Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and the smallest capital so far on our travels. With a plane to catch we planned only two days to see the main sites and prepare for our next and final country in Asia. With an extremely limited public transport system there are few options to get you around the city, so we hired a TukTuk to see two of the three sites on our hit list.

Unfortunately, Cambodia is only really famous for two things, Angkor Wat and the Khmer Rouge and the atrocities forced upon its people during the short reign of Pol Pot.

The simple but chillingly titled S-21 was originally a school that was converted in 1975 into a interrogation and torture centre located in the centre of Penom Penh. The Khmer Rouge governed the country for 3 years and this facility was used to process more than 20,000 teachers, intellectuals, politicians, actors, artists and anyone who disagreed with their plans for the country. So scared of reprisals from remaining families members and children of incarcerated people, Pol Pot also ordered their execution.

The facility and the genocide was discovered in 1978 when the Khmer Rouge were finally overthrown by Vietnamese and exiled Cambodian’s. It was immediately locked down and has been left as it was found.

The building is now a museum dedicated to explaining what happened and to put a human face to those that died at the hands of the Pol Pot regime. Throughout the building are displays of the hundreds of pictures taken by the soldiers of the people incarcerated at S-21, before and after interrogation. The first room we entered was to set the scene for the rest of the museum. A small, tiled floor room very dilapidated with bars on the windows and in the centre was a metal bed with no mattress and leg irons. On the wall was a large picture of such a badly beaten person you could not make out whether it was male or female. As you looked around at the floors, walls and ceiling you began to notice other marks and stains. It soon became clear that these were blood splatters from the interrogations that had taken place here. We found out that the picture on the wall was one of 14 bodies they found when the facility was captured and the picture was taken to show exactly how they had been found. Thirteen other rooms bore similar pictures hung in similarly stained surroundings. As you can imagine this was extremely disturbing and upsetting.

The picture below shows the list of security regulations for those detained within its walls.

Those that did not die at S-21 (many did) were taken to Choeung Ek or (as it is now known) the Killing Fields to be executed. Some 16 km outside the city it occupies a 500m x 500m square of land just off a main road and once was a Chinese cemetery.

The site contains a large number of mass graves burying 17,000 men, women and children. The site contains a small museum and a large 38m tall glass tower containing the 8,985 exhumed bodies. The tower is arranged by body part, with clothes and skulls at the bottom and hips, legs, and even teeth arranged on separate platforms all the way to the top. The rest of the site is open for you to wander around with small dirt tracks marking your way between the large holes that once were the graves. As you walk round the site you begin to see rubbish everywhere but upon closer inspection you realise that what you are walking on are the clothes and bones of the people buried at the site coming to the surface due to erosion. Some areas have been roped off and these are where the forensic investigators exhumed the bodies that are now contained in the tower. The final roped off pit also had a large tree oak beside it and this was used to kill the 100 children and babies who died here (the method of death being truly sick and unthinkable to repeat here).

As you would imagine, the site had a very eerie feel about it and as you walked around no one spoke. Even though the site was next to houses and a major road I cannot remember hearing a single sound during our time there. This could just be that of the brain turning off your hearing to be able to begin to comprehend the awfulness of what you are seeing.

We returned to the hostel in a sombre mood and for a very stiff drink. For both of us it’s a day we will not forget in a hurry.

We deliberated before going to these sites whether it was appropriate to visit such places but on a leaflet handed to us at the gate of S-21 the words below help put into perspective why they have been kept the way they are and why people should visit.

“Keeping the memory of the atrocities committed on Cambodian soil alive is the key to building a new and strong state. Further, making the crimes of the inhuman regime of Khmer Rough public plays a crucial role in preventing a new Pol Pot from emerging in the lands of Angkor or anywhere on earth”

Next: Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur.

More Temple Pictures

Angkor Wat

Few films have touched the hearts and minds of the film going public as much as the ground breaking Tomb Raider. With some of its key scenes based in the Temples of Angkor it has always been my dream to visit this place and see first hand the location that helped to make this film rise to the lofty heights of greatness (but sadly not an Oscar winner!) For those that have not seen the film it starred one of the greatest actresses and humanitarians of our time Angelina Jolie. Being a massive fan of hers and having the chance to be in the same place that Ange once walked, to eat in the same restaurant that she once ate will be something to tell the grandchildren (Editorial Comment: get on with it Codd!!)

When planning our trip to Angkor we read in the book that you needed at least 3 days to see this place and a week to really explore it. “Really? Once you have seen one temple you have seen them all” we both commented - oh how wrong we were.

We were advised to hire a Tuk Tuk driver as the temples are spread over a large area and the thought of cycling in the extreme heat was not to be contemplated. Our Tuk Tuk driver (Mr Phal) had obviously done this many times before and he had a route that packed in the most temples a person could possible take in a day.

Our 2 day temple fest was to start the night before with a visit to one of the temples built on one of the only hills in the area to watch the sunset. We climbed up the hill with great anticipation of the spectacular view that awaited us and with thousands of other tourists of like mind. On reaching the summit, sweating and panting to catch our breath we looked out to the amazing vista just in time to see the thunder cloud roll in and it get dark!! Oh well, better luck tomorrow as we were due to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat (the largest religious building in the world).

To achieve this, we had to be up at 4am which despite three alarms going off was still a challenge. We walked into the vast complex in darkness unable to fully appreciate our surroundings but we didn’t have to wait long. As we sat next to one of water pools that overlooked the famous five towers of Angkor Wat we were treated to the most amazing free and natural light show as the dawn broke and the sun rose over the silhouetted outline. It more than made up for the failed sunset.

After spending some time taking in the sights at Angkor Wat once in light we then carried on to visit a number of other temples of equal magnificence but completely different in style. The top two being Bayon where there are massive stone faces pointing in different directions but all seem to be looking at you and Ta Prohm which has been swallowed by the jungle and massive trees sprout up through the buildings. There is something about this place that is truly magical and ethereal. Even if you are not particularly religious, you can really feel why they were holy places.

The second day saw a relatively sensible start with Mr Phal picking us up at 7am (Emma was still not happy) and exploration of some of the temples further out. This provided us with an opportunity to get to see some of the local Cambodian villages and countryside on route. There were large areas of farm land surrounded by bamboo huts built on stilts to avoid damage from the floods in the rainy season and every so often in between the huts were brick or concrete houses (also on stilts) denoting a family that had come into wealth and therefore the ability to rebuild their home more luxuriously.

The final temple we visited was guarded by a single policeman and with few people being around he offered to give us a guided tour (for a nominal fee of course!) As he led us around explaining what the temple was for and pointing out some of the subtleties of the design, it really became clear just how advanced this ancient civilisation were. The area up until its discovery in the late 1800’s was basically jungle and what you see today had to be re-exposed. This temple, like Ta Prohm, also had a tree growing from the stone roof of one of the buildings. Our guide (or should I say policeman) said that the tree was over 400 years old, with the temple dating back over 1000 years. As with Ta Prohm, it was amazing to see how nature will find a way no matter what man has put in its way.

Over the two days we visited over 10 temples and never once got bored or felt like we had seen it before. Any single one of these temples would have been impressive enough but with so many all in one place it definitely jumped to number one of the most impressive things we have seen list - ever.

As you know its not very often that we (Editorial Comment: you) are lost for words but this time is one of them, so here are some pictures that will hopefully portray what we are unable to say.

P.S. For those that don’t know me, I was joking about Tomb Raider (but not about Ange…!)

Next: Phenom Penh and the story of the Khmer Rouge.

Siem Reap

As we have now ditched travelling through Thailand, we decided to go straight to the top of Cambodia and visit Siem Reap first before making our way back down the country to Phenom Penh ready for our flight to Kuala Lumpur. So we managed to find a bus company in HCM city that would take us direct(ish) to Siem Reap, yet another 12 hour bus journey!

We arrived at the Vietnamese/Cambodian border only two hours after leaving HCM city with our visas already in the bag, thanks to the e-visa service provided by the Cambodian government. No mans land was a 100m stretch of ground with a building on each side, the Cambodian one looking far grander and regal than the Vietnamese one…..1- 0 to Cambodia in the “I have a better border crossing than you” competition.

As we entered the Cambodian border building, we showed our e-visa to our bus conductor (and all round bus steward) and he showed us to the special e-visa desk, essentially a desk in the corner with a PC at it and a little plastic e-visa sign. The guard looked at the paperwork and with a look of contempt, switched on the PC. After a few minutes the guard announced “No internet, please wait!”

After many furtive conversations between the guards, general pointing in our direction and a long time with him on a mobile phone, he came out and asked us to wait some more because he could not contact anyone to approve the paperwork. At this point, with all the other passengers sat patiently on the bus having already successfully traversed the border, the bus conductor then asked us if it was OK to let the bus go on to its rest stop (that was not far from the boarder). He explained that as the bus was on a tight schedule it could not wait for us. Obviously seeing our panicked looks, he quickly added that he would wait with us!

Eventually, the guy again emerged from his office to tell us that he could not contact anyone to confirm the e-visa and that we could not use them to enter the country. And what a surprise, our only option was to buy another visa at another $50. Ironically, the e-visa system was put in to prevent corruption at the border crossings and overcharging!!

After more messing around and $50 lighter we finally had our visas (well two actually) but no bus. As we were whisked outside by our bus conductor he quickly marshalled three motorbikes and before we knew it we were speeding up the road, hanging on for dear life much like we were fleeing from an illegal boarder crossing. Thankfully, the bus wasn’t delayed by our incident and we continued on with no further drama.

Its funny how an imaginary line on a map can have such a dramatic affect on the landscape, architecture and even the look and colour of the skin of the locals. We were definitely in a new country.

An hour further up the road took us to the banks of the Mekong river and to a flat bed ferry that would transport us across the narrowest bit. As we got off the bus to take in the view, a local thrust a silver platter piled high with some tasty treats and asked the immortal words “You want to buy?” As I perused the goods on offer, it took me some seconds to work out that the tasty treats were in fact BBQ locusts which had an un-canny likeness to Minstrels (but with legs). Needless to say, I declined the kind offer but I would imagine that similar to Minstrels they would have the same hard crunchy exterior and the melt in the mouth centre!

On a high after our successful navigation by Iphone in Nha Trang, we had a plan B just in case our hostel did not come and pick us up as they were supposed to. Map at the ready and plotting our course as we entered Siem Reap we realised that a walk was certainly out of the question due to the distance to our hostel and the fact there were no street lights in this part of the city. Thankfully, as we pulled into the stop, we saw our names on a piece of paper held by a friendly looking man stood next to a motorbike with a trailer (their version of a Tuk Tuk). Watching the map on the Iphone the driver took us in a completely different direction to where we thought the hostel was and after a 15 minute drive we arrived at the correct hostel but miles away from our destination according to the map. It just goes to show that technology can sometimes only take you so far. Thank heavens we were collected!

Siem Reap feels much more isolated from other major conurbations compared to everywhere else we have been, but it’s the centre of Cambodia’s tourist trade and you can see this from the large expensive hotels that have been built. The centre is fairly small with loads of bars and restaurants to satisfy the growing numbers of tourists.

Cambodia has its own currency but due to it being very unstable anything more expensive than a can of coke is in dollars and this includes the money dispensed from the ATM‘s. Also, for the first time on our trip we now have to take the malaria risk far more seriously and therefore decided on three deterrents - Malaria pills, 50% Deet spray and mosquito nets. Despite this, the first night in Siem Reap saw both of us bitten numerous times around the feet and ankles. Nothing we seem to do seems to stop the little buggers from biting either of us……so much for all the deterrents!

Besides the temples of Angkor there is not much else to see in Siem Reap other than to take in the charm and lazy pace of the place, but we fancied one more trip before moving on. This was the floating village of Chong Kneas. With the heavy monsoon rains not yet arrived in Cambodia (they were supposed to start in April) the rivers and the village were sitting on only a few inches of water. The village is made up of 40-50 platforms/boats which included schools, churches and shops. Being low season and early in the morning (our Tuk Tuk driver seemed to enjoy getting us up and out at ridiculously early times…Emma wasn’t happy!) we were the only people on the boat which was both a good and bad thing.

The tour included two stops within the village, a fish farm/shop and a school. As we ended our tour of the fish farm, the shop the sales pitch started about buying pens and books for the kids at the school we were about to visit. With the guilt turned up full notch, we purchased two packs of pencils for $10. We made our way to the school and began giving out the pencils. It didn’t take long to realise this was a scam, as you could see the kids weren’t very interested (probably because it happens every 30 minutes as each boat arrives) and one lad was at the back collecting up the pencils no doubt to be repackaged and resold to the next set of tourists.

Its not a nice feeling being taken for a ride by the rich when you are trying to help the poor. You can see this a lot in Cambodia and that most of the money from tourists go to the very few and they are fleecing us blind. The poor stay poor whilst being photographed by the hordes of tourists. We left this trip not feeling great and realised that in some parts the tourists (us) are part of the problem.

 

Next: the truly magnificent Temples of Angkor Wat.
 
 

 
 

Ho Chi Minh City

Next stop was Ho Chi Minh city or Saigon as it is also still known in Vietnam. For a bit of a change and a chance to see some of the Vietnamese countryside we decided to take the day bus rather than the overnight sleeper. After so many night buses we worked out that after waiting around all day for the bus to leave and then sleeping most of the next day due to not sleeping on the bus we would be better off travelling in the day.


The bus follows the only major road in Vietnam (Highway 1) and as we headed south along the coast for much of it's journey it offered us great views of the beaches that Vietnam is becoming famous for. Finally the road turned inland towards HCM city and as we drew closer the sights began to change from the rural, sleepy towns to more factories and high rise buildings. After 12 hours we finally we arrived in a large, modern bustling city unlike anywhere else we had seen in Vietnam. Even though Hanoi is the capital, HCM city is definitely where the money is and far more westernised than the rest of the country which was evidenced by the fact that for the first time we had not been given chopsticks with our meals.

Being the professional sightseers that we now are, we knocked off HCM city’s main sites in our first day. First on our hit list and the one to leave a lasting memory was the War Remnants Museum. As you would guess many of the sights in Vietnam are centred around the two major wars in their history; the war against the French that ended in 1954 and of course, the infamous Vietnamese war against the Americans. We had already seen a war museum in Hanoi that mainly focused on the French war (which they also won) and so now it was the turn of the Vietnamese war to get the museum treatment.

The museum was not as you would think it might be, a celebration of winning another war against an opposing force but instead it concentrated on the atrocities that the American forces inflicted upon the Vietnamese people. To do this, most of the exhibition displayed photographs that were taken by the hundreds of photo-journalists who documented the goings on in this very different war. The museum also included aircraft, helicopters and all sorts of ground vehicles either captured or left when the USA left defeated from the country. We spent nearly 2 hours walking around the building looking at these incredible pictures and reading the captions. The pictures ranged from aircraft in bits mid air about to crash due to a friendly fire incident, to torture of Vietnamese VC soldiers by American troops, to a picture of American soldier picking up the spine and still connected head of a dead comrade. They also had a display of photos to show the affects on people of Agent Orange that was used by the USA to de-forest the country. Many of the pictures were of severely disabled people which was bad enough but just to really bring it home, they also had a presentation in a glass box of two foetuses preserved in formaldehyde that showed the horrific abnormalities created as a result of Agent Orange being sprayed all over the Vietnamese landscape.

The museum (as you would perhaps expect) was very one sided and only showed the American atrocities. There was no mention of the tortures used by the VC on American POW‘s and it did not show or talk about the killing and torture of the Vietnamese who were accused of helping or colluding with US forces, but being their museum and their country I suppose they did not have to.
The museum successfully communicated two key facts to us both - the affects of chemical warfare on both sides and the cruelty that humans can inflict on fellow humans all in the name of war (or in the Americans case, protecting trading routes and stopping the march of communism).

Today there are 5 million disabled people in Vietnam and rising due to the use of Agent Orange, with soldiers in the USA also suffering from its side effects. The areas where the chemical weapons were used are starting to grow back but the birth deformities continue as the poisons got into the food supply and ground water.
This is a must see museum for all visitors to HCM city, just don’t expect many laughs.

With three days to entertain ourselves and having already done the city in one, we booked two trips. The Chu Chi tunnels and the Mekong Delta. I think so far we have been lucky with the trips we have been on as we have read about lots of scams with tour companies. Unfortunately, the Mekong Delta trip was where our luck ran out. We spent a total of 7 hours in a bus (there and back) only on arriving to be pushed around four separate “shopping” experiences and only saw a handful of boats in the floating market, then to be told that the really good floating market was another 16 km away and not possible in one day!

The Chu Chi tunnels was billed at a must see by everyone we spoke to and it did not disappoint. The Chu Chi tunnels are 200km of underground tunnels that surrounded HCM city and was used by the army to fight both the French then the Americans. They are situated around 60km outside the city and was basically the reason the VC beat the Americans out of Saigon. The tunnels were not only used to transport troops and equipment around the area without being seen but were also home to entire villages, hospitals and weapons factories. Most of the tunnels have now collapsed but for a few which have now been modified and widened for tourists to climb through. Even with them being widened they are still extremely narrow, necessitating you to crawl through on hands and knees and at a depth of 10m below ground it is similar to being in a hot, humid coffin.

Also on the site was a shooting range and for $15 you could buy 10 bullets and shoot your favourite weapon. Being the worlds most deadly weapon I have always fancied firing a AK47, not knowing when this skill will come in handy. With the smell of gunpowder in my nose I stepped up to take hold of my weapon and fired the first shot. OMG (or words to that effect)!!! Even with ear defenders on the noise was incredible, however not as loud as the scream from behind me from Emma who was as equally caught off guard by the immense noise. When people say I think I heard a gun shot, they are lying. The sound of a real weapon cannot be mistaken for a cat knocking over a dustbin. All in all, it was a great day out for all the family, especially if you’re a member of the NRA in the USA who we saw had even brought their own ear plugs. So I hear you ask, did I hit the target with my ten shots? No, not even close….I think the target must have been off!

The visit to Ho Chi Minh city brought an end to our amazing time in Vietnam, so next is Cambodia and Siem Reap, the home of Angkor Wat.

Nha Trang

The journey to Nha Trang was via our old favourite, the overnight bus. This bus instead of having bunk beds had around 24 flat beds side by side in the same configuration as the seats would have been. Being no wider than the original seat it made it very cosy. As the bus loaded from pickups at the different hotels around the town, a number of westerns got on. First was a single female who (when she saw the setup she looked in horror) said out loud “That’s cosy, I wonder who I will be sharing a bed with tonight”. She did not have to wait long to find out as a Vietnamese gentlemen got on shortly after and was shown to the bed next to her. His little face lit up whilst she prepared herself for spoons! I am learning from this trip that there are many reasons why anyone should never complain about being in a couple!

With only one train line and one major road running the length of the country, basically joining the major cites, you could say the infrastructure was basic. Highway One (meaning the only one!) we had envisaged would be a motorway, but no, it was actually a single carriageway road in a very poor state of repair. The bus at times would be doing 5 miles an hour while it negotiated the unfinished road surface (or in some cases actually went off road to get round the road works!) or make an almighty bang as it hit very large pot holes at speed. Terror would also take hold as the bus would attempt to overtake the slower moving trucks with oncoming traffic clearly in view. One of the more interesting manoeuvres was where we were overtaking a truck and another bus was undertaking it on the slip lane whilst another truck was bearing down on us in the opposite direction! Never again will I moan about the state of the M1 or road works! With this constant terror and lurching we only managed minutes of sleep at a time.

We were due to arrive at Nha Trang bus station at 6:00am and would be ready to meet someone from our hostel who we had organised to pick us up. So as we arrived at a hotel somewhere in the town we sat waiting on the bus to be taken to the bus station and were surprised to see our luggage being off loaded. I quickly jumped of the bus to get them to put our bags back on only to be told that this is the bus stop. As I protested and explained we needed to go to the station he then (very conveniently) could no longer understand English! So we had no choice but to get off. It quickly became clear that the hotel was an affiliate of the bus company and they were trying to sell us rooms. There were also scores of motorcycle riders trying to take you to their hotel for a commission and didn’t seem to believe us when we said we already had accommodation booked. Luckily I had a map of where we needed to go to on the Iphone so we marched off in the direction of the beach to get our bearings. After a 30 minute walk the Iphone took us right to the door of our hostel much to the indignation of several motorcycle riders who had followed us still thinking a sale could be on the cards! Needless to say, after no sleep, being dropped at some random location, carrying our packs in an already a very hot temperature even though it is still early morning, both of us were ready to go postal if we were asked one more time “You want hotel?”

Nha Trang is one of Vietnams premier beach resorts, expensive high rise hotels on the front, cheaper accommodation, restaurants and tour operators in the back streets. Unless you were told you would think you were in Spain 20 years ago. We had booked to stay 4 days and planned to spend all of them on the beach doing nothing for the first time in 8 weeks, yes a proper holiday (I look forward to the hate mail).

We dropped our bags and went to get some breakfast and this is when it started. Every few minutes you would be asked if you wanted to buy sunglasses, books, cigarettes, all manor of rubbish. Some even just said “You want to buy something?” Some did take the first no as an answer and walked away, but most just kept asking. Even in restaurants, they would come in and stand next to the table. We were always polite but after this level of constant interruptions its was getting very difficult. We eventually made a rule that we would say no thank you 3 times but after that we would ignore them. This may seem harsh but with them standing inches from you while you try to eat it really does test your patience. Unfortunately, the beach was even worse for it so we both praised the Lord when we happened upon a restaurant/bar called the Louisiana Brewhouse that had a private pool and you could rent a sun bed for $1. Just to add to this heaven, it was also a micro brewery and served some of the best beers I have had since leaving home. Needless to say this became home for four days!!

Our stay in Nha Trang also coincided with another important date, our 1 year anniversary (everyone say arhhhhhhhhh) so as we had taken a shine to the Louisiana Brewhouse we decided to splash out on a slap up meal and decent bottle of wine, whilst sat overlooking the pool and beach. I know, I know, I am getting a bit good with the old romantic stuff!

The weather here has been great with no storms in the late afternoons, so our days have been spent in the sun. I am not a great fan of sun bathing so not wanting to get burnt I stayed under the parasol, read my book and listened to my Ipod. Emma on the other hand assumed the best position for a tan and began the hard work of turning like a chicken on a spit. Late afternoon came and it was time to return to our hostel, at which point Emma spotted that my arms, face and upper chest had burnt. After she had stopped laughing at my indignation of not going in the sun so how could I get burned, she came up with a new nickname for me…….Prawn boy - oh how WE laughed.

Next: Ho Chi Minh City and out last stop in Vietnam.

Hoi An

Next from Hanoi was a 600km trip by sleeper train to Hoi An via Da Nang. The hostel in Hanoi was so worried that we would get on the wrong train they took us to the train station, put us on the train and even made sure we found the right berth. Yet more proof that the people here are far more friendly.

We are now getting old hands at the whole not sleeping on a sleeper train and as this one was a 14 hour job we settled in the for the night. Typical sleeper trains have 4 berths in a cabin so its always a lottery who you may get to share your evening with…..this night I think we struck gold.

It was a long haired American gentleman, quiet and in his late 50’s, who made up our cabin along with a none English speaking local. As usual we exchanged pleasantries and shared some travel stories before settling down for the night. The train did not arrive until 13:00 the next day so we had a few hours to kill once awake and we began to chat to the fellow. It turns out he was on his way to Da Nang to stay with an old girlfriend he met whilst he was stationed out here during the Vietnam war - yes a real life war vet. He came out last year to see if she was still alive and found her living in the exact village he met her at 40 years ago. He was stationed on a small hill just outside Da Nang called Marble Mountain which contained caves and is now a popular tourist attraction. Unbeknown to him at the time the VC (Viet Con) also had a base of operations dug in tunnels underneath the caves which they operated attacks from and that they had been watching them the whole time. He expressed that it was a miracle that he had not died on that mountain.

He then went on to describe how he lost 4 of his friends in a friendly fire incident with him being the only one to survive and that he had been medically evacuated home shortly after. He said that since being in Vietnam he had not had a full night sleep in 40 years due to the night terrors and that part of visiting again this time was to hopefully put to rest some of the bad memories. It was a fascinating story from someone who had obviously seen a great deal. It was also interesting that he had applied for a 3 month visa which had been granted whilst in America, however when he got to the airport he was pulled aside by immigration and downgraded to only a month with no reason given! Sadly we never found out his name (so enthralled by the story we never thought to ask) but we both hope that he has found some peace through this visit. Upon arriving in Da Nang we said our goodbyes and made our way 30km further south by taxi to Hoi An.

Hoi An is a small fishing village with a very laid back style which has become famous for its hundreds of tailors and shoe makers. Walk into any shop, pick your fabric, pick your style and within 24 hours they will make a tailored piece of clothing for you. After much deliberating Emma decided to have a dress made. Its pure silk, tailored made to fit and cost only 19 GBP. Of course its beautiful and she wished we had time to have some more items made.

Close to Hoi An is a temple site called My Son dating back to the 4th to the 9th century and advertised as a mini Vietnamese Angkor Wat. As the trip was only a half day and just an hour by bus we thought it would be a good distraction from all the shops. The site occupied a large area in one of Vietnams jungles and according to the guide we picked the right day as it was not too hot. As we stepped off the bus and began to walk into the site through the jungle the heat was incredible, the close proximity of the foliage made the heat far more intense and humid than anything we had encountered before. We both commented that we would have hated to have been here when it was really hot!

The site is fairly run down with many piles of bricks taking the place of the original 30m high towers. This is mainly due to the Americans and the VC using this area as a playground during the war. The Americans dropped many bombs in this place as there were known to be VC hiding in the nearby jungle. Due to this the site is littered with craters from the bombings and it is sad to think that the place has stood untouched for 2000 years and then practically destroyed in the last 40! None the less, it was an interesting place to see and perhaps in a ironic way was more interesting destroyed as you could really see the scars of recent history and really imagine the people having to fight and survive in these hostile jungle conditions.

We also met up with the Ha Long Bay couples one night as we all seem to be following a similar path and ended up having the best meal of the trip so far in a little restaurant called Morning Glory (insert your own jokes here!) Once again one too many beers for one night but a great, chilled out time.

Next more chilling and for the first time this trip a proper beach break in Nha Trang.

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is another of our must sees on this trip and due to its close proximity to Hanoi we organised a 3 day sailing trip with our hostel in Hanoi. Just to explain why this was a must see, the Ha Long Bay area is made up of over 2000 islands, essentially the same limestone peaks we saw in southern China except this time in the sea. The scenery of the area will be familiar to you through the HSBC advert with the man in the boat fishing using a cormorant and also very similar to the scenery that you see in “The Man with the Golden Gun” where James Bond goes to Scaramanga’s island.

The 3 hour bus journey to pick up the boat was as usual broken up with a toilet stop, except when I say toilet what I really mean is a huge shop with a single cubical for the 20 coaches that arrive every hour. These stops are always fun as the tour makes a big thing about no shopping but obviously because it is only a toilet stop it is ok to drop us in the middle of this tourist trap (most definitely not shopping?!) This shop (sorry toilet stop) was unique in that it sold fridge freezer sized marble statues! Even after asking how we would get it home in our backpacks they still continued to try and sell us them (I must learn to remember that sarcasm does not translate).

At this particular stop and being rather bored we invented a new game…..who could spot the inappropriate couple first from the other coach parties. These couples are made up of western, middle aged men with a non English speaking Asian partner who the western gentleman had picked up at the airport before starting his two week holiday (similar to picking up a rental car, however no license required and the only insurance needed is medical). They are fairly easy to spot as the girl usually looks completely bored as she has been here a hundred times before and he is following her around like a child follows its mum. Emma won the game as usual by spotting a whole coach load of inappropriate couples - very funny, if not totally sad.

The trip we had organised was a 2 night, 3 day trip which included a night on a Junk sailing the seas between the islands and a night on the biggest island Cat Ba. The tour was supposed to have no more than 16 people on board, which turned out to be more than true because we only had a total of 6 on our boat, 3 couples all English (we were not sure if that was deliberate or not - put all the trouble makers together perhaps?!)

So we left the heavily industrialised Ha Long City and chugged off into the 2000 islands that make up Ha Long Bay. Our first stop was to visit a massive cave that cut its way under and into one of the limestone peaks and then this was followed by sea kayaking around the floating village that is permanently moored up beside this island. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. The day ended with the Junk moored up in the middle of the sea, swimming around the boat and then eating a really tasty dinner and a can or two of beer whilst watching an incredible sun set. I can honestly say that it doesn’t get much better than that!

The other couples on the boat were newlyweds Kerri & Grahame from Rugby and Sarah and James from Glasgow. The drinking went on late the first night as we chatted and got to know each other.

Next day we were taken to Cat Ba island, the largest island in the chain and I think the only inhabited one. After a minibus and another smaller boat we arrived in the middle of flat delta which had been flooded to make fish farms, where from here we were guided through the mangroves to the entrance of a small cave. We were in the middle of nowhere with just the 5 of us (us, Sarah & James and the tour guide - we had left Kerri and Grahame on the boat as they were only on a one night trip) and the man sailing the boat. He powered up a diesel generator and took us into the cave. What was presented to us was a untouched cave complex with hundreds of temporary lights powered by the outside generator. No ticket office, no one trying to sell you postcards and no other visitors. As we wondered around I found a entrance to another cave and the guide took me down to explore this more difficult area. Everyone else chickened out (James used the excuse of not being able to climb down because he only had flip flops on…..only joking James) so I was left to wander this new area on my own. The guide took me to the entrance of another cave and peering into the bottomless void you could see the bats flying around only disturbed by the light we were shining down…..very cool.

We were off next to the main town on Cat Ba and a nights stay in a sauna (sorry, I should say hotel but without electricity all night the heat in the room was unbearable) and more beer with the remaining couple Sarah and James - yet another beer fuelled late night. The first drinking establishment we went to was a collection of floating barrels that had been made into a restaurant/home. In the middle of this floating platform was cut a large hole where they fished for the seafood that was put onto the table….at least you cant say it wasn’t fresh. The floating restaurant was connected to the harbour by a 30m long walkway loosely connected by ropes. It made the journey to the establishment look like contestants doing the assault course in it’s a knockout (no jokes about the outfits) and certainly made you work for your beer. We only stayed for a few drinks as nothing on the menu took our fancy and the ear bursting Vietnamese karaoke started to grate a bit after about an hour.

On the final day using a number of boats and buses we were transported back to Hanoi for one more nights stay before catching the night train to Da Nang and Hoi An.

This was a great trip and certainly the best way to see this incredible natural wonder. The only regret we had was that we did not have more time to explore the many islands.

Next Hoi An.

Emma & Bill

Hanoi

Our next country is Vietnam and our plans meant our starting point was Hanoi. Our arrival at our hostel was thankfully uneventful with a good flight from Hong Kong and a very useful free pick up service from the airport which meant we didn’t have to brave the Vietnamese taxi drivers that, according to the book, are renowned for their scams on western tourists.

Hanoi is a chaotic, noisy place but with a charm and a people you can’t help but warm to. We were staying in the old quarter of Hanoi which has many French influenced buildings, many in need of much maintenance but none the less still attractive architecture. Hanoi appeared much poorer than anywhere we had been so far with more street food and make shift shops taking over the pavements. One evening we were walking down one of these streets and were very surprised to see parked in the middle of the road a Bentley GT, an odd site amongst this level of poverty. During our stay we saw similar sights including a Rolls Royce and a top of the range Ferrari doing 2 miles an hour trying to fight its way through the thousands of motorbikes. Its clear that some have big money here, but its just the very few.

The traffic is mad, thousands of motorbikes all broadly obeying the rules unlike China but still making a road crossing an adventure in itself. If you stood on the side waiting for a gap you would never cross the road, so we devised the following technique. Step slowly into the road walking at a constant speed without stopping and without running. This gives the oncoming traffic time to ride round you with the obligatory blow of the horn. Warning: this technique only works with bikes, do not try with cars as they would just run you over!

As you would imagine everything is so much cheaper in Vietnam with a typical meal costing around 2.50 per head including beer and accommodation around 6 per night. With more English speakers and more menus translated into English we have been eating more local food which is not very different to Chinese, but with more Thai type flavours. Its been great and we have had some really delicious meals (as long as you stay away from the dog meat which ironically is a delicacy here!)

On one night on the way back from a meal and not wanting to go back to our room just yet we accidentally found a jazz club playing live music. Minhs Jazz club was empty and looked like it should have shut down years ago, but feeling adventurous we went in anyway for a night cap. As the band warmed up we spotted movement at the back of the stage….a rat had decided to join the band - Cool. As the band began to play the rat took centre stage. Sitting on the speakers and generally wandering around the stage. I have to say that it added something to the music as I hate jazz!!! Rattie (as he became known) even followed us back to the room that night and kept us awake by running through the air con ducts in the hotel - Nice.

Hanoi was our first experience of almost unbearable tropical heat with it reaching 38 degrees and 90% humidity. Even a short walk out onto the street solicited monster sweating and very soon after completely wet clothes. Not nice especially when we did not always have air con at night. It was like sleeping is a sauna, however we knew we needed to get used to this as this is what its going to be like for the next 6 weeks.

With this high humidity came monsoon storms, generally in the late afternoons or evenings every day. You would always know when it was coming as the wind would pick up closely followed by the torrential rain and then wrath of god like thunderstorms. We got caught the first day not recognising the signs and being the gentleman I am, I gave Emma my poncho and walked for 30 minutes in the rain whilst being laughed at by the locals who had taken refuge. Although I was soaked to the bone, it certainly wasn’t cold and actually wasn’t too dissimilar to standing in a tepid shower with my clothes on.

With Hanoi being so small we spent most of our time wandering the streets looking at the buildings, shops and the many lakes that inhabit the centre of Hanoi. And for the second time this trip we missed the chance to see a mummified dead communist leader due to very restricted opening times at the mausoleum (Ho Chi Minh obviously has better things to do). We clearly need to do better on this side of our sight seeing, but I fear that there may not be many more mummified body opportunities!

We loved the people, loved the place and loved the food but after 3 days it was time to move on, so we organised a 3 day sailing tour around the famous Ha Long Bay which will be the subject of the next blog.

Emma & Bill