Hello from HCMC and a quick back-track through Cambodia

We've made it to our final destination. Beer Hoi! 1L of beer for 4000VHD (about $0.30 - yeah!). I just had my first Pho Baw which was fan-bloody-tastic, and not just because I didn't eat since breakfast today.

We arrived today on the Mekong Express bus from Phnom Phen at around 7:30pm and we're staying in a room that would've been considered very tastefully decorated circa 1975 in Holland. My first impression of Saigon is that it's so very busy and full of happy, drinking Vietnamese [Drew Brock - this is your rice queen heaven]. What it made me realise is that I haven't seen any people laughing in the streets and cafes and pubs since Thailand... I guess Cambodians don't really have a whole lot to laugh about yet.

The trip in the bus over the border was a HELL of a lot less dramatic than our taxi trip from Siem Reap to Phnom Phen, and seeing as our last blog (which I just re-read) was pretty dark, I thought I would fill in the gaps with some of the more light-hearted things we enjoyed in Cambodia.

Firstly, let me say that Phnom Phen is not for the feint hearted. And also let me say that if you want a fantastic, fun and relaxing holiday looking at mind-blowing temples and testing local foods and beers, Siem Reap is the place for you - I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone who wanted to try out the more pre-westernised aspects of Asia without the heavy stuff.

While we were in Thailand we bought a few books on both the ancient and modern history of Cambodia. Just earlier while reflecting on Cambodia over Pho and many beers we talked about how Phnom Phen pre-1975 was considered the jewel of SE Asia, where many foreign correspondents and diplomats sought intermittent refuge from the Vietnam war. As I mentioned in my last blog the Khmer Rouge basically reduced it to a third world city.

The precariousness of the political situation in Cambodia, and especially while in Phnom Phen, meant that we both really enjoyed the city, but neither of us could really relax. The city is haunted by the ghosts of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians who died variously at the hands of Vietnam, the US and Pol Pot. I mean, a week after 17 April 1975 when the Khmer Rouge unexpectedly took Phnom Phen, they drove the entire population of Phnom Phen (about 2M people) out into the provinces. In one day. And given that there is still a strong Khmer Rouge following now, it's hard to relax completely.

But enough of that - the drive from Siem Reap to Phnom Phen is something we must share.

Picture a typical inter-city dual carriageway in Australia. Now halve its width... and halve it again. But don't halve the traffic, and add cows, water buffalo, motorcycles, cyclists, running children and dogs. Lanes? What lanes? If you drive into on-coming traffic it will stop for you. Or will it? Throw into the equation an agressive driver called Chin (who is most definitely a dodgy gambler, given the number of times he stopped to hand money to people and pick up parcels from people coming the opposite way) and you've got a 80MPH ride to potential death every 20 seconds. Damo couldn't watch, but I decided to enter the world of systematic de-sensitisation and watched the whole 4 hour drive. Fuck we were scared. A tip from us to you - DO NOT TRAVEL FROM SIEM REAP TO PHNOM PHEN VIA TAXI. Take the fucking bus.

While we were in Phnom Phen we did do a lot of reading modern history and checking out grim shit. But we also did some interesting stuff, like check out the Grand Palace (which has a floor made of silver tiles that weigh 1kg each) and drink lots of piss at the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) which was a hang-out for cool looking older expats and journos. There is also a lot of business that leverages the foreign apetite for ethically produced products (i.e. child-friendly), including restaurants, one of which we ate at. It was called Romdeng and it would rival any upper echelon restaurant in Sydney for style and well cooked food. If you go to Phnom Phen, go there.

To bore you a little further, I would also like to share with you a tale of the usefulness of Sydney tenacity. You are a Sydney-sider who lives in a first world country but has been exposed to enough shit over the past 7 years that you have become jaded with the world, and perhaps even built upon your natural narcisism until it has turned into a sense of entitlment. You enter a travel agent on a Friday and request a ticket from Phonm Phen to HCMC on the following day, a Saturday. You are told that a visa takes two days to obtain, and that the local Government will not process your visa over the weekend. Do you:

a). Thank the helpful attendant and arrange for your visa to be available whenever it is convenient for the Cambodian Government to arrange;
b). Burst into tears because you have to spend another two days in a city you desperately want to leave and so drink yourself into oblivion at the local pub; or
c). Ask if they can do it more quickly about 6 times until they cave and get a dodgy under-handed deal to sort it out for you in a matter of hours?

Well my friends, I just want you to know that we chose C. A corrupt government can do anything you want it to at a price (which was $75USD each - and worth every penny).

And so here we are in Saigon. I intend to go hard on the Beer Hoi. Damo says we need to find a more permanent crash pad before we get stuck in. I say BOOOOO!

p.s. Cats - I've uploaded photos into the older blogs so backtrack and have a gander. I think they fit better with the stories they tell. All the pics in this blog are from Phnom Phen, except this last one, which is from Siem Reap.