TravelStream™ news feed for member feeandpete on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/feeandpete en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:45:29 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1257684343/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1257684343/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1257684343/tpod.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:45:29 -0500 Fee and Pete's Big Year Out

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Kathmandu, Nepal

Arriving in Nepal at Kakarhbita was easy enough and we got chatting to Bill, a Canadian doctor who was on the way to a Bhutanese Refugee Camp. He was nice and we ended up going out for some food and comparing hotel rooms with him as we checked into the same place!
We took a 5am bus the following morning bound for Kathmandu which had the tiniest seats, leading to a grumpy Pete! We were also a little hasty with our departure as we thought the bus was at four. We vacated our room to find that we were locked in! afraid of missing the bus we managed to get out a back door int a court yard where i had to climb over a tall spikey gate to go round and open the front shutter to let Fiona out. It felt pretty dodgy as it was still early. We had never had to break out of a hotel before.
Finally we made it to the bus station to find we were an hour early. We waited to eventually find our bus, realiseing that we were on the back seat of a bus designed for Dwarfs, my lanky legs were not going to like this. With my knees tucked around my ears we settled in for a 14 hour journey. the us stopped several times and we found ourselves eating Daal Bhat at a rather grubby roadside restaurant chosen by the bus company! The food was yummy actually and there were no repercussions luckily. Our arrival in Kathmandu was delayed by a big traffic jam! Joy! There was also a lot of terrible driving and along the way we saw 3 crashed buses, a crashed van and a crashed tractor as well as a dead cow! Not too good, we eventually made it at about 10pm, 16 hours later! A bungling taxi driver got us to the hostel an hour later and thanks to the wonder of the 24hour sandwich shop round the corner we crashed out in bed with full tummies!

The next day we popped round to the trekking company office we'd booked with via the internet and we were pleased to discover that they seemed as good and helpful as we'd hoped!
The next few days were spent shopping for all the things we needed for the trek - down jackets, wooly hats, strepsils, Tang juice powder, gloves, socks, sleepingbag hire, fleece jumpers, extra headtorch etc. It was a busy few days and quite overwhelming the choice available, all fake of course but of varying quality which we became good at spotting!

We enjoyed a meal out with our trekking guide Pemba and Mr Bhim from the trekking company prior to the trek and we tried our first Thongba - Tibetan hot beer. Pemba is our guide for 26 days and he seems cool so we're looking forward to it.

Thamel the tourist area is full of stuff!! Anything you can think of and plenty you never thought of too. Restaurants, bars, trekking shops, hippy shops, Tibetan shops and music shops! It's a riot of smells too - yummy food, incense, rotting rubbish, smoke and pollution all mixed up as one. At night the bars pump out the music and the taxi horns honk away too. Good fun!

Soon we were packing up and preparing for the trek whilst trying to fight off the colds we were carrying from Bangladesh.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1257508832/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1257508832/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1257508832/tpod.html Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:45:32 -0500 Fee and Pete's Big Year Out

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Darjeeling, West Bengal, India

Well, we squeezed ourselves into the back of a fully loaded jeep and got on the road to Darjeeling! 4 in the front seat, 4 and 2 kids in the middle and 5 in the boot! Breath in!
What a road- it's full of potholes, landslides, rocks and ruts! So we bounced our way up hill and arrived to the bustling town centre before a long uphill walk to our guesthouse of choice! Unfortunately it was closed up when we got there but we found a nice on next door!
Darjeeling was set up as a British hill station to escape the heat of India and to grow lots of tea! And there is certainly lots of tea about!

We spend 3 nights in the town sampling lots of tea and Tibetan cooking in the local restaurants.
We visited the Tibetan Refugee Centre which was very quiet and peaceful and we bought ourselves some new sunglasses cases there! They make and sell lots of handicrafts to support their community.

We also took a trip to the Happy Valley Tea Estate where we learned all about the finer points of tea growing and sampled the top product which apparently goes to Harrods. It's known by the catchy title of Super Fine, Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Number One! And was very flavoursome!

The HMI was next on the list - the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute founded by the famous Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. It's also his final resting place and there's a lovely statue in his memory there too. Unfortunately to get in you have to buy a joint ticket with the Darjeeling Zoo which has some poor animals being jeered at by over-excited Indian tourists. Anyway, the museum wasn't spectacular! It was actually a bit of a let down, the exhibits were a bit dusty and our dated, we also noticed some mistakes in their accounts of expeditions! Ant to top it all, there were hoards of people there who seemed to see it as a bit of a duty to be there and the didn't really attempt to understand or take anything in! At one point Pete removed a small boy who was trying to climb between him and the exhibit he was looking at!

Tiger Hill was another interesting early morning trip! We took a packed jeep up for the sunrise on Tiger Hill, it was jam packed with mostly Indian tourists who were hassling and bustling about getting in the way of the convoy of jeeps! The sunrise was pretty spacial with Kanchenjunga and the range of mountains by Sikkim and Bhutan close by and in the distance we caught a glimpse of Makalu, Lhotse and Everest itself in the morning sun! Wow! It was really cool, but as soon as the sun had risen the hoards of folk started to leave and the jeeps were honking their horns in earnest! We opted to walk back to Darjeeling which was about a 2 hour walk, stopping at Monasteries along the way - training for the upcoming Himalayan trekking!

Luckily the tea was great and we enjoyed eating at a Tibetan restaurant a few evenings. Darjeeling's in an interesting situation just now! There's a breakaway movement to free Darjeeling from India and call it Gorkhaland, Nepal also have an interest in reclaiming the territories of Darjeeling and Sikkim apparently so it seems that the Indian government aren't too keen on funding the place anymore and the roads are in a real mess with ruts, potholes and rubbish! Hmmm, who knows how things'll turn out.
It was time to head onwards for us though and we took another jeep back down to Siligure in order to pick up some transport to the Nepali border. That was fun, the taxi driver clearly wasn't too familliar with the border proceedings and drove straight across the bridge into Napal! They then requested that we go back across the bridge and get our Indian exit stamps before trying to enter Nepal! Haha!


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Hong Kong, China

Touch down at Hong Kong's new airport. Not as exciting a landing as the old airport but we were soon on our way to Kowloon by bus. The ride in was smooth and being a bus we were able to check out a lot of the town on the way in. We were dropped on Nathan road where the budget back packer has the choice of two different tower blocks to stay in, Chung king mansions or mirrador mansions. We opted for "the hell that is Chung King Mansions". As soon as we stepped foot off the bus we were bombarded by some very eager Indians who wanted us to see their hostels. Heads down we ran into the craziness of the mansions. To get an idea, the ground floor is a market where every nationality seems to trade pretty much everything. At regular intervals around the market are lifts to each of the blocks so you have to get the right lift. once you have finally got that bit sorted you have to get on either the odd floor or even floor lift, and to top this, the lift will go up all the way to the top before it comes down to pick you up. This is roughly a three minute cycle depending how lucky you are. Meanwhile as you wait you are stared at and bumped into by all sorts of people.
Finally at the door of the hostel we picked the nice little Chinese caretaker showed us to a small but really well set up room, we took it. we had arrived early afternoon so we got ourselves sorted in the calmness of our room then headed back down stairs for our first real taster of the town.
Back on the ground floor we grabbed a tasty pakora with a drink from a Pakistani stall then headed to the shore for our first sight of Hong Kong Island. The streets were busy and everyone wanted to sell us fake watches, handbags and suits. The roads were very busy so underpasses were the only option which became very confusing as underpasses became shopping centres and all sense of direction was lost. We eventually found the water front and had a wander along "the walk of the stars" where you see names on the floor just like Hollywood but Hong Kong style. As the light faded we headed over to the ferry terminal where we could check out the worlds biggest permanent light show! The commentary was a little cheesy but the light show was impressive. We saw lots of bad attempts to capture the moment on camera as everyone fought for a good position. After the show we headed back as we were pretty tired.
Next day we had a India visa to try and sort. A quick ferry ride over to Hong Kong island got us to the embassy, unfortunately we were unable to get our visa as we didn't have enough time. We then found ourselves with time to burn as we didn't have much else of a plan that day. We headed back over to Kowloon and headed up to Knutsford stepps for some food at one of the Chinese diners which were cheap and very tasty. We spent some time in the park after lunch before we started some of the shopping we needed to do before Bangladesh. We also found a Patagonia shop to pick up some genuine thermals for Nepal. Shopped out we headed back over on a boat to see Kowloon at dusk before heading back to check out the light show so we could appreciate it without having to take lots of pictures.
For our third day in Hong Kong we decided to go to the funicular tramway. We headed back over on the boat then up to the station to see "the steepest funicular in the world". Its really cool to see as its been there well over 100 years. From the top there is a great view back down over the city giving you a good perspective over the city. We had to do the now regular hanging around looking for someone who is good at photography so that we could get a good picture of us together, eventually finding a German guy with a very flashy camera.
That afternoon we went to try Dim Sum for the first time. We sat down in a nice looking restaurant overlooking the harbor front. Being complete novices to this we were handed our menu card and blindly started ticking boxes. Five minutes later the food started to turn up, some really good and one not so. Our favorite was a steamed bun filled with meat in gravy and our least favor ate was a log of black sesame flavored jelly. We finished the afternoon buying the last few things that we needed to pick up in Hong Kong. We headed up to the night market for tea that had every sort of fake thing imaginable. we grabbed some food and hung out at one of the street restaurants to see
For our final day in Hong Kong we decided to head out to ride one of the many trams on the island. With a lazy start we walked over to the ferry terminal. As we headed through the underpass to the terminal we had one of the biggest surprises of our trip so far. Walking the other way was James and Carol who we had last seen in Barilloche all the way back in Argentina. To recap. I used to work with James, we knew James and Carol were traveling around south America for a while. The crazy thing was they had decided to head to China so they had flown that morning from L.A. We couldn't believe how lucky we were to run into each other so we headed back up to the Stepps where they could get some food and we could catch up. We had lots to talk about and it was cool that we could show them good cheap places to eat. After they had a good meal we arranged to meet up later as they needed to catch up on some sleep. We headed back out on our original plan and caught a tram heading east enjoying the ride and views. We returned on another tram then went to find James and Carol. We would meet up for a final meal before we had to get our flight on to Bangladesh that night.
We found a very sleepy looking James back at their hostel and headed out back up to the stepps as the food is cheap. We did yet more catching up and exchanging of information and enjoyed a last bowl of noodle soup with won ton. We returned back to the mansions where we said our farewells and we grabbed our bags to head back to the airport.
The airport was really modern and organized so as we checked in it was funny to see the madness of the airlines from other developing countries airlines around us. Just across from us at Nigeria Airways there were ques of guys with huge boxes that we later found were full of mobile phones. It was funny to see that each person had about three washing machine sized boxes to check in. I'm glad i didn't work there.
Checked in we headed to the gate to await our flight to Dhaka
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252668897/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252668897/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252668897/tpod.html Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:35:54 -0400 Fee and Pete's Big Year Out

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

We arrived late but rather than trawling guest houses we opted for a lonely planet option and just went for it. The place turned out to be fine, they were very friendly and no bed bugs woo hoo.

As the rain seemed to be pretty set in for our entire stay we decided to opt for the tuk tuk for getting around the temples and cities of Angkor. First day we went for what they call the "small loop" which featured Angkor Thom and other temples like the one used in tomb raider, which has the roots growing over the ruins that makes it feel as though the jungle is claiming it back for its own. The whole site is amazing to see and the scale of it all is mind blowing. Most of the main attractions are in the process of being restored or have undergone restoration. There are so many collapsed buildings that it is like a giant jigsaw for the restoration workers, a job i would not envy.

Second day we went for the "large loop" that started for us with Angkor Wat then on to some of the more remote temples. We had haggled the day before for a cheap guide book which was worth while as Angkor Wat has a lot of interesting carving that is good to know a bit more about. You also get a good idea of the different relations these temples have to each other as some were abandoned as others were built the Khmer empire certainly liked making newer and bigger temples for different rulers. As we went through the second day we were really getting an idea for the different building styles and their uses.

Back in Siem Reap we enjoyed the different restaurants and food stalls on offer. They have some really nice Khmer food and really nice places to eat it. We tried one place previously patronized by Mick Jagger! I don't know if this is really anything to go by but the food was good. We also went to another cool place that had loads of different levels and areas to eat going right up to the roof. The live music was a bit out of tune but the place was cool. We spent our last night checking out the market which was stuffed with tourist tat and some really nice stuff. We had another "if only we came here on holiday we could buy more of this great stuff" moment. We resisted most though did get ourselves a fake lonely planet for Nepal complete with bad photocopying that has been penned back in!

Next day and its already time to leave Cambodia. We are now right at the end of our south east Asia part of our trip. We need to get to Bangkok to get a Bangladesh visa for the next part of our travels.
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Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Bangladeshi Tourist Board slogan in "Come to Bangladesh before the Tourist does..." We arrive at 2am which we were both a bit apprehensive about but especially me! Having been there 8 years ago and being terrified at the mass of people shouting and staring at me on arrival I didn't think it would be much fun after a late flight! However it was smoother than we expected and our bags arrived safely amongst the huge baggage being brought into the country by our fellow passengers who it seems don't travel light. There was even a brand new washing machine going around the belt waiting to be collected! No joke!!
We met our Hotel pick-up which we'd hastily arranged as we were leaving Hong Kong airport. What we didn't expect was that they re were 3 guys and they brought a bus! At least there was plenty room for us. The drive to the hotel was about 20 mins and we passed dozens of late night rickshaw drivers still up and touting for business. Pete agreed that the rickshaws in Bangladesh were easily brighter and funkier than any others we'd seen.
So the hotel was fine and the guys very attentive, perhaps a little too attentive! The hotel owner met us in the morning and put us on a rickshaw to the bus station. It was mayhem as expected but after insisting that we were going to Savar we eventually found the right bus and we attracted plenty of attention in the process!!
The bus journey was fun and everyone wanted to chat to us! Unfortunately they all chatted to Pete and then found it highly amusing that he didn't understand them and I was able to answer some of their questions!! We passed the flooded waterways and brick making factories all around the flood plains.

It's funny how the mind plays tricks on you but on arriving in Savar and being pleased that I recognised the Bazar (market) area I then got my directions totally topsy turvy and thought the centre was n the opposite direction! But of course the rickshaw driver knew the way and soon we were arriving at the main gates of the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP).
I had to wear a Salwar Kamese, long baggy trousers, a long top to my knees and a scarf around my shoulders and chest. It was very comfortable in the heat and I enjoyed wearing them again. It not only helps me to fit in but to be respected my the Bangladeshis who never see our strange tight western clothes!

As a bit of background I was here as a volunteer 8 years ago before I did my physio studies and before I met Pete and was really keen to return and to show Pete all the things I talk of. It's a centre which had been running since 1979 and was set up by Valerie Taylor a British physiotherapist when she realised the great need for some services for all the accident victims who find themselves paralysed as a result of falls from trees, falling whilst transporting heavy loads on their heads and traffic accidents. It's expanded a great deal over the years and now includes a school and hostel for special needs children, most of whom have Cerebral Palsy. There are workshops to manufacture the beds, wheelchairs, special seating for the disabled, braces etc. They also make all the furniture and wooden items they need and sell things on for profit too. The centre incorporates many more income generating activities and training services for the disabled people who need to learn new skills as they're not able to continue their former jobs. They also have degree courses running for Physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, Speech therapy and nursing training on sight. It's an amazing place and I was really happy to be back!

We were arriving amidst the Eid celebrations, one of the biggest festivals in the Muslim calendar. On Eid day the fasting was over and everyone was celebrating, wearing their new clothes and shouting "Eid Mubarak" so that was fun. We met the other volunteers, Sophia from Sweden, Emily from the Netherlands, Laura from Ireland, Norman from Germany, Richt from the Netherlands, and 3 ladies Sonia, Marie and Vicky from Yorkshire. So it was nice to join in with them.
Although it was Eid and most of the services were suspended for the holidays there were still things we could do and I spent some time with the Physios and we both spent time with the kids in the Special Needs School. There were only a few of them as everyone with family had gone off for the holiday so only the orphaned kids remained. Pete caused big excitement and they were more interested in talking to him than to me! Fair enough, there were already lots of girls around but Prodip who's about 20 was grateful of a bit of man to man conversation and someone to play football and frisbee with. It was also really good for Pete and he enjoyed spending time with the kids and thinking about disabled issues.

We fitted in a trip to Dhaka for some sightseeing and took a boat trip on the waterways which was fun and we caused a stir as people spotted the 8 white people in the boat! I was amazed to see how different Dhaka is these days as they've banned all the petrol and diesel burning vehicles from the city. Everything runs on Compressed Natural Gas - buses, cars, baby taxis and all. The air is the cleanest I've ever come across in a city and the old lung choking, dirty air is a thing of the past!

Savar, where the main branch of the CRP is based is a market town and is always busy and on the go, yet they all had time to chat to us and ask us to take their photo! The funniest incident was when Sophia, Pete and I were out for a walk and someone wanted to chat to us, he opened the conversation by shaking Pete's hand and asking "Excuse me Sir, are you a foreigner?" We thought it was hilarious and they continued asking Pete questions which Sophia and I tried to answer in Bangla! I was amazed to meet so many people who knew some English, 8 years ago there were virtually no English speakers unless you ran into an educated person who'd studied abroad but now wherever we went there was usually someone wanting a few words in English with us.

A real highlight of the time in Bangladesh was when the CRP volunteers were invited to the Durga Puja celebrations at the Kumundini hospital. CRP organised a bus for us and it was a great experience. The Puja is one of the biggest Hindu festivals and despite Bangladesh being so predominantly Muslim they were very accepting and supportive of the Hindu festivities. We were received by the director of the hospital and the Bangladeshi minister for Health! After introductions over a cup of tea we had a tour of the hospital and then were invited for a delicious meal of vegetarian curries, roti bread, and sweets with rice pudding. We were then transported by boat across the river along with the other invited guests including the Coordinator of the Youth Ambassadors at the European Commission and the families of the Hospital directors. We were then treated to a display of traditional dancing by students of the girls school . They had lovely outfits and it was a really special experience to be included and then to watch the men complete the ceremony and pass the cleansing fire around and we were even sprayed with the blessed water to complete the ceremony.

All too soon it was time to leave the centre and head off on our travels again. It had been really enjoyable to be back and everyone was so friendly and welcoming to us even though we were only there for such a short time.
We began the next leg of our onwards journey with a bus trip to Rangpur in the North West of Bangladesh and arrived there in the evening. We had no accommodation booked so after a rickshaw into town that was our first task and as usual people wanted to talk to us! We were a strange sight- 2 white people walking bout with big bags! The hotel we were heading to was full but w found another one close by and then watched the procession going through town as the Hindus continued celebrating Durga Puja. We enjoyed a cup of cha with the rickshaw wallahs at a tea stall and they were amused to see us there, then we ate veggie pastries and chatted to a man who'd been to England, Wales and Ireland.

Next day we were off on the local bus again to get ourselves over the border into India. It was a fairly quiet border and it seemed the only traffic was a convoy of trucks carrying bananas and us two strange people with big backpacks smiling saying "India" After a bit of chat and some essential tax (Hmmm!) we were walking over the border to meet the Indian officials. They had a bamboo hut and a big notebook for the border formalities which were completed efficiently and we were in India!

A quick drink at a stall, an exchange of taka for rupees and we were off on a bus to a cross-roads, then another bus to Siliguri. It's a great name for a town which is basically a transit point with some good restaurants! We found a hotel easily and had a feast of popadoms, curry and paratha bread along with plenty juice after our hot tiring day of travels!



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Bangkok, Thailand

After a day of traveling and a very slow border crossing from Cambodia into Thailand we arrived back in Bangkok and returned to the hostel we stayed in last time! We were really glad to be back to the tasty cheap food again and enjoyed green curry and coconut soup (my favourite!) for our dinner. Including drinks we paid about 1pound 20p for the 2 of us! Good times!
We went to the Embassy of Bangladesh and applied for our visas which went smoothly and we just had to wait 2 working days for those.
That afternoon we got ourselves trapped in a huge shopping centre as the rain came on really heavily so that was an excuse for some shopping and eating tasty noodles!
Next day we headed off on a local bus to Damnoen Saduak the famous floating market town. It was fun to do it ourselves rather than taking one of the numerous tours on offer from Bangkok. We we the only tourists on the bus and the only 2 in the hotel too! The floating market kicks off very early n the morning so we were the only ones in town the night before which gave us a good chance to meet some locals. We wandered along the canal ways and found a wee local restaurant on the waterside which did either Fried Rice of Noodle Soup so we had one of each and all the family came to chat to us and ask if we were enjoying their food, which we were. That was fun.

Next day the market began and we'd negotiated ourselves a boatman for 90mins to show us around starting at 7am. It was cool to see all the locals out buying their fresh produce and enjoying a coffee in their boats. People had all sorts of stalls going on in their wee narrow boats. Some had a boat full of bananas, some a mixture of lots of fruit and veg, others had gas powered griddles and made yummy coconut pancakes, big pots of noodle soup, coconut ice cream, cold drinks, even people with mini BBQ's in the boats cooking up all sorts of things!
It got noticeably busier as 9am approached and the day tripping tourists appeared from Bangkok. They were headed onto boats by which time we'd jumped out the boat and walked along the canal side watching the goings on and assisting local school kids who were obviously on an assignment from school and they all took note of our answers to their questions- what's your name, where are you from, do you like Thailand, what's your favourite food etc!

Kanchanaburi was our next stop and again we were the only tourists on the bus but we had our destination written in Thai to show the bus driver so that helped! Kanchananaburi is the home of the famous Bridge on the River Kwai. We found a cool cheap guesthouse and headed to the town museum to get the low down. It was a really good exhibit and we ended up being thrown out at closing time! We learned about the Japanese project to connect Burma with Thailand by rail to transport their arms in the 2nd World War and how they used POW's as slaves on the project. The death toll over 150000 people was which included over 6000 British POWs. The conditions they were forced to live and work in were terrible and most of them died of malnutrition and diseases like malaria, cholera and dysentery. Today though there's a cheesy touristy train which goes over the bridge and of course we couldn't resist! They also have a baby tiger which you can pay to have your photo taken with. That seems really cruel and we weren't interested in supporting them though.
We then had a bit of excitement getting the mini bus back to Bangkok - the driver seemed a bit grumpy and was in a rush so he wasn't happy when I refused to let him slam the boot and crush my bag into a space which it clearly wasn't going to fit in!! He then hustled us into the van pushing Pete in first but I wasn't going to let him shove me about so told him to back off and I climbed in myself!! He then seemed even more in a rush and promptly reversed into a concrete street light ans creased the back of the van and smashed out the back window .Ooops!! 20 mins later another van came by and we were finally off to Bangkok!

The last couple of days on Bangkok we spent visiting the Tailors to pick up our new clothes, collecting the Bangladeshi visas, enjoying the yummy Thai food and buying a few bits and bobs.
Time to leave South East Asia already and it felt like another leg of our journey had been completed. We were off to Hong Kong for a few days, then onto the final stretch up through Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Time's going by so quickly.

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Well! We'll remember Phnom Penh for a few reasons, some good, some bad and some itchy!!

We arrived here in Phnom Penh after an 8 hour bus trip from Saigon and took a Tuk Tuk to the lakeside area which is a bit of a backpacker place. Got a room in Green Lake Guesthouse for $7 which seemed OK even though it had a bit of a hole in the roof but the drips were in the corner so we didn't mind too much! That turned out not to be the main problem with this room as we were soon to find out...
Anyway we had a really nice meal in a cafe nearby and relaxed on our first night in Cambodia. It seemed a cool place, much poorer than neighbouring countries. There were a lot of poor looking people, rubbish dumped at roadsides and the roads were full of holes, yet there were a lot of really big new 4x4 trucks, Lexus cars and a few jaguars on the streets.

We awoke to discover that Pete had been feasted on by an army of bedbugs all night!! Poor Pete, we gave up counting at 100 bites. They'd had a good munch of him! We could even see the routes they'd walked along stopping every few steps for a mouthful! Some hydrocortisone cream and antihistamine tablets and he'll be OK in a few days though!

We set off to learn about recent Cambodian History today first with a visit to Tuol Sleng the school which was transformed into a prison by the Kymer Rouge and became known as S21. They tortured and executed almost 17000 prisoners here between 1975 and 1979. There are thought to be only 12 people who survived the imprisonment and were released. It was really horrific to see the barbaric torture methods and implements which remain there today and even more thought provoking considering how recent it was, only a couple of years before we were born. There were thousands of photos of the prisoners on display including a few foreigners. And we saw cabinets full of peoples skulls which were uncovered in mass graves. There were even photos of the last 14 people who were discovered dead at Tuol Sleng. The 14 bodies were discovered chained to iron beds in the cells which were former classrooms of the school when the Kymer Rouge were overthrown by the Vietnamese Army in 1979.

We began to learn about the Kymer Rouge - a Communist group who planned to create a race of rice-producing peasants. They drastically changed society eliminating money, forcing everyone out of the cities into the countryside and they attempted to provide basic rations to the peasants in the countryside. There were no medicines, no education, no weddings, no material possessions, no religion. They provided everyone with black trousers and black shirts, flipflops made of old tyres and a khrama - the checked scarf worn here. They executed 1.5million people who they thought to be a threat to their ideals, targeting the educated people - soldiers, government officials, as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks and engineers. It was almost unbelievable that this happened so recently.

After that harrowing morning we went straight to the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek where mass graves containing thousands of Kymer Rouge victims were exterminated and buried. They rarely used guns, most people were killed by blunt instruments like hoes or iron bars. Families were also killed to avoid any retribution in years to come. This included children and babies who were held by the feet and killed by thrashing them against a tree. The tree still stands amongst the excavated pits and there are rags of clothes and even bits of bone littering the site and the paths for visitors to walk along. There's now a large Buddhist Stupa on site which contains the bones of around 8000 victims. It's open to the air as Buddhists believe that the spirit must have access to the bones and be allowed to come and go therefore the chamber cannot be sealed. It was quite a day and we were tired after reading so much information and trying to comprehend the horrors.
Back at the hostel the promised spray and bed bug extermination had not happened to we left and got a room in another bug-free hostel!

Next day, after the awfulness of the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng we were off the visit the other side of Cambodia - the Royal Palace. It was a totally serene and beautiful sanctuary amongst the dirtiness and crowdedness of Phnom Penh. Set amongst lush gardens and occupying a large area. We saw the very plush Thrown Hall which is very imposing and grand, the Silver Pagoda which is so named because of the 5000 silver tiles on the floor. It also houses a 80kg solid gold Buddha statue covered with more than 10000 diamonds.

There were lots of other royal buildings in the grounds all with lovely multicoloured tiled roofs and statues. We saw the royal elephant carriages used for ceremonies and the countless solid silver elephant statues in the royal collection. Then there were the street children trying to sell water and drinks to tourists, instead of going to school and learning. We had a bit of fun today and decided to cycle to and from the palace! The roads were crazy and it doesn't seem to matter which side of the road you choose to cycle or drive on! We dodged and wove our way amongst the traffic at one point stopping to remove a plastic bag which had tangled its way into my chain!

On our return we were off on another bus trip - to Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor. Although it's been a fascinating and thought provoking time learning about the Kymer Rouge, the Killing fields and the Vietnamese War I feel I've had enough horrors for a while and enough war-like thoughts so we're both really looking forward to the Angkor Wat experience - one of the highlights of our Southeast Asia trip...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252664940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252664940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252664940/tpod.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:05:40 -0400 Fee and Pete's Big Year Out

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Ho Chi Minh, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

OK, here we are in Saigon as the locals like to call it. Its got a big back packer area where everyone is eager to sell you a fake lonely planet an maybe some "smoking" if your that way inclined. We got a cool hostel, the only one we have ever had with dinner included!! Don't get too excited though this went as far as noodle soup and spring rolls, good for keeping our budget down though. We also opted to take a room on the 7th floor to keep costs down - it gets cheaper the more stairs involved!

First day we checked out the Reunification palace which was famous for the tanks coming crashing through the front gate signaling the end of the Vietnam war. As our tour went through the different rooms of the palace it seemed that there have been a few different Vietnamese governments that have been overthrown through the years. Also there seems to be a lot of war in their recent history. The French, Americans, North v South and Cambodia. This part of our trip was going to be pretty morbid. We finished our tour of the palace and headed to the War museum to find out more.

The Museum was full on. It was very graphic with pictures of dismembered bodies and children affected by agent orange that had birth defects. The Americans sprayed millions of litres of chemicals onto agricultural land in Vietnam with the aim of stopping food production and therfore slowing the progress of the armies but it's left a terrible legacy in the future generations who have been born with all sorts of defects. Missing limbs, tumours, blindness, limb growth defects and awful skin disfigurements to name a few. There was a very Anti American vibe to the place and a lot of Vietnamese pride in overcoming the Americans. It felt like we were being fed a lot of propaganda. The exhibits were all very interesting and worth visiting even if a bit one sided. The bombs and American artilery displayed in the grounds were shockingly powerful though. We were pretty tired from all the info so headed back for free noodle dinner in the hostel.

Next day it was up bright and early for a tip to the Viet Cong tunnels. these tunnels that were so renowned in the war were amazing to see. An original entrance was about the size of an A4 folder, I could only just fit. We went through some more westernized tunnels (enlarged) and saw the sorts of traps they used. The traps were medieval ideas, pits with spikes and other awful ways to be harmed. The tour guide was eager to show all the ingenuity they used. Hmmm! He was definitely a fan of the Viet Cong. Half way through the tour they have a shooting range where for about a pound a bullet you can fire all sorts of automatic rifles! AK47's, M16, M60 and others, Crazy! We didn't try but we could see that it was a properly set up firing range and the guns were apparently bolted down to the bench so no one could do anything stupid. Finally to finish the trip a 1960's propaganda video of how the small villagers of Vietnam were crushing the mighty American war machine. Featuring little old lady's sharpening sticks and young girls firing rocket propelled grenades at tanks! All done with a big smile. That one definitely had to be taken with a pinch of salt. Back in Saigon we packed up for a bus the next day to Phmon Pen. Now feeling that we had more than enough war we were heading to Cambodia to learn about Genocide. This is definitely one of the more harrowing parts of our world trip.
That evening we enjoyed a few Bia Hoi's - home brew beer which is really good value and is served in plastic bottles! We chatted to a few folk around us, it was a place where you were given a plastic chair on the street and squeezed in wherever you could. Good fun!

Next day after a quick breakfast and trouble trying to get dollars for the border we were given a lift to our bus. With massive rucksacks on our backs and small ones on our fronts we were shown two guys on scooters who were apparently going to drive us to the bus! We looked at each other and laughed. We only had a few minutes before the bus left and no other option. We clambered on and hung on for dear life, of course no helmet. Luckily it wasn't that bad, the drivers were skillfull but it was a bit more risk than either of us wanted. We made the bus that wasn't too far away and settled into our seats for our trip to Cambodia.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252075295/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252075295/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252075295/tpod.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:25:09 -0400 Fee and Pete's Big Year Out

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Hoi An, Vietnam

We arrived in Hoi An after the grueling bus trip ready for a shower and a rest! Luckily there was a room for us at the Thanh Van Hotel which was a good place. It has a swimming pool and rooms set in a courtyard around the pool. We kept the price down by opting for the top floor and paid $14 for the room including breakfast and internet access. Sounds a good deal.
We had some tasty Hoi An specialties for lunch in a wee cafe round the corner where the waitress was not busy as we were the only customers so she had plenty time to quiz us over lunch! Where are you from? How old are you? What's your name? What's your job? Are you married? How long for? Is this your first visit to Vietnam? How do you like it? etc etc etc... We're getting used to the questions now and I fired them back at her most of the time too!

Hoi An is a pretty place. It has lots of old buildings and it's old town is a UNESCO site for this reason. It's set on the river and it's famous for it's bamboo silk lanterns which are beautiful and light up most shops and restaurants. It's also famous for its tailors! 700 of them apparently! Every other shop is a tailor and there are dummy's sporting suits, dresses and woolen jackets everywhere you look!
We had a nice evening at Mr Sons market stall in the street which was busy. We enjoyed some more local dishes - Ban Xao rice pancakes stuffed with salad and eggy prawn omelet and Cao Lau a noodle soup with crispy fried crackling on top. Also we discovered the joys of Fresh Beer - large scale home brew! It's 4000dong a glass - about 12p so we could afford to have more than one. We chatted with an Australian couple who were on their honeymoon and a Dutch couple for the evening before running into a German couple who were on the Ha long Bay cruise we were on, so we had more 12p beers with them!

Next day we had a bit of a shopping spree and got ourselves measured for custom-made trainers. Mine are cool blue silky material with gold stitching whilst Pete's are a different blue with silver stripes! Mine are $10 and Pete's are $12 and they'll be ready in the morning! We also were measured up by a tailor and Pete's ordered a shirt and I chose fabric for a dress. It was a fun day which we rounded off with a swim in the pool to cool down and a trip to Mr Hung's market stall for more yummy food and some more 12p beers!

We had a bit of an incident this morning in the hotel as we were paying out bill. A girl came running in crying, screaming hysterically and retching badly. The staff were a bit stand off-ish so I offered to help her and she told me she'd been raped on the beach. It sounded a really horrific story but she's been at a few bars, met some people and who knows what happened in between but she'd slept on the beach and woke up to find one of the guys she knew raping her. She was really hysterical and refused to go to the police or her embassy. All she wanted to do was get home and there was nothing we could do. It was really hard to help her and we found it really difficult. We keep thinking about her and hoping she's alright but there was nothing we could do as she refused to let us help further. It was one of the most horrible experiences we've ever had to see someone so distressed and made us feel really lucky to have each other for support.

Time to pick up the clothes today and my trainers are perfect! Pete's are being adjusted slightly, his shirt's fine and my dress is being altered for me. We put together a package to be posted home today which was a challenge for the local post office and ended up being parceled up in a recycled cooking oil cardboard box!
After a shower at the hotel we were ready for the next night bus on to Nah Trang and luckily we had better seats this time but the driver was still very fond of his horn and used it all night. We were even unsure if there was anything to honk at or not!

P.S As I'm sitting in the internet cafe there are a couple of scooters being driven into the shop right behind me for storage overnight. I had to pull my chair in to let them pass. Haha!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252660458/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252660458/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeandpete/1/1252660458/tpod.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:24:32 -0400 Fee and Pete's Big Year Out

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Nha Trang, Kon Tum, Vietnam

After the lovely night "sleeping" bus from Hoi An we arrived in Nha Trang nice and early and found ourselves a hotel room for a decent price. We then booked our diving for tomorrow with Coco Diving because the Frenchman in the was very friendly!
That left the rest of the day for lying about on the beach. We found a spot and rented 2 loungers and a palm thatched hut for the day which was very relaxing. Had a bit of a run in with the lady as she sold us a dodgy bottle of water that tasted like a swimming pool! She wouldn't refund us so we bought another one from someone else and then she realised we were serious and she did give us our money back!!
We swam in the sea which was a nice temperature - pleasantly warm but still refreshing unlike Halong Bay which was too warm and bathlike!
The rain was pouring down in the evening as we went our for some food so Pete dashed off out of the hotel, I thought he was going to get a taxi but no! He came back with a pink flowery umbrella! Much more practical!! Our food was good and I think they liked us as we were given free beer and free chocolate profiteroles and ice cream for pudding. It was a nice surprise when the bill came!

Diving - we were excited about heading out for more dives as it's been exactly a month since we finished our PADI course. It was quite different this time - they sorted all our kit out for us this time and we didn't have to rinse or tidy anything away at the end of he dives either!
Our instructor was Aom and there were a Polish couple diving with us too. The first dive was cool and we saw lion fish which are really funny looking, lots of blue and yellow sea snails, a puffer fish, parrot fish, banner fish, butterfly fish, flute fish and a pipe fish! After a rest, a cheese sandwich, a banana and a cup of tea we were ready for dive 2!
This time it was a new dive site and there were a few swim throughs and caves to explore. We saw more puffer fish, clown fish like Nemo, a manta shrimp which has really sharp strong pincers. The swim throughs were sheltering big shoals of fish and it was really cool to be so up close to the corrals.

That afternoon after getting our log books signed and stamped we relaxed, had some tasty seafood and passed time until the final leg of our series of night buses which would take us to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
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