We’re leaving on a jet plane…….

14 March 2007

Looking for some serious R&R after a hectic final week in Cambodia and the hustle and bustle of Saigon we headed North on the overnight bus. We had very little planned for Nha Trang except lazing on the beach, reading our books and enjoying the seafood. So that is pretty much what we did….although admittedly that does not make for a very interesting blog!

On our first night in Nha Trang we decided to forget about our meal budget and both ordered the seafood platter which included clams, scallops, mussels, snapper and king prawns and a bottle of wine to wash it all down. Wine is something we have not really drunk much of in Asia, so it was a real treat to have a nice cold bottle with our meal. Having whet our taste buds we headed to ‘Crazy Kim’s’ bar. We had read about Crazy Kim in the LP which explained Crazy Kim has launched a program to help protect Vietnamese children in Nha Trang against pedophilia. As most people are aware the sex trade in SE Asia is a huge business but tragically the business also extends to children. Nearly every tourist brochure we have picked up on our travel through SE Asia has and advert aimed at the prevention on pedophilia; providing a phone number to report anyone suspected of pedophilia. From what we read Kim has made it her mission to stop the abuse of children and has even resorted to knocking down hotel doors to stop such acts. Part of the profits from the bar (and gym) goes towards the protection of such children. Tourists are also invited to help out with English lessons at the school Kim has put in place for the abused. Having looked at the register and noticed it had its full quota of volunteers for the following day the only thing left for us to do was make sure we bought drinks…..and plenty of them!

Several Mojitos later we headed to Nha Trang Sailing Club, which is ‘the’ after hours place to be in Nha Trang, for a couple of jam jars and to bust a few moves on the dance floor! (yes – we were able to still move despite the Mojitos! – although I am not sure it was very co-ordinated movement!) Having tried to recreate every dance move known to man – including the robot resurrected by Peter Crouch and the much loved ‘running-man’ (which for some reason will always remind me of school discos!) we decided it was time to call it a night.

The next day was painful but we soldiered onto the beach where we remained until we could find a window in the hangover to move.

Feeling rejuvenated on our third day in Nha Trang we headed out on a day boat-trip to the surrounding Islands. It was on this trip that we met up with Max (a 60 year old Aussie) and his girlfriend Melinda. The day was spent snorkelling, eating, drinking and having fun (spot the theme?). After lunch the crew of our boat invited the passengers to join them in Karoake. Now there must have been at least 50 passengers on that boat and the only ones to get up were the Aussies …….and us! (Never were ones for letting the Aussies get the better of us!). So that is how I found myself in a headlock under Chris’s arm whilst we tried to churn out a tuneful rendition of ‘Yellow Submarine’ by the Beatles (see picture)….although quite frankly we knew far more of the words to ‘Waltzing Matilda’ than our designated song! Surprisingly we got a resounding applause but I think that was more out of pity than praise!

After Karoake we were invited to have a free drink from the floating bar.

Whilst Chris was out of the water Max and I had a little side bet (2 cans of Tiger) that Chris would/would not dive of the front of the boat…..well I will never doubt his diving skills ever again as I lost the bet and Chris performed a perfectly executioned dive from the boat. Max upped the stakes to double or quits challenging everyone to dive off the top deck of the boat which Chris reckons was about 100ft but in reality was about four metres!

Max went first with a fantastic swallow dive from the top – did I mention he was 60!!!. Then it was me! Not having revealed that I spent the best part of my childhood in a swimming pool I went for the surprise somersault. Then it was Chris and Melinda. Now seeing that Melinda was a little tentative Chris decided to build her confidence by jumping in with her (bless him!) but no sooner was he in the water than he was out again and back on the top deck performing a second fantastic dive of the day!

Back on the boat we treated each other to a Tiger Beer as reward for our efforts before we were dropped off at a beach for a few hours. Chris and I chose to soak up the sun (someone had to lookafter the bags!) whilst Max and Melinda were off on a jet-ski
performing doughnuts (he’s 60 you know!). We had a wonderful day on the boat trip which was made all the more fun for meeting Max and Melinda.

Back on dry land it didn’t take either of us long to work out we were both dehydrated although Chris was far worse than me (he’s a ‘big unit’ you see!). Having drank lots of fluids (and by this I mean water!) we retired for the day only for Chris to be up every hour or so with bad stomach pains. Extremely glad that we stipulated a private bathroom Chris managed to leave his retreat the next day for a few hours. The real test of his intestinal resolve however would come later that night as we had booked the overnight bus to Hoi An, and for the record the overnight buses out here don’t have toilets!

12th March 2007

No trip to Ho Chi Minh City, HCMC, or even Saigon would be complete without an excursion to the Cu Chi Tunnels, 50km north west of the city. It is possible to visit the tunnels via public transport, but as the daily organised trips from the hostels in the city were no more expensive, we opted for the easy life and signed up for the ‘official’ tour.

You are probably wondering why some holes in the ground constitute a tourist attraction, so let me explain. The district of Cu Chi was a strategic base of the ‘National front for the Liberation of South Vietnam’ (NLF) guerillas during the country’s struggles against both the French and American forces between 1948 and 1975. Over time the NLF developed an elaborate network of over 200kms of connected tunnels providing communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. By the early 1960’s, the NLF had created a relatively self-sufficient community that was able to house hundreds of people and for the most part, go undetected by large amounts of American troops based, literally, right on top of the tunnels.

Well, at least that is how Wikipedia describes it. The Vietnamese version of the history of the war is often more graphic and unsurprisingly more damming of the west’s involvement. At the war remnants museum in HCMC, the true horrors of the conflict are presented in a factual and very impactful way. However, on our arrival at the Cu Chi tunnels we were shepherded into a room for an ‘informative’ video, which was comedy propaganda of the highest order!

The video started with pleasant images of Vietnamese children happily playing in the lush green fields of Cu Chi. Roll the comedy! A deep voice informed us of the attempts to invade the country by the evil American Imperialists, who bombed the ‘Women and Children’, the ‘Cows and the Ducks’, the ‘Trees and the Plants’, and most ominously, the ‘Pots and the Pans’. We were then treated to 30 minutes of ‘meet the locals’ style footage, with each freedom fighter being introduced as ‘Number 1 American Killing Super Hero’…..Classic! Just as I was waiting for Chevy Chase and Steve Martin to come riding to the rescue of the locals, a la 3 amigos, the video abruptly ended. I think the VHS broke.

Even more bizarre than the video itself was the fact that only Charlotte and I, and a Canadian couple seemed to find it amusing, everyone else filtered out of the room as if they had just been treated to a key eye witnesses account of the conflict! Perhaps they were Americans who felt too uncomfortable to break a smile!

So onto the tunnels. Cu Chi has a bit of a ‘Disney Land’ feel to it, and we were herded from site to site by your guide, which included some impressively small hiding holes in the ground (demonstrated by our guide – see below), lots of nasty home made bamboo traps for the evil American Imperialists (surprisingly omitted from the informational video), a destroyed American tank, a field hospital, kitchen, Weapons cache, and various huge bomb craters courtesy of American B-52s.

We passed on the $1 a bullet opportunity to fire M16s and AK-47s at the range, which appeared tame by Cambodian standards (as posted by another member of bootsnall, in Cambodia you could fire a grenade launcher at a sheep for $100, or even a handgun at the owner for $1000, provided he had a 10 second head start – the mind boggles!), but jumped at the chance to experience a short trip through one of the underground tunnels themselves!

The thoughtful people at Cu Chi have kindly widened the original tunnels, to allow us slightly bigger westerners a more comfortable passage. On learning this, I was slightly disappointed that our experience would not be ‘real’, but headed down the hole in the ground at the back of our group anyway! Holy crap, these tunnels were tiny! Check out how scared I look in the below photo! And this was the westernised tunnels with added uplighters! After we waddled about 30m in the pitch black, scorching hot tunnels we were thankfully given the option to exit, which we jumped at! Some crazy fools in our group went further into the network where the tunnels became more authentic (i.e. smaller!).

I cannot begin to imagine how frightening it must have been to spend all day in the original tunnel network, with B52s dropping 500lb bombs overhead. It is incredible that such a vast, elaborate tunnel network was dug, literally by hand, and used to such great effect. Cu Chi is a true mark of the strength of character of the Vietnamese people which ultimately helped them to overcome the vastly more powerful American forces.

After the experience of the tunnels we spent some time checking out the tourist stalls which were selling everything from war relics to full sized stuffed crocodiles! We stumbled across someone selling ‘snake wine’ and decided to sample some to settle the nerves. Snake wine unsurprisingly sounds better than it tastes (check out Charlottes face after her sample!), although the bottles, complete with Cobra’s inside, would have made a great present for Shirley if it wasn’t for those pesky custom’s officials! With that we returned with the rest of our group to HCMC.

P.S. Watch out for our next blog posting; tales from Guantanamo Bay – probably where we will be heading next after posting a blog including phrases such as Evil American Imperialist, AK-47, Freedom fighter etc!

10 March 2007

Ho Chi Minh City is commonly referred to as Saigon (its former name) by both locals and tourists alike. In 1975 the former capital of the Southern republic was named after Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh, or ‘Uncle Ho’ as the Vietnamese affectionally call him is recognised throughout Vietnam as the founder of Vietnamese communism and the central figure who fought to free Vietnam from the shackles of colonialism.

The Vietnamese are very proud of Uncle Ho and his plight against the french colonists, and later against the US army. It is for this reason that Ho Chi Minh’s face can be seen all across Vietnam; be it replicated in a statue or on the face of a wall clock or calendar.

If we were asked to sum up the City in one word it would have to be….motorbikes! They are everywhere. It is estimated that one in every 6 of the population of Vietnam owns a motorbike. I recall we said we had seen some peculiar things on the back of a motornike in Cambodia but in HCMC we saw some guy on the back of his mates bike holding a sheet of glas that was about 3m by 2m! How on earth the glass reached its destination intact is beyond both Chris and I.

Crossing the road is a skill one quickly learns in HCMC. The skill is broadly base on a leap of faith! You start crossing and don’t stop or go backwards …you simply keep moving slowly but with obvious steps in the same direction and by some miracle each and every moped/ motorbike/cyclo/ and the occasional bus manages to steer around you, albeit sometimes leaving a fraction of a hairs breadth space of air between you and the vehicle.

Whilst in HCMC we headed straight to the ‘War Remnants Museum’ which until recently had been called “The American and Chinese War Crimes Memorial”. We can only imagine the name change is due to the number of western tourist now visiting the museum or who knows maybe a mark of forgiveness?

The tone of the museum is very much from the Vietnamese communist viewpoint. In short the Vietnamese felt the US had no right to intereferin the country’s internal affairs! The museum is graphic…at times stomach-wrenchingly graphic with the exhibits holding no punches as to the effect of Agent Orange, Napalm or the atrocities that were inflicted on the Vietnamese people be it women, children, old or young! The museum is silent not by order but simply from visitors respect. Whilst making our way around the museum I saw many a people wiping tears from their eyes as the museum brought home the reality of war (incidently the US never actually declared war on Vietnam!).

The museum is split into different sections and includes models of the tiger cages that prisoners were kept in and a guillotine that was used along with graphic details of method of torture. The museum also houses a section in memory to photographers who bravely ventured to the frontline to bring the rest of the world footage of the war and in many cases ended up losing their lives in the process.

Also on our agenda whilst in HCMC was the reunification palace. Built in the 1960’s the reunification palace was invaded in 1975 by communist tanks (supplied by China and Russia) which crashed down the palace gates before the men entered the palace to raise a Viet Cong flag from the top of the building.

We took a tour of the palace where parliament meet every Wednesday and were able to visit the ‘receiving rooms’, the cinema, the casino and the tunnels underneath the building that were built to withstand bombing. All the room are preserved in the 1970’s style of the time of the reunification.

The rest of our time in HCMC was spent doing some of the things we love best ….eating, drinking and shopping! Having pretty much abstained from shopping for nearly 2 years now (whilst saving for this trip and whilst travelling….OK 2 years may be slightly stretching the truth!) we have finally decided it is time to buy a few souvenirs as we can just about put up with having to carry the new purchases for the remainder of the trip. So we headed to the Ben Thanh market which sells lots of touristy type souvenirs and spent a very happy couple of hours browsing and picking up the odd purchase! After someone tried to pick-pocket Chris (unsucessfully) we decided we had had our fill and headed to Pho 2000.

Pho 2000 sells the best Pho we have sampled so far. Pho is a Vietnamese speciality dish which is a noodle broth made from chilli, lemongrass, ginger, basil etc etc not disimmilar to a ramen dish at Wagamammas back home. The Pho was so good we even managed to squeeze a second visit in duringour short stay in HCMC.

Postscript: Mum and Jane: We are currently compiling a wish list of our favourite and much missed foods for when we return -the list will be winging itself to you very shortly to allow sufficient preparation time for our return 😉

9th March 2007

We returned to Phnom Penh for our final night in Cambodia and checked into a hostel on the edge of Boeng Kok lake. The hostel bar had a rickety wooden terrace that stretched out over the lake, providing a great spot to watch our final Cambodian sunset. We enjoyed a cold beer or two whilst comparing bruises from the elephant / truck rides and reflected on what has been a great 16 days in this fantastic country.

We were soon brought back down to earth however, as returning to our room to try to remove some of the layers of dust that we were coated in (Cambodia is the dustiest place on Earth – official), we found we had an uninvited guest! Our room mate was either a big mouse, or a small rat, but either way, after seeing it scamper behind the bed, we decided that the only way we would get any sleep that night was to request a change of rooms, and a skinful of cheap Cambodian beer at Mosquito bar!

So it was with a slightly blurry head that we boarded our bus at 7am the next morning to start our long journey to Vietnam. Having experienced enough of Cambodia’s roads to last a life time, we opted to cross the boarder to Vietnam by boat. Although a longer journey, this option would allow us to spend some time taking in the Mekong delta region of Southern Vietnam, before heading onto Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), formerly Saigon.

We had a short bus journey to take us to the boat, before cruising at a lazy pace along the scenic Mekong for 3 hours or so to the border. Having arranged our visa in advance, the border itself was very easy to negotiate, with only a 1,000 dong (what a great name for a currency!) additional payment to make, presumably to keep the border officials in cigarettes! At 30,000 dong to the pound (god bless sterling!) this seemed like a reasonable payment for a hassle free passage into the country.

We continued on our journey towards our first Vietnamese destination, Chao Doc. The Mekong river is the life blood of this region, and on our journey we saw lots of fisherman, rice warehouses and floating houses (with attached underwater fish farms). In the fields around the river were hundreds of workers, going about the manually intensive rice cultivation, wearing their distinctive pointy hats (very much like light shades!). We cruised into Chao Doc in the early evening, and spent a relaxing night being greeted by the locals (we had been warned to expect people in Vietnam to be less friendly than Cambodia, but our first impression could not have been better, we felt like Mick ‘crocodile’ Dundee in New York walking down the street with everyone stopping to say hello!).

Next morning, it was another early start as we set off on another long day traveling to HCMC. As we approach the end of our trip we don’t want to waste a minute, so again we combined the journey with some sight seeing action en route. We first headed up Sam mountain in Chao Doc, for a view back across the border to Cambodia and the surrounding paddy fields. Whilst here we also got to visit our 3 billionth pagoda, this time with some interesting Lion statues. After this we headed off down the river in a local canoe, visiting a fish farm (which the locals keep under their floating houses to take the hassle out of fishing) and a ‘minority’ village of Muslim Cham people. We then transferred to a bigger boat for another couple of hours of Mekong cruising, before finally transferring to minibus for the remaining 3 hours to HCMC.

Much to our relief, the roads in Vietnam appear to be light years ahead of Cambodia!

3 March 2007

The reason for our epic journey to Sen Monorom which is tucked in the hills of Mondulkiri Province was quite simply – Elephants!

Elephant trekking was something we were both keen to do at somepoint on this trip and apart from the option for a short ride around Angkor Wat which we had not taken up it had eluded us. We had heard that Sen Monorom was one of the few places we could go Elephant trekking in Cambodia so we were quick to add the stop to our itinery…and we are glad we did!

Mondulkiri is known in Cambodia for its hills, tribes, jungle and waterfalls; the scenery was quite simply beautiful and worlds apart from that which we had seen of Cambodia to date.

In order to meet up with our Elephant we were taken to one of the minority villages of the area, where the Pnong people, who speak their own tribal language, live. The village was small consisting of about 8-10 houses which were unlike the traditional Khmer house which is built on stilts to combat the rainy season. Here, the houses were low to the ground and contained three families in each – we could not work out how the adults managed to get themselves any privaacy!. On oneside of the house was the sleeping area and the other was the kitchen. The house is also shared with pigs, ducks, dogs and chickens.

Shortly after our arrival we were introduced to our elephant, Nying Shal, who was colossal! At 50 years old Nying was positively middle aged as most of the elephants of the village live to about 100.

To board Nying we climbed up some steps and clambered across her head/neck into the bamboo basket on her back – sounds harsh but she didn’t flinch a muscle.

The next couple of hours were spent wandering slowly through the jungle taking in the various fruits growing, from cashew nuts to jack fruit which can weigh in at a massive 20kg per fruit!. After an hour our driver for the day hopped of his spot riding bareback on Nying’s head and gestured for Chris to take his place…..well Chris (who from this day forth shall be know to me as ‘The Elephant Man’) jumped at the chance and took pole position on Nying’s rather hairy head!

Now I don’t know why we were surprise, judging by the size on Nying, but Elephants sure can eat! Every few paces Nying set about devouring anything that was in her path (or to the side of it!). Our guide was telling us that Nying like pineapple plant and bamboo plant but it soon became apparent that Nying just simply likes to eat! But I am not sure Nying liked to chew her food perhaps as well as she should because boy did she suffer from flatulence afterwards!

Watching her use her trunk to grasp food and through water over herself (and us) to cool off was definately my highlight of the day!

Before we reached our lunch stop Chris and I swapped places at the helm (so technically that would make me ‘Elephant Woman’ but I will not hear that spoken OK!) and I enjoyed the view from above.

We stopped by a lovely little waterfall for a swim and some lunch and the elephants were set free to rome on their own. The Pnong people do not feed the elephant they prefer to let them wander and fend for themselves. In order that they can relocate the animals they simply attach a long chain (not heavy) to the elephant which makes tracks which they then follow.

Before we made our way back to the village we watched Nying take a bath in the stream.

We were both completely in awe of Nying the whole day, partly because we were relying on her to be well tempered, but mainly because she was a fantastic and beautiful animal with a healthy appetite – the latter being something we can both relate to!

3 March 2007

We were told the bus from Kratie to Snoul would take one and half hours, what we were not told was that the minbus would circle Kratie for two hours (with us in it) looking for people to fill it before leaving ….and then some!

Travelling Cambodia you learn to take what you are given pretty fast (I will welland truly eat these words later in this blog). We ended up with a jam-packed minibus and set off on our journey. About twenty minute in we stopped on a dirt track to collect ten more passengers. This left us well and truly perplexed as there was simply no room in the bus. After another twenty minutes it became clear the new passengers would be travelling with the breeze running through their hair as they began taking their seats on the roof of the bus! We were eternally grateful for our front seats with extra leg room.

Part one of the journey over we still had another four hours in a pick-up along a very bad stretch of pit-holed, hilly, dust-track. Feeling confident that the journey would not be all that bad because we had paid for seats in the cabin of the pick-up (which is basically a ute) we couldn’t have been more wrong.

The back of the pick-up was expertly loaded with its cargo which ranged from our backpacks to two big steel boxes holding fish. Then it was time for us to board. The cabin holds two rows of seats. The first row which is the one where the driver sits has more legroom than the row squeezed in behind these seats. Thinking we would be in the front due to our size was the next mistake we made. Oh no the two (tiny – I might add) ladies in thefront stood waiting for us to take the back seats which we would share with another lady and her child.

We politely gestured to said lady to move across from the middle seat so we could sit next to each other but would she budge? Not in this lifetime! Getting quite angry now that we had paid well over the odds for less than a third of the back seat I refused to get in the cab until Chris started to get angry too! Reluctantly we prised ourselves into the seats only for my leg to be squeezed by the women in the middle who then stared to laugh at me!

Five minutes into the journey the child was fast asleep so he was laid alongthe floor space of the back seats. Hopefully you will have deduced there was not much floorspace to start with let alone after the child was laid to rest! After shouting across the women for a good twenty minutes and passing our water back and forth in some kind of revenge act I was still seething so I put on my headphones to calm down.

Enter the mosquitos! The cab had a couple of mosquitos which annoyed the lady no end. Rather than taking the hit which both Chris and I had resigned ourselves to do the lady proceeded to swat the little blighters wherever they landed inluding on me and Chris. After one rather painful slap across the back of my hand I snapped and began raising my voice calling the lady any name I could think of although it was futile as she spoke as much english as I speak Khmer but it made be feel better for all of ten seconds!

The fun did not stop there! It wasn’t long before the lady was nodding off to la-la- land depositing her head intermittantly on Chris and my shoulders. So we proceeded to take a vast amount of pleasure playing head ping pong for the duration of her nap.

Later in the journey, with no regards to what little personal space I was desperately clinging onto, I had my earphones ripped from me as the lady quite obviously wanted to join in my fun! So the Ipod went away (that would surely teach her a lesson! 😉 ) and the lady passed her time by burying her finger up to the knuckle up he nose clearing out any debris onto the floor and who knows maybe even the child lying below!

Later when the child woke he was placed in between the lady’s legs and began grabbing at anything in sight. Clearly a chip of the old block he grabbed a handful of hairs on Chris’s leg and proceeded to tug them out, promptly followed by a slap across the hand from Chris!

Stiff, numb and irratated, our driver persisted to stop for anybody that had broken down or simply to give the engine (not the passengers) a breather! Pro-longing our agony further!

We arrived in Sen Monorom aching and weary, in search of a much needed stiff drink to calm the nerves!

2nd March 2007

The trip from Kampot to Kratie warranted a bus change in Phnom Penh and an overnight stay in Kompong Cham. Sounded straight forward. Should have known better I guess!

The bus breakdown on the way to Phnom Penh was inevitable considering oil had been leaking and smoke had been emitted since leaving Kampot. We watched the locals get off the bus and make themselves comfortable in the nearby field and then traced their footsteps ever mindful of landmines!. We then watched the driver tinker away for the best part of an hour before flagging down three other vehicles, each time exchanging his spanner for a different size! Once the correct sized spanner was located we were back on the road although we had long since missed our connecting bus in the capital.

We eventually boarded our bus to Kompong Cham and it was at one of the many food breaks that the drivers take (we reckon they must have a bowl of rice at least every two hours!) we took the opportunity to browse the local market stalls……only to be faced with this sight!

Yep they are spiders – fried spiders to be exact! Guess you will all be wondering if we tried one? Did we heck!!! It’s all well and good trying to eat like the locals but there has to be a line right? And those spiders are quite clearly way on the other side of that line!

We arrived in Kompong Cham exhausted (and a little hungry 😉 )and flopped into bed. The next morning it was another early start to board the bus to Kratie where we arrived around 2pm. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and immediately booked two motos for 3pm to take us out to see the rare Irrawaddy river dolphins giving us just enough time to grab some food. A little pushed for time we went to the restaurant run by the hotel and we were both presented witha meal which made those spiders look appetising! So for the first time on this trip we paid the money and left without touching our food.

Our empty stomachs were soon forgotten once we hopped on our motos and cruised, in the mid-afternoon sun northwards along a lovely stretch of road which was lined with traditional Khmer houses on either side. 18km and a couple of near misses with pigs crossing the road later we reached the point in the Mekong River which these dolphins call home.

The Irrawaddy dolphin does not fit the typical dolphin image that everyone holds; it has a large round head and its beak is indistinct. There are very few of these animals left in the world (it is thought there about 70 or so in Kratie). As an endangered species, they are legally protected from hunting, and encouragingly there is a conservation project being run in Kratie to educate the locals about the importance of the dolphins aside from the fact they are the big ticket attraction in Kratie for tourists like ourselves. The dolphins suffer from sensitive hearing and so motors are not permitted in the stretch of the river they frequent.

The dolphins are shy in nature and consequently do not get that close to the boat. That said we managed to see about eight or so throughout the trip. and managed to get a couple of photos although the moment had usually passed by the time the shutter closed. With just us and a Japanese lad on the boat the trip was incredibly peaceful and serene giving rise to an afternoon we both enjoyed.

Later that night we headed to the Pagoda next to our hotel as a celebration was in full swing. We asked reception what was the cause of the celebrations to be told the head monk had died and the locals were celebrating his life. We had a quick wander around the pagoda to take in the atmosphere but left shortly after we realise we had both become the main attraction (Chris’s height and my blonde hair and blue eyes always seem to attract the odd stare), but not before we were tapped on the arm by 12 year old Rochina. Rochina’s english was fantastic and we spent ten or so minutes chatting to her before she became our unofficial tour guide of the stalls. When we asked Rochina who she had come with she pointed to a very proud looking mother who was stood about 5 metres behind us watching her daughter converse profficiently in another language. I would be lying if I said we didn’t have our travelling ‘guard’ up when we met Rochina but it was refreshing that she just wanted to speak with us and practice her english without selling us something or asking for money. Having thoroughly enjoyed Rochina’s company we paid for her to have a go at popping the balloons with darts to win a prize; unfortunately neither I nor Rochina came away a winner but we had a few laughs in the process!

28th February 2007

After 3 days sweating our backsides off in Phnom Penh, we headed South in search of cooling sea breezes at Cambodia’s ‘premier’ coastal retreat, Sihanoukville.

We were quietly hoping that Sihanoukville would offer the gorgeous white sand beaches of Thailand without the crowds, the reality was a little disappointing. Unfortunately, the public beaches in Sihanoukville suffer from a litter problem, due to a mixture of lazy tourists and locals who know no different.

There is no infrastructure in place in Cambodia to deal with rubbish, so the problem of litter is by no means unique to Sihanoukville, but it really hits home when you see rubbish strewn across the beach, and floating in the sea. We did manage a couple of days sunbathing, and in the evenings, the beach transformed into an open air dining and drinking extravaganza, which was really cool, although probably the main contributor to the litter problem!

Sihanoukville didn’t really work for us, but then again, I guess we have been spoilt with beaches somewhat in the last 10 months! Traveling in Cambodia has re-enforced to us just how lucky we are to be on this trip. In 2 weeks here we have seen much more of this country than most Cambodians will in their lifetime. Cobb, our guide from Siam Reap, had never even seen the sea before and hoped one day to travel to Sihanoukville, which makes me feel a little guilty to be bemoaning my time there!

Next, we headed 150kms along the coast by shared taxi to the town of Kampot. Shared taxis are a uniquely Cambodian experience, fueling the national obsession with how many people can be crammed onto a vehicle. Seeing families of 5 on one moped is not uncommon, and we have met people who have been in a shared taxi with 8 people (including 2 on the drivers seat!). Keen to avoid this scenario, we got together with a French couple and booked out the whole taxi, paying the fare of 6 people to prevent the driver picking up anyone else en route!

The reason for our visit to Kampot (which is apparently home of the best pepper in the world!) was to visit Bokor Hill Station. The Hill station was built by the French in the 1920’s high up on a mountain with great views along the coastline and out to the islands of Vietnam. After the French were chased out of Cambodia, the hill station was used by Khmer Royalty before being abandoned as a battle ground during the time of the Khmer Rouge.

We headed out early morning for the 4 hour journey by pick up truck to Bokor, which is now surrounded by a jungle national park that is home to tigers! The road up the mountain was terrible, by far the worst we have traveled on during our entire trip. The 4×4 truck really struggled to get up the steep incline and navigate the pot holes, which made for a really painful journey for us, sharing the back with 6 others. We did have a bench to cling onto, which helpfully had 2 metal bars as a back rest, which smashed into your kidneys with every bump!

Thankfully, when we finally arrived at the old Royal palace, and the hill station itself, it all became worthwhile. The climate was welcoming due to the altitude, and the old, abandoned buildings, surrounded by mist and clouds, made for a very spooky experience as we strolled around the former Casino, Post Office and Church buildings. It was easy to imagine that, in its hey day, this would have been a very grand place indeed.

After lunch, the mists cleared revealing the awesome views down to the coast over the surrounding jungle. The Hill station is surrounded on 3 sides by steep cliffs, which apparently provided consolation to those who had lost their fortune during the boom times at the casino! As with much of Cambodia, Bokor Hill station can still be a colorful place, our guide telling us that they have ‘underground’ New Years Eve parties here every year. Last January things got a bit out of hand and ended in a gun fight between the locals, with 2 people ending up shot dead! It certainly makes our New Year’s Eve on Sydney harbour look a bit lame!

26th February 2007

After an emotional day visiting both S-21 (Toul Sleng Genocide Museum) and The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek we set off in search of a Mojito. Mojito’s have to be both of our favourite cocktails so – simple souls that we are – we were both pretty excited at the prospect of watching the sun set over the Boeng Kok Lake sipping a nice cold Mojito.

We were shown to a table and told we would probably want to face the otherway than that which we sat because there would be as show of the traditional Cambodian Aspara (which means ‘nimph’) dancing by the children of The Cambodian Light Children’s Association – a charity set up for the housing and education of orphans and street kids of Cambodia.

The Mojito’s were disapointing but the children were not! They were incredible. Two children sat playing a xylophone and large drum whilst six or seven girls dressed in satin outfits with floweras in their hair were led by a girl who could not have been more than five years old but had elegance way beyond her years. The dancing is very graceful using the whole body although largely governed by movement of the hands.

After the girls came the boys with their ‘monkey dance’. You could not help falling in love with these small boys when they came galloping across the stage on all fours, scratching their backsides and picking food out of each others hair……simply adorable.

Then it was our turn! 😉 The kids grabbed people from the audience and ‘tried’ to teach us the dancing – sadly we lacked elegance, grace and finesse……but had lots of fun trying! One particular girl tok a shine to Chris and was extremely persistent and patient with him as he tried to master the hand movements!

When we left the show we thanked the director of the orphange and were invited to pay him and the children a visit the following day.

Energy levels raised by all the dancing we headed to the ‘Heart of Drakness’ which is apparently the local hotspot which is described by the Lonely Planet as a little edgy and frequented by Cambodia’s young nouveau rich. The LP also states that you shouldn’t get into a disagreement with any of the locals as they frequently have body guards which will stand for no nonsense! Well the Lonely Planet was clearly correct as locals were dropping lots of money at the bar and the drink of choice seemed to be Johny Walker Black Label Whisky which they were ordering by the bottle! The bodyguards were also evident dressed head to toe in black…which ironically (or maybe not!) was the uniform of the Khmer Rouge at the height of the regime.

Well we behaved ourselves and had a great night chatting to a party of people out celebrating the wedding of a local girl and a French guy that had met on the internet.

We woke the next day feeling surprisingly chipper considering that we had had a few drinks and the 24 hour unbearable humidity which leaves you gasping for water as soon as you wake. First stop of the day was the Russian Market to stock up on some provisions and games to take with us on our visit to the CLCA. We then hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us to the address on the business card we had been handed the prior evening.

Now I am not sure either of us expected any grandeur from the orphange but it is fair to say the orphanage itself was so far removed from our expectations it was quite simply shocking. Sat in the middle of a shanty town the orphanage has been pieced together from wood which had obviously been built by the volunteers themselves and the conditions the 140+ children live in quite frankly shocked us both to the core, but the children are provided with a safe place, food to eat and are being provided a with an education as each child must attend lessons each weekday.

The work being carried out is a credit to the volunteers and the children themselves. It is not that they do not want to improve the conditions of the orphanage, they quite simply cannot do so without funding.

On our arrival our hands were grabbed by some of the younger children and we were whisked off on a tour of the buildings/areas. The childrens dormitories were crowded and extremly rickety so much so I was frightened the top floor would not take both mine and Chris’s combined weight. The classroom was full of lovely pictures the children had drawn, maps on the wall and the letters of the alphabet – however books and other materials were sparse. The bathrooms were basic and unable to deal with the number of children the orphanage houses and the girls bathroom lacks a door. During the tour we were told of future projects that the volunteers/ director hoped to carry out. None were overly ambitious but each would add some value to the children’s home in its small way, be it a new door for the girls bathroom or a fan for the medical room.

After our tour we were fortunate to be able to spend some time playing with the children and talking with a few of the older children whose English was a credit to their teachers. They told us about their hopes for their furtures, the provinces they came from and how the orphange provided one big family for them. The children were lots of fun, vibrant, bossy, mischievous – everything you would expect.

We learnt from the director that it costs $3,000 in water, food and electricity to keep the children each month. This money is found by donations, the children dancing and if necessary general pleading contacts.

We left the orphange, exhausted but enriched to have spent some time with the children, only to find our tuk-tuk had been comandeered by ten or so children. Chasing the tuk-tuk up the road we had to scoop the laughing children away from their riide before waving goodbye ro all the smiling faces (hopefully that wasn’t because they were seeing the back of us!).

On the way home from the orphange we discussed the day and both pledged to do ‘something’ hopefully challenging on our return home to raise some sponsorship for the CLCA (it is here in writing so there is no going back)….So be warned we will be hounding you all on our return!

The link to the CLCA website is on the right hand side if you want to learn more.

26th February 2007

A 6 hour bus journey took us from Siem Reap, in the North West of Cambodia, to the South, and the capital city, Phnom Penh. $6 a night goes a long way in Phnom Penh, and on the evening of our arrival, we did nothing but enjoy the air conditioning and 100+ cable channels at our guesthouse (trust me, it hasn’t always been this good!).

The next morning we set out for what was to prove the most harrowing day of our adventure so far. Our first stop was the Tuol Sleng Museum, aka S-21. In 1975, when the Khmer Rouge took control of Phnom Penh, they turned the former Tuol Svay Prey High School into a prison. Conditions in Cambodia rapidly degenerated, and S-21 soon became the largest detention and torture centre for ‘enemies’ (i.e. anyone other than farmers who had sided with the Khmer Rouge in the preceding civil war) of the ‘revolution’.

In the 4 years that followed, approx 20,000 people were held at S-21, of which only 7 remained alive when Phnom Penh was liberated by the Vietnamese in 1979.

It feels strange to call this a ‘tourist attraction’ and at times it did feel extremely uncomfortable to be visiting the scene of such evil. Without going into the detail of what we saw here, it helped us to understand and appreciate the Cambodian people all the more. We had hired a guide to show us around, a women in her 40s. She gave us great insight into the events that took place in the country during the time of the Khmer Rouge. As we talked, it emerged that she herself had lost her husband and only daughter to the regime after being evacuated from Phnom Penh in 1975. After the fall on the Khmer Rouge, she had walked for 3 months to return to the capital from the countryside to find work, and look in vain for her family.

Next we ventured the 15kms out of town to Choeung Ek, aka ‘the killing fields’. It was here the prisoners of S-21 were brought to be ‘exterminated’ after interrogation at Tuol Sleng.

The Khmer Rouge, not wanting to waste precious ammunition, bludgeoned to death men, women and children at this site, before burying the ‘traitors’ in mass graves. Several graves have since been exhumed, and over 8,000 human skulls now stand in a central monument as a reminder of the horrors that unfolded here, less than 30 years ago.

The remainder of the Killing fields site at Choeung Ek remains ‘intact’. As you walk around the grounds, fragments of human bone and clothing are visible in the dirt, a sobering reminder of the evil that remains buried here and at other sites across the country.

In the afternoon, in much need of a pick-me-up, we headed to a late lunch at Friends restaurant back in the capital. This place serves great tapas style Khmer food, and even better it is all for a good cause, giving street kids the chance to train as chefs (the Cambodia version of Jamie Oliver’s 15!). After food we toured the National Museum (exhibiting artifacts that have been taken from the temples of Angkor – shame!).

As if we had not endured enough pain and heartache for our poor little souls to take in one day, we spent the evening watching Newcastle lose to Wigan in the Premiership….that’s the last time I fork out for cable TV in our room!