blog 10

cheers for the info! back in Hanoi after a tad disappointing trip to ha long bay. for some reason the weather has turned glacial here in ‘nam, with temperatures as low as 20 degrees! madness. our inept tour guide minions failed to inform us the it might be cold so we ended up freezing on the boat. the 200 or so islands themselves looked pretty cool, the mist giving them a magical air, and the kayaking and trekking on cat ba island was pretty good, but all in all a poorly run tour. on the plus side we met some cool people, that we made friends with so well worth the asking price.

Cambodia

after ages on on a bus, you get a strange desire for exercise. so we decided to cycle around from Siam reap to Ankor wat and potter around under our own steam. we set of at around 5 in the morning so that we could see the sunrise as it burst over Ankor wat. a somewhat harrowing ride on a bike with no lights. we cycled along, trying to avoid crater like potholes, the only illumination coming from the incoming cars that seemed to be bent on running us down. we arrived a full hour before sunrise. seeing a bunch of people laden with efficient looking cameras sitting outside the moat which encircles Ankor wat, i assumed wrongly, that this was the official sunrise watching place. after sitting there, taking hundreds of crap picture of the slowly visible Ankor wat, we realised that the sunrise had been and gone. vastly disappointing. still, the actual temple is really rather impressive. a vast mound of crumbling rock. the plan was to cycle around a few temple for the entire day. this was quite ambitious as we had failed to take into account the sheer distance between temples, and that there are approximately 2 million of them. we made it around quite a few but in the end i came to the conclusion that they were all, in fact remarkably similar and life is to short to be messing around trying to get to another heap of mouldering rubble, identical to one you have just spent a scorching hour wondering about in. some were very cool though. the one which has been aloud to be taken over by the forest is particularly neat. vast trees seeming to gain nourishment from the stone, bursting out of walls and roofs like fungus. this temple was unfortunately spoilt by a tidal wave of Chinese tourists. it was like wading through a chest high lake of cameras and baseball caps.

another i liked was the the Bayon. situated in the center of Ankor tom, it was a large temple with lots of massive carved heads everywhere. trying to get to the exit i found my self lost in the catacombs beneath the temple. it was dark and dingy with the occasional lancet of light coming from above. i eventually came to a inner courtyard with bizarre piles of stones stacked in improbably high towers. the air was very still and the sunlight seemed to be piped down from somewhere high up in the temple. very interesting. i would have studied it further had i not suspected i was trespassing on some sort of holy sanctum. i managed to find my way out, mostly by following signs that pictorially suggested death by rockfall or somesuch nonsense.

siam reap is alright. plenty of markets to wonder around in. that is if you enjoy the smell of rotting meat and fish, a popular scent that permeates every market stall regardless of what they are actually selling. or one can sit by the river and watch the local children bathe in the thick brown water.

Phnom pen was a bit more touristy. plenty of eateries selling “English grub”

Cambodia is remarkably hot. even the slightest movement will produce a good pint of sweat that covers the bod in an oily sheen.

Vietnam

had my birthday in Saigon. it was quite the nonevent.

we took the bus to Mu nie, a pleasant little coastal town with a long sandy beach. it seemed to be entirely populated by people kitesurfing or learning how to kitesurf. the sea was thick with them. i considered learning it myself but we were on a bit of a time budget at that point and we had to move on.

next stop Hoi an, the place of many tailors. i actually really like the town, quite a french air to it, with a riverside lined with benches. had a suit made. quite nice as far as i could tell. i also drew a design for a jacket and the tailor copied it almost exactly as i wanted. very neat. my obsession to own Spirou’s red jacket has finally been appeased.

after Hoi an it was a scintillating 17 hour bus ride to Hanoi. its nice enough as cities go. but quite busy. you dice with death every time you cross the street. it has a picturesque lake with a pagoda in the center, were one can chill. i managed to find a place that sold DVDs for a mere 50p a shot. i have 15 so far and i may get more if the budget allows. i also took the opportunity to get my watch mended. whilst in India i bought a old pocket watch as it is something i have always wanted. after owning it a mere week i managed to smash the 100 year old glass. using a morsel of my birthday money im getting crystal sapphire glass put in. should look fairly snazzy in the waistcoat pocket of my new suit.

next stop, a place called Sapa, north of Hanoi, then the bus to Laos, which is rumoured to take something in the region of 24 hours. It is also suggested that the bus will, upon entering Laos, almost immediately break down and strand you in the middle of nowhere. nice

love julio

i have a bunch of photos, but i can resize them here. ill try and put them on later.