Hey hey..
sorry its been so long but its pretty hard when you have to pay for internet and the connection is slow to do an update... we are all doing well and are currently in laos. I have uploaded some more pics from back in the day in Vietnam from Sapa and Hoi An.... have a looksie...
From The Travelling Trio we are wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope 2010 will be a good one for everyone!
Monday, 28 December 2009
Monday, 7 December 2009
A bit of an update & a history lesson too.
After a fun day bus trip we landed in Phnom Phen, the capital of Cambodia. As soon as we arrived we were attacked by tuk-tuk drivers as usual, and it took us a little while to get our bearings, figure out where we were and figure out we need a tuk-tuk driver. We managed to get our bags on the tuk-tuk without it falling over from the weight of them and we were off. We went to the area by the lake to look for accommodation after the first few places didn't have a room for all 3 of us we got 2 rooms. We them went downstairs to the bar to get a beer - thats right I said beer.. Slowly but surely I am training myself to drink beer. Let me tell you its not easy. I am diluting it with sprite, but slowly slowly the sprite is getting less and less. It makes a huge difference when beer is 50c and a drink it $3. The bar area was pretty cool as it jutted out on the lake and was very pretty as the sun was setting. Within just this short time of being here one thing that sticks out is that Cambodians are far more friendly then the Vietnamese, the difference is massive and we are enjoying it already.
After we settled in with our beer one of the waiters did come over and offer us a bankie of weed... hmm.. maybe this is the reason for the relaxed and happy mood?!?!
The next day we had our tuk tuk driver pick us up and after bumping into Bryce last night (one of the guys we met in Halong Bay) who just happened to be in the guest house next to us he joined us to on our days adventures.
We started our day off by learning more about the war in Cambodia. and visited The Killing Fields and the S-21 Genocide museum. I did not know much of this war that was going on and was quite shocked to learn all about it and found that I took more from it then I did at the war museum in Vietnam.
I will give you a quick brief history lesson in the war if you would like to know. If you are feeling sad this in no means will cheer you up (everything that is highlighted is a link if you want to click on it for more information):
in 1975 (not that long ago) there was a group Called the Khmer Rouge took over when the government at the time was overthrown. They were under the leadership of Pol Pot. His aim was to set up a solely agrarian society and rid Cambodia of all western influence. In his mind to achieve this he had to make all the people 'equal' and to do this he killed all intellectuals - doctors, people in the old government, lawyers, people of middle to upper class and even people with glasses. All people were to work in the fields and base people (people who had lived their lives in the country) were seen as the best kinds of people as they had not been corrupted by western influence. Cities were evacuated, factories and schools were closed, and currency and private property was abolished.
People that were part of the ole regime were taken to a prison (which is now the museum) and tourchered to give up any valuable information or to say who other people in the government were.
Basically if you now living in the country and they found out you have been lying about your identity or you were an íntellect or were not a good enough worker or for whatever reason they thought you were taken to reeducation camp which was basically a cover up for you are going to die. People would disappear and just not be seen from again.
The war lasted for 4 years and approx 2 million Cambodians were killed from a population of only 7 million.
The killing fields is the actual site that people were taken to where they were killed. It is a massive plot of land where they have excavated about 83 mass graves and found over 8000 bodies (there are sill about 45 mass graves that have not been excavated). people were shot or when they didnt want to use ammo where beaten to death or buried alive and young children were often thrown against trees to kill them. It was quite eerie to be around that.
It boggles my mind to think that people could do this to their own people. I have read an amazing book written by a child survivor of the Khmer Rouge and gives you a lot of information about it. It is called First they Killed my Farther by Loung Ung if you are interested.
After all the depression we then went to the Palace to see some pretty shiny things, but gave that a skip when we found out how much it was to get it and instead we went to the river side to walk around there. After some walking we stopped to have a drink and relax a little. After a while at the bar along comes an elephant and his keeper just walking along the streets. He then stops right at our bar and they bring out some food for him and you can feed him while he just chills there. Johnson you would have been shitting yourself as the elephant was only about 10m away from us. It was pretty crazy..
For dinner we headed to get some Khmer cuisine and there was chicken amok (curry) and Beef luk lak which has the most incredible sauce. We then took part in a pub quiz with 2 Canadian guys we roped in. It was not an easy quiz, as some people know my pub quiz skills are not the greatest.. but it was good fun anyways. We came 5th out of 12 teams.. not to bad I would say!!!
After a good time in Phnom Phen its time to hit the beaches.
After we settled in with our beer one of the waiters did come over and offer us a bankie of weed... hmm.. maybe this is the reason for the relaxed and happy mood?!?!
The next day we had our tuk tuk driver pick us up and after bumping into Bryce last night (one of the guys we met in Halong Bay) who just happened to be in the guest house next to us he joined us to on our days adventures.
We started our day off by learning more about the war in Cambodia. and visited The Killing Fields and the S-21 Genocide museum. I did not know much of this war that was going on and was quite shocked to learn all about it and found that I took more from it then I did at the war museum in Vietnam.
I will give you a quick brief history lesson in the war if you would like to know. If you are feeling sad this in no means will cheer you up (everything that is highlighted is a link if you want to click on it for more information):
in 1975 (not that long ago) there was a group Called the Khmer Rouge took over when the government at the time was overthrown. They were under the leadership of Pol Pot. His aim was to set up a solely agrarian society and rid Cambodia of all western influence. In his mind to achieve this he had to make all the people 'equal' and to do this he killed all intellectuals - doctors, people in the old government, lawyers, people of middle to upper class and even people with glasses. All people were to work in the fields and base people (people who had lived their lives in the country) were seen as the best kinds of people as they had not been corrupted by western influence. Cities were evacuated, factories and schools were closed, and currency and private property was abolished.
People that were part of the ole regime were taken to a prison (which is now the museum) and tourchered to give up any valuable information or to say who other people in the government were.
Basically if you now living in the country and they found out you have been lying about your identity or you were an íntellect or were not a good enough worker or for whatever reason they thought you were taken to reeducation camp which was basically a cover up for you are going to die. People would disappear and just not be seen from again.
The war lasted for 4 years and approx 2 million Cambodians were killed from a population of only 7 million.
The killing fields is the actual site that people were taken to where they were killed. It is a massive plot of land where they have excavated about 83 mass graves and found over 8000 bodies (there are sill about 45 mass graves that have not been excavated). people were shot or when they didnt want to use ammo where beaten to death or buried alive and young children were often thrown against trees to kill them. It was quite eerie to be around that.
It boggles my mind to think that people could do this to their own people. I have read an amazing book written by a child survivor of the Khmer Rouge and gives you a lot of information about it. It is called First they Killed my Farther by Loung Ung if you are interested.
After all the depression we then went to the Palace to see some pretty shiny things, but gave that a skip when we found out how much it was to get it and instead we went to the river side to walk around there. After some walking we stopped to have a drink and relax a little. After a while at the bar along comes an elephant and his keeper just walking along the streets. He then stops right at our bar and they bring out some food for him and you can feed him while he just chills there. Johnson you would have been shitting yourself as the elephant was only about 10m away from us. It was pretty crazy..
For dinner we headed to get some Khmer cuisine and there was chicken amok (curry) and Beef luk lak which has the most incredible sauce. We then took part in a pub quiz with 2 Canadian guys we roped in. It was not an easy quiz, as some people know my pub quiz skills are not the greatest.. but it was good fun anyways. We came 5th out of 12 teams.. not to bad I would say!!!
After a good time in Phnom Phen its time to hit the beaches.
Saigon birthday adventures and other things
Saturday 21 November:
Well thanks to the joys of exhaustion and the wonders of a sleeping pill from Nicola, I at least managed to sleep the whole way from Nha Trang to Saigon. I got abruptly woken up as the bus driver hit a massive bump at speed and slammed on the brakes. Felt for sure that I would die from heart failure from such an epic wake up call.
We arrived in Saigon at 6:30am to the joy of morning traffic and having to find accommodation. With everyone charging exorbitant rates we ended up at our first choice for a bargained down price of $24 a night for the 3 of us. But it did include a free roll with peanut butter. Once we were checked in we had a little lie down due to sheer exhaustion - or at least Nicola and I did. Stacey was a champion and organised our lives for the day. Stacey organised to meet a family friend at midday to go for lunch so he could give us the low down on Saigon. When we met up with him at the hostel we decided that it would be great to get a proper Vietnamese lunch for mid-range prices (i.e. slash out as budget travelers) as Clive knew a good place to go. Well we grew slightly worried about his idea of mid-range prices when we went to his chauffeur driven car, and even more worried when the restaurant we went to had live seafood in tanks downstairs! But we rolled with it and just let Clive choose good dishes for us all to share. We then regaled him with tales of our adventures so far and shocked him with how much we were paying for accommodation. When we mentioned we were paying $24 a night and thought it was expensive he thought we actually meant each. No wonder he offered to pay the bill when it arrived - he probably thought we were starving! After lunch Clive kindly dropped us off at the market so we could do some shopping. Unfortunately the market experience only lasted until about 6 Vietnamese ladies tried pulling me in all directions to see what they had for sale - I then demanded that we leave. On the way back to the hostel we ran into some members of the Halong Bay cruise who told us they had $15 a night accommodation. So we instantly headed there to make sure we had a room for the next night - what a saving and the place is absolutely brand new! We then also ran into Mads on the street and made plans to meet up with her later on. Wasted some afternoon hours watching TV and then headed out for some beers while waiting to meet up with Mads at GO2 Bar. Sounded like a good idea at the time until we realised that beers were 30,000VND each - the most expensive ones so far - so we shared one and sipped it slowly while waiting. The one thing the bar had going for it was that it was on a busy corner so we got to watch the world pass by. Mads joined us a little while later and then we randomly ran into Bryce (also one of the Halong Bay crew) so I guess there is a benefit to hanging out on street corners drinking expensive beer. All headed for a great dinner at Chi's Cafe which included mash potatoes for me and they were almost the most amazing thing I had eaten since I left the UK - really strange the stuff you miss.
Sunday 22 November:
First thing in the morning we changed accommodation and then met up with Mads and Bryce. All headed out on a walk along the river to see the sights. It took us a while to work out exactly how to get to the river and when we did we were wondering why we bothered as it was all construction work. We persevered and it payed off with quite a nice morning spent wondering around. In the afternoon we headed to the War Remnants Museum (15,000VND entrance) were we learned all about the Vietnamese war and got suitably depressed. As we were leaving we were offered a rickshaw ride back to the hostel. As we could think of nothing better to cheer ourselves up we accepted. What it meant was that it was 2 girls to a rickshaw and Bryce had his own. This all sounds good in theory until you realise that you really can't actually fit 2 people properly on a rickshaw so it was a bit of a laugh on the way home - and a bit of a scare at one point when we headed straight into oncoming traffic! We then treated ourselves to another truly magnificent meal at Chi's Cafe, and I am sure this will be a trend of ours. Then it was another quite afternoon at the hostel watching Sweet Home Alabama before heading out to meet Bryce for some cheap beer. Cheap beer in Vietnamese is called Bier Hoi and only costs between 3,000 - 5,000VND for a large glass. Totally worth it and much better tasting. Had a bunch of beer and chatted for a couple of hours before calling it a night due to our early morning the next day.
Monday 23 November:
Happy 28th Birthday to Me! Although without a massive run up to the main event this year totally didn't feel like my birthday. Especially at 7am when we boarded a bus to go and do some sight seeing of the Cu Chi tunnels. After a sleepy bus drive there the first thing we did was watch a 20 minute documentary shot during the Vietnam war by the Vietnamese. It was actually pretty funny especially when people took a break from firing guns to grin at the camera. Our favourite line from the film was "fighting to kill the American invaders while working hard to rid Vietnamese from the American invaders by killing them" - you get the general idea. We then got to actually see the tunnels that the Vietnamese used during the war. The ones we saw had been made larger for Western bellies but were still pretty small and we had to shuffle crawl through them. Neat to see but totally glad I didn't have to live in them. We then headed back to Saigon for some birthday cake, which was pretty average, but at least there was cake, and a song which is important. I then treated myself to a birthday leg wax which was a massive mistake and walked out with bruises to prove it. Headed back to the hostel for a super quick change and then off to our favourite restaurant to meet Bryce and have dinner. By this point the staff at Chi's Cafe are greeting us as we walk through the door!
Then it was time for the drinking games to begin! We had bought a cheap bottle of Vodka and mixer earlier on so headed back to our room and started playing. The next people to join the party were Emma, Mike, Johnny, Emma and Danielle from Halong Bay - with then staying just upstairs from us it wasn't a far way for them to go. Plus as it was also Emma's birthday we were all in good spirits. Then got a very pleasant surprise when Andre, Breno and Rafael arrived. Stacey had told them where we were staying and they had promised to try and join us for my birthday. They did, and they had also booked into the same hostel as us - so it was a full house of party people. The Brazil boys also bought gifts! They bought me a silver crown with pink fur and sparkles on and a great plastic trumpet that made very un-trumpet noises. Loved them!
We played drinking games until we ran out and then hit the town - or at least headed down the block until we were convinced by offered of buy 1 get 1 free to go for a drink on the roof of GO2 Bar. While there the girls bought me a birthday shooter - of Sambuca! It was gross but it was drunk and I am very proud of me for that. After free beers we headed across the road to Crazy Buffalo for some birthday dancing which is a mandatory thing really. There was dancing until the early hours of the morning until sore feet set in about 3:30am. Headed home and had a pre-breakfast snack of complimentary watermelon that we had received earlier in the evening. Then bed for a tired birthday girl.
Tuesday 24 November:
Sleepy tired girls finally got out of bed mainly due to hunger and not a lot else. Headed off to Chi's Cafe for an amazing chicken mayo and cheese sandwich with some truly delicious watermelon juice. Great breakfast. We then all wanted to head back to bed for some naps but due to the fact that there was a leaking pipe in our bathroom they were fixing it and there could be no napping with all that noise. We were pretty thankful though that unlike all the other party people from the night before we we not up and on a bus at 7am! So we walked around town a little and watched bad movies on TV. Also booked our tickets to head into Phnom Phen in Cambodia the next day. Dinner of course was one last affair at Chi's Cafe. We really will miss the food from here as it is just such great tasting, big portions for a great price. Early night for all. Cambodia adventures await!
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Nha Trang
That was pretty much breaking point and Nicola then went to switch the music down. It shocks me the consideration they have for other people on buses.
Arriving in Nha Trang we gazed out the windows to the beaches to find howling winds, rain and rough seas. This was not good.We arrived and got out the bus all lacking in sleep and not happy about the weather conditions! We decided then to skip Nha Trang (cos what is the point of being at a beach town if it is always raining) and head to Saigon so at least there would be more site seeing stuff to do.
After a long breakfast we headed down the beach front and after seeing the rough seas we were glad to not be staying. it was then out to find the boys & Mads to do some site seeing. The boys had seen all the things we wanted to see so they went to Monkey Island & Mads joined us on our days adventures.
We walked to the bus station to get night buses for that night to ensure we had a spot and then went for the long walk to what felt like the other side of town to a photographers gallery which was amazing and the guy had some awesome shots.
We then went to see the white Buddha which as you are walking down the street you can see towering over the hill. We went inside and to the temple which was closing so we had to do a quick look around but got the most of it. We then walked up the hill to go see the Buddha, about half way up there was a reclining Buddha which was just massive and was quite amazing standing next to it to see the sheer size of it. Just its feet in length were about my height. It was then right to the top to see the main Buddha which was humongous (30m in height) and just towers above you.
It was then getting pretty late so we headed back to have dinner before heading off to have some more fun times on the night bus. On the way back we stopped off at a street stall to get some food for a snack which looked quite interesting and had half the people from neighbouring shops come by to tell us what things were (and to marvel at the white people buying street food) and also picked up some mystery pastries to try.
After dinner it was onto the night bus where we found out that all the locals had numbered seats (how convenient) and we the tourists got booted to the back of the bus which is a wonderful 5 person sleeper so you are pretty much on top of the person next to you and get to feel pretty much every rock you go over and JC and i didn't have foot rests so when the driver decided to brake it felt as if we would fly off. Our saving grace was that the guy didn't hoot at all. Its really never a dull moment on the night bus!
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Photos
We got a chance to upload some photos for your viewing pleasure:
Click Here for Bangkok photos
Click here for pictures of Hanoi & Halong Bay
Click Here for Bangkok photos
Click here for pictures of Hanoi & Halong Bay
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