South East Asia Round-Up

We picked up our Chinese visas this morning so we are heading off tomorrow; first stop Yangshuo. We’re not sure what websites are going to work and when in China.  We’ve had reports of gmail, blogger, facebook and several others being intermittently blocked, so if you don’t hear from us in a while, fear not; we are safe just contending with the great Chinese firewall.

Well, seven countries and almost five months, we have had more than a few experiences here we reflect on some. 

Claire

Best experience: Seeing orang-utans in the wild, amazing!

Worst experience: dealing with the police in Luang Prabang

Best food: Little India- Penang Malaysia, Curry- Bukit Lawang Indonesia, chocolate tart- sapa Vietnam and on and on I could go so many yummy things and a lot of noodles and rice

Biggest surprise: how much I enjoyed Vietnam

Under whelmed by: Laos, granted I was sick and we didn’t see that much of it but even so I don’t have a massive desire to go back

Best transport experience:  Buses in Malaysia

Worst transport experience: 40 hours on a bus in Sumatra

Country you most want to go back to:  Indonesia and Vietnam both definitely have much more to see

Best accommodation: Number 7 guest house Krabi, also pretty much everywhere we stayed in Vietnam was really good value

Favourite town: Melecca, Malaysia

Best Island: Gilli Meno- very rustic and unspoiled; Palau Penrentian Kecil- slightly more developed but still gorgeous

Favourite temple: The White Temple, Chaing Rai

Hardest thing about long term travel: Constantly having to make choices and decisions often on the spot with not enough information

Most looking forward  to for next part of the journey: India

Eli

Best experience: visiting our dear friends the orang-utans, Bukit Lawang, Indonesia

Worst experience: damaging Claire’s knee in a minor scooter accident, near Kampot, Cambodia

Best food: khao soi, curry noodles, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Biggest surprise: not finding any McDonald’s outlets in Laos or Vietnam—not that I eat mc’ds. But how does the big mac index deal with that?

Under whelmed by: our organised tour into the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Best transport experience: riding scooters around Hoi An and Nha Trang, Vietnam

Worst transport experience: “losing” Claire’s kindle on the slow boat down the Mekong River, Laos

Country you most want to go back to: Vietnam

Best accommodation: the Muslim-run, quiet and clean, Number 7 Guesthouse, Krabi, Thailand

Favourite town: the former French holiday hill town of Sapa, northern Vietnam

Best Island: the picture perfect Gili Meno, Indonesia

Favourite temple: the Tiger temple with its spectacular views of Krabi province, Thailand

Hardest thing about long term travel: maintaining positive relations with Claire, especially when travel plans don’t work out

Most looking forward to for next part of the journey: touring through Tibet.

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So that’s a little summary of our trip so far. We are so incredibly  lucky  to be on this amazing journey and this was a great way of reminding ourselves of that fact.

Hopefully you will be hearing from us soon.

Lots of love

xxxx

Kampot and the temples near Siem Reap

We left you in Phnom Penh. Now we are in Hong Kong waiting for a Chinese visa.

This post describes the rest of our time in Cambodia: a side visit to Kampot before an intensive, sunbaked adventure through the Angkor Wat temples near Siem Reap.

Kampot

Resting riverside, Kampot is a small coastal town south of Phnom Penh with unnamed and pot-holed streets. Directions are given by referencing the statues that mark roundabouts (e.g. a turn right at the white horse and left at the durian). We stayed three nights to make the most of cheap scooter hire and the hammocks at Blissful Guesthouse.

For our first scooter trip we went east to Kep—an unused sea-side holiday spot made popular during the French occupation. It has a rocky shoreline, a local crab market, and plenty of old French-style villas.

Returning to Kampot via the Secrete Lake, we had a slight accident. The result: Claire’s knee was grazed—there was blood but no tears. The cause: my desire to ride through a murky puddle. Fortunately we were riding slowly on the pothole-ridden side road. Even better, Claire was willing to ride with me again—although her trust in me reduced.

After mending Claire’s knee, we visited a small fishing village just south of Kampot; stopping to play with some local kids on giant fish bins.

Our second scooter trip took us to Teuk Chhouu—a series of unspectacular rapids north of Kampot. Above the rapids we stumbled across the Chinese sponsored 193 MW Kamchay River hydro-electric dam. Impressive in size, it needs clearer signs.

Before returning to Kampot, we rode west to the base of Bokor Mountain where a Chinese company was laying a new road to the ruined French colonial resort town on top. Later we were served by members of the deaf community at the delightful Epic Arts Cafe. Although our sign language is lacking, we managed to communicate our satisfaction with the food.

The next day we bussed to Siem Reap via Phnom Penh—having exhausted our scooter hire and Kampot’s food choices.

Siem Reap

Surprisingly small and laid-back, Siem Reap has plenty of multi-storied guesthouses, neon-lit eateries, and temple-seeking tourists. More annoyingly, it has way too many tuk tuk drivers—that happily ask you for business despite you having answered the same question in the negative, within the driver’s earshot, only seconds before!

We stayed a week in Siem Reap; spending three days exploring Angkor Wat temples and the remaining days resting and checking out other attractions.

Chasing temple ruins around Angkor Wat

Wow, what can I say about the World Heritage Site? The temples were amazing. Most are falling down without much repair. Some are overcome with tree roots. And others are still worshiped today. Tourists are everywhere and it is hot and tiring work seeing them all. But it is worth it. Each day we hired a tuk tuk to give some structure to our temple chasing.

I won’t bore you with details of each of the 20 temples that we explored. Instead, I will summarise our five favourites:

• Ta Prohm – with trees growing out and surrounded by jungle, it is an ideal spot for pictures of real ruins; the movie Tomb Raider was filmed here
• Bayon – once the official state temple, it is covered in massive stone faces that jut out from the upper terraces and mythical and historic reliefs
• Angkor Wat – the most iconic of all the temples, it offers sunrises, long rectangular galleries, and a central tower; originally Hindi, the temple later became Buddhist
• Phnom Bakheng – located atop a hill, it offers stunning views of the Siem Reap province and lion statues; it is possible to ride elephants up the hill to the base of the temple
• Pre Rup – with three levels of brick to climb, it is a brilliant spot to spy the surrounding vegetation and the sunset later on.

Although we by no means saw all the temples around Angkor Wat, we gave it a good go. For those that are interested, we have uploaded some of our better pics to Picasa Web Albums.

Visiting other attractions in our downtime

One night we saw the “Beatocello” concert staring Dr Beat Richer playing his cello. The good doctor helped setup several children’s hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and uses the concerts to fund raise. Between songs, Dr Richer played a 40 minute video describing the history of his cause and the problems faced by Cambodian children and mothers.

Our next adventure was to the Les Chantiers ecoles silk farm. After the free minibus to the farm, we watched as silkworms ate, slept, then died in the sun, and ladies spun, dyed, and weaved silk into shiny garments.

We also visited the Cambodia Landmine Museum—which houses piles of unexploded ordinances (e.g. land mines and bombs) and displays stories from those affected by them. Unfortunately there are still many ordinances lying around Cambodia. The museum helps explain this while using profits to fund further landmine clearing and care for those injured or orphaned by these human destroyers.

Back to Bangkok

After our temple chasing was over, we bussed and trained back to Bangkok. We stayed the night before flying to Hong Kong to start our China adventure.

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Well, subject to getting our visas tomorrow, we are off to mainland China on Friday or Saturday.

Much love,

xxx

Can Tho and Phnom Penn

As usual the blog posts are coming slowly. Here’s the update for our last few days in Vietnam and the first few in Cambodia

Can Tho

I was excited to head back to the Mekong Delta after our day tour there previously. I had visions that further in the delta would be all green rice paddies and ladies in row boats with those iconic bamboo hats. Can Tho is actually quite a big town and because the delta is such a high production area there is a lot of infrastructure.

We rose early (5am) one morning for a trip to one of the floating markets.  Our boat lady spoke barely a word of English but furnished us with coffee and baguettes for breakfast and navigated us through the winding waterways while creating jewellery and flowers out of the leaves she picked along the way.  Floating markets are common throughout the delta as farmer take to the water in large boats filled with fruit and vegetables.

Phnom Penn

It was an even earlier wake up the next morning to catch the bus to the seventh country so far on our journey, Cambodia.  Phnom Penn, the capitol, is sweltering hot at this time of year so we spread our sightseeing out over a number of days and spent the hottest parts of the day under a fan, sipping cold drinks.

Killing Field and Genocide Museum (S21)

I was stealing myself for this part of the itinerary having recently read a book describing some of what happened during the Khmer Rouge’s reign of Cambodia.  I knew that these sights would be far from a pleasant experience.

First, we visited S21, a prison created in what was previously a school; this is where about 17,000 Cambodian men, women and children were taken to be interrogated about their counter revolutionary tendencies.  When Phnom Penn was liberated after 3 years of all those who entered the prison only seven survived.

The museum’s main focus is displaying photos taken of the Khmer rouge of every person who entered the prison.  The photos are lined up row after row on display boards and make for an incredibly haunting sight especially knowing that practically all of them were dead within days of their photo being taken.  The large number of photos gives you a small sense of the massive scale of the genocide that took place in Cambodia these are just a small proportion of the many many lives wiped out by Pol Pot and his comrades.

Following on from S21 we visited Choeung Ek commonly known as the Killing Fields as this was where the prisoners from S21 were taken to be murdered.  It is indescribably chilling to be wandering around a quiet grassy paddock with the trees rustling in the breeze and the birds singing, knowing that thousands of people died right there for absolutely no reason other than a few men craved a lot of power.

National Museum of Cambodia

Next we visited the national museum, of which we knew little and came away knowing only a little bit more.  It contains a large collection of art from the Angkor period (9^th to 15^th century), including statues of Hindu gods and ancient tablets inscribed with Sanskrit and Old Khmer.  There is also a collection of weapons and tools from a prehistoric burial site.  But, surprisingly for a national museum, it contained no contemporary history, such as history the Khmer Rouge or royal family.

Grand Palace and Silver Pagoda

Phnom Penn’s Grand Palace is significantly less elaborate than Bangkok’s.  Parts of it are closed off because the King actually lives there, but we got to wander around some pretty gardens and see a couple of nice pagodas.  The Silver Pagoda is named because its floor is made of silver.  Unfortunately silver makes a very unwise choice of floor covering as it damages so easily therefore the majority of the floor is covered in thick rugs making for a less than spectacular sight.

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Coming soon; Kampot and Seim Reap.

Love to all

xxxx

Sapa to Ho Chi Minh City

We left you in Sapa, but now we are in Can Tho in the Mekong Delta, southern Vietnam.

After a morning of chocolate pastries at Baguette and Chocolate Cafe in Sapa, we returned to Hanoi on the overnight train. From Hanoi, we took another train south to Da Nang and Hoi An, before making our way to Ho Chi Minh City further south with some mates.

Our story follows.

A morning with Uncle Ho in Hanoi

Having taken the overnight train back from Sapa we arrived early in Hanoi and had a few hours to kill before jumping on the next train to Hoi An. We headed over to The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex and grabbed some breakfast while waiting for it to open. The Mausoleum houses the embalmed body of Vietnamese national hero Ho Chi Minh, also known as Uncle Ho.

The Vietnamese hold Uncle Ho in high regard for his perceived role as their liberator from the French colonial power and his founding of communism in Vietnam. When we arrived a little after 7am the line was already snaked far back from the entrance.

Perhaps one of the strangest experiences of our trip so far filing past the surprisingly small embalmed body amongst hundreds of reverential Vietnamese went by very quickly and we were out the other side somewhat lost for words. Eli—being the king of conspiracies—is convinced that Madam Tussards had a hand in what we saw.

Boys with scooters in Hoi An

Arriving early in Da Nang, we took a public bus to Hoi An—where we stayed for four days. A quaint little UNESCO World Heritage city, it has quiet streets with many shops selling clothes, jewellery, paintings, and carvings. We found a nice hotel with a swimming pool and free Wi-Fi.

We spent the first day ordering clothes from one of Hoi An’s many tailors. Later, we ate at a makeshift street-side restaurant that served Hoi An specialties, such as cao lao.

The next day the boys—Uryia, Tobias, and Arnaud, all of ex-Castalia fame—arrived from Ho Chi Minh City and were eager to explore. Hiring bikes, we cycled to the Cau Dai beach for a refreshing swim between the crashing breakers of the South China Sea. Our return trip took us through Vietnamese neighbourhoods and a fresh produce market. We even stopped for a spot of badminton with some local kids, although our technique was lacking.

That night we ate once again at a makeshift street-side restaurant. We retired for an early night while Uryia and Arnaud stayed out, ultimately finding a shuttle to an early morning beach party with swimming, free drinks, and a mix of people.

Day three was quiet while the boys recovered from their late night, but day four was not. We rose early for a last minute fitting and then hired scooters. With wind in our faces we motored west for a two hour ride to My Son—another World Heritage temple site. Passing through villages and along motorways, we skilfully manoeuvred around trucks, scooters laden with impossible loads, and an array of animals and drying chilli peppers, corn, and rice.

My Son is a vine clad Cham temple and light on tourists—which is a key attraction in itself. Built in the 4^th century, it was heavily bombed during the Vietnamese war by American B-52s. Restoration is slow, but the scenery is reminiscent of a lost world.

After a couple of hours, we returned to Hoi An before taking an overnight bus to Nha Trang further south.

Boys with scooters in Nha Trang

Fresh off the bus, we quickly found a cheap hotel with bathtubs before heading out on a snorkelling tour between the islands that surround Nha Trang. The sun was hot and the water cool. We jumped from the boat and explored the coral reefs along with the many other tourists taking similar trips. Lunch was a feast of local dishes that were prepared as we swam.

The next day, still high from our riding in Hoi An, we again hired scooters. This time we headed north to find a waterfall mentioned in the Lonely Planet, but well-hidden. Along the way we stopped off at a local fishing port to admire the catch of the day, including a small hammer-head shark. We ate crocodile for lunch at a roadside restaurant. The waterfall was refreshing and fenced by high rocks ideal for jumping. Disgusted by the locals that left rubbish all over the rocks, we made our return trip.

Although the roads were well-marked and smooth, we did lose Tobias at one junction. Focused on the road ahead and the adventurous riding style that he exuded, he failed to notice the turn we were meant to take. Worried, we quickly devised a plan to find him, but to no avail. Finally we headed back to Nha Trang without him, hoping he found another way—which, to our delight, he had.

That night we took an overnight train to Ho Chi Minh City. With five of us, the six-bed hard sleeper cabin was ideal. No one ever filled the sixth bed, which gave us more freedom to misbehave—not that we did.

Ho Chi Minh City

Also known as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is Vietnam’s southern capital and home to over five million motorbikes.

Arriving early, we found a flash little hotel before joining a half-day tour of the Chu Chi tunnels. Just north of the city, the cramped and dusty tunnels were used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnamese war and earlier by the Vietnamese against French colonisers. For years whole communities lived underground—something that we found difficult for a mere 15 minutes, even though the tunnels were enlarged for tourist purposes.

Returning to the city, we spent the evening frequenting a deserted floating restaurant with an unadvertised cover charge, a poncy karaoke bar with a lift resembling a lounge, and Apocalypse Now—one of HCMC’s trendy nightclubs popular with expats, backpackers, and affluent Vietnamese. This all in a splendid celebration fit for Tobias’ impeding flight to Singapore the next day.

Saying farewell to Tobias, we spent that next day walking the streets. The War Remnants Museum was a sobering reminder of the atrocities of war: torture methods, captured US tanks and fighter jets, and the everlasting impact of agent orange were all on display.

Later, we watched water-puppets tell the Vietnamese story of, well, something as yet unknown. We did find out, however, that bamboo pools are used to make the puppets dance through the water in an intriguing display of creativity, with the support of live musicians and colourful, sparkling costumes.

Next, we day tripped to My Tho in the Mekong Delta, two hours south of HCMC. After the minibus down, we used various small boats to explore the muddied waterways, a coconut sweet factory, and a small orchard offering a limited fruit selection. In a nut shell, the tour was rather tourist-oriented and lacking in authentic experiences.

That night there was an impressive display of fireworks to celebrate Reunification Day—marking the joining of North and South Vietnam after the Vietnamese war. Hundreds of people crowded the streets, most sitting on motorbikes, as they were mesmerised by the display.

For our final full day in HCMC, we visited the Giac Lam pagoda and Chinatown. Later we dined at Fanny Restaurant and danced at Apocalypse Now as a farewell to Uryia and Arnaud before their flights the next day: Uryia to Singapore and Arnaud to Hanoi.

With the last of the boys gone, we got a cramped, fish-smelling minibus to Can Tho in search of the real Mekong Delta.

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Soon we head to Cambodia, but our route is unknown. We will let you know when we make it.

Love to all,

xxx