Phnom Penh and throught to Siem Reap

This first part of our stay in Phnom Penh is just for one day, we are then going to Siem Reap to see the temples and then back to Phnom Penh again for the boat festival.

When we arrived at the bus station in Phnom Penh it felt busy and confusing as do most places when you arrive for the first time. We settled on one chap and told him where we wanted to go. He looked rather puzzled and asked if we had a reservation as he knew a really good hotel we could go to. We said we were sure, so off we went. When we arrived he said we should go in and look first and he would wait for us in case we changed our mind. As I had booked this place I was feeling a bit nervous at the Tuc Tuc driver's behaviour, though discounted it as we thought he was touting for business elsewhere. We went to the reception and met Long, with whom I had been in email contact, and he was absolutely charming. We then met other staff and were shown to our room which was just lovely with an enormous bathroom. We were delighted with everything.

We knew that the hotel was owned by a gay couple and it became clear that most of the residents had chosen this hotel for exactly that reason. On reflection, we deduced that the Tuc Tuc driver knew this and thought that perhaps we were unaware.

The hotel is in a great central location, is very comfortably furnished and has some homely touches like a choice of reading materials, books and magazines, and feels more like staying in a friend's house. The pool is surrounded by lush green vegetation and just like a little jungle. It is really lovely and we will be staying there again once we return from Siem Reap.

The following morning it was up early to be collected from the hotel to get to the bus station to start our six hour drive to Siem Reap

We had elected to go by Mekong Express luxury coach ($11!) and were not disappointed. Whilst long, the drive from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap was comfortable and the time just whizzed past as the scenery is so interesting. There were paddy fields ready for harvesting and some in the process of being harvested. Nearly all this work is done by hand, many of the fields were busy with people bringing in the crop. There were water buffalo soaking in pools, cows grazing at the roadside, children waving at the bus and motor bikes , with anything between one and five people on board and very often with a load of some sort or other too. It is supposed to be the end of the wet season (I don't believe this), the water was high and along the road there were quite a few pools with fish and ducks. There was also a profusion of water lilies in white, dark pink and pale pink. It was truly beautiful - a super journey.

On arrival in Siem Reap we looked around, a sea of faces again, many of whom were Tuc Tuc drivers trying to get us to hire them. John was cornered by one of them who agreed to take us to our hotel for $2. Everything here is in US dollars. This driver's name is Hat and he quickly made an effort to befriend us. I suppose we were a bit wary as it's so easy to get taken for a ride in more senses than one, and we'd had a couple of experiences of rip off scams. As it turned out, this chap is an absolute treasure. He took us to our hotel and was then keen to get us to engage him for the following day for a trip to the temples, this is what we did, more about that in the next blog.

The hotel in Siem Reap is a real find. We booked on the internet after checking it out on 'trip advisor', a useful web site for reviewing hotels. It had a good write up from past guests and we can see why. It is ridiculously cheap, we have a great room with lots of space and a lovely little balcony overlooking the garden. The garden is quite exotic with tropical fruit plants and shrubs, including beautiful orchids in flower. There is even a secluded pool. The restaurant serves excellent food all reasonably priced and the staff are just so helpful. We are very comfortable here. The following day it is our first experience of temples and what and experience!!

Across the border into Cambodia

We enjoyed our free day in Can Tho: got up late, went out and found a nice cafe for breakfast, sat by the waterside and watched the world go by for a a while. A nice relaxing start for the day. After a wait and a few phonecalls, we were eventually collected at about 3pm to join the boat which was taking us to the floating hotel, where we were to spend the night prior to our journey up the Mekong and crossing over into Cambodia. Before I tell you of the delights of the floating hotel just a few very personal reflections on Vietnam.

I have to say Vietnam was not, on the whole, what I was expecting. It is very fair to say that our journey has only been along the coast and not always with the best of weather; both factors which can colour impressions of a country. We have had some wonderful experiences, visited amazing places, now the 'but', but somehow there was a lack of 'beauty'. When I say beauty I don't necessarily mean Temples and Pagodas and manufactured buildings and artifacts but just scenery and people going about their everyday business. It is true the women, especially the young girls, have graceful lithe bodies and look enchanting just riding a bicycle. The people themselves, so dignified and so keen to be friendly, emphasised to me that there was just something lacking in the everyday scenery.

I have told you all that, before telling you about the floating hotel, so you don't think that the experience has coloured my view of Vietnam. This place has to be seen to be believed. I know we were on a budget trip but it was something else. It was apparent from the minute we docked that we were in for an interesting experience - I thought we were approaching a ship wreck!! We were shown to our cabin which had three beds, all of which had previously been slept in - I was pleased I had my silk sleeping bag liner. Over each bed there was a mosquito net which I later established had less to do with mosquitos than keeping the cockroaches out of the bed. The walls of the room looked like children had been let loose with a paintball machine as the 'decor' was white walls with green splodges, all hand done. The less said about the bathroom the better, suffice it to say that we both used wet wipes rather than water and John had to check it out for me before I could use the loo - and then only in hover mode (all the women who read this will know about hover mode!). We slept very little and it was a relief when morning came. After a skimpy breakfast, that we had to pay for, we departed this no-star accommodation.

In contrast, our trip by 'fast' boat up the river across the border into Cambodia was another good experience. On the way we stopped at a fish farm and saw how fish that we can now buy in our supermarkets are managed. Basa fish, that I have bought in Sainsburys (it's delicious!), is mostly farmed along the Mekong River.

It was a first for me to cross a border from one country to another by boat and I now have even more rubber stamps in my passport; border guards just seem to love rubber stamps.

It is unteresting that the minute we were through the border the scenery changed and became much more how I imagined Vietnam was going to be. The banks of the river seemed much less populated and the land was clearly given over to farming. There were cows and water buffalo by the river banks, small villages which were obviously poor but where there was a small temple for the village. There were decorations on some of the rooves, it was all simple but had a feeling of identity and aesthetics which Vietnam lacked.

This impression continued after our boat journey ended just about an hours drive from the capital Phonm Penh.

Mekong Delta days one and two

We keep pinching ourselves to really believe that it is us who are doing this trip. As we set off on a boat along the Mekong Delta we just looked at each other and said "who would have thought that we would be here" It is just amazing, we are having the experiences of a lifetime.

The Mekong Delta has to be seen to be believed. Our boat trip is very much a tourist tour but we thought the best (and cheapest) way of doing it. I think we were right. Within a very short time of leaving Saigon on the boat, we were in wonderful waterways which could be wide or narrow, depending on the number of small streams and rivers flowing into the main river. At one point the river was so wide it was impossible to see the far bank. We are on the river at the end of the rainy season so it is swollen to capacity, so we are seeing it at its best. Apparently the farmers rely on the volume of water to wash the silt down the river as this is what makes the land so fertile.

In many places the sides of the river are lined with ramshackle housing. People, who's livelihood comes from the river, tend to be poor, it is impossible for them to afford the price of land to build a home so they build in the water. The photo shows what some of these homes look like. What was unsettling, is the level of pollution of the river, which in places is used as a rubbish dump. In the local paper they were saying that Vietnam is going to experience a water shortage in 10 years time because many of their water reserves are so polluted. With this recognition it is hoped they address the dumping of rubbish soon.

Once away from the densely populated river banks, the waterway is a hive of activity with large boats delivering containers of goods, small boats transporting people, water taxis buzzing around and tourist boats taking in all the atmosphere. It is really exciting and you cannot help but be involved in all the goings on.

At just over 80 kilometers from Saigon we stopped for lunch and a trip round a coconut candy factory. As with lots of things here a health and safety person from anywhere in Eurpoe would have had kittens if they could have seen the shed in which these toffees were being made. I think it was the rolling of the sticky toffee on a piece of tarpauline which rather took my breath away. However, we did accept the offer of a piece of the toffee from the tarpauline and it was yummy - and with no after effects!!

We stopped at another Island where we had a boat trip in a canoe rowed by what looked like a husband and wife team. It was along a narrow stream between dense foliage, it felt a bit like a lazy river theme park ride but it went on for quite some way. Clearly the villagers make their livelihood from taking tourists along this waterway, it was quite an experience for us and we also felt we were aiding the income of these families by enjoying ourselves.

After a good meal at a pavement 'restaurant' by the riverside, we had a reasonably early night as we had an early start this morning and with another early start tomorrow as we are off exploring again.

Today's trip on the Mekong took us to the largest floating market in the delta. People come from miles around to sell their fruit and vegetables from the boats. This is a wholesale market where the produce is sold in huge quantities, purchased by retailers who sell to the public. To advertise what is for sale, they have a pole on which are tied sample items of produce. So some poles had an onion and a cabbage, others a squash and onion and so on. It was a hive of activity. One enterprising lady had realised that tourists might fancy a piece of fruit so, for 40 pence, she would sell you a pineapple which in front of you she trimmed off the outside and all those little fibrous bits, cut it in half down the middle almost to the bottom but left a 'handle' on the bottom made from the trimmed crown of the fruit, it was just delicious.

Afterwards, we were taken to a rice noodle making family business. The equipment was pretty basic and it was hot and humid work. The rice flour was mixed with water and tapioca flour, left to ferment overnight. The mixture is then made into huge pancakes by spreading it on silk and then steamed for about a couple of minutes. It is then laid on bamboo racks and dried in the sun. Once dried, it is cut into narrow strips (the noodles) with a rather ancient loking machine, packaged up and sent off to market. It was clear the noodles had been made in this way for generations and I am sure on the same equipment.

Tomorrow is our last day in Can Tho, we are off again further up the Mekong to stay the night in a floating hotel. Is this the simple old Pointons' doing all this, I can't believe it!!!

Siagon

The weather has broken and we are now having some sunshine, this does make life easier getting around and it does mean I can leave the trusty poncho mac behind for once. We have had a good couple of days. Yesterday we went to the Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai Temple. It was an organised tour and yet again a marvellous mix of nationalities, with us the only British people. That is not exactly true, there was a chap who had lived in new Zealand for 30 years, he believed that he had lost his northern accent but all I could hear was a broad accent which just said the north of England. The rest were from the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand (or so he claimed), America and a very noisy group of teenagers from Singapore. It was an early start as our first stop was the Cao Dai Temple about 3 hours from the city.

The Cao Dai Temple, and the community which surrounds it, is, I understand, unique to Vietnam. It is a religion which takes aspects of Buddhism, Catholicism, Taoism and Confucian and was started at the beginning of the last centuary. The temple is highly decorated with dragons bright paintings, some of the worshippers wear robes which signify the religious root they follow; for example, white for Catholicism and yellow for Buddhist. We arrived in time for the midday service, music and singing was performed by some of the worshippers, this had a rythmic rather spell-binding rhythm which was clearly linked to meditation. At intervals a bell was sounded which provoked the worshippers to bow. It was fascinatinationg to watch and had a certain spirituality. The photo was taken from the balcony where we were able to observe the service.

From this peaceful episode in the day, we then proceeded to the Ch Chi tunnels from where the viet cong, and residents of the nearby village who supported the viet cong, hid out and attacked the American service men. It was amazing to see the tiny tunnels in which they made their way undergound. The ingenuity of some of the steps they took to remain secret was incredible. Of course, the Vietnamese are slight people, the entraces and exits to the tunnels were tiny, far too small for any of the Americans to use. There were a couple of boys in our group who were about 10 or 12 and they were the only ones who would have been able to go through most of the entrances. We were also shown some of the booby traps they laid, most of which were made from shrapnel from American ordnance, they were simple in their constuction but lethal in their impact, all rather scarey.

Today was our last day in Ho Chi Minh City. We walked for miles, really enjoyed the city. There is a beautiful Botanical Gardens, which has a not quite so beautiful Zoo. It was good to see that they were making changes to some of the compounds in which the animals were kept to make them more interesting and stimulating but there is still some way to go. The plants and trees were excellent, well established and it was apparent that there has been a long term commitment to ensuring this garden is kept well for the enjoyment of visitors.

Today we sent home some stuff we know we will no longer need, (cold weather stuff - sorry all of you in England!) it is good to empty some of our luggage to make way for a couple of new acquisitions on our travels (don't tell John!)

We are off on a boat tomorrow on the Mekong Delta so may be out of contact for a few days.

Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh

The weather has not improved and from the forecast it looks as if the whole of the coastal area of Vietnam is effected by this unseasonal weather. Our plan was to go to Nha Trang which is one of Vietnam's most beautiful beach resorts. We decided, however, that this was not such a good idea as there is little as depressing as a wet beach. We then looked at the possibility of Da Lat, which is inland but up in the mountains. Again we decided that this was a non-starter as our trip to Sapa was not brilliant and demonstrated to us that mountains and wet weather are not the most congenial of combinations. So we decided to make our way directly to Saigon as that would be far enough south to escape the worst of the weather. We were reluctant to leave Hoi An as it is such a lovely place, we had made contact with some great people and the accommodation and location were just perfect. We were going to have to make our move or we could see ourselves just settling into a lazy, but rather damp life in Hoi An.

Because of the distance and the weather, we had little alternative other than flying to Saigon. We booked with JetStar, which is a good cheap airline (part of Qantas), booked our hotel in Saigon and off we went.

Landing in Saigon was a real culture shock. Hoi An was so quiet and Saigon is just the opposite. There are as many, if not more bikes here than in Hanoi. It is said there are 5 million motorcycles in a population of 10 million! Quite believable - the traffic has to be seen to be believed. The driving is, shall we say, creative - the notion of stopping at traffic lights seems to apply to some people but not everyone. Although there are crossings marked on the road there might as well not be as neither pedestrian nor driver takes any notice.

We are staying in a really centrally located hotel which is functional without being luxurious. The attraction is the convenient location where we just have to walk out the back door and we are straight into the Market, which is a wonder at night as the street food is just delicious. We have had what is known here as a 'hot pot'. It is a pot of soup liquid, heavily flavoured with garlic, chilli and lemon grass, over an open burner There is a tray around the edge of the pot with seafood and vegetables, which are scraped into and cooked in the soup. Put some noodles in your bowl, ladle on some hot soup to warm it up, add seafood and veg and then eat the whole lot.....absolutely delicious and for about £6 for both of us.

We have done a city tour which included China Town, a market, the Independence Palace, the Post Office(an amazing late victorian building) and the War Remnants Museum. You need a strong stomach to go to the latter as it tells the story of the Vietnam War (or as they call it here the American War) from the Vietnamese point of view. However you look at it, this war was an absolute disaster. The museum clearly demonstrated the inhumanity of war in uncompromising horrific terms, not something which I have much capacity to take on board. After a brief visit to a small part of the exhibition I decided that I had seen enough, John felt the same, so a bench under a shady tree was a calmer place to sit in reflection while we waited for the rest of our group.

One of the things I am really enjoying about this whole trip is the wide variety of people we are meeting and this city tour encapsulated that mix of nationalities. There were Germans, Japanese, Spanish, Australian, Turkish,Indian, British and this was a group of just 16 people and it is like that everywhere we go. By the way, one of our group works for the BBC as a news programme editor. Those who know me well will appreciate my liking for "Strictly Come Dancing", so I was keen to find out why this is not available on iPlayer. Poor chap didn't know what he was letting himself in for, I now have a promise that this will be investigated on his return to the UK.

One of the highlights of this tour was our guide who clearly wished to demonstrate his male credentials at every opportunity. When we were on the way to China Town he was keen to let all the guys know that Chinese Medicine was, as he put it, "very good when the male battery was run down". He was quick to point out, though, that his battery was fully charged!

The company who ran this tour was called "Kim Tours" so when we stopped at Kim Restaurant we all assumed that the two were linked but it turns out that the restaurant was so named because it was next door to the Kim Tour office, a good example of everything not always being what it seems. We have another couple of days in Saigon so more on this amazing place soon. now

Hue to Hoi An

As you can see we have discovered how to add photos to the blog, more about what this is later.

We decided to take life easy and took a taxi from the Hotel in Hue to Hoi An. The weather had not been good and the trains were unpredictable so we thought in a car we could have a bit of control, where we could stop and what we could do on the way. Our driver was really good and stopped whenever we wanted, he also took a diversion on the way to show us a picturesque inlet where fishermen kept their boats and the waterside was lovely. The boats resembled kayaks (took me back to Halong Bay) and were constructed from woven palm fronds covered in pitch. We later saw some others made in the same way but just the same shape as coracles. On the way, we went past Marble Mountain which as it says is made from marble. There was a small village just given over to sculptors and stone masons who were making the most amazing statuary, too big to bring back home.

We also saw some truly wonderful beaches, one of them, China Beach. was where the American soldiers would go for a break during the Vietnam War. This area is now under a huge amount of development with hotels and apartments being built. How they are going to sell them all in this economic climate is uncertain.

We arrived in Hoi An and checked into our hotel which is very smart. It is a riverside hotel and a spa resort. We have a lovely room overlooking the pool and it is just so peaceful. There are just delicious little touches like pottery urns filled with water with flowers floating on the surface. There are small ponds with water llies in and the whole place is just a delight.

Hoi An is a world Heritage Site and to preserve the town they limit the traffic to essential vehicles and deliveries. There are signs at the start of some of the roads which say 'walkers and primitive vehicles only'. By primitive they mean simple (cycles). Our guide said they told the authorities it was the wrong word but they took no notice. You can walk down the centre of the road without any fear, a real contrast after Hanoi and Hue.

We have been on a guided walk through the town and been in old buildings where the family still lived and where generations of their family had always lived. They showed us where the water had come up to when the river flooded. All the old houses have an internal pulley system to move the furniture quickly to the upper floor, something we could do with in some parts of the UK.

The whole town has had a mixture of cultures influencing the architecture. There is a Japanese bridge, French influence in the shutters on the houses and Chinese influence in many of the roofs, this eclectic mix just works somehow . The buildings are just lovely and are protected. If any restoration takes place it has to be approved by the local planning authority and to conform to the style of the town. It is reassuring that this level of interest is being taken in such a lovely , historical place.

The picture at the top of this page is of one of the temples of My Son which is a Hindu temple complex, unusual in this part of the country. It was the Champa people who passed through this area and built the temples. They are in poor repair and were clearly heavily damaged in the Vietnam war. There is evidence of bullet holes in many of the walls and some old ordnance is on display which must have been found on the site. It was an interesting trip, the rain has persisted so my pink poncho came in very handy.

On the subject of the pink poncho I need to give you my side of the story as John is threatening to put a post on this blog as I have avoided telling you this bit. It is while we were in Hue. John thought I was taking a disproportionate interest in the pavements. All I can say is, I am sure I do not suffer from Osteoporosis. For some reason I had difficulty in staying upright. It was raining and the hotel had lent us pink umbrellas, this in combination with the poncho meant that I was a bit of a study in pink. It seemed that every time John and our guide got a few steps ahead of me I would trip or slip on something, apparently when ever John looked round all he could see was this pink mound of plastic with a lump in the middle which was me.

To add insult to injury, John now calls this not my packamac, but my flashamac. The poncho is designed to be worn on a bike. So you can use it at night, there is a clear panel in the front to be draped over the handle bars and over the light. A good idea except when you wear this while walking around you have to ensure you have your trouser zip is done up or it looks like ...... well I shall leave it to you to decide!

Hue

We arrived in Hue and went straight to our hotel where fortunately we could book in early as we were feeling a little travel weary. The Hotel is only three star but our room is really spacious with a sofa and arm chair, feels like a little suite. The sink was full of water with Jasmine flowers and flowers on the bed, it was lovely and the staff great too. We quickly settled in. After a bit of a rest and a shower it was off exploring. We decided to take a cyclo ride to the Market but were talked into going to the Citadel. This was where we had our first really unhappy experience, the cyclo chaps who had agreed on one dollar for the market were now adding on 4 dollars for an extra 5 minute ride. We were not happy but gave them the money and put this down to experience. The Citadel surprised us, it is vast. Much of it is a very sad state with significant damage inflicted in both the war with the French in 1946 and again by the Americans in the 60s. There was also a devastating tornado in the 80s which inflicted even more damage. Restoration is taking place but it all looks a bit haphazard. They also need to restrict some of the more bizarre activities like riding your motor scooter down the newly restored corridors! A lot of what has been preserved is really interesting, the last Emperor to live there was in 1925 and there is quite a bit of photographic evidence of his life there at that time, it really made the place come alive. We had a wonderful afternoon, I took loads of photos, walked for miles and had a great time appreciating the place. We were now tired so we decided to get a taxi back to the Hotel, remembering how earlier we had been ripped off we were very careful to ensure the meter was used and the correct route taken back to the hotel. We were so focused on this that I left my camera in the back of the taxi. We have tried everything to get it back without success so I am going to have to rely on getting some photos from people we met on the boat in Halong bay and postcards of other places. Fortunateley we had downloaded a lot of our earlier photos on to the lap top but some are now lost for ever.

The following day John went out looking for a new camera and I had a Vietnamese cookery lesson. The lesson started with me having to climb on the back of a motor bike and ride to the market to buy the ingredients. The crash helmet I was given perched on the top of my head like a pimple, the chin strap held for the journey there but on the way back it gave up on me so I rode along with my hand holding the crash helmet on my head. The market was amazing with just about everything you could imagine on sale from fish heads to conical hats and silk by the yard. We got our cooking ingredients and returned to Missy Roo's restaurant where the lesson took place. It was great fun. As soon as I cooked something I had to sample what I had made so by lunchtime I was full and had a take-away ready for John. There were a couple of times during the lesson when I had to remember the saying 'you have to eat a ton of muck before you die', there was this dish cloth..... I shall leave it to your imagination, start with a grotty floor cloth then double it. The Imodium is still in its packet so it can't have been that bad.

We are now the owners of a new camera, a neat little Canon whch does all sorts of whizzy things, John is in his element playing with this.

Our last day in Hue was pouring with rain and we had a trip planned to go round the tombs of the Emperors, the Pagoda and the Mandarin's Garden culminating in a trip down the Perfumed River on a Dragon Boat. You will be pleased to learn that your intrepid friends decided that a tropical monsoon was not going to put us off. We purchased a couple of pochos, one pink and the other blue (just in case we forgot) and off we went with our guide and driver for the day. The tombs in Hue are marvelous, even in the rain. Our guide was great, spoke good English and was able to give us the history of the tombs and also some amusing stories about the people who had them built. The Mandarin's garden was a bit of a high spot, this Vietnamese woman showed us all the plants, knew what they were and even broke off a piece of bark of a cinnamon tree so that we could recognise the scent.

The trip on the Dragon Boat would have been great in good weather but in the rain it lacked a certain charm. The boat owners wife had laid out lots of things to sell and I think was disappointed that I only bought some cards, it is difficult when we have so much travelling in front of us to collect too many souvenirs. I did compensate by paying the fullprice and not bargaining which clearly surprised her.

I am a convert to plastic ponchos, we stayed quite dry from the knees up, from the knees down, that's a different story.

Tomorrow it is off to Hoi An which is supposed to be beautiful, the weather is set in to be rainey so I shall ensure I take the trusty poncho with me.