I don’t update my blog often and when I do, I write long posts such as the recent ones. I bet, out of ten who visited, none would be able to finish them but it was my pleasure to tell the stories of our trip. What I related was only the gist of our journey and it does not do justice to all the big and small events that made this vacation a memorable one. Next time I wouldn’t be able to write such long posts anymore due to other commitment, but while I still can, I’ll continue to do so for my own documentation. I would like to dedicate these 10 posts to Kelvin, Jesse and Shean Chuan aka Chunaki for making the trip a success and a brilliant one. For those who have helped, both directly and indirectly – THANK YOU!

RIP M.J

]]> http://alexlee.youthchapter.com/2009/06/27/day10-hn-kl/feed/ 1 http://alexlee.youthchapter.com/2009/06/27/day9-hlbay-hn/ http://alexlee.youthchapter.com/2009/06/27/day9-hlbay-hn/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:20:31 +0000 teik http://alexlee.youthchapter.com/?p=74 More >]]> The breakfast was egg, toast bread with butter and jam, and coffee/tea. Woke up late this morning and we missed to sun rise but never minded. It was nice curling up in the air-conditioned room where outside was hot and humid but glad it was like that rather than raining as it could hamper the trip due to poor visibility.

That morning was just cruising around for more sightseeing. We bade goodbye to the Vietnamese family and the doctor as they left for a stay on the beach which was part of the 3-day package. The rest of us stayed on our boat waiting for other people to come on board before headed back to harbour. That was the end of our trip. Therefore, for those who has not much time, 1-day trip is recommended because the following day doesn’t really have much activity other than sight seeing.

Before going back to Saigon, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant near the harbour and that place was hot. To matter worse, the generator wasn’t working while we were having lunch, so there was no electricity. I’ve never sweated so much while eating before. We had a typical Chinese-ish lunch but the conversation at the table was interesting. For example, we get to know that Tom and Kim sold their bike and car, and quited their jobs to travel – for a whopping one year continuously! If they were still talking at the end of their travel, they would get married. Then there was the French guy about his life and travel. It was nice to get to know them and we took a picture for remembrance.

We were then cramped, with all our luggage, into a van for the journey back to Saigon. I had more conversation with Kim about things in general. She was nice to talk to. Most people including myself slept on the way back. Upon arrival, we got down near Dong Xuan market area. Jesse bought a belt. We wanted to shop more but the shops were already closing at 5pm. So we wandered aimlessly around, occasionally stopping for a cold drink and snack. At one corner we had a bread stick (RM0.80 one) that looked simple but quite delicious. Then at the other corner, we stumbled into the best kebab I ever tasted. We sat down and ate 1-kg of lychee (RM2 – 3 per kg) before wandering the crowded market area with bags on our back. We continued to walk about, mindless of destination because we couldn’t go back to Ha’s place yet as she was still at her aunt’s place. She asked to wait for cue to go home and we obeyed. Anyhow, through this way, we actually get to experience the city and the hawker food, including the dessert (see picture). When we reached a park in the city, the sky was already darkening. Albeit tired and dirty, we had each other for company – chatting, joking and playing ‘chi ku pak’. After what felt like 10 years homeless in a foreign land, finally we were allowed to go back, yea!!

We were introduced to Ha’s cousin, who was back from the States doing her internship. We clicked almost instantly and the way she talked showed maturity and intelligence. She said fast food made her fat and she’s getting fatter, when it clearly wasn’t. Sigh, what’s wrong with Vietnamese girls? But then again, girls are always like that, right?? Kelvin was most manly to push the bike for her all the way to the junction, where we hailed for taxi. There we parted ways as we were going for night market, and she had to finish her report. Sad that we didn’t take a picture for remembrance. Wuwuwu~

Da came to join us as the night market. How nice it was to see him again, and we’re glad that our ‘pasar malam’ outing gave them a chance to see each other. They were quick into their own sweet world so we asked them not to worry about us and we walked separately. The night market was so long that it seemed endless. We bought more things, then it was closing time before we managed to see the end. We met up with the sweet couple and went for supper at a stall – beef noodle (again). It was nice nevertheless but again we were sweating while eating. Seating place by the stall was low because we sat on stool. Da insisted to foot the bill for us, again. After that, we left for home and they had a teary goodbye. Nah just joking, they just embraced and said goodbyes.

What surprised us when we got back was a bunch of goodies for us. Earlier, her mum and Lynh went and bought us each two packets of tea and cashew nuts, and 3-kg of lychee. And they wouldn’t accept us paying for them, saying it was a gift to bring home. So generous of them. We felt bad but grateful. We kept pushing money to Ha, but she just wouldn’t take it except for the flight expense. That night, we all chatted in the room way into the wee hours. That’s when we got to know her more, and liked her even more.

The gracious Ha woke up early to buy bread for us that morning because we hadn’t much time left to go out for breakfast. Once ready, we walked up to the junction of the street to catch a cab and we were lucky to get one in the morning rush hour without having to wait. At the travel agency, we settled our bill for the trip and waited for bus to Ha Long Bay. When it finally arrived, we thanked Ha and she wished us an enjoyable trip and reminded us to take loads of picture.

Remember to get the receipt upon payment as proof because few minutes into the journey, the guide asked for the ticket. Luckily we hadn’t driven very far, so we rushed back to the agency to get the confusion settled or otherwise we would have to pay another 3 million VND. All was done without considerable delay and off we went, stopping once for a short break at a big souvenir shop. At the harbour, we were brought into a (taxi) boat that will ferry us to our own boat. As we docked out, the view looked like a scene from the movie Red Cliff – plenty of traditional junk in all directions, some approaching the harbour and some, including ours, set sail towards the limestone cliffs at the far horizon.

When we arrived at our own boat, we were given a wet towel to freshen up as the weather was hot and humid.  Aboard our 3-star junk, there were a group of Vietnamese family including two cute children, a couple from London, Tom and Kim, two lone travellers – a Canadian and a Russian, a doctor, both women, the tour guide, captain and crew, and there was us, from Malaysia. Really, it wasn’t a big group which made it all the more interesting and easier to handle for the guide. As we moved closer and closer into the formation, the view was getting more breath taking. The water was green, sparkling under the strong sunlight.

After checking into our rooms (lower deck), we got back on the mid-deck for lunch. The lunch was okay but being Malaysians, we wanted more of everything – the rice and the dishes too but we dared not demand more. We looked around and most table couldn’t fisnih the food on the table and we were like “ohh… what a waste” and wished we could have their portion. Our table was wiped clean. One more thing we were short of was drinking water as they are not provided. We should have brought along more but we didn’t and we had to conserve them (something Kelvin was weak at) or buy, which was expensive – the lowest was RM3 per 1.5L bottle. The more experienced Vietnamese family brought a lot of things with them including like unlimited amount of liquids comprises of juice, tea, water and liquor, and also tidbits and fruits. Anyways, all was not too bad. It was still a wonderful cruise altogether.

Our first destination was the cave that felt cool from the undercurrent. Well, we saw things that could be expected from a cave such as stalactite, stalagmite, formation resemblance of things and everything else. The tour inside was only slightly more than 35 minutes or so and we exited at the top to a splendid overview of the bay. We boarded back on a boat, not ours, and together with other tourists, headed for kayaking – the perfect activity for us to sweat since we hadn’t been exercising. It was really nice to kayak in the calm waters with views around so remarkable, especially more under the sun set. Everyone was given 45 minutes but personally I felt it wasn’t enough although quite tiring. Chunaki and I were lousy at first, banging to every obstacle there was, no matter how we tried to avoid them. But after getting the hang of it, it was great, rowing around amidst other kayakers and boats.

When time’s up, we got back to the jetty, and waited for our group to be whole. Our junk anchored at a spot, so as many other boats. It was time for swimming and half of our group jumped into the water, some as high as from the third deck. We wanted also to dip in, but decided not to after spotting jelly fish in the waters. So we just relaxed, mingled around a bit while enjoying the sun set. It was actually quite romantic not just that moment but true for the entire journey in Ha Long Bay. Quite recommended for couples. If you’re in Vietnam, be sure to visit Ha Long Bay. A day trip would be enough too see the scenery and kayak. For us, we had the 2-day cruise, which means we get to stay a night on the junk. There was also a 3-day cruise that comprises a trip to an island where you’ll stay for the second night, and trekking up the mountain in the national park.

Dinner was served at 8 something, and it was not bad, but something odd happened. Perhaps it was my lucky day that we were blessed with extra plate of beef and fish on top of ours and we had more than enough rice to go with. Don’t know here the extra dishes came from – maybe from the kind Vietnamese family or maybe from the kitchen, we never really quite sure but thanks! To show our appreciation, we finished almost everything given. Later that night, we just relaxed and chatted. It was a nice, peaceful birthday for me.

Ha’s mother can converse in English. She treated us well, did our laundry and a nice person to chat with. She looks beautiful for a person her age. Ha’s father, although did not talk to us, saved for the initial pleasantries, was also a kind man. Ha was always saying Lynh’s fat, like a pig, but we didn’t think so. Coming from Malaysia, we know what is consider fat and she doesn’t belong in that category. To me, she’s kinda cute. She knows English but not as well as Ha but nevertheless a pleasant girl to chat with. She just finished high school and will be going to US for further studies in August. She’s afraid but excited to go all the same.

Prior to this visit, we had always thought Ha comes from a rich family and that she was a class above – rich, spoilt and demanding. My friends, how gravely mistaken we were. The following few days with her, albeit short one (sadly), we found out that she was downright the opposite of what I’ve just said. Her father was in some sort of a car business, not a minister much less a prime minister that we assumed he was, half jokingly on the way here last night. She doesn’t live in a mansion and the lake in front of her house wasn’t hers. Back in UTP, she said we could camp by the lake, swim, fish, and do whatever we like there. It wasn’t true, not quite anyway because we never really tried. Ha is a very nice girl, and I’m not just saying it because she let us stay in her house for free, but I (and we) really mean it. She’s the nicest girl ever – pretty, charming, witty, skillful and funny. I can’t recall how many times she made us laugh with her punch lines. She’s a real gem to talk to. She said she can cook and it was a common thing for Vietnamese girls, naturally. It’s like they are born with cooking skills, you know. What made her even more of a friend was that she told us about her relationship with Da. Now this is something private, and I’m not in the position to tell it but it was pretty sad. I’ll just say a little bit. Her parents including Lynh oppose their relationship and ask her to stop seeing him for reasons I don’t want to say. That was another reason why he could not send us to her house from the airport yesterday night. Her parents want her to be with other guys, who mostly have family relations with them. But Ha loves Da, and she couldn’t understand why other guys can say they like her after a short meeting. To her, true feelings can only develop after getting to know one another properly.

Many guys go after her, and there’s no need to ask why. She said, even in UTP, many guys, both local and international, wanted to go after her. Don’t get me wrong, she didn’t tell us all that on her own like a biatch, but because we asked in our bid to get to know her more (you know la Kelvin wants to fellow-fellowship ma). Anyway, I was actually quite taken aback that she would tell us so many things about herself, as if we were good friends. She even told us she likes babies and how many children she plans to have (but I won’t tell you here). She added that she doesn’t have many friends UTP, except for a few including her roommate and Quynh. When she first came in, she thought she would have plenty but unfortunately, it turned out to be otherwise. She’s not close even to most of her own countrymen. She said some girls like to act weak and always gossiped. She didn’t like that. She was also not close to Malaysian students and she doesn’t know why. She said some people said she was…I forgot the exact word but somewhere along the line of not approachable. But she said she is actually a very friendly and sweet girl, like the sweetest drug. So don’t know why not many friends, not even classmates, not even us (we’re too busy with badminton but didn’t tell her that though). Well, perhaps it was our fault (as she puts it) that we did not take the initiative to get to know her more in the first place. Now we regretted, at least I am because she really is a very very nice girl with great sense of humour. She admitted being ‘lazy’ when it comes to uni work but only because she’s clever enough to leave important job to other groups members. So I guess that pretty explains your grouses, Ginn. But she said she like having you guys including Daniel and Guru because you can really present well, and the whole group benefited. Haih…what a joker. Forgive her ok? If you’d found her not looking your way or return your wave, forgive her too because she weren’t wearing her glasses sometimes, especially at night.

Hmm..wow, already so long and I haven’t even started on our visits. There’re many other things about her but I suppose it shall now stay between us four and our special Vietnamese girlfriend. So let’s continue our journey. We woke up to the beautiful lake view that morning. Ha and Lynh were already up and waiting for us for breakfast. We walked to a nearby stall to have beef noodle. As an Ipoh citizen, I’ve always defended Ipoh as having the best food and proud of it, but now I acknowledge that Cambodian and Vietnamese food are better. For one, the beef noodles were better – the soup just tasted great and the meat tender. We then went back home for Ha to change and get her purse, and off we went.

We booked the driver for the whole day, so like it or not, he was stuck with us. We dare not ask Da to join for fear the driver will report back to home. Anyway, Da had to work. Our first stop was the pottery village in Bat Trang. Here, lots of very affordable pottery and ceramic products are available. We stopped by a shop and bought some souvenirs of necklaces and wristlets. They were inexpensive, only priced at about RM2 for a nice necklace. For the same item back in Malaysia, it could easily fetch above RM15. Ha was such a joy to have with us. It was her first time there as well and she helped to choose the beads for our souvenirs and also gave suggestions. She was having as much fun as we were, and that was brilliant. We spent nearly 2 hours there, and all the while the driver had to wait for us – poor guy. After some sugarcane drink, we gave a try at pottery making. For an interesting activity like this, it cost only RM6 per person. First the expert demonstrated how to go about it and then we were given a dome-shaped clay each to start with. Jesse and I screwed up the most, having to restart again few times, whereas Kelvin, Chunaki and Ha were more skilful. Jesse’s first trial ended looking like a toilet bowl. I just couldn’t make it taller so in the end satisfied by just make a heart shaped cup, so did Ha. Chunaki’s one was star shaped and Kelvin a lopsided cup that was considered an artistic piece deserving praise from the expert. I’d say he screwed up but too lazy to start again. Just joking….. Then we decorated our cup however we like. See pictures. After decoration, our clay products were put on fired stove to harden it. That process took about 30minutes. While at it, we enjoyed the tea provided and chatted. Before long, we were hard at work painting our cups. Voila, after nearly 2 hours we’re done with pottery making. Although no where near perfection, everyone was proud with his or her own masterpiece.

Much to the driver’s relieve, we finally leave Bat Trang after spending what felt like half the day there. Little did we know, Ha was trying to arrange our travel to Ha Long Bay tomorrow all along, but we didn’t know because she spoke in Vietnam language. We thought they were calls to/from Da or other friends. Actually, we were supposed to go to Thang’s hometown at Haiphong first instead of Hanoi, but he himself was at vacation in Ha Long Bay. Back in KL, he asked to join his group but unfortunately we couldn’t because flight was too expensive as it was also last minute. The correspondent he gave didn’t work out so Ha and Da found us another travel agency. We were so grateful that they took the trouble to make sure our trip to Ha Long Bay was settled. We got a $55/person deal for a 2-day cruise.

It was already near 4pm when we had our lunch. There we tried more Vietnamese food – herbal chicken soup, noodle, fried rice and something like ‘chee cheong fun’, and all tasted good. Hoan Kiem lake was our next visit. Many people were leisuring around and taking pictures. Ha said wedding photos were also taken here. The lake scene was picturesque with a red bridge leading to the Ngoc Son temple. A minimal fee was charged to enter and we took more pictures there. Ha became our willing camera gal but we liked most to include her in the picture.

By five something the road was swarmed with vehicles. We also left for home to shower before dinner. We got ready and waited for another UTP friend to join, Tuong (hope spelt correctly). Since he didn’t have his own motor it took quite some time for him to arrive. During the waiting period, we chatted with Ha,  her mother, sister and also ate lychee, while the driver chatted with the father. When everyone was present, 10 of us got into the van and left for a restaurant, specialized in snake delicacies. Unless you travel with a local, you wouldn’t find the place because the road leading to the restaurant was quite narrow and so unlikely for tourists to come across.

The path leading to the restaurant was narrowly dark, with bamboo shooting from the sides. Walking towards it felt like it was infested with snakes and rats. Of course none was seen until we reach inside the premise. Snakes were pulled out from the caged and weighed and butchered in no time, all in full view of visitors. As first timers, we began snapping our cameras away, partly to document the process and partly as proved that we ate snakes, and drank their blood and bile – for real! The blood and bile were mixed with vodka, so when drunk (bottoms up at one go), it tasted more of alcohol. Each of us only had one cup of each type – it was enough for trial. The snakes were made into 7 dishes as can be seen in the photos. Even the bones were not spared. After the sticky rice and wild boar dish, we were very full already. The meal was a great experience and the restaurant was actually quite nicely decorated. We don’t know how much the meal was, but I bet it wasn’t cheap. Thanks uncle!

At night we chilled out at Ha’s house enjoying fruits and drinks while the breeze from the lake blew occasionally into the kitchen. The rest of the Dois were in the room except Ha, who accompanied us. The setting was warm and calm in this summer night, and was conducive for a get-to-know-each-other session. Such was that, and we found a friendship that was long due. As Kelvin said, it was never too late. We’re glad to have travelled hundreds of kilometres and fostered a relationship that we never appreciated when we were physically closer. And I’m happy to have known the true nature of Ha, a girl once misconstrue but now seems like the perfect girl and for the same reason her email was deliberately abbreviated “dhp” or Doi Ha perfect!

When the embargo was removed, Pepsi-Cola was first to appear, and then Coca-Cola followed by McD, but the Vietnamese refused – thanks but no thanks. They are not fast-food lovers. Fast forward into the 21st century, Vietnam is no longer in hunger. In fact this country now produces rice for export and with the money, rebuilds the country to what we can see today. They have excess rice to be sent to Cuba as aid, for free. Bill Clinton and Gill Gates set up funds to help clean up the city and established platforms for unemployed and handicapped people to earn a living – by making handicrafts, for example. As a result, there weren’t anymore beggars on the streets.

These were related to the visitors on the way to Cuchi tunnel this morning by Mr. Binh. He told us many stories. He told us how Vietnamese disliked burger as they can’t fit into their small Asian mouths. He told about his life. He was an officer, lieutenant rank, served the American side during the wars. He killed not a soul but was shot twice and counted his blessing that he is still alive today. A man, solid despite his age, weathered in emotion telling about the past, one could believe his stories, of things that have happened, without a doubt. He told about the war and timeline of significant events. He told about his people – smart, skilful, resilient, kind and always a smile to offer. He could have an easy life if he had chosen to follow his comrade back to US but Vietnam is his home. He was a playboy in his youthful days, but chose to settled with a local woman, whom he loves very much although not beautiful as he said quite matter-of-factly. The government does not trust him because he served the American during the wars. They wouldn’t offer him job; he tried as an English teacher but rejected. He can fly a chopper, educate, serve the military and many more but none was appreciated. He was refused again and again. He had to smuggle goods at one time to earn money; to survive. Now, for almost two decades he works as a tour guide, just like this, telling stories and showing tourists around. He is now working on a book based on his diaries, and will be published in a few years time with the help of his brother. He once lost contact with all his siblings. They all fled and because of the embargo, he had no idea where they went or how to find them. He’s retiring next year, and we were glad to be on board with Mr. Binh this morning.

Earlier today, the guesthouse served breakfast of toast bread with strawberry jam, and bananas, gulped down with a cup of coffee (or tea). The journey from Saigon to Cuchi tunnel took about 2 hours with a short stop at the handicraft-making place. The place is run by the government to help the poor, and victims of wars, some handicapped by mines or chemical effluents. If you buy things here, it’s like doing a charity to help these people. And they are skilful people, making exceptional products ranging from lacquer ware to traditional shoes. The merchandise here are really really good, as one can see the details of work and effort they put into making any one item, and they are not considered expensive. Quite cheap, really, if you put things into perspective, accounting for the quality and size. We continued our journey, all the while Mr. Binh telling us stories and jokes.

Cuchi tunnels are the complicated underground network covering kilometres in total, hand-dug by the locals and soldiers to fight the enemy. During the wars, this place was rigged with mines, booby traps, hidden doors, escaped ways and many more. The tunnels are very small, just right for the Vietnamese in those days for a great trouble for westerners. If you were in Saigon, Cuchi tunnel is a recommended place to visit. The entrance fee was about RM16 per person and an extra $5 per head for transport with guide. The visit includes a chance to go through a 130m stretch narrow tunnel and firing real gun (you need to buy the bullets, of course). Guide will explain many things along the way – about what they do, military tactics and also something about the role of women in the camp. Mr. Binh said every group of soldier there were 2 women and they had four roles. 1) To cook, 2) To sew, 3) To fight enemies and 4) for ‘honeymoon’ purposes. The tunnels were completed in 3 levels down to 90m deep and in those tunnels were rooms designated for meetings, traps, escaped ways, cook and also to make love. He also accused Vietnamese women of overpopulating Vietnam because they are like baby making machine. Ahem, it is only fair that I report on Vietnamese girls like I did for Cambodian girls. I think I agree with Mr. Binh’s findings, that Vietnamese girls are skilful and also beautiful, in general. They can cook, smart, mostly educated now and attractive. So you see, I don’t mind following Mr. Binh’s footstep. As far as I know, Chunaki agrees too.

We fell asleep most on the way back – thirsty, tired and hungry. When we arrived, it was about 3pm already. We don’t know what to eat so we walked around looking for something simple and we ended up eating bread and it was like the most delicious sandwich we ever tasted. The filling was a variety of ham and meat and plentiful of greens to go with. Other bread weren’t that bad either. The cost was only about RM2 for each type. It was really really delicious.

Feeling more energetic, we proceeded to Benh Than Market by foot. It was a very conducive place to buy things because there are so many choices and best of all, you can bargain. All of us bought some nicely designed Adidas and Nike imitation t-shirts there, only for RM14 each. Since I did not buy the handbag in Cambodia, I was determined to get at least two because mum asked me to, and I did just that for RM12 each.

Quynh, met up with us and joined us for a little shopping spree. Unfortunately we can’t stay long but nevertheless she was still willing to come. We got back to our guesthouse, collect our luggage and took a cab to the airport. Quynh apologised for not being able to take us to more places. We felt bad because we were the ones who didn’t stay long enough in Saigon. We’re sorry Q, and you’ve been so nice to us. Thank you so much! See you again!

No, it wasn’t time to go home yet because our next destination was Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Thanks to Ha (and her cousin that we never met), we flew Vietnam airlines for $100 per person. It was my first time flying in Boeing 777. Everything about it was nice – the seats, the interactive screen, the food, the temperature, and of course the air hostesses. We were flying over 900km/h, with an outside temperature of -50 deg C over thousands of meter above ground, when the food came. It was a simple bread and ham meal but it was great, that we asked for one more each. Being greedy, we also asked for juices, milk and water, and once finished we did that all over again, just because they are free! Wait no, actually we paid for it, so might as well make our money worth.

We touched down at about half past ten at night. Ha and her bf was already waiting for us. I hope Ha’s family won’t be reading this….=P =P. Dear readers, there’s something I should explain and also this beautiful girl named Ha, is an interesting subject. If you want to know more, see the subsequent post. Her bf, Da (or so it sounded), is a very nice guy and he can speak mandarin because he studied business and management in Beijing for 6 years. So we spoke with him in mandarin and Ha, in English. Both of them were very sweet and welcoming, always smiling and looking after us. We went to a café at the airport to have some food but we were afraid that it might be costly so we ordered the cheap selections. We never wanted to go to fancy places but we must be polite, right…?? Da was the one who paid eventually, and we felt bad. It was already very nice of them for their hospitality, and now they paid our bills, not only this time but for many other things.. sigh..paiseh paiseh. They were just too nice to us.

Anyway, we parted ways back in the airport as Da can’t fetch us all back to Ha’s place, for two reasons – one, a car cannot fit us all and luggage, another one was….see next post please. We took a cab and reached Ha’s home about 40 minutes away. Her mother welcomed us into the house and showed us into our rooms. Kelvin and Jesse slept in Ha’s room, and Chunaki and I, in her younger sister, Lynh’s (spelling unsure) room. See next post for more stories. Suffice to say now, Ha and her family was very very nice to us and our stay in Hanoi was truly fantastic, thanks to them.

The bus stopped for 15 minutes at a restaurant near the border for refreshment. When we reached the immigration, we got our passport chopped, bag scanned, etc and finally went over to the other side. A health officer checked each and everyone’s temperature. Everyone cleared the check and off we went into the biggest city in Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh or better known as Saigon.

The view around Saigon was just like in Phnom Penh – paddy fields everywhere and plenty of vehicles on the road. But Saigon has more cars than in Phnom Penh but not necessarily lesser motorbikes. However, the motorists wore helmets here, and only two were allowed on one bike. We reached around lunch time and waited for Quynh for further aid, ignoring other taxi drivers. They do not have tuk tuk here in Vietnam. She arrived shortly on motorbike and directed us to our guesthouse. The guesthouse that she recommended charged $15 for a room per two persons. To save the trouble of looking at other places, we agreed anyhow, and so we paid $30 for two rooms. We put our luggage and took a taxi, under Quynh’s direction, to a nice place for lunch. The ambiance was very nice and the premise clean. Quynh said many tourists come here because it was convenient as all the traditional Vietnamese food is available there with reasonable price. She suggested some food and drinks and left to see her father in the hospital who was admitted due to lung inflammation, probably caused by excessive smoking. I hope he is fine now. We looked around and ordered some more food using sign language. The noodle was delicious and the rest was okay. True enough the price was reasonable.

Going around in HCM weren’t that difficult if you had a map. The buildings and roads were pretty organized. It was raining slightly that time when we proceeded to our first place of interest by foot – the Presidential Palace (entrance fee was RM 3). RM1 = 5,000 VND; $1=18,000 VND. It was pretty cheap but then again, the place was a bit disappointing as there weren’t many things to see. We were expecting something like the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, at least I was. It was only like a modern administration building with plenty of meeting rooms, all cordoned off. One was only allowed to see from the outside but pictures were permitted. We went around quickly and took more pictures outside with the plants, tanker and jet plane.

We were lucky that it did not rain heavily. Using the map, we walked to the Cathedral situated only about 15 minutes away. It was something quite unique and different from all surrounding buildings. Then we walked to the water puppet show place. Quynh was unable to join us, and so we bought 4 tickets for the evening show (RM16 each). Since we had some time left, we went scouting for shoes and attire in some sports shops just around the bend. The prices were again negotiatable. Kelvin and I bought some t-shirt each for about RM17 apiece.

The water puppet show was the highlight of the day. If you were in Saigon, this is a must-watch show although it was quite expensive. The stage was beautifully decorated with a pool in front. At both sides, instrumentalists played the sounds and made the dialogues for the puppets. The colourful puppets’ movement, the music and sound were all well synchronized. It was really quite enjoyable even though the dialogues and singing were in local dialect but it wasn’t hard to understand what was going on. At the end of the 45-minutes show, the puppet masters emerged from the water in traditional costume (and soaking wet) to wave at the crowd. Everyone applauded acquiescently for the great performance.

Quynh came over to bring us to dinner – to eat ‘labi-labi’ or ’sui yue’ in Cantonese. I don’t know what it is called in English but they look like tortoise (see picture). The place was a bit further from the town. We were quite anxious, so we ordered only two instead of the recommended three for our number. We did not drink the blood which, according to Quynh was supposed to be good for men. The first dish that came was the vege cooked with the internals and eggs. The eggs were okay, tasted like chicken hard-boiled egg yolk. Then came the fried ‘labi labi’. The shell was hard but edible after much teeth grinding action. ‘Labi labi’ really doesn’t have much meat in them. The last dish was the spicy version. We ate all with plain noodles. All in all, it was a good experience (cost about RM 70). I still missed Cambodian food at this point of time.

We took the taxi to another modern part of Saigon. The population here alone is about 20 million – that explains the congestion. This place seemed similar to KL – brightly lit buildings, uptown malls complete with prestigious hotels to boast. The five of us walked to the night market for some shopping. Here, I got my birthday present on the spot – a bag, for a very good bargain (approx. $8). Thanks guys! I love it. Chunaki bought one huge bag that I believe can fit me in. Jesse bought one like mine but orange in colour. We left satisfied because they were all really good bargain, somehow had something to do with Quynh’s powerful presence. We walked for a while more before going back to our guesthouse. Appreciation goes to Quynh for showing us around and for taking care of our transportation. Even tough your father was unwell, you still came to be with us. Thanks.

Today the weather was fine and all was afresh again after a good night sleep. This morning, we were brought to a boat ride through the Tonle Sap lake, 12km away. The ticket cost RM20 each. The boat ferried just the five of us and as usual Mr. Ram explained things to us.

There were many boat houses along the bank, lake side. Speeding was not allowed because the water way was narrowed, so we cruised at quite a low speed. There were also school, volleyball court and more houses. In those houses, drinking water was accessible in tongs, bought from seller who came regularly. Bathing were often done in the lake. Wastes go straight into the lake as well. One can see canoe where people ply their trade, ferry goods and sometimes selling things to visitors like us. At one point, a girl from such boat jumped into ours. We bought one sprite from her out of courtesy, costing us $1. Most people living there were Vietnamese instead of Cambodian, said Mr. Ram. They lived by the waters rather than on land because they need to pay staying on the land. It’s cheaper that way. We went all the way to the wide open lake. It was really big. The horizon stretched hundreds of kilometres and fishing is the main activities here. Cambodian economy is based on rice, fisheries and tourism, in this order. There were as many as 200 different types of fish in this lake.

We stopped by at one of the place designated for tourists. Took some photos there and look around the shop where variety of things were displayed and sold. About 3 hours later, we departed back. It was a unique experience to observe people living on the lake. One wonder how they manage but of course they live their life simple and within means. The trip back was also slow. We tipped the boat driver and left for another place called Artisan Angkor where we witnessed the process of making sculptures, carvings, lacquer products and weaving. It was a short trip that took only about 20 minutes as we need to catch the bus for Phnom Penh at 1.30pm. We proceeded to an eatery shop for lunch. Bargained a little and chow-ed down our food quickly. We blessed the tuk tuk driver and Mr. Ram and thanked them for making our stay in Siem Reap an interesting one. Lunch cost RM48 for 6 people. We were sent back to the guesthouse, packed quickly and boarded the van that will take us to the bus station.

Other than the four of us, the van ferried a family from France. Both the parents fled to France when the kingdom was at war, and it was the first time for the twins, aged 24 (if not mistaken) to visit the land of their father’s. The van stopped for a drink as we had some time to spare. Everyone got down. Some drank coffee. Jesse and Chunaki joined the people there watching tv(s) on the wall – it looked like some sort of ‘cinema’ for them with many chairs lined up and few televisions with different films showing at once from which you are free to choose from. Kelvin and I on the other hand, chatted with one of the brothers and he showed us some picture taken from the silk farm where we did not have the time to visit. So that kind of made up for it.

Just like before, the bus left at 2pm sharp. This time, the bus was not pack at all, so we got a place each. The bus was moving faster than the one we took when we first came into Siem Reap which was also full. Here, we settled some money we owed each other up to this day and slept but poorly because of the bumpy journey and excessive honking.

Traffic was slow moving in the city. Among the traffic, you can see people taking a walk in the esplanade and parks. Some playing badminton, doing group aerobic and jogging. We finally arrived at Phnom Penh near 8pm. We waited at the bus company office (Malinh Group) for Chieat and his dorm friends to pick us up. Chieat was the eldest among them and the group leader in some ways.

The dorm stays mostly university students, some still schooling. This is a place of friendship and where brother and sister in Christ living together, caring and helping each other. It was a 3-storey building with 7 rooms shared by both guys and girls. We were fortunate to have received their hospitality and got to know them, despite only for one night. It was nice to mingle with the locals whenever you travel. All of them were very friendly.

Chieat brought us to a place he usually frequent for dinner after work. Needless to say, yes they were delicious. We also changed our remaining Riel back into dollar as we were leaving for Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) tomorrow. When we got back, we joined the group for some brief sharing and introduced ourselves. Coincidentally, they were celebrating birthday for June babies that night and I was one of them! They even had fireworks. It was so nice and the thought of getting to eat birthday cake soon evaporated as the celebration turned into a cake war. Everyone involved had got cake smeared on him/her in one way or another. The floor was oily and everyone was dirty at the end of the day but all was in done in the name of fun. After clean up, we grouped back for some photos and a simple game of big-fish-small-fish that was localised into ‘trai-tom-trai-tout’. Losers had to act monkey and piggy.

Everyone adjourned to bed at about midnight. We had a small room but grateful all the same for we not only get to stay the night for free but also made new friends. We learned the way of living from them. Some work to support themselves. They cook to save money. A third year student, Mom, have a dream of helping the children of her people. She wanted to do business and to apply what she will learn from other developed countries like Malaysia, Korea and USA to help her homeland. Such were the wonderful people we met and learned from through our trip. It’s difficult to not love the people of Cambodia.

Mr. Ram, 24, still a university student studying English and Culture something something, was a chatty guy. He told us plenty of information and stories, and that his nick name was DJ Ara Black, or so it sounded. Although sometimes I’m at lost of what he said, he was a cool and fun guide to have with that day. Dragon fruits were sold cheaply there, so we bought 4 costing only RM6.50. Back home, dragon fruits are expensive but slowly getting cheaper because more and more people are planting them, following the footsteps of Cambodia and Vietnam. By the roadside you could also see bottled gasoline of cheaper grade, usually used by motorbikes.

One could not help but began to feel the majestic air of the ancient times and the tall trees lined at the road sides contributed to the cooling atmosphere as we breezed towards Angkor on a cramped tuk tuk. The fee to Angkor cost $20 each and all tickets will have the buyers faced printed on it. Pretty cool, isn’t? According to Mr. tour guide aka DJ Ara Black, the beautiful girls working at the counter were mostly university students who could speak English. There were also 3-day tour in Angkor Ruins alone which you can opt for but ours was a one-day trip. After a short briefing of our routing that day, we rode into the first destination of the old kingdom – Bayon.

You have not visited Cambodia unless a trip to the Angkor Wat. To see with your own eyes the wonder of the world is to be amazed by the grandiose structure stood tens of metres high, piled ceremoniously one on top of another. The sculpture and carvings on the wall of the sandstones blocks were masterpiece in their own rights, and they told about the tales happened long long time ago. Back then, sandstones cut with long knife into cubes were brought by elephants and labours to construct this magnificent fortress. Imagined how strong, determined and clever they were in those days to build something like this without the use of modern mechanism, save the pulleys. I was like “how the hell they build that?!?!?”.

For first-time visitors I strongly recommend hiring a tour guide to explain about the interesting stories. FIY, locals need not pay to see the Angkor Wat. Mr. Rom was more than a tour guide, he is a friend. He told us not just the tales from the walls but also his life, the past, present and future. It was too much to be told here but we thoroughly enjoyed his company and sharing each others’ stories. As much as the ruins were a sight to behold, it was also a borderless playground for photograph enthusiasts. One could spend the whole day capturing moments through the lens and still felt insufficient – such was the wonder of the kingdom whose land is huge beyond imagination.

When we finished Bayon, half of our energy was already exhausted from much walking and climbing. Make sure you have a good pair of shoe and prepared to climb steep stairs. We proceeded to another main temple, all along taking pictures and basked in awe of its mere presence that still stood through the times of war and savage. Children especially will come with goodies, asking and half begging visitors to buy things ranging from key chains to shirts and from fans to coconut drink. However tempting (some quite reasonable actually) we fended all of them away, no matter how pitiful they look. They could be really good in persistence, and sometimes it pays to be just that. At any place and time of the day, you could see foreigners all over the place befitting Siem Reap – the number one tourist area in Cambodia. Tourism in Cambodia was only much promoted few years back. Signs of pilferage were obvious as many statues of Buddhism and Hinduism influence were devoid of head and limbs. Some were taken back to France and some sold for their worth. Much restoration work still needed to be done in those ruins. Sometimes one could see piles and piles of sandstones lying on the ground that needed to be sorted out, cleaned and restored. The French, Japanese and Indian were the ones hard at work preserving and restoring the sites.

A visit to a sky kingdom (also a ruin) left us a dollar and 1,500 Riel poorer. Mr. Ram did not follow us all the way up, so we climbed ourselves to the top. There, two impeccably English speaking youngsters welcomed us and started explaining this and that without us asking them to. We were suspicious the moment we see them but being polite, we did not ask whether or not they are doing it for free. At the end of the short tour, they asked for tips. So if you encountered people like this, kindly ignore them and say no up front if you don’t want unnecessary guide. Furthermore, their stories weren’t quite accurate according to Mr. Ram when we told him what happened at the top.

At lunch time, Mr. Ram brought us to a nice restaurant which spelt “Place $pecially for foreigner$ to Empty their Pocket$$$” We were skeptical but sat down and looked at the menu. Once Mr. Ram went behind for his free meal, we decided to leave. Although it was quite a thick-skin kind of thing to do, we had to do it!! That moment, the waitress mentioned something about discount and that’s when we realised even the food was negotiable. We walked further down and settled at a small shop under the zinc. We had coconuts and ordered food from menu after bargaining for cheaper price. We managed to get some good offer and the food that arrived smelt so aromatic and tasted even nicer than food we had before. Curry chicken was sooooo delicious, so were the vegetables, potatoes, chicken and fish dish, and even then sliced ginger was all walloped! But the weather was so hot, and sitting under the zinc roof did not help. There were no fans too. So we sweated a lot while eating. Moments later Mr. Ram came worried. He said we should have just told him that we wanted to eat here.

One thing to note in Cambodia (and also Vietnam), is that their public toilets were quite clean, and tissues provided. After the hearty meal, Mr. Ram brought us to climb a tall tree. This passage was built by the Japanese in view of their good friendship with Cambodia. The scenery was okay at the top, nothing much to see but it was a really long way up. Mr. Ram said a lot of couples come here for dating. He sometimes brings his girlfriend here to talk and kiss. Cheeky.

To get married in Cambodia, the man will have to pay the girl’s family some amount. This amount depends on the male’s financial situation. If he is well to do with a stable job, he does not need to pay as much. If he’s poor, he’ll have to pay higher, kind of like a higher initial penalty for insurance. Mr. Ram is considered moderately okay, so he needs to pay about $2,000 but he only has $1,000 at the moment. So he’ll only get half of the girl (either bottom half or top half), we joked! Ahem, at this juncture let me report about the Cambodian girls. Generally, I think they are attractive, beautiful girls as Mr. Rom puts it.

Next, we went to more visiting at different parts of the ruins. By this time, the weather was scorching hot, and we were all weary but carried on nevertheless. To me, one-day trip to Angkor Wat was more than enough. We visited place where Tomb Rider was filmed. Angelina Jolie was here. Trees were big and huge and their roots intertwined with the blocks of sandstone and volcanic stones to extent of damaging them. And the authorities can’t do much about it. We finally entered the Angkor Wat (another main temple), no less amazing but with similar features -columns, statues and more carvings. We took less and less picture as we were tired. Here we sat down more and just talked. Mr. Ram was becoming more ‘hamsap’ relating us his friend’s one night stand with a Japanese woman. He showed us carving of women on the wall, naked at the top. From the picture you can notice the breasts and the faces were ‘cleaner, solid colour’ looking. The reason being, as he demonstrated, people like to touch those parts and therefore inevitably made them cleaner. No joking!

About 5pm, we exited through the gate by the bridge. There were carpet greens over the entrance with calm lakes where you could see the reflection of the kingdom. The scenery amidst the sun setting was beyond describable. You just have to go and see it yourself. We went outside the street to catch our tuk tuk. More children swarmed around to sell us things. Albeit tired we still refuse politely mostly by saying “it’s okay”. One girl selling postcards even had the cheek to reply “it’s okay for u, not ok for me” to Jesse. We chuckled but also sympathised them at the same time. They looked poor and hungry, and without sandals to protect their feet. Such were their life – difficult.

Not long into the journey, we arrived at the foot of the hill where we were supposed to climb to watch the sun set at the top. One lady selling coconut came to us and I told her that perhaps later we would buy on the way back. I was genuiene at that time. You could also opt for an elephant ride for about $20. We walked to the top and there sat another ruin, a location perfect for watching the sun set. There were already hundreds of visitors from all over the world. See the picture. We stayed there for about one and half hour until the sun hid behind the mountains afar. And soon after, we too left the place – Angkor Ruins the magnificent. When we got back at the foot of the hill, the coconut lady was there calling from the other side of the street. We ignored her and she swore at me saying I will not have a girlfriend. It went something like “u no girlfriend!!”. Sigh, what did I do to deserve that. The cost for an English tour guide and tuk tuk for whole day was $20 (through guesthouse arrangement). If you contact a freelance like Mr. Ram directly, it will only cost $15. Here’s his contact – Pheara.angkor[at]yahoo[dot]com.

We made a pact with Mr. Ram that tomorrow he will take us to visit more places before we left for Phnom Penh. He asked to keep it a secret from the tuk tuk driver as well as the guesthouse keeper because they will charge for commission. It was a win-win deal. We got back, showered, rested a while, and checked email before taking a tuk tuk to the same night market area. Again we enjoyed the food at a stall. The fruit shake drinks and the food were equally good, especially the tom yam. Indescribable!! Absolutely excellent (cost $1 each type). FIY, 1.5L of drinking water cost about $0.50. Try look for it or cheaper ones but don’t go above $1. We walked to the same night market for some more serious shopping. Jesse, Chunaki and Kelvin bought 6 handbags for $17 from the same lady that chided Kelvin “no good customer” yesterday. She was wide-eyed seeing us again but we gave her business, weren’t we good? I regretted having bought none there thinking they were more in Vietnam. We shopped some more and went back via tuk tuk (no more acting macho) as we were very tired. We washed some clothes, chatted and were sound asleep swiftly.

In the evening we plan to go to Siem Reap, the place where the majestic Angkor Wat sits. So we went first to the bus station to get our tickets for bus that departs at 2.00pm (RM20 each).  As usual the streets were filled with life and crowded. There were stalls nearby selling breads and we bought some for breakfast. They were quite delicious (cost about RM2.50 each). They tasted like French bread, crunchy and a bit hard but the filling of pork floss and slight spread of mayonnaise made all the difference. I ate while riding pillion on the bike on the way to the Royal Palace (entrance RM25 each). The Royal Palace is recommended to visit if you were in Phnom Penh. The architectures were amazing and golden. Chieat, another friend, joined us today. Pictures are allowed in most places, only restricted in areas where there are a lot of precious gems and sacred. That place is quite huge, complete with pagodas, spacious gardens, replicas, statues and relics. To make it more interesting, get the locals to explain things around. The entrance charge for the locals are very much lesser, if not mistaken it was only 5000 Riel (RM 1). I guess it’s a very good way to promote foreign tourism. A lot of things to see and take picture, very nice there.. go see it!

The weather was hot, but not so humid as compared to Malaysia, so we don’t sweat as much too. One can observe that the city lacks of trees. Friends told us that’s what contributed to the hot weather. The previous government did not care much about this and resulted in many mature precious trees being cut down for various purposes including furniture making and firewood. The road was busy and honking was a normal thing and not perceived as rude, rather much like a warning or indication of “I’m coming, watch out!”.  Next destination was the national museum. The architecture wonder was also seen in the building especially the roof. The only picture we were allowed to take was the outside and the entrance with the statue that looked like hippogriff. Inside, pictures were prohibited. A friendly reminder for travellers who do not have much to spare or in other words, stingy – whenever a staff offer you a string of jasmine flowers, refrain from taking it no matter how fragrant or good fortune it may bring because once taken she will point to a bowl just 3meters away where you’ll need to put some money and also place the flower into a container. See.. you pay but you’ll be asked to return the good-luck sweet-smelling jasmine. The museum housed many artefacts, statues of Buddha and Lord Krishna akin. They were taken from the Angkor ruins where they had fallen or destroyed in war. Unfortunately most of them were either without their limbs or head or both because they were dismembered (since the whole statue weighs like an elephant) and sold, for they are also valuable. Museum has lesser things to see as compared to the Royal Palace, and sadly pictures weren’t allowed. It only took about half an hour to walk around. If you hadn’t much time you can skip this part, especially if you’re visiting the Angkor Wat because almost everything is brought from the ancient civilization.

On the way out, there were some university architectural students sitting by the side and sketching the building. We had the opportunity to talked to them a while and took a picture for remembrance. Sweet! For lunch, Chieat brought us to a shop where he usually patronizes. Each person is given a dish and was allowed to eat as much rice as we want. There were seven of us, so there were seven dishes and we shared all of them and all were delicious. In general, Cambodian food looks simple, but they are tasty and reasonably priced. Cambodian plants a lot of rice. On the plane entering into this country, one can see millions of acres of paddy field, practically covering the whole earth. Chieat said his first year in UTP was a nightmare as the food was all too spicy (not to mention oily). Cambodian food is hardly cooked together with chilli. If you want spicy, you can always add the chilli sauce provided on the table. We ate to our hearts content and at the end, banana-sago dessert was served. The meal cost about RM6 per person. Absolutely satisfying.

After meal, we still had some time before departing to Siem Reap. Therefore, we were showed the university where Chieat, Raingsei and Putty studied before entering UTP. It wasn’t as sophisticated and grand like our own universities back home but there were plenty of trees and ponds where students sat on the grass and study, catch a forty wink and chatted. Students were required to wear certain uniform unlike the casual wear in UTP. The lecture rooms weren’t air conditioned and use black boards and chalks. Perhaps there were, but looking at the surrounding, their classrooms looked just like secondary (and primary) school classrooms in Malaysia. However, one can see the content, happy faces of proud universities students. Studying in university cost around $400 per year. That’s considered cheap for us but not for them. Some worked part time to support their education. That’s how resilient and strong they are and these are the reasons I admire the Cambodian and for their hopes in the future despite their country fell into the worst tragedy of human history, only decades ago. If you had time, go visit the genocide museum. I’m glad the new generation does not need to go through the cruelty. This country is slowly rebuilding and I wish them well.

Friends went to pick our luggage and send us off at the bus station. The Cambodians are very on time. So BE WARNED Malaysians. Our bus departed at exactly 2pm and this was not an isolated case; very much applicable to all things. So DO NOT practise the Malaysian culture there. We thank them for all they’ve done for us and bade farewell.

The travel to Siem Reap has improved a lot compared to last time. Only two years ago the road was properly built and it used to take 3 days to go from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap because of land mines. Buses used to follow behind specially designed truck to sniff out land mines. Now it only takes 6 hours, though still a back-aching journey. But it was a cheaper way to travel than to fly. Along the way there were more paddy fields, alternating with small shops, houses, temples and every way of ‘kampung’ lifestyle we had back home.

We arrived long after the sun had set. This time the guesthouse that we booked arranged a tuk tuk to fetch us from the bus station. The room is even more impressive than the one we had back in Phnom Penh, for the same price ($15) because we had a bed each, and the room was quite spacious, clean and the air conditioning was working better too. You have to buy drinking water most of the time as guesthouses do not provide free refill.

We bathed and rested a while before taking a tuk tuk to the night market. To go around Siem Reap area, tuk tuk cost $1 per trip. We had a simple meal but nice nevertheless. You can’t go wrong when it comes to food in Cambodia. Any food stall, no mater how simple it may seem, is able to churn out delicious food. We spent a total of RM23 for dinner. Then we walked across to the night market. The place was clean, well lit and moderately decorated. It was very nice to shop there. This place is frequent by foreigners/tourists so the prices are jacked up for bargaining. The general rule of thumb is to slash the price by 50%. Sometimes you can go up to 75% depending on the items. There are many interesting things to buy such as robes, handbags and various accessories. For instance, handbags are quite special, embroided and sewn silk, so buy if you are at Siem Reap night market. Opening price can go up to $15 but the lowest you could get is $3. Kelvin bargained a lot but did not buy from one particular girl so he got chided “u no good customer”. It was pretty hilarious. You’ll hear a lot of “i gip u good prai”; “only for u sir”; “u handsome, I gip u chip chip, sir”. They are generally good sellers, well behaved and don’t scold you like those in Petaling Street. Even if you were chided like Kelvin, you’ll still get a good laugh. I bought one silk robe on that night for $17 though it could get lower, like $10? It was my first buy there so my bargaining skills were not up to mark yet. Anyway, we left that place slightly past 12am and some stalls were already closing. Kelvin managed to get silk scarf (more like cloths to the rest of us) from a pretty girl named Dali (if I remember correctly). She looked way cuter in reality. Jesse said “ta mei aa” and half way into bargaining, she spoke in mandarin and we was like “ja tau”. From then on we spoke more in Hokkien instead. So we bought from her and the opposite grumpy aunty “beh song” when we left. She overtook us and said we bought it expensive and said she could have given us lower price. Sigh.. poor aunty, she was obviously jealous that we took picture with Dali and not her.

We left the market in jovial mood, still joking about what happened in the night market. Acting macho men, we decided to forgo tuk tuk and walk back to our guesthouse. We weren’t very sure but somehow we managed to string together the places and shops that we saw along the way in and out earlier and manage to get close but still no where to be seen. We always asked people around how to go about King Angkor guesthouse and ended up just wrong. Some point here, some point there and Kelvin almost got bitten by a big-fat-sausage shaped dog. In the end, we were exhausted and decided to call for a tuk tuk. A young driver came up to our ‘rescue’ only to get lost again. He himself doesn’t know the way to the said guesthouse, and after much unplanned midnight sightseeing, he arrived at King Angkor guesthouse of Siem Reap. Our relieve was short-lived as it clearly wasn’t the one we entered earlier. We can tell just by the look of the porch and it was obviously not situated at the main road but the driver insisted it was. Finally after much English-Cambodian and English+Cambodian and sign language debate we finally got it right that our guesthouse was actually named Home Sweet Home!!! One of the King Angkor’s personnel who was earlier in slumber got pissed and scolded us in English, Khmer style. At the end of the day the driver demanded $2. So much for acting macho and wanting to save that $1, we ended up paying an extra $1. Lesson learned and luck was on our side that we remembered the correct name of our guesthouse or outherwise we would have spent the night on the streets. We went upstairs after arranging our trip to Angkor Wat the next day with the house keeper. Exhausted but rested superbly well that night! Home Sweet Home!

The travel idea was seeded some time in April and it slowly came to materialization in May – plane ticket booked, and plan sketched with the help of gracious university friends. The lads of the same ol’ badminton gang were the components of the trip – buddies and all guys that made this holiday less of a hassle, more of an adventure, quadruple of the fun and uncountable memories to ideally mark the end of our studies.

The precursor to our vacation abroad started at the Yeoh’s residence. Xiao Qi invited us to go over to her place for a small gathering, but many could not make it, so only Jack, Jesse, Kelvin and myself went for an overnight stay. There, we were showered with great hospitality by Xiao Qi and her family to great meals and sightseeing. Much of the story has already been narrated by Jesse – click here

Let me now indulge in telling the adventures to the foreign places. On the Friday the 12th June morning, both Kelvin and I had our own things to settle – he had to get vaccinations and I, job interview. Both of which ended around the same time at around 11am. That left us ample time to get to LCCT and catch our flight at 3.15pm. Jesse patiently waited for us (again) in KLCC listening to mp3 and munching bread in boredom. Poor fella, being a nice guy that he was, he did not even once complain on both occasions, earlier was at the KFC near puduraya, where he waited 5 hours for me and Jack! We packed economic rice for lunch, bought bus ticket RM8/person and headed to LCCT to rendezvous with Chunaki (Shean Chuan). Everything was smooth sailing and we were flown to Phnom Penh in no time. The health screening and declaration weren’t too serious at the checkpoint. I wonder would they really detain a person based on the colour gradient on the thermal screen. I find the health declaration form were pretty pointless as no one would admit themselves sick or having fever. On the hindsight, checking everyone in detail wouldn’t be practical as it would take too much time. This situation was pretty much the same everywhere. So much for controlling the pandemic. But I digress.

The 4.30pm sun was shining fiercely through the air that smelt and felt just like the air back home. A tuk tuk is supposed to come and fetch us to our guesthouse but it wasn’t in sight. We looked for our call card but none with our names in it and many tuk tuk drivers eagerly calling us to theirs and asking us which hotel to go to. This went on for almost half an hour. Thankfully, a persistent tuk tuk driver, Mr. Pearl offered his phone to call Pen, one of our friends there. He spoke to Mr. Pearl and said the guesthouse forgot to arrange transport, so Mr. Pearl will take us to King Angkor Guesthouse. And there began our journey through the crowded evening streets of Phnom Penh.

Helmets are not necessary in Cambodia during the evening, only during the day time where the police are at work. Even then, only the rider is required to wear the helmet and the enforcement is not strict enough and there were just too many motorcycles on the road, far exceeding the numbers in Malaysia. There were just as many women riders as male, and most of the motors carried more than 2 people, 3 is pretty common and sometimes you can see 5 hamburger-ed together. However, the traffic there are slower-moving, at most at about 60km/h, mainly owing to the traffic congestion. So despite the seemingly dangerous stunt of overloading, ‘mat rempit’ stint was not seen on the streets, or maybe we just didn’t see one.

High rise buildings were a rare sight. The side of the streets were lined with shops that looked very much like our single or double storey shophouses, some in poorer conditions than the others. Phnom Penh is the capital, thus some roads were quite wide and the buildings were more modern. Mr. Pearl manoeuvred his machine skilfully among the zooming vehicles from all directions. The wagon behind sat the four of us, looking into the streets and made comments about this and that. Roughly 20 minutes later, we arrived at the guesthouse, welcomed by Putty and Raingsei. One room of King Angkor Guesthouse costs $15 per night with free pick up (they paid Mr. Pearl $7). Simple math accounts to only $8 for accommodation, shared by the four of us. It was a good deal because the room was in fact quite nice. We bought a sim card costing $4 for use in Cambodia.

After shower, we were ready to go eat soup – that’s what they call their steam boat. Quite funny to say “eat soup”. Pen, Putty, Raingsei and one more guy whose name I forgot (so so sorry, but let me call you CoolJack) came to ferry us around in their bike. We first went to a shop and well….to go eat soup. It looked something like steam boat, only the soup taste differently but flavourful. They ate a lot of green leaves and herbs that some cannot be found in Malaysia, claimed our friends. There were beef, eggs, some internals, and noodles to be put into the boiling soup. And there was pig brain!!! Eeewwww..uncooked I thought they looked like mushroom until they told me. I wish they hadn’t. Now I had to try pig’s brain knowing IT IS pig’s brain! It tasted like tofu only with a hint of weird aftertaste. I didn’t quite enjoy it although known as a delicacy there. Everything rest, I enjoyed thoroughly, so did Kelvin and Chunaki. Jesse stopped eating earliest among the four of us as he finds the soup tasted weird but he had his fair share. This dinner of 9 (or rather 8 as Pen’s younger sister joined us halfway (FIY, she’s pretty) cost 75,000 Riel or RM 75. (RM1 = 1000 Riel; $1 = 4160 Riel).

Pen left for home with cute sister after dinner, and that left Kelvin and I sharing a motor with Mr. CoolJack. At night, we rode without helmets, so was everybody else. Their gas stations were always full of motorbikes, and the gas cost twice as much as ours. We rode around the town, weaving through the streets, enjoying night scenes while friends explained to us various local things. We passed a durian stall and we just ought to try Cambodian version of the king of fruit. We had two (cost RM 24), each different type but fleshy – one with harder texture but quite delicious nonetheless; one creamier which tasted nicer for me. We took away the rest and proceeded to the night market. The night market was set on a designated area and was clean with crudely tiled floor and yellow lighting all around. The center stage was showing some pop singing in Cambodian language. So we understood none but sounded funny to us. Chunaki and Jesse bought some souvenirs that they thought was a good bargain only to find out later they could have had better offer. Anyway, it was a good experience to see Cambodian side of ‘pasar malam’. They had mats on the floor for people who bought food at their stall to sit and eat. And most of their foods come with variety of sauce. Cambodian food is generally quite tasty unlike those in Malaysia which is mostly oily but ’sedap’ also. Perhaps the diet of less oil and more vegetables made them quite healthy in the sense that most people we see are not fat. You can hardly see fat people and people smoking in Cambodia. Cool eh?

The motor gang proceeded to the riverside view. In the middle of the bustling city there were several well maintained parks and esplanade where people of all ages can chill out, take a walk, play badminton, juggling feathered balls, and for young couples to date. They wanted us to observe ‘two heads become one’ in those parks but I couldn’t see one. Maybe they are just too good at it. Break-ins were quite common and that’s why their house fence were quite high and some life-wired. So do not simply go around and touch people’s gate at night. The youths were all quite well behaved as I did not see them disturbing girls – whether they are on bike or walking. In Malaysia we still see guys by the road side, whistling in uncivilized manner when gals pass by. Something to learn, don’t we? We went on for quite a while before stopping for dessert. At that time we were very full and quite tired but still gave it a try, and we were glad we did. It was super delicious – plenty of chewy jelly, and assortments to go with durian flavoured shaved ice and condensed milk (cost = RM1.20 per cup).

Finally, we call it a day at about midnight and cancelled the initial plan to get up at 5am to see the folks exercise and dance at the stadium and parks. We washed and slept comfortably. Cambodia (and Vietnam) uses 2-pins plug point, so remember to bring an adapter for Malaysian electronic devices. Luckily I did brought one, thanks to Mum.