Nedia's Travels

Nearly 3 mths of travel and thousands of kilometers overland into my round the world trip, and i can't believe how fast it's gone in already. Every now and again i realise i'm actually travelling for a year, no job (well for a while in Australia). So far i haven't thought of myself as the littlest hobo wondering around South East Aisa. It's like i have my own little made up job in my head, the professional travelling self organiser, yes that's what 'll call myself. I have to think loads, no really i do, its harder than u can imagine, plan in advance, pick somewhere, how to get there, what's the cheapest method of transport and most improtantly how comfortable will the ride be and do i have to use real chickens as a pillow (ok, well thats a bit of an exaguration)! Sticking to a budget is a necessity, its like being a poor student all over again. Now and again i treat myself to a meal in a nice resturant instead of the street hawker stalls, but nothing beats watching your food getting cooked infront of you.

To be honest i'm quite proud of my haggling skills, i don't buy anything until i get the price i want for it. Other travel buddies always get me to buy for them when we're together in a market cause i always get the good deal over and over again!

I can't really explain the excitment i feel entering a new country, maybe it's getting another stamp on my passport, or knowing i'm gonna learn a few words in a new language, seeing a different culture or possibly the realisation that i'm constantly on the move, passing form one country to get to the next! The immigration officals behind the desks at the boarder crossings are the first locals of the country i come across. I compare tham to the previous country and usually they have a bigger smile on their face welcoming me into their country. One wee thing i always do after recieving my new stamp is to ask the offical how to say thank you in their language. You can never underestimate the importance of knowing a few words like Sabadee ha (hello in thailand) cause i helps u a lot to get better prices form anything from a taxi ride to a bottle of water. It's really crazy to think that any tourist in a new country will get overcharged; unless they realise this and try to integrate a little with the locals. This way your not a dumb tourist just passing through staring and taking pictures right in their face without asking permission (which i saw lots). For instance the Ta Van tribe in Sapa Vietnam believe that if a picture is taken of them their soul dissapears.

My favourite part of travel is discovery. Discovering new places, wandering among new streets, seeing famous landmarks only seen on tv before. I love nothing more than looking at my map and making a mental picture of the route i'll take past the sights i want to see. Sometimes walking for miles & miles (and later that day realise i've blisters on my feet) stopping at little busy cafes, try to understand the menu, i give up & order something which sounds like it has a nice ring to it. Usually it tastes great. The cooks are so proud making something for me to try for the first time, serving it and delivering it to me and always asking if i liked their cooking.. The answers always yes! Oh and one thing they always serve tea in a beer glass, gets soo hot i cant even take a drink. Whats the logic in that?! There's no such thing as milk, its condensed creamy sugary thick gunk instead that sits on the bottom. Dying for a nice decent cup of tea!

You do get the occasional rude people, mostly the taxi men who won't put the meter on (against the law)instead quoting a price 4 times the normal. God i just avoid them now. In Bangkok they're the worst. You jump in agreeing to put the meter on and off you go. But the smart arse tells u "No meter, 250 Bhat". "Whats thats crazy, its not bloody Timbucktoo, i'm goin!" It turns into a verbal exchange of NO, YES, NO, YES (meter. So 2 mins down the road he slams the breaks on, along side a distusting smoggy dual carridge way and tells u to get out. In shock, cursing the guy for what he did. Funny thing is we didn't know that the next two taxi men we flagged down standing in the dirty road would do just exactly the same thing!! Promising never to get another one ever again (well not true now) we jumped on the next bus going past. In reality i don't blame the taxi men, instead i blame silly tourists who agree to a really high price for a short distance. It then means that taxi's then expect to recieve that amount time and time again because they can get away with it. But it then leaves the next person with more sense stranded! Not only in Thailand, Kuala Lumpur was bad for it too! But thats a different story altogether; Same Same but Different!

"Same Same but Different"- Its an expression you hear all over SE Aisa. It means exactly that, this thing is the same same but different from that. Its so popular among locals and tourists alike its even written on T-shirts. "Same Same" on the front and "but different" on the back. Its like saying an apple is same same but different to an orange. You get it?" Mens toilets are same same but different to womens. You getting the jist?

Now onto the subject of toilets! Yes those toilets you don't even give a second thouht to at home, but when your on the road they become a whole new experience in themselves. A girls best friend when travelling is toilet roll (learnt that very quickly). So vital to carry as many of the bathrooms don't provide any. So cheeky of me, when i go to a cafe to eat i always take a few extra hankies from the table and sneak them into my bag, just to stock up cause i never know when i'm gonna need them. So far i've experiences four types of toilets, the well known western one (we all take for granted & great when u find one), the squatter toilet, the hole in the ground, and the natural stream! Through experience they do become 2nd nature to you, and learn to even balance on a rickety train or a a rocking boat. Usually a bucket or water or a hose is provided to manually flush afterwards. The worst experience was at a toilet stop on an overnight bus in Vietnam, and behind a couple of bricks piled high was four holes in the ground each divided by a flimsy piece of carboard. You soon learn to throw any dignity out the window when toileting cause there's no other option. And anyway the culture is so different here from home. It's not all bad every other woman is doing the same thing. But the worst was 2 elderly ladies crouching down to pass water in front of everyone at a busy market in Hoi An, Vietnam. No one passed any remarks or looked twice. I think it's because we're so conservsative at home about things like that, so afraid of the unfamilar and find it shocking, but when u learn to do things the local way, the way it works for them, the fear factor dissapears and you learn to change your behaviour and frame of mind. The culture shock eventually fades - Believe me!!

Having no fixed abode and no permanent address brings with it a constant change of surroundings and very different conditions. If i was to wish for one luxery item, without a doubt it would be my bed at home. Would have packed it but somehow it don't think it would fit! It brings a smile to my face thinking about its softness and clean sheets (no don't worry i'm not going crazy here). Strange as it sounds i miss the smell of washing detergent at home and anyone who knows me can understand my little obsession with newly washed sheets and having a great nights sleep. Travelling makes you an insomniac and have altered sleeping patterns for tonnes of reasons. Let me explain: The bed is too hard, springs stick into your back, the matress is non-existant, it squeeks, the pillow smells, bed bugs & mosquitos annoy the life out of you, you share with a loud snorer, its too hot, the fan doesn't face you, the fan is too loud, the outside light is too bright or music keeps you up all night. So you pick about five of the above and you try and have a comfortable nights sleep too. But all that aside i'm not complaining at all, its all become so normal to me, i just close my eyes and dream i'm cuddled up in my lovely bed back at home!

Living out of a bag for this length of time does mean sometimes i hate the damn thing for having to troups it around with me everywhere but then again i love it too as it feels like an extension of myself. I really think i'm starting to look like a traveller, my clothes are creased and dyed lighter from the sun.(God help the Aussie's when i arrive!) But a plus side i now have different colour of clothes from when i left and didn't spend any money, all thanks to the sun. You start to forget about if your clothes are neat and ironed (haven't seen one of those so far). The funny thing before i left i packed and repacked over and over again to reduce the weight of the backpack. Now, i'm still doing that and leaving bits and pieces in the room before i leave cause i can live without them. The bloody bag never seems to weigh any lighter no matter how many times i do it!! Every now and again i give my clothes a proper sorting and pack them right. The way it should be done everytime but i just couln't be bothered sometimes. Then i close it up knowing i have to carry it again.. NOOO, for the next journey, be it to the bus or train station.

To be honest the one thing i miss a lot has got to be the girly stuff i left behind. Forget all the nice smelly things. Now my wash bag consists of shampoo, conditioner (usually 2-in-1),deodorant, toothpaste & toothbrush! I must look like a nut case when it comes to duty free at the airport cause to me its heaven. I don't smell bad or anything but all those free testers of perfume, expensive creams and make-up go straight on the face. God help the person sitting beside me on the plane, must have a headache with all the mixture of perfume. Feel great like a lady again (short lived only awww).

Its well known that music can alter your frame of thought and i really believe that. On my quest solo around the world i couldn't cope without my mp3. It always depends who mood i'm in, if i've had a rough day i listen to a happy tune or when i cant sleep i throw on daimen rice (sorry damien). There are of course sometimes i feel lonely, i'n only human after all, but most of the time i'm having the best of craic with other solo travellers or other groups i meet. We're all in the same situation, on our own and excited about onward travels. Listening to advice on where to go and how to get there. There's only ever been 4 days since i started the trip that i've been on my own (not bad hey?) but its nice to be alone too. But every day that passes means that day gets closer until i'll see my family & freinds again!

And here's a special note too all of you.. Thank's very much for keeping in touch, sending me e-mails and txt's. Believe me it really makes my day when i go to the (slow and crappy)internet cafe log on and see an e-mail from you, no mater how small. Its just great to know i'm not in this mad world all on my own! lol So i leave and all the way home have a big smile on my face.

Hope that gives you all a wee insider to the strange and wonderful world of travelling solo, my thoughts and experiences! So strange but loving it all the same....

MISSING YOU ALL LOADS & LOADS... TILL NEXT TIME...

LOVE NEDIA XO

T'was great travelling on the VIP overnight bus with none other than recliner seats. Travelling this way from Hat Yai in Thailand to Kuala Lumpur, meant arriving in the ultra modern city at 4.30 am, Sweet Jesus how was i to find somewhere to stay! There was a hive of activity in KL at that hour in the morning, people setting up market stalls and cafes full of Malay's drinking coffee. Luckly all the backpacker accomodations were not far from the main intersection where we were left off. So off i went carting my backpack up to the dorm room and crashed straight onto the bed and slept.

It was time to discover what KL had to offer after about 3 hrs sleep. First stop breakfast and as i stayed in China Town, no better start to the day than noodles with chicken. Walking around the city it was not hard to notice the diverse ethnic cultures in Malaysia conpaired to other countries i'd been to. Being mostly a muslium country (58%) made up of Malays, freedom of religion had been granted to the large Indian and Chinese communities. Walking along the street i'd pass a Hindu temple watching old men with jamsmine flower necklaces smashing coconuts to the ground worshiping their God and a little further around the corner muslims would be called to prayer at the mosque.

First port of call was the KL Tower. Was amazing to see the whole sights of the city below and seeing the mighty Petrona Towers (the highest towers in the world above sea level)was amazing but more special at night when they were lit up and u could see them all over the city. In all my excitment i decided to do a crazy adrenaline ride in the grounds of KL Tower. The G-Force cage ride took me from 0-125km in 2 seconds, and i tell u i bloody felt it. When we stopped at the top i though my stomach had popped out of my mouth, was such a weird feeling but lasted for about 3 secs until the turning of the cage started. I though frig i wasn't warned about this and just said to myself to go with the flow, not knowing what would happen next. So coming back down to earth with about 7 cycles of being thrown upside down, round and round it finally stopped! Phew, i was definately glad i made it out alive. Was a great feeling and was proud of myself for trying it out as it was scary as hell. Maybe i'll reconsider the next time i see one. Think one's enough!

Little India was really special, somewhere i wanted to dander along. Carrying a drink in my hand (a special plastic bag with a straw to pierce it) noticing no other tourists around, i was in search of the famous rotis. Like a crepe but totally different.. How come? Well the one i ate was bananna and curry! Horrible as it might sound it actually tasted nice. Then this guy came up to me with a piece of paper and pen and asked me to write on it, u as confused as me? Scribbled something unreconisable and he asked do u like? What? I'm totally lost here? You like, you like? Then he pulled out a 10 piece set of pens for sale. AHH,i get it now, no thank you and then it was over as quickly as it started and i got back to eating my rotis. Strange he just should have asked me, do u want to buy a pen? Would have saved all the confusion.

Now the Petrona towers are really something special, especially at night when they light up all over the city. Inside the towers was a massive shopping mall with the usual designer shops. I didn't even attempt to step my foot inside the posh shops as one look at me and they'd knew i didn't belong there. Good aul topshop and M&S was more my thing and believe me when i say i didn't buy anything.. too expensive! So instead i took a walk around the very opulant grounds, sat by a massive water fountain and tried to take a non blurry pic of the towers in the dark..

Afterwards back at the hostel, a free barbecue was happening on the roof top. Free food, great, saving a bit of money there, i thought! Joined the french guys i was sharing with and listened to the live aucostic music provided by the Malaysian guy. Was like our own wee personal concert as there was only about 20 people in all -towards the end it turned into 4! And it was at that time i came back form the toilet and saw the musician with his guitar and fixing his harmonica to his mouth.. This instantly congured up Neil Young in my head and i told him.. next thing he started playing "Heart of Gold" my favourite song of all time. So in the heat of the excitment i went up and joined him and tried to make a contribution!

Next day i took a walk in China Town and the extremely busy market selling everything from bananna leaves to bandanas. If i heard the words again "You want dvd's"? I was gonna scream "Nooooo"! I walked home feeling like a girl again cause i picked up some fake Chanel Chance perfume at about 2pounds! Miss perfume loads!

Borneo a 2 hr flight away is part of Malaysia too and a place i wanted to visit so i bought a cheap return ticket for about 60 pounds on Air Aisa a low cost airline. when we were told to board the plane (after the elderly, pregnant woman and children) everyone starts runing like crazy on the hot tarmac towards the plane. Jesus whats goin on? Why, whats happening i thought? People were pushing one another on the steps going up and i was just walking curiously behind! I later discovered that there's no pre-allocated seats on their flights and had to find a seat anywhere. Oh my God, there was even arguing inside the plane, someone wanted the window seat, which they put their bag on before they went to the toilet! Crazy, giving everyone a seat number first would save all the hassle.

So i arrived in Sandakan, probably the worlds most ugly town full of high rise blocks with shops on the ground level, it smelt so bad, like rotten fish and hundreds of rats everywhere. One even ran over my foot when i was reading, great, now i'm infected with every known disease known to mankind! I tell u i got the strongest bleach to disinfect my foot after, red raw but i didn't care! So why did i come to a town like this i hear u ask? Orangutans were my quest. The worlds largest orangutan rehabilation centre was in Sepilok about 1 hrs drive away by a bus that bumped up and down and side to side in great humidity that i felt so sick opening the window incase i was sick any minute. The center was at the edge of a very diverse rainforest. After buying my ticket i walked along wooden walkways through the trees to the oragnuatans and read a sign " Beware of dangerous monkeys coming from the trees". Jesus on my own and having to walk the whole length of the walkway! Suddenly i saw shaking and a noise coming from my right, OH MY GOD, i freaked, walking faster trying not to make any more noise with my damn flip flops (wished at that time i brought my shoes) the sweat started forming on my forehad and no exageration i my heart was beating like crazy, (sure no one must get hurt as the walkway is still open, yeah? i'll be fine?) Then the noise came from my left, whats going on, i hadn't a clue, is there 2 of them now? I then made the decision to bolt it quick to the orangutan platform. When i got there after 5 mins i was saved, saw other tourists all quiet looking at the orangutans and there's me running towards them panting and sweating like a lunatic. They all looked over. Must have thought i was sooo frigin keen to see the orangutans or something. Little did they know what i just went through! I didn't care was just relieved and then watched the kings of the jungle swing from the trees.

I didn't stay long in Borneo as it really was so expensive too much for my 10 pound a day budget and the rats didn't help much either so i gladly boarded the plane to Johor Barau the most southern city in Malyasia 10 minutes across a river from Singapore.

What can i say about Laos; nothing to do apart from relaxing, chilling or taking it easy! Its up to you which word u choose. There's an expression in South East Aisa: The Vietnamese plant the rice, The Cambodians tend to the rice and Laos just watched the rice grow!!

The capital city Vietainne was opposite sides of the scale from Hanoi the capital of Vietnam, coming from one was like travelling from Belfast to Ballymartin (no joke)! If Vietainne was a reflection on the rest of the country, i was looking forward to travelling up northwards to Vang Vien. Everything works on "Laos Time", buses don't leave on time, patience definately needed. Only when the drivers are ready when they got something to eat, or finished their chatting, then they go! Shop keepers lie on their floor look up and say "do u want to buy something"? You feel near guilty disturbing their sleep, they look so comfortable down there!

I was really excited about being in Laos, apart from being the most heavily bombed country on earth, it was also Pi Mai aka New Year and i was to see how the locals celebrate. In other words, New Year means The Water Festival lasting a whole 5 days! Pretty obvious, yeah it's all about getting wet by any means possible, hoses, water pistols, buckets & water bottles all in aid of cleansing your sins from the previous year. From dawn to dusk the sound of cheesy european techno dance songs blast from large broken speakers, the sound was terrible but all was in the spirit of new year, so i didn't care much about my ears nearly bursting with the high volume! Soon i'd end up simging along to the songs just because i'd heard them so many times! People of all ages gather outside their houses with a large clothes washing basin and you know without fail when u walk by them u'd get a soaking! This went on and on until u'd reach the place u wanted to go,arriving totally dreanched, whether it was the local grocery shop, the pay phone, a bar or even once when i had got off the bus from Vietianne from Vang Vien with my backpack on! They didn't spare my clothes inside, took days to dry them all!

Most locals would splash buckets of warer at high speed shouting Pi Mai, while others (the ones i liked) ran up to me and stopped, smiled and gently poured a cup full over my head. Even on bycicle i never escaped their harmless fun, they'd block the road until i stop and get the same treatment over and over again! It was great fun joining in the craic, i'd team up with the family of the guesthouse, bought myself a water pistol (ended up giving it away to some kid as found the traditional basin or plastic jug was far better at aiming a fast large volume of soaking water to my victim). Of course the famous Lao beer was in great supply. Traditionally no matter how many people are drinking, u have to share one beer bottle with only one glass between all until the bottle is empty. Then its time to buy another one!

Vang Vien about 4 hrs north of the capital city lay along side the mighty Mekong river which runs all the way down through Cambodia and Vietnam. This town, (well if u would call it a town) is the 3rd largest town in Laos and has frequent electricity power cuts at any time of the day! You really appreciate the good aul fan in the room once everthing turns into humid darkness. Vang Vien was probably the most backpacker place i'd stayed i since leaving the Kho San Rd in Bangkok. Was definately great craic meeting up with the friends i'd meet every night. Strange but true, the most bizarre thing about this dusty track town was the tens of cafes with raised matresses and large cushions showing pirot Friends DVD full box sets. It was hard to pull yourself away from the large tv's but when it took half an hr to order food and one hr until it was delivered, i had no choice in the end but to watch Chandler and Co.

The main purpose of coming to this quiet town was of course; Tubing. What's tubing i hear you say? Well let me explain. Basically it's floating on a large ringed tube down the river stopping at different man made flimsy bamboo platforms with their main attraction...the rope swings! The catch is you have to buy a beer Lao first and then you can have a go on the swings and fall into the river below. Sometimes the swings would be so high up i didn't have the courage to let my feet go from below me despite everyone encouragement. No consolation, i did do the really long zip slide that stopped suddenly and i summer-salted into the water below.
The guys were all acting like monkeys doing strange acrobatic stunts, or even impressions like the Matrix in mid air until they hit the water. A monk dressed in his orange robe even posed as he went under.. so funny everyone cheered!!

The current wasn't so fast as it was dry season, on some parts u'd scrape ur bum along the pebbles below in water ankle deep. Limestone cliffs lined the river and local children would swim over to me and hook on. Little did i know that they would later ask for money because they said they helped me along!!! Nonscence they were more of a hindrence sometimes tipping me right over into the water. So this floating continued hours after hours stopping at the bars, meeting loads of others at every swing, having the best craic listening to early 90's dance songs that would make u say.. "Jesus, i haven't heard this song in ages. It finished when it got dark or for some others, when they had enough beer! A great days fun!

In vang vien most of the resturants apart from selling (no joke here) frigin text book of a menu, pages and pages of drinks, meals, snacks, local food, western food, pizzas, isreali food, halal meats.. (always difficult to choose).. Special Recipies!!!! The special menus are so serious, they include happy pizza's, happy shakes, bags of magic mushrooms and wait for it Opium! I had to double check if i read the thing right and i did.

So it was in Vang Vien i left my buddy James and off i went on another adventure on my own. We said our goodbyes, he left me to the bus station, i psyched myself up for onward travels and said good bye to Laos at Friendship Bridge and crossed the boarder into Thailand.......

Sapa was a place i was really looking forward to. About 11 hrs north of Hanoi, near the Chinese boarder, Sapa sits among the highest mountains in Vietnam. The town itself mostly covered in mist in morning, gives amazing views of the moutnain ranges from noon onwards. All over the hills little dirt paths carved walking tracks to nearby indiginous villages. I felf like the luckiest traveller in Sapa as we'd blagged the best hotel room in the town for really cheap. The only downside was the hundreds of steps up the the room but the views definately made up for it.

Day 1 was motorbike day. I'd hired my own bike and drove it for the first time without crashing it or even driving off the cliffs below. Lucky hey? Thank God! I managed pretty well, driving slowly and carefully, trying to dodge massive trucks full of stones which took up most of the windly cliff edge roads. Our destination was Hoang Lien Mountains including Fansipan, 3143m Vietnam's highest. So for 3 hrs i drove along the Tram Ton Pass that hugged the mountains watching beautiful views for miles around. The day was so clear that the furthest mountains in the distant were onew shade of green lighter than the one's before. We stopped at Heavens Gate to watch the view. Along the Tram Ton Pass we took a break at Silver falls, a high cascading waterfall. The hundreds of steps to the top was worth the vies of the valley below. Starting to get the idea that in order to see amazing views in Sapa a lot of hard work is involved! All in all, a great day out, hearing our echo of songs when on the bikes, unitl, wait for it.. an exhaust burn on my calf! Travellers call it the Kho Samui tatoo. It's so common, i saw lots of guys with them & just though, Jes, felt so sorry having a scar that size on their leg... Unitl it happened to me when i'd stopped the bike and it was too heavy, it just leant straight towards my right leg. 3 weeks later and it's still healing, no infection thankfully as i've been taking oral antibiotics, antisceptic cream & pure iodine. Ahh sure, a little permanent reminder of Vietnam on my leg-no worries!!

Day 2 and the start of our 2 day/1 night treck over 40 km of ruggid terrain, an an overnight stayover in Ta Van a tribal hill village. We got a really good deal only $15. So the trecking began, 2 Israli girls, a Canadian teacher, 2 English fellas and me. Our guide named Mi was a 24 yr old tribal girl from Ta Van dressed in western clothes and was 5 mthys pregnant! Every now and again she neededa rest, cause she did this trecking every other day. She said she'd stop in 2 mths time. Christ she probably really needed the money. In all her condition she really was the life & soul of the group taking us on the "non-tourist" path we all wanted. I tell u, she nearly got us lost lots of times. It turned into more like an obstacle course climbing hands & knees up cliffs, balancing on the sides of rice terraces so high up one false move and u'd end up in the rice terrace down below. Other times we were made to cross a fast flowing river only balancing on a flimsy piece of wood. At the same time carrying ur small day pack heavy with the 3 bottles of water! Occasionally a bufallo would block my path, crazy the first time i saw one walking towards me but soon got used to them.

Every 5 km or so we'd enter a tribal village, i though so this is how far the villagers would walk into Sapa to sell bracelets and balankets to tourists. Before we entered the villages little children would run towards us shouting hello & bringing us up to their houses at the top of the hill. Each community had their own culture, traditions & distinctly clothing. Some tribes wore red as their main colour and others worse really colourful hats instead. The only similarities between them was a plain dress made from plants they'd weave together and dye with indigo coloured flowers. The girls only had two of them each a year so all day they would make their next one as it took half a year to finish or else they wouldn't find a husband!

Finally at the end of a long day trecking we reached Ta Van, a hilly tribal village dotted with bamboo houses and the best part- a river at the bottom which formed a hugh lagoon. Saw it and though time for a wash as there was no running water, no shower or electricity in the house. The home for the night was with a traditional family, we slept upstairs in what closely resembeled a barn. The matresses laid out one beside eachother on the floor and ontop mosquito nets thankfully protected me from the dreaded mossies!

One young girl, aged 6 took a shine to me , she pulled me down the lane to the lagoon, speaking great english, probably from all the tourists in Sapa. I tried to teach her how to swim and afterwards she washed my hair from none other than pantene sachetes bought from the local shop!! Funny in the remote corners of the world branded shampoo names infiltrate into indiginous locals or else these girls really take good care of their hair and wash with none other than the best! It was like living back in the bronze age (not that i remotely know what that's like!!!!) cooking over an open fire, washing in the river, candle light and the best part - a wooden hut down the lane for a toilet with a very efficient natural stream running beneath it. When it got dark at about 6 pm, i used my torch and tried to find my way to the toilet at the same time trying not to trip over the bufallo sleeping!

The craic was great, that night all our group gathered on the porch, including two middle ages Aussies and played drinking games with none other than the lethal homemade rice wine. Tasted a bit like paintstripper, but as drinking games go, when it's ur turn to drink, u have to take a shot! Throughout the night i'd hear the rain crashing on the flimsy roof above, and water droplets just missed my foot. When daylight broke, i woke up from the drinking antics from the night before, i was so surprised, no hangover at all! The rice wine is so pure, it doesn't affect u in the slightest. So in all the dampness, preparing for the days trecking, we rightly imagined how the dirty trecks had instead turned into sliding mucky paths. Mi chopped bamboo into walking sticks to help us slide that couple of more feet forward or most of the time anchor your body when going down near vertical paths! It was absolutly crazy, more like ice skating but great fun walking on slimy dirt all in heavy rain storms. Occasionaly someone would fall and slide right past u down the hill! So funny, was mostly James as he did the treck in none other than flip flops! I think he invented a new adventure sport that day!

We continued sliding down the mountain only to find we had to attempt to climb another one -we laughed so much at the thought of trying to climb something so slippery and when we attempted it we laughed even more and never got any further upwards! Every so often girls from the local villages would join us, think they loved running past us so lightly on foot only in wellies, where we were decked out in walking boots and they didin't seem to help us stop sliding much! These girls so agile on foot never fell or even slid once. So when we all looked up towards the final hurdle back to Sapa, we sighed in relief and made a last brave attempt at the final hurdle. At the top we looked at each other, clothes soaking from the rain, hair wet, muck all over our legs & face and the funniest our feet had grown twice the size from all the muck sticking to the shoes. Was wondering why my shoes had suddenly got progressivley heavier!! Hey, it wasn't all bad after a hot shower back at the hotel we felt as right as rain and never complained about those steps up towards the hotel room again, our legs were well used to the climb after the treck!

Hello guys,

I've made the long awaited return to travellerspoint after neglecting it for too long, please do forgive me? In reality either been in a town that had frequent power cuts, crappy keyboards or an internet that's been so slow i couldn't really be bothered to write. Hope that explains things a bit better, so u chose which excuse suits best!!!! lol

So because i'm so far behind, actually in Kho Tao in Thailand at the min and according to travellerspoint really in Saigon, vietnam, i'm gonna do a little snapshot of Vietnam, a sort of collection of things i've done or experienced, and so the story begins........

-Communist posters all over major Vietnamese cities advertising "the perfect family", ie: 2 child policy. Jes think they need it as its now got a population of 91 million. Ah, just realised that explains the amount of motorbikes!!

-Hoi An

Like walking into a museum piece this UNESCO world heritiaqge town sits half way up Vietnam on the coast. National Indepencence day was on the 28th of March, the streets were filled with vietnamese flags and children walking in the streets holding colourful lanters. Old people were burning small fires along the roadside, just with bits of newspaper but at night u could see little fires all dotted along the streets. Walking along i saw women coming out of their houses carrying religous inscence sticks at head level, bowing to the ground and waving the sticks into the air with a line of perfumed smoke blowing in the breeze.

-The guesthouse owners offer everyday items that they are thankful for and place infront of the buddist shrines usually in the reception. They pray to continue to recieve items such as tea, banannas and bread. But it neaarly shocked the life out of me, i saw on the end of inscence sticks cigarettes buring right to the butts, i mean there must have been about 15 of them all producing a horrible stink!

-At night Gekos crawl up the bedroom walls. I'd see something move above me, jump up turn the light on and realise they were only lizards. Only lizards u say? But these ones about the size of ur hand are afraid of humans, they run into the nearest corner to hide. The annoying thing about them is their cry, so loud for such a small creature! You'd wake up hearing their sound "Gek-oo, Gek-ooo, Gek-oo". The locals say that if they call out more than 4 times it brings u good luck. Funny things is even though it's annoying i still wait out to hear them call Gek-oo more than 4 times. Usually they do!
Gekos aside, there's plenty of other insects to worry about-mossies the size of a 5p piece. No kidding massive frigers. They torture me, i've the scars all over my legs to prove it even though i use mosquito repellent & burn mosquito coils i got from the local market. They are supposed to smell of lovley lavender, more like toilet freshener! Then there's the most annoying flying ants landing on u. No matter how many times i flick them off my skin they always return and find that same spot they were flicked from. AHH, i give up!! Travelling has made me learn to share my room with all sorts!!!

-Hue

A costal town about near Hoi An. Not much to do there so when James wanted some more war stuff i decided to get a motorbike taxi to Thuan an Beach about half an hour outside town. It wasn't a really hot day, very overcast and rough seas. Strange thing was i was the only person on the beach apart from the odd fishermen. I took advantage of the peace & quiet, sat on a rattly old torn deck chair near the waters edge, getting the odd spray of water from the sea now and again. Listened to music, think it was cold play and paddy casey & tried to finish my used nealy torn book i exchanged at a book shop. In the distance i noticed an old women walking towards me carrying a basket, I thought, "No, please just this once, leave me alone"! It gets so annyoing after a while persistant sellers, i think their the travellers enemy. Grrrr!!! When she came closer i saqw her whole face & arms had been scared from what only could have been a Napalm bomb during the war. She wore a wide brimmed hat to shelter the sun fromher face as i imagine the rays caused her pain. In her basket she sold crisps, peanuts & chewing gum all at extorsonate prices of course. Out of the pure sadness in her eyes i bough the most expensive bag of peanuts ever. I felt then i did a little bit to help her have her next meal. Seems this poor old lady only walked up & down the length of the beach trying to sell out of date food!!

-Hue

On our first day we walked around the forbidden city (well not so out of bounds then if i could get in lol). I'll always remember this one absolutly pain in the ass cyclo driver who followed us around for the best part of 4 hrs. Oh my god, he was a nuisence, thinking as time went on we would give in to his "really cheap cyclo tour of the old city he showed us from a really used old hand map". It did the opposite in fact, made me want to burst his bike wheels or even more because he followed us everywhere even into the musuems. On top of that he decided to bring his smiley cyclo driver mate in on the fun too. So, now not just one but two of the most annoying frigers in the whole damn country!! We'd make a plan between us, walk faster to get away, go down one lane and hopefully lose him, but the experts just casually cycled infront of us pretending not to notice. At this stage James wanted to punch him, not being a violent person normally, but on this occasion i'd excuse him if he did. In the end i think he got bored of us, he ahd his fix for the day and cycled off down beside the river. I just laughed my head off, he'd spent all that time trying to make money off us, when he could have got about 8 stupid tourists willing to spend a small fortune instead!! What a day!

-Hanoi

The capital of Vietnam but much like an old city full of yet again.. u guessed it.. Smog. Plus the odd street seller, sock shops, art galleries and sitting on little children plastic chairs along the street having really cheap homemade beer. A great place to meet travellers! In the middle of the city Hoan Kiem Lake acts like an oasis of calm amoung the hustle & bustle of the Old Quarter. At differen times of the day, u'd see the strangest of sights happening around the lake. In the morning when i got off the overnight bus from Hue, the southern side of the lake seemed to resemble a massive exercise class. But in reality, at the crack of dawn elderly ladies practice a form of t'ai chi. What a great way to start the day!There's a saying in Vietnam it goes something like this, "youthfullness is flexability and strong bones where as death means stiffness & brittle bones. So everyone needs to keep fit or they believe they age quicker. Later on, the whole sides of the lake looked like a massive sports complex, young athletes jog, children play badminton and oddly women do really bizarre warm ups, bending backwards & forwards really fast. So stange to see. But the best part was this one elderly grey bearded old man practicing t'ai chi with utter concentration all over his body. The distant sound of motorbikes or children playing never seemed to distract him. Nor did the sight of me sitting & watching him!!!

Well everyone hope u enjoyed that little taster of vietnam, keep tuned cause theres plenty more coming ur way very very soon, i promise!

miss u all loads...

Lots of love.. Nedia x

"GOOD MORNING VIETNAM"

Hello everyone! Nedia moves on and here's her story of entering Vietnam.... Enjoy : )

Ok, I arrived from Cambodia on a 6 hr bus journey very excited about entering a Communist country for the first time.. Vietnam. Sure thats what keeps me motivated, travelling to new places i've sometimes never even heard of, not knowing really what to expect,what the culture is, how locals lead their daily life, and simple things like, "where on the map does the bus leave me off in the city"? Then finally when the bus stops....happiness as i've reached the final destination after the hours & hours sitting on whats supposed to be a luxury bus (in reality probably the best on offer), listening to the head melting latest national pop songs, and getting friendly with local kids, so cute! Looking out the window i know whats coming.. Lots of local 'taxi touts' seeing $$$ signs when they set eyes on you, wanting to take u to ur guesthouse on motorbike for crazy prices! I decline their first price and then when they can't come down to meet my price i don my backpack and walk away.. u always know whats gonna happen.. they come after u matching my price, give in like a little stubborn child!! Makes me feel great though, not getting riped off, being the independent traveller after all!

The not so fun bit is trying to find a cheap place to off load the dreaded backpack! Once i barter the price with the guesthouse (i tell u it's a hard job sometimes!)the new city is my oyster. Reading up on places of interest first before i venture out of the room to the sights & sounds of a new world. Walking along broken pavements, potholes, trying not to trip over tree roots, which there are many, getting friendly shouts from locals "Hello, Where u from?" At the same time wandering past the many little shops, great smelling street eats and the best bit of Saigon... THE TRAFFIC!!

Its like throwing yourself infront of oncoming cars back home.. a crazy idea, but here millions of motorbikes pollute the tree lined streets, the only way to cross to the other side! At first a bit scary but very quick i got the hack of it! The method is to firstly get into a group and start slowly and carefully snail pace across the road. There must be about 5 lanes of bikes coming at top speed towards u but the idea is to walk slowly so that they see u and steer around u! Relief when u reach the middle of the road but then its time to face motor bikes coming the opposite direction! Slowly but surely i manage to reach dry land! Once i even saw at a busy round-a-bout, loads of traffic in all directions, no form of organisation, the craziest sight ever, a someone running with an old man in a wheelchair, i thought i seen it all until that sight!!! So funny, only here i said to myself, only here!!

Women sellers wearing the traditional vietnamese straw pointed hats, sell fruit in baskets hanging off either end of a stick which they carry off their shoulder. A sight the thought of visiting vietnam congured in my mind! Other women sit on small chairs by the roadside preparing fresh pineapples which taste great as i walk along munching on a whole one. Walking the streets of Belfast with a whole skinned pinapple, imagine the looks i'd get.. ha ha. Never in a million years!!

That's what i love about travelling customs differ so much from home, things that seem obserd at home, no-one gives a second thought here. Its hard sometimes i have to stop thinking (be prepared for this next bit everyone), "Jesus, would u look at him hawking, every last bit of his lungs and spitting it out in the street beside me". Distusting, can still never get used to the sound, it seems to haunt me everywhere i travel, in every country. James laughs at me everytime as even if it's happening around a corner i still hear the bloody sound and know whats happening!

Went to an ATM to get some money, put my card in and the machine wrote.. "Hello Nedia O'Reilly".. ok fine, scary every time as ur always afraid of the machine swallowing the card, happened to others! After i finished, walked out of the little glass booth so suspicious of everyone as i was carrying 500,000 Dong . Picked that amount as it was the second option on the screen and hadn't a clue how much in pounds it was! Needless to say, i've been taking out 1,000,000 dong since. Im a millionare for the first time ever, well that thought is short lived as it only works out at about 45 pounds!!!!

On the first day we walked to the War musuem and it blew me away (not literally - the fans inside weren't that strong!! lol) but the pics on show of the american invasion were quite something i wasn't prepared for. But i suppose pictures of war can never be nice! The effects of Agent Orange (a chemical used by the americans) on undeveloped foetus's were shown in large glass jars! Horrible! Seeing vietnamese locals with disfigurements and amputations today is a harrowing reminder that they had escaped being one of the nearly 2 million vietnamese to die. It really made me think that 30 yrs ago the same streets i was strolling along, had massive army tanks charging down them able to destroy everything in sight.

It was nearing 5pm after we left the museum so we quick bolted to The Reunification Palace built in 1966 to house the President, but not only a big grand palace, this was where in April 30th 1975 the first Communist tanks in Saigon smashed through the gates. The tanks still sits there in the palace grounds as a reminder of that victorous day. We were'nt allowed in, ahh well got a distant pic of the tank thorugh the palace gates. The palace wasn't that special anyway!

The next day we hooked up with a couple of nice Swedish girls, and dying for a bit of a cool down we had a crazy idea... "Lets go to a nearyby posh hotel and use their swimming pool, as soon as u walk into the lobby the cold air condition made the hot, noisey, smoggy streets outside seem unberable once again! We were so so tempted to pay the $21 fee for use of their 5 star facilities, plush open air swimming pool, massage, sauna, gym.... plus a free drink i might add.. whoopie! (very generous aren't they) Had a reality check and cheekly asked the beautiful receptionest in a silk traditional dress if there was a nearby CHEAP pool to go to, bell boys opened the massive glass doors and we jumped into a taxi to the 37p a day pool. After all that deciding and remembering we were poor travellers on a shoestring, we did get out cool down and even met other Irish & English folks, so was a good day!

Spent about 5 days in Saigon and booked the overnight train to a northern town called Hoi An. That train journey is another story all in itself... will update u all soon.. bye bye for now xo

Phenom Phen

Phenom phen the capital of Cambodia is much cooler than Seim reip. We're staying at a guesthouse called "No Problem Guesthouse"! Right overlooking the lake, its so peaceful. We hired our own motorbike, me not driving of course, on the back enjoing the smog filled streets once again! pretty funny though have to take a reality check once in a while as i think where the hell am i?? Suddenly this motorbike with 3 massive dead pigs pulls up beside me,(sorry never got a picture, it would probably gross u out as much as me at the time) or a bike competition for the most number of women, men & kids on one motor bike flys past. On the bus down to Phenom Phen from Seim Reip i had another one of those strange moments! When the bus is full an no more seats, locals get on with plastic chairs and sit in the middle of the bus. strange but thats how it works here! Cud u imagine getting on the aul ulster bus with ur plastic chair!! ha ha. Getting the local buses is a great way to meet the locals all so very friendly and the wee children are so cute, think i might do an Angellina Joli and adopt one!

As soon as we got to the hostel off the bus, we joined a group of others to the main attraction the capital has to offer: The Tuol Sleng Musuem. In 1975 Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge security forces and turned into the prison they called S-21. Quite a sad place to visit as here they secretly tortured over 17,000 normal cambodian citizens. The place looks just like a 3 story school building set around a court yard, but they divided the class rooms into prison cells, complete with ball & chain which still remains today! The most harrowing thing to see is a room full of photo's of their victims, row upon row of men, women, children & babies! When the Vietnamese liberated the country only seven surviors were found at the prison, one a painter who was made to paint scenes of the tourture, displayed in the museum today. As well, one room housed lots of human skulls behind glass cabinets! So yeah u can imagine was pretty rough going walking around the place, the mood was real low amoungst all of us but we were soon laughing and sharing a beer back at the hostel!

The next day James & I went to the Tonle Sap River which runs past the city. Funny days walking along and the next thing we spotted a massive elephant unchained walking on the footpath!!! Crazy or what? I couldn't believe it, was so excited i had to get a picture.

Shanoukville

Yet another bus journey (not so bad only 4 hours) to Shanoukville, the most relaxing part of my journey so far! We stayed at victory beach a room for only $2 a night each, so not too expensive. Well compaired to that box room with a fan and an excuse for a bed in Bangkok, (so hard, i may have well have been sleeping on the wooden floor!!) this was luxury! Ah, it was so hard trying to decide which beach to go to or which hammock to chill out in or even which beach to watch the amazing sun sets from! so stressful, NOT!! It was great to get to a beach after being inland so far on the trip, the water was great and the scenery even better.

During the full moon we went to a class party on the beach with the other guys, listened to live chilled out music and danced barefoot in the sand.. what a life!! We had such a great time there relaxing that we had to push ourselves to book a bus back to Phenom Phen or we'd have stayed for ages! Plus the fact that all the lone western men about the place (practically every man) was making me sick thinking about their reasons for coming here!!

So here i am back in Phenom Phen today St Paddy's day! Only staying for one night then we get the (wait for it) 5:45 bus in the morning to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam (formally known as Siagon. I don't know how i'll survive on the bus in the morn after a few tonight, but all fun anyway! Yeah mickey will definately be let out of the bag tonight, its his day after all!!!

So farewell from Cambodia, an amazing friendly country despite the horrible past everyone has a smile on their face! I just smile back and look forward to Vietnam...

No i am not having too much fun to miss u all.. well maybe.. only kidding!!!

Till next time... Nedia xo

Well managed to arrive in Cambodia from Bangkok in one piece, i mean after he bus ride from hell!! Left bangkok at 7am and arrived in Seim Reip at 10 that evening! nightmare was only supposed to take 8 hrs, or so i thought. The bus was another story altogether, travel really slowly, on what was meant to be air conditioned, in reality dust conditioned fits better! oh yeah, the driver liked to stop in the most random place for an hour, god knows why?? u tell me? Once we left the bus at the boarder with Cambodia, went through border officals and then loaded onto another bus and another bus (don't undestand why) until we got to our 5 star deulux bus for the trip to Seim Reip.. not it was a rickey old thing covered in orange dust, a tell tale give away for what was to come next. ok,i'm not eagarrating here but we travelled on pot holed dust tracks for the next 6 hrs!!! up & down, side to side constantly! Passing houses on stilts and crossing really awful man made bridges, sometimes only planks of wood! scary. past the rows of delicate wooden houses the view is of fields stretching for miles. Most of the trip looked like this.Met a guy called James from England so chatting away during the trip seemed to pass the time.

"Welcome to sweat land" I mean it the humidity in Seim Reip was unbelievable, clothes were literally soaking to the bone, everyone was a sweat monster! Not a single breeze to give a bit of life. Next day we went to Angor Wot to see the sunset. Pretty impressive stuff after climbing the most steepest steps in my life to get to the top of the temple. Pretty scary going down but made it!

That night all 5 Irish & 6 English went to an irish bar called shamrock (believe it or not!) A great wee night on the town. Next day james & i then hired a couple of guys to take us around the temples on motorbike, yeah, its great craic, well used to it now! passing rivers with boys floating in circular woven baskets, children playin in the water and a couple of monkeys too! Went around a few more of the best temples including the one lara croft in tomb raider was shot. Really impressive! But the best temple had to be Angkor Wat, it was massive and so beautiful.

The child sellers must have got training in selling skills, litle girls, only selective english,stand beside u waving a bottle of water in your face.. "please miss, u want a cold drink?".. i thought of course i want a cold drink, trying to tempt u but the prices are 5 times more than in the local shop. "Where u from?" Everywhere u told them they would say real quick as if it had been rehearsed... " Capital Dublin, or London, Washington, Madrid, or Paris as if they has read it from an atlas. Got really annoying after a while so James decided to answer Kazaxstan... U should have seen their faces!! peace & quiet for a little while longer.

So that's enough of 'Sweatville' for now, next stop Phenom phen the capital of Cambodia...Here i come!!!!!!

Hello everyone!

Well i arrived safe and sound from the cold calm surroundings of Belfast to the city which is an insult on your senses. Straight to Kho san rd the backpacker haven full of travellers meeting on route around the world. Every nationality here, more foreigners here than Thai folk! Its so damn hot 37 degrees plus the humidity makes it a lot worse, can't complain really, as it's prob stil snowing back home.. ok won't make u jealous..

The first night i met up with 2 irish guys and a south african and went for a few drinks to a bar called the shamrock. Ok wanted a wee bit of nostalgic live music but instead we got a thai band playing (absolutely brilliant!) So inside the bar we bumpted into loads of others from home.. Makes the settling in bit a whole lot easier.

All along the street dance music pumps from the music systems trying to compete with one another. You can't help smelling the delicious thai food on offer literally every metre down the road. no i didn't try the fried cockroaches or spiders.. no thank you! It seems every foreigner is getting dread locks, well did think about it! You never know the years not up yet, stil time!! The atmosphere is one of a big party, meeting place of the lonely traveller, and i would say the best place to start up.

Today we went to the Grand Palace, beautiful building a real hindu shrine inside. Silly me didn't read the sign "No photographs inside" and ended up being embarrasingly approached by a guard and told to delete the picture!! Didn't know until afterwards the reason why, but laughed at my stupidity, not even in the country a day and in bother!! After that we went on a refreshing fast boat ride down the river to cool off, got off at the Orient Hotel (the most famous in the world) but scruffy backer me couldn't get into this 5 star hotel. No loss definately too good for the place anyway!

So now i'm back on the Kho San rd, just booked a tour to Kanchamaburi about 2 hours east of smelly smoggy bangkok. Planning to visit a national park with 7 tiered waterfall.. a bit of a cool down swimmimg sounds good to me. Will prob stay there for 2 nights then back down to bangkok to collect my cambodia visa & passport (was bit apprehensive leaving it over the weekend, but they take it to the embassy amd get the visa, suppose saves the hassle of trying to nagivate the crazy city streets on a tuk tuk.

Well must go my times near up, so cheap only 70p for the hour. Gonna head back to my little cupboard box with a fan inside, cheap excuse for a bed room ha ha!! : )

Miss u all

Love Nedia x