RTW 04: Ecuador

Ecuador (Quito, Amtabo, Baños) 07/06/04 – 15/06/04

My friend and I had read about just how incredibly dangerous Quito was supposed to be, so were a bit scared on first arriving in the city. However, our hostel, The Secret Garden, turned out to be pretty cool. Comfortable, friendly, and a great view of the city. The meals were decent enough, but the best part was the sociable atmosphere, with guests encouraged to congregate at one of the regular hostel parties.

Using Quito as a base, we headed to see the Centre of the World (Centro Del Mundo). Amusingly enough, despite all the fanfare, merchandise and sculptures, this isn't actually the centre of the world anymore. The equator has shifted in the centuries since the original measurement, meaning enterprising locals can do things like set up a 'real' equator museum (much smaller than the posh official one, but at least it was actually the equator). As this is the centre of the world, it is supposedly the only place where you can do a 'straight flush', without the usual swirling in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.

Baños is a spa town some distance away, which we managed to miss at first because we took the wrong bus. The poor taxi driver was getting very confused at our insistence that he find the hotel on a certain road, when of course that would be impossible as the hotel in question was in a different city. Oops.

Once we actually got to Baños, it turned out there is a random zoo a bit outside the main town, though I have my doubts about its ethics. The spider monkey in particular looked to be in bad shape. The animal kingdom almost got its revenge on the inhabitants when I went horse riding later on. Safety was out of the question, with no helmets, while riding up steep, slippery slopes and precarious cliff edges. While attempting to move around the latter, I very nearly knocked a local into thin air, thanks to my distinct lack of control over my steed.

Arriving back in Quito, I changed my tickets to stay with my friend a little longer, but eventually had to head back home to the UK as my funds ran out: she was staying on longer, to go through Bolivia, Peru and Argentina (and Colombia, unintentionally: her plane randomly stopped there overnight. Not the safest place to be stuck on your own). Having since got into Brazilian jiu jitsu, if I ever get back to South America, Brazil is naturally going to be right at the top of my wishlist.

< Chile

RTW 04: Chile

Chile (Santiago) 05/06/04 – 07/06/04

We were only in Chile for one night, so didn't have much time to wander around the city. It took us a while to find the hostel, but fortunately my friend's Spanish eventually led to a passing van-driver ripping out a page of his address book.

In terms of sights, it was pretty much just the funicular up the hill to see a huge statue of Mary. There was also a pleasant park, with another large statue, this time with a more revolutionary theme. If I remember rightly, it was something to do with Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), a major figure in South American history.

The main excitement happened without us, while we were drinking with various people staying at the same hostel. There was an international football match that night, between Chile and Brazil. It resulted in a draw, which for some reason caused a huge riot. When the few travelers who had ventured outside got back, one of them was missing part of his ear along with his wallet, and they were all reeking of tear gas. I hate to think what would have happened if one of the teams had lost!

< New Zealand ::: Ecuador >

RTW 04: New Zealand

New Zealand (Queenstown, Auckland) 27/05/04 – 05/06/04

It isn't hard to see why this is the place the people behind the Lord of the Rings films chose as their setting. It is like England, but with all the urban development brushed aside. If I was to live anywhere in the world other than the UK, then my top choices would be either here or Canada.

Most of our time was spent in Queenstown, which is best known for extreme sports, none of which we tried. Our experience was considerably more sedate, going for walks around the town, a day trip to Milford Sound and an organised Lord of the Rings tour. A significant chunk of it was somewhat tangential to the films, with places that sort of looked like bits of the film.

That included a few of the more sylvan sites (Lothlorien, Amon Hen, and the place where they run away from orcs), but only from a distance, as they were off-limits private land. We also saw Isengard, or more specifically, the background to Isengard. In the film, Isengard itself was a computer generated image slapped on in the studio. However, it was worth the money for the beautiful scenery, and informative guide.

As it turned out, we went on our own tour to a genuine Lord of the Rings location, just outside Queenstown, called Deer Park Heights. For some reason, a black dog followed us the whole way there. Deer Park Heights itself is an animal park, reminiscent of the petting zoos over in the UK, but wound around a large hill. Inside, you can see horses, sheep, kune kune pigs and ostriches. At the top of the hill, there is a random Korean prison (a leftover film set), and the aforementioned Lord of the Rings location.

In the distance, you can see the Remarkables, a mountain range. There is also a small body of water, which in the films is passed by the refugees from Rohan on their way to Helm's Deep. You can also see the rocky outcropping, where a worg jumps out to attack (unfortunately our camera ran out of battery at that point, so we didn't get a picture).

We also briefly had a look around Auckland, but mainly just a few bars, along with the Rangitoto volcanic island off the coast. It was in Auckland that strengthened my impression of New Zealand as more 'British' than Australia, in the same way that Canada feels more 'British' than the USA. That was partly the architecture, but also the people, who seemed less loud and in your face.

Muay Thai

The first thing I saw when I stepped off the bus in Queenstown was a poster proclaiming 'Return of the Kings - New Zealand K-1', which sounded rather promising for a martial arts fan like myself. It was to take place at an events centre a short bus ride away. There weren't any big names present (though there was an exhibition by some random Japanese bodybuilder, for some reason), but I was still looking forward to it. At least this time no large thais would be turning me away - though I did wonder if perhaps there would be a big Maori instead.

As it turned out, the K-1 title was a little misleading. It wasn't a K-1 tournament: there were just two K-1 fighters in it right at the end. First, Andrew Peck (who looks to have a decent record in K-1) then Hiriwa Te Rangi (not so easy to find anything about - one loss in MMA to Chris Haseman is all I found on him).

Anyway, onto my enthralling fight report. The night started off with a bunch of athletic looking girls and one bloke in tank tops and loose trousers standing in a line in the middle of the ring, which I presumed meant they would leap into awesome kung-fu action once the clock hit 7pm, which was the scheduled start time. It got to 7 and...they did a boring dance routine. One woman twirled a stick, raising my hopes slightly...then dropped it. And got out some bits of cloth to spin about.

After that rather poor opening, the fights got underway, and it wasn't a bad start. The taller guy flew straight at his opponent, laying him out three times in the first round, winning by TKO. The techniques were less crisp and a lot slower than I'd seen in Bangkok, but there was a considerable size difference, and I wasn't really expecting the skill level to be as high as it had been in Thailand. They also didn't seem quite so hardcore, with the second fight ending when one fighter gave up after apparently just being punched on the jaw - must have been something more serious (maybe a cut?), but from my cheap floor seat, looked pretty innocuous. Also, the ref actually called 'break', which I didn't see once in Thailand!

Plenty of Maoris were featured throughout, producing some of the best action of the night, as most of them were big, powerful, aggressive fighters. Also, there was a female fight, which was slightly marred by the unfortunately less than discerning crowd who outright laughed at points, but the fighters themselves put on a good show. The local girl in the blue corner was particularly impressive, with potent front kicks and total dominance of the clinch, proving a worthy winner on points.

On a more random note, there was a bizarre 'celebrity' fight, featuring four blokes, one dressed as Elvis, and tag team rules. However, it did appear that at least two of them knew how to fight, although any pretence of real competition disappeared in the third round when they all piled in, then started doing pro-wrestling style body slams and bouncing off the ropes either end. Even more bizarre was the aforementioned body-building demo by a Japanese guy - Hiro something - to the sound of 'The Final Countdown'.

Still, the ladies in the crowd seemed to like it, and he gave a few of them a close up demonstration. Although at this point, I wouldn't have cared if a boxing kangeroo got on stage, as I was annoyed at missing my $4 bus, meaning (so I thought) a $20 taxi. Turned out that I managed to get a $5 taxi, but didn't know that at the time.

There were also two title fights, firstly for the 'Super Middleweight South Island Championship', and then the main event, the two K-1 fighters going for the 'WMC (WMBC? Something like that) Super Heavyweight'. The smaller guys were infinitely better, with the advantage switching rapidly throughout the five round match, and both fighters receiving several standing counts.

The big guys failed to impress, though Te Rangi go in a beautiful spinning backfist and Peck responded with some nicely executed headkicks, but they spent most of the match sizing each other up and backing off. By the fifth round, they were literally lolling about on the ropes (especially Te Rangi), and neither seemed at all interested in the supposedly prestigious title they were fighting for.

Other interesting parts were a couple of guys who did the full muay thai thing, wai kru, head thingy, music etc, and a bloke who looked karate-like, throwing a load of spinning hooks etc against a much tougher looking thai boxer, but still winning (though to be fair his opponent was incredibly slow and seemed to only have one move, a knee).

< Australia ::: Chile >

RTW 04: Australia

Australia (Sydney, Blue Mountains) – 24/05/04 – 27/05/04

The memory that most sticks in my mind from Australia is arriving at the airport, realising that I had just whizzed through three continents in a couple of months, then getting the soil in my boots checked for foreign invaders. It was a bit of a shock to go from super-cheap Asian prices to costs that felt pretty similar to back home. In some ways, it was like going back home: my friend commented that the city looked just like Bristol, though given that she'd just been through the Middle East and Asia, her impressions of home may have got a little warped.

Strangely enough, I had my first ever pie in Australia, despite having lived in the UK for over two decades by that point. Better late than never. In readiness for South America, it also inspired a strange bit of Spanish instruction from my girlfriend (I can't remember if I requested this particular phrase, or if she suggested it). Hence why I found myself wandering around Sydney repeating 'quiero tener un pollo con una barbaridad dentro de mis nalgas por favor' over and over to myself in a loud voice with lots of emotional fist shaking to aid enunciation. I'm sure its a phrase that will come in really useful, as it allegedly (Google Translate disagrees) means 'I would like to have a chicken with an enormous thing inside my buttocks please'. No doubt I'll be saying it all the time...

We were only in Australia for three days, so there wasn't a lot of time to see the place. That meant that we went for the famous sights, with lots of posing in front of the Sydney Opera House, umpteen pictures of the bridge, and a ferry tour around the harbour. The only trip we did was a train journey over to the Blue Mountains, on a double decker train (something I've not seen before). Very cold, but suitably pretty.

I should probably go back at some point, although the fact that it seems most of the wildlife can kill me isn't hugely tempting. The far tamer fauna of our next stop, New Zealand, was rather more appealing.

< Laos ::: New Zealand >

RTW 04: Laos

LAOS

Kayaks Down the Nam Khom - 22/05/04 (Luang Prabang)

My friend booked us onto a kayaking trip for $17 each – I was too ill at the time to provide any help. After initially worrying I was going to be horribly sick all over our fellow tourists – two rather quiets Finns who worked at the United Nations in Vientiane – my stomach cleared up, and we managed to get into the kayak, which was good.

Arriving at the small Tiger Trails way station, we were presented with a two person canoe, which didn’t appeal to either of us. Didn't bother the Finns, as they had apparently requested one. We instead received rather bizarre inflatable kayaks, which we certainly didn’t expect: a Gumofex 'Traveller', apparently. Then again, the guide had something similar – a 'Safari' open top model – so that placated me slightly.

The kayaking itself was quite fun, though I did successfully go lobster-red, especially on my exposed inner thighs (I was wearing shorts). My friend and I perfected the art of horizontal kayaking, though I refrained from putting my feet up like she did (tempted, though...)

The trip was relatively smooth going, except the two occasions we both managed to get stuck on rocks, whereupon I thought I’d managed to rip out the bottom of my kayak. Amusingly enough, my friend’s kayak was filled with water as a result, which was swiftly dyed completely black by her low-quality unwashed trousers. Good old Delhi roadside clothing stalls.

We spent roughly four hours on the water, although the Finns rushed ahead for no good reason, resulting in the guide disappearing completely towards the end. This lack of guidance resulted in my 'rip' up the wrong channel of the final rapids. We accidentally met him again later, while my friend was looking for a skirt.

Guy at stall: "Tired?"
My friend: "Yes, I’ve been canoeing all day"
Guy at stall: "I know – I was the guide!"

Neither of us recognised him without his hat. Ahem. Turned out well though, as I bought one of his shirts. I got it for 18,000 kip at a 'kayak discount', my first ever successful haggle, made even more gratifying by the next tourist buying one for 25,000 kip.

< Thailand - Australia >

RTW 04: Thailand

Temples and Palaces - 17/05/04 (Bangkok)

This was technically our second arrival in Thailand, as we’d already passed through the airport on our flight to Cambodia – previously, we were going to try and get to Cambodia overland using the arduously printed out instructions from a website accessed in Kathmandu, but overcome by laziness and a desire for more time and less hassle, we made the decision to book return flights to both Cambodia and Laos instead.

As interested as I was in Bangkok (well, mainly the muay thai), we were only planning on exploring Bangkok over one day, and that one day purely because we couldn't directly connect up flights back from Cambodia with flights out to Laos. On what proved to be our first day, we manged to pack in the two main sights, the Grand Palace and the Wat Pho temple complex, plus a bit of shopping/drinking down the famous tourist mecca, Khaosan Road.

The Palace was a gaudy fairground of monolithic buildings crammed together, spread across terraces and the careful topiary of tree filled parks. It appeared that in Thai architecture, there was no such thing as excessive decoration – all available surfaces were festooned with tiles, carvings, frontons and the like in a dazzling display of borderline kitsch. At the tacky pinnacle was the gold reliquary, which looked rather like it was made of plastic spray-painted gold. However, this perceived tastelessness on my part may have been because I'd just been spoiled by Angkor Wat – of course, the Palace had a scale model in wood. Very strange when you’d spent the previous day wandering around the original!

This continued into the next complex, Wat Pho. The ridiculously large – 46m long – 'Reclining Buddha' vied with a forest of wedding cake spires for the most astonishing view. The Buddha of Wat Pho attempted to do with sheer size what the Palace’s Emerald Buddha did with detail. Having said that, there was plenty of intricate work on the mother-of-pearl inlaid foot-soles. It was a difficult task to fit the whole thing into one photo: there has been a lot of awesome stuff on this trip that a camera really can't do justice.

We finished on Khao San Road, where I picked up two Bruce Lee print T-shirts – Kathmandu condensed on one road! I also found myself peeling off beer labels to stick in my growing collection of two-dimensional souvenirs I’d been storing in the plastic pouch of my Ong Bak DVD (bought in the construction site that was Suzhou at the time). The Bruce Lee shirt has since wowed many in various bars across the breadth of England; the response is usually along the lines "holy crap! That’s horrible", but hey…:p

My Quest for Muay Thai - 18/05/04 (Bangkok)

We were supposed to fly on to Luang Prabang today, but the gods of muay thai apparently decided to step in. The next morning my poor friend was vomiting profusely. I moved the flights back one day, meaning I now had the opportunity to check out the martial arts side of Thailand. I began the day by investigating various muay thai tour prices, which proved a bit expensive. They ranged from 100 baht to 1400 baht, without even including all transport.

I made the surprisingly long pilgrimage to Ratchadamnoen Stadium, where unfortunately there were no matches that day. Once I finally got back, I decided I would try to attend a muay thai class at Jitti’s Gym.

The only school I found (which may or may not have been Jitti's Gym, I couldn't tell) proved less than friendly. While there was a large sign proclaiming ‘Foreigners Welcome!’ the group of tough-looking Thais across the room, making dismissive hand gestures, most definitely indicated ‘Foreigners Fuck Off!’ It seemed today was not to be a training day.

However, I did finally satiate my muay thai cravings (as a spectator, rather than a participant) at Sanam Muay Lumphini, unfortunately much further than Ratchadamnoen. I got on the B4 no.47 bus from Thanon Ratchadamnoen Klang, a short walk from the Sawadee Khaosan Inn where we stayed. The way to the stadium proved relatively simple, though I spent the journey desperately clutching my little Lonely Planet city-map trying to recognise the streets I was passing. Considering all signs were in Thai, that wasn’t easy!

After arriving, I bought myself a second class ticket from the ‘foreigner’ booth for 800 baht, considerably cheaper than ringside or tour seats (thought that saving was ruined when I lost my damn passenger service thing at the airport! Grr). Inside my class, there was an open area with a fence separating the numbered seats at ringside and some low wooden benches behind me. I got in at 6pm, and opted to watch the matches standing, for a better view. It soon became clear that the only people who bought ringside seats were tourists, either young westerners on a tour, fat westerners with a prostitute, or Japanese. The ceiling was dotted with air-con fans, and a large fan stood upright in the standing zones.

The two build-up fights were relatively uninteresting, indicated by the large amount of empty seats and complete lack of announcements. Interestingly, high kicks were put to frequent use, before the match descended into extended exchanges of knees from the clinch, usually occurring from the end of the second round on.

The entertainment picked up with the fourth fight, second event, where two shorter but more powerful fighters squared off. There was a far higher proportion of techniques used in this match, with the eventual winner in the red corner putting together some rapid punching combinations. The stadium was now filling up, the noise level began to rise, and the announcers started up, giving a brief description of the weight. Very short clip below (not sure if it was this fight, but the three seconds should hopefully give you some idea of what it was like):



Eventually, a female voice took over, explaining in English and then Japanese (I guess those must be the two main tourist groups). She covered topics like the ritualistic Wai Kru, use of the mong kron and the average age of fighters (they begin at 8, fight professionally from 15, then retire in their 20s). The announcer also went into more detail on the fighters’ record, and it became clear that tonight at least, the younger fighters seemed to have more experience. The 17-19 year olds commonly had over 90 fights, while the oldest fighter of the night, at 25, had competed in just 75.

As the night progressed, to my surprise I saw that throwing your opponent from the clinch was quite acceptable, and always raised a big cheer. The noise levels were later augmented by a loud grunt from the respective fighter’s corner – and eventually, from the audience too – which would accompany each and every successful knee strike from the clinch.

After the fourth event, where the tough looking 22 year old in the blue corner lost despite his dominance of the early rounds, there was a brief but entertaining demonstration of ‘muay baray’, the ‘original’ muay thai. Two fighters dressed with traditional hand wraps went through a choreographed display of eight different techniques, culminating in a beautiful step-on-the-knee-and-kick manoeuvre. This was in stark contrast to the brutality of some of the earlier fights, one of which featured a fighter throwing his opponent to the ground, then football kicking him in the head as he lay prone on the mat.

The main event finished the fight card, which involved all the fighters coming back on for photo opportunities. The two final fighters were presented with a giant golden glove each. They were apparently competing for a purse of 500,000 baht: the younger man in the red corner, 18, defeated his 25 year old opponent.

My own battle was about to begin, with an arduous journey to my bedridden friend. The bus I joined helpfully returned to the bus station instead of my hostel, whereupon I think I was told (in Thai, so he could well have been saying "Get off the bus, you wanker, its stopped!") to wait on the bus until the next driver arrived. This then resulted in a tense (for me, anyway) 20 minutes or so as I wondered if the only other passenger, sitting in the dark a few seats behind, was going to rob me or not. I did eventually get back to my friend much later, without getting mugged, quite pleased with myself. I’d successfully – if rather slowly – navigated my way round Bangkok.

< Cambodia - Next: Laos >

RTW 04: Cambodia

Cambodia - 13th May to 17th May

The flight out of Kathmandu was delayed for about 24 hours. Royal Nepal Airlines didn't present us with the best impression, as from their fleet of two planes, one was grounded, and the other broke down. Still, they did put us up in a five star hotel, which was nice. Before Bangkok, there was a brief stop over in Mumbai at a somewhat pants hotel that sold us a marvellous 12 hour city tour...which was entirely in Hindi...

We then arrived in Thailand, and decided to fly straight out to Cambodia rather than try the much more complex, if cheaper, overland route.

Day 1: The Outlying Temples – 14/05/04 (Angkor)

Having arrived the previous day via Mumbai (04:50) and Bangkok (14:30), due to our semi-impulse, but impressively cheap (£191 each) returns to Siem Reap and Luang Prabang (£66 off!), we set off in a tuk-tuk for our first destination, Banteay Srei, at around 07:00. ‘Terry’, our driver, began the day full of enthusiasm (this was to gradually wane as our itinerary became ever more extensive) and after a long drive (11/2 hours) we reached the temple described as an ‘exquisite miniature’ and ‘fairy palace’ in our ubiquitous Dawn Rooney guide - it lived up to its title. It was well worth the 30km, with marvellously carved frontons on the North and South libraries – I couldn’t separate my favourite from the depiction of Shiva crushing Ravana under his mountain and Indra riding atop Airividata scattering rain while Balarama and Krishna stood amongst a menagerie beneath him.

After spending slightly more than two hours at Banteay Srei, we moved onto the second temple of Rooney’s ‘Group 7’ – Banteay Samre. This was to prove the best of the temples for me of the first day, an altogether larger, quicker and far more isolated complex than the concentrated beauty of Banteay Srei. While the individual carving s were not of Banteay Srei’s standard, the cool antechambers and dungeon-hack like surrounding corridor, along with the sadly dry inner moat and somewhat battered naga balustrades, and finally the whole deserted, mystic, Set-like temple feel of Samre won out – straight from ‘Stone Prophet’! We also managed to get some memorable multiple arm shots here (hopefully the memory card won’t @#%$ them up) which the guards certainly found amusing! I bought two shirts, as due to isolation the touts were desperate, but also female, while my friend got herself a Cambodian outfit.

After roughly 1.5 hours at this rather magical place, we moved on the Rooney’s ‘Group 3’, which consisted of Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Krol Ko and Ta Som. Unnecessarily, I sent Terry past the first three in order to see the group in Rooney’s equence, but on the other hand it worked it well in terms of time and distance – the first three temples were by far the best – out of the reminaing five others we saw, only Ta Som and the East Megon were at all memorable.

Preah Khan – ‘the Sacred Sword’ – was the largest temple we visited. The highlight of this temple was easily the enormous ‘fromageres’ tree straddled across the wall on the east gate, which we later discovered was also the shot chosen by Rooney’s photographer. We spent roughly two hours wadnering about the jungle temple, but the aulity of carving and overall coherence present in the Banteays was severely lacking. The heat of the day also reached a stifling degree, our water consumption rose rapidly, and my friend's shopping was about about to completed – she bought a shirt outside Neak Pehn to finish her ensemble.

Unfortunately, the shirt proved the only worthwhile result of our visit to Neak Pehn, seeing as this small set of buildings sat on a lake had no water, contrary to the attractive picture in the guidebook. Krol Ko also proved uninteresting, except for a rather bizarre hiccuping-bark dog and a total lack of any touts.

Fortunately Ta Som rekindled the appeal of Group 3, in much the same way as Preah Khan – once again, the symbiosis between nature and ancient stonework proved fascinating. The tower at Ta Som, at the west end, has some pleasant Angkorian faces, with a large tree growing through the top, and entirely intermingle with the west facing side – even more so than we found in Preah Khan.

The day ended with the less exhilirating temples, from Group 5 – East Mebon and Srah Srong. The latter, supposedly a bath consisting of a 700m lake, was entirely dry, preventing our hoped-for sunset sport. The East Mebon had a few interesting points, despite being swathed in children. These were the large elehpant statues on each of the four corners, and a number of frontons – one depicting Shiva on his bull, Nandi, Indra on his three-headed elephant, and finally one showing Skanda on his peacock. We headed back to our beautiful hostel and air-conditioned room for an early start the next day.

Day 2: Angkor Thom and Environs – 15/05/04 (Angkor)

The time had come for cycling! As Banteay Srei was so far away, a tuk tuk was reasonable, but for Angkor Thom – a mere 5 miles from Siem Reap – there was no excuse. We eventually left around 6:20, arriving at Angkor Thoma, and more specifically the Bayon, around 7:20. I had been looking forward to the famous bas-reliefs, in particular the Churning of the Milk and alleged muay thai (or rather, muay khmer!), but was disappointed. The latter I couldn’t find, while the former was much less impressive than I had hoped. The reliefs on the outer gallery, which I spent around an hour wandering past – roughly 5 times – after losing my friend not realising she’d gone to the main sections.

After finding eachother by way of a high lookout, we set off for the top, which my friend had already explored during my circumambulation. The iconic ‘Angkor Smile’ was everywhere as gently carved heads beamed down. However, I felt strangely dissatisfied with this alleged highlight of the complex. In truth, I preferred the gate we had cycled through earlier on our way up, passing Angkor Wat en route.

The Baphuon was supposed to be next, but after walking up the tension building walkway, we discovered it was still under heavy restoration work and was therefore closed to the public. Slightly disheartened but also glad of the extra time, we moved on to the ‘aerial palace’, Phimenakas. Again, this was a disappointment – only I bothered climbing this small temple-mountain, and the view didn’t warrant the effort. We continued on to the one part of the view which had intrigued me, a large pool. This proved to be the ‘Srah Srei’, or ‘women’s bath’ – despite the murky green water, I was consoled by the sight of some khmer urchins diving in over the other side. Stripping down to my swimming shorts, I gingerly slid down the one step into the ‘bath’. The water was incredibly shallow, and I could feel the muddy grass under my feet, but I was glad to finally get the chance for a swim, not to mention an expanse of water, no matter how disturbing a shade of green!

We stumbled upon one of the most exciting edifices of the day by accident, which of course added to both its impact and appeal. The Elephant Terrace appeared out of nowhere, and after walking down the stairs, I encountered the famous five headed horse reliefs purely because I had been looking for somewhere in the shade to read my book! Upon seeing the gorgeous exterior of the Leper King terrace, we eventually realised where we must be (the first rather large hint was the three headed elephant relief on top of the terrace, which was the first terrace based carving we came across). Upon descending, the full splendour of the terraces revealed itself – at a later point, as we wandered past the reliefs back to our bikes, I thought how superb a bike ride the view would afford (fortunately, I soon got the chance, as we cycled back from Ta Prohm to Phnom Bakheng).

Ta Keo was our next stop, but not particularly exciting. However, it did provide an opportunity to discover new routes down other than the stairs, something I would try to more dramatic – and wrist-scraping – effect at Phnom Bakheng, when I attempted some Flashback style hang-drops. Not very clever.

Ta Prohm was the penultimate stop of the day, and proved to be one of the Angkor highlights. This was the setting for Tomb Raider, with a whole load of fromagere twisted through the mysteriously derelict ruins. It was a pleasure to simply wander and get lost in its depths – which I did repeatedly! – although at one point I found myself emerging next to a ‘Danger – No Entry!’ sign, having happily clambered across some extremely precarious blocks!

Phnom Bakheng was the final stop, and an arduous climb, where we joined a swarm of tourists, not to mention orange-robed Buddhist monks (who as usually were chatting to young blondes!). Unfortunately, the view was rather dark, made worse by cloud.

Final Day: Angkor Wat at Last! – 16/05/04 (Angkor)

Today was, at last, the day for Angkor Wat itself. We had cycled past it, seen it from a temple-mountain, but now we were finally going inside it. The temple lived up to expectations, with beautiful bas-reliefs, highlights being the Battle of Lanka, Battle of Kurukshetra and the famous Churning of the Milk, which I had erroneously attributed to the Bayon earlier. The architecture in general was superlative, with cunning foibles such as the five towers only becoming visible from certain angles. Climbing the central tower was a frightening experience due to the ridiculously narrow steps, so I once again climbed up the large blocks along the sides – a more circuitous, but also more satisfying, route. The view was suitably superb.

Afterwards, I had the first of many tasty cans, as the day was to prove full of such liquid delights. We set off in search of the Western Baray at around 12, having spent roughly 4 1/2 hours at the Wat. Judging by the map, there didn’t appear to be any direct roads, so my friend determined to find one. This proved to be a mud track which got steadily more squelchy as we went along, eventually becoming so stiff as to be impassable. At this point, leaning against my bike in the baking hot sun, I was quite ready to leave and give up. However, my friend forged ahead round the corner, just in case our destination was close by. She returned some time later, claiming that a girl had told her a large body of water was a short distance way.

I rejoined her to check out this possibility, passing various construction vehicles on the way, while what looked like a half-naked women stared at me. We stopped off at a small place selling drinks next to a sign stating ‘Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project’ – this was not a typical tourist destination! After some Fanta ‘Fruit Punch’, which tasted distinctly like bubblegum, we trudged into the Cambodian jungle in search of the Baray. A short walk later, I recalled the rather worrying fact that Cambodia remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

After this somewhat harrowing journey, and after a truck stuffed with children shouting ‘Hello!’ in broken English passed us on the extremely narrow ‘road’, we returned to our bikes. Back to Angkor Wat, where we spent another few hours, with two more excellent cans of drink – ‘soursop’ juice (some kind of spiky fruit) and the wondrous ‘mixed fruit’ drink. I also had a longer stare at various figures in the ‘Churning of the Milk’, especially the first figure holding the head of Vashlu, Vishnu and Hanuman, at the beginning, middle and end respectively. To finish the day, we spent half an hour or so at Ta Prohm – enjoying the very scenic cycle through Angkor Thom on the way – and then finally took a few moments to say goodbye to the marvellous Angkor Wat before returning home for a great meal at one of several posh restaurants packed with Angkoriana. Cambodia had been expensive, mainly due to government fees such as visas, passes and ‘passenger service charge’, but Angkor had most assuredly been worth it!

Next was Bangkok, then on to Luang Prabang, which at this point I knew almost nothing about.

< Nepal - Next: Thailand >

RTW 04: Nepal

NEPAL 01/05/04 – 11/05/04

Selling the Sadhu – 04/05/04 (Kathmandu)

Having passed through India, we reached Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, on the 1^st of May. Our tour should have begun – at least in terms of meeting/socialising – on the 2^nd, but ‘B2’ (his real name was double-barrelled, both beginning with ‘b’ – he told us to call him ‘B2’, presumably from annoyance at people getting it wrong), our tour guide, was ‘too tired’! So instead, we ended up walking by the rather disgusting, but still somehow charming river, which mainly consisted of pigs, water buffalo (not to mention rotting piles of their legs!) and lots of rubbish fuming pungently in large heaps.

On the third day, our tour began properly, and first of all we went to Pashupati Temple. Our first encounter was relatively authentic, as we saw the ‘holy men’ in their caves. We then went to the complex proper, whereupon commercialism steadily took over. Several murals decorated the walls with mythological Hindu motifs, apparently drawn by an Italian devotee of the ‘Milk Baba’, a man of 75 who had allegedly drunk nothing but milk for the past 25 years. He was not in residence because he was at a ‘holy man conference’ in India, and had been travelling the world previous to that. Incongruously, there was a little guy playing very badly on a keyboard, the demo tinkling painfully along as he clumsily attempted accompaniment. This tacky soundtrack fit perfectly with the scene about to greet us.

Entering another courtyard, we saw several ‘holy men’ touching up their make up and getting into suitably photogenic positions. One man unwound his mass of matted hair, while to the far right a younger sadhu threw his leg up behind his head, his hand resting on a stick for balance. For the privilege of photographing these ‘mystics’, a ‘donation’ was expected. Spirituality had become a business.

Monsoon Kayaking – 05/05/04 (Pokhara)

Pokhara could be summed up in one word: wet. We had a downpour the first day, well ahead of monsoon schedule, which continued without fail every afternoon. We were also chased mercilessly by Tibetan women clutching umbrellas and backpacks full of handicrafts, whose main selling strategy consisted of telling my friend she was a ‘nice lady’ and that their marvellous wares would produce ‘many miracles for you’.

Early on the second day, we took a walk with a rather irritating 67 year old member of our group up to Sarangihot, a look out point for the Himalayas. Unfortunately, once we arrived at the summit, 1500 or so metres up, the majestic Anapurna range was completely obscured by cloud.

Clambering back down to lakeside around 12, after eating ‘chocolate puddings’ (actually chocolate custard in a bowl, which nevertheless I rather enjoyed) we went to go kayaking. Reaching the half-dressed boat rent man, who advised a rowboat, we were taken all the way back to his house to drag the kayaks to the beach. Having achieved this, we set out in our rickety vessels.

As my friend sped off to the other side of the lake, I found myself in trouble. Upon each attempt to go forwards, I found that I’d simply spin in a circle, no matter the direction, or how desperately I paddled on the opposite side. As my friend got further and further away, I became more and more frustrated. Eventually I was reduced to floating aimlessly in the middle of the lake, my chin morosely balanced on my palm, fearing that I was going to be stuck there for the rest of the day. As I imagined the humiliation of a towboat back or being trapped in a rainstrom, the little dot that was my  assumed I was merely taking a break, as I had ironically commented to her earlier that I’d ‘like to go out to the middle of the lake and relax’.

Eventually I did get moving again, having finally realised that I could arrest my spin by dunking an oar in the opposite direction – previous frantic paddling had only served to make me spin faster. Once I caught up with my friend and bemoaned my wasted 20mins stranded, it began to rain shortly after. I gleefully put on a waterproof, stashed behing me in my bag, and had the pleasure of being the only person on the lake not getting soaked – indeed, perhaps the only person in town! Paddling back to the shore in a monsoon certainly made for an intriguing experience.

But it wasn’t over yet! In the evening I dragged my  back for more row-boat action, deciding at the last minute to pack a raincoat once again just in case. Reaching the dock, it looked deserted – only a few children clambering along railings and some local women. I asked a guy if the place was still open, whereupon he sent for someone else. Eventually another guy appeared, took a bottle out of the bin and cut it in half to create a bucket for bailing out the rowboat, filled with an inch or two of rainwater.

Finally we set out, though I was a bit unsure what to do with the two paddles on offer. My friend sat across from me with her newly purchased Tuborg, and I single handedly rowed her back and forth across the lake – fortunately for me, we saw a Nepali boatman on the way, so I copied his far more efficient style of rowing.
On the way back, I got a second opportunity to reach smugly for my raincoat as the rain spattered down. All in all, a very wet day!

Safari in Chitwan – 07/05/04 (Chitwan)

Next stop was Chitwan, a famous National Park full of rhinos. The highlight of the stay was bathing with the elephants, which seemed to mainly consist of getting on the elephant, then being thrown off as the elephant driver directed.
It also meant I finally got to ride on an elephant bareback as it waded into the river from the beach. The leathery skin made for an easy grip, though the high ridge of spine was more problematic – I ended up with a hand gripping in front and behind, made more difficult by the characteristic swaying motion of the elephant.

Having experienced the dubious pleasure of being thrown off an elephant into literally @#%$-stained river water (you could watch it drift by) we then proceeded to an elephant safari. Armed with my trusty Suzhou fan, I climbed aboard the remarkably uncomfortable four-person frame and we set off for the jungle. Once there, we saw some rhinos – one submerged, one with child – and some less interesting sights, like a stork, peacock and deer. Unfortunately, my friend didn't enjoy this much due to the non-English speaking driver plunging through trees so that the branches slapped my poor friend in the face!

Returning from the unpleasant episode, we went to the riverside café, where a young orphan rhino wandered unimpeded (not that anyone could stop him…). For some reason, the enormous child took a shine to my groin, and had a good nuzzle on my left hip!

Next up is Bangkok, stopping over in Mumbai waiting for flights (depending on when, or even if, Royal Nepal Airlines manages to leave Kathmandu some time this week), from which I'll be going to Cambodia and Laos. 

Looking forward to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, where apparently there are some bas-reliefs showing that muay thai actually originated in Cambodia, the Thais having nicked some fighters in the 15th century. But thats just going by the Lonely Planet, which isn't all that up on martial arts.

< India - Next: Cambodia >

RTW 04: India

India - 23rd April to 30th April

I didn't write much on this at the time, so I'll give a brief summary. India is rich in culture and an economic powerhouse of the future. Perhaps understandably given the continuing poverty, it has also developed ripping off tourists into a fine art. From the special ‘foreigner’ prices at all attractions (where they add a few extra zeroes onto the ‘local’ entry fee) to the taxis that chase you along the pavement, it seems everyone is looking to get at your wallet.

Of course, that isn’t entirely unexpected when you pick the hyper-touristy option of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, India’s so-called ‘Golden Triangle’. On top of that, we travelled most of that route in an air-conditioned chauffeur driven car, which unsurprisingly makes you a target.

One especially fun episode came when the driver had to leave the car for a moment in order to pay at a toll booth. Two men with ‘dancing bears’ decided that the old methods are the best – to get what you want, use violence. Sitting in a car that’s being rammed repeatedly by two large carnivores is a little disconcerting to say the least. Still, the Taj Mahal remains one of the most perfect pieces of architecture on the planet; be certain to arrive at the crack of dawn, as you’ll need the whole day to take it in.

Indians and people who've travelled to India I've met since then have advised me that I should have gone to Southern India. If I ever go back, I think it would definitely be a good idea to go with someone Indian, or at least makes friends with someone who lives there beforehand. That should hopefully reduce the tourist trap nature of my first experience.

< China - Next: Nepal >

RTW 04: China

CHINA 13/04/04 –22/04/04

Great Wall – 16/04/04 (Simatai)

We experienced the not-so-ancient majesty of the great wall on the 16th April 2004. First built around 220BC by the first Qin Emperor, Shihuangdi, as a stamped earth dirt wall, its present incarnation dates from an extensive rebuilding programme during the Ming Dynasty, in which literally millions of Chinese died during the century long fortification, shoring up its decaying dirt with the battlements and paving slabs we see today. In more modern times, the Great Wall was repaired once again, as its value to the communists as a generator of tourist revenue became clear.

We visited the section at Simatai, held to be the most impressive. After taking a 1 yuan trip to the toilet-paperless toilets, the group embarked on the 1000 step climb to the section, handily marked out at various intervals, generally every 50 steps. Our first view upon climbing all those steps was suitably impressive. The undulating brickwork wound its sinuous way through the Mongolian mountains, engendering some steep inclines and pronounced dips along the way. The pounding heat of the sun, unencumbered by clouds, beat down relentlessly, and the stones were baking hot, but fortunately the cool shade of watchtowers provided a welcome respite from the temperature.

My friend and I walked up and down the section from about 11:30 until 13:30, although the final 10 to 20 minutes was spent sitting as we waited for the rest of the tour group. I managed to wield my biscuit packet in Mongolian fury, attempted to scale the walls, and haggled a 5 yuan bottle of water down to 3 from a real Mongolian. Most exciting, not to mention bizarre, as the various old Mongolian women selling water spoke excellent English, entirely learned from sweating tourists. My friend, along with most of our tour group, chose an intriguing toboggan route to return to the restaurant meeting point, while I decided to walk back down, saving the 50 yuan for my expensive, but relatively satisfying, Beijing Opera visit.

Beijing/Peking Opera (Beijing)

It cost me 300 yuan, paying my reluctant friend's ticket as well, but it proved to be an all-inclusive transport and snacks ticket, and we also got to see the actors put on their make-up. The opera was split into three separate performances (though there was no interval between them). The first two, ‘Autumn River’ and ‘Goddess Scattering Flowers’, were a comedy and a divine soliloquy respectively. The first was the least memorable, though an entertaining enough piece of light comedy as a young woman tries to reach her lover through a mischievous old boatman. The second piece centred on a bodhisattva rushing to a temple to scatter flowers in celebration of a great sermon. It appeared to mainly be an excuse for the actress to show off her skill at twirling and unfurling her long silk scarf wrapped about her shoulders and arms.

The final performance, about ‘Stealing Silver’, was where it really picked up. Described by our guide, Melody, as an ‘action movie’, it lived up to the title. A slow start then leapt into action (quite literally!) as the main character, a swordswoman, had her cohorts flip and somersault onto the stage. They duly stole the silver from the rather witless guards, whereupon the imposing painting of a fierce red-bearded gentleman sprang to life, breathed lots of fire, gathered his troops and sought revenge. This then led to a sequence of weapon encounters. The antagonist guards were armed with two spears, while the red-bearded leader himself wielded a halberd. Facing him were the multi-weaponed followers of the swordswoman, and her black-faced lieutenant who brandished two maces. The performance then shifted to circus acrobatics, with much juggling of weapons and gymnastic tumbling, martial arts inspired butterfly kicks and artful kicking back of thrown spears by the heroine. It was a bravura performance by a significantly larger cast than the far more sedate build up pieces. Worth 300 yuan? Not quite, but a fine introduction to the training Jackie Chan brought to global attention nonetheless.



Walking the Bund – 22/04/04 (Shanghai)

I left the hotel at 6:40am, ostensibly to finally try out the languid art of tai chi, but open to any offers. As I strolled swiftly thought the pedestrianised area immediately to the left of the Nanjing Hotel, I could already see the slow-motion ballet getting underway. Pausing briefly to look, I continued on to my destination, the Bund.

Emerging from the dawn quiet of the tunnel, I caught my first sight of what I thought were tai chi swordsmen. I’m still not entirely certain what they were, but when I returned to the same spot later, it was packed with ballroom dancers. My second attempt was also thwarted. The group of women began promisingly, but as the Western pop music kicked in, it was clear that what I was watching was not tai chi. It was aerobics.

The cliché proved true on my third attempt, when I came upon a group of middle-aged women going through the motions with a fan. There was definitely a stabbing thrust at one point, but generally the motions were more concerned with dramatically unfurling the fan with a studied flourish.

I then moved on to four old men practicing what I’d been expecting; slow arm motions and gradual leaning forwards and backwards. This got dull rather quickly, so I then moved to the next group, which was again tai chi, with the odd crescent kick thrown in. Finally, next to the big triangle above the Bund museum, a larger group of suitably uniformed tai chi practitioners. Far more interesting, however, were the three individuals next to them. One guy in particular was playing around with a sword, throwing in some tornado kicks and 360 sweeps on the way. After watching this for a while, I moved down to the relative seclusion of the statue, under which there was a big dip. Here I did some ZSK, with my two companions being a woman jogging on the spot, and an older gentleman walking backwards – he proved to be one of many, as I later saw sharply dressed businessmen doing the same.

< Hong Kong - Next: India >

RTW 04: Hong Kong

(went to O'Hagan's class one more time, to Neil Genge's Song Shan class about 3/4 times, and a TKD session in Kingswood. Leaving Bristol to return home to Bucks, I then went on a 2 and a half month trip round the world, where the closest I got to training was in Shanghai...)

Hong Kong – 7th April to 13th April

My trip began in Hong Kong, where I met my friend at the airport (she was flying in from Egypt, via Rome and Madrid due to a crap travel agent). It proved to be one of my favourite stops, even if it was a comparatively expensive one. I particularly liked the gorgeous Hong Kong cityscape, along with the thrill of being in the home of martial art films.

Standing under the Kowloon Railway Clock Tower from Jackie Chan’s ‘Project A’ was about the only film-related activity, though. My main chance for immersing myself in Golden Harvest kung fu grandeur, the Hong Kong Film Archive, proved rather less comprehensive than I'd hoped. In contrast to some of the places we went later, eating was basic. I relied on £1 chinese bread from the local supermarket, which appealed to my sweet tooth, as for some reason it's very sugary.

Over the 6 days, there were three main activities of note. First up was our trip to Lantau Island, where you can find the largest bronze seated Budhha in the world, dating all the way back to…1993. Secondly was the ‘Kung Fu Corner’ in Kowloon Park. This proved to be not so much kung fu as huge portions of lion dancing. Still, some of the Lion Dances were relatively entertaining, when they either did something a bit more acrobatic or dramatic.

For example, jumping around on benches, or when the 'Lion' took a while to 'wake up', which sounds kinda cheesy but I thought came off pretty well. In general, however, they get monotonous - jerky head motions whilst wandering around, throw a bit of cabbage from the mouth and that was about it. The dragon dance was more interesting, and a lot more sinuous (as you would expect from having about ten people holding the costume rather than just two), but I preferred the two dramatic and acrobatic Lion dances.

Fortunately, they did do a few more conventional martial art demos amidst all the teeth and cabbage-leaf throwing. It looked like it was mainly southern styles, as there were lots of sweeping arm motions, blocks and swift, rigid strikes, with virtually no kicks. I recognised hung kuen, wing chun and some guys that had a praying mantis on their back. There was also a tai chi guy towards the end of the kung fu bit with a sword (hooray for swords!). More confusingly, there was a guy doing quite fast upper-body stuff, but with one arm behind his back the whole time. Not sure why.

For an event that was supposedly designed for tourists, it wasn't all that tourist friendly. Proceedings were conducted entirely in Cantonese, so I understood two things - 'kung fu corner', and 'Wong Fei Hung'. I'm presuming the repeated mention of the latter meant some people were doing hung gar, but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, it was nice to get some martial arts action in.

Finally, we went to Repulse Bay, a relatively short bus ride from the centre (though it took us a while to work out which bus). This made for a pleasant break from the metropolis, and I even managed a bit of a tan due to the 37^oC temperature. It was also a first outing for our ‘travel towels’, which are supposed to be quick drying and compact; for a change, they are.

Next: China