Here I go again on my own....

Hi everyone! I'm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia right now. Its been awhile since my last post, so let me first backtrack to Siem Reap in Cambodia.

The town is filled with tourists, but it wasn't overwhelmingly touristy until we got inside the temple complex and saw the hordes of Korean tourists flooding the gates. The main attraction there is the massive temple of Angkor Wat. We spent about 2 and half days exploring the main temple and numerous other temples in the surrounding areas. One of the temples was actually used to film the movie Tomb Raider. The temples are amazing... mostly because they are so old and still well preserved. There were built approximately 1000 years ago by ancient kings who ruled the lands here. My favorite one was the "Tomb Raider Temple" (I don't remember the actual name), not because of the movie, but because it is surrounded by thick jungle brush and trees which really gives it an authentically ancient feel. Although they are fascinating, the temples got a little boring looking at temples for 3 straight days. Especially since I had seen so many other temples previously on the trip. By this time in the tour I was getting a little burnt out on traveling with the group and was really looking foward to going off on my own.

Besides looking at temples, we went to the Landmine Museum. It is run by a former soldier of the Khmer Rouge who spent his early teens laying out mines in the cambodian jungle to fend off the invading Vietnamese. He was forced into the Khmer Rouge at a very young age, after his parents were taken from their homes and killed. After leaving the Khmer Rouge, this guy started demining areas in rural Cambodia where he previously laid the mines as a young man. He then set up the Landmine Museum to show other people the horrors of landmines and how many unexploded landmines there still are (something ridiculous like 10 million if I remember correctly). Most of the people working there had limbs missing from exploded landmines. The experience really showed me how terrible landmines are...because they continue to kill innocent people years after a war has ended. Later on that day I bought 2 books from a street vendor who had no arms. I was all ready to barter with him and try to get a really good deal, but I saw how he had no arms and thought to myself how tough his life is and how he's just trying to make an honest living. So I ended up taking the price he gave me...it was still a great deal and I actually needed one of the books (Lonely Planet Malaysia).

On one of the nights a few of us attended a cello concert at a local free hospital, put on by the guy who runs the place. He played a few songs and then talked to us about how thousands of poor Cambodians die every year from dengue fever and tuburculosis. They can't even afford basic health services so they must rely on free hospitals like the one that was putting on the show. It was a very moving talk, especially when he showed video of the thousands of sick children and families who were waiting in line to get much needed care. The guy giving the talk went a little too far though, basically blaming the west for all of Cambodia's health problems. He claimed that the US bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war created conditions for the Khmer Rouge to come to power, and then the Khmer Rouge put people in such horrific conditions which allowed the tuburcolosis disease to proliferate which the people are still suffering from to this day. Nonetheless, I told myself I was so moved, I told myself I would donate blood which apparently helps people with Dengue Fever. Unfortunately it wasn't possible for me to donate in the short time period I was there for, but if I ever go again I'll definitely do it. I'm glad I went to the show to see another side of Cambodia that a lot of tourists probably don't even think about when they take their air conditioned buses to visit Angkor Wat. It puts a lot of things in perspective for me.

After Siem Reap, we drove all the way to Bangkok. Boy, what a long day that was....about 12 hours in a minibus. I was relieved to get back to Bangkok and it was a special moment because we arrived back at the exact same hotel we started from; thus literally completing the Great Indochina Loop. I was definitely ready for the tourgroup to end. If I ever do a tour like this again, (which I plan to), it will only be 2 weeks max. Anything after that is too long and it starts to not be worth it anymore. Although it is great to relax and have everything planned out, its very constricting at the same time. I was sort of going on autopilot and not even thinking about what I was doing. Since going off on my own, I've had to be a lot more proactive about my plans since I'm literally involved in every aspect of my trip. While it is more stressful than being on an organized tour group, its also more rewarding at the same time. Anyway back to my trip...

My last night with the group was in Bangkok. The next morning, I was officially on my own. I was so excited, yet a little nervous at the same time. I had a very loose plan to head down south by train and eventually fly to Malaysia. But I didn't have any of the details worked out, like what time the train left, how much it was, where exactly I go to buy the ticket, where I would stay when I got to my next destination, etc., etc. I went to the train station and luckily enough the train going down the south coast left about 15 minutes after I got there. I took the third class train and the ticket was so cheap! Plus it was filled with locals which is always a fun experience than being around a bunch of tourists.

I got to my destination of Hua Hin about 4 hours later. I chose Hua Hin because it was supposed to be slightly less touristy and a nice quiet beach town. It turned out to be full of hookers and old german people. It was quite sad actually. I was wondering around in the night and everywhere I looked I would see an old white dude with a young Thai girl. It made me ashamed to be a white man. Somehow I ended up in hookerland while I was wondering through the town, and the girls would call at me from the bars. I was so disgusted, I decided right there that I was going to get the hell out of Hua Hin and continue my journey down south. On a positive note, I did meet a few interesting people in my hostel that night. It seems like everyone I meet is going on a trip that is at least 5 months long, some people as many as 11 months. And I thought my 6-7 week trip was long.

I took the third class train to a small town called Prachuap Khiri Khan. I really enjoy taking the train. It is insanely cheap, the scenery is great and it really provides a local Thai experience. I was pretty much the only foreigner on the train and everyone was very nice and even told me when I was close to my destination. Prachuap was a nice, quiet, non-touristy town. Exactly what I was looking for after suffering through the den of whores and geriatric Germans known as Hua Hin. I spent a night there in a crappy (but cheap) hotel and enjoyed the local market while watching Thai's do aerobics to popular techno songs in the park. Another highlight of the town was almost getting mauled to death by a pack of wild monkey's who have made their home at the base of a large hill with a temple on top. The monkeys seemed friendly at first, but when I got about halfway up the staircase to the top of the temple, they surrounded me and started showing me their teeth. I nearly soiled myself but attempted to stay calm and explain to the monkeys that I wasn't going to hurt them. My verbal dexterity must have worked on them some how and eventually they retreated, so I was able to survive another day and continue my journey.

At this point in my trip I was trying to decide where to go next. I wanted to go to one of the famous beach spots for a few days, but I couldn't decide on Krabi or Ko Pha Ngan. They are on opposite coasts, so I didn't really have enough time to do both. I decided to head to Ko Pha Ngan because it was supposed to be hooker free and have a lot of young backpackers. I had heard that there are a lot of children and families in Krabi, so I decided to stay away from there. Ko Pha Ngan is famous for its monthy Full Moon Parties where thousands of people dance on a beach all night and drink buckets of whiskey and red bull. I knew the full moon party was the previous night, but decided to go there anyway thinking it would be laid back after all the crazy partying the night before. I took a 3 hour boatride to the island which was the most bouncy boat I've ever been on. I had to exert an extreme amount of mental focus to not vomit all over the place. Everywhere I looked people were yaking....it was terrible, but fun at the same time because I was on top of the boat with the wind in my face and we were flying. I literally got to the island the morning after the full moon party and everyone I saw looked completely shattered. The town itself is very sandy, dusty and hot. It wasn't exactly the vibe I was looking for because it seemed like everyone was in a group of their friends or a couple. Other than a few friendly Irish guys on the first night, I really didn't meet a lot of people like I thought I would. The best part of my time there was going on a snorkling trip on a half day trip around the island. The snorkling itself was terrible, I couldn't see anything, but it was a lot of fun to see the beauty of the island and beaches. The boat stopped on a few beaches and I played volleyball and football (soccer) with the people on my boat. Of course I managed to get sunburned in a bizarre fashion yet again, my shoulders are burnt and half my chest is burnt. Our "tourguide" was a fun guy, whenever we stopped at a beach he would light up a joint in the back of the boat and smoke it with the english guys who were hanging out back there. Its a pretty laid back-hippy culture on Ko Pha Ngan.

My next destination was Phuket, mainly because that is where my plane left for Malaysia. Even though Phuket is really popular, I had heard a lot of negative things about it: mainly that it is so touristy and overdeveloped. I spent an entire day traveling from the Pha Ngan to Phuket. By boat, bus and then another bus. Going in between buses was an interesting experience. We pulled into a temple and immidiately Thai people began yelling at us to follow them according to the sticker we were wearing (everyone was going to different destinations). Some guy pointed at me and I followed him to a street where there were a bunch of other random Thai people wearing yellow shirts and people from my bus. There were buses everywhere and everyone was running around like a chicken with their head cut off. I didn't see my bus and I couldn't get a straight answer from anyone about where my bus was and when it was leaving. I was extremely hungry too, and people who know me well, know that I don't have a lot of patience when I'm hungry. Finally I asked someone who spoke a little english and they told me to get on the back of this random guy's bike. I had no idea where we were going or what the hell was going on. Long story short, I finally got to my bus with plenty of time to spare, but it was definitely a trying experience, something that wouldn't have happened if I was with my tourgroup.

I spent two nights and one day in Phuket. The actual place I was staying was Phuket town which really doesn't have anything going on. All the real action is on Pattong beach, which I spent half a day at. It is filled with tourists, tailors and hawkers. I had very low expectations of it, but was pleasantly surprised. Even though it was packed, the water was beautiful and the 90 baht I spent to get chair and umbrella right along the water was well worth it.

This morning I checked out of my hostel and took the bus to the airport. I was ready to leave Thailand and experience the new country of Malaysia. So far I've noticed that people are extremely friendly and speak the best english I've encountered so far. It is very humid here and there are a lot less motorbikes. I've only been here for a few hours so I really don't have much else to say. My plan is to stay here for 3 nights, then work my way down south to Singapore and spend a day and two nights there before I fly back up to Bangkok to meet my good friend Charles Wright who will no doubt show me a good time. Well, its time to go explore KL a bit, I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about Malaysia the next time I post. Cheers!