Raiding some Temples

Day 31 (30/04/08): Ayutthaya, Thailand

Once more, a night of terrible sleep. Although this time it was due to a blocked nose, wracking cough, bad headache and even some backache. This flu has hit me pretty hard. I took some painkillers, which helped things out a fair bit. I even succumbed and ordered some comfort food - a hamburger (I have rarely eaten Western food while travelling). Although the burger wasn't actually very good. Refusing to let the flu get the better of me, it was now time to go an explore some of Ayutthaya!

We investigated some of the guided tours you could take, but decided they were all too expensive. After all, we had legs didn't we? So with me at the map, off we walked down the street to the Historical Park. Ayutthaya is famous for its large number of Wats, almost all of which are now ruins, due to the many wars between Thailand and Burma over the last few hundred years. First stop was Wat Ratchaburana, a particularly impressive ruin, focussed around a large 'Prang', which is richly decorated with stone statues and engravings. We braved the perilous steps and actually climbed right up it to get a great view of the surrounding area. Also scattered around are numerous Buddha statues, most of which are now headless, or otherwise similarly ruined. Some were mere blocks of stone, and only on close inspection could you see the odd bit of decoration that once marked it as a torso.

Across the road is the Historical park housing the ruins of Wat Phra Mahathat. While this complex is considerably larger than Wat Ratchaburana, most of the buildings are in much worse condition. Originally built in the 14th century, it was burned down a couple hundred years ago. It is mostly brick and mortar construction, and after several hundred years, some of the stupas are now on a bit of an angle (like Pisa, only less Italian). This Wat is also home to the famous 'Buddha head in tree roots' thing. It's quite pretty to look at it, but nothing incredibly special. The whole experience of clambering around these ruins, some of which are hundreds of years old, really make you feel like Indiana Jones, or Lara Croft.

The heat by now was stupefying (nothing new there). So after a cold drink, a tuktuk to the National Museum sounded like a good idea. It is impossible to walk anywhere in Thailand, especially as a Westerner, and not be constantly hounded by tuktuk drivers offering you a ride. Unless of course, you actually want a tuktuk, as was our case. We started walking in the right direction, and it was only after walking most of the way there, that we finally got the tuktuk proposition. By which time of course, we didn't actually need a ride. The museum was reasonably interesting. Housing a collection of personal items belonging to an old Thai King from 150 years ago. More impressive was the collection of old ceramics, statues, and other everyday items, some of which dated back to the 13th century!

Walked back into town, by now on very sore feet, and am writing this post immediately up (in a nice air-conditioned internet cafe). We have train tickets booked for tonight, to Chang Mai. Quite a long train journey, but having learned from past experience, we booked tickets early to ensure a nice comfortable second class sleeper berth. My flu is still pretty bad (although painkillers are currently disguising it), so I am considering taking a few days off in Chang Mai, and just holing up somewhere and resting. The rest of my plan for Chang Mai involves going trekking in the mountains for a few days, so its probably best done in good health.

On an interesting side note, the tuktuks here are unlike any other I have seen. More of a cross between a regular tuktuk and a songthaew, they are little three wheeled trucks with two bench seats in the back (see the photo). Ten points to anybody who can remember the video game that one of these appeared in.

To the old Capital

Day 30 (29/04/08): Ayutthaya, Thailand

I didn't get much sleep, a result of the early checkout time and my late bedtime. I also woke up to that familiar scratching in the back of my throat, and a hint of phlegm in my sinuses, the typical precursor to a cold or flu. Oh well, nothing you can do about it, I will just grin and bear it! We had a quick bite to eat, before saying goodbye to Khaosan road and Bangkok. Bangkok is really a unique place, and while I really enjoyed my time there, it is also nice to keep moving and go explore and discover new places.

We caught a third class train to Ayutthaya. While I have had my share of third class trains, this one was only 1.5 hours, so nothing too bad. Ayutthaya is the ancient capital of Thailand, and home to a large amount of ruined Wats (Buddhist Temples). The town of Ayutthaya itself is technically an island, with a river running all the way around it. Getting off the train, we had to catch a boat across the river to get into the town itself. We wandered around in the typical fierce Thai heat, and after checking out several places, managed to find a cheap guesthouse. Like the place in Khaosan road I stayed at, it was only 90 baht each ($3.75 NZ) a night. Although unlike that place, this one was actually very nice! Decent beds, very clean, and a really nice bathroom! Brilliant!

By now it was mid-afternoon, and we were both pretty tired from all the travel. We decided to forgo any sight-seeing, and spent the remainder of the afternoon reading and at the local internet cafe. I would have spent a whole let less time at the internet cafe, but while I was there it started raining. The thick, heavy and unrelenting rain of a monsoon region. So I figured that staying warm and dry and catching up on webcomics was a much better idea than walking anywhere. My flu was now also in full swing, my nose constantly dripping and my head felt like it was in a cider press. Not very pleasant.

For an unknown reason, I was very hungry at dinner that night, and ended up ordering food three times (the waitress just smiled). Back in my room, I tried reading my book, but all the lack of sleep caught up with me, and coupled with my wracked body, I was asleep shortly after 9pm.

A day of nothing

Day 29 (28/04/08): Bangkok, Thailand

Unfortunately, today's entry is going to be rather boring. After all the busy past few days, and with a lot of late nights, I spent most of today sleeping. After waking up, I failed to do anything of any real value. I wandered around the streets, got some cheap noodles, looked in shops but didn't buy anything. As boring as that sounds, Khaosan road is such a crazy place, with so much stuff happening all the time, that even just walking up and down the street, taking in all the sounds, sights and smells can be a very interesting experience. Although you do have to develop a sort of 'tunnel vision', to avoid the touts. In all the tourist areas, and especially Khaosan road, wherever you go there will be locals trying to sell you all sorts of things, offer you tuktuk rides or hand fliers to you. In my opinion, engaging them with any sort of verbal response, even if you are saying 'no', just encourages them futher. My preferred tactic is to never make eye contact and merely ignore anything that they are yelling from their stall, stand, rickshaw or dedicated piece of pavement. If they are quite determined, a quick shake of the head or wave of the hand normally gets the message across. It isn't particularly polite, but I figure they aren't being very polite either.

In the evening I bumped into a few people I had known from other places in my travels, and we sat down and had a few beers together. Later on, we bumped into the Swedes and Canadians from the previous night, and before you knew it, I was up till the early hours of the morning again. It is a really weird experience, you know somebody for only two days, and get on with them really well, and spend a fair bit of time together. And then, just like that, you each go in your own direction, and chances are you will never see them again, ever. Although one of the Swedish guys is also going to China, and we might be there at the same time, so will meet up if we can.

Weekend Market

Day 28 (27/04/08): Bangkok, Thailand

If there is one thing that Bangkok is famous for, its shopping. Being a Sunday, we decided to head off to the Chatuchak weekend market. We braved the local bus system, which is actually rather easy, once you have the inside knowledge of what bus you want and where it actually stops. The bus was pretty crowded, and so I spent a rather uncomfortable 30mins standing like a sardine in a bus with only a few open windows in the Bangkok heat. Charming.

Arriving at the market is a sight to behold. I don't believe there is any other place like it on earth. One estimate puts the number of stalls at over fifteen thousand! Essentially a giant complex, with a large road/walkway running in a loop. However, the stalls are about 10-15 deep off this main road, and so you can get completely lost wandering in the darkened maze of small alleyways and passages between the infinite stalls. Everything is for sale here, although the focus does tend to be on clothes and accessories. Unfortunately, most of the clothes are in the standard Thai size - very small! But almost everything else you could imagine was for sale as well, jewellery, books, shoes, household items, interior decorations, furniture, artwork, pottery, garden tools, plants, pets etc, and of course food. The only thing I bought was food (no suprise there!).

The place is very crowded, completely packed with people, and mostly locals as well. After walking for several hours in the heat, crowd and Bangkok pollution, we had both had enough and manged to catch a very nice air-con bus back. Very civilised, even if I did have to chase the bus down the street before jumping on it!

That was all there really was to the day. The requisite mid-afternoon siesta took place, cheap dinner was acquired off a street stall, and the evening was spent drinking cheap street beer and chatting to other travellers. I actually had quite a late night. I met a bunch of Swedes and Canadians, and we spent the night drinking beers while they talked about ice hockey (apparently its all the Swedes and Canadians do!). I ended up walking back to my room well after the sun had risen!

Wats and Temples and a real big Buddha

Day 27 (26/04/08): Bangkok, Thailand

Today was spent doing some of the typical tourist stuff in Bangkok. A hardy breakfast of porridge and banana to make up for the previous nights beer, and we were off! Avoiding the waiting pack of tuktuk and taxi drivers, offering to take us places for 'cheap price', we walked for about 10 minutes down the street to the Grand Palace of the Thai King. This large complex houses the old palace of the King, as well as Wat Phra Kaew. Upon arriving, I was told I couldn't enter the complex, as my shorts (which ended just below my knee), were too short. This is after all, a place of Buddhist worship. However, for a small returnable deposit, I could have a pair of drawstring baggy trousers to wear. I joined the queue of all the other 'scantily clad' westerners, and a few minutes later, armed with my new ugly pants, I could go exploring!

The Buddhist temple of Wat Phra Kaew was first, and I must say it was very impressive (check out the link for more photos). It comprises of a number of large and small buildings, altars and statues. Some of the buildings are covered in amazing decoration; gold leaf, gold tiles, small mirrors etc. One very large building in particular was completely covered in a small repeating patterns of gold tiles, sculpted parts, mirrors and colourful tiles. The amount of work to construct such a place is utterly mind boggling. All around the place were large statues acting as guards or 'supporting' the building. These too were covered in detail work and small decoration that was almost unbelievable to comprehend. Some buildings were just completely covered in gold leaf. We walked around, necks craned, sweating in the Bangkok heat, and were amazed at the amount of work it would have taken to create this place. Several of the larger buildings housed Buddhist altars, and after removing your shoes, you could enter. While the western tourists just marvelled at the sheer magnificence of the statues and the altars, many of the locals would actively kneel and pray. It was a very interesting experience. There were also large undecorated stone statues (my personal favourite), exquisite little gardens with miniature trees, pagodas and large ceramic containers with water plants and amazing flowers.

Within the same complex was the Grand Palace of the Thai King. Built in a somewhat in an 'East meets West' way, ultimately it was just a very large stately building, that paled in comparison so the magnificence of the gold-leaf buildings we had just seen. Before leaving, we went into a small museum housing some of the Royal Thai regalia, jewellery, swords and other accoutrements that come with being Royal. I actually really enjoyed the museum, and liked looking at the amazing artifacts. Rome of the rings were so encrusted with jewels and raw diamonds, that the ring was the size of a golf ball. Some serious bling. And oh, the musem was also wonderfully air-conditioned, another reason it was great.

Walked down the road to Wat Pho, home of the world's largest reclining Buddah. There entrance fee was cheap, and really worth it. The buildings around the temple complex were not particularly impressive, especially after the sights of the morning. However, the giant Buddha, that was pretty impressive. At 46m long, and 15m high, completely covered in gold leaf, it is a very impressive sight. Other than that, there isn't really much to say about it. It's just a really really big statue, all covered in gold. I guess you have to be there to fully feel its impact.

The rain come down then, the way it does in these parts of the world, hot, heavy and solid. We had now been on our feet for most of the day, and combined with the rain, caught a taxi back to Khaosan road. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, and I had the very good news that my car, back in NZ, had been sold! That adds a huge boost to my travelling fund, but if I am good I will leave it as my setup money for the UK, which I know is going to be very expensive.

The evening and night was spent with a few other friends, people I had met in Taman Negara, and Helen had met in KL. Sometimes travelling can be a very small world indeed. Although at one stage or another, all travellers go to Khaosan road, and I have already bumped into a few people I've met in other places. Small world indeed....

Exploring Caves of Murder

Day 26 (25/04/08): Kanchanaburi & Bangkok, Thailand

Another lazy morning. I didn't sleep very well in the night, the foreign food finally starting to play havoc with my stomach (it was only a matter of time). As such, I didn't get up for the dawn service (no real suprises there!). There is another famous cemetry just outside of Kanchanaburi, as well as a well known Buddhist Temple with a cave. The recommended way to explore these is to rent bicycles, so shortly after a late breakfast, Helen (my current travelling buddy) and I rented two bicycles and proceeded to explore the Kanchanaburi countryside.

It was great to be back on a bicycle, even if it was a crappy rent-a-bike. We cycled down a country lane, passing through some farmland before coming to Chungkai Cemetry. This cemetry was very similiar to the one from yesterday, a very neat and immaculate garden, with a large number of graves for the Allied Servicemen who died in the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway.

Back on the bikes and up a small hill (no mean feat in the heat and humidity) to the temple complex of Wat Tham Khao Pun, one of many cave temples in the area. This one is particularly famous for a 1995 incident where a drug addicted monk murdered a British tourist and dropped her body in a sinkhole. The cave system itself is very impressive. Small little holes lead through to big chambers which house statues of Buddha, altars and other Buddhist iconography. The floor has all been leveled and concreted in places, and a number of lights provide illumination. A large number of stalactites hang overhead the large Budda statues. It is hard to describe adequately, and photos can't really do it justice, but it was very impressive. It rained briefly while we were in the cave, and we emerged to the end of a short rainshower.

Back on the bikes and down the hill. We had passed a sign that said 'Kanchanaburi Monkey School' and decided to investigate. Down the end of dirt road was a small place that had a few monkeys chained up. It didn't look very nice, and neither of us wanted to support that kind of animal treatment, so we didn't enter. However, the dirt road had taken us down to the river, and so Monkey School aside, we were treated to a beautiful view of the river and the mountains. Made the whole side trip worthwhile!

Back to Kanchanaburi, and I did one quick bike ride to see the bridge for the last time. It was mainly just an excuse to go fast on a bicycle again, something I am missing dreadfully. I raced down the street, and even overtook an old lady on a scooter!

We had checked out of our hostel, and caught an organised minibus to Bangkok. Normally tourist transport like this is a rip-off, but in this case it was about the same as a taxi to the bus terminal, and the bus ticket. So a good deal, and a lot easier! We arrived in Bangkok in the early evening, right at the (in)famous Khaosan road, the mecca and gathering place of all travellers, backpackers and hippies. The street itself is a sight to behold. Packed to the gills with all sorts of people, from all age groups, nationalities, cultures and backgrounds. Street vendors hawking food, drinks, clothes, jewellery and other tourist trinkets. The buildings lining the street are all restaurants, pubs or hostels. Neon signs light up the night, and music fills the air, as each streetside bar tries to woo their customers. The cheapest drinking places are merely some plastic tables on the side of the street, with someone selling all sorts of cocktails and drinks from a small cart. Walking down the street is a minefield, as you try to ignore all the touts trying to sell you taxi rides, tuktuk rides, tourist trinkets or trying to get you into their bar. It is a crazy, mind-blowing, strange, exciting and disturbing experience. It makes Oxford Terrace in Christchurch look like a Kindergarten.

We found a hostel, right on Khaosan road that is really cheap. It is little more than a square room with two beds, a door and a ceiling fan, but you get what you pay for (a beer from a restaurant costs the same as my room for the night, about $3.75NZ). Apart from that, it is actually reasonably clean, although the term 'steel re-enforced sandbag' would be more appropriate than the term 'mattress'.

The night was spent drinking in one of the roadside 'pubs' (some plastic chairs under an umbrella) and talking to other travellers. Perhaps the craziest, yet sanest thing of all Bangkok, is that all the places shut at 2am, and shortly after this the place is pretty dead. The good news means that you can actually go and get a good sleep, wake up in the morning and be ready to explore and go sight-seeing. Even if you are sleeping on a sandbag.

Hunting Tigers

Day 25 (24/04/08): Kanchanaburi, Thailand

I had planned to get a lot more done today, but with all the travelling I had done recently, I ended up sleeping till almost lunchtime. I had some food, and spent an hour or so relaxing in a hammock overlooking the river. At 2pm the hostel had organised a minibus out to the 'Tiger Temple', a Buddhist Temple oustide of Kanchanaburi where the monks look after a large menagerie of animals, including of course, tigers!

The place isn't really a zoo, just a large open area, mostly dirt and dust, with a few scattered trees. Wandering around in here is a large collection of different buffalo, cattle, wild pig, goats, deer, chickens and peacocks. The animals are pretty tame, and you could walk right up to them and take photos or pet them. Especially cute were all the wild piglets which were scurrying about all over the place.

To see the tigers, you walked into a large canyon (appropriately named 'Tiger Canyon'). At the bottom were about a dozen or so tigers, all sleeping and chained on a short chain. The attendants would take your camera, and then lead you to a bunch of different tigers, which you could then stroke as they took photos of you. You had to leave your bags, hats, sunglasses, etc behind the barrier, as these were 'toys' to the tigers. The tigers were all pretty docile, and having lived there their whole lives, were ambivelant to the hordes of tourists stroking them and taking photos. I must say it was quite an interesting experience. Some of the tigers were quite small, obviously younglings, but some of the big adults were pretty huge! I remember looking at the paws, which were the size of my head, and realizing that these animals do really mean business!

At another place you could look at a few baby tigers. One was being walked around on a leash, and like any boisterous dog was pulling the 'owner' around, as it tried to chase after all the little piglets around the place. Other than that, there wasn't much more to the place. We did stay to watch them walk the tigers back from the canyon (from a safe distance of course!) and then got back on the minibus to Kanchanaburi.

I am now quickly writing up this post, before I head off to dinner. I am an unsure how much longer I will stay here before going to Bangkok. There are still a few things around the place I want to do. Tomorrow is also Anzac day, and I am toying with the idea of getting up for the dawn service, but you know what I am like with mornings....

The Bridge over the River Kwai

Day 24 (23/04/08): Kanchanaburi, Thailand

After ten hours in the bus, it rolled into Bangkok bus station in the early hours of the morning. I hadn't got a huge amount of sleep, but sleep is for the weak. Helen was planning on skipping Bangkok for the moment and going straight to Kanchanaburi, and I decided it sounded like a good idea. I really wasn't ready to face the bustle of Bangkok, and a quiet river town sounded like a good place to recharge my batteries.

We managed to buy some tickets for a 5:30am bus to Kanchanaburi, leaving us only 10 minutes to find it. We ended up running around the station, asking different people where the departure terminal was. We got pointed in multiple different directions, finding three places that were labeled as 'Terminal 10'. Fifteen minutes later we found the right place, and luckily the bus was still there. The bus trip was pretty uneventful, and two hours later, still early in the morning, we arrived in the small Thai town of Kanchanaburi, on the banks of the River Kwai, and obviously, the famous bridge.

We found quite a nice backpackers to stay at, right on the river side. It has a nice lawn with hammocks and deck chairs overlooking the river, perfect for relaxing. The room I was staying in was right on the river as well, literally. It's on a small floating platform, which you reach via a short gangplank. The plank is quite a test of dexterity, as it is hinged in three places. I wonder how many people have fallen into the river.

We decided that a couple hours of powernapping was definitely the way to go, and I crashed onto the bed, happy to be horizontal for the first time in a long time. A few hours later we were both awake and keen to explore the town. The first place we walked to was the 'Thailand-Burma Railway Museum'. A private museum setup recently to explain and give information about the construction of the famous railway line. For the uneducated in the audience, during WW2, the Japanese used a large number of Allied POW's and local forced labour to build a railway line linking Thailand and Burma. The working conditions were terrible, food scarce, and medical supplies non-existant. As such, thousands of the prisoners died from disease, malnutrition and violent beatings. The bridge over the river Kwai (one of eight bridges built), is the most famous due to a novel, and later a movie based on its construction. The museum was really good, it presented an excellent overview of the whole railway, its history, background, construction, effects, aftermath etc. While a lot of the information was very sobering, it served as a very good reminder of the inhumanity of war.

The second stop, right across the road from the museum, was the large cemetry housing the graves of close to 7000 Allied servicemen who died in the construction of the Thai side of the Railway. After the war, there had been a huge operation to recover the bodies of all the dead POWs and bring them together to be housed in one large cemetry. The cemetry is incredibly well taken of, the gardens are immaculate, with several full time gardeners constantly attending to it. At the cemetry were a few Australian soldiers, practicing for what I assume is an Anzac day demonstration. Anzac day is only 2 days away, and there are some signs around town advertising dawn services. I am not sure how many NZ'ers died working on the railway, they weren't listed anywhere, but a large number of Australians died. Quite a large section of the cemetry was Australian.

In the heat of the blistering afternoon sun, we walked the 3km across town to go and see the famous bridge. The bridge itself isn't that impressive as far as bridges go, but its the history behind it that is interesting. The bridge itself was covered in tourists, most arriving in the big package tour buses, snapping silly posed photos before being herded back onto their buses for the next destination. All around the bridge were touts selling all sorts of maps, books and other tourist trinkets about the bridge. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but something a little more somber to honour the dead would have been nice.

We walked back and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the lawn, watching the river and reading books. Going up and down the river was a small boat towing a large barge that looked like a large floating gazebo. It was packed with Asian tourists, singing some truly awful kareoke. I realised that my bed was right on the river, and hoped they would stop singing by bedtime.

It was the middle of the week, in the off season, so the town was pretty quite in the evening. Apparently Kanchanaburi is quite a popular spot with Thai weekend holidayers, so there were a number of pubs and restaurants around the place, all pretty much empty. So after a quiet dinner, I retired to bed to read my book.

The Tall Westerner

Day 23 (22/04/08): Koh Phangan to Bangkok

I woke up for the first time on the island without a hangover, and had a relaxed morning packing up my stuff. I checked out, and met Helen for a quick breakfast, we even managed to catch some BBC news! The taxis on the island, like in all of Thailand, are converted utes. The back tray has a roof attached, and two padded benches running down their length. We caught one of these to the far side of the island, a short trip geographically, but it adds years to your life as the driver hoons and careens his way over the tight mountainous road.

The boat terminal in the main town of the island was absolutely packed with other young travelers, eager to leave the island now that the Full Moon was over. Luckily we managed to get tickets, and somehow in the massive thronging crowd, even managed to get on the right boat. Which in hindsight, wasn't really a problem, as they kept pushing everyone onto boats. There were very quickly no seats left on ours, and all the deck space filled up, and then all the passageways and aisles, so I spent the four hour boat trip reading my book on the stairwell, and then sitting in the passage by the toilet. It wasn't too bad.

Our ferry ticket also included a bus ride to the train station. I had done with trip before in a taxi, and it only took 30mins or so. However, it took closer to two hours in this bus (whose air-conditioning was as effective as an asthmatic hamster coughing on you), as we made a detour via the bus station. Instead of buying a package ticket, which included the train to Bangkok, Helen and I had decided to just do it ourself. Of course, all the hundreds of other backpackers leaving the island had booked the package, and so when we got to the train station, we found out that that there were no train tickets left, and none for the next day either. We had planned on spending the 12 hour train overnight train journey in a nice second class sleeper cabin, something with a nice horizontal bed. That dream was now dashed. At least I wasn't tempted to brave third class again, as even that was all sold out.

Luckily, we were approached by a man selling bus tickets to Bangkok, while quite expensive for a bus (slightly more than the 2nd class sleeper train ticket), it was our only option, and we grudgingly agreed. The man assured us it was a good bus, first class in fact! We bought our tickets, and spent the few evening hours eating at a roadside stall and sweltering in the heat. At almost exactly the right time, an old manky bus, looking somewhat like Otto's pulled up outside. Helen and I shared a look of dread, we didn't want to spend 10 hours on an old school bus, especially after paying so much! All the travel horror stories of bus scams and phony bus services filled our minds. However, almost as though fate was playing a joke on us, right behind the old bus, a big, double story sleeper bus arrived and we were herded on.

The bus was comfortable enough, good air-conditioning, complimentary water and snacks, good toilet and even a stewardess! There was plenty of leg room, and the seats reclined a bit further than your standard airplane seat, which was just as well, considering this bus trip would take as long as my flight from NZ to Singapore! Unfortunately, as comfortable as the seats were, my Western genes betrayed me. I was just too tall to really rest my head comfortably, and slouching to make my head reach, really cramped my back. I did manage to get some sleep in the night, but I regretted not being organised enough to book my comfortable second class sleeper ahead of time!

Island Haze

Days 17 - 22 (16/04/08 - 21/04/08): Haad Rin, Island of Koh Phangan, Thailand.

I arrived on the island in the early hours of the morning, to be greeted by the waiting taxi touts, all eager to ship the arriving tourists off to the popular beach destinations around the island. I however, had a different destination; the island hospital. The nurse was very nice, considering it was just after 6am, and cleaned and dressed my very infected and bulging toe. She also gave me a course of anti-biotics and told me to keep my feet dry - absolutely no swimming!

Being by myself, and in the early hours of the morning, I was at the wrath of the taxis and had to pay an exhorbitant price to get to Haad Rin, the main tourist town on the island. I wasn't originally planning on staying here, as the beach isn't that good, people only come here to party. But as I wasn't able to swim, and needed to get my dressing changed each day, it was a viable choice. The small town had numerous medical clinics scattered around it. Obviously to cater for all the western tourists who rented scooters, and attempted to venture the islands perilous, hilly and unkempt roads. There were quite an astonishing number of young travellers walking around with bandages, crutches and large sections of road rash. Bikinis and togs don't do much to protect you when coming off a scooter.

The next 6 days or so were all rather repetitive, and I'm afraid they make rather boring reading. As I said before the only reason people come to Haad Rin is to party, and party is what you do. The town is an interesting place, completely packed with foreign, all in the under 30 age group. There is the odd elder holiday-maker, and they really stick out like a sore thumb. The town is a small warren of streets and alleways, packed with restaurants, eateries and bars. As well as a far amount of other shops, all designed to extract money from young tourists: tatoo and piercing parlours, massage shops, funky clothing stores. During the day it is a rather quiet place, filled with people walking too or from the beach, or catching a quiet bite to eat at one of the many restuarants, that are often playing movies at the same time. (Or 'Friends', the locals seem to love that show and assume all Western travelers must love it as well).

At night the place is filled with young people out to party. The main beach becomes packed with young people, dancing, singing, partying, or just sitting on the beach and swapping the requisite travel stories. The drink of choice on the island are known as 'buckets', which are sold by what appears to be every man, woman and their dog. The beach is lined with an unbroken line of small stalls, behind which resides a local, screaming and yelling at you to buy a bucket from their stall, instead of their neighbours. Even though they are all selling the same thing for the same price. So, a 'bucket' is a small plastic bucket, much like one a small child would play with on the beach. This 'bucket' then comes filled with the liquer and mixer of your choice, generally either vodka or the local Thai whiskey, and a large number of straws. Buckets, as the saying goes, are very dangerous things indeed.

I swear it was hotter here than anywhere else. At least on the Perhentians and in Malaysia, the temperature slightly dropped at night, not so here. Even in the middle of the night, sitting around doing nothing, sweat would be running of your forehead and into your eyes, your shirt wet and everything sticky. And because of the humidity, nothing dries, you are always covered in sweat and always feel wet. But once you realise this fact, you just accept it and don't let it bother you.

So as I was saying, I wasn't allowed to swim, and so tended to avoid the beach in the day, (besides it was way too hot). In fact, I was reasonably nocturnal for most of my time on the island. Sleeping during the hottest part of day, under the fan in my room, waking up in the mid afternoon for some food. Although the heat also wrecks your appetite, you just don't feel hungry at all. For some of the days, I was only eating one small meal a day (something which is very odd for me!). The local nurse would change my dressing, and maybe spend a short time in one of the many overpriced tourist trap internet cafes. At night, after grabbing some dinner, sometimes with people I knew, sometimes not, I would head down to the beach for the nightly socialising. Sometime in the early hours of the morning, I'd head back to my room, and the whole simple process would begin again.

I managed to meet quite a few travellers who I had met earlier on my travels, as I said, everyone was heading to this island for the monthly full moon party. On my fifth night of the island (20th April), it was full moon, and the accompanying party. The full moon party is supposedly the biggest party in the world, the entire beach gets filled with people. Personally, I didn't think it was that good, although admittedly, I was pretty tired after four days of late nights. However, for the first few nights the beach area around the main bars was entirely filled with people, so what difference does it make that for the 'official party' the whole beach was filled? You can still only see and interact with the the few hundred people around you.

I spent the day after the full moon party recovering, hanging out with Helen, a British lass I had met earlier on the Perhentian Islands. Her Irish friend had joined her, and so we spent a quiet evening having a good curry, and then treating ourselves to a Thai massage. I got a head, shoulders and back massage, which while good, was also very painful as the massuese really working at the knots in my back and shoulders. But an hour massage for $10NZ, is really pretty good!


The original plan had been to relax for a few days on one of the supposedly spectacular beaches on the north of the Island, and then go to Koh Tao, another island just north which I had only heard great things about. However, after five days of partying on a beach, I was quite sick of it all, and wanted to be somewhere without sand. I still shouldn't be swimming, the nurse was very clear on that, although my wound was healing up nicely, and the anti-biotics had done their job. So I didn't figure there was any point in spending more time at a beach. Helen had also independantly reached the same conclusion, she too was sick of beaches, and so we made our plans to leave the island and head to the heat, craze and uniqueness of Bangkok.

Into Thailand

Day 16 (15/04/08): Thai Transportation

The original plan had always been to cross into Thailand at Sungai Kolok and then catch a train to the town of Surat Thani. We had been investigating train tickets from Malaysia, however it was Thai New Years, and everything we read said that there were no train tickets left. We had also spoken to a few other backpackers who had said the same thing. So it was with a bit of trepidation as Siona and I left the hostel and caught one of the early local buses to the the Thai border, not knowing what would happen when we crossed the border. The town of Sungai Kolok has had a bit of unrest in the last few years with a few bombings and other acts of violence, so we didn't really want to spend any more time there than possible.

The bus stops on the Malaysian side of the border, and you then walk across the bridge into Thailand, the first time either of us had 'walked' across a border. Passport control was pretty simple, a small building on the side of the road. The man behind the counter spent a long time with my passport, cross-referencing bits of paper and checking all sorts of things. Eventually it was all sorted, and we were officially in Thailand, the third country on my trip!

Siona and I ingored all the taxi touts and walked into the town of Sungai Kolok. We managed to find the train station, and much to our joy, they had train tickets to Surat Thani, third class train tickets. Nevertheless it was great news to us, and we spent a few hours exploring Sungai Kolok, finding some food and getting supplies for the upcoming 10 hour train journey.

Third class Thai trains are definitely an interesting experience. The seats are simple bench seats, arranged in pairs facing each other, built for people of Thai stature. Now, I am not the tallest person, but I am stiller taller than the average Thai. So my knees finished a mere inches from the person opposite me, and I was too tall to rest my head on the back rest, which has a metal bar anyway. There was no air-con, only a bunch of fans mounted into the ceiling, and we kept all the windows open. Luckily we had seats, as after the second stop, the train was reduced to standing room only, as all the Thai families were returning home from their New Year festivites. We shuddered to think that some of these people might be returning to Bangkok, over 20 hours away! Oh well, it was only ten hours for us...

The trip actually passed reasonably quickly, we both listened to our ipods for most of the time and just tried to phase out the rumbling noise and squash of people. We played the part of 'scary westerners' pretty well, because the locals gave us a slightly bigger personal space than normal. Vendors selling everything from food and cold drinks to fruit and handmade jewellery consistently sold their wares down the aisles. At each stop as many people seemed to get on the train as off the train, so it was always full. We sat there in our hard bench seats, struggling to hear our ipod music over the rumble of a third class carriage, and dreamed about the bastards in second class with their recliner seats and air-conditioning. The fare difference between the classes is only a few NZ dollars, so that just rubbed salt into the wound. To make matters worse, my left foot had started swelling up and was getting quite painful. I couldn't see what had happened to my toe wounds, as they were covered in band-aids.

In a miracle of all miracles, the train actually gained time. It had left Sungai Kolok almost two hours late, and so we were sure that we would be at least two hours late, if not more. Normally this wouldn't have mattered, but we were hoping to catch the 11pm night ferry to the island of Koh Phangan, our final destination. So we were very much suprised when the train pulled into Surat Thani, a good hour before we expected it to. We found another backpacker who had also been in third class, and we caught a taxi straight to the ferry terminal. The night ferry is a small two level boat with a number of mattresses arranged in rows. The ticket price is the same as the normal fast day boat, but this way we were also getting a nights accomodation. The mattresses on the boat were pretty solid, they felt more like sand-bags than mattresses, and the boat wasn't particularly quiet. But we didn't care! It was a horizontal surface, and that is all we cared about!

I pulled off my plasters to have a look at my toe. The middle toe on the left, which had the worst abrasion from snorkelling was all swollen up, the wound was twice the size it was before, and surrounded in swollen, pus-filled flesh. It was definitely infected! Oh well, nothing I could do about it now, might as well just enjoy my horizontal surface. It was now 11pm, and we had been travelling via bus, foot and train since 8am, and we still had 7 hours to go on the boat, so a great day for distance gained, but our bodies were wrecked. Sleep came very easy, and besides the solid mattress, it was one of the best sleeps I have ever had.

Leaving Paradise

Day 15 (14/04/08): Kota Bharu, Malaysia

Fabian had left the day before, so I spent the lasty night in the bungalow by myself. There are no ATM's on the island, so my last night was also my quietest, as I had no money to spend on anything. I was sad to be saying goodbye to my home of the last week, but all travellers in the area are making a beeline for the Thai Island of Koh Phangan. The full moon was approaching, and on the night of the full moon Phangan hosts the biggest beach party in the world, in excess of 20 000 people! And that is where we were all headed.

I caught the boat back to the mainland with a Canadian called Anna, who I had met a few days before. Back on the mainland, we unsuccesfully waited for the bus, before catching a taxi to the main town of Kota Bharu. Now that we were out of the sand, I tried to have a healing session for my toes. Several of my toes had raw abrasions, where ill fitting snorkelling flippers had rubbed them raw. They wounds weren't healing on the island, as they were always wet and covered in sand. I went to a pharmacy and got some bandaids, cleaned all the wounds, disinfected them and covered them up.

There isn't much to do in Kota Bharu, so Anna and I met up with an English girl, Siona who we met at the bus stop and was staying at the same hostel. We walked down to the night market and I ate some very good barbequed meat on a stick. We all felt like a beer, but finding a beer in a heavily muslim town can be quite hard. We kept our eyes open for a chinese restaurant, the standard souce of beer. We eneded up finding not only a chinese restaurant, but also a very nice lounge bar as well, complete with couches, disco ball and a dart board! What started as a quiet beer, turned into several and we had a great time just chatting about all sorts of things. The bar started to fill up, all middle aged chinese businessmen, and we noticed that the waitresses, all Chinese girls, were very friendly to the customers. So friendly in fact, that we soon realised that the girls were selling more than just beer to the old chinese men... We felt left out, because we were getting none of the attention all the other bar patrons were. Maybe it was because Anna and Siona were the only female customers in the place.

About midnight we went downstairs and got some food to soak up the beer. We chatted to a Japanese guy we had met at the bus stop, and he told us how we had been travelling for the last fifteen years or so, and didn't want to go back to Japan. His english was very good, and it turns out he even lived in Christchurch for a year!

We walked back to our hostel in the early hours of the morning, very happy that we had managed to create a great night out of nothing!

Time in an Island Paradise

Days 10 - 14 (09/09/08 - 13/04/08): Long Beach, Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

Life on a tropical paradise island seems to slow and blur all together. The days are spent lazing on the beach, swimming in the beautifully warm and crystal clear water and drinking fresh fruit juice in the shade of a palm tree. I went to the Perhentian Islands, only planning to stay for three days or so, and in the end I spent a week there! They truly are a beautiful and magical place. I even considered canning the rest of my trip and just spending the rest of my time under a palm tree. And I normally don't even like beaches...

Rather than give a day by day break down of what happened, I'll just summarise a basic day on the island:

- Sleep in till the mid morning, roll over in bed and admire the beautiful view out of our beach bungalow shack.
- Put on togs and the same shirt you have been wearing the whole time and wander down the beach.
- Spend the next few hours lying down in the sand, reading your book or writing in your journal. - When it gets to hot, jump in the water and go for a swim. There isn't even a shock as you get in the water, it is so warm.
- At some stage, go to one of the few beachfront cafes, sit on a little plastic chair by a plastic table, under an umbrella right on the beach. Order some cheap and delicious local food, a big mango/papaya/banana/strawberry lassi, and wait for the very relaxed and chilled out Rasta waiter boys to bring your food.
- Spend the rest of the day on the beach.
- Have dinner on the beach, served by the same relaxed Rasta guys. For dinner we normally had fresh barbequed fish. In my time there I had barracuda, kingfish and shark, all delicious.
- Go down to the 'Safety Stop', the local 'beach bar' . Little more than a bamboo shack on the beach, with a few low wooden tables scattered around the beach.
- Spend the night drinking the expensive beer or the cheap vodka (being a Muslim country, alcohol isn't cheap), and watching other people play with fire poi and fire staff.
- Meet a bunch of other interesting travellers, swap travel stories, and make good friends.
- Go to bed in the early hours of the morning.

Life on the island is so relaxed and chilled out, before you know it, several days have passed. Although to prove I did more than just laze on the beach, here are few other things I did with my time:

- Went on a snorkelling tour, twice. The tour last the whole day and you visit several different places around the island. The visibility is amazing, and you spend a lot of time swimming in the corals, with more tropical fish than you can imagine. There is a phenomenal range of colours, size and behaviour amongst all the fish, and it is quite spectacular. We also found some quite large reef sharks, and swam with giant turtles. And oh, I also found Nemo.
- Pretended to be a Rescue Dog trainer called Hans from Finland. I was doing it with several other people, and the local Malaysian guys were believing us, until a Canadian came along and saw straight through our ruse.
- Went swimming several times at 3am. Floating in warm water and watching the stars, while sounding very cheesy, is actually a great experience.
- Shared a vodka watermelon with a bunch of other people who I had gotten to know over the past several days.
- Walked across the island to watch the sunset on the western side. While very pretty, the sun was hidden by clouds for most of the time.
- Said goodbye to Fabian, Michael and Katerina, the germans I had been travelling with. I have promised to meet up with them when I get to Munich.

The Islands are a fantastic and relaxed place, and even though I spent a week there, I could have easily spent longer.

Status Update - Koh Phangan

Location: Koh Phangan Island, Thailand

I have just arrived on the island of Koh Phangan, off the eastern coast of Thailand. Getting here from Malaysia was quite a journey, I was travelling for about 20 hours yesterday.

Unfortunately, things aren't great. A large abrasion on my toe has got infected, its all swollen and pus-filled and quite disgusting really. I have been to the hospital, and its been cleaned up and bandaged, and I have some anti-biotics to take. Unfortunately I need to keep the wound very clean and dry, so I can't swim or walk in the sand. And technically because I am taking anti-biotics, I shouldn't drink either. So in a nutshell, I am on an island beach paradise, world reknown for its nightlife and partying, and I can't do anything! The bitter sting of irony...

It will mean I will have a lot of time to just relax. This island is quite developed, so internet access is available, so expect this blog to be brought back up to date! Hopefully a friend I met on the Perhentian Islands will be arriving tomorrow, so at least I will have someone to hang out with.

Arriving in Island Paradise

Day 9 (08/04/08): Long Beach, Small Island, Perhentian Islands

The day started with an hour taxi ride in an old Mercedes 220 with Fabian and the two Danes to the jetty port at Kota Besut. We arrived there and were immediately herded onto the waiting speedboat. The boat trip out to the island takes about 40mins on a speedboat with 12 passengers, all wearing lifejackets. It was actually quite a fun trip, with a few big waves that we bounced over. Arriving at our beach, we had to pay another RM2 for a water taxi, a little boat that takes you from the speedboat to the beach, a journey lasting less than a minute!

The Perhentian Islands are considered some of the most beautiful islands in the world. They consist of two islands (known as the 'Big' island and the 'Small' island). Most backpackers stay on the small island, at its biggest beach, known as Long Beach. It truly is spectacular. The beach is a near perfect crescent of white sand, shaded in palm trees, however it is the water that is the most breathtaking. It is perfectly crystal clear, when the boat approached the beach, you could look down through several meters of water depth, and see the white sand at the bottom. When looking at the water from a short distance away, is a brilliant bright turquoise colour, absolutely amazing!

Fabian and I landed on the beach and spent a little while walking up and down it looking for a place to stay. Fortunately, we where smart enough and dropped our packs at a small cafe, but it was still hot work walking up and down in the beach heat. Unfortunately, none of the nice places had any room, so we settled on a place called 'Rock Garden Resort'. It was a fair way up the hill at the end of the beach, and the 'bungalows' were pretty simple; a wooden shack with two beds and mosquito nets. Not even a fan, indoor light bulb or power socket, however it was cheap! We figured we would stay there for one day, and then be first the next morning to find somewhere nicer. However, being up on the hill, our little wooden shack had an absolutely amazing view! We looked out over palm trees into the bay, with the Big Island in the distance. From up here you could see the water change from the translucent clear water of the shallows, through all the shades of blue and turquoise to the strong blue of the deep sea. We were both gobsmacked, and both sat and watched the view for half an hour.

We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and swimming in the water, which was as warm as a bath! I think I spent a good two hours in the water! I got a new novel at one of the small stores, and lay on the white sand reading it. For dinner we met up with some of Fabian's German friends, and went to one of the beach front restaurants; a series of plastic tables and chairs right on the beach, staffed by the local Malay Rasta boys, complete with dreadlocks. I had barbequed fresh caught barracuda with a garlic sauce, beautifully delicious!

A bar had just opened on the beach, it was nothing more than a wooden shack on the beach, that put out a few low wooden tables on the beach around a bonfire. We spent the whole night drinking beer and meeting and talking to other travellers. Fabian and I walked back up the hill to our wooden shack at about 2 in the morning!

(Once again no photos with this post, will add photos later)

Jungle Train, Part 2

Day 8 (07/04/08): Kota Bharu, Malaysia

I spent my last night in the park, blissfully sleeping off the ravages of the jungle. My plan was to catch the early bus back to Jerantut, and from there I could get back on the train into the North of Malaysia, and from there to the Perhentian Islands. I got up ridiculously early to catch the bus, and then waited an hour at the bus stop!

I had several hours to kill in Jerantut, a small town with nothing to do, and so spent the time in an internet cafe catching up on this blog, telling the world about my Jungle experiences. Back at the train I met up with Fabian, a german guy I had met in the park the night before. He was also
going to the Perhentian Islands, so we caught the train together.

The train was pretty good, we had an air-conditioned carriage, and the seats were pretty comfy. Once again, the train went through the jungle (it's called the 'Jungle Train'), although I found this second half of the Jungle Train was a lot better than the first half I had done a few days before. The train went past some magnificent sheer cliffs, and rocky uprisings, all covered in thick green rainforest. Fabian was also a bit of a shutterbug, and as we were the last carriage on the train, we opened the back door and took photos out the back.

Besides watching the jungle and taking photos, I finished reading my book, listened to my iPod, and even napped a bit. Fabian and I also talked a fair bit and compared the cultural differences between NZ and Germany.

Towards the end of the 7 hour journey, we met a local guy called Eddie who we chatted to for a little while. He saw the cuts on my legs, and offered me some cream to put on them. I asked if it would hurt, and he said no. The cream didn't look or smell like Tiger Balm, so I rubbed a bunch of my cut and grazed thigh.

The train station is actually a fair way out of Kota Bharu, our destination for the night. Fabian and I shared a taxi, and it was during this taxi read, that the mysterious cream that Eddie offered me, actually turned out to be Tiger Balm. If anybody has put Tiger Balm on open wounds would know, it burns like a house on fire and stings like Muhammed Ali. I sat in the taxi grimacing my teeth, feeling like my leg was on fire. As soon as we got to the Backpackers I ran for the shower and washed it all off. Relief.

The room we stayed in was a tiny little shack of a room outside the main backpackers behind the kitchen. There were some really big rats or something, because the whole ceiling moved and thumped with their movement. We were pondering catching the 6.15 bus to the nearby town of Kuala Besut, from where you catch the boat to the Perhentian Islands. Luckily, two other Danes were also going to the island, so we organised a shared taxi. We could now sleep in till 8am the next morning!

It was pretty late at night by now, and so Fabian and I had a beer in the courtyard and chatted to some Swedes, before heading off to bed.

(Unfortunately no photos with this post, the USB on this machine doesn't work. I'll go back and add some photos to it later).

Status Update - Perhentian Islands

I'm on the Perhentian Islands, some of the most beautiful islands in the world, and they live up to their name. White sand, crystal clear blue water, palm trees, the works. There are no roads here, and everything is run off generator, this means that the internet is exorbitantly expensive, so this is just a very quick post to make you all feel jealous. I will leave you with the view I have from my bungalow, that costs me just $4NZ a night.

Jungle Adventure

Day 7 (06/04/08): Taman Negara National Park

Woke up with the sunrise and ate my can of baked beans using a makeshift spoon cut from the styrifoam container of my fried rice. Washed the baked beans down with some mini-cookies. Breakfast of champions! Myself and Utz, (the German guy I had shared the hide with), decided we would walk back together along the river-side trail. We had both done the inland trail to get to the hide, and so the river trail would be something different. Things however, never go to plan...

Due to the awful maps, we couldn't find the path to the start of the river trail, we know roughly were it should be, but had no luck in finding it, and we were both determined to not go back down the same inland route again. Eventually we settled on what we thought was the path, and started down it. It quite quickly thinned out, and we would follow it for brief sections as it disappeared and re-appeared. Eventually it disappeared completely, however we were both brave adventurers and figured that if we followed the local river we would eventually run into either the path or the large main river. Off we went, blazing our own path into the jungle!

We bashed our way through the thick jungle for several hours, going up and down, always following the river. It was pretty tough going, sometimes taking us minutes just to move a few meters through the thick undergrowth of the equatorial rainforest. We would pause occaisonally to flick the leeches off our shoes, or remove the ones that were attached to us. After about two hours, we had lost our way from the river. I took out my compass and using the bad map, we knew which direction we had to go in. I kept checking the compass, because it was scary just how easy it was to lose your sense of direction. The forest was so thick it was hard to see the sky, and with no landmarks it was very easy to end up walking back the way you came, or even in circles. With the compass, we kept on a reasonably straight line, hopefully heading in the direction of the river.

Almost all the plants in the jungle are spiky, covered in nasty barbs, spikes and hooks, just waiting to tear out skin and fabric. Utz and I both got thoroughly ripped up, our legs and arms completely covered in scratches. My shirt had several holes ripped in it, as well as my hat. At one point, I slipped in the mud, and a particularly nasty plant, with hundreds of tiny fish-hooks along thin vines ripped my hat off and gave me a bad scratch by my eye. Sweat-diluted blood covered the side of my face. Climbing up and down the steep banks is very hard. The ground is all muddy clay, which is very slippery. You can try hold onto plants, but as most of them are spiky, you have to be very careful about which ones you instinctively reach for as you slip. Other trees, which look very solid are so rotten, that the slightest touch causes them to break apart. We climbed over some giant logs that crumbled beneath us.

For a lot of the time we tried to follow the animal trails, as some of the plants had already been cleared. The elephants paths were the best, as the large elephants footprints made good stairs in the muddy hillsides. We still slipped our way up and down, and got completely covered in mud, spider webs, dirt, blood and the spiky pieces of plant, which would break off and stay in you as a tiny splinter.

Eventually we managed to find a small stream, and since we were so dirty, jumped straight into it and all the mud and followed it downstream, on the theory that it should eventually link to the river, and if we followed that downstream, we would reach the main river. Walking down the stream was slightly easier in parts, being a bit more free of the thick plants and undergrowth. However we still had lots of climbing to do, often over fallen trees and bushes that blocked the stream. Climbing over one of these I slipped, and fell onto a particularly nasty spiky tree trunk. I got a big series of parallel cuts down my thigh.

The mud in the stream was pretty deep, but eventually we made it to the river. We tried walking down the river, but it got deep pretty quickly. I fell into my waist several times, and the bottom of my pack got wet. I ahd safely stowed my camera in a waterproof dive bag, at the top of my pack, so it should be safe. Deciding that walking down the river was not smart, we climbed up the near vertical clay bank (an ordeal in itself) and procedeed to follow the river along the bank. At this stage, we were so cut up from the spiky plants, that the odd leech didn't bother us at all, and it was a non-event each time we found one draining our blood.

Eventually after climbing through another muddy stream, and up yet another steep bank, we happened upon a trail, and a yellow marker in the trees. Joy of all joys! I never thought I would be so happy to find a yellow square nailed to a tree! We had found our way back to the trail! We had been bashing our way through the jungle, streams and river for about three and a half hours! In celebration we recovered our safely stowed cameras and took photos of each other, covered in mud, blood, sweat, dirt, spikes, thorns and leeches. We had done it!

After a short walk we made it to a camping ground that was shown on the map. Although it must have been abandonded, as all the huts were desolate, with broken furniture strewn around and grass growing up through the planks. We found a sign saying the hide was 45mins away, it had taken us close to fours hours in the jungle! We found another tiny path, and being the brave adventures, followed that down to a small native village. However the locals aren't very keen on tourists, and so we turned back. From where we were, it was about a 5 hour trek back to the main village along the river. It was now past midday, and we both had little water left, let alone the will to keep walking. We knew boats often dropped people off here, so we went down to the jetty on the main river. It was beautiful and warm in the sun, and we stripped off our dirty clothes and dried them in the sun. A quick swim in the river, and we both felt a lot better.

We saw several boats going upstream, but very few going downstream. We waved at couple, but the boats just waved back! Eventually the third boat stopped and would take us back to Kuala Tahan for RM30, a bit of a ripoff, but we were in no position to negotiate! The boat was pretty small and had a local family on board. The boat ride was very nice, going down the river, through a few rapids, that splashed us and got us quite wet!

We made it back, and the first thing Utz and I did was go to a restaurant and order a big meal and lots to drink. Utz acutally ate two meals! We swapped email address and said that whenever I get to Berlin, him and I will go on another crazy adventure somwhere. Since arriving at the restaurant, my ankle had got really sore and swollen. I don't remember doing anything to it in the jungle, so I'm not sure what happened.

I limped up the hill and checked into a slightly nicer backpacker place, and had a nice cold shower and spent a good hour washing the mud, blood and dirt out of my clothes. I washed my socks in the basin 6 times, and yet still the water was dark brown. I decided they were never getting cleaner and gave up! The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, writing in my journal and reading my book. I tried counting the number of scratches and cuts on myself, but gave up. There were also a number of leech marks down inside my shoes, obviously the little bastards had crawled down my shoes, had a meal and then crawled out again. Tomorrow I head back to Jerantut, then the train to the North of Malaysia to go to the Perhentian Islands. Relaxing in a hammock for a few days sounds pretty good right now.

Glutton for Self Punishment

Day 6 (05/04/08): Taman Negara National Park

"Millions of leeches, leeches for me

Millions of leeches, leeches for free!"

Had a reasonable sleep in, and woke to find I was the only person in the bunk. I considered having a shower, but realised if I was about to head into the jungle, whats the point? I went down to a floating restaurant and had a traditional Malay breakfast called roti canai. Ita unlevened bread with curry dipping sauce. However, I got mine with eggs and onions, so it was more a bready omellete with curry dipping sauce - brilliant!

My plan for the day was to head out into the Jungle, and spend a night in one of the hides. To do this you need to bring your own food and supplies, so I went to a little floating shop. Unfortunately, they didn't really have much in the way of tramping food, and so I had to settle on some mini cookies, a can of baked beans and obviously some water - I got 3 litres, thinking it would be plenty! On a tip from some other travellers, I got some vegetable fried rice to go and put this in my pack as well.

Took a boat across the river to the Park Headquarters to book my hide for the night. I had the option of going to close hides, only about 1-2 hours away, but decided I may as well do this properly and booked myself into Bumbun Kumbung hide, which was listed as an 11km walk, taking about 5-6 hours. I rented a foam sleeping mat, and popped back across the river to rent a powerful spotlight torch - a must for staying in the hide and left some non-essential items in a locker. At about midday I headed off into the jungle!

Like all tourist places, the provided map beared little to no resemblance to reality, however the paths were fairly easy to follow, with little yellow markers attached to trees. Most of the intersections were sign-posted, so it was fairly easy to find your way. There wasn't a lot of wildlife to see in the Jungle, but us humans make so much noise when we walk that most of the animals run away far before we get close to them. I did however often hear animals scurrying away in the bushes, and some of them sounded quite large, but never managed to see any. The trees, vines and plants were all very impressive though. As the jungle is so dense, all the trees are in an arms race to be the tallest, and as such some of the trees are staggeringly tall.

I realised I had left quite late, and so walked pretty fast to try and make up time. This was alright for the first few hours, however the second half was quite rough; muddy and lots of steep climbs. Coupled with this was the completely de-moralising distance signs. These signs just seemed to sh0w random numbers, and on several occasions, the number actually increased from the previous sign! This really messed with your mind and was quite frustrating. After walking for over an hour from a 7km to go sign, and figuring I must have made some good distance, the next sign read 10km! Completely de-moralising.

While the distance to walk wasn't a huge amount, and the climbs weren't too bad, this would have been an easy walk in New Zealand. However in the equatorial rainforest with all the associated heat and humidity, it was pretty tough. After about an hour, everything I was wearing was completely and utterly soaking wet with sweat, right down to my underwear! So when it started to rain after three hours, I didn't really care, as I was wet anyway, and rainwater is a lot nicer than the sweat/sunblock/insect repellent cocktail I was covered in.

Everyone had told me about the leeches in the park, and they are mentioned in the guidebooks as well. As it had been very dry, I was reasonably lucky and hadn't found any leeches, although I did have some blood on a sock. The leeches in Malaysia don't live in the water, they stay on the ground plants and attach themselves to you as you walk past or brush the leaves. Some even fall out of trees onto you. Towards the end though, I got closer to the river, and combined with the rain, I got hit by a few leeches, mostly around the ankles. Although I did find a small one on my stomach, which I can only assumed climbed all the way up my pants and under my shirt. You can't rip the leeches off, they are strongly attached, and pulling them off only rips them and they leave their teeth in you. Instead a quick squirt from your insect repellent and the leech detaches and you can flick her off. The leeches have an anti-coagulant in them, so the wounds don't stop bleeding, and whenever you flick a leech off, your finger gets covered in blood. The leeches were anything from 0.5cm long, to about 4cm long. They were very skinny, like long little worms, but after sucking your blood, they grew pretty fat.

Finally, after nearly five hours of trudging through the jungle in the heat I made it to the hide. My shoes were completely soaking as I had to cross a knee deep river at the end. But at least I had made it! There was only one other person there, a German guy who had already spent the last two nights in the jungle. The hide was pretty basic, a large room raised up high on stilts with a number of wooden bunks and a viewing window overlooking a water hole. It had a very basic toilet and miracle of all miracles, a rainwater shower! This shower was a lifesaver, and I could wash off all the sweat, blood, mud and dirt that the rainforest had gifted to me over the last few hours. Although my leech wounds kept bleeding, even though it was now several hours since the leech. Damn those anti-coagulants!

I settled down, ate my fried rice using a slice of cucumber as a makeshift utensil and watched the day transform to night and listen to the sounds of the night jungle. The powerful spotlight I had rented was very good, and was able to direct a beam all the way across to the watering hole. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything at all, and my bunk mate said he hadn't seen anything the previous two nights either. Oh well, the atmosphere of the jungle was cool enough. I had a terrible sleep on the hard wooden bunk with no pillow, but just lying in the jungle, in the absolute pitch dark, listening to the sounds, made the whole thing worthwhile.