Heading North

Hello from Hue!
It's raining, it's pouring the old man is snoring... Well, not really but the weather has certainly shifted from stinky hot, dusty and dry to cool, soggy and damp.
I have joined forces with a small group of folk from England and Ireland and have been enjoying sharing rent in some more flash accomodation for a change. We met on the overnight bus to Hoi An from Nha Trang - a long ride and fairly comfortable but the driver was a Very Angry Man... getting off the bus to go to the toilet was frowned upon and don't ever dare leaving your shoes on past the second step. I was able to sleep a little, except when the music and lights were 'accidently' switched on about 4am in the morning... Was the driver spiteful? A sadist? Falling asleep? We'll never know!
I haggled my way through the tailors of Hoi An and finally chose a place to have copies made of my favourite dress and top and also a lovely Vietnamese dress and pant set made. I was asked to return the following day to collect my clothes at 4pm... clothes not ready. I was asked to return at 7pm... still not ready. I was asked to return the next day... STILL not ready... Finally, at 8pm the night before we were due to leave (when I was meant to go for dinner), I politely asked for my original dress back. The girl said, "You already have it". I said, "No, I absolutely do not have it. Where is it?". She said, "It must be at the tailors". She said she would bring it to my hotel but I wasn't risking that (my favourite dress!!!). So then I played a waiting game. "Five minutes", the girl said. An hour later, I was still waiting, but reluctant to budge from my little plastic seat in case the tailors closed up shop in my absence. Eventually, my original dress and copies were delivered and I quickly paid my money and got out of there. Was somehow able to resist buying shoes, but there were so many lovely pairs in gorgeous colours, it was challenging!
Took a morning journey out to the My Son temple ruins. It was great to wander through the jungle and enjoy the countryside.

I still love the Vietnam countryside. The bus journey today wound around mountains and at one point spent a good 15 minutes under a mountain travelling through a massive tunnel. The mountain tops are shrouded in grey cloud, and the steep mountain sides plunge down to meet the paddy feilds, which reach almost to the sea. Such gorgeous landscapes. I wish had more skill with my camera to capture the views to share with you!
Will be catching the train to Hanoi in two days then will make my way to Halong Bay for some water and Limestone Karst action! Happy Australia Day Everyone!!

Dalat

I Love Dalat! The journey here was so beautiful; weaving through the mountains in a comfy bus. I hadn't realised how flat, dry and dusty Cambodia was until arriving in the rich green mountains of Vietnam. The town of Dalat is a bit un-navigable (is that a word?) but luckily there are 'Easy Rider' motorcycle riders who are willing to take you wherever you want to go in the city or countryside.
Yesterday I teamed up with a couple of Scottish folk for a motorcycle tour of the countryside. We visited a hill village, waterfall, pagoda, some flower and strawberry farms... hmmm, what else? The most amazing house I've ever seen! It's called Crazy House and it is seriously crazy! The architect is a woman who studied overseas (can't remember where and don't have Lonely Planet on me as a reminder) and was influenced by Gaudi. The buildings all interweave and adjoin via quirky staircases and each room has a different animal theme- one of them had a large concrete kangaroo with a red light bulb eye, Scary! Her philosophy is to follow the lines of nature so there wasn't a straight line or corner in the place... wonderful!

We finished the tour with a visit to the 'Valley of Love', a kind of garden/themepark for 'newlyweds and oldlyweds' according to our guide. It was tacky and funny and great! We shot arrows and took photos inside love hearts.
Last night I joined the meditation group at my guesthouse, the 'Peace Hotel' and enjoyed a gorgeous Asian tea ceremony followed by a guided visualisation. So much what I needed!

Today, I went Canyoning with a young fella from Sydney. We travelled about 5kms out of town and made our way down the river where we practiced our first abseil on a short rock wall. We did a few more increasingly high abseils as we travelled down the river, one of which dropped straight into the river. Along the way we flew down a natural waterslide, feet first then head first (head first was HEAPS FUN!), then the highlight (and most terrifying) moment of the day. We came to a 25 meter waterfall, and abseiled over the edge... those first moments with the water crashing against my feet and having the guides warnings that it is slippery were rather tentative. As I got further down the waterfall, the water pressure became stronger and was drenching me from foot to head. I slipped once or twice, letting out a suitably girly scream each time, but slowly made my way down, with the simplest of prayers filling my mind... "Please God!" At about 3 metres above the water level, the rocks became to far away to abseil so there was only one choice - LET GO!!! I counted to three and flew into the water. It was nerve wracking and awesome and I am my own personal hero right now!! After a short hike we came to another drop - a 10 or 7 metre leap into a rockpool. Of course I took the 7 metre option, but spent some time breathing and praying before making the leap. My own little mantra for the adventure, I am safe, I am safe, I am safe.
After a steep climb (what goes down must come up) we found our taxi waiting and found our way back to the peace hotel for well-deserved hot showers.
Awesome day!

One Month!

Okay, I have survived one month! I have climbed crazy vertical staircases on ancient temples, rocked in little boats on the Tonle Sap, said 'atay oh-kun' (no thankyou) to thousands of children trying to sell me everything from cigarette lighters, to fake lonely planet guides to kramar (Cambodian scarves), plunged into the Saigon traffic aboard a cylco on the way to the doctor for yet another bout of vomiting and diarrhoea, and witnessed the disturbing 'documentary' at the Cu Chi tunnels. I am now taking not one, not two, but three different kinds of anti-biotic (anti-malarials and to kill off the nasty intestinal amoeba that are causing me so much grief).

Yesterday, I ventured out on a bus tour that was advertised as Cu Chi tunnel visit and Cao Dai temple. After about an hour on the bus, we stopped at a 'relaxation break' (according to our guide for whom everything is 'very interesting'), which was basically a workplace for disabled people making laquer furniture and pictures... the adjoining shop was massive and terribly expensive. After our 'break', we drove for another hour to the Cao Dai temple. This place was amazing, bright pastel colours adorn the walls and columns and the local practitioners all wear pure white - apart from a few men in yellow, red and blue, representing the three branches of the religion. The Cao Dai religion was founded in 1926 and encompasses aspects of Buddhism (Mahayana), Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity and Islam. We were able to stay for part of the midday ceremony... everyone sat on the floor and made partial prostrations while music, chanting and gongs filled the temple with sound. The energy was peaceful and I took some time to make my own devotions and prayers of thanks. I would have loved to have stayed for longer... particularly to have spoken with followers about their practice. But, back on the bus by 12.30,
we were ferried to our restaurant for lunch, then on to the Cu Chi tunnels.

Basically, the Viet Cong created a massive network of underground tunnels in order to maintain control of a large rural area. On the tour, we saw a kind of weird documentary, then looked at replications of the many traps the Viet Cong set for the Americans. These things were nasty, very nasty. As in the S21 museum, I felt stunned by the horrific ways human beings can treat each other. It was such a shock to the system following the openness and calm of the Cao Dai temple.

Following another long bus journey, we returned to Ho Chi Minh City, where I promptly had yet another spew. Went to a local restaurant where I forced down some potato soup then off to bed. Today I travel to Dalat by a local bus where I hope to find myself a motorcycle to spend some days in the hills!

Phnom Penh

Hello Dearies,

Since Angkor Wat I have enjoyed many adventures, beginning with a looong boat ride across the Tonle Sap River to Battambang. I was safely collected by my cousin Patty on her motorbike and was transported to the NGO where she has been working for the past 10 months. The org is Saboras, and they are currently running three projects, a community bank program, Child Safe program and training for young people into vocations (Patty, please comment if I've got this wrong!). We went out at the local ex-pat bar for dinner with some of Patty's mates. Next morning we joined a Khmer cooking class where we learned three local dishes... very yummy but a bit spicy! Then we caught a taxi from Battambang to Phnom Penh (ohmigosh, did I pray! Taxies in Cambodia are bloody scary, but we survived the journey - I might get a t-shirt made!).

We stayed at the Golden Gate Hotel, a nice break from budget accomodation, and I headed out to the Killing Fields and S21 museum while Patty went to a meeting. No words can describe the experience really...

That evening, met up with more of Patty's friends and had drinks at élsewhere' bar and a little shopping spree. Then had dinner at Romdeng, a restaurant that trains street kids in hospitality. Feel good dinner!

Next morning I took the bus to Kratie then a moto out to see the fabulous and rare Irrawaddy dolphins. The dolphins surfaced around the boat while we tried to capture them in photograph! I think I got one or two in the end. The sunset over the Mekong was absolutely gorgeous. Headed back to Phnom Penh the next day and have spent today at the museum, royal palace, silver pagoda, Wat Phnom, and central markets (Pa's birthday is soon!!).

Gotta run to pick up passport and Vietnam visa for tomorrow!
Love Chelle

Angkor Wat Adventures

Having survived a bout of travel sickness that began with a fever on New Year's Eve and ended with three days of antibiotics, I have made it to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. The bus journey from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap was an unevenful 10 hours via Phnom Pehn... great opportunity to finish a fat book I had begun earlier.

On my birthday, I spent the day being ferried like a queen in a remorque-moto, which is basically a little covered carriage attached to the back of a motorbike. I visited Angkor Wat, where the outer walkways hold amazing bas-relief images depicting scenes from the Hindu text, Mahabarata. Most of the temples in the area are Hindu and Buddhist, so there are many images of Visnu, Shiva, Buddha, and everywhere are the 'heavenly nymphs' or apsara.

The Bayon was absolutely amazing... a fairy tale. My imagination was alight with images, deep within the temple there are tiny passageways with 'fake' doorways leading into the stone... In the upper levels, I came face to face with the enormous images with enigmatic smiles... The scholars are undecided whether the faces represent the King Jayavarman, Brahmam or Avalokiteswara. I personally go with the Avalokiteswara theory, who is the Boddhisattva of Compassion (remember Om Mani Padme Hum?? - that's his mantra). Supposedly the King was a Mahayana Buddhist and performed many compassionate works during his reign, including building rest houses for pilgrims, paved roads and many hospitals.

Ta Keo was a personal triumph, as the steep walls were physically and psychologically demanding. I would love to make up a t-shirt that says, Í survived Ta Keo'. There are restorations works that have left a mottled appearance, with new sandstone aligned with old. Preah Khan was quite simply HUGE. The long corridors created amazing photo opportunities. As I walked from north to south, I found myself spooked in the dimly lit corridor, my head was full of screams and the sound of great rocks crashing to the ground. Eventually I reached the south entrance of the building where the passageway opened onto a beautiful path, leading into the surrounding jungle. I felt peace again!

Ta Phrom was beautiful... this is the temple where nature is reclaiming her domain. Great trees embrace the ruins, and in some cases, their roots are splitting the wall away. My camera had run out of battery on the first day so I was able to just wander and observe, without that touristy appendage... on day two I returned to photograph the wonderful scenery.

I climbed the mountain to Phnom Bakheng that evening, braving the hordes of tourists, and watched a gorgeous sunset. Sitting a little way away I was able to quietly chant the gyatri mantra. As the sun dipped below the horizon the crowd (there were seriously hundreds) gave a great cheer to the sun! It was kind of funny and lovely to be part of humanity at that moment!

The next morning, my moto driver picked me up at 5.15 and we made our way back to Angkor. I found a position in front of the lake and awaited the rising sun. It was interesting to observe the territorial bickering of the early arrivers as people began to stand right in the way of their carefully planned photo frames. I took a series of photos using different settings and I think some of them have turned out quite well!

Day three I made my way out to Banteay Srei, a long journey by moto. At one point the driver didn't slow enough going over a speed bump and I was nearly concussed with my head slamming into the roof! The stone work at this temple is the most intricate, even though the temple is quite small. Some of the images looked three dimensional... amazing and beautiful.

Upon returning to town, I hired a bicycle and made my way to the National Angkor Museum, where I learned about the history and art of Angkor, and more about the Kings. I think that's about caught up!