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Hi Everyone,
This is my second attempt at this entry, the last one was lost when lightening caused a temporary power failure, ho hum. Anyway onwards, I left you in Battenbong (bad luck for you). From there we returned to Phnom Phen the capital for our onward journey sadly involving yet another bus long past its retirement date.
Next day 25th April and on to Sihanoukville (named after an ex king). The usual excellent bus journey followed by much haggling with the cyclo driver (a moped with trailer that you sit in which is actually much more comfortable than it sounds) finally got through with the old walking away with your baggage trick this generally leads to an agreement about price pleasing to all parties. Sihanoukville is a very strange place built in the 1960's its a seaside resort which most put me in mind of Costa del Sol, lots of bars with names like "Daves English Pub" and the beautiful white beach is sadly covered with rubbish. After travelling through the remoter parts of Cambodia this came as a bit of a shock to us. On the brighter side we did get to visit Ream national park, and got
a boat down the river to a fishing village from there we headed into the jungle and half an hour later we arrived at a pristine white beach fringed with palm trees. After much playing in the waves we made our way back to the village for a great meal of barracuda and rice yum!
Next stop on our travels was Kampot, only an hour away but so very different, a small town on a river full of old French colonial architecture and producer of the worlds finest pepper (honestly).
Its worth noting that the rainy season started early in Cambodia this year so we are getting regular deluges and the most fantastic thunderstorms, which usually happen in the evenings so we can sit and watch the storms whilst having dinner, most civiliesd as long as you dont mind large rats making the odd appearance from the storm drains.
From kampot we set out on the back of a 4WD to the French hill station of Bokor. The station started in 1916, a playground for rich French colonials sporting a large hotel, casino, church and many lovely villas. After independance Cambodians took over the villas but the party continued
until the 1970's when the Khmer Rouge regime ramsacked the station and the population fled. Now it is a very eerie ghost town but you can still walk into the hotel and see the remenants of the sumptuous fittings. You would almost expect to see the guests of days gone by lounging on the balconies.
Onward again, this time to Kep, once a French seaside resort known as kep sur Mar another victim of the Khmer Rouge, who destroyed or ramsacked the many villas and killed a large number of the population. It became known as the city of ghosts. It is now on the slow road to recovery locals have taken up residence in the remaining villas and travellers are discovering the white beaches again, also the excellent crab which is prepared fresh from the sea to your plate (yum again)
Kep was our last stop in Cambodia and on 3rd May we crossed into Vietnam by a fairly entertaining route.
We were taken to the Cambodian side of the border in car by one of the staff at our hotel, by back roads on a route that was new to him, thus neccecitating various stops to
ask directions. At the frontier we had to get our passports stamped to exit Cambodia, then our rucksacks and ourselves changed tranport onto mopeds, with the driver balancing the rucksack between his legs through pouring rain to the Vietnamese side. Here we were first seen by the immigrations officer who scrutinised our passports and visas for some time before passing us on to his collegue at the next desk (public health) here we had to sign forms confirming we had no communicable diseases (dont think so) then finally on to a third desk (customs) lots of stamps in the passport a little longwinded but honest, no $2 "overtime fee or "weekend fee" for the officials like in Cambodia and Loas.
Accepted in Vietnam its back onto the mopeds (its still pouring) and of to Ha Tien, the closest town (8km) where we planned to get the ferry to the island of Phu Quoc, but this had left when we arrived so we quickly altered our plans and headed for the bus station to get a bus to Rach Gia, next port up with ferries to Phu Quok. Bus just leaving so pile on with bags wave goodbye to friendly
moped drivers and off we go. On reaching Rach Gia the ferry had left again, so we got tickets for the next day and cut our losses found a hotel close to the harbour and spent the evening sitting on a bench outside watching the world go by.
We were rudely woken at 5am by martial music followed by aerobic music, it seems the Viatnamese don't sleep much. The ferry took 3 hrs and was accompanied by the ever popular (in S.E.Asia) ultra violent, ultra macho movies played at full volume, generally its either this or super slushy romantic music videos, which in there own way are just as alarming.
Phu Quoc was a quiet time, days in the sun and sea staying in a lovely hotel. Payoff for the border crossing and subsequent journey.
Moving on we were on our first flight since flying into Bangkok in late February. Vietnam airways to Ho Chi Mihn City (HCMC) a quick one hour flight at a mere 20 pounds each, followed by a taxi ride to our hotel in district No.1 centre of the city. HCMC is a big sprawling place, in the centre most of the old buildings
are being replaced for skyscrapers and shopping malls. Its a crazy mix of luxury and poverty all in a country that is still communist as the as the many sculptures in the Socialist realism style and red flags bare witness.
In Vietnam like in Cambodia and Laos you cannot help but notice the appalling number of sex tourists, western men who come to these countries and exploit the terrible hardship of local girls for the sake of boosting their own egos. It is by far the thing I hate most here, its completely disrespectful to their host countries, the girls and themselves, yet they seem to think nothing of it. Sometimes it is quite hard being a man.
Ok, rant over, we did contribute to the ecomony at street level by buying up supplies including superglue to hold our trusty footware together. On our last evening in HCMC we had cocktails on the 26th floor of the Sheraton hotel sitting outside overlooking the city and drinking margaritas!
Onward to Mui Ne where we are now an iydilyc spot by the sea (thats the South China Sea or Gulf of Thailand if you prefer). Big waves so lots
of body surfing and staying in a beautiful cottage. Travel in Vietnam seems to be easier and for us hardened travellers a welcome change of pace. Let us see if it continues!
Regards to all
Shane & Claire
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