Cambodia

Hey everyone,

Quite a lot to write about...luckily no robberies though.


Journey to Ho Chi Minh

A much better designed and smoother running sleeper bus took us to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). Was meant to be a 10 hour journey...no surprises, it took much longer.

I wasnt placed next to two girls id never met like last time...shame.


War museum

Despite how massive Ho Chi Minh is, there didnt seem like a lot to do at all...Plus I was getting fed up with Vietnam. I needed some peace and quiet so when we turned up and all we could hear was "beeep beeep beeep beeep beeeeep beeeep f***ing beep"I couldnt believe my luck.

Checked into our hostel...our room was on the fifth floor...there was no lift...luckily, after lugging our bags all the way up the boiling hot stairs, we were greeted with a warm room in which the air-con didnt work properly and there was no fan. Sweat box. Luckily there were showers in the room which helped...It took all of five minutes to have a fresh sweat on after a cold shower though.

We had a few beers to knock us out for the night as we'd planned on getting as much done as possible the following day. Got up nice and early and was pleasantly surprised that id lost about 3 stone overnight. Put it all back on at breakfast which was a couple of baguettes, tea and scrambled eggs (all free).

Went to various unexciting places such as the palace and a roundabout (yep, that was a highlight) before reaching the museum. It basically tells "the story of the Vietnam war from "the other side...turns out the Americans were rather naughty indeed, breaking all sorts of international laws. There were some horrible images of the Vietnamese people (and some American) who had been affected by Dioxin, a chemical used by American troops. They were awful images. Enough said.

Cu chi Tunnels

The next day we planned a half day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels with which the Viet-Cong used in the war. It was a great little trip... educational...so.

Our guide was self-named "Mr Bean" He got a few chuckled early on, but he loved to talk. After 2 hours of non stop talking about the war, I noticed that pretty much everyone on the bus was a sleep...The only person really paying attention was this French guy whose seat was right in front of the Mr Bean. He had no choice but to listen as the guide kept saying "Understand?" after every sentence while looking straight at the French guy. The guise was always shortening the word "understand" to "'stand?" and then to "stan?" Unless the French guys name was Stan...

We stopped at a handcraft by the handicapped place. All the artwork etc was done by people with disabilities. You walked through the workshop before entering the shop...It was weird, loads of people watching the handicapped people work, and taking pictures. Imagine that happening while you were working. They'd made way too much stuff...massive shop full of various ornaments, art etc. Pretty amazing stuff, but really expensive...an ornamental tiger cost 3 grand.

We got to the place and had to watch the most boring video ever made about anything ever...could hardly hear it either.

showed us some interesting things, mainly the booby-traps left by the Viet-Cong. Some were pretty horrific, but ingenious.

We got to fire real guns at one point as well, I chose the M1 Garand rifle.

Then we were shown into the little underground tunnels to walk through them...I say walk, but in no way could you actually walk. I could barely kneel in these dark, hot tunnels. So we shuffled through over a 100m of this, fighting a little claustrophobia. Came out drenched in sweat but smiles on our faces...Dont know how the Viet Cong managed that every day, with bombs going off all over the place.


Cambodia

Was glad to leave Vietnam...Cambodia was the next stop, more specifically; Pnom Penh (capital). I instantly felt more at home in Cambodia...its nothing like home...but you get a feeling about a place very quickly - and it was a positive one. The bus journey was rubbish - took over 5 hours longer than the original 6 and included stops in massive unused lorry-parks where the toilet (as guided to by our driver) was a lovely barbed-wire fence.

Anyway, arrived at Encounters hostel in Pnom Penh...nice little place with Martin, an English guy running the place. He gave us loads of advice on what to do...

S-21 and killing fields

Pol Pot was a bad man - he started a massive revolution in the late 20th century and anyone he considered to be an enemy was killed.

We went to a high school that Pol Pot converted into a prison. It has been left in more-or-less the same state as they found it...and they dont hold back: displaying photos of the dead in each of the 14 cells that were occupied at the end of Pots reign. It was an experience similar to Auschwitz in Poland - so difficult to comprehend the voilence that happened in the same place as you are standing...lots of people were continuously tortured there before being loaded into a truck with 59 other blind-folded prisoners...they werent told where they were going...

Killing fields

This is where they were taken...about 15km away from the prison. The truck would pull up and the prisoners taken into holding cells before taken to the field, executed (sometimes beheaded) and thrown into a mass grave. There was a tree which the Khmer Rouge used to smash babies heads against. Its unbelievable to think that this happened only 30/40 years ago.

As you can imagine, its an eerie place.

Chill at the pool

The following day, we decided to go to a pool to chill out for the day. Managed to find a little restaurant/bar that had a pool and sunbeds...all we had to do was spend over 5 dollars on our tab each and we could use the facilities for free - had a full English breakfast - read - swam - read. It was absolutely baking.


Market


Went to the market in the evening. Purchased some Abercrombie shorts (defo real) and a Hai Dong...Which is basically a big shuttle cock shaped thing with a feather coming out of a spring. Difficult to explain but all the locals love these things. They stand in groups and do kick ups with it. So when we got back to the hostel we played with it outside the front.

Gradually people became interested and a few lads joined in (locals) they were pretty good, and after a while they invited us to play soccer with them...

The ball was this strange woven thing made of thin wood...flip-flops for goalposts. Had a great little game with them, they were pretty awesome as well, some of them were only 8 years old.

Siem Reap

Arrived at our hostel in Siem Reap (Which means "Thailand - Defeat") From when the Cambodians defeated Thailand.



Siem Reap is home to Angkor Wat - The largest religious temple in the world. It takes about 3 days to fully take it all in, so we hired our very own Tuk-Tuk driver for the time we are hear. Hes a ledge, gave us a discount cos I got him a beer...During the day we'll get him the odd can of coke, or pay for his lunch...In return he will take us anywhere at night for free. So he came and picked us up after the first day to go out...more of that later...

Angkor Wat is incredible. Its like a massive area of jungle where the Angkors built their empire. A huge centre-piece temple looks spectacular and has lots of religious symbolism. There are many other temples surrounding the centre-piece...Including pyramid based temples, one with lots of faces, and one now dominated by trees. This was my favourite part - as massive trees wrap their routs around the temples, They are so huge that it looks more like an Alton Towers ride. This temple was where the Tomb Raider movie was filmed.

So the night out then...We arrived at "Mr Hang's" (tuk tuk driver) recommended night spot. It looked OK, a little quiet but they had a big screen with the football on. We decided to go flash and buy a bottle of Jack Daniels for the table, with a loads of cokes, an ice bucket and some lime. The manager came over and introduced himself, he drank with us for a while, talking about football and the like...the like being that the rules of the club were that you pay 3 dollars to actually enter the inside of the club...can pick a girl and she will dance with you for 3 dollars ("This include kissing, touching, dancing") and you can take them back to the hotel, all night for 50 dollars. That was good to know. We drank and played cards...I banged out a couple of magic tricks that they buzzed off (Cheers Segger-pot). They said we were now VIP so we could go into the club for free, we took up his offer and went in. Was actually an awesome club..music was ledge as well. Neither of us used the services...

Went to another club to play pool and carry on drinking...crashed in bed around 4.30am.

Pick up at 9.30am...ouch.

The next day, was today...We were picked up at 5am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat...Bit cloudy so wasnt really worth it...But went on a different circuit to some other highlights.

Just got back now...Tomorrow we visit some waterfalls and more temples (All the temples are just like Indiana Jones)

If its a comfort to anyone, its too hot here.

OK blog done, Im knackered... will blog again soon...either back in Bangkok or in Sydney, our new destination.

Jay x
Angkor Wat