Day 8: Indecisiveness

So the Vietnam visa should be ready by tomorrow, for a whopping $45. It actually may be cheaper if you do it via your guest house/ travel agent / whatever as apparently they will send your passport to Sihanoukville where it should be cheaper for some reason. I have to say, no waiting queues (5 people) at the Vietnamese embassy (so it might be true). But I don't like to give up my passport so whatever...and it is not that far away so will pick it up first thing tomorrow.

A fellow guest houser told me about Banlung in the north east and now everything is uncertain again...It seems nice, and the east is likely not completely touristized so maybe...downside: most likely will have to come back to Phnom Penh if I do as it seems that all bus routes together form a star with PP as the center...so not really looking forward to do the exact same way back (for more than 12 hours). And very likely a transfer in Kratie is required, and I do not want to be stuck there (river dolphins are not).

I don't know what is going on me with me... At home I was sure that the port of entry/departure had to be mentioned on the Vietnam visa application form...no such thing this morning...Banlung is actually pretty close to the Vietnamese border (67km) but apparently rarely used by tourists...and on the Vietnamese side...well...no useful info in the lonely planet + if I really want to see Saigon I have to move south again anyway. If I would go back to Phnom Penh all should be straightforward: take the direct bus to Ho Chi Minh City and done.

Decisions, decisions...I am going to procrastinate until tomorrow

Day 7: Better!

Just arrived in Phnom Penh, they said it would take 7 hours...well it took 6H58'..I have to say they are pretty punctional here

First impressions, much better than Siem Reap...yes tuktuk mania will also swarm around you like a bunch of flies around echte luikse siroop when you leave the bus but it is more relaxed..heck, they even smile if you indicate with two fingers you will walk.

The time that Cambodia's capitol only had 2 asphalted roads is long gone though...if there are 2 unpaved ones it will be a lot.... (probably there are many more on the outskirts where white people probably never come..anyway).

Phnom Penh

High season though :( ... Guesthouse #1: rooms for $6 sold out, #2: rooms for $7 sold out, #3: rooms for $4 sold out and so on and so on...as the walk was taking too long (almost drowning in my own sweat) I fell for the $8 one before even that one was sold out (and it does not even has hot water...not that I really need that but you should have it for that price)...Walking away, bargaining..it all did not help...high season. At least there is free internet here and the PC is much better than the previous one.

Good thing 2: I am not very far away from Capitol tour's office (same bus operator that took me here) and they sell tickets to Saigon for $10 with a direct bus (shouldn't be like the Aranya Prahtet - Poipet scam). All depends on the Visa completion.

Good thing 3: It should be only a 15' walk away from the Khmer Rouge museum (S21)..so no tuktuks needed (or sweat drowning if on foot)

Another good thing: I am not really in the main tourist area (which is near the river)... What I have been told  you have Siem Reap's massage frequency translated into boom boom over there. No need for that harassment. I guess that will be a bit more difficult to dodge in Saigon.

Day 6: Preparations

Well, the bus ticket is already in and so is the plane one from Hanoi to Manila...

...Meaning 1/2 is now set, question is just whether to spend one more week in Cambodia (=3 weeks Vietnam) or stay as long as the future visa will permit (=just 2 Cambodian cities).

It seemed though that moving fast was key, as my plane searching only revealed Cebu pacific as suitable carrier for the flight. Guess I must have overlooked something when checking flights at home as Air Asia does not have a direct one...and the one via Kuala Lumpur + onward were combined already in the $250-$400 range. So I guess this $90 one was a bargain...until the Ryan air stuff kicked in...fuel surcharge,  check-in baggage, internet administration fee (these computers must work so had, don't they?)...so EUR132 it is...just ok I guess

Not much choice though as all the other flights (only 2 per week) around the target date were already sold out...so 16/01/03: Manila! But first: Vietnam, o wait, first: massage :)

Day 5: Belgians!

-Just to say there is a minor invasion of Belgians (5 including myself) at the Golden Fish Guesthouse

So back to the main thing to visit the major stuff, but with a -hmmm- not-so-good-bike this time. After 3 hours the knees were a complete wreck so called it a day. Three hours was actually enough to get there/see the 2 major sites: Thom and Wat. Nice, but not overwhelming...but again mostly due to the side animation: a string of tuktuks, tour buses, tour minivans, tour carts, (you may get some exercise with the bike but healthy is another thing...riding between black exhaust fumes)... and the standard "just one dollar sir"

Angkor Wat

I guess this is Cambodia's way of begging...One of the poorest countries in the world but no beggars on the streets here (just twice now: I do not want your money!!! I want milk for my baby!!! - says this 8 year old kid). No, instead we sell (push) everything...for $1. I have not found the proper way yet to get rid of them in an efficient (but not rude) way... Obviously a discussion is a nono and for some reason I don't get away with just ignoring (which seems the only way). I guess it will take a few weeks.

Last day here, bus ticket (at the normal tourist price of $5) for Phnom Penh is in. So far it seems there are only 2 activities for me there: Get the Vietnam Visa and while waiting see the Khmer Rouge horror of S21. Here is the thing: Port of entry/departure must be mentioned on the visa application form. Departure is clear, entry is something else...the easiest way would be to take the direct bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon via Moc Bai but that means that Cambodia is checked off. In addition, this take time I am not going to take the risk of not having a plane ticket ready - Hanoi > Manila - as proof I will leave Vietnam in time.

I guess I was lucky again they did not ask for such proof when entering Thailand...As you can only stay for 1 month without paying... I could not show anything that I would. At Brussels airport they almost refused me (well probably not but it took some time to convince the check in lady it was not a problem) when they saw my return ticket is almost 3 months later. I've met a tourist here who knew a tourist :) who was refused at the Thai border in a similar situation. Apparently they forced him to book a return ticket on the spot (to wherever) in order to 'proof' he would leave the country in less than one month

Anyhow. Decision time. if I do the easy thing and call Cambodia a day it is just Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.
So far I am not sold on Cambodia though. The coast line in the south (Sihanoukville, Kampot) are going to be tourist beach party towns, Battambang seems to be a Luang Prabang clone (tourist riverside party town...which was kinda nice at the time in Laos but no real need to do it over again..just yet) and the east, well, some tourists are bragging about it...how fun it is to ride an elephant... O well, even it means Cambodia is over in a week there is more time left for the rest...maybe to include some islands of all-time-favorite-so-far-except-Bali-Indonesia :)

Day 4: The minor of the main thing

So, at last: sleep! 11 hours of it

Upon recommendation of some fellow guest house guests, let's have Indian for breakfast. Definitely more spicy than the fried rice yesterday but manageable. After breakfast/lunch/brunch/whatever I had a feeling this was going to be a super lazy day, but after walking for one hour or so I had enough of the tuktuk requests...(seems the massage ladies are not awake/active yet at 1pm). So I thought the best way to get rid of tuktukmania is to hire a bike and check out the minor stuff of the main thing.


So let's hire a bike
$3? (way too much), in the end I got it for 2 (still way too much, especially since 1/2 day has past already) but whatever, I had enough of the tuktuk guys. "You need to give passport as insurance" "No you cannot have my passport, you can have a copy of my passport (even in police state Burma that was enough)". So she called her boss to ask whether this was ok. It was ok but: "You need to give $50 insurance" -sigh, as if I am going to steal her bike and make my way back to Belgium with it. "No I do not have $50 (well I do but the bike is probably not worth 1/2)" "$20" "No, you can have $10" Call back to ask the boss -sigh- long story short, I got the bike

Ta Prohm

Day 2-3: Journey to the main thing

Just to let you know: happy to be here -at last- but some mandatory ranting first:

So this was looking very good, arrival in the center of Bangkok at 9.30 pm, room at 10.00 pm, train ticket to the border for the next morning booked at 10.05 pm, the train that was not overly crowded and only 20' late.. so far so good

Well, for those interested, just read Lonely Planet's section on Poipet (the Cambodian side on the border) ... for once it is all true :). The ranting is more on the fact that you really really (keep on telling this to myself) cannot avoid the tourist continuation transport ripoff...In the middle of nowhere the 'free' (well it is free until that point) shuttle takes you to the tourist bus terminal...so you have to take an onward ticket there... 9 dollar or 300 Baht to Siem Reap. So in total: 48B for a 6 hrs train + 30B for a shared 5' tuktuk from the train station to the border + 300B for a 3H bus to SR +   2 dollar (yeey, managed to pinch 0.5$ off) to get to center of SR = 700+ Baht, compare this to the full package tour that goes all the way from Bangkok to SR: 300B all in, arriving at the same time in SR but leaving 3 hours later
Mind you, this rip-off is in full collaboration with the 'police'
Obviously the tourist bus stops in the middle (because a 3 hours bus ride is so incredibly long) to refill your sugar needs at the associated mob-shop. Well, my last meal was in the plane, now about 35 hours ago - I think..thinking is not the word of the day- but hell no, they cannot get an extra dollar.

Anyway, still happy I am finally here :). Well, it is much bigger than expected, it has the night life and neon lights of Bangkok, it has the zillions of motor bikes (like everywhere in SE Asia I guess ), zillions of massage salons as in Bali or Lao, but in the restaurant next to my hostel they sell nasi goreng for $1.5 as in Indonesia :) So you know what is up next!

Btw, ATM's do not give you the local currency, only Dollars. So far everything is priced in Dollars, change is then given in Riel... it is going to be fun to get rid of these r100 notes... (1$ = r4000). Euros? Not really.

Day -1: Countdown

Finally, summer is almost a reality!

For 80 days:

• no more machine but sink laundry
• If the guest house/hostel/whatever is not too reluctant to give up a bucket that is, I still have to find a room where the sink has a plug...seems the laundry 'service' is quite profitable

• no more fries but rice
• Hmm, maybe but most likely with tomato sugar sauce instead of oil sauce... I just hope they don't drown 'em in that shit
• And of course: a variety of fruit pancakes - drool

• no more Duvel but ice cube diluted wannabe Ethanol
• Well..no more Duvel...Monday 21:25 is still far off...
• And to be fair, Beer Lao was actually more than just good and definitely beats the shame of Belgium manufactured in my home town

• no more crystalline water ice but self-made salted water
• And good old fashioned rain but with the new easy-to-dry pants...bring it on!

• no more techno during traffic jams but bass-less tweeter busted noise
• Sometimes it is not too bad though, especially if you have the tourist seat near the bus engine

And in addition some bugs, some more bugs, border crossing stamp 'fees' (o well, I guess you can get arthritis of it although I suspect they actually enjoy butchering passports...or putting their little tiny stamp on a free page so it cannot be used anymore for a sticker) and not to forget: some bugs.

Yes, it is South East Asia time again! After this trip all of the nations should be checked. I know I know, Timor Leste has gained its independence some time ago and I am not sure yet whether to include Singapore or not but nevertheless this region will be far more completed than home continent Europe - obviously it is a money thing... and much better food!

And so, first up: Bangkok..again [sigh], and although it sounds appealing (if possible) to catch a bus straight to the border with Cambodia, I would be stuck for a night in Aranyaprathet anyway; I am not convinced that is the lesser of two evils. No, Bangkok is not that bad, but the moment you do not need a city map anymore you have seen the place.

Anyhow, the plan is: asap to the main thing, ranked #2 in Lonely Planet's top 20 experiences for the region, second only to Bali (that must be a bad joke... although I thought Ubud was nice, the memory of Lovina however...shivver). My expectations for Angkor are not that high though, as I feel it could turn into a disappointment otherwise...for sure it will be swamped during this time of year. But it is long overdue!

So hopefully the next time from Siem Reap, expect some serious ranting otherwise!