Day 70 - 73 Dalat

High in the hills of Vietnam is "the sound of music" film set, or a Austrian/Vietnamese atmospheric town. 17 degrees during the day was a refreshing relief even quite cold compared to the high 30's we had been experiencing every day. Dalat is responsible for producing most of the country's fresh produce, flowers, wine, and diary products...it's a patchwork quilt of vegetable patches, roses, strawberry fields, trees, and colourful  houses perched on climbing narrow streets. The lake is at the centre of the action complete with swan peddle boats. Horse and carriages roam the surrounding gardens helping this place live up to its name "romantic city". Mike and I stayed at a little guest house in town called Thien An with one of the best provided breakfasts we have had on this trip...avocados, peanut butter, vegemite, and marmite were an awesome surprise. The marmite/Vegemite (Asian brand) cost the owner $160,000 dong per jar which works out to be $8US (a lot in Vietnam) but he had worked out that these jars were key to bringing New Zealanders & Australians to his guest house. We had an action packed 3 days in Dalat, tobogganing to waterfalls, gondola rides, garden walks, market visits and hooning around the picturesque countryside on our motorbike. On one of our favourite days we visited "crazy house" a house created to look like the roots of trees, and hollows in logs. It was an amazing feat for architecture with rooms in every nook and cranny. Our crazy visit was topped off with a hot drink and cupcake at our favourite cafe Windmills. This became a regular indulgence every afternoon to escape the rain and "cold" (I don't think we are going to adjust too well to the NZ winter).

Day 68 - 69 Ho Chi Minh/Saigon

Flying through the clouds over Ho Chi Minh revealed a ginormous Asian city, that was clearly recovering remarkably well from the war. On the ground we were surprised further, it was prosperous, on the surface it was a booming. A very loud, very busy, overwhelming place. There is 85 million people in Vietnam if that gives you an idea how crazy one of the biggest city's is. Beeping and honking of horns filled the air 24/7 and we had to learn to fall asleep with the sounds of the city beneath us. It rained the majority of the time and we learned in the wet season it pours all afternoon, every afternoon for 3 months straight. Buckets, plastic bags, anything slightly waterproof became DIY raincoats as all motorbike drivers pulled off the roads and occupied any sheltered space along the streets.Ho Chi Minh was the first time we were able to really get into Vietnamese Cuisine...crab and shrimp spring rolls, fresh spring rolls, beef and ginger, chicken and lemongrass, caramelised pork, and Vietnamese fried rice YUM!!!!  A few less authentic items snuck in there...you have to love big cities in Asia as its easier to find food thats a little more reliable for travellers stomachs, western bakeries, fast food chains, but surprisingly or maybe not so surprising for controlled Vietnam...no McDonalds in sight. 

Day 65 - 67 Phu Quoc Island (Vietnam)

Crossing into Vietnam from Cambodia was relatively easy (apart from the guy demanding $2 US per person before we could pass, just because he could) after being slightly intimidated we entered Vietnam. I was filled with anticipation and excitement as Vietnam had been on my must list for a long time...the streets instantly changed from bamboo stilt houses of the Cambodian countryside to brick and plaster painted in pastels, a larger degree of wealth was clearly evident. There were so many more people walking the streets each donning a cone shaped bamboo hat and studying us inquisitively. We made our way to Ha Tien where we boarded the ferry to Phu Quoc Island. The boat ride hurled us into culture shock where we quickly learnt that their where going to be a few differences from quiet and chilled back Cambodia/Laos. It was Loud, they where so loud, it was obviously not rude to stare for very long periods of time, there was no such thing as personal space, the young children were confident and chubby and loved to annoy mike by hitting him on the head and taking his sunglasses (I couldn't stop laughing which didn't help the situation). Once arriving on Phu Quoc we were greeted by what seemed like hundreds of screaming motorbike drivers wanting to take us to our hotel...it all happened so quickly and all of a sudden I was on the back of a motorbike with my 15kg pack slung over my drivers lap watching Mike disappear in the distance.  Wow...it was adrenalin, fear, and a feeling of "this is crazy fun" mixed all into one as we zoomed over bumpy roads to catch up with Mikes driver (who was happily chatting away to Mike in Vietnamese). Our introduction to Phu Quoc, shaped the rest of our stay which resulted in some very memorable motorbike experiences. Phu Quoc was a large beautiful island with a long stretch of beach and paradise coves. Some of the island is slowly becoming a package tourists dream but SLOWLY enough to share the beach with the local kids and dogs still ensuring an authentic experience. On other parts of the island there was dense jungle, and thriving towns, colourful markets with everything from half dead chickens, to cabbage to dogs in cages (soon to be on the table...which I plead ignorance too). We hired a motorbike for 3 days and Mike found it a true rush driving through this crowded marketplace with thousands of honking Vietnamese, while in between cursing I held my breath. One day we set out across the island in search of "Sai Bao" which is described as the most pristine beach in Vietnam. We had had a huge thunderstorm the night before so the roads were quite muddy so the journey took longer than expected but once there it was worth it. The sand was white and the ocean clear as we sat in the warm water watching the dark clouds in the distance roll in. We were quiet happy to be swimming when the rain and mist settled in, the beach transformed into a lord of the rings movie set. Once the salt started to sting our eyes, skin wrinkle, and hair stand up on our arms we ran for shelter as the rain pelted down and wind roared. We had heard about these soaking monsoon rains but our entire trip it had only ever rained for 30 minutes or so each day. This time it was different, cold and threatening. We decided to wait it out and ordered soup to warm us up, there was no way were going to dry out in a hurry. The soup arrived on our table...the consistency of uncooked egg whites with meat, with a stench of fish that had been sitting in the sun. Mike told me it was dog in vomit and that was that, there was no way we could eat it and there was no way Mike was paying $200000 dong for it...all of a sudden I was following Mike, trying to keep up  in the stinging rain and wind, weaving behind palm trees hiding from the staff. As soon as we got to our motorbike we knew we were in trouble, it had flooded and we were knee deep in muddy water. Somehow we managed to get the motorbike out and skidded as fast as we could away from that place. 1km down the road we realised that we had successfully "done a runner" from dog in vomit in the torrential monsoon rain on a flooded back street in Vietnam and it was hallirious. It wasn't entirely over though, it poured for 5 hours straight, some roads were impassable, we were drenched,freezing and muddy, and Mike had to pull out some serious motocross skills to get us home in one piece.  After warming up back at our hotel I realised that was one of the most adventured packed, adrenaline filled afternoons I had ever had.  

Day 61-64 Sihanoukville - Kampot - Kep

Our next stop in amazing Cambodia was the beach side town of Sihanoukville. This place was alive and humming with party seekers...its definitely on the cards to becoming one of the biggest holiday destinations in asia. The beaches around Sihanoukville were surprisingly beautiful with white squeaky sand. Mike and I enjoyed some beach time, enjoyed watching the All Blacks cream the Irish, snuck into the fancy resort down the  road to have a swim at their exclusive beach, found an awesome Italian restaurant, fought of ladies wanting to "thread" all the  hair off my entire body...paint my toes...or make me a bracelet, and I almost tried to steal a gorgeous 4 month old baby who sat with me through dinner sucking on her fingers (much like another adorable little girl). After our cuddles her mother put her in a front pouch and jumped on the back of a motorbike with her 4 year old  son, husband and mum...it will never cease to amaze me what they can fit on a motorbike. After three days at the beach we made our way to the french riverside town off Kampot for an overnight  stay. Arriving in the afternoon we biked around the crumbling city and decided to do a sunset tour on the river. After our tour we found a  restaurant run by kiwis and had our first roast New Zealand lamb in what seemed like years. The next morning we were on the road again, 2 hours later we were back on the coast in the stunning seaside fishing village of Kep. Kep is famous in Cambodia for its seafood and crab, restaurants line part of the shore where you can sit and literally watch the fisherman catching your meal.  The sea breeze was a welcome change, in this lush paradise that I imagined was not dissimilar to Mission Bay 50 years ago (just a cambodian version). Kep was the "it" place for the french and wealthy cambodians before the war, and still hasn't fully recovered but is well on its way. It sees only 50 tourists per high season and the locals are so eager to learn english. The children wave out to you every time you pass, people are so willing to help and ask questions about where we have come from, you barely have to smile at someone and they beam at you as though you are long lost family and its an invitation to improve their english skills. We met a young a man working at our guest house who had been learning english for 5 months and he was amazing. He travelled to Kampot once a week for an hour to his english  lessons, and he had 1 million questions for Mike and I. He was from a family of 5 and his parents could only afford to educate the oldest  son ($5 US tuition fee a day) however he was glad he didn't have to carry the burden of having to do well really well at uni to please his hardworking parents. As we continued chatting our van to take us across the boarder into Vietnam arrived, and like many of the Cambodian men our new friend swung Mikes 22kg pack across his 155cm and 60kg frame and hiked off towards the van saying "don't worry its not heavy, its good practice for me because Im going to learn english and travel the world". Within that sentence I later realised it was the perfect metaphor for this country and summary of our visit here, he spoke on behalf of all young Cambodian's translating to ...our past is heavy but we can carry it, the weight helps us realise how easy reaching our potential can be. Mike and I are officially in love with these people, there smiles, friendliness, positivity and resilience far outweigh the negative of Cambodia.

Days 57 - 60 Siem Reap

I have found it very difficult to begin this particular blog post...there is so many things to say and very few words to explain the emotion experienced. I wont begin with the gut retching poverty you probably wont want to read on and I don't blame you. We almost didn't come to this country, I  wanted to close my eyes to it all and selfishly surround my  self with positive things. We came though and we found out something unexpected... that behind a recent dark history, and the poverty lays a country with a powerful and captivating ancestry, impressive architecture and culture, and beautiful people that want to show you their amazing country. Siem Reap proved to be a jewel in the rough  somewhere that is fast becoming one of  the most famous tourist destinations in the world. We stayed at the lovely Soria Maria hotel for four nights and enlisted the help of the fantastic Mr. Yang Sam Rach who drove us around ancient Angkor for 3 days in his tuk tuk. The ancient Angkor region just out of Siem Reap is made up of over 45 known temples and buildings rediscovered in the early 1900s completely overgrown by the thick jungle. The restoration process is still going on today and the magnificent temples have survived several wars, looting, the time of evil  Pol Pot, and neglect to become one of the 7 man made wonders of the world. The temples are believed to be constructed from around 900AD onwards and still survive to tell their tale  explaining the existence of the powerful and inspiring Khmer people that created this empire. Like the pyramids its hard to comprehend how these architectural masterpieces were constructed without modern technology. Almost every inch of stone is carved depicting scenes of everyday life, worshipping the Khmer Gods and religion. Huge lions, elephants and serpents guard the entrance of temples while the faces of huge buddhas look at you from every direction. The huge constructions, the carving and conscriptions along with the huge roots of silk trees intertwined through the stone make some of these temples magical and spiritual. Of all the temples we saw Mike and I enjoyed the famous Angkor Wat the best, watching the sun set over one of the libraries as the night insects AKA Gods sung in the trees. Siem Reap is not only about the temples...markets, amazing food, music, quad bike riding through villages, yummy bakeries, and the people make this place hum. They close down the main street "pub street" in the evening to all traffic and it just comes alive with the restaurants, bars, music, night markets, and hilarious tuk tuk drivers fighting for your business. However its obviously not all cotton candy and one third of the population lives on less than 40c a day. To put it bluntly the poverty is depressing, the street children's only chance of survival is to beg and manipulate the tourists. Dishevelled and dirty young mothers cary the new borns across their fronts in scarfs...rotting teeth and very thin due to lack of food or drug addictions they clasp their hands in prayer begging for money. Children as young as 4 walk the streets alone looking for cans or glass bottles, little girls tug at your clothes as they offer their postcards, scarfs, bracelets, and cold drinks. Land mine victims play their instruments and look at you with big hopeful black eyes. The feeling of helplessness is awful and the Cambodian government doesn't seem to be helping (the opposite of the dol pushing government I grew up with). Handing out money to the children keeps them on the street fuelling substance abuse or worse still goes to bastard pimps. Mike and I managed to distract them with games, naughts and crosses in the dust, fresh water, coco cola, food, sometimes they just wanted humour...something to brighten their repetitive days or something that got their intelligent little brains ticking. The children that gathered around the temples selling their wears knew every trick in the book, knew the basics of so many different languages that they had learnt from tourists, had the most beautiful smiles and knew who was the "weakest" amoung us. It got to a point where after what seem likes hours of following you around begging you to buy their wears they offer you "$10 for NOTHING" even though it lightens the situation it doesn't make the lump in my throat and the ache in my heart go away. The Khmer Rouge, evil Pol Pot and Vietnam war really hurt this country but the people are so resilient and positive. We are so glad that we have had the opportunity to visit Cambodia and learn about the history and culture of these people. Knowledge is power and maybe if we all have the knowledge and visit this awesome country we can have the power to help,  even if its in a small way. If you want to learn more about Cambodia's history read "First they killed my father" by Loung Ung its a powerful true story about a little girl trying to survive the brutality  of the Khmer Rouge Army.  

Day 55-56 Phnom Penh (Cambodia)

We were prepared for a big day as we crossed from Laos into Cambodia. After a long wait at the Cambodian boarder we crossed the bumpy countryside to Kratie where we enjoyed 1 nights stop over. The next morning at 6.30am we boarded a van with 13 other people for our journey to Phnom Penh. It was absolutely unbelievable how many people they could squeeze onto transport, Mike was pure entertainment for some of the Cambodians who thought it was hallirous how his legs wouldn't fit behind the seats (he ended up having to sit on the bags). Upon arriving in the chaotic and messy Cambodian capital we were spotted by a few "tourist spotters" on motorbikes who followed the van until it stopped. I was a little panicked when 10 men started banging on the windows and yelling at us all before the van stopped...sitting on the bags had its pros as we had a quick escape route out the back doors. I was actually pleasantly surprised once we got out, most of the yelling was directed at the locals in our van and we were generally treated with a "don't scare the white people too much" attitude. The first tuk tuk driver that approached us took us to our guest house for $2, my fists and wrists ached afterwards from hanging on so tight. Our days in Phnom Pehn were mostly educational, Cambodia has a horrific past history something we had very little knowledge of. We visited the S21 prison and learnt about the evil Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge, I'm not going to go into any detail about that. It actually left us wanting to know more and helped us understand why Cambodia is like it is today. The poverty and homelessness was to say the least distressing, but these people are so friendly and gentle. There sense of humour is fantastic and they smile no matter what, they are beautiful. We made sure we spent quite a bit of time at good cause dining restaurants and shops like "Friends". This place takes in older street children, gives them accommodation and trains them in hospitality, the food is amazing and the kids even better. Phnom Penh full of narrow dusty streets, food vendors and markets, tuk tuk drivers approach you on every corner as dirty children drag plastic bags in search of cans along the road, the huge riverfront park is full of people exercising, and practicing martial art as huge pictures of the king and queen hang over them, the smell of fish and noodle soup fills the air as motorbikes whizz past. This city was a culture shock and history lesson it left us wanting to learn more and see more. However a feeling of immense helplessness that has developed and the word "big softie" that the beggars and children see on my forehead is going to cause a few more tears. 

Day 52 - 54 Don Kon

We have on quite a few occasions become flash packers...opting for a flight rather than a long bus ride. So in one of our flash packer days we took a flight from Luang Prabang to Paske in Southern Laos. Our time in Paske was limited as we were off to find the hospital to remove my stitches and then to the bus stop to travel four hours south to an arena know as 4000 Islands. Here the Mekong widens and you can find thousands of islands in the middle. Our hospital search in Paske was another memorable experience and for some reason our tuk tuk driver took us to the Vet, apparently a Vet is as good as a doctor in Laos. After our trip to the real hospital we were on our way to the bus terminal where we boarded a local bus (a converted lorry truck). There were already 30 people on board with more climbing on the roof and others hanging out the back, I now know why a noticeable amount of Asians fall asleep on transport...it's a coping mechanism and the only polite thing to do instead of steering at the other passenger 1 inch away from your face. Sharing our trip with bananas, sacks of rice, and sleeping children we travelled three hours of red dirt roads, and made a few stops for "meats on stick" until we made it to the jetty to get over to one of the main islands Don Det. We decided not to stay at Don Det as we had heard of more local experiences at its neighbouring smaller island Don Kon. We were so glad that we had made that decision as upon getting to Don Kon we were greeted with the most beautiful sunset of the trip on the shores of the Mekong.  We stayed at the Floating Studio an amazing room literally floating on the river, and it was actually quite difficult to drag ourselves off the deck. Once we could pull ourselves away we explored Don Det top to toe, the waterfalls, the villages, bike paths, and scanned the river for dolphins. We were almost the only tourists there and felt as though we blended into local life. The Laos children and families on the island were the happiest I had ever seen. Every one worked on the land, big families meant more help around the properties and little 5 year old girls would be doing their difficult chores with such precession that all Mike and I could do was steer in amazement. Each family had at least 2 pigs, many chickens, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 kitten, 2 cows, 5 children, 1 bicycle or motorbike for the entire family to share and on occasion the dog. Mike and I would just sit in the family run restaurants observing their family life, the coming and goings, the laughter, the lady's at work washing clothes in the river, the dusty bare bumed children playing with kittens, men dragging fishing nets up the bank. We really hope that life in this beautiful little place only changes for the better and no too much from where it stands today, life in one of its most simplest and purest forms.