The South Island… part 2

We were blessed with amazing wetaher for the time of year during our first couple of weeks in New Zealand.  It was unusually warm for the year, so much so that there were forest rires south of Christchurch!

Before we left the Banks Peninsula, we embarked on our first activity in New Zealand, as we headed out of the relative safety of Akaroa harbour into the Pacific Ocean looking for the world’s smallest dolphin, the Hector.  The ocean was mercifully calm, and the crusie on the catamaran was only a little bumpy at times.  We were given a good rundown of the geography of the peninsula (great for a Geography geek like myself!), which basically rose out of the Pacific following a huge volcanic eruption not long ago.  The peninsula looks like one huge lava flow from above. 

We soon were able to see the lovely Hector’s dolphins, up to 40, following a fishing trawler before they headed over to see what these strange looking creatures were staring from the catamaran!! It was a brilliant sight to behold, as they peeked out of the waves just in front of the bow of the catamaran.  A great experience.

We then drove from the Banks Peninsula to a small village where we slept the night in a pub car park!!

We then headed along the Canterbury Plains; about the only large flat area in New Zealand (!) as we headed towards Mount Cook Village!! The drive was around 4 hours, and we passed through the small town of Ashburton before heading through the lower hills towards the lovely little town of Geraldine.  From here we would embark on a beautiful drive…

New Zealand – South Island Part 1

Well, after the luxury of South East Asia, we arrived in New Zealand over the snow-capped Southern Alps ready to take on the rugged South Island in a tiny campervan!!!  So after a few nights in the amazingly atmospheric ‘Jailhouse’ in Christchurch (an old Jail decommissioned in 1991), we picked up our ‘JUCY CRUIZA’, which would be our home for the next 7 weeks!!!  The vehicle is pretty nifty, with a nice big double bed, as well as a tiny fridge, microwave, heater, and portable DVD player to keep us entertained.  The beauty of travelling around in the ca,pervan is the ability to move on exactly when you want to, and not having to rely on waiting for a coach or train.

The first few days were spent exploring the Banks Peninsula, a huge volcano-induced mass of rolling hills and beautiful isolated bays.  We had been expecting terrible weather, but the gods were looking down on us, and we had three days of warm sunshine.  We were new to this campervanning lark, but had heard that it is quite feasable to ‘free camp’, as long as there is a public toliet within weeing distance!!! So we parked up in a tiny bay near to a small village by the name of ‘Governor’s Bay’ where we nervouly spent our first night, hoping not to get moved on!! We didnt and instead awoke to beautiful sunshine in the bay before heading off on the winding roads of the Banks Peninsula, with beautiful views across the bay to the town of Lyttleton, where the ‘3 ships’ arrived to populate Christchurch back in the 1800s. 

The Banks Peninsula has a number of French named settlements, and we learned that the French actually landed in the area before the British, but failing to claim sovereignty, us Brits beat them to it by around a week!!! Having travelled all that way though, the French stayed on and made their home in the beautiful seaside bay town of Akaroa, as well as other places such as Duvauchelle.  The French flag still flies here and the names of the streets are mainly French. An interesting piece of history which I was unaware of on my first visit.

Island hopping in Thailand…

Its a little while since I last wrote, but we have been far too busy being lazy here in the Thai islands!!!

In any case, we began our time in Thailand travelling on the overnight express train from the capital of Laos – Vientiane – to the metropolis of Bangkok.  A visit to Thailand really isnt complete without visiting Bangkok, and whether you love it or loathe it, you cannot deny that the city is so alive.  Wherever you look, something is going on, and I have to say that visiting here for the fifth time was as good as it was the first.

We stayed in Bangkok for three nights, spending one night on the colourful backpacker haven of the Khao San Road, before I was treated to two nights of bliss by Gemma in the 4-star Radisson in a different district for my 29th birthday.  It was good to see a different neighbourhood of Bangkok, and not get pigeon-holed into always staying in the backpacker district of Baglamphu.  During our stay we managed to visit the amazing 63rd floor ‘Vertigo’ bar at the 5-star Banyan Tree Hotel near the go-go girl district of Patpong, with stunning views of the city as dusk passed and night set in, and also of impending thunderstorms (just as we left the heavens opened, with waiters rushing down stairs into the safety of the indoor restaurant, trying to balance plates and drinks).  The same night we headed to the Bed Supper Club, one of the swankiest bar/clubs in Thailand, with instead of chairs, beds provided a place to rest weary dancing shoes! 

Our next stop was Ko Samui, the island that most people have heard of when they think of Thailand.  I was unsure how I would like Ko Samui, having heard that it was overdeveloped.  I have to say that this is a little bit off the mark, as there are some places which resemble the centre of Bangkok (Chaweng) but far more places that show why this island is still so popular with us farangs.  We stayed at a small bay called Choeng Mon, and if anyone is thinking of visiting, after scooting around the island on a moped for one of our days, i would certainly recommend Choeng Mon beach, which was clean and relaxed, with lovely views across the emerald sea to Ko Phan Ngan.

We had four days in Ko Samui, spending two of them being lazy on the beach, and then the other two visiting the Ang Thong National Park – an archipelago of islands between Samui and the mainland that offer amazing snorkelling and scenery – and circumnavigating the island on a moped. 

The Ang Thong National Park was a great day out, cruising across the Gulf of Thailand on a speedboat to the archipelago before making a number of stops for swimming and snorkelling, climbing ridiculous ladders to viewpoints – at one of which a Russian woman decided to breast feed her baby whilst people tried to take photos of the glorious scenery (!) – and stopping at the only settlement on the islands (a small fishing village) for lunch.  Tourists are not allowed to stay on the islands, which is a good thing after seeing how developed places like Chaweng are. 

Following our stay at Samui, we headed over to the Andaman coast and the Krabi region.  Here we decided to visit Ao Nang (jumping off point for most of Krabi’s resorts and islands), Railay (a top climbing destination cut off from the mainland due to the limestone cliffs that soar around the beaches), Ko Phi Phi (home of Maya Beach of film ‘The Beach’ fame, as well as a ridiculous array of glorious scenery), tiny Ko Jum (1500 inhabitants, mainly Muslim), and finally Ko Lanta (a relaxed island to the south of the Krabi region, less developed than a number of the islands) – where we are now and where I will complete this post later…

Hotting up

For the past 5 days we have been enjoying the capital of Laos, Vientiane.  The city is set on the banks of the Mekong river, and only a stone’s throw away is Thailand, so Vientiane appears to be a transport hub for a lot of travellers either entering Laos, leaving, or heading onto Cambodia, Vietnam, and even China.  So the place has quite a cosmopolitan vibe about it, and has lots of things to keep you occupied.

Whilst we have been here, we have been meditating with Buddhist monks, sat in a traditional herbal sauna (quite why this is traditional in such a hot and humid place, I will never understand!), and watched some spectacular thunderstorms sweep in from Thailand over the Mekong river.

The sauna was quite an experience, set in the ground of one of the many Buddhist Wats in and around the city.  The sauna was located in what appeared to be a two-storey timber shack, which looked as if it could quite easily collapse at any given moment! When we arrived we were handed sarongs and told in no uncertain terms to get naked, and cover up with the sarong.  It was the into the dark, humid atmosphere of the sauna (which more resembled a steam room), and as our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we tried our best not to trip over the benches inside!  The steam itself was lovely, the vapour smelling of hundreds of herbs and spices grown in and around the grounds.

After the sauna it was time for a traditional Lao massage, and we were thrown about all over the place, our bones creaking and cracking for an hour! It was a lovely massage though, and for an hour only cost 35,000 Kip (approximately 2 quid!), so an absolute bargain!!

We also managed to visit a number of beautiful Wats in and around the city including the national symbol of Laos, Pa That Luang, an amazing gold coloured monument that dates back centuries.  Several festivals are held here each year to celebrate various important dates in the Lao calendar  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pha_That_Luang

THA PHAT LUANG

Floaters…

After visiting Luang Prabang and Phonsovanh, Gemma and I headed down to the tiny riverside town of Vang Vieng.  The town is located next to the Nam Xong river, a much smaller river than the mighty Mekong, but no less picturesque.  The town has grown from a small village on the main highway to the capital, Vientiane, and has an old runway beside it that was used during the American/Vietnam war.  The town has grown basically due to its beautiful location, next to the Nam Xong, across from which are huge limestone mountains which literally rise vertically and have created some of the best rock climbing destinations in the world.  So Vang Vieng was a place to either adventure, or relax.  We did a bit of both, but more relaxing than adventure…

Vang Vieng has become synonymous with travellers as it was initially founded and developed by a few backpackers who saw the potential of its beautiful location, and one of the things to ‘tick off the list’ so to speak, is to float down the Nam Xong on an inner tube, with a Beer Laos in hand whilst taking in the beautiful scenery.  For a few quid, the ‘jumbos’ as they are called (basically a motorbike with a people carrier on the back) will escort you up the Nam Xong to a point where you jump in the inner tube and cruise down the river, stopping at strategically located ‘bars’ where you can get anything from a Beer Laos to an Opium Tea (!).  The bar owners chuck you a rope and then pull you into the shore, and then its time to pick your refreshment of choice before watching hapless ‘tubers’ crusie past, and laugh at those that manage to drop their beer in the river, or capsize themselves!!! One of the bars had a guy standing out the front advertising a ‘Bob Marley Joint’ with a big handheld placard.  What he meant I could only imagine…

Our ‘float’ down the Nam Xong ended in hilarity, as Gemma got herself wedged on a rock in the middle of the river, before missing the exit point onto a small island where the ‘end of tubing’ bars are.  I have never seen such a look of despair as she was swept past me.  However, in true British James bond fashin, I managed to salvage the tube that she had allowed to float away in her despair, thus saving us a few quid on our deposit!!  A good day was had by all, followed by a few Beer Laos’!

Whilst in Vang Vieng we also took the opportunity to visit the Organic farm located to the north of the town, where we were able to sample their speciality, Mulberry pancakes!!! The one thing that strikes you in somewhere like Laos is that the food is SO fresh, and there is hardly anything with the artificial preservatives that we have at home.  Nothing is frozen, it is either cooked straight away or is lost.  One of my favourite things here is a mixed fruit shake, which for around 70p, includes Mango, Dragon Fruit, Banana, Pineapple, Apple, and Lychees.  They are simply gorgeous, and have no additives whatsoever.

After Vang Vieng, the next stop was the capital, Vientiane…

Lovely Laos – Part 1

Hi folks!

Well, Gemma and I have just got to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, smack bang on the border with Thailand and next to the mighty Mekong River.  We have been in the country for around 20 days now, travelling from the old colonial town of Luang Prabang, down through Phonsovanh, high up in the mountains towards the Vietnam border, down to the small riverside town (and adventure capital) of Vang Vieng, and now to the capital.

What can I tell you about Laos? I will try to make it a) interesting, and b) not too exhaustive!  The country is land-locked and so struggles to grow economically at the rate that im sure it would like to, but tourism is taking hold here, mainly in the form of smelly, poor backpackers, but also an increasing amount of ‘adventure’ tourists, as Laos is one of the prime locations on the planet for rock climbing, jungle-trekking, and eco-tourism. 

However, the country has one problem that wont go away and is killing people regularly.  It is the single most heavily bombed country EVER!!!  The US carried out a secret war here, completely against the Geneva accords of 1962 (Laos had declared itself neutral), and literally caused carnage (the statistic is something like 500,000 sorties over 8 years – one every 8 minutes or so).  More bombs were dropped on the country than on Japan and Germany in the Second World War.  The legacy remains in Laos, and after visiting the town of Phosovanh, high up in the mountains, I learned that it is expected to take up to 100 years to rid the land of the ‘bombies’ that did not explode (up to 30% of all dropped did not explode).  Bombies are around the size of tennis balls and a single cluster bomb would encase hundreds of bombies, which when released would hit the ground and unleash ball bearings at over 2200 ft per second.  They were designed to kill people, and that is what they still do here in Laos, when unsuspecting kids pick them up, or farmers accidently disturb them when carrying out the ploughing of the land – something they have to do to grow the food to survive.  Visit http://www.maginternational.org/laopdr/ and maybe donate a bit of cash to this worthy cause. They do nice t-shirts as well!!!

So, Laos has its fair share of problems.  But it is also a beautifully unspoilt country, with little development and not a high-rise hotel to be seen (apart from maybe one in Vientiane!).  Luang Prabang is a charming colonial town on the banks of the Mekong River, complete with old French architecture, and the influence of their colonial masters in the form of several very nice bakeries.  The local street-vendors also do amazing coffee – it is available through Free Trade – as well as tasty baguettes for around 70p (10,000 Lao kip).  Luang Prabang also has several beautiful Wat’s, or Buddhist temples.  Some of the temples are hundreds of years old and are still working, with young Monks living in the quarters.  One morning wegot up at the ridiculous hour of 5am to give alms to the monks.  This basically involved lining the street with other local people (and the odd bleary-eyed tourist!) to hand out food to the monks as they walked through the streets.  It was a very humbling experience and a very traditional custom here.  Unfortunately the occasional tourist does his bsst to spoil it, as it is not correct to stick a camera right in their faces, or to stand so your head is above them (no problem for me then!!), but the morning we were there it all went very calmly and was very interesting.

We spent 5 days in Luang Prabang before heading up into the mountains to Phonsovanh to see the crazy ‘Plain of Jars’.  It was probably the windiest road ive ever experienced, but after 7 hours we made it there, after driving through beautiful mountain scenery.  The Plain of jars literally is just that – several different areas of ancient jars that have survived the heavy bombing by the US during the American/Vietnam War.  The jars are huge, and the story behind them is a complete mystery.  Some believe they were made for a king, some think they are an alternative to coffins.  One thing is for sure though, they are not going to be stolen as they weigh tonnes.  However, a few people have made off with the lids when they were first discovered (I didnt manage to fit one in my backpack unfortunately!!).  We visited 3 sites out of over 20, some of which are not cleared of the Unexploded Ordnance referred to above and so are not safe to visit.  The sites we did visit has strict guidelines concerning where you could and couldnt step.  I wasnt about to start weaving away from the well-trodden path… Phonsovanh and the Plain of Jars are surrounded by hills and mountains, but unlike the vast majority of Laos, these hills are bare of trees, with HUGE bomb craters visible in all directions.  The legacy is a long one…

On our second day in Phonsovanh we visited the SOS school on the edge of the town.  The SOS group of schools was set up by an Austrian fella and provides a safe and educational environment for the children that have unfortuanetly lost one or both parents due to the UXO (Unexploded Ordnance).  We did our bit and took some bilingual books for the children, who are aged between 1 and 18.  The children are placed into bungalows of up to 10 kids, and each bungalow has a ‘mother’ – a local lady who looks after them and keeps them in order.  We met one household who seemed quite inquisitive but also a little shy to see two westerners.  The kids just stared at us (probably my mullet).  But it was a good experience and made us feel that we were at least doing something to help the poorest kids in this lovely country. http://www.sos-schools.org/laos.htm

Thai cookery photos

Cooking the spring rolls!

Our fantastic teacher, Nan

Thai cookery class

Today Gemma and I attended the Siam Rice cookery school here in Chiang Mai, for a one-day crash course in the art of Thai cookery.  Now for those of you that havent sampled it, Thai cuisine is easily one of the tastiest and most diverse you could imagine, and is not all about chillis (as some people like to think!!).

We were picked up at 9am  from our hotel and whisked off to the local market, where our guide introduced us to a variety of ingredients to be used in the dishes that we would be expected to ‘cook’ throughout the day! The market was awash with colourful produce, including a number of fruits that you simply do not find on the shelf in Tesco!! Also, everything is fresh, there are no dried herbs or frozen vegetables here.  So, armed with spring onions, shrimp paste, shallots, and a whole host of fresh herbs, we headed to the home of the couple that run the cookery school on the outskirts of Chiang Mai.

The group consisted of 5 of us, so it was a good size to be given the attention that I thought I would need, in order not to poison myself, or scold someone.  We were given four different menus to choose to cook from, each menu consisting of 4 dishes and a dessert.  It was then time to begin chopping with what resembled a butcher’s meat cleaver, but widely used here.  The first dish was vegetable spring rolls, and we made the filling (tofu, carrot, rice noodles, and various seasoning) before rolling the rolls in rice paper and then deep frying them.  A few minutes and they were done.  The essence of Thai cooking seems to be that it is both tasty and quick to make.

It was then onto a Chicken coconut milk soup.  Again, all fresh ingredients, including eggplant, fresh basil and mint, and lots of lime juice.  We were allowed to decide how much garlic and chillis were chucked in, and in true Jamie Oliver style I ‘just chucked it in’!! The whole preparation time and cooking time must have been 15 minutes tops, and it tasted delicious, the cocunut milk making it quite light.

We then made salads, with mine being a Chicken Cashew nut salad.  Boiled chicken cut into tiny pieces and then garnished with lemongrass, coriander, lime juice, tomato and chilli flakes.  Yet again, delicious.

My favourite came last, the delicious Thai Green curry, of which I have had most days since arriving in Thailand a few days ago! Using a wok, the chicken was browned before adding the all-important curry paste, which we made from scratch by crushing a variety of ingredients together before adding shrimp paste.  The paste was added to the coconut milk, as well as the eggplant, lemongrass, and lime juice, and brought to the boil before being served up with sticky rice (soaked for 24 hours then steamed for 20 minutes).  Again, the number of chillis was left up to our discretion, and luckily two small green chillies were enough!!!

The final dish was the dessert, a very simple bowl of banana simmered in cocunut milk. Lush!!!

The Mekong Delta

We have now reached the end of our month-long journey through Vietnam from the hilariously-named Dong Dan border post, right through the towns/cities of Ninh Binh, Hue, Hoi An, and now Ho Chi Minh City.  We arrived in Ho Chi Minh a week ago, and after a few days sightseeing we arranged to go on a 3-day 2-night tour of the massive Mekong Delta.  The Mekong River passes through Tibet, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia before breaking off into 9 separate channels and then out into the South China Sea (see link down the right hand side!).

The Delta is home to millions of people and is a huge area.  Our trip would take us to the area of Ben Tre (where orchards are everywhere!), and the cities of Can Tho, Vinh Long, and Chau Doc, the latter only 12km from the Cambodian border.

At the start of day one we headed down to the Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City, and from there we boarded a speedboat that took us through the suburbs of this bustling city and into the more rural areas of the Delta itself.  The journey into the Delta took around 2 hours before we arrived at Ben Tre.  Here we were able to try locally grown fruits alongside tasty honey and lime tea that is produced by the local population and sold in Ho Chi Minh and at the various floating markets in and around the Delta.  In addition to this we were offered the chance to taste snake wine at this first stop.  Snake wine is considered to have a variety of health-related qualities, and is fermented for years to induce these nutritious qualities.  I, of course, had to taste it, and to my surprise the wine also had a dead bird in it!! The dead bird is supposedly good for your bones. I was skeptical.  It tasted fine though, if a little strong, and five minutes later I was still standing so all was good!!

From here we transferred to another smaller long-tail rowing boat, and a local lady captained us through very narrow inlets of water, whilst coconut leaves stretched high into the sky.  The coconut leaves are so strong that they actually help to minimise the erosion caused by the channels in the Delta.  The coconut milk is absolutely gorgeous as well!!!

We then visited local families that made coconut candy, and we were shown the process used to make what eventually look like small penny sweets.  A variety of flavours are available, including chocolate and banana leaf, and the sweets are sold all over the south of Vietnam.  The people here do not waste a thing either, and a variety of useful things are fashioned from the coconut itself, including teapots, cutlery, and figurines.  I couldnt help but think that we are not quite as resourceful in the western world! Here, the people will use absolutely everything to make something!

Our first night’s accommodation was at a home-stay near the city of Vinh Long.  We were taken by a small boat to the homestay, where we were invited in by the family.  Our rooms were basic, but included the all-important mosquito net which is especially important in rural areas (due to the threat of Malaria!), and the shower and toilet block especially built for us westerners was clean but again basic.  We were at the homestay with three Canadians and two Australians, and the local family invited us all to assist in making dinner.  This involved us rolling spring rolls (of which mine kept unrolling!), although suspiciously me and the other male member of the party were shunned in favour of the women (a bit sexist I thought, or maybe wise!?), and Gemma helped to cook the spring rolls, whilst the three Canadian girls helped to cook the local fish and pork stir-fry.  The food was predictably delicious, as is normally the case in Vietnam, and was washed down with a few cold beers.  The night’s sleep was interrupted by a cockerill at 4am, and he just wouldnt stop.  It sounded as if he was trying to out-do another that was just about audible in the distance.  He won!!

We awoke to the sound of motor boats on the Delta, and after breakfast visited one of the floating markets at Cai Be, where local produce is traded and then taken back to villages/towns wihin the delta, or onwards to Ho Chi Minh City.  Boats were packed with everything from bananas and pineapples, to pigs and ducks, and we slowly sailed around the boats, watching the trading take place.  Some of the traders had been up early to the market, and could be seen snoozing in their hammocks on the boats.  The living quarters of the boats are tiny, and we were told by our guide that entire families live in these extremely close quarters.  Making a living in Vietnam is not easy.

Our second night was spent up at the town of Chau Doc, 12kms from the Cambodian border, where we stayed on a floating hotel, nearby to the corrugated-roofed shacks that are built on bamboo stilts by the riverside.  It was a very relaxing place to stay and was needed after a busy day!

Our final day in the Delta saw us visit a Muslim minority near Chau Doc and a particularly attractive mosque.  We were also shown how high the river can get in the wet season, and some of the homes, although built on 2-metre high stilts have been flooded in recent times.  It was then a 3-hour speedboat ride back down one of the main rivers of the Delta, and along the way the many fishermen, traders, and locals waved as we sped past.  The Vietnamese people will always try and do you out of a few Dong (yes, the currency is called Dong!!), but they are a friendly bunch.  We visited the largest city in the Delta last, a place called Can Tho, before heading back to the big smoke.  Here we met a friendly buddhist monk, who posed for pictures, gave us tea, and tried to practice his English on us!!

Back in Vietnam – Hanoi

Last Tuesday 29th saw us travel from Nanning, through the border at the hilariously named Dang Dong, and continue down to the city of Hanoi.  I was in Hanoi almost 7 years ago and it was great to go back.  The city was just as manic and full of motorbikes as I remembered, and we soon found our hostel deep in the Old Quarter.  As soon as we arrived the guys manning the hostel tried their very best to flog us trips out to Ha Long Bay and up to the highlands of Sa Pa, but being wise to this from last time I was here we just humoured them and went to shop around for the best deal.

The Vietnamese have a certain charm about them, offering to sell you anything and everything, from a motorbike ‘taxi’ ride, through to dodgy DVDs and pineapple on sticks.  You have to admire their determination to sell you something, and as long as you have a laugh with them they dont really mind if you say ‘no’.

So we had a good wander around the city, stopping for some Beer Hoi, the local brew which set us back around 10p a glass, and watched the manic motorbikes whizzing through the junction of Beer Hoi corner.  For the first two days in Hanoi we tried some of the local food which is absolutely delicious.  The breakfast usually consists of Ba Pho, a bowl of piping hot noodles in a very thin soup, with either beef or chicken and costing around a pound for a bowl (this price is much cheaper for locals).  We also tried the Bun Cha for lunch, which consists of pork patties covered in red chillies and ridiculous amounts of garlic, together with fresh mint leaves.  This was absolutely gorgeous and cost around two pounds and 50p with a Beer Hanoi.  If we had any worries about being bitten by mosquitos after the Bun Cha im pretty sure they wouldnt have come near us after all that garlic!!!

Ba Pho in one of the many street kitchens of Hanoi

A local sleeping in Central Hanoi...they do tend to sleep anywhere, normally on motorbikes!

How much can you fit on a motorbike???

To come to Vietnam, and Hanoi in particular is to realise that the motorbike is like a swiss-army knife, operating a variety of functions.  It is amazing how much these people can transport on a tiny honda or vespa, and it doubles up as a people-carrier (you regularly see four or five people on one bike!), as well as being a sofa to relax on by the side of the road whilst trying to flog ‘taxi’ rides to unsuspecting foreigners!  Unless you are very rich here, you dont own a car, and it is one of the many things that makes the Vietnamese so robust and charming!!

We also went to see the hilarious Water Puppets show in Hanoi, a traditional show that goes back many years, in which various pursuits are shown by using Water Puppets with very colourful decoration and expressions.  The puppeteers stand behind a screen (in waist-depth water!) whilst operating the puppets on the end of long sticks. A very odd tradition but typical of Vietnam!!

A scene from the brilliantly weird Water Puppets!