Luang Prabang, 16-19 Dec

Having had enough of tubing and partying, It was time to move on to the former capital and now World Heritage site Luang Prabang. Nestled in the mountains with the bus only being able to average 35 km/h, it would have taken us seven hours to complete the 230 km journey if there hadn’t been one eager other bus driver in a rush who almost pushed us off the road. I tried to get some sleep so I was not an eye-witness of the incident but here is what others passengers have told me: Apparently we approached a narrow bridge and slowed down to let an oncoming truck pass by. Another bus didn’t see the bridge (or the truck) and overtook us. The other bus and the truck collided and the bus crashed into our side, almost pushing us over the edge of the road. If we had been any faster we would have definitely overturned and fallen into a river.

close to the ditch

Vang Vieng 13-15 Dec

Set among the idyllic mountains, this relaxed and “happy” (“happy” meaning weed in the Mekong area; for example you can buy “happy” pizza in most towns) village is famous for tubing. You rent an old tube from a truck tyre and float down the River. I have been told that there are several bars along the stream where you can stop and get a drink. But it’s more like an entire industry (Lao style) that caters to the need of the tubers. With comfy chairs and several platforms there are up to 100 people in one location and it is bar after bar. When ordering a drink, you get a free shot (mostly Tequila) and with some loud dance music there is a good atmosphere among the tubers. If you feel courageous after a few drinks you can do the many slides, slingshots and swings constructed from thin trees or branches that don’t look too trustworthy. On the tuk tuk ride from the tube shop to the drop point some people showed me their bruised they had got the previous day and I didn’t wanna end up like them.

view over Vang Vieng from my guesthouse

Vientiane, Laos 11-13 Dec

Laos’ capital is more like a town than a city and coming from bustling Vietnam, you realize pretty fast that things go much slower here. The town centre is craving for every tourism Dollar it can get as you don’t see any locals roaming around the streets that have no business with people like me. Therefore you have westernized shops, restaurants and bars downtown much unlike the many hawker stalls in Hanoi. The French colonized the “Country of a Million Elephants” and united three individual kingdoms into one protectorate, adding an additional “s” for plural to its name. Hence Laos will be called Lao from now on as everybody else does in Asia.

The bus trip from Hanoi to Vientiane is called “Bus from Hell” on various Internet forums as you will see why. The so called “sleeper bus” is very famous in Vietnam and probably the best way to get from town to town. I used it from Saigon to Nha Trang and then to Hoi An and from there to Hanoi. The journeys take about 9-12 hours and starts between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm. There will be one or more stops along the way depending on whether there is a toilet on board. Sometimes you have your own private seat, as shown in the picture, sometimes you have two seats next to each other and you are “cuddling” with some foreigner. Actually a resting bus would be more specific, as you rarely get much sleep. The roads are partly in horrible conditions with many potholes, or the driver honks to let someone know he is overtaking, etc. Also you need the physique of a Vietnamese to be comfy in those seats. I am just 177cm and would like to see how a guy with 195cm is doing. Anyway it gets you to where you want to be, you can also save the money for a guest house, but you don’t arrive there in best conditions.

Hanoi, 07-10 Dec

Thanh Long (City of the Soaring Dragon), as Vietnam’s capital was formerly called, is the country’s major city for history, culture, politics as well as education and no tour guide or bus operator fails to mention it. The most crowed and busiest city I have seen on this trip is a bustling germ full of motor bikes and hawker stalls but without all the tourists you have in other capitals like Kuala Lumpur. In the Old Quarter (backpacker ghetto) you see rarely any English signs and it becomes clear that Hanoi does not need the tourists as badly as Vientiane for example. The traffic might not be as bad as Saigon but it is a close call. At the beginning of the dry season I felt cold for the first time in Asia, what a nice and almost unfamiliar feeling ;-) and you don’t have to pay extra for a/c.

Wedding in Hanoi

Halong Bay 05-06 Dec

Literally translated it means “decending dragons” and is definitely my personal fav of Vietnam. The Gulf of Tokin features more than two thousand vegetation-covered limestone islands and even after having seen a lot during my trip, the beauty of the area is truly amazing. 

Halong Bay

Some travellers opt to skip Halong Bay but I cant understand how you could miss this World Heritage Site (geologically and for natural beauty). The scenery reminds me of the 007-classic“The man with the golden gun“, shot in the Chinese Sea.

I paid $68 for a 2-day-trip which seemed a bit steep considering my 3-day-trip in the Mekong Delta was just $33. But the scenery made it well worthwhile. Just sitting on the bow (king of the world-style) with a cold one in your hand on a sunny day watching the islands pass by is worth all the trouble.

Allegedly we had the best vessel of the company’s fleet which reflected in the way the cabins were decorated and equipped.

Nha Trang +Hoi An 27 Nov – 03 Dec

Vietnam’s beach capital and most famous dive site is at the south-central coast, about 9 hours by bus from Saigon. My guest house was called “The Nice Hotel” and I must say it was on of the best value accommodation I stayed in on this trip. Clean, spacious room with free wifi, private bathroom including hot water, air-conditioning and heavy blankets for $10, which makes it €7.30 at the time. A moto driver at the bus stop suggested this hotel and I am usually a bit sceptical as it often turns out to be an overpriced accommodation that pays heavy commission to the driver.

The town itself is nothing special but it offers some nice beaches and a few islands off shore that are supposedly good for diving. At the beginning of the dry season visibility in the water drops down to just a few meters but you don’t always got a choice. So I booked a trip with two dives and lunch for $70. Usually you get seated in a cramped inflated rubber boat, but in low season there were only four divers and everybody had their own guide. Moreover, the vessel seemed like a retired and modified fishing boat with ample space and hence really comfy.

dive trip

Mekong Delta, 23-25 Nov

Mighty Mekong and its many channels was up next during a three-day trip of the delta. The scenic region is a wonderful green and fertile land with lots of people. While the second largest city in Cambodia is home to 140k people, it looks like every town in the delta has at least 200k citizens. First stop was the pagoda at My Tho with its smiling, happy Buddha. Might be nice for tourists who are on a two week holiday in Vietnam but unfortunately I am spoilt already and so it was nothing special.

Happy Buddha. Look at the people for comparison.

 

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam 19-22 Nov

The 7-hour bus journey to HCMC, including a Mekong crossing, was a bit too long but manageable with a scenic countryside just outside your window. Departure and immigration procedure at the two borders was a bit annoying, but what you gonna do?

Without a valid visa for Vietnam (there is no visa on arrival) you were not even allowed to board the bus. I guess they had some bad experiences in the past. Anyway, all the passports were collected beforehand and all of us had to alight at the Cambodian border to receive your passport in person before handing it back to the tour guide. At the Vietnamese border you had to take your luggage thru the usual x-ray scanner in a building. I bet they wouldn’t have found anything even if someone had any illegal substances with them. Once again you retrieved your passport only to show it to another official five minutes later. After these intricate procedures, that took us the better part of an hour, we continued on to our destination.

You might remember me being fascinated with the traffic in PP but Saigon definitely tops that easily. While there were about 10 motos to 1 car it is now 50 bikes to 1 four-wheeler. Reason for that is the fact that the government adds 20% of import tax on each car but none to Chinese motos which are quite affordable ($300-$500). I probably haven’t seen the town’s main intersections but what is going on at the smaller streets is also worth mentioning. All motos and vehicles honk unceasingly in order to announce their coming. Frustrated bus drivers basically steer with their hand on the horn but at least they don’t have such a screaming noise but rather a wah-wah sound. Also, you always have some pedestrians interfering as well as your usual hawker stalls and street vendors. Just like marvelling at the waves on a beach or staring into a fire, I could watch the traffic here for hours. When it comes to crossing the street yourself it is quite scary at first. I usually looked for a local and just followed him. The trick is to move slowly but consistently and the motos will simply move to avoid you. When you hear a beep you might consider stopping to let someone in a hurry pass. On the other hand, it seems everybody is in a rush.

Apart from the Independence Palace and the War Remnants Museum, HCMC doesn’t offer many more sights if you have seen some temples and pagodas already, and so I dedicated some time to update this blog. Having been lazy in the last 6 weeks it was about time for a decent make over. Most of the time it rained quite heaviliy and so I looked up some markets or other places of interest.

candy at the Ben Tanh Market

Phnom Penh 16-18 Sep

Back to PP on a sort of a local bus as I was the only Westerner. I had a nice talk with an English teacher who visited a friend in Sihanoukville and he told me the fare is $2 for the locals. I paid $5 and I wonder if the bus company or the travel agent pockets the difference. Anyway, $5 for a 5 hour bus ride is still a good deal.

I went back to the same place that I had stayed before and even my tuk-tuk driver who took me to the Killing fields, recognized me immediately and was happy to see me again (probably because I tipped him before).

Just before you get to the Killing Fields, I noticed some quads in front of a shop and asked my driver to take me there. Unfortunately there were no tours on that day but I scheduled a trip for the following. Asking my driver what is around here to see he answered there is a shooting range nearby. Having not been drafted to the military service, I was curious how it would feel but I am not gonna elaborate on this.

The next day I should have been picked up by a tuk-tuk from the quad-shop but the driver never showed and so I eventually called them. The owner said the driver had gone to a similar sounding guest house but he (the owner) could pick me up on his motorbike.

The ride to the quad shop takes about 45 minutes by tuk-tuk but we managed to get there in 15. So you get an idea how fast the guy was driving. Evading traffic by taking shortcuts on the side-walk, squeezing thru two busses with 20 cm to each side at 50 kph and overtaking trucks on the dirty, unpaved side of the road. It was literally like in a video game but also great fun and scary to death at the same time.

my quad

Sihanoukville 13-15 November

It was $6 for the ticket to Sihanoukville and to watch how a small boy throws up several times on the seat next to me, probably motion sickness. Anyway those bus journeys are slowly annoying me as they always take ages. This one took me another 6 hours and I have to go the entire way back to PP. On the other hand it was a two-level bus and I got a seat at the window. Travelling overland I realize that Cambodia is not as lush as for example Malaysia or Bali with lots of palm and banana trees and but rather bushy.

Accommodation-wise it was “back to basic” without air-conditioning or hot water but my guest house is clean and big enough for me. Also, it is conveniently located next to the dive shop.

lots of activities at the beach

Phnom Penh 09-12 November

We took the bus at 7:00h to go to Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh. The 6.5h bus ride with monotonous Khmer folk music was a bit too long imho. Jonas travelled on to Kep and we might meet again in Sihanoukville.

It seems like that it’s not you who select your tuk-tuk driver but rather the driver who picks you. When you arrive in Phnom Penh at least ten drivers are pointing at the passengers and shouting at each other. When you exit the bus you are then approached by one person who offers his services.

The Royal Guest House had let me wait quite some time before I was finally able to get that long awaited shower after the strentious bus ride.

In the evening I looked around town and the traffic is even worse than in Bangkok. Moto-madness is apparently the right word to describe what is going on. They take every opportunity to sneak thru the traffic be it on the pavement, using the other side of the road facing the oncoming vehicles or ignoring any traffic lights. If you want to cross a major road as a pedestrian you need good nerves and a bit of luck won’t do any harm either.

Sorya Shopping Mall was the first mall in PP and this is where most Cambodians can take their first ride on an escalator. Especially elderly people and monks sometimes prefer to take the stairs, after having a good long look at that strange moving thing in front of them. The mall is nothing special but I was glad I could pick up some earphones since those bought in BKK didn’t last long. Also the food court offers some tasty bites and the mall is also home to the largest supermarket I have seen so far in this country with decent prices.

It seems to me the touts are much more eager to sell stuff and services than in Siem Reap or Battambang. Although they do understand the meaning of a smiling “No, thank you” and let you on your way, the number of people offering their service is much bigger. From the mall to the next side street you get asked alt least 10 times if you want a moto or tuk-tuk.

Battambang 07-09 November

The day started by getting to the boat ferry terminal some kilometres outside of Siem Reap. The trip took about 7.5 hours from Siem Reap to Battangbang, the second largest city of Cambodia and just the ride over was worth going to Battambang. The boat was about 25 meters long, 4 meters wide and packed with tourists and locals.

our boat for the trip

 First we had to cross a small part of the Tonlé Sap Lake, before we went upstream on the Sangker River to Battambang. Although there are much more inexpensive options to get to this destination, none of them has this flair and atmosphere. The landscape changes rapidly from small vegetation to endless lilly areas to open water where you could see neither a plant nor land to villages on the lake, to swamp-like areas where you could hardly get thru, to fishing settlements on the banks of Sangker. At times it felt like a morning on the calm sea, cruising on the Shannon in Ireland, fighting thru the Everglades in Florida or like gliding thru a lily pond. All at once.

Kids in one of the stilted villages

 

Siem Reap, Cambodia, 02-06 November

With Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao now the real adventure begins. That’s at least the way I would like to think of it before even getting started.

Cambodia only has two international airports at Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. The former was my first destination to see the temples of Angkor Wat. You know that you are in an exciting country when they charge you for a visa. Although I knew I had to have a passport photo for the visa, I forgot it in my backpack and so got charged an extra Dollar to scan my passport. About seven or eight “officials” are sitting next to each other passing your passport on to the next person, each one looking and checking. But I am glad that they have established visa on arrival and that it only takes two minutes to get it.
Siem Reap means "defeated Thailand", hardly the most tactful gesture to name a major city so close to the Thai border.

I shared a tuk-tuk to my guest house with an elderly scot who is a professional photographer taking pictures Cambodia’s people, so he told me.

People are finally driving on the right side of the road again. After Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand it’s kinda strange but you easily get into the old habit of looking to the right side when crossing a street.

I stayed at the Mandalay Inn, just next to the old market and for $14 I was really impressed how clean the room was. All staff spoke excellent English and was very eager to please you. Free wifi also contributed to the positive experience.

After a lot of turmoil in recent decades (colonisation by the French and the Khmer Rouge reign) people lost confidence in their own currency (Cambodian Riel) and so they adopted the US-Dollar. Although the Riel remains as the official currency all prices in supermarkets, when booking a bus, tour or tuk-tuk driver are quoted in US-Dollars. Well, that is not entirely correct. All charges must be settled by new, clean, crisp US-Dollar notes. Any torn, old, dirty notes are not accepted. It occurred to me several times that notes were “not good enough” and so I had to tender a different, “better” one. The official exchange rate is 1$ = 4200 Riel, but most places round the Dollar off to 4000. If the price is $2.50 and you tender a $5 note you will get back two Dollars and 2000 Riel.

Also, Cambodia is more expensive than expected, especially the prices at the supermarket for every day items like tooth paste and candy.

For some reasons Diet Coke is more expensive than regular Coke, also no fast food restaurant (McDonald’s or Burger King don’t exist but I have seen one KFC) offers Diet Coke.

On the other hand you can buy a carton (200) of cigarettes for as cheap as $3.00 and a tuk-tuk driver for the whole day to see Angkor Wat only charges $10.00

The classic Thai tuk-tuk is a one-piece vehicle with one metal frame. Cambodia’s tuk-tuks are technically called a “remork” as they consist of a tuk-tuk-like carriage drawn by a moto.

Remork

Bangkok, Thailand 02 -31 Oct

Two Dutch girls (Jitske and Sanne) moved into the bungalow next to mine on Pulau Weh and Jitske was my buddy on three dives. They also headed back to Kuala Lumpur and so I had some people to share the rides and kill some time. We got into a taxi and took the ferry to Banda Aceh at 8:00h in the morning which meant I had to get up at six. Havent been up that early in some time but at least you can easily sleep on the flight and on the bus. On our way from Banda to the airport we had some time left and so we persuaded the taxi driver to get us to a “sight” at no extra charge.

The tidal wave on Boxing Day 2004 hit Banda Aceh pretty hard and a power generator was washed inland to about 4-5 km from its initial place at the beach. When the girls suggested we had a look I was not too enthusiastic, but once I noticed the size of the generator, I realized how much power and impact the wave had on the city. The generator is about 60m long, 30m wide and 20m high. I don’t know how much that thing weighs but you get an idea of how much power the tsunami had.

half of the power generator

Gapang Beach, Pulau Weh, Indonesia 25-30 Sep

Travelling back to Penang was without any occurrences worth mentioning. I stayed one night there and then made my way to the airport the following morning.

At the firefly check in the lady told me Indonesian immigration would want me to show them a return ticket or an onward flight. So I hurried to the Air Asia counter to have my confirmation printed. Of course nobody asked me for that confirmation.

The flight to Banda Aceh was different from what I had experienced before. The ATR 72-500 holds about 60-70 seats, is equipped with a propeller and just two cabin crew members serving the guests.

The ascend and descend was much steeper than any commercial flight I have been on before. I tried to take a nap as soon as I boarded the aircraft and usually I am not bothered by the take off procedures but with such a skyrocketing climb I couldn’t drop off.

Procedures at the Indonesian immigration are straightforward. In June this year “Visa on Arrival” was established in Banda Aceh and so you just hand over 25 USD and get into the country without any hassles.

I took a private tuned cab with a massive sub-woofer in the trunk to get me to the ferry terminal. The ride over to Pulau Weh was nicely air-conditioned and not a bumpy one at all.

Once again a taxi drove me over to Gapang Beach where I finally arrived after a taxi to airport, flight to Banda Aceh, taxi to ferry, ferry to Pulau Weh, taxi to Gapang Beach-trip.

The dive shop was fully booked and so I had to look for accommodation someplace else. The rooms are cheaper next door but you don’t have a proper shower. So I just showered at the dive shop and saved the money.

In the evening I went for dinner with my fellow divers. Apparently there is one restaurant down the beach all the divers always go to. I had fish curry which was either amazing or I was really tired from a long trip. Anyway, it tasted great.

Diving pics of Pulau Weh, Indonesia

My dive buddy on the first beach dive had a camera and he kindly shared the pictures with me:

banded mantis shrimp

Meyer's Butterflyfish

Langkawi, Malaysia, 21-24 Sep

Langkawi consist of 99 islands about 3 hours north of Penang and with its lush rice paddies and tax free status a beautiful and cheap place to stay a few days.

I took the morning ferry to the port of Kuah and from there it is a 35 minutes taxi ride to Pentai Chenang (Chenang Beach) on the western coast. I reckon this is the first time that I choose the accommodation that was lonely planet’s pick.

Gecko Guesthouse - nice, shady place to hang out

George Town, Pulau Penang, Malaysia 18-21 Sep

I took the boat to the mainland after paying the usual 2RM rip-off and this time I got a seat further back. Unfortunately the minibus to Peneng was already fully booked and so I had to take a detour via Cameron Highlinds, which took about 2-3 hours.

After 12 hours on a boat, in a bus or waiting for either one I arrived in Chinatown of George Town. Peneng is an Island on the north western coast and easily accessible via a 4-lane-highway. The lonely planet claims there is the best food in Malaysia and it was in fact delicious. If you ever get your hands on Chicken with plum sauce you definitely wanna try it.

After my nice bungalow just off the beach I checked into a guesthouse this time. The rate was 40RM including air-conditioning which is a real bargain. Apparently I pushed the a/c too hard and so I have a cold now. Hope it will get better soon, I currently cant equaliz.

smallest room I ever had on my trip

Pulau Kecil, Perhentien Islands, Malaysia (13-18 Sep)

It was pouring cats and dogs when I bid KL good bye and got into my bus to the LCCT in order to fly to Kota Bharu on the north-eastern coast of Malaysia. As always the flight with Air Asia was delayed and I don’t know why I still bother to book their flights. Oh wait, I just paid €30 for the flight ;-) I didn’t get what the problem was but getting bored in the departure I talked to a Norwegian couple who happens to be on its way to the Perhentien Islands, too.

There was just one conveyer belt for the luggage in the arrival hall for domestic flights. Seems like Kota Bharu is not the most popular town in Malaysia. We shared a taxi to Kota Besut where our ferry departed. It was quite a bumpy ride although the sea was calm. I didn’t pay attention and so I took a seat near the bow. Of course it is going to be rough there, what a stupid mistake.

Pulau Kecil (which means small island) is about 35 minutes from the mainland by speed boat with 400 hp. You could walk around the entire island in a few hours but most of the beaches are separated and there are no paths to other beaches. Also there is no jetty, thus a small boat has to come from shore to pick up the passengers. Of course that service wasn’t free and so we were charged 2RM each for 8 minutes of work. Nice rip-off

Beach of Paulau Kecil

Kuala Lumpur 08-13 Sep

(Post for Singapore is now complete including Sentosa Island)

Early morning flight with Air Asia in an A320-200 from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately the aircraft had a puncture and apparently there was no spare tyre in all of Changi Airport. So we had to wait 4 hours for a tyre to be brought in from KL. We got a free lunch for compensation but that doesn’t really improve your mood.

Having arrived at the LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) in KL I took a bus to bustling chinatown. The streets are cramped with people, cars and scooters and so it took us ages to get there. In chinatown is a myriad of hawker stalls offing all kind of food for 1-2 Euros and the food is really delicious. Eating rice all day I really become a fan of it.

Being on a tight budget I took a room with no air-condition and just a fan which proved to be a big mistake. No a/c on the beach is fine but in a city the heat really gets to you. It was probably the smallest room I had so far with nothing else than a bunk bed, some shelves and a single chair. Being modest it was enough for me.

You see Malaysian flags on every building. In this case even all over the building