Firstly, apologies for no updates whilst we have been away backpacking but I have done my best to compile the few weeks into one update. Slightly longer but something to read on the train to work maybe ;) I have also included a few new photos on the website. Some I have burnt to DVD already and sent abroad so can’t post those unfortunately.
Cambodia
Over the past month, Nat and I have travelled in a loop from Bangkok round to Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, visiting Nat’s eastern neighbours and meeting new friends and wonderful friendly people. Starting off in Bangkok we decided against the risk of Cambodia not building the 150 stretch of dirt road into a sealed road and flew to Siem Reap which is the main town outside the famous temples of Ankor Wat. This turned out to be a good decision as the 2 times I have3 travelled here before they have always talked about the road being sealed but have never actually done it. It’s only 150kms from the Thai border but the road is so bad that it takes about 3 hrs in the dry and 8 hrs when wet as its all mud.
Siem Reap, a town that seems to be growing with 5 Star hotels every other day is starting to get quite busy although still keeping its relaxed charm. Although the centre of accommodation for Ankor Wat, with it’s history of the Khmer Rouge there is also some interesting Mine and War museums to visit round there. In one of the War museums we found a whole load of various weapons that the Khmer Rouge used including an M16 with the ‘Property of the US Government’ words ground off (we found one without the words ground off as a comparison), various AK47’s and pistols and dodgy sawn off shotguns etc. After examining each one in depth, comparing weights and pretending to fire them, we noticed a small sign saying ‘Please don’t touch’… Oops! Oh well..
An interesting thing about Cambodia is the money. Although they have their own currency (Rials), US dollars still appear to be the main currency and even the ATM’s dispense them. Pol Pot’s ‘wonderful’ idea of year zero and abolishing money is still affecting the country’s financial system it seems.
After a solid day from 0500 to 1800 of seeing Ankgor Wat we felt quite ‘templed’ and set about looking to see how, without our beloved bicycles, we were going to get down to Phnom Penh. Due to lack of water in the Tonle Sap, a huge lake in western Cambodia (now smaller due to lack of water of course), we couldn’t take a boat down to the capital but a very expensive 3 pound, 6 hour bus journey. It actually turned out OK and calmed our nerves slightly about the prospect of more lengthy bus journeys. With our dodgy photocopied Lonely Planet purchased from a small child in Siem Reap, we decided on heading to the backpacker area by a lake. Last time I came here on my own, I found a really nice place by the river but hey, you have to see different places right? Initially it looked nice with a room for us on the lake and a relaxed atmosphere with a restaurant on site. All very nice. After checking it, I noticed that the atmosphere was indeed relaxed.. possibly a little too relaxed as on closer inspection we noticed that everyone was absolutely wasted on various drugs.. oh joy. Not many interesting conversations to be had here then!
The city itself and it’s excursions of the Killing Fields and Royal palaces and a great Army firing range which Nat found a worrying delight in firing an AK47!!! Unfortunately no rounds left for the M16 so we didn’t get to shoot that. My pistol grouping skills need improving but there wasn’t much left of the target to check grouping after I shot the AK47
Vietnam
After a many a Khmer history lesson of Ankor Wat and Kmer Rouge we headed east to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon depending on your preference). It seems the southerners of Vietnam still call it Saigon and even have their local beer named as such. I have heard many differing traveler reports of Vietnam, some saying it’s great, some saying it’s full of money grabbers. We had an open mind and as it was a new country for both Nat and I… VERY exciting for me especially! Being an early 1970’s baby, my early years were filled with Vietnam War related programmes and films (or American war as the Vietnamese call it of course), subsequently I have been quite intrigued to see this country for a while now. Initial thoughts were how modern the country is considering it is meant to be a Communist country run by the words of Chairman Mao’s little red book where everyone is mean tot be farmers and all are equal! It was a particularly good time to view the country’s politics as with the run up to celebrating ‘Reunification’ in 1975, there were hammer and sickle flags and amazing propergander posters everywhere. As an outsider it was as if there posters and flags were some kind of historic reminder of what Vietnam used to be but after a while I realized that the posters were more of what Vietnam is meant to be today. Pictures farming and people collaborating together as equals……… errr.. OK.
Without getting into any heavy politics, lets just say that the government still clinging onto their Communism ideals with their daily propergander tv specials on how they won the war with the woman fighting as well (seemly having great fun doing so!!??), the people of Vietnam as pretty much getting on leaving all that behind and making US dollars and Vietnam Dong… either accepted but dollars are advertised everywhere for hotels and tours.. how interesting! Another observation is how they seem to have embraced the new relationship with the US (since 1996) with American products everywhere including KFC and Ford cars/pick ups everywhere. Old jeeps from the war have been re-sprayed and being used every day to move tourists and even Police cars!! My favorite US related observation was that a year ago since helmets have been compulsory in Vietnam for motorbike users (everyone basically), the manufacturers have designed great helmets that look like baseball caps and Army helmets to name a couple of designs. One of these has a US flag on the side!!! I was tempted to get one but opted for a more simple desert camouflage baseball cap style instead for all our motorcycle rental adventures in the country.
Heading north on a ‘open bus tourist ticket’, we went to some beaches north of Saigon and then to an old French hill station named Dalat which was nice and cool. As we hadn’t been on our bikes for a little while we rented two mountain bikes and a van and ‘rode’ for 3 hrs downhill from 1600meters to 150meters above sea level!! Fantastic ride and pretty easy as you can imagine… hardest bit was braking for 3 hrs so you didn’t fly off the cliffs! At the bottom we stayed in a town called Nah Trang which was a little too touristy / beachy for us so we headed for Hue and Dong Ha (the previous DMZ). It seems most people who visit the area do so in a one day see most (but very briefly) trips from Hue. One of the highlights of the trip for me, We decided to get up to Dong Ha and spend 2 days seeing all the sights around that area related to the Vietnam War. We visited one old US base which was still heavily surrounded with unexploded ordnance and had to tread very carefully. It rained a lot that day and with the rain capes very similar to old GI capes, weaving about the mud looking out for old live landmines (of which we found!), the old war films we had seen suddenly came very realistic in our minds. Treading very carefully in the guides footsteps we found old parts of bombs, unexploded landmines and old GI size 11 boot rubber soles. Quite strange after 40 years of the war. Due to the unexploded ordnance, the area has been left alone like many parts of Vietnam for all these years. Apparently this counts for about 20% of the country. We were amazed by the amount of people still searching with metal detectors (home made) for scraps of metal. Many of these are children and many unfortunately die every year trying to defuse some of the ordnance that had failed to explode those many years ago. Also around this area there is quite a bit of smuggling of cigarettes. Whilst on a bridge we noticed some strange balls running along the river banks avoiding the police!!! I have posted a pic of the woman…fully loaded with contraband these people run from Laos to Dong Ha in Vietnam for a living. Before leaving the DMZ we had a couple of casualties ourselves but luckily for us, just our cameras. Nat managed to wash the waterproof camera with the back slightly open and I dropped my SLR onto a concrete step. Nat’s died the next day and mine lasted another 2 weeks until the lens packed in. After a day of misery from Nat not having a camera, we replaced her cam with a nice Canon instead…. all smiles from then on!! Phew!!!
After the DMZ trip we headed north on a flight to Hanoi (avoiding a 13 hrs bus journey of whish we had had enough of by now). A interesting busy bustling city, if a little money orientated (oh sorry I thought everyone was equal??), we headed out for 3 days to see Ha Long bay and the surrounding sights and islands. In the process of trying to be voted a natural wonder of the world (what are they all?.. so many these days!! ;-) ), it truly is a wonder. Definitely worth a visit! We stayed on a boat with some Filipino foresters who had been on a conference in Hanoi. We learnt quite a bit about Philippines in that time with them and would love to visit there one day. Sounds a great place to go! One day… mmmmmm
Laos
After Hanoi we caught a flight to Laos with Jenny (from Oz) who we had mysterious kept bumping into for weeks throughout Vietnam. Nat’s local Thai language is very similar to Laos language so it was plain sailing regarding communication (and subsequent discounts). We visited Luang Prabang up in northen Laos. A few years ago when I rode my motorbike from the UK to Singapore, I came up into Laos but has an accident on the way which forced me to take it easy and didn’t quite make it to Luang Prabang. It was great to see it this time with Nat visiting waterfalls, caves and river boat trips. After a few days we headed back to Bangkok to get my camera lens fixed, buy a new lens (good excuse for a nice pro L lens ;) ) and head up to Nat’s parents on the ‘massage seat bus’ for a couple of weeks in Kalasin (north east Thailand).
Next update coming soon!
