Good morning Vietnam....and the last bit of Cambodia :)

We arrived in Phnom Pehn surprisingly only one hour later than expected on our ‘VIP’ bus.  This time we got what we paid for with Cambodian karaoke all the way! Watching the world go by on the bus we saw the extremes of poverty in Cambodia, this seemed to be the poorest country we had seen in South East Asia so far.

Following our bible - the lonely planet, with Carole and Yannick we checked into a nice clean and cheap hostel Fortunately it had great wifi as we had a date on Skype with the Barr family in Perth!  Which was great, can’t wait to see you all in March especially my little niece Sophie B!

Phnom Pehn promenade

It was inevitable at some point that one of us got Delhi belly and both of us had it at the same time. With a bit of a dodgy stomach on the first day in PP we took it easy, ate western food, drank gallons of water and managed to get through nearly a whole series of breaking bad which I am now addicted too!  All better, we hit Central Market where we managed to pick up a few bargains after a lot of bartering and walk away tactics. We then walked another mile or two to the riverside which was very pretty.  Lined with palm trees and flags, locals kicking around a feather stuck to a ball thing and endless bars and cafes.  People watching heaven for us, we are becoming pros at it!

Next day we were feeling on top form and joined Carole and Yannick for a goodbye breakfast as they were off home to France. “Hope you guys made it home safe and sound, keep in touch”

Later that day and being in Phnom Pehn we couldn’t leave without a visit to the S21 museum. This is the place Pol Pot (Khmer Rouge) held all the prisoners before they took them all to the killing fields. It is an eerie place with remnants of the torture that went on there. Some of the photographs are horrific and the conditions terrible. Can’t believe this was allowed to happen even 30 years ago. Feeling slightly shocked we left the museum, skipped the killing fields and went in search of something a bit more up-lifting. This came in the guise of Coffee and a Lemon shake on the riverside. After a lovely meal overlooking the river we arrived back at our hotel to find our Vietnamese Visa’s had arrived and so we booked our bus to Vietnam for the next morning.  Good morning Vietnam!

Susi clinging on for dear life whilst the driver
is blinded by the rucksack!!!

Our first destination was Saignon (Ho Chi Minh City) and after a very painless border crossing we were met by 1000s and 1000s of scooters.  We had arrived.  I have never seen anything like it, it was chaos and not a highway code rule followed. We got off the bus and there was not a tuk tuk in sight so it meant a scooter journey to our hostel – yes with our 18Kg back packs too!  Ended up racing each other on our taxi scooters and clung on to my wee Vietnamese driver for dear life.  We checked in to an average hostel (hotels being that little bit more expensive in Vietnam) to be reunited with my dear old friends the cockroaches, but it did have aircon and cable TV.  

People watching heaven...

Scooter mania, cross this road if
you dare...

We headed straight out to Bui Vien just down the road to the Back-packers street which was awesome, sampling the Vietnamese Beer – Lees favourite so far (Saigon Green).  The Dalat Red wine is alright too thank goodness.  First impression of Vietnam – Fab.

On our first day we went to the Wartime Remnants Museum, bumping into our Irish buddies we experience the journey from hell with, David and Alison.  

One of the most famous
pictures from the vietnam war...

The museum itself was full of propaganda but unbelievably biased towards the Vietnamese. If you were to believe everything that was written there then senator Bob Kelly is a bad, bad man! It was really interesting though to find out about agent orange and the Cu hi tunnels before we visited them.

Susi and a local exercising in the park...

On the way back we walked via the park to do a bit of exercise and then we went our separate ways for a couple of hours. Me for a bit of pampering and some barber action/pub for Lee. 

 







That evening we met David and Alison again for a small pub crawl up the strip.  Enjoy the rest of Vietnam guys, hope you enjoyed the tunnels! The little shops turn into bars at night with tiny plastic chairs made for kids, they are positioned perfectly for people watching overlooking the narrow street packed with scooters carrying everything from families of four, 10 crates of beer to enough vegetables to feed an army. They also have these wheelchair like bicycles chauffeuring around oversized Americans, very funny.

When in Vietnam...

The strangled vietnamese cats...

The next two days we had organised trips. The first was to the Mekong Delta. It was very relaxing and included activities such as making coconut toffee, seeing how rice paper is made and being flogged Royal Jelly, however it was quite relaxing but somewhat more for the older traveller >50. Over some tasteless dragon fruit and funny looking lychees, the locals performed some traditional music for us and it was shocking! We were all in stitches, tears rolling down my face hoping not to get noticed by the locals. I willingly handed over a tip for the sheer comedy value.

Don't think you'll be needing the glasses down there!!!...

Our next trip was a day visiting the Cu Chi tunnels and a local business set up for victims of agent orange (The chemical used by the americans that caused deformity up to 20 years later). Our guide Jackie was a war veteran and was very passionate about telling the truth as he saw it. Jackie was on the south side and supported the Americans, he was nicknamed Jackie as he looked like Jackie Chan. He was an excellent guide and told us all about the war, the protests, and lots of information the museum didn’t tell us. We arrived at the local business and had an hour to wander around, the workshop they had set up was fantastic and we bought some really nice little pictures they had hand made.

I can breath at last...

The tunnels themselves are unbelievable, over 200km of tunnels dug during the war and that the Americans couldn’t find the Viet cong so they bombed the whole area trying to flush them out. Lee had the nerve to go in one of the original tunnels, it was pitch black, extremely narrow that you had to crawl and he had to feel his way around to get to the end, and was even joined by a few bats along the way.  

Jackie Chan demonstrates the leg trap..

Boys and their toys...

Lee also got to climb into a tank, boys and their toys. Jackie showed us around 20 different traps that were used by the Viet Cong for the Americans. Gruesome! The final bit of the tour was a 200m stretch of tunnels that had been made 10% bigger for tourists with lights along the way. I was a bit scared at first as I’m not the best in confined spaces, but I managed it and was great fun. Cant believe people lived like that for years?  

A great day out all in all, Saigon is a great city to visit.  Forgot to say Vietnamese food is delicious, beats Thai any-day!  Also fruit shakes are delicious and only cost about 40p

After 2 early starts with day activities we decided that we were Mekong’ed out and Citied out and it was time to hit the beach on the South China Sea up to Mui Ne for a few days chill out! (I hear the weather is bad in Europe, but a typhoon is apparently heading our way!)

Fun and celebrations in Laos and Cambodia...

One of many boat journeys to get to Don Det...

The Birthday boy with his cake....

My birthday finally arrived in style. It took 15 hours on local bus from Tha Kaek down to Don Det. 8 hours in and we finally managed to get a little bit of sleep. We where awoken to loud shouts of "Si Phan Don, you off here, Si Phan Don" (4000 Islands). Half asleep we grabbed our things and stumbled of the bus, dodging the chicken feed and breaking a few roof tiles on the way. It was 07:00 in the morning and after a few minutes we realised we didn't have a clue where we where. After numerous broken-english conversations we managed to find a guest house that told us how far away from Don Det we actually where and that we needed to get either a 2 hour boat or a 20 minute 'boat-minivan-boat' trip. We arrived in Don Det at around 11am and found the Sunset Bungalows that Carole and Yannick where staying in. We got the last bungalow overlooking the river which had hammocks and its own little balcony, perfect for a chill out and a bargain at 50,000Kip( £4). We had a quick wander around the main strip to get our bearings then it was time to get ready for sunset on the river with a celebratory birthday drink.

Of course being my birthday a curry was required so we headed off to the Indian/Bar. The curry was excellent and at the end of the meal Susi and Yannick organised a special birthday cake for me, thankfully not of the happy space cake variety which was available. The whole place joined in with the singsong after a little encouragement from Susi. This also meant people I'd not even met before bought me lots of drinks which was unexpected but really nice.

The Mojito cocktail...

The night went on and took its usual turn. Lao Lao Whisky buckets are lethal, we played pool again!!! Susi and Carole drank shared buckets of mojito cocktails. All in all an excellent birthday celebration was had.




Next day we had a chill out day in what has been the best bar so far. Adams Bar has reclining buddha pillows and a choice of any movie you want to see. We spent the day there drinking lemon shakes, eating western food and watching Ted and Star Wars. Best way to spend a lazy day. The next few days we took in the sights of 4000 islands on our 'Granny bikes' the ones with the little basket on the front. We cycled all day in the blistering heat to see some beautiful waterfalls and discover some deserted little beaches where we made our mark.

What a fantastic end to beautiful Lao. It was now time to leave for Cambodia where a 24hr journey awaited us!

The yellow and blue bags are ours but this is nothing,
it was so much worse when we set off. Susi
was not a happy bunny!!!

We had organised a VIP Luxury bus meaning a guaranteed seat to yourself, a toilet for Susi, air conditioning and a free bottle of water! What we actually got was a minivan built for 15 passengers and we had to squeeze 19 people into it with rucksacks, suitcases and vegetables hanging out of the back. Surprise surprise we had been done again and Susi let everyone know it too! We even picked up a 20th person on the way who had to share a seat with the driver. We could only laugh. After a few hours we pulled over expecting to all get out and on to a VIP bus. Nope we all transferred to another minivan with another driver. This happened again with just a few hours left but this time we finally got our VIP bus and headed for Siem Riep.

We arrived at 2:00am into Siem Riep at the main bus station, we got off the bus to hear someone shouting Lee, Lee, Susi, Susi. It was a little Tuk Tuk driver shouting our names who was sent by Yannick and Carole to take us to a great budget hotel with a pool. Thanks again guys!
Siem Riep is a really nice little town with lots of markets and alleyways and bars. Although it is very touristy due to Angkor Wat, you can quite easily escape it all by wandering down some side streets or getting on a cycle.

Photo 1 of 1000 attempts...Not bad really.

I'm not going up there!!!...

Along with 1000's of other tourists (mainly Russian and Chinese) we got up at 4am to see Angkor Wat by sunrise. It was definitely worth it but the photo's do not do it justice. Chauffeured around in our Tuk Tuk we got to see around 12 temples of all different shapes and sizes. The favourite by a long way had to be Ta Prohn (The Tombraider/Indiana Jones Temple). It was both beautiful and awe-inspiring to see how "nature had run riot, leaving iconic tree roots strangling the surviving stones" (Nicked from Lonely Planet). Recovery by the pool and a sampling a few Angkor beers ended a lovely cultured day. We were officially templed out so no need for another day. Instead we explored the town and and markets and took a few days 'holiday' by the pool. We had to of course to experience Pub Street so along with Carole and Yannick we started our night at La Tigre de Papier a lovely French/Italian restaurant where Susi and Carole were pleased to see wine on the menu at affordable prices. We headed down pub street to find a late night bar with pool (obviously) table football, face paints and a skateboard ramp on the roof!

Playing pool with the locals again...

Another great night meeting so many new people and fulfilling our competitive needs.

The last night we had a early celebratory dinner for Susi's 4th transplant anniversary. The rules where, it had to consist of steak and red wine. This was to keep the tradition going in Sammy Barr's absence (Susi's Donor) and being miles away from chilli fillet steak at the Ramore Wine Bar in Portrush.

Thanks Dad....

We had a lovely night with a surprisingly large, juicy and perfectly cooked fillet steak and a nice bottle of Bordeaux. (No Rioja available) Seeing the state of the cows around here we're wondering where the meat came from?




After our mini-break holiday it was time to leave Siem Reap and head to the Capital to get our Visa's for Vietnam...

Laos in brief...its amazing

A row of slowboats waiting to leave...

Leaving Thailand behind meant a six o’clock rise, difficult especially after quite a late night meeting our fellow slow boat companions.  The border crossing into Laos was very interesting, we took a tuk tuk and a small rowing boat across the Mekong to get us there in the blistering heat.  We had to queue in the most bizarre queuing system for around an hour to get the stamp and hand over our dollars. We then got on another tuk tuk which took us further up the river to meet our slowboat.  Around 9am we started our 2 day journey along the Mighty Mekong.

The journey itself was spectacular, either side of the river we were surrounded by jungle, huge mountains and the odd villager having a wash. The scenery is just fantastic. We had made the right choice. We met even more people on the boat from all nationalities some younger than others getting stuck into their crate of Beer Lao while we ended up being more sensible playing mind games along with the ones which probably over did it the night before.

Q:  Name 12 countries that have only 4 letters in the name.

Around 4pm we rocked up in Pak Beng, which was very very small but looked like a small ski resort in the Alps.  For those that don’t know Laos is a former French Colony so much so it even sells ham and cheese baguettes and crepe’s which was refreshing after thai morning, noon and night. Quite    a few of us had a guesthouse booked as part of the trip so when    we arrived our transport was waiting. All 15 of us and luggage    piled in the back of a truck looking like sheep going to market.

   We strolled around the town that evening and had some Laos      Laap (minced meat with chilies, coriander, mint and              lemon) with some sticky rice and Laos curry which was 

 very different to the Thai and even had some spuds in it.

We were definitely falling in love with Lao which was only meant to be a few days transit to Vietnam.  This is when our original plans started to change.  After an early night we finished our journey along the Mekong to arrive in Luang Prabang or so we thought.  But yet again, people trying to make money out of tourists. Our boat tipped us out at the trading docks meaning tuk tuks for all.  Granted 20,000Kip each is not alot (£1.40) but as I always say it’s the principle.  (And our guesthouses where only costing us 40,000KIP per night.)  Along with some more stubborn travellers our walk away tactic worked again and we got them down to 10,000! Result. 

 

After a quick wander around we found a lovely little guest house over looking the river a short walk from the night markets and the most amazing ‘all you can put on your plate’ street buffets.  The chicken on a stick was amazing followed by a nutella and banana crepe, it was fab.  The next day we were pretty shattered so we roamed around the town visiting more temples and climbed over 400 steps up a hill to a see a temple, but even more impressive was the view from the top. You could see the whole of Luang Prabang, the Mekong and the other river (whose name we cannot remember).  We bumped into lots of our fellow slow boaters as we wandered the streets. 

That evening we decided upon visiting the Tad Sae Water fall for the next day, but sitting in busses and boats the last few days we decided to blow out the cobwebs and hire bikes to cycle it.  “Its only 22km – it will be fine”.  We forgot that the sun and humidity, never mind the hills would make it seem like a lot more.  But we did it and we had a great day swimming, jumping of the ropes into the waterfall and watching the elephants bathe too.  However we did a bit of drama when we arrived back to where we locked our bikes. Lee’s bike had a conveniently flat tyre.  Surprise surprise the ‘local’ guy had spare inner tubes and a pneumatic pump!  20,000Kip later and a bit of a rant we were climbing the hills (pushing the bikes up them!)  Eventually we reached the top and then it was a fantastic, scenic downhill ride the rest of the way. We even had time to stop in a local village for a well deserved BeerLao. On that evening we bumped into Our French friends Yannick and Carole (apologies for the spelling!) who gave us some good advice just before they left for 4000 islands far in the south. As we mentioned before, our plans have changed somewhat so we are now getting to see most of Laos and heading south in the same direction to Cambodia.

Our next stop was a 6 hour mental minivan journey to Vang Vieng (or Vera Wang as Susi calls it?) for some tubing action. Vang Vieng is a nice little town famous for its tubing, parties and bars that constantly show episodes of friends! More recently though its calmed down and there are only three bars along the river. It is still a fantastic experience though. 

The Starting point...

We got up early the next day and headed for the place you rent the tubes from. On the way bumping into various people we met on the slowboat. (get the feeling this is going to happen a lot more too) Armed with our dry bag, camera and a lot of money we got dropped off 4km upstream and began our journey down the river. Low and behold the first bar is only 100m down and you get dragged in by the locals...We sat in the first bar for a little bit, not surprisingly we bumped into some more slowboaters as well as some new people. Its was going to be another fun packed day. After an hour or so we moved on. 

Drifting down the river...

The scenery is fantastic. Just sitting back and floating down the river. Lee couldn't control his tube and got stuck in the trees and side pools a few times! Eventually we reached the next bar where we got off for a few more drinks. This was the best bar by far. It had volleyball, basketball, dancing and beer pong. We wasted a few more hours at this bar before we moved onto the last one. Eventually left in the dark and sailed back in the dark with around 10 other tubers.  It took longer than expected and about an hour in the water we started to get concerned we had missed the stop and would soon end up in the Mekong!  We had such a fun day reliving our youth and met some great people and found out about more places we need to visit on our travels - who needs the lonely planet!! Happy days.

Susi having fun

The random shooting gallery...

Next stop with an overnight bus was to Tha Khaek, where we were meant to visit some caves. Unfortunately there was only the 2 of us along with a Dutch girl which meant it was going to be too expensive so we just wandered around the town full of scabby dogs which wasn't really the nicest. Although Lee won a tiny bear at the random shooting gallery in the local market.  So instead of hanging around and knowing we'll get to see plenty of caves as we travel around we decided to head to 4000 Islands earlier than planned. It also meant we could celebrate Lee's birthday with Yannick and Carole. It was another overnight bus we took with the locals, chicken feed and roof tiles for yet another unforgettable journey........ :-)

The adventures continue in Thailand...

Found a spare hour so now it's blog time....

First Thai Green Curry for Suze...

Thanks to Ethiopian Airlines we arrived safely in Bangkok after a total of 20 hours of travelling. We found our way to the skytrain to head to our pre-booked hotel in a little place in the outskirts of Bangkok called On-Nut. Ironically next to the biggest Tesco you've ever seen! Just across the road we had an amazing lively local market which barely had a tourist in sight, apart from the odd old white man with their stunning Thai bride of course. The market had everything from DVD's to Rip off Superdry t-shirts, Mulberry bags (had to say no to Susie buying these as we have no more room in the rucksacks!) and it even had a bar, live music and really good food stalls that cost about 50p a dish. A huge contrast to the the really expensive fried food in Tanzania. We love Southeast                                                   Asia already (Susie for the 3rd time in Thailand!)

The Golden Temple and Palace...

We did the obvious things in Bangkok like the Golden palace where every tout under the sun was telling us that it was closed for a religious holiday 'Errrm No it's not, go away' was the response from Susie. The palace was huge and impressive with incredible detail everywhere with some funky looking dragon faced monkeys, dragons and a miniature Angkor Wat (We will be seeing the real one in Cambodia too). Wat Pho is the temple of the reclining Buddha and it really is huge. Also this is where it tells you on entry be careful of pickpocket gangs and to watch your cameras. Susie only leaves her camera for half an hour in one of the busiest parts of the temple, somehow we found it again. how lucky?

Wat Arun (The Temple of Dawn) was the best of the temples in Bangkok where we climbed up unbelievably steep stairs. When you eventually get to the top the view is amazing, apparently its even better at sunset. Getting down was tricky enough, Susie clinging on to the rail for dear life! We also got to see the Chinatown market selling everything and anything from haberdashery to caged live animals. After a long walk and being completely Wat'd out we stumbled across the Golden Buddha. It                                                  is quite an interesting Buddha made of Solid gold and worth                                                        trillions. 

Patpong with the Speranza's...

After being a complete tourist we then joined the rest of the backpackers in Kho San Road. We bartered successfully on a few bits and bobs. Couldn't face trying the deep fried scorpions and cockroaches though. Needless to say we had a Pad Thai and a few more Cheeky Changs whilst meeting fellow travellers. We met an American couple who had recently moved to Hong Kong and where on holiday. After a few more drinks and a bucket of samsong we where persuaded (Honestly we have no idea who persuaded who?) to take the 'tick in the box' trip to Patpong need I say more? The tuk tuk ride home was a brilliant end to the day/night/morning!!!

Oh no, where's he gone?...

All in all Bangkok was great and we enjoyed the less touristy location of our hotel. We really enjoyed wandering around markets and taking the sky train and long boats which is brilliant because getting around so cheap and really fast, if you avoid the touristy ones that is. The Thai's love their gadgets too, pretty much everyone is checking their facebook everywhere you look. It'll be interesting to see what Japan will be like in comparison. We left Bangkok on an overnight bus to Chiang Mai 10 hours up north. (Dengue Fever Land!) Susie was absolutely shocked by the improvement of standards of buses, pretty much luxury liners which cost us £10 each. It was like being on a long haul flight with free food, drinks, blankets and pillows. 

We reached our hotel in Chiang Mai. This one had a pool and was right in the middle of the liveliest area. Everything was in walking distance. It was nice to chill out after a long journey and 4 nights in mental Bangkok. We hit the night market (which is becoming a bit of a habit!) Chiang Mai was much more chilled than we expected. The people where really friendly and you didn't get hassled too much. Somehow we ended up in a bar with Karaoke and quickly realised we suck at it. 'Let it be' has now been ruined forever in my head. After a relaxing few days and early nights and some good bargain hunting it was time to leave Thailand and head for the land of Laos.

The White Temple...

Before the Booze Cruise...

We got a really good deal on a tour package for 3 days and 2 nights including 2 days down the Mekong river on a slow boat. We sat waiting for our minibus to arrive thinking it'll be just us on the bus. Nope it was rammed full of 20 somethings, some of them being completely hung over from the night before and where planning on partying for the whole journey. Our first stop in the minibus was Chiang Rai to see the white temple. At first we thought 'not another temple' but having seen it from the roadside we knew we had to take a closer look, it is beautiful, its like something from a fairytale. After a brief stop we headed to the border in Chiang Kong where we would spend our first night. There where 2 minibuses full staying at our less than 1 star accommodation and so after the long journey we all got together and had a bit of an impromptu party. All I can say is that it ended up with one guy trying to put a Gecko in his beard. The trip is certainly a good way to meet new people of all different age groups and nationalities and pick up tips of more places to see and things to do.

Roll on Laos...