The time has come! The dreaded end-of-trip-38-hours-to-go-one-last-bus-trip-to-make time. What have I done since my last (and admittedly inane) update? Not a heck of a lot! And that's the beauty of it.

Staying at a place called Julie's, which has rad taste in music, killer mozzies and a beautiful rooftop balcony. Most of my days are spent on the balcony devouring Jean M Auel and cornflakes yogurt and fruit. However, we did spice it up a bit lately by trying to dye my hair magenta. It was bright purple for a whopping one day, and is plain again (fie!). Also, headed to the markets for a day and Rama, a 60 something yoga teacher from CA found the most ridiculous purple, embroidered, cloak-full-length-poncho-robe and walked about in the streets flapping his arms and looking something like a past-his-prime peacock, and boggling the locals.

Kendra (a woman in my dorm) and I borrowed a guy's motorbike as well, and got totally lost trying to find some hotel that had mango cheesecake. We ended up settling for burritos. And, to top it all off, last night was my friend sarah's birthday, so we went out dancing, first at the hippiest of all hippy places, a rooftop restaurant called THC (apperantly this stands for "Tribal Heritage Complex") and then at some thai discotheque called Bubble which involved a lot of drunk people from Essex. All in all, after six hours of jumping up and down and side to side and trying to sals to drum and bass, the best part of the night was driving home with Sarah on the back of her motorbike at three am when there was no other traffic. I figure it's a pretty rad end to the motorbike adventures of the trip.

And that's about that. There's not much else to say really, except I have to go return a bicycle before noon, so I need to go.
Lots of love, Alicia

Current Location: Chiang Mai
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: something french....

Yep, not a lot to report here, just ye olde I'm alive! sort of update. Hanging out in Chiang Mai again, waiting for this last week to get over and done with and stop me from hanging between two worlds. It's kinda like: well, I've got a week left so I can't really go anywhere or do anything here, but I've got a week left, so I still can't do anything at home either. My poor brain doesn't know what to think about!!

Anyway, I've managed to psych myself up for coming home, because I was definetly not a happy chappy two weeks ago. But the lure of avocados and real cheese and proper tea is very strong I've found. And gardening! I can garden again!!

One story to report: a friend and I went to see Spiderman 3 (it was raining and because his foot is all gibbled in bandages he can't get it wet, so we thought, what the heck! let's see a movie). It was a bit lame, but afterwards, in the bathroom I met three girls from Vic and Van and Somewhere in the States. They were three highschool girls on a rotary exchange. It was a rather unpleasant (and shocking) reminder of what our age bracket can be like (think walking into Mr. Steed's graphics class, or gr. 10 art). At anyrate, I wanted the floor to eat me.

But, I'll get out of everyone's hair now before this just becomes really boring. Lots of love, Alicia

Current Location: Chiang Mai
Current Music: Lilly allen

Hey kids!

Most of Viet Nam later, I'm now in Hanoi, waiting for a money transfer and a chinese visa! But, starting at the beginning:

Left Saigon for Dalat, a town up in the moutains. The bus trip was good, there was only a few of us on the train. Sat around an played guitar and took advantage of leg room (!!) The only downside (a bit of a massive one) was a car and motorbike accident right in front of us when we stopped for gas. The moto driver was dead on impact.

On a cheerier note, Dalat was good fun. Excellent market, about a billiom bakeries for me to oggle and some craaaaazy architecture. AND! My first night there it rained!!Got all wet then came home and had a (HOT) shower and snuggled into my duna. I haven't had a proper blanket in ages! Also, I tried "iced milk with lemon" at this super neat cafe built to resemble a fairy tale cave. It's really dark and full of crazy stairs and aisles, I think it a bit more like a forest, but whatevs, it was awesome.

Next stop Nha Trang where I had coconut ice cream and a terrible criossant. But I was only there for about four hours before I hopped on a bus to Hoi An. I was thrilled to find that George (a swede I met in sihanoukville) was also on the bus. This guy is rad. THe trip itself was awful, an all nighter. And israeli girl (Keren) and I ended up sleeping in the aisle, and then sharing a room in Hoi An. \

Hoi An was really lovely, so photogenic. It's a UNESCO world heritage site and town for its tailors. Unfortunately Keren got realy caught up in shopping so I didn't get to see as much of it as I would have liked. But we had a good time (mostly).

After that, we caught the bus to Hue and spent about five hours there with an Irish guy called Paddy. Most of the time wsa spent sitting with about five (very drunk) locals at some random restaurant and watching Paddy, Keren and the locals get even drunker. Good (free) food though. And the women were really darling.

The all night bus trip to Hanoi from Hue was ok, but involved the most disgusting bathroom stop I've ever seen. Really, it was just a lot of shit and pee on the ground in and outside the actual cubicles.

Hanoi is pretty a.ok. Have a bit of a cold so that's not cool, and i'm starting to get a bit fed up with the constant hassling (they're a lot more aggressive in the north) and the honking that's incessant and the historic sights you pay to see that end up being just fancy souvenir shops. But the city itself is beautiful and i've just run into Gaz and Caroline so been having a good time! As in Phnom Penh, really loving the french cultural centre's library.

lots of love,
Alicia

Current Location: Hanoi
Current Music: street sounds

Good evening from Ho Chi Minh city ladies and gentlemen!

First of all, the city is aptly named because the man is everywhere! This place is a quarter motorbike, a quarter french pastry, a quarter noodle soup (pho), and a quarter art gallery. And all terribly fashionable. I love it.

Another upside is that the Vietnamese love avocados almost as much as I do. Heck they even make pure avocado shakes! That's dedication.

Everyone told me before I came here that the locals did everything they could to rip you off and just saw tourists as walking atms. So far however, everyone I've met has been really sweet, from the little old nana who's house I'm staying in, to the sales girl at the swank art gallery I ponced into, wearing my grubbiest of grubs.

I'm staying with a quebecois girl named Mary Line, who I met on the bus from Phnom Penh. We sat next to each other and were snobby about the yuppie Toronto gangsta boys behind us and the pushy American man in front. Right now we'e sharing a room (with its own bathroom and a HOT SHOWER!!... which I have yet to actually use) at the top of the aforementioned little old lady's apartment. It's down this tiny wee alley and it's got the sweetest little wrought iron fence. She's always wearing white (or off white) silk pajamas (Ho Chi Minh style) and she's got a little fluffy white dog with a crooked tooth called Milo who loves having his belly rubbed. her apartment reminds me a bit of my cousin/aunt/random relative Undina in Trieste only, the towels haven't lace around the edges.

In the evening we've gone to see free movies at a cafe, so far nothing to spectacular but a nice way to end the night.

Also, it turns out I'm a massive museum nerd. (thanks dad) I've been to three in two days. The art museum here is amazing though, in a beautiful old yellow french beuilding with huge stain glass windows. I've fallen in love with laquer paintings. They're stunning! The colours are always so rich. I also went to the history museum and the war museum, where I nearly threw up looking at photographs.

Anyway, all in all, Viet Nam is so far super fab.
Lots of love,
Alicia

Current Location: Saigon
Current Music: street noise

Quick ad on from Siem reap, because I left out the cookie story as Katie pointed out.

I got to the Angkor ticket booth too early to buy a ticket for the next day so I had to kill a couple hours before going back, so I deced to explore the road going to the park. There's a couple billion shmick as hotel, a children's hospital, a school for the blind and a load of souvenir stores.

Poking around inside the souvenir stores I was befriended by a girl working there. We walked aropund talking for about an hour. She told me about how she works twelve hour days (though lunch and dinner are included) everyday and lives in an apartment with her four siblings and takes enlgish and japanese classes. She wants to open her own store but she's only paid 50$ a month and the apartment costs 120$ not including anything. But! It turns out these are very good working conditions in Cambodia, on Lakeside in phnom Penh workers at the guesthouses make only 25$ dollars a month and so they try to hold down three jobs. She was really sweet however, and only 20. She was shocked that I was travelling alone and was very glad to hear that I had been mugged or something yet. She was also the first salesperson I've ever spoken to who told me: if you don't buy something here, it's fine, I know this stuff is over priced. Doesn't matter that you've been bumming around the store for an hour and a half.

Anyway, after the store I went over to the children's hospital to donate blood. They needed blood because of an outbreak in Dengue fever amongst the local kids. The hospital itself is run by a Swiss guy who gives free cello concerts on staurday (which I sadly missed) and is used to train young cambodian nurse and doctor interns. It's all very hygenic and totally up to par so don't worry about me dying of AIDS or something. The needle was new!

Turns out I'm blood type O+ which is cool because I can help anyone. The nurse forlornly told me that she was the same but if we ever needed blood we can only receive from the same type. I'm hoping karma pulls through for me if I ever need blood. The point of all this is, after giving blood they gave me a bunch of vitamins to take, free water a t-shirt and a pack of orange flavoured cookies. And that's where the cookies came from.

Back in PP I went up to Kampon Cham and was befriended by a 17 year old Cambodian boy who took mya round to see the sites and introduced my to his cousin (who I love) she's decided not to marry but to go to uni instead! And then he took my to his english class (the teacher was abysmal) and showed me the girl he's in love with. He was very frustrated because he studies really hard and wants to be a tour guide but his english teacher's bad and he knows it.

Anyway, after that I came back to Phnom Penh earlier than expected and found, surprise surprise, that Lina hadn't left with everyone else so we've been hanging out ever since. Also ran into the amazing Steve from Don Det who taught us the Rizlas game.

My last day in Phnom Penh, and Cambodiua in general, I'm all sad having to say good bye to the kids I teach down at the mosque and the Lakeside gang that's sort of sprung up. But I'll be in Saigon tomorrow!
love, Alicia

Current Location: Preah Monivong

ok,ok, so I suck at updating the journal. Sorry guys!
Anyway, lots to report so buckle your seat belts me hearties!

After Phnom Penh, I went down to Shianoukville where I ran into about fifty billion people I'd met in Laos. ONe of which was David The Incredibly Sweet from Nelson. (he and his girlfriend Gabriella we met in Champasak at Laughing Man's guest house) Totally made my day to see him again, he also taught me to play pool which I suck at. (Felt cool though, reading Dorian gray and playing pool...) Shianoukville itself is a bit of a dive, but hung out with these two greeks Christoph and Lina and we had a blast playing backgammon and stuffing ourselves on fresh sea food. Ands of course, swimming in the ocean was beautiful.

Brief interlude about Dorian Gray: BRILLIANT. I love oscar wilde madly. The best part of all was the fact that mny copy of this book literally fell apart in my hands as I read it. My favourite character was a woman, Duchess Gladys (I think she was a duchess) towards the end she was at Dorian's hunting party, and she only had about a couple pages of conversation, one with Lord henry and Dorian and one with just Dorian, but she was so clever and wise and tragic, I just loved her. It's interesting because in DG the men are always the most interesting characters, and some rather disparaging things are said about the women, but the few women who do actually have a bit of a part are quite intelligent and with it.

From Shianoukville I went to Kampot, a smaller Cambodian town and stayed in hut in the garden of a place called Bodhiu Villa. Which was basically this old house with a veranda and a dock on a salt waster lake. It's all grown over with bougainvillea and at night when you swim there's phosphorensence.

From there went on an expedition to Bokor Hill, this abandoned french Casino/hotel and other buildings on top of, well a hill. Beautiful view from way up there, and the buildings were neat, but the raod there and back was two and a half hours of hell. However, met some sweet people and so at least we got to laugh about it. (afterwards)

My last night in Kampot, I spent with a girl from Switzerland who'd just parted wasy with this Brazilian she'd been in love with, and George a swedish guy I'd met in S-ville who'd just left the group of friends he'd been travelling with. So they were both pretty down, and I just gotten Cam's photos of Don Det so I was a bit lonesome and then they were playing Johnny Cash Ï'm so lonesome I could cry" which was just too much for aus and we did. But then we went and played a bit of (really pathetic) pool and at 6 am George and I caught the bus back to PP.

In PP we hung out with one of the irsh guys from Don Det and watched Batman begins to make ourselves feel better. little did I know that Camilo and his frien the Infamous Chris were down at my guesthouse!

Next morning I booked it to Siem Reap for Angkor Wat. Siem Reap was an interesting town. Just had a wierd feel to it, a bit like Pakse in laos actually. Some really shmick hotels! Anyway, my first night there there was a power outage and as I wander up to my room holding a candle in a beer can I hear: "'ey! you wantta smoke eh joint?" Across the hall these four french kids had set up camp. Spent the night with them mainly, talking and eating my free hospital cookies (story to come) They were awesome kids, two of them had biked there from Paris a year ago and were going to bike back, which should take them another year! It was great practice for my french as well because I talked for probably two or three solid hours just in french and they were really good about helping me out when ever I muddled things up.

Anyway, as for the temples themselves, they were really stunning. There's so much there to look at, but my favourites are just the small ones that are half collapsed and all covered in tree roots. I spent a lot of time just getting lost, climbing through walls and sleeping in the huge stone window looking away into the forest.

Ran into Cam and Chris at sunrise at Angkor Wat on my second day and we had some good times. It really is nice to catch up on news and compare notes on everyone we know and just spend some time with someone who actually knows your name. Though, Cam's beards really filled out so I almost didn't recognise him as I went by. When he smiles now it looks like he's got caterpillars on his face.

Chris, one of the guys who took a boat down a rive in northern Laos with Cam, is ananawesome guy, used to wwoof in the Queen Charlottes so we got to talk about BC whihc was neat. He'd also heard about me from Cam earlier and been told to keep an eye out for me when he was in Cambodia. it turned out he thought he'd met me on Tonsay island in the south and didn't realise it hadn't actually been me til we met for real in Angkor Wat. Anyway, the two of them were rad, so we had a good time.

Back in Phnom Penh again, and who did I run into but lina and the gang from Shianoukville, so we're spending a couple days together before they leave for Laos and I go north for a few days. Then: Viet Nam!

Lots of love!!
Alicia

Current Location: Phnom Penh
Current Music: Cambodian karaoke

Hello to all and sundry!

Still in Phnom Penh city of AMAZING convenience stores and excellent second hand clothes shopping. Get this, in the super markets here you can buy:

tofu
about twenty types of REAL cheese (not just laughing cow)
yogurt
ice cream
bread
AND
peanut butter!!!

isn't that bloody AMAZING?! I honestly just about fainted dead away. Sadly, this is actually really exciting stuff.

Anyway, been doing a lot of walking about town. Went to the National Museum to see a Rodin exhibit of some of his sketches of Khmer dancers. The exhibit itself wasn't mind blowing but the musuam was beautiful, some of the statues and carvings and things they had were stunning. And the building itself was really neat with a chill little coutyard to read and everything. Definetly worth the three bucks.

Also, been to the french cultural centre (the french are here in a big way). There's a really spiffy all french library, really new books, big collection. It was good fun.

Staying at a we guesthouse right on the lake, which is really chill and run by a great english guy called Tim.

Got to volunteer with some of the local kids as well, playing games and theaching them a bit of english. They were so sweet and darling.

Anyway, that's about all for now. just saying Hey! I'm enjoying myself. Off to buy a guitar and teach myself Heartbeats. (I don't care if it's going to take me a bloody year!) Beautiful song by the way, Jose Gonzales' cover of Heartbeats (I think it's plural) anyway, go listen to it if you haven't already.

And! check out White Teeth by Zadie Smith, super book!!

To Emma: Have your ead Sleep, Pale Sister by Joanne Harris? It's one of her really early books. I think you love it.

TONS of love, Alicia

Current Location: Phnom Penh
Current Music: nada

http://www.bebo.com
ok, we're trying the photos again.
Seeing as I'm only using this account to be able to see Neil's, my user name is 'lliyralli' and the password is 'hinote'. Just click on the 'photos' link and you'll see it.

Sorry I've been quiet for so long... I went back to Don Det for another two weeks after my visa run. Half way through, Neil, who was supposed to be in the Phillipines, turned up. British Airways went on strike and his flights got buggered so he said fuck it! and came home to us.

I'm really not going to bother trying to explain Don Det. The first time I tried to leave I woke up physically sick. The second time I woke crying and didn't stop until I was on the bus to Cambodia three hours later.

But it's that kind of place. I love it.

Love, Alicia

Current Location: Phnom Penh
Current Music: Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats

Motorcycle diaries pt. 2
Neil left us in Pakse and Camilo and I, after much beating around the bush rented a motorbike and took on a three and a half day trek through the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos. We saw a whopping five and a half waterfalls, got lost about a billion times and swore a blue streak. And through it all, my trusty water bottles never once broke. Not even when it got launched from our front basket.

We were super lucky though, the first two waterfalls (the touristy ones) were basically deserted when we got there. Tad Niang you could even go swimming in. Probably one of the most idyllic times I've ever spent. Kicking back by a waterfall, playing the guitar. But wait! A guitar how did we get one of those on the back of a motorbike. With great difficulty. We made a case for it out of a sarong, a pair of fisherman pants and Cam's belt and lashed the thing to my back. (I being the girly girl on the back seat) It was pretty igenious really. Cam has a photo of this contraption so one day I might be able to show you. Anyway, the third waterfall was Tad lo, were we rented a bungalow literally on the river about 50 feet? from the water fall. Absolutely stellar.

Also, we ran into (surprise surprise) Gaz and Caroline who were staying just up stream. From Tad lo we went out on day trips, along one of the worst roads in the world and along one of the most beautiful. Tad fek and Tad Katamtok (affectionately known as Tad freak and Malaria Falls) were absolutely beautiful, terribly difficult to find and utterly vacant of anyone else. On the way to Malaria Falls we got really super lost and had to get help from an unsuspecting M 60 wielding local.

Anyway, I got to practice driving for my Southy American adventure and we saw some amazing scenery, waved to a million kids in a hundred tiny wee villages in the middle of no where, and saw the greenest rice parddies in the world.

After that we cheesed it to Champasak to go see a Khmer temple, Wat Phuo, which was up at the top of a hill overlooking the rive et al. It didn't look like much when you arrivfed but as you went further and further up the stairs it got more and more amazing.

Our guest house owner was this crazy french speaking man who walked into a room and just burst into laughter for no reason whatso ever.

From Champasak we went to Si Phan Don (4000 islands) on the Cambodian border and met up with Caroline, Gaz, Bart, Neil and Sarah again. Had a great night with a duck roast. Met up again with a couple we'd met in Champasak. My bungalow neighbour is currently a guy named Munkey, from Sooke. (coincidence?)Also, hung out with the most darling coupl from Colorado Tod and Corey. They were awesome. They used to work for National Geographic until they sold their house quit and decided to travel the world. Poor Corey decided to buy a couple duck for their going away dinner but he got so attached to them just carrying them from the farm to the guesthouse that he swears he's going veg when he gets home.

Anyway, Don Det, the island I'm on, is just the most beautiful thing. And the couple (Lam and Campao) who run the guest house are so sweet. They're only 19 and 23 and they adopted us all right away. we go grocery shopping with them and half the time we cook our own food. Poor Lam however, is one month pregnant and she's terribly sick and they're worried she'll miscarry again. And she's only nineteen. It's heartbreaking because she's so lovely.

Also! Here are some photos on Neil's Bebo page (if this works):
http://www.bebo.com/PhotoAlbumBig.jsp?PhotoAlbumId=2970555841&PhotoId=2970600460
these are mostly christmas and new years. So not us at our classiest.

lots of love,
Alicia

Current Location: Ubon
Current Music: thai pop

So this will be my last post for a while, heading off into places that haven't (according to the LP) GASP got internet. Horror.

Anyway, New Year's day can be summed up in this:
"Guys! It's already two oclock and we've only just had breakfast... there's no day left to chill out in!!"

We burst several lungs laughing at the pictures we took though. Because my camera was out of batteries I kept taking pictures on other peoples's cameras and then Neil couldn't even remember past 11pm so there were a lot of unpresedented pictures. Including one of Carolyne in a giant grey wig...

Right now, I'm in Savanakhet with (Kim Young) Neil and (who else?) Camilo. Gaz and Carolyne are off for Pakse (where we're headed tomorrow) and where Sarah and Bart left for the night before last. I wish you guys could hear Bart's accent. I swear to god, it's the funniest thing in the world. That and his very distinct style of sentence structure.

My last day in Vientiane was spent cheesing it around the city trying to get all my visas and travellers check echanged before I left. Not an easy feat when your passport has to be in three different places on opposite ends of town within a half hour.

Now I'd like to take a minute to appreciate the public bus system of Laos:

We got up and at half six in the morning, booked it to the market bus station, hopped on the public bus to the southern bus station as it was heading out the gates. Got to the southern bus station and bought our tickets as ouir stuff was being laoded onto the bus and Cam bought breakfast as it was pulling out.

After that rush we stopped two block down from the station to let on about 5000 baguette sellers who just sort of tossed bags of baguettes onto your lap and if you didn't want hem you have to toss them back quick or they'll demand money. As Neil says, it was a bit of a saturated market.

Then, the karaoke started. the less said there the better. However they did play this whacked out movie about a village and it's monk and a mutant child which I saw on the bus ride to Mae Sot. As well as a few thai pop songs I recognised. I think this may be a bad sign.

A couple of the handlers gave us dried squid which actually wasn't that bad, and at the market Gaz bought a bag of Prapples. Ie this wierd white potato-apple thing you peel and eat.

Half way through the trip this crazy Lao woman in a nylon sparlkly blue turtle neck hopped on and started giving people yarn bracelets, showing them a picture of her at some temple, and forcing swigs of lao lao whiskey from water bottles onto random standers by (one guy almost choked she gave him so much...)and screeching a lot. Then she got off. We still have no idea what was happening.

The only thing really missing from this bus trip was the guy with the Ak 47 standing at the back...

I love bus strips in South east Asia. As Gaz says, they're all exactly same, same, but different.

Anyway, Savankhet's quite prety, on the Mekong. We walked from the bus station into town and then around a bit trying to find a guest house (too chep to take a tuk tuk) so I got to see a lot of it. And do a lot of walking.

We also went to a very tiny dinosaur museum!! but it was a bit disapointing. However I made friends with a bunch of monks so that was cool.

Off to pakse tomorrow. To see a lot of waterfalls. And then the four thousand islands. And then!! Cambodia!
Lots of Love,
Alicia

Current Location: Savanakhet
Current Music: Lior