I have finally managed to muster enough motivation to look at a computer again. What a strange feeling. Going from Internet-aholic to complete disinterest in a matter of days! Quite surprised myself.
Bali, or to be precise, Ubud has bewitched me. With each day that passes it's spell gains a stronger hold. Why, you ask? It has no beach, is in the middle of the island, why am I unable to move from this tiny town?
Well, first of all, the surroundings are absolutely stunning: lush green rice paddies, palm trees and bamboo rustling in the wind, artists work spilling out of their studios, cute children playing in the streets, laughing locals in their colourful native dress... Combine that with an abundance of fresh and organic food, (I feasted on fresh salads for the first two days after all those rice soups and fried noodles!) and fantastic accommodation: intimate bungalows or losmen (home stays - you stay in the family compound), it equates to = my paradise!
And what is more, they import the most delicious Australian wine!
However rewind, rewind... I forgot that I haven't been keeping you up to date!
I flew in to Bali with Singapore airlines and just LOVED every minute - they are pure airline luxury. Spent an enjoyable journey chatting to a South African couple on the way to their honeymoon. Now Manuel and I had constantly being quoting Leo's SA accent from the film "Blood Diamond" in Cambodia. So it was quite intriguing to hear a real SA accent. (And apparently Leo's accent wasn't THAT good...)
Now the original reason for my going to Bali was to enjoy some sun, fun and beach. Therefore, I made my way directly to Kuta, a fast-paced surfer town, where the vampires come out to play.
Tired, I crashed into bed and rose early, intent on exploring. As I wasn't all that happy with my room, I decided to go check out possible alternatives. A few of disappointments later, I grumpily decided to accost other travellers in the hopes that they'd have good tip or two. Spying a girl a few meters further up the road, I had my first victim. "Yes", she said, after I had made my intentions clear. She knew of a good place and offered to take me there. CHF 5.- for a clean room, pool and private bathroom. Sounded good. What sounded even better, was, that she was staying there in a twin room and would I like to share? Of course I jumped at the chance and as fortune has it, I made a really good friend.
By the end of the day I was not enjoying Kuta as much as I expected to. The narrow roads lined with over-enthusiastic touts (Darling, how are you, you buy.... you look inside) were not part of the peaceful beach life I had imagined. Nor were the masses of tourists (it is holiday season in Jakarta at the moment) and the many western cafes and shops. Sarah was planning to move up to Ubud the next day, so I invited myself along for the ride.
A bemo (mini bus) dropped us off somewhere in Ubud and almost immediately we were accosted by two touts offering accommodation. "Thank goodness there are only two," we thought, reassured that Bali's Artist capital (Denpasar is the islands capital city) would provide us with a peaceful haven. The first night was quite an adventure. We were too tired to go look for a room, so we followed one tout and took the cleanest room available. Having dumped our stuff, we wandered up the street and found a really cute cafe. Weary, we went in for some reviving lemongrass tea. In Bali, most shops, cafes, etc. are situated on the land of the family compound to reduce cost. The owner was really nice and let it slip that she has two rooms that she rents out. As we were so impressed by the simplistic beauty of the cafe, I nearly fell over myself in my haste to see the room. It was absolutely beautiful. Clean, huge, and comparatively cheap! We booked it instantly for the next few nights.
A Balinese family compound is comprised of the family temple (symbolising the head of the family / body), the north house (where the elders live), the east house (in our case the guest house) and the kitchen (the lowest part / the foot of the house). Most losmen (= home stays) have just two rooms to rent, which makes it a very intimate and interesting setting. Everything is very open and you can observe them going about their business, cooking the daily fare in the morning (they only cook once and then its for the whole day), praying in the family temple, playing with the kids, making offerings, etc. a real insight into their daily life.
Another interesting point is their names.
All Balinese, regardless of their sex, have one of the following names, depending on their birth order:
The first born is either Wayan, Putu or Nengah. Second born are named Kadek or Made. Then the third born are Nyoman, Ika or Kamang and fourth born Ketut. If they have five children, they start again with the names of the first born.
According to Kadek, the owner of my losmen, they have "family planning" nowadays and there are rarely more than two children per family.
The children generally live with their parents until they marry. Then the wife moves into the family of the husband. Unless her family has no male offspring. In that case, it can happen that the husband relocates to the wife's family compound.
Sarah was only going to be in Bali for a couple more days, so we decided to do the fast paced sightseeing tour and hire Kadek as our driver. It was absolutely stunning going round the island, seeing monkeys, waterfalls, lush scenery and a sunset at Tanah Lot temple (the southern most tip of the island). Feeling in the mood for adventure, we decided to climb Mt Batur (a more or less extinct volcano) to see the sunrise. That meant leaving at 3am to be able to start climbing at 4am. It was quite steep going up dark windy paths and with hardly any sleep (no, white wine did NOT make me tired!). We stumbled along like sleepwalkers. Actually, that is the best way to describe us! However we reached the top with nothing more than a few bruises and scratches - luckily it was just past full moon, so we didn't have to rely solely on the fading torches. The view was magnificent and our guide made hard boiled eggs and baked bananas in the smoking earth for breakfast. Yummy!
In the evening we met Andrea, an American psychologist cum tarot card reader. She read us our fortunes and I was quite pleased with mine ;-) Anyhow, she retired to Senggigi, Lombok a few years ago and has invited me over.
So tomorrow I will leave this lovely city and continue my journey on to Lombok, where I will first enjoy Andrea's hospitality in Senggigi, before making my way up to the Gilli islands (beautiful!). Ideally I will stay there for a few days and then make my way back over to Lombok and down south, to Kuta (Lombok). Confusingly enough there is a Kuta on both Bali and Lombok). This Kuta is supposed to be undeveloped paradise; pure beach, sun and peace.
Wednesday 25 June 2008
Monday 16 June 2008
Bangkok again - home away from home
Made a split second decision to take the night train down to Bangkok after getting heavily bitten by mosquitoes. Now here I am, back in in Khao san Road. ;-)
The train was really nice, I was quite impressed with the comforts of a second class sleeping berth. The two English girls I was travelling with undertook the futile mission of instructing me in London street slang... absolutely incomprehensible gobbledygook, innit!!!
A few hours after arrival I met up with a couple of old (from Hanoi) and new faces and went out to explore the crazy weekend market, Chatuchak. It is absolutely huge, sells everything under the sun and my "add-one-dump-something" rule (to reduce the weight of my backpack) went right out the window! We found a mall just off the market with fixed prices and full of Thai people, practically no tourists. Soon found out why... prices were a third of what was being charged outside at the market... jackpot! Don't worry back home, won't ship back any furniture... although I am tempted by some of the artworks!
Went for a relaxing foot reflexology massage after having provided moral support to a friend fighting with a tailor. Apparently he had misunderstood my friend's directions at the fitting and the dress was cut too low... So she panicked because her flight home was in few hours and she had already paid for the garment up front. Hopefully the manager will be true to his word and post her the dress after the alterations have been made... we'll see!
Have booked my ticket out to Bali and am off tomorrow for three weeks... sunshine, beaches and volcanoes, here I come!
The train was really nice, I was quite impressed with the comforts of a second class sleeping berth. The two English girls I was travelling with undertook the futile mission of instructing me in London street slang... absolutely incomprehensible gobbledygook, innit!!!
A few hours after arrival I met up with a couple of old (from Hanoi) and new faces and went out to explore the crazy weekend market, Chatuchak. It is absolutely huge, sells everything under the sun and my "add-one-dump-something" rule (to reduce the weight of my backpack) went right out the window! We found a mall just off the market with fixed prices and full of Thai people, practically no tourists. Soon found out why... prices were a third of what was being charged outside at the market... jackpot! Don't worry back home, won't ship back any furniture... although I am tempted by some of the artworks!
Went for a relaxing foot reflexology massage after having provided moral support to a friend fighting with a tailor. Apparently he had misunderstood my friend's directions at the fitting and the dress was cut too low... So she panicked because her flight home was in few hours and she had already paid for the garment up front. Hopefully the manager will be true to his word and post her the dress after the alterations have been made... we'll see!
Have booked my ticket out to Bali and am off tomorrow for three weeks... sunshine, beaches and volcanoes, here I come!
Thursday 12 June 2008
Chiang Mai
I am really enjoying myself here in Chiang Mai.
Booked myself on a one day tourist trap trek, which was surprisingly interesting and very enjoyable.
We visited a butterfly and orchid farm first, which was absolutely beautiful. The variety of orchids was amazing. I was particularly mesmerised by the blue ones. Unfortunately our bus broke down just before we set off, so we had to wait around 30 minutes in the glaring hot sun which gave me quite a headache.
Our next stop was an elephant ride. The Thais do love their elephants and it was very much like riding a big horse! A couple of baby elephants were ambling around and one of them joined us on our 1h tour down a river and through the jungle. In the water it went absolutely mad, diving and rolling over, trying to spray us with water. But it ended up spraying the other elephants instead as we were too high up! They didn't appreciate it one bit and our elephant gave it a sly kick when it came too close (!).
After that we visited two indigenous hill tribes, appropriately named long neck and big ear. The long neck women add a ring around their necks between the ages of 5 and 22. They had a sample which we could put on and it is quite a weight they are carrying! The big ears have large rings in their earlobes which they decorate. All the women were weaving scarves and looked bored out of their minds. Needless to say, we didn't stay long!
A bit of jungle trekking (on foot) was up next... we climbed up some hill to a hidden waterfall. It was so peaceful sitting by the water, listening to it rushing down. Felt quite relaxed and in need of a nap!
But some action was up next: they took us white water rafting and bamboo rafting. I was having great fun with this gorgeous Danish model who was on a break from the fashion shows in Milan. On the downside I have never felt so squat and unattractive in all my life! But I guess that's just the luck of the draw... and am not really complaining about my lot just now!
The white water was a lot of fun, even if we did get stuck on stones all the time and nearly fell in. The water was so dirty thanks to recent rainfalls that I really didn't want to bathe, despite the heat! The bamboo raft was really leaky and much to my disgust there were spiders everywhere! Nearly jumped off the raft when I saw the first one! But it was ok, just kept to the bits under water... figured they couldn't get me there!
Today I was in dire need of some TLC (tender loving care) and so wandered up to the local women's prison. They have a kind of rehabilitation program which teaches the prisoners various kinds of massages, so that when they leave they are trained masseuses. All the money they earn, they receive when they are released. When I arrived at 10am there was no one there and when I left, it was packed. They do up to 13 customers a day, with massages costing 100 Baht per hour (ca. Fr.3.30).
I opted for the herbal massage but was told that the herbs take one hour to be prepared. She offered to do 1h of Thai massage whilst the herbs were boiling. So with slight apprehension (bearing in mind what Manuel had gone through) I agreed to that plan. The Thai massage was great (contrary to his experience). Even if she did jump on my back at one point and started kneading away with her elbows and knees. I nearly DIED! Actually, I nearly threw her off with my violent reaction - it hurt soooo much! But her grip was surprisingly tenacious. Must be used to customers reacting like that. Then it was time for the herbs. They were packed into excruciatingly hot pouches, and she pummelled me with them for about an hour. The herbs dyed my skin yellow and she laughed when she saw that I was wearing a yellow tshirt. At least the discoloration wouldn't be that obvious.
At one point she told me that they were trained by nurses from the local hospital. Which was very reassuring. I'd recommend this "prison spa" to anyone, even if my toes still feel as if they have been dislocated!
On my way back to the guesthouse, I had to duck into a Wat (temple) to avoid pouring rain. The monk (every Wat has at least one monk looking after it) was keen to practice his English, so we chatted about Buddhism. After about an hour we were joined by a (drenched) Belgian philosopher. Apparently he had been coming to the temple for the last three months to chat with this monk. Said it was really enlightening. We talked for about another hour before the rain let up. I left quite enlightened! It almost made me sign up for the meditation retreat offered at one of the Wats. May actually still do so.
Booked myself on a one day tourist trap trek, which was surprisingly interesting and very enjoyable.
We visited a butterfly and orchid farm first, which was absolutely beautiful. The variety of orchids was amazing. I was particularly mesmerised by the blue ones. Unfortunately our bus broke down just before we set off, so we had to wait around 30 minutes in the glaring hot sun which gave me quite a headache.
Our next stop was an elephant ride. The Thais do love their elephants and it was very much like riding a big horse! A couple of baby elephants were ambling around and one of them joined us on our 1h tour down a river and through the jungle. In the water it went absolutely mad, diving and rolling over, trying to spray us with water. But it ended up spraying the other elephants instead as we were too high up! They didn't appreciate it one bit and our elephant gave it a sly kick when it came too close (!).
After that we visited two indigenous hill tribes, appropriately named long neck and big ear. The long neck women add a ring around their necks between the ages of 5 and 22. They had a sample which we could put on and it is quite a weight they are carrying! The big ears have large rings in their earlobes which they decorate. All the women were weaving scarves and looked bored out of their minds. Needless to say, we didn't stay long!
A bit of jungle trekking (on foot) was up next... we climbed up some hill to a hidden waterfall. It was so peaceful sitting by the water, listening to it rushing down. Felt quite relaxed and in need of a nap!
But some action was up next: they took us white water rafting and bamboo rafting. I was having great fun with this gorgeous Danish model who was on a break from the fashion shows in Milan. On the downside I have never felt so squat and unattractive in all my life! But I guess that's just the luck of the draw... and am not really complaining about my lot just now!
The white water was a lot of fun, even if we did get stuck on stones all the time and nearly fell in. The water was so dirty thanks to recent rainfalls that I really didn't want to bathe, despite the heat! The bamboo raft was really leaky and much to my disgust there were spiders everywhere! Nearly jumped off the raft when I saw the first one! But it was ok, just kept to the bits under water... figured they couldn't get me there!
Today I was in dire need of some TLC (tender loving care) and so wandered up to the local women's prison. They have a kind of rehabilitation program which teaches the prisoners various kinds of massages, so that when they leave they are trained masseuses. All the money they earn, they receive when they are released. When I arrived at 10am there was no one there and when I left, it was packed. They do up to 13 customers a day, with massages costing 100 Baht per hour (ca. Fr.3.30).
I opted for the herbal massage but was told that the herbs take one hour to be prepared. She offered to do 1h of Thai massage whilst the herbs were boiling. So with slight apprehension (bearing in mind what Manuel had gone through) I agreed to that plan. The Thai massage was great (contrary to his experience). Even if she did jump on my back at one point and started kneading away with her elbows and knees. I nearly DIED! Actually, I nearly threw her off with my violent reaction - it hurt soooo much! But her grip was surprisingly tenacious. Must be used to customers reacting like that. Then it was time for the herbs. They were packed into excruciatingly hot pouches, and she pummelled me with them for about an hour. The herbs dyed my skin yellow and she laughed when she saw that I was wearing a yellow tshirt. At least the discoloration wouldn't be that obvious.
At one point she told me that they were trained by nurses from the local hospital. Which was very reassuring. I'd recommend this "prison spa" to anyone, even if my toes still feel as if they have been dislocated!
On my way back to the guesthouse, I had to duck into a Wat (temple) to avoid pouring rain. The monk (every Wat has at least one monk looking after it) was keen to practice his English, so we chatted about Buddhism. After about an hour we were joined by a (drenched) Belgian philosopher. Apparently he had been coming to the temple for the last three months to chat with this monk. Said it was really enlightening. We talked for about another hour before the rain let up. I left quite enlightened! It almost made me sign up for the meditation retreat offered at one of the Wats. May actually still do so.
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Cambodia & Thailand
It's been a long time...
Said goodbye to Manuel on Sunday at the unearthly hour of 5am... so sad that he had to go. We had such a great time. But, well, can't dwell on what ifs, so on a happier note, I ended up meeting an American who had just spent two (!) days in Shanghai airport thanks to a bad connection and nearly missing my flight up to Chiang Mai (Thailand) thanks to a very late football match (Germany vs someone).
Had been grappling with the decision of either 1. going up to Chiang Mai, for some rural life and then, weather permitting, over and on to Laos, OR 2. going off to Japan to explore urban jungles and tea ceremonies, OR 3. fly down to Bali (Indonesia) for some sun, sand and volcanic action. Am actually really planning to do No. 3 (2 is too expensive) as I have quite a bit of time until Mark turns up!
But let me just recap what went on in the past few days...
Manu and I arrived in Siam Reap after a long and thankfully not very bumpy bus journey from Phnom Penh.
Tired and grumpy with heavy grey skies overhead we decided NOT to enjoy the sunset at Angkor Wat (MISTAKE! we thought a few hours in, but learnt that everyone had gotten kicked out early because the King of Malaysia was visiting the site, so not too bad in the end) and went off to explore instead.
Siam Reap was, to be honest, a bit disappointing... Mostly western restaurants and bars, with just about everything geared towards tourists. For example, we hid out in this one bar (air con heaven!), held completely in white, with lounging sofas and free WIFI that looked like something out of a lifestyle / best bars magazine. Surreal, especially after a very dusty tuktuk ride in from the bus station. The roads are full of holes and we were hanging on to our bags, getting sand blown in our faces, weaving in and out of motorbikes, passing all these UN Development buildings on our left and right.
Our hotel was alright, only a short minutes walk away from the (tiny!) city center and we booked our overly enthusiastic tuktuk driver for the next day.
The morning began bright and early (just imagine who was complaining about being on holiday!) at 4:50am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat... was really beautiful. We charged into the temple while everyone else (especially all the Japanese tourists) stayed outside to watch the sun rising and had the place to ourselves for around half an hour. It was quite magical and at times eerie to be zooming around this dusky complex alone, with shadows everywhere. My imagination began to run away with me and I half imagined seeing tigers in the shadows (don't ask me why!) and mistook a tourist for a priest coming around the corner. (Yes, crazy, I know!) Shortly before lunch we had had enough and with the sun beating down we decided to call it a day.
Back at our hostel the receptionist greeted us with the news that the whole town was out of electricity and running water for the moment and he didn't know when it would come back. So dusty, sweaty and hungry we crashed into what was thankfully a relatively cool room (hotel was in a shady spot) and managed to fall asleep. About 30min to 45min later, the electricity came back on and soon after that, water started pouring out of the tap.
Refreshed we went out for lunch/dinner. After being fed and watered we came to the conclusion that, even though the temples were fantastic, we didn't really want to spend any more time Siam Reap. So we booked a bus down to Sihanoukville for the next day!
Sihanoukville is a really small coastal town, south of Phnom Penh and has quite a few lovely beaches. It's set to become to Cambodia what Koh Samui is to Thailand, but that may take some years yet. The builders are no way as efficient as, for example, in Dubai. We never saw them working, neither during the day nor at night!
We spent a peaceful week there, despite daily threats by Khmer children selling bracelets and fruit (you buy my bracelet or I kill you!). Lounging around, getting some sun and eating fresh barracuda for 3.- USD at night. There weren't many people around so we spent mellow evenings sitting on the beach, gazing at stars (can really see why they thought the earth was flat!) and eventually rolling home to watch the tennis. Beautiful!
On our third day, we took a boat tour to Bamboo island, which was absolutely stunning. A day of white sand and clear water with a bbq lunch, it was picture perfect. Despite some bouts of lightning and a roll of thunder in the distance. However the storm kept far away from us, moving off in another direction. The only hiccup was the boat's motor: it kept stalling and left us wondering if we would get there and back safely. But luck was on our side and surprisingly enough we didn't even sport serious sunburns at the end of the day.
Time flew by far too quickly and soon we were booking our airasia flight back to Bangkok for some serious shopping. Unfortunately 'someone-who-will-not-be-named' got pick-pocketed and lost his phone and wallet to pinching fingers. Thankfully he lost nothing really important, so in Bangkok we headed straight to MBK shopping center and invested in a new Sony Ericsson.
That day proved to be quite a record for us: we arrived at the mall at around 10:30am and left at 8:30pm... a full days shopping! (Ok, they do have a cinema in the building). Because most shops weren't really up and running before midday, we had brunch and went to see the Sex and the City film. (No, I am not some kind of sadist, making Manuel sit through it, there was just nothing else on watch!)
This may now account for the fact that I am LONGING to wear high heels and am sick to the back teeth of my travelling clothes... but apart from that tiny negative side effect, the film was a typical AMERICAN feel-good girlie movie (like Legally Blond or Clueless). Manuel, of course, nearly fell asleep. Or he may have, actually. I was oblivious to anything but the "I want to go to NYC"-urge that befalls me when I see the four girls. ;-)
Today I spent the day learning how to cook Thai!
According to my certificate, I am now a master chef (hehehe), able to create:
.Pad Thai (fried noodles)
.Rice rolls (like spring rolls)
.Papaya Salad
.Stir fried morning glory (Chinese spinach)
.Penang curry
.Fried banana & sweet potato
We went to the market first for a lesson on tropical fruits, herbs and spices before plunging head first into Thai cuisine. Our teacher, Meow, was quite a crazy woman, but in a funny way. She showed us the difference between the curry pastes and we made the green curry paste she would use for the next day's class.
To my surprise, I absolutely loved the cooking. Wonder how long that will last?!
Even learnt how to do the "big flame" for a smokey effect. Admittedly my flame bore more of a resemblance that one of a matchstick, rather than to a bonfire, but the food was still very tasty.
Random notes:
1. Every time I walked past a bakery, either in Cambodia or Vietnam I did a double take: thanks to the French all their cakes and pastries on display look exactly like those in Colmar, Paris, Geneva... really rams history home. Though it is a bit odd seeing monks and chickens cross by in front of lemon tarts and eclairs. Kinda surreal.
2. I was suffering from an earache and managed to get some ear drops which didn't really work. Sick with my grumbling and groaning, Manu offered to take a look and discovered that I had a tiny cut in my ear (no idea how that happened!) and after putting a bit of Merfen (disinfectant) I was right as rain again.
3. I tried to upload the pics of Angkor Wat but kept getting kicked out... so you'll have to wait until I get a more reliable connection somewhere else :-(
Said goodbye to Manuel on Sunday at the unearthly hour of 5am... so sad that he had to go. We had such a great time. But, well, can't dwell on what ifs, so on a happier note, I ended up meeting an American who had just spent two (!) days in Shanghai airport thanks to a bad connection and nearly missing my flight up to Chiang Mai (Thailand) thanks to a very late football match (Germany vs someone).
Had been grappling with the decision of either 1. going up to Chiang Mai, for some rural life and then, weather permitting, over and on to Laos, OR 2. going off to Japan to explore urban jungles and tea ceremonies, OR 3. fly down to Bali (Indonesia) for some sun, sand and volcanic action. Am actually really planning to do No. 3 (2 is too expensive) as I have quite a bit of time until Mark turns up!
But let me just recap what went on in the past few days...
Manu and I arrived in Siam Reap after a long and thankfully not very bumpy bus journey from Phnom Penh.
Tired and grumpy with heavy grey skies overhead we decided NOT to enjoy the sunset at Angkor Wat (MISTAKE! we thought a few hours in, but learnt that everyone had gotten kicked out early because the King of Malaysia was visiting the site, so not too bad in the end) and went off to explore instead.
Siam Reap was, to be honest, a bit disappointing... Mostly western restaurants and bars, with just about everything geared towards tourists. For example, we hid out in this one bar (air con heaven!), held completely in white, with lounging sofas and free WIFI that looked like something out of a lifestyle / best bars magazine. Surreal, especially after a very dusty tuktuk ride in from the bus station. The roads are full of holes and we were hanging on to our bags, getting sand blown in our faces, weaving in and out of motorbikes, passing all these UN Development buildings on our left and right.
Our hotel was alright, only a short minutes walk away from the (tiny!) city center and we booked our overly enthusiastic tuktuk driver for the next day.
The morning began bright and early (just imagine who was complaining about being on holiday!) at 4:50am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat... was really beautiful. We charged into the temple while everyone else (especially all the Japanese tourists) stayed outside to watch the sun rising and had the place to ourselves for around half an hour. It was quite magical and at times eerie to be zooming around this dusky complex alone, with shadows everywhere. My imagination began to run away with me and I half imagined seeing tigers in the shadows (don't ask me why!) and mistook a tourist for a priest coming around the corner. (Yes, crazy, I know!) Shortly before lunch we had had enough and with the sun beating down we decided to call it a day.
Back at our hostel the receptionist greeted us with the news that the whole town was out of electricity and running water for the moment and he didn't know when it would come back. So dusty, sweaty and hungry we crashed into what was thankfully a relatively cool room (hotel was in a shady spot) and managed to fall asleep. About 30min to 45min later, the electricity came back on and soon after that, water started pouring out of the tap.
Refreshed we went out for lunch/dinner. After being fed and watered we came to the conclusion that, even though the temples were fantastic, we didn't really want to spend any more time Siam Reap. So we booked a bus down to Sihanoukville for the next day!
Sihanoukville is a really small coastal town, south of Phnom Penh and has quite a few lovely beaches. It's set to become to Cambodia what Koh Samui is to Thailand, but that may take some years yet. The builders are no way as efficient as, for example, in Dubai. We never saw them working, neither during the day nor at night!
We spent a peaceful week there, despite daily threats by Khmer children selling bracelets and fruit (you buy my bracelet or I kill you!). Lounging around, getting some sun and eating fresh barracuda for 3.- USD at night. There weren't many people around so we spent mellow evenings sitting on the beach, gazing at stars (can really see why they thought the earth was flat!) and eventually rolling home to watch the tennis. Beautiful!
On our third day, we took a boat tour to Bamboo island, which was absolutely stunning. A day of white sand and clear water with a bbq lunch, it was picture perfect. Despite some bouts of lightning and a roll of thunder in the distance. However the storm kept far away from us, moving off in another direction. The only hiccup was the boat's motor: it kept stalling and left us wondering if we would get there and back safely. But luck was on our side and surprisingly enough we didn't even sport serious sunburns at the end of the day.
Time flew by far too quickly and soon we were booking our airasia flight back to Bangkok for some serious shopping. Unfortunately 'someone-who-will-not-be-named' got pick-pocketed and lost his phone and wallet to pinching fingers. Thankfully he lost nothing really important, so in Bangkok we headed straight to MBK shopping center and invested in a new Sony Ericsson.
That day proved to be quite a record for us: we arrived at the mall at around 10:30am and left at 8:30pm... a full days shopping! (Ok, they do have a cinema in the building). Because most shops weren't really up and running before midday, we had brunch and went to see the Sex and the City film. (No, I am not some kind of sadist, making Manuel sit through it, there was just nothing else on watch!)
This may now account for the fact that I am LONGING to wear high heels and am sick to the back teeth of my travelling clothes... but apart from that tiny negative side effect, the film was a typical AMERICAN feel-good girlie movie (like Legally Blond or Clueless). Manuel, of course, nearly fell asleep. Or he may have, actually. I was oblivious to anything but the "I want to go to NYC"-urge that befalls me when I see the four girls. ;-)
Today I spent the day learning how to cook Thai!
According to my certificate, I am now a master chef (hehehe), able to create:
.Pad Thai (fried noodles)
.Rice rolls (like spring rolls)
.Papaya Salad
.Stir fried morning glory (Chinese spinach)
.Penang curry
.Fried banana & sweet potato
We went to the market first for a lesson on tropical fruits, herbs and spices before plunging head first into Thai cuisine. Our teacher, Meow, was quite a crazy woman, but in a funny way. She showed us the difference between the curry pastes and we made the green curry paste she would use for the next day's class.
To my surprise, I absolutely loved the cooking. Wonder how long that will last?!
Even learnt how to do the "big flame" for a smokey effect. Admittedly my flame bore more of a resemblance that one of a matchstick, rather than to a bonfire, but the food was still very tasty.
Random notes:
1. Every time I walked past a bakery, either in Cambodia or Vietnam I did a double take: thanks to the French all their cakes and pastries on display look exactly like those in Colmar, Paris, Geneva... really rams history home. Though it is a bit odd seeing monks and chickens cross by in front of lemon tarts and eclairs. Kinda surreal.
2. I was suffering from an earache and managed to get some ear drops which didn't really work. Sick with my grumbling and groaning, Manu offered to take a look and discovered that I had a tiny cut in my ear (no idea how that happened!) and after putting a bit of Merfen (disinfectant) I was right as rain again.
3. I tried to upload the pics of Angkor Wat but kept getting kicked out... so you'll have to wait until I get a more reliable connection somewhere else :-(
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