Photos

Street scene in Phnom Penh.










Fishing on the Mekong River in the delta. This is just one of the methods.









Crossing the border into Vietnam - going through customs.

On top of Sam Mountain, looking back towards Cambodia and forward into Vietnam. The man is making a mould for a cement pot to house bonsai plants.

Brian enjoying a Vietnamese breakfast - Pho Bo - beef and rice noodle soup.

More local delights! Kathy enjoys the 'hot pot.' Raw meat, fish and veggies are cooked in the boiling broth on the tabletop charcoal burner. $4 US!

The last stop - Saigon

This will be our last post!!!!!

We are now in Saigon (the locals still don't call it Ho Chi Minh City). We are in a real tourist hot spot - there are hotels, travel agents, bars, restaurants, and people hasssling you to buy something (eg a packet of chewing gum!).

However, we have found a great guest house in an alley off the main street. It's great. Outside is a bustling crazy world and within the alley ways lies the normal Vietnamese world. As we wandered about tonight we could see families preparing tea, eating it or just resting at the end of the day. I wonder how many of the visitors discover this?

New experience today was travelling on a cyclo - a bike with a passenger seat in front of it. Later we had another motor bike ride and I certainly felt safer with the cyclo.

Went to a water puppet show today - a highlight for Kathy.

Yesterday visited a number of museums, pagodas and temples.

We are more aware of the American War here and its impact. I feel a little guilty that I wasn't aware of lots of what was happening here many years ago. And now we have Iraq!

When in a village (or hamlet) near Ben Tre, we were lucky to meet a local, Liam, who invited us to his home for dinner. In his backyard he showed us the tombs of his father, who had died in the war and that of his mother who passed away recently.

Being part of a Vietnamese family for an evening was a highlight and an honour for us.

Next day we travelled all the little pathways around the village on motorbikes, led by Liam. Again we had an insight into everyday rural living.

See you next week!

Ben Tre

We left Vinh Long at 11.30am on a crowded 17 seater mini bus. The problem with these is that everyone has heaps of luggage and there is very little space. My bag managed to squeexe in under my seat and Brian rested his in the doorway, holding it up right the whole trip.

Our plan is to slowly move towards Saigon. This time we want to get right of the beaten track and have consulted our Lonely Planet carefully, taking instructions literally. We had chosen the guesthouse we wanted to check out.

Once again the bus was heading to HCMC and we were dropped off at the turnoff to My Tho. From here we were to catch a ferry across the river to Ben Tre.

Luck had it that someone could speak a little English - enough for us to organise a motor bike to take us to the ferry. Kathy managed this trip of about 4km without gripping onto the driver!

Luck again when we met the brother of the guesthouse owner on the ferry. He and a mate drove us to the place. Its a quiet place in a pleasant garden setting. This little hamlet is here as a ferry stop. Most people go onto Ben Tre which is about 17km away. We might catch a bus there tomorrow but will just rest a little. One week to go before we return.

Brian's still getting over a cold so he's resting while Kathy went for a walk. Guess what she found?

Mekong Delta - the Venice of Vietnam

Whilst wandering around the town and trying to work out whether to catch one of the ferries across canals and rivers just to have a look, we came across a company that offered us a great deal on a tour. We decided to take it!

We had a boat with a driver as well as an English speaking guide. Usually this is not our scene but we are really glad that we took this up.

Again it was sensory overload looking at life along the rivers, canals and channels.

A few time we would stop and go for a wander to see some sort of cottage industry at work. This included making ceramic tiles for paving, knives and blades, palm leaf roofing and coffins! We also walked through a fruit nursery where we sampled fruits and some rice spirits. We loved the bonsai in another garden and plan to give it a go when we get home. At one stage we went for a bike ride to have a look at some of the orchards. All these little islands are lots of little orchards of all kinds of tropical fruits. The Asian grapefruit and longans are the main fruits in season.

Eventually we arrived at our homestay. I imagined it might be a bit better than our hill tribe experience. When wewere shown to our room I thought this was 5 star! The beds were camp stretchers with a thin mattress. A mosquito net was draped over it. There was electricity. Outside was a western loo, an Asian style shower and a handbasin with mirror!

After a walk around the orchard/property we relaxed on hammocks with a beer whilst wainting for dinner to be served.

This was another culinary feast. We stared off with elephant ear fish which had been cooked. Cold spring rolls were made using the flesh of this with a variety of salad greens and herbs.

This was not the end of the meal. To follow were a variety of vegie dishes, rice, yummy grilled pork and fried spring rolls. Dessert was a banana.

We had an early night because we needed to get up early to go to the floating market. Music from a house across the water way lulled us to sleep.

Through the night we could hear boats going by and the wake of the water splashing beneath our room.

The trip to the floating market was very much like others we have seen. Trading in the middle of the river certainly saves double handling goods!

We continued our travels through the small islands and stopped of to see the making of poprice. This is then made into a confectionary. We also was the making of coconut candy, rice paper for spring rolls and the conical Vietnamese palm hats. Lots of photos were taken by Kathy for school!

Though some of the places we vitied were 'touristy', it was great to see how some things were made traditionally. I'm sure machines would be used now days. Also we never were under any pressure to buy anything.

It was a bit sad to finish the trip. Once again we would have to plan our next move!

Vinh Long - Mekong Delta

We had a few hiccups with this post - conections here are slow. We are now reposting it.

Before leaving Chau Doc, we went on a trip to nearby Sam Mountain. This gave fantastic views towards Cambodia and over the Mekong Delta as well as the opportunity to visit a few temples.

For Kathy the trip on the back of a motor bike was fine until we reached the mountain. I wasn't too sure if the bike could take the STEEP and curvy road with me as the baggage. A moment of living dangerously which turned out well. The trip down the mountain was a piece of cake!

Next we set out on a 4 hour bus trip to Vinh Long. It was really interesting - looking at the countryside and all that goes on in towns, villages, fields etc. We were amazed at how quickly the time went. The passengers looked after us which included buying us food and drink from strretside vendors.

The bus was going on to Ho Chi Minh City so we had to get off enroute. We assumed that we would change buses and continue our travels. It was a great surprise to us when the bus pulled across at the turnoff. There waiting for us were 2 motorbikes to take us the remaining 9km!

Brian sat behind one driver, wearing his backpack and carrying his day bag. Kathy had a less adventurous ride because the driver held her backpack and she just had to cling on to her bag. Living dangerously again!

At home I would have absolutely refused to do this, but here - where would it get me? Nowhere!

The drivers here have an amazing sense of balance. We are forever taking pics of seemingly impossible loads on bikes or motorbikes. It's not just balancing - its managing to negotiate the traffic on the extremely busy roads.

We arrived safely to a hotel and did our usual orientation walk of the centre. For the first time on our trip we struck rain. It was a long and steady drizzle so we waited for a while before continuing our travels.

Had a feast for tea - seafood hotpot in a local eatinghouse. A charcoal fire is brought to the table. On it rests a pot of boiling stock. Some fish and vegetables were already cooking. Accompanying this were plates of more greens of all kings. (I recognised the bok choy and spring onions!) Also there was a plate of beef, squid, fish and shrimps and some dried noodles. The people showed us how to cook and eat our meal. There was no room for dessert, not that there was any on the menu. With a beer each the meal cost us about $6!

Had our worst hotel room all trip. It was a bit grotty, the traffic was noisy and Kathy was attacked by mossies. Still, what does one expect if the room costs $8? This however is what we usually spend.

Now Vietnam

We are now in Chou Doc in Vietnam.

We took a bus and "slow boat" from Phnom Penh. That was an experience.

Ths is a river town just off the Mekong. It has floating markets where dozens of boats trade in goods. It has fish farms where people have floating houses and under them the fish. There are manydifferent sorts of boats plying the river.

We find this place is similar to Cambodia but a bit less "extreme". It actually seems to be organised and there seems to be a rubbish collection system- that works. It is definitely better off than Cambodia. The people are still very nice and friendly.

The food here is fantastic and even cheaper than Cambodia. Eating from the stalls is very appealing but has it's drawbacks.

It is very hot during the day so it's very tiring.

Cheers.

Poverty in Cambodia

We knew that this is a very poor country. Pol Pot's time also still has it's impact. This is my summary of how I see it (after 2 weeks in the country!).

The average wage (for what it means) is meant to be about $1US a day. Teachers get $35US a month (but only work 1/2 the day). We paid $20US for a skilled guide for a day.

There are lots of beggars. They have very desperate faces and situations but we never give to beggars. We believe this is the only policy to have.

We try to be fair in our negotiations with people but also don't want to be ripped off. It is all a balancing act which we sometimes get wrong.

If you think too much about it you could get depressed. It is part of the deal when traveling through a poor country.

The country is making progress. There are new schools, roads etc. A few times new bridges have been pointed out to us and they saywho paid for it eg Japan, China and even a small one by Australia (with a kangaroo on it). The people are very aware of the aid and appreciate it. It makes a real difference.

However, as with all poor countries the problems are huge.

In spite of the poverty people are great. We see kids playing all sorts of games in the street. They love to have a joke and interact with us. Adults are also quick to have a laugh. They are great people to deal with.

We often take a picture and then show the kids the preview on the cameras. They love it and if their parents are there the love their kids to interact with us. The experience is very humbling at times. In the less touristy areas they love to say "hello" to us even if that's the only English word they know.

Tourism is very important to the country and this is how we as helping. We also have fun and I the people we interact with have fun. We boost their income a bit.

That's how we rationalize it all.

Cheers...........Brian