Week 18 Vietnam and Cambodia

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Wed 13
Wendy and I took a risk and gave our laundry to a random girl on a bike near our hotel. We half thought that was the last we would see of our stuff and I was particularly concerned as it was the majority of my clothes. However, the next morning our laundry was where the girl had been, but was stuffed up inside the top of a large beach-sized umbrella on the side of the pavement as she had gone somewhere else. We caught up with her later to pay.

We had a couple of free days in Hoi An which is famous for its hundreds of tailor and fabric shops, where you can get made to measure clothes made within a day. Nicki had shown us several reputable ones in varying price ranges so I went to the middle cost one and was measured for some short linen trousers and the cheap one for several tops and another pair of linen capris.

Hoi An is full of old French-influenced buildings, coffee shops, patisseries and great restaurants. We had a pleasant time wandering the hundreds of shops, watching life on the river and partaking of large quantities of calories. There was a good wine bar called White Marble where we all met at 6pm each night for a few glasses of very expensive wine. The whole of South East Asia seems to be horrendously expensive for wine, but this place had a reasonable choice and kept it well. Some of the others in the group had been on a cookery course during the day and were full from eating all of their dishes, so I grabbed some snacks at the wine bar

Thurs 14
You have to go back for a couple of fittings when you get clothes made, so the day was interspersed with visits to both outlets that were making my stuff. It was funny as we kept bumping into the other members of our group doing the same thing. Kim and I had a lazy day wandering the town and I bought a lovely silver necklace after some hard bargaining. The weather had dried up and was quite pleasant although “muddy street” in the main area was still a quagmire. Dinner with the group was at Mango Rooms, very expensive and not great.

Fri 15
Unfortunately we had to go back for some final fittings which meant another morning in town and so we did not have time to go to the temple ruins at nearby My Son. We had lunch at a lovely local restaurant by the river and had the best mango shakes ever. The afternoon was spent travelling to our next destination of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).

We drove by bus to Denang via Marble Mountain where we stopped for an hour to look at the hundreds of shops selling all kinds of marble statues, some of which were truly horrendous and to visit the pagoda on the top of the hill. We passed by China Beach again, which was so built up with new luxury hotel chain building sites that we couldn’t get to the sand. Its not a very attractive area but they are building a massive new resort and casino area, mainly for the Chinese and Korean market.

We caught the afternoon flight to HCM City on JetAir which was a real squash. We hit rush hour on arrival and got held up in heavy traffic but it gave us a chance to see the city and all its modern buildings and neon signage. We were all really surprised to see how Westernised the city is and how cosmopolitan. This is so very different to the North of the country - the look and feel, the people, the wealth and the attitudes. All of the stops have been very different and great but you cant judge Vietnam properly unless you travel through both the North and South.

Sat 16
In the morning we took a Cyclo tour of all the main attractions n the city centre including the Opera House and City Palace. We stopped outside the ugly 70’s building that is the Reunification Palace which contrasted with the spectacular and interesting GPO building designed by Gustav Eiffel, which is still used as the main Post Office and has the old fashioned wooden phone booths. We popped into Notre Dame Cathedral during mass and finally got dropped off by the cyclo drivers at the Remnants of War Museum.

The museum holds many exhibitions about the American war in Vietnam, was a moving and saddening experience and just shows what a tragic waste of life on both sides any war is. It includes some disturbing and gruesome pictures of victims on both sides, including those burned and disfigured by Agent Orange and other chemicals. There was a really great section that featured the war correspondents work and had some amazing pictures - there was a large area dedicated to the work f Larry Burrows that is worth seeing. We finished on a positive note in a small exhibition of children’s paintings showing their hopes for world peace and harmony.

In the late afternoon we caught a taxi up to the Sheraton hotel for happy hour and went to the 24th floor where a lovely bar overlooks the whole city. After a couple of delicious cocktails we walked a few 100 yards down the road to the famous Rex Hotel, where the American army generals planned each day of the war and the correspondents filed their copy with their press offices. The sunset over the city was particularly colourful, possibly due in some part to the smog from all the traffic and hundred of motorbikes.

There are probably more bikes here than in Hanoi, but there is a more structured road system, so its organised chaos rather than the complete bedlam in Hanoi. We asked the local guide about traffic laws and he basically said there are no rules at all. The bikes also carry huge loads that are often many time wider than the bike, or whole families - the most we saw was six people which included 3 small children, on a single bike. There are often very full cars too and you can normally tell from the front, as when you see somebodys face squashed up against the windscreen you can bet the rest of the car is jammed full. One SUV that passed us must have had 25 people in it.

In the evening we met up with Nicki and went to the Ben Thanh Market where we ate street food on one of the many stalls and had a wonder around the vendors. Sadly the quality of goods was pretty poor, mostly consisting of copies of copies of named goods and very dodgy looking bags and shoes. We had a reasonably early night in preparation for leaving the country.

Sun 17
A long a tiring journey due to the all day 9 hour bus trip from HCM City (Saigon) in Vietnam to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The roads were very bumpy at times and there was not much leg room. The border crossing was tedious and lengthy with lots of red tape and queues. We again had to pay an extra tax of 1 dollar towards the workers overtime payments as we were crossing on a weekend.

We stopped at the massive complex of the Cu Chi Tunnels which were dug by the Vietnamese to hide in whilst conducting raids on the nearby American bases during the war. There were over 200 kilometres of tunnels in up to 3 storeys deep. We had a good guide who explained the ingenious and inventive attempts on both sides to wage war. The Americans tried many different approaches to destroy the tunnels including gas, fire, flooding, German shepherd dogs and the terrible Agent Orange to defoliate the thick forest that hid the tunnels. The Vietnamese countered all these attempts by inventing new ways to hide and in total only 7 kilometres of the 200 were ever destroyed.

We were shown some horrible man traps that the Vietnamese built to kill the Americans. Many of these were made from salvaged materials from the American ordinance, including tyres, tanks and bombs. We also saw how they had lived in the tunnels and cleverly piped in air and piped out smoke. The tunnels were tiny and the Americans could not fit down them but now they have built some larger versions to give tourists a feel for what it was like inside, but I only went into the entrance.

We crossed the river on a car ferry and drove through miles of rural villages and fields. The difference in look and feel just over this land border is amazing, with Cambodia being much less populated and far greener than Vietnam. The village houses are quite attractive and are on stilts with the living quarters on the top and the amimals and storage underneath. There was also much more livestock in evidence than we had seen in Vietnam, with lots of thin cattle and large flocks of ducks.

After settling into the hotel we took an evening tuk tuk rude to the famous Foreign Correspondents Club for drinks overlooking the river and then dinner at the Romdeng Restaurant where street kids are trained to work. The atmosphere was good and the food delicious with lots of small dishes that we all shared, which is a good way to try new tastes. Back to hotel for much needed sleep.

Mon 18
Today was hard. We were collected early by Mr Ran our guide who took us to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum where we learned more about the atrocious torture and murder of over 17,000 intellectuals and people who had spoken out against the Pol Pot regime that died in this one prison - one of many throughout the country. Over 3 million Cambodian people were murdered during the short period in the late 70’s, leaving the current population with 50% under the age of 18 and almost 2 generations missing.

The prison buildings with their tiny inhumane cells, the torture and interrogation rooms, the photographs of the prisoners and the commentary from Mr Ran who himself was sent to a work farm as a young boy and lost most of his family, were moving and upsetting. The photographs of the Pol Pot soldiers who were only young people mainly between 12 and 24 were also moving when you learned that they were killed themselves after less than 12 months service by the next batch of recruits, as they had seen and knew too much. Nobody escaped from this prison (that originally was built as a school) and only 7 people survived when the Vietnamese finally invaded the country and rescued these remaining people. One of the 7 survivors was at the prison when we visited and we listened to him talking to another group briefly, via a translator.

We then went about an hour outside the city by bus to see the Killing Fields, where dozens of mass graves have been excavated. This site is one of many throughout the country. It has a surprisingly serene and calm atmosphere but the stories we heard were horrible. You walk over areas where you can still see small bones and bits of clothing buried in the soil and when it rains more is exposed.

We stopped at the Friends charity restaurant on the way back to the city where they take in street kids, educate them and train them to work and support themselves. We bought a few things in the little shop where the kids make items from recycled material, paper and plastic. The food was delicious and was like a tapas with lots of small dishes.

Back in Phnom Penh Mel, Kim and I caught a tuk tuk and paid our driver to take us around the city to stop at all of the main sights. We first visited the museum that is housed in a lovely looking building, then went to the Imperial Palace and Silver Pagoda. We went to various monuments and statues and to the hill where Wat Phnom is located. Here we saw the elephant that makes the daily circuit around the bottom of the hill and them walks through the traffic back to its stable. He was wearing cute leather shoes on his front feet. We wanted to see the mass aerobics classes in the park where thousands of people gather in groups to exercise, line dance and play sports such as badminton, but we were too early. Therefore we had to retire to the Foreign Correspondents Club for happy hour.

We met up with the rest of the group and went to a restaurant called Veiyo Tonle that employs ex street kids. On Monday nights the children put on a performance of traditional folk dancing and we were lucky enough to get the front table in this very small and squashed room. All the kids are orphans and their fate would be living on garbage dumps, starving, contracting AIDS or leading a life of crime if it was not for the NCCLA (New Cambodia Childrens Life Association) that gives them homes and education. The dancing was wonderful with colourful costumes and good music played live by kids. Towards the end they do a character performance dance with all the boys in make up, looking like little old men. One in particular was very cute with a cheeky grin and bags of character. We had taken bags of useful items with us to donate, such as toiletries, hair bands, paper and pens. It was a great evening and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I had no idea at that point abut the little present I had been given.

Tue 19
I am annoyed and upset as I was so looking forward to our first guided tour of Angkor Wat, but I was up all night with violent food-poisoning and had to miss it. We had to leave the hotel at 5.30am which was no hardship for me as I had not been asleep, or for my roommate Mel who had the unpleasant fate of listening to me throwing up all night. We went to Phnom Penh airport by bus and caught the Cambodia Air prop plane for the 45 minute trip to Siem Reap. Although I felt faint I thought the worst was over. Wrong.

I wont bore you with the rest of my day, just to say that I stayed in my room counting toilet rolls while the rest of the group went to see the highlight destination for the whole tour. Never mind, I am staying on for at least one extra day when the tour finishes so will hire a private guide and do it later in the week.

I made a mistake on my last blog regarding the exchange rate of Vietnam Dong, due to having spent too long in company of Aussies, it was not 43 (which is Aus Dollar rate) but should be 33 pounds to 1 million Dong. In Cambodia I am still spending like Elton John as its a mere 147 pounds to 1 million Cambodian Riel.

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