Three more weeks of holidays!!!!

Sa bai dee! It's a rainy Saturday in Vientiane - the wet season has truly arrived :-) Perfect weather to tell you all about the rest of our holiday! I'm actually happier than I expected to be to be back in Vientiane - I'm excited about the next five months here, and its nice to be sitting still for a few minutes (compared to the last few weeks!), although I miss hanging out with Amy and Jason, and Katie and her family :-(
Just before you start reading this epic post, please feel free to check out the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/susieblue (the blog slideshow only allows for 20 new photos - and there are more than that!)
So...where did I leave you? We were just about to fly to Hanoi :-) We left for our 6pm flight at 4.30, four people in the back of a tuk-tuk with a lot of luggage. However we had a moment of panic when we couldn't find Amy and Jason's camera, so we turned the tuk-tuk around and headed home - but it wasn't there either. Eventually we found it...in the bottom of Amy and Jason's backpack :-) We still made our flight with plenty of time :-)
Hanoi was just as I remembered - busy, crazy, people driving around with their hands permanently glued to the horns of their cars. We were amazed to actually have a hotel room (we'd 'booked' with the exact same hotel that turned me away in November saying they had no space, despite having already 'booked' a room). After a rather ordinary dinner down by the lake, we had an early night (no doubt also preceded by a game of 500 or canasta - we did more of this on the holiday than anything else!)
The next morning we first headed to the lake and checked out the temple. However two guys with video cameras decided they wanted to follow us around outside the temple, despite us being in hysterics and wondering aloud why these guys were stalking us (when Chris bought us tickets to the temple, he had one of either side of him!) Eventually they left us alone when we entered the temple :-)
Then we headed to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, which was an amazingly detailed museum which studied pretty much every culture existing in Vietnam. The most impressive part was the outdoor exhibits, which had life size models of various houses. However there is only so much you can read about other cultures in one go, and it started to rain, so we headed back to the hotel and waited for the rain to subside.
In the evening we went to another restaurant on the lake called 'Legends Beer' - I would have thought it was pretty forgettable, but Chris and Jason raved about the beer (which was unique to the restaurant), rating it as the best beer they'd ever had (and probably the best experience of the entire holiday!) After this we headed to the water puppet show, which I thought was pretty unique and special (although any more than a hour and I think I would have got bored!)
The next morning we left for one of the most anticipated legs of our holiday - our 3 day cruise around Halong Bay, which is soon to be voted one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world (which is 3 hours drive from Hanoi). We got there by midday and transferred to our boat - it was pretty amazing, with 8 rooms on the bottom level (each with a view of the bay, hot showers, airconditioning...although we didn't need it!), a restaurant on the second level, and a sun deck on the top level. The bay was amazing - 3000 islands jutting out of the ocean, it felt like you could just get lost in it. In the afternoon we stopped at a floating village (complete with kids rowing over to our boat to sell us Pepsi and Oreos!!!) and jumped in sea kayaks to do some exploring. We went kayaking through caves that brought us out into lagoons that had no other access way - it was incredible. We anchored in a secluded bay that night :-)
The next morning we stopped at a cave, which was nicely lit and had lots of interesting formations inside. The boat then took us to a spot with lots of beaches, and we jumped back in the sea kayaks and did some more paddling. We came back for lunch, where they had set up a table for 8 on a tiny beach which could only be accessed by boat. The sun was out, the food was fresh and yummy...until the water actually started lapping at our feet under the table and we realised the tide was coming in and our beach was disappearing! So we had to leave :-) In the afternoon we went for a 'trek' on one of the islands to visit a couple who lived there by themselves - except it was actually more like rock climbing. We had no idea how difficult it was going to be - I was one of the only people who had worn joggers. We were all pretty glad and sore when this was over!!!
Our last morning on the cruise it was raining, so when they dropped us at a lovely beach we weren't able to appreciate it properly :-( We got back to the port at midday, after a thoroughly enjoyable three days - probably the highlight of the trip for me. Soon we were back in Hanoi - I took Amy to do some shopping (one of the things I like most about Hanoi!) while the boys went and had some more 'Legends Beer'. We all had dinner together at a nice restaurant I had tried back in November.
The next morning was thoroughly bizarre - we went to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Last time I was in Hanoi, he was hanging out in Russia with his other Communist buddies, so I didn't get to see him, so we thought we'd drop by this time. The whole experience was quite uncomfortable - guards telling you exactly where and when you could walk, walking into the mausoleum which was cold and smelt of nail polish (to keep him preserved...), and then shuffling past this guy in a glass coffin......I was happy to get out. However we weren't allowed to bring our bag with us, so we sent Chris to get it - and then he couldn't get back to where we were without some guard barking at him to turn around. Eventually I went to find him, and he went to find the others, and we agreed to meet in front of the mausoleum...only this time I had guards barking at me and I couldn't get to him. After about two hours of this we were finally all reunited with each other and with our bag...and were determined to get out of Hanoi!!!!
We flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia that afternoon, arriving just before dark. Our hotel was lovely (complete with pool!) so we spent the evening there, washing our clothes, eating and playing some cards.
The next morning we left at the ungodly hour of 5am (with our driver, who took us around all day for $30 - there's a lot to see!) to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. It was pretty incredible, we saw an amazing sunrise :-) We then spent about five hours wandering around the complex - it's just amazing. Its the largest religious building in the world (initially built as Hindu temples but eventually used as a Buddhist temple - hence the name), built almost a thousand years ago, and virtually every surface had some sort of carving on it. On each outside wall of the temple, there are scenes that are carved in the rock (called bas reliefs) which run for several hundred metres!
Unfortunately the temples are visited by so many tourists that at each one there was a collection of kids waiting to pounce on you when you left and sell you things you didn't want. I was pretty impressed by their knowledge of different languages and of Australia, and also of their manipulative techniques, but I never bought anything. I got very sick of hearing 'ten for one dollar' (although I had to laugh when I told one kid I wanted nothing, and he shot back with 'ten dollars for nothing' :-))
After our time at Angkor Wat, we were pretty stuffed, so we grabbed some brunch and went back to the hotel to relax in the pool and watch the hottest hours of the day go by. In the afternoon we headed to Ta Prohm, where Angelina Jolie was filmed in Tomb Raider. This temple was amazing for it had been left mostly as it was when it was discovered, and so was slowly been crushed by many ancient trees, which had grown all over the top of the rocks. After a few hours here, we headed to Phnom Bakheng (a temple on a hill) to watch the sunset over Angkor Wat, but the weather meant there was no sun to see :-( Dinner was during happy hour at the Foreign Correspondent's Club (which we had also visited in Phnom Penh).
The next morning we slept in, and then went to the new Angkor National Museum. This was really good, because it gave us a background to what we had seen the day before. There certainly are a lot of Hindu gods!!! In the afternoon we went to Bayon, which has more than 200 faces carved into its towers - pretty amazing. We did some more wandering around other temples of Angkor Thom (the ancient city in which Bayon is located) but it started to rain so we headed back to our hotel. That night we headed to a buffet and dancing show recommended by our driver - I found the Khmer dancing to be quite clever and entertaining, and there was so much food!!!!!!!
The next day we got up again to watch the sunrise in a different location, only we were foiled by bad weather :-( We spent the morning exploring several lesser known temples - Bantrey Krei (where the sun finally appeared!), Preah Khan, Pre Rup, Ta Som, and Ta Keo (this was the tallest of all the temples, and the steps were seriously scary and dangerous!) Our flight to Bangkok left in the afternoon. Exploring the Angkor temples was another one of the highlights of the trip - there were still so many that we didn't see (although I think we might have got temple overload!)
We were all very tired when we got to Bangkok, so we checked into our hotel and didn't venture out except to check our email for the rest of the day. I was getting a bit exhausted by pushy salespeople and totally insane traffic, and Bangkok wasn't going to be any exception....
We left early the next morning for another highly anticipated part of the trip (for me anyway) - our trip to the Death Railway, which my grandfather had survived through despite truly appalling conditions as a POW in WWII. First we stopped at the war cemetery, where over 5000 prisoners of war were buried - it was Anzac Day just the week before, so the memorial was still covered in wreathes. Then we visited the Bridge over the River Kwai and walked across it - not an easy experience for someone afraid of heights! After this we went to the train station and caught the train along the railway - 100 kilometres of the 400 km railway are still operational. We caught the train for two hours, and then stopped for a lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the river - and a 400m wooden bridge built by the POW's during a three week period (which we also walked along after lunch). We were then driven to Hellfire Pass - while constructing the railroad, many cuttings through rock had to be made, and were often built simply by POW's hacking at the rock with rudimentary tools, and placing dynamite inside. Hellfire Pass got its name because often the POW's had to work at night, and the sights of their emanicated bodies working by firelight literally looked like hell. The pass was built in 12 weeks, with huge casualties. We explored the museum here, which was set in an beautiful location - one of the boards here mentioned the rescue of my grandfather and other POW's by American submarines after the ship taking them to Japan was torpedoed. Then we walked through the pass itself, which also had many tributes from Anzac Day still present. We headed back to Bangkok just before sunset - it was an amazing journey for me and Amy, I just wished that I knew more of my grandfathers story so I could have played tribute to his achievements in particular.
We ordered pizza in our hotel room in Bangkok that night - it tasted truly terrible. Maybe I'm just used to getting nice take away pizza here in Vientiane!!!
The next day we took things nice and easy, with a late breakfast and some cards before we finally had to check out. We went to Wat Phra Kaew (despite being totally sick of temples and Buddhas, and despite having a taxi driver who seemed determined to take us somewhere else and eventually dropped us in the wrong place!) to see the Emerald Buddha - which lived in Vientiane until about 250 years ago. This was a lovely temple complex (although we had to borrow clothes in order to wear head to toe coverings!!!) After this, we went to get a late lunch on Khao San Road - the backpacker headquarters in Bangkok, full of dazzling lights, signs, people selling illegal documents, and guesthouses. We went to a place called Susie Pub (yay!)
We caught our flight to Ko Samui at 8.30 that night (after a few more hours hanging out in the Bangkok Airways lounge). Halong Bag, Angkor Wat, and the Death Railway were highly anticipated - but they had nothing on this. We spent most of our holiday talking about how awesome it would be when we got to Ko Samui and spent 5 days in the most amazing villa possible, overlooking the ocean, and with its own pool, and spent time with Katie, Rob, Benji and Lilly.
We weren't disappointed. We stayed up until midnight when we arrived swapping stories with Katie and Rob (they had spent the previous week in Phuket). The next morning I was woken up by my adorable niece Lilly, who immediately went and jumped into the pool with her Auntie Amy :-) After a long shop at Tesco's in town, we were all in the pool - and that night, a Thai chef we had hired for the evening came and cooked us a feast!
The next day, Amy, Jason, Chris and I left Katie and the kids behind and went for a snorkelling trip to Ko Tao, an island about two hours from Ko Samui by boat. We first stopped at Ko Nangyuan, just off the coast of Ko Tao, which was a lovely spot with a white sand strip joining three small islands.
This was where the comedy of errors begun. Amy took her rings off after remembering how Bryce had lost his wedding ring snorkelling in Fiji, and put them in the camera case. Jason went walking and taking photos later, and dropped all by Amy's wedding ring on some rocks. After lunch, Jason went to search for the rings, foregoing his chance to go snorkelling with us off the coast of Ko Tao in the afternoon. We were just boarding the boat again when Jason showed up with a big grin on his face - he had managed to find both of the rings he had dropped. So we all went snorkelling again happily.
We were all boarding the boat to leave our second snorkelling spot (the snorkelling was altogether quite disappointing - I had to swim a long way to find any fish sometimes, and I managed to get sunburnt!) when Jason saw someone jump off the top of the boat into the ocean. He asked me if I dared him to do it, I said yes, and got the camera ready to take the photos as he jumped in....For the next ten minutes, him, Chris and a few others looked for his glasses, which had been on his face when he jumped, but they were gone forever. It was funny looking back through the photos of him jumping off :-)
The next day Katie, Amy and I checked out the shopping along Chaweng Beach (the most famous beach on the island) while Chris went for a swim (Chris didn't rate it that highly though, and neither did I when I saw it - we have some pretty awesome beaches in Sydney!) We went for dinner that night at a seafood restaurant - where you pick your own fish fresh off the ice and tell them how you would like them to cook it :-)
On our fourth day on Ko Samui we didn't even leave the villa - we were completely in chill out mode :-) We had 250 DVD's to choose from, I managed to read all of Alex Garland's 'The Beach'
(a cult novel about finding new travel utopias in Thailand), we had lots of card games to play, a pool to swim in (although it had turned a disturbing shade of green after some vengeful Thai pool cleaners sabotaged it...) and food to eat...
On our final day on the island Katie and Rob took Benji and Lilly to ride the elephants, while we went to check out a beach on the western side of the island - a beautiful beach, but there appeared to be little stingers/jellyfish in the water so we didn't swim for very long. We had our final meal together in Chaweng at Rice - an Italian restaurant :-)
It was pretty sad to leave Ko Samui the next day -knowing that our awesome holiday had come to an end, knowing that I wouldn't see my family again for another five months, and knowing I had to go back to work the next day after 4 and a half weeks off! Thank you Katie and Rob for saying yes to coming to Thailand - we had a lovely time with you and the kids, and I think we should definitely do it again :-) And a big big thank you to Amy and Jason - you were perfect travelling partners, we had such a great time seeing all these cool things with you!! :-)
We arrived back in Vientiane that night at about 9 - to find that one of the bolts on the front door had slipped into its hole and we were locked out :-( After an hour of trying to break the door down, we eventually managed to pull out our Swiss army knife and pull the bolt out of the hole from the bottom of the door using a pair of pliers - finally getting in. It felt very MacGyver (we even had a piece of string going at one time!)
The first two days at work have been good - I feel ready for the task, even though there's still plenty of things to do before I leave in October :-) I'm taking things easy at the moment, just trying to get used to life here again :-)
Well, it's taken me a good two hours to write this - if you've gotten this far, congratulations! I promise that from now on I'll be writing more regularly (especially considering I have no money to do anything now!) One final request - please keep your thoughts and prayers with our flatmate Sam, who has returned to Australia briefly after a death in his family.

Sok dee,
Susan