60 Days Travelling around SE Asia

We left the boat out of the water at Rebak marina and became land travellers for 2 months. Packing our rucksacks, we became backpackers or budget travellers! We started in Bangkok, Thailand, worked our way north to Chang Rai before crossing the border into Laos where we headed south down the Mekong for 2 days. We continued south to 4000 islands before crossing to Cambodia and Angkor Wat. Our stay in Cambodia was cut short by the Khmer New year celebrations which meant everything was either closed or very expensive. Our last country was Vietnam and we worked our way north from Saigon to Hanoi and then flew back to Malaysia.

The highlights were Kanchanaburi in Thailand. Visiting the museums and walking Hellfire pass was very moving. A 4km walk exhausted us in the heat, it is hard to imagine having to do hard labour for 18 hour a day with minimal water and meagre rations.  Ayuthaya, the old capital of Thailand was very interesting. It has lots of ancient Stupa which we enjoyed cycling around.
A big highlight was the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia. There are millions of tourists there and it was incredibly hot but still amazing to see. We had no idea that there was so many Wats or that they covered such a huge area. Angkor Wat itself and Angkor Thom are probably the best preserved but they all have something slightly different to see. We spent 3 days wandering around them.
In Laos our favourite place was Champasak and the 4000 Island group. The latter are down in the south of the country and are islands on the Mekong. We firstly stayed at Champasak so that we could visit the Khmer ruins of Wat Phu, not as big as Angkor but lovely and quiet but still impressive. Then we stayed on an Island called Don Khon. There is very little on the island other than a few waterfalls but we had a lovely bungalow with a balcony overlooking the Mekong. Very relaxing!!!

Vietnam was probably our favourite country and its difficult to think of highlights as there were so many. We enjoyed Saigon even though you did take your life in your hands just walking around. The traffic is manic with thousands of motorcycles. No one pays any attention to traffic lights or one way streets and if the road is too crowded the bikes just drive on the path. Motorbikes are used in SE Asia to transport anything and everything and can sometimes turn into wide loads. It is not unusual to see a family of 4 or 5 on one bike, women sitting side saddle. We even saw a woman feeding a baby as they were driving along and another putting on her make-up!

Hoi An was a lovely old town, interesting to walk around the shops and the local market. We had clothes made to order here at a very cheap price.  Sapa is close to the Chinese border and is known for its hiking and Hill tribes. We weren't originally going to visit Sapa but are very glad we did.  The hill sides are all terraced and covered with rice paddies and it is very pretty. The hill tribe women are friendly and some speak very good English. They are constantly trying to sell you things which can be a little tiresome but they are very nice about it. Even when we went walking they would follow us. We used to walk around saying 'not shopping' to get rid of them.

We planned our itinerary in advance and as much as possible we did everything  independently. We did do 3 organised tours. The first was in Thailand at Khao Yai NP which was good, we had a very enthusiastic guide. The first evening we visited Bat caves and watched millions of bats leave the cave for their nightly hunting. We all stood spaced out in a field and the bats passed us so close and so quickly. Lots of fun. The second day was a walk through the forest where we saw Greater Hornbills and a sleeping Crocodile.  Our second trip was to see the My Son ruins in Hoi An, Vietnam, a big disappointment after Angkor Wat and we had  the most annoying guide. Last but not least but definitely the worst was our tour of Halong Bay in Vietnam. Not only did we have a very annoying guide again but the whole trip is such a  big rip off.  The boat goes about 3 miles into the bay and then anchors with about 60 other boats all doing the same thing. The food was mediocre and our guide wanted us to go to the beach at 6am as we hadn't had time to do it the first day- no chance! The next day you motor the 3 miles back and other than a visit to a cave that is it. We decided we preferred Phang Nga Bay in Thailand.

One of the things we realised as we travelled was just how affected all the countries had been by war. As I mentioned above Kanchanaburi was very moving and the Japanese were very brutal to the soldiers but one thing we never hear about at home is just how many Asians also died building the railway. Around 100,000,although no one is sure of numbers.

In Laos we visited the COPE museum which makes prosthetic limbs for people injured by unexploded bombs.  Laos is still covered with millions of unexploded bombs and cluster bombs dropped by the US. Unfortunately the metal is precious to the villages so they dig them up. There are still lots of places you cannot visit because of  the danger of the bombs and you have to ensure you stay on the paths. Almost half the country is off limits!

The two most depressing and moving places we visited were the S21 prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and the War remnants museum in Saigon. The S21 prison is an old school that was used by the Khmer Rouge to hold and torture prisoners. It is exactly as it was during the war but with lots of photos. The Khmer Rouge documented everything so the photos are horrific. Prisoners were taken from here to  the killing fields to be killed except babies which were thrown against a tree. It was horrific to see just how cruel people can be to fellow human beings because they are told to. None of the Khmer leaders have been tried yet and you have to wonder why?

The Museum in Vietnam was a Vietnamese view of the war with the US.  Mostly it was pictures taken by US and Japanese journalists in the field. The worst part was the pictures of  the effects of Agent Orange which showed lots of severely deformed children. It is horrible to think that babies are still being born with defects due to the poison. There are probably no rights or wrongs of the war but using agent orange can only be wrong.

We really enjoyed our trip but we both realised that we are not good at being tourists. We hated being in crowds and we hated the fact that every time you go and see something it entails a buying opportunity. Asia is cheap to travel in but you have to be constantly on your guard against being ripped off. Being a tourist means they (usually the taxi drivers) can charge a ridiculous amount of money. In Laos any type of transport would drop you at the most inconvenient stop just so that you had to spend more money getting to where you wanted to go. In Vietnam agents would almost double the cost of train tickets so we learned to use the Vietnamese web site to book and saved a fortune. One of  our funniest incidents was on the train in Thailand, as soon as we were seated we were given a cup of fresh orange juice. The guy who served it walked away so we thought it was complimentary. After we had drank half he came back and asked us for a ridiculous amount of money, we refused to pay and gave him the drinks back! He wasn't  happy but serves him right!

Epilogue

We have been back in Langkawi for 2 weeks. We are staying in a B&B as we could not face staying on the boat without a  fridge and air conditioning in these temperatures. We have hired a moped to get to the ferry across to Rebak Island each day. We have been repairing the keel and doing other jobs we can only do while the boat is out of the water. We are finding the heat too much, Mike emerges from being down a hole on the boat looking as if he has just come out of the shower and both of us are struggling to drink enough to make up for  the fluids we are losing. Still, we are both loosing some of the weight we put on while away!

In a few days time we fly to Japan for 2 weeks and then on to Java to see Borobudur. Watch this Space!!!