Bloody Temples

Couldn't make our map match the reality on the ground. After a whole morning of frustration we realised we weren't where we thought we were but in one of the most famous and recognisable tourist sites in the world - Angkor Wat

Hired a tut-tut driver for three days to drive around what was a massive city full of temples. Hot, exhausting but strangely engaging  

'' Back and to your left a bit''

There are some 6 million land mines and unexploded bombs in Cambodia that are still maiming and killing people every day. Many on them left over from the days when America was 'helping the Cambodian people help themselves' (Richard Nixon) by bombing the hell out of there villages and creating the perfect conditions for the rise of the Khmer Rouge. You would think that the richest nation in the world, after invading one country and then dropping bombs on its neighbour could at least go and collect its unexploded shit when it had finished!

Eating Cambodia

Eat my feet - massage by skin eating fish

I'll have mine with flies please

Spiders and frogs

Sticky rice and stuff

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The Garbage kids

Met an ex-pat Brit, David, in Phnom Penh. He divides his time between his bar, his beautiful young Cambodian girlfriend and feeding the children who eek out an existence on the city dump.



He wasn't taking food that day but he took us to the dump to see for ourselves. The pollution in Phnom Penh is pretty bad but as soon as you got to the end of the road full of recycling businesses it was like entering an earthly hell. There was smoke everywhere, it stung your eyes and throat, the smell was indescribable. Dave threw a Stone into what looked like a muddy field with a few patches of grass. The stone immediately disappeared. It was a pit, some 2 metres deep full of toxic waste



When David takes tourists to feed the 2000 people who work live and feed in this place. He asks for a 15$ donation from each person. They go to market, buy the food and take it in an old lorry where they distribute the food to the woman and children. Any money left over is used to buy school uniforms for the children. School is free but they cant go if they don''t have a uniform.

There is a lot of poverty in Cambodia but Phnom Penh is full of brand new Lexus and Toyota land cruisers. All belonging to the Government, NGOs or major charities. It is so ostentatious and such a waste of money its quite sickening. Particularly against the direct and effective work David is doing



Cambodian fact. There is a law that bans the use of headlights during the day. There is no law stating you must use them at night



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We are genocide tourists now

The tourists approach the genocide memorial in an excited, expectant state. This after all is an important 'must do' in their whirlwind tour of the country's top sites. Their mood quickly changes as they realise the scale and the mechanics of massacre.

Tears don't come at this stage because you cant have much empathy with thousands or even millions of dead people. The tears come later when they read the individual stories. The 5 year old Rwandan child, a picture of her at a birthday party, who had her head split in two by a machete. The hundreds of babies who where swung by their legs and smashed against as 'special' tree in the Cambodian killing fields



Finally, for the tourists, there is anger and the thirst for revenge or at least justice. The Western need for a nice neat ending that will never come.

Rwanda has begun the process of reconciliation and justice. Formal trials of some of the Hutu leaders are taking place in Zanzibar. Local courts are enabling people to tell their stories and to confess. Rwanda has ditched the French language because of Frances actions around the massacre. The people refer to themselves as Rwandan now, instead of Hutu or Tutsi. 800,000 Tutsi where killed.

Cambodia is now starting trials of a few Khmer Rouge leaders, far too late most of the leaders including Pol Pot have died of old age. Its not easy to investigate these things when your current leader is ex-Khmer Rouge. 1-3 million died out of a population of 8 million



Both massacres demonstrate the impotence and moral cowardice of the UN. In Rwanda a few armed peace keepers could have stopped the killing. The UN continued to recognise the Khmer Rouge Government years after they where ousted by Vietnamese forces. Both France and the US, amongst others, played shameful roles in these decisions

As for the tourists? They end the tour chastened and maybe a little change. Most importantly their presence helps ensure the stories are told and not forgotten






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Whoops

Marilyn fails in her 'cycling over a rock' demonstration to the Lao people



Must get these tee shirts for me and Marilyn









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That was stupid

If I had listened to Marilyn

''Don't go in there

Don't drink that you don't know what he has put in it

Don't go for a trip on the river for three hours when you don't know what you have drunk''


I wouldn't have had the ignominy of being rescued from the Mekong while floating down it in a lorry inner tube or passing out or having to sleep for 15 hours

And I wouldn't have had two days of

I told you so

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Bloody Brits

In three years of travel we have only encountered two cases of aggressive behavior. The first was the seat grabbing, rude Germans in Guatemala. The second was yesterday

The three chavs from Dartford were sitting at the back of a crowded bus. They were loud and there where too many 'fucks' but they seemed friendly enough. Then the driver put on some rather good Lao pop music. One of these guys gos up to the front -----

'This is crap, this is meant to be a VIP bus. Have you got fucking English music. English CD English radio. Understand'

The Lao people are very quiet and reserved and the driver apologised. Having got the gist of what was being said he turned the radio off. This led to a number of people protesting and saying they were enjoying the music.

Our friend from Dartford. Stood in the middle of the bus and told them to fuck off and in particular abused an older Dutch guy. He went back to his set where a French woman told him that this was not England and it was good to hear local music. His reply was to tell her to fuck off too and remind her that 'England once ruled half the world'

At this stage I told him to stop being so aggressive and that he was making me ashamed to be English etc etc. I then waited for the abuse to be launched in my direction. But amazingly they shut up. Apart from the occasion stupid noise and inane comments such as 'why cant they put all these fires out' - Lao uses slash and burn techniques at this time of year

Met guy who had encountered the chavs.

'Hello where do you come from'
'Dartford in sarf eastLondon, where you come from'
'London, Balham'
'Never heard of it'
'Its near Clapham'
"Nar no idea mate'

Another over heard conversation

American teacher to gentleman from India - 'Do you speak Indian"





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Transition towns - without happy endings!

If you are very lucky you visit a place when it still has some of its original culture and local business but you can also get decent wine and espresso coffee. Laung Prahang is one such place.


If you are late the place will be over developed. the local culture is swamped, big business moves in and flashy hotels are built. Each one being higher than its competitors. Vang Vieng is a good example of this. 10 years ago it must have been paradise but now its all building works and self absorbed back packers watching endless reruns of Friends in the bars.

Two things that I really like about Laos. Brilliant 1hr massages for 8$ and menus where you can ask for the 'happy' version - Milk Shake or pizza laced with cannabis

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Mutinies on the Mekong

Jut about the only reason to go to Huay Xai is to take the two day, slow boat trip to the old capital of Laos.

So there are about 180 of us having bought tickets and being lectured by some guy with good English '' The boats are unsafe, you will get food poisoning, men will be robbed and the women raped the place you stay overnight, the waters low so it will take twice as long as they say. On the other hand my bus company will take you there safely in no time. All you have to do is throw away your boat ticket and pay me loads of money''.

About 60 people actually fell for this rubbish and went with the charlatan

The rest of us made our way to the river and tried to cram into a boat built for 80. An English guy started a mutiny and a chant of 'one more boat' that got so loud and aggressive that the owners actually commandeered a second boat

The next day on the second leg, about 90 of us got on the boat. It was getting a bit crowded, so the Americans tried to start another mutiny by physically invading second boat. They went unilaterally without the support of the other nations, even us Brits refused to follow them. Having 'won' the boat they had no idea what to do with it other than to shout a lot.

The owner of the original boat owner solved the impasse by starting his engines and moving out.

The Americans capitulated and climbed back on board looking a bit sheepish



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Dumped on in Thailand

There should be a travelers proverb 'When you have a beer in your hand the day wasn't seem so bad and the world will be back in equilibrium'

An 11 hour bus journey is daunting but when the bus breaks down and it turns into a 15 hour journey your bum begins to ache

In the middle of a mountain range the bus began to overheat and then stop. A coolant hose had broken a spewed coolant all over the road. After an hour or so a mechanic appeared as if by magic. He had an old inner tube and a pair of children's scissors. Once he had fashioned a bandage he dragged himself under he bus on his back. As soon as he was in position a woman on the bus who obviously was in dire need, decided to take a pee. The whole lot hit his stomach in a very full and healthy stream - hilarious

Probably because he was soaked in pee his repair didn't last long and a mile later the bus was completely dead and we had to wait for a replacement.

By the time we got to our destination on the Thai/Laos border we were the last on the bus and the town was shut and in darkness - no people, taxis or anything. No idea on how we would find a place to sleep we wandered down the road and stubled upon magic sign that said 'we have just the hostal you need' with a map

30 minutes later we had a room and the beer


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