Into cambodia
Hi from Pnom Penh :)
I just did an entry and it got wiped so this one will be a lot shorter...
OK - so back to Mekong Delta... The second day of the tour was a lot better - more interesting and better organised... We went to the floating markets -which tour books describe as beautful... not exactly beautiful but were interesting (sold fresh fruits etc)... Saw a few other things along the way... liek coconut candy making... but was ncie relaxing day. We got a bus from there to Rach Gia. Our hotel wasn't exactly in the town centre and when stella and i went out in search of dinner we got very stared at - we didn't feel unsafe, just very uncomfortable... after an hour of wandering we finally found a place to serve us a meal (a lot of places didn't understand enough english or sign language to know we wanted food)... The next day we caught the fast boat to Phu Quoc Island - thank goodness it was fast - the 2.5hrs didn't nd quick enough - the passage wasn't that calm and they don't get up fromt heir seats to be sick - so we had retching all around us (in plastic bags) but still not nice... finally made it to dry land and got to our hotel thanks to an expensive taxi ride. The bungalow was simple but was so good to be on solid ground... had a mosquito net around the beds which is always nice... unfortunately only had cold water - which wasn't that great - esp as i came down with a bad cold.. - yep on my bday :( (decided to have my bday again while in cambodia). We went for a dive but i had to come up after about 10mins as i couldn't equalise my ears... just did snorkelling after that... The diving was pretty easy-going... lots of nudibranchs and small fish etc. I ddi have a good snorkel and the day was nice being out on the water on calm seas... Had dinner at one of the fancy beach restuarants altho wasn't feeling very gourmet... We took the next day pretty easy - walk into town, laze about, had a swim etc etc and had a very yummy meal that night.
The boat back to Rach Gia the next day was a lot better - altho there wre a few sick people, the passage was a lot calmer. We followed some tourists to the bus stop and found a mini bus to Chau Doc... the journey took about 3hrs with this little old lady running the show... she tried to make stella share her little pullout seat with her, eventually the bus reshuffled to let stella and i have our own seats and her share with this poor vietnamese teenage boy... but the ride was ok and we found our floating hotel (had warm shower - yay!)...
In vietnam we have seen lots of little shacks by the sides of roads and lots of bathing, washing, rubbishing in the river, living above in in little wooden shacks that don't look like they could stand up to a puff of wind, with your wardrobe hanging outside and your kitchen on the deck... We never felt threatened in Vietnam... only like celebraties at some points when everyone was wacing and wanting you to say hello to them as you passed... and the people were generally very nice and helpful. Food of course was nice and cheap (between 2-5US/meal) and loads of fresdh fruit - yum!
Anyway had our border crossing by fast boat into cambodia today - was pretty easy - the guide took care of p[retty muc all of it - very painless - altho long (got to Pnom Penh at 3 - 2hrs after we were meant to). Saw the royal palace and organsied our diving...
We are going to the killing fields tomorrow morning and then catching the bus to Sihanoukville (on the coast) - about 4hrs away... We are then going to have about 5 days there before heading north again, eventually to Siem Reap adn Angkor Wat.
Cambodia so far has been a lot prettier... loads of temples etc and greener from we had seen in vietnam (plus we dont have disorganised tour leading us around!)
Anyway off the net and to bed!~
later
PS thanks for all the bday wishes!!!