on-twowheels

2009-03-19T13:55:00.001+01:00

After just over a year and bit over 40,000km we got back home September 2007- back to the desk job and grateful to all the people that supported and kept in touch and the generous and friendly people along the way.
And we owe a lot to the bike that managed to do the distance, most of it on poor quality fuel, without any servicing apart from the oil and filter changes. If you are wondering, we did have total of 3 punchers.

2008-07-30T20:20:00.001+02:00

Rode 2,500km from Sevilla to The Hague in Holland before taking the ferry from H. van Holland to Harwich, England.

2008-07-30T20:17:00.001+02:00

Spent nearly four weeks in beautiful ancient city of Sevilla waiting for the bike to arrive. Things get very hot in the summer months in Sevilla.

2008-07-30T20:07:00.002+02:00

After a 5weeks in Sri Lanka it was time to leave Asia and head back to Europe. The bike had already arrived in Barcelona. The bike was meant to be delivered to Sevilla but likelihood of that happening not good, after a lengthy delay and endless excuses by the Spanish shipping agent we decided to go to Barcelona to collect the bike ourselves. The bike had arrived in one piece and needed a rear tyre replacement quite badly before riding down to Sevilla.

2007-09-04T01:22:00.000+02:00

Galle, fourth largest city/town (pop 91,000), 119 km south of Colombo was our next destination before arriving back in Colombo. Located on the south western end of the island, Galle has been an important ancient seaport of Tarshish, from which King Solomon drew ivory, peacocks and other valuables. Certainly, cinnamon was exported from Sri Lanka as early as 1400 BC and the root of the word itself is Hebrew, so Galle may have been the main entrepot of the island for the spice.
Images 1-3 External parameter walls of the portSince then, Persians, Arabs, Greeks, Romans, Malays and Indians were doing business through Galle port. The "modern" history of Galle starts in 1505, when the first Portuguese ship, under Lourenço de Almeida was driven there by a storm. However, the people of the city refused to let the Portuguese enter it, so the Portuguese took it by force.

Images 4-14 fort interiorIn 1640, the Portuguese had to surrender to the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch built the present Fort in the year 1663. The fortified wall were built using solid granite from the hinterland and corals form the shore. The quality of the original construction is reflected in its excellent current state. After the construction of the fort, Galle was the main port of Sri lanka for the next 200 years and was an important stop for ships sailing between Europe and East Asia. When British forced Dutch out of SL in the 1796, the commercial interest was turning to Colombo but they preserved the Fort unchanged, and used it as the administrative centre of Galle. Today the fort has been recognised as a World Heritage Site and has survived the 2004 tsunami.The interior of the fort remains a working community, with administrative offices, courts, shops and populated with regular folk. However the its attractions as a one of the best tourist spots in the island means (excellent) boutiques, hotels and and some of the vintage property being bought by foreigners.
Images 15-19 local traders The New town surrounding the fort is quite modern and large part of of which back on to the fort wall was either damaged or destroyed by the Tsunami but most of the town is now back to pre tsunami levels and its bustling with traders and traffic.

2007-09-04T01:20:00.001+02:00

After arriving in Hambanthota, We were now following the coastal route down to Galle. These southern were hard hit but the 2004 Tsunami and the effects of hat is still all around.

South Coast

2007-09-04T01:16:00.000+02:00

Heading down to the South coast of SL through the hill country with a breathtaking view of the south of the island. The towns such Haputale that we drove through are makes a good base for visiting tea plantations and walking in the cool mountain air. The train tracks and the roads follow some of the most winding paths in this part of the country. The traffic is thing, we just wish we could have spent more time here on the Colombo-Kandy-Badulla route stop at Haputale - it's about 2hrs from Nanu Oya (Nuwara Eliya).

2007-09-04T01:15:00.000+02:00

Nuwara Eliya (3 hrs south of Kandy)Sri Lanka's highest town (nearly 2000m) was once the favourite hill station of the British and still retains some distinctive colonial features. We were quite looking forward to getting there but it was quite wet when we got there and it was cold at night. And the place felt so similar to being in the UK. misty morning, dairy cows, vegetable gardens but the exception was the tea plantations. So our time was limited to just one night and we headed south.

2007-09-04T01:11:00.000+02:00

Kandy, the last royal capital of Sri Lanka is our next destination. ( 115kM from Colombo at 465 meters above sea level). The city established in the 15th century was the last royal capital where 2500 years of royal rule ended, Kandy was the capital of a Sinhalese kingdom from 1592 to 1815,. And as the second largest city in SL, has retained it historical importance, as Colombo is considered by most as a colonial capital city.The geographical, cultural and religious heart of Sri Lanka and the last stronghold of the Sinhalese kings, falling to the British in 1815. The main attraction of the city and also the most sacred Buddhist establishment in Sri Lanka is where one of Buddha's tooth is being kept, Dalada Maligava (the Temple of the Tooth), Built in the 16th century but improvements and additions have been done to this structure until the fall of the Kandy kingdom. A golden canopy was added recently. Daily rituals are being carried out at various offering times to the shrine. This is certainly the most touristic site/city that we so far have been to and the whole atmosphere was quite nice, the hills the lake and the temples. on the down side the traffic was quite bad.

2007-09-04T01:01:00.000+02:00

Since our encounter with the first pair of tortoises in Turkey, this the second time we come across a tortoise while being on the road. This is a very rare site in Sri Lanka and only a few managing to survive cohesively with the expanding population, farming and pesticide and not to mentioned the road users.

2007-09-03T18:14:00.000+02:00

Trincomalee situated on the East coast will be the furthest east or north we will travel in this occasion in Sri Lanka. With a huge harbour, described by the British Admiral, Lord Nelson as being “the finest natural harbour in the world”, the town and the large neval bases have seen some action the last two to three decades as they have been targeted by the LTTE terrorist. And not to mention the 2004 Tsunami.
But today there is very little going for the town. Getting here from Anuradhapura means going through number of time consuming check points but the police manning the post have been friendly and helpful.
And once you get here, there is little or no accommodation as there is virtually no tourist, local or foreign. But the some of the countries best beaches are found in the east coast, to the north and south of Trincomalee

The town centre is a hot and dusty ramshackle but lively. Here the ethnic mix of Singhalese Tamil And the Muslim is more or less even but not always harmonious but adds to the charm
The region is dotted with hot water springs that used to be popular with the locals but they are deserted these days (below). But we thought that we would drop by the most well known hot water springs and healing baths at Kanniya , again no one here except the army personal maning the nearest check points.

As we head back south towards thrill country, we came across some wild elephants grazing just of the main road.

Trincomali

2007-09-03T18:12:00.000+02:00

Dambulla, Just off the main road to Anuradhapura from Colombo is a sacred pilgrimage site for 22 centuries, this cave monastery, with its five sanctuaries, is the largest, best-preserved cave-temple complex in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist mural paintings (covering an area of 2,100 sq. m) are of particular importance, as are the 157 statues. The white façade (image 1) that was a later addition to protect the caves, was one of the most elegant we have seen.Cave interiors with frescos and statues (image 2 &3).

2007-09-03T18:10:00.000+02:00

Medirigiriya, a quite an isolated site just north f Polonnaruwa, said to be constructed during the king Kanittha Tissa (192-194) of the Anuradhapura Era. Later many kings have contributed to this complex and finally after the invasion of south Indian invations this site too was abandoned when the Sinhalese migrated to the southern parts.
This site was later discovered in 1897 in the middle of a thick jungle by Mr H.C.P Bell and initially the restoration work was done by mainly Muslim labourers as the Buddhist labourers did not want to work at a Buddhist temple for money. This they felt was a sin. This restoration work was finally completed in 1945 and was open to the public giving a glimpse of what this temple would have looked over 1000 years ago.
This Vatadage at Medirigiriya is built on a small rock. The entrance to this is on the northern side. At the bottom of the staircase is a massive stone frame. This is 9’9” feet tall and 4’9” feet in breath. After climbing 27 stone steps you come to a resting area. Thereafter there are 4 more steps to reach the Stupa house. Around the Stupa house is a stone wall which is about one meter in height. On the four sides are four beautifully carved Buddha statues in the seating position. In the centre there has been the Stupa which is in ruins today.
The roof of the Stupa house has been built on three concentric circles of stone pillars most of which still can be seen in the original state. The inner most circle of 16 pillars are 17 feet in height and the other two circles are 16 and 9 feet in height and 20 and 32 in numbers respectively.
There are two other images houses further away from the Vatadage. These are built together and each is 20x20 feet in size. Inside there are five images of Buddha, three standing (image 4) and two seated

2007-08-29T20:06:00.000+02:00

Polonnaruwa which served as the capital for three centuries is the next great ancient sites of Sri Lanka after Anuradhpura. Although the sites are more than 1000 years old,are generally in better repair than the sites that of Anuradhpura. The Singhalese kings moved the capital from Anuradhpura to Polonnaruwa as it was more defendable against the invading South Indains but Polonnaruwa also fell to the invading South Indian Chola dynasty in the 10th century. But the invaders were driven out of the islan in 1070 by Sinhalese king Vijayabahu –I and kept Polonnaruwaas the capital. But it was under king Parakramababu (r 1153-86) that Polonnaruwa reached its zenith. It was a period when master plans were drawn, huge buildings were erected and large scale irrigation was achieved with the construction of a massive 2500-hectare tank. But the long term survival of Polonnaruwa as a capital proved difficult as it was susceptible to south Indian invasions.

2007-08-29T19:32:00.000+02:00

Sigiriya is a large rock formation (image 1) that is not just an impressive geological formation but also one of Sri Lanka’s archaeological legacies. It is traditionally been the belief that Sigiriya was a fortress constructed under the reign of King Kassapa (Ad477-495)But the latest theories points towards the site as a long standing Buddhist monastery built several centuries prior to the time of king Kassapa.

After the 14th century the monastery was abandoned and was discovered by British explorer Bell in 1898.
Whatever the original purpose may have been, the ruins indicates a sophisticated site with master-planing, architecture, hydraulic engineering, gardening and art.

The gardens to the west of the rock consist of water garden (image 3) that extends all the way to main entrance at the moat (image 2). And the steep land immediately below the rock is sculptured in to a rock gardens (images 4 & 5) and the landscape in between rock and water garden is the terrace gardens (image 6).
Half war up the rock you come across the frescos of the buxom,wasp-waisted women. This the most famous of all the Sigiriya features believed to represent aspects of Tara Devi, one of the most important figures in Tantric Buddhism. Although there may have been up to 500 such portraits at one time, only 22 remains today. (images 7 & 8) And said to date back to the 5th century.
The 3m high mirror wall on half way to the top of the rock is a highly polished wall that has been used by visitors for the past 1000 years of their impressions, mainly of the frescos (image 11).

The Lions Paws that is what remains of a sculpture of a giant lion that was the entrance to the final ascent to the top of the rock (image 12)The summit today consist mainly of the remains of foundations (image 13) that had covered most of the 1.6 hectare summit.

And the large pool 27m by 21m may have been used solely as a water storage (image 14). The view from the summit also provide us scale of the impressive planing that once was (image 15).

2007-08-29T18:57:00.000+02:00

Yapahuwa was the capital of the island from 1277 to 1284 and was a more defendable location from the invading South Indians as it was 100m above the surrounding plains but fell to the invaders in 1284. Altough not a lot survives and some of the finer pieces have been moved to museum in Colombo, the quality of stone carvings are some of the most beautiful we have seen and it is a pleasant view from the top.

2007-08-29T18:49:00.000+02:00

Mihintale is just 13km east of Anuradhapura and is of enormous importance to the majority Sinhalese (70%) of the population as this said to be where Buddhism was introduced to the island in 247BC when King Devanampia Tissa met Mahinda, son of Indian Buddhist emperor Ashoka when deer hunting.

The site is dotted with ancient ruins of monasteries and it is a quite a climb to the top where all the temples are located.

Once on the high ground, there is a good view of the distance Dagobas and the water tanks of Anuradhapura.

2007-08-29T17:47:00.000+02:00

In the north central province lies the original heart of Sri Lanka’s civilisation. It was called the Land of The Kings. For 1500 years, starting around 250BC, dynasties, wars, invasions and religious missions to Asia as well as ambitious irrigation systems supported two great cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. But today these sites fall more into the categories of town than cities with populations of 56,000 and 106,000 respectively.
Our first destination Anuradhapura first became a capital in 380BC but it was under the reign of Devanampiya Tissa (247-207BC) that it first rose to great importance and Buddhism said to have arrived in the island in 247BC. For over 1000 years of its reign, Anuradhpura has seen number of South Indian invasions and region in general is dry and hot and even today depends heavily on seasonal monsoon rain for its agriculture.

Even with large number of tanks (image 1) constructed by its rulers in the ancient times (oldest constructed around 4th century BC), it is hard to imagine the survival of north central region as being the home to the capital of Sri Lanka, even though it did so for 1500 years. Today the region is the least densely populated region in the country and agriculture remains the main income.
Since the arrival of Buddisum in the island, successive rulers in Auradhapura period has devoted vast amount of energy and funds to course.

Whole of Anuradhapura’s ancient city is basically a monasterial site with temples, vast residential quarters (images 2-7), pools solely dedicated to the monks that resided in the city (images of twin ponds, 8 &9 Twin ponds, just two of large number of ponds that are found in the ancient city and these by far the best preserved). Over the last century a lot has been done to recover the ancient glory with the help of UNESCO but vast areas remain to be recovered.

The moonstone at the entrance to the King Mahasena’s palace, very popular with the locals. Mahasena (AD 276-303) is said to be the last great kings on Anuradhapura and credited with creating 16 tanks and a canal during his reign. (image 11).

Anuradhapura is one of the most important points of local pilgrimage and locals start arriving hear from the very young ages.

Time to get some breakfast on the way to Dambulla on the way south from Anuradhapura

2007-08-29T17:42:00.000+02:00

Arrived in Colombo Sri Lanka (SL) from S’pore on the 16th of July. Our final destination before heading to Europe. And without the bike. This would have been the final destination on the bike according to our initial plans (that kept on changing on constantly) and we really missed not having the bike here and come to realise how much difference having the bike had made during the last 10 months of travel. But bringing the bike to SL would have meant quite a bit of hassle and expense but not impossible as the Canet the Passage (the bike’s little Passport is recognised in SL). As well a quite a bit of time spent on (un)packing and (re)shipping. So instead we borrowed a car from my sister, an automatic!
We were to spent few days Colombo before heading to the North and Central regions. Colombo has served as a port town as far back as the 5th century in the islands trade with the Arab traders from the Middle East and then with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505 and the Dutch in the mid 17th century for the spice trade.

But it was under the British rule that the town became a city and was proclaimed the capital of Ceylon. Colombo is the political, economic and cultural centre of SL and home to its three main ethnic groups; Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims in more or less equal proportion.
Atmosphere in Colombo is quite chaotic similar to cities in Java Indonesia, quite a bit of horning and manic driving but nothing like brain dead’s of India! Colombo is one of the places that we have visited with least tourist, and there is little or no hassle from the local and little or no stares, certainly no screaming voices of Mister! Mister! Tuk Tuk!

2007-07-26T17:00:00.000+02:00

Singapore, high Rise, high Price, Very clean and plesent place to spend two days

little india was a very crowded place

Singapore or Singhpura (Lion City)

So having finally got out of Surabaya, Indonesia, we arrived in Singapore in transit to Sri Lanka. Well we spent only two nights in S’pore but was one of the most pleasant places we have visited in this trip in this trip. Probably because we just spent only two day, might as well as the prices here are equal to that of Europe! But on the positive side the place is clean, no diesel fumes or rubbish and quiet. The whole of south east Asia seems to be going through loud exhaust modification crisis. Everything from the moped to the diesel truck is fitted with a noisy exhausts but not in S’pore.

It seems the penalty for pollution, what ever the form is heavy. But I reckon the authorities should at least allow it on bikes as is the only country in the region with large number of big bikes. Below are some of the sights that we got to enjoy in S’pore while we were there.

There is certainly a lot of colour in Singapore

And there is no pushing and shoving while getting into the trains

2007-07-13T07:59:00.000+02:00

Nearly 8weeks spent and total of 6450km travelled in Indonesia.

Huge place, over 17,000 islands and only 7,000 is inhabited.

2007-07-13T07:58:00.002+02:00

Although Bali has plenty of shipping agents who "Can Do Anything" finding a reliable one was areal challenge. The one we had relied on till the last day decided to raise the shipping cost from $1100 to $1550 on the morning of the shipping.

This does not include any insurance!But fortunately we had met Mr Falah (by far the most reliable and helpful shipping agent we found in whole of Indonesia) form AirTiger Shipping in Jakarta while we were there and had initially advised us do all the custom clearance ourselves to avoid the money grabbing and baksheesh by the middleman and he would organise the container space.

So we gave up trying to ship the bike from Bali and rushed to international port of Surabaya in east Java to get the bike shipped with in the next week as our visa was running out.Surabaya has absolutely nothing to offer in terms of attractions but most of the week was spent sorting out the paper work and explaining packers and haulagers how to do their job.

And the rest of the time was spent running between custom offices to get the export permit. There is actually no need for any export documents as the bike is brought in to Indonesia under the "Carnet De Passage" which allows temporary import. The cost of shipping the bike to Spain was, with out the middle man was around $860, quite a bit less than the agents were offering. The bike will head to Spain from Surabaya (Java) via Singapore.

After all that effort we waited till the bike was in the container before making our way to the airport to to take the flight to Singapore

2007-07-13T07:58:00.001+02:00

On our way from Bali to Surabaya (to ship the bike) we came across this amazing scene in east Java. A hole village and the adjoining highway under a mud flood and it was vast covering square kilometers of area. Not sure how or when this has happened. But one thing for sure is that it is not going to be cleared.

2007-07-08T09:10:00.000+02:00

Bali is by far the most touristic site in Indonesia. The souvenir shops and shipping agents are dotted along the most roads and at times feels like you are in a open air - IKEA.(image 1)

The Traffic in Bali is nothing like java but does get busy at times and the horns get louder. (image 2)

Kite flying (3) is popular through out Indonesia and there is a huge variety (4)

2007-07-08T09:01:00.000+02:00

Tempel of Tanah Lot, South West coast of Bali (Image 1)

Typical Temples and their gardens (images 2, 3 & 4)

Temple at Gunung Agung (5, 6 & 7)

Bali is certainly the most colourful place we visited in Indonesia. The Temples are everywhere. Usually the residents would have there own temples, 3 in total and usually in a beautiful garden or a courtyard.Beside the pleasant atmosphere, Bali has see its fair share of actions. In the 1840's, as a defiance against Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 4,000 Balinese had marched to their death against the invaders. Mount Agung, the highest mountain in Bali, an active volcano, last erupted in March 1963. On October 12, 2002, a car bomb attack in the tourist resort of Kuta killed 202 people, largely foreign tourists and injured a further 209.

Temple at Bedugul (8)

2007-07-08T08:48:00.000+02:00

As our time is up and the piggy bank is nearly empty, Bali will sadly be the furthest (east) we will be travelling this time around.
We arrived in time for the Balinese new year, Gulungan, based on the Balinese pawukon calendrical system and takes place every 210 days. The streets are decorated with coconut palm leaves and the population is busy ferrying offerings back and forth from the temples.
Balinese was strongly influenced by Indian, and particularly Sanskrit, culture, Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 93% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia.The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. When the empire declined as a result of rise of Islam (spreading east ward from Sumatra), there was an exodus of intellectuals, artists, priests and musicians from Java to Bali in the 15th century.

2007-07-08T08:44:00.000+02:00

1 hour ferry crossing to Bali. Total distance so far 37,353km.

2007-07-08T08:40:00.000+02:00

Riding to Bali along the north east coat of Java, volcanos to the right (inland) and the coast to the right.

2007-07-08T08:39:00.000+02:00

The way down from Tengger massive and heading towards Bali. The rich volcanic soil cool temperatures are ideal for growing vegetables and little land is spared.
Indonesia is a Toyota Land Cruiser paradise and rules the Tengger mountains

2007-07-08T08:29:00.000+02:00

Next we headed further east to see some (more) volcanoes. Gunnun Bromo is an active volcano lying at the centre of the Tengger Massive. It it one of the most impressive sites we have seen in Indonesia. The massive Tengger crater starches 10 km across and contains 4 volcanoes active and dormant, the steaming Bromo (2329m) that last erupted in '72, Batok (2440m), Kursi 92581m) and the Semeru (3676m), the highest and the most active in Java.
Images from Penanjakan at 2770m and we had to wake up at 4:00am to get there before the sun rise.
Semeru in the distance blows a puff every 20min or so.
Walk to the Bromo crater.
Bromo, sulfer and steam

2007-07-08T08:25:00.000+02:00

Heading east to central Java, our next destination, probably the most anticipated destination in Indonesia is Borobudur for us. This is about 42km North West of Yogyakarta, the largest town (pop 660,000) closest to Borobudur.
Dating back to the early part of the 9th century, the colossal structure is a poignant epitaph to Java's Buddhist heyday and ranking with Angkor Wat as one of the SE Asia's great.
The site was abandoned as the Buddhism on Java declined and was rediscovered in the 1814. The entrance tickets at $10 p/p was the highest we have paid in Indonesia so far but well worth it.
some of 1500 narrative panels on the terraces illustrating Buddhist teachings and tales

Upper circular terraces where 72 latticed stupas containing buddha images are located.

There are some 432 Buddha images sit in chambers

Typical stone rain water outlet at lower terraces

2007-07-08T08:18:00.000+02:00

So we finally arrived in Jakarta after getting of the ferry from Sumatra. The contrast in the level of traffic in Sumatra and Java is enormous! Java with population of nearly 150m feels like a sardine can, being on the roads is like being in a diesel exhaust of a truck. Level of pollution scary! One does come across occasional brain-dead's behind the steering wheel (mainly the bus drivers) but it nothing like in India.
There are few toll highways that covers few stretches of Java and the fact that bikes are not allowed on these has given as plenty of opportunity to further soak in the top notch diesel fumes and dust as well as the brain-dead's.
Jakarta, population of 10 million (feels more like 20) is probably the largest city we have visited in this trip and most probably the least interesting. But this would be the best place to find out about ways and places to ship the bike back to Europe.

Images - (1) central station, (2 & 3) view of Jl. Merdeka Barat before the rush hour,

Images - (1) central station, (2 & 3) view of Jl. Merdeka Barat before the rush hour,
(5) Sunda Kelapa, the old Dutch port in North Jakarta home to some beautiful Buginese Makassar schooners, and most things, what ever the weight, is still carried by hand.
(6) Apart from from the Art Deco architecture, there is very little to remind us of the centuries of Dutch past.

2007-06-21T13:17:00.001+02:00

After 3 weeks and 3,500km in Sumatra, it is time for a ferry crossing (image 1) from Sumatra (image 2) to Java ( 3)

2007-06-21T13:16:00.001+02:00

Besides the potholes and the beautiful countryside, here are some of the scenes that we encountered along the way in Sumatra.
We came across this bride heading to the house of the groom early in the morning for their big day.

We usually came across all types of venders at fueling station. These seems to be skipping school for some reason. Fuel in Sumatra and in most of Indonesia is just terrible! You almost only get what is called Premium(4500 RP or $.50), which is around 85-87 octane, and that is if you are lucky! In Java you can find what is called Pertamax Plus, which should be 95 (6500-7000 Rp). But this is not widely available even in Java. And the wide variation in price between the two grades means plenty to be gained at mixing things at the pump! But the bike is still running with the aide of octane additives.

We met Fred, German biker on his way to Australia, in Penang, Malaysia and again in central Sumatra and rode together to Southern tip of Sumatra. And we always got a huge local reception where ever we went with the bikes. Always friendly but absolutely terrible at giving directions.

Rice fields cover great extent of Sumatran landscape.

Central Sumatra is mainly Catholic and churches come in all size an shape and nothing less than the best dress will do for the Sunday mass.

2007-06-21T13:09:00.000+02:00

Bukittinggi, pop 150,000. Very much a stop over point on our way to southern Sumatra. The main attractions are the local market, the Clock Tower and the Dutch Fort. But there was nothing attractive about the fort as it has changed shape and function over the years and now serves as the local zoo, where animals are confined to caged that are smaller than themselves and in school children run around screaming with dripping ice cream.
Bukittinggi at height of 930m is a cool (temp) resting place, at least till the 4:30am mosque prayer call gives you a ear full.

Images: The clock Tower, Local museum, View of the town over from the pedestrian bridge and the colorful local market

2007-06-12T18:36:00.000+02:00

Equator Crossing at the twon of Bonjol, Central Sumatra

2007-06-12T18:33:00.001+02:00

Next, down to South east Asia’s largest lake. Danau Toba or Lake Toba is 1707sq km and 450 deep at the deepest point. The lake is the result of caldera that was formed after a massive eruption 100,000 years ago. Yes this is the land of volcanoes. And in the middle of the lake there is island of Samosir or Pulau Samosir, which is the size of Singapore. A truly impressive site.

Viwe of the lake when arriving from the north west (image 1). Traditional Batak housing (2). Leaving Toba from south east, lake in the distance (4) and more potholes.

2007-06-12T18:10:00.000+02:00

Berastagi, a tiny but busy town in the Karo Highlands, South East of (whole days ride from) Takengon. The most of the population in Berastagi is catholic and we passed through chirches of all different sizes and shapes on our way. And the main attractions in the town are the two volcanoes, Gunung Sibayak – 2094m, smaller more easy to climb (images) and the larger Gunung Sinabung – 2450m.

Berastagi, with its mild climate and the fertile soil (from volcanic activities) is one of the best vegetable growing towns in Sumatra.

(Image 1) The crater in the distance and (image 4), way down through the jungle.

2007-06-12T17:46:00.000+02:00

Ridding through the central Sumatra highway that runs through the central mountains from Takengon to Bandaralampung, the southern tip of Sumatra was a real challenge. The roads run through some of the remotest areas, some beautiful scenery. But if there is only onething that we will remember it for, it we will for riding more than 2,000km, mostly through knee deep pot holes and mud pits. In the central Sumatra we would ride whole day just to cover 150km. It was mud pit after pot hole after mud pit!

images 1-3, fairly good sealed roads and beautiful scenery. Images 4-8, pot holes and mud pits and Image 9, crops such as rice and coffee sun-dried along the road

2007-06-12T17:36:00.001+02:00

Having spent four days in Pulau Weh, it was time to head to the central Sumatra. First stop over at the town of Takengon, up in the hills, away from the mid 30C of the coast but the water is freezing (no hot water showers here!).

Takengon, a friendly town at the end of a (polluted) lake. Local market is colorful and filled with local delicacies.

Buffolo ridding seems to be popular with the local kids, not sure how the buffolos feel about it though.

2007-06-12T17:23:00.000+02:00

We arrived in Banda Ache two days later, having ridden 680km from Medan. These days Banda Ache has become synonymous with the destructive wrath of nature since the 26 December 2004 earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 220,000 in the Banda Ache and the along the Ache coast.
At the moment the town of Ache is a construction site filled with earth-moving equipment and dumper trucks as well as NGO's.
Accomodation in the town would have serous damage to our piggy bank so we headed straight to the island of Weh or Pulau Weh as it is locally called. Image-1, leaving coast of Banda Ache in the distance

The ferry from main Banda Ache takes two hours to arrive in Pulau Weh. The island used to be more important than Singapore before the WWII, you could not imagine why and what ever was important then has now disappeared. But the place is very laid back and perfect place to take a rest and do some snorkeling. Oh the roads leading to the small resorts of Iboih and Gapang are bad!

2007-06-12T17:18:00.001+02:00

Medan, 50km south of port of Belawan was or our first destination in Sumatra. There was very little to interest us here but to stop for the night after the day spent at Belawan getting the bike. Medan is the capital of Sumatra and the commercial centre.

Next move is to head noert west towards the province of Ache.
The North Sumatra Highway runs more or less along the coast, Andaman Sea to the north and rice fields to the south (images). The quality of the road so far so god, sealed and only a few pot holes.
The scenery along the way, small motorbikes are the best means of transport. Ache is a conservative Muslim state, and there is separate school buses for the boys and girls. Since the 2004 Tsunami, things in Ache sre quiet but there had been a 30 year old civil war taking place up to then and we were advice not to travel at night.
And so far (having been in Malaysia and Thailand previously) finding decent accommodation has been difficult. There is very little or no international tourism in this part of Indonesia. So far accommodation at twice the rate of Malaysia and Thailand, has not included a toilet seat or a shower. but the food is good.

2007-06-12T16:45:00.001+02:00

We arrived at the port of Belawan, Sumatra, Indonesia, on the 22nd of May. Overtaking the onion boat carrying the bike on our way there on the much faster passenger ferry.Port of Belawan in the distance.
It took us 3 hours or so to complete the paperwork and deal with the local port authorities to clear the bike.

Bike being unloaded from the onion boat.

First experience of Indonesia: most things have a price tag on them, and if you're a foreigner you also suffer the added "tourist tax" on top!.

First destination after the port was Medan, (with little appeal) before heading north-east towards Aceh.

2007-06-06T17:22:00.000+02:00

After 5 weeks and 4010km, it was time to say good bye to Peninsular Malaysia. Excellent roads, some of the best food we have had in this trip, we will miss having Chennai Roti for breakfast! Friendly and helpful faces. Malaysians have a special talent in being able to give clear, precise and accurate directions. We were truly impressed, could not loose your way in Peninsular Malaysia! Top notch fuel, 100 octane petrol at 35p! Although as nothing is perfect and there are underling issues such as potential racial issues and the role of religion in the society, but we were truly impressed by how far Malaysia has come since the end of colonial rule.

2007-05-29T16:14:00.000+02:00

Saying good bye to Peninsular Malaysia (image 1), passing through the strip of water between Penang island and Peninsular Malaysia. Unfortunately it was impossible to take the bike with us in the passenger ferry.
We had packed and shipped the TDM in an onion boat from Penang on the previous evening after having spent whole day at the port to make sure the thing will be done properly and would get there in one piece. This is the most used method of shipping bikes by overland travelers shipping bikes to Indonesia from the port of Penang. The onion boat take 18 hours, leaving 12pm, to get to Belawan in Sumatra and the passenger ferry takes 5hours, leaving 9:45am next day and we were hoping to get Belawan before the bike arrive to make sure it will be unloaded safely.

2007-05-29T15:56:00.000+02:00

The town in the east coast of Malaysian Peninsular varies greatly form those of the south, Kuala Terengganu, Kota Bharu, Chertineg and Mersing, the towns we visited, are much more relaxed and laid back. The population is predominantly Malay with few Chinese and Indian in the town centers. And these towns receive foreign tourists compared to the west cast.
Mosques (religion) plays a greater role in the east cost, where as in the east coast you would need to look hard to find a mosque, the east coast is dotted with mosques. The 4am prayer call is something we could not get used to!
There was not limit to choice of food in the east coast and the beaches were popular with the locals but cleaning up the rubbish afterward was not. But the city centres (where the littering meant a 500 Ringgit fine) were very clean and tidy.

2007-05-29T15:47:00.000+02:00

We met up with Dave and Rose by chance as we were travelling in the opposite directions from Kuala Terenganu, (North Central Malaysia) to Penang.We met Dave and Rose who are doing a overland tour in the blue Land Rover in Kathmandu in January. They have joined up with a German couple and planning to head north to China in the coming months.

2007-05-17T15:34:00.000+02:00

Malaysia is the largest car market in the South East Asia and the market is dominated by the Local manufactures Proton (based on Mitsubishi) and Perodua (based on Daihatsu) and Malays are quite keen on making them loud and bright.

2007-05-17T15:27:00.000+02:00

Highlands and lakes of north central Malaysia

The tropical downpours comes and goes with out a warning

Best roads and highways since leaving Europe, through out the country. The typical landscape along the roads and highways is the palm oil palm plantation. Malaysia is the worlds largest producer of palm oil.

2007-05-17T15:24:00.000+02:00

Melaka, 145km south of KL is with out a doubt one of the most beauitful towns in Malaysia and has been home to Chinese Royalty, Portugese seafarers, Dutch traders and English colonist.

Malaka recived its first royal patrons in the 14th century when Parameswara, a Hindu prince from Sumatra, chose it as a favoured port for resuppling trading ships.
In 1405Admiral Cheng Ho arrived from China bearing gifts and the promise of protection from the Siamese enemies. This was followed by the arrival of Chinese settlers who inter married this the Malay and came to be known as the Baba Nonya. The Chinese quater of the Malaka city center with its streets full of beauitful mansions and shop-houses remain the most attractive section of city to this date (image 2 &3).

In 1511 the Portugese arrived in Melaka and ended the Muslim domination of the eastern trade route and the Protugese set up their bases in the Melaka hill over looking the straights. The St. Pauls Chirch (image 3&4) was built by the them in 1521. It has taken portugese over a month to divid and conquer Melaka. The sole surviving relic of the old Portugesefort , Porta de Santiago (image 5)
.The bright red coloured town square on the bottom of the hill houses the Stadthuys and the Christ Chirch are the most imposing relics of the Dutch period which lasted from 1641 to 1795. The Stadthuys which housed the town Hall and governer's residence said to be the oldest Dutch building in the East.
The English took over from the Dutch in 1795 and initially carried out a scorched policy to avoid Melaka falling to French hands and moved most of its population to Penang, the English strong hold. But English continued to rule Melaka and rest of Malaysia till independence in 1957.
Maly mosque that combines traditional Chinese, Indian and Malay architectural features.

Colourful (and expensive) rickshaws roaming the streets of Melaka

Melaka Sungai River harbour

2007-05-17T15:22:00.000+02:00

Food in Malaysia is just great, excellent choice if Indian (above), malay and Chinese. Channai Roti and mango Lassi for breakfast is something we got acustomed to very quickly.

2007-05-17T15:20:00.000+02:00

While we were in KL we nipped over to the Carey island, about 120km west of the KL center, this island is home to a tribe called Meh Meri, whose main income these days come from selling beautifully crafted traditional and spiritual masks and figures.

2007-05-17T15:17:00.000+02:00

We were joined by my mother while we were in KL. The Petrona towers on the back ground were the tallest towers in the world till Taipei 101 tower became the world tallest building couple of years ago. But the Petrona towers remain the worlds tallest twin towers and it is an impressive site.
View of KL from the telecom tower.

Merdeka Square, KL is certainly very green. Tree lined streets, roads and highways are the norm. And there are few well preserved colonial buildings around.
Overall KL, with a population of just under 2 million is one of the smallest capitals we have visited but one with wide diversity, the Chinese, Indian, Arabic quaters certainly add to the character. But it all lacks the latest flashy glitter of Bangkok, its thriving personality.

2007-04-27T18:18:00.000+02:00

After 3 days in Cameron Highlands it was time to head down south to Kuala Lumpur (KL). Kuala Lumpur has its origins in the 1850s, when the Malay Chief of Klang sent some Chinese upriver to what is now KL, to open new and larger tin mines and since then had become to be the federal capital of Malaysia. As we arive along one of many modern highways that crisis cross and encircle KL, we are presented with a skyline of a modern day cosmopolitan city ( small in international standards, pop only 1,8 million) that has left history of tin mining well behind (image 1).Malaysia prosperity has been helped by having the oil in its territorial waters off south China sea that produce some 750,000 barrels/day (Oil - exports: 230,200 bbl/day (2003)). But more importantly having leaders with vision to push the country forward with long term goals and no one has been more influential (in my opinion) than Dr. Mahathir who served as the president of Malaysia for 21 years from 1981. And over a short period of time Malaysia has transformed from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy, growth was almost exclusively driven by exports - particularly of electronics.

It was also time to meet up with few friendly local bike mads, Arie, Chang, Fino and Chong, (2 TDM and a VFR) who invited us for great dinner at the local Chinese. Unfortunately Arie (blue TDM) has had a little spill in Southern Thailand and is recovering to get back on the bike.The imported bikes are heavily taxed over here, 120% but there are few big bikes around in KL. But the majority of the bikes are the locally produced/assembled (sub 135cc) Honda, Yamaha & Modenas (Malaysian manufacture)

2007-04-27T18:16:00.000+02:00

It was time to head to Cameron Highlands, slightly, if not the only cool (temp) in whole of Malaysia (except the shopping malls). About 250km south east into the mainland from Penang.As we head south and inland we are surprised to see how green the whole landscape is. The highways and roads are of amazingly high standards, just as in western Europe.To reach Cameron Highlands we had to leave the main north-south highway and head east through winding country lanes through, what mostly looked like tropical rain forest.The Highlands were named after William Cameron, a British colonial government surveyor who discovered the plateau during a mapping expedition in 1885. The fame of Cameron Highlands then grew during the colonial era when British planters realised the potential of its fertile mountain slopes for growing tea, then a prized commodity. The Cameron Highlands are still home to many tea plantations (image ), being Malaysia's largest tea-producing region. The area is also known as a major supplier of legumes and vegetables to both Malaysia and Singapore with its many farms, and with its cool temperature through out the year, it is one of Malaysia's prime tourist destinations. Actually it felt very cold during the night while we were there.
(image 3)Narrow sealed track leading to the one of the highest points in Malaysia

2007-04-27T18:07:00.000+02:00

While in George Town, it was also time to meet up with Michelle who very kindly showed us around the town and visit the botanical garden with a relaxing waterfall that is popular with the locals as well as the monkeys. /

Durante nuestra estancia en Georgetime nos reunimos con Michelle, una amiga de una amiga en Londres, Leonie. Michelle nos dio una vuelta por la ciudad y nos llevo al jardin botanico, donde pudimos admirar la cascada, muy popular entre la poblacion local y entre la poblacion de monos del parque!!

2007-04-20T12:01:00.000+02:00

George Town being one of the earliest, most established urban centres in Malaya, Chinese influence has always been more evident in urban areas due to their superior numbers while the Malays, until recent times, have largely resided in the rural areas.The old commercial center of Penang and still the most attractive bit was and still is dominated by the Chinese population. The early Chinese immigrants arriving in George Town from southern regions of China, had over a short period of time formed economically powerful and influential clans by sticking together when settling in Penang. This is rerflected by elegant mentions and temples that were build by the clans in their own quarters and had brought the craftmen from native China. The following generations of the Nouveau-riche Chinese millionaires of the olden days built themselves stately mansions (images) and a great many of the shophouses and residences found in George Town were built in the style of Straits-Chinese architecture.

Georgetown es uno de los primeros y mejor establecidos asentamientos urbanos de Malasia. La influencia china en la isla es muy evidente, sobre todo en las zonas urbanas donde la proporcion de poblacion china sobrepasa la de origen malayo, la cual se ha restringido hasta hace poco a las zonas rurales.
El antiguo centro, la zona comercial de Penang, es la zona mas bonita de la ciudad, y aun en la actualidad esta dominada por la poblacion de origen chino.
Los primeros inmigrantes chinos llegaron a Georgetown desde varias regiones del sur de China. En principio establecieron asociaciones o clanes muy poderosos y con gran influencia en los asuntos de la ciudad. La existencias de dichos clanes es evidente aun hoy en dia, en las grandes y elegantes mansiones y templos (ver fotos) que adornan la ciudad, asi como en las tiendas/viviendas que llenan el centro de la ciudad, construidas en estilo Chino-Estrecho (estrecho se refiere a los estrechos entre Malasia e Indonesia).

2007-04-20T12:00:00.000+02:00

The View of the mainland and the causeway from the Penang Hill 800m above sea level and took an half and hour to get there with the cable car (image ) / Vistas del puente que conecta la isla con el resto de la peninsula desde Penang Hill, a 800metros sobre el nivel del mar. Tardamos algo asi como media hora en llegar a la cima a bordo del tren (movido con cables a traccion). (ver fotos).

Kek Lok Si (image below) at the foothill of Penang Hill is the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia. Known as the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas, it was largely built by artisans and worksmen from China in the 19th century. But we did not find it very impressive. / Templo de Kek Lok Si (foto inferior) al pie de la colina Penang Hill, es el mayor templo budista del sudeste asiatico. Conocido como el Templo de los Diez Mil Budas, fue construido en su mayor parte por artesamos y obreros traidos de China en el siglo 19. La verdad es que a nosotros no nos impresiono mucho.

2007-04-20T11:57:00.000+02:00

As we head to Penang, our first destination in Malaysia, it is quite easy to see the contrast between Thailand that we left behind, now we were riding along a highway similar that of Western Europe. And motorcycles are allowed on the highway! And not subject to toll. And there is and abundance of green all around. /

Al dirigirnos hacia Penang, nuestro primer destino en Malaysia, se pueden ver claramente las diferencias con la Tailandia que dejamos atras: ahora nos encontramos conduciendo por carreteras con caracteristicas similares a las de Europa occidental. Hemos tenido suerte, las motos no pagan en las autopistas de peaje, y, aunque parezca mentira, aqui permiten a los ciclomotores circular por autopista!!. Hay muchisima vegetacion, verde por todas partes.

The island of Penang, 180 km south of the border crossing is linked to the mainland via a causeway. The first sites of the Penang we come across are the distant green hills of the island’s center, surrounded by the tall high-rise office and residential buildings that fills the east coast.
Segun nos acercamos a Penang, a 180 km al sur de la frontera con Tailandia, hemos de cruzar un puente de mas de 6km para llegar a la isla.Lo primero que podemos apreciar son las verdes colinas al fondo, en el centro de la isla, rodeadas de torres de gran altura, oficinas, centros comerciales y bloques de vivienda se extienden hacia la costa este.

Penang, originally part of the Malay sultanate of Kedah, was given to the British East India Company in 1786 by the Sultan of Kedah, in exchange for military protection from Siamese and Burmese armies who were threatening Kedah. On 11 August 1786, Captain Francis Light, known as the founder of Penang, landed in Penang and renamed it Prince of Wales Island.In 1826, became under the British administration in India, moving to direct British colonial rule in 1867. And became a state of the Federation of Malaya. Panag was occupied by the Japanese during the WW2 and gained independence in 1957 form the British who returned to Malaysia at the end of the WW2. The population of Penang (highest population density in Malaysia with 2,031.74 people per square kilometre) comprise mainly of Chinese (42%) Malay (40%) and Ehnic Indian (10%)Today Penang remains a thriving commercial (and now industrial) centre with a relatively high standard of living thanks to large investments made in the 80's in setting up one of the largest electronics manufacturing bases in AsiaArchitecture in Penang is a combination of British coalescing with local, Chinese, Indian, Islamic and various other elements. (images ) /

Penang, originalmente parte del sultanato de Kedah, fue cedida a la Compania Britanica de las Indias Orientales en 1786 por el sultan de Kedah a cambio de proteccion militar frente a los ejercitos siameses y burmeses. El 11 de agosto de 1786 el Capitan Francis Light, conocido como el fundador de Penang, llego a Penang y cambio su nombre por el de Isla del Principe de Gales. En 1826 quedo bajo el mando de la administracion britanica de la India, pasando a estar bajo gobierno britanico colonial en 1867, formando parte de la Federacion de Malasia. Penang sufrio tambien la ocupacion japonesa durante la segunda guerra mundial, pasando de nuevo a ser una colonia britanica al final de la guerra y consiguiendo por fin su independencia del gobierno britanico en 1957. La poblacion de Penang (con la densidad mas alta de toda Malasia con 2.034 personas por kilometro cuadrado) esta compuesta por 3 grupos etnicos bien distintos: chinos (42%), malayos (40%) e indios (10%).En la actualidad Penang es aun un importante enclave comercial (e incluso industrial) con un alto nivel de vida gracias a las grandes inversiones de las que disfruto en los anos 80 y que sirvieron para establecer uno de los mayores fabricas de componentes electronicos de toda Asia. La arquitectura de Penang es una mezcla de arquitectura colonial britanica con fuertes influencias china, india e islamicas (ver fotos)

2007-04-20T10:54:00.000+02:00

After spending 7 weeks in total and riding 5,500km, it was time to say good bye to Thailand. Which has been one of the countries most hospitable so far , even with the large number of tourists the country receives. Some 11-12 million tourists visit Thailand annually contributing some 15% of the GDP!
Thai people have been quite friendly and helpful throughout the whole time and food has been very good. /

Despues de 7 semanas y un total de 5.500km recorridos, era ya hora de despedirse de Thailandia, el cual ha sido uno de los paises mas hospitalarios de los que hemos visitado, y eso a pesar de la gran cantidad de turistas que el pais recibe, aproximadamente entre 11-12 millones de turistas a lo largo del ano, que suponen un 15% del PBI !!!!! Los thailandeses han sido la mar de amables y siempre dispuestos a ayudar, y la comida por lo general ha sido bastante buena.

Border crossing at the Malaysian side. / Puesto fronterizo, desde el lado de Malasia

Roads have been very nice, drivers not too bad, not too crazy or impatient although according to Thai statistics Thailand claims to have the highest road fatalities per capita in the world which we find hard to believe, really. However there's large number of fourwheels (mainly pick-up trucks) and motorcycles on the roads. /
Las carreteras son estupendas, los conductores tampoco estan mal, no son ni impacientes ni conducen como locos (cosa que si ocurre en otros paises por los que hemos pasado) a pesar de que, segun las estadisticas, Thailandia tiene el mayor numero de muertes en carretera por habitante del mundo, algo que realmente nos cuesta creer. Lo que si que hay que resaltar es el elevado numero de camiones pick-up y motocicletas.

The scenery along the roads was very nice and varied, particularly in the mountainous north and around the island of Phuket and Krabi, with their stunning beaches and limestone formations. /
Los paisajes a lo largo de las carreteras por las que hemos pasado han sido preciosos, y muy variados, sobre todo en las zonas montanosas del norte del pais y, en el sur, en la isla de Phuket y Krabi, con playas bellisimas y acantilados rocosos impresionantes.

Petrol of good quality - 95 unleaded at approx. 26 Baht or 40p a litre. /La gasolina es de muy buena calidad, 95 octanos, sin plomo, aproximadamente 26 Baht (60centimos de euro) el litro.

Architecturally it wasn't the most thought-provoking or mind-boggling place we have visited, but very pleasant nevertheless. Most of the cities and towns felt new and with little or no history. However as an unintentional diversion from our original plans we are very pleased to have visited Thailand. /
Arquitectonicamente hablando no ha sido el pais con los lugares mas impresionantes o que nos han dado mas que pensar, pero esta bien, vaya. La mayoria de las ciudades y pueblos por los que hemos pasado nos han dado la sensacion de 'muy nuevo', con apenas historia. Sin embargo, y como parte del desvio de nuestra ruta original, la verdad es que estamos muy contentos de haber visitado Thailandia.

Total distance at the Thailand - Malaysia border 28,065km from London. / Distancia total recorrida desde Londres hasta la frontera Thailandia/Malasia, 28.065 km

2007-04-13T14:02:00.000+02:00

We arrived in Had-Yai for the local Yew Year celebrations on the 12 & 13th of April. And conveniently the locals celebrate it with splash, no one is spared! (no we were not spared either). Thais would drive around in the pic-ups and motor bikes whole day and night getting wet. Buckets of water is often poured from top storeys of the apartment flats to make life difficult for those who seek to stay dry (impossible option). But the Thais are a very light hearted bunch and the two days are enjoyed by everyone young and old.

Llegamos a Hat-Yai justo a tiempo para las fiestas del Ano Nuevo budista el 12 y 13 de abril. Y la gente aqui lo celebra mojando a todo bicho viviente, nadie escapa a las pistolas de agua, cubos, mangueras, botellas, barriles...y por si os lo estabais preguntando, no, nosotros tampoco nos salvamos, segun salimos a la calle el dia 13 nos llovieron los cubos de agua y pasamos el resto del dia empapados de pies a cabeza, y pasandolo pipa!!. Los tailandeses se dedican a conducir por las calles del centro en pick-ups, rickshaws o motos, lanzando y recibiendo agua a mansalva. La gente incluso tira cubos de agua desde los balcones y ventanas. Es imposible mantenerse seco, imposible. Y la verdad es que todo el mundo lo toma con mucho humor, son dos diasen los que todo el mundo lo pasa estupendamente, tanto ninos como mayores.

But unfortunately not all is as peaceful as it seems. This part of southern Thailand has been experiencing some extremist violence (bombs and shootings with a increasing brutality) that has been carried out by some Islamist group or another. The southern provinces boardering Malaysia are home to most of the Muslim population of the Thailand but the ethnic mix in places we have come across for far seems quite even, a mixture is Thai Buddhist, Thai Muslims and the Chinese and it seem that is a very small minority that is spoiling it for the vast majority.

Sin embargo no todo en el sur de Tailandia es tan pacifico como aqui parece. En los ultimos anos la region del sur del pais ha sufrido la violencia de varios grupos extremistas islamicos (bombas y ataques de una brutalidad creciente). Las provincias del sur, en la frontera con Malasia, albergan la mayoria de la poblacion musulmana de Tailandia, y las proporciones ethnicas en algunas poblaciones llegan a ser bastante equilibradas entre tais musulmanes, tais budistas y chinos. Como siempre, una pequena minoria es la que esta haciendo la vida imposible para una gran pacifica mayoria.

2007-04-13T13:51:00.000+02:00

Heading further south inland away from the cost line towards the town of Had-Yai (on excellent roads as usual), the landscape is a diversity of rice fields, palm oil and rubber (image 2 & 3) plantations.

Nos dirigimos hacia el sur, alejandonos de la costa, hacia la ciudad de Hat-Yai (la carretera en magnificas condiciones, como es normal). El paisaje es una mezcla de arrozales, plantaciones de palma y caucho (fotos 2 y 3).

2007-04-13T13:28:00.000+02:00

As we head southwest around Bay of Thailand the next recommended destination is Krabi, with a pop of 25,000 is very popular with the Scandinavian and there seems to be a constant flow even in the low season. Just like Phang Nga, the main attractions are the boat trips to the surrounding islands in the Gulf of Thailand. We managed to find a nice, cheap and cheerful bungalow (image 1) off the main road and before we knew it, we had spent six days there!.

Siguiendo nuestro camino en direccion sur-oeste a lo largo de la Bahia de Tailandia, nuestro proximo destino es Krabi, con una poblacion de aprox. 25.000 hab., es un destino turistico muy popular entre los escadinavos, y parece que incluso en temporada baja, la ocupacion es bastante buena.

Como en Phang Nga, las atracciones mas populares son los paseos en barco por las islas mas cercanas. Encontramos un sitio bastante bonito y a precio razonable, un bungalow (foto 1) alejado de la carretera principal en unos jardines preciosos...y casi sin darnos cuenta nos pasamos 6 dias alli!!

2007-04-05T13:41:00.000+02:00

Heading back to the mainland from Phuket, our next stop is Phang-nga. The town itself has nothing much to offer except it is the ideal place for taking a boat trip to the bay on a long-tail boat (image 1), part of an extensive national parkof Phang-nga. /
De vuelta a la peninsula, nuestro siguiente destino es Phang-Nga. El pueblo en si no es gran cosa, pero es el sitio ideal para reservar billete en uno de los famosos paseos en barco (foto 1) que se organizan en la bahia que forma parte del gran Parque Natural de Phang-Nga.

Most of the sheltered bay along the costline is covered in mangroves (2). Beyond the mangroves, sunken caverns and startling rock formations rising out of the sea extends for miles and miles in to the sea (images below). The limestone cliffs and islands are uninhabited except for one which was settled by Malay fishing families some 800 years ago and now has developed in to community of over 2000 (image 3). But these days most of the lively hood depends on the tourist visiting the bay. Apparently the some of the cave paintings found in the caves date back some 3000 years (4). /

Gran parte de la costa a lo largo de la bahia se encuentra cubierta por manglares (foto 2). Mas alla de los manglares, formaciones rocosas de gran bellezas, cuevas y cavernas se extienden millas y millas hacia mar adentro (fotos siguientes). Los acantilados de roca caliza y las innumerables islas de la amlia bahia no estan habitadas, con la excepcion de la "isla musulmana", una isla que fue colonizada por familias de pescadores de origen malayo hace unos 800 anos, y que se ha convertido en una gran comunidad musulmana de mas de 2000 personas (foto 3). En la actualidad la mayor parte de estas familias viven del turismo de la bahia.
Segun nos dijo nuestro guia, en una de las cuevas en una de las islas se pueden admirar unas pinturas rupestres con mas de 3000 anos de antiguedad (foto 4)

2007-04-04T15:27:00.000+02:00

Travelling further down south along the west coast, Phuket, is a largest island in Thailand (in the Andaman sea) is connected to the mainland via a bridge and it is a real tourist hot spot. Easy to imagine why. The beaches are white, water is warm and the corals are full of fish (image 1). and we had real difficulty dragging ourselves out of the place(2)! /
Continuamos nuestro camino hacia el sur siguiendo la costa oeste, hasta llegar a Phuket.
Phuket es la isla de mayor tamano en Tailandia y en el mar de Andaman, conectada a la peninsula a traves de un gran puente, y una de las mayores atracciones turisticas del pais. Y no es facil imaginar por que! Playas de arena blanca, aguas calidas y corales llenos de peces tropicales (foto 1)... se nos hizo muy dificil abandonar el lugar!!(foto 2)

The main town of Phuket (3, 4, 5 & 6), Phuket town which is home to Sino-Portuguese architecture dating back to the 1880 when the Phuket was an important trade route. The Chinese attracted to the island form the 16th century as workers and businessmen working on Tin mining, which was the most important industry in the island. But with the falling Tin prices the in industry has given way to rubber plantation (making Thailand the biggest producer of rubber in the world) and tourism. Phuket, just as large extent of the Thai west coast was hit hard by the 2004 Tsunami but (Puket at least) seems to have recovered full now. / La mayor poblacion en la isla de Phuket es la ciudad de Phuket (fotos 3, 4, 5 y 6), con una arquitectura colonial chino-portuguesa que data del 1880, cuando Phuket era un importante centro comercial. Los chinos empezaron a llegar a la isla en el siglo XVI, para trabajar en las minas de estano, la industria mas importante en aquellos momentos en la isla, o como comerciantes y hombres de negocios. Con el tiempo la industria del estano dio paso a las plantaciones de caucho (Tailandia es el mayor productor de caucho del mundo) y, como no, a la industria del turismo.
Phuket fue uno de los lugares de la costa oeste de Tailandia que se vio mas afectado por el tsunami del 2004, pero casi nadie lo diria, la recuperacion de las construcciones de la costa, las infraestructuras... estan casi totalmente recuperadas.

2007-04-04T15:03:00.000+02:00

Arriving back in Thailand is always is a pleasure, excellent roads! Few days in Bangkok to sort out a front tyre and a oil change among few other things and it was time to head south.
Hua Hin, our first destination on the east cost of Thailand (bay of Thailand) did not have much to offer. Quite a few tourist (even though the low is approaching) and the beaches were not the cleanest. /

Volver a Tailandia es todo un placer, sobre todo por las maravillosas carreteras!! Pasamos unos dias en Bangkok cambiando la llanta delantera, el aceite y otras 4 cosas en la moto, y despues nos pusimos en camino hacia el sur.
Hua Hin, nuestro primer destino en la costa este, en la bahia de Tailandia, no tenia mucho que ofrecer salvo un monton de turistas (a pesar de que ya se acerca la temporada baja) y unas playas no muy limpias.

Swiftly moving further south, Ranong a friendly little town on the west coast, bordering Burma, provides a more local feel. The fishing (image 1) harbour to the west of the town can be smelled from miles away. And we came across a German rider riding solo on a Kawasaki 650 doing more or less the same route from Germany as we have done. /

Siguiendo hacia el sur paramos en Ranong, un pueblo la mar de apanado en la costa oeste, en la frontera con Burma. El puerto de pescadores (foto 1) al oeste del pueblo se huele a kilometros de distancia! Alli nos encontramos con un motorista aleman que viajaba solo en una Kawasaki 650, siguiendo mas o menos la misma ruta que nosotros.

2007-03-24T10:11:00.000+01:00

1,718km in Cambodia / 1,718km en Cambodia

More paperwork (for getting the bike in) at the Thai border (image 2) and image of border crossing from the Cambodian side (image 3) /

Mas papeleo (para conseguir importar de forma temporal la moto en Tailandia) en la frontera (foto 1) y otra imagen del lado cambodiano de la frontera (foto 2)

2007-03-24T09:41:00.000+01:00

Nearly three weeks spent in Cambodia (in 35-40 C heat) was quite an experience. We found the Cambodians to be quite friendly but as a result of the civil war in the 70's there is a great deal of poverty that one get to see first hand. There is a vast number of people who have suffered from it, who have either lost limbs or was unable to get a education. Although we never felt unsafe, there seems to be quite number of illegal weapons in circulation and large parts of the country is still dotted with land mines.
And to add to the difficulty, it is one of those place where men in general hardly lift a finger (except for diving/riding or working in a garage) and most of the economy at micro level is driven by women and child labour (often exposed to sex tourism).

Streets of Siem Reap (image 1) and Angkor Wat is a popular place to hold a wedding for those who got the money (image 2). /

Hemos pasado casi 3 semanas en Cambodia (la mayor parte del tiempo a unos 35-40 grados de temperatura!!), y ha sido toda una experiencia. La gente en Cambodia ha sido bastatne amable a pesar de haber sufrido hace bien poco una guerra civil y aun padecer bastante pobreza. Se ve bastante gente que ha perdido algun miembro (brazos o piernas, o ambos), y que no han llegado a recibir ningun tipo de educacion, ni siquiera lo esencial de leer, escribir y las operaciones matematicas mas basicas de restar, sumar, etc.
Nosotros no nos sentimos nunca en una situacion de inseguridad, a pesar de que aun hay un gran numero de armas ilegales entre la poblacion civil, y millones de minas y otros artefactos similares sin explotar en la mayoria de los campos. A todo esto hay que anadir ademas que parece que los hombres, en general, no dan ni un palo al agua (excepto conducir o trabajar en un garage), y la mayor parte de la economia (a nivel de microeconomia) se sustenta gracias al trabajo de las mujeres y los ninos, a menudo expuestos al abuso y al turismo sexual.

Las calles de Siem Reap (foto 1) y Angkor Wat, un sitio muy solicitado para la tipica foto de boda, al menos por aquellos que tienen dinero (foto 2)

2007-03-24T09:17:00.000+01:00

Having spent over dosing on temples in Siem Reap/Angkor it was time to head back to Thailand. The border at Poipet (no the Cambodian side) is 155km from Siem Reap. There was heavy rain (first since leaving north east Pakistan, 3 months ago) the night before our first attempt to make it to the border. The road leading to the border run out of any sealed surface soon after leaving Siem Reap. Then we continued to struggled (to stay upright and move forward) for another 15-20km or so bofore returning back to Siem Reap (compleatly coverd in mud!!!) as we were not going to make it to Bangkok on the same day. And it was not only the 2 wheels that were struggling to get anywhere.

Bangkok Take 2 on the following day was not much better. Things were drier but the road was so rough that by the time we got to the border the front tyre was completely destroyed and steel reinforcement of the tyre was puncturing the tyre in two dozens of places. Sad end to the front tyre that has lasted nearly 29,000km. /

Despues de sufrir una pequena sobredosis de templos en Siem Reap/Angkor, ya iba siendo hora de empezar a dirigirnos a Tailandia. El puesto fronterizo de Poipet se encuentra a unos 155km de Siam Reap.
Durante el dia y la noche anteriores a nuestro primer intento de llegar a la frontera llovio un monton. Esto supuso que la carretera que va desde Siam Reap a Poipet - que esta asfaltada solo los primeros 40km y luego se convierte en poco mas que una pista de tierra - fuera un gran barrizal. Nos llevo casi hora y media hacer los primeros 40km asfaltados (pero llenos de baches), y luego nos llevamos otras 3 horas para hacer unos 15-20km en el fango, luchando a brazo partido para mantenernos sobre la moto, resbalando en varias ocasiones, yo empujando la moto la mitad del camino...sudamos como nunca antes habiamos sudado, llenos de barro hasta las cejas...Athula tuvo que quitar el guardabarros delantero porque la rueda se habia bloqueado completamente... que se yo, es dificil de explicar, la verdad. Y nosotros, sobre nuestras 2 ruedas, no fuimos los unicos que sufrimos las duras condiciones del barro, incluso los 4x4 lo tuvieron dificil!!. Aunque el plan era el de llegar a Bangkok ese mismo dia, al final decidimos volvernos para Siam Reap antes de seguir en el barro y arriesgarnos a que nos lloviera en medio del campo, sin un mal pueblo en el que quedarnos a pasar la noche.

Bangkok toma 2, al dia siguiente no fue mucho mejor, la verdad. La carretera estaba mas seca, pero en unas condiciones tan horrorosas que para cuando por fin llegamos a la frontera, la llanta de la rueda delantera estaba hecha cisco, literalmente, con el refuerzo interior de acero roto por todas partes, y con fugas de aire por todos sitios. Fue realmente una pena, con esa llanta hemos hecho casi 29.000km!!

2007-03-24T09:00:00.000+01:00

Our next destination Siem Reap, modern day town with a population of 158,000 is the stopping point for visiting Angkor, often described as one of humanity's most audacious architectural achievements. Over a period of 300 years, between 900 and 1200 AD, the Khmer empire produced some of the world's architectural masterpieces on the northern shore of the Tonle Sap, a massive inland lake that was linked to the ocean over 500 years ago /

Nuestro proximo destino es Siem Reap, el pueblo en la actualidad tiene unos 158.000 habitantes, y es el punto de acogida para aquellos que van a visitar Angkor, a menudo descrito como "unos de los logros arquitectonicos de la Humanidad" (??).

A lo largo de un periodo de 300 an#os, entre el 900 y el 1200 despues de Cristo, el imperio Khmer produjo algunos de las obras maestras de la arquitectura mundial (en fin, he de aclarar aqui que Athula esta citando del libro-guia que hemos usado cuando visitamos los templos. En mi opinion el complejo de templos de Angkor es impresionante, pero creo que calificarlo de "obra maestra de la arquitectura mundial" es un poco excesivo, vaya) en la orilla norte del lago Tonle Sap, un enorme lago que hace unos 500 an#os estaba conectado con el oceano.
The principal temple, Angkor Wat (images 1-5), was built between 1113 and 1150 by Suryavarman II. With walls nearly one-half mile long on each side, Angkor Wat grandly portrays the Hindu cosmology, with the central towers representing Mount Meru, home of the gods; the outer walls, the mountains enclosing the world; and the moat, the oceans beyond. /
El templo principal, Angkor Wat (fotos 1-5), fue construido entre el 1113 y 1150 por el rey Suryavarman II. Rodeado por unos muros de casi 3 km de longitud a cada lado, Angkor Wat refleja la cosmologia hindu. Las torres centrales representan el Monte Meru, la morada de los dioses; los muros perimetrales representan las montanas que rodean el mundo; y el foso que rodea el templo, los oceanos.

The later capital of Angkor Thom (images 6-8), built after the Cham sack of 1177, has at its centre the Bayon. Construction of Angkor Thom coincided with a change from Hinduism to Mahayana Buddhism. Temples were altered to display images of the Buddha, and Angkor Wat briefly became a Buddhist shrine. A subsequent Hindu revival included a large-scale campaign of desecration of Buddhist images, before Theravada Buddhism became established from the 14th century. /
Despues del saqueo a manos de los Cham en el 1177, la capital se traslado a Angkor Thom (fotos 6-8), otro conjunto templario cuyo centro es Bayon. La construccion de Angkor Thom marca no solo el cambio de capital sino tambien un cambio en la religion, de hinduism a budismo mahayana. Los templos se adaptaron a la nueva religion, con altares y esculturas dedicadas a Buddha, e incluso Angkor Wat se transformo en templo budista durante un pequeno periodo de tiempo. Mas adelante, un revival de la religion hindu supuso la mayor oleada de profanacion de imagenes budistas (la mayor parte de las estatuas dedicadas a Buddha fueron desfiguradas, destruyendose en la mayor parte de los casos la cabeza y las manos, los elementos cargados de significado) hasta que ya en el siglo XIV el budismo theravada se impusiera como religion mayoritaria.

During the 15th century, nearly all of Angkor was abandoned, except Angkor Wat, which remained a shrine for Buddhist pilgrims. While it is widely believed that this occurred after Siamese attacks, some recent research has suggested that the main cause may have been a shortage of water caused by during the transition from the medieval warm period to the little ice age. /
Durante el siglo XV, casi todos los templos de Angkor fueron abandonados a excepcion de Angkor Wat, que siguio siendo un templo de peregrinacion budista. Aunque durante mucho tiempo se ha creido que este abandono se debio a ataques siameses (thailandeses), investigaciones recientes sugieren que la principal causa pudiera ser la falta de agua debido a una sequia

The great city and temples remained largely cloaked by the forest until the late 19th century when French archaeologists began a long restoration process from 1907 to 1970. Which worked to clear away the forest, repair foundations, and install drains to protect the buildings from water damage. But during the Khmer Rouge the most of the temples were used as barracks and arms dumps. At present there is a great deal of conservation is going on mainly funded by the Japanese, French and UNESCO. It is obvious that Angkor (period) is by far the best that the Cambodians have had . The Angkor Wat is the symbol of the national flag and most of whatever little that is produced in the country carries the name Angkor or the symbol. And as far as we could see, the tourism the site attracts (Visitor numbers reached 900,000 in 2006) must be the biggest single money earner (specially when the bloddy 3 day tourist pass to the site cost $40 per person!!! ). Although the site is enormous and the scale is impressive, some 72 major temples or other buildings dot the area (no did not visit all of them but some of the more interesting once are found on images 9-12), there wasn't a great deal of variation in the details between the different temples. ( We are still mind full of the quality of architecture that impressed us in Iran!). /
Durante este periodo de abandono los templos de Angkor permanecieron ocultos bajo un manto de jungla hasta que en el siglo XIX fueron descubiertos por arqueologos franceses, los cuales comenzaron a trabajar en su restauracion en 1907 hasta 1970. Estos trabajos incluyeron la retirada de los arboles que crecian en los templos, la reparacion de cimentaciones e instalacion de drenajes que protegieran las construcciones ante danos producidos por el agua.
Durante el periodo bajo dominio del Khmer Rouge los trabajos de restauracion cesaron por completo y la mayoria de los templos se usaron como barracones militares y almacenes de armamento.
En la actualidad hay varios proyectos de conservacion en marcha, la mayoria de ellos financiados por el gobierno japones, frances y la UNESCO.
Es obvio que los templos de Angkor son lo mejor que hay en Cambodia con diferencia. El templo Angkor Wat es parte de la bandera nacional, y mucho de lo poco que se produce en el pais alude en su nombre o en su logo a Angkor (la cerveza nacional es Angkor Beer, la mayoria de los hoteles, restaurantes y negocios se llaman Angkor Hotel, Angkor Inn, Great Angkor...). Y segun hemos podido comprobar el turismo que llega a la zona (el numero de visitantes el an#o pasado llego a los 900.000!!) debe ser una de las mayores fuentes de ingresos del pais (sobre todo si se tiene en cuenta que tan solo el pase de entrada al recinto templario cuesta la friolera de $40 por persona!!).
Aunque el recinto es enorme y la escala impresionante, con mas de 72 templos esparcidos por toda la zona (nosotros no llegamos a visitar todos ellos, imagenes de los que nosotros encontramos mas interesantes pueden verse en las fotos 9 a12) lo cierto es que no hay una gran variedad estilistica entre los diferentes templos (quizas es que nosotros aun tenemos la calidad de los templos en Iran grabados en el cerebrillo!!)

2007-03-24T08:00:00.000+01:00

Kompong Thom, The town has nothing to offer but it is the closest place with accommodation to remote temples of Pheah Vihear of the pre Angkor period.

Kompong Thom. El pueblo no tiene gran cosa que ofrecer salvo tener los hoteles mas cercanos a los templos de estilo pre-angkoriano en Pheah Vihear.

2007-03-24T07:43:00.000+01:00

Our next destinations in Cambodia are in the north and due to lack of sealed roads we will be riding back through Phnom Penh to get to our next destination; Kompong Thom.

The public transport is slightly over crowded, any bridge was better than no bridge at all and the treatment of animals around here was not for the not for those interested in animal welfar lack of fridgeration means keeping them alive till they are ready for the pot, whatever the condition.

Las ciudades que vamos a visitar a partir de ahora se encuentran en el norte del pais. Debido al limitado numero de carreteras asfaltadas nos vemos obligados a volver sobre nuestros pasos hacia Phnom Pehn antes de dirigirnos a Kompong Thom, nuestro proximo destino.

En Cambodia el transporte publico esta ligeramente sobrecargado (foto 1), un puente un poco cutre es mejor que nada (foto 2), y a los animales los tratan a la patada (la ausencia de transporte refrigerado implica que los animales los transporten vivos - sin importar mucho las condiciones inhumanas - hasta que llegan a su destino: la cazuela) (foto 3).

2007-03-19T13:43:00.000+01:00

Sihanoukville (pop 77,000), 110km South West from Kampot is Cambodia's main port (not that you feel it except for the few trucks parked at the harbour entrance) town that has sprung up in the last 50 years. The road to Sihanoukville provided us with the first site Cambodian hills as most of central Cambodia (which we have so far been) is flat which has come to exist in the last 500 years as a result of sediment deposit by the Mekong (all the way from the Himalayas).
This also the first time we see the ocean (South China Sea,) since leaving Antaliya, Turkey.

Sihanoukville (poblacion 77.000h) 110km al suroeste de Kampot, es el puerto mas importante de Cambodia (aunque nadie lo diria, ya que solo hay unos pocos camiones aparcados a la entrada de la bahia).
En la carretera a Sihanoukville hemos podido ver por primera vez algunas de las montanas de Cambodia - la mayor parte del centro de Cambodia es una gran planicie, un valle que se ha formado en los ultimos 500 anos como resultado de los depositos que el rio Mekong arrastra desde los Himalayas, donde nace, hasta su desembocadura. Esta es tambien la primera ocasion de ver el oceano (el Mar del Sur de China) desde que dejamos Turquia.

2007-03-19T13:29:00.000+01:00

Kampot pop 37,500, our next destination after five day Phnom Penh (150km South West) is a ideal laid-back place with its riverside location and French legacy architecture /

Kampot (poblacion 37.500h) nuestro proximo destino despues de pasar 5 dias en Phnom Pehn. Kampot se encuentra 150km al suroeste de PP, y es un sitio muy tranquilo en la ribera de un rio, con restos de arquitectura francesa colonial

2007-03-09T06:06:00.000+01:00

The history of Cambodia is often been summed up as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The things were good in the early years, culminating in the vast Angkor Empire, unrivalled in the reagion over the three centuries of dominance. But from 13th century on ward, with a combination of weak rulers (kings) the country was chipped away by the more powerful neighbours to the east (Vietnam) and west (Thailand). And in the 60’s and 70’s things got downright ugly as in the case of Laos the country was heavily carpet bombed by the US to stop the North Vietnamese supplies infiltrating the south Vietnam and then invaded by the US and South Vietnamese forces in the 1970. This only resulted in sending the suffering rural population in to the hands of the Communist, namely the Khmer Rouge (1975-79).
The genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot, was to implement on of the most heinous revolutions the world has ever seen. It was year zero and Cambodia was to become a (ultra orthodox) Maoist, peasant dominated, agrarian cooperative.
This was nowhere more clearly illustrated than in the S-21, the largest centre of detention and torture in the country, located in the centre of Phnom Penh. Formerly the Tuol Svay Prey High School, the five buildings of the complex were converted in 1975 into a prison and interrogation centre. The Khmer Rouge renamed the complex "Security Prison 21" (S-21) and construction began to adapt the prison to the inmates: the buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny prison and torture chambers and all the windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire to prevent prisoner escapes.
From 1975 to 1979, an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng (some estimates suggest a number as high as 20,000, though the real number is unknown). The prisoners were selected from all around the country, and usually were former Khmer Rouge members and soldiers, accused of treason. Those arrested included some of highest ranking communist politicians. Although the official reason for their arrest was "espionage," these men may have been viewed by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot as potential leaders of a coup against him. Even though the vast majority of the victims were Cambodian, foreigners were also imprisoned.
The whole thing came to an end when Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979 (Pol Pot has set out expelling the Vietnamese population living in Cambodia well as attacking the Vietnamese border villages). And the prison was uncovered by the invading Vietnamese army
The torture system at Tuol Sleng was designed to make prisoners confess to whatever crimes their captors charged them with. Prisoners were tortured with electric shocks, searing hot metal instruments and hanging, as well as through the use of various other devices. Although many prisoners died from this kind of abuse, killing them outright was discouraged, since the Khmer Rouge needed their confessions.
After the interrogation, the prisoner and his/her family were taken to the Choeung Ek (the Killing fields to the 15 km South West of the city) extermination center. There, they were killed by being battered. Victims were seldom shot as bullets were viewed as too precious.
There were only seven known survivors.
It is a strange site. Does not resemble anything other than a school form the out side (image 1). But the interior is another story with the mug shots of the victims as the arrived at the site. (The Khmer Rouge required the prison's staff to make a detailed dossier of all the prisoners. Included in the documentation was a photograph, age of the victims was not an issue, image 2) and the images of the victims tortured to death.

A menudo la historia de Cambodia se ha resumido como "el bueno, el feo y el malo".

Al principio de su historia en Cambodia las cosas iban bien, con el imperio Angkor como momento culminante y sin rival en esta region en la que domino durante mas de 3 siglos.

Sin embargo a partir del siglo 13 empezo la cuesta abajo, con gobernantes debiles y paises vecinos cada mas poderosos como Vietnam al este y Tailandia al oeste, el imperio fue perdiendo terreno y las cosas se fueron poniendo feas. Ya en los an#os sesenta y setenta las cosas se tornan definitivamente malas, primero con el pais bajo un intenso bombardeo por parte de las fuerzas norteamericanas (los Estados Unidos intentaban asi cortar los suministros de armas que iban de Vietnam del Norte al Sur), y mas tarde invadido por ejercitos sudvietnamitas en 1970. Mas adelante las cosas empeoran aun mas, con la poblacion rural en manos de los comunistas - en este caso, el Khmer Rouge (1975-79). El gobierno genocida del Khmer Rouge bajo la direccion de Pol Pot, llevo a cabo una de las revoluciones con resultados mas atroces que el mundo ha llegado a ver. En el "an#o cero", se suponia que Cambodia iba a convertirse en un pais con un regimen maoista ultraortodoxo, una gran cooperativa agraria dominada por campesinos.

Los horrores del regimen de Pol Pot pueden verse perfectamente reflejados en el campo S-21, el mayor centro de detenciones y tortura del pais, situado en el centro de Phnom Pehn. Inicialmente una escuela secundaria llamada Tuol Svay Prey, los 5 edificios que forman el complejo penitenciario se convirtieron en prision y centro de interrogatorios en 1975. El Khmer Rouge bautizo el complejo "Prision de Seguridad 21" o "S-21", y empezo la transformacion: los edificios se rodearon con una alambrada de espinos electrificada, las clases se subdividieron en minusculas celdas y camaras de tortura, se pusieron rejas y mas alambre de espino en todas las ventanas para evitar que los prisioneros escaparan...

Se estima que entre 1975 y 1979 pasaron por la prision mas de17.000 personas(algunos estudios elevan la cifra a 20.000, pero no se conoce a ciencia cierta el numero exacto de prisioneros). Los prisioneros procedian de todas partes del pais, y eran, en su mayoria, antiguos miembros del Khmer Rouge y soldados acusados de traicion al regimen. Entre los prisioneros se encontraron altos miembros del partido comunista, y aunque la acusacion oficial es la de "espionaje", se cree que podrian haber sido miembros del partido que Pol Pot veia como posibles lideres de un golpe de estado contra el.
Aunque la gran mayoria de las victimas eran cambodianos, tambien figuran en los archivos algunos prisioneros extranjeros.

No fue hasta 1979, cuando los vietnamitas invadieron Cambodia, que los ejercitos invasores descubrieron el campo de concentracion y lo cerraron.

Los sistemas de tortura en Tuol Sleng estaban ideados para que los prisioneros se confesasen culpables de todos los crimenes de que los guardas los acusasen. Los prisioneros eran sometidos a torturas a base de electroshock, instrumentos de acero al rojo vivo, o colgados y luego sumergidos en agua hasta casi ahogarse... Aunque muchos de los prisioneros perecieron mientras eran torturados, la politica era la de no llegar al extremo de la muerte sin haber conseguido antes una confesion.

Una vez acabado el interrogatorio el prisionero/a y sus familiares (incluidos ninos y ancianos) eran transladados a Choeung Ek - el Campo de Exterminio 15 km al sur oeste de la ciudad - para su ejecucion. Una vez alli eran asesinados a palos, muy pocas victimas eran ejecutadas a pistola ya que las balas se consideraban "demasiado valiosas" para esto.

Solo se conocen 7 supervivientes.

Nosotros visitamos el S-21 una manana preciosa; fue una experiencia realmente traumatica.

El edificio parece un colegio normal y corriente desde fuera (foto 1). Sin embargo el interior es otra cosa. En algunas de las salas estan expuestas las fotos que les hacian a los prisioneros a su llegada al campo .El Khmer Rouge exigia que los guardas de la prision llevaran expedientes detallados de todos aquellos que ingresaban en el campo, y la documentacion incluia una fotografia de frente y otra de perfil del prisionero cuando ingresaba y otra de aquellos que morian como resultado de las torturas en el campo. La edad de los prisioneros no tenia importancia (foto 2).

2007-03-09T06:03:00.000+01:00

Our nest stop, the capital Phnom Penh, first became the capital of Cambodia after PonheaYat, king of the KhmerEmpire moved the capital from Angkor Thom after it was captured by Siam (Thai). /

Nuestra proxima parada es la capital, Phnom Penh. PP se convirtio en la capital de Cambodia cuando bajo el rey del imperio Khmer, Ponhea Yat, la antigua capital Angkor Thom fue capturada por los tailandeses.

It was not until 1866 under the reign of King Norodom I, that Phnom Penh became the permanent seat of government, and theRoyal Palace was built. This marked the beginning of the transformation of what was essentially a village into a great city with the French Coloialist expanding the canal system to control the wetlands, constructing roads and building a port. /

No fue hasta el 1866 y bajo el reinado de Norodom I, cuando Phnom Penh paso a ser la sede permanente del gobierno y se construyo el Palacio Real. Este hecho marca el principio de la transformacion, de lo que en principio fue no mas que un pueblo en una gran capital, con el imperio colonial frances ampliando el sistema de canalizaciones que controla las marismas, la construccion de nuevas carreteras y un nuevo puerto.

We were quite surprised to see the level of economic activity in the city. New high shopping malls, flashy banks, expensive cars and everyone seems to be quite well of. But it is also the case that most of the (successful) commerce in large towns and cities are run or owned by either the Cambodians of Vietnamese or Chinese origin. / Nos sorprendio la gran actividad economica en la ciudad: centros comerciales recien estrenados, oficinas de bancos super pijas, coches de lujo a gogo, y a casi todo el mundo parece que le van bien las cosas (economicamente hablando). Sin embargo parece que los la mayoria de los comercios y negocios con mas exito en las grandes ciudades, o los llevan o son propietarios personas de origen vietnamita o chino.

During theVietnam War thousands of refugees from across the country flooded the city to escape the fighting between government troops and its allies the South Vietnamese and US against Khmer Rouge. By 1975 the population was 2,000,000, the bulk of them refugees from the fighting. The city fell to the Khmer Rouge on April 17, the Cambodian New Year, and was evacuated by force, its residents being made to labor on rural farms as "New People". Pol Pot desired a return to an agrarian economy and therefore killed anyone who was educated, who wore glasses, or who did not have calloused hands to cleanse the population of the taint of westernization. Many others starved to death as a result of failure of the agrarian society and the sale of Cambodia's rice to China in exchange for bullets and weaponry. /
Durante la guerra del Vietnam miles de refugiados llegaron a la ciudad desde todas partes del pais tratando de escapar del conflicto entre el Khmer Rouge y las tropas del gobierno y sus aliados vietnamitas y estadounidenses. En 1975 la poblacion de Phnom Penh alcanzo los 2 millones de habitantes, la mayoria de ellos refugiados.La ciudad cayo en poder del Khmer Rouge el 17 de abril (el dia cero del nuevo calendario camboyano que el Khmer impuso en el pais), y la mayoria de sus residentes fueron obligados a evacuar la ciudad a la fuerza, convertidos en mano de obra forzada, obligados a trabajar en las granjas y campos del pais como la "nueva gente".
El deseo de Pol Pot era el de volver a una economia agraria, asi que su regimen asesino de forma sistematica a cualquiera que tuviera la mas minima educacion, cualquiera que llevara gafas, o no tuviera callos en las manos, o hablara un idioma extranjero...la idea era la de limpiar la poblacion de cualquier influencia occidental.
Muchos de aquellos que sobrevivieron a la limpieza cultural mas tarde murieron de hambre como resultado del fracaso de la sociedad agraria que se quiso imponer, y debido tambien a que el gobierno cambodiano vendio gran parte de las cosechas de arroz a China a cambio de armamento y municiones

The Khmer Rouge were driven out of Phnom Penh by the Vietnamese in 1979 and people began to return to the city. Vietnam is historically a state with which Cambodia has had many conflicts; therefore this liberation was and is viewed with mixed emotions by the Cambodians. A period of reconstruction began, spurred by continuing stability of government, attracting new foreign investment and aid by countries; Japan,Franceand Australia and more recently Korea and China. Loans were made from the Asia Development Bank and the World Bank to reinstate a clean water supply, roads and other infrastructure. And the billions pumped in is the main reason for the new found wealth in city and these days the population of Phnom Penh is approximately 2 million people. /
El Khmer Rouge fue expulsado de Phnom Pehn en 1979 por los vietnamitas, poco despues la gente empezo a volver a la ciudad.
Vietnam es un pais con el que Cambodia ha tenido muchos conflictos a lo largo de su historia, por lo que esta liberacion fue recibida con una mezcla de sentimientos, positivos y negativos, por la poblacion cambodiana.
Poco despues un periodo de reconstruccion comenzo para la ciudad, ayudado por la estabilidad en el gobierno, inversiones extranjeras, y ayudas economicas de paises como Japon, Francia y Australia, y mas recientemente Korea y China. Prestamos del Banco Asiatico Para el Desarrollo y del Banco Mundial han ayudado a restablecer el suministro de agua potable, carreteras y otras infraestructuras. Todos esos millones invertidos en la ciudad son el motivo por el cual la poblacion actual de Phnom Penh sea de aproximadamente 2 millones de personas.

Phnom Penh, situated at the confluence of the Mekong, Bassac and Tonel Sap Rivers, has a welcoming atmosphere. There is a great deal of French architectural influence in the city as well as the traditional Khmer such as the National museum .The level of traffic is not mind-boggling but guessing where everyone on the road is going is a bit of a gamble. Every Cambodian seems to have a motorcycle (with very little clue of how to ride safely!) /
Phnom Pehn esta situada en la confluencia de los rios Mekon, Bassac y Tonel Sap, y tiene un ambiente muy agradable y acogedor. Se nota la influencia de la arquitectura francesa, asi como la de la arquitectura tradicional khmer. El trafico no esta demasiado mal, aunque la verdad es que hacen falta tener un poco de suerte para adivinar por donde va a ir la gente por la calle. Parece ademas que cada cambodiano tiene una motillo - y muy poca idea de como conducir de forma segura!!

2007-03-09T06:01:00.000+01:00

Phnom PenhRoyal Palace (images 1 & 2)

The National museum (3)

Palacio real en Phnom Penh - la capital (fotos 1 y 2).Museo Nacional (foto 3)

2007-03-09T05:58:00.000+01:00

Stung Treng, our first town in Cambodia. Not a tourist destination but a place to stop having ridden across the border from Laos and by 1pm the temperature reaches 38C, so it is time to stop for the day. The 50km stretch of road from the border to Stung Treng was new but poor quality with coarse finish and very slippery.
Cambodia is a more densely populated than its neighbour to the north, Laos, with population of 13.7 million, we are expecting (quite) a bit of traffic and horning. And on paper Cambodia is also poorer than it neighbour to the north (with GNI per capita: US $380). And has a more (resent) violent history that has shaken up the place.
The local attractions included the markets, architecture, and (Sonia) gate-crashing local wedding parties.

Stung Treng, el primer pueblo en el que paramos en Cambodia. No es una localidad muy turistica, simplemente un lugar de paso para aquellos que cruzan la frontera con Laos al norte del pais. A la una de la tarde la temperatura alcanza los 38 grados, asi que decidimos parar y pasar el resto del dia aqui. Los 50 km que unen la frontera con Stung Treng son de carretera nueva pero de mala calidad, con un monton de grava en superficie, muy resbaladiza.

Las atracciones locales son el mercado, la arquitectura colonial francesa y colarse en banquetes de boda locales (yo, en la foto, haciendo eso "mismamente").

2007-03-05T16:13:00.000+01:00

Total distance coverd in Laos 2,628km.

Distancia recorrida en Laos: 2.628km

2007-03-05T16:00:00.000+01:00

Soon after leaving Don Khong island, the highway 13 just ended. And was not quite sure which way the Cambodian border was. We took a guess based on the only local on a tractor (who wasn’t so fluent in sign language) and followed a dirt track (image 1) for a about 8km and did not see any border post but imagined that we had crossed in to Cambodia (illegally!). So head back and tried a different advice and a different route (no signage or any cross border traffic anywhere!). Continued on a different dirt track (image 2) for about 4km till we got to the Laos side of the border crossing(3). The border customs officers seemed friendly enough and the paper work for us and the bike took about half an hour and we are now in Cambodia.

Poco despues de dejar la isla de Don Khong, la autopista 13 simplemente desaparece. Hubo un momento en el que no sabiamos muy bien si habiamos cruzado la frontera y entrado en Cambodia o no! Nos decidimos a seguir un camino de tierra (foto 1) basandonos en el consejo de un lugareno en un tractor (que segun parece no estaba muy puesto en el lenguaje internacional de gestos que nosotros practicamos alli donde vamos). Cuando despues de recorrer unos 8 km llenos de baches y arena por medio de un bosque, viendo que no aparecia ningun cartel anunciando la frontera, empezamos a pensar que habiamos entrado en Cambodia de forma ilegal!. De modo que nos dimos la vuelta y decidimos seguir el consejo de otros lugarenos que nos dijeron que la frontera estaba por otro lado (a todo esto, ni un solo cartel ni indicaciones de por donde estaba la frontera). El segundo intento nos llevo otra vez a una pista de tierra, tambien llena de baches (foto 2), de unos 4 km hasta llegar al puesto fronterizo de Laos (foto 3). Los oficiales de aduanas eran la mar de amables, y el papeleo nos llevo una media hora, despues de la cual ya estabamos en Cambodia

2007-03-05T15:31:00.000+01:00

The section of the Highway 13 that extend Viantiane to the south as far as Don Khong is in very good condition. The biggest hazard in Laos roads was the livestock that roams the roads or even just rest on it regardless.
The human traffic was clam and relaxed. But we did not feel that any one on the road had a driver’s license or at least had the knowledge of the Highway Code. We would approach a junction or a roundabout and the flow of the traffic will just stop as no one seems to know which party has the priority. But we are not complaining!

2007-03-05T15:29:00.000+01:00

Next destination, Muang Khong. 160km south of Champasak, is our last destination in Laos. Proximo destino, Muang Kong , a 160 km al sur de Champasak, es nuestra ultima parada en Laos.

Don Khong is the main island. in the South Mekong river region know as the 4000 islands, one of the most scenic areas in Laos. It is also know as a hippy destination and the place is filled with tourists. Muang Khong, a small village at the east edge of Don Khong, is the main base and a boat trip down the river to visit the other island was a must.

Don Khong es la isla principal en la region del Mekong sur, mas conocida como "las cuatro mil islas", una de las regiones con paisajes as espectaculares en Laos.Es tambien uno de los destinos "hippies", lleno de turistas mochileros. Muang Khong es un pequeno pueblo en el extremo este de Don Khong, y la base principal del turismo a lo largo del rio. Un paseo en barco para visitar algunas de las otras islas no podia faltar.

2007-03-05T14:36:00.000+01:00

Champasak,our next destination is located on the west bank of the Mekong (highway 13 runs along the east bank) and needed a short ferry ride, time to engage the locals (image 1&2).

Champasak, nuestro proximo destino, es un pequeno pueblo situado en la orilla oeste del Mekong (la autopista 13 discurre a lo largo de la orilla este), por lo que tuvimos que coger un ferry para atravesar el rio (fotos 1 y 2)

The main attraction in Champasak is the Wat Phu, (3, 4, 5 & 6) Which is one of the two UNESCO world heritage sites in Laos (the other being the city of Luang Prabang). It is a ruined Khmer temple complex about5km southwest of Champasak, located at the base of mount Phu Kao. Although there was a temple on the site as early as the 5th century, the surviving structures date from the 11th to 13th centuries. Wat Phu was shaped to express the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity, using an axis from mountain top to river bank to lay out a geometric pattern of temples, shrines and waterworks extending over some 10 km, which is vaguely visible from the top of the hill (image 7 ) The site nowadays is a centre of Theravada Buddhist worship.
The single street Champasak is also dotted with charming architecture (image 8).

La atraccion principal de Champasak es Wat Phu (fotos 3, 4, 5 y 6) uno de los dos lugares declarados patrimonio mundial por la UNESCO en Laos (el otro es la ciudad de Luang Prabang).

Wat Phu son las ruinas de un complejo de templos 5 km al suroeste de Champasak, en la base del monte Phu Kao. Aunque se tiene constancia de la presencia de templos en el lugar desde al menos el siglo V antes de Cristo, las estructuras que en estos momentos se puede admirar datan de los siglos XI al XIII. Wat Phu fue construido como una expresion de la vision hindu de la relacion naturaleza-hombre. Usando un eje central que va desde la cima de la montana hasta la rivera del rio en el valle, se disponen una serie de templos, altares, acequias y tanques de agua en un area de unos 10 km (foto 7, desde lo alto de la montana). En la actualidad este complejo monumental es uno de los centros de peregrinaje de la corriente budista theravada.
En la calle unica que es Champasak tambien se pueden admirar algunos edificios muy lindos (foto 8).

2007-03-03T09:19:00.000+01:00

Having returned to Viantiane from Phonsovan, we headed south along the Mekong (highway 13) Our next next stop was Savannakhet. Nothing much to report here, small regional capital on the banks of Mekong with French colonial styled architecture. As the height of the dry season is approaching, the midday temperatures are now starting to reach the mid to high.

Pasamos un par de dias en Vientiane una vez dejamos Phonsovan, y luego nos dirigimos hacia el sur, siguiendo el Mekong, por la autopista 13 hasta Savannakhet. La verdad es que no hay mucho que contar, es una pequena capital de provincia a orillas del Mekong, con arquitectura colonial francesa y un monton de kioskos vendiendo pescado asado (super-rico!!).
Como estamos llegando al punto algido de la estacion seca las temperaturas maximas a mediodia se hacen cada vez mas elevadas (en torno a los 35-40 grados, esto parece Sevilla en pleno Julio!!)

2007-02-23T15:55:00.000+01:00

The highlight of Phonsovan is the sites of Jars. The Jars which are littered over three main sites, said to have been (man) made 2000 years ago for either for storeing food or water. not quite sure (image 1). But the site is also showcase for Laos' suffering during the Indo-China war.
Laos, the most bombed country on earth! For ten years between 1963 and 73, 2 million tonnes of bombs were dropped by the US Air force.
During the Indo-China war, Laos was recognised as a neutral country with no foreigner forces on its soil. But the Vietnamese used Laos as a spring board for for attacking the french colonist in the first Indo-China war and never withdrew.
By 1970, some 75,000North Vietnamese troops was deployed in Laos supplying communist units in Cambodia and South Vietnam. By then South Vietnam was under US control with the aim of halting the Communism in Indo-China.
US interventions in Laos initiated with the setting up and training of guerrilla forces of the Hmong Hill Tribe but was unable to halt the flow of weapons and troops from North Vietnam to the south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. So the carpet bombing of Laos to stone age started. By '73 nearly 600,000sorties had flown over Laos by US forces dropping on average of one planeload of bombs every 8 min, 24 hrs a day for 9 years! By the end of the war 2 million tons was dropped, which is greater than the total bombs dropped by the US forces over Europe in the WW2 and equates to in the half a ton of bombs per every Laos citizen.
Further more 30% of the bombs did not explode on the impact and continue to kill peasants all over the country daily.
The USAF sorties were not limited to bombs alone, hundred of thousands of tonnes of highly toxic Agent Orange (defoliage chemical) was also sprayed over Laos in order to facilitate bombing, which continue to prevent the reforestation of large portions of country side.
However by the end of Indo-China war (which had started of as freedom from the French), Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have all fallen to Communist forces supported by either the USSR or China and were to suffer for decades to come.

Today the most of the unexploded bomb casings are either used as scrap metal or ornaments(image 2).

Los lugares a visitar en Phonsovan son las excavaciones de las Jarras. Las Jarras son eso, enormes jarras esparcidas en 3 lugares distintos. Se cree que pudieran haber sido usadas para almacenar agua o alimentos hace mas de 2000 anos, o quizas para enterramientos o ritos funerarios (foto 1).
Los lugares donde se hallan las jarras tambien son testigos del sufrimiento del pais durante la guerra de Indo-China.

Laos es uno de los paises que ha sufrido mas bombardeos en el mundo. Durante 10 anos, entre 1963 y 1973, la aviacion estadounidense arrojo en el pais mas de 2 millones de bombas.

Durante la guerra de Indo-China, Laos se declaro pais neutral, pero los vietnamitas usaron bases en territorio Laosiano desde las que atacar a los franceses, y una vez acabada la guerra no se retiraron.

En 1970 aproximadamente Mas del 30% de las bombas arrojadas no explotaron al impactar, lo cual continua matando granjeros y campesinos a diario.

La aviacion americana no se limito a lanzar bombas, tambien arrojaron miles de toneladas de Agente Naranja (un producto quimico altamente toxico usado para eliminar bosques) para facilitar los bombardeos. La presencia de este potente herbicida continua impidiendo la reforestacion de gran parte de la campina laosiana.

A pesar de todo este esfuerzo militar americano al final de la guerra de Indo-china (que empezo como conflicto de liberacion del poder colonial frances) Vietnam, Laos y Cambodia habrian caido bajo fuerzas comunistas, ya fueran rusas o chinas, condenadas al sufrimiento durante las decadas siguientes.

Hoy en dia la mayor parte de las bombas que no han explotado se usan bien como metal reciclado o como decoracion (foto 2)

2007-02-23T15:16:00.000+01:00

After couple of days in Ngong Khiaw and it was time to head Phonsavan, 380 km south east. We were not sure of the distance to be covered till we reached Phonsavan as there is on accurate maps of the region.
There was very little traffic along the way and we would ride hours without coming across another vehicle.
The whole region is just mountains! Most of the early section of the route we covered was just dirt track but last 60km or so to Phonsavan was new sealed roads.
And to add to the fun we had our second puncture of the trip (since Romania) managed to limp to a small town and got it temporarily mended, which took an hour or so. Ngong Khiaw to Phonsavan was our longest day of riding, 13 hours!.

Despues de pasar un par de dias en Ngong Khiaw nos pusimos en camino hacia Phonsavan, 380 km en direccion sur-este. La verdad es que no supimos la distancia que teniamos que recorrer hasta que llegamos a Phonsavan ya que no hay buenos mapas de la region en los que se indiquen distancias entre poblaciones.
Por el camino apenas habia trafico, condujimos durante horas sin encontrar otros vehiculos en la carretera.
Toda la region es una pura montana! Y a excepcion de los ultimos 60 km antes de llegar a Phonsavan, donde la carretera es totalmente nueva, todo el camino transcurrio por pistas de tierra llenas de baches. Para remate de los tomates sufrimos nuestro segundo pinchazo (el primero lo tuvimos en Rumania), aunque tuvimos bastante suerte porque estabamos a tan solo un par de kilometros de un pequeno pueblo en el que encontramos un mini-taller, alli conseguimos reparar (aunque de forma temporal, claro) el pinchazo en cuestion de una hora. El trayecto Ngong Khiaw - Phonsavan ha sido el mas largo de todo nuestro viaje: 13 horas seguidas de conduccion!!

2007-02-21T17:11:00.000+01:00

Next town as we head north of Luang Prabang was Ngong Khiaw, 170km and three and half hours on relatively good roads through rural Laos.The main street is nothing more than just a dusty road with number of shops along it. The biggest single income in this tranquil town comes from tourism, accommodation and boat services provided by the locals, ferrying visitors up and down the river

2007-02-13T16:00:00.000+01:00

Luang Prabang (population approximately 20,000) At one time the capital of a Kingdom that covered all of present day Laos and parts of northern Thailand and southern China, Luang Prabang is now a charming backwater sort of place that attract quite a few tourist (just like us)
UNESCO has designated (1995) the town as a "World Heritage" site worthy of protection and development. The numerous temples, many of them hundreds of years old, provided the primary impetus for the designation. However, they are only part of what makes Luang Prabang so attractive. The examples of French colonial architecture (images 3 &4), surrounding mountains, Mea Kong River, and the general absence of the hectic pace of modern life all add to the general appeal.

The main part of Luang Prabang is built on a peninsula where rivers Mea Kong and Nam Kam meet. The major roads that parallel the peninsula are bisected by smaller roads that extend from the banks of one river to the other (images of the town from the tempel hill 5)
The most impressive of the temples is Wat Xieng Thong (image 6). Built in 1560, its main building (sim) has roofs that sweep low to the ground in the classical style of Luang Prabang temple architecture. The rear wall is covered with a mosaic in the form of a "tree of life." But unfortunately as in Thailand these temples are constantly renovated and the lacks the character they truly deserve! The interior walls depict exploits of a revered king and elaborately decorated wooden columns support the roof. A smaller adjacent building houses a rare reclining Buddha done in classic Lao style.
There are 31 other temples in Luang Prabang (images 7, 8 & 9)
Pak Ou caves Reached by boat traveling along the Mekong, they are 25 kilometers from Luang Prabang at the mouth of the Nam Ou river. The interiors of the two caves overlook the river and are packed with Buddha images, offerings by devotees over the past centuries but the most of the old statues have been looted and has ended up in the night markets in the twon as well as in the rest of the country and beyond (images 10, 11, &12).

Luang Prabang (poblacion aproximada 20.000 habitantes). En su dia fue capital del reino que entonces se extendia por el norte de Tailandia, el actual Laos y partes del sur de China. Actualmente es una ciudad llena de encanto, el tipo de sitio que atrae a bastantes turistas (como nosotros), y declarada Patrimonio de la Humandidad por la Unesco en 1995.

Numerosos templos, muchos de ellos centenarios, fueron el motivo principal de que fuese designada Patrimonio. Sin embargo son solo parte de lo que hace Luang Prabang una ciudad muy atractiva. Bastantes ejemplos de arquitectura colonial francesa (fotos 3 y4), las montanas que la rodean, el Mekong, la ausencia del ajetreo de la vida moderna...todo contribuye a su encanto.
La parte principal de Luang Prabang se halla en una peninsula donde se encuentran los rios Mekong y Nam Kam. Las vias principales corren paralelas a lo largo de la peninsula, cruzadas por vias secundarias mas pequenas que van de la orilla un rio al otro (vista de la ciudad desde la colina del templo, foto 5).
El complejo religioso mas impresionante es el Wat Xieng Thong (foto 6). Construido en 1560, el edificio principal tiene una serie de cubiertas superpuestas que se deslizan unas sobre otras en el clasico estilo de Luang Prabang. La pared posterior del templo esta cubierta con un mosaico de "el arbol de la vida". Es una pena que, como en Tailandia, los templos estan en un estado de permanente restauracion/reconstruccion, lo que les quita algo de caracter. Las paredes interiores estan cubiertas con escenas de un rey famoso. Grandes columnas de madera tambien ricamente decoradas sustentan las cubiertas.
Un pequeno templo anexo alberga una rara escultura de Buddha reclinado, en estilo lao clasico.

Hay otros 31 templos en Luang Prabang. Nosotros solo visitamos algunos de ellos (fotos 7, 8 y 9).

Las cuevas de Pak Ou, accesibles solo desde el rio, estan a unos 25 km de L.P., en la embocadura del rio Nam Ou. En su interior se encuentran 2 cuevas llenas de imagenes de Buddha que devotos budistas han traido a lo largo cientos y cientos de anos (aunque debido a numerosos saqueos muchas de las estatuas, sobre todo las mas antiguas y valiosas, han desaparecido de las cuevas, y han acabado en el famoso mercado nocturno de la ciudad, o incluso fuera del pais) (fotos 10, 11 y 12)

2007-02-13T15:59:00.000+01:00

Luang Prabang, 380 km north of Vientiane was our next destination.

We were not quite sure what to expect interns of the roads and availability of fuel. We have heard that highway 13 that runs the whole length of Laos (China to the north and Cambodia to the south) was now in descent condition. The most of the 380 km was in tight winding mountainous landscape The road just follow the contour of the mountains, no money for bridges except for crossing rivers and took us 8 hours to get to Luang Prabang.

Limestone Mountains of Laos (1)

Rivers are low in the dry season (which is right now) but always popular with the locals (2)

Highway 13 through the mountains (3)

We did find decent fuel along the way and there was a selection of patrol station old (4) and new

Luang Prabang, a 380 km al norte de Vientiane, nuestro proximo destino.
No sabiamos muy bien que tipo, disponibilidad y calidad de gasolina nos esperaba una vez cruzada la frontera.Habiamos oido que la Ruta 13, que recorre el pais de norte a sur uniendo China con Cambodia, era la unica carretera en condiciones aceptables del pais. La mayor parte de los 380 km que unen Vientiane y Luang Prabang transcurre por terreno montanoso y esta lleno de curvas cerradas, pero con paisajes fantasticos. La carretera simplemente sigue el relieve de las montanas, parece que no les dio el dinero para tuneles o puentes que no fueran los estrictamente necesarios para cruzar los rios en el camino. Tardamos nada menos que 8 horas en llegar a Luang Prabang.

Las montanas calizas de Laos (foto 1)
A pesar de que estamos en la estacion seca y los rios corren con niveles bajos de agua, muchos nativos aprovechan para banarse (foto 2).
La autopista 13 (foto 3)
Si que encontramos gasolina decente por el camino, habia bastantes gasolineras, tanto viejas (foto 4) como nuevas

2007-02-13T15:55:00.000+01:00

The country's name in the Lao language is "Muang Lao". The French, who made the country part of French Indochina in 1893, called it Lao.This is believe it or not a one party communist state but one will be hard pressed to notice it. It is more or less a free market economy, similar to China (system, not the scale) But it is one of the poorest countries in the South East Asia.Population is just under 6 million, GNI per capita: US $440 (the richer neighbour to the south GNI per capita: US $2,750)The first signs are good. Little traffic on new road leading to the capital Viantiane the 20 or so kms from the border crossing.Viantiane, on the bank of the river Mea Kong, with a Population of a 600,000 has a feel of a small provincial town. There seems to be quite a bit of economic activity taking place these days. Tourism is one of the main sources of income and quite a few tourists visiting Thailand hop in to Laos. And there are also quite a few infrastructure development projects carried out by Thai, Japanese, Korean and the Chinese creating a bit of a economic boom here (very small boom by rest of the world standards).Should not forget to mention the fact that the horn is hardly used here, just like Thailand and the people are very friendly. /

El nombre de Laos en el lenguaje lao es "Muang Lao" (y perdon por la confusion con los distintos laos!). Los franceses, que unieron al pais con la francesa Indochina en 1893, lo llamaron Laos. Aunque no lo parezca, este es un pais comunista. Es mas o menos un pais con economia de libre mercado, parecido a China en el sistema, no en el tamano. Sin embargo es uno de los paises mas pobres del sudeste asiatico. Con una poblacion de menos de 6 millones de habitantes, la renta anual per capita es de US $440, mientras que los tailandeses disfrutan de US $2,750.
De momento la primer impresion es buena: apenas hay trafico en los aproximadamente 20km de carretera nueva qeu va desde la frontera a la capital, Vientiane.
Vientiane, a la orilla del rio Mekong, tiene una poblacion de 600.000 habitantes, y parece una capital de provincias mas que de un pais. NO parece haber mucha actividad economica en la ciudad. El turismo es una de las principales fuente de ingresos de la ciudad; bastantes turistas de visita en Tailandia deciden saltar a Laos por unos dias. Tambien gracias a los tailandeses, y japoneses, coreanos y chinos, se estan construyendo bastantes infraestructuras en la ciudad - y en el pais, creando algo asi como un pequeno boom del ladrillo (un boom bastante pequeno si se compara con los del resto del mundo).
No vamos a olvidar mencionar que aqui, como en Tailandia, tampoco son amantes del claxon - gracias a Dios - y que la gente es muy muy amable y tranquila.

Patuxay, the Arc de Triumphe of Vientiane (Image 3), The black Stupa in the centre of the city (4) , the Stupa That Luang, the national symbol of Laos (in high gloss gold paint, image 5) and the '70 Toyota don't get to retire as they are very popular with taxi drivers(6)

Patuxay, el Arco del Triunfo de Vientiane (foto 3). La estupa negra (foto 4). La estupa de That Luang, el simbolo nacional de Laos (en oro brillante, foto 5). Los toyota de los setenta, que aun no los han jubilado porque gozan de la simpatia de muchos taxistas (foto 6).

2007-02-13T15:54:00.000+01:00

Thailand-Laos Border.

Did not spend more than one and half hours to get through both Thai and Laos border crossings ( on either side of the Mea Kong river with a bridge in between)

Had to get Temporary import papers for the bike at the Lao side just like entering Thailand but was lot quicker, The bike insuarnce for 3 weeks $4.00 and covers nothing.

Milage so far 21,630 km

La frontera entre Tailandia y Laos.
No tardamos mas de hora y media en cruzar tanto el lado tailandes como el lao (cada lado en una de las dos orillas opuestas del Mekong, con un puente en medio).
Tuvimos que sacar permisos temporales para importar la moto en Laos, como hicimos cuando entramos en Tailandia. Tambien en la frontera nos sacamos un seguro por 3 semanas que nos costo 4 dolares, aunque la verdad es que creemos que no cubre gran cosa.
El kilometraje hasta ahora: 21.630km

2007-02-10T14:44:00.000+01:00

After 3400km in Thailand (three and half weeks), we enterd Laos on the 10 of Feb. /

Despues de hacer 3400 kilometros en Tailandia (en 3 semanas y media), entramos en Laos el 10 de febrero.

2007-02-10T14:43:00.000+01:00

Nong Khai,

Border town on the Thailand side before crossing Mea Kong river (image) to Laos

2007-02-09T12:48:00.000+01:00

The northeast Thailand is dotted with underground caves and we could not give this one a miss, not specially when it was full of bats (and their droppings) snakes and 2,000 year old graves (image 2). \

El nordeste de Tailandia esta lleno de cuevas y grutas subterraneas. Nosotros no quisimos perdernos esta en particular, que esta llena de murcielagos (y sus cagarrutillas), serpientes (y sus mudas de piel) y restos funerarios de hace mas de 2000 anos (foto 2)

2007-02-09T12:26:00.000+01:00

It was time to enjoy the rural Thailand and we headed northwest towards Mae Hong Sou, the Laos border then towards and down south to Mae Sot along the Burmese border before returning to Sukhothai. No we are not allowed in to Burma and with the state of affairs over there, we don’t think we would like to be there either.The hilly landscape of NE Thailand is a quite a contrast to the south that we have been spending out time up to now. Very rural and most of the population belongs to hill tribes (and still very friendly). Less developed but the roads are excellent. /

Ya iba siendo hora de disfrutar de la Tailandia rural, asi que nos pusimos en camino hacia el nordeste, hacia Mae Hong Son, y desde alli hacia el sur, a Mae Sot, la ciudad fronteriza con Birmania, para finalmente volver a Sukhothai.
Por si os lo estais preguntando no, no nos dejar entran en Birmania, y tal y como estan las cosas con el super-represivo regimen que esta en el poder, casi que no nos importa, no creo que hubieramos ido incluso si nos hubiesen dejado!
Los paisajes del NE de Tailandia son montanosos, bastante diferentes de los del sur en los que habiamos estado hasta ahora. Es una zona muy rural, con casi toda la poblacion viviendo en pequenos pueblos, y perteneciendo a tribus de las montanas (y si, lo habeis adivinado, tambien esta gente son la mar de amable y hospitalaria). A pesar de ser una zona menos desarrollada las carreteras son tambien estupendas, llenas de curvas y vistas espectaculares.

2007-02-04T18:32:00.000+01:00

Chiang Mai, 230km from Sukhothai, literally means new city was founded by King Meng Rai over 700 hundred years ago is the centre of Buddhism in northern Thailand. King Meng Rai himself was very religious and founded many of the city's temples. Unfortunately the temples seems to be going under constant renovation and very little of the old character is reflected in any of the sites. And not to mention the mass of tourist that flock to the place. /

Chiang Mai, a 230km de Sukhothai, su nombre significa "nueva ciudad", fue fundada por el rey Meng Rai hace 700 anos, y es en el centro del budismo del norte de Tailandia. El rey era tambien muy religioso, y construyo muchos de los templos que adornan la ciudad. Es una pena que los templos esten en un permanente estado de mejora (gente pintando, remozando paredes, sustituyendo elementos de madera que se pudren...), lo que hace que parezcan totalmente nuevos, y que pierdan el encanto que tendrian si se pudiera apreciar el paso del tiempo por ellos, por no mencionar los "minolles y minolles" de turistas que hay en cada esquina.

2007-02-04T18:23:00.000+01:00

So we finally got out of BBK, next destination is Sukhothai, 430km north of BBK. The route is on virtually flat road on (new highways) leading north. The scenery is of rich agricultural fields. And there is quite a bit of industry as well. /
Por fin salimos de Bangkok hacia Sukhotahi, a 430km al norte de Bangkok. Todo el camino lo hicimos por autopistas recien estrenadas, todas llanas llanas y casi sin curvas!!. El paisaje es sobre todos de fertiles campos de cultivado, con algunas industrias.

Sukhothai found in the 13th century, (literally means Dawn of Happiness) was the capital of the first truly independent Thai Kingdom, which enjoyed a golden age under King Ramkhamhaeng, who credited with creating the Thai alphabet (by the revision of various forms of Khmer alphabets into a system suitable for the writing of Thai words). These alphabet are essentially the same as that in use today.
King Ramkhamhaeng also credited for promoting religion (Buddhism) and culture (classic forms of Thai religious arts). Sukhothai is all about Buddhist temples of Sri Lankan influence and that of Hindu relegion. Having spent a whole day in Sukhothai Historical park, we lost account of how many temples we have seen. /

Sukhothai, fundada en el siglo 13 (su nombre significa La Llegada de la Felicidad) fue la capital del primer reino tailandes, el cual disfruto de su epoca dorada bajo el reinado del rey Ramkhamhaeng, a quien se le atribuye la creacion del alfabeto tailandes (a partir de una revision de distintas formas de los alfabetos Khmer que facilitara la escritura del tailandes). Este alfabeto es,en esencia, el alfabeto en uso en la actualidad.

Tambien se le atribuyen al rey Ramkhamhaeng ser un gran patron de la religion (budismo) y la cultura (principalmente las formas clasicas del arte religioso tailandes)

Sukhothai esta lleno de templos budistas con fuerte influencia de Sri Lanka y de religion hinduista. Despues de pasar el dia entero en el parque historico de Sukhothai casi que perdimos la cuenta de cuantos templos habiamos visto.

2007-02-04T18:20:00.000+01:00

Damnoek saduak, the famous floating market around 120km south west of BBK, and we got there too late ((1 pm), all the venders had left by 10 am, well except the old ladies who could not paddle fast enough.

Damnoek saduak, famoso por el mercado flotante, esta a unos 120 km de Bangkok. Nosotros llegamos tarde el dia que fuimos a visitarlo (a la una del mediodia), y todos los vendedores se habian ido a eso de las 10 de la manana!. Bueno, todos no, unas viejecitas la mar de simpaticas estaban por alli todavia vendiendo flores y frutas.

2007-02-04T18:13:00.000+01:00

BKK has over 120,000 stray dogs (image 1), it feels more like 1.2 million, very scruffy but friendly. / En Bangkok hay algo asi como 120.000 perros vagabundos (foto 1), aunque la verdad es que parece que sean 1.2 millones, con aspecto desalinado pero muy amistosos.

Thais like cars (2) and like useimg them to go everywhere, petrol is 40p a litre (95 octane). / A los tailandeses les gusta ir en coche(foto 2) a todas partes (como a casi el resto del mundo!). La gasolina esta a aproximadamente 60 centimos el litro (la gasolina super 95).

Traffic does not get any less congested in the BKK river ( 3). And it is strange to see the all the eletricity meters on the street, exposed to the elements(4) /
En el rio el trafico no esta mucho mejor que en el centro (foto 3).
Nos parece increible esto de ver todos los contadores de la luz asi, en medio de la calle, a la intemperie (foto 4)

2007-01-28T09:55:00.000+01:00

BKK Traffic Police, the most negative aspect of Thailand we have experienced. (image) Cops waiting at the end of a fly-over to catch the motor cyclist. MC in any form or size are not allowed on the highways (incl fly-overs), real pain!
The bikers (image) are not digging into their pockets to get the drivers licence, instead their pulling out the 100 Bath notes to save a lot of hassle.

La policia de trafico de Bangkok, uno de los aspectos mas negativos -si no el que mas - que hemos conocido de Tailandia. (Ver foto) Los polis se dedican a esperar (al mas puro estilo "emboscada") a la salida de los pasos superiores para cazar a los motociclistas (por ley las motos no pueden usar ni los pasos elevados, ni las autopistas de peaje, ni algunas de las vias rapidas en Bangkok, no me pregunten porque!).

Los motoristas que se ven en la foto no se buscan en losbolsillos para sacar el carnet de conducir, no, se estan sacando billetes de 100 bahts para ahorrarse problemas con la poli.