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Hello again folks! It's once again been far too long between updates so prepare yourselves (assuming you're still interested that is) for another lengthy update!
After being rained off the day before I was up early to take a motorbike taxi to the Thap Ba hot spring for a bath in hot thermal mud. I arrived at the same time as two coachloads of Vietnamese tourists so opted to pay a little extra and have my own personal bath. There were no available changing rooms so, much to the amusement of the girls behind the counter, I slipped my costume on next to the lockers in amongst the throng of people. I don't think anyone saw anything but who knows! I was then directed to my tin bath and they filled it up with warm gloopy mud. It was a very strange sensation sitting in the tub covered in sticky mud but it was a great way to start the day particularly when the sun came out and I caught a few rays too. After about half an hour I showered to get rid of most of the mud and wandered down to what can only be described as a walkthrough mini jet wash. The idea was to walk slowly through and let the jets wash you clean and it worked a treat although it was a little painful if one of the waist high jets caught you in the wrong place as you moved through! Reinvigorated I jumped on my motorbike taxi and headed back to town to catch the taxi to the airport. I sailed through the airport check in but had a little mishap in the departure lounge when I picked a dodgy seat which had a loose back and promptly fell backwards through the chair when I sat down ending up on my back with my legs in the air! Very embarrasing but it gave the other passengers something to laugh at though I suppose!
I landed in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) expecting a familiar chaotic scene with lots of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers vying for your fare but it was remarkably calm. I was very surprised to see a young lad waiting for me with my name on a card too. The hotel I'd stayed in the night before had passed my name on to another guest house and they were ready and waiting when I got there....very nice!
I checked in to the guest house and then had a wander around town to get my bearings. First impressions were good and I was very central and right next to a few decent looking bars....happy days. On my wander I met a very friendly cyclo driver called Tuan and after a little negotiation arranged for him to give me a tour of the city the next day. Once I'd arranged the trip he did try to convince me to indulge in a 'sexy lady massage' but I declined although it did make me wonder what extras he might offer me the next day! Unfortunately, I'd developed a little tummy trouble over the course of the day and hadn't eaten a thing all days so headed out for a pizza and a coke (maybe not the best cure I guess!) and then went home for an early night. I was in no rush to leave the city so I figured I'd take my time and hit the town the next night!
I met up with Tuan the next day and he took me around all the major sights in the city like the Reunification Place, Ho Chi Minh museum and several temples and pagodas. Quite how he managed to avoid getting us in a crash I'll never know as the traffic was just as chaotic as Hanoi but he just pedalled away without a care in the world cutting up both motorbikes and cars at will! One of the places we went was the War Remnants Museum which was very anti-American (unsurprisingly I guess!) and some of the exhibits were very graphic and certainly demonstrated the effects of the Vietnam war on the whole country. There were lots of school children in the museum too but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable letting my 7 year old look at pictures of headless corpses or exhibits showing deformed babies in glass cases. All in all it was a good day and Tuan didn't disappoint by taking me to a massage parlour on the way home and offering e a sexy lady massage! I declined and opted for a beer with him instead! Surprisingly, the beer had a very calming effect on my dodgy tummy so it was home for a quick shower and then out for a trawl around the bars. I wandered into Lucky Kim's bar and after a few minutes was surprised to find out it wa a subtley disguised gentlemans club. The owner Kim was very friendly and gave me a tour of the bar with it's stages, poles and private rooms and then sat me at the bar and called a girl over. Unfortunately the girl couldn't speak a word of English (and could probably eat an apple through a tennis raquet!) so I was tasked with teaching her a few useful phrases. This was all good fun as I was chatting with a few American guys who worked in Saigon and were regulars in the bar so they started adding some more risque phrases for the girl to learn! Thankfully there was no hard sell from anyone and I finished my beer and left. After sitting on my own for a while at the next bar, one of the waiters came over, started chatting and like many other people in Asia, he was amazed that I was not married. Three English girls wandered past and he convinced them to join me at my table which was most pleasant. We all got chatting and carried on the bar crawl together ending up with me getting in at 5am a little the worse for wear! I also briefly bumped into Pete during the evening so arranged to meet him the next night.
The next day was a litle fuzzy so I decided to quickly polish off the last couple of sights near my hotel and then camped out in a coffee shop which had a mini cinema on it's top floor. Two movies and a few iced coffees later and my hangover had all but gone! I met Pete that evening and after a bit of planning over dinner, booked our tickets to Phnom Penh in Cambodia for the next morning. We then wandered into a non-tourist area of town and settled into a little bar/restaurant which had some weird and wonderful seafood on display. We took the plunge and much to the confusion of the locals, ended up eating some odd looking sea snails, shrimps and what can only be described as very big whelks! After that I took Pete back to Lucky Kim's bar as he had never been to a gentlemans club before (he made me go, honest!) and the crowd from the night before were there again. One of the American guys had a girl with him who seemed to be having a great time dancing,laughing and singing like there was no tomorrow. It turned out she was deaf and is regularly beaten for bringing shame on the family because of her disability. She also gets beaten up randomly in the street by local kids when they realise she's deaf. I got chatting to her after a while and she taught me some sign language and I must say it was one of the most humbling moments I've ever had. She was an absolute delight to talk to and according to the American guy who she was with, was always this happy even when she was covered in bruises. I'll certainly think of her the next time I think I have it tough! It was getting late so Pete and I headed home and ran the gauntlet of lots of prostitutes and pimps which was quite entertaining as always.
Next day saw the bus trip to Phnom Penh which was very smooth. I even managed to have a chat about football with one of the border guards although he turned out to be a bloody Manchester United fan like the rest of Vietnam! Once through the border, the first mile or so was like a mini Las Vegas with loads of big hotels and casinos. It certainly seemed very out of place with the rice fields and little wooden shacks only metres away. There were 5 of us who got off the bus at a rather hectic central market in Phnom Penh and we navigated our way past the tuk-tuk drivers and headed to a Lonely Plant recommended area by the lake. We checked into a cheap guest house ($3 per night!) which was right on the lake and had a cracking chill out area with pool table, big TV and big sofas. The owner who called himself Monty Python, was very friendly (like all Cambodians so far) and even whipped out a bag of drugs and offered it around within 10 minutes of us sitting down! Obviously we all declined his kind offer and settled for beer only.
Pete and I headed out early the next day and took in most of the major sights in the city. The most remarkable was the S-21 torture camp which used to be a school but was transformed by the Khmer Rouge into a prison cum torture camp during their reign. We spent four hours there and it was very moving to see the pictures of all those who had died and read descriptions of some of the survivors time at the camp. A little shell shocked after the visit Pete and I headed for a beer only to be approached as we sat down by two beggars who had clearly been badly hurt during the conflict themselves. I struggled to make eye contact with one of them as his injuries were so bad and it really hit home how much grief this country has been through. Heavy going!!
Undeterred, Pete and I hopped onto a moto-taxi the next day and headed for the Killing Fields genocide museum. This was equally disturbing and moving as this was the sight where the Khmer Rouge brought the people from S-21 and other places to be murdered and buried in mass graves. In need of a little light relief, we headed back to town and chilled out by the lake for the rest of the day to take stock of what we'd seen. Heavy rain meant we didn't go far for the rest of the evening and I booked a bus to Battambang for the next day and arranged to meet Pete in Siem Reap the day after. The bus to Battambang was again surprisingly smooth although conversation was kept to a minimum as I was the only Westerner on board. Once in Battambang I arranged my boat trip to Siem Reap (the main reason for taking this route as it's the most scenic baot trip in Cambodia apparently) and checked into a hotel. Only here for one night I went straight out and took a moto taxi along a very dusty and bumpy dirt road out to another memorial (Phnom Sampeau) to those who died under the Khmer Rouge. This one wasn't on the same level as the others but was certainly very interesting and my guide was full of useful knowledge. After the visit we sat and had a great chat with one of his friends and they both gave me a great insight into what they think should happen to those on trial for the genocide and what the future holds for Cambodia. The town was very quiet so it was a meal out and early to bed ready for the boat trip the next day.
I jumped on the early boat to Siem Reap in the morning and settled in for the 5 hour journey. The first leg of the journey was certainly eventful as the boat was a little too big for the river we were travelling on and we basically bounced our way along the route bumping in to the bank on frequent occasions! This brought with it many extra visitors to the boat in the shape of lots of leaves and branches, spiders,ants and some insects I'd never seen before. Needless to say the women on the boat loved this! The second leg of the journey was much smoother and we saw many riverside villages where the lifestyle can only be described as extremely basic for the inhabitants. The big smiles and waves we got from them along the way certainly belied the way they lived and it was refreshing to see people so happy when they had next to nothing. This was certainly becoming a common theme throughout Cambodia. We arrived in Siem Reap and the boat was instantly boarded by several tuk-tuk drivers who clearly thought they were extras from Pirates of the Carribean! I'd got chatting to an Irish lady called Stella along the way and she had a pre booked driver so I bodyswerved the melee and jumped into Stella's tuk-tuk to the town centre. Unfortunately the driver dropped us at a remote little place (presumably in search of his commision) but we persuaded him to take us somewhere more central and found a decent guest house about 2 minutes from Pub Street which was most welcome!
We bumped into Pete that night and between us worked out a plan of attack for seeing the temples the next day over a few beers. Pete had joined up with a girl from Australia called Lara so Stella and I decided to make our own way to the temples. Having seen one or two temples on my trip so far I figured two days would be enough so we booked a car with driver and guide for the next day. This turned out to be a good move as our guide (Doung) turned out to be very knowledgeable and made the day very interesting as we saw all of the furthest temples. These temples were amazing and were by far the biggest, most elaborate temples I had seen. We finished the day with sunset at one of the tallest temples which was lovely but the cloud made the experience a little bit of an anti-climax. We had decided to leave the big one (Angkor Wat) for day two and we had to turn away as we passed it on the way home so as not to spoil the surprise!
Day two of our temple adventure was an early start as we took in sunrise at Angkor Wat. This was spectacular and a fabulous way to start the day. Angkor Wat puts all the other temples in the shade (excuse the pun!) both from a size and beauty perspective and certainly lived up to it's billing. The rest of the day was spent exploring Angkor Thom which is a collection of very impressive temples and terraces one of which was used in the original Tomb Raider film. Sadly Lara Croft was nowhere to be seen though! Stella and I were very tired after the early start so a siesta was in order before we headed out to enjoy the delights of Siem Reap's bar scene with Pete and Lara in the evening. It was certainly a great place to chill out with lots of cool bars and nice restaurants but I was a little surprised at the amount of lady boys doing the rounds around town though. Feeling a little 'templed out', I decided to move on to Krachie the next day in the hope of seeing the rare Irrawaddy dolphins. Another chapter in the trip done, I said my goodbyes to Stella and Pete (as he was heading home in a couple of days) and got Lara's contact details as she was also heading to Laos.
Another early start the next day for the 7am bus to Krachie. I was greeted by a brand spanking new double decker bus so I thought the 10 hour bus journey should fly by. Sadly we were only on the bus for 5 minutes before being swapped onto an old banger of a bus with leaky air conditioning! It was a long day and we arrived in Krachie at 5pm. One bright spot from the day was that I'd met a nice English/Spanish couple on the journey (Ian and Anna) and we all checked into a nice hotel on arrival and watched a gorgeous sunset over the Mekong from the hotel balcony. Joining us on the balcony was a guy called Mike who turned out to be from Norwich! Mike had lived in Cambodia for 8 years working in the prosthetics industry and it was certainly surreal talking about places and schools at home in such a far away place. After booking another ridiculously early start to see the dolphins the next day, the four of us headed out for some food that evening. Around 10pm, Ian and Anna headed home but Mike and I fancied a few more beers and we ended up in a Cambodian equivalent of Sing Sing! We were joined in our booth by two Cambodian girls who could speak no English so Mike and I had to make do with singing Boyzone and Britney Spears songs (the selection was limited.....not a 500 Miles or Gold in sight!) while the girls sung Cambodian pop! A very funny evening indeed!
My 4.30am start the next day was much harder after the beers but the trip to see the dolphins was amazing. The fast flowing Mekong was very peaceful first thing in the morning as the sun came up and we saw lots of dolphins as they came up for air quite close to the boat. Trip done we headed back to the hotel for a quick breakfast before jumping on a mini bus for the trip to Ratanakiri in the north east of Cambodia. As was becoming the norm in Asia, we had 14 people in a 10 seater bus so the 5 hour journey along bumpy dirt roads was much harder than it should have been. We rolled into Ban Lung around mid afternoon and dscovered a very rural town with very few sealed roads and even fewer tourists. After being ferried around several hotels we ended up as a party of 5 as we'd met an Irish/Australian couple called Karen and Matt on the journey who were great fun. We all settled in to our respective rooms for a much needed shower and then headed out for some food. English was in short supply so we had to get the menu explained to us in our chosen restaurant. My initial choice was unavailable so, feeling brave, I opted for the 'jungle animal' for my main course. This turned out to be a lizard chopped into slices with skin and claws still attached. It tasted much better than it looked though! After dinner we all had a quick wander around town and arranged a trip with a guide to see the local sights for the next day. Poor planning on my part also meant I had to arrange for an express visa to enter Laos which meant I would have to stay in town for an extra day. Thankfully Ian and Anna were equally unprepared so at least I'd have some company!
The famous five set off on our 4x4 jeep trip the next day and saw some great waterfalls and also took in a local village where we met the local people and got a demonstration of their hunting techniques. The highlight was a visit to a fresh water crater lake where we all had a great time splashing around and swimming. The lake was almost deserted and it was lovely to have such a great place to ourselves. Even a little warm rain wasn't enough to spoil our fun. We convinced our guide to join us for a few drinks that evening and after my karaoke story from Krachie, the group of us (supplemented by a couple of locals) headed to a local karaoke bar for some more singing! There were only cover versions of English hits available but we all had a great time and even joined in with the locals when they sung their songs in broken English. Lyrics like "I love you like a mouse loves the rice" will live long in the memory! Karen and Matt headed off on the next leg of their journey the next day so 5 became 3. Ian and Anna headed back to Phnom Penh to fly into Laos but unfortunately the embassy made a mistake with my Laos visa meaning I was stuck in Ban Lung for an extra two days which wasn't much fun. This wasn't a great end to my time in Cambodia but the journey through the country was great and certainly opened my eyes to the horrors the people had been through in the past. This was countered by the people being really friendly and warm everywhere I went and that along with the spectacular sights will be my lasting memory of the country. Hopefully Laos will bring good things too......- comments
NikGrey "assuming you're still interested that is" - your assumption is correct, I am finding this an excellent read.