Cambodia, at last!
Email by Alec
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Well we are now in Cambodia!
We know this because we are losing money fast through dodgey scams and government corruption. Yesterday we handed over $8 US to border guards for no particular reason. it's a standard $1 US 'fee' for the immigration officials' back pocket but for some reason they charged double, i guess it is low season (plus there were two guards working there!). We got stung on both sides of the Laos/Cambodia border.
After reading about the nightmares of do-it-yourself border crossing and transport arrangements ($100 US for a boat!) we opted to go for the $20US all inclusive air-con mini van route. This service took us from where we were staying Don Det in the 4,000 islands all the way to Phnom Phen (capital of Cambodia). Unfortunately, when sold the ticket we were told that we would leave at 8am and arrive at our original destination Kratie about lunch time. Of course once we had crossed the border we all had to stop for lunch at an arranged restaurant (someones friend/family) where we were stuck for 3 hours while the tour guides disappeared and then reappeared every once in a while with no bus to take us further. When they eventually got their act together and found a bus we were informed that we would not arrive in Phenom Phen until midnight but of course that was no problem as our bus driver and tour guide had a guesthouse that all 9 of us on the bus could stay at!
(We had changed our original destination of Kratie after being told that Kratie is a nothing town and the dolphins aren't that exciting, plus once again medical reasons for poor old peg leg pip who has given herself a 3rd degree burn on her calf after trying to straddle a moped that was leaning over with the stand down. For once i was not to blame! in fact i wasnt even on the damn thing and it wasnt even started! she managed to give herself a decent sized burn on the exhaust pipe and we're of to the doctors today for assessment.)
Of course when we finally arrived the tour bus was driven right into the grounds of the guesthouse and the gate was closed behind. All of us on the bus were too tired and unfamiliar with the surrounding alleys to argue and despite our protests on the scam decided to stay. That was until they told Pip and I that they had no double rooms with hot water. I had reached an agreement with Pip at our dinner stop (another arranged tour guide-restaurant scam where our dinner was 3 times the price of our breakfast) that we would fork out the extra dollar or so for hot water and in return I could throw my $1.50 into the hat for the bottle of Cambodian whisky that a Melbournian and two English fellows were keen on sampling. The whisky which had not one but two decent sized scorpions floating inside the bottle surrounded by some strange root-like material. In summary it tasted like the pages of an old book and made the mouth a little numb which meant that the more consumed, the better it tasted and the less people complained about the length of the journey. We left the pre arranged guesthouse in search of hot water and found a lovely albeit expensive guesthouse ($10 US) the bed was so comfortable and the house itself was a converted mansion of sorts. Needless to say we checked out as late as possible and found a nice $4 room around the corner over the lake.
Our last few days in Laos had been truly amazing. We were staying on Don Det on one of the 4,000 islands which is like a beach resort in the middle of the Mekong. The islands are quite large and are now full of guesthouses and river front bungalows. Being the low season there may have only been 100 or so tourists on the island which could easily accommodate several thousand in high season. We were only there for two days but it felt like so much longer. Our room over the river cost a whopping $1.50 US per night and the food averaged at about the same per meal. We went on a tour to see the largest waterfall (cascades) in south east asia (by water volume) [Ed: the Khon Phapheng falls] which is part of the Mekong being channeled over huge boulders and over three teirs of 5m or so drops. The power of the water was truelly awesome.
After our tour we decided to try our hand at fishing (with an english girl and two english guys we had met). The fishing wasnt anything too fancy. A bit of line we had bought at the market wrapped around a bit of wood with a hook and washers for weights and chicken skin for bait. We didnt catch a thing but the location was perfect. A water front restaurant with enough hammocks for all while we waited for the fish to bite, which of course they didnt. Not catching a thing was fine with us as 'Mama' the guesthouse/restaurant owner made a trip to the market and bought back a huge fish for us to eat for dinner. It was quite possibly the nicest fish I have ever eaten and it fed five of us until we almost burst. The cost was about $3 per person which included a nice salad and the most delicious dipping sauce that I'm sure 'Mama' keeps close to her chest.
Prior to the islands we went to Champasak to see some very nice ruins and before that we were at a lovely little spot called Tadlo where a beautiful waterfall could be seen 30m from our balcony.
We will be staying in Phnom Phen for a few days and then heading north to Angkor Wat.
Bye for now,
Alec and Pip.
::::::::::::::::::::::
Well we are now in Cambodia!
We know this because we are losing money fast through dodgey scams and government corruption. Yesterday we handed over $8 US to border guards for no particular reason. it's a standard $1 US 'fee' for the immigration officials' back pocket but for some reason they charged double, i guess it is low season (plus there were two guards working there!). We got stung on both sides of the Laos/Cambodia border.
After reading about the nightmares of do-it-yourself border crossing and transport arrangements ($100 US for a boat!) we opted to go for the $20US all inclusive air-con mini van route. This service took us from where we were staying Don Det in the 4,000 islands all the way to Phnom Phen (capital of Cambodia). Unfortunately, when sold the ticket we were told that we would leave at 8am and arrive at our original destination Kratie about lunch time. Of course once we had crossed the border we all had to stop for lunch at an arranged restaurant (someones friend/family) where we were stuck for 3 hours while the tour guides disappeared and then reappeared every once in a while with no bus to take us further. When they eventually got their act together and found a bus we were informed that we would not arrive in Phenom Phen until midnight but of course that was no problem as our bus driver and tour guide had a guesthouse that all 9 of us on the bus could stay at!
(We had changed our original destination of Kratie after being told that Kratie is a nothing town and the dolphins aren't that exciting, plus once again medical reasons for poor old peg leg pip who has given herself a 3rd degree burn on her calf after trying to straddle a moped that was leaning over with the stand down. For once i was not to blame! in fact i wasnt even on the damn thing and it wasnt even started! she managed to give herself a decent sized burn on the exhaust pipe and we're of to the doctors today for assessment.)
Of course when we finally arrived the tour bus was driven right into the grounds of the guesthouse and the gate was closed behind. All of us on the bus were too tired and unfamiliar with the surrounding alleys to argue and despite our protests on the scam decided to stay. That was until they told Pip and I that they had no double rooms with hot water. I had reached an agreement with Pip at our dinner stop (another arranged tour guide-restaurant scam where our dinner was 3 times the price of our breakfast) that we would fork out the extra dollar or so for hot water and in return I could throw my $1.50 into the hat for the bottle of Cambodian whisky that a Melbournian and two English fellows were keen on sampling. The whisky which had not one but two decent sized scorpions floating inside the bottle surrounded by some strange root-like material. In summary it tasted like the pages of an old book and made the mouth a little numb which meant that the more consumed, the better it tasted and the less people complained about the length of the journey. We left the pre arranged guesthouse in search of hot water and found a lovely albeit expensive guesthouse ($10 US) the bed was so comfortable and the house itself was a converted mansion of sorts. Needless to say we checked out as late as possible and found a nice $4 room around the corner over the lake.
Our last few days in Laos had been truly amazing. We were staying on Don Det on one of the 4,000 islands which is like a beach resort in the middle of the Mekong. The islands are quite large and are now full of guesthouses and river front bungalows. Being the low season there may have only been 100 or so tourists on the island which could easily accommodate several thousand in high season. We were only there for two days but it felt like so much longer. Our room over the river cost a whopping $1.50 US per night and the food averaged at about the same per meal. We went on a tour to see the largest waterfall (cascades) in south east asia (by water volume) [Ed: the Khon Phapheng falls] which is part of the Mekong being channeled over huge boulders and over three teirs of 5m or so drops. The power of the water was truelly awesome.
After our tour we decided to try our hand at fishing (with an english girl and two english guys we had met). The fishing wasnt anything too fancy. A bit of line we had bought at the market wrapped around a bit of wood with a hook and washers for weights and chicken skin for bait. We didnt catch a thing but the location was perfect. A water front restaurant with enough hammocks for all while we waited for the fish to bite, which of course they didnt. Not catching a thing was fine with us as 'Mama' the guesthouse/restaurant owner made a trip to the market and bought back a huge fish for us to eat for dinner. It was quite possibly the nicest fish I have ever eaten and it fed five of us until we almost burst. The cost was about $3 per person which included a nice salad and the most delicious dipping sauce that I'm sure 'Mama' keeps close to her chest.
Prior to the islands we went to Champasak to see some very nice ruins and before that we were at a lovely little spot called Tadlo where a beautiful waterfall could be seen 30m from our balcony.
We will be staying in Phnom Phen for a few days and then heading north to Angkor Wat.
Bye for now,
Alec and Pip.