A week in Cambodia...

So I've been held to gun point to finally write another blog..... Not really, but I said I'd do it, so here goes Cambodia. Writing this from Hue, in central Viet Nam by the way!

We decided to make the long journey from Don Det in the 4 Thousand Islands to Siem Reap in Cambodia. So we booked our bus tickets all the way through to Siem Reap for $30 US. Due to leave at 8.00am in the morning, and arrive in Siem Reap at 9.30pm that night. We initially took the boat across the Mekong where we waited for an hour or so in a travel agent, before heading off to the Cambodian border. We'd heard all sorts of scams involving Cambodian borders so when the travel agent offered us to get our visas for $30 US and the official rate is supposed to be $20, we politely declined. So off we went through the border thinking we'd saved a bit of cash but little did we know we'd be giving money away left right and centre as we went. Stamped out of out Laos, with a $2 stamp fee, a $1 health check as we crossed no man's land (basically a lady pointing a thermometer gun at your head and then yelling at us 'you pay $1 now!!!'), $23 for the actual visa (above the official rate) and then $2 to put a stamp in it for a total of $28 which wasn't too bad considering we'd heard a few horror stories that sounded a lot worse. So now in Cambodia where we were directed to a restaurant. Here we sat for a couple of hours, waiting for other passengers who'd left Don Det two hours after us! We could have had a two hour longer sleep in! So eventually the bus got going and you could tell we were very late. A tyre blow out and numerous stops for food etc didn't really help things and eventually we arrived in Siem Reap at 3.30am, only about 6 hours late. After a few friendly negotiations with agressive tuk-tuk drivers telling us our guesthouse was shut, flooded and an expensive ride away, we eventually made it to bed at around 4.30am.



Sam in a flooded Siem Reap



After a bit of sleep in, the next morning we set off through a flooded Siem Reap centre to Pub Street where we were joined by loads of Aussies and Kiwi's watching the World Cup semi. Had a great time, despite the result and partied the night away in a flooded Pub St with our new mates, including a 4pm round of tequila's that set the mood for the rest of the evening. Sam ran into Pippa, (her mate from the UK) who was in Siem Reap with Paul and Grace whom we spent a lovely evening the following night catching up and eating some awesome Khmer food.

The party after the Rugby

Our third day in Siem Reap and decided to get up early and do a day tour to the temples of Angkor. We were lucky enough to have an awesome sunrise as it had mostly been cloudy/rainy as it was nearly the end of monsoon. Angkor Wat was absolute quality, as were the rest of the temples. Favourite was Ta Promh, the jungle temple which literally has a jungle growing inside the ruins.

Angkor Wat at sunrise

Me at the temple of Angkor

Me at Ta Promh

Sam at Ta Promh

Following our long day of templing, we decided to head down to the capital, Phnom Penh to get our Vietnamese visas and see the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and the S-21 Tuol Sleng prison. We'd heard some not so nice things of the capital but we actually enjoyed it, despite the shocking history and things that we learnt and saw. We made a day trip out to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and S-21. At Choeung Ek, we listened to to an audioguide of some horrific stories of some of the victims of the Khymer Rouge, one of whom was killed because a guard accused a her of stealing two bananas. We then went to S-21 which was an old school that had been converted to a prison during the Khmer Rouge regime. There were shocking photographs of the thousands of prisoners who had been held there before being transported out to Choeung Ek. It was here we ran into our Irish mates from the slow boat, Jerry and Jill with which it was decided a beer was in order later that evening to cheer us up. Had another great night out and woke the next morning with a bit of a hangover. Went off to pick up our passports and visas, then straight on to a bus to Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam.....

Tuol Sleng S-21 Prison

Tuol Sleng S-21 Prison

  

Map of Cambodia at Tuol Sleng

Tuol Sleng Prison rules

Memorial Pagoda at Choueng Ek

Victims skulls inside the memorial Pagoda at Choueng Ek

Lovely Laos

 
So our adventures in Laos started in Chiang Mai where we booked the slow boat tickets. We were part of a small group that travelled to Chiang Khong, on the way to CK we stopped at Chiang Rai which is famous for it’s white ghost temple. This was beautiful and we were really pleased that we got to see it! When we arrived in Chiang Khong we were taken to our guesthouse for the night which was ok. There was a rather plump man shouting orders at his wife (usual thing in Asia) and a strange Japanese bar next door. We went for a wander down the very small high street, bought some cuyshions for the boat and Rads had a shave in the local barbers (because he was looking like a hobo). We met some really nice people within our group, a nice Northern couple, an Aussie named Brendan and a nice Scotty called Neil. We sat around drank some beers and traded travelling war stories which was great.  The next day we were driven to the Thai side of the Mekong river to catch a long tail boat over to the Laos border.  However, we couldn’t find anywhere to stamp out of Thailand and the boat people hurried us along. Of course we were all plonkers and ended up having to pay to cross back over to stamp out etc… it must be a tourist trap to make extra cash. After this we successfully got our Laos visas and ended up on a bus, in a tourist shop where the man tried to make us change our minds and take the bus instead (another quick cash scheme I expect) but we all said no etc.  We eventually made it to the Mekong to board the boat (after stopping at the bus drivers mates shop etc this happens everywhere in Asia) and got on the boat.

The White Temple at Chiang Rai

The boat was quality and there was a large group of us –a mixture of tourists and locals.  There was a bit of party atmosphere on the boat and we had our first BeerLao –delicious (much better than Thai beer). So your probably wondering what this slow boat malarkey is?1 You travel from the Laos border down the mekong river with an overnight stop off in Pak Beng and then on to Luang Prabang.  The Mekong was rather big due to all of the monsoon etc but it was truly beautiful.  There would be nothing other than jungle for ages and then a small village where the kids would run down and wave, or we would stop to drop someone or something off or pick something up (like a motor bike one day).  The night stay in Pak Beng was incredible, this village has only built up because of the boat stop off and is really tiny.  We found a great hotel and a great family restaturant where we tried traditional Laos dishes.  We tried the Buffalo Laap which ia a meat salad with coriander, mint and chillies, this is eaten with sticky rice that you roll into a ball shape and dip into the laap, it was delicious. On the boat the next day we spoke to more people on the boat and met a really fab Irish couple (Jerry and Jill) and we continued to bump into them all over Laos and again in Cambodia!  The second day the boat trip was longer but just as beautiful.  I highly recommend this to anyone! 

Kids got onto the boat to sell beer Lao

Cave near Luang Prabang that houses many Buddhas

When we arrived in Luang Prabang it was stunning, a little French colonial town with all french style buildings, bakeries, cake shops, cafes, bicycles and baguettes –everywhere!  We tried some noodle soup, this was delicious and hired a couple of bicycles.  This was great fun and we rode around exploring the town and checked out some temples.  We only paid to go into one and that is because it is the most magnificant temple in Luang Prabang –Wat Xieng Thong.  We then pedalled to the Royal Palace Museum which was great and we saw a small gold buddha that gave Luang Prabang it’s name.  There were also gifts from other countries displayed, we liked the Australian gift of a boomerang that had inscribed ‘made by Torres Strait islanders or Queensland Aborigines! We went to the night market for dinner and that was really tasty.

The tree of life mosaic at the temple

We took a bus to Vang Vieng, the scenary was stunning, the mountains were so beautiful we stopped many times on the way, passing fresh landslides and passed through random hill top villages. Towards the end of the bus trip the roads were terrible, generally the roads in north Laos are a bit poor. Vang Vieng is a backpacker party spot famous for River Tubing. Basically you hire a Tractor inner tube and float 4km down the river, along the first 2km there are bars and they chuck a rope into the water and fish you into their bars!  The first day we went early and it was really mellow and we were the only few people there, we ended up with some people from the slow boat, drinking, using the swings and slides into the river and generally partying!  The next day we went again after the Wallabies Springboks game and it was like a spring break scene from a movie! I should say that Whisky shots are free and compulsory at every bar but water is expensive! Both days Rads and I were so pissed that we had to paddle 2km down the river to get our tubes back in time.  The scenary along the river is stunning and tubing was great fun, we had to get out after a weekend …..

Amazing Scenary at Vang Vieng

The end of the Tubing

One of the many hill top stops

We travelled to Vientiene with terrible hangovers and thank gosh the roads were a bit better!  Vientiene is the capital of Laos and we weren’t really to fond of it there so we only stayed one night.  There was a big festival coming up in a few days time and the entire seafront road was set up with stalls, stages and there was a big party atomsphere. The festival is to celebrate the end of the rain season and to celebrate the river and is basically a big boat race, but everyone makes their own long boat especially for the race. Sadly we missed the race and the festival.

Rads at Kong Lor Cave

We left Vientiene and took the local bus out to Ban Nahin so we could go to Kong Lor Cave which is inland and off the beaten track. This bus ride was ok and the roads weren’t too bad.  As soon as we arrived we found a guesthouse, hired a bike and rode the 40km out to the cave.  The journey was incredible driving through small village communities, rice paddies and all the kids would wave and shout Sabidee (hello) as we passed them by.  Kong Lor Cave is a real Indiana Jones experience, a 7.5 km cave that can only be accessed by boat and leads to a village on the other side mountains.  Our torch is rubbish so it was really eerie because the only light was coming from the front and back boatmen’s headtorch. Scary times!  Every now and again we would pass bats and you could here them all squeeking and chattering away to each other!  At one point you are stopped and get off the boat and walk through some magnificant stalagmites and stalactites.  The boatmen only light these up when you’re near them and it is stunning.  By far the creepiest and most beautiful caves I have ever seen!

We travelled about one third of the length of Laos in one day trying to make our way down to Siphon Don or the Four Thousand Isalnds.  However we only made it as far as Pakse and stayed there for a night before we continued on the next day. When we left Pakse we took a Songtheaw (like a bus version of a tuc tuc) and it eventually left with 35 people crammed in, including a nice Canadian couple and Ryan and I were squashed up to some monks and a rnadom girl pretty much sat on my knee the entire journey! It was coming to the end of the rainy season so the Mekong was pretty dirty and you couldn’t see many of the four thousand islands.  We found a great place to stay and met up with the Canadian guys for dinner, a great first night in Don Det. The island was incredibly muddy and it was better to walk around with no shoes on! We hired bicycles and rode around to the other island Don Khong, we got caught in a monsoon and that was hilarious.  We ended up passing a small family somewhere out near long beach (muddy/sandy beach on the river) and they offered us Laos Laos –home brew.  It’s rude to say no so of course we drank the Laos Laos and it was strong I was glad that they only gave me a little lady glass! We bumped into Jerry and Jill again and got on the beers which was good craic!! We only stayed there a few nights because the weather was a bit grim and there was sooo much mud.  We decided to book a bus trip from the islands to Siem Reap in Cambodia (it’s quite difficult to make your own way as there are no direct roads to SR).  We were excited to be heading off to Cambodia but we were sad to leave Laos as the people were so nice, it’s such a beautiful country and it is still mostly unspoilt by tourism (apart from Vang Vieng). Over to Rads for the Cambodia blog!!

My new school in Don Khong

Rads at the waterfall in Don Khong

Bridge between Don Det and Don Khong