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i made it in one piece to cambodia! 3rd country of 7 on this trip :)
so to recap the last few days: saigon was hectic. mad traffic, a million motorbikes and lots of noise! such a huge city and also the first time i saw the seedy side of vietnam. up until then vietnam had been paradise but saigon is full of parents exploiting their children to make money, having them out selling things late at night when they should be in fast asleep and scary prostitutes who approach unexpecting tourists by motorbike! a plus of saigon, however, was the markets! huge and bustling selling everything you could ever want. every fake designer good was there and lots of handcarved pretty things - this is what resulted in me having to post two boxes of souvenirs home! haha. also amazing street food both inside and out the main market. one night we had a fish hot pot which was a huge metal pot filled with a giant fish body and all the vegetables and noodles you could ever want. it was deicious (after we figured out what to do as we had to cook it ourselves at the table. the waiters found it very amusing)
however the highlight of saigon, of course, was a visit to the cu chi tunnels that the viet cong used in the war against the americans. the tunnels are so tiny - definitely not for the claustraphobic! the ones we went into had been widened for 'westerners' aka us giants! and even then they were really small and i had to crouch along. was scary but loved it - of course we managed to stop and pose for a few photos haha. will get them up soon. (i uploaded some photos last night but the internet was so slow that it took about 2 hours just to upload that few!) anyway we also saw the original tunnel entrance that the vietnamese used, they were so clever knowing that there was no way a western soldier would be able to fit down the gap. we were offered the chance to try and fit down but fear got the better of me. a few of the larger men in the group tried though and got stuck half way!
we also visited the war museum which was heartbreaking. it was only here that i realised the full scale of the vietnam war and the things the people had to endure. the photographs of children affected by agent orange, both straight after the war and now in the present day, was really upsetting. its always the innocent people that suffer in war.
to get to cambodia i had two options: take a direct bus from saigon or take a bus to the mekong delta and then a boat up the mekong and into the outskirts of phnom penh ... of course i chose the more adventurous and fun option of bus and boat combo :) and so i took a bus to a sleepy little town called chau doc, seeing on the way the local specialities and how they are made, including coconut candy, weaved scarves, rice paper and ricecorn (their version of popcorn). our group then stayed the night in a 'floating hotel' right on the mekong river which had the most stunning views, especially at sunset. the next day we took a boat to the vietnamese border, passing beautiful little floating villages and floating markets. it was amazing to see the way people live there. so different and so much more peaceful than the cities. women with conical hats whizzed past on their little boats with homemade engines on poles that they held into the water to make them move, and little naked toddlers waved enthusiastically at us. everything moves a little slower in the mekong, it is so tranquil. the procedure of leaving vietnam/entering cambodia was super easy, our tour guides organised everything for us and just had to sit there and relax.
we then had the option of a fast boat or a slow boat to get to our destination ... yep i chose the slow boat to make the most of the experience (and save myself a whole $5!) the slow boat was indeed slow. it took us about 5 hours to get up river but the views made it a nice experience. the boat was very small, holding about 20 of us in total. it was bright blue and very noisy with only wooden benches to sit on so numb bums were all round! as soon as we crossed into cambodia the change was obvious. that part of cambodia was much greener and calmer. hardly any buildings apart from the occassional bamboo hut. lots of cows grazing and beautiful little children running over to the river banks smiling and waving at us, some were swimming in the river and still tried to wave while risking drowning! then we arrived in phnom penh ...
im still not sure what i make of phnom penh after 2 days ... its a hard city to love. its chaotic and dirty, full of begging and endless poverty. i really got a shock, i knew it would be poorer than vietnam but i didnt realise just how much poorer. its not safe to walk around at night unless you are in a big group and even during the day you are always aware that someone is watching you. iv found its better to rent a bicycle so you whizz along rather than walking. while eating little children come up and ask for food, or in my case for my cola! the children wandering the streets are dirty and raking through bins. some are completely naked or just in their underwear wandering around late at night and its heartbreaking because you can see how vulnarable they are, especially with the types of dingy men that hang about after dark. many children come up and try to sell you books (obviously put in place by their parents) and if you say no to that then they have no hesitation in offering you any drugs you might want instead. old western men hang around the bars and restaurants with a tiny young (poor) cambodian woman on their arms. repulsive and infuriating! but its also a city of contradictions. behind all of this poverty there are gold decorated palaces and wats, there are expensive cafes and restaurants along the riverside, a few fancy cars cruising along, a few huge houses with security gates and cameras and even a givenchy store. the devide between rich and poor is huge. there are, however, many ngos working hard in phnom penh trying to make a difference to as many people as possible.
yesterday i started my exploring into cambodias dark history with a visit to the genocide museum. it used to be a high school until the ultra communist khmer rouge took it over it 1975 turning it into a place to hold prisoners and carry out torture. the tiny cells are still there, bed frames and pillows, and haunting photos of the people who were kept there. today i went to the killing fields. i decided i would cycle the 14km as it would be a nice change but i regretted after about an hour in the scorching heat! it took me about an hour and a half to get there and on the way back i made it about 45 minutes before flagging down a tuk tuk driver and bundling myself and my bike onto it! far too hot for long journeys and bad bad bad for sunburn! the killing fields, as expected, was a sad sight. glass cases full of victims skulls and also a pile of clothing. all the mass graves have now been cleared of the remains but are sectioned off by fences to forever mark them. there was even a tree there that was used to kill babies and children by smashing their heads against it. the worst part of it, i think, is that the khmer rouge leaders who carried all this out have not been punished for it. many have escpaed completely, living among the very people they tortured. trails were carried out this year but 3 out of the 4 main leaders denied knowing anything about the torture and murdering that was carried out. the 4th did admit to it all, though, with regret for what he had ordered. it was a lot to take in ... so i havnt had the most cheerful 2 days! but they have been very educational.
sorry for passing on the depressing stories, but they are all i have learned about cambodia so far. on a more positive note tomorrow i am going to volunteer at a little orphange just outside of the city. its one i looked into before i set off on my travels. a small one housing only 12 children but with a mini bus that collects poor children from surrounding villages to bring them in to get some education. i dont know what i will be asked to do yet - they are very keen for english teachers so i might give it a bash. dont know how i will be at it but im really looking forward to it, will be nice to do something good in a country that clearly needs help. im unsure how long il stay here. im done with the city of phnom penh but am willing to stay on at the orphange for at least a few days before heading to another city. either siem reap or battembang will be my next destination :)
will keep you all posted on the orphanage and where i end up next.
lots of love
xxx
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