I had to quickly finish the last entry, ending on how funny it is that you end up meeting up with people randomly that you didn't particularly expect to see again. This happened to me while I was in Battambang. I happened to re-meet a Swiss guy, Klas who I had met on my last night in Siem Reap. It had been his first night and we had gone to dinner with another sole traveller and I had shown them around a little bit of the town at night time. As he had only just arrived in Siem Reap that night, I naturally didn't expect to see him again.
However, after catching the boat to Battambang and arriving in the late afternoon, checking into my hotel I was exploring the city at night after some dinner. My conclusion was that there was little activity and most people were in bed by about 8pm. So, I had started to make my way back to my hotel to read or something when a girl and guy rode past me on bicycles. I thought, hang on, that guy looks really familiar, no, he wouldn't be here in Battambang. They stopped in front of me before a hotel and then he turned around and fancy that, Klas was in Battambang. It was a funny moment. He'd decided when he had woken up that he would catch the bus (which coincidently beat me to battambang) to meet up with some other friends who he had previously travelled with who had just arrived in town.
From that chance meeting, we decided to go together as a group in the morning (Easter Saturday) to explore the country side of Battambang. Klas, Hillary (the girl he had been bicycle riding with) and myself wanted to get dirt bikes to do this. However, four of the other girls had already organised a tuk-tuk driver. So what ended up happening was that Klas and I hired 250cc dirt bikes with Hillary a pillion with Klas. Then we followed the girls in the tuk-tuk around for a few hours so we knew how to get to some of the main sights of the area.
Subsequently we got sooooooo dirty!! Alot of the roads we went on (actually pretty much all of them) were dirt roads, and the main roads particularly had a bit of traffic and some trucks going which ended up in lots and lots and lots of dust. Absolutely filthy by the end of the day, but it was definitely worth it and so much fun! I was loving being on a 'real' motorbike again even though my foot was a bit painful changing gears initially (the swelling hadn't completely gone down yet).
First we went to the killing caves where we had to climb a mountain in sweltering heat. Upon arrival at the site, we had to pay $2 each to the "tourist police" - funny concept yes I know, but basically the tourist police charge you to visit historical sites, or for doing the wrong thing etc... Then we climbed the mountain, with the help of 1 child guide (we had to argue hard to get down to one). He showed us the killing caves, where the Khmer Rouge had bashed the heads of women and children and then thrown them into the cave. At the site the bones are kept in a glass cabinet on display to respect the deceased and as a memorial shrine of sorts. There were a few other caves on the mountain that we explored through as well, most with bats using them as a home.
After the killing caves our little party went to a village where we saw different fruits and vegetables that they grew, tried some different fruits and sugar cane. Before our group split up, the last thing we did in the afternoon together was to ride out to the bamboo train to have a go on that. Apparently it will be closed next year, but it is debatable as to whether that will really happen because they have been saying that for a few years..
We debated for a while over the price, and ended up hiring 2 bamboo trains. One to carry us, and one to carry the 2 dirt-bikes. Bamboo trains are basically 2 axles and a big bamboo mat with a small motor that is placed on top. They can be dissasembled within seconds and there is a hierarchy that determines who has right of way when two trains meet when going in opposite directions. Ultimately, the train with the largest load ends up getting right of way, and a motorbike or scooter wins regardless of the load due to the difficulty (and lack of space on the side of the train) of getting them on and off. On our little 5km journey we ran into another opposing train which meant we got to watch them pull it apart!
Once we got off the train we all went our separate ways as us 3 on bikes wanted to go and visit the temple ruins (can't remember the name) which are believed to be a bit of a pre-cursor to the temples of Angkor Wat. Having already been to the temples of Angkor, I could definitely agree that they were made by the same sort of people in the same kind of style. The temples were on top of a massive massive hill which took quite a while to climb up on. Once again we met with the tourist police at the bottom of the hill and had to pay another $2. If we had been another 20 minutes later we would have missed them as they had left by the time we reached the bottom of the hill.
On the way from the Bamboo train to the temple, we got ourselves a little bit lost. But it was so much fun! We were tearing about and riding on these little dirt tracks that took us through many many villages where children would come running out yelling hello. Very cute and reminded me alot of Africa days. It was nice to be out amongst the real people of Cambodia rather than the touts and people harrassing you. Everyone was extremely helpful. We stopped many times for directions to the ruins and everyone always gave us directions, with our limited english-khmer exchanges.
The last thing we did before it was dark was attempt to find the abandoned Pepsi factory that was abandoned in 1975 with the Khmer Rouge take-over. According to Lonely Planet it was easy to find, with all the equipment still in place. It was not an easy find at all!! We struggled to find it and eventually managed to do so. The areas that you could access (by jumping a fence) had all been looted and pretty much burnt down, but there was 1 old broken glass pepsi bottle still in that area. The majority of the warehouse was now shut-off with padlocks on the doors. Peering through the grates and cracks in doors you could see rows and rows of bottles, but little more as it was getting dark.
It has been interesting to note over here in Asia that there has been no reference anywhere whatsoever to Easter, no easter eggs, no hot cross buns (I was craving them yesterday!!). Complete contrast to back home where I saw hot cross buns in January before I had even left Australia!!
Yesterday on Easter Sunday I caught a bus from Battambang to Bangkok. It was a very long hot and sweaty ride as always. We got on the bus at 8am, arrived at the border a few hours later and waited in the queue for at least 30-40 minutes. There were about 50-100 people waiting to leave Cambodia with only 1 officer at the desk... agrrhggh! But eventually I made it through, crossed the 'friendship bridge' and past all the casinos of poipet and quickly passed through the border into Thailand.
Once through I had to wait about 20 minute for a pick up truck to collect us and take us to a restaurant where we waited for the bus. We waited for almost 2 hours for the bus to come!! Subsequently we arrived into Bangkok at 6pm instead of about 3pm. I met a Shannon, an American girl on the boat and we got along well together so ended up sharing a room here in Bangkok.
Bangkok is not what I expected. I guess I expected this crazy big built up city with traffic everywhere. Yes there is traffic, but from my observations, compared to Saigon, Bangkok is alot quieter. There aren't as many high rises and its actually kind of cool. I am staying on a street parallel to Khao San (the main backpacker strip) which has a really nice atmosphere. Right now there is a guy playing live acoustic guitar outside the guesthouse where I am staying. I'm enjoying that alot!
Today Shannon and I went exploring the city by foot and got through all (or at least the majority of) the shopping that we needed to do. I got myself a new phone (finally 2 months after mine was stolen), at least it is new to me. It is technically a 2nd hand phone, but still it's new to me! :) We walked quite a few kilometres in the heat, but it was good as you could stop and jump into a 7/11 for some cooling air conditioning if the heat and sweat got too much. You aren't harrassed by the touts and tuk-tuk drivers any where near what you are in other countries. I learnt that today (Monday) is the Kings day and that the Kings favourite colour is yellow, so people often wear yellow on Monday. At the moment there is some protestations happening around town, but they are peaceful. Everyone is wearing these red shirts, bandana's and these red hand clapping things. On our walk we went through a few areas where the protesters were gathered. There was a big concert where a guy was singing (I couldn't understand unfortunately) and everyone was clapping along. It seems to be about dissolving parliament due to corruption, but I haven't really looked into it too much.
Showing posts with label temples. Show all posts
Showing posts with label temples. Show all posts
Monday, April 5, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
The wonders of Angkor Wat and Siem Reap
Day 1
Spent the day exploring the city, and the markets. There are some excellent day and night markets here in Siem Reap. In the afternoon I found a cooking class at Temple Club restaurant/bar where I was the only participant whichwas pretty cool. Oh my goodness oh so good! yum yum yum. I made fresh spring rolls, chicken amok (like a curry of sorts) and a banana coconut milk tapioca dessert. Awesome stuff. all for $10 and so much food to eat. At night went out with some friends I had made and ended up at a local khmer club "hip hop" where we were the only white people in the establishment! Bit of fun.
The street kids took a shine to me that night, grabbing my hands, asking for money, jumping up on me, literally one used me like a tree and climbed all on top of me. It was a bit insane.
Day 2
up at 5.30 am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Unfortunatly it has been a bit cloudy and overcast so the sunrise was not spectactular, sun didn't come up until it was quite high in the sky. Had breakfast at one of the street venders by the temple site and then headed into the temple and started to explore. Unfortunatley we picked one of the few days in the month where you aren't able to climb to the top of the peaks or towers of Angkor, due to it being a special.
After such an early start we continued to wander through around (and occasionaly over or on top) ;) the other major and not so major temple ruins on the grand circuit, finishing in the mid afternoon. My favourite for sure is Ta Prahn, the jungle temple or tomb raider temple, pretty funky looking.
Day 3
Trying to avoid the perpetual harrassment of tuk-tuk drivers (and their inflated prices from the guesthouse), I hired a push-bike for the day for $1 and decided to take a bit of a ride out towards the Roulos temples (13km east of the city). Forgot to take sunscreen so got a bit pink.. (I didn't intend to be out all day long and get back at 6pm as it happened)
On the way back into town after visiting the 2 main temples there I saw a sign directing to Angkor Wat so I thought I may as well drop by there again. The road took me past al these villages lots of kids saying hello, some cheeky ones asking for candy. It was great to be out on the road, with no westerners. Everyone was probaly thinking this crazy white girl riding a bicycle all this way! I had fun though.
On this road I saw a sign for Bantea Srey which is a temple about 40km out of town. The signs where i was were saying 30 so i decided I may as well keep riding and save myself the $20 the tuk-tuk drivers wanted me to pay to get there. So I rode and rode and rode and rode. Eventually I got to a cross road (me being very hot and tired) and a motorbike rider approached me and said he would take me the remaining 20km to the temple. I was pretty wrecked by this stage (about 1pm heat of ht eday) so agreed. I thought it was worth $5 to get driven 40km there and back. AFter I had finished there, I continued my ride, via Angkor Wat for another quick view but it as closed by then so didnt'climb it. Then back to town. All in all, I ended up riding 50-60 km, so was ridiculously hot, sweaty, tired with a very sore butt and legs afterwards!
while we were out at night (at 1am) we played a couple of local games with some khmer youths. One was like a doubles version of duck duck goose, and the other was a bit of a simon-says sort of game, in circles. Alot of fun, took some video of us running around in circles and them shrieking, singing and clapping.
Again, while out at night (about 2pm) the street kids took a shine to me. One girl (about 7yrs old) had a little baby with her who couldn't have been much older than 3 or 4 weeks, absolutely tiny. She was asking me to buy milk for the baby. It is difficult to know what to do, because on one hand you know that they could legitimately be poor and have no money, and on the other hand, be wanting you to expose where you have your money kept on you.
Day 4
Rest day, chilled out reading books and exploring the city a bit more, chatting wiht other travellers and treated myself to a massage after yesterdays marathon effort on the push bike! Did some market wandering again, but didn't really buy anything (I dont want to carry anything!).
thought I"d give aquick mention to the local kids. Everyone asks you where you are from and when I say Australia they list off a whole bunch of random facts about australia, including where our capital is, who our prime minister is, the population (even I don't know that!!). Can be quite amusing.
While I was here I had been planning to give blood (ever since I started 'planning'my trip in january) at the childrens hospital here. However, due to me being on antibiotics and my foot still swollen (but it is improving), I figured it probably awsn't the smartest idea and had to pass on that plan which was a shame.
I've just discovered that it is easter this weekend (other the time and the day of the week, thats about as much as Iknow about whats happening at the moment in the world i'm sorry to say.
My plan is to visit Battambang for the next couple of days then on to thailand. i just got in contact with a girl working there atm who offered me a room at her house which is pretty cool. Coincidently she worked in the peace corp in Zambia! Also, I found a church, well at least i googled about a church there, so i might stay put there for hte next 3 days so i can go to church for the first time while I've been here in asia! Anyway bed time. i'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes and need to be up in 5 hours to catch the boat.
Spent the day exploring the city, and the markets. There are some excellent day and night markets here in Siem Reap. In the afternoon I found a cooking class at Temple Club restaurant/bar where I was the only participant whichwas pretty cool. Oh my goodness oh so good! yum yum yum. I made fresh spring rolls, chicken amok (like a curry of sorts) and a banana coconut milk tapioca dessert. Awesome stuff. all for $10 and so much food to eat. At night went out with some friends I had made and ended up at a local khmer club "hip hop" where we were the only white people in the establishment! Bit of fun.
The street kids took a shine to me that night, grabbing my hands, asking for money, jumping up on me, literally one used me like a tree and climbed all on top of me. It was a bit insane.
Day 2
up at 5.30 am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Unfortunatly it has been a bit cloudy and overcast so the sunrise was not spectactular, sun didn't come up until it was quite high in the sky. Had breakfast at one of the street venders by the temple site and then headed into the temple and started to explore. Unfortunatley we picked one of the few days in the month where you aren't able to climb to the top of the peaks or towers of Angkor, due to it being a special.
After such an early start we continued to wander through around (and occasionaly over or on top) ;) the other major and not so major temple ruins on the grand circuit, finishing in the mid afternoon. My favourite for sure is Ta Prahn, the jungle temple or tomb raider temple, pretty funky looking.
Day 3
Trying to avoid the perpetual harrassment of tuk-tuk drivers (and their inflated prices from the guesthouse), I hired a push-bike for the day for $1 and decided to take a bit of a ride out towards the Roulos temples (13km east of the city). Forgot to take sunscreen so got a bit pink.. (I didn't intend to be out all day long and get back at 6pm as it happened)
On the way back into town after visiting the 2 main temples there I saw a sign directing to Angkor Wat so I thought I may as well drop by there again. The road took me past al these villages lots of kids saying hello, some cheeky ones asking for candy. It was great to be out on the road, with no westerners. Everyone was probaly thinking this crazy white girl riding a bicycle all this way! I had fun though.
On this road I saw a sign for Bantea Srey which is a temple about 40km out of town. The signs where i was were saying 30 so i decided I may as well keep riding and save myself the $20 the tuk-tuk drivers wanted me to pay to get there. So I rode and rode and rode and rode. Eventually I got to a cross road (me being very hot and tired) and a motorbike rider approached me and said he would take me the remaining 20km to the temple. I was pretty wrecked by this stage (about 1pm heat of ht eday) so agreed. I thought it was worth $5 to get driven 40km there and back. AFter I had finished there, I continued my ride, via Angkor Wat for another quick view but it as closed by then so didnt'climb it. Then back to town. All in all, I ended up riding 50-60 km, so was ridiculously hot, sweaty, tired with a very sore butt and legs afterwards!
while we were out at night (at 1am) we played a couple of local games with some khmer youths. One was like a doubles version of duck duck goose, and the other was a bit of a simon-says sort of game, in circles. Alot of fun, took some video of us running around in circles and them shrieking, singing and clapping.
Again, while out at night (about 2pm) the street kids took a shine to me. One girl (about 7yrs old) had a little baby with her who couldn't have been much older than 3 or 4 weeks, absolutely tiny. She was asking me to buy milk for the baby. It is difficult to know what to do, because on one hand you know that they could legitimately be poor and have no money, and on the other hand, be wanting you to expose where you have your money kept on you.
Day 4
Rest day, chilled out reading books and exploring the city a bit more, chatting wiht other travellers and treated myself to a massage after yesterdays marathon effort on the push bike! Did some market wandering again, but didn't really buy anything (I dont want to carry anything!).
thought I"d give aquick mention to the local kids. Everyone asks you where you are from and when I say Australia they list off a whole bunch of random facts about australia, including where our capital is, who our prime minister is, the population (even I don't know that!!). Can be quite amusing.
While I was here I had been planning to give blood (ever since I started 'planning'my trip in january) at the childrens hospital here. However, due to me being on antibiotics and my foot still swollen (but it is improving), I figured it probably awsn't the smartest idea and had to pass on that plan which was a shame.
I've just discovered that it is easter this weekend (other the time and the day of the week, thats about as much as Iknow about whats happening at the moment in the world i'm sorry to say.
My plan is to visit Battambang for the next couple of days then on to thailand. i just got in contact with a girl working there atm who offered me a room at her house which is pretty cool. Coincidently she worked in the peace corp in Zambia! Also, I found a church, well at least i googled about a church there, so i might stay put there for hte next 3 days so i can go to church for the first time while I've been here in asia! Anyway bed time. i'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes and need to be up in 5 hours to catch the boat.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
lanterns and buses
Been a few days since I've posted anything. Things are going well, have just had some limited access to computers and internet. I just arrived this evening in Hue after a few days in Hoi An - it is incredible how different the change is now from the south up here in the north. On the bus trip we had to pass through a long tunnel that goes right through a mountain. When we entered we were in blue sky and sunshine and upon exiting the tunnel it was overcast drizzly and cold! Definite change from the last few days down south. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Friday night I experienced my first sleeper bus. Overall not the worst experience of my life, a bit jolty and bumpy and lots of horn blaring, but with the help of a couple sleep enhancements I managed to sleep the majority of the night waking up only about four times over the 12hr bus ride. We arrived in Hoi An at about 5.30am, a bit disorientated and groggy with no idea where they had dropped us off. One of the guys on the bus I had met earlier during the week so we decided to get a ride with some motorbike taxi's to help us find a hotel to stay at, as neither of us had booked anything over TET. This itself was an interesting experience. Normally I would always figure it out myself and find a hotel myself, but Hoi An is quite spread out and there isn't really a distinct area where accommodation can be found. So we jumped on the back of the scooters and they drove us around town to a few different hotels until we found one (third time lucky) that we thought was suitable enough (price, smell, internet, breakfast inclusions...). Let me tell you that it is a difficult thing to hang on to the back of a motorbike when you have a rucksack on your back, and a small day pack on your front without falling off, but we made it!! We ended up staying at the hotel Phouc An which was very very nice. In the end we decided to share a room to save both of us some money as the rooms are always twin beds, which worked out quite well.
We were both starving so had the hotel buffet breakfast (at 6am) followed by showers and then my friend went back to sleep and I decided to wander into town as I can't sleep in the day. I had a great time, and quite productive wandering around town. Contrary to popular opinion, I think TET is agreat time for people to travel actually, especially in Hoi An (apart from the escalated prices on everything) because it meant you weren't harassed by people. Hoi An is renowned for its tailors. And from my wanderings I would not hesitate to say that there's at least 100 and most likely many many more tailors within the main area of the town. Many were shut, but there were a few still open for business. I probably spent about 4 hours wandering around town, tried Cao Lao one of the local dishes at a street vendors before going back to the hotel. We had lunch and then borrowed the hotel's pushbikes which we were allowed to use for free to ride out to a nearby beach (approximately 5km). It was a nice drive but a bit crazy towards town because there were vendors and flower markets absolutely EVERYWHERE. With the exception of sydney flower markets, i've never seen that many flowers in one spot! They were for both TET and valentines day and the markets were packed to overfull because they would be closed for a few days after TET and everyone was getting last minute supplies.
Saturday night was TET, and I met some girls I had seen earlier in a tailoring shop who ended up being from Sydney (first sydney people i've met so far - everyone's from melbourne!!) and through them met some melbourne guys they were travelling with. We all decided to meet up for dinner at an awesome restaurant called the laugh cafe I think. Totally recommend it, it was brilliant (we went for a repeat dinner on sunday night we were so impressed). After dinner we wandered down to the river to watch the fireworks and celebrations for TET which was fun and beautiful. People were selling coloured boxes with candles that were placed into the river to float down. It looked beautiful but I couldn't help but wonder where the rubbish was all going to end up and the unlikelihood of it being cleaned up!! The fireworks at midnight for new year (the year of the tiger now!) were impressive but unfortunately many of them couldnt be seen through the significant smoke as there was no wind and all fireworks were being set from the one location. One of the guys described it like the smoke from a napalm (probably spelt that wrong) bomb!!
Hoi An itself is a beautiful town. It has been all decorated with hundreds and thousands of coloured lanterns which are pretty by day and gorgeous by night.
Sunday was a bit of a cruisy day, i slept in significantly and wandered around town and then rode to the beach again before dinner with my new friends. Many of the local sights were closed because of the new year holiday so unfortunately i never got to try white rose (a specialty dish of the area), or do a cooking class there. However on Monday morning before my bus to Hue I did manage to get up at 5am to do the 'sunrise tour' of the My Son ruins. It was quite ironic actually as we arrived there probably an hour after the sun rose in the end because they kept stopping for unnecessary things. then upon arrival sat us down to give everyone an educational session about the ruins. You could just tell that everyone just wanted to go and get on with it and take good pictures then figure that out later. It was pretty cool though, as it is set in a valley with big mountains and it was all misty. Beautiful, not hard to see why it has been UNESCO nominated for world heritage listing. There are some massive bomb craters left from when the Americans bombed the sight, partially to destroy them on purpose to bring down the moral during the war. They were built by the Cham people, and there is alot of mystery surrounding the towers like many in south east asia, as to how they were built. the language of the Cham has been lost, so inscriptions on the temples are not known. The bricks used on the towers are very smooth with no cement used to bond them together. The thought is that they may have used some sap from trees in the forest, but after many experiments by scientists they have given up trying to figure out how they did it!
After My Son I managed to get back in time for breakfast then just wandered around a bit, had some lunch then waited for the bus to pick us up to take us to our current location in Hue. The bus trip was pretty uneventful. Its pretty cool the different people you meet, I've been given some recommendations for places to stay over the various countries I'm visiting and good guides to contact as they are welcoming, honest and helpful.
This morning I'm just about to head off to do a cooking class at a restaurant a few of us went to dinner at last night, and then probably head over to the citadel. Get to learn some of the local specialities such á bun bo hue (rice noodle beef soup hue style), fresh and friend spring rolls. I am loving the food. ít terible i'm probably eating 4 times a day some times!!!! sooooooooo good the food!!
Current plan is to stay here in Hue for about 2 days then catch a sleeper up to Hanoi then onto Sapa and Halong Bay in either order. After that will head over to Laos and currently debating my method of doing so. I originally was going to fly but i might join a group of backpackers heading over the chinese border to Yunnan and get into northern láo that way!
Friday night I experienced my first sleeper bus. Overall not the worst experience of my life, a bit jolty and bumpy and lots of horn blaring, but with the help of a couple sleep enhancements I managed to sleep the majority of the night waking up only about four times over the 12hr bus ride. We arrived in Hoi An at about 5.30am, a bit disorientated and groggy with no idea where they had dropped us off. One of the guys on the bus I had met earlier during the week so we decided to get a ride with some motorbike taxi's to help us find a hotel to stay at, as neither of us had booked anything over TET. This itself was an interesting experience. Normally I would always figure it out myself and find a hotel myself, but Hoi An is quite spread out and there isn't really a distinct area where accommodation can be found. So we jumped on the back of the scooters and they drove us around town to a few different hotels until we found one (third time lucky) that we thought was suitable enough (price, smell, internet, breakfast inclusions...). Let me tell you that it is a difficult thing to hang on to the back of a motorbike when you have a rucksack on your back, and a small day pack on your front without falling off, but we made it!! We ended up staying at the hotel Phouc An which was very very nice. In the end we decided to share a room to save both of us some money as the rooms are always twin beds, which worked out quite well.
We were both starving so had the hotel buffet breakfast (at 6am) followed by showers and then my friend went back to sleep and I decided to wander into town as I can't sleep in the day. I had a great time, and quite productive wandering around town. Contrary to popular opinion, I think TET is agreat time for people to travel actually, especially in Hoi An (apart from the escalated prices on everything) because it meant you weren't harassed by people. Hoi An is renowned for its tailors. And from my wanderings I would not hesitate to say that there's at least 100 and most likely many many more tailors within the main area of the town. Many were shut, but there were a few still open for business. I probably spent about 4 hours wandering around town, tried Cao Lao one of the local dishes at a street vendors before going back to the hotel. We had lunch and then borrowed the hotel's pushbikes which we were allowed to use for free to ride out to a nearby beach (approximately 5km). It was a nice drive but a bit crazy towards town because there were vendors and flower markets absolutely EVERYWHERE. With the exception of sydney flower markets, i've never seen that many flowers in one spot! They were for both TET and valentines day and the markets were packed to overfull because they would be closed for a few days after TET and everyone was getting last minute supplies.
Saturday night was TET, and I met some girls I had seen earlier in a tailoring shop who ended up being from Sydney (first sydney people i've met so far - everyone's from melbourne!!) and through them met some melbourne guys they were travelling with. We all decided to meet up for dinner at an awesome restaurant called the laugh cafe I think. Totally recommend it, it was brilliant (we went for a repeat dinner on sunday night we were so impressed). After dinner we wandered down to the river to watch the fireworks and celebrations for TET which was fun and beautiful. People were selling coloured boxes with candles that were placed into the river to float down. It looked beautiful but I couldn't help but wonder where the rubbish was all going to end up and the unlikelihood of it being cleaned up!! The fireworks at midnight for new year (the year of the tiger now!) were impressive but unfortunately many of them couldnt be seen through the significant smoke as there was no wind and all fireworks were being set from the one location. One of the guys described it like the smoke from a napalm (probably spelt that wrong) bomb!!
Hoi An itself is a beautiful town. It has been all decorated with hundreds and thousands of coloured lanterns which are pretty by day and gorgeous by night.
Sunday was a bit of a cruisy day, i slept in significantly and wandered around town and then rode to the beach again before dinner with my new friends. Many of the local sights were closed because of the new year holiday so unfortunately i never got to try white rose (a specialty dish of the area), or do a cooking class there. However on Monday morning before my bus to Hue I did manage to get up at 5am to do the 'sunrise tour' of the My Son ruins. It was quite ironic actually as we arrived there probably an hour after the sun rose in the end because they kept stopping for unnecessary things. then upon arrival sat us down to give everyone an educational session about the ruins. You could just tell that everyone just wanted to go and get on with it and take good pictures then figure that out later. It was pretty cool though, as it is set in a valley with big mountains and it was all misty. Beautiful, not hard to see why it has been UNESCO nominated for world heritage listing. There are some massive bomb craters left from when the Americans bombed the sight, partially to destroy them on purpose to bring down the moral during the war. They were built by the Cham people, and there is alot of mystery surrounding the towers like many in south east asia, as to how they were built. the language of the Cham has been lost, so inscriptions on the temples are not known. The bricks used on the towers are very smooth with no cement used to bond them together. The thought is that they may have used some sap from trees in the forest, but after many experiments by scientists they have given up trying to figure out how they did it!
After My Son I managed to get back in time for breakfast then just wandered around a bit, had some lunch then waited for the bus to pick us up to take us to our current location in Hue. The bus trip was pretty uneventful. Its pretty cool the different people you meet, I've been given some recommendations for places to stay over the various countries I'm visiting and good guides to contact as they are welcoming, honest and helpful.
This morning I'm just about to head off to do a cooking class at a restaurant a few of us went to dinner at last night, and then probably head over to the citadel. Get to learn some of the local specialities such á bun bo hue (rice noodle beef soup hue style), fresh and friend spring rolls. I am loving the food. ít terible i'm probably eating 4 times a day some times!!!! sooooooooo good the food!!
Current plan is to stay here in Hue for about 2 days then catch a sleeper up to Hanoi then onto Sapa and Halong Bay in either order. After that will head over to Laos and currently debating my method of doing so. I originally was going to fly but i might join a group of backpackers heading over the chinese border to Yunnan and get into northern láo that way!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
the moto view
The Hotel I stayed at last night had issues with cookies or something so I was unable to post until now....
What a day. I am enjoying life in Vietnam. I got to sleep in a bit, had breakfast and then a massage compliments of the hotel I was staying at last night! Checked out with my backpack all set up at 12 and hit the streets in search of a backpackers place to stay at for the next few nights while in HCMC. As I was walking, a few taxi's or scooter riders approached me to see if I wanted a lift but me being indendent me was determined to do it myself. It is quite warm and quite humid here so after probably 30 minutes of walking around I think I was on the verge of heatstroke!!
Another scooter rider spoke with me then and we chatted for a while, asking where I am from where I was going. There were 2 streets I was intending to walk to as they were full of backpacker's places and I was about 3/4 of the way by this time. but with the heat and fluid loss I started to get a bit lightheaded and sat down on the side of the street and decided I'd give Phung a go, giving me a ride. I knew that chances are there was some sort of commision involved and that it woud end up with other tours being offered and things, but i thought why not support the local people in the tourist industry rather tahn paying the money to big companies.
He took me to a little hotel in a side street alley somewhere in District 1 (which i have just discovered is pretty much the street i was trying to get to anyway)where I left my stuff and then he took me out sight seeing for the day. Its fun whizzing around the city (at like maybe 5km/hr max) with a million other scooters going crazy with their traffic rules (or lack of). I was trying to figure out why sometimes people stopped at traffic lights and other time's they dont. It seems this rule is a bit flexible or up for interpretation. The traffic lights in the city centre itself has a little countdown for both green and red telling you when it will change - but it appears that you can go through red lights if you want to...
First stop was the war remnants museum. Definitely worth going to - they have tanks, helicopters, warships and a few different kind s of US military fighter airplanes out the front, Very eye opening as to the impact the war had on the Vietnamese people here. Next stop was the independence palace, I had a quick wander around here. i believe it is where the president used to do all his business - there were specific meeting rooms for specific people in government. Very grand and impressive to look at. In the basement downstairs they had all the control rooms where during war times they had meetings, controlled radio centres and the like.
Phung (my moto guide) then took me to the hong kong markets, which are the older ones. I've barely seen another european face the entire day - saw I think 2 people during this market. There are the odd curious people wanting to know what I'm doing but on the whole the local Vietnamese in the market let me wander around without any notice.It would be very easy to get lost but luckily this market seems to be separated into sections where they all sell specific things, theres the shoe section, the fabric section, the shiny sparkly hair clip section, the plastic container section, the makeup section, the pots and pan section..... i particularly enjoyed the food markets. During this time i started to question myself, wondering what is appropriate culturally and what isn't. For example, photographs. I want to take photos of this experience, but how appropriate is it? i mean, if i was at home in australia doing my own business, would i appreciate random people coming up and taking a photo of me in the midst of my usual work? It is a challenge trying to fit into this society.
Next stop was a couple of the major temples in the city. This reminded me of how futile life is without Christianity. The sacrifices here are never ending. outside the temples there are people selling goldfish, turtles and incense (which i was offered to buy).
On my travels today i have tried a few different new foods, some better than others. All meals have been on the street and yes I have been having drinks with ice in them... so we'll see how strong my stomach is in time! Lunch was a rice dish with a sort of egg omellette and a chicken bean dish. I had some durian which is a bit sloppy but not awful, a fruit shake and soem sort of roll which had processed meat (you may be aware of my dislike of processed meat...), cucumber, mint and chili sauce. Minus the meat it was not a bad meal. THe breads here are amazing!!!
The city is busy in preparation for TET (Chinese new year) with lanterns and beautiful decorations everywhere. As the city got dark they all light up and make for a spectacular view.
I have managed to get myself a mobile phone SIM card so I am contactable, not sure exactly of the service or how much credit I have on it or what it costs for me to send messages but I can definitely send and receive to Australia.
Another thing that has challenged me today is who I want to meet while I am here. I want to have a truly cultural experience, however when looking for accommodation I was wanting to meet other backpackers like me - made me question what I was really looking for. Phung has been very helpful, showing me the sights of the city. Tomorrow we are off to the Mekong Delta for a few days.
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