Don't expect to see only markets selling all kind of vegetable, the Gin Jay is a Chinese Festival occurring annually in October. It involves eating vegetarian food and worshipping the Nine Great Gods of the Chinese. It is a time when the Chinese purify their minds and bodies. In their belief, gods come down from heaven on a pole located at the Chinese Temple. Adherents to the gods will wear white uniforms and eat no meat the nine days of the festival. Some people will become mediums allowing the gods to inhabit their bodies while piercing themselves with different objects, walking on hot coals, and walking up dagger ladders to show their devotion to their gods. One day there is a parade in which idols of Chinese gods are taken for a walk. On the day of the parade, residents place food on the sidewalk in front of their homes so that the gods can get the spiritual benefit of the food . Mediums in a trance like state will come drink tea, bless the residents by throwing rice and sprinkling holy water, spiritually eat the food & inhale the candles & incense. Fruit from the table is then given to the family and a verbal blessing is pronounced. Also, an opportunity to change ones luck is given as a dragon walks the street (several men under a dragon outfit). If participants place money in the mouth of the dragon, it's believe they will receive good luck in the future. At the Chinese temple, mediums dressed in brightly colored costumes will perform rituals and bless the people. The perpetual deafening sound of firecrackers can be heard each day of the festival to raise the gods.
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Vietnam.
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THAILAND & CAMBODIA: Two magical worlds
Our travels have started again but this time there is no sea involved, land exploration will be our new game. We found a private tour for the two of us with guide and driver for a trip of 15 days in Thailand (but we realised that it will have been very easy to do it on our own). Our guide was happy to help us understand the Thai customs and to show us a different side of the country, one more authentic. Cambodia was a world apart with an unbelievable history and some stunning temples.
Central & North Thailand by car:
Bangkok - Ayuthaya - Lopburi - Pitsanuloke - Lampang - Lampoon - Chiang Mai - Maerim -Thatorn - Chiang Rai - Golden Triangle - Maesai - Sukhothai - Bangkok - Daemnoen saduak - Bangkok.
Once upon a time I ve dreamed of a world populated by golden temples flanked by giant demons. A world with rainbow s colours, markets doted with intricate merchandises and old Chinese medicine. A world where the smell of ancient legends and childish believes still float in the air. A world were rivers still are a way of transportation and were on its riverbanks people lives closed to nature. A world were we ve been......
Bangkok, was a surprise to us. A lot more charming and interesting than what we thought. We visited the main temples but Wat Po was spectacular with its huge laying down Buddha. The Grand Palace was also spectacular with grandiose architecture.
Ayuthaya, we ve started our long trip up to North Thailand. Our guide and driver are both nice and knowledgeable. Ayuthaya is the old Thai capital and we saw the remains from this period.
Lopburi is another former capital but where Hindus and Khmer influences are present. The Three Spires temple was lovely. While we were there it was the end of class for the young monks and they were hanging out from the buses which were taking them back to the villages. On the way we also stopped at the Phra Phutthabat in Saraburi which houses the holy footprint of Buddha but it looked like a footprint left by a giant (perhaps a meter long).
Pitsanuloke has more temples to offer but by now Geoff had enough of looking at them and he s quite happy to stay in the car with the aircon going.
En route we also saw a temple which has been infested by hordes of monkeys.
The highlight of this town was the rickshaws all doted with long poles covered with multicolour lights, it was amazing to see them going up and down the streets in the evening with their glowing tails. Everywhere the people are friendly and open to contact with westerners.
Chiang Mai. On the way we had the chance to have a look at a real authentic market from the jungle people (no tourist here). No photo is permitted as the locals think the food will be wasted if taken in pictures. And hopefully for your stomachs. Would you rather have a kebab of dried lizards, or a plate of fried insects (worms, cockroaches or crickets), some toads (not in the hole) or a bit of cow s foetus to perfume the soup?
We also visited the Elephant s hospital where we had a look at the animals, one had lost a leg walking on a mine at the border.
We are now in Chiang Mai and went for a strolled to the night market where stalls selling everything from food to souvenirs flood along the streets. This was really neat and we had a drink just for the pleasure to look at the different people (hill tribes, Chinese, dark skinned...).
We had a tour of all the different factories where they make lacquer, woodcarving and umbrellas (which is an amazingly long and laborious process: several days between every coat of resin, 12 are required).
That evening we had a Khantoke diner while enjoying a cultural show celebrating the dancing styles from every part of Thailand. At the end of the entertainment we were able to launch in the sky a huge paper balloon lit by a flame which will take away your bad luck!
The next day we are driving to the Elephant camp, it is incredible you can see them being washed in the river, playing football or music, dancing and even painting with their trunk!
We then took a small zigzag road up the mountain to the Hmong Hill tribe, lovely huts tucked in the forest where the local hill tribe people performed for us.
Chiang Rai. We took a little road between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai which was a beautiful drive. We trekked down a little gorge to see the Long Neck tribe which after thought was not so nice, as these people has been taken by force from their country and put as slave in the village to be showed to the tourists. They are not allowed to go out from the village. They are really stunning with their elongated neck decorated with golden necklaces.
We also visited some other tribes on that road. The night bazaar was nice too with lovely handicrafts and free performances for the tourists, we saw a Lady-Boy show.
Geoff and his harem! It must be the lucky balloon.
Golden Triangle This was the wild west of Thailand with opium s lords but it is a bit different nowadays. We had a boat ride on the Mekong river and even got a visa s stamp from Laos. Many travellers come here especially to try the opium. In Laos they were selling rice alcohol with all kind of weird reptiles in it!
Sukhothai, the ancient city is huge and beautiful with immense Buddha s statues and canals all around the archaeological park.
Bangkok, we are back and ready for the floating market from where we took a three hour long tail boat ride back to Bangkok. Surprisingly different and authentic, another world lives by the riverbanks. All along the way there are shops, temples, restaurants floating or not, houses, people take their bath in the water, women rowing small wooden boat and delivering their fruits and vegetables. We went through locks and even on a raft which came under the boat, took us out of the water on its rails and onto the other side of the river.
CAMBODIA & Angkor Wat
We flied to Cambodia, Siem Reap to admire the Khmer ruins. The history of this place is amazing, fighting, wars and terror. Three million people were killed under the Khmer Rouge with Pol Pot at its head. The place is so poor (about $370 per year per capita)! Many people still shows the atrocities of the war and there are a lot of beggars. Sad, very sad.
But the ruins were fantastic and unique, one of them has been kept natural with the nature growing inside and on top of it..
Click to see the Video of Thailand
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Lovely island with old buildings through Chinese influence.
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We had to spend a lot of time here waiting for the hydraulic system to be fixed, so we had plenty of time to catch up with friends. On the pictures, there are my great friends Selkie, my other good mates on s/v Aplysia and Long White Cloud.
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An amazing Brunch at the Raffle's Place hotel with friends.
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We stayed in Thailand until the 24 of December 2003, two Christmases in this wonderful land with the nicest people I've ever met. It is a destination that we will recommand to anyone.
We winter in Boat Lagoon Marina which was too shallow for us except at High tide once a month! But it was worth it with nice restaurants, bakery and great big swimming pool at the hotel.
"Marvellous South East Asia, from Bali to Malaysia,
Bali was really pretty with stunning rice's terraces and lovely temples. It is a lot more rich than the other islands but hordes of tourists rush around. So it is not as picturesque!
We decided to fly to Java, Yogyakarta where two great Hindu/Buddhist dynasties centred here constructed the immense Borobudur temple and the complex of temples at Prambanan. Later, the rise of Islam carried sultans to power and their palaces can also be visited.
The town of Yogyakarta has kept it old charm from the Dutch colonisation and is a major cultural centre. We were able to see Borobudur first, ranking with Angkor Wat as one of the greatest South-East Asian Buddhist monuments, it is an enormous construction covering a hill. The site was abandoned and only rediscovered in 1814 when Raffles governed Java. The temple consists of six square bases topped by three circular ones and was built in the early part of the 9th century AD.
The other temple, Prambanan, the biggest Hindu temple in Java, is scattered with buildings of different sizes. The main construction, Shiva Temple, is 47 meters high and lavishly carved. Every temple has a chamber containing a statue of the representing gods (from the goddess Durga, Ganesh the elephant-headed son of Shiva, to Agastya the teacher.
On the way back to town we were taken to a Wayang kulit show, or a leather shadow puppet performances, that was something!
Then we had a walk around the unique animal's market, birds came is all sizes and colours making the most terrible and confuse noises. There were all kind of food for them, from live worms (Hello, could I have a kilo of live worms, please!) to seeds. We saw wild cats, huge iguanas and even a selection of snakes, who wants so bats for dinner? What a weird market.
We were taken to the old part of town with Batik galleries where they give you a demonstration of their art.
The people were great as there are not too many tourists here, they are dying for contacts, and even come to touch you if they are courageous enough.
From Bali, we sailed to "Romanesque" Borneo, the land of legends and notorious head-hunting tribes! Kalimantan, the southern two-thirds of the island of Borneo, is a vast, jungle-covered wilderness. It has always caught the imagination of westerners as it is the home of the Orang-utans, the world's largest flower and fierce warriors. The famous indigenous Dayaks are a fascinated race, the forest as they say is their supermarket, hospital and warehouse, and they used to hunt people and reduce their heads following a very strict process. Here rivers are the chief form of long-distance travel and life outside the towns is totally primitive. We took a boat trip up the river to see the Orang-utans sanctuary and we were welcome by noisy monkeys and marvellous birds, locals waving at us along the way. The Orang-utans were waiting for us at the station, babies on their mother's back and big males comes here everyday to be fed as they are part of a rehabilitation program.
From Borneo we were transported into the XXI century, into a modern and overcrowded city, Singapore. What a difference, from one extreme to another. Singapore is a quite nice town to visit especially Little India, Arab street and Chinatown. It was the Indian light festival and we went to a colourful temple guarded by the sacred cows where the people were dressed with beautiful silk Sari.
This is a shopping paradise, a mall next to the other with a maximum of twenty of those on one street and on 5 levels!
We are ready to take up the famous Malacca Strait, pictures of scary pirates comes up in our heads. Hopefully we only saw friendly fishermen, garbage of all sort floating around and lines of container's ships. This was just like a major road system in the States!
We had an easy trip up to Langkawi in Malaysia, our first taste of a new landscape of huge limestone rocks popping out of the water everywhere. We are only at about 150 nautical miles from Phuket, Thailand where we will spend several months and even Christmas Eve."
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On the right picture our dear friends Dianne, Kimberley, Philip and Alister on catamaran Selkie. They are terrific friends, great company and so good with us in difficulties.
Roti - Rinca - Komodo - Gili Banta - Sumbaya - Medang - Lombok - Gili Are - Bali - Kangean - Kalimantan - Kentar - Bitan - Batam and Java by land.
Indonesia is my first taste of Asia: I must say that I love the place and the people. It is so different, so fibrent, so colourful...
"Selamat Siang
Blue Dawn is back on the report's e-mail!
Adventures are starting again, Australia is behind us and Indonesia is welcoming us warmly, on the horizon Asia is appearing!
We left Darwin mid-July en route for the Indonesian Archipelago and its 13 700 islands (also the fourth most populous country in the world). The people are starving for contact with westerners, it is a bit annoying sometimes (they will ask you tons of questions if they speak a little English) but truly nice to be the attraction. Everything amaze them and in the remote villages where they do not see many "white people", the babies will cry as you smile at them. The kids will be running around like flies shouting the only English words they know and repeat indefinitely: "Hello Mister".
The local bus is a Bemo which will cut you into pieces if stay in the middle, they are overcrowded (even the roof will be full and sometimes the doors are not closed because of the lack of room) and the music is so loud it will take your eardrum out!!!
Our first stop was on the island of Roti at the bottom of East Timor where tourism is not developed yet only few sailboat come around. There are young men on motorbikes rushing along the main roads with all kind of things hanging from them, even ducks. Fishermen came to visit us with their lovely picturesque vessels painted in all kind of colours, we bought some Lobsters from them for 5000 Rupiah (about half a dollar)!
We then set sail due West for Rinca in an exquisite place surrounded on every side by towering cliffs. We ended up being about 15 boats there and a huge barbecue took place in the late afternoon and as we were all chatting and laughing some deer were fighting and a wild boar was walking towards us totally relaxed! What an amazing evening!
This is also one of the place to see the famous Komodos Dragons, up to 4 meters and 130 kilos lizards tasting the air with their thin tongue. This bulky appearing lizard is actually a competent predator as well as a scavenger. They have huge claws and could take a man and even a buffalo down if the opportunity came to them.
We then crossed to Komodo Island where a National Park has been established and tours are organised to see the Dragons up close and personal!!! The Dragons or Ora as they call them are the largest reptile remaining in the world. Our local guide took us around and we did not need to walk a long way (which made Geoff very happy) to see many of them lying under the houses of the Park's headquarter, the Kitchen door was actually the most popular place to see the Dragons!!!!
After that exhausted time trekking across jungle to spot natural flora and fauna we thought that we needed a bit of freshness and we sailed for Gili Banta which is recommended for its lovely snorkelling and wide variety of corals (from green to pink and yellow).
Our next stop was Bima on the island of Sumbawa, a busy and noisy town with hundred of horses and carriages. We had to take a guide as there are no many tourists,so here we are riding motorbikes behind our happy drivers, mine was really content as every single of his friend saw him with a Western girl. At every street corner we were good for shouting and whistling. Behind me on the road was a pretty funny site as Geoff had a head more than the driver!!! This is where we saw some real poverty with little boys picking up in the smoking mount of garbage. A lot of dirt but this is mostly everywhere in Asia and you must see it I guess as a part of the picturesque.
We had another night on the Island of Sumbaya but this time next to a more traditional village where people are friendly, kind and opened. Brigades of children on little canoe came to greet us and say "Hello Mister". And when they saw that I was going to get wet when we went onshore, they came along side our dinghy and make me understand by signs that they were going to push on the beach with their very small unstable vessel. So I stepped in very carefully into that meter long log and perhaps 50cm wide. I was holding very tied while my little boys were bringing me ashore. As for Geoff he had to walk acroos and was soaked!!!!
From there we ended up on Medang Island with two of our fellow cruisers where we were welcome to see the village, the people were fantastic and their smile huge, their eyes full of sparkles; a real pleasure for the heart. One of our friend had a digital camera with a screen on the back. As we came after lunch most of the villagers were sleeping but very soon all were awaken and by our side, million of dark brown pupils staring at us. As we started asking if we could take pictures crowd of girls and children were running to hide behind trees and houses. When our friend show them the screen on the back with their digital images the whole lot laugh like crazy. People were growing around us and very soon nearly every single person in the village came to have its pictures taken and also to admire it on the little screen. Later that day our friend printed the pictures out and gave them, it was an incredible day for them and a magic one for us.
We are getting nearer to modern world being now in Lombok (next to Bali) and the English of the locals had improved a lot, it is now: "Hello Mister, give me money". The people are beautiful, gentle and really talented with their hands. Yesterday we drove around the island, in front of us a myriad of colours and scenic vistas came, rice terraces with many buffaloes and hundreds of pointy hats which actually had people under hidden from the heat while working on the fields, monkeys slowing down the traffic hoping for some tourist to stop for "Peanuts Time", women weaving beautiful Sarong, men making baskets, children running everywhere with running noses, ladies going to the restroom without bothering closing the door and even waving at you while busy. It is all a new moving feeling.
This is it for now, it was great to be able to write to all of you again, take care, Geraldine and Geoff."
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