sihanoukville (or at least part 1 of it)

Just a quick update while I am waiting for the bus. I am currently in Sihanoukville, and am catching a night bus (I have some sleep enhancement drugs ready in hand) to siem reap, which should be approximatley a 10-12 hour night drive. I have been on sleeper buses before which can be tolerable, but I don't think this is a full sleeper bus, but one where the seats go back about 45 degrees.

the last few days here in sihanoukville have been relaxing, but also tiring. I think I might be getting a bit worn out in a few different ways which isn't good, so it was nice and probably helpful to just rest and not do too much. I had one day where my eyes started to get a bit infected which wasn't good. And very very unfortunately my foot is now puffing up alot and getting red. I thought the salt water here would do it good, but unfortunatley the water is not clean at all and quite grubby so I believe that has caused it to become infected. I visited the pharmacy today and got some antibiotics so hopefuly it will start to go down, otherwise i'm visiting the doctor when i arrive in town tomorrow.

On my first half day here, I managed to catch up with 2 swiss guys I know from my days in Vang Vieng, as well as a few others I worked with while in Vang Vieng. The sun was out and shining and wonderful. Then friday I woke up to the sound of rain - I thought it must have been my imagination but no it was most definitely rain happening outside!

I have had some interesting conversations with the people I have met, both old friends and new friends. Because I don't drink alot, and i have never used drugs or anything like that, it has impressed alot of people. As 'squidge' puts it, "you inspire me to be a better man". I can only hope and pray that my being friends with these people (some of whom are solid drug users) might in some way make a change or positive impact as they know I am a devout christian.

I'll have to write about what things are like here in sihanoukville, and my other adventures (including riding with 3 passengers and 1 driver on a scooter) :) next time....

A chance meeting

I had an interesting bus trip (again) today. I had booked a ticket through a travel agency in the street where I was staying to catch a 7:15am bus to sihanoukville which meant that I had to get to the agency this morning by 6:45. No problems there. However, when I arrived the shop was shut and no one seemed to know what was going on!! So, I wandered up and down the street a couple of times, being accosted for tuk-tuks and motorbikes frequently (they must have thought I was crazy going back and forth) until I eventually found the guy who owns the shop and he took me to a mini van which would take me to the bus station and told me to wait for "5 minutes"... (this was at 6:45). So I waited, and waited and waited and waited some more. No joke, I waited for 45 minutes!! 7:15 came and went and I was thinking, hmm okay guess I've missed the bus, great. I was sitting there, wondering do I stay? Should I get a tuk tuk myself to the station? What do I do. So I continued to wait until 7:30 when the guy came back. His response to me mentioning that I had missed the bus was that "its okay, same same". We drove a couple of blocks away where he stopped on the edge of one of the main roads where the bus actually came and met us (already full). I was the only western person on the bus which was fine, I just felt a bit bad that they probably all thought I was late when in actual fact I was early to catch the bus!

Oh well.. Anyway so I was sitting next to an older gentleman who was wearing a face mask (not all that uncommon). We didn't really speak during the eary stages of the bus trip, until probably 3/4 way through the journey after a short break. His name was Pensamin (or something along those lines). Interestingly enough, I discovered he was a Christian, currently working for a building company, regularly travels between Phnom Penh and is 56 years old with 4 children and 2 grandchildren. He spoke about the genocide 30 years ago, but didn't mention any specifics about his involvement or what happened to him, only that it was very sad. Before his current job he worked for 3 years for an organisation where he went into the prisons and gave bible lessons to the prisoners there (I was quite pleasantly surprised to meet my first christian local on my travels). He spoke of his love for the Jesus Christ, said he had been a christian for 10 years. His English was quite good, but there were some limitations and occasionally difficult to understand him particularly with the face mask on! I asked if it was difficult being a christian in Cambodia, but he said it wasn't any more. He goes to a church twice on sundays in phnom penh. However, when closing in to sihanoukville we passed by a store which sells "house spirits", or at least the houses for the house spirits. He told me how everyone has them, and upon further questioning he still has one at his house as well. I guess there is still an element of traditional spirit worship still involved as a "back-up" plan for some of these peoople.

Also, something I forgot to mention yesterday was about one of Pol-Pots senior officers that I found quite interesting at the genocide museum. Duch (I can't remember his actual original name) is the one and only officer from that time who while in his trial admitted to having been involved in the whole genocide, taking full responsibility for the situation, as well as admitting regret and asking for forgiveness. I discoved on another poster that he became a christian while in prison, which may have had some influence into why he admitted. All other people involved deny that it happened or that they had any responsibility in it. Interesting.

Vang Vieng

So.. I am still in Vang Vieng! I was only planning on staying here for 3 days max, yet, still I am here. Vang Vieng, to the uninformed is a town that particularly caters for tourists, known well as a party town for the tubing and bars, high rope swings, slides, river activities, caving, rock climbing, drugs, sex. You name it, chances are its available in Vang Vieng. As a girl who barely drinks and doesn't do drugs some wonder how i would fit in, or what i would do in a place like Vang Vieng. It is a very interesting place to be a Christian in - not the usual hangout that would be expected of people who believe. It has made for some very interesting discussions and openings with other travellers. I've made quite a few good friends during my time here.

Yesterday morning I had purchased a bus ticket to continue down south to Vientiene, to be leaving this morning. However, last night I got chatting to one of the guys working at a couple of bars on the river and got offered a job (my second job offer this week). I can't really explain why, but for some obscure reason it felt like the right thing for me to do (against better judgement I'm sure some would say). So i said I would see if i could get a refund or exchange on my bus ticket, which i did. So today I will be working on the river for Monkey Bar but for Bucket Bar for the remainder of my time in Vang Vieng (which i doubt will exceed more than aweek as i'll get bored too quickly).

So yes, I'm not sure what this experience will bring. I'm sure it will be another challeng, but i'm praying that it opens plenty of opportunities to talk with people as to why i don't drink or smoke or do drugs (i've found it often impresses people, they don't expect that). I've had a few discussions about being a christian with people, and hopefully it opens up more doors. I don't know for sure what my purpose is for being here, but I feel that I should be here for a little while at least, perhaps minister to other travellers? I'm not sure. but I'm sure i'll find out! :)

If only I had finished that apologetics course...

Like I've mentioned before, many many people here in SEA are on a spiritual journey of sorts. Religion is a topic that comes up pretty much every day. Possibly could be slightly influenced by the millions of temples... I've found that I've been able to speak so much more openly about being a Christian here in Asia than I was at home - however these discussions have all been with other fellow travellers rather than locals.

Last night I caught up with those guys from the band again and ended up having quite a good very late night chat with one of them in particular. They're originally from Arkinsaw (spelling??) in the US, grown up in the church but now "fallen away" as P. put it. They were playing another gig at a bar in town, and when it shut at 11pm due to the curfew here in LP, everyone all headed off to the Bowling alley as for some bizarre reason that is the one place that is open till the early hours of the morning. I'd grabbed my guitar (they play banjo and mandolin) and we'd jammed a little bit. I'd earlier seen P. and had a bit of a chat with him before he'd started his gig, during which he gave me a list of christian books to read (my ever expanding list!).

Anyway, P and I were there sitting outside in the dirt late at night having this full-on chat about faith, beliefs, and proof that the Bible is a reliable document. He was telling me how he was not sure where he stood anymore. He asked me a question about what I thought Jesus meant when He said that we would do greater things than he?!! Asking all these deep questions and I was starting to think "aahhhh I don't have the words to answer this at all". A bit funny really, as I'd been reading Genesis a day or 2 previously and the whole story with Moses and him not being eloquent enough but God using his words regardless. Then we were discussing how we knew the Bible was true and . I felt way out of my depth as he knew way more of the bible than I did. I was there wishing I had finished all the apologetics classes from my early uni christian group days, and perspectives course! I don't think I was particularly all that convincing, but it was good to have such an open discussion in a country that is so closed in.

I've had a few Sara Groves songs stuck in my head over the past few days from her Conversations album - particularly 'Painting pictures of Egypt' and 'Hello Lord'. Good songs.

Anyway, today I'm having a chill-out day. Woke up still full from all that food yesterday and jumped into a slow-boat heading up the Mekong river to the Pak Ou caves. Along the way we passed by many people working along side the river, some of them sifting gravel out the section full of pebbles, others shovelling pebbles, and where the sandy banks are (as it is dry season and river is low at the moment) there are many many people there gold panning! I would never have guessed there was gold in the river here! We had a quick stop at a village to try some lao-lao (rice wine whisky). Always a good thing to have a couple of shots of extremely strong spirit that early in the morning on an empty stomach... Good thing they had some 'take-away' on hand. Banana's roasted on a charcoal fire - instant breakfast. Yum!

The caves were interesting, they have hundreds and thousands of statues of Buddha and other God's as a huge shrine. Sad though. One God is not enough. They have to have thousands of them.

Tomorrow I'm leaving town, heading east to Phonsavan to go and see the Plain of Jars. Its a bit of a mystery as to what these jars are for. They are man-made, weighting between 600kg and a few tonnes each. Theories are that they could have been for cremations, or for preparation of lao-lao. See if i can help unravel the mystery... :)

A day in da lat

I didn't write anything yesterday because I didn't feel I had anything particularly interesting or inspiring to say. Majority of the day was spent on the bus to dalat from HCMC - long drive! Left the city at 7.30am and arrived in da lat at about 5.30pm. Apart from being quite long, the trip itself was quite uneventful and I managed to sleep a little bit of it.

Until last night, my initial impressions of Vietnam had been different from what I had expected. I always try to go into a situation with no expectations, because then you can't be disappointed, but just experience it for what it is or isn't. I'm referring to the landscapes particularly by my initial statement- Probably one too many war-time movies in the jungle so I came expecting to see vietnam all swampy and jungly and mosquito-infested! WRONG!! Vietnam is nothing like that (at least not early in the year), it is incredible how much the landscape changes over the country side. I have only travelled a small proportion of the south so far, yet I have seen flat rice plains, large rivers, bamboo forests, rubber-tree plantations, and wait for it.. pine-cone tree forests! I would NEVER have expected that.

Freshly picked strawberries

Which brings me to my current location - Da Lat. Da Lat is a charming little French village in southern Vietnam that is situated in a valley amongst pine-tree forests. It is beautiful, surrounded by not rice farms but strawberry farms (it is the only place in vietnam that can grow strawberries), flower farms and many fruit and vegetable farms. I went on an easy-rider motorbike tour today with a man by the name of Mr Hung. He was very sweet - last night after I had arrived at my hotel he approached me and said he had seen me on the bus and followed me "like a spy" to take me on a tour of the land! The easy-riders are a company of ex-war veterans who have been showing tourists around vietnam via motorbike since about 1995 with many customers and happy reviews. I had been considering doing a longer trip with the group, but with TET coming up I need to make it to the larger cities before the country and transport all shuts down for a week or two!!

Temple

Anyway, so today Mr Hung (or Eagle as he has been previously nicknamed) took me on his motorbike around the greater Da-Lat area. First stop was a Buddhist temple where I learnt that he was a Christian - but only goes to church at Christmas. There are beautiful flower gardens in greenhouses over the entire surrounding countryside - full of roses, gerbera's (i think I spelt that wrong...) orchids, babies breath that is sold throughout Vietnam and the world. Beautiful.




Coffee is another crop grown in the area as well - large coffee plantations with both arabica and mocha coffee beans are grown in Da Lat. I learnt that the mocha plant has smooth leaves which the arabica beans have a rough leaf.

Fresh coffee

Next stop was a silk factory where you see the entire process of making silk. It could be a bit gruesome for some I would imagine - as they boil the cocoons to obtain the silk then use the larvae inside to feed the pigs for protein. There is a combination of manual labour and machinery used to make the silk fabric. However, some of the minority people of the area still use looms to make silk fabric by hand.

silk

Also visited another temple, some waterfalls, the railway station and some of the original French Villa's. Beautiful. The 'Crazy House' is also a big tourist attraction of the area designed by a Vietnamese architect, daughter of a previous President who studied in Moscow. The building is still in the process of being built, it is very difficult to describe -made from concrete but it looks like a tree on the outside and inside,, nothing is square or 'normally' shaped or sized, there are animals and plants, and rock formations and a huge spider-web and a giant giraffe. It is like a maze and has been previously described as an "Alice in wonderland' sort of house with little walkways leading you all over the place! Google it!

The temperature here is alot cooler than other area's of Vietnam, so it gets quite cold at night.

Last night I met and had some extremely interesting conversations with an Australian guy and an american/vietnamese couple. I am finding that religion is frequently brought up in conversation over here - most likely stimulated by the many temples around here, and many people on a search for something meaningful in their life.

The American guy we were chatting with was very interesting - son of a tzar i think, his dad was in charge of oil in America, an environmentalist who was very very VERY passionate about protecting the environment, recycling and his work. We spoke over the night about a burner he has designed . it can burn anything with <16% moisture I think to produce some sort of gas which you can cook with and it produces pure carbon at the end that you can put into the ground and it builds up the soil! They have produced many designs which are open plan - primarily to be used in the developing country context as it is extremely cheap and easy to make. In Asia they have been working on a design which allows them to burn rice-husks. His other passion was the black soldier fly which is one pretty amazing bug and it's uses for recycling, getting through rubbish and building up the land. Everything has a purpose and can be used for something else. Very intelligent people and extremely interesting conversations we all had!

I learnt last night how the north is quite different to the south, and it can be much more difficult for men (especially American men) to get around as they are not welcomed as much. It is easy to forget that Vietnam is a communist country. The south is quite capitalist. However the government does keep tabs on where you are all the time (I hadn't thought about this previously) by having all hotels register you upon arrival with your passport and visa details.

TET is coming up, I am learning that the majority of the country will shut down, and have been informed that as a foreigner, particularly female australian I will be welcomed into many people's homes as it brings good luck! I am aiming to get to Hoi An by TET, so we'll see how I go! Off to Nha Trang tomororw.