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PHIL: Well...it's been quite a while hasn't it. We've been to Cambodia and are now in Vietnam since Mark wrote the last blog. As some of you will know, and some may not, my friend Hollie has joined us for the rest of the trip now too - she arrived a week last Thursday, 19th June! Me and Nathan went to meet her when she arrived in Bangkok airport, I was so excited! She's settled in really well and it now feels like she's been here ages (she has that effect on people!!).
I guess she has experienced the toughest places so far really - we left Bangkok the following day as our 30 day tourist visa expired on 20th, and went to Cambodia. That journey was an absolute nightmare - from the start we were ripped off. Firstly we were told we were setting off at 7.30am. We didn't actually go anywhere until after 9am (crucial time in bed taken away from us!). Then we stopped somewhere for "half an hour" - which turned into nearly 2 hours, charged way too much for a Cambodia tourist visa (but we didn't have any other option), got told we needed a photo too so the boys had to pay extra to have a photo taken at the border - which was never taken, got put on 3 different buses, the 3rd being a tiny thing with not enough seats as there were people so they had to sit in the aisles and no luggage compartment so they also had to go in the aisles - on a journey tht went from 4 hours to 6 and a half, with no aircon!So we were supposed to arrive in Siem Reap at 7pm.....we arrived at 11.30pm. Oh and also, they had told us there were no cash machines in Siem Reap so advised us to get Thai Baht out before the border and then change it to Cambodian Riel at the exchange place just over the border where we change buses. I was sick of being ripped off and conned all the time so I said I didn't believe them and would just wait until we got to Siem Reap and use my card if necessary, but a 'nice' Canadian guy on our bus said he'd been before and they were telling the truth - so we got out 100pounds and changed it into Riel - only later to find out that they'd totally ripped us off on the exchange!! I had looked up the exchange rate but they did it from pounds to US dollars and then to Riel really quickly and then rushed us out of the place and on to the bus, too late for us to realise we'd got half of what we should have! Down another 50pounds.
Cambodia was a real culture shock - which is why I say Hol joined us at the toughest time. There were homeless everywhere, beggars everywhere, dirt and rubbish everywhere.....It was really hard because there are so many kids (some clearly no older than 2 years old) already out in the streets trying to get money for anything. Most wear rags for clothes and the majority are barefoot. They want a dollar for food and drink but you just can't give it them - there's too many. As soon as we gave one something, the others run up and won't leave you alone. You think you've done it slyly but one always sees and then you can't get away and you feel awful favouring one over others, so in the end you have to just say no to all of them.....you kinda' grow immune to it - the sights of these young kids lying on the roadside at 2am go unnoticed after a while. It sounds awful too but we kept thinking "we can't afford to buy this off them" - I know it's only a couple of dollars (cambodia for some silly reason had all its prices in US dollars yet took both currencies and gave you change in both so it was very confusing!), but it's a couple of dollars that would pay for our hostel that night and we can't afford to give that away - especially when we don't know where that money's going to go. I would much rather buy some food and give them the food, rather than money.
We went on a trip to the Floating Village - which is exactly what its called - a village on the water. In a month's time (end of July) it gets too wet so the whole of the village packs up an moves to the mountains for the rainy season as the water rises up to the houses and none of the roads leading to the village are accessible. It was amazing seeing how they live - on so little. They have a little shack on stilts and they bath in the surrounding water, go to the toilet in the water, drink the water, wash their clothes in the water...they have a floating school and church and couple of bars...In some ways it was horrible seeing the conditions they were living in - the dirt and the heat and the bacteria..the kids were washing in the brownest water and had no clothes hardly....but then you looked around and they were all smiling. This is how they've always lived, it's their lives and they go about it just like we do. It would only be so hard for us because we've had it so much better and easier - they've never had what we do so they don't miss it. I mean, what kid doesn't want to run around with no shoes on splashing in puddles and swing off trees into the water?? - we were always told not to dirty our clothes etc, so really they're living the dream aren't they?!!
We also visited the Angkor temples which was pretty amazing. We were taken from temple to temple in a tuk tuk and wandered around the different ones. There's tons of them - we only went to 3 'areas' as we just did a one day visit but we saw loads - Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the one from Tomb Raider. It's hard to describe the beauty of that place, they were full of nook and crannies all with buddhas and monks walking round and then the surroundings - the jungle-like scenery and massive trees. Look at the pictures, but try go some day if you can.
We moved from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh where we visted the Killing Fields. This was a bit odd - we didn't really get the full 'experience' as there are no guides or anything, you just wander round the grounds and read the various notices. After the extradition in 1980, they had got rid of alot of things so you could only read about them, but it was a shocking plce. Moreso because it isn't long ago. Seeing the skulls of victims, separated into gender and ages was pretty horrific and then to walk around the places where their bodies had been thrown into mass graves....It would have been more 'interesting' if we'd had a guide so we could ask questions and find out more, but we've since seen places that show films about it so we're going to find out more so that the visit and the photos mean more to us.
We left Cambodia on Friday - I'm really glad we went, but was also ready to leave. On the streets surrounding the place we were staying in Phnom Penh I saw two mice at night, one running alongside the bar we were eating in, so I didn't go out after that (they're my biggest fear), so I was glad to get away from that, and we'd seen everything really. There isn't alot there unless you're into Buddhism as there are many museums about Buddhism and places of worship.
So we've been in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam since Friday afternoon. That journey was alot better - we didn't have to change buses at all and we had already sorted our visas with the hotel before so we sailed through and couldn't get ripped off for once. We didn't book a hostel, we just wandered around when we arrived as we got here at a decent time in the day. Again alot of the prices are in dollars but not as much as in Cambodia, but the hostels were all around 12 - 15 dollars for a room with fan, tv, fridge etc. We decided on a place called Rainbow as it was cheapest and cleanest - the higher the floor the room is on the cheaper the rate as you have to climb more stairs, so we got top floor for 9 dollars for the room. Bargain. Me and Nath had one room and Hol, Mark and Paul another this time (we keep rotating here as there aren't many places that do dorms in Asia) but me and nath had to change rooms as the first had alot of friendly ants that wanted to rummage through our things!
It's certainly been an experience here - we've been to the Dam Sen Waterpark which was so....aggressive! - all the chutes and 'rides' are lethal! There's a zipslide that you go down and it suddenly hits this stopper hard and you go flying into the water. Paul did that one 1st and I thought he'd exagerated when he somersaulted into the water for laughs, but I followed and when it hit the stopper, it shocks right through your body and threw me up into the air, somersaulted me and threw me into the water on my back! Great! All the slides ripped you to pieces because you fly down them so fast and get banged about, Mark nearly knocked himself out on one! In fact, after the 1st one which was an inside tube one, totally pitch black you couldn't breathe and flew down so fast you couldn't see because off the spray....I nearly scared myself out of the others! - me who loves rides and waterparks!!
Yesterday we did a trip down the Mekong River which was one of the things I was really looking forward to on this trip...and it lived up to it. We went on longboats down the Mekong, paddling ourselves through the trees that bend right over the river so it's dark and jungle-like. Kids ran along the riverbank jumping into the water to soak us all and the guide told us about the crocodiles and other animals that will be lurking about in the waters.We all wore those ace conial hats too so that made my day!! I even bought one from the local market on one of the islands as they make it themselves and the money goes straight into the village - it actually only worked out to be 30p anyway!I think me and the skirt might go out with the hat one night....!! We visted islands that made coconut candy so they showed us the whole process from it falling off the tree to be packaged up and we got to try out different tropical fruits - finally trying 'Durian' - the 'King of Fruits' - it smells like......poo, but tastes like heaven apparently. Seriously it smells so bad most hotels forbid it and you're not allowed to bring it into hostels or store it communal kitchens. It tasted quite nice though, not something I'd shout about, but ok - there wasn't much taste to it to be honest. Quite like melon.
Anyway, unfortunatley we don't have alot of time in Vietnam - we want to go back to the island of Koh Phangan in Thailand as we loved it and go to the Full Moon Party on 19th July, so we're limited now in Vietnam and Laos. We were going to move from Ho Chi Minh yesterday but the HSBC ATM retained my bank card Saturday so we had to stay and go to the headquarters today to get it back. So now we don't have time to do north Vietnam as it takes so many days to travel up there, so we're going on the sleeper bus tomorrow morning to Hue on the Central Coast, where we'll stay for a bit, get our Laos visas and then travel to Laos from there. It was either that or sacrifice time in Laos to do North Vietnam but we've been really looking forward to Laos, and to be honest, we're a bit tired of the roads here - we'll be relieved to get away from these roads. Sounds silly but they are soooo dangerous - there's no rules - traffic goes wherever it wants whenever, up and down any side of the road, dodging and weaving and there's no traffic lights so you just have to run across when you can and dodge scooters. It's scary, so we'll leave that behind soon.
Anyway, I've taken up enough of your time, enjoy the pictures - and now Hollie's too! Take care and keep the messages coming, love from all of us xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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