Ryan McFarland

The one night we spent in Phnom Penh, Cambodia was at the Nice Guest House.   It was $10 for the night.  The room was fairly close to the Royal Palace but we did catch a ride instead of walking.

The hotel claims internet, overseas calls, motorcycle, bicycles, laundry service. All rooms have a window and some have a balcony. Cable TV, AC, Fridge, fan, hot shower and private bath.

You can see that the bathroom is a water closet.  The shower head is there between the toilet and the sink.  The toilet paper has a little cover over it so that you can’t get it soaking wet.  Wearing sandals all day your feet get dirty so if you use the toilet after a recent shower you end up with muddy feet and a dirty floor.  You also can see the little white hose next to the toilet.  I didn’t use this - if my bum ever needed a rinsing i just hopped in the shower.  Hot showers, while a luxury usually worth paying for, are probably not too necessary where the ground temperature probably doesn’t dip below 60 and your shower is half to clean yourself and half to cool off and stop sweating.  On-demand hot water heaters (the little box on the wall behind the shower head) were prolific in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Address
No. 209Eo St. 107, Sang Kat
Beng Prolit, Khan 7 Makara
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
(855) 230211911
FAX (855) 23 217076
Email nice_gh209@yahoo.com
www.niceguesthouse.com

 While in Phnom Penh, Cambodia we saw these kettle-like garbage cans that upon closer inspection were actually pieces from rubber tires.  Most areas in Vietnam and Cambodia did not even have public garbage cans - trash was left right on the street and picked up by sanitation crews in the evenings.

We paid only $24 per person for our bus ride from Ho Chi Minh, the boat ride to Chau Doc, a hotel, the boat ride to Cambodia, and then the van ride to Phnom Penh.  We decided to upgrade our hotel to one with AC and hot water for an additional $20 per room though.  We only spent one night in this hotel so we don’t have much of an impression.

You can see that at least the shower head was mounted on the wall - much easier to shampoo.  Here’s a scene from us getting a ride to meet the rest of the group on the Mekong for our day long boat ride to Cambodia.

Address:
Chau Pho Hotel
Trung Nu Vuong noi dai TX Chau Doc, An Giang
076.564139
FAX 076.564159
Email chauphohotel@vnn.vn

Our base of operations in Ho Chi Minh City was the Mai Kim Loan Hotel.  We checked in and out of it three times on the trip.

They were very hospitable and spoke and understood reasonable English.  We only had one major misunderstanding - the distance to the Cu Chi tunnels led a few of us on a wild goose chase.  Overall our stay was pleasant and cheap.  One day when we checked in the city power was off but they have a generator that they were running - sadly the elevator was not powered by it and our room was on the sixth floor.  Having a balcony room on a high level is nice to stay away from the road noise.  If you’re a light sleeper get one of the rooms in the back of the hotel instead of the front.  The shower was a nozzle attached to the tub outlet and wasn’t long enough for tall people to use without pinching off the flow of water - so we had to stoop.

Straight out the door and half way down the block was a good place for breakfast.  Turning left at the intersection past the restaurant and going a few blocks leads to the biggest market in Ho Chi Minh city.

The fridges were stocked with drinks (including beer) but you pay for them during checkout.  Not too expensive though.  Grabbing a cold beer from the lobby seemed like they were more cold but maybe that was because the AC was on in the rooms.

Address
Ly Tu Trong Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(84.8) 8245830, 8242905, 8242906
FAX (84.8) 8242889
Mobile 0903.775451
Email maikimloan@hcm.vnn.vn

Kevin was wise enough to grab the web cam pictures from our road trip while he was in town. IN case you missed that - we mounted a webcam on the dashboard of his truck while driving across the country. The cam captured images and then saved them to my laptop hard drive. Unfortunately some of the stretches had so many images to compile for a stop-motion type video that it bogged my computer down trying to process them every time. Kevin used some different software and had success. Here’s the seven minute video of an 8 hour trip from Las Vegas, Nevada to Los Angeles, California.

We also have Virginia and West Virginia completed. Thank you Kevin!

I was asked to send something in to the ARPA newsletter about our trip so i thought i would copy and paste it here…

My second day in Vietnam we loaded up into a big bus and cruised from Ho Chi Minh City toward the Mekong Delta.  There were seven in our group and we were joining travelers from all over the world for a two day boat ride up the Mekong River into Cambodia.  The roads in Vietnam are swarming with motor scooters.  We regularly saw four and five people on scooters – once even seven.  There are lines painted on the roads but the rule of the road seems to be that of gross tonnage – he who weighs most goes where he wants.  The constant sound of horns from the buses, vans, and scooters soon contrasted with the drone of the river boat motor.  But the riverbanks took a long time to finally start to show – they were crowded with the pilings of business and homes for a hundred miles before we started to see the agricultural areas that contributed to the river’s sediment.  It was just as you might imagine – one person bathing and drinking out of the river, the next washing their water buffalo, and then a small child standing on a branch and pooping in the water.  Needless to say, I kept clear of the “seafood.” But I did have just enough of the local brew to suggest to the man riding the bicycle that was pulling me on a trailer that I should give riding a try.  The seat was hard but I concentrated on making sure I wasn’t hit by a motorbike or car while my friends snapped photos of me. The other cyclist cabbies seemed to wish that their heavy American passengers were as interested in paying to drag them around on a trailer as I was.  Maybe I was fired up from the snake liquor we had the previous night.

The next morning we were loaded up on boats and rowed around Chau Doc to see how rice paper and coconut candy are made.  We navigated through a maze of float houses that had an umbilical cord of electricity strung to each of them to power their televisions.  Eventually we boarded our windowless powerboat to continue across the border into Cambodia.  A few of us scrambled onto the roof of the boat that picked us up at the border.  We took pictures, waved at the children that ran to the shore, and soaked up some sun.  In Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, we walked around enjoying the sights of the Happywater Festival.  Unfortunately, the major attractions in the city were closed for the festival – but I saw garbage cans made entirely out of old tires and we watched crews of sixty people paddling huge canoes on the river in races.  The next day we chartered a van to take us to Siem Reap.  Once again we swerved through streams of motorbikes.  But this trip had more big buses on the highway and also more people on bicycles hauling firewood or water buffalo hauling farmer’s trailers that were now empty from their sales during the day. 

We spent three days based in Siem Reap exploring the ruins around Angkor Wat before heading back to Vietnam on an airplane.  The Hindu and Buddhist ruins were stunning.  Some were overgrown with a thousand years of the jungle reclaiming the stone.  Others were meticulously restored and were surrounded by peddlers of everything from French guidebooks to the ruins to tiger teeth and elephant tusks.  In Cambodia they accept US dollars.  We went through them quickly though – an hour massage cost between 3 and 8 dollars.  Food and drink and even lodging was cheap. 

What did I learn that makes this worth being in our newsletter?  I saw very few sports fields.  Not even soccer.  I think the reason was because land was too valuable to be used for play.  We saw a few volleyball nets strung up next to homes – a game that fairly large teams can play and requires little space.  One playground that I saw in Vietnam had Gametime equipment that I first saw at the Seattle trade show.  The playground was absolutely overpopulated with children of all ages.  All forms of recreation and play were done with much less thought that it was recreation.  I saw thousands of bicycles – yet only one recreational cyclist.  A few varieties of hand cycles were very present.  Mines continue to maim Cambodians and Vietnamese and those with a leg impairment got around in their hand cycles instead of wheelchairs (the sidewalks would have been impossible to use a wheelchair in).  Their cycles seemed to be government issued because most had an official looking mark on the back.  The reason I went was to participate in a friend’s wedding.  I had no initial desire to visit either place and now I truly hope to return. 

In an unfortunate turn of events i was forced to schedule the January ARPA board meeting for the 19th in Anchorage.  That day, as it turns out, coincides with the 2008 Great Alaska Beer & Barleywine Festival.  It looks like a number of the meeting attendees plan on going to some of the tastings so my meeting time might need to squeeze between the sessions to ensure a quorum and maximum attendance.  Kevin and i talked about writing about smaller breweries from a lay-person’s perspective while on our drive across the country.  I though more about it while in Southeast Asia drinking some of the microbrews there.  Just one more project to take on!

Yesterday we left Bali.  We spent the night in Jakarta and then this morning flew to Singapore and are now in Ho Chi Minh City again.  We leave for Taipei, Taiwan soon and will then head to Seattle.  We’ll overnight in Seattle and then take the morning flight to Petersburg arriving on Monday.  We left Bali Saturday evening.  So soon i will be writing more about our trip, uploading pictures and filling everyone in on everything.  Of course, backlogged work and a pile of bills and mail will need immediate attention!

After our trip to Cambodia we returned to Ho Chi Minh city and gathered the rest of the group attending the wedding.  Mike Tozzo and Ailis Vann arrived from Petersburg (via Seattle) on the same flight as Seth’s mom (Susan) and sister (Devin).  Brian Winchell came in on a later flight.  Karsen and Kellie also arrived.  The next day, Karna arrived.  We all spent time going to the market, sprucing up at a spa, and a few of us went to the War Remnants Museum.  We loaded up into two vans for the drive back to the Mekong River community of My Tho (pronounced “mee toe”).  Our van stopped and picked up the traditional clothing that we would be wearing during the wedding ceremony.  We made the hour and a half drive to our hotel which was right on the river.  They had a nice pier out over the river (but far enough down the river to have tidal changes) where we had dinner a few times.  Our second day in My Tho we took a boat and then were paddled up a small tributary to Coconut’s grandfather’s property.  We had a meal, made some toasts, and then walked around and saw his farm and their roosters and pigs.  Saturday the first of December was the wedding.  The women gathered early to go over to Coconut’s mother’s house and the men got changed and ready at the hotel for a 9 AM boat ride.

Here’s the “wedding party” with Seth in the center in white.

We each carried an offering for the ancestors or other gift onto the boat and then from the boat to the wedding site.   A roasted pig, platter of fruit, cake, and jewelry were among the items we carried over.

We lined up and handed the red-draped items to the women who were also lined up and they brought them to the head of the table where the ceremony took place.  Then they sat at a table and we were directed to sit at another table.

The sun was hammering down on us in our silk outfits though and there was much to watch that was out of sight so we didn’t sit for long.  We watched the ceremony take place and took pictures until the parts that we were familiar with finally crept up - the exchanging of rings and the official kiss.

Then we were seated in a more shady spot and started eating and drinking.  There was lots of seafood. (Coconut loves it and Seth has worked it for a long time so that should be expected.)

Toasts of rice wine were made.  I discovered that if you go to a wedding in Vietnam do not have a beard.  Many of them seemed to want to point out my beard then raise a glass of beer or a shot of rice wine and say “0ne hundred percent” indicating that we would drink all of our drink.

I sweat a lot.  So much that my forehead turned blue from the silk hat.   After returning to the hotel i took a cold shower and scrubbed my forehead with a pumice stone to ready for the reception that night.  I regretted doing that for about a week - when the skin finally healed from my overzealous cleaning frenzy.

The reception was in My Tho (not on one of the islands we had been on the past few days).   It started off with much pageantry - ceremonial dances performed by choreographed dancers, filling of champagne glasses stacked in a tower, lighting candles in a heart shaped configuration and finally karaoke.  In fact, people sang through the entire meal.  And when the meal was done they all left.  Abruptly.  So i hooked my laptop up to their sound system and some of us danced for a little while in an attempt to make the reception feel more like a more American event.

The next day we got up fairly early (for a vacation) and loaded into a disappointingly cramped bus for the long drive to Na Trang.   We were on the bus just after 8 and rolled into Na Trang at about 7.  I rode in the front seat much of the way and slept off and on despite the swerving and honking that seems to be the norm  for traffic here.  Then our five nights in Na Trang began.

The main reason we wanted to go to Cambodia was to see the ruins in the Siem Reap area. These were constructed over a few centuries starting about 1300 years ago and were the product of religious temples built originally for Buddhist and then Hindu.  Vast cities were part of the region and kings ruled the Khmer dynasty that built these structures.  I’m not a historian but appreciate the architecture and immensity of everything we saw.  I’ll let these - my better pictures from the three days we spent exploring the various ruins - speak for me.