Photo MH

The Kingdom of Cambodia is a special country, formerly known as Kampuchea. It witnessed one special civilization, Khmer Empire. A civilization which flourished in the area from the 9th century to the 13th century. The Khmer Empire declined yet remained powerful in the region until the 15th century. The empire’s center of power was Angkor, where a series of capitals was constructed during the empire’s zenith. Angkor Wat, the most famous and best-preserved religious temple at the site, is a reminder of Cambodia’s past as a major regional power.

After the brutality of the 1970s and the 1980s, and the destruction of the cultural, economic, social and political life of Cambodia, it is only in recent years that reconstruction efforts have begun and some political stability has finally returned to Cambodia. Don’t know why, but always when i hear Cambodia, a movie “Apocalypse now” springs to my mind… That river. That rain.

Even the first contact with Cambodia is interesting. The border crossing that majority of us are not used. And then the first larger town, Stung Treng. Yep, you can clearly see, that this is completely different country that Laos. A lot of garbage on the streets and extremly bad road. It seems that time has stop in 80s and only now rebuilding begins…

Phnom Penh is a bustling city. But two decades of brutality left also some scars to the city itself. If Vientiene in Laos was busy, this was incredibly alive. And dusty. Tuk-tuk galore. Tout galore. Even though i was there in »a winter«, it was hot and humid…

Siam reap is the centre of the tourism. Yep, as Angkor was a center of power a few decades, Angkor is today a tourism headquaters. Incredible number of temples, big, small. Here you can see, how strong the nature is (for example Ta Prohm). Unfortunately, people are just flying in, for day or two, to experience the magic of the khmer. And then they fly away. And just a few kilometers away, on the rim of the Tonle Sap lake and on the floating villages, people are living traditionally, far away from the dollars of the tourism.

From Luang Prabang to Don Det. Laos is still pristine and undiscovered. Ok, Luang Prabang is swept with tourism. But still, it has a special charm… an unbelievable number of Wats, lively markets and bustling river. There is lots to do around, from sightseeing trips to nearby “caves” to amazing waterfalls… And don’t forget to try the food specialty, “mekong algae”… eh, crunchy but not really to my taste…

Vang Vieng is a “drunken” backpacker paradise… From watching TV shows to getting drunk on and off the nearby river. Yep, tubing is the main attraction, though i kept away from it. But if you rent a bicycle, you can go and see amazing scenery and villages by yourself… drunken backpackers do not stray far away from the river…

Vientiene is a capital, one of the most laid back capitals i have seen.. Nice to relax, though probably one can get really bored after a few days… But for me, probably the most enchanting place were the 4000 islands down in the south, near the border with Cambodia. Don Det was the place (although with lots of tourist) that still kept some tranquility with the breathtaking sunsets over mekong…

Yep. There is still lots to see in Laos. And it is a safe and friendly country. And if you stray away from the tourist path you will definitely encounter one of the most pristine countries in the world… Definitely still on my list to re-visit it some day… as i haven’t seen some places, especially in the north-west of the country…

Link to more photos: http://matty.breg.si/photo/asia/laos/index.html

“Spet doma,
tam glasneje govorijo,
spet doma,
tam hitreje pijejo.
Spet doma,
tam pozdravljajo glasno,
to je vas,
to je vas,
morda zato !”

Heh… spet doma… nazaj v realnost… Sicer pa, takih transferov bi jest se… zakaj? China Airlines so se mi spet priljubili… pa ne zaradi dobre hrane, marvec zato, ker letalo ni bilo polno in sem se lahko zleknil na 4 sredinske sedeze… bolje kot business class, temu se rece uzivancija… 12 ur je minilo, kot da bi trenil z ocesom… Na Alitalia so neki strajkali, ceprav mi ni bilo jasno kaj in kako… ampak ok, glavno da je slo letalo pravocasno… Tokrat so se izkazali tudi na italijanskem letaliscu, saj mojega rukzaka niso zgubili in se je celo pripeljal drugi na tekoci trak…

Edino nekaj se je zgodilo, odkar sem se odklopil z azijske hrane… nekoliko lacen sem… ze v Rimu na letaliscu sem pozrl eno porcijo paste in cetrtino pice… danes za zajtrk dve veliki sirovi zemlji… in tako dalje… ocitno so bili nudli res hranljivi… Ce ne bi v Ljubljani skoraj laufal z 20kg v rukzaku na vlak bi verjetno zmazal se en velik in masten burek… njam…

In danes prvi sluzbeni dan… jet lag povzroci, da se zbudim ze ob 4h… nato pa par sestankov in “samo” cirka 300 mailov brez spama… fajn…

Jutri je nov dan… sicer dopusta sedaj ne bo 6 mesecev, bom pa po glavi mlel Micro$ slogan za Windowse “Where do you want to go today“…

Zadnji dan v Bangkoku. Pravzaprav zadnja dva dneva, saj je bus prisel ze v nedeljo ob 6h zjutraj. Sej je bil OK, ampak sem nekoliko izven tajskega standarda tudi po VIP merah

No… kot prvo, da ne bo pomote… Fotka ni iz Bangkoka ampak iz “krizarjenja” po Tonle Sap v Kambodzi, in ker mi je vsec sem jo pac moral nekam dati Za konec..

Bangkok je zanimiv. Lahko se sprehajas ure in ure in vedno vidis kaj novega. Samo ven je treba iz backpackerskega zavetisca, oz. Khaosan road, ki je podobna tistemu v Phnom Penhu, samo malo manj dodgy… Zato pa tajke v minicah vabijo v precej lokalov, in predvidevam da se brez problema tudi tu dobi druge usluge in ne samo masazo (ok, sex turizma je na Tajskem ogromno, in tudi ce si slep mu tezko ubezis – samo o tem kdaj drugic)… Sej ulica je OK, samo se ti zmesa, ce vsaj malo ne pokukas ven…

Vceraj sem obiskal tudi shopping district Bangkoka (ja vem, bozicno nakupovanje). Za kontrast, najprej poulicni market v Chinatownu, kjer je body contact nujno potreben, saj se je treba riniti skozi mnozico ljudi. Potem pa se supermarket v Siam okrozju, kjer dela klima 100 na uro (pravzaprav je tam supermarket ob supermarketu – in to vec kilometrov – imam obcutek da se ljudje hodijo predvsem hladit in druzit, podobno kot Braziliji). Da ne govorim o tuktuk voznji nazaj na mojo backpackersko ulico… kljub temu da smo imeli tri kolesa, smo kar nekaj casa preziveli na dveh… nooorci…

Sem pa danes zakljucil dan na najlepsi mozni nacin… soncni zahod ob reki, na bangkoski univerzi (ne vem, mogoce je to znamenje, da moram dokoncat magisterij)… zdej pa bo treba pocasi zapravit se preostale bahte (kar niti ne bo tezko), spakirat se zadnjo kramo v ze tako pretezak nahrbtnik in odrinit na letalisce…

Torej… bilo je lepo. Vendar se je treba vrniti v realnost… ali pac ne???

Bangkok, nasvidenje do naslednjic… Ma, kaj… Azija, se se bomo videli

Samo se par fotk iz trekinga… Splavarjenje, en slon, hot springs ter za konec se (pre)mlada dolgovratka…