Pakse - 23 to 28 February 2011

The bus journey to Pakse went smoothly and we even managed to spot our hotel on the way in to the town and get the driver to stop and drop us at the door - joy!
This was to be our most elegant accommodation to date; a converted palace that had belonged to a royal prince. Although the decor could best be described as 'shabby gentil' the hotel has managed to retain a real presence and sense of majesty; perched on a hill and overlooking the Xe Dong river and the town of Pakse.

Champasak Palace Hotel

Pakse itself is rather a one horse town but has provided us with a useful base from which to explore outlying areas, to chill out and catch up with the blog ( excellent internet at last ).
A trip up on to the Boloven plateau was a fascinating insight into rural activities and life as well as providing some wonderful scenery. In a long day we visited tea and coffee plantations with an informative coverage by our guide, who had been born and worked in the area before becoming a guide, and sampling of their products; excellent quality. Three waterfalls, not at their most spectacular in the dry season but still impressive, with time for a swim at the last one.

 We enjoyed the opportunity to visit an Alak village - one tribe of which there are many in the area - where the guide explained the culture and customs of the tribe.  He explained to us that the tribe will only ever speak their own language within the village; although they would need to speak in Laos when outside of the area. They work hard to preserve their own tribal identity and we were warned to observe and respect their village whilst walking around.  For example, all huts are built on stilts, providing a large under-building space.  We were told not to walk underneath any hut - under any circumstances - since our entry would allow an evil spirit access to their home.

Even amongst the villagers this is respected and usually, only family members may enter this space.  They sacrifice an oxen at the time of their New Year, in the belief that this will bring good spirits and prosperity to their village.  This celebration is due soon and funnily enough, we couldn't find any oxen in the immediate vicinity (can't think why - can you?).

""Don't want to worry you old girl but if they don't find the oxen in time  you're next"

Don Khone Island, Laos - 20 to 23 February

Our first destination in south west Laos was to be Don Khone, in the 4000 islands area.. We arrived here after a rather traumatic journey. Our 'VIP' coach  into Laos arrived in Kratie 3 hours late having broken down en route. We duly arrived at the border much later than anticipated, in the dark, and the driver had to go and dig out the Cambodian border guards who then extracted $2/head overtime to process our passports. This was repeated on the Laos side and the whole crossing took well over 30 mins.
When we were dropped in Ban Nakasang, it was dark rather than mid-afternoon; however, the small open boats to get us over to the islands were still running. They would not go to our island though, as in the dark the channels were too dangerous; it's the dry season and the water is low. Anyway, we got to the neighbouring island of Don Deth which had a bridge across to Don Khone. On Don Deth we were able to get a couple of local lads to run us the 5km to our hotel, complete with luggage, on their motorbikes over a rough dirt track. We arrived at our hotel tired and dirty and were delighted to find that the restaurant was still open and that we had plenty of time for a shower before eating.
In the morning we were able to appreciate how beautiful a spot it was and I attempted to get a decent WiFi connection to catch up.

View  from restaurant terrace

The office

It wasn't to be so not a lot to be done online.

We hired bikes for the next two days and went exploring the small island. This section of the Mekong drops over a hard rock outcrop that stretches right across so consequently the area is famous for the many waterfalls and rapids as the various branches of the river plunge down the 10 to 40 metre drops. Spectacular in the wet season; but still worth seeing in the dry season.

Outside of the immediate vicinity of the band of hotels and guest-houses this is still a rural island and the rough tracks took us through numerous hamlets and paddy fields.
Unfortunately we only ha d a few days here and we had to move on. The departure was gladly more civilised than our arrival.

Kratie -17 / 20th February

After a bus journey that took us all day we have arrived in Kratie in eastern Cambodia.  This town would not be on the map if it wasn't for the famous Irrawaddy dolphins who live  in this area of the Mekong, they are often spotted when they feed  at sunrise and sunset ..

Irrawaddy dolphin

Irrawaddy dolphin 

Our evening visit to their pools was really successful and we had numerous sightings of them both singly and in small pods.

This was only a very short stopover but we did have time to visit the nearby town of Chhlong where there are some impressive remains of the French colonial architecture.

We had a wander around the market and went into a riverside tea-house to quench our thirst and this turned out to have spectacular views.

Mary silenced by the view !!

The view

We had really poor WiFi at Kratie and were to set off the next day hoping for better  at our next stop. 

Siem Reap; 12 to 17th February

Face of Jayavarman VII, The Bayon
Angkor Thom ( C12/13th )

What to say about such a relatively well known site?
The myriad temple and palace complexes at Angkor stretch over tens of kilometres and in the three days we spent looking over them we gained an appreciation of why they are one of the premier world heritage sites.
We saw temples dating from C9th to C14th, took too many photos, climbed too many steps and loved it.
Did we have a favourite; yes it was Ta Prohm, still set in the trees, tranquil, and with far less tourists than the large parties engulfing the headline sites it still retained a sense of place. A few pictures we like follow:

Elephant Terrrace at Angkor Thom ( C11th )

Angkor Wat from causeway

Part of the temple at Ta Prohm

Tree at Ta Prohm

After three days of temples we needed something less energetic and signed up for a cookery class. The couse started with a walk round the local village looking at various plants and herbs, learning about their uses and local superstitions.For example they plant lemon grass around their houses to deter snakes.

In the morning we prepared a three course meal which we had for our lunch. The process was repeated in the afternoon  and we departed with a takeaway supper. Still full from a huge lunch we passed the boxes on to smiling guesthouse staff.

Cambodian cookery class

Phnom Penh, Cambodia 7th-12th February

The fabulous boulevards created by Baron Haussmann in Paris are reincarnated here in the city of Phnom Penh.  The city is, without doubt, a fusion of two cultures: Cambodian and French.  Although English is a language used by a fair proportion of young people, one is able to use French amongst the elders of this beautiful city.

Sisawath Boulevard outside our hotel

Our hotel was a short stroll to the Royal Palace, whose architecture is both grand and impressive;despite being relatively new.  The major portion of the palace was built by the French in l866.  The present King of Cambodia resides within the palace today.

The Throne Hall.

The Palace of Light: so called because the interior of the
 entire building is illuminated every time there is a full moon.

No more headaches ladies. In the Cambodian court,
 there is a designated colour for each day of the week, so
 the problems of what to wear today are greatly diminished.

Memorial stupa at Choeung Ek

Whilst standing in quiet and peaceful countryside, about 15 kilometres outside of Phnom Penh, gazing at the memorial to the Cambodian victims of  the Khmer Rouge regime, a famous quotation is brought to mind: 'Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn'. This sensitive and moving monument, housing the skulls and bones of those massacred by the Khmer Rouge in the l970s, is a testament to the spirit of the Cambodian people and their wish to remind all nations of the horrors of genocide.  It is as much, if not more, visited by Cambodians than by tourists.

Skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge extermination centre S-21.
More than 20,000 are housed in tiers within the stupa.

The area is punctuated by benign slopes and hollows, once mass graves, over which the grass has now grown.   This site was chosen to represent the 388 'killing fields' spread across Cambodia. The torture chambers and extermination sites were used principally to remove the educated middle classes from their society.  It is believed that several million people perished during these conflicts and at the hands of  Pol Pot's regime.

   

The Cambodian people's extraordinary warmth and generosity of spirit reveals little of their tragic history; they  offer visitors to their country only kindness and smiles, gentleness and peace. Even the scorpions are friendly - we hope.

Scorpion at Wat Phnom

Mekong Delta - Saigon to Phnom Penh - 5 to 7 Feb.

We came back to Saigon for one night in readiness for an early start on our trip across the Mekong Delta. A different hotel in a different part of the city centre that showed us a far more attractive face than the area we had been in before. We were really pleased to enjoy our day there and see it at its best.

Flower displays for Tet - the lunar New Year

More Tet flowers on Nguyen Hue

A street performance - traditional instruments and music.

A 7.30am start the next day saw us underway to see the Mekong. We had booked a three day / two night trip to get to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Overall this was something of a curate's egg experience, with some wonderful scenery and sights along the river, detracted from by a poorly run tour and some overly packaged experiences of village life; perhaps due to the large number of tourists here.  We had an early start at Can Tho and went out to the floating fruit and vegetable market. The Mekong is the most convenient transport route between the agricultural areas and the main towns. Farmers with their own boats and wholesaler,s who have been round smaller farms, bring their boats to the market where other distributors and retailers come to buy the produce. Generally each selling boat has one product advertised by hanging one or two from a tall pole above the boat.

Fishing boats at Can Tho

A sale underway

Whoever said that pineapples are an exotic fruit?

By canoe through some of the
 narrower waterways

Returning to Can Tho after the market we had a couple of hours to get lunch and went to a place we had seen the previous day.  The menu was all in Vietnamese, with only a few words of English. We chose some pork spare ribs and some sort of beef dish. After a while a large collection of plates arrived including a skillet and a dish of raw beef slices. A charcoal brazier was placed in a hole in the centre of the table and we concluded that it was 'cook your own meat', then roll it up with the other bits supplied in rice paper. It was a great meal for about £3 with beers and water included.

A filling station

Cooking our lunch at the Sil My restaurant, Can Tho

Later that day we continued through the Mekong to Cho Doc. That night we had our worst accommodation of the trip so far. The following day we were onto a different and much faster boat and we continued along the waterways to the border and onwards to Cambodia. A lovely journey along the river which was now getting wider and wider.

Our first view of Phnom Penh from the Mekong