Bali

Takes too long to download pictures here so I'm going with another reflective one - James Blunt: what's the story? In every country I've been in in SE Asia I've heard his album playing from shops. An interesting, if not all that informative, fact.

They're also mad about the Premiership over here. There's hardly a country that's more inconveniently placed than England for SE Asian viewers of sport (the evening kick-offs start at 4am over here) but it's the sport that's most on TV. When I tell locals where I'm from, the thing the most asociate with Ireland is not U2, Riverdance or even Limerick's suicidal collapse in the final five minutes of the 1994 All-Ireland Hurling final - no, it's Roy Keane.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it

Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

We've been in Bali for the last four days. I still haven't got pics but they're coming.

The reason for this post is to record something about SE Asia that I feel is worth noting. It concerns the loo; specifaically, what one does when one has finished moving ones bowels. Now, in what is called the Wetern World, this almost exclusively involves the use of toilet paper. There are bidets, of course, but seeing as I never used one (I think people have them mostly for decoration or misakenly took them for foot baths anyway), I'll ignore them. So, a number of wipes and you're away.
Im SE Asia, there is another option. Behind many cisterns you'll find what, at first glance, looks something like a garden hose. This hose squirts out water at relatively high pressure. For a number of weeks during my travels, I disregarded the hose and kept to the tried and trusted method. However, after a drunken conversation with a fellow traveller in Vietnam, I was convinced that the hose may have merits and decided to give it go. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! I'll not go into it: just to encourage anyone travelling through this neck of the woods, to do as I did and give it a lash.

As a cautionary note, I would still recommend using paper. A discreet wipe after using the hose - just to be sure.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

From Ao Nang/Krabi, we left Thailand and headed into Malaysia. We stayed on Penag island for a couple of nights but weren't overly impressed with the place. It did have great Indian food though. It was just the rats running down the streets that put us off I think.

From Penang, we went to the Cameron Highlands. It's alot more pleasant there - more like a good Irish summer weather. We played 27 holes of golf on our first day there (Carroll beat McDonnell 4 & 3 after a see-saw battle) and then went trekking for two days. I really enjoyed the place.

Rock Climbing in Raleiy Beach, Krabi

After a week on Phi Phi, we reluctantly left for Krabi. We stayed in Ao Nang, which was just OK. On our last day there we went rock climbing at nearby Raleiy beach. We were actually going to give it a miss - so glad we didn't. It was great.

There was a great sense of relief and achievement every time I reached the top of a climb. even though we were well secured to the rope, there's still that fear of falling which gets the adrenaline pumping. To give us a good grip on the rocks, the climbing shoes we were wearing were uncomfortably tight...they did give a great grip on the rock though.

Can't really make myself and Noel out in this pic. It's probably a good things - the sweat was literally rolling off us from the climbing. It was so nice to be able to dive into the sea just after to cool down...although the water's so warm, it didn't have as much as an effect as a similar dive in Dublin Bay in February.

Koh Phi Phi

Of all the places I travelled I think I enjoyed Koh Phi Phi the most. From Koh Phan-gan, I went to Phuket. What a sh*t-hole - I only spent two days there but it was two days wasted. IT's basically an island designed so that old (and not so old) Western men can come and pick up Thai prostitutes. I had one night in Karon and one night in Phuket town before catching the boat to Phi Phi. On Phi Phi, I staye in "The Rock" backpackers hostel. It was 200 baht (~ 4 euro) for a dorm bed, which was about times cheaper than anything else on the island.

The island was hit pretty bad by the tsunami. Even up to April last year, there was still no reconstruction or clean-up started. While along the main beach, all the buildings and businesses are back up and running, the middle of the peninsula is still wasteland. The picture below shows an area that was covered in huts and alot more Palm Trees before the Tsunami hit.


Here are some of the guys and gals that were staying at the hostel. A great place - apart from all the Mozzies that came out to feed on my blood every evening.
I was actually staying on KohPhi Phi Don. Koh Phi Phi Ley is a smaller, uninhabited island that contains "the" beach from the film "The Beach". I took a trip there one evening.

This is monkey beach (the third or fourth beach with this name I've seen in SE Asia). Because the tide was in, there were no monkeys about. Vicous feckers , by all accounts.

We also passed by this cave that swifts nest in during the summer. The nests are used to make some medicinal soup that's considered very potent. Thus there are guards posted at the caves to protect the little fellas.

And here it is...THE beach. It is pretty beautiful.

Phi Phi is noted for its diving, so myself and Noel went on a day's diving. The first site was a sunk car ferry that was basically crashed into the reef so the owner could claim the insurance. He didn't do a very good job of disguising his efforts though - he's now in prison. The feery is lying a 30 metres below the surface and was a really good place to dive to. We saw a bamboo shrak lying beside the ship.

The second dive was to a site called Shark Point. Not a Shark to be seen though! PRetty disappointing. The last one was Anemona Reef. This was nice. Huge shoals of fish and beautiful coral.

Below is an idea of a dive boat. You can see all the air-tanks lined around the lower deck.

This pic's not very clear but it was taken just after the Tsunami hit and it gives an idea of the distruction the waves caused. There looked to be up to 3 feet of wreckage on the streets. The Tsunami actually hit Phi Phi from both sides, trapping anyone that hadn't made it to high ground. The waves were travelling at 30mph and were 30 feet and 10 feet high when they hit the island.

Siam Reap & Koh Phan-gan

Took the bus from Siam Reap to Bangkok on Jan 12th. I's heard that the road was bad but I wasn't prepared for just how bad it actually was. One hour out of Siam Reap, the tarmac disappeared and we were driving on dirt. The road had potholes that Ian Thorpe could drown in.

On the road, we passed this truck that was packed (inside and out) with passengers. I just caught the end of it as we went passed but you can get the idea. The thing was, this wasn't an unusual sight along the road; or in Cambodia as a whole for that matter.

I met a guy from Armagh on the bus from Siam Reap and we both headed to Koh Phan-gnan for the full moon party on Jan 14th. A good time was had by all. So much so, I only took a couple of pics. This one below is from the back of teh pick-up that was taking me back to the port to leave for Phuket.

This was the sunset on the first night on Koh Phan-gnan.

Ankhor Temples, Siam Reap, Cambodia

Traavelling through Cambodia was generally hard work but the temples at Ankhor, especially Ankhor Wat, made it worth it. It's absolutely amazing.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

While in Phnom Penh, we were taken to an orphanage/school in the city. This was for kids who had lost their parents, mainly through AIDS or TB. We brought them a couple of 50Kg bags of rice but what they really need is money - they'er trying to collect enough to build toilets. If anyone's interested in sending them money, I've got the details of how you can contribute.




This is S-21. It was a school that was turned into a prison during the Pol Pot/Khymer Rouge regime. Some of the torture that went on there was horrific. The place is now a museum.Alot of prisoners that were in S-21 were taken to "The Killing Fields" to be shot and buried in mass graves. this building has got human skulls piled almost to the ceiling, as a grim reminder of what went on here. A tree in the middle of the grounds was used by the soliders (mostly teenagers) to kill babies and infants. Instead of "wasting" bullets, tehy'd swing the babies by the legs and smash their heads of the tree.......

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

These few pics are actually from today (4th Feb). They're out of chronological order with the rest because I had to steal them off Noel's camera - mine ran out of battery at the very start. tomorrow we're heading on another trek. The day after, we head to KL (that's Kuala Lumpur for the uninitated - it took me ages to figure where this Kayel place was that everyone was talking about!). From there, we head to Singapore and then on to Bali next Friday. We fly to Sydney 9 days later.

Here's myself and Noel at the top of the hike today. It took us an hour and a half and was pretty step at times.

On our way down, we came across this natural vien swing. Mighty craic.