Siem Reap

From Phnom Penh we took our second-last bus to Siem Reap - another 6-7hr drive. at the bus station we were picked up by a tuk tuk driver hired by the bus company (I was very surprised and already thought we were being scammed once again - luckily we weren't) who brought us to the hotel of our choice without charging us or anything.
Thus we decided to hire him for seeing the Angkor temples for a higher price than required but some things you only know afterwards...
We did a 2 day trip of the temples (I was quite surprised that I could spent 2 days doing that) - on the first day we went to temples further outside (but thus way less tourists) and on the 2nd we went to Angkor Tom and Angkor Wat.

pics can be found under https://picasaweb.google.com/108376587121284252497/SiemReap?authkey=Gv1sRgCLDg54-JqKCIEQ##

Phnom Penh

From Saigon we went by night bus to Phnom Penh - this was another approx. 10hr ride and quite ok (not too much delay except for the departure, border crossing went quite smooth,...)
Once arrived and outside the bus we were immediately surrounded by tuk tuk drivers offering us to bring us to a hotel for a "very good price"...aaaand, in addition, it was very very hard to get rid of them - the only way out we found was to go into a restaurant - by that they still waited out front  but at least left us alone (...) and we could recover from our trip and check the hotel options at hand.
Once decided we went to the hotel, rooms were ok, checked it and then walked into the city (after some short rest).
Phmon Penh is a really nice city - I was quite surprised by how nice and relaxed (given the recent history of Cambodia). There are quite a few Boulevards, many restaurants and shops and esp. in the evening a lot of Cambodians are outside in the park and the whole atmosphere is very friendly.
We only stayed for 2 days in Phnom Penh - on the first day we walked around, had a look at the city, etc. and on the 2nd day we rented some scooters (traffic is way more relaxed than in Vietnam --> ok for dumb drivers like us :)) and went to the main sites of the city which date back to the time of the Red Khmer - namely the S21/ Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields where the corpses of those tortured and murdered in S21 (est. 20'000) were buried.
Both sites were were tough but for me the Killing Fields were worse - main reason being that they "replaced"an old Chinese graveyard and the whole area appears very calm, relaxed, ... - thus knowing that e.g. babies were killed hear by smashing their head against a tree, "branches" of sugarcane trees growing there were used as knifes, ...
Nonetheless, both are a must see and for esp. for the Tuol Sleng museum I strongly recommend to take a guide  (unfortunately there was none available when we got there) - might be even worse but there are not too many descriptions inside and one can only guess what happened (which is painful enough though). Same applies for the killing fields but the descriptions are a lot better there.

All in all I felt quite taken back to my visit to Mauthausen - simply in regard to the depressing effect of it. What really surprised me (and thats where I see a huge difference to Europe/ Austria) is the way the Cambodians handle what happened - they (more or less) openly talk about it and do not try to hide it or play down their role (which would be very hard as in the pol pot era about 1/3rd of the whole population got killed).

pics can be found under https://picasaweb.google.com/108376587121284252497/PhnomPenh?authkey=Gv1sRgCLa0y4GWjI3Weg

Saigon

Initially we planned to go by train to Hue, spent a day there and then take the last train to Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon.
Unfortunately the weather did not really like that - thus it was raining cats and dogs and we had to take the next train to Saigon. This lead to approx. 35h on a train were the seats/ beds are made for Vietnamese (not in length but in height...). The intresting thing is that (at least) Vietnamese are able to sleep anywhere for a loooong time (there was one in our compartment that slept more or less the whole trip through - kinda scary).

We arrived in Saigon around 6 in the morning and went to the center, found a hotel with a nice room (but the employees were...well, you can be unfriendly and you can be them...) - unfortunately we found out later that the room had no working lights except in the Bathroom and it took them ages to fix it in the evening...in the end they more or less managed so ok(ish).

On the first day we had a look at the city by walking around, looking at the reunification palace as well as the war memorial museum (very very propagandistic but quite interesting and a bit horrible - somehow I am afraid though that one museum in Phnom Penh will be even worse :()
Today (yess - this is once again a very recent entry :)) we booked a 1 day tour to the mekong delta and, well, we in the end got what we paid for (price was 10$ per person). it was a 2h bus ride to the delta, then we spent about 45min on a slow boat down the mekong, lunch, coconut farm (coconut candy - yummy), 15min on a rowboat through some narrow channels, some "nice" vietnamese music and back again...
But well, at least the weather is nicer now - 30 degrees up and more or less sunny :)

pics (only a few this time): https://picasaweb.google.com/108376587121284252497/Saigon?authkey=Gv1sRgCMb7z4C53via9QE#

Tonight we head out to Phnom Penh via a night bus.

cheers

Hanoi

The trip vom Luang Prabang was not as bad as expected - although it did take around 28h in a bus. Luckily the bus was not full so both of us had 2 seats to spread upon (very useful) and the bus was more comfortable than the one we had previously.
We started in the evening and around 2am the bus stopped at some bus station in the middle of nowwhere - that was a bit puzzling because we had no clear idea on the route the bus would take (e.g. which border crossing, etc.) and nobody told us how long the stop would be (I think - might also be that I was asleep). Anywho, the bus started moving again after 1-2 hours and around 7 or 8 in the morning we arrived at the border. The Laos crossing was easy - the Vietnam one was a bit...well, strange. We walked across the border, entered the building and they asked for our passports - so far so good. But then they simply took the passport and asked us to sit down and wait...then approx. 4 or 5 customs officials were standing behind the counter, one was looking at the passport, one was stamping them, one was...no clue and 2 watched the others...
After about an hour the assembled behind a small desk and called out each and every name and said "you can go". intresting :)
The drive on was on some muddy roads (due to the rain - see the pictures).
then, around 10pm we arrived in Hanoi, shared a little bus-cab with some other travellers towards the backpacking part of the city. The cab, receiving commisions from hotels, dropped us of at one, the room we looked at was quite nice (with a good price) but when we said we gonna take it the room was somehow not available any more...but there was another one, looking the about the same for the same price. needless to say it was not same same but a complete craphole...discussions were futile so we moved on down the road, looking for something else. Something was found quickly and, although more expensive, we decided to take it (which was a good choice as the staff there was really friendly and everything).
All in all we spent 3 days in Hanoi - unfortunately the wetter was not as nice (17 degrees, cloudy to rainy,...) and I did not dare to go to Halong Bay as it would have been a 2 day trip and if the weather turns out bad you're stock on a boat, it is not as breathtaking as it could be,...
Meaning that we walked a lot around the hanoi old quater (very nice narrow roads and the majority of the sights are located around it), sit down in "bia hois" (basically these are little street bars that serve their own beer - it is always freshly brewed (not older than 24h) and once the barrel(s) is empty they close...in addition they are dead cheap :)) & tom worked on finishing up his thesis (and I cross-read it :))
The food was excellent - partially influenced by the french (baguettes, etc.), yummy noodle soups (called pho), barbecue,... :)

Note: surprisingly, it's been a long time since I have slept as much as I did on the bus to Hanoi - unfortunately that also made me feel like "spat out"...

Pics for Hanoi as well as the trip there can be found under https://picasaweb.google.com/108376587121284252497/Hanoi?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfdx9KV6p_4nwE#

Luang Prabang (Laos)

The bus ride from the Laos border to Luang Prabang was...well, lets call it painful as, in essence this is what it was. It was a night bus going for 14hrs (departure at 6pm and arrival at 8am) covering the amazing distance of nearly 500km. There was just little space in the bus, the bus was full and the seats were not comfortable - therefore sleeping more than 3 or 4 hrs was no option at hand. But the view of the countryside offered while there was still/ again light at least partially compensated the little trip to the limbo (strange - always thought limbo is a dance and does not stand for "Vorhoelle" as well...anywho).
Road conditions were somewhat close to nearly inexistent (thats when we realized why the trip takes so long), we were going up and down very winding roads with no security enforcements whatsoever, we were constantly a bit afraid of the brakes failing (esp. as we did one stop in the middle of the road for 20min to have the breaks cool off...),...BUT we did arrive well and safe and enough lamenting - me's backpacking for Buddhas sake! ;)
On the bus we met Steffi (Germany) and Marina (Argentina/ Germany) who were nice enough to spend the 2 days we had in Laos with us.

Luang Prabang is a really nice and relaxed city - it is located at the Mekong (and a small branch of it) and, despite many tourists vistiting it, it is not (yet) as touristic as e.g. Chiang Mai. The locals are very friendly and the boss of our hotel even spoke German (quite surprising). For getting around easier we rented bikes (I even got a pinkish one - hooray...) and then we set off for food and some small sightseeing/ checking with travel agents on possible trips as well as the best connection to Hanoi (which turned out to be a 26-28hrs bus trip...).
The travel agents were not really helpful on day trips (so we decided to do our own by hiring a tuk tuk for half a day to a day) but for the bus tickets it was ok --> we got them there.
In addition we had the brilliant idea of doing our own little tubing in the mekong river - for this we bought some (kids) floating tires in the Luang Prabang china market (unfortunately they did not have any arm floats... ;)).
As we initially planned to use them to float down the mekong for a few kilometers (...) we decided to better test them before. The attempt was quite successful (we were floating to the little sand island in the mekong we planned to but we also did realize that the initial idea "was good but the world not yet prepared for it" (or our asses to big, the tires too small, we too unbalanced, whatever). Furthermore, the current proved to be stronger than anticipated/ assumed when floating --> the way back to our starting point was a bit tough (but some Laotians had a fun time watching us)

In the evening we had a really nice (and cheap) dinner, had a few beers, Tom and Steffi challenged each other in a burping contest (luckily there was no (obvious) reason for a farting one) and when we wanted to change locations we found that nearly everything was closed already. Luckily a tuk tuk driver "had  mercy with us" and brought us to another bar (Utopia - very nice and relaxing) and said that he would pick us up in 1 hr (which we did not understand at first, but when the bar closed 45min later we knew...). On the way back we bargained with him for the next day and he agreed to take us around for a day for a very small amount (I think something between 250'000 and 300'000 kips (thats about 25 - 30 euros). Unfortunately he did not show up - thus we had to re-negotiate with other drivers again (plan was to go to the Pak Ou caves ("Buddha caves") as well as the Kuang Si waterfalls.

The first stop were the waterfalls - it is not a huge or high waterfall but more one with multiple pools where you can swim, etc. with perfectly blue water in a "rainforesty" surrounding. In short really really beautiful (see pictures - majority was taken there :)).
As we spent a lot more time there than planned we decided to let the caves be caves (tom and myself had to catch our bus at 6pm) and went back to Luang Prabang for a shower (thanks steffi!) and getting equipped for the long ride ahead.
We also saw some bottles of Laotian whiskey - basically they seem to put snakes, snails, geckos,... - in sum whatever creepy-crawly they find (no matter if with or without legs...), etc. into a bottle and then...well, no clue what happens then but it looks... well, see the pics.
And, what was funny was that the guy trying to sell it to us said something about life-prolonging effects, etc. - but he looked like 60 (our guess was he was 30), had no teeth,...
therefore, in case I bring any of you my dear readers a bottle of whiskey back as a present, well... ;)

So, all in all, Laos was the most fascinating country so far (at least for me) and it is a pity we did not have more time to spend. BUT I do know that I want (rather need :)) to come back and explore the country on a motorbike - the scenery and evertyhing is just breathtaking and intriguing in a way.

Pics can be found under https://picasaweb.google.com/108376587121284252497/LaosLuangPrabang?authkey=Gv1sRgCNfD6ObWgfWEgAE#

Besides, my target until mid 2019 is to fill all currently empty pages in my passport (so far there are 20) - anyone in for the challenge? :)

cheers

Chiang Mai

The train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in the north was really comfortable - the sleeper was clean, the beds were made by an employee, every bed had a curtain,...really impressive :)
We left around 7pm and arrived there at 9 or 10 in the morning and, well, there is not soo much to tell about the city - I am not sure why it's being hyped that much but ok.

We found a very cheap hotel which was not too far off the center and clean(ish) - thus perfect for the 1-2 nights we planned to spend. The first day we did some walking around and realized that Chiang Mai must be the (hidden) german capital of Thailand and that everything is aligned to possible tourist needs (in our whole trip we've never seen such a massive amoutn of "western" restaurants in one spot... (needless to say that it was no good as well - tried a burger and well, stomach no like...).
We also looked for some tours to make the second day (Chiang Mai is said to be nice for trekking) as well as an offer for our trip to Luang Prabang (doing this via a travel agency is a bit safer...).
After checking a few agencies we decided for the one with the cheapest price - not because we're greedy but all offered more or less the same and well, price does matter sometimes :).

The one day tour was okish - the trip (should have) included around 4hrs of trekking, elephant ride, a tribal village, waterfall and bamboo rafting. The elephant riding was, bluntly speaking, crap - I was just happy that the "driver" did not hurt the elephant with his stick.
Trekking was ok as well - although we did not cover the promised 4 hrs but rather only two (which also meant that instead of at 5-6pm we got back to Chiang Mai at 3 - also due to another reason to be mentioned later). The first stop of the walk was a waterfall - this was quite nice but the water was freeeeezing).
Then we moved on and on our way we picked up some tourists who were just returning from a 3 day trek and were rather exhausted (surprising as they were fully equipped with trekking flip flops...) - this was (I think) another reason for our shortened walk.
Nevermind, after "lunch" we went on to the Bamboo rafting and this was actually quite nice - we were sitting on a raft and floated down a river (incl. some rapids).

Back in Chiang Mai we went to look for a brewery recommended by our travel guide but could not find it and ended up in some other restaurant we we had the honour to watch (and listen to) an "intercultural couple" (old man with no hair,... and thai woman) fight - from what we were able to understand the fight was about the principle of "no hardy more money"....
On the next day our travel to Laos started - we were picked up from the hotel at 10 am and driven by a minibus to the Thai border (6 hrs drive). From the Thai/ Laos border we had decided to take a bus to Luang Prabang (duration 14hrs) - ideal would have been to take a slowboat down the Mekong but this would have taken 2 days and time is a precious good we don't really have anymore....

For details on the trip and Laos see the next entry :)

cheers

N.B.: pics from Chiang Mai can be found under https://picasaweb.google.com/108376587121284252497/ChiangMai?authkey=Gv1sRgCLHLwp2ZyOrKWA

Bangkok - part 2

So, the last blog was about the Sunday we have spent with Yuichi and his girlfriend (now it's 8 days after the last blog and there's a lot to catch up :))

So, on Monday we (Tom, Tine (girl we met on our "night out" in the first evening, myself) had a look at Bangkoks Chinatown in the afternoon (was quite nice but nothing special - love the small narrow roads though) and also walked to the train station for tickets to Ayutthaya (old capital of a kingdom) which is north of Bangkok (approx. 1,5hrs by train).
Ayutthaya was really fascinating - I think it is kinda similar to Angkor Wat (even though a lot smaller) - meaning that there were a lot of ruins of old temples and we spent approx. half a day just walking around, climbing up things (were permitted of course), taking pictures, etc..
When we got back to Bangkok it started raining and didn't really stop in the following 2 days - this had the effect of tom & myself spending some "quality time" in our hotel (as mentioned I think we stayed in a quite nice hotel) doing nothing except sleeping, reading, sleeping, eating, ...
On Friday (which was the day we left for Chiang Mai in the evening and also the day of my last post ;)) we did some sightseeing in the city - including the palace as well as a huuuuge buddha statue (approx. 60m long and 18m high and naturally gold-plated)

Furthermore, and this was the reason for our prolonged stay in Bangkok,we also got our passports with all required visas (Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia) back on Friday evening - thus nothing could stop us then & the risks for required bribes was minimized ;)