David & Catrionas Indo China Adventure

Another early start, up and ready for breakfast at 6am. Picked up at 6.30am for our trip to Kanchanaburi. After picking up others we set off for our first stop at the Kanchanaburi war cemetary. Next stop was the wwII Jeath War Museum then a walk over the Bridge on the river Kwai.
Phoned Chris then off again to Thakilen train station for our trip on the death railway to Nam Tok. We were on a carriage with a bunch of scouts on an excursion. We went over many via ducts and had good views of the river. We then had lunch on the river in a floating resteraunt. After lunch off to view some waterfalls while others went to see the tigers in the tiger temple.
The trip was very poorly organised as everyone on the trip were doing different options and there was not alot of communication.
Returned to our hotel at 7pm very hungry so we decided to have a pad thai on the corner across from out hotel. After dinner headed back to our hotel for an early night.

Slept in till 9am then went out and bought some yoghurt, soymilk, bread and juice for breakfast.
Tried to catch Chris on the internet but he wasn't there so just added to the blog.
Went back to the room to have breakie and pack. Kelli dropped by and gave me her Vietnamese hat (I had to throw mine out in Phnom Penn after dropping my pack onto it) and Max dropped in as well. We checked out at 11 and set off to our new hotel.
The tuk tuk driver dropped us off 2km short of where we needed to go. So we had to jump into a taxi for the rest of the journey.
Checked into our new hotel we were on the 23rd floor. Watched a bit of TV then set off to MBK a huge shopping centre, to look for phones. Bumped into Kelli who had just been to MBK, what a small world! Tried to call Chris but no answer. Had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and on the way back to our hotel booked our trip to Kanchanaburi for tomorrow. Finally caught up with Chris who told us he had an acciedent in the car!! Went back to the hotel for a swim in the pool on the 8th floor then back to the room to watch anaconder, the movie.

Another early start. Breakfast at 6am leaving at 6.30am. We waved goodbye to John and Lorna and set off on our long bus ride to Bangkok. The first half of the journey to the Thai boarder was mainly on a dirt road that was full of holes. Very bumpy and tiring. Many of the bridges over small rivers were one way and very dodgy. We saw many landmine signs and passed a group of people clearing mines. Marcus told us that the government is planning on laying a bitumen road in the next 12 months!
We crossed the boarder with no problems and had lunch in a dirty open cafe. Jumped into 2 mini buses for the remaining journey in airconditioned comfort on nice smooth sealed roads.
Back at the Viengtai for 1 night to end our tour.
Had dinner at the end of the road. Rand didn't join us but we said goodbye to Paul then the rest of us went to the street bar across the road from the Hotel. Next we headed off to an underground bar where we played pool, some chess and emailed Chris on the free internet. Said goodbye to everyone else and went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Very early start this morning, on the bus at 5.15am to watch the sun rise at angkor wat. There were heaps of people there doing the same thing. We had a quick walk along the bridge over the moat then through the main gate to take our places to watch the sun rise. We tooks many photos however it was a bit cloudy and smokey so they didn't turn out the best.

At 7am we headed back to a resteraunt across the road from the entrance, for breakfast. After eating we headed back in to Angkor Wat, which is the worlds largest religious monument. Angkor Wat is a microcosm of the hindu universe. The moat represents the mythical ocean surrounding the earth. The galleries in their levels represent the mountain ranges that surround mount meru the home of the gods. The towers represent the mountain peaks. We set off walking around the right perimeter then inside to the first level to view the bas relief carvings. The ones here are in much better condition than at the bayon as they are under cover. Next we ascended to the second level and up some very steep steps up to the third level. The steepness of the steps is supposed to immitate climbing a real mountain. It does a pretty good job of it too. It was scary climbing up as towards the top the steps were very badly worn, but we managed to do it. We walked around the top level taking many photos inside and out before descending to view the rest of the bas reliefs around the 1st level. Comming back down was much worse than climbing up. I can't wait to climb Chichen Itza.

There were many buddhas with their heads cut off all around the Wat. The Khmere Rouge had used Angkor Wat as a base and removed all their heads. After touring angkor wat we set off for the Cambodian Land Mine museum, run by and ex Khmere Rouge mine planter. He has dedicated his life to removing land mines from Cambodia and sponsors about 6 kids who have had limbs blown off by land mines.

After lunch at the Khmere Kitchen with John, Lorna and Paul we headed back to the hotel for a shower before heading back out to view one of the communities that live on the 1000 km2 lake Tonle Sap. Words can not describe the stench where we boarded the boat - a mixture of diesel fumes, rotten fish and sewerage. Children were swimming in it! We saw many house boats/houses on bamboo stilts, schools, bars etc. It was certainly an eye opener.

We had a small rest in our room back at the hotel before heading out to dinner and Lorna and Johns last night with us. We had dinner at the soup dragon and then drinking and dancing at the Angkor What? bar. A great time had by all.

Set off this morning for our first visit to the Angkor complex.
Our first sight was of the moat surrounding ankgor wat, it was massive. We passed the entrance on our way to Ta Prohm, the "Tomb Raider" temple that we visited first. Ta Prohm was an amazing sight, the way the jungle is taking over the structure. We walked around the outside, then through the middle taking many pictures as we went. We all stopped for the obligatory picture in front of the door where Lara Croft enters the tomb.
Next it was on to Banteay Srey the womens citadel, shich had very intricate carvings and was the last to be discovered as it is about 30km away from the main complex.
We stopped for lunch near Angkor Wat during the heat of the day 1-2.30pm. Our next and final stop for the day was Angkor Thom which is the largest of cities, built in the 12th century. The most famous part of it is the Bayon which was the state temple, with the four faced towers. There were originally 49 towers but today there are only 37 standing. The faces are carved on each cardinal point. On the outer gallery wall there are huge bas reliefs that tell the story of life and battles during the kings reign. We spent a while exploring and taking more pictures then set off to the elephant terrace and back to the hotel.
What a day, took heaps of photos and video.
Had a leisurely night watching the final of the Australian Open and dinner at the hotel resteraunt.

Early wake up as bus left for airport at 7.30am. We had a smooth flight to Siem Reap arriving there at 10.15am. We headed off to have our photos taken for our 3 day pass to the Angkor complex. After checking into our hotel we set off into town to have lunch at the Red Piano resteraunt.(Made famous by Angelina Jollie, who frequents there when in town).
After lunch we bought a few things from the markets including our Cambodian flag and walked back to our hotel. It was a long hot walk so on our return we showered and headed for the pool where we had a swim, a drink and a chat with the others. Very relaxing.

We set off that night for a cello concert by a swiss doctor at the childrens hospital to raise money, blood and awareness. We learnt that the W.H.O. and UNICEF recommend treating people to their economic standard. They have told the doctors here that they should not run all the tests to check for HIV, Hepatitis etc in the blood donations as it is too expensive. The Swiss doctor who is only one of 2 foriegners working at the childrens hospitals (there are 4 in Cambodia) asked for blook from the young, money from the old and both from those in the middle. Unfortunately both David and I donated before we left home so were unable to donate blood. They are in desperate need of blood as there are many cases of Heameragic dengui fever.

After the concert we went to dinner at an Indian resteraunt with Kelli. We had Thali where you get small amounts of a number of dishes . It was huge and we were too full to stay out and party with the others so headed back to the hotel. We had a few black outs again but they didn't last long as their generator seemed to kick in pretty quickly.

We caught a tuk tuk to the Russian markets this morning and bought a few T shirts.
Tried to get into the Museum but they close between 11am and 2pm so headed back to hotel.
On the way came across a fire in a building. It was absolute bedlam, people everywhere evacuating their shops etc. Caught a bit of it on film. All the buildings are like terraces so are attached. There were people in the building next door throwing water down onto the fire. We heard they had to be rescued by ladder.
At 1pm we set of for Tol Sleng prison museum. It was a school that the Khmere Rouge turned into a torture centre during Pol Pots reign. Thousands of people were tortured to death, the rest were tortured and taken to the killing fields to be murdered. There were rooms and rooms of photos of those who had been killed.
After that we went to the Killing Fields where they have built a monument that is full of skulls, odd bones and clothing from those murdered. We saw the holes in the ground that were the mass graves a couple of the graves have not been disturbed. The dirt paths have peices of clothing and bone comming up where the rain has washed away the soil.
It was a very sobering expirience and our guide 1/2 of whose family had been killed during the war was very good at explaining everything to us. Very eye opening to know that officials and soldiers of the Pol Pot reign were given an amnesty and are now working in government etc with no punishment whatso ever to enable the country to get on rather than causing another civil war.
That night we went out to dinner at another resteraunt run by a charity. The meals were done in a tapas style so we were able to taste a few different styles. Lovely
During dinner we had 2 black outs and the generator had to kick in. We went back to our hotel as the bar was only lit by candles.

Woke this morning feeling like crap.
We had a drive from hell to the boarder. The driver headed off in the wrong direction which set us back about an hour. We were stuck in a traffic jam for no reason and the air conditioning on the bus was not working well.
What a start to my 37th birthday.
We were stuck at the boarder crossing on the Vietnam side for 2 hours. We went through 2 checkpoints where they manually recorded details from our passports. While waiting I took a cold tablet I got from Lorna so at least I started to feel physically better.
But what a difference a boarder can make.
The Cambodians where smiling and helpful. So everyone in the group imediately started to feel better.
We stopped off for lunch along the way and the people there couldn't do more for us.
Arrived in Phnom Penn and checked in to our hotel where we showered to get rid of the travelling dust and headed off to dinner at a resteraunt run by a local charity.
The group gave me a present a hacky sack type thing with feathers on the end and a map of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia with all the places we stayed circled.
After dinner the lights went out and the staff brought out a birthday cake and everyone sang happy birthday including a group of orphans that the owner of the resteraunt sponsors. We all got birthday hats and they sprayed foam and silly string on us and sang a Cambodian song.
It was a great dinner.
After dinner we went to the FCC (Foreign Corespondants Club) where a group of Foreign Corespondants were holed up when pol pot took over in 1970. Then went to a club called Ginger monkey where we played pool and I got a free CSC shooter. Bailys floated on butterscotch shnaps. Lovely. Good end to an otherwise bad day.

Well we are in another bustling city again.
Didn't arrive till late afternoon so Marcus our leader took us for lunch at Pho 2000 (a noodle soup bar) then a walk to show us nearby sights.
One of them was the Lion Micro brewery where they had a few litres of beer and I had a hot lemon drink.(Widely available on the menu lucky for me with the way I am at present)
We went back to the markets close to our hotel for dinner. Where the food was good but as we had lunch at around 5pm we didn't eat too much.
The younger ones headed off to a bar and as I was still sick headed off to bed.
In the morning we found that a couple of them had been pick pocketed so we were glad we had gone home.

25th Headed off after breakfast to the Chu Chi tunnels where we saw a propaganda film on the "American War" then had a look around and were able to crawl throught the tunels. I was only a metre in and couldnt see and the air was too stuffy so I backed out. This freaked David out as I am usually the braver of the two of us. He had to crawl past 3 or 4 people to get back out. The guide had told us we would be under there for 20 minutes and I didn't think I could do it. In fact it was 20 metres. Anyway I wouldn't have wanted to spend years living in the tunnels like the Viet Cong.
After the tunnels we headed back to Siagon and visited the war remnants muesum. Many photos etc from foreign journalists showing the atrocities from during the war.
Dinner agian at the markets then off to bed as still sick.

Only 3 more days till my birthday, just in case you forgot.
We have had a good couple of days here in Hoi An. David has had 2 suits each with 2 pairs of trousers made + 5 shirts. I have 1 pair of 3/4 pants, a black silk dress, a vietnamese top and pants, a sun dress, 2 sleeveless shirts, a satin skirt, 2 silk tops and 2 silk scarves made. Luck we brought along an empty bag with us as I think it will be full by the time we leave.

We hired bikes Yesterday and the day before and rode to the beach and all around. Unfortunately the weather is overcast and sometimes rainy so we didn't have a chance to spend any time at the beach swimming.

I have a cold now, sore throat and runny nose. David is just getting over his. Today we move on to Saigon. Our flight is at 1pm so it is a kind of rest day hopefully the rest will help us get better.

Well what another jam packed day.
We set off this morning with the group on the back of motor bikes for our tour of the area around Hue. Feeling a bit nervous at first. I only had a skirt as the rest of our clothes at the wash. Managed to organise myself without getting it stuck in the spokes.
On our journey we saw people planting rice and ploughing the paddys to prepare for planting.
We were riding down little tracks some concrete others dirt or broken bitumen.
We passed women washing the clothes in the river and people fishing right next to them.
We stopped at a conical hat maker who only had one and 1/2 arms. The best hat maker in Vietnam we were told. She has been to china because of her skills.

We stopped off at an old US army bunker high on a hill overlooking a bend in the river. Excellent vantage point. We went to the tomb of the longest reigning emperor Tu Duc. Had lunch at a Budhist monestary all vegetarian and very yummy.(thanks for the excellent word choice David)

Had a boat ride to finish off the day and back to our hotel to rest before dinner and 'raging'.(Thanks again David)

Arrived in Hue this morning by overnight train from Hanoi. A very interesting trip. We were sharing with John and Lorna the Canadian couple. We all ended up in the bar carriage near the front of the train playing cards and drinking with some locals. Not sure what their drinking game was but they were yelling out something in Vietnamese and then you had to scull. Had a Cyclo tour and visited the Citadel which was mostly destroyed during the "American"/Vietnam War.

We spent a magical night on Ha long bay in a junk. We went kayaking and swimming off the boat. The rooms were good and even had showers and toilets. We explored the limestone cave similar to Janolan or Wombian caves as well. It was good to be off the road. One of the guys on our trip described the traffic very well. It is 3 lanes of traffic travelling down a 2 lane highway. As I have to sit looking out the front because I get sick if I don't, I saw the most amazing sights. Not for the faint hearted. We are travelling on the wrong side of the road heading towards a big truck with another truck next to us and no where to go. But there were no accidents and no near misses as a near miss is only when you lose a side mirror.

our way from Halong bay to Hanoi our bus had to stop to be repaired as it had gear box problems and was stuck in 3rd gear. We waited for 2 hours in a resteraunt where we could see them preparing meat, fish etc. The smells were awful as you can probably imagine.

The one and a half days we spent in Hanoi were hectic. The pace of life is amazing.
They seem to live on the streets. They wash their clothes, eat, pee, spit you name it they do it in the street. Around the corner from our hotel we saw some guys building an industrial range hood in the street. A little further up the road they were making picture frames. People having their hair cut. The petrol stations are a guy sitting by the side of the road with used soft drink bottles filled with petrol and a bike pump.

Arrived in Hue this morning by overnight train from Hanoi.
A very interesting trip. We were sharing with John and Lorna the Canadian couple.
We all ended up in the bar carriage near the front of the train playing cards and drinking with some locals. Not sure what their drinking game was but they were yelling out something in Vietnamese and then you had to scull. Wish I could show you the photos. May be able to upload when we get to Saigon.