Bali and back to dear Malaysia

So after two days of temples and children we needed some rest... and we went to Bali!!!! I think it was a crazy idea to go so far just for a few days because it was a new country and indeed we did not rest for one moment! We stayed in Lovina beach, in the north of the island, which is supposed to be quieter and more backpackers oriented. And it was, I suppose! We were among the locals, in a fishing village, you could hear the boats heading out early in the morning... and people were very welcoming and the couple who owned our resort were really nice... she was 9 months pregnant and had her baby while we were there!!! how lucky is that! we even went to the hospital to visit her! a healthy boy! (no name yet).

One morning we went to sea for sunrise to see dolphins!!! I was so excited that I could not even take a single picture! they were swimming around the boats, and when they came up to the surfac every single boat rushed to get a closer look so they disappeared to reappear somewhere else! it seemed that they were enjoying themselves playing with us!

We also met very nice boys who took us around in their motorbikes and I regained my confidence in the two-wheeled vehicles (you remember my accident). It was great fun, went to beautiful waterfalls, hotsprings, and even climbed up an active volcanoe at night to see the sunrise at the top! That was an exciting adventure too, we started the journey at 2 in the morning, 2 hours drive to the bottom and then we took our torches out and climbed up for 2 hours, like a procession of lights! Got to a little hut on the top just on time to watch the sunrise with a cup of tea... and there was hot steam coming out of some gaps in the rock! very exciting indeed!! They were great times in Bali, only too short, as always. And the last time Katie, Helen and I got to spend together. After that they left me in KL to go to New Zealand and I have been tracking my footsteps looking for old acquaintances since then. I am at home now, in Daniel's Lodge, "home away from home", in the Cameron Highlands (were the tea plantations, remember? right at the beginning of my travels!) and helping out my friend Eddie (Uncle Ho for friends) in the Jungle Bar! I am very happy and relaxed, lazing about all day and talking to backpackers until the silly hours...

The Temples of Angkor

Hello people! sorry for the delays, as always! too busy, you know! many things have happened since the last time I wrote. The most important is that my girls left me!!! I am alone now! but I am among friends so I am not scared! I am a brave girl! Let me start from the beginning...



The temples of Angkor seem so far away now... it was wonderful to see them though. You feel a little bit like Indiana Jones discovering ancient civilizations... they still are quite a mistery in some ways. I did not learn much about the history (lazy) but I intend to because they really amazed me. After many hundreds of years abandoned, then rediscovered and then abandoned again and nearly destroyed by the war, they are still standing, and very majestic. The first day we went on ou tuk tuk for sunrise. That makes it even more exciting: arriving there at night time, all still and dark, and little by little the light starts iluminating the stones... and there it was: Angkor Wat! so perfectly underlined by the sunlight. The red stones turned golden... beautiful! you have to be there to appreciate it fully! Eventhough there were many people sharing the moment it was still unique. And we were of the first ones to enter, so everything was silent, you could hear your own footsteps... a sacred place, in every corner an image of the Buddha... the dark and misterious corridors, the carvings in the walls intact.



I am not going to describe every single temple we visited, it would take me too long, there are too many! we only saw about 15 in two days, and many were similar but many were very special. The names escape my mind as well, although I have them all written down... you will excuse my vagueness. The ones that I found most exciting were the ones that had trees growing on them! they had become part of the strucure, sometimes even supporting it, sometimes changing its shape into bizarre forms... it was so cool to see the old stone turned green with moss, nature taking over... enormous trees that have been growing for long time! very powerful! I also had a religious experience, in one of the temples I made an offering to an inisible god, Visnu, that an old man was venerating (although there was no image, anymore, only the bats ruled the small tower!). Some incense sticks and some prayers in a strange language, he also read my fortune in a little scroll made of banana leave... unfortunately, his English was not that good, so all I understood was that it was good fortune! (ok, that is good enough for me!).



The downside of this complex, I have to mention it, is that it is full of children and people selling... as soon as you dismounted from your carriage (moto-tuk tuk), you could hear people shouting at you: "lady!, miss! cold drink! food!, T-shirt, books, ...you name it!" very persistant and very repetitive! and the children were the worst because they had such beautiful big eyes... and they asked you for your name, where are you from... and followed you till the entrance of the temple with the promise:"after you buy from me!" and they waited ther for you!!! "3 for one dollar " was their song, with monotonous voice... after it was:"ok, 4 for 1 dollar" and on and on forever! It was quite trying! they were very sweet but you just could not buy from all of them!!! one day I made the mistake to buy from one and I was suddenly surrounded by 10 angry faces all talking at the same time:" why you not buy from me?" even grabbing my arms... I did not know what to say, just smiled until they asked me:"why you don't say anything?" what could I say! I was overwhelmed!!



So after two days of temples and children we needed some rest... and we went to Bali!!!! But that is a different story, which I will tell you tomorrow... maybe.

Cambodia! finally!!!!

Hello dear friends! thanks for being so patient and for being there (or Ta!, as you would say in Edinburgh). We made it to Cambodia!!! can you believe it? I just can't believe we have done it! we have travelled for so long an yet, it seems like we started just last week!!! Its been amazing having you all there, following my doings! but don't you fret, my friends! I am still around South East Asia for the next... 3 months!!! I won't be flying back until December the 3rd!! I have decided that, although my dear Helen and Katie are leaving me on the 22nd of September, I am still hungry for more adventures!! so you will be hearing from me for a long while still!! I wonder what it will be like to travel alone, though... bit worried about that!

Anyway, to the point: I love Cambodia!!! Does it surprise you? everybody is sooo nice here! it reminds me a little bit to Laos, though it is more messy, I think. We arrived to Phnom Penh and it was strange that people on the street were not beeping all the time anymore! a big change with Vietnam! Drivers are less agressive and in general it is much more chilled out! As soon as we got there we met our favourite tuk tuk driver, Rotha, who I recommend dearly to everybody who comes here (he is a little bit expensive but really worth it!!). He took us everywhere in Phnom Penh: first the infamous Killing Fields! you don't want to go there but you have to! It is a horrible chapter of cambodian history... still very recent (with landmines threatening everywhere in the countryside), but they seem to be over it! eventhough nearly everybody you meet had some family members killed by the evil regime! skulls pilled up in a memorial tower, the prison, called S21,... you can find out about it in any history book... too sad to be retold.

After we went to more cheery sites, the palace, the temples, the sunset in the lake.. and to taste the local specialities: spider, cricket and snake!!! It was incredible what they sold in the market, even scorpions and maggots!! I was very brave! ate a whole cricket double the size of the ones you find in Europe!! and it was not nice, why deny it? it tasted like straw, dry and tasteless, with some sandy after taste... I would not recommend it! but everybody here was eating them so normally and enjoying them that I did not want to miss the experience!! ah well, another tale to tell my grandchildren... the snake I tried as well, not so scary when it is in a skew, roasted, it tasted like fish, although it had very little meat: only skin and bones!!! the spider was a different matter!!! It was huge and hairy and very black!!!! I could not bring myself to bite it! I tried one leg and it was too hard!! (and our friend did not eat it either, so that gave me a clue...)

After the meal, that ended up with barbecued beef, so it was a bit more filling!, we went dancing to the local disco!? it was karaoke with a life orchestra! and everybody was singing very well, compared to the standards I am used to back home!!! then it was dancing time and I was surprised that there were more boys than girls dancing! and of course we were the attraction: everybody kept looking at us and girls pointing at our nose! (it seems they like pointy noses, since theirs are so different?!). But after a while it was a little bit too much, too many boys around us... (not that I mind that...).

The next day our driver took us to an orphanage that broke my heart! it was a slum, it had rained and all was in a puddle, the little huts looked as if they would not hold our weight when we were shown around the girls'tiny dormitory! they were happy that we brought them some rice (50kg was not enough to feed the 160ish children for one day!) and it was really heart breaking the state some children were in... tiny babies being cared for by 6 year old girls... anyway, we went there and we helped as much as we could! Afterwards, we saw some more tuk tuks bringing more tourists in, so hopefully they will make it!

We also went fishing with our friend Rotha, in the Mekong river... we did not catch but a couple of tiny fish and I felt sorry for them... (I have a soft heart as you all know...). Then we went to watch the women weaving silk and we bought some nice scarves (its always buying and buying!!! I am nearly broke!!!) and we took refuge from the storm in a cafe that was full of hammoks and had a snooze watching the rain and eating corn... it was very pleasant! In the evening we had goat soup for dinner!! yummm! tastes pretty much like lamb...

We wanted to escape a little bit from the town and have some quiet time away from the spending and the intense Phnom Penh so we went to Sihanoukville for a few days, on the coast! and the beach was really lovely but it was impossible to have a quiet time!!! all these children came round with their stories of broken and poor families... wanting money to pay for school, wanting to make bracelets for us... we even got our legs depilated with a string!!! we just could not resist them! so we ended up spending more money than we should, of course! only one day we were able to escape them, we went to a natural park that had mongrels?? (some tree that has its roots in salt water? or something like that...) that was relaxing! empty, sandy gorgeous beach and jungle trek...

An afterwards we took a boat from Phonm Penh, along the Tonle Sap, up to Siem Reap, where we are now, totally nakered, after two days waking up at 5ish... and tomorrow is the big day! we are going to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise!!!! I am very excited although it implies another early start!! even earlier!! 4am!!! it is the middle of the night!! wish me luck! do you thik we will manage?? more in the next chapter! good night folks! take care! and keep in touch! I love your comments!!! lots of love and hugs and kisses!! (I have had a few beers tonight, we were reunited with our friend Katie! who we thought we had lost!!!) bye

From Mui Ne to Saigon!

Hi there!
I have lots to catch up with! first Mui Ne. It was a road full of resorts that did not have any structure or charm. But the scenery was spectacular. Mui Ne is famous for its sand dunes!! there was red ones and white ones... quite beautiful! and a little stream called the "fairy stream", that you could walk up (it was really shallow and the bottom was beach sand!) and enjoy magnificent sand formations all around, the water had eroded the red mountains... there was muddy bits and arches... it is very difficult to explain, but quite unusual!never seen anything like that. And the dunes were humongous! the vietnamese used plastic boards to slide down, like snow slopes! there was a lot of people there too, because it has been the Independence Day! and it was bank holiday, of course.

But I was actually looking forward to going to Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City, as it is called now). A little bit apprehensive too... when we arrived, in the evening, it was raining so hard that some streets were flooded! imagine the hundreds of motorbikes and bicycles trying to drive through! But we, on our big bus, made it through... Saigon is very different from Hanoi, somehow they seem opposites... people seem friendlier here, they take an interest in you, not only in your money (or so it would seem...). We were quite lazy the first day and decided to let two cyclos take us around the city, to the main sights. It was very enjoyable, they struggled with English but were so kind as to help us cross the road everytime , they literally took us by the hand, like little children (you know how it is a mission here, no pedestrian crossings whatsoever, and not even traffic lights most of the times, so the traffic never stops... you have to cross through it! There are also policemen that take you through the traffic, honestly!).

About the war museum I am not going to tell you much, I could not handle it, had to get out. And then I met this very nice vietnamese girl tourist guide, who became our good friend, Hanh. There is not much more to see in Saigon, it is more the atmosphere that I like. I loved sitting down in the street cafes with a tasty vietnamese ice coffee, watching the world go by... I could have stayed in Saigon. We went out with our friend to vietnamese places, I even had a massage on the spot, in a pub! and by a very nice young boy!! Another nice thing about Saigon was that we were reunited with our friend Katie (although we are appart again!).

We also went on a tour to the Mekong delta. That was also interesting, although very much chewed for us... took a big boat to transfer to a smaller boat so that we could drive through the narrower streams to go from island to island... tried some freshly made coconut candy! delicious! some homemade honey... held a 10 kg snake around my neck!!. etc. took an even smaller boat and paddled through even narrower passages to another island and listened to traditional music while tasting local fruit (dragon fruit, passion fruit, caqui, mango, papaya...) and that was it! it could have been longer if we had had the time! but we are running out of it, and it was time to go to Cambodia!!!! the last country in our list of must!! where we are now...

On the way to Saigon...

Hello children! it is nice to hear from people, sometimes one feels a bit lonely here, so far from home... especially when you are not feeling very healthy! but I am better now, really! The last few days have been full of treats. In Hoi An we had dresses made to fit!!! I had never been to a taylor before, very exciting designing the shape, choosing the material... although I have to say that the end product was not very exciting itself, but it was the fun that I was after. I needed cheering up! There was not much more to do in that small village, a lovely place, but too much temptation! we had to get away before we spent all our savings! you could get shoes and handbags and coats and even jewelry made to order!!!... but we managed to escape and went to the coastal village of Na Trang.

It is supposed to be a beach destination for vietnamese families as well as westerners and I have to say that I was not very impressed... but I still liked it! (I always do, don't I?). It was not pretty but it was lively. There we went for another treat: a mudbath!!! that was sooo goood!!we got a double tub Helen and me, and it was filled with warm grey mud!!it was fantastic to splash in the mud like piggies! I really enjoyed it and I think it was good for my skin too! my injuries are drying very fast! Na Trang was good too because I got my stiches taken out yesterday and then Helen, Ashley (a girl we met in Hue, from Canada) and I went to celebrate and got drunk!! and today we are paying the consequences... tomorrow more about Mui Ne, they are closing!