Tim and Em

This is it!

Tim and Em — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

After 204 days, 10 Countries, 17 Flights, 72 hotels/hostels, 65 Buses, 44 ferries/boats, 13 rented moped, 2 rented campervans, 1 rented car, an unquantifiable number of taxi/moto/tuk tuk and approximately 75,000 Kms later, we are saying farewell to the blog. We came away as boyfriend and girlfriend, we return to the UK engaged to be married! We came away pale and (perhaps) slightly overweight, we return a little tanned and over 3 stone lighter between us.

Happy, happy, happy

We said a sad farewell to our Aus Screen suntan lotion. This suncream had become like a friend to us. We met in a supermarket in Byron Bay, Australia and since then he has never been far from us. Perhaps he was the most well travelled sun cream in history? We thought he was everlasting but he dispensed his last in Ao Nang, Thailand. We leave you with one of the last known shots of Aus Screen looking resplendent in blue and yellow!

Goodbye Aus Screen

For our final two weeks, we are just relaxing and avoiding any bus journeys! Currently we’re in Koh Lanta, it has been the perfect tonic to a hectic travelling trip – very quiet, few tourists and the beach pretty much to ourselves.

Koh Lanta - Long Beach, where is everyone?!

Koh Lanta - Long Beach

We volunteered to walk dogs at the local animal Sanctuary so took Punky and Crusty for an afternoon stroll.

Who let the dogs out

Crusty(in black), Punky(light tan) and Em(green dress!)

We return back to Ao Nang for a few nights on Tuesday and hope to do some more snorkelling. Then head to Bangkok for the final few days before flying home.
Thank you to everyone for looking at the blog and a bigger thank you to those who have left comments. We have had over 2200 hits on the blog since it started but we think about 2199 hits are our parents!
We appreciate that some of you may be rather blue that the blog has come to a close. However, don’t worry we’ll be home soon and we can show you the 4000 pictures we’ve taken!!
Tim & Em have now left this blog.....

No more blogging!

Ao Nang

Tim and Em — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

From Chang Mai we flew down to Phuket and had a couple of nights there. We didn’t do an awful lot other than laze around the pool hence no separate blog entry.
We moved onto Ao Nang, this was the final part of the trip for Polly before heading home to the UK. Decided just to stay in Ao Nang for 6 nights and have day trips out rather than move around. It was really good to settle in one place and unpack our rucksacks. We pushed the boat out a little and stayed in a very nice hotel set back from the main street so it was nice and quiet.

Another horrible beach!

Booked a boat trip which toured 4 of the outlying islands on a long tail boat with some snorkelling. The islands were beautiful, all very bounty like, with white sands and clear aqua water. Snorkelling was also brilliant with quite a large variety of very friendly fish! Our underwater camera seems to have worked quite well, so got some decent photos too.
Most of the rest of our time was spent relaxing by the pool, which was wonderful.

Plenty more fish in the sea

Amazing snorkelling

On the last day we decided to go on a speedboat trip to the Phi Phi Islands. The boat stopped at several different locations, yet more idyllic beaches and snorkelling sites. One of the stops was Maya Bay, which was the location used for the film “The Beach”.

We're not having a good time!!!!!!!

It was pretty stunning, although it was full of speedboats! Despite it being rainy season we had been lucky with the weather so far, however within about 20 minutes a storm blew up. The beach cleared very quickly, a very strong wind appeared and we were in the middle of a sandstorm! It was pretty rough back on the boat, but we headed away from the storm and things calmed down again. Ao Nang beach was in sight on the return journey when the boat slowed down considerably.. we then ran out of fuel! The boat was adrift for about 40 minutes before another boat came with extra fuel and we eventually got back to the hotel.
As it was Pollys last night we decided to ignore the budget and went to a locally renowned steakhouse. We all made a bit of an effort and were almost dressed up! It was a fair distance away so we got into a motorcycle with side car taxi thing, which had been totally pimped up with huge speakers and neon lights. It was a nice touch when he specially selected a song called “Beautiful Girls” – what a smoothie! We had a great meal, the steaks were amazing and we even had wine, it felt like a real treat!
The next day we all flew to Bangkok as Polly was flying back to the UK that night. Its been great to have her with us for so long and there was an emotional goodbye at the airport. It will be strange without her but it won't be too long before we are back in the UK.

Bangkok - Farewell group photo

Chiang Mai

Tim and Em — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The journey from Luang Prabang to Chang Mai was of epic proportions. We were picked up from our hotel at 6pm and the bus left the station at 7pm, a little surreal at the station as The Great Escape was playing on the TV! The bus stopped innumerable times for reasons unknown, one stop was to collect the animal they had run over (we don’t know the identity of the victim!) It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words, perhaps this is one of them?

Somewhere in Laos - Does my hair look alright!

We arrived at the Laos town of Houay Sai at around 11am, it was then a tuk tuk ride to the border itself to check out of Laos, followed by a boat ride across the river to get stamped into Thailand.

Houaysai - Lao/Thai border

Chiang Khong - Thai border

We were horrified when the guy trying to sell us a (very expensive) mini van ride to Chang Mai advised that the public bus took a further 12 hours. Ignoring him, we got another tuk tuk into town and paid £12 quid for the public bus (instead of £90 for a mini van), a further 7 hours later we eventually arrived in Chang Mai. In total the journey took 26 hours and involved 7 different vehicles/boats!

As you can imagine, we were exhausted and extremely hungry when we arrived. Polly’s face lit up when we decided fast food was the order of the day for dinner!
The next day, as we were still jaded, we just had a stroll round. We went to have a massage by blind masseurs to try to rub away some of our aches and pains from the previous days travelling. In the evening, we found a really great place to eat where you can pick your food from a number of different stalls – you choose from Thai (obviously), Indian, Japanese and Western dishes. We mixed and matched from various places and had a right feast. On the way back, Polly spotted a CD/DVD stall. After about 15 minutes we walked away with 6 CD’s of dubious legality!

Chang Mai is a kind of Mecca for mountain biking so the following day we went for a ride. We were taken by pick up to the top of a mountain outside of Chang Mai – 5400 ft according to the marketing material. Once the leader had cleared a baby Cobra from the forest floor (I jest not), we had a bit of formal instruction and they assessed our riding abilities – this consisted of riding over a branch! We then jumped on our bikes and set off.

Chiang Mai - Biking before the rain!

Unfortunately, the cloud was very low so we didn’t see any of the spectacular views we were promised. The first part of the ride was on quite a good track and was really easy. The group stopped at a coffee plantation for refreshments and then it was into the saddle again. Within 10 minutes of riding the thunder started and within 20 there was torrential rain. By this time, the track had become quite challenging in places made all the more hazardous by the streams that were forming where we were trying to cycle.

Chiang Mai - Mountain Biking

It was fairly miserable to be honest and my fellow cyclists (Emma & Polly) were extremely slow. Polly was becoming more and more disillusioned with the whole mountain bike thing, this culminated in her falling off (several times). Thereafter, she flatly refused to get back on her bike. I got increasingly annoyed and tried to ride my bike whilst pushing her bike, this resulted in me coming off my bike and pretty much impaling myself on the handlebars. In the end we had to tell the rest of the group to carry on without us. Lunch was included in the day, however it took us such a long time to get to the end, it was gone 4pm and all we wanted to do was to get back to the hotel and get out of our wet muddy clothes, but we had to polish off some green curry first!
I guess looking back it was fairly comical, like some spoof programme you might watch on the TV. However, at the time, I was fuming mad! In fairness to Polly, the track was pretty treacherous and I think I underestimated how much she had hurt herself when she fell off. Needless to say, we will not be doing any further biking activities together, EVER! Looking back perhaps we should have realised that friday the 13th was not a good day for this kind of activity!

Luang Prabang

Tim and Em — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

In our wisdom we paid additional money for a mini van from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. The picture in the tour office was of a very new looking people carrier which we were assured had air conditioning. What we actually got was a pink and white van with no air conditioning! The journey wound up and down through mountains with spectacular scenery.

Luang Prabang - This is not a luxury mini van

Luang Prabang - River view

Luang Prabang is another Unesco site, it has lots of beautiful old historical buildings and is surrounded on 3 sides by mountains, bisected by the Nam Song and Mekong rivers. On our first night we had a great meal at a restaurant that specialised in traditional Lao Barbeque food. As a bonus, we got a free drink!

Luang Prabang - Free shooters, yum!

Our table was transformed into a barbeque with the arrival of a burning bucket of coal and we proceeded to cook (both ourselves as it was pretty hot –and the meat!). We all really enjoyed it and tried buffalo for the first time, which was tasty!

The following day we trawled around various tour operators, looking at elephant related activities. We were determined that whatever we booked had to be conservation based rather than just a tourist attraction offering elephant rides. After the trawl around and a heated debate over lunch we booked ourselves on a one day Mahout course for the following day.
We awoke the following day to torrential rain but were picked up from the hotel and taken to Elephant Village (http://www.elephantvillage-laos.com/). It was quite a sight when we got there to see elephants up close and personal. We first went on an elephant ride through the jungle for an hour, unfortunately, the rain had not subsided but it didn’t detract from the experience.

Luang Prabang - Elephant Village

Once we got back, our group were taught a few basic commands and then we were boosted up onto the elephants neck to have a ride. This was a totally different experience to riding in a chair (obviously). I know it is stating the obvious but you are incredibly high up and as the elephant walks you are swayed from side to side by its hips, you almost felt in a permanent state of falling off! Elephants are actually very bristly, its like a stiff brush rubbing against your knees! Its also a slight worry that you are on the elephant on your own after just a few basic instructions!

Luang Prabang - Elephant Village

Once the mahouts were happy with our abilities, we rode the elephants down to the river to give them a bath. It felt very strange to ride the elephant into a river until they were completely submerged. We gave them a good wash down and there was lots of splashing around. I cannot begin to describe what a fantastic experience this was, it was pure magic, I think this photo maybe sums it up?

Luang Prabang - Love thy Elephant

By now the weather had really changed and it was hot and sunny. After lunch we went on a boat ride up the river to Tat Kuang Si. This is a series of waterfalls and pools which cascade through the trees. It was very picturesque and really nice to jump in the clear water after bathing the elephants in the muddy river.

Tat Kung Si - Nice!

Tat Kung Si - Yeeeeeeeee ha

Our next stop was Chang Mai, we weren’t looking forward to this journey as we were told it would take 16 hours just to get to the border. More about this epic journey in the next entry....

Vang Vieng

Tim and Em — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

We arrived in Vang Vieng after a 3½hr bus journey from Vientiane. We were met by the usual people trying to get you to stay at their hotel. Then Dad and Em decided we were going to stop somewhere for an iced coffee (that’s all they drink nowadays, I’m surprised they haven’t turned into one yet!).

After having iced coffee we walked to our hotel, I knew it wasn’t far, but it seemed like miles with all our luggage. Finally we got to our hotel, it was actually quite nice and had a good view of the river.

Vang Vieng - Nam Song view

Like in Vientiane, Dad and Em thought it would be fun to go for a walk as there were meant to be some ‘‘nice’’ caves nearby. We went across the bridge to a cross paths (paths because they weren’t roads!) with three signs about caves all of them saying they were the most beautiful, which didn’t help. In the end we decided on one path but the way was sooo muddy it was like walking through a swamp. I slipped and got a muddy knee, it was soo funny. We decided to turn back and try a different cave.

Vang Vieng - Walk through the rice fields

Instead, we went to Tiger Cave that led us through three rice fields, The path was only a foot wide, which I wasn’t happy about at all.

Vang Vieng - Walk through the rice fields

In places you had to jump across gaps filled with water, in other places bits of bamboo had been put across. After wading through a river, Em had had enough and was not going any further. Dad and I continued on as we thought the cave was really close. By this time we were permanently wading, the path had disappeared under water! It then started to rain heavily, great! We had to scramble up a steep path to get to the cave, Dad fell over and I started to laugh and then I fell over as well - we were both soaking wet and covered in mud. The cave wasn’t really anything, more like a gap in a cliff, not sure whether we got to the right place or the locals were trying to get some money !?

We trudged back to the hotel, I wasn’t really that happy that lots of the locals were laughing at me. I was so muddy, it looks as though someone had dragged me through it.

Vang Vieng - Results of a muddy walk

It seemed to be Dad’s mission for me to eat vegetables and not have any Fanta’s (yawn) . We ate in a local restaurant, I had some of Emma’s curry and it was actually quite nice. The meal was really cheap, so we decided there and then that we would probably eat here again the next night.

The following day we went “Tubing”. Tubing is where, you hire a large tractor tyre inner tube and get taken by tuk tuk to the river about 3 kms away. You then jump into your tube and float down the Nam Song river back to Vang Vieng. Within 100 metres, Em & I got stuck on reeds. The river was really strong so we managed to use each other to get ourselves out.

Vang Vieng tubing - Help, I'm stuck

There are lots of bars that are on the banks of the river and they encourage you to stop by throwing ropes to you and pulling you in. We were told that the first bar was the best one so we had only gone a little way before we were pulled in.

Dad and Emma ordered a drink that came in a bucket! I was actually allowed a Coke for once! The bar was really busy and they were playing music REALLY loud. The best thing was that they had a trapeze set high in a tree that went over the river. People would queue up in the tree and whenever anyone jumped off the whole tree wobbled.

Vang Vieng tubing - Polly on the trapeze

I persuaded dad to let me go on it, MAJOR adrenaline rush when you let go to land in the river. The first time I did a bomb so I didn’t go that deep, check this out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJewh_LS8e0 (you might want to turn your sound down!) It was aaaaaaaaaaaawesome you get thrown a rubber ring on a rope and you hold on while someone pulls you in it was really fun.

Vang Vieng tubing - Bad Tarzan impression!

I had to get dad or em on it but emma was totally against it so I got dad on , he almost chickened out but he did it and loved it. That was quite enough for him and after I had about 5 more goes on the swing we left but it was really funny coz everyone was at the bars so the river was empty.

Vang Vieng tubing - Messing about on the river!

It was really relaxing but getting out was quite hard coz we went the wrong way so a local boy had to come and save us. We all got abit bruised but it was sooo fun and when I am old enough to go with friends I will .

Vientiane

Tim and Em — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Awoke at the unearthly hour of 3:45am. We went into the lounge where Polly was sleeping and were astounded to see her up and dressed already – think she was proving a point!? Not good at mornings let alone this early, even breakfast is a struggle at this time!
Our pick up was arranged for 5am to take us from the apartment to the airport. We flew from Bangkok to Udon Thani in the North East of Thailand, from there it was a taxi into town and then about an hours wait for the bus that would take us across the border into Laos and onto Vientiane. Although the journey was fairly long in total, the different modes of transport broke it up quite nicely.
After manic Bangkok, it was good to get somewhere with a more sedate pace. Although Vientiane is the capital of Laos, the population of the city is quite small. Our hotel was situated in a quiet backwater with hardly any traffic, it seemed a little surreal.
Much to Polly’s disgust, we did a large walking tour of Vientiane the next day taking in some of the bigger sights. First up was the market (groan!) and then Patuxai which looks a little similar to the Arc du Triomphe. You get a good view from the top looking down the main road towards the Presidential Palace.

Vientiane - Pha That Luang

From there we trudged on to Pha That Luang, Laos’s most important monument and (according to Lonely Planet) a symbol of the Buddhist religion as well as Lao sovereignty. Em was somewhat perturbed by a monk who was caught short there and relieving himself against the monument – I don’t know, monks these days! Although it was impressive, its not as gold as the pictures lead you to believe.
One of our objectives with Polly was to try to get her to be more adventurous with food. This was achieved on night 2 when we went to a restaurant with no English menu. We pointed to a couple of pictures on the menu and had a great meal of barbequed meatballs and make yourself spring rolls washed down with a bottle or two of Lao beer.

Vientiane - You will eat it!

The following morning we made a visit to the Thai consulate as Em and I knew we would have an issue with our Thai visa. Strangely when you cross into Thailand over a land border they only grant you 15 days in the country. Once in Thailand you can only extend for 10 days at a cost of £40. Whichever way we looked at it, once Polly had gone home, we were going to have to leave Thailand and re-enter if we didn’t sort out a different type of visa. We managed to do this at the consulate for no charge but it meant staying in Vientiane a day longer than we planned.
The next day we hired bikes and cycled to Cope, an organisation which helps people who have lost limbs. This help takes many forms - rehabilitation, provision of prosthetics and mobility devices. Unexploded ordinance (UXO), a remnant of the Vietnam war, it still a massive problem in Laos and about 40% of people Cope help are victims of injuries caused by UXO. A startling fact – Laos has 0.1% of the world’s population but 51% of the world’s UXO. I encourage anyone going to Vientiane to visit Cope (http://www.copelaos.org/index.html)

Vientiane - Cope

From Cope we cycled back to the Thai consulate to collect our Passport with a nice shiny 60 day visa contained within.
The next blog entry will be narrated by our guest editor, Polly Nicholl!

Bangkok (reunion with Polly!)

Tim and Em — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

After a huge search for accommodation, we opted to rent an apartment for 5 days in Bangkok. This, believe it or not, worked out cheaper than a hotel room particularly when you factored in extra bed charges for when Polly joins us. The apartment was right by the river and had fantastic views of the Bangkok skyline together with a pool and a gym (which we used regularly, not!)

Bangkok - View from apartment

After so much travelling, it was great to have some proper downtime, we even fully unpacked our rucksacks – the first time in a long time. It seemed very novel to have our own place and be able to go to the supermarket and do simple things like watch a film and cook a meal!

Bangkok - Meeting Polly from her flight

We had a very emotional Reunion with Polly and some tears were shed. It appears as though she has grown a foot since I last saw her. She really enjoyed flying out on her own, made that much more enjoyable by two brothers who were also flying unaccompanied. Dont think Polly got much sleep on the flight, much time was spent chatting with her new found friends and watching films!
We had to sort out Visas for Laos which meant a visit to the embassy, this was quite a trek from where the apartment was.

Bangkok - Khosan Road fish massage

In the evening, we went to the Khao San Road. Polly had already managed to lose her sunglasses in less than 24 hrs so we did a bit of sunglasses shopping.She also spotted a fish massage place and insisted on giving it a try – we left her to it as we had already tried it in Cambodia and decided it wasn’t for us!

The following day, we soaked up some sun by the pool before heading to Chatuchak market in the afternoon, one of the biggest markets in the world. We had a good wander around with Polly, once again, buying a few bits and pieces. We then went to a smaller market which sold vintage odds and sods before making tracks back to the apartment.
4am start tomorrow, should be interesting......

Bangkok - Polly chilling by the pool (its tough!)

Hanoi

Tim and Em — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

We had a few days in Hanoi before we headed to Sapa and then came back again after Sapa. In those initial few days, I can’t say we were that impressed with it. The moped traffic is appalling and there are hazards everywhere from drain missing covers that threaten to swallow you whole to spitting fat from pavementside woks.

Hanoi - Street BBQ

Some local even had the audacity to try to pick pocket me, needless to say, he was rumbled mid fumble.
However, the city did grow on us slightly on the second stint. The old quarter is an assault on the senses and the clichéd scenes that you imagine in Vietnam are everywhere you look. There are little cafes that just pop up on the pavement, people selling fruit, veg, meat from just a mat laid on the ground in an alley and the offer of moped taxi’s at every corner.

Hanoi - Thap Rua Temple

The lake in the middle of the city is really pretty with a lovely temple which sits on its own island. We visited the one pillar pagoda which is an oasis from the traffic noise. We went to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum but didn’t go in...Visited the temple of Literature which was really beautiful although somewhat marred by tat shops and a cashpoint despite it being an historical site!

Hanoi - One pillar pagoda

Hanoi - Temple of Literature

We had a somewhat frustrating visit to the supermarket, admittedly we were already frustrated as we entered as it had taken us an age to even find the place. We looked around and the things that we had specifically gone there for they didn’t have. We bought a few basic provisions for the fridge at the hotel, we shook our heads when we found the Laughing Cow triangles were security tagged whilst bottles of wine and spirits weren’t!

Hanoi - Who stole the cheese

We upload this at Hanoi airport where you cannot exchange foreign currency yet duty free sell microwaves. Also very angry with myself because I forgot my Swiss army knife was in my wallet, this was obviously confiscated at security. Feel slightly bereft, the knife and me go back a long way and it has been one of the most useful things we brought with us.
Whilst Vietnam has many, many idiosyncrasies we have really enjoyed our time here and it is perhaps the most diverse country we have visited. Despite warnings from other travellers, we found the people very friendly, helpful and charming (other than the pick pocket). It is now only a few days before Polly joins us which we are really looking forward to, we are hoping she might even guest write a blog entry!!
Thailand here we come.....

Halong Bay - The day that wasn't

Tim and Em — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Somethings are just not meant to be and I think we were destined not to see Halong Bay. We booked a day trip on Friday, even got up early, to be told that our trip had been cancelled because of bad weather. We re-booked for the following day hopeful that we would get to see the mighty limestone peaks rising from the sea.
We were up early again and were told by hotel reception the trip was on, we got excited! The bus journey was bumpy, its strange that the road to a Unesco World Heritage Site is so bad. An obligatory stop was made, conveniently at a large shop selling various tourist tat, we bought a coffee but it was awful (not a good sign).
After 4 and a half hours we arrived at Halong Bay to be told that no boats were currently leaving the harbour due to potential bad weather. However, all was not lost, as we could have lunch and hopefully after lunch, good luck permitting, boats would be able to go out. So, our seafood banquet on a boat became one prawn, some rubbery squid and a spoonful of rice.
Lunch was followed by more hanging around by the restaurant, the tour guide announced that there would be another announcement in 15 minutes. The news came that we could go and we were hearded back on the bus for the short drive to the harbour. The harbour itself was packed, stadium rock concert packed. We waited right on the quay, the boats were so near we could touch them and smell their fumes.

HaLong Bay Boats

We waited for an hour while the tour guide made numerous calls, presumably to his mother to ask what was for dinner as we didn’t appear to be going anywhere fast. Then there was another announcement, that we would wait another 15 minutes to see if we could go. Needless to say, we didn’t. We went back to the bus and as we left Halong Bay, the tour guide said “wave bye bye to Halong Bay”, I could have punched him.
We are still not sure why no boats were allowed to leave the harbour, we think that it was the harbour authority. However, what we really don’t understand at all is why we had to go all the way up there to find this out. Being cynical, we wondered whether the tour company took everyone up there knowing that they could at least fleece us of some money for the bus ride and a dodgy lunch. Or perhaps it was a government ploy to ensure you had to come back again? The conspiracy theories continue even as I type!
To cap it all off, we got stuck in a traffic jam on the way back to Hanoi. In all, the trip or non trip took 13 and a half hours and cost 22 dollars. This, without doubt was the most frustrating day of our trip since leaving London on the 7th February.

HaLong Bay - you can just about see it!

Sapa

Tim and Em — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

We stopped in Hanoi for a few nights to organise the trip to Sapa (separate blog entry on Hanoi to follow as we have to return there). We were hoping to get the train to Sapa but were distraught to learn that it was fully booked. Pizza in hand, we trudged onto another sleeping bus. We awoke at about 330am with the bus stationary on a windy mountain road, looking out the window we could see several other vehicles also stopped. We got up and out and went to check out what the problem was. About 200 yards further up the road was a small truck on its side blocking the road – we knew we would be here a while.

Nearly Sapa - truck crash

The accident was miles from the nearest town, yet several entrepreneurs arrived on mopeds selling cold drinks and baguettes – only in Vietnam! At around 730 a crane turned up which we thought would move the truck out the way – wrong. From what we can gather the driver of the crashed truck did not have the funds to pay for the crane to move his truck out of the road. By this time there was quite a crowd and by bumping the truck from side to side, a large group of people managed to move the truck far enough for traffic to pass. This goes down as our record so far, it took 16.5 hours to get to Sapa.
Sapa is relatively high up so, similar to Dalat, much cooler. To be honest, the heat at our last 3 stops had become unbearable so it was really good to have cooler weather. The surrounding mountains are home to a number of ethnic hill tribes, particularly Bllack H’mong and Red Dzao each of whom have their own distinct traditional dress.
Once we were off the bus we headed for a caffeine fix and were immediately befriended by two Black H’mong ladies who were rather insistent we should buy something from them. They were actually really sweet, particularly the old lady who was seventy. They didn’t speak a huge amount of English but despite this, through their actions and gesticulations, they made us laugh. When we wouldn’t buy anything from them, the older lady wanted to make us pinky swear we would buy something later, we thought this was highly amusing!!.

Sapa - Black H'mong (Van & Shu)

It soon become apparent that the H’mong people have a tendency to latch onto and follow you around, this can be a little unnerving. I managed to teach one lady two new English words – stalker and blackmail – this after she followed us around for 30 minutes but promised she would leave us alone if we bought something.

Sapa - Red Dzao

Sapa was incredibly busy and we were both surprised at the sheer number of tourists. A couple of fellow travellers on our bus really struggled to find somewhere to stay. It was also the most expensive place we have come across in our travels in Vietnam, the extra money does not equal extra quality here as we were to learn from our hotel!
We did a day trek which took us through some truly stunning scenery, the terraced fields here are like nothing we’ve seen before, the sheer scale and beauty of it is jaw dropping. Although the weather wasn’t great, hopefully you will see what I mean from the photo’s.

Sapa Trek - View

The first part of the trek was fairly strenuous, up hill for about 2 hours, thankfully thereafter it levelled out for the rest of it. We had 3 guides for our trek, two Vietnamese guys and a black H’mong lady (Shu). As we neared the end of the trek, we passed Shu’s house and she invited us in. The accommodation was pretty basic with an open fire for cooking and although they had electric, there only had one light bulb. We were very grateful to her for showing us her home and we even met some of her family and neighbours.

Sapa Trek - Shu, Em & Tim

Sapa Trek - Waterfall

Once again, the train was full for the return journey so after procuring a pizza, we headed onto the overnight bus that would take us back to Hanoi.

Sapa Trek - Buffalo Cowboy

Hue

Tim and Em — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Hue - The Citadel

After a relatively short bus journey this time, we arrived in Hue, where incredibly it felt like the temperature had risen again! We had a lovely hotel, but our stay was slightly marred by the regular power cuts. Every day the power is turned off between 6am – 1pm or 1pm – 6pm and unfortunately the air conditioning did not operate from the hotels generator, so our room quickly turned into a sauna. Our first day in Hue was spent visiting the citadel, which was pretty impressive, very old and some great buildings.

Hue - The Citadel

There was not a huge amount of other things to do there, unless you travelled quite far out of the city – on the second day we looked around the market, which looked very similar to all the other markets we have visited! We had planned to spend 3 nights there and catch the night bus to Hanoi on the 4th day, as this was the earliest bus we could get. However on the 3rd night just after we had ordered dinner, we discovered that we could get a bus that evening, which meant that we had to pack up all our gear and be ready to leave in 10 minutes. We decided to go for it, and just made it in time. This was another sleeping bus, this time we were the only westerners on it, for some reason they thought we were really amusing! The “beds” on the sleeping bus would be pretty comfortable if you were under 5 foot tall, anything over this and you have to perform a human concertina act just to stop yourself falling out of the bed. The roads are unbelievable, considering the road from Hue to Hanoi is a major route – to the capital, they are very bumpy – a lot of the roads in Cambodia were much better. The journey of 680km was due to take us 12 hours, but ended up taking 16.5 hours. This is partly due to the requirement to stop for food every couple of hours, we turned down the Tofu at 7am!

Hoi An

Tim and Em — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

As we have now taken many bus journeys, we have developed a coping strategy, which involves getting a take away pizza prior to departure. Cold pizza is the equivalent of a 3 course gourmet dinner when you are stuck on a bus for eternity with stops at places that serve unmentionable things ! I won’t go into the details of the places we have stopped on these journeys, especially the toilets but all I can say is Moto services, you may be expensive, but you get my vote anyday!!
When we eventually arrived in Hoi An, I could not believe the increase in temperature – it felt about 10 degrees hotter than Nha Trang, with no breeze. Hoi An was really beautiful – it has about 800 old buildings which have been granted Unesco status and feels similar to places like Florence. We only spent 3 days there, most of which was spent exploring the old town, and then resting in the shade!

Hoi An

The town is also famous for its tailors, I decided to have a suit made, but was not prepared for the amount of decisions I would need to make to do this – quite incredible! I was quite concerned about how it would turn out, but the end result was pretty good. Tim also had some trousers made, and when the lady measured us up, she told us that we were both fat! This was an unusual sales technique and slightly irritating as between us we have lost a couple of stone – which we did tell her – she wasn’t interested – in Vietnam apparently we are still fat!! Having had success with the clothes we had made, the shoes that we had made were not quite such a happy story..

Hoi An - Japanese bridge

Another highlight of Hoi An was discovering a brilliant restaurant, which had amazing food – very reasonable and draft beer for 3000 Vietnamese Dong – which is about 10p – cheaper than water. Although we were only about half way up the country, we have already noticed lots of changes in the food –each place has different specialities – central Vietnam food is spicier than the south.

Hoi An - Em's chosen her dress!!

Nha Trang

Tim and Em — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The bus journey from Dalat to NT was really beautiful, winding mountain roads, forests and waterfalls. Unfortunately the spectacular scenery was lost on the driver, who didn’t stop at any of the Vantage points for photo opportunities!! We would love to do the journey from Dalat to NT on a motorbike, we did think about doing it but didn’t have the time or funds – maybe something for another trip to Vietnam!? The town itself was quite large and touristy compared to our previous stops, but the beach was really nice, particularly in the afternoon when the breeze got up. Our 2 days were spent mostly lounging on the beach.

Nha Trang - Not too shabby

There are quite a few Vietnamese that trawl the beach selling various things from fake designer sunglasses to cold drinks to lobster. Tim couldn’t resist the lobster, he chose the victim and then the lady scoots away to barbeque it for you, 20 minutes later we were tucking into fresh lobster and prawns – very very tasty!!

Nha Trang - Remains of lunch, yum!

We had now planned our route for the rest of Vietnam which meant unfortunately we had to leave. We would have liked to have stayed longer and also to travel to another coastal town called Quy Nhon but time wouldn’t allow. The journey to Hoi An was to be our first experience of a sleeping bus, basically a converted coach with bunk beds – 10–12 hours of quality sleep time(not)!! Travel Scrabble has come into its own!

Nha Trang to Hoi An - Sleeping bus

Delightful Dalat

Tim and Em — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

We arrived in Dalat courtesy of the bus journey from hell. We could have coped with no leg room & no air conditioning. However, the kids started to throw up and the icing on the cake was someone had fish sauce in their luggage and it leaked over the floor of the bus. The bus was only a 20 seater and the smell within the confined space was appalling, if there had been drop-down oxygen masks, we would have used them. We checked into our hotel but when we got to our room, we could still smell fish sauce. Upon a lot of sniffing, it was discovered the bottom of my rucksack had a decidedly fishy niff to it. It rapidly went downstairs to the laundry.

Dalat - View near Dalat

Dalat is in the Central Highlands and the temperature is noticeably cooler, it was a welcome relief from the heat of our previous stops. It seemed a little strange to be taking a jumper out in the evening though! The place is a real mixture of architecture, lots of French influence, including a telephone mast that resembles the Eiffel tower, with some Swiss stuff thrown in as well.
On our first night we headed out to a restaurant called Da Quy, from the reviews on trip advisor, it is the number 1 restaurant in Dalat. This may give you visions of grandeur in the price bracket but this impression would be very wrong indeed. The food was amazing, I think my quest for the best fresh spring rolls in Vietnam could have ended! The clay hotpots were also fantastic! It is was here that I tried Dalat red wine for the first time and have to say it is very quaffable. Despite eating like kings, having a few wines and coffee, we still left with plenty of change from 10 bucks!!
Continuing on the food theme, our hotel, Dreams, is legendary for its breakfast. Come the next morning, we were not disappointed, it was an all you can eat affair, there was fresh fruit, yogurt, bacon, marmite for the Brits & Vegemite for the Aussie’s, an incredible spread. The best thing was nothing was “extra” or “finished” which are two words we have become accustomed to in Vietnam. It wasn’t just the breakfast spread that sets this place apart though, they had a rooftop Jacuzzi and sauna which is free to use and the owners are the most lovely people you can imagine. All this for 20 bucks a night!
We rented a moped and rode out to some of the local sights of interest, unfortunately it was a bit of a wet one as it started to rain. First up was Elephant Falls, a waterfall about 30Km from Dalat, we tried to reach the bottom of the falls via a very hazardous path cut into the rocks, we stopped slightly short but apparently with the right guide you can actually go behind the falls themselves.

Dalat - Elephant Falls

From there, we had a brief stop at a silk factory, it was pretty low tech but you got to see the whole process from silk worm cocoons at one end to silk yarn at the other end. There is nothing wasted in the process and once harvested, someone comes to collect the grubs. These are eaten and according to Lonely Planet have a nutty flavour, yummy (not)!

Dalat - Anyone for grubs!?

As we had been out for a while, we decided to head back. We passed a roadside barbeque and the lady made motions for us to stop. I turned round and we had an impromptu lunch, I declined the bit of lung that was barbequing but had some of the local sausage, not sure what it was made from but it was very tasty! Despite hardly speaking any English, the locals were extremely friendly and someone offered us a glass of what we think was rice wine – whatever it was, it was strong stuff. Conscious that I was piloting a moped I had a few polite sips before heading the glass back.
There is a significant amount of agriculture around Dalat growing everything from strawberries to flowers to coffee beans. I have never seen as many commercial greenhouses, most of them growing flowers. The countryside is littered with coffee plantations, I didn’t realise that Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world.
The second day we were off on the moped again. We were heading to what we already knew was a very kitsch attraction but due its name and our newly engaged status, we felt we had to go to the Valley of Love – I joke not! The place was as cheesy as the name suggests and consisted of various romantically themed statues of lurve.

Dalat - Valley of Love (It had to be done!)

The location itself was really beautiful, it was set in a valley with a lake at the bottom. We had quite a long walk and took the appropriate photo’s before heading to the next stop.
Whilst not as Kitsch, equally weird was the Crazy House, this is not a place for lunatics but a house with a Gaudiest style of architecture. I can’t really describe it so check the photo’s out. When we visited, new Crazy wings were being added, it is the brainchild of a local architect who has designed other buildings around Dalat but presumably somewhat tamer than this! You can actually stay here although the rooms don’t look great and its expensive.

Dalat - Crazy house

We liked Dalat a lot so we stayed a night longer than we originally planned, may regret this later in the trip. The final day we wondered around the market, well I did while Em sat it out. Em is becoming increasingly concerned that I have become obsessed with markets but I cant get bored of them, lots of unusual stuff and photo opportunities abound. When I got back to Em, she was being royally chatted up by a local guy. It turned out that he was selling pictures painted onto silk, after negotiation, we took 3 off his hands – the Christmas shopping continues apace!
Tomorrow, another bus, another town and another blog entry....

Dalat - Eiffel tower lookalike

Mui Ne

Tim and Em — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Another 4 hours on a bus saw us in Mui Ne, another beachside location. Mui Ne is a bit of a Mecca for kite and wind surfing, originally we thought we might try our hand at it but the high cost saved ourselves broken limbs. The place itself is quite nice but certainly no Phu Quoc. We rented a moped to get about and went to the dunes, they are immense and from the photo’s it looks like somewhere in the Middle East.

Mui Ne - Sand dunes

At the dunes, Vietnamese kids try and rent out flimsy boards so that you can sledge down the dunes. Foreigners, are easy picking as we can be spotted a mile off. We quickly had new friends who each wanted to rent their board to us and also show us the best place to use it. We trekked up the dunes to a “good” spot and I tried my hand at sledging with the assistance of the back up team – it wasn’t as simple as just sitting on it. You had to sit on it just so and lean in a certain way! It was fun but a little disappointing so they took us off to the “big one”. The “big one” was pretty steep and managed to get a fair speed up but your bum gets very hot on these things presumably because of the friction. We had a good laugh with the kids although they were soon looking for other gullible foreigners once we had paid our rental charges!

Mui Ne - Sand sledging

We went exploring on the moped and came across a beach with tub like boats. I had seen these before although in the water rather than out of it. Some are made of fibreglass whilst others are traditionally woven ones. They are actually used as fishing boats but we are still at a bit of a loss as to how they get very far as there is no engine and only one oar – Em ventured that they would go round in circles!!

Mui Ne - tub boat

Fish Sauce is a very big thing in Vietnam and is an essential ingredient in some of the cuisine. Whilst it tastes OK in the food, it has a very nasty smell. In several places in Mui Ne we could smell the pungent stuff and it was only through exploring that we found a back yard full of vats of it – not nice! More nasty stories of fish sauce to follow in the next blog entry!

Mui Ne - Fish sauce vats

We also went to the so-called Fairy Spring, not sure why they are called this but several places seem to have them!! Effectively it was just a stream which you can wade through to reach the source. We decided against wading to the source but the stream cut through sand dunes and the scenery was worth a few photo’s.

Mui Ne - Fairy stream

Ho Chi Minh

Tim and Em — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Can Tho to Saigon - Technical hitch

Had a slight technical hitch on our journey from Can Tho to Ho Chi Minh, our bus broke down! No such thing as commercial rescue or AA or RAC so the driver got stuck into the engine compartment. Not sure what was wrong but after about half an hour he had fixed whatever it was and we were off again. We had a funny moment when we checked into our hotel and they announced we had been upgraded, don’t hear that phrase very often and it was a first on this trip – we luxuriated in a Deluxe rather than standard room!
I think we have touched on traffic conditions in previous entries but nothing prepares you for HCM, there are mopeds and more mopeds and more mopeds. As a pedestrian it is a dangerous place and something simple like crossing the road is only for the brave, red lights cannot be trusted and neither can anyone indicating – they probably didn’t mean to. To cross the road, you initially look at whats coming and then start to cross, very slowly without looking left or right again. The mopeds then anticipate your next step and go round you, its almost biblical in the parting of the seas!
Our first full day in HCM was a complete frustration, we seem to have these sorts of days every so often and this was definitely one of them. We had decided to extend our Visa as we wanted to stay longer than 30 days. So, we go to the visa office but as Joe Public, you cannot extend your visa, it has to be done via a travel agent, cue trawling around travel agents trying to find someone to organise it for us. The prices charged ranged from $35 to over $100 and the time required to organise from 3 to 10 days. In the end, we went for the cheaper one but then we were told we needed to pay more because we needed it done so quickly. In the end, we paid $55 for something that according to the stamp in our passport cost $10. Follow travellers be warned!
We visited the War Remnants Museum which documents the war with the US. It was really interesting but equally horrific. There was an excellent exhibition of photographs by war correspondents which really did speak volumes about that time and included some world famous pictures. One of the sadder facts was the impact of Agent Orange and its impact even quite recently on particularly the Vietnamese but war veterans of other nationalities as well. Even in the past few years lawsuits and appeals have been taking place in the US – something that I was completely unaware of.

Saigon - War Remnants Museum

Somewhat strangely, the Museum closes for lunch so our visit was cut short. From there we walked to Reunification Palace. This is effectively where it all ended for the South Vietnamese government in 1975 when communist tanks entered and unfurled the VC flag. The very weird thing about this place is that almost everything has been left untouched since then and preserved as it was, its like being in a time warp! Even the basement which was used as a war is as it originally was with steel desk, Bakelite phones and all the old telecommunications equipment still in situ.

Saigon - Reunification Palace war room comms centre

Saigon - Reunification Palace

Continuing the war theme, we went to the Cu Chi tunnels which, as the name suggests, are a network of tunnels and a stronghold of the VC during the war. This was too was extremely interesting, at its height and in this particular area alone, there were over 250Km of tunnels, in places 3 storeys high.
We had a guide to take us around and before physically going into the tunnels themselves we had a rest stop by the shooting range, I obviously use the word rest slightly tongue in cheek. Here, somewhat strangely, if willing to stump up the required cash, the average tourist can shoot live ammunition. You have a menu of weapons to chose from, from AK47 to a M60, once you have decided on your weapon of choice, you pay the required amount of money dependent on how many rounds you wish to fire and are then taken down to the shooting range. Call me a killjoy but this seemed totally bizarre to me and, no, I didn’t have a go!
We then went to the tunnels themselves, there is a section of about 120 metres that you can go in. Before going in we were given a few warnings that it was not for everyone and that there was an escape route every 50M. I wondered what all the fuss was about until I physically got into the tunnel, its only about 70cm wide by 120cm high. This means that you effectively have to waddle like a duck for 120M, this is actually pretty strenuous particularly because of the heat and you have to keep stopping because of slower people ahead of you. In some sections, it narrowed even further and you had to go up and down quite a large step. I don’t shirk from many things but I have to say by the second escape route I was seriously tempted. We both made it to the end but our legs were like jelly by the end of it, I have to say I was very pleased to be out of there. How people lived and fought in those places is beyond me.

Cu Chi - Not as easy as it looks

We got dropped back to the city by bus and started to walk back to the hotel when the heavens opened big style. Within 10 minutes you could no longer see the road and within 20 minutes, it was under a foot of water. All the kids were having great fun in the water and there were some good photo opportunities. One guy came out with his soap and stood under a gutter and had an impromptu shower! The bad thing was that the drains just couldn’t cope which forced what lived down there up, like the cockroaches, not pleasant and Em freaked!

Saigon - making the most of the rain

That night England were playing Germany and I was determined to watch. We found a bar which was more like someone’s front room with chairs on the pavement but they served beer and they had a TV with the football on. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be but once again we can all say England were robbed because Lampard’s goal was over the line!
By the way, no one calls Ho Chi Minh City by its current name, all the locals still call it Saigon!

Can Tho

Tim and Em — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

We had quite a long journey from Phu Quoc to Can Tho which went mini bus, big bus, ferry, mini bus and then transfer onto a mini bus. The journey was made somewhat longer by the most sensible driver we have experienced in our travels to date!
Can Tho is one of the biggest towns on the Mekong Delta. It was really a whistle stop to see the floating markets, we immediately booked a boat trip for the following day – rather handy that a tour tout was loitering at reception in the hotel!
We were up at 530 as the earlier you see the market the better, it takes about an hour and a half to get there. Our captain for the day was multi talented and to while away the time, he fashioned various items from palm leaves including a mask, bracelets, rings and ear rings (I joke not). The Mekong is home to every size and shape of boat that you can think of from huge barges to small rowing boats. Some of the boats are so laden with goods, it appears as though they are half sub-merged. How they manage any forward momentum is beyond me!!

Why is this boat not sinking!

The markets were a huge jumble of boats with activity everywhere. Boats advertised what they were selling by attaching fruit or vegetables to bamboo masts. The number of boats and array of fruit and vegetables was incredible – Dragon fruit to Watermelon, Carrots to coconuts. The problem was it was tricky to take photos when our boat was always on the move! The scenes at the market were like you see in guide books, conical hats abounded!

Water melons!

Messing about in the river

We then went on a little cruise of some of the back water canals, to be honest, by this time our bums were extremely numb and all we wanted to do was get back. About 20 minutes before we got back, the heavens opened and it hammered down with rain. The small awning of the boat just collected water, the water collected would drench us every time our boat rocked in the wake of passing traffic. We got back to the jetty absolutely soaked through, we were able to wring water out of our clothes. It brought new meaning to the words rainy season.

Rain, rain, & more rain

Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Tim and Em — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Prek Chak Cambodian border

It seems a little strange to go over a land border between countries. The Cambodia side was very rustic with just a one storey office prior to going through no-mans land. The Vietnamese border was a complete contrast, with a big archway emblazoned with Ha Tien International border gate. I neglected to mention in the previous blog entry that we got our Vietnam visa in Sihanoukville. This must go down on record as the fastest visa issued – literally within five minutes we had a visa printed and stuck into our passports, we couldn’t believe it.

Ha Tien Vietnamese border

We had booked a ticket in Kep that should have taken us through the border to Ha Tien and then onto a ferry to Phu Quoc. It was at the border that the guide broke the bad news that government officials had taken over the ferry that we were meant to catch. We would be making an unscheduled overnight stop in Ha Tien.
We thought we had a result when we found a hotel in Ha Tien for 15 bucks, it seemed to tick all the right boxes and seemed fairly new. Its only downside was it was near the fish market so it was a little smelly outside but, for the price, we thought we could put up with this. We looked around the town but there was little to recommend it really.
We had to be up early the following morning and just as I was nodding off to sleep, the corridor outside our room erupted with noise. It appeared as though it was being used as some form of communal meeting room for the people on our floor. In the end I had to go out and, using sign language, tell them to shut up. Eventually, the noise died down. However, at 440am the noise started again, I couldn’t believe it!! Can safely say, it was the worst night of the trip so far.
Caught the ferry to Phu Quoc the following morning feeling relatively grumpy. We were soon cheered up by the hotel, we had our own garden bungalow and the beach which fronted the resort was absolutely gorgeous. We immediately got into the swing of things and crashed out on the loungers on the beach. There were ladies that were offering massages on the beach so we couldn’t resist, the woes of Ha Tien were quickly soothed away.

Phu Quoc - Long Beach lounger

I had intended to propose to Em whilst we were away, I had been carrying a ring around since we left the UK. I didn’t know when and where I would do it but I felt that Phu Quoc was the ideal place. Trouble is when you are spending all day every day with someone, it is very difficult to organise a surprise. I managed to sneak off a couple of times, Em started to get suspicious and even asked me if I wanted some space!!

Phu Quoc - Lame Beach

I managed to arrange a boat trip where we got dropped on a private of beach for a few hours. I popped the question and Em accepted! Now, there is no need for you readers to get too excited, we haven’t set a date yet. Once we get back from lounging around, we will need to focus on practicalities of finding jobs, etc. Once we have gainful employment, we will set a date!

Phu Quoc - Lame Beach, newly engaged!

We originally booked to stay on the island for 3 nights but ended up staying a week. It was absolutely idyllic – it was the sort of place that you hope to find, quiet palm fringed beaches with clear blue water. It was really hard to pull ourselves away. Due to our extended stay in Phu Quoc and the fact that Vietnam is so long, we decided to extend our visa to give us more that the original 30 days.

Phu Quoc - Bai Sao Beach-stunning!

Sihanoukville, Kampot & Kep

Tim and Em — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

From Kompong Cham, we had a few nights back in Phnom Penh before travelling to Sihanoukville on the coast. It felt good to be back by the sea and be able to dip our toes in the water. We had heard varying reports of the place so we were a little intrigued to see what it was like for ourselves. It was probably the most Westernised place we had been to in Cambodia and it almost felt a bit Ibiza-ish with the number of beachside bars.
We stayed for a couple of days and did the usual exploring around the coast. Once you get away from the main touristy area, it is easy to find a deserted stretch of beach that you can have all to yourself. Most of the land along the quieter parts of beach have been divided up into lots, I doubt it will be very long before it is developed.
Despite being usually very trigger happy with the camera, we didn’t take any pictures of Sihanoukville, sorry about that!
The minibus that picked us up from Sihanoukville was overcrowded which lead to a passenger revolt!! In the end the bus company agreed to pay for a taxi for 3 lads, it later transpired that there were 7 people in their taxi!! Despite offloading some passengers, the driver and co-pilot still ended up sharing the drivers seat for the 1 and a half hour journey to Kampot – a little disconcerting!!

Sihanoukville - which one is driving?

Kampot - river view

Kampot is famous for its pepper and, apparently, at one stage, no self respecting Parisian restaurant would be without it. We hired a moped (have now progressed to semi automatics!) and set off in search of pepper plantations. Although you could have guided tours for most things, in the main we have done things under our own steam, this way we go at our own pace and, more importantly don’t spend as much money.

Kep - Kampot pepper

The plantations were off the main road and a couple of Km’s down a dusty track. Both the plantations were small scale affairs with very little to them. We toured the plants where you could see the pepper physically growing and bought some pepper to take back home with us.

Kampot - Temple in cave

From there, we rode round for quite a while trying to find a temple that is in a cave. We would never of found it if it hadn’t been for a little boy who run out of one the houses and offered to be our guide (for a fee of course). He hopped onto the moped with us – 3 people on a moped is nothing, the most we have seen is 6!

Kampot - Temple in cave guide!

He directed us to where we could park the moped where there was another lad who would look after the moped (for a fee). The temple visit ended up costing quite a bit of money as some other kids latched on as well. By the time we paid everyone off, it turned out to be an expensive day. The temple itself had literally been built inside the cave, from memory it was something like 7th century.

The following day, we booked ourselves on a tour to Bokor Hill Station, you could only go there as part of an organised tour. Bokor was built during French rule and used as a holiday retreat, due to the elevation, it was much cooler and gave a respite from the humidity and heat of the cities. After French colonial rule ended and the the war, it was abandoned – it was the scene of a stand off between Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese army and in many places pock marks and bullet holes can be seen. However, most of the buildings remain in varying states of disrepair.

Kampot - Bokor church

Despite it being a National Park, a large hotel group has bought a swathe of land by the Hill Station and has started to build what will become a huge hotel & casino complex – get there while you can before it is totally spoilt. There is a long access road in varying states of construction from Kampot to the hill station. For some unknown reason, the tour group could not drive all the way up.

Kampot - Bokor truck ride

At the bottom, we were herded into a pick-up truck and then about half way up we were dropped off to trek through the jungle. Although the trek was only about an hour, the heat was under the trees was stifling. At the end of the trek, we were picked up again and drove the remainder. Slightly bizarre!

Kampot - Bokor palace

As we got nearer the hill station, the temperature noticeably changed, getting a lot cooler. Then it started to drizzle with rain. By the time we got there, swirling mist had also descended. With the shells of the buildings appearing and disappearing in the mist, the whole place, although quite spread out, had a real eerie feeling to it. It reminded me a lot of Dartmoor.

Kampot - Bokor palace

We explored the whole site which included a Church & a palace. The palace was a warren of stair cases, corridors, roof terraces and rooms – it seemed almost other worldly with the mist drifting in through spaces where the windows once were. We only got to see one wing of the palace before we had to rejoin the main group to go back.
Despite our grumbles, we still had to follow the same route back down, truck, trek, truck. As we trekked back down through the jungle, you could literally feel it getting hotter and hotter the the lower we got.

Our next stop was Kep, this was a leisurely 45 minute tuk tuk ride from Kampot. We intended to stay a few nights here and it was an ideal place to cross the border into Vietnam, about an hour away. Our phones kept on bleeping as, depending on where you were in Kep, you would get a welcome to Vietnam or welcome to Cambodia text message – annoying when its several times a day.
We trawled around a couple of accommodation options in Kep before settling on a place called the Star Inn, we fondly named this place Fawlty Towers! That evening, Em went to take a shower and mid way through, the electric went. This is not unusual in Cambodia but when I looked outside, I realised that electrics in other parts of the hotel were working. I went to get one of the guys from reception and something had just tripped out. On inspection though, there were lots of dubious looking unearthed wires sticking out of the wall. When we pointed this out, we were reassured it was OK. I then went to shower and exactly the same thing happened. This benefitted us though as we were moved to another room on the second floor which should have been more expensive as it had a sea view.

Kep - Promenade

Kep is a really pretty seaside town/village with a nice beach. As it was out of season, the place was pretty much deserted which suited us. We rented a moped and had a bit of a ride around. I cannot remember the reason but there are a lot of abandoned villas, similar to Bokor in varying states of disrepair. Despite being built in the 1950’s, the architecture of these places is very modern, with really clean lines, some of them occupy fantastic positions overlooking the sea. We couldn’t quite understand why some of these sites had not been developed even though, according to Lonely Planet, they were all snapped up in the 1990’s

Kep - Crabs!

Crab is very big in Kep and, on recommendation, we went to a place that serves up fresh crab with Kampot pepper. The restaurant was right on the waters edge and opened up to the sea at the back. Midway through dismembering my crab, I thought a girl had spotted something in the water as she was leaning over the rail. It was only the sound effects that give it away that she was being ill, this immediately put Em off the rest of her dinner. I continued to dissect, I had got too far to give up on my crab now!!
The next day we spent a lot of time updating the blog, we seem to have fallen a little behind on updating it recently!

Kratie & Kompong Cham

Tim and Em — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Kratie - Sunset over the Mekong

From Phnom Penh, we headed North East to a place called Kratie which is on the banks of the Mekong river. Our accommodation had an incredible outlook over the river and you could have dinner watching the sunset which was pretty cool – all this and it was the cheapest place we had stayed so far on the trip.

Kratie - Pavement hazards

We checked out the town which like most places we visited was centred round a market. Had an interesting stand-off with a herd of water buffalo that were roaming the street-this caused much hilarity among the locals who were watching. They seemed to be digging up most of Kratie to put drainage in, the central square with the market was a crazy place, pedestrians were not safe anywhere as moped riders did anything, including riding on the pavement, to avoid the trenches.
The main reason we came to Kratie was to go on a dolphin spotting trip. The rare Irrawaddy Dolphin inhabits the river – allegedly there are less than 100 left in the Mekong. Fortunately, they weren’t elusive as we spotted about 5 or 6 on our trip. Virtually impossible to get any photo’s though as you were never quite sure where they would pop up, in the end we gave up with the camera and just sat and watched them.
Next stop was Kampong Cham, we waited for the bus at the allotted time in Katie but it didn’t arrive. Instead two moped riders turned up and asked if we were waiting for the bus. It transpired that the bus had forgotten to pick us up and the moped riders would take as to the bus. Riding as a pillion passenger on the back of a moped is pretty interesting with a 20Kg rucksack on your back! Fortunately, we only had to ride about 2kms before we caught up with the bus.
Kampong Cham is one of the few places where there is a bridge that spans the width of the Mekong. Just down river from the very modern, western style concrete bridge is a bamboo bridge which links Kampong Cham to an island. The bamboo version is built every year at the start of the dry season and then washes away in the wet season. We hired a moped and went to check it out, Em was sceptical whether we should ride across it but we did (very slowly). Its about 300M in length and, in places the bamboo is very worn or non existent.

Kompong Cham - Immense Bamboo Bridge

The region is a major rubber producer and we had passed the plantations on the bus. I was keen to go and check it out so we went to the biggest, called Chup rubber. When we got there, it all looked pretty official, we had to sign in and we were given visitor passes. Thereafter, we were left entirely to our own devices and wandered around the processing plant unaccompanied which seemed odd. Workers just nodded to us as we went past. We saw the raw liquid rubber sap coming in by tanker at one end to large blocks of rubber being packed into crates the other end. It was fairly interesting although would have been even more so if there had been a guide to talk us through the various processes. One thing I will say is that rubber processing is an extremely smelly business! – never smelt anything like it and hopefully never again!

Kompong Cham - Chup Rubber factory

The following day we went to an old French lighthouse on the banks of the Mekong. Only the outer shell of the building remains but large steep steel steps have been erected inside so that you can get to the top.

Kompong Cham - French lighthouse (outside!)

What made this slightly more interesting than it sounds, is the resident mad guy who appears to live at the bottom. After a bit of gesticulating and the flash of some money, I left our crash helmets with him whilst we scaled the steps. I say we as by the first flight Em threw the towel in. I continued the climb on my own although I got concerned when I got to a wobbly section of steps. I realised that the steps were not bolted to the building at all, they merely rested against steel pins in the wall. I think this is when I had a slight dose of vertigo.
By now, the mad guy was far below me but I didn’t recognise him for a second because he had put one of our crash helmets on and appeared to be doing some kind of dance! I climbed to the top where you could get to onto a balcony outside. I took a few pictures and then could hear Em shouting at me so went back inside. She had started to shout because mad guy had a foot on the first step as though to head in Em’s direction. I started to climb down and fortunately mad guy didn’t go any further than the first step.

Kompong Cham - French lighthouse (inside!)