travel day – Page 4 – three pairs of pants

29 September 201526 January 2018

Day 15 (Tue 29 Sep): Siem Reap to Banlung

Two pairs of flip-flops *and* sandals?! Really? I’d taken the van from Siem Reap and had reached the transfer town of Stung Treng. You’ve got to pass through it to get to anywhere: over the Laos border to 4,000 Islands (inaccurately named) and Dom Det; down to Kratie and; east to Rattanakiri province. ST was a functional town. Yes, let’s call it a functional town. Quite big, very dusty and apart from the two “places of worship” the nearest thing worth seeing, according to my app, was 44km away. We’d stopped for lunch. Everyone’s packs were twice the size of mine and I was intrigued as to what they’d brought that I hadn’t. “Is that all your stuff?” she asked, pointing to my pack.”Yep, and I think I’ve got everything I need.” But I was intrigued as to what they’d brought that I hadn’t. Some answers: ten tops (I brought 2, making 12 items of clothing in total) makeup, an extensive range of toiletries, a snorkelling mask (I’m not making this up), plus the two pairs of flip-flops and one pair of sandals. Wow.

Whatever time you arrived, you’d be waiting one hour. Alarm bells started ringing when I asked about Banlung and a minor panic ensued. The van service is ad hoc: it seems that each day they see what tickets they’ve sold and run buses to cater. Booking to Stung Treng and “winging it from there” wasn’t part of the system. But it was, because they just fudged it. Bundled off the third van about 3 minutes after I’d got on, I was told “Bus to Banlung, this one, from here, 5 minutes”. From recent previous experience, I didn’t believe them. And it was just me. “By myself?!” I asked, horrified. “Yes,” said a toothy grin. Oh no, this wasn’t part of the deal – I’m not doing a two-hour trip by myself. But all four just smiled enthusiastically and nodded. And I realised I didn’t have much choice. Staying here wasn’t much safer. I needn’t have worried: the van (not the one they’d pointed to) arrived five minutes later and, already full to the brim, I was bundled on.

The terrain changed as we got higher:

But the houses were the same:

My first moto trip was to my hotel: $1, helmet not included. I can report that the back of a moto is more stable than it looks.

Hotel’s ok. Sunset was impressive:

Only one person at the hotel speaks (a little) English. Hate being in a country and not at least being able to get by. Booked a one-day trek in the forest tomorrow and a waterfall tour for Thursday. I declined the elephant ride: they’re bred in captivity and live in “less than ideal” conditions. I appreciate the locals need to make a living, but I fundamentally disagree with using a wild animal as entertainment.

And talking about wild animals, I had a visitor in my room:

Travelling’s one of life’s contradictions: how doing so little can be so tiring?

Sleep.

23 September 201526 January 2018

Day 9 (Wed 23 Sep): Leaving Bangkok, arriving in Siem Reap

Death valley supports a surprising amount of life. I was expecting grey desert, but there *is* water (I saw a puddle, although it was so salty you’d be seriously ill if you drank it) and vegetation. Life goes on. Bangkok felt similar, with people just getting on with it – stalls in front of shops, a little cafe below a dual-carriageway bridge, street vendors on street corners.

On the skytrain to the airport, scenes alternated between run-down residential areas, industrial sites and affluent developments. The landscape is an intriguing mixture of concrete and lush vegetation. I wasn’t sad to leave, because I knew I’d be coming back.. I may even plan to spend a few more days here before my flight home, and wondered how I’d feel about returning to somewhere months, and hopefully many adventures, later…

Smallest commercial plane I’ve ever been on – it was more like a single-decker bus with wings. It was a bumpy ride with a flight path like a traffic cone: up, along a little bit, and back down.

I totally needed the chocolate cupcake:

Arriving Siem Reap (pronounced “See-um Ree-up”) was uneventful, apart from the man at passport control who would benefit from some customer service training (his distaste for all who crossed his path was almost tangible). Cambodian writing was the first thing I noticed – distinctly different from Thai (but still completely unintelligible to someone who only speaks Latin-based languages).

“Is this the bus into the centre?” I asked three blokes throwing their bags in the back of a minivan.

“Sure, hop in.” Turns out it was their hotel transfer… and that my hotel was only three doors away. But, unfortunately, the driver was wrong, and it wasn’t. I grabbed a map, and headed in vaguely the right direction. And then the heavens opened:

Not for the first time, I arrived (an hour later) at my hotel dripping and tired. And again, they couldn’t have been nicer (but no upgrade – perhaps I should have mentioned my pants 😉 ).

Some random information about Cambodia (not verified, but from fairly reliable sources):

It’s about one and a half times the size of England
It has a population of about 15 million
- 90% are Khmer
- 96% are Theravada Buddhist
- 20% of the population were killed by the Khmer Rouge (so now 15 million)
- 50% are younger than 15 years old
It uses US dollars (USD), with the Cambodian riel (KHR) only for amounts below $1
With an average annual income of just $944 per capita, it’s the third poorest country in Asia (after Nepal and Bangladesh)
It has one of the highest rates of deforestation: primary rainforest cover fell from over 70% (1970) to just 3.1% (2007)
Cambodia has changed its name more frequently than almost any other country in the world – a sign of its turbulent past…?
Traditionally, birthdays are not celebrated in Cambodia. Older people might not even know their birthdays.

19 September 201526 January 2018

Day 5 (Sat 19 Sep): Arriving in Bangkok

In my head, it’s still yesterday; a day is not over until I’ve slept.

Executive summary: I really like Bangkok.

Main report: This is a relief as I’d been a little concerned about personal security and avoiding the sex tourism. I needn’t have worried – it feels relatively safe and I think to partake in the latter you have to be a) looking for it and b) know what you’re looking for. Which I don’t. Perhaps it would be different if I was a man. But I’m not, so brain has moved on.

Getting the metro (85p) was easy and welcoming, but I had to wait ages for the bus to turn up to take me into the heart of the place. I was sat at the side of a slip road on to one side of a dual carriageway. Below are some photos of the vehicles that passed me. All were taken from the same position – can you spot the odd one out?

It would appear that direction of travel is merely a suggestion rather than a rule!

Glad I waited for the bus. Travelled with the locals into town (about 17p):

.. and then stopped at a street cafe for some food. Between serving, the waitresses prepared vegetables and fruit for the kitchen that was situated on the street (with the seating at the back).

My vegetable noodle soup was fresh, delicious, piping hot and cheap (89p).

The “house rules” of my hotel say more about the place than I ever could:

It might be the rebel in me, but I rather like the idea of being a “room pirate”. And I wondered if non-severe smoking was allowed (tee-hee!).

But the hotel is adequate for my needs and I have to admit that I feel more comfortable (psychologically-speaking!) here. I’m really glad I decided to stay in the backpacker area rather than in the (business-oriented) city centre: it’s alive and easy and fun.

Decided to plan my 3.5 days here: glad I did. Advice was that the floating market (about 90 mins from Bangkok) was best at the weekend, so I’ve booked a tour for tomorrow. Will visit the temples independently on Mon. Ok, so I only planned two days, but that’s an improvement, right?

Thai massage is world-renowned. It’s justified. In just 30 mins she kindly but firmly coaxed the stress out of me. And there were no signs of, er, “extra services” so I think there must be two kinds of establishment.

All the eateries I’ve seen have looked very good – I think you’d genuinely struggle to find a bad meal here. “Pad Thai” is a must-try. It was very good, but eclipsed by the “tom yam soup”. Even better, I am pleased to confirm that it was not dissimilar to my own (but I was taught by the best, CH 😉 ) but with more richness and depth of flavour. I’d like to think this is because of the ingredients, rather than the cook, though…

Every time we eat together, I ask CH to re-teach me to use chopsticks, which she kindly and patiently does only for me to fail miserably. Again. But something must have clicked because I swiftly polished off the Pad Thai with chopsticks. They really are the best tool for the job (except, obviously, soup) as you can easily pick specific bits out of the pile of nosh and the leftover grains of rice – try doing that with a fork!

18 September 201526 January 2018

Day 4 (Fri 18 Sep): Leaving Dubai

“So, what else is there to do in Abu Dhabi apart from the Grand Mosque and Ferrari World?”

“Nothing… that’s all.”

Cars aren’t my thing and a three-hour round trip to see the Grand Mosque didn’t seem worth it, so I booked a late check out and gave myself the day off*.

I’d been debating whether to travel from Bangkok to Siem Reap (Cambodia) by bus or plane. Flying seemed “not in the spirit of the game” but had three distinct advantages:

It’s a lot quicker
Immigration would be easier (I’d heard reports that the border is a haven for scams, but many said it was easy)
It meant I wouldn’t pass through a higher-risk malaria zone

Whilst I didn’t have the energy for more tourist hassling, it was this last one that really clinched it – antimalarials can have awful side effects during and after treatment, so whilst I was keen to protect myself, I also wanted to minimise the amount I took. As Siem Reap and my potential next destination (Phnom Penh) were low-risk areas, it meant I could delay treatment for some time. Afterwards, I realised that the additional cost of flying was also partly offset by this delay – a daily tablet is £1.39 and treatment is required 2 days before, during and 7 days after exposure. Research also confirmed that there were lots of other opportunities during my planned route to use bus, boat and train.

A quick workout in the hotel gym followed by a leisurely swim was a lovely way to finish my visit – I feel I’ve “done” Dubai.

I’m usually keen to try new things (c.f. this trip!), but the Indian restaurant was so good I returned. It then occurred to me that I might have struck lucky. I needn’t have worried – apart from the rice, I had little idea what I ordered, but it was all superb (especially the “raigan masala” whose main feature was a ball made of what I think was an unusual cross between mashed and crumbed potato).

Then the metro to the airport. The metro itself is worth a mention. In comparison to the Tube where I rarely wait more than 4 mins for a train, usually only 2, it’s not as frequent (but 6-7 mins isn’t a major problem). It also seems to be an after-thought with only two main lines, leaving much of the city unserviced, with stations sometimes quite a distance from the main action. For example, it takes a good 15 mins to walk from “Dubai Mall metro station” to the actual mall. That’s like calling a station “Waterloo” but kicking you out at Covent Garden. But it’s fast, efficient and clean (no eating or drinking is allowed). And bar three stations, it’s all overground so the views are much better 😉

The day after my initial experience (see Day 2), I entered a carriage and quickly realised there were lots of females. An event maybe? Or just the time of day? Moments into my search for a male, I spotted the pink signs on the door – a women/children-only carriage. Ah, that would explain all the men that day – the women were here! On the way home from the concert, the metro was packed and I couldn’t be bothered to leg it down the platform to the pink carriage. I was also curious. Whatever happens, I thought, just chalk it up to experience. As before, the men’s faces gave away that their first thought upon seeing me was “female”, but then looked away. It was only when I was about to disembark that I noticed that, despite the crowds, nobody was physically touching me – like an invisible circle (of respect? Of fear of being accused?) around me. Mind you, it could also have been that I ponged as I hadn’t showered since that morning and it’s hot – you start glistening moments after stepping out of the air conditioning.

Pink taxis, with a female driver, also exist (I’m not sure whether a man can take these; I assume so). I’m in two minds about this: on the one hand, and as another traveller’s taxi driver opined, women could be seen to be “privileged” by these services; on the other hand, it never occurred to me that there would be gender-specific transportation because I’ve never felt the need for it. I’ll leave you to decide…

And so I left Dubai. Glad I went, glad to leave. It was hot, dusty, superficial, artificial, fast, high, efficient, clean, welcoming and safe. Dubai personified is a twelve-year-old boy (trying to impress his mates): old enough to have a sense of self, but not yet mature enough to realise it’s not the destination that’s important, but the journey. I feel like saying to it: “Yes, ok, you can win. Can we just play now, please?”. Like people, all places are unique, defined by their history, culture, environment, nature, experience. It doesn’t yet realise that it doesn’t have to be the best, fastest, highest and biggest, it just needs to be itself. But perhaps that’s exactly what it’s doing.

* Can you have a day off when you’re on holiday? Surely they’re all days off?! But there’s an invisible pressure to do stuff. Or perhaps I’m just a diligent tourist. Either way, it’s giving myself explicit permission to not do anything.

14 September 201526 January 2018

Day 0 (Mon 14 Sep): Leaving London

“So,” I asked Sister (a frequent flyer), “how do I go about asking for an upgrade?”

“Tell them you’re getting married”, said her husband.

“What? Even though I’m travelling by myself?”

“Yeah, it’s just you don’t know who to yet… because you haven’t met them. You might meet them on the plane.”

“Say to them,” says Sister, “‘I’ve three pairs of pants. I’m feeling lucky. How about an upgrade?”

She then mentioned that, despite being a frequent flyer, she hasn’t actually ever been upgraded. Funny that! 😉

Travelling light, I didn’t have much to pack, which made leaving the house scarily uneventful. Big Bro waited patiently, and again in the car whilst I tried to remember what I’d forgotten. Arriving at Heathrow, my adventure suddenly felt real for the very first time. I’ve never been to Asia, so it’s difficult to imagine what’s in store. But big adventures don’t happen like that, they unfold moment by moment. So I found the piano and amused myself until departure.