Phnom Penh, take 1

On Saturday afternoon we arrived in bustling Phnom Penh and headed for the backpacker ghetto located lake-side by Boeng Kak. A street full of guest-houses, bars, and restuarants, it was quiet and cheap and very laid back: benefits of the off-season. The city itself is great, vibrant and sprawling, dotted with wats and filled with the ubiquitous tuk-tuks, and on the verge of reinventing itself, apparently, as the skeletons of skyscrapers are just beginning to rise.

Our first day, we had two main objectives. The first was for Ben and I to apply for our Laos visas, and the second was to meet our old Country Director who is now CD for the brand new Cambodia PC program. We accomplished both, but Ben, who had woken up with a headache and volatile stomach, started to run a fever and headed home to rest. Pierce, Hannah, and I continued on to Tuol Sleng Museum, the site of S-21, a highschool converted into the most brutal of the Khmer Rouge's prisons. According to a guide at the museum, of the more than 14,000 men, women, and children who passed through, only 7 are known to have survived, and all of them escaped from the killing fields, none from the prison itself.

Walking through this museum was crushing. The rooms full of photos and the barrage of information were overwhelming, and the halls and cells were haunting. The irony of the site was like an extra note of horror that hung in the air... the premier prison of a regime that tried to exterminate anyone educated still feels like a highschool: in the hallways, in the stairwells, and in the torture cells which still have chalkboards on their walls.

The following day, to complete the necessary tour, we went out to the Killing Fields. Ben was feeling better by this point, and I was the one feeling headachy and feverish. The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek are just one of hundreds of sites all over Cambodia where people were slaughtered and left in mass burials. At Choeung Ek there is a stupa made of skulls, though much of the shock factor had worn off for me after visiting Tuol Sleng the day before. Outside of that there are some placards noting where administrative buildings once stood, and walking paths through the small grassy enclosure. There were children picking flowers and offering to take photos, and benches under shady trees, and here and there are depressions in the ground with signs like "100 women and children, naked, found here" or "about 150 bodies found here, without their heads". I may have been sick walking into the site, but standing over those depressions with their little signs was nauseating.

On the way back into town we were dropped off at the Russian Market, a morass of bags and tshirts and fruits and vegetables, but finding it underwhelming as markets go, we killed the lunch hour with some food and an internet cafe. Pierce and Hannah continued on to the Palace, but I was feeling really ill by this point, and Ben was still a little woozy, so we headed back to the guesthouse for a rest, stopping only to pick up our Laos visas from the embassy.

Our last day in Phnom Penh we walked downtown, past Wat Phnom, the city's namesake of sorts, and strolled along the riverfront. We read for awhile in a cafe, checked out a nearby market, paused for Ben to get a haircut, and generally relaxed. That night we found a bar down our street which had Wii projected up on a big screen. We four, not having been home in almost 2 and a half years now, had never before experienced the wonderment. So that was fun too.

Downtime in Sihanoukville

So, it's the wet season, and I have never experienced so much rain as I did at the beach in Cambodia. We spent 3.5 days recuperating and chilling out in Sihanoukville with Pierce and Hannah, and on only one of those days did it not rain all day -- though it did storm that night. Our first night we took advantage of a short break in the weather to go for a swim; the water was warmer than the air and we happily bobbed on baby-sized swells. We didn't need much more than that night swim and our one beautiful day on the beach, though: with our stilt bungalows at a whopping $3 a night, we happily spent days drinking coffee, eating shark curry and barracuda steaks, reading, and playing cards. We hadn't seen Pierce in 5 months, and it was great to finally meet Hannah, who was a PCV in Kyrgyzstan, so the company was as good as the chance to relax.

Border Adventures: Vietnam to Cambodia

Obviously our morning spent on a boat in the delta was too idyllic, because we were hit by pouring rains on our way back to town, and then had to run back to our hotel to grab our bags and meet our bus to Rach Gia. Rach Gia, apparently a smuggling stronghold, is located about 3 hours farther south and was not actually out intended destination. We'd heard that there was a new border crossing called Prek Chak that would allow us to cross directly into the southern coast of Cambodia, where our friends Pierce and Hannah were. To get to Prek Chak, we needed to get to the tiny Vietnamese town of Ha Tien, of which we could find neither hide nor hair in any guidebooks. BUT there are no buses directly to Ha Tien late in the day, so we were heading to Rach Gia in hopes of finding an onward bus. Which we did!

Once on this rattle-trap affair (not a description I give lightly), Ben took on the ticket-lady for her blatant overcharging when it came to us and, with the help of the other passengers, won! She gave us back our money, but vindictively forced us to fold ourselves as well as our packs onto a single tiny bench, despite the empty back of the bus. That was okay though. Our packs aren't too big, and after our 5:30am start to the day, we were fairly comotose anyway. We spent three hours swerving through pouring rain (much of which mysteriously poured in my closed window), and finally pulled up on the side of the road outside of Ha Tien where we were unceremoniously dumped onto the backs of two waiting motorbikes and whisked around the corner into town. After finding a spot to throw down our packs, we scarfed down some tofu and baguette sandwhiches which may not sound delicious but, being our only food in 10 hours, was the best thing I'd had in days. We also were introduced to a retired teacher/guide who we hired to take us across the border the next morning. Then we fell into bed and slept really really well.

At 8:30, feeling much better, we hopped onto the backs of our waiting motobikes and took off for the border! On the way, our guide filled me in on his life. Cambodian by birth, child of an ethnically Chinese father, he lived through the Khmer Rouge, though two of his siblings did not. He made it to Vietnam in 1979 and has largely based himself in Ha Tien since then, teaching English, French, Mandarin, and Khmer. Under the Khmer Rouge he was forced to work on border defense, escaping the worst of the regime by saying he was an uneducated Chinese worker. He's "retired" now, but still teaches evening classes and takes tourists around the countryside or across the border.

The Vietnamese side of the border was easy as could be, very sleepy. The Cambodian side of the border was also fairly sleepy, though they woke up fast when they realized they had customers. Corruption is rampant here, so to get your visa usually requires at least $5 extra to the guy writing out the visa. The guard told me that they usually only have 3-4 foreigners a day coming through at this crossing. We tried to get out of the offering, but a firm smile denied us our visas til we forked over the extra $10 at which point we were cheerfully wished good luck and sent on our way.

The hour and a half ride to Kampot, on the other side of the border, was fantastic. It is my only regret that we didn't stop to take photos. It was like riding through a National Geographic photo-spread of the Cambodian countryside. Very beautiful, though very poor... a familiar refrain in this still-recovering country. From Kampot, we caught a mini-bus to Sihanoukville where Pierce, my old site-mate, and Hannah, his girlfriend, had arrived a day earlier from Thailand. Sihanoukville is a beach-town, and after our race through Vietnam we were ready for a rest.

Mekong Delta tour

Our last few days in Vietnam we spent in the Mekong Delta, getting a rainy taste of life in this region of canals, floating markets, and rice paddies. On Monday morning we hopped a bus down to Cantho, the biggest town in the area. We assumed that finding a boat tour of the area would be easy (and cheap) once we arrived, but most people going into the Delta region do so by tours arranged in Ho Chi Minh City, so finding a hotel and arranging a boat proved not-so-simple as expected. Paying a little more than we wanted, though, all was sorted at last, and we spent a drizzly evening wandering around the riverfront area looking for food.

The next morning a boy came to pick us up at 5:30 am and led us down to the river to board our own personal rowboat. His mom takes people on a fantastic day trip through the area and we had such a great time with her that I promised to put her phone number online in case anyone is reading this looking for information. Highly Recommended Mekong Delta Tour out of Cantho: call Phuong at 0944984151. While we missed out on the sunrise due to the ominous gray clouds that chased us all morning, the rain held out until the very end of the trip. We spent the first few hours visiting two floating markets based in the area. Cai Rang market is the largest in the region, and Phuong Dien market, which supposedly has more of the traditional stand-up rowboats and less motorized boats. They were both wonderful, and being in a small rowboat meant we could push right into the middle of it all. Lots of the children were waving and full of smiles, but I love this little girl, glowering out at us in the middle of all the hustle and bustle.
Notice how they string up a pole with examples of what they're selling... like a signpost of sorts.This woman was selling the hot pink and green Dragonfruit which is native to Vietnam. It tastes like a very mild kiwi, though its outside is much more eye-catching than a kiwi's hairy brown skin. I especially like how this lady's clothes match the fruit; bright spots on a very gray morning.

Between markets, we stopped at a small family-run rice-noodle making factory. Big vats of rice-paste would be boiled up, and then the women would smoothe big ladle-fulls of it over heat and cover them for about 20 seconds with a basket to steam. Men would then use a big roller to lift up the crepe-looking steamed circles and lay them out on big drying racks. Once completely dried, we were told, the thin rice-discs would be put through noodle rollers to turn out skinny, slightly stretchy, rice noodles.

After Phuong Dien market, we moved off the river and into the network of streams and canals that criss-cross the region. This was the best part of the day, pushing through lillies and overhanging trees, past homes and bridges and fields. Here we are turning into the canal.Here are some kids heading home for lunch.We stopped to try out one of the bamboo "monkey bridges" .We also stopped to see some of the rice paddies and orchards. Phuong asked if we wanted to walk through the paddy. Ben asked if there were snakes. Oh yes, lots of snakes she tells us. "Poisonous?" I ask. Sure, some of them, she says. Do people often get bit? Oh sure. So how do people know if they are in danger I asked. Well, Phuong said, if the snake is in the water, it's most likely no problem, if it does THIS -- and she rears her hand back in a movement that looks very cobra-like to me -- then it is a problem. We refrained from wading into the paddy.

Oh - We - Oh ..... HO Chi Minh

The title above is:

A) The only line I remember from Good Morning Vietnam
B) A reference to the city formerly known as Saigon
C) The namesake of a jovial looking Communist head of state
D) All of the above.

Picking up after we said goodbye to Lindsey, Kristen and I have been staying in a little room in a little house down a little alley with a little Granny as our keeper. It's been very comfortable and cheap with the added bonus of cable in our room. Now this might not seem to be a big deal to most, but considering I've been making do with Chinese Television for the last two years watching an episode of Mythbusters or Project Runway (don't judge) has been like manna from heaven.

Speaking of manna - I've been relying on a steady diet of baguette sandwiches stuffed with cheese and veggies washed down with (REAL!) coffee on the cheap. Say what you will about French Imperialism (and there's a lot to say), the remnants in the form of food and architecture have made this city a really pleasant place to while away some time. I also can't forget to mention the friendliness of Saigon folks. Even the hawkers and touts are quick to crack a smile or joke even if you're not interested in their schwag.

As far as sites go, yesterday Kristen and I took a trip to see the Cu Chi (Ku-chee) tunnels outside of town. And yes, I have so far refrained from making any juvenile jokes about the name (out loud at least). The tunnels were built before the 'American War' but were used extensively by thousands of Viet Cong to attack targets in and around Saigon and were the planning and staging area for the infamous Tet Offensive.

We took a day tour and were fortunate to have a guide by the name of Mr. Binh (pronounced 'Bean' ha =/) who was a South Vietnamese soldier working on the swift boats as a paramedic in the area. After the U.S. pulled out he was convicted as a war criminal and was sent to a reeducation camp for 4.5 years where he spent his days looking for UXO (un-exploded ordinance a.k.a. live bombs). Restricted from going back into medicine or teaching, he then spent time as a black-market cigarette/liquor smuggler, cyclo driver, and finally tour guide. It's nearly impossible to distill the information and stories he gave, but suffice to say they were eye-opening.

Above is a picture of Mr. Binh showing a map of the area controlled by the Viet Cong soldiers (red), South Vietnamese and Americans (green), Contested areas (yellow) and villages that may or may not be aiding the VC (pink). Complicated much? Look closely for Mr. Ho Chi Minh watching over the proceedings.

The actual tour had re-creations of the various types of tunnel structures. Culminating with a 100m. crawl through a hot, dark and tiny space, it was enough to have driven a person with even mild claustrophobia insane. Hard to imagine spending the greater part of the day hiding out with the only interruptions being a guerilla attack or a retreat into the Saigon river where one would lie on his/her back underwater and breath through a bamboo reed to hide. Above is a soldier playing peek-a-boo from a sniper hole.

As the first country we've visited since leaving China I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn and re-learn a little more about Vietnamese history. While these country summations always seem to sound trite, it's nice picking up small nuances and trying to fit them into (or having them alter) my conception of a country. After two plus years in China I'm more convinced than ever that I'm never going to be able to talk about a place without qualifying nearly every observation - and I'm ok with that. I'm also sure that I'm one lucky dude to even have the opportunity to make these observations.

I'm going to stop now as writing the last paragraph kinda made me throw up in my throat a little. Friggin blogs. Off to the Mekong delta tomorrow!

Vietnam's Southern Coast

After a day and a half in Hue, we got back on the bus for a gorgeous afternoon ride down the coast to Hoi An, a beach side town famous for it's tailors as well as the nearby Cham ruins at My Son. None of us arrived in town with very specific plans to take advantage of the back-to-back tailors shop, but we all caught a bit of the crazy. Ben had a beautiful suit made, as well as some light sneakers to replace the heavy hiking boots he'd decided to send home. Linds and I each had a gorgeous winter coat made, as well as a few dresses on the cheap. In the late afternoon of what we belatedly discovered to be Vietnam's Independence Day, we biked out to the beach which was simply packed with local families who come out as the day cools (and wade right into the ocean fully dressed!). The smell of sugary, fried cakes was on the breeze, and we just laid back and people watched. With the sunset, we rode back into town, along with hundred of others on bikes and motorcycles.

Our last day in Hoi An, we took a bus out to My Son, the oldest of a series of ruins across SE Asia which include Angkor Wat and Borobordur, both of which complexes we'll be visiting later in our trip.

After walking throught the temple complexes, we took a boatride back into town.After our relaxing days in Hoi An, we made a big final push down the southern coast, doing two overnight bus trips in a row to get to HCMC. I miraculously slept like a rock almost the entirety of the ride to Nha Trang, though the other two were a little groggier when we pulled into this great beach town at 6am. We left our packs in the bus office, and after grabbing breakfast and changing into our suits, we spent the entirety of the day reading, lounging, swimming, and eating at the beach. It was lovely and just the day off that we needed. This was what we had for lunch: jealous?

At the end of the day, Linds and I dashed across town to see the beautiful seated Buddha which had been erected there in the 60s, just a few years before Lindsey's mom saw it there during the early years of the war. With a view stretching across town and out to sea, we reached the Buddha just in time to watch the light fade.

A final overnight ride brought us into HCMC itself -- Saigon for the more sentimental or romantic -- and we spent the day walking around the downtown area and Reunification Palace, and in the War Remnants museum. The museum was an incredibly one-sided narrative, but no less raw or painful for that, and I think its a necessary reminder for any tourist passing through. Vietnam, afteral, has been through nearly 120 years of fighting that didn't truly end until 1980, and the photo exhibits are a true memorial of that.

That evening, Lindsey treated Ben and me to a fantastic meal and wrapped up her wonderful blog before grabbing a taxi for the airport and heading home.

Hue, Vietnam

On returning from Halong Bay, we had about an hour to kill in Hanoi before embarking on our great bus adventure, an open-tour ticket which we were counting on to carry us down the length of Vietnam in time for Lindsey to catch her flight home from HoChiMinh City in the wee hours of the morning on the 6th. As evening fell, we, along with about 30 other people, loaded up into a very cramped sleeper bus. These buses have sets of bunks three across and two deep, which let you semi-recline, tuck your knees to your chest, and dream away a whole night's travel. That's the idea at least. Taller folks were in especial trouble on this first, and most uncomfortable leg of the trip, as even I, at 5'3", couldn't stretch out in my berth. Here we are, all tucked in.

12 hours and a few winks of sleep later, we pulled into Hue, the Imperial Capital of the Nguyen Dynasty and otherwise a rather deserted and appealing little town. This dynasty ruled from around 1800 to the mid-1900s, though for much of that time it was more or less a puppet-regime of the French, but the relative modernity of their leadership meant that the tombs and monuments they left behind have a quality of ghostly reality that the more rebuilt monuments of more ancient times sometimes lack. We spent an afternoon wandering around the beautiful and crumbling tomb complex of Emperor Tu Doc.

The next morning Lindsey and I walked down to the Citadel, a big area which encompassed the Vietnamese equivalent of Beijing's Forbidden City as well as government and staff buildings. The main difference, in addition to it's less impressive age, is that the Hue Citadel had been extensively bombed by American forces in the 60s. With only small areas yet reconstructed, the contrast between the still-standing living quarters and the bombed out ruins was powerful and again left us with the impression of a very living history. Scattered among the imperial remnants are the agricutural plots that have been converted back for the living use of more average Vietnamese.

As a side note, in both of the sites we visited in Hue, the beautiful mosaics made of pottery shards stood out for me as both unexpectedly lovely and in some ways more modest compared to the Imperial magnificence that ancient Chinese dynasties have left us.

Hanoi & Halong Bay, Vietnam

On the 27th of August we crossed into Vietnam by way of an extremely convenient through-bus straight from Nanning to Hanoi. The whole trip was beautiful with brilliant green everywhere, a painless border crossing -- despite confusing everyone by having our China visas on our Peace Corps passports and our Vietnam visas in our personal passports -- and little jumbles of tall, skinny homes which came in such a hodgepodge of colors and styles that I felt like I'd crossed into another world with just a little more whimsy in it than on the other side of the border.

The guide book had gotten us very excited for Hanoi as a place to relax and people watch and enjoy the cafe culture, but I found it more stressful than not. The old quarter is a warren of little streets filled with small shops, guesthouses, cafes.... and travel agencies. Like, every third store-front is a travel agency. They are all selling the same tours, but they are NOT all legit. If one company starts making a name for itself as a reliable operator, instantly 10 more places spring up that crib the name and logo of that shop for themselves. We heard that prices have practicaly doubled in the last year as well, and from what we experienced that was definitely true, contributng to the feeling that we were being constantly ripped off (sometimes true, sometimes not). There was also the faint but pervasive feeling that our lives were constantly in danger. To wit: motorbikes. Everywhere. Zipping around with total disregard for the few streetlights, that sidewalk-street demarcation line called the curb, or your limbs. So that was fun too. Once we got the hang of crossing streets, we started to feel better, and as we chowed down on fantastic baguette sandwhiches, better still.

We did get a tour booked, eventually, to Halong Bay, a Unesco site filled with islands and karst formations dotting the salty blue-green landscape. We took in a cruise out to "Surprising Cave", a series of caverns that get bigger as you move one to the next. The entrance looks out over a perfect pirates cove of islands.

Next was a kayaking adventure and I would like to say that Linds and I did a VERY respectable job maneuvering around, between and even underneath some of the rocky islands. Ben kindly hopped into a kayak behind a rather hapless French-Vietnamese guy who could only manage to dig his paddle in on the right, so his trip was a little less relaxing as he battled to keep them going in a straight line. Upon reaching the turn around point, Ben jumped out for a swim, only to be told by a brusque kayaker-by that "You're swimming with jellyfish." Ben, happily paddling around in the lagoon, wasn't about to take that lying down and called back with bravado "YOU'RE swimming with jellyfish". He had to beat a quick retreat, though, when Lindsey and I pointed out that there were, in fact, a good number of quite large jellyfish in the near vicinity. A gorgeous sunset capped off a fun day, and good company meant that we received lots of good advice from fellow travelers regarding the next legs of our trip.