Footy update

Hi Miss Byrne, sounds like you're having a ball over there. Speaking of balls (cos I know you're fond of them), here's a footy update (you asked me to keep you appraised of the Ireland results/fixtures). We drew 1-1 with Norway on Wednesday. Robbie Keane scored for us 1st half and they equalised after an hour. We played well but it pissed rain in the 2nd half and no good football could be played. On September 6th we play Georgia away in a qualifier, K.O. is 17:00 Irish time. This however could change as there is the small matter of the Russians invading the country, shooting everyone and bombing the shit out of the place. A neutral venue has been mooted but a final decision will be made next week. On September 10th we play Montenegro away, K.O. at 18:00 Irish time. So there you go, get down the launderette and make sure your lucky green knickers are clean for those games and hopefully you'll find a bar with Sky/Setanta. Enjoy!

South East Asia (Part 4)

Vietnam (The Land of a Million Motos) 14/07/2008 - 29/07/2008

I was a little weary about traveling in Vietnam, most of the stories I'd heard from travelers on the road were negative. I was told if I thought Cambodia was soul bashing and toot infested, wait until I got to Vietnam! For me, my experience was au contraire..I absolutely adored the country! I will no doubt revisit for it's cheap Bia Hoi beer, for the friendliness of the natives and their cheeky smiles but most of all for their playful yet crafty ability to squeeze a Dollar out of you at any given opportunity. Oh and not forgetting their traditional dish of rice noodle soup called Pho, it's to die for.

Being the only westerner and sitting at the rear, absorbing every bump during the 9hr ride to Hoi Chi Man City (HCMC), I got acquinted with the locals. Even though none of them spoke a word of English, they kept talking to me, feeding me with God knows what and handing me cigarettes! By the end of the trip the back of the bus was alive with locals singing their hearts out and insisting I joined in...I had no idea what I was singing but I didn't care, I was having a great welcoming party!

Arriving in HCMC I couldn't believe my eyes the amount of motorcycles on the streets! Crossing the street was somewhat of a challenge, I soon mastered the technique of putting my foot out, holding my breath and just praying they scoot around you. I stayed in the Pham Ngu Lao Area of the city, a backpacker area pretty close to all the main sights. In a day or so sightseeing I done the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum (Not for the faint hearted!) and the Museum of HCMC. A day trip to Cu Chi tunnels followed where I crawled through a small part of the 200km narrow tunnel network made by the Viet Cong in the American War. For something like $5 I got the opportunity to fire an AK47 machine gun. However, I did totally miss the target but thankfully no one was in the vacinity to be wounded ;-)

It was in HCMC where I once again hooked up with my good traveling and card playing buddies, Jenn and Paul. We set off together to the Mekong Delta for 2 day/1 night tour. By boat along the Mekong we visited local villages making rice paper and coconut candy and experienced the fruit and veg floating market on the river. We stayed 1 night in Can Tho which has a great statue of Ho Chi Minh himself and some pretty decent bars and restos. It was also on the Mekong Delta that I overcame my snake phobia for 5 seconds and held a Phython around my shoulders...my skin is still crawling when I think about it! It was back to HCMC and onto a night bus bound north to Mui Ne. Arriving after 1 in the morning, accomodation was hard to find. We did get sorted in the end with the help of a passing motocyclist, shouting "Cheap Hotel" surprisingly enough. We took a tour to the fishing village and the magnificant red and white sand dunes where we all had a go at sand sledging...fun but somehow I just couldn't gain speed and always ended up stopping due to the mountain of sand I'd created in front of me.

The Central Highlands was on the cards next, Dalat the City of Eternal Spring. The higher altitude, cooler tempature and bizarre sights were what brought us to this charming little town. We visited it's old Cog Railway station, Datana Falls where you could take a mini rollercoaster ride to get to, took a 2.3km cable car ride with stunning views of the area, paid a visit to Hnag Nga Crazy House with it's bizarre Alice in Wonderland architecture and not forgetting played cards a lot.

Our first experience of a Vietnamese night bus was from Dalat to Hoi An. Comfy seats which fully reclined, a good night's sleep was had by all. Around Hoi An you have My Son, spectacular ruins of an ancient Cham empire and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Also you have a fantastic white sand beach called Cua Dai Beach which we paid a short visit. The Old town of Hoi An itself is charming with it's historic architecture and narrow streets. It's also known for it's affordable custom-made clothing. We managed to fit in a local Dance and Musical show in the old part even after discovering a bar by the river that sold beer for 4,000 Vietnamese Dong, that comes to about 0.16 in Euro terms!

Via another comfy night bus we found ourselves in the fast capital Hanoi. After arriving and burning my leg off the exhaust of a motorcycle, Jenn and I had booked a 2day/1 night cruise to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. This has to be the most beautiful place I've been to in Vietnam. 3,000 islands and another UNESCO World Heritage Site, on an old yet charming wooden cruise boat we visited caves and done some kayaking in the South China Sea. Just a few sights in Hanoi were done, weather hindering plus cheap beer and card playing got addictive. A walk or two around Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple, Hoa Lo Prison home to Senator John McCain during the American War and we supposedly had The Best Pho in Vietnam in a tiny resto, I'm not so convienced myself! We also were regulars in The Finnegans Irish Pub where the owner is a good mate of Paul. It was in Finnegans on my last eve that my great Irish traveling buddy and talented musician Paul performed a live gig, a calm evening that turned into an all-nighter!

Sadly after 2 weeks of great laughs and adventures it was time to say goodbye to Vietnam and my traveling co. I had to get back to Bangkok as I'd arranged to hook up with an Irish Traveler I'd met in Hippy Pai and to go see a Thai boxing match. From there I was on a cheap Air Asia flight out to Macau.

Some pix @ VISIONARY VIETNAM

South East Asia (Part 3)

Cambodia (A World of Treasures)
30/06/2008 - 14/07/2008

Crossing the Mekong by car ferry (i.e. an unstable wooden plate carrying vehicles secured by rocks lodged under the wheels), we made our way to Voen Kham on the Laos/Cambodia border. We had a slight disagreement with the Laos passport control when we each refused to pay a $1 admin fee for the exit stamp, they retaliated by refusing to stamp our passports. Our 2nd attempt was successful, incognito (we switched rain jackets and went singular) and a crisp $1 bill discreetly tucked in our passports, we were greeted with a smile from the official and each were punched with a fresh ink stamp. After a change of mini-bus and visas sorted, we were over the border and on our way to Kratie, where we were told we would need to change bus once again. This turned into a total mess as the bus company had overbooked, some American guys were having none of it and started a full blown argument with the bus driver. Eventually one generous guy gave up his seat and the Americans called it a truse. We got moving, roughly 30 of us squashed into a 25 seater bus bracing ourselves for another painstaking, limb numbing, back breaking 10 hours before we got to Phnom Penh. I don't think there's much rules or regulations in Cambodia for how many continuous hours one can drive, as towards the end of the trip the bus driver appeared to be fast asleep and swerving off the road. Several strikes to the shoulder by the front passenger seemed to do the trick and we were soon back on the road again!

It was about 1 in the morning before we got to the capital and were greeted by the usual toots I had by now become well accustomed to. "Hey Lady!", "Tuk-Tuk Lady?" or "Cheap hotel Lady?" are phrases you just cannot escape from in this part of the World! We eventually gave in to the toots and stayed 2 nights in a cheap hotel in the Boeng Kak area with a great view of the lake. Our 1 day sight seeing in Phnom Penh consisted mostly of familiarizing ourselves with the dark history of the Khmer Rouge. In Tuol Sleng Museum, once a school then turned into a Security Prison by Pol Pot's regime, you have rooms where only a rusty bed stands and hovering over it a disturbing picture of the torture carried out on a prisoner. You also have mug shots of the many prisoners and the security forces (men, women and more disturbing, young children). I read some testaments on why the people took part in the Khmer Rouge regime, lack of food and shelter were the main reasons. It was then onto the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek where most of the prisoners were executed. It can only be described as a mass grave! On the grounds there's a tall Stupa with glass windows served as a memorial. Through the glass you can see about 9,000 human skulls piled which were excavated from the graves.

To be honest I was not a big fan of Phnom Penh, I felt bad vibes! I have no doubt I picked up on it's dark history with the Khmer Rouge, I could not wait to leave the place. There were some good points to the city though, it's Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda are beautiful and the Khmer cuisine is pretty good. After our grim sightseeing we watched The Killing Fields movie in our Hotel and ended our evening by sharing a Happy pizza (An ingredient used in a lot of the Khmer cooking and all too often found on menus in Phnom Penh restaurants!).

The town of Siem Reap was up next! Housing The Eight Wonder of the World, seeing The Temples of Angkor was my main reason for coming to Cambodia. This is also the place where I saw the toots at their best! As our bus pulled into the local bus station, the tuk-tuk drivers and hotel reps woke from their midday nap and stormed towards the bus. If you've seen the movie I am Legend, I felt like Will Smith's character when he was trapped in his basement with nothing but glass between himself and the zombies! After wiping out 10 toots whilst swinging my backpack onto my back, we followed one guy who promised us "Cheap hotel"! From there we rented a tuk-tuk driver and a guide and spent two and half days exploring the vast area with it's countless temples. One stunning temple had to be Ta Phrom, with huge tree roots strangling it's structure. For the movie lovers, this temple was filmed in one of the Tomb Raider movies. The highlights had to be experiencing sunrise over Angkor Wat itself and seeing the temple of Bayon, a structure with 216 faces of Avalokiteshvara, a representation of compassion in Buddhism. We also caught a performance of traditional Cambodian dance while we were in Siem Reap, a beautiful mesmerizing and seductive show. It was at Siem Reap where I bid farewell to my Italian companions and made my way to Battambang.

On the bus I found myself another great traveling companion, Jenn from The States! In Battambang we both took a course together at the Smokin' Pot. Aha not what you think my friends...it was a Thai and Khmer cooking class! Before sweating over a stove, we were brought to the local market where we had to buy our ingredients. Our tutor gave us some explanations on all the strange produce for sell. We also had the pleasure of seeing our fish being killed by several sharp blows to the head with the back of a knife and got to taste some fresh ants...yups Cambodia is not for the squeamish! I forgot to mention that while I was in Bangkok I tasted some fried crickets, they tasted like crisps to be honest...they were good! Jenn and I were then off to Sihanoukville to hit the beach and do some trekking in Ream National Park. Our day trekking was a washout as it rained the whole time but we did meet 2 more great traveling companions, Irish Paul and Dutch Amit. We pretty much chilled for a few days on the beach, eating BBQ fresh fish, drinking cocktails and being constantly bothered by locals selling bracelets, manicures, threading (a strange form of ridding leg hair with common sewing thread.) or massages. This place done nothing for your self esteem, their selling technique was quite direct by telling you that your nail polish was last season, you looked stressed or your legs needed a good seeing to. Nonetheless I did love the place for it's tiny little huts come restos/bars along the beach and it's stream of cheesy music. It was onto Kampot with Jenn from there to visit some Pepper plantations, the bat infested caves of Phnom Chhnork and also a reservoir built by the Khmer Rouge. Both of us done the whole tour on the back of one motorcycle with a guide who looked like he was part of Khmer Rouge regime. I think we got a little sunstroke after the tour as we were both glowing and drunk after 1 Angkor beer!

Sadly Jenn and I took different paths from there (We'd planned to meet up in Vietnam again), she moved on to Phnom Penh (there was no way I was going back there!) and I to the small town of Kep to get a boat to the desert Rabbit Island. This place is another paradise! Fantastic beaches with only 1 or 2 huts selling food and drink and hammocks dotted along the shore, my day was spent swinging and reading in the shade. From there I decided I had enough of Cambodia and it was time to move on again....Vietnam here I come!! It was like a motorcycle relay getting from Kep across into Vietnam. First it was a motocycle to just inside the border, there I transferred to another motorcycle to get across to Ha Tien. Once across I was put on my third motorcycle which brought me to a small dirt town called Ba Hon where I jumped onto a local bus to Hoi Chi Man City...I felt like I'd just been smuggled across the border!

TO BE CONT...

Some pix @ CHARMING CAMBODIA

South East Asia (Part 2)

Laos (Land of a Million Elephants)
17/06/2008 - 30/06/2008

I was on my way to South East Asia's most laid back and relaxing country to travel in. Befriending a great group of backpackers (Irish, Canadian, American & English) on the bumpy ride to the border and during a very quick overnight stay in Chiang Khong, we all got our passports stamped and visas sorted and then crossed the border into the Laos town of Huay Xai. The Slowboat bound for Luang Prabang awaited us, but not before a visit to the local shop to stock up on provisions for the bum breaking 2 day trip.

We were the last to board the long 'seen better days' wooden boat. With no seats to our avail, we made ourselves comfortable at the rear using the piled luggage as a lounge area. The deafening engine noise was filtered out by the iPod (speakers brought by a fellow Genius traveler) and of course by the consumption of provisions ;-) Going to the bathroom was a challenge to say the least. As the boat was chockablock, the only way to get to the charming hole-in-the-floor-restroom located in the centre of the boat was to do a Spiderman impression. The trick was to cling to the side of the boat as much as possible and pull yourself along the narrow edge..after a jug or 2 full of BeerLao, one's balance is a little off..from personal experience I wouldn't recommend mixing both alcohol and doing an extreme sport!

At the end of the 1st day we reached our overnight stop at Pak Beng. This place was a tiny little village with just a few guesthouses catering for the daring Slowboat passenger and with electricity for about 4 hours per day. We had dinner overlooking the Mekong river and as soon as the clock hit 11pm the power went out and we were left to drink our BeerLao in the dark. It was incredible how the dark night came alive, the moon peeking through the clouds, the croaking of frogs (at least we hope they were!) and the bombardment of insects (creatures I have never seen before!) whilst Ghost stories were exchanged around the table...I don't think many of us slept that night! The trip the following day consisted of much the same, consuming of provisions and several heroic visits to the bathroom. At 6pm we finally made it safe and sound to Luang Prabang.

Another favorite of mine so far has to be the UNESCO protected World Heritage town of Luang Prabang. A charming place with French influence, where one can stroll along tiny old streets and admire the French Mansions and buy local items from the Handicraft night market. The little town is also dotted with many beautiful Wats, my favorite being Phu Si. It took a little effort to climb to but the views of the town and it's surroundings were well worth it. I done a day biking in the countryside around Luang Prabang and visited a local hand weaving silk factory and went to the multi-tiered waterfall of Tat Kuang Si with it's many shades of turquoise pools.

From Luang Prabang I made my way to Phonsavan by local bus where I met a great German couple (Eva & Martin from Berlin). My reason for visiting this place was to see The Plain of Jars. I was not expecting to step into the twilight zone and feel like I was living in a kind of warzone! Every restaurant and hotel in the place were decorated with war scraps, be it shells, bullets, grenades, mines, tanks, guns or missiles..you name it, they had it! My hotel was even located at the edge of an old airfield. I came to know that this province has the most UXO's (Unexploded Ordinance), gifts left during the secret war. About 30% of the whopping 260 million ordinance dropped between 1964 and 1973 failed to explode and still scarily threaten to detonate, maiming and killing many of the local people. MAG (The Mine Advisory Board) still work hard to clear the land to make it safe for locals to cultivate and live off it.

Thankfully MAG had already cleared the area of The Plain of Jars and walk paths were well marked out. It was incredible to see thousands of huge jars scattered around the countryside. Their true origin and purpose are unknown, some say they were used as ash urns and others say they were used in the brewing process of the local rice whiskey called Lao-Lao..I prefer to go with the brewing story myself! Not only is Lao-Lao lethal but I also tried the Snake and Gecko drink. How can I describe it..it's a drink with a terrible sting to it!!! A delicacy with snake, gecko and scorpion stewed in the alcohol..I was grateful for the BeerLoa at hand to wash the nasty taste away...definitely not for the faint-hearted.

By local night bus it was onto the capital of Vientiane. I did get a bit of a fright as I woke up on arrival to only see a local disembarking holding a machine gun! It was a quick 1 night stop with a stroll around the Wats and to see it's Arc de Triomphe, Patuxai. The victory monument and it's surroundings which commemorates the Lao people who died in pre-revolutionary wars, make you feel like you're on The Champs Elysee in Paris. That evening Martin, Eva and I enjoyed a few BeerLao's on the riverbank and the cocktail Happy Hours in the centre of town. Yet another local night bus (onboard karaoke inclusive) took me south to Savannakhet where I enjoyed sitting by the riverbank and visiting the Dinosaur Museum. A strange place to have such a museum I thought but apparently the Savannakhet province has 5 dinosaur and archeological sites. Then it was on to Pakse and from there to the once capital of Lao, Champasak. On my way I met another great couple from Italy, Eleanora and Marco. We hired bikes and cycled to Wat Champasak for the day. The Wat, once Hindu and was later converted into a Buddhist temple. It was a great taste of what was yet to come in my travels, the mother of all temples...Angkor Wat.

From Champasak, together we made our way to Si Phon Don (Four Thousand Islands) in the hope of catching a glimpse of the rare Irrawaddy dolphins. After many debates with the locals and fellow travelers about it being low season and whether we would get to see one or not, we decided to take our chances nonetheless. While we stayed on the main island Don Khong (where we always had to wake the locals to get any service!), we rented a boat for the day to take us south to Don Khon to do some dolphin spotting. It was incredible how many different colours of butterflies we saw hovering over the Mekong, it felt like we were in a fairytale. And the amount of kids on the banks waving to the tourists, I read somewhere that nearly 50% of the Lao population is under the age of 15. On Don Khon island, we cycled around and then jumped into a small (and may I add leaking!) boat to take us further south and across the water to the Cambodian border. Luck was with us that day, we were only 5 seconds in the area when our captain pointed and shouted 'DOLPHIN!' and there they were popping up for air...it made our day! That night was a bit of a late one with the local BeerLao, while we watched the Euro 2008 final with some French and Spanish. With miraculously clear heads early next morning, we were mini-bus bound to a new country, The Kingdom of Cambodia, home of Angkor Wat.

TO BE CONT...

Some pix @ LOVELY LAOS PICTURES

South East Asia (Part I)

Thailand (The Land of Smiles) 05/06/2551 - 16/06/2551

Next up was South East Asia, first stop Bangkok, Thailand! It was great to be back in a city with a western feel after a long crazy month in India.
In The Land of Smiles, the moment I landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport I felt the warmth and positive energy of the Thai people. Wherever I went I was welcomed with a heart warming smile, whenever I needed help with directions people were more than happy to stop and assist.

During the few days of acclimatization in Bangkok and finally realizing I hadn't time traveled 540 odd years into the future but that Thailand lived by the Buddhist calendar, I set myself another challenge! That being to explore 4 countries (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam) within the 7 weeks I had roughly planned for SEA, this continent was new and unknown territory to me and I wanted to squeeze as much as possible in. Once I'd seen The City of Angels countless extra-ordinary Buddhist temples, it's fast skytrain, mammoth shopping malls, curiously good looking women/men (still very confused about that one!) and not forgetting the notorious backpacker area of Khao San Rd, I packed my freshly washed clothes and headed north, to Chiang Mai.

I had no idea how I was going to accomplish my given challenge but with the Thai positivity rubbing off on me, I was pretty sure it could be done.
I tasted the real Thailand once I arrived in Chiang Mai. In the old city surrounded by a medieval moat, I spent hours getting lost in the many markets and the night Bizaar, tasting different types of Thai food (BTW, their pineapples are to die for!!) and getting off on the friendly and hospitable atmosphere. OK I'll be honest, I did spent some time in the UN Irish Pub as the weather was a little rainy at times ;-)
I visited a native Karen village, a Hmong village and sat and spoke with the natives and watched them weave scarfs. I also done some Elephant riding (nearly feel off several times) and bamboo rafting..now this was an experience! Some of you may or may not know that I am not the World's strongest swimmer and won't be winning any Olympic medals in this lifetime! I nearly cr@pped myself when I first caught glimpse of the semi-floating vessel and it's incredibly hyperactive captain! Expecting to die a very wet and suffocating death, the whole experience was a total blast! Our captain/rower who was just plain crazy, kept looking for trouble with passing rafts by splashing and crashing into them whilst heading down stream on mildly strong rapids. I survived the whole thing but not without been drenched to the core.

I was then on the Hippie trail, to the Hippie town of Pai...what a buzz man ;-) This place had to be my favorite in Thailand. Surrounded by mountains and a haven for trekking, I was hypnotized by the laid back make love not war atmosphere and the countless little bars selling cheap beer ;-) My accommodation however had to be the most "challenging" yet! My bed for the night was in riverside hut on stilts (2 euro/night) made entirely of bamboo and leaves. I had to drink that extra bottle of Chang Beer to drown the thought of being rudely woken by a late visit from a reptile of the long and slithery kind. I done well to do a day's trekking along rice fields and waterfalls with a guide who was just the grooviest, by preparing our lunch in the jungle and serving it to us on plates freshly made out of Banana leaves. I also treated myself to my first Thai massage, a totally far out experience, Dudes they really do stand on you!! :-)

A friend and keen traveler had given me a hint about getting into Laos from the North of Thailand the hard way...yups am a glutton for punishment. I headed further north by minibus through the windiest, steepest and bumpiest roads yet to the small town of Chiang Khong were I was to cross the Thai/Laos border and board the Slowboat which would take me to Luang Prabang via the Mekong River...TO BE CONT...

Some pix @ A TASTE OF THAILAND