Kampot pepper

Left beautiful, slow Laos a few days ago to come to mad, bad and dangerous Cambodia. Well Phnom Penh is at least all three of the above. We spent a few days in Siem Reap to have a look at the awe inspiring and amazingly impressive Angkor temples. There's not many tourists in Cambodia now so we got a lot of the temples to ourselves, well us and all the little kids trying to sell you things. The girls and boys and their big eyes are a bit hard to resist so my bag is full of little things now, but they are so poor so hopefully a few of my dollars have gone a long way for them. I know people say you shouldn't encourage begging or child labour, (not sure if what they do would be regarded as such but nevertheless they are working albeit for their own families) by giving them money but what are those kids and their families to do until things change in this world and they are not left to do humiliating tasks to feed themselves. Both Lao and Cambodia are so poor and it's heartbreaking to see, but also an incredible eye opener.

Took another mad bus trip from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, we had three near crashes with other vehicles and almost killed three people trying to cross the road. Even the bus driver was freaked out and had to stop at one point, after almost hitting two girl, to go out for a break. Vietnam is supposedly worse, might use the trains there.

Anyway, Phnom Penh is a cool place with a lot of character, but it also has a very dark side with prostitution, child prostitution, street kids, corruption and well just pure poverty and desperation.
But despite that I liked it a lot, it's got great restaurants and quaint little shops, big boulevards and a lot of tuk tuk drivers and mad people on scooters. We will go back there in a couple of days for our Vietnam visa.

We are in Kampot now and will be here for a couple of days, it's a charming old crumbling resort town where there's not a single thing to do. A few good restaurants though so at least we wont go hungry. We are going up to Bokor Hill on Sunday which will be the highlight of Cambodia (well I hope anyway), it's an old french hill resort that is now just a ghost town, it's up in the mountains and it's apparently very very spooky! Can't wait!

Under the sweltering sky

Still in Luang Prabang. This place is absolutely wonderful, so so beautiful. Full of old colonial houses, Chinese shop houses, temples, lovely side streets, cafe's and handicraft shops. Then of course the Mekong on one side and the Nam Khan river on the other side. I could stay here for a year. It's is almost unbearably hot though. I am walking around with an umbrella to protect me from the ultra scorching sun. Have ended up with a cold as well, damn! Can't imagine anything worse in this heat.

Sunday June 14

Can feel the beginnings of a cold coming on. Went up really early for a boat trip on the Mekong to some Buddha caves. One of the caves was amazing with hundreds and hundreds of Buddha statues in all shapes and sizes left there by worshipers. Went to a village after along the river where they produce whisky. The village was a tourist trap if there ever was one, just people trying to sell things to you. There was a temple there though which had amazing images of Buddhist hell. Very cartoon like with sexy naked women being tortured, wonder what the young monks are thinking walking in to the temple every morning.

Oh what a hot hot day, at least on the boat it was a bit nice and cool.

Saturday June 13

Hired bicycles today and went across the old communist bridge to sleepy little villages along the Mekong. All the children were waving and saying hello/sabai dee to us, not many westerners venture out here. It was a lovely day. Came home later in the day realising I was burnt like mad by the scorching sun.

Friday June 12

Can't remember what I did that day. Probably just wandering the streets of this beautiful small town and drinking pastis in the afternoon. Pastis is my preferred choice of drink here in Laos and probably will be in the rest of Indochina, how befitting this beautiful part of the world. Trevor is completely sold on Beer Lao, he has a very inventive description of the taste but I fear it's unrepeatable.

Bandit country

Yesterday we went by bus from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. Another edgy experience. Air con VIP bus - of course air con here means that you can open the windows - like from Vientiane. This drive was even scarier than the previous one. The driver I'm sure was one of the construction workers we heard the other night and maybe was on a suicide mission after what he had gotten up to. The bus was a rickety leftover from China and he was driving about 60 miles/100 km an hour on winding roads through mountains in literal bandit country on roads that probably were paved during the first Indochina war. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and I thought that even if this will be my last journey at least I will die surrounded by amazingly beautiful views all around me...maybe I've been a good person after all. I survived though so let's hope the bus drivers third job is not as a pilot for Lao Airlines that will take us from Lao to Cambodia.

I will try and post some pictures soon but Lao's high speed internet is not speedy.

Sabai dee

A few days ago Trevor wanted to go back to London. In the middle of the night we woke upp and heard strange unexplained noises. It sounded like either.....
1. Cockerels clucking hysterically and pecking metal with their beaks.
2. Lao construction workers stoned on Lao Lao moonshine banging metal with hammers while screaming like cockerels.
3. Stoned Lao construction workers taking part in witch craft rituals while having sex with hens.
Very very odd and scary indeed.
Thankfully we woke up alive the next day...
It was a beautiful day so we rented bicycles and cycled to a cave that had been used by the Pathet Lao guerillas - had a swim there in a natural pool Lao-style fully clothed. While we where sitting drying off on the grass a great gathering of monks and locals came for a swim. Two girls came up and asked if I would pose for a picture with them...another strange occurrence. Somehow I doubt it was because I was Nordic looking but more because I just looked plain odd. I was sitting lotus style on the grass with a hat on - not properly on but just put on top of my head to protect me from the sun - a big wet shirt, shorts and sunglasses while smoking a cigarette. I took off the hat and sunglasses...maybe they were disappointed I did but never the less they looked happy.

Asian love affair

There is something about the old world explorer charm that has always hugely appealed to me. People in the old days travelling to Indochina, Africa, South America. I was longing to sleep underneath a mosquito net somewhere you actually need it. Last night I finally had the chance to, and also in a beautiful thatched Lao Bungalow. Hope I will be able to have more nights like that. I have fallen in Love with this place Vang Vieng (as long as I stay away from the actual town), I have to go back to Lao during the dry season. Even though it's a certain charm to be here now in the rain as well. I hope I will have the same feeling about a lot of places I will travel to in Indochina, but somehow I believe I will.

Paradise Lost?

Arrived in Vang Vieng, Laos yesterday. What a unbelievably stunning place, surely it must be one of the most beautiful on earth. But sadly this is also one of the worst places I have ever been. It is invaded by awful, disrespectful youngsters where the girls walk around in bikinis in town with no care what so ever for the Lao people. The Lao people think that showing to much skin is rude and disrespecting. These people obviously know nothing about the culture or history or anything about this beautiful country. They go here to get drunk and go tubing and watch something as idiotic as reruns of Friends. How utterly sad. But Trevor and I found a lovely lovely place away from the madness (yesterday we had to stay smack bang in the middle of it because we had not booked ahead) and we can now enjoy this beautiful place. We will go trekking, kayaking and cycling in the next few days. Was in the capital Vientiane for two days, I liked it a lot. Felt a bit like an old eastern bloc city but also you had these beautiful old french colonial buildings everywhere that where just crumbling away. Little cafes and french restaurants. Duck breast with wine sauce, mmmmmmmmm, delicieux!!!!
Will move on to Luang Prabang after this, very much looking forward to that.