cambodia.

P1080452
Originally uploaded by ddboo.

It is so hot and humid here, we have accepted a constant state of sweatiness and filth, I doubt my feet will ever go back to being the same colour they were 2 months ago. Never have I appreciated cold showers as I do now, actually I have never appreciated cold showers at all, now I love them. Most of the places we stay in don't have hot water anyway. Although last week I only showered about 4 times - with swimming and constantly getting up early to either go see sunrise, take a tour or catch a bus, it just doesn't really fit into my lifestyle. I don't know why I am admitting that or telling everyone....but it’s true. Something is biting me, it’s kind of weird. Not mosquito bites but like little itchy ones. I don't know what they are and I just pray I don't have fleas, or worse bed bugs...ew. Anywhoo...

Another point of note is motorbikes. We are getting really good at riding on "moto's" with more than two or three people on it, since that's just how you get around here. It’s perfectly acceptable to put families of up to 5 people on one bike at any given time. No, no helmets.. just alot of people on a bike that's practically dragging on the ground. I am also getting used to being called lady. Yup, just lady.

Kampot was..well...OK. We went on this tour in Bokor National park which should have been called Breakass National park. In the park, at the top of a mountain is supposed to be a French town that has been deserted since the Khmer Rouge and there are supposed to be tigers and elephants and badgers still living in the wild here. The park itself is supposed to be a jungle. Notice the frequently usage of the word "supposed" as none of it was true. Maybe we were there on a bad day, or maybe the sore ass just wasn't worth it, but it was the worst tour we have done yet! So bad, in fact, that I am still giggling in disbelief as I sit here, still in pain, 3 days later. So bad, that I couldn't be upset or really disappointed cause it was worth the laugh (and only 7$).

We were picked up at 7:00am and driven with a group of people to the river where we took a boat to the base of the national park. This was the best part -at least I got some good pics. It was 8:30am and sweltering hot already. Next was a jeep with two benches in the back (imagine the shape, size and feeling as sitting on a 2 x 4). There were 8 of us so one person had to sit on the roof. We drive up this mountain to the "spooky, eerie deserted French town". The ride up was 3 hours of the biggest, roughest potholes ever. We pulled up to a trail to do the "waterfall hike" of course there is no water, not a drop in sight and the hike was more of a very boring half hour walk on rocks in the beating sun. Did I mention it was sweltering? Then we had to get back in the torture truck to drive to another half hour and walk to a old deserted building (we will call this building A) which was interesting to see for about 2 minutes (if you could find an angle to look at it where it wasn't covered in graffiti or swarming with other tourists). Drive another 30 minutes to building B, look at it...drive away. Enter building C, complete with a million people, alot of garbage, bad smell, bad food and nowhere to go to the bathroom. Luckily, I had to find somewhere private to go pee and came across a cross/grave on the edge of a really steep drop and got a cool good pic. I took a million because I was bored, but really like the cross one. On to building D & E, blah, blah. To make matters worse I busted up my toe pretty bad doing about the dumbest thing ever, which I choose not to disclose due to the pure stupidity of it.

Then the ride home - down pot hole mountain with a driver who was obviously late for something really important driving 100 kilometers per hour. Then us, poor us in the back just in so much pain. We sat there and concentrated on trying to stay in the truck for about a half hour then decided to try and distract ourselves by playing the name game. Ever notice when you play that game its alot easier to think of names when it’s not your turn? I play alot more games here. I do not like games, anyone who knows me knows that. I get it from my dad who also does not like games. I don't know what’s happening to me, maybe I will come home a big game player and show up to parties and family events with a game / party pack!

My butt is still sore, my toe still busted up and I didn't even get to see one stinkin' badger. If you want to see the pics from this great adventure there on my flickr...

We went to the city of Phnom Phen from Kampot (with 8 people in a car that seats 5, with no AC) which is a two hour drive. We spent 24 hours seeing the killing fields (where the Khmer Rouge committed most of the atrocities during the 1970's genocide) and an old high school that had been turned into a prison also from the Khmer Rouge, that is now a museum. We walked around the city and had a great dinner. We heard alot of negative stuff about this city from other travelers but we both loved it, as we have loved all of Cambodia. The river through town is lined with shops, French cafes, bookstores, restaurants, Internet cafes etc. The city was clean - really esthetically pleasing and the people were so hospitable and always willing to help.

Now we are in Siem Reap and Today we went to visit the great Angkor Wat. I will blog about that later because I am late to my massage from a blind person (but the pictures are on flickr). I get the feeling The Cambodians are really trying to get it together. Everywhere you go you find specialized shops where victims of landmines, polio sufferers, ex- Khmer Rouge etc come to work, restaurants where street kids learn skills and seeing hands massage where blind people learn massage. All in an effort to teach disabled and troubled people how to be able to make a living in a country where there is not much help from the government. If you are blind, or missing a leg from a landmine, you must beg on the street or find a way to make a living. Many of them send their small children out to beg for them. Many shops and restaurants donate a percentage of their profits to help teach new skills to these victims or de-mine new areas. There are alot of NGO's here and aid funding from the rest of the world to help pick up the pieces.

The Khmer (Cambodian) people are exceptionally outgoing, charismatic and intelligent. Every kid knows the capital city of all the provinces and states in Canada/USA/Australia and many countries in Europe, how many people live there and even who the P.M is. It’s a gimmick they use to try to sell you a book or just make a dollar. They bet you 1$ that they will know the capital, population or leader of your country and they usually know the right answer, unless your from Uzbekistan or something. The spirit of these people has really touched me. There is a strong sense of integrity / hope in every person we meet. They are also a really fun loving culture, they love to play practical jokes and goof off with both themselves and the tourists, i.e. throwing water on a friend and running away howling, tuk tuk drivers standing around the restaurants on the street having dance parties waiting for customers, stealing a friends glasses and quickly driving away on there motos laughing, even doing that high five, too slow hand through the hair joke. It seems really "what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger" here. They really appreciate the tourists and love to interact with them, I guess it gives them hope for the future and jobs for the present.

all of vietnam, and more

Mui Ne, Vietnam
Originally uploaded by ddboo.

Wow. OK, its been a long time since have been able to blog. I finally figured out that I can blog thought flickr and beat the system but it was my last day in Vietnam. So this blog will be long and will be entirely about Vietnam. I am now sitting in Cambodia in the dirtiest, grungiest internet cafe in town. It is however the only one open in town due to the Chinese new year, or Tet as the Vietnamese say. Hopefully my photos and witty comments have kept you all entertained in the meantime. And by "you all" i mean you mom, and your friends at work. Hi!!.

Right after my last blog we went to Vang Vieng it feels like that was months ago. People go there to go tubing down a river. We, however, were big dorks and did not. That is the one regret I have so far from this trip. Is that we slept too late and were too tired to go, then we left the next day. Don't ask.

Vang Vieng is this town made up of two streets and a river where there are bars and cafes lining the streets with beds in them, yes in the bars. Instead of a regular table you get a "breakfast in bed" type table so you can eat lying down. There are at least three TV's in each restaurant, most of them playing friends reruns or some movie. By the time I left that town I swore that if I ever heard the friends song again I would smash the TV that was playing it. Its always playing somewhere, either right beside you or off in the distance. We left here for Vietnam on a 24 hour bus ride after being here for about 24 hours. We asked one of the guys in the friends restaurants to play good morning Vietnam to get us pumped about going, its a good movie!

The bus ride really deserves a blog in itself cause it was mental, but I will try to sum it up. We left Vang Vieng and headed 3 hours to Vientiane where we then headed to Hanoi. The Bus was pretty normal until the bus driver decided he was tired and pulled over on the side of the road for 5 hours and slept. yep. Were just all sitting there like ???? and hes just snoozing away. Anyway thank god for gravol cause I managed to sleep most of the 5 hours away as well. When he woke up we went to the Vietnamese border where we had to make a foreigners alliance to even get to the border guards cause the Vietnamese would push, shove, crawl, yell, anything to get in front of us in line. It took "budding in" to a whole new level. I have never seen anything like it. We were all so appalled, but learned later that different culture, different set of manners, rules, etc. Fair enough. Apparently personal space really isnt something that is valued here. After discovering the cultural differences I realized that being pushed instead of hearing "excuse me" was something that I would just have to get used to for the time being.

So we arrived in Hanoi on Jan 31st and stayed there for 2 days. We got up at 5am one morning to go watch Tai Chi in Lenin park. The people get up at about 5am, hit the park for some Tai Chi, quick round of badminton or a workout in the outdoor public gym then go to work around 9:00am. And the park is packed! Everyone is there. Meanwhile in Canada my alarm clock was going off at 7:50 for me to be outside waiting for my ride at 8:00am. Another cultural difference or lazy? I think lazy. Or maybe they go to bed really early.

Hanoi to me was not my favourite. It was smelly, there were roasted dogs in the market and about 20,000,000 motorbikes coming at you at all times. There are no sidewalks to walk on because they are filled with motorbike parking. So the technique to getting around is to walk (very carefully) between the gutter (which is full of filthy water and rats) and the crazy traffic where hundreds of motorbikes are whipping by at 100km per hour blaring their horns. I did manage, once, to fully submerge my entire foot in the gutter water. I think it still smells. Crossing the street there is like playing chicken. Although there is a technique to that too: Walk S-L-O-W and make eye contact with the drivers and they go around you as long as you don't make any unpredictable moves. Like deciding to dash to the sidewalk could cost you your life, or at least your foot. We also did all the tourist stuff like see Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body (it looks like he is just sleeping). They heard you like cattle through the mausoleum where you are not allowed to put your hands in your pockets, laugh, talk, or do anything besides look and walk. I, of course, found out all these things the hard way. I wonder why Ho Chi Minh's body is in Hanoi instead of Ho Chi Minh City. hmmm. Food for thought - incase your bored reading this. Hanoi is definitely something to see in your lifetime though thats for sure, just for the level of craziness - smell, noise, constant action, people, etc..

So onto Halong bay where there really isnt much to say besides what the pictures on flickr say for themselves, it was beautiful. We went up in this tour group and this Irish girl taught us a game called Mafia. Which we then continued to play for 3 days straight. Talk about an addictive game. Its not a card game or board game, just a mind game with some scrunched up pieces of paper where you have to try to figure out who is the real mafia. I can imagine how dumb that last sentence sounds for those who did not play. I apologize for that and once I get home I will get you all addicted. Christmases will never be the same again.

So back to Hanoi and on the next bus to Hoi An. For those of you who have Pinks new album, check out the secret track. Its really cool and its about Vietnam which was so weird that I was on the bus in Vietnam and I didn't even know it was on my ipod and it came on. what a ka-wink-e-dink (is that how you spell it ma?). This was an overnight 12 hour bus where we brought on take-out Indian food that was so good and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. We then tormented everyone on the bus by making them play mafia with us and smell our curry and peanut butter.

Hoi An was my favourite in Vietnam, it was so cute the town was quaint and peaceful, people were so nice. The food here was to die for, fresh seafood, fresh herbs and spices. We did a cooking class one night (i kept the recipe) and it was food paradise. Each bite better than the next. I am going to cook it when i get home but it probably wont be the same. We were really only planning on a couple days here and ended up staying for 5, i think. The towns industry is clothes making. So all along the main streets are tailor shops. You walk in, pick a style of something hanging on the wall or in a magazine (or make one up), they take your measurements and make it for you for really cheap. So we would have an amazing breakfast on the river, walk to the shops, get fitted for a new top or something, rent bikes, drive to the beach for the day, come back around 4:00 for a "fitting" where you see if your clothes need any altering, then go to the guesthouse, have a shower and be ready for dinner and drinks by 7:00pm. repeat 5 times. That was Hoi An.

On to Nha Trang where I don't have all that much to say. Its great if your 19 and want to get wasted all the time, its a real beach party town. They are known for there scuba diving, but I did not partake. We took this opportunity to veg in our air-con room and eat banana pancakes (which are so good, I am so addicted to them) and watch HBO and MTV. We just needed some chill time I guess. Plus Nha Trang had a tough act to follow after Hoi An. I did, however run into someone i knew from Vancouver. How weird is that? running into someone you know it Vietnam?

We went from here to Mui Ne a beautiful little strip of beach about 3 hours north of Ho Chi Minh City. Its a fishing village. And you know it by the smell. But again, the food - so good. We had hot pot which is when they bring a steaming broth to your table and a plate of raw seafood and veggies and you make your own soup. yum. We had to cut this stop short cause we found out that all the border crossings into Cambodia by bus were closed for a week due to Chinese new year. So we booked a flight to Cambodia and hopped on the next bus to Saigon to catch the flight. It was unfortunate but it was just a beach, there will be alot more of those.

OK so the last chapter of Vietnam for those of you who are still reading was Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We basically went there to catch a flight to Cambodia but got there a day early to check the city out. I was pleasantly surprised after Hanoi. We were there for valentines day, the three of us sat in our room ate chocolate and watched horror movies. It was so romantic. It was really hot there, probably 30degreese, and in the city it felt like 100. We went to the war reminiscence museum to take in some history about the American war. It was terrible sad and depressing which is to be expected with any war. But something clicked. I realised that I had seen alot of people in the streets with weird deformities begging for money and then it all made sense. Napalm. The children of those who were exposed to this are now old enough to beg on the streets. Really sad. Anyway I think my flickr pretty much sums it up. There is nothing American here, none at all. I suspect they are not big fans...

Flying to Cambodia was so luxurious after busing my way down the Vietnam coast. It was a 20 minute flight and bam! Your there. Phnom Phen is where we landed, then we had to figure our way out to Sihanookville where we went to our friends dad's beach house for the Chinese Happy New Year. Yes, its funny, they all call it "Happy New Year". like "today is happy new year", "the bank is closed because of happy new year".

At the house we got our first intro to Cambodia which is visibly poorer than the rest of the area. I think there is alot of corruption here and its said about 10% of the people have all the money. The poor are really poor and the few rich are very rich. They are still reeling from the genocide of the Khmer Rouge and Polpot from the late 70's. Somebody told me the other day that the people are being lazy and living off aid from Europe and Japan, instead of pulling there country together. I don't know though, I don't know enough about the country to have an opinion that i can post yet....

When we got here today, we met this 24 year old Cambodian boy who took us to the beach on his motorbike. He was studying to be a banker. He is holding off getting married until he finds an Australian or European girl to marry so he can go there and make alot of money to send back to his mother and sisters. Being a banker here you make 1$ per day. And there are big landcruisers driving around and really expensive pimped out SUV's. Someone if not making 1$ per day. Apparently alot of aid money disappears and alot of new SUV's appear on the roads....

We went to an amazing white sand beach with no one on it for a couple of hours yesterday where the water was as warm as a bath. And turquoise blue. Who would have thought Cambodia had beaches like this. Last night we watched an interesting transaction take place between two Cambodian families. The mother of the family I was staying with had sold a pig to another family in town for 100$. The family who bought it came back the following day to return the pig because the pigs foot was injured. Next thing I know there is a huge pow-wow being held where all members of both families were standing around discussing, very seriously this pig, about 20 people in total. The outcome was unbelievable, the people who returned the pig agreed to give the other family 70$ for it. The other family agreed this was fair. Then no one took the pig. They set it free because of pride. The pig symbolises bad blood between the two families because of the argument so no one wanted it. This was a perfectly good fat pig, that was worth 100$! I couldn't believe it. There it went, snorting off over yonder. haha. I though about grabbing it and taking it to the market myself for 100$. Its amazing what the people in this area will do to save face. They laugh when they are angry just because anger is a sign of weakness. So instead of road rage they sit there and laugh. I think we should start doing the same thing...

Today we took a taxi to a town called Kampot which is really nothing. Just a town beside a river. OH ya, except they are supposed to produce the best pepper in the world. We came here because tomorrow morning we are going on a trip up a mountain through a jungle in Bokor National park. Phew. that was long. Peace.

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