An Interlude

You know you're truly travelling when...

• The horn becomes the most important part of a vehicle and the handbrake is replaced by a rock

• Indicators haven't yet been invented
• The toilets are nothing more than a hole in the ground and you're lucky if that hole has been emptied recently
• There are more goats than people on the roads
• Dogs run free (no little doggy outfits here!)
• Cows start to look more like camels (they have humps)
• You won't find a bus manufactured after 1972 anywhere
• You eat like a King for less than the price of a bottle of beer

• Shouting is the most polite way of talking to one another
• The changes of dying from electrocution whilst simply plugging in your phone charger increase by 10000
• You can travel across an entire country for less than the cost of an off-peak London Underground day travel card
• Health & Safety - what Health & Safety??
• People will actually smile and talk to you
• Oh... and Sean starts looking like this:

Testies Survival Kit: Wire Saw

ITEM USED: Wire Saw

COUNTRY USED IN: Thailand

CHALLENGE OVERCOME: Crossing Ban Mae Kampong Waterfall

When faced with the challenge of how to cross the Ban Mae Kampong Waterfall in Northern Thailand, Jennie knew what to do!

Her Testies Survival Kit was equipped with a wire saw, so she set straight to work. She started small:

The saw worked perfectly and Jennie was able to lay the first tree:

She was very pleased:

Success went to her head and she became more ambitious:

Her ambitions continued to grow:

But it was clear that she was overstepping her abilities:

And finally got her comeuppance:

But Jennie was undeterred and bravely continued on, despite the searing heat and the blisters that formed on her hands:

Until she was able to lay the final nails to her masterpiece:

And she had accomplished, with just a tiny Test Eagles Survival kit wire saw, the impossible:

Cooking up a storm in Chiang Mai

The train to Chiang Mai takes 12 hours (says the timetable), but realistically this is always late (15 hours). Not sure why they don't just update the timetable, but there you have it. Buses we're told take less time, but sometimes (such as with overnight sleepers) slower is better. Small bit of excitement upon our arrival - we had our very first encounter with the scam where drivers will try to 'call' your hostel for directions, then tell you afterwards that the hostel has closed so that they can conveniently drive you to the hostel that they earn commission on. So when we were asked to give the hostels phone number to them (this is after we'd shown them the address and the location on a map) we promptly looked at each other, sighed, said 'scam' in unison and found another tuk-tuk. Silly billies!

We had selected another 'new to hostelworld' hostel option and again weren't disappointed. I think this was the best room we've had on our travels so far. It even served real coffee with its free breakfast, so you can imagine how excited Sean was about that.

And we found a great bar (that turned out to actually be Japanese karaoke) that served the cheapest beer we've found yet in Thailand (only 8 baht more than the beer from a man on the street). We were even convinced to join in the singing (Sean did a great rendition of Wonderwall). We then did Let It Be since the patrons all seemed to go nuts for the Beatles. They were very welcoming hosts and they had a small dog in the bar, top that with that cheap beer and you can imagine that we drank there a fair bit!

We occupied ourselves with a cooking course where we learned how to make various Thai dishes (Sean says my spring rolls were the best he's ever tasted). We realised on this course how much our tummys must have shrunk through lack of eating, because on the day you make 5 dishes and you eat them as soon as you've cooked them. That's a lot of food to consume in a few hours, especially when they don't make the portions any smaller! We were greatful for the walk back to our hostel at the end of the day!

We also took the time to do some forward planning. We had to sort out getting to Myanmar (our next country to visit) and also organize a few things for Vietnam (necessary due to more internet/phone restrictions imposed by Myanmar).

And once we'd figured all that out and we knew when we would be leaving Thailand, we realised that we had enough time to do a 'Flight of the Gibbon' experience - sliding on zip wires through the rainforest! How much fun that was! They had normal zip wires where you just sat in a harness and went, but they also had a bungy one where you jumped off the platform, sprung back up and then slid like superman down the wire (I look more like a splatted spider, but hey!), vertical drops and even a tandem...

There are markets all over Chiang Mai (there seemed to be some kind of monk inauguration event going on so lots of parades and special events that I think put this number of markets higher than normal). So again, we ate well. We also found a great little place that served cheap-as-chips specials of local fair such as Khao-Soi. Sticky rice and Mango are a favourite up here too. I had to keep reminding myself of that wedding dress (especially when I learned how much sugar is used in Thai food after our cooking course!!!!!)

And we were also 'enlightened' by how clever these Buddhists really are:

Sad to leave. It's a tough place to follow. But roads not massively travelled lay ahead of us in Myanmar.

Things I'll also remember:

1) The 'spot the odd one out' meditating monk

2) The do-it-yourself Thai BBQ that we had (we really should have done this AFTER our cooking course when we'd know what we were doing!)

Here's the rest of our photos:

BT20_Chiang Mai 22 - 27 Sep 2010

Ayuthayaaaaaaa

With Southeast Asia's two most spectacular ancient sites - Angkor (Cambodia) and Bagan (Myanmar) - on our agenda for the coming months, Jen and I decided to warm up for those by spending a day in Ayuthayaaaaaaa on the road between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The city is actually spelt Ayuthaya, but any pronunciation of the place by a local seems to add several "a"s to the end of the word, so I've decided I like writing it that way as well.

Ayuthaya (ok, I'm bored with it now) is a legendary ancient capital of Thailand, a dominant city-state and centre of the old kingdom for more than 400 years. It was sacked in the 18th century and Bangkok has been the seat of power in Thailand ever since, so Ayuthaya's glory days are long past - but the city's great history is marked by a host of impressive ruins dotted around a modern city that has built up around them.

Two of the finest monuments are Wat Phra Sanphet, the old imperial palace complex...

...and Wat Chai Wattanaram, a particularly beautiful ruin set in lush green grounds and set by the river.

Chai Wattanaram is, like many of the ruins in the city, of Khmer design and so was a good prelude to the temples of Angkor in Cambodia, which are of course the crowning example of Khmer architecture. The majority of the most impressive monuments are topped by the signature spire, or Praang, a word which coincidentally enough rhymes with what it looks like:

Very impressive no doubt, but Freud would have a field day.

So a lovely day in Ayuthayaaaaaaa (I've decided to go with it again) came to an end, and we look forward now to getting all cultural in Chiang Mai.

Things Jennie will remember:

1) That when Sean says "it's ok we'll walk", to not believe him as it's going to be miles in the blistering heat between temples ;)

2) That an umbrella is the most useful thing to travel with - especially in the heat.

3) That tuk-tuks (Sean eventually relented on the final home stretch) are not made for tall people (no head room)

Link to the full photo album here:

BT19_Ayuthaya 20 Sep 2010

Six Nights in Bangkok

Our arrival in Bangkok was the easiest we've had so far.

We had to fly in from Delhi, as the border crossings from there are closed at the moment, and there were plenty of options for how to get from airport to the centre. A very easy bus ride later and Sean and I were on Khao San Road.

Ok, so that particular road is full of westerners, but if you ignore them, visit the rest of the city and just soak up the atmosphere the city has a really good vibe.

The touts are out in force of course, but what a pleasant change it was from India. We had polite, smiling, friendly tuk-tuk drivers asking "where you going?" and leaving us alone when we just smiled and said "just walking thanks". Or the ladies selling 'tat' (Sean and I really must remember not to sit along the street in the bars - hee hee) who smile and have a laugh about the wooden frog, hat, wallet, bracelet that they try to convince you to buy. Even the statues were happy...

There wasn't anything about Bangkok we didn't like. Our hostel was amazing (brand new, gleaming, yummy free breakfast, air-con, costing under $10USD...). The sites/attractions were exciting and different to the places we'd been to so far and they sparkled in the sun. Our one and only 'chore' whilst in Thailand - applying for our Myanmar (Burma) visas - was the easiest process we've ever done. And the food... ooooo the food. I thought I was going to miss my Indian Thali, but then I got presented with street stall paradise. Pad Thai for 40 pence anyone? Green curry? Coconut puddings? That many treats and new tasty eats to choose from all for only a few baht.

We also found, once again, that perspective is a wonderful thing. We were out drinking one night (well, we were out drinking every night, but this story just refers to one of them) when we struck up conversation with an American couple who also loved Bangkok but said it had taken time to get used to how hectic and "dirty" the place was. We couldn't help but laugh and tell them that, coming from Delhi, Bangkok was a spotless, laid back paradise.

The main sights there are the 'Wats' (the Buddhist equivalent of a church) and they are everywhere. They have gold sparkling decoration around their exterior with pointed roofs that reach to the sky. They really are a lovely sight to behold.

We checked out several, but one of the main ones (Wat Pho) contains a very large 'reclining Buddha'. It's huge. And it's very cool.

There is also an 'emerald Buddha' in Wat Phra Kaew within the grounds of the Grand Palace (it's really jade but emerald was a catchy name that history has obviously preferred). This is tiny in comparison to the reclining Buddha but no less beautiful and a visit to the museum told us he has little outfits for the summer, rainy and winter seasons - how cute.

The Grand Palace is a great place to spend several hours wondering. Our favourite part was the wall paintings that depict historical Buddhist events and some very colourful characters with some incredible detail:

There are also other Wats, such as Wat Arun, that ditch the gold in favour of ornate decorations made from broken tiles in the form of flowers and dragon images etc.

And Bangkok is on a river, so we cruised down it like we cruised down the river in Brisbane (not like you would cruise in Soho).

So we marvelled, we ate, we wandered the markets, we drank, we ate, we chilled out, we shopped (a few cheap t-shirts etc), we ate some more, Sean had another attack by a barber (I'm quite worried now that he has annoyed some kind of sect) and we smiled the whole time. We also spent some time 'around Bangkok' in Ayuthaya, but Sean will tell you about that in our next blog.

Happy happy days in Bangkok.

PS: Am saving the fish tank foot massage for our return visit to Bangkok!

BT18_Bangkok 16 - 21 Sep 2010

A Dip Into India

It seems ridiculous to claim "lack of time" as an excuse for not exploring somewhere thoroughly enough when you're travelling for a year, but that is in fact the situation Jen and I have found ourselves in with India. India was never the priority of this part of the trip (South-East Asia was always the goal of this first leg, and we haven't even gotten there yet!) and we didn't want to do it half-arsed. But at the same time we were in this part of the world so thought it would be crazy not to at least stick our head in the door, as it were. So we did.

The border crossing was an adventure in itself, and quite a highlight in its own way. Coming out of Bardia we walked on foot across the Nepal/India border at Mahendrenagar (Nepal side)/Banbasa (India side). Don't worry if you've never heard of it - no one else has either, so remote and relatively unvisited is it. I'm pretty sure Jen and I were the only foreigners to pass through that part of the world for months, and when we showed up in Banbasa looking for an ATM to acquire Indian Rupees we found it to be that rarest of beasts - a border town without electronic cash. This would be all well and good if not for the fact that the banks had closed early that day (I'm still sketchy on the details of that one) leaving us stranded and Rupee-less. Thankfully, help was at hand in the form of off-duty bank staff, who went above and beyond by finding a random guy in one of the nearby markets who could change enough of our Nepali Rupees into Indian ones to enable us to book a seat on one of the local buses to the next town, which was blessed with the ATMs that enabled our onward passage to Delhi. Below you'll see a very sweaty and heavily encumbered me, several of the bank staff who helped us out, while on the right (and looking hella impressed to be there) is the legend who changed our money.

Abigail Hole, in the most recent edition of Lonely Planet's India, likens Delhi to "a sub-continental Rome." Personally, I liken Delhi to "a very large outdoor toilet" - this divergence of opinion is probably just one of a plethora of reasons as to why Abigail writes for Lonely Planet and I write for this blog. But I stand by my point of view, and what's more will forward on Ms Hole's words to the mayor of Rome, who I am hoping will pursue most justified legal action.

Delhi is unpleasant. I know it's all a game of opinions, and this is just mine (Jen's too, to be fair), but I didn't find it an enjoyable place to be. It's not simply that the city is very much developing-world or is hard work (though of course that rarely helps matters), because I've been to plenty of cities that weren't "easy." And many of these developing-world cities have exuded an exotic cultural appeal mixed with a pulsating energy and topped it off with friendly and welcoming people. Delhi just isn't one of them. It's not exotic, it's filthy - I honestly wasn't kidding with the open-air toilet remark, the energy is bustling but unexciting and the cultural and other attractions, while having some merit, aren't a patch on what you can see elsewhere without having to wade through human excrement to find it. As for the people, well I don't want to be tarring undeserving people with a negative brush, so I'll just say that far, far too many people - particularly in the service industry, but also just on the streets - are nothing more than very bad and painfully obvious scam artists. It is shortly to host the Commonwealth Games and it will be interesting to see how that goes, as much of the centre of the city still seems pitifully unequipped for a large influx of tourists. And the (otherwise excellent) subway won't be ready to open its line from the airport to the city until after the Games start.

The food's good, though. And as I said, some of the sites - such as the Red Fort and Humayun's Tomb (a forerunner to the Taj Mahal) are very nice.

Lest it seem I have nothing good to say about our very short time in India, our two journeys outside the capital were both marvellous. First up was Agra, which is of course home to a large, pretty white marble building that most people are familiar with.

The Taj Mahal has been described as the world's most beautiful building, and with considerable justification. It's a gorgeous monument - beautifully designed, built and positioned, and has been restored thoroughly as well so that the ravages of the modern world around it haven't taken their toll as might be expected. That being said, it's one of the most photographed and recognized buildings on Earth too which, in a strange way, counts against it slightly because the building and the views are so familiar from pictures/books/movies etc that somehow you feel like you've been there before. Don't get me wrong, the Taj Mahal not the least bit disappointing (how could it be when it looks like that?), but we found we didn't quite get the same sense of wonder we've had at places which were a delightful and unexpected surprise.

A delightful and unexpected surprise is exactly what awaited us at Agra Fort. Because it's located in the same city as the Taj Mahal it is therefore, rather inevitably, completely overshadowed. But it's a superb site in its own right, and by all accounts one of the finest Mughal forts in all of India. I can believe that, as Jen and I enjoyed a fantastic afternoon exploring the old palaces, mosques and residences within its walls.

As an historical aside, the fort also acted as the prison for the final years of his life of the man who built the Taj Mahal...after his son overthrew him and sent him there. So this was his only view of it for the final years of his life. Though he didn't have five other people to share it with.

From Agra we travelled west to Fatehpur Sikri, a magnificent 500 year old fortified city that, while now uninhabited, is still very well preserved. The ancient citadel sits atop a ridge overlooking a village and was another spectacular site.

After Fatehpur Sikri, we went back to Delhi to fly out to Bangkok and that was that - the end of our barely-a-week in India. It's not nearly enough time to get a good look at or to assess a country as vast and as varied as India is, though even in such a brief period we saw that the country had plenty to love and just as much to loathe - which is consistent with what I'd heard and read about it previously anyway. So I guess the only thing for it is to come back. One day.

Probably not to Delhi though.

Things Jen will remember about India:

• Sean and I are apparently celebrities here. Everyone (and I mean everyone) wanted to take our photograph. I normally take more photos than I need to, but I swear we're in more Indian photo albums than I took photos of India. We were not quite sure why exactly this was, maybe because we're white, tall, beautiful? We also seemed to be the only foreigners subjected to this craze - so we're going with tall or beautiful...
• The scam artists who try to send you in completely the wrong direction when we couldn't really see what they would get out of doing so.
• The bus from Banbasa - this was the bumpiest bus ride we've ever done. I think we lost vertebrae.
• I can't believe Delhi is hosting the Commonwealth Games in just over 2 weeks - it's a good job that India doesn't have H&S laws to worry about otherwise all those builders, painters, labourers wouldn't be able to work 24 hours a day whilst the world carries on literally right next to them.
• That Delhi airport is the only one (the ONLY one) that requires proof of ticket purchase before it will allow you entrance into the check-in area - not a great requirement of people travelling without regular printer access - we spent 40 minutes outside waiting for someone to prove we had a reservation and were allowed to go in.
• That not everyone in India is out to scam you - the lovely Auto driver from the metro to the airport whose every word (including his 'the map has changed' statement which is written in guidebooks as THE scam of the century) was true and just (the map had changed due to the Commonwealth Games and a particular direct road route was indeed closed).
• Seeing more than my fair share of Indian men's bottoms as they went for their morning 'relief' alongside the railway tracks as we travelled to Agra, or just generally on the street.
• Our arrival into Delhi bus station and viewing hundreds of people sleeping literally anywhere at all (we arrived at 4am). We are truly lucky to live where we do.
• Thali - I will so miss this wonderful rice, lentil curry, veg curry, yoghurt, salad, naan 'set' dish. It's costs pence and is so very very tasty (the equivalent of the 'Dal Bhaat' in Nepal).
• That not even customs officers at Delhi airport know where Banbasa is - our man seemed pretty sure that we'd invented a fictional border crossing. We eventually had to show him on a map.

So finally South-East Asia, the main objective of this first leg of our trip, is upon us. I can't wait to both explore the region and also to slow down our travels a little - in our first nine weeks of travel we've covered eight countries. We'll now spend three months covering the next five.

BT17_India 10 - 15 Sep 2010