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Saved: September 6th 2022
Phnom Penh - The Flower Stall.
Both of us had a great time exploring. The people were friendly, the wine was good and the prices were excellent. —
July 22nd 2008 Siem Reap to China
Our taxi to Phnom Penh cost a bit more than we were used to paying, but Miranda had been assured that the vehicle would be brand new. Bags packed, we left the hotel and walked toward the taxi. It was not new — indeed dilapidated would be a better word to describe its condition.
The driver approached me in a brazen fashion and demanded his money up front. I replied that I would be pleased to pay him — when we arrived in Phnom Penh. After pressing me for a couple of minutes he gave up and went silent . . . not a good sign. Miranda surveyed the beat up, old taxi and told me she had been lied to . . . not a good sign. Then the driver tried to put us both in the back seat . . . not a good sign.
I made my way into the front seat, but the door would not close. It was obvious the taxi had been in an accident . . . not a good sign. Telling the driver sternly
Picture, picture!
As we continued to meander through the streets of Phnom Penh, people had a tendency to stare at us, particularly Bryan. The average Cambodian is about 5 feet 5 inches and a little over 100 lbs. Bryan, on the other hand, was over 6 feet 2 inchs and well over 200 lbs. This is a photo of Miranda with some curious onlookers. to fix his door, we went to wait in the lobby (safer).
Miranda and I are seasoned travelers and had learned to trust our gut instincts. I suggested to her that we leave by the side entrance. She was worried because she'd been told we'd have to pay $100 for the taxi we'd reserved even if we didn't use it.
Walking over to the front desk of our four star hotel, I told them politely how very good the service was and that their buffet breakfast had been fantastic: our compliments to the chef. Then I shifted to a stern voice and explained how upset I was about the "new" taxi -- in great detail.
The desk clerk responded by making it clear that the hotel did not own the taxi service and there was no need to see the manager. We left in a bit of a huff but quickly (we travel light), and found "our" tuk tuk driver who helped us make a speedy get-away. He drove us to another hotel, making sure we had not been followed by any nefarious dudes.
At the second hotel, we hired a taxi which was in good
Rickshaw driver
We took numerous rickshaws around Phnom Penh. Our favourite destination was the Press Club near the Hotel California. shape. We got in and I looked over at our little driver, who was a boy. Miranda said he was a teenager, to which I replied that he could hardly see over the steering wheel. We did agree that he was too young to drive.
As it turned out, he was just shuttling the taxi to the "stand" where a grown up got into the vehicle. From then on it was an excellent trip with an excellent driver to Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
With the help of our taxi driver we found the hotel we were aiming for in
Phnom Penh . Unfortunately everyone else had had the same idea and it was fully booked. Just a few steps down the road, however, we found the luxurious
Town View Hotel. It had a fantastic view of the city from the dining room on the top floor. Across the road was a Chinese restaurant with great food of which we never tired. It was here that Miranda had her first taste of Bubble tea.
Phnom Penh was easy to get around with a number of rickshaws waiting outside our hotel to take us anywhere we wanted to go for a reasonable
Our neighbourhood
Miranda poses near where we resided in Phnom Penh. rate. We headed to the riverfront upon our arrival and were very taken with the
Foreign Correspondent's Club (BEST PHOTO) near the Hotel California. The day had started out well, but as we were eating our meal and basking in the ambiance of the quaintly old-fashioned FCC, it began to rain. It continued to pour heavily for a long, long time. Unsure what to do when the rain did not let up, we finally decided to head home via motorcycle rickshaw. As usual we agreed on a price in advance, so we were concerned when the driver seemed to be taking forever to get us back to our hotel. The
rain continued to come down in buckets and soon we figured out what the driver was doing: he was driving a circuitous route to avoid flooded streets -- there was not much leeway between his motor and the rising water level.
We were about half-way home when the motor gave out. Our driver apologized profusely, but there was really nothing he could do. He put us out on the sidewalk and we tried to stay on high ground. The water level would be way above our knees. After a long while we were
able to flag down another vehicle and make it home safely. Although it was a much shorter distance, the second driver received as much money from us as the first -- desperate times call for desperate measures! We were very wet and our sandals were a mess, but all's well that ends well.
The French Scammer
On a beautiful sunny morning I left the hotel and stepped across the street to the local internet cafe. Typing away on the computer I noticed a man with a French accent speaking to the cashier. He was explaining that he had forgotten his wallet, would have to go to his hotel in order to retrieve it, then come back and pay. The female employee was in an awkward position: she could not leave the cafe, nor should she let the man leave without paying.
I stepped forward and offered to pay the amount — approximately $10 Canadian — but the man with the French accent (who said he was from Paris) refused, saying he would come back immediately and pay. The girl let him go. I finished my work and left a few minutes later.
The next day when I
Do you feel secure?
Miranda chatting with the local police. (This photo has its roots in one taken in Pakistan.) returned to the internet cafe, the young female employee recognized me and said,"Your friend did not return to pay me and I am very upset." She also told me that the same man had played the same trick on a friend of hers, a taxi driver. It was becoming clear that they had been victims of a scam artist.
I walked up the street speaking to other shop owners and even asked at the Chinese restaurant where we had eaten many meals. It seemed that the Frenchman had scammed almost everyone! I offered to repay the amount at the restaurant, assuming that the waitress would end up paying for it herself, but the owner told me not to worry, the waitress was his niece.
After much investigation I returned to the internet cafe and, because the amount was large and a difficult loss for a small business, I reimbursed the cashier and her taxi driver friend. Miranda and I had always assumed that tourists are the one who must take care, but I was reminded once again of the sad truth that the devil is an "equal opportunity employer" and scam artists can just as easily be tourists
Town View Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
A photo of Miranda from our hotel's dining room. Great town view of Phnom Penh. as home-grown cons.
Vietnam
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and were able to find ourselves a great hotel right on the prominent
square/park. Although
Pham Ngu Lao is a touristy area, there were a number of advantages in staying there.
Our first little trip was to the War Remnants Museum. We caught a taxi in front of the
Zen Plaza across the park. As I suspected, it was a lot cheaper than it would have been if we had left from the touristy area. When we arrived at the museum the very long ride only cost us the equivalent of $2, and I gave the driver a $1 tip. Miranda was upset with me because I gave the man such a large tip, arguing that it was one-third the entire price.
The museum was much better than we had imagined. There were actual tanks, airplanes and other military equipment set on the beautiful grounds, and the photo essays and other displays were well-documented and interestingly set out. We spent a great deal of time working our way through the various buildings of the museum.
On our return, we hailed a taxi part way down the
Town View Hotel
Bryan poses with the helpful and friendly front desk clerk. It was the friendliness of the people that made our stay so pleasant. (May 2008 FotoetimePhoto CR) street (not right from the museum) and asked to be driven back to the shopping center across the park from our hotel. I took out the equivalent of $3 and had it ready to pay when we arrived. To both our disgust the driver asked for more than double the original amount ($6 Canadian).
I said in a loud and slightly sarcastic tone that Miranda would catch, "Oh my. That is a great deal of money. What will we do? We need to go to the bank to get you some more money!"
At this Miranda left the taxi and headed into the shopping center. I handed the driver the equivalent of $3 and followed Miranda, saying, "I'll be back . . . someday" When I caught up to my wife we ran to the elevator and discussed the audacity of the driver at trying to charge us more than double the going rate.
"He thought he could charge us anything he wanted," ranted Miranda. "I hate being in that position."
"Well, he only got what I wanted to pay him," I groaned.
We took the elevator to the top level of the shopping center
Cambodian currency-25 cents worth
Miranda counted out our money which added up in total to 25 cents. and found a food court that we had not come across before. The meals were surprisingly good, and we sat through a heavy thunderstorm, watching in awe from high above road level. We had salvaged our afternoon.
The Botanical Gardens
Miranda decided we would go to the Botanical Gardens and
Zoo. It was hard to determine the location on the map we had, so we decided to take a taxi. Miranda tried to read the map and describe the route. She had somehow figured out that it should be on the water, so she asked to go to the river. The driver conscientiously drove us to the river, where we saw the docks and many boats: but no Zoo or Gardens!
When Miranda finally explained that we wanted to go to the Zoo and he drove us right to the entrance. We weren't really expecting much from the Gardens and Zoo, but we were pleasantly surprised. The variety of tropical plants were set out in a green oasis of a gardens ... a nice change from the bustling, noisy city.
At the zoo Miranda and I stood watching some rabbits ... as they were devoured by
a bright yellow python. An employee of the zoo explained that pythons only eat live food and that the rabbits were drugged. When a rabbit "comes to" and begins to move the python grabs it for dinner. With gruesome curiosity a crowd of us watched as the python opened its jaw wide and managed to swallow the rabbit whole. The snake then used its muscles to move the rabbit-shaped lump further and further into its body. Horrifying and captivating at the same time.
At another cage we were handed some carrots by a woman and we fed some elephants. Naively we had thought the carrots were a gift, but as we got ready to leave she held out her hand and demanded a very large payment. We were shocked and, gave her a much more reasonable amount. She shouted at us and made quite a scene as we made our retreat. Even after years of travel we still sometimes drop our guard and forget to ask upfront, "How much?"
We had asked the taxi driver to return at a certain time to drive us home, and he was there waiting. Pleased by his manner and sense of responsibility,
Our rickshaw drivers
Like most people in Southeast Asia, our rickshaw drivers enjoyed having their photograph taken. I decided to ask him if he would drive us to the airport two days hence. He assured me that would be great. I told him where we would be staying and what time he should arrive. He even came the night before to look us up and tell us he would be there the next morning.
We flew to Hanoi and the shuttle dropped us off at a travel agency near the Old Quarter. We had picked out a hotel from Lonely Planet and made our way there on foot. It was not difficult to find with a few directions from the travel agency employees. The family run hotel was very old and our room was unusual in shape and design (long, high and narrow). There were windows with curtains looking out over the staircase, and the furniture seemed dwarfed in the large room. Every time we went out we were grilled by the family in the lobby about where we were going and if we wanted to take a tour. We stayed one night, but after discussing it decided we both felt uncomfortable and would prefer a different hotel.
Next day we walked around the
Old Quarter and
Good morning Vietnam
Miranda with her bicycle rickshaw driver on our morning tour of Saigon (HMC). found a more modern hotel called the Indochine (around the corner from St. Joseph's cathedral). Both of us were pleased with our accommodation: Miranda with the included breakfast and I, with the in-room computer. The neighborhood was perfect for us, being close to a very large, scenic body of water known as
Hoan Kiem Lake (or Lake of the Restored Sword), a grocery store, handicraft shops and
many varieties of restaurants .
China (Taiwan)
Taiwan, also known as Formosa (from Portuguese: Ilha Formosa, "Beautiful Island"), is an island situated off the southeastern coast of mainland China. Considered part of the Republic of China it has yet to be integrated as was Hong Kong.
Taipei, the main city, was crowded. There was a lot of
rainy weather and we were finally forced to buy an umbrella. Miranda was pleased with the large, wooden-handled umbrella we found on sale "for a song." Certainly we were glad we had it the day we went to see the Taipei Zoo and the
Maokong Gondola! Miranda and I rode the subway out to the Zoo station and made our way to the gondola. At the very top we got out to explore the temple and the surrounding grounds. The views in all directions were
Pit stop
Miranda enjoys breakfast at a nearby hotel. breathtaking. We were able to hike a short distance below the temple while others went for snacks and souvenirs. As we headed back down, Miranda took note of the zoo sights below us. The animals and their habitats from above was a new experience.
Back down on ground level we walked about ten minutes to the zoo entrance. This very large zoo is set up by different geographical sections and takes a long time to cover. We walked up the sloping pathways, checking out the various sections along the way. The zoo was well marked. Miranda and I had a fun time finding the animals we wished to see.Then rain that had been
threatening began in earnest. The sky opened up and soon it was if a large bucket was dumping water on us from above. The rain hitting the ground was splashing up to our knees. The two of us huddled under our one umbrella and decided to run into the nearest restaurant or store we could find. We soon spotted what looked like a shopping centre and headed for the entrance. After scouting about, we came upon a McDonald's restaurant and rode out the storm.
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam
The restaurant waitress and Miranda like to joke around with each other (and with Bryan). Photo Photo Photo
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Mike
non-member comment
wonderful
Wonderful to read about your travels. And to see all the pictures. Sure do miss you guys. Mike