Dates: 2005-01-08 to
Graham travelled throughout South Asia for about n months during the Canadian winter of 2005. This is actually a compilation of the report emails that were sent by Graham during his trip and is printed with his permission. If you have any questions for Graham, you may contact him at gcdurran@hotmail.com. Obviously Graham had one particular set of experiences and I maintain them for my own reference, and that of others. Your own personal mileage may vary.
Contents
I won't get into details regarding the flights here from the other
side of the world, suffice it to say that:
At the airport I assembled my bike, reminiscing all the while of doing the same thing in Vancouver's airport and Luxor's (Egypt) train station. From the airport it was a 25km ride into downtown Bangkok - a perfect warmup to the trip ahead - well, more than a warmup, being 30C
with humidity. They drive on the "other" side of the road here, which surprisingly took almost no getting used to at all. I was on busy roads all the way in, the traffic was dense, very diesel-ly, but incredibly well mannered. Cars zoom in and out of lanes, much like in Toronto rush hour, but there's one quite noticeable difference - the drivers here are very aware of the hordes of scooters, so are constantly looking out for 2 wheeled folk. Surprisingly, though, there are almost no bicycles (why?). The cars are small and low here, so I am VERY visible, being well higher than most car roofs. I almost keep up with the scooters (they seem to form packs as they ride along, I HAVE to latch onto one of those at some point).
Bangkok has a very comfortable feel for me already - and I've only been here for 4 hours. I had originally thought that I wouldn't like it, so am quite surprised. It has that third world simplicity that I love; it has much similarity to cities like Cairo, Damascus, and Mexico City, but
is cleaner (litter-wise, not smog-wise). The traffic does NOT honk incessantly like I've experienced elsewhere. One really cool feature of the traffic lights here - many of them have a "countdown" sign, letting you know how many seconds to go until the light turns red, or green.
The touts are out in full force, but are very quick to back down at the first "no thank you", unlike elsewhere I've been. So, overall, a good start to the trip.
My next few days are in Bangkok: seeing the sights, arranging my Vietnam visa, doing a bit of shopping (sarong, bike store, batteries, etc.).
Not all my emails will be this frequent, but where i am right now has VERY convenient internet and I am physically exhausted from a long day...
Monday, January 10, 2005 (night)
Well, everything changed in this district of Bangkok as soon as the light went down last night. Thai women, and not a few transvestites, flooded the area, hitting on anything male that moved. Many of the guys (mostly younger in this backpacker district) were responding, and i'm
not sure what % of them knew that the vast majority of the women (and men) were prostitutes. Guess they'll find out at the penultimate moment! It made for quite the sight, but when I come back through Bangkok later in the trip, I think I'll stay in a different area, although unfortunately I think this aspect of this city is unescapable no matter where you go.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Up very early for a big day walking through the city. My primary destination was across the city centre to the Vietnam embassy, but there was lots to see along the way. Wats mostly. Lots of wats. With lots of buddhas, per wat. Wats all day. Wats all trip, actually, except for Malaysia (if I get there). I hope I'm not TOO wat'd out by the time I see the granddaddy of them all in Cambodia.
Joy of joys, my Vietnam visa will be ready for 4pm tomorrow! That means I can hit the road sooner than I had thought. This really made my day. The only question is, can I make it to Ayuthaya (my first destination) before dark tomorrow, leaving at 4pm... a flat 90km, but the first 20km is in Bangkok during rush hour... its 6:20pm right now and I'm nervously watching the light fade... we'll see. I won't push my luck... TOO hard...
I visited a snake farm, right in the heart of the city, where anti-venom is manufactured. They seem to treat the snakes very well, it was quite something seeing them up close... pythons at least 15 feet long, a King Cobra about 10 feet long. They aren't going hungry, thats for sure. There was a demonstration for the small group of tourists there, among other things the handler brought out a "relatively non-aggressive" King Cobra for all to see... and touch (carefully). A non-aggressive KING COBRA. I kept my distance. Reason? Its a 10 foot long KING COBRA. Apparently all the staff has been bitten by various of the snakes many times, SURPRISE SURPRISE.
Other random notes from a 25km+ blister inducing walk today:
Bye for now!
Wednesday, January 12 --- Ayutthaya
Last night after the big walk my back was giving me severe problems... I'm not sure whether it was the walk, the awkward sleeping on the plane, or what. I got a massage for it (the legit kind) and it seemed to help. This morning, off to Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha... a 46m long Buddha lying down (very unusual) in a pose representing his ascent to Nirvana. His Mona Lisa smile suggested that Nirvana is a good place to get to. Then next door to the Grand Palace to see the Emerald Buddha, one of Thailand's most sacred Buddha images. Yawn.
I rolled out of the Khao San backpackers district of Bangkok by noon, did some errands, hung out in the crocodile-iguana park, and by 2:30pm I was at the Vietnam embassy, waiting for my visa. At 3:30 I had it, and I was free at last! I had about 90km to cover, and 3 hours before darkness... plus Bangkok traffic to fight. I tucked in with the scooters and was dodging to and fro along with them, the adrenalin keeping me very attune with every movement around me. I was really fired up, I wanted to get to Ayutthaya quite badly, and test myself and my bike. As the traffic freed up a bit I checked my spedometer, surprised to see it registering 37km/h - I realized I was a bit TOO fired up and eased off a bit. Passing the airport on the outskirts of the city at 4:15, I knew I was in a good position to get to my destination by darkness.
Around 5:30 I was able to ungrit my teeth and fully enjoy the last hour into town. I was very happy with the ride, and now could sit up and wave back to the very friendly Thais around me. Another massage at night - hard to pass up at $5/hour, my back is beginning to become very worrisome.
Thursday, January 13 --- Chai Nat
A day of massive highs and lows. I left town very early in the morning, slightly pre-dawn. The air was deliciously cool, the roads were quiet, just the sound of my bike whispering beneath me. The ancient Wats around me, that Ayutthaya is known for, fluttered past in the semi-darkness, only their outlines visible to me. I could more "feel" than see them. Off into the countryside, the road was deadflat, the pavement immaculately smooth, a 4 foot wide paved shoulder all the way,
and little rest pagodas every 500 metres or so. Vendors sell fruit, drinks, and various food dishes from roadside stands, averaging 1 per kilometre. Cycling conditions could not be more perfect. The first 60km of the day were euphoric, everything was going right.
The Thai people are incredibly friendly and more than a few are intrigued by my bright, multicoloured (personality) cycling jersey. The tuk-tuks and wats are of similar colours and contrast, so I guess I fit right in.
As the heat of the day intensified so did the pain in my back. Minor back pain I've dealt with for the past 5 years, but this is something else. Cycling doesn't really hurt it, but as soon as I walk - OUCH. By noon the temperature was at least 30C, with very high humidity, and I
was stopping every 10km both to cool down and to stretch my back. I could feel the edge of nausea (a heatstroke indicator), so I dropped the pace and felt like I was inching Northwards. By the time I hit Chai Nat I felt like a cripple, barely able to walk properly until I worked my back over in the hotel room for half an hour. Even then, it still hurts to walk. A third massage, and I realize things are not getting better. The night was spent weighing my options.
Friday, January 14 --- Chiang Mai
After a long night of decision making I decided on what I consider to be the most conservative option. I cannot let my back heal up while I'm on the move, so I need to completely rest for a few days. The next place along my route that is suitable for hanging out for a few days (or
more?) is Chiang Mai, so today was a bus day 450km here, to Thailand's Northern capital, nestled in mountains that are the first ripples of the Himalaya. Its a relaxed, less gaudy version of Bangkok, prices are very cheap, wat are everywhere, and it will have to do. I'm not entirely happy about being "grounded", but then again, I AM in THAILAND, in a beautiful city, with dirt cheap prices, amazing food, and friendly people everywhere. It could be worse!
Saturday, January 15 --- Chiang Mai
I slid over to a better guesthouse today, they didn't have much room but are happy to let me sleep on a bed in the laundry storage room at $1.50 per night (the room is better than it sounds). The rooftop is right outside my door, which was a great place to spend the afternoon lounging on bamboo/wicker chairs in the Sun. I picked up Harrer's "Seven Years in Tibet" so that I don't go completely stir crazy. There is a pool next door in a more upscale place that I can use at $1.25 per day.
The muscle relaxants that I picked up last night seem to be helping quite a bit - I did a fair bit of walking today, at least 5k, plus carrying my bike up 4 stories, and my back is feeling a LOT better. Background ache is still there, but I'm not debilitated anymore. Tomorrow I will probably bike around to see Chiang Mai's ancient wats (so much more cooler than the newer ones) and continue to rest. If all goes well I will load up on happy pills (enough to get me through to Saigon), leave on Monday, but that may be optimistic. I've decided to take a very backcountry route North, near the Burmese border, which is the hill tribe trekking region. It may be paved all the way through, it may not, we'll see.
Chiang Mai is turning out to be a great place - very laid back, not pretentious like Bangkok's backpacker district was, and the mornings are nice and cool. An early favourite for this trip.
Sunday, January 16 --- Doi Chiang Dao
I woke up late (why not - its another rest day) to do a quick spin around ancient Chiang Mai to see its wats. It felt great to be riding after 2 forced days off, and my back didn't feel to bad... so when I got back to the guest house I packed up and left town. I kept my mileage low to give my back a bit more time to rest.
The cityscape soon gave way to lush semi-tropical mountain terrain that had me climbing out of the saddle for the first time this trip. The scenery was spectacular; the road wound its way through mountain valleys and past several elephant compounds. I saw my first "danger: elephant crossing" roadsign. Overall, a very pleasant (but short) ride into the small town of Doi Chiang Dao. The back is sore, but not as bad as it has been.
Occasionally there is (what I take to be) buddhist chanting/speeches broadcast over loudspeakers, very similar to muezzin prayers from the minarets in Islamic countries. The difference though, is that I find muezzin prayers to be melodic and a pleasure to listen to... Thai is not the most... pleasant... of languages (when you dont understand it), very staccato/abrupt sounding.
English is broadly spoken here by most people in the tourism/service industries. Some roadsigns are in English as well as Thai, and the significant intersections are always very well signed.
Monday, January 17 --- Chiang Rai
The day started tough, with extensive climbing through picturesque hilltribe country. The people here are very, very poor - they look as if they're making the meagrest of a living. I was happy to stop and buy some food and drink from them - money directly into their pocket. Up, up, with craggy limestone peaks around me, the cool misty morning air pleasant and keeping me from overheating. Finally I crested and began a long, cold, winding descent to the plains below. The road flattened
out, and now it was just a long, hot, dusty monotonous haul to my destination. Tha Ton is just a few km from the Myanmar (Burmese) border, and occasional sandbag pillboxes and military checkpoints attest to border disputes in the area. Actually these border disputes are to my advantage - the Thai military keeps even the smallest of roads in the area paved and in immaculate shape (as if any roads in Thailand are NOT in immaculate shape). The soldiers were too busy yawning as I rode by
to pay any attention, so I assume things are calm right now.
At Tha Ton I boarded a boat for a 3 hour ride through more hilltribe country. The trip was spectacularly unremarkable, but pleasant enough. The boat stopped once at a "tourist" spot, where elephants were waiting for people to take rides on... but the chains on their feet and restless
attitude was enough to keep me well away from supporting that business. Finally into Chiang Rai and a nice soft bed for my weary back.
Tuesday, January 18 --- Chiang Khong (on the Mekong river, across from Laos)
I woke up with a slight bit of back pain - uh oh. Usually it heals overnight. I was on the road early, as usual, and the air, as usual, is foggy and choked with smoke from the seasonal undergrowth burning. I'm back on Asia highway 1, so diesel is added to the mix (yum). Still, the air was cool, so not too bad of a start.
My back kept getting worse as the day wound on, and I had to stop in between waypoint towns (i.e. in the middle of nowhere). What the hell is wrong? I lay there, incapacitated in the roadside rest pagoda, staring at my bike. It dawned on me that maybe the vibration from the beam-rear-rack is travelling up through the frame and playing havoc with my back. Very possible. After lying for an hour I refitted my load such that most of it is in the front, underneath my aerobars, and the rear rack holds only shoes and a shirt - not nearly enough weight to vibrate it. It took me another half-hour of lying down to recover from that activity, then I pushed the last 16km into town. Too late to tell if a difference is made, but the bike as a whole feels a bit better. Overall, I've made the decision to stress less about riding, and ride in moderation.
To cover the last 60km to my destination, I took a sawngthaew - like the minibuses in the Middle East, they are pickup trucks with covered beds, with a bench down either side for people to sit on. And a roof, where I choose to ride. Given that I couldn't cycle it, it was the best way to
see the countryside! Quite a rush.
Tonight I'm on the bank of the Mekong River, with Laos on the other side. I will be on the river tomorrow (for 2 days) and not be back in Thailand for about a month. Hopefully when I come back to this country it will be on 2 wheels rather than 4.
Wednesday, January 19 --- Pakbeng, Laos
My first of 2 days of boat travel down the Mekong river. The boat is an ancient riverboat style, a long, narrow, slightly-bowed boat that handles surprisingly well in the rapids and current. Tourists are packed in tightly, so there is much shifting and shuffling during the course of 6 hours per day on wooden bench seats. Not for those who need creature comforts, very basic.
Laotians are not in a rush for anything, so it was no surprise that we left 2.5 hours late. The river itself is similar to the Nile in width, but much shallower with real danger of hitting rocks or being swamped by rapids in high flow season (not right now). Boating accidents are not uncommon. On either side of the river is dense foliage with occasional human habitation - thatched hut buildings, bamboo-fenced pens for herd animals, etc. Occasionally the boat pulls into a village to pickup fish, drop off locals, etc - its all life on the river. A true glimpse into Lao rural life.
The first stop is at Pakbeng, a small village that completely caters to the tourist slowboat market. Midway between Huay Xai (where we started) and Luang Prabang (where we end), it's the overnight for tourists going in either direction - upriver or downriver. Now that I'm off the bike
I'm meeting more Western tourists and fewer locals - I'll be travelling for a bit with a German guy (Oliver) and an Aussie girl (Lisa) - we are headed the same way (for a while) at the same pace (roughly) and are interested in more than the Beerlao - which is fantastic and cheap - 650ml for $1 CDN. As the national beer of this communist country, it is the only one available, which is not a problem.
Thursday, January 20 --- Luang Prabang, Laos
Another day on the river, pulling into the UNESCO heritage town of Luang Prabang at day's end. A massive wave swamped many of us today, notably me, all fun and games on the river.
Luang Prabang (like most of Laos) has a strong French influence which is easily recognizable in the food and architecture. Its a pleasant town along the banks of the Mekong, although I fear that in 5-10 years tourism will render it faceless. At the moment it has a quiet, relaxed atmosphere, a bit off the tourist trail since it does take some effort to get here.
The baguettes here are fantastic and of course ridiculously cheap. The best find, however, are 50 cent mango shakes at a neighbouring guesthouse. Beerlao continues to be the mainstay, although I've sworn off it for tomorrow.
Friday, January 20 --- Luang Prabang, Laos
A completely lazy day. I have a double room to myself in a beautiful teak (wood) French-colonial style building near the centre of town - at $6 CDN per night. The word on the street is that Vientienne, Laos's capital and my next destination, is fairly uninspiring... so with great food, great drinks, fun town, friendly Laotians, a steadily-healing back, and fellow travellers down the hall there isn't much reason to be in a rush to move on. I climbed the hill in the centre of town with Oliver (the German) for the town-wide view... a must-do here. Later the 3 of us ended up with Beerlao on the table... again (sigh).
Tomorrow its off to a local waterfall with the swimsuit and goggles. Maybe a massage, maybe to a Lao dance performance... we'll see.
Saturday, January 22 --- Luang Prabang, Laos
A phenominal day that was completely unexpected to be. We booked a tuk-tuk and driver for the day ($12US total, split 3 ways) to take us into the mountains to a nearby waterfall (Kuang Si) where apparently there was a swimming hole. We weren't terribly excited about it, but it was something to do. Little did we know. The waterfall was a multi-tiered cascade tumbling from the high mountains, overall about 1km of rapids, falls, and pools. The water was a light aqua blue colour - words are difficult to find to do it justice. It was what you imagine a tropical paradise to be. At the very least the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen, by far. Not overrun with tourists, those that were there were in awe like us. We picked one particular pool at the base of a 3m fall, that had a rope to swing on into the water, and spent hours there - swinging into the water, swimming beneath the fall, etc. Too much fun. Oliver and I carefully scouted, then jumped off, the waterfall itself (like idiots).
The trail to the falls passed a mini-zoo that had a tiger and some asian bears - all saved from poaching. Being Laos you can get VERY close to the animals - magnificent. The road to and from the waterfall passed some villages where the people were living in very poor conditions, and they weren't smiling about it. Very sad.
The backpackers/tourists in Laos are a very pleasant crowd, with the Thai-beach-and-weed crowd being filtered out. Laos is well off the tourist trail, has an expensive, short visa ($30US for 15 days), much fewer services than Thailand, no beaches - all conspiring to ensure that the people that come here are not here for purely hedonistic purposes. Speaking of tourists Americans have a VERY BAD reputation... whenever there is an incident with a loud/obnoxious tourist (often complaining about the lack of services/hardness of seat etc) it is assumed they are American, and often enough they are. We ran into a few LOUDLY complaining in the quiet streets at midnight, that everything was closed... we just shook our heads and moved on. Its a buddhist, communist country and they just don't "get it". In our guesthouse is an American family, in between our rooms, that woke us all up at 6 am LOUDLY complaining, again, that the roosters are waking THEM up. They're paying $4 per night, for the 3 of them, and they're complaining. About the chickens. What can you do.
My back is 75% better...
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Bangkok
Bangkok
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