Tonight we leave the bustle and relative comfort of Bangkok, and taking a 10 hour night bus to Chiang Mai. From there we spend another 5 hours in the back of a pickup truck driven by our friend Jaya untill we get to the small town of Om Koi, which is surrounded by Hill tribe areas and Thai countryside. We'll spend at least a few weeks up here helping the local community in the school and probably visiting the hill tribes, teaching English and doing what we can. We dont really know what to expect, but we're excited nonetheless. Om koi is a small town so we dont expect to have that much access to Internet and phones- I have a feeling a little isolation could be good thing right now...
If we dont make it back, its more than likely that Quinny has become the leader of a pack of wild bores, Ali is a Hill tribe chief with seven wives, and I've opened a stall selling iced coffe's to the locals.
Peace to the south east
Boc, Ali, David
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Into the Wild... well, kind of.
Photos from China and Hong Kong
here is the link to see some of the photos so far:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190255&l=22da7&id=887685205
Monday, December 15, 2008
Ten days to Christmas - December 15, 2008 - Bangkok
But you would'nt know it here... We arrived last night in Bangkok and we're greeted by Uncle Vaughan and some of the local Baha'i youth. It was great to have some familiar faces pick us up and we are now settling in Nonthaburi for a few days, catching up on emails - china's internet is not the best - helping out where we can and filling up and cheap and tasty Thai food. Although its technically Thai winter here, for 3 Irish lads its nicely hot all the time but not uncomfortably so, as is the case around March to June. We're staying here for a few days, then it looks like we'll be shipped up north to a remote town called Om koi... 5 hours from Chiang Mai. Here we will live the disciplined life for a while (proabably a good thing after the last few weeks), with 5.30 am starts, activities like english teaching, cooking, cleaning, farming, painting, basically helping out the local community. It will certainly be a challenge, but I think we are happy doing some service and not just traveling aimlessly with no purpose and forgetting about our budget...as enjoyable that may be!! We dont know for sure yet but if we do head up there it could be weeks with no internet so this might be the last post for a while...lets see what happens...
Chaaaat
Boc
PS - we've got some great photos from the last few weeks, but because of the time it takes to upload them its been difficult. We'll hopefully have an album up either here or on facebook soon...stay tuned
Hong Kong, Macau & The BIG Jump
Then there was Hong Kong. What can I say? A great city, quite intense but in a good way i think. The diverse mix of people makes for a great buzz, definitely a different vibe to Shanghai and probably most of China. Our stay here was short but sweet...
The Starbucks Incident:
About two hours after arriving in Hong Kong we had checked into our cheap hostel on nathan rd., but had to wait another hour for the room to be cleaned. So we left our big bags in reception and headed downstairs to look for a place to kill some time. We ended up going into the nearest starbucks and, upon sitting down at our table, a small discussion ensued...Basically we had some differences in opinion regarding starbucks and its place in every town and city nowadays, and the profits the company makes, and customer base it attracts... Here's the ironic part; Upon arriving back at the hostel, Ali realised he had left his camera there. We raced back down through the crowds and yes, you've guessed it, the good people at starbucks and/or their customers played the part of the model citizen and handed in the camera to lost property. Had we gone to a smaller, less established, less commercial café Im not sure the camera would have been there when we went back...
Macau Tower:
A one hour ferry from kowloon in hong kong will get you to Macau which, after HK is the other "special administrative region" in China. Macau was both the first and the last European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on December 20, 1999 (thank you wilkipedia) - Basically its a big rich city and its home to all of china's 'legal' casinos, as gambling is illegal in mainland china, so all the rich come here to party. Also the portuguese colonial history makes for very interesting architecture and unique bilingual signs in Portuguese (one of Macau's official languages) and Chinese.
One of the main attractions here is the Macau Tower, with a 'skywalk' observation deck at the top, and the world's highest bungy platform, 233 meters off the ground. (http://www.ajhackett.com/macau/bungy.html). It happened in the strangest way - we just went up there with no expectations, had a look around, gradually got more freaked out by the height, and by sunset Ali and I were strapped up and standing on the edge. We were talked into doing it by one of the staff working there who we found out later was actually AJ Hackett himself!! (seriously, ask the lads!) Needless to say, for me anyway it was the most frightening thing I've ever experienced, but of course well worth it. We have pics and videos of the whole thing hopefully we'll get some uploaded at some stage.
Shanghai - Shenzhen
We left Shanghai last Thursday and took the night train to Shenzhen, from where you can cross the border into hong kong. The train was.. ok, even pleasant if you dont mind the mixing aromas of feet, cigarettes and instant noodle pots. The smell was'nt the worst thing; there was also the noise of chinese business men snoring all around you from 8pm onwards, and the constant blare from the speakers of terrible elevator-style cheesy music that sounded like it was written by a cross between cher, bon jovi, meatloaf and some kind of chinese tom jones freak creature...! So. Apart from these assaults on the senses, the 17 hour train was a good experience, and saved us a nights accommodation after-all.
Monday, December 8, 2008
"it's not what you know..." - Shanghai, China
It's been 10 days since we first arrived in China, and already I can think of many stories that will be revisited in years to come.... Not that its been all hectic and parties - in fact there was much relaxing and recreational activity - but the buzz alone of finally starting this much anticipated trip ensured a week full of banter agus craic.
After a few days of a completely messed up sleeping pattern, we found our feet (they were attaches to our legs) and began to make some phone calls. Actually, Ali began to make phone calls...his previous experience and contacts in Shanghai meant that within a few days we had arranged accommodation in a hotel...yes thats H-O-T-E-L for around 10 euro a night and were soon attending some ''VIP events'' around this huge city...
Taxis anywhere in the downtown area cost between 11-20 RMB, which is only one or two euro. Also, most food and drink is very cheap compared to back home. One of the highlights this week was a last saturday night: Our new friends in shanghai invited us to a club where Sasha was headlining (apparently one of the worlds top trance dj's)... at this club we had our own table, fully stocked with drinks and snacks ALL night...our own personal waiter/server to serve us said snacks and drinks...right on the edge of the dance floor. The strangest thing about it was getting used to being in a nightclub and having a waiter follow you around filling up your glass, and then going to the toilet and having another guy massage you at the urinals, then give you chewing gums and wash your hands for you. Soon thereafter he would make a gesture that I interpreted as "you really should give me a few quid as a tip after all the effort i put in"....
Of course these super-friendly chinese people are not doing this solely out of the goodness of their hearts. Like many places here, an english speaking white person means MONEY, and you cant blame them for doing anything conceivable to get it from you. In the nice but touristy old-town area, you literally cant walk 2 minutes without having somebody approach you and try to sell you a watch or a phone or entice you into their tea house. Having said that, the vast majority of Chinese people we have come across have been nothing but friendly to us, whether or not money was involved...and because you can haggle so much, if you know what your doing there's huge potential for bargain prices on plenty of things across the city.
So, a good start and a level of comfort which we probably wont have and certainly don't need or expect for much of the rest of the trip. But, 'when in Rome'...do as the Irish do in Shanghai, and LIVE THE DREAM!!
got a bit carried away there. wont happen again. On wednesday night the plan is to leave for Hong Kong by night train. Onwards and southwards!!
a la prochaine
Brian
