On 20 May 2014 we rose early and prepared ourselves for our longest border crossing experience ever!  First we had to strudge about 2km with our backpacks in 30 degree heat and 80% humidity (all before 09h00) to find our bus stop to the interchange bus station in Johor Bahru.  Once we got there we caught a Singapore express bus which would take us across the border.  At Malaysian immigration we had to hop off the bus with our bags and get stamped out, then climb back on the bus which would take us to Singapore Immigration and onward to Queen Street bus station.  The amount of traffic on the causeway to Singapore was staggering, with workers doing their daily commute.  Once over the border, we hopped off the bus again to get stamped into Singapore, and with the amount of people crossing the border, we stood in the Immigration queue for about an hour and a half before catching the next bus to Queen Street.  On the ride to Queen Street we saw on Rob’s fancy new mobile phone, which he bought in Melaka that we were going right past Little India where we had booked our lodgings, so we jumped off and walked the 1km to the homestay.  All in all the process took about 4 hours and was pretty intense!  To say we were disappointed with our lodgings is an understatement but we’ll get to that later.

After a bag drop we did what we always do when arriving in a new place… we went in search of food!  We were told about a huge department store called Mustafa’s just down the road which had a money changer so off we headed, dodging Indians like we were in the middle of Mumbai – who would have thought that Little India would have so many Indians actually from India, not the mixed Malay Chinese population we were expecting.  Anyway we found some supplies, and then splurged a bit on lunch in the department store restaurant as we were both starving and not willing to go searching for a food court.  It’s funny how the prices in terms of numbers are the same as Malaysia, but the exchange rate makes it so much more expensive.  For example a rice and chilli breakfast would be RM3.50 which equates to USD1 in Malaysia but the same thing in Singapore is S$3.50 which is about USD3.  After a quick siesta we headed over to trendy Orchard Rd where all the shopping malls are with the big name brands – this 2km stretch of road is a mall crawlers dream.  After a few photo opportunities it was back to the homestay for dinner and a well deserved sleep.

We were up early the next day to hit the streets for some city sightseeing.  After scoffing down a few slices of toast and hot coffee, courtesy of the homestay, we caught the underground train to Chinatown which has nothing Chinese about it.  A walk along the river front took us around Clark Quay and around the CBD to the National Theatre.  The CBD is definitely not as built up as Hong Kong and there was much less hustle-bustle, although during lunch hour one might disagree.  But the skyline is definitely impressive.  We strolled around the upmarket Marina Bay Sands area which has a gigantic hotel with a 150m infinity pool on its roof in the shape of a long boat.  Onward to the Gardens of the Bay, a large landscaped area filled with plants and trees which were very pretty and very well maintained.  A word we often used as we cruised around is “pristine”.  As we were walking back across the river we stumbled across the pit lanes and the start/finish of the Singapore F1 GP Marina Bay Street circuit which was an unexpected highlight.  The tarmac was covered with splotches of melted tyre rubber from the last race.

Once back in town our route took us past the renowned Raffles Hotel and for laughs we decided to pop into the bar.  We saw that the famous Singapore Slinger drink was only about S$27 so we gave that a miss!  After a long morning of walking, we went back to the homestay for a siesta to rest some weary feet.  That evening took us to the Harbourfront with the idea to go over to Sentosa Island to have a look at the theme park and Universal Studios.  Unfortunately we couldn’t use our tourist pass and had to pay extra so we headed back to Clark Quay for an evening drink – we arrived during Happy Hour and had the Singapore Slinger, and for a mere S$15 we indulged just to say we had one!

Of course our nature instinct kicked in, and after a day of city touring, our second morning in Singapore had us heading over to Bukit Timah nature reserve.  Here we enjoyed a walk up Singapore’s highest hill at a whopping 163m above sea level!  I could have sworn I got dizzy from lack of oxygen as we neared the summit and Rob was reaching for his altitude sickness pills – just kidding!  We took the scenic route and did a bit of a round trip as we missed the turning to get to the start point of the trail.  In the end we did about 2 hours of walking in the last remaining bit of original rainforest on the island.  You could forget you were in the city with the dense jungle vegetation surrounding you until you are reminded of your location hearing the sound of the expressway just behind you!  That afternoon we decided to visit the zoo as it is listed as one of the highlights of visiting Singapore.  We found the zoo to be a very impressive.  The definite highlight was seeing a white tiger mount his partner for a quick cuddle; the lowlight, seeing the polar bear’s coat covered in green algae.  It was a good 4 hours spent wandering around.

The day after our nature reserve excursion, we headed back to the Harbourfront and hiked up Mount Faber hill and walked partway along the Southern ridges trail.  We were promised a decent view of the harbour and the city, according to the guidebook, but all we saw was a lot of foliage obscuring the harbour view and a bunch of ugly apartment blocks on the other side of the ridge.  The best city view still has to be from Marina Bay, although we had a good vantage point to watch a storm rolling in over the city.  As it was raining in the afternoon, our time was spent indoors for the rest of the day.

We had both positives and negatives in Singapore.  Although it was wonderful wandering around the city seeing the old colonial buildings mixed with the glass and concrete skyscrapers, and enjoying the many green spaces of the parks and reserves, we are both not city people so a few days was enough for us.  Also with it being so expensive our places of accommodation was extremely limited and what we found to live in to fit within our budget was a bit of a joke.  A fan room at Ali’s Nest guesthouse where we landed up staying cost S$38 and we were in a box of a room using a bathroom shared with another 10-12 people.  There were renovations downstairs so there was a lot of noise and dust flying around.   The absolute low though was the fact that the owner’s extremely decrepit mother who looked and sounded like she was on her deathbed lived downstairs.  Every now and then during the day, and more often between 19h00 and 22h00, we found ourselves having to listen to the demented wailings and hacking coughs of that poor old woman who should have been in a frail care facility.  It’s hard not to judge a place or location by the standard of the accommodation you stay in but when the usually reasonably priced Holiday Inn Express starts at rooms for S$200, or dorm beds start at S$50 each, a backpacker needs to take the good with the bad right?  But on the other hand, the cleanliness, the efficiency and the glamour of the city made Singapore a worthwhile stopover for a few days.

From the onset we knew that the majority of time during our backpacking adventure would be spent in Malaysia.  And six weeks in a country where you can travel from north to south and back again within a day meant we really explored the nooks and crannies of a wonderful country.  “Malaysia – Truly Asia”, the motto for Malaysia Tourism, is definitely an apt way of describing it.  Upon leaving Trang in Thailand, we crossed the border in Satun and caught a one hour ferry across part of the Malacca Straits to the islands of Langkawi where we received a three month stamp into Malaysia.  We spent four nights on Langkawi’s main island of the same name in a relatively comfortable guesthouse called Rainbow Lodge about 500m from the beach.  Cenang Beach was a stunning soft white sand beach stretching a couple of kilometeters which was great for morning walks and sun tanning, although the water was a bit dirty and the area generally noisy with the amount of jet skis and speedboats towing banana rafts and parasailers around the bay.

A lot has changed since Rob was last there, having become much more commercialized with duty free malls and massive water parks in operation.  It kind of reminds us of Phuket, and although it was busy, I was very happy to be there as Langkawi had been on my wish list for a long time!  We found a good and cheap Indian restaurant open 24 hours a day for our meals which served really flavoursome Indian and Malaysian meals – there we could get a decent meal for about USD 2 each!  We managed to do an island hopping tour while we were there as Langkawi is actually an archipelago of 99 islands so it was good to get around and explore.  The first island we visited was called Pregnant Maiden Island because at a certain angle the mountain ridge has the shape of a pregnant woman lying down.  Upon reaching the jetty, you are met by inquisitive monkeys who, upon hearing anything sounding like plastic, cheekily approach you and pull the bag out of your hand, rip it open and devour its contents.  We even saw them drinking Coke from a can!  In the middle of the island, there is an unusual phenomenon… a crystal clear fresh water lake!  Here we were able to swim and take a stroll down a wooden boardwalk along the water’s edge.  The next stop was a place for feeding Langkawi birds.  Similar to fish eagles, they are beautiful looking birds, and are really graceful when they swoop and dive.  Our last stop was a smaller island with a tiny beach for some swimming and tanning before heading back.  Langkawi was well worth the stop for a few days, despite the heavy afternoon thundershowers we experienced.  And with 99 islands dotted around, it is a definite playground for yachts.

We left Langkawi the same way we arrived, by ferry.  After a three hour ride we arrived on Penang, an island just off the mainland.  We stayed in Georgetown which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site a few years back and a lot has been done to refurbish the old town into its former glory.  Our first morning there was spent hiking up Penang Hill which is almost equivalent to Table Mountain in altitude.  Although we were soaked with sweat by the time we reached the top, the view over Georgetown and across the water to Butterworth on the mainland was totally worth it.  We took the funicular down which felt like a rollercoaster in some parts due to the speed it travelled!  Our second day was spent trekking through the national park, the journey to which took us along a very scenic coastal road.  We didn’t see much wildlife in the park except for a few birds, monkeys and a huge monitor lizard Rob spotted swimming through the rocks which climbed out of the water below our pathway and disappeared into the jungle.  We spent the rest of our time in Penang exploring Georgetown looking for the street art, which were pieces of steel welded together to make a picture and caption explaining the significance of a certain street or building.  Very cleverly done and a lot of talent and creativity involved to create this!

Following Penang, we packed up and headed into the mountains of the Cameron Highlands – home to tea, honey and strawberries.  On our way we crossed one of the longest bridges in the world, 24km from Penang across to Butterworth!  We arrived in the town of Tanah Rata in the pouring rain, but luckily our driver dropped us right on the doorstep of the lodge we had booked so we didn’t get too wet.  We stayed in an attic room for the four nights there which wasn’t much bigger than a 3-man tent – in width and in height – but it was cheap and cozy.  Unfortunately our first room was infested with fleas which we think came from the cats which roamed the hallway at night so we changed rooms after complaining, and had a much more comfortable stay after that!  We spent our time walking in the highlands, to tea plantations, on marked jungle tracks, and to strawberry farms.  Most afternoons it poured with rain, so we used the time to catch up on some reading, and test our skill at Scrabble and card games.  One of the highlights of our stay in Tanah Rata was enjoying a “steamboat”, chicken soup boiled on a gas stove on the table in front of you, and then you just threw in a whole bunch of different ingredients like chicken, fish, veggies, tofu, and noodles.  Delicious but way too much food for two people!

Wanting to keep moving, we continued our journey and headed to the island of Pangkor and found a place to stay near the beach.  I wasn’t too impressed with Pangkor and with it being a weekend the island became the local playground, noisy with screaming girls on jetskis and banana boats.  The one positive of having throngs of people was the availability of good street food, which unfortunately completely dried up the following Monday after the masses left, forcing us to eat in restaurants which is what we wanted to avoid.  I had my first taste of the Malaysian breakfast staple, Nasi Lemak, at one of the local eateries.  When Rob first told me about a breakfast of coconut rice, chilli sambal (sauce), fried anchovies, fried egg and peanuts, I thought he was joking.  No way was I going to eat that!  But one mouthful and realizing how delicious and satisfying it was, was enough to make me a convert for life.  We have even tried recreating the meal at home after our trip.  There is just some special ingredient we don’t seem to have; perhaps it’s eating the meal out of a banana leaf overlooking the ocean which made it all the more special!  We also wanted to rent bicycles to explore the island but the prices were so inflated we ended up walking the roads instead.  Most of our time was spent on the beach, walking the island or in the R&R area of the guesthouse, lazing in a hammock with a book.  The island is filled with hornbills so we had an accompanying soundtrack of the birds communicating with each other while we enjoyed our time there.

By the middle of April, we had had enough of islands, and undertook a longish journey into the cosmopolitan city of Kuala Lumpur.  One thing we noted about Malaysia is that it is a very well kept country, for example, it is relatively clean, the grass verges beside the highway were neatly cut, and the roads are well maintained.  Again Rob was surprised at the growth of the place, no longer the sprawling city he remembered but now a concrete jungle of skyscrapers and apartment blocks.  We found digs in Chinatown and did a recce of the surrounding area.  I also treated myself to a haircut for my birds nest too!  Two funnies: first is that takeaway drinks were not in cups but in clear plastic bags with a drawstring and a straw and many times we enjoyed a takeaway iced coffee in this way; second was that the downpours in the afternoons flooded the sewers below the street so the drains were literally filled with drowning rats (but as mentioned before the streets were completely free of litter!).

The highlight of KL was visiting the famous Petronas Twin Towers and viewing the city first from the skybridge on the 41st floor, and thereafter from the observation deck on the 86th floor (about 370m above street level).  Standing at the top, we thought the same thing; our mothers would have been sick with nerves as they are both afraid of heights.  We were VERY high up and we could sometimes feel the vibration of the towers moving!  Although a bit of an expensive outing, it was totally worth it!  We spent the rest of our time in the city walking around exploring Chinatown and an area known as the Golden Triangle, KL’s commercial, shopping and entertainment hub.  One day we ventured out of the city, and took an outing into the suburbs to the Batu caves, a Hindu temple located in a cave which is reached by climbing 272 steps.  Those steps would have been a fantastic training opportunity for our Kilimanjaro preparation!

Having enjoyed Malaysian city life, it was time for a full on nature experience so we left KL for the jungles of Taman Negara Pahang.  We caught a local bus to the town of Jerantut with the idea of catching a connection to Kuala Tahan, the base town to explore the jungle.  Unfortunately both of us didn’t sleep well the night before and we decided to break our journey in Jerantut.  There wasn’t anything to write home about this town but we were both amazed at the westernization of the country in terms of food.  It was almost surprising NOT to see a KFC, McDonalds or Pizza Hut wherever we went!  After a noisy night (the road our lodgings was on seemed to be where the local fast and furious wannabe racer boys congregated for their showdowns) we boarded a rickety local bus for the short one hour hop to Kuala Tahan.  It was a bit sad to see that the majority of the native jungle along the way was being cleared for palm tree plantations – it seems palm oil is in major demand.  We were slightly consoled that at least green is being replaced with green!  Our guesthouse was cheerfully painted with murals of all the different bugs we could look forward to seeing in our jungle exploration.  After a bag drop we immediately crossed the river by longtail boat and headed into the national park – the jungle is said to be 130 million years old, the oldest rainforest in the world.  Our first outing was to the canopy walkway which was only about a 5km round trip but the humidity really took our breath away!  The walkway itself was about 500m long and 50m above the forest floor at some points.  We didn’t see much wildlife, only a few birds.  The next day was an early wake-up call from the mullah wailing from the loudspeakers of the mosque next door.  After breakfast of our now much loved Nasi Lemak, it was back into the park for a longish loop around the canopy walkway up to a lookout point and a loop around back to park headquarters.  With the heat and humidity, our clothes were soaked and despite a heavy coat of mosquito repellent we still had the pests buzzing around our heads as we walked.  Again no signs of wildlife except for a few birds, lizards and two spots of elephant dung.  We heard a lot of different bird calls though but the trees are so high we just couldn’t catch sight of them.  An avid bird watcher and photographer mentioned to us that he was struggling to spot the birds, even with binoculars and fancy camera equipment.  Although a bit disappointed not to see more animals, I’m just a little thankful for that, especially after seeing a poster outside the HQ office showing all the poisonous snakes in Malaysia… there are a lot!

After a relaxed last day wandering around the village, we left Kuala Tahan bound for Jerantut, but did the return trip a little differently.  Our departure started with a river boat ride from our frequented floating restaurant through some spectacular jungle scenery to Tembeling and was followed by a short minibus ride to Jerantut.  Not wanting to spend another night, we caught the jungle train north to the city of Khota Bharu.  Not the same train Rob experienced from his day, with wooden benches and open windows to enjoy the sounds and smells of the jungle, but now an air-conditioned train with soft seats and sealed windows – which was a bit of a bugger when the generator decided to give up the ghost and the train interior became a sauna.  We were set to arrive in Khota Bharu at 22h13 that night but we stopped at some back station just as it was getting dark for a bit longer than seemed normal.  Rob then made a comment to say he thought something was wrong with the train.  Next thing the lights went off and the train was in darkness.  Nevertheless onward we journeyed, in the pitch dark, with a huge electrical storm going on above us, through the middle of the jungle – very eerie indeed!  We only arrived at our destination after midnight, our backpacker place was all locked up and we were forced to stay in a dodgy single room in a nearby hotel for the night… RSA Hotel would you believe, apt for us South African travellers!  After an uncomfortable night we were able to sort out accommodation at the backpackers and were free to explore the town for the rest of the day.  We saw the most colourful fresh produce market in town, had a look at a few of the city sights, and did some window shopping for a new mobile phone for Rob and that was about it.

Towards the end of April we caught a transnational bus down the east coast to Cherating – we asked nicely and the bus driver dropped us off right at the turnoff into the village.  After a short walk down the road we found accommodation for ourselves, pretty wooden chalets set in a grassy garden, with about a 300m walk down the road to the beach.  Being a weekend warrior type of place, Cherating was packed with locals at the weekend but come Sunday afternoon the place became a ghost town, very similar to Pangkor.  Our days were very relaxed here – after wake up coffee on our deck, we had a good 4km beach strudge to the river mouth and back where after we had a delicious breakfast of Nasi Lemak.  Our routine became so apparent that when the restaurant owner saw us walking down the street she immediately started brewing our kopi – instant coffee “pulled” with condensed milk!  Mornings were spent reading with a swim in the sea.  A lunch of fruit bought from the market along the main road, post lunch siesta, coffee followed by another walk and swim, filled our afternoons and then we enjoyed a tasty Malaysian dinner.  Two weeks of this was bliss!  One varied day we took a walk down to the Club Med (yes, can you believe it!) and had a look around.  Not as fancy as we would have thought it would have been, the resort looked mostly closed up with a few pale faced guests around.  More disturbing though was the sight of used syringes of the beach of the resort – does that mean Club Med is actually short for Club Medicated?

But rolling stones that we are, we started gathering moss which was no good so we decided to move on to the west coast and we headed across country to Melaka, a World Heritage Town.  We had booked ahead at a guesthouse recommended to us by the people in Kuala Lumpur and were supposed to meet a pick up person at the bus station but couldn’t find the guy.  While we were waiting at the bus station for the local bus into town, the owner himself found us while trying to punt his guesthouse to other passengers.  Getting to his car, he asked us to wait while he touted for a few more customers.  While waiting, we saw an open beer can on his dashboard – a liberal Indian Malay in a predominantly Muslim population.  The guesthouse wasn’t the best, being located right next to the main road it was unpleasant with the amount of traffic noise and the amount of light shining into a room with no curtains.  Rob could only get his beauty sleep by using an eye mask we got on the plane when flying over in January!

Our first morning in Melaka was spent exploring the old town,  Melaka Christ Church, a Famosa Fort and Chinatown which has been heavily restored and looked very pretty, although a bit yuppyish with the amount of “quaint” coffee shops and restaurants.  The riverfront had also been upgraded with a fancy boulevard and walkway.  We also visited the maritime museum housed in a replica sea galleon.  We popped into the tourism office to try and suss out what else there was to see further down the coast as we had days to kill before heading to Singapore but there was nothing that could be recommended to us.  Luckily we found a better guesthouse, with cheaper rates and a much friendlier owner so we stayed in Melaka for a week, rather than the two days we originally planned.  On an excursion up a panoramic rotating tower we saw the local swimming pool was a 5 minute walk from our guesthouse so we made use of that every day of our stay in town.  We also did a lot of mall crawling and both splurged on new phones for ourselves, cheaper there than back home so a bargain in the end.  We took a local bus 5km from the city centre, to the Portuguese Settlement, a Kristang community composed of a mixed Portuguese and Malay population.  Although a thriving area at the time of Rob’s first visit, when we arrived it was like a ghost town with nothing to see, and no delicious seafood to taste as all the restaurants were closed.  For variety we took a day trip 50km down the coast to a town called Muar for a look around.  The name caught Rob’s eye when we were looking around the area and he was keen to go there and explore.  When asking people about it we were asked why we wanted to go to a small fishing village, but when we arrived it was anything but that – a bustling town it was!  With a huge river and old historical buildings it was a nice town to look around but we were happy that we didn’t stay there as one day was enough to explore.

The middle of May saw us travel down to the border city of Johor Bahru.  Unfortunately the various travel references we had read weren’t too flattering about the place so we didn’t know what to expect.  We had directions to the homestay we found on the internet and asked the local bus driver to drop as at a specific spot as instructed.  We were dropped off in the sticks with no sign of the city around us so on our walk to the homestay we were really wondering what we got ourselves into.  So our last days in Malaysia were spent in a rustic house in terms of its state of repair with a weird kitchen outside under tarpaulin and urban jungle mosquitoes relentless in their quest to bite our exposed flesh.  Luckily we weren’t as far from the city centre as we had originally thought as the city is a rolling hilly urban sprawl with the suburbs relatively close to the centre and the straits of Singapore.  We had a walk around town and didn’t really find any “wow” factor about the place.  Although the write ups weren’t good, we didn’t find Johor Bahru to be the dodge-ville city everyone said it was.  The amount of traffic on the causeway into Singapore was unbelievable though!  Just thinking about the daily commute a lot of people make from their houses in Johor Bahru into Singapore to work, then back again, was exhausting for us, and we were thankful we were not in the same position.  Seeing the queue of cars though prepared us for what was to be our longest border crossing the next day!

Malaysia is such a diverse country, and we were lucky to have had time in it to really experience the beaches, jungles and cities, by bus, boat and train!  With such a wide variety of tourist activities on offer, it is no wonder it is a popular destination, although so many people we have spoken with after our trip are surprised to hear that we would choose Malaysia as our top South East Asia destination, and not its Thai neighbour.  Being a first world country with an abundant history and rich culture, with its own oil to boot, the cost of living is cheap, the food is good, there is a lot to see and do, and the locals are straightforward, and honest.    If we had to choose a country in South East Asia to return to, Malaysia would be it.

It was with much happiness that we exited Laos and received our entry into the tropical paradise that is Thailand.  Although we had to change our plans slightly as by crossing the Thai border by land meant we only received 14 days in the country, instead of the usual 28 days one gets when arriving via plane.  So this edition of the Walkabout Diary is short and sweet.  Much to our disappointment, we made some adjustments to our itinerary.  Instead of heading north to Chang Mai, we thought we would make the most of what the beaches could offer us, and without delay we immediately travelled south.  From the Laos border, we waited patiently for an afternoon to catch an overnight train that took us straight to Bangkok.  In a third class carriage, it was a very uncomfortable ride (although not as uncomfortable as the 27 hour China train ride) but I thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t in the position of our seat mate across from us… a local woman who was eight months pregnant and forced to sit or try lie down on the bench while hubby was up front in what appeared to be a more comfortable seat!  We arrived very early in the morning in the city so we disembarked from the train laden with our backpacks and went straight out onto the main road to find a crash pad for a few hours.  Both of us had been to Bangkok before and we didn’t want to spend any more time there so we had already booked our onward train tickets to Trang, departing Bangkok later that afternoon.  We found ourselves a cheapish room near the train station which we could rent for a few hours, have a shower and have a snooze.  After lunch it was back to the train station for our onward journey.  We had a much better train ride second time round, this time sitting in a 2nd class carriage, which had seats which were actually more comfortable than economy class in a plane!  The only irritation was a few screaming children which could have done with a hiding or five, but that we suppose is a matter of opinion.

We travelled through the outer suburbs of Bangkok and more and more food vendors boarded the train – all heavily made up women wearing lots of make-up which we assume was a marketing gimmick!  Having never seen something like this before, it was interesting to watch them get on the train at one stop, sell their wares while the train continued its journey, where after the vendors got off at the next stop to wait for the next train going in the opposite direction.  Up and down they travel plying passengers with good home cooked food until they are sold out and head home to prepare for the next day!  At one point in the evening we even stopped in a town which had a market spread out over the train tracks.  Upon arrival in Trang we thought to catch a local bus to Krabi and perhaps spend the night there before heading across the water to Koh Lanta but when we got off the train we were accosted by travel agent representatives who were very enthusiastic to assist us with our travels.  We ended up booking direct transport to Koh Lanta which was ultimately cheaper than using the local transport!  A two hour minibus ride and two ferry crossings later we arrived at the “resort” which was recommended to us by the travel agent.  Initially we booked a 300 baht per night room but after seeing the condition of it, a quick price negotiation was needed and we upgraded to a sturdier chalet.  The initial bungalow had so many holes in the bamboo and rattan it was constructed with, it was filled with buzzing insects and my favourite reptile of all time, geckos.  Who knows what it would have been like in a downpour?

After a recce of the surrounding area we were a bit disappointed to see that no one really catered to a backpacker with exorbitant food prices, but we made a plan to be within budget.  Ironically the guidebook was titled South East Asia on a Shoestring, but all it did was refer to flashpackers with a lot of $$ signs next to recommended guesthouses and restaurants.  Our guesthouse had a small restaurant which made the most amazing squid pad thai, and a local woman down the road had a vegetable pad thai which we enjoyed on more than one occasion!  Luckily the beach was 50m away from our chalet which made our stay on Koh Lanta worthwhile – not really a swimming beach as we had to negotiate a lot of rocks when it was low tide but the sea was as warm as bath water and pretty much mirror flat with minimal wave action, making the swimming and wallowing really pleasant.  We had a good few walks along the beach and main drag to the shops to buy supplies for our afternoon sundowner – a bucket made with ice, whiskey, the local version of Red Bull and Sprite or Lemonade.  The beach was combed with broken pieces of coral which we think may have been a result of the tsunami all those years ago.  The beachfront was also ruined slightly with the amount of beach bars trying hard to be cool hip places to hang out but were failing dismally – watching burnt pale faces getting pissed before 12h00 wasn’t really our scene and seeing a multitude of bars advertising weed was also a put off.

One day we rented a scooter to explore the island – we travelled through some really great jungle type scenery and saw fantastic views of the surrounding islands.  The island was not a very big place though – one can travel the ring road around the island in about two hours without stopping but we hopped on and off all the time for pictures and a bit of exploring which took up most of the day.  We only needed to hand the bike in by 11h00 the next day so we also went into the main town.  It was amazing to see how many hotels and guesthouses were around, and the amount of restaurants.  We stuck to our guesthouse kitchen for our stay though as it was the cheapest, only straying one night onto the street for Greek food as we were both tired of fried rice!

We can’t really write much else about our time on Koh Lanta – it was a time of rest and relaxation after the frenetic pace of travelling we had been doing up to that point.  Nothing wrong at all with a morning walk followed by a laze on the beach, swimming, reading and snoozing!  All in all it was a good week but of course a change of scenery was needed at some point so we packed up at the end of March and headed back to Trang.  We spent our last night in Thailand there, and arriving in the afternoon we had a chance to have a look around.  There was a bustling night market held in the main street opposite the train station which was a stone’s throw from our crash pad and we had a good time sampling the different fares on offer – good wholesome street food!  The next morning we left Trang for a longish drive to Satun where we left Thai territory and headed via ferry to the Malaysian island of Langkawi.   We wanted to spend a lot of time in Malaysia so perhaps the forced short stay in Thailand was a blessing in disguise!

If we ever thought that Cambodia was bad in terms of scams and rip off attempts, we were reminded that there are worse places in the world.  One of those places is Laos.  Let me explain… We had a rather bitter introduction to the country and its people when we crossed the border from Cambodia.  We had booked a combination ticket to get us from Kratie in Cambodia to Don Det, one of the 4000 Islands in the south of Laos.  Unfortunately as luck would have it, we made an annoying and embarrassing travel mistake of not getting a piece of paper in our hands stating our destination from the Kratie backpackers who made arrangements for us.  Not thinking about it at the time due to the excitement of heading to a new country, we were picked up directly from our guesthouse as arranged, and headed off into the unknown of Laos.  During our trip up to the border, we changed bus twice and got to the border without incident, no questions asked.  Next thing we have an agent telling us it was USD35 for a Lao visa (our research told us it was USD30) and we had to pay an extra USD2 for a “Cambodian exit stamp” and USD3 for a “Lao entry stamp”.  We could have refused the agent’s help but we were stuck at a very quiet border crossing with no additional transport on the other side so could we really run the risk of declining his “help” and then being told there was no onward transport?  So out came the Dollars, money changed hands then we waited with some anxiety as we saw our passports disappear.  About an hour or so later, our passports with visa and entry stamp in hand, we trudged through no man’s land and to the waiting minivan.  Next thing all we hear from the agent is “Where are your tickets, where are your tickets?”  Now up to this point our tickets were never requested.  Just our luck we were the only two of a party of 15 who didn’t have tickets so the agent refused to let us into the minibus.  This was real rotten luck as the nearest thing to a town or any civilization of some sort was over 20km away.  The scamster agent then called his so-called boss to ask advice and he relayed the message to us that the boss said we can’t go any further.  Oh (insert expletive here)… Ultimately we had to bribe the scamster with USD15 to get us to Don Det, one of the 4000 islands which was to be our destination.   At this point we were both extremely annoyed and decided we were not spending more than necessary in Laos, be it time or money!  We were told by a fellow traveller who made that border crossing often that he has been witness to such a scam every time he has done the trip and we shouldn’t feel too bad… we weren’t the only ones!  Comforting!

Ultimately we arrived on Don Det and with heavy hearts walked to the riverside guesthouses to find a place to stay.  We found a bungalow right on the river’s edge away from the noisy crowds, a little haven of bliss, pretty and tranquil, which sort of made up for our sour start.  We saw some spectacular sunrises from our little porch while lazing away in the hammock and got some great photos.  Our morning wake-up call wasn’t the shrill chirps of the birds in the surrounding trees.  Rather we were woken to the sounds of cows braying as they made their way down to the river to escape the rising heat of the day and wallow in the water like hippopotamuses!

A few days of R&R and exploring Don Det and neighbouring Don Khone (which by the way also charged a 25 0000 funny money “tourist tax”) made up our time in the 4000 Islands.  This about sums up our impression of Laos so far…. you have to pay for everything… another reason not to linger too long.  We rented bikes and I think the only thing that was free was the space we could park them when we arrived at some rapids which the Laotians incorrectly advertise as a waterfall.  What was really interesting to read about these rapids is that they provided a supposedly insurmountable obstacle to a French expedition party sent to take two gunboats up the Mekong River which were to protect French interests in the area.  Not to be overcome, the French decided to build a railway across Don Khone which would haul the gunboats across the island, bypassing the impassable rapids, where after they could be refloated further up the Mekong to continue their journey.  Anyway the bikes were a great way to explore, and we realized how lucky we were to have chosen our guesthouse location as parts of the island were really touristy and noisy.  The 4000 Islands are also home to another small pod of about five Irrawaddy dolphins.  The sad thing is that the World Wildlife Fund is up in arms because the Laotian government now has plans to build a hydroelectric dam which may change the course of the Mekong River and threaten the already vulnerable dolphin population.  Hopefully the dam won’t come to fruition.  We noticed while exploring that the locals were really sullen – they didn’t smile or greet when you greeted them, and they gave off a bit of an unfriendly vibe, almost like you are putting them out by being there.  Also, a completely different experience compared to Cambodia was that the kids there were constantly shouting hello as we passed but in Laos we just got sour looks.

After a restful few days, we made a move to Tha Khaek to head to a smaller village where there is a 7.5km long cave that can be explored by long tail boat.  We caught a boat from Don Det to the mainland, waited ages for a bus only to have to change busses because the aircon was dripping on everybody sitting against the left window.  So we climbed aboard another bus and off we went, together with a drunken “British” backpacker who spilled his drink all over the driver when the bus hit a bump.  I say “British” in inverted commas because his accent kept slipping and we were not sure where he actually came from.  This was at 12h00 and the guy was already pissed out of his mind.  After a relatively annoying three hours we arrived in Pakse to change busses to Tha Khaek.  It was supposed to be a “VIP” bus according to the booking agent but was more of a dodgy local thing loaded to the rafters.  We left Pakse late and there were a multitude of delays as the driver picked up more and more passengers, even loading a motorbike onto the roof at one point.  We were supposed to arrive in Tha Khaek at 21h00 but we only got to a stop 100km away from there at 21h30.  After offloading some passengers, we continued on into the night only to hear a loud KA-DONK… something had broken and the smell of burning rubber filled our nostrils…  Off come the back tyres to check the damage, and without a word they get put back on again and we drove slowly along the road to the nearest mechanic.  Of course with it now being the middle of the night, anybody able to help was asleep so we spent an uncomfortable night trying to sleep in our seats, with the bus parked on the side of the road waiting for daybreak. We were sitting near a group of four elderly ladies who spent a lot of the evening getting high on some kind of leaves they had been chewing on, giggling and cackling away as the juice stained their lips and teeth a horrible black.  At one stage they pulled out their dinner wrapped in banana leaves – fried rice teeming with live ants – which they kindly offered to share with us but we politely declined! At first light the sound of hammering woke us up as the driver and mechanic got to work to fix the problem – a broken compressed air shock absorber.  Having improvised a solution, the bus eventually got moving again, lumbering along at about 20km/hr, the lack of a shock absorber causing a spine-jarring jolt with each bump.  But the delay was forgiven as we were treated to fresh watermelon by the bus driver’s wife, their way of apologising to the passengers!  We eventually arrived in Tha Khaek 24 hours later and having missed the connecting bus to the village we were forced to spend the night in a dodgy hotel.  We spent our time there wandering around a dirty, dinghy town, looked longingly over the river that separates Laos from Thailand, and made our way back to the hotel to try and get a good night’s sleep.

The following morning we caught a local minibus to travel to the village of Ban Khoun Kham.  We drove through some spectacular mountain scenery and up very steep gradients, so steep that at some stages the bus laboured so much, the driver’s assistant stood by the open door ready to jump out with a cement block to place behind the tyres to prevent us rolling back in case the bus stalled!  Upon arrival we found a basic crash pad opposite the bus station and negotiated a price for the night.  Although just a simple bamboo hut, with a rudimentary bucket toilet, we were at least protected from the multitude of mosquitoes by an intact mosquito net.  After enjoying the best iced coffee ever brewed from the proprietor’s wife, we headed out to Kong Lor cave.  We climbed aboard a small but long dugout canoe powered by an outboard motor and headed into the darkness!  What a surreal experience!  The limestone formations inside the cave were fantastic, and we had the opportunity to walk through parts of the cave when we needed to get out of the boat and clamber through some shallower areas of the river.  It was pitch black inside except for the light from our head torches.  The water was icy cold on our feet as we had to get out and push the boat up some small rapids, but the ride back downriver gave us a mini thrill as we rafted over the same rocks.  The cave was definitely the “wow” of Laos.  We have both never seen anything like it and funny enough it is not a huge tourist trap, being a bit off the beaten track, which made it an even better experience.  We even found the locals to be friendlier in the village which made our time there a lot more enjoyable!  You may have also noticed that aside from the reference to the best iced coffee, we haven’t written a thing about the food in Cambodia or Laos.  Besides the basic fried rice varieties, there wasn’t a single thing in terms of local cuisine that stood out for us as being something we just had to sample.

Because of the local attitude and lack of other major sights, we decided to cut our losses and bail on Laos.  We bussed up to Vientiane, the capital city, and crossed the border to Thailand via the Friendship Bridge without incident.  Thai beaches here we come!  We had considered travelling further north to Luang Prabang and going by river boat across the border at the town of Huay Xai but we heard some negative reports about this trip so decided against it.  Having been back from our backpacking adventure for quite some time we think back and reminisce, hindsight often making us wonder if we missed out by cutting our time short in Laos.  I suppose the beauty of travelling is the completely subjective nature of it – “One man’s heaven is another man’s hell”.  Chatting to fellow travellers along our journey about their experiences in Laos provided a range of opinions, both positive and negative.  This is the one country we did not buy a fridge magnet from, and the one country where we did not send a postcard home, but as with Cambodia, we have no regrets!  And even though Laos might have been a negative experience for us, we still are thankful for the great story that came from it!

We had an unusual border crossing experience between Vietnam and Cambodia.  Instead of travelling overland, we took an express speed boat up the Mekong River and crossed the border over water, a first for both of us.  First stop Vietnam border control where we got stamped out, then back onto the boat across no-man’s land, spotting the two countries’ flags flying side by side until we reached the Cambodia border point.  We were lucky with the speedboat service as it included assistance with obtaining visas on arrival so a process normally laden with bureaucracy and paperwork ended up being much easier and completed faster than expected.  Back onto the boat we climbed, up came the pretty Cambodian courtesy flag and we sped along the Mekong for a couple of hours to Phnom Penh.

The city looked quite attractive from the waterside but unfortunately once in the streets, we found it to be filled with dodgy, by-the-hour guesthouses, bars, low class pale-faces and worst of all, the lower dregs of society looking for handouts.  It was a very upsetting sight to see the amount of severely disabled and disfigured beggars wandering the streets.  The beggars accosted us quite blatantly and without shame, and we realized very quickly not to make eye contact of any sort and eventually they moved on.  The really annoying thing was that we could not even sit in a restaurant and peacefully enjoy our drink or meal as the staff allowed the beggars amongst the tables.  However once we discovered our street side food stalls and avoided the Western establishments we found that we were left alone.  They probably thought that since we were eating with the locals at cheap food stalls, sitting on kiddies plastic chairs on the side of the road, we had no money to give away and left to find more promising targets.

We had pre-booked accommodation just to make sure we had a place to stay when we arrived.  The pro of this was that the cold I caught in China, which lingered throughout our time in Vietnam, had hit me with a vengeance the night before, so I was very thankful not to waste time trying to find a room.  The unfortunate con was that we overpaid for a room that was severely lacking in basic amenities.  Such is life I guess.  The afternoon of arrival was therefore first spent dropping our bags, then finding a pharmacy with staff that spoke English, taking more drugs to get rid of my cold, and sleeping off the effects of said drugs!  That evening after a rest, we went for a walk to get our bearings around the city.  We weren’t really getting a good vibe from Phnom Penh at this point in time.  We found the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) which seemed to be the place to be seen in the expat community, and just for the hell of it we decided to go for sundowners, just to say “been there, done that”.  We sat in the rooftop bar which gave us an elevated view of Sisowith Quay, and had the bonus of isolating us from the riff raff below so we could enjoy the view in relative peace.

The next day was spent exploring the city sights which were good to see but had no “wow” factor.  We had a look at the Royal Palace but didn’t go in, and walked past the Independence Monument and the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument.  Along the way we passed a number of wats or Buddhist temples, the most spectacular being Wat Ounalom with its fabulous architecture.  We considered making a stop at the National Museum of Cambodia but the admittance price put an end to that idea.  We had to be content instead with taking pictures of monks trying to climb in to tuk-tuks in their bright flowing robes.  Lots of jokes generally starting with the phrase “How many monks…” flowed after that sight!  That afternoon we decided to visit the rooftop bar located right across the street from the FCC to enjoy some local Angkor beer.  With the exact same view as the FCC, with drink prices at half the price, the experience was much more enjoyable!

While perusing the guidebook on what to see and do in Cambodia, we made the decision to go off the beaten track for a couple of days.  We headed via bus to the town of Battambang to see what was advertised as the real Cambodian countryside, and an area of Cambodia which is not frequented by tourists.  This we thought was right up our alley.  After an uneventful bus ride we arrived in Battambang.  An unusual experience for us – the first rest stop was just a stop on the side of the road for a pee break next to a few bushes, with the unspoken rule of men to the right, ladies to the left!  We would have missed our bus stop if it weren’t for a tuk-tuk driver sent from the hotel holding a paper with our names on it.  We discovered that the Cambodians aren’t great in terms of communication and saying where the bus was when you stop along the route.   Also the bus stop in Battambang wasn’t a bus stop per se but more a clearing under the trees miles from the town so we were very thankful that we didn’t have to walk all the way to town with our backpacks in 38 degree heat.  After settling in the hotel, we had a chat with the manager about what activities were on offer in the area.  He said he could arrange a bike ride with a guide to take us around.  After a quick price negotiation, we made arrangements for the next day.  We started off with an easy cycle through the town, and then had a refreshment break on the side of the road to taste delicious bamboo cake, a mix of sticky rice, coconut milk and black beans cooked in bamboo tubes over a fire.  We continued on our journey, stopping on the way occasionally for some photo opportunities.  We rode past quite a few wedding celebrations that day and also witnessed two open air cremations.  The further we got away from town, the more rustic the housing.  More often than not a residence was simply a hut constructed of bamboo, supported on stilts.  Cooking and sleeping was done in the one room, ablutions performed somewhere in the bush outside.  We were told that most houses were built on stilts for a couple of reasons: to protect the occupants from thieves and snakes, as well as to circulate the air and keep the interior cool.  We also visited a crumbling temple site and church along the way.  Our guide also pointed out a restaurant where he said the speciality dish was dog.  I was expecting to see dog in the menu in China but not in Cambodia.  Needless to say we just kept cycling, not keen at all to try that particular local delicacy!  We were rather annoyed with the hotel manager after this tour as he originally said the tour price included entry into the various sites, which it didn’t, and then he asked us to write a review on Trip Advisor.  We thought, no problem, we can write a quick something, but after the manager insisted we had to include a sentence about half the proceeds of the tour going to a local charity, which we knew wasn’t the case, we said no way and beat a hasty retreat to our room.

 

After Battambang it was time to see the real reason for visiting Cambodia – Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor.  As we got to the outskirts of Siem Reap all Rob could do was remark about how much the place had changed since he was last there nine years ago.  From a dusty backwater town with dirt roads it had become a bustling city with mega hotels and even a golf resort.  We almost got scammed by crafty tuk-tuk drivers who jumped on the bus when we arrived and said they were from the guesthouse to collect us (we were told by the guesthouse we contacted they would send a complimentary tuk-tuk).  So off we jump, climb on to the tuk-tuk and next thing we get asked is how much we would pay him.  After much back and forth we eventually gathered that the driver was not from the guesthouse at all but he would take us where we needed to go at a price, of course.  I managed to borrow a French girl’s cellphone which had a Cambodian sim card, phoned the guesthouse, explained the situation, and get told to wait and 15 minutes later the authentic tuk-tuk driver arrived – not exactly the best start to our time in Siem Reap!  A walk around the city showed us a huge amount of bars and restaurants and pale-faces looking for a good time, all in an area aptly named as Pub Street.  We found the bar, The Red Piano, which apparently was Angelina Jolie’s favourite hangout in town, and as a result avoided it!  The next morning we rose before the sparrows’ first farts, rented bikes and cycled out of town to the Angkor temple complex.  We can truthfully say that this was a really great experience, by far the best of Cambodia, and the only activity which wasn’t a scam in some way.  By not doing the tour bus thing we were really able to get off the beaten track and explore some mammoth ruins which are totally missed by the hordes.  The only downside of staying away from the overcrowded temples was that we had to watch for animals i.e. snakes which are normally left undisturbed in these parts.  Rob almost stepped on one on the path up to the first temple we visited, thereafter it was difficult to say if we spent most of our time looking at the ground or looking at the actual temples!  We spent a good 10 hours riding around, hopping off our bikes when and where we wanted and taking tons of photos.  It was amazing to see how tree roots have completely taken over the complex, completing engulfing the crumbling walls around them.  My most meaningful moment though was cycling peacefully along the road when suddenly a couple of young voices next to me were shouting hello.  A young girl and her brother rode up next to me on their way home from school and with much laughter and giggling egged me on to have a race! Such innocent fun!  With my bum not being completely used to the hard seat of a mountain bike though, my derriere found the going a bit tough after about eight hours on the saddle.  So enterprising Rob pulled out the infamous Roxy top, and padded my saddle to make the ride a bit more comfortable!  All in all we cycled about 40km that day and were knackered and filthy with dust by the time we reached the guesthouse.

The following day, we woke up at 04h00 to catch a 05h00 bus to Kratie towards the north of the country as this was the place to see a pod of Irrawaddy dolphins that live in the river.    After about 6 hours into the journey we had to change busses – luckily I was one of the first of the group to get on to the second bus and get seats as in pure Cambodian style the bus was overbooked and a few of the backpackers had to sit in the aisle on their backpacks for about 4 hours.  When we thought the bus was full, we were proven wrong as even more people were loaded into the aisle, with the driver passing down small plastic chairs for people to sit on.  Rob was told there was no space in the hold for our bags so we had them on our laps, but the next stop there was all of a sudden space to load about six sacks of something into the holds.  Funny that.  Oh and we had a rooster guest which kept on cock-a-doodle-dooing at various intervals during the first ride, more often than not it would let rip with a call just as we were nodding off for a nap!  Kratie is a small town and with not much to do there, aside from the dolphin viewing, it was a relaxing few days on the balcony of our guesthouse while the streets sizzled in the 40 degree heat.  It was a common sight to see the locals fully clothed, with every inch of skin covered with long sleeved shirts, long pants and socks wearing a wide brimmed hat.  We questioned how they didn’t bake in the heat with so many layers but I guess you adjust!  We saw some pretty spectacular sunsets from the balcony, while enjoying the view over the river.  On our second day there, we caught a ferry boat across to the island located on the west side of town, hired a couple of bikes and explored the island before heading back to the mainland for sundowners.  Before we left Kratie, we took a tuk-tuk about 15km north of town and managed to spot some dolphins from a small boat.  They were pretty shy so didn’t come too close to us, and the engine noise from other boats on the river was also a deterrent, but we got some photos anyway.  The best picture we actually had was one we bought – a postcard sent home to my Mom which never arrived.  Unfortunately I’ve recently read that this group of dolphins is close to extinction so looking back we were lucky to have seen them first hand.

Rob had been lucky enough to visit Cambodia about 10 years previously and had visited a few more sights, such as the Killing Fields but I had no interest in being reminded of the brutal violence of the past.  I was very happy with what we managed to see and was keen to move on to our next destination of Laos.  At this point in time, Cambodia was rated the worst of the five countries visited so far in our trip.  From a sightseeing perspective I would recommend anybody to visit Angkor Wat as it is truly spectacular.  Unfortunately the rest of Cambodia only seemed to cater for the young backpacker looking for a good time.  Even the guidebook recommended destinations based on the where you could find cheap beer and the best party spots.  So for Rob and I who wanted to experience more of the culture and local food and lifestyle, it was a bit of a disappointment.  But we have no regrets, and my Cambodian fridge magnet is displayed proudly next to all the others!

During our three week jaunt in China we had been making our way south and on to our next planned destination of Vietnam.  With a spring in our step, we walked (well, Rob walked, I practically ran) across no man’s land and got ourselves stamped into country number four on the list.  We had entered the town of Lao Cai, and what was the first thing we noticed?  People spoke English!  After struggling for weeks with communication with their Chinese neighbours, it was a relief to know we wouldn’t have the same challenges with the Vietnamese.  Although we had read a lot of positive reviews about what was on offer in the northern parts of Vietnam, our first priority was to get to the train station and buy tickets to Hanoi.  We didn’t hesitate in our decision not to spend time in the north.  After seeing the rice terraces of Yuanyang we felt that the rice paddies in Vietnam would pale in comparison.  We had an afternoon of free time in Lao Cai but because we had nowhere to stow our rather heavy backpacks, our time was spent reading our guidebooks in a restaurant bordering the town square.  It was here we had our first introduction to Vietnamese coffee – extremely strong in flavour, it must have been at least a double shot of espresso topped up with sickly sweet condensed milk.  Although I suffer from a sweet tooth, even this was a bit too much for me, and I tended to avoid the local coffee in the future, rather sticking to a good ol’ plain Americano (ironic considering the history of the country)!

It was also here in the town square that we noticed a distinct architectural style, with very narrow buildings constructed to be three to four stories high, with no space between buildings.  We found out later after a conversation with a hostel owner that building owners were taxed on the amount of ground floor space taken up, not by the height or number of floors.

Our train to Hanoi was an overnighter and we arrived before the crack of dawn at 04h30.  We were lucky enough to secure two somewhat expensive sleeper bunks on the train but unfortunately were sharing the air-conditioned cabin with another couple, with the husband coughing and spluttering the whole night through.  I still hadn’t recovered from my head cold I caught in China so it wasn’t great to be exposed to even more germs.  Arriving so early meant we were free to wander the streets without the threat of traffic so we walked the 2km to the guesthouse.  And once we realized just how busy the streets became during the day, we were thankful we had that hour to admire the city while it still slept.  We were dumbfounded though when we saw the traffic, particularly surprised about the amount of motorbikes and scooters.  The reason for the high number of scooters is that cars are apparently extremely expensive for the average individual, so everybody buys a cheap scooter, which has the bonus of being fuel economical, in a city clogged with traffic.  Jaywalking is common practice.  Us, being law abiding citizens always tried to wait for a pedestrian signal or if there was none, at least a break in the traffic before even stepping foot off the pavement.  But we quickly realized that a break in traffic was highly unlikely.  Watching the locals we noted you just had to commit!  Take that first step and don’t look back.  Keep going and the motorbikes just weave around you!

We stayed in a lovely guesthouse in Hanoi which offered a great breakfast menu, where we learnt about pho – the traditional Vietnamese breakfast of rice noodles in broth with either beef or chicken.  This dish is so flavoursome and filling it became a regular fixture in our mornings, instead of the more Western food that most of the other backpackers seemed to favour.  After dropping our bags and refuelling on pho, we headed out and spent the day walking around the Old Quarter, which consisted of buildings with distinct French architecture, a delight to the eyes when compared to the Chinese concrete blocks.  It was also strange to see that French baguettes were on offer in the bakeries.  That day we didn’t really have any particular destination or activity in mind and were content to amble along the streets soaking up the atmosphere.  That evening we spent some time wandering the “famous” night market which as always ends up being the same cheap stuff.  The next day was a misty one, with occasional bouts of rain.  We first walked through the Embassy district and spent a few hours at the Ho Chi Minh museum and later, some time at the Vietnam War museum.  Although we both aren’t really museum people it was interesting to see some of the history, especially since it was history retold from the victor’s point of view.  The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the French Quarter which had nothing French about it!

Two nights in Hanoi and we continued on our journey by taking a tour to Ha Long Bay about 4 hours drive from Hanoi – 4 hours not because of distance but because of the slow speed on the roads!  The bay is filled with thousands of limestone cliffs or karsts which are beautiful when looking at a postcard, but unfortunately the weather was against us with mist and drizzle which obscured our view.  Our tour consisted of the bus ride to the bay and a night aboard a boat which would take us through the karsts, before departing the next morning.  Approaching our boat from the tender, we looked at what was to be our accommodation for the night with some dismay.  The tour was advertised as a luxury cruise but judging by the exterior appearance of the boat we thought we might have been ripped off.  Climbing aboard I caught a glimpse of the life raft and said a silent prayer to myself hoping not to need it as it was in such a poor state I doubt it would have been much use.  In any case we were pleasantly surprised by our cabin which was clean and neatly made up, although the toilet did leak!  And the dining room could be described as shabby chic, with the tables laid with cloth fraying at the edges and covered with bright but tatty table runners.  But the staff aboard made us feel really welcome and fed us pretty well so we were happy!  We started with a cruise around the karsts, and got off the boat to explore a rather large cave.  From there we motored along to another small island where we could climb to the top and get a view (well, sort of a view with the mist).  That night we had a Vietnamese cooking lesson on how to make spring rolls.  The rice paper used to make the spring rolls is so delicate, it tore rather easily but after a while I got the hang of it and was turning out perfectly rolled spring rolls.  The chef took them away to fry and we enjoyed them as appetizers before dinner.  One of the big draw cards advertised for these types of tours is the cocktail and karaoke session after dinner.  What a laugh that was, a group of 10 doesn’t exactly make for the anonymity needed for me to partake in any form of karaoke!  The staff tried hard though, pumping the music and switching on the strobe lights to convert the dining room into a retro club.  Unfortunately the “buy one, get one free” cocktail special worked against them and one by one the guests stumbled to their cabins after only one or two vain attempts at karaoke!  We treated ourselves to some margaritas, watched from the sidelines and headed to bed!  The next morning the weather still hadn’t cleared so we enjoyed a wet visit to a pearl farm and then back to the harbour for a transfer back to Hanoi.  We were a bit disappointed with the tour, the weather wasn’t that great and the standard of the cruise was not up to the amount we paid but we were happy we saw the area as it is rated as one of the top sights in Vietnam.

Arriving back in Hanoi we trekked to the train station with our bags to wait for our train which would take us further down the coast.  Before catching our train we had some dinner in a restaurant adjacent to the train station.  The food was extremely good but I insisted on not leaving a tip for the waitress.  We sat down at the table and Rob went to the bathroom leaving me to order.  I ordered a Coke for myself and a beer for Rob, and the waitress says “Diet Coke?”  I said I wanted the regular drink and thought nothing further of it.  She came back with the drinks and the menus, and as she handed a menu to me, she automatically turned to a special page, saying I might want to consider one of their “low calorie” options on offer!  Really?!  I knew at the time I was overweight, but was that really necessary?  I was so peeved after that, but looking back while writing this I can only but laugh!

That night, we caught a sleeper train down the coast to Danang which is in the centre of Vietnam.  We basically had the cabin of six to ourselves until the staff decided they wanted to sleep too and ended up taking the other four berths, lighting up their cigarettes with a complete disregard to us.  However, this train trip was really special in a sense that a stretch of the railway line follows some spectacular coastline and winds through thick jungle vegetation.  Watching the ever changing scenery broke the monotony of a long journey, made even longer by the unexpected stops along the way.   At some points it even felt like we were on Thomas the Tank Engine puffing his way up the hill as the train strained itself up some of the steep gradients.  Upon disembarking in Danang we found a local bus to take us to Hoi An, a further hour’s drive down the coast.  The great (read sarcasm) part of catching the bus from Danang to Hoi An was that the locals got charged 18 000 Vietnamese dong while the foreigners were charged 30 000 dong for a ticket and then an extra 10 000 dong for bringing luggage – tourist tax!  This just highlighted a point we had noted about Vietnam in that most things are some sort of scam or effort to rip you off.

Luckily the bustling port town of Hoi An was worth visiting with a very well maintained Old Town, making for lots of photo opportunities.  We tried the local specialities of Cau Lau (pork meat, sprouts and noodles in broth), banh bao (shrimp and pork meat dumplings) and fried wantons (shrimps fried in rice paper) – all very delicious!  We stayed in a very strange guesthouse, with our room filled with gaudy knick knacks and other strange decorations.  Our towels were even folded into swans, a first for a place advertised as backpacker accommodation!  We really enjoyed strolling through the streets, by day and by night.  It was in Hoi An that we heard Afrikaans being spoken for the first time since leaving home.  The residences that were open to the public were wonderful to wander through.  I particularly liked the internal courtyards which often had a seating area, some kind of well or fountain and lots of plants, a real place of quiet amongst what would have been a bustling port back in the heyday.  At night the town came alive with lights, with lanterns strung up along the streets and locals selling small homemade rafts housing candles which were lit and then let loose on the river.  It is a pity our camera doesn’t take the best night shots as the ambience created by this soft light would have been great to share on the blog.  A humorous highlight of Hoi An was Rob almost becoming embroiled in a cock fight… literally!  Two roosters were having a go at each other and one decided he didn’t like us walking past and almost took a bite out of Rob’s leg!

After Hoi An we caught the train again down to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now called.  It was another overnight journey but as the train wound its way further south through the country side, we shared some quiet moments looking out the window staring at the endless kilometres of green paddy fields dotted with thousands of graves, all remnants of the war which ravaged the country years ago.

The train arrived in the city at 05h30 so we had another early morning walk to our guesthouse.  Although this time the streets were not as quiet as they were in Hanoi – the work day definitely started earlier for the inhabitants of Saigon.  Both of us were feeling poorly at this stage, me not having recovered from my China cold, and now Rob had also caught something.  I was told later that I was even talking in my sleep on the train, fever induced mutterings perhaps?  We stopped at a street side pharmacy for some cold medicine and promptly downed some pills before continuing our walk to the guesthouse.  These pills must have had some kind of sedative in them because I fell sound asleep slouched over the armrest of a chair in the reception of the guesthouse while waiting for our room!  A somewhat embarrassing experience!  A relationship test at this point: I learnt that Rob is like a bear with a sore head when he is sick, and with me also feeling miserable it was a period of some bickering before the pills worked their magic and we started to feel better!  After my impromptu nap, I was feeling invigorated so we spent the morning of our arrival at the War Remnants museum.  We found this museum much more captivating than the one in Hanoi, but it was very traumatic at the same time when reading the accounts of the war, seeing the historical photos and actually viewing in person the prisons cells and torture chambers used by the Americans at the time.  Rob went into the Agent Orange room by himself as I refused to go anywhere near it, and he told me later how awful it was to read and see what that toxic chemical had done to the population, and is still doing as a result of the genetic mutations it has caused.   It was rather emotionally draining so we headed back to the guesthouse and had an afternoon siesta.  Feeling a little more energized after a rest, we walked along the waterfront of the Saigon River, and through the city, passing City Hall and the beautiful Opera House on the way.  We stumbled across the Rex Hotel which had a rooftop garden bar and was recommended by the city guide as THE bar experience in Saigon… at R70 for a beer the only experience we had was to sit, look at the menu and stand right up and walk out!  The next day we took a tour to the Cu Chi tunnel network outside of the city – a very interesting but also very biased tour!  We had a great experience of crawling through a part of the tunnel system – luckily there were small lamps along the way as I’m not sure how I would have coped in complete darkness, in extremely cramped and claustrophobic conditions.  The tunnel network stretches for about 250km and we saw on the map that it even went under a US military base and the US controlled airport at the time!  We both found this tour totally worth it but the only downer was stopping at a handicraft market selling trinkets made by people disabled by Agent Orange during the war.  We weren’t too keen on that aspect because at the time it felt more like a guilt trap more than anything else.

Following Saigon we decided to take a few days to chill out a bit and headed down to the Mekong Delta.  We ended up in the town on Can Tho.  I was a bit dispirited upon first arrival when I saw how busy it was as we were hoping for a quieter, more relaxing place.  But we felt better after a stroll along the riverfront and through the fresh produce market when we both got the sense it was definitely more of a town, rather than a city.  We had a really wonderful day (despite a 05h00 pickup time) exploring more of the delta by longtail boat.  We had an excellent guide who was so engaging and informative about life in the delta that the day passed much too quickly.  We were joined by a young couple from Scandinavia on this tour and the four of us enjoyed our time thoroughly.  After buying us some takeaway coffee from a boat in the middle of the river (the Vietnamese version of a drive-thru, perhaps?), our guide took us to a genuine floating market.  Both Rob and I had visited the “famed” floating market just outside Bangkok on previous occasions so when we learned that this was one of our stops on the tour we both thought “oh no, another cheap tourist trap”.  We were pleasantly surprised to see upon arrival that this was the real deal, as in it was the daily market with only fresh produce on offer, and all the trade being done between boats.  We stopped here for a breakfast of pho and coffee eaten around a small table.  We guzzled down our broth which we found to be even better tasting than the pho we had in Hanoi.  But then we saw that the bowls were given to the dogs to lick after we had finished and wondered what that special ingredient they had used really was!  From the market we motored quietly along some of the thousands of tributaries of which the delta is comprised, stopping occasionally to purchase fresh fruit from local vendors which we munched as we made our way deeper into the delta.  We stopped once and took a walk through one of the paddy fields adjacent to the water, the walk coming to an abrupt end when we were told to watch out for snakes.  Our last stop was at a rice paper “factory” on the side of the river, factory being a loose term to describe the residence and outdoor work area where everything is done.  It was very interesting to see how labour intensive it actually is to make rice paper, with each sheet first made by pouring out the batter onto a hot plate, gently spread out to make it paper thin, lifted with a roller and laid out delicately on woven mats to dry out.  It was made to look so easy until you try it yourself and make a complete fool of yourself realizing quickly how much skill is actually involved.  I was lucky enough to also try my hand at making rice noodles and after that we tried a fried rice noodle “pizza”, with a delicious chilli sauce topping!  It was a great end to our time in the delta.

We left the town of Can Tho and headed north to the border town of Chau Doc.  I found Chau Doc to be a crummy town filled with a very poor and culturally mixed population.  I had a funny, uncomfortable feeling as soon as we arrived and wanted to leave for Cambodia the very next day.  But as luck would have it we couldn’t change our accommodation arrangements in Phnom Phen to arrive a day earlier than expected and ended up spending two nights in Chau Doc, much to my annoyance.  Rob reckoned I was feeling the Cambodian influence on the town as Cambodia isn’t exactly a thriving economy either.  Anyway we had to make the best of the situation, so the extra day in Chau Doc was a laundry day and a walk up Sam Mountain.  That little excursion started with a 6km motorcycle ride down the road to the small village located at the base of the hill.  From there we saw we had to walk through some form of graveyard and religious site to get to the top.  With me wearing a sleeveless top on the day I felt extremely uncomfortable going any further so off we toddled into the market to buy the infamous Roxy top, a horrible sequined thing which was cheap and good enough to cover my shoulders.  Little did I know that the Roxy top would be coming to the rescue again, in a completely different way, a week later!  A couple of thousand stairs to climb and we were at the top of the hill, known locally as the Million Dollar hill, called that because of the amount of shelling done by the Americans during the war.  Rob managed to get some panoramic views of the surrounding paddy fields before we made our way down using the access road.  He enjoyed the little climb up, I was just happy with the knowledge we’d be leaving early the next day!  We ended up walking the 6km back into town and spent a restful night in the hotel before catching a boat up the river the next morning to cross into Cambodia.  Vietnam was a great experience for us, and we both admit we could have spent a bit more time there, perhaps exploring more of the national parks located in the centre of the country. However, since the beaches of Thailand and Malaysia were beckoning, we didn’t want to linger in the cooler climate.  Next stop, Cambodia…