Seems like long time, no write, when it was, infact, on two weeks ago, but such a lot has happened in between. [and having just finished writing the email i must humbly apologise for how long it's got and how badly written it is, but i'm not gonna do it again, so feel free to get bored half way through....]
Now, correct me if i'm wrong, but i believe i left you all in KK (Malaysia) having planned to climb up a stupidly high mountain in a day...
Well, i did indeed climb stupidly high mountain (all 4100m of it!!!) We started at around 10am the first day and ascended over 2000 (vertical) to the base camp at laben rata, where there was all of about 3m visibility (great when the whole idea is to summit at sunrise...) and the power had been cut off, so it was perhaps about 10*C (which feels soooooo much wcolder when you're used to 30-35*C every day! There we had tea and played the coldest game of Grabble (a genius version of scrabble that you're all going to have to learn when i get back, so as to quelll my addiction) i have ever played and then headed to bed at 8pm for an early (2am) rise to ascend the last 1000 meters to the summit before sunrise... which i did... just, having got altitude sickness about 500m (vertically) from the top. And i'm not sure i've felt quite so bad, ever! Climbing a mountain was certainly not top on my list of priorities, particularly at 3am, in the dark - but i was damned if i was going to go up 2500m in less than 24 hours and not get tot he top!!!! I'm just to stubborn for that. So i struggled on at something less than snails pace and got to the top, only just in time for sunrise, but it was good enough! :D (and the cloud had cleared by then, so we could see it too - what a bonus!) Then we spent the rest of the day descending the whole lot and wondering how we ever got up in the first place... The day after was simply spent moving as little as is humanly possible... it was somewhat painful.... but definitely worth it!
There after i left the rest of the remaining jungle group and headed of for 1 night in Brunei (a whole country all on my own - eek!) - sooooooo rich they don't know what to do with themsleves (and it shows), It's great though - the whole town is lit up like a christmas tree, with pretty coloured lights, for no particular reason. Most exciting happening in Brunei was having a meal that wasn't jungle food, or rice, or pasta!!! Indian has never tasted sooooo good :D Although, it is a slightly peculiar place - doesn't feel like asia at all - much more like america or dubai i guess... strange.
Next day, i got up and wondered around - looking at the mosque with a dome made entirely of gold... v opulent... then headed for some more joyous hours at Brunei airport (which is, btw, one of the most boring places on the entire planet...)
Reached Thailand and headed through scary immigration - but clealry they think i'm an alright kinda gal and stamped my passport, so all is good. There after i met up with Anna - which, i think, made us both very happy - just knowing that we had both turned up and really did plan to travel around thailand - it's all good :D (and we get on really well and like to do the same kinds of things as well, which is just excellent) .
Bangkok is a huuuuuuuge city! I wasn't so keen on it to start with, but i think perhaps it's just one of those places that you need time to get to know. Anywayz, we've done loads of stuff since then including, but not limited to, The Grand Palace and Wat Pho (like magpie heaven - sooo very vrey shiny and pretty, with some big scary monsters hanging around and guarding stuff (statues, i might add...)) which between them house the Emerald Buddha (actually made of jade) and the Reclining buddha (which is absolutely huuuumongous). These are like the Posh and Becks of Buddha statues - speaking of which, we've seen lots and lots of buddhas and wats (temples) - so that took up a fair amoutn of time. Prepare to get very bored looking at my piccies when i get back - atm i think they're basically wat wat wat buddha wat anna wat elephant buddha buddha.... ad infinitum. Also had massages for, like, 2 quid - v v nice - and visited the Khao San Road, Chatuchak weekend market (over 8000 stalls - sells everything!!!) and the floarting market at Damuan Saduak - so have had lots and lots of chance to shop!!!
After a couple of days we decided to head out of bangkok, in order to fill some time before te thai new year. We headed west out to kanchanaburi which is the place with The Bridge Over the River Kwai and some war museums, amounst other things. As we only really had a day and half there we booked on a tour and had an absolutely packed day including: a trip to a 7 tier waterfall where we walked to the top and went swimming - v v beautiful, elephant riding (v bumpy...), bamboo rafting( v sedate), visited the Death Railway (where there was at least one fatality for every one of the sleepers laid, over the time it took to build it), went on a train trip there, and then went to the bridge over the river kwai, itself. Really great day - the bridge isn't nearly as interestin or as impressive as it seems in the film, but then, it is only a bridge, after all. I do take exception to it being described as /the/ Bridge over /the/ river kwai though, because, as i discovered, it's actually one of two bridges (both of which were there originally) and on one of two river kwais... it, and the film, really ought to be called /a/ bridge over /a/ river kwai... hmph...
Hohum...next day headed back to bangkok, as we had tickets for the over night bus to Chiang Mai, and managed to get our lunch bought for us by the Thai police. i guess not many people can say that... - hehe...
Anywayz, In Thailand they celebrate new year from 13-15 april and we had been told that Chiang MAi (in the north) is /the/ place to be for new year, so went up there on the VIP bus (nicest coach ever - and a 14 hour journy for a little over 10 squid... nice :D ) on the 12th.
For those of you tht don't know - which i guess is probably al of you... - the Thai new year is sort of a buddhist water festival (which basically means people go around 'sprinkling' water and talc/flour over everyone else as a sign of respect and a blessing), but as you can imagine, over the years, this has basically turned into an excuse for the the biggest, longest water fight (probably) in the world. It's absolutely crazy!!!
In Chiang Mai, Songkran (New year ) was already in full swing by the time we got here, and as such, it was absolutely impossible to go anywhere (even 10m out our guest house that isn't anywgere near the centre) without being soaked from head to toe... so we weernt and bought a water pistol!!! hehe... down by the moat the entire town was absolutely filled with people on foot and trucks and tuktuk just getting very very wet (and cold if you were got by an evil person who had ice in their water!!!) - great fun though - highly recommended.
Since it's a public holiday, alot of stuff has been shut for the past week, but we still managed a few very impressive 'wats' and lost very happily at a pub quiz in an irish bar - despite the fact both the guy collecting the answers and the quiz master were both cheating for us... ::) oops... hohum... :D We also spent an intriguing afternoon talking to a buddhist monk in the nicest wat, in the midle of a forest - you might say it was enlightening... :D
The last couple of days we've had th emost wicked time doing some hill tribe trekking (which also involved more waterfalls, more elephant riding (on a much less bouncy elephant though :o) ) and more bamboo rafting (but more rapids stylee, not serene at all...). Met some wesome people too - i don't think i've ever sat on abus with people of so many different nationallities before - and i think between us we were fluent in more than 10 languages! last night we got back and then went out with most of the group - really great night...
anywayz, that's about it for stuff we've done - nice quiet relaxing time we've had!? Um, next we've ctually changed our plans and decided to take a whistle stop tour of Laos - cos everyone you meet, without fail, tells you you have to go... so we are, for about a week as of tomorrow, then we're going to head south (in thailand again) to do the bits we missed out before and then sit on a beach for a while - i sooo feeel like i need a holiday already! ::) hehe... then we'll spend a week doing cambodia and the remaining time in Vietnam (yes, dad, we did manage to get our visas, despite the fact it's been a public holiday for like a week already...!)
Hohum... must go now - things to do, places to see...
11 years ago
