Banlung, Ranatakiri

After a few days in Siem Reap we headed to Banlung (pronounced barn loong) in the province of Ranatakiri, which is “out in the sticks” of  far North-Eastern Cambodia.

Kim behind a waterfall

Although still a beautiful and relatively undeveloped area, the change is coming fast. Here the native bush is being clear-felled at a rapid rate and being replaced with Chinese-owned rubber and cashew plantations. The roads are wide and flawless. One of the locals told us that the roads were built by the Chinese so that they could log the area even faster. The clear-felling and burning reminded me a bit of home. The jobs bonus included at least one bloke being employed, driving a tractor that dug post holes for the trees to be planted in.

Tony, at the bungalow, about to clean teeth

Our first room was in a bungalow in the bush on the outskirts of town. There was no air conditioning and stuff felt damp like it does in the tropics with very high humidity. The door of the room had been left open, with the light on and there were a fair few insects inside. We brushed most of them out – but not all of them. I got stung by a bee on the soft part of my foot, which bloody hurt, much more than bull ant stings do. Shortly afterwards Kim also got stung on her foot, so we decided not to stay for two nights like we had originally planned. Besides, there was no wi-fi in the rooms!!

The accommodation came highly recommended in the Lonely Planet guide, mainly because of the quaint bungalows in the bush setting. There was a good atmosphere in the restaurant area, but the down side is all the Western tourists, talking loudly on their mobile phones and being a little too demanding of the staff. These come as a result of the publicity.

Once we got to the natural bush we went to a waterfall where we met a 70 year old Canadian woman that had retired to Cambodia. She was really talkative, almost too talkative. She spilled her guts to us, and told us of her life and travels, and gave graphic details of how she had been attacked in her house in New Guinea. The details of the attack are too gruesome to write about on here, but she was left for dead. However, she was remarkably resilient. She said that she had not spoken to anyone in English for months, perhaps explaining her enthusiasm.

The next day the owner of our bungalow took us to a new hotel. He apologised for the bees and said there was a large nest near our room. An older Australian lady had fallen over and seemed surprised that her leg was not broken, even though she could walk on it. I expressed my sympathy to her, but the term “drama queen” did enter my thoughts.

Our new hotel, for an extra $2 per night

The new hotel was really nice and not that much more expensive. We got to talk to our friends and family back home on Skype. It was great to be able to say ‘Happy Mothers Day’ with a webcam at both ends.

Getting out of here on the bus proved to be a bit of a saga, as we accidentally gave the bus company the wrong pickup address. We had to get the reception staff to contact the bus company. Their English was poor to non-existent, but somehow we managed. The bus was small, cramped and hot, but it was still a relief to be heading out.

Tonle Sap Lake

The next day we headed to Tonle Sap Lake.


Tonle Sap is unique because the river that feeds it reverses direction twice per year.






The Tonle Sap River flows into the lake during the wet season and out during the dry season.



When we visited it was the end of the dry season and the canals that connected our boat to the main lake were very low. Large wooded boats were getting “bogged” in the mud, and blokes had to get out of the boats and try to lift the boat out of the sand. They motors were revving hard and a rooster tail of muddy water was spraying out the back.

Once we got to the lake, it appeared huge and you could not see the other side of it, just a distant horizon. The lake has a floating village. People that have constructed houses on top of boats, that include cages to contain fish and even crocodiles in farms. There are schools here and even a floating Catholic church. We ended up getting scammed again here, and were asked to buy food from a shop, then take the food to the orphanage to give to the kiddies. However the food prices were extravagant, even by Australian standards. We bought a carton of 50 packets of noodles for $20 and donated them to the poor kiddies, knowing that the shopkeeper was probably taking half.

That's havna!! A kid rowed up to us in a basin to show us a snake

In the afternoon I went to the museum. Kim had been feeling under the weather so she had a sleep. Cambodia under the control of the French was once known as Indo-China. The museum pretty much emphasised the history of that amalgamation of both Indian and Asian cultures, and the once great Khmer empire.

Siem Reap

After Phnom Pehn we headed to Siem Reap, which is near the Angkor Wat ruins.









Angkor Wat is pretty amazing. 

Basically it’s a huge Buddhist temple. 

Almost all Cambodians are Buddhists, which is interesting given that Buddhism started off in far way India.


The Indians have had a huge influence here due to trading links over many centuries.



You can get great Indian curries here, cheap too, $2-$5 with beers.

Then we visited the Angkor Thom temple.

Kim cracking onto one of the statues

This temple has the huge faces carved into stone all around the place. I liked it more than Angkor Wat, although it was smaller, it is a massively complex labyrinth of rooms, corridors and chambers.

Despite the many tourists here, Kim and I could easily find small sections of the temple where no one else could be found.

Then we went to Ta Prohm, which is where the trees grow through the building.

All of these sites are being gradually restored with international aid.

By now we had been walking around in 38 degree heat for most of the day.


Given how much I once hated hot weather, I seem to be faring pretty well. 

Kims update

Well week 1 and a bit down already. My, how times flies when you are on holidays and having fun. We are just doing a 12 hour bus trip from Seam Reap to the north east of Cambodia so a little time to kill on the bus.

The weather has been just beautiful, 35+ everyday. Had a bit of rain, but that is in the late afternoon and only for an hour or so, no big deal. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, greeted by the hustle and bustle of a big city.

Crossing the road is a major task until you get used to it, which takes a couple of days. We're like the locals now though, putting our hands to your side, like a stop sign just to let then know you are in control. Hierarchy is bus and cars have right of way, then rest is open slather, the motor bikes are very good a dodging pedestrians, worst thing you can do is walk really fast or stop in the middle of the road as the motorbikes try to anticipate where you are or will be as the approach you. It's so much fun.

As you know we did the "American war" museum. Far out it was amazing, horrific, and very sad ...... It was good to hear and see the Vietnamese side though. But, it was a very solemn affair. Everyone was very quiet, probably in shock when you see the atrocities that took place. The Vietnamese certainly gave the yanks and I guess the Aussies a run for their money that's for sure. The napalm and agent-orange stuff was just horrific, the damage done to the people and the countryside. Enough of that, lets hope we have learnt....wishful thinking I suppose.

We did the Mekong River, oooh it's had a real working over. Not sure I would be swimming in it, haven't really been able to come at eating fish either. Although there are fish so I guess that says something-there is life in the river, crocodiles as well.

We booked a tour to do the Mekong and met some great people, that’s the beauty of tours gives you the opportunity to meet others. We have since met up with Jose and Sylvia from Spain, and Sammy and Yvonne from Switzerland a couple of times.

Cambodia, wow!!! What a beautiful place and beautiful people. It's hard to explain, but there's a real innocence about Cambodians. Interestingly, a lot of people speak English and the US dollar is the preferred currency. ATMs dispense US dollars, menu prices also in US dollars. There seems to be a lot of countries giving aid to Cambodia, lots of orphanages, agencies to combat domestic violence, assistance with new buildings and helping to restore temples etc. Great place to come and work if you interested in welfare area....mmmm, maybe next time.

The children here have a hard life as you could imagine, but I tell you what, they are little entrepreneurs. Not only do they have things to sell, like the photocopied Lonely Planet books, bracelets etc. they are also working with two currencies, the riel and US dollars, and are very good at switching between the two.

They have all the sayings. First thing they ask is, "where you from", then when you answer them, I'm sure they think ‘beauty that’s one tick closer to getting a sale’. They then say “g'day mate” in a very Aussie accent; you laugh, second tick. Then the "you buy ….?" As they go onto telling you why you need the book about Cambodia, or that you do need another bracelet even though you have half an arm full, because as they say, "you haven’t brought from me yet".

When you go to barter with them, they then go onto to tell you, that they will make no profit on it as they only brought it for that price, and that's its not good for their business. The kids working on street selling their wares go to school from 8.00 am -10.30 am, then for the rest of the time until 10 pm they walk the streets, selling. It's a hard life.

I ended up spending $15 buying 5 of them tea one night. That was an experience to watch and I'm not sure how much I understood of the whole process but it went something like this. They had their favourite restaurant probably one that they knew they were allowed into. Some restaurateurs won't let them in, as we had previously witnessed.

So, they perched themselves up, reading the menu and ordered. There were two families, aged from about  3-11 years. Not all the siblings were there at this stage, some had missed out. Those that ate were so grateful, saying “thank you, thank you” and asking me if I was going to eat with them. I had already eaten so said no, as I just wanted to wait around to make sure the food was delivered.

They pulled up a chair for me and a couple proceeded to give me a massage while the others played Angry Birds on my iPod, they were very good at it too. I remembered later that I had seen a couple of them picking nits out of each other’s hair earlier that day.

When the food came out the older ones divided the rice up amongst them and they sat there eating away. One of the little boy’s brothers came in and straight away the little boy gave his brother one of his kebabs. By now we also had a pregnant women outside wanting food, so Tony gave her money, then one of the older sisters came in and saw what was happening and was very put out that she wasn't included, hence some money for her also.

It's was worth it though, a couple of dollars is nothing to us and so much to them. At the end, the workers at the restaurant brought out take-away food containers, I suspected the full portions where not given in the first place and this was the rest to take home.

Later in Siem Reap, we met up with another young bloke, probably 13 years old and when he found out we were from Australia, he went on to name all of our prime ministers from Julia, calling her a “wranger”, then back in sequence through to Gough Whitlam.  I then, of course, paid him the asking price for the book, $4 as opposed to the $1 I could have got it for, had I bartered.

Another time when we had already brought the all the books and bracelets we needed, this little kid was just running out of his usual lines to use, so he looks at Tony and says "I like your hair" !!!

When it rains here, it sure does rain. It flooded one day to nearly knee depth. But, life goes on, particularly if you have four wheel drive or motorbike. At one stage this four wheel drive was going that fast through the water, the ripple effect or should I say waves knocked these two blokes off their motorbikes.

Angkor Wat was spectacular but bloody hot also. It was so hot that I actually got sunburnt through the long sleeve top I had on. The food is yummo!! If we have to pay more than $5 we feel like our throats have been cut. However, perhaps a bit insensitive to say, considering the country we are in and the whole Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge regime story.

Accommodation is good we are paying between 5 and 15 dollars each per night and in most cases that includes breakfast of toast and jam, eggs on toast or an omelette. The rooms have a/c, wifi and cable tv. It takes a bit off getting used to not flushing the toilet paper, but putting it in the bin next to the toilet instead.

We are know off to the jungle in Ratanakirri in the North East of Cambodia. In my guide book it says not to touch or pick up any unexplored ordnance (uxo).  If you come across anything that looks like a land mine, to etrace your steps only if you can clearly see your footprints, but if you can't, don’t move to get help, Mmmm. On the flip side, there are beautiful volcanic lakes and waterfalls to swim in, wildlife such as elephants, bears, tigers and deer to name a few.

We have been on bus since 5.30 am this morning it's now 3.00pm, we have to get off this bus soon and onto another for the last couple of hours. It's started to rain, lighting and thunder and we are told the bus we are to get onto is full so we will need to sit on our packs in the isle, fingers crossed the bus is there waiting for us. Luckily I have my trusty ponchos i brought from the Reject shop before I left. Tony wasn't keen to get him any I'm sure he might like to borrow one of my spares once he get off the bus :-)

Genocide tourism

We took the fast boat from Chau Doc to Cambodia, and that took about 6 hours counting the border crossing.








In the back if your mind is the thought of the killing that went on here.

For those that don’t already know, a communist extremist known as Pol Pot seized power in this country at around the end of the Vietnam war in 1975. While in France he learned about communism and came back to his country and indoctrinated young farming peasant boys into thinking that they were hard done by city people and intellectuals.

So Pol Pot’s regime set about killing doctors, lawyers, teachers, anyone with glasses, and anyone associated with or related to another suspicious person. Like the Nazis, meticulous records were kept. Pol Pot famously said 'it is better to kill an innocent person accidentally than to accidentally allow an enemy to live'. In the end about 2 million people were killed. They even killed two Australians among many other foreigners. But they weren’t shot or gassed. To save money the Khmer Rouge used axes, hoes, machetes, even the rough fronds of palm trees.

Here at the Choeung Ek killing fields there are many large pits here that contained the bodies. Most of these bodies have been exhumed now and everywhere you see the burial pits. Human bones and the bits of rags, the remains of their clothing, still float to the surface, and this jaw bone could be seen on the path we walked on.

Possibly the most horrific part of the story where babies were held by the legs and swung into a tree trunk, known as the killing tree, often in front of their mothers, before the mothers were also killed.

Now the site is very peaceful and serene. A large structure has been built that keeps the bones on display. Although the sight of these bones is macabre, it serves both to remind people of how bizarre and out-of-hand unchecked power can become and to maintain the memory of the victims.

It probably also seems macabre to even visit a place like this. But when you arrive in this country, the story of Pol Pot and the killing fields is in your face most of the time. Children come up to you in the street selling you books about the killing that went on here. Taxi drivers offer you special deals to go there. There are organized tours, tour guides, souvenir shops, and just before we left about 10 buses of tourists turned up. As the Lonely Planet tour guide says, these people have been to hell and back, the best thing that you can do is to come here, spend your time and money with them and help them rebuild.

Checking out the Mekong Delta

Language Warning: This video has a soundtrack that contains frequent coarse language. 
If you are offended by swearing then please turn your sound down before watching.

This video shows a few things we did on a Mekong Delta tour on the 5th of May.

Press the play button in the middle of the video to start watching.

The War Museum

WARNING: This posting contains some very disturbing images. 

This post will not be to everyone's liking, but it will covey that sense of horror that you feel in this place. 

One of Winston Churchill’s famous sayings about war was that “History is written by the victors” and given that the Americans lost the Vietnam War, it is interesting to see the Vietnamese side of this story. 

The war museum in Ho Chi Minh City is a really confronting place to visit. Most people walk around in silence, with a looks of  shock, horror and disbelief on their faces.

One of the first images that affected me was the one where the Americans opened fire on protesters at the Ohio University. They shot and killed 5 demonstrators. Their own people, on their own soil, in the so-called land of the free.

Most of us have seen this photo of Kim Phuc after she was napalmed by the Americans. I guess they call this collateral damage.

But this photo shows how people look when they receive a full dose.

When I was young I grew up believing that the Americans were the ‘good guys’. But the good guys would never drag a body behind a tank until there was nothing left but mince meat.

And the good guys would not kill innocent women and children, would they?

I am not stupid enough to believe that the Americans were the only ones to commit these atrocities. But this war still affects people today, on both sides.

I saw many, many photos of gross birth defects and a slab of meat that was once human, that died from stepping on a land mine in 2004.

In the end the Yanks fled the country.

And the hammer and sickle, the symbol of communism, flies high and proud on this city’s buildings.

So, I am left wondering what, if anything, did this war achieve. And the more I ponder this question the less clear the answer seems to me.

We made it

Kim getting her thongs fixed

The big journey to Vietnam began with a stop over at the middle pub in Wynyard, with Mum and Dad taking us to the airport. I had the roast pork and Kim had the rissoles, which seemed appropriate when leaving Australia for 4 months. The ‘middle’ seems to be doing a roaring trade, by giving seniors’ discounts on meals, a free keno ticket and so on to entice people onto the pokies. It seemed to be working as the gaming venue was packed before lunch time. Dolphin Treasure, Queen of the Nile (2^nd Ed.) and Geisha were all flat out sucking people’s money in.

At the airport, Kim’s hand luggage was over weight, so they made her remove a book from her pack, but let her carry it on anyway. It made no difference to the weight she carried on board. When we got to Melbourne it was bloody cold with the wind blowing across the airport. I got sniffed for explosives at the airport, but they didn’t sniff Kim. Then we had about 9 hours to kill, so we went across the road to the Park Royal Hotel.  While here we drank beer and cider fairly slowly and had a meal, and spent about a hundred bucks.

We got on our first flight to Malaysia about midnight. We managed to get a few hours pretty uncomfortable sleep, the kind of sleep where you stay feeling tired for the rest of the day. You also get a really sore arse, thankfully something I am quite unaccustomed to. In Kuala Lumpur I had an Asian breakfast, which consisted of various meats and vegetables in a hot soup or stock. It was really nice and only cost 5 bucks. We are trying to save money on this trip as we are no longer drawing an income from work.

Then we flew to Vietnam and got scammed by the first person we talked to and paid $35 Au for a taxi to our hotel. We tried walking away, but they follow you and persist, and after the flight and tired feeling, it is easy to just give in. Normally it only costs 10 bucks, but the taxi was pretty plush.

Our hotel is in a back alley off a busy street. It is impeccably clean, very comfortable and only costs $17 for both of us for the night, and that includes breakfast. We went out for a walk and had a beer. It is about 35 degrees outside and fairly humid. The beers here cost 20000 Dong, which is $1 AU, but 20000 still feels expensive simply because it is a big number.

While we sat outside with the beers we get approached by heaps of people trying to sell us stuff. People walk around trying to clean an repair shoes, and even though I wasn’t aware at the time the soles of my shoes were coming unstuck and I paid a bloke a dollar to fix one shoe. Kim also got her thongs repaired. The photo shows trhe bloke fixing Kim’s thongs as she watches on.

The roads here are chaotic compared to home. At first you feel really nervous about crossing. But after an hour or so you just walk out into the traffic and it avoids you, somehow, but that is just how it is, its part of the fun of the place.

For tea, we found a place called Kim’s Café, and couldn’t resist going in. I told them about Kim, also being called Kim, and they smiled and said that Kim was the big boss. Kim is a very common name in Vietnam. Kim said you could go up to people and say “What is your name? Ching, Chong or Kim?”, not as strange as it seems. We had spring rolls and a beer each for tea and it cost about five dollars.

Today we will have a bit more of a look around Saigon/Hi Chi Minh before heading to Cambodia for more adventures and cheap meals.