First Impression Should Have Been An Indication Of The Journey Ahead

So after a harrowing ride from Hue up to Hanoi on a bus driven fast and furiously by a man who collapsed in a fit of laughter when I asked about the fender, we’re looking forward to our trip to Halong Bay.  We’ve heard disappointing stories from pretty much everyone who went the tour route so we’ve decided to go it alone.  We’re taking a boat to Cat Ba Island tomorrow morning and then hopefully hooking up with a rock climbing outfit there on the island for a day trip to the less touristed parts of the bay (so they say).  A quick “path beating” (and possibly back saving) recomendation, try Hanh Cafe for buses in Vietnam.  They’ve been shocking together each time we’ve traveled with them.

The Lonely Planet Effect

The same image has followed us around since Goa: two nearly identical restaurants sitting side by side. One is full of customers with copies of Lonely Planet in front of them while the other is empty, a dejected look on the staff’s faces suggest resentment towards the people next door, but an unparalleled enthusiasm towards the customers that pass them by lights them up like Christmas trees. It’s doubtful that a business like Lonely Planet would intentionally set out to bless certain businesses with a fate as lucky as Maddox Jolie’s while leaving others with empty, but reviews like “The best backpacker atmosphere… it’s a score, so check in here ASAP or you’ll leave defeated” for the Okay Guesthouse in Phnom Pehn, though deserved seem to be skewing the travel business a bit. Going back to the two restaurants, there was one other difference between them: The empty one was so happy to have our business that they nearly hugged us when we asked to sit down. Meanwhile, the one listed in the book (and this is a pattern I’m finding) was rude and had doubled their prices since seeing themselves in print. I’ve been jokingly calling this the Lonely Planet effect, but I’m not sure it’s entirely Lonely Planet’s fault so that may not be fair. What I’m more sure of is that Lonely Planet has the captive audience (at the crap restaurant) so I think they can help. Here’s what I think: it’s not Lonely Planet’s fault that travelers (self included) are turning their suggestions into a beaten path because they’re too lazy to forge one of their own. But I think there are things they could do to the book to encourage people (like me) to explore a bit more. Maybe the brief to the editors is more workbook than handbook. Maybe you go online and construct your own from evolving feedback and recommendations on the site. Just a thought as I sit here in a hotel that isn’t listed in any guide. A hotel called the Hong Thien in Hue Vietnam that has the most enthusiastic staff (have called up to check on us twice), fastest wifi and cleanest sheets of any hotel in Asia at half the price of the listed ones. Yes, I realize that I’ve stepped into my own trap by offering up a travel tip thus beating a path. I guess it’s human nature.

Bonny M Reminds Us That Though We Lost The Battle, We Did Win The Cold War (Well… Sort Of)

This video played on our bus ride out to the Cu Chi tunnels back in Saigon where it was closely rivaled by a hilarious propaganda film. It (the propaganda not Bonny M video) was a good reminder that though prosperous and maybe a wee bit more capitalist than intended, this is still a communist country. I’d almost forgotten.

A Photo Project On Speed

Saigon

Originally uploaded by pirateofcake

The scooter traffic of Saigon is a brilliant photo project waiting to happen. If Hanoi is anywhere near as impressive, you’ll find me sitting on the sidewalk with my camera getting funny stares from the motorists. C got some brilliant shots of them in the monsoon puddles a few days back while I was off running errands.
In Hoi An right now at after two days at the beach in Mui Ne. I really wish we had more time to spend here, but we really do need to keep moving as there’s way more to see in Vietnam than we’d initially imagined. We’re heading to Hue tomorrow and then up to Hanoi the day after for a trip to Halong Bay (currently debating whether rock climbing would be suicide for my knee). It all feels painfully rushed but once in Laos we should be back to the pace of a tortoise.

Beachwards…

So all of the haggling, packing, repacking, hostel hunting, backpack lugging and food poisoning has both of us itching for a break from this whole backpacker bit. The original plan was to head down to the Mekong River delta for the day, but the only practical way down there involves taking a tour.  As a rule, I can’t stand tours, our tour to the Cu Chi caves was pretty crap, and most of the tour companies here are apparently shams that waste your time taking you from souvenir shop to souvenir shop pocketing commissions.  As one guy we met yesterday put it, “We were supposed to be out in the middle of nowhere and I don’t think there was a moment when I couldn’t see a power line.”  Not what we had in mind.  Instead, we’re boarding a bus to Mui Nah (a lovely Vietnamese beach town) to spend a couple of days sitting in hammocks by the ocean before our long trek up the coast.  I can’t wait.

Saigontastic

Arrived in Saigon yesterday to find that people’s moaning about this city is either nonsensical whining or something we’re immuned to. Imagine miami beach architecture, characters in conical hats, loads of small children passing you and proudly addressing you in their best “HELLO!”, fruit stands everywhere, and swarms of colorful scooters transporting no less than three people each dotting the landscape. It reminds me of Mumbai in that the place feels like it’s booming, but there’s still an openness to the people who are keen to approach you and practice their English by asking everything about you. We spent a good part of yesterday evening in the park revamping a guy’s vocabulary list (which he carries with him everywhere) to fit the 20th century by doing away with words like “haberdashery” and “Buli”.
It’s become clear that flying from Saigon to Hanoi and missing out on the middle of the country would be criminal so we’re going to take the land route and see as much of this country as we possibly can. But not before sucking the photographic potential out of Saigon (bursting with it), checking out the surrounding countryside, and checking out the Vietnamese country western band which is on the agenda tonight.

A Gorgeous Last Day in Phnom Penh

Had a gorgeous day in Phnom Penh doing absolutely nothing, and it turned out to be a great way to see the city. We had breakfast at a great coffee shop and met some foreigners who gave us a sense for what the expat scene is like here. There’s apparently a huge NGO contingency here that like to tell you which organization they work for, but give little in the way of what they’re here to accomplish or what they’ve actually done. But they do boast of a very nice lifestyle. At best, they tell you they work in “development”  and then speak condescendingly about “investor types” who, as one NGO expat put it “don’t hang in hip places like this “while rolling her eyes dismissively. I imagine that these guys are probably ones who are actually developing the economy but don’t bring it up.

Instead, we head off to experience the life of an NGO expat in Phnom Penh first hand by lazing beside the pool of an old French colonial villa sipping blended drinks with the rest of them all afternoon. The NGO world seems fabulous even though most of them don’t really get much done. I however, get loads done playing with long exposures on my camera (yes, I’m very proud of myself).

Tomorrow being the 20th means we can finally head into Vietnam so we’re heading for Saigon with a vague itinerary for the ten days in the country. The big decision of the moment is whether we take the land route between Saigon and Hanoi (about 50 hours) or fly. Any ideas? Once that decision is sorted, the rest will just evolve from there.

Cambodia Gets Tough On Nation’s Rich Kid Problem

I saw this article in a Cambodian newspaper about the country’s growing rich kid problem. Apparently, these kids have a penchant for waving guns in front of karaoke bars, crashing their fancy SUVs into temples, beating up foreigners, and  seem to think they can get away with these sorts of horrible acts – wherever would they get this idea?

Is it me, or does it sound like the article is trying to cast a suspicious eye on wealth as a problem?

The quote in blue is from a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide. I’m not saying there’s any connection, but there might be something interesting in here about role models and accountability. Just a thought.

Cambodia: Still Very Confusing

Killing Fields

Originally uploaded by pirateofcake

There’s something very present, complicated and apparently taboo about Cambodia’s recent history that seems key to understanding this place and it’s something I’m just not getting. We spent the day at the Killing Fields and then at Tuol Seng Prison looking for some clarity and walked away more confused than before.
Here’s what I think I understand: The Khmer Rouge wins power. Pol Pot (an academic flunky and general villain) and his Khmer Rouge deems anyone with an intellect, pair of glasses or potential thought in their head to be an enemy of their communist ideology. They order their army of fairly unenthusiastic recruits to start rounding them up, interrogating, and ultimately exterminating them. The US supports the Khmer Rouge when the Vietnamese invade as an attempt to win the war they pulled out of by proxy.  The Vietnamese defeat the Khmer Rouge who then appeal to the UN for help. In true form, the UN responds by overtlooking the genocide and offering the Khmer Rouge a seat at the UN as Cambodia’s official government, thus delegitimizing the new one post Vietnamese takeover (Well done).  Khmer Rouge rule continues into the 1990s (!!??). They execute lots of their own combatants (???). Pol Pot dies in exile (in Thailand!?). The ECCC (Extraordinary Chambers of Cambodian Courts) is set up to try the criminals that carried out the atrocities. Lots of tours are given of the courtrooms, children get to ask the judges questions on camera, nuns pose for photos, nobody is tried. Lots of talk on the radio suggests that justice is coming.
A woman in a film we watched said ‘”I can’t talk about it because I can’t make sense of it.” Sounds about right. Sounds like a country desperately in need of closure, but a lot of it still doesn’t make sense. Anyway, that was our day. I’m still scratching my head.

A Southeast Asian Soundtrack

Spent the train ride from Thailand to Cambodia debating the best tunes for travelling through the rice paddies, jungles and backwaters of Southeast Asia. Here’s where I got to on my iPod, but I’m open to suggestions here:

1. Creedence Clearwater Revival

2. Neil Young

3. Lynyrd Skynyrd

4. Grateful Dead

5. Jefferson Airplane

And it’s not just that these songs defined a war that went pear shaped in the region I happen to be travelling in. There’s something about that point in American history that reminds me that Americans are at their best when they’re pissed off with the government. Think about it, we love the 60s as a time of revolution and protest. We’re pretty proud of the fact that we booted English Colonial nonsense out of the country. We love the idea of the “Wild West”. I like to think (and kind of hope) that the Bush administration has managed to awaken a pinch of that restlessness in us. It’s good for the soul.

Had a great morning being blown away by Ta Prohm and then spent the afternoon wandering a market in Siem Reap full of lovely people. We’re off to Battambang tomorrow in the hopes of findnig something less planned by the tourism board, more Cambodian and more rural along the way.