HANOI

Described as the grand old dame of the Orient, Hanoi houses 3.7 million people so it’s a very busy, intense city with allot of ‘beep beep’ as the locals say. Our few days here have kept us busy – from the night markets set up right outside our hotel, to seeing the Mausoleum, Museum and houses of Ho Chi Minh, there has been a few good things to see here. The Lonely Plant kind of ends here with things to see so we just hopped a tour bus for an hour or so and were driven around the city centre. Each street in the centre of town specialises in manufacturing and selling something. For example there are clothes on one street, sunglasses on another street, shoes on another street and so on.
Last night, we bought some outstanding art work from a local artist. Simon and Lindsay bought a piece and so did I. I’m really looking forward to having it framed and hung at home. After our art purchase, we decided to celebrate with a nice dinner. The Gondola Hotel has been open since December and looks just beautiful (so we thought the perfect place for dinner). I think the saying is ‘All fur coat and no knickers’ – it looked good, but we had a quiet giggle when the food was bought out.
As I write this post, we’re on a car headed to Halong Bay for an overnight boat trip

Oh yeah, if we’ve had any ‘down time’ whilst moving about, Lindsay and I have been photographing the most hideously dressed Asian people we can find. So far, the ‘Lady in White’ has very high odds.

FEBRUARY 7 - FEBRUARY 9

The last few days have been very interesting. From the atrocities of the killing fields in Phnom Peng to the peace of the Buddhist Temples in Siem Reap and all in between. Tuesday we did a 5 hour quad bike tour in the blazing heat from seeing the killing fields, through many of the local and very poor villages to the zoo and a large lake. The Killing fields were terrifying, confronting and sad. The surprisingly small site has signs posted around for tourists to read about exactly what happened in each area of the fields. All of them are too atrocious to post on this blog.
The quad biking took us through dozens of local and very poor villages where we were greeted each and every time with big, wide smiles. The kids are especially friendly racing out in droves to wave, say hello in English and ‘high five you’ as you slow down to catch their hands. I’ve never seen poverty like this on this scale before but our random stops to stock up on cold water, bananas and fuel gave us a chance to talk with the locals and the kids – all of them very happy to see us. It was a hard slog – all of us have suffered some gastro and fever – just getting use to the area – but it takes its toll in the hot, sunny weather.
Thursday we flew to Siem Reap on a little plane with propellers. It’s only a 50 minute flight but the alterative is a 6 hour boat ride (no thanks). Siem Reap is poorer than Phnom Penh but caters well for tourists. We’ve had some down time to chill out and stop for a bit. The hotels have been beautiful – thanks Kazza – you rock!!
This morning we hit the temples. We saw the sun rise at Angkor Wat – which was breathe taking. We have hired a guide and a Tuk Tuk driver to show us through various temples – which are Buddhist at the moment – but have changed from Buddhist to Hindu to Buddhist over the years – and the markings of each religion are evident .. For example Buddha carvings have been changed into Hindu carvings and so on. They’re big on recycling!
This afternoon, we’re chilling out again and just relaxing by the pool which is lovely to stop for a minute!

TOURIN' AROUND

I was wide awake this morning at 5.30 am. Probably out of habit and jet lag. Took off for an early walk along the river. The city presents a different side at that time of the morning with plenty of homeless asleep along the pavements and rubbish everywhere. Shortly before sun rise, it’s all magically cleaned up for the day .... mostly.
Today we hit the tourist destinations, The National Museum was first on the list (an erratic display of artefacts surrounding great gardens), then The Royal Palace followed by the Sleng Genocide Museum (S – 21). Ok quick history lesson, prior to 1975, Toul Sleng was a high school. The Khmer Rouge took this facility and turned it into a prison, interrogation facility and ‘processed’ over 17,000 people. It’s a very surreal place to visit – and many items from this time are intact, on display and in your face including photos of hundreds of people held here by the regime and the revolting cells that they held people in. The Khmer Rouge was in power for 3 years, 8 months and 20 days. During this time, they killed around 1.5 million Cambodians – which just blows my mind.
This afternoon, we hit the Central Markets – held in a very distinctive building that is a unique, art deco city landmark. This evening we’re taking a private boat up the river. It cost around USD $30 for the 3 of us – Simon negotiated 12 local COLD beers into this price – GO SIMON PUGH!!

PHNOM PENH

Business Class Singapore Airlines is fantastic! Awesome service and plenty of time to sleep between Brisbane and Singapore.
Arriving in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is not dissimilar to arriving in Bali.
We were picked up at the airport and taken to our hotel – which is pretty central. After a quick shower we took off to the night markets where you can buy everything from food to rip off labels and local produce. We sat in on the mats in an open air kind of restaurant with all the locals and tried some of the great food. Decided to give the pigs ears a miss but plenty of other great food with awesome flavours.
Took a walk back along the river and noticed many of the locals doing aerobics workouts along the front. They pay a small fee and ‘work out’ together. The instructor pays a small fee to the authorities so they can use the public space.
Phnom Penh is a hustling, bustling city until quite late in the evening.