Southeast Asia

Phew!! So many things have happened in my life since my last post. But I've been wanting to write about my SE Asia trip for quite sometime now. So I've decided to get that out of the way, before writing about more recent (and very important) developments in life.

I travelled to Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand with a couple of friends - Pradyot and Swaroop. During the trip, Swaroop and I made a list of interesting observations about the people and places we had seen. Here are a few


KL is not for backpackers on a shoestring budget - I don't mean you can't find cheap places to eat or stay. What I mean is that you feel like a loser, looking at the opulence all around you. One look at the malls and you realise that this city is for shoppers with lots of money.


SE Asians don't sweat - During summer, Malaysia and Thailand are hot and humid like Chennai. Surprisingly, Southeast Asians just don't sweat. The SE Asian males have absolutely no facial or body hair. Not surprisingly, they are very particular about personal hygiene. Being the three hairy South Indians that we were, we had a tough time staying fresh. I've never used as much talcum powder and body spray in my life, as I did during those 3 weeks.


Forex scam in Cambodia - After landing in Siem Reap Cambodia, the three of us exchanged around 500 USD for local currency. We became "instant lakhpatis", since we got 3750 riel for a dollar. Feeling pretty happy, we ventured out into the city, only to discover that we had been taken for a ride. Cambodia is so starved for dollars that people prefer to deal in USD and not in local currency. All prices are mentioned in dollars..even the tuk-tuk drivers negotiate in dollars !! And to get rid of the local currency, we had to shell out 4000 riel per dollar..not 3750!


Gogo bars - The hotel we stayed in Pattaya was bang in the middle of a street full of gogo bars. For the uninitiated, these are the dance bars for which Thailand is pretty notorious. Every time somebody walks past these bars, he is subjected to cat calls (and what not)!! The worst part is being hit upon by lady boys (she-males). Needless to say, I felt pretty embarrassed initially. Once I started enjoying the "limelight", it was pretty funny. But more than everything else, what impacted me the most was the pathetic life these bar dancers lead. More on that later.


Pattaya - If you are a male, more than 50 years old, have a lot of money and want to splurge it on women and booze, Pattaya is the place for you. If not, don't even bother going there. There are lots of cheaper destinations with better beaches.


Kanchanaburi - This is one place I fell in love with. One can find pretty cheap accommodation...and you get floating rooms on River Kwai! There's nothing better than chilling on the river, with Leo or Chang beer. The Erawan national park is great for a day trek and the waterfalls there are straight out of one of those desktop wallpapers. And then there's the tiger temple, which is a must-see. Apparently, there's at least one tourist who's been seriously mauled by the tigers. I came to know about this only after my visit.

Great trip in all...but of course, the best part of the trip was when Swaroop's underwear got stolen by monkeys!! :)