Below the surface!
We're right now on Koh Tao, chilling in our hotelroom. It's been a really slow day. Woke up about 1 o'clock, had breakfast, but we're now back to bed. Had a late night yesterday with some celebrations, here is why:
After Koh Phangan we decided to go to the island that was just north of where we were, Koh Tao. The reason? To learn how to dive and get our diving certificates. Koh Tao is said to be the cheapest place in Thailand, maybe even in the world, to do this. It's a small island, way smaller than Koh Phangan, but on this island, there are no less than 43 dive schools! So that's one of the reasons it's so cheap here. We booked everything before we left Koh Phangan, paid 9800 baht (ca 2400kr) for 4 days of diving course with free accomodation. We came to Koh Tao on tuesday, had a quiet day and began the course on wednesday.
Sunset at Crystal Dive Resort.
On the first day, all we did was watching movies and answering questions in our book that realated to the movies. Learned the basics of diving and all of the biological and physical things you really need to know when you dive. The second day, the theoretical stuff continued. We took our final exam and of course, we passed it. With that, everything in the classroom was taken care of. Now it was time for the practical part of the course - the diving. Later on the same day, we wetsuited up, learned how to asseble and disasseble scuba gear and went to the pool here on the resort. We were in the pool for 5 hours, learning "basics" such as mask removal, mask cleaning, boyancy, switching regulator (the breathing thing) and taking all of the gear of - everything under water. Pretty cool. The next day, it was time for our first open water dive. The depth was set to 12m and we descended holding a rope, since it was or first time. We did two dives that day, the first was a fun dive, which means that you're just swimming around looking at everyhting around you - fish, corals and other weird stuff under the surface. It was really nice! But our best moment during the day happened on our second dive. that dive was more of a skill dive, repeating most of the things we learned in the pool. But during a skill briefing, while we were all on our knees on the bottom, a school of hundreds of barracudas came swimming next to us. At first it looked like they were just passing by, but insted they started to swim around us and at one point, wherever you looked, there was like a wall of barracudas. It was awesome!
Wetsuited up!
Ready to descend!
Our second day started 7 am (too early). You are not in the mood for diving when you're tired, cold and hungry. But as soon as we got on the boat and we felt the warmth of the sun, we got psyked and excited! The two planned dives we did that day was also being shot by a cameraman following us around deep below the surface! Not only were we now expected to do our skills underwater flawless, we also had to perform well in front of the camera. We found no problem doing this however, seeing as we are supercool. Everything went well, and as soon as we had ascended, we were certified divers!!
The diving crew!
Later that night we all met up at the dive resort bar for some drinks, watching the newly edited movie (We all got to pick the music for the soundtrack)! It was great fun watching, and we all had a good laugh! After that we took a taxi to Sai Ree Beach just north of the dive resort and had a few beers, watched some soccer and chatted through the night.
Feels good being a diver! Of course, more dives and more training is required to be a GOOD diver, but that's a later issue ;). What's important is that we now can begin to explore the underwater world!
Tomorrow our trip continues to Kho Samui, south of Ko Tao And Kho Pa Ngan to check out the beaches there, in search for the sun.
/C & M
Bangkok, Busrides, Beaches and Buckets!
Alright, so - not that much blogging lately. Sorry about that. It's been a busy week! We are now on the island on Koh Tao, spending lots of time under water. More on that in the next blog post!
So, since we left Cambodia much has been going on. We got to Bangkok last monday (15th) by bus from Siem Reap. As always, there were stops at the border with the usual routine (passport check, waiting) - went pretty smooth though. We settled down in Bangkok at some random place on Khao San Road, the tourist street of Bangkok. Pretty basic: two beds, a bathroom and no hot water. We're gettting used to that! Our three day visit in Bangkok was pretty much the same every day. We had breakfast, strolled up and down Khao San Road and the surrounding streets, getting to know the city vibe and looking for cool t-shirts.
Khao San Road in Bangkok.
After two days, we decided to book a bus ride to Ko Pha Ngan - the home of the (in)famous Full Moon Party. The bus ride however, wasn't very nice. Before we booked the ticket we already heard stories about people on the bus going through your luggage during the night and so on, so we knew what was coming. The bus ride itself went smooth, and after we arrived at the ferry terminal, we noticed that they actually had been looking in our bags. But we had all our valuables in our handluggage, so nothing was missing.
We arrived to Koh Phangan on Thursday afternoon. Found a cheap bungalow, it sucked. We went out the first night, had an awesome night. But when we came back, our room was partially flooded. The bathroom was covered in sand, and most of the room was filled with water. Marcus backpacks, especially the handluggage was soaked. Chris's belongings survived though. We switched bunglows after that. Went to the same place as two other guys we met on the ferry, stayed at. Hulley, a Canadian guy and Hans / Jesus, a norwegian maniac. Had lots of fun with them, we're actually sharing room with Hulley right now on Koh Tao. But anyway, to summarize our days before the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan in one word - party! We actually had one day when we were swimming in the ocean, a really nice day and beautiful beach. But other than that: party! We were out drinking every day, rarely came home before 5am. There were poolparties, beachparties and lots of other kinds of parties. Everywhere in Koh Phangan, they sold buckets of alcohol. You actually bought a bucket with whatever drink inside you wanted. Such as Red Bull / Vodka, Rhum & Coke or Gin & Tonic. And they were only 150 baht (38kr). Really dangerous. And fun! :)
Hat Rin beach on Koh Phangan, this is where the magic happens!
Aah, the buckets. So many memories... and so many memories lost.
The Full Moon party itself was amazing. The beach was crowded with people, everywhere! And with a bucket in their hand, of course. There were dancing, drinking and other activities, such as fire limbo & fireskipping (rope skipping, but with the rope on fire). People, including us, also painted themselves in flourescent neoncolor with various motives and writings. It was a crazy night. We partied until the sun came up and we came home about 8 o' clock. Can't really say it was the best day after that, but we survived. We had so much fun in Koh Phangan and we'd love to do it again!
This is what the beach looked like during Full Moon Party...
...and this is how we looked during Full Moon Party! :)
The beach in the morning, Full Moon night. The party is still going strong!
We left Koh Phangan on tuesday for Koh Tao, a smaller island just north of Koh Phangan. So still in the gulf of Thailand. We're here to get diving licences and it's going well. Will tell you more about that next time.
/C & M
Mugs in Motion - Cambodia! (and other funny pics)
Alright, since we're out of cambodia we can now post the mugs we found along the way. It's just something that has to be done. Spread the wealth! Or, in these cases - share the funny people and other stuff we found while travelling through Cambodia!
Sorry, no shoes or hats. Oh, and no grenades either.
Mini-mug.
The winners of the competition "How many people can you fit on one moto?".
Sleeping mug - this time in a bus!
Rat anyone? Saw this in the kitchen area - we're just really glad we had the soup with no meat in it...
Seriously - this never stops to amaze us. No washing of hands in the urinal! REALLY? :P
Lots of do's and don'ts allover Asia. More don'ts, really.
Baby mug.
/ C &M
Sorry, no shoes or hats. Oh, and no grenades either.
Mini-mug.
The winners of the competition "How many people can you fit on one moto?".
Sleeping mug - this time in a bus!
Rat anyone? Saw this in the kitchen area - we're just really glad we had the soup with no meat in it...
Seriously - this never stops to amaze us. No washing of hands in the urinal! REALLY? :P
Lots of do's and don'ts allover Asia. More don'ts, really.
Baby mug.
/ C &M
Summary of Cambodia
Since we left Cambodia about 5 days ago, it's about time to give yo the summary. Thought this summary would be a lot shorter than the others, since we only stayed there for 6 days, but apparenty, we had lots to say about Cambodia.
Just a couple of minutes after we left Vietnam and entered Cambodia, we noticed how much poorer the Cambodian people are compared to any other country we've been to so far. People in countryside, the farmers mainly, are incredibly poor. Small, irregular and tilting wooden huts (to call them houses would be wrong) are everywhere. Most of them looks like they're about to fall apart any minute. It's dirty, dusty and filled with poverty. They also have a dark past, with civil war and then the Khmer Rogues who killed, tortured and enslaved so many Camodians. In spite of this Cambodians are the nicest people we've met so far, including Thais. Always a smile on their faces. The roads in Cambodia aren't as "good" as in for example Vietnam. The bus drove from one side to another on the road to avoid bumbs or holes, like slalom on asfalt. What also surprised us a little was that Cambodians are so much darker than both Thais or Vietnamese. First we thought it was because they're were working outside, probably about 10-12 hours a day. But also in the cities were people darker. We later learnt that Cambodia has lots of Indian influences and we apart of Indian culture, so our guess is that's why people are so much darker. Cambodia's very cheap too. No trouble finding a low budget guesthouse and the food is both good tasting (again Indian and Thai influences) och really cheap.
We only stayed in Phnom Penh for two nights, but the city itself was so much better than we expected it to be. Our images of Phnom Penh before arriving were a big, boring and quite urban city. But it was nothing like that. Not that big, about 1,3 milj, most houses were only two or three stories high and some really nice architecture too with the typical Khmer look, think Angkor Wat. There's some really bad shit going on in Phnom Penh - drugs and prostitutes are everywhere. What we've heard, guns aren't that uncommon either. But if you stay away from it and don't walk smaller streets at night, I think you'll have a pleasant visit in Phnom Penh, at least we did.
Riverside in Phnom Penh.
The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.
After that we went to Battambang for a night and from there we took the boat to Siem Reap. Battambang is a boring city, really. Would never go back there, unless for the same reason as we went there this time - the boat to Siem Reap. Nothing to do, nothing to see. We heard there would be some nice french colonial buildings (yes, Cambodia was a french colony), but there was like, one. We took a picture and that was it. Luckily, the boat ride compensated for all for that. One of the best things we've done so far actually. Amazingly beautiful scenery and we also passed the floating villages, which is really cool (but poor). You could really get a look at the real Cambodia on that boat ride and the poor, hard working but yet so friendly people.
The french colonial buiding in Battambang.
People are very poor in Cambodia...
...but still happy!
Floating village.
Siem Reap was our third and last city we visited. Way more touristy than the two previous. Of course because of the temples in Angkor. Siem Reap itself hasn't that many things too see or places to go. But since it's crowded with tourists, you'll always be able to have a nice night out at some of the many bars in the city. Angkor was the highlight of our Cambodia visit. It's just incredible to watch all the temples. Huge, beautiful and mysterious. It's not hard to understand why people refer to them as "the 8th wonder of the world".
One of the massive trees covering the Ta Promh temple.
Faces of Angkor Thom.
Almost catching up with our blogging now. Right now we're in Koh Pha Ngan in Thailand, waiting for the Full Moon Party that will take place the 21st. We'll give you an update of our two nights in Bangkok within a couple of days.
/ C & M
Just a couple of minutes after we left Vietnam and entered Cambodia, we noticed how much poorer the Cambodian people are compared to any other country we've been to so far. People in countryside, the farmers mainly, are incredibly poor. Small, irregular and tilting wooden huts (to call them houses would be wrong) are everywhere. Most of them looks like they're about to fall apart any minute. It's dirty, dusty and filled with poverty. They also have a dark past, with civil war and then the Khmer Rogues who killed, tortured and enslaved so many Camodians. In spite of this Cambodians are the nicest people we've met so far, including Thais. Always a smile on their faces. The roads in Cambodia aren't as "good" as in for example Vietnam. The bus drove from one side to another on the road to avoid bumbs or holes, like slalom on asfalt. What also surprised us a little was that Cambodians are so much darker than both Thais or Vietnamese. First we thought it was because they're were working outside, probably about 10-12 hours a day. But also in the cities were people darker. We later learnt that Cambodia has lots of Indian influences and we apart of Indian culture, so our guess is that's why people are so much darker. Cambodia's very cheap too. No trouble finding a low budget guesthouse and the food is both good tasting (again Indian and Thai influences) och really cheap.
We only stayed in Phnom Penh for two nights, but the city itself was so much better than we expected it to be. Our images of Phnom Penh before arriving were a big, boring and quite urban city. But it was nothing like that. Not that big, about 1,3 milj, most houses were only two or three stories high and some really nice architecture too with the typical Khmer look, think Angkor Wat. There's some really bad shit going on in Phnom Penh - drugs and prostitutes are everywhere. What we've heard, guns aren't that uncommon either. But if you stay away from it and don't walk smaller streets at night, I think you'll have a pleasant visit in Phnom Penh, at least we did.
Riverside in Phnom Penh.
The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.
After that we went to Battambang for a night and from there we took the boat to Siem Reap. Battambang is a boring city, really. Would never go back there, unless for the same reason as we went there this time - the boat to Siem Reap. Nothing to do, nothing to see. We heard there would be some nice french colonial buildings (yes, Cambodia was a french colony), but there was like, one. We took a picture and that was it. Luckily, the boat ride compensated for all for that. One of the best things we've done so far actually. Amazingly beautiful scenery and we also passed the floating villages, which is really cool (but poor). You could really get a look at the real Cambodia on that boat ride and the poor, hard working but yet so friendly people.
The french colonial buiding in Battambang.
People are very poor in Cambodia...
...but still happy!
Floating village.
Siem Reap was our third and last city we visited. Way more touristy than the two previous. Of course because of the temples in Angkor. Siem Reap itself hasn't that many things too see or places to go. But since it's crowded with tourists, you'll always be able to have a nice night out at some of the many bars in the city. Angkor was the highlight of our Cambodia visit. It's just incredible to watch all the temples. Huge, beautiful and mysterious. It's not hard to understand why people refer to them as "the 8th wonder of the world".
One of the massive trees covering the Ta Promh temple.
Faces of Angkor Thom.
Almost catching up with our blogging now. Right now we're in Koh Pha Ngan in Thailand, waiting for the Full Moon Party that will take place the 21st. We'll give you an update of our two nights in Bangkok within a couple of days.
/ C & M
The temples of Angkor
As some of you know, we visited the temples of Angkor a couple of days ago. Since we've been busy travelling and sightseeing we haven't had time to show you what we saw and experienced there. Until now...
We arrived to Siem Reap by boat on friday afternoon. As we told you, we met Sophie, who we knew from Hoi An, and her boyfriend Simon on the boat. The four of us decided to go to the same hotel and in the Tuk-Tuk on the way there, we got to know the driver, Cobra. He offered to drive us around in Angkor for two days and also tell us a little about the temples. For a small fee, of course, but it was an acceptable fee.
Angkor is a region that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire from approximately the 9th to 13th centuries. The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and "god-king". The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, from small pillars to the great Angkor Wat. Said to be the world's largest single religious monument! To quote Wikipedia. :P
We set out 5 am on saturday morning. The reason was of course to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was kind of crowded, lots of salesmen but it was still amazing! It was a sight like nothing else to watch the sun slowly rise over the almost 1000 year old temples. After the sunrise, we went into the temples. The inside of Angkor Wat itself wasn't really that amazing, but still impressive. Knowing that this site was built and used by people over 1000 years ago makes you feel kind of small and insignificant. Still, we're glad we live in this time, and not a 1000 years ago. :P I mean, there would be no beer, no Scrubs, no cell phones, no facebook. How did people even survive? A mystery...
Sunrise @ Angkor Wat. Amazing!
The city of Angkor is huge, and we tried to squeeze in as many sites and temples we could the first day. We saw Ankor Wat, the biggest temple, Bayon - the temple of many faces, Ta Phrom - the temple in which the first Tomb Raider movie was shot (that means we walked on the same ground Angelina Jolie once walked. Never felt closer to her.) But jokes aside, that temple was really cool. Trees more than 100 years old growing through the temple roof, huge piles of massive stone now crumbled, from what used to be large temple sites, the jungle slowly reclaiming it's former place by growing all over the site. The rest of the day we spent visiting lots of temples, some fascinating, some not so fascinating.
Chris in front of the Bayon temple.
Bayon temple, notice the faces on the pillars.
Goofin' around at the Bayon temple.
We returned onto town exhausted around 6 pm and had some dinner, got some shopping done at the market and had a "fish massage"! A fish massage is basically dipping your feet in a tank full of fish, hungry for the dead skin cells on your feet. Wierd at first, but relaxing!
Fishy massage...
The next day we picked up were we left off by taking a 1 hour tuk-tuk ride to an ancient temple site by a waterfall. Even though that site wasn't that fantastic, the tuk-tuk ride was still great. It is really the best way to see and feel the countryside. After that we saw another temple, and then headed back to Ta Phrom (batteries in all of our cameras ran out the day before) and then a quickie to Angkor Wat again for some more pictures. We went back to Siem Reap for a quite night and left monday morning for Bangkok & Thailand!
Enjoying the Tuk-Tuk ride!
Buying PETrol on the road to the temples.
Ta Phrom - "The Tomb Raider" temple.
Chris at Ta Phrom.
Bros @ waterfall.
/ C & M
We arrived to Siem Reap by boat on friday afternoon. As we told you, we met Sophie, who we knew from Hoi An, and her boyfriend Simon on the boat. The four of us decided to go to the same hotel and in the Tuk-Tuk on the way there, we got to know the driver, Cobra. He offered to drive us around in Angkor for two days and also tell us a little about the temples. For a small fee, of course, but it was an acceptable fee.
Angkor is a region that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire from approximately the 9th to 13th centuries. The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and "god-king". The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, from small pillars to the great Angkor Wat. Said to be the world's largest single religious monument! To quote Wikipedia. :P
We set out 5 am on saturday morning. The reason was of course to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was kind of crowded, lots of salesmen but it was still amazing! It was a sight like nothing else to watch the sun slowly rise over the almost 1000 year old temples. After the sunrise, we went into the temples. The inside of Angkor Wat itself wasn't really that amazing, but still impressive. Knowing that this site was built and used by people over 1000 years ago makes you feel kind of small and insignificant. Still, we're glad we live in this time, and not a 1000 years ago. :P I mean, there would be no beer, no Scrubs, no cell phones, no facebook. How did people even survive? A mystery...
Sunrise @ Angkor Wat. Amazing!
The city of Angkor is huge, and we tried to squeeze in as many sites and temples we could the first day. We saw Ankor Wat, the biggest temple, Bayon - the temple of many faces, Ta Phrom - the temple in which the first Tomb Raider movie was shot (that means we walked on the same ground Angelina Jolie once walked. Never felt closer to her.) But jokes aside, that temple was really cool. Trees more than 100 years old growing through the temple roof, huge piles of massive stone now crumbled, from what used to be large temple sites, the jungle slowly reclaiming it's former place by growing all over the site. The rest of the day we spent visiting lots of temples, some fascinating, some not so fascinating.
Chris in front of the Bayon temple.
Bayon temple, notice the faces on the pillars.
Goofin' around at the Bayon temple.
We returned onto town exhausted around 6 pm and had some dinner, got some shopping done at the market and had a "fish massage"! A fish massage is basically dipping your feet in a tank full of fish, hungry for the dead skin cells on your feet. Wierd at first, but relaxing!
Fishy massage...
The next day we picked up were we left off by taking a 1 hour tuk-tuk ride to an ancient temple site by a waterfall. Even though that site wasn't that fantastic, the tuk-tuk ride was still great. It is really the best way to see and feel the countryside. After that we saw another temple, and then headed back to Ta Phrom (batteries in all of our cameras ran out the day before) and then a quickie to Angkor Wat again for some more pictures. We went back to Siem Reap for a quite night and left monday morning for Bangkok & Thailand!
Enjoying the Tuk-Tuk ride!
Buying PETrol on the road to the temples.
Ta Phrom - "The Tomb Raider" temple.
Chris at Ta Phrom.
Bros @ waterfall.
/ C & M
Mugs in Motion - Vietnam! (and other funny pics)
Time for the second part in our Mugs in Motion series. There aren't as funny as the chinese mugs, but we have some funny ones. We also included some other pictures of funny signs or object. If you need a descripton of what a mug is or want to see our Mugs in Motion - China, just scroll down until you find it our look in our China Archives. Enjoy!
Overloaded mug #1
Overloaded mug #2
Boat mug.
Sleeping moto-mug
Tonnage of bombs dropped... in tons. Oh really?
Banned? :P
Haha!
Waste basket - Happiness to Everybody :)
Flyer we got in Hoi An. What the **** is "Suck contest the blood"?!
/C & M
Overloaded mug #1
Overloaded mug #2
Boat mug.
Sleeping moto-mug
Tonnage of bombs dropped... in tons. Oh really?
Banned? :P
Haha!
Waste basket - Happiness to Everybody :)
Flyer we got in Hoi An. What the **** is "Suck contest the blood"?!
/C & M
Summary of Vietnam
Better late than never. Thought we might give you our summary of Vietnam now. Starting from the north, Hanoi isn't really interesting or fun at all. It may be if you're really interested and into culture, but if you're not, skip Hanoi. None of very few bars had open after midnight, few people speaks English and it's rather expensive (to be in south-east asia). Also, about the locals, not only don't they speak English, they're not very nice either. You're more likely to get ripped off or scammed here rather than in southern Vietnam. Everyone on the street will try. We made it a rule not to listen to what anyone on the street had to say or sell us. The traffic here is really crazy too. Actually that goes for whole Vietnam. There are millions of motorbikes/scooters/mopeds here. That is the main transportation vehicle in Vietnam. Cars are freakishly expensive. The only reason to come to Hanoi (or the only reason to come back for us) would be to go to the places around Hanoi. Halong Bay, in which we stayed for 5 nights with beautiful beaches and Sapa, an native Vietnamese city with beatiful scenery, we were told, since we did't go there. But we would if we'd come back.
Busy streets in Hanoi.
Our beach on Cat Ba, Halong Bay.
Beatiful scenery on Cat Ba.
To the central coast then. We had an Open Bus Tour ticket, works great! We went to Hue, Danang and Hoi An on the central coast. If you're not into culture or history, skip the first two. Hue was the city with the old citadel. Nice city actually, lots of history. We liked it, but wouldn't go back. You shouldn't bother go to Danang either. Boring city! Nothing to see, nightlife is medioker and people aren't that nice. Hoi An is the place to be in the central coast. This is where we met up with Nick & Trent and ended up staying for week. A small town, very pittoresque. The city centre is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Hoi An is also famous for it's tailors. We had each a suit and two shirts made. Paid $50 for that. Girls we met had shoes, skirts and especialy dresses made. Really cheap of course.Hoi An has also got two very nice beaches and nightlifes is good too. Locals are nicer, but you still have to watch out for scams, though less frequent than in Hanoi. We enjoyed Hoi An a lot and it's easy to go there thinking you're only staying for a night or to and ending up staying fo a week...just as we did.
American Blades.
The good life in Hoi An. Aah.
Crazy Buffalo Bar in Saigon, one of the bars in the backpacker area.
Our next stop after that was Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as the offical name is. We skipped the beach capital Nha Trang, since it was flooded. But would be fun to go there another time though. Saigon was so different from Hanoi! We felt it right away. Saigon is vibrant and really has a pulse. Hanoi had neither. People are so much nicer in Saigon too. There aren't that many things to see in the city, but just being there was good enough for us. And the nightlife is great too. There are still thousands of motos, you still have to watch out for sneaky vietnamese people (we had a really expensive taxi in Saigon), many are still not that good in english or very nice to you - but everything is so much better in Saigon compared to Hanoi.
If you would compare Vietnam to say, China's well-structured organization of the country, Vietnam is like the Wild Wild West. Everything has a chaotic feel to it. Stuff like lack of traffic rules, no reciepts when paying or taxis without rules for how the taximeter works. Since the "free" Vietnam is only 19 years old, the capitalism is really just getting started. Before that it was strict communism. Now when locals are allowed to buy and own stuff, everyone is trying to make it for themselves. Everything has its price. Vendors are everywhere, and even their kids sell stuff. 4-year-olds sell cigarettes, sunglasses & books. It's just wrong. And most of the 4-year-olds speak better english than the average Vietnamese adult. Crazy.
To conclude, we loved Vietnam! People can be very dodgy, but just watch out and be very suspicious to everything and you'll be fine. We met lots of nice people too (especially in southern Vietnam). The country is so beautiful and has plenty of amazing beaches. We both would love to go back one day.
/C & M
Busy streets in Hanoi.
Our beach on Cat Ba, Halong Bay.
Beatiful scenery on Cat Ba.
To the central coast then. We had an Open Bus Tour ticket, works great! We went to Hue, Danang and Hoi An on the central coast. If you're not into culture or history, skip the first two. Hue was the city with the old citadel. Nice city actually, lots of history. We liked it, but wouldn't go back. You shouldn't bother go to Danang either. Boring city! Nothing to see, nightlife is medioker and people aren't that nice. Hoi An is the place to be in the central coast. This is where we met up with Nick & Trent and ended up staying for week. A small town, very pittoresque. The city centre is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Hoi An is also famous for it's tailors. We had each a suit and two shirts made. Paid $50 for that. Girls we met had shoes, skirts and especialy dresses made. Really cheap of course.Hoi An has also got two very nice beaches and nightlifes is good too. Locals are nicer, but you still have to watch out for scams, though less frequent than in Hanoi. We enjoyed Hoi An a lot and it's easy to go there thinking you're only staying for a night or to and ending up staying fo a week...just as we did.
American Blades.
The good life in Hoi An. Aah.
Crazy Buffalo Bar in Saigon, one of the bars in the backpacker area.
Our next stop after that was Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as the offical name is. We skipped the beach capital Nha Trang, since it was flooded. But would be fun to go there another time though. Saigon was so different from Hanoi! We felt it right away. Saigon is vibrant and really has a pulse. Hanoi had neither. People are so much nicer in Saigon too. There aren't that many things to see in the city, but just being there was good enough for us. And the nightlife is great too. There are still thousands of motos, you still have to watch out for sneaky vietnamese people (we had a really expensive taxi in Saigon), many are still not that good in english or very nice to you - but everything is so much better in Saigon compared to Hanoi.
If you would compare Vietnam to say, China's well-structured organization of the country, Vietnam is like the Wild Wild West. Everything has a chaotic feel to it. Stuff like lack of traffic rules, no reciepts when paying or taxis without rules for how the taximeter works. Since the "free" Vietnam is only 19 years old, the capitalism is really just getting started. Before that it was strict communism. Now when locals are allowed to buy and own stuff, everyone is trying to make it for themselves. Everything has its price. Vendors are everywhere, and even their kids sell stuff. 4-year-olds sell cigarettes, sunglasses & books. It's just wrong. And most of the 4-year-olds speak better english than the average Vietnamese adult. Crazy.
To conclude, we loved Vietnam! People can be very dodgy, but just watch out and be very suspicious to everything and you'll be fine. We met lots of nice people too (especially in southern Vietnam). The country is so beautiful and has plenty of amazing beaches. We both would love to go back one day.
/C & M
Cruising through Cambodia
Yesterday we left Phnom Penh 9am to go to the city Battambang, Cambodia's second largest city (but only about 130 000 people), 30km northwest of Phnom Penh. Turned out to be a quite boring place, few bars, few points of interest and few people- The bus ride was ok, a bit bumby as usual. Same same , but different - one of our more popular sayings on this trip. Because on the bus ride, we met a Cambodian girl, who's been living in France for the past 6 years - Dara. She ended up being our tour guide in Battambang. She showed us around for a few hours and then three of us had dinner. We were suspicious in the beginning, since we haven't met very friendly locals so far. But she was the real deal and helped us a lot in Battambang!
So anyway we departed from Battambang about 7 am. And the boat ride was...awesome! Took us about 8 hours to get to Siem Reap, but we had beautiful weather on the way. Sunny, not a cloud and perhaps about 30C. We sat on the roof of the boat, where there were no seats (or railings) but that wasn't a problem, just had to hold on a little now and then. The best part about it though, was the scenery! It was amazing. We started out by going along the river floating through Battambang, which led us further out into the wetlands that is the "outskirts" of the huge lake between Battambang and Siam Reap. We got to see vast areas of trees growing right out of the water and floating villages. The boat went through unbelievibly narrow pathways through the vegetation on the water, forcing us to dodge branches on the roof of the boat! It was a great boatride, and after 8 hours we had reached our destination - Siem Reap!
Enjoying the cruise.
This is how narrow the river was in a few places!
Houses on stilts - this is how people live here.
Marcus & cambodian gangsta'!
One of the "floating" villages we passed.
On the boat we met a friend from Hoi An - Sophie, from England. Sophie and her boyfriend Simon are on route to see Angkor Wat as well. We joined them in the same Tuk-tuk to Siem Reap city centre and we're now staying at the same hotel. Tomorrow morning at 5 am (!) the four of us are going to watch the sunrise in Angkor Wat and then spend the entire day there! Gonna be legendary!
/C&M
So anyway we departed from Battambang about 7 am. And the boat ride was...awesome! Took us about 8 hours to get to Siem Reap, but we had beautiful weather on the way. Sunny, not a cloud and perhaps about 30C. We sat on the roof of the boat, where there were no seats (or railings) but that wasn't a problem, just had to hold on a little now and then. The best part about it though, was the scenery! It was amazing. We started out by going along the river floating through Battambang, which led us further out into the wetlands that is the "outskirts" of the huge lake between Battambang and Siam Reap. We got to see vast areas of trees growing right out of the water and floating villages. The boat went through unbelievibly narrow pathways through the vegetation on the water, forcing us to dodge branches on the roof of the boat! It was a great boatride, and after 8 hours we had reached our destination - Siem Reap!
Enjoying the cruise.
This is how narrow the river was in a few places!
Houses on stilts - this is how people live here.
Marcus & cambodian gangsta'!
One of the "floating" villages we passed.
On the boat we met a friend from Hoi An - Sophie, from England. Sophie and her boyfriend Simon are on route to see Angkor Wat as well. We joined them in the same Tuk-tuk to Siem Reap city centre and we're now staying at the same hotel. Tomorrow morning at 5 am (!) the four of us are going to watch the sunrise in Angkor Wat and then spend the entire day there! Gonna be legendary!
/C&M
Tourists in Phnom Penh
Woke up early today (we hate it) and had breakfast at our hotel. On our to-do list today, among other things, were the Killing Fields, so that's exactly where we went. The bus left 9 am and half an hour later we were there. The Killing Fields are, like we wrote yesterday, the fields were the people of Cambodia "not fitted" to be a part of society - according to the Khmer Rouge - were taken for execution. The area is filled with mass graves, today excavated. One of the mass graves held up to 450 people - women, children, young. Many of the trees on the fields were used as "killing trees" - where the Khmer Rouge would smash the heads of the people, especially children and infants(!). It was a way to save bullets. Others ways including using hatchets, knives & axes. Since the main religion in Cambodia is Bhuddism, the graves were excavated so that the bodies and spirits of the dead could be placed in a place where they could be honored by the living. So, a memorial stupa was built, now holding the bones of the victims. It's a really depressing place. Feels strange walking on the fields. So terrible things happened there. It's astounding how people could do this to each other. And it wasn't even in war or people of a different religion. This was their own people they massacred and slaughtered. Terrible. But it's a good thing that this place exist - to remember the ones who died and to never forget what happened.
Chris in front of the Memorial stupa.
Skulls.
After the Killing Fields we headed back into town for some sightseeing. We had lunch, enjoyed a coffe by the river, and then had a massage - performed by blind masseurs - hence the name of the place: "Seeing Hands Massage". Relaxed, we continued our tour through the city, past the royal palace, a silver pagoda,a couple of other monuments and even watched saw some monkeys climb the electrical wires just above the street.
A monkey playing with an electrical wire. Living on the edge!
Tomorrow, we're off to the city of Battambang, 30 km northwest of Phnom Penh. Staying there for just one night and from there we're going by boat to Siem Reap - and Angkor Wat :D
/ M & C
Chris in front of the Memorial stupa.
Skulls.
After the Killing Fields we headed back into town for some sightseeing. We had lunch, enjoyed a coffe by the river, and then had a massage - performed by blind masseurs - hence the name of the place: "Seeing Hands Massage". Relaxed, we continued our tour through the city, past the royal palace, a silver pagoda,a couple of other monuments and even watched saw some monkeys climb the electrical wires just above the street.
A monkey playing with an electrical wire. Living on the edge!
Tomorrow, we're off to the city of Battambang, 30 km northwest of Phnom Penh. Staying there for just one night and from there we're going by boat to Siem Reap - and Angkor Wat :D
/ M & C
Goodbye Vietnam!
Yep, you saw it! This morning was our last in Vietnam. We're now in a hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We left Saigon 9 am and had a nice and bumpy 6 hour bus ride. We've been spending our first day here in Phnom Penh just walking around the city and having a nice dinner with traditional Cambodian food. Took a stroll home through the city, watching people and buildings. So far, we think it's a nice city, but nothing really special about it. About 1,3 milj people live here in Phnom Penh and 15 milj total in Cambodia. This is, just as Vietnam, a former french colony. But they got independent the 9th november 1953, so yeah, we got here the on their national day! Though, they didn't really celebrate it a lot, except for some fireworks in the afternoon and Cambodian flags hanging everywhere. Though everything is getting better here, Cambodia has a dark history, especially between 1975-1979. That was when the Cambodia was ruled by the Rogue Khmer led by Pol Pot. They attepted a agricultural reform inspired by Maoism and Marxism and forced all the people in Phnom Penh and other big cities to go out on the fields and work for at least 12-15 hours a day. Young, old, sick or weak - it didn't matter. All scholars, monks and educated people were excecuted. This was going on for about 3½ years until Vietnamese forces invaded and put an end to their rule. It's estimated that over 1,4 million people died during those years. So tomorrow, we're taking a little trip to a place known as The Killing Fields. As you may understand, this is where they took people and killed them. Lots of massgraves and skulls to be found here. It's gonna be an interesting day tomorrow!
Marcus in Phnom Penh inside a Tuk-Tuk. A motorcycle with a carriage.
But, we didn't just kick back and relax yesterday. No no, we took a trip a couple of miles south of Saigon to the Mekong Delta. Mekong is the world's 12th longest river. It starts in Tibet and flows through China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and at last to Vietnam where it turns into a delta just before reaching the ocean. Lots of people live here and mainly, produce rice here. But a really beautiful place with lots of small canals and thick jungle surrounding it. We booked a tour and took the bus for two hours to get there. With us was also our partner in crime, Trent. And lots of other people of course, but screw them. We started by visiting a pagoda, or temple, with a gigantic Buddha outside. But we're kinda bored with all the temples now, so we didn't even bother to go inside.
Bros with giant Buddha.
After that we reached the delta and the river. We took a boat ride for about 30 min on the river to go to a small village. It was interesting to watch all the people and how they live and work on the river. When we came to the village, they showed us how they make the coconut candy (or lollies, whatever) they're famous for. And it tasted really good! Comes with different flavours - standard, peanut, chocolate and a few others. Marcus bought one bag with peanut taste and Trent bought one with chocolate. Chris was happy just taking from them. Before we left there, they showed us a big-ass snake! A "tame" snake (yeah right). Think it was a python. Trent disappeared before we even had time to see the snake, but marcus took it around his neck with a smile. Chris held a safety distance of 2 metres.
View from the boat.
Marcus with his new friend.
Then it was time to get into the boat again. This time in a really narrow canal, maybe 2-3m wide only. And with a guy that paddled. Almost like in Venice. Except for the jungle, of course. After a while, we had reached our destination and got off the boat. Now, it was time to watch some natives play traditional music. Three guys were playing on typical southeast asian instruments and two people were singing different songs. It was...maybe not the best we've heard. They are probably really good if you're into that kind of music, but to us it sounded like someone were strangling a bunch of cats. Really nasal and didn't sync with the music that much. Well well, it was an experience. After that we went to our bus and back to Saigon. Had dinner with Trent and went out to party in the evening (it was tough waking up today) and then took the bus to Cambodia this morning.
The guys - Trent, Chris & Marcus on the second boat.
We're gonna write a summary of our thoughts and experiences about Vietnam soon and post it here, and of course we'll give you the mugs of Vietnam too. In couple of days, or so. Time to go bed. Have fun in the snowstorm ;)
/ C & M
Marcus in Phnom Penh inside a Tuk-Tuk. A motorcycle with a carriage.
But, we didn't just kick back and relax yesterday. No no, we took a trip a couple of miles south of Saigon to the Mekong Delta. Mekong is the world's 12th longest river. It starts in Tibet and flows through China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and at last to Vietnam where it turns into a delta just before reaching the ocean. Lots of people live here and mainly, produce rice here. But a really beautiful place with lots of small canals and thick jungle surrounding it. We booked a tour and took the bus for two hours to get there. With us was also our partner in crime, Trent. And lots of other people of course, but screw them. We started by visiting a pagoda, or temple, with a gigantic Buddha outside. But we're kinda bored with all the temples now, so we didn't even bother to go inside.
Bros with giant Buddha.
After that we reached the delta and the river. We took a boat ride for about 30 min on the river to go to a small village. It was interesting to watch all the people and how they live and work on the river. When we came to the village, they showed us how they make the coconut candy (or lollies, whatever) they're famous for. And it tasted really good! Comes with different flavours - standard, peanut, chocolate and a few others. Marcus bought one bag with peanut taste and Trent bought one with chocolate. Chris was happy just taking from them. Before we left there, they showed us a big-ass snake! A "tame" snake (yeah right). Think it was a python. Trent disappeared before we even had time to see the snake, but marcus took it around his neck with a smile. Chris held a safety distance of 2 metres.
View from the boat.
Marcus with his new friend.
Then it was time to get into the boat again. This time in a really narrow canal, maybe 2-3m wide only. And with a guy that paddled. Almost like in Venice. Except for the jungle, of course. After a while, we had reached our destination and got off the boat. Now, it was time to watch some natives play traditional music. Three guys were playing on typical southeast asian instruments and two people were singing different songs. It was...maybe not the best we've heard. They are probably really good if you're into that kind of music, but to us it sounded like someone were strangling a bunch of cats. Really nasal and didn't sync with the music that much. Well well, it was an experience. After that we went to our bus and back to Saigon. Had dinner with Trent and went out to party in the evening (it was tough waking up today) and then took the bus to Cambodia this morning.
The guys - Trent, Chris & Marcus on the second boat.
We're gonna write a summary of our thoughts and experiences about Vietnam soon and post it here, and of course we'll give you the mugs of Vietnam too. In couple of days, or so. Time to go bed. Have fun in the snowstorm ;)
/ C & M
Exploring the Co Chi Tunnels!
Today we took a half day tour to the tunnels of Cu Chi, the tunnel system the vietnamese guerilla used as shelter and supply centers agains the americans in the vietnam war. It was really cool to see really how narrow and small the tunnels were, and just imagening spending days, weeks or even months in these dark, long, underground tunnels as the vietnamese soldiers did is impossible.
We left with the bus like 8.30 from Saigon city. With us was Trent, our american friend who landed in Saigon yesterday. Arrived around 10, and got to see some entrances (Now covered with roof), some really nasty traps the Vietcong set up in the jungle, some bunkers and stuff. Sat down for a lecture about how the tunnels were used tactically by the Vietcong. They also showed us a really old movie (think black & white, all grainy. Made in like 1967) about the "war heroes" of the vietnam people in the war. It was only propaganda showing the beautiful village of Cu Chi was destoyed by the americans and how some vietnamese farmers got the title of "American killer hero" after killing a bunch of americans. I mean, sure we're in Vietnam and they are really into their propaganda and stuff, but the whole movie was pretty comic. Since it's been like 40 years. :P
Marcus found a way out of the hole after a month and all he had to show was two lame "peace"signs.
This is how narrow some entrances were! It was crazy! Claustrophobic? Don't go in there!
One of the traps. Looks like harmless ground, but step on it and you are skrewed!
We also got to go to a shooting range and fire guns! Awesome!! We bought bullets (26.000 dong/bullet, so around 8 kronor/bullet) and fired AK47's, and Trent fired the AK as well as the M60. Feel the power!
Christopher saw someone wearing pink Crocs on his feet. He had to take him down.
So tomorrow we'll go to the Mekong Delta, as we said we would in our last post. Get to go on boat trips on the rivers, see floating markets and stuff. Hoping for the best! And good weather! Today was a great day with sun, it was hot! Now it's raining though (surprise), but hoping for itto stop before we're having dinner at 7 with Trent. Damn this wet season.
/M&C
We left with the bus like 8.30 from Saigon city. With us was Trent, our american friend who landed in Saigon yesterday. Arrived around 10, and got to see some entrances (Now covered with roof), some really nasty traps the Vietcong set up in the jungle, some bunkers and stuff. Sat down for a lecture about how the tunnels were used tactically by the Vietcong. They also showed us a really old movie (think black & white, all grainy. Made in like 1967) about the "war heroes" of the vietnam people in the war. It was only propaganda showing the beautiful village of Cu Chi was destoyed by the americans and how some vietnamese farmers got the title of "American killer hero" after killing a bunch of americans. I mean, sure we're in Vietnam and they are really into their propaganda and stuff, but the whole movie was pretty comic. Since it's been like 40 years. :P
Marcus found a way out of the hole after a month and all he had to show was two lame "peace"signs.
This is how narrow some entrances were! It was crazy! Claustrophobic? Don't go in there!
One of the traps. Looks like harmless ground, but step on it and you are skrewed!
We also got to go to a shooting range and fire guns! Awesome!! We bought bullets (26.000 dong/bullet, so around 8 kronor/bullet) and fired AK47's, and Trent fired the AK as well as the M60. Feel the power!
Christopher saw someone wearing pink Crocs on his feet. He had to take him down.
So tomorrow we'll go to the Mekong Delta, as we said we would in our last post. Get to go on boat trips on the rivers, see floating markets and stuff. Hoping for the best! And good weather! Today was a great day with sun, it was hot! Now it's raining though (surprise), but hoping for itto stop before we're having dinner at 7 with Trent. Damn this wet season.
/M&C
Moving on
After seven days of relaxing, drinking, partying and almost drowning in the ocean, we felt it was time to go on with our journey. We had so much fun in Hoi An, best so far and that's why we stayed there that long and that's why we haven't bloged that much either. Met so many fun and cool people and just enjoyed our time in Hoi An as much as we could. We just had too fun to sit down by the computer and write here, sorry guys ;)
Drinking at Phattie's. This was monday 12:00. It turned out to be a looong day.
Same day, couple of hours later. Now with two british girls, Sofie & Roz who
we tricked into coming to phattie's that day. They ended up missing their bus.
A last photo outside our sanctuary.
But all fun has its ends. We left Hoi An on wednesday 18:00. The first plan was to go to the beach city Nha Trang, but after a few hours of thinking we changed our minds and decided to head straight for Saigon. Reason? Simply that it rains in all of southern vietnam right now and there are floodings here and there (including Nha Trang). So we'd rather spend the rainy days in a big city like Saigon than a beach town. The bus ride was fun - 24 hours! And it was a crappier bus than the one we had from Hanoi to Hue. Not enough curtains to make it dark, no toilet(!) and less space for the legs. But, amazing as we are, we made it! Arrived in Saigon around 19:00. Found a cheap hotel and then had dinner and a few beers with some friends we had met in Hoi An. Actually, we saw six people our first two hours here in Saigon, that we had earlier met in Hoi An. Probably not gonna be the last time either.
View from the bus, not too bad.
We had a good night sleep (needed that from the bus ride), went for breakfast about one o'clock and then to the cambodian embassy to fix our visas. Best embassy ever! The visas took 17 minutes to get, Chris had forgot his photo and we both needed photocopies of our passports according to the rules. They didn't care. We just paid and got the visas 17 minutes later, awesome! Celebrated with som icecream and then moved on to the first and only museum we've planned on visiting in Saigon - The War Remnants Museum. They focus on collecting, preserving and exhibiting proofs of Vietnam War crimes and their consequenses. There were many, many horrible and awful photos of civilians that were injured or killed in the war. Children lying dead in the streets, victims of napalm with half their faces burnt off, deformed children born in the 90's - a result of the chemical warfare the U.S applied.
They also had the story behind the war with lots of photos with that. Really interesting - and terrible.
Celebrating our Cambodian visas.
Say hello to my little friend!
Now we're back in our hotel. Took a taxi back, since heaven opened up and decided to make this city a swimming pool. Going out for dinner soon. In the upcoming days we're going to excursions to the Mekong Delta and to some tunnels used during the war. Don't exactly know which days we'll do what, but we'll figure.
/C & M
Drinking at Phattie's. This was monday 12:00. It turned out to be a looong day.
Same day, couple of hours later. Now with two british girls, Sofie & Roz who
we tricked into coming to phattie's that day. They ended up missing their bus.
A last photo outside our sanctuary.
But all fun has its ends. We left Hoi An on wednesday 18:00. The first plan was to go to the beach city Nha Trang, but after a few hours of thinking we changed our minds and decided to head straight for Saigon. Reason? Simply that it rains in all of southern vietnam right now and there are floodings here and there (including Nha Trang). So we'd rather spend the rainy days in a big city like Saigon than a beach town. The bus ride was fun - 24 hours! And it was a crappier bus than the one we had from Hanoi to Hue. Not enough curtains to make it dark, no toilet(!) and less space for the legs. But, amazing as we are, we made it! Arrived in Saigon around 19:00. Found a cheap hotel and then had dinner and a few beers with some friends we had met in Hoi An. Actually, we saw six people our first two hours here in Saigon, that we had earlier met in Hoi An. Probably not gonna be the last time either.
View from the bus, not too bad.
We had a good night sleep (needed that from the bus ride), went for breakfast about one o'clock and then to the cambodian embassy to fix our visas. Best embassy ever! The visas took 17 minutes to get, Chris had forgot his photo and we both needed photocopies of our passports according to the rules. They didn't care. We just paid and got the visas 17 minutes later, awesome! Celebrated with som icecream and then moved on to the first and only museum we've planned on visiting in Saigon - The War Remnants Museum. They focus on collecting, preserving and exhibiting proofs of Vietnam War crimes and their consequenses. There were many, many horrible and awful photos of civilians that were injured or killed in the war. Children lying dead in the streets, victims of napalm with half their faces burnt off, deformed children born in the 90's - a result of the chemical warfare the U.S applied.
They also had the story behind the war with lots of photos with that. Really interesting - and terrible.
Celebrating our Cambodian visas.
Say hello to my little friend!
Now we're back in our hotel. Took a taxi back, since heaven opened up and decided to make this city a swimming pool. Going out for dinner soon. In the upcoming days we're going to excursions to the Mekong Delta and to some tunnels used during the war. Don't exactly know which days we'll do what, but we'll figure.
/C & M
