Cambodia part 2

A week of sightseeing, cycling, camping, cycling and more sight seeing.

Cambodia has a lot to offer we’ve seen Irrawaddy dolphins (Showaddywaddy Doplhins, according to Gary, although I didn’t see them dance or sing), cycled up one of the few mountainous areas in Cambodia, been on a motorbike tour to a waterfall where Gary got to swim with some monks and visited traditional villages, we’re now in Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia, which is a lively city with a lot to offer including the thought provoking and harrowing Prison 21 and the killing fields.

For the first time since India we had to camp on route to one of our destinations, we’re a little rusty but apart from the heat and lack of water and having to cycle with no water or breakfast it was an enjoyable experience.

Tomorrow we will head towards the South West Coast to do some more Island hopping, after all it is a holiday before heading to Siem Reap to see the temples.

Hope you are all well and enjoy the Halloween Weekend

Love Ginette and Gary

End of Laos and start of Cambodia.

The last few days in Laos we spent on and around the 4000 Islands. Ginette had a bit of a wobble so we stayed a couple of days longer than originally planned.

We have now cycled into Cambodia and have taken our first public bus journey with our bikes.

This area of Laos and Cambodia is a bottle neck for travellers coming and going from either country so we have met lots of like minded western speaking souls so the socialising has been a nice aspect.

First impressions of Cambodia is that the people are poorer (judged by the poorer condition of the stick houses and the lack of satellite dishes common in Vietnam and Laos) and that the roads are in a worse state of repair. Everyone is still really friendly and this time we have children running to great us but shouting “hello” in English, its been a while since we had this.

Today our daughter Hayley runs the Bristol to Bath marathon – we are very proud parents of a mad girl.

Next stage is to head to the mountains as Ginettte has found a new love of hill climbing.

Love Gary and Ginette.

Laos part 2

A different type of week. We’ve had a sandwich of cycling long boring roads with 3 days of discovering Laos on a motorbike.

We’ve seen lots of waterfalls and tourist attractions, hopefully the photo’s capture some of the great sights we’ve seen.

The people in Laos are friendly but so laid back and not at all business orientated, the tourist attractions have been free or pence to enter and cafes have been reluctant to serve us even when they have drinks or food available, we don’t think they intend to be rude they just can’t be bothered and would rather direct you to the cafe down the road.

We are now on Don Khong Island, we will probably spend a day or two playing on the islands before heading into Cambodia mid week.

If you have no plans on the 25th October, Hayley is running the Bristol to Bath marathon, we unfortunately can’t be there so would be grateful if everyone else can wish her well and give her support her number is 3700

Take care until our next update

love Gary and Ginette

Laos

Laos is a very poor country, the people are incredibly laid back (mostly asleep) but friendly. The children are a delight they’re so excited to see us often shouting hello and trying to cycle and run alongside us.

The landscape has changed rapidly as we’ve cycled south through the country we’ve seen forest clad mountains, man made lakes, limestone rocks, caves, buddhist temples and for the past 3 days we’ve followed the Mekong River.

The roads vary from being in a good condition to muddy rutty tracks, mostly they’re very poor and challenging to ride on our bikes

We’ve cycled through some off the beaten track villages, where most of the houses are on stilts and are made of wood. In the north of the area the houses were little more than shacks but as we’ve cycle south the houses have improved. A number of the villages don’t even show up on our maps and as for planning accommodation, we have just had to take a leap of faith that we will find somewhere or camp which would not be so easy as they’re a lot of UXO’s still in Laos.

We are making our way down to Cambodia but hope to exchange our bicycles for motorbikes this week so that we can ride the Belaven Plateau.

Hope all is well back home

love and kisses

Ginette and Gary

Vietnam to Laos.

6 months in and we’re still having an amazing adventure. The time is flying by and each day brings  a new experience. It’s not always easy and we don’t always like what we see or experience but we wouldn’t miss it for the world, it definitely beats getting up for work each day.

Our lasting memories of Northern Vietnam will be:

food – is fresh, often picked from the garden, or killed locally and really does include dog, snake and turtles

Countryside – beautiful rolling hills, stunning mountains, lakes and agricultural fields

People – are friendly more so in rural areas, the children are really excited to see us, running to meet us as we pass.

Lifestyles – most people in North Vietnam are farmers, shop keepers or restauranteurs, it seems like a simple life if not hard as many still use very old farming techniques and the kitchens are basic. People live and work in their premises and everything is done on a small scale.

Animals – we’ve seen lots of beautiful butterflies but we think they Vietnamese have eaten all the other wild animals. We do see a lot of wild livestock including chickens, goats, pigs, cows and water buffalo, not penned in although some are tied up.

Accommodation – we’ve not had to camp as accommodation can be really cheap and is easy to find. We’ve stayed in luxurious hotels and cheap B & B’s most with one inch thick hard mattresses.

Gary has enjoyed Vietnam more than I have because our expectations were different I had hoped to experience a Communist Country but it has felt pretty much like any other South East Asia Country, which is not a bad thing just not what I expected.

We crossed the border into Laos this morning, new country, different language and currency so hopefully we will have lots more to share with you next week.

Problem loading the photos so our apologies some have no comments attached

love and kisses

Ginette and Gary