Roots Gone Wild!

Roots Gone Wild!, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

So, we’re in Cambodia.

It’s the Khmer New Year (Khmer being the dominant ethnic group in this thumbprint of a country) and, well, the Cambodians know how to hang. They are crazy for their holidays, these Khmer. The holiday has been going on since the 12th, more or less, and the whole country has basically been shut down the whole time. So, being trapped here (the Vietnamese embassy is closed and we need our visas) we had some time to kill.

Our first experience in the country did not bode well. Cambodia grants visas on arrival. The cost is twenty dollars, but apparently there’s a surcharge in the form of a bribe that the border officials do their best to extract. First, they claimed that the visa cost thirty dollars, saying that the conspicuous sign above their heads (“Tourist Visa: $20″) was incorrect. Then, in a more absurd move, they began the process of bargaining. Imagine it, bargaining with a customs official for your entry visa.

Well, in the words of Shithead No. 1, we stayed the course, and eventually we got our visas without paying any bribe at all. That only happened, of course, because a group of Malaysian tourists came through behind us and the guards didn’t want them seeing that one could bargain the guards down from thirty dollars.

We proceeded (after a hellish night in Poi Pet, a town of prostitutes, potholes, poverty and casinos) to Siem Reap, jumping-off point for the Temples of Angkor (above). They are a source of pride for the Cambodians, and the main temple, Angkor Wat, is featured prominently on the Cambodian flag. Emily and I were truly amazed — that is, when I wasn’t puking my brains out in the only bathroom within miles. It was worth it, though, because Emily reported that my wretchings were audible to everyone stationed outside the bathroom which, luckily, was a sizable bunch. Kind of like when someone breaks wind in an elevator. But only kind of.

The temples are mostly falling apart: trees are slowly enveloping structures. It makes the place kind of eerie, if you ask me.

Also, this is the second movie site we’ve been to: Tomb Raider was partially filmed here.

More depravity to come. . .

Emily and Boat, Off-Kilter

Emily and Boat, Off-Kilter, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

So, we went snorkeling. The fish were amazing, schools of them all around you. No sharks, manta-rays, or sting-rays to report, but the marine life was crazy and colorful. The waters around were pretty damn beautiful.

Railay Beach, Thailand

Storm a-brewin’, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

This is a beach on the Andaman coast in Thailand. The area is a popular place for rock-climbing and scuba diving, among other things. Unfortunately, you have to be “licensed” to rock climb or scuba dive, or at least “trained” or “experienced”, and in the case of rock climbing, there are apparently other considerations like “strength” and “physical coordination”, and by this time we weren’t even listening to the dude because it was a clear case of discrimation. The rude vibrations of this situation just stunk a bit too much — like the time we took a train to Hat Yai, and the conductor told us we were “not big like normal Americans! Asian sized.”

Despite being ridiculed left and right for our meager proportions, Nick and I managed to do a bit of snorkling and some of our own “rock climbing”, scrambling up a mountain guided by knotted ropes, and back down into the center of the mountain, where there was a deserted salt-water lagoon and a pretty sweet cave.

This photo shows a storm coming in; it looks pretty wickid but it isn’t as bad as it looks- it rains every evening around the same time for a short time. Unfortunately, this particular storm was strong enough to bust our cheap ass tent, snapping both tent poles right in half. Nick said something preachy like “I suppose we shouldn’t have jousted with the tent poles yesterday” but I think he was just cranky.

We’re heading back to Bangkok on a 16 hour bus ride this afternoon.

Tarzan, Jane

Tarzan, Jane, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

So, we just emerged from Malaysia’s rainforested interior. It was quite pretty, what with all the vines, massive lizzards, threatening growls, and leeches that were there to greet us. We were in the jungle for two days, enough time to make two abortive forays into the heart of the jungle. The plan was to hike in for six hours and camp in the tent we have purchased. Day two we were to hike in another six hours and stay in a “hide,” an elevated hut lookng down on a salt lick, for to observe beasts. Both times, however, the sun was on the descent and we had no idea where we were, so we decided that it was best to hot-foot it on back to the base camp. In other words, both days in the jungle were grueling, never-ending death marches. Three showers later and we still stink (emily more than I, mind you). At least we weren’t devoured by hungry animals, or drowned by the crocodile we saw, or left dehydrated and starved along the nameless, abandoned paths that litter the 135-million year-old park. Silver lining, eh?

Sky, Ko Tarutao

Sky, Ko Tarutao, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

So, We’ve been in paradise — or, at least, paradise as seen by millions of viewers on the hit TV show “Survivor.” Ko Tarutao is an island in a marine reserve off the south-west coast of Thailand, in the Andaman Sea. A season of “Survivor” was filmed there, and for good reason. We had beautiful beaches all to ourselves, and Emily got stared down by a pack of wild boar!

Now, off to Malaysia via the Jungle Railway.

Bangkok Club Scene

Bangkok Club Scene, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

So, we’re in Bangkok. Took a red-eye from Bangalore, had our luggage lost, and had it found again. It’s not that far from India, but it’s a different world altogether. Grinding poverty, somehow, had become less noticible to us; arriving here has reminded us how poor India really is. In stark contrast, Bangkok is thriving. It’s also a culinary roller-coaster: Pad Thai on every street corner, delicious sweets cooked before your eyes, and fried scorpions for under a dollar! Last night we ate fried maggots. “Like french fries,” one helpful Thai pointed out

Today we’re heading south to some of the greatest beaches in the world. Suckaaaaaaas!!!

The Sex

The Sex, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

The red light district of Bangkok is thriving. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet for the frat boy, the psychopath, and everyone in between. This gentleman here showed us his tattoo (or is it magic marker?) in an attempt to get our business.

Kanyakumari at Sunrise

Kanyakumari at Sunrise, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

Another picture from the sunrise at Kanyakumari. I (Nick) just love it. The statue on the right is a famous Tamil poet. On the left is (surprise!) a temple.

We’re settling into Bangalore at the moment. Our lodgings are quite nice. There’s a wiener (sp?) dog named Kahlua and red stinging ants that look great in the morning sun. And huge bugs.

Drink a delicious beer for us.

Pots For Sale, or, Smuggled Sausages

Pots I, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

This is from an early morning in Trivandrum. We awoke early to attend martial arts training (to watch, not participate). These are pots that will end up on womens’ heads as they transport water or beans or whatever they care to carry in their pots.

Another thing that we saw in Trivandrum is the zoo- you can check our flickr account for pictures of such exciting beasts as tigers, rhinos, hippopopl… hippos, and giraffes- but I suppose these pictures are actually boring tourist photos of the worst kind.

We came back to Bangalore yesterday, and today we had our first day working in The Children’s Home, a government-run orphanage of sorts that provides education and some recreational activities to 250 orphaned children. For the first day we mostly played games and sang songs (head, shoulders knees and toes etc), but we are hoping that Arivu has more constructive projects planned for the future. The children are rounded up from the streets and the train stations, and many have run away from home for one reason or another. None have any belongings, most are uneducated, many have physical deformaties or metal disabilities, and the few who own toothbrushes guard them like gold. The Children’s Home feeds them more than porridge at every meal (usually rice and chapati, sometimes fruit or veggies) but it’s a hard knock life none the less.

On a lighter note, we have a homestay with a director of the program that we are pretty excited about. We have our own room, an orange mosquito net and a cook to fry our eggs in the morning. Furthermore, one of the other interns here is an Austrian girl who actually smuggled sausages on her flight to India, having heard that she wouldn’t be able to get pork here. The rest of the interns are quintessentially British, and this stereotypically marmalade-munching bunch is nearly as hilarious as the (aforementioned) princess of pork. We are enjoying the melting pot.

Family at Kanyakumari

Family at Kanyakumari, originally uploaded by Subcontinental Drift.

This was taken at the beach in Kanyakumari, which is at the very southern tip of India. It is the place where the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea meet. It is also a sweet place to watch the sunrise, or at night, to watch the sunset and moon rise at the same time. A huge crowd of people gathered to watch the sunrise this morning, there are more pictures of this on the flickr account.