A very different St. Patrick's Day

So Phnom Penh on St. Patrick's Day was never going to be the hot bed of Irish cultural activity - we had managed to find the only Irish bar in town the previous day so we scheduled that for the evening's drinking. To take up the day though we decided in the morning to visit one of the many orphanages in town after being stricken by guilt the night before by the amount of street kids around.

We arranged a tuk-tuk to take us to a rice shop where we picked up a 25 kilo bag of rice for $20 (no Uncle Ben's but it would do!) and was then brought to a small orphanage in a run down part of town. The welcome we got was warmer than the 36 degree heat outside - the kids running up to us with excited smiles, books and games in hand. The people who run the place were just as happy to see us and happily accepted our rice donation. The children pulled up chairs for us and we helped them match up shapes, join the dots and colour in clowns.

The children ranged from about 1 year old to 14, about 15-20 children in total - all living in this small orphanage on large stacked bunk beds. And while this kids, many orphaned by the Khymer Rouge regime genocide, shouldn't have alot to smile about - I honestly don't think I've ever seen a more excited bunch of children in my life. After awhile it was time for their midday nap so we said our goodbyes to huge hugs from the children.

We tuk-tukked back to the guesthouse when I realised I had left my bag in the orphanage (idiot!) - so our driver borrowed a scooter and took me with him back there...I honestly don't think I've ever been as scared in my life...driving 80 miles an hour down the wrong side of the road, nipping in and out of on-coming traffic, beeping incessantly at other drivers - and all of this is normal driving behaviour! Traffic lights are few and far between, which makes crossroads an interesting junction! We got their in one piece and arrived back at the guesthouse a shaken man!

Next on the itinerary for our alternative Paddy's day was a trip to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda - a stunningly built palace for the King. Every building is ornately decorated, inside and out - however alot of the statues of Buddha were decapitated by the Khymer Rouge as a two fingers up to religion (they REALLY weren't nice people!). We enjoyed the walk around the grounds, alot it was very hot. The palace is still used by the King, the royal blue flag flying when he is in residence, but we were informed he is in China on a trip at the moment - gutted, would have been nice to say hi! Eventually the heat got too much for us, with the only solution being some nicely chilled Beer Lao!


So after a few beers we made a quick pitstop back to the guesthouse to clean up and head back out to Rory's to join in the patriotic festivities. To our surprise the bar was actually were busy, full of people claiming various percentages of Irish heritage. A good lively place with the pints flowing so we were only too happy to indulge. Meet some pretty interesting people - a group of 5 American guys who are on a year long worldwide missionary trip, and some pretty dull people - two Irish and a Kiwi, didn't stay chatting too long with them! We eventually ending up playing cards with an international bunch comprising of Irish, Welsh, English, Dutch, American and Canadian. After eventually being kicked out of the closing bar we hit the warangs (street meat vendors) for late night snacking. Back to the guesthouse Gareth and I scheduled the next day as an official DHD (designated hangover day - where we are under no obligation to do anything except be hungover!)



A diiferent St. Patrick's Day but memorable in its own right - while we missed the inevitable banter back home we had a really interesting day here - who knows where we'll be for next Paddy's Day!

A sobering look at the dark trenches of inhumanity

Cambodia - 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge kill almost 2 million Cambodians in an effort to create the "perfect" agrarian society.

Now far be it for me to give you a history lesson (never one of my strong subjects in school!) - I can only tell you what we saw and heard today...a brief glimpse into horror in its purest form. A menace that worked its way through 40% of Cambodia's population completely under the radar of all the world;s superpowers.

Admittedly my knowledge of the Khmer Rouge was minimal before this trip and only a quick read of our Lonely Planet bible did I begin to get an idea of what went on. From our guesthouse in Phnom Penh we organised a trip out to Cheoung Eok, better known as the Killing Fields along with two Americans we met. The site is located about 25km outside of Phnom Penh, a 40 minute tuk tuk journey through the crazy streets of the city - let's just say not alot of these drivers would pass their Theory test back in Ireland! Arriving at the Killing Fields you are straight away hit with a somber air. the noisy clatter of Phnom Penh and its street sellers respectfully overwhelmed by the silence here. We organised a tour guide to show us around the site - beginning with the 17 floor "strupa" or monument to the dead - 17 levels of skulls and bones uncovered from the mass graves on this site. 17 levels represent the date Pol Pot came to power, the 17th of August 1975. Our guide, who spoke with a noticeable and understandable distain, told us how prisoners were driven here from S-21 in the middle of the night, after they had spent days or weeks being tortured in order to sign a confession for a fictious crime they had not committed. The educated members of society were targetted first - the doctors, teachers, journalists...even anyone who wore glasses. Foreign embassy workers were given 24 hours to leave the country. When the prisoners arrived, shackled and blindfolded, they were led to the sign in building. Chillingly reminiscent of the astrocities committed in Auschwitz the prisoners were told they were being led to new homes and new jobs. When their name was called they were led out back to one of the many mass graves, and kneeling on the ground they received a swift but blunt hit to the head with a bamboo stick or axe, their throat was then slight and body dumped on top of their fellow countrymen - bullets were not used as they were considered a preciouis commodity and not to be "wasted". We were taken around to the graves where some 20,000 Cambodians lay - one of 229 similiar Killing Fields around the country. Sunken earth indicates where the ground holds its prisoners...and most shocking are the tattered remains of clothing and bone still peaking up from the ground where the rain has washed away the dirt.

None of us could even mutter a word as we silently walked around the grounds. Our guide told us how poison was used to defer the rotting smell of the bodies so it was up to two years after the regime had ended that fields were still being discovered. In the 4 years of terror in Cheoung Eok only one person managed to escape with his life - one of three truckdrivers who ferried the prisoners from S-21 to Cheoung Eok - not wanting to leave too many traces of the killing the Khmer Rouge would themselves kill the executioners, truck drivers and any of their own who showed even slight signs of weakness. It can be hard to relate and connect with such a tragedy in one respect as I believe we have become desensitised to violence through modern movies, video games etc, where seeing skull and bones no longer has the same impact. But the magnitude of what went on here cannot be ignored.

After lunch we were taken to Tong Seul (S-21) - the torture camp in Phnom Penh that had previously been a highschool. Four buildings taken over with the purpose of torturing, harassing and breaking the spirit of Cambodians. When the camp was discovered by the invading Vietnamese in 1979 14 bodies were found dead, twisted in an agonising portrait of their final moments - their bodies were buried in memory on the grounds of S-21. Our guide, a woman who herself had parents and brothers killed by Pol Pot told us how she, at the age of 5, had to walk from Phnom Penh to Battamberg to escape the death herself - a 300km, 3 month walk across a country plagued with starvation and death. We were shown various rooms and exhibitions of the equipment they used to torture the inmates. We were also shown hundreds of "mugshots" of both the prisoners upon arrival and their captures - what struck us all was the age of the Khmer Rouge soldiers - merely boys of 10-15 years old. They were used as it was alot easier to brainwash them into believing what they were doing was right.

The countrywide starvation also helped flood the ranks of the Khmer Rouge with people willing to do anything for a promised meal. Seeing pictures of these children holding the responsibility of the lives of thousands in their prepubescent hands is not soon forgotten. We then watched an hour long film documenting one woman's struggle against the Khmer Rouge - most interesting about the film was an interview with the escaped truck driver who described in detail how he would bring the prisoners over to the graves and sometimes,when goaded,execute some prisoners himself - the man himself is protected by the government as he waits to testify against the Khmer Rouge. We left the museum still wondering how this could have happened, and in such recent history too...I don't think anyone can possibly offer up an explanation.

It was certainly an eye opening day for me, as I mentioned, not knowing much about this tragedy before. We would wish and hope that events like this would never happen again but unfortunately we do not have the luxury of choice.

Hop Hop Hop

Ok so I realise I haven't updated this blog as much as I had hoped but the only solace I can take is because we have been doing so much that we struggle for time to sit and type. But I find myself with such time now, on a 7 hour overnight bus to Bangkok - not exactly great sleeping conditions but just write for blogging!

So we're hitting 6 destinations in two and a half weeks - alot to be done and seen but it has been AMAZING.

Phuket was next on the list after Phi Phi - we were however very conscious of our timings - needing to be in Ko Phangan for the 6th ish in order to be able to have accomadation sorted ahead of the full moon party on the 10th. Due to shocking weather conditions - severe lightning storms and rain, forecast for the whole week, Phuket was a flying visit - lovely hostel where we met some nice people and went for dinner with them but we booked ourselves onto an early ferry and bus over to Ko Samui - after a total of 17 hours in Phuket! Another time maybe!

Ko Samui was another classic paradise location - sights becoming all too familiar with us now, although you'd be hard pushed to hear any complaints out of either of us! On the journey over we made the acquaintance of a famous Korean tv star - a Canadian brother of a once very popular UFC fighter Denis Kang. Nice guy but his girlfriend, a Korean woman was quite the opposite - we got the feeling that she knew perfectly well how to speak English but just chose not to! Her loss! Julian told us a great story about being on a celebrity boxing show where he was matched up against a Korean pop star - before the fight the pop star asked me to hit him only in the body, he could take them...just not to hit his face! Julian dutifully obliged by pounding his body and knocking him out with a liver shot! We found ourselves a nice bungalow right on the beach, a very romantic setting! The main area in Ko Samui is Chaweng beach - a 6km stretch of resorts one end, beach bars and restaurants in the middle and bungalows at the other. We had a nice 15 minute walk down towards the bars along the white sand water's edge (again very romantic for us...starting to get worried...). We really liked the buzz of the bars on the beach, low sitting tables laid out all along the stretch with music pumping and Chiang in mighty supply! In yet MORE cases of small world syndrome we met two Finnish girls from Chiang Mai (go Jonas!) and also a bunch of lads from Dublin who I used to play hurling against! We debated whether or not to do some touristy visitis during the day...or to just flake on the beach - no prizes for guessing which one won out! This tan isn't going to colour itself! There was no debate about what to do in the evenings - our romantic 15 minute stroll down to the bars for some drinks and banter. Turns out not everyone we meet is fantastic - got chatting to a Canadian guy one night who seemed at first to be good fun and a laugh - but he quickly descended into an annoying drunk who was just looking for trouble, not for us! We ditched him and had our faith restored by a table of Swedes - a fantastically fun bunch who we quickly got in to a bucket race with over conversation of how unbelievably rockstar Gareth and myself are. A great night was had by all and the best thing about it was that they, like so many, were heading to Ko Phangan for the full moon.

Ko Phangan....Hat Rin....Full Moon Party....the countdown had begun! We arrived on the 6th, giving us what we had hoped would be plenty time to sort out accomadation. On the advice of many people we looked for accomadation away from Hat Rin where the party is held - between noise, security and price is wasn't worth it. So we went in search of Eden Garden, one beach up in a place called Hat Yuan. The accomodation gods had been good to us so far - without booking anything in advance we've been landing in places and get sorted out. Luck ran out in Hat Yuan - Eden Garden was all booked out and so was the place beside it, but they would really nice and said they may be able to sort something out for us in an hour or so and thankfully he came through for us, a nice little bamboo hut in the hills over looking the beach. We were sharing with 3 of us having picked up Jonas the Great Dane (from Chiang Mai) and it was only a double bed so I had myself some hammock sleeping for a few nights - not too bad though because the mosquitos don't come out at night. So it was really nice to have our quiet beach away from the noise and madness of Hat Rin - we would spend the days chilling in the sun and sea, then hop on a water taxi around to the next beach for partying during the night. We would begin most nights in the same fashion - pad thai from our favourite spot (50 baht/€1.25 for a filling plate), then hit our local and loyal bucket vendor Joe for some of Samsung's finest rum. Pre drinking would take place on the Swedes porch - drinking games, Pontus serenading us with his songs, handing out rockstar points (Alex becoming the first certified rockstar of the Swedes - well done son!) and learning some Swedish - we spent so much time with the guys that I'm pretty certain I now fully understand Swedish....Hall Kaften!! Hilaaaaarious :) One of the best nights was Kim-Day - one of the girls had been sick and on anti-biotics so this was her first night on the tear - dutifully celebrated with a day in her honour! Buckets and body paint dominated the evening! One disaster to report...my camera was stolen from the beach and with it 300 photos that I had yet to back up....absolutely gutted about it. So I'm camera-less until Bangkok when hopefully I will pick one up cheap enough. The week in Ko Phangan culminated in the Full Moon party on the 10th of March...we had hoped that it would live up to the hype - we had heard so much about it. And every word about it was true!! One of the best nights either of us have ever had - around 10,000 people descended upon Hat Rin which meant we bumped into a ton of people we had met along the way. The beach was insanity...everyone dancing, bucketing and in some cases sand wrestling! We were having a great time until we met the two young English lads from Phi Phi - one of whom was very worse for wear. After some unsuccessful attempts to get him home, we carried him to a medical centre to be looked after. With our good deed done for the day we went back in search of our buzz, dangerously close to being dead after seeing the lads. Thankfully 45 minutes of the funniest dancing ever in a jungle drum and bass bar sorted it out for us - the three of us hopping about the place like crazies! Heading back down to the main dance area of the beach we picked up some more people and danced until the sun came up, and longer still! My head finally hit the pillow at about 10.30am - tired but content! Spent the evening regalling stories of the night gone - absolutely hilaaaaarious! Had to say goodbye to Alex/Benny, Ponty and Bjorn - sad to see them go but delighted to have met them.

Our final stop in the islands was Ko Tao for the all too short spell of one night - we would loved to have stayed and done a diving course but we had to be in Bangkok for the 14th as we were flying to Cambodia the next day. We spent the day still recovering from the full moon on the beach and swimming - Jonas booked himself into a diving course so we were able to get cheap accomodation where alot of the other guys had trouble finding a place. That night we had our "going away" party - we would be leaving Jonas, Team Sweden and the English look-a-likes in Ko Tao - a sad farewell but a great session with a serious Chiangover the next day. So here we find ourselves...another nasty night bus...won't be getting any sleep - that I can promise. Our adventure in Thailand has all but come to an end - one month since we left Ireland and already countless memories. If next month is half as fun as the last we are in for a serious treat - very excited to see Cambodia...a place steeped in history...tragic and triumphant.



(Thanks Kim for the pictures...like)

Sun, sea and sand

So we survived our insane journey 1,646km from Chiangmai to Krabi and it was completely worth it to see Marty and Brooke again, we had a great evening consisting of eating 16 different meals at the Krabi night food market - we rolled into bed at the rockstar hour of 9.30pm - tired but content!



We had a few days to play around with in order to see all the islands before hitting Ko Phanghan for the Full Moon Party on the 10th. We headed for Reilay by longboat - stunning scenery as we sailed along, surpassed only by the beach itself when we got there. But it was really hot and Gareth and I had our bags with us so we wanted to get to Ao Nang as quick as we could to drop all our stuff into our hotel and chill on the beach. Another beautiful boat trip later we landed in Ao Nang, a cool beachside town with a pretty good buzz about it. After finally dropping our stuff we had a much deserved dip in the sea for the first time all trip - fantastic! That night we went for a session with some people we met in a bar, a good combination of Swedes and English - Gareth and I are beginning to think that there is no one left in Sweden with the amount of them that are travelling!

We moved on the next day to Phi Phi....absolute paradise - its a small island in the south that was completely devastated by the tsunami in 2005 and has slowly begun to rebuild itself. Its a tiny sandbar of a town creating two big bays either side, and walking through the town (which takes about 15 minutes to do a full circle!) you get a real pirate town vibe from the place, we really liked it. We decided to book ourselves on to a sailing trip for the next day - to bring us around the islands and do a couple of activities too. Strolling around the town then we bumped into two English we had met in Chiang Mai, so random! And they had booked the same sailing trip the next day - small small world! The rest of the crew were made up of Canadians, Dutch and more Swedes. It turned out to be a great day - we hit Monkey Island first to feed monkeys then continued on to a nice snorkelling spot (with the aid of a life jacket!). We continued sailing across to Phi Phi Lei which is a smaller uninhabited island, made famous by the movie The Beach. We did some cliff diving....and i SURVIVED which is always good, in fairness though I had a crew of people standing by with an assortment of life jackets and kayaks! We then climbed over onto the famous beach itself, absolutely stunning place - to be seen to be truly appreciated. After more exploring around the islands and some insane caves we pulled up to watch the sun set on a great day.



Most importantly too was the fact that the Ireland England game was on that night and we had found somewhere to watch it - absolutely rubbish game but fantastic result - the owner of the bar was Irish was celebratory shots were on the house! Needless to say we were nursing ourselves back to health for a few days after! We made a quick stop in Phuket but we got caught in a lightning storm that was due to last for a few days so we hightailed it out of there to Ko Samui and some sunshine! The rain was too like home for us! On the trip over we got chatting to this Canadian who turned out to be a big Asian tv star....so random! His brother is a UFC fighter and was once 4th in the world! He was telling us how he wanted to come here to get away from the fans bothering him the whole time....jerk! But actually a really nice guy!

Ko Samui is yet again, another slice of paradise - we booked into some bungalows right on the beach in Chaweng, quite a romantic setting if I do say so myself! White sand, blue water...the works! The 6km stretch of beach ranges from romantic get aways and spas to, further along the stretch, beach bars and restaurants pumping out music and cocktails all day. So our "relaxing time" quickly turned into partying on the beach until all hours - met a bunch of guys I used to play hurling against from Judes, true Dubs! Also, yet again...randomly bumped into the two English girls - beginning to think they are following us! So we will hang here for a couple of days until the 6th when we hit Ko Phanghan to meet up with a ton of people and get ready for some Full Moon induced madness...its gonna be an experience!