Over the past few days leading up to our departure from Cambodia we have run into more problems than we have encountered over the entirety of our trip. First there was the bus ride from hell, then the motorbike accident (which caused us to stay an extra day). The day after the accident we were almost attacked by a centipede and a snake (Steve says the centipede was cool). Today we were supposed to catch a bus from Ban Lung (where we've been staying) to Don Det in Laos. The bus arrived in Stung Treng just fine, but upon arrival at 1130AM we were told that we had to wait until 2PM for the bus. We kinda just wanted to get going, but we were ok about the wait. Then a few minutes later, we were told that there had been some sort of hold up with the bus, and that it wouldn't be here until 4PM. We were a bit annoyed but, having already bought and paid for the ticket, realised we didn't have a choice and sat and waited. At 4PM we were told that the bus was late, but it was on its way... a bit over an hour later we were told that it had broken down, and that we have to stay the night here, in Stung Treng, a hole!
Will we ever get to leave???????? Team morale is at a low... PLEASE CAMBODIA LET US LEAVE TOMORROW!!!
Showing posts with label Cambodia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cambodia. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Motorbikes are dangerous too.
Yesterday, being scarred from our busride from hell, we decided to take a mini-van to Ban Lung instead. It was a 12-seater mini-van, and we had 22 people and a caged bird crammed into it. Bigtime sardine experience. Steve and I shared the backseat with 2 Danish people, and we luckily didn't have anyone in our laps, unlike most of the other people in the van. At one point there were even 2 men sharing the drivers seat! We also had a flat tyre along the way (a large portion of the journey was by dirt road) but apart from that, not very eventful.
Today we hired a couple of motorbikes along with 2 other travellers we had met in order to go and visit some of the waterfalls around town. The local 'tour company' wanted to charge us $15 each for them to take us out there, which they strongly suggested because apparently we would get lost. It only cost $6 to hire the motorbike for the day, plus 11,000 riel to fuel it up, so we saved a lot of money and didn't get lost. Unfortunately, our fellow traveller, Stu, skidded off his bike on some loose gravel and took a chunk out of his knee so deep that we could see his knee-cap etc. Luckily fellow traveller, Chloe, who was on the back of the bike, was fine; just some minor scratches. Steve took Stu back and did some first-aiding while we waited at the waterfall, but we decided that we should really find him a doctor as it really needed stitches. We knew the people we hired the bikes off spoke very good English, so we went to them for help (and to let them know what happened to the bike) and they took Stu to a DR where he got sown up.
On our way back to our Guesthouse for lunch, however, a 4WD sped accross the intersection in front of us, Steve braked, and we came off our motorbike. Luckily we were wearing helmets, and we weren't driving very fast; the driver of the 4WD didn't even stop. Apparently most people around here don't know much about road rules. I got lucky with just a bit of gravelrash on the back of my forearm, but Steve has it all up his arm and down his side, basically all the way down to his undies. We got taken to a DR and he cleaned all the dirt out, which I think was more painful than the actual accident. Now we've just got to keep the cuts clean! gah..
Today we hired a couple of motorbikes along with 2 other travellers we had met in order to go and visit some of the waterfalls around town. The local 'tour company' wanted to charge us $15 each for them to take us out there, which they strongly suggested because apparently we would get lost. It only cost $6 to hire the motorbike for the day, plus 11,000 riel to fuel it up, so we saved a lot of money and didn't get lost. Unfortunately, our fellow traveller, Stu, skidded off his bike on some loose gravel and took a chunk out of his knee so deep that we could see his knee-cap etc. Luckily fellow traveller, Chloe, who was on the back of the bike, was fine; just some minor scratches. Steve took Stu back and did some first-aiding while we waited at the waterfall, but we decided that we should really find him a doctor as it really needed stitches. We knew the people we hired the bikes off spoke very good English, so we went to them for help (and to let them know what happened to the bike) and they took Stu to a DR where he got sown up.
On our way back to our Guesthouse for lunch, however, a 4WD sped accross the intersection in front of us, Steve braked, and we came off our motorbike. Luckily we were wearing helmets, and we weren't driving very fast; the driver of the 4WD didn't even stop. Apparently most people around here don't know much about road rules. I got lucky with just a bit of gravelrash on the back of my forearm, but Steve has it all up his arm and down his side, basically all the way down to his undies. We got taken to a DR and he cleaned all the dirt out, which I think was more painful than the actual accident. Now we've just got to keep the cuts clean! gah..
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Buses are dangerous.
Just a quick post tonight. Today we took the bus from Siem Reap to Kratie and it was quite literally the worst bus ride of our lives.
It was fine for the first few hours, but it all went downhill when the bus stopped in the middle of no-where and we were told to get off. The only explanation we could get was that another bus would be coming soon, however we were slightly concerned because our tickets had already been taken from us. The second bus was the ride from hell. We were seated at the back because they were the only seats left, and the second back row of seats were partially broken, so they were sitting basically in our laps for a long portion of the journey. Then at one point, the driver (who I think must have been world-weary by the way he was driving) went over a bump/ditch too fast and slammed on the breaks, which caused everyone in the back couple of rows + the broken seats which weren't properly attached to the ground, to jolt upwards and forwards very abruptly. We were half asleep at the time; when I came back down I landed on the arm rest rather than the seat, and the seat in front of me almost impaled my foot. The result is a large upcoming bruise on my butt, skin off my toes, and an impaled thong.
To top things off, when we were forced off the bus the first time, I needed to go to the toilet but we were literally in the middle of no-where. I could see a little hut protruding over a ditch that looked like an out-house so I pointed and asked "toilet?" to which I got a nod, so I proceeded to the hut. When I got there, there wasn't a door.. and there wasn't even a hole in the floor.. it was just bamboo slats. I was confused as to what I was supposed to do so I just decided to hold it. The next stop was several hours later, after the near foot impaling incident. When we got to the stop, there was only 1 toilet, and all the women had to line up. The bus driver decided that the toilet stop should only continue until all the men had finished doing their business, so he began to blast the horn. In desperation I decided to do what a few of the other women had done, and go behind the shed. However, as I began to do so, a 60-something German woman decided to do the same. Probably one of the most awkward situations of my life.
We are now in Kratie, heading to Ban Lung to check out some waterfalls tomorrow. Dreading another bus trip.
Amiee x
It was fine for the first few hours, but it all went downhill when the bus stopped in the middle of no-where and we were told to get off. The only explanation we could get was that another bus would be coming soon, however we were slightly concerned because our tickets had already been taken from us. The second bus was the ride from hell. We were seated at the back because they were the only seats left, and the second back row of seats were partially broken, so they were sitting basically in our laps for a long portion of the journey. Then at one point, the driver (who I think must have been world-weary by the way he was driving) went over a bump/ditch too fast and slammed on the breaks, which caused everyone in the back couple of rows + the broken seats which weren't properly attached to the ground, to jolt upwards and forwards very abruptly. We were half asleep at the time; when I came back down I landed on the arm rest rather than the seat, and the seat in front of me almost impaled my foot. The result is a large upcoming bruise on my butt, skin off my toes, and an impaled thong.
To top things off, when we were forced off the bus the first time, I needed to go to the toilet but we were literally in the middle of no-where. I could see a little hut protruding over a ditch that looked like an out-house so I pointed and asked "toilet?" to which I got a nod, so I proceeded to the hut. When I got there, there wasn't a door.. and there wasn't even a hole in the floor.. it was just bamboo slats. I was confused as to what I was supposed to do so I just decided to hold it. The next stop was several hours later, after the near foot impaling incident. When we got to the stop, there was only 1 toilet, and all the women had to line up. The bus driver decided that the toilet stop should only continue until all the men had finished doing their business, so he began to blast the horn. In desperation I decided to do what a few of the other women had done, and go behind the shed. However, as I began to do so, a 60-something German woman decided to do the same. Probably one of the most awkward situations of my life.
We are now in Kratie, heading to Ban Lung to check out some waterfalls tomorrow. Dreading another bus trip.
Amiee x
Friday, January 8, 2010
Angkor Day3
Our last day at Angkor! By this point we were a bit 'templed-out'... so we only went out for the morning and then came back in time for the Hotel's free buffet breakfast ;)
We went back to Ta Prohm for the sunrise again, seeing as the first time, the batteries ran out on Steve's good camera and we had to settle for my 'point&shoot' camera which really is nothing compared to the quality of the photos from the other camera. Getting there before sunrise was still very eerie, despite having done it before!
Afterwards, we decided to end our temple-exploring with Angkor Wat. We got our tuk-tuk driver to drop us off around the back of the temple instead, as it's impossible to get a good shot with the hundreds of tourists and the renovation scaffolding covering the front. It was a lot nicer visit this time; the temperature was cooler and there were less crowds. We witnessed a very strange group of people... one of which decided to take her skirt off and walk around in her undies, impersonating the monkies... which was a bit odd (this is a 20-something woman I'm talking about, not a child!). Somewhat entertaining, although very innapropriate considering we were in a temple. Good thing the monks didn't see her.
Last night in Siem Reap tonight, heading to Stung Treng tomorrow!
We went back to Ta Prohm for the sunrise again, seeing as the first time, the batteries ran out on Steve's good camera and we had to settle for my 'point&shoot' camera which really is nothing compared to the quality of the photos from the other camera. Getting there before sunrise was still very eerie, despite having done it before!
Afterwards, we decided to end our temple-exploring with Angkor Wat. We got our tuk-tuk driver to drop us off around the back of the temple instead, as it's impossible to get a good shot with the hundreds of tourists and the renovation scaffolding covering the front. It was a lot nicer visit this time; the temperature was cooler and there were less crowds. We witnessed a very strange group of people... one of which decided to take her skirt off and walk around in her undies, impersonating the monkies... which was a bit odd (this is a 20-something woman I'm talking about, not a child!). Somewhat entertaining, although very innapropriate considering we were in a temple. Good thing the monks didn't see her.
Last night in Siem Reap tonight, heading to Stung Treng tomorrow!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Angkor Day2
Today we were up before dawn again, this time to watch the sunrise at the Bayon temple (the one with all the faces) at Angkor Thom. We were happy to find that yet again, we had the place to ourselves for a while, apart from a few hundred bats zipping around above us (they live in temple towers)!
After exploring Central Angkor Thom for a few hours, we checked out the famous Angkor Wat. By that point in the morning, though, it was getting very hot and the lighting wasn't any good for photos (the sun made it all look very 'washed out). So tomorrow we're going to go for a proper visit in the early morning. Unfortunately the central tower is currently under restoration (and has been for a while!) and the scaffolding and green shade cloth they have covering part of it makes Angkor Wat not so photogenic! It's also sad that you can no longer climb the very steep stairs to the top of the central tower; it's closed off to tourists because people kept slipping and hurting themselves!
We are really enjoying Siem Reap; it's the most beautiful place we've been in Cambodia, probably because it's the biggest tourist spot. We are lucky enough to be staying in an actual hotel here as a Christmas present from Mum, and upon arrival we were upgraded to an executive suite; very flash indeed! It's going to be hard to go back to our usual $5-$10/night accommodation!
Adding a separate slideshow on the left for our Angkor photos (you can click the slideshow to be taken to the actual albums, where you can see the photos in full size).
Amiee x
After exploring Central Angkor Thom for a few hours, we checked out the famous Angkor Wat. By that point in the morning, though, it was getting very hot and the lighting wasn't any good for photos (the sun made it all look very 'washed out). So tomorrow we're going to go for a proper visit in the early morning. Unfortunately the central tower is currently under restoration (and has been for a while!) and the scaffolding and green shade cloth they have covering part of it makes Angkor Wat not so photogenic! It's also sad that you can no longer climb the very steep stairs to the top of the central tower; it's closed off to tourists because people kept slipping and hurting themselves!
We are really enjoying Siem Reap; it's the most beautiful place we've been in Cambodia, probably because it's the biggest tourist spot. We are lucky enough to be staying in an actual hotel here as a Christmas present from Mum, and upon arrival we were upgraded to an executive suite; very flash indeed! It's going to be hard to go back to our usual $5-$10/night accommodation!
Adding a separate slideshow on the left for our Angkor photos (you can click the slideshow to be taken to the actual albums, where you can see the photos in full size).
Amiee x
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Angkor Day1
I can't believe we are actually in Siem Reap!! I have wanted to come and visit the Angkor temples for quite literally the last 10 years. Why does a 10 year old decide she wants to go to Angkor? Tomb Raider of course!! I loved the film, and it is what sparked my interest in Cambodia way back then.
Yesterday we bought our 3day Angkor passes at 5pm so we got to see a free sunset. We went to the most popular site to watch the sunset, Phnom Bakheng. Hundreds of people scramble over the hilltop temple to try and get the best spot and best photos of the sunset; it looks like a total circus. I really wasn't that impressed by the spot but Steve took a couple of photos anyway.
This morning is when the fun began!! We decided to visit Ta Prohm (the Tomb Raider temple) for the sunrise because I'd read that the ambience of the temple is pretty much ruined by the constant and unavoidable crowd, and I thought that there'd be less people willing to wake up early enough to watch the sunrise there. We organised for our tuk-tuk driver to pick us up at 4:30am.. we were there at 5am.. not realising that the sun doesn't rise til just before 6! The temple was completely dark except for the light of the moon, and it was only the 2 of us there! It was an incredibly eerie experience to say the least!! We had Ta Prohm all to ourselves until a bit after sunrise when 3 people showed up, and we barely knew they were there.
Afterwards we visited Pre Rup, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Khan. Pre Rup is a pyramid-type structure, and not really anything THAT spectacular. Ta Som had a good feel to it, and it was small, but interesting (and we had the place to ourselves, except for a few monks!). Neak Pean is an interesting little temple in the middle of a big (man-made) pond, with 4 other ponds around it. Preah Khan was pretty much Ta Prohm on a massive scale!
More temples tomorrow, uploading photos now.
Amiee x
Yesterday we bought our 3day Angkor passes at 5pm so we got to see a free sunset. We went to the most popular site to watch the sunset, Phnom Bakheng. Hundreds of people scramble over the hilltop temple to try and get the best spot and best photos of the sunset; it looks like a total circus. I really wasn't that impressed by the spot but Steve took a couple of photos anyway.
This morning is when the fun began!! We decided to visit Ta Prohm (the Tomb Raider temple) for the sunrise because I'd read that the ambience of the temple is pretty much ruined by the constant and unavoidable crowd, and I thought that there'd be less people willing to wake up early enough to watch the sunrise there. We organised for our tuk-tuk driver to pick us up at 4:30am.. we were there at 5am.. not realising that the sun doesn't rise til just before 6! The temple was completely dark except for the light of the moon, and it was only the 2 of us there! It was an incredibly eerie experience to say the least!! We had Ta Prohm all to ourselves until a bit after sunrise when 3 people showed up, and we barely knew they were there.
Afterwards we visited Pre Rup, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Khan. Pre Rup is a pyramid-type structure, and not really anything THAT spectacular. Ta Som had a good feel to it, and it was small, but interesting (and we had the place to ourselves, except for a few monks!). Neak Pean is an interesting little temple in the middle of a big (man-made) pond, with 4 other ponds around it. Preah Khan was pretty much Ta Prohm on a massive scale!
More temples tomorrow, uploading photos now.
Amiee x
Monday, January 4, 2010
Battambang
Today we took a tuk-tuk out to the countryside around Battambang. Our driver took us to the 'bamboo train' for a ride, which is actually a bamboo raft on railway tracks, powered by a small motor. It was OK.. but a complete rip-off for the price. Instead of stopping somewhere apparently scenic where you supposedly have a view of villagers working in the countryside, we stopped in a little 'village' where they wanted us to buy drinks. After declining the drinks we went for a little stroll to see where they made bricks, and the local women wanted to charge us $2 just for looking/taking a photo! Ick.
We then went to Wat Banan and climbed the 300-something steps to the summit. Well worth it though; the temple is about 1000 years old! It was a shame to see that a heap of people (mostly Cambodian school children - I'm guessing) felt the need to write/carve their names into various parts of the temple!
Tomorrow we bus to Siem Reap!
We then went to Wat Banan and climbed the 300-something steps to the summit. Well worth it though; the temple is about 1000 years old! It was a shame to see that a heap of people (mostly Cambodian school children - I'm guessing) felt the need to write/carve their names into various parts of the temple!
Tomorrow we bus to Siem Reap!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Pursat
Pursat is a province of Cambodia, and also the name of its capital city, which is where we have been for the last couple of days. We went to visit our sponsor child we have through Sustainable Cambodia. We were the only Westerners, and the only people who spoke English, on our bus over there. We had to catch the bus to Battambang, but then get off halfway when we got to Pursat. It was a bit risky because we had no-one who we could ask to let us know when we were in Pursat, so every town we went through saw me trying to gesture to the man in front of me, asking which town we were in. At one point I glanced out the window to see "PURSAT GUESTHOUSE" on a sign, and then what followed was something like:
Amiee: Pursat?!?
Bus Crowd: Pursat?
Steve: This Pursat??
Bus Crowd: Pursat
Amiee: We get off Pursat!
Bus Crowd: Pursat?
Amiee: Yes! Pursat!
At which point the bus crowd got the bus driver to pull over and let us out!
Pursat really doesn't see many tourists, and we really notice the difference. Here, we're a bit of a novelty still. The cute little girl sitting in front of us on the bus here thought we were hilarious and couldn't take her eyes off us the whole way (she wasn't so sure about Steve's beard though...). For the first time since we've left, we actually had trouble communicating because no-one speaks English (or if they do, very little), so Steve and I are doing our best to learn a few words/phrases. We've been eating at a restaurant that benefits children who have been victimised by various awful things; they did all the cooking and serving etc and it was really yum. The bill for a whole meal came to 15,000 riel, which equates to about $3.75US... we gave them a 5,000 riel tip and the girl was just so astonished and so grateful! It was very lovely, and a lot different to the kids in tourist areas that EXPECT you to give them things and ask for it.
New Years Day we were meant to visit our sponsor child, Lakana, and then tour around the villages and see all the projects that Sustainable Cambodia has in place, except Steve decided it'd be fun to get food poisoning instead. We think it must have been the fried eggs he had for breakfast, although I had an omelette and was fine... maybe he was just unlucky. Anyway so after a bout of vomiting and losing his voice from it all, the SC guys thought it'd be best to take him to hospital. We were very lucky to have the SC people with us so they could translate, especially when the doctors decided to give Steve an injection in his butt. I was frantically trying to make sure that yes, it was a sterilised needle, before they jabbed it in him! After about an hour of being in the hospital, we decided it would be best for Steve to just rest at the guesthouse (where there weren't any passersby stopping and staring at him through the windows). A good time had by all!
Yesterday we went to visit the various villages surrounding Pursat that are supported by SC. The highlight was definitely visiting the preschools; the kids are just so cute. We noticed that they had so little to play with there; one preschool had a couple of wooden building blocks, and another had just 1 skipping rope, and yet the kids were very well behaved. We then visited Lakana and her family, which was lovely, even though she is very shy :) She wants to be a doctor or a nurse when she grows up, her mother explained that it is because her siblings often get sick and she wants to be able to care for them. Very sweet girl.
The women at the Pursat Guesthouse are just absolutely lovely and very helpful. Yesterday I wanted to go to the local psar (market) to find some toys to buy for the preschools. After doing some charades-style acting with the woman to try and explain, she hailed me down a moto and told him exactly what I was after, where to take me, and then haggled a fair price for me! I think the moto driver was a bit world-weary though, because instead of slowing when he came to an intersection, he decided just to constantly blast his horn in the metres leading up to the intersection, and then just drive on through at full speed. This was all well and good until someone failed to realise what the constant honking meant, and I almost ended up smooshed to death (ok so maybe 'smooshed to death' is a bit dramatic... but it would have hurt!) by another moto; the guy skidded and almost came off his bike to avoid us... about 30cm away!
This morning we left Pursat and caught a bus to Battambang, where we are staying for the next 2 nights before heading to Siem Reap!
Amiee: Pursat?!?
Bus Crowd: Pursat?
Steve: This Pursat??
Bus Crowd: Pursat
Amiee: We get off Pursat!
Bus Crowd: Pursat?
Amiee: Yes! Pursat!
At which point the bus crowd got the bus driver to pull over and let us out!
Pursat really doesn't see many tourists, and we really notice the difference. Here, we're a bit of a novelty still. The cute little girl sitting in front of us on the bus here thought we were hilarious and couldn't take her eyes off us the whole way (she wasn't so sure about Steve's beard though...). For the first time since we've left, we actually had trouble communicating because no-one speaks English (or if they do, very little), so Steve and I are doing our best to learn a few words/phrases. We've been eating at a restaurant that benefits children who have been victimised by various awful things; they did all the cooking and serving etc and it was really yum. The bill for a whole meal came to 15,000 riel, which equates to about $3.75US... we gave them a 5,000 riel tip and the girl was just so astonished and so grateful! It was very lovely, and a lot different to the kids in tourist areas that EXPECT you to give them things and ask for it.
New Years Day we were meant to visit our sponsor child, Lakana, and then tour around the villages and see all the projects that Sustainable Cambodia has in place, except Steve decided it'd be fun to get food poisoning instead. We think it must have been the fried eggs he had for breakfast, although I had an omelette and was fine... maybe he was just unlucky. Anyway so after a bout of vomiting and losing his voice from it all, the SC guys thought it'd be best to take him to hospital. We were very lucky to have the SC people with us so they could translate, especially when the doctors decided to give Steve an injection in his butt. I was frantically trying to make sure that yes, it was a sterilised needle, before they jabbed it in him! After about an hour of being in the hospital, we decided it would be best for Steve to just rest at the guesthouse (where there weren't any passersby stopping and staring at him through the windows). A good time had by all!
Yesterday we went to visit the various villages surrounding Pursat that are supported by SC. The highlight was definitely visiting the preschools; the kids are just so cute. We noticed that they had so little to play with there; one preschool had a couple of wooden building blocks, and another had just 1 skipping rope, and yet the kids were very well behaved. We then visited Lakana and her family, which was lovely, even though she is very shy :) She wants to be a doctor or a nurse when she grows up, her mother explained that it is because her siblings often get sick and she wants to be able to care for them. Very sweet girl.
The women at the Pursat Guesthouse are just absolutely lovely and very helpful. Yesterday I wanted to go to the local psar (market) to find some toys to buy for the preschools. After doing some charades-style acting with the woman to try and explain, she hailed me down a moto and told him exactly what I was after, where to take me, and then haggled a fair price for me! I think the moto driver was a bit world-weary though, because instead of slowing when he came to an intersection, he decided just to constantly blast his horn in the metres leading up to the intersection, and then just drive on through at full speed. This was all well and good until someone failed to realise what the constant honking meant, and I almost ended up smooshed to death (ok so maybe 'smooshed to death' is a bit dramatic... but it would have hurt!) by another moto; the guy skidded and almost came off his bike to avoid us... about 30cm away!
This morning we left Pursat and caught a bus to Battambang, where we are staying for the next 2 nights before heading to Siem Reap!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Paradise
The more we stay in Sihanoukville, the more we like it. We were planning on leaving this morning for Kampot but now we're staying tonight and tomorrow night here as well. We just keep discovering new exciting things here! We were lying on the beach yesterday and an American guy came up and started talking to us about a snorkeling cruise going to some of the islands off the coast. Anyway, long story short, that's what we did today, and we had the BEST day.
The boat was 4 levels; sleeping/showers/toilets, lounge/dining, bar/lounge, sundeck. We stopped and went snorkelling at a reef off of Koh Kong Kang which was actually the first time I've been snorkelling so I loved it. We then had an 'all you can eat' buffet on the boat before arriving at the pièce de résistance, Koh Rong Samloem! The most beautiful beach I have ever seen! Snow white sand, turquoise water, absolutely stunning. The eccentric German guy who owns the boat told us all that it was completely uninhabited except for a fishing village and a navy base. I found this strange because I was sure I'd read about a guesthouse on the island.. WELL.. we went for a walk through the rainforest to a beach on the other side of the island where we found bungalows and tourists. Not many people at all, but still, the island isn't uninhabited like he says.
While cruising home we went past this very small island that looked like just a hunk of rock and tree.. but with a few buildings on it, and what looked like a 'wat'. It was very strange, just sitting there in the middle of the ocean, complete with a big statue of a shark...? We found out that it is called Koh Dek Koule, and you can actually stay there from $350 - $3000 a night!
We've found out some interesting things, and found some interesting places. Like foreigners can't actually own land here, but they can take out 99yr leases and build/do whatever they want with the place, but the government can just take it back at any time they want. Which is why they love their Russian investors here because apparently they keep pumping money into the bank accounts of the right people to make sure that their lease doesn't suddenly expire. There are rumours of a Russian billionaire snake-collector, who has bought Koh Pos ('Snake Island') which is just off the coast, and is currently constructing a huge bridge from the mainland out to the island. He is apparently the same guy who owns the aforementioned Koh Dek Koule, and a restaurant in town called the 'Snake House' where you eat on glass topped tables with snakes underneath, and a collection of snakes all around you. Apparently there are even crocodiles, and one sits in the restaurant on a leash. We're going there tomorrow night.
One day when we were swimming at Occheuteal Beach we noticed that all of a sudden the dozen or so child bracelet/fruit sellers all went running down one end of the beach. We thought this was really strange because usually they're all very busy bargaining with tourists. A couple of minutes later we noticed that there was a cop walking along the beach, and the children had sprinted off to avoid him! We thought that was a bit suss, and next time a girl was trying to sell me a bracelet, the couple that was next to us asked her why it is that all the kids run away from the cops. She answered that the cops tend to get drunk and beat the children! Keeping in mind that it could just be another sob story to try and get me to buy her bracelets, it's still a bit suss.
You might notice in some of the photos that Occheuteal Beach in Sihanoukville has a strip of sand only a couple of metres wide. We thought this must have just been normal for that particular beach, but we were talking to a guy who had been about a year earlier and said that the beach was at least 3 times as wide then! We immediately thought that it must have been all the shacks lined up right on the beach itself that caused the sand to erode, but we talked to a local and apparently ALL the sand had washed away not long ago due to a combination of a hurricane somewhere and the particular tide at the time. It's supposedly going to take a few years for the beach to rebuild itself to its former glory. I think by that time this place is going to be FULLY developed.. there'll be highrises everywhere!
Stay tuned for more!
Amiee xo
Friday, December 25, 2009
Cambodia!
Ok so we are currently in Cambodia! We spent 2 nights in Phnom Penh (the capital) before taking a bus to the beachside town of Sihanoukville for Christmas.
The bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh seemed to take forever. Plus they decided to play Asian karaoke dvds the whole way, which made me very very sad. The border crossing was fun as usual. So so sick of crossing borders and all the customs and procedures that go with it. The Cambodian visa process was a bit weird because rather than us providing a passport photo for them to use, they took our photos with a webcam (and without telling me too, so I wasn't even looking at the thing!).
There really isn't much to Phnom Penh. We had the charismatic (and somewhat cheeky) tuk-tuk driver, 'Mr Lucky', attach himself to us as soon as we hopped off the bus; so he was our driver for our stay. He was good because he spoke very good English and knew where to take us to organise our Laos visas etc. He tells me that apparently my skin is too pale for me to be an Aussie. Nice guy.
The story goes that one day a woman named Penh was just going about her business, when a couple of buddha statues float by in the river. She pulled them up and laid them to rest on a hill (or 'phnom' in Khmer/Cambodian) and that's how Phnom Penh got its name... Hill of Penh/Hill where Penh left some Buddhas. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but that's the story, so we thought we'd better visit this Phnom. These days there's a wat (temple) on the top.. so it's called Wat Phnom. Really nothing spectacular. It's a very small hill, and because we're tourists, we were charged US$1 each to go up.
The touts/beggars here are way worse than the countries we've been to so far. In Ho Chi Minh City they'd come up to your table while you were eating with their goods to sell, but all you'd have to say is 'no thanks' and they'd keep moving. Here, they go for the heartstrings. At dinner on our first night in Phnom Penh we had a little boy come up to the table selling roses. We immediately said 'no thanks' (we try not to buy from the touts or you just get more and more coming up) but he hung around with his sad face on, nudging Steve on the arm and saying "you buy rose, you buy rose" over and over in his little sad quiet voice. Well.. I know we probably shouldn't have after we'd already said no, but we're soft and eventually gave in (mainly because he wouldn't leave!) and bought a rose (it was only about $0.50AUD afterall). We've seen so many amputees (presumably land mine victims) begging in the streets. Women come up to you carrying their young dirty child/children trying to get money. I wish I had an inbuilt bullshit detector so I could tell which ones really need the help, and which are just doing it for profit; as well as which ones are actually going to benefit from the money you give them, compared to the ones who are 'managed' by someone who takes most of the profit (when Steve was in Thailand last time he saw an amputee who had been begging for the day getting wheeled away in a wheelchair by a man in a suit!). Tourism has brought with it an attitude of expectation rather than gratitude. When we were walking home from dinner that night in Phnom Penh we saw a cute little boy with his mother. We paused to smile and say hello, but when the little boy saw us looking at him, the first thing he did was put his hand out for money. Cheeky little bugger.
So yesterday we took a bus to Sihanoukville so we'd be at the beach for Christmas. It's quite nice here; very relaxed, beachy atmosphere. The beach is lined with 'restaurant'/bars on the sand with sun-lounges out the front. There's no empty sand, just sun-lounges, and then ocean; it looks like something from the movies. The only thing ruining the relaxation of lying on a sun-lounge less than a metre from the ocean under a big umbrella with a cool drink is the constant front of women and girls wanting to sell you bracelets, wanting to make you bracelets, wanting to massage you, wanting to give you a pedicure, wanting to remove your leg hair etc etc etc etc etc. I mean you just have to take it as it comes, we are in their country, but it's when they won't take no for an answer that it gets a bit much. We had a bit of trouble with a couple of young girls who got increasingly rude and wouldn't leave, but that's a long story.
We went out to the strip of bars on the beach last night. There was huge Christmas Eve festivities going on, complete with fireworks, fire twirlers etc etc. Really fun.
We're staying at the 'Monkey Republic' guesthouse and we have our own little bright blue, thatched roof bungalow. The restaurant next to us is putting on a full Christmas lunch (turkey, ham, prawns, roast veg, apple crumble) so we're going to go there!
Anyway, I promise I'll post some photos either this afternoon or tomorrow.
Merry Christmas! Amiee xox
The bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh seemed to take forever. Plus they decided to play Asian karaoke dvds the whole way, which made me very very sad. The border crossing was fun as usual. So so sick of crossing borders and all the customs and procedures that go with it. The Cambodian visa process was a bit weird because rather than us providing a passport photo for them to use, they took our photos with a webcam (and without telling me too, so I wasn't even looking at the thing!).
There really isn't much to Phnom Penh. We had the charismatic (and somewhat cheeky) tuk-tuk driver, 'Mr Lucky', attach himself to us as soon as we hopped off the bus; so he was our driver for our stay. He was good because he spoke very good English and knew where to take us to organise our Laos visas etc. He tells me that apparently my skin is too pale for me to be an Aussie. Nice guy.
The story goes that one day a woman named Penh was just going about her business, when a couple of buddha statues float by in the river. She pulled them up and laid them to rest on a hill (or 'phnom' in Khmer/Cambodian) and that's how Phnom Penh got its name... Hill of Penh/Hill where Penh left some Buddhas. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but that's the story, so we thought we'd better visit this Phnom. These days there's a wat (temple) on the top.. so it's called Wat Phnom. Really nothing spectacular. It's a very small hill, and because we're tourists, we were charged US$1 each to go up.
The touts/beggars here are way worse than the countries we've been to so far. In Ho Chi Minh City they'd come up to your table while you were eating with their goods to sell, but all you'd have to say is 'no thanks' and they'd keep moving. Here, they go for the heartstrings. At dinner on our first night in Phnom Penh we had a little boy come up to the table selling roses. We immediately said 'no thanks' (we try not to buy from the touts or you just get more and more coming up) but he hung around with his sad face on, nudging Steve on the arm and saying "you buy rose, you buy rose" over and over in his little sad quiet voice. Well.. I know we probably shouldn't have after we'd already said no, but we're soft and eventually gave in (mainly because he wouldn't leave!) and bought a rose (it was only about $0.50AUD afterall). We've seen so many amputees (presumably land mine victims) begging in the streets. Women come up to you carrying their young dirty child/children trying to get money. I wish I had an inbuilt bullshit detector so I could tell which ones really need the help, and which are just doing it for profit; as well as which ones are actually going to benefit from the money you give them, compared to the ones who are 'managed' by someone who takes most of the profit (when Steve was in Thailand last time he saw an amputee who had been begging for the day getting wheeled away in a wheelchair by a man in a suit!). Tourism has brought with it an attitude of expectation rather than gratitude. When we were walking home from dinner that night in Phnom Penh we saw a cute little boy with his mother. We paused to smile and say hello, but when the little boy saw us looking at him, the first thing he did was put his hand out for money. Cheeky little bugger.
So yesterday we took a bus to Sihanoukville so we'd be at the beach for Christmas. It's quite nice here; very relaxed, beachy atmosphere. The beach is lined with 'restaurant'/bars on the sand with sun-lounges out the front. There's no empty sand, just sun-lounges, and then ocean; it looks like something from the movies. The only thing ruining the relaxation of lying on a sun-lounge less than a metre from the ocean under a big umbrella with a cool drink is the constant front of women and girls wanting to sell you bracelets, wanting to make you bracelets, wanting to massage you, wanting to give you a pedicure, wanting to remove your leg hair etc etc etc etc etc. I mean you just have to take it as it comes, we are in their country, but it's when they won't take no for an answer that it gets a bit much. We had a bit of trouble with a couple of young girls who got increasingly rude and wouldn't leave, but that's a long story.
We went out to the strip of bars on the beach last night. There was huge Christmas Eve festivities going on, complete with fireworks, fire twirlers etc etc. Really fun.
We're staying at the 'Monkey Republic' guesthouse and we have our own little bright blue, thatched roof bungalow. The restaurant next to us is putting on a full Christmas lunch (turkey, ham, prawns, roast veg, apple crumble) so we're going to go there!
Anyway, I promise I'll post some photos either this afternoon or tomorrow.
Merry Christmas! Amiee xox
Friday, December 11, 2009
International Calling
I've bought a prepaid sim card from the local travel agent that will work overseas (fingers crossed).
The sim is run through BackChat Mobile.
Below are the rates for each country, per minute, so you can understand if we don't talk for very long...
Singapore
Malaysia
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Unavailable (using Steve's mobile here)
Thailand
The sim is run through BackChat Mobile.
Below are the rates for each country, per minute, so you can understand if we don't talk for very long...
Singapore
| Cost to Call Landline: | $0.99 | ||
| Cost to Call Mobile: | $1.37 | ||
| Cost to Receive: | $0.79 | ||
| Cost to Send SMS: | $0.75 | ||
Malaysia
| Cost to Call Landline: | $1.49 | ||
| Cost to Call Mobile: | $1.87 | ||
| Cost to Receive: | $0.75 | ||
| Cost to Send SMS: | $0.99 | ||
Vietnam
| Cost to Call Landline: | $1.49 | ||
| Cost to Call Mobile: | $1.87 | ||
| Cost to Receive: | Free | ||
| Cost to Send SMS: | $0.99 | ||
Cambodia
| Cost to Call Landline: | $1.49 | ||
| Cost to Call Mobile: | $1.87 | ||
| Cost to Receive: | $0.87 | ||
| Cost to Send SMS: | $0.99 | ||
Laos
Unavailable (using Steve's mobile here)
Thailand
| Cost to Call Landline: | $1.99 | ||
| Cost to Call Mobile: | $2.37 | ||
| Cost to Receive: | $1.52 | ||
| Cost to Send SMS: | $0.99 | ||
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Slightly more detailed itinerary...
Dec 14: fly BNE -> Singapore, O/night train to KL, Malaysia
Dec 15 - 18: KL, Malaysia
Dec 18: O/night train to Singapore
Dec 19: Singapore
Dec 20: fly Singapore -> Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Dec 21&22: Vietnam/Ho Chi Minh area
Dec 23 - Jan 12: Cambodia
Jan 13 - Jan 26: Laos
Jan 27 - Feb 7: Vietnam
Feb 7: fly Ho Chi Minh -> Bangkok
Feb 7 - 15: Thailand
Feb 15/16: fly Phuket -> Singapore -> BNE
Dec 15 - 18: KL, Malaysia
Dec 18: O/night train to Singapore
Dec 19: Singapore
Dec 20: fly Singapore -> Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Dec 21&22: Vietnam/Ho Chi Minh area
Dec 23 - Jan 12: Cambodia
Jan 13 - Jan 26: Laos
Jan 27 - Feb 7: Vietnam
Feb 7: fly Ho Chi Minh -> Bangkok
Feb 7 - 15: Thailand
Feb 15/16: fly Phuket -> Singapore -> BNE
Friday, November 27, 2009
FYI
This is a **very** rough guide to where we're heading in SE Asia, my scribbling is not at all accurate, but you get the idea.Starting in Ho Chi Minh City, heading clockwise around Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam before flying to Bangkok and down to Phuket for some R&R before we fly home again.
Prior to Ho Chi Minh City we'll have flown into Singapore, o/night trained up to Kuala Lumpur for a few days, back down to Singapore, and then have flown from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City.
We're not having a set itinerary, but rather a rough idea of the places we'd like to see along the way so that we're not 'locked in' to staying places we might not necessarily enjoy, and so that we can spend longer in places that we do really enjoy! The only things set in stone are our flights from Brisbane -> Singapore, train from Singapore -> KL & back, flight from Singapore -> Ho Chi Minh City, the flight from Ho Chi Minh City -> Bangkok, and then from Phuket -> Singapore -> Home.
17 days to go!
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