Krati, Cambodia to Trat, Thailand

BACK IN THAILAND
We crossed the border from Cambodia into Thailand without trouble this afternoon and some time tomorrow we will catch a bus through to Bangkok. It's raining heavily outside so we are stuck indoors until it passes - luckily they have good food and Internet at the guesthouse.

On the river boat north to Krati

 Our Guesthouse in Krati, next to the Mekong

 The view from our Guesthouse

 Sara in Cambodia

KRATI
We spent two relaxing days in Krati but did not get to see the famed Irrawaddy Dolphins. I ran into a Dutch guy who caught the same boat as us from Phnom Penh who told me that it wasn't worth the effort - apparently he paid $15 and briefly saw something in the water that could have been a log or it could have been a dolphin. Our hotel in Krati was superb so for much of our stay we were parked on the rooftop terrace playing cards and reading. The town itself is pretty grubby but from four floors up all we could see was the orange Mekong river and the surrounding jungle.

We can only afford a few more days in Thailand if we are to have enough time for Malaysia but we have some important shopping to do in Bangkok before we head towards the equator.

Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, Cambodia

HIGHWAY 4 IS OKAY
Surprisingly enough the road from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville (also called Kompong Som) is excellent. The 230km trip took four hours on a very comfortable bus. The guesthouse in Phnom Penh had arranged for us to be picked up from the bus station and taken to another guesthouse on the south side of town near Ochheuteal beach but like many things in Cambodia much of the information got distorted along the way. In Sihanoukville a dapper young man was proudly waiting for us and holding a sign which read "Mr. Ian (me), Mr. Chaim (Glen) and Mr. John (Sara) - Welcome to Sihanoukville from Okay Guesthouse". The guy was nice enough and after a little debate about the cost and how far away it was we each jumped on the back of a motorcycle and followed our host. The Guesthouse was unspectacular but cheap and close to the beach.

Motorbike taxis taking a break to watch the boxing

POVERTY
That evening we sat on the beach and had dinner while the sun set over the Gulf of Kompong Som. It sounds wonderful but we were pestered the whole time by scores of children wanting us to buy chips and snacks or ankle bracelets and the relentless homeless children begging for 'yum-yum' and pleading for the scraps of food left on our plates. At times it's difficult looking past the poverty but for our own sanity we have to ignore it, or pretend to ignore it, and keep to our own agenda. As a kid my parents told us to finish everything on our plates because there are people starving in Africa and it would be wrong to waste good food. Here I am in two minds because when we sit down to eat we've always been aware of people watching and waiting to see if you finish all your food. The starving people aren't in Africa anymore, they're standing beside you and looking into your eyes and rubbing your arm and whimpering - and that is something I'll never get used to.

HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER
The next day was a tough one because Glen was leaving to catch the boat for the border town of Koh Kong. It reminded me of Dahab, Egypt in May 1998 when we parted company, but the circumstances were very different this time. In 1998 I wasn't sure when I would see him again but this time around when I saw him ride off on the back of a motorcycle with his unkempt hair blowing in the wind I knew that we would see each other in New Zealand next month.

BACK THROUGH PHNOM PENH TO KRATI
Sara and I have decided to return to Phnom Penh, a city which we both really like, and then heard further north up the Mekong River to a place called Krati. It's there we plan to spend a few days relaxing in the peace and quiet of small town Cambodia and maybe try and spot the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins that live in the river. Any further north than Krati is not highly recommended at this stage unless we want to find unexploded mine fields or a Khmer Rouge sleeper cell.

The Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

Spending more time than anticipated in Cambodia has meant that we are spending less time in Thailand, in particular the south and the beaches, but perhaps we'll get another chance yet.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Siem Reap - Angkor Wat

After spending one night in Phnom Penh we caught a bus to Siem Reap, near Angkor Wat. The road to Siem Reap was so bad that I am awarding the Gold Medal for the worlds worst road to Cambodia's Highway 6. It took 9 hours to travel just over 200km but the worst part was that myself and Sara got stuck in the back row of the bus with two Korean women. We spent much of the journey out of our seat as the bus made its way over the worst roads I've seen in a long time. On reaching Siem Reap we decided that we would catch the boat back to Phnom Penh three days later, rather than endure that bus ride again.

ANGKOR WAT
Two days in Siem Reap was not enough. Angkor Wat is incredible and its only one of many highlights in the area. Although the weather was not always agreeable we spent the best part of two full days in the Angkor grounds and visited many of the surrounding temples as well. The personal highlight was crawling up to the top of Angkor Wat on hands and knees and making it to the top just before the rain came bucketing down.

The entrance to Angkor Wat

Climbing Angkor Wat

There were too many photo opportunities to document but below are a selection to give an idea of what the grounds look like.

Angkor Wat

Yesterday we returned to Phnom Penh - via boat this time - so that we could visit the Killing Fields, S-21 (the school where the Khymer Rouge tortured their prisoners), and the Royal Palace. With that now done we are about to head south to the beach town of Sihanoukville about three hours away.

Cambodia has been a real eye opener. The temples are stunning, the beggars are relentless and although the weather has been overcast for the best part of two weeks now, today is clear and at last the sun is out. Glen is still with us but by Sunday he needs to be back in Bangkok to catch his flight home. At this stage Sara and I are thinking of staying in Cambodia for a week longer.

The Mekong Delta

We've spent the last three days in the Mekong Delta, in the south of Vietnam, but now we find ourselves in Cambodia and pleasantly surprised by Phnom Penh. The Delta was very relaxing but we crammed a lot into three days.

From Saigon I booked a three day tour to the Mekong which ended in Phnom Penh on the third day. Before we booked the tour we all submitted our passports to the tour company so that we could get a Cambodian Visa - the communication barrier was such that with our tour about to leave we still hadn't got our passports back and it looked as if we were going to have to cancel the tour. At the very last minute our passports appeared and we were able to get on the tour bus but in the confusion our bags were placed on another bus which we were assured was going to the same place. The tour itself was very good. It took forever to escape the Saigon traffic but once we did the bud dropped us off in Vinh Long where we spent a few hours visiting the floating market and popped rice factories. In the afternoon we traveled by boat to Can Tho where we spent the night - our bags made it there too.

Images from the polluted Mekong River

The second day of the tour we visited the biggest floating market in the Mekong at Cai Rang and then stopped for lunch nearby. We were mobbed by children at the lunch stop so rather than eating we just had a drink or to and tried to amuse the kids who wanted us to buy them coke or give them our pens. We spent the whole morning on the boat but after a short bus ride to Thot Not we visited a stork farm and then boarded a much larger boat, with leather sofas, which took us all the way up river to Chau Doc where we spent the second night. We had a nice relaxing dinner and all enjoyed massages from the waiters once we finished our food.

Mekong River near Chau Doc

The tour group contained about 20 people and the only none French people (six of us) were all going through to Cambodia rather than returning to Saigon. On the third morning of the tour we were separated from the rest of the group and taken to the floating fish farms near Chau Doc before being shuttled to the speed boat which would take us further upriver to Cambodia. The border crossing was very good and the Cambodian officials even provided information about good places to stay in the capital.

By 1pm we docked in Phnom Penh but nothing had prepared me for what was about to happen. All of us were absolutely mobbed by the touts that were hanging out at the dock. Each of us had between 10-12 people all offering something different - taxi, tuk-tuk, guesthouse, a smoke, motorbike ride, restaurant. It was overwhelming and we were quickly separated. It took a good ten minutes to compose ourselves and find the guesthouse we had earmarked at the border - luckily they offered a free transfer to the guesthouse which we accepted mainly to escape the crowd. I had never witnessed such a desperate attempt by so many people to sell me something all at the same time and it was very physical with people grabbing arms or bags and the very annoying ones leaning and rubbing against us. It would take a few days to get used to the constant offers of motorbikes, drugs, taxis, guesthouses and the endless stream of child beggars and amputees pleading for either food or the money in our pockets. Much of it is heartbreaking and I'm not altogether convinced that I can always turn a blind eye. Of Cambodia people I can say that I have never seen so many amputees in one place before.

Phnom Penh

Tomorrow we may try and catch the bus up to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat but we're not exactly sure when we will leave Phnom Penh - it's beautiful here and the city is very easy to get around. Just heard that the Springboks beat Australia so New Zealand has won the Tri-Nations for 2002 - yeah for the good guys.

Saigon, Viet Nam

MOTORBIKES AND CHEAP CD's
Our flight to Saigon arrived mid-afternoon without any problems. We caught a taxi to the Pham Ngu Lao area which is the main backpacker part of town very similar to Khoa Sanh Road in Bangkok. We had no problem finding a place to stay and they all seemed to be about the same price and are extremely good compared to many of the other places we've stayed in - hot showers, free breakfast, tv, and a fridge (to keep my Milo cold). I couldn't get over the number of motorbikes on the road - they out number cars by about 10 to 1. Incidentally yesterday while we were traveling in a van I timed how long it took before 100 motorcycles past us going the other way - it took just over 40 seconds (5 motorbikes every 2 seconds).
Many people had told me that Vietnam is the cheapest country in South East Asia to travel around and that it's also a good place to stock up on CD's, DVD's, clothes and books - all of which seem to be of negligible quality. At dinner on our first night we had lots of touts selling Lonely Planet books for 10-20% of face value but they are just photocopies of the originals with a nice cover put on to hide the poor quality. Even so I bought a number of them since the quality isn't as important to me as the information inside. CD's are only 0.75c and DVDs are just over a dollar. We have plenty of movies now but nothing to watch them on.

Buying a few books at dinner

On our first full day in Vietnam we took a tour up to the Tay Ninh province to see the noon mass at the Caodai Great Temple. Caodaism is the result of an attempt to create the perfect religion through the fusion of religious philosophies from around the world - Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam and Vietnamese spiritualism. The result is a rather strange compromise evident in the temple itself which has a steeple, pagoda and an imitation mosque on the roof. The mass was quite eerie but there were a lot of tourists like us there to bring everyone back to reality.

Images from in and around the Caodai Great Temple

In the afternoon we ventured to Cu Chi where the Viet Cong built over 250km of underground tunnels during the 1950s and 60s. It's from these tunnels that they launched their guerrilla warfare which the locals are both proud and defensive of. Much of the tunnel network is extremely small because it was built for the small Vietnamese bodies but there is a tourist tunnel which myself and Glen crawled through - it was only 50 meters long but it was very small and very hot down there.

Today we stayed in Saigon and walked past the Ben Thanh market to the Reunification Palace. The palace was once the centerpiece of the South Vietnamese government but it was here on 30th April 1975 that VC soldiers took South Vietnam. Shortly after the name of the city was changed to Ho Chi Minh City but from what I have heard since arriving here, all of the locals still call this city Saigon, and so will I. After the palace we walked to the War History Museum, dedicated specifically to the American War (also as the locals call it). I found it deeply moving but after a while I noticed that the stories they portrayed about the atrocities committed during the war were very one sided. We all left feeling deeply moved and also a little angry.
Tomorrow we leave Saigon for the Mekong Delta and by Saturday we should be in Cambodia. I wonder if the locals still call it Kampuchia.

Reunification Palace, Ho Chi Minh City

Bangkok, Thailand

While we were in Hua Hin we had seen advertisements around town for Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) so we decided to go along out of curiosity. On the card was five fights of five rounds each, but only the first two fights went the distance. In the early bouts the average age of the boxers was 15 years old and each successive fight featured progressively older boys – until the main event, fight 5. I was shocked when two seven year old entered the ring and went through the pre-fight rituals before retiring to their respective corners. They both came out swinging and kicking and the pace never let up for the entire first round. I jokingly said to Sara that they would probably call off the fight as soon as one of them began to cry and it was well past their bed times. The fight was called off in the second round with the slightly bigger boy winning. Although the other boy came close to crying after the defeat he never threw a tantrum and held himself very well.

A HOT SHOWER AND A SOFT BED
The following day we caught the bus back up to Bangkok and checked into the hotel that my brother had booked. After two months in guesthouses and cheap hotels we were both excited to get to a real hotel with some of the creature comforts that we had been without – sheets, fresh towels, hot water, air conditioning and some other obscure things. We had stayed in some very small rooms so it was nice to open the door to our room and not have it hit the bed before it was all the way open. To make the most of the hotel we checked in at 2pm so that we could go for a swim and shower before Glen turned up at about 9pm. It was nice to see my brother again and he has injected a bit more spark into our daily routine. Traveling for such a long time can be quite daunting and over the past few weeks we have made an effort to slow down a little bit so that we can take everything in.

Rendezvous with my brother Glen in Thailand

Glen had also been to Thailand before (18 years ago) and was keen to see a few of the sights so we ventured to the backpacker area in Banglamphu for a nice cheap lunch and then rode a tuk-tuk to Wat Pho to see the Reclining Buddha and the Temple of Dawn. In the evening we used our free dinner vouchers at the hotel and watched some traditional Thai dancing.

The Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAE
Yesterday Sara decided she wanted to stay around the hotel and do some shopping at the Pratunam Market where she picked up a wonderful array of handbags. Glen and I went on a day tour out to the Bridge on the River Kwae near Kanchanaburi. The Thais have done a wonderful job of remembering and paying respect to he thousands of people that died during the construction of the Death Railway which made the bridge infamous. The tour featured a train ride on the railway itself up to Nam Tok where we stopped for lunch. We drove further west towards Myanmar (it will always be Burma to me) and stopped at an elephant farm where I shared a two-seater with my brother. Elephants are big at the best of times but the one we rode was massive – at one stage it reached out its trunk and pulled down half a tree with little effort.

Bridge on the River Kwae

Our elephant

For better or worse we began drinking beer in the bus back to Bangkok. We were joined by a New Yorker we had met during the day and after three hours we stumbled off the bus and into a pub to watch the All Blacks rugby team beat South Africa in Durban. In the pub we hooked up with three other English blokes and the six of us pilled into the back of a taxi and ventured out to Patpong (again) after the game. Another interesting evening in the Thai capital. At 1.30am Sara showed us her handbag collection.

Today has been much slower – a sleep in, Burger King for lunch followed by shopping in the afternoon. Tomorrow the three of us fly to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam. Out of interest the Vietnamese currency is called ‘Dong’.

Bangkok & Hua Hin, Thailand

LOST LUGGAGE
Our flights from Manila via Hong Kong to Bangkok went smoothly enough except that my backpack did not make it out of Hong Kong. I had a nervous first day in Thailand but fortunately Cathay Pacific sorted everything out within 24 hours. The most annoying part of the process was trying to use the phones as many of them we're either broken or the connection kept on failing after a few seconds.

It's been 18 long years since I was last in Thailand so really this was new territory for both of us. We had a couple of slices of luck on our first night - being shown where to catch the metered taxis from the airport saved us quite a lot of money and the guesthouse we had planned on staying at was full but the one next door was less than half the price, although a little noisy. Okay, it was a lot noisy, but it was cheap.

We first met Faye & Alan in Yangshou, China - then again in Bangkok 

During the first three days in Bangkok we've done a bit of shopping and sightseeing - so far we've been to the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun and ridden on numerous tuk-tuks. We had to check out the notorious Patpong nightlife one evening but I will spare you all the details - suffice to stay that it lived up to the reputation.

 Sara & I at the Grand Palace 

(there's a picture of me as a 12 year old in front of one of these things)

We're now in the sleepy town of Hua Hin, about 150km south of Bangkok. We have a couple of days to kill before meeting my brother back in Bangkok so our plan was to get away from the noise and pollution of Bangkok and spend some time catching up on the simple things that we enjoy so much - reading, backgammon, writing and sleeping. Tomorrow we hope to hire a scooter and head further south to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park to explore some caves, marshes and hopefully see a few monkeys. It's much cooler down here which is welcome relief after the heat of Bangkok.

Next update will come in a few days time, once I get my hold of my brothers computer.