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South East Asia - 1999
Not too sure about the dates here... mid-1999 to Dec 99?!?!
- Chuckers and suckers
Thailand - Teresa and Ivan's birthday visit to Thailand, elephant riding, shark swimming, leeches, and the scary experience of being caught in the tail end of Cyclone Maggie. - Bulls and Balls
Sumatra, Indonesia - orangutans, volcanoes, flees, kidnapping by local schools, and Sibarut (remote island with witch doctors, noisy pigs and mud). - Buddy's and Beaches
Beach beach beach….. Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bali…. What a tan! Raffles of Singapore, volcano and kuta/aussieville. - Rice wine and Rocky Roads!!
Cambodia - Ankor Wat, French wine, Vietnam - strange religion, the American/Vietnam war, possibly the best seafood in the world, Mama Hahns, cycling thru tranquil limestone outcrops and bargain tailor-made clothes. - Rags to Riches and Rags again... With posh clothes from Sydney
Laos - stunning scenery, tubing down rivers, cycling, trekking to remote villages, rugby, Thailand - full moon party, Australia - Dad, Diana and kangaroos.
Chuckers and suckers
Sawasadee!! When we finally got away from all the tummy troubles of India we had a splash out meal on the first night in Bangkok. 2hrs later Stu was throwing up and shitting for England - 12hrs of splatters from the bathroom and nurse Jilly was ready to run!
A couple of days later, welcoming banner in hand, we welcomed the two oldest backpackers in Asia - Stu's Mum and Dad (or Papa and Mama as the Thai's adopted) on a two week holiday. It was superb/brilliant/excellent to see them again, that nite, a lust for Mekong Whiskey was developed (commiserating Man Utd's lucky league win!!) We danced on the tables until 4am
After seeing the sights of Bangkok, River Kwai, houseboating and Ayuthuya we got an overnight train north to Chaing Mai (this was comfortable, clean, sheets, tidy, quiet, punctual and any adjective that is opposite to India!!). Here we got a new wardrobe in the night markets "cheap cheap, special price just for you!!" and more beers! - It was great having Papa's wallet!!
Next was Papa's birthday w/e so we decided to take them trekking to the
hill tribes in the rainforests. As soon as we left the Pickup, it bucketed
it down! 5-6hours of walking over steep, slippery clay tracks (mama and
papa sliding on their arses for most of it!) bouncing from tree to tree,
and hoping our "cheap cheap" sandals would hold out... The parents
weren't impressed! We ended up washing in a muddy stream b4 going to our
5* wooden floor accommodation!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!
The following morning, another 2hour hike b4 mounting our elephants for
an 1.5hour light jog thru flooded rivers while it torrentially poured
down! The looks on M+D's faces was a perfect Kodak moment!! Then it was
the bamboo rafting on the rafts that wouldn't float thru even more rain
down a mighty grade I+ river!! Despite this Stu, Papa and bag with camera
in went swimming!!! Oppps! All survived OK.
Just to prove it wasn't the worse b'day he could dream up, we got him a b'day cake, red bull and mekong, Thai cigars (yuk!) and took him out for a brilliant 2hour massage and dinner. It's a b'day he won't forget!! After all this excitement we took them to the beach - Ko Samet - to relax for a couple of days, turn red and sample more Thai drinks! It was great to see them and sad to see them go :-(
We flew on to Phuket b4 heading for some more relaxing of our own - Ko
Phi Phi - A beautiful tropical paradise where we sat on beaches, turned
golden brown, snorkeled and dived at Shark Point (alas, no sharks!). We
got stuck there longer than expected - nice people to play with and first-rate
food.
We headed over to Krabi and East Riley for more superb playgrounds. The
first longtail boat to these shores broke down, and on our second attempt
the tail end of Typhoon Maggie hit in!! We'd just reached shore when the
shit hit the fan! Trees, coconuts, mangoes, corrugated iron.... and a
couple of munchkins all went flying past us. Frightening but exciting!
More days followed of beaches, climbing, mekong whiskey, eating b4 heading north to Kho Sok national Park. Here we did some trekking thru the tropical rain forests. Half way thru our walk, we stopped for a swim, took off our boots only to discover that the leeches that we thought we'd avoided were having a nice sux after all!! They were all over our feet and legs!!! Out came the lighter to burn them off - those sucking bastards!!
We're about to fly to Singapore after today's adventure of Ao Phang Nga - beautiful limestone outcrops in the middle of the sea. Here our James Bond tour of the world continues - 'The Man with the golden gun' = Saramanga's Island.
Bulls and Balls
Salam Malakum! (or something like that!) We've been out of touch recently, traveling around the stunning but not cyber island of Sumatra (that's Indonesia for the thickies!) What a place! Great locals and lotsa new buddies to travel with on our adventures.
First stop was with some fine, furry, fuzzy, funky orange friends who were always trying to steal suspicious white powder and bananas! The Orang Atang Rehab centre (and we thought the powder was milk) of Bukit Lawang was extremely cool! We watched them swing from all direction thru the vines, gobble down bananas - 15 at a time and then pose for photos. Later in the day, they joined us in the river for a wee swim - amazing stuff.
Jill got 24hour food poisoning - and what a place to choose while having a chuck she had to avoid standing on the frogs that had come to eat the cockroaches in the hole/"toilet"!
Next was Brastagi, here we took on the elements and climbed an active
volcano using 3 local school girls as guides. What a sight! Smelly sulphur
steam splurging out staining the rocks yellow and polluting our nostril
space. The hot pools afterwards were grand, but the clothes still smell
bad!
The power of money was shown on the way back, by stopping a local bus
to charter for our own use, Obviously we don't love being capitalistic,
bourgeois fascist bastards but it didn't half help get us home that nite!
luv'ly jubb'ly!
That evening we decide to eat at a local Pedang style restaurant. A range of dishes are brought out and you pay for what you eat. We had to be quick to get the rice, fish and chicken dishes, any slower and you were left with cow's stomach, goat's intestines and an artery of an unidentified animal (our anatomy of animals isn't THAT specific!) - it's great for one's figure!
Lake Toba we can recommend to anyone! Staying in the best hotel (2pounds!) in a traditional styled room and overlooking the lake in all its glory. The days consisted of swimming, eating, diving (spring-board), playing with friends, and in Jill's case - improving her tan. We hired bikes and cycled thru the extremely friendly local villages and outstanding scenery learning about the cannibalism in the area. Yum!
Further south we planted rice knee deep with the locals (only one leech for Jill!) and managed to order the worst cup of tea in the entire world! We watched traditional Sumatran Bull fighting, two waterbuffalos 'Glasgow kissing' each other around a muddy field!
Feeling lucky we decided to have a wager with one of the local punters, after examing both beasts we obviously could tell one champion waterbuffalo from another and plunged 5000 Ringet bet on the one we named 'killer'! After 30mins of trying to tell which beast was which, they knocked down the arena and the fight was declared a draw. The local gambling opponent then got to choose the bull for the next fight - funny enough he chose the 'steaming muscle toned brute of a monster' and we were left with 'daisy the cow'! 30sec later daisy had the bruiser running and we were counting the winnings (50p!).
After this excitement we had to relax at another volcanic crater lake. Lake Maninjau - here we played tennis with the locals (co-ordinated exercise came as a shock to the system), Jill was unfaithful and slept with a bed full of fleas!! ouch!
We were kidnapped by some kids and their English teacher one day and traveled for 2 hours in a school mini mini-bus filled with 18 children + us! We were welcomed to their small town with orchids, garlands and shinny banner in our honor! (Beat that Queenie!) The girls performed traditional songs and dances, and we set an English exam for them in exchange! Staying with the teacher's family was very special and we got to know the students really well. We were sad to leave.
Our final mission was to tackle the remote island of Siberut, West of Sumatra. We teamed up with 2 other couples and 'Eddie' our guide to venture to this remote spot. After two nites (the lazy git of a Captain couldn't be arsed to turn up on the first nite!) sleeping on a 'high tech' Indonesian boat, while cockroaches had parties on our faces we finally arrived. The island was 'that' remote, we were greeted with Satelite TV and a cold beer! but not for long...
For 8 days we hiked though knee high mud, waded thru rivers and stayed
with local families. The Mantawi people are a unique culture, covered
with tattoos, their own medicine men, wearing loin clothes and eating
a stable diet of tree pulp, huu-huu grubs, monkeys and anything else that
moves! They were great fun to be around although living above 'noisy,
smelly, farty, grunting pigs' and having cockerels who don't know the
time, 'cock-a-bloody-doodling' all nite, leaves much to be desired!!!
One day the men went hunting. To do this in stunning camouflage, they
had to wear the bark of the tree we ate the nite before as a loin cloth.
Let's just say it wasn't designed to Western standards and an old man
had great fun tweaking wandering testicles! Funnily enough they didn't
catch anything as the animals were blinded by the whiteness coming from
the European nether regions!!! Meanwhile, Jill dressed in a grass skirt
went fishing and swimming with the girlies - most enjoyable (and far less-humiliating)
on a hot hot day!
We're now back in civilization enjoying the comforts of a shopping mall, cinema, TV, cheese and piccalilli sandwiches and a real bed (first bed in 13 nites!!!) Off to another National Park where this time we got a chance of seeing animals. (They haven't all been eaten by the locals!) and then an exotic island or two!
I has now been an entire year since we last worked!! hehehe
Buddy's and Beaches
We have done little in the past month that hasn't included beaches! (our
tans are coming along fine!)
On the way to the first beach, we stopped in at 'Taman Nagara NP' (Malaysia)
where we walked the longest canopy walk in the world thru the tree tops
of a tropical forest - Jill got told off as she thought it was a trampoline!!
Then 'The Beach'. Perhensian Islands have got to be our favourite beach in our travels so far - no cars, no hassles, great snorkeling, superb diving (our very first sharks), mars bar milkshakes, rainforests, soft golden sands, large monitor lizards stomping about, new playmates, mars bar milkshakes and an all you can eat 'Seafood Buffet'! heaven! We even met up with old playmates from Nepal!
After a week of this, we took a comfy nite train down to Singapore where we had the pleasure of staying with Jill's friends - Kim Honeyfield and Ian, in a centrally located apartment with roof top swimming pool, gym, G+T's, great natters..... blis'
A Singapore highlite would have to be the 10pound 'drink all you can', offer on the starting nite of English footie season and the nite NZ destroyed SA! (rugby - what else!?!?). From then on life got wobbly! (seeing as we have only consumed approx. one weeks worth of 'London living' Alcohol in six months!!). At 4am, Stu decided to hedge dive into a prickly bourcanvillia ("Jill join me it's fun!" b4 chasing me around the lobby of Raffles!!!?!?!?), then a quick lesson in 'mop using/fine avoiding' in our hotel'.
On the flight to Jakarta, Jill decided to break the 'red wine consumption in a 1.5hour flight' record! She succeeded at this, and then promptly threw it all up on the train (16hours) to East Java! (Record breaking does not come easy!) Here we climbed down, up and around Mt. Bromo - an active volcano with smelly, stunning views.
On to Bali and more beaches! Andrea Grant flew over for 3 days of sun, surf, sand, shopping and sunburn!! She even managed to volunteer to take half our packs back with her - bless! Meeting some more friends from our travels, we had 2 big nites out dancing to classic aussie cult rock songs from the 80s! The scary thing is most of the aussies surrounding us knew all the words, actions etc. and thought they were the hippest hits around!! Kuta - the finest culture centre in the whole of SE Asia!?!!?
When we finally got out of aussieville, we headed for the cultural side of Bali. Funny enough there were not too many 'Bruces' or 'Sheilas' out this way!?!??! - go figure?!!? Saw some fantastic traditional dancing, involving kicking loadsa flaming coconuts at the people sitting in front of us!
Now we're in Yogyakarta, relaxing by the pool and taking in the sights b4 we have to fly back up to Bangkok.
Rice wine and Rocky Roads!!
Currently in Hanoi, Vietnam after spending a couple of great days on Cat Ba island - stunning secluded beaches and scenic walks. Today we came back on the boat, stopping for a dip amongst beautiful limestone outcrops and yes the weather was great - just like England! (te hee)
Since we last left you, we've flown from the peaceful Isles of Indonesia back up to Bangkok. Here we waited around a couple of days (catching up on the latest pirate movies of course!) and waiting for our Visas.
Off we toddled in an A/C'ed deluxe minivan, on the lovely flat tarmaced roads of Thailand to the Cambodian boarder. Here things changed rapidly!: Into the back of a Ute/pickup truck, in the heat of the day to experience the delights of the Cambodian roads. These are possibly the WORST roads we've ever come across - and that takes some beating! (as did our bottoms!!) - potholes that can be seen from the moon and bridges made from rotting planks. However, it wasn't all bad, the scenery was tremendous and the sunset even better!
The next 3 days were spent on the back of a motor bike exploring the temples of Ankor Wat. These awesome temples were certainly worth the bumpy journey - we felt like 'Indiana' exploring the tree ridden ruins in the gloom of a thunder storm! Superb
This was followed by another memorable experience on the Cambodian 'M1' - a LARGE truck collapsed thru a SMALL bridge which caused a slight delay to our journey!!! hmmmmm When we finally reached the capital - Phenom Phen, we found the French had left cheap red wine (yah!) and impressive buildings, which Pol Pot and the successive government have managed to destroy - are there many capitals this devastated? Experiencing Prison/torture camps and Killing Fields adds to our utter amazement of the Khumer Rouge years.
Next was Vietnam and first up, Saigon. Here we visited the museums showing how the evil imperialistic American (those dirty rotten scoundrels!!) killed the heroic, patriotic and brave Vietnamese!! Jars containing the deformed remains of fetuses affected by agent orange were a peculiar highlight to a museum.
The Cu Chi tunnels where the VC fought the Yanks from, was an education: seeing the man-traps and getting stuck in tiny tunnels!??! We also visited the 'Caodai' Religon main temple, for those of you unaware about this popular Vietnamese sect, they have Victor Hugo (a French novelist) as a major god and William Shakespeare (you should know him??!) as a minor deity!!! You can imagine how the mid-day prays were a sight to see!
Up to the Dalat hill station, b4 heading to Nha Trang beach - arhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Seefood - Eatfood! While sunning ourselves on the beach, local women forced us (honest guv'!) to buy loadsa crabs and king tiger prawns for a ridiculously low price - yum yums! Of course we had to partake on the infamous 'Mama Hahns' boat trip. Think of a day of excess in all departments imaginable in paradise!: floating on rubber rings in tropical waters surrounded by cold beers, great food and a crazy 50year old Vietnamese lady leading the way with the drinking! A must!
Up to Hoi An, where we had a new wardrobe tailor made to size at a silly low price! Here we discovered the delights of 'bia hoi'. 10p for a pint of decent (sometimes??) lager and being entertained by children, fire-breathing dragons and dancers celebrating the Vietnamese new year, coming to visit and entertain us while we were downing a few.
Hue next, here we went on a tour around the DMZ where most of the major
battles of the American war took place. Eerie to think that so many people
died in what is now a tranquil populated region.
Our favourite spot so far, was next on the Agenda - Nhin Bhin. Finally
away from the tourist route, we were kidnapped by some local women who
made us hide in a boat while we were smuggled past the ticket inspectors!!
They proceeded to row us thru this beautiful landscape of paddy fields
surrounded by limestone outcrops and spooky caves!! Stunning! We even
got invited to their house for dinner and a few rice wines to wash down
the pork fat (no meat - promise!) and rice. The cycle back along the major
highway in the dark was a tad wobbly! :-)
The day following, we cycled thru marvelous countryside! Breathtaking stuff and wonderful locals who kept forcing more rice wine down our necks!! even more erratic cycling!! Finally up to Hanoi, where we are now, here we decided to be extravagant and fly to Laos (the 2 day, 5 bus, bumpy horrible journey was a major deciding factor!!)
Rags to Riches and Rags again... With posh clothes from Sydney
Almost there....... What a couple of weeks!: red wine, cheese, washing
machine, dish washer, no backpack, no dodgy guest house, hot shower, full
fridge - YES, WE'VE AT JILL'S DAD'S PLACE IN RAINY SYDNEY!! The weight
has gone on and the liver is suffering!
Vietnam seems a very long time ago and since then, we have done loads:
Lao's been brilliant!! The country has got to be one of the most beautiful we've been to so far - the people: most untouched by tourism, ultra friendly with shy smiles everywhere!! Vientiane the capital is just like a tiny small town - dirt roads and monks everywhere. We managed to do a spot of golf, and had a herbal sauna and massage!!)
Next it was up to Vang Vieng, a tiny village, full of backpackers and chilled out times. We went caving (commando style through wee gaps, giant spiders and creepy crawlies...) went tubing down a speeding river with utter stunning surroundings - huge forested abrupt mountains and water buffalo and locals to wave at (through monsoonal rains!! )
This country was so small that we had to rush off North (Luang Prabang) to see a TV which would have the big game on!! (Rugby - NZ v. Eng). The second biggest city in Laos didn't have satellite TV either, apart from the one exclusive 5***** hotel (at $70 a room!). This did not deter us, We found some other sad geeks that also wanted to watch it. We teamed up and had a sweepstake on who could stay in the room, while the other 12 snuck in the backdoor!! To finish the night off, we went for a wee dip in the pool at 2am - arhhhhh (I'd just like to point out that that is the end of any mention of rugby - ever!!).
Luang Prabang is a lovely spot with loadsa monks running about!! Teamed up with a Dutch and a French couple, hired a guide and took off into the leech infested forests of the area. This has to one of the highlights of our whole travels - we walked to a very remote tribe, that had rarely seen 'farang'. The whole village was shy and inquisitive and constantly stared at us. (until someone taught them the art of arm wrestling and Jill showed them her nose???!). To wake up in our 5 star mud-hut to see 2 dozen pairs of eyes staring at the sleeping white ones, when they saw how bad westerns look in early mornings they left screaming!!! - quite a memory.
It was then a mad rush down to Thailand - Ko Phan Nang for the infamous
Full Moon Party. It rained continually for 2 days in the build up for
it... and luckily we didn't have to wear our Raincoats for the occasion!
More new playmates, and boogie-ing powered by Red Bull and San Tip whisky
till the sun came up and beyond. A bloody good laugh!!! We then went up
to a nice secluded bay with a great Kiwi couple where we recuperated and
improved our tans!! (this is where I'm not mentioning the rugby...).
A bit more Island hopping in the rain (being stuck on Ko Tao waiting for
the ferry to move), scary moment as we thought we might miss the plane!!!
Back in Bangkok, we ditched our travelers rags, and brought an entire new wardrobe - what fun spending too much money is!!
Aussie: Got picked up at the airport by Jill's dad and sister - GREAT seeing them again after 4.5 years!! We stayed with them for 3 weeks before heading to NZ.
So far we've been 'Roo-spotting' successfully (plus one wombat), and catching up with many new and old friends from England and our travels. Having a fantastic time and donations will be accepted to fund other adventures - or perhaps a job?!!?
Contact: me@jillianreichenbach.com