I survived Southeast Asia (now with a few photos)

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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:25 am

After two weeks of traveling and trying to sleep in the middle of huge spiders and lizards, it feels great to be back home.

First I traveled from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), from there along the Mekong river to Phnom Penh. I did have a one night stop near the border in a town of Chau Doc - a real shithole.
I went to see the "killing fields" and of course I had to see what the nightlife was like in the capital of Cambodia. I'm surprised I didn't get robbed there.
From Phnom Penh I took a bus to Siem Reap to see the ancient temples of Angkor Wat and from there I went overland back to Bangkok. The road from Siem Reap to Poipet was the worst road I've ever been on.
While crossing the border to Thailand, I noticed the name tag of the cambodian border guard... "Nuth Ok". I barely managed to hold my laugh.
When I reached Bangkok again, I stayed one night in Th Khao San area and in the next day I went to Koh Tao and took a PADI Open Water Diver course there. The last few days were really a breeze in Koh Tao.

I took over 500 photos during the trip, so when I get everything in order here, I might post a few for you to see.

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:30 am

Welcome back!

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 7:03 am

Welcome back .....we'd love to see some pictures Very Happy

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 8:02 am

Welcome back and let's celebrate your not getting jacked. Show us the photos.

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 10:56 am

Glad you had a good time. I'll look forward to your pics.

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 11:02 am

@BadKarma

Sorry, I don't understand the panicky tone of your post - SE Asia is one of the safest places in the world. I lived there for 14 years and never had a single problem.

You'd be much more likely to have random trouble on the streets of NY, LA, London or Sydney than in Saigon, Phnom Penh, Bangkok or Chau Doc, for that matter.

Yes, the streets and the street lighting are bad, the people are poor, look a bit different and speak incomprehensible languages. Culturally, they are extremely hospitable and would not dream of attacking you unless they were thoroughly provoked.

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 2:12 pm

I was merely referring to an article in wikitravel, not panicking Wink

Quote:

Heart of Darkness has long been the most infamous nightclub in Phnom Penh, closed in August 2005 after a patron was shot to death but is now back in business. Some seating is reserved for well-heeled (gangster elite) Phnom Penh local youth, so move if you are asked. While certainly not the safest place in the world, more nights go by without incident than not. A number of expats avoid it now, however. Saturday nights are always packed.

I was totally bollocksed while in Heart of Darkness (I didn't even remember I was in there - thanks to the three "mortars" I had in Sharky's Bar), so anything could have happened. So either the quoted text is total BS or I was just lucky.

I'll post some pics in the next couple of days (hopefully). I'm still a bit jetlagged and too tired to resize the photos etc...

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

BadKarma wrote:

I noticed the name tag of the cambodian border guard... "Nuth Ok". I barely managed to hold my laugh.

Welcome back, BK, could have been worse, the border gauards badge might have said "pay sum" Laughing

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 2:16 pm

Welcome back BadKarma.

It's a bit of a culture shock 1st time isn't it Laughing

I agree with Wright B Hindyou though...on the whole very friendly people.

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 3:22 pm

WBHY is correct about relative safety. I live in a county in the USA that had 402 murders last year. A family friend and I were talking last night about the closing of a popular eating establishment. I told him that the last time I was there I read in the paper that I missed a shooting by about two hours.

This guy one up'ed me by telling me that when he was getting his MD and dating his to be wife in the San Francisco bay area, a restaurant got machine gunned 15 minutes after they left.

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 8:51 pm

Congratulations, you saw more of Cambodia than I did in two weeks there on business - only saw Phnom Penh, but probably saw a little more of the entertainment side than you did. And confratulations on getting back in one piece, it's a wild place.

I stayed at the Sofitel on the banks of the Mekong, and there was a ship tied up at the river's edge which had been converted into a casino. When visiting it, the hotel staff told you to run across the open pathway from the hotel to the ship's covered gangway because the squatters living a few hundred metres upstream sometimes took potshots with their rifles at casino patrons crossing the gap between the hotel and the casino.

There was a sign on the side of the gangway leading up to the casino with 3 of those international symbol images on it, the red circle with a red cross bar. These stated, "NO GUNS" - kind of obvious at a casino and guns are every where in Phnom Penh (see below) and all bars and restaurants have no guns signs on their doors, "NO UNIFORMS" - because people had tried robbing the casino wearing uniforms, and "NO HAND GRENADES"! Now when you're going out on a Friday night, you just don't feel fully dressed without a couple of Mills 4 second fuse hand grenades on your belt do you?

My business partner and I also went to a night club for a meal and a few drinks one night. When we were leaving, we saw one of the entering patrons having a big black automatic pistol taken off him at the door. The doorman put it into an apple box nailed to the wall, closed the flimsy wooden lid and locked it with one of those small padlocks you use on suitcases. He gave slipped the key into the patrons shirt pocket so that he could collect his gun when he left.

Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 1:12 am

Connie, that's why I left the Bay Area. Common up, to the "Hills". Tahoe, ect. Bring a shovel and a 4X4!

Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 4:15 pm

Oh God I'm feeling lazy, but as I promised you guys, here are some photos.
Just a few though...

- Electricians paradise @ Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

- Skulls @ Choeung Ek (aka The Killing Fields), near Phnom Penh, Cambodia

- The road to Choeung Ek was really dusty, so I had to take some cover

- I drank three of these (122mm mortar round full of booze) in Sharky's and I got a free t-shirt. I don't remember much after that.

- The famous "Tomb Raider Tree" in Ta Prohm temples (near the famous Angkor Wat), Siem Reap, Cambodia. The place was loaded with japanese tourists, who all wanted to stand an hour or more beside the tree. I took several shots and this one had less tourists in it. I waited for an hour near the area waiting for the pack to leave, only to find out that there was another busload of those damn dudes with Nikons hanging on their necks coming to ruin my shots. No offense to any Japanese members.

- Dude transferring his pigs to slaughterhouse, somewhere outside Siem Reap, Cambodia. I took this shot while in a taxi from Siem Reap to Poipet, on my way to Thailand. For a while we drove behing this guy, and in every hole he drove into (and there were a lot of them!) the pigs squealed. It almost made me laugh, but I bet the pigs didn't have as much fun as I did.

- Took a photo of the sunset in Koh Tao, Thailand. I loved that place and I'm looking forward on my next trip there. Beautiful island, great spots to dive.

- I hauled this bottle all the way from Vietnam to my home. The bottle came with a tag: "Indications: Treatment of Rheumatism, Lumbago, Triebness & Scistia pain, Impotence, Improper erechtness, premature ejaculation at night, Debility of lumbus & kness, Dizziness & tinilus, Premature senile, Weakening mantality"
If someone could help me translate what the ingredients are, I'd be grateful: "Ingredient: Liquor, snake, Chuan-kun, Qu-zi, Bai-zhi, Dang-Shen, Ren-Yang-Huo"

The SE Asia tour itself was a blast. I really didn't mean to sound like it was a dangerous place or anything like that - it was just totally or at least somewhat different place from what I have read.
I really loved the people and made a lot of new friends, and I'm already planning my next trip to the area. I'm going to Koh Tao again for sure (just for the diving). I fell in love with Vietnam and Cambodia also, so I guess I'll have to visit those countries again too.

The people were indeed extremely friendly, some even "too friendly", who proved out to be scammers. Luckily I didn't fall for them, but my friend did once.
After I got a nice tan, most of the scammers and beggars didn't bother me anymore.

If you ever get a chance to see the world, take it. Just forget all those packge deals and take the strings in your own hands. That's the way to see the world and meet new people.
Just pack your backpack and book the flights. Everything else gets sorted out eventually... that's life.

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 12:33 am

Ah, the famous Go2 bar (Pic 1). Often full of Nigerian scammers playing pool, incidentally, after they got thrown out of Thailand.

An electrician's nightmare, and telecoms engineer's too. Imagine trying to tap all of those phones.... Cool

The ingredients are the usual dried Chinese herbs: Bai-Zhi (Angelica Root), Dang-Shen is known botanically as codonopsis pilosula, and Qu-zi, sometimes called gao-ji, is Chinese wolfberry.

You probably already know that Ren-Yang-Huo or yin yang huo is known as Horny Goat Weed and reaches those parts the other weeds don't.

You can find more on this courtesy of the Ancient Way company of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Smile

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 12:43 am

While it's great to see you back BadKarma and we appreciate the pictures and all I might point out that we have been spoiled by Reprob8's presentation of overseas photos. Cool

Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 3:35 am

BadKarma, I also have a bottle of snake liquor, brought to me by a friend who went to Vietnam on vacation. My first reaction was: hmmm, am I gonna die? Then I was reassured that my friend drank snake liquor in Vietnam and lived. I took a shot. It's somewhat brandy-ish in taste, but very harsh. You need a chaser (at least I did). After that one shot, the rest of the bottle has stood on my counter for a year. I wonder if it's still safe to drink, given the snakes inside it and that a part of the main snake is no longer covered by alcohol, meaning it might rot.

Also, my bottle doesn't have a scorpion, but has many different kinds of snakes in it.

Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 3:40 am

Stunning sunset and love the tomb raider tree . Thanks for sharing Very Happy

Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 3:55 am

Welcom back! Love the photos! Thank you for sharing. Cool

Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 4:26 pm

Welcome back, BK. Very Happy

You have some cracking pics there. Very Happy

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BadKarma wrote:

I drank three of these (122mm mortar round full of booze) in Sharky's and I got a free t-shirt. I don't remember much after that.

That's roughly one liter per round, depending on its type.

Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:31 pm

One more photo for you guys.

- The pizzas here were awesome! If you ever go to Cambodia, go to Happy Herb's.
There are at least two of these pizzerias, one in Phnom Penh in Sisowath Quay (you can't miss it), and the other one is in Siem Reap.
FYI - I took the pizza without the "herb".

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