"All this happened, more or less."

Bangkok bananza…awesome Ayutthaya… (post by Andy)

So basically a bus dropped us at a boarder where we were stamped out of Cambodia. We wandered across a bridge between two countries. It was crazy and confusing so we decided to head to a new country where they have food.

A ludicriously fast minibus got us o bangkok, Khao San road to be precise. Also known as the ‘travelers ghetto’.  It’s got everything a real ghetto has excpet a lot more rave music and beer. It’s pretty cool to see, and it’s crazy. We found a cheap guesthouse with walls like cigeratte paper. Random scrawlings of mentally unstable travelers covered the walls, entertaining, but disconcerting. The city sleeps at about 5am. So there’s at least an hour of silence there. 
Next day we walked down to reception with our bags and checked out and found a different place.

We went to a Muay-Thai fight one night. It’s basically an extremely brutal form of kickboxing, but with heaps of culture…and stuff. But seriously, they perform traditional dances and prayers before the fights and come our draped in costume. 
We got ourselves a couple of ringside tickets and let the sweat shower down on us with every elbow. We got back to Khao San on the back of a motorbike… both of us…don’t ask, please.

Ayutthaya is a quite little town just out of Bangkok. We meet a bunch of people there in a continuous stream of day and night. After meeting with a couple of Germans and a SouthAfrican, we went to a bar for a quite dinner where a group invited us to join them. Two Chilleans, two Japanese, three french and a Brit. The Japanese couple decided to turn in as they had a bus to catch at 4am. Determined to find a place that was still open, and failing to find any tuktuks, someone convinced a ute to take us to a different bar. In we got, I sat in some unknown liquid. Possibly meat and/or petrol related. 
Next thing we know were sitting outside and ‘Trippers C’ and ‘Ryota’ (the two Japanese) roll by on a pushbike, setting off to the bus station. No worries at all. They just waved and kept on keeping on. 

Ayutthaya basically has a mote/river run around it so we hired a couple of bikes and rode around and through and all over it. Perpetually lost, we stumbled upon a temple complex that revered roosters as godlike. Hundreds of them guarded a statue. Throughout the whole area they just stood at attention, ready to let fly.
We escaped with our lives, but a little sun burnt. 

From there we took a train all the way up north to Chiang Mai. Now we’ve caught a hell of a lot of trains on this trip. But the scenery on this particular one was amazing. Lush mountains and muddy rivers came and went. Farmers stood up from crops as the train snaked around a cliff side. So beautiful.

Next episode..Chiang Mai. 
See ya! 

Floating on sunshine! (Post by Nick)

So we rambled on from Phnom Penh to Pursat, population of other Travelers - 0. Pursat is nice enough, however mainly used as a base to go to the Floating Village Lonely Planet thought it would be remiss to even add a small map to help navigate the place. Super.

This didn’t really become a problem until we headed out to find a certain restaurant - Community Villa, an NGO run diner which helps ‘at risk’ youth. We had our heads high and were prepared for a dinner feasting mainly on smugness and self importance going out of our way to help the community. Right?

Wrong.

We found a place, flashy lights, plenty of patrons - this must be it? (I mean the whole of Pursat pretty much is about 1 square kilometer). Well ok, the dinner rooms were obscured by cloth, the patrons seemed to be exclusively local (and mainly men), and there WAS a guard out front and then another sitting in the middle of the courtyard… also there was a strange amount of women just casually walking from table to table wearing skimpy clothing who were not part of the serving staff.

Also every now and then a guy would get up and disappear down the corridor for a couple of minutes with one of the girls..

Right, the cogs are turning, lets say it all together now! It was a brothel.

Of course this happens to your two lovable Goras. Try to do good in the community, end up eating at a brothel. We’ve just finished gronking our way through India, why not South East Asia?

Anyway, after taking a disinfectant shower when we got home and a good nights sleep we met the next day with far more success! Got a Tuk Tuk over to the REAL NGO Restaurant for brekky and then it’s off to Kompong Lauong - a.k.a The Floating Village.

This was mind blowing, literally we rock up to this huge lake, hire a boat, and just set off. Next thing we know a whole village has materialized infront of us floating on the lake. They have a floating Church, a floating Catholic School - floating cafe’s (with pooltables) where we enjoyed a nice floating pepsi. Plus everyone is so chill - I think there was some kind of law passed that required everyone to have hammocks and eat mango. Not bad at all. Plus an abundance of kids swimming out to the boat or just yelling “Hello hello!” and just generally getting excited as all get out when we wave back - definitely an experience to remember.

 After this we caught a bus to Battambang and e daytripped it to the killing caves - a place where the Khmer Rouge used to bludgeon and throw men off a cliff face and into caves - at the bottom of the caves our tuk-tuk driver was like “So the caves are up there, I can drive you or you can walk” and we were like “Nah! we’ll walk!”

Replace ‘up there’ with ‘on the top of a mountain’.
and ‘walk’ with ‘climb a damn mountain’ and you will have a feel for the actual events.

We both developed somewhat of a healthy sheen of sweat by the time we reached the top, but it was worth it. The hot, lush greenery of the Cambodian countryside mixed with the caves where hundreds of men were killed (there was a display case of all the skulls and bones of the men) gave us quite the pause for thought. It was the kind of place that forces you to speak in whispers.

We stayed there in contemplative silence for a while before climbing the last few hundred meters to the top of the mountain with a look over the huge rice fields and greenery that Cambodia has to offer.

Next stop Bangkok.

Cambodia Calling (By Andy)

Our last day in India was in fact also Nicks birthday. After an epic 5hr skype sesh, Nick returned to a little surprise party. Which was really just me in a hat standing in front of a happy birthday banner clapping. But there was cake. And a rather over the top candle that I found at the back of some dusty store. A powerful flare of fire shot up which released a plastic lotus leaf flower that unfolded to reveal each leaf had a candle. It also played music. Problem was the music didn’t stop. I had to cut the wires. And when that didn’t work I down right attacked the mechanism with my pocket knife which eventually yielding results.
Next morning we sipped one last street chai while the taxi driver jump started his own car and we were off to the airport. A one way ticket out of there.
India had given us a lot in three months, and planted a seed that makes us want to return again sometime. But for now we were looking forward to the next chapter. South East Asia.

An unusually nice and clean overnight wait in Bangkok (where Kim Jong Ill was called for over loud speaker …seriously) left us pretty exhausted by the time we touched down in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
After a paying a low-level bribe to an officer for having no photo, we were through immigration. No photos were taken, but cash certainly was.
Anyway, we expected the usual onslaught of rickshaw drivers  in a scrum vying for our Riel,rupee or dollar. But none were in sight, Instead a calm and low-key reception awaited where we got intot he only tuk tuk there. Shocker.

Arrived at Dragon guest house which has signs declaring 
‘no drugs, no weapons, no under-age girls’.
Classy.
Phenom Penh was really cool once we learnt how to get around.  Apparently you just ask anyone sitting on a motorbike how much to wherever you want to go, negotiate a little less then you’re off. On the back of some guy’s motorbike as he whizzes up town to your destination. In our case down to the water front for a beer. One way on a moto is 50c, the same as a pint of Angkor beer. Not bad at all.

If you know anything about Cambodia, its usually got something to do with its brutal history under Pol Pot’s rule. His regime, known as the Khmer rouge, is responsible for the deaths of 2 million of his own people under especially horrific circumstances. We visited S-21, the main torture prison of Pol Pot’s rule which was once a school. With classrooms divided into 2m by 1m cells made from brick and timber. Complete with chains and bloody floors. Barbed wire mesh covers the walkways so no one could jump to their death. Skulls, photos and weapons are casually displayed about the various rooms. The gallows stand in the courtyard.
S-21 was truly haunting and disturbing. As was the ‘killing fields, where the survivors of S-21 were taken to be executed. Walking around the mass graves was pretty powerful. Bone fragments and clothes still come up on the path where you walk as they wash up from the sunken pits.

One our last night we walked to a place recommend called ‘Zepplins café’ Need I say more?
Rocked up and soaked in the classic tunes while downing a couple of drinks. White Russians and beers flowed as the bar nuts kept coming. The Asian rocker at the back turned the vinyls as the local trendy ex-pats came and went meeting over zeppelin and drinks. Very cool bar indeed.

Cambodia is shaping up very good, yes sirree.

Camels (Post by Nick)

Andy and I rambled on from Pushkar, caught our local bus to Ajmer, caught the connecting bus to Jaipur and settled in the train station waiting hub for the 6hr wait for our 11:45pm train to Jaisalmer.

Here’s the thing about train stations, are about 100 people in the waiting hub and only about 20 seats. I mean you can sit on the floor, but that’s a different battle altogether, waged against the teeming filth and scurrying rats – one traveller we met, Becky, stretched out on the floor for some shuteye asking me and Andy to look over her. Upon her awakening I couldn’t bring myself to tell her of the rats that were crawling over her legs during the slumber.

Either way, the battle for seats is a fierce one and as it gets to the 12, 1, 2am hours the only thing keeping up resilience is the 16^th sugar filled chai tea that you have just sucked back (the mere event of doing a chai tea round without loosing your seat is practically an art-form). Our train arrived, and we made the 12hr journey to Jaisalmer.

 We happened to be on the same train as a guesthouse owner in Jaisalmer and he implored us to check out his place, now usually I am weary of making decisions right after a big journey because we are usually so tired that we end up accidentally paying triple price. But in the words of Shantaram – “There was something in the disk smile of his, a kind of mischievous exuberance, more honest and more excited than mere happiness that pierced me to the heart. It was the work of a second, long enough for me to decide to trust him. I didn’t know it then, but it was one of the best decisions of my life.” – He gave us a free ride to his guesthouse, free drop off at the station at the end of the week, sorted out our camel trek, gave us free chai tea, gave us half price for rooms and gave us the first night free. Epic score.

Then came the camel trek. Starting up at the ungodly hour of 7:30am we caught a jeep out into the middle of nowhere (side note: while speeding along at 100km an hour, blindly overtaking other cars and trucks around corners  and such, our driver turns around laughing and says ‘Oh boy! I had too many whisky last night! Anyone else want to drive?’ awesomesauce.)  Two men bearing multiple camels appeared, we saddled up, our jeep disappeared without another word and we set off into the desert.

I can’t really explain the trek. I mean I assume you all are vaguely familiar with camels, desert, and the force of motion that propels said camel through desert. I mean that’s all I thought too, but it was so much more. The endless dunes, absolute silence, plodding along only 22km from the Pakistan border. Bliss.

But then things got weird. During one of the many curry and chai tea breaks, clouds appeared. The next thing we know the sky turns black with looming storm and thunder - It starts to sprinkle, it starts to rain, it starts to hail. Our guides assured us that ‘Is good! Rain is good! Good luck!’ and started laughing and whooping. But Andy and I were more awash in the strangeness of being caught in a hailstorm in the middle of the desert.

Anyway, in true Westerner form, Andy and I then spent the next ten minutes frantically trying to wrestle on our rain ponchos – which by the way I never realised were bright fluro .. and that they look like something people are institutionalised for wearing. - This served only to increase our guides enjoyment and one eventually approached me, and started rubbing the poncho, with just utter and complete bewilderment in his eyes as he met mine, I in turn tried to look as dignified as possible, and failed. This was made worse by the fact that the intense rain storm lasted about a total of 5 minutes – The sun returned in force, the hail melted, the water evaporated, the sand dried – in other words, Andy and I were in the middle of the hot, dry desert, wearing bright fluorescent ballooning rain ponchos. Totally gimping it in other words.

We moved on from there, ponchos removed, and settled down for the night. Camping on the dunes we drank chai and read during the remaining sun hours, we watched the sun set over the dunes, we watched as the stars and shooting stars come out in an uncountable mass, before eventually drifting off in the sleep of contentment.

The next day our guide realised we were running late and made us gallop the rest of the way, I thought it was awesome at first to be galloping through the desert on camelback, but this quickly changed. I wont go into too much detail, but I have never experienced pain of this kind before and it leads me to believe that camels were NEVER intended to be ridden at a gallop. The majesty of the desert quickly disappeared and the sight of the jeep brought near tears of relief.

We got back to the hotel, spent a few days recovering and made way for Udaipur – our last proper stop in India before leaving this beautiful country and flying out to Cambodia.

Catch.