The beautiful Halong Bay
Sam, Dave and I in Hue
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.
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 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment