Not getting eaten by tigers in the jungles of Mondulkiri

Aurelia and I got off the beaten path in Cambodia by heading to Mondulkiri, a province in the east with mountains, waterfalls, jungles, hill tribes, and the dustiest red dirt roads you've ever seen.

We went trekking for 2 days in the jungle on an elephant which was really incredible, but not exactly the most comfortable when you're squished in a bamboo basket on top...(note to self about short elephant treks in the future). The scenery was gorgeous, rolling green mountains, exotic flowers and trees abound, and waterfalls all over the place. There are about 2 people who live in this province per square km, so you really got the feeling that it was just you and the jungle. We slept over with a Phnom hill tribe in their bamboo hut, it was great to see how they lived and even tried some of their traditional soup (which tasted..like...well...leaves and water), and stole some honey out of trees from unborn baby bees (cruel i know, but it sure was yummy). We were not feeling too adventurous to try massive bugs that they roasted on the fire. 'm not gonna lie, i was a bit hesitant to go out there in the middle of the night to go to the washroom, our guide said most animals sleep during the day and are awake at night...and there's everything from tigers to wild boars to cougars in the jungle...eek! But i survived it alright, but you better believe i ran back to the hut and closed the bamboo weaved door shut behind me as fast as i could.

The next day on the trek back, we had a picnic and afternoon nap by one of the waterfalls, after falling in the river and soaking my shoes and pants...which meant i wore my pj's back which was fine in the jungle, no one was around to laugh at me, but kinda funny heading back into town with bare feet and pink pj bottoms...ah well, the locals regularly wear their pj's out too, except they usually are matching (no joke).

off to Laos soon, the land of relaxation!

Freshwater dolphins in Kratie & climbing a "big mountain"

Rare as freshwater dolphins are, we saw them this morning playfully swimming in the Mekong Delta River near Kratie. There are about 60 to 100 of them that live in this part of the river, and even though they are a bit shy of our boat (the closest one coming maybe 5 metres away), they were spectacular to watch.

We also hiked up to the top of "the big mountain" as they call it, which is rather small, but its not right to judge....this may have been the biggest mountain some of the locals have ever seen and I wasn't going to say anything different. Standing next to a temple from the very top of the "big mountain", the view of the town below and the Mekong River were actually quite beautiful.

Tomorrow we head to Mondulkiri and then to Rattanakiri to hopefully see some gorgeous waterfalls and do some trekking. Maybe we will run into some hill tribes that live in the jungle that talk with click's and clack's...now that would be awesome!

Templed out in Siem Reap

After 3 days straight of seeing the Angkor Temples I don't think I need to see any more temples for a while. This aside, the temples were absolutely amazing. The size of them, the number of them, their construction that seems impossible during that time period, the jaw-dropping detail of the stone carvings, did i mention the size of them?

My favourite one out of all the ones we visited was Ta Prohm since this temple (unlike most of the others) was not maintained to keep vegetation out. The temple has evolved in such a way that the trees and plants have merged together with the stones, covering them with roots and leaves and branches. The effect is quite stunning, but also shows how powerful and destructive nature can be, roots coming up and destroying a structure so forcefully that walls crumble and fall in on itself.

We woke up at 5am one day and went to go see the sun rise over Angkor Wat, with a whole other bunch of tourists with the same idea. You can't get upset over having to share a beautiful view like that, so you learn to embrace the hoards of Japanese and Korean tourists, who...with some crazy talent within their index fingers, probably take over 100 pictures/minute. Who am I to make fun...i went a little picture crazy myself over these 3 days and will need to work 5 jobs when I get home just to be able to pay for processing all my film.

After the last day of temple-seeing, we took a treacherous road through a small town where we then hopped on a boat to see the floating village of Kompong Phluk. This wasn't just a few houses built on stilts above the water...this was hundreds of houses forming a complete town with a school, temple, stores, restaurants, and even pigs in floating cages. When the water is low, there is some land to walk on, but when it is high, everyone gets around by boat. The houses are built about 6-8 metres above the ground, quite incredible to see. The children in the town were so adorable and followed us as we walked around, saying the few English words they knew and laughing at us when we said the few Cambodian words we knew.

Last night our tuk-tuk driver we met when we arrived to Siem Reap invited us to his family's home for a few drinks with his family and friends. We all sat on a traditional woven rug around a pot of soup his mom made and shared food, drinks, and stories.

Its a relaxing day today before we head out East tomorrow morning.

John McDermott = Ansel Adams reincarnated for the 21st Century

I saw the most inspiring photography gallery yesterday in Siem Reap. All I could think about was how much the photographs reminded me of Ansel Adams work in the American Southwest in the 1930's. The way he can catch a moment just at the perfect time when the angle and lighting coincide together to create the most gorgeous piece of photographic artwork is incredible.

Getting tossed around in the back of a pick-up truck

This was a first for me, and hopefully a last!

We are in Kampot, a sweet sleepy little town in the south of Cambodia. We took a day trip up Bokor Mountain one day to see the old Casino/Hotel and the Black Palace (where one of the old King's had his summer home). The buildings were abandoned after the Khmer Rouge settled in and then civil war broke out...leaving them to grow strange bright orange mold (or moss?) and looking like buildings out of a haunted house movie. The views up in the mountains here were spectacular, but the way up was incredibly violent. There were about 10 of us in the back of a pick up truck, there were padded seats along the sides, but you had to hang on for dear life because of the horrible roads (I thought Mongolia had the worst roads!). Not only did you have to hold on so tight that your hands would go numb without realizing it, but you also had to be aware of the branches coming straight for your head so you could duck in time....trust me, you wanted to duck in time as we all learnt.....some of us quicker than others.

The views from the top were worth the 2.5 hour drive up, we didn't see any leopards or tigers though (there have been spottings in the past on Bokor Mountain). Both Aurelia and I woke up the next day with sore muscles and bruises...thank God we are doing this trip while we are still relatively young, you could have broken a hip or two back there!

The next day we spent the day in Kep, watching the sunset after a hike up a mountain with a cold drink in hand. We also had some delicious crab and squid caught straight from the ocean in front of us, we actually watched the women bring in the crab traps from the water and cook it up for us, can't get much fresher than that!

Cambodia

Aurelia and I took a boat from Chau Doc (Vietnam) to Phnom Penh (Cambodia) by boat, getting off to go through customs and get our passports stamped...all very strange!

Phnom Penh was an interesting city, gorgeous Royal Palace and temples around the city mixed in with local markets and restaurants.

There is also a dark side to this city, as there is so much history here regarding the mass execution of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge. We spent a few days here, went to the Toul Svay Prey High School, or Security Prison 21 (S-21) which was taken over by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 to 1979 and was used as a prison where they interrogated and tortured over 20,000 men, women and children. These people were then taken to Choeung Ek (now known as the killing fields) and executed. It was horrible to see the pits at the killing fields where they would dispose of the bodies.

In all, 2 million people died from 1975 to 1979 under this regime, a quarter of the Cambodian population. As hard as it was to see the S-21 prison and the killing fields, it was good to open my eyes to this, see it first hand, and gain some understanding about the suffering and history of the people here.

Travel is just as much about learning about the world and other people....as it is about learning about yourself.

Blissing out on Phu Quoc Island

Blissed out beaches, beach bungalows, fresh seafood, trekking in the National Park, and snorkeling. It was easy to spend 5 nights on this island, exploring the interior and relaxing on the beaches all along the edges.
Right now the island is on the low side of being touristy, but in a few years it is going to change drastically as most of the beachfront land has already been sold, and plans are being made to have direct international flights right to the island. Happy I got here before then, when a whole crab is still just a buck fifty, bungalows and restaurants are all Vietnamese family run businesses, and there are only a few paved roads on the whole island.
For some more pics, click here

Getting lost on the Mekong Delta River

Yes...my guide got us lost while exploring the smaller canals around the Mekong Delta near Cantho (The floating market in Cantho earlier that day was pretty amazing to check out). We explored for a good 3 hours and then we were going to return back to the main port as the sun set. That was the plan, but as I have learnt on this trip, nothing ever really goes according to plan.
You didn't have to be fluent in Vietnamese to realize she was asking directions to locals along the river as it grew darker and darker. You also didn't need to know the language to realize she was a bit panicked and worried once we realized we were going in the wrong direction (4x). A worried tone of voice and forced smile is pretty universal for "bad situation - but pretend its ok!".
Through all of this, I was pretty relaxed. There were plenty of riverside houses, the stars above were beautiful and curious fireflies came to hang out in the boat for a while. With no light on the boat though, it was hard to see where we were going and dangerous if other boats didn't see us until the last moment.
When it got a bit scary though was when we ran out of gas for the motor and she started to paddle. At that rate, we could possibly have been on the river the entire night! Lucky enough, we found a gas station on the water only 20 minutes of paddling, and we realized where we were as well, so it was only another 30 minutes to shore.
What fun is travelling without a little bit of unexpected adventure! As long as it all works out in the end! :)

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

I was scared of this big city for absolutely no reason...it was fantastic. I was only planning on spending 1 night here, but I ended up spending 3. People were amazingly friendly, the city was lively no matter what the time was, motorbikes actually obeyed traffic lights at major intersections so you were able to cross, and you could actually walk on sidewalks without feeling like you needed a gold medal afterwards for completing the most random ridiculous obstacle course in the world. Aside from this, Saigon had a certain charm to it that I can't quite explain, but it was definitely a city with personality and warmth.

While I was here I did a few side trips outside the city. I checked out the Cu Chi Tunnels which were really incredible, the sheer willpower of the Vietnamese and their ingenious traps they created out of things like bamboo were incredible. I turned down the chance to fire a AK-47 for a mere dollar a bullet - but I don't think anyone that knows me is too surprised about that!

The War Remnants Museum was very disturbing but educational, it had photographs taken of the Vietnam/USA war that the West has probably never been exposed to (if you go, make sure to bring some kleenex). I have no idea how after such a short time has passed, how the Vietnamese are so friendly to American tourists. You speak to them and each of them knows someone in their lives that had died during that time. You still see many people even now that have disabilities caused by agent orange (from birth defects). I think they can teach us all a lesson on forgiveness and moving forward.

Gorgeous sand dunes in Mui Ne

Mui Ne is gorgeous!!! I'm staying in a bungalow right by the beach with lush gardens, hammocks, and lounge chairs abound. At night the whole place lights up with coloured lanterns leading down to the water. I'm going to have to force myself to leave and go to the big city of Saigon sometime (which is apparently more chaotic than Hanoi was!).

Yesterday I went to visit the red and white sand dunes (separately, they don't exist together), the red canyon, and the Cham Towers. Pictures here. I also went sand sledding on the white sand dunes which was ridiculously fun...it reminded me of tobogganing in the snow, without the cold wet feeling of getting snow everywhere where it shouldn't be (in your boots, up your shirt, up your sleeves, in your ear...you get the picture).

Mui Ne is a great place to slow down a bit, today I watched people doing Tai Chi on the beach, and watched the wives of hardworking fishermen mending their nets on their front porch. Children help their parents with watering the garden with smiles and no complaints, families run restaurants out of their homes by setting up tables on the front lawn.

I think its going to be hard to decide when to leave here!

Bathing in mud is more fun than it sounds!

It was a rough day of hard work today.... (ok, not really, i went on a boat trip to 4 islands off of Nha Trang, the boat crew, to every one's surprise, also doubled as a cover band, which of course, started a spontaneous dance party on board when they played 'lets twist again...like we did last summer". Picture both Vietnamese and tourists twisting their hearts out in the middle of the nowhere, quite funny actually!).

So yes, a rough day indeed....what better way to relax than to bathe in mud....yup...slimey brown mud. It was my first time going for a mud bath and it was surprisingly fun. Then you get to clean yourself off and sit in a hot tub of hot spring water. It was an expensive day by Vietnam standards, the boat trip cost 6 bucks and then the mud bath/hot springs cost 4 bucks...i indulged a bit too much today :)

Vietnam is fantastic!!! Especially when you get out of the crazy cities!

Happy Happy New Year!

I Celebrated New Year's dancing on an outdoor dance floor on the beach with sand under my feet at the Sailing Club in Nha Trang. What a great way to ring in the new year. I hope everyone had a great time celebrating where ever you were!

Happy New Year!!!