Fri 28th Dec - Chiang Saen

Today I decided to get a haircut. This is always a bit of a hit and miss affair in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language. I found a hairdresser but as expected he didn’t speak any English. When he started he appeared just to be randomly snipping at chunks of hair without even using a comb. I managed to convey to him that I would have the number 3 razor at the side and he could cut the top with scissors. He progressed much better after that and I think I got a pretty good haircut in the end. 50 Baht.

I met young guy from Singapore this morning who is traveling to Laos. He has just been to Pai and recommended it, he spent 5 days there. We had breakfast together before he went to get the Songtail.

I decided to buy $50 in the bank for my Loas Visa n Arrival. It wa pretty straight forward and there wasn’t any commission.

I am reading a Salman Rushdie book at the moment Shalamar the Clown. Only just started it but it looks good so far.

On walking round the local Market I noticed quite a few cooked insects and frogs for sale. I had seen a little of this in Chaing Rai but I wasn’t sure if it was just for the tourists. Definitely the real thing here. The frogs actually looked quite tasty but I didn’t try them. I would need a witness for proof.

I spent most of the day in the sun on the banks of the Mekong reading. I also had a Thai foot massage, sitting watching the boats go by. The method is to use a cream and the massage covers the foot and lower leg. Its more of a relaxing massage than reflexology although there was a point where a rounded wooded implement is pressed against a number of points around the foot. The massage was finished of with a 5min on the head and shoulders. Nice and relaxing and at 110 baht (1 pound 60) for an hour extremely good value.

Thurs 27th Dec Chaing Rai to Chaing Saen

Chaing Rai was just a smaller version of Chain Mai to me, another busy city. I decided to take a gamble and head for a town called Chiang Saen. This proved a good decision. It’s a nice riverside town on the Mekong with a bit of a seaside resort feel. There aren’t to many western tourists but I think quite a few Asian. Laos is on the other side of the river but the only crossing with Visa on arrival is in a town 50km south called Chiang Kong.

I’ve found a good place to stay with an old Chinese landlord from Singapore called Andrew. 250 baht. He’s a bit of a character. He told me he was in the Merchant Navy and had spent some time in Ardrosan. The place is full for the weekend as many Thais from Chaing Rai will be here for New Year but I can stay for the next couple of days.

I had my first Thai massage here open air on promenade on the banks of the Mekong. Lots of bending, stretching, pushing, pulling, elbows and standing on. Good but a bit of an ordeal not too relaxing. I think I’ll try a Thai foot massage next.

An old American guy stopped me and asked me if I was “coming or going”. When I asked where he said China. He had apparently had an amazing experience on a 5 day boat trip down the Mekong from China. I explained I was going to Laos and he recommended this journey for a future trip.

There is excellent food here in the night market, I had a green curry followed by a red curry, the portions are small, followed by an egg Roti.

The river front was full of boisterous drunk Thais on the way home, friendly. The drink of choice is here either beer or whisky, 100 pipers.

Wed 26th Dec Thaton to Chaing Rai

After a few beers last night I decided I needed to climb the hill to the big white Buddha, starting at 8:00. It was worth it. It turns out that on the road up the hill above Thaton there are 9 places of interest to visit. Monasteries Buddha’s, Chidis and a ship at the end all looking down onto the valley below. The ship must have some significance in Theravadan Buddhism. All in all it takes about an hours walking to get to the top.

On the way up the hill I notice a little village accessible only by a dirt path. So on the way back down I decided to investigate. After about 15 min walking I got to about dozen wooden shacks on the side of the valley. This was a real mountain village no road no electricity and just a standpipe for water. There were pigs roaming around and people in normal clothes i.e. not traditional dress, going about there daily business. The main obstacle in getting there were the dogs which barked at me but I kept my head down and didn’t make eye contact so got through safely. It was a bit of a challenge to get through 4 or 5 barking dogs around my heels. The people offered to take me to a cave and waterfall from what I could gather. This would have been a good trek but I had decided to get the 12:30 long tail boat to Chaing Rai so didn’t have time.

Alberto was also getting this boat so we went together. The scenery was stunning and on the way we encountered a few minor rapids. The long tail boat is not really built for this so by the end of the trip we were all a little wet, except Alberto who miraculously got there dry. To my surprise we stopped half way at an elephant sanctuary. About ten elephants were wandering around or bathing in the river. As we waited a group of 4 elephants with tourist on board walked up the river to us, quite a sight. One of the male elephants was a bite excited and I have an impressive photo of it.

The boat stopped about 5km from town and we had to get into town with a Songtail (Sawngthaew). This is the local means of transport, a pickup truck covered and with two wooden seats in the back, 20 baht. On the Songtail we met a 64 year old Swede with his young Thai girlfriend who told us where to go for accommodation.

We found a nice Guest House in Chaing Rai for 450 baht a bit of luxury for me. Air conditioning a TV and a comfortable bed. We then headed out to town for some street food and a couple of beers.

The LP recommends the night bazaar but this turned out to be populated only by a small amount of tourists. The main market had much nicer and a greater variety of food.

Tues 25th Dec – Thaton - Mae Salong

Christmas day.
It was a beautiful morning and I had breakfast in the restaurant in the orange grove beside the river. So lovely in fact that I decided to stay another night and explore here a little.

I noticed an enormous white Buddha on the hillside above the river which looked rally impressive shining in the sun.

However I decided to leave that till later and took a local bus to a the net town 46km away Mae Salong. The journey was through some beautiful mountain scenery wit Orange groves, tea plantations, palm trees, banana pants and quiet roads.

On the way a guy got on who was dressed in what I think is one of mountain tribe traditional costumes. I’m sure he wasn’t dressed like this for the tourists, his clothes were too worn and dirty. We were pretty much face to face and I could see him looking at me and thinking what is this strange creature and my look surely told the same story. Anyway few miles down the road he pulled out and ancient filthy mobile phone and started to check for any texts. Perhaps he was trying to show me he wasn’t that primitive after all.

The bus stopped 16km from Mae Salong and I was told that I would need to get another bus the rest of the way, also I would have only half an hour there before the last bus back to Thaton. It turned out that half an hour was enough for me. Mae Salong is a stopping off point for many of the tours. It has an interesting Wat and the streets are lined with people dressed in mountain Tribe clothes selling souvenirs. Its in a lovely position in the mountains but for me the best thing was the scenery on the way there.

When I got back I met an Italian guy called Alberto. We decided to meet later for dinner. Christmas dinner in fact.

I phoned Sally who wasn’t feeling very well. A very bad cold by the sounds of things. It was nice to here her voice again that is what I could hear of it.

After a Christmas dinner of Chicken and cashew nuts Chinese style we headed out on the town to find out we were the only ones about. We did find a couple of French people and an English guy is a guest house bar however. The French were only really interested in talking to themselves and the English guy ended up getting into an argument with the owner when she wanted to close at 10:30. I left before things got to hot. The next day she told me that she called the police to get rid of him. She told me he was luck because she had a gun in her car. Which was a surprise.

Monday 24th Dec – Chaing Mai to Thaton

Took the bus to Chaing Dao. The main attraction here is a Wat and cave in the hillside about 5k from town. There were no buses but fortunately I didn’t have to walk the whole way. Thai people stopped to give me a lift both on the way there and the way back. Took pity on me struggling in the sun. Although the weather is just about perfect for me now high 20s C and not a cloud in the sky.

The Chaing Dao cave and Wat were in a beautiful location and the countryside around was lovely. After having a look at a few Buddha’s I found a little temple which had a row of fortune telling machines, one for each day of the week. I had no idea how to work them but gave it a go, choosing Wednesday as my birthday. After I put the money in the machine started chant and some lights went round and eventually stopped at 2 numbers. There were some numbered cubbyholes with sheets of paper inside but it wasn’t clear which one I should take so I picked randomly. The following is the prediction.

Like Being dumb. Difficult to express yourself clearly. Feeling uncertain. Forthcoming child shall be a baby girl. Lost items could never be recovered. Illness condition unfavorable. Discovering a mate who could be satisfactory. No lucks. Should be careful.

Clearly not for me, I hope!

I then picked another up from a pile on the floor.

Enjoyable life. Despite any illness, need no worry. All in family will be happy and have good lucks. Long journey will be undertaken safe and sound. Desires will be fulfilled. Patient recovering. Legal case in your favor. All is good for you.

I think I’ll have that one. Or is it for Sally?

I then went into the cave. There are no lights so you need to hire a guide with a lamp for 100 baht. It was quite an extensive cave and the guide pointed out various features which looked like; Elephants, curtains, chickens sleeping Buddha’s etc. Quite good fun really but very hot in the cave.

I decided to get the bus on to a place called Thaton on the river Kok about a couple of hours further north. You can get a long tail boat fro here to Chaing Rai.

Taton turned out to be a really nice town in the mountains by the riverside. There is a monastery there and a number of large Chidis and Buddha statues on the mountain side.

I found a great little chalet to stay in. The chalets were built in an old orange grove which had been planted up with lots of flowering plants, really lovely. (300 baht)

The town however was dead at night. Surprising as there were a few expensive hotels with restaurants, all empty.

Fri 21st Dec – Sun 23rd Chiang Mai

Arrived in Chaing Mai at 9:00 by sleeper train
Found a nice quite guest house outside of the old city 250 baht
There are lots of package tourists here with a number of large international name hotels.
The night market is much more expensive than others I have been to and mainly filled with westerners.
There are lots of young and old westerners here with Thai girl friends. A fair amount with children.
Some of the older guys look very strange hobbling along with there young Thai girlfriends.
There appeared to also be a lot of older western couples. It occurred to me that the old guys may be doing an old for new deal.

Most the bars are full of young Thai girls beckoning in any passing westerner. I can’t say what happens when you get in. I managed to find a Blues bar with no Thai girls.

The weather here is now very hot and sunny. Too hot for waling around at midday.

Chaing Mai is too big a city for me I will need to get out in the country soon.

There are some interesting Wats to see but I’m getting a little Wat weary.

Reading Ian McEwan – Atonement – very good book
And Terry Pratchett – The Truth – more of the same fun and fantasy from him

Saturday – took a day trip to Mat Tang. Not a particularly interesting town but I had a nice lunch of Duck and rice. I decided to take the same bus the following day into the mountains to a place called Chaing Dao, on the advice of an English girl I met on the bus.

Had a nice Pad Thai for dinner. Stir fried noodles with shrimp etc and a nice raw vegetable salad. I’m beginning to get the hang of the chop sticks but I may have seen a few of the locals sniggering.

There has been another ban on alcohol sales this weekend with another election taking place.

Wed 19th - Thurs 20th December - Ayutthaya

So the night sleeper train to Bangkok. This was the first time I've taken a sleeper train. I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable it was. Two seats facing each other convert into bunk beds, with curtains. The guard makes your bed with new clean sheets when you ask. The bed was pretty comfortable, the only problem is the noise of the train and the constant stopping and starting. I didn't really get much sleep but I was comfortable in the bed. I would recommend the lower bunk, which you have to pay a little extra for. It has a little extra space with two shelves, where I put my rucksack. An MP3 player is also a good idea to drown out the noise.

Having left Chaiya at 18:45 I arrived in Bangkok at around 6:30. From what I could see Bangkok didn't look too bad. I didn't hang around though, I got the 7am train to Ayutthaya, which took about 1.5 hours.

The main area of interest in Ayutthaya are on an island which is surrounded by the meeting of 3 rivers. The train station is on the mainland about 50m from the ferry. When I reached the ferry I decided to stop and have a coffee. While sitting in a riverside cafe I noticed that directly next door was an attractive looking guest house called Baan Are Gong. They had some rooms free so I decided to stay there, instead of following the Lonely Planet.

The Guest house is built on stilts beside the river just at the ferry crossing point. The upstairs part looks very old with some nice wooden floors and beams. The owner later told me that this part of the house was over a 100 years old. The woman who ran the place spoke a fair bit of English and we had an interesting conversation later that night. She had recently moved back from Singapore, with her son and husband, where she worked for Seagate Hard Disks, in their factory. The guest house was their family home and the meaning of the name is something like Family Guest House. She was of Chinese decent, her father having escaped China when he was young. He was never allowed to return.

I asked her about the various shrines in the building. There are two Chinese ones and a Thia style one, with offerings of incense sticks, food, flowers and strangely a bottle of cherry coke. She explained that she was a Buddhist and that one of the shrines was something to do with Fung Shue and the others were meant to bring good luck. When I asked her about what it meant to be a Buddhist in Thailand she said that it mainly involved having a good heart and being nice to other people. She didn't do any meditation or visit a Wat very often. Meditation, she said, is generally just for Monks although she did say that her house keeper did some. The female equivalent of a monk wears white robes instead of the usual saffron of the men. She also mentioned you had to be careful these days as there were many fake monks looking for alms. She said if you wanted to give it was best to give directly to the temple.

Ayutthaya island is a bit of a Wat graveyard. There are numerous ancient Wats, Chedis and stuppas, in a poor state of repair. There are also some newer Wats with giant golden Buddhas. It was very hot maybe 37c so walking round was a bit of an exhausting experience, especial after the train journey.

I'm not sure how much more Wat visiting I plan to do. There will also be plenty in Chaing Mai and Laos. The newer ones are all very similar and I feel a little awkward walking round someones place of worship, as a tourist with a camera. Asking myself the question of why I was there, I suppose the answer was just to see it and get the pictures. While the giant golden Buddhas are impressive I didn't get any spiritual feeling from being there.

I'm not sure where all this fits in with the Buddhism I learned about in Glasgow. There appears to me to be some form of worship of these golden Buddha statues and the ornate golden temples contrast dramatically with the state of most peoples houses. The impression I get is that of the Christian worship of Jesus and the virgin Mary, at least from the lay people. Of course, what do I know.

It was very hot last night and I didn't get much sleep. I've booked myself on the night sleeper to Chaing Mai, 12hrs 856 baht. Hot again today so I'm trying to keep cool in Cafes and this Internet joint until my train leaves at 19:00. Hence the length of this post.

Tuesday 18th December – Chaiya, still

I decided to stay another day in Chaiya. It’s a nice village and I like the atmosphere here.

I visited Wat Suanmokk yesterday, a 10 min minibus ride from Chaiya. It more of a meditation centre than a Wat. There are none of the usual traditional ornate Wat buildings and statues. Instead there are a number of rather strange concrete buildings including one which is the shape of a ship. The accommodation is more traditional wooden structures, where the monks stay. There are also wooden and concrete dormitory buildings for visitors attending the meditation classes. The centre covers 120 acres and is in a lovely woodland jungle setting. Unfortunately the peace and quite is disturbed by the main highway which about 100m away. There is an interesting open air lecture area, where a monk delivers his talk, via PA system, to an audience which sit in a multi leveled circular wooded area. As I mentioned before the 10 day meditation regime seem pretty severe. No talking, no outside food, no reading, no even thinking about sex and a strict diet of meditation. To make it more difficult outside the gates there are about a dozen stalls selling food, sweets and all those terrible goodies. Also I was rather badly bitten by mosquitoes in the hour I was there. I don’t suppose you would be allowed to kill them.

I’ve visited a couple of other nearby Wats, they’re everywhere. I saw some young monks there playing football and volleyball. They also appear to love dogs. There were plenty around the Wat and a young monk was walking a puppy on a lead, bit unusual for this part of the world.

Breakfast in Asia is a bit of a problem. The options are curry and rice or a kind of noodle soup with vegetables and chicken, neither of which are really to my taste for breakfast. It’s sometimes possible to get an egg Roti as mentioned previously, which is much better.

I managed to get a few Christmas cards today, to my surprise. There isn’t much evidence of all the Santa and Christmas tree stuff here but some shops appear to be selling Christmas hampers. The usually contain fancy food stuff and maybe some coffee of whiskey.

Another thing I have noticed about South East Asia is that people don’t like to do much walking. They usually get around by mini bus or motorbike. This can possibly be explained by the heat and humidity. Another reason is that the drains, and I think by the smell the sewers, run directly under the pavements. These are covered by concrete slabs with air vents, so the smell can be awful at times. All part of the experience I suppose.

I hired a motorbike and rider today, to take me to the beach and a nearby village. The beach is about 7km away and really isn’t up to much, at least compared to the magnificent beaches in the Krabi area. The village was more interesting with some
old wooden houses a nice riverside dock area for fishing boats. I gave in and actually bought a souvenir. A nicely patterned batik sarong from one of the village shops, 220 baht.

I’m off on the sleeper train to Bankok for real tonight. I’ve already changed the date for my train ticket twice (50baht a time) so I can stay here but I think I’ve seen all I can now.

Time for a late afternoon Singha beer now. It's a hard life.

Sun 16th – Mon 17th December Chaiya

I got the bus from Krabi to a town on the east coast called Surathani another busy concrete city. Surathani is the main departure point for boats to the islands in the south east. Both the bus station and the train station are inconveniently located on the outskirts of town but not together.

I decided to head for Chaiya, a town which was on the map in the Lonely Planet guide but not covered in it, except to mention a near by Wat. For once one of my hunch seems to have paid off. Chaiya is an attractive, small town, with lots of old wooden buildings. There are only a couple of tourists and the people seem to be very friendly. They perhaps aren’t as jaded by tourism as people appear to be in other areas of southern Thailand. I have found a nice hotel (250 baht) near to the train station, where I have booked my ticket for tonight’s sleeper to Bangkok. I may change it until tomorrow if I feel like staying another day.

The main attraction here is Wat Suanmokk which apparently holds 10 day guided meditation classes in English. The girl at the hotel told me that up to 200 people appear at a time for the classes. Its 1500 baht ( 23 pounds) for the 10 days including food, I’m not sure about accommodation. You have to show up on the first of the month to take the classes. They don’t do reservations. I’m off to check out the Wat this afternoon so hopefully I can get more information.

http://www.suanmokkh.org/ret/ret-sm1.htm

Fri 14th – Sat 16th September – Krabi

Disaster has struck. Because of the Thai elections there is a ban on alcohol sales over the whole weekend, on the few days I decided to spend in one of Thailand’s beach resorts. You can get a beer if you try hard enough but all the bars are closed, away from the remoter beaches at least.

Krabi is a not very attractive town which is the hub for a number of fantastic beaches and islands in the area. Phi Phi apparently being the most spectacular. I didn’t make it there as the weather was very changeable and it is a 1 ½ hour boat trip. Instead I visited Oa Nang beach, about 20mins by bus from Krabi. This is a real resort town typical of any around Mediterranean Spain etc. From there I took a 15min longtail boat ride to Hat Rei Leh, which is only accessible by boat. The scenery here is fantastic. Lime stone cliffs and islands. Exactly the type of thing you see in Thailand tourist brochures at home.

Thai massage is a big thing here. There are dozens of open air massage areas and you are constantly asked if you would like a massage. I didn’t, after walking around in the heat all day I was a bit worried about being sweaty. Although I’m sure it wouldn’t have mattered. Thai massage was 200 baht an hour, that’s less than 3 quid.

Well I think I’ve had my day on the beach for this trip. While it’s all very well for a holiday with other people, I’m here to do a bit of traveling.

Next stop Surat Thani on the east coast.

Wed 12th - Thurs 13th December – Songkhla Thailand

Songkhla appears to be a seaside holiday town for the large town of Hat Yai about 25km away. There are very few western tourists. I have only seen 4 or 5.

I'm staying in a guest house along the road from the Amsterdam Guesthouse. A single room with fan and shared bathroom is 280 baht, around 4 pounds ( 68.3 baht to the pound). It’s clean and the woman who runs it seems friendly. Although the extent of her English is “hello”.

It is much hotter here with sunshine at times but still wet and very humid.

The food here is definitely not as good as Penang. It’s of a similar price but the variety and quality are much poorer. It looks like language will be a problem for me here. All the food stalls have their wares advertised in Thai script, which is impossible for me to read and most of the stall keepers don’t speak any English. It’s back to scratch then, after getting the hang of a little Bahasa in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Somehow I don’t feel the same friendliness and willingness to help that I found in Malaysia. It is probably because of the language barrier. However people generally don’t show the same interest.

Costs are generally a little dearer here as far as I can tell however beer is half the price so that evens things out.
Songhkhla has a large sandy beach about 1km from where I am staying which I visited this morning. It’s nothing special but there were lots of seafood restaurants which I may visit later.

I managed to get some nice food from a Hawkers stall this evening. Pork with Pork Liver, Chilies and rice, cooked while I waited, 30 baht (45p). The guy cooks big batches and people queue up to get it, either carry out or at tables round the stall. I didn’t manage to eat many of the chilies as they were blindingly hot, but the rest of the food was great.

I followed this with egg Roti and coffee at another stall (10 baht each).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roti_canai

So there are good places to eat here if you take the time to find them.

After being at these stalls a couple of times people appear to be much friendlier. It may be that the Thais are naturally reserved and like to get to know people slowly.

Sun 9th to Tues 11th December – Penang

The weather has been pretty poor over the past few days. Showers and warm. There are a few beaches around Penang island and Penang hill to climb but the weather has been too poor to do this.

Fortunately Penang has other things to offer, mainly the food. I have spent the last few days eating. Mainly in the hawkers stalls and food court around the Hotel Sunway, west of the Komtar centre. Amongst the things I have had are Mie Goreng (fried noodles with meat and veg), Oysters in a sort of omelet, roast Duck with rice and Satay. I have also been having lunch in a great little Chinese place which does a excellent buffet. A full plate of rice and selection of meat and vegetable dishes comes in at about 60p and it is delicious.

I also moved Guest House to get a single room and get away from the noise of construction work. Unfortunately I am now staying across the road from a Music school and it appears its practice time for the brass band. It usually starts with “Land of Hope and Glory” at about 8am and continues all day and into the evening. They even have a bagpipe player. It was a bit of a novelty at first but was wearing a bit thin by the time I left.

I have visited a few Chinese temples around Georgetown and went to the movies. The Golden compass from the Philip Pullman book. The special effects were fantastic but the book was much more entertaining. because the Band Practice.

Overall I had a great time in Penang even although the weather was poor, I would recommend it to anyone willing to experiment with the local food.

Saturday, 8th December - KL to Penang

Went to Puderaya bus station at 8am only to find out all the busses were full. It's a Saturday and a school holiday so everyone must be heading to Penang. I decided to try and get there any way. First I got a bus to Ipo which is about half way and from Ipo I took a bus to Butterworth which is the town on the mainland next to the island of Penang. I met a Malaysian guy on the bus who spoke good English, he's a tour guide. He helped me find the ferry to George town and the Hostel I wanted to stay at, 75 Travelers Lodge.

I'm staying in the dorm in the hostel at the moment, 8RM. Rooms are also cheep so I may change if I decide to stay any longer than a day. At first glance Georgetown looks interesting. Lots of two story colonial buildings. Georgetown is in fact the Chinatown of Penang and it also has its own little India. The food is supposed to be excellent so I'm heading out to sample that now.

Friday, December 07 - Rest Day

Having a well deserved rest in KL today after 6 days of either traveling or trekking.
Staying in the mixed dorm at Pujangga Homestay. It's new and much better than the male dorm. There was only one guy there last night so pretty quiet.
Went out for some Nasi Lemak for breakfast, tasty. Spent the rest of the time either sleeping or wandering around the shops.
Christmas is ,surprisingly, in full swing here with all the shopping malls having a christmas display and some shop assistants wearing Santa hats. I supose it's just another marketing ploy.
I plan to head for Georgetown, Penang towmorrow with the first bus I can get.

Thurs, December 6th - Back to KL

It had rained all night and was still raining in the morning. The conditions were too wet for treking so we decided to leave. I was heading for KL for a day and then Penang. Alexander was going to Melaka and Lind was going direct to Penang before crossing to Medan, Sumatra, to catch a flight to Lombok to meet up with her Indonesian boyfriend.


We took the first part of the trip together a 2 hour fast boat ride down the Tembeling River to the exit from the park. It was raining but still a great trip. We managed to see a few big water snakes and some coulourfull birds.


At the bus station we split up to head our seperate ways.


It rained all day and was still raining when I reached KL. I was again very happy I wasnt being eaten alive in the jungle by leaches etc. It would have been a great experince but only in decent weather conditions. I hope Shanita was ok.

Wed December 5th - Taman Negara Trek

We decided to do the Canopy walk followed by a trek though the jungle to Teresek hill and back. A total of about 4.5 hours walking. The Canopy walk was great though not as scary as I had expected. You walk across a series of ladders and planks suspended on trees about 30 - 40 feet above the jungle. Its a little bit shaky but very safe.

We then climbed Teresek hill to a view point. The main problem is the humidity. Any sort of exercise in these conditions makes you sweat profusely. Within the first few minuets you are soaked.

On the way back down the rain started and shortly after the leaches attacked. Little brown worm like leaches sprang from the undergrowth onto our shoes and then made their way to our socks and inside our shoes to suck our blood. You don't really feel them until they get a good grip on you. They can be removed by simply pulling them without any problem except they then try to stick to your fingers. Myself and Alexander must have had about a dozen bites each and it was a bit of a blood bath when we took our socks of at the end. Lind had sprayed some deet on her socks and shoes and although she had leaches in her socks she didn't get bitten.

We were all pretty soaked by the time we got back. Not so bad as you are only wet not cold.

We spent the evening trying to recover the photos from Linds digital camera which she accidentally deleted.

It rained all night and we very were glad we weren't spending the night in a jungle cave.

Tuesday December 4th - Tanah Rata to Taman Negara National Park

A long day on the bus to Taman Negara National Park, 8 hours.

with Shanita, Lind and Alexander a German guy who worked in Norway

Weather fine on arrival

We had planned to take a 3day 2 night trek with a guide. The itinerary for this :

Day 1, Trek 8k through jungle

Night 1, sleep in a cave, where there are jungle rats. It is apparently also visited by elephants and tigers on occasions, so the guides say.

Day 2, Trek 8k through jungle

Night 2, Stay in native village watch villagers make poison darts and try out blow pipe.

Day 3, Spend the day with the tribe and get a boat back .



On speaking to the guide we weren't too impressed. Shanita went ahead with the trip but the rest of us decided to do some day treks ourselves.

Mon December 3rd - Tanah Rata Day 2

Had breakfast at fathers Homestay. Bacon (rare in a Muslim country) and eggs on toast with coffee. Sitting in the sun with beautiful view. The weather was perfect on the two days I spent in Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands. Hot and sunny with a cooling breeze during the day and cold at night. A big contrast to other areas where it is always hot and humid. Fathers Homestay was a great place to stay, helpful staff, good food, well situated on a hill, sold beer, lots of info on walks, guided walks if required and a good common room with TV etc.

A group of us decided to go on a trek today:
Simon - England
Paul - England
Ichi - Japan
Lind - Belgium
Shanita - Holland

A hard 4 hour walk encompassing 3 of the marked routs. This essentially involved climbing a hill in the jungle and descending to a waterfall on the other side. We saw a large black snake within the first 30min which put us all on our guard. However on the rest of the trip we so very little. Just a frog and a few birds. It was a hot hard days walking. I'm beginning to fell a bit fitter now. I've even moved down a notch on my belt.

We all had a few beers in the bar in town that evening.

Sun, December 2nd , Tana Rata

trek 9 Jungle walk
Home made strawberry Jam
4km uphill to to tea plantation and factory
Japanese guy Ichi falls
Shortbread, scones tea and cake
beautiful views
Lift with Malaysian news anchor lead

Night at Indian restaurant with Canadian guys Gerry and ?

Lots of beer consumed and photos taken by them for some reason

Sat, December 1st , Padang to Tanah Rata

Had an early start today up at 4:30am for a 5am taxi. I was going to Padang airport to head back to KL Malaysia. The only reliable way to get the airport from Bukittinggi was to get a taxi. I thought it was best to get the Hotel Kartini organise this, just in case there were any problems, they could phone up to see why the taxi hadn't arrived for instance. The cost 180,000 rupeea (9 quid) for a 2hr taxi ride what a bargain.

When I got up in the dark the mosques were calling for prayer. I went down the stairs to the foiay and there were 10 women in the having a little prayer meeting. It was all a little spooky at that time in the morning. The landlord had offered to make me some breakfast, very good of him at that time and I had it while the women were praying next to me. I was a bit worried that I'd disturbed them but when they finished they were very friendly with the usual "Hello Mista" and explained they were from Jakarta.

The taxi trip was a bit of an experience in the dark. First of all many cars don't seem to have tail lights only head lights for some reason. I expect they just don't replace the bulbs when they fail. So cars suddenly appeared out of the dark in front of us. Also road works don't have the usual traffic cones and flashing lights. Indonesians make do with a couple of big rocks stuck in the middle of the road a few yards before the hole in the road. Of course it's really hard to see them in the dark. Still we made it safely enough. I suppose if you know that these things can happen you make sure you drive accordingly.

The light to KL LCC was on time and I a got the bus into town. I headed straight to Puderaya to see about a bus to Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, 5hrs 18RM. There as one at 13.30 but I decided to take the 15:30 so as to get some lunch and buy a Lonely Planet, South east Asia on a Shoestring. In retrospect a bad idea as the last part of the journey may have been quite spectacular if it was light.

When I got of the bus I met a girl from Belgium, Lind, who was also looking for Fathers Homestay. Luckily as we wandered around trying to find it Fathers Homestay bus stopped to pick us up.Once we got checked in we headed into town for something to eat, Satay. After that we went to the only bar in town for a few beers.

Lind had been to Lombok, an Indonesian Island, and was in Malaysia to get here visa renewed before heading back there to see her 20 year old Indonesian boy friend, she is 28.

We were sleeping in the dorm which was an old Nissan hut with about a dozen beds in it. It was cold and damp that night and I had to sleep with all my clothes on to try and keep warm. I didn't get much sleep because of the cold. In the next couple of days the place seemed to dry out and it was a bit warmer. I think it had been raining a lot before we arrived.