SE Asia: Day 11

Ho Chi Minh City

Facebook is blocked in Vietnam! No wonder I've been having loads of issues logging on and this is apparently why. Such a pain although I obviously don't really need it. The very kind doorman has shown me a couple of tricks though - just add an extra 's' in the address line and it seems to mostly work.....

Saigon is the nicest of the four cities so far (to my surprise). French influence means the streets are far wider meaning when they are not filled with motorbikes the pavements are usable. Also in the style of French 'boulevards' there are many tall trees lining the streets. There's even a Notre Dame Cathedral!

The weather comes up frequently in these notes, but I reckon that is pretty much standard for an English person. Anyway, Vietnam so far seems slightly cooler, and I'm really hoping it will get even cooler as we head North. However, today for the first time I experienced rains with wind, and how well this can come in through a *closed* bathroom window and flood the first bathroom I've had that hasn't been a wet room - no dry feet for me (and no dry towels either as these were used to contain the flood..). I also feel very vulnerable to wind in a nine-storey building with such small floor dimensions, perhaps 8m x 18 m. The owners here could evidently afford to maximise their plot of land, unlike their neighbours. Great 270 degree views from the roof terrace though.

Photo count: still about 1400 - best pic was an ice cream van - a red pedal cycle with a freezer box on the back decorated in 'Walls' ice cream stickers and with the classic music (maybe pedal powered?)

SE Asia: Day 10

Phnom Penh -> Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

This time the travel day was fairly enjoyable. The coach had plush leather seats, which were huge! Leg room was actually room, and the seats were so wide only three fitted width-ways. Finally, something in SE Asia not made specifically for the build of average SE Asian people. Also, more enjoyable (or less un-enjoyable) was the entertainment. So far the films on the buses have been Chinese, loud and very gruesome - all of them would certainly be rated 18+ in the UK. Scenes of slicing limbs off, spraying hot oil, crushing and torture were fairly normal. The worst bit that I caught was a live male being fed foot-first into a mincing machine. Plenty of camera flicks to the 'mince' appearing from the machine, and when they got to the head (he was still alive) they apparently got bored and so ripped it off for a great shot of the inside of the head. Yum.

Saigon - many many many many motorbikes. The drivers and passengers here do wear helmets though, which is great. Thankfully there are no tuk-tuks around, which means I no longer have to walk along consistently shaking my head to the words "Tuk-tuk lady? You want tuk-tuk? 1 dollar?".

Photo exhibition to do with the Vietnam war: Agent orange. I feel extremely uninformed and am off to read up on this.

Photo count: 1479 - time for a cull

SE Asia: Day 9

Phnom Penh

Education is necessary.

My conclusion from visiting the killing fields in and genocide museum in Phnom Penh. This makes me feel better because I'm now over $30,000 in debt due to undertaking a degree, but for the Cambodian people the odds do not stack up well. Since the Khmer Rouge killed 20,000 (most) of the educated people in Phnom Penh, the general standard of education is very very poor. Of those that ever go to school, 41% attend for less than 3 years, and another 35% do not finish elementary school. This makes for a very superstitious and religious population, one easily influenced by the government, which is plagued by corruption. I even spotted the headquarters for the Anti-Corruption Unit - not entirely sure how effective this organisation could be or indeed who is in charge of it...

After a pretty heavy morning I spent the afternoon exploring Phnom Penh proper, discovering a fairly nice riverside promenade. On this was a sort of playground 'gym'. Obviously I immediately went for 'the rower', but fake erging in a monsoon isn't very fun and I should definitely have learned in my 18 years of education that black underwear under a thin cotton shirt isn't a flattering combination. Thankfully the general heat and a strategically situated fan in Wat Phnom ensured this wasn't and all-day look.

SE Asia: Day 8

Siem Reap --> Phnom Penh

Another travel day with a 6 hour bus journey. The drivers seem to like stopping for a break at strange places, and everyone is required to get off the bus for about 20 minutes. At the stop today I saw huge platters of insect delicacies such as cockroaches, tarantulas and other large bugs. I didn't really have the stomach to try any of them, which is pretty lame, but the 'roadworks' along the way mad for an extremely bumpy ride. Any napping attempts were soon disrupted by the standard head jerk such as one experiences in 9 o'clock lectures (especially after 5am Ely days....).

Phnom Penh - so far much better than Siem Reap. For a city that was a ghost town fairly recently it is currently bustling with locals going about their daily business. It's so big and busy that my 'orientation' walk was actually extremely disorientating, and I got thoroughly lost. The highly of that rain filled trip had to be the 'Tomato Specialized Bank'.

Dinner was fairly poor, if I'd known what 'Morning Glory', 'Water Mimosa' and other unusual items were before ordering I may have had something more special and unique!

SE Asia: Day 7

Siem Reap

Floating villages. A great concept in a country where the annual water level changes so much. There was a great range of houses in the village, from those built on top of actual boats to those constructed on rafts made from wood and barrels. I was surprised to find that all the dwellings were 'loose', but I guess this makes the village easier to move (they move inland in the wet season as the waves are too great in the middle of the lake). Other features of the village included mobile shops, which went from house to house, the abundance of satellite TVs in an extremely poor area - possibly powered by car batteries, I don't know - and a large number of pet dogs and cats.

It seems that the Cambodians often make things hard for themselves though, from what I've learned. They cut down all the forest around the lake to use the wood to build with and as firewood, and in doing so have greatly reduced the level of fish in the lake. This is also not helped by countries like China, further upstream, building dams which block the fish from migrating to their spawning grounds. Other errors include past kings using so much local labour to build great temples like Angkor Wat, that the rice fields could not farm, causing starvation and a reduction in trade, both of which contributed to the fall of the kingdom. More recently, the Khmer Rouge murdered the almost all of the educated population of Cambodia, meaning in terms of knowledge the country now trails behind its neighbours. However, with respect to community Cambodia is far richer than the West.

SE Asia: Day 6

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the tourist stop for Angkor Wat, the biggest temple in Cambodia. You can tell. It is entirely built around tourism, full of hotels, shops, agencies, the works. Not authentic at all, and not particularly pleasant, in my opinion.

Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are spectacular, in a grey, sandstone sort of way. The jungle temple (or Tomb Raider temple) was my personal favourite, as the trees are very much a part of the structure. It was impossible to get a good photograph of Angkor Wat though.

A conversation I had with a young (4 to 5 year old Cambodian girl) selling bracelets to tourists in the Angkor Wat grounds:

"You want bracelets"
"No"
"10 bracelets 1 dollar"
"No thanks"
"15 bracelets 1 dollar"
"No"
"Where you from?"
"England"
"England. Capital London. David Cameroon"
"Ummm ok, great"
"10 bracelets 1 dollar"
"No thanks"
"I don't want your thanks I want your money"
"F*** off little girl! "I don't have any money"
"You borrow your husband's money"
"I don't have one of those either"
"10 bracelets 1 dollar"
*Arghhhhh.....*

ETC.

Photos: 843

SE Asia: Day 5

Bangkok --> Siem Reap

Taxi, bus, tuk-tuk, walk, bus, bus, Siem Reap.

The border crossing was smooth. Thankfully, no one tried to sell me, which does happen. Also odd was the many businesses and casinos in the gap between the departure and arrival checkpoints. It was a hive of activity, but from experience this area is normally a sort of no-man's land. Not sure why this was - perhaps casinos etc are not allowed in either Thailand or Cambodia?

The Norwegians I met said they felt extremely safe in Cambodia, even with its unexploded landmines and its past history.

SE Asia: Day 4

Day 4 - Bangkok

It was a lizard. Proven by seeing a huge 40cm long specimen leisurely running along in the grubby canal waters. I felt slightly relieved that its 10cm diameter body would not fit through the holes in the drain covers, but to quote a companion, "if that appeared in my hotel room I'd be calling the manager".

Today was spent visiting palaces and throne halls. The pieces in the throne hall exhibition were astoundingly beautiful and valuable - mostly gold, silver and diamond. It was apparently necessary to wear a skirt (females) and long trousers (males). I did feel somewhat conspicuous in my 90s tye-dye sarong, but watching the men parade around in plain purple and pink sarongs was very amusing. Although theirs didn't suddenly drop off.

Walking today was characterised by lungfuls of fuel-laden air, people attaching pigeon food to our rucksacks (then emptying the bags and expecting you to pay for the delight of having pigeons swarming around you) and in the late evening, wading in the streams caused by the monsoon.

For dinner I managed to pull my feet out of the water and nab a table on slightly raised concrete/ This made me particularly smug until I realised that twenty or so cockroaches had had the same idea. Trying to ignore the sudden all over itching that had been occurring repeatedly since the breakfast I provided to up to seven insects earlier in the day, I managed to eat through a great Red Curry and Rad Kha (noodles in sticky gravy). The latter had an extremely high heat capacity- a warning.

SE Asia: Day 3

Day 3 - Bangkok

Ahhh waking up to the sound of heavy monsoon rain....Nope, wait, that's the sounds of the two fans that in my room because I'm too stingy to pay for aircon. At least it wasn't raining though.
An early start makes you an easy target to the lovely people of Bangkok. Before 9.30am I had learned:

• Friday was Budda day. Everything free you normally pay for. On the news last night the Thai government announced this.
• Visit the Lucky Budda, Happy Budda, and every other Budda before 1pm.
• Visit the National Palace and Wat Pho after 1pm, before 1pm is Thai monks only.
• Yellow tuk-tuks take you anywhere for 20BHT.

In fact, all the above is a load of s***, although the Thais are very consistent with their s***. Every day is in fact Budda day. Well, you don't have to pay to go into the temples any day. All buddas are available to visit all through the day. I visited Wat Pho at about 10am, along with hoards of other tourists, many in various colours of matching T-shirts. Yellow tuk-tuks may take you anywhere for 20BHT, but for 10BHT they will take you on a long detour via their friends' or family's tailors, stall, shop etc etc.

There are many beautiful tiles on the roofs of temples. You can write a message on these before they are laid, which is a nice idea. There is also a very nice bridge, but I won't go on about that here. The food is awesome. Lunch was an amazing combination of garlic, pineapple, coconut milk, sugar and chilli. Dinner was more rice and a Tom Yam soup. That was a very spur of the moment decision, but the custom at this particular place was to give you the menu and simultaneously take your order...

The walk back from dinner was less nice. I can see why the locals on scooters wear masks. I also discovered why cats sit on drains covers (which have four 5cm diameter holes at each corner), when a lizard/snake/frog - most likely the former - poked his head out to gawp at my descending foot, prompting a squeal and irrational fear of walking on drain covers. I think the cats like to take a swipe at them, much like the game where you have a hammer and moles appear out of various holes, and you have to bash them. I think I got a top score on that two holidays ago. I hope the cats' skills are as good.

SE Asia: Days 1-2

Day 1

Flying. Late at night. The beginning of the confusion of the body clock. I've never paid over $(this means pounds)600 for a flight before, and this is what you get: a smell of vomit, a seat behind a 4 month old infant and two meals. After perusing the menu - two choices: International or Indian - I went with the Indian meal. Turns out it was the best plane meal I've ever had, apple salad to start, some sort of curry with chapati and some sort of cocunutty Indian sweet for pudding, very handy for combatting the curry, as was the raita.


Day 2

10 hours later and I was having another Indian plane meal. Less fantastic, although improved slightly once I found some chicken under the dahl.
Mumbai airport was nice enough, but smelled a bit like that damp smell you get when you lock up a campervan with a leaking roof for the summer, and then have to sleep in it in the autumn. However, there were great views over the city on the way in, particularly interesting being the shanty town/large building divide, and the workers eating dinner extremely close to the runway.

Arriving in Thailand late (bad weather / turbulence which meant I couldn't relieve myself for the entire 4 hour flight, oww), I had to remind myself that yes, nearer the equator it gets dark earlier. The sky train in the dark was pretty cool though, and downtown Bangkok reminded me slightly of New York, with its skyscrapers and bright lights.

After negotiating the train, I thought grabbing a tuk-tuk to the guesthouse would be an absolute breeze, but Thai tuk-tuk drivers bargain hard, and after refusing two drivers wanting 300BHT (about $(pounds, remember)6) it eventually turned out that the taxi was cheaper, and we got to Samsen Soi3 for just 70BHT, plus the entertainment of the taxi driver happily singing along to the awful sqwuaking/Thai songs coming out of the radio.