Beard's on Tour: The last week or so (Vietnam and Cambodia)

Hello,

We are now in Cambodia.. Sorry it’s been a while since we last blogged but we have been rather busy... So this is gonna be a long blog!!!

Monday November 7

So when we last left you in Nha Trang (last week) that evening we went out for dinner and then went to the station to get on the sleeper train for the final time (thank god!!!).. The train left on time (8.30) and we arrived into Ho Chi Minh (or Saigon) at 4am!!! Lee had a rotten cold so didn’t sleep much. Think it is fair to say we are happy to see the back of the trains for now!!!

It was absolutely pissing it down when we got there so we got a little bit wet getting onto the bus and then to the hotel.. We were into day rooms again (4 to a room) so we just shared a single one.. We grabbed an hours kip, a quick shower, some brekky and then headed out on a day tour to the Mekong Delta..

First stop a bus where we could get some more sleep as it took an hour and 40 mins to get to our boat… We then took a cruise across the river to a candy making factory (tour guides description), shack would be more appropriate however it was very interesting being able to try some of the produce.. By far the best bit though was Lee trying some sneak wine (which as the description says is rice wine inside a bottle with a snake for company!!) and holding a python..

Then we got on a motorcycle tuk tuk to go to a local restaurant for lunch… our driver got lost (apparently he was new) and we got lost but eventually we made it… One very funny thing happened on route.. When we got off the bikes to walk a short distance to lunch there was a slippery bank.. One second were standing there and then the next Lucy notices that one of our group (Magda) has fallen down there.. Her friend Ella was laughing her head off.. and Lucy trying to help here also slipped on her arse as well.. Magda had to have a shower when we got to the restaurant.. hehehehe!!!

Lunch was nice especially the fish, see the pics below…
Then we got on a local row boat to go back to the big boat.. we stopped on route to have some traditional Vietnam tea and listen to some traditional music.. cue lots of instruments and some singing.. One of the women had a voice “like a goose farting in the fog” (plagerism from Billy Connolly!!)…

After that we got the big boat back to the bus and went back to the hotel for some sleep… In the evening we went out for a group meal to a local Vietnamese restaurant and had burgers (sometimes you just crave normal food!)

Tuesday November 8

We were up early again as we were going to the Chi Chi tunnels… there were a set of underground tunnels built during the American war (as the locals call it)…. We looked around a bit and then had a chance to go down one of the tunnels.. it went for 100 meters we only went for 20 (even Lucy came down)… apparently they have widened these set for fat foreigners.. rubbish Lee had trouble getting his arse down there!!

We then headed back to the hotel.. We had every intention of going out and about but frankly we couldn’t be arsed so we did very little in the afternoon apart from pick up our washing… Last night we went out for another group meal to Café 333 as a few people were leaving the group in Saigon!!!

After dinner we went to a bar and sat outside.. There were prostitutes everywhere and even the police turned up!!! WE were moved inside as apparently it’s illegal to sit on the pavement drinking… After a cocktail we headed back to the hotel.. We woke up this morning and Lucy has caught Lee’s cold!!

Wednesday November 9

We got on the bus and had 2.5 hours to the Cambodian border… We said goodbye to our Vietnam tour leader Thinh (we will miss him top guy) and set about getting our visas.. A little bit ardous and time consuming but we got there in the end… When we got through our tour guide wasn’t there but we located him eventually…

Our first impressions of Cambodia were:
1) It’s bloody hot!!
2) Seems like there is a lot of poverty here
3) The street food is interesting.. Lee had a baguette for lunch filled with what we think was pork and salad.. HE took a precautionary immodium as a preemptive measure should it all go Pete Tong!!!

We checked into our hotel and then went out for a group dinner to a bar down by the river.. There were some fireworks as it was a national holiday to celebrate their independence from the French.. We had a nice meal, a couple of drinks and then headed back to our hotel.

Thursday November 10

We got up and had some breakfast.. Then we headed out on a cyclo tour of the city.. Basically a cycle with a seat attached and a Cambodian cycles you around.. We were playing with traffic which is always good fun. We went to the Royal residence and had a look around.. Then we had some free time so we headed back to the river for some lunch..

In the afternoon we went to the killing fields.. It was very sad. This is where the Khmer Rouge regime killed a lot of innocent Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. There are 343 killing field sites across the country and in the one we went to 20,000 people were killed. They had a memorial there of skeletons piled up high, all very disturbing. After that we went to a former prision called S21 which is where a lot of people were held prisioner before being taken to the killing fields.. Some of the pictures there were very gruesome..

In the evening we went on a random wander from our hotel.. We wound up in a local Cambodian café.. Besides all of the strange stuff on the menu we found some chicken fried rice so we were happy.

Friday November 11

Today we were up and about quite early as we were leaving for Siem Reap by bus.. The group had been split into 2 by now so as we only had 8 people we were able to stretch out a bit.. First stop was for some tarantulas.. Yes you heard right people deep fried spiders.. Bun our tour guide (who at first we thought was as mad as a box of frogs!!!) led the way in devouring a whole one.. Some of our group followed (Jane had a leg), we didn’t!!

After a stop for lunch we rolled into town and checked into the hotel at 3.30pm and then had a meeting with a Gecko’s manager as us Brits weren’t allowed to go by land due to the Foreign Commonwealth Office advising not to travel into Bangkok due to the flooding situation.. The upshot was Gecko’s paid for 2 nights more accomadation in Siem Reap and laid on some more activities for us. Due to the uncertainty over Bangkok we decided to stay here in Siem Reap until Sunday November 20 and then fly to Bangkok to pick up our next tour heading South to Singapore.

Then we went to get out passes for Angkor Wat temples and then headed to a temple to watch sunset.. basically we walked for 30 minutes and missed the sunset.. that night we went out for a dinner as a group to a restaurant where they put on a traditional Khmer dance show.. The show was great, the dinner was ok and we had to wait over for our drinks, only in Cambodia.. We headed out for a couple more drinks and then called it a night..

Saturday November 12
An early start for Lee (4.30am!!) as he was going to watch sunrise at Angkor Wat.. Lucy unfortunately was lied low with a spot of Delhi Belly which we think was caused by the curry from the previous night.. Sunrise was amazing, we got some great pictures, one of group Tara went for a Burton (fell down some stairs)..

Then we went to the jungle temple.. It was great because there was no one there.. Then we headed back to the hotel to get some breakfast and pick up the others who didn’t fancy sunrise.. First stop Angkor Wat for a proper look round the place.. Outside there were monkeys roaming around which was kinda cool…

We spent a good 2 hours inside having a look, got some good pics and then went for some lunch.. In the afternoon we went for some more temples and in the evening had a group dinner and a few games of pool..

Sunday November 13

A lie in yay so we had brekky about 9am.. Then we went out with Jane to have a look around the old market which is about 5 minutes walk from our hotel.. Fakes galore, Lee bought some sunglasses, Lucy a bag and Jane some shorts…

In the afternoon we went to a floating village.. We sat on the top of boat on the way there which was kinda cool and then had a tour around and headed back to our hotel catching a sunset on the way..

In the evening we went out for a last meal as a group as most people were leaving for Bangkok the following day.

We said a goodbye to our tour guide Bun.. We will actually miss him.. he’s crazy as, calls Lee brother all the time but he always has a smile on his face and if you listen to his life story that in itself is kinda incredible..
Lee copied him a load of Beatles music from his mp3 player as he loves the Beatles..

Monday November 14

Up early to wave everyone off to Bangkok.. We had a free morning so we wandered back to the markets and has a look. Lee bought a Cambodia football shirt, Lucy a silk scarf and we stopped for a drink.. In the afternoon we were heading off for some tuk tuk adventures.. We went to a silk farm (Jane spent a fortune) and a stone carving factory. We were that impressed with the tuk tuk driver we decided to hire him for the next day.

That evening we went out for some Mexican food and a couple of games of pool.

Tuesday November 15

Up and out by 10am to meet out tuk tuk driver.. First we stopped at a place called Concert which is a Cambodian volunteering organisation as Jane wanted to find out a bit more about coming back to volunteer here…

Then we went to a crocodile farm which wasn’t on our list of things to do but Lee saw a road sign.. It was bloody brilliant and there were baby crocodiles right up to full size adults.. We even had the chance to feed them live chickens and ducks for 7 dollars a pop but we decided not to bother..

Then we went to the National Museum and 3 hours later we were done, lol which is a lot of time for us to spend in a museum.. it was actually very interesting.. last stop for our driver was the central market where we had a dirty KFC..

In the evening we went out for dinner with Magda and Ella as they were leaving Wednesday morning..

Wednesday November 16

So this morning we have moved rooms into a triple with Jane… We had a real lazy day, went to the internet cafe to do some bits and pieces. In the evening we had planned to eat at the hotel as they were having a tapas night where all food and drinks were 1 dollar.. Turns out that half of Siem Reap had exactly the same idea so we decided to give that a swerve.. We wound up going back to the Mexican for tea..

Thursday November 17

Rachel Barker's birthday, happy birthday Rach!! We went to a cooking class in the morning.. we had a great laugh, there were 5 of us.. First of all we went to the market and then to the Angkor Palm restaurant where the class was running.. The chef (he looked about 12) took us through all the dishes that we were making..

Lucy made Fish Amok with Morning Glory, Jane made sweet and sour chicken and I made Beef Khmer soup.. best of all we got to eat it for lunch...

Afterwards we went to a spa place for some R&R.. Lee had a Swedish massage, crikey!! Last night we did a pub quiz at a local expats bar called the Warehouse.. had a great time all the proceeds went to a good cause and we even cam 4th..

So that's it, we will try and make sure we don't leave it 2 weeks until the next blog post.. Think it is fair to say we are ready to move on now.. Personally I (Lee) will be glad to get out of here hopefully not having told one of the drivers to shove their tuk tuk where the sun doesn't shine..

Until next time!!

Lots of Love
Lee and Lucy xxxx

Pictures

Cambodia - Siem Reap