Dispatches from Chiang Mai

Greetings!

Well, time is most certainly beginning to fly by now, we can't believe that we're already a month and a half into our six and a half month adventure - more importantly, we only have five months left (and so much left to see). True to form, I am beginning to panic about how we are going to fit it all in (what's life without a little bit of stress!).

So, we ended off our Vietnam experience with a trip through the Mekong Delta - it was awesome, and definitely one of our highlights. From the popped rice factory to the early morning floating markets to our night spent with a Vietnamese war veteran and decorated hero who had fought both the French and the Americans. We were very excited when we found out and got to see all his medals. Only one small problem...he didn't speak a word of English - or French for that matter. But Marc persevered with him late into the night with a little piece of paper and a pen. The last thing I heard before drifting off to sleep was Marc and Mr Lai teaching each other how to count in English and Vietnamese...conversation was clearly hitting rock bottom. Still, it was an unforgettable evening.

Our Mekong adventure ended with us taking a boat to the Cambodian border crossing on our way to Phnom Penh where we met up with our friend Catherine who was fresh off the boat from New Zealand - or the greatest country in the world according to Catherine. It has a lot to live up to - it has to beat Scotland and South Africa for one ;).

Oh Cambodia...the land of tragedy and heart-ache - everywhere you look. We managed to get some respite from the half clothed children, invalid beggars and victims of land mines by heading to a small town near the south coast called Kampot, and for a few days we lounged around our luxury 5USD a night guesthouse, taking the odd day trip and meeting some excellent new friends. Highlight of that trip has to be our afternoon of crab-feasting on Rabbit Island (no rabbits in sight to our disappointment). We were starving by the time they brought out the spiced and fried critters, and so we set aside our table manners and our dignity and we slurped and sucked the sweet meat out of the impossibly small crabby chambers - we also forgot all about the chickens, cows, pigs and ducks which we had watched wandering through the kitchen area licking bowls and worktops. What harm could a little chicken spit really do????

Our next destination was Siem Riep via Phnom Penh - so back on the bus for another rollercoaster bus journey (the roads in Cambodia are hectically bumpy) and a quick plane ride to the most touristy town in the country - advantage: the infrastructure is not that bad; disadvantage: the street kids, invalid beggars and landmine victims are constantly wearing you down with their pity. At first it is heart-wrenching - then it becomes enfuriating! Cambodia has bred a generation of beggars - little kids with pitiful sing song voices and puppy dog eyes who threaten to continue imploring you to buy from them or they won't go away (I kid you not!). Begging is a sad profession in a country that receives loads of aid and handouts from international organisations and visitors - it is drunk on aid and the best example of why aid is bad - it has developed a culture built around a begging bowl. Despite the beautiful temples of Angkor Wat (which you can really see in a couple of days), we couldn't wait to leave Siem Riep and Cambodia behind us. I doubt we will be back soon!

And so back to Thailand, this time the north to meet up with our friend Diane in the town of Chiang Mai. Besides the enormous night market, the other attraction to this pretty little town is the surrounding mountains which offer the more adventurous among us (ie not me) to go bungee jumping, white river rafting and zooting around on a quad bike.

Tourists can also go elephant trekking - ie riding on the back of an Asian ellie through the jungle for about half an hour. Somehow, the thought of riding atop this magnificant beast didn't appeal, so we looked around for alternatives, and came across the Elephant sanctuary (or Elephant Nature Park) about an hour away. It has been the highlight of our trip! We spent the day listening to the stories of all the ellies around us, most of them of very sad - tales of abuse and ignorance. We got to hand feed the ellies - a messy task, especially when they're hungry - and we then walked down to the river with them, and got to scrub them while they took a little bath. The best thing about the place is that the elephants are not shackled or chained during the day, and their trainers or mahouts don't smack them on the head with hooks to make them obey them. Also, and quite amazingly, the ellies have reverted to their normal behaviour in the wild (something they're not able to do in an elephant camp), and have formed family units with matriacal hierachies, even though they're not related. Clearly (and despite popular opinion in this place) elephants should NOT be domesticated!

Anyway, before I gush on too much about them, we are considering heading back to the sanctuary to volunteer to build fences, prepare food and scoop ellie poo for a week. Check out the websites if you want to know more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Nature_Park and http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm

So, tomorrow we (Catherine, Marc and I) begin our long journey to Laos (which for some stupid reason - probably the French's fault - is pronounced Lao). I wonder what it will be like? Our aim is to get to Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and then the 4000 islands where we will hopefully get to see the endangered fresh water dolphins.

For those of you wondering whether travelling has changed us physically, I can report that I am much browner and no thinner, and Marc's gone an interesting shade of reddish brown. His beard is also long now with red and grey flecks (yes Marc, they are grey) and he looks a bit like Jopie Adams as we knew him in South Africa or Grizzly Adams if you're in the US/UK. As I haven't had a chance to upload our photos yet, take a look at this picture and imagine him in a kilt:

or http://www.dm-productions.com/bonanzafilm/a.danhaggerty_2.jpg if you can't see the pic.

I'm not sure when we will next be at an internet cafe as Laos is one of the poorest nations in South East Asia and does not even have ATMs http://wikitravel.org/en/Laos . So watch this space for our next update.

Hope you are all well, and look forward to your comments.

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