Home Sweet Home

It's been awhile...

I'm certainly not homesick, in fact I think I can do this forever, but I felt it was a good time to come home. For one, I missed eating singapore food. Been having crappy meals for weeks. And you wonder why Singapore is labelled a food haven.

25 days is not a long time. But it was enough to change habits, leave a thick layer of dust on my stuff, experience changes to my surroundings.

I fell asleep at about 10plus yesterday. Came home at 8pm, unpacked backpack (usually it will take me a fortnight to do this), washed clothes, hang clothes, bathed. Then I read a few pages of my pirated copy of "The Audacity of Hope" on my bed (see I don't usually read books, bought it in HCMC for $3) , fell asleep while reading, with my bolster still behind my pillow (have not had a bolster for weeks), and woke up at 8am today, still without my bolster. Now I'm sleeping early and waking up early like how it's been for the past few weeks!

Oh yes, I started using my com a couple of hours ago and I had this feeling that something isn't quite right. Thinking, thinking, oh yes, cuz my laptop screen is so LARGE. -_-" Been using netbook for too long. Kinda forgotten how using a laptop feels like. Lol.

Oh well, X'mas dinner coming up soon. Looking forward to it. =)

Highlights II

This post will be about highlights in Cambodia.

Of the 7 places we went, only 3 places are worth mentioning:
1. Siem Reap, Angkor temples (a must-see for anyone who calls themselves a traveller)
2. Battambang (the friendliest town I know)
3. Sihanoukville (for its Bamboo Island, rather than its town)

Bayon in Angkor Thom, one of my favourite sites

Angkor Archeological Park, Siem Reap

Riding on the hot air balloon for an aerial view of Angkor Wat

Siem Reap

Nice sunset on Phnom Bakheng

Angkor Archeological Park, Siem Reap

Ta Phrom, a temple half-devoured by a jungle, also where Tomb Raider was filmed

Angkor Archeological Park, Siem Reap

Dramatic sunset at Chong Eneas floating village

Siem Reap

Riding on the soon-to-be-extinct bamboo train

Battambang

Beautiful, tranquil sunset on the bamboo train

Battambang

Swimming in the crystal clear waters of Bamboo Island

Sihanoukville

Scammed!

Our Laos and Cambodia tour has officially ended and we're back on Vietnamese territories. Just within 5 mins on their soil, Kh and I are harshly reminded of how aggressive and dishonest Vietnamese can be. If Laos is bad, Cambodia is worse, and Vietnam tops the list. It just goes to show what development can do to a country and its people, though of course I'm certain the situation will change for the better if it were out of poverty.

Needless to say, we got scammed about $30 by some unscrupulous Vietnamese, and I was extremely irritated with the all-too-familiar push on the shoulder,"OEI! Buy from me!" However, I'm thankful we didn't lose a lot of money, and it was a good learning experience.

Having said that, I also think getting scammed is part and parcel of travelling, especially in poverty-stricken places like these. There are certain things you wouldn't know, and you wouldn't have known unless you've been there. Nevertheless, I will not let my good impression of Vietnam be tarnish because of this one-time scam. Vietnam is a beautiful country and there are places which I'd love to revisit.

Highlights

A few highlights of the trip so far...

Visiting Tat KuangSi, one of Laos most dramatic waterfalls

Luang Prabang, Laos

Eating delicious roadside bbq food

Luang Prabang, Laos

Kayaking along the scenic Nam Song river

Vang Vieng, Laos

Enjoying the beautiful scenery of Don Det

Siphandon (4000 islands), Laos

Being amazed at Khon Phapheng, one of Laos largest rapids

Siphandon (4000 islands), Laos

"Is that the front of the bus?"

Why did I ask that? Read on to find out...

8am: Today is the day we leave Laos for Cambodia. Our VIP bus was scheduled to leave at this time, but it wasn't until 9am that we got to leave Siphandon in Laos.

10.30am: The bus arrives at Dom Kralor border crossing to Cambodia. This is truly the smallest custom I've ever seen. From my research, I knew that we had to pay US$1-2 for "processing fees" (aka bribes) at both sides of the border. Kh prepares four US$1 bills. The British lady in front of us takes out a US$5 bill and we think about how silly she is. To our amusement, she receives US$4 in change from the customs officer.

Border crossing at Dom Kralor

11.40am: After an hour long delay, the bus finally leaves. More people got on the bus. A few angmohs even had "aisle seats", and I mean that literally. They had to sit in the aisle. One angmoh took out his camera and said,"Everybody say VIP!" Ah, what a lovely day.

1.30pm: The bus stops again. 2 angmohs got down to puke, and some men-and women- went to pee in the bushes. One of the angmohs who puked happens to be sitting next to us.

3.30pm: The bus stops at Kratie. The 2 angmohs who puked couldn't take it anymore and decided to rest there for the day. The rest of us had a half hour break for lunch and loo.

4.15pm: Back on the bus, a Cambodian woman takes over the seat which the angmoh had left. She had an elbow on the armrest with her head resting on her palm, and had her two large eyes fixated at me. I was feeling extremely uncomfortable with the extra attention. I looked at her and she smiled at me. That could've been a nice gesture if it wasn't so freakish.

4.30pm: A guy from the bus company apologises for the tardiness. He claims that the VIP bus had broken down, hence our lousy a/c bus. I think they were trying to make up for the long delays by taking a short cut, because we soon found ourselves on a heavily potholed road. I had a can of Yeo's grass jelly drink in one hand and it was 3/4 full. The bus was rocking so badly that I spilled some of the drink on myself. I wasn't sure if I was going to be sick, so I took an anti-motion sickness pill just in case. The medication proved effective because I was starting to enjoy the rocky ride.

5pm: The bus stops again in the middle of the road, in the middle of nowhere. Curious, I draw the curtains and see the bus driver peeing in the bushes. Several minutes later, he lugged something up onto the aisle. It was the bus bumper! Apparently it fell off from all the rocking.

6pm: The Cambodian woman next to the one who was staring at me starts puking into a plastic bag. Seems like we have lots of luck sitting with people who puke. If it weren't bad enough, she also started spitting on the floor. The bus stops at Kompong Cham and a couple of people got down. The women quickly took their seats and left their puke bag and spit behind.

7pm: The bus stops somewhere for dinner. I ordered a bowl of chicken noodles and had plenty of extra ingredients- in the form of large black ants. I complained to the waitress and she brought my noodles back to help take the ants out. I'm guessing she didn't do much because there were still many of them in there. I spent the rest of our dinner time inspecting my dinner, taking the ants out one by one-and sometimes in clumps.

9.30pm: The bus finally reaches Phnom Penh, 3 hours behind schedule.

Welcome to Cambodia!

Travel Planning

Sometimes I think I plan too much for everything, holidays especially.

Well, of course I love spontaneity--who wouldn't? But unless you have a lot of time and money on your hands, it is not the way to go. Kh and I backpacked through Vietnam in 16 days, covering as much ground as what some people would have done in 3-4 weeks.

Reason being, we don't miss buses and trains and spend days waiting for them. We don't miss opening and sightseeing hours to sights and attractions and have to wait another day to see them. We don't spend our daylight hours on transportation but rather on whatever that operates during working hours.  All these due to a little research ahead. Travel efficiency--Maximising travel experience, minimising time, minimising cost.

I think I'm just being annoyingly meticulous. Someone help me.






With the bus timings from Ha Tien to Can Tho.

My YouTube!

Lol... I just realise that my old YouTube video has 10,294 views! Actually I just uploaded it so I can embed it into my blog. Didn't expect so many people to view it. Hehe. Ah, I miss cruise already.

3 more days till I fly! Busy busy busy.

Anyways, Kh will be bringing his netbook along, so I'll do live updates about the trip here as and when I can get access to the internet. Stay tuned! =)