Background Reading

So I am off to Myanmar/Burma, depending on your colonial tastes, this'avo. It's a controversial place to travel and there have been calls to boycott travel there as a way to condemn the current regime. However, I've been doing research, starting with the easy to digest Lonely Planet's 'Should You Go?' which has helped to give me some pros and cons on independent travel to the country. And obviously I have decided that the pros out way the cons and I'll be heading there for a whistle-stop tour of only 18 days. I was also encouraged to go by a travely chum I met in India who rates it one of her highlights of South East Asia. I'm currently reading Emma Larkin's 'Finding George Orwell in Burma' which is revelatory and provides depth and insight into the Burmese character and society from her own experience and explorations of the country. I feel that I may only be allowed to see the glossy side and that the true Burma will be out of my reach, but I really hope to absorb as much as I can and take with me all that I learn there...

ANGKOR WAT!! Hermazing!

A small section of the central part of Angkor Wat

I had the best time at Angkor Wat spending three days exploring the huge, grand ruins, two of these days were, of course, on bicycle which was by far the best way to view Angkor and the surrounding temples. An absolute highlight of my trip in Asia! On the first day we went and saw the big two, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, and I was so incredibly in awe of the place. So old! So grand! Angkor Wat seemed even more spectacular and incredible and awesome on the last day when I popped by to have a second peek and to sadly say goodbye to Angkor. I would love to go again! I was very sad to say goodbye to Angkor.

Big faces at Bayon

One of the many examples of sculpture, and especially of the female form. In so many cases each figure was different to the next and where there were hundreds in a row it was immensely impressive! As I found everything at Angkor!

Hugging a huge tree in my possibly fave, Ta Prohm. The jungles reclaimed the temples here and it was great to explore and clamber over ruins and gaze in awe at the monstrous trees!

Dolphin Spotting

I headed over to dusty, quiet Kratie in the east of Cambodia for a little cycle and some dolphin watching. Kratie is found in the Mekong Delta and is just one of the homes for this funny looking dolphin (I tried to look for it from the 4,000 Islands in Laos but had no luck). I had a pleasant and flat cycle along the river towards the dolphins. After about 7km from Kratie I reached the spot where you can take a boat out over the delta and get close to the dolphins. Within seconds we were surrounded...by maybe four of the creatures frolicking around who stuck with us for the hour that we were out in the boat. It was quite exciting to be so close and for them to be cavort around with such great abandon!

Irrawaddy dolphin cruising along the Mekong delta!

I then cycled a little more to a very small village and decided to head back in the midday sun. Error!! It was much too hot to be out cycling! I also forgot to put suncream on my hands and they burnt! Even that is a first for me! The sun is lethal but my nice big rimmed sunhat is a lifesaver and I am never without it!

My cycle route around Kratie...wooden stilt houses running alongside tropical trees with hot skies overhead.

C.H.O.I.C.E

I arrived in Phnom Penh on a mission to sort out my visa for Myanmar which was hindered as I arrived over the weekend when the Embassy was shut, I then had a few stops and starts as I had to find confirmation that I once had a job and now no longer have a job (thanks to the speedy work by HR NTU who did an efficient job, as always!). The big thing of note in Phnom Penh is the superabundance of Lexus' that ride the streets!

After a healthy cup of ginger, honey and lemon tea at Chiva's Shack I learned about C.H.O.I.C.E Cambodia, an ex-pat run NGO out on a Sunday mission to deliver basic food stuffs to several of the villages surrounding Phnom Penh.

One of the villages reached by CHOICE. Villagers set up home alongside the road as this little 10m stretch either side of the road is not owned privately nor by the government. They have no land rights here.

I decided to join Choice and spent a productive and enlightening day out with the NGO and other voles. We started off with an efficient production line and packed carrier bags with rice, noodles, sugar, soy sauce and other helpful bits and bobs. We loaded up the truck and sat in the back and drove down bumpy roads until we reached the villages and handed out the goodies.


One resourceful villager makes homemade rice wine!

Choice also offers a free, portable clinic to the villagers which gives them much needed access to free health care. If you swing by their blog and facebook page you can see their ongoing work...Of course it's that age old dilemma of a fish versus a fishing rod and I'm pleased to say that there are long term projects, funds willing, to provide one of the villages with a plot of land in which to build a school and have land enough for the villagers to grow rice.

The kids at school. One Choice vole handed out school books and pens for each child attending school in the village!

The villagers don't own the land that they have built their homes on so have few rights and means of being self-sufficient. They also have to deal with the fact that their water supply, a pump helpfully put in by Unicef, is contaminated and laced with arsenic which I found truly shocking: that there are people out there without access to safe drinking water. Maybe I am too naive and ignorant! And I was also alarmed at the high levels of corruption in Cambodia with much monetary aide coming into the country but little making it to those in need. Sad times.

Water pump and dishes.

Another Slow Boat

I took the scenic waterways route as I exited Vietnam for Cambodia taking in a floating fishing village, a floating fruit and veg market, and a Cham village along the watery way. I headed for Can Tho to see the floating fruit and veg market and had a rather creepy bus journey from Saigon to Can Tho. The bus driver of the minivan only knew "I love you" in English so I humored it for a while. The driver and bus ticket man offered to take me directly to my guesthouse which came across as a bit creepy so I hopped on the back of a moto to my guesthouse. I was just settling in when the driver turned up and motioned to me, him, and my room! Jeez! I'd only said bye to Tom a few hours before and already I was being propositioned! Of course I said a firm "no" and hid in my room for a little while.

At the floating fruit and veg market Can Tho, Vietnam

The next morning I got up bright and early and headed for the dock and got on a small boat powered by a little local woman who took me to the busy floating market and then back through the quiet backwaters (it reminded me very much of Alleppey, India). Whilst she was steering the small motorised boat she crafted me a bracelet and staff made of river reeds. Super impressive crafty skills!

Good craft!

I then headed to Chau Doc and took the slowboat, first to the floating fishing village and Cham Muslim village, and then towards Cambodia. The view was very scenic and we passed lots of kids having a great time splashing about in the river water and the usual rice paddies and wooden stilt houses. It was a very chilled introduction to Cambodia.

Floating fishing village, Chau Doc, Vietnam

Saigon and Cu Chi

The last Vietnamese stop for Tom. I really like Saigon as a city: it's big and busy and clean and there's lots of historical spots to see and great pho eating to be done. The traffic is the usual chaos but using my old trick of keeping locals traffic side ensures a safe crossing. The wealth there was unbelievable: ridiculously plush hotels and lavish designer stores aplenty which was all quite unexpected.

Veggie pho: broth, fresh noodles, mushrooms, egg, tofu, carrots, tapioca, bean sprouts, cabbage, mint, chilis... Bill Clinton ate here in 2000.

We did the usual touristy route and went to the Reunification Palace which had great interior design: very geometric light fittings and a minimalist lounge. I'm not sure that was what I was supposed to appreciate here! The basement was kept in a pretty authentic condition as it was in the time of war with maps and telephone rooms in tiny rooms down clinical corridors.

Very stylish interior!

Uncle Ho

We went to the War Remnants Museum which was an upsetting, shocking, depressing reflection of war and humanity. Most of the space is taken up with photography exhibitions taken by various, well-known war photographers documenting the Vietnam War capturing moments and expressions in a thought-provoking yet starkly factual way. I found the whole exhibition hard work for my sensitive soul but it was an extremely worthwhile, informative and emotional visit.

We took a day trip to the Viet Cong Cu Chi Tunnels which was pretty touristy yet eye-opening. We got to crawl through a small safe section of the tunnels (which span 75 miles in total), which have been widened and heightened for the fat Western tourists, to give an impression of what it would be like: hot, sweaty, small, cramped, and very dark. One of the tour guides leading another group was actually in the Viet Cong and had bullet scars on his shoulder which he displayed to his captivated audience. He had a brilliant attitude to life and explained his own life experiences in the Viet Cong and in the tunnels with humour and pride.

Crawling through the Cu Chi Tunnels

On Tour

A view of life on the road

We had a very brief stop in Dalat, sank a strawberry shake (possibly even eclipsing my love of mango shakes) and visited a mountaintop pagoda, and then scooted out of there on the back of a motorbike for a three day tour of the surrounds. It was so much fun!! I am pretty much anti-motorbikes but when traveling old ideals sometimes slip out of the window. We hired motorbikes and drivers through Freelance Cycles, strapped our backpacks onto the back of the motorbikes and away we went! It was exhilarating!! I can see why people get hooked on it: the wind in your face, being exposed to the elements, the freedom, and really being part of the landscape as you zoom through the mountains and alongside villages and rice paddies. It was incredible! An absolute Vietnamese highlight! Plus we rarely saw another traveller and so got off the tourist trail for a few days at least which was refreshing. It was chilled and fun and educational and a million other things too!! Brilliant!

We swung by this lovely blue water for a refreshing dip, after a slippy clamber down, plus a shoulder massage underneath the super powerful waterfalls.

Our first stop was Crazy House in Dalat in the style of Gaudi but executed with a little less panache. It was still an interesting spot with different animal themes running throughout, my faves being a huge ant where I drank a Vietnamese drip coffee, a big cheetah with scary red eyes, and a huge toucan with splayed wings. Crazy House is an ongoing process with new wings being continuously added to, we even had a clamber over the building site with bits of concrete and poles jutting out haphazard. Oh Health & Safety!

Crazy House under continuous construction

After exploring for an hour we hit the road with Khian and Khio our hilarious double-act drivers who entertained us with folk tales of cleverness and trickery, as well as logic puzzles using chopsticks and bamboo toothpicks that we very rarely managed to crack, and if we did it was with a fair few hints! Lots of fun!

On our first day we visited a flower farm. In Vietnam three pink roses shows love, yellow flowers for respect and red for luck. I received a lovely bouquet of pink and red flowers from my driver, none from Tom mind! We stopped off at a coffee plantation/rice wine factory combo. The rice wine is a super strong spirit made of rice (of course!) and locals make it for local consumption. It is pretty lethal stuff! Later we learnt that you can add animal bits and bobs with different effects: scorpions for the back, goats' penis as Viagra. Charming! At this little roadside place I had the best coffee of my life! Weasel coffee! To start you harvest the coffee beans, get little weasels to eat the coffee beans, wait for them to poop it out, collect the coffee beans (which are still intact!), and grind them up in the regular fashion...and this is weasel coffee!! We drank it in the usual Vietnamese drip coffee style and, oh my, it had the densest, smoothest, richest taste verging on alcoholic it was just so strong!

Waiting for our Vietnamese drip coffee sweetened with condensed milk. I'm a BIG fan!

As we approached the village where we were going to spend the first night a thunderstorm hit with dense rain so out came our matching green waterproofs which were a great lol. It was pretty scary and exciting driving through the rain and the storm with lightening cracking in all directions. We made it to our basic accommo of a huge wooden longhouse on stilts with mattress on the floor and mosquito net with no bathroom (the nearest was the restaurant down the road) and power cuts throughout the night just to add to the drama of the storm. We had a great feast with dishes galore. Khian had phoned ahead earlier in the day to make sure I had some veggie eats, and I sure did: tofu, battered mushrooms, wintermelon salad, greens, spring rolls, rice and more. Delish! We slept in our basic but huge wooden home with the loudest gecko shouting out "gecko gecko" right by our ears all night long.

In our matching waterproofs!

We also took in a brick factory, tea plantation, mushroom farm, silk worm factory, a poor attempt on my part at crossing a rickity bamboo bridge, paddled across a lake in a wooden canoe to see some surprising fishing tactics, cocoa plantation, rubber plantation, cashew nut farm, and saw a waterfall or two. Busy busy!

At the silk factory. You can see cacooned silk worms in the big baskets waiting to be cleaned. Don't fret, the dead silk worms are not wasted, they are fed to farm animals!

We had such a brilliant time and it was worth splurging the travelly budget. Khian and Khio defo made the trip memorable with their never-ending enthusiasm, puzzles, and skillful driving skills. Absolute highlight! I hugely recommend! Never try, never know!

Navigating our way through a herd of cows strolling along the road.