beach bums in Vietnam

We woke up to raining cats and...in the dry season! Looks like rainy and cool all week. Just as we are leaving for the beach. Oh well even beach bums have to deal with weather. I will try to add to my blog as we travel today...7 hours bus and ferry...to phu quoc island, vietnam. It is going to be a long day. I am not sure the ferry will run in this weather.

Well, the ferry ran...and we spent give lovely days here after a luggage snafu...here is Richard's tale:

Yesterday was a very long day!

We woke up to torrential rain in Phnom Penh (it is the dry season after all). We were supposed to be picked up at 7 am by a van to take us across the border from Cambodia to the ferry in Ha Tien, Vietnam and to Phu Quoc island. The van arrived around an hour late, proceeded to drop people around town and pick up others. People and suitcases got rearranged several times and finally, loaded to over full, 13 passengers went off to the border several hours late. Crossing the border from Cambodia to Vietnam went fairly smoothly and the border functionary extracted only an extra dollar from each person crossing. Of course we arrived late for the noon ferry but on time for the 1:30. However, they rewrote our ferry tickets for the 4pm ferry and anyone wanting to take the 1:30 ferry had to pay an extra 12 dollars.

They unloaded us and our luggage at the ferry dock except my back pack was not there. It seems that in juggling the passengers and baggage in Phnom Penh they took my pack out and left it on the sidewalk. It contained all my clothing. Fortunately, my valuable were all in my small pack that I never left sight of. I was calmly angry and Judy had a fit. I think she scared them. Any way, we couldn't even make the 1:30 ferry at this point because I had to deal with my missing luggage.

The driver made a call to his office and told us that my pack was there in Phnom Penh. They were ready for their return trip and told me to come back to the ferry dock on the mainland and get it the next day, that I was totally unwilling to do.

Judy had an international cell phone from China that we had been using but each country requires a different SIM car so we had no phone service in Vietnam. I wanted to get everyone's phone numbers and contact information so I ask the Cambodian driver to help me get a SIM card. He said he didn't know the town and couldn't speak Vietnamese. I had him take me back to the ferry office where there was a Vietnamese woman who spoke a little English and she volunteered to take me on her motorbike to get a SIM card. I made her come in the Van and show us because I didn't want to let the driver off the hook. We went into an electronics store but they wouldn't take dollars. The woman paid for the SIM card we went back to the ferry office and she changed my dollars.

We exchanged phone numbers, I told the driver that I was not coming back to the mainland for my pack and that he had to get it to me. He volunteered that there was a Ms. Truc who he would give it to who worked on the boat and that I could pick it up at the ferry dock on the island a half hour away from our hotel. At this point I didn't believe that I would ever see my pack again. The 4pm ferry arrived an hour late and we got on. It turned out that Ms. Truc was extraordinarily helpful and said that her father would take the back pack from the ferry to our hotel and I could pay him $5 for the service to which I agreed. We finally got to the hotel (on the beach) at around 8pm a trip that was supposed to take around 5 hours.

This morning we walked into town and bought me a bathing suit. The water is warm and the temperature is hot. We had complementary massages at the hotel that were very nice while waiting for my pack and clothing which arrived at around 3:30 this afternoon and all is well. Tomorrow we will go on an all day snorkeling trip. We will spend a few more day here before heading up to Saigon, then up the coast to Hanoi. Traveling takes its toll and we need to rest a little bit. This island seems like the place to chill out. It appears to be the next up and coming resort.

Richards note to s and j

Hi kids, We are in Siem Reap Cambodia where we have been for almost a week. We have been teaching English at a rural school each afternoon. Mornings are spent visiting temples, potteries, and the market place. The night markets are vibrant and the restaurants inexpensive. Tomorrow, Saturday, we are taking a five hour boat ride to Phnom Penh and moving toward Vietnam. We may go to the beach in Cambodia and that would be our last stop in this country. The weather has ben very hot in this supposed set and coolest season. Travel has been difficult this last week because of Chinese New Year, south east Asia is filled with Chinese and expats who teach English in China. There are many twenty somethings from English speaking lands who are working in China in part because they can't find work in their own countries. Also, Australia is on it's summer holiday. So, we can't seem to get seats on any overnight buses or trains and the hotels are jammed. This will change when China goes back to work on Monday. The level of poverty reminds us of central America, not any worse. Got to get going to visit more runs this morning. Love to both of you. Please write. Dad P.S. Our tuk tuk driver calls us mom and dad.

Temples tigers orchids and waterfall in Chiangmai

January 17-20 Chiang Mai Thailand

Road trip with Georgina and David 1-19
Tigers orchid farm and doi suthep Wat and waterfall

Savong's school, free education

Rural Cambodia is poor. This country has been ravaged by war and the horror of the Khmer rouge in our lifetimes. Many people and countries have stepped in to salvage Khmer culture and support the Cambodia people. Savong is a young man who has started a school  and orphanage providing free education in a rural area outside Siem reap. The school relies on foreign support  and welcomes volunteer teachers of English, Japanese and Korean, languages that will help these kids to work in the whirl of tourism around angkor wat.
On Monday Jan 23, we rented bikes and rode out to meet savong and his family at their home and guesthouse near. Long ride, not really knowing where we were going as it was not where we expected, then missing it, getting my cambodian sim card phone to work, we made it and arranged to teach every afternoon while we are in Siem Reap this week.

Start anywhere

I never know if I will journal, blog or email when I travel. This trip I don't have my computer. I set this up before I left and just today got a Blogger app for my android. We left LA 10 days ago, Jan 14.
I am reminded to write.
We met emiko and mikio. Mikio has been blogging their travels daily.  http://blog.livedoor.jp/emikio/lite/archives/5767215.html

start anywhere.

Siem Reap teams with people. China has the week off, it is summer break in Australia. Korean tour buses, tourists and travellers from Asia, Europe and the Americas and Cambodians.