Winter Avoided

Day 111. Back in Stoke on Trent.

Not sure whether I avoided winter as last night , 1st night at home, it snowed and its flippin freezing.

Arrived home yesterday after 26 hours on a variety of transport systems, taxis, planes, buses, cars and feet. Bit tired but very happy.

Well what a winter. Certainly feel as though I have avoided it. The weather in my winter has been so much better than the weather I left behind.

And my thoughts. A fantastic experience. So many different things to see and experience its very difficult to pick favourites or highlights and nearly impossible to think of negatives. But I'll try

Just some bullet points:

1. In total I've had 13 flights.
2. I've driven or been driven 16,000km.
3. I've only been ill for 1 week.
4. I've visited 5 countries.
5. I have no idea how many temples, wats, museums, buildings I've visited.
6. My favourite part of the trip was the whole outback Australia. 2 weeks which I don't think I could have experienced anywhere else in the world.
7. The Barrier Reef is awesome. So beautiful, so big and took my breath away - which isn't ideal when you are snorkelling.
8. Favourite man made building . I've got to split this into 2. Modern . Sydney Opera House is impressive. A gorgeous building, very iconic, fantastic location, and a wonderful experience. Old. Angkor and Angkor Wat are amazing. So huge, so impressive and built so long ago when we lived in mud huts.
9. Favourite country. I loved them all but I think Cambodia. Just because for a country which has had such a traumatic past the people are so friendly and seemingly happy.
10. Thailand. I've come away with a negative impression and thats sad. I think its because a) Bangkok is horrible b) I was ill there and c) in Bangkok there are SO MANY middle aged caucasian men walking around with young Thai women it gives me the creeps.

Would I go back. Absolutely. I want to visit the outback and Kakadu in the dry season. I'd love to cycle through laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. And I'd love to give Thailand a chance becuase I'm sure its beautiful. Hopefully I will have the time to do it.

So thats the end of the blog. It was great for me. Hopefully some bits of it were ok for you too.

Cambodia

I really fell in love with Cambodia. Because it was so beautiful, because it has such a sad history and because the people were so friendly.



Our tour guide was called ran. His story sums it up. He is 48 years old and lived in a small village near Phnom Penh until he was 10 with his farming family. In 1970 the VietCong attacked his villlage and used it as a base during raids into SOuthern Vietnam. The Americans were bombing villages in Cambodia for this reason. So ran's family left the village to go to PP. They left behind their older brother and father to guard the property. When the US bombed the village they all stayed underground in a bunker. One day one of the farmers was not in the bunkers when the US bombers came. Scared he ran towards the bunker and was spotted by a plane, which then bombed the bunker. 4 people including his brother were killed.



Meanwhile in PP the family had no money. Ran stopped going to school as soon as he got there (i.e. at 10). His family took to selling lottery tickets and bits of food to get by. They had a rough 5 years and then in April 1975 the Khmer Rouge came into town having won the civil war. Immediately , i.e. the smae day, they told his family to get out of the town and return to the countryside. Ran and his family treked the 50 km back to their village with no food. Having been in their village for a few days several of them contacted malaria. His brother in law got very ill as he was not eating and giving food to his wife who was pregnant. He got taken to the hospital to be cared for. However, under the Khmer Rouge doctors were killed so the doctor who was treating him 10 years old. AT this time his family was asked to move to Batambang province. His sister asked that she remain behind to visit her husband so Ran remained with her and his brother sisters mum dad and the rest of the family went . Luckiy for him - his extended family consisted of 50 uncles, aunts and cousins and at the end of the Khmer Rouge 2 were left alive. The rest had died of starvation and illness.

Over the next 3 years Ran and his family survived as they had originally been farmers. However, he caught malaria again and was only saved because his mum had stored away some jewellery which she traded for 2 tablets.

At the end of 1978 the Khmer Rouge sent another detachment of soldiers to guard the village . They arrived in late December on the day when the villagers were harvesting rice. As the weather was bad the villagers worked all day and night feverishly trying to get the rice in. At the end of the day the soldiers gathered them together and said that they had been sent to kill the villagers but could not do it.. The soldierws said they should hide as some more Khmer would come once this was discovered. A few days later - early January - another bunch of soldiers arrived and called a meting the next day in the clearing in the local forest. All of the villagers arrived and sat there all day. When noone turned up they went back to the village and found dead Khmer soldiers and some other soldiers (the friendly soldiers also dead). A few of the friendly soldiers remained and said the forest had been booby trapped and they had followed the Khmer and removed the bombs otherwise they would all be dead.

2 days later the Vietnamese arrived and saved them.

After the was Ran was employed as a teacher. As the Khmer had kiled all teachers, he (having been to school until 10) was one who knew something so he had to tell all of those who knew nothing. He has worked hard over the last 20 years - with help from all kinds of foreign charities to get where he is today.

And for someone who has been through so much, and seen so much he is happy and doesn't grumble. The same for the Cambodians . They have had a rubbish deal and are still getting it. The village children are so poor and have to still deal with the prospect of land mines in the field where they play. Education is compulsory but unless you have a dollar to pay the teacher you cannot go. And they are so friendly.

Its a sobering country. I am reading a book at the moment called 'First they killed my father' an account of a childhood during the Khmer Rouge. Made me cry last night. Yet its a story of human optimism...

Thats my last post from foreign shores. Back on the plane in 3 hours. Think I'll post my thouughts when I get home. Hope the winter was worth avoiding..

Thinh

The tour guides over the whole trip have been really good, but on this leg have been particularly fantastic.

Our tour guide in Vietnam was called Thinh (pronounced Tin). He was a 31 year old, recently married with a 4 year old son.

He was really funny, always cracking jokes and also seemed to have somehow picked up our sense of humour i.e. irony. His accent was really strange at first as he had learnt his english from speaking to tourists and watching tv and listening to radio - so he had some strong Aussie tones and some cockney words.

Interesting life though. He used to live in the country when he was young. Went to school in the morning and tended cows in the afternoon. His parents split when he was 10 and he moved to Saigon with his mother as it was easier to work. He did all kinds of jobs whilst a teenanger and then became a mechanic. However, he didn't think being a amechanic had any prospects so went to school to learn English but couldn't afford to stay there. So he left again and did all kinds of jobs while teaching himself English. Once he had learned English he paid for himself to go to tourism college to get the skils to become a tour guide.

He was a real flirt, and seemed to be good at it. So he was always telling us how many girlfriends he had. But when he stopped joking you understood that many of his girlfriends parents had stopped him marrying them as he was not suitable and didn't have the right prospects. With his current wife he worked for her aunts travel business but had to spend time convincing the family to let him marry her.

He is giving up his current tour guides job as it takes him all over Vietnam and he wants to be closer to home so that he can teach his son English and ensure that his life is much better. Whilst in England all parents want the best for their kids you get a stronger feeling here (Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia) that parents too want the best for thier kods but because of the inadequacies of teaching they have to do it themselves and it is such a financial drain on them.

he was a top man and I wish him well. If any of you are going to Vietnam he would be a good guide as he knew so much about his country and was very proud of it..

Angkor

Angkore, meaning capital city is the biggest tourist attraction in Cambodia and probably the biggest in South East Asia

Before I came here I had no idea of the size or scale of the place. The most famous temple is Angkor Wat - this is the famous world heritage site. Truly amazing. It was built in the 12th century and is the biggest religious monument in the world. Its inner walls are 1km by 800m surrounded by a large moat. On all of the walls there are carvings, statues and drawings of the most intricate detail they are amazing - so on the outer wall that makes for some 3 km of carvings. There are also thousands of buddhas and hindu carvings. It is fantastic.

But Angkor Wat is only 1 of the temples in the site of Angkor which covers a huge area - 30km wide, packed with fantastic temples. There are a hundred or so that have not yet been fully rediscovered - due to the encroachment of the jungle and the prescence of land mines - indeed this morning we visited a temple called Santeay Samre, which was a red sandstone temple with intricate carvings, and the field next to the car park was only cleared of land mines 2 weeks ago.

I'm a huge fan of English Cathedrals and Castles as they (IMO) show some fantastic architecture. But the scale and design of the temples here really put them to shame. Angkor was the capital of the Khmer empire from around 800 to 1200 AD. At its peack around 1150 over 1 million people lived here - at this time London had 30,000 people and was largely a wooden town. No amount of descriptive words can explain how fabulous this place is!

We have had 2 days wandering around and the temp has been very hot and sunny, I'm now well into the 4th tube of sun cream - although I've noticed that I seem to be getting a tan on my body and I haven't taken off my top for 2 or more months - makes me think that these clothes that are sold with uv filters may be on to something.

Anyway if you are interested check out the Angkor website or look out for a tv programme as it is really cool.

Off to Bangkok at 09:50 in the morning.

Spiders and Crickets

Had a long drive from Phnom Penh to Siam Reap yesterday - about 330km but the roads are very slow so it took a while.

We stopped at a motroway service station (Cambodian equivalent ) for a study in human life. People all over the place. Taxis packed full of loads of people. The vans here are licensed for 10 people but generally carry 30 - 10 on the roof and 20 inside.

Anyway outside the cafe women were walking around carrying the baskets of crispy fried spiders and crickets. There was also a stand selling large LIVE spiders - couldn't face live spiders. The tour guide told us that people put the live spiders in a botle and pour rice wine over them. Over a few months the flavour and power of the spider seeps through into the wine - giving you more power..

So out tour guide bought us a small bags of the crispy spiders and crickets. I was first to taste the spider. Tasted like nothing really as it was only the crispiness that gave it any flavour. Ate it all but the body was a bit chewy. Apparently they are eaten to help with asthma. Wasn't sure about the crickets. You tear of the head and chew the rest. I thought it tasted a bit fishy/shrimpy and too dry. People apparently have them when they are having a 'sesh' in the same way that we have pork scratching.

Last week we had vietnamese dog on the menu. Some farmers breed dogs for this purpose but they never grow to be very big so the meat tasted a bit fatty and there was a lot of bone.

So there you are. You have to try the local foods I guess.

Angkor Wat today which was amazing. Off to 2 more temples tomorrow so will update then.

Pol Pot and Phnom Penh

Monday evening again

A couple of days of contrasts.

We arrived yesterday. We were told that we didn't need the local currency as everything is priced in dollars - and certainly as tourists that seems true. Yesterday lunch we went out to a local restaurant which served gorgeous Khmer food in really pluch surroundings. After visiting the National Museum we went to the Foreign Colonials Club (FCC) overlooking the Mekong. 3 floors up in very swanky colonial type surroundings sitting drinking cocktails at $5.50 a go. Such a contrast to the street below.

Last night we went to another restaurant high over the river. The chef/owner was an American who had travelled the world for 40 years and wanted to settle. This restaurant served the most amazing food I have eaten - flavours danced of the tongue. He came out and talked us through every item - where the meat came from or fish or pasta, how it was cooked. So Veal from Italy, Steak from Scotland, Trout from Australia... amazing. Afterwards back into the library which was a comfy area inside for liquers (on the house). The meal cost English prices. We asked him why this and why Phnom Penh. He said that there were an increasing number of locals who now had money and had nothing to spend it on (there is a distinct lack of shops - just street stalls) so food was a way to live luxuriously. Real experience.

And today we visited the Genocide Museum in PP and the killing fields. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge existed during our lifetime but it is amazing and sickening to visit the museums and see the sheer mindless brutality of it all . In 1975 when Pol Pot took over there were 23 million people in PP. By the end of the year there were less than 3,000. Everyone was sent from the towns and cities (as these were imperialistic) to grow rice. There was no money, cars, tvs, papers, etc.. basically nothing. He also killed 2 million of the 7 million Cambodians during 1975 to 1979. But not a simple killing , oh no. Tortured then starved you for 3 months first , then took you to the killing fields (there are 340 of these around Cambodia each with mass graves that had 100 people in each grave). So when you got to the killing fields rather than shoot you they bashed you over the head with an iron bar or bamboo stick . You fall into the grave and they put another 100 on top of you. Guess what if you weren't dead you would be soon because they tipped ddt (fertiliser) over the grave to keep the smell down and kill you in case you survived the iron bar.

The prison 21 showed pictures of the prisoners when they arrived and also during and after torture and was terribly unpleasant and uncomfortable. Of the 17,000 who were taken to prison 21 only 7 were lewfdt alive at the end. Oh and get this. When you arrived at the prison with your family (You always turned up with your family because if you were accused then they rounded up the whole family as you were all contaminated ) they took you upstairs to the detention room and took away any children you had under 12 and killed them straight away as they had no purpose and were noisy!!!

And we sit there and complain that our towels haven't been changed..

Off on a 330km trip to Siem Reap (centre to visit Angkor Wat) tomorrow. We will be stopping at a village whose speciality is deep fried crispy spiders... (Shell I shall be thinking of you...)

Mekong Delta

Monday evening

When you visit countries as poor as this it is amazing to see how important a river is to the lives of everyone down its length. We started on the Mekong in Laos on our boat trip. Friday morning we went off to the Mekong delta. The Mekong divides into 2 arms as it approaches the South China Sea - the Mekong and the Bassac. There are in total 9 rivers. Crisscrossing these major rivers are hundreds and hundreds of smaller rivers and man made canals. Amd the whole of this region seems to live, work and die on the banks of the river. To our eyes the river is stinky mess - they all seem to pour everything into it and get their water out of it.

Many of the houses are perched over the river on what seems a very precarious existence. However, it obviously works for them as they seem to feed themselves - the surrounding areas are extremely fertile. Friday night we stayed in a homestay. Its a bit more than someones house. We stayed in a restaurant which had a large upstairs room in which we all slept in beds (under mozzie nets as they were on flying duty). It was ok, hot humid and sweaty but that is real life down here.

It was very difficult when boating, walking or cycling around not to gawp at the houses and the way people lived. All of the house space had many uses - it was a small shop or wor area, which then became a meal table and finally converted to a bedroom - having seperate bedrooms or any kind of leisure space is just not possible. Although they do have tvs in most houses - even those that you think are derelict!!

Saturday we boated out of delta and caught a bus to the Vietnam / Cambodian border to stay in a local town whose name escapes me. It was definitely NOT aimed at tourists. We had lunch in a brilliant restaurant. It was all noise, chaos and cokking on the floor. If you didn't think about it it seemed safe - noone is yet poisoned but seeing them cook as they did (my word)

Sunday moprning we went through the normal disorganised slow process of leaving Vietnam and reacjhing Cambodia. We then had a 150km journey by bus to Phnom Penh - the capital, As soon as we came over the border it was so obvious that this place is much poorer than anywhere we have been so far. I'll talk about the chequered past in the next blog but tragedy doesn't descrive it.

Phnomh Penh is a city of contrasts. Most of it - 95% is so poor. But in a small enclave around the royal palace and business district are some very large rich villas and french colonial houses - lots of large toyotas drive around. We have been told that of the 1 million people in the city only 50,000 are involved in life - the rest are just out to eat...

Next post from Phnom Penh