Leaving Phnom Penh, Cambodia and arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

After a very lazy second to last day in my hotel where I did nothing more than watching a complete series of 'House', this left my final day in Phnom Penh due to be a bit of a rush as I had lots of last minute things I wanted to do and little time in which to do them.

The hotel where I was staying in was a tuk tuk away from my friend E's guest house was situated and yesterday we have agreed to go swimming in the water park one final time before I left, both as it was lots of fun the first time we tried and because it was closeby and would be a good way of escaping the midday heat as I would be unable to take a shower any other way before making my way to the airport.

Days before I had had to leave my passport with the travel agency in order to get my visas for Vietnam and China and when I called in to pick it up I was told that it would not be ready to collect until around 2pm, which was leaving it very tight in terms of chasing it up should there be any further delayed as my flight was due just a few hours later.

I dropped my rucksack off at the guesthouse and agreed with E' to meet her at the water park and then set off thinking that I would be able to pick up a tuktuk a little way down the road, but as fortune turned out there were none and so I ended up walking and walking. I passed many locals who all gave me strange looks, and I bet that many of them thought that I had lost my marbles as the water park was a little way out of town and nowhere near any hotels, hostels or restaurants.

There was no doubt in my mind that I was heading in the right direction, as I saw plenty of familiar landmarks and buildings, but I had no idea of exactly how far out the place was and so after about fifteen minutes walk it was a very welcome relief to spot the parks ramparted walls rise round the next bend in the road, signalling that I was not suffering from sunstroke and had reached my goal and not a moment too soon as I spotted E' walking from her scooter to the ticket booth right infront of me.

We met up, got changed and after picking up an inflatable ring dived into the big pool only to have the pools miserly lifeguard have a go at us and another couple for takig rings in the pool. I have no idea why he was pissed at us, as the pool was huge and apart from us and the other couple there were only another three people in the pool and I am sure they would not have minded in the slightest.

Floating lazily about in the pool I got out only long enough to get a couple of ice creams before then suggesting that we try the water slides where we had so much fun the previous time, only to be further dissapointed as the electrici water pump here was malfunctioning which made using the slide all but impossible. Giving up and going back to the main pool we splashed for a bit longer before playing tag with a young couple that were enjoying the refreshing coolness of the pool before the clouds came out and it started to get a bit chilly.

Wanting to make the most of my last few hours here I then suggested that we go for a nice meal and made the mistake of mentioning the local pizza place which ended up switching our orders and so I got a vegetarian spaghetti!

The tuk tuk ride to the airport was only a few minutes away than the water park so I was there in plenty of time to catch my flight to Ho Chi Minh City, formely called Saigon.

The airport looked more modern and well tended than most of Phnom Penh that I had seen and after passing through check in ( followed by another US $25 departure tax ) and finally customs was very shocked to see that they herded us onboard and even took off about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. The flight over was barely forty five minutes long, and went very near an electrical storm that lit up the sky around in from of us, throwing up plenty of dips and turbulence into the short hop over the border.

Immigration at Vietnams border was slow but organised and then I had to call my friends to ask what hotel I could stay at, as my pre-arranged hotel had just emailed me saying that they were unable to find space for me as I was arriving days earlier than my booking.

I have two friends here in HCMC, one local and the other on short term contract but originally from the Philippines, and together they contacted me and made me know that I had choices and alternatives and not to worry. Feeling relieved I waited and J' met me and suggested that I try the hotel where she was staying as it had rooms available while the other said that they would be happy to meet me the following afternoon and show me around the city.

It was still early and so J' and I went for a bite to eat around nearby at the market before heading on back and me taking a quick shower in order to feel cool enough to get an early night sleep as tomorrow I had no fixed plans but I was too tired to update my blog with the days events.

Oudong, deserted former capital of Cambodia

Around 40km west of the city of Phnom Penh can be found the former capital of Cambodia, Oudong, once abandoned when the city was moved and now a much loved tourist attraction and an amazing spot to take some scenic photos of the countryside.

Much of Phnom Penh and the surrounding area is flat which means that once out of the city limites and away from the tall buildings the twin hills that are home to the a number of temples, including a giant sitting buddha statue, and in the hills shadows are the main headquarters for Buddhist in Cambodia.

The taxi out to Oudong takes a little more than half hour, and would be quicker if the roads were smoother and less full of motos, slow paced tuk tuks and cargo wagons overloaded with sacks up to the sky and thankfully a return journey costs no more than US $35.

At the base of the twin hills is a small market town, depending mainly on seasonal tourists and so at this time of year the large restaurant areas were empty and although the streets were lined with flower and nic-nac sellers I guessed that they were nowhere near as deep as the throng that would greet the large coach loads of tourists.

The temple was up a ornate and steep flight of steps, flanked on both sides by lush vegetation and pretty white and pinky purple flowers. Climbing the steps required some effort, as they were not only steep but it was very hot and many of the steps were home to beggars, foor and drink vendors and not to mention the small and impish monkeys.

Once we reached the top the view was magnificent and the place was also not so flooded with tourists that it made taking photos a problem. Catching our breath E' and I just gazed out for a few minutes before we decided to take the long road back down again via the smaller hill.

As we reached the smaller hill we spotted a tourist surrounded by at least a dozen frantically anticipating small children and I was puzzled until a few seconds later he began to throw wads of notes up into the air with a real theatrical flair. Realising that it takes over 4100 reils to make 1 US$ I figured that he could throw up a plenty of 100 reil bills without any worry of breaking the bank and so my only real thought was "was this a custom, a blessing or him just trying to appease them and get away without having his wallet or camera stolen?"

On our way down we passed a building that housed over 3000 Buddha statues, a giant golden sitting Buddha and then we were back at ground level and walking along the road back to the market stalls and where the taxi was waiting for us.

We did have a plan to stop and get a bite to eat, but I could not find anything that I thought I could keep down and so instead we skipped dinner and took the Buddish HQ temple that was just a few minutes along the road and thankfully almost deserted of any tourists. What it did have was hundreds of buddhist monks all sitting in the sun while a head monk conducted a sort of sermon while the main group listened. Inside the temple was the remains of the last very venerated and reverred monk, which was only a tiny bit morbid, but the surrounding area was a photographers heaven and I snapped away happily while E' listened and on occassion translated a few bits for me.

Once the sun was low in the sky we felt that it was time to go so jumped back in our friendly taxi and headed on back to Phnom Penh and a meal.

Another day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Yesterdays main feature was a trip to the local zoo, which I thought would be a good place to take some great photos and maybe share a sunset, however the reality was not quite the same as I had envisaged.

Set about 40 kilometers outside of the city centre, the best way to reach the combined zoo and animal reserve seemed to be by taxi, which even after haggling and getting E' to do all the talking was still 30 dollars for a return trip out there.

The ride out to the zoo was pretty bumpy, as are most roads outside the very city centre, but in abour an hour we reached the signs for the entrance and it was here that I began to get an idea that things were not going to go as planned.

In my trip I have seen a handful of zoos and wildlife parks and this was the first time that I came across a place where the museum / gift shop is only open one day a week, there are no maps or guided walk ways and even the entrance ticket booths were empty when we arrived.

Because I was a foreign tourist the guys inside the main entrance said that I had to pay US $5, but they had no formal uniform, name tags or cards to say that they were in fact zoo employees and could just as easily have said $2 or $20 dollars as I had no way of knowing or disproving it and just as likely they could be just locals who saw an opportunity to fleece a tourist and took it.

The next thing that I noticed about the place was that as soon as we headed off towards the first enclosure we picked up a following of about 6 or 7 kids, one claiming to be a guide, all either walking or riding antiquated cycles and were at all times both in front and behind us. Judging from E' demeaner she did not think that anythin was wrong, but myself, carrying my bag, my wallet, my mobile phone and my camera the last thing I wanted was to be surrounded by a gang of street kids in the middle of nowhere, and it totally ruined the entire experience for me.

At first I did not even feel confortable to take my camera out, but then as we continued to walk around we slowly lost some of the number so that in the end we only had a following of 3 which was more acceptable but that was still 3 more than I wanted or needed.

The self proclaimed guide did his best to inform me about the species, animal names and numbers but after seing how beautiful and well set up other zoos have been, this place just looked and felt as if they had got a giant crane and just dropped a cage over an entire area and then segregated the animals that were trapped inside into types. The guides accent was almost too thick to understand and the noise he and the others made was enough to scare away the tiger from the front of the cage which in itself was reason for me to dislike him but the kicker came at the end.

Remembering that I had already had to pay a US $30 taxi fare hust to reach there, then pay US $5 for a so called entrance fee, though of course E' was a local so was exempt ( like just about everywhere in the country ) but to then be hassled for a tip at the end when all they did was freak me out and scare away the animal I most wanted to see was enough for me to get the right hump. Having not much change left I offered what little I had left but then the guide said that it was so small and that the kids needed to go to school that I should give more, even suggesting that they could give change from a much bigger dollar note, but I remained resolute and did not up my offering, chomping at the bit at being emotionally blackmailed into making a bigger tip .

However he showed no signs of being gracious and so in the end I gave up and headed on back to the car, only for E' to subtly admonish me as she felt I had been too cheap in my tip, so in an effort to appease her I went back with more than double my first tip, which was still looked upon with contempt but ultimately it was accepted, grudgingly. I so very badly wanted to tell him what I thought of him and his zoo, but I did not want to ruin the rest of the evening for myself so instead just once again bit my tongue and walked back to the car.

In all of my trip this is the first time I have felt really been let down by a zoo for good, honest entertainment and photo opportnities and also for the first time I would recommend that no one bother to visit the zoo, at least until they can get their act together long enough to provide cheap transport to and from the site and prevent a horde of kids follow your every move and put the scare in both you and the animals your trying to see.

A couple of days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The last few days have been a mixture of routine and general day to day living mixed with a few instances of great fun and enjoyment.

Cambodias capital, Phnom Penh, is a bustling busy oriental city with all I have come to expect from months of travelling around, and it never ceases to amaze and confound my efforts on encapsulating in it written form.

Tuk-tuks and motos are everywhere, calling out to you from the very moment you step outside your hostel or hotel to the moment you return, some politely smiling or waving to you while others are more irritating as they pull at you, block your path or even follow you shouting loudly as if by raising their voice you might suddenly change your mind and decide to use them.

However if you find yourself even a couple of streets away from the main tourist avenues you may find it impossible to find one in either travelling along the road or even sitting motionless on the sidewalk.

A city full of massage parlours, beauty salons and spa's where prices start from as low as $5 for an hour and go up to as high US $30 that I have seen, though I expect if you try checking into a high prices hotel their inroom massage service might be even higher.

There are only a few cinemas left in the city, each with only a couple of screens and their last show beginning around 6:30pm.

The messed up mixture of using both local currency and the US dollar notes pretty much everywhere has reached such a level where you sometimes pay using dollars for the main amount and riels for the balance or receive your change the notes of both currency. This not only means that in no time at all you find yourself with a bulging wallet, or purse, filled with notes of both amounts but also no real idea of how much in total you have. The good news however is that seem to have done away with coins altogether, which means that even a full wallet does not start digging deep into the bottom of your jacket or jeans pocket.

While there are plenty of stalls and markets where you can get either khmer or chinese food, the larger restaurants often have a variety or both mixed with a few Continental and America suggestions mainly for the tourists.

I did have a couple of episodes of iffy bowel movements, but I put that down to eating cold rice from a stall where it had been sitting all day followed by a few drinks chilled with less than pure ice, but after just a couple of meals of more familiar choices my body got its act together and things got back to normal.

The heat and humidity of Cambodia is such that a shower, a covered tuk tuk while out and about and accomodation with air conditioning is never far from my mind.

Three days ago to escape the heat me and E' went to visit the local water park, which was just a few miles outside of the centre of town. The place was a few signs of age, needing a bit of paintwork and showing spots of rust here and there but the main areas were ok and the price was affordable for the majority of the locals. With seperate kids pools, inflatable ring river around the outside, a three in one water flume area and a main pool there were plenty of places to go and just get wet without climibing over anyone else.

Because of the heat there was plenty of umbrellas and thatched roofing over the walkway areas and a sort of mesh cargo net that was slung over the main pool to let light through but no enough direct to prevent anyone getting sunburned. E' and I splashed around for about an hour in the main pool before we headed over to try the water flumes and once the water jets started to work again we had a whale of a time til it was time to go.

Maybe because I am heavier, or more water dynamic I'm not sure, but even giving E' a count of 5 I still somehow managed to crash into her midway down the flume so that by the time we spashed down into the pool at the base we were always is a heap of sprawling arms and legs. I found that going superman style I could avoid a big faceful of water at the end but going down face up was much faster.

Sadly the park closed around 5pm, so we had to get out, though to our credit we were the very last ones out of the pool, and in the hot evening air we dried up very rapidly. Once outside there was a bit of a mini fun fare just setting up, but it only had a few mechanical rides, a couple of hoop the can games but plenty of throw the dart at the balloon games. Only thing was, that the darts were very light, you were much further away than normal and so you really had to throw it hard to get it to reeach the balloons.

It seemed easy enough, as the balloons were packed tightly between each other with only thin strips of wooden battoning between each row and yet I managed to stick the darts into the battoning more often than a balloon in all three games that I played. At one point I thought that I had done enough til I was told that even one miss was enough to lose that game and unlike parks in the UK or US, you dont save up tokens to buy a prize it is a all or nothing kind of thing, so one miss and you may as well start again.

The next night we had a plan to visit the local puppet theatre stage, with the guide book offering drums, puppets, dance and a circus so plenty to keep us amused, however when we arrived and got our seats it turned out that these events were not held on the same night or weekend and that this particular weekend was a drums event. Slightly deflated I took my seat at the back with E' wondering how fun drums could be for an hour, but pretty soon I got into it and it was not a dissapointment.

Set over 10 acts, there were plenty of jokes ( in khmer ) that the audience roared at, dancers, acrobats with monkey masks acting like wild beasts first discovering drums make noise and songs, each act seperate and distinctive. During the half time interval we got to look at the puppet workshop area and I would have willingly bought a dvd of a puppet show if they had one, but all that was on offer were small puppets themselves, but not having anywhere safe to store them I decided against it.

The second half was no less entertaining that the first half and for the cost of a few dollars entrance it was well worth going to see and made a different evening activity than just sitting in a hotel or propping up a bar with a beer or cocktail.

A day spend wandering around Phnom Penh

I spent the first few hours of today catching up with sorting out the hundreds of photos that I had taken over the last few days, not to mention writing the blog entries of at least three days.

Around lunchtime I met up with my friend E' who suggested that we could grab a bite to eat before going to the National Museum and Royal Palace. I had already read in the guide book that some of these places are a little overstrict when it comes to clothes, so bare shoulders and skirts of shorts which were considered inappropriate meant that the owner would be barred from entry.

Flip flops and baseball caps were equally banned and when we were lining up for the queue to enter I saw at least six tourists turned away, four in disgust as they had already paid their entry only to then have their entry barred by the security but of course the tickets were non-refundable.

I saw the little market stall standing next to the the entrance but it did not do any trade today as the rejected tourists were far too angry to think about paying US $10 for a t-shirt to let them get in, and I whole heartedly agree or would have except for the fact that postered all over the ticket booth are large signs in english, including visual images,g statin what items of clothing were forbidden.

Anyway the National museum was the first visit and here we enjoyed a few minutes peace and quiet while I sat drinking a refreshing can and E' fed the fishes. We also went around the museum and took a few photos but there wasnt much in terms of information about the displays, mostly only very basic reference labels like "round serving tray", as if nobody would have guessed that already.

It was here that I learned that the Buddhist religion was going soft in its old age, as the monks were quite openly acting like any other tourists, wearing shoes, chatting to staff and visitors and even taking photographs of each other in front of interesting pieces, and it reminded me of the time back in Singpaore when I took a photo of a monk withdrawing money from an ATM machine.

The Palace was bigger and more impressive, especially the beautiful gardens, however the flowers were all chosen for their look and not their smell as even with all those petals and blossoms I barely caught any perfume or aroma of the lush vegetation that surrounded me, which was almost a sin.

The Silver Pagoda which was so called because of its silver tiled floor was hard to spot as despite being sign posted, you had to read the tourist blurb to know that it was so called because of its floor and in recent times they had taken to covering the floor with rugs and carpets so there was few visible floor tiles left to see and if you was not paying attention you could easily have missed them.

I declined from writing a wish on the lucky wishing tree,and it was a good job too as although it had become something of a cult status with tourists lining up to write on it, up above the tree was a sign written only in Cambodian, saying please do not write on the tree! However my reason for not signing the tree was that I am well aware of what wishing can get and that an incomplete wish fulfilled can be more harmful than no wish at all.

After the two big attractions for the day I remembered that my next two countries on my route, being Vietnam and China, both needed Visa's that were not possible to obtain from the border ( except perhaps with huge bribes and a few hours for them to process them for you ) so I asked E' if we could pop by a tourist place and sort them out, which after a trip to a photographics store to get some acceptable passport sized photos we did and for around US $86 and a delay of 7 days I could get them both done here.

For a few moments I considered if it would not be better to wait til I reached Vietnam before obtaining the visa or China as then I need not stay over a week in Phnom Penh, but then I rationalled that it was better and more convenient to do them both now, while I remembered and while the tourist place was almost next door to my guest house. Although it might work out better to have waited til I reached Ho Chi Minh City it could also have wasted a lot of my time there trying to find a place that did entry visa's that I could trust leaving my passport with and for a price I was willing to pay.

With this out the way I came back to the guest house for a short rest before meeting up once again with E' so that we could go to get something to eat western style, which we eventually agreed on Pizza. I chose a mix between a hawaiian and a sea food special only I was unprepared for them to replace the tomatoe base for thousand island dressing and the finished pizza just didnt taste right in my mouth, and as E' struggled to have 2 pieces of a medium size pizza I think she probably agreed.

Following a brief tour of the shopping complex we bought a few DVD's to watch over the next week or so and then after being unable to get a tuk tuk driver to understand that we wanted to go to a disco club we got bored and instead I dropped E' back near her place and then I went back to the guest house to rest up for the remainder of the night and to think about what to do for the next week.