2011 - 09 -10 -- Vang Vieng --> Cambodia
(See Photos) (open links in New Tabs)
So my time at
Pan's Place in Vang Vieng is finally coming to an end after 6 weeks of fun work with the owners, Chris & Nitsa. It has been a nice time, painting/re-furbishing the rooms, re-roofing the outside toilet/showers with Asbestos sheet, which wasn't too bad until they started to cut the sheets with a circular saw and spewed the Asbestos dust everywhere, (Having a bad chest, at this point I was 50 meters away, LOL), and general 'fixing the place up' jobs.
Teamed up with Oscar, an Austrailian Guy and we caught the Bus to the capital, Vientien to get a 2 Month Visa for Thailand, Visited
the Buddah Park, a private collection of Buddhist statues then we caught the Sleeper Bus to Pakse. Not much there as it was raining heavy so we carried on to
Champsak where we cycled 7 km to visit
Wat Phu a Kemher style Temple ruin. 2 days later found us on a boat out to 4000 Islands. 4000 Islands, a sieries of small islands in the Mekong river that is not too sure of it's place on the 'Tourist Trail'. It wants to be a bit of a Party Place, but there is a major shortage of infrastructur, (1 hour internet costs the same as 20 nights accommodation) and the town closes at 9 - 10 pm making it better suited as a 'Chill Out Place'. Met up with a nice group of travellers, Lorrain(UK), Kevin(F), Phillip(D), Marvin(D) and had a great chilled out week there, swimming in the Mekong River and sitting on the bamboo chalet's balconey watching the distant storms light the night sky. Nice place but being on an Island in the middle of one of the Worlds largest rivers when it is in full flood at the peak of the rainy season was interesting, to say the least.
8 hours on a VIP bus got us into CAMBODIA, to Kratie, where we went out in a (wet&rainy) boat to
watch the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins. Saw a pod of 4 and it was well worth the soaking, :-) . Woke the next morning to find the hotel knee deep in flood water. A 6 hour bus ride took us to
Phnom Penh where we booked into Longlin Guest House for $7/night. Cambodia runs a duel currency of 'Real' and 'US Dollars' and is most confusing and easy to think: "it's only a couple of dollars" when in fact it becomes expensive relative to the normal economy. Met up with the group from 4000 islands and explored Phnom Penh, they actually got me in a night club & a late night bar, LOL. Due to the poverty, many of the bars have more hookers that customers and the sex tourist industry flourishes, which is good for the economy, as long as no-one is harmed or forced. The Police recently rounded up a group of WESTERN Pedophiles who had been preying on poor children and, Hopefull, they will spend a Long and Interesting time in the Cambodian Prison. Visited the
Genocide Museum and the Poll Pot Killing Fields and Was Emotionally Overcome, couldn't stay inside, it hurt me really bad inside. The Torture and Suffering of a Generation of Cambodians and Man's Inhumanity to his Fellow Man left me in Tears.
Teamed up with Oscar, an Austrailian Guy and we caught the Bus to the capital, Vientien to get a 2 Month Visa for Thailand, Visited the Buddah Park, a private collection of Buddhist statues then we caught the Sleeper Bus to Pakse. Not much there as it was raining heavy so we carried on to
