Siem 'Wat' you Reap

You can't go to Cambodia without visiting Siem Reap and Angkor Wat now can you! Well, you probably could... Well, I mean you definitely could... But that would just be stupid now wouldn't it! I mean come on! Unless you have seen the temples before or you are in Cambodia for specific reasons then you really HAVE to go see Angkor Wat and all his little buddies too.

So... Anyway, I ended up taking a 12 hour overnight bus from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap, which thanks to my good friend Valium, was actually quite comfortable, quick and painless. So when I arrived early in the morning I was met once again with usual Tuk Tuk pushers who for once were actually happy to take me to where I wanted to go rather than trying to sell me an alternate guest house. I ended up staying at 'Garden Village' guest house, which was cheap and had a pretty chill group of backpackers hanging about.


Well, rather than wasting a day sleeping and being tired and boring, I decided to take on some of the temples. I found a moto dude to take me to some of the temples that were a little further away and I made plans to cycle to the closer ones the next day. I was pretty shocked/bummed when I was hit with the entry fee though... $20 a day! Yeah I know right! Oh well, like I said... Angkor Wat really can't be missed. So, I can't remember the name of the first temple I saw.. But it was freakin' sweet! I was totally impressed! I spent about 3-4 hours exploring round about 6 temples on the outer track and every single one of them blew my mind! I was stoked too because these were only the smaller temples, I still had the big ones to see the next day.


The next day I woke up really early (4:30) to cycle out to the temples to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Oh.. And did I mention that it was Christmas day! Well, cycling to the temples is not too far, but when it's pitch black and no one about then it's a little difficult to get about. I recon that I was only passed by about 2 or 3 Tuk Tuks the whole way, this lead me to believe that I may have been one of the few people that rose early for the sunrise. Haha! What a fool I was! When I walked through the gates of Angkor Wat I was greeted by a few thousand people that had set their alarm clocks for the same time as myself. Everyone was trying to get that nice shot of the temple reflecting on the pond too. The sunrise was amazing though! It was well worth the early rise. So after a little exploring around I moved onto Bayon temple which is quite famous as well. This was one of my favourite as it is very unique with the faces on all the towers and the shear size and detail of it is very impressive. I also went to the temple that was made famous by 'Tomb Raider,' it too was very impressive! However, it was made a little frustrating by the hoards of tour groups that were pushing their way through the already confined spaces.

Christmas night was a good time! Garden Village was holding a Christmas party which consisted of cheap food and lots of beer. There were quite a few people about too. I met a couple called Joey and Skye (who I would end up seeing in many other places), they were from Canada and were traveling for a while. I also met two guys named Grahame and Keven who I had met previously in Nah Trang. The night was fun but relatively uneventful, which I guess is sometimes a good thing.


Before leaving the next day I met a Korean guy that was cycling around the world. He was giving himself 5 years to do it and he'd only been going for about 3 months. He was a really col guy! He was also living off only $5 a day. Cool huh! If you want to check out his site then here's the link http://phototour.tistory.com/ most of it is in Korean, but you can use Google translator on his site.

Sihanoukville

After one night in Phnom Penh I decided I'd had enough of cities, so I hopped on a bus and headed to Sihanoukville which is on the coast of Cambodia only about 4 hours from Phnom Penh. I got there at about midday which was nice because I still had the whole day to relax on the beach and stuff! It turns out that was all I really did for 3 days... Relax on the beach! It was nice though. Not too crowded, not too expensive, the water was warm and the days were bright and sunny. I was a little irritated with all the kids and woman that would patrol the beach trying to sell you everything and anything! Some of the kids were crafty and clever too, but giving them money doesn't really help anyone because all they are doing is giving back to someone older. Plus buying things from kids in the middle of the day also teaches them that they don't need to go to school and that they can just hassle foreigners on the beach for the rest of their lives.
One of my favourite things to do at night in Sihanoukville was to go to the BBQs that they would have on the beach. This is where they have fresh seafood on display and char it up for you for really cheap prices! I mean really cheap... Like $3 for a whole snapper... Oh yeah!
But beside cheap food, a lot of relaxing, swimming and sleeping I really didn't achieve much else during my time in beach town. But I have no regrets! I was nice to finally get to chill for a bit.

Can I borrow your Phnom Penh?

After a not so long bus ride and pretty simple border crossing, I made it to Cambodia and arrived in Phnom Penh early afternoon. I travelled with Lars, who is a Dutch dude I'd been traveling with for about a week. We both found a cheap hostel, dumped our stuff and ventured off into the city. We were there on a Sunday, so it seemed that a lot of people were out and about! However the place didn't really feel overcrowded (not like Saigon).


The only thing that we really wanted to do on the day was visit the old Khumer Rouge prison that was in the centre of town. The prison is not as famous as the the Killing fields, but it holds a similar representation and was the site where thousands of people were killed by the Rouge. The first shocking thing about the prison is that it is housed in a primary school, so all the classrooms were turned into cells and they hung wire and fences all over the place. The place was very creepy and quite sad, the saddest part was seeing the faces of the people that were executed there, as they had their photos hung all over the place.

Well anyway, after a bit of a somber afternoon we headed over near the palace to check out the river and see what was going on. Over there it seemed like half the city was out and about, having a good time! They were all playing badminton, or hacky-sack or just running around with friends and family enjoying themselves. It was a complete contrast to what we had previously just seen. It was also very different to Vietnam in that it always seemed like the Vietnamese were working and never enjoying themselves, so it was quite refreshing to see some change! Especially in a place that was supposed to be a whole lot poorer.

Speaking of poverty though, I did happen to notice an unusual amount of really nice cars driving around Phnom Penh! Seriously! They were everywhere!! Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, even Hummers! It was really surprising! But later we got talking to a local expat about it all and he says that most of the cars belong to non-government organisations such as different charities. I hope that this is not true! You would hate to think that charitable companies were sending money to Cambodia to fund these dude's rides! But don't let that turn you off giving money! I'm sure that most non-government organisations are legit! Just try and be sure who you are giving money to!

Sai-GONE!!

Alright, so everything you hear about Saigon (HCMC) is true! It's crazy, it's busy, and it's full of tourists! Oh and one more thing... It's FULL of scooters! I thought Hanoi was 2 wheeled madness, but it's got nothing on Saigon! Crossing the road here isn't just an adventure... It's an extreme sport! But to be honest that was the only thing that I found unique or exciting about this city. Yes, it has a happening nightlife, but it's no different to that of the nightlife you can find in any large city. Plus it has become extremely international! To the point that everything seems to cater for tourists and guests and it really seems to lack identity in cultural form.

One thing I did see that was rather interesting/disturbing was the war museum. So, my knowledge of the Vietnam war can be summed up by movies such as 'Platoon,' and I feel that I really only know simple facts, opinions and a bit of the basics. But this museum, shows everything from the Vietnamese point of view and let me tell you they do not sympathise with the Americans what so ever! Like I said I am not educated enough to give a proper opinion, so I could never really label the museum 'propaganda' but they really don't show 2 sides to the story. However, in saying that it really is sad to see what went on then and to see the way some of the US troops killed and destroyed villages (the photos are exceptionally disturbing). They also have a bunch of US military vehicles on display, which I don't think they are planning on giving back anytime soon!

Anyway, Seeing I was starting to learn a bit about the Vietnam war, I decided to take a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels! I took an all day tour that also took you to a temple that was supposed to be pretty cool. Well, the tour was pretty much an all day bus-about with a quick stop at a temple and a short break at the tunnels. If you are going to do the tour, do the half day!! Skip the temple!

Dalat-tada

So, those that have been checking out my pics on Facebook would have noticed some sweet abseiling/canyoning pics of me and others. Well Dalat was where that all happened!

After a late night for my birthday, I headed (with a few of the same previous people) to Dalat which is in the South of Vietnam, high in the mountains. The trip there was a mixture of rough, bumpy, hot, long and all of that was made much worse due to the fact I was nursing a bit of a hangover! But once we arrived we were welcomed with some cool fresh mountain air. The town itself is rather small and pretty chill. A lot of folks from Saigon like to holiday here to escape the craziness of the city and it's definitely a lot more relaxed than Saigon.


The day after we all arrived, we got up early and went on our canyoning trip. I was pretty pumped because I had received tips earlier that this was "the thing" to do in Dalat, even in Vietnam!

The whole thing was really fun! I could go into detail, but I feel I can some it up better with words like crazy, wet, slippery, exciting, exhilarating, strange and bloody sweet! Plus... I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Nha Trang madness!!

While heading south in Vietnam it occurred to me that my birthday was fast approaching and I decided that I wanted to spend it someone chill but fun and to make sure I wasn't doing any traveling on that day. So I headed to the beach town of Nha Trang which is on the South East coast of Vietnam. I headed there with Lyndsay and Dom who I had been with in Hoi an. We ended staying at the town's only hostel, which was where we met lots of other cool travelers and found people to hang out with during the day and at night.
The town has a really pretty beach and I pretty much spent most of my time hanging out/sleeping on it! At night we spent our time hoping around the many bars the town had and tried to find the best happy hour deals. We had some good times at these places and they definitely kept me out later than I always planned.


For my birthday I managed to find a good crew of people to join me on a boat tour of the local islands. The tour was quite cheap but a lot of fun! It began very early, which was tough because we all stayed out late the night before, but after a bit of swimming we all felt fine and we powered through! The guys running the boat tour were a lot of fun and they made sure everyone on the boat had a good time too. They even managed to remember nearly everyone's name... An impressive feet considering there were about 40-50 people on the boat. During the trip the crew served a kick-arse lunch which was followed with a musical performance. The performance consisted of the crew playing songs from everyone's home country and one person from that country would have to come up and sing. Naturally because it was my b'day I was roped into singing (waltzing Matilda... Of course!) and while everyone else sung happy birthday I had to shotgun a beer... No Worries!! After the eating, singing, dancing and stupidity we all jumped into the water for a swim. In the water they had a "floating bar" which was a large metal ring with a little Vietnamese guy sitting inside. The little Vietnamese guys was serving a fruit cocktail drink which he poured into small plastic cups for us. It was really chill and plenty of fun! After about an hour of floating bar madness we all piled back into the boat and headed back to shore. The night definitely continued on, but the details are all a little blurry... Sorry! It was my birthday! You understand, don't you??

A fake fashion prarade in Hoi an!

The trip from Hue to Hoi an was pretty chill.. No dramas and it was pretty quick! When I arrived I ended up staying at the guest house that the bus dropped me at, it was cheap though a little scetchy. After dropping off my stuff I headed into town and explored it a little. Hoi an is really famous for tailors and let me tell you, there is no shortage of them. From the moment I stepped out of the hotel I was hit with touts from ladies trying to get me to come into their shop to make clothes or shoes. Due to the fact this is a relatively small town, most of the people's income comes from these tailor shops or from cyclos and motorbikes, so all of the above are being constantly thrown in your face everywhere throughout town. The town itself is quite nice though, very small and quite pretty. I ended up just walking around the first night soaking it all up.
The next day I got into fashion mode!! I started early so I could spend time deciding what I wanted and so the clothes could be made with enough time to get altered if necessary. I really just wanted a suit and some pants and shirts for work, but I really got into the spirit and ended up getting a bit more! So, these guys can make almost anything for you... Seriously! They let you flick through a 'Next' catalogue and you can decide what style, material, where you want pockets... It's brilliant! I ended up getting a bunch of shirts, a suit, some pants, shorts and a sweet winter coat!! Had to send it all back to Korea though because it wasn't overly practical traveling with nice clothes for 3 months, but shipping was cheap and they should be there when I get back ( I hope).
On the last day in Hoi an Dom, Lyndsay and myself hired scooters and headed over to a place called 'My Son' which are temple ruins that were bombed during the war. The temples were okay, but the ride over was fun! Passing through villages with loud 'hellos' from children... Was cool!