☆ AS-LEVEL RESULTS & THAILAND & CAMBODIA WORLD CHALLENGE TRAVEL JOURNAL ☆
I'm alive~~~!!!
And back from Thailand, yo. Whatup.
Before the Tale of My Travel there are AS-level results to deliver.
Well, I got 6 As. Also, I got 100% in Japanese & English Literature <---- apparently now i can afford to get a c in my a-level and still get an a overall ^^ In fact, out of the 16 papers I sat for those 6 subjects, I got 100% in 8 of them. And the rest were all pretty near 100% too.
I admit it. I cried with joy when I got my results. Only a little.
And of course all the A-level lot did amazingly too - pika__pika got into York with 3 As, Carina got 4 As, cocacola_2020 got into Portsmouth, and the mighty Kimmius got 4 As and so is going to Oxford d(^o^)b to the lesbian college
Anyways. Onto the Travel Log:
WORLD CHALLENGE TRIP TO CAMBODIA AND THAILAND 2006
☆ 29/07 & 30/07 . . . Day 1 & 2 . . . London Heathrow (England) -----> Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) -----> Phnom Penh (Cambodia) ☆
12 hour plane journey went fine thanks to CD player of life. Official Take-off Song = Aoyagi & Saitou's Missing Piece.
Lettie played her violin at the airport for the entertainment of those around (^o^)
After a couple of hours wait we left Kuala Lumpur airport on a tiny '70s-looking plane for Phnom Penh, flown by someone on a Provisional License, presumably, as it was a very bumpy flight with one violent dropping moment which caused the water Helly was holding in the row behind me to cover both me and the ceiling.
Arrived in Phnom Penh 10am Cambodian time.
First impressions:
1) 70s look
2) Poverty
3) Rubbish on the streets
4) Hot and muggy
5) No one here can drive (>_<)
6) Cheap. $1 = 4000 rial = a big plate of rice / a sarong / etc
Got into the bus to take us to our guest house, passing a lot of slums on the way. Everything's very dusty and there were a lot of very persistent beggars. Also there were no roads, just dirt tracks, and it doesn't seem to matter which side of the road you drive on <------- in fact, half the cars have right hand drive and half have left... Also, a heck-load of motorcyclists. Plus customary people riding in the back of trucks, on top of car roofs etc, balancing massive boxes on motorbikes and so on.
In other words, noisy smelly dirty CHAOS.
Lot of people walking round wearing pajamas, too.
After an hour or so we got to our hotel - nice and clean looking, although the toilets, like in the rest of Cambodia and Thailand, are interesting... You can't flush bog roll because the pipes are too thin, so you either have to throw it away or use the hose... (I never used the hose... o(>_<)o )
Steph T, Flo & Sarah outside the guest house ^^
The street outside the hotel - one of the more up-market looking areas of Phnom Penh.
In the afternoon we went to Wat Phnom but then it started shitting down with rain - we all got completely soaked, including my money and passport (which literally took weeks to dry out, and is now very crinkled). Went straight to the British embassy instead, which was pointless, and then back to dinner, and finally a good night's sleep.
☆ 31/07 . . . Day 3 . . . Phnom Penh ☆
In the morning we went to the Killing Fields after a longish bus journey through fields of emaciated cows and naked children in paddy fields. The opening theme to DL3 is my Official Observing Poverty Song
The monument the bones and clothes of the victims are kept in.
Compared to the graveyards of Passchaendale and the Somme, the Killing Fields were hardly touched, literally just marked with wooden posts, and there were still bits of bone and clothing visible on the ground. And apparently there were baby's teeth in the trees.
This was a random boy hiding in a hole on the path we were walking around, who jumped out at us to scare us.
And a guy washing his cattle in the lake right next to the graves. Crazy.
After that, we went to S21, the high school which was turned by the Khmer Rouge into a detainment and torture station, before the victims were executed at the Killing Fields.
In each cell, there was a picture on the wall of the occupant chained to the bed. It was severely disturbing.
And there were thousands of photographs of all the victims in various stages or torture.
In the afternoon we made a trip to the Imperial Palace, which was shut (thanks, Lonely Planet guide for getting the opening times wrong >:3 ) but it was still pretty to look at.
☆ 01/08 . . . Day 4 . . . Phnom Penh -----> Battambang ☆
Had a 5 and a half hour bus journey to Battamabang town, where we went out to the market for lunch.
Flo spent about 53249328 hours haggling with this woman who didn't understand a word she was saying. In the picture, she's grinding coconut btw.
It then started chucking it down as usual so we took shelter under cover outside this barber's shop where they let us sit down and gave us fried banana which we perhaps rather foolishly ate, despite it having come from foreign strangers. Then the weirdest thing happened. This 17-year old looking guy came up to us, shook all our hands then knelt in front of me clasping mine and talking away in Khmer, then tried to kiss and hug me while I was babbling away in English trying to get him to understand that I wanted to be left alone. Flo tried to distract him with coconut but he took the opportunity and my look of complete shock to handfeed me coconut when I was least expecting it. We left very quickly then. I think I might have been proposed to, but I'm not sure.
^---- The barber's shop.
Then we went to see this temple / Wat which was pretty.
This monk spoke really good English. He told us all about Buddhism, it was actually very interesting.
^--- this was just a pretty square in Battambang I happened to take a photo of o(^0^)o
☆ 02/08 . . . Day 5 . . . Battambang -----> ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Went early in the morning to the ASPECA Orphanage on the outskirts of Battambang where we're doing our community project work. Frankly, it was the richest bit of Cambodia I've seen - it was actually very nice there; clean, tidy, well ordered etc.
There are around 270 children between age 3 & 24, most about 10 or 12. When we first arrived we played some games with them, and taught them the Hokey-Cokey etc.
Steph discovering her inner child. Wait, no, she's prtty in tune with that most of the time... (9_9)
After lunch we split into groups, and I ended up teaching the older kids some English which suited me fine - a few of them were very good, and I got to know a couple who I'd spend most of my time with at the orphanage.
Meet (their names are bit of a guess) Chantel, Chanthem (the gayest gay guy on the planet EVER) and Rottan. Along with Rachel and Steph.
These three then became my sisters, and Rottan gave me a 'sister ring', something the orphanage seems to use to denote family.
yes, the gay guy became my sister too. he was very insistent about that... XD
"Talk to the hand, biatches~!" XDXDXD I tell you, this guy cracked me up FOR LIFE. Serious entertainment value.
And this one has me on the end clutching a lily one of the little boys just went to pick for me from the lily pond. They all had an obsession with giving us flowers and putting them in our hair.
☆ 03/08 . . . Day 6 . . . ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Went to buy all the materials for the project phase. We were sitting in the backs of trucks.
Anna, Kelly and Cat eBil!!11!!1! in the back of the truck. I swear, I don't think I wore a seatbelt once on this trip...
As group accountant, I had to put my leet mental arithmetic skillz to the test when buying stuff m(^o^)m I'm pleased to say we spent exactly the right amount.
Rachel, my fellow accountant, holding up the accounts book with a grim expression. Actually, she's trying really hard not to laugh ^^ Bless.
Alice and Flo, washer-women extraordinaire. Yeah, this is how we had to wash our clothes for a month. No wonder we stank.
☆ 04/08 . . . Day 7 . . . ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Worked in the morning painting the houses to stop woodworm. The orphans worked like twice as fast as us without breaking a sweat, and they were scaling the walls and shit, pulling all sorts of crazy stunts. I think there was creosote in the paint - it stank to high heaven and went straight through my gloves and hurt my fingers. Then Mr Wooty Rooty Ruthie Wooty (... whatever), the director guy, made me wash my hands with paint thinner. They stung for about three hours.
Had a very entertaining conversation with Chanthem about his boyfriend Stean - lasted about two hours and I'm still not sure if the guy actually existed or if it was all a joke. Very strange to go to Cambodia and find the gayest guy I've ever met, though...
Then some French toffs turned up and some traditional Cambodian dancing was performed for them.
From what I can tell, Cambodian dancing consists of one step repeated ad nauseam. Pretty fans though.
Then at night Dubby read us a bedtime story and the crazy Cambodian housekeeper who doesn't speak a word of English came in, sat down with us and then proceeded to randomly stroke our hands and faces while laughing uproariously every so often. Nutty as a fruitcake, I tell you.
CRAZY~~~~~!!!! XDXDXD
CRAZY ALSO~~~!!!!
RABID PARROT~~~!!!!
☆ 05/08 . . . Day 8 . . . ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Spent the morning sanding down the windows with Rottan while Chanthem slept. He never does any work. She sang to me in Cambodian (well) while I sang to her in Japanese (badly). I seem to remember that I sang 真剣勝負とはそういう事 as the first song that came into my head which I knew all the words to. Strange strange.
Went out to the town in the afternoon and got to speak to my parents for a while. Miss my parents now.
Then came back and washed down the windows - then my three sisters washed me down, because I was covered in dirt. They also have an obsession with my skin which is incredibly white, even for a white person. (In Cambodia it seems they consider the whiter your skin, the better the person, which is really sad. While we were there we tried to make them realise that they were also 'pretty girls' and that their skin was a gorgeous colour, but I'm not sure we made much headway...)
Then we gave out the presents, both those we'd brought from England and those bought out in Cambodia (probably about £600 in total).
Some of the presents we brought from England.
Catherine distributing presents.
Chanthem ended up getting two satchels. Oh well. Other than that, the presents were distributed roughly equally.
The younger kids lining up to get shoes.
Alex giving shoes to the cute little baby that always screamed if you put him down and shut up the moment you gave him a hug.
We gave the boys nets for their basketball hoops, so they immediately shinned up the metal poles, scaled the basketball hoops...
... then squatted monkey-like on the hoops themselves while attacing the nets, before swinging off. Crazy.
☆ 06/08 . . . Day 9 . . . ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Today we finished all the work, so I let some of the younger boys have a go taking photos with my camera. They took about a hundred - in the end I had to take it back off them because the battery was almost dead. Still, got some cute pictures o(^o^)o
Omg. Isn't this such an NSPCC-perfect photo. It totally screams 'Adopt me!' ♥
CRAZY GLASSES~~~!! XDXDXD
ok, i apologise. i am physically incapable of actually smiling in photos. just so you know.
Catherine's popular with the boys ^^
Haha... That's me ::coughs::
As is that. Moving on...
No, I'm not insanely small although I am fairly short I guess. Catherine is insanely tall. 6'2" to be precise. At age 15.
Me and Helly the juvenile delinquent. I actually love that girl after this trip - she properly cracked me up. Respect, yo.
It's Dubby the Kook! Hands off that child! XDXDXD
Then in the evening we had something I'd dreaded, the Cambodian disco, but it was actually surprisingly fun. It seems there are 4 Cambodian songs, each with a specific dance:
1. The 'Crazy' dance - the same step four time, hop, turn, repeat. Very easy, but if you tune out which i kept doing (>_<)you'll get it wrong and look a twat which i kept doing (>_<)
2. The 'Round the Tree' dance with accompanying wavy hands. Very very hard. Avoid at all costs.
3. The Same Step dance with that weird one step thing they did when they performed for the French lot. Didn't get this either. Never mind.
4. The 'Dance as you like' dance. Much better. Just do normal dancing and watch Chanthem dancing gay-ly. Very entertaining.
Steph dancing with the little kids.
Chanthem, Rottan and Rachel.
Chanthem and Chantel.
My sister Rottan. Isn't she pretty? ♥ o(^0^)o
I was walked back to my room at 11 by my sisters, who clung to me all the way, and took about 10 minutes to say goodnight because Rottan kept saying "I miss you big big big!" It was actually the cutest thing ever omg.
☆ 07/08 . . . Day 10 . . . ASPECA Orphanage -----> Battambang ☆
Left the orphanage this morning. Rottan kept hugging and kissing me, and I took some pictures of them in our room before we left.
Then we left, Rottan cried and so did Hetta, actually. It was kinda sad to leave, but frankly I was looking forward to moving on to the next part of the trip; I'd been getting slightly restless.
We were spending the afternoon in town shopping when suddenly we were hailed by three familiar figures - my sisters had come to find us! It was very bizarre. Then it transpired that about 30 orphans had come into town to see us. We walked around together - I had Rottan on one arm and Chanthem on the other, attached like limpets, but eventually we found out they'd left without permission, so they had to go back, which of course meant saying goodbye again...
☆ 08/08 . . . Day 11 . . . Battambang -----> Siam Reap ☆
Got up early to catch the boat to Siam Reap, which took about 5 and a half hours or more, meandering down the river. I probably saw the most poverty-stricken people I've ever seen that day, because we passed loads of people living in boats and houses out in the middle of the river made of wood and corrugated iron. We stopped at a small shop on the way, and when you stood on the floorboards, all this water and loads of river bugs came up between the planks, it was disgusting.
When we arrived on shore in Siam Reap we were greeted by a throng of dirty beggar-children wearing plastic bags and begging for food. Thankfully where we staying in Siam Reap town centre was far more upmarket (as Cambodia goes).
We then went to see the sunset over Angkor Wat which was rubbish because it was cloudy.
The wall we climbed up to watch the sunset.
View from the top of the wall.
☆ 09/08 . . . Day 12 . . . Siam Reap ☆
Got up at 4 or some other horrendous hour to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat which again was kind of disappointing. The Wat itself was impressive though.
The stairs we had to climb to reach the top. DEATHTRAP I tell you DEATHTRAP. Absolutely unsafe.
Decapitated Buddha statue, I think done by the Khmer Rouge.
The walls are literally covered in carvings.
Big Buddha statue in a Superman cloak
After that we went to the Bayon Complex, which is another Wat, but this one had elephants outside which we fed.
Me giving a banana to an elephant.
their mouths look like massive vaginas. it's really quite scary.
The complex itself has a load of massive heads carved into it.
In the upstairs area we saw this fortune teller guy, so Flo had a go.
He kept saying 'LAZY!' to her, but also told her she'd be a millionaire. Although he didn't say what currency. In rial (4000rial = $1), it's not too hard to be a millionaire.
I went off by myself and had a nice chat with a young Cambodian art student who was doing a really leet biro drawing of the stone heads. So I took his photo.
And I finally got a picture of the bald nuns~! Yay~! ^^
Our next port of call was Ta Phrom which is where some of the Tomb Raider film was filmed. It was a total maze of temple covered in sprawling trees. Quite impressive.
Yay, Visual Kei~~! ::is shot::
Also spoke to a beggar girl selling postcards - when I said I was from England, she went "Ah England London fish and chips lovely jubbly have you got a quid i've got a quid" etc etc for minutes, it was quite impressive. I don't know how all Cambodian and Thai people know the phrase lovely jubbly. They must have Only Fools and Horses over there. There's a lot of Mr Bean over there too...
☆ 10/08 . . . Day 13 . . . Siam Reap (Cambodia) -----> Bangkok (Thailand) ☆
Spent all day travelling along dirt tracks and over perilous bridges (one of which we should have taken a detour around m(-_-)m ) but got to the border of Thailand and Cambodia at 1 o'clock and reached Bangkok at night. I liked Bangkok on sight - lights, proper roads, billboards, it's my kinda place. I like the city. The rooms at our hotel were like prison cells and had bedbugs, but I slept like a log. Tiring day.
☆ 11/08 . . . Day 14 . . . Bangkok ☆
Went sightseeing to the Imperial Palace - very impressive. Massive and very shiny.
Then some of us went shopping while others had a Thai massage - I went shopping. Later we met up at the massage place (although there were two, so we got confused and ended up at the wrong one for a while), then got to go and see the world's biggest Buddha statue at Wat Po, where the right massage place was.
(a smaller Buddha in the complex)
The world's largest Buddha - a reclining statue. Now I've seen the biggest and the 2nd biggest (in Hong Kong) although I prefer the Hong Kong one frankly...
Went out for late night shopping in Khao Sarn road - got some great stuff, and made a list of other stuff to get when we come back at the end (because i don't want to take too much on trek with me...) Got some funky light balls, a punk top from this guy who gave it to me at my asking price even though his friend wanted to charge me more, and received a discount on a ring because I'd picked up a Japanese language version of Inuyasha earlier and the guy on the stall obviously liked it. Score.
Also noticed that EVERYONE in Thailand seems to have an 'I love the king' T-shirt. They are quite obsessive about their king. There's pictures of him and the Queen EVERYWHERE, on roundabouts, buildings, billboards, and in every shop. The thought of doing that with our royals is ridiculous...
because our royals are rubbish innit?
☆ 12/08 . . . Day 15 . . . Bangkok -----> Khao Yai National Park ☆
Frickin' long journey to Khao Yai, and were greeted by leeches. All over the campsite. I slept loads today, due to being exhausted. And not much of interest happened.
☆ 13/08 . . . Day 16 . . . Khao Yai National Park ☆
Easily the worst day of the trip. By this point I'd developed a terrible head cold, all headachy and snotty and gross with intermittent loss of hearing thrown in for fun, plus we had to trek through feckin' jungle which is MUDDY more than anything and this one was full of leeches. Couldn't see the sky half the time, effing hot too, and everytime I fell on the mud I'd either grap a spiky tree (got 14 splinters in my hand (>.<) ) or just get mud all over my hands trying to keep myself from sliding down the slopes completely, because it was all steep and treacherous. We took 5 hours to walk 4km which was just depressing - in England I can manage 3km/h easily, in hill country with a massive pack on my back.
Also, at one point, after my foot had been itching for an hour, I checked my sock and found this enormous bloodstain. Luckily I didn't see the leech that had gorged on my foot.
Ugh. I hate leeches o(>_<)o
We also saw a load of waterfalls this trip. I'm not a big waterfall person.
And monkeys. From the car. But they could have been Rabid!Monkeys, so we didn't go near them.
At dinner I got a leech on my wrist, but by this point I was over them so I very calmly took it off and threw it into the bushes. Apparently this is a step in the right direction, but personally I wish I'd killed the bugger.
☆ 14/08 . . . Day 17 . . . Khao Yai National Park ☆
'FUCKSAKE~~~~!!!!' was probably my Official Word of the Day today, screamed loudly whenever I slipped on the mud. It was still better than yesterday though.
You can't make it out very well, but that's a deadly poisonous spider of some sort in the middle of that web. I wasn't going to hang around to get a better photo.
I also got one of the massive 4cm long ants on my hand, and found a leech in my crotch when I went to the loo at one point. Pleasant. luckily, it hadn't bitten me.
Finally we finished the 9.8km long trek - which took us about 5 hours, shows how much we speeded up - and saw another waterfall. Yay.
Apparently this one was in the film The Beach. Which I've never seen, but whatever.
Later we had a night safari - I wanted to see a tiger but we didn't. What we did see was a lot of fat deer, a couple of civette cats and two massive porcupines.
☆ 15/08 . . . Day 18 . . . Khao Yai National Park -----> Ayutthaya ☆
Left the park early in the morning and were taken (not of our own choice) to this viewpoint on the way out of the park. Had to walk down this muddy, slippery little path to see nothing because it was so cloudy all you could see was white.
Henry, the chicken of stupidity sitting on the ledge overlooking the 'view'.
Then we had to wait from 10 until 4.30 at Pakchong Station because the earlier trains were all full.
Hetta in the station waiting room, eating about the 123412th banana cake that day.
Steph and Rachel. notice how rachel's pulling her WTF face™ XDXDXD
The train journey was bumpy and uncomfortable, but Letty played her violin which cheered everyone up. And amused the Thai workers sitting with us.
This is what happens when you take a violin prodigy on holiday with you.
Finally arrived in Ayutthaya at 7 and had to try two hotels before finally finding a third which would accept us. And at dinner I ate this chilli pepper which was like the hottest goddamn thing on the planet. I spent the rest of the meal wheezing and trying to persuade people that the swelling it caused on my tongue was a CIT (Chilli Induced Tumour).
☆ 16/08 . . . Day 19 . . . Ayutthaya -----> Night Train ☆
Spent the day going round Ayutthaya. Visited Wat Chayamongkol amongst others.
It had another reclining Buddha statue, but it wasn't as big as the one at Wat Po.
More bald nuns!! ^^
Catherine, Alice, me, Steph P & Lettie pretending to be Buddha.
Had lunch at a restaurant which had a live crocodile in a pit.
Seemed kind of cruel to keep it there though. Even though I hate crocodiles.
Lettie drinking coconut milk. Which was revolting. Sort of warm and milky and almost bitter and claggy. plus it looks like semen
Then there was a random guy with snakes on his hat. I like snakes, so I stroked them. Didn't see any 'wild' snakes this holiday at all, unfortunately.
Then went to a market which was near a few more Wats, although I didn't go into them.
I almost got knocked down by one of these elephants. They were everywhere around this area, and the next photo I took after this was a blur of pavement and my feet because an elephant came up behind me and I had to jump out of the way.
After that, we went into the actual town and did some proper shopping.
Rachel and Flo bowing to Ronald McDonald. See, McDonalds embraces all cultures.
Then it was dinner, and Lettie played her violin. Again.
At 10.30 we caught the overnight train, and at midnight, it was my 17th birthday
☆ 17/08 . . . Day 20 . . . Night Train -----> Um Phang National Park ☆
Actually, technically by Thailand time it wasn't my birthday until 2.10am on the 18th because I was born at 7.10pm on the 17th in England, but no matter.
The night train was uncomfortable and I didn't sleep. Got into Phitsanuloke Station at 5.20am, and we got a tuk-tuk from the station to the bus depot. There Flo and Steph gave me a card and a banana cake.
Birthday Cake~~~!
The bus journey to Mae Sot was about 4 or 5 hours, and taken at a death-defying speed. Had lunch in Mae Sot, and then had a six hour truck journey to Um Phang. I felt very ill and had to sit in the front (>.<)
We finally arrived at about 7pm and had a very yummy dinner at the lodge, cooked by our guides for the next few days. Letty, Alice, Helly and Hetta gave me 5 little banana cakes with 17 candles on and an Angry Bee T-Shirt (because of my bug-fear).
Rachel sitting outside the lodge.
View of the park.
Some random waterfall we visited... Pretend I remember it
The only really upsetting thin on my birthday was that I didn't get to contact my parents. Also, it was results day, and although Steph got her results, all the rest of us just had to wait. not that i had anything to worry about, in the end
☆ 18/08 . . . Day 21 . . . Um Phang National Park ☆
Steph started off the morning by being strange as always modelling Gaffa Tap Shoes for us.
I didn't take a photo of the shoes, the expression on her face was far more interesting...
After a great breakfast we were driven 10 minutes to the river and loaded into boats for the day of calm water rafting.
I was under the impression the boats would be made of bamboo, apparently not.
The rafting was easy - our guides steered and paddled for us, we just sat there. Stopped off about 12 at some hot springs - some people went into the water and got all muddy, I thought with my propensity to get ill from dirty water I should stay away.
In the afternoon we visited a cave full of bats which I enjoyed because I absolutely love bats. And have a dead one in a box. <----- absolutely true
Settled down for the night on top of these rocks beside the river, under a cliff. Shared a tent with Dubby, who taught me card games such as 'Beat Your Neighbour Out Of Doors' and 'German Whist'.
Where I'm standing taking the photo is where the tents were, the activity over in front of me is the guides preparing our dinner. Every night and lunch they made us a slap-up meal with all the stuff they carried round with them, it was incredible. And they made us all cups and stirrers carved from bamboo.
☆ 19/08 . . . Day 22 . . . Um Phang National Park ☆
Pretty much walked all day today until we reached the camp at 3. The morning was uphill and rainy, but after lunch it was fine.
A selection of sandwich fillings prepared for our lunch by the Super-Guides.
I much prefer Um Phang to Khao Yai. It's still muddy, but not nearly as dangerous if you do fall over...
Unfortunately, at the campsite we had to sleep in hammocks. I got no sleep whatsoever.
My hammock (before the basher ws pegged out correctly).
The cute smily monkey-looking guide pegging out my basher for me.
☆ 20/08 . . . Day 23 . . . Um Phang National Park ☆
Spent half the night thinking I had tinnitus before realising it was the effing cicadas making a racket under my hammock. Walking was fine again. Saw another waterfall in the morning (just in case I'd forgotten what one looked like.) But apparently this one was Thailand's largest waterfall, Tee Lor Su.
Steph in front of a mini-waterfall we saw on the way.
Rachel sitting on the rocks in front of Tee Lor Su.
Lettie and eBil!!! Cat with giant bamboo.
In the afternoon we walked 8km in 4 hours to a hill tribe deep in the jungle of Um Phang who we were staying the night with. They were a tribe of the Karen people, who aren't citizens of Thailand although they live there, and so have no legal rights, and speak a brand of Burmese.
The school hall we slept in, with two of my group hosing their boots off outside.
Quite a lot of the children had what looked like string through their ears. Plus they had a school uniform, which I found quite funny given their situation.
Flo and Tree.
☆ 21/08 . . . Day 24 . . . Um Phang National Park -----> Night Bus ☆
Woke up at 6.30 and began the final day of trekking. Our bags were carried by elephants and mine got filthy.
It took us 4 hours to go 4km up this hill, and the mud was everywhere, although it wasn't dangerous like Khao Yai was, so I didn't mind it so much. (Englsh bog is still worse.) Whenever we asked Mr Ahm (the main guide) how much further we had to go, he'd say '20 minutes' then giggle, and we'd be walking for another 2 hours. The 4km downhill passed a lot quicker and we were boated across the river and given chocolate at 3.30 before being taken on the 5 hour journey back to Mae Sot.
From Mae Sot we got on a VIP bus which was actually pretty comfy, and spent the night on that.
☆ 22/08 . . . Day 25 . . . Night Bus -----> Ko Chang ☆
Got into Bangkok at 3.30am - I think we may have hit a few motorbikes on the bus, because the journey was very bumpy. And fast. Plus Hetta left her bag on the bus and there was a big fuss, but she managed to get it back (thank God). Then, we caught the 6 o'clock bus to Trat on the Thai coast and arrived at lunchtime. Then, it was the ferry to the beautiful beach island of Ko Chang for some well-deserved R'n'R.
Ko Chang is one of those islands where the beaches are stereotypically gorgeous - white-gold sand, blue sea, palm trees etc. Looked like paradise as far as we were concerned, given that we hadn't had a shower for about 4 days and were all completely splattered with mud.
Steph P on the beach. She proceeded to get exceedingly burnt and turned competely red.
My beach hut.
The view sideways from my hut.
Lettie playing her violin on the beach in the evening.
Flo in her hammock on our veranda. Rachel and I were terrified she'd bring the house down, as she managed to break their bridge by putting her foot through it - and injured herself quite badly too - and also managed to destroy the side of Steph T and Sarah's veranda by sitting in their hamock with them, as well as a step at a previous hotel, the middle step up to our hut and a pillar supporting the roof in the restaurant. So yeah, she was Little Miss Breakages this trip... XD
Flo doing her King Canute impression while Steph rolls around in the sea like a looney.
I have to say - washing & shaving our so much more appreciated when you've been in the jungle for the previous 4 or 5 days. Omg.
☆ 23/08 & 24/08 & 25/08 . . . Day 26 & 27 & 28 . . . Ko Chang ☆
Basically spent all my time sunbathing, drinking banana shakes, eating shumai & manju & shopping in the town. Also saw a horrific amount of Western men with Thai brides. Eww.
☆ 26/08 . . . Day 29 . . . Ko Chang -----> Bangkok ☆
Today it rained for the first time this R'n'R, so we caught the ferry in the rain and got vey wet. Waited at the bus depot in Trat for a little while and I read the only Japanese book they had - a manga about もふ and BSE. It was actually quite interesting, if a bit random. Then got the 11 o'clock bus back to Bangkok which arrived in the early evening.
I also have the most massive red ant bites on my legs from the beach. Which is very annoying, because I haven't got any mozzie bites, so I thought I was clear. Damn.
After dinner we went out shopping in Khao Sarn Road again, and I spent literally all my money. Got another Nightmare Before Christmas bag, a few more volumes of 犬夜叉 and my SHOE-SHOES:
I only wanted them in pink. Took me ages, but finally I found my size...
Also ate Japanese Green Tea flavour Ice Cream and drank a Lychee flavour Jelly Drink. I actually love the food in this place... (Apart from the guy selling roasted grasshoppers, maggots and scorpions... o(>_<)o )
And one of the guys on the stalls who I bought a T-shirt from a couple of weeks before recognised me and called out to me ^^
☆ 27/08 & 28/08 . . . Day 30 & 31 . . . Bangkok (Thailand) -----> Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) -----> London (England) ☆
Did a little more shopping in Khao Sarn Road in the morning, but it's way better at night. Then at 1 we got a bus to the airport, and checked in. Our flight to Kuala Lumpur was at 5, and we actually only really just made it in time. It was about 2 hours and the pilot was a lot better than the one to Phnom Penh. Then there was a three hour wait at Kuala Lumpur, before we got onto the plane to London Heathrow~~~!!! ♥ ♥ ♥
Before we got on the plane though, because of the Security Threat in England at the moment we weren't allowed to take on spare batteries or fluids or gels, so everyone had to get rid of all their toothpaste, moisturiser etc. So outside the handluggage checkin we were all dousing ourselves with moisturiser in an attempt not to waste any!! XDXDXD
The flight was fine. I watched an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, Extras and then a Japanese film called スクールデイズ (School Daze) which was about bullying and which I really liked by the end. Then I watched most of She's the Man ::facepalm:: but we came in before it finished.
The flight was about 11 hours or so, and we left at 11.20pm Kuala Lumpur time and came in at 5.20am English time.
I admit it. When we came over London, and it was all dark and I could see all the lights of the city, with the Thames curving through it, I cried. Just a little. ^^
And then my parents were there to meet me, and I got my results in the car, and I arrived home and had a power shower and ate Special K cereal and drank chocolate Nesquik and realised exactly how much I love my home.
The trip was great, but I think more than anything it made me realise how lucky I am to have such a great home.
☆ 終わり ☆
And now finally I need to catch up with livejournal, and my social life, and schoolwork. o(0___0)o So much to do, and so little time...
And back from Thailand, yo. Whatup.
Before the Tale of My Travel there are AS-level results to deliver.
Well, I got 6 As. Also, I got 100% in Japanese & English Literature <---- apparently now i can afford to get a c in my a-level and still get an a overall ^^ In fact, out of the 16 papers I sat for those 6 subjects, I got 100% in 8 of them. And the rest were all pretty near 100% too.
I admit it. I cried with joy when I got my results. Only a little.
And of course all the A-level lot did amazingly too - pika__pika got into York with 3 As, Carina got 4 As, cocacola_2020 got into Portsmouth, and the mighty Kimmius got 4 As and so is going to Oxford d(^o^)b to the lesbian college
Anyways. Onto the Travel Log:
WORLD CHALLENGE TRIP TO CAMBODIA AND THAILAND 2006
☆ 29/07 & 30/07 . . . Day 1 & 2 . . . London Heathrow (England) -----> Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) -----> Phnom Penh (Cambodia) ☆
12 hour plane journey went fine thanks to CD player of life. Official Take-off Song = Aoyagi & Saitou's Missing Piece.
Lettie played her violin at the airport for the entertainment of those around (^o^)
After a couple of hours wait we left Kuala Lumpur airport on a tiny '70s-looking plane for Phnom Penh, flown by someone on a Provisional License, presumably, as it was a very bumpy flight with one violent dropping moment which caused the water Helly was holding in the row behind me to cover both me and the ceiling.
Arrived in Phnom Penh 10am Cambodian time.
First impressions:
1) 70s look
2) Poverty
3) Rubbish on the streets
4) Hot and muggy
5) No one here can drive (>_<)
6) Cheap. $1 = 4000 rial = a big plate of rice / a sarong / etc
Got into the bus to take us to our guest house, passing a lot of slums on the way. Everything's very dusty and there were a lot of very persistent beggars. Also there were no roads, just dirt tracks, and it doesn't seem to matter which side of the road you drive on <------- in fact, half the cars have right hand drive and half have left... Also, a heck-load of motorcyclists. Plus customary people riding in the back of trucks, on top of car roofs etc, balancing massive boxes on motorbikes and so on.
In other words, noisy smelly dirty CHAOS.
Lot of people walking round wearing pajamas, too.
After an hour or so we got to our hotel - nice and clean looking, although the toilets, like in the rest of Cambodia and Thailand, are interesting... You can't flush bog roll because the pipes are too thin, so you either have to throw it away or use the hose... (I never used the hose... o(>_<)o )
Steph T, Flo & Sarah outside the guest house ^^
The street outside the hotel - one of the more up-market looking areas of Phnom Penh.
In the afternoon we went to Wat Phnom but then it started shitting down with rain - we all got completely soaked, including my money and passport (which literally took weeks to dry out, and is now very crinkled). Went straight to the British embassy instead, which was pointless, and then back to dinner, and finally a good night's sleep.
☆ 31/07 . . . Day 3 . . . Phnom Penh ☆
In the morning we went to the Killing Fields after a longish bus journey through fields of emaciated cows and naked children in paddy fields. The opening theme to DL3 is my Official Observing Poverty Song
The monument the bones and clothes of the victims are kept in.
Compared to the graveyards of Passchaendale and the Somme, the Killing Fields were hardly touched, literally just marked with wooden posts, and there were still bits of bone and clothing visible on the ground. And apparently there were baby's teeth in the trees.
This was a random boy hiding in a hole on the path we were walking around, who jumped out at us to scare us.
And a guy washing his cattle in the lake right next to the graves. Crazy.
After that, we went to S21, the high school which was turned by the Khmer Rouge into a detainment and torture station, before the victims were executed at the Killing Fields.
In each cell, there was a picture on the wall of the occupant chained to the bed. It was severely disturbing.
And there were thousands of photographs of all the victims in various stages or torture.
In the afternoon we made a trip to the Imperial Palace, which was shut (thanks, Lonely Planet guide for getting the opening times wrong >:3 ) but it was still pretty to look at.
☆ 01/08 . . . Day 4 . . . Phnom Penh -----> Battambang ☆
Had a 5 and a half hour bus journey to Battamabang town, where we went out to the market for lunch.
Flo spent about 53249328 hours haggling with this woman who didn't understand a word she was saying. In the picture, she's grinding coconut btw.
It then started chucking it down as usual so we took shelter under cover outside this barber's shop where they let us sit down and gave us fried banana which we perhaps rather foolishly ate, despite it having come from foreign strangers. Then the weirdest thing happened. This 17-year old looking guy came up to us, shook all our hands then knelt in front of me clasping mine and talking away in Khmer, then tried to kiss and hug me while I was babbling away in English trying to get him to understand that I wanted to be left alone. Flo tried to distract him with coconut but he took the opportunity and my look of complete shock to handfeed me coconut when I was least expecting it. We left very quickly then. I think I might have been proposed to, but I'm not sure.
^---- The barber's shop.
Then we went to see this temple / Wat which was pretty.
This monk spoke really good English. He told us all about Buddhism, it was actually very interesting.
^--- this was just a pretty square in Battambang I happened to take a photo of o(^0^)o
☆ 02/08 . . . Day 5 . . . Battambang -----> ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Went early in the morning to the ASPECA Orphanage on the outskirts of Battambang where we're doing our community project work. Frankly, it was the richest bit of Cambodia I've seen - it was actually very nice there; clean, tidy, well ordered etc.
There are around 270 children between age 3 & 24, most about 10 or 12. When we first arrived we played some games with them, and taught them the Hokey-Cokey etc.
Steph discovering her inner child. Wait, no, she's prtty in tune with that most of the time... (9_9)
After lunch we split into groups, and I ended up teaching the older kids some English which suited me fine - a few of them were very good, and I got to know a couple who I'd spend most of my time with at the orphanage.
Meet (their names are bit of a guess) Chantel, Chanthem (the gayest gay guy on the planet EVER) and Rottan. Along with Rachel and Steph.
These three then became my sisters, and Rottan gave me a 'sister ring', something the orphanage seems to use to denote family.
yes, the gay guy became my sister too. he was very insistent about that... XD
"Talk to the hand, biatches~!" XDXDXD I tell you, this guy cracked me up FOR LIFE. Serious entertainment value.
And this one has me on the end clutching a lily one of the little boys just went to pick for me from the lily pond. They all had an obsession with giving us flowers and putting them in our hair.
☆ 03/08 . . . Day 6 . . . ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Went to buy all the materials for the project phase. We were sitting in the backs of trucks.
Anna, Kelly and Cat eBil!!11!!1! in the back of the truck. I swear, I don't think I wore a seatbelt once on this trip...
As group accountant, I had to put my leet mental arithmetic skillz to the test when buying stuff m(^o^)m I'm pleased to say we spent exactly the right amount.
Rachel, my fellow accountant, holding up the accounts book with a grim expression. Actually, she's trying really hard not to laugh ^^ Bless.
Alice and Flo, washer-women extraordinaire. Yeah, this is how we had to wash our clothes for a month. No wonder we stank.
☆ 04/08 . . . Day 7 . . . ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Worked in the morning painting the houses to stop woodworm. The orphans worked like twice as fast as us without breaking a sweat, and they were scaling the walls and shit, pulling all sorts of crazy stunts. I think there was creosote in the paint - it stank to high heaven and went straight through my gloves and hurt my fingers. Then Mr Wooty Rooty Ruthie Wooty (... whatever), the director guy, made me wash my hands with paint thinner. They stung for about three hours.
Had a very entertaining conversation with Chanthem about his boyfriend Stean - lasted about two hours and I'm still not sure if the guy actually existed or if it was all a joke. Very strange to go to Cambodia and find the gayest guy I've ever met, though...
Then some French toffs turned up and some traditional Cambodian dancing was performed for them.
From what I can tell, Cambodian dancing consists of one step repeated ad nauseam. Pretty fans though.
Then at night Dubby read us a bedtime story and the crazy Cambodian housekeeper who doesn't speak a word of English came in, sat down with us and then proceeded to randomly stroke our hands and faces while laughing uproariously every so often. Nutty as a fruitcake, I tell you.
CRAZY~~~~~!!!! XDXDXD
CRAZY ALSO~~~!!!!
RABID PARROT~~~!!!!
☆ 05/08 . . . Day 8 . . . ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Spent the morning sanding down the windows with Rottan while Chanthem slept. He never does any work. She sang to me in Cambodian (well) while I sang to her in Japanese (badly). I seem to remember that I sang 真剣勝負とはそういう事 as the first song that came into my head which I knew all the words to. Strange strange.
Went out to the town in the afternoon and got to speak to my parents for a while. Miss my parents now.
Then came back and washed down the windows - then my three sisters washed me down, because I was covered in dirt. They also have an obsession with my skin which is incredibly white, even for a white person. (In Cambodia it seems they consider the whiter your skin, the better the person, which is really sad. While we were there we tried to make them realise that they were also 'pretty girls' and that their skin was a gorgeous colour, but I'm not sure we made much headway...)
Then we gave out the presents, both those we'd brought from England and those bought out in Cambodia (probably about £600 in total).
Some of the presents we brought from England.
Catherine distributing presents.
Chanthem ended up getting two satchels. Oh well. Other than that, the presents were distributed roughly equally.
The younger kids lining up to get shoes.
Alex giving shoes to the cute little baby that always screamed if you put him down and shut up the moment you gave him a hug.
We gave the boys nets for their basketball hoops, so they immediately shinned up the metal poles, scaled the basketball hoops...
... then squatted monkey-like on the hoops themselves while attacing the nets, before swinging off. Crazy.
☆ 06/08 . . . Day 9 . . . ASPECA Orphanage ☆
Today we finished all the work, so I let some of the younger boys have a go taking photos with my camera. They took about a hundred - in the end I had to take it back off them because the battery was almost dead. Still, got some cute pictures o(^o^)o
Omg. Isn't this such an NSPCC-perfect photo. It totally screams 'Adopt me!' ♥
CRAZY GLASSES~~~!! XDXDXD
ok, i apologise. i am physically incapable of actually smiling in photos. just so you know.
Catherine's popular with the boys ^^
Haha... That's me ::coughs::
As is that. Moving on...
No, I'm not insanely small although I am fairly short I guess. Catherine is insanely tall. 6'2" to be precise. At age 15.
Me and Helly the juvenile delinquent. I actually love that girl after this trip - she properly cracked me up. Respect, yo.
It's Dubby the Kook! Hands off that child! XDXDXD
Then in the evening we had something I'd dreaded, the Cambodian disco, but it was actually surprisingly fun. It seems there are 4 Cambodian songs, each with a specific dance:
1. The 'Crazy' dance - the same step four time, hop, turn, repeat. Very easy, but if you tune out which i kept doing (>_<)you'll get it wrong and look a twat which i kept doing (>_<)
2. The 'Round the Tree' dance with accompanying wavy hands. Very very hard. Avoid at all costs.
3. The Same Step dance with that weird one step thing they did when they performed for the French lot. Didn't get this either. Never mind.
4. The 'Dance as you like' dance. Much better. Just do normal dancing and watch Chanthem dancing gay-ly. Very entertaining.
Steph dancing with the little kids.
Chanthem, Rottan and Rachel.
Chanthem and Chantel.
My sister Rottan. Isn't she pretty? ♥ o(^0^)o
I was walked back to my room at 11 by my sisters, who clung to me all the way, and took about 10 minutes to say goodnight because Rottan kept saying "I miss you big big big!" It was actually the cutest thing ever omg.
☆ 07/08 . . . Day 10 . . . ASPECA Orphanage -----> Battambang ☆
Left the orphanage this morning. Rottan kept hugging and kissing me, and I took some pictures of them in our room before we left.
Then we left, Rottan cried and so did Hetta, actually. It was kinda sad to leave, but frankly I was looking forward to moving on to the next part of the trip; I'd been getting slightly restless.
We were spending the afternoon in town shopping when suddenly we were hailed by three familiar figures - my sisters had come to find us! It was very bizarre. Then it transpired that about 30 orphans had come into town to see us. We walked around together - I had Rottan on one arm and Chanthem on the other, attached like limpets, but eventually we found out they'd left without permission, so they had to go back, which of course meant saying goodbye again...
☆ 08/08 . . . Day 11 . . . Battambang -----> Siam Reap ☆
Got up early to catch the boat to Siam Reap, which took about 5 and a half hours or more, meandering down the river. I probably saw the most poverty-stricken people I've ever seen that day, because we passed loads of people living in boats and houses out in the middle of the river made of wood and corrugated iron. We stopped at a small shop on the way, and when you stood on the floorboards, all this water and loads of river bugs came up between the planks, it was disgusting.
When we arrived on shore in Siam Reap we were greeted by a throng of dirty beggar-children wearing plastic bags and begging for food. Thankfully where we staying in Siam Reap town centre was far more upmarket (as Cambodia goes).
We then went to see the sunset over Angkor Wat which was rubbish because it was cloudy.
The wall we climbed up to watch the sunset.
View from the top of the wall.
☆ 09/08 . . . Day 12 . . . Siam Reap ☆
Got up at 4 or some other horrendous hour to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat which again was kind of disappointing. The Wat itself was impressive though.
The stairs we had to climb to reach the top. DEATHTRAP I tell you DEATHTRAP. Absolutely unsafe.
Decapitated Buddha statue, I think done by the Khmer Rouge.
The walls are literally covered in carvings.
Big Buddha statue in a Superman cloak
After that we went to the Bayon Complex, which is another Wat, but this one had elephants outside which we fed.
Me giving a banana to an elephant.
their mouths look like massive vaginas. it's really quite scary.
The complex itself has a load of massive heads carved into it.
In the upstairs area we saw this fortune teller guy, so Flo had a go.
He kept saying 'LAZY!' to her, but also told her she'd be a millionaire. Although he didn't say what currency. In rial (4000rial = $1), it's not too hard to be a millionaire.
I went off by myself and had a nice chat with a young Cambodian art student who was doing a really leet biro drawing of the stone heads. So I took his photo.
And I finally got a picture of the bald nuns~! Yay~! ^^
Our next port of call was Ta Phrom which is where some of the Tomb Raider film was filmed. It was a total maze of temple covered in sprawling trees. Quite impressive.
Yay, Visual Kei~~! ::is shot::
Also spoke to a beggar girl selling postcards - when I said I was from England, she went "Ah England London fish and chips lovely jubbly have you got a quid i've got a quid" etc etc for minutes, it was quite impressive. I don't know how all Cambodian and Thai people know the phrase lovely jubbly. They must have Only Fools and Horses over there. There's a lot of Mr Bean over there too...
☆ 10/08 . . . Day 13 . . . Siam Reap (Cambodia) -----> Bangkok (Thailand) ☆
Spent all day travelling along dirt tracks and over perilous bridges (one of which we should have taken a detour around m(-_-)m ) but got to the border of Thailand and Cambodia at 1 o'clock and reached Bangkok at night. I liked Bangkok on sight - lights, proper roads, billboards, it's my kinda place. I like the city. The rooms at our hotel were like prison cells and had bedbugs, but I slept like a log. Tiring day.
☆ 11/08 . . . Day 14 . . . Bangkok ☆
Went sightseeing to the Imperial Palace - very impressive. Massive and very shiny.
Then some of us went shopping while others had a Thai massage - I went shopping. Later we met up at the massage place (although there were two, so we got confused and ended up at the wrong one for a while), then got to go and see the world's biggest Buddha statue at Wat Po, where the right massage place was.
(a smaller Buddha in the complex)
The world's largest Buddha - a reclining statue. Now I've seen the biggest and the 2nd biggest (in Hong Kong) although I prefer the Hong Kong one frankly...
Went out for late night shopping in Khao Sarn road - got some great stuff, and made a list of other stuff to get when we come back at the end (because i don't want to take too much on trek with me...) Got some funky light balls, a punk top from this guy who gave it to me at my asking price even though his friend wanted to charge me more, and received a discount on a ring because I'd picked up a Japanese language version of Inuyasha earlier and the guy on the stall obviously liked it. Score.
Also noticed that EVERYONE in Thailand seems to have an 'I love the king' T-shirt. They are quite obsessive about their king. There's pictures of him and the Queen EVERYWHERE, on roundabouts, buildings, billboards, and in every shop. The thought of doing that with our royals is ridiculous...
because our royals are rubbish innit?
☆ 12/08 . . . Day 15 . . . Bangkok -----> Khao Yai National Park ☆
Frickin' long journey to Khao Yai, and were greeted by leeches. All over the campsite. I slept loads today, due to being exhausted. And not much of interest happened.
☆ 13/08 . . . Day 16 . . . Khao Yai National Park ☆
Easily the worst day of the trip. By this point I'd developed a terrible head cold, all headachy and snotty and gross with intermittent loss of hearing thrown in for fun, plus we had to trek through feckin' jungle which is MUDDY more than anything and this one was full of leeches. Couldn't see the sky half the time, effing hot too, and everytime I fell on the mud I'd either grap a spiky tree (got 14 splinters in my hand (>.<) ) or just get mud all over my hands trying to keep myself from sliding down the slopes completely, because it was all steep and treacherous. We took 5 hours to walk 4km which was just depressing - in England I can manage 3km/h easily, in hill country with a massive pack on my back.
Also, at one point, after my foot had been itching for an hour, I checked my sock and found this enormous bloodstain. Luckily I didn't see the leech that had gorged on my foot.
Ugh. I hate leeches o(>_<)o
We also saw a load of waterfalls this trip. I'm not a big waterfall person.
And monkeys. From the car. But they could have been Rabid!Monkeys, so we didn't go near them.
At dinner I got a leech on my wrist, but by this point I was over them so I very calmly took it off and threw it into the bushes. Apparently this is a step in the right direction, but personally I wish I'd killed the bugger.
☆ 14/08 . . . Day 17 . . . Khao Yai National Park ☆
'FUCKSAKE~~~~!!!!' was probably my Official Word of the Day today, screamed loudly whenever I slipped on the mud. It was still better than yesterday though.
You can't make it out very well, but that's a deadly poisonous spider of some sort in the middle of that web. I wasn't going to hang around to get a better photo.
I also got one of the massive 4cm long ants on my hand, and found a leech in my crotch when I went to the loo at one point. Pleasant. luckily, it hadn't bitten me.
Finally we finished the 9.8km long trek - which took us about 5 hours, shows how much we speeded up - and saw another waterfall. Yay.
Apparently this one was in the film The Beach. Which I've never seen, but whatever.
Later we had a night safari - I wanted to see a tiger but we didn't. What we did see was a lot of fat deer, a couple of civette cats and two massive porcupines.
☆ 15/08 . . . Day 18 . . . Khao Yai National Park -----> Ayutthaya ☆
Left the park early in the morning and were taken (not of our own choice) to this viewpoint on the way out of the park. Had to walk down this muddy, slippery little path to see nothing because it was so cloudy all you could see was white.
Henry, the chicken of stupidity sitting on the ledge overlooking the 'view'.
Then we had to wait from 10 until 4.30 at Pakchong Station because the earlier trains were all full.
Hetta in the station waiting room, eating about the 123412th banana cake that day.
Steph and Rachel. notice how rachel's pulling her WTF face™ XDXDXD
The train journey was bumpy and uncomfortable, but Letty played her violin which cheered everyone up. And amused the Thai workers sitting with us.
This is what happens when you take a violin prodigy on holiday with you.
Finally arrived in Ayutthaya at 7 and had to try two hotels before finally finding a third which would accept us. And at dinner I ate this chilli pepper which was like the hottest goddamn thing on the planet. I spent the rest of the meal wheezing and trying to persuade people that the swelling it caused on my tongue was a CIT (Chilli Induced Tumour).
☆ 16/08 . . . Day 19 . . . Ayutthaya -----> Night Train ☆
Spent the day going round Ayutthaya. Visited Wat Chayamongkol amongst others.
It had another reclining Buddha statue, but it wasn't as big as the one at Wat Po.
More bald nuns!! ^^
Catherine, Alice, me, Steph P & Lettie pretending to be Buddha.
Had lunch at a restaurant which had a live crocodile in a pit.
Seemed kind of cruel to keep it there though. Even though I hate crocodiles.
Lettie drinking coconut milk. Which was revolting. Sort of warm and milky and almost bitter and claggy. plus it looks like semen
Then there was a random guy with snakes on his hat. I like snakes, so I stroked them. Didn't see any 'wild' snakes this holiday at all, unfortunately.
Then went to a market which was near a few more Wats, although I didn't go into them.
I almost got knocked down by one of these elephants. They were everywhere around this area, and the next photo I took after this was a blur of pavement and my feet because an elephant came up behind me and I had to jump out of the way.
After that, we went into the actual town and did some proper shopping.
Rachel and Flo bowing to Ronald McDonald. See, McDonalds embraces all cultures.
Then it was dinner, and Lettie played her violin. Again.
At 10.30 we caught the overnight train, and at midnight, it was my 17th birthday
☆ 17/08 . . . Day 20 . . . Night Train -----> Um Phang National Park ☆
Actually, technically by Thailand time it wasn't my birthday until 2.10am on the 18th because I was born at 7.10pm on the 17th in England, but no matter.
The night train was uncomfortable and I didn't sleep. Got into Phitsanuloke Station at 5.20am, and we got a tuk-tuk from the station to the bus depot. There Flo and Steph gave me a card and a banana cake.
Birthday Cake~~~!
The bus journey to Mae Sot was about 4 or 5 hours, and taken at a death-defying speed. Had lunch in Mae Sot, and then had a six hour truck journey to Um Phang. I felt very ill and had to sit in the front (>.<)
We finally arrived at about 7pm and had a very yummy dinner at the lodge, cooked by our guides for the next few days. Letty, Alice, Helly and Hetta gave me 5 little banana cakes with 17 candles on and an Angry Bee T-Shirt (because of my bug-fear).
Rachel sitting outside the lodge.
View of the park.
Some random waterfall we visited... Pretend I remember it
The only really upsetting thin on my birthday was that I didn't get to contact my parents. Also, it was results day, and although Steph got her results, all the rest of us just had to wait. not that i had anything to worry about, in the end
☆ 18/08 . . . Day 21 . . . Um Phang National Park ☆
Steph started off the morning by being strange as always modelling Gaffa Tap Shoes for us.
I didn't take a photo of the shoes, the expression on her face was far more interesting...
After a great breakfast we were driven 10 minutes to the river and loaded into boats for the day of calm water rafting.
I was under the impression the boats would be made of bamboo, apparently not.
The rafting was easy - our guides steered and paddled for us, we just sat there. Stopped off about 12 at some hot springs - some people went into the water and got all muddy, I thought with my propensity to get ill from dirty water I should stay away.
In the afternoon we visited a cave full of bats which I enjoyed because I absolutely love bats. And have a dead one in a box. <----- absolutely true
Settled down for the night on top of these rocks beside the river, under a cliff. Shared a tent with Dubby, who taught me card games such as 'Beat Your Neighbour Out Of Doors' and 'German Whist'.
Where I'm standing taking the photo is where the tents were, the activity over in front of me is the guides preparing our dinner. Every night and lunch they made us a slap-up meal with all the stuff they carried round with them, it was incredible. And they made us all cups and stirrers carved from bamboo.
☆ 19/08 . . . Day 22 . . . Um Phang National Park ☆
Pretty much walked all day today until we reached the camp at 3. The morning was uphill and rainy, but after lunch it was fine.
A selection of sandwich fillings prepared for our lunch by the Super-Guides.
I much prefer Um Phang to Khao Yai. It's still muddy, but not nearly as dangerous if you do fall over...
Unfortunately, at the campsite we had to sleep in hammocks. I got no sleep whatsoever.
My hammock (before the basher ws pegged out correctly).
The cute smily monkey-looking guide pegging out my basher for me.
☆ 20/08 . . . Day 23 . . . Um Phang National Park ☆
Spent half the night thinking I had tinnitus before realising it was the effing cicadas making a racket under my hammock. Walking was fine again. Saw another waterfall in the morning (just in case I'd forgotten what one looked like.) But apparently this one was Thailand's largest waterfall, Tee Lor Su.
Steph in front of a mini-waterfall we saw on the way.
Rachel sitting on the rocks in front of Tee Lor Su.
Lettie and eBil!!! Cat with giant bamboo.
In the afternoon we walked 8km in 4 hours to a hill tribe deep in the jungle of Um Phang who we were staying the night with. They were a tribe of the Karen people, who aren't citizens of Thailand although they live there, and so have no legal rights, and speak a brand of Burmese.
The school hall we slept in, with two of my group hosing their boots off outside.
Quite a lot of the children had what looked like string through their ears. Plus they had a school uniform, which I found quite funny given their situation.
Flo and Tree.
☆ 21/08 . . . Day 24 . . . Um Phang National Park -----> Night Bus ☆
Woke up at 6.30 and began the final day of trekking. Our bags were carried by elephants and mine got filthy.
It took us 4 hours to go 4km up this hill, and the mud was everywhere, although it wasn't dangerous like Khao Yai was, so I didn't mind it so much. (Englsh bog is still worse.) Whenever we asked Mr Ahm (the main guide) how much further we had to go, he'd say '20 minutes' then giggle, and we'd be walking for another 2 hours. The 4km downhill passed a lot quicker and we were boated across the river and given chocolate at 3.30 before being taken on the 5 hour journey back to Mae Sot.
From Mae Sot we got on a VIP bus which was actually pretty comfy, and spent the night on that.
☆ 22/08 . . . Day 25 . . . Night Bus -----> Ko Chang ☆
Got into Bangkok at 3.30am - I think we may have hit a few motorbikes on the bus, because the journey was very bumpy. And fast. Plus Hetta left her bag on the bus and there was a big fuss, but she managed to get it back (thank God). Then, we caught the 6 o'clock bus to Trat on the Thai coast and arrived at lunchtime. Then, it was the ferry to the beautiful beach island of Ko Chang for some well-deserved R'n'R.
Ko Chang is one of those islands where the beaches are stereotypically gorgeous - white-gold sand, blue sea, palm trees etc. Looked like paradise as far as we were concerned, given that we hadn't had a shower for about 4 days and were all completely splattered with mud.
Steph P on the beach. She proceeded to get exceedingly burnt and turned competely red.
My beach hut.
The view sideways from my hut.
Lettie playing her violin on the beach in the evening.
Flo in her hammock on our veranda. Rachel and I were terrified she'd bring the house down, as she managed to break their bridge by putting her foot through it - and injured herself quite badly too - and also managed to destroy the side of Steph T and Sarah's veranda by sitting in their hamock with them, as well as a step at a previous hotel, the middle step up to our hut and a pillar supporting the roof in the restaurant. So yeah, she was Little Miss Breakages this trip... XD
Flo doing her King Canute impression while Steph rolls around in the sea like a looney.
I have to say - washing & shaving our so much more appreciated when you've been in the jungle for the previous 4 or 5 days. Omg.
☆ 23/08 & 24/08 & 25/08 . . . Day 26 & 27 & 28 . . . Ko Chang ☆
Basically spent all my time sunbathing, drinking banana shakes, eating shumai & manju & shopping in the town. Also saw a horrific amount of Western men with Thai brides. Eww.
☆ 26/08 . . . Day 29 . . . Ko Chang -----> Bangkok ☆
Today it rained for the first time this R'n'R, so we caught the ferry in the rain and got vey wet. Waited at the bus depot in Trat for a little while and I read the only Japanese book they had - a manga about もふ and BSE. It was actually quite interesting, if a bit random. Then got the 11 o'clock bus back to Bangkok which arrived in the early evening.
I also have the most massive red ant bites on my legs from the beach. Which is very annoying, because I haven't got any mozzie bites, so I thought I was clear. Damn.
After dinner we went out shopping in Khao Sarn Road again, and I spent literally all my money. Got another Nightmare Before Christmas bag, a few more volumes of 犬夜叉 and my SHOE-SHOES:
I only wanted them in pink. Took me ages, but finally I found my size...
Also ate Japanese Green Tea flavour Ice Cream and drank a Lychee flavour Jelly Drink. I actually love the food in this place... (Apart from the guy selling roasted grasshoppers, maggots and scorpions... o(>_<)o )
And one of the guys on the stalls who I bought a T-shirt from a couple of weeks before recognised me and called out to me ^^
☆ 27/08 & 28/08 . . . Day 30 & 31 . . . Bangkok (Thailand) -----> Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) -----> London (England) ☆
Did a little more shopping in Khao Sarn Road in the morning, but it's way better at night. Then at 1 we got a bus to the airport, and checked in. Our flight to Kuala Lumpur was at 5, and we actually only really just made it in time. It was about 2 hours and the pilot was a lot better than the one to Phnom Penh. Then there was a three hour wait at Kuala Lumpur, before we got onto the plane to London Heathrow~~~!!! ♥ ♥ ♥
Before we got on the plane though, because of the Security Threat in England at the moment we weren't allowed to take on spare batteries or fluids or gels, so everyone had to get rid of all their toothpaste, moisturiser etc. So outside the handluggage checkin we were all dousing ourselves with moisturiser in an attempt not to waste any!! XDXDXD
The flight was fine. I watched an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, Extras and then a Japanese film called スクールデイズ (School Daze) which was about bullying and which I really liked by the end. Then I watched most of She's the Man ::facepalm:: but we came in before it finished.
The flight was about 11 hours or so, and we left at 11.20pm Kuala Lumpur time and came in at 5.20am English time.
I admit it. When we came over London, and it was all dark and I could see all the lights of the city, with the Thames curving through it, I cried. Just a little. ^^
And then my parents were there to meet me, and I got my results in the car, and I arrived home and had a power shower and ate Special K cereal and drank chocolate Nesquik and realised exactly how much I love my home.
The trip was great, but I think more than anything it made me realise how lucky I am to have such a great home.
☆ 終わり ☆
And now finally I need to catch up with livejournal, and my social life, and schoolwork. o(0___0)o So much to do, and so little time...