Vang Vieng

Posted on May 18, 2018 by The Traveller

Found that there is nothing much to see in Vientiane and I asked the hotel to refund the second night room charge. The lady said the hotel has to pay Agoda S$2.87 as I have booked 2 nights online. I paid for the fine and get back the balance S$10.98 to buy the bus ticket to Viang Vieng. I paid S$8.44 for a VIP bus but I guess there were not enough people to fill the bus and the 9 of us were directed to take the mini van. The journey from Vientiane to Vang Vieng is about 3.5 hours.

Vang Vieng a lovely place and my 2 days of visit was worth every cent of it. The city is rather small but there are some adventurous things to do, like rafting in the river, tubing through the water cave, kayaking in the blue lagoon, taking hot air balloon ride, trekking into the dark caves, walking along the street with shops on both sides and others.

I got the day trip for tubing, kayaking, trekking and visiting the caves from a small travel agency set-up along the road. Later I realised that I should get the ticket from the organising company directly instead of from the hotel or the road side tour agent as they do mark-up the prices.

Vientiane 万象

Posted on May 14, 2018 by The Traveller

The bus terminal in Pakse is just a few minutes walk from the FoRest Hotel where I stayed. The bus leaves for Vientiane at 8.30 pm. This will be a 10 hours of night ride with sleeper bed. Vientiane is the Capital of Laos. I only stayed in Vientiane for one night as I found that there was nothing much to see.

Luang Prabang 琅勃拉邦

Posted on April 30, 2018 by The Traveller

Days of wonders and nights of tales. I have learned a lot of the history, cultures, food, languages and the people of Cambodia and Laos during my travel. Seeing is believing. Experience touches the heart. Travelling is to gain knowledge that are unable to obtain from books.

The road to Luang Prabang was not that smooth. The driver stopped twice during the 6 hours journey. Eventually we reached the Northern bus station at about 4.15 am feeling pleasantly drowsy. We walked around the station trying to find a tuk tuk driver to take us to the city, at the same time trying to fight against the urge to sleep. I shared the tuk tuk ride with the 2 young Taiwanese girls, a European couple with each paying S$3.67.

I reached the Villa (a home that was converted into a hotel) at 4.55 am but the gate was locked. Though there were lights from the moon and stars, but the road was quiet and I couldn’t see anybody within the vicinity after the tuk tuk left. I got a bit uneasy and pressed the gate bell repeatedly for a few minutes. I also made noises at the gate. Out of nowhere a fat man appeared quietly from my behind and told me not to make so much noise. He spoke with a slow and low voice saying that the people in the house were sleeping.

Got to know that this fat helpful young housekeeper of the Villa. I could have woke him up (from he sleep in the small house opposite the Villa. He opened the gate and gave me the key to a room. I jumped into the king size bed and slept throughout till 10 am.

The Villa is in a good location where the Dara wet market is just within walking distant. Further down, I could see the main street where there are many restaurants and bars. There is also a night market.

There is also the long Mekong river where you could take a boat river.

Battambang 马德望

Posted on March 6, 2018 by The Traveller

I took a 6 hours bus ride from Phnom Penh to Battambang. When the bus reached the “bus terminal”, tuk tuk drivers rushed toward the alighting passengers trying to sell their services to take the passengers to the city, which is about 20 minutes ride. I was shown with pictures of many hotels and finally I decided on the Royal Hotel that has a roof top bar and a Jacuzzi. I had a room by myself for 2 nights for S$42.

I made an appointment with the young tuk tuk driver to show me around the next day for S$17. I tried the bamboo train in the morning and visited the killing bats caves in the afternoon.

Phnom Penh 金边

Posted on February 28, 2018 by The Traveller

I reached Phnom Penh at about 2.30pm. Cambodia is one hour behind Singapore. I met this old Singaporean man at the airport while I was searching for tourist information. He said that was his first time in Cambodia and asked me how to get to the city. He further asked me where he could get a hotel to stay, what places could he visit and where to find girls. He even asked me how much would the girls charge for a night. I wander. Do I look like a GSO?

I told him I have booked a hotel through the Internet and if he likes, he could come and stay in the same hotel. He paid for me a SIM card at the airport. He said he doesn’t need the SIM card as he cannot read English and does not know how to use the Internet. I walked him to the bus stop.

While we were waiting for the bus, 5 young people approached me and asked how could they get to the city. I wander. Do I look like a tourist guide? These 20+ Chinese young people are working in Singapore and came to Cambodia for holiday during the weekend. I asked all of them to take the public bus 3 with me to the market centre. On the bus, we realised that it was the first day of the New Year in Cambodia and the public buses are free for all. We saved 53 cents each.

The old man decided not to stay in the same hotel with me because I was staying with 9 other foreigners in a room and he couldn’t bring girls into the room. He stayed in a hotel not far from mine and paid S$45 a night. Well, I paid S$8 a night for a bed in a dormitory and a swimming outside of the room.

The Killing Fields are the sites where collectively more than 1.3 million people were killed and buried by the Communist Party of Kampuchea during Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970–75).

Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality ….. Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886).

Greece 希腊 (Athens 雅典)

Posted on December 3, 2017 by The Traveller

酒神喝醉了, 海神去航海.
雷神放暑假, 我该怎么办?
闪电在睡着, 风神又不来.
太阳管天下, 我快要疯掉!

到达雅典, 天气仍然如土耳其那样炎热
听说古希腊神话的十二主神能够帮助人们解决问题
雖然如此, 在不同的時代人类不斷為了適應其文化演化而變化
现在我们已经變成了神通广大
求神不如求己
无论天气有多热, 被晒到有多黑
我仍然在雅典逗留了六天

I joined the free walking tour on the next day when I reached Athens. For the next few days, I revisited those places that the guide had showed us.

I got confused with the Parthenon and the Acropolis till I asked my friend Mr. G and got to know that the Parthenon is an ancient religious temple the Athenians built for the Greek goddess Athena. The Acropolis is the high hill that the Parthenon was built on. In short, the Parthenon is a temple and the Acropolis is the hill the Parthenon is located.

When you are in Greece, you should visit some of the islands. There are travel agents who will customize island hopping according to your needs but I found these packages are not within my travel budget. Instead, I took the train to the harbor and take pictures of people onboarding the ships.

I tried to strike up a conversation with the young butcher in the local market but didn’t have much luck as I do not speak Greek. Somehow he understood my body and sign languages and posted for me to take pictures. What a wonderful encounter for the trip!

I booked the backpacker that comes with breakfast. I took 2 hard boiled eggs from the mini buffet table and filled up the water bottle when I left the breakfast room. I just need to have another late lunch or earlier dinner for the day, which cost less than S$20. This is the way I control my budget.

Here is the other side of midnight in Greece. Do you consider this an graffiti art or vandalism?

Cappadocia 卡帕多西亚

Posted on November 15, 2017 by The Traveller

The whispers in the morning
Woke me up
Of me sleeping light
I helplessly sigh
Even though I have time
I quickly walked up
Of seeing the hot air balloons
On the mountain side
Sound of my heart beat
Travelled thr morning light
Of me leading myself
Finding for a good site
The sun unwillingly woke up
And birds flying up high
Of hundreds balloons floating
What a beautiful sight

I was a cave man in Cappadocia because I stayed in a cave. Most of the hotels here are built in or near to caves. In fact, the whole city is surrounded by caves.

I shared the cave with a few people. There is no fan, no air-con and no window but the place is cooling.

I got out of the cave and started to explore the place for a few hours.

I took the Green Tour and visited the underground city and other places.

The guide took us to a restaurant (pay for your own drink and food). The tour ended up with a soak of our feet into the water.

Ankara 安卡拉

Posted on November 4, 2017 by The Traveller

I took the midnight bus from Cappadocia to Ankara. I though I could save the cost of the hotel stay and sleep in the bus. However, I just couldn’t get a good sleep in the bus. When I reached Ankara at 7am, the hotel was kind enough to let me check-in early. Till then I managed to sleep for a few hours.

Breakfast is included in the room rate. For dinner, I went to the nearby food store and had some Turkish food.

The hotel that I stayed is a bit off the city. When I asked the hotel staff for the nearby places of interest, he pointed me to Anitkabir which is about 20 minutes of walk from the hotel.

This is the colonnaded tomb for the former president, Kemal Ataturk, with a marble hall, turrets & museum.

There was a change of guard when I was there.

I took the bus and went to visit the ancient castle. The place is built on a rocky hilltop, offering panoramic views of the city in all directions.

I continued with my journey and saw many interesting buildings.

Istanbul 伊斯坦布尔

Posted on October 22, 2017 by The Traveller

There is a fire burning in my heart,
I have to cool it before I could start.
There is an excitement growing within me,
I have to stop it before I am not me.

First arrival in Istanbul got me so excited to see such a beautiful place. The Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia Museum and Basilica Cistern are just within minutes of walk from the place I was staying. The Tram station is also nearby. Actually I walked most of the time instead of taking the tram.

Yes! I joined the free walking tour.

Met up with the local people.

There are armed soldiers and military vehicles around the tourists area.

This is the train station.

You could take a boat ride.

The place where I stayed provide breakfast with a nice view.

The local food

Pamukkale 棉花堡

Posted on October 17, 2017 by The Traveller

From Canakkale I took the bus to Pamukkale (S$38). This was a long and tiring 8 hours ride and the bus stopped in Denizli instead.

At the bus terminal, I approached a policeman to ask for direction and finally I landed up in a small and cosy hotel (S$31) with a mixture of Turkish and Western buffet breakfast

The next morning, I went to the bus terminal and took the mini bus (S$1.58) to Pamukkale.

When I got off the bus, someone from a nearby travel agency approached me asking whether I would like to join a day tour of Pamukkale for S$54. I told him I would consider about that.

After about 10 minutes of walk, another man approached me asking me to join his tour for S$36, which is one third cheaper that the earlier approach. His group had 2 Canadians, 2 Indians, one Korean and 2 Singaporeans. Without second thought, I joined in the tour.

Later I found out that the middle age Singaporean couple is a pilot and a teacher. I also saw 3 young Malay Singaporeans while waiting for the tour.

This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a natural site for hot springs. The place is rather small but it had some remarkable spots, such as the Roman Spa and Roman Theatre.