THAILAND - Ko Toh
When we got off the train, the next morning, we were ushered quickly onto a departing bus, apart from myself who needed to go and get some cash, so i got on the back of another moped and the bus picked me up further down the road. The ferry journey we had next was appalling. Ignore what i said previously about the bus journey from Siem Reap to the Thai border being bad, this was another level. The ferry was thrown from side to side up and down so much that what must have been about quarter of the boat was being sick around us, all we could do was try and fall asleep and ignore the wretching. After the most unpleasent 3 hour journey of our lives, which would normally take 1.5 hours in good weather, we arrived to Ko Toh. Ko Toh is a world renown diving Island and reputedly the cheapest place to learn in the world, unfortunately for me and my very tight budget it was too expensive, but over the next 3.5 days Karl and Clem proceded to get their Open Water diving liscence, good on them! While they were back to school learning all about the underwater world, bouyancy etc i was relaxing, reading, padling and going for the occasional walk. On the final night Karl and I went for a drink in town. The plan was for a quiet one but a group of travellers saw the opportunity to get us involved in their night out. They bought us some more drinks and we stayed out till late. The next day we had to return to the mainland in order to travel across the country to the west and into Malaysia. Before this, however, we had to cope with yet another awful ferry crossing, maybe marginally better than the first. Then we got on train and then bus to the next ferry terminal on the West Coast. This ferry would take us over the border and into Malaysia to the island of Langkawi.
Thursday 12 February 2009
THAILAND - Kanchanaburi
Kanchanaburi is famous for one reason, it is the location of the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, however there is much to do in the area. It lies a couple of hours west of Bangkok. We stayed in an excellent guest house on the river and booked ourselves in for a day long tour the next day. The tour took in the Erawan Waterfalls, a 7 tierd waterfall, elephant riding, bamboo rafting and a trip along the Death Railway finishing with a look at the bridge itself. The whole day was fantastic and gave us a lot more than we thought we would get from visiting the town.
The next day we took a slightly complicated journey down to Ko Toh an island off the East of Thailand just north of Ko Pangnan and Ko Samuii. We got a bus halfway back to Bangkok then got off. It took a while to find out where the train station was but a couple fo young girls helped us out and took us somewhere to find dinner, very helpful and friendly. We then got on moped taxis to the train station which was a really scary experience. We had been on mopeds/bikes before on the trip, but never with our 20kg bag on our back. Whenever the driver accelerated i almost flew off the back, i managed to hold on and forego the cramp in my leg to get off safely at the station. We then had to wait there for 2 hours for our train. Eventually it arrived and we boarded the night train down the country. It was an excellent train with beds down either side with curtains across them.
Kanchanaburi is famous for one reason, it is the location of the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, however there is much to do in the area. It lies a couple of hours west of Bangkok. We stayed in an excellent guest house on the river and booked ourselves in for a day long tour the next day. The tour took in the Erawan Waterfalls, a 7 tierd waterfall, elephant riding, bamboo rafting and a trip along the Death Railway finishing with a look at the bridge itself. The whole day was fantastic and gave us a lot more than we thought we would get from visiting the town.
The next day we took a slightly complicated journey down to Ko Toh an island off the East of Thailand just north of Ko Pangnan and Ko Samuii. We got a bus halfway back to Bangkok then got off. It took a while to find out where the train station was but a couple fo young girls helped us out and took us somewhere to find dinner, very helpful and friendly. We then got on moped taxis to the train station which was a really scary experience. We had been on mopeds/bikes before on the trip, but never with our 20kg bag on our back. Whenever the driver accelerated i almost flew off the back, i managed to hold on and forego the cramp in my leg to get off safely at the station. We then had to wait there for 2 hours for our train. Eventually it arrived and we boarded the night train down the country. It was an excellent train with beds down either side with curtains across them.
THAILAND - Bangkok
Once over the border the journey was very different. We were met by posh minibuses with air-con. But by that point the damage was done i had heat stroke and spent the rest of the journey trying to sleep and prevent myself being sick. I did make it to Bangkok without being ill.
Karl and Clem explored Bangkok without me for the first day there while I stayed in bed, apparently they had an excellent time. Next day I did join them although still not hungry. We did some of the things they had done the previous day so that i could also enjoy them, which was very nice of them. Firstly we caught a Tuc Tuc, a slightly scary experience, to the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and had a look around the exhibition. We then walked down towards the Arabic area and then to the river to catch a ferry to the temple Wat Pho which is renowned as the birth place of the Thai massage but perhaps more amazingly for a huge reclining, gold Buddha with mother of pearl feet. The temples were quite different to those in Cambodia or Vietnam in that they seemed to be really over the top, some of the decoration almost looking a little kitch from a distance, mainly because they were bright gold with shining reds and blues, etc, however some of the stone carvings next to doorways were brilliant fun.
We were staying in a guest house on Koh San Road. For those who have not been to Bangkok I should explain that Koh San Road must be the most lively road in the city where bars and clubs of all kinds meet in order to try and get the business of holiday makers. It is therefore very much a 24 hour street, perhaps not the nicest area I have stayed in but quite an interesting one!
Unfortunately due to me being ill we were unable to see all that the city had to offer and we were soon on a bus to Kanchanaburi.
Once over the border the journey was very different. We were met by posh minibuses with air-con. But by that point the damage was done i had heat stroke and spent the rest of the journey trying to sleep and prevent myself being sick. I did make it to Bangkok without being ill.
Karl and Clem explored Bangkok without me for the first day there while I stayed in bed, apparently they had an excellent time. Next day I did join them although still not hungry. We did some of the things they had done the previous day so that i could also enjoy them, which was very nice of them. Firstly we caught a Tuc Tuc, a slightly scary experience, to the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and had a look around the exhibition. We then walked down towards the Arabic area and then to the river to catch a ferry to the temple Wat Pho which is renowned as the birth place of the Thai massage but perhaps more amazingly for a huge reclining, gold Buddha with mother of pearl feet. The temples were quite different to those in Cambodia or Vietnam in that they seemed to be really over the top, some of the decoration almost looking a little kitch from a distance, mainly because they were bright gold with shining reds and blues, etc, however some of the stone carvings next to doorways were brilliant fun.
We were staying in a guest house on Koh San Road. For those who have not been to Bangkok I should explain that Koh San Road must be the most lively road in the city where bars and clubs of all kinds meet in order to try and get the business of holiday makers. It is therefore very much a 24 hour street, perhaps not the nicest area I have stayed in but quite an interesting one!
Unfortunately due to me being ill we were unable to see all that the city had to offer and we were soon on a bus to Kanchanaburi.
CAMBODIA - Siem Reap (Angkor)
Siem Reap is Cambodia's second city and it has developed as a direct result of the Angkor the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. It has been established that Angkor is the largest pre-industrialised city with an urban sprawl of 3000 square kilometres. It is said to comprise over 1000 temples fo various sizes, Angkor Wat being the most famous, which is the largest religious building in the world. Now that the superlatives are out the way I can tell you about our visit.
When we got to Siem Reap by bus we were greeted by the now familier bustle of moto drivers trying to get our business. We got to a guesthouse and made a deal with the moto driver to pick us up early in the morning for sunrise of Angkor Wat.
We got up at 4.30am and were picked up at 5.00am, it was pitch black and no one else was awake. We headed in our moto for Angkor a short drive away. On the way we picked up our photo I.D tickets and carried on. The roads were getting busier and it became clear that lots of people were doing the same thing. We got to Angkor Wat, although we couldn't see it as it was dark and followed people walking towards it by torchlight, firstly over a 200m wide moat then through a gate house reavealling a 350m long causeway to the temple itself. We found an appropriate place to perch and wait for the sun to show itself. I looked around and found it quite ironic that so many people, many of which i'm sure love to lie on the beach in their own kind of sun worship were here waiting for the sun to rise over a temple. Sure enough to sun arrived and Angkor Wat became a silhouette against a colourful backdrop.
Angkor is different to many other temples as it is orientated towards the west which led to the theory that it was built as mausoleum temple. It's site is approximately 1000m long by 800m wide. We walked around the temple and some of the grounds in a couple of hours and returned to our moto driver Chi who made a suggestion for a place to have breakfast. After. we continued to other areas of the city, firstly to Angkor Thom which is much larger than Angkor Wat in size as it was the ancient city walls. It covers an area of 9 sq kilometres and contains many temples of itself, perhaps the highlight being Bayon a temple of 50 towers with the head of a king carved on 4 sides. We continued up until the early afternoon looking at other remarkable temples, seeing elephants, both real and carved and avoiding being swallowed up by the rainforest. We needed to finish for the day in the early afternoon as we were all templed out and very tired. We knew that we still had the next day to see more.
That evening we were approached while eating dinner by a young boy selling books. He proceded to ask where we were from and then told us the last 4 prime ministers and facts about Great Britain, currency, population etc, he then asked if there were any books that we needed to which Clem asked about the next Harry Potter that we needed. He rushed off in search of it and returned with the wrong one, he went away again and returned with it. Then the price negociations began. These ended when he suggested they played a game for it, if he won she should pay his price, if Clem won she could pay her price. The game was naughts and crosses and he just so happened to have one drawn out with a cross already in place. He was obviously well practiced and won. This guy deserved the money and will definitely go far with the effort he put in. We later learned from other people that we met that these boys know facts abou almost every country a traveller might be from so that they can real them all off at the slightest whiff of selling a book. It was another fine example of very friendly people working very hard for a living and achieving it with a level of cheekiness that even i would have been proud of!
Next day we had a little bit of a lie in after the early morning the day before. We headed off to Angkor again by moto and looked around some more of the temples, the most enjoyable has to have been Ta Phrom which was made famous by the film Tomb Raider. Ta Phrom, unlike the other temples has been left to the mercy of the jungle and the sheer power of the trees is evident. Some of the trees litterally are swallowing up areas of walls. Roots extend to an enormous size and length. It is truly something to be seen to be believed. It has got to the stage where the trees are holding the temple together in places and without them the whole thing would fall down.
The final part of the day was spent at Pre Rup on top of the temple watching the sun go down with a beer. In the far distance, several miles away we could see the top of the towers of Angkor Wat as another day drew to a close.
The next day we would board a bus to Bangkok and Thailand. Angkor had certainly been worth the hype but it would have been nice to spend a little longer in Cambodia.
Throughout South East Asia I had been in touch with a friend of mine, Paul Daniels, who was apparently travelling through the same areas at a similar time, i was a little shocked when he boarded the bus we were on to Bangkok in Siem Reap. The journey was certainly interesting. The bus was full of people and there was no bag storage beneath, so every space inside was taken up with bags, including the isle and under every seat, this meant that you could not move your feet and when exiting the bus you had to climb over every bag or climb out a window as a couple of guys did. The roads to the Thai border was also terrible, dusty, bumpy dirt roads. The temperature was very hot and at one stage the bus broke down. Apart from all that it was excellent.
Siem Reap is Cambodia's second city and it has developed as a direct result of the Angkor the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. It has been established that Angkor is the largest pre-industrialised city with an urban sprawl of 3000 square kilometres. It is said to comprise over 1000 temples fo various sizes, Angkor Wat being the most famous, which is the largest religious building in the world. Now that the superlatives are out the way I can tell you about our visit.
When we got to Siem Reap by bus we were greeted by the now familier bustle of moto drivers trying to get our business. We got to a guesthouse and made a deal with the moto driver to pick us up early in the morning for sunrise of Angkor Wat.
We got up at 4.30am and were picked up at 5.00am, it was pitch black and no one else was awake. We headed in our moto for Angkor a short drive away. On the way we picked up our photo I.D tickets and carried on. The roads were getting busier and it became clear that lots of people were doing the same thing. We got to Angkor Wat, although we couldn't see it as it was dark and followed people walking towards it by torchlight, firstly over a 200m wide moat then through a gate house reavealling a 350m long causeway to the temple itself. We found an appropriate place to perch and wait for the sun to show itself. I looked around and found it quite ironic that so many people, many of which i'm sure love to lie on the beach in their own kind of sun worship were here waiting for the sun to rise over a temple. Sure enough to sun arrived and Angkor Wat became a silhouette against a colourful backdrop.
Angkor is different to many other temples as it is orientated towards the west which led to the theory that it was built as mausoleum temple. It's site is approximately 1000m long by 800m wide. We walked around the temple and some of the grounds in a couple of hours and returned to our moto driver Chi who made a suggestion for a place to have breakfast. After. we continued to other areas of the city, firstly to Angkor Thom which is much larger than Angkor Wat in size as it was the ancient city walls. It covers an area of 9 sq kilometres and contains many temples of itself, perhaps the highlight being Bayon a temple of 50 towers with the head of a king carved on 4 sides. We continued up until the early afternoon looking at other remarkable temples, seeing elephants, both real and carved and avoiding being swallowed up by the rainforest. We needed to finish for the day in the early afternoon as we were all templed out and very tired. We knew that we still had the next day to see more.
That evening we were approached while eating dinner by a young boy selling books. He proceded to ask where we were from and then told us the last 4 prime ministers and facts about Great Britain, currency, population etc, he then asked if there were any books that we needed to which Clem asked about the next Harry Potter that we needed. He rushed off in search of it and returned with the wrong one, he went away again and returned with it. Then the price negociations began. These ended when he suggested they played a game for it, if he won she should pay his price, if Clem won she could pay her price. The game was naughts and crosses and he just so happened to have one drawn out with a cross already in place. He was obviously well practiced and won. This guy deserved the money and will definitely go far with the effort he put in. We later learned from other people that we met that these boys know facts abou almost every country a traveller might be from so that they can real them all off at the slightest whiff of selling a book. It was another fine example of very friendly people working very hard for a living and achieving it with a level of cheekiness that even i would have been proud of!
Next day we had a little bit of a lie in after the early morning the day before. We headed off to Angkor again by moto and looked around some more of the temples, the most enjoyable has to have been Ta Phrom which was made famous by the film Tomb Raider. Ta Phrom, unlike the other temples has been left to the mercy of the jungle and the sheer power of the trees is evident. Some of the trees litterally are swallowing up areas of walls. Roots extend to an enormous size and length. It is truly something to be seen to be believed. It has got to the stage where the trees are holding the temple together in places and without them the whole thing would fall down.
The final part of the day was spent at Pre Rup on top of the temple watching the sun go down with a beer. In the far distance, several miles away we could see the top of the towers of Angkor Wat as another day drew to a close.
The next day we would board a bus to Bangkok and Thailand. Angkor had certainly been worth the hype but it would have been nice to spend a little longer in Cambodia.
Throughout South East Asia I had been in touch with a friend of mine, Paul Daniels, who was apparently travelling through the same areas at a similar time, i was a little shocked when he boarded the bus we were on to Bangkok in Siem Reap. The journey was certainly interesting. The bus was full of people and there was no bag storage beneath, so every space inside was taken up with bags, including the isle and under every seat, this meant that you could not move your feet and when exiting the bus you had to climb over every bag or climb out a window as a couple of guys did. The roads to the Thai border was also terrible, dusty, bumpy dirt roads. The temperature was very hot and at one stage the bus broke down. Apart from all that it was excellent.
Monday 2 February 2009
CAMBODIA - Phnom Penh
Since starting travelling we have heard from many people of what a wonderful country cambodia is particularly in regards to the people, so we were all looking forward to it very much.
We got to the bus station in the capital and were mobed by people wanting to taxi us somewhere or offer us a guest house. We got in moto (a moped and 4 seater rickshaw style trailor) and were whisked off to the Lakeside which is at first glance quite grim place, but has more character than many other places in the city. The place we stayed in was but on stilts over the lake and was called Smile Guesthouse. They were very friendly and it was an excellent place to sit back at the end of the day and watch the sun go down over the lake. Mornings were equally interesting when fishermen paddled past crouched on their canoes checking their nets.
Phnom Penh is an interesting city. The people there are very welcoming and happy despite the terrible events of recent history. For those less familiar with world history I am refering to the Khmer Rouge Regime under Pol Pot. Although we knew that it would not be a pleasent experience Karl and I felt that we should try and get a better understanding of what happened. We hired a moto for the day from the guesthouse and he took us firstly to S-21.
S-21 which means security prison 21 is a former high school converted to a detention and torture centre during the Khmer Rouge regime. It is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It comprises 5 school buildings which were used to hold people for interrogation. The museum does an incredible job at conveying the situation which i can descibe as nothing less than harrowing. Some rooms just had two items in them, a bed in the middle and a photo on the wall of how the rooms were used, normally with a tortured body on. It was obviously not difficult to imagine what a nasty place this was and how lucky we are not to have experienced anything like the cruelty of the Pol Pot regime. Which is why the site was particularly wierd, a place of such suffering and revulsion being a school, normally a place of such innocence. We watched a film about that period in Cambodian history in the museum which explained the background to the situation and we then left the museum to head for the killing fields. We left stunned, stunned that some of what we had seen there we would never be able to explain to anyone else. If we were able to talk about some of it we would not be able to get across the grusomeness repulsion of it.
The killing fields were a number of sites outside the city where truck loads of people were taken daily to be murdered. To save amunition the Khmer Rouge often beat people to death. The Killing Fields we visited have been opened to the public as a reminder of the past and the remember those who perished. A Stupa has been errected near the entrance of the site and it has been filled with skulls of the victims. In the time that the Khmer Rouge were in power they murdered between 1.4-2 million people, about a quarter of Cambodia's 7 million population. Walking round it was easy to feel insignificant amongst the mass graves of so many and i left with a certain anger and disbelief that anything like this could and has happened and in recent history!
I am sure by now that anyone who is reading this is feeling a little shocked and depressed but Cambodia does have a lot to show for itself other than its blood stained recent history. We paid a visit to the Royal Palace which is an incredible site. It is the home Cambodian Royalty and boasts an incredible architectural style. The style prioritises the roof and is ofter much larger in size than the rest of the building. I presume that, like China, the gold colour is used as a symbol of royalty and power. Highlights have to be the Silver Pagoda with it's solid silver floor and the Throne Hall. Further on through the complex is a scale model of Angkor Wat the old seat of the Khmer Empire before moving to Phnom Penh and the next destination on our trip.
After seeing the horrifying sights of the genocides in Cambodia and the war in Vietnam I was very much looking forward to the spectacle of Angkor, perhaps one of the places I have been looking forward to more than anywhere.
Since starting travelling we have heard from many people of what a wonderful country cambodia is particularly in regards to the people, so we were all looking forward to it very much.
We got to the bus station in the capital and were mobed by people wanting to taxi us somewhere or offer us a guest house. We got in moto (a moped and 4 seater rickshaw style trailor) and were whisked off to the Lakeside which is at first glance quite grim place, but has more character than many other places in the city. The place we stayed in was but on stilts over the lake and was called Smile Guesthouse. They were very friendly and it was an excellent place to sit back at the end of the day and watch the sun go down over the lake. Mornings were equally interesting when fishermen paddled past crouched on their canoes checking their nets.
Phnom Penh is an interesting city. The people there are very welcoming and happy despite the terrible events of recent history. For those less familiar with world history I am refering to the Khmer Rouge Regime under Pol Pot. Although we knew that it would not be a pleasent experience Karl and I felt that we should try and get a better understanding of what happened. We hired a moto for the day from the guesthouse and he took us firstly to S-21.
S-21 which means security prison 21 is a former high school converted to a detention and torture centre during the Khmer Rouge regime. It is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It comprises 5 school buildings which were used to hold people for interrogation. The museum does an incredible job at conveying the situation which i can descibe as nothing less than harrowing. Some rooms just had two items in them, a bed in the middle and a photo on the wall of how the rooms were used, normally with a tortured body on. It was obviously not difficult to imagine what a nasty place this was and how lucky we are not to have experienced anything like the cruelty of the Pol Pot regime. Which is why the site was particularly wierd, a place of such suffering and revulsion being a school, normally a place of such innocence. We watched a film about that period in Cambodian history in the museum which explained the background to the situation and we then left the museum to head for the killing fields. We left stunned, stunned that some of what we had seen there we would never be able to explain to anyone else. If we were able to talk about some of it we would not be able to get across the grusomeness repulsion of it.
The killing fields were a number of sites outside the city where truck loads of people were taken daily to be murdered. To save amunition the Khmer Rouge often beat people to death. The Killing Fields we visited have been opened to the public as a reminder of the past and the remember those who perished. A Stupa has been errected near the entrance of the site and it has been filled with skulls of the victims. In the time that the Khmer Rouge were in power they murdered between 1.4-2 million people, about a quarter of Cambodia's 7 million population. Walking round it was easy to feel insignificant amongst the mass graves of so many and i left with a certain anger and disbelief that anything like this could and has happened and in recent history!
I am sure by now that anyone who is reading this is feeling a little shocked and depressed but Cambodia does have a lot to show for itself other than its blood stained recent history. We paid a visit to the Royal Palace which is an incredible site. It is the home Cambodian Royalty and boasts an incredible architectural style. The style prioritises the roof and is ofter much larger in size than the rest of the building. I presume that, like China, the gold colour is used as a symbol of royalty and power. Highlights have to be the Silver Pagoda with it's solid silver floor and the Throne Hall. Further on through the complex is a scale model of Angkor Wat the old seat of the Khmer Empire before moving to Phnom Penh and the next destination on our trip.
After seeing the horrifying sights of the genocides in Cambodia and the war in Vietnam I was very much looking forward to the spectacle of Angkor, perhaps one of the places I have been looking forward to more than anywhere.
Sunday 1 February 2009
VIETNAM - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Saigon is a crazy place. We stayed in the thick of things where most tourists go. We new that it would be a good place to spend New Year and it did not let us down.
We got there a day early in order to soak up some of the other interesting things that Saigon has to offer.
We took a bus tour excussion to the famous Cu Chi tunnels. The tunnels were used during combat and day to day living and the whole site has been turned into an open air museum in which you can walk down a section, well not walk, crouch, crawl and traverse. the tunnels themelves are so small even crouched completely down your head still touches the ceiling and your shoulders drag against the edges. It is also worth noting that these tunnels have been made 40% larger to accomodate western tourists. The open air tour also demonstrated how smoke from underground kitchens dispersed to look like fog and how ventialtion holes were disguised to fit in with the natural environment. Another area showed all manner of horrible booby traps which were design to cause maximum disruption to the US army, they were not designed to kill people, just to cause enough damage to mean the person would need looking after by another soldier.
Next day Karl and i paid a visit to the War Museum which was worth the visit to see and read about the war from an unwestern biased view. The museum was highly critical of the American's in the war and after seeing what the museum displayed i was not surprised. The after effects of the Orange Agent were appalling. It was used to kill off all crops and vegetation that got in its way, so making it more difficult for normal people, moonlighting as guerilla fighters, to survive. Much of the landscape around Dalat showed how difficult the vegetation was finding it to grow back in these areas, but this was nothing in comparison the the effects it had on people. Many people born after Agent Orange was used were severely deformed and evidence of this was clear in the city and in the museum particularly. The whole experience throughout Vietnam made me realise how lucky i am not to have experienced anything as awful as war or the after effects.
We were lucky enough on New Years eve to have our door open while getting ready as a group of people walking past heard our music and came in to say hello. We spent the rest of the night with them and some others and had and excellent night, mostly in one bar which very cheekily increased drink prices by double in the last hour of 2008. On the stroke of midnight we went into the street which was full of people wishing each other the best for the new year. All in all an excellent night.
A lot of the next day was spent recovering, either from the effect of one to many beers or from the lack of sleep.
Next day we would catch a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.
Saigon is a crazy place. We stayed in the thick of things where most tourists go. We new that it would be a good place to spend New Year and it did not let us down.
We got there a day early in order to soak up some of the other interesting things that Saigon has to offer.
We took a bus tour excussion to the famous Cu Chi tunnels. The tunnels were used during combat and day to day living and the whole site has been turned into an open air museum in which you can walk down a section, well not walk, crouch, crawl and traverse. the tunnels themelves are so small even crouched completely down your head still touches the ceiling and your shoulders drag against the edges. It is also worth noting that these tunnels have been made 40% larger to accomodate western tourists. The open air tour also demonstrated how smoke from underground kitchens dispersed to look like fog and how ventialtion holes were disguised to fit in with the natural environment. Another area showed all manner of horrible booby traps which were design to cause maximum disruption to the US army, they were not designed to kill people, just to cause enough damage to mean the person would need looking after by another soldier.
Next day Karl and i paid a visit to the War Museum which was worth the visit to see and read about the war from an unwestern biased view. The museum was highly critical of the American's in the war and after seeing what the museum displayed i was not surprised. The after effects of the Orange Agent were appalling. It was used to kill off all crops and vegetation that got in its way, so making it more difficult for normal people, moonlighting as guerilla fighters, to survive. Much of the landscape around Dalat showed how difficult the vegetation was finding it to grow back in these areas, but this was nothing in comparison the the effects it had on people. Many people born after Agent Orange was used were severely deformed and evidence of this was clear in the city and in the museum particularly. The whole experience throughout Vietnam made me realise how lucky i am not to have experienced anything as awful as war or the after effects.
We were lucky enough on New Years eve to have our door open while getting ready as a group of people walking past heard our music and came in to say hello. We spent the rest of the night with them and some others and had and excellent night, mostly in one bar which very cheekily increased drink prices by double in the last hour of 2008. On the stroke of midnight we went into the street which was full of people wishing each other the best for the new year. All in all an excellent night.
A lot of the next day was spent recovering, either from the effect of one to many beers or from the lack of sleep.
Next day we would catch a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.
VIETNAM -Dalat
Dalat is very different from our other stop offs in Vietnam. It is first of all not on the coast, but infact in the mountains. Secondly it is one of the most obviously colonial places in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War high ranking officals from both sides as well as some French lived there in what became a basic safe zone, an area which neither army was allowed to invade. A very bizarre situation.
It was in Dalat where we did one of the best things on our trip so far, we took a tour with Mr Han and 2 friends from the Easy Riders. The Easy Riders are a group of motorbikers who take tourists around the more scenic and real side of Vietnam. Each of us had a driver for the day and we all enjoyed visiting a chinese temple, coffee plantations, silk factories, an amazing waterfall and finally the Crazy House by a mad Russian Architect, all along very windy mountain roads, an experience not to be missed!
Dalat is very different from our other stop offs in Vietnam. It is first of all not on the coast, but infact in the mountains. Secondly it is one of the most obviously colonial places in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War high ranking officals from both sides as well as some French lived there in what became a basic safe zone, an area which neither army was allowed to invade. A very bizarre situation.
It was in Dalat where we did one of the best things on our trip so far, we took a tour with Mr Han and 2 friends from the Easy Riders. The Easy Riders are a group of motorbikers who take tourists around the more scenic and real side of Vietnam. Each of us had a driver for the day and we all enjoyed visiting a chinese temple, coffee plantations, silk factories, an amazing waterfall and finally the Crazy House by a mad Russian Architect, all along very windy mountain roads, an experience not to be missed!
While in Dalat we were lucky enough to be watching the final of the South East Asian Football Cup, or whatever it is called, in which Vietnam were in the final for the first time in 10 years. They ended up beating Thailand in the final. Dalat errupted with people shouting and beeping their moped horms as they toured the streets national flags in hand! Brilliant!
VIETNAM - Nha Trang
Nhtrang is a party town on the east coast just over halfway down. It was raining while we were there and the sea was brown thanks to the storms. Nhtrang was probably one of our least favourite places as it has been purely angled towards tourists looking to go out and not remember what happend the night before the day after, hence there is very little of real interest. we stayed there only as a stop off to catch a bus the next day to Dalat.
Nhtrang is a party town on the east coast just over halfway down. It was raining while we were there and the sea was brown thanks to the storms. Nhtrang was probably one of our least favourite places as it has been purely angled towards tourists looking to go out and not remember what happend the night before the day after, hence there is very little of real interest. we stayed there only as a stop off to catch a bus the next day to Dalat.
VIETNAM - Whale Island
Whale Island is a paridisical, French run resort island, off the east coast of Vietnam around 2 hours north of Nha Trang. We had made special arrangements for our overnight bus from Hoi an to drop us somewhere nearby. We had no idea when they would drop us off as they did not speak english, we also did not know if they understood where we wanted them to drop us off. Anyways, in the early hours fo the morning after a very rough journey we got dropped off on a dark corner of the road and got pointed in a direction. We crossed the road to find a bus from the resort waiting for us, amazing! they drove us quickly through the night down a tarmac road which was being swallowed up by the sand dunes. eventually we arrived at the waters edge and walked along a very rickety wooden pier and boarded a boat. After abour 30 minutes the boat pulled into a harbour with a sandy beach. We had arrived at our Chistmas destination, and sure enough it was raining. 
The island was very beautiful, the food was excellent, the people were very friendly and our beach hut was very nice the only thing to slightly let it down was the weather. It rained almost all the time we were there apart from half of the last day.
My first Christmas away from home was a wierd experience, warm but wet we had our main Christmas meal on Christmas Eve in the tradition of the French(apparently). We had an excellent 4 course meal including a yuel log. For two nights including that one we shared our meal with a very nice couple from France and Germany. The wine flowed.
We left on the 27th and headed for Nha Trang.
Whale Island is a paridisical, French run resort island, off the east coast of Vietnam around 2 hours north of Nha Trang. We had made special arrangements for our overnight bus from Hoi an to drop us somewhere nearby. We had no idea when they would drop us off as they did not speak english, we also did not know if they understood where we wanted them to drop us off. Anyways, in the early hours fo the morning after a very rough journey we got dropped off on a dark corner of the road and got pointed in a direction. We crossed the road to find a bus from the resort waiting for us, amazing! they drove us quickly through the night down a tarmac road which was being swallowed up by the sand dunes. eventually we arrived at the waters edge and walked along a very rickety wooden pier and boarded a boat. After abour 30 minutes the boat pulled into a harbour with a sandy beach. We had arrived at our Chistmas destination, and sure enough it was raining.
The island was very beautiful, the food was excellent, the people were very friendly and our beach hut was very nice the only thing to slightly let it down was the weather. It rained almost all the time we were there apart from half of the last day.My first Christmas away from home was a wierd experience, warm but wet we had our main Christmas meal on Christmas Eve in the tradition of the French(apparently). We had an excellent 4 course meal including a yuel log. For two nights including that one we shared our meal with a very nice couple from France and Germany. The wine flowed. We left on the 27th and headed for Nha Trang.
VIETNAM - Hoi an
Hoi an is a little further south, down the coast of Vietnam, it is famous as being the place to go if you want any custom made clothing. It would have been great to get a suit or two made in 24 hours, however i am on a budget and i restrained. Clem however made the most of it and got lots made. lol. Apart from Tailors Hoi an does not have much else, almost every shop is trying to sell you clothes. While Clem was making her mind up about the colour of shorts to get in one place, a very persistant lady was trying to sell Karl linen trousers. We tried to good cop bad cop discount routine but it failed on this occasion, however, the lady did comment on what a nice guy i was and offered me her daughter, also in the room and also a Tailor, she looked a little embarressed. lol.
While in Hoi an we bumped into, quite randomly, Kathryn and Jakob from our China tour, for the 2nd time in Vietnam. It is absolutely amazing what a small world we live in and how many people you bump into again and again!
On the final day there, the heavens opened again, and the rain came down hard. So much so that the river came over the banks on the water front and flooded the road infront of all the bars.
Next day we left to go to a place called Whale Island for Christmas.
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