Phnom Penh

Firstly may we apologise for the length of time it has taken us to get this online. We are now in the islands of Thailand where there is very little internet at the best of times. Anyway....here is out story of Phnom Penh. P.s Can i warn you now some people may not like the picture we have put on here but this is what the Cambodian people have had to live with.

We arrived in Phnom Penh on the boat from the Mekong Delta. This is by far the best way to arrive and get an unbeatable view of the city. As we cruised along we could see the city skyline in the distance and as we got closer we got to glide along the river front seeing their beautiful promenade with all its restaurants, bars and hotels, it was obvious this was a capital city growing with all the building work.
We had a wonder round looking for a hotel and decided on one that we had read about called The Europe. It is rated number 4 out of almost 200 hotels in the area on trip advisor. The reviews weren't wrong, the location was prefect and the rooms were one of the cleanest we have stayed in. The owner was French, he married a lady from Cambodia and they settled in Phnom Penh and opened their hotel. His knowledge of the area and country was fantastic, he was able to recommend restaurants and tours, we were never disappointment by one of his tips. All this isn't bad considering we were paying $12 a night, half the price of any other capital or busy city that we have so far stayed in.

Phnom Penh skyline

 

Banks of Phnom Penh

 Our first day in Phnom Penh we managed to over sleep, jumping out of bed at 11am. We were worried we had wasted the day but in hindsight i think we needed the rest. Having had so many early starts and lots of travelling it was our first day in over a week we did not need to set an alarm (not sure how were going to cope once back in England and having to get up for work 5 days a week?). Anyway our first full day we did a lot of walking, Jonny took on the role as tour guide and walked us almost 3 miles in the midday sun, we did end up where we wanted to be though and that was S21 (Security 21).

Tuol Sleng Museum, more commonly know as S21, is now a museum. It started as a high school with 4 main buildings, each of which are 3 stories high. When the Khmer Rouge took over it was turned into a prison and torture unit. Anybody who had any connection to the old political party, anyone with a skill, anyone who wore glasses, anyone who looked intelligent would be arrested in case they threatened the reagiem of the paranoid dictator Pol Pot. As soon as you walk into the museum grounds you are faced with 14 graves which belong to 14 bodies that were discovered at the prison when Phnom Penh was liberated. Next to where they were berried were 2 poles with a beam across the top attaching them and there were 3 big ceramic pots underneath. When the building was used as a school this equipment was used for physical education classes. The Khmer Rouge used the equipment to tie prisoners up by their feet and swing them upside down while being questioned. The prisoner would often become unconscious during this process which is when the buckets were used. The prisoner would be dipped into filthy water until they regained consciousness, where the questioning would continue.

S-21, formally a school that was turned into a torture prison.

Graves of 14 people found in the prison after the liberation of Phnom Penh

Photos of the victims. There were rooms and rooms of these picture boards.

Prison cells built into a classroom. The blackboard is still in place.

The prison was filled with so many unforgettable hunting stories and images. In the first building, the classroom had not really been changed except glass put into the windows so screams of tortured prisoners could not echo into the city. The rooms have been left as they were found, they had a bed and a desk and some equipment. In the second building the lower level classrooms had been divided into the small cells. The cells had been created either by wood or brick. They were the smallest cells, they were empty apart from a metal pot for a toilet. The prisoner literally only just about had room to sit on the ground. The cells were very poorly built and you could tell that they had been built in a rush to start housing prisoners. One of the buildings had a barbed wire mesh on the outside, covering the building from top to bottom. It was used to make sure no one could try committing suicide by jumping from the third floor. The other 2 buildings were endless rooms of photos. The Khmer Rouge were notorious at keeping records and so a photo was taken of each and every person to entre the prison. It was so surreal seeing so many faces looking back at you, an image neither of us could ever forget. The final rooms told the stories of the 7 survivors of S21, they were the only people left out of 1000s when the Khmer Rough was over thrown. They were spared as they had skills the dictators could use such as painters who could paint the terrible scenes. It was really hard seeing so much hurt and utter devastation, there was an overall wierd feeling about the place, it was horrible yet overwhelming. We didn't realise the worse was yet to come as the next day we were visiting the killing fields. . . . ..

Oh my gosh were we in for a shock. Sometimes when you visit these kind of places its hard to imagine what went on as the areas have re-grown and a lot of the evidence has been collected and taken away from the sight. Cambodia is totally different to this and the people want you to see what they have lived through to teach other nations that the same atrocity can never happen again. The Killing Fields are probably one of the most peaceful places now in Cambodia but you only have to look down at your feet and you can see bones and teeth of the victims that were executed here to realise what a history this place has. As if this was not bad enough, every where you look you can see fragments of cloth. At first it looks like its litter spread across the fields. But as you listen to the audio tape we learnt that in fact this is clothing of the victims that they were wearing on the fateful day that they died. With every rainy season in Cambodia the ground moves and some of the dirt is washed away revealing yet more clothing, teeth and bones. On top of this everywhere you look you can see large craters which are mass graves.

Teeth and bones on the ground at the killing fields.

Clothing that is bought to the service with the rainy season.

Skulls of victims

Having learnt a great deal about the KhmerRouge it seems so unfair on all the 3 million victims that Pol Pot was able to die peacefully of natural causes in 1998 with out any form of justice being served to him. As we speak however there are four of High Command of the KhmerRouge on trial for War Crimes. All evidence and common sense will end up proving them guilty, and they will probably be sentenced to death. Even though this is the outcome most Cambodians want we still find it hard to believe that they have been able to lead a normal life for 40 years after these atrocities. Considering everything Cambodians have been through they are the most friendly nation and everyone walks around with a smile on their face.

On top of this we also found time to visit the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. Its a spectacular sight to see such grand buildings but in my honest opinion it has nothing on Buckingham Palace. The Silver Pagoda gets its name from the 500 solid silver tiles that line the floor. Each tile weighs 1kg.

We also managed to find time visit a shopping centre, day market and night market and carry out some retail therapy. At the night market we decided to grab some food and sat out under the stars on a carpet in the middle of this square with very loud music being played over the PA System. A very serreal experience.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Phnom Penh and Camboida is proving to be a little gem in our tour.

Saigon & Mekong Delta

The next stop on our tour was Ho Chin Minh, better known as Saigon to the locals. This used to be the old capital city of Vietnam but after the American War the government took the status away from Saigon and gave it to the more communist part of the country, Hanoi in the north. Saigon is the complete opposite of this where the locals are more laid back, less uptight and lead a more Western lifestyle. Maybe its because of this that we very quickly fell in love with this absolutely stunning city.
The sleeper bus from Nha Trang again pulled up very early in the morning (5.30am) and we found our self looking for a small hotel which we could call home for the next 3 nights. Obviously with it being so early all the small (cheaper) hotels were shut, but never the less we kept wandering until we found a small hotel that was open. We had a quick look at the room, haggled on the price and settled in.

After a quick shower and change we were out on the streets wandering. Knowing that we were only going to be here a few days we decided to spend our first day just looking at some of the local attractions. We visited the American War Museum which we found most amazing, not always for the best however. It was nice to see the machinery that the Americans used in the war against the Vietnamese. After this we went into the actual museum to see the millions of pictures and information on the walls. Some of the images were exceptionally moving and some showed images that just should never be seen on this planet again. How any human can carry out the levels of violence on another race is just unbelievable. We were exceptionally surprised to see however that the museum was exceptionally one sided towards the Vietnamese. It was all about what the Americans had done to them, and the violence towards the Vietnamese people. No other views were offered which we found disappointing and very uneducational.

After the museum we walked around the local park and found the Saigon Cathedral. It was an impressive sight considering we are in a mainly Buddhist and Muslim country.

In the afternoon we visited a local market where we had a street lunch and then headed onto the Reunification Palace. This was the South Vietnam's main Government building which was stormed by North Vietnam in April 1975. The rooms in the building have been left exactly how they were on that specific day as a memorial.

Reunification Palace

Rooms left exactly how they were  when the building was stormed

The following day we booked on to a tour to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. This is an area where the Vietnamese Army dug and lived in a series of tunnels underground. We learnt so much here and trying to get it all down on paper is hard to do so I will give you the basic facts in bullet points.

• There are in total 250km or tunnels spread from Saigon all the way over to Cambodia.
• The tunnels were built at night to avoid detection form the American Soldiers.
• A team of 5 would be able to dig roughly 10 meters of tunnels during a night.
• Tunnels are built on three levels, the deepest being about 15 - 20 meters underground. There would be living pods every 200 - 300 meters where sleeping, cooking, toilets, ammunitions etc would all happen.
• Disguised entrances were built so surprise attacks could be made on American soldiers.
• Smoke from cooking would be kept in a series of chambers which would then be released about 500 meters form the kitchen. Cooking could only take place during early morning when the smoke would blend in with the natural mist and fog that appears every morning.
• Should an American Soldiers find or fall into a tunnel they were designed that the soldiers would be killed before they could tell anyone.
• Air holes were built to look like termite mounds.
• Around the tunnels, brutal traps would be left for the americans to fall into.
• Finally the most impressive stat is that soldiers sometimes would have to live in the tunnels for up to 2 or 3 months without coming above ground.

It was absolutely incredible to learn about the tunnels and when offered the chance to go into the tunnels and complete a 100 meter section we jumped at the chance. The area we went into was so small and hot, its incredible to think how people lived in there for up to 3 months. What was more incredible was when we found out that the tunnels had been widened by almost double for tourists. There was the chance to get out of the tunnels at every 20 meters but we are pleased to say that we completed the full 100 meters and went down to one of the deepest points of the tunnels, 20 meters below ground.

Model of the tunnels and their layers

Trap left for Americans

Which would then open allowing them to fall on to sharp bamboo poles

Hiding Hole

Different types of traps set up

Amber entering tunnels

Jonathan in tunnels

Knowing that our next major city was Phnom Penh in Cambodia, we booked our self onto a 2 day Mekong Delta tour which would show us part of the Mekong Delta and then give us the chance to cruise up the Mekong in a 'Fast Boat' and into Cambodia. Sadly we don't have much to say for the Mekong Delta due to constantly travelling. With it being a delta it is a very scenic part of Vietnam, but an extremely poor part of the country. We are very glad that we did see the Mekong Delta but wouldn't rush back to see it.

Mekong Delta boat

Mekong Delta Sunset

Now i feel it appropriate to mention a funny story and experience that we had on the tour. A lot of people say that the British dont complain as much as they should. Well they clearly have not met 'David and Judith', a late 40's / early 50's couple that were on our tour. They seemed to be able to find anything and everything to complain about. Including not being able to find their bags when they were just under there nose, not getting their passport back form the Vietnamese Immigration department quickly, not getting their passport stamped quick enough by the Cambodian Immigration department. You name it, they complained about it. Im also please to tell you that it was not just us that were getting seriously annoyed with them and i think one American lady may have told them what she thinks. Now in Phnom Penh, we accidently bumped into them in a local corner store near our hotel. Again i'm pleased to tell you they were complaining that the store didn't have David's favourite juice.

So to conclude our Vietnam Visit. This is one of the most spectacular and scenic countries we have ever visited. The north has the gem of Halong Bay. We can not recommend a visit to this area of the country strongly enough. The north of Vietnam still very much has the feel of a communist country. The people are very uptight and no where near as friendly as other countries we had previously visited and actually border on being rather rude. This is completely opposite to the south of Vietnam. The people are much kinder, going well out of their way to be able to help you. Would we recommend Vietnam to anyone that was considering a visit? Absolutely!!!

Vietnam Facts:

• There are 82 million people in Vietnam with more than 28 million scooters on the streets.
• That's more scooters in Vietnam than Australians in Australia.
• There 14600 motor bikers killed each year on the roads. (Unfortunately we did see one of these accidents with a fatality.)
• 20 million people live in either Hanoi or Saigon leaving the rest of the country rather empty.
• Land is $5000 for 1sq meter. Hence properties are very small but have 3 - 6 levels.
• One of our tour guides joked that you don't have to worry about terrorism in Vietnam and rather just concentrate on the traffic.

We are pleased to say we have survived and will write to you about our experiences in Cambodia very shortly.

Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a slice of paradise in Vietnam . .

Nha Trang beach

We arrived early, very early, 5:30 in the morning we got off the night bus and tried to work out where on the map we had been dropped off. Once we got our barring we had to then work out how to get to our hotel which i had plotted on the map before hand. Jonny took control of the map and decided after 15 minuets of walking we were on the road i had marked, but the hotel was no where to be seen. Thankfully we quickly realised he had taken us down a road too early so we walked back on ourselves feeling tired, hot and struggling with our backpacks. We tried walking down the next road but again our hotel was no where to be seen. To make matters worse we had some guy on his motorbike following us trying to get us to stay at his hotel, we told him we had accommodation but the more wrong turns we took the less he was believing us. Finally swallowing a little bit of pride Jonny went into a cafe to ask for directions. While doing so i was eyeing up the rather tasty looking chocolate brownies they had for sale. We were happy yet slightly embarrassed to learn the hotel was 30 seconds round the next coroner. We were able to check in, shower and get a few hours of much needed sleep.

Were not ones to waste the day, so at 9.00am we were up soon and ready to explore. First stop was the cafe with the brownies and yes they were as good as they looked. While relaxing in the cute cafe, very randomly the lovely couple from Darwin we met in Halong Bay walked in and joined us for a coffee. It was really nice to hear they had continued to enjoy their adventure in Vietnam and were sad that their holiday was coming to an end. The thought of work for them within 48 hours made us realise how lucky we are, still having many months of commitment free adventure ahead of us.

Our first trip in Nha Trang was to Long Son Pagoda, it was quite a long walk in the sunshine, but we enjoy a walk and believe that its the best way to see somewhere new. The pagoda was well worth the trek, it was beautiful. It was home to 2 extremely large buddha's, one is so large it looks over the city, the size of both was actually overwhelming. Feeling rather tired we had a bite to eat and an early night in front of the tv in our room.

The chilling Buddha

The view of the city from the top

The big Buddha on the hill

On our second day we went on a 4 island trip that we booked through our hotel. We knew we didn't have much time in Nha Trang and decided a tour would be the quickest and most productive way to see everything touristy. We got taken to an aquarium which was nice. They had an outdoor section which allowed us to feed and get close to the massive turtles which was really special for us. The bays the boat stopped at were all gorgeous, we went through a fishing village similar to those in Halong Bay. It still puzzles us how the families can survive the open elements of the sea and the isolation in their floating homes. While in one of the bays the boat anchored, and we were introduced to their "floating bar" which involved a big metal hoop which had loads of floats attached. Everyone was invited to jump off the boat and swim to the bar for a free cup of wine. Needless to say i became an amazing swimmer given the incentive of free wine and managed more than a few cups of the sweet red stuff, it was very surreal bobbing in the warm sea sipping free cold wine - bliss.

Someone has their eye on Jonny

Feeding the turtles

Floating bar

In the warm sea with cold wine - yum

We were able to visit a few of the bars and restaurants during our stay in Nha Trang. There are many to chose from as Nha Trang is one of the best cities in Vietnam for nightlife. Our favourite restaurant was one where Jonny was able to chose what fish he wanted and they then cooked it fresh on the BBQ, not bad for £4. This restaurant also had some rather tasty cocktails which went down a treat.

Jonny and his chosen fish

Cocktails went down a treat

Our final day we decided to make the most of Nha Trangs biggest asset; the beach. White sand, blue sea and we were lucky enough to pick a day with blue sky and sunshine without a single cloud in sight. We could have stayed in Nha Trang another 10 nights and not got bored; it is a city with everything and its still growing. Many large posh hotels were being built on the coastline which will no doubt bring in the tourist when complete. The views from the top of these building as the sun goes down will be unbeatable.

Enjoying Nha Trang beach

Sun, Sea and Sand

The city is growing

Jonny as the sun went down

We have to mention how amazing our hotel (Truong Giang Hotel) was, it could not have been more perfectly located (once we found it). The couple who own it are without a question the loveliest Vietmanese couple we have ever met. They were so kind, welcoming and would go out of their way to ensure we felt completely at home. We have told them we will email them and stay in touch. We also want to advise anyone planning a visit to Nha Trang to consider staying here. Its value for money and their hospitality can not be beaten.

We really hope this is not the last time we see Nha Trang. Next Stop Siagon.

The beach as the sun went down

Loads a love A&J x x

Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An early evening after a day sitting on a coach. The weather was truly awful but we were glad to be at our hotel.

Hoi An is a small town located just under half way down Vietnam on the coast. Hoi An is also the home of cheap made to measure clothing, needless to say we both took full advantage of this. Jonny found the very place that the Top Gear boys went to get there suits made. He chose the fabric to make himself a very smart 3 piece suit and 2 very lovely shirts which fit so well. I saw 2 styles of dress that were really nice, Jonny picked the fabrics and colours for each dress (as im so indecisive) and the little lady set to work. Less than 24 hours later the dresses were ready to collect. I was so pleased with the results, they were such bargains, less than £30 for them both, Jonny liked them so much on me he insisted that i buy a third and i'm not one to argue.

This little town has plenty of hand craft shops, and as the sun sets it becomes extremely beautiful. Along the river the town becomes a wash with coloured lanterns and candles flickering away. The lights reflecting off the river water made for the perfect setting as we found out one night having diner on a balcony overlooking the town.

Sadly not all of Hoi An was as smooth as it should have been. Originally we had only planned to stay for three nights. On the evening of the second night we had been for a nice meal. On returning back to the hotel we were both struck down with stomach cramps and yes you guessed it......food poisoning. Feeling truly rubbish we decided that neither of us were in a fit enough state to travel onwards so decided to stay for an extra night.

Two days later we were begining to feel a bit better so decided to head out into town where we could grab a small something to eat. While at dinner the rain started and within an hour there was about 6 inches of water on the road. Thinking this was rather cool, Jonny headed out to have a splash around in the street. As we finished dinner the rain ended and the flood water started to disperse. The following morning we had planned to just pop into town to collect Jonny's suit. As we were leaving the hotel we suddenly realised that we couldn't walk up the main street due to it now being a 3 feet deep river. The flood was like nothing we had ever seen before, the water seemed to come from no where yet it had taken over everything. Our journey to Nha Trang had to be put on hold for yet another night. Therefore our quick shopping stop over in Hoi An ended up being almost a week of being stranded for one reason or another but we can of course think of worse places to be stuck.

love A&J X X

Vietnam Weather

Just a very quick update and i am very sorry that it has come just minutes after our last update. We are now in Hoi An and have been having very bad internet signal. Hence the reason we are posting two blogs today.

We just wanted to write about how we have experienced mother nature at her absolute best over the last 24 hours. We appreciate that it is still monsoon season and we have experienced pretty much non stop rain over the last 48 hours.

Last night while we were out at dinner all of a sudden the road became slightly flooded. Thinking this was rather cool I headed out and had a splash around in the warm rain. During dinner the rain stopped. As we headed back to the hotel the little flood water that remained started to drain away.

Well this morning we have woken to complete devastation. During the night there was more rain and from talking to a local, there was too much pressure on a local dam. This has resulted the in the locals having to open the dam, which has resulted in the flooding of Hoi An.

With all of the flooding going on in Bangkok, we have been very luck not to be effected too badly so far on our trip.

I guess we have just experienced a little of what Mother Nature can produce.