Note to self, look it up on the internet. Do Asian men wax their chests or is it genetic. Can't believe it's the former.
Just have to say, the French colonialism across much of South East Asia left one good legacy. The bread. You could close your eyes and be in a small village in Northern France (except when you opened them you bag and camera would have gone)
Bang on 7.30 I was picked up on foot and led with my backpack through myriad of little alleys to the main boulevard and my carriage to the Kingdom of Cambodia. As we drove through the streets of HCMC, despite the early hour people were already on the move.
The many green areas of Saigon were packed with people doing their morning exercises. Not just the iPod equipped joggers but whole classes of stretching, aerobics even some, albeit primitive gym type equipment made from tubular steel. Even a number of cross trainers. The occupants looked rather more competent than the Forest Gump types that always seem to be having an eppy on the cross trainers back home in Chesterfield.
Leaving Saigon, I reflected on the comparison between HCMC
(Saigons name is now Ho Chi Minh City) and Hanoi. They are both big cities but somehow HCMC seems that little bit ordered than the capital. Of course that is a relative term. What is ordered about a city of 4 million that has 2 million motor scooters zipping in all directions. I would not have missed Hanoi but I want to return to Saigon and spend more time. The Vietnamese, through necessity are very enterprising. All through my stay I have had people trying to sell me anything from a packet of cigarettes to a blow job. Stalls are selling everything at the roadside to the millions of commuters. the local Pho soup, bread, even air from small compressors for the scooters and bikes. I guess that there has to be a culture of enterprise when the average salary is 550USD per year.
The bus is practically empty as we leave the city centre. Once again the occupants are predominantly Asian although that may change as we make our stops along the way.
I had not obtained a visa for Cambodia and the water, land and airport borders offer a Visa on Arrival service much like Laos. The drivers mate collected my passport and I paid him the 25 USD visa fee.
I then settled down to my book. Vietnam - The Ten Thousand Day War.
It is written well and very educational. I'm learning much more about the country and it's history.
The land border crossing was bizarre. It is at Bavet. We got off the bus, got our passports back. Went through passport control where a surly Vietnamese border guard looked at it and threw it back at me. The passport was then handed to a motorcyclist who went the 200 metres across ' No mans land' got the Cambodian visa, then we got back on the bus, up the the border where the passports were handed back and up to the border where it was stamped. The whole process took all of 15 minutes.
A lady got on the bus wanting to change Dong for USD at quite a good rate. I also got a bit of Cambodian currency too. The landscape was noticeably different.mainly flat and looking very waterlogged. The only not Vietnamese on the bus with me was a young Phillopino lad who was on vacation and meeting his friends I'm Phnom Pehn. He gave me some ideas of where to go when I visit. He seemed astounded that I was travelling alone.
The countryside was quite spectacular as we drove further into the kingdom. The farmers houses were set back from the road. Water lilies of different colours and sizes grew there. Hundreds of cows were by the roadside or wallowing in mud. There were also a lot of people fishing in the river.
Every now and then a beautiful pagoda appeared with gardens filled with statues of Buddha.
You can tell that Cambodia is not as wealthy as some of it's neighbours just looking at the infrastructure. The roads are poor, the people are very friendly though.
It is hard to believe such atrocities happened here only 35 years ago.
The bikes were there in abundance again. I saw at least a dozen with dead pigs strapped to the back. I couldn't help thinking about the escapees from yesterday and wondering if the same fate awaited them....
Almost every village has a Cambodian Peoples Party building which is interesting. I'll ask what that is all about.
We crossed the Mekong river a number of times. Mostly by bridge but once by ferry which was interesting. It was packed with vehicles. Some trucks had people sitting on the roof.
As we drove into the capital I looked at the Phillipino lad and we both start laughing. On the bus TV was a Karaoke DVD. It was now playing Christmas carols sung in English in a Vietnamese accent.
As the bus pulled up it was besieged by TukTuk and motor scooter riders looking for a fare. Unusually the motorcyclists where proper full face helmets rather than the lightweight headgear the had in Vietnam.
I asked how much to my hotel and gave the name and road.
'ah very expensive'
' Why I said, it's only on that road over there'
' No he grinned , the hotel is expensive'
That gave me some confidence given the places I had stayed on during the last few weeks.
We agreed a price of 3USD. It's probably better to deal in Dollars here. It seems to be the second, some would argue the first currency. TheTukTuk driver also did tours so on the drive to the hotel we agreed what I wanted to see and also agreed a price of $20. He would pick me up at 9.00 am. He gave me his card in case I wanted to do anything this evening.
The hotel was nice relative to some of the places I'd stayed in. I was on the 8th floor, good views but crap WiFi.
The sky was full of dragonflies. Iridescent greens and blues.
It was like the opening scene from Apocalypse Now.
The next blog is a bit about the history of Cambodia, specifically the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pots regime in the 70's
Skip it if you like. It's quite harrowing.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Monivong Blvd,,Cambodia
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