There are two ways to get between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap; boat and bus. I’d used the boat on the way up, but at $22 vs $5 I couldn’t justify it for the way back down, especially given the difficulty of getting to it. The ride doesn’t take much longer than the boat and in a year or so will be much faster as many delays were caused by work to seriously improve the route. On my return to Phnom Penh I stayed to the north west of the city centre by a lake called Boeng Kak. Its a small traveller hang out area and its nice supping a cold beer on a balcony over the lake at sunset, even if the water is so polluted you’d never consider getting in. I’d left the National Museum to visit so I’d have something to do between journeys.
The museum is housed in a spectacular building of traditional design (and which I failed to photograph). Apparently the building has one of the largest bat populations for an artificial structure. Unfortunately bat dropping are corrosive and were falling through the ceiling onto the exhibits and visitors. The Ozzies came to the rescue; in exchange for borrowing some exhibits they built a second false ceiling to catch the droppings. The problem with this museum is that it is very old fashioned, a bunch of stuff with small label cards and no other explanation. Whilst it nice to know the treasures in the museum’s collection are protected from the looters that have raided so many of Cambodia’s historical monuments its a really dull museum to visit, imparting little information on those who visit.
I only spent a couple of night in PP this time, enough to get over one hourney, book tickets for the next, buy some more malaria pills and see the museum. I was keen to head down to Sihanoukville and check out the beach. This is Cambodia’s most important seaside resort with an older backpacker area near Victory Beach and a newer one at Serendipity Beach. On getting to town I jumped onto a moto taxi and asked for Serendipity. After a bit we headed off down a bumpy unsealed road to a scruffy collection of guesthouses. I assumed the driver was bucking for a commission from a less popular area of the beach and set off to explore on foot. Nope I was at the right place and the scruffy guesthouses were charging around double what I expected. I checked into the least bad immediate option and headed to check out the beach and bar life. Really quiet was the answer with small crowds only at two neighbouring bars, one of which tried to make up for teh lack of peole by damaging eardrums.
I had hoped to spend a week here chilling out and getting to know a small group of people, but after two nights where things looked little better I decided to move on and give Victory Beach a try. I jumped on a moto and headed north through the centre of town, eventually turning onto a badly rutted dirt road that became steeper and steeper. This was looking even worse, with no sign of life anywhere. When the bike gave up tryin to climb the hill with the driver, myself and my rucksack proving too much for it, we were next to a guesthouse. I was persuaded by the manager to have a look, but the first room was a bit basic. He had something better, someone was just leaving and why did I not look at that. The room was being vacated by an Irish guy who had been there for a week and a half. “Was the any life in this place?” I asked. “Yeah down at Serendipity” he answered. “Thats it!!”, I exclaimed. He shrugged and suggested it wasn’t a party town. I’ve been to quiet beaches in Samoa and happening ones in Oz and this town seemed to fall somewhere nasty between the two.
It was 11 o’clock and the daily boat to the Thai border left at midday. I jumped back on the moto, change of plan, take me to the docks. The boat was one of the river express boats pressed into service on the coastal run. Though fast I was pleased to see the water was calm as boats designed for shallow rivers don’t handle waves well. A few air conditioned hours later I was in Krong Koh Kong and jumping on yet another moto for the 6km ride to the border, crossing a new 1.9km long bridge and saving me from the the boat mafia that used to rob visitors blind here. I was lucky enough to be one of the first off the express boat to reach the border post and was stamped out fairly quickly. I wasn’t sorry to be leaving Cambodia; I found it fascinating and wanted to learn more about its history, however I hadn’t fallen in love with the place. After Thailand and especially Laos I found I was hassled too often for money and that the tourist and backpacker areas were too removed from local life.
I spent the first couple of days in Phnom Penh not achieving much, basically chilling out and sleeping a lot. After the travel of the previous few days I had booked into the nicest room yet on the trip, which still cost less than a dorm bed in a US hostel. BBC World gave me access to the news just at the point where Tony Blair got hit by the Claire Short UN bugging allegations. It was good to see him caught again on the actions surrounding the Iraq invasion, but frustrating that he seems to have got over this issue. Trying to pin this guy down is like trying to nail jelly to a wall.
The hotel was on the riverside, in a strip of bars and restaurants (including Phnom Penh’s famous Happy Herb Pizzas) catering to the expat, NGO and tourist crowds. Its a pleasant enough place for a meal and a drink, though it attracts a huge number of shoe polishers, newspaper sellers and beggers. I was surprised to realise that food and drink were roughly double the cost of what I would have expected in Laos. I suppose the greater number of monied tourists, plus the large number of NGO & UN staff have driven up prices in the past decade.
After a couple of days of dossing it was time to get back to the business of travelling. Firstly it was out of my luxury pad and into a good guesthouse just down the road at a quarter of the price. It was then off to the Tuol Sleng Museum, followed by the killing fields of Choeung Ek.
In 1975 Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by the Khmer Rouge and turned into Security Prison 21 (S-21). It became the largest centre of detention and torture in the country, with more than 17,000 people passing through between 1975 & 1978 before being taken to the Choeung Ek killing fields. We know what happened here as the Khmer Rouge kept meticulous records, photographing every prisoner, sometimes before & after torture. When the Vietnamese liberated the city in 1979 they found only 7 prisoners alive in S-21 and the corpses of 14 tortured to death as the forces closed in. The photographs of these victims are up in the rooms where they were found along with the furniture & equipment found at the time. Other parts of the prison retain the tiny cells built into former classrooms, racks of iron leg shackles and torture gallows. One long series of rooms displays the photographs of people who passed though this awful place. Apparantly a lot of work has been done to preserve the documentation from this place so that the crimes committed here aren’t forgotten, however this isn’t publically displayed. What is missing from the museum is the story of how the place came into being, how it functioned and how the prisoners came to be here. It is probably this lack of information that stopped me from being affected as much as I expected; it was this element that made the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC so effective. Make no mistake, this is a place everyone should visit and it will leave a lasting impressing all those that do. I didn’t take any photos here; it didn’t occur to me (I was so wrapped up in what I was seeing) and they wouldn’t have conveyed the atmosphere anyway.
The Choeung Ek killing fields are a few km away but also need to be seen. Of the 17,000 murdered here, 8985 were exhumed in 1980 from mass graves. 49 of the 129 communal graves were left undisturbed. What you see here are a large number of pits surrounded by fragments of human boen and bits of cloth. In the centre is a Memorial Stupa with glass walls containing more than 8,000 skulls. Its a very affecting place, though less so than S-21 and also lacks background information that I would have expected.
Choeung Ek Memorial Stupa, Cambodia
S-21 and Choeung Ek are a small part of the story of genocide that happened to this country in the 3 years, 8 months and 21 days of the Khmer Rouge rule. During that time it is estimated around 2 million people died, either in one of thousands of killing fields or through starvation and ill health. The Khmer Rouges rise to power was largely to do with the after effects of the Indo-China (Vietnam) war and the Americans disruptive influence in it. When the country was finally liberated from these genocidal maniacs it was by the Vietnamese. For years afterwards the Cambodian seat at the UN was filled by a Khmer Rouge official as the UN refused to accept the Vietnamese installed government. In the 1980’s SAS troups were sent to teach landmining techniques to one of the armed factions opposing the Vietnamese. All those factions, including the Khmer Rouge, were allied so its more than likely the UK supplied landming expertise was available to them. Cambodia has one of the worst landmine problems in the world and its something that will blight the country for decades to come. In the early 90’s the UN stepped in to create order in the country and bungled almost everything. As the pulled out hailing success none of the Khmer Rouge had gone to trial, none of the armed factions had been disarmed and the party that lost the elections still retained most of the power in the country. No nation in the world can have been so let down both by their own politicians and by those abroad. I’ll expand on this potted history when I can; Cambodia’s recent history is truly shocking and should be more widely known.
I also got round to visiting two of Phnom Penhs more famous markets, the Russian Market and Psar O Russie. The Russian market is more tourist oriented, but between the two of the you can buy almost everything : food, hardware, clothing, toiletries, PA systems, CDs, computer software (at $2 a pop)……..
On Tuesday I caught another express boat up the river to Siem Reap. It was another enjoyable 6 hours in the sun watching rural Cambodia pass by. The water must be really low as a few times the boat had to stop to allow the depth ahead to be judged by poles and then at the far end we transferred into a fleet of small boats to take us to land. In them we passed through an extensive floating village including restaurants and shops. I’d arranged to stay at the guesthouse twinned with the one in Phnom Penh so a motorbike taxi weas waiting for me. The initial 4km of the road is shocking, being an incredible bumpy dirt track. Its a crazy sight, my driver with my 18kg rucksack between his legs, me perched behind him all on a 100cc scooter. Before long we had a puncture so I waited at a shack for 15 min, drinking water whilst he zipped of to get it repaired.
One of many great views from the boat
The next two days were spent exploring the temples at Angkor. Its hard to know what to write about a series of monuments this impressive, I’ll give some sizes so you can put some scale to the pictures.
The most famous is Angkor Wat. Its surrounded by a 190m wide moat measuring 1.5km by 1.3km, inside which is a wall. At the heart is the temple complex in five tiers, on which the highest has 5 towers, the centre one 55m in height from the ground. Reaching the core temple is via some scarily steep and tall stairs. I saw one Asian lady attempting them in heels and had to look away…. The outside of the entire first level is surrounded by 8 main bass relief carvings each 7 ft high and around 100m long.
Angkor Wat from outside, looking along the causeway across the moatThe centre of Ankgor Wat from one of the few places you can see all 5 towersA section of one of the main bass reliefsAngkor Wat, Angkor, Cambodia
Angkor Thom is just north and was the previous Khmer capital. It is surrounded by wall 8m high and 3km along each side, outside of which is a 100m wide moat. It has 5 huge gatehouses, each 20m high. Despite their size the fortifications do not look particularly defensive, lacking all the small features such as arrow slots and ballistrades you would expect on European equivalents. This might be why the Siamese were able to capture it so often, leading to abandonment in favour of Phnom Penh. Inside Angkor Thom are a huge number of impressive monuments, the most significant of which is the Bayon. This has 54 gothic towers decorated with 216 gargantuan faces.
Angkor Thom East Gatehouse (apparently used in one of the Tomb Raider films)Ank Bayon, Angkor, Cambodia
Highly atmospheric is Ta Prohm which has been left partially swallowed by the jungle. This is real Indiana Jones / Tome Raider territory with trees growing up through buildings and vast roots systems growing over and through walls. It was here I spotted one of the most famous Cambodians to foreigners. The front cover of the current Cambodian Lonely Planet shows an old guy with a broom emerging from a door surrounded by roots. He’s still there.
Ank Ta Prohm, Angkor, Cambodia
I saw a huge number of staggeringly impressive temples in the two days I was there but the final lasting impression was of an artificial lake, The Western Baray. Its perfectly rectangular and is 8km by 2.3km. How on earth did they manage to create a lake that huge with the technology they had at the time (1000 ADish).
Within a few hundred years of completing the most impressive of the monuments the Khmer empire went into decline. Possibly the effort of building them may have been the catalyst for this by stretching their resources too far. The Angkor area was abandoned to the jungle to remain relatively unknown until the arrival of the Europeans. What it must have been like to discover someting of this scale I can’t imagine. It is said that Angkor rivals Egypt’s pyramids and has to be visited if you come to Cambodia.
Not far away is a landmine museum, run as a charity and providing education to children injured by the mines. There is a huge collection of different mines and other ordinance here. Many of them have their page from the Janes guide mounted above them and it makes chilling reading as someone describes the weapon in unemotional techical detail. Many of the mines found are little plastic anti personnel mines copied from an American design by the Vietnamese. About the size of a coffee jar lid being plastic they are really hard to find and will destroy a limb. Its worth remembering this because like Laos, Cambodia is full of mines and UXO and will be for decades to come. If you are somewhere remote don’t head off the trail.
Landmine Museum, Angkor, Cambodia
Siem Reap itself is a pleasant place to spend some time with a good selection of restaurants and bars. However, news of Angkor has got out and luxury hotels are springing up at an incredible rate. The local airport provides direct access to several major local airports including Bangkok and tourist numbers will probably grow enormously over they coming decade. Get here before it gets worse.
A final shot from Siem Reap…. something about a department of cults I found amusing
The plan is to head back to Phnom Penh tomorrow, then off to the south coast a few days after that.
Unfortunately the first Cambodian we met was a nasty little sh*t who was determined to rip us off. First of all he wanted to charge way over the going rate for the boat and then was going to fill it up with his mates travelling for free. We finally negociated a small discount but had little leaverage as we had stamped out of Laos and couldn’t return. Then he asked for the payment up front and suspecting that all would not go well we refused, moving to half now, half on arrival. he was having now of it and pulled his mates out the boat. Whilst arguing we took the opportunity to get one full width seat each and when we relented he wanted to stick all his freebies back in. We refused saying he could have the remaining seats but that we were so big and the seats small we were having one apiece. Finally he relented and we set off. It was only a short hop over the river to the Cambodian checkpoint where we would get stamped into the country and whilst this was done we made sure one person was always in the boat so it couldn’t abandon us. Having been stamped in the driver pulled the silencer off the exhaust and we set off on the run down the river to Stung Treng. Thankfully the remainder of the journey was uneventful .
Stung Treng is a small place that has only just got on the beaten path as the border opened. Dinner was a Cambodian style Sweet & Sour soup followed by an early night as the express boat south left at 7:30am.
The express boat looked to be a big Russian built thing and on arriving at the pier bumped into Robert & Nancy. Having done this before they suggested travelling on the roof of the boat which seemed a great idea. It was fantastic travelling down the Mekong river with the wind in your hair, the sun shining and a panoramic view. Occasionally we would slow right down to transfer goods and passengers onto small boats that had come out from the villages. At 11am we stopped at Kratie where Robert and Nancy got off, however I was continuing for 3 more hours down to Kompong Cham. After another hour on the toof I realised I was on the verge of getting burnt so had to head inside. The aircon in there kept it pleasant enough but it wasn’t the same as the roof.
Picking up passengers & goods as we pass villages. Our boat doesn’t come to a halt.Me on the roof of the boatExpress boat, Mekong River, Cambodia
I knew I could get a bus from Kompong Cham to Phnom Penh but didn’t know the times so was prepared to stay the night here if necessary. First I had to get some lunch. On the way into town I was joined by a motorbike taxi who wanted to knwo where I was going, whether I intended to stay and telling me all the wonderful places I could go. My mistake was being too polite and not being blunt enough and had to put up with his diatribe until my food arrived. There were still buses running so I decided to move on that day. In getting to the bus station I noticed how much hotter it feels this far south, distinctly different from Luang Prabang and Vientienne. The bus was air conditioned and in good repair and the initial part of the road was good. What was awful was the driving of some other drivers and around half way the road deteriorated with potholes spanning much of it.
One of the snacks offered en route : fried spiders!!!!!!
Road to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Arriving in Phnom Penh it was clear that the only way to get to the hotel was to catch a motorbike taxi. With my large rucksack wedged between his knees and me perched on the back we set off through the local traffic where everyone has right of way. Not sure whether to close my eyes or to prepare to jump off we actually made it in one piece.
I was staying near to a Phnom Penh pizza house that has become an institution, so indulged in my first western food for a while that evening. I was tired from the days travels so crashed out earlyish after watching a bit of BBC World in my room (my first TV in weeks).
Cambodia feels a lot more busy than Laos and in general the people seem friendly.
The trip to the Kong Lo caves had been hard on my kit, I’d lost my torch, my Teva sandals had the stitching fail at a critical point and the zip had failed on a set of shorts. On my last evening in Savannakhet I managed to restitch the sandals, though only with doubled up cotton thread as that is all I had. In addition the only way to find the holes on the plastic part of the sandle was every two stitches to unthread the needle, push the needle though the hole in the plastic, the webbing and neoprene backwards and then rethread the needle.
There were no major dramas on the bus the next day down to Pakse except for some reason the bus stations in Lao towns are miles from the town centre. Its not a big problem, it just doesn’t seem to make sense. What also seems mad is that in the town of origin the bus will stop regularly to pick up passengers on long distance routes making the first few miles maddeningly slow.
Pakse had a little more to offer than Savannakhet, but not a huge amount. I found a good deal on a nice room with a balcony so could lie down in the sun and plan my crossing into Cambodia. The Lao guide I had had few details and I hadn’t managed to get hold of a Cambodia guide in the towns south of Luang Prabang. I had decided to ask any travellers in town if they had come up that way and if they had a guide to sell. Success with the first person I asked though it did turn out to be one of the dodgy pirated Lonely Planets that are common around here (at different points it claims to be both the 4th & 5th editions).
The view from my balcony, Pakse, Laos
Whilst on the subject of Lonely Planet’s its worth a comment on Lao’s. Its a useful book that I’d rather not have been without, however it has a feeling or being more out of date than other LP’s I have used despite being published fairly recently in 2002. Possibly Laos is changing faster in places than other countries .
The traveller hang out in Pakse is an Indian restaurant and I was well up for curry. Unfortunately this was the first disappointing curry I had in Laos, the pakora being all batter and no vegetable and some of the chicken in the curry being very overcooked and tough. It was strange that it had become the traveller hang-out when there was a far better Vietnamese place across the road.
I stayed here for two nights and on the second night sat chatting with a Scottish girl I had originally met on the boat down to Luang Prabang and a Canadian guy. Around 11ish we realised everywhere was closing up and the people at the place we were sitting were watching us expectantly. We paid up and headed home only for me to find my hotel locked up! I banged on the gate and shouted sabadee but no one responded. There was a shop and restaurant attached so I tried their doors, also locked. Things were looking bad until I noticed an unmarked door round the corner. I tried the handle and the door opened. With relief I headed inside and found myself in a small room behind reception. I made no mention of the problem the next day as the manager had been very helpful in getting the zip in my shorts replaced.
I had decided to stay on Don Khong, the largest of the Si Phan Don islands in the Mekong river. The transport there was another converted pickup, this one even more crowded than usual with a wooden bench down the middle in addition to the two rows down the sides. It meant for the bulk of the journey until the river ferry we had to sit without being able to move our feet or legs. Once at the ferry myself and a couple of Irish lads, Mannix & Kieron, hung on to the platform at the back. The bus did a big loop round the whole of the island before arriving in the biggest village Muang Khong. There we sorted out the best accommodation deal yet $3 a night for wonderful little bungalow rooms. An OK dinner was had in the attached restaurant on the river before the numbers of insects drove us back. We bought a bottle of the local Lao Lao (rice whisky) and some mixers and headed back to the porch in front of one of our bungalows to chat and listen to music. When the first bottle was finished we bought a second…… Next day was a write off.
The bus to Don Khong, LaosView across the Mekong from the guesthouse’s restaurant, Muang Khong, Laos
The Sunday was to be my last full day in Laos and I decided to rent a motorbike to explore the waterfalls and other islands. Having crossed the ferry and headed down a side road I noticed that my back tyre was flat. I had it fixed nearby (it had an inner tube) but also noticed that at one point the rear tyre was down to the canvas. I took the bike back over the ferry and insisted on getting my money back. I found another bike somewhere else and the tyres looked good so I headed off again back over the ferry. First stop was the Khon Phapheng Falls where the eastern part of the Mekong drops 15m. That may not seem like much but the Mekong is a big river, you can get close to them and there isn’t the commercialism that surrounds Niagara.
Part of the Khon Phapheng Falls, Laos
Next stop was to go and see the Cambodian border at Voen Kham as I planned to cross tomorrow and wanted to do a little recon. 4km from the town was a barrier across the road next to building market Lao Customs. I came to a halt and the bike stalled and wouldn’t restart. The guys from the buildings came out and pulled the bike up next to theirs. After failing to start it a couple of them took out and cleaned the spark plug. Eventually the bike restarted but I had a hard time believing teh plug was the problem. I thanked them for their help and was waved though the barrier onto the dirt road to the town. At the entrance to the village was another barrier marked Lao Immigration that I was not going to cross so I turned round and headed back. My plan was then to leave the bike and head on the ferry to Don Det and Don Khon, but there did not seem to be a secure place to leave it and my passport was held until the bike’s safe return. I headed back to Don Khong but on the road back to the ferry the bike cut out and wouldn’t restart. After leaving it to cool for a while I tried again without success. I had no option but to push it the 7km back to the rental place. Various people tried to help or fix the bike but to no avail.
Whilst I waited for the ferry to depart a diesel plow puller (their 2 wheeled equivalent of a tractor) pulling a trailer lost control down the hill and came speeding at the ferry. I prepared to jump ship if it came my way but it headed down the opposite side finally jamming between the railing and a pick-up. After dropping off the bike I headed back to the bungalow for a shower and a beer.
Staying in the bungalow opposite myself were a Seattle couple, Richard and Nancy. They were also planning to cross into Cambodia and had done a little more research than myself so we planned to team up. At 8am next day we caught a boat across the river and then a converted pick-up down to Voen Kham. The plan was to catch the midday slow boat into Cambodia down to Stung Treng and thereby avoiding the speedboat mafia so we had planty of time to take a boat trip to see the freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins which are now endangered in the Mekong. We did get to spot a small pod several times (photo to follow) and headed back to the border.
Irrawaddy dolphin (if you look closely), Voen Kham, Laos
Coming up to midday it was clear that there were no other passengers waiting for the midday boat and therefore little surprise when by 12:30 nothing had shown up. We had to deal with our first Cambodians, the speedboat mafia.
Other than getting my Cambodian visa and having a look around the markets I didn’t do much in Vientiane. The city didn’t appeal to me, the nightlife was non-existent, the cheap restaurants crap and the more expensive ones little better. Although there were supposed to be a couple of large nightclubs there didn’t appear to be anyone out on the town warming up for them. More importantly for the traveller is that it only has one second hand bookshop and one for new books and both are dreadful. If you have a limited time in Laos spend more of it in Laung Prabang than in the capital. Having said all that its not a really bad city, just disappointing after the delights of Luang.
Travelled by bus down to Tha Khaek as it appeared to be a good starting point for Kong Lo caves. Something has gone wrong in this town as the most highly recommended hotel has closed and another big one being built was abandoned after 80% of the work has been done. In addition most of the restaurants in the town square had also disappeared.
Over dinner I met up with Marco & Willeke, a Dutch couple, who were also looking to head to the Kong Lo caves. It was a 6 o’clock alarm to get up, packed and onto the 7 o’clock bus that would take us the first section of the journey. Although the roads were good, the repeated stops meant it took around 3 hours. We then hired a jumbo (a large tuk-tuk) to take us to a guesthouse within reach of the caves. At first the unsealed dirt road was OK, having been graded, but before long it was a bumpy dirt track with us taking all sorts of diversions to avoid the really deep mud. A jumbo only has 3 wheels and is really meant for town use, not this off road malarky. Got to the Guesthouse just before 1pm, checked in and had some lunch.
The jumbo driver volunteered to take us on the over 1 hour drive to the village where we could catch a boat through the caves. Seemed fair enough, but the road if possible was even worse. At points it crossed the dry paddy fields with the remains of dykes and irrigation canals sending my head into the roof. Having got there we arranged a boat for the 3 hour ride to the other side of the caves and back.
Boat for the Kong Lo caves, Laos
It has to be said the caves and the boat journey were both spectacular. The boat was a long-tail river boat and being near the end of the dry season the water levels were low. It meant we regularly had to abandon ship and wade through to deeper water, sometimes helping to haul the boat up a water fall. The caves themselves are 4 km long and generally about 50m wide and 30m high, though at points both dimensions double. On the other side is a valley with a village whose only access to the outside world is via the caves. Talk about a lost world. We come across one of their boats paddling through the caves loaded with supplies, mainly Beer Lao. It really was a remarkable place and worth the effort of getting here.
The entrance to the Kong Lo caves
After 3 hours on the boat it was back to the jumbo for the one and a bit hour long bumpy journey back to the guesthouse. All the children we passed were waving and shouting sabadee (hello/goodbye) as is often the case in Laos; it really is a friendly country. Sore but satisfied we headed for the showers to find the hot water had run out. Dinner was accompanied by a few Beer Lao and the fact that the electricity went off at 9pm wasn’t a problem; we were exhaused and ready for bed anyway.
The next morning we caught the 7am bus back to the main road. The bus was a pick-up truck with a roof and 2 rows of seats along the sides added to the back. As is typical with Lao transport they seem to fill it with twice as many people as a westerner thinks possible, plus all their worldly goods. 2.5 bottom aching hours of bumpy dirt road later we were back at the main road and jumped into a similar vehicle bound for Tha Khaek.
We again picked up enough people to populate a small village, everything they owned plus a small herd of livestock in the shape of 4 goats. Initially 3 of them were on the roof but when one decided to take a piss which then cascaded down over the passengers the driver had other ideas. The goats were all hog-tied and then tied to the railing platform at the back of the truck. We set off and 20 yards on one of the goats has squeezed itself out the side and is now in danger of being hanged. Its retied in place, but more securely, and we set off again. Another 20 yards and the goat on the opposite side has partially slipped its bonds and is now hanging upside down off the back of the platform. The driver had another go at retying 3 goats securely to the platform and putting the smallest on the roof (where it would later take a piss over the drivers assistant). For the rest of the journey the goats were secure despite repeated attempts to escape and making their fright and displeasure very well know. A scared goat has a horrible cry. Laos is not a place to come if you have strong animal welfare concerns.
Just to properly seal this as a journey through hell I lost the torch my brother gave me. It was in a fastened pocket but somehow when I was sitting cross legged on top of some sacks of rice the pocket had come undone. As I went to fasten it the torch fell out and bumped along the road. I didn’t react quickly enough to stop the bus and that was that. You get a bond with the stuff you brought from home, and in particular with any presents so I was really depressed by the turn of events.
We arrived in Tha Khaek but as it was early afternoon I had the opportunity to make it to Savannakhet. I didn’t like the idea of another night here so jumped in the 3rd converted truck of the day for the 2 hour journey, arriving in Savannakhet at 5pm. This one had a hog-tied pig fastened to the back of the truck for part of the trip, though the pig seemed much less upset when secured than the goats had been. Totally shredded I checked into a hotel and went in search of dinner and a beer.
Savannakhet doesn’t have a lot to offer. The local provincial museum has a few war relics outside, but inside has only 108 photos, 98% of Mr Kaysone who was president from 1975 until his death in 1992 (don’t forget the full name of this country is the Lao People’s Democratic Republic!!). Still it had a bank where I could change cash and laundry facilities.
A US tank parked not in the museum, but in the hospital grounds nearby, Savannakhet, Laos
The plan for tomorrow is to head to Pakse, on a proper bus please.
I turned up half an hour early for the bus to Vang Vieng to find it had been filled and had already left. I had 6 hours to kill and did so by visiting the Lao and Vietnamese war memorials and taking a walk out of town. Phonsavan is not an easy town to like as it entirely been built since the Indo-China war and lacks the charms of Luang Prabang. It does show how things are improving here as last year the final section of road connecting here to the rest of Laos was sealed and with it came 24 hour electricity.
Laos War Memorial, Phonsavan, LaosVietnam War Memorial, Phonsavan, Laos
The 3pm bus was to the capital, Vientiane, and was completely packed. Once all the seats were filled plastic stools were placed down the isle. Fortunately I had a proper seat, but it was a 9 hour trip to Vang Vieng (3.5 more for those going all the way) back over the same mountains and hills. Finally got off the bus and started looking for a place to sleep around midnight with most of the town shut but did find an OK place.
The bus to Vang Vieng, Laos
Vang Vieng is another traveller haven, existing mostly for farang who decide to split the bus journey between Vientiane and Luang Prabang. It really just a series of restaurants and guesthouses, but there are a few caves and villages nearby worth a visit. You could tell that this town was catering to travellers away from most of Laos life when several places state on their menu that they will make a pizza “happy” for a dollar more.
The first day there I pottered round town and the market before visiting the nearest set of caves with a few other travellers. These had had the floors smoothed by concrete and electric lighting installed but were large and famous as the locals had hidden there during a Chinese incursion in the 19th century. The evening was spent in a gluttony of western culture as we watched several films and had a curry. Both were remarkable. Most Lao cities have a couple of Indian restaurants and they are really good. I really didn’t expect Lao to be the first place I have had a decent curry in since leaving home. The films were hilarious as although the sound was in English they would leave on the badly translated English subtitles. Beer almost came out my nose when during Pirates of the Caribbean “and we’ll save your bonny lass” was translated as “and we’ll save your bony arse”. I’ll have to get a copy as a souvenir.
Nam Song River at Vang Vieng, Laos
The next day Dennis and I hired scooters to go and visit the more far flung caves and local villages. In the largest of there we walked in for around 45 minutes before turning back in case our torch batteries ran out. It was extremely long and a breeze told us there was another way out but we had no idea how far away it might be. The villages were cute and quiet on the way out, but on the way back the schools had let out and the places were a riot of activity. At the schools themselves a flood of children in white shirts and riding bikes would fill the road.
Our scooters in the countryside around Vang Vieng, Laos
The next day we were looking to catch the 10am bus to Vientiane but by 9:15 it was already booked out. Another bus left 4 hours later or there was the option of a minibus. We took the minibus but ended up wishing we hadn’t. The driver should have been certified. It did mean that we arrived fairly early and had lots of time to find somewhere to stay. Dennis went for a cheap place with shared bathroom but as I had a mild case of the trots I wanted my own loo. Didn’t do a lot that day but dropped my visa off at the Cambodian embassy for a visa and visited the main market the next day.
My original plan had me going east from this point into Vietnam and visiting its two main cities before heading into Cambodia. I now decided I like Laos and would prefer to get to know it better by travelling through its quiet southern regions than head into a new country.
I took the bus to Phonsavan towards the east of Laos. The journey itself is about 9 hours long and to begin with I couldn’t work out why as it didn’t look far on the map. It turns out the whole northern part of Laos is mountainous and the road though now sealed winds its way up and down into valleys the whole way. Also a shock was the bus was half empty as we set out and there were only 5 farang on board.
The journey was an experience : 1st I noticed we had an armed guard carrying an AK47, 2nd I realised that Asians do not travel well and the little plastic bags hanging from the ceiling were not for an Easter egg hunt, 3rd at a village half way we picked up a very extended family carrying of all thing a rooster in a bird flu epidemic and 4th it was probably best it was misty so I couldn’t see the drop at the side of the road as we hurtled round hairpins trying to preserve speed for the next climb.
The next day I visited several sites on the Plain of Jars, named after the 2000 year old jars carved from solid stone that litter the area. Some of them area huge (3m tall) and its a mystery how they were moved and what they were used for. Current theories believe they were used as part of a 2 stage burial process with the jars being the store for the 1st few years. 3 main sites are open to visitors but there are at least 16 different clusters of jars. The process of mapping all them is currently under way. A few hundred meters short of the first site the road was cut by work to put a large pipe across underneath it. At first the driver asked us to walk before deciding to drive it. I had my doubts by we got across OK, however on the way back another tour group had got stuck blocking our way. There was nothing else to do but pitch in and haul them out.
The biggest jar on the plane of jars, Phonsavan, Laos
Its also one of the areas most heavily bombed by the Americans in their secret war in Indo-china. More bombs were dropped on Laos by the USA in the “Vietnam War” than were used by all sides in WWII. It means the area is full of UXO (unexploded ordinance) except where cleared. In particular the US had heavily used cluster bombs, each deploying 600 or so bomblets over a wide area. The big problem being that these bomblets failed to go off in 20% to 30% of cases. It will be another 25 years before Laos’ high priority areas are cleared of UXO and over a century for the country as a whole. Evidence of craters is everywhere and these were mainly caused by little 500lb bombs!!
The hotel I was staying at, the Maly, was owned by the guy who had rediscovered the jars after the war and it was he and his son who had cleared much of the main sites from UXO (unexploded ordinance). It gave the hotel an incredible collection of armaments, with all the candle holders being defused cluster bomblets.
Also staying at the Maly was an guy working for an NGO doing a report on Lao’s UXO and the programmes to solve it (from whom I’ve got some of the above information). He’d flown in, to which I commented that he was a brave man; a Chinese copy of an old Russian design of plane, maintained by local mechanics does not make Lao Aviation’s Yaks the most reliable flying machines in the world. By all accounts it once had a helicopter fleet but they were all lost through attrition (mainly crashing!!) He pointed out that on the bus routes I was to take there was a far greater risk of me being shot than there was of crashing in a dogly Yak, with 2 attacks in 2003 killing over 10 people. The armed guard on thebus took on a whole new light.
Decomissioned arms on the wall of the restaurant at Maly, Phonsavan, Laos
We also visited a Lao and a Hmong village so we could compare the two, saw Lao Lao (rice whisky) being made, stopped at an abandoned Russian tank, walked along the dykes of paddy fields to reach one jar site and saw a small field of opium poppies. The only problem the weather was cold, wet and miserable that day and looked like staying the same. I was tempted to go and see the Ho Chi Ming trail and a large field of poppies the next day but decided to head south to Vang Vieng instead. I would see the trail further south.
A Lao Lao still at work, Phonsavan, LaosWalking across the paddy field dykes to get to jar site 3, Phonsavan, LaosAn abandoned Russian tank, Phonsavan, Laos
Luang Prabang is a wonderful city in the north of Laos. Now a UNESCO world heritage site its fame is spreading and there are a fair number of tourists here. That doesn’t take away from the charm of a small city full of traditional architecture. I met Tara again in the 3rd country so far. I was having a drink with a Glaswegian I met on the boat coming here, in the only busy bar in town, when she comes up to say hi. We arranged to meet next day to see the Royal Palace Museum.
It turns out the museum was closed next day so we headed to the most significant Wat in town, Wat Xieng Thong. It’s quite a place, however I don’t know enough about the religion and its history to understand the significant differences between them; one Wat looks very much like the others to my eyes.
Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang, Laos
I did get to the museum the next day. It was the residence of the Royal family before they were arrested by the communists in the 1970s. The family itself were imprisoned in a series of caves in the north where they died soon after from poor food & no heath care. The building itself is a wonderful airy building, lacking the ostentation you normally expect in a royal palace. Although the place is a museum to the family, full of photographs and explaining the key rooms of their time here, no mention is made of their fate. Also stored in the museum is the Prabang, a small statue of the Buddha after which the city is named. For something so significant it’s very small, only about a foot in height.
Royal Palace Museum from the top of Phousy, Luang Prabang, Laos
Facing the palace is a small but steep hill, Phousy, with a series of Wats and images of the Buddha on top. It gives a marvellous view over the city with most key landmarks visible. I realised I really like it here; despite the number of tourists here the pace of life is slow, the people friendly and its easy to potter about on foot.
Young monks using an old AA gun on Phousy as a merry go round, Luang Prabang, Laos
I had hooked up with a Dutch couple, Tol & Marjorie, for a couple of meals and they introduced me to an interesting concept; a cross between a barbeque and a fondue. A small charcoal burner is put on your table with a metal cover. The cover is domed in the middle with small vents and has a moat round the outside. You are served with some raw meat, noodles and vegetables, spices, herbs and a pot of stock. You fill up the moat with stock, veggies, noodles, spices, etc to make soup whilst you grill the meat on the dome. Its a fun way to make a meal. Tol & Marj had given up eating chicken because of the bird flu, as had many others, but I didn’t feel it was a problem in cooked food. On the other hand I was not looking to spend any time with live chickens.
On my last day here Tol, Marjorie & I hired a couple of scooters / motorbikes to visit a set of nearby cascading waterfalls at Tat Kuang Si. They were easy to ride, the only difficulty being the first time you move off. What initially seems to you to be a mild turn of the right wrist produces a lot of reaction in a scooter in 1st gear. The woman hiring them out must have through she’d never see mine back as I wobbled off. Apart from that initial difficulty the ride was easy. Most of the road was unsealed so speeds were below 30 MPH, well within pedal bike range. Having seen many people with burns from the exhaust pipe I stuck to wearing long trousers.
On arriving at the falls we passed a couple of cages housing animals rescued from poachers. One off the cages housed a young female tiger and the other 3 young Asiatic bears. You could go into the cage with the bears and they were as curious about you as you were with them. Both cages had donation boxes by them to pay for their upkeep and feeding of their residents.
Orphaned tiger at Tat Kuang Si, LaosOrphaned bear cubs at Tat Kuang Si, Laos
The falls were lovely and when half way up the main section we realised we were walking on parts of the falls that would be covered by water during the wet season. They must be truly spectacular then. Further down is a pool you can swim in and go under the falling water. It was wonderful on a hot day, especially as it had started out looking dull and over cast.
Made my way across the Mekong river that acts as the border between Thailand and Laos and stayed the night in Huay Xai, before catching the boat down to Luang Prabang. There is no road between the two so the option is between slow boat and speed boat. Changing cash is fun as there are 18,000 kip to the pound and the largest note is the 20,000 (it was the 5,000 until 2 years ago). It makes it an easy country to become a millionaire.
One of the Mekongs fast & loud speedboats
Wandering though town I bumped into an Australian father & daughter who I had met on the ferry across the border. They had arranged for a tuk-tuk to take them round some of the local villages and asked me to join them. The girl was facinating having lived in Thailand running a bar with her boyfriend for a couple of years. The bar was bought out to build a 5 star resort so she was taking up a career in the Aussie civil service. Not sure how long she’ll last before the wanderlust gets her again. The villages were basic, wooden buildings with children, pigs and chickens running around. One of them produced paper by pounding bark in a pestle and mortar into a paste that is then spread across canvas-like frames to dry. Unfortunately as I was just pottering through town when I met the Aussies I didn’t have my camera with me. It hadn’t rained in the area for over 4 months so the unsealed roads were very dusty & so were we by the end of it. Time pressures meant my friends had to catch a speedboat the next day whilst I got the slow one.
The Mekong passes through some lovely country that is mostly undisturbed except by the occasional village and the incredible howl emitted by the unsilenced engines of the speedboats. I cannot imagine what it must be like to spend hours next to that noise. The night half way through they journey is spent in a village, Pakbeng, that probably only exists as a staging post for the boat passengers. Near Luang Prabang the boat pulls up at the Pak Ou Caves. These are crammed full of statues of the Buddha, left there by people over the ages. I was expecting the passengers to be a mix of tourists and Laos but we were 95% tourists. Guess I’m not off the beaten track yet…….
Typical scenery when cruising on the MekongApproaching the Pak Ou caves
Spent a couple of nights up at the very north of Thailand in Mae Sai. Stayed in a great little place called the Northern Guesthouse; friendly & with good food. The town itself wasn’t much to look at mostly being a strip of shops leading to the border however heading to town from the guesthouse I was presented with a great view of houses clinging to the hill that looks over the hill and border. On top of the hill is Wat Phra That Doi Wao, accessed via a spectacular stairway with dragons as handrails. the view over the border and the country around was superb from the top. In the evening I had a drink in a bar right next to the border bridge. There, across a little river I could have waded across, was another country.
Houses clinging to hillStaircase to Wat Phra That Doi WaoLooking across the border to MyanmarMai Sai, Thailand
Spent half a day crossing into Myanmar but not much to see there except markets & touts. There did appear to be an official visit by some Thai & Euro dignitaries but I noticed the Europeans were given an old non-air-conditioned Thai bus whilst everyone else had the latest Landcruisers. I guess a political snub was being made.
The Thai & European official visit. Crappy bus just visible to the right, Tachileik, Myanmar
I am spending the night by the Laos border before crossing over tomorrow. I’ll then catch a boat down the river to Luang Prabang that will take two days. For a while this will be my last web access and even this is on a slow connection.
Had a quick look at the news and wished I hadn’t. The Hutton report is a total whitewash. Despite even the Whitehouse admitting there were no WMD’s No 10 is still optimistic about finding evidence. And it doesn’t look likely the Democrats can mount a serious attempt to remove that idiot Bush and the rest of the lunatics in the Whitehouse…… Please do me a big favour before I get back : replace Blair with Cook or Brown and do anything to make sure Bush & Cheney don’t end up in the Whitehouse for another 5 years…..
