China

Helen: Apologies for the lack of posts for a while. This has been due, unusually, to lots of late nights and drinking. It's mid-day now, and our party of 4 has just about surfaced and made themselves respectable, so you see what I mean...
We're in HK at the moment, staying (in the tiniest flat - it makes London living look palatial) with Mike, an old friend from school, and he is doing a fabulous job of showing us around. It makes such a difference having a guide - we've been to so many places we just wouldn't have known existed (bars and restaurants (and a gym)) that are on the upper floors of tower blocks - they have no signs at ground level to let you know what's upstairs, you just have to know! And often to get to a bar, you have to enter through a shop in a mall. But, usually the view is worth it - we had drinks last night from the balcony on the 8th floor with the HK skyline lit up behind us.
HK has been a true delight - I was expecting just the skyscrapers, and was only coming here to visit Mike. We both figured that it would be another Singapore or KL and we'd want to leave after 2 days. But we've just booked our train tickets to Beijing and we're staying over a week because we're having so much fun. It turns out HK isn't just HK island - there are lots of outlying islands, the whole of the New Territories and it's easy to escape to the hills. Yes, hills. Well, mountains really. Yesterday we climbed Lantau Peak, which is a Munroe at 934m. It was steps all the way up. Hard work at the best of times, but especially bad the day after a session at the gym (Mike goes regularly and C really wanted to go, so I went along for a laugh. Now everything hurts. My stomach. My quads. My neck for goodness sake.) The hill was awesome. At the bottom there is a 'giant buddha', a disney type village with a starbucks and hordes and hordes of tourists. But we only saw 5 other people on the trail. Was blissful. It was like Arthur's Seat in as much as you could look one way and see the airport, but if you looked the other way it was as if you were well and truly out in the countryside. Wonderful :) And today we're going to Macau, which is supposed to be totally different again - long Portuguese colonial history, forts, cafes, pastries. Will report back.
Hx

PS. Hmm, don't seem to have mentioned China at all yet - we only spent 3 days there before coming to HK - was ok - rained a lot! Had a few language problems, but the people were super friendly and we were always helped out by English students who wanted to practice with us (in fact, we've just got an email from one we met in Nanning who wants to be our penfriend). The landscape was pretty similar to N Vietnam - we went to see some stunning terraced rice fields. Oddly, the other tourists on the trip weren't western backpackers, but domestic Chinese tourists from Beijing. They travel en masse and all buy the same souvenirs and take the same photos. Very bizzare. And, at the top of the hill...there was ice cream and beer! We always joke when we're hill walking in Scotland that there will be beer and ice cream at the top (an insipring thought when it's cold and wet and you're wondering what you're doing on the hillside). Of course there never is. But in China, oh yes. And postcards, souvenir shops. The works!

Toc That

Helen: We seem to have slowed somewhat in our whirlwind trip round SE Asia - we have been in Vietnam for nearly a whole week now. A whole week! Since the last post we took a bus to Phnom Penh (crazy crazy traffic - we sat in a bar and played motorbike poker - we were both tied with 5 people on a bike each, when C spotted a guy carrying, I kid you not, a full size wardrode. We also visited the Tuol Sleng Museum - the old school that was S21 prison during Pol Pot's time. Thousands of people were tortured and murdered there, and it's been left as a memorial to them. There are photos of them on the walls. It was almost too horrific to really take it all in. It didn't really seem real. The most interesting room was an exhibit by a Swede who had visited in 1978 as part of an official tour. Apparently communism was big in Sweeden at the time, and so when he visited he genuinely thought that the Khmer Rouge was a good thing. The exhibition shows the photos he took at the time with his thoughts from 1978, along with his thoughts from now (once the true details of the regime came out he changed his mind - just goes to show how people can be fooled by propoganda - even educated people who ought to know better).
Anyway, I got sidetracked. From PP we went to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - stayed just long enough to get ripped off by a taxi driver (first time spending Dong so no idea how much stuff costs - we paid at least 10 times too much!) on the way to the train station, and then we spent 4 days in the hills around Hanoi. Wow. Wow. Totally amazing. Have a look at the photos on Flickr to see what we mean. Everywhere we've been so far that's been pretty has looked like Scotland. Not N Vietnam. It looks like nowhere else. Crazy limestone mountains, bright green paddy fields, people working the fields by hand with conical hats, cows that look more like elephants or rhinos. We stayed in stilt huts and traveled on roads that tourists never take - they were rutted, gravely, muddy - C did brilliantly with me on the back. You could tell that tourists never get to these places because every time we stopped to talk to the locals they would stare at C's hair. They would always ask if it was real ('toc that' means 'real hair') and they'd build up the courage to come and pull at it with toothless grins! Our guide Hai was great - he looked like a korean popstar, and was always flirting with the ladies, but he was a real gentleman. He really wanted us to like his country and went out of his way to make sure we had a good time. We stopped and had raw sugar cane juice and sticky rice cooked in bamboo. We saw chop sticks being made and he even took us to his house to meet his family (grandma had black teeth from chewing betel nut and didn't seem to mind that we didn't understand a word she said). We were so lucky - just the two of us and Hai for 4 days.
Right. Off to China tomorrow. Hope we have time to go and see Ho Chi Minh himself before we leave...
Hxx

PS thought you'd like this - we stopped to have lunch one day and a family invited us to join them. We had to decline their offer of home made rice wine (like vodka) but joined them for green tea (we've drunk so much tea in the last few days). We wanted to share with them so we offered them some chocolate. They ate it as if it was beetles, like they were only being polite! Actually, they didn't eat it like it was beetles, because the Vietnamese like beetles (we got served some the other night, and the only reason C ate one is because I ate one first). They eat grasshopers and snails and snakes and chicken feet and pig intestines willingly, but apparently not chocolate!

Angkor what?

Helen: Cambodia redeemed itself today - we bicycled all around Angkor Wat (sparrow's fart start at 4am, to avoid the crowds and heat, and see the sun rise, which, of course, we missed, because I had heavy mudguards) and it was magnificent. C, not known for his love of 'piles of stones' even said it was up there with Machu Pichu, which is saying something. Naturally, this didn't mean he actually wanted to spend much time there...but at least he was enjoying himself. You might, if you are lucky, be treated to all of our gazillions of photos of the various temples some time tomorrow - we're on the road again heading to Penom Pehn, to a hostel with, fingers crossed, free wireless. The temples really were awe inspiring (kept expecting Indiana Jones or Lara Croft to appear round the corner (apparently Tomb Raider was filmed at one of them, which might explain Ms Jolie's penchant for Cambodian orphans?) Anyhoo, just wanted to say that we had a glorious day - lots of smiley faces and barely any pressure from hawkers. What a difference a day makes!
More from the capital later (should be fun - tomorrow is Khmer New Year...)
Hx

PS interesting fact: most of the Angkor temples were built as Hindu temples...but they are now Buddhist, so they have Hindu and Buddhist carvings - in a world with too much religious intolerance, it was lovely to see folk just getting along!

Ripped off in Cambodia. Again. And again...

Helen: Even having been traveling for the last 18 months or so, we were scammed by all the scammers we'd been warned about today. Felt like newbies. Oh well, at least we got here (via buses that we'd paid for not being available and people insisting we needed their services to get price inflated visas). Not a good first impression of Cambodia. But, the good news is that we have bicycles sorted for tomorrow, and a route from our guest house owner to see all of the temples and avoid the crowds. Fantastic. Only snag is it means brekkie is at 0430. Better go and get some sleep now then.
More later
H&Cxx

Bangkok rocks

Helen: We both remember Bangkok being totally manic last time we were here...but compared to Singapore and KL it feels relaxed and chilled out! Maybe it's because there aren't many skyscrapers and you can actually see the sky? Or maybe it's the people - always smiling? Or maybe it's because they're all Hindus and Buddhists? Whatever it is, it rocks.
Got here this morning on the sleeper train from Penang (at the Thai border, v amusing sign saying no-one with 'hippie characteristics' (waistcoat with no under garments and long, dirty hair) would be allowed in - C immediately started smoothing down his dreads!) and...we're leaving tomorrow! Going to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. 12 hours on a bus. Better be worth it!
Right, time for bed. Early start tomorrow. Think we 'did' Bangkok pretty well today - took a busy commuter canal boat into town with the locals, (got lost - de rigeur for us in SE Asian cities at the moment), visited Kao San Rd (all the 18 year olds made us feel really grown up), saw a political protest, and went to a traditional puppet show this evening. Tick.

Hx

PS thought you might find these Malaysian words amusing - see if you can figure out what they mean: kastam, imigresen, stesen, farmasie, notis, kaunter, basikal, motosikal

PPS a bloke came up to us at Butterworth train station to introduce himself - he'd been on the cruise ship too and recognised us...and he was traveling from NZ to Europe overland too! He was slightly more adventurous than us though, and is braving Iran...

Rain

Helen: We've been in Malaysia 3 days now. And it's rained every single day. Buckets and buckets and buckets. We are currently hiding in our hotel room (clean and friendly, but looks a bit Communist), waiting for the rain to stop so we can venture outside for supper (hmmm, shall we have noodles or curry? Had noodles for breakfast and curry for lunch, and both yesterday and the day before so it's a tough choice...)
Did manage a quick explore earlier though - went to a Khongsi in Georgetown (apparently the whole city is a World Heritage Site - there can't be many UNESCO WHSs that we haven't visited - everywhere we go seems to be listed) and got shown around by a very enthusastic little old Chinese man with bad teeth, a big smile and a smattering of English. He posed for photos with us and we promised to send him copies (he promptly pulled some business cards out of his pocket with his name and address on!) A Khongsi is basically a family compound - this one was beautiful and dated from 1820. There was a temple (lots of gold leaf and ancestral tablets (like gravestones) and living quarters - no one lives there now, but when the Chinese emigrated here in the late 18th and early 19th centuries they grouped together in clans to support each other. (The clans then evolved into Triads and they started killing each other...) Clan life is still v important today and we saw lots of people lighting incense sticks for their relatives.
After that we took the funicular railway to the top of Penange Hill - I've never made it up 800+m so quickly! Took us over an hour to walk down again, spotting monkeys all the way (specially cute ones with black fur and white eyebrows/round their lips. The macaques weren't so friendly. They barred their teeth and started growling at us and we were stuck for a few minutes not knowing how to get past them!)
Generally v glad to have got out of KL - too big, too busy, and no charm. Georgetown is much more appealing. Lots of nooks and crannies and streetlife. Most of the population of Malaysia seems to be Chinese or Indian - both look like they've just stepped out of China/India respectively (I say authoritively, never having actually been to either place!) I don't know quite what I was expecting - but I was definitely expecting the Malaysians to be a distinct culture rather than two imported cultures.
The countryside in between KL and Penang (as seen from the bus) was strange - lots of palm oil plantations (aren't they responsible for killing off orangutans?) and peculiar new build estates that seemed empty (no lights on, no cars, overgrown gardens). I swear the barrat box type houses wouldn't have looked out of place in the Rotherhithe and the Thames estuary. At the other end of the spectrum we saw a few lovely homes as well, at the top of Penang Hill where it's cooler so all the colonials built city retreats and sanotoriums. The houses were twee little olde English style cottages with picket fences and garden furniture like C's parents have in Surrey. And there was a red GR post box outside!! Bonkers.
Right, that's enough. Hasn't stopped raining, but my tummy's rumbling so will have to make a dash for it anyway. Off to Bangkok tomorrow on the train. Going to do a bit of pinyin practice this evening to make sure we don't starve in China.
Hx

F1 frustration

Helen: v quick post - am cold and tired so time for bed - but thought this would make you laugh - C and I went to the Malaysian F1 GrandPrix this afternoon, and totally failed to see any racing at all. It was so badly signposted, that by the time we'd figured out which entrance we had to use (involving much walking, bad directions and a dodgy shuttle bus) the action had been called off by a torrential Tropical downpour and we had to sit in our soaking wet clothes in the air conditioned bus all the way back to the city. Bugger! Still, managed to get the essential tourist photo of the Petronas Towers lit up like Christmas trees, so not a completely wasted day.
Glad to be out of Singapore - decided we'd 'done' the island yesterday - eaten in Little India and Chinatown, ridden the 'does what it says on the tin' "Mass Rapid Transport System" (tube), and had a (yucky, way too sweet) cocktail at Raffles (where we also managed a dance to a live band in front of the hordes of tourists who were herded into the bar by a guide to have their Singapore Sling in 15 minutes before leaving again. I'm not against taking tours...but come on people - do you really need a tour guide to take you to a BAR?)
So, now we're in Umpa Lumpa land. Saw lots of palm oil plantations on the road, and are relieved that everything seems to be getting cheaper! Thinking about heading yet further north tomorrow.
Right, off to sleep - C has dutifully checked the bed for bugs
Hx

Raffles here we come

Helen: Is Charlie the only person in the world who hasn't heard of Raffles in Singapore? When I told him that we had to go there this evening to have a Singapore Sling he looked at me blankly and asked why. I tried to explain that Raffles is as famous as Harrods in London or like going to visit the pyramid hotel/casino place in Las Vagas...but he still didn't get it. Never fear though, I shall make him wear one of his two presentable shirts this evening (and I'm going to wear the dress I just finished making) and I shall go to the ball tonight whether he appreciates it or not!
So, now we're landlubbers again and struggling to come to terms with life when we have to feed ourselves and work out what we want to do for ourselves - it's a bit like how I imagine a caterpillar feels when it emerges from its cocoon blinking in the sunlight trying to work out how to use the new flappy things its acquired... It won't surprise anyone to learn that the very first thing we did when we got here was go out in the heat and have an argument! Yup, nothing like the tropics and busy streets to get us grumpy (but no raised voices in the street - not the done thing at all apparently. Canoodling (sic), jaywalking, not flushing the loo properly and eating with your left hand are also all out.)
We've only been here a couple of hours, but have decided there are lots of places we'd rather see on our tight schedule than a busy city, so we're heading for Umpa Lumpa tomorrow.
Lots of love
H&C

PS a few thoughts from the cruise:
- we were harrangued several times by Americans from the deep south who told us we should read the bible and carry guns
- C didn't win the boat building competition :( General opinion is that he was robbed though
- they have hand sanitizers everywhere and the staff won't shake your hands even at formal dos for fear of the dreaded lurgee - guess it would spread pretty quick
- the security guards were out in force when we entered Indonesian waters - on the look out for pirates we reckoned...
- Bali was wonderful (lots of Indiana Jones style temples and gorgeous fabrics) Java was mental (C said they drove their cars like they were motorcycles, often filtering on the wrong side of the road...) but we visited an amazing 8th Century temple and got some good karma from the lucky Buddha