Journey of a Dream

I should be blogging about what fun I had in Tokyo after few months of careful planning and anticipation on this trip. Instead, all the fun are clouded by the fact that on the third day I arrived Tokyo, one of the most historic and devastating triple combo of calamities consisting of earthquake + tsunami + nuclear crisis took place.

After spending the first day at Tokyo Disneyland, and the second at Tsukiji fish market, Hamarikyu gardens, Asakusa, Ueno and Shinjuku, on the third day we took out our itinerary and headed to Hakone to view Mt Fuji as planned. We took train to Shinjuku to purchase our Hakone Free Pass (it's not free BTW).

While in Tokyo itself I was clearly underdressed, I could only blame myself that I only brought a cardigan and a long john to keep me warm. If Tokyo's weather was around 8 - 10C, at Hakone it was 2C as a digital thermometer on top of a house/hut had shown.

After traveling from Shinjuku to Odawara by train, Odawara to Hakone-yumoto by bus, Hakone-yumoto to Hakonemachi by bus (visiting some pillars of pine on the way), At Hakonemachi, we bought hot grilled cuttlefish before cruising Lake Ashi on a "pirate" ship across to Togendai. At Togendai, we took cable car (of which the Japanese call it Ropeway for reasons I do not know) to Owakudani.

Owakudani was where my first encounter with earthquake. Bracing the cold weather, we walked out of the ropeway station, hoping to get some non existent free black eggs at a sulfur crater. As it was already 2.30pm, we decided to have lunch here. I remember very well, it was a pork don.

About 15 min into lunch, I looked at Jo to see if she could feel the tremors. I can't recall what exactly happened at that moment. What I remembered was that a guy sitting at the table next to mine wanted to run out, then the tremors stopped for a moment, before getting more vigorous. The dangling lights above us looked like they were about to fall on us. The hot water dispenser on the table were shaking too. Few seconds later, there was a strong jolt. This time round, I almost wanted to run away from the shop. Then it all stopped. I never felt so alive as such a time like this.

The restaurant staff tried to calm us down. Since Mt Fuji is still an active volcano and as visitors from a country without such natural disaster, , we thought tremors happened frequently around here, so we continued with lunch. From where I was sitting, I could see the cable car halted. It must have been scary up there.

After lunch, we were still persistent with our black eggs. We climbed some altitude, before being shooed away from officers. Other travelers who were also shooed away. We took some pictures of Fuji in the background.

Up to now, we were still oblivious to what had happened. Back to Okudawani station, a Chinese lady told us earthquake had happened and traffic in downtown Tokyo was bad. I slowly churned the information that such a thing would happen during my first trip to Japan.

As train system was practically down, there was no way we could go to Gotemba to check out the premium outlets, the only way was to head back down using the bus. From Togendai to Hakeno-yumoto, it took almost 3 hours that we decided to walk down to Hakeno-yumoto train station. Thankfully, it wasn't very far but it's not something just anyone will do in the pitch dark.

Hakone-yumoto train to Odawara was still working. Since we could not take train back to Shinjuku, we had dinner at this nice cozy place at Odawara with our new found friend from Hong Kong. After some warm noodles and gyoza, we shopped at this mart for 3 hours while waiting for the train to operate again. The worker at the mart was very kind that she allowed me to make a call back to Malaysia.

Finally at 1am, we managed to take train back to Shinjuku. When we reached Shinjuku at 4am, it was not all sweet either. Train back to the hotel I was staying at Nishi Kasai was not in operation at this hour. We slept a makeshift bed at Shinjuku station, along  with hundreds of Tokyo dwellers who like us, could not get back home. I could not really sleep at that kinda place, so I just watched Jo as she slept.

The adventure continues....

The Nha Trang beach is famous among locals and always packed during evenings. The waves are among the best I've been such that we swam here twice, in addition to our island hopping to Mot Island, Mut Island, Tam and another island.
World Heritage Site of My Son Sanctuary. It's dog's days of summer here.
Champa monuments of Hindu influence
Conical hat making. We couldn't "enjoy" the tour without paying.
The tomb of Minh Mang, the second emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam

Imperial Citadel of Vietnam in central Hue
Temple of Heaven Cave (Halong Bay)
Fisherman village along the Halong Bay
The bananas cost 20000 dong a bunch. Don't play play
Amy Wong Jia Hui's 23rd birthday

As cocunuts are readily available along the Mekong Delta, the coconut candies serve as good souvenirs to take back home. Unfortunately for us, some of the candies which we brought all the way from Saigon were stolen. Hope their teeth fall out..
Trying to look like conical - hatted peasants

In front of the Cao Dai Temple at Tay Ninh, a religion sect that combines the teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam and their saints include Dr Sun Yat Sen, Victor Hugo, Joan of Arc, etc.
Jolene with the followers of Cao Dai
Above us is the symbol of Cao Dai. The Great Temple, or better known as the Holy See, is the most colourful religious buliding I've seen.

This is how the Cu Chi tunnel works. Step number 1
Step number 2
Step number 3
Now he's gone!!

One of the traps used by the Viet Chongs who fought the south army during the Vietnam War.

Weapons of Cruelty
In the Tuol Sleng Museum, we were not supposed to laugh, or smile for that matter. I guess it is respect for the dead
Brick cells for the victims
One of the beds that had been used to interrogate the victims









We took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, and with all gratefulness, the road was much better than expected, unlike the one from Poipet to Siem Reap. How unfortunately that it was in Phnom Penh too that Amy lost her handphone and I, some money. It couldn't be sheer coincidence that both of us lost something, but I suspect it was our gullibility of trusting that our belongings were in safe hands and the quick hands of the hotelier's staff. At that moment, it made us very unhappy that we left the very next day. Otherwise, it would have been a very happy trip to Cambodia.

This is Angkor Wat in the background, the very reason we came to Cambodia, the only motivation that sustained us from turning away at Aranyaprathet - Poipet border, when all we saw was poverty, dirt and Khmer people we are not familiar with.

Among the rocks in the interior of Angkor. It took me a lot of courage to climb up the steep steps leading to above.

The magnificance of Bayon

More of Bayon
I like the face sculpture
Cool!!
Sitting on the roots of the ancient trees. The two guys are our photographers from China.

Ruins at the Ayutthaya temples - it's really steep

The Chiang Mai Night Safari

Sanpatong Waterfall
Twin jumbos

Ruins of the Ayutthaya temples. Ayutthaya was once the capital of Thailand

Thailand is simply amazing and definitely would go there again. This time, we only covered Chiangmai, Ayutthaya and Bangkok. We missed out on Phuket, Ko Phi Phi and some other islands but next time round, I would try to cover the others as well.

Contrary to what people have said, Thailand is not a dangerous place where you can be dropped dead by bombs any time or even if you don't, chances are you will kena kongtau when you look into someone's eyes. Again, the lesson here is not to simply listen to what people say but to find out for yourself.

Thai people are generally friendly and helpful and at times, they are angels to us. They would not hesitate to help us find direction and would even lead us to the place of destination. One thing I noticed is that Thai people love their King a lot, and later I found out the reason, especially when we visited the Royal Palace and Vimanmek Mansion in Bangkok. At one of the Museums, photographs taken by the King Himself were displayed and one couldn't be help to be awed by it. But it was just not the photographs alone that awed us all. King Bumiphol had been monarchy for 60 years and throughout His reign, He continuously took efforts to bring betterment to the Thai nation. His Consort, Queen Sirikit was very well respected too because in the younger days, She would listen to commoners and jot down the necessary notes. She was noted as one who revived the Thai silk industry of Thailand.

Sadly, our photographs at Bangkok are lost. In Bangkok, we went to the famous Catuchak Weekend Market, Central World Plaza and Suan Lam Night Bazaar. We spent one night each at Khao San Road and Sukhumvit Road. The Khao San road is also known as Backpackers' Haven where Mat Salleh hippies can have a drink and chill out at night. Sukhumvit Road is to the Thai what Jalan Sultan Ismail is to us.

This is great! When I came into this room, I fell in love with it immediately. Having travelled 6 hours by bus from Hoi An to Hue, I just want to soak myself in the bathtub and with only 8USD, we have the Internet facility right in our room. My friends and I are fast asleep... and after an hour, I woke up (but they are still sleeping so I take my chance to update myself with the many things I have missed).

Backpacking has been great so far, one of the things I would regret for not doing. We are making a U (for those who are geographically inclined) from Chiangmai - Ayutthaya - Bangkok - Siem (where Angkor Wat is located) - Phnom Penh - Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) - Nha Trang (fabulous azure blue beaches and islands) - Hoi An - Hue (where I am now) - Hanoi (the last stop before heading back home).

I thought somewhere close to a month was long enough, but most Mat Salleh backpackers we cross path with backpack months, some up to a year. That taught me one thing because in our Asian upbringing, we dare not venture into the unknown for the fear of this and that... Personally, I was worried about a lot of things - like safety.. worried about Thai bombings, bomohs, the list just go on and on. The moment I decided for this trip, I have well understood the risks and did a lot of pre - trip research though no amount of research would seem to be enough. The desire to explore was simply overwhelming and the trip is well worth!!