Koh Rong to Kampot

 

Leaving Phnom Penh after the torrential downpour I stopped over in a coastal town called Sihanoukville-named after the previous king of Cambodia (reigning before and after the Khmer Rouge) and home to Angkor Beer-one of the leading beers of Cambodia. I only stayed the night and then took a boat to Koh Rong (pictured above).

  There I was lucky enough to fall into the right crowd and got invited on a 3 day hiking trip, led by a guy who does hiking excursions for tourists, but was on his vacation and wanted to get away for a bit. (all the locals told me that I was so lucky for arriving when I did, because no one has done something quite like this before.) We started out at the compass, headed north more or less, cut across the island to the west, headed south and finally crossed back over.

 Over the 3 days, we covered most of the island, averaging about 15-17 km per day (about 10 miles perhaps). Our guide pointed out so many insects, animals and plants that I would never have noticed or understood. Here is the world's largest moth (this particular one isn't the largest, but it's of the right family). You can see my shoulder off to the right as I reached around to get a good picture. It was definitely big! I'd say each wing was the size of one hand.

This little guy was trying to hide from us and his camouflage was pretty good, we could see it changing as we watched. He was probably about several hand lengths long. 

Just as I was thinking-I really hope we see some scary, dangerous animals I spied this guy slithering around on the tree. He is a flying snake-a snake that swings from a tree and can fling himself  off and seemingly fly. As we were admiring him, he started up the tree and that might have signaled that he was attempted to fly....at us. So we left before that could happen.

 

I would never have seen this stick insect, but our guide had a really good eye. In general, all of the insects, animals and plants on the island were not for touching or even coming in close contact with. Each time our guide showed us something new it was with caution: "this can bite....this one can spit venom.....this spike is like a fishing hood..." 

Our second day we took a short tour through a village where we were the only foreigners (the beach town I'd stayed in before was mostly foreigners-so this was a nice break). The dogs weren't too happy to see us since our guide and his girlfriend had brought along their German shepherd. But the little island dogs didn't quite want to take on our large one.

I found these kids drying fish outside their house. All the kids here are so polite and sweet. When passing houses you hear, "hello" from several small voices, out of nowhere and all you can do is should a respond and keep going. 

We hiked across an array of different terrain considering it was a fairly small island. Several times we had to decide, shoes or no shoes.  

This mini Africa-like/Sahara desert was located just in middle of the island. It really felt like we were on a safari and we were expecting a lion or cheetah to come racing out at any second.

This was the view out of the tent from our first night camping on the beach.

And this is the sunrise on the second morning from my bungalow. Hammocks are everywhere-on porches, in houses, under houses, on boats, in tuk-tuks and on the side of the road. 

Here's my brag moment of the blog: we took a taxi boat across one bay so that we didn't have to hike the beach (hiking in sand is not efficient). The water was so clear-you could definitely see at least several meters straight down (maybe up to 12-15 feet). 

This might be my favorite picture yet! I took it right after these two little ones had called me over to show me something in the water. I was half afraid that they were going to show me a dead body or something but it was just a crab eating a fish that had caught their attention.

 

 I finally had to leave the island and get back to the real world....well not really, but anyway. I headed to Kampot, a sleepy town down the coast a bit, very close to Vietnam. On my trip from Sihanoukville to Kampot I noticed that there was no rear-view mirror in the mini-van. I feel like that accurately describes the Cambodian (also known as Khmer) people. Despite the fact that they have a horribly dark past, they don't look back and reminisce. They are much more focused on today.  

 Here is one of the traffic circles/roundabouts in Kampot. This statue is a durian-a local fruit known for smelling VERY bad but tasting pretty good. The traffic circles here all have very distinct statues because (as one exPat theorized) in a country where only 10% of the students passed the college entry exam (after the police were stopped from selling the test answers), it was helpful to give directions with statues instead of signs. (remember that the Khmer Rouge killed an entire generation of educated people, so the last few generations have suffered greatly in terms of educations.) 

On a short walk out of town I was able to see people going about their normal lives (Kampot was definitely not highly concerned with tourism and tourists as other places have been).  While the woman carries the chickens, the man is carrying other groceries. 

Here you can see 3 of the major beer companies in Cambodia, on the far left: Anchor (which I think is a ripoff of the one on the far right: Angkor, and in the middle: Cambodia. Beer is consumed on a daily basis and in high quantity here. 

I went with a friend out of town one day to see some old caves. They used to be Buddhist temples until the Khmer Rouge came and destroyed them during the war years. We were accompanied by a local boy of about 10 years old who gave a "tour" which consisted of pointing to rocks shaped like animals such as monkeys and elephants and saying the names of the body parts in English (that was all he seemed to know in English). But I was happy for his company because he took us down some paths that in the U.S. they would NEVER allow tourists.

Guess who learned how to ride a motorbike finally?! It took about 2 minutes to figure it out and then I was on my way. On my first day I did about 180-200 kms/120 miles round trip with a passenger. We went to visit Phnom Bokor (Bokor Mountain). 

This was the view from the top of Phnom Bokor.. Below and off to the left is Kampot and the island in the back is a Vietnamese island. I think we were able to see at least 30 kms/18 miles out.

 

Also at the top of the mountain was a 100 year old abandoned hotel/casino. It was a bit eerie to walk through, imaging what it might have been like a century ago. 

The next morning, since we still had the motorbikes, one girl and I woke up for the sunrise and rode out into the countryside to see the sunrise over some rice paddies. 

 And some beautiful homes.

  

Life on the Mekong

Welcome to the Mekong, a river that runs from China, through Laos, cuts into Cambodia before passing through Vietnam where it becomes an enormous delta and eventually empties into the South China Sea. In Laotian Mekong means Mother River, and in Vietnamese it means Nine Dragon River, for the 9 major branches of the Delta.
Here you can see one of the many boats I passed on my 3day tour through the Mekong. The eyes are meant to scare off evil spirits.

Although slightly touristy, we did also take a boat ride with these traditional canoe like boats through some of the smaller streams, passing the homes of many people who live on the banks of the Mekong.

Out all day on the Delta and need a soft drink, beer, coffee or coconut? Just call over one of these little row boats and the lady on board will happily serve you. 

Here I am in front of the Cai Rang Floating Market, which means Alligators Teeth since there used to be and might still be many alligators in the area. Early in the morning before sunrise, large wholesale boats from local farms meet with smaller boats to make sales of produce and other wares, which are then brought to the small islands and sold in shops.

We saw boats loaded with pineapples, watermelon, pumpkins, onions, cabbage and so much more. Many of these midsize boats you see are also home to an entire family. They live and work on the Delta.

My first night there I slept at a local family's house. You can see it off to the left. It was situated directly on this small tributary. I wish I had more pictures to show you, but one of my best experiences was the night spent here. My tour guide was a local Delta man and he invited me to visit his uncle's and cousins' houses after dinner. I of course jumped at the chance and spent the next several hours enjoying shots of rice wine (not as good as it sounds) and a delicious chicken soup with banana tree (who knew you could eat banana tree?!)  that I had watched them prepare (as in saw the whole process for killing a chicken).  I ended up sleeping in a hammock there since my guide decided that driving a motorbike in the dark, through a labyrinth of narrow paths, after so many shots was NOT a good idea. 

                                      

Some shots of life on the Mekong for the normal inhabitant: washing in the river. I know the river looks really muddy-and it is. Historically that meant silt which is good for the crops, but now it also means a lot of garbage and other nasty stuff, so I did keep myself and my clothes out of it for the most part.                                              

The ferry-with 17.3 million inhabitants in the Delta region-either on land or on board- these ferry boats are numerous and packed full.

The river also is a great place to bring the livestock for drinking or cleaning.

We stopped on several out of the 1000s of islands on the delta to see local factories where things such as snacks, coconut candies, honey, rice paper and rice noodles are produced. Here you're seeing a woman lifting a large, nearly transparent circle of rice paper up from where it had just been cooking in a large wok. The sheet of paper will be dried all day, then put through a slicer and made into rice noodles. The fire for cooking the rice paper is fed by the husks of the rice (seen in the pink bowl and the stone structure. Then when it comes out all burnt (seen at the bottom) it is given to farmers to fertilize the fields. 

                                                  

BBQ Delta style! Frogs, rats, quail and not pictured: snakes. I did sample both the rats and frogs-very delicious.

At the end of my 3 day tour that started in HoChiMinh, I said my good byes to Vietnam and crossed over the border to Cambodia (still on the Mekong River). Here was the visa service on the Cambodian side-very professional eh? (I technically was supposed to have deleted this picture but I guess I kind of forgot^^).

                                      

Hello Cambodia!

And hello Phnom Penh (pronounced Nom Pen). 

This is inside the royal palace. I loved the bright colored roofs, the extra high, pointed spires, and the elongated sky tassels (the curvy lines that jut off the peaks) which are meant to ward off unwanted spirits that fall from the sky.

I didn't do much in PP besides visit the Royal Palace one day and then two extremely powerful and saddening sites: the former school turned prison (S-21) and the Killing Fields. They tell the story of the horrible genocide that occurred here in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 under the Khmer Rouge and Polpot's reign. Once again, I'm not here to horrify or depress, so feel free to do your own homework on this. Here is the memorial stupa located at the Killing Fields. It is a blend of Hindu and Buddhist symbols: supporting the roof are Hindu bird-like figures, which are the transporters of the gods; and above the roof are Nagas, the Buddhist snakes that gave birth to the Khmer (Cambodian) people. They are opposing figures, but when joined together like this they mean peace. It was the one positive sentiment I could take away from here. 

Cambodia doesn't have quite as many motorbikes as Vietnam, so they make up for it with tuk-tuks (previously bicycle powered and now generally motorbike powered, with room for 4 foreigners or 10 Cambodians). I really liked this guy's advertising ;)

I had been fairly lucky so far, traveling Southeast Asia during the rainy season, I'd only experienced short, quick showers here and there.......until PP. This was outside my hostel after several hours of rain. 

                                      

And this was a different day, again, nearly the same view. I had a bus ticket to leave at 8:30a.m. but that became  12:30 because traffic definitely wasn't moving. The water eventually made it's way up to the entrance of the hostel and movie theater where a friend of mine had been working. Every time a car passed more waves of water would come pouring in. 

Nha Trang, DaLat, HoChiMinh

A fresh coconut (first the water and then the meat), a glass of iced tea and later a cafe sua da (iced coffee with milk) are the perfect way to relax, enjoy some peace and quiet and escape from the heat of the afternoon. I went to this cafe, located in a beautiful garden, 3 times in 3 days. The owner and I became fast friends and on the last day he introduced me to his 1 year old daughter-so beautiful!

I went to the Thap Ba Spa in Nha Trang (a city located in central Vietnam), also known as Little Russia, since there are nearly as many Russians as Vietnamese. I was the first person at the spa (having arrived directly there from my night bus), and as people began to arrive throughout the morning I realized that each one was Russian. Besides the mud baths (pictured above), there wasn't much to see/do in this city aside from a brewery, where I sampled several of the homemade brews at a staggering price of $2/glass (extortion here in Vietnam) 

I walked out of my hotel one morning to see a large tray of breads on top of a motorbike. I bought one and as I was eating it the vendor picked up the tray, placed it on his head and drove off! No strap, nothing holding it on. Just pure balance.

Soon after I was walking through the markets with no real aim and sat down for a coffee. The ladies there soon tried communicating with me and with the help of one of the ladies' daughters I was able to have a chat with them. They told me I was too dark (tanning is a big no-no in Asia), that my jewelry was pretty, that I'm tall and then asked me to comment on their hair, jewelry or shoes. It was hilarious!!

Then I headed to an important temple in the city which was known for two huge Buddha statues. The first is the sleeping Buddha. One of the monks offered to take my picture here. The other Buddha was you typical sitting Buddha, but the base of the statue was interesting because it had the carvings of 5 or 6 Buddhist monks, each one encircled in a red, flaming orb. These men and women had burned themselves in protest during the was. At this location I also got to sit inside of a large bell while the monk rang it several times, at which point I was supposed to be wishing/praying for something. 

Another bragging moment: my view from my bedroom of my hotel. It was a 16 person dorm but I had it all to myself!

From Nha Trang I took a 4-5 hour bus trip up and down a few mountains  (absolutely breathtaking scenery), and arrived in Dalat, a small town located in the mountains of Vietnam, with nearly freezing temperatures-in that I wasn't sweating for the first time in 3 weeks. It was lovely. The first thing I did (I mean the first thing I did after putting on pants) was to go to the "Crazy House." It is only what I can describe as Tim Burton's dreamland. This house was designed by the daughter of a former president of Vietnam. It held true to its name. 

Here I am in long sleeves and pants! This was one of the highest parts of the house (it was hard to count the stories because nothing was even, but I'm several stories up) overlooking the city of DaLat. The house is built entire of concrete and is meant to look like the stump of a huge tree with roots and vines sprouting every which way. There are rooms hidden down winding hallways and stairwells and I nearly got lost inside. It reminded me of Las Pozas, another crazy house in Xilitla, Mexico where I went several years ago. 

The local markets held lots of new goodies to sample. Here I was trying all sorts of dried and candied fruits-grapes, apricots, bananas, cherry tomatoes (my favorite) and even roses (as in the flower)-strange but good. 

The next day I took a tour in which we had multiple stops throughout the day. One of the first stops was to a cricket farm where we learned how they raise crickets-basically-have lots of leaves in an enclosed area and let the crickets have at it. Then we got to sample some of the insects, with a bit of chili sauce (it was very similar to how they eat crickets in Mexico-also fried, with chili and lime). Once you get over the legs and antennae it's really just a crunchy snack that's high in protein. YUM

The next stop was to a weasel coffee farm. Here I am on the balcony of the cafe, overlooking the coffee trees. 

And here are coffee beans in the foreground waiting to be eaten, digested and excreted by the weasels before being cleaned  and ground up. The coffee was amazing! The smell between regular coffee grounds and that of the weasel coffee was significant and there was zero bitterness in the coffee. The only downfall was the extremely high price of $3/cup (3times what I've been paying for my regular coffees here).

Next stop-a temple. But I much preferred the "happy Buddha" which was out back behind the temple. 

After seeing the happy Buddha we walked down Elephant Falls (I guess there used to be Elephants in the area-now there are just a few small statues). Although it wasn't the largest falls I've see, the spray was pretty strong and soaking everyone and their cameras, so I don't have too many pictures. This is one from under the falls. It was definitely the highlight of my day. 

One of the last stops of the day was to a silk factory. I wish I could show you all the pictures here because the process was very, very interesting to watch-I can't even imagine how they were able to do it all by hand way back when. Here you can see the silk worms inside their cocoons, floating in the water. But don't be mistaken to think that the fine strands you see falling from the chopsticks or between the blue piece and the spout are water-those are individual strands of silk. The speed and skill that these women had to catch the silk and wrap it around spindles was impressive to say the least. 

After my packed day I took a walk around the lake in town, which I had run that morning, and I saw my mistake of running in the morning which had been overcast and very misty over the lake. At sunset the colors were beautiful and serene. 

Every country has some new (to me at least) device, invention, technique of doing something that I find amazing, awesome and wonder why it's not all over the world (Korea-the bell on the tables at restaurants, Mexico-the lime juicers,  Argentina-the ease with which you can add money to your phone) and Vietnam-this little handle on the 2liter water bottles. In a country where you can't drink the tap water it makes carrying water all day much easier. 

I left the coolness and quietness of DaLat for the craziness of HoChiMinhCity (HCMC-formerly Saigon). I won't bore you all with the details of another big city but some highlights: the post office (pictured here), Independence Palace, and the War Remnant Museum (it was enlightening and truly sad to hear about the Vietnam War from the side of the Vietnamese but I also realize that some of it was a bit one sided-most of the museum focused on the protests from around the world during the war and then lots of photo exhibits of the affects of Agent Orange on the people (some several generations later) and the land). 

Then the following day I headed to the Cuchi Tunnels, a series of over 200km of tunnels a bit outside HCMC where about 20,000 people lived, worked and plotted during the war. The tunnels were very built with every possible necessity available, except bathrooms. Here I volunteered to attempt to enter one of the tunnels just as the guerrillas might have if they were being chased by American GIs. 

Then we were allowed in the actual tunnels which have been enlarged to fit the western tourists. Even still, the tunnels were extremely small, and you had to do a Groucho Marx walk in order to get around. And despite the impressive ventilation, the air was still thick and damp and there is no way I'd want to live down there full time.

HCMC was a maze of small streets, lanes and back alleys. This is from the alley of my hostel. You can't see too well but the blue door on the left is someone's front door and the small brick windows are the only windows in the house's first floor. Hence why there are clothes hanging on the line. 

As I mentioned before people wake up early to go to the beach or park to exercise. Here are some ajumas (the Korean word for old women) taking part in some form of aerobics.