We decided to spend the final week of our two-month trip in Borneo Malaysia. We visited Peninsular Malaysia earlier in our vacation, however Borneo has a much different feel to it. It is really laid back here, and the physical geography of the island allows for many outdoor activities. We arrived to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia from Hanoi, Vietnam late on Sunday night. Monday we took a bus to Sandakan, which is located along the east coast of Borneo Malaysia. Here, we booked a 3-day/2-night Borneo jungle trek along the Kinabatangan River.
At the beginning, I was a little bit unsure of how this jungle trekking activity would turn out, however by the end, I loved it. During our stay in the jungle, we had 4 river cruises and 3 jungle treks (2 or which took place at night). There were 6 of us in total (3 couples) that were all backpackers, so it was nice to have a small group, and we all got along really well. The river cruises basically involved us sitting in a boat that either travelled upstream or downstream for an hour or two. The first couple of river cruises we got to see various types of monkeys, birds, and a moniker lizard. However, the 3rd cruise we got to witness wild elephants alongside the riverbanks! They were pygmy elephants (not as large as regular Asian elephants, but still big nonetheless!) Our tour guide even let us out of the boat and get onto the riverbanks to get a closer look at them. Everyone who comes to this jungle basically wants to see elephants, however we were told that they are only visible every few days. The walking jungle treks were a little less exciting, but we still got to see many frogs, grasshoppers, spiders, and at night we saw a snake and an owl.
I was really happy I got to experience the jungle, as it is something that I had never had the opportunity to do before. It was just a really neat experience to basically live on the banks of the Kinabatangan River, and literally sleep 100 feet away from the jungle!
We left Thursday morning to head to Semporna. This city is well known for its nearby dive and snorkeling sites. We decided that for the last few nights of our trip we would stay in a nice hotel (SeaFest Hotel) which is the only 3-star hotel in the entire city. We are staying right at the waterfront, and the room is a couple of steps up from many of the places that we have stayed in South East Asia! Tomorrow we are going snorkling at the nearby island of Mabul. Then we catch an overnight bus back to Kota Kinabalu to catch our flight to Manila on Sunday afternoon. Monday morning is departure day, to return to the Great White North.
Hard to believe that tomorrow is basically our last free day to spend before two days of airports and flights. The trip seems like it just started yesterday!
Stay tuned for a post-trip blog.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Borneo Malaysia from Melissa
Our last week of travelling was left undecided until the last minute, this is part of the joy of backpacking, going wherever you like, whenever you like.
We did a cross comparison chart (no joke) of costs and benefits to returning to Philippines, Laos or Indonesia and then one day I happened to discover Borneo in a guide book.
Without really knowing what Borneo would offer us we decided to go and I am really glad we made this decision.
Borneo has been amazing and by far one of the greatest places we have been so far my only regret is that we do not have longer here.
We left Hanoi on August 23 (the last day of our visa) and travelled to KL in Peninsular Malaysia then we transfered to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo
Our first impression of KK was the small city feel and cleaner air.
We spent one night in KK before taking a bus to Sandakan, we didn't really know what Sandakan had to offer all we knew is that it was a good hub for tours to the jungle or mountain climbing, rafting and so much more.
The bus ride to Sandakan was beautiful, through the foggy mountain side and small villages it was a treat just to see it all.
Sandakan is another very small city in Borneo, we spent 1 night here organizing our jungle trek in Sukau.
In reality I didn't expect much from the trek, I just wanted Darryl to have the experience of outdoor adventure and nature at it's best.
Our jungle adventure consisted of 2 nights under mosquito nets (D's first time ever), in cabins; 4 river cruises on the Kinabatangan river, 2 night treks and 1 day trek.
On our tour we met an Irish and English couple who were great tour companions.
On our first cruise we say many types of monkeys including some endangered species and different types of birds. On the night trek we came close to many smaller animals such as birds, frogs, spiders and scorpions.
The next morning we had to get up at 5:50am for a morning cruise, we didn't see much except monitor lizards and birds.
That evening we were in for a real treat, we tracked wild pygmy elephants and came SO close to them, they had a baby elephant which the herd was very protective of. In total there were approximately 10 of them. I was so close to them that I could reach out and touch them (which I didn't try because they are wild animals) however I did video tape it.
We watched from for almost an hr, swimming, eating, and moving through the jungle. The only reason why we had to leave was because it was almost dark.
This is by far one of my most treasured experiences ever while travelling.
THEN the next morning we also got to see an orangutan! honestly we couldn't have asked for a better experience.
After leaving the camp, we were to take a bus to Semporna, (approximately 4 hours from Sukau) however at the highway junction we found out that the bus had broken down and we were stranded with the English couple. So Paul made a sign and the 4 of us hitch hiked. We actually ended up having a better experience than if we had taken the bus, a really nice man took all 4 of us into Semporna (which was out of his way) and we paid him less than if we had taken the local bus. He spoke very good English, wanted to show us the local sites and even wanted to make sure we had a good hotel to stay at once we arrived in Semporna. We are not naive or stupid, we know that many people here are often out to take you for your money or rob you, but this man was genuinely kind and he taught us so much about the country and it's people.
We are now in Semporna, we splurged for a 3 star hotel since it will be our last nights on vacation. Semporna is an even smaller city that is the gateway to Sipadan, one of the worlds top 5 dive sites. Due to regulations it is almost impossible just to show up here and expect to get to Sipidan to dive or snorkel (regulations only allow 120 permits per day) so we have decided to snorkel Mabul Island tomorrow which is very close to Sipidan and we have been told almost has beautiful. After that we head on our last overnight bus to KK then fly from KK back to Manila, then Manila home....
time flies
We did a cross comparison chart (no joke) of costs and benefits to returning to Philippines, Laos or Indonesia and then one day I happened to discover Borneo in a guide book.
Without really knowing what Borneo would offer us we decided to go and I am really glad we made this decision.
Borneo has been amazing and by far one of the greatest places we have been so far my only regret is that we do not have longer here.
We left Hanoi on August 23 (the last day of our visa) and travelled to KL in Peninsular Malaysia then we transfered to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo
Our first impression of KK was the small city feel and cleaner air.
We spent one night in KK before taking a bus to Sandakan, we didn't really know what Sandakan had to offer all we knew is that it was a good hub for tours to the jungle or mountain climbing, rafting and so much more.
The bus ride to Sandakan was beautiful, through the foggy mountain side and small villages it was a treat just to see it all.
Sandakan is another very small city in Borneo, we spent 1 night here organizing our jungle trek in Sukau.
In reality I didn't expect much from the trek, I just wanted Darryl to have the experience of outdoor adventure and nature at it's best.
Our jungle adventure consisted of 2 nights under mosquito nets (D's first time ever), in cabins; 4 river cruises on the Kinabatangan river, 2 night treks and 1 day trek.
On our tour we met an Irish and English couple who were great tour companions.
On our first cruise we say many types of monkeys including some endangered species and different types of birds. On the night trek we came close to many smaller animals such as birds, frogs, spiders and scorpions.
The next morning we had to get up at 5:50am for a morning cruise, we didn't see much except monitor lizards and birds.
That evening we were in for a real treat, we tracked wild pygmy elephants and came SO close to them, they had a baby elephant which the herd was very protective of. In total there were approximately 10 of them. I was so close to them that I could reach out and touch them (which I didn't try because they are wild animals) however I did video tape it.
We watched from for almost an hr, swimming, eating, and moving through the jungle. The only reason why we had to leave was because it was almost dark.
This is by far one of my most treasured experiences ever while travelling.
THEN the next morning we also got to see an orangutan! honestly we couldn't have asked for a better experience.
After leaving the camp, we were to take a bus to Semporna, (approximately 4 hours from Sukau) however at the highway junction we found out that the bus had broken down and we were stranded with the English couple. So Paul made a sign and the 4 of us hitch hiked. We actually ended up having a better experience than if we had taken the bus, a really nice man took all 4 of us into Semporna (which was out of his way) and we paid him less than if we had taken the local bus. He spoke very good English, wanted to show us the local sites and even wanted to make sure we had a good hotel to stay at once we arrived in Semporna. We are not naive or stupid, we know that many people here are often out to take you for your money or rob you, but this man was genuinely kind and he taught us so much about the country and it's people.
We are now in Semporna, we splurged for a 3 star hotel since it will be our last nights on vacation. Semporna is an even smaller city that is the gateway to Sipadan, one of the worlds top 5 dive sites. Due to regulations it is almost impossible just to show up here and expect to get to Sipidan to dive or snorkel (regulations only allow 120 permits per day) so we have decided to snorkel Mabul Island tomorrow which is very close to Sipidan and we have been told almost has beautiful. After that we head on our last overnight bus to KK then fly from KK back to Manila, then Manila home....
time flies
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Kingdom of Cambodia-Mel
I am behind Darryl in the usual blog writing, probably because most of the time I am on the Internet I am searching for cheap accommodations or activities and Darryl does a really good job of providing everyone with our updates.
However it is never to late so here are my thoughts on Cambodia....
what can I say, I have a love, love, hate relationship with this country.
Meaning I really did love this country, however at times the aggressive attitude of some drivers and children pushed my levels of patience.
To get into Cambodia, yes we took the scam bus from Bangkok, known to most lonely planet readers and Yes we KNEW we were taking the scam bus. Scam bus means they basically gouge you for whatever extra money they can, lie to you and give you a "free" tuk tuk ride to their friend's guesthouse. To us, since we knew what was going on, we excepted it and moved on, (unlike some other people on the scam bus who stayed angry for days and some people who had no idea it was a scam) along the way we meet 2 other Canadians from the Guelph and Toronto area with whom we became very close with.
We also had the adventure of walking over the border between Thailand and Cambodia, along the way you pass through "no man's land". We thought it was pretty cool and it helped lighten our mood.
We did stay at the "suggested" guesthouse, but hey it was cheap and we didn't mind it.
Siem Reap is a small place with a lot of character, we spent a day at the temples of Angkor, went to a floating village, had our feet massaged by fish, bought matching tshirts (ya thats right all 4 of us, Same Same but Different) spent a night drinking cheap buckets and getting free shirts out of it and all in all had an amazing time.
A couple of days later we went to Phnom Penh, the capital city. Here we visited the Genocide museum and killing fields. Overall a very educational and sad day for all of us, so we drowned our sorrows at an all night club in the city.
After a week in Cambodia, it was team Canada's time to spilt; now a team of 6 Darryl and I would soon again be a team of 2, sad for us all however since we all had different itineraries it had to be done. We would run into Hoang and Tom though in Vietnam lunch before they had to leave for Hoang's grandma's place near Saigon.
However it is never to late so here are my thoughts on Cambodia....
what can I say, I have a love, love, hate relationship with this country.
Meaning I really did love this country, however at times the aggressive attitude of some drivers and children pushed my levels of patience.
To get into Cambodia, yes we took the scam bus from Bangkok, known to most lonely planet readers and Yes we KNEW we were taking the scam bus. Scam bus means they basically gouge you for whatever extra money they can, lie to you and give you a "free" tuk tuk ride to their friend's guesthouse. To us, since we knew what was going on, we excepted it and moved on, (unlike some other people on the scam bus who stayed angry for days and some people who had no idea it was a scam) along the way we meet 2 other Canadians from the Guelph and Toronto area with whom we became very close with.
We also had the adventure of walking over the border between Thailand and Cambodia, along the way you pass through "no man's land". We thought it was pretty cool and it helped lighten our mood.
We did stay at the "suggested" guesthouse, but hey it was cheap and we didn't mind it.
Siem Reap is a small place with a lot of character, we spent a day at the temples of Angkor, went to a floating village, had our feet massaged by fish, bought matching tshirts (ya thats right all 4 of us, Same Same but Different) spent a night drinking cheap buckets and getting free shirts out of it and all in all had an amazing time.
A couple of days later we went to Phnom Penh, the capital city. Here we visited the Genocide museum and killing fields. Overall a very educational and sad day for all of us, so we drowned our sorrows at an all night club in the city.
After a week in Cambodia, it was team Canada's time to spilt; now a team of 6 Darryl and I would soon again be a team of 2, sad for us all however since we all had different itineraries it had to be done. We would run into Hoang and Tom though in Vietnam lunch before they had to leave for Hoang's grandma's place near Saigon.
Vietnam - Darryl
It has been a while since I last wrote a blog. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday August 9th. HCMC (or Saigon) is a very chaotic city full of motorcyclists travelling every which way. Sidewalks do not exist in Vietnam, as all of them, especially in HCMC are filled with motorcycles! This city is go-go-go all the time, and it felt as if the city never stopped moving. During our three days here, we got to visit the Cu Chi Tnnels - an underground network of tunnels used by the Vietnamese during the "American War" (as it is called over here). Our tour guide even let us crawl through a few of them. By the time we got out of the tunnels (and we only climbed 100m of them, everyone was soaked in sweat. I can't even imagine what it would have been like for the Vietnamese during war conditions.
In Vietnam, most tourists buy an open-bus ticket which enables the user to visit a set of cities, and at their own pace. Basically you have to book your ticket the day before you want to leave to head to the next city. So we bought a ticket that took us from HCMC, then Nha Trang, then Hoi An, then Hue, and finally Hanoi. This took us from south Vietnam, all the way to North Vietnam. Most of these bus trips were taken overnight, as they took anywhere from 10-14 hours. The Hoi An to Hue trip was the only one that we took during the day as it took 5 hours.
Nha Trang, our second stop, was very relaxing. The city sits on the coast, and so the beach is the major destination for travellers. We also did an island tour, where we got to swim and snorkel, visit an aquarium, hang out at a floating bar in the ocean, and had a buffet lunch as well. A few days later, Melissa and I tried our luck with scuba diving. Since we are first-timers, we had a professional diver at our side monitoring our gauges and oxygen levels. We got to go down as far as 6 metres in depth, and saw tons of fish and coral! This was by far the highlight so far of the trip. The dive lasted 30 mins, but it felt like we were down underwater forever. It took a lot of concentration to make sure you were breathing at a regular pace, and my ears definitely popped from the air pressure. But all in all, it was a great time.
The third stop to Hoi An was a lot different. It was much more laid back. The city is very old, and is well known for its "Old City Centre". I have never seen so many tailor shops and shoe shops in my life!!! Custom-made suits can be purchased for about $40-$60 dollars, and great discounts are offered for many other items. Melissa and I also did a tour of the My Son temples. These are less impressive than the Angkor Wat Temples, but nonetheless, these were still pretty interesting. The My Son temples were built in the 4th century, and the majority of them have been destroyed by U.S. bombs in the war.
Hue was our next stop along the way up the coast. It is a relatively big city, but not as action-packed as HCMC, which I liked. Here we did a city tour where we visited 3 different tombs of emporers of the Nguyen dynasty, the famous Citadel, and a Pegoda. This gave us the chance to see different historical aspects of the city, and our tour guide was really helpful in giving us information. At the end of the tour, we took a 30 minute dragon boat ride back to the city, which was really relaxing!
This morning we arrived to Hanoi, by an overnight bus. Today we have spent the day getting organized for the next few days. We purchased tickets for the 2 day/1 night Halong Bay Cruise that we taking tomorrow. We stay overnight on a boat, and during the day get to experience some great sight-seeing of the many islands and caves in the area. Hopefully it will be great weather!
Speaking of weather, it is blistering hot here. Especially since we have been in Cambodia and Vietnam, the weather every day has been sunny, and very humid. Most days the temperature is between 33-38 degrees, with humidity in the 80-90s! The minute we leave our air-conditioned hotel we are sweating! But it is much better than rain (which we have hardly had), so we can't really complain.
Hard to believe the trip is over in just a week and a half...
In Vietnam, most tourists buy an open-bus ticket which enables the user to visit a set of cities, and at their own pace. Basically you have to book your ticket the day before you want to leave to head to the next city. So we bought a ticket that took us from HCMC, then Nha Trang, then Hoi An, then Hue, and finally Hanoi. This took us from south Vietnam, all the way to North Vietnam. Most of these bus trips were taken overnight, as they took anywhere from 10-14 hours. The Hoi An to Hue trip was the only one that we took during the day as it took 5 hours.
Nha Trang, our second stop, was very relaxing. The city sits on the coast, and so the beach is the major destination for travellers. We also did an island tour, where we got to swim and snorkel, visit an aquarium, hang out at a floating bar in the ocean, and had a buffet lunch as well. A few days later, Melissa and I tried our luck with scuba diving. Since we are first-timers, we had a professional diver at our side monitoring our gauges and oxygen levels. We got to go down as far as 6 metres in depth, and saw tons of fish and coral! This was by far the highlight so far of the trip. The dive lasted 30 mins, but it felt like we were down underwater forever. It took a lot of concentration to make sure you were breathing at a regular pace, and my ears definitely popped from the air pressure. But all in all, it was a great time.
The third stop to Hoi An was a lot different. It was much more laid back. The city is very old, and is well known for its "Old City Centre". I have never seen so many tailor shops and shoe shops in my life!!! Custom-made suits can be purchased for about $40-$60 dollars, and great discounts are offered for many other items. Melissa and I also did a tour of the My Son temples. These are less impressive than the Angkor Wat Temples, but nonetheless, these were still pretty interesting. The My Son temples were built in the 4th century, and the majority of them have been destroyed by U.S. bombs in the war.
Hue was our next stop along the way up the coast. It is a relatively big city, but not as action-packed as HCMC, which I liked. Here we did a city tour where we visited 3 different tombs of emporers of the Nguyen dynasty, the famous Citadel, and a Pegoda. This gave us the chance to see different historical aspects of the city, and our tour guide was really helpful in giving us information. At the end of the tour, we took a 30 minute dragon boat ride back to the city, which was really relaxing!
This morning we arrived to Hanoi, by an overnight bus. Today we have spent the day getting organized for the next few days. We purchased tickets for the 2 day/1 night Halong Bay Cruise that we taking tomorrow. We stay overnight on a boat, and during the day get to experience some great sight-seeing of the many islands and caves in the area. Hopefully it will be great weather!
Speaking of weather, it is blistering hot here. Especially since we have been in Cambodia and Vietnam, the weather every day has been sunny, and very humid. Most days the temperature is between 33-38 degrees, with humidity in the 80-90s! The minute we leave our air-conditioned hotel we are sweating! But it is much better than rain (which we have hardly had), so we can't really complain.
Hard to believe the trip is over in just a week and a half...
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Cambodia - Darryl
Wow, the past week or so has been very busy. The last time I blogged, we were in Bangkok, leaving for Cambodia the next day. Melissa and I had read in the Lonely Planet travel book that there are scams that occur on the bus ride from Bangkok to Siem Riep, Cambodia. The main one involves the bus taking its passengers to a travel agency a few kilometres away from the Thailand-Cambodia border, and making people pay more for their visa than if one went directly to the border to get it done. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened to us. Although our 6 hour bus ride only cost $12, and our visa cost $40 instead of the typical $20, it is more the principle of the matter. During this whole ordeal, we managed to meet 2 Canadian female backpackers (Pam and Emily) who were on the same bus, going through the same thing we were. It was nice to atleast have some Canadian support! So we arrived in Siem Reap with our new travel buddies and found a nice quiet guesthouse located in close proximity to many of the city's sights. We have actually been with Pam,Emily, and two others - Tom from Saskatchewan, and Wang from Red Deer, Alberta for most of this week.
Siem Reap is a very touristy city located in north-west Cambodia. The famous Angkor Temples, which we visted on Tuesday, are located only about 15 minutes outside of the city. The temples were simply amazing. It is almost unimaginable that these massive structures were built about 1200 years ago. The artwork and decoration was so elaborate. We actually visted 4 main temples, although there were so many more that we didn't get a chance to see. Angkor Wat is by far the most famous of all the temples for its size, and location (at the front entrance). My Favourite was the Ta Prohn, which actually has massive trees that are literally growing across the walls, and even through the walls. The mix of man vs nature is awesome.
On Wednesday we did a "floating village" tour, where we took a boat tour and drove through a little community consisting largely of Vietnamese refugees. They reside in boats that are built as homes, and literally are stationed in water. The community has similar services to a normal city, such as a police station, schools and shops. It was really neat to see people driving boats up and down the river serving as "convenience stores", or "gas stations". We even saw one house with a pool table!!! We were told by our tour guide that every year when the water levels get too high, these people are forced to leave their homes for a few months and they go live in the mountains nearby.
Thursday we left to come down to Phnom Penh, which is the capital city of Cambodia. The bus trip took about 6 hours. We have a great guesthouse right up against the water, and only costs $5 a night for the room! Phnom Penh is a really chaotic place. The city is about 1.5 million people large, and has a lot of history to it. Cambodia as a whole is a very poor country, and Phnom Penh really shows it. While there are nice parts to it, as a whole, the events of 1975-1979 have taken their toll on the city and its citizens.
Friday we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, and the Killing Fields. For all you who don't know about the genocide, I'll give you a brief recap. The Khmer Rouge regime, led by Pol Pot overtook the government in the mid 1970s, and basically evacuated all cities for fear that the "educated" people would revolt. Pol Pot's utopia was to build an agrarian-based Communist society where everyone participated in forced labour. The Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979 and more or less put an end to the Khmer Rouge regime. Tuol Sleng, formerly a high school, served as a prison and interrogation centre. The building was enclosed with electrified barbed wire and the old class rooms were turned into torture chambers. We had the chance to walk through the two buildings, which still have some of the beds that were used, and the cells where inmates were kept. Pictures of all of the inmates are on display, including many gruesome pictures illustrating the torture that these people went through. It is believed about 17,000 people were imprisoned here, with only 12 survivors throughout the 1975-1979 time period.
The Killing Fields, about a 20 minute drive from Tuol Sleng was where the prisoners were sent to die. It is believed that 20,000 people were killed here. Those who were executed were buried in these massive graves. We saw graves for women and babies, for those without heads, for those who were killed naked. They say that in order for the Khmer Rouge to save on ammunition, most of the people were killed by hammers, axes, sharp bamboo sticks, etc. Most victims were deemed intelligent, educated, or had some connection with former governments, and the majority of victims were Cambodian. Large craters are found everywhere throughout the site, and we could even see clothing, teeth, and bones in the ground - remnants of the events. A large stupa (a Bhuddist religious monument) was built to honour all the victims, with 17 levels high of skulls...
These two sites really gave me some chills. It is hard to believe that this only happened about 30 years ago, and that every Cambodian has likely been influenced by this event in some way shape or form. We noticed the other day that this country has a large percentage of its population that is under the age of 30, and this is likely one of the major reasons.
I have a much greater appreciation for the people of Cambodia and for what they have gone through. The people here are so nice and so pleasant that it makes it hard to imagine what this country experienced only 30 years ago. The emotional and psychological scarring from the Khmer Rouge must be so great, yet, does not seem that obvious in the people.
Tomorrow (Sunday) we are headed to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (also known as Saigon). We will be in Vietnam for two weeks or so, and I'm really looking forward to seeing yet another country!
Talk soon.
Siem Reap is a very touristy city located in north-west Cambodia. The famous Angkor Temples, which we visted on Tuesday, are located only about 15 minutes outside of the city. The temples were simply amazing. It is almost unimaginable that these massive structures were built about 1200 years ago. The artwork and decoration was so elaborate. We actually visted 4 main temples, although there were so many more that we didn't get a chance to see. Angkor Wat is by far the most famous of all the temples for its size, and location (at the front entrance). My Favourite was the Ta Prohn, which actually has massive trees that are literally growing across the walls, and even through the walls. The mix of man vs nature is awesome.
On Wednesday we did a "floating village" tour, where we took a boat tour and drove through a little community consisting largely of Vietnamese refugees. They reside in boats that are built as homes, and literally are stationed in water. The community has similar services to a normal city, such as a police station, schools and shops. It was really neat to see people driving boats up and down the river serving as "convenience stores", or "gas stations". We even saw one house with a pool table!!! We were told by our tour guide that every year when the water levels get too high, these people are forced to leave their homes for a few months and they go live in the mountains nearby.
Thursday we left to come down to Phnom Penh, which is the capital city of Cambodia. The bus trip took about 6 hours. We have a great guesthouse right up against the water, and only costs $5 a night for the room! Phnom Penh is a really chaotic place. The city is about 1.5 million people large, and has a lot of history to it. Cambodia as a whole is a very poor country, and Phnom Penh really shows it. While there are nice parts to it, as a whole, the events of 1975-1979 have taken their toll on the city and its citizens.
Friday we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, and the Killing Fields. For all you who don't know about the genocide, I'll give you a brief recap. The Khmer Rouge regime, led by Pol Pot overtook the government in the mid 1970s, and basically evacuated all cities for fear that the "educated" people would revolt. Pol Pot's utopia was to build an agrarian-based Communist society where everyone participated in forced labour. The Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979 and more or less put an end to the Khmer Rouge regime. Tuol Sleng, formerly a high school, served as a prison and interrogation centre. The building was enclosed with electrified barbed wire and the old class rooms were turned into torture chambers. We had the chance to walk through the two buildings, which still have some of the beds that were used, and the cells where inmates were kept. Pictures of all of the inmates are on display, including many gruesome pictures illustrating the torture that these people went through. It is believed about 17,000 people were imprisoned here, with only 12 survivors throughout the 1975-1979 time period.
The Killing Fields, about a 20 minute drive from Tuol Sleng was where the prisoners were sent to die. It is believed that 20,000 people were killed here. Those who were executed were buried in these massive graves. We saw graves for women and babies, for those without heads, for those who were killed naked. They say that in order for the Khmer Rouge to save on ammunition, most of the people were killed by hammers, axes, sharp bamboo sticks, etc. Most victims were deemed intelligent, educated, or had some connection with former governments, and the majority of victims were Cambodian. Large craters are found everywhere throughout the site, and we could even see clothing, teeth, and bones in the ground - remnants of the events. A large stupa (a Bhuddist religious monument) was built to honour all the victims, with 17 levels high of skulls...
These two sites really gave me some chills. It is hard to believe that this only happened about 30 years ago, and that every Cambodian has likely been influenced by this event in some way shape or form. We noticed the other day that this country has a large percentage of its population that is under the age of 30, and this is likely one of the major reasons.
I have a much greater appreciation for the people of Cambodia and for what they have gone through. The people here are so nice and so pleasant that it makes it hard to imagine what this country experienced only 30 years ago. The emotional and psychological scarring from the Khmer Rouge must be so great, yet, does not seem that obvious in the people.
Tomorrow (Sunday) we are headed to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (also known as Saigon). We will be in Vietnam for two weeks or so, and I'm really looking forward to seeing yet another country!
Talk soon.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Riding The Wave! - Darryl
In my last post, I mentioned that we were stopping in Ko Samui, Thailand. Ko Samui is an island located in southern Thailand, and is full of beaches and beach resorts. We chose to stay at The Wave, on Chewang Beach (the east side of the island). The ten hour trek from Penang, Malaysia to Ko Samui wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We had a chartered minivan which took us the entire way (and even came onto the ship for our two hour ferry ride). The Wave is owned by two British dudes who run a very friendly and cozy hostel. Melissa and I stayed here for all four nights, and got the private room, with our own washroom, and even had a TV! Chaweng Beach is the busiest of all of Koh Samui's beaches, and the place was literally packed with tourists. The main road consisted of lots of shops, vendors, restaurants, bars, and fast food joints. At one point, we walked by a Starbucks, Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and an Adidas store, all in a row! I was thinking to myself, I thought we were on a remote island in Thailand!? The beach was beautiful, and the water was so warm. It was a great time to catch some sun, and relax for a few days. We got to try some great Thai food, and drink some (relatively) cheap alcohol.
Yesterday (Friday) at noon we boarded a mini van to begin another long bus ride - this time up mainland Thailand to Bangkok. Estimated time of arrival in Bangkok? 6am on Saturday morning (for all you math people, that means 18 hours!) Again, we had to take a 2hr ferry back to mainland Thailand, then boarded a coach bus which dropped us in a city (can't remember the name off hand) around 5:30pm yesterday. We sat and waited for our transfer bus, which arrived at 7:30 pm and we got dropped off this morning at 6am in the capital city of Thailand. The transfer bus to Bangkok was full of tourists about the same age as Melissa and I. Everyone seemed to be anxious to get to our destination, however, within a few hours, most people had fallen asleep. So here we are, in Bangkok, which for us is basically just a stopover. Tomorrow we are headed to Cambodia (Siem Reap in particular) where we plan on spending about a week. From there, we will be visiting Laos and Vietnam (not sure in which order) before returning to the Philippines at the end of the month. We have decided to skip Indonesia from our plans, as it is "geographically out of the way", and stick to Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam for the duration of the trip.
It is hard to believe that we are now in the month of August. We have visited so many different places since the trip started July 6th, that sometimes I almost forget what even happened yesterday!! I guess that is what journals are for! Hopefully these last four weeks will be as full of excitement as the first half has been.
Yesterday (Friday) at noon we boarded a mini van to begin another long bus ride - this time up mainland Thailand to Bangkok. Estimated time of arrival in Bangkok? 6am on Saturday morning (for all you math people, that means 18 hours!) Again, we had to take a 2hr ferry back to mainland Thailand, then boarded a coach bus which dropped us in a city (can't remember the name off hand) around 5:30pm yesterday. We sat and waited for our transfer bus, which arrived at 7:30 pm and we got dropped off this morning at 6am in the capital city of Thailand. The transfer bus to Bangkok was full of tourists about the same age as Melissa and I. Everyone seemed to be anxious to get to our destination, however, within a few hours, most people had fallen asleep. So here we are, in Bangkok, which for us is basically just a stopover. Tomorrow we are headed to Cambodia (Siem Reap in particular) where we plan on spending about a week. From there, we will be visiting Laos and Vietnam (not sure in which order) before returning to the Philippines at the end of the month. We have decided to skip Indonesia from our plans, as it is "geographically out of the way", and stick to Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam for the duration of the trip.
It is hard to believe that we are now in the month of August. We have visited so many different places since the trip started July 6th, that sometimes I almost forget what even happened yesterday!! I guess that is what journals are for! Hopefully these last four weeks will be as full of excitement as the first half has been.
Half way- Melissa
Holy! it is already August 1st, I can hardly believe it, where has the time gone??
I just realized it has been a long time since I last wrote... Since Singapore exactly and that seems like ages ago.
We have already ventured through Malaysia, and made our way overland through Thailand and tomorrow morning we head for Cambodia.
Singapore was awesome, however expensive in comparison to the rest of SE Asia. I loved the zoo, however it did not live up to the hype.
We took the overnight train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. Our experiences of KL were less than pleasing, first the ATM wouldn't work to give us some money, and of course the money changer isn't open at 6am, and we had no Malaysian Riggits, only Singaporean dollars and some pesos from the Phils. After spending 10 hrs on a train overnight hardly sleeping our patience were running low. Finally after sitting around trying to figure if we could just walk anywhere Darryl found an ATM willing to give us money and the money changer opened all at once! Yahoo now we were getting somewhere, however our cab driver had no clue how to get to our already booked and paid for hostel, and so he dropped us off in China town in the rain and pointed in the direction he thought we had to go. Luckily our university degrees have paid off and we took out the map and walked to the hostel. We then continued to run into some issues, people in KL love to tell you the wrong directions or the wrong bus or even that the bus you want doesn't actually exist, we were even bumped off our 10am bus for a later bus all because the women couldnt tell us the bus stop was across the street instead she kept saying "stay here, I take you" and by the time she took us they had oversold the bus and left us tourists to rot... lol In all the countries of the world I have ever visited and all the cities I can tell you this is the most I have ever been annoyed...
Finally we made it out of there for the Cameron Highlands, the highlands were very different than what I had expected, many older tourists here and it felt almost posh at times. It was gorgeous and I loved visiting the tea plantations, I really never realized how much time, land and effort it took to make a cup of tea. The weather in the highlands was amazing and the people of this area are fantastic. Even though we only stayed 2 nights the Cameron Highlands were the highlight of Malaysia for me.
After that we wanted to head to Langkawi, an island in Malaysia, however it was ridiculously expensive and would consist of us chartering our own van and driver. So instead we followed the other tourists to Penang, an island also on the NW Peninsular of Malaysia. We stayed in China town once again, 3 Chinatowns in 3 different cities; China town has been good to us. Great food and shops I would highly suggest staying there especially in Singapore.
After Penang we were going to head to Langkawi then Ko Phi Phi, Thailand.... well that also changed, lol. Like I said before we are just rolling with the punches.
The ferry to Langkawi was full, and the cost to get to Ko Phi Phi was very high from Penang so instead we hired a van to take us to Ko Samui, Thailand. This journey took 12 hours, however it was super cheap considering we basically had an entire van by ourselves for almost 5 hrs until we picked up some more people in Hat Yai, Thailand.
We stayed in Ko Samui for 4 nights, we soaked up the sun and cold drinks, spent nights having candlelight dinner on the beach and of course we both got too much sun.
From Ko Samui we took the ferry back to the mainland and a bus back to Bangkok... which leads me today!
We are now in Bangkok, staying on Th Khan San, a major tourist trap and drinking area. Our hostel is a dive however it cost just $3 each Canadian a night for our own room. We are only staying here tonight and tomorrow we are headed to Cambodia, the Lonely Planet warns of issues between Bangkok and Cambodia border crossing, basically stating the the officials tend to raise the price of the visa, our plan is to go in broke, spend most of our baht tonight, hide our other cash and only have the exact amount that the government officials state is the cost of the visa, (and maybe an extra Canadian $20 for some extra grease if necessary)
Wish us luck!!
So the possible plan from here... Cambodia a week, Vietnam 2 weeks, and Laos a week (yes Indonesia is axed due to Darryl's insistence that it is geographically out of the way)
I just realized it has been a long time since I last wrote... Since Singapore exactly and that seems like ages ago.
We have already ventured through Malaysia, and made our way overland through Thailand and tomorrow morning we head for Cambodia.
Singapore was awesome, however expensive in comparison to the rest of SE Asia. I loved the zoo, however it did not live up to the hype.
We took the overnight train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. Our experiences of KL were less than pleasing, first the ATM wouldn't work to give us some money, and of course the money changer isn't open at 6am, and we had no Malaysian Riggits, only Singaporean dollars and some pesos from the Phils. After spending 10 hrs on a train overnight hardly sleeping our patience were running low. Finally after sitting around trying to figure if we could just walk anywhere Darryl found an ATM willing to give us money and the money changer opened all at once! Yahoo now we were getting somewhere, however our cab driver had no clue how to get to our already booked and paid for hostel, and so he dropped us off in China town in the rain and pointed in the direction he thought we had to go. Luckily our university degrees have paid off and we took out the map and walked to the hostel. We then continued to run into some issues, people in KL love to tell you the wrong directions or the wrong bus or even that the bus you want doesn't actually exist, we were even bumped off our 10am bus for a later bus all because the women couldnt tell us the bus stop was across the street instead she kept saying "stay here, I take you" and by the time she took us they had oversold the bus and left us tourists to rot... lol In all the countries of the world I have ever visited and all the cities I can tell you this is the most I have ever been annoyed...
Finally we made it out of there for the Cameron Highlands, the highlands were very different than what I had expected, many older tourists here and it felt almost posh at times. It was gorgeous and I loved visiting the tea plantations, I really never realized how much time, land and effort it took to make a cup of tea. The weather in the highlands was amazing and the people of this area are fantastic. Even though we only stayed 2 nights the Cameron Highlands were the highlight of Malaysia for me.
After that we wanted to head to Langkawi, an island in Malaysia, however it was ridiculously expensive and would consist of us chartering our own van and driver. So instead we followed the other tourists to Penang, an island also on the NW Peninsular of Malaysia. We stayed in China town once again, 3 Chinatowns in 3 different cities; China town has been good to us. Great food and shops I would highly suggest staying there especially in Singapore.
After Penang we were going to head to Langkawi then Ko Phi Phi, Thailand.... well that also changed, lol. Like I said before we are just rolling with the punches.
The ferry to Langkawi was full, and the cost to get to Ko Phi Phi was very high from Penang so instead we hired a van to take us to Ko Samui, Thailand. This journey took 12 hours, however it was super cheap considering we basically had an entire van by ourselves for almost 5 hrs until we picked up some more people in Hat Yai, Thailand.
We stayed in Ko Samui for 4 nights, we soaked up the sun and cold drinks, spent nights having candlelight dinner on the beach and of course we both got too much sun.
From Ko Samui we took the ferry back to the mainland and a bus back to Bangkok... which leads me today!
We are now in Bangkok, staying on Th Khan San, a major tourist trap and drinking area. Our hostel is a dive however it cost just $3 each Canadian a night for our own room. We are only staying here tonight and tomorrow we are headed to Cambodia, the Lonely Planet warns of issues between Bangkok and Cambodia border crossing, basically stating the the officials tend to raise the price of the visa, our plan is to go in broke, spend most of our baht tonight, hide our other cash and only have the exact amount that the government officials state is the cost of the visa, (and maybe an extra Canadian $20 for some extra grease if necessary)
Wish us luck!!
So the possible plan from here... Cambodia a week, Vietnam 2 weeks, and Laos a week (yes Indonesia is axed due to Darryl's insistence that it is geographically out of the way)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Malaysia - Darryl
The pace of the trip has definitely picked up over the past week or so. We are currently in Malaysia, but tomorrow (Monday) we are leaving for Thailand. Thursday we left Kuala Lumpur at 3:30pm by bus to head to the Cameron Highlands. We arrived in the town of Tanah Rata at 9pm, and pretty much crashed. Friday morning we did a half day countryside tour of; the rose centre, bee farm, strawberry farm (which was excellent, I even had a strawberry waffle!), the famous boh tea plantations/factory, butterfly museum and a Bhuddist temple. It was great to see some of the sites that the Cameron Highlands are well known for. The town of Tanah Rata is pretty small, basically one long street, so we were able to walk around and shop and experience some delicious food! Saturday morning we took another bus (yes, these bus trips are common!) to Butterworth (located in the north-west area of Malaysia). This trip took about 5 hrs, but since we decided to upgrade from crappy buses to a VIP bus (which only cost one canadian dollar more), the ride was much more comfortable. From Butterworth, we took a ferry to the town of Georgetown, which is the capital of the island called Penang. Georgetown is a very pleasant place, as there are so many tourists here, especially around the area of our hostel. Last night (Saturday) we went to a food market for dinner, and had some great Japanese food - for only $3 CDN! Today we went to the local market which only occurs on the last Sunday of every month, where Melissa bought a few small items, namely a wallet, photo album and a dress. We also took a city bus to a nearby beach and hung out there and had some beers.
Tomorrow at 5am we are leaving for Thailand. The total time of the trek is approximately 12 hours (10 by bus, 2 by ferry). The place where we are headed to is called Ko Samui, which is an island full of beach resorts, and is at the southern part of the country. I am really looking forward to relaxing for the next 4 or 5 days here, as much of the trip, especially recently, has been go-go-go. Also, we haven't had too much beach time yet, so it will be a nice change of pace.
I am getting much more used to the South-East Asian way of life. It has taken a while to get into the swing of things and get comfortable with the culture, food, and the everyday life, but I feel like now, I am starting to really enjoy myself. Luckily there are still 4 weeks left of the trip for this!!!!
I'll keep the posts coming...
Tomorrow at 5am we are leaving for Thailand. The total time of the trek is approximately 12 hours (10 by bus, 2 by ferry). The place where we are headed to is called Ko Samui, which is an island full of beach resorts, and is at the southern part of the country. I am really looking forward to relaxing for the next 4 or 5 days here, as much of the trip, especially recently, has been go-go-go. Also, we haven't had too much beach time yet, so it will be a nice change of pace.
I am getting much more used to the South-East Asian way of life. It has taken a while to get into the swing of things and get comfortable with the culture, food, and the everyday life, but I feel like now, I am starting to really enjoy myself. Luckily there are still 4 weeks left of the trip for this!!!!
I'll keep the posts coming...
Thursday, July 23, 2009
the days just fly by - Darryl
The three days we spent in Singapore were amazing! It's hard to describe Singapore. I feel like it is so westernized, but has such a unique culture at the same time. High end shopping malls and shopping centres, and fast food restaurants like McDonalds, KFC, Burger King are so popular in Singapore. Yet they have some sights that are just so unreal, it sometimes felt like we were in a fantasy world. The Clarke Quay is a very posh area with lots of restaurants, bars and shops on either side of the Singapore River. At night time, this seems like the place to be whether you are a tourist or a local citizen. The view of the river with all of the storefront lights made this a very desireable location. We also visited Sentosa Island which is located just south of Singapore. Sentosa has 3 man-made beaches, an aquarium and Universal Studios is currently being built here, slated to open in 2010. This island can be accessed via coach bus, mono rail or even cable cars! Sentosa Island is going to be a zoo once Universal Studios opens, as it was packed the day we were here, and that was a Monday! Melissa and I also checked out the Singapore Zoo. This is in the suburbs in North Singapore. The zoo is well well known world wide, however, we both agreed that we think that the Toronto Zoo is better. Still, getting a chance to see different types of animals made this a worthwhile trip. The zoo is much more compact and intimate than Toronto, so we felt like we were much closer to all of the animals.
The other night we took an overnight train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The train ride took about 8 hours, and so we arrived around 6:00am yesterday. We spent most of the afternoon touring around KL. We saw the Petronas Towers, the largest twin towers in the world. That was really neat, and the view from the park across the street allowed us to take some great photos! We stopped and had some beers at a bar that was voted "Number One Bar in Asia". KL has a much different feel than Singapore. I think that KL is currently in the midst of becoming a "modern city", as they have most of the features of a Westernized city. Overall, KL has offered us some great sites, and some intense markets! We are leaving in a few hours to go to the Cameron Highlands, which is well known for its nearby jungles, and strawberry and tea fields.
Stay tuned...
The other night we took an overnight train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The train ride took about 8 hours, and so we arrived around 6:00am yesterday. We spent most of the afternoon touring around KL. We saw the Petronas Towers, the largest twin towers in the world. That was really neat, and the view from the park across the street allowed us to take some great photos! We stopped and had some beers at a bar that was voted "Number One Bar in Asia". KL has a much different feel than Singapore. I think that KL is currently in the midst of becoming a "modern city", as they have most of the features of a Westernized city. Overall, KL has offered us some great sites, and some intense markets! We are leaving in a few hours to go to the Cameron Highlands, which is well known for its nearby jungles, and strawberry and tea fields.
Stay tuned...
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Where the World takes us... from Melissa
So here we are in Singapore, getting to where we are now was not all that easy...
things don't seem to be working out as smoothly as I would have liked, but we are rolling with the punches and enjoying our time in the countries.
I loved the underground river cave tour in Sabang, Palawan, Philippines (the Earth Science loser coming out in me) and I was really happy to be sharing my love of caves, wild animals flying at you and a sense of adventure with D.
Our island hopping tour was interrupted by some strong monsoon rains however feeding the fish while videotaping them underwater was crazy, I couldn't get over how many were there right in front of me surrounding us.
We got to walk the beaches, found so many star fish both alive and dead, crabs of all different shapes, sizes and colours and I have never seen so many sand dollars in my life on one beach!!! Even though it wasn't sunny and it rained on us the nature of it all was so beautiful and how can I forget about the swarms of GIANT blue jelly fish, loved it. Nature at its best.
I love feeling like a kid, chasing the craps down the beach, hunting for starfish and forcing D to touch them and most of all I enjoy having Darryl think that I am a huge loser for celebrating like a 5 yr old on Christmas morning every time I found a new animal to show him.
And now we are in Singapore... yes that's right not Cambodia as we had originally planned....
We realized about about a week ago that flights to Cambodia from the Phils were too overpriced, so being the cheap folks that we are we opted for the cheapest flight to Singapore, arriving at midnight on July 18/19
by the time we got to our hostel it was 1am and we found out that the women had given away our reservation....
so at 130am on a Saturday night, while stuck in Chinatown of Singapore we rushed around trying to find a room that was a) available b) open c) cheap (in Singapore standards)
we were in luck a bar/hostel just 4 blocks away could take us and it was worked out well, thankfully
Singapore is clean, very nice and expensive in comparison to countries surrounding it. Staying in Chinatown is awesome, so much good food surrounding us and the MRT lines are fast, cheap and so easy to us. We went to Raffles hotel today, where the original Singapore sling was creating, we enjoyed one at the famous Long Bar (please dont ask the price for one here cause we are too embarrassed to tell you) but it was worth it. We mainly walked around today, tonight we are heading to the posh, and popular Clark's Quay for some drinks (D really wants to go to Hooters, the only one in Asia)
Tomorrow we are headed to Sentosa Island here in Sing, and the next day we are probably hitting up the zoo.
On the 21st we are headed on an overnight train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We think we are then going to make our way up north through Malaysia, Thailand (yes I am returning, just couldn't resist), then possibly overland to Cambodia, or flying whichever is cheaper.
We will probably axe Laos due to the cost of the visa ($35US) and D really wants to axe Indonesia due to its geographical location however being such a good boyfriend he expected my pouts and he has agreed to go (for now) as our last stop......
so that's the update...
I need a drink, too much typing
night
things don't seem to be working out as smoothly as I would have liked, but we are rolling with the punches and enjoying our time in the countries.
I loved the underground river cave tour in Sabang, Palawan, Philippines (the Earth Science loser coming out in me) and I was really happy to be sharing my love of caves, wild animals flying at you and a sense of adventure with D.
Our island hopping tour was interrupted by some strong monsoon rains however feeding the fish while videotaping them underwater was crazy, I couldn't get over how many were there right in front of me surrounding us.
We got to walk the beaches, found so many star fish both alive and dead, crabs of all different shapes, sizes and colours and I have never seen so many sand dollars in my life on one beach!!! Even though it wasn't sunny and it rained on us the nature of it all was so beautiful and how can I forget about the swarms of GIANT blue jelly fish, loved it. Nature at its best.
I love feeling like a kid, chasing the craps down the beach, hunting for starfish and forcing D to touch them and most of all I enjoy having Darryl think that I am a huge loser for celebrating like a 5 yr old on Christmas morning every time I found a new animal to show him.
And now we are in Singapore... yes that's right not Cambodia as we had originally planned....
We realized about about a week ago that flights to Cambodia from the Phils were too overpriced, so being the cheap folks that we are we opted for the cheapest flight to Singapore, arriving at midnight on July 18/19
by the time we got to our hostel it was 1am and we found out that the women had given away our reservation....
so at 130am on a Saturday night, while stuck in Chinatown of Singapore we rushed around trying to find a room that was a) available b) open c) cheap (in Singapore standards)
we were in luck a bar/hostel just 4 blocks away could take us and it was worked out well, thankfully
Singapore is clean, very nice and expensive in comparison to countries surrounding it. Staying in Chinatown is awesome, so much good food surrounding us and the MRT lines are fast, cheap and so easy to us. We went to Raffles hotel today, where the original Singapore sling was creating, we enjoyed one at the famous Long Bar (please dont ask the price for one here cause we are too embarrassed to tell you) but it was worth it. We mainly walked around today, tonight we are heading to the posh, and popular Clark's Quay for some drinks (D really wants to go to Hooters, the only one in Asia)
Tomorrow we are headed to Sentosa Island here in Sing, and the next day we are probably hitting up the zoo.
On the 21st we are headed on an overnight train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We think we are then going to make our way up north through Malaysia, Thailand (yes I am returning, just couldn't resist), then possibly overland to Cambodia, or flying whichever is cheaper.
We will probably axe Laos due to the cost of the visa ($35US) and D really wants to axe Indonesia due to its geographical location however being such a good boyfriend he expected my pouts and he has agreed to go (for now) as our last stop......
so that's the update...
I need a drink, too much typing
night
Second Round of Blogs - Darryl
After we hit North Philippines, we took an overnight bus back to Manila in order to get a flight to the Palawan Islands (South East Philippines). We arrived on Tuesday evening, and stayed in Puerto Princesa until Saturday. It was nice and relaxing, and we got to finally experience a few tours while we were there.
On Thursday, we did a Subterranean River Cave tour that was amazing. This is a world renowned site that is dubbed as the 8th wonder of the world. The climatic point of the tour was the 45 minute paddle boat ride that we took inside an 8km cave. While our portion only included going 1.3 km deep, it was still an adventure to say the least! So many bats flying around like crazy, and drips of water coming from the ceiling of the cave, all while only having a spot light at the front of the boat guiding us through!
Friday we took the Island Hopping Tour which allowed us to visit 3 different islands within the Palawan Islands. Each island took about 30 mins by boat to get to, but at each of the three sites, we were able to swim. We also rented a mask and snorkel and bought some bread in order to feed the fish, and be able to swim with them under water. This was really cool, especially when bread was dropped in the water, it was a fight for who could get to the bread the fastest! Although the weather didn't really cooperate (it poured rain for about a good hour or two), and was cloudy for the rest of the day, it was a really neat experience.
Saturday we left Palawan Islands to head back to Manila, in order to catch our flight to Singapore. We didn't arrive in Singapore until just before midnight Saturday night. Today (Sunday), Melissa and I toured the city, mostly by walking, and a bit by the MRT (subway system). We both really like Singapore a lot. I had heard many good things about Singapore before arriving, but I have been really impressed with what I have seen so far. The city is rediculously clean, with so many buildings that have crazy architectural designs! Parks, shopping centres, the Singapore River (which cuts the city in half) and many historical buildings are just some of the few things that we got to see today. Did you know that chewing gum/selling gum is illegal here?? No wonder the city is so clean! The MRT system is intense and efficient. The subway was packed today when we were on it, and that was a Sunday afternoon - I wouldn't even want to imagine what it would be like during rush hour on a weekday!
Anyways, that is enough blogging for one day. I will keep the thoughts coming as they roll off me!
On Thursday, we did a Subterranean River Cave tour that was amazing. This is a world renowned site that is dubbed as the 8th wonder of the world. The climatic point of the tour was the 45 minute paddle boat ride that we took inside an 8km cave. While our portion only included going 1.3 km deep, it was still an adventure to say the least! So many bats flying around like crazy, and drips of water coming from the ceiling of the cave, all while only having a spot light at the front of the boat guiding us through!
Friday we took the Island Hopping Tour which allowed us to visit 3 different islands within the Palawan Islands. Each island took about 30 mins by boat to get to, but at each of the three sites, we were able to swim. We also rented a mask and snorkel and bought some bread in order to feed the fish, and be able to swim with them under water. This was really cool, especially when bread was dropped in the water, it was a fight for who could get to the bread the fastest! Although the weather didn't really cooperate (it poured rain for about a good hour or two), and was cloudy for the rest of the day, it was a really neat experience.
Saturday we left Palawan Islands to head back to Manila, in order to catch our flight to Singapore. We didn't arrive in Singapore until just before midnight Saturday night. Today (Sunday), Melissa and I toured the city, mostly by walking, and a bit by the MRT (subway system). We both really like Singapore a lot. I had heard many good things about Singapore before arriving, but I have been really impressed with what I have seen so far. The city is rediculously clean, with so many buildings that have crazy architectural designs! Parks, shopping centres, the Singapore River (which cuts the city in half) and many historical buildings are just some of the few things that we got to see today. Did you know that chewing gum/selling gum is illegal here?? No wonder the city is so clean! The MRT system is intense and efficient. The subway was packed today when we were on it, and that was a Sunday afternoon - I wouldn't even want to imagine what it would be like during rush hour on a weekday!
Anyways, that is enough blogging for one day. I will keep the thoughts coming as they roll off me!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
First Impressions of Philippines - Darryl
Ok, so I have never done one of these blogs before, but I'll give it a shot. The first week of this trip has provided me with the biggest culture shock that I have ever experienced. I'm the kind of person that likes visiting different cities and checking out tourist sights. Manila, our first destination in the Philippines was such a different city than I had anticipated. I knew it was a really populous place (11 million +), but didn't really know too much else. Was I in for a shock. I guess since I have never travelled to this part of the world, and have only visited large American/European cities I should have been more prepared. It was astonishing how crowded the streets were with people walking up and down the streets because there is no room on the sidewalks. Houses are built literally on top of each other in order to jam as many people as possible into the city. All vehicles use diesel due to its low cost, which pollutes the air, and makes just walking down the street a chore! I definitely was not ready for that aspect of the city, that's for sure!
Manila seems like the kind of city that you have to be there for longer than a few days to really get an appreciation for what it offers. Since we were only there for two days, we unfortunately did not have this luxury. We checked out a few of the "suggested places to visit"; the Rizal Park and the Mall of Asia.
The overnight bus ride from Manila to Banaue was long, but at the same time, I tried to stay awake as much as possible to view the landscape we were passing by. It seems like everyone in the country never sleeps, as in countless towns we passed by, people were always sitting outside of their houses - even at 3 or 4am! The Banaue hostel we stayed at was very nice, and our room had an amazing view of the world famous Rice Terraces (a World Heritage Site). They had a restaurant on the main floor of the hostel which really came in handy. Banaue is a town of a couple thousand people, primarily of indigenous background. This was another culture shock for myself personally to see the way they go about their daily lives. It is a very tight-knit community and everyone was really friendly to Melissa and I when we were walking around. Everyone would say hello, and ask where we were visiting from.
Now were are in Bagio - a 9 hour bus ride from Banaue. This is a city of 250,000, many of which are university students as there is a large university right in the city. We just arrived in Bagio about a few hours ago, and while it is raining right now, there are tons of people - mainly students - walking around doing shopping. Bagio has a much different feel from Manila. It appears as if it is much more upscale, clean, and energetic, but these are just my first impressions!
Stay tuned to the blog.
Manila seems like the kind of city that you have to be there for longer than a few days to really get an appreciation for what it offers. Since we were only there for two days, we unfortunately did not have this luxury. We checked out a few of the "suggested places to visit"; the Rizal Park and the Mall of Asia.
The overnight bus ride from Manila to Banaue was long, but at the same time, I tried to stay awake as much as possible to view the landscape we were passing by. It seems like everyone in the country never sleeps, as in countless towns we passed by, people were always sitting outside of their houses - even at 3 or 4am! The Banaue hostel we stayed at was very nice, and our room had an amazing view of the world famous Rice Terraces (a World Heritage Site). They had a restaurant on the main floor of the hostel which really came in handy. Banaue is a town of a couple thousand people, primarily of indigenous background. This was another culture shock for myself personally to see the way they go about their daily lives. It is a very tight-knit community and everyone was really friendly to Melissa and I when we were walking around. Everyone would say hello, and ask where we were visiting from.
Now were are in Bagio - a 9 hour bus ride from Banaue. This is a city of 250,000, many of which are university students as there is a large university right in the city. We just arrived in Bagio about a few hours ago, and while it is raining right now, there are tons of people - mainly students - walking around doing shopping. Bagio has a much different feel from Manila. It appears as if it is much more upscale, clean, and energetic, but these are just my first impressions!
Stay tuned to the blog.
Manila, Banaue, Baguio from Melissa
So it has been less than a week now and my Mom is demanding a blog entry....
We arrived in Manila late on July 7, it was surprising less humid than Bangkok and less busy.
I was unfortunately mildly disappointed with Manila as a whole, there isn't too much to do, our hostel was overpriced and dingy and the weather is hot and cloudy. We went to the Mall of Asia (yes all you GYN people laugh at me, i know i know) it is the largest mall around, or so they say. It has an olympic sized ice rink, and we learned they play hockey here in the Philippines...
Manila is very westernized, mostly everyone speaks English and a lot of the people were dressed nicer than I, you can find almost very north american retail chain in Manila.
We couldn't get out of Manila (population 11.2 million) faster, we decided to head North to Banaue's rice terraces, (population 2700) it was recommended by my Aunt and the lady who sat beside use for the 18 hours in flight from Detroit.
It was picture perfect, the weather beautiful, our room overlooked the rice terraces and you fell asleep at night to the sound of the river below.
We walked or trekked you might call it (for all you team Thailand people) the 4 kms uphill (both ways of course) to the view point, during our walk we were harassed to pay for a moto ride up or go on a tour but being the penny pinchers we are we took the stroll on our own, being so we met a nice lady and her daughter from China on our way back to the lodge and we grabbed a San Miguel beer overlooking the terraces after our hike. (the daughter only had juice of course)
This town really represented a true cultural experience for me and for Darryl, I realized that I have become more desensitized to culture shock over the years of volunteer travelling and I am glad to see Darryl take it all in with new eyes.
SO we all know I have travelled, and I have been on some pretty sketchy modes of transportation but the last 2 buses, including a 10 hr and 9 hr bus ride here in the Philippines have been some of the biggest pieces of strap metal I have ever travelled in.
Today we left Banaue at 630am to head to Baguio, of course there isn't aircon, but thats ok we are in the mountains, and of course the door to the bus can NOT shut for the entire 9 hrs because it is broken, however it does make it easier for our red tobacco chewing bus driver and employees to spit every 5 minutes out the door, but then it starts to rain but the windshield whipper (singular) doesn't exactly work, and the engine is overheating so he cant put the bus into 3rd gear and as I watch the engine light continuously register in the hot zone I also realize the speedometer doesnt move past 0....
BUT we made it!! a ride that is only suppose to take 6.5 hrs turned into 9, but we are here in Baguio for 1 night and I really like this city (population approx 300,000) mostly university students, it's raining but the streets are still filled with vendors and shoppers and I am liking the vibe this city has, we are 1500m above sea level, very foggy and much cooler by Philippine standards.
We leave here tomorrow, head back to Manila to catch our 45min flight to Palawan, Philippines.
Overall we have been getting up between 5 and 6am daily!! yes, I know I am not a morning person, but for some reason jet lag really got me this time and the rooster is following me...
We arrived in Manila late on July 7, it was surprising less humid than Bangkok and less busy.
I was unfortunately mildly disappointed with Manila as a whole, there isn't too much to do, our hostel was overpriced and dingy and the weather is hot and cloudy. We went to the Mall of Asia (yes all you GYN people laugh at me, i know i know) it is the largest mall around, or so they say. It has an olympic sized ice rink, and we learned they play hockey here in the Philippines...
Manila is very westernized, mostly everyone speaks English and a lot of the people were dressed nicer than I, you can find almost very north american retail chain in Manila.
We couldn't get out of Manila (population 11.2 million) faster, we decided to head North to Banaue's rice terraces, (population 2700) it was recommended by my Aunt and the lady who sat beside use for the 18 hours in flight from Detroit.
It was picture perfect, the weather beautiful, our room overlooked the rice terraces and you fell asleep at night to the sound of the river below.
We walked or trekked you might call it (for all you team Thailand people) the 4 kms uphill (both ways of course) to the view point, during our walk we were harassed to pay for a moto ride up or go on a tour but being the penny pinchers we are we took the stroll on our own, being so we met a nice lady and her daughter from China on our way back to the lodge and we grabbed a San Miguel beer overlooking the terraces after our hike. (the daughter only had juice of course)
This town really represented a true cultural experience for me and for Darryl, I realized that I have become more desensitized to culture shock over the years of volunteer travelling and I am glad to see Darryl take it all in with new eyes.
SO we all know I have travelled, and I have been on some pretty sketchy modes of transportation but the last 2 buses, including a 10 hr and 9 hr bus ride here in the Philippines have been some of the biggest pieces of strap metal I have ever travelled in.
Today we left Banaue at 630am to head to Baguio, of course there isn't aircon, but thats ok we are in the mountains, and of course the door to the bus can NOT shut for the entire 9 hrs because it is broken, however it does make it easier for our red tobacco chewing bus driver and employees to spit every 5 minutes out the door, but then it starts to rain but the windshield whipper (singular) doesn't exactly work, and the engine is overheating so he cant put the bus into 3rd gear and as I watch the engine light continuously register in the hot zone I also realize the speedometer doesnt move past 0....
BUT we made it!! a ride that is only suppose to take 6.5 hrs turned into 9, but we are here in Baguio for 1 night and I really like this city (population approx 300,000) mostly university students, it's raining but the streets are still filled with vendors and shoppers and I am liking the vibe this city has, we are 1500m above sea level, very foggy and much cooler by Philippine standards.
We leave here tomorrow, head back to Manila to catch our 45min flight to Palawan, Philippines.
Overall we have been getting up between 5 and 6am daily!! yes, I know I am not a morning person, but for some reason jet lag really got me this time and the rooster is following me...
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Return to Asia
I am been home since June 2 and I can't believe how fast the time has flown. On Monday July 6 at 11:10am we will board the plane in TO heading for Detroit and finally at 3:45pm we leave Detroit for Manila. Our plane is to arrive in the Philippines at 10:30pm local time (they are 11 hours ahead of us).
With only 54 in country days our time seems limited; so far our tentative itinerary is as follows:
Philippines July 7-20
Cambodia July 21-26
Laos July 27-31
Vietnam August 1-11
Singapore August 12-16 (for my Birthday)
Malaysia August 17-20
Indonesia August 21-30
Return to Manila PM of August 30, depart Manila August 31 am for Toronto.
Arrive TO August 31 approx 10:30pm
Of course these dates are just a guesstimate cause at any time we may decide to change things up depending on weather, visas, things to do, people we meet etc.
With only 54 in country days our time seems limited; so far our tentative itinerary is as follows:
Philippines July 7-20
Cambodia July 21-26
Laos July 27-31
Vietnam August 1-11
Singapore August 12-16 (for my Birthday)
Malaysia August 17-20
Indonesia August 21-30
Return to Manila PM of August 30, depart Manila August 31 am for Toronto.
Arrive TO August 31 approx 10:30pm
Of course these dates are just a guesstimate cause at any time we may decide to change things up depending on weather, visas, things to do, people we meet etc.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Time Flies
I can't believe my month in Thailand is almost over. Things have been so amazing and I am really looking forward to returning to South East Asia in July.
Right now we are staying in a small village 30km from Khao Lak. We are here until Wednesday then we take an 11 hr bus ride to Bangkok, from there we go to the island of Koh Samet for our last couple of days in the land of smiles.
I don't remember the last time I laughed so much or so hard over so many days. Things with our team have been awesome. We have hit some small bumps along the way but that is to be expected when you have no privacy around 10 people over 30 days.
Our leadership team is amazing and I couldn't have asked for better Interns, we have become so close, in so many ways (some are even creepy, lol).
I believe since my last post, we have travelled from Chiang Rai in the North all the way to Phuket in the south. We took a 13 hr train, then we flew from Bangkok to Phuket for one night. From there Pastor Wasan and his Wife drove to pick us up in Phuket, however we did not realize that Phuket to Khao Lak is almost 3 hrs away. They have been so great to us.
We are at Pastor Wasan's with a GYN team from Lethbridge, Alberta so we have enjoyed meeting other Global lites from another province as well as making new friends.
We have been to many Tsunami memorial parks and spoken with survivors it has been very surreal and has really caused me to stop and think. We stood on the beaches that took over 2000 people's lives and walked on ships that were washed up and left nearly 2 kms from the beaches.
Something funny... an elephant totally snotted on my head and I fed him bananas, it was amazing!
We have just completed 2 days of "Wonderland of English Camp". Unknown to us we were this highly anticipated English camp that kids from over 20 schools had been waiting to attend. When we drove into the school for our first day of teaching we saw this giant sign advertising the camp and then we realized oh crap that's us! We were all so nervous. We had over 100 kids, they were so cute and so willing to learn. We taught 4 different workshops on the first day and 4 on the second.
So many stories to tell, so many friends made and a lot of base tan has been achieved so far and we only have 9 days til I am back in Canada.
Right now we are staying in a small village 30km from Khao Lak. We are here until Wednesday then we take an 11 hr bus ride to Bangkok, from there we go to the island of Koh Samet for our last couple of days in the land of smiles.
I don't remember the last time I laughed so much or so hard over so many days. Things with our team have been awesome. We have hit some small bumps along the way but that is to be expected when you have no privacy around 10 people over 30 days.
Our leadership team is amazing and I couldn't have asked for better Interns, we have become so close, in so many ways (some are even creepy, lol).
I believe since my last post, we have travelled from Chiang Rai in the North all the way to Phuket in the south. We took a 13 hr train, then we flew from Bangkok to Phuket for one night. From there Pastor Wasan and his Wife drove to pick us up in Phuket, however we did not realize that Phuket to Khao Lak is almost 3 hrs away. They have been so great to us.
We are at Pastor Wasan's with a GYN team from Lethbridge, Alberta so we have enjoyed meeting other Global lites from another province as well as making new friends.
We have been to many Tsunami memorial parks and spoken with survivors it has been very surreal and has really caused me to stop and think. We stood on the beaches that took over 2000 people's lives and walked on ships that were washed up and left nearly 2 kms from the beaches.
Something funny... an elephant totally snotted on my head and I fed him bananas, it was amazing!
We have just completed 2 days of "Wonderland of English Camp". Unknown to us we were this highly anticipated English camp that kids from over 20 schools had been waiting to attend. When we drove into the school for our first day of teaching we saw this giant sign advertising the camp and then we realized oh crap that's us! We were all so nervous. We had over 100 kids, they were so cute and so willing to learn. We taught 4 different workshops on the first day and 4 on the second.
So many stories to tell, so many friends made and a lot of base tan has been achieved so far and we only have 9 days til I am back in Canada.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Meditation retreat
So we just spent 24 hrs with Monks at a Meditation retreat. We were not allowed to talk and we all wore the white robes. I love love loved it. There is nothing like clearing your head than learning the art of mediation and staying silent with your own thoughts. Before our silent time started I laughed harder than I have in a seriously long time.
After just 24 hrs I feel 'cleaner' the time spent with the Monks and the knowledge I have gained will hopefully forever change my way of living, loving and thinking. We have some fantastic pictures and I couldn't have asked for a better 24 hrs.
I struggled through the back pain, tried to ignore my numb feet and never gave up.
More to come about this later
Tonight we are on a night train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, then afternoon flight from Bangkok to Phuket, then our next contact Pastor Wasan will meet us there and take us toKhao Lak.
I cant believe this trip is half over, things have been amazing
After just 24 hrs I feel 'cleaner' the time spent with the Monks and the knowledge I have gained will hopefully forever change my way of living, loving and thinking. We have some fantastic pictures and I couldn't have asked for a better 24 hrs.
I struggled through the back pain, tried to ignore my numb feet and never gave up.
More to come about this later
Tonight we are on a night train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, then afternoon flight from Bangkok to Phuket, then our next contact Pastor Wasan will meet us there and take us toKhao Lak.
I cant believe this trip is half over, things have been amazing
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Hill Tribes
Disclaimer... Yes I realize there are many grammar and spelling mistakes, I am in South East Asia, usually typing as fast as I can on a really slow computer, I do not have time to spell check etc, :P
So we are leaving Chiang Rai today, We have been here since May 7. We lived with 2 different hill tribe villages and we literally trekked 30-40km through the hills to arrive at the villages. this is not an exaggeration; I have never walked so far and so much in such humid heat in my life. Yesterday on our way back to our base camp we made our best time yet, 8km in 2 hours; We were all very proud of ourselves. While we were in the Lahu Tribe we helped to build 7 toilets. The first day we worked 12 hours from morning to night fall moving cement bricks, cement bags, and bags of sand. We all worked really hard in the heat and I think we all gained some serious muscle during the toilet building sessions. At this tribe we really got our hands dirty. I am now a pro brick layer and cementer.. lol
We finished our 7 toilets in 4 days, then trekked to our next village.
The Akahu Tribe was the home of Dr.Dave's local volunteers (5 boys between the ages of 10-16 years old, Dr.Dave helps pay for their school fees so they help him on their days off)
We set up a medical clinic for an afternoon and we saw approximately 40 patients. I had the honour of taking every one's blood pressure.
Both of these villages really embraced us in their arms, they were very kind and shared their lives with us. It is a week that I will never forget.
We are packing up to go to Chiang Mai today there we will go to the Buddhist University and participate in a 2 day long Buddhist learning retreat. I will have more for you on our amazing time here with Dr.Dave
But right now I am in a rush
So we are leaving Chiang Rai today, We have been here since May 7. We lived with 2 different hill tribe villages and we literally trekked 30-40km through the hills to arrive at the villages. this is not an exaggeration; I have never walked so far and so much in such humid heat in my life. Yesterday on our way back to our base camp we made our best time yet, 8km in 2 hours; We were all very proud of ourselves. While we were in the Lahu Tribe we helped to build 7 toilets. The first day we worked 12 hours from morning to night fall moving cement bricks, cement bags, and bags of sand. We all worked really hard in the heat and I think we all gained some serious muscle during the toilet building sessions. At this tribe we really got our hands dirty. I am now a pro brick layer and cementer.. lol
We finished our 7 toilets in 4 days, then trekked to our next village.
The Akahu Tribe was the home of Dr.Dave's local volunteers (5 boys between the ages of 10-16 years old, Dr.Dave helps pay for their school fees so they help him on their days off)
We set up a medical clinic for an afternoon and we saw approximately 40 patients. I had the honour of taking every one's blood pressure.
Both of these villages really embraced us in their arms, they were very kind and shared their lives with us. It is a week that I will never forget.
We are packing up to go to Chiang Mai today there we will go to the Buddhist University and participate in a 2 day long Buddhist learning retreat. I will have more for you on our amazing time here with Dr.Dave
But right now I am in a rush
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Swine Flu??
So we have been in Thailand for 2 days now. Boy did we have some fun during our stop in Tokyo... so we all know the Japanese are known for wearing masks every wear they go, and do to the H1N1 (swine) flu they made the entire plane fill out a form about their health. Then a "health" team boarded the plane with a thermal camera to check if anyone on board had a fever. WELL lucky for us Mik, one of the interns (also a team member from the Bolivia team) did have a fever. The Japanese guy got all freaked out and took him temperature twice, then went and got more 'health' people (all dressed in Quarantine gear, right out of the movies, No Joke). Everyone on the plane was given a mask and we were informed that our entire section of the plane was under Quarantine because Mik might have Swine Flu...
almost an hr later they take Mik and I to first class were they swab his nose and throat and they test him right on the spot for the flu!
Luckily for us and at the amusement of the flight attendants He did not and does not have swine flu and our "quarantined" plane could be released. So after more than an hr of holding approximately 100 people in quarantine we were allowed to leave and to our amusement Japanese press and news were waiting at the departure gate, luckily the entire flight crew found it quite amusing and so did we. Funniest team moment yet, dont worry we have many pictures
SO NOW we are in Chiang Rai it is so freaking out, 40 degrees right now. It is very nice here, clean, geckos everywhere including the toilet and I am not enjoying the squatty potty. We are headed into the hill tribe villages to work for the week. It is a 2.5 hr trek by foot into the villages, we were told we might have to help the doctor with a birth this week :)
Time to jet
lates :)
almost an hr later they take Mik and I to first class were they swab his nose and throat and they test him right on the spot for the flu!
Luckily for us and at the amusement of the flight attendants He did not and does not have swine flu and our "quarantined" plane could be released. So after more than an hr of holding approximately 100 people in quarantine we were allowed to leave and to our amusement Japanese press and news were waiting at the departure gate, luckily the entire flight crew found it quite amusing and so did we. Funniest team moment yet, dont worry we have many pictures
SO NOW we are in Chiang Rai it is so freaking out, 40 degrees right now. It is very nice here, clean, geckos everywhere including the toilet and I am not enjoying the squatty potty. We are headed into the hill tribe villages to work for the week. It is a 2.5 hr trek by foot into the villages, we were told we might have to help the doctor with a birth this week :)
Time to jet
lates :)
Friday, May 1, 2009
Getting Ready for Orientation
This week started off stressful as I expected it would. We moved out of our Hamilton apartment and drove many times to Niagara Falls for goods storage. Finally late Wednesday night we dropped off our keys in the mail slot and never looked back. Since most of my stuff is being stored between 2 houses finding what I needed to pack for the next month of Thailand was like a scavenger hunt, literally. I find myself in complete disarray and unable to pack. I sat down Thursday afternoon to complete the task and spread the intended items in the living room, taking up the entire area rug plus some. Once the items were in the bag I realized a) there was much to much and b) it was way to heavy... once again over packed on the snacks in true fat kid style. I give up; I pushed the bag away and left it until today. Yes I am a procrastinator. My excitement has yet to reach full force yet, maybe I am nervous because I am leading this year, maybe it's because it is my first time to the South east or maybe it is because my last GYN team volunteer trip did not measure up to my expectations (not the Country's fault) Now finally just 1 hr before I need to leave for orientation in Cambridge, Ontario at Camp Shalom I have showered (possibly my last shower for a while), watched some 'Cold Case Files' and packed my bag to a reasonable weight. Orientation will last all weekend; tonight all the team leaders from across Ontario will arrive and the team members tomorrow morning. We all know how much I love orientation (insert sarcasm here). Hopefully this orientation I will be spared from sharing too many of my 'feelings', however as the 'Globalites' know that is not a possibility. We arrive in Bangkok May 5 at 1125pm, losing 12 hrs of my life due to the time difference.
til then...
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Pre Trip: Baan Peuteaw (small village 30km from Khao Lak)
Khao Lak (Thai: เขาหลัก) is a seaside resort area located 80 km north of Phuket in Takua Pa district, Phang Nga province. We will be working in Baan Peuteaw with Pastor Wasan, approximately 30km from Khao Lak.
Khao Lak was one of the areas of Thailand hardest hit by the tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Many people died including many foreign tourists. The final death toll was over 4000, with local unofficial estimates topping 10,000 due to the lack of accurate censuses and the mere fact that the Burmese population was not recognized as residents.
Our team will work at the Academy Community center teaching English and help local residents with building projects.
Pre Trip: Bangkok
The city of Bangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (pronounced [krūŋtʰêːp máhǎːnákʰɔːn], กรุงเทพมหานคร or Krung Thep ( กรุงเทพฯ) for short. It was also ranked by "Travel and Leisure" as the best city in the world for the year 2008. The Bangkok special administrative area covers 1,568.7 km2 (606 sq mi), making it the 68th largest province in Thailand. Much of the area is considered the city of Bangkok, therefore making it one of the largest cities in the world
Current Issues:
Current Issues:
The city has a reputation with the sex industry. Prostitution in Thailand is technically illegal, but can be found all over Bangkok in vast numbers of massage parlors, saunas, parks, and hourly hotels, serving foreign tourists as well as locals. Organized sex work in Bangkok alone involves a minimum of many thousands of workers, and possibly in the tens of thousands
Latest Violent Protests
Timeline: How the red-shirt protest developed and ended
By: BangkokPost.com, AFP
Published: 14/04/2009 at 07:44 PM
By: BangkokPost.com, AFP
Published: 14/04/2009 at 07:44 PM
March 26: Thousands of Thaksin supporters in trademark red shirts begin rallying in Bangkok, calling on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his government to resign and allow fresh elections.
They are spurred on by Thaksin Shinawatra, who starts a series of almost nightly addresses to the crowd by telephone and video link.
They are spurred on by Thaksin Shinawatra, who starts a series of almost nightly addresses to the crowd by telephone and video link.
March 27: Thaksin accuses Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda, privy councillors Surayud Chulanond and Charnchai Likitjitta of being behind the 2006 military coup that toppled him.
March 28: Gen Surayud rejects Thaksin's claim, saying privy councillors are not involved in politics.
April 2: Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan says a mass rally planned for April 8 is aimed at pressuring Mr Abhisit, Gen Prem and the privy councillors to resign.
April 3: Thaksin refuses an invitation by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to negotiate with the government, and calls on his supporters to come out in force for a mass rally on April 8.
April 7: Mr Abhisit's car is attacked by red-shirts in Pattaya as he heads back to Bangkok after a cabinet meeting. Thaksin's three children and ex-wife leave Thailand.
March 28: Gen Surayud rejects Thaksin's claim, saying privy councillors are not involved in politics.
April 2: Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan says a mass rally planned for April 8 is aimed at pressuring Mr Abhisit, Gen Prem and the privy councillors to resign.
April 3: Thaksin refuses an invitation by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to negotiate with the government, and calls on his supporters to come out in force for a mass rally on April 8.
April 7: Mr Abhisit's car is attacked by red-shirts in Pattaya as he heads back to Bangkok after a cabinet meeting. Thaksin's three children and ex-wife leave Thailand.
April 8: More than 30,000 red-shirts rally at Government House, their main protest site.
April 9: Taxi drivers block main roads and Victory Monument, bringing the city to a halt. Mr Abhisit vows tough action against red-shirts who break the law, but no action is taken.
April 10: Thaksin's supporters, already spread out across Bangkok, launch a separate protest in the beach resort of Pattaya, where 16 Asian leaders are to meet for a major Asean-sponsored summit, with Asean chairman Thailand as the host.
April 11: Thousands of protesters storm the venue of the summit, forcing its cancellation. A state of emergency is declared as foreign leaders are evacuated - some by helicopter from the hotel roof.
April 12: A state of emergency is declared in Bangkok and surrounding areas as new anti-government demonstrations spring up. Pattaya protest leader Arisman Pongruangrong arrested in Bangkok. About 50 protesters force their way into the Interior Ministry grounds while Mr Abhisit is inside. He escapes. Thaksin says he will lead an uprising if there is a coup.
April 13: Army cracks down on protesters in Bangkok. Two people die and 123 treated for injuries in army assaults on groups of protesters and several ugly confrontations between red shirts and local people who formed neighbourhood militias.
April 14: Thousands of demonstrators who had retreated to their main camp outside Government House agree to disperse in the face of an overwhelming military operation to close down days of protests.
Government extends the three-day Songkran holiday for two more days.
April 9: Taxi drivers block main roads and Victory Monument, bringing the city to a halt. Mr Abhisit vows tough action against red-shirts who break the law, but no action is taken.
April 10: Thaksin's supporters, already spread out across Bangkok, launch a separate protest in the beach resort of Pattaya, where 16 Asian leaders are to meet for a major Asean-sponsored summit, with Asean chairman Thailand as the host.
April 11: Thousands of protesters storm the venue of the summit, forcing its cancellation. A state of emergency is declared as foreign leaders are evacuated - some by helicopter from the hotel roof.
April 12: A state of emergency is declared in Bangkok and surrounding areas as new anti-government demonstrations spring up. Pattaya protest leader Arisman Pongruangrong arrested in Bangkok. About 50 protesters force their way into the Interior Ministry grounds while Mr Abhisit is inside. He escapes. Thaksin says he will lead an uprising if there is a coup.
April 13: Army cracks down on protesters in Bangkok. Two people die and 123 treated for injuries in army assaults on groups of protesters and several ugly confrontations between red shirts and local people who formed neighbourhood militias.
April 14: Thousands of demonstrators who had retreated to their main camp outside Government House agree to disperse in the face of an overwhelming military operation to close down days of protests.
Government extends the three-day Songkran holiday for two more days.
Pre Trip Research: Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai (เชียงราย) is the capital of Chiang Rai province, in Northern Thailand. The town has a population of around 62,000 and is the main commercial centre serving the Golden Triangle border region of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.
Chiang Rai City is 200 kilometres northeast of Chiang Mai City, Changwat Chiang Mai; 62 kilometres south of Amphoe Mae Sai and the Myanmar border; 60 kilometres southwest of Amphoe Chiang Saen on the Mae Khong across from the People's Democratic Republic of Laos.
Chiang Rai City is 200 kilometres northeast of Chiang Mai City, Changwat Chiang Mai; 62 kilometres south of Amphoe Mae Sai and the Myanmar border; 60 kilometres southwest of Amphoe Chiang Saen on the Mae Khong across from the People's Democratic Republic of Laos.
Who we are working with:
'Where there is not a doctor’ in the hill-tribes is headed by David Mar Naw, a qualified and experienced doctor with over 8 years training in the British medical and Indian Ayurverdic practices. He started with financial assistance from an NGO and is now reliant on donations from various volunteer groups and individuals. As well as offering expert medical advice and treating the local hill-tribes, David supports these communities by developing sanitation systems, supporting orphaned and needy individuals and raising funds for medical supplies and new school buildings.
The Projects we are working on and funding:
Building toilets ($200 USD each) and clean water supply system ($450USD) (to prevent future sickness from poor sanitation and contaminated water supplies).
We will only be working on one village, which will only make a small impact because 24 more villages need toilets and 9 more need a clean water supply system.
Some Thailand Research: Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่) is the hub of Northern Thailand. With a population of over 170,000, it is Thailand's fifth-largest city. Located on a plain at an elevation of 316 m, surrounded by mountains and lush countryside, it is much greener and quieter than the capital, which have led many from Bangkok to settle permanently in this "Rose of the North". Also sometimes written as "Chiengmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and is the capital of Chiang Provine . It is located some 700 km (435 mi) north of Bangkok, among some of the highest mountains in the country. The city stands on the Ping river, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya river.
We will be staying at Wat Suan Dok: a 14th century temple located just west of the old city-wall. The temple was built by the King of Lanna for a revered monk visiting from Sukhothai to spend the rains retreat. The name translates as "the field of flowers temple." There are several unique aspects to this temple. One is the temple's large ubosot (ordination hall). This is unusual not only for its size, but also that it is open on the sides instead of enclosed. The temple is also the site of Mahachulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya Buddhist University.
I will satisfy my consumer needs at the Night Bazaar. Chiang Mai has a large and famous nightly bazaar for arts, handicrafts, and counterfeit products of all descriptions. The night bazaar alone sprawls along several city blocks along sidewalks, inside buildings, and in open squares. In addition a handicraft and food market is held every Sunday evening on Rachadamnoen road (the main street in the historical center) which is then closed down for motorised traffic, attracting many local residents and tourists. It opens at about 5 PM, but many vendors open about 7 PM until 11 or so. It's not just a place to shop, but possibly Chiang Mai's largest tourist attraction, with products from Northern Thailand and neighboring countries, especially those associated with Thailand's hill tribes.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Before I go
Hey Everyone
I thought maybe it would be a good idea to set up a blog for the summer travels.
I will post info about the fun and adventures of the South East and you can tell me what you are up to.
Also this is a great way to update family and friends while away instead of typing out millions of emails and worrying if I forgot someone.
So to start things off I will explain this summer
I (Melissa) will be leaving for Global Youth Network (http://www.globalyouthnetwork.ca/)Team Orientation in Cambridge, ON on Friday May 1 with my interns Nadia and Mik
Our team of 7 other McMaster students will arrive on Saturday May 2 2009 to join in the orientation fun.
The 10 of us will leave Camp Shalom at 3am on Monday May 4 on a big yellow school bus and head to the Toronto airport.
Our flight to Bangkok, Thailand will depart Toronto at 655am on May 4
Arrive Dallas 925am
Depart Dallas 1010am
Arrive Tokyo 1310
Depart Tokyo 1850
Arrive Bangkok May 5 @ 2325 (Thailand time)
I will return home departing Bangkok June 1 arriving home to Toronto June 2
THEN
I will be home in Canada until July 6
On July 6 Darryl and I will be travelling back to South East Asia until August 31
You may ask Why am I flying twice?
My first trip to Thailand is with Global Youth Network, I am leading a team of 10 students to volunteer for the month.
During the month of May I will be working with different groups that I have listed below:
"Where there is not a doctor" http://wtinad.org/
Pastor Wasan in Baan Peuteaw (30 km from Khao Lak)
YWAM Thailand http://www.ywamthai.org/
MCU Buddist University Chiang Mai http://www.monkchat.net/?name=workshop
on my 2nd journey back to the South East Darryl and I are going for pure pleasure and adventure
I thought maybe it would be a good idea to set up a blog for the summer travels.
I will post info about the fun and adventures of the South East and you can tell me what you are up to.
Also this is a great way to update family and friends while away instead of typing out millions of emails and worrying if I forgot someone.
So to start things off I will explain this summer
I (Melissa) will be leaving for Global Youth Network (http://www.globalyouthnetwork.ca/)Team Orientation in Cambridge, ON on Friday May 1 with my interns Nadia and Mik
Our team of 7 other McMaster students will arrive on Saturday May 2 2009 to join in the orientation fun.
The 10 of us will leave Camp Shalom at 3am on Monday May 4 on a big yellow school bus and head to the Toronto airport.
Our flight to Bangkok, Thailand will depart Toronto at 655am on May 4
Arrive Dallas 925am
Depart Dallas 1010am
Arrive Tokyo 1310
Depart Tokyo 1850
Arrive Bangkok May 5 @ 2325 (Thailand time)
I will return home departing Bangkok June 1 arriving home to Toronto June 2
THEN
I will be home in Canada until July 6
On July 6 Darryl and I will be travelling back to South East Asia until August 31
You may ask Why am I flying twice?
My first trip to Thailand is with Global Youth Network, I am leading a team of 10 students to volunteer for the month.
During the month of May I will be working with different groups that I have listed below:
"Where there is not a doctor" http://wtinad.org/
Pastor Wasan in Baan Peuteaw (30 km from Khao Lak)
YWAM Thailand http://www.ywamthai.org/
MCU Buddist University Chiang Mai http://www.monkchat.net/?name=workshop
on my 2nd journey back to the South East Darryl and I are going for pure pleasure and adventure
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