Speeding through Cambodia and Vietnam

Journey so far: .. Taiwan > Hong Kong > Beijing > Harbin > Yanji > Songjianghe >Changbai Mountain > Dandong > Dalian > Dandong > Chengde > Beijing > Datong > Hohhot > Huitengxile > Hohhot > Taiyuan > Zhengzhou > Xi'an > Lanzhou > Zhangye > Jiaugyuan > Jingtieshan > Jiaugyuan > Dunhuang > Urumuqi > Kanas Lake > Urumuqi > Kashgar > Tashkurgan > Karakul Lake > Kashgar (Kashi) > Hotan > Qiemo > Ruoqiang > Shimianquan > Golmud > Lhasa (Tibet) > Gyantse > Shigatse > Shegar > Everest Base Camp (Rongbuk) > Zhangmu > Borderlands > Kathmandu (Nepal) > Chitwan National Park > Gorkha > Bandipur > Pokhara > Lumbini > Kathmandu > Sunauli > Dehli > Kausani > Agra > Khajuraho > Varanasi > Calcutta (Kolkata) > Bangkok (Thailand) > Vientiane (Laos) > Vang Vieng > Luang Prabang > Phonsavanh > Vientiane > Bangkok (Thailand) > Siem Reap (Cambodia) > Phnom Penh > Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon (Vietnam) > Hoi An > Hue > Hanoi ...

Scam
So after Bangkok we booked a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the home of Angkor Wat. A seven hour trip from Thailand into Cambodia flew by with only one noteworthy incident... a cheeky scam. We needed to get some local Cambodian currency, Riel. We had Thai Baht to exchange and as Riel is a weaker currency the Cambodians can change it at a good rate. At the time it was 1Baht = 118Riel.

10 Baht with the handsome King in his regalia.


The real Riel in Cambodia.


We arrived at the border. The man who keeps check of everyone on the bus told me he would help me change the money in Cambodia, once we arrived. I tryed changing on the Thai side, but they didn't want to change Riel.

So on the Cambodian side, while waiting for the bus, I hoped on a scooter and was taken to the money exchange (like hundreds of other foreigners). A little angry at having to pay the scooter driver and very prepared for a scam, especially as there was no other way of changing money before arriving in Siem Reap! It came. The scooter stopped on the side of a dusty road in front of a glass cabinet with a tarpaulin covering. I asked for the rate... 90 Riel for 1 Baht! I had to stop myself choking! So 1 Baht was only worth 90 Riel, not even close to 118 Riel. I bargain... nothing! That's very unusual as all Asian countries bargain when there's no fixed price or an "unfair" price is given. This just made me even more belligerent. I refused to loose so much money without a fight.

So unconvinced and with a bee in my bonnet I walked back up the road looking for something else. The scooter driver was shouting at me to come back and I was all smiles to prevent things getting nasty. I eventually came across another small shop front with a small family living there, I ask if they change, yes they do, what's the rate.... It's 110. Perfect! No need to bargain, it's fair and I feel trustful towards the family. So I change all my Baht and go back to the bus feeling happy. Instead of 360,000 Riel I get 440,000 Riel for the same 4,000 Thai Baht. Nice job!

All this over 57 pounds... well it's 4 days travel to us and a serious amount more to Cambodians. If the scammer can squeeze gullible foreigners then that's OK with me, most come here with oodles of money and don't realise... but I simply can't afford it.

Angkor Wat
We arrived late and safe in Siem Reap and settled down for the night. The next day we wondered the streets and realised we were far away from the main town. It was humid and extremely hot weather, enough to make a man sweat from just standing! About 40 degrees. WoW.

The next day I bargained with a local bloke with his tuktuk, the price came down only if he took us to a souvenir shop, i.e overpriced jewelery and accessory shops filled with bus loads of foreigners. We knew the tuktuk man would get a small commission so we were prepared to do it.

At 4:45am we woke up, got in the tuktuk and headed for Angkor to watch the sunrise.

The sunrise is special, even after all our travels it was magic.


The day was spectacular and we spent time looking at all the Wats and ruins on offer.

The trees just keep on growing!


14 hours later around 7:00pm we were shattered and found ourselves ready to finish the day in the souvenir shop. I got some freebies and then over-heard one of the shop assistants speaking Chinese. So I asked her "how much" in Chinese and she screamed! Next minute all the assistants are talking to me in Chinese and I'm struggling to keep up... they couldn't believe a westerner can speak Chinese... luckily Kate abseils in wearing her cat-suit and rescues me as my brain starts to swell from Chinese overload. We all have a jolly fun chat and leave with some peanut brittle. What a lovely day.

For more details on the Angkor Wat day see Kate's Blog, she's better at all the details.

Solemn sights in Phnom Penh
We found the cheapest ever room, yes it was filthy with a big rat, yes it was tiny, yes we could feel everyone walking up the stairs, but for 2 dollars a night I couldn't complain! The room was so hot and stuffy because of the tin roof, that moving around resulted in sweat. So we always had a shower just after sorting our bags or finding stuff in the room. It was grim, but I was sadistically loving it!

We went sightseeing in the mid-day heat... armed with water and "cheese" sandwiches. We saw the killing fields left behind by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot. This is a sobering and somberly impressive place where Cambodians died of starvation, torture or execution. Pol Pot's way of controlling the nation was riding it of educated people or any person who was thought to be acting in a "non-communist" way.

Eight thousand skulls are inside the memorial stupa that is built in the middle of the Killing Fields in Cambodia.

Guides explain that bullets were too precious to use for executions. Axes, knives and bamboo sticks were far more common. As for children, their murderers simply battered them against trees.

Source: Killing Fields Lure Tourists in Cambodia - National Geographic News

Next we went to S-21 (Tuol Sleng). An old school that during the 4 year reign of Pol Pot was turned into a prison. It housed politicians as well as all those thought to have betrayed the movement. Almost all of the prisoners had worked in the armed forces, factories, or administration. Of the 14,200 people who were imprisoned at S-21, there are only seven known survivors.



We walked around for some time learning more about the history and seeing for ourselves what Pol Pot did to his own people. A tragic story which I hope some can learn from, though saying that there are still regimes doing this in other parts of the world.

Quicky in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
We left Cambodia and entered Vietnam.
Spent a short time in Siagon, enough time to book a bus to Hoian. It was really busy with Lunar New Year starting and millions of people in Vietnam and China travelling on one of their few holidays. In fact the Lunar New Year sees the largest migration of people than any other time. We prepared ourselves for the 20 hour bus ride. On top of that we'd just spent all day getting from Cambodia to Vietnam. Oh joy, no sleep for a while!

We got a ticket to Hoi An, 24 US dollars (12 pounds) to take the bus on a long and expensive trip to the beach town of Hoi An.


Hoi An Beach
Hoi An was a peaceful town, there where quite a few tourists but not as many as we'd have encountered in Nha Trang (our original destination choice).
It had a beach and some quaint streets. The beach was quiet and we swam in the ocean and sunbathed the day away. I got a little sunburnt but nothing serious. We think the quiet beach was mainly due to Chinese and other Asian's view is that white skin is more beautiful, so the beach is a place where you might get brown.... bad place! Of those we did see all wore jackets and gloves.... sweaty fun!

Kate "invested" in a tailor-made coat... for the winter... an expensive woman! She believes she's a delight.... I guess she is... :0)

We saw this Japanese bridge in town


I love these little towns were the local women still wander the streets looking like they've come from a costume party.



Hue
Hue was a lovely town with a lot of history. We saw the old Imperial complex, the Citadel and looked around some museums. Hue is a quiet, relaxing city, big enough to be interesting but small enough to bicycle around. The food is great, the best in Vietnam, it was bloody good. Also the prices were cheaper.... great!

I tried the traditional greasy pancake, bright yellow filled with shrimp and meat. Full of oil but once dipped in the peanut and banana sauce it was mouth watering. I ate three. Kate didn't like the excess grease so opted for beansprouts.

Detail of the Halls of the Mandarins, the Citadel


Hanoi Capers
That first day in Hanoi we were so tired we didn't manage to do much... we had a nap in the morning, then walked around unsuccessfully trying to find noodle soup for 10,000 dong. That's what we'd paid everywhere in Vietnam so far, so we were being stubborn and refusing to pay double that just because it's new year.

The next day we made a more concerted effort at sightseeing... we must have walked about 15km around the city! My feet hurt and I was tired, but an interesting day.

The strangest thing I noticed after coming from China, Nepal and India was all the baguettes in Lao, Cambodia and Vietnam! We love bread and it made a change from nan bread or rice! One good thing the French left... it made life easy on the day trips!

Here is a baguette lady, not speaking French!



So our trip through South East Asia finished on Sat 24th Feb when we arrived in China again. It's great to be back in a land where Kate can speak the language and I know some of the culture... almost feels like home in a wierd way.
We're in Yangshuo at the moment and loving it!! We've got a divinely cheap hotel (Y40 for a triple room with bathroom inside) and the surrounding limestone hills and Li river may just keep us here longer than we think.

MC