Battambang and bats

Our day out in Battambang, photos of day.We hired a tuk tuk and driver for the whole day, they are very good at getting us to do that here! Cambodia appears to be run by transport cartels and kickbacks & you just have to go with the flow. We are grabbed at a bus station, whizzed away to see the hotel of their choice and then that ride is free if you take them for the whole next day! But usually it is a win win, costs about $15 for the day. Our driver was Nat and he had a grin on his face all day, according to his friends he hadn't had work for a week... They usually sleep the night in their tuk tuk outside the hotel. First off, leisurely breakfast of fruit salad, yogurt, baguette, omlettes and coffee at a lovely cafe, then away in our tuk tuk to the bamboo train, this is how the locals got by when the roads fell apart and trains weren't working during the Khmer rouge days. When other bamboo trains come the other way both stop, one gets lifted off to let the other one past. It stopped at a village and we were shown around a brick making factory by some delightful local children, talked into buying a cold drink and another scarf & relieved of a few more $$! That took a couple of hours.Then onto some old ruins, kids walking beside us with fans as we climbed the steps, wanting a few more $, saw some big fruit bats, stopped to buy some 'pink' fruit, nice, a bit like a melon. Then to a little eating place for late lunch about 30 km away, another mate of the driver. We walked up to a temple, the highest hill around. It is also another killing field with lots more skulls and bones in the memorial inside the cave. Had an interesting chat with a monk, very friendly and well educated, also after a donation for his school... After we walked down we waited near a bat cave. Around sunset every night millions of little bats come out to feed. An amazing sight, just swarming out for over 2 hours, black streams in the sky. I asked our driver where they went and he replied, laughing heartily, they go to the night club!! Half hour drive back to the Royal hotel, $15 for deluxe suite, cable tv, aircon, WiFi etc and most importantly a comfy bed. Clean folded laundry returned. Time for a beer and spring rolls at the roof top restaurant watching the monsoon rain pelt down. A good day out. Boat to Siem Reap next.

Sabaai dii Laos, Johm riab sua Cambodia

We loved our last few days in Laos, relaxing, the most eventful moment was when Trevor tripped over a snake and it slithered over his foot and off across the road into the grass. It was quite big too, made for an anxious half hour walk in our jandals back to our room at dusk! Cambodia lived up to it's reputation at border crossings, though I think it was a Laos problem. The VIP bus that we all had tickets for was nearly full when it arrived so the 25 or so extras including us were taken in another bus to the border. All formalities were taken care of then the VIP bus left and we were told a Cambodian bus would be there in 30 minutes... That stretched to 3 plus  hours, there is nowhere to go, the nearest town being miles away.  Then we were told the bus had broken down... More people arrived at the border, eventually 2 12 seater minivans showed up from Laos and everyone including all the bags piled in. We had 18 in ours and more in the other, noone was staying behind!! They took us to Stung Treng, the nearest town. Lucky for us we only had tickets to there. Some of the others had paid to go to the big cities, another 8-12 hours, they were all put on an old local bus, goodness knows if they got there or not. We wandered the town, a young guy asked us if we wanted to visit his hospitality school so we did. It provides opportunities for poor rural young people to train at this centre, it has rooms and a restaurant. They could speak English pretty well and the 5 guys we met were great to chat with.Their exit exam was coming up so we were given the royal treatment when we 'dined' as they made sure they got everything right. Fresh spring rolls, rice, whole fish, it was great. Cambodia is also very poor but maybe not as poor as Laos. Very flat country, lots of rice fields not particularly scenic so far. We left early next day on a bus all the way to Phnom Penh, about 9 hrs. Visited the Tuol Sleng (genocide) museum, (the actual prison) and Choeung Ek, one of the killing fields and now a memorial. Similar feelings to visiting a concentration camp. The disbelief these things happen and that people can do this to their own people. In the rainy season (now) the dirt keeps getting washed away and we could see more bones and clothing near the surface. There is also a big memorial which houses (10 stories high) skulls and bones and clothing. About 20% of the population, about 3 million people were murdered over 3 years. Morbidly sobering places.The people here are very friendly, a lot speak English, but they all seem to regard tourists as walking banks and device lots of strategies to take your money! Everything for tourists is charged in US $ and at the ATM you get $US as well. Bizarre. Quite a lot of beggars in the cities, we saw none in Laos. But also more evidence of wealth with some nice houses, though the majority are still shacks on stilts and new cars among the motorbikes and tuk tuks. Signs warning of mine fields and UXO, a reminder of the Vietnam war when the US dropped millions of bombs on the Ho Chi Min trail. NZ ders don't have too much to complain about!

4000 Islands

We have had 4 hard days of travel but finally made it to Si Phan Don, otherwise known as 4000 islands, (though I think 2000 of them are under water at present.) Lao transport works as long as you are in no hurry to be anywhere. The timetable is flexible, the arrival times vary considerably, you may be on a bus, a tuk-tuk or as in the photo where we r changing from the tuk-tuk, a sorngtaaou, that's a truck with hard seats in the back, we did about 150 km in those one day, 3 different ones that link smaller routes. In one it was bucketing down with rain, we were soaked. From Vientiane we went to the kong lo cave, just amazing. Photo of small entrance way across the river. Once inside in a small motorised long boat it goes for 7.5km. Enormous inside and awesome stalactites and stalacmites, some photos included but was quite dark inside so may not be the best. It goes right through to another village. They bring coffee through the cave on boats in the season. The water was really high, much higher and we would not have been able to go through. A bit scary hooning through a cave in the dark with one guy at the front shining a torch and driver at the back. Our young driver made a couple of mistakes which kept me on high alert hoping I wasn't going to be floating down a fast flowing river in the dark! The places on the way down here were very uninspiring and not very nice places to stay so we kept traveling each day. All the seats were full in one bus and sacks of rice all down the aisle, then they put small stools on top of the sacks and people sat on them. Hot and tiring and you can't get out, food is sold through the windows. Crickets, chicken, rice, eggs... But now we are relaxing for 4-5 days, reading books and laying in a hammock, time out. These islands are between Laos & Cambodia on the Mekong. Boats cannot come up river to here because there are 5 wide waterfalls blocking the way. We are on the island of Don Khon in a lovely bungalow on the water edge. We cycled round and checked out 2 waterfalls, other parts of the island are very primitive. Very cheap in Laos, we can get our washing done for 10000 kip ( $1.50) One day I withdrew 3 million kip from the ATM about $450, takes ages to get through that. Cambodia next, when we can face another bus...

Water water everywhere

It seems like there has been a water theme this last week or so, rivers, boating, waterfalls, swimming and monsoon! We hung out for a couple of nights at Nong Khiaw a little spot on the Nam U river, we had a bungalow right on the edge complete with hammock and room service breakfast (only $12 per night) amazing, although all these rooms come with extras like gigantic mosquitos, often ants and always gheckos! Some young lads we met out walking took us to a waterfall for a swim, off the beaten track where halfway there I remembered the UXO (unexploded bombs) but stuck to old footprints and instead just had 5 leeches to contend with at the end. We took a boat down river to Luang Prubang, where it joined the now huge Mekong river. Photo of me having dinner over looking the river and of the town from the big hill. Quite a tourist spot, a UNESCO site. We hired a motorbike and visited a lovely waterfall, nice swimming spots, also a bear rescue centre nearby with lovely little sun bears, they have been rescued from illegal animal trading - originally captured for bile extraction for Chinese medicine, so badly treated... Then off to Vang Vieng, a long bus ride due to the monsoon rain and really bad roads over mountainous terrain. It rained here for 3 days varying in intensity. Photo of Trevor (doing some secret training Pete.L.) on his pink one speed bike complete with bell, shopping basket, foot stand, mud guards, poncho and umbrella! All those extras he will surely require once home. So we just went out & got wet, explored some huge caves that where lived in during Indo- China war, visited more waterfalls and read two books. We found a lovely place to stay on the outskirts of town, the centre is yuk, all touristy and caters for backpackers who come here to go tubing down the river basically on a pub crawl, lots of bars on the way. All the eating places in the centre sell western food and play re runs of friends on tv. Not our cup of tea...currently in Vientiane the capital city, we can see across the mekong river to Thailand. Biked all around yesterday, photo of the Patuxai monument, built from cement given by USA intended for an airport runway.. also visited the
C.O.P.E centre, we r in good company, Hillary Clinton just visited there recently, it is a centre that deals with supporting the victims of UXO and makes artificial arms and legs and has rehab etc. Very interesting, and lots of sad stories. An amazing 80 million bombs are still unexploded here, about 260 million were dropped on this country during the Vietnam war, a war this country was not even in. A war legacy that continues. Blue sky today, heading south to the Kong Lo caves.

No, I did NOT scream!!!

Live this one with me... We headed off on a 5 hr journey in a minivan to our next destination, gear loaded in the back. We were sitting in the back row. 4 other people in the van. Bumpy windy road. The driver stopped suddenly after a couple of hours, left the van going and ran back 100 meters or so. There was a couple of shacks about and a few people. We didn't take too much notice of what he was doing cause we were all chatting. But we did see him eventually stuff something in a cotton bag, put the bag inside a bamboo basket, then run back and put it in the back of the van. I asked what it was and he said he didn't know the English word for it. Noone thought anymore about it... A couple of hours on after the lunch stop and dozing off to sleep in the back - (still with me...) -  I felt something on my arm. I opened my eyes and looked down, holy moly!! Check out the photo below...  I didn't scream, I just leapt over Trevor     (in his words showing Olympic speed and agility!)  to the furthest away spot in the van. I got such a fright. It was like a gigantic rat but with big teeth like a beaver. I frantically indicated to the driver to stop - he didn't seem too concerned but did stop. I just wanted OUT of the van. But he didn't want it to escape because it was for his dinner and he also wanted it alive till he got home so it would be fresh.  Trevor helped and they eventually caught it, (then everyone else in the van freaked) held it up for a photo, tipped some water on it to keep it from over heating and put it back in the same basket - the one that had big holes in it. The last hour I looked over my shoulder the whole way to make sure it didn't escape again.  It was a great relief to say thank-you and goodbye to that taxi. Apparently these things live mainly underground and live on bamboo shoots. I don't know what they are called... Yes you can laugh now I have recovered...