NAHTRANG

 Ever since Kong Lor cave i had kept in contact with Dan and Tan, but our timing was a little off, in Vietnam we were finally able to work it out. At the time, they were also traveling with an Italian couple, Tuli and Mateo. On our first day together we went to Vinpearl, a massive Hollywood-style water park. It was a blast! Spent the whole morning on the watersides, lunch at the gorgeous too-perfect-to-be-true white sandy beach, and the afternoon at the roller coasters. They even had a roller coaster where you drove your own cart warning "any damages to other vehicles are your responsibility", translation: do not brake ;).  The sunset was beautiful and the night fell upon us as we rode on the cable car over the ocean. Went back to freshen up and enjoyed a delicious feast of fresh seafood.

The next day we rented bikes to go check out a couple of waterfalls. This calls for motorbike accident #2... it was quite embarrassing actually .. i braked too fast with the front brake...minor scratch. We ended up squishing into two bikes, Asian style ;). The scenery along the was was picture perfect, fishing villages on the ocean, mountains inland, and boat-shaped trees along the median. We managed to find the path to the waterfall at the end of a dirt road. After a sweaty 10 minute walk we were at the first pool. Went for a refreshing swim; there were lots of rocks to jump from and you could go behind the waterfall itself into a mini cave. Dan and I went to explore the rest of the pools, the path got a bit rough, long jumps from rock to rock and steep climbs but worth it after all. By 2pm we were getting hungry and there was nothing around the waterfalls, so we left in search for a restaurant. We thought that the fishing village would maybe have some fresh seafood...silly us. There were no 'real' restaurants... we wondered around the dusty streets being greeted by curious smiles. Dan, Mateo and I settled for a green concoction, a sort of porridge with ground meat, while Tuli and Tan found a little place that had noodle soup and bread. We all sat on tinny plastic stools with the elder lady that owned the stand. It was one of those experiences that stick with you.

Back in town we went for a walk along the beach and into the night market. We found a fancy sushi place and decided to splurge a little. It was well worth the $10 :p. Went out for drinks, mostly free or happy-hour ones and then had a couple of pool matches at one of the bars.

The last day started nicely, I woke up early and went for a run along the beach. Back at the hostel got packed up and we had a bit of an issue with the manager, which scaled fast and furiously. We were trying to pay but he was overcharging us for the rooms, using an outdated currency conversion. He refused to give us our passports back ... days before, Mateo and Tuli had some money stolen, he was also trying to charge us extra to leave our bags for the day ... it almost turned into a fight, we almost called the police... in the end, we stormed out of the with all of our belongings. We were homeless and our bus didn't leave until later in the evening... thankfully we had made friends with the owner of a nearby restaurant where we had breakfasts every day and he let us leave our bags there until our bus came. Spent the rest of the day at the beach, relaxing an playing cards and then Tuli Tan and i went shopping for a bit.  When the bus came to pick us up they shoved 14 of us with packs and everything in a minivan to the bus station.... it was like they were trying to see how many backpackers could fit in a minivan.... but the ride was only 10 minutes so no big deal. The bus was a sleeper, and the 5 of us got the whole back of the bus. The seats went all the way to a horizontal position, it was pretty comfy. We payed a mini game of risk and then i quickly passed out.

SAIGON

as soon as the bus stopped i ran out and hopped on the fist motorbike i found. What I didn't know was that there is a population of 10 million people and 8 million motorbikes. The driver was out of his mind! We were going extremely fast and into traffic. He swore at pedestrians and vehicles on his way. I had my big pack, the guitar a bag and my small day pack... but managed to make it out alive. To top it off, the hostel i was looking for was closed so i was forced to wonder around the streets homeless haha. With some help i found a hostel down a narrow alleyway. The owner was a very nice Chinese lady. She gave me the penthouse ;) i had my own 2 story balcony and everything.

Had some really good Pho for breakfast and shortly after, i met a cyclo diver who offered to take me around for the day. A cyclo is pretty much a wheelchair with a bicycle behind it. Mr Lung introduced himself showcasing a news article with his picture on it. I liked him from the start. He looked wise, or at least he seemed so by the look in his eyes and the shape of his beard. He knew a lot about the city and he told me about the corruption that goes on and how the police gets everything foe free otherwise threatening small businesses.




Fist stop was the war museum. We all know that there was a Vietnam war in the 1970's & that the US was involved, but that's the extent of it. This museum opened up a world of suffering an cruelty right before my eyes. Unnecessary tortures and gore filled the walls... dragging people behind tanks, taking pictures with body part of the dead. American soldiers killed many innocent children and women, wiping out entrire villages. Then, when i thought it couldn't get worse, I learned about agent orange. This chemical was used to get rid of the food supplies of the enemy, however, it had devastating after effects. Generations of people with missing limbs, deformities, cancer and skin diseases. All those who came in contact with the chemical were affected in one way or another. To this day, people are still being born with deformities. The pictures and stories were heartbreaking.

Second stop was the Notredame cathedral and the post station. Both very picturesque and well conserved.

Stop number three was an artisan shop where i got the see the whole process of Thai traditional art. There where three types: egg shell, nacar, paint.

Before we got to stop number four we drove by the waterfront with modern buildings, sky scarpers all around. One of them even had a helicopter landing platform! We got to our stop which was a bonsai garden right on the lake. There were shaped in all sorts of shapes, and the oldest was 100 years old. It was really pretty specially because there were lots of butterflies fluttering around us.


Last stop was the antique market. We waled around as he showed me various relics, female Buddhas, items from ship wrecks and more.

Next day i had booked a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels but first we went to a the Cao Dai temple. It was quite strange through. It was the a mix of fluorescent pinks and yellows with incredibly detailed designs and all sorts of icons. Cao Dai is a fusion of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism with a tinge of Christianity and Islam. It is a very new religion or sect founded in the 1920's as the answer to the ultimate ideal religion. At noon, the service started and the followers came out in organized rows all dressed in white. Females on the left and males on the right. The sat and bowed in tune. The temple was surreal and so was the ceremony, it was hypnotizing, the ying and the yang, the weird symbols hidden among the walls... the whole experience leaves you more confused than when you went in.

After lunch we went to see the Cu Chi tunnels. The tunnels are a form a huge underground network and they are spread out through the whole country. They were located at strategic location for the war and they were use as a hiding spot as well as communication and supply routes, and hospitals. Many believe the tunnels where the key to success. Life in the tunnels was extremely difficult due to the lack of air, food and water. Often there were infested with ants, scorpions, poisonous centipedes and vermin. The people would only come out at night but often, they would be forced to remain underground for days or even weeks at a time. This caused sickness and skin diseases as mold began to grow on their bodies. First we watched a video which was meant to be very serious but talked about warriors that got awards for being great "killers of Americans" ... the entrance to the original tunnels was tinny, no idea how they could fit in there. We got a chance to try them out. The northern Vietnamese hid in these tunnels for 9 years, i barely lasted 5 minutes... some parts were so small i had to go on my stomach and pull through. The feeling of claustrophobia was overwhelming. The guide also showed us different traps, the Vietnamese were very resourceful and recicled all sorts of materials to make their weapons , mainly using scraps from enemy ammunition. They used their hunting knowledge to set up traps, horrifying.

A JOURNEY INTO VIETNAM THROUGH THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

I knew that the border I was about to cross was remote, just not to what extent. I got in a minivan along with 8 Vietnamese peole and loads of random merchandise. We were stopped at various police checks, at some, the main lady gave them money. She was dressed in a matching pink outfit with yellow flowers. She had long gloves on, a hat and one of those masks they use here to cover their mouth from the dirt. Weird…

The immigration itself was very easy. A few stamps and I was in Vietnam. The van dropped me off at the Pleiku bus station by 11 am. No one in that town spoke any English and I had no Vietnam currency (dong). Fortunately, they let me pay with American money…phew. Now, the only issue was that the bus didn’t leave till 8pm. 9 hours to waste. Pleiku must not see any tourists because everyone in the bus station was staring at me. Some of them would try to speak to me, but at that time I didn’t even know how to say hi…Fortunately I had the guitar and a book to keep busy. I eventually ventured outside and managed to exchange money with a random vendor to buy some food.

The sunset was gorgeous; most random location for something so beautiful. The bus departed on time, and stopped at 11pm for dinner but I chose not to get off. The guy sitting beside me brought me back a coke. I tried to decline politely but it was of no use. Then, he tried to make conversation. His English was impossible to understand, so he would typed the questions on is phone. It stared like any other convo, where are you from? How old are you? Blah blah blah but then he asked me if I had a boyfriend… I knew better, so I said yes, but he didn’t stop there. He couldn’t understand why my so called boyfriend wasn’t there… and moved on to asking me if I thought Vietnamese boys were beautiful… what was I supposed to say? No? …. After that, I just put my headphones in and went to sleep. I woke up at 2am, fist off, he had covered me with a blanket and secondly, his had was uncomfortably close to my thigh. To top it off he was “asleep” and his head was falling to my side… I was so shaken… I bluntly pushed him towards the window, took the blanket off and moved in my seat until he had moved far enough from me. I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. 

BAN LUNG

The bus was hectic, from 6 am until 7pm I sat at the back sandwiched between the locals, the seats didn’t recline and the floor was covered in garbage and fruit peals.  As soon as I stepped foot on land I got swarmed by people offering places to stay at. I couldn’t even move, there were too many of them. All the foreigners of the bus ended up together, all 6 of us got shoved into one tuk-tuk with all of our luggage. When we got to the hostel, Victoria and Fran, two hilarious English girls realized that their passports and bank cards were missing. Instead of freaking out as expected, they joked about it… if that was me I would have gone crazy. I shared a room with Rosemary, a girl from the states. We played a few games of pool on an extra large pool table and had a few beers before calling it a night.

The next morning Rose and I rented a motorbike and set off to see the landscape and find the Beung Yeak Laom volcanic lake. It is a beautiful turquoise lake in the middle of a mountain, and it was formed hundred of years ago by a volcano. It is 800 meters in diameter and 50 meters deep. The water was refreshing but not cold. We met a couple of people and swam around for a couple of hours. We also met a 16 year old Malaysian girl who invited all of us to go clubbing with her hehe. As we were leaving we also met two really cute kids. They ran up to us and were all laughs and hugs. After lunch we tried to search for some waterfalls but the roads were awful so we just went back to the hostel &had another pool match with the English girls who didn’t have any luck as the tourist police closes on Sundays…

The next morning I had booked a 2 day trek. A guy came to pick me up at 8am. He gave me a hammock and 2 big bottle of water to carry. We drove 30 minutes out of town and stopped in the middle of no where. Out of the bush came a young guy who turned out it be my guide. He was only 20 years old but he knew a lot about the minority people, agriculture and the use of different plants in the forest. He also seemed to know everyone that we passed by. We ran into some people washing a pig by a stream, after talking to them he told me that they were preparing feast in honor of someone who had recently passed away. Later on, we passed by a hut where they were making a box like structure out of bamboo. He explained that someone in that family was sick and they were preparing and offering. Once the box was finished they would kill a chicken and place its heart and liver along with some herbs and offer it to the spirits.

The first couple of hours we were walking up and down rolling hills through small villages along a narrow clay path. In front of each hut they had a vegetable garden and either rice, cashew trees, potatoes or eggplants. Chickens and pigs were running around loose. A few meters after the last hut, the forest begun. Lots of flowers blooming under the shade of large trees. The path was almost non existent. We had lunch by a small creak, and an hour later we arrived at a majestic waterfall in the middle of the jungle. We went for a swim. There were no signs of civilization, not one person around. We climbed to the very top, it was about 20 meters high. It was getting late so we had to continue. If it were up to me we would have camped there.

After an hour walk we arrived to another village where we would spend the night. We set our hammocks in a stilted hut which was the village’s meeting house. When someone had an important announcement they would hit a metal ring 7 times and the village would gather. Bing (the guide) got started on dinner singing his heart out as he fried some eggplant. We had various visitors who came by, stared at me and smiled… we ate on a plastic tarp on the floor but the food was surprisingly delicious. As the sun went down the children gathered outside, running around and shooting each other with bamboo guns. The all played together, younger and older, girls and boys.

 I went to bed early but woke up at 11pm, and I really really had to pee. The only problem was that I had no idea where the toilet was and Bing was sleeping. I walked outside trying to keep quiet. The moon was so bright that I through that there were lights outside. I went around the corner in the shade hoping no one would see me but as I was going to do the deed a massive pig woke up and started running towards me. I booked it back inside… lesson learned.

I woke up the next morning at 6, Bing was already making breakfast, veggies and noodles. We started walking at 8ish and after an hour we stopped at an abandoned hut at the edge of the forest. Bing showed me every day items and traps used by the minority people. When we entered the forest the path disappeared completely. I wondered how he knew where we were going, but we surely made it across. As we left the forest it started raining, I don’t know how to describe it but everything was so calm and beautiful under the rain. As we reached the top of the hill I felt like I was on top of the world.

We arrived at his house by noon and he started preparing lunch with his mom. He told me that she has been around during the Khmer Roughe. He also told me about his family and how his younger sister had been killed by a curse. He said younger children are the targets of curses because their spirits are not as strong. At 2 pm the guy from the hostel came to get me. The roads were slippery and that’s when I had my first motorbike accident. We didn’t fall hard but I was covered in clay.

That last night at Ban Lung was fun; I had drinks with the English girls who had finally managed to get a police report. We watched movies on a massive flat screen TV and we saw a gigantic gecko. 

PHNOM PENH

Arrived by mid day, incredibly fluent tuk tuk driver convinced me to go to a hostel on the lake. Most times I would have declined but he seemed very sincere and he wasn't pushy like all the others. Happy 11 turned out to be a nice place, great location, decent price and it had a rooftop bar. In the afternoon I went to explore a bit of the ciry. I dont think I have ever been hasseled by so many drivers or told "i love you" by so many strangers. I had a very 'western' dinner, pizza and DQ! soo good. I walked around and got midly lost. As the night settled in the city transformed, neon lights ad bars everywhere, crowded sidewalks, chaos. When I opened up the map I found my way in an instant thanks to the grid like layout of the roads. That night I met two Asutralians who turned out to be expats and they invited me to go for a drink. We went to a bar around the corner, everyone knew eachother. The bartender was Scottish and had been in Phnom Penh for over 7 years. Weird but interesting night.


Next moring the tuk tuk came to get me and 2 Irish girls. The driver brought his 6 year old son along for the drive. He was really cute but quiet and small for his age. Our first stop was the Killing Fields. Now for this i need to give a little bit of backgroud: in 1975 the Khmer Rouge evacuated all main cities of Cambodia. The leader, Pol Pot, wanted to kill all 'intelligent' people. According to him, they were corrupt and too materialistic. People were considered intelligent if they: spoke another language, attended school, knew anything about medicine, or wore glasses. The people who were not killed got sent to labour camps where they had to work from sunrise to sunset and were fed very little food. Families were separeted, no one was allowed to speak. The Khmer Rouge killed over 3 million people out of a population of 8 million. Many people also died of starvation, infections and diseased.



We visited the killing fields of Choenung Ek, where more than 20 000 people were brutally murdered. At the site there are 129 mass graves and 8000 skulls have been dug up so far. Most people were killed by blows to the skull and then piled in graves where some where burried alive. Using bullets was considered a waste. Babies and small children were killed by smashing their heads on a tree, which is still present to this day. As you walk through the fields you can see remains of clothes and bones on the ground that had been exposed by the rain. It was a very eye opening experience.







Our second stop wasn't any less cruel, Tuol Sleng genocide museum. The bulilding was originally a school but was turned into a prison/torture chamber by the Khmer Rouge. Inside, thousands of photos of those who were victims of torture. Their eyes baring sandness and hardship stare at you as you walk throgh; men, women and children alike. There were two kinds of rooms, the fist were sigles with an iron bed, cuffs and a buket for toilet. These were mainly used for interrogation and torture. The second kind were extremely small cells where you could barely fit one person, these were the regular holding cells. Some still had blood stains on the floor, others had picrtures of dead bodies. I dont want to go into too much detail about the torture, but it was unimaginably inhumane. They forced people to confess to crimes that they hadn't even comitted, they fed them 3 spoons of rice a day and no water. They were not allowed to talk or move unless asked. Human beings can be extreemly cruel when they are in a position of power.
We went out for lunch but the girls had to leave right after to catch a plane. I decided to visit the royal palace to lighten the mood. It was beautiful, with splendid garderns and very interesting and intricate architecture. The silver pagoda was in the same complex as the temple, featuring numerous golden and silver artifacs. It was surounded by 4 towers carved with complicated designs. I went back to the hostel and after having a shower i met up with Dan and Tan who had arrived to town that afternoon. We went out for dinner and i had amazing noodles with red curry, and then, we went for a few beers at the rooftop bar.

KOH KONG

I must confess that Im a little out of my mind sometimes. I mean, most sane people stay on the main track, but I enjoy taking small detours, sometimes for the best and others not so much. I took a 6am bus and got to Koh Kong by 11am. The bus only stoped at the staion for 30 seconds and they neglected to tell me that we were in  Koh Kong until we started moving again.... They dropped me off at a random restaurant along the road. The bus was full of tourists to my relief, but it turned out that I was the only person getting off at that stop, everyone else was going directly to Vietnam. I took a motorbike to a hostel I had researched (had to be a little better prepared after the Kong Lor fiasco). I went for a walk though the town and realized that not many tourists must make it there. After walking for half an hour I managed to find a restaurant, no menu, just pointed at random pots and pans. Weirdest meal Ive had so far, no idea what it was.
With lots of sign langugage I managed to get a moto driver to take me to the mangroove forrest. It was 15 minutes out of town and had a 600m walkway surrounded by mangroove trees. At the end of the walkway there was an observation tower overlooking the whole forest with the river zigzaging through it.

The next day I had booked a trekk. When I woke up it was pouring rain. Got on the tuk tuk with my trusty raincoat and we went to pick up a french couple. We drove to the river and got on a slowboat. The rain had calmed down butit it was still drizzling. The mountains in the rain looked spectacular, with creeping clouds and a misterious air that hovered over the whole forest. The ride was over an hour and we got off in the middle of the jungle. Thats when I realized that our main guide was mute. The french couple was nice, they were funny but seemed a bit out of place judging by their clumsy steps and overly prepaired equipment. First we reached the bamboo forest which was rather strange. When bamboo treees get to a certain height they can't support themselves, forming arched tunnels. After a steep climb, we got to a lookout point.  You could see all the mountains and the river. Beautiful.

We continued on throguh a different kind of forrest, taller trees, small streams, and leeches. I lost count after 9... it was quite shocking at the start, but you learn how to get them off. The key is to make sure that both heads are detached and its easier to use a stick or a rock rather than your hands. I was quite lucky though; Leonel got one on his mmmm (and he was wearing long pants) and Chloey got one on her bum. Too funny.

We had lunch by two small waterfalls. The guides urged us to go swimming but it was too cold and the current looked really strong. After lunch, they broke the news that we had to cross the river. It was rough, the current was pushing and the rocks were incredibly slippery. I held on to my belongings so tigthly, like I was holding on for my life. The guide had just lost his cellphone to the current and it had dissapeared down the river in less that a split second. Throughout the rest of the trekk adventure awaited. The jungle was dark, wet and slippery. The path faded and the leeches continued to attack. We were meant to crosss back throgh the river but the current was picking up and had become too strong to cross. The guide had to create a new path with his machete. Eventually we made it back to the place where our boat was, but one of the guides had to cross the river to get the boat. He managed to get across and in a few hours we were back into civilization.



Despite the rain, Kong Koh went out with a bang!



more pics at:    http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151748709545476.477254.503055475&type=3

SIHANOUKVILLE

The night bus from Siem Reap was horrendous. The driver and the crew seemed to be having a party. The bus stopped every hour and I had to share my bed with the guitar and my small pack, which didn't leave me much room. Finally, at 6am I had made it to the bus station, where I hopped on a motorbike. I was at Utopia within 10 minutes. The reception was not open yett, so i snooped around: a pool, food court, bar and $2 dorms. Seemed like my kind of place.



By 7am I got a dorm bed and a locker and soon enough I was on the way to the beach. Had breakfast overlooking the ocean. Spent the day in the sun, reading and getting mildly harassed by the vendors. Good recovery form the exhausting bus ride. I did learn a lesson though: when a lady asks "If you buy, you buy from me?" you must always say no... I made the mistake of saying maybe later, and ended up getting it from some other lady which got me into HUGE trouble, as the fist lady got very angry and swore at me in Cambodian...ooops. Back at the hostel, I was talking to a guy who turned out to be the owner and offered me a job there: free room, free food, free alcohol and some money, all to work at the bar until midnight. Very persuasive but no way haha. Later that night I met 2 girls from Chile and we went out for dinner together. I had roasted eggplant filled with rice and topped with mozzarella...yum! we decided to go down to the beach to get our free drinks. Serendipity beach is as many travellers call it, a small sized Cancun. The beach is lined with restaurants and bars with colorful neon signs. There were lots of travellers I had met along the way and  many other familiar faces. By 11:30pm it was packed and in the midst of the chaos and loud music I looked up and right in front of me were Bonnie and Henri! Needless to say, we ha a wonderful night, ending with the sunrise at the beach.

Next day same sort of deal. Beach during the day, massage, made friends with pretty much all the children on the beach. It must have been quite the sight; white girl surrounded by about 6 Cambodian kids. We played games and they tried to convince me to buy bracelets...one girl made me a free one and when I said no thanks, her response was "relax baby, is good luck" with a Jamaican accent. At night, I went out with the Chilean girls and 2 Dutch guys. We had free drinks at the beach, JJ's and then at Dolphin as it seemed to be the routine. At around 1am a group of us decided to go swimming. The water was just the right temperature, refreshing but warm. Back to the dance floor, then hot-dogs, and back to the hostel by 4am.


The next day I went to get my Vietnam visa, which turned to be a very simple task; drop passport off in the morning and get it back in the afternoon. I decided to go to a different beach for the day, something away from the tourists and vendors. With my guitar in hand I took a moto to Otress beach. I got off at a restaurant/hostel in the middle of nowhere. As I was eating my fried rice, I saw a big dog in my peripheral vision.. it turned out to be a cow trying to steal my food! how is that even possible!?  In less than 5 minutes, the restaurant was surrounded by them. I finished eating and walked along the beach. There was a 4km stretch with absolutely nothing and no one in it (despite the odd cow here and there). I picked a spot by a tree, and finally understood why people yern to have a beach to themselves. In the evening, I went to pick up my passport and then decided to go for a run. As I was finishing up, I ran into Tan, Dan, Bastiaan and Eveline. I went back to the hostel, showered, and we had dinner together. A nice way to end my stay at Serendipity.