Farewell to Cambodia

This country is beautiful. I've been lucky enough to see it for three
whole weeks. We ended off this trip in kampot, one of the major pepper
capitals and just a nice little town, perfect for relaxing and just
enjoying. We stayed at a beautiful little family run guesthouse called
Les manguieres, which apparently means the mango tree. For 18 bucks a
night we had a room on the third floor overlooking the river with two
big beds with great mosquito nets. I love good mosquito nets - it's so
hard to sleep with mosquitoes buzzing in your ear otherwise. At this
place we played ping pong, would have played badminton if we had time,
kayaked up the river, and biked and moto'd into town. Oh, and they
have lots of animals. Two very moody geese that always walk around
together, bunnies, guinea pigs, ducks and dogs. Just a smorgasbord of
mammals.

Also, it's been an extreme seafood week. Four days of straight fried
carb with pepper. Kampot is known for it's pepper, and combined with
fresh crab it's truely delectable. I've had a kilo each night, with
prices ranging from 11.5 per kilo to 4 dollars per kilo - sweet.

And beer Lao - it is awesome. If you're looking for a stout beer,
there's also black panther, which is also from Lao. Laotian's know
their beer.

In sihanoukville where we were before kampot we ran into our friends
from earlier onthe trip, Amy and Sarah, and went off to a little
island off the coast. Unfortunately we had discovered the rainy
season. Not only was it raining, but it was windy as well. We had
whitecaps on the ocean, which I thought I remember to mean the wind is
going at least 20 knots - anyone confirm this? Imagine a little
wooden boat with a little outboard engine just crashing through the
waves and three tourists hanging on for dear life. What was funny was
one of the Cambodian sailors was sleeping through this! I was not a
happy nor a dry camper by the time we reach shore about 60-90 minutes
later. Coupled with a hike across the island and I was glad for a
swim. The island itself was beautiful - gorgeous sands and quaint
bungalows, although the lack of cleanliness was not a plus.

We left our habitat crew in sihanoukville. It was a brilliant two
weeks. Just great people. It would have been much nicer without the
debilitating travellers diarrhea but that's life. The funny thing was
it turned up after we started eating good food with habitat crew and
not during all my episodes of street meat. Who knows. Maybe street
meat is just better for me...;-)

Oh, and found the BEST massage place in sihanoukville - my favorite
thusfar in southeast Asia. It's near serenity beach, just south of the
golden lion circle, across from the monkey republic - it's called
relax, and it's owned by Chantelle and her business partner. The
masseuses are all very well trained, they have real massage tables,
and they use oil. Full body massage normally 9 dollars, and only 7
dollars before six. I went daily. Truly invigorating and relaxing at
the same time. It was so good I finally got a pedicure there to scrape
off all this dead skin hanging on my feet. Callous free finally! And
she gave us great seafood recommendation which began my crab marathon.

Angkor wat. A true experience. The best was definitely BEng melea -
1.5 hours away via tuk tuk, 25 dollas round trip, 5 dollar special
admission fee - to see the least developed of all the temples,
recently cleared of land mines. It's an amazing feeling to be able to
see these ruins as they have been for hundreds of year, to be able to
scamper across buildigs and look for your own tunnels. This is the one
to see soon - who knows what they will have done for restoration work
in the next few years. If you oiked Ta prong for it's trees and roots,
this is like it only better. It's like tomb raider, or like playing
uncharted.

Aside from BEng melea we saw all the usual culprits. Paul and I had
seven day passes of which we used six days. Crazy. But it was peaceful
and glorious. A great place to see monkeys as well - we saw them in
all their splendour, eating bananas, mating, even climbing over tuk
tuks and even over me - the little ones are very curious, and with no
substantial teeth they can't bite enough to hurt fortunately.

Bantey srei was another special one - set off a distance it's small
but it's pink sandstone is much harder and it has weathered quite well
- worth the trek.

Two restaurants to try in siem reap, where you stay for Angkor wat.
Angkor palm has a great set menu to try all things Cambodian,
including some legendary fish amok - I found that only ok for me. And
raja BBQ - nice newish place with both indoors and outdoors. Finally,
go to pub street and there's an orange restaurant called Cambodian
soup where you can get a skewer sword - yes, it fills a whole sword -
for only 5 bucks and pitchers of beer for 2 bucks and pitchers of
cocktails for 3-7 bucks. Epic. Oh, and if you're on pub street and an
attractive Cambodian lady starts dancing and flirting with you, just
remebere that she will go home with you, but you better have 50
dollars in the morning. As we read, nice Cambodian girls don't go to
bars and don't go home with you on the first date.

The people here have been so friendly. There have been some places
where people were pushy. We have been overcharged for many things. But
overall I'm in love with this country and can't wait to come back and
explore - either with a motorbike of my own or maybe even my own tuk
tuk!

Now it's discout airline time - waiting at the airport for air Asia to
Bangkok for a night before hong kong and finally Canada on august 1st.
Hope you're all enjoying your summers!!

DOCNIC on the go...

Notes for my fellow Vietnam travellers

There were questions for suggestions -hope these help!

1 usd = 19000
saigon - stay at mini Saigon hotel. Their booking fees are also good
but be sure to ask forthe nice new buses with washrooms. I saw a nice
one called hanh cafe but hold them to whatever they book for you. You
want new big buses. They are not all the same.

Saigon - we checked out notre dame - not that impressive. The central
post office was nothing to write home about either. We had a beer at
the top of the majestic hotel on the waterfront - expensive but great
view. Didn't do any tourist things but they shouldn't cost much if you
wantro see the tunnels etc.

Taxis - always use the meter. Our favorite were malignh - a green
written sign - white cars, always clean and fair. The best in Saigon
we liked were vina sun.

We took the hydrofoil from Saigon to vung tau - the close beach resort
2 hours away for 10 dollars. There we stayed at a small guesthouse
called my tho - just down the road away from the Jesus statues was a
restaurant on the right - neons signs. Had tanks of amazing seafood
including mantis shrimp. Beach itself was nothing to write home
about. Also climbed the mountain - great view from the top.

Mui ne - took the bus here. 5 hours from Saigon. Bus had no toilet,
barely functioning air conditioning. Booked from Saigon mini hotel for
6 dollars each. Always pay for your tickets and get a receipt - they
mistakenly forgot to charge us at the hostel. The tickets were 5 but
the hostel takes a booking fee of 1 dollar each - there was a lot of
confusion surrounding this. If you're ambutious book directly from the
bus company. Get there early for good seats - most seemed first come
first serve. At mui ne we couldn't really book in advance but with low
season there's lots of vacancy. You can get a bungalow on the beach
even for less than 30 for 3...our tour company there was a little
place called my hanh - we got a jeep for ourselves for 24 bucks for
the whole day - we got a straggler, four in total so only 6 bucks
each. We saw the fairy stream (doesn't take long, it's I. Town, short
walk, no need for tour guide), white sand dunes - these are the
farthest and the ones to try and slide down - renting a carpet costs
20,000 dong. The red dunes are pretty as well And you get a view of
the fishing village.

We took the bus to Nha trang - again no washroom. 5 hours. Nha trang
has rolling blackouts - one day on one day off. There are islands we
didn't get to there - we weren't looking for the big city feel that it
had.

Hoi an. We took the worst night bus ever. T.m. Cafe. Sleeper
supposedly. Old bus. No washroom. Smoking driver. Air con non
existent. I felt like crap after. Stayed at phuoc an. - there are lots
of places to stay for cheap. If you want some advice randy's book
exchange has lots. Our favorite tailors were LAN no 9 - very
reasonable prices, nice motherly lady, coldest free water ever. Best
stuff was from thu thuys - doesn't look big from the front but when
you walk to the back it's huge. They have three locations - would
recommend the main one. Our favorite food was a little place called
cafe 43 - it was near our hotel. Definitely try the wonton soup -
sweetest I've ever had - for 14000. And try the fried wonton - 25000.
Also the stuffed squid and draft beer are pretty good. Great city to
so cookig lessons as well. We really wanted to rent motor ikes and see
the surrounding Rea but I got sick. If you want to ship stuff home
it's great here - they pack it up for free from you at the post office
as well. We shipped home 15 kg of clothing for 150 usd - should arrive
in 3 weeks.

Tipping is definitely not expected. Some places will try to pressure
you to give a bug tip - hairdressers and massages tended to be the
most pushy - do not feel compelled unless you want to, and you do not
need to tip big. Shady people will try to convince you that you
shouldntip 100"000 on a massage - that's ludicrous. I did it twice
unfortunately...

Subs on the street - these were fantastic and cost only 10,000 dong.

Vietnamese bats - we paid about 2-3 dollars for our laminated hats -
should only be 1-2 forthe regular ones.

Never pay for tailored clothing up front - a small deposit at most!
Thu thuys will insist on at least 50%. They make good stuff though.

Let me know if you have any more questions - good luck in Vietnam
ladies and gents. And for those of you getting this via email it's
also on askdocnic.blogspot.com

DOCNIC on the go...

Spider Man

Finally figured out how to upload pics!  Enjoy my spider man pic - tarantulas in Cambodia between Siem Reap and Phonm Penh.  We passed through the first time where I got some fried spiders and a pet spider Snake Eyes.  Fortunately and unfortunately they defang them, which meant that I couldn't keep Snake Eyes alive and he died a couple days later - he was offered up to the gods at Angkor Wat.  I put this on my bucket list - to try and get as many spiders crawling on me as possible - my goal was 100.  I offered the girls 100 riels for each spider they could put on me - up to 10,000 (2.5 dollars).  According to my Habitat crew they managed to throw on about 40 before they ran out of spiders...they weren't too too bad, aside from the one hanging off my ear...

Tarantulas

First of all, god bless ciprofloxacin. Finished my three day course
and feeling a tonne better.

Just arrived in siem reap. On our way here we stopped at the famous
tarantula hotspot. The locals catch them, then BBQ them with garlic
and oil and they're a local delicacy. This started duringthe khmer
rouge times when people were starving. The legs - quite tasty. The
body or abdomen, not so much. But since Paul dared me to eat one I he
did, I had no choice. Will try to get the picks up soon.

Me who's normally scared of spiders saw all these girls with live
spiders and so decided to play. The spiders are defanged already so
perfectly harmless. Had a few on my chest, and after buying some
fruitfrom them I got my wish - I took one with me as my "pet spider".
I named my little guy snake eyes, after my favorite gi Joe character,
and because the kids were calling me snick or snake. Snake eyes is
currently sitting in my bathtub with a little water and a little gecko
- I caught the gecko at the hotel. Because snake eyes is defanged I
fear for his life - apparently they can't feed without them. If anyone
can figure out a solution please let me know!!

Had a great authentic Khmer dinner tonight as well - it was the lonely
planet pick, and I got to choose it because we didn't have one lined
up already - Sooo good. It was called anchor palm, and a set dinner
for one cost 7.50 for seven dishes - and it was enough to feed two
people. Nice.

Took the crew to the fishies again - they seem to love snacking on my
feet - then went to celebrate the birthdays of our friends Amy and
Chelsea, whom we met in Vietnam. We learned fromthem that Laos is
awesome - wil have to come back to visit it. You don't get harrassed
by people selling you things and there are lots of elephants. And the
beer is supposed to be divine.

Off to see anchor wat at sunrise again in one hour. Can't believe I'm
still up at 330 but I just watched a great old movie called "the
beast" - it's about the Russian invasion of afghanistan and
specifically the battle between a village destroyed by Russian tanks
and one tank. If you've read the kite runner or a thousand splendid
suns I think youll appreciate it. It is quite graphic as a warning.
You could probably even pick it up at the library for free!

All right - have a great day y'all and we'll see you soon!
DOCNIC on the go...

Medical facilities in Cambodia

So, being the doctor must mean I wanted to check out the medical
facilities. I had been having chills all night, and was worried that
coupled with my headache and sore back and diarrhea that I might have
malaria. After a visit to the SOS clinic in Cambodia this morning I
found out that the tests for malaria - PCR - and dengue fever were
negative. That was a relief. I felt much better after a litre of iv
fluids, and have started some ciprofloxacin. It's still been a weak
and chilly day but much better now. Total cost for the clinic - about
4 hours of my life - 272 us dollars.

Today is the last day of the build - they're doing some ribbon cutting
and have placed the rooves on two houses. Sad to have missed it but we
will try to print off some pictures and visit them again next week.

Ok, just wanted to say everything is ok, but it's time to start
napping again. Still feeling quite weak, but happy to be on the mend.
Hopefully this finds everyone in good health.

DOCNIC on the go...

Habitat for Humanity

Almost done of our first week of our Habitat build, which is also our only week of our habitat build. Because of all the turmoil with relocating from Thailand to Cambodia we were only able to schedule one week. I don't know if my body could have handled any more.

The week started off splendidly. We have a great team of 14 people, and it's been a tonne of fun. The build itself is interesting. I have never tried to work in such heat and humidity, and I have a newfound respect for construction workers. The key is pacing yourself - knowing when you need breaks - and when you miss that pace, you overexert yourself like I did yesterday, and you suffer the consequences.

We are building houses for families who used to live around the dump site - definitely not ideal housing, but it also provided some income with recyclables. The average monthly salary for the families is 80-150 USD. The families have anywhere from 2-5 children, and they are also expected to help with the build as well as repay the loan for their house. They have been fantastic; very helpful with the build, and with cute kids who keep us entertained.

To the kids I'm known as "Snick", which sounds like "Snake". I realized when I answered "My name is Nick" I mumbled the S into the Nick too closely and confused them. The good thing is that my name seems to be the only one the kids have actually picked up on so I can always tell when they're calling for me. They give great hugs, play with everything, and are great at amusing themselves. They also try to help build, which is cute as long as it doesn't slow things down too much.

I had to sit today out as I did too many loads of bricks in a row yesterday - I was having too much fun chatting with our translator and playing with the kids. Likely some dehydration and just general fatigue. I hear that we're likely going to get the roof on tomorrow, which is great news. I did miss out on the cricket and frog leg eating though, which is disappointing ;-)

Habitat is an interesting concept. I think the biggest difference we're making is both financial - our donations go a long way to making things happen - as well as the personal experiences and bonds that develop. It definitely is a good way to feel involved, to see where your money is going and to feel something tangible that you're doing. As well, it helps the families you're building for see what kind of people out there want to help, and I think it is inspiring in some ways. I do like the concept behind it all.

OK, time to sign off for now. Wanted to update everyone but also realizing I'm just exhausted. Hopefully a good night's sleep will change all that. I did manage to finish Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which is an excellent book. Highly recommended.

Cheerio, and stay healthy

Shipping suits from Hoi An, Vietnam

Before I forget: if you're ever planning on getting things tailored in
Hoi An, here are a few extra tips.

Ship what you buy. You'll likely do air shipping, which takes three
weeks. We were going to ship by sea mail but it takes four months. For
air mail it costs about 15 for the first 500 g and 5 for each
additional 500 g, plus 10% VAT and 3 dollars custom. We did ours at
Lan No 9, and she called the lady from the post office who comes and
boxes up all your stuff free of charge. It's the same as if you were
shipping from the post office and tonnes easier.

Plan extra time, and always tell them you're leaving a day before you
do. Jessica had a couple shirts made that would not have been finished
if we had left on the day we told them.

Water is free if you're making clothes - Lan has the coldest - take
advantage of this!

Prices are always negotiable, and you have to shop around and be
willingto walk away. Pick exactly what you want. Get a quote and
negotiate from there. Note that most places likely mark up at least
40-100% - the most expensive suit at thuthuy's originally cost 513.
Try discounted to 495, then 465. I walked away and came back later
that night. The price went down to 410, and finally 400. But remember
- this should be fun. If you're not enjoying yourself, just go to Lan
No 9 an she will give you reasonable prices and take care of you in
general - she's very motherly.

Before you go, feel free to look up styles you want and bring
pictures, etc with you. You can also bring your own material as well.

Make sure you specify pockets! You can't add them in after the fact
usually.

Don't give in to pressure tactics - if they're trying to get you to
order everything at once, chances are they don't do very good work and
don't want you to find out till after. Also always put as small a
deposit as possible - once they have your money there's no incentive
to keep you happy for some f them. NEVER pay in full.

Shirts - 10-15 dollars
Dresses - 10-15 standard
Jacket - 30-50
Suit - 40-90
Ties - 50,000 dong
Tshirts - about 50,000 dong
Double silk sleeping bag liners - 80-90,000 dong

Enjoy!

DOCNIC on the go...

Angkor WAT?!

Hey everybody,

In case you didn't get it, that's me trying to put the emphasis on the
WAT? - I know it's not original, but we haven't been exactly mature in
this trip.

We made it to Siem Reap a couple days ago via bus - six hours but not
too shabby. A little rushed as they neglected to tell us there was no
room on the 830 bus and so they had booked us for 800. We had stayed
at Sunday guest house in phnom penh, and had gone to see the killing
fields and the prison. It's crazy to think of the horrible things this
country has been through in the last 30 years. If you haven't read up
on the Khmer rouge or pol pot we can chat about that later - heavy
stuff that I didn't know enough about either.

Siem reap is great. Staying at jasmine guest house - great little
place. Sunday guest house had arranged for us to be picked up so it
was super convenient. Went straight out to angkor wat, and saw the
main temple and sunset from the hill. Then it was local food and an
early night - or so we thought. Onthe walk back we finally stumbled
upon the fish that nibble on your feet. Wow. Truly epic. For only two
dollars you can stay in as long as you like. At first I couldn't take
more than a few seconds at a time - they tickle! But I ha so much for
them to work on we stayed for about an hour - and they hadn't even
gotten to the good stuff. Feels cool but definitely not a time
effective way to get rid of all this tough skin on these weary feet.

Missed the world cup game - go Netherlands - but did get up at 4 am to
see the sunrise - beautiful. Then saw the main temple - which was
virtually empty still. On our way back we stumbled across some very
cool monkeys. One managed to steal the water bottle from my pack but
couldn't get it open ;-). We've got a great video of it all.

Paul and I crashed until the afternoon, when we saw, for lack of a
better description, the tomb raider temple. It was in the movie. Very
cool as they left it in it's natural overgrown state with trees
everywhere and true ruins. If you've played the game uncharted or
uncharted 2 on the ps3 it totally looks like that. My favorite was
this room - the echo room - where if you beat on your chest the sound
resonates offthe walls. Any other noise - clapping, whistling - won't
do this, and it only works in the right location. ID love to
understand the acoustical properties that make that happen.

We managed to catch a second sunset, and this time we indulged and had
some beers. It was perfect.

The only thing we didn't like was all the children trying to sell
thugs. We've decided as a group not to buy anything from them. We
don't wantro support anythig that keeps them out of school. I don't
know ifthats the right thing to do but you can only try.

Just got a massage - my body is aching - and now off to bed to try and
catch the end of the Germany game at around 2-3 am before heading off
at 430 for another sunrise. Hope everyone is getting fuller nights of
sleep, and sorry to hear about the crazy heat wave!

Prices - tuk tuk for the whole day to take you to the main temples -
12 dollars

Angkor wat full colour book, called ancient Angkor - bargained down to
5 dollars

Massage with oil - 10 dollars

Angkor wat pass - 20 for one day, 40 for three days, which you can
take over the course of one week, and 60 for 7 days, which you can do
over the month. We tookthe last one since we'll be here again soon!

20 dollars a day for a tuk tuk to see the distant temples. About 36 mm
away.

5000 riel or just over a dollar for a footlong sub - it's freaking
fantastic.

16 dollars a night for a room for three with air conditioning and free
breakfast.

Great travelling buddies - priceless ;-)
DOCNIC on the go...

Cont'd

P on picasa - once I figure out the site I'll post it here as well!

As I posted on facebook, if you'd like a postcard be sure to send me
your address. Even if I have assume I don't - and I'll do my best to
get you one. For those who've received one let me know so I can
estimate how long it actually takes to get there...

Have a great weekend and as they say in Vietnam, "same same, but
different!"

DOCNIC on the go...

Leaving on a jetplane

Off to Dana g tonight via taxi. Then on a jetstar fligt at about nine
pm to ho chi minh, where we'll stay overnight before leavig on a bus
to phnom penh tomorrow morning!

Last day - shipped everything off to Canada - hopefully my cousin
doesn't mind! For Paul and I to ship 12.5 kg via airmail cost 150 usd
- it'll take about three weekstoget there. Originally we were going to
ship by seamail...but t would 4 months...doh!

Today was ridiculously hot - not a cloud in the sky - literally. It
was also street meat day - we tried three Vietnamese sub shops in a
row. The funny thing was when Paul paid it cost 15000 dong, and when I
paid it cost 10000 dong. Yeah for being yellow and looking Vietnamese!

Side note: picked up one ofthose conical or raiden hats today.
Although we think it's cool, apparently they're only worn by women
here. And tourists.

All right. Our taxi is late because they're having a problem with the
weep - apparently it's all right now. Keeping my fivers crossed that
we'll actually make it to the airport!

Oh, and reading the girl with the dragon tattoo - it's fabulous
thusfar!! If you haven't read it yet I hear it's great.

I'm going to try and post some pictures u

DOCNIC on the go...