Chunks of South East Asia .....

It all started with 2 weeks travelling in Ladakh coming to an end during June 2007… That travel inspired me to see more…Travel more … 

I remember my dad talking about temple ruins of Cambodia. After a small chat with him, I googled “Angkor Wat”. Then, the thought of visiting Cambodia never faded from my mind. Though it seemed that there is lot of tensions in the country, the Majestic UNESCO site kept me interested in it. 

Later Raj and I had a chat about Cambodia and we shared a common interest along with Jagga. Later even Jyo joined ... Then we came up with the below Itenary. Wow, what a diverse travel it was. From High rises and sentosa in Singapore to pubs, discs in Bangkok to the most majestic and the biggest temple complex in the world also being a UNESCO world heritage site in Cambodia to serene white sand beaches in south Thailand kept me wonder how beautiful world is. I am still trying to recover from the hang over of the trip.

Itenary:

Day 1: Flight to Singy

Day 2: Singy

Day 3: Singy

Day 4: Bangkok

Day 5: Bangkok

Day 6: Cambodia

Day 7: Cambodia

Day 8: Cambodia

Day 9: Cambodia

Day 10: Cambodia 

Day 11: Pattaya

Day 12: Bangkok

Day 13: Krabi

Day 14: Krabi

Day 15: Phuket

Day 16: Phi Phi

Day 17: Phi Phi

Day 18: Phi Phi

Day 19: Phuket

Day 20: Phuket

Visas:- 

Singapore: 1300 INR, 30 days. We got it through TT Services (http://www.ttsvisas.com/)

Cambodia: Visa on arrival. 1000Baht, 30 days. However, we were made fools by the consulate people itself. They charged us 1300Baht. You need to argue and negotiate for 1000 Baht. I know it’s ridiculous that there exists a scam in a consulate itself.

Thailand: Visa on arrival. 1000 Baht, 15 days, Single Entry. Though getting a visa on arrival is very easy, it’s recommended to get a travel visa done from your country itself, which would cost about 1800 INR for 60 days multiple entry visa.

Total cost: 60,000 per person, including flight, accommodation, travel and food. 

More to follow .... 

Day 3: 2nd July 2007

After breakfast we headed to pick up out bikes. From there we headed to Deputy magistrate office to get permissions. Voila !!! All set for our Kargil Roadtrip. Then, headed back to guest house,tied our luggages to Eliminator. Then, headed to fill petrol. Here we go, Road Trip to Kargil.
These roads are very well maintained by Border Roads Organisation (BRO). This road is the road connecting Leh and Srinagar. Our first stop was at Indus View point, not very far from Leh town. From here on, we stopped quite often to click snaps.
These roads are quite scary sometimes. You won’t get to see anyone as far as your eyes can reach. Gets you a feeling that you are the only one on earth. U feel as if u own this world. Well, we stopped at Nimmu for lunch. It was bad. Next was the cute and small Saspol Village. Here children were spreading hands out, not for asking lift, for a tap. They enjoyed that and yes, we too. After about 3Kms from this village, there is a deviation towards a Monastery(Only monastery on flat ground, all other you have to climb up). Raj was waiting for me here. It’s a small monastery. Main temple was closed. The one next to it was open, had to use torch to look into wonderful paintings inside. Also there were few Germans sitting and reading a book. I asked monk what are they doing and what do they do here. He told me that they study Buddhism and they know more than us. Also learnt that they are here for restoration of monasteries and they work for some NGO.. Impressive !!!
We continued our journey further. We had to pass Norla and Khalsi. After Khalsi, u will be riding along the lines of Indus giving u company for quite long. We even saw a group of people getting instructions before they started the Rafting.
Well, as we were nearing Lamayaru, there was a strange formation of land. Sometimes it looked like carvings. Later learnt that it was huge lake which is dried now. Its called MoonLand by locals. Reached lamayaru, couldn’t get a room in “Niranjan” which is right next to Monastery. Then went down to “MoonLand Guest house”. He charged us exorbitant rs.500.Was tired, had dinner and went straight to bed. Well ya, the village is about 20 to 30 huts. Electricity to whole village is from 8 to 11 in the night that too from a Diesel generator. Uh..

Day 2 : 1st July 2007

Got up and got freshened up. Checked In. Later we were called for Bag identification, as Leh is a very sensitive area. Unless you identify your baggage, it will not be loaded to aircraft J . Well, funny thing was, there we no seats allotted in particular. We had to get back to our Indian style of boarding a crowded bus here . I managed to board second and Raj after me. Since flying from Delhi to Leh is very Scenic, everyone wants to sit next to window, so all this circus J.
Once we were nearing Leh, the world outside my window was awesome. The bed of clouds seemed like a fairy tale background for me J. Also, pilot had to ascend/descend the aircraft quite often. That was very thrilling, also was landing. Raj started applauding once we touched down and I was laughing with relief J.
Well, Leh was love at First Sight. Surrounded by snow capped mountains, an army base camp nearby. Another dream come true J. Now, with the help of lonely planet (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/) book, we decided to head to Shanti Stupa Guest House. We took a taxi. The first word I heard once landed in Leh was “Jule”, which means “Hello”,”Good Morning”,”Bye”. An all in one word J. We took a room (Rs.350 for a double bedroom with attached bathroom, Rs.200 for without bathroom). Slept till 3. Got up and got ready. Had lunch and then headed to Shanti Stupa. But, its actually not advisable to climb up Shanti Stupa on the first day of your visit. Its adviced not to do anything for 24hrs after u reach leh. But we took chance. Its one of the Monument built under Japanese Peace Movement(There is one more under construction in Nizamuddin Park in Delhi). Its very Tiresome climb up to Stupa. We used to get breathlessness very easily. The view from top is simply Superb.

Then headed to Leh town. Got an Eliminator and a Pulsar(From Planet Himalaya) for 600 and 450 per day respectively for our next day Road Trip to Kargil. We then headed to “Norkhla Restaurant”. Momos are the best served here.A platter will have Potata, Spinach, veg and Ginger momos.It was yummy. Later, I headed to guest house and raj for browsing. And ya we bought a Ladakh map, it was very useful for our roadtrips, for Rs.150.

Delhi and Leh

Day One : 30th June 2007

Started packing at around 0000Hrs. Managed to finish packing and to have 2 and half hour of sleep. We were 4 of us initially. Raj, Shashi, Jyothi and I. But, only Raj and I boarded IC 804 at 0615Hrs. Here we go Ladakh!!! .

Reached Delhi at around 0915Hrs, to be welcomed by roaring sun. It was around 35degrees. Left the luggage at cloak room. Got freshen up. Skin to be covered with a layer of Sun Screen Lotion J . With the help of map we got hold of from airport, we decided to head Qutub Minar(QM) first. Got to know that bus #715 heads directly to QM, later to see that all 715 would come people hanging out of the bus. So decided to take a Rick. Shelled out 150. You can always negotiate that.

QM is standing tall since 1310 AD. It being one of the World heritage sites is well maintained with an entrance fee of Rs.10. And Ten rupees more you can watch a live relay from camera fitted on top of the QM. We didn’t go there. From here, we headed to Lotus Temple. Bus #534 took us there. He left us at a stop and we had to walk a bit passing through not so good and deserted park. Lotus temple is huge Meditation hall. You should switch off your mobile phones before entering. I tried taking a snap from my mobile camera, but was warned L . Well, the Delhi heat was freaking us out. Uh… By this time I was damn hungry. We headed to nearby Dominos. Relaxed there for about 2 to 3 hours and later headed to Connaught place. We just took a walk around the Rajiv Chowk (Inner Circle of Connaught Place, Outer circle being named as Indira Chowk and a middle circle). Took Metro till Indraprastha, last station on BlueLine (There are 3 lines, namely Red, Blue and yellow). Then had to catch a Bus. Akshardham is a magnificent piece of work. There was ocean of people. Security is far away more than one in Bangalore International Airport.They event went to an extent of asking Raj to remove his shoes... Uhh. When we walk from main gate, we reach a point where towards right is the temple and towards left is a pathway along the sides of which has statues of personalities dating back to time even before Ramayana and Mahabharata to time of Freedom fight. It was really amazing work. we get to know a lot about Hindu Mythology and freedom fighters. They even have audio playing which explains about each of the personalities there. Then we headed to temple. Man..Entire temple is made of marble. It took more than 2 years to build this temple. Check this link http://www.my-india.net/tour/delhi/akshardham.shtml. After watching a Musical Fountain Show we headed back to Dwarka Mor (Took Metro from Indraprastha).Quite deserted place. Managed to get a rick to airport for Rs.90. We reached there by 2200Hrs. had dinner. Had our flight at 0520Hrs next day. Took a nap on the bench outside the airport until Raj woke me up for Toothpaste at about 0300Hrs.