Vietnam - Arriving to Hanoi

Hello everyone!

I'm in Vietnam since a little while now and you might wonder how my trip to Vietnam was. And you're right! There is always something interesting to tell, isn't it?

Well, if you remember, I was in Kep, in the south of Cambodia. I finally bought, the day before of course!, a flight ticket to Hanoi.
As my flight back home is from Ho Chi Minh, in the south of Vietnam, it was wiser to start from the north.
The cheapest flight was from Siem Reap. No problem! I asked and they said the bus was only (!) 8 hours from Kep to Siem Reap.
Well... if there is something you need to know about buses in Cambodia, is that... THE SCHEDULE IS NEVER RESPECTED!!! Bullshit!
I spent 13 hours in that bus! 13 hours!!! Can you imagine the state of my bottom?...
Hope you can't actually...
We did I don't know how many stops... it was endless!

But we finally arrived to Siem Reap! :) Youhouuuu!!!
Well... there is something you need to know about Siem Reap. Each bus company has its own bus station. And it could be anywhere outside Siem Reap. And this was the case for the bus of this company. We were in the middle of nowhere. But it was no issue! My hostel was to send a tuk tuk to pick me up. I just needed to call them and tell them where I was.
So I call them. And they said it would take them 20 minutes to arrive as it was a bit far. No problem!
Really?
Here's the picture: it was 9pm, in the middle of nowhere, deep dark night, me the only white person remaining between at least 7 Cambodian men, some of whom where drunk. :(
One of them, visibly drunk, sat next to me and started talking to me in Khmer:
- "You sleeping?"
- "Yeah, yeah"... meaning: keep talking I don't really care...
- "You and me sleeping."
- "NOOOOOOO." (Please, tuk tuk driver, please hurry up!)
He kept talking in Khmer... so I started speaking in Spanish. Can't you imagine how awkward it was?

Finally the tuk tuk driver arrived and I reached the hostel.. but not for long. My flight was at 6am, so I needed to leave at 4 am. You think I'm on holidays and resting, hein?

My flight to Hanoi was ok.
The arrival was not so ok though... it was winter there! And don't laugh about it... I know 10 or 15 degrees is not very cold in Switzerland. But in Hanoi, it's so humid... and there is no heating AND NO DOORS!!! No doors... it means you are constantly in the cold, feeling the breeeeeeze.
Of course, I had the only room in the hostel without heating.
I went to buy a winter jacket, a scarf, long sleeves shirts, gloves, hat, leggings... everything! Brrrrrr!
The only happy people in Hanoi were the salesmen. They knew every tourist will buy a jacket. And it's true. EVERY tourist I met bought a jacket upon arrival! Hahaha! We all thought Vietnamese winter would be "cool".

I'll keep you posted on my next adventures. In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Sihanoukville & Kep

Hello everyone!

Here comes the time to talk about the south of Cambodia.
First of all, I went a few days to Sihanoukville to dive a bit. Hmm... not sure my days in Sihanoukville will allow me to be fair, but, anyways, I will try.

Let me first tell you about my diving experience, which was out of my hands and out of the Diving club hands.
Visibility: bad. Weather: ok. People: ok. And that's it! Oh, no, I met my cousin's lookalike! This is funny!
An Australian guy to talk to me (we were dive buddies, meaning under water we stay together and looked after each other). So in the way back, he came to talk to me.
And suddenly I realized he just looked like my cousin!!! But really! I couldn't hear what he was saying to me!
I asked him if his family was Australian-Australian and he said yes. And kept talking about I don't remember what.
And suddenly I said:
"-Sorry... but you really look like my cousin!
- Oh, really? Where is he from? Is he Swiss?
- Well... actually, my grand-parents were from Bielorussia.
- My grand-father was from Bielorussia too!"
Mystery solved!!! All Bielorussian people looked the same three generations after!
I didn't asked him his family name... was too affraid it could be Walicki!

Sihanoukville beach, at least the most famous one, sucks. You feel you are in Thailand. But you're not in Thailand! You're in Cambodia!
You have one bar after another, women selling you fruits, massages, manicure. But at least the seats are for free :)

My hotel was the crappiest hotel in the whole region. Could you believe it? I was in the middle of nowhere, the drivers didn't know where the hotel was, the bed sheets were less than clean, there was no safe (the manager said: -Someone will bring you a safe today... I'm still waiting), the staff didn't speak English: they only say "yes".
- I need to go to the bus station tomorrow morning.
- Yes.
- Could you arrange the taxi?
- Yes.
- How much it will be?
- Yes.

But I went to Kep... and Kep was amazing :) It used to be called "Kep sur Mer" (Merci, la France).Of course, it's full of French people, but ohhh, how peaceful, how authentic, how cheap!
And food there was really good! Actually, food in Cambodia is really good. You can really feel the French influence. I had the best cordon bleu of my life! Seriously!
I spent New Year's Eve in Kep. Wow! I could count the tourist with one hand!
I actually spent a typical Cambodian New Year's Eve! Of course, they had their own New Year's celebration, but, who cares? A holiday is a holiday!
Cambodian people dance with their hands. Yep. Hard to explain by blog, but imagine a little "Aloha movement" and that's it. The Cambodian dance. So I dance with Cambodian teenagers in a Cambodian way. Dancing in circles moving the hands. Awesome! I definitely will come back to celebrate New Year's Eve in Kep. New York: you have serious competition!

In resume, beside the Thai influence in the Cambodian beaches, the south of Cambodia is definitely a place to visit! You don't only have beaches, but pepper plantations (Kampot pepper is supposed to be one of the best in the world...), islands, the King former Palace (with the Khmer Rouge bullets impacts...).

Cambodia has so much to share... and a blog is certainly not enough. You might want to come and see it with your eyes and couldn't do but encourage you to do so.

By now, I'm in Vietnam and will tell more in my next post. In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Siem Reap

Hello everyone!

After telling you about Phnom Penh, I need now to talk about Siem Reap.
Siem Reap is located in the north of Cambodia. You normally go there to visit Angkor. Angkor used to be the seat of the Khmer Empire between the 9th and the 15th centuries*.
The former "city", even if not fully discovered, takes at least 3 days of visit. Two circles, one small and one big, are part of the minimum visit you pay to Angkor.
I didn't actually visited Angkor in a religious purpose and most of the people neither. It's just amazing to see these very old temples, which once were covered in silk and gold, being "eaten" by the jungle.
And, just for your information, Khmer were (and still are) very small people! Doors and rooms were so small! I wouldn't be able to live there... I mean, it would take a lot of gold to convinced me to live in a small place like that!!!
Ok, I stop the jokes...
I was lucky, because I was able to share the tuk tuk to go to Angkor. Otherwise, I would have paid 12$ every time. Ouch!
I did the sunrise twice in Angkor Wat, the biggest temple and center of the city of Angkor. It's just overwhelming! How many sunrises these temples saw! Well... as much as the Cathedral in Lausanne or Zurich. But still ;)

Let me tell you a funny story:
I did the big circle and sunset with a guy from Hong Kong. When we were on our way back to the hostel, he suddenly turned to me and asked:
"- You like Italian music?
- Sure! (I actually thought Eros Ramazzotti or Laura Pausini... )
- Me too!!!"
He took his iPhone and looked for some music... and suddenly... AN OPERA STARTED TO PLAY!!!
So here is the picture: a blonde girl, a Chinese guy, on a tuk tuk, in the middle of nowhere, in the dark night... listening to opera out loud!!!
These things only happen when you travel...

Beside Angkor, of course, I loved Siem Reap!!! Small city, lots of markets and shops, good food, cheap beer, lots of massage places (I tried fish massage... mmm, ticklish!). Definitely my favourite place in Cambodia!

I'll tell you about the south of Cambodia in my next post. In the meantime, best of luck, folks!

Rebeca

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor

Phnom Penh - S-21 & Killing Fields

Hello everyone,

Let me tell you my impressions about Phnom Penh.

First of all, the two first things you fell is the heat and the poverty. I've been travelling since a little while now and believe me when I say Cambodia is a hot country! Moreover, Phnom Penh is pure cement! The heat is concentrated.
And poverty. Everywhere. Overwhelming. Frustrating. When you think before the wars that devastated the country, Cambodia was doing great... It's so sad to see the current situation of the country, particularly in PP*.

And to crown the overwhelming feeling, you visit the "Killing Fields" and "S-21 Prison".
Killing fields first: I don't have enough words to express the flood of feelings you feel when walking over the place the Khmer Rouges killed around 20'000 people. Sadness, aversion, surprise, pity.
You receive an audioguide and walk through this former Chinese cementery listening to all the terrible things that happened there wondering: "why nobody did anything to stop it? How come nobody knew? How come nobody knows even now?
A small resume avoiding the horrible details: the prisoners from S-21 were sent to the killing fields and killed the same day. As said, 20'000 people were killed there and were "buried" in mass graves. Still now you can find teeth all over the place. Sorry, is this too blunt? Well... it's not even 10% of what I saw and heard there... and, yeah, it happened 30 years ago and people should know it. So allow me to present you this crude true hoping one day you will go to Cambodia and see it by your own.

S-21 now: it was a school built by the French. The Khmer Rouge transformed it in a prison from where nobody escaped and when someone left the prison, he ended his days in the Killing Fields. See the horror? When Phnom Penh was released in 1979, only 7 survivors where found inside. 7... beside the last 14 victims.
No resume this time: I'm still overwhelmed... I did the two visits in one day and was wordless... still am.

Hopefully, that day we had a tuk tuk accident which brought us back to reality... our reality... face-to-face with our own dead. But no worries, we were fine. The scooter in front however... the front wheel was looking like and 8... poor guy!

Sorry to disturb you with this creepy stories. But we shouldn't forget they happened... ONLY 30 years ago.

I promise I will be less saddening in my next posts. In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

*: Phnom Penh

Cambodia - Arriving to Phnom Penh

Hello everyone!

As I'm leaving Cambodia to go to Vietnam, let me tell you how my Cambodian experience was.
Let's start with the flight.

Remember I was in Thailand, right? I had a flight with Malaysia Airlines from Phuket to Phnom Penh, through Kuala Lumpur. I had a one way ticket as I didn't know when I was going to go to Vietnam nor how.

The lady at the check-in counter started to be nervous.
-" What's your final destination? You have your ticket to Geneva? How are you going to Vietnam?" And all kind of questions like these.

Finally, one lady came and told me that I could be sent back to the border upon arrival or be forced to buy a ticket to the border or I don't remember what else, but something not funny. I needed to sign a paper saying that if there was any issue in Cambodia, it wouldn't be Malaysia Airlines fault. I started freeking out!
But I tried to remain as calm as possible saying to myself: "So far, you don't have any issue. You'll see when you arrive and you will find a solution if needed".
And you know what? Nothing happened at Phnom Penh airport!!! Just payed my visa, said thank you and went to my hotel. Nobody even looked at me. Can you imagine? I almost freeked out for nothing! This was a very good lesson for me: don't stress unless you need it.

Otherwise, the flight was very good.

I will tell you more about Phnom Penh on my next post, otherwise this one will become endless.

All my best wishes for 2013 and best of luck!

Rebeca

Thailand

Hello everyone!

Before talking about my stay in Thailand, I would like to apologize for leaving you uninformed all these days. I've been enjoying my time and therefore left the blog "unupdated". I'm sure you will understand and forgive me.

So, I left Laos after healing from the dengue fever. I was relieved. Laotian doctors were "threatening" me saying I will be sent to Bangkok or back home. Arghhh! Finally I did great and I'm now able to continue traveling as before.

I went to Phuket to meet some friends. We spent a week together. It was great! No more lonely dinners, no more conversations with the mirrors. I had company! It felt great!
Moreover, they were organizing excursions which I usually don't do as too expensive for my backpack budget. Actually I had a week of holidays inside my holidays :) nice hotels, nice food, nice beaches, great company... What else?

As I was in Thailand, I decided to do my Advanced diving certification. It was a good thing! Not the best dives of my life, I can say it, but the experience was great. Deep dives, hovering skills, naturism (no, it doesn't mean you dive naked... Even if I thought it... Actually, it's recognizing fishes and corals underwater). So now, I can move forward and keep diving. I have several ideas: wreck dive, deep dive, fun dive. Possibilities are great and various.

Few words about Thailand: subjects love their King, more than English people love William and Kate. Roads are in very good state, really. There are no beggars in the street. Food is awesome. Funny story: my friends and I were at the beach and a Spanish group was behind us. One of the ladies said: "Thai food has no variety. It's always rice with something." If you too you think that, it means you don't know Thai food. You can have noodles too ;-) hahaha, no, I'm kidding. You can really eat whatever you want in Thailand. Massages are good, particularly Thai massage. You keep your clothes, no oil, and the lady shakes every bone in your body. Really good! Of course, Thai people are very nice and friendly. Beer is good. And everything is cheap! Definitively a place to come! Just be prepared to meet loads of tourists!
By the way, I only did the south of Thailand. The north is, not only even cheaper, but more nature oriented: jungle treks, elephants rides and stuff like that. Now you know, your choice :)

After Thailand, I flew to Cambodia. I will tell you more about it on my next post.
In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Pictures!!!

Little India Market - Singapore

 Breakfast in Singapore

 Sugar cane juice - Singapore

Singapore 

Something in Clay pot - Kuala Lumpur 

Salad in India 

Indian Food 

 Chicken - Kovalam

Kovalam - View from the Lighthouse 

Soup with rice (that lost me) - Singapore