair walking blind through some of these places.
We recieved visa's on arrival that were not offered by Cambodia, so we stoped about a 1/2 mile from the border at a mom and pop restaurant, this was the first time a complete and utter stranger walked up and just said, "passport" and held their hand out. We filled out the immigration/Visa forms and paid our 1200 Thai Baht (1:34) and ordered the lunch, the women just disappeared, my first thought was where in the hell is my passport, the communiction lacked a just a little. The border for thailand was quite organized, the queue was set and we just came up and got stamped, our passports were steadfastly returned to us as we entered the immigration station, complete with cambodia visa's. Once we cleared immigration for Thailand we entered the no mans zone, straight out of the wild west, their were touts everywhere, people pushing carts that were gargantuan, and no clear direction of where we were to go or what we were to do. then out of no where the cambodian hgalf of our organized travel group (us three guys) shows up and guides us to the cambodian immigration place. This is a small room thats about 100 degrees and just awful, its packed with foriengers trying to get into cambodia, which in and of itself isn't not a hard thing to do, as they seem to let everyone in. We stood just jumbled in this room for about an hour before walking through officially in Cambodia, the other side was no better than the wasteland between the immigration stations. Our guide had let us know that the bus we were supposed to take was not leaving for another three hours, and not air conditioned, we were not keen on that idea due to the outside tempetue was the same as inside the immigration room. The side deal we made was for 1500 TBT for the three of us (500 a piece) for a private taxi (air conditioned) to Siem Reap. The road was absolute shit on the way their. Theere was plenty of construction, but this project which they project they will complete in one year will probably take 10, one thing about south east asian countries, expecially the poor ones is that they mix the cement by hand in buckets, no cement trucks or big mixers in most places. So imagine a highway overpass being done with hand mixed cemement.
Arriving in Siem Reap was a relief, the hotel i stayed at ended up being 5 star, and i only paid 27 a night for on an internet deal through asiatravel.com. the other travelors i was with found a half way decent place for 13 about a mile away from the hotel i was staying at. We went out that night and got our first taste of sanitized cambodia. Siem Reap is designed entirely for tourists, the bars are all western and the street food is close to nil in the "bar street" area. We ended up going to a dinner show that night that had an international buffet. It was hard to tell what food was cambodian, or if cambodians had a food that was signature to their country, their was kim chi in the buffett if that helps explain what i mean by "international". After the show we headed down to the bar street and kicked back a few cold ones. A street kid, dressed fairly nice was hawking three books for 5 a piece. he spoke great english, and was very quick on his feet. James bought one of the books and the damn thing was a photocopy, it was quite amusing to tell you the truth, but the kid suckered him bad, and this would be a recurring theme through cambodia of getting taking advantage of.
We had arranged a tuk tuk driver the first evening in Siem Riep for 16 a person for the three of us. come to find out later this was almost double the going rate for the tuk tuks to take to ankwar wat. We started at Ankwar Wat at 8 AM and this place was absolutely massive, the temples were huge, and the intracacy of the carvings and detail where truly overwhelming. After about 5 temples we heard people saying seen one, seen them all, but they all had a different feel, and each had their own unique feel and theme. The coolest one of course was the Jungle Temple that was used in the movie tomb raider, the trees growing through the actual temple were huge, the temble was 1000 years old, and it was estimated that the trees were 600 years old. At 4:00 we called it a day at the temples, after walking through the main temple of Ankwar Wat (each temple had a unique name with the biggest being Ankwar Wat, the area was also known as Ankwar Wat).
After sweating probably 2 pints of water, we headed back to the hotels, meeting up at mine (it had a pool) for a swim, it didn't suprise me that the water was proably 95 degrees, like bath water. we hung out in the pool for close to an hour then headed to the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) This i always thought was in Pnom Penh, but it appears that it has franchised out. The orginal FCC was a haunt for British reporters in cambodia through the war and before, now its just a hotel and restaurant.
We caught the early bus to Pnom Penh, and stayed the night their. We saw the Killing Fields, and the Genocide Museum. Pnom Penh, in and of itself was really dirty, and did not feel safe at all. The Killing fields were absolutely the most disturbing thing that I have ever seen, having been through the holacaust museums in DC and LA, this was 100 times worse. The Killing fields in and of themelves are 83 mass graves, the largest site that pol pot created. Their is an estimated 343 mass graves throughout Cambodia that the Khmer Rouge created. As you walk through the Killing fields themselves you follow a dirt path, we hired the tour guide for 10 dollars and it was ore than worth the money. As you walk along the path, he explains how the site of the killing fields was a chinese cemetary, and that was the cover used to hide the smell from the bodies by the KR. As we walked along, the tour guide scuffed some of the ground bent down and pulled a tooth out of the dirt, they are not really sure how much more is left in the actual site, or if their may potentially be more bodies not uncovered. Each time the rain comes or the river rises more is uncovered and shifted around. As you continue along the path, their are clothes in the dirt, and even bone fragments sticking up through the ground. Absolutely mind boggling to wrap your head around as you go through it. Its like being in the middle of the atrocities, which in a way you are. The tour finishes with the actually memorial, a temple building with approximately 30 shelves spaced about 2 feet apart with nothing but skulls that were removed from the ground.
All three of us were sick to our stomachs as we left the killing fields, the atrocities of the KR were just horrendeous, their were 6 million people living in Cambodia when Pol Pot took power, it is estimated that he killed 2 million Cambodians, we then went to the genocide museum. The musem is also known as SO21, its a former high school that was converted into a camp for the KR to torture their victims. One building is open cell areas, and the other two buildings are set up with the cells and photographs of the victims and of the actual results of their tyranny. Again very disturbing.
In the afternoon we caught a bus to Ho Chi Minh City. The bus took 6 hours. On the bus they passed out the Immigration cards for Vietnam, then collected everyones passport. This was quite organized, as we went through the cambodian border, a complete 180 from the Poi Pet border with thailand, it was extemely organized, i am a firm believer that the tour company greases the border agents. The passports that were collected earlier were turned over to the cambodian immigration. Everyone is asked to get off the bus, and then the border agent calls each persons name and they can get back on the bus. At the Vietnam side, same thing, only this time everyone crowds into the immigration building, and when the Vietnamese are done they bring your passport out and you can go through. Vietnam at the border seemed a bit dirty, with trash everywhere, but as we got into HCMC it was much cleaner, and the city doesn't have a coming after you feel like Pnom Penh. I'm currently in HCMC and the city has a very nice feel. Got in late and got a hoel in the backpacker area. If this is what backpacking in asia is like, I like it, one of the better hotel rooms i've had. Took the day on the 11th to relax, all of us have been running ragged for some time so it was a nice relief. Tomorrow the plan is to see the Cu Chi Tunnels outside of HCMC and then to Tra Nang a spectatuclar beach area.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Week-5 Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam
The flight to Thailand was quite uneventful, it was on Royal Jordanian, now that surprised me t hat they flew that route, but not in the end as the final destination of the plane was Amman. Bangkok airport is interesting, first and foremost its freaking huge, it was a 15 minute walk to immigration, and i'm pretty sure that i could have left the airport at any time during this walk without incidence.
Cleared immigration without any problems and went straight to the taxi/airport limosine stand (these aren't stretch jobs, just private cars like honda's and toyota's), and booked a car directly to Pattaya, i don't want to be in bangkok with all the protesting, and especially the two shootings that have occurred, just don't want to be anywhere near it. Maybe on my next trip to thailand i'll give it a whirl. The driver was quite the speed racer, he was doing 140-160 KMH, or to translate 80-90 miles per hour on the free way, now the speed limit was 120, but damn if this guy wasn't going to break any land records he had set previously.
Took an extra day in Pattaya which is very relaxing, its a beach community/City of about 230,000, but the beach and view is fantastic, i can really see why people come here and don't want to leave, its absolutely beautiful, one of these days i'll come back and just make my way the entire length of the coast! While in Pattaya my immediate concern is to book passage to either cambodia or laos. Laos is out of the questions directly from Pattaya, so my route will have to be Pattaya to Siem Riep to see the ancient city of Ankwar Wat, then to Pnom Penh (both in Cambodia) to Ho Chi Minh City, then off to Hanoi, so south to north through the country of Vietnam, then off to Laos and back to Thailand to head to my next destination, which i'm trying to figure out, either to see andrew who is free from the 12-15 (don't think i'll be through to laos yet) or off to Australia possibly, been finding some spectactular deals on jetstar and tiger airways to perth, melbourne, or gold coast. So that would mean back to thailand, then to singapore then to either australia or the Philippines., either way i have to be back in the philippines by the 29th of September for my flight home. All right every one, i kept this one clean, but their is much more related to the go-go bars in Pattaya, i didn't realize that women has so much control!!
Thanks all, staying Safe As Usual!!!
Cleared immigration without any problems and went straight to the taxi/airport limosine stand (these aren't stretch jobs, just private cars like honda's and toyota's), and booked a car directly to Pattaya, i don't want to be in bangkok with all the protesting, and especially the two shootings that have occurred, just don't want to be anywhere near it. Maybe on my next trip to thailand i'll give it a whirl. The driver was quite the speed racer, he was doing 140-160 KMH, or to translate 80-90 miles per hour on the free way, now the speed limit was 120, but damn if this guy wasn't going to break any land records he had set previously.
Took an extra day in Pattaya which is very relaxing, its a beach community/City of about 230,000, but the beach and view is fantastic, i can really see why people come here and don't want to leave, its absolutely beautiful, one of these days i'll come back and just make my way the entire length of the coast! While in Pattaya my immediate concern is to book passage to either cambodia or laos. Laos is out of the questions directly from Pattaya, so my route will have to be Pattaya to Siem Riep to see the ancient city of Ankwar Wat, then to Pnom Penh (both in Cambodia) to Ho Chi Minh City, then off to Hanoi, so south to north through the country of Vietnam, then off to Laos and back to Thailand to head to my next destination, which i'm trying to figure out, either to see andrew who is free from the 12-15 (don't think i'll be through to laos yet) or off to Australia possibly, been finding some spectactular deals on jetstar and tiger airways to perth, melbourne, or gold coast. So that would mean back to thailand, then to singapore then to either australia or the Philippines., either way i have to be back in the philippines by the 29th of September for my flight home. All right every one, i kept this one clean, but their is much more related to the go-go bars in Pattaya, i didn't realize that women has so much control!!
Thanks all, staying Safe As Usual!!!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Week 4 - Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea
Hong Kong: http://picasaweb.google.com/pdullock/HongKong?authkey=KYTNmWoZymE#
Macau: http://picasaweb.google.com/pdullock/Macau?authkey=ZXsWbZJlw4g#
Landing back in the Philippines was as usual extremely uneventful. Andrew and Brenda met up with Brenda's sister Marcel on out last night in Singapore, i caught up on some much needed rest, my internal clock continually gets discombobulated based on the fact that the sun comes up in the philippines at like 4AM, which is unreal, and sets around 6 PM. We managed to walk out of the airport in clark and directly find a bus back to manila, the two hour ride seemed like much less as we all slept on the way back. Once back in Manila we grabbed some lunch at a wendy's, mostly due to the fact that the bus dropped us off at the mall, and two we were absolutely starving. getting back to the hotel was a non adventure, their was a cab driver that wanted 700 peso's to take us back, i thought brenda was going to come unglued on this guy in tagalong. No worries though we finally made it back to the hotel safe and sound, then things changed, for me at least over the next couple days.
That afternoon and evening i started to feel a bit off, my throat was hurting, i wasn't hungry, the food didn't look good, or even smell good. Then it hit, for the next three days i spent all my time in the hotel room, doing nothing but sleeping. Luckily, brenda had helped me buy some robitussin and and andrew had passed along some advil so i was prepared their, but none the less i slept for probably three days straight, and didn't do a damn thing but stay in bed. That is one of my biggest fears while i am over here, getting sick with no way to get help! In the Philippines if you go to the hospital you have to have an attendant that you bring with you to get you any supplies you may need, me, i didn't have that, andrew left for korea, and brenda took off to go home. If worse came to worse, and i was in dire need of someone to take care of me i could have headed off to the nearest go-go bar and found a girl to take care of me their, it probably would have cost me 500 peso's a day, but it would have fit the bill.
After getting to a point where i could eat three meals a day (which i did for one day) i had to get out of manila, it was claustrophobic, i couldn't take the isolation, so i headed back to pampanga where the bars are plentiful and the place is a total party. I spent a couple days in Pampanga before deciding where to head off to next, but i did meet a really nice girl in one of the bars, she was a waitress who was really shy, i'm thinking of taking her out to dinner when i go back, but we'll see.
So having decided that it was finally time to do Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam I booked a flight to Macua. Yes that seems a bit out of the way but i have that on the list of countries to visit, and for those of you interested when thinking of Macua, think Las Vegas on an Island, the Mirage, MGM, Sands, Wynn, and the Venetian (which has a cirque de soleil show) all have hotels their. I took a bus tour of the city, and by bus tour i mean that i hopped on a city bus and took it around the city to see all the sites, i passed my final stop, the ferry terminal twice, but all the same got to see what little their is of the city. At the Ferry terminal it was about 142 MOP (1:7.4) for the ferry ride t0 Hong Kong, these ferry's put the one to Mackinaw Island to shame, they run every 15 minutes and it only takes about 45, super fast and very efficient.
After clearing customs in Hong Kong, i headed straight for the hotel, I was exhausted from the sight seeing in macua and the flight and early morning, which came very early as i did a bar hop that lasted to 6 AM, it has been a long time since i left a bar when the sun was coming up. The hotel was nice it was an IBIS, which is an Accor hotel, think Motel 6, as the rooms were about half the size, but it was a mattress and i was good to sleep!
Stayed in hong kong for another day, did sightseeing up to the olympic park where the equestrian events were located, this place was guarded tighter than fort knox, they wouldn't let me in to see the venue, as they were setting up for the paraolympic games and taking down the siganage and replacing it for the next round of games. from their it was off to central to see the business district. I got really comfortable with the subway system their and i think they were cleaner than singapore.
From Hong Kong it was off to Thailand. I misread my ticket thinking my flight left at 7 (but really 9) and got to the airport about 5 hours early, getting to the airport was a breeze, right across from my hotel was a ferry and bus terminal, for 40 HKD (1:7.8) i hopped on a bus that took me directly their. I fell asleep once we got out of the city, which took a route pasted all the car dealerships, if you could think of a type of car, its for sale in Hong Kong. When i woke up on the bus we were on a bridge, i looked out the window and all is saw was water, the bus was a double decker and i was up top, no guard rail, just the straits between the islands below me, it was quite unnerving, once i got my composure, the veiw was really good, and made me happy i took the bus and not the subway.
Macau: http://picasaweb.google.com/pdullock/Macau?authkey=ZXsWbZJlw4g#
Landing back in the Philippines was as usual extremely uneventful. Andrew and Brenda met up with Brenda's sister Marcel on out last night in Singapore, i caught up on some much needed rest, my internal clock continually gets discombobulated based on the fact that the sun comes up in the philippines at like 4AM, which is unreal, and sets around 6 PM. We managed to walk out of the airport in clark and directly find a bus back to manila, the two hour ride seemed like much less as we all slept on the way back. Once back in Manila we grabbed some lunch at a wendy's, mostly due to the fact that the bus dropped us off at the mall, and two we were absolutely starving. getting back to the hotel was a non adventure, their was a cab driver that wanted 700 peso's to take us back, i thought brenda was going to come unglued on this guy in tagalong. No worries though we finally made it back to the hotel safe and sound, then things changed, for me at least over the next couple days.
That afternoon and evening i started to feel a bit off, my throat was hurting, i wasn't hungry, the food didn't look good, or even smell good. Then it hit, for the next three days i spent all my time in the hotel room, doing nothing but sleeping. Luckily, brenda had helped me buy some robitussin and and andrew had passed along some advil so i was prepared their, but none the less i slept for probably three days straight, and didn't do a damn thing but stay in bed. That is one of my biggest fears while i am over here, getting sick with no way to get help! In the Philippines if you go to the hospital you have to have an attendant that you bring with you to get you any supplies you may need, me, i didn't have that, andrew left for korea, and brenda took off to go home. If worse came to worse, and i was in dire need of someone to take care of me i could have headed off to the nearest go-go bar and found a girl to take care of me their, it probably would have cost me 500 peso's a day, but it would have fit the bill.
After getting to a point where i could eat three meals a day (which i did for one day) i had to get out of manila, it was claustrophobic, i couldn't take the isolation, so i headed back to pampanga where the bars are plentiful and the place is a total party. I spent a couple days in Pampanga before deciding where to head off to next, but i did meet a really nice girl in one of the bars, she was a waitress who was really shy, i'm thinking of taking her out to dinner when i go back, but we'll see.
So having decided that it was finally time to do Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam I booked a flight to Macua. Yes that seems a bit out of the way but i have that on the list of countries to visit, and for those of you interested when thinking of Macua, think Las Vegas on an Island, the Mirage, MGM, Sands, Wynn, and the Venetian (which has a cirque de soleil show) all have hotels their. I took a bus tour of the city, and by bus tour i mean that i hopped on a city bus and took it around the city to see all the sites, i passed my final stop, the ferry terminal twice, but all the same got to see what little their is of the city. At the Ferry terminal it was about 142 MOP (1:7.4) for the ferry ride t0 Hong Kong, these ferry's put the one to Mackinaw Island to shame, they run every 15 minutes and it only takes about 45, super fast and very efficient.
After clearing customs in Hong Kong, i headed straight for the hotel, I was exhausted from the sight seeing in macua and the flight and early morning, which came very early as i did a bar hop that lasted to 6 AM, it has been a long time since i left a bar when the sun was coming up. The hotel was nice it was an IBIS, which is an Accor hotel, think Motel 6, as the rooms were about half the size, but it was a mattress and i was good to sleep!
Stayed in hong kong for another day, did sightseeing up to the olympic park where the equestrian events were located, this place was guarded tighter than fort knox, they wouldn't let me in to see the venue, as they were setting up for the paraolympic games and taking down the siganage and replacing it for the next round of games. from their it was off to central to see the business district. I got really comfortable with the subway system their and i think they were cleaner than singapore.
From Hong Kong it was off to Thailand. I misread my ticket thinking my flight left at 7 (but really 9) and got to the airport about 5 hours early, getting to the airport was a breeze, right across from my hotel was a ferry and bus terminal, for 40 HKD (1:7.8) i hopped on a bus that took me directly their. I fell asleep once we got out of the city, which took a route pasted all the car dealerships, if you could think of a type of car, its for sale in Hong Kong. When i woke up on the bus we were on a bridge, i looked out the window and all is saw was water, the bus was a double decker and i was up top, no guard rail, just the straits between the islands below me, it was quite unnerving, once i got my composure, the veiw was really good, and made me happy i took the bus and not the subway.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, S. Korea? Week 3
Monday was a free day in KL, Andrew had to head to the US Embassy to get additional pages added to his passport and i had to try to find the Laos Embassy to get my visa (one is available if you arrive by plane, but i was arriving via Bangkok and that wasn't gonna work). While at the US embassy Andrew did notice that everyone who came in and applied for a visa from Malaysia was approved, the guard even told him to have Brenda move their if she wanted an expedited visa..HMMM.
I had checked the local phone book for the locations of the embassies, and wrote down the address for the Laos embassy, I had no idea where it was, and neither did the front desk person at the hotel, so i decided to look online, their i found a physical address and thought i was good to go. Before setting out i decided to check with the travel agent located inside the hotel, this person had a different address, ok, this is going to be interesting. I asked her where the embassy was located and she said near the KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Center), well thats not far i can walk it. I set out on my walk heading towards the Petronas towers, as that is the heart of the KLCC. I walked for about an hour and ended up making a complete circle back to the hotel. Screw it, I'm taking a taxi, the taxi driver wanted 30 ringitt for the ride, i told him to piss off and walked a little further down the road where i found one for 20 MYR. The thing with KL is that you have to ask to the drivers to use the meter, the thing they don't tell you is that none of the taxi's have meters that work so your getting screwed regardless of what you want to pay to take a taxi. The driver and I set out to find the Laos embassy and go to the orginal address i had received from the hotel travel agent, nothing is there at that address, so i hand him the physical address i found online, we head their and its a furniture store....well Laos is a small country they might be in the back, no such luck, but the shop owner knows that the embassy used to be located their and knows where they moved to. She graciously gives us the address and we head further on down the same road. We find the embassy, if we were not looking I would have thought it was someones house, the sign that identified it as an embassy was overgrown with vines, and their was not guard or guard station. I just walked right in, the lady working the visa counter was actually shocked to see me, I don't think she was expecting anyone to come in. The fee for the visa to recieve it same day was 65 USD, the fee if you wanted to wait was 35 USD, as we were leaving back to singapore the next day, i didn't have time to wait. The next hurdle with this visa was that the embassy could not break a 100 USD bill. So i ended up paying for my visa with 100 MYR and 35 USD, if she would have accepted indonesian rupiah i probably would have paid her in that!
Now that i have my visa, its time to set out back to the hotel, i'm not real sure which way to head, but i can see the petrona's towers and the sky needle and head towards them, as the sky needle is closest to the hotel. As i am walking a guy passing me on the other side of the street tells me that the women down the road is calling for me, i looked at him like he was crazy and turned around, the lady from the embassy was calling me back, i thought o shit, something is wrong with my visa....and sure enough their was. As i got back to the embassy the women had written the wrong visa number on the application, i had to fill out two, one for the embassy and one to carry with me. the visa number eneded wtih 45, what i didn't know was that she had screwed up the first visa sticker and wrote that number on the application forms. Good thing i went back, or i may not be able to get into Laos.
After all this excitement i only walked about half way back and cought a taxi the rest of the way, the driver actually wanted to tell me that he didn't go to the area our hotel was at because of "traffic". I kept thinking to myself, their are 1.5 million people in KL and you don't want to drive in traffic, i think he picked the wrong profession or only wants to work in the middle of the night, negotiated the driver down to 20 MYR and made my way back to the hotel. Nothing exciting, just getting packed to head back to singapore, and play a couple hands of UNO with andrew and Brenda, which by the way she always seems to win.
I had checked the local phone book for the locations of the embassies, and wrote down the address for the Laos embassy, I had no idea where it was, and neither did the front desk person at the hotel, so i decided to look online, their i found a physical address and thought i was good to go. Before setting out i decided to check with the travel agent located inside the hotel, this person had a different address, ok, this is going to be interesting. I asked her where the embassy was located and she said near the KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Center), well thats not far i can walk it. I set out on my walk heading towards the Petronas towers, as that is the heart of the KLCC. I walked for about an hour and ended up making a complete circle back to the hotel. Screw it, I'm taking a taxi, the taxi driver wanted 30 ringitt for the ride, i told him to piss off and walked a little further down the road where i found one for 20 MYR. The thing with KL is that you have to ask to the drivers to use the meter, the thing they don't tell you is that none of the taxi's have meters that work so your getting screwed regardless of what you want to pay to take a taxi. The driver and I set out to find the Laos embassy and go to the orginal address i had received from the hotel travel agent, nothing is there at that address, so i hand him the physical address i found online, we head their and its a furniture store....well Laos is a small country they might be in the back, no such luck, but the shop owner knows that the embassy used to be located their and knows where they moved to. She graciously gives us the address and we head further on down the same road. We find the embassy, if we were not looking I would have thought it was someones house, the sign that identified it as an embassy was overgrown with vines, and their was not guard or guard station. I just walked right in, the lady working the visa counter was actually shocked to see me, I don't think she was expecting anyone to come in. The fee for the visa to recieve it same day was 65 USD, the fee if you wanted to wait was 35 USD, as we were leaving back to singapore the next day, i didn't have time to wait. The next hurdle with this visa was that the embassy could not break a 100 USD bill. So i ended up paying for my visa with 100 MYR and 35 USD, if she would have accepted indonesian rupiah i probably would have paid her in that!
Now that i have my visa, its time to set out back to the hotel, i'm not real sure which way to head, but i can see the petrona's towers and the sky needle and head towards them, as the sky needle is closest to the hotel. As i am walking a guy passing me on the other side of the street tells me that the women down the road is calling for me, i looked at him like he was crazy and turned around, the lady from the embassy was calling me back, i thought o shit, something is wrong with my visa....and sure enough their was. As i got back to the embassy the women had written the wrong visa number on the application, i had to fill out two, one for the embassy and one to carry with me. the visa number eneded wtih 45, what i didn't know was that she had screwed up the first visa sticker and wrote that number on the application forms. Good thing i went back, or i may not be able to get into Laos.
After all this excitement i only walked about half way back and cought a taxi the rest of the way, the driver actually wanted to tell me that he didn't go to the area our hotel was at because of "traffic". I kept thinking to myself, their are 1.5 million people in KL and you don't want to drive in traffic, i think he picked the wrong profession or only wants to work in the middle of the night, negotiated the driver down to 20 MYR and made my way back to the hotel. Nothing exciting, just getting packed to head back to singapore, and play a couple hands of UNO with andrew and Brenda, which by the way she always seems to win.
Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia - Week 2
Back in Manila, We spent until Wednesday getting things suituated, I had to do a visa run to the Vietnam and Cambodia Embassies. Vietnam was a quick no problem Visa, Cambodia on the other hand would take three days. I'm still without that visa, but no worries, as i can still get a visa at any of the border crossings that I'm going into Cambodia from. I just need to recheck for those along the Vietnam border.
On Tuesday, Andrew, Brenda and I wanted to do a little sight seeing, in lieu of traveling to Bali (cheap tickets, ridiculous taxes and fuel charges 30 for the ticket and up to 300 for the taxes and fuel charges) we decided to go to Singapore, partly because Brenda used to work here and mostly because neither Andrew nor I had been here. We landed without issue in Singapore, although we were a little worried that Brenda might get denied access, something about Southeast Asian countries picking on the Pinoys. We of course planned accordingly and did not have hotel reservations so immediately took a cab, which drove on the wrong side of the street like the british to China town where we were under the assumption that Hotels were the cheapest. We were mistaken, the cheapest place we could find was in fact that...cheap, were pretty sure they rented rooms by the hour. So we caught ourselves into the nearest internet cafe to look for hotels, I found cheap rooms in the area of Geylung, this of course as we were to find out after a dinner of McDonalds (Andrew's Idea) is the heart of the Red Light District. There are prostitutes from all over southeast asia that have migrated here to work the streets, and i am serious when is say that they are lining the streets.
Spend the first day in singapore on Sentosa Island this is the southern most point in continental Asia, more of a tourist trap than anything else, but the weather is HOT and the sunny all day long, as well as the skys are blue and the place was cleaner than Hoover Dam.
Back to the hotel where the entire day i took a ribbing on picking of steet walkers, when whom should get caught taking flash photography from their room...Andrew and Brenda, they had a pimp and three girls trying to break down their door, they gave up after a couple minutes but it was still funny all the same to give them crap about having girls in their room!
Singapore is exceptionally clean, the food prices are still less than 3 USD for a good meal (i prefer the chicken and rice, which is the national dish) The people are nice, its very business like here, not a lot to do for tourist, or sight seeing, i don't mind this cause travelling with andrew is like travelling with a group of japanese tourists all rolled into one, he wants to see everything and take three pictures of everything, it has made for some exhausting days.
Day two in Singapore we decieded to take the ferry to Batam Indonesia. This is a nice quant little part of Indonesia, nothing like Sumatra, or Borneo, and absolutely nothing like Bali. The city is gearing up to be a tourist haven by 2010, although no one we asked was able to tell us what the billboards meant, least of all the taxi driver. Landing and clearin immigration in Indonesia is quite easy, its 10 USD for a 7 day visa, the bad thing for andrew at least, is that he doesn't have that many passport pages left, and most places require two empty pages for entry, he's right about at that limit.
Once we cleared immigration and customers it was into the arrival hall of the ferry terminal, some knock off items being sold, but the decision to be made was breakfast and touring. The ferry ride only took an hour, so we were ready to get the day under way. We had breakfast of rice, dried anchovies and cucumber, and of course coffee, it was tasty, but i'm coming to the realization that the portions are nearly big enough for all the touring that we have been doing.
We enjoyed breakfast quickly and then outside of the ferry terminal we were faced with the question of how to see the sites. The taxi stand let us know that we could rent a taxi for 8 hours for 70 SGD (1:1.48). We jumped at that opprotunity, and had our taxi driver, unfortunately we had the one with the best english and his english was far from understanding everything we were talking about, he did however understand the japanese tourist we were with and that pulling over every 5 minutes for andrew to take a picture was a wise choice!
We travelled through three Islands in Indonesia, they were nice, all the way to a southern island where the Japanese had an interment camp for the Vietnemese. One similarity i have found travelling through asia is that the Japanese have been just about everywhere and terrorized the populations, and then the Brittish, or Americans come in and shoo them off, it has happened in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines as well as Indonesia. Just a quick observation. The area for the tourists regarding the interment camp was very poorly detailed, and we were befuddled on finding an accurate map of the islands/cities. We spent about 3 hours touring around the southern island through the vietnam internment memorial, as well as the monument to the boat people and continued back to the main parts of Batam. Their was a monument wall to the Vietnamese prisoners, this was exactly what it was titled, a wall (completely blank) in the back of a cemetary.
We finished with Batam by 3, and asked the taxi driver Sam to take us some where for a seafood lunch, he took us to this fantastic seafood place where we actually got to see lunch before it was made. Their were pools and pools of fish, prawns, clams, crabs, sharks, turtles, mussels, and just about anything that could be pulled out of the ocean. We settled in for a lunch of bbq prawns, chili prawns and pineapple fish, all was fantastic, and Andrew ate the entire fish by himself. For those that are interested, the fish, prawns, and crabs come whole, none of this peeled, deveined and butterflyed stuff over here. and its customary to suck the brains out of the prawns (for those that are asking what is a prawn, its a shrimp, americans are the only ones that seem to call them shrimp). and the best part of the fish is the head, its not a difficult as it seems to eat the fish while heels looking at you!!!
The return trip from Batam was very easy and we were back in Singapore by 6, we spent the evening in the hotel, as we were all extremely tired. The Next day we got packed and headed off to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
We headed off to the main tour bus area in Singapore near the harbor front. We booked a luxury coach for 30 SGD a piece and would be in KL by 6 hours. The bus ride was nice and very comfortable, the driver made three stops, and immigration was a breeze both leaving Singapore and entering Malaysia. We had to stop at one side of a bridge for Singapore, and the other side for Malaysia. The bus dropped us off right at the Pudo bus station, directly across the street from our hotel (Citin). I booked the "budget" accomodations, and we were right in the heart of everything, near the Petrona's towers, the KL Minera (space needle), China town, and the central market where andrew could by all his cheap souveniers. I've become to really dislike China Towns, they are very congested, and i always feel like someone is going to pick my pocket.
We got checked in just fine into the hotel and grabbed some flyers for this tour service called the hop on hop off bus. This was our ticket for Sunday, we headed off to China town to catch the bus, the cost was 38 MYR (Ringgits 1:3.38). the tour was very simple, the bus made a circuit about every 1/2 hour, the ticket that you buy was good for 24 hours, you could get off the bus at any of the 22 designated stops, and get back on at anytime the bus was running during your 24 hour window of your valid ticket. We saw the entire city of KL this way. We started about 10 Am and ended about 6 PM.
We saw the central market, china town, petrona's towers, the national monument and gardens, and more muslims than you could shake a stick at, they came in all shapes and sizes, from those wearing simple shawls over their heads to the full black gowns that only showed their eyes, and even the rare few that had the mesh over their eyes so you couldn't see them. Malaysia is a muslim country, and from what i gathered from the newspapers not exactly conservative, they goverment is recieving increased pressure in the upcoming election to take on a more conservative Islamic agenda.
Once we were back at the hotel, we opted for dinner at the hotel, none of us had any energy to go out again, i think we were all asleep by 10....
On Tuesday, Andrew, Brenda and I wanted to do a little sight seeing, in lieu of traveling to Bali (cheap tickets, ridiculous taxes and fuel charges 30 for the ticket and up to 300 for the taxes and fuel charges) we decided to go to Singapore, partly because Brenda used to work here and mostly because neither Andrew nor I had been here. We landed without issue in Singapore, although we were a little worried that Brenda might get denied access, something about Southeast Asian countries picking on the Pinoys. We of course planned accordingly and did not have hotel reservations so immediately took a cab, which drove on the wrong side of the street like the british to China town where we were under the assumption that Hotels were the cheapest. We were mistaken, the cheapest place we could find was in fact that...cheap, were pretty sure they rented rooms by the hour. So we caught ourselves into the nearest internet cafe to look for hotels, I found cheap rooms in the area of Geylung, this of course as we were to find out after a dinner of McDonalds (Andrew's Idea) is the heart of the Red Light District. There are prostitutes from all over southeast asia that have migrated here to work the streets, and i am serious when is say that they are lining the streets.
Spend the first day in singapore on Sentosa Island this is the southern most point in continental Asia, more of a tourist trap than anything else, but the weather is HOT and the sunny all day long, as well as the skys are blue and the place was cleaner than Hoover Dam.
Back to the hotel where the entire day i took a ribbing on picking of steet walkers, when whom should get caught taking flash photography from their room...Andrew and Brenda, they had a pimp and three girls trying to break down their door, they gave up after a couple minutes but it was still funny all the same to give them crap about having girls in their room!
Singapore is exceptionally clean, the food prices are still less than 3 USD for a good meal (i prefer the chicken and rice, which is the national dish) The people are nice, its very business like here, not a lot to do for tourist, or sight seeing, i don't mind this cause travelling with andrew is like travelling with a group of japanese tourists all rolled into one, he wants to see everything and take three pictures of everything, it has made for some exhausting days.
Day two in Singapore we decieded to take the ferry to Batam Indonesia. This is a nice quant little part of Indonesia, nothing like Sumatra, or Borneo, and absolutely nothing like Bali. The city is gearing up to be a tourist haven by 2010, although no one we asked was able to tell us what the billboards meant, least of all the taxi driver. Landing and clearin immigration in Indonesia is quite easy, its 10 USD for a 7 day visa, the bad thing for andrew at least, is that he doesn't have that many passport pages left, and most places require two empty pages for entry, he's right about at that limit.
Once we cleared immigration and customers it was into the arrival hall of the ferry terminal, some knock off items being sold, but the decision to be made was breakfast and touring. The ferry ride only took an hour, so we were ready to get the day under way. We had breakfast of rice, dried anchovies and cucumber, and of course coffee, it was tasty, but i'm coming to the realization that the portions are nearly big enough for all the touring that we have been doing.
We enjoyed breakfast quickly and then outside of the ferry terminal we were faced with the question of how to see the sites. The taxi stand let us know that we could rent a taxi for 8 hours for 70 SGD (1:1.48). We jumped at that opprotunity, and had our taxi driver, unfortunately we had the one with the best english and his english was far from understanding everything we were talking about, he did however understand the japanese tourist we were with and that pulling over every 5 minutes for andrew to take a picture was a wise choice!
We travelled through three Islands in Indonesia, they were nice, all the way to a southern island where the Japanese had an interment camp for the Vietnemese. One similarity i have found travelling through asia is that the Japanese have been just about everywhere and terrorized the populations, and then the Brittish, or Americans come in and shoo them off, it has happened in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines as well as Indonesia. Just a quick observation. The area for the tourists regarding the interment camp was very poorly detailed, and we were befuddled on finding an accurate map of the islands/cities. We spent about 3 hours touring around the southern island through the vietnam internment memorial, as well as the monument to the boat people and continued back to the main parts of Batam. Their was a monument wall to the Vietnamese prisoners, this was exactly what it was titled, a wall (completely blank) in the back of a cemetary.
We finished with Batam by 3, and asked the taxi driver Sam to take us some where for a seafood lunch, he took us to this fantastic seafood place where we actually got to see lunch before it was made. Their were pools and pools of fish, prawns, clams, crabs, sharks, turtles, mussels, and just about anything that could be pulled out of the ocean. We settled in for a lunch of bbq prawns, chili prawns and pineapple fish, all was fantastic, and Andrew ate the entire fish by himself. For those that are interested, the fish, prawns, and crabs come whole, none of this peeled, deveined and butterflyed stuff over here. and its customary to suck the brains out of the prawns (for those that are asking what is a prawn, its a shrimp, americans are the only ones that seem to call them shrimp). and the best part of the fish is the head, its not a difficult as it seems to eat the fish while heels looking at you!!!
The return trip from Batam was very easy and we were back in Singapore by 6, we spent the evening in the hotel, as we were all extremely tired. The Next day we got packed and headed off to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
We headed off to the main tour bus area in Singapore near the harbor front. We booked a luxury coach for 30 SGD a piece and would be in KL by 6 hours. The bus ride was nice and very comfortable, the driver made three stops, and immigration was a breeze both leaving Singapore and entering Malaysia. We had to stop at one side of a bridge for Singapore, and the other side for Malaysia. The bus dropped us off right at the Pudo bus station, directly across the street from our hotel (Citin). I booked the "budget" accomodations, and we were right in the heart of everything, near the Petrona's towers, the KL Minera (space needle), China town, and the central market where andrew could by all his cheap souveniers. I've become to really dislike China Towns, they are very congested, and i always feel like someone is going to pick my pocket.
We got checked in just fine into the hotel and grabbed some flyers for this tour service called the hop on hop off bus. This was our ticket for Sunday, we headed off to China town to catch the bus, the cost was 38 MYR (Ringgits 1:3.38). the tour was very simple, the bus made a circuit about every 1/2 hour, the ticket that you buy was good for 24 hours, you could get off the bus at any of the 22 designated stops, and get back on at anytime the bus was running during your 24 hour window of your valid ticket. We saw the entire city of KL this way. We started about 10 Am and ended about 6 PM.
We saw the central market, china town, petrona's towers, the national monument and gardens, and more muslims than you could shake a stick at, they came in all shapes and sizes, from those wearing simple shawls over their heads to the full black gowns that only showed their eyes, and even the rare few that had the mesh over their eyes so you couldn't see them. Malaysia is a muslim country, and from what i gathered from the newspapers not exactly conservative, they goverment is recieving increased pressure in the upcoming election to take on a more conservative Islamic agenda.
Once we were back at the hotel, we opted for dinner at the hotel, none of us had any energy to go out again, i think we were all asleep by 10....
Manila - Pampanga Week1
After Landing in Manila and spending the day with Andrew and Brenda, I went my separate way. I headed north to Pampanga to the home of Mount Pinatabu, the volcano that in lack of a better description drove the US out of the Philippines from the Clark Air base and Subic Naval base. I spent a week at the Marquis Hotel, a quaint little place costing about 1,200 pesos (1:44.3) a night, a great bargin, and close to the balibago. Although my initial plans were not to spend the entire time in Angeles City, but to in fact do the sight seeing tours of Pinatabu. This did not happen it rained every day and there was no reprieve. I did have the fortune of meeting a bloke named Martin on the bus ride up from Manila. He had traveled in northern Luzon before and was well versed in how to get around, as well as the scams to avoid. Come to find out, Martin was orginally from London, now in Dubai where he owns a GPS company, both selling and repairing. He does quite well their and was in the Philippines to do a little recruiting, but as it was the weekend he was off for some sight seeing as well. His story is actually interesting, he had travelled from Dubai via Thailand where he was to visit a friend, this friend never picked him up from the airport and, well his excuse for not doing so was that he had passed.
On the first night in Angeles, we did a bar hop (Martin, Jerry (another guy from the bus) and me) and stopped by the bar where another friend of Martin's, Geoff, frequents. Based on the description from the door man, Geoff was in the hospital as well, something along the lines of a heart attack. We would later find out that it was not a heart attach and the end result was a problem that was discovered with his liver.
Bar hopping done we headed back to the hotel, this process would repeat itself for the remainder of the week. On Thursday, we organized a boon doogle, due to the weather still be rainy and no Pinatabu viewing, to Subic, the site of the former USA naval base. This was interesting until the Americans left any area designated the naval base was off limits to the Philippina's, and now to travel through they need to pay a toll. The differences are remarkable, both in Subic and Angeles when it comes to seeing what was built by the Americans and what was built by the Filipinas. In Subic we met up with Martin's friend Geoff, He was recovering well and had been in the hospital in Angeles, where he has a home. We were unsure why he was in Subic, but later found out that he enjoyed getting away from Angeles and that he had just bought property and was looking at building a new home in Subic. Geoff told us the entire story of what had happened to him, and that he is recovering nicely, with a little swelling still remaining in his feet and that he should be in tip top shape before he knows it. In Subic we stayed at the Jonas hotel.
From Subic it was back to Angeles, where I made my way back to the hotel, and Martin made his way to Manila to actually fulfill the recruiting reason he had come to the philippines for in the first place. I did a couple more bar hops on my own, and was content with the pinatabu tour being cancelled. On Saturday I checked out and made my way back to Manila to meet up with Andrew and Brenda Again.
On the first night in Angeles, we did a bar hop (Martin, Jerry (another guy from the bus) and me) and stopped by the bar where another friend of Martin's, Geoff, frequents. Based on the description from the door man, Geoff was in the hospital as well, something along the lines of a heart attack. We would later find out that it was not a heart attach and the end result was a problem that was discovered with his liver.
Bar hopping done we headed back to the hotel, this process would repeat itself for the remainder of the week. On Thursday, we organized a boon doogle, due to the weather still be rainy and no Pinatabu viewing, to Subic, the site of the former USA naval base. This was interesting until the Americans left any area designated the naval base was off limits to the Philippina's, and now to travel through they need to pay a toll. The differences are remarkable, both in Subic and Angeles when it comes to seeing what was built by the Americans and what was built by the Filipinas. In Subic we met up with Martin's friend Geoff, He was recovering well and had been in the hospital in Angeles, where he has a home. We were unsure why he was in Subic, but later found out that he enjoyed getting away from Angeles and that he had just bought property and was looking at building a new home in Subic. Geoff told us the entire story of what had happened to him, and that he is recovering nicely, with a little swelling still remaining in his feet and that he should be in tip top shape before he knows it. In Subic we stayed at the Jonas hotel.
From Subic it was back to Angeles, where I made my way back to the hotel, and Martin made his way to Manila to actually fulfill the recruiting reason he had come to the philippines for in the first place. I did a couple more bar hops on my own, and was content with the pinatabu tour being cancelled. On Saturday I checked out and made my way back to Manila to meet up with Andrew and Brenda Again.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
things are progressing
All right everyone, now for a much anticipated update. Traversing through the airports of Chicago and hong kong proved to be uneventful, wih the exception of Hong Kong when i asked for the best way to make my way to the national track, in unison the three reservations ladies from philippine airlines screamed NO. I asked why, i had a 5 hour layover and the MRT only took 30 minutes to the track...for those interested i wanted to go to the national track as that i where the olympic equestrian events are being held, they have also set up a really nice museum to equestrian events on the site. Much to my dismat i headed the advice of he people who probably new more and did not go, i did however get some pictures of the Olympic propaganda peppering the airpor.
landing in manila was easy, got through customs in as much time as it took for the immigration person to look a the white guy in front of them and stamp them through. From the airport it was off to the hotel where i met up with my brother and met his asawa (taglong for wife, even though they are only technically engaged). In the spirit of jet lag i was not in the least bit tired, so we found a nice bar with local bands playing 80's and 90's US rock hits. It was a great time. I did not go to sleep as I just simply was not tired and watched tv attempting to at least nap for a little bit. I waited for andrew and brenda to wake up and had breakfast from their is was off to the Mall of Asia (the biggest shopping mall in all of southeast asia) where i picked up a phone, sim card, and cell load. We met brenda's brother alvin for supper and had a really good meal at an all you can eat sushi place with the colored plates and the conveyor belt. between alvin, andrew and I we got our monies (Peso's) worth.
From Manila it was off to Pampanga and Subic, and then back to Manila. Next stop from manila is Singapore and still debating on Indonesia or Kuala Lumpur.
More to Follow from the exploits in pampanga and Subic
landing in manila was easy, got through customs in as much time as it took for the immigration person to look a the white guy in front of them and stamp them through. From the airport it was off to the hotel where i met up with my brother and met his asawa (taglong for wife, even though they are only technically engaged). In the spirit of jet lag i was not in the least bit tired, so we found a nice bar with local bands playing 80's and 90's US rock hits. It was a great time. I did not go to sleep as I just simply was not tired and watched tv attempting to at least nap for a little bit. I waited for andrew and brenda to wake up and had breakfast from their is was off to the Mall of Asia (the biggest shopping mall in all of southeast asia) where i picked up a phone, sim card, and cell load. We met brenda's brother alvin for supper and had a really good meal at an all you can eat sushi place with the colored plates and the conveyor belt. between alvin, andrew and I we got our monies (Peso's) worth.
From Manila it was off to Pampanga and Subic, and then back to Manila. Next stop from manila is Singapore and still debating on Indonesia or Kuala Lumpur.
More to Follow from the exploits in pampanga and Subic
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Pre-Trip Planning
its 16 hours till i leave for the airport, laundry is finishing drying and the backs are getting packed...now just finding the appropriate sized baggage to hold everything is presenting the current obstacle to overcome.
even before getting on a plane, the conspiracies of family are already striking against me...the collusion between mothers and friends to marry their sons, daughters, and loved ones continues to motivate. I have been set up on a blind date in Manila, prior to even leaving...this vacation is starting out to be interesting from the get go!
Next up pictures and flight details from the Detroit to Hong Kong Journey
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Introduction
Morning All- You have recieved an email from me to invite you to read my blog that has been created to chronicle my adventures through South East Asia during August and September. Enjoy as of this post its wheels up in 9 Days!!!!
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