Woke up at 5am and went out on a boat trip on the Mekong. Watched the sun come up (with my eyes half open as I wasn't quite awake yet). We went to a local floating market where they all come with their boats filled with pineapple, papayas, coconut, jackfruit, loads of vegetables, etc. You just pull your boat up along side theirs and buy whatever you need. It was great. It is out of the way so we were the only tourists in the market...everyone was saying hello and waving and all the little kids were staring at us quite intently. It was so beautiful, I wasn't sure where to point the camera. Took loads of pictures.
Walked around another market where there were loads of wonderful older people...all smiling without their teeth and wanting their pictures taken. I obliged quite willingly and got some great shots.
Our boat driver and his wife bought fresh veggies at the market and they took us to the wife's mothers house and made us a great noodle lunch. Everything was so fresh and tasty. There were loads of little kids walking around and all of them were quite curious about us.
I got the wonderful experience of using a 'vietnamese toilet', which is basically 2 planks of wood over a small stream...there is about a 2 foot wall built in a square. You step inside, drop your pants, balance on the planks of wood and squat. Very natural...no? I had giant bullfrogs jumping up under me while I was tinkling and people walking by to work in the fields. Hello....you just have to laugh. It is a different world here.
We walked around his farm for a bit. He showed us the orange trees, the lettuce, lemon grass, rice fields, etc. And right in the middle of it all is a karaoke bar. He said "no problem...12 o'clock, drink some rice wine, go sing karaoke and then work again. Anytime, rice wine, no problem". Ha...I think we need to implement that work ethic back home.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Our first stop in Vietnam - Chau Doc
Ok...so we heard a lot of mixed reviews about Vietnam. Some people love it and some hate it saying that the people are not very nice. Our first experience in Chau Doc was on the LOVE it side of things.
We had an amazing first day here. We lucked out and got a great motorcycle driver, named Guy. He helped us get our SIM card for our phone, he walked me around the market telling me the local prices we should be paying for things not the tourist prices. He was great. We went to $2 million dollar mountain. It was about an 1.5hour drive out into the countryside...and what beautiful countryside. Everything is a lush green, all the women are riding bicycles with the great hats (not sure what they are called) on their heads. The school girls are dressed in long white dresses with the slits on the side and white pants and all look so classy. It was a beautiful ride.
The mountain itself is the location of many battles. First between the Vietnamese and the Americans and then again when the Khmer Rouge invaded. I have NO idea how the Americans thought they would capture this place. It is a mountain of boulders, filled with nooks and crannies where it would be so easy for the Vietnamese to hide. Tunnel and tunnel under the rocks. Amazing really. They said that the Vietnames to American odds were 3 to 20 and they held them off for years. You could see the bomb marks on the rocks, etc.
While going through a tunnel we came to a clear area where they used to have meetings and there was a group of vietnamese having a picnic. As soon as they saw us they were saying hello, I sat down and had rice wine with them (they love to drink rice wine and cheer), they offered me food and were so nice and with big smiles on their face...probably due in part to the amount of rice wine they drink. :)
That night Guy wanted to take us to the bars. Deb and I were tired and almost said no byt he was so excited and happy to have us out that we couldn't resist. He took us to this restaurant where 2 litres of beer was less than 50 cents and he took us into the kitchen and showed us the rat, bat and live snake that was on the menu. Needless to say we just drank beer here.
Then he got out his flute and was playing all these beautiful songs. It was great. We decided to get a cyclo and head back into town to eat (no rat for us pretty please) and we passed a wedding reception just on the side of the street. Tables set up, people eating and of course there was karaoke. The people saw us and cheered. Before you knew it we were at a table cheering with rice wine, they were pouring us beer, the guy with a microphone was over at our table getting us to tell our names and where we are from. We danced, ate and drank. Hilarious! It was a great night. Why does stuff like this never happen in Canada?
We had an amazing first day here. We lucked out and got a great motorcycle driver, named Guy. He helped us get our SIM card for our phone, he walked me around the market telling me the local prices we should be paying for things not the tourist prices. He was great. We went to $2 million dollar mountain. It was about an 1.5hour drive out into the countryside...and what beautiful countryside. Everything is a lush green, all the women are riding bicycles with the great hats (not sure what they are called) on their heads. The school girls are dressed in long white dresses with the slits on the side and white pants and all look so classy. It was a beautiful ride.
The mountain itself is the location of many battles. First between the Vietnamese and the Americans and then again when the Khmer Rouge invaded. I have NO idea how the Americans thought they would capture this place. It is a mountain of boulders, filled with nooks and crannies where it would be so easy for the Vietnamese to hide. Tunnel and tunnel under the rocks. Amazing really. They said that the Vietnames to American odds were 3 to 20 and they held them off for years. You could see the bomb marks on the rocks, etc.
While going through a tunnel we came to a clear area where they used to have meetings and there was a group of vietnamese having a picnic. As soon as they saw us they were saying hello, I sat down and had rice wine with them (they love to drink rice wine and cheer), they offered me food and were so nice and with big smiles on their face...probably due in part to the amount of rice wine they drink. :)
That night Guy wanted to take us to the bars. Deb and I were tired and almost said no byt he was so excited and happy to have us out that we couldn't resist. He took us to this restaurant where 2 litres of beer was less than 50 cents and he took us into the kitchen and showed us the rat, bat and live snake that was on the menu. Needless to say we just drank beer here.
Then he got out his flute and was playing all these beautiful songs. It was great. We decided to get a cyclo and head back into town to eat (no rat for us pretty please) and we passed a wedding reception just on the side of the street. Tables set up, people eating and of course there was karaoke. The people saw us and cheered. Before you knew it we were at a table cheering with rice wine, they were pouring us beer, the guy with a microphone was over at our table getting us to tell our names and where we are from. We danced, ate and drank. Hilarious! It was a great night. Why does stuff like this never happen in Canada?
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
aha...it works
So now that I know it works, I will post some more shots. The last shot was obviously me being a suck about my elbow injury...which is healing slowly but nicely.
The shots I will upload are all Cambodia. Angkor Wat, the crazy British guy Lee that we have been travelling with for the last 3 weeks, some Phnom Pehn shots and the killing fields and the Sihanoukville in the south. Enjoy
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
A boat trip to some islands off Cambodia
Well the day started off all right. Nice and sunny. French toast and pineapple for breakfast. Got picked up at 8:30am for our boat trip out to some islands to do some snorkelling. But oh how quickly things can change when you are in a country like Cambodia.
Got to the beach where the boat was supposed to be...you will notice I use the word "supposed"..that is because there was no boat. We waited 30 minutes in the hot sun only to be told that the engine on our boat was not working so they were getting another boat. There were about 20 of us waiting...so we were expecting a boat of substantial size. Again we were wrong. When the boat finally did arrive it was an oversized canoe with a hand blender for a motor.
We all climb aboard and begin the journey...there is no cover on the boat so we can feel our skin begin to sizzle. About 45 minutes off shore, the hand mixer coughs, sputters and then dies. Oh goody...how long do you think it would take us to drift to the shores of Southern Thailand...will our water last the trip?
Fifteen or so minutes later another hand mixer canoe comes up and we throw him a rope and he tows us to the first island where we throw anchor and snorkel. The mask and snorkels are Wal_Mart specials I am sure. My niece and nephew probably have better equipment. You can barely see anything at all. A couple of fish swim around the coral reef which is quite minimal seeing as they still do dynamite fishing here.
We bob around for a bit while we wait for another boat to come and tow us to the next location. The next island is marginally better and another man has jumped ashore and is taking the engine apart....perhaps we will have our own power soon. Nope...he was just for show. We ended up having 3 different boats tow us to 3 different islands where the swimming was ok, the snorkelling was pathetic and the sun was roasting.
We have learnt our lesson...we are not made for group travel.
Got to the beach where the boat was supposed to be...you will notice I use the word "supposed"..that is because there was no boat. We waited 30 minutes in the hot sun only to be told that the engine on our boat was not working so they were getting another boat. There were about 20 of us waiting...so we were expecting a boat of substantial size. Again we were wrong. When the boat finally did arrive it was an oversized canoe with a hand blender for a motor.
We all climb aboard and begin the journey...there is no cover on the boat so we can feel our skin begin to sizzle. About 45 minutes off shore, the hand mixer coughs, sputters and then dies. Oh goody...how long do you think it would take us to drift to the shores of Southern Thailand...will our water last the trip?
Fifteen or so minutes later another hand mixer canoe comes up and we throw him a rope and he tows us to the first island where we throw anchor and snorkel. The mask and snorkels are Wal_Mart specials I am sure. My niece and nephew probably have better equipment. You can barely see anything at all. A couple of fish swim around the coral reef which is quite minimal seeing as they still do dynamite fishing here.
We bob around for a bit while we wait for another boat to come and tow us to the next location. The next island is marginally better and another man has jumped ashore and is taking the engine apart....perhaps we will have our own power soon. Nope...he was just for show. We ended up having 3 different boats tow us to 3 different islands where the swimming was ok, the snorkelling was pathetic and the sun was roasting.
We have learnt our lesson...we are not made for group travel.
Friday, October 20, 2006
A little bit of an accident
Well the past few days have been uncomfortable for both Deb and I...even though we are in a beautiful beachside bungalow in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Deb ate or drank something that is haunting her for the past 24 hours and I am recovering from a small spill on a motorcycle. Nothing serious.
There are motorcycle taxi's here...and we were taking one with our backpacks to the bungalows where we are staying now. There is a steep road up a hill...and the road is pretty much mud, rocks and tree roots. My driver was approaching too quickly and started driving up the hill in too high a gear and stalled. Well little did I know that he didn't have brakes. So we started sliding backwards down the hill until we tumbled over. I flew off the back landing on my elbow, smacking my head on who knows what and scraping my back and inside of my knee. It could have been worse. Nothing was broken...I have some nasty scrapes and some bruises and my elbow swoll up nice and big. But it is moving ok...but the salt water sure stings it. I will post a picture so you can all feel sorry for me the next time we come to do internet.
So we have been lying pretty low. Just lounging on the chairs by the beach, eating, reading our books, etc. Cambodia is different than I expected. Not as rough or hard to travel as were were imagining. Lots of good restaurants, nice places to stay, etc.
But it is more expensive than we thought it would be...seems strange when Deb and I can't eat lunch for under $5 with a beer. It sounds funny to complain about a beer being $1.50. Ha...we will go into shock when we get back to Canada.
There are motorcycle taxi's here...and we were taking one with our backpacks to the bungalows where we are staying now. There is a steep road up a hill...and the road is pretty much mud, rocks and tree roots. My driver was approaching too quickly and started driving up the hill in too high a gear and stalled. Well little did I know that he didn't have brakes. So we started sliding backwards down the hill until we tumbled over. I flew off the back landing on my elbow, smacking my head on who knows what and scraping my back and inside of my knee. It could have been worse. Nothing was broken...I have some nasty scrapes and some bruises and my elbow swoll up nice and big. But it is moving ok...but the salt water sure stings it. I will post a picture so you can all feel sorry for me the next time we come to do internet.
So we have been lying pretty low. Just lounging on the chairs by the beach, eating, reading our books, etc. Cambodia is different than I expected. Not as rough or hard to travel as were were imagining. Lots of good restaurants, nice places to stay, etc.
But it is more expensive than we thought it would be...seems strange when Deb and I can't eat lunch for under $5 with a beer. It sounds funny to complain about a beer being $1.50. Ha...we will go into shock when we get back to Canada.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
The madness of the past week
Whew...just need a moment to catch my breath really. The last week has been pretty crazy. Started with a night out in Bangkok. The first time we have gone out to the clubs here and of course we do it on a night before a bus trip to Cambodia that begins at 7am. Needless to say we didn't make it home til 4am...so sleep was limited.
Then when we stopped for lunch, Debbie hit her knee. Apparently she has done this in the past and it causes her to faint. Well this time, she didn't faint, but she ended up getting quite sick. We had to stay in some town (don't know the name of it) and she slept for about 20 hours. We continued onto Cambodia the next day. If we thought the roads in myanmar were bad...the road from Poipet, Cambodia to Seam Riep are even worse. 300kn took 9 hours to travel. We had many stops along the way. The first stop was because a truck had jack knifed in the middle of the road and there was no getting around it. You don't really leave the beaten path for fear of running over a land mine. Then the next stop was because at one point the road narrowed down to single lane and a car had gotten stuck in all the mud. The last time we stopped was because a truck and trailer coming in the other direction was stopped in the middle of the road and the driver was drunk and almost tried to start a fight with our bus driver.
Finally we arrived...and thankfully our guesthouse was totally charming.
We explored Angkor Wat with our new friend from England (Lee). The first day we took a tuk tuk around and saw some of the ruins, the next day we went by bicycle. It is extremely beautiful...but i have to say that I was more impressed with Bagan in myanmar. I had really high expectations because I had heard it was amazing...and it is, but Bagan to me was more beautiful.
Today was a very sombre day. We are in Phnom Penh and we went to the killing fields in the morning and the Genocide museum in the afternoon. Between 2-3million cambodians were tortured and killed between 1975-1979 by the khmer rouge and both of these places were quite hard to visit. It is sometimes hard to fathom what humans are capable of doing.
Then when we stopped for lunch, Debbie hit her knee. Apparently she has done this in the past and it causes her to faint. Well this time, she didn't faint, but she ended up getting quite sick. We had to stay in some town (don't know the name of it) and she slept for about 20 hours. We continued onto Cambodia the next day. If we thought the roads in myanmar were bad...the road from Poipet, Cambodia to Seam Riep are even worse. 300kn took 9 hours to travel. We had many stops along the way. The first stop was because a truck had jack knifed in the middle of the road and there was no getting around it. You don't really leave the beaten path for fear of running over a land mine. Then the next stop was because at one point the road narrowed down to single lane and a car had gotten stuck in all the mud. The last time we stopped was because a truck and trailer coming in the other direction was stopped in the middle of the road and the driver was drunk and almost tried to start a fight with our bus driver.
Finally we arrived...and thankfully our guesthouse was totally charming.
We explored Angkor Wat with our new friend from England (Lee). The first day we took a tuk tuk around and saw some of the ruins, the next day we went by bicycle. It is extremely beautiful...but i have to say that I was more impressed with Bagan in myanmar. I had really high expectations because I had heard it was amazing...and it is, but Bagan to me was more beautiful.
Today was a very sombre day. We are in Phnom Penh and we went to the killing fields in the morning and the Genocide museum in the afternoon. Between 2-3million cambodians were tortured and killed between 1975-1979 by the khmer rouge and both of these places were quite hard to visit. It is sometimes hard to fathom what humans are capable of doing.
Friday, October 06, 2006
running into people
Well if you can imagine this...today I ran into someone I know from Toronto here in Bangkok. Small world. Deb and I were sitting down on a couch at Starbuck's on the 5th floor of one of the many shopping malls in Bangkok and up the escalator came someone I used to work with years ago. So funny. He used to live here in Bangkok and is just in town for a few days. It was so funny. Just shows you how small this planet of ours really is.
That is the 2nd time this has happened on this trip and both people I have run into have been people I used to work with at X. The first was in a post office in San Francisco and now this.
That is the 2nd time this has happened on this trip and both people I have run into have been people I used to work with at X. The first was in a post office in San Francisco and now this.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
hanging in a hammock and 'no prescription, no viagra'
Yesterday it rained for most of the day. But that didn't stop us from managing to enjoy the day in style. We found ourselves sitting in a restaraunt that is perched up high above in a Banyon Tree. After making quick friends with the softest dog on the planet and enjoying a cup of tea and lunch we made our way to the inviting hammocks where we sat and watched the rain and the ocean in the distance and I managed to write a few letters to friends back home. The rain let up long enough for us to hop on our scooter, head back to our resort (where we seem to be the only guests) and have a steam, swim, steam once more and another swim. Drank a couple of beer instead of having our daily nap and then giggling like school girls headed into town for dinner.
During the day we went into a pharmacy to try and look for some really strong mosquito spray as we are officially heading into some serious mosquito country...in our guidebook for Laos, under wildlife it only lists mosquitos...so we get the feeling they could be pretty bad there. While perusing the available stock we noticed a sign that one would really only stumble on in Thailand that said. "Sorry we can not give out sleeping pills or Viagra without a prescription." I think this is a clear indication of the majority of men that come to Thailand (not to generalize, but there really are a lot of them). Men old enough to be my father or in some cases my grandfather who are walking around on the arm of a 20 something thai woman. I guess they have trouble sleeping and getting it up on their own. The sign made me giggle at the very least.
From another sign we saw today while exploring the eastern side of the island we learnt that washing your hands helps reduce diarhhea...so many helpful hints here in Thailand...a plethora of knowledge really.
During the day we went into a pharmacy to try and look for some really strong mosquito spray as we are officially heading into some serious mosquito country...in our guidebook for Laos, under wildlife it only lists mosquitos...so we get the feeling they could be pretty bad there. While perusing the available stock we noticed a sign that one would really only stumble on in Thailand that said. "Sorry we can not give out sleeping pills or Viagra without a prescription." I think this is a clear indication of the majority of men that come to Thailand (not to generalize, but there really are a lot of them). Men old enough to be my father or in some cases my grandfather who are walking around on the arm of a 20 something thai woman. I guess they have trouble sleeping and getting it up on their own. The sign made me giggle at the very least.
From another sign we saw today while exploring the eastern side of the island we learnt that washing your hands helps reduce diarhhea...so many helpful hints here in Thailand...a plethora of knowledge really.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Mother Nature
For the past 5 days of so Deb and I have been on the island of Koh Chang where the thai monsoon has been paying us a little bit of a visit. Strange weather really. One day sunny all day long, and then at night we will have the wickedest thunder storms. The other night it rained so hard that the power went out in our resort and the thunder was so loud that you could feel it in your chest. It probably lasted for about 5 hours or more. In the morning we walked into town and parts of the road were literally washed away and the restaurant where we had eaten a couple of days before literally had a river of run off pouring through it. A wall had been washed away and the tables and chairs were all over the place. Even now we sit in an internet cafe and the road right next to it looks like a river as there is about a foot of rainwater flowing down the street.
Yesterday the weather was fantastic so we hopped on our scooter and went exploring. Ended up at a place called Lonely beach (which really wasn't very lonely but didn't have many people on it). The water was nice and calm so we hopped in for a bit of a swim. Funny thing happened when we were drying off on the beach, this thai man selling trinkets came up to us hoping we would buy something...and while staring at our crotches asked us where we were from. We told him canada, and while continuing to stare at our nether regions, he said "Canada, number 1". Deb and I have been making jokes about that ever since.I am sure you can imagine some of them.
After that, we went to the southern tip of the island to the fisherman's village which is all built on stilts over the water and had the best scallops in a drunken spicy thai sauce. Oh my goodness they were delicious. Then went back to our resort where we swam in the pool, went into the steam room, swam in the pool, went into the steam room and then to the room for our daily nap. Feel a little like a senior citizen with our daily ritual of napping. But hey, it is a lovely thing so why fight it right?
There are loads of waterfalls on the island so if the rains stays away today we might just go and check a few of them out. They should have loads of water with all of the rain we have been getting. If not, then I guess we will head to our room, which is really awesome. We love low season travelling...we are getting to stay at nice places for cheap prices. Our room has the most breathtaking view of the pool and the ocean in the distance, has french doors that opens up onto a little balcony where we drink our beer and watch the sun set. It also has a tv and dvd player, so we have bought a few movies and plop down and watch them when the weather doesn't cooperate.
It has just been nice being somewhere for more than 3 days, not feeling like we have to be a tourist and sightsee and just relax.
Mom made it home safe and sound...and I think that is it for this update.
Yesterday the weather was fantastic so we hopped on our scooter and went exploring. Ended up at a place called Lonely beach (which really wasn't very lonely but didn't have many people on it). The water was nice and calm so we hopped in for a bit of a swim. Funny thing happened when we were drying off on the beach, this thai man selling trinkets came up to us hoping we would buy something...and while staring at our crotches asked us where we were from. We told him canada, and while continuing to stare at our nether regions, he said "Canada, number 1". Deb and I have been making jokes about that ever since.I am sure you can imagine some of them.
After that, we went to the southern tip of the island to the fisherman's village which is all built on stilts over the water and had the best scallops in a drunken spicy thai sauce. Oh my goodness they were delicious. Then went back to our resort where we swam in the pool, went into the steam room, swam in the pool, went into the steam room and then to the room for our daily nap. Feel a little like a senior citizen with our daily ritual of napping. But hey, it is a lovely thing so why fight it right?
There are loads of waterfalls on the island so if the rains stays away today we might just go and check a few of them out. They should have loads of water with all of the rain we have been getting. If not, then I guess we will head to our room, which is really awesome. We love low season travelling...we are getting to stay at nice places for cheap prices. Our room has the most breathtaking view of the pool and the ocean in the distance, has french doors that opens up onto a little balcony where we drink our beer and watch the sun set. It also has a tv and dvd player, so we have bought a few movies and plop down and watch them when the weather doesn't cooperate.
It has just been nice being somewhere for more than 3 days, not feeling like we have to be a tourist and sightsee and just relax.
Mom made it home safe and sound...and I think that is it for this update.
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