Blog For Free!
Archives
Home
2005 April
2005 March
2005 February
2005 January
2004 December
2004 November
2004 October
My Links
Stefano & Elisa's travelog
Martin & Micha's travelog
tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images
Sponsored
Blog
|
| Hoi An - Saigon - Mekong Delta - Phnom Penh (4.12 - 13.12) |
| 12.13.04 (2:18 am) [edit] |
Today is Vassilis's birthday! (not disclosing how old he is :)). He spent it in Phnom Penh at the back of a tuk-tuk most of the time that we hired to take us to the most important sites in the city. We visited the S-21 former Khmer Rouge prison and the Killing Fields where the same regime used to murder the "low-class" prisoners of S-21, almost 2 million Cambodeans died during that period. Here we witnessed the human paranoia in all its glory. We did not feel like taking pictures. What of? The rest of the day was more uplifting, we visited the Royal Palace which was really spectacular and Wat Phnom (a temple on a hill). Phnom Penh is another of these weird South East Asian cities with some great looking tarmac boulevards and buildings and all the side streets being dirtroads hosting all the poor people trying to make a living. We have only been 1 and a half days here in Cambodia, but people here seem nice and friendly and they smile a lot. I like it so far. Tomorrow we are leaving for Siem Reap where we will visit Angkor Wat and I can't wait.
We reached Phnom Penh via a 2-day, 1-night bus and boat trip across the Mekong Delta, which was a really nice experience! We were crusing between villages with houses by the river, all the children playing in the water and waving at us like crazy, the more you waved the more they were jumping around, up and down. We even got "mooned" by a little one he he! It was a really great experience, so uplifting!
We boarded the bus to the Mekong Delta in Saigon (for the South Vietnamese) or Ho Chi Minh City/HCMC (for the North Vietnamese :)). We only stayed in Saigon for 2 days and did not get to see a lot. It is a huge huge city, with loads of highrises, huge posh hotels (I wonder who stays in them) and of course a lot of poor people and houses everywhere else. The traffic here is of course even crazier than Hanoi, but now we knew the trick, so we did not have major problems crossing the streets :). While in Saigon we also visited the Cu Chi tunnels, an intricate network of narrow tunnels at different depths where the Viet Cong used to hide during the American/Vietnam war and Americans could not find them. The tunnels'length is about 200km but of course only 30 meters of it are open to the public. They have even widened them for the tourists he he, and they are still tiny so imagine! Of course I did not get in, only Vassilis did :). We also visited the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, which although too propagandistic and one-sided, just makes you realize even more so, that there is never ever ever a reason for war. Never.
Along with Halong Bay, Hoi An, the place we were before Saigon is definetely one of the highlights of Vietnam. It is a picturesque, quiet little town where we stayed for 4 days. It is full of tailor shops or clothes shops as they call them, that are able to sew anything for you, absolutely anything. We had some clothes made at the place that our dear Czech friends recommended for very little money and they were really nice! We also rent bicycles and went to a nearby beach and although the weather was a bit cold, it was really great sitting by the sea, sipping nice Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and watching the big South China Sea waves!
One of the nicest things in this/this kind of trip is that you meet travellers from different countries that usually follow similar itineraries. You exchange information, opinions, experiences, and some of them you meet again in another place a few days later! It is really fun and interesting!
While in Vietnam, we both had the impression that only women work in this country. This was confirmed by a Vietnamese tour guide and a N.Zealand lady who has been working for 3 years as a volunteer in Vietnam (incredible person). Yes, it is true! In general, mostly women work and bring money to the family, incredible! Plus the N.Zealand lady told us that in general they do not work as much as they seem to he he. Only as much as they have to (which is not all that bad :)). I find the general situation and politics in Vietnam a little bit crazy and nonsensical, and I am just afraid that trouble there is not over yet.
Next update from either Siem Reap of Bangkok. Keep in touch! :)
Pinelopi
|
|
|
| |
posted by: Violetta&Iraklis (reply)
post date: 12.13.04 (2:36 am)
Xronia polla Vassili, na ta xiliaseis kai na ta katafereis na gyriseis zontanos apo tis zougkles ths N.A. Asias!!! Enjoy your trip!!!!
posted by: Micha (reply)
post date: 12.13.04 (2:40 am)
Hello guys! It is dark and miserable here so we need to have lights on the whole day. As if that wasn't bad enough it is MONDAY again. Enjoy sunshine&travelling! We are still recovering from the party - 4 drink vouchers&too muchdancing at our age:-). Would you believe that our wild neighbours persuaded us to go to this dodgy night club Annabelle after the MS party finished? We survived the music there for about 20 mins! BTW, your yucca plant is going mad, be prepared to move a tree to Greece:-) I hope Vassilis is still alive - so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
posted by: Sissie-Vicky (reply)
post date: 12.13.04 (3:04 am)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD-MAN!!!!!!!!!!
(to kerasma mas to xrostas!!!!)
posted by: Martin (reply)
post date: 12.13.04 (5:00 am)
Happy Birthday Vassilis!
We played halo last Friday with Lars, Gerard and a French friend of Lars's. He was too good and kicked our asses badly. So we missed you as you can imagine!
Went to the company Christmas party on Saturday. Nothing beats seing ones colleagues dressesd up for a change :-) The turnout was low though. It was the smallest party as far as I remember.
Yesterday we watched a tough Brazilian film called Carandiru, about a riot in a Sao Paulo prizon. After the film Ana said she was no longer sure that moving back to Brazil would ever be an option :-) I certainly could not sleep afterwards and had to read until 4am.
Funny you wrote that about the Saigon war museum. I had the same feeling.
Enjoy Angkor Wat, it is magnificent :-)
posted by: Tim (reply)
post date: 12.13.04 (8:47 am)
Hi guys,
Sounds like your having a great time, hugely impressive detail in your updates so you really are getting a lot done. Nice...
Belated happy birthday Vassilis...I can tell you I completely empathise with your inability to sleep on the plane for long haul...torture. Very cruel of Pinelopi to sleep the whole way... :-)
Everything is going well here at work - I won't bore you with the details; if you really want to hear then let me know and I'll send you a bit of an update when I next check in...
Xmas is so close now - had our Xmas party inthe Burlington on Saturday - good fun.
Last week was charity week - we raised a good bit. I ran a combination gym event with rower/stepper with one man and one woman representing each floor. We had 6 of the 8 floors from EPDC2 competing. Over 70 people watching on the day - Maeve Ryan was my teammate and we won :-) - the lowest combined time, we had 32 seconds to spare. The event on its own raised 2000 EURO with Serena Daly from C0 having a huge input from her floor. Was well pleased...MartinV ran a hugely exciting Table Tennis event too....
Anyway that's some news from me - I'll check in again before Xmas - keep enjoying your holiday - bye for now Tim :-)
posted by: A&L&M (reply)
post date: 12.13.04 (1:48 pm)
Apitete tu yuuuu apitete tu yuuuuu apitete, apiteteeee, apitete tu yuuuuuu. Weeeeeeeeeeee!
posted by: Vassilis and Paula (reply)
post date: 12.13.04 (11:52 pm)
Happy Birthday, young cousin! Pinelopi, na ton hairesai! We're really enjoying the blog although I have the sneaky feeling our reactions would be closer to those of Vassilis... But then, we're even older and will go nowhere unless there's somewhere to plug the blow dryer in.
Love to both,
|
|
