Good morning, Vietnam

Another morning, another airport.  Noi Bai airport in Hanoi is clean, light and modern – it feels a lot like Gatwick or Stansted. The Jackie Chan film Tuxedo is playing next to the departure gate.

 

We have mixed feelings about that film. On the one hand, it’s always great to see Jackie Chan in a movie. But on the other hand, Tuxedo was not a well written movie. In many ways, it reflects our experience in Vietnam – in parts great and in parts not so great. In this post, we’ll explain our final thoughts on this weird and wonderful country.

Glad to see the back of backpacking?

It’s fair to say that we’re starting to suffer from travel fatigue. Since we left Hue, it’s been a long chain of bus rides (to Phong Nha, Ninh Binh, and finally Hanoi), checking into and out of hotels, and missing home. Sadly, it’s definitely coloured our experience of Vietnam – where the bus rides have been longer than most, and the damp climate has made everything a bit uncomfortable.

Sadly, Stray hasn’t turned out to be everything we wanted for this trip either. The tour guides have been great, our fellow travellers an interesting bunch and most of the buses have been decent. But the company’s motto of ‘stray off the beaten track’ has been a far cry from the truth. In both Vietnam and Cambodia we’ve stuck to the tourist trail – all the big cities, all the main tourist locations. And that would be fine, but we were hoping to get to see some of the quieter places where the tourists are a minority.

The schedule has also felt a little strange too. For instance, in Phong Nha, Stray booked us a half day tour of a cave (caves are the big thing in Phong Nha). It was beautiful:

'Paradise' cave was only discovered in 2005 - by a local jungle man.

But when it came to the afternoon, we couldn’t visit any of the other interesting places as you could only visit them as part of all day, multiple-stop tours. So in the end there was nothing to do but go back to the hotel and catch up on our books/sleep (it was also the unfortunate day that Georgia discovered bugs and hairs in her lunch, so in fairness it would have taken something pretty special to save the day!)

Cute animals may have helped (this bunch we left in Cambodia sadly).

 

It felt strange that Stray would organise the day that way; perhaps they’re banking on people getting off the bus if they want to do more on that day, but for people on a tight schedule like us (and we weren’t the only ones) it was a bit of a disappointment.

Charming yet chauvinistic

Don’t get us wrong – there are things about Vietnam we love. Most of the local people we have met have been charming. And as for the places: Hoi An was incredibly beautiful, Ho Chi Minh a welcome breath of modernisation after Cambodia, and in Hanoi we spent a very enjoyable evening at the city lake where local people hang out, including students wanting to practise their English with tourists.  

The students asked us to adopt this traditional wedding pose in honour of our engagement.

 

But it’s not all been cheap custom made suits and friendly students. As we have mentioned before, some of Vietnamese culture we've found quite uncomfortable. Even with our limited view of Vietnamese society as tourists, the inequality between men and women is striking. More and more have we seen evidence of women working hard for their families, whilst men laze around with their friends, drinking and gambling. Also, whereas we were initially fascinated by bias and propaganda at museums and tourist sites, the more we have learnt about the country's politics the more it has depressed us. Intelligent locals have told us they feel it's best not to think too much about their political system - it's safer that way.

We were taken out for beer as part of our sunset cocktail tour.

Of course Georgia was the only woman there - the local women are out on the street in the rain trying to sell their fruit and flowers.

 We’ve also been amazed at just how status-conscious the average Vietnamese person is. A conversation with Chinh, our tour guide for our cocktail tour of Hanoi, told us how people will gladly pay upwards or $1,000 for a second hand iPhone, just for the kudos of owning one – and that will need to be upgraded every year.

When we’ve been at the tourist attractions, dressed in our rugged (and usually rumpled) travel gear and sturdy shoes, the Vietnamese tourists have been dressed to the nines, in the most impractical shoes they can find, virtually ignoring the sights in a bid to find a spot for the best selfie. Given what we know about how this kind of pressure affects young people in the UK, Europe and the US, we couldn’t help but wonder what this trend does to the Vietnamese.

So when you combine our own travel fatigue with our uneasiness about the country we’re in, it feels like it’s time for a change. And thankfully, Georgia’s itinerary planning has a change in store for us!

Off to the beach          

We’re awaiting the first of our two flights today, to take us from Hanoi to Denpasar, Bali. We’re into the last 10 days of our trip now, and we’ve only two stops left: one in Jimbaran, a quiet resort near the beach, and the other in Sanur… a quiet resort near the beach. We’ll still do our best to absorb the local culture and get out to some of the sights, but this part of our trip is mainly about the sun, the sea, and the relaxing. After all, it wouldn’t do to come home more exhausted than when we left!

J&g

Think your vote doesn't matter? Come visit Vietnam!

Although it's been a life of sun, sweat and scenery for us here in Southeast Asia, we haven't been entirely ignorant of what's been happening back at home. The government has called a general election, and have kindly scheduled it to happen just after we return on the 8th June.

We know some Brits won't be voting - or will be complaining about voting.
"My vote doesn't matter, my constituency is a safe seat anyway,"
"What's the point? Nothing's going to change"
Well, we've decided - you're right. Instead of wasting time with the pointless exercise that is our voting system, maybe we should just live in the sun and be happy - just like in Vietnam!

Tell me more!

In Vietnam, elections are much easier. There's no such thing as a wasted vote, because the party you vote for will ALWAYS get in. Why? Well, Vietnam is a one-party state, so you can vote for the Communist Party. Or you can vote for one of the independent representatives from the Vietnamese Fatherland Front (which is essentially run by the Communist Party). That's it. There are no other parties, other than a few independents (they currently have 4 seats out of 500 in the National Assembly of Vietnam). So say goodbye to wasted votes! Better still, say goodbye to wasted time: many people don't bother to turn up to the elections, one family member will just turn up to vote on behalf of all the family members. Simples!

But how will I choose who to vote for if they're all from the same party?

This bit's very effeicient too! Since everyone has the same ideas about what to do with the country (see 'one party state' above), nobody needs to mess around with leaflets, or TV ads, or debates, or competing ideas about the best way to make things work. Instead, our guide Happy tells us that when election time rolls around, voters simply pick from a list of people - and choose based on their profiles.

So in short - don't worry about it! Just choose a name at random.

So... no matter who I vote for, nothing will change, just like in the UK?

Ah, well, no. Not just like in the UK. In the UK, you have to think about whether you agree with policies or not, and vote based on that. Your candidate may not get in, but even so you'll still have registered your point of view. What a chore. In Vietnam, you don't need to worry about whether you like a policy or not - the government will just do what's best and tell you everyone's happy - just look at the way people voted! So in time, if you did have a different opinion, you'll just feel embarrassed about being wrong and get a different opinion. Then, it won't matter that nothing changes - because you won't want anything to change. Problem solved!

But what if I really disagree with what's going on?

If you really disagree, then you could go to prison, I suppose.

What?

Well, in Vietnam protests and the like are rare. That's because the government is very good at quelling them. Secret police, informants, and a prison system that's rumoured to be pretty hellish all wait for people who want to protest. And since all other political parties are banned, you can't debate, or set up legal opposition to what's going on in Vietnam. No one likes people who try to disrupt the status quo, do they?

But my vote will still count, right?

Sure. Your vote will ensure that the party you vote for gets into power.

OK... sign me up...

On a serious note
We know, it is a pain that in the UK electoral system it can feel like your vote is meaningless (we voted Green in Tory heartland Bracknell) and our system is by no means perfect. But your vote isn't just about making sure your party gets into power. Your vote is a chance to stand up and say what you think. On this trip, we've seen that this is something that's not available to lots of people in the world.

We saw a clip of Theresa May refusing to debate Jeremy Corbyn, saying that the public doesn't want to see politicians having a go at each other. Wrong. THAT'S WHAT WE PAY THEM TO DO. Debate and discussion, and the freedoms to have them, are a big part of what makes our country great (somewhere between Thomas the Tank Engine and the NHS). Our political system is stronger and more rigorous because it can be challenged. Our country and its people more prosperous.

So if you're still sad that your vote may not matter, then why not campaign for the party you support? Or campaign for electoral reform? You've got the freedom to do both - and that's amazing.

Or, you know, you could come to Vietnam and vote for the Communist Party.

J&G

 

Xin chào from Vietnam!

Hi everyone!

The blog has finally caught up to the same country that we're in - so hello (or xin chào, as they say here) from Hue, Vietnam. This is our third stop in our third country, so it's time we updated you all on what we've been up to and our first impressions of Vietnam.

Despite sharing a border, Vietnam and Cambodia have seemed vastly different to us. Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon (and apparently still Saigon if you're Vietnamese and fled the country when the Communist regime took control of the whole country), after an 8-hour coach trip over the border. We had our first run-in with immigration, thanks to what we'll politely call a bit of miscommunication between the bus conductor and ourselves. But all was sorted out without too much fuss, and soon we were walking down a street in Ho Chi Minh City, in the gathering dusk, looking for our hostel.

Ho Chi Minh City: new country, new culture
Comparing Ho Chi Minh City with Phnom Penh, it seemed a far more modern, affluent place with much more Western influence.

It's understandable when history is taken into account; when Vietnam was split into North and South, the communist north attempted to invade the south to bring the whole country under their control. Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh city) was where the capitalist Southern Vietnamese government, and the US, were based until they lost the Vietnam war (or, how it's known here, the second Indochinese War). Phnom Penh, in contrast, was the seat of the Khmer Rouge's power in the 70s, which is about as far from a Westernised power as you could get. Walking around Ho Chi Minh City felt like a welcome breath of modernity after Cambodia; it almost made up for the crushing reality that there are no tuktuks in Vietnam at all!

There are plenty of mopeds to make up for it though!

While in Ho Chi Minh City, we visited the War Remnants museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels. Both, unsurprisingly, centre on the conflict with the US, and were fascinating not just for their exhibits, but also for the way they presented those exhibits.

The Cu Chi Tunnels, for those who don't know, are a network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong to survive the US bombardment of South Vietnam and to launch surprise attacks on US soldiers. The exhibits included examples of all the mantraps the Viet Cong used, with richly painted pictures of US soldiers caught in said traps. These were shown to us by our tour guide in a rather grisly 'aren't these cool' way which felt slightly uncomfortable. Bizarrely, the site also has a firing range where you can have a go at shooting an M14 (American gun) or AK47 (Vietnamese).

Georgia testing out the hidden entrance to the tunnels. When they saw how small she was, they nearly signed her up for the Viet Cong then and there

Historically, this was used as a tiger trap. Those stakes in the bottom are bamboo; the platform above rotates as you walk on it.

Quite often, we were told, soldiers had to be airlifted to field hospitals complete with the traps. Guerrilla warfare, it turns out, is horrific

The War Remnants used to be called The Museum of American War Crimes and lived up to its names, with exhibits focusing on various aspects of the war but with a particular focus on the US atrocities committed and on the lingering effects of Agent Orange on the population of Vietnam. We'd been warned to expect this sort of bias, though in truth the information presented was pretty accurate - it was just one-sided. It was fascinating to see the war told from this perspective, which obvious emotion behind it, and quite different to Cambodia's factual, emotionless telling of the Khmer Rouge atrocities.

These guys greet you on your way in - we can't think of any museums that quite so openly flaunt captured military hardware

The text is difficult to make out in the photo, but this is a standard piece of equipment for US pilots, requesting aid in a variety of languages in case they were shot down

This photo was from the section of the museum dedicated to the protests against the war that took place around the world. Quite a powerful image

Hoi An: a change in plans
While in Ho Chi Minh City we made the decision to change our itinerary slightly. The Stray bus was due to stop off in Bai Xep, Da Lat and Nah Trang; all three were long driving days and the activities didn't much appeal to us. So instead, we flew up to Hoi An early. Hoi An is, to be frank, wonderful. It's a small town on a river, with an 'ancient' section filled with picturesque shop windows and lanterns. To Georgia it felt like being in the floating lanterns scene in Tangled.

On the river, there was a plethora of boats and lanterns floating. We're still not quite sure why!

Lanterns festooned on every street in the ancient town

Hoi An is also one of the premier locations for tailoring. We'd heard about this in advance, and were both eager to get something made while we were there - it was another reason to get there early, so we had time to make sure our clothes were perfect. We diligently scoured the tailors in town (we'll write a separate post for anyone who wants an in-depth guide to finding a good tailor in Hoi An) and settled on Kimmy tailors for a suit and dress. The end results can't be shown here - we have weddings to attend this summer and don't want to spoil our entrances!

The changing room Georgia used to try on her dress. For now it'll have to do!

Apart from tailoring, Hoi An is a delightful place to visit. We stayed in a very luxurious but wonderfully cheap family-run hotel on one of the islands in the river that Hoi An sits on; they had free bicycles we could use to get into town, a lovely little pool, and couldn't do enough to make our stay comfortable. If anyone is visiting Hoi An, we can thoroughly recommend the Rural Scene Hotel!

We also went for a cooking class, during which we also got a tour of Hoi An market, had a go at throwing a fishing net, fished for crabs, and enjoyed a fish foot spa! Georgia proved herself extraordinarily adept at crab fishing, while Jon discovered he wasn't too bad at carving a tomato to look like a swan.

Behold! All you need is one tomato, a chilli, some lemongrass, and a cocktail stick. See Jon for lessons

Two professionals at work

The finished feast. Our hostess is on the right; don't be deceived by her scowl, she took a shine to Jon!

The fish also took a shine to Jon's hands

Hoi An was a calming and beautiful place to visit, and also represents for us a successful deviation from the pre-booked and pre-arranged path of our tour. It's unlikely we'll do it again on this trip, but if we come back to Asia again, it's looking more and more likely that we could get around on our own - which would be substantially cheaper than the way we've done it this time!

Hue: it's a place to stop
If that subheading sounds a bit lame, then it's an accurate reflection of how we found Hue. It might be that after Hoi An, with its beautiful architecture and picturesque setting, anything would be a let down. But we arrived into town, and felt a little like we'd come to the Vietnamese equivalent of Reading, or Coventry: nothing wrong with it, but not a great deal to rave about either.

We arrived in the company of the Stray tour group, who had caught us up in Hoi An. There's just five of us currently, so there's plenty of room on the bus - essential given that the legroom on the bus is slightly too small for us! On the way to Hue we stopped at the Hai Van pass, a spectacular mountain road featured (for those who watch it) in Top Gear's Vietnam special. We got great view of the surrounding scenery - and of a young couple having a wedding shoot in the ruined buildings at the top of the pass!

But how do they get down from there??

There are worse places to stop for a rest break

We rolled into Hue at around lunchtime, and settled into our unremarkable hotel room (OK - we were definitely spoiled by Hoi An!). After a short nap for Jon, we decided to go and grab some lunch before heading over to the old Imperial city. Unfortunately for us, the café we'd found online turned out to be more elusive in reality, leading to an hour spent wandering in a circle through Hue's less than pretty architecture.

This was arguably the prettiest bit

The Imperial city: a city inside a city (inside a city)
After lunch, we weren't even sure if we would bother with the Imperial city. But a sense of touristic duty overcame our disenchantment with Hue (after all, the Imperial city was THE thing to do here, we couldn't just not go!) and we trooped over. Thank goodness we did - it was great! The city was the seat of the Nguyen dynasty, the last emperors to rule Vietnam. It took heavy damage during the war with the US and various natural disasters, but restoration work continues and what's there now is still mighty impressive.

The entrance gate - one of the best-looking parts currently

That's the emperor's reading room. We love the rockeries that sit in the centre of every pond in Vietnam

Rejuvenated after a successful afternoon's sightseeing, we went for dinner with the rest of the Stray group. As usual, the Stray guide took us to a place that offered both Vietnamese and Western cuisine, and had a nice lively vibe even if it wasn't the most 'local' of places. We took advantage of the Jenga sets the restaurant provided and had, if we do say so ourselves, some of the best games we've ever had!

Just look at it!

So what do we make of Vietnam?

There are things about Vietnam we are really loving. There is some amazing scenery, we've met some very friendly people and the way they've told their history is fascinating. However, there seems to be a lot of inequality between genders here. All women cover themselves from head to toe whenever they go out in the sun. It must be horribly uncomfortable in their hoodies, socks, and face masks but if they don't have pale skin they worry they won't be seen as beautiful. Women have also told us its not acceptable for them to have tattoos or drink - and when they get married they have to move in with their husband's family, however far away from their own parents that is. Whereas men walk around with their tops up, exposing their big bellies, to cool down. They sit around on the streets and in bars all day and night drinking and gambling. And disgustingly everywhere we go there are men loudly hawking up and spiting!

Where next?
Today we leave Hue and head north to Phong Nha, a national park with caves, tunnels, animals - the works. It will be interesting to get away from the city life in Vietnam, which is all we've experienced so far. It's given us a varied impression of Vietnam; it seems a place where tourism isn't as central to the economy as Cambodia. In Hue and Ho Chi Minh city, it's very plain that tourists are just another part of what makes the city tick - and though that doesn't necessarily make for the most beautiful of places to visit, it is a refreshing change from the backpacker scene of Cambodia. What more will we find out about this country as we head towards the capital in Hanoi? Who knows...

J&g xx

And our poor rickshaw driver who had to work quite hard to get us both home!

LINKS TO REVIEWS

Ho Chi Minh City:

1. Royal Saigon Restaurant
2. Rooftop View Bar
3. ABC Bakery
4. Cu Chi Tunnels
5. War Remnants Museum

Hoi An:

1. Than Phuong Restaurant
2. White Marble Restaurant and Wine Bar
3. Sao Mai Morning Star Restaurant
4. BeBe Tailors
5. Coconut Fragrance Cooking Class
6. Rural Scene Villa

Hue

1. Le's Garden Bar
2. Little Italy
3. Imperial City
4. DMZ Hotel

Days 30-34 Cambodia - final thoughts

We’re falling behind a little in our blogging duties. As we pen this, we are sat on a plane – but it’s a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang, both in Vietnam. However, the distance does give us a little time to think about what we saw in Cambodia, and try to answer some of the questions we’ve raised in previous blog posts.

A stop at the beach – another kind of chill
After the laid back-ness of Kampot, we jumped on a new Stray bus and headed for our next destination – Rabbit Island, or Koh Tonsay. We were only here for a night, but it was nice to chill out in a different way to how we’d relaxed in Kampot. Instead of wandering a colonial town in search of pastries or a new sight to see, we instead reclined on the beach for some classic holiday-making.

Free sun loungers and a cooler of beer. What's not to like?

Jon enjoyed some volleyball with the others on the Stray tour, and Georgia plugged in her iPod and drifted off into an afternoon haze. Needless to say, both of us were sunburnt by the time the sun went down!

The evening saw us enjoy a seafood BBQ, and discovering the fluorescent plankton that float in the sea (they only show up when you move your hand through the water, and they’re INCREDIBLE). That night, we struggled to sleep in our bungalow with no fan or AC, and a rather mediocre mosquito net protecting us from the bugs outside (including a scorpion!)

This is the master bedroom (note the pretty, but ultimately ineffective, mosquito net)

... and this is the en suite. The blue bucket of water serves as both the flush and a very refreshing shower!

The next morning, we stumbled back on to our bus to try desperately to grab some hours of sleep while we headed to Phnom Penh, the capital city and our final destination in Cambodia. As we tried (and failed) to snooze, we reflected that we’d seen yet another style of tourism in Cambodia. And still we were wondering – was all this just for the western tourists, or did the Cambodians (or Khmer, as they are also known) enjoy this sort of thing to?

Where do the Khmer go on holiday?
In Sihanoukville, Kampot and Koh Tonsay, we’ve seen different styles of holidaymaking that all seem to cater to western tourists. But in Sihanoukville, with its seedy feel and questionable activities on offer, there had been plenty of Cambodian revellers smoking, drinking and partying alongside the westerners. Had Cambodians created this just for backpackers despite the negative effects on their country (fuelling the sex trade, child exploitation and drug dealing)? Are these things actually part of Cambodian culture that tourists are just tapping into?

The answer, we believe, might lie in something that Coco told us when we were talking about Cambodian politics – and more specifically, the fact that the current prime minister used to be in the Khmer Rouge. “In Cambodia,” he said, “people right now are concerned with two things. Having enough to eat and having a place to sleep.” It seems that, even thirty years after the genocide, life for the average Cambodian is still pretty basic. Perhaps the reason that all the tourist attractions seem geared to westerners is because they’re the only people interested in those things right now – everyone else is just trying to survive.

What’s the culture?
It might also explain why we've found it harder to get a sense of Cambodian culture than we found it in India. During our stay in Phnom Penh, we saw a cultural dance show with young Cambodians displaying various traditional dances. It was great, and reminded us of the circus we saw in Siem Reap.



Many of the dances were farming-themed, depicted life for the average Cambodian



Others were more... inventive.

Both organisations were demonstrative of someone making a concerted effort to preserve and promote Cambodian culture, but they were striking in their isolation. It’s been quite unlike India, where the culture seems to bleed through everything they do – even dinner.

Is it because Cambodia is a country in which the most educated and creative people were killed in their millions less than forty years ago? Maybe Cambodia is still trying to rebuild and figure out what its culture is. Or maybe we see more Western culture because that’s what Cambodians wants for themselves.

One of the other things we saw in Phnom Penh was the Aeon mall. It was just a shopping mall, but after weeks of local markets and small shops the mall felt the epitome of luxury. We even treated ourselves to watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in the cinema, complete with moving seats, smoke and bubble machines (yet still cheaper than the cinema back home!) The mall was filled with young, wealthy Cambodians, and in that setting it’s not hard to believe that after everything the country has been through, simply enjoying a Krispy Kreme donut and watching a movie at the local mall is infinitely preferable to going back to the way things were before.

Onwards and upwards

It’s been a fascinating experience travelling through Cambodia. Though some parts of it haven’t been what we were expecting (temples and coastal resorts to name a few), we’ve met some of the friendliest locals you could ever hope to meet, and come to understand the history of this place and how it’s affected the people. On our way to Phnom Penh we stopped off at Choung Ek killing fields and Tuol Seng prison, two museums talking about the Khmer Rouge’s atrocities. Both were extremely hard going, but absolutely essential to helping make sense of what happened to this country.

Friendship bracelets left on the fence marking the edge of a mass grave

At Choung Ek they've chosen not to excavate all the mass graves. You can see the ones they've left untouched beyond this fence.

 

Some of the graves remain waterlogged after the rainy season; after every rainy season, the attendants at Choung Ek (and farmers all over Cambodia) are still uncovering bone fragments from mass graves.

We’ve also learned something about ourselves and how we travel. The backpacking scene, which we thought we would find preferable to the package tour we did in India, hasn’t turned out to be entirely what we were looking for. The people have been great, but sometimes we’ve felt that we’ve not been able to immerse ourselves in places like we did in India.

Next up – Vietnam. We’re looking forward to comparing it to what we've seen so far! For now, we'd both just like to say a big thank you to everyone who's reading the blog - it's been lovely to share our adventures with you. If there's anything anyone wants to know about that we haven't talked about, feel free to ask us and we'll try to respond!

J&g xx

Today being played by two of the CUTEST puppies we met on Koh Tonsay

 

Days 22 - 29: Cambodia - the backpacker trail

We have now been on our tour with Stray through a few stops in Cambodia; as well as showing us more of the country, Stray is also giving us a different experience of travelling than we've had before. When Jon spent 3 months touring North America a few years ago, he couch surfed his way across, staying with locals and getting a true sense of their lifestyles - but as a traveller he was alone. On our tour through India, our tour guide was a local man who was keen to show us as much of the local culture as possible. We were able to talk with him about his life but he also organised us visiting local people off the tourist trail. Now, we are living the 'backpacker' life and finding to our surprise, it's a very different kettle of fish.

A story of partying, full English breakfasts and expats
The travelling group with Stray are mostly people in their twenties, having a break from work like us. We met our first bus load of them at 9am in Siem Reap. We got on bright eyed and bushy tailed. Over the next half hour the bus filled up with people bemoaning their sore heads from the late night on the infamous Pub Street the night before. Furtively, we exchanged glances with each other. Our India group were mostly in their 50s and bed-by-ten kind of people. We'd got on so well with them - we were worried we weren't going to quite fit in here!

Of course as we got to know them we've found our new group to be just as lovely people. Due to the flexible Stray system of hopping off the bus for a few days when you find a place you like, we've met and parted ways with quite a few backpackers now. They're all interesting, go-with-the-flow people with great stories to share and eager to make new ones. What has intrigued us though is what the world expects that we as backpackers want - and to what extent we and others fit with that cliché.

Sometimes the world expects us to want to ride a train made from bamboo with a motor sat on it. And the world is dead right!

After our homestay on our first night with Stray, we travelled to Sihanoukville. This seaside town is filled with bars, clubs and Western backpackers. Most signs are in English and advertise cheap drinks and full English breakfasts. It all seemed geared entirely towards foreign tourists. Our tour guide Coco talked excitedly about partying all night and expected us all to hop off here so we could live the party life for longer.

He took us down to a beach restaurant for a yummy seafood BBQ and drinks. We admit that we indulged. Georgia had a few Sex on the Beaches; Jon had a 'tower' of beer. After dinner we all headed further down the beach to a club and we revelled in the good music and more very cheap beer (~40p a glass). We had a great time dancing and playing beer pong into the wee hours.

The next morning however we were suffering. At about 11 we ventured out to get breakfast at our hostel - which turned out to be inedible pancakes, eaten in the company of an old and grizzled Irish man chain smoking and steadily drinking. The most interesting thing he did was accidentally smash his beer on the floor, and then sit there while the waiter rushed to clean up after him. At the same time, we discussed the night before and remembered the children performing fire throwing tricks for tips, and women hanging around who were obviously prostitutes. What a seedy spot we were in!

Thankfully, that afternoon we found a much quieter beach where we could take in some stunning views!

Almost everyone else did hop off the bus to spend more time here but personally, this place really distressed us. Was this sort of place what backpackers usually want to find - cheap booze in a sunny spot? The hotel wasn't even particularly nice - the group staying in the dorm had bedbugs, but at the same time they didn't seem overly bothered. Weren't they here to experience Cambodian culture like we were?

Where is the real Cambodia?
After Sihanoukville, we arrived in a sleepy riverside town called Kampot. This pretty place was much more our style; there was a more obvious local culture and community here, and we were overjoyed that we'd chosen to hop off here. But even here, we felt the backpacker lifestyle making itself known.

This is Jon jumping into the river on a sunset cruise up the river in his underpants. It's fair to say that sometimes we made our lifestyle known to the backpackers, too!

The Stray recommended hotel was opposite a hostel called The Magic Sponge, run by a cheery retired Alaskan and this was the first place Coco brought us in town. It was very easy to while away an afternoon at the pool table, playing mini golf, watching a DVD and eating from a menu of local and Western dishes. We went a few times, including to an open mic night (at which Jon bravely did an A Cappella rendition of Desperado by the Eagles) and a pub quiz. But the only locals ever there were the waiters.

This kind of trend has followed us through Cambodia. When we've been taken to restaurants by our Stray tour guide, they're very Western set-ups with English menus and international food on offer. The recommended accommodation is all in 'backpacker spots' with locals offering us marijuana on every street corner and Western style bars nearby.

Are we just snobs?
You might think from this post that we're not fans of the backpacker culture at all. But in fact, we found ourselves revelling in it - for a short while. After three weeks of rice, noodles, curries, and endless varieties of unleavened breads, it was comforting to order a burger and to find a place where everyone else speaks English as a native language. The whole scene makes a bit more sense when you consider that the diehard backpackers are on the road for months or even years at a time. These backpacker spots become their islands of familiarity, as close to home as you can get when your life fits in a 65 litre bag.

And fascinating though it is to see how rice noodles are made, it might be nice to sometimes not wonder whether your food was prepared in a place like this.

But it's fair to say that, when we compare it to our time with intrepid, we miss the feeling of connection with the local culture. Because it feels to us that backpacker culture is sometimes more about meeting people who are also backpacking and enjoying the sense of camaraderie and familiarity that brings, it feels like the cultural connection is more of an afterthought that you have to go and actively seek yourself - we have managed it to some extent, but it's hard when you don't speak the language or have a clear idea of what 'the culture' looks like.

Right now, we're just going with the flow. But we're coming to the conclusion that if we want to recreate the experiences we had in India, then we might just need to be brave, go our own way a little and find those experience our for ourselves.

J&g xx

LINKS TO REVIEWS

Sihanoukville:

1. Serendipity Beach
2. Otres Beach
3. The Secret Garden (restaurant on Otres Beach)
4. Yasmine Café and Restaurant

Kampot:

1. NYNY Guesthouse
2. Ellie's Café
3. L'Epi D'Or Bakery
4. Rikitikitavi (fancy restaurant, good for a night out!)
5. La Plantation (pepper plantation tour)
6. Ecran Movie House
7. Butterfly Tours

 

A night at the circus, Cambodian style

What do you think of when you think of the circus? Clowns, perhaps? A ringmaster, a lion-tamer, or someone performing daring feats on the trapeze? All those things were in our minds when we decided to go and visit Phare, the Cambodian Circus in Siem Reap. Did we see any clowns? No. Not a lion or a trapeze artist to be seen either. But what we did see was absolutely amazing. The group tours worldwide, so we don't want to give away too much of what we saw in case you go to see the same show (and we heartily recommend that you do!) But we'll try to give you a bit of a sense about the show, and the circus, and what made the night so great.

A circus with a mission
Phare circus first performed in 2013, but its roots stretch back to 1994, when nine young men set up a free arts school for Cambodian street children. The men had been refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge, and in their refugee camp they'd discovered that art gave them a way to express, and release themselves from, the horrors they'd experienced. They wanted to provide that for as many others affected by the regime as they could.

The art school grew, but there were still children who wouldn't engage with what they were offering, but who also couldn't find a way to function in society. So the school expanded its repertoire to include circus skills. As the founder put it in the video we watched while everyone took their seats in the big top, Cambodian children love to run and jump and play. So circus skills were a more natural fit for a lot of them than sitting and drawing was!

Over time, a troupe of skilled circus performers graduated from the school - and the rest is history. Quite literally; the circus builds its shows around the history of Cambodia - a lot of it dealing with the recent genocide, but also more traditional stories. It's run as a social enterprise, and all the revenues they generate go into keeping the school running so that, as it always has, it can offer education to Cambodia's children for free. You can find out more about the wider initiative on their website here.

The show
The show we saw was called 'Sohka', named after the titular character and based on one of the founders of the school. Without giving too much away, Sohka is a young girl when the Khmer Rouge come to power. The show details how her and a small group of her friends are affected by the awful things they see, and follows Sohka's life after the regime and her efforts to establish the school to help the street children she sees.

It's a multimedia performance. In addition to the main acrobatic performers, there is an artist, who paints four pictures during the show while the acrobats are doing their thing, and a projector screen high above the action which occasionally show words designed to help the viewers make sense of what is going on in Khmer, French and English.

You can just see him busy at work in the background there.

The music is also performed live by a duo who seem between them to be able to make as much noise as an entire orchestra! They had composed all the music themselves and flitted between instruments (some we recognised and some we didn't) with ease.

Our reaction
We loved the show on a few different levels. For one, the quality of the skills on display was outstanding. On the acrobatics side, they had three people balanced atop each other...

... and many more things that we unfortunately didn't capture on film as we were too gobsmacked to remember to pick up the camera! There was also some pretty impressive juggling, and a memorable moment where one man, stood on top of another, backflipped onto a tower of two men. It was just jaw-dropping. The painting was also incredible. Jon was particularly impressed with one painting that the artist did upside-down, only revealing at the last moment that it was a skull.



And, as we already mentioned, the music was fantastic, adding to the performance and making the drama unfolding on the stage that much more real.

We also loved the storytelling. The circus isn't where one normally expects a powerful story, but the narrative that they wove was incredibly moving. The joy at the beginning of the show contrasts perfectly with the horror at the rise of the Khmer Rouge; the actors had truly horrific masks that they wore whenever they were in the role of Khmer soldiers, and the show didn't shy away from the atrocities that were committed.

The different elements of the performance all wove together so well; it might sound like a challenge to get backflips into a show about genocide, but these guys managed it with ease. Especially powerful was the dream sequence where Sohka battles the nightmares she has of the regime long after it's gone. It's beautifully choreographed, at once visually engaging and giving a shocking sense of how the regime has violated Sohka's psyche. It's also a stunning display of skill; we've never seen someone bend backwards so their head is almost touching the floor - and hold that position with a grown man stood on their hips! At the end of the performance, we both felt a little wrung out from the intensity of what we'd seen - but all the richer for the experience.

After the show the performers mingled with everyone to take photos and talk about their work. Jon managed one photo with some of the performers as a memento of the experience. Throughout, it was great to see these young people so full of confidence and smiles, given that we knew a little of where they must have come from to be a part of the school. We've been hearing much about governmental corruption in Cambodia recently, and it seems that the government is doing precious little to help the people worst affected by the genocide put their lives back together. So it was heartwarming to see the efforts of an organisation like Phare, which aren't just charities but enterprises aiming to give the people they support a structure to improve their lives with.

All in all - if they're in town, go and watch! And save us a seat :)

J&g

Seen here with two of the musicians on Jon's right, and two of the acrobats on his left. Georgia was manning the camera!

 

Days 18-21: Cambodia - first thoughts

It's been a little while since we've posted anything - sorry! A combination of weak WiFi and packed days has meant that we've not had the time to update you on our adventures as we should have. The below post was written a few days ago - another will follow soon!

J&g

The heat of the Cambodian day is slowly fading away. We're sat underneath the house we're staying in tonight, having just eaten a delicious feast - spring rolls that we made ourselves, amok (a kind of fish curry served in a banana leaf) and chicken curry along with a huge pile of Jasmine rice. We're nearly a week into Cambodia, and the differences with India are already striking.

The houses are built on stilts to protect them from floods during the rainy season, but also to help the cows keep dry - and ventilate the house more effectively in the dry season (which is now).

Another world
Cambodia is in some ways very similar to India - and in other ways extraordinarily different. They're both developing countries, with a very poor rural community who essentially exist (not unhappily, it must be said) on subsistence farming. They also have a middle class who enjoy a little more wealth, centred around the urban areas, though Cambodia's is much smaller than India's. But it's taken us a few days to spot the similarities underneath the vast differences.

The humidity is new to us; our first few days out of India (which did include a brief stopover in Thailand) it felt a lot like breathing soup. The vegetation is lush, trees and plants bordering the roads. After two weeks of arid, dusty barrenness, it feels a little like paradise.

The people are different, too. They're still friendly, and speak English - though, perhaps understandably, not as well as the Indians. The traffic is MUCH better. We've seen queues of traffic forming in orderly lines; people don't overtake at the slightest opportunity, and lanes painted on the road aren't treated as mere suggestions.

But, perhaps inevitably, the most distinctive thing we've noticed about Cambodia so far is its recent history, and the impact it's had on the country.

A nation rebuilding
Before we arrived, we didn't know much about the Khmer Rouge, or the genocide they perpetrated. In just a few short days our eyes have been thrown wide open. The fact that it happened in the seventies, when our parents were growing up, is particularly shocking. In Siem Reap, our first stop where we awaited the Stray Tour bus that would take us through the country, we visited the local killing fields. Whenever people had urged us to visit 'the killing fields', we'd always thought they were a single site. In fact, there are around 20,000 mass graves that have been identified, and around 5 museums set up at key sites. The one in Siem Reap, isn't the more famous S-21 museum in Phnom Penh, but it was still a moving visit.

The first sight that greeted us was a stupa filled with bones and skulls of Cambodians executed by the regime; the exhibit told us that they've been placed there so surviving relatives and friends have a place to pay their respects.

The rest of the complex features a Buddhist temple, which was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. It's a single-roomed complex, which has since been reconverted into a temple, but walking around the room and imagining its brief purpose was an unsettling, visceral experience. The exhibit was touched off with accounts from survivors, including one who dragged himself from a mass grave after he'd been shot by the firing squad. We won't say it was a comfortable way to spend a morning, but we were both glad we saw it.

The people we met also show the scars of the regime. We read that in Cambodia, 70% of the population are under 40 as a result of the genocide, and 40% are under 16. Such numbers are mind-boggling to us, used as we are to hearing about the impending crisis of an aging population in the UK. Our tour guide told us quite matter-of-factly how three of his grandparents had been taken by the Khmer Rouge. His tone matched that of the exhibit we saw; simple statement of the facts, with no appeal to emotion, which was at once impressive and chilling.

He also taught us that in Cambodia, one says their surname before their given name. So we would be Aspinall Georgia and Oxtoby Jon

In our first week, though, we've seen several initiatives set up to help tackle the aftershocks of the regime. One evening we saw a circus performance telling one person's experience of the regime and its aftermath. The circus itself is made up of young people who have come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds, most as a result of the Khmer Rouge's legacy. It was an incredible performance that we'll go into more detail on in a separate post. But if they're ever in the UK (and they do tour internationally), we'd both urge you to go!

The temples
Of course, any stay in Siem Reap almost demands a visit to Angkor Wat and the approximately 200 temples surrounding it. We opted for the sunrise tour, waking at 4am for a tuk tuk which would take us to the three main temples. We arrived at the largest, Angkor Wat as the sun was starting to creep into the sky, and we were not alone. Hundreds of people from all over the world walked across the long stone bridge with us, and waited to be let in to the main temple complex.

To Jon this mass procession of tourists felt crass, but to Georgia the gathering, as if we were being called, felt quite spiritual. However when we arrived in the temple itself we were sadly quite underwhelmed. Angkor Wat is the third highest rated landmark in the world on Tripadvisor and we had high hopes. Jon has wanted to see it ever since he saw a documentary on the Discovery Channel ten years ago, during GCSE revision.

We appreciated the beauty of the buildings, and the charming way stones had been seemingly cobbled together to make such sturdy structures. But what you see from the outside is what you see inside. For us there was no joy of discovery or exploration. Perhaps it was the crowds around us but there was no sense of mystery, and the lack of information anywhere meant we struggled to feel a sense of history either.

The only time either of us has seen this many people at 5am is when passing through an international airport.

The second place we visited was in Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom literally means Great City; it was once the capital of the Khmer empire and home to hundreds of thousands of people. We went into the temple at the centre of the city site, called Bayon - and we loved it. Here we stumbled through secret doorways, down dark passages and up and down steep staircases. The temple had 49 towers originally, representing provinces, most of which still stand. On each tower up to four huge stone faces gaze down, smiling enigmatically. It had everything we'd not found in Angkor Wat - except any real explanation of the site.

 

 

Our third and final stop on the tour was Ta Prohm, known to us as the Tomb Raider temple as it was used as a location in the film. This one was quiet and eerie - in a good way. It was in more of a state of disrepair than the others we'd seen so at points we had to clamber over piles of loose stone. Ancient trees had also grown into the stone at places, their roots pushing through walls - quite beautiful. It also, to our joy, had t the entrance a sign explaining the site, which helped us to understand the site as we walked through it.

Just a couple of Strays
As you can see, we've been busy! After the temples we hooked up with out Stray tour bus, and hopped on a three hour bus to Battambang, where we're staying with the local family we mentioned above. We've seen so much already, but it's provided as many questions as it has answers about Cambodia, its people, and its history. As we continue to travel through the country, hopefully more answers will be forthcoming.

J&g xx