Temples, temples, then a bit more culture

So I wanted to go back to see a bit of Vietnam, and Tim wanted to see the south of Laos - compromise, we meet in 2weeks time in Cambodia.

I got a bus from Vientiene in Laos over to Vietnam, with the destination of Hoi An in mind. I couldn't face putting myself on a bus direct to Hoi An - 22hrs, as we'd just spend the previous 3 days doing 10hr bus trips to get down from northern Laos. So i thought i'd be clever and cross to Vinh, and then get a bus/train south. Stupid idea. I ended up being massively ripped off on the bus ticket, but was in a situation where I couldn't do anything about it. And I didn't get as far as Hoi An, and I had to spend 7hrs on a tiny minibus PACKED with sweaty Vietnamese who wouldn't open the window because it was raining. I felt like shouting 'YOU AREN'T GOING TO MELT' but of course I didn't. Also, I had to watch 7hrs of extremely loud Vietnamese music videos. Good times.

However, I got to Hoi An and placated myself with retail therapy. It is a town full of tailors, cashmere suit with silk lining - $65. Lets just say i went to town somewhat. A pretty little place, on a river which they fill with lanterns on the first day of every month, where 'fresh' beer costs 50p a pint and there is a lovely little bar which actively encourages dancing on the pool table (health and safety nightmare) and free drinks. I recommend it.

From Hoi An I took another mammoth bus trip to Saigon (i prefer not to think about how long i've spent on buses) to get cultural about the Vietnam war. I visited the tunnels built to the north of the city where Vietcong hid to conduct their guerilla war, and generally annoy the Americans. They lived for months completely underground with some entrances only accessible by diving down into the river bank. An extremely clever piece of engineering.

From Saigon I flew to a small island in the south filled with white sand beaches and fresh fish. What more needs to be said about that? although it was strangely quiet. it seemed set up to take a lot of tourists, but was a bit of a ghost town - that suited me fine.

I found Vietnam to be a great place to travel as a single female. It is quite established on the tourist trail, so travelling around is relatively straight forward, the vietnamese women were especially friendly to me. When I'd be sitting in an outside food stall on child size stools (what is that about?) they would gather round and chat to me, although with very little english, and me having even less vietnamese, we'd manage to communicate. I didn't get on so well with the men, but, you can't have everything.

Tim and I remet again in Cambodia. He'd been having fun in southern Laos bombing around on a motorbike looking at waterfalls and avoiding monsoon downpours.
Cambodia again is a completely different kettle of fish. Phnom Phen is an interesting city, but a building site. They are developing, developing, developing.
we stayed in the worst room yet. but, managed to survive without catching anything. i think.
We did the cultural/historical thing of visiting the killing fields of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, also S20, their prison in the centre of Phnom Penn. A very sobering reminder of the recent history that has occurred in Asia in the not so distant past. That and the Vietnam/American War had a massive impact on the area, peoples mentality and affected their development for generations. The Americans pulled out of the area with their fingers burned, but they left behind millions of tonnes of unexploded bombs that are still killing and maiming people today, especially in Laos and Cambodia. More bombs were dropped in Laos than in WW1 and WW2 combined - the American's 'secret' war. The destruction of the environment was also massive, and the large scale use of napalm, agent orange, blue, white, purple etc polluted the soil so badly that it has left a legacy of deformations in children and miscarriages which still affects people growing their crops in the soil and drinking the water from the ground. So Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have all had a pretty extreme past, but they have all developed into different countries, each with their own personalities.


more cambodian pics at
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92192&id=587436874&l=21b567f703
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92196&id=587436874&l=79cbd8be9f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92194&id=587436874&l=fdba6842b1

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