Goodbye Cambodia...

After the Wat-Fest that is Ankor, we headed for Phenom Penh. It's got tarmac, SUVs and in Cambodian terms is v. metropolitan; for us it lacked charm. We weren't loving Cambodia at this point and we only wanted to see were the killing fields, S21 the Khmer Rouge prison and the royal palace.

The prison, which had been a school, won as the site most likely to put you off you fellow human being for good. After three years of Khmer Rouge rule they turned on themselves and most of the people who went through it during the last eighteen months were disgraced Khmer Rouge, of the thousands that went in, only twelve people survived. Not a good place. Everything is still as it was at liberation, which was only 1979, so it's in good shape and it all works, the tools of torture are there and the shackles haven't rusted. They also took good photos of all new inmates, thereby leaving a comprehensive record of the crimes.

From Phenom Penh we decided to head to Thailand for our last five days in SE Asia. So goodbye Cambodia, it's not just the messiest place we've been, from what we saw of the country it was flat, dry and brown. Their recent history has been dreadful and the rush to improve things feels like it's creating a society at the shallow end of the South-East Asian pool. Maybe we've been too tough, but after Laos it fell short.

Come on Cambodia. Wat a place........ (they don't get any better)

An appointment to meet Mr & Mrs Proffit saw another epic journey - this time direct from Don Det to Siem Reap (if you don't count going via Phnom Penh . . . the resulting Erica-type strop didn't accomplish much other than being cheerfully shown my place in the overloaded mini-van which required one butt cheek to be on one half of a seat, and one on another half. Patience is a virtue apparently.)

Team Proffit were on top form and thankfully playing the honeymoon card and staying in a lush B&B where we could re-establish some serenity by sneaking in a couple of non-paying-guest swims.

The reason for the Siem Reap visit was of course the amazing temples of Angkor - vast, ancient and numerous. The husband, armed with various guide/history/reference books, a pink shirt, specs and his mother-in-law's gardening hat was our very happy guide for a day. Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, Bayon and Ta Prohm the favourites and scored 4/4 on the Proffit 4 diamond scale.

Cambodia is more dollar conscious than Laos and the dollar is the currency, not even trying to keep it Riel. Their English is very good and although the horrendous and very recent history of Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge is evident with limbless landmine victims (over 50,000), the people on the whole are friendly and optimistic. Hard to comprehend that there are still 8m unexploded landmines in the country, and around 2000 new landmine victims every year. Madness.

We had planned three nights here, but before moving on Mr B had an attack of Temple-itis (or tummy bug) and so we lingered.... and lingered. More dry bread, Sprite and the knowledge that the longer he ailed, the more chances his wife took to spend $$ on massages & markets aided his recovery, although it was speedy. Pete Harvey and Wilderness Expertise get a special mention for supplying the medi-pack, we love those re-hydration salts. And so back to Phnom Penh.

Laovely Laos - (their pun, not ours)

In fact it might even be the official department of tourism strapline.... speaks volumes. Although we said we'd avoid these, Laos was our favourite spot so far and we just want to share the Laove.
We loved:
- journeys on the Mekong - it's got 1,977km of the whopper, (have to blame the Chinese for pinching the other 33 and not just because it's fashionable)
- elephants
- 4000 Islands - like a delta, just inland
- pace of life & the people - to earn or have more than you need is bad - it means so much is the opposite of what we expect
- sunsets (over the mekong ever day)
- bamboo huts - they rock, in fact bounce would be a better word, but we liked them
- public buses
- the other travellers you meet in Laos, they're always as happy as you (Chuck and Val get an honourable mention here - for too many reasons to go into now)

Last days in Laos

From Vientiene (who knew it was the capital of Laos?) an overnight bus found us in Champasak - apparently its only merit is Wat Phou. Gorgeous, isolated enough to warrant a bike ride in the hot sun, and blissfully tour group free. Upon meeting both a German staying in the town to build a (hopefully half-decent) guesthouse, and an East-Londoner who escapes to Asia for 6 months every year, it turned out there really was little else to be recommended so onwards we trundled via the joys of public transport.

Some stats: 35ish degrees; 23 people (not including babes in arms) on the back of a converted flat bed truck (sawnthaew); 150km; 2 blowouts; 1 flat; 46 watermelons, 2 blenders, a bicycle and a table - hell, let's face it, the entire paraphenalia required to set up a smoothie business; 5 1/2 hours and a lunch stop option which included BBQ bats on a stick. Fabulous. Destination - The 4000 Islands. Thankfully it was worth it.

We spent five days on Laos' version of a tropical archipelego (just mid-stream in the Mekong)- namely Don Khong, Don Det & Don Khon. Nothing to do but laze in hammocks on the balcony of a bamboo hut, ride bikes around the islands, swim (and shower in the river) and relaaaax. Bliss. This also excuses why the post is not exactly current....

The rivers of Northern Laos...

I'm back from the rash decision "mmm, I haven't had pork yet, let's go for that". Bad idea but now feeling like a genuine traveller at least.

From Luang Prabang we headed up river via long, slow, arduous but beautiful boat trip to a couple of villages that had electricity only at night - powered by bicycle tyres spun by the force of the river's current, and some salubrious accomm as noted by the husband's earlier 'press' release (NB. Erica Brewster is actually CEO).

A couple of v relaxed days and the beauty of having to order a bucket of fire-heated water to wash in we headed back down stream and made it to Vang Viang. Traveller heaven. Tubing on the river for 5 hours in the sunshine with only Beer Lao and sunshine to sustain us made for a very relaxing afternoon.

Kayaking to Vientiene was the option we chose the next day in order to avoid the hairy bus journey south. The kayaking was great, espec flipping out in a rapid, but the bus journey we tried to avoid just disguised itself into a flat-bed tuk tuk; (basically they chucked 14 of us on to the back of a ute for a couple of hours' drive and then collected about 5 locals along the way. Special.)

South tonight on the sleeper bus.

Brewsters set new Accom record

One night for 30,000 KIP (GBP 1.50)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 29th February 2008, Noung Kieow, Northern Laos

The Brewster Partnership is proud to announce it has set a record rate of 30,000 kip (US$ 3.00 or GBP 1.50) for a single night's accommodation. The exclusive cabin, at a not-so-secret riverside location in northern Laos, was built of locally produced materials and had full mosquito protection.

The previous South-East Asian accommodation record of 128,000 Dong (US$8.00 or GBP4.00) was set in the Imperial Capital of Vietnam, Hue; although Laos has had several rooms at around 40,000 kip, this was the first to hit the magic 30,000 mark.

Ed Brewster, Senior Partner, commented: "a night's kip for only thirty thousand kip, who could ask for more. This sets a benchmark that fits with the partnership's renewed focus on cost control, while taking full advantage of the excellent pound/dollar exchange rate. We slept soundly that night and not just financially...."

Erica Brewster, trainee partner, said: "who needs hot water, a loo or electricity, these are all bourgeois desires, the people just need a roof and a bed. Lizards are the most effective insect repellent and the way the moonlight sparkled through the holes in the bamboo walls onto our mosquito net was so romantic. With this price we renew our committment to spend even less on accomadation, after all, who needs beds?"

For further information please contact:
Hanover Communications - 'the pod of dreams'