Can Tho & Saigon

Since Saturday we are now in Vietnam and our experience is so far, that it can be quite annoying to cross boarders. Well, we arrived quite easily at the Cambodian/Vietnamese boarder (by taxi) and we got in to Vietnam easily and unbelievable quickly. But then ended our luck. We crossed the boarder in a place where no other tourists were and we had to take overcharged motorbikes and buses to get into the country. We were also cheated, local people told us that there wouldn't be a bus today, so we had to take a special and expensive one. Finally we arrived in Can Tho, in the Mekong Delta where we made a boattrip the next day to see 2 floating markets. They were much better than in Bangkok, it was for local people and not touristy.
On Monday morning we went to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon how it was called before the Vietnam War (But Saigon is still more common). It's a very busy city and quite modern. The traffic is horrible, also in Can Tho and Cambodia before, but here it's worse... There are not many cars and the traffic lights are often respected, that's the good side, but unfortunately there aren't many traffic lights and crossing a street is difficult and dangerous. A lot of motorbikes (many, many more than cars, buses) are driven by the people here and they are coming from all directions. The pedestrian ways are used as parking for bicycles, motorbikes, cars, shops, so you have to walk on the street and to find a way through the jungle of motorbikes which are coming along... Surprisingly we haven't seen any accident yet, but enough dangerous moments...
Well, apart the traffic the food they offer here is also quite interesting. Frogs, snails and snakes aren't anything special, but in the menus we've also found eels and rats...
Here in Saigon and around it's is possilbe to visit historical places from the Vietnam war, today we went to a place outside to see the Cu Chi tunnels which the Vietcong used to attack the American bases. The tunnels were very small and the air inside is thick and hot... In the city it's possible to visit the War remants museum (with a lot of infos about the war), the palace of the former south republic of Vietnam, temples and markets.
Tomorrow we are continuing to Dalat which is a bit in the northeast of Saigon and located in the mountains.

Photos:
1. - 3. Can Tho in the Mekong Delta (floating market and channels)
4. A Chinook outside the War Remnants Museum in Saigon
5. Reunification Palace, Saigon
6. Notre Dame Cathedrale, Saigon
7. Crossroad with a lot of motorbikes and (also popular here) a lot of cables which are along the streets.
8. + 9. Cu Chi tunnels (Vietcong underground system)

Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville is an ancient French beach resort in the south of Cambodia. Here are some nice beaches (the best one's of this country) with a lot of bars and restaurants, that's also the only thing to do here (relaxing, swimming, drinking and eating).

Today we went on a trip to the Ream National Park to see the mangrove wood and of course swimming on a beach there.

It's our last day in Cambodia, tomorrow we are continuing to Vietnam and the first stop is planed somewhere in the Mekong Delta before going to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

Photos:

1. + 2. Beaches in Sihanoukville

3. - 7. Ream National Park

Kratie, Phnom Penh (first month)

Bè, torno a escriure un post en català, crec que l'aconteixement ho mereix. Ja fa un més que viatgem per aquests móns de Buda, ara estem a Phnom Penh, la capital. Peró el meu post no està centrat en el que hem vist o no vist aquests darrers dies, més aviat voldría destacar certes coses que he anat rumiant o he vist i m'han impactat i voldría compartir amb els que de tant en tant li feu un ull al nostre, possiblement no sempre entretingut, blog. A les fotos que adjuntem sempre ja podreu veure que hem fet.
La primera observació la voldría fer en referància al concepte de menjar “picant”, en anglés, com ens comuniquem amb tothom “spicy”. Per a mi, fins ara estava prou clar aquest concepte, cert és que vaig tenit també duptes sobre el significat de “picante” a Méxic, però aquí la cosa sembla que té més variants. Pots trobar realment a vegades la definició correcte de NO picant, però no sempre és fàcil i encara que la resposta sigui “it's not spicy!” no sempre és certa. Jo he redescobert i redefinit aquest concepte, sobre tot a Tailandia.
Una altre cosa remarcable, o significativa que he anat observant és que normalment, la gent de ciutat tenim la creença que els mosquits piquen entre el vespre i la matinada, poc s'atreveixen a fer-ho de dia....FFFAAAAALLLSSSS!!!! Per què els simpàtics animalons per aquestes contrades piquen 24 hores al dia??? Cuestió que em fà rumiar la seguent pregunta: Cuants litres d'antimosquits pot suportar l'ésser humà avans de començar a semblar-se a l'increïble Hulk i fer-se fluorescent??? Bé la resposta de moment no la savem, ho estem comprovant “in situ”, però sempre serán ven rebudes les vostres savies respostes...
La última cosa que voldria afegir em va fer esgarrifar i ara, passats uns dies, encara em remou l'estómac cuan hi penso. Es tracta d'un curiós àpat que vam veure aquí a Cambodia. Jo recordo haver-ho vist en un documental, però no recordava el pais on menjaven aixó, bé, doncs és aquí. El “suculent” àpat en cuestió és un poll d'ànec dins l'ou, és a dir, un ou d'ànec amb un pollet tot formadet que encara no ha nascut, ni evidentment neixerà. Si, molt fort... En Fredi va quedar esmaperdut, com entendreu, pel respecte que ens tenim entre companys de viatge no vam tastar aquesta, més que segura “delicatessen” culinària Cambodiana...buf!
Bé, crec que ja he escrit suficient per avui... Espero que tots estigueu bé. Demà sortim cap a Sihanoukville, a la platjeta i dissabte cap a Vietnam. Cambodia no ha sigut el notre país preferit per varies raons, en conjunt no té massa interés per nosaltres, amb algunes excepcions, evidentment!!! però tenim millors espectatives per Vietnam, espero que no ens decepcionem!

Laura hat oben Stellung genommen zu ein Paar Sachen die uns bisher aufgefallen sind. Da mir das Übersetzen zu kompliziert ist, überlasse ich es jedem einzelnen selber zu lesen was steht und es für sich zu übersetzen (es ist auf katalanisch geschrieben, sollte also nicht allzu kompliziert sein... trotzdem schon einmal viel Glück). Hier gebe ich nur eine kurze Zusammenfassung dazu ab: Als erstes schreibt Laura etwas über das Essen im Zusammenhang mit „spicy“. Da das auf mich nicht zutrifft, lasse ich es dabei. Hier ist das Essen sehr mild, in Thailand war es einiges schärfer.
Normalerweise denkt man, dass die Moskitos Nachts stechen, das ist aber falsch, denn hier sind sie 24 Stunden am Tag aktiv, Mosiktospray und Sonnencreme sind nötig, keine Ahnung aber wieviel der Körper davon verträgt...
Es gibt hier viele Sachen zu essen, etwas vom aussergewöhnlichsten, das wir bisher gesehen haben, war ein Entenei, in dem das Entekücken schon Form annimmt, aber noch nicht geschlüpft ist (und es demnach auch nicht machen wird). Kein Kommentar dazu, Fredi zuliebe haben wir auf diese Delikatesse verzichtet.
Seit dem letzten Blogeintrag sind wieder einige Tage vergangen Zuerst waren wir 2 Tage in Kratie und haben dort die Irrawaddy Delfine im Mekong besucht (etwas sehr aussergewöhnliches, Delfine im Fluss, und sehr stark gefährdet). Wir genossen den Tag auf einem gemieteten Motorrad und irgendwie ging alles gut, trotz manueller Gangschaltung und schlechter Piste (Verkehr war zum Glück nicht viel vorhanden auf der Nebenstrasse, die übrigens die Hauptader ist von der Hauptstadt nach Laos).
Und nach Kratie gingen wir eben in diese Hauptstadt von Kambodscha, Phnom Penh, wo wir auch jetzt noch sind. Hier ist alles ein wenig hektischer, die Stadt ist voller Motorräder und die kommen einem von allen Richung entgegen (um die Verkehrsregeln kümmert isch hier niemand, ein Wunden, dass wir bisher noch keinen Unfall sahen). Allzu viel gibt es hier nicht anzustehen, den Königspalast und ein Tempel, dazu die Uferpromenade und dann hat es sich dann. Es gäbe noch die Hinterlassenschaften der Khmer Rouge zu sehen, die in ihrem Terrorregime, noch vor nicht allzu langer Zeit, ein Drittel der Bevölkerung ermordeten, doch auf das verzichteten wir.
Was wir aber erledigten, ist das Visum für Vietnam, das wir noch am selben Tag erhielten, unglaublich schnell! Ab Samstag ist es gültig und somit bleiben uns nicht mehr viele Tag hier in Kambodscha. Morgen werden wir nach Sihanoukville weiterreisen, einem ehemaligen französischen Badeort am Meer.

Photos:
1. Mekong river near Kratie
2. An Irrawaddy Dolphin (they just come up to the surface quickly to breath air and then dive again, no jumping or things like this)
3. Sunset on the Mekong
4. + 5. Countryside houses
6. River front in Phnom Penh
7. The inner court of the National Museum in Phnom Penh
8. Hungry fishes in a pool... poor Fredi was so afraid of them that he's now water shy
9., 10. + 11. Kings Palace in Phnom Penh
12. Wat Phnom, from here comes the name "Phnom Penh"
13. A monkey in the garden of the Wat Phnom, in the middle of the city

Angkor

Angkor is very big, the temples great and the weather hot... During 3,5 days we visited the temples here around Siem Reap. Angkor Wat, the most famous one, is only one of many which can be found in this aera. There are so many, that we still haven't seen all of them, but at least the most interesting one's. The distances from one temple to the other is so big that it's not recommand to walk, 3 days by Tuktuk were comfortable and one by bicycle which was very nice, but sweaty...
Siem Reap, the town closest to the ruins, is full of tourists and only getting up early can avoid being surround of people. Sunset and sunrise is very beautiful, but too early, already before 6 o'clock it starts...
Well, enough temples at the moment, tomorrow we are going to Kratie, which is on the Mekong river.

Photos:
1. + 2. The bamboo train in Battambang
3. Fredi in front of the main tower of the Wat Banan temple (near Battambang)
4. Laura with a lion on the entrance to Angkor Wat
5. Fredi in front of Angkor Wat
6. Angkor Wat in the light after sunrise
7. Sunrise at Srah Srang lake
8. On the bridge to Angkor Thom
9. Fredi in the Bayon (Angkor Thom) with one of the many faces there
10. Pre Rup temple pyramid
11. Statue of an elephant in the East Mebon
12. Gate to the Ta Prohm temple which is covered by a big tree
13. Entrance gate to the Ta Som templ
14. Preah Khan temple
15. + 16. Banteay Srei temple
17. Kbal Spean

Cambodia

Sorry for the delay, but after some internet and computer troubles, we were finally able to publish all.

After the national park visit, we continued on Thursday by bus to Nang Rong (close to the Cambodian boarder). In the afternoon Simon went by motorbike to the Phanom Rung Historical Park to see the Prasat Hin Khao temple. This temple is the most impressive one of all Angkor monuments in Thailand and is located atop an extinct volcano.
On Friday we went on by bus to Aranya Prathet, the main boarder station between Thailand and Cambodia. We crossed the boarder without problems, the visa for Cambodia we had already got before. So, we arrived in Poipet, on the Cambodian side, and there it was a bit more complicated. All tourists were put in a free shuttle bus to the “tourist bus terminal”, every tourist (individual or group) got a Cambodian supervisor who took care about us that we wouldn't leave the terminal... The buses which leave from this tourist bus station are expensive (more than double price of the normal one) and the money exchange also bad for tourists. But this wasn't the real problem, as we couldn't escape, we bought a bus ticket to the next town (Sisophon) and more or less quickly we were in a bus. Then it started, the bus didn't want to leave, the people there always told us in a few minutes, but first it had to be full. Well, compared with other tourists we were lucky, some had to wait up to 3 hours... Finally the bus managed to get out of this terminal, but after a few meters drive we had to stop again, reason unknown. After spending a long time in the bus, we finally arrived in Sisophon. As it was already late, about 6 pm, we had the next problem, that no bus was going to Battambang, the place we wanted to go. We then found a shared taxi, which was of course also overcharged for us, and we had a “nice” drive in the dark with a lot of traffic, which wasn't always very save. Additionally the car had also a small problem, but this one could be fixed within a few minutes. Anyway, we arrived well and better late than never in Battambang.
On Saturday we relaxed and in the afternoon we went around the center, but there isn't a lot to see, some French colonial houses are the only interesting things.
Yesterday we went to some places around Battambang to visit 2 temples on hills with quite steep steps to go up, but finally we arrived on the top and the view was great (the temples more or less). We also went on a ride on the famous bamboo train here which was quite funny.
Today, Monday, we took a bus to Siam Reap or better known as Angkor, the most interesting place in this country. Tomorrow we are going to visit the temples here around, it's full of them!

Photos:
1. - 3. Prasat Hin Khao
4. Boarder between Thailand and Cambodia
5. + 6. Battambang