Thursday, September 30, 2004
The Killing Fields
Warning - probably not PG-rated.
Phill (although I speak for both of us) : 30/9 - Even though part of us didn't want to go, we visited the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek. For those of you unaware of Cambodian history, the short version is that it underwent a revolution back in 1975 with the Khmer Rouge taking control of the government. This group massively deceived the Cambodian people, and instead of becoming a benevolent Communist government, it began some sort of bizarre political "experiment". Depending on where you were in a city on that day (not where you lived), you were relocated to a different part of the country with a promise of safe return that was never kept. A school in Phnom Penh was taken over and turned into Security Prison 21 (S-21), where anyone that had differing political beliefs, anyone intelligent, and an untold number of random civilans were imprisoned. These prisoners were subjected to horrific conditions and torture, before eventually being taken out to Choeung Ek and killed. Only after the Khmer Rouge was years later overthrown, was the extent of their genocide known. Choeung Ek is just one of hundreds of "Killing Fields" found over Cambodia, but it is by far the largest where they have excavated 83 mass graves, containing the remains of almost 9000 people. After this many, work was discontinued by the government as it was causing upset to both the people there, and to the general public... there are many more graves that have been left untouched.
There seems to be no sane reason ever offered by the leader of the KR (Pol Pot) for these atrocities. It seems that in order to create his society in which everyone was equal, you had to begin by killing everyone in a position of authority or with a brain, which to Pol Pot meant doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, diplomats and even simply those wearing glasses. At The Killing Fields, the Cambodians have avoided over-development, in that they have built a solemn monument/temple that houses the skulls of the victims, and have a simple information board but have otherwise left the area untouched. This means that bits of clothing, bones and teeth are lying on the ground where you walk but it kind of better that way. Even then though, they have a souvenir shop outside the entrance - and don't talk to us about possibly raising money for good causes - there's an entry fee at the gate, and a donation box in the temple.
We weren't sure after this trip if I wanted to see S-21 (Tuol Sleng Museum) or not, and it was pretty depressing when we did. The KR were as meticulous in recording their crimes as the Nazi's were, and on display at this still strangely school-like prison are the thousands of photo's they took of the people they murdered. Also left behind are the bloodstains and torture devices from this heinous act committed against man and woman, child and grandparent with equal ruthlessness. They continued to torture people to death, even when the Vietnamese were kicking down the doors, and the photo's of those found still on the "racks" are displayed here for all to see.
It's sad that so many of the things we're seeing on our trip are the results of the worst that humans are capable of - but what's even more sad about S-21 is that unlike Hiroshima, there is no sense of hope. No-one has ever been brought to justice for this, nor is there are talk of measures in place to prevent something like this ever happening again. We left the A-Bomb museum upset, but with some faith in humankind... we left S-21 in tears.
Phill (although I speak for both of us) : 30/9 - Even though part of us didn't want to go, we visited the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek. For those of you unaware of Cambodian history, the short version is that it underwent a revolution back in 1975 with the Khmer Rouge taking control of the government. This group massively deceived the Cambodian people, and instead of becoming a benevolent Communist government, it began some sort of bizarre political "experiment". Depending on where you were in a city on that day (not where you lived), you were relocated to a different part of the country with a promise of safe return that was never kept. A school in Phnom Penh was taken over and turned into Security Prison 21 (S-21), where anyone that had differing political beliefs, anyone intelligent, and an untold number of random civilans were imprisoned. These prisoners were subjected to horrific conditions and torture, before eventually being taken out to Choeung Ek and killed. Only after the Khmer Rouge was years later overthrown, was the extent of their genocide known. Choeung Ek is just one of hundreds of "Killing Fields" found over Cambodia, but it is by far the largest where they have excavated 83 mass graves, containing the remains of almost 9000 people. After this many, work was discontinued by the government as it was causing upset to both the people there, and to the general public... there are many more graves that have been left untouched.
There seems to be no sane reason ever offered by the leader of the KR (Pol Pot) for these atrocities. It seems that in order to create his society in which everyone was equal, you had to begin by killing everyone in a position of authority or with a brain, which to Pol Pot meant doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, diplomats and even simply those wearing glasses. At The Killing Fields, the Cambodians have avoided over-development, in that they have built a solemn monument/temple that houses the skulls of the victims, and have a simple information board but have otherwise left the area untouched. This means that bits of clothing, bones and teeth are lying on the ground where you walk but it kind of better that way. Even then though, they have a souvenir shop outside the entrance - and don't talk to us about possibly raising money for good causes - there's an entry fee at the gate, and a donation box in the temple.
We weren't sure after this trip if I wanted to see S-21 (Tuol Sleng Museum) or not, and it was pretty depressing when we did. The KR were as meticulous in recording their crimes as the Nazi's were, and on display at this still strangely school-like prison are the thousands of photo's they took of the people they murdered. Also left behind are the bloodstains and torture devices from this heinous act committed against man and woman, child and grandparent with equal ruthlessness. They continued to torture people to death, even when the Vietnamese were kicking down the doors, and the photo's of those found still on the "racks" are displayed here for all to see.
It's sad that so many of the things we're seeing on our trip are the results of the worst that humans are capable of - but what's even more sad about S-21 is that unlike Hiroshima, there is no sense of hope. No-one has ever been brought to justice for this, nor is there are talk of measures in place to prevent something like this ever happening again. We left the A-Bomb museum upset, but with some faith in humankind... we left S-21 in tears.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Royal Palace (Phnom Penh)
Phill : 29/9 - Even though part of me just wanted to leave the country, our visa for Vietnam wasn't valid, so Ren coaxed me back into enjoying myself and we visited the Royal Palace. This is still a residence for the sCambodian royal family, but sections are open to the public. In particular, the Silver Pagoda, as we call it, the floor of which is entirely covered with silver tiles, each weighing 1Kg. Ren still thinks that it was fake, which I think may be a little biased, but I wouldn't be surprised at anything. The temple also houses their own Emerald Buddha, and more gold and silver images of the Buddha than I have seen in all the othre temples in our trip put together! There is also the matter of covering these scared places, and the pagoda that house the ashes of their kings, with fairy lights. Yup, the whole compound is lit at night up like Santa's coming to town on an oxen-pulled clapped-out bus!
To pass a little time before dinner, we went to the Foreign Correspondents Club - not entirely appreciating what it would be. This bar/restaurant is like travelling back to the colonies of the 1920s. Full of expats and journo's, with local staff waiting on you, I almost expected to see bearded and bespectacled British* Army majors come in from a hunting expedition at any moment.
*Of course, it was a French colony, but you know what I mean... maybe?
To pass a little time before dinner, we went to the Foreign Correspondents Club - not entirely appreciating what it would be. This bar/restaurant is like travelling back to the colonies of the 1920s. Full of expats and journo's, with local staff waiting on you, I almost expected to see bearded and bespectacled British* Army majors come in from a hunting expedition at any moment.
*Of course, it was a French colony, but you know what I mean... maybe?
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
The Totty Table 1
As another giggle, here is our current (joint-opinion) league table of women around the world:
1. Russian
2. Japanese
3. Thai
4. Chinese
5. Cambodian
1. Russian
2. Japanese
3. Thai
4. Chinese
5. Cambodian
Monday, September 27, 2004
Temples of Angkor Wat
Phill : 26/9 - Feeling decidedly uncomfortable, and seeing the hotel through eyes that were not at the end of a 14 hours journey, we got up early in the morning, and moved to a much nicer hotel down the street. Exhausted, we just took a nap, and did our "usual" of exploring the locale for restaurants and bars. So far, we didn't like sCambodian food much. We bumped into a couple from our bus trip - who were still convinced that the bus broke down, even though they admitted that things were pretty suspect. Ren assures me that sCambodia is a lot like India, and I can believe it. You cannot walk for 30 seconds without being harrassed by people. They're either trying to get you into their hotel/restaurant or get you to buy something, or just to give them money. Neither of us wre enjoying it. You can't walk, sleep, or sight-see, and conversations are impossible in public. Well... at least the beer's pretty good here. We booked a tour of the temples for the crack of dawn (sunrise is one of those things to do there) and crashed out.
27/9 - Unfortunately, it was chucking it down with rain, so Ren very kindly popped down to reception and cancelled the trip. By the time the rain had stopped, I had enough of a hangover to figure that if we'd missed sunrise, then we may as well catch up on sleep. The thing was, that both of us were starting to feel like we just wanted to move on to Vietnam already, so we decided in the end to get started on the temples at least before lunch.
It was a good move as Ren and I have turned out to be very compatible "tourists". We both like to spend the same amount of time in places, and both get fed up after seeing the same number of similar things. Many people insist that even 3 days isn't enough time at Angkor Wat, but we were done after 1 day. We can understand people that do want a week there, but it's not for us.
The temples are quite simply amazing - I doubt there are many places in the world where you can see something like this. There are so many temples, spread over the area, each with differences - such as the architecture, religion, or degree to which they've been left or restored. For the many of us that spent most of our lives not knowing about Angkor Wat, the largest temple - it was "made famous" by the Tomb Raider movie. Whilst that temple is impressive - it doesn't have the character of the others, and Ta Prohm which has been left for the jungle to overgrow is quite simply indescribable.
After so far not finishing a single Khmer meal, not through lack of hunger, but because we didn't like the taste, we "gave-in" and ate Western Food that night - Swiss Roesti for me, gimme those carbs!
27/9 - Unfortunately, it was chucking it down with rain, so Ren very kindly popped down to reception and cancelled the trip. By the time the rain had stopped, I had enough of a hangover to figure that if we'd missed sunrise, then we may as well catch up on sleep. The thing was, that both of us were starting to feel like we just wanted to move on to Vietnam already, so we decided in the end to get started on the temples at least before lunch.
It was a good move as Ren and I have turned out to be very compatible "tourists". We both like to spend the same amount of time in places, and both get fed up after seeing the same number of similar things. Many people insist that even 3 days isn't enough time at Angkor Wat, but we were done after 1 day. We can understand people that do want a week there, but it's not for us.
The temples are quite simply amazing - I doubt there are many places in the world where you can see something like this. There are so many temples, spread over the area, each with differences - such as the architecture, religion, or degree to which they've been left or restored. For the many of us that spent most of our lives not knowing about Angkor Wat, the largest temple - it was "made famous" by the Tomb Raider movie. Whilst that temple is impressive - it doesn't have the character of the others, and Ta Prohm which has been left for the jungle to overgrow is quite simply indescribable.
After so far not finishing a single Khmer meal, not through lack of hunger, but because we didn't like the taste, we "gave-in" and ate Western Food that night - Swiss Roesti for me, gimme those carbs!
Friday, September 24, 2004
A Financial Exchange
Phill : 24/9 - A note about money. Some of our friends were involved in a debate a while back about whether to haggle or not when travelling poorer countries. The exchange went something along the lines of:
"It's not fair to pay more than something is worth"
vs.
"What's an extra $1 to you, compared to $1 to them"
We now have this to add to the debate - when in SE Asia, you are subject to an odd form of discrimination. Many times certain rules only apply to non-Thai's, Cambodians can officially jump queues, and there are different prices if you are foreign. The Thai boxing cost us well over 10 times the price that locals pay - because locals certainly could not afford the $12 for the cheap seats. Can you imagine walking into a Beefeater Carvery (English Pub), and it having a menu with two columns for prices, one for White-Brits and one for Other? Also, could you imagine visiting someone in the USA, and when they buy a round in a bar, it's $10, but when you pay the guy openly charges you $17 because you're from the UK? I'd also be interested to see what this "imported money" does to local inflation. In just two years, the amount that kids ask from you to show you around a bit has gone up by 10 times! Food for thought, eh?
"It's not fair to pay more than something is worth"
vs.
"What's an extra $1 to you, compared to $1 to them"
We now have this to add to the debate - when in SE Asia, you are subject to an odd form of discrimination. Many times certain rules only apply to non-Thai's, Cambodians can officially jump queues, and there are different prices if you are foreign. The Thai boxing cost us well over 10 times the price that locals pay - because locals certainly could not afford the $12 for the cheap seats. Can you imagine walking into a Beefeater Carvery (English Pub), and it having a menu with two columns for prices, one for White-Brits and one for Other? Also, could you imagine visiting someone in the USA, and when they buy a round in a bar, it's $10, but when you pay the guy openly charges you $17 because you're from the UK? I'd also be interested to see what this "imported money" does to local inflation. In just two years, the amount that kids ask from you to show you around a bit has gone up by 10 times! Food for thought, eh?
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Scamming the Scammers
Phill : 23/9 - Continuing from our previous post about con-artists in Thailand, you really must trust us when we say just how good at their "job" they are. Should you ever be visiting SE Asia, you really should read about it here or even better here (page might be down though). Neither Ren or I are the sort of people to get caught by one of these, as neither of us cares much for trying to make a quick buck, but even then you could easily end up with a wasted afternoon or worse. There are a few reasons how we got caught up in one - but the main reason was the skill of the woman that first approached us... she was so convincing. She never once mentioned anywhere selling anything, just a passing comment about a Silk Factory that is giving free instruction on how to sort the high-quality Bangkok tailors/materials from the poor ones. We foolishly thought we'd finally met a genuinely nice Thai person that just wanted to suggest a few places to visit because we had no plans whatsoever for that day - she also managed to make it seem that Ren had bumped into her, not the other way around. As I said - very skillful. When she dashed back to help us get a good price from our tuk-tuk driver, it all seemed pretty innocent. She even said that the driver could collect some sort of meal voucher if he finished at that Tourist Police office (yes, there is such a thing) which suited us fine.
Finally, when given 2 minutes to think about it, I told Ren all about the scams and how this stank of one. We saw a pretty cool temple, but when our driver waited for us, we were even more suspicious - they don't wait for $1, no way. Our guards firmly back in place, we went to the next Wat, where sure enough, a well-dressed, fluent in English Thai man struck up a conversation. In short he showed us around, and spent all his time talking about how we couldn't travel in Cambodia/Laos without a package tour that we could get from the Tourism Assoc of Thailand (TAT). Yeah, right! Then he "spots" the alledged factory that the "friendly" woman marked on our map. Sure enough, they actually sell suits too, and they've got a promotion on right now, etc, etc. It's actually become funny by this point, as we let the guy dig his hole further by telling us how we really should save our next temple (Wat Sraket) for sunset, and then he leaves at the same time as us - what was he doing there??! Not so skilled, that scammer.
Sure enough... our driver now thinks we want to go to the factory. We politely inform him that we agreed to no such thing, and that we want to go to the next temple. He gets the idea from nowhere that we'd told him we wanted to go there at sunset (4 hours time!), again no. By this point he's already pulled up outside just another Bangkok suit shop that he claims is the "government factory" - sorry mate, no deal, take us to the temple. He starts complaining about not getting his food coupon, we tell him that we were told he could get it from the Tourist Police, he says no, I offer to take him to dinner, and so on. Eventually, he realises that they've mucked-up and asys he'll take us to the TAT. Another place we've not agreed to go, so we tell him to take us to the tourist police, he shows on my map that they are (indeed) next to each other, so we agree. It turns out that the woman deliberately mis-marked our map - very cunning. So although he takes all the correct turns - we end up outside a building that has "TAT" in huge lettering, but is actually a private travel shop, where a guy is already holding the door for us. No thanks - so we pay the driver and leg-it. Being travellers certainly hones your map-reading skills - and we quickly figured out where we were, which was happily walking distance from the last temple, which we discover shuts before sunset!
So overall, we got to fill our unplanned day, see 3 cool temples, and all for about $2. Serves the lying cheats right!
That evening, Ren had decided that she wanted to see some Muay Thai, so we went to the local boxing arena. In typical Thai Boxing fashion, the fights were a bit scrappy, but the atmosphere was electric, with loads of guys shouting and betting, and that crazy music played at a tempo to match the acton in the ring. A very good day in all.
Finally, when given 2 minutes to think about it, I told Ren all about the scams and how this stank of one. We saw a pretty cool temple, but when our driver waited for us, we were even more suspicious - they don't wait for $1, no way. Our guards firmly back in place, we went to the next Wat, where sure enough, a well-dressed, fluent in English Thai man struck up a conversation. In short he showed us around, and spent all his time talking about how we couldn't travel in Cambodia/Laos without a package tour that we could get from the Tourism Assoc of Thailand (TAT). Yeah, right! Then he "spots" the alledged factory that the "friendly" woman marked on our map. Sure enough, they actually sell suits too, and they've got a promotion on right now, etc, etc. It's actually become funny by this point, as we let the guy dig his hole further by telling us how we really should save our next temple (Wat Sraket) for sunset, and then he leaves at the same time as us - what was he doing there??! Not so skilled, that scammer.
Sure enough... our driver now thinks we want to go to the factory. We politely inform him that we agreed to no such thing, and that we want to go to the next temple. He gets the idea from nowhere that we'd told him we wanted to go there at sunset (4 hours time!), again no. By this point he's already pulled up outside just another Bangkok suit shop that he claims is the "government factory" - sorry mate, no deal, take us to the temple. He starts complaining about not getting his food coupon, we tell him that we were told he could get it from the Tourist Police, he says no, I offer to take him to dinner, and so on. Eventually, he realises that they've mucked-up and asys he'll take us to the TAT. Another place we've not agreed to go, so we tell him to take us to the tourist police, he shows on my map that they are (indeed) next to each other, so we agree. It turns out that the woman deliberately mis-marked our map - very cunning. So although he takes all the correct turns - we end up outside a building that has "TAT" in huge lettering, but is actually a private travel shop, where a guy is already holding the door for us. No thanks - so we pay the driver and leg-it. Being travellers certainly hones your map-reading skills - and we quickly figured out where we were, which was happily walking distance from the last temple, which we discover shuts before sunset!
So overall, we got to fill our unplanned day, see 3 cool temples, and all for about $2. Serves the lying cheats right!
That evening, Ren had decided that she wanted to see some Muay Thai, so we went to the local boxing arena. In typical Thai Boxing fashion, the fights were a bit scrappy, but the atmosphere was electric, with loads of guys shouting and betting, and that crazy music played at a tempo to match the acton in the ring. A very good day in all.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Thai Torture (AKA Massage)
Phill : 22/9 - Time to do some sight-seeing. We spent just about the whole day taking an audio tour of the Grand Palace and it's Wat (temple) called Phra Kaeo, and a guided-tour of Wat Po. All the way along our walk to these attractions, we were constantly harrassed by the "Thai-Scammers". These are so-called "friendly Thai" people that call out to you "Where are you going?" (or they guess), and then tell you that that attraction is closed. Others try and tell you that the entrance is "over there", where I'm sure you'd find some official looking scammer telling you "sorry, closed". It's all to try and get you to take a cheap tuk-tuk ride around temples so long as you go to their suit/gem/travel shop for them to get their commission. It wouldn't be such a bad thing, if it weren't for you missing your chosen attraction, being lied to, and that the shops are almost always selling poor-quality goods at inflated prices.
The Palace was a bit crowded, but very impressive - and the temple containing the Emerald Buddha was beautifully opulent and managed to remain serene in spite of the numbers of tourists. The Emerald (Jasper) Buddha is a bit small and far away, but is an impressive carving none-the-less.
Wat Po contains the enormous gold-covered reclining Buddha, as well as many pagoda and the main school teaching Thai Massage. Figuring that the massage would be good here, we signed up for a hour each for about $12 total. What followed for me can only be described as an hour of torture. For those that have never had one, a Thai massage is otherwise known as acupressure - they apply pressure using their body-weight to specific points along and between your muscles. It's agony - I have honestly been to martial-arts seminars on "pressure-points" that were less painful. They did unlock the vertebrae in my pelvis that had been bothering me, and some of the back-of-leg stuff was badly needed, but I won't be doing that again! Ren seems to quite enjoy them - perhaps if you ask her, she can explain why, because I can't!
The Palace was a bit crowded, but very impressive - and the temple containing the Emerald Buddha was beautifully opulent and managed to remain serene in spite of the numbers of tourists. The Emerald (Jasper) Buddha is a bit small and far away, but is an impressive carving none-the-less.
Wat Po contains the enormous gold-covered reclining Buddha, as well as many pagoda and the main school teaching Thai Massage. Figuring that the massage would be good here, we signed up for a hour each for about $12 total. What followed for me can only be described as an hour of torture. For those that have never had one, a Thai massage is otherwise known as acupressure - they apply pressure using their body-weight to specific points along and between your muscles. It's agony - I have honestly been to martial-arts seminars on "pressure-points" that were less painful. They did unlock the vertebrae in my pelvis that had been bothering me, and some of the back-of-leg stuff was badly needed, but I won't be doing that again! Ren seems to quite enjoy them - perhaps if you ask her, she can explain why, because I can't!
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Khao Yai - White Water Rafting
Phill : 19/9 - An early start was follwed by a long drive from Bangkok, partly because half of it was down dirt tracks rather than roads. I never thought with my weak swimming, that I'd go white water rafting, but here we were, with a bunch of about 30 teachers (& co) and I was really looking forward to it. Lunch was provided, and although a lot of it was plain, the fresh calamari was delicious. We had to trek 2km along a path through the jungle to get to the start-point, which was a fantastic experience, both for the sights and sounds, as well as for the chance to get to know some of the guys a bit better. The rafting was great - about 4 raft loads of people - and a really nice introduction to the sport (not too scarey!). Matt even managed to persuade me to jump in with everyone and have a swim around in one of the calm sections - even if climbing back into the raft reminded me that I still have a bit more weight to lose! The rest of the afternoon was spent going over the river on a fly-line (death-slide), trying to shake people off the wire-rope-bridge (which some of the gang managed to break!), and jumping from the fairly-bloomin'-high bridge into the river. Sadly, my confidence in the water wasn't enough to do those, but "small steps", as they say.
It was easier for everyone to just take us back to Pattaya which we did in convoy with lots of the others, leading to the usual deliquent road-trip activities. Going back actually turned out really well - as it gave us a bit more time with Rach and Danni, who very kindly let me use their laptop to transfer some pictures onto CD (coming soon, but again via snail-mail, so please don't hound me too much!). They also suggested the perfect end to the day - pizza and a movie, bliss! If you're reading this guys... thanks again!
It was easier for everyone to just take us back to Pattaya which we did in convoy with lots of the others, leading to the usual deliquent road-trip activities. Going back actually turned out really well - as it gave us a bit more time with Rach and Danni, who very kindly let me use their laptop to transfer some pictures onto CD (coming soon, but again via snail-mail, so please don't hound me too much!). They also suggested the perfect end to the day - pizza and a movie, bliss! If you're reading this guys... thanks again!
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Big-M and the Tuk-Tuks
Phill: 18/9 - So at some horrible hour of the morning, seven of us piled into Big M, and set off for Bangkok. I'm certainly glad that I wasn't doing any driving as the traffic is crazy enough when you're spectating! The trip was a great laugh, with blonde haired, blue-eyed Rachel (not to be confused with Rachel [and Danni]) waving and saying hello to every Thai person she saw... Mind you, they do kind of stare at her a lot. We also passed a chain of a couple of hundred motorbikes... Oh, how we were the only ones laughing when Matt swerved in between the lead car and the photography truck for us to wave and smile!
Needless to say, we got completely lost until Danni had the great idea of jumping into a taxi, and following that to our Guesthouse. The guesthouse was pants, so we set off again to find another place nearby, and yup, we got lost again. Bangkok is not an easy place to drive around, and Matt was doing a good enough job just not crashing into anyone, so eventually we gave up, parked the truck and went to the nearest hotel, whatever the cost. We ended up in Silom Village.
So, with most of the girls shopping opportunities crushed, we crazily squeezed five of us into a tuk-tuk (a 2-3 person motorised rikshaw) and went to the famous Khao San Road. Ironically, we're the only backpackers in the world that haven't been there - and we're glad! We've learnt that we're not the typical backpackers from the fact that we refuse to put having fun/clean bathrooms/rubbish transport as things of secondary importance to our budget. Each person travels their own way, and we've decided that for us, we'd rather enjoy it more, and be there for a little less time. Anyway...
Th Khao San is a mid-length pedestrian street in the West of Bangkok where the cheapest places to stay are sought out by travellers. It's a market bazaar, full of fake designer goods, western pubs and Western-Thai restaurants where everyone speaks English. It's not all bad, for example - the businesses all seem to be Thai, so if you want your hair-braided, or to pay the actual value for a pair of Levis you'd be supporting the local economy.
After a beer or two, we were all pretty exhausted, so we persuaded two tuk-tuks to take the 7 of us back, and to race all the way! A race made even more fun by Matt trying to punch people as he went overtook, and (blonde) Rachel mooning the wrong tuk-tuk and shocking a Thai family (well, Mum was shocked, Dad and Son thought it was amusing - I bet they've never seen anything so white!).
That night, we found our chant - "Chee Sin Thai", the only way we could find the say "Cheers, In Thai" (sic).
Needless to say, we got completely lost until Danni had the great idea of jumping into a taxi, and following that to our Guesthouse. The guesthouse was pants, so we set off again to find another place nearby, and yup, we got lost again. Bangkok is not an easy place to drive around, and Matt was doing a good enough job just not crashing into anyone, so eventually we gave up, parked the truck and went to the nearest hotel, whatever the cost. We ended up in Silom Village.
So, with most of the girls shopping opportunities crushed, we crazily squeezed five of us into a tuk-tuk (a 2-3 person motorised rikshaw) and went to the famous Khao San Road. Ironically, we're the only backpackers in the world that haven't been there - and we're glad! We've learnt that we're not the typical backpackers from the fact that we refuse to put having fun/clean bathrooms/rubbish transport as things of secondary importance to our budget. Each person travels their own way, and we've decided that for us, we'd rather enjoy it more, and be there for a little less time. Anyway...
Th Khao San is a mid-length pedestrian street in the West of Bangkok where the cheapest places to stay are sought out by travellers. It's a market bazaar, full of fake designer goods, western pubs and Western-Thai restaurants where everyone speaks English. It's not all bad, for example - the businesses all seem to be Thai, so if you want your hair-braided, or to pay the actual value for a pair of Levis you'd be supporting the local economy.
After a beer or two, we were all pretty exhausted, so we persuaded two tuk-tuks to take the 7 of us back, and to race all the way! A race made even more fun by Matt trying to punch people as he went overtook, and (blonde) Rachel mooning the wrong tuk-tuk and shocking a Thai family (well, Mum was shocked, Dad and Son thought it was amusing - I bet they've never seen anything so white!).
That night, we found our chant - "Chee Sin Thai", the only way we could find the say "Cheers, In Thai" (sic).
Friday, September 17, 2004
Finally... Photo's
Thanks to our good friend Steve back in the UK, we have uploading our first batch of pictures for those of you interested. If you look at the side bar over there on the right, you may notice that our list of destinations (with the links to Lonely Planet maps and info if you want to know more about the countries we're in) has moved towards the bottom. At the top are the Photo's links in the side bar, sorted by destination, or until this post gets archived, you can use the links below:
Moscow - Beijing - T-M Railway - Tokyo - Kyoto(1)
Moscow - Beijing - T-M Railway - Tokyo - Kyoto(1)
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Pattaya Vice (not quite Miami)
Phill : 16/9 - The time had come for us to leave Ko Samet, as we were getting decidedly keen to start travelling again. We figured that there would be travel places to sort out our Visas for us in Pattaya and we really enjoyed the guys company at the weekend before, so we figured we'd take them up on their offer to come visit. Soon we found ourselves back at Ban Phe, not looking forward to having to take a cramped mini-bus to Pattaya when luck helped us out as there were two Scottish guys (Andy and Andy) that were also heading for Pattaya and had worked out that we'd save 3 hours if we shared a cab for an extra $1 each. Sorted!
Entering Pattaya was a real eye-opener. Neither Ren or I have ever been to a "Benidorm-style" place abroad, where it's basically like Britain, with strange accents and better weather. It was crazy seeing Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Sizzler and having everyone speak English everywhere. There were also more Westerners than we'd since in months, and it was a little bit strange. Still... our $18 per night room in a nice hotel with a swimming pool on the roof made up for that pretty quickly.
We tried to meet up with the girls that night, but got a bit lost and instead had a tour of the section of town for which Pattaya is famous... Walking Street is noise, neon, and naughtiness. Almost every building is a go-go bar or massage parlour, and there is no subtlety whatsoever. It's one of those other "images of Thailand" that you have, with girls calling out for you to join them at every bar you stroll past. Every Western guy you see walking along the street, day or night, has a young, little Thai girl on his arm. After seeing the sight, we called it a night - it's one of those things that's all a bit too much when you first experience it.
Entering Pattaya was a real eye-opener. Neither Ren or I have ever been to a "Benidorm-style" place abroad, where it's basically like Britain, with strange accents and better weather. It was crazy seeing Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Sizzler and having everyone speak English everywhere. There were also more Westerners than we'd since in months, and it was a little bit strange. Still... our $18 per night room in a nice hotel with a swimming pool on the roof made up for that pretty quickly.
We tried to meet up with the girls that night, but got a bit lost and instead had a tour of the section of town for which Pattaya is famous... Walking Street is noise, neon, and naughtiness. Almost every building is a go-go bar or massage parlour, and there is no subtlety whatsoever. It's one of those other "images of Thailand" that you have, with girls calling out for you to join them at every bar you stroll past. Every Western guy you see walking along the street, day or night, has a young, little Thai girl on his arm. After seeing the sight, we called it a night - it's one of those things that's all a bit too much when you first experience it.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Not Just The Booze Comes in Buckets!
Phill : 12/9 to 15/9 - Well, we finally found out why they call it the rainy season! Sunday morning, it chucked it down, for hours! Our new-found comrades decided to head home early leaving us suddenly very alone. It was strange how used to people's company you can get in such a short space of time. Not only that, but everyone else left Ko Samet that day too. The next few days were spend dashing down to the beach when the sun came out, and watching movies in the restaurant when it rained. All in all - perfect R&R.
We did make one mistake though - we both forgot that the anti-Malarials that we're taking often cause photo-sensitivity. That's our excuse, and we're sticking to it - I can't think of any other reason why we'd get very sunburnt, very quickly, when out in the near-equitorial blazing sun on a beach in our swimming costumes, with no sun-cream!
We did make one mistake though - we both forgot that the anti-Malarials that we're taking often cause photo-sensitivity. That's our excuse, and we're sticking to it - I can't think of any other reason why we'd get very sunburnt, very quickly, when out in the near-equitorial blazing sun on a beach in our swimming costumes, with no sun-cream!
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Chang-over
Phill : 11/9 - Well, we now know what a Changover feels like. Sure it's a bad pun, but that beer is bloomin' strong! I guess the spirits didn't help much either though. The activity for that day was pretty much decided for us - sleep, eat, sleep, recover. The Teachers kindly invited us to join them for dinner that night, which we did, and enjoyed, but then the real fun started when Danni, Rachel, Matt, Ren and I went to Tok's bar to watch the fire-show... and play some games.
Drinking games with buckets of spirits is entertaining to say the least. After learning how to play "G'Day Bruce", and losing horribly, we tried to introduce the "Clapping Game", and "This is the Witch" - but it was too late as at least one person each time just couldn't follow it at all.
The fire show was really cool - I mean, as a guy, you've gotta hate the bloke doing it, not just for his superb physique, but also because he plays with fire and looks cool doing it - I've got some stunning photo's of it, which will be making their way to the web, albeit somewhat slowly!
It's at this point that Matt introduces us to the "Dice Game", based loosely upon the book "The Dice Man". You each get given a number on the die, and each specify a "dare" that you will perform if your number comes up. You can make the dare as tame or wild as you like, but the idea is to push your own limits. With no dice available, Matt wrote numbers on paper scraps, and put them in his hand to be drawn.
Danni had in the past been unbelievably unlucky at this game, and sure enough, her number comes up and she finds herself doing unmentionable things to a beer bottle in front of one of the bar-staff. Whilst it was painful to watch, there was something hilarious about seeing the unimpressed barman's face, as we worked out that he was probably "batting for the other team" himself.
Katy and Phil join us, and more numbers are added, and more dares stated. With odds of 35 to 1, Danni loses again and it's only after she has spun around an oar on the beach, ran-up the step to the bar (several falls in the process) and downed a beer, that Phil joking suggests that the odds are stcked against her. Oh... how we laughed when all except one of the numbers was Danni's. Honourably enough, Matt took his own dare, and the rest of the evening went downhill from there. The less said about Rachel's enthusiam for being slapped in the face, and slapping Matt in the face, the better!
Drinking games with buckets of spirits is entertaining to say the least. After learning how to play "G'Day Bruce", and losing horribly, we tried to introduce the "Clapping Game", and "This is the Witch" - but it was too late as at least one person each time just couldn't follow it at all.
The fire show was really cool - I mean, as a guy, you've gotta hate the bloke doing it, not just for his superb physique, but also because he plays with fire and looks cool doing it - I've got some stunning photo's of it, which will be making their way to the web, albeit somewhat slowly!
It's at this point that Matt introduces us to the "Dice Game", based loosely upon the book "The Dice Man". You each get given a number on the die, and each specify a "dare" that you will perform if your number comes up. You can make the dare as tame or wild as you like, but the idea is to push your own limits. With no dice available, Matt wrote numbers on paper scraps, and put them in his hand to be drawn.
Danni had in the past been unbelievably unlucky at this game, and sure enough, her number comes up and she finds herself doing unmentionable things to a beer bottle in front of one of the bar-staff. Whilst it was painful to watch, there was something hilarious about seeing the unimpressed barman's face, as we worked out that he was probably "batting for the other team" himself.
Katy and Phil join us, and more numbers are added, and more dares stated. With odds of 35 to 1, Danni loses again and it's only after she has spun around an oar on the beach, ran-up the step to the bar (several falls in the process) and downed a beer, that Phil joking suggests that the odds are stcked against her. Oh... how we laughed when all except one of the numbers was Danni's. Honourably enough, Matt took his own dare, and the rest of the evening went downhill from there. The less said about Rachel's enthusiam for being slapped in the face, and slapping Matt in the face, the better!
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
One Last Luxury
Phill : 8/8 - As we had some time to make up, we took a Shinkansen bullet train straight to Tokyo, those things are still amazing, even if the rigid safety and procedure training make the driver and other staff look like bizarre Jim Henson automatons. You kind of have to see it, but they do this thing where there talk to themselves about what they're doing, and each thing has an associated gesture. For example, the platform guard will stand at the edge as a train approaches, and says something like:
"Train approaching, number 356"
(points at train, points out number and checks it matches)
"I'm standing at the spot for car 7"
(points at icon on floor that reads 'car 7')
"Door for car 7 has stopped next to me"
(points at car number)
"At 17:58"
(starts stopwatch)
"10 seconds, doors open, people getting off"
"45 seconds, all people off"
(check stopwatch)
"60 seconds, blow whistle [pheeeep!], to hurry people on the train"
(watch stopwatch)
"15 seconds to leave, check all doors clear and signal for door close"
(points at each and every train door to ensure it's clear, and closes them, stops stopwatch at 2 minutes)
"Wave goodbye to train, as it leaves on time, to the exact second"
It's really weird, but that's why they've never had a fatal accident I guess, even with trains that do well over 300 km/h.
Thanks to a temporary closeure, we'd missed the Sony Building in Tokyo, so we dropped in there to see all the cutting edge toys that they're bringing out soon - bit of a "boys" moment although some of the "cute", tiny MP3 players had Ren quite interested and she's a sucker for movies so quite liked the superbit DVDs on plasma screens.
We then went to our hotel at the airport - our last luxury for a while, before we took our flight to Thailand. I ate some Western food in the restaurant, and we both had a great laugh at my inability to use cutlery anymore!
"Train approaching, number 356"
(points at train, points out number and checks it matches)
"I'm standing at the spot for car 7"
(points at icon on floor that reads 'car 7')
"Door for car 7 has stopped next to me"
(points at car number)
"At 17:58"
(starts stopwatch)
"10 seconds, doors open, people getting off"
"45 seconds, all people off"
(check stopwatch)
"60 seconds, blow whistle [pheeeep!], to hurry people on the train"
(watch stopwatch)
"15 seconds to leave, check all doors clear and signal for door close"
(points at each and every train door to ensure it's clear, and closes them, stops stopwatch at 2 minutes)
"Wave goodbye to train, as it leaves on time, to the exact second"
It's really weird, but that's why they've never had a fatal accident I guess, even with trains that do well over 300 km/h.
Thanks to a temporary closeure, we'd missed the Sony Building in Tokyo, so we dropped in there to see all the cutting edge toys that they're bringing out soon - bit of a "boys" moment although some of the "cute", tiny MP3 players had Ren quite interested and she's a sucker for movies so quite liked the superbit DVDs on plasma screens.
We then went to our hotel at the airport - our last luxury for a while, before we took our flight to Thailand. I ate some Western food in the restaurant, and we both had a great laugh at my inability to use cutlery anymore!
Monday, September 06, 2004
Drowned atop a Volcano!
Phill : 6/9 - We got up early, partly to get to Mt Aso, partly to get out of our accomodation. After a fascinating train-ride where the train went up steep sections of mountain, by going forward, changing lines, going backward, etc, etc. The Japanese trains are unbelievable by the way, I could rave about them for hours - a synopsis would be: clean, comfortable, hi-tech, accurate to the second, always , the seats turn around (so you can setup a group of four, or face the other way if the train changes direction), 275km/h !!!, conductors bow when entering or leaving a carriage, and much more!
Anyway, after yet more perfect tourist info, we take a bus up the mountain, and then take a cable car up to the top of the volcano. Yup, that's right, you can go up, and look down into the smoking crater! It's pretty amazing. However, by this point, Typhoon 18 was making it's presence known, and instead of fire it was water that was our main concern as we got hit by torrential rain and hailstones! Awesome. If you ever go see it, make sure you stop in the gallery and see the cool photo's that professionals have take of the volcano.
Anyway, after yet more perfect tourist info, we take a bus up the mountain, and then take a cable car up to the top of the volcano. Yup, that's right, you can go up, and look down into the smoking crater! It's pretty amazing. However, by this point, Typhoon 18 was making it's presence known, and instead of fire it was water that was our main concern as we got hit by torrential rain and hailstones! Awesome. If you ever go see it, make sure you stop in the gallery and see the cool photo's that professionals have take of the volcano.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Castle'd-out
5/9 - Upon arriving at Kumamoto, we tried calling our next Ryokan again, because Lonely Planet says that the guy that runs the place will pick you up from the station. The Japanese speaking woman that once again answered the phone, managed to communicate that we had to get a taxi and we began to wonder what we were letting ourselves in for. The Minshuku (Japanese for B&B) is up on the hill with a fantastic view of the city, particularly at night. Although we still ahve no idea, we believe that the English speaking man that used to run the place is no longer around, and that his friendly, generous wife (or widow) is left in charge. Whilst we both felt terrible for saying it, there's something not so great about staying somewhere where the owner is partially-sighted and insists on making conversation even though you can't understand a word she's saying, and know enough Japanese to tell her. It did lead to some decidely funny moments, however awkward though... Such as when she gave us a wet face towel to wipe our hands and face when we arrived - and mine had some several-day-old rice in it, that I rubbed into my forehead before I realised. And that because one of the words she did know was "shower", she delighted in asking us if we wanted to shower, when we did want to shower, had we showered, and when did we want to shower tomorrow. When she cooked us up some mochi on our last night there, and have Ren some very dirty cutlery (silverware), we were looking forward to leaving... but leaving Kumamoto wasn't going to be that easy... but that's a story for "tomorrow".
The rest of Kumamoto included another castle (we're done with castles now, and have no idea what possessed us to see 3 in as many weeks), a fantastic guided tour of an old Shogun's mansion house and more importantly Renee got to see the Japanese rock garden that she'd been longing for since we arrived. It was pretty cool.
It's funny though how you start to crave some contact with other Westerners, even though you also kind of avoid them. Being surrounded by a language you really don't understand all the time does strange things, like when Ren was wondering when the girl singing on the radio was going to start singing in English because she'd forgotten where she was!
The rest of Kumamoto included another castle (we're done with castles now, and have no idea what possessed us to see 3 in as many weeks), a fantastic guided tour of an old Shogun's mansion house and more importantly Renee got to see the Japanese rock garden that she'd been longing for since we arrived. It was pretty cool.
It's funny though how you start to crave some contact with other Westerners, even though you also kind of avoid them. Being surrounded by a language you really don't understand all the time does strange things, like when Ren was wondering when the girl singing on the radio was going to start singing in English because she'd forgotten where she was!
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Koichi-san and Ryu-san
Phill : 3/9 - The next morning, as is customary in a Ryokan, we got up at the ungodly hour of 7am and went to breakfast. Well, the Japanese sure do eat some interesting things! Twelve dishes again, with everything from sweetened bean-curd to pickles, and rainbow trout to soup. Eating a sunny-side-up fried-egg with chopsticks is a challenge!
We set off to see the gorge by daylight, and even if we couldn't take boats out under the waterfalls thanks to Typhoon 17. it was still worth seeing.
Later we took a scenic-train all the way down the coast to Kagoshima, seeing yet more Japanese honesty in action where a woman handed in money left in a ticket machine. That night we went out looking for some beers in a Japanese bar, but it's kind of tricky as most places are either Izekaya (bar-food), or more like night-clubs - not to mention the fact that English-speaking tourists are catered for less and less as we travel further South. For the first time on our travels, we gave up and went to a "Western" bar called Heaven Hill. This still turned out to be the sort of place that you really are supposed to order food, so we got some pizza and garlic-toast (think about it, it really should be called toast) and had a few beers. Then the bar owner, Koichi and his ship-mate Ryu, and all hell broke loose. After exchanging pleasantries I asked if he had any Shochu (the spirit version of Sake, made from sweet potatoes in this region). He seemed pleased and impressed. When Ren and I both turned down any form of mixer, he was shocked, but so impressed that he then made us try another one with ice on the house. At this point, Ryu decides we need to try some more food, and I think you can see where this is going! Several rounds, fish (eaten whole), sausages, and the best popcorn in the world (Ren's expert opinion) later and Koichi invites us to his home the following night to watch a fireworks display that's on in the bay. Unsure, but also too polite to refuse, we get directions, learn the Japanese for "Please don't feed me anymore!" and wander back to our lodgings.
4/9 - Slightly hungover is not the way to visit an active volcano! Just kidding, the ferry to Sakurajima volcano gave some fantastic views of Kagoshima city, even though on the volcanic peninsula it was impossible to find anything - they really aren't used to English speakers coming here too often. Again, we were thwarted by Typhoon 17, as the Lava Trail was closed, but we did get to the main observation point in the lava rock fields from the last major eruption. Despite the heavy and sudden showers, we both got sun-burnt, and were entertained by some japanese school-kids practising their English on us... from a distance! A few frantic hours were then spent running around shopping for a gift to take to Koichi-san's house (serious custom in Japan), booking our next accomodation entirely in Japanese (nice one Ren, even if she wasn't entirely sure if it had worked), and getting clean for the evening.
Koichi-san's invite was to a party, on the rooftop (3rd floor), with lots of family, friends, food, drinks, and a fantastic view of the fireworks display - featuring the biggest fireworks we'd ever seen - especially considering that the noise of them took over 3 seconds to reach us! It was a really lovely evening, and the constant supply of food and drink showed us yet more of Japanese generosity, but it did highlight to us just how badly we are missing English-conversation. Travelling is amazing, but it's definitely hard work sometimes.
We set off to see the gorge by daylight, and even if we couldn't take boats out under the waterfalls thanks to Typhoon 17. it was still worth seeing.
Later we took a scenic-train all the way down the coast to Kagoshima, seeing yet more Japanese honesty in action where a woman handed in money left in a ticket machine. That night we went out looking for some beers in a Japanese bar, but it's kind of tricky as most places are either Izekaya (bar-food), or more like night-clubs - not to mention the fact that English-speaking tourists are catered for less and less as we travel further South. For the first time on our travels, we gave up and went to a "Western" bar called Heaven Hill. This still turned out to be the sort of place that you really are supposed to order food, so we got some pizza and garlic-toast (think about it, it really should be called toast) and had a few beers. Then the bar owner, Koichi and his ship-mate Ryu, and all hell broke loose. After exchanging pleasantries I asked if he had any Shochu (the spirit version of Sake, made from sweet potatoes in this region). He seemed pleased and impressed. When Ren and I both turned down any form of mixer, he was shocked, but so impressed that he then made us try another one with ice on the house. At this point, Ryu decides we need to try some more food, and I think you can see where this is going! Several rounds, fish (eaten whole), sausages, and the best popcorn in the world (Ren's expert opinion) later and Koichi invites us to his home the following night to watch a fireworks display that's on in the bay. Unsure, but also too polite to refuse, we get directions, learn the Japanese for "Please don't feed me anymore!" and wander back to our lodgings.
4/9 - Slightly hungover is not the way to visit an active volcano! Just kidding, the ferry to Sakurajima volcano gave some fantastic views of Kagoshima city, even though on the volcanic peninsula it was impossible to find anything - they really aren't used to English speakers coming here too often. Again, we were thwarted by Typhoon 17, as the Lava Trail was closed, but we did get to the main observation point in the lava rock fields from the last major eruption. Despite the heavy and sudden showers, we both got sun-burnt, and were entertained by some japanese school-kids practising their English on us... from a distance! A few frantic hours were then spent running around shopping for a gift to take to Koichi-san's house (serious custom in Japan), booking our next accomodation entirely in Japanese (nice one Ren, even if she wasn't entirely sure if it had worked), and getting clean for the evening.
Koichi-san's invite was to a party, on the rooftop (3rd floor), with lots of family, friends, food, drinks, and a fantastic view of the fireworks display - featuring the biggest fireworks we'd ever seen - especially considering that the noise of them took over 3 seconds to reach us! It was a really lovely evening, and the constant supply of food and drink showed us yet more of Japanese generosity, but it did highlight to us just how badly we are missing English-conversation. Travelling is amazing, but it's definitely hard work sometimes.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Gone To Hell(s)
Phill : 31/8 - Well we made it to Kyushum to Fukuoka/Hakata - a two-named city with a bustling night-life. Its local food speciality is Ramen noodles, a soup-like dish with (surprise, surprise) noodles in it. What makes it interesting is the Japanese take on fast food. The restaurant has a machine outside, or you can just fill in forms inside, to decide the amount of fat, garlic, spice, veg, and meat you have in it - and you can specify how firm you want your noodles. They then serve you your bowl at the bar in under a minute, and off you slurp. It's yummy, lightning fast and pretty cheap ($6.50)!
After that we went to a bar to which we'd given directions to these 2 crazy Canadian guys staying at our hotel. They were over on a visa run - which for the uneducated (like me) is when you leave the country you're working in to get a new visa from their embassy in another nearby country. Well on the boat over from Korea, they'd met the manager of the Voodoo Lounge bar (who was also on a visa run the other way)... well you get the picture. The Canadians soon abandoned us for some Gaijin-loving Japanese girls, by which point we didn't mind because we'd got talking to these 2 Australian expats (Ben & Sabine) who were really friendly and up for some lengthy English-speaking conversation - something Ren and I were starting to really miss by now.
Many Jack Daniels later, we crawled back to bed, knowing there was no way we'd get the early start we'd planned... again! ;-)
That night reminded me of a few more observations on Japan: Ben is so used to the low crime rate, that he withdraws his entire month's salary in cash each month, and carries it around in his wallet. That same wallet he leaves on the table in a bar when he goes to the toilet! Sabine was wearing a yukata, which is like a lightweight kimono. They're worn both around the house as a dressing-gown (bathrobe), or outdoors like a summer-dress. There's a big fashion comeback in Japan right now for yukata, which is great for us tourists, because they look so fantastically Japanese!
1/9 - With slightly throbbing heads, we took the train to Beppu late the next morning. Beppu is famous for it's volcanic springs that force gas and water up through the ground all over the mountain. These springs are called "Hells" by the Japanese, and are really weird. Where the gas and/or water pass through various rock layers, they come out with strange effects, like unusual colours, or bubbling mud. It's hard not to believe that someone didn't just dump a bucket of food colouring in, the colours are so intense. The smell though, is the same for all - that unpleasant eggy-sulphur smells - pooooey!
After bathing our feet in various spas at the Hells, we were ready for a traditional Japanese spring-water bath (Onsen). With a little uncertainty and trepidation, we went to a public bath, where Japanese hygiene again changes the whole thing, as you strip off and wash yourself thoroughly before you get in the water. It kind of makes sense when you think about it. Either way, it was wonderful.
After that we went to a bar to which we'd given directions to these 2 crazy Canadian guys staying at our hotel. They were over on a visa run - which for the uneducated (like me) is when you leave the country you're working in to get a new visa from their embassy in another nearby country. Well on the boat over from Korea, they'd met the manager of the Voodoo Lounge bar (who was also on a visa run the other way)... well you get the picture. The Canadians soon abandoned us for some Gaijin-loving Japanese girls, by which point we didn't mind because we'd got talking to these 2 Australian expats (Ben & Sabine) who were really friendly and up for some lengthy English-speaking conversation - something Ren and I were starting to really miss by now.
Many Jack Daniels later, we crawled back to bed, knowing there was no way we'd get the early start we'd planned... again! ;-)
That night reminded me of a few more observations on Japan: Ben is so used to the low crime rate, that he withdraws his entire month's salary in cash each month, and carries it around in his wallet. That same wallet he leaves on the table in a bar when he goes to the toilet! Sabine was wearing a yukata, which is like a lightweight kimono. They're worn both around the house as a dressing-gown (bathrobe), or outdoors like a summer-dress. There's a big fashion comeback in Japan right now for yukata, which is great for us tourists, because they look so fantastically Japanese!
1/9 - With slightly throbbing heads, we took the train to Beppu late the next morning. Beppu is famous for it's volcanic springs that force gas and water up through the ground all over the mountain. These springs are called "Hells" by the Japanese, and are really weird. Where the gas and/or water pass through various rock layers, they come out with strange effects, like unusual colours, or bubbling mud. It's hard not to believe that someone didn't just dump a bucket of food colouring in, the colours are so intense. The smell though, is the same for all - that unpleasant eggy-sulphur smells - pooooey!
After bathing our feet in various spas at the Hells, we were ready for a traditional Japanese spring-water bath (Onsen). With a little uncertainty and trepidation, we went to a public bath, where Japanese hygiene again changes the whole thing, as you strip off and wash yourself thoroughly before you get in the water. It kind of makes sense when you think about it. Either way, it was wonderful.
