Vietnam Mountains - Dalat

The bus trip from Saigon to Dalat was rather uneventful. There was a lunch stop at one of the amazing bus stop restaurants where we find all the other passengers have ordered and eaten half of their meal before we even decide what we want. Christine wasn’t feeling well so opted for plain rice while I had a beef soup with thick rice noodles, I have decided these are my favourite noodles. The 6 hour journey took about 7 hours and when we arrived at the bus station we were immediately approached by some ‘Easy Riders’. This is a tour company which takes tourists on the backs of motor bikes for tour from a half day right up to a couple of weeks touring the whole country. We agreed to get a ride to the hotel from two of them and were impressed when they managed to balance our huge packs on the handle bars of the bike. When we got to the hotel we were less impressed with them as one had a hard time saying goodbye without us committing to a tour the following day. In the end we had to walk away which did feel a bit rude especially given they gave us a free ride. The hotel is nice but not great value since its double the price we have been paying, and 2km from the town centre. We were both pretty tired so opted for a night in with the hotel cooking us dinner. A sleep in was very tempting but we had decided that if the weather was good we would visit a mountain and waterfall. We had breakfast, ordered a bike and were on our way, well nearly, there were quite a few wrong turns but finally we managed to fill up the gas and head out of town in the correct direction. We hired the bike through the hotel, which was also a bit more pricey, and an older bike, with one mirror, and one broken helmet! We stopped a number of times along the way to check we were going the right way and finally arrived at Langbian Mountain. Christine was horrified at the masses of local tourists, Vietnamese coyboys and white horses painted to look like Zebras. The walk up the mountain was supposed to be about 3 hours so we started but after a while the Jeeps speeding past tooting their horns became a bit much. We turned around and reassessed the situation and after a drink decided ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ and booked our spots in a Jeep. The Jeep driver hammered it up the 6km mountain and we arrived in no time. We had 1hr before the jeep would run us back down to the carpark. There wasn’t a great deal to do at the top, there was a café, some nice views, although not 360 degrees, markets and touristy statues. There were also a lot of local tourists running around taking photos. While we were at the top a big rain storm came through and we were forced into the café for the last 20 minutes. While everyone else piled into the jeep Christine posed for some photos with some Vietnamese tourists and nearly missed her ride. Back on the bike our plan was to ride across to Elephant Falls, apparently the nicest of the falls in the area. We think we made it most of the way, however one wrong turn and we were somehow back in Dalat. We turned the bike around and headed off for another attempt to find it, but were thwarted by a flat tire, about 10km up the road. It had started raining also which made it even less fun. Riding slower back to the hotel, some of the roundabouts were a bit hairy on one wheel! When we picked up the bike I the morning we thought it looked a bit flat, but didn’t say anything, it was a lot flatter now. The hotel then tried to charge for the repair, which we argued. Since we had already paid for a full day and only had a half day use, we weren’t paying anymore. Frustrated at not seeing the falls we headed to our room for a shower and nap. We are still glad we did it, the highlight was not the touristic mountain, but just the villages and countryside we rode through. We headed into town a bit later with our washing and searched everywhere for a laundry, but no luck. Tired and hungry we gave up and settled for eating in a restaurant, we were the only ones in there which is never a great sign. The food was ok, and as we were leaving we mentioned we had been looking for a laundry. The owner then walked us down the street and into an alley, where there was a laundry. It was going to cost $2.50 for our 4 kilos, and would be ready tomorrow afternoon, perfect!
Next morning we slept in, had breakfast, and then lazed about a bit more. Both feeling a bit average and tired today. It wasn’t until about midday that we walked into town. We had big plans of visiting the Crazy House, an arty amusement place and the Summer Palace. First we had a look at the lake in town and as the rain started again, we wandered the markets. Maybe bartering is not as common here, but we think we upset a few of the local lady’s. We were trying to buy some fruit, but after we offered a lower price then they wanted, they simply ignored our presence at their stall. Eventually we had secured some banana’s, avocado, bread and a dragon fruit. The market also had an incredible array of dried seafood’s as well as a whole stand full of eggs, 10-15 different types. The icing on the cake was the local buying a live chicken, they spoke in Vietnamese, weighed the chook and then killed it. As the rain continued we abandoned our plans to visit the sites and headed to a restaurant instead. Actually we went looking for one that Christine wanted to try, but found it wasn’t open so choose one we had seen last night. We ordered simple noodle dishes and that is what we got. The owner’s daughter was running around the restaurant and playing hide and seek while we ate. We asked her how old she was and she told us she was five, her dad then explained she is three, bit five is easier to say! After our late lunch we picked up our washing and headed back to the hotel for some more lazy time.
The hotel had told us to arrange our bus reservation through them, which we did thinking it would be easier, wrong! We had been told we would be picked up at 12.30. We were ready with heaps of time to spare. After waiting we asked the hotel to call the bus company, which they did begrudgingly. It wasn’t until nearly 1.30 that the bus company called back to say they had forgotten to collect us and they were sending a taxi. After waiting nearly an hour and a half we were rushed across the other side of the city to the bus which was sitting on the side of the highway waiting for us. We were glad to finally be on the bus headed back to the coast. While we haven’t had a great time in Dalat, the scenery on the bus ride was worth the journey alone. We drove, in the oldest bus we have ever seen, through the mountains and forest. There were low clouds, waterfalls and landslides partially covering parts of the road. The mountains gave way to rolling hills and rice paddies the by about 5pm we arrived in Nha Trang.

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)

Due mainly to time, we took the easy option to get back to Saigon, and flew, 1hr. It saves us a day of boat and bus. We arrived early afternoon, we didn’t take an early flight. From the airport we took the local bus saving us $8 on a taxi! We hoped to eat Thai at the same restaurant as our other night in Saigon but it was closed, so we settled for a restaurant with a menu as long as your arm but including pad thai. It was tasty, and huge serves, we didn’t eat again for the rest of the day. After lunch, Christine checked out a few hotels and we quickly choose one, with air con and hot water, luxury!
We didn’t stay long, we headed out and about. We walked down to Ben Thanh Market which was full of all sorts of things. Christine got a t-shirt with Saigon power lines and motorbikes on it. We also found a big bottle of moisturizer for our burns and another bottle of sunscreen. The market was huge it also had areas with cafes, fruit, vegetables, meats and seafoods.

As the market was closing up we headed out and wandered the city streets. What do you think we found, another shopping center/market this time more aimed at locals. Christine got another t shirt! Bastards, despite not being a tourist market, they still tried to charge tourist prices! In the end they probably still got a pretty sweet deal.
We found a tiny little café and thought a short break was in order. After a long discussion about what water was used to make the ice we had ice coffees. We liked this place, the owner was very friendly. We hoped to make it back tomorrow for a coconut.
We continued our walk past the big tower in the middle of the city. We found another market and food shop we would also like to return to. It had pork buns, cooked corn and sweet potatoes as well as roasted meats. Most importantly there were heaps of locals jumping off their motor bikes, buying bag full’s and riding off again. We had a look at the river, past the opera house and at the Vietnamese version of Notre Dame. Finally we rested and had a beer before heading home and booking a Cu Chi tunnels tour the following morning.
Early next morning we were up, showered and got bread rolls from a street vendor, a very cheap and quick breakfast. When the tour bus arrived it was very full, but not a huge bus, maybe 20 people. We didn’t have seats together, but wasn’t a big problem, the group was very mixed. Damien sat next to a girl from London and Christine next to a Spanish girl. Frustratingly we had a shopping stop at a shelter work centre for people with disabilities due to the Agent Orange that makes lacquer work. Two and a half hours later we finally arrived at the tunnels.
We were amazed how controlling some people can be. One of the girls on the bus insisted to the guide, that we watch the video first, because that is what it said in the brouchure. We had to laugh. The video was very biased, what happened to the Vietnamese during the war is terrible but there were lots of very judgment based comments. The Cu Chi area was described as a very peaceful and beautiful community based solely on farming. People would make day trips from Saigon to have picnics there until the “Crazy Devil American Bomber” unleashed hell on the villages. They celebrated the Vietnam solders who received “American Killer Hero” awards. It’s a bit sad but it is so biased that the whole thing becomes hilarious. After the video we walked around the grounds which is a bit jungle like. We saw the man hole entrances used by the Viet Cong which were very small, Damien struggled getting in and out with such broad shoulders! There were the replica traps used by the VC, which were very inhumane, although this wasn’t mentioned in the video! They used bear trap type contraptions, booby trapped doors and pits in the hidden in the ground with all sorts of spikes and graters for people to fall into. These killed many local people also, again, not mentioned in the video. After a stop at the gift shop and shooting range, where you can pay to use a number of weapons (apparently you used to also be able to throw grenades and use rocket launchers, but not anymore), we headed for more tunnels. This section of tunnels has been widened so that the big tourists can fit down, but it is still only about a meter tall and very narrow. It gets even smaller in parts, meaning we had to crawl or slide along. After completing the whole 100m of tunnels, which was hot and hard work, we got a chance to sit down and given Vietnamese tea. Then it was back on the bus, with our tunnel experience complete. No stops on the way back at any factories which was a bonus. Back in Saigon we were dropped at the War Remnants Museum. After a bite to eat and a cool drink we visited the museum. This was bit of a mixed experience, with some parts again being hilariously biased, the Americans did this, da da da da da… Out the front of the museum were a number of tanks and planes from the war and inside had an interesting collection of weapons. There was a good photo exhibition displaying photos of journalists from around the world during the war time. Running out of time before it closed we had a hurried look at the ‘tiger cages’ which were used during the early years of the war, for storing prisoners. Were not too sure, but think these were used by the South Vietnamese Army, or the French, again not too sure.
After an interesting day we ate an early dinner at Quan An Ngon, an excellent street style food place in a nice hut style restaurant. We feasted on Vietnamese pancake, rice paper rolls, noodle wanton soup and chicken skewer. On way home we organized our open bus ticket from Saigon to Hanoi, starting with a trip to Dalat in the morning. Then it was home to use the internet and repack our bags.

Paradise - Phu Quoc Island

We were up early for our ferry from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc Island. We took a taxi to the port, apparently Rach Gia does have taxis Mr Motorbike Man! The highlight was the kid spewing the whole way although luckily not too close to us. Damien wasn’t feeling great (side effects of malaria tablets) and slept most of the 2-3hr ride.
Arriving at about 11am, we were taken to town by a driver who convinced us to join his mini bus full of people. This didn’t turn out too bad as it was a long drive to the other side of the island, and once the bus was empty he drove us around to viewed a few hotels, including his uncles. As we were looking a tropical storm hit, which lasted about 4hrs, making it harder to find accommodation. We ended up settling on staying in a bungalow at his uncles place, Nhat Lan Guest House, for $13 for the night. No fridge, no hot water, no electricity during the day.
Exhausted we read books in the hammocks and had a nap. When the rain had passed we wandered along the beach looking at all the nicer hotels, wondering if we should change in the morning. During our walk we looked at the place next door (Viet Thanh Guesthouse), the lady was very friendly and offered a beach bungalow for $10 per night. We also discovered that the girl who we sat next to on the boat was staying there, Mia from Denmark. After our walk we ate dinner up the road at a place called Oasis, which we later found out was English owned! In the morning we considered moving next door, but the room we were told we could have still looked like it had people in it. We renegotiated at the place we were staying to get a cheaper room, with a fridge and hot water on the beach, which we didn’t have the first night. After moving rooms we headed out for some breakfast, vegemite toast at Oasis! Then bit of a impulse decision, due to the weather looking quite nice, we hired a motor bike for the day. The street has a few places that rent them, we found one run by a friendly family. The transaction was brilliant, we haggled a bit, but figured the price he started at was quite good, since someone we spoke to at the hotel paid a lot more. After agreeing on a price (about 5usd for the day), we think we confirmed that we didn’t need a license, he definitely wasn’t interested in this. He was eager to take our money, and when we said we couldn’t remember the name of the hotel, he didn’t care. Not knowing our name, where we are staying or seeing any ID, the transaction was complete once he had some cash and we had a key. On the road we headed out of town, we stopped to confirm we were going the right way, and the local lady indicated for us to follow her. We did for about 10 minutes, before she waved us on and turned into a side street, so friendly. It turned out we were going the right way anyway. We were heading to Bai Sao beach at the south end of the island. It was worth the drive! The beach we were staying on was windy and rough, Bai Sao was almost perfectly still and the water clear blue. The fine white sand was beautiful, and squeaked a bit like Squeaky Beach at Wilsons Promontory. We spent most of the day under a coconut tree and swimming in the tropical warm water. We only made one move for the day, to try and find another beach further south, but struggled with varying reports from locals as to where it was and if it was open to tourists. The road we thought it was on had a big entry prohibited sign and looked like some sort of military compound, although plenty of locals were using the dirt road. Instead we bought a coconut and returned to Bai Sao. I am partial to a nice beach, but I have to saw that Bai Sao would be the highlight of our Asia trip so far! We rode home on a different road, which turned out to be dirt, gravel, potholes and puddles most of the way (20km). It was a nice ride though as there was way less traffic to worry about, and it was along the west coast as the sun set. After a shower we jumped back on the bike and rode into town. We wanted to visit the night market. So comfortable on the bike, we were half way to town before we realized we weren’t wearing our helmets, which were stored under the seat. The night market had numerous places so eat soups and fresh seafood. We chose one and had spring rolls, tuna steak and noodles with squid. After dinner we walked through the stalls and looked at jewellery and bags, most of which suit the Asian tastes. One of the best things about Phu Quoc Island, is that its relatively free of western tourism, no tuk tuk, no beer singlet’s or t shirts. This is likely to change soon, as they are planning for an international airport, its supposed to be Vietnam’s Phuket. We returned the bike 5 minutes before the shop closed, although I don’t think he would have minded if we dropped it in the morning. We expressed interest in the sailing tour, which they were also very keen to sell us, immediately dropping the price from that advertised on the brochure. We didn’t commit, told him we may be back in the morning. Although super keen to do the tour, we wanted to see the weather in the morning. If it was like when we arrived there would be no way, secretly I think we both also wanted a sleep in. When the alarm went off early in the morning and the sky was clear, it was hard to justify going back to bed. We visited our little man and committed to the tour (again no names, just cash), had a quick breakfast up the road, grabbed our towels and bathers then hurried back to little mans shop just in time for our 8.30am pick up.
Climbing onto the bus we were the only whities, and pessimistically thought, oh crap! After one more pick up we headed out of town, disappointingly headed south along the bumpy dirt road. Instead of taking the boat from in town, we were headed to the port at the bottom of the island, about an hour away, not including the half hour stop at a pearl farm. Once on board the boat, the tour was good. We cruised through the 12 An Thoi Islands seeing local fisherman and pearl farms in the water. There were only about 15 people on board, I think everyone else was from Saigon. They were all friendly and some spoke English which was nice. More surprisingly, nearly everyone went swimming, which looked quite funny as they all wore bright orange life vests in the water. As advertised the snorkels and fins were good quality. We stopped for a spot of fishing, then two swimming spots before lunch. The snorkeling was good, despite the water not being too clear, but that’s because its rainy season over here, so we were expecting that. There was lots of fish as well as coral and crabs. Lunch was amazing, prepared on board with fresh seafood that they bought along the way from local fishermen on floating pontoons. Rice, noodles, fried beans, tuna, squid and tofu. We even tried barbequed sea anenemy’s. The tour guide offered another swimming stop, which reluctantly we declined. Unfortunately we over the last two days we have got a bit sun burnt, arms from riding the bike yesterday and now backs from snorkeling all morning. We had (English) sunscreen on which may not be as long lasting or waterproof as we are used to, also the malaria tablets have probably made us more sensitive. Instead we reapplied as the boat headed back to port. Back on the bus we were driven to Bai Sao for an hour where we had a swim and drink. This is where we were yesterday, but was happy to return. Then it was back on the bus headed back to town, for some reason they took us back up the bumpy road, rather than the sealed road through the middle of the island. Walking past our little man we let him know we had a good day, and bought some beers from him. We relaxed and showered before visiting Mia, the Danish girl in the hotel next door. We probably would have seen if she wanted to come on the tour with us, if it wasn’t such a rush in the morning. She joined us for cocktails on the beach followed by dinner. We found out, amazingly, that she has been in Vietnam on her own for a month, after the friend who she came with returned home after not enjoying her first four days. Our table was in the sand by the water and we ate fresh fish, squid, prawns, purple sweet potato and corn all cooked on the barbeque.

Mekong Madness!

Video: Press Play

Mekong Delta

We got up early and were waiting for breakfast at 6:45am not realizing that the delivery of breakfast rolls does not arrive until about 7am. Once we ate it was a bit of a rush as the tour bus was leaving at 7:30 and we had to pick up our tickets for the ferry to Phu Quoc Island and flight back to Saigon. It was a relief when our tour guide Phu finally handed them over!
Our guide was good and spent much of the morning talking about Vietnam and the Mekong. Amongst many other things he enlightened us on the fact that 65% of the Mekong Delta is rice fields, that Vietnam exports the second highest amount of rice in the world, only Thailand exports more. He also pointed out some tomb stones in the middle of rice plantations. The name of the Mekong River in Vietnamese is, Sum Goh Lum which means river of dragons. He also referred to the toilet throughout the tour as the ‘Happy Room’.
There were also stories of the Vietnam war and how the Vietnamese fought smart against the enemy with better weapons. They used the high tide to ambush enemies, hiding in the water, breathing through bamboo canes. There is also a very smelly fruit in Vietnam (which is illegal on public transport), they used to hide in piles of straw, surrounded by this fruit, so that the enemy wouldn’t come near them.
After about two hours driving we arrived at the port. We all (its not a huge group, 20-25 people) piled into the boat and cruised around the My Tho Islands. Before we even sat down a French couple asked Damien to pass them life jackets, stored in the roof, Bloody French! Our first stop was Unicorn Island where we visited a honey farm, drank tea and ate dried fruits. We then boarded row boats which were paddled by locals through the coconut canal. Now this was a nice canal or at least it would have been 20 years ago. The whole canal we were bumping into other tourist boats, or empty ones returning up the canal to get the next load. Our paddlers rowed at world record pace, seemingly wanting to ditch us to pick up his next load. Worse still were all the other drivers rowing up the canal with empty boats, saying to us things like ”hello, tip driver” and “money for your driver”. The canal was lovely, narrow and covered in palms and coconuts, it was the tourism that spoilt it for us. At the end of our journey, about 10 minutes, the driver looked at Christine and said “miny”. We climbed out of his boat. We took the big boat over to Ben Tre, another series of islands. Here we stopped at a coconut candy factory. As we walked in they gave us some to taste which was still warm. It was delicious, tasted like warm condensed milk with peanuts. We didn’t buy any, but did have a few samples, saw the production and even tried coconut wine and a wine with snakes in the barrel. Strong stuff! Onto another boat we headed for our lunch stop. The provided lunch was not great but there was the option to pay for additional mains! We were sitting with two Spanish guys so the four of us tried the Elephant fish, apparently special for the area. It was nice, grilled and served with rice paper and greens to make your own spring rolls. On this island we saw a buffalo in a canal, all you could see was his head, his whole body submerged, cooling off I guess. There were small fish walking in the mud and some locals digging out a canal with their bare hands, no shovels. Christine was also amused by the dogs in the restaurant, licking the empty plates in a big bucket ready to be cleaned. After lunch we returned to Unicorn Island for a stop to eat fruit and listen to some local music. Then it was back to the bus with a busy day almost done. The delta tour has been good, as you see a way of life we don’t have back home. Sadly it is now so touristy, and at times it felt like our guide was a bit pushy to buy things or donate to people. It was another two hours on the bus and we arrived at Can Tho. Tonight we are staying at a home stay. From town we were picked up, with 3 other from the tour and driven out of town. After about half an hour we were loaded, with all of bags, into a little gondola, and taken a bit further downstream. The home stay was a bit more like a guest house than we expected, we had our own cabin with bathroom, but still much nicer than a city hotel. For dinner we rolled our own spring rolls and were served a banquet of rice, noodles, fish, beans, tofu, rice paper, lettuce and herbs and our handmade spring rolls. In total there would have been about 18 people in the home stay, including a couple from Melbourne. When we learnt that the owner was taking us all for a village tour to the market at 6am in the morning, everyone turned in for an early night.
The next morning we were all up very early for a walk through the village. We visited the small market with lots of smiling locals and bought a couple of donut type things with bean mix filling, these were ok but I don’t think we’ll get them again. Back at the accommodation breakfast was rushed because we had to meet up with the rest of the tour group. Back on a boat with all our luggage, then an interesting walk through a large local market. We were fascinated by the frogs that were tied to each other so they could not hop away, eels, fish, chickens, a tub of ducklings and chicks, all very alive, amongst fresh meat and vegetables. We were then herded back on the boat and headed for the Cai Rang floating market. We were expecting lots of small boats piled high with colourful fruit and vegetables with lots of local bartering for the best price. What we got was large house boats with their produce displayed on the roofs. Our tour boat pulled up next to a pineapple boat so we all bought pineapple whilst waiting for our turn to take the long boat around the rest of the market. There were also boats pulling up next to ours trying to sell the rich tourists drinks. We finally caved and got a couple of cokes off a little boy who wanted 20,000 Vietnamese Dong ($1) but decided 15,000VD was a good price after Damien only offered 10,000VD. The long boat tour was ok, we did see a couple of transactions but it just didn’t have the hassle and bustle we expected. We think that we may have been to late in the day, it’s probably best at 6am. Still great to see, a concept we had never really heard of before coming to Asia. After the market we visited a Rice noodle factory where they make large thick rice paper which is then shredded into the rice noodles. The rice husk is bought to fuel the fires and once it is burnt it is sold at a large profit to farmers to fertilize their land. Also had some caged animals which we assumed were native to Vietnam and a pig farm full of fat happy pigs. Next was a Rice husking factory where they actually described the rice growing process which was interesting, then back on the boat, the bus and back to Can Tho for lunch.
The bus trip from Can Tho to Rach Gia was rather uneventful. It was interrupted by the occasional breaks, drop offs and changes in the blarring local television. It was either old awards nights or film clips of forlorn lovers in tricky love triangles. We finally arrived at Rach Gia about an hour and a half later than we expected. At the bus stop a couple of guys showed us a whole lot of business cards for hotels and wanted to take us there on their bikes for a huge charge. Most hotels have free transfers and we were much happier to take a taxi (which they told us ‘no taxi in Rach Gia’) as we have so much stuff. Damien cracked it and we walked out of the depot telling them we would walk the 4km to the hotel district. Low and behold there were heaps of hotels we could easily walk to and we realized we had nearly been stooged. We booked into one, then headed out for dinner. One thing we have loved about Vietnam is all the markets, they are everywhere, where Damien bought some bananas. We found a very local restaurant with the kitchen in the front where you could see all the ingredients. The staff tempted us in with an English menu and we enjoyed some very tasty noodles. The locals were entertained by Damien sitting on the little stools and struggling to get his legs under the table.

Chau Doc to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

We had a bit of a sleep in, headed down for breakfast and were picked up from the hotel by a mini bus at 10:20 which took us to the big bus stop. The whole bus system seems to be very organized with allocated seating but it is always organized chaos with the various pickups and drop offs. We departed on time but soon stopped outside a hotel supposedly to pick someone up. After a 5 minute wait the bus took off, only to stop about 2 minutes down the road and then proceed to reverse down the road back to the hotel. All in all this took about 15 minutes of waiting and reversing back down the highway, still nobody got on.
It was smooth sailing from there. If the bus stopped to let people on or off, street vendors selling pineapples, water, corn on the cob, lotto tickets and who knows what would jump on trying to sell their wares to the captive audience. We drove through many towns where the locals would point us out to their friends to have a look at. I guess that some of the country people had probably not seem many white people before and we do look very different to them (big nose whitey!). The highlight of the trip for me was a ferry crossing. There was one man who had a large cage on the back of his bike which had about 5 different levels. I waved to one of the other guys through the bus window and pointed to the cage to ask what they did with the contents. I’m pretty sure they were telling the truth and not trying to gross me out, but they indicated that the rats in the cage were for eating.
The bus continued on through the country side past small villages crowded around rivers and over bridges. Finally it arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) only one hour later that we were told. This bought us to the conclusion after our previous trips that you need to add at least an hour to travel times when using the public system in Asia.
As soon as we arrived at the bus depot 7km from central Saigon we were shuffled into a Taxi with a couple from Amsterdam who stayed at the same hotel as us. We managed to convey to the taxi driver that we had already paid and would not pay anymore for the ride. He promptly emptied our luggage out and tried to find another fare. We finally managed to get onto the public transfer bus which we had included in our bus fare, but had no idea where it actually went. I got out with our map to ask where it was going, which took a while and by the time on got back on the bus, all the seats were taken including all the fold down seats in the isle. I had to sit with the luggage up front which did give me a great view of the traffic. It was a bit scary at times when the bus would turn across streets crowded with swarms of motorbikes. How he didn’t hit anyone I don’t know! The bus stopped and we were kicked off, luckily we had booked a hostel so we knew where we were going and I had managed to follow the buses route towards to city. The four of us jumped into a taxi, me in the front with the map and address, and were please to have an honest (but not very good, we stopped twice for directions before he started looking at our map) taxi driver take us to the right place (Taxi drivers in the city have a reputation of driving tourist around in circles and demanding huge fares). We found the hostel down a narrow side alley with the ever present motor bikes zipping past, dumped our bags and headed to the travel agent.
We knew we wanted to do a Mekong Delta tour but were not sure how long. We had also heard that Phu Quoc Island was very beautiful and worth visiting before the international airport opens. Unfortunately we hadn’t realized how close Chau Doc was to the island so were kicking ourselves that we went straight to Siagon. No worries, we worked out that we could do a two day Mekong tour which would get us very close to the Rach Gia where the ferry departs for Phu Quoc Island. So we splurged on a tour with a home stay, ferry tickets and a flight from the Island back to Saigon.
Feeling very happy with ourselves we headed out for a Thai meal at a place called Coriander. I sent Tunde a message that we would be there and she actually arrived before us. We had a lovely meal and talked itineraries and Tunde told us what she had been up to in Saigon. Then we called it a night as we wanted to leave some of our clothes in Saigon whilst we were away and needed to get organized for an early morning.

Phnom Penh (Cambodia) to Chau Doc (Vietnam)

Because its sometimes about the journey, not just the destination!

It was an early morning as we were taking the boat across the border so we would see a little bit more of how people live on the river, having skipped the Battambang boat. We boarded at a port in Phnom Penh at about 8am. The boat was quite comfortable, plenty of seats, a shaded deck out the back and sun roof on top. It was all tourists on board but we had good company with some Scottish girls, one of which was celebrating her birthday. The day was lovely, very relaxing. Sitting in the sun, reading our books, cruising the Mekong River. There was lots to see, fields with workers in them, small villages, boats being repaired and built, fishermen and family homes. There was a notable difference once we crossed the border. While their lifestyles are very similar, the houses in Cambodia looked more basic, using natural materials, such as palm leaves, wood and straw. Vietnam on the other hand looked a tiny bit more developed, with a lot more metal, corrugated iron and tv antenna’s. It was quite an interesting journey, 2 hours longer than the bus, but far more scenic and interesting.
The border crossing went smoothly and didn’t take too long at all. We have heard it can take a long time. The funniest part of the day was when one of the Scottish girls saw a snake on the boat. No one else saw it, apparently it went under the decks. Everyone was a bit on edge for a little while, not helped by the crew sneaking up on people and tickling peoples legs! We were in Chau Doc by about 4pm. During the trip Tunde decided she was going to continue travelling and take a bus on to Saigon, rather than have a night stop over. It seemed a sudden decision, but we knew at some stage she would push on, as she is hoping to cram Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and maybe Lao into the next month. As we walked from the port into town, we were trailed by a guy on a bicycle offering us a lift. No matter how we said no, the message didn’t seem to get through. As we walked we passed a lovely riverside garden and watched as big grey clouds rolled in. We knew we were close to the street we wanted, but couldn’t find it as we were in a maze of incredible local markets. We found a café and approached hesitantly, a little old lady sitting out the front smiled and waved us in. Sitting down to reassess our location we saw we were the only tourists in the place. Our coffee was more like a small Turkish coffee than anything we have had in Asia to date. It was also accompanied by a free pot of tea. Moments after we had settled in, the storm we knew was coming hit. It was the heaviest rain we have seen so far and didn’t let up for at least an hour. It was good we had nowhere to be, we were stranded, but we were dry. We sat and watched the intersection, 15 minutes ago it was busy with bikes and pedestrians, now it was vacant except for the occasional person running down the street through the deluge (see video below). Gradually the people sitting undercover on the footpath were forced back into the café to stay dry. We were joined by an old guy, who spoke a tiny but of English. We shared our tea with him and had bit of a chat. Finally the rain eased and people moved back onto the foot path. Damien donned a poncho and headed out in search of a room. We had a few options, but went for a nicer one. Still only $15, we had a new and clean room, air con, balcony overlooking the main market square and breakfast in the morning. We had a look at the towns pagoda and market before finding a place for dinner with really nice hot pots, Christine had chicken and Damien fish, both delicious.

Phnom Penh

One Month to go!
On arrival in Phnom Penh we managed to dodge a lot of the hassles and slip down the street and into a café. After a drink we headed to the Boeng Kak (lake) area to look for accommodation. While it was clean and cheap, $4 for a room with 3 people, the building and the area were both a bit run down. Instead we grabbed a tuk tuk and found Chan Trea guesthouse which was still only $7, nicer and in a better area.
After a rest in the room, we headed out to the central market hoping to find something for dinner. The market was closed, so after looking at all the fast food in the shopping mall we headed back home. Along the way we stopped at a restaurant called ‘Best Beef Soup’, which seemed to have mix of locals and tourists. We ordered the beef soup. After ordering, the staff bring out a little gas burner for the middle of the table. The soup is then bought out in a pot and put on the burner, steamboat style. We also ordered extra beef, mushrooms and some green herbs and spices which we gradually added to the soup. It was huge, we ate about four bowls each, it was so good, we may have to go back another night!
Our first day in Phnom Penh we decided to do the Khmer Rouge memorials. We tried to walk to the first stop for the day, but ended up giving in to a tuk tuk drivers plea’s, we needed one later anyway. He drove us to Tuol Sleng Museum (S21). This used to be a school however it was taken over in 1973 by Pol Pot’s security forces and used as a prison. The classrooms were turned into cells and torture chambers which were used to interrogate, inflict pain and murder prisoners. It is not dissimilar to the concentration camps in Europe.

These days it is used as a museum which contains photos of the inmates, torture equipment, art works showing the torture and murder, profiles of the Khmer Rouge leaders and updates on their trials for war crimes. Only four of the senior officials are still alive, as the cases have taken so long. There was a documentary which gave extra information on the site and Khmer Rouge.
When we met with our driver he told us a bit about his family. His name is Vann and was one of 12 children, only four survived the regime. When he was only 10 days old their house was bombed. His mother became so sick at the time that she stopped producing baby milk, he had to be fed by other mothers in the community to survive. He believes that the reason any of his family survived is because neither of his parents could read or write, which is how the Khmer Rouge wanted to structure the country. (In a skeptical way, we hope this is true and not just a ploy to get sympathy money from tourists)
As he drove us to the Killing Fields of Choeung are big tropical storm hit. We huddled at the ticket box for 15 minutes before making a dash to the museum on the site. This contained similar types of displays and a documentary as S21, but focused on the Killing Fields which is where the prisoners were executed and buried in mass graves. At the site is a memorial stupa which is filled with the skulls of the victims. It was very sad and a bit graphic in parts. Our last stop for the day was Psar Tuol Tom Pong (Russian Market). On the way Vann, our tuk tuk driver, tried to convince us to visit an orphanage. Of course, the girls were instantly interested, he told us it was free but we could by a bag of rice for the children, 50USD, no thanks! At the market we headed straight for the food stalls, but again Tunde wasn’t happy, so we headed back out to find a café. An hour and a half later, after a slow lunch, we returned with only half an hour until the market closed. A bit rushed but didn’t matter too much, the girls looked at bags and jewellery while Damien bought an Angkor beer singlet. The highlight was the fresh fruit and meats. They were selling all sorts of things in there! We bought a watermelon, oohhh, adventurous!

We got up a bit earlier as we had a busy day ahead of us and headed to Sunday Guesthouse for breakfast. We then walked to the Royal Palace which sounds easy but involves politely refusing a Tuk Tuk’s every 5-10 meters. This can become a little irritating especially when they have seen you say no to someone else. We arrived at the palace at about 10:30 and discovered it was closed until 2pm. So it was off to the National Gallery. This is full of artifacts from Khmer history and showed the marriage of the Buddist and Hindi religions through the art works.

We had lunch at a tourist café then walk along the river to the Royal Palace watching some locals washing their clothes in the river. We sat for a while under a large pagoda with some of the locals to escape the hot sun where we watched the children playing. Then it was off to the Palace. Tunde was very excited to be at the palace and had worn her nice clothes so she would have nice pictures. Luckily she had also packed a shirt which she was made to put on before they would sell her a ticket. We thought the Palace was nice but very similar to the one in Bangkok but not as big or as impressive. The highlights were the Silver Pagoda which has a floor tiled with silver engraved plates. There were only a few sections visible as carpet was layed over most of it but you could feel the tiles clicking under your feet. The Silver Pagoda houses the emerald Buda made of green crystal and a golden standing Buda which is studded with 2085 diamonds which are both very famous. After the Royal Palace Damien and I headed to the mall to get some photos printed. Tunde had met some Russian guy and had other plans for the evening. On the way we walked through a local food market full of fresh fish and chickens (all still alive) and various cuts of meat we couldn’t recognize. We love how colorful, smelly and vibrant these types of markets are, so different to home. It is always a case of having a look and trying to stay out of the way of the locals on push bikes and motor bikes. We continued on to the mall but they didn’t have what we needed, but we did get some directions. Back out into the heat, humidity and chaos of the street we found a photo printing shop and managed to understand that we should return at 7pm to collect the prints. With a couple of hours to kill we headed out to dinner and on the way spotted two adorable children in a recycling collection cart that their father was filling. I very happily gave them both a jelly cup and helped them to open it. They were so different to so many of the children we have met. They didn’t ask for money and neither did their father, he was just happy to let us know they were his children with a very proud smile. We had dinner at café where we had dropped our bags the first day in Phnon Peng when we were trying to find accommodation. The staff were very happy to have us and gave us lots of smiles but they didn’t speak much English. By drawing pictures and with a bit of help from another customer we were about to communicate we wanted a plate of mixed vegetables with our meal. They found this all very entertaining and rewarded us with some free watermelon at the end of the meal. Then it was back to the photo printing shop got her young daughter who spoke very good English translated for her what we needed. We had a chat and then headed home, again being offered Tuk Tuk’s at every second step.

Bamboo Train Videos

Battambang

We were up early and were taken to the bus stop so we could catch one to Battambang. The hotel charged us $6 per person for the tickets but we discovered they were only $4 when we got to the stop. This is how they roll in Asia but we weren’t too worried as the Guesthouse had been very helpful during our stay. The bus ride was 5 hours with a couple of quick stops. One stop was in a large town and a small boy about 5 years old, came up to us showing us a local currency note hoping we would give him more. He saw the funny side when Tunde tried to take it but was very pleased to be given a jelly cup. He then spent about 10 minutes looking at our Lonely Planet and telling us the local names of things. Another stop was at a small road side restaurant which backed onto a rice field. We spent the time here watching the village people working in the field and watching the Chickens with the chicks pecking around on the ground.
We arrived in Battambang in the afternoon and were immediately overwhelmed by all the hotel staff and tuk tuks trying to get our business. This was a bit much so we told them all we were walking and they thought it was very funny when I said ‘I’m not listening’. During the bus ride we had looked in the guide book and selected a few places we could stay so we headed to these. A room with air conditioning was $12 for three people, not too bad. By this stage we were all starving so we headed to a restaurant for some lunch, Damien and I shared a really yummy sweet potatoes soup.
Its funny, the reason that we were going to come to Battambang, was that it is possible to do it on a very scenic boat trip from Siem Reap. The girls thought that this 8hr trip would be too long so they opted for the 6 hour bus instead. Still, back at the hotel we ordered a Tuk Tuk and headed off on an adventure. Our first stop was the Bamboo train which consists of an old, warped, single rail train track that runs through the countryside. The Cambodians are very good at finding a use for everything so when the French abandoned the tracks the locals began to build Bamboo trains. These consist of two individual axles, a bamboo platform and a 6 horse power gasoline engine. Our Tuk Tuk driver told the train driver we didn’t have very long as the tour started quite late in the day, so I think the train driver stepped on it. We were hurtling down the rail tracks, clunking over the joins and ducking the greenery which was encroaching on our path. Damien likened it to the GrinGotts scenes riding down to the vaults from Harry Potter, it was pretty fun. We think we were probably traveling about 60km when we saw the first train coming in the opposite direction, it was a bit scary! The driver easily managed to stop, got off the platform, then he and the other driver lifted the platform off the other train and place it beside the track. They then grabbed and axles each, put it to the side then pushed our train through, then reassembled the other train behind us. This whole procedure took all of 2 minutes. We continued on and watched this procedure a few more times. We think we had right off way traveling in one direction but it depended on which cart had a larger load and if there were multiple carts coming in one direction.
The bamboo train took us to a small town which manufactures bricks. One of the local girls took us through the factory showing us the massive brick kilns and told us the process for making the bricks. Again the Cambodians showed their resourcefulness, the kiln use rice husks as fuel. The clay is taken from the field beside the factory then pushed through a machine which produces a long piece of clay with holes in it, a bit like a play dough spaghetti machine. This is then fed onto a platform where it is cut into brick sized pieces. It then dries for a few days before being fired in the kiln for 15 days. This girl’s English was excellent and when we asked how she learnt she simply said she talks to tourists every day. We returned to the Tuk Tuk on the bamboo train. Damien and Tunde were both very pleased to have a go at ‘driving’ but fortunately I think it must be pretty hard to crash so we made it back in one piece. Back on the Tuk Tuk and the adventures continued. We watched the country scenery of rice fields and stilt house around us and watched the locals going about their business. We still find it strange how excited some people get when they see white people. Whilst driving through the countryside on the Tuk Tuk, there were two young girls sitting on a mound of soil watching the family’s road side stall. When they saw wave to them they were very excitedly waving back and one girl knocked the other off the mound and she rolled down the embankment.
The second place we visited was the temple Phnom Sampeau. The temple is up a hill which takes about an hour to climb so we had to fork out for motor bikes to take us up, but it was kinda fun. This area is very peaceful but it has seen some horrific things. During the Khmer Rouge rein the caves around the temple became known as the killing caves as people were bludgeoned then pushed through a natural sky light into the cave some 50m below. There were three caves used by the Khmer Rouge, the man cave, the woman cave and the boy cave which tells you who was killed where. Some of the victim’s bones are now housed in a glass case next to a very peacefully looking reclining Buda. The view from the top of the hill was lovely, rice fields as far as the eye could see only interrupted by some small mountains.
Our guide, a 15 year old with fantastic English, was keen to get us down the hill before dark. I think my driver made it three quarters of the way down without turning on the motor bikes engine. We were pleased with what they wanted to show us, millions of tiny bats leaving their cave to go out hunting for the night. It was quite amazing, a constant black stream of tiny creatures, which apparently lasts for around two hours. The local people sometimes catch them with nets and make interesting stews and things, we didn’t ask to try. Back in town we headed down to the river front for dinner at the night market, however we didn’t stay long and ended up eating in a restaurant called White Rose, which was cheap, looked nice and turned out to have good food. After $4 chicken noodles and a beer we headed back to the guesthouse.
Next morning we woke early, had a coffee and bacon and egg bagel in town and then jumped on the bus. We had bought tickets the night before for the 9am bus, but when we arrived at quarter to, we were rushed onto a bus which left immediately. Were still not sure if the 8.30am bus left late or the 9am bus left early!