Jan 2006

HCMC was mental. But I lived. There were a few hair raising moments when crossing the road where they missed me by an inch or so but I made it!

In fact, I really enjoyed it. The whole place was buzzing 24 hours a day, the people were really nice and the food was good.

Obviously I was there over Chinese New Year and got to participate in a few celebrations. They had people all dressed up driving by on trucks and the bars never seemed to shut (they like their beer!)

Whilst there I saw the Cu Chi Tunnels and went on a trip up the Mekong Delta which were both really good. I also went to the War Museum which was a bit disturbing, a bit anti American but then you see what happened during that war and you can't really blame them..

I hung out with an old guy called Peter for most of the time which was cool, especially as he kept paying for everything!

And now I've left and starting the journey up the coast to Hanoi. It was a little touch and go that I would be able to get out of the city as the guy at the travel agent told me that there were no seats available on any buses, trains or planes and that everything would shut down during New Year. But I managed to find a seat on a bus and I'm now at the coast at Mui Ne = more beach time!

Arrived in Ho Chi Min City yesterday afternoon, found a hotel
(expensive one, it had cable and hot water for a massive $13 a night!) It's right in the centre of backpacker land and the only downside is that the 8 million motorcycles in the city drive past my window every morning beeping at each other furiously!! I swear to god, I have never seen so much traffic in all my life. They go any which way down the street, there doesn't seem to be any road rules. Crossing the road is like risking your life, you just have to step in and pray that the bikes and cars don't hit you!

So, I found a room, then I went for a little wonder and a beer. I saw
this Swedish guy that had been on the bus with me and we chatted for a bit, then I booked a tour and then we went for dinner. He was really nice and has been travelling around SA Asia for about 4 months so was telling me where I should go etc.

Anyway, I got up this morning and went to catch the bus to take me to
the Chu Chi tunnels that the Vietnamese built underground to fight the Americans. All very interesting. I'd been speaking to an older guy called Peter whilst we were waiting for the bus but then he took a different bus. I met him going round on the tour and we said we would meet up later.

So, on the bus coming back, an American guy sat next to me and started chatting. He was actually a Jewish bloke, born in South Africa, lived in a Kibbutz in Israel and then moved to the USA. So he was telling me a bit about his job, then he made a call (to what I assumed his wife/partner/girlfriend) and then turned round to me and said "Life is really complicated" Well, I didn't disagree but said mine was quite hassle free at the moment!

Then, he starts telling me his life story, starting out with the fact
that he'd just fallen in love. Ah nice!! Until he tells me that he's 50, already married, with 3 grown up sons, he's a vice president of a university and he's just fallen in love with a 26 year old girl that used to be one of his students and is now planning to give up everything for her!!! It was so weird, he just blurted it all out and the 2 guys he was travelling with on business didn't even know about it!!!!

Anyway, we discuss the merits of falling in love (well, he discussed, I listened!) and then chatted about what was going to happen wen he told everyone. He is going to lose a lot...

It was nice chatting to him. We arrive back, he gives me his
email so that I can find out how the story progresses and then I go
off for lunch, looking to meet the other bloke that I'd spoken to
before.

I'm in the restaurant and behind me are an English couple who were on
my tour and they asked me about the story the American was telling me, as they had been sat in front of us but couldn't quite hear everything. So I start telling them and then the American guy turns up, saying that his 2 mates have sent him out to find me to invite me to lunch with them...!!!!!!!!!

So I go have lunch with them and the American wife cheater starts
talking about all the big stars that have married younger women and
yet not saying anything about his own life but just giving me knowing
looks and then laughing his head off! And they bought me lunch!!!
awesome!

Quite an unusual day for me! When I go to America he says I have to
go to Michigan to visit him and his new girlfriend!!!!

My time at the beach had to come to an end sometime but it was hard tearing myself away, I could easily have stayed there another 7 weeks!

I got the bus back up to Phnom Penh and stayed by the lake in the same guest house as before (I think this time I had the company of bed bugs but for $3 a night you can't complain!). Took another whirl around the city on a motorcycle to the market where I bargained hard for a small wooden buddha, some silk cushion covers and a hat. To be truthful I found it really hard to bargain as it's all so cheap anyway... I think in my head what the price I want and am willing to pay is, then I ask how much it is and they always say either the price that I am thinking or a lower price - doh! So I ask for a dollar off what they say and go on my merry way!!

Up early to catch the bus to Ho Chi Min City. A little bumpy but nothing compared to the Poipet to Siem Reap road. We got stopped on the way because the Prime Minister was opening a school so the road was blocked for about an hour. He eventually flew off in his helicopter and his assistants sped past in big Lexus 4x4, there was about 30 of these cars so he obviously needs a lot of assistance!!

The border crossing was OK. I had to pay a man $1 to fill out my form and another guy 1000 riel for him to staple my 2 forms together, the joys of bureaucracy!

A man with massive shoulders sat next to me for the rest of the trip which was a little uncomfortable. (These little things are all important parts of my day!)

Arrived in Ho Chi Min and no word of a lie (!) I have never seen so many motorcycles in all my life, driving at immense speed in all directions. This city is mental! The traffic never stops and, as everyone advises, if you want to cross the road you really do just have to step right into the traffic, slowly walk aross the road and hope for the best! I find closing my eyes whilst doing this helps!

So here I am, going to book a few trips around the city and then head for the beach (again) before everything shuts down for the Chinese New Year.

Monday I was up early to get the bus to Phnom Penh. It was a
rickity old thing but there were a few other Westerners on board. A
girl who was travelling with 2 guys sat next to me. We got chatting
and she has just done what I've done, quit her job and is travelling
around for 7 months with her mate.

When we got to PP I shared a tuk tuk with her and her mates and we
stayed at the Happy Guest House on the lake which was really pretty.
I shared a twin room with her to lower costs and we even had our own
bathroom, luxury!!

We then got 4 motobikes to take us to the S-21 jail where the Khmer
Rouge detained and tortured loads of innocent Cambodians. It was very depressing, and to say that it all happened not so long ago. Then we went to the Killing Fields where they found all the mass graves. The ones that they have dug up are not very deep at all and they packed loads of bodies in. There are still clothes and bones embedded in the ground between the graves of some of the dead which made walking around the place a bit uncomfortable, to be walking over the dead. And there are still around 45 graves that they haven't dug up. Not a fun sight seeing experience.

Then we motored back to the guest house in rush hour traffic. That
was a little more scarey than Siem Reap as there are plenty of
vehichles on the road in PP and my driver wanted to be first all the time - we had a few close calls but they don't seem to worry about it at all. The road system is very much organised chaos!! We had dinner at the guest house and played cards and I lost.

Up early to catch another bus to the beach. Only 4 hours! We have
stayed at a nice place again with our own bathroom and TV - hooray!!!
Spent the past few days chilling on the beach and having dinner out in the evening. Already got quite a nice tan!!

Today Fiona, Gary and Olly all went back to PP and then they are off to Vietnam. They are doing a similar trip to me but a bit faster as they only have until July to fit it all in!!

So today I chilled on my own on the beach. It's not massively developed yet which is nice but you can see the potential. There are a lot of holida makers here from all over the world.

Tomorrow I am heading to a different beach, at the moment I am on
Serendipity Beach and tomorrow I'll head to Victory Beach which has a
few more guest houses. We got handed a flyer about an open air cinema which is showing 'Memoirs of a Geisha' which I really want to see so I am going to try and stay at the guest house where they are showing it!!

I have my Vietnam visa although a girl I was taking to on the beach
was saying the weather is crap there at the moment. I had planned to
leave here on Monday but maybe I'll stay a little longer...!!!

The place I am emailing from were just playing a Christmas CD but now they've put Michael Bolton on, awesome!!!

Impressive.

I had 2 days at Angkor Wat, visiting a lot of the temples, but not all as there are so many, spread over miles and miles. It was really
good, very impressive structures, all massive and I got a bit scared climbing up them as they were so steep and the stairs were really narrow and a bit worn, well, a lot worn.

I don't reckon it will be long before some of them are given the Stone Henge treatment and roped off. Hundreds of people climb all over them everyday and a lot of them are already in a pretty derelict state... At least I've done it!!

And so many tourists!!