Phnom Penh

Trip Start Jul 12, 2006
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Trip End Jun 18, 2007


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Friday, May 18, 2007

Our last morning in Vietnam was spent of a little wooden boat being taking around the last of the lower Mekong to visit a fish farm and then a Cham minority village. While we were eating lunch yesterday this old man came up to me trying to sell me something. He had a basket of mixed stuff like bracelets, tissues, nuts. He was really friendly and pleasant, told me his name and that he was 75 years told trying to make some money. You get so used to saying no here that I just did it automatically. Afterwards, and still now, I felt really bad. He wasn't rude or agressive or even pushy, it wouldn't have killed me to buy a packet of tissues. Anyway, it was really playing on my mind so when we went to the minority village I had some small notes specifically with me to buy some stuff.

As soon as we got off the boat we were engulfed with kids, all of them came rushing up trying to sell cakes. We had a look around the village, then I bought some scarfs that they handmade there. A girl who was on the trip as well was a bit gutted because the scarfs were nicer and a lot cheaper than the ones she had bought in HCMC. Once we'd had a look around the villages made us some tea and that's when we all bought some cakes from the children. If any of you out there are going to go on this trip then have a heart, bring some small change and buy a cake or just buy something small that might come in useful from some of the nicer street vendors. It won't kill you or bankrupt you but it might make a difference to the person you buy from. And if you do end up out here then you can spot the difference between the ones that are really trying to support themselves and the ones that are just being sent out to get money off of tourists.

My time in Vietnam has been bitter sweet, if you can overlook the money money money attitude, or at least try and understand it a bit better then most of the place is worth a visit, the majority of the people are really friendly and welcomming, it's just a small minority that really do spoil it. But don't come here looking for some undeveloped country because you won't find it at all.

We'd booked the speedboat to Phnom Penh as we didn't want to spend 8 hours on a hard, wooden boat and I am so glad that we did beacuse it was great, really comfy and probably the best journey we did in the whole of vietnam. For an extra $4 I would really recommend it. We had a guide with us right up until Cambodian customs and immigration holding our hand all the way taking us through the Vietnamese side and then the Cambodian side. I'm sure he made a bob or two from it but it was brilliant, no hassle whatsoever and we arrived an hour early.

Cambodia, Phnom Penh, is a pleasant surprise. It's lovely. There;s nice green spaces all around the palace and the wats, there's not as much traffic and it's not so nosiy, the people are so friendly and basically it's a lot nicer than where we were. We headed straight for the lake and checked into Simon II guesthouse which is very grand and apparently has the nicest rooms by the lake. First impressions are very good but we'll see what tomorrow brings!
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