Arriving in Siem Reap, home city of Angkor Wat (Cambodia and possibly South East Asia’s biggest crowd puller), one of the officials on the bus told us that all the tourists were to get of the bus early before reaching the bus station. This was in our best interests as we would be given a free tuk tuk ride to the guesthouse of our choice, and thus avoid all the “thieves at the bus station who will steal your wallet and camera”. Somewhat sceptical we got in our free tuk tuk and where taken to, surprise surprise, the same guesthouse…
My first impressions of Cambodia couldn’t be more different from those in Vietnam. The people here are so friendly. Generally the level of English is good and we’ve been approached by many a local who just wants to talk. They are very open and willing to talk about many things in their lives. If people walk or bump into you, they apologise immediately, even if it wasn’t their fault. That is such a far cry Vietnam, for instance, the tour guide who pushed me out of the way in the Ho Chi Minh museum because I was reading the display…
After our bad start in Vietnam around Nameo, although things got better for us, we continued to hear more horror stories of bad tours and tourist rip offs along with being confronted with rude aggressive people. We decided against seeing Ha Long Bay due to the weather and the fact that not one other traveller we spoke to felt they got their money’s worth with a trip that turned out to be everything but what it was advertised as. We continued to hear similar stories in Hanoi and Hue, invariably people were disappointed with their visits to Sa Pa (one…
I’m really not in a writing mood so you’ll have to wait a bit for more America bashing along with my latest experiences in Vietnam. Heading in the direction of Cambodia tomorrow up the Mekong delta. For the time being, as a follow on from my Secret War post, have a read over this Amnesty International article about Laos. Thanks to Jordi and Nuria for sending the link over.
A short post for once. I’ve updated the photo gallery with collections from Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya, Umphang and Chiang Mai. The “Hall of Fame” is also new, a collection of photos of quality people that I’ve met while traveling. Check them all out in the Photo Gallery
Well, we’re still in Vietnam and as they say, time does heal wounds. Hanoi is crazy. Not Delhi crazy, but crazy none the less. Population is three million and there must be about two million mopeds buzzing around. Most don’t bother paying attention to traffic lights so at cross junctions motorbikes from four directions pile on in, and miraculously after a lot of weaving most come out the other side unscathed. Despite this crossing the road is not a problem. One just walks across as if crossing a stream, and the traffic flows around either side. Hanoi is quite cool…
“All the peoples on earth are equal” Ho Chi Minh Unless of course you are a western tourist in Vietnam. Never before have I entered a country and wanted to leave within the first 24 hours. Many of the travellers I’ve met that have been to Vietnam were negative about their experiences. Of course there are a few who loved it, but I’d heard that the people are very aggressive and not friendly. This was reinforced further when Jordi said “I’ll never go back there”. Still, you can’t judge for yourself until you try it. Our last day in Laos…
Everyone has heard about the Vietnam war, but what do you know about the secret war waged by America in Laos? The 1954 Geneva Convention established Laos as neutral. This was recognised at the time by the USA, yet in 1955, the CIA created a special programs to replace French support of the Royal Laos Army against the communist Pathet Lao. The US kept their hands clean using CIA trained local Hmong tribesmen fighting against the Pathet Lao. This escalated and with the start of the Second Indochina war (The American Vietnam war ) America took the opportunity to run…