Anita and I decided to take two weeks traveling in Vietnam from Saigon to Hanoi because, the last time I was in Vietnam was over 35 years ago when I evacuated refugees just before the fall to the North.
We took the Mekong Express bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon. I thought I knew where the bus station was in Phnom Penh, I was wrong, luckily it was only 100 meters from where I thought it was.
Mekong Express is much nicer than either the Capital or Sorya local buses, it still has the annoying karaoke. The bus ride was about six hours with a ferry crossing and rest stop. On the ferry there were vendors selling fruit, the rest stop had a nice array for items.
The bus dropped us off near on the edge of a large park in central Saigon, we were not sure which side of the park we were on. We asked the bus attendant and she said "just a minute", then she got in a taxi and left. I guess we're on our own; we looked for street signs, they were a little scarce. We finally decided to take a taxi, we knew it was not far to the hotel. I would go into the details of how we got ripped off but suffice it to say we paid $20 for a $1 distance. When we went out the next day the door man gave us a list of reputable taxi companies.
No, I did not have another moto accident I have just been too busy to blog.
Anita of Anita's Feast was here for six weeks and has headed back to Switzerland. While she was here we traveled for two weeks through Vietnam from Saigon to Hanoi. She cooked in Saigon, Hoi An (half way up the coast) and Hanoi and I photographed.
While in Hoi An, on the Vietnamese coast we took a early morning photo tour of a small fishing village with Hoi An Photo Tours Etienne Bossot While in Hanoi, we took a boat trip to Halong Bay a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
When we returned to Phnom Penh, I was back at work and she had some time to look around Phnom Penh. Last week the NGO I am working for had a retreat in Siem Reap and Anita accompanied me to Siem Reap. We stayed in Siem Reap a few days after the retreat to; you guessed it, cook and photograph. Beng Mealea was the last temple we visited
Back in Phnom Penh I am back to work sort of speak. My contract with DDD ends at the end of the month. I did not take all of my vacation so I am on vacation until the end of the month. During this time, I will be updating my web site, looking for photographic work and sending out resume's looking for something new to do.
Some weeks ago I was reading about an area where Tonley Sap (the river) and the Mekong come together. It described a pagoda in the shape of a boat. About three weeks ago I walked around the area but did not see that pagoda. On the same trip I passed a kilometer long stretch of houses build on stilts on the edge Tonley Sap, it looked like several of these houses were being taken down.
Yesterday I took my moto out to look around and went to the same area. The kilometer stretch of houses along Tonley Sap has been cleared of houses. This is only on the river side of the dirt road.
There was an article in the paper some time ago about the lack clear ownership on land because of the lack of records during the Khmer Rouge time and the corruption forcing people from their land. I don't know if this was the case here.
I followed Tonley Sap a few kilometers beyond where I had gone the first time and I found the pagoda in the shape of a boat.
The pagoda area is raised and there steps up into the compound. I did not want to park my moto outside, so I decided to try to drive up the board going up the steps. The first was not very good. I backed off and luckily two young men helped me get it up the second time.
The pagoda is truly in the shape of a boat with a tree in the boat. Inside I found a monks robe and a piece of traditional cloth laying on the edge of the river that surrounded the pagoda. I did not see any monks but I did hear chanting, there were several people cleaning up.
On Saturday, I took an hour plus walk around a slightly different part of town. I passed several interesting sights. When I got home and took off my repaired sandals, I noticed is had a sore spot on the ball of my right foot. After some investigation I found that the patch over the thong hold had a raised edge and my foot had been rubbing on it. the blister is not large but is a bit painful because I step on it often.
This afternoon I took my sandals back to the repair man and pointed the problem out. He said no problem and went to sanding the patch down. When I came back after shopping he cut the patch down and the felt OK.
Again, I will tell you how they are after I have put a kilometer or two on them.
I have seen four young men on one moto, three on the seat and one sitting in front of the driver.
I have seen a moto loaded with the family for a vacation.
The other day my colleague Ammar and I were chatting and I what was the maximum number of people he had seen on a moto. He said "six". I was impressed the most I had ever seen was five.
Today I set a new record, there was a family of seven on a moto. The father was driving; he had two toddlers in front of him. Mom was on the way back, it looked like she was trying to nurse an infant, and she had two more toddlers between her and pop.
I saw the moto stopped at a light. I counted them once and said to myself, "that can't be" I counted them again, yes "seven". Then I counted to make sure I had all of the heads. There were really seven on one moto.
I had been shopping in the Russian marked and did not have a camera. I really wanted a photo of this.
My daughters might like to see the hand work done not far from my house. On street 178 just off of Nonrandom there are four or five stone carving shops. Yes, they start with a large or small block of stone and carve it into some very intricate designs. I have seen other locations along the highway to Siam Reap where they carve large items, about the size of an old Volkswagen.
Near my house the largest piece I have seen is about four feet tall, that's not small when you think it has been chiseled out of solid stone.
The carvers in Cambodia come by their talent from a long line of carvers. The Angkor complex has thousands of carvings. Below is only a very small sample.
The work is mostly done with traditional tools. It is slow work.
In addition to carving more artistic items they carve signs of all sizes from very large to signs for house numbers.
When I departed Switzerland for Cambodia, I knew it would be warm here and my footwear should be sandals. I brought two pair and a pair of running shoes. The running shoes have not had as much use as I would like but the heat makes it hard for me to run, my sandals on the other hand have carried the load. Of the two pair, I have one pair that I have used most of the time, last week I noticed they were getting a little more than worn, time for a fix up.
I remembered passing a shoe repair shop on my to the Orussey market, why not give it a try. I put on my second pair of sandal, packed the worn pair in my backpack and headed to see what I could work out. The shop was open, and as expected the man did not speak any English. He did understand that I wanted new leather on the inside.
I thought he may have some leather available, he did, he pulled out the leather from another large leather flip flop type of sandal. How could I tell, it was the shape of a sandal, it had stitching round the edge and there was a hole where the leather top went into the base between the large toe and the others.
He placed it on my sandal and it looked like it would work. I asked when it would be done, expecting tomorrow some time, and he said 5:00, that was about 45 minutes. Great.
I walked around the market, purchased fish for dinner and bananas and rice cooked in the banana leaf. I arrived back the shoe repair at about 4:45. When I returned the man was still working on one shoe. He was cutting and putting a small piece of leather over the hole in the new leather where the flip flop part had been.
The repair was a little expensive, I am sure it was tourist price, $3.00. I will tell you how well it works down the road.
