Elective tales

The final stretch

2005-08-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

Okidoke

The few days on koh phang nan were nice, after the rocky start with the islanders! Considering we were there in the run up to the full moon however, the island was pretty dead - by 11.30 Nadia and I were the only people wandering the streets, trying to find signs of life in the few bars that were open. Perhaps we are the thai idea of party animals after all, and should have headed to hat rin!

After vegging out for a full day on the beach, we decided that the next day we woud try our hands at kitesurfing - snowboarding on the sea powered by a kite instead of a boat! Alas, the water was too shallow for begginers to safely learn, so we admitted defeat and headed to hat rin beach for the day. It was nice - but not as nice as nai pan - and everyone there who spoke english were steadily turning into lobsters. oh well. plus nadia said there were loads of jellyfish in the water - i didn't venture in to see for myself!

That night got the night ferry to the mainland, where we got a few buses to reach penang - originally had wanted to get a train but only one goes a day and it was a 20hour wait - typisch! The journeys weren't too bad, as we rocked on into penang at around 5pm, about 19 hours after we left the island!

Suki's "cousin" (exact relationship a mystery, but aren't they always!) kuljit collected us from the shopping mall the bus driver had dropped us off at (he knew us so well!). After a brief tour of penang we went to gurdev's house (the father) and showered and ate, then went out for drinks and more food - malaysians certainly like their food - I have spent the last 4 days stuffed to the brim! I had a lie in the next day whist nadia went for a run. She came back sooooo sweaty and beetroot we decided to skip our plans to climb penang hill(a 4 hour trek) in favour of the shopping mall and chinatown! After a delicious banana leaf meal in an indian restaurant we continued shopping whilst suki's dad (who had come from ipoh to collect us!) joined gurdev and kuljit in a round of golf. We had barely digested lunch when it was time for dinner - chinese at the penang swimming club! I had asked at lunchtime if malaysians eat their main meal in the middle of the day and a small snack in the evening and kuljit replied, aghast "no, main meal, main meal!" He certainly wasn't joking!

The next morning we set off for ipoh - the home of suki's parents. We had a relaxing couple of days eating, visiting their club to swim, and fitting in a bit more shopping! then the night bus to singapore!

I barely recognise the place! I know i've never been one for directions, but when we finally made it to scotts mall, I couldn't even locate the entrance to the Ascott - I had to ask! Nevertheless it was fun having a nosey round the joint and trying to find the old favourities - but they'd all gone! Searched scotts road for the fish and chip shop we often ate in - a burger king and subway were there in its place! Level one shopping mall was still their - but not the shops. Tangs was still preserved though - phew! Also discovered a new area of town - bugis street! Oh my god did we get some bargains! That evening we tried to get some hawker food as it was late - time flies when you're shopping! We firstly walked along orchard road, but they were mostly shutting and had no more food, so we jumped on the mrt and went to boat quay and clarke quay...way too posh for stalls. Finally we headed to chinatown and the lau pa sat hawker centre when i had some grimy noodles and egg as everyone was also packing up. d'oh.The satay stalls were still going strong, but it wasn't really what we had in mind!

Today we are going to do chinatown by day (if it stops raining!), then a bit more shopping, then perhaps check out raffles bar - will all depend on the weather I suppose! Tomorrow we spend the day at the tanglin club (v.excited - spent many a summer there as a child!) before catching our night flights to the UK.

angkor wat, shopping and the islands

2005-08-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Angkor did not disappoint.

We started our day of touring the temples at a very leisurely 9AM - well the sky was cloudy and i've seen my fair share of sunrises! Vuthy, our driver, had organised a guide for us, so after picking him up we were on our way to the temples of angkor! After passing through one of the massive gates, and over the bridge spanning the moat (illustrating demons (bulging eyes) and gods (lotus hats) working together to pull a snake round a mountain to churn the sea of milk to find immortality...don't ask!) we were in! Our first temple was the bayon. It was huge; most of the walls "bas reliefs" were engraved with battle scenes or ADLs, and in the central area (used for meditation) there are 1000s of faces chisseled out of the stone. Apparently, king jayavarman VII thought he looked like the buddha, so the faces were both self portraits and a point of worship!

Next we headed to the terrrace of elephants and the terrace of the leper kings. They are on the outside of the grand palace and might have been used for elephant fighting or theatre - no one knows - one of the problems of not keeping up to speed with the ancient languages...
Most of the grand palace was closed for renovation, so we climbed up to the top of a temple to see the swimming pools - one small one for the king, and a large one for his 300-odd concubines! He seemed like a bit of a diva - his wife was apparently stationed in the wat tower permanently and he visited her every night to sow his seed!

Next off we visited one of the smaller temples that was unfinished as all the builders got recruited to war. Was rather bland compared to the others but it showed us a different style of temple...there are four: mountains that are temples, temples built to look like mountains, flat temples and terraced ones (I think - something to look up when i get home!)

Last before lunch we visited the magnificient Ta prohm, which has been left exactly as it was found and was used for the tomb raider movies. It is slowly being eaten by the jungle - tree roots and walls all merge together - it was great exploring it. Also the guy on the front of LP's cambodia guide still sits in the central meditiation complex!

After we had refuelled on some Khmer curry - just like irish stew and not at all spicy - we braved the biggie - angkor wat. We spent a long time listening to the stories of hindu mythology, then our guide pointed out the depictions on the massive bas reliefs. The detail is quite incredible - in total there are about 1200 angels carved into the stone to try to persuade the god Vishnu to set up residence in the temple (forgotten the actual name of them) - and each one has a different hairstyle, facial expression, or accessory. Similarly all the different armies are slightly different - long earlobes, shape of hats or hair or the presence of footware all help to unravel who's who! The ground floor for the locals was almost finished (it was quite common to leave temples unfinished) but the middle floor for the high priests, and the top floor for jayaverman itself seemed quite spatan in comparison. Anyhoo, enough of temples!

After a really long, really bumpy bus ride,we fell into the first bed we could find on bangkok's khao san road. Had a great lie in then an even better afternoon shopping in Siam's fantastic MBK centre before heading back to khao san for more last minute shopping...and a quick rendez-vous with nav! medic on elective, take 2! having tried out both of bangkok's main touristy areas now, I am still at a loss as to what is so repulsive about the city - I will definately be coming back! (still haven't done any of the sites really!)

Now on Koh Phang Nhang (?sp), an island off the coast of koh samui. The beach is nice, and the bars are cool enough, but considering its the full moon party on saturday, the place is a little, dead. And the prices are a little, inflated. We opted for the quiter north-east as recommended by most travellers, but will have a half-day on crazy hat rin beach whilst waiting for the ferry back to the mainland. Will wait for tomorrow to pass further judgement. Unlike the muslims of malaysia, I shall not pray for rain, but lovely blue skies for the next 2 days!

Cambodia

2005-08-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

Our 2 day trip down to the mekong delta was more a mammoth bus and boat journey than a visit to the region. We spent the whole time travelling, and spent only 30mins of day light visiting a village on the delta (and fishfarm - yuk!)

some of the scenery on day 1 was pleasant enough - although it all passed a bit too quickly from the back seat of a minivan! We spent the night in a "resort" (i.e. seeing nada of chau doc, the nearest delta town...) then carried on to the cambodian border by boat. It was quite striking seeing the difference in houses and farmland either side ofthe border - Cambodia was much more ramshackle (and quaint) with stilt wooden houses and fields of maize instead of rice paddies and concrete. After another full day's travelling, we arrived into phnom penh that evening, checked into the cheapest guesthouse we could find ($2/rm) and ate the cheapest dinner ($2.50!) Prices seem to be the inverse of vietnam, where accomodation was relatively expensive but food practically free.

The next day, after another bad night's sleep (about the 10th running, for various reasons) we set out to do PP. After reading wild swans i've become quite interested in the communist movement and their "cultural revolutions": We learnt quite a lot about the cambodian one in the tuol sleng museum - a high school that was converted into S-21 - a torture camp and prison for high ranking officials. Not only can you see the conditions the prisoners were kept in, and the torture instruments used to get "confessions", you can also read quite a few personal testimonials. There seemed to be little logic in who was taken - the educated and farmers, people in the party and those working against it - and anyone who was related to someone to whom the party took a dislike. We learnt even more from our fabulous moto driver, who drove us to the killing fields at choeung ek. He was studying law at uni, and wants to become a human rights lawyer next year when he graduates, so was very knowledgeable about the whole subject. Well, as knowledgeable as one can be in a country where all information is sensored by the government, and disagreeing with them can get you killed... The killing fields are still very much a graveyard - many of the bodies lying in the mass graves have not yet been exhumed - and bones and pieces of clothing stick out of the walking paths. At the entrance there is a monument filled with 17 storeys of reclaimed skulls - apparently they can't dig up any more of the pits until they find some more space for the remains...nice.

On a slightly cheerier note, the royal palace was back to glistening Thai standards. Restoration was still been undertaken, but the coronation room and the silver pagoda were magnificient. The silver tiles on the floor were engraved, and the 2 buddhas - one small one in solid emerald; the other lifesize made of solid gold and studded with thousands of diamonds, were beautiful. It's still the official residence of King Shinaouk (?) so much of the grounds were off-limits, but I enjoyed what we were allowed to see.

We then raced to get a tuk-tuk to the russian market, but ended up in a cyclo, who went very slowly and in the wrong direction, so had to find another moto, by which time the market had packed up and we had a very long walk home. boo hoo. Passed the central market but didn't go in.(probably just as well!)

Today we took the bus to Siem Reap, the town closest to the temples at Angkor. Finally found a place to slum it - $1/night in a dorm, with shared bathroom and no hot water - and a driver to take us round the temples tomorrow. Had a practice run tonight - went to THE hill to watch sunset (entry after 5pm is free) - to be surrounded by many many other bemused package tourists, wondering how we'd come to be up the top of a hill, on a perfectly cloudy day, attempting to watch sunset with the horizon obscured by overgrown trees! We thought the temple on the hill was ok, but conceeded defeat and arranged for an official giude to escort us around tomorrow - the story's all in the telling after all.

Saigon/ho chi minh

2005-08-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

Right, so I know I'm starting to sound a little schizophrenic, but...I really do like Vietnam! Not all of it, granted, Halong bay and Nha trang should be retargeted by the yanks as far as I'm concerned, but aside from that it's all good.

We spent our last long day in Nha Trang at the Thap Ba mineral mud baths (These can be spared in the bombing raid!) We arrived mid morning, when it was pretty empty, apart from one other foreign couple and a few local families. When we left at 6pm, it was heaving - mostly with Vietnamese so I guess the mud must be tried and tested in its claims to help chronic rheumatism, gout, bone tuberculosis and disorders of the external nervous system (whatever that is!) It was a fun day - but complicated! The procedure is as follows: have a mineral water shower (instead of taps there's a pressure pad on the floor so the water starts when you step on it - genius - i'm going to market this in the UK!) followed by 20 minutes soaking in a bath filled with mineral mud, then leaving the mud to dry on your skin, another mineral shower, a power shower (where the water attacks you from all sides) then another soak in a mineral water jacuzzi! My skin was truly as soft as a baby's after all that! In the afternoon we tried to sit under the waterfalls and go for a swim - but the water was too hot - uncomfortable even for a bath! So we contented ourselves with a sunlounger instead!

That night we took the bus to Saigon (was not nearly as delux as the one that took us to hoi an!) and after a few extra hours kip in our hotel room, we were ripe to explore the town. After booking our onward journey, we realised that we need some more cash. It was 1pm on a saturday - the banks were closed till sunday - the day we leave for cambodia and need dollars in cash for a visa. oops. After trying (and failing) to change TC's at the posh hotels we decided to cut our losses and head for the palace: "reunification or independence palace". It was home to the president and french leader before the communists set up home there so we were expecting grandeur like that displayed in the royal palaces in laos and Thailand...but no. It was a modern french-designed 1960's concrete invention with art deco influence. Random or what? well, the first colonial-style palace was irrepairably damaged by a bomb...

Even though it was not what we were expecting, the building was pretty cool. It had a helipad, cinema and games room that would have made James bond proud. The communications suite in the 2-storey basement was fairly swish too! however, fear the interior designer may have been colourblind - not one room had a matching colourscheme...red chairs with maroon carpet with yellow curtains - all with different patterns? I don't think so...apparently the original designs were lost and had to be reconstructed! Once the palace had closed (and the torrential rain had abated) we resumed our search for an exchange buro. Hurrah - we found one - and they had really pretty tea sets and noodle bowls for sale. Against our better judgement we both entered into negotiations, flushed with our new crisp dollar bills, and each emerged carrying several kilos of ceramic kitchenware! Needless to say, 5 paces down the street we found the identical product for half the price. Cursing furiously, I frogmarched Nadia back to the shop and asked for a refund. Nearly 2 hours later (and some devious tactics on my part) I emerged semi - victorious with 8 of my 10 dollars back and a chopsticks holder (priced at $3, valued at 0.00003!) Will think more carefully next time - and will save the breakables for malaysia or s'pore!

Today we did an organised tour to the cu chi tunnels. We were slightly apprensive about this after our halong bay fiasco, but unless we hired a car or chartered a taxi (unfeasabily expensive for our anorexic budgets!) we couldn't get there on our own steam. As it turned out, the tour guide was excellent. "Mr Binh" had "binh there and done that" (so sorry!) in the 1970's - so had a real knowledge of the area and the tunnels. Slighlty confusingly, we think he is Vietnamese but fought for the americans, given his commanding officer was John Carey and he lived in San Diego, Ca for 2 years. Guess he could at least give both sides of the story! After watching a video and learning about the construction and purpose of the tunnels, we were led through the jungle where we could see the original tunnel exit sites and some of the traps that were used to catch meat and soldiers. They really did blend completely into the ground (and looked exactly like the ones in indiana jones - not sure which came first!)- I was not at all surprised they were so succesful. Next we learnt about the clothes and shoes nad daily life of the Viet Cong and cu chi villagers, and about how they could cook without the steam betraying their whereabouts etc - all facinating stuff. After firing an AK47 in a firing range (completely missed the target btw) it was our turn to road test the tunnels. They have preserved a 100m stretch for visitors which has each of the 3 levels - 3m (living), 6m (fighting), and 8-10m (escape). It was so hot, and so dark and so small that soon I was so scared I had to escape. Fortunately the VC built exit and air holes every 30m that i could use - but it seemed much longer than that. Certainly would not have liked to be chased down those things, much less made it my home!

This afternoon we mostly ambeled and window-shopped - Saigon is ace for shopping, although expensive: will def come back when i am earning! We have an early start tomorrow as we head down to the mekong delta so off to get some dinner and an early night.

Hoi an and Nha Trang

2005-08-04T05:46:00.000-07:00

Was thrilled with my suit from Hoi An. I went for my first fitting expecting it to be roughly the right shape but in need of major alterations – and it all fitted perfectly! At $73US for a 3 piece suit with 3 shirts, was a bit of a bargain. Cost half as much again to send it home though! I don’t mind as long as it gets there – will be heartbroken if it goes missing as I also sent all my other souvenirs from Asia.

Hoi An in general was lovely – we made it to the beach and the Cham ruins at My Son (although the “sunrise” tour which necessitated a 4.30AM start actually completely missed the event by several hours once we had spent an hour circling Hoi An, and another having breakfast at a roadside café!) We still beat the crowds though – on our return we passed coach after coach – we were very lucky and had only our minibus, plus one other at the site so the ambience remained intact. My Son itself was a religious centre, to where the Cham people would make a pilgrimage. Although the ruins were mostly destroyed by the war (yes that bloody war yet again…), the remains gave a good idea as to what it would have looked like. The buildings were small, with no windows, and turreted roofs (rooves?) and were made with bricks but no mortar – amazing they still stand at all really!

With the 2 excursions and hours of shopping, didn’t do any of the “sights” of Hoi An, excepting the Japanese covered bridge. That suited me fine really, as I got a feel of the place from trekking up and down the streets on our shopping expeditions! Crazily, bumped into Graham Nelson on our last day who is also heading south through Vietnam – perhaps we’ll meet again soon!

Took the night bus to Nha Trang – was much better than anticipated as seats reclined a good deal and the temperature control worked! After a lovely few days in Hue and Hoi An, Nha Trang has come as a bit of a disappointment. Had a nice day today relaxing on the beach avec parasol and sun lounger at the Louisiana café…but only managed a few minutes in the water as it was quite dirty. Nadia went in a few hours after me and was horrified – cotton wool buds, crisp packets, and fuel containers aplenty. I don’t recall it being that bad when I went in…at least I hope it wasn’t! Tomorrow we treat ourselves at the mineral mud farm before heading down to Saigon – figured we’d forsake the boat trip and a day more beach time, and spend the time somewhere cleaner (and preferably a bit quieter – think I am now a beach snob after Aitutaki!)

About to head out for some dinner and drinks in one of the many beachfront bars before getting an early night to steel ourselves for another overnighter on el bus!

Hanoi water puppets

2005-07-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

After all my whingeing in my last entry, i neglected to say how fun the water puppets of Hanoi were! The stage is a big tank of water with a screen behind, and the puppet masters move the puppets from behind the screen so it looks like they are dancing on the water. Classic! Apparently it is a tradition upheld from when the workers in the paddy fields had nothing to do during the monsoon, so created this form of entertainment.

It was a fun evening - and came with the added bonus of keeping us away from the shops for another few hours!

We got the overnight train that evening from Hanoi to Hue. The soft sleeper bed was very comfortable, and both of us got a reasonable amount of sleep. The morning portion of the journey was a bit more interesting, as unlike most other sleeper trains, the ones in Vietnam don't fold back into seats - so we had the choice of lying flat until 11AM or standing in the corridor! Still think it was preferable to the coach - although we're trying that next as hoi An has no train station!

hue itself was quite lovely. It was a lot less touristy than other towns we've visited, and retained some of its charm. However, before we could see any of ot, the first stop was the doctors - I'd had a small rash on my thighs for the past 2 weeks and it had suddenly, allarmingly, multiplied out of control! The doctor filled me with confidence...not! Had a quick look, went "wow, that's a big one" (I presumed he meant my rash, not my backside...) then gave me, antibiotics, antihistamine, antiinflammatory, and multivitamins. Blatently hadn't a clue! Never mind - we took our own initiative and bought some antibiotics that actually penetrate the skin (no, ciproflox is not same, same, as flclox...) so will keep fingers crossed!

After that palava, we headed into the old town to walk around the citadel and the forbidden purple city - it was massive! A lot of it had been levelled, and converted to agriculture, or left to crumble, but UNESCO had restored parts of the compound so you got an idea as to what it would have looked like in the "good old days". Lots of painted wood and tiled floors I gather.

The following day we got a cyclo to the thien mu pagoda - a 7 story job which looks like the tiers on a wedding cake. I think it became famous after some guy burned himself to death on the grounds to protest about the communist regime and the denunciation of buddism as a religion. A highlight of our trip their was that it coincided with lunchtime for the monks (11am - obviously!), so we got to see their rituals and hear their singing. unusually, there were also female monkesses and little children, who were dressed in grey as opposed to orange. will try to find out why at some point!

After a whislestop tour of Hue, got a bus to Hoi An - the capital of tailor made clothes. We had a quick reccie last night to sus out where the best tailors looked, so today we head for them to get quotes for an interview suit (+/- whole new wardrobe - depends how strict I am!)Whilst the clothes get made, we'll either head to the my son ruins, the beach, or laze by our pool - that's right - we are staying in a hotel that has a pool! Plus free breakfast, satellite TV, DVD hire, and free cocktail du jour from 7-8 at teh poolside bar - all for $10 per night!

halong bay

2005-07-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

We spent a lot of our one day in Hanoi faffing around sorting out onward train journeys, excursions, money and moving hotel. However, we did get to see the temple in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake which is dedicated to the patron saint of physicians. (however, we couldn't get inside as we were gossiping and didn't realise they were closing up - a sign perhaps!!!) We also had a lovely wander around the old quarter with it's quirky buildings and crooked streets (we're getting better at crossing them - the trick is never to take a step backwards!) For dinner we went to a fabulous veggie restaurant where they use soybean as meat substitutes - I can't vouch for the taste, but the beef and bbq pork certainly looked like the real thing! (the squid did taste quite similar to the mouthful I tried in Aitutaki...) Was a surreal experience - and a totally different way of eating - no carb, little veg, much protein! It hasn't tempted me back yet...

We've just returned to hanoi after a 3 day boat trip to halong bay and cat ba island. I want to go into vast detail explaining the beauty of the limestone carsts and the national park on cat ba island...but I just can't bring myself to (I'll read nadia's blog instead!). There were so many tourists boats there, it really did feel as if the boat was attached to a monorail and you have just queued up for "it's a small world". The caves had "feature lighting", the national park had a concrete road running up to the viewpoint with litter strewn either side, and at night, cat ba island rivalled blackpool for its tackiness and illuminations. On the first night there was the option of sleeping out on deck "under a blanket of stars". Nadia and I were forced to take this option after 3 cockroaches attacked us in our cabin! Luckily it was a beautifully clear night - but the stars were obscenely dim because the boats sharing the bay kept their lights on all night- fuelled by noisy generators which somewhat destroyed the tranquility. The next day we had some time scheduled for swimming - but the water looked so dirty I could barely bring myself to get into a kayak. It was the first time I have ever joined a group excursion - convenient it was, but not having any say as to where/what/when we ate/slept/went tried my patience to the limit! Fortunately we had a really good group, many of whom are following the same route as us, so at least the evenings were lively! On cat ba island we went to a cocktail bar and lounged around drinking island ice teas and puffing on a nargile! Very hip.

Although I have had,(and am still having) a great time, Vietnam has been an eye-opener with regards the "South East Asia loop". We have systematically tried (and failed) to:
1) get off the tourist trail
2) find any geniune culture
3) find any semblance of culture at all...

Even in Laos, even when we went on a canoe for 2 whole days, all that we saw was stuff created for (and being ruined by) tourism. Even areas of outstanding natural beauty lose their charm a bit when they're covered in placards, rubbish, graffiti...The cities aren't much better: the shopping is great but the history is absent. I know much of this can be blamed on centuries of conflict, oppressive communist regimes, repeated invasion by foreign powers, but still...we thought there'd be something, anything! The abundance of lemming travellers I can understand- I put it down to the fact that there are usually only one or two roads per country - and everyone's got to use them if they want to move! Crazy public bus drivers (if available) and the risk of banditry/accidents/mudslides/suffocation by overcrowding (insert according to country) mean that many travellers take the tourist buses - which only stop in certain towns (which quickly become meccas for bars and markets). Having talked to fellow travellers on the same route it doesn't seem as if we're barking up the wrong tree: SEA is very cheap, it's very easy to get around, and its fun. But compared to Europe, Cuba and India, it's definately lacking. I would gladly swap the hot showers and western toilets for a real flavour of asia...but sadly, i'm coming to realise what I was looking for doesn't exist any more. How many times we've said, "it's nice, but we're 10 years too late"?

However, enough of the whingeing. After a few days of coming to terms with the facts, we have adopted a new outlook. We are on holiday (not travelling), we will shop and lie on the beaches, and we will stay out late and lie in late if we feel so inclined. Except Cambodia - angkor wat awaits!

Tonight we head down to Hue on the train - we went to the station and booked hard sleeper - all they had left. On the bus back the tour guide was explaining to our friends how foreigners weren't allowed to use these - only the soft sleepers (at three times the price). I hope this was a scam tactic or it's going to be an interesting journey...hard sleeper with vietnamese would be fine...the corridor outside it might not be so nice!

Hanoi

2005-07-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

We survived the flight! Phew!

Spent our last night in Vang Vien having dinner at the organic farm cafe. Although I wasn't too impressed with mulberry green tea, I am a convert of the berry in other incarnations: mulberry milkshake, mulberry pancakes, deep fried mulberry leaves....

Vientiane actually wasn't as closed as the embassy made out...we got the bus to the centre of town, walked around for a bit looking very conspicious with our rucksacks, then had lunch at a delicious roadside cafe called Joma. Then went out and got a rickshaw to the airport. No one even attempted to approach us, much less chuck us out of the city! Nie matter, it didn't look as pretty as Luang Prabang anyway!

So now we're in Hanoi. Seems a lot more hectic than the other places we've been, and the first thing we noticed is how keen the locals are to talk. We've decided to enjoy our 2 weeks in Vietnam and ditch most of the "culture" (if it's already bad in Laos what is it going to be like here???), so it's beaches and shopping from now on!

crazy bus drivers in Laos

2005-07-24T04:49:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Luang Nam Tha consisted on a 1 day trek. Whilst the countryside was stunning (and completely rugged - I have cuts on my feet to prove it!), the villages we had taken this 4 day detour to see were already substantially ruined by tourism - even though it is supposedly an eco tour area. Whilst they may not yet have stalls set up selling tacky handicrafts, they had certainly learnt about the hard sell - from the moment we entered the village we were surrounded by women and children, all trying to sell identical woven bracelets. All of us obligingly bought one, but this did not satisfy the villagers - the pestering continued. "To feed the children", they said. I thought perhaps if they spent more time in the fields growing food instead of making bracelets both tourist and local would be happier. The only time we got a break was when we played Latin football with the children (much fun - although I suck!) Even when we retreated into a hut for some pineapple, they had to be barred from coming up the ladder to join us. They welcomed photography - for a coin, of course.

Needless to say, this experience was a little disappointing. However, I have since visited several more villages very much on the tourist trail - and they are even worse. There is no village left - only stalls and children who beg instead of going to school. Plus at least the Akha village we visited benefitted from the profits of the organisation we used.

After a farily expensive few days we decided to rough it and take the local bus down to Luang Prabang. A big mistake - our driver was possesed - even the locals were scared. After the second burst tyre, Nadia and I, along with the rest of the foreigners and a few of the locals abandonned the bus in favour of chartering a guy and his jeep for the rest of the journey! We arrived in Luang pretty late (about 8pm - bedtime in Laos!) and had great difficulty finding a room. On about our 10th attempt we hit lucky - but nowhere was serving dinner and a power cut blighted half of the bars. We were not sorry to see the end of that day. We have still not found out if the bus made it!

Our stay in Luang Prabang was extended for a few days when we found out about vientiane being "closed". The ASEAN summit is taking place from 20th-30th July and no tourists are allowed in apparantly...nice of someone to tell us! Apparantly it's stamped on the visa - if you got it from the embassy in bangkok... Not to worry though, as luang prabang was fabulous! Boutiquey french cafe's, cake a-plenty, a few cool bars, and the piece de la resistance, l'etrangere. It's a bookshop come library come cafe come cinema which oozes character and serves delicious smoothies! Culturally, we saw 2 wats - wat xieng thong and that phu si. Both were nice - the former was the only wat not to be damaged by US bombing and is still very pretty; the latter is a series of complexes on the hillside at phu si and from the summit gives great views of LP but is otherwise quite delapidated. Funwise we visited the caves at Pak Ou by boat (bit of an anticlimax- a load of budda statues in a cave after 2 hours on a boat) and Tat Muang Xai- very cool waterfalls where we swam a bit and climbed to the top. Both excursions were fine, but would have been better if we had skipped the "hill villages" en route.

Having learnt our lesson, we booked the posh VIP bus to get us to Vang Vien. However, our bus was no better equipped for the massive mudslide that rendered the road unusable about one hour into our journey - d'oh! After 4 hours of sitting around (the lovely boys were trying to salvage wood and rocks to rebuild the road), we managed to get half way across before we were truly "stuck in the mud!" Thankfully, got towed the rest of the way across by a truck stranded on the other side so could continue to vang vien uneventfully!

Vang Vien itself is very touristy - but fun for what it is. we can eat pizza, watch friends dvds and tube down the river with frequent beer lao breaks! Instead of the tubing, we took the more demure option - kayaking and caving with a visit to the mulberry tea farm! The first cave was submerged, but we visited elephant cave and tat coo(?) - the first was a small cave with a rock shaped like an elephant (a little help from the villageers methinks...), the latter was huge, with ponds, stalagmites and tights and mud everywhere. It was great fun exploring this cave - with my headlight and reef shoes I even felt quite professional! After a break for lunch (veggie kebabs!) we had a full afternoon kayaking, with breaks to visit the farm and sample mulberry iced tea (yuk!) and try the rope swing (it had started raining by this point so i whimped out, along with the rest of the group!)

Tomorrow we get a minivan (wish us luck!) to vientiane airport to await our flight to hanoi (luck again please!) Hello Vietnam!

river rapids

2005-07-18T04:27:00.000-07:00

wow, just survived two days on a canoe!

We managed to get the border crossing in time to cross into Laos after the bus journey from chiang mai. Was a bit hairy, as we had paid for our visa in Chiang Mai - the travel agent faxed a copy of our passports to "the embassy", then we were to present our passports to a guest house who would stamp our visa onto it. I know it sounds a bit dodge when I put it in writing, but everyone in Chiang Mai was telling us that this was the only way to avoid an overnight stay in Chiang Khong....

Needless to say, when we arrived at the guesthouse they told us the visa wouldn't be ready until the next day, but they had rooms available. After a bit of sign language and key words, we got them to phone the travel agent in Chiang mai, and 10mins later we were on our way to the boat crossing! I know this may have turned out completely differently, but so far we have been very reluctant to trust the thais...and they have always proven us wrong. From getting the local bus to the elephant sanctuary (where we were sure they would forget to tell us where to get off), to the kind men who tell us how much things should cost and where to avoid, everyone has been super kind, with no ulterior motive - and we always end up feeling bad when we question them.

Huay Xi was a nice enough village - we had dinner on a wooden jetty overlooking the nam tha river - views were superb, dinner was not! We had ordered garden rolls, thinking that they might be a healthier alternative to the fried spring rolls...not so - spring rolls deep fried in cheese! oops - nadia was not impressed! From huay xi we arranged to take the slow boat up to Luang Nam Tha as the road is supposed to be the worst in Laos (and that's saying something!). The journey was to take two days, with an overnight stay in one of the villages en route.

We didn't quite expect the boat to be as basic as it was - a long canoe, with no seats, no shelter, (no toilet!!!) with eight of us plus backpacks arranged side by side with feet hanging over the edges. I was wearing 3/4 length trousers...my lower legs were burnt to a crisp except where I had a plaster over my knee - I now sport the most ridiculous tan mark ever! However, the scenery was beautiful, and we got to see lots of traditional lao village life, with men casting out their fishing nets and punting along the river, women washing clothes and grinding maize, nd children swimming and washing in the river. I also got to try white water rafting - though I'm not sure it counts if we're going up river...but I did get very wet! Nadia assured me that they were barely grade 1 - but I still felt hard! After a long day on the boat we eventually moored at a small village. No electricity, no shower, but the cutest children ever who got very excited when you showed them a picture of themselves on your camera (after getting permission from mum obviously, I wouldn't go shoving a camera in someones face without asking...unlike some people...) However, they weren't so cute when they turned to fighting, electricuting, drowning, decapitating or torturing chickens generally. After a tasty dinner (perhaps a bit on the spicy side seeing as I was the only one to finish mine, and two other bowls...) we crashed onto our matresses under our mosquito nets. We all slept pretty soundly until 5ish, when the chickens starting squarking (their body clocks were much better than aitutaki chickens), the children resumed their playing, and the music started up. It was soooooo loud - and they only played 30secs of each song before switching to another so it wasn't even like you could just drift off! After such an early start, we were looking forward to napping on the boat but alas the weather was against us. It rained, and rained, and rained some more. This in itself wasn't too bad, as we had some cover sheltering under the tarpaulin shielding the luggage. However, the rainwater made the rapids quite a lot more feisty - every so often a huge wave would come over the side of the boat, drenching us all, and leaving us wondering how we'd ever leave Laos if our passports were swept away in our backpacks!

Thankfully we've safely arrived in Luang nam Tha. Unfortunately the posh ecolodge we had our eye on was full, so we've ended up in a budget place in town. Not that skanky though - hot water for us tonight! Tomorrow we head on a one day trek around the hill tribe villages. Not ideal, as we had hoped to camp out for a night, but we were the only two who had approached the guides and they need a minimum of 4 to make it profitable - a bit expensive for us and we are already fretting about time. It should be good though!

2 days but yet so much to tell!

2005-07-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

Nadia is a bad influence on me - i am becoming addicted to the computer! However we have seen alot so it seems wise to put keyboard to KB.

My first impressions of Bangkok were not wrong. I simply don't understand why people don't like the place (apart from perhaps the smog, but it's just as bad in chiang mai...). It's clean, the people are courteous, the transport system is efficient, the markets sell everything, and its so so CHEAP! Took a lot of willpower not to fill my rucksack immediately - instead have scheduled in an extra day there on our way to singapore to stock up on everything when weight is not such an issue. We didn't stay on Khao San Rd but we did go there to shop - the spectacle is quite unique: gappers and families all buying the wrap skirts, the strappy tops, the cushion covers, the pad thai..."independent travel" it is not! But fun none the less. On our first night we ate at a place called cabbages and condoms - their food is guaranteed not to make you pregnant! phew! but they do give you condoms instead of mints and have set up safe sex and HIV/AIDS campaigns across the countryside so our 100baht stir fry was going to a good cause.

The only real tourist attraction we went to see was the Grand Palace. Big, lots of gold and gems and japanese tourists. Was very pretty but there wasn't a lot of information in english and we weren't allowed to hire an audioguide as there wasn't enough time to get through it all. Next stop - Chiang mai!

We took the overnight train to Chiang Mai. Here we've been to see several wats (nope i'm still not watted out but give me another 5 weeks!) including wat chiang man where we got marooned for an hour while the heavens opened. Before that we visited a local wat which was undergoing restoration. Around it were all these cute sayings like:
"better your foot than your mouth: words have wings and cannot be reeled back" and "love is a flower garden to be watered by tears" Awww!

Last night we went for a meander around the night market - again I felt immensly restrained only to buy 3 bangles and a pair of earrings! Up and down the road, and the side streets, and two story buildings - this was a market and a half! 4 hours of hardcore shopping and we didn't see it all! You could buy everything - from super traditional fabrics to CDs and designer spin offs. For dinner we settled on a place called fatties which served delicious yellow curry - my first real thai curry (let's just hope without the fish sauce)

Today we have been to The elephant conservation centre. I am now officially in love with the animals. The sanctuary takes in all the homeless and sick elephants that were once needed for the logging and transport industries. It then breeds the phants and trains the young to do what their parents would have done in an effort to conserve the thai traditions. We arrived just in time to see a display given by the elephants and their mahouts - it was fascinating even if it was mostly pushing logs around and tap turning. After the show we went on an elephant ride through the jungle - it was exactly like being on a camel, but the phants fart less! then we visited the hospital (well we are on our elective!) Amongst the patients was a long stay resident of 50 years after her logging career abruptly came to an end after a tree landed on her trunk and squashed it so badly it had to be cut off. As she can't pick food up from the floor anymore, she has her own bowl raised off the floor so she can eat!

This evening we did a thai cookery course. We made spring rolls, pad thai and mushroom and ginger stir fry - all delicious although i am now very stuffed. I don't understand why people thought we would struggle to eat as veggies in thailand - i'm putting weight on - not losing it!!! (the cookery course's toilets had a sign saying "our food is guaranteed to make you look pregnant" ala C&C!) They have more meat substitutes than the UK, and "no meat, no fish" has worked so far...

Tomorrow we head for Laos-whether or not we make the crossing before the border shuts remains to be seen! We have opted to go thai style - a non airconditioned local bus - today we went air con and needed defrosting at the other end! None of the backpacker minivans would get us to the border in time - although we are very much on the traveller trail bizarrely we seem to have avoided other foreigners for the most part - sure we will catch up with them at some point!

Meeting Nadia

2005-07-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

My last few days in aitutaki certainly were action-packed. After whingeing about the weather, the cooks finally pulled themselves together and gave me a fabulous last week of sun.

The lagoon cruise was well worth the wait... the motus are even more idyllic than the mainland! We went to honeymoon island, an important nesting site for cuteas fluffy birds and one foot island where we had a delcious lunch - my first salad in 5 weeks and the best chocolate cake ever-and got our passports stamped! In between we snorkelled amongst giant clams and really colourful fish and sunbathed on the boat. The boat passed the motu where the next series of survivor will be filmed - not quite as isolated as it's made out to be, but I guess it's all relative - I might not be saying that if I hadn't done my elective on Aitutaki!

The next day we went to Samades (a local bar) for their Island night. We'd been to it before, but only for the dancing - this time we splurged and paid for the buffet as well. It was nice, more salad etc, but we managed to clear out the place and there wasn't any cake - disaster! a highlight was seeing the fire dancing, as they hadn't done that previously.

Continuing on our decadent week, we decided to hire out a kayak for the afternoon, and paddle out to some of the other motus which are nearer the mainland. It was great fun although I got absolutely soaked - the waves can get pretty choppy if you stray out too deep we discovered! Our efforts were rewarded by having an island completely to ourselves (once we'd stared out the other couple who were also with kayak!) The motu was also really near to the reef so we waded out, braving stonefish and spiders, to get a close up view of the pacific waves breaking on the reef. The lagoon waves seemed non existent comparatively - and the noise - you just don't notice it from the mainland! After paddling back at sunset (will we make it???) we rewarded ourselves with a chocolate milkshake from the aitutaki lagoon resort. Sublime. On our way home we were invited to a barbeque "to use up extra food", so after a quick shower and booze roundup we headed back 'up north'. What we saw exceeded all expectations: there was wine (!), salads of rice, potato, veggies, garlic bread etc and an eclectic mix of locals and travellers. It was a few peoples' last night and the host really had gone all out - even to the extent of tracking down a firedancer as we had all been so impressed the night before!

Then the time came to board my flight and leave the cooks. I'd changed my flights so that I could have an extra few hours on Aitutaki to avoid the rain on raro (seemingly all it does there) but I still didn't want to leave - it all went so fast! One of my new friends was on the same flight to Raro, and as we both had a painfully early international flight the next day we didn't book acommodation and decided to stay in the airport...well more precisely in the bar opposite the airport! Dee flaked out at around 10 to get a few hours sleep on the metal seats in the departure hall, so the locals adopted me and before i knew it it was 1.30 and time to check in! Fortunatley the mayor of Mitiaro papa peter (one of the rothchild legacy apparantly...) was one of the patrons that evening, so I (and indeed the rest of the bar) didn't even need to use my last $10! So I guess all's well that ends well (even if my plane was subsequently nearly 2 hours late and my luggage went to christchurch, not auckland!)

On the way to Auckland I had a whole row to myself. I think partly thanks to that, and mostly due to the alcohol I slept like a baby for most of the journey. Then, after a brief stopover in Auckland, I got a business class seat to sydney, so once again sound sleep for me! Needless to say, once I arrived at sydney I was rearing to make the most of my 48hours in the place! But first, a short wait in the airport whilst they tried to locate my bags, which they did superbly considering they both got on different flights (neither mine btw) and beat me. London take note!

Sydney was fabulous. The railway youth hostel was nice and after a quick shower I headed straight for the ferry terminal and manly bay. The sun was just starting to set as we left circular quay so the buildings looked all golden and shimmery, and the opera house and bridge were magnificent. Chatted to a guy on the way over who had been to sydney before so he pointed out all the sights, and told me where to go in manly. It transpired that he was also on monday's flight to singapore - crazy coincidence!

Manly was nice - i didn't spend much time there but it was fun watching the surfers, the children playing in the sand, and listening to the deafening chirp of the birds and crash of the waves. tried to resist shopping - fortunately most of the shops were shutting -phew! But I could see why people could live in manly - I for one will definately be back! I headed back to the hostel to meet Nadia - she wasn't in the room or the lounge so guess where we met - the toilets!! Touche!
We headed back down to the circular quay area to try and find somewhere "aussie" to eat but caved and ended up in wagamamas! Well at least we're heading on to the right place for more of that! The next day we went to the rocks market - could have filled my rucksack with all the cute trinkets but held back for bangkok, then toured the opera house. We couldn't go into the main hall as there was a matinee performance but I wasn't too impressed with the rest - too gloomy and too much bare concrete. Not nearly as fabulous as the outside suggests - but it is been renovated over the next 10 years so I'll give it another try before I condemn it! The evening was spent climbing harbour bridge - definately a must-do in sydney. So much fun, and the views are superb! We timed it really well, so we went up in dusk, watched the city get dark and all the lights come on, then climbed down in pitch black. We couldn't take photos but we bought a few they took - awful of us but we couldn't forego the background! It was also about the only time of day where it didn't rain and the clouds cleared - magical!

Next day was a morning flight to Bangkok, via singapore. Happened to meet the ferry guy (hans rueckert) in the queue for customs so we got chatting again. By fantastic fortune, he was the only guy sitting in first class that day so after takeoff he came and found me and I spent the rest of the time sipping dom perignon 1996 and eating chocoaltes with him in first class being waited on by four hostesses! I've been converted - that is definately the way to travel!

So now i'm in bangkok and I love it. the taxi took us straight to our hostel with no funny business over the fare, and Suk 11 is LOVELY!!! All wood, lots of incence, temples, nooks and crannies and free brekkie. Admittedly, haven't seen any of the city yet but our district at least seems nice and I'm not itching to leave like I was expecting to. However, better actually leave the inet cafe before I'm forced to eat my words!

Aitutaki adventures

2005-07-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

I am now into my last week on Aitutaki. I simply cannot believe that time has sped by so quickly – especially when the pace of life here is so slow. To commiserate this fact, the Cook Islands have been crying – solidly for the past week. I had hoped to delay writing this until after I’d been out on the lagoon, but I am beginning to think that the rain is not going to stop until I concede defeat and post an update!

Aside from our hospital commitments, over the last few weeks Laura and I have steadily worked through the islands “attractions”. We climbed to the highest point on Aitutaki – manga pu (all 124m of it!) It was a glorious day and from the summit you could see the whole island, lagoon, motus…and sea. Not another blob anywhere on the horizon. With a view like that you start to appreciate why there’s no TV station, post takes 6 months to ship home, and supplies can only be delivered once a month. Importing produce is made doubly difficult because the coral reef surrounding the shallow lagoon prevents any biggish boats from being able to reach the harbour – everything has to be decanted to speed boat in order to get to shore. And although cargo planes could attempt to land on Aitutaki (the Americans built a full length airstrip here at some point), the runway at Rarotonga (the only official international port of entry for air) is barely long enough for a 737!

Having seen the whole island from an aerial view, we decided to circle it on moped, to see some of the smaller villages. We looked at the “map” (a bit ridiculous as there’s only really 2 roads), and planned our route. We didn’t anticipate that some sections of the dirt road dipped below the water table at high tide – creating a lovely boggy mess. After stopping to help dig out a truck that had sunk irretrievably into the quagmire, we probably should have turned back. 10 minutes later and very mud splattered, with the track only getting worse, we did! From ground level, Aitutaki seems quite inhabited; the main road is tarmac, and 3 or 4 villages run into each other, each having a rugby field, school, church and shop. The houses are quite sizeable (if a little ramshackle – but hey, it’s hardly like the Aitutakians have access to B&Q and IKEA for a quick makeover!), the gardens are well maintained, with manicured lawns and fruit trees. It’s only when you get to a high point that you realise that that is it – the rest of the space doesn’t contain a shopping mall, or another road with another 6 more villages. Away from the road that loops the island are coconut trees, and the crabs that live in them! Occasionally, there are clusters of black rock by the road that signify a marae – an ancient meeting point of religious significance for the various tribes before the Christian missionaries came to the Cooks.

Cook Island clams are another attraction on Aitutaki. The “ministry of marine research” (v.glam name, in practise it’s 2 rectangular and 2 circular water tanks…) has a budding clam industry, where they breed the native clams, partly to repopulate the lagoon, as they have been over farmed in the past, and partly to export to collectors. They are also trying to cross breed them with the fast-growing Australian clam, as the native species take about 20 years to grow to a decent size! Apparently, Cook Island Clams are the most beautiful, and indeed they are very colourful around the edges, but it would take a special person to commission one for their fish tank in my opinion! The ministry is also rearing 2 turtles to release back into the wild as a conservation effort – but one of them is a genetic mutant with no back legs so it wobbles around when it swims so they are having to adopt him to stop it become a premature part of the food chain!

Church is the activity on Sunday. Everything else is closed, and the whole island pitches up to their local church, hat and all. Singing forms the main part of the service, which is conducted mainly in Rarotongan. Sometimes the choir performs, sometimes a formal hymn is sung, but more often one of the mamas belts out a line or two from one end of the church, a reply comes from another, the men join in, and before you know it everyone is hollering at the top of their lungs! The acoustics in our local church are really good so you just get swept away, only to look out of the window and be faced with a picturesque beach view – magic! After the service there is a feast – the villages take it in turn to cater - and a good dose of village gossiping!

The Aitutakians are very keen on their food: corned beef, spaghetti hoops and chips seem to hit the spot perfectly! Unsurprisingly, we were not immediately taken by such culinary delights, and after a few nights of frozen vegetables and soy sauce we were hankering after a proper meal! Peter, a crazy Australian with an entrepreneurial flair made a few enquiries, and by the end of the week declared success. The bakery would provide the venue, oven, music, dough and tomato sauce, we would provide the beer and the toppings, and Aitutaki’s first pizza night was born! The night was a big hit – even the locals were impressed with our culinary skills, and Na’a the baker is thinking about opening a pizza joint! Impromptu events like this seem to happen all the time here – just last night I was invited on an overnight trip to have a barbeque and party on one of the motus in the lagoon. We found out about this adventure at the local bar – the owner Jimmy was throwing a bash as he’d caught a big tuna fishing. Word about the evening got around the village, and we thought it might be fun to pop along after dinner. All the locals pitched up to eat the local specialty –sa shumi - raw tuna dipped in soy-based sauces. Mid dinner we received a phone call asking us why we were late – they weren’t going to start the fish until everyone had arrived! People certainly don’t lie about how friendly everyone is here.

There are now 4 of us juggling our electives at the hospital, so we have scaled down to working every other day as otherwise there’s more doctors than patients!
Briefly touching on hospital events, last weekend 3 ophthalmologists and a diabetic nurse flew over from New Zealand to annually service the Cook Islands. We were cajoled into helping them, and spent the weekend doling out reading glasses to the residents. Some of the glasses were truly awful – think dame Edna stylee – it was really funny watching the islanders first pick the specs that were the right strength, then rapidly backtrack and settle on a different strength once they saw the frames! As diabetes is so prevalent here (officially one in two residents, but I think it’s actually less common) I was hoping to see some retinopathies etc, but unfortunately for me, fortunately for them, not a single case was found the entire weekend. I only hope that the fact that the doctors’ visit was advertised in the local newspaper in small print did not evade the population who most needed it! Otherwise, hospital life is pretty quiet. The wet weather seems to deter people from attending out patients unless they really need to, and the one in-patient we have is being transferred to NZ. However, we did have a particularly manky morning last week – pus, pus and more pus. Everyone seemed to need incision and drainage of abscess – not the nicest thing to do when still feeling fragile from the night before!

This week has been fairly quiet on the events front – the rain has stopped sunbathing, the TV man went to Raro for a council meeting and left the channel as TCM “terrible classic movies”(he has not yet been forgiven – we got news up to the quarter finals of Wimbledon then stopped having CNN in the evenings – nightmare!), so we have tended to spend most of the afternoon in a resort bar. Great fun, but lethal to the budget. Fortunately happy hour at the swishiest resort, the Pacific, comes with nibbles, so as long as I speak to the chef before 5 (the start of happy hour), there is a veggie snack and I don’t need to buy dinner – winner!

I think the rain might be easing off slightly so I might attempt a dash home. I leave for Rarotonga on thursday, and will be in Sydney for lunchtime on saturday, ready to meet Nadia in the evening. Am looking forward to seeing civilisation again (and my mobile phone!), but have loved this opportunity to unwind, relax, and experience the simple way of life. I feel my batteries are fully recharged ready for the next stage of my adventure.

Mei taki Aitutaki
Ka Kite
x

P.S: apologies to those whom received postcards – the selection is not great and does not show this place in its true colours. I was also weary of postcard writing by the end as it was day 2 of rain so some of them didn’t make much sense – oops. Have also found a shop that does the current range of stamps – and they’re fantastic (not like the huge dodgy religious ones). I’ll bring a few home for my scrapbook to show you!

Kia Orana

2005-06-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

Hi guys
So Laura and I have made it to our elective destination - Aitutaki, Cook Islands, South Pacific. This tiny Island with 1800 inhabitants is to be our home for the next month...along with Ed (Cartright) - fellow Newcastle fourth year!!! Ellie - Ed is adamant he told you where he was going - so I blame you entirely for this communication faux pas! All's well however, Ed welcomed us at the "international" airport, sorted us out a room in a hostel, and a good deal on a scooter, plus as he's been here two weeks already we have plenty of new drinking buddies!

Our last day in USA was uneventful really - had a look around universal studios (jo - didn't make the water ride as Laura was scared of roller coaster-esque things so I queued for the mummy ride but that meant we missed the big water show so I felt too guilty to go on any others!) before spending 2 hours in transit to the airport (not the most efficient in the world) and arriving in Rarotonga.

Our plane landed at 7 and by 9 we were on the beach... huddling our sarongs and picking out a place to sit between all the boulders. We later learnt that Raro was hit badly by 5 cyclones in february that brought all the rubble onto the once-pristine beaches, and this winter seems to be more chilly than normal. Typisch! So we went back to our dreadful hostel - we were the only residents (apart from the cockroaches!) tried to shower (alas no running water), then hired bikes and cycled into town, whereupon the heavens opened and we were soaked. After 8km cycling we reached the capital avarua (indeed we almost went past it it was so tiny!) and discovered that it was a public holiday and nothing was open, except one (expensive) cafe Not the best introduction to the cooks!

It continued to rain throughout our 3 days on Raro, with a brief pause in which we squeezed in a game of tennis, but things have much improved on arriving in aitutaki. As our plane came into land, we went over the huge lagoon, and several motu (uninhabited islands), and the colour of the water shone brilliantly. woohoo! This is the island paradise we were looking for! The sun even came out for a short time for us to appreciate the lagoon at ground level before the next (spectacular) thunderstorm!

This is our second day on aitutaki, and our first day at the hospital. Ward rounds start at 8AM, then out patients last the morning. Haven't really spent a lot of time there yet, but considering the scarcity of drug supplies, I do find it slightly wierd that they give 4 or 5 drugs simply to combat the common cold - including morphine syrup for coughs! Today I passed my cook island's driving test (second attempt - oh dear!) - so I now have a scooter at my disposal which will be great for visiting the hospital (up a hill) and the secluded snorkelling spots - though I think Laura will be the chief driver somehow - not sure anyone else has managed to fail driving a scooter around a football pitch! People on aitutaki seem much more friendly than on Raro, and the island certainly seems more beautiful - although that might be in part because it was a gorgeous sunny day today so I could snorkel and sunbathe in the afternoon once clinic ended at 11! I am glad that this is to be my home for the next 4 weeks-rum and coke is one pound 50!(Although diet coke doesn't exist here - oh dear) however, internet access is 50cents a minute so this will likely be my last posting to you until Oz (except one more check in a few day's time to hear the good news that all my friends are now officially doctors???!!!!) Can't believe no-one's dropped me a line to tell me! Speaking of which the hostel phone no is 0068231051 (tom's guest house) Letters take 3 weeks to arrive so I won't bother with the address!

Hope everyone is hunky dory, thanks for all the birthday emails, and yes, I am now officially mobile-phoneless until I get to NZ!

lots of love
Gems

West coast antics

2005-06-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

hello!
Laura and I have finally arrived in LA after a whirlwind tour of the west coast. It started with San Francisco - and I would have quite happily ended there, I loved it so much. There isn't a need for a gym, as there are hills aplenty - and their smoothies are easily better than their muffins! We were really lucky in that the fog stayed away for our visit so we had fab views up and down the bay, of the bridge, alcatraz, angel island etc. We also walked to the bottom of lombard st - the crookediest st in the world - but not the top! (it's a 38 degree incline up steps!)

From San Fran we flew to Vegas. Interesting is not the word! Our flight was at sunset so we got a good ariel view of the strip before sampling it at ground level. We stayed at circus circus - a casino-hotel on the strip, which has a huge adventure park in it (think metroland, then double or quadruple it!) After seeing the volcano erupt, and the fountain displays, we headed into Bellagio's for a spot of serious gambling; aka cocktail sipping! We quickly discovered that even the 25 cent computer games are eligible for free drinks, so put in a strategic quarter as the waitress was going past every half hour or so! A very cost effective night infact, I even was $1.50 up at one point! Then, just for the experience I had to sit at the blackjack table with the glamarous people, and managed a couple of games before I lost. boo hoo. Was thrilling tho - I can see why people get addicted to this stuff! Not so glam however, were the hundreds of people at the slot machines, putting in coin after coin, hour after hour.

One night in "the vegas" was enough, and the next day (after a swim and hot tub sesh thanks to late check out time) we headed to the canyon. By the smallest, ricketiest plane ever, over the most turbulent desert. We even left our seats at one point - not exaggerating - and not with seatbelts unfastened. My fear of the flight to oz on a jumbo has diminished slightly, to say the least! However, it was worth it. we landed at the West rim, which hasn't yet really being developed for tourism. There were no safety barriers, only one or two jewellry sellers, and no shops, restaurants (or public conveniences!) This meant that you could actually dangle your legs over the canyon (if you wanted to, that is-the gusty wind deterred most people...), and that our party was the only one there (about 10 of us) After filling my memory card with photos, we flew back, seeing hoover dam and lots of military planes that the men on board got very excited about. The canyon itself was brilliant, but I'll spare you the paragraphs of poetic drivel!

So now we're in LA - to see the sign and universal studios, and shop on rodeo drive (I wish!). Not reallly spent long enough here to make an opinion of the place yet - arrived at 2AM and this morning headed straight for the internet cafe! We head to the cooks on sunday - don't know how access will be there, but I'll probably check once more whilst it's here!

Good luck to those doing finals, everybody else have a great summer!
lots of love