Rising The Taiwan Flag

On the last day of 2005 I rose the flag symblising Taiwanese independence amongst 12 flags representing 12 other nations which helped build the PEPY Ride School. This is probably one of the proudest moments of my life. Being able to bring Taiwan to the world the way I want to has always been my biggest dream. In 2005 I have achieved so much in both my personal and professional life, in big ways and little ways. But I think this tops it all.


Flag courtesy to World United Formosans for Independance, and my Aunt Jean that posted it to me. This is for all of us.

Happy Pizza

- large beer lao = 1.20 USD
- khmer style noodle soup = 1 USD
- 2 slices happy pizza = 2 USD
- 1 container of fruit for your room mate who has diahorrea (most likely from eating grasshopper the night before) = 2000 riels
- tip for happy staff = 200 riels
- winter melon(coly) tea = 1 USD
- view of the Mekong River rolling by = free
- 2 beroccas in the morning = 40 baht
- being mindblowingly happy for 8 hours in Phnom Pehn = absolutely priceless

Emma ATE a Grasshopper

Words fail me at moments like this. Ask Emma for a copy of the video.

Christmas in Bangkok

Christmas in Bangkok is like Chinese new year in Auckland. Its not really something the locals care too much about except for the excuse to make even more money off the tourists and the excuse to drink even more excessively.

I have always been a Christmas skeptic, but I suppose its a bit like my atheism which toned down to agnosticism as I age and become less idealistic. Hey, I am not going to turn down the chance to be intoxicated just cos that's suppose to be wrong.

On Christmas eve, Emma and I met up with Jo and Rachel, two JETS from japan who are also in BKK, and Malin the Swedish chick I met in Lao. The evening started with singha beer and a collection of weird snacks we picked up at the markets - rice caramel crackers, fish cakes, roasted broadbeans coated with chilli powder, fried dough, etc etc. And that crazy drinking game the kiwi chicks form halong bay taught me.

By the time we made it to the seafood restaurant with live crustaceans displayed on ice outside, the Khao san area was already packed with tourists and Thais out for a good time. Soon we were in tears, not for the diners sitting in the corner by themselves with their The Darvinci Codes, but the overpowering chilli the chefs tend to sprinkle by the handfulls in everything they serve - mainly to make you order more beer. It really is a circus out here - other than the usual street vendors with pad thai and fruit, and the massage shop ladies, there was a little Thai boy selling endangered birds (10 fits into a small bamboo cage), a little French boy who's parents are obviously oblivious to the fact that he is annoying all the diners with his remote controlled bat-mobile, a man in santa suit cycling around the street with a tuk-tuk decorated with white pipe cleaners and xmas light to resemble a giant snow queen vehicle belting out xmas carols - 20 baht a pop for a ride. And the indian magicians that can tell you exactly when you'll meet the man of your dreams, how much he'll make, when you will have your first child and whether you're in line for that inheritance.

The rest of the night was debaucherous mixture of 7-11 beers, crazy Thai pop music and toilet ladies telling you that you've gone into the men's toilets. And a bit more of being mistaken as Japanese. I've heard enough of AISHITERU for now.

The morning was quite nice - another hot sticky day in Bangkok. Emma has not emerged from her recovery but I was keen to get back into the curries (while I make my xmas phone calls) - an open air smorgasbord in the shallow ally way beside the guest house which has over 20 curries to choose from, at 25 baht a plate with free grayish ice water (which I have sworn against after seeing a pile of ice being transported on the back of a truck, no containers or covers, just dripping out onto the road and straight into the ice machine...). Nothing beats chilli on a day like this!!

We dragged our hangovers all the way to the Chatuchak weekend markets in the afternoon where we met up with Jib - whom i haven't seen for 10 months. Its one of the biggest markets in the region, over 20,000 stalls and as it was the end of the year it was packed with ppl. I can't believe this is the middle of the winter cos the heat alone makes your eyes blurry, let alone doing this while you just had xx amount of singha beer the night before. The warehouses where half the stalls are is like a big rice cooker and it was impossible for girls of our delicacy could really handle. We ended the day with, you guessed it, KAREOKE! To my surprise, the Thais aren't really that into kareoke, most of the clientele are ex pat Japanese. But thanks to Jib who is also a kareoke junkie we found a fantastic place in Asoke, and just drowned ourselves in song for the rest of the evening. i really missed doing kareoke with Emma, we just know each other too well - we are like kareoke soul mates - the words and the melodies just gel and together amd belt out like poetry. We created a big monster that the Asoke residents (particularly those with children) would be glad to see the back of.

This is probably around the 80th time I did "My Way" - about time I lost count, really.

Khao San Road is

Asthetically lacking in Appeal - Best pad thai ever - Cheap and nasty - Decadent - Ethnically diverse - a total Freakshow - Guiness in an Irish pub - a Home - I've just bumped into someone from school - Jocks galore - Kolydiscope - Like sydney except asians are europeans - i am Morally confused about whether to pay 300 baht for a fake student id which would set me up till when i am 60 - Nah, don't - Oooooh! esspresso! - Packed with PeoPle - Quick thrills - Rest upon a canopy with a heavy duty earplug - Spicy deep fried locus on a Stick - Twentyfour seven round the clock party party party - Underestimated by very far - Very premiscuous- Warm up and Warm down for the West - Xmas deco more potent than harrods - You can do what ever the hell You like - in this Zoo

Bangkok is

Adorned in gold - Beggers line the streets - Culinary Paradise - Dusty - Ecclectic - Filthy (Filthy rich) - Game enough for anything - His majesty's pics framed and worshiped on every wall - Innovative - they still think im Japanese - Kinky - Lleyton hewitt is huge here - Monkeys - No rubbish bins - Old fat white men cuddling young thin thai women - Planned and rigid - Quite happy to sleep any where, an alley way, back of a billboard, top of a car, behind the cashier - Religion is also huge - Straight boys wear make up - just like Taipei or Tokyo - U can eat two bags of paw paw for breakfast every day - Vanity - a Wat built in every block - seXually perverse - Young and hungry - Zen will always be found in your corner

Journey in the Jungle

An old colleague called Alan Cockrall from my international relations days at Vic Uni was a part-time soldier and had returned from a Jungle Warfare training camp from Australia. Him and his mates referred to the jungle as "the J" - as if the jungle was something man could conquer, take-over, manipulate... win-over

On Friday 16th December I hired a guide/translator from a nearby village called Boun Pone, a gorgeous soft-spoken tiny young man half my size for 25 USD a day. We set out from Luang Prabang on boat, and went up the Mekong for about 20 mins, starting our trek (or tramp as we know it in the Sth hemisphere) from a small low land Lao village. The landscapes changed dramatically as we ascended towards the Puluangdai Mountain. First it was all rice paddies and grass, but then the bush became thicker and larger vines grows about.

We walked past a few villages of different ethnicities - 30% of Lao's population are made up of hill tribe ppl. Around this area they are maily Hmong and Kmous, whom have been quite politically rebellious in the past towards the Lao gov. One of the first place we stopped was at a low land Lao village and school - a shack made up with wooden panels. There were about 20 kids, on a break playing. Boun Pone knows the teacher (in fact he know every body) and I was able to mingle with the kids a little and that was pretty fun. One of them had to bring a baby brother to school, maybe cos her parents have to work during the day? I've seen this all on Global Village but when I am actually here it is really quite gob smacking seeing how little they have and get by with. They didnt' have any paper and the kids used chalk and blackboard as their school books. There were these buffalos that just walks into the playground in the middle of the day. Not all the kids in the village went to school - one 4 or 5 yo was helping his grandmother carry a bunch of firewood home. In the villages there's no electricity, and the water is from nearby stream. They have hundreds of animals running around, mostly poultry, pigs and dogs. Doesn't seem like there's much to do there or at least not this time of the year after all the harvesting's done - most of them are sitting around the fire having a chat, its pretty easy going.

Its full moon week, so there were drumming from nearby tribes. Muddy river, snakes (one of them as thick as my wrist) , buffalos, long blade like grass, all it needed was a B52 bomber flying ahead to complete the Apoclypse Now picture, or an Indiana Jones movie. Except I'm not in a studio, no make up artists to wipe off my sweat, and can't blame the director or the agent for roping me into this cos I brought it all upon myself... it was bloody tough, with a good 8 hours uphill on the first day. Particularly when the bush is quite thick and having to get rid of the grass in the way. Its quite a common path for the Hmongs that live at the top of the mountain going to and from town, but from the two days there I have not seen a single foreigner.

Late in the afternoon we finally arrived at the top of the mountain - I was about to die of exaughstion by then. It was intriguing to find these two huge villages on the top of this mountain in the middle of no where. Why they chose to live up there at the first place was a mystry to me. But they've been doing it for thousands of years and they seem find it fine. Out of my request Boun Pone organised for us to stay at a smaller village where there's less chickens and ducks - with the chief's (or Big Man, as BP calls him) family. The Big Man is called Jueh and his Hmong tribe village is called Mopblai village - over looking thousands of layers of mountain, protected by the jungle. There were vine gates preventing wild buffalos from intruding into their tribe land and tampering with their sticky rice.
Some of the women were in traditional Hmong outfits, but most of them just wore simple clothes like the Laosians. The only thing that had "electricity" was this rice shelling machine powered by diesel. The housing was simple straw houses - on the ground, not like on stilts like Lao or Vietnamese. The Big Man had 12 kids and quite a few grandkids, they share a bigger house that had an enclosed bedroom with a huge board where the entire family sleeps together - how they manage to have sex is quite another matter... My bed was a "storage" area above a whole bunch of pumpkins and squashes. Boun Pone brought dinner material with him and cooked seperately to the Hmongs - not quite sure why but I thought I'd ask later rather than being insensitive. But the Hmongs gave us some of their food as well that was pretty plain but nice. The Big Man smoked a big bong (opium??) and played a fun instrument which i'll get a pic of soon. They were quite happy for me to take photos, and upon seeing the image in the camera they break out in surprise and laughter.

I had a chat with the Big Man via Boun Pone about his village, what they do etc etc. Next week is Hmong New Year (damn im missing it) where they will probably slaughter quite a few pigs and dogs for the feast. New Year is the one and only time of the year you can chose a partner and get married - harsh! Big Man tried to marry me off too - he says he'll find me a nice Hmong boy. I explained to him that I already have a boyfriend and anyhow I don't think i'll be getting married any time soon, I'm too young (25). Big Man chuckles and tells me that Hmong girls get married when they are 14 or 15, but if they are not good looking they don't get married till they are 30. Sarcasm exists in Hmong??

Other things of interest:
- they treat their own illnesses - hot water does the job most of the time, but if its serious they have to walk 6 hours through the jungle to Luang Prabang for the nearest hospital!!
- Big Man used to be a police man during "the war" but he decided to come home to the village cos he's got too many kids to look after
- They've seen plenty of brits, americans and japanese, but I am the first Taiwanese and first New Zealander they have ever seen.

Dinner was at 6pm and they all went to be at about 7.30pm - lack of light I suppose. They then get up at 4am in the morning to do various things around the village like collecting veges and kill pigs. I wanted to see them kill pigs but I slept in (thanks to my 33 decible earplugs).

to be continued...

Laos

Laos is a breath of fresh air - literally!!

It was so nice touching down here after leaving smoggy and cold Hanoi behind - its like SUNNNNSSHHHINNNEEEEE!!!! bit like being in Cairns or Suva after being in Melbourne... Its just so clean and fresh here, green and mountainous I LOVE IT!!

Its almost tropical here except its further up north. I am in the "ancient capital" of Luang Prabang, this crazy middle sized village of a mixture of village ppl, hippy backpackers, beer cafes and hill tribe ppl. Most of the town is actually UNESCO listed as well, lots of monks walking around and doing drumming for the full moon at the world heritage temples. Soooo trippy! Lots of ducks and chickens walking around - as in, not on a plate, and am not sure if I am completely safe. ppl here are lovely, so much less pushy and easy going, feel so chilled out and relaxed after the mad rush in Hanoi.

I made the ride in from the "airport" with a bri-ish couple and a muslim looking Sweed, in the back of this cargo truck - which is really much more fun than the no-seatbelt taxis in Vietnam. My guesthouse cost me 4 USD a night, score! Went out to loose my Lao-beer virginity pretty much straight away with the charming bri-ish at the side of the Mekong river. It was really really yum actually, draught like and just easy to drink. hence my total tipsyness right now. yeeeaaaayyyy! Had a snack opposite this crazy Wat (temple) full of monks, at a one-week old cafe run by an aussie girl and her Lao partner. So its kinda fushion Lao-international food. Woooh the green chilly made me cry. Have promised to put her on the Lonely Planet chat room for a discount on the food.

I will be going on a two day trek first thing tomorrow, taking the "easy route" as my guide doesn't think i am up to the hard route, WHAT EVERRRR!!! as if Lance Armstrong comes here all the time. Will be sleeping with ducks and chickens as well - as in, in the next room, which isn't what I would prefer for a Friday night in the middle of bird flu season, so will try my hardest to avoid..... mmm come to think of it its a bit freaky maybe I can try get out of it...

Wow. Can't believe I'm here.

Hanoi #2

I am quite enjoying my last night in Hanoi.

I had my first (and hopefully not last) Vietnamese hair cut this afternoon, ITS FANTASTIC!! it lasted like 2 hours and I had three ppl working on me - one washing and massaging, one styling, and one on blow dry and straightening. It really was art for them every strand was like carefully carved out. I didn't think that I would ever need straightening in my life, but man it did wonders. I made friends with the washing massage girl, she has just moved down from HaLong City and has relos in Canada, and wants to master hair dressing so she can start her own business there. But I probably won't keep in touch with the girl that did the blow dry, she made it smoke... nevertheless man I feel like a million dongs (ie about 75 bucks). But in actual fact it costed me about $4.50... I was feeling a bit fluy this morning but now its completely gone thanks to that head massage and blow dry!!

Had just done my last shopping at the night markets - traffic chaos seems so much more bearable at night and the markets seems to glow. Its the evenings that I feel Hanoi really comes to life. I am going to miss this smorgasboard for sure.

My last day was spent doing touristy things like visiting Uncle Ho himself at his muloseum. It was quite a sullen affair and it really did actually move me seeing him there. He didn't actually look real, as in, most of him is wax anyway, plus with the lighting he glowed in the dark and was some where between spooky and tacky. But with all due respect it was a fantastic experience being able to visit him, and being inspired by his life stories etc etc. Full rant to be inserted when I get to Taipei - my guesthouse lobby isn't exactly the most stimulating place. The presidential palace was really like a Soviet time vaccume, concrete, cold and lots of red flags. All the romantic notions are there except every time i accidently stood on the grass or walked away from the straight line drawn out on the ground some uniformed guard beeped at me with a whistle. Inside Uncle Ho's ex home, a fab garden was well kept. The large crowds of American Vets argued with the guide about their version of history. Everyone's got their history I suppose. I feel like me and my generation of travellers there just take it way too light heartedly...

The locals really have grown on me - I have already set my sister up with the night time receptionist - she doesn't know yet, he's sending through the diamond ring in the new year.. The day time receptionist is a cool lady called Lan who majored Russian at uni, but ended up using English for her jobs instead, she took me to this corner store for noodle soup for brekkie and is just a big sweety..Last night the guesthouse host The took me out for Kareoke, I mean, how could I refuse? It was a complete sensation the Vietnamese are just so into their ballads its not a joke. Seems to be less reserved than the japanese particularly with the dance move add ons - without being particularly drunk. My kareoke binge the night before on the boat had been dominated by West Life and Jeran Jeran(?) so when I talk about Sinatra I mean it. This mad photo they took of me hoarding the mike with the locals reluctantly drinking away. Actually feel a bit sad to leave these crazy folks now. But certainly not the Taiwanese Mafia, hope they rot in hell.

I suppose I did bite off more than I could chew in Hanoi, and did it - myyyy - wayyyy.

Halong Bay

Ironically Michaela and I ended up being picked up on the same minivan to go to the coast, a bit of a bonus since we won't be able to meet up in Laos after all. On the same group as us there was 3 kiwi girls my age, an Italian, german couple and an older japanese guy who lives in Taipei. So I related to like half of them.

The ride to the coast was very interesting. It took a good 3 hours through the country side. The Vietnamese country side has quite similar landscapes to the Taiwanese country side, ie plants and trees and shacks. But of course its a lot more dustier and you can tell that ppl have really really poor housing and level of environmental protection and hygiene compared to the cities. Not many motorbikes, mostly they ride bikes or horse carts. If they do have motorbikes they carry crazy stuff by doing more with less - a few guys had two or three dead pigs roped up together at the back. Another one had really really huge polyesterine boxes three times the width of his bike. Don't know how they manage.

Communist propaganda lined along the street coming out of Hanoi and we discussed how fantastic it is that there's not MacDonald's in Vietnam. But that BP and Caltex was probably necessary since Vietnam doesn't have any oil fields. There's lots of Taiwanese investments here I can tell by the Chinese names on the plaques on the factories that litters across the stretch of road. In fact at the guesthouse I am staying at there are about 5 or 6 Taiwanese men trying to find Vietnamese wives and asking me to translate pick up lines for them. I told them I was too busy.

The dock was fascinating - lined up with old school house boats catered to ship in/out the masses of foreign tourists wanting a glimps of this wonderful bay. Woo hoo we're at the beach!! Hugged Mickey and Celia good bye and headed off on our floating guest house for the next two days.
It really was sensational, World Heritage Listed sites do not lie. Beautiful and endless islets and bamboo boats fills the water. Every islet was a different size and shape. Its quite cold and cloudy, so there were different layers of islets with differnt shades, and just adds to the mystry of this place. Halong means descending dragon. Legend has that this female dragon descends to earth for a visit and fell in love with its beauty, and decides to stay forever. So it flapped its gigantic wings and tail and created thousands of channels and holes as she slows down into the sea. I feel like I've come home to NZ - the serenity, calmness, the breeze. Yet this is so Asian, and got this really ancient feel to it. Certainly a huge contrast to my last big sail on the Rainbow Warrior where the wind was at 40 something knots and 5 - 6 meter swells.

We had a few stops on some of the bigger islands, exploring a few limestone caves, hills, and a bit of kayaking. My kayak partner was Omuchi San, the Quiet Japanese, whom saved my life a few more times than I'd like to remember. Later he even tought me how to take photos properly - he is the Japanese rep of Olympus Cameras in Taipei - same co. that produced my shoddy camera - must be pretty shocked at the way I am treating his prized possessions...

My dorm room is pretty snaz, well, its a boat cabine but its just so retro. Flax made bed and wood carved wordrobes. And not so crash hot water that goes cold quite a bit at our end cos the boat is tipping towards the other side. I am sharing it with Kristie who has been travelling for about 6 months through US, Europ and SEA and is so much more street wise than I am. Made me realise the bargains I scored aren't bargains after all... dammit.

The evening was spent drinking cheap beer and searching endlessly for a decent kareoke/DVD to put on. I now have a brand new drinking game from the kiwi chicks to corrupt Canberra. The oddest line of the evening was from the Quiet Italian Alexanddro who wore speedos earlier in the afternoon, at just 8 pm : "Shall we have an orgy?". All the girls break down in laughter and he just sank into a hole till Jimmy Rogers came on.

Lots of other boats in the same bay that we docked, and I fell asleep in the dim lights and the smell of incence and bamboo. I am so glad I decided to stay over night onboard, a day is just not enough, and this really is a unique experience.

Hanoi #1

Got into the worst possible start to the trip. Michaela and her mum are no where to be found. They didn't stay at the guesthouse they said they will be staying at and where I'm suppose to meet them at. Was told by the staff that they did book but never showed up the night before. FUCK!#$%##$@

Left wondering around Hanoi alone, checking out every caucasion face I come across (ever 5 mins) hoping I could find them. Hanoi's Old Quarter is made up of criss crossed narrow streets full of small shops and street stalls selling everything imaginable. Most of the building are 2 story french looking ones, beautiful plants hanging out the sides. Its almost Vietnamese Tet (new years) so lots of lanterns and red envelopes and special food on display. Motorcycles, bikes and cyclos hooning by at the speed of lightening, beeping horns like mad making it a chaotic ensemble of air pollution and noise pollution. Was offered a bike by the lovely guest house ppl (who gave me lunch cos I was almost in tears) but I turned it down, perhaps wisely. How could I compete with these naturals? I feel like I am being run over by a thousand Road Runners and Kayotes chasing after each other. Found asylum at the Hoam Kim lake with the Tortoise pagoda. Apparently giant tortoises has lived in there for hundreds of years, and only rarely pops up for a breather in the autum. And has the habit of doing so on Vietnam's national day (2 Sept, day that Ho Chi Minh passed away) So its quite auspicious to spot it when it does come up. No such luck today.

In the evening I attended an elaborate and fascinating Water Puppet show (traditional vietnamese theatre which puppets "perform" on a stage made with water) its scenes mainly of folk stories and show cases traditional agrarian life and Vietnamese wild life. Go the mating bird dance!! After returning to the guesthouse I finally got hold of Michaela. It appears that we have all been completely and utterly scammed by this con artist who posed as the guesthouse manager when she and Celia arrived late the night before. Saying that the guesthouse is full he took them to another family run guesthouse(with a on the spot commission) and promising that he will give me a message saying where they are. Yeah right. But only till Michaela got my distressing email later in the afternoon. God I am so pissed off right now!!!!!!

anyway look its all a learning experience. But it means that our schedules aren't matching up - ie we booked out Halong bay and Laos travels seperately due to us not being able to meet up nor knowing when we would. This is really shit!##$#$^%$% I feel so cheated! This has really ruined my day and Michaela and Celia's days too. Oh well. Michaela did give a good earbash to the other hotel's manager and got some refund.

I am not going to let this ruin my time here, so am pulling out that plan B and C outta the bottom of the backpack.