Back in Bangkok
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2004
1
14
21
Trip End
Mar 30, 2005
Bangkok,
Thailand
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Here we are again, back in Bangkok.
Since our last update we have left Vietnam, and traveled up the Mekong River into Cambodia.
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)safe and sound after an uneventful bus journey. We checked into a guess house which some fellow travelers recommended - called hotel 64.
This place is run by Madam Cue and her entirely female family. The girls were lovely, and looked after us very well. As soon as you walked in the door, they had your shoes off, you were sitting down and being presented with bowls of noodles, spring rolls, more banana's than you could eat, and lots of tea and lemon juice. This was before you had even checked in!
Saigon was a nice city, we didn't over extend ourselves there too much, mostly just walked around city
child in Mekong Delta
. One afternoon we came across an Irish bar, we though we better check this out, so we went in for a beer. This place was crazy, the owner was a big breaded man, named Mike from Barane. He explained to us that the staff had to fulfill two criteria to work there: 1. You had adopt an Irish name, we had Molly, Aofie, Paddy and Maureen behind the bar, all of which were locals. 2. All staff members had to be learn to play a traditional Irish instrument and sing Irish songs - for the nightly session.We were slightly skeptical about this, but sure enough, that evening at 8 O'Clock they all donned tweed caps, came out from behind the bar and began banging out Pouges and Christy Moore numbers. It was a great nights entertainment!.
After we recovered from our Trad-Veitnamese session, we headed off to the Mekong delta on a three day tour. The tour basically consisted of us being herded though a number of factories on various islands on the Mekong delta, the idea I think was to see how the people from these parts make a living. We saw rice husking, rice noodles, coconut factories, and crocodile farms. The most exciting thing was Martin getting to play with a Python at one of the stops. On the second day we saw some floating markets, and mostly spent the day travelling up the river, heading toward Cambodia.
We finally arrived in Cambodia on the third day
Man in Mekong Delta
. The border crossing was uneventful, which we were a little bit disappointed with, we had heard tales of hard it was, how corrupt all the guards were - expecting pay offs and the like. Well, there was no drama, they couldn't have been nicer, even taught us a few Khmer sayings to get us started. We headed straight for the capital Phon Phenn, which is a funny city. The people seemed to have a little more money than those in Vietnam, as they all have cars. But even in the city center, if you turn off the main street you find yourself on dirt roads, which are full of muck if its raining or dry red dust if its not. Whilst there we decided to explore some of the city. We visited the Killing fields and saw the temple which contains 10000 skulls catogerised by age and gender. We also visted the S21 prison camp, together they were the most sobering and depressing things we have ever seen. In all the Khmer Rouge killed 2 million people about a quarter of the countries population. At the S21 prison camp there where pictures of each of the 14000 men women and young children who where "destroyed" there for such offences as being able to read and for wearing glasses.
When we arrived, we found a guest house called Meaghera - well, it was spelt a bit different, but pronounced the same. Martin took this as a good omen and we checked in. It was a great place, the owner and staff could not have been more friendly, and it was right across the street form a beautiful stretch of beach. We found a beach shack which stayed open 24 hours - we thought we were in heaven, we could sit all evening on our deck chairs, sipping cocktails and eating delicious fish and chips (they even had vinegar!!!).
Every day on the beach we would be approached by children of no more than 5 or 6 years of age selling fruit, crisps, bracelets, all manner of tourist trinkets
Martin At Ankgor
. Some of these kids were hilarious, they had excellent English and were very smart. They would ask you to play a game of X's and O's with them in the sand, and if you lost you had to buy something off them, or if they lost you got it for free - they never lost. They normally all started with the same spiel, they ask you were are you from, you tell them, and they tell you the capital, the population and your currency, then they will ask for a sample of our currency to "remember" us. But the other day I was at a bus stop and this adorable little boy came running up to me and asked me where I was from, I told him expecting the standard response, when he looked up at me, smiled and said Ah Conas ata tu ? Ta me go mhaith, I nearly fell over laughing, I bought his postcards and bracelets and everything else he was selling.
Next on our itinerary was Seim Reap, were we sent two long days visiting Angkor Wat. These ruins were amazing and it is difficult for me to describe how trully fantastic they are. They lived up to everything people have told us. We were at Angor Wat at 5 am in the morning, watching the sunrise and also stayed for sunset. I am posting a couple of pictures, for you all to have a look at.
After Ankor, we decided there wasn't much more we wanted to see in Cambodia, so we headed for Bangkok and partook in some retail therapy. Last night we decided to treat ourselves to a trip to the cinema. There is a VIP cinema here, which is only a little bit more expensive than the normal one, but boy, is it worth it. When you go in you get served fruit punch with crushed ice in a Martini glass, the seats are all individual seats which recline, it's like being in first class on a plane
Martin with Snake
. Pure luxury for us. We are now deciding what to do next, we are going to check out some islands before heading for OZ next month but we are not sure which ones - dilemmas dilemmas dilemmas...
However, you will all be pleased to know that is rainy season, and no matter which one we pick, it will more than likely be raining there, so it's not all good,
on that happy note, I will leave youse for now,
Roisin.
