Femi

In spite of the penalties I have already incurred by not starting my report on the road, I’ve only now managed to convince myself that the fantasy has ended and that I will not wake up to lush gardens outside my window and strange and wonderful fruit on my table.

After my amazing trip to Burma last year, I decided that I wanted to see even more of South East Asia. This time Indochina. I narrowed my choice of companies down to two and in the end decided to go with Asia Transpacific Journeys. Although other companies were able to give me what I asked for ATJ went one step above and made several recommendations on how to improve my itinerary. They were also very patient and responsive with my many questions, and in summary the trip was flawless. And of course many, many thanks go to those who posted their reports and gave advice.

The final plans involved my starting off in Siem Reap, moving down to the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, up to Hanoi and Sapa, and ending in Luang Prabang.

I started off in Bangkok, United Airlines got me in at about 2320, and I got the shuttle to the Amari airport hotel. Check-in was painfully slow, many people switching lines and muttering in frustration. The porter was the most efficient of the bunch. So fast was he that he disappeared with my bags without anyone knowing, and it took quite a while to find out he had been waiting by my room the whole time, no doubt wondering what took me so long. Eventually I did get to the room which turned out to be quite nice. My stay ended up being only about five hours because of my early flight to Siem Reap the next morning. There was a nice continental breakfast (full breakfast not available until later in the morning). Checking out was almost as painful as checking in. I kept repeating the mantra ‘have a cool heart’. It took me quite a while, weeks, to get used to the -much- slower pace of getting things done in Asia and learning to go with the flow.

The flight in to Siem Reap was uneventful. I had obtained all my visas at home, can’t remember why I did that now, because of course visas are available on arrival in Cambodia and Laos. It did save me a lot of time standing in line upon arrival, but it made no difference in the end as I ended up having to wait for other things.

For instance, I was one of the first in line for immigration at Siem Reap, but waiting for the immigration officer was almost comical. He ambled over to his booth when he saw that the line was long enough, sorted his uniform, arranged his stamps and then took out a large packet of pills which he proceeded to swallow one at a time. He actually looked surprised that the crowd grew restless waiting for him. To be fair some of the pills were quite large, requiring more than one swallow of water each. When he was good and ready, and not a minute before, he began to process the passports. There was one other counter open that moved at a steady pace, but my lesson in patience required me to choose to stand in the line that watched each agonizing swallow.

Femi

PS Having sat bolt upright at 2am and spending (unsuccessfully) till dawn convincing myself to go back to sleep, I've been in a fog all day. Thought I would be able to write more, but I guess not. To be continued.

Guenmai

Great Femi and can't wait to read more. Happy Travels!

Kathie

Femi, I'm looking forward to more!

I am confused about the Amari Airport - it's at the old airport... did you go from the new airport to the old airport to spend the night then back to the new airport for your flight to Siem Reap?

Femi

As soon as it got dark, my eyes popped open. Hope this dosen't go on for too much longer.

Kathie you are so right! I stayed at the Novotel, a 5 minute shuttle ride from the new airport. Please (anyone) feel free to point out what dosen't make sense. In my current state of mind I am sure there will be more than a few more discrepancies.

The bags arrived pretty quickly. When I walked out, there was no one there to meet me. Now what? I looked through all the signs again, and there was definitely no one there for me. I was annoyed, but then upon spying the small coffee shop realized I was also thirsty. Well, as the Thai’s would say ‘Mai pen lai’, no worries. It was actually a lucky find as it gave me something to do as the crowd of onlookers watched. I waited a bit longer, at the shop this time, and then helped myself to a drink from the fridge at what I was sure (and I was right) were crazy airport prices. Sure enough the attendant showed up a few minutes later, I pointed to my bottle, and with a smile he collected my money giving me change in Riel ($1= 4,000 Cambodian Riel/KHR).

As I sat down at one of the tables I spotted a woman who was struggling to adjust her clothing, whilst holding (?) on to a clipboard, a sign (with my name on it!) and sundry other paperwork. I waited for her to finish, and then introduced myself. She flushed beet red, and stammered her apologies. She had forgotten her badge in the car, and had been forced to return to get it. The entire (quite short really) ride into town she apologized repeatedly and profusely. Sooo glad I had kept my cool! My first instinct had been to immediately make alternate plans, which definitely did not include waiting it out.

As was to happen pretty much in every city, the guide rescheduled the order of my itinerary as they saw fit. I assume they had their reasons so I went with the flow. My original plans were for a real breakfast, and to catch up on my beauty sleep. Vannak’s plans allowed me a couple of hours to refresh before we hit the streets. Turns out her plans forced me to stay awake and avoid just about any (amazing but true) jet lag!

The Hotel De La Paix is right in the middle of town, and if I wanted I could have walked to a number of places. I didn’t. In spite of the location it is very calm and quiet once inside. The staff was very capable and professional, as they were in every location. The views from my room weren’t what I expected, but once I got used to it, the partial view of the living compound of a number of families became far more interesting than that of the pool. The hotel was full, and many mornings (in many of my hotels) several people had to wait for a breakfast table.

Lots of mosquitoes! I wore insect repellent every day through out the whole trip and only got bitten on my hands (I had washed it off) and a day in Hanoi when I thought it was too cold. It wasn’t. Speaking of cold, this is the first time I’ve traveled to SEA in the peak Nov./Dec. season, and it was a lot cooler (as Gpanda attests) than I anticipated. I was downright cold many times!

And so on to the temples…which on my very first afternoon included Angkor wat, the Bayon, Baphouon (?) and the terraces of the elephants and the leper king. Here is where I must confess that I have very little patience with temples. I know, I know, I am in Siem Reap afterall, what else does one come here for??? I made it clear to the travel agency and tried to gently put it to each guide, Temples (actually inanimate objects) are definitely NOT my strong point. I must say Vannak really did a great job as I learned quite a bit in spite of myself (kicking and screaming practically all the way).

At times I felt that if I had to even look at another lintel or pediment I would go beserk! There was one day when the heavens opened up, and it was bucketing down. I used this as an excuse to make my escape back to the car, only to protect my camera I might add. When we got to the next site, Vannak rolled up her trouser legs, flung open the van door, and indicated the puddle I was to leap into. I balked, and refused to get out. Vannak couldn’t believe I had come this far and would let a few sprinkles stop me. Eventually I won. After that our conversations were something like this:

Me: “I don’t remember seeing that sculpture.”
V: “I showed it to you when you were taking pictures of the cat” or “That was the day you refused to get out of the car”.

She was by no means hostile, but had a way of stating the obvious which left me with little rebuttal.

I did worry quite a bit that at any time during the trip I might trip and hurt myself. This was a real possibility because of the myriad unlevel surfaces. If I came across a staircase that had two steps the same size in succession it was unusual. There was a spot in Angkor wat at which I must have hesitated too long, because a flock of elderly ladies with shaved heads practically lifted me off my feet and carried me up the staircase. No easy task as I am easily more than twice their size. Vannak explained they were tourists from a far away Cambodian village. It was far more interesting hanging out with them. One of them had this GIANT praying mantis sitting on her head, which no one really reacted to. This thing was absolutely enormous! I pointed it out to Vannak and she simply shrugged. No big deal

Gpanda

Femi-super beginning to your report. The detail is great, it allows us to follow along closely with you.

I'm very sorry to inform you that even though you did not begin your report in situ, that it clearly is timely and no penalty exisits. The Board (bored?) has refused my motion to assess a penalty for failure to begin while on the trip.

Kathie

Enjoying your report... thanks for clarifying where you spent the night in Bangkok -lol - I know about jet lag!

It's interesting to read about Angkor from the point of view of someone who wasn't enthralled with the temples.

Femi

Angkor Wat was impressive, and I really expected this to be my favorite temple, but it was not.
My list of must sees included the Bayon and Ta Prohm, or ‘Angelina’s’ (as in Jolie) temple, and I was not disappointed by either. I really enjoyed these sites. I was surprised at what a difference the untouched setting made on Ta Prohm. The Bayon was what spurred my visit to Cambodia, and I actually would not mind going back for another look.

Did I mention it was wedding season? This was quite exciting for me initially. But a closer look revealed brides trailing dresses through mud, teetering in heels for the required photo ops. They looked exhausted. Turns out just about every bride has to have pictures at specific locations. This occurs before the actual wedding day. In Cambodia one required site was Angkor Wat, in Hanoi it was the museum of ethnology. Each bride was followed by a retinue that included the photographer and his two assistants, two ladies lugging a trunk or suitcase that contained several changes of costume, the bridal party, and eventually the groom. The dresses were beautiful. I do wonder though if they were wearing their actual wedding dresses, or a substitute? The conditions were brutal, but the brides soldiered on. I had to laugh when one setting required the bride to sit on the pointy end of a rock, she did manage to change her grimace to a smile when necessary.

We spent our second morning in Siem Reap climbing up to the River of 1,000 lingams. The rocky river bed has some pretty interesting carvings and the setting is quite picturesque. However, getting to the pretty part requires a steep climb that includes clambering over boulders and the like. It seems to me that I spend all my time in the US doing all in my power to assure my safety at every turn, and then try my darndest to undo all that while on vacation. This was one of those attempts, climbing up to the top of Phnom Bakheng for a sunset view was another. Climbing down from Phnom Bakheng in the dark after (!) the sun had set was yet another instance of crazy tourist foolishness. In my jet-lag induced delirium last night I did wonder if this was the equivalent of trying to climb to the top of the capitol building for the views of the sunset! Vannak had told me before hand she didn’t think I would find the climb to be worth it. But, as my sister had told me this was her biggest wish to attain in Cambodia, I decided I had to do it. Vannak was right. I mean the view was nice, but I didn’t think it was worth risking neck and limb. It took us twice as long to descend because Vannak was busy assisting petrified tourists stranded at the top. Their guides had decided to wait at the bottom.

The guidebook said the climb to the river would take a sweaty 45 minutes. When I asked Vannak afterwards how long it had taken us, she said she had timed it and it took us 32 minutes. I was quite proud of this fact until she told me that fit people, like the Dutch, took only 20 minutes. On the climb up I kept thinking of the golden hind in the Ramayana story as Vannak raced up, leaping from boulder to boulder with no effort whatsoever. I did manage to leave her breathless once when we had to race for the car. Revenge was sweet, heh heh.

The visit afterwards to Banteay Srei was ok. I guess I should have done a little more research. Because it’s called the ‘Citadel of Women’ I expected it to be covered with carvings of Apsaras, but when we got there (Kathie I should have paid more attention to your writings) there was nary an Apsara in sight. I got my Apsara fix later at a dinner show at the Mondial. Here I got my only chance for a sampling of a wide array of typical Khmer cuisine. The western and ‘Chinese’ food was just ok.

thursdaysd

Thanks for all the detail. Sorry you were underwhelmed by the temples, but it would be really boring if we all liked the same things.

The bridal photo marathon isn't just in Cambodia. I remember watching several groups doing the same thing in a park in Chengdu. The better prepared brides wore sneakers, hidden by their long gowns for the actual photos.

Kathie

I know what you mean about the unrestored temples being magical. I love the tensions of the trees growing through them, simultaneously holding then together and tearing them apart.

PS We "cheated" at Phnom Bakheng and rode an elephant up and back...

Femi

Thursdays: Ha ha! Yes there were more savvy brides that were better prepared.

Kathie: That was my original plan! But when we got there, we only saw rows of empty chairs and no elephants in sight. Can't remember why now, but Vannak said there were no elephants available. Just my luck!

hawaiiantraveler

Femi,

Great story and anxiously waiting for the VN part of the story as we are in the planning stages at the moment. Thanks for sharing!

Aloha!

Femi

Aloha HT. Any ideas as to where yet?

On my last day in Siem Reap we went to Tonle Sap. I added this to the itinerary because I had thought it would be similar to Lake Inle in Burma, but turns out it was quite different. We motored out past the boat houses, and the vastness of the lake really is incredible. It looks more like the ocean as you couldn’t see either bank from where we were sitting. Little boats would paddle up and offer refreshments like sodas, beer or bananas, some boats contained beggars. I never did see the kids in tubs that one sees so many pictures of, I think it was just as well. We stopped at a floating souvenir/fish farm/crocodile farm.

The outing on the lake only lasted about a couple of hours, and when we got done, I really wasn’t willing to retire to the hotel. So Vannak and I spent the rest of the day hanging out. I think she had a specific amount of temple information she wanted to impart, and once she had done so, I was let out to recess. We went to the gift shops at a few other hotels (my request), and we also stopped by Les Artisans d’Angkor. After that it was still quite early so at Vannak’s suggestion we caught a Tuk-tuk to the Cambodian Cultural Village.

This was a sort of Cambodian Disney world laid out on very nice grounds. They had cultural shows from different regions of the country. There was a lone marabou stork wandering the grounds which I thought was mind-boggling, but once again no one seemed to think it was out of place. The shows were very amateur in style, but the fun part was chatting to our neighbors at the site of each new show. The cultural village is tremendously popular among Cambodians, and was a definite must-see for anyone who was visiting Siem Reap. We sat next to people who had traveled for hundreds of miles in the bed of a pick-up truck. One young mother had taken her child out of the Siem Reap children’s hospital on a day trip.

Mostly people were interested in Vannak. Turns out that as an English speaking tour guide she had attained quite a high status. People asked her all sorts of questions, many of which I thought were personal, she didn’t tell me if she answered these . One group wanted to know if I was mean or generous. I never got the answer to that question either.

The next day my trip continued with a flight to Pnomh Penh. I spent the morning touring the lovely palace grounds, the silver pagoda, and the national museum. I had lunch at a huge restaurant that served one tourist busload after another as fast as they could be unloaded. The largest room probably held at least 200 people. I was given a menu with pictures, and then told by the harried wait staff that I could either have fried noodles or fried rice. Not content that my only sampling of real Khmer cuisine should be from a dinner-show buffet, I pointed to various pictures in the menu. They were out of item after item. I thought I struck gold when the waiter said he would check and see if they had eggplant. Here was another lesson in patience, this time not so easily learned. He returned 20 minutes later to say they only had fried noodles or fried rice. The fried rice was as bad as you would expect.

One special note: I got in the habit of having my guides check the bill whenever I had lunch with them. The bill was frequently wrong, sometimes more than double what it should have been. True this meant I was charged $6 instead of $2.50, but the errors were never in my favor. This happened a lot!

I was then dropped off at the pier for the speed boat to Chau Doc. After my Vietnamese visa was verified multiple times by different staff, we boarded the boat. It had a capacity for about 20 people. There were only 2 other tourists besides myself. We were all staying at the Chau Doc Victoria hotel, and I had expected their boat, but it looks like they had chartered this smaller boat. There was a restroom on board which I never visited, and we were served a snack about midway through. The ride was interesting enough to experience once, but I wouldn’t repeat it.

The Cambodian and Vietnamese border checks were quite complicated, and I never fully understood what was going on. There were a series of buildings that we trailed in and out of, while the boat followed along the shore. Our bags were searched by the Vietnamese agents, something we were told never happens, but there was a reporter there who wanted some photos of the officers in action.

Chau Doc had great weather; a constant, warm tropical breeze. The hotel seemed to be the least well run of all the Victoria hotels that I visited. The drain in the shower stall was so slow that I was ankle deep in no time, and the drawers contained clothing from previous occupants. Glad I was only there for one night.

Kathie

Ankle deep in the shower? Clothes from prebvious occupants in the drawers? Yikes! I've stayed in very simple, basic places that didn't have those problems.

Femi

Yeah Kathie it was pretty grim. But not the grimmest. More about that later.

Ha (‘Summer’) was my guide for the Mekong portion of my trip. We started off the morning with a walking tour of the local market just down the street from the hotel. Afterwards we met the boat that was to take us on our tour of the Mekong floating village at the hotel dock. We were off to see the Cham village, which really meant walking down a row of seller’s stalls and peering into an empty mosque. More interesting is that the Cham do form a distinctive sub-culture, you can tell from the headscarves all the females wore. I was also surprised to find out that there is a sizeable Moslem culture in Cambodia.

I enjoyed the boat ride to the village because we got to drive (?) past floating houses, which seemed to be a lot more intimate and therefore more interesting than Tonle Sap. We had the cutest 8 year old in the world as the assistant on our boat. I would have felt I was in capable hands if he were the captain (his dad was). We also stopped by some fish farms, and it was rather interesting to see the techniques used.

We began the drive to Can Tho that afternoon. Things are a lot busier than I had imagined. I guess all the businesses cluster along the highway, because we never drove past an area that wasn’t pretty densely populated. Ha said things were much more rural away from the highway, but I never got to see that part.

The Victoria in Can Tho made a welcome change from Chau Doc. What I loved most was their mascot. A 2 year old water buffalo! They had a sign posted with her birthaday, and schedule. I would have loved to have been around for some of her activities. Can Tho is pretty industrial, lots of big factories moving in. We visited Cai Rang floating market, a sort of wholesalers’ vegetable market, and we visited a rice paper making factory. Most interesting there was the adorable little baby asleep in a hammock. Throughout the region I saw babies being put to sleep that way and it seems ingeneous. Maybe it’s not that uncommon, but it was new to me.

One thing we came upon was some ladies in a secluded area near the market. They had all their chickens which they were planning to sell around them. They were force feeding them bananas. Ha said so they would fetch a higher price when weighed for sale. Who knew?

Then we were on the road again to Saigon, and this part of the trip was just not that exciting. I was happy to get to the airport in HCMC. Saigon was just waaaay to busy for me, and I was really happy that I had decided not to spend the night there.

Flew Vietnam Airlines to Hanoi. They were the only airline to charge me for excess baggage. Can’t remember who mentioned it in their recent report, but I was also sent to the excess baggage counter. If you’re savvy enough you can negotiate about how much you’re actually charged. I used my uncomprehending tourist look, and the agent charged me for 10 kilos ($15), telling me that I was well over that amount. When I was flying out of Hanoi, my guide charmed the fee down to nothing!

Kathie

Loving your report! Keep it coming.

I hate to say it, but after your comment I'm now waiting for the grimmest hotel experience. Those experiences can make the best stories!

Femi

I kept trying to tell myself what an 'interesting' experience I was having as I stood in the overflowing shower stall

Oh, and I forgot (how could I) about the part in Can Tho where my guide and I wandered round the markets. It got late, I got hungry, and decided I would take her up on her offer and sample the goodies she got in the market. I‘m sure it was the jackfruit that did it…

My sister decided she would join me for the northern Vietnam portion of my trip. I don’t mind traveling on my own, but it is nice to be able to share a trip with someone fun. We met up at the Hanoi airport and checked into the Metropole. It was very nice. We were in the classic wing so we heard no construction noise in the room although there was some work going on in the lobby for the first couple of days after we arrived.

At check-in the staff were handing out sheets on the cholera epidemic in the north, and guests were asked to sign a waiver about information they were given. At about 0130 AM the street food I had had earlier returned to haunt me. Teeth chattering chills were the most pleasant of my symptoms. I called down to the front desk, but actually had to go down to get them to understand my problem. I asked, and was eventually connected (in my room) to the cholera hotline. The doctor on the other end asked where I had come from, and informed me in a weary voice that I did not have cholera. It took a bit of persuasion (sounded like she had had this conversation many times), but she led me to reluctantly believe I would not be dead from cholera by morning. Of course I felt about 50% better right after I hung up. That miracle of modern medicine, Cipro, took care of the rest (part of my pharmaceutical stash from Thailand). By morning I couldn’t believe I had made that much fuss, and we were off to Halong bay. I felt fine for the rest of the vacation, but I haven’t felt quite myself since I’ve been home.

We did the usual tourist agenda in Hanoi; day trip to Halong Bay (a little overcast but still quite pleasant), visits to the Museum of Ethnology, a market tour, cyclo tour, water puppet show and the Temple of Literature (more brides on parade). We also paid a visit to the caves at Tam Coc. The overloaded ride on the row boat was a little hair raising, I got cramps from hanging on so tight. The walk in the surrounding rice fields was much more relaxing. True everything was touristy, but enjoyable nonetheless.

After four nights it was time to move on to Sapa.

More about that next week as I’ll be working quite a bit over the next few days.

Femi

I forgot to say that the best Bun Cha (Barbequed pork with rice noodles) I’ve ever had was at the Metropole’s Asian restaurant.

The train for Sapa left late in the evening, and we headed to the train station after the water puppet show. We were booked in a 2 berth cabin on the Victoria train. Our guide was on a train that left an hour earlier.

Being on the Victoria train was quite a nice experience. The cabin was comfortable, and the shared toilet was tidied several times during the night. You are also given a little bag with some basic toiletries and a bottle of water. There was no dining car on the outbound trip so we were offered a wake-up knock that included tea or coffee.

The best part of the journey is the bird’s-eye-view of Hanoi as you ride the elevated tracks. We spent the first hour watching people in the markets and in their apartments going about their business.

Our guide strongly recommended that we take a sleeping pill. I didn’t think I needed it but did so anyway, and so I slept quite well. Because I slept so well on the way up, I didn’t take a pill for the return journey and that proved to be a mistake.

We arrived in Lao Cai at about 5 or 6 in the morning, and our guide Lan was waiting for us. In no time att all we were on the road to Sapa. I must mention that the train station in Lao Cai was very chaotic with lots of people yelling and trying to get your attention. I was walking about 20 feet behind Lan, when one the people asked if I was with the Victoria group, and proceeded to check his list. I don’t think I ever answered his questions, but he looked very official. Looking back now it all happened so quickly, but I was -almost - convinced that I needed to follow him! I heard later of several scams involving drivers trying to get passengers to ride with them. One lady said she was dropped off somewhere that definitely was NOT Sapa, and had a heck of a time finding her own way to the Victoria hotel.

The drive to Sapa was very scenic, with the sun rising over the mountains, and the fog lying low over the rice terraces. The Victoria hotel is quite nice. There are 2 fireplaces in the common areas and most people sat around those chatting. The pool table was quite popular.

It felt like the temps hit a high in the 60s, and the lows felt like they were in the low 50s. The hotel is up on a hill looking over the town below. There is a spa with an indoor pool higher up the hill in a different building.

The most entertaining aspect for me was the Hmong women with their enticing smiles, and almost irresistible sales pitches. They were selling their handiwork in the hotel gift shop on what I think is a rotational basis. I think their were also occasionally women from the red Dzao tribe.

The Hmong women would ask you a list of personal questions when you first approached in what appeared to be friendly conversation. How they remembered all those details I will never know, but after the first morning it was as if we had been friends for years.

The teenaged girls that sat outside the front doors were even more amazing. What I found especially eerie was their grasp of the English language and idioms. It was weird to see them sitting in their costumes, working on their embroidery and holding a conversation with me in ‘Valley Girl’ slang! Of course they also speak Vietnamese and goodness knows what other languauges.

I loved hanging out with them. In one conversation I learned they lived in a village that was three hours walk from the hotel.

“What time did you start out?” I asked.
“Seven”
“But it’s only 7:30 now.”
A slight roll of her eyes “That’s because we came by motorbike.”

simpsonc510

Femi
Thanks for the great report. I've never been to the places you are describing, but I feel I am almost there with you!! Sounds like an exciting adventure for you and your sister.

Femi

Thanks Carol. Writing this is also letting me re-live the experience.