Sihanoukville - 24th July 2009 tbc

I was due at the dive shop for 8.30 ready for quite a few hours of studying and theory tests. I had a rather bland breakfast at the shop; bread and jam, before lazilly getting a moto to the dive shop. I thought it'd save me a bit of time, and if I happened to be sleeping okay then it would give me a bit more of a lie in.
My instructor for the course was a French guy called Sebastion, who pronounced 'bubbles' in a really adorable way, like on Finding Nemo!
I spent quite a while watching a DVD which basically was a lazier version of reading the book, but it helped send home the important messages that the book was saying. After reading and watching, I had 5 short practice tests to do, which I did pretty well on, and then after lunch, we went over the answers, before I was given another official test, which I got about 90% on, and then the 'final exam' where I was rather chuffed at scoring 96% whoo!
I had a headache by the end, as there was a lot to take in, especially the order of which you should prioritise for going up to the surface should you run out of air; something which I wasn't very good at remembering the order of.
(to be continued)

Sihanoukville (islands) - 25th July 2009

I had to be at the dive centre by 7.15am, so after enjoying the pink dragonfruit, I left my luggage at the hotel, and got a moto there. We set off shortly after in their customised, double the size tuk tuk, which seemed to get some approving smiles from the locals. On arrival at the boat, we were offered breakfast where I just ate a banana, before going to the top deck to lie down horizontally in the hope that I wouldn't be sick. Thankfully I survived, and after about 2.5 hours, we arrived at the island. It looked very peaceful and calm.
(to be continued)

Sihanoukville - 26th August 2009

I am completely exhausted. I don't think I've slept the whole night through without actively being conscious in my dreams, for the last week. I slept on the island last night, where I went to sleep quite early listening to the sounds of the waves and the sea rushing in and out of the shore. It was relaxing, and I also had the pleasure of listening to some music that was playing in the social area until about 1 or 2am. I had gone to bed around 8pm, drastically early, but I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.
I was up at 6am, and I read my book and had breakfast until my instructor and his Dive Master girlfriend woke at around 8am. I was making good progress through my book which was very enjoyable and relaxing, although I was feeling a bit sick with worry about going on the boat again today.
We started off our day with a dive from the shore. It was good, the visability was clearer than usual and we saw more fish than the previous day. We managed to spot a starfish, lots of large pretty fish, some sea-urchins and some other stranger looking fish. I was told to avoid anything that looked too beautiful or too ugly or wasn't scared of me, as it meant they were usually some kind of threat to me if I interferred with them, but most things looked beautiful to me! So I avoided being too close to most things. We went over a few of the skills that I'd learnt the day before, which I managed to successfully complete.
We did a couple more dives, with lunch in the middle; a risotto with tasty vegetables. The dives we were taken out on the boat to the location and I was very thankful for not being sick. I think lying down most of the time helped greatly. I was now very comfortable with attaching all the gear to the tank, and then to me, but walking around on a wobbly boat to the side where I could then fall backwards into the water, was more of a challenge.
By the end of the final dive for the day, I had some scratches on my leg from where I had accidentally grazed it on some coral, and then my toe was blistered from the fin, although it wasn't too painful.
It was quite good fun when there was a lack of visability; I could see all the little bits of coral/sediments moving towards me with the tide, and then I could focus back on the diver I was following. Sometimes it felt like a game like on tv, although there wasn't anything to dodge other than making sure I was neutrally buoyant at all times, and not kicking anyone or anything, and not being kicked by anyone.
At one time I lost them slightly, so after looking around for the required minute I popped up and saw their fins, so was able to get back to them again. I thought it was maybe some kind of test to see if I'd panic or not, but I don't think it had been.
My ears equilibriated very well, but by the end of the final dive my throat was really dry and sore. I think I must not have been drinking enough.
We went back to Sihanoukville on the boat, after a quick shower, and then to the office, by the tuk tuk driven by Sebastion, my instructor. He said it was his first time driving the tuk tuk, and it might have been true, he seemed to be going rather speedily, and on reversing he seemed to stutter a bit. We made it back to the office in one piece, where I got my certificate printed out, and my details were entered online so my official diving card would arrive eventually in the post.
I then popped into an internet cafe where I did my best to recouperate with a drink, although I still felt like I was bobbing up and down on the water.

Sihanoukville - 23rd July 2009

Yet another early morning, and to the sound of the heaven's opening, or as my tuk tuk driver said a few days ago 'raining cats and dogs!'
I had a lovely hot shower, my first in quite a long time; maybe it was worth paying the extra $3 for such privaledge? or maybe not.
I couldn't be bothered doing much today, so decided on a very lazy catch up online, a coffee on the go for breakfast, in the form of a can and bought a newspaper to catch up on the news. The rain had stopped so it made a fairly pleasant morning. Unfortunatly the stupid internet cafe was being dodgy and the computer, although having faster internet than most places, wasn't letting me upload photos.
I bought a couple of books to read to keep me entertained, and then headed towards the beach with guidebook in hand. For some reason I had eye contact with someone I was about to pass on the pavement for slightly too long, possibly as the man looked foreign but very tanned and he was topless which I thought was maybe not appropriate, but then who am I to judge.
The man initiated conversation with me, saying I should ditch the guidebook and see Cambodia and not a bunch of English people. We got talking and he offered to walk with me for a bit and show me some of 'Cambodia'. He said he had been living in Cambodia for two years now but wouldn't actually tell me what he did. He said he now considered it his home though.
We had some 'real coffee' which was just as really as any other coffee that I'd had, and he had some donuts off a lady who was carrying them on her head as she passed, and also some fresh yoghurt from a guesthouse that made it. He was talking Cambodian to the locals and pointing out various houses he was interested in buying or renting for not very much per month or year, but with beautiful views of the sea.
I 'dropped' him off at his hotel, and then wandered back down to the beach. I checked out some scuba diving places, which seemed quite a reasonable price, before having some lunch; a vege-burger and a coffee. I had a short walk on the beach, whilst pondering over whether I should do the diving or not. I happened to meet the Austrian couple that I'd met the previous day on the bus to Sihanoukville. We had a short chat, and I mentioned that I was thinking about doing the diving, they said I should go for it as I would probably enjoy it.
I headed back towards the street with all the diving shops on, and after thinking about how much money I had. I had a bit of a fright thinking that I wouldn't be able to get any money put in my account, but thankfully I managed to get all financial problems sorted, and I booked the scuba diving. I was really quite excited, although quite nervous about all the boat trips we'd be making.
Tomorrow however was just a day full of theory. I was given a book, from which I had to read up a rather large 3 chapters. It was quite interesting, and a lot related to Physiology and Physics and some Geography too, in the form of the weather and tides.
By this time it was now early evening, so after a few stints on the internet, I headed back to my hotel to study. I was exhausted and so didn't manage to get out to get any dinner. I had a sleepless night which was annoying and I was full of aches and pains from my back during the night, probably not helping the matter.

Battambang to Sihanoukville - 22nd July 2009

I had an early morning this morning. I seem to be waking up quite a lot in the night, so if I wake up within 30 minutes of when my alarm is set for I just get up anyway. Today I was due to leave for the bus station at 7.30, so allowed quite a bit of time for getting breakfast, although I'd just settled with a visit to the local bakery, and water to wash it down; at least it was cheap!
The minibus arrived to take me, and an Austrian couple to the bus station, where I had a coffee before boarding. We were able to, very briefly, enjoy the solar eclipse, looking through sunglasses for about a second, before we were blinded by the sun. When we got on to the bus, a local had taken out a mask used to shield the eyes of those using laser type machinary.
The bus was enormous; a double decker, but with the lower deck only accomodating the driver, our luggage, and a rather crampt toilet!
The air conditioned bus is annoying as it stops me sweating profusely, so I am left needing the toilet what seems like copious amounts! Yet again I live up to my nickname Little Miss Small Bladder...
At least I get to enjoy the toilet on the bus! It's a strange room, you have to be a midget to get through the door; even I have to bend down, and on leaving I have bumped my head several times. Whilst sitting (or hovering) on the loo, there is a very clear mirror opposite, so one can admire oneself whilst emptying out! And to add to this pleasure, you can even look at the window with a clear view of all the houses and people you pass! I'm not quite sure if this view outwards is reciprocated so people can see inwards; I hope not!
The journey was pleasant. We stopped once before arriving at Phnom Penh, at a small cafe which had wonderful large wooden carvings.
We arrived in good time at Phnom Penh, where I had time for my second coffee of the day before boarding a 'same same but different' bus to take us to Sihanoukville. I was quite glad that the bus operators dealt with our luggage; carrying it on and off for us, as it saved me attempting to lift my bag, which is quite often a struggle!
At our first stop from this bus, I had another coffee! and got asked by lots of young locals to buy their sweet coconut cakes. The locals here are a lot more pleasant then in Siem Reap, just as the boy did on my tour up a hill on my full-day of tuk tuk-ing, these girls also could speak French, and tried to converse with me in French for a while! The boy from the tuk-tuk day had managed to say Hello, How are you? in about 7 different languages, which impressed me greatly! He even had good pronounciation (for the ones I knew what they should sound like).
In this cafe, there was a really cute scruffy dog lying under a table just sleeping, then on my way to the toilet, I offered my hand to a dog who had looked friendly. My hand was a 35 centemetres away, but the dog obviously took my
offering the wrong way (or had rabies or was psychotic), as he gave me a warning snap very close to my hand so that slobbers made it onto my hand. I then avoided all dogs from this point onwards!
It was raining quite heavily by this point which was annoying, as the place looked pretty dreary.
We arrived on time, yay! at Sihanoukville, where we were greeted by lots of tuk tuks and moto drivers. I had wanted to walk, as on the map my accomodation hadn't looked that far away. I felt really pestered by the drivers, and eventually I gave in, and with my rucksack resting on the front of the motorbike, cuddled by the driver, we set off. I was unsure whether the slightly dodgy looking rider would actually take me to the guesthouse I'd wanted, as he seemed to be trying to make me want to go elsewhere, but I remained firm, and thankfully I arrived safely where I wanted to go.
I checked in to the ant-free room (yay again!) and then went off in search of dinner. The Holy Cow restaurant, named after a holy cow who cured someone of some illness by licking them, was written up very nicely in the Lonely Planet and advertised as having vegan options, which it did.
On the way, I was walking along the not very well lit roads, and was trying to cross the road when two dogs from the house I was standing in front up came up and started growling at me. I was terrified... I obviously must be offending all these dogs in some way! I decided that I'd walk on the other side of the road on the way back!
I enjoyed a cottage pie, a lovely fruit shake, and an amazing chocolate cake with ice cream and sauce! Amazing!!
I passed an English teaching school on the way back, where the kids were just being let out, and a white teacher was leaving, and she hi-fived one of the kids! All the kids were crowding round her saying 'teacher, teacher...''
I made it back to the hotel okay, although I was pretty scared being out in the dark, despite it only being half seven! The guidebook seems to suggest Sihanoukville is one of the worst places to be for crime, or at least has more highly publishised crimes out here.
It was really annoying that the hotel didn't have internet, and I didn't want to be too late back at the hotel so decided to head 'home' instead of searching for an internet cafe. I then lazed about watching TV and reading. I had planned on renting a DVD player and watching some of the DVDs I'd bought on the cheap, but unfortunatly all were rented out! Still it was an early night, although my sleep was plagued with the challenge of escaping from an earthquake (in my dreams), which was a bit surreal and annoying.

Battambang - 21st July 2009

I woke up pretty early, and decided to get up anyway, as I had to have breakfast and be down by the front of the hotel by 7.30am ready for my tuk tuk tour of all of Battambang with my driver Kim (male).
At 7am I went in search of breakfast, which I found in the form of a friendly cafe, with a lovable rat who ran across the floor whilst I was eating; how cute!! I enjoyed a delicious breakfast, which took quite a while to prepare, leaving me 10 minutes late to meet Kim. Thankfully he was very graceful and forgiving, definetly unlike the majority of men, and we set off for our long day.
We passed some large pottery pots, which I think are supposed to be quite common or famous in this area. Also there was a selection of army members doing some kind of drill. Later on we also passed a water park, although I'm not sure how busy it was, it sounded rather quiet.
A funny sight passed us, as from the front I saw a motorbike carrying some produce made of a hay like material, but from behind, like a scene out of The Aristocats, was a moving haystack! It made me giggle. Another thing that I find adorable is little girls who smile at you when you smile at them, forcing you to smile even more, they are so adorable!!
We passed a field full of lotus flowers, a symbol of Buddhism. They are incredibly beautiful!
We arrived at the first visit of the day; Phnom Sampeau. I was greeted by a very happy young boy, with good English who offered to be my guide up the hill. It was a long and tiring walk up the hill. The road had been recently 'redone' or at least the foundations for the new road had, so it was incredibly bumpy and rough on the feet. It was in the same style as the re-laying of the roads we'd done in the National Parks of Costa Rica. The boy was 13, and spoke good English. He spends $5 a month on being taught for an hour each evening and his favourite subject is Geography. He would usually be charged more than that, but as he is so good at English, he is able to help other students with their pronounciation. He funds his studies, and that of his brother and general livings costs of the family, by his tour guide job. All his family work on the rice fields which pays very poorly. The temple was plainer than most, but the view from the top was incredible. Much better than the view I'd been disappointed by in Vietnam, and I sweated less on this walk! This temple had been used as a prison, or a waiting room for the killing cave. I seemed to be giving a way a lot of money up here, as not only did I give to some fund outside the temple, but an ancient cleaner lady who was hanging about begging in the cave I also gave some money too; I'll blame my generousity on the heat!

My joyful tourguide had gone down to the cave by sliding down the banister, whilst I took the more appropriate stairs. The killing cave is where the Khmer Rouge had got people to plunge so many metres to their death into this cave. It was a grim sight, and inside was the remains of many skulls and other bones from the seventys. A short walk away was a few Buddha statues, where we stopped for another breather. The boy enquired about whether I had an mp3 player or not, and I said I did, he wanted to see it, so I took it out and let him play on it whilst I took some photos of butterflies etc. We then saw a more impressive temple, with an even better view, with more people asking for donations etc, which I managed to resist!

The way down involved lots of steps, but wasn't too painful. I could see the main road which headed back to Battambang, and also the boy pointed out which school he goes to. He seemed to cough quite a bit, and after learning that 65% of all Cambodians have tb, I'm guessing he must be one of them!

At the bottom, I bought a drink from his aunts shop, where he lives away from his parents. I was then joined by lots of wild monkeys! I got quite excited, and whipped out my camera, and Kim was able to get some bananas for me to feed to them. He fed most of them whilst I took the photos, and whilst I was trying to give the banana to the smaller baby which hadn't managed to eat any banana yet, another larger and rather rude monkey grabbed the banana out my hand! Cheeky thing! Some of the smaller female monkeys had quite a few sores on their body from the male monkey.

It then started to tip it down, so I was quite thankful I was in the tuk tuk. We put the raincovers down at the sides, and Kim took off his shirt (he was wearing t-shirt underneath) and put on his poncho, a dashing white with pink-dots one!

The ride was very bumpy, so bumpy in fact that at one point, none of my body was in contact with the tuk tuk! I'd done a vertical take off! It didn't help with the period pain either was which beginning to be a pain!

Next stop was to Phnom Banan. It was still raining at this point so we hung out in the local cafe swinging in hammocks which was fun! I needed the loo, so asked if I could use the loo. I was told that it could only be used for number 1s (!) and so I preceeded to go through the 'kitchen' to the toilet, which was a curtain being held up by bamboo, a slight dip in the ground leading down to a river somewhere, and on top of the mud were two wooden slabs for our feet! I slipped, but thankfully not too severely, as I didn't fall in! Thank heavens!

I had some lunch; rice and vegetables, in the company of a pig! and by the time I had finished, the rain had stopped, so I embarked up the 300 odd steps to the top. I was accompanied by a boy who spoke a bit of English, and who kept on fanning me! When I was about to collapse in a heap, he would take my arm and lift me up! I made it to the top, and gave the boy some money. I'm pretty sure that he was expecting it, but he looked at me strangely when I did, so maybe he was just being nice after all!

I wandered around. The place looked a bit delapdated. There was a nice view, and the shapes were quite interesting. It was built shortly before Angkor Wat, and I think it was instructed by the same king or something. There were lots of the 6-headed snake figures along the handrails for the steps etc, as well as lions.

We got back on the road, and after following a calf along the road for a bit, the calf decided to swerve in front of us, and somehow I missed what happened, as my heart lept into my mouth, and I looked behind to see the calf running off down another path. I really thought we were certain to hit the poor calf, but I guess she must have been a quick turner.

We stopped again later on as my driver was pointing out papaya being grown and also some pink dragon fruit (the insides being pink rather than the typical white). We bought some, and oh my heavens! They were delicious!! I have never tasted something so naturally beautiful, that was so colourful, in my life!

Back on the road, we were admiring another building and a local lady gave me a couple of green oranges! (Totally different to the usual oranges!), which I tried peeling initally, before learning that you eat the outside bit and the avoid the inner seeds! Whoops! It was kind of her though.

We passed a wedding, and I was curious to have a wee peek, so I bowed Khmer style to the people and they waved me in and then the guys who were dancing around waved me in, and I got dragged in (although I was quite keen to have a go!) in a Bollywood style dance around the dancefloor! It was good fun and really great to be included in something so random! They even got their official photographer to come and take some photos with me dancing! I was surprised that it was just men dancing; I thought there must have been some official separation, although it turned out the girls were just shy! A few more got up to dance to join me whilst the photographer was taking some photos.

We had to head back to Battambang and then head south to visit the third of our three temples, this final one being Wat Ek Phnom. This one was a bit plain, and very ruined from when the war was on. It had some nice carvings though, and a couple of adorable cats, one with brown eyes which looked a bit unusual! I played with the lively kitten, whilst the black cat snoozed, before heading back down to enjoy a sugar cane juice which was delicious! Kim then told me more about his family, and what happened to them in the war. He'd lost some half siblings due to starvation, and uncles and aunts had died of the same thing. His parents survived it, and at the age of three, he went to a refugee camp in Thailand. He worked collecting lotus leaves to sell at the maket for several years, a very hard job which allowed leeches to attack him in the water. They use lotus leaves instead of plastic bags at the markets, to wrap up meat and vegetables etc.

We passed the Pepsi bottling plant which basically was just a run down factory, and then we stopped off to look at some fruit bats that were hanging (!) out in a tree.

We'd watched some fishermen for a while, using bamboo as the frame for their net, and then they bent right down into the water and swept upwards in an attempt to catch fish. It looked like tiring work, although I was told it's not their full time job, I think they just do it for the extra food.

Back in Battambang, we passed a factory that prepares and cooks up dogs (to eat). I had wanted to go and see it, but he said I probably wouldn't be able to as they'd already have prepared the dogs and now it would only be in 'on the plate' form.

We witnessed a tree being cut down, and falling into the river, which was fun to watch and pretty spectacular! Kim laughed out loud when viewing the collapse of the tree on my camera.

I paid up at the hotel, and sorted out my transport for the following day; a ten hour bus to Sihanoukville! as well as having a refreshing shower.

I returned to the place where I had enjoyed my breakfast that morning, and had an even more enjoyable dinner. I unfortunatly cannot recall the name of the restaurant, which is a shame as I had hoped to write in to the Lonely Planet for a recommendation. The staff were very polite, and the restaurant had only been open a couple of months, so they were still learning the ropes. They were guided by an Australian who was just helping them out with getting started up. They made an absolutely amazing fruit smoothie! I'm not sure what the fruit was, but it was heaven! Their vegetarian sweet and sour dish was superb as well.

There were slightly fewer ants on going to bed that night thankfully, although I still had some bad dreams.

Siem Reap to Battambang - 20th July 2009

I woke up pretty early this morning; 6.45am, and although I still had at least half an hour left in bed I decided to get up anyway, leaving me with more time on the internet. I threw on some clothes, as always, and went to breakfast, which was as delicious as always!

I checked out, bought some water and snacks for the bus, and gave my bike back (thankfully they didn't inspect it closely enough to see the dents, although they were pretty obvious!)

I then was on the internet for a while, making good progress with my blog, until 8.30am, when the hotel asked if I was ready to go. I presumed they meant the bus was here, but it was actually their minibus, which I was a bit annoyed at. Especially as when I got to the bus station, the bus was half an hour late, so we only set off at 9.30am. I spent the hour reading my book, which was almost as enjoyable as blogging.

The bus journey was rather comfortable, the road wasn't in too bad a shape and so we made good progress with time. The frustrating part of it was that the horn's speakers seemed to be pointing inwards to the inside of the bus rather than the outside, and so the high pitched booming noise deafened me everytime it was used, which, being in Cambodia, was very frequent as he used it everytime he saw anyone else on the road!

I tried drowning out the sound with my ipod, but to no avail. We stopped once, for a mans toilet stop, and then again, where as soon as everyone got out the bus rolled off again, making me panic! I got reassurance from another lone traveller, who said she just presumed they'd come back for us, so I felt relaxed in that I wasn't totally alone! There were lots of people trying to sell fruit, breads, and crickets! A random combination! When I eventually found the bus; it was parked across the road in a kind of bus park; I boarded, and was followed by a group of children merchants trying to sell me fruit. One boy asked me why I didn't want a mango, and on the spur of the moment I said it was because I didn't like sweet things. Somehow I don't quite think he believed me! But it was a good enough reason and he moved on to the next person.

I think my anger may have built up had it not been for the driver having such a sweet smile; typical!

I was surprised when we stopped again shortly after 1pm. I was getting a bit fed up with the stopping, especially as we'd set off late. Yet again, we were given no indication of how long we were stopping for, but word got around that we'd arrived in Battambang! I was very relieved and happy, although wasn't too keen on being swamped by tuk tuk drivers, although be it not so severe as in Siem Reap. I studying my map for a while, and although I had found that the cheap accomodation was not too far away, the tuk tuk man was only asking for half a dollar, and for it I thought it would save me a few mls of sweat, so I agreed!

On arriving I found the room to be pleasant, and then keen to get as much done as possible in my rather short time in Battambang, I plotted with my tuk tuk driver to see everything within the day and a half. We decided that after I had eaten something and relaxed a bit, we would set off to see the Bamboo train, and then the following day we would conquor various Phnoms and Wats.

I went off, on his recommendation, although later I found it to be in the Lonely planet also, to the White Rose cafe. I thought I'd eat the cheapest things on the menu which was chips and an iced coffee; for $2! Bargain! I enjoyed them and was waiting to pay the bill when a man appeared at my feet proding my thigh and begging for money. I said to him 'no' but he kept prodding me and being annoying. The man was rather rude, and after I ignored him and then got up to pay the bill, to hurry things along a bit, he got up and wandered down the street. I hate people who want something for nothing, and who go about it in a way that is unpleasant. Someone being nice, or friendly is so much nicer and more reward worthy than someone being rude. He really dampened my day.

Then less than 5 minutes later, a dog came up and barked in seriously scary manor and had his nose right up to my ankles, I really thought he was going to bit me. Thankfully he didn't, but it made me think that I should have just spent the day in my hotel.

I continued to walk around, and saw the old train station, where as promised, the clock was stuck at 8.02. I couldn't really be bothered walking around anymore, so I decided to pop into a few shops, one of which was to get some more earphones as one of my 'ears' has stopped working, which makes it impossible to hear on the buses. I also got a memory card reader as I didn't bring my connection out here, and I thought it was time to upload some photos.

I then popped into an internet cafe in the hope of uploading photos, although I couldn't get the machine to work, so then had to go back and get it checked, and it seemed to be working. Grh!

I was back in time to meet my tuk tuk driver, when I met a Danish girl who was interested in coming with me. Unfortunatly she seemed to have 'married' another tuk tuk driver who got angry at her wanting to not pay him to go there, when she could so easily have come with me. It was so frustrating. My tuk tuk driver said he couldn't take her as he was scared of the other tuk tuk driver. It all seemed really childish and stupid. We then met another two Danish girls who wanted to come, but out of principal the first Danish girl didn't want to mess about with tuk tuk drivers anymore. It was a bit of shame, but I'm sure they're the ones missing out as it was there last day in Battambang.

I felt even more down and generally annoyed, but eventually I cheered up as my tuk tuk driver was nice and I forgot about all the annoying things that had happened during the day. We waited beside the railway line, in the hope that others would come, making the journey less expensive. It took a while, in which time I tried learning some Khmer with the locals. After learning how to pronounce 'what is your name?' I'm pretty sure they started trying to teach me rude words or something, as they seemed to find something funny, maybe it was just my awful pronounciation!

I did however find out that Joy, when spoken in Scottish accent (thank god I don't have a Scottish accent!!) actually means 'fuck' (or similar type of swear word) in Khmer. That would have been an interesting one; 'Hello I'm fuck, What's your name?'

A couple of guys on a completely pink motorbike drove by, which made me smile, and when the guys smiled at me, I smiled back even more. It just looked so camp! They passed by again, and I asked, and was allowed to take a photo of them! Yay!

A train was approaching, and it had been for some time, but it travels slower than someone walking! So people were lying on the tracks, walking accross, and staying on their bamboo train until it was quite near! The French are investing in the railway and are going to be bringing high speed trains across, so soon there shall be no more bamboo trains.

The trains used to be moved by four or more people pushing sticks, sort of like they were skiing. Although now they are motorised. The track goes from Battambang to some smaller villages, usually for the transport of food and other materials.

Some French people arrived, who didn't speak much English. I managed to understand quite a bit of what they were saying which was quite cool! We all boarded the train. It was really good fun! I have never known such a noisey train, or one which runs on such a bendy track! It seemed to wiggle around quite a bit. There were lots of kids waving to us along the way, and there were chickens crossing the tracks, and then back again, they seemed to be a bit lost. Thankfully we didn't kill anyone! I was really glad I went.

On the way back, we passed several beautiful things. We passed the place where the important provence meetings take place; in a French Colonial building. I have no idea what the word colonial means; the driver asked me, and even though he and I both use the word, neither of us know the meaning! There were some Thai cannons outside, from when the Thai were in charge of Cambodia.

We then went to a statue in a park, that was a dragon and a (can't remember the name - 6 headed snake) - made out of the remains of lots of guns that had been kept illegally in villages, and when a certain agreement was signed to make the place safer, these guns were confiscated.

We then drove by some French Colonial buildings, the night market, the old market, and finally we were back at the hotel. With my guidebook in hand, I went in search of a couple of restaurants that it had mentioned. But despite following the map, and finding where they should have been; neither of the restaurants could be found.

Instead, a few doors away from my hotel, I went to the Lazy Gecko Cafe which was nice, and made me a very delicious fruit shake and then dinner. The rest of the evening was spent on the internet uploading photos, and listening to various music on the internet.

On arriving back at the hotel, on quite a dark night (I'm not surprised they warn lone females to stay clear of the streets at night!), I discovered tens of ants crawling all over my bed - great!

I took off the top sheet on which the ants were crawling, and threw it outside of my room. There still seemed to be ants wherever I looked, but at least they didn't have an unfair advantage on me in the bed! It took me ages to get to sleep, and I woke several times during the night. I'm not quite sure what was bothering me as I didn't have that much on my mind; maybe it was just my subconscious aware of all the ants.

Siem Reap to Battambang - 20th July 2009

I woke up pretty early this morning; 6.45am!
(to be continued!)

Siem Reap - 19th July 2009

Another lazy morning. Breakfast, yet again, was amazing. Despite it not being a buffet, I still had plenty of choice and variety, including the delicious fresh fruit and tasty coffee, too fill me up for the day.
I had a chat with one of the staff about my plan for the day, but their prices seemed a bit excessive for what I was wanting, so I decided to head into town with my bike, in the hope that I'd find a cheaper moto or tuk tuk, willing to take me to another temple and the landmine museum. After wimping out of asking a few people, mainly as I was put off about what I would then do with my bike, I approached a moto-driver on a street corner and I managed to get some better prices, and then somehow was able to get a tuk-tuk instead!
He put my bike in the tuk-tuk, my foot wedged just to keep it in place with the front and back wheels overhanging at the sides. He said he had somewhere we could leave my bike, so we headed off down a dirt track not too far from the village; stupidly, on going through the rather thin gate, the bike hit the wall, sending the driver almost flying, and the bike wedging in a weird position. I was fine, although I was dreading finding out if the bike still worked and whether it looked obvious that it had been damaged.
Thankfully both tuk tuk, driver, and most importantly, my bike, all worked! Although the mud guard was bent and scratched, which the driver did his best to straighten out.
We set off again, this time I was quite thankful that we'd dropped the bike off, as we headed along the road to Angkor Wat which I'd cycled quite a few times by this point. We were heading out to the Banteay Srei temple, famous for it's intricate carvings in the stone. We passed many rice farms on the way with many workers getting sore backs leaning down to collect the rice; very small children were leading cows along the road! I thought about how terrifying that job would be! There were many water pumps, donated by foreigners as part of a clean water project. We had to stock up on petrol on the way, which comes in the form of a yellow liquid in a drinks bottle; a young person pours it in for us. Many other stalls were selling fresh fruit. Whenever a large lorry passed, I had to close my eyes for a while, as lots of dust, sometimes feeling quite muddy and damp, would fly at my face. By the time we arrived, as with most journeys on bike or open transport, my face felt quite dirty.
Eventually we arrived at Banteay Srei. My driver sat down and had a very early lunch, whilst I looked around. Indeed, the temple was very beautiful, the carvings were so well preserved, each telling a short story relating to what the temple was about; one was to do with a story about two monkeys who fought, and one died as a result. There were pretty white monkey statues around the temple grounds which added to the beauty of the area.
Unfortunatly yet again I was harassed by a not particularly pleasant vendor, trying to sell me books. It is annoying that they carry all their merchandise in their hands, as they are able to just follow you everywhere. I wish they would just realise that 'no, I don't want it' is not going to change into a 'yes' just because he has stressed me out enough! It really takes the pleasure out of touring when such people are in ones company.
I joined the driver in the cafe and had a very delicious coffee, before continuing on our way. We managed to settle on an extra $5 for him to take me to a waterfall (----whose name I cannot recall at this present time-----).
The waterfall was a 1.4km walk (one way) through a national park. On the way I passed many very beautiful butterflies and a few lizards. It was really quite a beautiful area. There were huge boulder rocks and a terrific view of the area, and the tree roots added character to the walk. Shortly before arriving, I passed a couple of boys who said that the waterfall was really disappointing and not worth seeing. I wasn't sure if they were 'for real' or not, so I continued on my way. There were lots of bugs crossing the path in a military fashion, from their home to somewhere else. The first sight was a very small dip in the river, underwhich was a carving in the stone which was quite pretty. Someone had abandoned two cakes on a rock, served up on a leaf, which now was being devoured by ants galore! I continued down along the river, stopping to admire another carving in the rock on the river bed. Following the signs, and the noise from some joyous people, I arrived at the waterfall. Admittedly it wasn't particularly spectacular, but it was being enjoyed by many as a means of getting showered and a place to relax. There was a really cute little girl sitting on the river just splashing about and playing with the sand.
I walked back, a bit faster than on my way there, stopping every so often to try to catch a photo of a butterfly, but didn't seem to manage with one of the particularly beautiful ones; a blue one with extra little lobes coming down.
On arrival back at the entrance, I was disappointed to find that the Centre of Biodiversity exhibition was closed, so I searched for my driver instead. The cafe people shouted along the line from one cafe to the next, as I walked alone, that I was looking for my driver. Subsequently a driver or two was woken up, before they shook their head and said I wasn't there passenger! Whoops! Eventually I found my guide, and we headed off to our final destination; the landmine museum. The museum was set up by a man who had dedicated his post-war life to de-mining Cambodia. He had fought with the Khmer Rouge, and then with the Vietnamese Army, during which time he planted many landmines himself.
There was a film showing him de-detonating the mines, which looked like a terrifying job, and then also him walking along with a stick in search of more mines, which he could then do the same job with. He has apparently made millions of mines safe over the years and has taught others to do the same. There wasn't much too the exhibition, but what there was, was interesting. Money raised goes towards de-mining projects, and also the local orphanage which takes in street children and also those whose parents cannot cope with the extra mouth anymore, and so the man is able to offer certain children a better life. All food, bed and education is included.
His parents had been killed by the Khmer Rouge, and he spent most of his childhood fighting wars, so he wants to give these children a different type of childhood, which is admirable.
Once the Khmer Rouge had ran away to Thailand, there was a lot of landmines planted in the north west of the country to prevent them returning to Cambodia, hence why this area is particularly unsafe.
We then headed back to get my bike, and I was dropped off by the river so I knew where I was. I headed up to the Tonle Sap exhibition and on my way I got a bite to eat. Near the exhibition, as explained by a few of the exhibits, was an orphanage/special school for the deaf and blind. It had taken me a while to realise this when, just on arrival at the exhibition, I was met by two girls who didn't speak, but managed to mime incredibly well that saying they could fill my water bottles up for me. I had just thought that these resourceful young girls were only able to speak Khmer, and no English, and therefore knew how to act out what they wanted to say! It was quite cool that I understood their sign language though. They are taught to read braille, and sign language, and also there is the nearby Blind Masseurs. The exhibition was really interesting, very geography related and about the surrounding wildlife. Apparently there are only a few Siamese crocodiles, so one is unlikely to be eaten!
I crossed the road, hoping to give blood as was requested by the cello concert the previous night, but to my disappointment, having a period disables me from doing so. I still hope to be able to give some in Phnom Penh instead though. I was hoping that it wouldn't be a blood/HIV type of exchange, but the Swiss doctor seemed very official, and the place smelled very sterile, so it seemed like good conditions.
I then headed off to hopefully go to a concert given by a local orphanage. I wasn't sure whether it would be on, as it was a Sunday, but the leaflet had said every evening, so I thought I might as well try. I;m sure most visitors must arrive by tuk tuk, as the map was impossible to follow. I asked many people for directions, and I was unsure whether some of them were just putting me on a wild goose chase! It was quite an enjoyable trek, bumping my way along the rough red soil that had about potholes absolutely everywhere, which were hard to avoid! I was getting a bit nervous that my bike would end up with a scratched mudguard, and a puncture! But thankfully I was okay! On asking a man where abouts the orphanage was, I noticed his wife looked rather like my Nicaraguan mother. The way she held the map the wrong way round, I thought she would be completely hopeless at giving me directions, but to my surprise, she walked up to me, and in perfect English told me where I was to find the orpanage. I still couldn't find it, and eventually a guy on a motorbike told me to follow him, and pointed out an unsigned house. I was ten minutes early and so thought that if anything was going to happen here, it was very unlikely. I left, and bounced my way back, until I got onto the highway along which my guesthouse was somewhere. Of course, me being me, I chose the wrong direction to go in, and after not coming across my guesthouse after a minute, I scarilly and rather dangerously did a u-ey, so I could go back the way I'd came, along the highway!
I had dinner in the restaurant next to mine, which was a very delicious and a very local rice and vegetables, before spending a short time on the internet and heading off to bed.

Siem Reap - 18th July 2009

Despite my plan for a fairly early morning, I seem to be getting into the rhythm of 8am gettting up and being out by 9am, possibly laziness based on Cambodian standards. I put some laundry in, and hope that it will come back dry and smelling sweetly!
I set off to the temples on my push bike. It's so liberating being able to cycle places. Lucy phoned just as I was approaching the check-point for the Angkor Wat, which I had thought I could just cycle past, until the guard whistled at me to pull over.
I was shouted at by two girls offering to look after my bike for me whilst I went exploring temples, in exchange for buying a bottle of water for $2. It was a bit ridiculous, and after others saw me giving money out, they swamped around me trying to sell me scarfs and other such things. I bought a scarf, as I wanted to wipe away the sweat with something other than my hat, and then I hurried inside to see if I could find Lucy and the rest of the SKIP group.
I was met by two keen tour guides, both of whom study history at a university here, and in their spare time act as tour guides. They were helpful, and provided some interesting information, but I was anxious to meet Lucy. Shortly after, I found Lucy, and left the two guides with a tip. Only three of the 14 had managed to get up, the rest had a hangover from the night before. I was shocked to learn that one had been so drunk as to be sick outside one of the bars. I really couldn't imagine a location suitable for such behaviour. Also, today was their only day for visiting the temples, so they are really missing out on an important part of Cambodia.
Angkor Wat used to be a Hindu temple, but changed to a Buddhist one. Inside are the three gods, although I can't remember their names. There is a statue of the wife of one of the Gods, people often come and pray to her in the hope they will get pregnant.
The temple looked most impressive from a distance, where its shape and size made it spectacular.
Lucy and the two others, had taken a tuk-tuk, and were going for a short tour around the central temples. I joined them and our next stop was to Bayon, which is famous for the faces in the stone. Some of them were obvious, and others not so. It was really quite beautiful. These faces are often painted in the common paintings sold everywhere. There were quite a few locals sitting and painting, some a lot nicer than others! It would have been nice to have supported someone I could actually see doing the painting, but I've already bought plenty paintings of Cambodia.
The following temple was Ta Prohm, known for its part in Lara Croft Tomb Raider. As with the others, when we got out of the tuk tuk, we were immediatly swamped by children trying to sell us things. Most of them were very pleasant and cute.
The temple was a stunner, we didn't really look at the detail of the actual temple, it was the huge roots bigger than even an American, wrapping themselves around the temple that fascinated us. I hadn't realised until leaving that this was the Lara Croft temple, maybe I was too amazed by it! But I wished I'd found the part where Angelina Jolie had picked the flower from etc.
We stopped for lunch, where I had noodles and vegetables; the cheapest thing on the menu, and with no drink; I was rather pleased with myself! The service was a bit slow, but it was a very touristed out restaurant, and it was packed!
We went to another temple, one which I hadn't heard the name of before; Bantay Kdai. I don't really have many recollections of the actual temple, the only thing that made this temple special from the others, was a small boy, aged 6, who had ADHD. He was so adorable! Instead of selling us things, which was obviously what he was supposed to be doing, he was making funny noises, pulling faces, and making us laugh, which in turn, made him laugh! He was so full of beans! He made one noise, and then when a tourist passed, he made another noise, which made everyone laugh! He was an absolute sweety! We asked him to give us a tour, and after taking us two metres, he asked for the money (in a cute way!), and so we said again you take us around... and so in leaps and bounds, he skipped along, making it difficult for us to keep up, and then he would stop for us to catch up! My jaw ached from smiling so much! We paid him his dollar for his 'tour' and then we walked back around to where our tuk tuk driver was, fighting off people trying to sell us things we didn't want.
After seeing that temple, a girl named Sally who had tried selling me books on my entrance to the temple, shouted Joy! and came running after me. I really had enough books, and didn't really want to read even more about the depressing Cambodian history. I've read two already, one on the Vietnam war, and I have one to go, plus one on the Sex industry in Asia, so that'll be cheery reading!
A boy who appeared friendly at first, invited us to buy drinks off him, and other things, after looking over a lake, we went to have a look, a couple of us bought t-shirts, and two of us didn't. The boy kept on harassing us, to which I replied that I was sorry, but I didn't want anything. The little brat replied, 'you a bad tourist, keep your sorrys for your mother'. I thought it was polite to just ignore the rude comment, as keeping face, and not losing ones temper is one of the Khmer attitudes, but obviously not for this little twit. Even more shockingly was his older siblings spoke in the same manner after one of the other girls refused to buy more than one t-shirt! She'd already bought one! The brats should be thankful; not shouting insults at us when we left. Some other tourists overheard and commented 'how rude!' which I was quite thankful that someone else had witnessed the awful behaviour of these very un-Khmer Cambodians.
Frustrated and put off by such manners, we all had been rather templed out, so decided to head back to town. I got dropped off where my bike was, where a few other SKIP people happened to be; they'd managed to make it out of bed by the afternoon!
I decided I'd have a look at the Tonle Sap museum on the way back, but I seemed to miss it, so instead crossed over the river to the side where SKIP members were staying and go in search of various cafes I'd eyed up in the lonely planet. On my cycle around town I tried turning left where it was a one-way street, so had to swerve round like a very indecisive tourist! Why do they put the road-signs on the wrong (technically the correct) side of the road! It's so confusing! The motorcycle behind chuckled at me, as I was laughing at my lack of road-sense ability!
I needed the loo, so didn't actually make it to any of the cafes, but found a cocktail bar instead where I spent a bit too much on various fresh fruit juices and a dessert. There goes my cheap day! It decided to start chucking it down whilst I was there, to which I just ignored it and read my book for ages; Paul Cohelo - the Devil and Miss P...; which I'm thoroughly enjoying!
I cycled back to the hotel, getting a bit wet in the process, and thinking of my washing that is probably out to dry, and now is getting soaked. I decided that I was on holiday and really should be doing more relaxing, so after a shower to get the dirt off me from flying along the roads and getting grit and dusk everywhere, I sat down on my bed and read my book whilst listening to the music on the TV.
I left plenty of time for going to a Beatocello concert that was taking place in a hospital, a weekly occurance, to raise funds for the free childrens healthcare service that runs at the hospital. As the concert was free, the cellist, who is also an amazing man, who served as a doctor before he was forced to leave in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge invaded, came back to Cambodia and set up various hospitals, has done amazing work fundraising for them too. We watched a 35 minute DVD telling his story, and the children's story, and he spoke quite a bit, and then as a breather in between, he let his 'Italian Citizen' cello play some very enjoyable solo Bach to us, which was really pleasant. Maybe I was tired, but I nearly started crying for quite a lot of it! It was so beautiful!
Apparently 65% of all Cambodians have TB, which was a shocker, and the vaccine we were given for BCG, doesn't work. The hospitals are 90% funded by private donations which I found a bit crazy. I bought a copy of the DVD we had been shown.
After the 'concert' finished, I received a text from Lucy when I switched my phone on, but I think our times and wires must have crossed as she wasn't at the place where she said she had been heading. I sat and had a drink on Bar Street, the place filled with rowdy English tourists (and other Nationalities) hang out and get drunk. It was more a scene from Benidorm than Cambodia. Surprisingly enough, this rowdy street was the one I had been looking for previously, but hadn't found; crazy as it was loud enough. I sat in a restaurant drinking whilst plotting for the next few days where I was going and what I'd do there. It was 10pm before I finally headed back to my hotel, I was completely exhausted!

Phnom Penh to Siem Reap - 17th July 2009

I had set my alarm for 5.30am, expecting it to be a hard slog to get myself out of bed, with the risk that I might go back to sleep and sleep in. Typically this wasn't the case in this instance, and so I was all packed up and ready for breakfast and then to go, by only 6am!
I headed down the millions of stairs to the restaurant where I was barely able to safely put my rucksack down. I managed, and enjoyed a very tasty breakfast, with a slightly endulgant two coffees! Someone had conveniently passed, offering newspapers for sale so I bought one. I half expected them to just be fakes, with blank pages on the inside, but thankfully they weren't.
There was quite a lot of interesting news; A group living somewhere in Phnom Penh were evicted with a settle up fee of $8000 for leaving peacefully, although some were still refusing to go. Also someone was in the news for being a female tuk-tuk driver. Siem Reaps tourism is decrewasing to teh temples, although there are more nastionals visiting. There is a trial for someone who was a main-man in the S21 killings. Japan is putting large amounts of money into de-land-mining the Battambang area. A curious one, was that they might be having a ban on advertisments for phone companies that advertise long phone calls as it is anti-Khmer.
Victims of a paedophile who paid kids to pose naked for $5 a go, were getting $119 in compensation for their trauma... and a 14 year old girl was stabbed to death in Kampot.
One piece of news that was a bit irritating was that there's a storm in Kampot, making it not particularly for tourists to go there, I'm hoping things will calm down a bit before I plan to go there.
After reading all the news, which I hadn't done for a very long time, I headed out to the bus station to wait for the bus to Siem Reap. My bag was labelled and put on board, as I too boarded the bus. Unfortunatly I was sat next to a local lady who wass picking at her feet and had quite a lot of fruit which seemed to be smelling the place out a bit.
I read my book for most of the journey, trying to distract myself from the need to go to the toilet... damn those cups of irresistable coffee!!
Eventually we made a stop, where I could relieve myself, in the comfort of a squat toilet; fun! I maybe should start practicing doing some squat thrusts or something so that it's not so painful for my thighs when I go to the toilet!
The second stop I decided I'd treat myself to another coffee as it wasn't too long befopre we were supposed to arrive in Siem Reap. I was in a good position to keep an eye on where I'd seen our bus park, and where there was still a bus parked. After finishing my coffee, and being distracted by a man offering a free mini-bus ride to the centre from the bus park, I was just paying, when I saw the bus roll away! I must have looked pretty shocked and be muttering something in disbelief, as the waitor subsequently ran after the bus. I'm not sure what happened in the next few seconds, as somehow I was able to come to my senses that the bus that had just left was going to Phnom Penh, and somehow my bus had miraculously moved places whilst I was daydreaming. Never again shall I let my eyes stray from the bus, or endulge in a coffee! It was quite a shock, and although I don't think many of those on the bus knew the embarassment I'd just gone thoiugh, I still kept my head down as I re-boarded the bus!
Yet again, on our arrival, this time in Siem Reap, we were swarmed by tuk-tuk drivers. I checked with some fellow whites that they were also trusting the mini-bus man, and then passed on my newspaper to them. It was a very short bus ride during which we were informed that the king was visiting Siem Reap for two weeks. We pulled up in a guesthouse that didn't look to bad. I managed to get the room, with breakfast included, for only $6! Yay! It was ensuite, a big fan, and a tv, and generally in good condition.
I faffed about, but not for long, before checking my emails and heading out. I'd expected to hear from Lucy by this time, but hadn't so I decided I'd make do by myself and head out to the town. I was shocked at how far out the guesthouse seemed on the map from the rest of the town, but in reality, it is not that bad.
Next door was a conviently placed bike hire centre, for only $0.5 a day! Amazing! I haded off in the pretty sturdy little bike, and apart from the occassional rude noise coming from the bike, I felt pretty safe. I had a hard time identifying where places were in the town. It was quite dusty as the wind rose, and it was raining very gently for a time. It felt a bit like a ever so slightly livelier place in the out-west, but with the occasional pagoda and Asian influence to the area. I was feeling pretty jolly on the bike, it makes a nice change from being stuck on a bus.
Just by chance, after giving up after following a map, I came across a little shop which sold things made by disabled people, which the profits went directly to the makers.
Just around the corner, was the Physical Rehabilitation Centre, which was a real gem. It had examples of limbs that people had made themselves before the PRC had givewn them properly fitted ones, as well examples of the education they provide in other centres about avoiding landmines and health care of 0-5 year olds, as many have developed cerebral palsy after not being given appropriate medical help sooin enough for a treatable virus. So they help people reognise the symptoms etc.
The main purpose of the centre is to provide those who have lost limbs, suffer with cerebal palsy, or club foot; the physiotheraphy, or proper fitting/testing off new prosthetic limbs so they can continue working on farms and live a more normal life. They provide free transport, accomodation within the centre whilst the limb is fitted, food, and all the related medical care free of charge. The testing of the limbs was done in a playground type of scene, where they tested it on swingy bridges, rocky ground, and various other challenging landscape. The room for giving parents and children an idea of things to do and new ways to experience life, for which they must go home and continue such independence-building tasks, was a room full of lots of toys and balls etc. There was also a social worker who worked to help the person/familyt in as many ways as possible to make their life easier. It is amazing that they do all of the above on site, even the creation of the new limbs! It was a really heart-wrenching/inspiring place. It was nice to see something working out well for the locals.
The only scary thing was the rat in the kitchen area which was pretty huge. Also there was a cute kitten, who unfortunatly got too close to a girl who lifted the poor cat up by her tail and moved the cat elsewhere.
I decided I'd have a go at heading up to Ankor Wat to get my free sunset before the three day pass starts the following day. On the way, I happened to slow down, and eventually stop outside a rucksack shop, where, as always I got slightly too tempted by what was on offer, and bouht a rucksack. Whoops! I hope this one dosn't break. I think I might put all my luggage in it and then jump around madly (as far as possible!) just to check it isn't going to break, as I manaed to get the guy to sign something saying he'd refund or give me a new one should it break in the next week!
The pass cost $40, and it didn't take me long to cycle there, although surprisingly it felt longer on the way there than the way back. It was fun overtaking as many bicycles as possible on the way though. It was quite exhausting, but probably as I hadn't eaten must substatial food during the day.
The temple looked nice, although maybe it was due to my hunger and exhaustion, that I prefer the paintings I'd seen of the temple, rather than the temple itself. I didn't manage to see the sunset; I seem to get rather confused between actually being able to see the sun (has it already set?) or is it just hiding, as it's not pitch black yet... it's a mystery!
I hope the next couple of days aren't too boring with just seeing lots of temples! I cyled back, briefly stopping to see what the vendors on the side where selling, although I think they only had one dish which was a bit strange. A car passed me, with two kidsa hanging out the window waving madly and shouting hello; how adorable! I waved and shouted back, being careful to not run myself into the ditch. Surprisingly enough I didn't fall off the bike, get the lock stuck or o flying into the ditches at all today, so I'm feeling rather proud of myself!
I went along a street in searchj o dinner; there was an awful lot of pizza places to choose from, one of which includes a 'happy herb'- guess which one?! I decided I wasn't going to get high, and went to a drug-free pizza place where I had a very delicious mango shake and pizza. Outside there were a group of kids playing in a tuk tuk with their young mum, it was quite sweet.
I'm still not sure whether MJ is illegal or not here, oh well, best not try, although it seems a bit weird being on such a public display if it was illegal.
I still hadn't heard from Lucy or anyone from SKIP by this point, and didn't know who the unknown caller was who kept on phoning me. I didn't ever seem to be looking at my phone when it was going off, and as always I didn't actually hear it ever either! I decided that I couldn't sit and wonder where they were and I'd have to just get on with Siem Reap by myself.
I headed back to the guesthouse where I had a shower, which discovered not only that my washing bag had squirted shampoo everywhere, but that there was a cockroach in my shower. I'm starting to like the little critters, although I think I'll have to somehow freak myself out with an imagine of 20 of them toether, in a small space or I might just start to feed them or something!
I headed next door to the internet cafe as the guesthouse internet was in use, and I thought I'd probably get chucked off sooner or later if I tried to be on there blogging for hours. Just as I was blogging, Lucy rang, and told me she was in the MJ pizza place! I'm hoping to see them tomorrow, although I'll have to keep my phone in front of my eyes so I don't miss them! I shall hopefully be able to deliver Lucy's geckos then too!
Tomorrow I plan to go to a hospital to see a cellist play some Bach which I'm looking forward to!

Mekong Delta - Border - Phnom Penh - 16th July 2009

Yet another crazily early morning! I woke up before the cockeral crowed! It was breakfast at 6am so we could be off at 7am. Of course we were never off by 7am, but at least the breakfast was quite tasty. I sat up on the balcony, looking over the river which was very peaceful. My rucksack is getting enormous, which is slightly worrying, but I managed to give away one book that I had finished reading, so that was a relief.
Our first stop, which felt like it was only a few metres away was to a fish farm. There were four types of fish on this farm, and in a cage that was 10x6x3 metres, there were 10,200 fish! They spent 50,000 dong 0n each feed, of which there were three a day. At three months old, they are transferred to a larger pen,and after 7 months of this, the fish are big enough to be sold to markets to be eaten.
Our final stop before the borders was to a minority Islamic Village, where they locals were selling various things, that looked exactly the same as every other tourist area. Also we walked along to the mosque, which again, looked like most other mosques! There was nothing particularly special about the area! Although I did manage to buy the cute little cake forks made out of coconut that I'd been admiring elsewhere, but at the time I had resisted.
After this stop, it was on to the border crossing. All I had to do was sit in a cafe and wait for an hour, whilst the tour guide checked me out of Vietnam, and then we got back on the boat. And a few minutes later, we had to get off again, to be signed into Cambodia. I was very impressed with the man who stamped my passport with such care and attention, making sure he put it in a nice place and all the words could be read.
It wasn't lng before we finally arrived at Capitol Guesthouse, where we were swamped by lots of moto and tuk tuk drivers. It was absolutely mahem! A few of them commented, or laughed along with my 'same same but different' t-shirt, obviously recognising the well used phrase used on tourists.
To their disappointment, I decided for simplicity's sake, I would just stay in the guesthouse, provided it was cheap and there were no rats or other such scary animals in the rooms. After climbing up three flights of stairs, I found only one cockroach, so thought it would make do for the one night that I would be there. I felt a bit claustrauphobic, as the cheap rooms ($5) don't come with a window, so I decided to venture out and go in search of some fresh air. I had a look around this area of Phnom Penh, which I don't seem to have been in before. There were many places selling matresses, being carried off on the back of a moto, and lots of ways to personalise motos like stickers and the like. Being rather disappointed at the lack of places to eat, I headed back to the guesthouse. I managed to book a bus to Siem Reap for the following morning at 7.30am. It went from a few doors down, so I was able to relax slightly and get on with a late lunch, which was a rather plain plate of chips but a heavenly cup of coffee. I popped next door to a newsagents to stock up on a few goodies for the trip, and being taught the odd word in Khmer, before going back to reside in the internet cafe next to the hotel. After many hours passing in there, I was eventually forced by the early closing hour of 9pm, to leave, and go in search of dinner.
There wasn't much choice, so I headed to the one that looked most open. Again, I ordered chips, but mainly due to the lack of there being anything other that was suitable on the menu. The waitor hung around and initiated a non-stop conversation, until I eventually made my excuses and asked for the bill and left. It was a bit off putting having someone stand over me as I ate, but he seemed to enjoy talking about himself, so who was I to spoil his happiness. He could be doing worse things over dinner!
He talked about his harsh plight to work a 37.5 hour week (5.5hours a day, 7 days a week) at the restaurant, just so he could earn $20 a month, of which he gives a proportion (he said half but I'm not sure that's possible) to his family who live out in the countryside and spends the rest on his university fees; he is studying design. He is from a poor family and so it is hard for him to get to university. He is from a family of 6 siblings, all of whom remain in the ountryside.
He then went on to taalk a bit about the history of Cambodia, the temples, the suffering, and he seemed quite bitter about it all. He did look quite young, I'm sure he couldn't be past the age of 24.
I know I shouldn't give in to emotional blackmail, or 'bored to death' blackmail, but I got the bill as fast as politely possible, and gave him a tip, which made my dinner a bit more costly. I suppose he just thought I was a bit too interested in Cambodia as I was reading the second book by Le Lay Hayslip about growing up in Cambodia and then Ameria after the war.

Mekong Delta trip (places to be confirmed!) - 15th July 2009

A 5.30am start this morning - ouch! but it was definetly worth it, as we made our way for our 6.15am buffet breakfast. They had everything we could possibly have wanted; eggs done just the way you like them, british cereal, silk worm surprise, noodle dishes, rice dishes, a selection of fruit, bread and jam, pancakes, omlettes, fruit juices, tea, coffee; it really was a wonderful spread! After that enjoyment, which kept us full for hours, we went back to the hotel, where the other people on the trip were having very plain bread and jam!
My socks were still wet from the previous days rain, so I kept in my sandles for the day. We just took our day bags, and had to walk to the boat station where we went off to the floating market. It took a while to get there, and we had to transfer into two rowing boats, with about 13 people on each. Thankfully we were on the one that had slightly lacsidaisical health and safety, so we didn't have to wear the bright orange life jackets! We passed a couple of boats that were trying to sell to the tourists their selection of drinks. I was very tempted by one man, as he had a really gorgeous daughter who was around two years old. I managed to take a photo of her without giving into the temptation of buying a drink!
The rest of the sellers were on huge boats, and were trading with others on similarly huge boats, or on the land. They only sell in 10kg batches or greater, so obviously tourists aren't going to make good buyers. They seemed oblivious to our tourist boats going up and down, and were busy passing over from one ship to another their produce; potatoes, melons, pineapples... To make buyers jobs easier, they hang from their mast, a display of what it is they are selling, for example, a melon. It was quite nice for us to enter the bubble of the locals. We had a toilet break before coming back along the river, and it was at a temple. I wasn't that interested in the temple, the toilet was more appealing to me, although annoyingly it was a crouch toilet. Also there were some really beautiful flowers on the way, so Anja and I, and a few others took a greater interest in them!
On the way back along the floating market, there was a lady selling some small quantities of fruit; we were able to try some too, which was quite nice of her. Then, although we were feeling quite full still, we stopped at a larger boat, where a lady was sitting on the top selling fresh pineapples which she cut up for us. It was so much fun, and at only half a dollar, who can go wrong?! The pineapple was delicious, and as it still had it's stalk on it, we were able to eat it like one would an ice cream! It was quite a novelty! She cut it up in a very loving way with such care and attention to it.
We visited a rice factory, which wasn't working at the time, so it was looking just like a storage unit. We were taught about all the work that goes into producing rice; which is unbelievable; they have to hand plant each grain twice! And then 3-4 months later they are harvested and the tops cut off by hand, and then taken for processing. The soil is then prepared for the next lot of rice; which is in two or three stages; it is ploughed, and flattened, and fertilised; using some of the 'waste' materials from the previous rice stages. It really is a hard job. I'm not sure how much a rice farmer gets paid, but they only sell it for 5,000 dong a kg, or something ridiculously small ($0.25).
We were then given the choice of going to either a rice noodle making production place where we may or may not see something happening, depending if they were working that day or not; or the local market. Surprisingly enough, most people voted for the local market, so we had to go there. I thought it would be quite similar, if not identical to all the other local markets, but this one had a lot more animals in it. It was full of horrible smells, and dead animals that had just been plucked, or had been cut up into bits and pieces, with beaks, eyes, ears, snouts and other such limbs being identifiable. It was like something from a horror movie. There was a snake, that had been skinned, identifiable by the bit of skin left on it's tail, and the fatty deposits on display. There were some frogs, that had been tied together so they couldn't escape their fate, and some somehow headless, skinned frogs, that were still jumping around the place. I wasn't quite sure how they could be in such a way, still alive but without a head, but maybe it was just a result from being skinned that made they look so different. The most shocking things were the way they treated the fish. Still alive, after being left in a small bowl of water, they were taken out, and using some scissors, a girl cut off the fins, and tail, slit the poor fishes throat, and gutted the poor fish. To my horror, the fish, which had been thrashing about during all the above processes, remained alive, and was still able to jump out of the fish bowl, just to be put back in place by the girl. The poor animals. I can't imagine how much suffering they must have gone through, and to be still alive. If that hadn't killed them I'm not sure what does. It seemed worse than the stories told in the book about all the torture technicques used on Cambodian republicans by the Khmer Rouge.
The only thing to lighten up the depressing state of the market, was a really gorgeous little boy, who was taking an interest in me as I was taking the photos. I took a photo of him, and showed it to him, to which he giggled in a really cute way!! Sooo adorable!
Surprisingly enough, after that slightly horrifying ordeal, it was time for lunch. We were given two hours of freedom in the town, and told to be back at our hotel by 2pm. Annoyingly, the tour guide must have been getting a commission from some friends as he led us to a restaurant that waved us in madly and told us to go upstairs, before eventually we managed to get out of the tour guide the instructions about how long we had etc. We headed back along the street we had just walked, and back to the restaurant where I had enjoyed my dinner the night before. We drew a little diagram, describing that we wanted a medium pizza half with Anja's request on, and the other half fulfilling my requests, and then a picture of a glass with what kind of fruits we wanted mixing up in it to make a shake. The local waiter, who was probably the owner thought it was rather cute what we did, and showed it to some local boys, possibly his sons or grandsons, or possibly fellow workers in the restaurant. It entertained them for a bit anyway!
When the pizza arrived, it looked amazing! and tasted amazing too!
Afterwards, we wandered to a small market where I managed to get a 'same same but different' t-shirt for 35,000, and also a football style t-shirt which I thought would be nice and airy! We stocked up on snacks for the following legs of our journey before heading back to the hotel.
At the hotel, we hung around for a bit, waiting for the guides to return, before we had to say our goodbyes. We promised to keep in touch, especially as Anja could possibly come to the UK for a visit, and also we were both quite keen to cycle Land's End -John O Groats as it's a good way to see the UK.
Anja was driven back to Ho Chi Minh City by bus, something which she wasn't looking forward to. And at 3pm, when our tour guide finally arrived, we had to walk with all our gear to the boat station to get on the fast boat to Chau Doc. It was a very long journey, and the latter half was in pitch black! Making it pretty scary. Thankfully I managed to sleep for quite a bit of it. At 7.45pm, we arrived at our floating hotel. It was surprisingly stable, although I felt a bit scared as it looked like something out of the horror movies where people get killed off one by one in a deserted hotel, according to their room numbers. I had some dinner and chatted to some of the french people, and the dashing photographer who liked to surf. Dinner was quite nice, rice and vegetables! before heading to bed.

Ho Chi Minh City to Mekong Delta - 14th July 2009

We had to get up around 5.30am, unfortunatly we'd only gone to bed sometime after midnight, and I woke during the night at 2.30am, so had bags under my eyes!
We went downstairs, and Anja had requested could we have a breakfast slightly earlier than the norm, and the lazy receptionist (male) was a bit grumpy but had agreed, eventually. They only managed to give us a bagette, and not even offer us a drink, so I asked for one, which took it's time in coming but was worth waiting for.
We didn't have to walk far to get to the office where our mini-bus was to leave from which was handy. There was a guy outside wandering up and down using an automatic bubble blowing machine, he only had four on him, which didn't seem like much of a walking shop!
We set off, it was a short ride to where our boat would leave from, and we were transferred to a fast boat. It was fairly comfortable, especially as after we passed the police station, we were able to sit at the back and have the breeze blow through our hair. It was so comfortable in fact, that yet again, my knees burnt; making me look rather odd. I was taking quite a few photos at first; mainly of the greenary at the side, the twigs and greenary floating down the river, various other river boats that were going down the river as well as all the stilt houses that lived alongside the bank.
There was a french man, a lone traveller, who had an enormous camera with him, he looked like a traveller, with a rough beard, the sort you would maybe see in Blood Diamond, or Hotel Rwanda. There was also a camp looking man, always wearing a pink shirt or a baby blue one, and his haircut looked a bit curious; quite a few people seemed surprised that he was married.
I was surprised that I didn't feel sick on the boat, and I was very thankful for it. Every so often, our boat would slow down, maybe to cool off the engine, as occasionally there would be smoke coming out the back which looked very polluted. On one of these occasions, we got rather a big shock. An enormous boat was gaining on us, and must have been less than 20 metres away from us, and there we were, right in front of it, stopped still. I froze, never being any good at these life or death moments. I considered jumping in the water and swimming for my life, and I'm sure I would have, had a few more seconds passed. The people inside the boat were oblivious to this threat, until the rather worried french couple rushed inside the boat and at first I thought they were just trying to get as far away from the threat as possible, but they must have somehow got the driver to turn around, and our skins were saved, as the boat pulled away again!
They really don't have any sense of health and safety over here, not even mirrors to look behind! The big boat had no way of seeing us also, as it was so close to us!
We continued on our way, passing many boats that looked like they were near to sinking; mainly the smaller rowing boats, which looked like a lot of effort to row. Especially as they pushed to do the rowing, rather than pulling. There were various people using cups and bowls and other utensils to get some of the water out of their little boats.
Apparently the Mekong Delta area is home to 20 million people, but on the islands and in the rural areas they are mostly farmers, so the areas look really uninhabited, due to the houses being in the middle of their farms, so they are surrounded by all of their crops etc. Some of the islands (we went around four), had fish farms all around them, so weren't really visited by tourists. The four islands we visited were each named after the sacred animals; the turtle etc.
During the morning, we stopped at a few places, the first of which was selling honey, rice wine, snake wine, banana wine, and various other snacks and souvenirs. We were given a tea, made with the usual green tea, honey, and lemon juice, which was delightful, as well as a plate full of treats like peanut slab, some kind of winter-melon sweet and caramelised banana. After tasting such pleasures, we moved on to something less delightful; the alcohol! For a 10am stop, it was rather early to be drinking, but it had to be done! Whilst some downed it as if they were on a night out, and others slowly swigged it down, I carefully took a teaspoonful and licked it, just to get the taste (of the banana wine and the rice wine). Although the banana wine tasted like something that it might be possible to either mix with something, or, if desperate for a high, down in one; the rice wine (which was 40% alcohol at least) tasted worse than vodka, and was rather detestable!
On going to the toilet there, I passed a cage with a python in it! I felt rather terrified, especially as it looked less sturdy than a rabbit hutch. On top of the cage, was some tubes of 'python fat' for sale; used for random ailments. Someone showed me a picture they had takens moments before, of the snake making an attack; with it's jaw wide open as it tried to scare away the camera. It made me rather on edge, and as I crept slowly to the toilet, I kept an eye out for any snakes!
Next stop, was to a cafe where we were given samples of various types of locally grown fruit, whilst being entertained by some of the local traditional music. It was one of the worst examples of local entertainment yet, especially compared to those in Hoi An. The instrumentalists weren't playing together, and the 'strangling a cat' violin crossed with a guitar instrument was just awful! The singers were good however, especially the really cute little girls who kept looking at each other and smiling as they sung!
The fruit was really good too, and I tried one that I hadn't tried before, which had been taken out of a fruit that looked like a durian, but tasted lovely sweet and had a nice texture. I was also re-educated by learning that the fruit I thought was a different kind of lychee, was actually a d??? (can't remember!)
Torrential rain had started by this point, and so after buying a rather useless poncho, we continued on our way. Anja looked rather dashing in her bright orange poncho and umbrella!
We boarded a small rowing boat, one of the traditional ones with a little old lady using a stick to push us along. We were given the traditional hats to wear as it was raining, and for a photo opportunity! The river was very dirty looking, and the land surrounding the river looked very lush and green, a very beautiful area. As we went by, fellow rowers who were passing us in the other direction kept on saying something that resembled 'morning', however a few 'morning' greetings later, we realised that they were actually saying 'money' and giving a hint that we should tip our drivers. Out of protest for their rudeness, we didn't, and hoped that our tour guide had actually paid for this part of the trip.
After visiting these islands, we were put on a minibus and driver for a while. During which time, my heavy bag that was over my head which I had thought I had wedged in pretty well, decided to fall on my head, and also knock a fellow passenger on the arm, to which I received grumpy looks. I kind of wanted to thump the girl as it was obviously not my fault that we'd gone over so many bumps in the road that my bag had unwedged itself.
We then had to get off the bus, so we could get onto a ferry to take us across the river. We had a short while to wait, in which time we sat down on some plastic chairs, one of which made a suspicious cracking sound when I sat down, whoops, so I swiftly moved to a less broken seat! Motorbikes were lining up and getting ready to get onto the ferry. When it was time to go, our tour guide said, let's go! To which I turned around to check that Anja was near, and he hurried us on even faster, like shoeing sheep into a pen. It was good of him to hurry us so, as we had barely made it on, when it set off! Leaving a mixed race couple; one from the Phillipines, and husband from the US, to have to jump over the gap that was now being formed between land and ferry, to make it safely on the ferry!! Considering how late and lacidaisical bus and other such services usually are, I was surprised at how prompt this ferry was being!! It felt a bit like the scene from War of the Worlds where the huge horns are blowing from the ever approaching aliens! and everyone running and jumping to try to get onto the ferry! thankfully no one missed and landed in the water! Funnily enough, the ferry was making a similar sound! Once on the ferry, we were allowed to reboard the minibus, which seemed kind of silly.
After driving further, we arrived fairly late, around 7pm, at our hotel. It looked like it was down a backstreet, and after inspecting the list for breakfast, we headed off in search of food and somewhere nicer for breakfast.
Anja had been looking out the window when we had been in the minibus, as we passed stalls selling barbequed meat before we had got on the ferry! We convenietly passed such a stall that was one meal away from closing for the night, so Anja bought it, and we sat on a park bench so Anja could eat her soup and rice and meat. The locals found it amusing that Anja was taking photos of the food, the little plastic bag that they'd put the take-away soup in, and the 'eating-in-action' shots of Anja enjoying the food! They must have thought we were completely bonkers!
We continued on, to find somewhere for me to eat, and on our way we found a really nice hotel that was doing a buffet breakfast for 50,000 dong, ($2.5!) Then we found a very friendly restaurant that sold tofu burgers and some delicious fruit juices. I can't remember what we did that was so strange, but the young waitresses in the cafe, who were very happy-go-lucky people, found us amusing! The burger was amazing, and it was a really enjoyable meal. We also conviently managed to find a cake shop on the way home!

Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City - 13th July 2009

I had a very relaxing morning despite getting up fairly early, for what reason I cannot recall. I watched a few programmes on TV whilst checking things out on the internet. I popped down the very delicious buffet breakfast which I thoroughly enjoyed, before returning to my room for more leisure. Anja had sucessfully emailed me that morning, to let me know where I would find her in Ho Chi Minh City, and also with a recommendation of which was a decent taxi service to use to get to the centre.
Four hours before I was due to fly out, I got a taxi (due the weight of my bags and the torrential rain), to the place where regular minibuses to the airport run from, for only $2! They had seriously over-air-conditioned the minibus and even with my jumper on I was cold. I regretted not buying some food for the journey, but I didn't really fancy my chances in the rain. It would have been even worse in the a/c conditioned.
I arrived with too much time to spare in the airport; I had an hour to wait before check-in, and then once I had checked in, I would have another hour to wait. I decided on having an early lunch at the slightly over-priced restaurant in the airport and then kept myself entertained by reading my book. I was feeling a bit dehydrated, but thought the water was a bit over-priced too, so thought I'd just wait until getting on the plane.
I was offered a emergency exit seat when I checked in, which I gladly accepted, thinking of the extra leg room! I felt quite privaledged to be in such a seat, and thought I should maybe try to request an emergency exit seat in future.
Eventually, at 2pm (the time we were scheduled to leave) we were allowed to board the plane. My seat was super comfy, and after sitting down, a flight attendent came over to let me know how to open the emergency door; for a moment, I slightly misunderstood what she had said and thought she meant that she was going to be telling me to do so shortly! Thankfully the lady to my left reassured me that it was only in the case of emergencies! I'm not sure I'd fufil the role of opening the door, should an actual emergency occur; I guess I'd be one of the first ones to be sucked out of the plane and plumit to my death, which wasn't a particularly pleasant thought. Just for peace of mind, I think I'd like to have a parachute on me.
Lunch was provided, despite it only being a 2 hour flight, but unfortunatly there was no vegetarian option and I hadn't expected a lunch so hadn't requested one. I enjoyed a glass of water though, and after sleeping for most of the journey, we landed safely in Ho Chi Minh City.
I collected my luggage, which seems to be getting heavier by the second, before making my way out to find a taxi. There were a group of sportsmen on the plane, I think part of a football team, although I wasn't sure how well known they were.
I got into a taxi, which was a nice ride, apart from the driver kept on cracking his fingers, which just weirded me out! I was dropped along Phao Ngu Lao Street, which felt like home, having spent 4 days their previously. It didn't take me long to find Anja's accomodation. The guy had run out of twin beds so we had to share a double, but it was good enough, and not expensive. Anja spent more time sorting out her luggage, and then we headed out for food and a bit of shopping. I had a tofu burger, which was delicious! and then found a shop selling lots of DVDs at very cheap prices. Disappointed that the DVDs I had bought in Phnom Penh were actually duds, I asked the lady in the shop to test one on her DVD player and it worked fine and was good quality, so I stocked up on several DVDs. I really hope the rest work and are as good quality as the one I tested! Some of them look slightly more fake than the rest. But considering I paid half the price I would in Britain, for all the DVDs, even if just that one works, I still get a pretty good deal!
After more repacking and reorganisation, we went to bed, ready for another early morning.

Halong Bay to Hanoi - 12th July 2009

I had set the alarm for 5.11am, in the hope that I'd be up in time to see the sun rise. I popped outside, but it looked to me as if it was already slightly light, so I presumed the sun had risen. I told Anja, and then went back to bed, until 7am, when I got up, and on getting dressed was told that we'd have to go for breakfast soon as we'd soon be in Halong City.
Breakfast was the same, yet again!
We arrived in Halong City, were transfered to a minibus, and by 8am, we were on our way back to Hanoi. We didn't stop on the way this time, which was a pain, as I got very stiff again. I tried reading, but felt a bit sick, probably not helped by the driving.
As always, it took ages to get to Hanoi, and we arrived about 11.30am.
First stop was for food, as we were very hungry at this point. We popped into the very french styled cafe which was lovely and air-conditioned. It sold some beautiful cakes, and delicious coffee. Next stop was to a sandwich shop, where we had half a bagette each, with different fillings. Although we were a bit nervous in general about eating salad, this cafe was very professional and served up some delicious, washed, clean food.
We went into the hotel where we'd stayed previously, and the lady who had booked our tour was there. She'd heard about the typhoon, and was extremely helpful, asking about our trip and offering any assistance we needed. We mentioned that the trip should have included lunch, but because of arriving back early, we didn't get any. She had lifted up the phone almost immediatly, and phoned up the tour operators, who then offered us a partial refund. We had had our itinary changed too, as we'd agreed to two nights on the boat due to an overbooking at the hotel, and we hadn't realised that in agreeing we'd miss out on a few things; unfortunatly we/nor the company could do much about this though.
When we were leaving the hotel to go to Halong Bay, we were able to leave our large rucksacks there free of charge, which was really helpful. The lady had also offered me a double room with a/c, fan, tv, internet, buffet breakfast included, en-suite... (and free fruit in room!) for only $16! I wasn't sure whether I should over-endulge myself, but on returning to the hotel I decided that it was only for one night, and it was better than moving my stuff, and the lady had been awfully kind to us, booking tickets, extremely quick visa services etc.
We went up to my room, and within seconds Anja managed to cover all surfaces with her luggage! She was reoganising it ready for the flight so that her 36kg could somehow dwindle down to the limit of 20kg (at least in the rucksack anyway!). I was happy just entertaining myself on the internet until Anja was ready to go out again.
We then headed out on a cyclo to the nearest mall, as Anja wanted to get some flipflops still. Inside, there was my first Asian supermarket! They were selling the tops that Mai had been wearing that had covers for her hands so they didn't burn. We bought some delicious snacks, before doing a bit of shopping. Anja managed to find quite a few items of clothing which suited her well, and at a bargain price! Unfortunatly she didn't find any flipflops that she liked. Annoyingly enough, the sellers try to persuade you to buy shoes that don't even fit you! It's really annoying! And they rarely have any of their shoes in other sizes than the one on offer, and if they do, they can't be bothered getting it out.
After a quick look at a camera shop, which was just as expensive as in the UK, it started to rain, so we took a taxi back. We'd waved down a lady taxi driver; supporting our fellow females as they are usually a lot nicer and more trustworthy than the men. Unfortunatly it seemed it wasn't so, as the lady's metre seemed to be working at double the speed, so in the end we paid a bit less then she'd asked for, as we felt she had been taking us for granted. How annoying that she was female! Letting down our sex.
We went out for dinner and then it was time for Anja to leave. We said our goodbyes, and arranged for her to contact me when she'd found somewhere for us to stay in Saigon.
I then spent the rest of the evening, having a rather enjoyable time on the internet, blogging and listening to Classic FM online.

Halong Bay (Cat Ba Island) - 11th July 2009

I was up at 7.15 this morning, ready for a 7.30am breakfast. Thankfully I didn't need to have a rushed shower as I enjoyed one the previous evening. The coffee was a bit poor, and so was the rest of breakfast, especially in comparison to the buffet at the previous hotel. The Irish said that Rachel the mum, had popped out during the night for some fresh air at around 11.30pm, and from the distance, the small girl with the cheeky grin from before, had obviously noticed the movement, and started rowing up to the boat, asking if she wanted more beer!
After breakfast we were dropped off at Cat Ba Island where we waited to get a bus to the National Park where we were to be hiking for a few hours. Whilst waiting, there were lots of women and a few girls, with trays like they have in posh theatres to sell ice-cream, although these girls sold drinks, pringles and some sweets and cigarettes. There was a girl who looked identical in face and in personality and selling power to the girl from the boat last night, but she was a year older in fact. There was a lady trying to barter her way down to paying less than 30 pence for a packet of cigarettes from the original 45 pence, which shocked me rather, as for them usually costing $10-12, it seemed crazy that she'd quibble at such costs!!
We got on the bus, which was boiling, despite having air-conditioning. I felt a bit claustrauphobic because of the heat and the line of rucksacks that filled the isle, so should we need to escape, we couldn't, or at least not easily!
We eventually arrived at the National Park, where we stocked up on water, and after passing lots of peanuts out to dry, we begun our climb up the crazy number of steps, and later the less formed, mearly trodden out paths which eventually turned into practically rock-climbing our way up to the summit. I had to sit down several times on the way. Despite drinking heaps of water, as learned from Raleigh last summer, I still felt exhausted, although I didn't feel as floppy or as ill as Anja and Rachel, so I was thankful. We were both sweating like I've never sweated before, we were absolutely dripping. It was truely disgusting! I was glad my new backpack has an airy space at the back so it doesn't sweat so much, but in this heat, it's still impossible not to sweat profusely!
When we eventually climbed our way to the top, 3kms later, we were surprised at how unamazing the view was. Not only was the top littered with drinks bottles (tut tut! lazy ignoranuses), but the view wasn't even that special, it was just like the view from most other mountains on a huge landscape; green forestry with more hills! I had expected to see over the islands, and maybe some animals on the way... It was a bit of a waste of time to be honest, especially for all the exhaustion!
I landed weirdly on my big toe, which I seemed to have sprained when on my bike in Hoi An, so it was hurting a bit. Plus the rocks below my feet were quite sharp, and sometimes they were slippy, so they got wedged in some painful grooves sometimes. I was glad to have my trainers on, and have no idea how some people managed the walk in not only flip-flops, but some had bare feet!! Mental!!
We got a bus back to the part of the island, where we were to have lunch. It was at the hotel where we should have been staying, but the previous night Mai had informed us that they'd somehow overbooked us, and the food was quite bad and the staff hadn't been too friendly, so we'd be better off on the boat. We agreed anyway, as we didn't mind spending longer on the boat.
The lunch was a disappointment. Anja and I had gone towards the quieter end of the restaurant, but after the waitress kept on saying 'room number please' repetitively, and didn't speak enough English to understand that we weren't going to be staying there, the tour guide arrived and moved us to the very rowdy end, full of drunk Vietnamese men. It was awful! I ended up eating rice and the green vegetables again. They had given us tofu in a chilli sauce, except it was an extremely chilli-fied sauce, and I practically had a fit as it was so spicey!
We then had an hour free, before our 3 hour bus and then boat trip on a different boat, to our own boat. Anja and I wandered about, having a look at the very nice beach on the island, wishing we had been just able to go swimming instead of the hike that morning. There was a hotel/resort with flumes, and the bay looked really nice and peaceful. It seemed to be quite a popular place to be.
At 6pm, after I spend a few hours just reading on the other boat, we finally arrived back 'home' on our boat. We had a bit of time before the 7pm dinner, and were disappointed to find that for our last night, we'd be having a different tour guide. Thankfully it was still a she, and she was very nice, but didn't speak as good English as Mai. The dinner was identical to the previous night, and despite a request by the Irish family for chips (as we'd had them for lunch the previous day) for the son, the message obviously wasn't well understood, and they never arrived. I didn't get any noodles either, so had to make do with the rice and greenary!
Over dinner, there was some 'hot off the press' news from the new tour guide, a typhoon was on its way, so our trip would have to be cut short. We'd be setting back even earlier to go back to Hanoi. I was quite excited about it all, although some looked rather nervous!
The was now a couple of groups of young people in their 20s, who seemed a lot more talkative than the odd combination of people the previous night. They attempted to do some fishing, but thankfully were unsucessful, and by 9pm, the karyoke had started, and by 10pm, I was in bed! I missed the spectacular lightening storm that apparently became quite scary as it ventured nearer to the boat, and looked purple in colour. I had heard the thunder however, and got quite excited. Rachel had found it hard to go to sleep with the noise from the Karyoke, but somehow I managed to sleep!