Kep

The Irish Place, where we stayed, is in a good location for the old city of Phnom Penh, however, while also cheap has one or two downsides. It has a very loud bar, which is frequented by expats and NGO (non government organisation) personal, who like to get drunk....

The cook rarely gets up before mid morning, so find breakfast elsewhere. When he does cook, the food is very good.

Generally the mattresses in Lao, Cambodia and Thailand, are very firm, think tabletop. However, the mattress at the Irish Place was sprung. Only problem is you could feel every spring digging in hips, side, back and legs. It would have been more comfortable sleeping standing up. Surprising what one can get used to!!
Anyway from there moved to Kep. A totally different kettle of fish, or should I say crab!

Kep is a small place on the coast, not far from Vietnam. It is famous for its eating crabs and prawns.
We decided to give VIP buses a miss, and brought a cheap ticket for a local bus. The journey takes about three hours from Phnom Penh. It was considerably more comfortable than a VIP minibus!!

Arrived and found that our first choice guesthouse was fully booked. Pat, the owner of the Irish Place, had mentioned a place, so we went there. Very nice, a/c bungalows at $35, or a wooden shack with a fan at $18, (£11). Guess what Yvonne and Mike had, lol. Liked the place and the owners, so we stayed 3 nights before moving on.

Place had its own pool, great views, and 500 metres from the crab market and restaurants. 

Apart from crabs, this place is the 'champagne' region for pepper. Organic Kampot pepper is reputedly the best pepper in the world. So visited an organic pepper plantation, and brought some.

Leave you with some photos. Our hut. Sunset from our hut. The pool. Pepper plant, and drying. Kep land, sea? mark.

City Life

Well, been in Phnom Penh five nights, four days. Very hectic, grid street layout, not very pedestrian friendly, although the promenade is a nice walk.

Went to the national museum, a kind of mish mash collection of Cambodian stone carvings of Buddhism and Hindi deities, although the gardens were very nice!

Day two went to one of the killing fields just outside the city. There are over 300 known killing fields in Cambodia. We took one photograph of the memorial, which contains the skulls of some of the victims.

Then to the 'Tuolsleng' museum. Before Pol Pot it was a school. The Khmer Rouge turned into a torture camp, renamed the infamous 'Security Prison S21'. Only 7 survived!!

The following day was 'shop until you drop'. The Russian market, which sells everything you can think of. Very low roof giving a closed, claustrophobic atmosphere. Everything packed together, very close passages. Didn't buy anything!!

Then to the Central Market, housed in an art Deco building of the 1930's. Big, airy, high vaulted ceilings, a complete contrast. Yvonne brought a pair of cotton trousers for a couple of quid.

Then to the Night Market, where we had dinner from the street food vendors. We sat on carpets in the market square to eat our meal. Yvonne brought a pair of cotton trousers for a couple of quid, well more shorts than trousers.

Michael eventually made it to a street side bar and had a couple of well earned beers!!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we catch a VIP bus, ha ha ha, to Kep, on the coast, famous for its crabs (the eating kind!!)

Leave you with some photos... Its dusty in Phnom Penh. Memorial, full of skulls. Art Deco Central Market. On the promenade. Dinning alfresco. 

Phnom Peng

Decided to move country. Boat trip to catch a (VIP) minibus, ha, ha, ha.... Seat capacity 12 persons, actual capacity 19 persons, 4 crammed into the front, with the driver. Every ones luggage stuffed under seats, in aisles, everywhere. In addition: one car battery; four plastic containers, about 20 litres each, full of petrol; three large sacks of charcoal. The driver then tried to cram three more passengers in, lol. Mike has strange thoughts about barbeque.

Journey begins. The van has speakers in the back, non in the front by the driver, who puts some really ghastly music on, pumps up the volume as he can't hear it in the front. Turns off the a/c and opens his window. Is he trying to punish us for refusing to have additional passengers sitting on us?? We open all the windows, and put in ear defenders. Catch us out only once, been on VIP coaches/minibuses before...

Arrive at border, do not let any one without a uniform have our passports, (yes sir/madam $45, cost of visa gone up, will take care for you). Yea right...
As it happens the cost has gone up to $30, plus the scam of five dollars administration fee. Also costs $2 to leave Laos.

Yvonne and Mike tramp across no man's land. No idea why everyone else is staying at the Laos border. Ignore the 'nurses' station, where they wave a thermometer at you (infection control, my arse), only a dollar each! Only another scam!!!
Get visa, get it stamped for entry into Cambodia, and wait for VIP bus number two. Other people are only just starting to walk across the border. Were they waiting for permission??

VIP bus number two arrives, who would have guessed, another minibus. Attempts to overload again. We strongly suggest they send an additional one. They agree much to our amazement. One leaves, we wait another hour and 1/2. Then we find out why they also thought it would be a good idea to have two VIP minibuses.
They still manage to fill this mini bus up to capacity. After 300 metres, around the bend the road turns into a proving ground for tanks and other military vehicles. Ah think Yvonne and Michael, not a concern for passengers, but springs!!

This goes on for 20 - 30 km, then the road improves considerably by becoming a dirt track, lol. However, to be fair the roads do improve, and we arrive at some guesthouse car park, somewhere. The passengers from VIP bus number one are there, and have been for an hour and 1/2.
'VIP bus coming, 10 minutes, who go to Phnom Penh?)

True to his word (almost) the VIP minibus turns up 1/2 hour later. On we cram and away we go.
We started this journey at 0800, by catching the boat. At 6pm we arrive at Kratie, pulling into another car park at another guesthouse. It is dark. 'How long to Phnom Penh?' we enquire. '5 hours, bus here in 10 minutes'. True to his word (almost) the bus arrives in 1/2 hour. It is difficult to get us all on board, two have to stay overnight, because a piece of furniture, a large wardrobe occupies one whole side ( seats have been removed), and the aisles. On we cram onto our VIP minibus and off we speed. I do mean speed.... Twenty minutes later the driver hits a dog, we feel the bus going over it, the driver laughs and does not stop.. He does not realise his passengers are dog loving vegetarians, who will not be giving him any tips!!

The bus has one of those pull down screens attached to the roof, it is on, it is loud, it is playing sing along karaoke music. The scrip is in Thai, as is the singing. No one feels remotely like singing. Mike asks if anybody wants it on, nobody did, except our dog killing driver. So Mike switched it off.

At 23.20 we arrive in Phnom Penh. This time at some random food stall, where the driver wants to eat, probably road kill. (take you, good guesthouse later). Yvonne, Mike and an Australian woman, called Heather, grab our bags, consult our maps and go. Heather has booked into 'Our Mates Place', Mike and Yvonne try their luck there, but no go. Make our way with friendly tuk tuk driver to 'The Irish Place'. No problem, have a drink, says Pat, the landlord.
And our journey ends. Took us about the same time to get from Birmingham to Bangkok. The journey from Don Khon, Laos to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is advertised to take 11 hours (my arse).

Leave you with some photos. Yvonne on her bike. On the river. Those ruts were deep. A view from the balcony of our room in Phnom Penh.

'Happy Meal'

Caught a boat from Don Kohng to Don Det, a much smaller island some kilometres south. The guide book says you can walk around the island in about two hours. All we can say is the author must have had a happy meal first!!  (Explain later).

The boat takes over an hour, going with the current while using an outboard motor, and drops its passenger's off at the northern tip of the island. We have a good idea of the place we want to stay. Its about halfway up the east side, we reckon 20 minutes or so. 

Not so. Time for a little light exercise!!! Some 40 minutes later, about 3 or 4 km, we reach the place, which is closed for maintenance/repairs. We rest for a while.

Another 3 km to just before the 'French Bridge', where we find the 'River Garden' guest house. Individual huts facing the river. Looks nice and clean, so we stay... 50,000 kip (£3.80), but some of the food items a tad expensive.
"Notice your pumpkin burgers are 15000 kip, and your 'happy' pumpkin burgers are 40000 kip, why is that?" Enquiries Mike. "Marijuana", replies the host. Very American, does he mean cannabis? " Yes, but all run out."

Mike notices they also serve a 'happy pizza', and a 'happy shake'. Of course this is all highly illegal in Laos... And they have undercover agents out to catch those who partake!!

The 'French Bridge' links Don Det to Don Khon, which is a bigger island, and much more conservative. After a night in the 'River Garden', we change islands and accommodation. River Garden is not quite all it seems. Bathroom shower is but a trickle, no sink, and an ants nest in the bed. At least the snakes stayed outside, unlike about every other creepy crawly on the island. Used the mosquito net as a cocoon, lol. Now in a much nicer riverside shack, brand new with a/c. Three times the cost, but ten times the value.
No wonder customers need a happy meal in the other place!!!

Note: The greeting in Laos is 'sai be dee', which sounds like Zebedee, of the magic roundabout.... Mike thought the reply for Don Det should be 'Dillon hey man'!!
The photo of the cluster around the
light are in fact insects!

Some pictures of first guesthouse, the French Bridge, view from our next guesthouse at sunset.

Moving South

Pakse, the former Indochinese capital. We stay one night.

Many of the people in Pakse look terminally depressed, especially the ones who work at our guesthouse. After looking around Pakse we understand why!! The place looks and feels as if designed by clinically depressed town planners and architect's, (Oh why bother, what's the use?) First photo..

Described by many as a stop off point on the way to or from Four Thousand Islands; an archipelago of islands at the end of the Mekong river. It takes about 3.5 hours in a mini VCP (very creatively packed) van to get from Pakse to the 4000. Roads are quite good, but then it is getting closer to the border with Cambodia.

We arrive at the banks of the Mekong and jump on a a ferry made from two lashed together hulls, and a couple of planks. Only Mike and Yvonne are going to this island, called 'Don Khong'. The rest stay on the minibus destined for one of the smaller 'party' islands!!

Booked into a room at the Don Kong guesthouse, 60,000 kip a night, a bit under £5. Nice views of the river. Will stay here for a few days before moving to a smaller island called Dom  Khon, which is further south. Right time of the year for the fresh water dolphins, which like to play around the island of Dom Khon.

Leave you with some photos of Pakse, the ferry, view from our balcony, on our balcony, and some boats!

Vientiane

Vientiane is the capital of Laos. It is on the banks of the Mekong river. If you ever get the chance to visit, don't bother!!! Everything is expensive, and it seems that the belief is that if you are a tourist the you must be rich.... So give some to me, and me, and me!!!

Tuk tuk drivers will want to charge a ridiculous amount for the shortest of journey's. Its a good job both of us are quite happy to walk.

Found a nice guest house, one of the few wooden buildings in this concrete jungle.
At the moment it is the end of the Buddhist lent. The monks are let out of the monastery's where they have been locked in for contemplation, etc. (see picture of happy monk/statue).
Big event, with miniature boats sent floating down river at night, lit with candles. Then come the dragon boat races....
During this time there is a market where vendors out shout each other to sell stuff. To be louder than the next person it is an advantage to have powerful amplifiers, and speakers the size of doors.
It is impossible to hear someone who is shouting next to you. The level of noise is absolutely deafening.
Then at 11.30 is suddenly stops. The silence rings in the ears.

Both Yvonne and Mike do not like this place very much and so are leaving after only two days.
However, did go to the 'Cope' foundation. A rehabilitation, prosthetic manufacturing/fitting facility, for people who have lost limbs, mostly in accidents involving munitions still around after the Vietnam war.

Leave you with some photos. Yvonne has mastered chop sticks.

Nam Xong

Nam means river. We booked a day kayaking, visiting a cave, and tubing in an underground river. Just a little light exercise you understand.

We were taken 30 km upriver, where 4 of us, Yvonne, Mike, and a Korean girl called Jasmine, along with our guide, set off in two kayaks. Yvonne and Mike in one, Jasmine and our guide, Louin, in the other.

A paddle down the quite swiftly moving river xong soon brings us to a Buddhist shrine in a limestone cave where the water has carved what seem to be elephants into the rock!!  The temple bell is made from a bomb casing!!

A walk of a couple of km brings us to the mouth of the underground river. Equipped with head lamps, and a rubber ring, we find ourselves pulling along ropes into the cave against the current!!  Nice and cool, into the cave we go. Its like a tube where the rock has dissolved into a smooth ripple like surface. There are some quite sharp rocks, so we have to keep our wits about us. After about 30 minutes we come to the end of the rope system, let go and let the current take us back the way we came.
Looking at the walls of the tube Mike thinks of a small intestine... well you can guess the rest!!

After lunch we head back to the kayaks for a paddle of around 15 km, stopping once on a river bank, and once at a 'tubing' bar, for a drink. A tubing bar is where people grab a tuk tuk from the town to one of these bars upriver, about 10 km away. Then party with lots of booze, hire a tube (inner tube for a lorry tyre), sit in the tube and launch off into the river, to arrive some 30/40 minutes later, back in town. Yvonne and Mike were the oldest swingers in town....

Stayed for a drink, then back on the river for the last leg. Dispite moving down the river there is quite a lot of paddling, to avoid just submerged rocks, and manoeuvre through the occasional white water. Both enjoyed it, but quite tired and ready for a rest!!

VIP (very important post)

Up early to get to the bus station to catch the bus to Vang Vieng. A journey of about 7 hours on our VIP coach, and our first experience of Lao roads between places.

The coach turns out to be bigger than a minibus, but smaller than a regular bus. It has these fold down mini seats that occupy the aisle as well as the 'normal' seats. This means that when the bus is full, it is Very Imaginably Packed... and indeed it was!
That's right folks this is all about VIP.

The roads are full of curves, switchbacks and potholes. At one point we thought that VIP meant Vanishing Into Potholes!!

Yvonne and Mike spent many happy hours thinking what VIP stands for in Lao speak. Here are some of their thoughts....

Vot Is Problem?!!
Vertical Into Precipice.
Vomiting Is Permissible.
Very Impotent Passenger.
Etc..... There were more but we will spare you.

The road to Vang Vieng goes up and across a mountainous region. In fact Lao is very hilly/mountainous. The roads are cut into the hillside. Every kilometre, or less, part of the slope either falls onto the road, or the road falls into the valley below.
Of course this is only a real problem when it rains, and boy did it rain....

The driver was skilled, and seemed to know every inch of the road. We stopped for lunch.
Part of being on a VIP coach is that lunch is provided. I use the word 'lunch' very loosely here. Imagine a big pot containing a grey, greasy bubbling mass with objects, we think chicken bones, breaking the surface from time to time. Our Chinese and other European passengers got stuck in, the British had a beer  some cheese crackers and a magnum ice cream, lol.

Arrived in one piece. Safe and sound with wet rucksacks.
The information we had said the guesthouse we were interested in was only a short distance. Short distance is about as accurate as VIP in Laoernese. Time for some light exercise... 4 km later we arrive, lol. Worth it as we have a fantastic view from the balcony of our a/c room. (see last picture)