Ho Chi Minh & Cambodia

Cambodia

Sunday 25/02
We left at 7.30am by coach and reached the border by 1p.m. Our leader told us we'd arrive around 3.30pm so that gives you an idea of our driver's speed and hair-raising ability to weave around the other vehicles! This journey involved 2 ferry crossings - the Mekong and Bassic rivers. Unfortunately Ian hasn't been well and hit with the dreaded diarrhoea. Our lunch venue was hot and humid with lots of bodies in a small space. Suddenly he stood up, went white and started to reel backwards. Luckily a strong man was nearby and grabbed him! Following this he has had a quiet couple of days, foodwise and sleeping heaps. However it hasn't stopped us from exploring the important aspects of a city.He is recovering now family, so don't worry!
Later in the evening, 8 of us took a motorbike ride, hugging the Cambodian border and up a mountain to view the sunset. This also gave us an opportunity to view the countryside and see for ourselves the poverty and basic living conditions of so many of these people. Their houses would be condemned by our standards. Some of their pole houses are above the stagnant canals - no wonder there is a mosquito problem!!
Their income is from duck farming and rice growing. During the rainy season the water rises up to their backdoor and all the ducks take the opportunity to visit the other farms!! How they sort this one out I don't know!! Our restaurant was on the Bassac River, and the next morning during breakfast, there was a hive of activity. All means of transport, many of the boats off to catch their fish for the day.
We travelled to Phnom Penh by boat (seats for just the 13 of us) - once again it was supposed to take 51/2 hours, but our driver reached there in 4!! However we were drenched in the process - a huge wave came through the front hatch - left open for ventilation! Ian and I sat in the front seat as we thought there would be more leg room (for Ian obviously!)but not a good choice on this occasion! Our biggest fear was we'd sw2ollow some of the water. All the way up the Bassac we passed rice factories, boats stacked high with bags of rice, fishing nets and boats everywhere.
The river has a viiety of uses and I can see why it is so vital to their livelyhood. People bathe in it, cattle bathe in it, people clean their teeth in it and urinate in it - no doubt the other too but didn't actually witness it!!! The pvc piping leading down into it from the houses didn't leave much for the imagination!
Coming through the Vietnam border, the authorities asked us to pay $100 U.S. or have our bags scanned! We chose to scan the bags, dragging them up a very unstable ramp and back down again!! The Cambodian border was a littlw more civil and took less time - even without any bribes.
Phnom Penh is a bustling city at the confluence of Bassac, Mekong and Tonic Sap rivers. Once again, very hot, humid and quite dusty but also relatively free of garbage lying around.
Day 2 was spent at the Tnoi Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields. The musuem was once a school but the Khmer Rouge used it for their prison. It was a very graphic and grizzly reminder of the Cambodian's tragic past.The Khmer Rouge were extremely cruel and inflicted unimaginable torture and methods of killing, on their victims. 50% of Cambodia's population is under 17. From 1975-1979, the middle class civilians were exterminated.
After this sombre experience we visited another one - the killing fields. 149 mass graves with up to 70 bodies in some.14 of these graves have had the bodies exhumed and their skulls and clothing displayed in a 3 story tower, on view for the public. Many thousands lie in peace in the river and will be left there. Even now, during the wet season, there are many bones and clothing unearthed. This experience certainly brought home the tragic life experiences these people have had to endure, through bloodshed and political instabiltiy.
We dined out at 2 different restaurants, organised by a non profit making group, to help street children gain work experience. Very tasty food too.
For our last evening meal, we were asked to dine at a resident's house (he was our guide for the musuem & fields) - wow, how lucky we were. They live in a 5 room house, 7 families sharing.Each evening, he teaches English to 13 underpriveliedged children in the neighbourhood. This happens 6 days a week for 1 hour each evening. What a delightful group of children who were so eager to practise their English with us. To enable the children to attend school, the parents have to pay (literally, as that is the teacher's wage) and they are just so enthusiastic to learn. They would be a treat to teach!! It is just so heartbreaking to think of all the books and paper wasted in our schools, that would benefit these children here. The government and workers are so corrupt, nothing like this could be sent by post as it would never reach them. any assistance like this would have to be posted to Intrepid to depots in Vietnam or Thailand to be passed on. Our meal was absolutely delicious.
A special chicken curry, chilli soup, banana fritters, spring rolls, pork meat balls and noodles, beef in noodles and rice. - sounds like home but it wasn't!! Not with all their delicious spices to and additives to supplement each dish. A very special evening. The only difficult part was sitting on the floor with our legs tucked in beside!!

Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam airline flew us down to Saigon and it was a shame it was only business class for an hour.Beggars can't be choosers - as the saying goes!
Our first morning was spent visitng places of importance by cylo. I would loved to have a video of the traffic criss-crossing each other, buses passing within inches of us, and our cyclos weaving amongst it all. An experience not to be missed when visiting Vietnam. Firstly, the War Remants Museum, which portrays very graphic photos and displays of war crimes and the aftermath effect for the Vietnamese people.The end of the war was announced from the Reunification Palace and it is quite an impressive building even by today's standards.For lunch we found a Pho 24 and enjoyed a Vietnamese meal. Pho 24 is a chain of restuarants with cheap and tasty food. Later, most of our group went to the renowned Ben Thanh Market. Ian and I went up one isle of it and decided to find real shops instead. We just couldn't face the haggling - you buy, you buy, very cheap for you ............... in the hot, humid weather so explored the very pleasant air conditioned shops instead! For dinner, we were taken to a street (our on the street amongst it all) eating place. If we had not been on our tour, none of us would have eaten there. However, it was a real Vietnamese experience - we cooked our meat on a clay tile placed on hot coals in a ceramic pot. Once the meat was cooked we added it to the salad and noodles on rice paper, wrapped it up and dipped it in chilli sauce. Very yummy.
I have been reading a book called :The Tunnels of Cu Chi" so I was looking forward to our morning visit out there. This tunnel network, 230kms of it, displays the undaunted will, intelligence and pride of the Cu Chi People. Too hard to describe in a few words but an experience embedded in our minds forever.A few of our group ( Ian included) went through some!Ian also lined up at the firing range and fired off two rounds with an AK47!It caused more damage to his ears than the target!!
We've farewelled 5 of our group and 6 of us are travelling on to Cambodia tomorrow, joined by another 6 - unknown as yet!