Day 91 - Final entry, time to come home :(

Well following my last post, after completing my last dive day, I went straight from the internet café to a party at the dive centre - it was Evylene's dive-master graduation (the sister of Christophe, our dive instructor). I met up with Alex and Dave and we started to enjoy a few beers and barbecue seafood. Later came Evylene's initiation - a snorkel with a upside-down bottle attached to the end, into which they poured a bucket of Samsung (local moonshine-style whiskey/rum out here). She managed to get through the whole bucket, and following a bow to applause she made a bit of a mess in the fish pond behind her :)

Later all were pretty drunk, and everyone at the party ended up getting chucked into the diving pool fully clothed (myself included) by this beefcake dive master. Then onto the late-night bar afterwards for some more drinking and (watching other people) dancing. A said goodbye to Alex and Dave sometime in the early hours. A few more hours later and I was up to frantically pack, and start my journey to Bangkok. I felt awful! To make matters worse I had to stop the group taxi (that gets you to the ferry) and jump out 400m down the road as I realised I left my passport with the guesthouse. A sweaty fast-paced walk back to collect it, and a fortuitous bumping into a diver instructor from another dive school, allowed me to hitch a lift back to the ferry, which I made with time to spare. Following that, a bus ride which I slept pretty much the whole way through ending up in central Bangkok late afternoon.

Didn't do much there except go for a walk around the local area the first night, eat, then catch up on some much needed sleep, by which time my taxi arrived to take me the the airport for my flight to Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, to meet the boys and get our return flight home.

My impression of Bangkok is limited by the minuscule amount of it I experienced, but it doesn't seem as bad as many made it out to be. The mishmash of architecture I observed on the final leg of the journey in was pretty fascinating, massive high-tech skyscrapers and luxury accommodation next to shanty towns over a stagnant pond. Massive investment in infrastructure with spaghetti junction style highways suspended 30m in the air on giant concrete pillars plunging the streets below into perpetual darkness. A bustling atmosphere that (where I was anyway) seemed more tame than I was expecting. Somewhere I'll have to return to another time (Thailand is a big place, and will have to wait for another adventure) to experience it properly. The airport in Bangkok was the best I've been in!

Bangkok at night, showing the crazy road systems flying through the air

Image source; flickr

The journey went like custard (sweet and smooth), and by the evening I was back in the centre of Saigon (HCM), and found the hotel and room Lukas was staying in. Went for some drinks with him, and Peter soon joined us for a good catch up on what we'd all been doing of he past week. Being our last night we made it a big one – had some nice seafood, and drank quite a bit, got a nice hangover to sleep off on the plane journey home. Have just done some last-minute shopping, going back to do a final pack, then get our taxi to the airport. It's 2 flights that take about 18 hours, but loosing 7 hours in time difference put me back in the UK tomorrow morning, and home for lunch. Final visual-journey update for Cambodia & Thailand.

Thailand was a much more developed country than the others, followed by Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos was undoubtedly the poorest, least developed. Every country was unique, and good for different reasons. I can't say I enjoyed one more than the others, as we did very different things in each. All were great, and I'd happily return to every one. Parts of northern-Laos we didn't get to explore I'd love to visit, and the rest of Thailand too. But all this and more will have to wait for another time.

It's been a fantastic journey. Have experienced some truly amazing things, and been some countless places that have blown me away. Have used 6 motorbikes and 3 push-bikes, ridden in over 20 coaches, in 4 different countries, where I've travelled (somewhere in the region of) 10,000km must have seen over 100 cities, town and villages. Have been burnt in blistering high temperatures, soaked in tropical rain storms, and been freezing cold - wearing as many layers as I could fit. Been in several different sea's, couple of lakes, countless rivers, and just one swimming pool :)

90 days/3 months, talking to people back home, seems to have flown by for many, but for me, the experience has helped make it feel like an eternity – doing something different and exciting every single day sure beats the daily repetition of life back home. I can hardly remember what it's like to live my life, and am looking forward to experiencing that weird unfamiliar sensation you get reintegrating back into your everyday routine. But my eyes have been opened further than I ever thought possible, and they'll never close the same way again.

Thanks to all those who communicated with me out here, and to all who have been reading and commenting on the blog as we've been going. I've enjoyed writing it, and will be archiving it somewhere as a personal diary (I'll correct the spelling and bad grammar ;), for those who who didn't get a chance to read it all – sorry I wrote so much.

If you're interested to know what you've been a part of, the web stats are; 350 unique visitors made over 1000 visits, with 2,500 page views. All from 33 different countries around the world and over 50 cities in the UK alone, with 14% of you lovely people using Macs :).

Thanks again for listening, and looking forward to seeing you all as soon as possible.

Lukas is writing his final entry right now to, and if there's time he may even upload his final set of images from roaming the street of Ho Chi Ming city, in which case they'll be in the usual place.

Day 87 – And now, then end is near, it's time to face, the dive site

As planned here in Thailand, I've done my PADI open water certification which allows me to dive unattended with a buddy to 18m/60ft which took 3 days – one of theory, and two of practical with knowledge reviews in-between. It was hard work but pretty fun, and teaches you the basics of recreational shallow-diving. In doing the diving I met some nice fellow Brits who've been helping keep me company here in Koh Chang. One chap Alex (ex footballer, now stone-mason), from Oxford, was doing the course with me, but have never dived before, his friend David from Peterborough (already a qualified diver), and their friend Roger (who couldn't swim). Was nice to have someone English to go through everything with, and we were dive-buddies for our entire training period.

On board the dive boat. Alex in the green shorts, and David on the right holding the railing above.


We both past with flying colours, and enjoyed it so much we both decided to stay and further our scuba-education by doing our advanced course. This would be more challenging, as there are many more technical manoeuvres, processes and safety practices to master. The course came with yet another whopping text book (got to carry two of the buggers back now), which we had to study and pass knowledge review exams before each practical exercise.

The course took two days and included 5 dives; buoyancy control (learning to make yourself effectively weightless underwater & manoeuvring skills), navigation(plotting a course, setting headings and using a compass effectively), night-dive (diving at night), deep dive (diving to 30m/100ft to do arithmetic and test the effects of nitrogen narcosis on our bodies/minds), and search & recover (search patterns to locate and object, then use inflatable bags to float it to the surface).

Some were more fun than others, but all was thoroughly enjoyable, and great experience for a future where I intend to do much more diving! The instructors were great – always there to help and real good laugh, and the skills we applied today on our first fun-dive as qualified scuba divers! So I can now dive unattended to 30m/100ft, where 31 atmospheres of pressure is applied on your body – far out! :)

Dive sites here typically look like this – small island that is surrounded by reefs and life underwater. Crystal clear waters, with visibility ranging from 10-20m typically (good!).


So have basically spent the last 6 days on a boat diving around the numerous reefs and rocky islands out here. Seen a pretty vast array of underwater life, swum though schools of thousands of tropical fish (my favourite bit!), and made some new friends doing it.

This has of course been at the cost of not really seeing Bangkok -but after talking to a lot of people here who've been, it doesn't sound like a great place to be alone – more of a group thing, and only for the night life. No one seems to have much nice to say about the city itself... But I have to return there, o avoid 2/3 days on a bus to get back to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam to meet the boys, and catch the return flight home. So tomorrow I'm getting the bus to Bangkok, spending one nigh there, then flying the next day direct to HCM, o meet the lads. One last night together, then we catch our return flight Monday afternoon. Will be back in the UK Monday afternoon, probably in a pretty bad state of jetlag, and ready to start reintegrating back in to blighty life.

A sample of what I'm leaving behind here – so tempted just to stay!


Will do a summary entry either between travelling, or once I'm back, as the rest of my time here is pretty much going to be ravelling around... Sleeping pills at the ready! :)

Am looking forward to seeing everyone again, and catching up on the past quarter of a year of your lives!

Lukas update:
He had finished with Campot, Cambodia, and has been doing his usual exploration (on a motor bike again) in search of photo worthy subject mater. I think he's done pretty well – check his latest work here. Today he should have made his way from Cambodians capital Phenom Phen over to join Peter in Vietnam, where Peter has been doing tours around the south of the country and finally getting to see all those museums we failed to get into when we were last there.

Day 82 – Separated in Cambodia

That last few days we all spent together in Cambodia was pretty good. After returning from Bamboo island, we had a day to burn before our scheduled scuba dive. Lukas was feeling under the weather again, so we left him in bed, and Peter and I found some bikes to help explore the coastline. This time we didn't go for conventional motorbikes as we had in the past, we found these electric bikes from China that have pedals for when the motor runs out (or you come across a hill it can't handle), and a large removable battery that slots in the body.

Our funny little electric bikes – I really want one back home, would be great for zipping around London!


They were great fun – zipping around more or less silently at decent speeds, knowing you're not producing any bad emissions (although the power used to charge it obviously did), they were a right giggle and allowed us to visit all the surrounding beaches, some fancy resorts, and have a good look around town.

Beach on one of the resorts we drove into. Was too expensive to even consider buying a drink there


The scuba diving outing the following day was a resounding success! We set our early and after a 2 hour boat journey to get to the dive sites, we started our basic training in the shallow sandy area off an island with little more than a small fishing village in one corner. It was Lukas, Peter, a German chap, and myself in our group. Our Danish dive master was a funny chap who made the day or the more enjoyable as he took us through the basic training. Was all stuff I'd been over in the past, but nice to get a refresher. Half and hour of that followed by shallow first dive in the area concluded the morning, and it was back to the boat for lunch.

The fishing village off the coast of an island where we trained in the crystal clear wasters.


The afternoon was to be our dive over the reef. We only went down to around 12 metres, but the reef was pretty stunning, and one of the only left in the area after the extensive dynamite fishing that used to be practised here, as we'd experienced snorkelling on Bamboo island. The range of wildlife wasn't an abundant, but the environment made up for it. We saw plenty of schools of smaller fish, and lots of individual brightly coloured tropical varieties, but nothing much lager than your hand (well mine), a few crabs, a small octopus, and various things like sea cucumbers sitting on the bottom. After our second hour in the water it was time to get back to the boat and head back. A day well spent, one that turned out to be the last we'd spend together in a while.

Lukas has all the pics of the diving day, so will have to wait till he publishes them to see, but they should end up here when ready.

That night it was celebration time – good day, and bye bye Peter for a wee while. We all had come to the conclusion that we wanted to do separate things in the remaining time we had, to get what we each wanted to round off the experience. Peter really wanted to go back to Vietnam, do the Mekong delta area we bypassed at the beginning of our journey, and see Ho Chi Minh city properly, which we didn't really get a chance do to when we were last there. I really wanted to stick to the coast, and do some more diving. The one day we did in Sihanoukville convinced me it was what I wanted, and speaking to people we met there, that Thailand was the place to do it. Lukas wasn't keen to return to Vietnam just yet, and diving for 3 or 4 days straight didn't appeal either (also being Czech, the boys would have to pay for a Thai visa, while I don't need one). So yesterday Peter set off early in the morning to catch his bus, while Lukas and I bummed around on the beach, playing pool most of the day (Lukas seemed to be doing well at at first, but once I warmed up I really kicked his but :) then the following morning I awoke to catch my bus and leave Cambodia.

Lukas and my last day on the beach – beer and squid (+ lots of pool) about sums it up, oh and rain – short-lived thunderstorm that night – our first in Cambodia.


It wasn't a simple trip. Due to lack of infrastructure, the first river we came to required exiting the bus, and climbing aboard a raft to be ferried across to the other side where there was another bus waiting for us (well it arrived 30 mins later). A few more hours on the road, and another bridge that was incomplete – this time we could walk across to a third coach. This took us all the way to the border where we left it behind, got through border control had another stamp added to the passport, then found our appropriate minibuses that would take us onwards. Mine took us to a town further down the coast, where we collected our ferry tickets and waited for a dude in a truck to take us to the ferry. Another wait for the ferry, and we were across the water in no time. Once there I need to get a van with a group of others to a resort I chose pretty much at random. Updated visual journey progress.

The small, overcrowded first ferry to bypass the river where a bridge was still in construction.


Am now in a place called 'White Sand beach' on the north of the island, and is pretty expensive/less cheap than what I've been used to. Talking to a few people here, seems I chose the family destination. There's plenty to do here – nice restaurants, beach, shops. It's just all a bit too package-holiday for me. So I got up early, rented a bike (110cc Suzuki this time) and went exploring. I must have looked around 25 bungalows on the beach, but think I've found one that a good balance of quality and price, in a lively area. Moving there in a bit with my bag. This island has some pretty stunning scenery, and the roads are literally like a roller-coaster – ridiculous hills, dips and curves that are such fun to drive around, and give you that weightlessness feeling in the pit of our stomach as you burn around them.

Beach scenery here is pretty stunning, and it's got the super hot weather to match!


I also used the time to explore the diving options, and think I've found the best dive centre (well it had the most attractive women working there) with whom I kick off 3 days of diving tomorrow. Starting with basic training again – will be going into much more depth than before and doing lots of theory as well as emergency procedures underwater. Following completion I might do an extra day out at sea, so I can use my PADI immediately and experience an entire day of diving without having to learn anything – just enjoy it. Got my text book already, so reading up on that tonight.

Once I've done all that I'll likely head to Bangkok for a few days while I'm here (please comment and leave tips anyone who has been, remember to say whose commenting so I know who to thank :) ) before getting a flight back to Ho Chi Minh to meet up with the boys and get our return flight back home :(

Once the boy Lukas and Peter get online and in touch, I'll post updates here in English (for the non-Czech speaking out there) for everyone to follow :)

Day 77 – relaxation time :)

So last I wrote we had just finished Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Following that we jumped onto another bus and headed back to the capital, Phnom Penh – the central transport hub for the country. While there we stayed 2 nights and a day to have a look around. The first night we checked into the traveller part of town on the lake-side. A bustling street of guesthouses, hostels, bars and restaurants. I'd spotted a poker night tournament sign on our way through here the previous week, and luckily our return timed perfectly with the next match, so Lukas and I signed up.

The sun setting over the lake at our cheap-as-chips guesthouse.


The pub was British run – had a pool table (which was to be our poker table), darts, footie – the works, and most of the people playing were British too! After a few hours I was knocked out, and the two tables of 19 people (total) merged for the last showdown of the final 8 survivors, of which Lukas was still one. He almost got wiped out at one point but recovered from practically nothing, and ended up winning the game (well after 45mins with the final chap, they were 50/50 on chips and split 1st & 2nd place between them and called it a draw) – trained the boy well ;) Following that Lukas and I spent most the morning recovering from the booze we drank, while Peter did tourist attractions around the city. Once the haze had passed, Lukas and I joined him in town for a final few sights, then back for a nice meal, and to bed, as the next morning we were on the move again to Sihanoukville on the coast.

Central market in the city centre.


Our plan in Sihanoukville was to get to an island straight away, and start the winding-down part of the journey. There's only one boat a day that we'd missed by the time we arrived, so got accommodated and hit the beach for the afternoon there. It's like a ruined European holiday destination here – Brits everywhere! (most of which look like they belong in Ibiza), but it's still enjoyable.

Playing pool in a beach bar.


Next morning and we packed again to get on-board the boat and get to our secluded island destination – Bamboo island. The boat we needed to board was 20m off-shore, and not thinking it through I decided to wade into the sea fully clothed (well shorts & t-shirt), forgetting I had my mobile in my pocket, which ended up being submerged in the water for a minute or two. Suffice to say it no longer works, so I can't reply to any calls, voicemail or text messages, until I get back and sort out a new one... email only for a while :) Updated visual journey progress map.

View from the beach as we landed on Bamboo island.


An hour later we'd arrived and checked into our bungalow on the beach. This place is no tropical island like you find in Thailand, but it's extremely nice none-the-less. Warm, clear ocean, sandy beaches, palms, hot hot weather, hammocks and beer. We stayed 3 days and 2 nights, and did little more than hit the beach, swim, snorkel, read our books, eat and drink. It was a really nice break from all the travelling around and constant activities we'd been doing for the last 2.5 months, and sorely needed! This is a holiday after all :)

Our row of bungalows on the palm covered beach.


We met some nice people there, found a second, more secluded beach, on the other side of the island, and Peter and I went for a few hours boat trip where you watch the sunset over the ocean, and fish using some hand reels over the side. Didn't catch a bean, but others on-board had more luck, one girl from Quebec proved to be a pro catching two, and herself plus her friend proved to be nice dinner company too. We all enjoyed relaxing very much, and we're all a bit orange-er as a result :D

View of the sun setting from the boat.


Today we got the evening boat back to the mainland, where we intend to bum about on the beach one more day, then I've roped the boys into doing a scuba discovery 1-day course with me on Wednesday, that I'm really looking forward to. There's only a few dive sights here that are any good though – it used to be different, once sharing comparable coral reefs to Thailand with abundant sea life - but he locals used to do a lot of fishing with dynamite that has destroyed nearly all the reefs in their entire section of the Gulf of Thailand, as we experienced when snorkelling on the island – not much down there. But we've been assured they have some decent sites, and fingers crossed it will be good... After that we are still thinking what to do, Peter is keen to return to Vietnam for the Mekong-delta and spend some more time in Ho Chi Minh city (where we will eventually fly home from in 2 weeks time), while I'm thinking of continuing scuba diving to complete my PADI qualification (here if it's good, Thailand if it looks better?), and Lukas isn't sure...? We all want to get different things done in our time remaining, so parting ways might be best for everyone, and meet up again in Ho Chi Minh once more for the final few days before flying home :( But nothing is decided yet, so lets see...

Happy St Patrick's day all you Irish blooded people out there.

More pictures from Lukas as usual.

Day 71 – the ruins of Angkor

Leaving Lukas behind in few days ago in the east of Cambodia to add to his child photography collection, Peter and I continued ahead, travelling on buses for 2 days, getting clear across the country to start our planned 3-day tour of the legendary ruins of Angkor, the remnants of the Khmer empire that spanned 600 years and dominated the bulk of S.E. Aisa since the 9th century. Lukas wasn't keen to see them anyway, so we didn't feel too bad about leaving him behind... That is until he was further delayed by some dodgy pineapple that didn't agree with him, making a bus journey to catch up as planned the following day not possible.

You buy a 1, 3 or 7 day pass for the ruins. We thought 3 should be enough, and so set off on day one with our tuktuk (small motorbike powered cart found everywhere throughout S.E. Asia) driver Rich – who was a very pleasant chap indeed – a rare thing to found in a tuktuk driver in most people experiences. Day one started late morning with The biggest and most well-known of all the temples – Angkor Wat – the temple outline that features on the Cambodian national flag. I could go on forever about the details of each temple we visited (20 in all), but am sure I'd bore you all to death, so will list the main ones, and give you a picture-fest below :)

Angkor Wat really is rather large and impressive – built in the early 12th century for King Suryavarman II . Surrounded by a giant moat and protected by enormous walls, the inner courtyard leading up to the main temple stretches for hundred of metres. Once we reached the main complex it took us 3 hours to full explore it. It's the most intact of all the temples and is by far the most popular one to visit.

The view from the opposite/east end of the temple


A stitched together panoramic shot from inside the inner courtyard – impossible to fit it all in a single shot! Huge! Picture doesn't do it justice.


After that bombshell, we moved swiftly on to Ankor Thom – a series of temple complexes housed within a giant outer wall with impressive entrance gates depicting giant warriors handling mythical multi-headed serpents. Inside we viewed another 4 temples; The Bayon, Terrace of Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King and The Baphoun. One of which was being restored by the occupying French in the 40's – a giant jigsaw puzzle with a million pieces, carefully dismantled, catalogued and restored. In the process of the French relinquishing control of the area, all the plans were lost, leaving this unsolvable puzzle spread across acres of surrounding forest land. Only now with the advent of computers can they scan each piece and find it's most likely location in the temple. It'll be decades till they finish!

Bayon was one of my favourites – the centre of the old capital, it really seemed like a city with corridors & usable rooms, not just a giant shrine – loads to explore :)


One of the temples within (I forget which one – might be Phinmeanakas?). This one more of a layered pyramid style construction with damn steep slope - Peter there scaling the side.


After leaving the complex we ventured into a nearby collection of more Romanesque style ruins with column supported roofs and large stone doorways. Each temple is restored with the collaboration of another nation – presumably for each nation to cash in on the huge business of millions of tourists a year coming to see these ruins, and each shelling out a hefty entrance fee.

Thommanon temple ruins, restored in collaboration with Japan I think... could have been Switzerland?


Directly opposite was a temple called Chau Say Tevoda. This one restored in collaboration with China – not such a good quality job done here, but still, better than a pile of rubble I guess.


We continued to be driven around by Rich in our tuktuk, visiting more and more temples. By the end of the day we'd seen 8, and had a sunset view planned for dusk.

Ta Nei – the tallest (after Angkor Wat – whose tallest points were closed for restoration) we'd climb, took some doing by this point, but the view was well worth it.


We finished with a jungle temple – another sprawling complex , this time encased in wildlife, with giant tree roots slowly pulling apart the immense brickwork over hundreds of years.


At sunset we grabbed a few beers and climbed with a flood of other tourists to the top of a hill to a less impressive (in construction) temple at the peak, that gave an outstanding panorama of the surrounding promodominantly flat area. We sat with everyone else to watch the sun set just off the horizon in a shroud of haze, before the mad dash back down to the the first to get to your driver and avoid the inevitable traffic chaos.

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng on the hill, with at least a thousand other people.


Day 2 we were pretty knackered, and so started a little later, but we still had a lot to cover. Less descriptive detail and more pictures now...

Banteay and it's confusing layout that left your head spinning.


Pre rup – another whopper to climb, this image taken from the second-tear, looking up at the top.


East Mebon was another set of ruins taken over by the jungle. Here we could see the infamous image of the gateway and budda face behind encased in a tree almost as ancient as the building itself. Stunning!


Preah Neak was a water-temple, that in the wet-season is filled to create islands and public baths that leach into one another, and into a surrounding moat.


Preah Kan was the last of day 2, and very impressive to explore – again more jungle encroachment throughout, and more Romanesque features.


Another image from Preah Kan – showing the multiple floor column layouts that seem more similar to ancient ruins found in Europe. These being constructed likely had some influence from the west by this point.


Day 3, and Lukas made it into town, and joined us. We saved the sunrise day just for him, as we knew he'd like the light condition's for photography and it's another opportunity to see Angkor Wat – the largest, that he'd missed previously on our first day. A ridiculously early rise, and run to the back for what turned out to be a bit of a disappointing dawn – too much haze.

Leaving only the west-side silhouette image the only real winner.


the rest of day 3 was overall less impressive. We done all the large temples, leaving only the far flung smaller ones to explore for the rest of the morning. The distances we had to cover in the tuktuk (not the most comfortable of vehicles) were greater, and the reward less. To add to this our tiredness levels after two full days of walking and climbing in near 40 degree dry temperatures and getting up at 4:30 that morning – we were glad that they took less time to explore, and longed for our hotel, some lunch and a well-deserved beer.

Banteay Srei – a pocket-sized baby temple, but the most impressive of the day.


And so 3 days, 20 temples, a lot of walking, heaps of climbing, and many litres of water drank and evaporated right back out of us... later, we're now ready to leave this corner of the country to head back to the Capital Phnom Penh tomorrow. There we want one full day to explore, before making out plans to head down to the coast for the relaxing part of our travels – maybe an island...?

Until next time.

Day 68 – Cambodia wild-east exploration

So we've been in Cambodia for 5 days now, most of which we've been spending on buses getting around, but have also been doing a fair amount of our usual exploring...

Upon crossing the border from Laos, we settled in the nearest city to the border for the night – Sung Treng. It was w bit of a hit hole to tell the truth, and not the best introduction to Cambodia, so we promptly sort out a bus the hell out of there. We were keen to do some more rural stuff before the planned onslaught of touristy attractions we had planned ahead. So we headed East to a place called Ban Lung in the province of Ratanakiri.

The shithole that is Sung Treng – the best image I could find to take of the place


The road was pretty rough, and the mini bus crammed to well over capacity – Cambodian people tend to overcrowd transport to bursting point, and we've seen minibuses that look like a 'maximum number of people in a mini' world record attempt, with a handful of people thrown on the roof for goods measure. We were sold the tickets with the assurance we would have one whole seat of reach of us,m and thanks to some Czech tenacity it stayed that way as the local squashed around us. The road was the roughest I'd ever experienced off a bike so far. It was little more than a dirt track through arid forest land with a surface that would take apart monster truck suspension. Our driver was really going for it, then slowing rapidly every few kilometres to a crawl to cross rickety old wooden bridges that are all in a scary state of disrepair. He held his fist to the windscreen as a sign of minibus driver comradeship at every oncoming bus that nearly drove us off the 'road'. All while we watched endless androgynous Thai pop stars performing incomprehensible renditions on the screen of the in-car karaoke system.

The road was dusty, dusty like we'd never seen – think red dust that just got everywhere, and blinded you as an oncoming vehicle tour up the surface at high speed. The town is nicknamed 'red-earth' by the locals after it's rust-coloured affliction.

The dusty town of Ban Lung – the wild-west of Eastern Cambodia, and the hunk of junk Honda Dreams we rented to get around this wasteland


We arrived in one piece, and booked into friendly little hotel that served the best food in town. Our plan was to hire motorbikes again and do some of the sights, and see some villages. The first day of which was a really lazy one. Guess we were pretty whacked after all the travelling, so all we managed in our first day was to see a lake, and 2 waterfalls. The lake was a water-filled extinct-volcano crater that provided a refreshing break from the searing the of the midday sun. It was also a nice way to removed some of the dust that we were completely covered in after only a few kilometres of driving.

Waterfalls on our first day of exploring...


Second day of driving we headed north in an attempt to find some isolated villages we'd read about in the sacred lonely planet. After some really fun driving down some seriously off-road paths, again coated in thick red dust, we hit our destination of Voen Sai, on the banks of the Tonle San river where we had a quick nose around, before taking a short but well deserved rest. We happened to stop for a drink in a place where a friendly English speaking chap offered us a boat tour up and down the river to see some villages that we wouldn't be able to reach on our own, and a cemetery. Sounded cool, so we hoped on board and headed upstream. There cemetery was creepy – embedded in the forest, were tens of shrine-like wooden graves, some hundreds of years old, each with carved figures depicted a story of the individuals unfortunate end.

Creepy village-cemetery in the jungle


Afterwards we wondered through the village, which we found to be a huge contrast to our village experienced travelling to date. Unlike the curiosity en-mass we'd experienced stumbling into isolated villages in Laos by bike, here (with a local guide) there was an air of unfamiliarity and almost fear directed towards us. It was easily dismissed with a simple greeting and smile, but the people were so much more cut-off from civilisation than anywhere else we'd been, I guess they just didn't know what to do. Lot s of people simply ran away, but we got to interact briefly with some, and were able to see there way of life in a way that wouldn't of been possible without our guide.

Village life for these people can be hard – many houses are in a deteriorating state as the families can't afford to fix them once damaged. We were assured they would get fixed – they just need to save the money first – can take a while


Two days of driving in the dust had fulfilled Peter and my satisfaction for this corner of the country, and we were keen to press onto Angkor Wat. Not really being Lukas' bag, and being unsatisfied with the volume of people shots from the overly shy villagers he decided to remain behind and catch up in a few days – tagging onto the back end of our 3 days exploring the ruins. Onto a coach (leaned our lesson – no more minibuses!) Peter and I hoped for a lovely 11 hour drive to the capital Phnom Penh. Here we just stayed the night in the travellers district which seemed to be a really party area – somewhere we'll be returning to properly on our way back down the country – and straight back onto another coach the following morning for 5 more hours to get us to Siem Reap the town just outside the vast complex of ancient Angkor temples.

An afternoon of exploring the small town and sorting our plans for some kick ass tomb raiding for the next few days, now we're fed, relaxed (after a massage to work out the two days of travelling), half-dunk and ready to rock tomorrow morning.

This is our Cambodian visual-journey update map – covered quite a lot in a few short days haven't we? Next time – Angkor temples, then back to the capital to see how the city folk here live...

The map above is pretty big, so here's a closer look at at our current location:


As always, you can see Lukas' updated snaps here.

One last thing, as I'm, finishing here, a giant fucking rat just crawled over my foot then climbed the wall behind me.... eeww! I'm outta here! TTFN.

Day 63 – Arrival in Cambodia

Excuse the lack of pictures once again, but the machines here are not able to the business... :) Will update at later time.

So last I wrote we were in the southern most part of Laos, in a place called 4000 islands created by the Mekong river being at a lower level in this the dry season. There are several permanent islands that have year-round residents, and we we're staying on the largest - Don Khon. Our first full-day here we decided to hire push bikes and do a tour of the island - something like 20km+ round-trip. Lukas got up at a ridiculous hour to make use of the limited good light in the unforgiving weather out here, while Peter and I took our time, and went it alone in the other direction.

Seeing the island by bike was the best way, as you could burn across it on a motorbike in minutes. Also Laos is a very very relaxed place, more so than anywhere I've ever experienced, and down here in the islands – life barely even crawls along, they really do take the easy-going lifestyle to a new level. And in keeping with the way of life here, we were cycling at a pace to match – if not only to stop ourselves from sweating to death in the heat. Everyone here is 'off-the-scale friendly', with every household you pass shouting Sabadi (hello/general greeting) and waving as you pass at Lao pace. Kids especially are great again here – always really interested to meet you – jumping on your bikes back seat to get a lift somewhere – always joking and playing around.

We stopped at very hospitable man's riverside shed where we enquired if it was all right to rest. He seemed pleased to accommodate and brought us a mat and pillows to catch a power-nap in the shade. We were awoken by the town drunk (whom we always seem to attract), who caused a spot of bother with our host, and so we carried on our way soon after he was moved on.

The south of the island where we started was more populated, and as we continued into the north in the afternoon; the gaps between villages (and shade) became greater, and we soon started to feel the fatigue in the searing heat. Eventually we made it back, after stopping at every possible location for a beer-lao to cool down a little – sure it didn't help the energy levels much :)

That night we met a nice group of fellow travellers, who'd come together from all over the place. We had Brits, South-African's, American, Dutch, and Austrian. We had dinner and drinks together exchanging stories and tips for the various peoples alternative destination, and also talked a lot of bollocks.. as you do.

The following day we'd booked ourselves in on a day-tour to get a glimpse of the southern islands we couldn't be bother to go down and stay in. We took a boat, toured the islands, saw some old French-colonial railways, some villages, some cool waterfalls, swam in the river (clear of the falls of course) to cool off, and went dolphin watching. The second of the two falls we saw was pretty impressive – the whole Mekong falls over a ledge near the Cambodian border that's not that high, but it's wide and the largest in S.E.Asia (by volume of water). The dolphin watching consisted of dumping us on a small rock/island where you stood in silence looking for a river-dolphin to surface for air. They were always at least 100m away, so difficult to see in any detail (or photograph), but going for a swim allowed you to hear them which was much more incredible – it was so loud and sounded like a duck/cow combo noise in your ear.

We met our friends form the previous night again after dinner for drinks and conversation, before hitting the sack for the last time in Laos, as this morning we were booked on a minibus down into our third country – Cambodia. We crossed the border today, sorted our Visas and are now in a small town south of the Laos border. Our plan is to spent tonight here before heading East to see some of the rural side of the country before committing ourselves to what looks like 2 weeks of touristy activities including Ankor Wat, and some coastal towns before returning to southern Vietnam for our final stretch.

Over 2/3 of the way through now... :(