Ko Chang

Ko Chang is a small island in the andaman sea and should not be confused with its much larger namesake on the east coast. One of my visions of Thailand was a small hut on a quiet beach. Ko Phi Phi was not that sort of place, at least in my pric range. Ko Chang fitted the bill perfectly; there is no mobile phone coverage, no internet and no mains electricity. I stayed at "Cashew Resort" a collection of small bungalows and a restaurant on the beach. It had only reopened in the last few days, in preparation for the dry season tourists. As a result it was still very quiet, with only a few people staying. I stayed for four days, walking from my bungalow to the beach, reading in the hammock, thinking about things and enjoying the great food in the restauant. The generator would kick in for 3 hours at night, providing flickering light that was just bright enough to allow you to find your way round. Cashew Resort is owned by a Thai couple but was mostly staffed by Burmese, as Ko Chang is very near Burma. The other permanent resident was David, a 70-something resident who has lived there for 10 years with his cats and a local Burmese guy. The sunsets were sublime.

I travelled from Ko Chang to Bangkok yesterday, which involved a long boat trip to Ranong, a motor scooter ride to the Ranong bus station, a 10 hour bus trip from Ranong to Bangkok and from there a taxi ride to my accommodation. A fun day. I may have been better off flying...

I am flying back to Auckland today. I have had a great time in Thailand. I will be back.

This marks the end of almost six months of travel. I do not know whether this also marks the end of my alternate reality. I have done almost everything that I had in mind to do back in April. I love it when a plan comes together.

Ko Phi Phi

From Siem Reap I returned to Bangkok by minivan, which took about 8 hours. The next day I travelled to Ko Phi Phi. Realising that it was a 12 hours bus trip to Phuket, followed by 1 1/2 hours on a ferry from Phuket to Ko Phi Phi, I instead flew from Bangkok to Phuket and took the ferry from Phuket.

Ko Phi Phi is an island in the Andaman Sea and part of a national marine park. Nearby is Ko Phi Phi Ley, the location of the beach in the movie "The Beach". The islands are famous for their spectacular scenery. Ko Phi Phi has some beautiful beaches but it is a lot busier than I had imagined (perhaps wishful thinking on my part that it should be otherwise). However, it is very laid back, with no vehicles and an island vibe. It is still rainy season so it has rained on and off. Nevertheless, the rain has had very little impact on what I have done. I spent my first day at the beach.

Ko Phi Phi is packed with outfits offering diving and scuba courses. I decided to take the literal plunge and signed up for a two and a half day PADI dive course. This involved quite a lot of reading and an exam (which was a cinch). The hard, and scary part, was the diving. In most respects it was all a lot simpler than I had imagined and I was comforted by the "safety first" attitude that appears to apply to diving. I had a total of four dives, all of which included learning drills as well as "sightseeing". The deepest dive was to 18m, which is part of the requirement for the diving qualification. It was amazing to be able to go under the waves and to view the coral reefs and multi-coloured fish. The instructors were great, being patient and very helpful. My first instructor was Cliff from New Orleans. He looks and sounds a lot like George Bush! It did not seem fair to mention it. Cliff had to pull out after a day and half because of sinus troubles. My new instructor was Julien, a young Frenchman. I really wanted to say that New Zealanders had had bad experiences with French divers (an allusion to the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland by the French) but I held my tongue.

I have stayed at a basic but adequate guesthouse- cold showers are not a problem in this climate. I went on a long-boat tour today out to Phi Phi Ley and had a great time snorkeling and chatting to fellow travellers.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat and the other temples in the vicinity really have lived up to the hype. They are quite amazing- enormous and seemingly out of place in the middle of the jungle. I have spent four days in Siem Reap, the town close to Angkor Wat. I bused here from Bangkok, which took most of a day. Siem Reap was suffering from quite bad flooding when I arrived. When the tuk-tuk driver told me that he might have trouble getting to the hostel because of flooding I did not believe him, thinking it was one more scam. But he was right.  It took two days for the water to recede.  For the first two days of my visit I only visited the temples.  Getting to and from the hostel required walking through some very murky water so I did not venture into town in the evening.  This is the a view from the hostel a day after I arrived... and then two days later.

I hired a tuk-tuk and driver for two and a half days to take me to the many temples around Angkor Wat.  Visiting every temple is an interesting experience as you are assailed by adults and children selling water, books, bracelets, cloth and postcards- "For you only one dollaaaar", "You only buy from me", "You buy when you come back, ok".  The Cambodian people were very friendly though.  It would have been nice to be able to buy something from everyone.

 

A couple of photos.  Sorry, no captions, as I am running short of time.  

Bangkok

I arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday and stayed till Friday. Bangkok is an experience. I really only started to get a handle on it, and my bearings, after two days. The highlight for was the abundant, cheap and very tasty food. My afternoon at the "Grand Palace" was great-

I had two Thai massages (the legitimate kind) while I was in Bangkok. A very painful but hopefully beneficial experience. I stayed in a very nice hostel just off Sukhumvit Road, one of the main tourist hubs in Bangkok. I had my own room, so did not rough it. I certainly did not feel out of place as an unaccompanied older male. One example of the male sex tourist was the Australian and his Thai girl sitting next to me at a restaurant charging about 50 Baht (about £1.00, $2.30) for a main course. He would have been about my age. He was talking to her about himself in some sort of Thai accent, presumably so that she would understand him better. There are lots of things that I could say about what is wrong with sex tourism. But what really struck me was just what a f**king cheapskate he was! He could at least have taken the poor girl out somewhere a bit nicer.

My bargaining skills have started to improve although I suspect that I am still pretty easy prey. There are plenty of transport options in Bangkok. I have used just about every type of transport in Bangkok, including the metro, skytrain, tuk-tuk, taxi and one terrifying ride on the back of a motor scooter (I do not why that seemed liked a good idea).

So long and thanks for all the fish

Reality is ultimately only a state of mind. I learnt a long time ago that your environment does not affect your reality- you are just you in a different place. But a different environment can help you to better appreciate your reality. I arrived in London in 2007 with a clear idea of who I was, after years of trying to figure that out. My ideas about other people and the world as a whole were not quite as developed, but I had some idea. The last last two years have helped to resolve this point. With that the whole big picture has zoomed into focus. Or at least that is how it seems. The goal now is to somehow mesh my reality with that of the rest of the world. I will think about that one while I am in Thailand. The thing that made London tolerable in the worst times was to always be myself. Not a revolutionary idea, you might think. The last few days have brought home to me the consequences of not being myself...
I have had a lovely few days with Dad, who arrived in London last Wednesday. We had days out to the British Museum and Greenwich. Dad also patiently helped with packing. And it was great catching up with Taylor and Ernie.
Ben gave me a spontaneous hug before I left. Zoe was more concerned to know where my lap top (and cbeebies games) had gone. In a container on a ship was not a satisfactory answer.
I am sitting on a Thai Airways plane (without personal monitors!), so I cannot pontificate any longer.

Caterham and London

I have been staying at Jane and Ian's place for two and a half weeks. I have spent quite a lot of time with Ben and Zoe and I have dropped then off and picked them up from school quite a few times. I am getting to know some of the mums, but I cannot say that I am in with the in crowd just yet. Ben and Zoe are cute and energetic as always. Over time I have gotten to know their routines and limits so that plaintive cries of "Mummy said that we can!" or "Mummy lets us do it!" are now met with a little bit more scepticism.

My main goal on returning from Wales had been to sell my car. I sold the car to the first person who answered my advertisement, which was a lot easier than I had expected.

I have caught up with a few friends. Mark and I tripped around London looking at a few of the less "touristy" sights. One was Ely Place in Holborn. Ely Place is a cul-de-sac and is not technically part of London but is an enclave of Cambridgeshire. The reality appears to be less interesting, with a notice for the Borough of Camden attached to one of the lamp posts in Ely place. We had a pint at the "Old Cheshire Cheese" one of the oldest pubs in London. It has an atmospherically gloomy interior.


I had a great night out with Jessie, James, Celia, Graeme, Nikki and Olly last Friday. On Saturday they and James' (and Graeme's) parents visited Buckingham Palace. For budgetary reasons, and because lavish decoration does start to pale after a while, I skipped the Palace and joined them later at the Royal Academy of the Arts, to be meet by a very long queue for the exhibition. On Sunday I caught up with Caroline who cooked me a lovely meal.


I had lunch with Manuela yesterday in Marylebone. It was all very nice until we went to leave and realised that Manuela's handbag had been stolen! Luckily she did not have much of value in it. However, her house had been burgled on Monday, so she was not having a good week. Manuela's mobile phone was found today, but not her handbag. Yesterday evening I had a long chat with Ernie over a few pints.

Jame's recently commented that he thought my blog was perhaps not "personal" enough. I agree that my thoughts and feelings are rarely expressed other than in a cursory manner. However, on the whole, I think that this blog is remarkably open, at least for me. Should I reveal more? Well, as OMC said, "Wanna know the rest? Hey, buy the rights..."

Wales

I spent four nice days with Jane, Ian and the kids after returning from Europe. On Wednesday I drove to Snowdonia in Wales. I was caught in a massive traffic jam on the M25 for two hours trying to leave London, but it cleared just before I was about to give up and go home. I camped for three nights in Snowdonia in a camping ground that was at least half mud. On Thursday night there was a big storm but my tent held up well. My goal in Wales was to do a few of the things that I had not had a chance to do when I visited last Easter. Top of my list was to climb Mt Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. The day was not great but the climb was relatively easy. It was very crowded at the top, with a lot of people having come up on the narrow gauge railway that goes to the top of Mt Snowdon (the "cheats" route). Climbing Mt Snowdon meant that I had climbed the highest peak in each of England, Wales and Scotland (as well as the highest peak in Ireland). Climbing those peaks was not exactly the same as climbing Mt Everest without oxygen but it has been fun. On top of Snowdon-

On Friday I went on the narrow gauge railway from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog and back. The railway winds through a picturesqe route in the countryside. I also visited Portmeirion, a small Italianite village in Wales. It was built by an eccentric Englishman over 50 years from 1925. It is a place I have wanted to visit for a long time, as it was featured in the TV series "The Prisoner". I had watched repeats of "The Prisoner" in NZ in the 80s. Portmeirion village-

On Saturday morning I went on a tramp to Molwyn Bach, a "mountain" near Blaenau Ffestiniog I had visited last year, when it was covered in snow. So it was interesting to see it in the "summer" (top temperature about 18C with intermittent showers). On Saturday afternoon I drove to Liverpool, because it was relatively close and because I was curious about it. On the way I stopped on Bounday Road in Chester. As the picture shows it looks like an ordinary suburban street. Except that the houses on the left hand side are in England and those on the right are in Wales. It is the only urban area on the English/Welsh border where this happens (and as far as I am aware there is no equivalent place on the English/Scottish border). It would be fascinating to learn more about the place. For example, do people on the English side have English accents and those on the Welsh side Welsh accents? I could have knocked on a few doors to find out but I do not think that they would have welcomed my interest.

I cannot say that Liverpool is the nicest city I have visited but it was pleasant enough and the Scousers add atmosphere. On Sunday night I stayed with Nikki and Olly in Chippenham. Nikki's friend Jordan (a NZ guy) also stayed. On Sunday we visited Avebury (more standing stones) and the White Horse of Uffington (my third visit but still one of my favourite spots in England). I drove back to London in the afternoon with Jordan, who needed to catch a train from London.

Travelling to Wales completed the itinerary I had put together in April for my travels with my car. So my next goal is to sell the Focus and to then prepare for my trip to Thailand and my return to NZ.

Belgium

I spent my first night in Belgium in Antwerp. Scandalously, I did not sight see in Antwerp (or buy a diamond). My main goal in northern Belgium was to visit the town of Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog. Baarle-Hertog is a Belgium enclave within the southern part of the Netherlands. The Belgium bits are not continuous, but are scattered around the town in sections. The result is that, as you walk down the main street, you cross the border of Belgium and the Netherlands several times. Border markers on the main street-

The Dutch part of town is called Baarle-Nassau. A map helps to make a little more sense of what I am talking about-

There are border markers in some parts of town. Otherwise, the most obvious sign that you have crossed the border is that the number plates on the cars change. The locals have taken advantage of the situation. For example, there are several shops selling fireworks in the Belgium parts of town- the sale of fireworks is more strictly controlled in the Netherlands. And in the Dutch parts of town there are several brothels, for corresponding reasons. Me in front of the house with two buildings numbers (because the border passes through the front door!)-

I spent two nights in Bruges. Bruges is another place that had a golden era followed by hundreds of years of relative poverty, in Bruges's case because the canal leading to the the city silted up. So the city was preserved and is now home to many many Australian backpackers. Bruges is lovely-

The city of Ypres is about an hour's drive from Bruges (nowhere is very far from anywhere else in Belgium) and is another war themed destination, this time in relation to World War 1. Ypres was on the western front throughout the war and was completely destroyed. The battle of Passchendaele was fought nearby. I visited the very good In Flanders Fields museum, which has exhibits relating to the various battles for Ypres and the horrors of the war generally. Ypres was rebuilt after the war. The older buildings are exact replicas of the pre-war buildings. I visited the nearby "Yorkshire trench", which was excavated about 10 years ago. The trench system has been partly recreated. It is in the middle of an industrial estate-

On Saturday I took the ferry from Calais to Dover. I had a fantastic six weeks in continental Europe.

Germany

I spent a few days in Germany on my way back to the UK. I started in Dresden, a relatively short drive from Poland. Accommodation was hard to find and I ended up staying at a camping ground. If I had done a little research I would have discovered that it was the weekend of Dresden's annual festival. So I was quite lucky, as there were many free concerts and a carnival atmosphere. Although Dresden was in the former East Germany it does not look like a typical "Soviet block" city, with some exceptions-

Dresden is famous for its Baroque buildings. But it is most well known because of the destruction of the city and those buildings by Allied bombing during World War 2. The centre of the city has largely been rebuilt and it now looks much like it did before the war. I went on an excellent tour of the buildings. The guide showed photos of the burnt-out buildings taken after the bombing, to contrast the now perfectly reconstructed buildings. This view shows the Elbe river and the dome of Frauenkirche, a church that was destroyed in the bombing and which only reopened in 2005.

From Dresden I went to Rothenburg. Rothenburg had been a very prosperous town but it then fell on hard times. The happy result was that its medieval buildings were preserved. It is now a hugely popular tourist destination.

My final stop in Germany was in Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe is a very nice city and home to the German Supreme Court. But my reason for going to Karlsruhe was to visit my friend Linda. Linda and her mother Liliana were very hospitable and Liliana made very nice Croatian meals. Linda took me on tours of Karlsruhe, including her neighbourhood and the botanical gardens, as well as of nearby Ettlingen. We also went to Bad Herrenalb, a town on the northern edge of the Black Forest. We went for a pleasant walk in the Black Forest. Liliana, Me and Linda-

It was then goodbye to the autobahn and on to Belgium.

Poland

My first stop in Poland was Krakow. It was quite strange visiting Poland. It is one of those places that seemed very distant and "exotic". Krakow is the most popular tourist destination in Poland. Unlike many other Polish cities Krakow escaped destruction in World War 2 and is now a World Heritage Site. Krakow was the seat of Polish royalty for hundreds of years. I visited the Cathedral, which contains the tombs of royalty dating back hundreds of years. The central square of Krakow is huge and contains many spectacular buildings:

Not far from Krakow is Auschwitz/Birkenou, the complex of Nazi death camps. I spent the afternoon on a tour of the sites, which still contain many of the original buildings. It was very sobering seeing for real a place that I had only before seen in documentaries and movies. It is hard to comprehend that more than a million Jews were killed in that one area. But seeing the sites brought home to me that those events really happened, that the perpetrators and victims were real people and that the Holocaust really only happened relatively recently.

From Krakow I travelled to Wroclaw, a pleasant city with many Gothic and Baroque buildings. I had a day off in Wroclaw and took it easy. From Wroclaw it was a relatively short drive to Germany and the end of my travels in eastern Europe.