Further into the Mekong Delta (25th March 2011)

This morning we’re heading out to visit the floating market and candy making factory, it was the latter that turned the American and Kiwi guy off the rest of the trip. Their loss my gain I say! The floating market by the time we got there was pretty much over really which was a shame but we did get a chance to see some of the community in action. Our guide today was different from yesterday and a lot nicer and friendlier and explained that the market here was more of a wholesale market where people would come to buy goods that they could then sell in another market. The people selling their goods came from many miles away by boat and would stay for a week or so until they sold all their wares, in the meantime they would just hang out on their boat and anyone wanting goods could see what they were selling by what was tied onto the mast pole and would row over and negotiations would begin.



















The floating market

We then made our way to the candy and rice paper making factory. When I say factory, obviously it’s not in the sense of factories at home. This factory was a small family run business which also employed some of the local villagers and in each area of a large open sided building all different types of food creations were taking place.

Rice husks traveling down the Mekong

There was the lady making sesame rice paper, a job she’s been doing for 20 years and it was very tasty, then there was the candy making area consisting of four people all hard at it – heating the ingredients, levelling it out in pre-made moulds, cutting it to just the right size and wrapping each one in turn before packaging them up for sale. Next was the pop corn, now not usually a favourite of mine, but this was different and made in a massive wok by being mixed with hot black sand until it had popped. Then it was sieved from the sand and either salt or sugar added and packaged. The fuel for the fires through each of the processes is from rice grain husks. On the river you see boat after boat after boat travelling by loaded high with what looks like rice and what everyone believes is rice but you know I wasn’t so sure (not that I know of course), in a lot of cases the ‘rice’ wasn’t in sacks and there was something about the way they were handling it that made me unsure. I know rice is abundant in Vietnam, with the Vietnamese being one of the highest producers in the SE Asia area, but rice is also a very valuable and very treasured crop and not to be wasted at any cost and it was the wastage that made me wonder if it was rice but because everyone I met seemed convinced it was, I just went along with it.......until our guide pointed out that it was in fact only the husks we were seeing and that these were the main source of fuel over the entire Mekong Delta which we then found out at the factory.

Sweet making factory

There was even a guy making use of the salt in the river. First he would collect the raw material, then he would boil it, soak it and cool it and the end result was packaged up and would probably end up on our tables all over Vietnam.

The salt refining process

The homestay and the visits we made today were the best bits of the Mekong tour and really made th experience, it was just a shame the rest of it was so badly organised and that there were so many unhappy people travelling around.

The way to travel - but that's still a small boat!

Mekong Delta (24th March 2011)

This morning breakfast is at 6.30, I mean surely that’s just wrong when you’re on holiday isn’t it? Especially when breakfast is so bad! We were given a bread roll and a bit of scrambled egg and had to pay extra for butter, tea and coffee and any extra bread. The Israeli guys were quite literally having a bit of a melt-down about it all, demanding butter, jam and cappuccino! All available but at a cost ;-).

Rice paddies being tended by the farmer

After breakfast more people arrive and after about an hour (I could have had a lay-in) we were off. The trip today was supposed to take us to see some fishing villages and some local village life. The guide we had was the most arrogant tour guide I’ve come across on this trip and was so unbelievably rude to everyone and then he fell asleep! More people were joining us and each and every one of them had booked and paid for a different tour than what they were getting and this tour guy just ignored everyone. If someone complained a bit more and he didn’t want to listen anymore he would phone someone and get them to speak to them on the other end of the phone. I’ve seen this happen in both Laos and Cambodia and it really is just a case of ‘fobbing the tourist off to shut them up’ but at least I know I, the Americans, the Kiwi and the Israelis weren’t the only ones. There was even one girl who was supposed to be going to Cambodia but they were trying to get her to do the day trip all over again when she’d already done it yesterday and said it was terrible! I think by the time she realised we weren’t all going to Cambodia and managed to get the guide to understand......I’ve got a nasty feeling she would have missed the boat!

River plant harvesting for home building

After a 5 minute visit to the fishing village we then got on a bigger boat and were told to order dinner, at 8am and also at an extra cost before we set sail for the Mekong Delta when our guide promptly fell asleep again! The rest of the day wasn’t much better everyone was complaining and getting no-where and then we had to sit on a bus for 5 hours! I was supposed to then be staying the night at a hotel in Can Tho instead of the homestay where the majority of the others were staying. We were about two hours into the bus journey when the older American guy has his little melt down and demanded to be taken to Saigon that night instead of the night after. This would have had him and his Kiwi friend on the bus for around 9 hours, but that’s what he wanted to do. So I had this idea that perhaps I could take his homestay place instead .....good plan right? Apparently not......despite the fact that it was already paid for our miserable guide said no and that I’d have to pay more. In the end I gave in especially after seeing what sort of city Can Tho was. So after paying another $19 I headed off into the unknown that was to be our homestay on an island just off of Vinh Long. Previous homestays I’ve done really haven’t been very good, there’s very little contact with the family and you might as well not be there which is why I’m always a little reluctant now, but this homestay was very nice. The family were very friendly and welcoming and our bed for the night was more like a hotel than a homestay. Our accommodation was under one room but split into different rooms each with four beds so each pair and I had a room to ourselves, comfy beds complete with a mosquito net.

My room at the homestay

Fishing at the homestay

After dumping our bags I headed off for a wander around the island and came across (Dean look away now!) the biggest, fattest, brightest yellow spider I think I’ve seen outside of a cage! It was huge! It’s body was bright yellow and around 3inches long and an inch around with legs that were at least 3 inches long! He was huge and very busy spinning a web and actually closer to me than even I would have liked but I had to try and get a picture, not a great one but a pic all the same.

That is one big spider!

Nicer things found around the island

In the evening we were shown how to make and cook spring rolls and how to prepare the food and cook it before being served with a delicious dinner.

River life

Border Crossing (23rd March 2011)

‘Three days on the Mekong’ or at least that’s what they sold me, me along with a whole load of other people all of whom at 8am in the morning are not, so far, happy with what we now seem to be doing. We were sold a slow, peaceful, leisurely boat ride along the Mekong to the border crossing and then a continued slow boat to Chau Doc (a border town) for the night on a floating hotel. Now if I just wanted a fast boat to Chau Doc including the border crossing it would have cost less than half what I had paid! Fortunately I wasn’t the only one in the same boat though and along with 4 retired Israeli guys we argued the toss for the next half hour, of course to no avail and ended up taking the fast boat anyway with the promise that after an hour we were going to swap to a slow boat! Yeah right, we all knew that wasn’t going to happen!

Anyway we did manage to get to the border ok and this time didn’t have to pay a bribe to get into the country, at least I didn’t. There was an English guy and an American guy whose passports were decidedly debateable, they at some point had managed to drown them and they were pretty much ruined and barely readable, but this was Vietnam and after a $10 bribe they were both allowed in! That was $10 each!! A near-on fortune by local standards. At least they got in though, I wonder if they’ll ever get out!

The border crossing

An hour later we arrived at our floating hotel when it promptly started to rain. A light lunch was included in our trip but there’s light and there’s light and this was positively floating on air, we were served with a pot noodle.....and it wasn’t even a good pot noodle! So far this trip sucks!

So doing the three day trip with me is the 4 Israeli guys, a retired American (military?) guy who claims to live in Saigon with a Vietnamese girlfriend (but you wouldn’t have thought it the way he talks to people!) travelling with a retired Kiwi guy who says he has a Pilipino girlfriend. They both claim that it’s true love etc etc yet later I hear the American guy saying how he’s going to fix the Kiwi guy up for a good price with a girl in Saigon!!

In Phnom Penh there were clear and very obvious signs of a lot of prostitution going on with Western men and it seems it’s as common here, the American guy even tries to justify it all to me saying how in Vietnam the girls seems to ‘enjoy it’!! Another addition to our party is a younger American guy who says he’s a doctor and been volunteering in Siem Reap (for 3 weeks!!) it then came out later that in actual fact most of that time had been sightseeing and that the best part of his whole trip had been when he got to ‘shoot guns’. And these are my travelling companions.....I guess you’ve just gotta make the most of it right?!

After the worse lunch I think I’ve ever had the two Americans, the Kiwi and I decided to go check out Chau Doc, this was after I had to change rooms seeing as mine was already swimming in water which was pouring through the light fitting.

So Chau Doc. We had made a plan to go and get some more food to make up for the Pot Noodle and I wanted to get a sim card seeing as I’d been out of text contact for the time in Cambodia. So heading into Chau Doc it soon became clear we were not only a rarity in the town but also that no-one actually wanted us in their restaurant or bar. On two occasions we were waved away and directed elsewhere, I blame the Americans! ;-) The only person that seemed happy to see us was this lady bar-b-qing on the street, I’m sure the food she had was lovely but it was the whole chicken heads that put me off!

Bar-B-Q chicken heads

After walking round for a good 45 mins it turned out the only place that would let us eat in town was the hotel we had just come from. So far not really enjoying this town. So back there we headed and for the next couple of hours I had to listen to the two Americans going for it, making the world their own and deciding that anywhere outside of America really wasn’t worth wasting their time on. They both had an awful lot to say about their President, none of which was good and I actually can’t think of the last time I came across two so self inflated, bigoted, racist, chauvinist arses in a very very long time (Ok the wording may not be right but you get the gist!)! You really couldn’t make it up the things they were saying and the worst most incredible part of it all was that they really believed it all! They really believed that as a country and as a race they had the upper hand over the rest of the world! So tell me.......why were they here?? I did attempt to ask the question pointing out that if they hated everything outside of America so much why were they ‘outside of America’? But they weren’t really getting the gist of my questions and after a while I realised that I was as insignificant to them as the rest of the world and on that note I left them to it and went to bed!

Fishing on the Mekong

Russian Market and Royal Palace (22nd March 2011)

So this morning I’m at my usual dilemma once more of not knowing my plans for the next few days. I mean I sort of do but Phnom Penh is nice and it’s always a bit weird leaving somewhere for the last time. So I have today to make up my mind, I mean I’ve sorted of decided how I’m leaving Phnomn Penh (mm sort of!) it’s just a case of when.

In the meantime I decide to visit the Russian Market, the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. First stop the Russian Market, and it was brilliant, way too many nice things to buy but considering I still have another two weeks to carry it all around for I decide not to go too mad and stop for a delicious lunch in the market before making my way back to the centre of town for the Palace.

Egg delivery at the market

Market life

You can never have too many eggs!

Delicious dinner

The Palace and the Pagoda is on the list of ‘must sees’ but to be honest I really was expecting more. To be able to go into the Palace area you have to be completely covered up so I took this to mean that we’d actually be going in the Palace......but no! We did go in the Pagoda though which was nice although I have to say I really do get more out of the local life like the markets and just wandering around towns than I think I ever get from visiting big places like this. On that note I then visited another local market before grabbing a ride on the back of a motorbike back into town. I’ve wanted to try the whole pillion passenger taxi ride since I arrived in Cambodia (seems here its more popular than Laos) but been a bit wary, until now......I even attempted side saddle which was great fun and now that’s me, if I need transport I’m opting for the bike.....as long as it’s not too far of course. ;-)

Royal Palace

I did finally manage to make a decision regarding my next plans though (which is always a bonus! ;-)) and opted to book a three day tour going by slow boat along the Mekong River to the border crossing in Vietnam then spending the next two days on the Mekong Delta.

So I‘m off bright and early tomorrow morning. I’m so going to look forward to a lay-in when I get home!

Killing Fields (21st March 2011)

The Buddhist Stupa at the Killing Fields

So this morning I’m visiting two areas where atrocities took place under the regime of Pol Pot in the 70’s. Since my last trip to Cambodia just over 5 years ago I’ve wanted to visit Phnom Penh and understand more about what went on at a time when I was just starting out in the world. And I can honestly say it was harrowing.

First though before any visiting I had to move rooms again, grab some breakfast and find my little tuk tuk man! On my way out to find a bite for brekkie literally loads of tuk tuk drivers asked me if I wanted a tour. I mean I did, but I had already decided on my driver.......I just needed to find him!

On the note of tuk tuk drivers though, it’s quite funny here cause there’s a saying that’s made it on to tourist t-shirts that says ‘Same Same’ on the front and ‘But Different’ on the back cause that’s all you here with regard to comparing different services, well since arriving in Phnom Penh all I’ve heard is ‘Tuk Tuk Lady, Tuk Tuk’ I reckon in a couple of years that’s going to make it on to the tourist t-shirt as well .....actually maybe that’s a business opportunity in the making! ;-)

Anyway I digress, so after a hundred and one people asking me if I wanted a tuk tuk I still hadn’t found the little guy from last night or even someone who actually wanted some business, then all of sudden there he came out of the blue, and between his English and my Cambodian we managed to strike a bargain and we were on our way.

That was until about 5 minutes into the journey when we had to stop to put water in the radiator, then another 10 minutes and we had to stop to put fuel in the bike (both of which were stored under my feet in water bottles) then after another 10 minutes or so we had to stop again to fix the machine! I was beginning to think this wasn’t such a great idea after all, but he was so friendly and happy how could I refuse? His answer (and I think only English he had) was ‘No problem Lady’. Mmmm I’ll be the judge of that! At least his English was better than my Cambodian.

After an hour we arrived at the Killing Fields, it’s only 14km from the city, it was definitely an adventure.

So this is where the majority of the people who were tortured at the old high school, S-21 Prison, were then taken to be executed. Evidence and eye witness reports say that young children and babies were held by their feet and their skulls smashed against a tree whereas older children and adults were forced to kneel down in front of a mass grave, were blindfolded and tied together while they were struck on the back of the head, they then had their throats cut just to be sure.

Today the area has been turned into a Buddhist memorial, in remembrance of the terror that took place there. There is a 17 storey Stupa that has been constructed in the grounds which houses on the ground floor all the clothes that have so far been discovered from the victims, the next 17 floors contain the skulls of victims and the upper floors contain all other bones that have been found. It is a really shocking sight. But what affects me more is that all around the mass grave areas every time the area floods more clothing and more bones come to the surface, the powers that be just haven’t been able to excavate the entire area yet and probably wont ever now. As I walked around the area I could see for myself clothing and bones in the ground. At first you think it’s just rubbish on the floor but it’s actually embedded into the earth and on closer inspection it’s clear what it is.

I was in two minds whether to take pictures while I was there but then everyone else was and then again I was in two minds about putting the pictures on the blog – but as they say ‘Lest We Forget’, it’s history and as such should be remembered and not forgotten.

Inside the Stupa

Mass graves at the Killing Fields

Next on today’s agenda was Tuol Sleng Museum, otherwise known as S-21 which was the High School in Phnomn Penh that was taken over by Pol Pots security forces and turned into a security prison. This is where the Khmer Rouge held, tortured and interrogated up to 20,000 people. When the Khmer Rouge took over they banned any kind of education, religion or academia so all schools and religious areas were turned over for other uses. The class rooms at the High School were turned into torture chambers and were equipped with various instruments to inflict pain, suffering and death.









S-21 Prison




























The cells at S-21

In some classrooms primitive makeshift cells were built which would house people in a space barely larger than they were. Each of the prisoners were chained in leg irons and then chained to rings cemented into the floor, in other classrooms 30 or more prisoners were all in leg irons and all restrained to each other not being able to move or sit up or speak to each other.

Each person that passed through the prison was photographed and documented and exact records were kept. When the Vietnamese liberated Phnom Penh in 1979 only 7 people were still alive all of whom had survived due to their ‘usefulness’ to the regime in areas such as painting and photography.

In the three years, eight months and twenty days of the Khmer Rouge rule it is estimated that around 2 million people died, approximately a third of the population at the time.

It was a very moving day and one in which my tuk tuk driver, I think, thought I spent too much time on. We were also supposed to go to the Russian Market as well but even I wasn’t really up for it after the days activities, so really wasn’t that worried when he decided he was hungry and tired and that we were heading back!

I think bed and an early night for me.