Finishing my Cambodian travels

It's always difficult planning and dividing up time in a trip such as this one. The entire length of my trip is 4 months, and this initially sounds like a long amount of time. However, when you actually get to down to dividing those 4 months into managable parts and balancing what attractions or activities you can't live without, while adjusting plans to travel with new friends (or meet up with old ones), learning to take a day off here and there, and realizing that distances need to be accounted for and that 9 hour bus rides can eat into a lot of time, well, by the end of it, things can certainly get tricky! I constantly find myself talking to other travellers and finding out about amazing places and wanting to see more, while simultaneously falling in love with some of the places that I am already in and just not wanting to leave. This has been the case with the last week or so, as I've finished up with Cambodia and started my travels in Malaysia.

Cambodia is an amazing country, and I would love to go back. The locals are so genuine and so friendly, everything is so cheap, and there are so many things to do and see. I was sad to have only two weeks but really enjoyed them. The last week in Cambodia I spent in Kampot, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. In Phnom Penh I shot a gun for the first time at a shooting range (an AK-47, on my 25th birthday!), met up with friends I had met in Vietnam, rode around in tuk tuks and bartered for everything. I also went to the Killing Fields and S-21, two sobering but very important memorials/museums that remember the horrific genocide that happened in Cambodia. Not a "fun" visit per say, but an important part of understanding a truly abhorrent part of Cambodia's history.

Kampot was a quaint and sleepy riverside town that I spent two nights in. It was a bit rainy, but I enjoyed some delicious food, admired the beautiful French architecture, and reunited with Deneca -a Canadian girl I travelled with during the very start of my trip. I also did a tour that covered the National Park, an abandoned French Hill Station, and included a riverboat ride. I was happy to discover that 6 of the 8 other people doing the tour were all solo travellers as well, so this ended in a fun night of dinner and drinks.

Siem Reap is where Angkor Wat is, an incredible city of ancient ruins from 1100AD. Here, I was fortunate enough to meet up with two very close friends from home who were kind enough to swing by from Thailand so we could see Angkor Wat together. During it's height, Angkor had over one million people who lived within it's gates. Today, it is mostly the temples and palace that remain, but even they are so big that they require a tuk tuk to get around. We had an amazing although very hot and sweaty day exploring the temples of Angkor. The pool at our hotel was definitely appreciated! We also went horseback riding through some small villages on a different day, stuffed ourselves while learning a ton at a Khmer cooking class, and went to get massages. Really, it was just nice to catch up with friends from home. The night after horseback riding, we met up with a couple I had met in Vietnam and they surprised me with a cake with sparklers, and some lovely birthday singing. I felt so blessed being able to celebrate my birthday with such a great group of people!

Birthday night silliness

So, there you have it. Just when I started to get a really good feel of Cambodia and just when I started to hear from other travellers about all the other things I could do there (Irrawaddy dolphin spotting, pepper plantation tours and elephant rehab come to mind...), it was off to Malaysia. Thankfully, that has not been a problem yet, as I am finding it to be very interesting place, much different than the rest of my trip. To be continued....

 

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Itinerary Update

For those who are interested, I have a bit of an updated itinerary, for right up until the end of my trip.

I'm currently in Cambodia, heading to Siem Reap. This is the city where Angkor Wat is, and I plan on meeting some friends and seeing Angkor Wat with them for a few days. On July 30th, I have a flight booked to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do in Malaysia, but I've been told that the Perhentian islands in Northeast are beautiful and good for diving, so perhaps I'll take a night bus there. I'll only have approximately a week to see Malaysia and to make it to Singapore overland, because I've got a flight from Singapore to Jakarta, Indonesia on August 6th. I'm not too worried about only having a day or two to see Singapore, as I've heard that it is quite expensive with not much to do.

From the time I land in Jakarta (Aug 6), to the time that I have to catch my Bangkok flight back to Canada (Aug 28), I'll have just a bit over 3 weeks. In that time I'll probably take the train to Yogyakarta, a university town and a centre of Indonesian arts and culture, before making my way to Bali, to take in some surf and nightlife, and the Gili Islands, to dive. My only other goal for the trip is to see the Komodo dragons in the wild (provided my funds don't run out! :-P).

I'll probably fly from Denpasar airport in Bali back to Bangkok around the 27th, and soon after it will be time to return to real life. Although I'm having the time of my life and don't want this trip to end, it will also be really nice to reconnect with my friends and family (and of course my kitties!) back home. And... that's the update folks!

 

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Election Day in Cambodia

It is July 26th today. Two days from now, only July 28th, Cambodia will have an election. Everywhere we go, motorbike parades are happening, young people crowded into open-air trucks shout, wave, fly flags and drive around, and everywhere you look there are signs posted. The city is alive, electric, although things like traffic are quite affected. Even minor things like my normally included complimentary guesthouse pickup to the bus station have been cancelled, as there are simply too many passionate political demonstrations.

Cambodian People's Party

I find this all very interesting, although it all does make me slightly nervous. I've had a few conversations with locals here about the political situation. One was our tour guide who is educated and used to be a reporter until he had a gun put to his head about a story he was publishing (he quit after that), and the other being a female university student who was watching one of the parades and who excited told me, in rushed but quite good English, what was going on.

A passing bus of National Rescue Party supporters

According to them, the party in power right now is the Cambodian's People's Party, and they are the same party that has been in power since the Khmer Rouge genocide. Cambodia does not have rules about how long a party can keep it's power, so the same party has continued to rule. There are allegations of vote buying in rural villages where people cannot read or write (my new university-going friend told me that it was for only 10,000r -that's only $0.25/vote) and there are many allegations of corruption. In fact, Transparency International, an anticorruption watchdog, ranks Cambodia a lowly 158 out of the 180 countries ranked. Both of the locals I spoke to told me similiar things: the government allows the wealthy or well-connected certain privileges, they make it difficult to suceed in school unless you have the money necessary to buy your marks, they are selling Cambodia's resources at unstainable rate, allowing foreigners to buy land in the National Parks, etc. The opposition party is called the National Rescue Party, and they really seem to have a lot of supporters (in Phnom Penh at least). Many of these political demonstrators are city dwellers, often educated, and young. An ex-pat I was talking to said that some older folk don't want a new party and find the prospect of political change quite scary. This, of course, is a product of living through the genocide. I suppose their view is that even though things aren't perfect at least they are not the Khmer Rouge, and they think that the younger generation just doesn't understand this.

As interesting and currently peaceful as all the demonstrations are, I can't help but feel a little bit glad to be getting out of the capital on election day just based on the sheer amount of demonstrators alone. I'm currently on a bus to Siem Reap, the city where Angkor Wat is. There I will meet two close friends from back home for a few days, as well as some Belgian friends I met in Vietnam (potentially!). I'm really looking forward to seeing all of them, belatedly celebrating my birthday, and exploring some world famous ancient ruins but I think it's probably wise to lay low on the 28th. Siem Reap isn't the capital but it is a large enough city. Regardless, I'm definitely interested in seeing the results!

 

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You know you're a SE Asia backpacker when....

• A couple beers at the bar costs more than your accomdations for the night.
• You get legitimately excited when a washroom not only has western toilets (as opposed to squats), but also provides you with soap and toilet paper. Bonus points if its free to use.
• You find yourself checking out 8 different hotel rooms in hopes to save $1 for night. You return to the very first one you looked at in the first place.
• You develop your haggling skills, and later realize that the 15 minutes you spent haggling saved you 30 cents.
• You bump into the same other western travellers 15 times, in 15 different cities.
• You have a bracelet tan and a sandal tan.
• There is a good chance you have a SE Asia tattoo: a large wound/scar from a motorbike accident (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I've emerged entirely accident free!)
• Your english has taken a considerable turn for the worse. Thankfully, your skills in hand gestures have tripled.
• "Same same but different" has become an important part of your vocabulary.
• So many of your conversations start with the famous 5 questions: Whats your name, where are you from, how long are you travelling, where are you going, and where have you been.
• Free water makes your day.
• You have found yourself "researching" your next destination (Lonely Planet of course!) while on the bus/train/boat, 45min before arrival, each and every time you reach a new city.
• You have become a pool SHARK.
• You happily plunk ice cubes into your beer, just to do anything to improve the non-refrigerated beer you are served on 38 degree days.
• You have a tank top/vest/singlet from every country you've been to.
• You've learned that prices are flexible for everything. Clothes, alcohol, hotel rooms,buses, tour group prices....

 

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First impressions of Cambodia

I am now on my third day in Cambodia, and honestly, my first impression right now is RAIN. ...actually, maybe that's not quite my first impression, although it very rainy today. To back up a bit, I sold my motorcycle in Ho Chi Minh city a few days ago to a British backpacker. It took 5 days of having it on the market for it to sell, and if I had been willing to accept any of the numerous low-ball offers I received from almost every Vietnamese guy we met, I would have been able to sell it on the first day. After selling my bike at 11am, I booked a bus to Cambodia at 12pm, and by 3pm was happily on my way to Phnom Penh.

Goodbye motorcycle -I'll miss you!

Vietnam has been wonderful in many ways, but after spending almost a month and a half exploring the country I became accustomed to certain aspects of the country that are distinctly Vietnamese. Coming to Cambodia served as a big reminder of the cultural differences and differences in how tourism is viewed by the locals.

Without further ado, some initial impressions of Cambodia:

- Honking prevalance. Or rather, lack thereof. In Vietnam, the locals honk to tell others they are there when passing someone; they honk when turning; they honk when pissed; and they honk while happy. They honk when driving the wrong way up a highway; they honk to show off their custom horn and they honk because everyone else is honking. After experiencing the absolute noise and chaos of Vietnam's roads and highways, it was a real shock to arrive in Cambodia to relatively quiet streets.

- Entire jugs of draft beer for a hefty $2.

- Everyone (almost) speaks good English. Apparently English is a bigger focus in schools here than it is in Vietnam, and this very noticeable upon even a few minutes here. As much as I enjoyed the adventure of trying to learn a new language, and as much as I appreciated (ha!) greatly increasing my skills in both gesturing, using picture dictionaries, and Google Translate, there is also something very refreshing about speaking English to people in the tourism industry.

One of MANY examples.

- Entire restaurants dedicated to happy pizzas (Ganja-fortified, for the unitiated). Most of these restaurants have large, clear signs out front detailing what it is exactly that they sell, and there is zero shame in their advertising standards. Many even have this in their names -"Happy Herb Pizza" is one such example. I knew that Cambodia was fairly lawless when it came to drugs, but I wasn't really expecting it to this extent. It's almost more rare in tourist areas to find restaurants that do not have drug menus than those that do.

- Friendliness of the people. The Cambodian people survived one of the most horrific genocides in recent history, and it was less than 40 years ago. When I look around it blows my mind that many people here still likely remember the genocide or were affected by it. Two million people were murdered by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, a full one-quarter of the country's population. As the Lonely Planet reports, the Cambodian people have been to hell and back but "thanks to an unbreakable spirit and an infectious optimism, have emerged with their spirits and smiles still intact". From my very preliminary encounters with the people here, this sounds very accurate. The street peddlers have left us alone when we said we weren't interested, and even wished us a pleasant meal. When you ask someone (like a tuk-tuk driver) to give you a minute to think, they actually stop pressuring you for a moment and do so. People look you in the eye, smile, and even start up conversations without trying to sell you something. I think there is a greater appreciation of or awareness of tourists here than there is in Vietnam, and I have found it very noticeable right from the beginning.

- Quality of rooms. Although it is possible to stay here for a measly $2/night, you definitely get what you pay for. Even for "nicer" rooms, I think that the quality of what you get for your money has decreased a bit compared to Vietnam. That being said, other things (like food at a restaurant) are cheaper.

- Greater amounts of people begging. This is the poorest country in South East Asia, and it is noticeable. Although it is nice paying rock-bottom prices for everything, it's a complicated issue and makes me wish I could do something.

 

Anyways, I just wanted to write down a few thoughts for now. I'm spending the next few days in Koh Rong, a 3 hour ferry ride from Sihanoukville, with 4 Brits who I met in Vietnam. It's not a very fancy place, but one of the most beautiful beaches I think I've ever seen (and there's 27 more beaches on this same island!!). It's raining like crazy today so I think the rest of the day will be very laid back but hopefully I'll be able to get some jungle trekking, diving and beach time in soon. Till later, friends!

 

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An Ode to Vietnamese Motorbike Mechanics

There are many things that obviously differentiate Canada from Vietnam. People's mannerisms, how business is conducted, how streets are cleaned, even what is considered edible, or what constitutes a social faux pas are just a few differences that anyone would notice from even a few hours here. Sometimes the cultural differences are exhausting and make me miss parts of Canada (there's only so much inane bartering I can do in one day) but other times I run across circumstances that make me very glad to be in Vietnam. My experiences taking a very old motorbike across the entire country have meant that I have inevitably had to meet and use the services of countless hardworking motorbike mechanics.

The typical mechanic shop is unlabelled, but obvious to identify based on the large amount of dark, greasy parts in what appear to be unsorted piles. A few we've been in also sell what every shop/house ever seems to sells: a few drinks, processed snack foods, laundry detergent or cigarettes, but the majority of the shops are mostly just random tools, bikes, hoses, and tires spilling out of a tiny 10x10ft space on the side of the road.

Problem situations that we've had with the bikes have all followed a similiar trajectory. The first step occurs when we notice that something has gone wrong. Perhaps we've looked at the chain, and remembered that it needs oil, or tightening. Perhaps the bike isn't starting properly, or we've noticed a nail through one of the tires. Next, we look around for one of the aforementioned mechanic shops. Usually, there is one within a few meters. It does not matter what part of the country we are in, the longest we've ever had to walk to get to a mechanic has been around 50m. Sometimes we gather a small group of Vietnamese guys who tinker with the bike first, as everyone seems to know how to do minor repairs, but if not, it off to the mechanic we go.

When we get to the shop, we are usually met with our mechanic, a thin Vietnamese man with grease stained fingers and an ever present cigarette dangling from his mouth. We gesture at the part of the bike that doesn't seem to be working that well, and soon enough, we are sitting on a small plastic stool he has provided, watching him tinker with the bike. Never have we had to wait more than a minute or two to be helped, and never has the complete lack of english stopped our mechanic from operating effectively. It blows my mind how well these guys know bikes, and how quickly they get to the root of the problem. If something doesn't work right the first time, they adapt and adjust and do whatever is necessary to create the fix. I've watched them hot glue gun a cracked plastic gas tank grip -maybe not the prettiest fix ever, but the best option for a necessary part that you can't order anymore! No appointment is ever necessary, never do we have to wait to get helped, and never have we had to leave the bikes and come back later. Occasionally, we've even had iced coffees and cigarettes (for Brandon at least) shared with us, with smiles and gestures being the only real way of communicating.

After 10-20 minutes, give or take, our bikes are in perfect working order again, and we are left with a bill that is usually only a few dollars. I think my biggest bill was $30, for a complete engine rebuild with numerous new parts (that took the better part of the morning), and the smallest, only $0.50 for chain tightening and oiling. Vietnam is really known for its scams and for consistently overcharging tourists, but the one industry that could overcharge without us being able to fight it much seems to be the only one that is more or less honest. I'm not sure if its because of how few tourists own bikes here -maybe the mechanics just not used to dealing with tourists -but I am grateful. Vietnamese motorbike mechanics, you have made tour through Vietnam so much more safe and have put my mind at ease numerous times -for that, I salute you!

 

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Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, and many days spent on a bike.

After spending the last few days on a motorbike riding all day, I am currently writing this post from Nha Trang, a beautiful beach town where I hope to stay for a day or two. Spending a full day on a bike is tiring! The sun is incredibly hot and constant vigilance is required at all times because of the drivers here. We pull over frequently, usually once an hour, just to give our ancient motorbikes a brief rest so they don't overheat. A brief reprieve from the sun is also necessary for us -overheating is definitely a risk people people as well as bikes! By the end of the day we pull in dusty, dirty and exhausted, into the town we are staying, and never has a shower and bed sounded so good. I am really enjoying this type of travel because of the people and cities we go through, the incredible scenery we see every day and just the freedom of going where we want, and I would definitely rank this one of the best decisions (if not THE best decision) of the trip, but it certainly is draining. Oh well -I suppose that just means less money spent trying to find things to entertain ourselves during the day. It also makes you appreciate places more when you do stop.

Empty bar, free beer. What is this madness?!

So: a few descriptions or highlights from the last few days.

Hue was an interesting town where we rejoined the majority of tourists (many of whom have purchased a hop-on, hop-off bus ticket with Hue as a major stop).We stayed in a hotel called "The Google Hotel", where for $8/person, we enjoyed a free breakfast, free fresh fruit when we arrived, free laundry, and free beer from 5 until midnight! Sometimes the prices of things in Asia blow my mind.

Hoi An at night

Hoi An is a graceful and atmospheric town that was once a major port in the early 19th century. Because Vietnam was still under French colonial rule at this point, many of the buildings that still exist are in a beautiful and interesting French architectural style. However in the late 19th century, the river that Hoi An is located on silted up. Ships couldn't access the town the way they had before, and Hoi An was left frozen in time, without the continued development that inevitably would have come. In the 90's, a tourism boom began which transformed the city into the cosmopolitan and wealthy town that it is today.

Hoi An

While in Hoi An, I enjoyed some of the best food I had had in a long time (a much needed change from my three times daily noodle soup!), explored the beautiful old buildings lining the river, and checked out the local day and night markets. I also had a few items of clothing custom made. Hoi An has something like 700 tailors, who can make anything your heart desires and for quite a cheap price. I discovered that it can be quite fun to have clothing made to measure. As per usual, I fit in some beach time, some socializing here and there, and a few lazy morning in the hotel's lovely in-ground pool -one of the first I've seen in Asia! All in all a lovely town -walking along the peaceful river at night with the entire town lit up by lanterns convinced me that this town is probably the most beautiful I've seen on my travels.

Nha Trang is a beach party town, and probably the most modern, slick city I've seen in some time. We only stayed here two days and although the beach was stunning and I enjoyed the atmosphere and food, the highlight was a trip to VinPearl, Vietnam's biggest (and only?) theme park. I kept running into the same people throughout Hue and Hoi An, and when we all found ourselves in Nha Trang we decided that spending the day on rollercoasters and at the waterpark was the best use of our time. The 7 of us spent the day joking around, riding amusement park rides and cooling off in some pretty awesome waterslides. My only regret of the whole day was the lack of photos, as my phone was in for a minor repair. Maybe not the most cultural of experiences, but one of the most fun and silly days I've had in awhile!

Nha Trang beach

Next is on to Saigon, where I will sell my bike (so sad!) and bus on to Cambodia, before flying to Kuala Lumpur. Another change in the trip, in the style of travel, and in company, but that's the joy of this kind of adventure!

 

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Updates from the first part of my motorbike trip.

Finally, FINALLY I am able to write a blog post again! My charger broke in Hanoi the day before I left on my trip, and my shitty knock-off charger that worked for my iPhone somehow did not work for my ipad as well. It's taken several knock-off chargers (including one that sparked rather loudly and then melted in a mess of black charred white plastic), but I am finally able to use my ipad again and write a post. I'm maybe a little bit more excited than I should be!

So, where to start? I feel like so much has happened in week and a bit that I've been travelling on motorbike. This is the first time that I've truly felt like I've seen the real country that I've visited, and really gotten off the beaten path. The majority of towns that I've stayed in during the last week and a half almost never get tourists and for them, seeing a Western face is a really a shock. I can't count the number of times that people have waved at us, or turned to stare, or that we've gathered a crowd just by stopping somewhere to get a drink. People are a lot more friendly in towns that are completely untouched by tourism -they haven't grown accustomed to using tourists as their source of income, and when people invite you to have drinks with them or share their food, they are motivated by nothing more than an interest in the unusual and genuinely just wanting to talk to you. There are no hidden scams to surface hours later. There have been many times when we've been invited to drink with the locals (for free), had food shared with us, or had random people at the "restaurant" where we were eating want to cheers our glasses or shake our hands. It's amazing to see how much communication is still possible when neither side speaks any of the other's language.

Travel here has been really interesting. Things that you typically hear about, but maybe don't see in the main tourists hubs are on main display here. Countless cows and waterbuffalo are led around by their owners literally all day. It's a big deal for a family to have a cow here, and they make sure to take very good care of them. We've driven by endless kilometers of empty sand beaches, and watched as fields of florescent green rice paddy's whistle by. Huge karst mountains rise and fade into a bluish haze, and the roads are smooth and sun, HOT. Almost every Vietnamese woman who we have met has expressed concern for my bare arms and legs, where the dominant beauty standard is for pale skin and where the majority wear jackets and face masks to avoid the sun. It's funny how cultural differences surrounding beauty are so strong. Even though I like having a tan and don't want to be white, the constant disaproving comments can have an impact as they occur multiple times a day for days on end. They almost make me want to cover up just to avoid them!

Enjoying tit cho -before I knew it was dog.

We've also seen some parts of the culinary scene here that many westerners would find shocking. Many times we've passed through some small village somewhere and seen dog, or "Thit Cho", in various stages of butchering. I've got some pretty gruesome photos that I think I'll refrain from posting, but it really makes you realize how cultural views of animals here can vary so much from country to country, and it's something that you just kind of have to accept. In Thailand and Laos, dogs typically weren't pets but they weren't eaten. Here, the dogs cringe, growl or run away if you go to pet them, and it's clear that they are a normal part of the diet in some towns and something that's been going on for eons. I'm still travelling with a friend, Brandon, and the commonality of eating dogs really came close to home on a particuarly long driving day. We had been on the road for maybe 5 or 6 hours without any real break, so when we smelled roasting meats on a grill in a local market far off the main highway, we decided to pull over and take a look. Most heads in the market turned to look at the unusual sight of two very dusty and dirty foreigners get off their bikes and wander over to get food, and with some help from a calculator to write down the price, we were able to buy what looked like grilled pork ribs. Looking back, I suppose we should have taken a closer look at what we were eating, but the meat was chopped up for us and in our famished haze we gobbled down our food and tossed the scraps to the stray dog hanging around (!!). It was only when our dinner was half eaten did we realize that the texture was a bit off -too much fat, but too tough in between the ribs. We walked back and investigated, and discovered that our meal very closely matched the rib cage with paw still attached that was being sold a few stalls over. Ugh. Normally I'm fine with adventurous eating, and really, I probably would have even been fine with this, except for the fact that many Vietnamese believe that dog tastes better when the dog is afraid when it dies. As a result, dogs are usually killed in front of the other dogs, and are often beaten first. Not exactly something I want to support! I'm taking solice in the fact that I didn't know - I'll just have to be more careful next time.

Anyways, I suppose that's enough of a summary for now. More to come soon, now that the iPad is in commission again! :-)

 

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