Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Day 29

So Cambodia is a mad laugh, cheapest place in the world and whats even a better laugh is the border crossing in!

We got on the bus at 8 this morning, our bus dude got us to fill out our visa things for Cambodia and took 25 dollars off us for the pleasure. Got to the Vietnamese side of the border soon enough. We were ordered off the bus, had to get our bags and go thru immigration. Our bus dude took our passports, and brought them up to the officer, he stamped them 1 by 1 and then the bus dude attempted to call our names1 by 1. Definitely would have been quicker doing it ourselves! Aoife is now Maria and Cats is Bin Catrin. Then we had to put our bags back on the bus and sit there til everyone was done (15 mins) then it drove 100 meters down the road to Cambodian immigration. They took our passports and we were left in limbo in between 2 countries. Eventually the bus dude told us to get back on and we drove to a restaurant 3km from the border. We sat there until some bloke turned up on a moped with a load of passports, dodgy as f*ck is all I can say. We were merrily on our way then until they decided to dig every road in Cambodia up. It was like being on a space hopper for 2 hours and we were sweating buckets coz the air condition was pants. So our 6 hour journey took 8 and a half hours – HELL.

Pulled in to Phomn Penh  and the tuk tuk drivers were banging on the windows trying to get people in their tuktuks. They grabbed and harrassed us once we got off, it was the worst we’ve seen so far. And after that journey it wasn’t that easy to say “No Thanks”. I got royally pissed off. Got a tuk tuk anyway to the lakeside and found a hilarious hotel. We half to walk down a slightly dodgy alley to get to it. Its grand apart from the toilet in the room, its pretty much like having a portaloo with no roof in a bedroom – HILARIOUS. Sp for poo time we have to crank up the music during. Also there’s no AC (this place is roasting) and there’s no TV so Aoife might just crack up. But for 3 dollars each a night who can complain! The hotelier guy openly offered us weed and a dvd to watch in the communal area! So we reckon anything goes in the ‘bodia. There were people there half baked…

Just went for dindins there and found out the double vodka a red bull is $0.75 cents, thats 50 euro cents!! Happy days! I know where I’m going tonight! For 6 dollars you can get an elephant bucket, thats 1 bottle of whiskey or vodka, your choice, with 2 cokes and 2 red bulls!! Like to see how much that would cost in Dublin.

We’re booking into the Killing Fields and some detention centre for tomorrow and gonna try get a flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok on Tuesday. From there we’re gonna get a boat to Koh Tao and meet Paul on the 5/6th. Also Ciaran is gonna be in Bangkok too so we’re gonna try get the boat with him!

So we might just go get a bit tipsy tonight for 3 dollars!

Later,

Ronan

ps – ATM’s here give out dollars – SWEET

pps – Cats had 2 jokes today, she was on a roll

Saigon, Vietnam – Day 28

Hi,

So we headed out for a few beers last night in the Go2 bar, good place! Cool music and a small amount of hookers! Don’t think the hotel guy was too impressed with us banging on the door at 2 in the morning…

He was even less impressed having to ring us to tell us the bus was outside this morning too! GROGGY! So we got dragged into this “Handicapped Handicrafts” place on the way, loads of arty farty stuff was being made by people who were handicapped as a result of the war. They didn’t look too handicapped to me, and it was a bit sweatshop-esque. Any way we got to the Cu Chi tunnels and did the tour. Our guide sounded like the evil chinese general in Team America. Got to see some cool stuff like how they lived and how they dressed and how everything was made and how they hid. Got to get into a tiny secret entrance to the tunnels, the girls wouldn’t do it… then we got to crawl through an actual tunnel. Aoife lasted a whole 25 meters. God knows how they spent long times down there, I would have gone insane!

I got to shoot an AK47, not easy to aim as it looks, think I hit the target twice. Its not exactly cheap either, 13 dollars for 10 bullets? Rip off, hopefully it’s gonna be cheaper in Cambodia.

In other news, Paul is still on Koh Tao, he’s started his PADI course, so at least we’ll all be qualified divers…he also got a Thai sim card for the phone, his number is +66857824282 so give him a shout. I rang him just there and he’s sunburnt to hell – HA HAHA

We’re getting a bus at 8 in the AM to Phnom Penh, can’t wait to get scammed crossing the border – apparently its a regular thing! Also we were told Cambodia is hugely corrupt so it should be a good laugh! Can’t wait to move on to another country, getting sick of the Vietnamese Dong.

Right see you’s in Cambodia

Ronan

p.s. Aoife has bites all over the place even on her face, me and Cats still haven’t been bitten…

AND WE’RE BACK!!! Saigon, Vietnam – Day 27

Hello,

Dont know what happened but it didnt work for the past 12 days…

Quick rundown of what happened…

Left Hue fairly lively and got to Hoi An, nice place, much better weather, met English Dave and Rich there – hung roundd with them. Did some cycling, the girls got clothes made, I broke my finger.  Then left for Nha Trang. Got there after a cool overnight bus, got a grand hotel, got hammered the 1st night, we booked into our diving course. Paul  left with Dave to Saigon then Cambodia then went to meet Ciaran in Bangkok, he’s on Koh Tao now.Me Cats and Aoife did our course, took 3 days, did it in the cold and pouring rain but we’re now qualified open water divers! Left there fairly lively after that for Mui Ne. We loved Mui Ne. 3 days of blistering sinshine, got our tans up to speed. My camera seized up. We liked that place a lot. Just got the bus from there to Saigon a few hours ago. Saigon is cool. I got me a new camera for a fraction of the price it would cost at home.

We’re booked in to the Cu Chi tunnels tomorrow morning which is gonna be cool, might even get to shoot a few AK47s!! Anyway hopefully this will keep working and I can go back to regular updates!!!

Ronan

ps We have over 6000 hits on this site -NOT TOO BAD!!

Hue, Vietnam – Day 15

So we arrived in Hue (pronounced Hway) at 7 in the AM from the overnight bus. The bus was cool, got a bed and some cheesy movies on board. Gets a bit uncomfortable after a while. We stopped after the first hour in a concentration camp-esque food place. No english so Paul had to point at someone elses dinner to get some food. They also had a 10 foot cobra in a massive jar of whiskey, yours for te reasonable price of 16 million Dong!

Anyway back to Hue, got there and it was freezing and raining and we were all pretty cranky (Aoife), so we found a hotel, our bed was damp which was nice. Lay there for an hour trying to stop shivering, eventually got to sleep. We woke up at 12 and got a shower and decided to get the hell out of that town. It was pure misery. So we asked the hotel woman for the next bus (which was an hour after asking), she couldnt believe we were gonna pay 5 dollars for a bus to Hoi An (coz the normal price is 4) AND pay for the room for a night even though we only stayed there for 4 hours and a shower?! We were determined for a shower. So we got the bus! Which meant we had half of Vietnam done in 48 hours….yep, Over 700 km not including the flights in 2 days….not bad!

We took one photo of Hue just to prove we were actually there…

Hanoi, Vietnam – Day 14

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Right we arrived in Hanoi yesterday evening to the cold weather…we found this “dead friendly” taxi driver who said he’s take us to Hanoi for 15 dollars and played happy hardcore in his taxi, he asked where we wanted to go and he was all chat all the way there. Eventually he told us we had to pay on Dong (Vietnamese currency), so Paul hopped out at an ATM with him. He told Paul that 2 million Dong was only 12 Dollars whereas its nearer to 120… we were none the wiser. He actually dropped us to a different Hotel but told us it was the right one and conned Paul into pretty much giving him 180 dollars while the rest of us were being distracted and hounded by the hotel people. We felt a bad vibe so just walked away and they HOUNDED us the whole way down 2 streets. Eventually we got away from them, and tried to find the original hotel we were going to but streets look all the same, maps are pretty useless and its not exactly inviting when you’re just off 2 flights. We found a place that looked OK and they had 2 pretty cool rooms for us….so we hid in our rooms for a few hours then ventured out for a look around, but it was too cold so we just got food and then headed back and got more munchies and watched the HBO channel for the night…

This morning we were feeling a bit better so we decided what to do, we knocked Halong Bay on the head coz the weather is a bit crap in all fairness and decided to head down the coast. So the staff in the hotel helped us out and all overnight trains were booked out so they got us a sleeper bus for the 14 hour journey. The bus has beds! So we’re catching that in 2 hours…

So we had 6 hours to burn so we visited some museums.

Went to the Ho Chi Min museum. He’s pretty much the saviour of Vietnam and from what me and Paul could work out in the museum – he invented the gun, crystals, the tuk tuk, paper and pens, the ribbon, fruit and to top it off – Rap. Pretty much a legend so…

Then went to a war history museum where me and Paul legged it around playing with planes and tanks and guns and stuff while the girls tutted and shook there heads (appentely we act like children as all lads would when put in that situation. Big Baz you would have loved it!

What we learnt about Vietnam so far:

- Its cold

-WAAAAAAAAAY too many motorbikes

-Kids love to diarrhea all over the path

-Taxi men are real sound

-2 million dong is NOT 12 euro

-Shoes are handy

Hopefully this bus journey will be alright and we won’t get conned or scammed in anyway. I’m locking my bag to me and me to the bed…

Til next time…

Ronan

Luang Prabang, Laos – Day 12

Its our last day in Laos!! We booked flights last night into Hanoi in Vietnam. Couldn’t get a direct flight so we got one back to that hell hole Vientiane and another back over to Hanoi. Its only a 2 hour stopover which is grand. Did nothing much else for the night, Cats Aoife and Paul went out for a drink, I read my book!

Today was cold. Cold all day. We got a tuk tuk in the morning up to Kieng Shi (i think thats the name) Falls. 1 hour on a tuk tuk hurts the oul bum. We got there and we saw all the bears rescued from poachers…here they are…

Then we saw a tiger which was also rescued from the poachers! Here she is…

Then we found the most amazing sights so far…these watefalls were amazing…

This picture here – i jumped off the top of the waterfall into the lagoon, my battery died when I did it but Aoife has a video which I’ll try get up when I rob her camera, look how amazing it is…

Then you walk up more levels and find different waterfalls and lagoons on every level. This is the highest level and the biggest waterfall (its sideways in the photo), we climbed up to the top and I got in behind the waterfall in a little cave, it was amazing. The others have pictures which I’ll try rob…

We came home after that then climbed to the top of some mountain temple thing, apparently the sunset is amazing from it but, alas, there was no sun coz its so cold! Small amount of steps though check it out…

And Me and Paul got shammed into buy these little baby birds that you’re supposed to release at the top for good fortune or something…they were cool at first but it turns out its just really cruel (FOR THE BIRDS) so we let them go…

Here’s us at the top taking cheezy tourist photos!

Here’s some photo’s of our kayaking yesterday…

Right its taken me well over an hour to do this so im going to find the others and get some dinner or something!

Vietnam tomorrow in the cold, can’t wait (yeah right)

Later dudes,

Ronan

Luang Prabang, laos – Day 11

So we found the  girls yesterday, they had a 4 man dorm booked for us, which was sweet and its also the first time we’re all in together! We then try to get our flights to Hanoi but they’re booked out on Wednesday so it looks like we’re gonna be here til thursday. We then went for dinner in the Lao Lao Gardens, which everyone recommends. We got a bucket of coal put into the centre of our table and then a grill thing on top of it. We cooked our own soup and buffalo and chicken!! YUM YUM then to bed at 10.30…This place has a curfew where all bars shut at 11.30 and you have to be in your accomodation by 12…strange but kind of relieving.

Today we got up at 8.30 in the AM to head off kayaking. We were brought on a bus out to the middle of nowhere and then brought to the river. No instructions or anything (as this is Laos and nobody gives a crap about anything let alone health and safety!) Me and Cats got a 2 man kayak and paul and Aoife were in another one. Obviously me and Cats were way better at it! I cannot describe the heat we had to endure, I think we’re all gonna be a bit red in a while! Also, 4 hours of rowing WRECKS you, we were in bits after 20 mins!! There’s elephants all over the place too which is strange!

Just got a fresh batch of laundry back there – washed,dried, ironed and folded for……..1 dollar!

We’re goin to waterfalls tomorrow for a swim. I’d put up our photo’s of today only my camera is upstairs and they’re the steepest stairs in the world, also this computer is amazingly slow. I’ll get some up tomorrow hopefully!

Miss everyone,

Ronan “Lobster” Healy

Luang Prabang, Laos – Day 9

So it was an early start for me and Paul today. Up at 8 to go get our bus to Luang. The bus was an 8 seater taxi thing (which was recommended over a big coach). So we started driving into the mountains – you should have seen this. There was not a bit of straight road to be seen. Proper hairpin bends the whole way for 4 hours, we thought we’d get a bit of kip or something, we had to hang on for dear life! My arms we’re actually sore!

Amazing sights all the way though, and there are little communities  all the way over the mountains who just seem to cut palm trees all day for some unknown reason. Doubt they even go to school!

Stopped half way to get a roll which was yum (putrid)…

We got here just a few mins ago and were supposed to meet the girls in this bakery but they weren’t there so we came in to see if they mailed us…they’re probably just running late.

It is SCORCHIO here. Very warm…

Think we’re gonna go see some waterfalls tomorrow and swim in a few lagoons, do some cliff diving and generally chill out after the last few days of madness. My body is still in pain and covered in bruises from volleyball, so I need a rest!

Anyways, we gotta go find these two messers.

Later,

Ronan

Vang Vieng, Laos – Day 8.5

We’re booked in for a bus to Luang Prabang first thing at sunrise to meet the girls.

everything is kosher!

Vang Vieng, Laos – Day 8

Morning…

The girls have left for Luang Prabang coz Me and Paul want to stay another day here (coz its amazing). We’re gonna follow them up tomorrow. We’re leaving our cabins today for a cheaper place down the road.

Yesterday was pure brilliance. We got a tuk tuk up to the volleyball bar instead of tubing down to it, played for 3 hours or something then convinced everyone to come out with us. We met them all on this island place with a place called Smile bar and then had a mad laugh for the night….every nation was probably represented there…I’d put up photo’s but again this computer wont let me for some reason?

Gonna go volleyball it again today and probably do the same thing tonight then get a bus in the morning up to the girls.

Tans are coming along OK, we;re very sore all over though from playing.

Love you’s and leave you’s…

 Ronan and Paul