From South Vietnam to Phnom Penh

The beautiful Halong Bay

Sam, Dave and I in Hue

Since the last blog, June 15, i have elapsed one more year, had a massage by a random guy in a restaurant, been yelled at by an old lady that seemingly-although i didn't know it at the time-wanted to pluck my eyebrows with a piece of cotton, had to return a meal because it didn't reach my high standards, burned myself on a motorbike exhaust, waited peacefully for two hours at the Vietnam-Cambodia border, been in a plane, on a boat, a motorbike, a mini-van, a cyclo, a ute, a bicycle...walked many miles and have had to wake up in the morning and choose any one of a million eateries on numerous occasions, drunken a few beers but many more bottles of water - otherwise known in these parts of the world as "osmosis, ozone and uv treated pure drinking water", said 'no thanks' to 1098 motorbike taxis/tuk tuk drivers and seen streets full of hairdressing parlours, baguettes, fresh market produce and phone shops, excreted no less than 8 litres of sweat and brushed my teeth 22 times...Mum would be proud!

We decided to make the hard decision and stay in Hoi An until after my Bday (which if you didn't know was on the 17th, and if you didn't know and are wondering how you can reconcile yourself, my bank account number is 12 3095 3674 2253 00 *). Another good decision of ours was to book a flight from Hoi An from neighbouring Danang to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) as opposed to going on another loud, bumpy, messy, overcrowded, unpredicatble and life threatening 12 hour bus journey. It was our first domestic flight in our 8 weeks of travelling which is good considering alot of

travellers fly from one main city to the next. Dave's pack came in a whopping 19.4kg, just 600g under limit while my hand luggage was a pinch of salt less than the allowable 7kg. I was not amused however when thye security guard refused me to take my sealed water through to the waiting terminal, the same place where you can buy the exact bottle.

Anyway, we safely made it to HCMC, where typically the rain was awaiting our arrival. We found the local bus into town and jumped of in the centre of the backpacking area. We looked at a couple of places to stay before settling on a little place tucked away down an alley way. I assume we got a good deal 'coz an English couple, that were at the same hotel in Hoi An, caught the same flight to HCMC, and ended up at the same hotel again paid more and the guy at reception rang our room phone to ask us not to tell them what we were paying, and although i had suspicions at first that he prob did the same to them, i saw a sheet on the desk downstairs that proved he was genuine. HCMC, and in the SOuth of Vietnam, the people seem to be friendlier and are willing to have a chat with you. They dislike the people of the north - who were under the communist regime and politics is not a discussion point anywhere in the country. Where Hanoi in the north had many little alley way style streets, HCMC has wide, developed roads. I prefer neither.

While in HCMC we visited the War Remnants museum, a detailed and pictured account of the war involving the Americans. It was one of the better museums so far and the accounts of war are just horrific. We went to the famous Chu Chi tunnels, this time on a group tour (we had to try it) which is in a district 2hrs drive by bus NE of the city. Here we got to explore the tunnels (one that they had made bigger for obese foreigners and heard of the stories how the soldiers would stay underground in the mass of 240km plus tunnel maze for months on end. We saw a range of booby traps that they had crafted, and some people shot AK47's and other annonymous guns at a shooting range. Crawling underground with the sound of gunfire seemed a little too lifelike for me.

We also visited a nice peaceful cathedral where i found myself contemplating the contrast in life for sometime as i listened to the sound of hymms, visited the beautiful post office (why is it that most main PO's are some of the best buildings?).

Of course we ate in HCMC - in fact - one night we went to a little Mexican place, had very nice nachoes but the serving was small. Dave insisted that we find another place, again i thought id be different and order nachoes (vegetarian) but the chips were stale and the red beans were, well, uneatable. The guy was good about it after he tried them! Thats where i also got a random massage. Anyway, we went to a third restaurant, having learned my lesson i ordered vege noodles, and 30 mins later they arrived! That will teach me!

We caught a motorbike taxi each to the bus station which was 10km west. I had my pack on, as if sitting on the back of one of them wasn't already nerve raking enough, and 30mins and 10 near crashes later we arrived at what appeared to be a bus station of some sort, barely got our helmets of before having tickets in hand, exchanged what we hope was the correct amount, and got dragged into a mini van with 17 locals, headed towards the famous Mekong Delta.

In Can Tho, a city of 300000, not quite how i imagined the Mekong to be, we woke up at 5am one morning and were rowed along the Mekong to a floating amrket by a Vietnamese lady. The market was sprawling with all kinds of boats pulling up next to one another and buying/selling. It really was a sight. Later that day we made the journey to Chau Doc, just shy of the border where we got a motorbike up to the top of Sam Mountain which has wonderful views of neighbouring Cambodia and Vietnam. We also walked through a little village, with lots of chickens and rice, and saw the locals going through their daily business. Chau Doc with Cambodia in the distance.

After a very long 12 hour day of boating to the border, waiting around for two hours whilst the formnalities of visas are organised, some more boating and then in a minivan, we arrived in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. A population of maybe 2 million - its is very westernised - and alot poorer than many of the places we had ventured to prior. It does have shockingly so extremes of poverty with wealth, and in the space of one street you can find Lexus cars, people sleeping on th street, cleanly dressed office workers, rubbish piled ankle deep...and i think you get the message. We have had the story "you my lucky customer" and "You my first customer today" often previously but here you get the story of needing to feed families, send children to school and that they haven't had a job in 2 weeks. Is sad!! There are alot more beggers, alot of them children who have learned enough english language to sell you a book or a drink.

We visited the national museum, which was full of sandstone buddha statues and ceramics, and the grand palace, which was clean, and has alot of gold and silver.

However, yesterday we had a very silent and sombre affair when we visited the 'Killing Fields' and the 'Genocid Museum'. The KF were 14km from townand you can tell by the pictures, and the name, that it isn't a nice place. Tousands of innocent men, wome and children were marched or trucked out here to the countryside during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970's where they were tortured and slaughtered. On the land lies a number of mass graves and on the path from one to another you can see bones sticking out of the ground. A temple like enclosure houses thousands of the skeletons which were collected in one excavation and there they remain for show.

After the journey out here, we asked to be dropped of at the Genocide Museum which was once a school. 4 seperate buildings, each three storeys high- it was the home to more than 20000 men, women and children before they were taken out to the fields. No more than 20 survived and you can read some of the accounts of the selfish and inhumane acts that once took place on the grounds. A couple of the buildings classrooms were seperated into small enclosures where they were chained, one of the levals showcased the different mechanisms of torture, there were many black and white photos of the innocent victims, and there were as i ssaid accounts of what happened from victims, those forced to work there, journalists and other parties. It was a horrible place and one hard to grasp that these atrocities have taken place in (almost) my lifetime - yet it still one way or another remains in front of the courts. I apologise in advance for displaying the photos on this page but it in no way shape or form begins to depict what our eyes saw on that day, nor does it give much account to what went on no more than 35 years ago.


Its so horrible that no one even knows how many people where killed during this time. The facts range from 750,000 to 3 million!!

Fom Phnom Penh, we travel by bus in the morning to Siem Reap where we will take a few days out to explore the famous Wats of Angkor Wat. With only 10 days of the Asia trip to go we have had a fantastic time and seen so much that alot of it is overwhelming when we look back.

May you all have peace, love and happiness and dream of how lucky we all are!!

* Its not a real bank account number - weel not mine at least!

Beautiful Halong Bay

We were picked up from our hotel in Hanoi, a tad late as usual, but none the less we jumped in the minivan. Our trip north east to Halong Bay took about 3hours and we passed some beautiful countryside. What never seems to amaze me, and ill give you a couple of examples, is the fact that we saw not just one lady on the side of the highway selling baguettes but over 20 of them in a row, dressed the same, they all had the same improvised containers and they all had the same little wave to lure motorists in. This also occured with 8 banana stalls later on in the trip...it doesn't make sense but thats how it is done round these traps.

As we got closer to the bay you could see beautiful islands, most not much bigger than a footy field, rising over the bays waters. Apparently there are 1969 islands in total and it makes for a beautiful site - another one of the many World Heritage Sights we have visited.

Our itinerary consisted of 3 days and 2 nights aboard the luxury 'Prince #2', the newest boat in the fleet of many. Dave and I were lucky enough to be with three couples - a French couple, a German/French couple and an American couple. The boat had four bedrooms for guests and we were accompanied by 2 guides, a captain, vice-captain, mechanic, barman, waiter and chef. We were looked after so well...we were constantly fed and told to relax that it felt weird and uncomfortable. If only my childhood was that easy...but then again i wouldn't be the person i am now. The three lunches and two dinners consisted of 9 courses brought out one at a time and being abord a luxury boat there was lots of seafood. Dave loved it... and i got by ok. I did try clams, prawns, seafood soup, sea snail spring rolls, mackrel and squid - and im proud of myself for giving it a go. We all had the choice of a al a carte lunch on our last day but i have to report that i was the only one that didn't have seafood though. I can't of liked it that much.

We cruised away from the port and got introduced to everyone. I got drilled by the guide about the fact that i was single, "but why you not married yet". At the end of the cruise in our 'good byes', the same guide wished us all well and went on to say that it was lovely to have us all on board, the three couples and said that Dave and I had a beautiful friendship. It was quite funny really.

During the course of the tour we went kayaking around some of the islands to view some beautiful scenery; cliff faces, lagoons, rocks and caves. We also went swimming a couple of times although four of us got stung by a jellyfish at one stage...oh that was just after we had a 9 course meal on the beach. We also visited a big cave - which rightly or wrongly - the tour company paid the Vietnamese living there to move out so it could be used for tourism. They also had another project in place with the fishing village we visited where they pay the village for the rubbish they collect from the bay and their own disposal so it doesn't pollute the sea. It was quite ironic then when one of the crew was seen throwing a can over board!! Its part of the culture over here and its such a deterrent...so please keep on keeping NZ clean and green 'coz thats a fantastic image to have! So we got rowed around the fishing village, which is the largest at about 300 people, who all live on floating houses and fish to live. They're used to tourists though. We all jumped in little bamboo row boats and were rowed around the bay. Of course we had a go at rowing, in fact its very hard. Dave got challenged in a race by the French and we left them in our wake. At least we could beat the dam French!!

On our last night we had a go at fishing for squid...i must say that our Vietnamese friends are just that much better at it than we foreigners. We also had a bit of a show put on for us where all of the crew played quitar, sang, and danced. We jsut sat there admiring the talent before Dave and I pulled out a performance ourselves - the famous Haka. I must say it was a poor effort - we couldn't remember the words or the actions but none the less got some laughs especially when we described what it is used for.

Our room was the flashest that we had stayed in so far in 8 weeks - we were spoilt.

We made thejourney back to Hanoi and two hours later we boarded a sleeping bus to Hue - 15 hours later, with not the best sleep, we arrived in Hue and found a little hotel down an alley way. We shared the room with Samantha, an English girl we met on the bus. That night we hit the streets down by the river for what was the '1000 year anniversary for Craftmanship' - well something like that. A cultural performance, bands, crafts for sale, lots of beer and lots of people. It was fun to see all the locals out and fireworks too! We had dinner at a reataurant and the waitress got us to write down 'New Zealand', 'Kiwi' and i drew a poor effort of the map of NZ.

We left Hue the next morning headed for Hoi An - the city of tailors where we will be until Thursday when we fly to Ho Chi Minh City - Saigon. No photos yet - USB suck in this country!

Peace...

Trekking in Sapa

Trekking through the minoroty villages of several hill tribes in north west Vietnam was quite some experience!!

It all started last Friday night when Dave and I caught an overnight train from Hanoi for 10 hours to Lao Cai, a small village and transport hub for many tourists who are making the 1 hour drive south to Sapa. We boarded the train, Deluxe rooms in the King Express and made ourselves comfortable. Dave enjoyed the free vegetable crackers. We arrived in lao Cai at 4:30am and looked out for someone holding a "Mr David Sidaway" sign - in fact of the hundreds it was the only colour one. We waited for a bit in the carpark as i wondered yet again how 10 little street stalls, all offereing exactly the same drinks, can all make a living side by side. This thought is not uncommon. Our drive to Sapa saw Dave again manging to fall asleep as i looked out my window to a view of hills and rice paddies.

We arrived in Sapa, a rather big town with many hotels and restaurants woven between the hills - quite a spectacle really. We got dropped off at the biggest and probably flashest hotel where we were to meet the guide. Now Dave, as some of you know, was a bit unwell and so made the decision to not go on the trek but still travel to Sapa. A decision that i thought was wise 50 hours later when i arrived back to the town.

So it was the guide and I who set off down the slopes towards Cat Cat Village a couple of km away. As i waved good bye to Dave i comtemplated what the next three days would be like. It had been raining the day before and it was incredibly slippery and within 15 minutes my shoes were muddy as and i had managed the art of slipping over as if it was the latest Olympic Sport to be introduced by the IOC and i wanted a part of the action. We were accompanied by two H'mong laddies - probably the biggest minority people that also occupy much of Northern Thailand. They are famous for there blue dress which they die from an indigo plant and the colourful embroidery which is plastered all over the front. They are also famous for what i would soon to come to label as harrassing any foreigner into buying something that they don't need. They are incredibly persistent!! I brought a couple of things off the two ladies to show my appreciation of them helping us trek down to the village.

We stayed the night at a homestay in a village. it was the guide and me, as well as the Vietnamese family. It was good fun to live as they would but you still get waited on - a felling that i am not use to. Its weird having people look at you, and these people are less fortunate that yourself so its a tad uncomfortable. I resigned to the fact that i was not the only foreigner to visit and that they would be use to the sight of one. After some time i was brought out a plate of deep fried potato chips.....do they always do that i asked myself? I got exactly the same on the second night further up the valley. Maybe they think we need a comfort food.

I was worried about the food before hand and what i would possibly be set up to eat but in reality the food was amazing. I had a beautiful cabbage and instant noodle soup, omellettes, baguettes, freshly made spring rolls, boiled bamboo, water spinach, mushroom/carrot/chicken, lots of rice, beef and all sorts of tasty food. Not a worry!

That night we watched a bit of TV (yes it is even in the most remote parts of the world) and i just watched how the family lived. The children, it being holidays, just wonder off on the land somewhere and do their own thing, no matter how young, without a worry or concern in the world. I saw 5year olds hearding water buffalo and doing other sorts of chores around the home as well as carry baskets of food along the trails.

the next morning we set off early further down the valley crossing farm land, rice paddies and through bamboo forests until we reached a waterfall...quite massive and powerful we rested with a lovely view for a while until we descended down, somewhat shakingly, a cliff face and acroos the river and up onto the road from where we continued our trek. I was glad that we were now on a road as i was becoming a bit sick of slipping over, and my clothes were incredbly dirty. We passed more clusters of houses with people working busy on the land. It was hot and the sun was beaming down on us but we pushed through. In total we walked 35km and the guide said he did this maybe twice a week. Wow what a job! We descended far down towards Ban Ho overlooking a beautiful valley - witht he exception of concrete trucks and diggers as they are building dams and power stations in the region. This put a dampner on the place and the serenity and peacefulness...and as i learnt in 146.102 Endangered Cultures...minortity tribes are being slowly wiped out by such projects - and tourism!! The village was peaceful and a lovely place to stay. I went for a walk around to visit the school - they have so many in the region - and see the houses to which they live in. In whole they seem to live comfortably and most houses (inc the two homestays) are two storey inside, open planned, with a tv and sitting area inside and outside and larde kitchen areas with an inside BBQ/open flame as you can see byt he picture. I went to the river with the homestay father who is learning english. He carried in his mouth a packet of shampoo whilst driving us by motorbike, stripped off down to his undies and jumped in, washed himself, then we left. Quick and simple. I had anotother great meal. Both nights it is custom for the men in the family to drink shot galsses of rice whiskey home brew style. If one of the group raises their glass to drink all must, and so it continues until the bottle runs out. It was relatively strong and yuck but not quite as bad as the Laos edition that we had tried earlier. Luckily the bottle had run out after about 7 shots each. The homestay father, my guide and I had a conversation witht he guide being a translator for both parties about his dilema. His 23 year old son has still not found someone within the village to marry and he asked if i had and what the expectations were around it in NZ. He isn't sure what to do about it but i couldn't really offer any advice...unusual for me! The next morning we walked for 45mins up the hill to a very remote village of the Red Dzao, not as friendly as other tribes, we weren't there for long. We visited the school (which is closed for holidays). It was basic but what i had expected.

We swam in the river on the way back which was lovely and just what the doctor ordered. I washed some clothes (just as the locals do) and shortly after lunch we returned back to Sapa by mini van where i greeted Dave and sighed with relief that the walking was finished with. But boy what an experience and i thoroghly recommend it to all!!

Good Bye Laos, Good Morning Vietnam

Ill give you 10 points if you actually read all of this!!

It was a bit sad to leave Laos, but our journey forth onto Vietnam was an experience and a half. We stayed two nights in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and to be honest we weren't too impressed with it. We struggled to find a place to stay was a mission and a half in the pouring rain and it seems to be the norm that when we arrive in a new place it is raining! Dave and I shared a room with Glyn, a Welshman; and we all hang out with Krystal and Kyle (from Canada). It was great hearing travel stories from them and of course you do the old exchanging of contact details for further down the track. We cycled the city and visited a temple (That Luang), the iconic symbol of Laos and the 'Patuxai', otherwise known as the 'vertical runway' which is a monument built from cement given as aid from the USA Government in the 1950's which was towards to go towards building a runway at the airport. We also visited the Laos History Museum but this focussed on the war with the French and Americans and didn't read particularly friendly.

Probably the best part was having dinner down at the river front both nights at makeshift restaurants, with the bathroom in the bushes and the kitchen out in the open. Nice meals and cheap beer. We later found a pub and all watched the Super 14 final - but hey nothing exciting there!

The otehrs all left for a flight to Cambodia at 4am Sunday morning so Dave and I found our way to the bus station and jumped on the next bus south. It was literally reversing out of the terminal and we had to jump on. It was packed by not only people but assorted goods, and 100m around the corner 4 guys jumped on selling chewing gum. We parked up just down the road for 30minutes, for no apparent reason other than to let a whole lot of locals jump on selling baguettes, drinks, medicines and the like. It was hectic!! We finally made our way further south with the onboard tv playing Laos music videos full bore, locals lying on sacks of rice, and the ticket person leaning on the back of my seet no more than 5cm away. We stopped several times along the way where locals jumped of and ran for the bushes for a toilet stop. The road was a main highway but so average. We got let of 4hours south of the capital and caughts a Sawngathew (ute) 2.5hours east to Lak Sao, 30km to the Vietnam border. We were sitting in the back of the ute with a few children, a motor, an old man, several other locals and a whole lot of bags. The road was dodgy as but the scenery was wonderful.

We arrived in Lak Sao just as it was getting dark and walked down a bumpy muddy road to a guesthouse. We were the only ones staying at it was remanissent of the Adams Family house. The room was ok, well actually the bathroom was bigger than anything else.

The next morning we made our way to the bargain, Dave found us a rind to the border, and there we left Laos. A bit sad to leave, but excited to finally get to Vietnam after hearing so much about it. But...and there always are buts....my first impressions weren't favourable. We were the only ones at the border crossing, the otherside was a bit like Shantytown. We caught a van and then transferred to a minibus to make the journey 3hours north east to Vinh, past numerous rice paddies and old colonial buildings. Again, locals jumped on, things were tied to the roof, the guards were 'paid off' - probably 'coz the bus was transporting something it shouldn't had been, the ticket person was saying 'Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam' and of course tried to hustle more out of us than what was agreed.

In Vinh we were let off in the middle of nowhere...and without much of a plan finally found a taxi to take us to the train station. Vietnam, or at least everywhere so far, had no English signs and all people could say is 'hello'. We figured out the trains, checked into a hotel, and decided to leave the next day (Tuesday). You can/have to bargain the price for everything and the words - 'no thankyou' or the act of walking away can be powerful in a price dropping, something im sure i will get much better at. The streets around us were so crazy; with motorbikes, bicycles, lorrytrucks and busses - the pedestrian has no right of way and to cross the street you simply crawl gradually towards the otherside. Horns are constantly blurted out in all directions and i have no idea in the world how people can interpret what the next means. Dave hasn't been feeling too well so, much to my despise (haha), we rested up and watched a couple of movies. We had our first Vietnamese meal - "Pon Gee" - Chicken noodle soup, which is quite tasty. I was only worried for the fact that i had no idea what that meant at the time!

Yesterday (Tuesday) we caught a train north to Ninh Binh, 90km south of Hanoi. It was a lovely town, although we weren't there for long, and we stayed at a lovely little hotel just 300m from the train station. We had a bit of a look around at night, but left the next morning (this morning - Wednesday) for Hanoi - anxious to see what all the hype is about.

And well, how amazingly huge is this place. I promise to get some photos up soon (im not allowed to use my USB here). The streets are small, like alleyways and thousands of people pack into little eating shops and drive scooters. Our eyes were amazed when we pulled into the bus station this morning and like 40 taxi drivers pushed and pulled to get our custom. The traffic is hurrendous and no wonder why there is a constant smog just above our heads.

So...sorry for the lack of photos.

Peace