Cambodia - more of the Angkor complex and local Villages

I know I am behind but I'm doing my best...

Sunday 23rd Feb

Up early for breakfast before 7:00am, picked up and off to visit and photo lots of the different Temples within the Angkor Thom complex and it's huge! So again the iconic faces of Bayon, Baphoun, Elephant Terrace and Preah Khan.

Iconic Faces!

East to West or was it North to South?

Spong Trees takes roots in the structures.

Into town around 7pm, with Narid but only till 10:00pm as I have to be up early. I think I may of had some chicken dish and some beer.

Monday 24th Feb

Up extremely early, for 5:00am pick up! Sunrise at Wat Thmei overlooking Angkor Wat, got a couple of misty shots but sunrise was really a disappointment! However, while it was still quite dark did some light painting as in the photo!

Light Painting.

Angkor Wat 's Morning Mist

Then to Ta Prohm, where again there were many hidden treasures that have been highlighted and I now have my own version of these!

A hidden little gem!

What do you see?

Next to a much smaller temple Pre Rup, where I took only a few pics but one was of a local artist painting T-shirts, of which I bought one $8USD, so I have an original!

Painting My T-shirt!

Back to Peace of Angkor office where Dave showed how he uses Lightroom (Adobe) on his Mac to correct photos, not necessarily enhance!

Lunch across the road, I went for a small Chicken fried rice and a beer.

The to Baray Teuk Thia and Me Chreay Villiage to get some shots with the Buffalo carts, etc. this was quite fun and while we the there the local duck farmers were moving their ducks to be fed and these ducks certainly knew where and when to go. Is was so funny to see them waddling along.

Buffalo cart on the track at dusk.

The Buffalo kicks the dirt track with the Sugar Palms in the background.

Come on guys, it's tea time, lets get fat! 

Workers return home for the day!

Into town around 8pm, with Narid, arranged pick up for 10:0pm as I was up early. I think I may of had some chicken dish and some beer.

Tuesday 25th Feb

Breakfast and off to Tonle Sap, this was a couple of hours drive, we stopped on route at a local village market to take a few snaps.

Spare Tyre anyone?

Now lets see what I can get for dinner...

Dried Fish...emm

I'm Happy even if I only have one tooth...

On the way to the river port Kompong Khleang a local farmer and his family were thrashing the rice, so stopped to a few shots. Believe it or not but I'm sure the Stig was operating the thrasher! See pics.

The chaff being stacked!

Yes, I work part time in the rice fields - The Stig!

It's a Family affair - all hands to the pump!

I want to do More...

At the river port we picked up the boat to go out to the lake. Got some interesting snaps of stilt houses, boat houses, school houses from the boat. Out to the floating markets, watch a fisherman's catch being sold.

Will post some pics later...

Back to the village and lunch with a local family, breaded fish, steamed veg, soup and a salty fish, very tasty but too salty.

In the evening on the way to getting a Tuk Tuk, I met Stephanie a young French lady who actually works in Da Nang, Vietnam. So we went into town together and had dinner, the Khmer BBQ, very similar to the Laos version but with some additional meats, i.e. Crocodile and Squid. At 10:30pm back to the Blue Pumpkin to meet Narid for our ride home. 

Wednesday 26th Feb

A free day but I hired Savin for $10/15USD to take me to the temples on the big circuit. After 3 or 4 more I decided that enough was enough and gave Savin $20USD for today and a tip for the last 4 days of him driving me around, I'm sure he doesn't get paid enough especially as the other Tuk Tuk drivers charge $25/30USD per day.

Snapped this Dragon Fly in the fields

Another Iconic Face

A Tree protected entrance...

Time to chill for a few hours or so, updated my MacBookAir, transferred all photos, etc. Then at 7pm meeting Dave to go to a show Khmer Rock, which is a local run by an Arts organisation for the less privileged, and is about modern day culture! Took a couple of hundred photos of their acrobatics...

To Dave's local for a couple of large beers (no I don't have a drink problem, hic!). Then a Tuk Tuk back. 

Thursday 27th Feb

Late breakfast as checking out today. Stephanie gave her business card so I can email her my blog of Bhutan. Off to Siem Reap airport, although the hotel arranges transport I had to pay $4USD for the privilege! Got some more $USD for my Bhutan trip $300 USD through the ANZ plus their standard fee of $5USD!

Look out for my Bhutanese experience next...

Phileas

Cambodia - Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom

Friday 21st Feb

Arrived at Siem Reap airport. Visa on Arrival packed with loads of Japanese parties which was a little chaotic but after $20USD and a photo I had my Visa within 15 mins. Another 15 mins to get through immigration. Bag was already on the conveyor belt. Out to check for pick up and there I was a sign displaying "Philip Sharkey" cool. 15 mins on a Tuk Tuk to the hotel a great way to cool down and experience Cambodia for the first time. Initial impressions, it was cleaner than Vietnam (despite all the sweeping). Hotel check in OK. Nice and easy and I got my passport back straight away, I always feel more comfortable having my passport, even if I have to lock it in the safe!

Den from Peace of Angkor Tours turned up for payment for the 5D/4N Photography tour, so out to the ATM's where they give you $USD.

Paid up and was all set for tomorrow Saturday to start my tour at 8:00am. Quick shower and change then put to Pub Street for dinner and beer. Expensive night $6USD return Tuk Tuk into town and $4USD for food and drink (4 beers at 50cents each!) Back to hotel, met my man Narid at the Blue Pumpkin, home in 10 mins.

Saturday 22nd Feb

Breakfast at 7:30am, Dave my guide and photography guru turned up with Savin the Tuk Tuk driver and off we went to a local Buddhist temple, Wat Bo, that most tourists don't visit, spent an hour or so there learning about the light and dark effects of the sun.

A Monk in and around the Stupas

Burial stupas caught in the sunlight

A Monk sweeping and the dust caught in the sunlight

A Happy Nun

It is making me think more! Coffee break in a little cafe by the river. Then to a market that mostly the locals go to, took some good shots of people just going about their business. This market had absolutely everything! 

A bit Fishy!

Lunch time and we went to a restaurant that did Happy Pizzas but I went for the Khmer Amok, the chicken version which is made with spinach and coconut milk, very nice but also very filling!  Plus the fact I had a large beer!

After lunch to the Angkor complex to get my 7 day pass $60USD. Then into Angkor Wat from the less popular East Gate, it was good having someone who could guide you into the complex and explain what was what. Took many shots with different light and dark contrasts, the towers from various positions, corridors with engravings that tell the Vishnu story of the Milk... Ruins they may be but they are also quite spectacular, you have to use your imagination and take yourself back 800 years

Angkor Wat

Will post some photos here later!!

On the way out via the less popular South gate of Angkor Thom there was an opportunity to capture some sunset photos.

A God or Daemon?

My planning let me down as it's really High season and there are just too many tourists. However, having Dave as not only a mentor but knowing when and where it's quieter is a real bonus. 

I was shattered so I crashed for the evening!!

Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) and the Mekong Delta - maybe a few beers!

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Monday 17th Feb
Breakfast, pack, checkout and car, well a minivan, to Da Nang airport. My bill was 3,235,000VND about £92 for 3 nights and included the car to the airport. It didn't however, include the 3% surcharge they levy on the use of credit cards! Another £2.75, such is their way. Got to the airport and it was only while checking in at the economy desk, when she put the Business Class tag on that I realised that I was flying Business. I remember I had made that decision as I wanted this flight rather than a later or earlier one. So I'm sitting in the business lounge updating these notes.

Arrived Saigon (HCMC), got a taxi for 150,000VND to hotel. My Superior double only had a fan light window in the bathroom! But hey, I’m only sleeping there and should be out and about most of the time.

Where ever I lay my hat ... 

Went for a walk to savour the sites of HCMC, after an hour or so I found a Sports bar - GameOn so had a few beers, it’s thirsty work walking in the heat, 120,000VND. Then back to the hotel and crashed out till morning!!

Tuesday 18th Feb
Breakfast just after 8:30am, that's a busy time, may need to get there earlier. Quick blog update on Hue and Hoi An. Then out for a walk but it's quite hot so ended up in a coffee shop for a large Americano and a donut for 70,000VND.

Walked to Saigon's Notre Dame and the old Post Office. The stupid coaches/minibuses park outside the church so getting a good photo is no longer an option. The Post Office is still functional, and was reasonably busy with both locals and tourists.

Notre Dame

Post Office

Time for lunch, found a restaurant called the Bier Garden, naturally with Germans. Had a large Tiger draught and fried spring rolls but pork! The advertised prices were 65,000VND and 99,000VND but then they add Tax, etc so it ended up costing 190,000 VND about £5.40 - it does seem that HCMC is by far the most expensive place I've been in Vietnam.

Walked back via the River and looked around the hotel area for any sort of local bar, you almost couldn't count them! A negative for the location of the hotel. I found one named the Three Amigos, but not that friendly, I felt like I'd disrupted their quiet afternoon and their WiFi didn't work, trying to make them understand also failed, so 0(zero) stars.

Back to the hotel, decided to have a night in and just chill and watch a few films.

Wednesday 19th Feb
Up early, down to breakfast. Eventually out just before 10:00am. Walked to the riverside, as only been to one part, then over the bridge into District 4. Strange thing, I seem to be the only tourist! but then that's what I'm really looking for the real city of Ho Chi Minh. I got all sorts of looks but I just smiled and occasionally said Xing Chao. No dramas, couple of temples and a Church.

Then back for lunch. Ended up at the Aussie run Game On for, nope, no spring rolls, I went for the Salt'n Pepper Squid -

and a few Hanoi beers for 215,000VND. Then a walk to the Tourist Info centre to book my Mekong Delta trip by Speed Boat, pick up at 7:30am tomorrow! This cost 2,362,000VND about £67/68 quite an expensive day trip but just got to be done!

On my way back, whoops found another bar, the Red Bar, with the best WiFi so far 48/55Mbs Down/Up. Had to have at least one small beer :-), well maybe two! I ended up staying for dinner, a chicken and spinach pizza with cranberry sauce, see the picture!

It was quite a local haunt where everyone seemed to know each other. Only one or two Westerners who looked like that they were working here. It had a pool table, dart board (electronic, i.e. It worked out your scores!) and the normal TV's tuned into Rugby or Football. My final bill was, wait for it....... only 250,000VND just over £7. On the way back I could see the lights of the Bitexco tower:

Mekong Delta
Thursday 20th Feb
Early breakfast as I was picked up at 7:30am for my trip. There were 12 people on the tour a Psychiatrist, from Scotland (although originally from South Africa), he was here for a conference on Transgender in Bangkok (no surprise there!) and had taken a couple of extra days to visit Vietnam, etc. A dutch lady and her son, although they lived in Singapore, a Father and Son from Norway, two middle aged French couples and a young German couple - so quite a mix.

The boat cruises down the river and you can see hundreds of riverside dwellings, some look like they are about to collapse, while others look like they will be there for years. Some are made with brick and corrugated tin roofs, some with just wood and corrugated tin for the walls and roofs. The worse thing that the people who live here do is dump their rubbish either in the river or by the riverside, although the river is full of life! As for the general human waste disposal - I dread to think…

We stop at a local riverside market, where the locals from both sides of the river come, they have numerous cross river ferries going back and forth dotted along the river. The market sells everything, see pictures, not sure if they charge extra for the flies!

Then we go to a Temple, not that I've been to many but it was really a restroom stop! Off to a family who have 4 generations, however the oldest (107) is in bed and her 85 year old daughter is the only one home apart from their pet Python! They breed pythons for their skin, etc.

Then to another temple but this time not a standard Buddhist one, this was a Cao Dai, a Buddhist like temple that was started by an extrovert monk in 1926 and is now the third highest religion behind Buddhism (1) and Catholicism (2), although 80% of the 90 billion population are atheists!

Lunch was a typical 4 course, spring rolls, soup, chicken, pork and vegetables with rice, think some freshly cooked fish - see picture.

Back to HCMC and the views along the river both good and bad!

A walk back, rather than get the minivan to the hotel, went to the Hogs Breath (under the Bitexco Tower) 80,000 +8,000 VAT another small walk to get a few more Dong (VND) and then back to Game On for some drinks and snack for 180,000VND but 200,000VND with a tip for Huong, whom I met on my first visit there and it was her first day working there! To the hotel for a good nights sleep and get ready to my departure in the morning.

Friday 21st Feb
Late breakfast as I'm off to Siem Reap. Packed and checked out. As I've said they always want to kind of rip you off. So the room was $51USD per night and the norm is 21,000VND per $1 but they use the exchange rate of 21,500VND so you end paying almost $5USD more. But then they don't charge the 2/3% on the credit card. Also their car to the airport was 215,000VND whereas the taxi was 150,000VND.

Another great example, outside the airport, i.e pre-departure a can of Tiger is 28,000VND, after immigration and customs it's $4USD. Don't they just know how to make money…

What did I think of Vietnam: the people are quite friendly, the hawkers are just earning their living and if they can, they’ll scam you but it’s normally only a few pence when you convert it back, unless you’re totally confused with the amount of 000’s. They are always sweeping yet there is still lots of rubbish around, especially in the poorer areas and by the rivers. Unlike Thailand and Laos, they use Cyclo's (a bike with a seat or sometimes two at the front) rather than the Tuk Tuk! They always seem to be eating and yet until I got to HCMC they all looked quite slight. The women in HCMC were not as slight as those in the North but only by a few pounds, sorry girls! Overall, I'd like to go back to Halong Bay when the weather is better just to get some better pictures, etc.

Sorry, I'm behind but I am also having a great experience. Look out for my tales of Kampuchea...

Phileas