The Travellers Pen

Mr.Jin’s travel stories

February 22, 2006 on 9:55 am | In Mr.Jin, Friend's Stories | No Comments

I travelled around the South East Asia after working holiday in Australia for one and half month. I was starting from Kuala Lumper in Malaysia which country is very hot and humid. Before arriving in KL I was in Melbourne in Australia, which was winter season so a little bit cold but KL is so hot I couldn’t sleep at night in guest house. When I travel the other countries I usually stay in guest house because that is cheaper than other accommodation. Another reason is that I can meet a lot of people who from all over the country especially in England. They are all similar situation that almost of them is student and not rich people who traveled long time so I can get some information about my next destination as well as I like to talk to with them. They are very friendly to me and have open mind to other people. I can learn something from them.

The guesthouse was very cheap in KL around $5 per night. The facilities in there isn’t good but many people in there. I can meet English, Japanese, Dutch.

There wasn’t specially things to have a look in KL, just Petronas twin tower which is really tall and it was made by one is Samsung another by Mitsubish. Frankly I couldn’t eat the Malaysian foods in there because I don’t like the smells of curry. After KL I went to Singapore which is very small country, I went to there by bus, which is very fun for me because if I want to go another country from Korea I have to get the plane or boat as you know. To cross the border on foot is exciting for me and that was my first time. I like the Sentosa island which is Singapore’s most developed island and very popular as a local weekend escape.

The reason that I went to Singapore is just to go to Indonesia is comprised of hundreds of island. Indonesia is hot year-round-hot and wet during the wet season, and hot and dry during the dry season. Coastal areas are often pleasantly cool, however, and it can get extremely cold in the mountains. I could go to the Indonesia by boat because that is cheaper than plane but there wasn’t ferry to go Jakarta directly that day. So I decided to go another city which is Pekanbaru. I didn’t want to waste time in Singapore because of expensive price. To Pekanbaru from Singapore via another island in Indonesia that take almost one day, I had to stay on the boat for one night with a lot of local people, they are very kind to me. I met one old man on the boat. He is local person in Pekanbaru.

I went to his house and have a look around his house and talked with his son who speak English very well. I could get the flight easily by helping of his wife. Actually I wanna go to Yogyakarta to see the Borobudur and Prambanan. Borobudur is ranking with Bagan and Angkor Wat as one of the greatest South-East Asian Buddist monuments. Borobudur is an enormous construction covering a hill 42km from Yogya. Prambanan is the biggest Hindu temple complex in Java, Prambanan is 17km east of Yogyaon the Solo road. Though some 50 temple sites have been discovered in and around Prambanan, the main temples are all in the tourist complex fronting the village on the highway. The two temple are very impressive to me.

After Yogya I want to go to Bali by bus so I asked to receptionist in hotel. He said to me that you might to go the Bromo mountain. I hadn’t heard about Bromo mountain. But I decided to go there because Brome is located on the way of Bali and very cheap to get there. Next day I can go to there by minibus I can meet one English and one German on the bus. They traveled a lot of countries in the world and taught me what is the Bromo and how to look. I was surprised on the top of the mountain because I can see a lot of western people in the hotel. I thought that I am in Europe. Next morning I saw the fantastic sunrise with active volcano that is the one of the most impressive sightseeing in Indonesia. That is really nice and awesome to me…. And then I went to the Bali to see the beach I was expecting a lot because many Korean went to the Bali for their honey. But to me there isn’t specially things because I saw many nice beach in Australia.

After 2days in Bali I flew into the Bankok in Thailand. The population of Thailand is around 61 million and you can see many hill tribes in the North and some Malays in the South. Many tourists are going to Chiang Mai, north area, to see many hill tribes who live quiet differently with us. I haven’t been to there but I can heard a lot of tourist during the traveling. I wanted to go island in Thailand to do dive in the open water, I already got the dive certificate in Cairns Australia. I really enjoyed the dive in there so I wanted to do one more time in Thailand because Thai is very cheap to do dive. I went to the Ko Tao island, sometimes called Turtle Island which is only 21sq km in area and lies 45km north of Ko Pha-Ngan. I really enjoyed the dive in Ko Tao. I could see a lot of western people in there they were doing also dive. I thought everywhere in the world I can see a lot of really a lot western people.. I surprised ……they were drinking at night in the pub.. in small island…. It takes too long time going back to Bankok. I am a budget travel so I got on the very slow boat from island to Chumphon which is very small village, I can get the train to go Bankok, it takes about 7 hours. I went to Khao San road in Bankok, Khao san is very famous to budget travel just like me because this is veru much the main travelers center and new guesthouses are continually springing up. Rates in Khao san are the lowest in Bankok and although some of the places are barely adequate, a few are excellent value if you can afford just a bit more. I really really surprised in Kho san, I was confused ‘ I am in Thailand or in Europe’ and full of tourists in the street and there are plenty of tourist agencies which supply a lot of options to do activities and day tours. I can get the Cambodia visa from the agency as well as very cheap transfrotation.

Bankok is very big and a lot of cars and tuk-tuk(three-wheeled motorcycle taxi). The tuk-tuk is very cheap but I don’t recommend to get that because it is dangerous.

I applied the day tour to see the Kanchanaburi, often called Meuang Kan, is 130km west of Bangkok. The infamous bridge over the River Kwai was built here during world war two. The Japanese want to make a railway from Kanchanaburi to Myanmar to win the war, so a lot of people were killed by Japanese as you knew. I thought about my country also was colonial of the Japanese for 35 years but Japanese thought that they just gave the chance to colonial countries to enlighten their culture. I had a chance to think about the history in there.

I crossed the board on foot one more time in Thailand to Cambodia which country is poorer than Thai. But I like the Cambodia more than Thai because frankly cheaper than Thai and people in Cambodian are really innocent. The government of Cambodia opened their border to the world at 1998.

I crossed the border and got on the bus, made in Korea, which started to Siem Reap where I will see the Angkor Wat. I could meet 3 the other Koreans at the border. On the bus I couldn’t sleep and I can’t do anything because the bus was running the off road, which wasn’t covered by asphalt. Whole the journey the bus was rattling too much so my buttocks are really painful throughout the journey. I looked for the Korean guesthouse because I don’t want to be deceived from the local people. I arrived in Siem Reap around 10pm. The bus driver applied the one guesthouse but I was really reluctant to stay there so our Korean team got out of there and found Korean guesthouse which nice accommodation. I was surprised there are many Korea restaurants and pubs…….

We found the Korean guesthouse near the main road. I think that is one of the best I have been in. very nice and very cheap I paid 3 US dollars, 2bed rooms.

The world- famous temples of Angkor, built between 9^th and 13^th centuries when the Khmer civilization was at the height of its extraordinary creativity, constitute one of humanity’s most magnificent architectural achievements. From Angkor, the kings of the Khmer empire ruled over a vast territory that extended from the tip of what is now southern Vietnam northward to Yunnan in China, and from Vietnam westward to the bay of Bengal. The 100-or-so temples constitute the sacred skeleton of a much larger and spectacular administrative and religious center whose houses, public buildings and palaces were constructed out of wood – now long decayed – because the right to dwell in structures of brick or stone was reserved for the gods. It takes about 3days to see the whole temple, which are scattered in Siem Reap. The price of 3days pass to see the temple was $30 but now $40 that is really expensive because local people get paid about $30 a month. I like the people who are really sincere and genuice. They are always smile to tourist and look full of curiosity and wave. The children always wave to us. In my sight they live with dirty water and house but look like happier than me. I thought that “ am I happier than them?” After traveling Cambodia I thought about happiness.

you can see many temples, Angkor Thom, The Bayon, The Baphuon, Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, Angkor Wat etc. The most impressive two temples are The Bayon and Angkor Wat. The Bayon is in the exact center of the city of Angkor Thom, is with its icily smiling, gargantuan faces of Avalokitesvara. There are more than 200 of these staring down-wards from 54 towers. I really like The Bayon because those have the very big smiling. Angkor Wat, with its soaring towers and extraordinary bas reliefs, it considered by many to be one of the most inspired and spectacular monuments ever conceived by the human mind. The central temple complex consists of three storeys, each of which encloses a square surrounded by intricately interlinked galleries.

I stayed in Siep Reap for 3nights and the went to the Phnom penh, capital of Cambodia, by boat, it takes exactly 5 hours. On the boat I can see many European and Japanese. The boar ran on the Tonle Sap lake which is really big, look like sea, and many people live near in the lake, looks very poor but happy just in my sight. I arrived in Phnom penh around 12pm, many tourist staff were waiting for us and ask to go their agency. I took one of the agency and get the room and unpacking the my baggage. I applied the Vietnam visa in agency to go Vietnam and go to Killing Field. In 1975 Tuol Savy Prey High school was taken over by Pol Pot’s security forces and turned into a prison known as Security Prison 21(s-21). It soon became the largest such center of detention and torture in the country. Almost all of the people held at S-21 were later taken to the extermination camp at Choeung Ek and were executed. Detainees who died during torture were buried in mass graves inside the prison grounds. During the first part of 1997, S-21 claimed a terrifying average of 100victims per day. I could see a lot of bones in the Killing Field, many children are playing around there with bones. I was surprised in there. I had a look around the Phnom Penh and went to Vietnam