Cambodia and Vietnam


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Asia
February 3rd 2010
Published: February 5th 2010
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I really don't know where to start, its been an ABSOLOUTELY crazy ten days; I can't believe how much we've seen and done in so little time. I really don't think anything or anyone could have prepared me for the shock of landing in Bangkok! The first thing I noticed was the heat- it was sooo humid; i've actually never felt heat like it before-hard to catch your breath at times! Bangkok is so crowded and cluttered, there are tuk tuks (these three wheeled taxis they have out here!) and mopeds everywhere and you can't walk down the street without being asked 10 million times if u want to buy some food, catch a tuk tuk ride or buy some cheap clothes-it's MAD! I don't think i could have stayed there longer than a couple of days- it's all a bit much! We spent the next 24 hours exploring city life; visited the Grand Palace and Wat Pho (Home to the biggest reclining buddha), Khao San Road and walked round the market stalls trying out some Thai food (Can't say i'm a massive fan). Another thing that really shocked me is how cheap everything is in South East Asia- you could buy a dress or bag out here for 2 pounds, it's ridiculous. In the evening of the next day, we met our tour group and headed out for some more thai food with our tour guide; our restaurant was basically just a table on the road, big lorries and cars driving past continuously-it's just a completely different world out here. Later, we headed out for a few drinks on busy and bustling Khao San Road, so it was really nice to get to know our group a little bit better.

The next day we begun our long journey by minibus to the Cambodian border-you really notice a difference from the busy streets of Bangkok to Eastern Thailand. We started to notice rice paddy fields and more simple huts/homes on the side of the road, its crazy how quickly it changes. When we reached the Cambodian border we had to cross it on foot, which was all a bit scary actually. It was over 35 degrees outside and we had to walk a fair way, have our passports checked, fill out our arrival cards and have a brief medical check. I was pretty paranoid that something was going to go wrong, but luckily everything worked out fine!The whole process took about an hour and a half on foot. As soon as you cross the border you notice a MASSIVE change. First thing I noticed was how many children there were on the streets begging. Our tour guide had explained to us that over 50% of the population in Cambodia were under 18- it's crazy!! There were children as young as 8 dragging wooden carts filled with produce along the road, I was just amazed that children that young could manage that in the heat. The childrens' parents send them out to beg because they know they will be more likely to sell, but I guess the worst thing you can do is to give into it, because it encourages them, rather than allowing them to get the free education they could be getting ( but its so hard-because they're adorable!!).

After we crossed the border we had another three hour journey to Siem Reap-I don't really think that this is a very good representation of Cambodia, since the whole place is built up with hotels and tourist attractions, but it was really cool to see. We spent that evening exploring; had a few drinks and headed to the night market- again so so cheap! We all decided to have a fish massage too-you put your feet in a fish tank and let small fish eat away at your dead skin! It was awful and tickled so much, but it was definitely worth the money for the experience!! Ive noticed a lot more staring in Cambodia than in Thailand too; me and another ginger girl from the group were stopped and asked by another group if they could have a picture taken with us- it was like we were famous or something!

The next day we got up early to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat- one of the most stunning and famous temples in Cambodia. We headed there on tuk tuks; they're much better in Cambodia as they have four seats and a motor bike is attached to the carriage at the back-its so much fun!! It was actually kind of scary though, as it was pitch black and we got stopped by the police because our driver didn't have his lisence showing!! When we arrived, we headed up to the temple, although it was a little dangerous because we couldn't actually see where we were going (We later discovered there were lakes either side!), but that was part of the fun.

After a lush sunset, we spent the rest of the day exploring the temples-there are so many, but we only managed to look at three main ones, as you would need 2 or 3 days to cover them all! We hired a tuk tuk for the day, $20 dollars between four of us and they take you anywhere you want to go, its great!! We headed to Angkor Wat first; it was much prettier in daylight when we could actually see the AMAZING scenery surrounding it, it was brilliant! After a bombardment of tiny children asking us to buy 'three bracelets/postcards/souveneirs for one dollar' (Im so impressed by their English skills!), we found our tuk tuk driver and headed to the next temple, Bayon. This was much smaller, but still incredible-just old ruins with detailed carvings all over the walls. The last temple we visited was Ta Prohm, which is actually where they filmed tombraider. It was so amazing, huuuge trees had grown all over the walls of the temples-just CRAZY!! (It's kind of hard to explain, but the pictures will reveal all.) The tuk tuks are such a relief from the sticky and hot heat in Cambodia, since you actually get a breeze, all be it hot, for a good half an hour-its lush! Later, we enjoyed a relaxing evening in town, watched a bit of a traditional dance show with dinner, and had a few drinks! The only problem is that I seem to be hungry all the time, as im really not getting on with the food here!

The next morning, me and another guy from our group headed to the floating villiage on Tonle Sap Lake (Since we were the only ones willing to pay 15 dollars for it!). The drive there by tuk tuk was absolutely incredible; all the houses were made of Bamboo sticks and huuge families would be living in a house the size of our kitchen! You literally go from rich to poor in seconds-one side of the road might be built up, while the other is completely poor. I was shocked at just how poor Cambodia is actually, i hadn't realised it was one of the poorest countries in the world- but it was definitely an eye opener! There is rubbish everywhere, i guess no one really knows what to do with it so they just leave it- its mad. The floating villiage itself just seemed unreal, almost out of this world. Its a whole community of houses floating on the river on rafts. They from place to place via boat, and theres even a floating school, playground and police station. The young children were floating in thier mum's cooking pots. It just didn't seem real-how do they live like this? We saw some aligators and snakes too, which was scary as they actually pretty big, and then visited the floating school and donated some sweets (I think they appreciated it!).

After lunch we begun another long jouney to Phnom Pehn (The capital), at least we didn't have to cross a border this time! We saw some unbelievable things on the way, and i get the impression that this area is even poorer than Siem Reap. My first impression of Phnom Pehn was not particularly good as our tour guide had explained to us that it was a bit dodgy, lots of bag snatching, paedophillia, prostitution and even more children out on the streets! The city felt humid like Bangkok and the locals were definitely not as friendly as they had been in Siem Reap, so we all felt a bit on edge for the duration of our stay. We explored the city and then went out for a meal, our tour guide ordered tarantulas, crickets, cockroaches and snakes; i wasn't brave enough to try them, but Jade was! yuck.

The next morning we headed to the killing fields and S21, and it was pretty harrowing to say the least! S21 is where Polpet, the leader of Cambodia in 1975 carried out his torture of the educated individuals and their families in the country- i won't go into details, but it was incredibly sad to see, but very interesting to learn about the very recent history of Cambodia. His main aim was to have everyone working on the farms and in the fields- its crazy to think that he only died in 1998, so the country is only just bringing itself back together! After this, we headed to the killing fields, where all the prisoners were shipped to be killed and placed in mass graves- it really was a shock to see the pictures and the graves (some as big as 300 bodies!). After a pretty sad morning, we headed to a bustling local Russian Market and then spent the afternoon exploring the city with the group-saw some elephants and monkeys too, which was pretty cool. There were children there as young as 7, carrying 8 week babies in their arms, begging, its just hard to understand.

Later, we headed out to an orphanage, since a tour guide supported a charity with them, and spent the evening playing with them. These were the children who were lucky, and although it seems unfair for the hundreds of other chidlren on the streets, it was great to see them in a safe and caring environment. (They were so cute!!) Then we headed out for a meal, I ordered fish and chips (Amazing!), although I found 3 flies inside the fish! yuck.

After another long day travelling, we spent the next few days in a beach side town called Sihanoukville. Although the beach itself wasn't the nicest, as it was a backpackers area and lined with beach bars and restaurants, the surrounding islands were lush. We spent a day out on a wooden motor boat exploring the islands and snorkelling-it was amazing, kind of like paradise and almost deserted!The whole day was perfect. We spent our evenings having beach bbqs and enjoying a few drinks in the bars- We even bought some fireworks and set them off-it was a really fun and relaxing couple of days!

Another early morning followed when we headed for the Vietnemese border. In South East Asia, no one wears seatbelts, or even helmets for that matter, especially in Cambodia-no such thing as health and safety over here. Not to mention the roads, theres is no system over here; you literally just drive all over the road and no one would say anything; its just a normal way of going about it- pretty scary!! It was actually really sad to say goodbye to Cambodia because I really REALLY enjoyed everything about it! Its mad. It was actually really sad to say goodby to Cambodia as i had really REALLY enjoyed my time there, i must go back there one day, or maybe i can adopt a cambodian child?? The border crossing didn't take as long as the the Cambodian border, we just had our passports checked and stamped, filled out our arrival card and had our temperature checked. It wasn't so much of a shock entering Vietnam, as the area itself seems much more built up and less poor, and felt very different than Cambodia. One thing that i've noticed in Vietnam are the difference in the quality of toilets-they're disgusting here! You literally go into a concrete dark area, with a curtain pulled across and just go to the toilet on the ground, theres not even a hole. At one point, i even paid to go inside and couldn't face it once i was in there; my compartment had two live cockroaches inside- yuck!

Our first stop was Chau Doc. I really noticed a difference here, as there were literally no tourists, and we didn't get asked once if we wanted to buy anything-felt weird after being in an environment like that for so long! It was kind of nice in a way though. We spent the afternoon in a boat on the Mekong Delta, exploring the floating villiages, and seeing the local wildlife, such as fish, alligators and chickens- was really fun actually. We even got to go inside of of the houses and talk to the children-it was really interesting to see what the houses were actually like inside (Small!!). We explored the local market, and i've actually never experienced anything like it. People were reaching out to touch us, pointing at us and laughing in our faces-it was like they were amazed by us. This is when we realised how little they get tourists in this area! We spent the evening on a moped tour up Sam Mountain to watch the sunset. We all travelled in convoy for about half an hour through the busy streets and villiages with our own individual moped drivers-it was so much fun and the sunset was amazing! (Although i did manage to badly burn my leg on the exhaust pipe in the proccess, im just praying it heals quickly!).

On the penultamate day of our tour,we travelled to Ho Chi Minh (8 hours!) and enjoyed an evening exploring the city and trying the local food. Ho Chi Minh was absoloutely nothing like i imagined it to be- it was really big, with city lights EVERYWHERE- kind of like i imagine hong kong to be but on a smaller scale! I really like this city because theres just so much to do and see and its not humid and hot like some of the other cities we've visited! Although, you do literally risk your life to cross the road here, the traffic in MAYHEM-no one stops for you and they are mopeds everywhere!!( Im talking thousands!). Our tour guide explained that you have to just start walking and the traffic will drive around you- but i'm pretty sure this is the msot dangerous way to go about it, but there is no other way!

The next day we visited the Cu Chi tunnels used by the Vietnam in the war, and it was really interesting to learn about the war from their perspective! Our tour guide was really fun, and we had a really good day out! The rest of our tour group, minus three of us were continuing on through Vietnam and Laos, so it was REALLY sad to say goodbye, knowing that they were all carrying on together; it was a REALLY lovely group.

One thing I love about travelling is that EVERY place you visit has a completely different feel; it's kind of hard to express it actually. I suppose, before I went away I just thought of South East Asia as all the same, but im really glad i've had the opportunity to actually explore all the different cultures- and although u wouldn't think it, every area is so different! Whats great about travelling in a group that you meet lots and lots of people from different nationalities , so you learn so much from their experiences too and although im really going to miss our group, me and Jade are really looking forward to the next chapter of our journey in Northern Thailand!


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5th February 2010

Wow, this all sounds amazing. Looking forward to the next update :) xx

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