even if all religious buildings would look like candy – religion is the deadliest invention of mankind, killing millions in the name of something nobody ever saw
The apartment is 10km away from Lib’s place and the traffic reminded me on some attractions in the Viennese “Prater”, called autodrome or bumper car, just that these are not cars but motorcycles in real life and people try not to bump. (youtube video will follow!) It is just similar chaotic and at least as loud and fast. But maybe riskier and more stressful. For me, on ride of 40min was enough, I wouldn’t like to change my regular life with this. Lib’s workshop is in a big quite new building and exists only since July. You can see how much thoughts, time, energy and – of course – money must be invested to build up that workshop (not to speak about the whole start-up)
I just can admire Lib for doing all that, but I also admire her for staying cool and calm in that situation. There would be something to learn in that for me. With her long-term friend and co-worker, we had lunch
and in the afternoon a friend from Paris, who had been around Vietnam, came to try some of Lib’s winter jackets. I had to leave to get back before dusk, but I stuck in the traffic and as it gets dark quite fast, I had to go 15min with my weak lights, the better ones were in the apartment. Later, I tried to get passionfruit, but no one had any, and one seller persuaded me to buy a dragon fruit instead. I should have waited for Marc’s farm in Taiwan, where I learned to love this fruit, it was not bad but still anticlimactic. I bought a mango, too, and this was ok. Then I bought some rice and vegetables and an fried egg to put in my container, but it was too hot and the container has a new form now.
in one small supermarket (a contradiction in itself) of the chain “vietmart” i saw these Vietnamese products, suitable as small souvenirs and thought i would get them in other shops of vietmart. so far, I was in 3 of them – nothing to see! I hope this will not keep me busy the next 2000km 😉
I had no good rest (ok, I don’t need much to have no good rest), because through the bed linen some metal of the mattress was pricking, and I tried not to move in that direction.
yes, and the spots are not on the camera lense….
The way out of Tay Ninh was dominated by masses of motorcycles. I thought the city must be empty soon, when apparently all the people drive away. You can say that all the 90km except a small section when Mr.G sent me on a small lane, where crowded by motorcycles. On the lane, but also on the big roads, you could see the big contrast between rural village life and the “modern” life and economy.
Those temples/churches of the Caodaists first looked like copies of one, but if you see more of them you can see small differences.
I had another sugar cane juice and I always try to get food and drinks in my own containers. People are willing to do that, just sometimes surprised.
And I was surprised to see hair dresser advertisements in Vietnam with Western guys.
When I finally reached HCMC, I visited a hairdresser to shorten and trim my irregular beard, but she made something on her own. She even used an open razor and for the second time in my life, I didn’t bleed. (The first one was 2015 in Taipei and the barber made a lot of efforts with hot water, this time just some liquid and foam!) But for the moment I am ok with the result! Only the selfie is not as sharp as the razor’s edge ?
Lib had organized an apartment room in down town HCMC for me and in the evening came to visit me and to go to a restaurant. She ordered some specialties like a fruit/vegetable/meat combination that you put on a very crispy bread – practically un-eatable (for me only?) without a mess. There was a plate with special Vietnamese vegetables, a plate with a fish in passion-fruit sauce, a plate with cubes of deep fried but still very soft tofu with egg and a cute waiter with a cute Santa Claus hat.
Btw, maybe there are some few countries where you can escape “Last Xmas”, Vietnam is off this list, I heard it, loud, clear and unmistakable out of a shop).
At night, on the way to my room, 2x women approached me offering a massage and their appearance and attitude didn’t emphasize the health aspect of this offer. So, it was no surprise that I had difficulties to find an open gate at the small lanes of the block with the hotel neighbouring this area. I half surrounded it to find an entrance and finally could go to bed.
I had no good rest (ok, I don’t need much to have no good rest), because through the bed linen some metal of the mattress was pricking, and I tried not to move in that direction.
The way out of Tay Ninh was dominated by masses of motorcycles. I thought the city must be empty soon, when apparently all the people drive away. You can say that all the 90km except a small section when Mr.G sent me on a small lane, where crowded by motorcycles. On the lane, but also on the big roads, you could see the big contrast between rural village life and the “modern” life and economy.
Those temples/churches of the Caodaists first looked like copies of one, but if you see more of them you can see small differences.
I had another sugar cane juice and I always try to get food and drinks in my own containers. People are willing to do that, just sometimes surprised.
And I was surprised to see hair dresser advertisements in Vietnam with Western guys.
When I finally reached HCMC, I visited a hairdresser to shorten and trim my irregular beard, but she made something on her own. She even used an open razor and for the second time in my life, I didn’t bleed. (The first one was 2015 in Taipei and the barber made a lot of efforts with hot water, this time just some liquid and foam!) But for the moment I am ok with the result! Only the selfie is not as sharp as the razor’s edge ?
Lib had organized an apartment room in down town HCMC for me and in the evening came to visit me and to go to a restaurant. She ordered some specialities like a fruit/vegetable/meat combination that you put on a very crispy bread – practically un-eatable (for me only?) without a mess.
There was a plate with special Vietnamese vegetables, a plate with a fish in passionfruit sauce, a plate with cubes of deep fried but still very soft tofu with egg and a cute waiter with a cute Santa Claus hat. Btw, maybe there are some few countries where you can escape “Last Xmas”, Vietnam is off this list, I heard it, loud, clear and unmistakable out of a shop).
The cutlery was stored in US-cans from the war.
and the dessert was a dream made true only by passion-fruit and cream…
At night, on the way to my room, 2x women approached me offering a massage and their appearance and attitude didn’t emphasize the health aspect of this offer. So, it was no surprise that I had difficulties to find an open gate at the small lanes of the block with the hotel neighbouring this area. I half surrounded it to find an entrance and finally could go to bed.
the peaceful coexistence of capitalism and “communism”
…and soon; I will reach HCMC, my 2nd “south-maximum” after KL
This day, I again started early as I had 120km to ride and a border to cross. It was nice to see again a group dancing (ok, here it was more exercising) on the last day like on my first day in Cambodia.
arm of the Mekong
This last day brought things that I had been used to through these days but had nearly forgotten that they had been different to Malaysia or Thailand: I saw many more young dogs and chicken in Cambodia. In the morning, between 7-8, many people “burn” waste and green leaves and grass etc, producing mainly smoke. Most shops sell fuel in 1,5-Coke-bottles. (First, I thought it would be delicious juice….). In Cambodia are less sidecars than in Thailand and less street signs and nearly no speed bumps. Only on this last day, I found the only Cambodian working men sign for Michael (and the streets were worse than normal, so, at least, it was logic ? ).
Today, finally a young man on his motorcycle “took” as he said, “his first chance to talk to a foreigner”. But he was in a hurry, so it was only a few words drowned in the traffic noise. That reminds me on the effect this year of bike travelling will have on my ears. Never before, I had been exposed so long and so intensively to the traffic noise that covers the habitable surface of our planet. Back to Cambodia – after 70km, I reached the border and there were not many signs for that, only a big casino building in decay or now in renovation.
The Cambodia officer just waved me through, but the Vietnamese officer sent me back for a stamp in the passport. Then, he gave me his stamp, two times I had to stop for additional controls of the stamp and I was in Vietnam. First, there was nearly nothing. Only a few cafés/ cá phês that seem to dominate Vietnam’s street life. After a few km, I reached the first village and saw many more motorcycles than in the other countries.
The Buddhist street temples that I know from Thailand are rather poor, about those other religiuos buildings, I write in a later blog post (day 151 (?) )
Here, the tractors look more like those I know, (not those long vehicles like in Cambodia) and farmers have these typical straw hats that I associate with a China-stereotype. More adults and less kids (ok, I also saw less kids) waved hello here. I saw sugar cane everywhere, and people selling the fresh pressed juice.
I arrived at the location that I had found in 3 different sources for the hotel, but there was none and people spoke much less English than in Cambodia and then showed me the way to another hotel. But then, there was a boy who spoke English very well and knew the place. Later, I felt a bit uncomfortable with this place, because it seems to have another main purpose (there are prices for an hour for a room and some other signs. Besides that, I wonder if they changed the linen…).
When I later bought water, some food and a SIM card, I had a better feeling than in Cambodia regarding “extra prices”. I thought that more Westerners would come to Vietnam than to Cambodia (except for Angkor Wat) but at least more people reacted surprised to see me, also without bike.
Today, I felt nearly ok again, although my guts still didn’t work properly. In any case it was good to have a shorter tour today. I had only two breaks for eating my diet – dry bread and banana. Again, I hoped for tractors with higher packed trailers to get good slipstream and found some. I know that it is a bit risky, because you must be close to the vehicle to be sheltered from the wind and it is not clear if you can brake fast enough if the driver brakes. So, I normally try to see what is in front of the driver to get an idea what could happen. I saw a slower tractor before “us” and expected “my” driver to overtake. But he slowed down instead. And then I felt something under my front wheel and saw it was a bag and could drive over it without falling and wondered and felt lucky. The bag was big but light (that’s why it fell from that trailer), maybe it contained only other empty bags. And I had no chance to see it, because the both vehicles were too close to each other at that time. As I said, it is risky. But it is very attractive! If the wind is strong like yesterday and today, you can sometimes only go 13-16km/h. And behind a vehicle,it was 22-32km/h… I did it again. Two times behind the same tractor with durian or jackfruit loaded. The driver first was not much faster than me, but when he saw me in the mirror, he accelerated and I had to give up. https://youtu.be/wTIVmKCWha0 nothing else what I didn’t tell before in some variant.
This time, the early awaking was mainly a bodily issue… My stomach was hurting during the whole ride and I had to slow down, because of feeling weak. Now I wonder, was the water filter not working good enough (today I only drank bottled water), was it the salad I had got yesterday (since 45 years I know you shouldn’t eat raw things that can’t be pealed), was it just the badly cleaned plate (I saw the “cleaning” procedure in the last restaurant and only could continue eating when I concentrated on something else). Today, I only had to go 87km and this was good for me…
interesting religious building…
left: interesting sign for a Cambodian bridge! I found some information about infrastructure programs of Australia for Cambodia, but nothing especially about bridges right: dozens or even hundreds of masons working on stones in all sizes with hammers, levers, crowbars, saws and few electric tools along a 1-2km section of the street see video 148 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LmnhtM-dDs
After arriving, I bought some bananas (I only had eaten 4 of them until noon), some dry bread and plain, cooked rice, but this was too much, I was not hungry, only tired and feverish. At the hotel, I read the guidelines fur guests and the tell something…
For tomorrow, I planned a shorter tour again 75km), only the next day will be longer (120km) and then after another 83km, I will (should) reach HCMC (former Saigon). Today, I would have had more time for my digital business, but I slept some hours and my video delay grows. But the blog is more important to keep updated, because even when I write it on the same day, many things stay untold . Some of them, I remember when I edit the photos or videos, but for most of them, there is nothing like that. Some examples of what normally would get lost and I recalled after finishing writing: Today, so many children waved hello, from gardens or porches of houses 20-30m away, so I could hardly see them because of trees etc. Some were maybe 3-4 years old and did it by themselves and I wonder how they “learned” that. Some, the even smaller ones”, waved together with parents, but I cannot imagine that so many people come around there who can be greeted. In one area, I could see some men with sticks through their lips (or noses, I didn’t want to stare at them) and ancient looking machinery for mashing some grains. Most of them were driven by their motorcycles or by their tractor. And there, for the first time, a woman with her child stopped her motorcycle to talk to me and ask some questions. And she didn’t mix up Austria and Australia ? Regarding this common confusion, I was thinking about what I could say instead of Austria. And I noticed that I don’t want to say Germany or even Switzerland (am I a patriot or even Nationalist??), so I mostly say Europe.
now, a 1000km detour to Ho Chi Minh city brings a turn to the south
My plan was to use the speed boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Phen to see the Boeng Tonle Sap (the biggest lake in SO-Asia). I had read about it, including prices and schedule, had seen a video and Seyha said that there is enough water to go. I planned the tour, fed Mr.G with it and felt well prepared. Instead of 5 I woke up at 4 and still wanted to carry on for leaving even earlier. When I was closing the gate, Seyha came out to say good-bye. The first part was dirt road and I had been 5x before, 3x in the dark and I had my very bright lamp in use, so it was no big deal anymore to go there. The way to the port was sometimes very beautiful and of course the sunrise was amazing. (To avoid inflationary sun-rise posting, it is only 3sec on the video 147)
One Tuktuk with tourists overtook me and again I had mixed feelings – am I late? Will I get a ticket? And: I will there one hour earlier at least and until now, there are only two other passengers. At the marked point from the map there was nothing to see, but I anyway expected to go on 2km to the end of the road. But then there was a barrier and two officers send me away. They showed me a direction to a house but the road to that place soon ended and it became more and more difficult to go, including balancing my bike over a kind of “bridge”
The result was that I was back on exactly the street I had been coming, because it made a bend there. At the building they explained me that they only go to another town and again showed me a direction. There, I got the explanation that this was again the wrong place, but that the speedboat doesn’t go anymore. I couldn’t believe it and wanted to get more information. At a nearby police station no one heard me, but a man at a shop asked if he could help me. And he explained that since a year they had stopped the speedboat, because too few people had used it. I wondered about people writing that it is hard to get a ticket and they sell more tickets than places available etc. Plan B was rejected, Plan A became plan C and I had to go back 10km. Then I could use a kind of shortcut to come to the original route. It was interesting to see how near to the touristic hot spot Siem Reap /Angkor Wat people still were so friendly and gave me things to prices so cheap that I am sure these are the price for locals. (I also saw 2500 Riel as the price fo a haircut). When I, after 2 hours making a detour and searching for the boat, was on the road to HoChiMinCity, 3 Chinese elder cyclists stopped me for a photo.
They spoke only 2 English words, “hello” and “China”, so I have no idea where they were coming from or going to. Today, it was windy and so I tried to stay in the slipstream of cargo-motorcycles as often as possible. This was also exhausting sometimes, not only because of high concentration (there is only 20-40cm distance that should be kept but if the driver would brake abruptly, this would not be enough for a proper reaction. It is also exhausting because of the higher tempo, although I often could let it roll, too. Although I should know that at least since Georgia, I am still fascinated that in some areas you can get something special in unbelievable masses. Here it was sticky rice with beans in that reed, sold by maybe 100 women in a row several kilometers along the street (again video 147 )
It was strange to reach a city 125km away from starting shortly after 12 and I also found a guest house after a few minutes (I knew before that there should be some and I could search more purposefully). After a first round of charging devices and transferring data, I went out to find food. First was rice with vegetables and something that turned out to be no veggies for sure with a Durian-like bad smell and some meat insinuation. All in all I was glad to have rice to wrap everything and reduce strange tastes.
Then, I went to a hairdresser. He was about to close the shop and he wanted 5000 Riel just for the head, the beard would be again 5000 if I understood correctly. Now, I don’t know if the advertisement that I had seen really was valid, I don’t know if everyone in Stoung would pay 5000 Riel for the same haircut, I just know that this is 1,25$…. Some of his tools were a bit less attractive than they would be in clean state but I tried to think on something else. I went to a bakery and bought some bananas and went back. The internet connection in the room was very poor (at the corridor it was better) and I was very tired after getting up early a few times, so, the films of 3 days stay uncut, the Ankor Wat photos are unprepared, nothing except the blog text is uploaded. I think of staying somewhere extra for doing that
145 to Siem Reap 12.12.18 Lalit had been going 25km more than Sisophon yesterday and we agreed to meet there in the morning. At 8, I was there, we had breakfast and went on together. On the way i wondered about constructions you often could find: a plastic foil stretched in a wooden frame over a flat water basin.
…and all along the streets, you can see grain
not sure if exhaust is best choice for spicing grain up. … and I saw a dog peeing on it and generally wonder, if the exposure to everything around leads to health issues
We had more breaks than I usually make, because Lalit often had to buy water. And we bought fruits
and later ate soup.
by the way, if you want noodles, in the soup or fried ones, they take a pack of instant noodles!
Some km before Siem Reap, I had to go south to my “warmshowers”-host, Sehya, and Lalit went on to the city. 500m before reaching his place, I met Seyha or better, he met me, because he asked if I am Martin, and I was. He drove back with me, shortly showed me his place and went again. I prepared to go to the ticket office for Angkor Wat to have it in advance. When I went end made a stop at a restaurant, there sat I young man, apparently also a bike tourist. And Alex had not only the same idea in mind regarding the ticket, he also was staying with Seyha! We made the evening tour to the ticket shop and to Angkor Wat together.
the moat around Angkor Wat
There, we arrived a few minutes after they had closed the entrance.
We tried it at another temple, and again too late. So, we went home, making a stop to buy something pancake-like
this guy could cut bananas in slices faster than you can count!
and the some rice with vegetables. Alex need to check something online and so, we went again to the place where we had met before. I bought some pastries while he used Wi-Fi. One was like Ka-nom-chan from the taste, only with other structure. One was filled with Durian custard…. Then, I bought a big bottle of water to refill my bike bottles and payed an “European” price, about 4x more than usual. It is not much money, but I don’t want to go there again. At home, we had to wait, because Seyha, who also is a kind of priest, held is daily ceremony. I prepared some things for an early start to Angkor Wat, wrote this, cut photos and so. Upload is better possible with Wi-Fi (and Seyha has no), but still I will not go to that restaurant ?
There, we arrived a few minutes after they had closed the entrance. We tried it at another temple, and again too late. So, we went home, making a stop to buy something pancake-like and the some rice with vegetables. Alex need to check something online and so, we went again to the place where we had met before. I bought some pastries while he used Wi-Fi. One was like Ka-nom-chan from the taste, only with other structure. One was filled with Durian custard…. Then, I bought a big bottle of water to refill my bike bottles and payed an “European” price, about 4x more than usual. It is not much money, but I don’t want to go there again. At home, we had to wait, because Seyha, who also is a kind of priest, held is daily ceremony. I prepared some things for an early start to Angkor Wat, wrote this, cut photos and so. Upload is better possible with Wi-Fi (and Seyha has no), but still I will not go to that restaurant ?
146 Angkor Wat 13.12.18 Alex and I left Seyha‘s home at 5:30 to be in Angkor Wat by sunrise.
We were there nearly on time but had to wait in a line for 20min to get on top of the temple. You can say, well if you have seen one part of one temple you “have” seen all of them or you can go to each and every temple (we didn’t) and see so many variations and again impressing things (we did). You will see: many many tourists,
traces of tourists
guards checking tickets or monitoring the area, many (potential and active) tour guides for many different languages, I heard some well speaking guides for German. You will see many tuktuks and drivers who offer you tours. And people trying to sell books, cards, cloths, fruits drinks and food to prices like in touristic areas in Europe.
For me, this was a bit like a cultural shock after my first 1,5 days, because I could see how tourism and the chance to make money changes the people. Some appeared to be as nice as the others, but in the end, you could see it was about money. Ah, I forgot: you will see a lot of stones, mostly dark stones. Lying around, piled systematically by someone, or walls, collapsed in heaps.
And stones forming temples. Symmetrical temples, mostly large and in different conservation status.
So can see more temples than you are able to visit in one day. And If you want to see all the details of just ONE temple, it would be more than a day…
Some of them have steep stairs with high steps, some are flat.
In many temples, you will see that there is still a tradition of worship
Many are surrounded by water,
some by forest,
at least one of them is on a hill.
Some are presented more obviously, than you see more Tuktuks, people, souvenirs, some are like hidden treasures, and it is not (only) because they are less beautiful or in worse condition or smaller, sometimes it could just be that they are off the mainroad or that a bigger, more beautiful or better conserved is nearby.
you will see temples fighting against the occupation by trees
this tree had lost the fight, but still he could fall on a temple..
And you will see the endless efforts of conservation and stabilization
I wonder how many people buy the 3-days-pass but don’t go there for all those 3 days. Alex and I had enough after 10 hours and after deciding to go, we only made two stops on the way out and for sure passed some other temples without going there. I also took pictures of charts to read them later (will I?) and tried to read many there.
So far, I still didn’t know why the temples survived the Pol Pot regime. Seyha explained that they didn’t destroy things, even not in the cities and that e.g. machinery from that time now is used in Vietnam. We then had some talk that soon lead to his belief. He is preacher in the 7-days-adventists community and really lives his belief. He shares what he has (including his home with warmshowers guests), without worrying about tomorrow, because he feels protected and he had some experiences that proved that to him.
The hotel offered a breakfast at 7.a.m. and I was curiousabout that, so I had a later start. First, I only saw some small, packed cakes, but then they brought a big bowl with soup and rice. Maybe not the best I everhad in Thailand but good enough and satisfying.
The later start was no problem, because (This refers to day 143) it didn’t rain, but it was cloudy until noon. I must admit, a good solution to the problem to let it not rain and let it not notrain. And convenient for me, too.
at that time, I wondered about those “trees”, but it is just sugar cane leaned against them 🙂
On the way, I wanted to spend the smaller Thai Bath notes and hoped to get Ka-nom-chan for a last time. I saw one booth with Roti sai mai and thought, ah, I will make a stop at the next one, but no other came. So, I was more cautious from now one, not to miss anything and made a few stops,always taking something, but never getting Ka-nom-chan.
At a market, I got beautiful, cheap and tasty small bananas and joyfully crossed the street to get similar good pineapple. And I got the most expensive and at the same time worst pineapple since I had landed in South East Asia. The border came nearer and a few hundred meters before, there was a crazy, chaotic big market. I asked a seller if I could get Ka-nom-chan anywhere around, the answer was no and instead I bought some fruits that I had never seen before. At the hotel, I had great difficulties to open and peal the first one. The taste of the flesh was similar to some apples and had a slight note from green beans and raw potatoes. There were big seeds tasting like the should not be eaten. The next one was much easier to peal, but brown and slimy – should I eat that? I asked ecosia and the answer was yes, because that’s how tamarind is like and the seeds can be roasted and the also eaten (and are used in curries). The next one was brown but stinky, so I was sure it was gone, one had some animals inside and while I was fighting with peeling, preparing and eating that, I listened a youtube propaganda about the 18 health benefits of it.
But back to the border!
At the Thai side, they wanted to see my entrance stamp (in one passport) and the Cambodian visa (in the other passport). They didn’t like to deal with a person with two passports, so one gave the passports to another and he to the next and then the last one asked me about that and I tried to explain about travelling with one passport while the other one was in Vienna because of the Chinese visa that only can…
He gave me the stamp and I could proceed!
Normally, the area between the two passport control offices of the bordering countries is empty and undefined. Here it was undefined and chaotic but for sure not empty. I was curious to see the point when the traffic would change from left (Thailand) to right (Cambodia) but it was not possible in that crowd and confusion. But I could buy another pineapple here! (7/10, not so juicy and sweet, a bit too much fibre but a compensation to the expensive one!)
At the Cambodian passport control, there was a similar situation, officers handing my passport from one to the next, but in the end, I got my stamp and could go!
Poipet, the city at the border, is a crowded chaotic place,
but partly Aranyaprathet at the Thai side was that, too.
But I wanted to go to Sisophon, anyway and after ~10km I was outside. Very soon, I noticed that even more people, especially children,waved, smiled or shouted “hello” here. Car drivers and motorcyclists use their horn much more than in Thailand or Malaysia but drive cautious and the signal is only for telling, “Hello, I’m coming!”. Then, there came a motorcycle, modified to a small delivery truck and I moved in his slipstream. I just saw that we overtook a cyclist, but I had to concentrate in case the motorcycle would slow down, and I had to cycle hard, because he was going 30-36km/h. After a few minutes, I gave up. I went on another 20min and then made a break to eat some bananas. And then the cyclist caught up. He had tried to reach me but I had been going fast also after that episode in the slipstream, so we only met,because of this break. It was Lalit, from North India, 250km from New Dheli. He is also on his way to Siem Reap, and later Vietnam.
On the way we made two stops, one for a soup and one for water and in both cases the people were very friendly and smiling.
We drove together to Sisophon and separated there, because he wanted to continue, and I had my hotel booked there.
When I bought a local SIM card for 2$ it was no problem to pay with a 100$ note and I got back 98$, no Riel.
Generally, I was surprised how many people could talk
English and how many things were written in English.
