Travels in South-East Asia - Line Begby
A selection of some emails sent home from Line Begby
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY
KOH TAO February 2. 2003
I can hereby declair that from this moment on, I'm an authorized diver and can dive down to 18 metres of depth all around the world! Not bad. We came to Koh Tao Monday, and started the diving-course Tuesday. Friday, I took the final tests and got the sertificate. Lets just say it has been some quite intense days of theory, diving and reading. But it wasn't difficult at all, and I think there are very few people who don't manage to get the certificate during the days they stay here. How it is to dive? Quite amazing. It's like swimming in a huge aquarium, with coralls under and fish all around, at the sides and over. It's almost unreal, but it isnt!
I must say I like Koh Tao much better than Koh Samui. Koh Samui was more touristy and much more commercialized. More shops, more sellers, more bars, pubs, restaurants, more of everything. Koh Tao is a much smaller island, and most people live on the west-coast. The people who come here are mostly backpackers who come here to dive or do some snorkelling. So the atmosphere is very laidback and relaxed, and not so stressfull. The beaches are not so long and big as at Koh Samui, and the water is more shallow, but better for snorkelling, and the sand is like powder! The days we have spent here have gone by much too fast, probably because the diving-course took all our time for several days. Except from the diving, we got to know our neighbours who also stayed at the bungalows at the diving-centre. A swedish girl and a norwegian boy, and like us, they are travelling around for four months, they met through the internet-ads at Reisefeber, and come home right before the 17th of May to celebrate the norwegian national indepence-day. Strange coinsidence. They left yesterday, but we still got some time to celebrate our terminated diving-course.
Yesterday, I and Joergen had a very, very relaxed day to rest after the intense course, and today, we have been at a tour around the island in longtail-boats. We had 4 stops, and the spots where we stopped were excellent for snorkelling. Diving too, I suppose, but we dont own any diving-equipment, so we had to settle for snorkelling. Anyway, we saw a lot of fish (included one big shark of some sort!) and I got really good at diving and swirling forwards by holding my breath and paddling with my fins. Not that I stayed down for long, but at least I got to explore some coralls and the bottom better. Of course, it wasn't very deep there, only 4 - 5 metres.
Since Koh Tao is such a small island, there are some downpoints as well. There is not one single shop here that sells make-up! Because I have lost the one lipstick I brought with me on this journey, I would like to buy another one. Not that I use much make-up here at all, but just in case. I went from shop to shop, but there was nothing to find. I asked several people, but every time, it was as if I was asking for something very funny. Almost as if I should ask for condoms in Norway 50 years ago! A lot of giggling and shaking of heads. Several told me to go to 7-11! Ok, I went there, but of course there was no make-up there. Only some kind of lip-gloss with colour. Labello or something. (?????????) Newspapers in English dont exist here either.
We have been served a lot of strange food here in Thailand, but if there is one thing they are really good at, it's the fruit-juices. My favorites are watermelon and mango with crunched ice, so it is almost like slush from Norway. Mmmmmmm!!!
Did I mention the massage I take regularly? For 40 NOK, I get really good foot-neck-shoulder massage for one hour. Life is good....
A lot of stray dogs everywhere. But to my big surprise, they are all very friendly, and not dangerous at all. Where we live now, we have one dog that always comes in the morning to check if there is any food in our trash-cans on the balconies. We call it Lassie. It likes to lie under our table and sleep while we sit outside and play cards or listen to music, but disappears right away when I go berserk with the mosquito-spray. I can understand it. And this morning we opened the door, and suddenly I felt fur rubbing against my legs. It was a black and white cat who decided to come in for a visit. I threw it out several times, but it came straight back in. At the end, we gave up. Besides, perhaps it would find some spiders or something to eat.
So tomorrow we move along to Bangkok. It's a pity, really, cause this island is like a paradise, and incredibly relaxing. But our visa is running out, and we're planning on getting visas for Vietnam and Laos in Bangkok. But I must say I'm looking forward to buy a lipstick. And read a newspaper to keep track on what's going on in this world.
We got quite a shock a few days ago, when we found out that there have been riots and problems between Thailand and Cambodia. We feared we had to change our travelling-plans and maybe take the flight directly to Vietnam from Thailand, which meant that we would miss the great monuments of Angkor. But luckily it has all settled quickly, and now it's safe to cross the border again.
I guess that's all for now. I can just sum this whole mail up with one word: Bliss. This place is Heaven on Earth. Now we have already been out for three and a half weeks, and we have almost used up 1/4 of our total time. I can't believe it! It feels like one week!!!
BANGKOK February 13. 2003
So now we have been in Bangkok for 11 days. We decided to stay here for one week maximum, but because of a closed embassy, the Vietnam-visa, and Jorgen's camera which had to be fixed, things have been dragging out. I had heard a lot of not too nice stories about BKK; the noise, the pollution, the traffic and so on, so I was pleasently surprised when I came here. Probably because my expectations were so low. I think it's just another big city.
We came here at almost eleven o'clock in the evening, and we first went to Kaoh San Road, the famous street for tourists and backpackers. It was quite a sight. The road is closed off for traffic in the evening, and at both sides there are all kinds of shops, restaurants, pubs, hotels, and in the street you have the foodsellers offering noodles, spring rolls, pancakes and beverages. Some also offer scorpions, small white worms, cockroaches and locuses. (Please excuse my spelling. No idea how to spell the two last words.) Yummy! I'm glad I am vegetarian and have a good excuse not to try it. The street is packed with all the tourists walking around, drinking, laughing, buying, eating, or just sitting down playing guitar and singing. Add to all this all the neon streetlights hanging on the walls, and you have a good idea of the scenario. During the day, the street is open for all the cars, and all the taxis and motorbikes are trying to get pass in the overcrowded street. Let's just say that you always have to be careful where to put your feet!
We had got some recommandations on where to get a hotelroom, but at that time they were all full. We finally got a room in a terrible place. We got one small room with one bed. That was all. The toilets and showers were for everybody to share. Not that this was a bad thing in itself. In Thailand,. the public toilets normally are just small porcelain-bowls where you place your feet on each side, croach down and do what you have to do. You can't flush down, so you have to pour water into the hole from a waterbin standing next to you, and the paper you use to wipe yourself with must be thrown in the garbage-can. Not that this either is too bad if it is clean enough, but these bathrooms were not. They were very dirty, and the showers were just some small water-things hanging on the wall. We even had to brush our teeth in the sinks in the hallway. We decided to change hotel first thing next morning, so now we live in a very good guesthouse with our own bathroom with normal toilet and normal shower.
So what have we done during the eleven days here? We have been several times in Lumpini Park, a big park with small lakes, grass, trees and so on. They even have a gym there with weights and manuals, so we have been there a couple of times to work out. Jorgen has used the gym, and I have been running in the park. After more than one month without exercise, I can just describe the workout with one word: Pain! But it felt good afterwards.
We have done some sightseeing, of course. We have been to Grand Palace and seen the ancien temples and palaces, and probably the most holy site in the whole Buddhisme; The Emerald Buddha, and we have seen the 46 metres lying Buddha in Wat Pho. We have taken a river-bus to see BKK from another angle, visited Chinatown, and just walked around in the streets, going through shopping-centres, and so on. We have been to the cinema and seen a Thai-movie (Before the movie started, everybody had to stand up and salute the king. He is very big down here. The picture of the Royal Family is EVERYWHERE!). And we have been checking out the nightlife. We met a guy at the gym who we went out with to a big disco at a very expensive hotel, and we have looked at the places here at Kaoh San.
After more than one week without beaches and sea, we felt the urge to go swimming again, and went to a waterpark outside the town. It was a big disappointment for many reasons. Firstly, it was just a small part of a bigger amusementpark. Secondly, the water facilities were not very good. What we forgot was that it looks as if most asian people dont know how to swim. We saw it on the islands too, where all the asians had to wear life-vests to keep floating. So the water in the pools reached me to the chest! I wonder if the lifeguards knew how to swim, or if they just knew how to run very quickly in water. Thirdly, the whole amusement park was quite sad. I'm sure it was very good 40 - 50 years ago, but now it was deserted, worn out and looked as if it would shut down at any minute.
So tomorrow we leave BKK to go to Cambodia. Finally. After 11 days, I start to get really tired of the city. So now I have a feeling I will leave civilization for a while. I'm not sure how it will be, but I think Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos are definitly not so westernized and tourist-adapted as Thailand is. That means probably more exotic food, not so many items to choose between in the shops, and so on. So folks, I dont know when my next e-mail will be written. But in a way, I'm looking foreward to it. Things shouldn't be so easy all the time! I think Ankor will be amazing, and that we might get to do some more diving in Cambodia and Vietnam. Joy!
Now I have been sitting in front of the computer for almost two hours, because I had to write this whole e-mail three times. Every time I have nearly been finished, something has happened, and I had to start all over again. Snarl!!!! So I have probably not written everything I should this third time, but have mercy on me. I'm starting to get really sick of writing the same stories over and over again. I suppose it doesn't matter since the mail is too long already. As usual.
CAMBODIA February 13. 2003
So now I'm in Cambodia. It's a fascinating country. Less developed than Thailand, but more expensive for tourists. People talk better english here, and the food isn't that spicy either. The contrast hits us right in the middle of the face right across the border. The people were clearly a lot poorer, the children were begging more, and the clothes were in a worse condition. But as we went further into the country we met a wonderful landscape. Now its the dry season, so what we saw was a lot like you would expect on the plains in Africa. Long fields with sparesome vegetation, and the earth is very red and dry and dusty. The road was a pain to ride on, but after several hours we were in Siem Reap. The main attraction here is the temples of Angkor, and it is also the most touristy place in the whole Cambodia. We rented a motorbike, and went there for two days. It was just amazing. The temples were breathtaking, and the area was huge. Escpecially Angkor Wat, the main temple is incredible, but my favorite was a smaller temples in a not too good condition, where you could see the trees growing straight up between the ruins and fighting their way far, far up into the air. It looked like something you could expect in the movie The Lord of The Rings or something like that. The trees looked like carved out of stone and made escpecially to look dramatic. And another temple was also extraordinary, with all its big smiling buddha-faces in the towers. But after a while, no matter how great the place was, you get tired of seeing stone and ruins, so after a couple of days we decided to go to the capital Phnom Penh. We wouldn't stay there for more than three days, we thought, since we have been so eager to get to the beaches and sea again.
The bus-ride was Hell! We got seats all the way back in the bus right over the wheels, and the road had thousands of very, very deep bumps. Joergen hit his head in the roof several times, and the dust came creeping into the bus so it was all clouded in there. And it was hot. And I felt really, really bad. Two days earlier I had started to feel some headache, and now I felt as if I could crawl down and die of heat and pain and dizziness. After 9 hours like that we finally arrived, and went to a guesthouse. There I discovered I had more than 40 degrees celsius in fever! I thought I had a heatstroke, sealed myself up in the room with wet towels, ten litres of water or so, and a fan, in total darkness. I felt awefull, of course. But the fever went down, and I thought the worst was over. Not so. The next day the fever rose again, and I decided to go to a doctor. Fortunatly, we were in the capital, so I went to an SOS international clinic which was like a norwegian doctor's office. I had all the symptoms of malaria and dengue-fever, but fortunatly the doctor said it was just a normal virus, and that it would pass in 4 or 5 days. So as you understand, our stay in the capital got longer than expected. But the guesthouse could hardly be better. It was owned by a norwegian guy, and there were always many scandinavians there, and we felt really at home. It was right next to the sea, so every night we could watch the sun set into the ocean/river. The name of it was (Same Same But Different guesthouse. Very funny, because all the locals here in South East Asia keep saying that all the time.)
We had a really unique experience while we were in PP. Joergen was one day invited by a taxidriver out to a party in his home village. It was 30 kilometres from the city, and we had no idea what to expect. But it was great! We were the first western people to ever be in the village, and we sat in a big circle with 20 locals or so, (I was the only female there, of course, but I still became bestfriends with two adorable small girls there, and waved and smiled to the other women there), they were all drinking beer, and then we went to the place where the whole village danced local khmer-dances and watched us with big eyes. The taxidriver was the only one who could speak english, and we went to his family's house to sleep later in the night. We came totally unexpected upon his poor family, but they greeted us friendly, and Jorgen stayed up half the night drinking palm-wine with the taxidriver's grandfather. It was really something to remember.
So after 10 days or so we went to Sihanoukville where we are now. Finally, beaches!!!! The beaches here are quite nice, and it is sooo good to feel sand between the toes again and swim in the waves. There are not nearly as many tourists on these beaches as in Thailand. We are planning on going to dive again soon, since there isa really good place here which arranges tours, but we have to wait untill we are 200% healthy again. I still have some headache, and I have to blow my nose all the time, but I'm slowly recovering again.
The drawback is that we got our visa for Vietnam in Bangkok, so we cannot enter it until march 10th, and we would like to go earlier, but we cant. So we have to spend more time in Cambodia than we want to, but I'm sure we will manage.
Two nights ago we had a very unpleasant night. We discovered 3 worms in our bathroom and 2 or 3 cockroaches in our room. We killed them all except for one cc, and later that night we woke up because of the little bug and a big, green beedle. We discovered that under our bed there was at least 3 kilos of dirt, sand and trash, so now we have made the guesthouse-people clean it all out. Disgusting!!!
Now, twice, the people who work at this internetplace have read my letter over my shoulder. I think they find my writing very fascinating or so, or perhaps it is the english, or the pace I'm writing in. Anyway, you cant expect any privacy in this place!
It is very strange when you meet the same people over again in different places, totally at random. In Bangkok, we met two girls from the diving-course, at the busstation in PP, we met the same canadians as from the busstation in Bangkok, and here in Sihanoukville we met the same frenchman as at the guesthouse in Phnom Penh. Very funny. Shows that all the tourists go to the same places. You meet many strange people on a trip like this. And very many incredibly nice people as well, of course.
There are some places I miss sometimes. Like the coffee-bars. But luckily, we found one here yesterday, the neightbour to this internet-cafe, so yesterday we had espresso's, hot chocolate, cafe au laits, carrot-cakes and brownies. Now we are going there to get more coffee and some ice-cream. Yummy. Never underestimate the power of western settlers in foreign countries to make things comfortable for later tourists! Two days ago we were at an italian pizza-place, run by a real italian with a real pizza-oven in stone. And the day before we had tacos and burritos!
Ok, that is all for this time. I'm sure there are many more things I could tell you about. The currency here is riel, so 7 NOK is 4000 riel. Of obvious reasons, they mostly use US dollars here.
Finally, we have come to a country where they ride on the right side of the road again. And now we had been used to driving on the left. But the traffic is not better than in Thailand. It will be so strange to see the organized norwegian traffic again when I get back!
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