Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Happy New Year!

We are having a fantastic time in Vietnam, and are now in Hoi An which is in the central coast area. It's gorgeous here and is actually a UNESCO world heritage site due to the Chinese influenced houses and buildings in the old town. We're having an awesome time just wandering around looking at them and taking some photos.

Today is Tet, which is the biggest day of the year for the Vietnamese. It's a celebration of the first day of their New Year and everyone's birthday (they don't have individual birthdays as we do in western countries). People pay off all of their debts and paint their houses, honor their dead relatives (and include them in the festivities as guests), they all wear new clothes and have special festive food with their families. Red is a lucky colour for them, and we have heard lots of stories from travellers saying that some people were giving away cans of coke, 10 000 dong notes and other red items as a way of getting good luck.
The oddest part of Tet however, is that everyone has their birthday on the same day, which is a cause for great celebration but can also be quite bizarre. For example, if a baby was born one day before Tet, then the next day it would actually be considered a two year old. This is because it is counted as one year in the womb (even though, as we all know, you're only in there for 9 months... I guess they don't really worry about the other unaccounted for 3 months) and then the next day is Tet, when it's everyone's birthday!!

We are staying in a beautiful little guest house called Minh Ah Ancient Guest House, right next to the markets (which are closed today & tomorrow for Tet), and it's a really old Chinese style house.
On the first day of the new year, it's very important for each Vietnamese family to invite people who are wealthy, healthy and influential into their homes as it is thought that they will bring good luck to the home for the coming year.
So it was a real honor to be the first people officially invited by the owners of the guest house to share their first meal of the new year. The traditional festive breakfast included: sticky rice that you added crushed nuts and sugar to; a solid sticky rice and green bean concoction that had been steamed for 20 hours in a rolled up banana leaf that you ate with pickled vegetables and chillies; a sponge cake (baked by their grandmother); little biscuits with meat in them and lots of ginger tea. At the end of the meal they brought out some candied coconut and ginger pieces, and some little red sticky balls of shredded ginger and lemon (very good) and chocolates.

For the rest of the day, we wandered around the little town taking photos and calling out "Chuc Mung Nam Moi!" (pronounced 'chook moong nam moy') to every Vietnamese person that walked or rode past and watch their faces split into a huge grin. We had to stop calling out to people on bicycles though, as we almost caused a couple of accidents as the cyclist would whip their heads around in our direction and then narrowly miss cycling into an oncoming moto.
It was also really nice seeing whole families all dressed up in their new clothes - often all on the back of the same moto - on their way to some Tet commitment or another.

Later on that night, we caught up with our mates from Adelaide for dinner and drinks at a couple of cheap joints around town... all in all a great day. :)

Food... ahhhhh the food

Note to waistline: prepare to compromise... what once was will be no more.

We thought the food in Thailand was good, we knew the food in Cambodia was not, but we were not prepared for the variety and quality of Vietnamese food!

Since we have arrived in Vietnam we have thoroughly enjoyed a whole range of dishes and have been disappointed by none.

We've delved into overgrown snails stuffed with meat (pork and snail) and steamed in their shells with two strips of lemongrass wrapped around them that, when pulled, bring the meat out... you then wrap them in mulberry, mint and corriander leaves and then dip into the choc nam (see photo above).
We've eaten coutless bowls of pho bo (beef soup) - the breakfast dish that built a nation.
We've eaten tapioca and rice flour cakes filled with dried shrimp, fish paste and other unidentified mouthwateringly sweet fillings that you dip in Vietnamese soy sauce.
We are addicted to Vietnamese coffee (the beans are apparently roasted in butter) and which is served with condensed milk. It's become so normal that we prefer sweet milk over normal milk.
We had a delicious raw beef and lemon salad.
We have also devoured plates and plates of crab cooked in fresh tamarind while on Phu Quoc island, which gave the crab a sticky honey kind of flavour, aswell as grilled king prawns with a pepper/salt/lemon dip.

All of it has been made with fresh ingredients, beautifully presented and above all else, absolutley delicious.

They are going to have to roll us over the Friendship pass into China.

Good morning Vietnam

We didn't actually get a chance to say good morning Vietnam on the day we arrived, even though the bus from Phnom Penh left at 7am (this is Cambodian time though, we didn't get out of Phnom Penh until about 8:30) and its only about 160-200ks from Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border, it took bloody ages.
We got onto the bus, and were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the bus was not full (they are always too full, every seat taken and heaps of bags and cargo), we got good seats and plenty of room...... Then the bus stopped and we were herded into another one which was already pretty much full, and we ended up sitting next to strangers. I got chatting to the guy next to me, Noah, who turned out to be from Blackwood, a suburb of Adelaide, and a place that I had lived in for many years. He introduced us to his friends Tom and Samara who were sitting across from us, and we had been chatting for a while when Tom said "Haven't we met before?", this is not unusual for Adelaide - after all, its not a big place, but this turned out to be a bit more than that.
We had met them a few months before at the Appocathary (an Adelaide wine bar) where we had stopped off for a few drinks after our anniversary dinner a few months ago. We got talking to them and chatted about the South East Asian holiday they were heading off on around Christmas time, we drank and chatted for a while, and ended the night saying something like "Maybe we will see you on the road some time", which is exactly what happened!
Needless to say, we we all a bit weirded out, and decided to have a drink later that night when we got to Saigon.
Traci and I left our hotel to go and look for the bar we agreed to meet in, the Long Phi (I wanted to have some drinks and a Long Pee in the Long Phi). The bar turned out to be in front of our hotel, but the Lonely Planet map was wrong, and we walked in the opposite direction for a few K's. On our way back, we walked past a bar, and I found myself staring at a girl sat out the front who looked familiar, and I was right. It turned out to be Emma Phythian, someone I had known in Adelaide for about 8 years. Shocked, we sat down and had a drink, telling her that this wasn't the first time this had happened to us today, when Emmas friend who was sitting at the table with us suddenly jumped up and shouted "Oh my God!" as one of her friends from Adelaide walked past.

We spent the rest of the night wondering who else we were going to run into!

Traffic law(lessness) in Cambodia

Traffic law(lessness) is a curious thing in Cambodia. We are constantly doing things wrong. But now, thanks to the English translation of the rare "Cambodian Traffic Law Booklet", we have been able to correct our erroneous behaviour.


Traffic lights: The beautiful colours designed for spectator entertainment. If you are lucky you might see one change colour. Stopping to observe colour change awards you good luck in your next life. Stopping in not compulsory.

White line in middle of road: A reminder of general direction to travel along roads, lines are to be followed. They are not (as some countries would like us to believe) there to divide traffic. You may use as much road as you need into oncoming traffic.

Zebra crossings: A very nice pattern, don't you think. We used up the excess paint making these because we saw some on American TV. Tourists may attempt to cross the road on our nice patterns. This doesn't mean you have to slow down or stop. Maintain speed and dodge the crazy big nose. They have mental problems.

Vehicle indicators: A design fault that affects every modern vehicle, indicator use is on individual choice. Having beautiful buzzing, noises is highly recommended, as this hypnotizes big noses and makes them spend more. Tunes are even better. They make mentally ill big noses seek you for their journey and tip you in (USD).

Merging with the main traffic flow: Not really sure what it means. Some foreign idea. Maybe about coming out of side road. If coming out of side road, don’t look at anyone; remain in your own little world. Other traffic is sure to slow or stop to avoid you. May the force be with you.

Traffic flow: Never heard of it, So just drive where you want, when you want, if a jam is caused by your 10-point turn just smile.

Speed signs: We think the French left these behind. They make interesting reading and a great tool for practicing numbers in foreign languages. They are in no way related to traffic speed. Please ignore.

Recommended traffic speed: Driving as slow as possible in your highest gear indicates to the world how wonderful a person you are. We recommend strongly each individual decides his or her preferred speed. Road + footpaths: Where roads become jammed, footpaths are an easy alternative, as footpaths are to be viewed as a small road anyway. Pedestrians have no right of way when vehicles use small roads (footpaths).

Accidents: Everyone is expected to watch those who have crashed. We prefer all other vehicle users to stop and form as large a crowed as possible. Where big noses are involved, money is to be demanded immediately regardless of fault.

Horns: On the spot fines are now being given to owners whose horns don't work. It is compulsory to test your horn every 30 seconds to avoid fines. They also make an interesting sound that keeps passengers awake.

Finally please remember not to pay attention or look at any other traffic when driving then you don't have to worry about it and you will be happier.


Observing these simple rules will hopefully help you to avoid the mistakes we have made, should you find yourself in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh

I know that both Tim and I have written at length about how much we loved Siem Reap... but I'm going to have to add Phnom Penh to the list too. In actual fact, I think I'm just in love with Cambodia full stop. It is easy to understand how so many ex-pats arrive in Cambodge as a stop on their SE Asia route and end up living here for years and years.

We've been calling Phnom Penh home for a week now, and as per usual, have wasted no time in establishing ourselves in the ex-pat scene (read: bar). I refer specifically to Fubar which we stumbled upon on our first night in the lake district, and from which we have been stumbling away from ever since. We have even decided to extend our stay in Cambodia by a couple of days in order to take in a bit of crab racing to be held at this classy establishment on Saturday afternoon.

So far, we have had a great time eating, lounging, site-seeing and drinking in various locations around Phnom Penh. One place of particular note is the Friends restaurant, just north of the National Museum. I can not recommend this place enough, and will go so far as to say that you are not allowed to come to Phnom Penh and not dedicate a night to it... that would be a glaring omission.

Let me explain. It is a tapas bar that has in excess of 20 different items on the menu (plus a changing weekly specials menu), which are all equally delicious. The last time Tim and I dined there, we ordered: chinese spinach and cheese filled ravioli in a tomato sauce (divine); baby bok choy and mushrooms in oyster sauce; sauteed squid with green peppercorns and onions (delicious); spicy beef and chili mexican pockets with a tomato salsa (surprisingly delicate); then another serve of the spinach & cheese ravioli (it was that good).
We washed all this down with a glass (or four) of some lovely Chilean merlot (and a glass of Chilean chardonnay), and a daiquiri (each)... we were nice and toasty by the end of it.
The most amazing thing about this place is that everyone from the floor staff to the chefs are ex-street kids who have been professionally trained in hospitality to give them a new lease on life. The Friends establishment comes into contact with over 1,000 children every day and the project also includes workshops, an educational and vocational training center, health care and HIV/AIDS services, and street and squatter based services that fulfill the needs of the homeless and vulnerable children and adolescents.
Not surprisingly, the founder, Mr Sebastien Marot, has received an Order of Australia for services to humanity. If you would like to find out more about this fantastic project, you can visit their website: http://www.streetfriends.org/

Tomorrow, will be regretfully leaving Cambodia (but we'll be back!) for Vietnam via an eight hour bus ride and another dance with the border guards, so wish us luck...

The Ugly

As I have said previously. There is some real ugliness lurking under the surface of Cambodian society....

To set the scene:
It's Christmas day, Traci and I had been sitting in the Funky Munkey bar since about 6pm, chatting to people and generally enjoying ourselves. We finally spilled out at about 1am, a little drunk, and started to walk back to the hotel we were staying in, about 800 metres away.
40 metres from the pub door, an american bloke stopped us and asked if there was anything happening, so we sent him down the street to the Funky Munkey, and turned the corner of the street.

About 10 seconds later two drunk young Cambodian lads on a moto (110cc honda scooter), came round the corner that the Funky Munkey is on, 50 metres behind us. Unfortunately for them, they came round the corner way, way to fast. They clipped the curb and flew into a concrete lamp post.
The poor american bloke we had sent up the street with the promise of friendly people and beer watched the whole thing, and ran into the bar to get help. Trixie ran out with some of her Cambodian staff, and a customer (steve, who used to be an army paramedic in the vietnam war).

Mac and Trixie (the bar owners) were planning on shutting the bar and heading out for a christmas drink, but ended up trying to save a couple of lives instead.

Both of the victims were in a pretty bad way, one with part of his scull missing, but they tried their best. Trixie sent for towels and they tried to stop the bleeding.

Four police men turned up, and just stood around watching Trixie and Steve. Trixie was screaming at them to help, to radio for an ambulance... anything. She asked her staff to translate, but to no avail. She ended up getting her mobile and handing it to one of her staff to call for an ambulance. While here back was turned one of the police men bent down and started pulling at one of the injured guys watches, trying to pull it off his arm. When she yelled at him for doing that, he just tried to pull the guys gold necklace off instead.

Needless to say, everyone involved was pretty pissed off, and the Christmas cheer vanished. The ambulance turned up, and roughly threw the two dying lads in the back, as you would a sack of potatos, then drove off.

The police then realised that they could just take the moto, and promptly dissapeared with it. Im sure it was in the second hand bike market the next day.

Needless to say, the two lads died. According to Steve, the ex vietnam war paramedic, its unlikely that they would have lived even if they had crashed in front of a hospital in England or America, but still, it makes you think of how cheaply life is viewed here sometimes... and really thats what it boils down to, their lives were cheap because they couldnt afford the hospital bills.

The Smells of Assia

We have been sharing our experiences with all of you through this blog, but I have come to realise that it just doesn't cut it. Google, who provide the blogspot service, have integrated many tools to enrich blogs including photos, video, sound and mobile connectivity, but none of these help, and nothing will until they allow the transmission of smells via the web (perhaps they could call it Poogle in Asia).

In light of this, and because I want you to get the most from our blog, I will try and give you some instructions so you can recreate the smells of Asia in the comfort of your own home or workplace.

Firstly, crap on your floor, as close to where you are currently sitting as you can (in your chair is also fine). If you can, get your family members or work colleagues to crap in your vicinity too.

Secondly, go outside and find a bin. The best kind of bins, which will provide you with that authentic Asian flavour, will be full of organic material (preferably fruit) and will have been sitting in the searing heat of the summer sun for about 3 weeks. Bring the bin back to where you are sitting and empty it around the place (making sure to get some between your toes). Now your almost there.

Lastly, and this one may be hard to pull off, you need a halitosis sufferer. It's unlikely that you will be able to find a sufferer who has put as much effort into their condition as the examples readily found in Asia, but even a halitosis beginner will give you the idea.
My suggestions are to find a bum, tramp or derro (depending on your locality) and lure him to your place with the promise of food or alcohol. You could also try old peoples homes, or taxi ranks (funny that they are called ranks really, as that is often what they are).
Once you have your bum, persuade him to bring his face as close to yours as you can stand and say "Hey Mister, Tuk Tuk? Moto? Hey, Hey...... Mister".
For the true Asian experience, he must never stop saying this for more than about 5 seconds.

Enjoy.

Cambodia: Ends of the Earth?

We recently watched a documentary on Cambodia, playing up the Khmer Rouge presence and how it's still part of everyday life... lurking in the shadows.
In part of the doco, the reporter was travelling down the Bassac river, proclaiming that "there were still pirates in these parts" and how dangerous it all was - the boat driver didn't think so though, he had his entire extended family on the boat and had obviously done that trip many many times before.
Then the reporter travelled up North to see Pol Pot's grave site (they burned him on a rubbish pile by the way) and showed how heavily guarded by police this area of the country was. The reporter was saying things like, "We're not sure if we're going to get through these barriers... as these policemen are all ex-Khmer Rouge officials, but we've brought gifts of cigarette packets to pave our way... but they could turn on us at any second..." while hunching down in the car seat. Then he got out of the car with the driver and the interpreter, and went cautiously up to one of those scary policemen to interview him - unfortunately for the reporter, the policeman was still smiling broadly and bowing with his hands together in the position of utmost respect, as thanks for the gift and welcome to the area.

The funniest thing about this documentary? We were watching it in Siem Reap (only 50 kms away from some of the areas he was talking about) on satellite tv, in our guest house which also included features like: hot shower, a western toilet, fridge and double bed for US$8.

Cambodia: Ends of the Earth? Yeah, right!!!

Taking the Time to Smell the Roses (a.k.a., the Good)

There is certainly something to be said for staying in one place for a couple of weeks.
We were originally going to be in Siem Reap for just 4 days to see the temples, and while they were amazing (more on this shortly), we're so glad we stayed for 3 weeks to smell the proverbial roses.
For starters, you get to know some of the locals, which can lead to anything from being invited to someone's home in their village, to being charged local prices instead of foreigner prices.

Most tourists come to Siem Reap to see the awesome Angkor temples, and quite rightly so as they are absolutely incredible. We bought a 3 day pass (US$40 each!! bloody hell!!) and put it to good use by thoroughly exploring about 10 temples in the area. To give you an idea though, in Cambodia there is thought to be in excess of 2,700 temples (most of them scattered around Siem Reap), so we only really just scratched the surface.
Angkor Wat is obviously the jewel in the crown and was once the centre piece of a massive empire that, in it's day, is thought to have been home to one million Khmers - while London, at this same time, had a population of around 100,00 people. Much has been written about Angkor Wat but I think that probably the only way you could properly appreciate it is to come and visit. Here are some photos for you in the meantime.

Another one of the benefits of staying longer is that you get to know some of the locals... and we did with Sokpal Sam (and his friend Sinat, a.k.a. snake) who worked at an internet joint near our guest house. He very kindly invited us to his home in a village a little way out of Siem Reap, so on boxing day, Tim and I went to our new friend's village to meet his family and have lunch.
Sokpal's entire extended family was there to come and meet us and they cooked us amok fish, which is a delicious and traditional Cambodian dish, as well as tasty BBQ chicken. We brought some fruit from the market (bananas, pineapple and some pomellos) as a gift - as well as a carton of Angkor beer and... some vegemite for them to taste, which we billed as traditional Aussie food. Some of them loved it, but others were just being polite. I watched Sokpal's mum start with a large piece of bread with vegemite, and after tasting it, she quickly whittled it down to nothing by giving it in parts to one of the kids who happily ate it.
It was really nice seeing how they live and very touching that they welcomed us so warmly. Obviously they were as curious about Tim and I as we were about them, and we tried to communicate as best we could despite the language barrier - often using Sokpal to translante as his English is very good.
Even though they are comparatively very poor... they lived on a farm in a beautiful area with lots of animals, and their entire family (who live in several houses right next to each other) obviously share a very close bond.

All the men (apart from Sokpal's dad) as well as Tim and I, sat around this massive table and ate the food. Traditionally, the women don't eat with the men, they eat in the kitchen, similar to other countries, but on this day they sat on the periphery and watched us. Everyone at the table shared the carton of beer we brought with gusto and lots of "jol moi!" (which means cheers).
There was also the cutest baby in the known universe there - who is Sokpal's nephew - and we all played with him and took photos. :)






While we were in Siem Reap, we met up with our friend Rob who, very kindly, showed us around the area and gave us the lowdown in general.
Some of the best things we did was hire bicycles or motos and tour around the villages surrounding the town. Riding through rice fields and past little bamboo homes on stilts squatting on top of the river, with palm trees and farm animals sharing the vista, was a beautiful thing to see. Watching the people going about their daily life bathing, cleaning, working, eating and just generally being together was another major highlight. As we rode past each house, if there were any young kids out the front they would either wave frantically or yell out "HELLO!!" or "BYE BYEE" which was very cute and made us feel like minor celebrities.

Arrival

We left Thailand about three weeks ago, and crossed the border with Cambodia at Arunyaprathet (Thai) and Poi Pet (Cambodia), which was an experience in itself. We had overstayed our Thai visa by a week because of my hospital stay in Bangkok, which is not a problem as the Thais just fine you 200 Baht per day, but we were still a little apprehensive about it.
On the day we were crossing the border there were hundreds and hundreds of Thais waiting to cross to go to the casinos in Cambodia (gambling is illegal in Thailand, and it was pay day for a lot of Thais), so the queues were long and slow moving.... This was only made worse by the fact that the immigration post was having computer problems.
After about an hour in the sun, it dawned on us that the US currency we had was going to be no good, we had $600 in hundreds and one $20 note (it was all we could get from the bank we went to a week before), the Cambodian visa was US$20 and on seeing the border post, I couldn't see them offering us our $60 change. We decided we would have to leave the queue and go to the bank to get some smaller notes.
After leaving the queue, rejoining it at the end, and waiting for another two hours we finally left Thailand, and walked the 800 metres to the Cambodian immigration post.
All seemed to be getting easier..... I took one look at the Cambodian visa form and my heart sunk (to say the least..... I may have even yelled an expletive or fifty)..... "Attach one passport sized photo here"..... Getting some more passport photos was on of the things I had to do in the week we had in Bangers before we left for Cambodia, but I had ended up in hospital and had completely forgotten about it.

Faced with the possibility that I would be stuck in the no mans land between Thailand and Cambodia our conversation went a little like:
Tim: F&!%
Traci: S**!
Tim: F&!%, S**!, F&!%
Traci: S**!, F&!%, S**!

We ended up learning 2 very important lessons about Cambodia...
1. Money talks, and if you have it, you can basically do anything you like.
2. Cambodia is corrupt to the core.

I told the border guard that I had no photo, slipped him 100 baht (AU$3), and sat down to wait for the visa (well, hope for a visa).
We ended up getting our visas quicker than anyone else in the queue!

Since we have been here we have even been offered police badges and hats which wouldn't be weird except that it was police men who were trying to sell them to us. I'm sure they would sell you their guns or grandmothers if you flashed enough dollars.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

We have been having a ball in Cambodia - hence the complete lack of posting, despite the fact that we have been here for 3 weeks. With Christmas, new years eve, a friends birthday, and other random reasons to party we haven't really felt like writing blog posts. Its a bit of a shame, as I'm not sure I'll remember everything.

We are just going to post a random set of experiences, in no real order (which somehow seems appropriate for Cambodia).

Cambodia is a great country, and its hard to think of a way to sum it up, but "the Good, the Bad and the Ugly" seems the best way. Its a wonderful country, with wonderful people, but there is definitely a bad and ugly undercurrent that surfaces from time to time.

Photos will follow later, we are going to swim at a lake in the countryside in about an hour and are pushed for time