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