The heat, the humidity, the Mekong whisky

[Baz Faz]

It is a long time since we set off from dank and cold England, first to Toulouse and then by British airways from Toulouse to Heathrow to Bangkok. The reason for strange pattern was that BA's geniuses make this longer journey one third cheaper. Truly a mad world we live in.
The business clas flight to Bangkok was not a total success. BA are reconfiguring their biz class cabins but hadn't got round to doing this 777 yet. It was my bad luck to have a bit of bulkhead at the end of my lie-flat be d, meaning I couldn't stretch completely. Also I wasn't impressed by the food choice though the champagne and Rioja were delicious.
Bangkok was its usual hot and steamy self. W E stayed in a place I discovered four years ago. It is just beyond the tourist nightmare of Khao San road. It is actually built on a teak platform in the river. It started as a restaurant for the locals so the Thai food is God. They then added on eight bedrooms that are simple but adequate. We had a couple of days seeing a couple of sites and did some necessary shopping. I always have problems with my holiday watch which is cheaper than my normal watch. Twice in the past fifteen years the battery has given up and I have had to get a new one. This time the strap broke actually at the airport but we found a place Ib Bangkok to get that fixed and then bought doxycycline for when we are in Burma.
We caught an overnight train and arrived here in Trang only half an hour late. It is a 15 hour journey so that is not bad. We neither of us slept very well but that doesn't mater. We are sitting in a cafe enjoying a coffee until our room is ready.
One thing that surprises me is the change of tourist demographics. I first visited Thailand in 1985 when signs were all in Thai which was challenging. More tourists arrived so they added English as the internationally accepted language. Now Chinese has been added. That's all right but I deplore the influence on Thai food. Last night on the train in first class the steward rakes your menu choice and delivers it to your compartment..Mrs Faz had chicken with cashew nuts. Though this is widely available here it is by origin Chinese. I had beef with oyster sauce. That is denitely Chinese. Neither dish had chillis.
A couple of years ago there was an altercation on a train between a drunk passenger and a railway guard. As a result there was a knee jerk reaction from the government banning the sale or even consumption of alcohol on trains. I wasn't having this so I fought a bottle of Coca Cola, emptied half and topped with Mekong whisky. I displayed the coke bottle prominently and no one questioned. Cunning in old age.
Right. Our hotel room should be ready now.

[Baz Faz]

Somehow Trang is not so interesting as I thought it would be. We walked around a lot, had a small lunch and then a siesta. I went out in the late afternoon in search of somewhere for dinner. I searched and searched. The restaurant near our hotel recommended in Trip Advisor no longer seems to exist. Finally I found a place with.otsof locals eating and we went there. We had a table on the pavement outside and watched the world go by and wondered about the strange behaviour of the car parking across the road and speculated about the attractive young girl getting into a car and then getting out to te move an iron from her suitcase. Our food was delicious - a spicy seafood salad, tederduck on I forget what sauce and a vegetable dish. With large benefit was 240 baht. I'll let you translate into the currency of your Clive.

[Baz Faz]

And so we bid farewell to Bangkok, named after a particularly painful police interrogation technique. We caught an overnight train in what was supposedly a first class compartment. This meant that one steward came and made up our bunks and another steward took our dinner order. We found the dinner ordering very confusing as this fella had minimal English and we only know four words in Thai. Now, now he kept saying as he thrust the menu at us. We were worried the food would arrive straight away, both our dinner voices and breakfast. That was not what we wanted at 5 in the afternoon. However all was sorted. Food was not nearly so good as before. OUR DISHES HD NO CHILLIS. I blame the increasing Chinese presence.

Our hotel on Trang is right by the station so it was not far to walk. Our room is OK though I feel the could have put a picture inside the empty picture frame. Yesterday we took a tuktuk for the 30 minute ride out to what in English is called the Gotanical Gardens. No, it isn't. In Thai it is called a national park. Never mind we had a couple of hours walk on a good path through the jungle and a stretch on a 40 metre high walkway at treetop level. We saw no there but that is probably because there aren't any. I did see a lizard and Mrs Faz saw a number of birds. I always miss the birds she spots so she shows me the photos she has taken. The food here is pretty good and we have had a couple of cheap meals at tables out on the pavement. Coff is also good which is a real plus.

Tomorrow we will take a long tail boat out to this island of Mook. We have 5 nights there I'll give an update from there.
Sorry about the typos but the screen on the iPad is very small soi don't check before I post

[auntieannie]

Baz and Mrs Faz, I would like you two to take great care in not catching that nasty coronavirus that is currently spreading fast in Asia. precautions are those habitual to avoid any virus/germs about washing hands and being wary of doorknobs and not getting sneezed on, etc, but most importantly, if you do get symptoms of a common cold, treat it immediately and thoroughly as it seems it is the untreated benign symptoms that will then kill people. and keep well hydrated.

[Baz Faz]

Sent from my iPad

On 26 Jan 2020, at 10:23, Jill B <[e-mail]> wrote:

Internet connection at our hut comes and goes. Yesterday afternoon I wrote a post that obstinately refused to be sent. This morning the post has vanished to the Internet graveyard.

Yesterday was one of those days you dream of on a tropical island. Taking our cue from the locals we were in no hurry to get moving. But we decided we would wander off to the nearest beach. Our little hut complex is right on the shore and little waves are pleasantly lapping as we finish our breakfast but it is no good for swimming. It is too shallow. When the tide goes out it is aboutv50 metres to reach the water and even it only covers your toes. So we went past the ferry.jetty and along to the beach on the other side. Perfect. The sand is white and so fine it squeaks as you walk across it. There were trees every 30 metres for shade. Maybe a dozen people doted along the beach. Google had said that the air temperature was 32c. The water temperature much the same. If you hope for surfing you have to go elsewhere. But if you enjoy floating and gazing this is perfect. You can stare at the white sand beach and the palms and unknown trees with little berry-like fruits. You can a bit to watch long tail boats tie up at the jetty. Ferries come event few hours but these are not big, just overgrown fishing boats though one does go as far as Langkawi in Malaysia. Further out to see are islands, one with high karst cliffs, then a string of four little peaks like some dragon swimming in the sea. Trump's le,s, johnson's preposterous ideas, SARS, Brexit... What are they?

There is a lovely little restaurant we have been patronising for lunch. We had dinner there too last night. Basically all the restaurants serve the same dishes so we srich the one beside the sea. At night there are the lights of fishing boats to gaze at.

Today we are crossing the island to what is called Charley's beach. There used to be Carley's huts there until the authorities decided they were built on National Park land and the operation was closed down. It is reputed to be a 20 minute walk but as we go at the pace of Ploddingly Slow I expect it will take longer. Right, the sun is gaining strength but there is a pleas ant little breeze so off we go.



Sent from my iPad

[Baz Faz]

Charley's Beach was not for us. It was a 45 minute walk and then we came to the abandoned huts, a lot of them, on the access road and behind the beach. They were being knocked down but primarily for buildings else where. Tiles off roofs, Windows gone but walls just left as rubble. Hideous. But that didn't stop tourists coming to sit in the chairs and sun loungers put up by enterprising Thais who had opened stalls and were selling drinks. Perhaps their stalls were not on National Park land. To us it all seemed dubious and Charley probably hadn't passed a brown envelope to the right official. We caught a tuktuk back to our little town and went to the beach we used yesterday. It was peaceful and without the crowd of the other place. A mystery really. Our our way back the tuktuk driver pointed out a track to another beach. He said there was coral there which is fine for snorkelling but hard on the feet.

[Baz Faz]

So farewell to Ko Muk. We enjoyed it very much apart from my getting bitten by sand flies. I react badly to these bites and I have hideous red seals on my legs and back. Fucidin cream from a pharmacy should help.
In Trang we had a chat with a travel agent who was most helpful. Of course it was profitable for her too but more of that in a bit. She pointed out that we old take a taxi to the bus terminal stupidly situated out of town. Wait for a bus to Pattalunga,, an hour's bus journey then find a taxi on to our destination. Or she would organise a car and driver. We chose that and she came along too. It was 1.5 hours. The we told her where we were going next to catch the ferry to our next island. Multiple problems it is a small island with only two hut operations. There is a small boat once a day for the locals which we could take. Problems meant that it was now leaving at 9 a.m. Four hours to reach the jetty. No taxi for some ridiculous legal reason would pick us up and take us on the journey. Our travel agent by name Jeep scratched her head and then volunteered to take us for the same price as the taxi would have charged. Bear in mind that she will have a 3 hour round trip from Trang on top which she is not charging and that is a good friend to have. Just as well she was here yesterday as no one speaks English. It is a remote and peaceful place on lake Thale Luang lagoon which joins with Thale Noi, a vast waterfowl park.


This morning we hired a boat plus boatman (organised Jeep before she left) to take us out for a couple o f hours (longer it turned. Out) and. Wen s aw them curious way of ca thing tiny local fish by a man Stan ding on a sort of mini oil r,it's ma de of branc he's and. Casting out a huge net. We passed through huge areas of lotuses. And we saw birds which the real reason I planned this. When I tell you that Mrs. Faz took 442! Photons this morning you c an t,nelly it has been a success.

We left jus t as da wh was craving this morning (I believe .thme of fi dial. Ozzie term is at sparrow tart) an d we are just lazing about.

Sorry about all the typos.

[kerouac2]

I almost jumped on a plane to Asia the other day as a reaction to winter in Paris, but two things stopped me -- 1) Chinese new year and 2) high season until April. So I will try to bide my time for a few months.

It is very frustrating to be waiting when I could also be benefiting from coronavirus panic. Since I already travelled through Asia during the SARS business 17 years ago, I know that the irrational decisions of other people can benefit my budget.

[Baz Faz]

Yesterday was a day of travel. Alarm set for 4.15, all packed and off we went with a car and driver. It was three hours to Donsak. This is the port people use Togo to Ko Samui. I went there in 1985 and have no desire to see what it is like today.we caught a ricketty wooden vessel which eventually set off only half an hour late for Ko Paluai. On board were half a dozen islanders who had been shopping on the mainland, four French and us. It was a couple of hours, passing a umber of uniinhabitedilands ad the we arrived. We were met by Ton who took us in a pickup to Angthong where we are staying. There is only one other place on the island that can put up visitors. Angthong has ten rooms in nice gardens. The beaCh is 120 metres long of white sand. There are ten rooms. There is no mains electrify on the island so the government has given everyone solar panels and strange wid turbines. We have electrify for 12 hours from 6.30 in the evening. There hammocks and deck chairs at the edge ofthesand. There are rids. There is a at. The food is good. That is it. If you are having a nervous breakdown this is an excellent place to unwind.

There a concrete road about six kilometres long. We walked one yesterday afternoon. We'll walk the other way today.

[Baz Faz]

Mrs Faz says I must pass over these posts for her to check before they go on the Pot. Surely that will deprive you all of many laughs, sniggers and guffaws.

[sophie]

Actually I can read through most typos and spelling errors.. 30 years of reading students’ writing will do that!

[auntieannie]

I can read most of it as well. And the few I cannot fathom make for thinking points, don't you worry Mrs Faz.
It is probably a discrepancy between your typing and the keyboard abilities. Happens to me all the time.

[Baz Faz]

Mrs Faz has already corrected a review I put on Agoda. I don't really have these problems with my laptop. Now I am going to be rebellious and not show her this.

[kuskiwi]

Proof reading generated a small second income for a few years, but once I stopped and started reading for pleasure again I see what I expect to see and miss the typos unless they are hilariously funny. I'm another one who hates tablets and phones which override my thoughts with autocorrect. Baz - the Pot rebel.

[kerouac2]

It would be very interesting if couples travelling together wrote separate trip reports and posted them without showing them to each other.

[Baz Faz]

Feb 3, 2020 20:25:49 GMT 2 kerouac2 said:

It would be very interesting if couples travelling together wrote separate trip reports and posted them without showing them to each other.

Mrs Faz posts on Facebook. I never see that.

[Baz Faz]

There are two monasteries on the island. We have visited one which has a beautiful position looking down on the sea. The only monk died last year so there is a position open for any Potter willing to haul water and food up the hill. Today we plan to visit the other monastery which is crowded with two monks. We have heard that a path has recently been cut through the jungle down to the coast. We will see if this practible and report back to our hosts and Potters.

[Baz Faz]

We have left the peaceful island of Ko Paluay and are near a national park south of Hua Hin. I chose Namphu Baandin because the huts are built round a lagoon. The variety of birds gives Mrs Faz endless pleasure. However something ha s changed here. The owner is nowhere to be seen. There is a young man running the place who has no training and is a bundle of nerves. We do our best to build up his self confidence but it is hard work. We have found that if we want to eat dinner it isn't best to order it in the morning so they can buy supplies. There is a changing population of other guests but no one is very friendly. Yesterday we walked down to the sea with the intention of swimming. The beach is sandy and stretches as far as you can see. But it lacked charm. We found a place withe tables and chairs at the edge of the sand and had lunch.
Now I said the beach stretched out of sight and was completely deserted so why did a couple with a young toddler close to position themselves two metres in front of us? And then another family rented a beach buggy and roaRed up and down in front of us for an hour. People are strange. However when we left and started walking back we saw four cattle being given a sea bathe. Three of the beasts seemed to enjoy the waves but the fourth resisted strongly to being tugged in.
We want to get a taxi to take us to the entrance to the national park is the young man's English capable of grasping this?

[kerouac2]

With a little luck, I might find my way back to Vietnam in April or May. I don't even have anything to see on my list, because I pretty much covered that on my last three trips. I think I just want to settle in Saigon for a bit with perhaps a side trip to Da Lat and an excursion to the Mekong delta, which I really love.

[Baz Faz]

After five nights here at Numphu Baandin we are back to Bangkok. We are taking the train from nearby Pranburi. This is considered perverse as it is slow - even slower than the timetable shows - but there is more legroom and the countryside is more interesting than the strip development beside the highway. We are spending just one night in Bangkok before flying to Burma tomorrow. It is strange to realise that we have been away from home for four weeks.

[tzarine]

i love the slow thai trains

[Baz Faz]

Here we are in Burma. The first thing we noticed is what Jeff commented on: cars have the steering wheel on the right but they also drive on the right side of the road. Crazy.

We are staying in Mandalay at Ma Ma guesthouse, built 8 years ago in colonial style. It is lovely as is the owner. And the food is delicious. However I can't write more now as a car and driver are taking us out for the day. No time even to check for typos.

[Baz Faz]

Mandalay is a huge spread out city. Peering at a map before left home I naively thought we would be able to wande,r round. Impossible. There is block after block of Asian city sprawl. We hired a car and driver and saw the most famous sights. This meant many temples where we had to take off shoe,s and Eve,n socks. I wear trainers that give support to my foot with plantar fasciitis so this is a tedious operation. We went up Mandalay hill to were the sunset. Alas pollution meant it was a disappointment.

Yesterday we took a boat for the 11 hour journey down the Irrawaddy river to Bagan. It is not the most interesting trip but Mrs Faz still managed a couple of hundred photos, the vast majority of which have now been culled. The river is very low which meant that in parts we had to go slowly with a crew member jabbing a pole in the, water to make sure we weren't running aground.
Our guesthouse is new and comfortable. It has the most enormous bed we have ever seen. It is twice the width of a normal double bed and takes up so much space I can only get out on my side with difficulty.. But because the guesthouse is modern ever.ything works. We were recommended a restaurant within easy walking distance but it looked much too touristic. Close by was a buzzing local restaurant where we ate an extraordinary mea l. We ate what the kitchen had produced: rice of course, fishballs, chicken balls, fermented peanut salad, bitter gourd, pumpkin, chilli and other mystery dishes. We spoke to the cook, a jolly woman and complimented her so she produced some sweetmeats. The cost was 6000 kyat each, three pounds.
Breakfast at our guesthouse is served on the roof terrace. This is at treetop level so many birds are being photographed. The waiter has incomprehensible English. It is so ba d that I asked French guests for a translation. I learnt a useful Burmese term: half fried eggs. Fried eggs are cooked until they are solid. Half fried eggs have the yolks still r.unny. Of course this may only apply in Bagan.
This morning we are devoting to catching up on emails, etc. This afternoon we will have a tuk tuk to go round some of the one thousand plus temples. Speaking personally I am beginning to feel tempted out.

[Baz Faz]

Yesterday we visited nine temples. Hold on a bit, maybe it was nineteen. Only a couple of thousand to go. Walking barefoot round these temples makes my feet protest. And after a bit all Bagab's temples merge into one. This viewpoint obviously makes me uncultured. Never mind. We have booked a tuktuk for another four hours. Must go now.

[sophie]

Too much of a good thing??

[Baz Faz]

Sophie, the pagodas/temples/ways are the reason for visiting Bagan. But you are right. After seeing the first half dozen temples they may be different but they all seem the same. Today we included a market. This gave us some variety.
Tomorrow we are flying to the oddly named Heho airport. There we'll take a taxi to Inle lake, and then a boat down to the south of the lake away from most of the development. We are staying in a guesthouse on stilts on the lake.

[Voy]

Baz, I completely understand - I got the same way in Egypt . This dynasty / that dynasty : they all look the same with all the heads going the same way.

[Baz Faz]

We are catching a taxi to the airport in a few minutes. We just have time for breakfast on the roof terrace, watching the sun come up and the hot air balloons lift off. We thought about going in a ballon until we found out it would be 700 euros for the two of us?

[Baz Faz]

I shall make this brief. The internet is very poor here. It didn't work at all yesterday, then Facebook worked, then nothing. This morning we have got emails and the Pot but who knows for how long.
Yesterday we flew to Heho airport in a plane with propellers. Remember them? Mrs Faz was very excited. Then it was an hour and a half in a boat down Inle lake to this home stay.. It consists of four largish buildings on stilts in the water. I confess I got the wrong impression of Inn Paw Khone where we are. I chose Innthar Lodge because the photos made it look romantic with the the rooms on stilts in the water. I imagined going ashore and wandering around an atmospheric village. Well, certainly romantic but the whole village is on stilts in the water. We can hire a boat and boatman to take us somewhere but there is no spontaneous walking (unless you can walk on water).
The village is known for its weaving on lotus roots into what they call silk. This will need further investigation.
We ate a copious dinner last night of many dishes. We were each given a large fisch fresh from the lake. We saw the fishermen yesterday and our boatman actually stopped to buy fish from one. The fishermen are bizarre. They stand in the boat with one leg wrapped around a paddle which they wiggle to make progress. This leaves both hands free to cast their nets. Though we watch closely we still don't understand how they manage the leg wrapped around the paddle.
Right. Mrs Faz is not feeling too well this morning so I am off with a boatman on my own.

[tzarine]

feel better, mrs baz
have a nice time w the boatman, baz