Vietnam and the Mekong Delta (Asia Trek Pt13)

Well, somewhat relieved to be on my way to Vietnam I decided do it with a bit of style by taking a boat tour from Phnom Penh to Saigon. That in fact means that you do part of the trip by Boat, but you also spend 1 and a half days ion a bus. And surprisingly the road in Vietnam is no better than the road in Cambodia. Parts are sealed and nice whereas others are dirt road. Vietnam in particular has difficulty engineering bridges with a smooth entry and exit. Maybe cause the Mekong delta is clay and everything keeps on sinking. I digress!.

After a 2 hour bus trip (involving one moto and two buses) to a village outside of Phnom Penh we stopped as a house on the water and were we where transferred to a 'ferry.' Which is little more than a long wooden boats with some seats for about 12 on it. From there we started the 3hour journey down the mighty Mekong river. For such a big and important river I expected there to be more activity, however there were few boats and all you saw onshore was small villages and crops. On the whole and uneventful journey, until the border crossing. Border crossings seem on the whole to be reasonably hectic places. This however was gentile, peaceful and relaxed. You pull up on the side of the river and go to the immigration office to get stamped out of Cambodia. Surrounded to by trees and clean cut lawns the only people there are other tourists taking a similar boat trip. I even managed to take a photo which I wouldn't dare at other immigration stations.

After the stamping we got back on the boat and traveled another 15minutes to the Vietnam immigration. Here we collected our baggage and walked to the border crossing. With some others on the boat making use of local children to carry their bags for them. (For a fee of course, child slavery? You decide?) At the border we payed a mysterious $2000 dong fee got a piece of paper place in our passports and moved on, this time with a new Vietnamese tour guide. She took our passports and sent us further on to get something to eat. Mmmn, noodle soup and interesting spring rolls!10 minutes later she returned with passports with all the necessary stamps. We made our way down onto out new boat, very much the same as the other and headed further down the mekong.

It was only 2 min further that we took a right turn of the Mekong itself and into the delta. This was much more interesting as you go close to the people who work in the delta. Growing crops, transporting goods, planing wood and even the occasional floating petrol station. After a slight scare, when the engine stopped functioning properly; a plastic bag caught in the propeller which a young lad jumped in the water to remove we headed off further through the delta while I had a nap at the back of the boat.

I woke up a while later when we were back on one of the main rivers of the delta. Here it was apparent that the Vietnamese are more industrious and busier than the Cambodian as there were many more ships going up and down the river and many fish farms and other industries operating on the river. We headed gently into Chau doc where we were taken to our hotel for the night. After which I went for a walk to the
river and watched the families fly kites over the river while the older generation went for the daily loop walk. Chau doc seems like a student city as there are many students riding around on push bikes. I chatted with two people from Sweden and a local Vietnamese who in a very cheerful manner told us how Vietnam implements the death penalty. Then to bed to prepare for the journey to Saigon, whoops, sorry; Ho Chi Min City.

Given Vietnamese industriousness I was expecting a reasonably smooth trip. However through some strange design the planners for redevelopment of a road had decided to rip up the whole road and then fix it bit by bit. So we ended up with what felt like more than 100km of bumpy dirt road. You could even see the foundations of all the bridges that were being replaced but not a single one of the 20 odd were actually finished. Odd! After driving for 4 hours and having not eaten for more than 6, we in the bus were getting rather annoyed with the bus driver who could not give us a staight answer as to when we would stop. So I decided that the next time the bus stopped I would step out of the bus and get food regardless of what the bus driver wanted. Finally the bus driver pulled up and I got out; my assertiveness proved futile as this was where we were to have lunch anyway. We all sat down for a meal and ordered according to the menu. Food was ordinary and when the waiter doubled the prices on us claiming that the menu we saw was an 'old' menu the Swedish girls lost it and refused to pay the additional money and walked off. It was lucky there was a Vietnamese there to help translate after after much discussion it became apparent that there was no 'new' menu and that they wanted to scam us out of our money. We left paying the rates as stated in the menu, leaving behind and irate manager. I am still not sure who she was irate at. Us or the waiter who even falsified and invoice! All in all this was the worst bus trip of my travels, so much so that I almost wrote to the lonely planet about the tour company.

Arriving in Saigon we where left at a bus station 10km from the centre of the city, after much hassle from taxi and moto drivers we thought we got ourselves a metered taxi to the city. However the taxi driver refused to turn on the meter, claiming it would coast twice as much (which would surely be in his benefit)and with none of us willing to step out of the taxi we ended up paying the rate we wanted. Not a particularly happy introduction to Vietnam! We arrived in the tourist area and I arranged accommodation in a small alleyway, 1.5 meters wide with 4 storey houses on each side. In this alleyway there were businesses and restaurants of all kinds as well as hotels. Here we stayed inside someones home (the family slept on the ground floor in about 12square meter, including kitchen and living room, while renting out the other 3 floors) for a reasonable rate. Following this I wandered aimlessly around the city, awaiting the impending arrival of my mother the following day.

After nervous moments as mum took her time getting out of the airport, I finally had some company for my travels. We made our way to our temporary home via metered taxi, who switched it on after we threatened to step out of the taxi, saving us $2. The follwing day we spent seeing the sights including the Independence palace, which has been left largely intact as it was the day the Viet Cong entered the palace at the fall of Saigon in 1975. Very interesting as you can see where the military planner sat and lived during those days. Even all the old radio equipment still sit in the war rooms underneath the building. From there we walked to the War Memorial which gives a Vietnamese account of the American and south Vietnamese atrocities committed during the war, with a particular focus on the effects of Agent Orange, Napalm and Land Mines. It just goes to show that no matter which side you are on, war brings out the worst in people and technology only increases your options, but doesn't change you sentiment. You can hear the echoes from Iraq in the back of your head. This account is biased no doubt, but many would say the same of American accounts. The whole museum has many interesting photos, artifacts and documents relating to the war. For me it raised the question, when will Americans realise the way their righteousness clouds their vision and understanding in the same way that the communists suffer from.

Weary from jet lag and walking, we returned to the hotel for one of many early nights. the next morning we traveled successfully from our hotel to Vinh Long, by arranging it ourselves. We could have taken a tour but that is no fun. After catching two local buses and then an intercity bus to Vinh Long, none of which had air conditioning we were dropped off at a petrol station 3km out of the city. From here we picked a direction to talk on some vague guidance of some local moto drivers. After some uncertainty it turned out we picked right and ended up in the center of the city. Form there we realised that our options were limited without a tour company. So we booked a one day 2 night trip through the Mekong delta, jumped on a boat to our home stay for the night. There are homestays and homestays, and this homestay was more a hotel stay, which was a little disappointing but the small amount of people with us made it quite relaxing. Sunset beers on the river bank with orchard on either side and a fresh home cooked meal. I think we bore it quite well.

the next day was a day tour through the mekong delta, along with visiting the Cai Be floating market (2hrs to late) by boat and bicycle we also visited some placed that made coconut flavoured ricepaper and popping corn. Again very interesting to see how these products were made but these days it is only for tourists as mass production for the general market is done elsewhere.But the people that work there make a healthy profit from tourists purchasing their homemade wares, which were nice! From there we took the boat back into the delta and then transferred onto some row boat for a 1 hour before lunch. It is surprising how much more peaceful boat travel is when you get rid of the engine! The rest of the day was spent in a hammock waiting for the boat to take us back to the homestay for a home cooked meal. This time entirely on our own. Which was nice but uneventful, before waking up the next day, with no boat arriving. We waited before making some phone calls to get a boat o come. We had told the tour guide that we wanted to leave at 9am, but that message clearly hadn't got through to management and so no boat was sent out. So we waited and at about 11am a boat finally meandered up the river to take us back to Vinh Long. There mum haggled over some bread, eventually buying of two different sellers before hopping on the bus back to Ho Chi Min City.

The Following day was spent on another day tour this time to the Cu Chi tunnels which were made and used by the Viet cong and succeeded in keeping the American's a bay despite only being 100km of so from the then Saigon. This intricate array of tunnel over 200km long and up to four levels deep was accessible through very small hole in the surface which had to be widened to allow us tourists to try them out. Once inside you can crawl around in the dark, dank tunnels which would never have provided a comfortable resting place. and claustrophobia was not an option. Crawl through them occasionally you go into pitch black and you are only soother by the distant voice of other tourists. I everyone went silent I would have come closer to panicking than I already was. A testament to what people can do and what happened in the war you can finish of the tour by shooting an AK47 at the local gun club. While it adds to the atmsphere hearing gunshots as you walk around, I have mixed feelings about shooting weapons at memorial sights to wars.

Another side trek on the tour was a visit to a factory making goods, staffed by disabled people. The Vietnam government seems to take the plight of victims of Agent Orange and Napalm (which caused ongoing genetic birth defects) reasonably seriously and there are quite a few of these institutions setup around Vietnam. Admittedly they are not payed a lot, and the sales staff who are not disabled no doubt get paid more. But this is how business is all over the world and if they weren't working in these factories earning a livable wage, they would likely have no work at all. I would like to go back and buy some goods from there in the future, unfortunately the only way I know how to get there is to take the tour again!

That's about it for now. Next, Dalat and the motorcycle trip of a lifetime. (well, almost!)

Oh my!! Cambodia! (Asia Trek Pt 12)

You may remember some time ago that I said this travelling thing is easy. Well, I hadn't been to Cambodia yet! Described as 'the last true adventure in South East Asia', Cambodia was a shock to the system, or a least Poipet was. One that I did overcome but still a shock.

You feel Cambodia coming before you have crossed the border as Cambodian's greet you when you get off the the bus in Thailand. They very kindly help you across the border; Telling you which direction to go, providing you with all the appropriate forms to fill out and follow you all the way across the border. I probably should have read up more on the scams in this area, but come what may approach to travelling somewhat prevented this. The border crossing itself was hassle free, though the Casino placed in no mans land between Thailand and Cambodia is a bit odd! Thailand doesn't allow Casino and Cambodian government probably doesn't want to promote it in the local population, so they build it in between the two countries. The is also a 'friendship market' (as the are friendship monuments and bridges, aimed at building relations between nations!) which allows the poorer Cambodian food producers to sell there wares in Thailand. Cambodians are given a border pass which allow them easy access to Thailand though I believe they are restricted to the market area only.

Now there are some changes as you cross the border that are easy to digest; such as the road rules change from left to right handed roads. There are others that are not so easy. Like, there are suddenly no sealed roads!! In Poipet, the border city in Cambodia , that I estimate has about 100,000 people, probably more. There is not a single sealed road in the whole city. When I said that going from order to chaos when crossing the Malay/Thai border, I didn't really know what I was saying. Because Poipet is chaotic. Once you get on your tuk-tuk - infinitely less glamorous than those in Thailand, and make, no rock/bounce, your way down the dirt road, with moto's, trucks and buses beeping their way over the dusty roads. I felt a insecurity wash over me as I couldn't gauge what the city is like have never been anywhere like it. This was the first place were I really felt unsafe and out of my comfort zone. This was somewhere really new! This was Africa in Asia. This was, need to go to my hotel and watch some TV to acclimatise.

But first there were things to arrange. After crossing the border, under the stress I relented to my helpful assistants who took me to a hotel, which was nice (little more than I would like to pay, but nice to have the comfort) and close to the bus station. After arranging the room I should have let them (by now there were four of them) go. But due to my insecurity I let them assist me to exchange money, at a poor rate (partly because it was a roadside stall that tried to rip me of 2000 riel as well, and because exchange rates are generally a bit loose in Asia), buy a bus ticket (ata significantly inflated price) and was about to say goodbye, rejecting there offers to take me other places, when they mentioned the dreaded word; Tip. I presumed they were on a commission basis, but no, they were in it for the tip and they wanted 100 baht no less! Each!! What can you do! There is no doubt that they helped me! I managed to get it down to only paying two off them and went on my way, (after a while you realise you are losing money by paying the tourist fee at every point so you get over it quickly) at which point they no doubt return to the border for some further scalping.

But, I survived! Without losing too much and I had the all important ticket to Phnom Penh. (though I wasn't entirely sure that my ticket was even valid, as it was bought from a guy behind a small desk in the front of a building with a bus. No signs, but the ticket looked real)

By this stage my nerves had calmed somewhat and I was feeling a little more relaxed however I would find that in the week I spent in Cambodia I would never I felt totally comfortable or safe. I managed to find a place to eat and after pointing at some food managed to get a meal, before walking back to the hotel. The view from the hotel wasn't too bad! But this is not a place you want to out and about at night. I did not see any crime or corruption, but you get the feeling that it is not far from the surface. It is amazing how dirt roads can change your perception of a place!

The wealth differential with Thailand is obvious everywhere, the buses, trucks, tuk-tuks are all older. The houses simpler and people are really working on the streets. It was here that I also saw my record of 6 people (admittedly children) on one moto. But, despite that people still get there hair done at the hairdresser, have clean clothes and could easy walk around the streets of Sydney without anyone noticing anything; if only they could get there.

The next morning I woke up and due to a slight miscalculation in time, had to run to the bus station were I was pointed onto a bus which I presumed was heading in the right direction. I turned out that everything was fine. In Asia you just have to trust! So I headed off down the boulevard of broken backsides, so named by the lonely planet due to the quality of the road between Poipet and Siem Riep. Now because I took a right turn to Phnom Penh, I only had to endure an hour and half of it, so I thought it was a bit overstated. However for those that went to Siem Riep and endured all five hours long, I heard a very different story. Now the toilet stop was little more than stopping next to a paddock were everybody gets of the bus, wanders to a point they feel comfortable with (further away for the women!) and do their business. Garbage accumulated from the purchasing of food is dropped onto the floor of the bus. However as you make your way through the villages, and the road becomes progressively better, gradually Cambodia seems a more cheery, friendly and normal country as you get closer to Phnom Penh. Surprisingly the air-conditioning on the bus survived to whole trip which is better than in some other countries.

Arriving in Phnom Penh, in a freshly washed while you wait bus, you are greeted by an established city, built in largely french colonial style with trees lining the streets and nice views of the Tonle and Mekong Rivers. It is rough around the edges but it looks quite charming, even inviting. Much like you see the movies about journalists sitting at cafes in Vietnam and Cambodia. I got dropped of at the central market and greeted with the usual moto drivers wanting your business and in need of some personal security and reassurance, I quickly made a deal with one of them to take me to the tourist area of the city to find a bed for the night.

This area, down a rather unappealing alleyway that you wouldn't find unless you knew it was there, sits on the banks of Boeng Kak. This is a lake near the centre of the city and a perfect place to watch the sunset. However it is not a traditional sunset view. Weeds that cover most of the lake giving it a green colour and the far side of the lake is lined with shanty towns of tin, wood and rust. Giving a memorable yet contrasting image. You pay no interest in the contrast of wealth as you sit on an open air deck, drinking beer will the people living in the buildings your looking at are probably struggling to find a meal. On the other hand, however looks can be deceiving as it is not uncommon for a a decrepit building on the outside to be quite clean, with tiled floors, TV and happy family on the inside.

But it is in this tourist area, surrounded by westerners that I retreated to for most of my time in Phnom Penh as, one, it was ridiculously hot (the hottest I have been in Asia) and two, Phnom Penh is also not the most safe and relaxing place to be.

I did venture out to see the main attractions, including the royal palace, and various monuments, which are nice but lack the finesse of Thailand and Malaysia. But it is the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek and the Tuol Sleng Museum (S21, a school turned prison camp by the Khmer Rouge, and now a museum) that are the main attractions. The story of the Killing fields is of course a tragic event in history however the Killing fields themselves, for me did not live up to the impact that you would expect from such an atrocity. When you look at a pagoda full of skulls from babies through to adults one can't help but feel moved, but I found it difficult to recreate a sense of what it was like. All the more confronting was S21, which contains 100's of fotos of the people inturned at the prison camp before being killed at the Killing Fields. The fear, anger, denial and strength of the different individuals is clear in the fotos. It is easy to recognise the nuanced responses people have to such a situation. You are also confronted with photos of what the soldiers originally saw when entering S21 after the fall of the Khmer rouge, which includes dad bodies tortured in different ways and left to rot. This place left me numb! You don't know what to do with those photos or with the whole place. It is a memorial to some terrible atrocities which are blatantly put in your face without censorship. The tour guides, who are victims themselves of the Pol Pot regime, speak to you of the atrocities with a very detached tones and some can even laugh when they talk of the killings and the events that took place. My guess is that it is all you can do!!

All these events and situations as well as the reminders of the crime and gangs in the city made Cambodia a very confronting experience. You get frisked when you enter certain clubs and you are told that not even locals stop a traffic lights at night for fear of being mugged. But for all the danger only in place like Cambodia will a child run up to you, jump into your arms and starts kissing you on the cheek. Wanting nothing more than a little bit of love, and happy to move on with life five minutes later. The plight of children is ever apparent through the multitude of NGO and orphanages working in the area or a line of 300 odd parents and children waiting to get into a hospital which looks decidedly inactive. No doubt there are many positive things happening in Cambodia but there is still a long way to go.

It is a fact that I was glad I was leaving Cambodia to go to Vietnam and also that I would meet my mum in a weeks time. While I have not covered all the events of Cambodia this at least gives you an idea. When I return in a few weeks, I shall cover it in more detail. Vietnam is a whole different kettle of fish from Cambodia, but you will have to wait for the next blog to find out why.

Thailand Vital Statistics

Vehicles: Thailand is the land of Utility vehicles. It must have the highest rate of utility vehicle, many of them looking brand new, in relation to the total amount of cars. But the good thing is that they are being used to fullest extent, unlike some other countries.

Culture: Unlike Malaysia, which has a chip on it shoulder and feels they to explain itself and its Islamic foundations. Thailand has a natural self confidence in itself, recognizable by the fact that the domestic music industry and film industry are very strong. Very few public places, other than those for tourists, ever play western songs. I wonder if this comes from maintaining its own language and script.

Public Places: Thailand isn't the worlds richest country but still has a vast army of gardeners. Thailand has many public garden and spaces in ever town. Each is very well maintained and looked after, even though the surrounding suburbs can be quite run down. Many of these parks also pay homage to the royal family, of which the King must be close to winning the worlds most publicly displayed person.

Government Uniforms: I have to say that some of those strapping Thai guys in the fitted uniforms even had me checking them out. Always built to size.

Standard Attire: I think that Yellow (colour of the monarchy) Polo t-shirts with the symbol of the monarchy are handed out at birth. It seems like everyone has got at least one. Thai women also no how to make the polo t-shirt really work!

Biggest News Items: The return of Taksin Shinawat's return to Thailand from self imposed exile. While banned from political activity for 5 years due to the constitution, the newspaper \s suspect that he in fact wields a lot of power from behind the scenes, which is potentially de-stabalising.

Biggest National Event: The country is mourning the death of the Kings sister (it happened early January - I think. Many people wearing black, a big memorials to her in all major cities. It will take six months to build her funeral pyre.

Pai and the Migration East to Khorat (Asia Trek pt 11)

After a very windy four hour road trip into the mountains north of Chang Mai where the leg room in the bus is definitely built to Asian scale, I descending into the picturesque valley of Pai. Now let me say straight up that this is definitely a place worth going to if you are in Thailand. Able o do most of the courses and activities that people generally do in Chang Mai, Pai is a small farming village that that gathered the inspiration of the more bohemian types and became a tourist destination for those seeking an inner peace. Able to rent a bike and travel in five minutes to picturesque country roads, walks in the mountains or just wander around the street market. Pai is a wonderful place to unwind. It was with much disappointment that I realised I only had the time to stay two days in Pai before leaving.

In that time I only managed one walk/run and an elephant ride. Initially skeptical about the whole elephant rides, after a glowing report card from Kristian who had undertaken it the day before. After paying double the price as I was by myself and had to pay for two people and got a lift out the riding centre were I was lucky enough to get the largest and oldest of the elephants all to myself. After riding on it back for a while I was encouraged to move forward on to the neck. This was in fact more comfortable but also more precarious. As the route they take you on takes you up and down a hill and then through a river for some water fun. Particularly when walking dpown the hill with nothing but short hairs to hold onto, I was quickly reminded of a time when I was almost pulled of the front of a horse. This made the trip all the more exhilarating as each step became a question of will I fall or not. In fact there was probabaly very little chance I would fall off as elephants are very steady creatures, but sometime those reassurances don't seem to work.

After meandering to the river (Elephants are not known for their pace!) we got to play with them. First the elephants casually squirted us with water on the pretense that they wanted to cool down. Then there was the more rodeo style of whole can you stay on the elephant while it sits down stands up and tried (and did!!) to shake you off. Good fun and a definite realization that elephant are on a different scale of animal power. Luckily noone was hurt as some of the falls looked like they could have done some real damage. All in the name of fun. By the end I had became quite attached to my elephant and was sad to depart but the call of a bath, with water from a hot spring nearby was too tempting. All in all and expensive but good day.

Kristian was still in Pai at this stage, so we spent more time together talking about random things. But by the morning of day three realised that I had to go, and after a six kilometer morning run in the forest, (really nice, but I didn't make it to the waterfall!) I squeezed into the local bus for the return four hour journey to Chang Mai. Now at this stage there was only one thing on my mind, needing to get to Vietnam to meet my mother on the fifteenth of march with still over 500km to travel to get there. So there was little time for rest. After arriving in Chang Mai I went and did a some quick shopping and the sunday night market before heading back to the bus station for an over night bus to Loei. This was the start of a couple of very cold days.

The bus was generally in good order except for one thing. The plastic fall that allowed to the change the direction of the air conditioning and as a result it was pelting me directly with its icy winds for the full 8 hour bus journey and only sticking a plastic bag in the hole helped to alleviate the issue. Wearing and jumper and a blanket was not sufficient in keeping warm. But I survived and arrive in Loei and 515 in the morning, almost missing my stop after falling in and out of sleep a few times.

Generally what I like to do when I get to a new town is to take a few moments to rest and gather my senses. Unfortunatly the ubiquitous Tuk-Tuk drivers will never allow this. So immediately after getting of the bus the questions where fired at me, but now being somewhat of the tourist trail, what little english the Thai's knew dissapeared into practically nothing. Time for lot of aimless chit chat though eventually I was pointed to a sign showing that the bus to my next destination left in ten minutes. I payed the ticket price and hopped on the bus to got to Phu Kradung.

Now Phu Kradung is little more than a village that sits 5km from the Phu Kradung National Park. The national park is a single mountain that is like a heart shaped plateau which it was my plan to scale. However upon getting of the bus at around 6:45am I wandered around for a bit waiting for a restaurant to open when about 10 minutes later I had realised that I had left my guitar (again, I am thinking about doing it once in every country as a test. On the bus. Not really knowing what to do I did some shopping and sat down and ate breakfast. But that time I had come to the realisation that the bus was on a loop and thus would return later with my guitar but I had no idea how long it would take to return. So I walked to the bus stop which was a hut on the side of the road to ask the locals, none of which could underdstand english enough to answer me. Luckily a young girl would could speak english translated for me. Suddendly it was the talk of the wtown and the local police officer was set on the case, calling the office Kohn Kaen. After much discussion and waiting I received the information that tyhe guitar would arrive on a return bu as 11:45. So I waited at the bus station, with every new person coming to the station inquiring why I was there and the story of the missing guitar being relayed; all in Thai though. But I got my guitar back and then took the 7km moto trip to the national park.

I knew I was climbing up a mountain but I wasn't expecting this. When inquiring at the front desk as to what the options were in ragards to storing baggage I found out tht there was a porter service that allows you to have someone else walk your luggage to the top; which is what the locals do. But I walked up with my whole pack. A 9km walk to the visitors center of which 6km is uphill. Some part of which are very steep. It was a very hot and sweaty walk to the top (though it was worse going down) however the advised time is 4hrs and I managed to do it in 3, which I impressed myself with. The walk it self is very nice as you walked through different bushland type as you ascend and when you are on the top opf the plateau it doesn't really feel like you are in Thailand. I thought Thailand = thick green jungle and rice fields, however at this time of year most of Thailand is dry and brown and it only really has jungle in the south, in the northern area where you can do 'Jungle trekking' is to me just bushland, with deciduous trees that drop there leaves in winter; i.e. now. The svannah type landscape on the top of the hill makes for pleasant walking and the cliffs of the plateau make for some great sunset and sunrise views.

Accomodation there has to be the least value for money considering it takes 4hour walking to get there. I decided that a tent was the only option for me a 200baht, at the time I was offered a sleeping bag but decided not to take it as I hadn't needed a sleeping bag anywhere yet. This decision turned out to be costly and I didn't realise it until all the offices were closed. Being on the top of a hill it gets very cold and after trying to sleep for three hours in my thermals and still being cold I opened up my backpack and put on as many clothes as I could find, which was not many as I had left most at the bootom of the hill. But rugged up in three to four layers including my goretext jacket I managed to get some rest, but it was still a cold cold night.

In the morning I went to view the various small waterfalls they have but being the dry season there was nothing of them. Then I started the descent which ws more exhausting and painful then the way up and took me 3 and half hours. At the bottom I had a shower and changed before hitching a lift with some local student to the bus station who were also travelling to Kohn Kaen like me.

Kohn Kaen is a student town with a large university, beyond that there is little that is remarkable about the town (This is a phot of a square in Kohn Kaen; sorry no other photo!). However it does have a lively night market and I think (though it was tuesday , so I am not sure.) that it is one of the few places outside of Bangkok where there is a lively nightclub scene that doesn't involve 'karaoke' and 'massage'. After walking around the street for I while I came to a small park where they were giving a public film display. It was some thai comedy that I could vaguely follow becuase it was skit based. At least it killed and hours of my time before I got slightly lost trying to find my way back to the hotel. I got there in the end!

The next morning I hopped on the bus to Khorat - the second largest city in Thailand. though it is clearly well behind bangkok. Not much exciting there except the usual night markets, though one of them was like a carnival with one game requiring you to through darts to pop baloons. Those guys must go through hundreds of them in one night. Amusing to watch but didn't partake and there were only large teddy bears to be one which are somewhat cumborsome to carry around. There was also large public exhibition on the King were I found out that he is also a keen saxophone player!

Khorat also provides access to some old ruins called, Prasat Phnom Rung which date from the
Khmer empire and similar to those of Angkor Wat. Built on the top of an inactive volcano, in part due to the significance of the lakes that occupy the craters, this temple has been partially restored after suffering from theft. The restoration works have done a good job, and there is a good visitors centre with information and hisotry about the themple and the restoration works. Though typical to these kinds of things, I can't really remember much of what it said.

Getting to the temple is quite fun and almost as interesting as the temple itself.
After catching a bus to an intersection about 2hrs from Khorat, you then have to haggle with the moto drivers take you to the top of the hill and back which is about 11km (don't qoute me on that!). Fun on the way up, but on the way down there were some poor kids that had to walk the 3 or 4km up the hill and walk down at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, which was hot. I waved and smiled as I raced passed on a motorbike. Ah, the joys on having money! After returning to the intersection I was quickly herded onto the awaiting bus for the bus trip back, almost forgetting to pay the moto driver.

From there it was time to head to the borber to cambodia. Luckily for me as i found out that morning there was a direct bus, but I missed it by 10min. So I ahd to wait another three hours for the next one. Time to read the newspaper!