Cambodia - Angkor

After two days in Phnom Penh, I travelled to Siem Reap to visit the old temples of Angkor.

Angkor was the capital of the ancient Khmer Empire (802 to 1432) and spreads out over about 200km2. These temples were rediscovered by European explorers in the 19th century, but conservation and restoration work came to a hold between the 1950s and 1990s due to to the wars and the terrible regime of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

What surprised me during the visit, next to the vast extend of Angkor, is the large variety in the temples. Depending on the period they were built, they were dedicated to different religions and gods. Some are dedicated to Buddha, others to Hindu deities, others to both.... this shows in the architecture of the temples.

I went to see both a sunset and a sunrise and both times I was lucky with a getting to see a clear sky and beautiful scenery. During the day it some times was very, very hot, but inside the stones of the temples it was generally nice and cool. Speaking of inside the temples: some of them are quite a challenge to visit because of the steep stairs (if climbing rocks can be called as such!) More often than not, I decided that looking at the temples from the bottom - I did not feel like risking my life climbing around too much. Climbing up often looked quite ok - but I am not sure I would have made it down again...

But my time was not only filed with discovering the history. Spending this few days in Cambodia was an eye-opener for me. Most people are poor and still suffer a lot from the atrocities performed in the last years. The Khmer Rouge regime officially "only" was at the power from 1975 to 1979. But in that time they managed to kill about a fifth(!) of the population. This period was followed with the war with Vietnam and internal conflicts. It is only since the early 1990s that there is kind of political stability. But half of the population today is below 16 and there are children everywhere on the streets and trying to earn or beg some money from the tourists.

Landmines are also a big problem. There are estimates of 3 to 6 million landmines still lying around the county. When visiting Angkor, tourists are advised not to leave the official tracks as there are unexploded landmines in the fields... I went to see a landmine museum, sponsored by an NGO, which aims to help clear the fields of landmines and also offers a home and education from children either orphaned or wounded by landmines. What stroke me most was their 2009 budget: they have 13 full time employees on site and the budget salary expenses for the full year of 2009 is USD 2000.-. For all 13 people! So with very little money a lot could be done....

I have now found out how to insert some pictures in a slide show... so here a selection of Angkor.

If you wish to see all pictures taken, please see following link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39887487@N05/collections/72157620668363976/

I am now in Kuala Lumpur, in a very nice internet cafe and am going to explore both KL and mainland Malaysia in the next few days.

Mekong Delta

I travelled from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh in Cambodia through the Mekong Delta, most of it by boat.

The different types of boats I came across were:

People live on or next to the rivers and we visited several floating markets where goods (mainly agricultural) are exchanged from boat to boat. To signal to others what they sell, each boat has a long bamboo stick, on which they attach the goods sold:

as you can see, every house has its antenna and a TV

Some of the many cute children I have seen and met during these days:

Life takes place on the boats - even the animals don't miss. The coq, dog and pig are just three representatives of many more animals I saw!

This region is full of contrasts: new and old houses, slow and quick boats, beautiful landscapes and polluted waters,.... the journey on the boat was loooooooong, (especially on the last day, crossing the boarder from Vietnam to Cambodia) but it was worthwhile taking the slow route and getting all these different impressions!

After two days in Phnom Penh, I am off to Siem Reap and Angkor tomorrow morning.

Ho Chi Minh City

I only spent two days in Saigon and walked around the city center which still has some very nice French buildings. Here a selection:

People's Committee Building, or what used to be the Hotel de Ville

Opera House (unfortunately nothing was on, while I was there....)

Main post office - I have sent a parcel back home from here...but by ship... so it will probably arrive for the end of the summer...

Cathedral

The area with the cheap hotels for all the tourists looks a bit different....

View of my Hotel (I had a room on 2nd floor - lucky me! (but have also been on 4th floor once...that was not too fun!)

Restaurant serving delicious breakfast - view of the kitchen, which is open to the street.

The main pictures shows the Reunification Palace.

Dalat to Mui Ne ....by Motorbike

After Nha Trang, I decided to go to Dalat for a few days mainly because this city in the central mountains is at 1500m and therefore is refreshing cool compared to the coast.

In order to visit the surrounding countryside I booked a tour with a local "easy rider". I took me to many places around Dalat (temples, waterfalls, farmers and much more). This tour was so great that I decided to travel to Mui Ne with the same driver... so off we went, with all my luggage on the motorbike. These three days on the bike were just fantastic. Not only did my driver Binh (alias Dunhill) show me the most amazing countrysides. He also told me lot about the Vietnamese life, especially about the farmers. Since the reforms in 1990, when they got back their land after years of cooperatives, they are doing very well. They are responsible for their families (have to pay education and health care by themselves) but on the other side they are free to grow what they want. Many grow coffee as primary resource. But as coffee only allows for one harvest a year, they have alternative sources of revenue, such a growing mushrooms, tea or flowers. These alternatives provide them with a regular source of income. Many of the farmers have been able to build very nice houses - in stone and often very imposing.

We spent a the night in Di Linh, a small city between Dalat and Mui Ne. While I was walking down the main street, most of the kids were waiving and saying hello, and some women came to touch my white skin. It was an incredible experience... we could not communicate except for exchanging large smiles, but we all seemed to enjoy meeting each others. It was one of the few moments so far, where I really had the feeling to be close to the Vietnamese people and having finally left the tourist track for a few precious moments. Below are a pictures from the trip:

Silk factory - production of silk from the initial cooking to take off the cocoon to waving the material

Distillery in a farm house producing local alcohol from rice:

The Crazy House in Dalat - guesthouse built by a local woman architect, there are several strange buildings and each room has a special theme - mainly representing different animals.

Bao Dai's summer palace, built in 1933 and inspired by art deco. I very much liked this building very typical of that period:

Views of farmland around Dalat:

Coffee :

Views in the countryside:

View from my hotel room in Di Linh:

Here some pics from the production of rice noodles: the rice is cooked in water and then dried in big squares before being cut into noodles (below):

Mui Ne, a small beach side resort, is famous for its sand dunes and for relaxing. After my trip on the motorbike I spent two days here - just relaxing, reading and enjoying the beach. Tomorrow I am off to Ho Chi Minh City.

Central Vietnam - Hue

Over the last few days I have visited central Vietnam.

Hue is famous for it's citadel, imperial city and the tombs of Vietnamese kings. I visited a lot of it, being submerged in culture and history for a few days. But don't quiz me on it - I don't seem to remember half of what I have been told.

One day I also took a tour to the DMZ (De Militarised Zone) which became one of the major war fields during the war. Luckily not much is left to see today 35 years later, except that all trees in the region are less than 30 years old - telling a sad story of what this region must have looked like after the war.

Picture from a "family shelter" in the Vinh Moc tunnels. These tunnels where built and used by civilians during the American-Vietnamese war and where used during 6 years.

Map of the Vinh Moc tunnels


Memorial at the Hien Luong Bridge over the Ben Hai River (which limited the North and the South during the war)