Journey to the World

איך הכל התחיל

הכל התחיל לפני מספר שנים כשעלה אצלי הרעיון לטוס ליפן, רעיון שהתפתח לטיול שכלל גם את סין. הטיול נשאר בגדר רעיון במשך שנים רבות וכלל לא חשבתי לתכנן את הטיול בפועל. אל התרבות היפנית התוודאתי לראשונה דרך סרטי האנימציה האיכותיים של מפיק דגול בשם אייהו מיאזאקי (Hayao Miyazaki). צחלקכם מכיר אותו באופן עקיף מסרט מפורסם, “הנסיכה מונונוקי”, אבל דווקא זה לא היה מה שמשך אותי לכיוון. את הסרט שידוע בארץ בשם “המסע המופלא” ראיתי זמן רב לפני שהגיע אלינו ועבר הסבה לעברית, ולמעשה הרבה לפני שהגיע לגירסתו האנגלית. הסרטים של מיאזאקי היו עוברים תהליך שלם שהיה לוקח לעיתים כשנה עד שהיו מקבלים את הדיבוב לאנגלית. כל הסרטים של הסטודיו שלו ביפן, סטודיו גיבלי, במקורם הופקו בשפה היפנית, וזה מה שנתן לי את הרצון העז ללמוד את אותה שפה. כשראיתי לראשונה, בשנת 2001, את הסרט בשפה היפנית עם כתוביות באנגלית התחלתי להבין כמה היה עוזר לי להבין את השפה הזו על בוריה.

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למה לצלול?

אל העולם התת-הימי המופלא הגעתי במקרה . זה היה לפני מספר שנים במהלך אחד מהביקורים שלי בריף הדולפנים באילת. במקום מוצעת צלילת היכרות במחיר לא זול. קצת מפחיד להתמסר למכשירים ולהתנתק מכל אפשרות לשאוף אוויר בצורה שבה אנו רגילים מעל המים. לקח לי כמה דקות טובות להתרגל למצב החדש. צלילת ההיכרות מגיעה לעומק שבין שלושה עד חמישה מטרים. למרות המחיר הגבוה, אני ממליץ לכל אחד להתנסות ולו פעם אחת בחוויית הצלילה. עברו שנים מאז אותה צלילה, ולמרות שקיבלתי החלטה לעבור קורס צלילה, היא מעולם לא יצאה לפועל. בסה”כ, הצלילה הינה ספורט שאינו זול ואף עלול להיות מסוכן אם לא נלקח ברצינות הראויה. כדי שיהיה אפשר להנות מהצלילה, יש לנסוע עד אילת ואף רחוק משם. בים התיכון הראות לא טובה ולא נמשכתי לצלול שם. גם הרחיקו אותי סיפורי האימה על מדוזות ענק שצורבות את הצוללים בלב ים, ובסופו של דבר ירדתי לגמרי מהנושא.

קורס הצלילה שלי קיבל דחיפה רצינית כאשר החלטתי לטוס לתאילנד בינואר 2007. שמעתי סיפורים על גן-עדן מתחת למים שאסור לפספס. החלטתי לנצל את חלון ההזדמנויות שנפתח והלכתי לבדוק לגבי קורס צלילה זול בתאילנד. שתי ציפורים במכה אחת?
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January 9, 2007

The flight from Tel Aviv to Kiev lasted four and a half hours as planned. From Kiev, and after waiting a couple of hours I went on the flight to Bangkok. A couple of minutes after the plane took off we were over the clouds. They were as thick and as white like in fairy tales.

On the plane I met Yulia who came from St.Petersburg for a ten days vacation in Pattaya. She told me she runs a gym and two restaurants in Russia. After nine hours, two meals, half a movie, lots of music and some games on my PDA we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand.

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January 10, 2007

That day I went on an organized tour to Erawn National Park and the seven waterfalls. The program included visiting the reservation, an elephant trek and washing in the river with elephants. Next on the program was a visit to a cave and riding the train to the famous bridge over the river Kwae.

Erawan National Park and the seven waterfalls

We started a trek in the national park that included a three hours walk which reminded me the Jordan Park in Israel. On the way to the park I met Andy from England. Together we walked till the seventh waterfall which was the higher and most impressive than than all others. The rumors I read about the difficulties reaching this waterfall turned out as false. You do have to put some effort to reach the end of the route, but it’s not so hard for a person with reasonable fitness. On the way back we stopped to refresh at the fourth waterfall. The water is cold so you have to choose between a fast cold entrance or a slow entrance which involves some nibbles from the fish who swim near the rocks.

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January 11, 2007

I woke up and checked my options to stay in bed, since I can’t walk much because of the injury in my ankle. One hour later I started getting ready for breakfast. My walking shoes, Asolo Highland, are a reinforced leather block which gives a lot of support to the ankle. I tried to walk a little. It was still hard but possible. The shoe reminded me of an elastic bandage because of its support. After this positive development I went checking an option of renting a motorcycle. I usually don’t get along with motorbikes, and there’s a slight license problem, but some training in parking lots back at my country brought me to the point in which I’m only missing the official license. I do have an international driver’s license after all.

Around Kanchanaburi on a motorbike

A quick tour around some agencies and I’m already renting a nice Mio 110cc automatic. After a short explanation and saying to myself “left side, left side, left side” (in Thailand you have to drive on the left side like in the UK), I took the Mio and went looking for a gas station.

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January 12, 2007

Kanchanburi Province, 120 kilometers on a motorcycle in half a day, one local hitchhiker, two museums, a few tigers and some other wild animals.

Today I planned to visit the famous Tiger Temple. I was not sure whether to take an organized tour for 120 baht, not including entrance fee (300 baht) or get there by myself. Renting a motorbike for such a ride is relatively expensive because it requires a considerable amount of fuel. A short conversation with a nice Thai girl at a local traveling agency convinced me to go by my own. The ride went through road number 323, but instead of going straight to Tiger Temple, I turned left to Ban Kao. This is where Ban Kao National Museum is located which is an historical museum of human kind four thousand years ago. I planned to go from there to Prasat Muang Sing Historical Park, which is the old city of Muang Sign. This detour would bring me back to road 323 directly to Tiger Temple.

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January 13, 2007

That day we went for a half day tour to Khao Yai National Park. We walked into a cave where we saw guano, some bats and a green snake. We drove from there to the famous bat cave. We stood there for quite some time while watching the amazing sight of millions of bats leaving the cave toward their nightly hunt in the rain forests of the area.

Saturday was calm and boring. The Green Leaf is located fifteen kilometers from Pak Chong. In that area there’s a small number of guest house, mini-markets and one 7/11 store. There’s also an ATM. When I asked Chao, our guide, about attractions in the guest houses area, I was told there’s nothing to see besides a school in which there was nothing as well.

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January 14, 2007

Khao Yai National Park. We went on a truck for a full day trekking in the rain forests of Khao Yai. The ride starts early in the morning inside an open pickup truck so it’s very cold. You must bring a long sleeved shirt. It’s also very cold in the evening. During the day the weather gets hot.

The tour in the reservation was nice, but I was expecting something completely different. After a couple of hours walking in the park I already canceled my plans for staying another day. The rain forests, and I emphasize on the forests, are not the known jungles as you might have seen in Africa or in the movies. No jungles and no animals.

Trekking in Khao Yai

The forests are made of huge trees going up high to twenty to thirty meters. The trek goes through the wild bush, but it reminded me of the Israeli forests which are not the jungle-type at all. I’ve seen enough of these. The park itself is huge so you have to drive on the road which goes threw it. From time to time the guide stops the truck when he spots some animal on one of the trees. We spotted a couple of hornbills (birds), one huge squirrel, a couple of more birds and one or two monkeys on the trees.

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Janurary 15, 2007

I woke up in the morning and remembered I have to go through the bank. $300 USD in travelers checks transfered to a couple of thousands bahts. The nice tuktuk driver (30 baht) waited patiently outside the bank until I came out and took me back to the hotel. On the same street where the hotel is located there are a couple of monuments so I went checking them by foot. I checked out from the hotel and left my large bag at the reception.

Khorat is a large city with a lot of traffic. The number of cars in comparison to Kanchanaburi is high. Despite of this I tried looking for an automatic motorcycle. Unfortunately I found out that in the entire city you cannot find a single automatic motorcycle. The attempts to explain to me how to operate the manual gear didn’t help so much. A city with so much traffic along with a two days experience of riding motorcycles on the road, not to mention it’s on the left side, are not a good recipe to learn something new. Perhaps at a later time.

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January 16, 2007

It’s 6:15 AM. Outside the train station in Nong Khai is still dark and curious tuktuk drivers still observe what I do. You can count the number of tourists on one hand. I went outside where a few more drivers sat near the fire. I paid 50 baht for a tuktuk to the border, a ten minutes drive. On the way the driver stops in the Visa Service + Bus which I already heard of as a scam. The bus fee, including help for filling the Visa forms, is 2000 baht which includes also the Visa itself. I politely refused to the offer. Before we went on the girl in the agency gave me a tip to pay in dollars and not in baht because of the low conversion rate ($31 USD vs 1500 baht). It’s a little before 7:00 AM and I’m already in the Thailand - Laos border. The exit from Thailand goes without a problem and I go on the local bus that cross the friendship bridge which separates Thailand and Laos. You are not allowed to walk there by foot.

Crossing the border to Laos

The Laos border is located at the other side of the bridge. The place is completely empty, only two German tourists are waiting for the Visa approval. Those who don’t have a Visa have to approach a small windows, open it and hand the clerk 1500 baht or $31 USD. I gave him $35 USD, my passport and a passport photo. I was then told to wait.

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January 17, 2007

There’s not much to do in Vientiane. I bought a ticket for a VIP bus to Vang Vieng in the morning for $6 USD. The bus leaves around 2:30 PM and picking up from guest houses starts at 2:00 PM.

Around Vientiane

I had a couple of hours free so I drove to the Buddha Park. It’s located thirty kilometers from the city. On the way you have to go back to the Friendship Bridge, the same place where the border with Thailand is located, and keep driving for seven more kilometers. If you come to Laos from this border, you should save yourself the trouble and ask the driver to go through this park first.

The road goes through a rural area along rice fields, cows that walk on the road and the river to the right. The roads are not good in some parts.

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January 18, 2007

I rented a light motorcycle that day to tour the area. On the way to Vang Vieng I managed to get the idea about the quality of the roads and knew I had to be careful. The main road that connects Vientiane and Luang Prabang (Vang Vieng in the middle) doesn’t have paved margins. There’s only one lane each way. From time to time there are holes and bumps in the road so you have to pay attention while driving. Along the road there is no street light and therefore it’s dangerous to ride there after dark around 6:30 PM.

The road from Vang Vieng To Luang Prabang

Even though I have some experience with ATVs, that was the first time I tried it with a light motorcycle. I paid $5 for one day without insurance. I didn’t look for an automatic gear but for a manual one.

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January 19, 2007

After seeing the other day five different caves, I went doing what most tourists do in Vang Vieng - Tubing. This attraction is so developed in this small town that while browsing through the various travel agencies, a local Lai asked me in Hebrew if I want to do the tubing tour. He didn’t even know I was from Israel. Only after showing his knowledge in the language he asked me if I understand Hebrew. It seems like Israelis conquered this town as in almost every shop or internet cafe there are signs in Hebrew which looks a little weird, but probably helps with sales.

Tubes on the river

The price for a tube which includes a ride to the beginning of the tour, is 35000 kip ($3.5 USD). You can get a waterproof bag for one dollar more. The organizers pick up a group of tourists from the town, give each one a tube of a tractor and leave the place. The distance to Vang Vieng is about four kilometers and you have to get back before dark until 5:30 PM. In this time of year, January, the water level is not so high and so, the current is slow and pleasant.

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January 20, 2007

I heard a knock on the door at 8:30 AM. It was the host of the guest house. She told me that because of an unknown reason I have to go by the minibus instead of the VIP bus to Luang Prabang. There are two possible ways to get there and the more expensive one is by minibus, probably because it takes more fuel. The ride lasts six to seven hours with several stops on the way.

I didn’t have much choice, so we hit the road an hour late after waiting or more people to fill the minibus. After a short inquiry I found out that on this day there were not enough tourists for a full bus, so they moved all passengers to minibuses, even those who came from Vientiane in a bus on their way to Luang Prabang.

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January 21, 2007

An organized tour started an hour late at 10:30 AM because the organizers forgot to pick me and other people up. The way to the elephant camp isn’t paved. It takes thirty minutes getting there from the city. The elephant trek goes through a Laos-style jungle and is much better than the commercialized one in Kanchanburi. Its price is $20 USD and includes one and a half hour elephant riding. You can combine it with a kayak tour, a bicycle trip, a small waterfall and other stuff. You just have to pay some more money.

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