2nd tour of duty Cambodia

Part 5

Phnom penh 22/2/09

The boat trip from Siam Reap to Phnom Penh took about six hours going across the Tonie Sap tidal lake which has quite a big floating village on it.At the start of the trip there were locals selling water and snacks for the trip if you waited right until the last moment when the boat leaves the dock you can get your snacks reduced right down to about 10% what they were hanging out for 15 min's before!

I sat on top the whole way,awesome.

We did a tour of the silver pagoda and the royal palace.

Chris and Debs got involved with some fitness dancing.

We stayed at the OK hotel,which was catered for western travellers and was'nt to bad,very laid back and did  some good meals. Better than the plate of Tarantula's that was offered to us at the market.

The next day was a sombre one and a real eye opener at the killing fields of the Khmer rouge and a visit to the high school that was converted into a torture prison s-21, i dont want to go into much detail but the memories will stay with me for ever.

Next day we would be catching a bus to Saigon Vietnam.

Part four,2nd tour of duty Cambodia

CAMBODIA.

21/2/09

We landed in Siam Reap,which means Thailand defeated!!,no wonder there were hostilities going on between the two armies at the border!
we found a hotel,that was very ordinary[bathroom flooded] and when we walked down the stairwell we spotted a crocodile farm next door,with hundreds of crocks basking in the sun waiting to be turned into handbags! We changed hotels the next day with one that was cheaper and cleaner!

That afternoon we went and got are 4 day pass for all the temples and went to a temple that people flock to for the sunset over Angkor,we paid for an elephant ride up to top with a real gentle elephant,once at the top the handler let us feed her,showing what leaves were her favorite we spent some time patting and feeding her and she loved the attention she was getting. The sunset was magnificent but it was standing room only! After a great Khmer curry for dinner we woke up the next day for a taxi tour of some of the temples and a visit to Kbal Spean which is a spectacular carved riverbed,set deep in the jungle, Kbal Spean means 'River of a thousand lingas'. It was a bit of a trek up to where it starts but it was well worth the effort to get there,but it was hot!

We did a tour of a few of the temples in the area each one was unique in its own way,but we were getting peed off with traveling around in a taxi,we weren't getting the real feel of the country in a air con cab! So the next day we arranged a tour around with a moterbike cyclo.

We explored some awesome temples including the one used in the Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie,but my favorite was it had a library building that was like an Mediterranean Colosseum how can that be when these two cultures wouldn't have crossed paths? The temples had stunning carvings in the stonework and were mesmerising, it was very hot and we just couldn't drink enough water and eat refreshing pineapples. Each temple was unique and some had very steep stairs to climb to reach the top!

But the most known temple of the lot Angkor Watt was breathtaking with all the stone carved reliefs, we spent a long time here soaking up the atmosphere of a culture long gone.

Tomorrow we are off to Phnom Penh by fast boat

Camping, cold mornings and star trails

12/6/10

Went camping out at Canungra and did some expermenting with my new camera,the nights were cold and the morning freeeeezing! but it soon warm up during the day and had a great time with the family and friends.

Diesel and running from Storms!

After meeting up with Deb and Al on our trusty iron horses we headed for the Lyons road out of Rathdowney to Kyogle,which is a well known bike ride road with fantastic scenery through a lush green valley. We stopped for breaky half way and cooked up some bacon and scramble eggs on my little travel stove and some coffee,it was starting to get hot and we shed the jackets. We then stopped again after a couple hours for coffee and the best lemon meringue pie in a really olde but quaint coffee/store shop.

We rode into Murwimbula with Deb and Al needing some fuel,there was only two pumps,diesel and petrol,well Deb pulled up to the diesel pump and started to fill up,being distracted by a huge crate of ripe mango's that were for sale,then Al filled his bike up as well with the diesel! We chose our mango's and stashed them on the bike and rode away,within a couple of k's Als bike stopped and Deb's bike started playing up like a hairy goat! Al thought it was bad fuel until we smelled it,DIESEL!

Well we had to drain both bikes,nearly 30 litres! and i rode off to get some fresh fuel in a can. We were planning to go home a different road through the mountains but a huge storm was gathering on the mountain so we high tailed it up the main highway to skirt the storm and we made it ,what an adventure!

Part three,2nd tour of duty Lao

Part Three Lao.

As coming into the plain of jars the road out was the oppisite up,up and up again until we reached the turn off to Vieng Vang,we made good time and stopped for lunch,fried sweet potato and coffee.Debbie said she had been asleep on the back of the bike the last hour!!!

Now it was all down hill again until Vieng Vang,once again we were bike heaven the scenery breath takeing. We arrived early afternoon and checked into the same hotel where we left our bags a week earlier,we had a shower and a nap then went for a sunset walk out to one of the caves then came back into town for a great dinner at a place that was not playing the family guy or friends!! We had dinner with Paul 'n' Kat who we met at Phonosaven. The girls again decieded there arses had enough and caught the bus back to Vietianne so after breakfast me and Al set off on the bikes we also had no bags as the girls would carry them.

Once again the scenery was fantastic and we traveled at a great trot, we beat the girls back into Veintianne and manged to secure two rooms in the same hotel as when we left,we took the bikes back to where we had hired them for tomoorrow we fly to Cambodia!

2nd tour of duty, Lao . Part two

me 'n' alan' said goodbye to the girls in the morning in Luang Phrabang,they were going to catch the bus to Phonosavan,where the plains of jars are,they reckon there arses were to sore to ride the bikes ,sod that,these roads are awesome bike roads, high mountain switch backs with the scenery ,just out of this world! we only rode for about 1/2 hour before we stopped it was bloody cold,i couldn't feel my fingers! well we did leave with just t shirts on! Thank god it soon warmed up and we were on our way.

The road soon started getting higher and higher and the grins on are faces were getting wider and wider! with the girls riding on the bus we were now riding solo so we were travelling faster in and out of switch backs. We were making good time easily over taking the buses and trucks belching out thick black diesel smoke.

We arrived at the outpost town of Phou Klounm which is where we turn off to the road to Phonosavan, where the historical plains of jars are. We had a great coffee and some sort of fried sweet potato.we filled up with petrol from old glass jar and hand pump and were on our way,it was pretty well almost down hill now with the landscape looking really dry,it was getting hot as well, after an hour or so we stopped for a drink and a rest, out of the bush walked a guy with gun with a really long barrel,he didn't understand English but he did accept a chocolate biscuit after looking confused with what to do with it!! We arrived at Phonosavan in good time with instructions from the girls to sort out the accommodation before picking them up from the bus station.

We met another couple from the UK on a round the world trip,Paul and Kat,they were also travelling around on a hired motorbike. We got some info on the jars and set off for them in the morning,there are three sites and because we set off early we were always one step in front of the tour groups,so we had the sites to our self's.They were pretty impressive,especially no one knows why they are here and what they were used for! We had to strictly keep to marked footpaths as this area was heavily bombed during the Vietnam war.The day was very hot and dusty and the night was freezing! We left in the morning back to vieng vang on the bikes with the girls wearing all are clothes to beat the cold,it didn't take long to warm up though!

2nd tour of duty! Vietnam and Lao Part 1.

After arriving from k.l. to Hanoi,Vietnam on the 7/2/2009the first mission was to hire some motorbike's,we tracked down a cheap place to hire,six dollars a day so we hired two bikes for two days.The 2nd tour of duty was a lot easier with the traffic,it was'nt so daunting and we launched straight into it! Purchased a bike helmet designed like an American marine helmet with full camouflage and netting!,which i fixed a helmet camera to.We got some strange looks,ha.ha.,but i made sure i was wearing a tee shirt with there national flag on the front!! just in case.

Riding around was a blast and we visted the war museum we missed last time which was very intresting,

It was a bit cooler than last time but far from brass monkeys!

From Hanoi,we flew to Luang Prahbang,Laos where the plan was to hire bikes for a week and travel north. We found a great rental shop,which was also a great coffee 'n' cake shop as well as a well stocked western style supermarket with a great guy ,jules who was running a very busy motorbike rentals as a side line,we ended up getting a Suzuki 200cc Van Van bike for 22$ a day.The bike had huge tyres that seemed to be made for the potholed Laos roads! We did make a big mistake with our luggage that we would pay for later! we loaded up our packpacks on the back rack,where we discovered about an hour into the trip we were carrying to much!,so if we could make it to the town we wanted to stop at for the night we would leave one bag behind at the hotel and pick it up on our return a week later.

We tried to follow the minor road out of Veintiene north but after a while we lost the road and ended up going along some really dusty roads through some farming lands where we stopped in a village for a break which was amusing for the village shop owner,we carried on, then the dusty road unexpectedly spat us back on the main road! With some time lost we hit on to the stop for the night Vieng vaing.The scenery was getting good and mountain ranges started to appear in front of us,the road was starting to snake up the mountains,i'm sure i was wearing a smile a Cheshire cat would be proud of! The road just kept going up and up until it plained of and came down a bit and we rolled into Vieng Vaing.

got sorted with a hotel and then went out to look for dinner,we walked down to the fast flowing river with a rickety bridge crossing it with the sun setting behind the rugged mountains,breathtaking stuff!

We soon found that the budget backpackers who arrive on an overnight buses from Thailand have also discovered this little piece of paradise and have spoilt the vibe of the town with loud music,the simpsons playing non'stop in the bars and restaurants and the locals really catering for western tastes,shame really.

Having packed light,just one bag now,with our freinds deb'n'al shedding the biggest load,we arranged with the hotel to hang on to our bags until are return,the bikes handled a lot better now!
Having a big day ride in front of us to get to Luang Phrabang before nightfall we had an early breakfast and pulled into a fuel station to fill up,just as we were pulling out a local shouted to al' and was pointing to al' back tyre,shit,it was flat!! I rode up the road a bit and found someone who could fix it in what was a shop,repair and house hut on side of road,because the rear tyre was so wide he struggled to get tyre off the rim and had to take it to a car tyre shop to break the bead,with tyre off and a 3 inch nail removed,there was three holes to patch! While he was patching the tube his neighbour was running a dentist shop in the hut next door with his clients spitting there mouthwash straight out the window!!An hour and a half later we were on our way.The scenery was spectacular!
From following the river through the montains we started to ascend up and up,with tight snaking roads that went on for ever,awesome,you had to keep your eye on the corners because you could have met anything around the blind bend,trucks,buses,potholes,gravel ,dogs,cows to kids making sweeping brushes from the long grasses! We stopped for lunch in a hut that was under constuction for a bit of shade when debbie produced the lunch!!
We ended up giving the bar'b'qued rat to the family next door.We ventured on an upward with the veiws of the Laos mountain all around us.We reached the peak and it was almost all down hill with a few rises here and there,i turned off the engine and coasted down to save a bit of fuel. We did see some H'Mong guerrilla's with what looked like machine guns watching the traffic! not a place to break down! We stopped to watch the locals make some brushes on the side of the road and try to help them,it was hard work,you had to bash the grass stems on the road to remove the seeds,it was hot and dusty work but we had laugh with them. We rode in to Luang Prahbang late in the afternoon and had a cold beer watching the locals set up there market stalls,which turned out to be some great market stalls,we then went to find a room for the night and found an old french colonial house which we ended up staying for four night!
Each morning,early,the monks pass on there way to collect there alms.

We did a ride to a lesser known waterfall,and ended up eating dust most of the way! as it turned out we found another water fall that had to be reached by canoe which was recomended by another couple we met who were also on moterbikes and it turned out to be an awesome trip!

Chris 'n' Deb went for a swim to get rid of some of the dust,we were to late to see the elephants but the trip back up the fast flowing river was magic.

we did find a great waterfall with a tar road all the way the next day where we spent most of the day,there was also a bear sanctuary there with a cache hidden where there used to be a enclosure for a rescued tiger,phet who sadly passed away last year.These waterfalls were very popular and very scenic and we had a great lunch and the girls had an afternoon nap!

It was time to leave to get to the plain of jars,the girls decieded to catch a bus while me and al' rode the bikes there.

END OF PART ONE.