Cambodia

In my travel planning at the end of February, it was foreseen that I would fly over Cambodia, from Ho-Chi-Minh City to Bangkok, and then I would join some friends from Switzerland in the Koh Chang Island, in the very eastern of Thailand, near to the Cambodian border.

I changed my planning and decided to cross (by bus and boat) Cambodia, as it is on the way between Ho-Chi-Minh city (HCMC - Vietnam) and Koh Chang (Thailand), and will allow me to visit a new and interesting Country, and above all, to visit the very famous Angkor's Temples.

So, from HCMC, I joined the Cambodian Border by bus, and then went upstream the Mekong River by slow boat till Phnom Penh, where I stayed only one full day, and visited the genocide museum (avec son reglement en francais) and the Royal Palace. Maybe you didn't know (I did not), but Cambodia is a Kingdom, so, by definition...they have a King (logical !).




The day after, I joined Siem Reap in the north by bus and arrived in the late afternoon and just spend my evening walking in the streets of this small city set up for the numerous tourists visiting the Ankgor's Temples (5 km from Siem Reap).

The programm of my last day in Cambodia was the visit of the most famous attraction of Cambodia, and certainly one of the most magnificent human's creation ever: The Angkor Temples. Please contact my good friend Wikipedia (or any of your friends) if you wish some more information about these temples...




Maintenant, je fais des "vacances" dans mes vacances, puisque je reste 4-5 jours dans le meilleur hotel de Koh Chang, une ile en Thailande, avec 4 potes de Suisse...ca me permettra de me reposer un peu avant de reprendre mon periple...

Vietnam

The first city I visited in Vietnam was Hanoi, the capital, which has 4.2 millions citizens and lies in the North of Vietnam. The streets are swarming with motorbikes, bikes, cars and people, in a total chaotic way.



Then I went to the famous Halong Bay, with its magnificents 1969 rock islands coming out of the sea. "Ha Long" in Vietnamese means "Descending Dragon". The bay was named after a local legend which says that a Dragon descended from the sky and spat out thousands of pearls when Viet Nam was being attacked by foreign ships. The pearls then became a multitude of small islands and prevented the enemy from advancing further.





The second (and last city) I visited was the main city, Ho-Chi-Minh City (HCMC, also called Saigon), which has 5.1 millions citizens and lies in the South of Vietnam. HCMC is like Hanoi, but at a bigger scale. Everything is more: more people, more motorbikes, streets wider, more shops and...more beggers also.





One of my favourites occupations in Vietnam was to cross the roads. Believe me, it is just impossible to wait until there is no trafic any more, and do not believe that the green light ensure you a free crossing without any problems, nobody really cares about the lights.



So, the method to cross a busy road is simple: as soon as you see that there are few cars and even if there are plenty of motorbikes, you just cross the street in a very slow and regular way and above all do not run: all motorbikes will naturally avoid you...very simple, and somehow exciting !

My final destination in Vietnam was the famous Mekong Delta, some three hours south of HCMC. With its 16'000 m3?s, the Mekong is the 12th biggest river of the world (according to the average annual discharge) and the second in Sout-Eastern Asia (after Yangtse). For swiss people, as a comparative figure, keep in mind that the Mekong has a discharge 16 times biggers that the one of the Rhine in Basel.





Then, after visting the Mekong's delta, Good-bye Vietnam, as I went by boat to Cambodia, where I am today.

Tomorrow's programm is the visit of the very famous Angkor's Temples.

A bientot pour la suite des mes aventures !

China - Beijing and Shanghai

My three-months trip through Asia began on 6th March 2008, with its first destination: BEIJING. Difficult to describe Beijing in few words, also difficult to "feel" Beijing in less than one week. Of course, I mainly visit the touristic place, as the Imperial Palace (or forbidden city), the Palace of Heaven, the Tian an Men square But the nicest day spent in China was a 10 kilometers hike on the (original) Great Wall, it was always going up and down, there were some ''illegal steps" (5 times higher than larger...), so it was a bit a sporty experience I must admitt I nearly had cramps at the end... I have the feeling that the forthcoming Olympic games in Beijing will really bring a lot of positive things to Beijing, from infrastructures as well as social point of views (opening to the world - learning of english). For the stadium, they must hurry a bit !!!


I left Beijing and took the train for a 10 hours trip through China to join SHANGHAI

Shanghai is the biggest City of China (13.5 millions people vs 11 million for Beijing) and it represents the economical city of China. The streets, (here Nanjing Street - the most frequented steer of Shanghai) ore over-illuminated, the skyscrapers belongs to the highest of the worls and the metro net is very efficient (not like in Beijing).




On the left is the famous TV Tower with its two reds globs, in the middle the Jinmao Tower with 421 m and the almost completed "Shanghai World Financial Center", which already reached its final height: 492 m and will be (for a short while)the second highest building in the world. In that part of the city, the Eiffel tower (324 m) would be almost ridiculous !





I left China yesterday and I am currently in Hanoi (Vietnam).

Desole pour les francophones...j'attends vos reclamations !