17/11 Bangkok, Koh Phangan

Well i have a lot to catch up on so i'm going to be brief with some bits.

After Siem Reap I returned to Bangkok for 2 days. This time however i ventured out of the backpacker area and spent a lot of time getting lost in several local markets, as well as china town, eating lots of different food and looking at all the weird and wonderful things for sale. I also ventured into the rich areas and took full advantage of the air-conditioning in the posh shopping malls. I took a ride on the sky train which was a great way to avoid all the traffic in Air Conditioned comfort.

I then headed down to Koh Phangan for the half-moon festival. It involved another disjointed journey with an unpleasant over night bus and then a boat to the island. I spent the first night in my own bungalow on a quiet private beach on the west of the island. It would have been perfect, the beach was beautiful the water warm however it was raining and beside from the beach there was nothing to do. Having rained the day we arrived, all night and the following morning me and a few others decided to go do Haad rin on the east of the island where we thought there would be stuff to do even in the wet weather. Haad Rin was not as nice by any streach of the imagination, a touristy built up resort with an average beach.

The first night there we went to a pool party at one of the resorts which was fun. The following day was gorgeous so we went for a short walk to a beach a little way from Haad rin with a white sandy beach and warm clear water where we spent the rest of the day. That evening was the main event however, the half-moon festival, a big party in the jungle with loads of D+B and Trance. It was awesome although being the monsoon month not so many people, stayed there until sunrise.

Having caught up on some sleep i decided to walk to the next cove to see if it would be a nice place to stay. My Lonely Planet described it as a 1 hr rough walk. 1hr 45 minuted into the walk i was a little lost and had realised that flip flops were not a great idea for what turned out to be quite the Jungle Trek. Fortunately, a guy in a pick up drove past and i jumped in and got a 4x4 adventure up and down 15% - 25% dirt pot hold slopes on one of the worst roads ever. Having got to the beach i decided to try and climb round the coast back to Haad Rin, that turned into some serious bouldering (still in flip flops) and ended up in me giving up returning to the beach wet, with broken flip flops, watch and me very cut up. I then had to wait for 2 hours in the dark for a taxi boat to come so i could get back. All in all a pretty stupid afternoon. I did however discover a little peace of paradise where i would later go.

The next day me and a German guy rented a motobike to go around the island. The road to Haadrin however is more of a roller coaster with numerous 10%, 15% and 20+% inclines (fortunately they were well tarmaced) so it was a little hairy. We also went a wrong way and ended up having an accident on a steep down hill slope when the bike slipped from under us. I was thrown down a hill but stayed on my feet and we wer both unharmed. The bike had a few scrateches that we had to pay dearly for when we returned the bike. We did however find some beautiful quiet beaches on the north of the island and i had a nice afternoon nap in a hammock right on the beach.

We then went off to the beach i had previously explored, and ended up at a spa/resort called the Sanctuary which offered lot's of yoga, meditation, chakra readings and things involving healing, and energy and other abstract things. It was also full of people in colourful, baggy clothing. Basically a bit of a hippy commune which was fun . It also had a beautiful beach with clear clean water and a fair bit of coral you could easily swim to from the shore. This was my 'holiday away from holiday' so i just dozed, swam, ate and chilled out. Basically it was a little peace of paradise and was very difficult to leave stupid Visa.

I'm now in Penang in Malasia which is a beautiful mix of cultures but have only 2 weeks left in asia..

Siem Reap - Ankor Wat

I've already done two days of Angkor Wat and i can safely say the temples are awesome. On the first day i woke up at 6.15 and rented bikes with a French guy and spent about 9 hours at the temples. We did the 'mini tour' which involved all the main ones, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon as well as a number of smaller but just as interesting ones. Angkor Wat was certainly the most spectacular in terms of scale but became less amazing as you got closer and you couldn't do as much up close compared to other temples. Next was Bayon which i enjoyed more as there was more to explore and better carvings. We did loads of other temples as well but the best ones were hidden away in the jungle away from the main drag and less touristy. At all the big temples there were bus loads of tour groups constantly arriving and leaving meanwhile the more remote ones were far more peaceful. It was hard work though, the sun was scorching and it was so hot making cycling and walking around the temples hard work. To add to that is the endless line of children and adults trying to sell you trinkets and books and clothes although i've figured out how to deal with them after 2 months in Asia. It's still annoying being constantly mobbed, stalked and shouted at by Cambodians. The other issue is the people selling cold drinks and food, as soon as you acome within 70 meters of them they scream "Miiseter, Misster you wan cold drink'' , "no ok when you come back you buy''. One way of avoiding them is by hiding behind far wealthier and older looking tourists. It kind of disturbs the peace of the temples.

The next day i did the same shift but did the 'grand tour'. I enjoyed this route more as there were fewer tourists, and the temples were just as impressive and more fun to explore as there were more rooms and passages, and the jungle had encroached into many of them so you can woander into the jungle to find more ruins hidden there. I did it all on a bike again and because of the size of the grand route and the detours i made i probably cycled for 40 km and when i got back to the guest house i was destroyed. So today i'm giving myself a day off to recover before doing my last day at the temples tomorrow. To be honest 3 days isn't enough as there's still a lot to see.