SE Asia XXXV - My Lai Massacre

The Son My Memorial sits near the coast off of Highway 1A from Quang Ngai (if you want to know how to get there check the previous post). The scenery is very beautiful. Rich green rice paddies were covered by big blue skies. It is strange to visit a memorial to such a terible event in such a beautiful place. The My Lai Massacre took place on the 16th March 1968. 504 civilians wer killed by US troops. The My Lai massacre is commonly seen as an example of when a few soldiers go 'bad'. In Actual fact the massacre was an authorised mission and the soldiers were told "...anyone down there was VC or VC sympathisers." Leioonard Gonzales of Charlie Company testified to the Peers Inquiry that "that day was a massacre", the command was "...kill anyhting and evrything...". The BBC has recently broadcast a documentary using recording from the PEers Inquiry that investigated thge cover-up of the incident. The Inquiry produced 20,000 pages and 400 hours of audio recordings. However, Jerome Walsh a lawyer at the Inquory described General Peers findings as being gagaed and that it was a "...fiasco of military justice". The BBC broadcast the documentary for the 40th anniversary of the massacre.
The Son My Memorial is a moving place to visit. Inside the museum is a wall with the names of the victims. There are Ron Haeberle's (US Army official photographer) photographs of the massacre. There are personal accounts from survivors and parts of village life that survived the village being burnt to the ground. The way the memorial presents the crime can grate with western sensibilities. There is a large diorama of US troops shooting women and children, accurate but not something I think you would see in a western equivalent. The descriptions of photographs refer to imperialist puppets and the usual anti-capitalist diatribe. What is very powerful is the recreation of the village after the massacre. Ruined huts are scattered around rice fields. While I was there old women were working in the rice paddies. Next to each hut are details of the family who lived and died there. The concrete paths that link them have small bare foot prints mixed with large G.I. boot prints. I'm not sure the concrete models of dead livestock fitted in but that may just be my western sensibilities again.

Below is the introduction to the documentary from the BBC website. "For a year after My Lai, the rapes and murders were covered up. Much of what we know thereafter came from the widely publicised court martial of Lt William Calley in 1970/71. He was the only man ever found guilty of any offences at My Lai. But the massacre was much more than the actions of a few rogue individual soldiers. It was carefully planned and a high body-count was the main aim. Before Calley's trial, The US Army itself held its own investigation into the massacre. "The Peers Inquiry" heard evidence behind closed doors inside the Pentagon from December 1969 to March 1970. *The inquiry recordings lay forgotten for nearly 40 years. Tonight, for the first time, you can hear the testimonies of those involved and the full extent of US Army activity on the ground on16th March 1968. You can also hear new interviews with soldiers who took part and with one of the members of the panel of the Peers Inquiry. Over 14 weeks, Lt General William Peers and his panel took statements from 403 witnesses: soldiers, senior officers, chaplains, journalists and Vietnamese. The findings of the investigation were so uncomfortable for the US Military they were suppressed. Some 400 hours of tape were recorded - and classified. Until now. The accounts are shocking: "The first shot hit a baby in the head and I turned around and (was) sick" - one soldier. Another: "Most people in our company didn't consider the Vietnamese human…..A guy would just grab one of the girls there and ….they shot the girls when they got done." The tapes of the Peers Inquiry prove that US soldiers raped and killed hundreds of civilians in not just one but three villages that day. They prove that two companies - not only the infamous Charlie Company - were involved. They show how badly trained and ignorant of the laws of war many of the young soldiers were. These tapes also prove that the orders "to leave nothing alive" came from senior officers. The Peers Inquiry made key recommendations about the training of soldiers fighting insurgents and about the responsibility of leaders in wartime - issues with huge resonance today in Afghanistan and Iraq. The programme is presented by American military journalist, Robert Hodierne, himself a journalist in Vietnam." http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/1968/mylai.shtml

SE Asia XXXIV - On the road

I covered a lot of ground in a few days making my way down from the highlands and on to the coast. What stood out from these days were the insane risks that Vietnamese minibus drivers take. They all seem to have been schooled at "Get Away Driver's R'US". What is amazing is that everyone sits back and accepts the detours and crazy driving manoeuvres as common practice. Apart from one woman sitting next to me squealing, though that may have been because she was sitting next to me.

The bus from Buon Ma Thout to Nha Trang was packed by the time we had driven around and picked up passengers outside of the bus station. I caught the 6am bus to Nha Trang for 70,000VND. The journey down from the highlands to the coast is very pretty. A Catholic missionary joined the bus. Joseph was working in the Phillipines and had come back to Vietnam to visit his relatives. His English was excellent and we chatted about Vietnam and travelling. My plan for the day was to go to Quy Nhon a further 4 hours of travelling from Nha Trang., Joseph informed me that there was a direct bus from Buon Ma Thout to Quy Nhon, something I didn't know and would have made the journey quicker as it takes a different route. I decided to jump off of the bus once we joined Highway 1A that runs from Saigon to Hanoi. It struck me as pointless going to Nha Trang to come back on myself to go to Quy Nhon. Joseph wasn't a fan of the plan and quite worried for my safety. Apart from anything else he was worried I would get ripped off. As it turned out the only dodgy thing that happened was a rather friendly moto driving stroking my arm. I only waited ten minutes for a bus heading to Quang Ngai. I did have to negotaite with the conductor. After many noises on my part and much lauighter from the rest of the passnengers I paid 60,000VND to Quy Nhon. The bus was packed but the driver was taking life easy. The view of the coast was spectacular even if the clouds of cigarette smoke obscured it. I was surprised to find Highway 1A, the main artery linking north and south Vietnam to be nothing more than a normal road with hard shoulders that were slow lanes for local traffic. At one point the road climbed up the side of a cliff face and plunged over the other side only to be confronted with huge pot holes with truck and bus swerving to avoid them.


Quy Nhon is a small Vietnamese town on the coast. It sits in a pretty bay. The beach is very long, colourful fishing boats are moored just off shore or sit on the beach itself. Quy Nhon is a small town by Vietnamese standards but is still pretty big and busy. There are very few western tourists. Quy Nhon is certainly a nice place to break up the journey going north. There are some Cham towers in the town and the locals appear to be genuinely pleased to see you. I stayed at Barbara's Backapckers a hostel setup by a New Zealand woman. It was a nice place with lots of informaion on what to do in the area. I stayed in a 6 bed dorm for 50,000VND which only two of us shared.

Minibus drivers in South East Asia are psychotic. Vietnamese minibus drivers are among the more mental. I got a minibus from Quy Nhon to Quang Ngai. I arrived at the bus startion on a moto and as soon as I got off a guy was chasing me. I agreed 50,000VND for the journey to Quang Ngai and got in. I asked when we would be leaving, he said 8am (it was 7.30am). I was the only passenger. We roared off down the road. The driver must have gone to the bank robber driving school. We chased down moto drivers and screached to a halt alongside them, before doing a u-turn and flying off in the opposite direction. It had more in keeping with a kidnapping than a bus service. The minibus pulled up next to a guy standing next to the road, the conductor jumped out and bundled him into the back of the minbus. We went back to the bus station where a German joined us. We waited around for a good twenty minutes before doing some more circuits of the local area. We eventually had a pretty full transit van and we started on the road north. The airconditioning wasn't working and it felt like a sauna. The driver was really going for it. He did the usual crazy manoevoures, passing on blind bends, overtaking with traffic coming at us head on, forcing motos off of the rod, while at the same time having the horn blasting and the conductor leaning out of the window screaming "oi, oi, oi" at anything in our path. I could understand driving like this to get to our destination quickly but then we would slow for no apparent reason before speeding up again. Click here for a video of some of the risks he took, if you listen carefully you can hear the "oi,oi,oi". We would drive at 120 km/h through the centre of a town before slowing in the countryside with no potential for picking up passengers. When people were seen at the side of the road we would pull up beside them and the conductors would try to kidnapp them. The locals at the side of the road appeared to be just as repulsed by their hard sell tactics as foreigners are.

I was going to Quang Ngai to visit the Son My Memorial to the My Lai Massacre. I have written about that in a separate post. I got dropped off at the ringroad in Quang Ngai and wandered over to a roadside cafe. I had a cheap lunch and then the moto mafia descended. I knew the cost of a return journey to Son My should be 50,000VND but that as a westerner you were highly unlikely to get this price so the best you could hope for was 100,000VND. Two moto drivers sat down and their initial offer was 200,000VND. I laughed and said nothing. The negotiations drew a small crowd. I could see little point in returning a price so collected my bags and asked to use the toilet. I was directed to a muddy chicken coup out the back. When I returned the patriarch of the family said 100,000VND, I agreed to the price and he directed me to a moto driver (I left my big bag at the cafe). The scenery is very beautiful, big blue skies with rich green rice paddies lining the road.

After my visit to the Son My Memorial I returned to Quang Ngai to continue my journey north to Danang. I had another hair raising minibus journey ahead of me. I got my bags and walked across the roadf to catch a bus heading north. A minibus was waiting. The conductor tried to nget me on board for 90,000VND which I knew was way overpriced. I put my bag down and sat at the side of the road confident more buses would be along shortly. She returned and offered a cheap price, I refused eventually it came down to 50,000VND and I accepted. On board it turned out that the minibus was not departing for Danang immediately. We toured around the ring road. After twenty minutes we were full and I assumed we would be leaving for Danang. Another full minibus pulled up infront of us and all of their passengers got off and got on to our already full minibus. When I say minibus we were in a Ford transit van. There were seats for about twenty people. The back seat seat was folded down and they manged to squeeze 40 people into the van. The conductor hung out of the sliding door touting for even more passengers while yelling "oi,oi,oi" at anything in our path. The driver was of course mentally deranged, even with the number of passengers on board we went at light speed to Danang. Click here for one video and a second video of his driving. Sitting next to me was a local from Quang Ngai going to Danang to watch the fireworks. It turned out that an international fireworks competition was on in Danang and that was why so many people were going.

I arrived in Danang and caught the local bus from the bus station to the centre of town for 3,000VND. I hunted high and low for a room for the night and could not find anywhere, not even at the expensive hotels. I went to Phu An Hotel and asked for a room. They didn't have any either so I asked about buses to Hoi An. It turned out that there were no more buses to Hoi An. Luckily a guy at the reception who was staying at the hotel spoke excellent English. He said a taxi to Hoi An should cost no more than 300,000VND. A hefty sum but in the end it was my only option. I went to watch the fireworks. There was a huge crowd but for some reason no one had apparently told the crowd where the fireworks were going to be. Everyone was setup around the bridge but the fireworks were on the other side of town. They looked impressive if slightly far away. I caught the taxi afterwards toi Hoi an, which cost 280,000VND and took 40 minutes. I had booked a room at Dai Long Hotel for $15 (the first room I had booked since I was in Krabi back in December).

SE Asia XXXIII - Motorcycle Diaries

On the Vietnam travelling circuit Dalat is a famous stop for its scenery and cool climate. Dalat is also famous for the Easy Riders. Motorcyle riders who take tourists on tours of Dalat and furthafield. I spent 3 days on the back of Mr Titi's motorbike. Its a great way to travel and to get off of the beaten track. Dalat is the Cameron Highlands of Vietnam. The French came here to escape the humidity of Saigon. In many respects its similar to the Cameron Highlands the scenery is lovely but the town is unlikely to win any beauty pageants.

The first day I did a day trip around Dalat. There is quite a bit to see in the surroundings of Dalat. We stopped in a couple of Pagodas and went to see how various things are made. Dalat is up in the hills and the roads are undulating. The French introduced pine trees here and it makes for a nice aroma. It is noticeable that the hills have been cleared of most of their natural vegetation. Mr Titi said that the change has come in the past twenty years with the government bringing northern migrants to resettle in the area. The clearing has increased as the price of coffee has risen. Of the stops the best by far was Elephant Waterfall. It is a stunning waterfall in a picturesque setting. It seems that the heavy rain that greeted my arrival in Dalat happens every afternoon. I wasn't aware of this and when we returned inthe afternoon I got completely soaked. I would recommend heading out in the morning and getting back before the rains come. On the return to Dalat Mr Tit gave me the hard sell for a longer tip. I agreed to 2 days because the day charge at $60 was too much for any longer.

The best part of the next two days travelling was getting out away from the normal tourist circuit. It was great to cruise along on the back of the mtorobike and enjoy the scenery. It was funny to see the reaction of locals as they did a double take when they realised a foreigner was driving by. We left Dalat at 8.30am. Out from Dalat we stopped at Tuyen Lam Lake. It is a very big lake with a pagoda on top of a hill. We headed down out of the hills to Chicken Village a very touristy small village that apparently got its name from the number of chickens that lived in the village. A giant concrete chicken sits in the middle of the village. From there the next hour was a bit dull we stopped to see more things being made before the scenery changed for the better. More green rice paddies appeared and we started to head back into the hills. We made our way up over mountain passes to see some stunning views. At random points Mr Titi would drop me off to walk and he would wait up ahead. I got some very strange looks from Vietnamese driving passed wondering how a random foreigner got himself into the middle of nowhere. We stopped in K'bong No for a coffee. It was a very small town sitting astride a river. We arrived in Du Lich the night's stop at 5pm. I wandered around the town as the sun was setting. The town was not pretty but the scenery surroudning it certainly was. I also had a strange encounter with the wildlife. I was walking down the main street after buying some water when an elephant suddenly appeared next to me. The mahoot didn't bat an eyelid and the elephant strode off into the distance. We stayed at Du Lich Mo Trung for $8 I got a fan room with single bed and cold ensuite. It was a good evening spent with a few more Easy Riders and their passengers. A lot of rice wine was drunk. The next day we left at 8.30am to drive down to a local village just outside of Dalat. From there we stopped at a brickworks and continued on to Gia Long and Dray Sap Falls. Two extremely impressive waterfalls. We then arrived in Buon Ma Thout at 2.30pm, a touch early for my liking.

Mr Titi was a safe driver and relatively chatty. He gave quite a bit of commentary although alot of this was lost in the wind noise. I did find it a bit uncomfortable when we would wander into people's homes at the end of which Mr Tit would declare "You take picture now". Actually at the end of every commentary or side trip would be the order "You take picture now". I assumed that as an Easy Rider he has an arrangement to go into people's homes. Most of the time the owners were oblivious, sometimes they were welcoming, and at other times I got the distinct impression that we were not welcome. I got the impression Mr Tit didn't have my best interests in mind., He got into a sulk when I choose the cheaper option for the stay in Du Lich, even though it turned out a number of other Easy Riders were staying there with their passengers which made for a fun evening.When we arrived in Buon Ma Thout it was 2.30pm. I had paid for two full days at $60, 2.30pm was not a full day. I had felt like Mr Titi was riushing me during the stops but then he seemed to be the previous day and we didn't arrive until 5pm at Du Lich. The arrival in Buon Ma Thout was furthered soured by the receptionist at the guesthouse Mr Titi took me to lying about what time buses left for Nha Trang. She said there weren't anymore, I asked around the corner and they said there were two still to go. When I confronted her she wasn't in the least bit apologetic, simple saying "I think you stay here tonight". I found somewhere else. Mr Titi was there and didn't do anything to help me, he seemed more intent on getting his commission.

I wasn't going to give my money to the lying receptionist so I wandered around town looking for somewhere else to stay. A task further complicated by the completely wrong Lonely Planet map. It turned out that finding cheap accommodation in Buon Ma Thout wasn't as easy as I hoped and I ended up getting a moto out to the bus station (15,000VND) where I stayed at Ban Me Hotel five minutes walk away. After some negotiation i got a twin room, with fan, and hot ensuite for $10. I seemed to be the only guest, its best days were long gone but it was acceptable. I had dinner at one of the roadside cafes. The locals were extremely surprised to see me wander in and even more surprised to see me eat the food. I left Buon Ma Thout on the 6am bus to Nha Trang for 70,000VND (4 hour journey).

I got one of the Open Tour buses from Ho Chi Minh City to Dalat. I went with TM Brothers Open Tour Bus for $6. I wouldn't recommend them. The journey to Dalat took seven hours. The bus was only a quarter full but the seats were small and uncomfortbale. It wasn't helped by the bus driver constantly using the air horns which seemed to be mounted inside the bus next to my head. There was torrential rain on our journey up to Dalat and when we pulled our bags out from underneath they were soaked through. What annoyed me further was that we were dropped at a place and they tried to hard sell us a room. I suppose it wasn't surprising as this is how the Open Tour buses make their money. The advantage of the Open Tour buses is that they depart from Pham Ngu Loo, although we still managed to leave an hour later than scheduled. I would avoid TM Brothers or TM Cafe in the future and use a different operator.

SE Asia XXXII - Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) or Saigon, as the locals still call it and the train timetables say, is a huge sprawling city. The preservation of old buildings has unsurprisngly been of low priority and cake towers dominated the streets. The most interesting aspect of Saigon is the traffic and that doesn't bode well for the rest of the city. The traffic is amazing. The roads whether wide or narrow are filled with motorcycles and the odd car . To cross the road is a game of chicken across the street and become engulfed by the motorcyle swarm. There are traffic lights in HCMC but they are rarely obeyed. The traffic enmasse decide when the lights have changed colour, irrespective of whether they have. It is not unusual to discovert that the pavement you are walking on has become an express lane to skip a traffic jam or a set of traffic lights. HCMC does have some sights of interest but you could easily see these in a day or two.

HCMC is alot more civilised than I imagined. My expectations had been sufficiently lowered after reading "Don't tell Mum I work on the Rigs"and the story of driving into Saigon in a taxi and being robbed with a machete across your throat. However, time has done its job and Saigon is quite civilised certinaly more so than Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh felt much more unpleasant. I would not want to live in Phnom Penh but I could live in Saigon. I wandered large parts of the city and never had a problem other than the traffic. I walked around at night with a bag and never felt threatened.One of the complaints I often hear baout Vietnam is that people are only out to make money from you and that this is especially true in the south. There is one tourist area in HCMC, Pham Ngu Loo. I choose not to stay here and instead stayed in Co Giang at Kim Loan. If you stay in Pham Ngu Loo then you could well be left with this impression. Co Giang, south of Pham Ngu Loo, is just an alleyway with some guesthouses running along it and doesn't have the restaurants or tourist shops. It means that you don't get hassled apart form a couple of moto drivers. Pham Ngu Loo was the only place in Saigon I got hassled. I've not come across people trying to shine your shoes, but this was common in Pham Ngu Loo (and as it turned out in other touristy parts of Vietnam). In the rest of the city there are moto drivers who try and attract your attention but I didn't find the ones in Saigon that irritating. I think its because Saigon is so big that they are more spread out. I found the motos to come in handy at times. Saigon is huge and at times the streets are faceless with the same cake towers lining the way. It is easy to wander for a while and get lost. The motos I used to get back to Co Giang were all pretty good and I didn't have to bargain hard with them to get a fair price. I stayed at Kim Loan in Co Giang. I got a twin fan room with hot ensuite, TV, fridge, and table chair for $10. The husband and wife who ran it were relatively friendly although their teenage daughters didn't seem quite so pleased with guests wandering in and out of the house.
HCMC has a number of museums. The most interesting is the War Remnants Museum, formerly called the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes. It is one of the best museums I have visited. A great deal of unpleasant material is presented in a tasteful if confronting manner. There are lots of disturbing pictures of the victims of the Vietnam War and victims from the reprecussions of the use of herbicides (particularly disturbing are conjoined babies in glass jars). I found the most interesting exhibit was Requiem. An exhibition of photographs from war correspondents who died during the American War (as the Vietnamese call it). The Reunification Palace is also well worth visiting. It is famous as the site of the South Vietnamese surrender to the North after tanks crashed through the palace gates. It was built in the 1960s and has an uncanny resemblance to Tracy island. Another popular tourist sight is the main post office. It is in an old French building and inside is a large portrait of Ho Chi Minh. The staff here are excellent.

SE Asia XXXI - Pleased to meet you

The Mekong Delta is a great introduction to Vietnam. It is busy, bright, and colourful. When you cross the border into Vietnam from Cambodia the contrast is huge. I've not seen rivers so full of commerce and trade in Laos or Cambodia, or Thailand for that matter. There are alot more people and there are alot more people out on the water. The Mekong Delta is an excellent place to travel around because of the transport connections. Wherever I was there seemed to be minibuses leaving regularly to all corners of the Delta.

Cahu Doc was my favourite spot in the Mekong Delta. It is a smaller town than Can Tho and it is a bit more off the tourist radar so there are fewer visitors. There are some good places to eat and it is easy to get around. Chau Doc is similar to Cambodian as it is centred around a market. Chau Doc's streets are narrow and there is alot of traffic. It does have a charm. There is the odd French building hidden amongst the cake towers. The people are friendly and appear to be pleased to see you. While you see Khmer faces, the change in the way people look is noticeable and much more noticebale than crossing from Thailand to Laos or Laos to Cambodia.I stayed at Vinh Phuoc Hotel in Chau Doc, where a fan twin room was $7, with hot shower ensuite. The staff were quite friendly and helpful. I did a trip out to the floating houses and Cham village, with a woman rowing the boat standing up and her two children joining us. It was a nice way to see the community. I paid a somewhat inflat $5 for the hour and a half trip. I also messed up on negotiating a moto to Sam Mountain and paid 40,000VND for a trip that could be done by public bus for 3,000VND. Sam Mountain is a Vietnamese tourist destination. There are lots of Buddhist shrines in gaudy colours. Bars line the path down the 'mountain' and are filled to the brim with hammocks. The view from the top is good if a bit hazy. It is amazing just how flat the area is, although not surprising considering this is a river delta. The Vietnamese were most surprised to see more on their bus back into town. I pulled out my phrasebook and it was leafed through with great interest.

From Chau Doc I went to Ha Tien by bus, the journey took three hours. I arrived at the bus station early and there were three locals on board. They were most surprised to see a westerner getting onboard. They took a keen interest in me and merrily chatted to me in Vietnamese even though I couldn't understand a word of what they were saying. I got my phrasebook out and they had a flick through and asked me some questions. I then became something of a zoo exhibit as they seemed to discuss me. The women were none too impressed by my stubbily face. The bus was almost full once we pulled out of the station only to stop outside the station to pick up an extended Cambodian family. I was squeezed next to a young Cambodian guy who managed to get through half a pack of cigarettes in the short time he was on the bus.

I arrived in Ha Tien to be greeted by the moto mafifa. It turned out the bus station had been moved and was now further away from town. I refused all motos and walked to town, it was only a 15 minute walk, but I was shadowed by a moto driver the whole way. I managed to drop the tail and found Tu Anh Hotel. I had a double hot shower ensuite, air-conditioning, and TV for $10. The staff were a bit strange. When I came back in the evening I was in my room and they came knocking on the door and searched around my room. I'm not sure what they thought I could have smuggled in considering I walked passed them to get in and collected my key from them. I wasn't hugely impressed by Ha Tien the town. There is alot of building work going on and there aren't many people around in the middle of the day. I was hanging around in a cafe poking some awful food when a Vietnamese guy sat down at my table. I'm always a bit dubious at such interruptions because so many times they turn out to be trying to sell you something. Unsurprisingly he was trying to sell me something, a moto tour. I didn't want to hang around Ha Tien for the afternoon and the prices he quoted were pretty good.

I went off with Mr Trinh Ngoc The (0918 574 780 trinhngocthe2000@yahoo.com) for an afternoon trip to Thach Dong Cave Pagoda and Mui Nai beach for 40,000. It was a very relaxing afternoon. The scenery is beautiful and there is little traffic. Green rice paddies line the roads and water buffalos plod nonchalantly around. The road back from Mui Nai along the coast is especially beautiful. History is not far away. Inside the Thatch Dong Cave Pagoda is the Stele of Hatred which commemorates the massacre by the Khmer Rouge of 130 people here on 14 March 1978. Along the coast road is a large cemtery for Vietnamese troops who died in Cambodia. Mr Trinh was a good guide and very chatty.

The next day Mr Trinh took me to Hon Chong the next day for 50,000 VND. There are no buses from Ha Tien to Hon Chong. The journey to Hon Chong is quite pretty apart from the cement factories.While the afternoon trip from Ha Tien was a very relaxed affair the morning trip to Hon Chong was quite the opposite. Mr Trinh was on a mission to get there as quickly as possible. We roared off to Hon Chong. The helmet he gave me swung around on my head, so with one hand I had to hold it in place while with the other I held on for grim life. Every time I got a moto in Vietnam they always gave me a helmet to wear, whether that helmet fitted was another matter. I often wore helmets Laurel and Hardy style perched on top of my head. Normally you don't need to hold on to the back bar when travelling by moto but Mr Trinh was flying over bridges and bouncing his way across the pot holes. We rounded one bend to be confronted by a truck and bus coming towards us head on. I closed my eyes. We managed to get by unscathed apart from a shower of gravel.

Hon Chong is a picturesque spot on the coast. The town isn't very big and what there is is spread along the two beaches. There were no other westerners around. The only real sign of activity was around Chua Hang Grotto with hordes of Vietnamese tourists. There is a great restaurant overlooking one of the bays at Hon Trem Guesthouse. The food is excellent and the view over the bay is beautiful. I was staying at Huong Bien Guesthouse, the cheapest guesthouse in town. For $8 I got a fan twin room with cold ensuite. It was alittle bit dodgy but I thought it was OK. The family who ran it were quite friendly apart from the manager who was way too friendly and fake. Sure enough when i returned in the evening and confirmed that I would be leaving tomorrow she turned nasty (even though I had said I would when I arrived). My room had become distinctly less appealling in the intervening hours aswell. The room was like sauna. There were no screens so I couldn't open the windows. There were already lots of mosquitos to keep me company. The hordes of Vietnamese tourists had all descended upon Huong Bien Guesthouse for the night. I asked the manager what time the bus to Rach Gia was and she said 5am. I'm pretty sure there were later ones and I thought she told me this time to spite me. I got up at 5am and the bus didn't come past until 5.30am. I sat with some locals in the meantime, one of whom who spoke broken English implied there were later buses.

The bus got about 20 minutes down the road while picking up parcel after parcel. The conductor came to me and summarily demanded 100,000VND. I hadn't been in Vietnam long but I knew this was far too much. I refused. He justified the price due to my bag being on the seat next to me, something he told me to bring on board with me. I refused and paid him 50,000VND. It took 3 hours to reach Rach Gia. I didn't hang around. I caught a minibus to Can Tho. The Mekong Delta is an excellent place to travel around because of the transport connections. Wherever I was there seemed to be minibuses leaving regularly to all corners of the Delta, apart from Hon Chong. It was another two and a half hours and 47,000VND to Can Tho. There was a twelve year old policeman sitting next to me who was quite chatty. The road was very bumpy. I was on an official minibus run by Mai Linh, a company who run taxis and minibuses throughout Vietnam. Mai Linh minibuses are quite a high standard but there is still very little room when they are full. Luckily there were only 5 people on the minibus so we could spread out.

I arrived in Can Tho to discover I was at the bus station 8kms from town. I only discovered this after walking 8kms to town. Can Thoi is a big busy town. It is quite charming along the riverfront. There is of course lots of activity in the water. A great place to watch it all is from a cafe on top of the ferry ticket office. A friendly family run it and the dad seems to spend most of his time watching whats going on on the water aswell. There are lots of boats heading off to different corners of the Delta. The small ferry boats looked OK but they were absolutely packed to the rafters and didn't look like a comfortable way to travel. I came to Can Tho to visit the floating markets. I went to Cai Rang and Phong Dien floating markets. I did this independently. I talked to a moto driver, or rather gestured, and we agreed on 100,000VND on a round trip to visit both market including waiting time. Gestures can convey alot, combined with a trusty phrasebook. We went to Cai Rang first and I hired a boat to go out into the market. It was more tricky than I imagined. Most people hire a boat in Can Tho but this takes longer and you don't get to Phong Dien in time for the market. The prices at Cai Rang were higher than from Can Tho and I eventually found one for 70,000VND for an hour. I got the impression that these guys did not normally take tourists out and that I was doing them a favour. They sat me in their boat and pushed me down the muddy bank. Once in the water the woman paddled me around the barges and boats. Cai Rang is huge, there are lots of big barges piled high with different fruit and vegetables. In between the big boats and barges were small boats buying the produce as well as ones selling snacks and drinks. After an hour I tried to get my paddler to take me back, it took a few attempts but she eventually did. Once she did I had to climb over a few boats and on to a pier. I gave her 70,000VND and then she started demanding more money. I gave her 10,000VND but was very annoyed. In paying 70,000VND I already felt like I was being charitable. Phong Dien is a much smaller place and the market is much smaller. In many ways it is more attractive. I didn't feel the need to go out on the water and instead watched the proceedings over a cafe sua da (iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk). When my moto driver took me back to Can Tho he tried to demand more money from me. I laughed at him, and paid him the 100,000VND we had agreed to. I had not come across people suddenly demanding more money in the reast of South East Asia. I had paid too much and been ripped off but at least I had done so in agreement. To demand more money after the event struck me as underhand.

I had assumed oprganising the trip from Can Tho independently would be cheaper than going through an agent. Can Tho had its own Del Boy who greeted me at Hien II Guesthouse. The guesthouse was surprisingly nice. The room was small but I had a fan double and hot ensuite for $7. Del Boy then proceeded to sell me a huge tour which I had no interest in doing. I managed to lose him but kept bumping into him around town. He seemed to appear out of every alleyway, reminding me of my promise to think about his tour. As it was the shorter tour that I did would have been cheaper with him then organising it myself, assuming no hidden charges appeared. I didn't see Del Boy around Hien II for the next couple of days. I don't think he works there, I think he just goes from guesthouse to guesthosue trying to sell his tours.

I left Can Tho for Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). I was on another minibus which was packed. I tried to get the a seat with legroom but the guy putting people in the bus wasn't happy with me sitting there. I eventually persuaded a small man to take my seat so that I could have some space. I do find that the Vietnamese like their power and if they tell you to sit somewhere then they will not give in. Maybe this is true of people in general or it could be to do with loss of face in Asian culture. I have assigned you a seat you will sit in the seat. The journey was as life threatening as ever as we raced to HCMC. It was made more hazardous by the BO fumes being emitted by the old woman sitting infront of me. I arrived at Mien Tay bus station in HCMC, the moto mafia descended and I found a driver who would take me for 50,000VND to Co Giang.

SE Asia XXX - Apocalypse Now

Ok so it wasn't quite Martin Sheen going up the Mekong in a gunboat into the darker recesses of Cambodia to find a renege commando. I was going in the opposite drection from Phnom Penh down the Mekong to Vietnam. It wasn't the most taxing of border crossing trips. The only annoyance were the number of stupid questions asked by the tour group on my boat. I'm pretty sure Martin Sheen would have killed them all before Marlon Brando got his hands on them.

There were about 20 passengers aboard the majority of whom were on an Interpid tour from Bangkok to Saigon via Siem Reap. The Intrepid group were chatty and friendly. They did seem to spend a great deal of their time asking stupid questions and once one stupid question had been asked someone else in the group would repeat it. The tour guide appeared to be a bit tired of stupid questions. I think if you put people in a group and give them a leader who is designated as all knowing then they are going to ask stupid questions. The independent part of the brain switches off and sheep mode is activated. I'm not anti-tour but I don't think its necessary to do the tour they were doing especially as they flew sections of it.

The journey down the Mekong from Phnom Penh to the border took about 3 hours. There wasn't a great deal to see but it was a relaxing change to the madhouse that is Phnom Penh. The river is wide and there appear to be few settlements along it and very few boats out on the water. Vietnam is an immediate contrast. Even so it is a relaxing way to make your way to Vietnam and good value considering the amount of time it takes. It took an hour to reach Chau Doc from the border. This section of the journey was the most interesting of the trip. The river narrowed and there was a massive increase in settlements lining the banks aswell as boats in the water. One of the noticeable things with the settlements in Vietnam were the number of TV antennas. I had not seen so many dominating a skyline of a town anywhere else in South-East Asia.

Cambodian immigration was the prettiest border crossing I have been to. The imigration huts were in a wooded enclave next to the river with mango trees. There was hardly anyone there. Vietnamese immigratiuon and customs was a great deal more rigmarole. Firstly we got off the boat and climbed up a muddy bank. A border guard checked out passports. Another guard took out passports and we were all sent into a room for 5 minutes where there were toilets and signs about SARS. After a couple of minutes we were taken out of the room (nothing happened in the room). We were walked further along the riverbank where the local child sales team descended with drinks and snacks for sale aswell as a roving money exchange. We were made to stand inside a hut for about 5 minutes and then walked down to a small pontoon where our boat had docked. We took our bags to another building and everyone had their bags x-rayed. We took our bags back to the boat. We then twiddled our thumbs for an hour and a half waiting for our passports to be returned. The Intrepid guide reckoned this was longer than normal.

I travelled on the Hang Chau Tourist Express boat from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc. The Hang Chau Tourist Express departs Phnom Penh at 12.30pm from the boat dock almost in the centre of town. It cost $19, though the price was going up to $22. If you want to travel by boat to Vietnam from Phnom Penh there are 4 options. 1) Expensive cruise all the way to Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) 2) Local slowboat 3) Bluecruiser boat 4) Hang Chau Tourist Express. The Hang Chau boat isn't meant to be quite as nice as the Blue Cruiser, but the Bluecruiser costs $10 more. They give you sandwiches and some water for the $10 extra. The Hang Chau boat seemed quite well maintained and the Captain had everything well in hand.

SE Asia XXIX - Phnom Penh

Until Phnom Penh I had not been in a city in South-East Asia that I felt was distinctly unpleasant. Phnom Penh has a lot of negative South-East Asian characteristics and it seems to have them in such an abundance. The traffic is incesant and chaotic, motos drivers yell at you, people hassle you to buy things and its hot and humid. I felt a degree of culture shock in Phnom Penh that I had not yet felt on my travels. I think my month in Laos had got me used to a relaxed pace of life, and Cambodia outside of Phnom Penh is also relaxed (maybe not Siem Reap). Nothing bad happened to me while I was there and while there felt like a dodgy atmosphere I never felt in any danger. The only reason I can suggest visiting Phnom Penh is to go to Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields.

Phnom Penh is a dirty unpleasant city. It is claustrophbic, the traffic is crazy. On every corner is a moto driver or ten trying to grab your attention. It is hot and humid. Piles of rubbish rot along the roadside. The streets behind the river are a maze. The buildings all look the same and there aren't any obvious landmarks, it can become quite disorientating. When this is combined with oppresive heat and humidity, and the dodging of motos it doesn't make for pleasant ambling. I would be dripping with sweat having breakfast in the shade at 8am and I'm not Jonny Vegas. The chaotic feel is enhanced with pavements full of either parked motorbikes or stalls. By the early evening kids are outside playing on what little pavement there is or in the road. Playtime goes on late into the evening.

There are positive aspects to Phnom Penh. There is some impressive French architecture hanging around and some local efforts pre-dating the Khmer Rouge era. The Royal Palace and Silver Pagode are beautiful and worth visiting. The National Museum is a beautiful building and a good place to escape the chaos of Phnom Penh. I was sitting in the courtyard and chatted to a couple of guys from the countryside. One of whom wanted to be a politician and use his love of karate, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, as a political philosophy. The nicest place in Phnom Penh was the National Stadium. I chanced upon it wandering through the streets from Tuol Sleng. There was a big crowd of people outside and I wondered what was going on. On my way in I noticed that there were badminton games taking place in any space available. It turned out there a football game being played. Two Cambodians came over to chat with me to practice their English. I wanted to know who was playing but it turned out they were not interested in the game. They were there for aerobics. Sure enough once the game finished the crowd that had developed spread itself around the top of the stadium, and with speakers hooked up, several different aerobics classes began. Cambodians, Thais, and Laos, really enjoy their aerobics. In the late afternoon you often hear a techno beat coming from somewhere and when you go and investigate you dicsover lots of middle-aged women jumping and punching in unison. They take place in any public space, often along the riverside. In Vientaine (Laos) a particularly popular spot is next to the Mekong in the centre of town. Aerobics isn't necessarily seen as that taxing but these South-East Asian women can really move. In Vietaine Western men tried to take part, within five minutes they were out of synch with everyone else and within ten minutes they were taking a seat on the bench. While I had seen aerobics in alot of places I hadn't seen quite so many people in one place doing it before. There was a great atmosphere all around the national stadium. I would recommend taking a walk over there if you want to see Phnom Penh residents enjoying themselves.

Tuol Slenh is without doubt the most important place to visit in Phnom Penh, if not Cambodia. While walking around Tuol Sleng is chilling, the walls of faces, the photographs of the state the Vietnamese found the prison, the tiny cells where people were kept, the paintings of what the tortures inflcited on people, and the cabinets full of skulls from the Killing Fields. The true horror of what was done there does not come across without reading David Chandler's "Voices from S-21". S-21 was the codename for Tuol Sleng. Tuol Sleng was a school that the Khmer Rouge used as a torture and interrogation facility. "S-21 was a total instituion whose mission was to locate, question, and destroy the enemies of the Party Centre" (Chandler). Once the interrogators had achieved acceptable 'confessions' the prisoner would be taken to the Killing Fields where they would be clubbed over the head and thrown in a mass grave. 14,000 people, men, women and children, were killed at S-21. The confessions were used as a tool to gather more suspects to be interrogated and killed. Innocent people being wrongly detained and killed was acceptable according to a DK adage "It is better to arrest 10 people by mistake than to let one guilty person go free" (Chandler). Chandler deals with how prisoners once arrested were guilty. The interrogator may not know why they were arrested but the fact of the arrest meant they must have committed a crime. Violence during interrogation was commonplace. Chandler quotes a Duch directive to the interrogators and guard, "You must rid yourself of the view that beating the prisoners is cruel. Kindneess is misplaced. You must beat (them) for national reasons, class reasons, and international reasons". Duch was the head of S-21 who is currently on trial for war crimes. Click here for an article on the BBC News website about his trial. Tuol Sleng was discovered by Vietnamese troops when they captured Phnom Penh. They were drawn there by the smell of rotting bodies. When they arrived they found bodies still strapped to bed frames in cells. The Vietnamese preserved Toul Sleng as a testament to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge. Chandler states, "the history that he (Mai Lam Vietnamese Colonel fluent in Khmer, had constructed Museum of American War Crimes in Ho Chi Minh City) constructed in the exhibits at S-21 denied the leaders of the CPK any socialist credentials and encouraged viewers to make connections between the Democratic Kampuchea regime and Tuol Sleng on the one hand, and Nazi Germany...on the other". I found the most disturbing part of Tuol Sleng were the walls of photographs of prisoners. The prisoners were photographed when they arrived, and if they were important, when they died.

I stayed at Angkor Meas Guesthouse in Phnom Penh. $5 for cold ensuite, fan, single bed, and TV. It was the worst room I had in Cambodia (other than the Golden Parrot in Battambang) although it wasn't too bad. I stayed there because I could not find any cheap (ie $5 rooms) in Phnom Penh, it seems rooms are unsurisingly more expensive in the capital. Angkor Meas is at 112 Street 19, Songkat Phsar Kandal 2. It sits in the maxe of backstreets. The easiest way to find it is to go to the road along the riverfront, find Kiwi Bakery and Restaurant, walk south and then take your first right, keep walking straight until on your right is a Sports Cafe at this junction turn left and Angkor Meas is on your left.

I got my Vietnam Visa in Phnom Penh. I hired a tuk-tuk to the Vietnam Embassy and it cost $3 including wait time outside before taking me back to the centre of town. The 30 day tourist visa cost $35 (British passport holder) and I was able to collect it the next day. In hindsight I should have got a 90 day visa if I had known that I would need it to get a Russian visa in Vietnam.

SE Asia XXVIII - Road from Hell

The journey on the road from Siem Reap to Sisophon is appalling. It is the worst road I have been on in South-East Asia and we were on it for 4 hours. It is only 171kms from Siem Reap to Battambang, and it isn't like Laos where you have to climb over mountain ranges, The land is perfectly smooth apart from the road.

The road is terrible because it appears whatever old road existed has been ripped up to build a nice new road unfortunately construction seems to have stopped at the ripping up stage. The road now is a dust bowl which is heavily rutted. It was so bumpy that trying to read was nigh on impossible as the words appeared to be a blur before my eyes. They have started to put irrigation sections in and the most uncomfortable parts of the journey were going up and around these new constructions. The roads between Siem Reap and Phnom, Battambang and Phnom Penh, and Sisophon and Battambang are all fine. The reason why a key road between Thailand and Cambodia has been so delayed is apparently due to Bangkok Airways. The rumour is that they pay Cambodian politicians to hold construction of the road back. Bangkok Airways has a monopoly on the route between Bangkok and Siem Reap.

The journey wasn't helped by the bus not having any air conditioning. The only source of ventilation was a skylight near the front of the bus. The road was swirling with dust and this quickly filled the bus. It was boiling hot, humid and dusty. The locals onboard were not happy and when the locals get animated you know its bad. I was squeezed next to a family, or at least a dad and two children.

I bought the ticket from Sam So Guesthouse for $6. The bus was an hour late picking us up from the centre of town. It is possible to catch a boat from Siem Reap to Battambang. I had reports advising the bus journey was a safer option. However, if I had known the road was going to be so bad I may have given the boat option more serious consideration. It took 4 hours from Siem Reap to Sisophon and then 2 hours to Battambang.

I should have known the road would be bad because of the Scam Bus. The Scam Bus is not one bus but a broad name for buses running between Khao San Road and Siem Reap. The tickets are cheap in Khao San Road but as the journey progresses you pay more and more money, including an expensive border crossing. They then take the bus on a circuitious route so that you arrive in the middle of the night in Sioem Reap and stay at the guesthouse they want you to, if you try and go somewhere else they kick up a fuss. Lots of people had told me about the Scam Bus throughout my time travelling and I was surprised to bump into people in Cambodia who had been on the Scam Bus. I met one woman who had been told by a travel agent in Khao San Road that they could only sell a return ticket on the bus to Siem Reap and she bought it. She decided to fly back to Bangkok from Siem Reap because the journey was so appalling. Click here for a link to Tales of Asia with stories of the Scam Bus and click here for Travelfish's guide of how to get from Bangkok to Siem Reap.

SE Asia XXVII - Bamboo Train

South East Asians are pretty ingenius when it comes to working with what they have got. The Bamboo train is a great example of their ingenuity. The Bamboo Train (or Nori Train as its called by the locals) is a self porpelled carriage that runs along a railway line. There are two axles with wheels on either end, the wheels look like old drum brakes. On top of the axles sits a plank made of bamboo (hence bamboo train). At the back of the plank is a small engine that drives the rear axle via a rubber drive chain. The Nori trains run on old railway line which is still in use although they only run once a week each way between Phnom Penh and Battambang. The journey can take 19 hours, if it doesn't break down(its only 6 hours by bus). This is due to the decrepid trains and railway track. When you sit on the Nori train you can see how badly warped the rails are and how big the gaps between each rail are. It makes for a bumpy ride. The Nori train can get up to some pretty high speeds as it bumps its way along. The passengers sit just under a foot off the ground on the plank of bamboo and if you are a tourist a cushion. There are no sidings for the Bamboo trains so if two are approaching one another the one with the lightest has to get off the tracks. It is very easy to take apart as the only thing holding the plank on top of the axles is gravity. When I was on there we had to get out of the way of a nori train with a cow on it and one with twenty or so locals piled on with their luggage (click here to watch the video of the locals on the train). For a tourist trip you hire one for yourself with driver and it costs $6. I had some local kids join me on the trip, the youngest appeared to be an apprentice Nori train driver.

Battambang has a similar setup to the Mekong towns I passsed through in north-western Cambodia. There is a main central market and around that are old buildings. During the war the Americans didn't bomb Battambang. What makes Battambang a bit different is its surroundings. The suburbs have also managed to maintain some old buildings. On a moto tour north through town the buildings line very green streets. There are old French mansions. It is surprisingly clean. Rice paper on bamboo grids loes drying in the sun and the people are going about their daily lives. It feels very unspoilt and there are no tourists around (a major difference to Siem Reap). Wat Ek Phnom is a large Wat with very brightly coloured murals inside. Next door to the Wat is a huge seated Buddha. The ruins of an 11th century temple sit behind the Wat ($2 entry). I had two young 'guides' lead me around the ruins. I say guides but these kids just tried to stay one step ahead of me throughout while playing with each other. Once I got to the end of my look around they then announced they were my guides and thus required payment. This happens a fair bit in South-East Asia. These guys were quite charming and not demanding so I paid them though not as much as their original pitch. I can't say they were much help though, sometimes the child guides can be useful. When I visited the caves in Thaket (Laos) I had a boy lead me through one of the caves. I agreed a price beforehand and it proved to be money well spent as he hopped, skipped, and jumped along rocks and over the icy cold water.I arrived in Battambang a bit battered and bruised after the journey on the road from hell. I made it through the scrum of moto drivers and headed for Royal Hotel. It was fine, a bit pricey (by that I mean a couple of dollars more expensive than normal, what I didn't like was the attitude of the staff. So to spite them I stayed at Golden Parrot, I'm not sure they took it to heart. I got a double ensuite cold shower with TV for $4. It was the dodgiest room I had stayed in up to that point in Cambodia. It wasn't that bad, but in reality Royal Hotel is probably a better bet. The tout outside Golden Parrot also took me on a tour of the local area to Wat Ek Phnom and the Bamboo Train. The journey on the moto cost $7. I caught the bus from Battambang to Phnom Penh. It was a much better journey due to there actually being a road covered in tarmac. It cost $4.50 and the monk sitting next to me paid the same. The monk was a very chatty young guy, who spoke excellent English.

SE Asia XXVI - Ancient Angkor

I'm pretty sure most people have seen a picture of Angkor Wat. If you haven't by the time you get to Cambodian then you'll see it plenty of times in Cambodia. Angkor Wat is key to modern Cambodia its a source of national pride in a country that has been over thirty years of turmoil. If you are a visitor to Cambodia thwen that almost certainly means you will be visiting Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world, but it is only one temple. Angkor Wat is the umbrella title for over 1,000 temples. In reality there are around 20 large temples to go and explore.

Cambodia and its people have suffered greatly over the past forty years. First the Vietnam War spilled over into its borders. Whether this was inevitable or not is open to debate. Sihanouk had managed to placate the North Vietnamese by allowing their troops to operate in Cambodian territory and by using the port at Sihanoukville has a supply line. By 1970 there was open civil war with the Khmer Rouge heavily supported by Vietnamese troops. The Americans came into the war using South Vietnamese troops and B-52s to pound the country. According to Kiernan "nearly half of the 540,000 tons of bombs dropped (on Cambodia were) in the last 6 months' of US involvement. "Up to 150,000 civilians civilian deaths resulted from the US bombing campaigns in Cambodia from 1969 to 1973" (Ben Kiernan, 'The Pol Pot Regime'). Once the war was over the Khmer Rouge killed 1.4 million people (figure is disputed amongst historians). An amazing figure considering the population of Cambodia was only about 7.5 million. In the UK that would equate to 10 million deaths. The Khmer Rouge while purging Cambodia turned their attention to reclaiming Cambodian lands, the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Unfortunately all they managed to do was antagonise the Vietnamese who invaded in December 1978 and very quickly controlled the whole of Cambodia. The pockets of resistance left were along the Thai border where the Thai's allowed the Khmer Rouge to rebuild itself along with help from China and the US (see Henry Kammm 'Cambodia: Report from a stricken land'). Throughout the 1980s the Vietnamese occupied Cambodia using ex-Khmer Rouge leaders to run the country. By the late 1980s Vietnam could no longer afford the expense with the collapse in funding from the Soviet Union so they moved to withdrawal. At which point the UN came in to support the country and take it to democracy. Unfortuantely,according to Kamm, UNTAC failed in its mission to disarm the various factions. Whilst elections were held in 1993 the Cambodian People's Party (created by the Vietnamese) ignored the results and held on to power. Politics in the 1990s was dominated by pitched battles between the politicla parties and corruption. With a recent histroy like that it isn't surprising that you would want to look back (and politicians would want to look back for some form of legitimacy) to the glory years for your nation. What I enjoyed most about Angkor were the myriad of different temples that you could explore. While I was aware there were a large number I had no real appreciation of just how mnay there were, how well preserved (or restored) they were, and how big some of them are. Angkor Wat is the biggest, it is undoubtedly very impressive, however, I didn't find Angkor Wat amazing. I was underwhelmed, maybe my expectations were set to high. Whereas the other temples I found fascinating. Admittedly they can become a bit of a blur so I wouldn't recommend seeing too many in one day. My personal favourites were the temples that nature had reclaimed. When the French rediscovered Angkor all the temples had been reclaimed by nature in one way or another. They then did work on restoring them or stopping them from collapsing further. Ta Prohm is renowned for the huge trees growing on top of the walls. I was there at sunrise with only a couple of other people and it was great to wander around. The best temple for an Indiana Jones experience is Beng Mealea. It is 2 hours from Siem Reap and well worth the drive. I arrived there at 8am and had the place to myself. It is a huge ruin and you can climb up over the ancient blocks on top of the galleries. Apparently Beng Mealea was in better condition in the mid-1990s until relic hunters decided to dynamtie the foundations to try and find gold. I hired a tuk-tuk to take me to Beng Mealea, Kbal Spean and Banteay Srei. Mr Sor Lai (+855 928 49311)charged $30 for the day trip. I found alot of tuk-tuk drivers wouldn't take me and those that would wanted $50. The road between Beng Mealea and Kbal Spean is in very poor condition and could explain why tuk-tuk drivers didn't want to combine the two in one day trip. I even had a moto driver follow me down the road back to Siem Reap and engotaite with me as I cycled along (he wanted $30 for a moto trip to them). In Cambodia tuk-tuks have a cabin attahced to the back of the motorbike, like a small carriage. A much more comfortable way to travel than on the back of a motorbike for 2 hours. Ta Nei is another good temple hidden in the jungle which most people don't visit. A tuk-tuk driver told me it wasn't worth the effort. It is a small temple but its another one that hasn't been cleaned up too much and is worth the effort in finding from the main road. The Bayon is special, the faces are amazing and there are just so many of them. The Bayon is in Angkor Thom which has a number of temples within it. One thing most people miss are the East and West gates of Angkor Thom. They are on opposite sides of the Bayon and a great place to get a photo of an Angkor Thom gate without a tour bus driving through it. Click here for the Travelfish take on all of the different temples. Sunrise is the best time to visit may of the temples in Angkor. Everyone goes to Angkor Wat for sunrise which means everywhere else is quiet. Sunrise at Angkor Wat can be very good with the colours behind the towers but you will share it with a few thousand other people. Sunset is another good time to visit any temple other than Bakheng. All the people who watched unrise at Angkor Wat are now at Bakheng to watch the sunset. Bakheng is not that big and its just crawling with tourists. Sunset here is OK but the crowds are ridiculous. Angkor Wat is best visited just after suynrise when all the tour groups depart and it is very quiet to wander around. Angkor Thom is quiet at sunrise. I was in the Bayon on my own at sunrise. The faces are great to watch as the sunlight catches them. The same was true of Ta Phom. With the other temples I cycled around and if there were tour buses outside I carried on to the next. There are so many temples it is always possible to find another quieter one.

I got a seven day pass for Angkor Wat. It cost $60, unfortunately an oil company (Sokimex) runs the ticketing only 30% goes to Aspara who look after the temples. In one day you can see all the major central temples. It will be a rushed day and the temples may be crowded but its possible. In two or three days you can see the central temples at a relaxed pace and some outlying temples. In seven days you can see everything twice. The great advantage with seven days is that you can pick and choose when you visit each temple and generally avoid the crowds. Angkor Wat is a huge tourist attraction and it is easy to get swamped by the crowds. I didn't have to hire a tuk-tuk to get around and could enjoy cycling around. Hiring a bike is a relaxing way to see the temples. It gives you more interaction with the locals as you make your way between the temples. The only trouble with hiring a bike is the sore arse and the traffic on the roads. The roads around the temples make up some of the main local arteries. The roads are barely wide enough for tow tuk-tuks to pass let alone two dumper trucks and yet the locals somehow manage it. The drivers are lunatics; coaches, dumper trucks, motorbikes and tuk-tuks roar along. The traffic is accompanied by the orchestra of air horns. I find it a bit difficult not to notice a huge loud dumper truck bearing down upon me on a bicycle but incase you somehow have managed to ignore it the air horns will be blasting. Not all sections of the road are that bad. There are sections that are quite serene as you peddle along the tree lined routes.
Outside every temple is an assortment of stalls, selling tourist tat, drinks and food. Everything is overpriced compared to what you pay in the rest of Cambodia (still very cheap compared to the West). The game is to attract your attention to their stall. Generally there will be a crowd of children to attract your attention or sell you something directly. I didn't find it too irritating but then I had been forewarned. Some of the kids are excellent salesmen. If their sales pitch doesn't work then sheer persistence brings them some rewards. I ended up with bracelets, postcards, and drinks that I had no intention of buying. One very good deal are the photocopied books. Its possible to buy photocopied books throughout South-East Asia and Angkor is no exception.

Siem Reap was not as bad as I expected. My expectations were pretty low. The area around the Old Market has been gentrified and is quite pleasant. Although it is busy and full of annoying moto and tuk-tuk drivers aswell as massage parlours vying for your attention. There are lots of restaurants and bars around the Old Market. The further from the Old Market you go the less clean cut Siem Reap becomes. Development has exploded in Siem Reap and as the urban sprawl increases they have had less time (or maybe less care) to make it look pretty. The roads around Wat Bo still seem to be unfinished and there are still new buildings being put up. To replace the tourist stalls at the Old market they have built a new market about 5 minutes walk north, while there are lots of stalls no one seems to have told the tourists that they exist.

I was very lucky with the guesthouse I stumbled upon in Siem Reap. I stayed at Sam So Guesthouse (0164 Wat Bo Village, +855 12602956). It is the best value for money guesthouse I found in South East Asia. The room was a hotel standard double with ensuite (although cold shower) and big cable TV. All for only $5. Cambodian guesthouses are good value and I never paid more than $5. Sam So Guesthouse was head and shoulders above anything else. I didn't even expect to find such good accommodation for $5 because of the sheer number of tourists forcing prices up in Siem Reap. I was walking through Wat Bo Village (the other side of the river form the Old Market) and had looked in a few guesthouses which were eityher to expensive, full, or not that ncie. I saw the sign for Sam So down an alley. The guesthouse sits in a courtyard surrounded by homes of locals who all seem to be involved in running it. I'm not entirely sure how. They all seemed very happy and there were always lots of hellos or goodbyes when going to or from. I rented a bike there which cost $2. Sam So Guesthouse isn't in the Lonely Planet, if you have a LP map it is north of Viroth's Restaurant anmd south of Angkor Thom Hotel. An excellent restaurant closeby is Star Restaurant. It is close to Angkor Thom Hotel. From the outside it looks like a garage and the only distinguishing feature inside are the walls scrawled with signatures. The food is excellent and very cheap. I ate there regularly and it was noticeable that others did. The amok is superb.