Up at 4:30 for a 5:00 trip to Angkor Wot for sunrise. The crowds were building even at that time of day, but well worth the effort. As it turned out we didn’t have an overly spectacular sunrise, but Wow!
Once the sun was up – about 6:15 we headed into the wot. It’s hard to say what is most impressive about the place – the scale of it all or the fine detail. Every surface is covered in intricate, fine carving. Every surface.
We then headed back for breakfast, followed by a Khmer cooking class with 5 others in the group. Just like the cooking class in Vietnam, it involved a market tour, and just like in Vietnam it was lots of fun and delicious.
It was then back to the hotel for a short rest before
heading off for drinks and dinner at another small local restaurant. Another $7
meal, including drinks.
Lastly we hit a sky bar for a nightcap, before heading back to pack for the bus trip
to Bangkok tomorrow.
Big photo day… Day 1 of the Temples of Siem Reap. We started with the oldest of the temples, Banteay Srey, a 10th century temple 40 minutes drive out of town. The intricate carvings on the rocks was incredible.
Next temple was Ta Prohm, the temple made famous in Raiders of the Lost Ark, with tree roots growing down through the temple. I’ll need to do some fact checking, but these temples were abandoned for 400 years, as the Cambodian empire declined, before being ‘rediscovered’ (the locals always knew about them) in the early 20th century by the French. During the years of abandonment seeds deposited in bird droppings germinated, becoming the huge trees we see today.
Our last temple stop for the day was Angkor Thom (We all thought Teavy was saying ‘Uncle Tom’. Seemed like a strange name for a temple complex.) This complex was huge, with at least four discrete areas within the bounds of the temple.
After returning to the hotel we had a refreshing swim (it was seriously hot and humid today – just like every other day) before a small group of us headed out to find ourselves dinner, and what a find we made… Entrée of spring rolls, main course of a curry and 2 beers for $US7. They use 2 currencies here. They use $US for notes greater than $1 and Cambodian Riel for smaller amounts. $US1=4000 Riel, with notes of 500, 1000 and 5000 riel. Often you’ll pay for something in a combination of currencies, or pay in $US and get change in Riel.
Last stop was a wander around the markets on town. Siem Reap
is a lively, friendly town.
The day started with a bike ride to the semi rural areas north of Battambang, including visits to rice paper makers, a rice wine distillery, a stop for fruit, a stop for sticky rice in bamboo and a banana drying stop. Each of the stops were at the homes of Cambodian families making a small living from their various enterprises. At the rice paper house the lady makes up to 1200 rice papers a day for a profit of around $5. And when its wet production stops.
After the ride and lunch we headed for Siem Reap by bus. The first half of the journey was roadworks, but as we got closer to Siem Reap the landscape changed to extensive rice fields and the roadside was cleaner, houses larger and generally felt much more affluent.
Siem Reap is a thriving, lively town, totally dependant on
tourism – Angkor Wat is just a few kilometres away. The town has a population
of about 30000, and about 20000 tourist beds!
Another long day in the bus, but with some fantastic stops along the way and after we arrived in Battombang (pronounced Battambong). First stop was a floating village. Access was via a dirt road that probably gets washed away every wet season, and appeared to never get repaired. Upon arriving near the lake we jumped on a boat and toured the village, complete with a police station, a health centre, shops, mechanics workshops and houses.
Typical house
Back on shore dad priced a motor, shaft and propeller – the type used on the Thai style longboats. It was only $300 for the whole 18hp setup. Pity it wouldn’t fit in the luggage.
We then continued on for lunch, arriving in Battambang late afternoon. The town is in the midst of a full blown festival, with street stalls, music, dragon boat races, and a fantastic atmosphere.
After a short break we headed out to the ‘bamboo train’. Having no idea what to expect, it was still a surprise. Very unusual and lots of fun. The photos tell the story.
We then headed off for dinner in a local home, then back to the hotel for a quick drink and bed – with the festival thumping below us.
Another confronting day with a trip to the killing fields and to the genocide museum. Although the history is a little complex, nothing you hear makes it make sense.
The afternoon was a little more relaxing, with a walk around town, getting lost in the back streets and seeing the real deal, instead of staying on the tourist route. This was followed by a short break, then a tuk tuk tour of the significant memorials and stupas, with the obligatory market thrown in and a nice dinner.
Most of the day was spent on the bus driving from Saigin to Phnom Penh. After crossing the border (I think my first ever land border crossing?) into Cambodia the differences between the two countries were immediately obvious. Cambodia has a much lower rural population density, has a lot more plastic litter, worse roads, fewer motor bikes, but an interesting twist – motorbikes with trailers, articulated like a semi-trailer, sometimes carrying huge loads.
After arrival we did a Mekong River cruise (with $2.50 cocktails – $US dollars are generally accepted here), then dinner where I had the Amok- the traditional dish of Cambodia – somewhat like and indian curry but not spicy and very lemon grassy. Yum.
We then wandered home, stopping at another bar along the way. Seems like the new group will (mostly) bond quite well.
New to the group is Jen and Carmen from Canada, Joe from Australia and Donna and Robert from Gosford – who know some of the same people dad knows. From the Vietnam group is Niahm, Peter, Debbie, Bigitte, Dad and I.
Our Vietnam tour officially finished today and our Cambodia tour officially begins. With 11 others from the Vietnam group we booked a tour to Cu Chi tunnels, about an hour out of Saigon. Incredible stories of ingenuity and survival by the Viet Cong in a network of 280km of tunnels, totally surrounded by French then American forces. Our tour guide ‘Tan’ was superb. He explained everything so clearly and with great humour.
We stopped in at a house where the woman of the house makes 1400 rice paper sheets a day, for payment of about $US10 a day. We also learnt that police make about $US400 per month!
After returning to Saigon the 6 of us continuing on to
Cambodia went for a walk to the local tourist markets where we made a few last
minute purchases to use up the last of our Dong.
We then met with our new group leader and the people joining us for the rest of the journey. Our group leader is Sotheavy – pronounced something like Tee-a-vee, a young Cambodian woman from Siem Reap. Tomorrow we cross the border into Cambodia and head for Phnom Penh.
As we disband, I realise I never introduced our group… Collin, Kerryn and Nicholas from Sydney, Belinda and Darrell from Perth, Debbie and Brigitte from Boston, Mark and Emma from Dublin, Elena and Vitali from Germany, , Peter from London, Niahm from out of Dublin and Dad and I.
Away early for 2 hour bus trip to the Mekong River Delta. As it crosses Vietnam the Mekong divided into 9 branches, each one enormous. The first part of the tour was on a river boat, transporting us to farms and jungles where we would spend the next few hours on various forms of transport. First stop was a coconut farm and coconut lolly production shed. The coconut lolly was like a cross between fudge and a mintie (not the taste, just the texture).
We then jumped into tuk tuk style motor bike contraptions for a spin through the jungle, with narrow paths, farms and canals twisting this way and that. We stopped at a broom ‘factory’, but no production today and then into a small village where a wedding was being held. (The wedding might explain no workers at the broom place). The wedding guests were as interested in us as we were in them, coming out the front to take our photo and inviting us to taste their rice wine. Very strong – quite like Saki.
We were then ushered into canoe style boats and paddled through a narrow canal, which became narrower and choked with water hyacinth to the point where we needed to get involved in propelling the canoe through the blockages.
It was then a short walk to lunch – whole fish made into rice paper rolls, and back on the river boat to return to our starting point, then back to Saigon by bus.
After a short rest we headed to Koto restaurant for our final Vietnam group dinner (tomorrow the Vietnam trip officially ends and the Cambodia trip officially begins, with a change of group leader and a change of group) and a Secret Santa.
Up at 5, but a phone call from Bruce at 5:30 – our planes been cancelled and our new booking means we can leave the hotel an hour later. So we went for a walk, around the near deserted streets of Hoi An and to the local market, which was in full swing. Returning to the hotel we had a leisurely breakfast before jumping on the bus to the airport.
The flight to Saigon was about an hour then off to the War Remnants Museum, which was really interesting but very confronting. It wasn’t the type of place you wanted to take photos. Next was a brief tour of the town – the Notre Dame Catholic Cathedral, post office and Reunification Palace.
Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City? The locals, and even the government, use both although they aren’t interchangeable names. Saigon refers to the inner city whereas Ho Chi Minh City refers to the greater city and surrounding rural areas. Who knew!
Once rested up for a while, and the obligatory beer before dinner, we headed out for a walking tour of some of the night-time ‘highlights’ of Saigon. Through the crazy busy, crowded backpackers area, then on to Nguyen Hue – the ‘Walking street’ with loud, very loud, music attacking from every direction and neon lights to give Las Vegas a run for its money. Bailing out of there as quickly as possible, Bruce found a small quiet restaurant with a 20+ page menu. We suspect that as we ordered they were calling the Vietnamese version of Uber Eats to deliver. No kitchen could stock everything required for the menu. Again the cost was mind blowing. Dad had a chicken, pork and beef stir fry which came with a separate salad and rice. He also had a beer. Total cost – 75000VD or about $5.
Saigon is by far the busiest, noisiest, youngest place we’ve been. It seems to be very much the young people’s city. The traffic is still crazy, but in a different way. Faster, more aggressive, not as much ‘flow’. It’s hard to describe the ‘flow’ in the other places we’ve been. The closest I can come is to think of motor traffic moving like pedestrian traffic in a busy shopping centre. Everyone gives way to everyone, but keeps moving all the time, even threw busy intersections or roundabouts. It is fascinating to watch.
Hoi An is amazing. It’s the type of place you could come and stay a week and relax and shop and eat (and eat and eat and eat) This morning we had a trip highlight – a cooking class which included a market tour and a tasting session where we sampled common dishes as well as some more exotic food – steamed pig brain, tiny spicy snails, duck embryo, pig ear salad, silk worm salad, jelly fish salad and stir fried frog. The frog was the pick of these, but all were pretty good. We then moved to the kitchen and did a 2 hour cooking session with 4 dishes. It was fantastic. For future reference, it was Vy’s Cooking School. Highly recommended.
Green Mango Salad with chargrilled chicken
Dad’s had a pair of boots custom made – they are fantastic. $US63 with a 24 hour service. I’m sure there would be more bootmakers, dressmakers and tailors in Hoi An than in all of Australia and the dress designs in particular are really nice. I’d like to bring my entire Year class here a week before their Formal. You would love the dresses being sold here.
After the cooking class we had some time to relax (we haven’t stopped much until today), so I hit the street to check out some of the local crafts and markets, followed by a few drinks – happy hour, 2 pina coladas for 70000VD (about $5) or a round of 4 beers for 80000VD ($5 – $6). – with most of the group and dinner at a small, less touristy restaurant where I had the local staple, Cau Lau for the outrageous cost of 35000VD or about $2.
Early night tonight as we’re flying out to Saigon in the morning, so we need to be up by 5:00am.
