This is Saturday, it must be Cambodia

Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote. First, picture problems continue, Panasonic had run out of stock of LCD screens so the camera is point and hope at the moment, then the cafe here has no card reader. I will add pics later.

Spent thursday pm on the Saigon river, took a boat for myself for $10 and toured the river and the streams around the city. Just amazing how friendly the children are. I did not go past a single house on the river where children were playing who did not smile, wave and shout "hello".

Thursday evening spent in the park watching the local game, Da Cau, like badminton, a weighted feathered shuttlecock, which is kicked between the palyers keeping it airborne. Rallys are up to 12-15 shots for the best players who allow the shuttle to pass behind their backs before kicking it back with the sole of the foot, the heel or instep. Quite amazing, I will add a video and have bought one of the shuttles for practise at home.

Some young Vietnamese people came up and started to talk, just to practise their English but by the end of the evening they had taken me to their local bar, bought me all sorts of local treats to eat, and Trung, in the centre of the picture below, had become my son-in-law! (He had seen pictures of my girls and is in love with one of them. He has no idea how expensive Jo is to run)!



2 day tour of the Mekong delta was something special also. Just come up to Phnom Penh on a slow boat, 6 hours, but the scenery always changing and the river is just awesome. Between 2 and 3 km wide at the points we were travelling it is hard to make out details on either bank when travelling in mid stream. I wondered if this was the same water I was travelling on 2 weeks before in Laos? Perhaps someone could work that out.

This was a floating village on the river, 4 generations can live in these houses where they farm fish.



Home to a poor Vietnamese family whose lives are bound to the river.



I was not prepared for Phnom Penh. I thought it was a quiet backwater but it has more neon than Vegas. Will explore tomorrow as I think I have screwed up my timings and will not have time to get to the world's 8th wonder at Angkor, and will instead spend a day here before going to Bangkok for the flight home. Every step now brings me closer to home and while part of me is loving every experience here a large part of me now wants to be at home with my family, the English weather, (I wish it would rain) and wholemeal bread, toasted with marmalade!

This is the riverfront in Phnom Penh where the Tonle Sap joins the Mekong. The Tonle Sap river creates a lake in land, the largest freshwater lake in Asia, which fills from the flooding Mekong in the wet season to a size of 16,000 sq km, 9m deep and then drains during the dry season shrinking to 1 m deep and only 2,700 sq km. A natural wonder of the world and I can see it as I write this from the i cafe.

Transport in HCMC

I went to the Reunification Palace today,(used to be the Presidential Palace until 30th April 1975 when the tanks of the North crashed through the gates and forced the surrender and end of the war. Not very impressive from the outside, the building was remodelled in 1965 and looks it, but inside, left exactly as it was, the ornaments, carpets decorations and works of art are beautiful. A really interesting collection of photographs and stories from the time too. Looking at tank 390, first through the gates in 1975 and which must be the ultimate mode of transport here, I took some pictures on my phone (camera ready later) to show some of the other diverse forms of transport in HCMC. Tank 390 The bus, although this one aint gouing anywhere soon. The cyclo, this one is chrome, very swish. Or more relaxing, the restaurant boats on the Saigon river. But ultimately it comes down to the motorbike and this little video was shot at the junction near my hotel and is typical of how it works here.


Can't see the video on my preview, hope it's there.

Booked a 2 day tour to the Mekong delta leaving tomorrow and finishing with a boat ride to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, so may be out of contact for a while.

Serious bit

Spent the morning at the War Remnants Museum, or, as it is known locally, the American war crimes museum. This is a must on most peoples itinery here and I can understand why. The sanitised version of events we got at the time did not reveal the true horror of what took place. I did not realise that 3 million Vietnamese died in the war, 2 million injured and the effects of the chemical spraying will affect generations to come. Nor did I realise that America never declared war on North Vietnam but unleashed all the technology at their disposal, largely from aerial bombing, including dropping 40 million litres of agent orange. The photographs were completely "no holds barred" and the collection of war planes other armements and methods of torture chilling.

I dropped my new camera on the way in (had the case on upside down on my belt, doh), amazingly the first cyclo driver on exit took me to a shop who are repairing it by tomorrow for a cool million: 35 quid. This minor tragedy though was put in perspective by the museum.

I promise to cheer up next time. Just had a delicious strawberry shake...strawberrys grow all year round here! Off now to find some aircon...it is hot!

Rules of the Road

My hotel booked the bus for me and it was another experience. Not a tourist bus, I was the only westerner on the coach or at any of the pit stops and nobody spoke English. Didn't realise that seating was allocated and sat in the wrong seat, separating a girl from her boyfriend but when I realised and offered to move they wouldn't hear of it and we sat like that for 7 hours! The people are so generous and polite.

Sat right at the front of the bus so was able to observe the rules of the road as follows:

1. Size matters, give way to bigger vehicles (pedestrians have no right of way)
2. Sound the horn at least every 15 seconds

there are no more rules, everything else is general guidance.

At least 90% of traffic drives on the right
Sound the horn: x1 to ensure it is working, x4 to advise traffic in front you are approaching, continuously or in bursts of x4/5 to assert your right of way,
When entering a road junction NEVER look to see if anything is coming (you might catch the eye of oncoming traffic and be forced to give way)
At red traffic lights think about stopping before driving through
When reversing onto a main road just keep coming, you can't be expected to have eyes in the back of your head (traffic will stop)
For pedestrians crossing busy roads, walk SLOWLY into the stream of oncoming traffic. Motorcyclists don't want to damage their machines and generally avoid collisions
Speed limits are determined by the traffic in front

This was all very useful for arrival in HCMC which is absolutely manic.

Had a hotel reservation but they let my room go and offered me a higher price suite. Walked out, went in the next one, took a room and ate (you will be impressed with this Christine) in the restaurant next door. Didn't even shop around.

Very hot and humid here...just like home?

Easy Riders: Part 2

Met Hung at 8.30 and we went for a tour round the local area on his brand new Honda: less than 1 month old, $2,800, a fortune here. First stop another pagoda (I think I am now all pagoda'd out) but they had a fantastic collection of gnomes outside that beats anything our neighbours have hands down!



We then took in: terrace farming, a flower farm, mushroom farm, fish farm, rice wine making (and distillation to rice vodka, wow). Then we drove for some miles with the most beautiful scent in the air, I thought it was honeysuckle but it was this plant, do you know what it is? (Katherine Dobie will know because they probably have this on her plantations in Carolina)?



The best coffee in Vietnam is first fed to a breed of weasel, the droppings are then collected and roasted to produce the premium variety....I gave it a pass.



We then went to a silk factory, waterfalls, a typical Vietnamese restaurant, went trecking through the forest, and visited the Gaudi inspired Crazy House. You can stay here for $15 a night and the rooms are all irregular, organic shapes with animal themes like this.



Got back exhausted but saw so much in one day. Now moving on, a 7 hour bus ride to HCMC where it is reported to be VERY hot.