Vietnam to Cambodia

How'd those sanddunes turn out at 5am in Mui Ne? GREAT! Too bad I can't post the picture of me after I totally flipped over on my plastic sanddune sheet and literally ate it..hard. Took a whole day to get all that sand out ... of my ears! [The whole situation was almost as hilarious as when during Senior Olympics in college I spent virtually the entire dizzy bat race on the ground...at least there was just me and the wide expanse of sand to witness my fall.] I blame our pushy little kid who tried to charge us like $3 for a $1 operation (a rip off if you're as el cheapo as I am, and definitely a rip off in SE Asia). He pushed me really hard, before I was ready, and sent me hurtling down a 40 degree incline on a white sand dune and no way of breaking. It was beautiful though, and before 9am, not super hot. We confirmed our suspicions that the little kid was muttering swears at us the whole time when he said the same things in front of a Vietnamese adult and was rewarded with a smack upside the head. Our next set of tour guides (ie. kids out to make a buck) took us to Fairy River - this stream carved into red sand dunes that look like canyons, sure beat the fish sauce in huge clay vats operation that led up to it. Fish sauce is great, especially on things like bun (cold vietnamese noodles) but it's definitely one of those things that you have to be eating to enjoy and if you're not eating it then it there, the anchovy smell is just overpowering!

After a fun night checking out nightlife in Ho Chi Min City (ie. Jo & Jia going to bed after 10pm for once on this trip) we got up at the crack of dawn again to set off towards Cambodia. After a bus, boat, bus, ferry, bus, boat, bus, boat trip (did you get that straight?), we finally arrived in Phnom Penh. I've pretty much taken all forms of transportation in Vietnam (train - seat and sleeper, bus, minivan, Soviet-era looking jeep, plane, boat - small rowboat and motor-propelled wooden one) ... except for public buses. But nothing compares to the dozens of vans and buses we passed on the road in Cambodia today which saw people and luggage stacked up on the roof of the vehicle! With how small people are here, they can fit a guy and 3 girls on a motorbike too. I'm sure the driver (male) felt pretty pimp.

On the way to Cambodia while still in Vietnam, we stopped by a floating village (village on stilts) outside Chau Doc, a border town where one fishery house can fit over 80,000 fish! We also went to a Cham village, the Cham people are Islamic, once ruled a whole kingdom in Southern Vietnam and are thought to come from Malay stock. There was a guy who made iceys and made a whole village of children happy with his handmade crushed ice + syrup concoctions. Sadly, I also saw a young child who looked very sickly and malnourished with spindly legs and a vacant expression. I watched his mother spoon congee (apparently sounds similar in Portuguese as well!) into his mouth. She patted his head to indicate some kind of head injury perhaps. We also saw 2 young kids massaging a grandpa on his bed. Even though this village regularly entertains tourists, there were few signs that tourism was leaving behind any real benefit to its inhabitants. Our Vietnamese guide encouraged us not to give money to the children who begged as it is "not good for them", Pringles were a hit as a gift though!

I was sad to leave Vietnam where people had been so nice to me. This was a point our Vietnamese tour guide from last night wanted us to hit home as well. He explained that he found Americans especially wary of Vietnam because of the legacy of war (um, which we fought on someone else land and sprayed napalam and dioxide on civilians harming Vietnamese for generations). He kept repeating, "I don't know what Americans teach in schools, but we Vietnamese are friendly...please tell your friends!" It made me sad that this proud man was almost begging us to tell our friends that Vietnamese no longer held hard feelings after the US had waged such an atricious war it really didn't need to out of strategic interest. It also says something about how important foreign tourism is becoming to the economy and I think reflects a continued paranoia of the US towards communist states (China, Vietnam, Cuba). Most people who go to China tell me that they did not envision communism/socialism/maoism to look like this. These countries are changing at a lightening pace and a single politically loaded term cannot encapsulate them. Sure China (and I assume Vietnam) have loads of problems and frustrations (corruption, lack of transparency, lack of free and widespread elections, arbitrary laws) but so many of these issues plague other developing nations that call themselves free and democratic it's no sense discriminating based on a name.

Back to travel notes, just cruising along the Mekong was beautiful though! Lots of waving children (forget split pants, kids don't seem to be fully clothed until 5 or 6), fields of sugar cane, palm trees, and lush vegetation. Crossing over into Cambodia there were rows of ominous storm clouds but the patches of rain in the distance were very distinct and isolated. When it rained on our little boat, the sun was still bright out. Makes for very changeable weather.

One clear sign of poor management in Cambodia is the lack of drainage in the roads. It rained moderately today and when we drove into Phnom Penh, the streets were completely flooded. Walking around the block required wading through foot deep water ... so like playing in the rain but much dirtier. The Lonely Planet guide lists uncovered manholes as a danger in PP, especially with how few street lights there are at night and the deep cess pools of germy water currently covering the streets. We did happen upon a great supermarket today - Lucky Supermarket which had Milanos, gummy bears, and cereal! at cheaper than US prices Who woulda thunk in Cambodia? Also did you know that you can use US dollars pretty much everywhere in Cambodia (even more widespread than in Vietnam)? The AZN Bank ATM I went to only dispensed in USD and the supermarket listed all prices in dollars. Will RMB ever make it this big in its asian neighbors?

Tomorrow, we will go to the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh which thanks to the Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million (or a whopping 25% of the population?!?!) Then we will return to the glory of Angkor tomorrow by heading up to Siem Reap. Also did you know that Thai boxing and dancing actually come from the Khmer civilization in Cambodia? Right, more surprising facts to come!