Day Thirteen - Battambang - Cambodia

We got up and had an American style breakfast at our hotel in Battambang before heading out and familiarising ourselves with our surroundings now there was some daylight. We walked the small distance out of the back of our hotel to where Battambang's old railway station used to lie. Now the once bustling railway station clock constantly reads two minutes past eight in a time and era long in the past. Now just beside the station, near the decaying old rails that no longer run parallel, there are a few disused train sheds that represent a time back in the early 1900's when this country was a French colony.




























It's sad to think this was once a bustling line that connected Thailand's Bangkok with Cambodia's Phenom Penh. Now these old sheds just provide a shelter for the city's poor and the railway line somewhere for people to walk to the next village. Now grass grows between the paving tiles and roots have made the steel tracks curve. When I was looking at the history of the line it's hard to work out when this line went out of use exactly - obviously in Cambodia the horrific civil war destroyed most of it decades ago but it seems some (very small parts) maybe on the Thai side were in use until 2009. When reading up on the history there is also a lot of talk about it being regenerated to connect this rural town again with Phenom Penh but most of the websites say that was supposed to be by 2013 and there's definitely no sign of development right now! That all being said the defunct old railway has helped the community in some ways which I will come to later!












We went on wandering around the town going past the market and a group of monks all dressed in their traditional orange costumes on their way to somewhere. We also went along the river bank that is home to some beautiful French colonial buildings scatters between the much pooper local shelters.








After that we went back to our hotel and picked up a tuc tuc to take us out into the countryside where the real beauty is in this area. When we made our way out of town we suddenly realised that it's a much bigger place than we though last night driving in. I think the lack of street lamps made it seem at lot smaller in the dark. It's still not massive by any means (especially for the country's second biggest city) but definitely on the large town side of things rather than large village! You can't make any comparison with this city and Phenom Penh either - it's so much less developed and rural and so much poorer. However , it's a happy place with smiles everywhere and again people seem very welcoming and happy to have you here visiting.




























We drove through the jungle and rice paddy lined country side down long straight roads lined with poor settlements. There were a number of weddings along the way with loud pumping music blasting out of speakers and children played along the roadside near cows grazing on hay. The land is very flat here mainly due to the huge river that floods vastly across the land. Once in a while there is a hill (or rather a mound) that breaks this flatness up. We stopped at one of these called Wat Banan which has 159 (very steep) steps to climb to reach the temples at the top. Our excellent guide explained the history behind these temples and how it is supposedly the inspiration for Ankor Wat which we will travel to tomorrow.
















We climbed up and admired the view over the distance back to Battambang before returning to our tuc tuc to an old part of the railway. We rode most of the journey back before taking a side track to the railway line. We stopped off at an area where the locals have made makeshift railway carriages consisting of a large say 2 - 3 meter Bamboo tray which they lay onto a set of railway wheels. A pull start engine is then mounted on top with a belt connecting to the back set of wheels. This is powered up and you can make your way down 7 kilometres of bumpy, wiggly old railway to the next village.
















I had originally discovered this on a you tube video back in the UK which dated back a few year now. The locals have now caught onto the tourist interest and there was a police officer there now who you pay a fee of ten dollars to per ride. That being said it is still a great experience! There is also a village at the other end that you stop at for fifteen minutes that you can purchase a cool can of coke as well as a few novelty t shirts should you wish! I have read some negative blog post and reviews of this railway journey when I just looked it up of westerners complaining about paying or tipping a dollar for the journey. Sure a local did tell us discreetly that we should tip our driver but we would have anyway - I know that the ten dollars I paid to the police officer wasn't going to the locals and I certainly don't mind leaving a tip to our driver so he benefits too. In the UK I'd have paid about thirty quid for a joyless 'fun' train journey like this so I certainly don't mind spending fifteen quid here. It's disappointing to hear people who are not used to travelling complaining about tipping someone who probably sleeps outside in all weathers and has worn the same cloths for months. Try turning the situation around and see how you would act then I say! Rant over but I personally (and Jamie too) really rated the experience.
At the stop off on the journey some local kids also crafter some jewellery made from reeds. By the time I left I had received two rings from handsome young boys, a bracelet and an amazing grass hopper for my hair all included in my ten dollar trip. The local girls also came to talk to us asking questions about where we were from and where we were traveling but by no means pressuring us into anything. Sometime just showing interest in other people lives rather than turning back and running to where you came from is worth more to locals than cash anyway!
We headed back to Battambang and grabbed some lunch of local Khmer food which was delicious and for both of us and drinks less than a few quid! We will be heading back to this bar later as there is a local Khmer band playing and the French ex-pat owner claims he works for the local circus (if we heard right!)
Battambang has been a great experience I only wish like a lot of places we have visited we had more time here. Tomorrow we are off at 6am on a 6-9 hour boat journey across the Tonle Sap lake to Sien Reap - it's a bird spotters paradise apparently so I'm sure Jamie will cope just fine!

Location:Battambang,Cambodia

Day Twelve - Phenom Penh - Cambodia

We woke up early in our hotel in Phenom Penh so that we could go and visit the Royal Palace before there were any crowds. The palace was just across the road from our hotel so we walked over there just in time for the gates to open. We opted out of having one of the tour guides as there is enough information in places like this to make your own way round usually. Unfortunately, with the Royal Palace there is no information boards or annotations for buildings as you go around. However, a lot of it was self explanatory it just meant I had to look up some information after the visit.

They Royal Palace consists of a number of different building within the Palace grounds that serve as a residence for the king of Cambodia. It was built in 1866 by King Norodom and is now home to Her Majesty Preah Reach Akka-Mohesy Nordom Monineath Sihaonok, Queen of Cambodia.





















Within the palace grounds are the coronation hall which is used as an open air hall for the royal dance troupes, a balcony for royal appearances as well as an open air pavilion for the king to view his movies. The Kings private residence is also within the grounds hosting a collection is Cambodian artwork from around the world. There is also an office where royal duties are seen too.

We spend a couple of hours wandering around the grounds looking at the beautiful architecture and watching some young monkeys playing of the rooftops and bathing in the water fountains. We then returned to our hotel and picked up a moto to take us to the Russian market.

This market is located to the south of the city centre and has a maze of stalls selling everything you could possibly need under a sea of tarpaulin. You enter through busy stalls selling clothing which has often fallen off the back of lorries from factories producing apparel for European and American brands and retailers. Jamie picked up a pair of Levies for a few dollars and that was without even bartering! You then pass through jewellery, food stalls, homeware, trinkets, baby products then finally we were in an area that sold mechanical products. At this point I decided to leave before I lost Jamie and we headed back to our hotel to have lunch and relax before our bus picked us up to take us to Battambang.

We had reserved tickets on a mini bus that would take us the 280 km and 5 hours to Battambang. The bus arrived on time at our hotel and we loaded our luggage on board. We set off picking up a few other passengers on route through the city. Our last stop we picked up a group of middle aged French guys who were instantly unimpressed with the lack of space and kicked up a bit of a fuss. However, they boarded the bus and we went on with the journey. You get used to cramped methods of transport here, it's just the way it is and if you don't like it (like we didn't in Saigon) you get a driver instead!

Jamie managed to get a seat in the front of the minibus up with the driver and me just behind where we both had a little more space. These were the only seats left but actually worked out the best ones. I sat next to two other travellers from America one of which was native Cambodian and could speak the language. I got talking to them as the journey went on.

We drove through some beautiful countryside with rice paddies and dense misty palm jungle the whole way. We follower the river more of less most of the way which was beginning to flood now as it's the start of the wet season. All the houses are on stilts with little shutters, some in a much better state than others. We also passed through the shanty town of Phenom Penh on the outskirts of town but people still seemed happy and had water and food supplies unlike the shanty towns I had seen years back in Mumbai. The people here are just very very poor - it's very different here to the feeling you get in Vietnam.

We stopped half way for a twenty minute break and to stretch our legs. The French guys again started kicking up a fuss though I have no idea what they were expecting to change this far into the journey! The roads here are a lot less chaotic than in neighbouring Vietnam with less vehicles and it's a slinky less bumpy ride too. Shortly after setting off a again we must have hit a pot hole or something (though I didn't notice it any more than any other part of the road) One of the guys that had been complaining at the back had grabbed the curtain and ripped it off it's rail - he said it was because the bump was so hard that he had to hold on for safety (this is debatable). This really upset the driver who screeched the bus to a halt and got out and went crazy.

I was glad I was sitting next to the American that spoke Cambodian as he was able to try to calm the driver down (though this didn't work) but at least managed to translate what was going on. Instead of the guy who damaged the curtain just apologising he wound the driver up even more saying it's too cramped and uncomfortable. The driver was shouting none stoop abuse at the top of his voice that begun to make us all feel really unsettled. He then got the guys bag out and tried to throw him off the bus. He then insisted he paid $300 to get the curtain repaired too. After we managed to persuade the driver to at least go to a town we carried on with the journey.

The driver was now really in the rage and drove at top speed zigzagging through the bad roads nearly missing dogs and children along the way. It was truly frightening but it was a situation where if we questioned him we too would risk being chucked off the bus. We were also in the middle of the countryside with little chance of getting a lift to town still over 100 km away and it would be dark in less than thirty mins. We held onto our seats and breath and just hoped we would make it. The driver kept cursing and shouting every so often but the guy next to me managed to persuade him that he should take them to Battambang.

The driver calmed a bit and agreed to take us all to Battambang. He was now going to drop us all of in town and then drive the French guys to the countryside and sort them out! We got off the bus at the first stop with our new friends and decided to carry on with our journey independently from there! As we got off we told they guys what they were in for but before they could get off the driver started shouting and locked the door and drove off with them. Hopefully with more of them than just him on his side they were OK but who knows. When in Cambodia do as the Cambodians I say - as the guy next to me said 'there's no law here'. If you get into trouble here there will be a long wait for help!

We arrived in town about seven thirty and couldn't get a feel for the place as it was dark. It's supposed to be the second biggest city here but it feels no more than a rural village with no street lamps anywhere and few real buildings. We ate in a shelter with some gas stoves that severed a wonderful stir fry and served gin and tonics all for less that a few dollars then went back to our villa and got some sleep!

Location:Battambang,Cambodia

Day Eleven - Chau Doc to Phenom Penh - Vietnam to Cambodia

We spent yesterday evening in Chau Doc after our long car journey from Saigon. The heavy clouds that had been bubbling all afternoon finally burst and lightning lit up the town around us. We ventured out of our hotel through the local market to the Victoria hotel the other side of the town on the Mekong river. We sat and looked out at the colourful shelters that were piled up on top of each other on the other side of the river bank. These are home to local fishing families and as watched the sunset, boat after boat mored up outside each one as they ended their days fishing.








We sat outside cooling off in the rain until it became to heavy and started to soak through our clothing. As this is a very small town, well off the tourist track, we didn't have a huge choice of places to eat. We decided to eat in the Victoria Hotel restaurant as it was supposed to be highly rated and eating out in the rain in the market became less and less appealing as it got darker. We chose one of their hotpot/fondues which is a traditional Vietnamese soup that is placed in the centre of your table over a burning stove that you add noodles, seafood, chicken, beef and vegetables too as you wish. You then poor it in little bowls and eat away as you go. I will definitely be re-creating this at home once I am back!








We left the hotel and walked back in the rain through the now deserted streets of Chau Doc. I don't know if it was the rain that made everyone disappear or if this is just a more rural town that actually sleeps unlike the other cities we had been to in Vietnam.
I woke early to the familiar sound of mopeds at dawn coming to set up the market just below our hotel. We had to be up early as we had a car picking us up at our hotel to take us to the dock to catch our boat at seven thirty to Phenom Penh. As we ate breakfast I suddenly realised we no longer had any passport photos for our visas at the border crossing (we somehow managed to leave our folder with these, all our flight and hotel bookings and vaccination records somewhere along our journey). In a panic we got a man with a push bike and trailer with a tray on the back to give us a lift round town to somewhere that we could get a picture taken (before 6am in the Morning). We had no luck so headed to the boat where they said we could get one at the crossing anyway - phew!




We boarded our boat that like most methods of transport over here was quite cramped but comfortable. We set off along the river past floating houses and factories on our way to the border. It's a lot more rural here and lots of the land lays uninhibited but you do pass villages of homes on stilts and lots of corrugated iron barns full of rice sacks. Even factories with huge fired up furnaces that must be drying rice or something float on the river as well.
























At half nine we reached the Vietnamese border with Cambodia in the Mekong river. This is unlike any other border I have been through, its very quite, in fact besides another boat of about ten people we were the only ones there. We first pulled up at a Portacabin floating on large drums in the river which was the Vietnam border. We stopped for about Fithteen minutes and had our visas stamped for exit. We then boarded the boat again and went another couple of hundred meters up river to the Cambodian border. This time we got off the boat onto the bank and walked into a courtyard consisting of about six small shelters.
At this point Jamie and I were pulled out of the queue for not having a photo and taken round the back of the immigration courtyard and down a dirt track lined with shelters and shops. We were taken to one shop (well six stilts with some corrugated iron roofing and a rusty bed with no mattress in the middle) that offered us to have our picture taken for a few dollars. A young woman came out with a blue board on wheels and set a small red plastic chair in front and asked each of us to sit. She whipped out a new Fujifilm camera, quickly took our pictures and disappeared round a tin screen. At first we heard someone chipping at stone and joked that they may be sculpting our picture as there was no sign of and photographic machines nearby let alone electricity! A couple of moments later we heard a generator being fired up and five minutes later, as if by magic (this is still my only explanation) the lady reappeared with six passport sized photos of us both neatly wrapped in re-sealable bags - magic! We headed back to the courtyard and got our passports stamped (numerous times) by a gentleman in a dusty shed. This was the easiest border crossing I have ever encounter (even without the correct paperwork) and the people who worked there even smiled!
We carried on up the river towards Phenom Penh passing miles upon miles of green countryside and waving at people working on its banks. Four hours later we reached a split in the river where the Tonle Sap, Cambodia's main river, meets the Mekong river and there lies the city of Phenom Penh.








Phenom Penh's not like the other cities we have entered back in Vietnam. There is one lonely skyscraper on the horizon and signs of others starting to be developed but otherwise it's quite flat and instantly seems less busy. We disembarked the boat and took a moto to our hotel. This city instantly feels a lot calmer and less chaotic which is a breath of fresh air. We passes through the royal palace and its surrounding buildings that we will explore in depth later on. We arrived at the Pavilion Hotel where we will spend the next couple of days at mid afternoon and enjoyed a traditional Khmer lunch of fish on sticks for me and chicken curry for Jamie. I then took advantage of their complimentary massage before having a quick nap.
In the evening we ventured up one of the main streets to get a feel for the city. There's a mixture of huge four by fours and mopeds here and a few small cars too. The streets are a lot less intimidating to cross though still very chaotic! We stopped off at a couple of bars and grabbed dinner at one before heading back to out hotel for the night.

Location:Preah Ang Yukanthor (St: 19),Phnom Penh,Cambodia

Day Nine & Ten - Saigon to Chau Doc

The past two days have been a long journey to say the least! We left Hoi An at midday yesterday to travel to the airport in Danang for our flight to Saigon (Hoi Chi Minh City). We flew with Jetstar airways from this brand new airport that only opened in 2012. Our flight left onetime from this modern city that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight as we took off. The flight was just over an hour long and we landed on time in Saigon at a quarter past three.

As we descended into the airport in Saigon we saw its huge colourful suburbs spanning out for miles with the Mekong river flowing right through the centre. As you look over to the city centre you see a cluster of new skyscrapers representing the changing times in Vietnam. It was nice to fly into this city to see the huge scale of it that you wouldn't be able to grasp so well arriving on train or bus.

A driver picked us up and took us to our hotel for the night located just off a small narrow park that leads up to the city centre in District One of Saigon. Our stay so far in Vietnam had been amazing and run completely smoothly - everyone we have met has gone out of their way to help us get to our next location and to make our stay thoroughly enjoyable.

Last night in Saigon things were not quite the same. I'm not going to dwell on it but we ended up not staying in the hotel we chose because the receptionist said there was a 'stink' in the room. Instead she moved us to their sister hotel next door to a larger room - an 'upgrade' she insisted. It was a larger room but in a two rather than three star hotel like we had originally booked. There was still a 'stink' as well as a disused stone water feature in the corner, plenty of mould and a balcony (that constituted the upgrade) which resembled more of a WW2 bunker than balcony. Lets just say we made use of our sleeping bags and avoided the hotel until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer! I put it down to an experience!

We wandered along the big Main Street that lead up to the city centre to explore a little before dusk. My mood had been slightly dampened and there wasn't a great deal of time before dark so we decided to go up the Bitexco Financial Tower to the 48th floor sky deck and bar to watch the sunset. The tower reaches 262 meters and dwarfs everything around it. It was designed by Carlos Zapata and completed in 2010. The building and its views were amazing and we spent an hour up there watching the sun set on this ever changing city combining a taste of old and new Vietnam.















We walked back towards our hotel passing old buildings sitting next to banking sky scrapers. Traditional stalls selling soup and the usual market products sit next to French designer stores and trendy boutique hotels with rooftop gardens. The parks are full of young people playing sports and ballroom dancing next to big speakers. There's a lot of energy here and everyone is on the move not to mention the mopeds. They say in Saigon there are over for million mopeds - I'd say there's a hell of a lot more! Looking down at the streets it's like ant trails and the fumes are suffocating!



We stopped in at a few different bars and after paying home prices for drinks stopped off at a street stall for dinner. I had noodle soup for a change and it was one of the cheapest but best I had eaten so far. Regardless of the hotel I slept well and we woke up early to catch our bus to Chau Doc near the Cambodian border. We skipped breakfast after the smell of gas outside our room made us feel lucky we had made it through the night and instead went back to the place we ate at the night before for Vietnamese bread and eggs. A tour girl came to pick us up and made us walk about 500 meters down the road with our heavy bags to a car that would be taking us to the out of town bus station. We got to the car and twelve others were already inside the (five seater) car. The guide said it would be ok it's only an hour and a half journey! We backed out and after another hour of sitting in a s#*$ hole of an office that wasn't fit for a rodent we managed to book a driver for the 170km journey to Chau Doc. He turned up an hour and a half late ad we were on our way by nine.

We worked our way our of Saigon passing through various streets to the main road. It's funny but we noticed that each street seems to specialise in selling a different product here. One street just sold cans of imported baby milk powder then the next a road of fish tanks, then bird cages, bike tyres, cooling fans, plants and so on until we reached the highway.



They appear to be building a new raised motorway right to the border which you weave in, over and under the whole way. Our average speed we worked out must have been about 30km hour it's almost painful watching how slow kilometres are dropping off the journey. We headed south first then hit one of the largest tributaries of the Mekong delta then followed this west towards our destination. Though this area is renowned for some of the best rice production land in the country there doesn't seen to be as many paddies as in other parts of the country. In the north and centre of Vietnam all you see for miles are the emerald green paddies but here there are a lot more plantations of palms broken up by the odd paddy.

Like usual homes, stalls and bars line the roads but I also noticed that the bars had become even more laid back with huge shelters attached to the sides with dozens of hammocks hanging up underneath them. As we carried on crossing tens of small rivers lined also with homes on stilts either side you can see how rice production is huge here. You pass large barns at the side of the road with lorries parked out front with bags of rice being piled on. On the rivers too sheds with conveyer belts point out to the river are loading up large wooden boats with bags of rice ready for export.









Further along the road I also noticed lots of smoke the whole time on the horizon. As we got nearer large brick kilns dotted along the road and river side smoked up everywhere that appear to be producing red bricks. The production along these rivers is amazing and the way the rivers provides the best means of transport makes them an essential artery of the region.






We passed through miles and miles of flood land and all the homes are on tall stilts as we got closer to Chau Doc in the heart of the Mekong region. Rivers and tributaries criss cross everywhere all lined with people homes and businesses. We pulled into Chau Doc shortly after three and checked into our hotel. Storms are brewing now and the sky is dark and flashing with lightning - I'm sure there will be heavy rain soon. I don't think we will be venturing too far this evening, maybe just to the royal Victoria hotel, the only other hotel in this town. We will be up at dawn tomorrow morning to catch a boat up the Mekong delta to Phenom Penh in Cambodia which should be beautiful - I just hope it doesn't rain too much!

Location:Đường Bạch Đằng,Chau Phu,Vietnam