I'm Going on Holiday!
Tonight I'm going on holiday. I know that I've already been away for some time (don't ask me how long, I have lost all perception of time, I know it's the 10th today but I have no idea what day it is - I have a feeling it's Sunday?) but travelling through Vietnam and Cambodia gives you little time for rest and relaxation.
I had to get up at 6am today (after going to bed at 4am, damn extra time and penalties), 7am the two days before, 10am the two days before, slept 4 hours on a bus night before, 7am the night before and 6:30am the night before that. I think it's fair to say that I need a lie in! I won't get it tonight as I've got another 18 hours on a bus ahead of me, but then I have 7 days of island paradise with no plans, no early wake up calls and no alarm clock.
While Vietnam was superb, I've also had enough of saying "Kom Gammon" (no thank you) to every man, woman and child on the streets, whether they were selling moto rides, hotels, resteraunts, fake books, lighters, watches, sunglasses, sweets, roses or just begging! I'm not a beach man usually, but a quiet day doing absolutely nothing sounds perfect at the moment!
Cambodia was totally different again from Nam and Thailand. They were poorer than Vietnam, but hadn't encountered so many tourists and therefore didn't hassle us half as much. Not that we got to see a lot of the country, from the moment we walked across the border to getting on the plane this morning, we spent no more than 16 hours in the country. And just for that country, forgetting VAT on the hotel and food we bought, the Cambodian government managed to screw us out of 65 USD (35 quid) in taxes! They also managed to fill up two pages of my passport with stamps and visas, it looks much more impressive now!
To be honest it was quite amazing to see how the country had recovered after so many people had been killed and tortured just 25 years ago by Pol Pot and his friend. In case you know nothing about Pol Pot (and since one Group 1 blonde who's reading this thought Ghandi was the man who opened up the red sea, it's pretty possible that some of you havn't heard of Pol Pot!) he "liberated" Cambodia at the end of the American War and tried to create a society ruled by peasants.
To do this he decided that all educated people had to be killed. The way he decided who was educated and who was not was simple, if you spoke two languages or wore spectacles, you had to be killed (If you were THAT intelligent, surely you'd take off your glasses whenever Pol Pot was around!). He also wanted monks and cripples dead. Out of the 8m people living here at that time, 3m were killed and many more tortured in 3 years. They didn't even bother shooting them, this was considered a waste. Instead they made their victims dig their own graves then either beat them with a iron bar or just burried them alive.
In the end Vietnam invaded, deposed Pol Pot and and Cambodia got a new government. Pol Pot still managed to fight, helped by Thailand, China and the US. In the end even his family defected to the Cambodian government and Pol Pot died in 1998.
You see, by reading this not only do you get to be jelous of me, you also get to learn more about this world we live in!
I had to get up at 6am today (after going to bed at 4am, damn extra time and penalties), 7am the two days before, 10am the two days before, slept 4 hours on a bus night before, 7am the night before and 6:30am the night before that. I think it's fair to say that I need a lie in! I won't get it tonight as I've got another 18 hours on a bus ahead of me, but then I have 7 days of island paradise with no plans, no early wake up calls and no alarm clock.
While Vietnam was superb, I've also had enough of saying "Kom Gammon" (no thank you) to every man, woman and child on the streets, whether they were selling moto rides, hotels, resteraunts, fake books, lighters, watches, sunglasses, sweets, roses or just begging! I'm not a beach man usually, but a quiet day doing absolutely nothing sounds perfect at the moment!
Cambodia was totally different again from Nam and Thailand. They were poorer than Vietnam, but hadn't encountered so many tourists and therefore didn't hassle us half as much. Not that we got to see a lot of the country, from the moment we walked across the border to getting on the plane this morning, we spent no more than 16 hours in the country. And just for that country, forgetting VAT on the hotel and food we bought, the Cambodian government managed to screw us out of 65 USD (35 quid) in taxes! They also managed to fill up two pages of my passport with stamps and visas, it looks much more impressive now!
To be honest it was quite amazing to see how the country had recovered after so many people had been killed and tortured just 25 years ago by Pol Pot and his friend. In case you know nothing about Pol Pot (and since one Group 1 blonde who's reading this thought Ghandi was the man who opened up the red sea, it's pretty possible that some of you havn't heard of Pol Pot!) he "liberated" Cambodia at the end of the American War and tried to create a society ruled by peasants.
To do this he decided that all educated people had to be killed. The way he decided who was educated and who was not was simple, if you spoke two languages or wore spectacles, you had to be killed (If you were THAT intelligent, surely you'd take off your glasses whenever Pol Pot was around!). He also wanted monks and cripples dead. Out of the 8m people living here at that time, 3m were killed and many more tortured in 3 years. They didn't even bother shooting them, this was considered a waste. Instead they made their victims dig their own graves then either beat them with a iron bar or just burried them alive.
In the end Vietnam invaded, deposed Pol Pot and and Cambodia got a new government. Pol Pot still managed to fight, helped by Thailand, China and the US. In the end even his family defected to the Cambodian government and Pol Pot died in 1998.
You see, by reading this not only do you get to be jelous of me, you also get to learn more about this world we live in!
Pol Pot at his best - i.e. dead
As I said, the second holiday starts here, in a few hours I'll be all alone for the first time proper. I might not write so much here, after all when there's sandy beaches and crystal clear seas to enjoy, why sit in an internet cafe! On the other hand July can be a pretty wet month in Thailand, so maybe I'll be stuck in cafes all week waiting for a glimpse of the sun!
posted by Cwlcymro @ Monday, July 10, 2006
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