Koh Samui

What have I been doing for the last week, well...nothing. Not entirely true, but when all you have been doing is lying on a beach and reading, you start to feel like you are doing nothing. Koh Samui in Thailand is not the most happening of places. Everything is expensive (the food, activities, accommodation) and while the beaches are ok, they are choked with areas owned by the expensive hotels. We did manage to find the only cheap guest house in the main area of Samui, Hat Chewang (400Baht; $13) and it was the best I have stayed in so far. With access to a big fridge, a hot water jug, a sink and crockery, David and I forewent the expensive restaurants and stocked up on muesli, yoghurt and various dinner items from Tescos. 

 As we were in Samui for Easter, my travel buddy demanded a makeshift Easter celebration. In deference to this I set about making him a scrabble set (we have missed playing), with which I paired a bottle of red wine and David armed himself with a multitude of surgery, chocolatey treats and hot cross buns. One of my favourite elements of our Easter sunday was the silver black phantom bike we rented for the day (400 Baht). I have missed riding and completely enjoyed tearing it up for an hour or two on my own. Although I did pay for my indulgence with an exhaust burn to my calf. 

If the beach is not your thing (too much salt water and sand EVERYWHERE!) there are some wonderful waterfalls in the Hat Lamai area of Samui. We went back three times to the only one you didn't have to pay for and it was most peaceful sitting, swimming and reading in the quiet atmosphere of the falls and pools in the middle of the rain forest.

Ancient Angkorian Adventure

So we now find our intrepid travellers on the trail to Angkor. My first impressions of Siem Reap were very positive and my adoration for this little town grew as the week went by. Aside from the obvious pull of Angkor, Siem Reap is worth visiting just for the relaxed cafe culture. Bar st and 'the alley' in the centre of the tourist district is actually reminiscent of a well behaved and less gimmicky Khao San rd. The food here is a little more expensive than I would have liked. I say expensive, but instead of paying $2 for a meal, you are now paying $4. Nonetheless, it is very tasty. Khmer culture and food have impressed me greatly. The town has some lovely walking paths and the night markets are also a pleasure to walk through as they are clean, fun (massages are $1), beautifully lit and full of people that want to sell their wares – without the pushy cat-calling that is common in South East Asian markets. I even broke my daily budget a little to buy some very unique paintings depicting some symbolic intricacies of Asian life.

On the first of my two days out at Angkor, Dave and I rented a moto and driver for the day to take us on the 'small' circuit. Angkor begins about 9km outside of the city and was once a vast interconnected system of towns, temples and royal palaces. Each of the main sights on the small circuit (about 17km roundtrip + 9kms to Siem Reap) such as Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Phrom and Banteay Srei are each spread apart with about 3kms in between each. It was a genuine pleasure to stand at the base of massive stone structures and observe the pride with which the Angkor people constructed their empire (which flourished from 802 to 1432 AD). The sheer size is amazing, the delicacy of the sculptures is exquisite, the fact that these monuments were once living and breathing cities full of children and commerce, and when combined with the fact that nature has now invaded and made it home, leaves one with only a few words to describe that first day. I believe Angkor Thom was my favourite due to the impressive structure and it's collection of massive 4-headed Brahma (of which are quite spiritually evoking). Angkor Thom is also guarded by Garuda, the half man, half bird which is the symbol of spiritual unity and which is my preferred statue to draw. It will be hard to convey how lovely this place is so I will simply say WOW. 

My second day began with a bicycle ride to the Angkor site. I was determined to make the most of my three day pass and as such I decided to cycle the 9kms to Angkor and proceed to cycle the 26km 'big' circuit and visit all of the smaller temples and ruins. There are less people and my visit to Preah Khan was virtually a silent pilgrimage to a temple buried in the rainforests of Angkor. The smaller sights are not as impressive as say Angkor Wat, but they are worth a look and are great if you want to read in the shadow of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Angkor itself represents a former interconnected series of aqueducts and even into the beginning of the Khmer empire, was an agricultural Babylon. It is now a mecca for millions of tourists every year, each of them hoping to share in the memory of this impressive Cambodian Eden. Riding through the heart of Angkor is an experience not to be missed and as I left I felt that the combination of a very pretty city and my visit to Angkor has left me the most fulfilled I have been on this journey.

Khmer Kitsch

In every city, there is always a tourist area. Most people strive to get out of these areas to find the 'real' Vietnam or the 'real' Cambodia. Tours for example publicise trips that show you culture and a true experience. Contrary to this retoric, I have found that I quite enjoy the 'touristy' places. Phnom Penh has a lovely strip of resteraunts, bars and a few sights (wats and a museum) near the water that give off a calm and relaxing vibe. This was in stark contrast to where I stayed in the centre, which incidently was dirty, hot and crammed with stores that sell cheap crap. Regardless of these conflicting images of Cambodia's capital, overall I found that I enjoyed my first experience with the Khmer culture.

One of the biggest draws to Phnom Penh is a trip to the killing fields. It cost $7 for a tuk tuk for the day to take the two of us to the sight (15kms) of one of the biggest genocides in the world, certainly in the history of Cambodia. It is important to visit the museum before wandering through the 86 unearthed mass graves as it explains the history of Pol Pot's regime and the civil war from 1975 to 1975 (including the more recent war crimes tribunal). The monument built for all the bodies is quite a moving tribute as the multitude of tears can move one to tears. As it is also Cambodian new years at the moment, our trip to the killing fields was serenaded by the chanting of about 10 monks eching across the graveyard. It was almost hypnotic. This visit rekindled my interest in psychological 'archeology' – this is my idea of research in to answering the question of how and why one group or one person can do this to another. I'd love to sift through history and discover the multitude of motivations for cruelty, genocide and barbarism.

Our tuk tuk driver also took us to the national museum. I do recommend this to anyone visiting Cambodia, as it has some quite interesting sculptures and very vividly describes the history/culture of the Khmer people. Cambodian food is also a vast improvement on Vietnam cuisine and I can recommend the Pink Elephant on the riverfront to anyone wanting cheap and very decent faire.  There is also a multitude of 'happy' pizza places just in case you aren't enjoying yourself enough yet. 

Vietnam, the final chapter.

I can write my tidings of the next three Vietnamese towns in one (shortish paragraph), simply owing to the fact that they were all unremakable. Nha Trang has a lovely beach and I got a second chance at swimming in the South China Sea, but it is simply a clean city without much charm. Although, had I known what Dalat was really like, I would have definitely chosen to explore more of Nha Trang

Me aboard my trusty steed.

Dalat promised to be a charming quiet town, an example of the francphone influence in Vietnam and while the buildings did hold to more European ideals, the city is growing and very busy. There are road works and construction everywhere and rather than breathing cool mountain air, we inhaled dust and grime! The bus ride to Dalat was very beautiful as there are small waterfalls next to the road and in order to find this beauty again, Dave and I rented a scooter to head out of the city. Once you leave the city there are some quite remarkable forest views (Dalat is on top of a mountain range; yet was surprisingly still hot), however the waterfall (while pretty) was very commercial and the other sights we had planned were either much more expensive than promised or closed. We did quite enjoy the flower garden and for less than $3 we rented a giant swan and paddled around the large lake in the centre of the city. There is also a 'crazy house' in Dalat. Built by a Vietnamese woman who studied for 14years in Russia, the house is a miss-match of themed rooms in a giant gnarled tree - it's fun but I believe that because I am a member of the desensitized youth of today, I found it less crazy than promised.

From Dalat, we went to the capital of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh). Again, as I hate large cities, this place held no value for me. We went to see a water puppet show on the authority that this cultural event is quite worth it. I hesitate to recommend this to anyone else, it was interesting and the music was very cultural but it really is for children. Good thing I am a child at heart cause it was a fun 40 mins. We were anxious to leave Saigon and in order to get across the border to Cambodia Dave and I decided rather than another long bus ride, we would take a 2-day Mekong Delta tour and arrive in Phnom Penh by boat. This involved a trip to 'floating markets' (really about 7 big boats with some melons on them, quite disappointing), a tour of a coconut candy making and rice paper making factory, a trip to a crocodile farm (so boring!), dinner on a floating resteraunt (we ended up hungry as the food was minimal) and a visit to a fish farm and Cham village. Please take my advice, save your money! While it saved us a 12hr bus ride (instead we endured several 2 and 3 hr rides), this tour was dull, and a waste of my time and the tour guides time. The only benefit is the slow boat to Phnom Penh, which is lovely and much better than a bus.

Overall I believe I was dissappointed with Vietnam, but I supposed I was expecting great things. I have to say that Vietnam in general has sacrificed it's culture/traditional charm for cleaner streets and more tourists and the food is NOT like the tasty Vietnamese we have in China town back home - it's so dull with little flavour.

Hoi An: Where Old meets New.

Here is a note to budget travelers: don't go to Hoi An! Actually this town, 30mins from DaNang, is a very beautiful place to spend a few days...if you can resist the 300-500 tailor shops for a protracted period. Just to clarify, I hate shopping as a rule and detest the buying of material goods that serve little purpose (and actually detract from personal growth) and even I survived only two hours before being talked in to commissioning a pair of calf-length red leather boots (with some insisting from my travel partner and the shop assistant). Don't misunderstand, shoes and clothes are cheaply made here and it is fun to walk past the hundreds of colourful coats and dresses – but if you buy one thing you will inevitably want another and so on. The quality depends on what you want to pay and whether you know the difference between 'italian cotton' and the regular kind. In my experience (I won't relate what exactly I bought because my mother reads this), a shirt will cost anywhere between $10 and $15 and jackets (wool, cotton, trench, cashmere – it doesn't matter) are typically $40 and do not go lower than $36.

So, the town itself is the only place in Vietnam that was not hit by a single bomb in the war. Thus the old quarter is replete with ancient and beautiful houses that are paired nicely with cobbled streets, and there is often classical music playing in the streets at night. Hoi An is also a city of lights. There is a school of disabled people that are responsible for making the various intracite lanterns that adorn every awning (and are sold in many shops) and at night the river that runs through Hoi An is a mass of these lights in every kind of colour. Eating dinner from a rooftop overlooking this river is a pleasure.

One day (while waiting for our clothes to be finished), we rented a scooter and headed up towards DaNang and the marble mountains. The marble mountains are composed of 5 seperate peaks representing the 5 elements (fire, wood, water, air and earth). The 154 steps up make for a decent view of nearby China Beach and there are some rather sombre caves you can explore. If you can block out the tourist chatter and just sit for a while in the shade of the Buddhist statues, you can actually enjoy the marble mountains. The local town is famous for their marble sculptures (previously made from the same marble as the mountains, but now imported from China as they realised they were running out!) and driving through streets lined with these massive 8 foot stone structures is also truly impressive. I also had my first experience putting my feet in the south China sea, and it was cold!

Fully appreciative of how nice it is to be in such a beautiful town as Hoi An and with our clothes ready, Dave and I next headed out on a sleeper bus (12hrs) to Nha Trang with a view to end up at the French colonial town of DaLat. 

Its a long Hue to Tipperary

Everyone knows that travelling itself often long and arduous. Sleeper buses are supposed to make this process a mite easier. The journey from Vientienne, Laos to Hue (pronounced 'way'), Vietnam was not. I won't harp on about the Brobdingnagian nature of being left alone at a border amongst uncommunicative people – but suffice to say that after 20hrs on a bus (without a toilet), I stepped somewhat etiolated, sleepy and dirty on to Hue's wet pavement. Here is a tip, when you are tired and cranky, take a motorscooter trip in the cold rain to your hotel – it will wake you up for sure.

Hue is a UNESCO world heratige site and the main attraction here is the citadel and the citadel-within-the-citadel that dominates the north side of bank. Because of the rain Hue city didn't hold much beauty for me (it was quite bleak and particularly cold) and the citadel is an imposing structure, with little to see inside. No wonder the North Vietnam troops were able to take this city so easily, the South didn't want it either. Actually that is a bit harsh. If you take the time to wander aimlessly around the old city, Hue does have a few hidden charms to make it interesting enough for travelers. For example if you pay the $6 for a tour of the tombs and pagodas that surround Hue, there are some more interesting sites to capture ones attention. 

Irregardless of whether you listen to the guide natter on about the 2^nd, 3^rd and 12^th emperor and their superstitions, Vietnamese tombs (particularly in Hue) inevitably have picturesque gardens replete with bonsai, flowery incriptions and in the case of Tu Doc – a large reflective lake to complete the experience. Overall, I liked Hue as my first impression of Vietnam and it is worth a visit, but only for 2 days.

Inside a Tomb.

Actually, being my first stop in Vietnam I was expecting great things of the cuisine. One of their emperors (I can't remember which) enforced culinary variation in everyday household by forcing people to create a new dish every day. This variation and experimentation was purported to be an attraction of Hue but I found little evidence of this, the food is actually quite bland (although reasonably cheap). However the accommodation, in stark constrast to Laos, is very reasonable. You trade in getting budget rooms in guest-houses (less than $6 per night) for $10/12 per night hotels complete with a bath, fridge and t.v.