A hapless paddy on tour

Well I’m back on the road, albeit just for a month. I had an early start from Heathrow but my journey was made more bearable thanks to a free upgrade from BA. I arrived in Nairobi at 10pm and swiftly made my way through the hoarding masses to an awaiting taxi bound for the Hilton. A decadent start I must admit, but as I’m just traveling for the month I afforded myself the luxury. Too many times in the past I diced with death by trying to locate a cheap hotel on arrival. The Hilton was fairly charmless but offered good value for money at 50 quid a night. In keeping with tradition I dumped the bags and headed for the adjoining bar. The resident bar reminded me of English pubs of old and a cold tusker beer was a snap at 2 pound a pint. The bar was rather smoky and frequented with what I guess was high class hookers. To be fair I wasn’t approached but did catch a few longing gazes on the few occasions I looked in their general direction. After a couple of beers I retired to the room satisfied at a painless introduction to Kenya.

I got up at around 11, took a bath and prepared myself for the mean Nairobi streets. I decided that a chill out day was required as the weathers been quite bad here and a air had a certain heaviness. The city itself is not what you might call aesthetically pleasing but the streets were no way as chaotic as Asia or South America. I decided to skip the over priced breakfast at the hotel in favor of a local eatery. I ordered a local chicken curry with an ice cool tusker to wash it down. I just hope my stomach hasn’t lost its iron properties after the last bout of traveling. The meal itself was rather plain but inoffensive and filling. Afterwards I took a walk around the streets and headed for the Masai market. The markets provided a rich tapestry of sights sounds and smells and in general, the arts and craft were to a high standard. . As you would expect the markets were littered with touts all trying to earn a buck by showing tourists around. The touts were fairly easy to outflank and not overly persistent once I made it clear that I was just browsing. My first impression of the Kenyans was fairly good. The nether hounded me or made me feel uncomfortable. Any request for directions was met with a smile and a genuine desire to help. I hope it will remain that way for the rest of my trip.

I called Lara, Grainne Doherty’s friends, to arrange the plans for NYE. Despite having never met the girl she couldn’t do enough to help me and I think we’ll get on well. I fly to Mombassa tomorrow where Lara is to pick me up and drive me to Diani beach. I get the impression that the weather is going to be similar to last year in Vietnam but that doesn’t really bother me. Lara’s step dad owns a safari lodge in tsovo east so as soon as the weather picks up I give him a call and arrange a visit. He’s also a tourist agent so hopefully he can recommend some good sights to see on my trip here. I purchased a nice single malt by way of an present as advice from a local is invaluable on a short trip like this.

Planning on taking it easy tonight as I want to be in good form for tomorrow evening. I may hit the famous carnivores restaurant to sample some of the delicious game on offer.

I got up early on Sunday determined not to waste the day. I decided to take a moto to the original capital of Cambodia. It took 1.5 hours to get there and was a little disappointing. Most of the sites only date back a 100 years or so with the most recent additions having been added 4 years ago. On the way to the site we stopped at a Buddhist monastery. The complex itself looked impressive even though much of it was still being constructed. In one of the main buildings lay the refrigerated body of an important monk. I was informed by one of the monks that this important man was associated three years ago. I asked the reason but was unable to get a response.

Conor...

---------------------------------
To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre.

The trip to the Mekong delta started early as with all the trips. After 2 hour's of driving we hit for a boat and a cruise down the river. along the way we saw rice paper being made, a fruit farm, some minority village's and of course the floating markets. The Dutch girls stayed with me for the first two days before heading back to Saigon. The plan on the last day was to take the fat boat to Cambodia. The fast boat to Phnom Penn was cancelled so I ended up taking the slow boat . Although the boat was uncomfortable the scenery more than made up for it. We ambled through a tributary passing many little village's along the way. The day was sunny and the kids all waved throughout the journey. The border crossing was relatively painless and we reached Cambodia at 5, ready to take a bus the 2 hour trip to Phenom Penn. Immediately you could tell the difference between Cambodia and Laos. The countryside was a lot poorer and strewn with litter. Within 35ks of PP we came across a body dead on
the road. The Victims face and chest were covered in blood which was a rather alarming site. beside the victim lay his motorbike and some villagers. It looked as if they were waiting for the police but the guy definitely looked dead. When i arrived I checked in to the Happy Guest house where the dutch girls and the Ozzie girls were staying. I had a few beers and retired to bed fairly early.

Conor...

---------------------------------
Win a BlackBerry device from O2 with Yahoo!. Enter now.

The Dutch girls and I set off for the Killing fields at about 11 in the morning. At the main site there lies a stupa with bones and clothes from some of the victims. The bullet holes and craters left from the impact of blunt instruments were plain to see on the numerous skulls on display. For an area with such a terrible past it now seemed a quit and tranquil place. We spoke to a guide there who was moved to tears when talking about the hardship the people experienced under the Khmer Rouge. I found it hard to believe that blood brother no 2 & 3 have still evaded justice to this days. I can't even begin to think what the Cambodian people think of this major injustice. After the killing fields we headed to the National museum and then onto the genocide Museum, S21. This converted school was home to some of the most vial and gruesome acts committed during the reign of the Khmer rouge. Of the 20,000 people detained here only 7 survived. One of the survivors dedicated many paintings to
the museum detailing the torture and despair of the time. Its strange to think that even my motot driver could have been a persecuted peasant, or even worse, a homicidal maniac.

In the evening we sat around the hostel and had beers as it was the Dutch girls last night.

Conor...

---------------------------------
Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail

The day started early at 7am but as the sun was shining I didn't mind the getting amongst it. After some breakfast our bus set off for the Cu Chi Tunnels which lie 75 km northwest of Saigon. Our guide was a little annoying but bearable. He informed us several times that Vietnam had not had tourists for 2000 years prior to 1990 . With the collapse of the soviet union in 1990 many of the Communist countries in SEA relaxed laws regarding business and civil liberties in an effort to avoid collapse themselves.

The Cu Chi Tunnels were a real testament to the courage of the Vietnamese people. This village, pro Viet cong, lived underground for more than 25 years living in conditions that can only be described a horrendous. Crawling through the hot claustrophobic tunnels one has to wonder what drove these people to live in these abysmal conditions. Up top, the US continually carpet bombed and sprayed the places with agent orange. The guide explained that many of the children born in the area suffered disabilities as a result of the agent orange and that scanning for pregnant women of the area was now free . What this meant was that Vietnamese women would terminate the pregnancy should any deformation show up on the scan. Its hard to be judgemental in situations like this.

We were also showed the primitive methods the Vietcong used to booby trap the US soldiers. The devices, although crude, were ingenious given the limit resources they had available. Afterwards we visited the War Museum which didn't pull its punch's in regard to the US involvement in Vietnam. The effects of agent orange were clearly photographed along with pictures of US solders carrying the remains of dead Vietcong solders. I was close to tears once I saw the stillborns in formaldehyde. I left in a somber mood for the hostel