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| Travel Thailand Laos Cambodia |
Long time no blog entry. I really have to apologize for that, but in the past 2 month I was so much more eager to take photos of my Asia adventures than writing all that experiences down.
Ok, I will try to make it "quick". :-) (of course you know that I won't be able to keep my promise)
After I finished my internship Sebastian came to visit me for 3 weeks. We went to see the Golden Triangle (a mysterious region, well known for opium production, situated at the borders of Thailand, Burma and Laos. There we hired a 250cc motorcross bike. For me the first time to drive on a big bike with clutch, but it worked out pretty good and was so much fun, since before I had only been driving on the little 125cc city cruisers.
The next day we crossed the Mekong river and entered to Laos, which costs us 20US$ for the 30 day-visa. On a speedboat together with "Native English speakers" from several countries we rode 200km on the Mekong to the town of Luang Prabang, which is a great example for French colonial architecture, but has also plenty of young Laos men, that try to sell drugs to Western tourists.
On the bus to the Laos capital of Vientiane we couldn't sleep all night long because the driver was listening to loud Laos style karaoke music without a break, probably to stay awake. Earphones are probably unknown. It was just a nightmare!! After a few hours of sleep, we hired two big motorcross bikes again, this time even bigger and heavier, and started off to a tour, which was meant to last for one day, but in the end became 4 days! The first night we spent in Vang Vieng, which is a surreal scene. After driving several hundred km through beautiful, but also very poverish and least developed Laos countryside, suddenly a Western backpacker oasis with nice guesthouses, internet cafes and pubs, that offer drinking alcohol out of buckets, pops up out of nowhere. It took us some time until we felt right there.
The next day we drove up to the mountains, which provided us with unforgettable mountain sights. Also the temperatures fell down to under 20 degrees, so we bought a long trouser (remember we had only clothes for one day) and long after dark we arrived in Phonsavan. The next day we visited the "plain of jars", which is an interesting archeological site, and consists of fields of stone jars, that, according to a theory have been used as a graveyard many hundred years ago. The area was still full of unexploded bombs from the time of the Vietnam war, actually thrown to defeat the Vietcong troups, that had fled to Northern Laos.
From this town back to the capital we then decided to take a "dirt road", which didn't have any pavement yet. This road was quite ok in the beginning, although driving speed was limited due to little stones on the track. But later the road became steep and washed out, and finally we had to cross some little rivers and mudholes with the bikes. We were not prepared for that and the longer and deeper the mudholes were, the more desperate we became. So desperate that when I tried to drive through, my bike slipped and a moment later I was lying in a mudhole, my leftside looking like dipped into melted chocolate, unfortunately it was no chocolate. Not much later, Sebastian slipped too and fell off the edge of the track and right into the jungle with his bike upon him. Fortunately he was not injured at all, which would have been a catastrophy, since we were in the middle of the jungle, and there were no hospitals, only pieceful villages with villagers that live a simple life without all the Western standards we are used to since so many years already.
Dirty as we came out of the jungle, we filled our tank at a bigger village at the edge of the jungle, and organized us something to eat, although the villagers looked at us like aliens. And they were right. After the mud fight in the jungle we looked as if we had been on a wellness mud bathing, but forget to wash it off afterwards. Pretty exhausted from the jungle dirt road struggle (believe me, this road was the most miserable I went on ever) we made our way back into civilization.
Next day we crossed the border to Thailand again and left Laos behind. A country, which calmness (people drive slow and with patience, holding umbrellas in one hand and steering the motorbike with the other hand :-) ) and overwhelming friendliness had fascinated us from the beginning. The travel through the Eastern part of Thailand was not so spectacular, so I skip this. After a few days in Bangkok (I already wrote about Bangkok a few month ago), we took the plane to Koh Pagnang, a beautiful, relaxed and still developing island in the south of Thailand. The majority of tourists is still backpackers there, although higher quality accomodations are being built already. We participated in the legendary full moon party, where 10000 young people (Western and Thais) danced the whole night to Electronic beats, fire-artists, alcohol and drugs were everywhere. The whole scene was truly spectacular.
We also went diving during our stay there, which was on a beautiful spot called Sail-Rock. For Sebastian and me, who had not been diving since we got our licence two years ago, it was a marvellous experience.
Back in Bangkok, Sebastian had to leave to Germany, and Tip came down to see me. Together we wanted to the the world famous temples of Angkor in Cambodia. We bought a bus ticket and made our way to the border. Just when we were crossing the border, the conditions suddenly became much worse, than we both had ever expected. Little children with even more little siblings on the arm and dirty clothes, were begging us for money. In the office we then saw a sign that said "Please don't exploit our children. A child is any person under the age of 18." Cambodia still suffers from a huge prostitution problem, and also little children are among the victims of ruthless men. It is so sad.
Just behind the border the road again had no pavement, and was half flooded. Plus, huge roadholes that can easily make your car breakdown, covered the entire road until Siem Riap, the town close to the temples. According to some rumors a Thai airline is supposed to pay a large amount of money to the Cambodian government, to make sure the road is not fixed too quickly.
After our arrival I could not just accept these miserable conditions all over the country, so I bought a lonely planet guidebook for Cambodia and read about its miserable past. In the 1970s, the communist regime of the Khmer Rouge had devastated the country, when they tried to establish a peasant state and even abandoned money, and important infrastructure like hospitals. An incredible number of people died during the period of their reign, and even after their regime had been cracked down by the Vietnamese, random raids and killings among the people still took place for many years. These harsh developments threw Cambodia back far behind and still the country has to develop in all areas.
Despite these discouraging experiences the actual temples of Angkor were the most splendid and spectacular architectural complex I have ever seen. The sheer vastness of the ruins takes one's breath away. The whole area of Angkor occupies over 400 square kilometers. Some of the ruins have been maintained over the time of a thousand years, but others have been left to the jungle, so at the temple of "Ta Phrom" (the movie Tomb Raider was filmed here) huge trees sit on the walls and there enormous roots "flow" down to the ground.
After a few days in Angkor we felt "templed out" and made our way back to Thailand, were we visited Kanchanaburi, the town of the bridge over the river Kwai. We learned a lot about the death railway, that the Japanese built during the second world war. They used many thousands of war prisoners (mainly British) to build an insane railway route through the deep jungle. The prisoners were given only starvation rations, and had to work allday under the burning sun, exposed to exhaustion and diseases like Malaria or dengue fever. Many died under that inhuman conditions.
Despite its miserable history the surrounding of the town has plenty to offer, like the Erawan national park, with its gorgeous 7-level waterfall, containing crystal clear water, as well as curious and hungry fish, that tried to feed on my skin.
To explore the beautiful countryside over there, I hired a cruiserbike, which was the best idea by far, since its a bit like "easy rider" cruising up and down the countryside.
After coming back to Chiang-Mai for one week I finally had to leave Thailand, had to say goodbye to my friends and Tip, which was the toughest after more than 4 month, having been together almost every day.
At the moment I am in Germany again, in my hometown Kassel and I am looking for a job, which I will hopefully find soon.
Thanks for reading my blog, and sorry again for the long time without any notice.
Greetings
Marius
P.S.: I would be happy if you let me know what you think about the quality of my photos!!
