The final leg of the trip was visiting the sights of Cambodia.In Phnom Penh we went to an army base and I shot an .22 handgun and Pete and Vince had a go with AK-47s.I couldn't get over how loud they were and,when we got to hold loads of different guns,how heavy they were.We also visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek,129 open mass graves from the Pol Pot regime.This was pretty daunting,there were lots of skulls and when walking around there would be bones and pieces of clothing sticking out of the ground.After this we went to Tuol Sleng Prison Museum,where prisoners were held before being taken to the killing fields.This was also pretty striking,with blood still on the floors of cells and tools used to torture prisoners.
Next we went to Siem Reap to see the temples.We did this on a glorious days and hired tuk-tuk drivers for the day.They took us to the temples named Bayon,Angkor Thom,Ta Prohm and finally the big one,Angkor Wat.They were all absolutely huge and still in relatively good condition after 1000 years.We also went to the Land Mine Museum,run by a guy who used to lay them but who now removes them with the most basic of tools,an activity the UN charge $1000 per mine for.The museum was very simple but excellent and really raises your awareness.Whilst in Siem Reap we ate in the Red Piano restaurant,which Angelina Jolie opened when she was filming Tomb Raider.From here we got a taxi ride to Poi Pet on the border to Thailand along the main 'road',which was basically just a dirt track with huge holes in it!
Back in Bangkok we tried on our tailor made suits we had ordered last time we were there, and of course went back to Hard Rock Cafe for the last supper before going for a final drink at the Vertigo Bar,a bar on the 61st floor of a very plush hotel that overlooked the whole of the city. This was a quality way to finish the most amazing 6 months a person could have................... unitl next time that is...................................
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Hoi An - Nha Trang - Saigon - Sihanoukvlle
We caught a bus from Vientiane to Hoi An in the middle of Vietnam.This turned out to be the worst journey of my life which ended up taking 29 hours,half of which was spent on a local bus filled well over capacity where no-one spoke English.The journey culminated in a 10km motorbike ride to get to Hoi An where we then had to trek around in the pissing rain at 1am to find a hotel.
Hoi An was very nice and there was a big beach down the road we went to but we were all still recovering from 'that' journey.We spent 3 days here then got a bus,a proper air conditioned bus finally,to Nha Trang.This is meant to be the next up and coming place in the mould of Ko Phangan,and I could see why.Although it wasn't that busy as it was the wrong season,there was a hell of a lot of bars and the beach was awesome.We stayed here for 5 days and the weather was absolutely stunning and it provided me with a great opportunity to get my tan on.We went out every night,played a lot of pool and it was good fun.From here we got a sleeper train to Saigon and this was a city I was really looking forward to. Here we did all the Vietnam War history stuff.We went to the Chu Chi tunnels,which are 250km worth of tunnels stretching to the Cambodian border.We crawled through lots of the tunnels,fired some guns,and visited the War Remnants Museum where there were tanks,planes,helicopters and fantastic,horrifying photos. All the tourist stuff was amazing and something not many people get to see.
From Saigon we got a bus to the Cambodian border and down to the coast to a place called Sihanoukvlle.This was another place which is meant to be turning into a full moon party type of place but it was off season when we stayed there.The beers were very cheap,about 25c per beer, so we drank a lot and the weather was fairly good so caught some rays and played a lot of beach ball.Luckily when it did rain we found a newly opened cinema lounge run by an American so we took all our pirate,40p DVDs we bought in Vietnam there to pass time by.I had a good time it was just a pity we were there in the off season.
Hoi An was very nice and there was a big beach down the road we went to but we were all still recovering from 'that' journey.We spent 3 days here then got a bus,a proper air conditioned bus finally,to Nha Trang.This is meant to be the next up and coming place in the mould of Ko Phangan,and I could see why.Although it wasn't that busy as it was the wrong season,there was a hell of a lot of bars and the beach was awesome.We stayed here for 5 days and the weather was absolutely stunning and it provided me with a great opportunity to get my tan on.We went out every night,played a lot of pool and it was good fun.From here we got a sleeper train to Saigon and this was a city I was really looking forward to. Here we did all the Vietnam War history stuff.We went to the Chu Chi tunnels,which are 250km worth of tunnels stretching to the Cambodian border.We crawled through lots of the tunnels,fired some guns,and visited the War Remnants Museum where there were tanks,planes,helicopters and fantastic,horrifying photos. All the tourist stuff was amazing and something not many people get to see.
From Saigon we got a bus to the Cambodian border and down to the coast to a place called Sihanoukvlle.This was another place which is meant to be turning into a full moon party type of place but it was off season when we stayed there.The beers were very cheap,about 25c per beer, so we drank a lot and the weather was fairly good so caught some rays and played a lot of beach ball.Luckily when it did rain we found a newly opened cinema lounge run by an American so we took all our pirate,40p DVDs we bought in Vietnam there to pass time by.I had a good time it was just a pity we were there in the off season.
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