Dear all,
Another hot day, though I am getting used to it. After the 4 comfortable trips to Japan and Australia I was afraid that I could not stand any longer the heat and humidity of Asian countries, but I still manage to accept it. And though Cambodia is most probably the poorest country I ever visited, I appreciate the kindness of the people. As our Vietnamese guide told us yesterday (that was already in Cambodia): the people in Vietnam - doing economically quite well lately - are not smiling anymore; whereas the people in Cambodia are poor, but smiling. He has no intention at all to return to Vietnam.
Things in Cambodia are getting better, very, very slowly. Still a lot of corruption , bribery, intimidation by the political leaders. Though Internet is extremely slow (256 KB), it is available.
I was afraid for the dusty dirt roads because of my contact lenses, but though there are many of them, which we use as well with our bus, I did pretty well so far. And so far only 2 nights without electricity is not so bad. The place I am sitting right now - Internet café annex restaurant for Western tourists - is full of insects, but so far in our rooms we found - and killed! - only a few cockroaches (not sure about the spelling: cafards in French; kakkerlakken in Dutch) .
Today a morning off. We went with the 4 of us - often we spending our 'free' time with 2 singles of our age sometimes accompanied by our Dutch tour guide ; with the other 10 co-travellers we have hardly anything in common - to the island Koh Trong opposite our hotel with a - of course - simple ferry. We made a walk on our pace, took a lot of pictures of children, longhouses, rice fields and a ... marriage! Guests from Phnom Penh came over, high educated, thus speaking English and French, and they kindly invited us to have a talk with the bride & broom. What a contrast: those well-to-do Cambodian people in the environment of this very basic island. We have been invited tonight for the party on our side, but Arjan is certainly not going to eat the meat, he saw it being prepared, not that hygienic..
On the same island was a Vietnamese floating village: simple wooden houses floating in the river. Unimaginable how people can live under such circumstances.
This afternoon we went all of us for an excursion with a boat to watch the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins and lucky us: we have seen them! Nice boat trip with lots of fishermen. On the way back we made a stop at one of the numberless temples, where a service was going on by the local rowing organisation, who just won a championship. The long rowing boat was brought in to the temple and the sportsmen were singing and making (simple) music. A monk was leading the service. Lots of monks everywhere, but for me - Ingrid - not always possible to communicate - if they speak English - since they are not supposed to approach women. Happily the interpretation of such is pretty large!
Nice sunset over the Mekong river tonight.
Tonight diner at the same place as yesterday, there is hardly anything else acceptable for our Western stomachs. But good - and cheap - food, so such is OK to us. The service is slow, and the meals are coming one by one: I was served first and finished already before the last one was served: Cambodian - like many other Asian countries - do not understand that we order each a meal for ourselves and want to pay for ourselves: often Asian share all the meals in between them and split the bill in equal parts..
Tomorrow off to Phnom Penh, with lots of other adventures!
A&I - Kratie, 16-11-08 - hot
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Saturday, 15 November 2008
13/14/15-11-08
Hi all,
I am sitting with a torch in my mouth in a sticky Cambodian city with extremely slow working Internet connection, welcome to Cambodia!
13-11-08
With the ferry we left Khong Island for a transfer day. First stop at Khon Phaphang (water) Falls, Laos' widest in the Mekong river.
We continued to the Laotian-Cambodian border. We already had our visa and with a $ 1 bribery each, the formalities went quickly.
Good lunch stop at a wood-smugglers hangout on the way : our local guide told us that the locals illegally cut wood and in order to escape the police they are ready to kill people standing in their way if they drive with their speeded-up car. Such a car was parked next to the restaurant ....
The road conditions are getting less: the infrastructure in Cambodia - one of the poorest countries in the world - is bad. Sometimes we crossed bridges with big holes in it; if the driver is not paying attention to it ... anyway, our driver is very careful, so not a single moment we were afraid.
We stayed for 2 nights in an eco-lodge 6 kilometres from the small village Banlung: electricity only from 6 pm to 9 pm; plus limited solar energy; unfortunately not working anymore the 2nd night. No hot water and not so clean bedsheets.. Banlung is in North-East Cambodia, not so touristy. Excellent dinner in the village.
14-11-08
Beautiful weather again, not humid. With 8 of us and a local guide we went out for the day to visit some ethnic minorities: Kreung, Tompuon and a Chinese settlement. We drove with 2 land cruisers, compulsory for this time even more terrible road conditions; roads with big holes, mud, etc. Unimaginable how to drive here during the rain season.
With a small boat - happy that we did not fell in the water - we crossed the Sesan-river to go to Vengsai. Interesting to visit the cemetery of the Tompuon animists (they believe in spirits); so no Buddhists; they bury their deaths. After fix periods they organise a memorial service with music, mourning and food. We were invited to assist to one of these (very informal) services. They also decorate the tombs with wooden sculptures often representing human beings.
Simple lunch on an island in the river with chop sticks made on the spot from bamboo shoots.
Surprising to see that the Chinese settlement was much tidier than the Laos villages: like in lot of other places in the world, the Chinese people are in charge of the business.
With 4 of us we managed to organise a taxi at the eco-lodge, i.e. the manager authorised his staff to use his car to drive us to the village to enjoy our best dinner ever (of these holidays) for $ 17 for the 2 of us. In Cambodia we pay everything in $ and if any change in $ is available one gets his change in $; if not you get your chance in riel = the local currency : 4.000 riel = 1 $.
15-11-08
We were supposed to stay another night in the eco-lodge and to walk around today. However, since it rained yesterday evening, walking would be very tough, so we all decided to shorten our stay with one day and to leave 1 day earlier for Kratie. To get there we partly had to take the same road of 2 days ago. Lunch stop in another unknown place, but fried rice or noodles with vegetables is always acceptable.
Arjan & I started eating pork, chicken, beef and fish; but such stays an adventure in these countries. We visited this morning the local market of Banlung and we decided definitely not to eat any snail: they were laying down in the full sun.. No further details about the conservation and treatment of fish and meat; let me resume it by saying that it is colourful...... So far, so good, everybody in the group is doing fine.
Our Dutch guide however was invited yesterday morning by the boss & his family of our Banlung guides and enjoyed a local breakfast. Well he did not enjoy it at all: though he is used to the local food, he said that it was uneatable: the leftovers of the good parts of any animal; stuff like that. I saw our local guides eating beef stomach for lunch, interesting, but not for us!
We arrived in Kratie around 4.15 pm, so some time left to explore the city by foot (sunset at 5.30 pm). There is supposed to be a rich legacy of French-era architecture in the (Mekong) riverside town counting 79.000 inhabitants, but we qualified it as being very sad: run out houses, bad streets, muddy, poor looking.....
Our hotel seems to be OK and this time we really appreciate such after 2 days in the 'jungle' without electricity.. It is humid here, we are now sitting in a bar with our Dutch guide and 2 fellow travellers. I hope they made a restaurant choice: I am ready for some nice food!
A&I - 15-11-08 - Kratie, sticky & humid
(Trijnie: geen eten of drank; maar wel een andere lokale verrassing. Het ziet er goed uit; advies opgevolgd!)
I am sitting with a torch in my mouth in a sticky Cambodian city with extremely slow working Internet connection, welcome to Cambodia!
13-11-08
With the ferry we left Khong Island for a transfer day. First stop at Khon Phaphang (water) Falls, Laos' widest in the Mekong river.
We continued to the Laotian-Cambodian border. We already had our visa and with a $ 1 bribery each, the formalities went quickly.
Good lunch stop at a wood-smugglers hangout on the way : our local guide told us that the locals illegally cut wood and in order to escape the police they are ready to kill people standing in their way if they drive with their speeded-up car. Such a car was parked next to the restaurant ....
The road conditions are getting less: the infrastructure in Cambodia - one of the poorest countries in the world - is bad. Sometimes we crossed bridges with big holes in it; if the driver is not paying attention to it ... anyway, our driver is very careful, so not a single moment we were afraid.
We stayed for 2 nights in an eco-lodge 6 kilometres from the small village Banlung: electricity only from 6 pm to 9 pm; plus limited solar energy; unfortunately not working anymore the 2nd night. No hot water and not so clean bedsheets.. Banlung is in North-East Cambodia, not so touristy. Excellent dinner in the village.
14-11-08
Beautiful weather again, not humid. With 8 of us and a local guide we went out for the day to visit some ethnic minorities: Kreung, Tompuon and a Chinese settlement. We drove with 2 land cruisers, compulsory for this time even more terrible road conditions; roads with big holes, mud, etc. Unimaginable how to drive here during the rain season.
With a small boat - happy that we did not fell in the water - we crossed the Sesan-river to go to Vengsai. Interesting to visit the cemetery of the Tompuon animists (they believe in spirits); so no Buddhists; they bury their deaths. After fix periods they organise a memorial service with music, mourning and food. We were invited to assist to one of these (very informal) services. They also decorate the tombs with wooden sculptures often representing human beings.
Simple lunch on an island in the river with chop sticks made on the spot from bamboo shoots.
Surprising to see that the Chinese settlement was much tidier than the Laos villages: like in lot of other places in the world, the Chinese people are in charge of the business.
With 4 of us we managed to organise a taxi at the eco-lodge, i.e. the manager authorised his staff to use his car to drive us to the village to enjoy our best dinner ever (of these holidays) for $ 17 for the 2 of us. In Cambodia we pay everything in $ and if any change in $ is available one gets his change in $; if not you get your chance in riel = the local currency : 4.000 riel = 1 $.
15-11-08
We were supposed to stay another night in the eco-lodge and to walk around today. However, since it rained yesterday evening, walking would be very tough, so we all decided to shorten our stay with one day and to leave 1 day earlier for Kratie. To get there we partly had to take the same road of 2 days ago. Lunch stop in another unknown place, but fried rice or noodles with vegetables is always acceptable.
Arjan & I started eating pork, chicken, beef and fish; but such stays an adventure in these countries. We visited this morning the local market of Banlung and we decided definitely not to eat any snail: they were laying down in the full sun.. No further details about the conservation and treatment of fish and meat; let me resume it by saying that it is colourful...... So far, so good, everybody in the group is doing fine.
Our Dutch guide however was invited yesterday morning by the boss & his family of our Banlung guides and enjoyed a local breakfast. Well he did not enjoy it at all: though he is used to the local food, he said that it was uneatable: the leftovers of the good parts of any animal; stuff like that. I saw our local guides eating beef stomach for lunch, interesting, but not for us!
We arrived in Kratie around 4.15 pm, so some time left to explore the city by foot (sunset at 5.30 pm). There is supposed to be a rich legacy of French-era architecture in the (Mekong) riverside town counting 79.000 inhabitants, but we qualified it as being very sad: run out houses, bad streets, muddy, poor looking.....
Our hotel seems to be OK and this time we really appreciate such after 2 days in the 'jungle' without electricity.. It is humid here, we are now sitting in a bar with our Dutch guide and 2 fellow travellers. I hope they made a restaurant choice: I am ready for some nice food!
A&I - 15-11-08 - Kratie, sticky & humid
(Trijnie: geen eten of drank; maar wel een andere lokale verrassing. Het ziet er goed uit; advies opgevolgd!)
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Khong Island 12-11-08
11-11-08
The train journey went very well. The half hour too late departure has been caught up during the night. It was not as colourful as I am used to in India, no conversation with local people - which is anyway hard because we hardly meet any people talking English - this is also due to the composition of the train cars; but it was clean and well organised. Arjan slept pretty good and I think I slept maybe 5 minutes.....
At arrival in Ubon Ratchathani, a bus took us to the Thai-Laotian border at Khamsing Pathoumxath, very simple border place; everything went quite smoothly. An other - Laotian - bus took us down to our next place of stay. On the way we made some stops for money change (for a day we felt almost like millionaires with the Laotian "kips" ....), lunch, and a visit to the Wat Phu.
Wat Phu is a small temple often compared with the Angkor era sites in Siem Reap (Cambodia), the famous ones we will visit later on this trip. Nice to visit this quiet place, hardly any tourists. We could get used to the very steep steps, frightening for Ingrid, but left alone by Arjan :-(( she had to go the way down on her own and she did it!!
To get there we had to take another simple van and a ferry to cross the Mekong river. The way back on the ferry was quite a surprise, we took a very simple ferry - certainly not authorised by the European security reglementation - a kind of wooden motorised "vlot" (sorry, we do not know the English word..), fun!
Another 2 hours of driving and another ferry to cross the Mekong again to get to Khong Island, 1 of the 4.000 islands of Si Phan Don.
So far the quality of our accommodation is OK, large rooms, good beds, electricity, this time no hot water. Today we could join an excursion, but being the single full day of our stay in Laos, we decided to spend it on ourselves and rented a bike to tour around the island. Pretty tough on too small bikes in over 30 C, but absolutely worth to suffer the 50 km! Lots of temples, monks, beautiful scenery (the rain season just finished, so everything is very green), rice farmers busy harvesting, buffels, ducks grazing the rice paddies, school kids yelling Sawadee (= Hello). That was so cute that Ingrid fell from her bike which frightened more the school kids than herself. She is doing fine, some superficial scratches ...
Tomorrow off to Banlung where we will stay for 3 nights, probably overthere no Internet.
A&I - Khong Island - hot & bright blue sky !
The train journey went very well. The half hour too late departure has been caught up during the night. It was not as colourful as I am used to in India, no conversation with local people - which is anyway hard because we hardly meet any people talking English - this is also due to the composition of the train cars; but it was clean and well organised. Arjan slept pretty good and I think I slept maybe 5 minutes.....
At arrival in Ubon Ratchathani, a bus took us to the Thai-Laotian border at Khamsing Pathoumxath, very simple border place; everything went quite smoothly. An other - Laotian - bus took us down to our next place of stay. On the way we made some stops for money change (for a day we felt almost like millionaires with the Laotian "kips" ....), lunch, and a visit to the Wat Phu.
Wat Phu is a small temple often compared with the Angkor era sites in Siem Reap (Cambodia), the famous ones we will visit later on this trip. Nice to visit this quiet place, hardly any tourists. We could get used to the very steep steps, frightening for Ingrid, but left alone by Arjan :-(( she had to go the way down on her own and she did it!!
To get there we had to take another simple van and a ferry to cross the Mekong river. The way back on the ferry was quite a surprise, we took a very simple ferry - certainly not authorised by the European security reglementation - a kind of wooden motorised "vlot" (sorry, we do not know the English word..), fun!
Another 2 hours of driving and another ferry to cross the Mekong again to get to Khong Island, 1 of the 4.000 islands of Si Phan Don.
So far the quality of our accommodation is OK, large rooms, good beds, electricity, this time no hot water. Today we could join an excursion, but being the single full day of our stay in Laos, we decided to spend it on ourselves and rented a bike to tour around the island. Pretty tough on too small bikes in over 30 C, but absolutely worth to suffer the 50 km! Lots of temples, monks, beautiful scenery (the rain season just finished, so everything is very green), rice farmers busy harvesting, buffels, ducks grazing the rice paddies, school kids yelling Sawadee (= Hello). That was so cute that Ingrid fell from her bike which frightened more the school kids than herself. She is doing fine, some superficial scratches ...
Tomorrow off to Banlung where we will stay for 3 nights, probably overthere no Internet.
A&I - Khong Island - hot & bright blue sky !
Monday, 10 November 2008
Bangkok 10-11-08
Hi all,
An hour left before the departure of our night train from Bangkok to Ubon (border place between Thailand and Laos) , departure time 20.30, expected arrival time 7.30 tomorrow morning if no delays happens, which seems to be quite frequently.
Both Arjan & I had a good flight. Arjan made yesterday with the group a bike tour through the city (Chinatown, klongs = canals, alleyways, ...) before returning to the hotel (very convenient, unexpected luxury one!), where I waited for him. I arrived 5 hours after Arjan's flight and made a short trip on my own to Vinanmek Teak Mansion, the world's largest golden teak building. Getting dark at 17.30 I wanted to be back before in the hotel being afraid to get lost such a very 1st day after such a very long flight. I could not find a taxi, but I knew that the hotel was close by, so I returned by foot. And yes, it is hot, and yes it is humid, but that's part of the deal: better to accept it, than to complain about it.
After a good night sleep, we've made a relaxed day by visiting some of Bangkok's highlights, like the Grand Palace, amazingly rich and colourful decorated, the Wat (= temple, remember this word) Phra Kaew showing the Emerald Budhha, the Wat Pho - the largest and oldest temple of Thailand - exhibiting the largest declining Buddha of Thailand. We were pleasantly surprised by the perfect condition of all the buildings and statues. Because of the decease of the sister of the King of Thailand - the longest reigning king of the world since 61 years - a period of mourning has been declared for 3 months so not everything is always open. The King's sister seems to be cremated in 3 days, so we are leaving just in time, before the city gets crazy.
At arrival tomorrow morning we have to travel another 7 hours, quite exhausting all together.
Our tour guide seems to be OK, a young Dutch man married to a Thai woman, living here, speaking the language,.. Personally I hardly met the other group members, time enough this night and tomorrow during the long voyage!
Stay well !!
Ingrid & Arjan - Bangkok Nov. 10th 2008 - hot & humid even at 20.00 !
An hour left before the departure of our night train from Bangkok to Ubon (border place between Thailand and Laos) , departure time 20.30, expected arrival time 7.30 tomorrow morning if no delays happens, which seems to be quite frequently.
Both Arjan & I had a good flight. Arjan made yesterday with the group a bike tour through the city (Chinatown, klongs = canals, alleyways, ...) before returning to the hotel (very convenient, unexpected luxury one!), where I waited for him. I arrived 5 hours after Arjan's flight and made a short trip on my own to Vinanmek Teak Mansion, the world's largest golden teak building. Getting dark at 17.30 I wanted to be back before in the hotel being afraid to get lost such a very 1st day after such a very long flight. I could not find a taxi, but I knew that the hotel was close by, so I returned by foot. And yes, it is hot, and yes it is humid, but that's part of the deal: better to accept it, than to complain about it.
After a good night sleep, we've made a relaxed day by visiting some of Bangkok's highlights, like the Grand Palace, amazingly rich and colourful decorated, the Wat (= temple, remember this word) Phra Kaew showing the Emerald Budhha, the Wat Pho - the largest and oldest temple of Thailand - exhibiting the largest declining Buddha of Thailand. We were pleasantly surprised by the perfect condition of all the buildings and statues. Because of the decease of the sister of the King of Thailand - the longest reigning king of the world since 61 years - a period of mourning has been declared for 3 months so not everything is always open. The King's sister seems to be cremated in 3 days, so we are leaving just in time, before the city gets crazy.
At arrival tomorrow morning we have to travel another 7 hours, quite exhausting all together.
Our tour guide seems to be OK, a young Dutch man married to a Thai woman, living here, speaking the language,.. Personally I hardly met the other group members, time enough this night and tomorrow during the long voyage!
Stay well !!
Ingrid & Arjan - Bangkok Nov. 10th 2008 - hot & humid even at 20.00 !
Saturday, 8 November 2008
08-11-08
Dear all,
My suitcase is packed, so I just have to close my front door behind me to really start this trip, a new adventure in a new Asian country: Cambodia! My plain will take off at 19.35 from Paris Charles De Gaulle airport; Arjan his plain left already from Amsterdam Schiphol airport at 14.35.
I will arrive tomorrow after an 11 hours flight in Bangkok (Thailand) at 12.25 local time (time difference of 6 hours). It is not my first stay in Thailand; I was there in 1999 for a 3 weeks trip, this time I will stay only 1 day before continuing by night train for 2 days in Laos. I spent in 1999 a very good day at my own in Bangkok at the end of those holidays. Being in such a big rather unknown city at the start of a holidays is something else and quite impressing: besides of the rather rude change of climate, it always takes me some time to feel comfortable in such a different environment, culture and living standard (exception: Japan; there one can drop me wherever and I will feel OK!). I will meet Arjan only in the evening at 19.00 in the hotel, so I have to spend some time on my own. Do not worry, I will find my way around!
Difficult to say how frequent our reports will be. The infrastructure in Cambodia seems to be rather poor, electricity is not always part of it or guaranteed, so right now I have none idea about the presence and quality of Internet cafés which we need to keep this weblog.
I hope that the financial crisis will recover during our absence, things were tough last month and even this week, but it needs to recover one day, doesn't it!?
Oh, just to make you longing for better days: weather forecast Bangkok tomorrow sunny and 30C, humidity 89%; Phnom Penh coming days sunny and just below 30C, humidity 75% …
Amicalement, Ingrid - Courbevoie - sunny day
My suitcase is packed, so I just have to close my front door behind me to really start this trip, a new adventure in a new Asian country: Cambodia! My plain will take off at 19.35 from Paris Charles De Gaulle airport; Arjan his plain left already from Amsterdam Schiphol airport at 14.35.
I will arrive tomorrow after an 11 hours flight in Bangkok (Thailand) at 12.25 local time (time difference of 6 hours). It is not my first stay in Thailand; I was there in 1999 for a 3 weeks trip, this time I will stay only 1 day before continuing by night train for 2 days in Laos. I spent in 1999 a very good day at my own in Bangkok at the end of those holidays. Being in such a big rather unknown city at the start of a holidays is something else and quite impressing: besides of the rather rude change of climate, it always takes me some time to feel comfortable in such a different environment, culture and living standard (exception: Japan; there one can drop me wherever and I will feel OK!). I will meet Arjan only in the evening at 19.00 in the hotel, so I have to spend some time on my own. Do not worry, I will find my way around!
Difficult to say how frequent our reports will be. The infrastructure in Cambodia seems to be rather poor, electricity is not always part of it or guaranteed, so right now I have none idea about the presence and quality of Internet cafés which we need to keep this weblog.
I hope that the financial crisis will recover during our absence, things were tough last month and even this week, but it needs to recover one day, doesn't it!?
Oh, just to make you longing for better days: weather forecast Bangkok tomorrow sunny and 30C, humidity 89%; Phnom Penh coming days sunny and just below 30C, humidity 75% …
Amicalement, Ingrid - Courbevoie - sunny day
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Cambodia
Cambodia, our next destination, departure November 8th! A bit of Thailand and Laos as well.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
About Cathedrals and houses in Almere
Lately I learned that Almere - hometown of Arjan - has its own Cathedral. A real copy of the Cathedral of Reims (France) made of living trees, called "the Green Cathedral" (in Dutch: de Groene Kathedraal). In 1978 178 poplars were planted in Almere as an idea of Marinus Boezem.
Now in 2008 the trees are fully grown and together with stone paths forming the perfect shape of the real Cathedral in Reims.
In the future the trees will die and collapse and a ruin of a cathedral will become reality.
A so called contra cathedral already has been planted and when fully grown in about 25 years a ruin and a "real"cathedral can be visited next to each other.......
Before visiting the green cathedral we went for a walk through a very new neighbourhood of Almere. Both of us surprised to see that very modern looking villas were built next to classical ones. And also wondering that if you are living in such a nice and expensive house how it could be that the surroundings are protected by such awful and cheap looking fences. Do people have no taste when it comes to protection of their property?
Hereunder are a few examples of the architecture of "Almere Overgooi"
Now in 2008 the trees are fully grown and together with stone paths forming the perfect shape of the real Cathedral in Reims.
In the future the trees will die and collapse and a ruin of a cathedral will become reality.
A so called contra cathedral already has been planted and when fully grown in about 25 years a ruin and a "real"cathedral can be visited next to each other.......
Before visiting the green cathedral we went for a walk through a very new neighbourhood of Almere. Both of us surprised to see that very modern looking villas were built next to classical ones. And also wondering that if you are living in such a nice and expensive house how it could be that the surroundings are protected by such awful and cheap looking fences. Do people have no taste when it comes to protection of their property?
Hereunder are a few examples of the architecture of "Almere Overgooi"
For more info. about this 5 orange appartments, have a look at http://www.nextarchitects.com/overgooi/
The whole serie of pictures can be found on:
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