Burma to Cambodia 3rd May 2007

Hi All, hope you are all fine as we are. Arrived in Phnom Penh 3/5/07. In Northern Laos we caught a night bus to Vientiane the road is a very winding road and very mountainous - when we got on the bus they loaded a motor bike on down the aisle and ripped all the vinyl uprights on the seats. It was tied down beside me so I used the seat as an arm rest. A guy got on just before we left and I noticed he was carrying a Machine gun under his jacket but trying to hide it - then we didn't know what we were in for, whether he was riding shotgun, going to hijack us or maybe he was on the run. Some women on the bus got sick from the bus going around the corners - there were bamboo railings around the edges of the corners - probably would have only stopped a push bike. Made it to Vientiane at 4.30am and were dropped off in the centre with this American back packer 81 years old - hope I'm still not going back packing by then. Paul and I had to help him in and out of the Tuk Tuk 3 wheeler motorbike taxi. Found him a hotel and we went to the river to get a hotel down there. Walked to the Cambodian Embassy to get our visa's and looked around the markets in the 6 hours we had to kill. You can still buy Singer Sewing Machines complete with cast iron treadle and stand. Went to an all-you-can-eat buffet lunch it was great to have such a variety of food, don't think they will want any Aussies back for a while! That night we caught the bus to Pakse in the south of Laos then a mini bus to Hat Xai at the top end of the 4,000 islands on the Mekong River, this area is a lake 26 kms long by 14kms wide. Right on the Cambodian border we got a boat across the river to the biggest island Don Khong stayed there awhile then decided to get a river taxi down to Don Det about 14 kms south. Booked into a guest house - no power - genset gets turned on at 6.30pm and off at 9.30pm. Hired bikes and went to old rail bridge the French built - then onto some waterfalls on the Mekong - then to a beach at the southern end of the island about 20kms round trip. Had a massive storm that night as it is just coming into their Monsoon season. It is hot and humid - the best time to visit to these countries is Jan/Feb in their winter when it is supposed to be cooler. Next day we took a long boat to the mainland and saw all the fisherman with their catches selling them to the peddlers on the bank near the markets. Took a lift on the back of 2 motor bikes to the Cambodian border. UXO personnel from UN are still clearing land mines left over from the Vietnam war days - apparently still heaps of unexploded ordinance around Laos and Cambodia you don't go off the roads or tracks. Through the border and onto Stung Treng where we crossed the Mekong in a clapped out ferry. Then a taxi to Kratie with some locals - good highway down as the Chinese and Japanese have paid for the roads. Went out to the spot on the Mekong where the Irrawaddy fresh water dolphins are - there's only about 100 left they probably won't be around much longer - UN is trying to preserve them. Caught the bus to Phnom Penh and went to the Killing Fields very sad what happened there. Anyone who was intellectual, wore glasses or was a foreigner were executed - mostly with axes and bamboo sticks so they could save bullets - some were blindfolded, tied up and buried alive. That happened to 180,000 and another 1.5 million died in the famine that followed - all this was from 1975 to 1979 during the Pol Pot Regime. That is it for this time we are off to Siem Reap and Anchor Wat - sorry to finish off on such a sad note. One Aussie was amongst those killed. Bye Wellsy