So I left Saigon for Cambodia about three weeks ago. I was on a definite food high by then, having found more local stalls and treats around Saigon and also making my first and only restaurant stop in Vietnam. The restaurant was pretty damn good, and not expensive at all. I had some amazing tuna steak cooked with lemongrass and prawns in satay sauce that were unbelievably tasty. More than that though what really struck me was the freshness of the ingredients and how simply they were cooked, with no pretention or attempt at disguising anything - just simple recipes cooked well and with fairly copious portions considering.

As I said before I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Cambodia, of all the spots I was hitting it was the one place which cuisine I didn’t know much about. As it turned out it wasn’t the most amazing, though I did find some interesting things. Cambodian cuisine seems to be primarily Khmer in origin, which would make sense. But it’s quite different to its Thai neighbour, also Khmer in origin. Thing is there wasn’t that many Khmer spots around.

Continue reading »

Popularity: 4%

written by Laurent \\ tags: Borneo, Cambodia, cuisine, curry, Dim Sum, eating, fish, food, Hong Kong, Indian, Khmer, Malay, Malaysia, noodles, spring rolls, travelling, Vietnam

I left the ruggedness of Cambodia for Malaysia and a week long paradise trip to the south-eastern end of the Malaysian half of Borneo island, on the Celebes Sea coast. My destination was a town by the name of Semporna, which acts as a gateway to diving and snorkelling some of the world’s finest spots. I flew into Kuala Lumpur for a day before connecting to the coast, but I’ll leave more on that for the next post dealing with KL in more details.

As luck would have it I caught a stomach bug in Phnom Penh, a couple of days before flying to KL, and that meant I made it to Borneo feeling less than fresh and happy to be there. Fortunately it turned out to be the most relaxing week I’ve spent in god knows how long and the bug was soon got rid off and forgotten thanks to some of the most wonderful and breathtaking views and experiences.

As I mentioned, Semporna is a small sea side town on the Celebes Sea coast. The brother of a friend of mine runs a dive shop there, and when planning this trip I thought that it would make for a perfect stop before heading back out west, and provide me with my one true ‘beach destination’ after pretty much 3 weeks of cities and countryside (bar the few days I spent in Sihanoukville).

Turns out Semporna has a pretty interesting story of its own, as my mate recounted to me back in Japan. Up until 10 years ago (and even less in the case of some unfortunate tourists in 2003), the place would be frequently raided by pirates, who still roam the Celebes Sea. It all changed when some people discovered an island by the name of Sipadan, and others near it, which offered some of the best diving in the world with waters teeming with underwater life of all sorts, corals and reefs. Soon enough the tourist trade started to pick up in the area, apparently prompting the government to realise the potential of the tourist trade for this part of Borneo and bring in the army and police to help control, protect and monitor the area.

Continue reading »

Popularity: 4%

written by Laurent \\ tags: Borneo, Chinese, culture, Mabul, Malay, Malaysia, Muslim, Sibuan, snorkelling, South East Asia, travelling, underwater

Continuing with the beliefs that words is all good but pictures can speak volumes, I’ve got round to uploading pictures from my time in Vietnam. 3 albums on Flickr as usual, all linked below: Hanoi, Hanoi to Saigon train ride and Saigon.

Made it to the U.S safely, with a nasty dose of jetlag. Got some Malaysia and Borneo updates to do first and then will start on the good old U.S of A. It’s been ‘interesting’ so far and I’m only two days in. Jetlag is a killer though, especially crossing the dateline.

For now though enjoy the pics

Hanoi - Flickr set

Hanoi to Saigon train ride - Flickr set

Saigon - Flickr set

Popularity: 4%

written by Laurent \\ tags: beaches, food, Hanoi, markets, pictures, Saigon, South East Asia, summer, temples, travelling, Vietnam

I left Vietnam for Cambodia in early July, taking a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh. The last of my land based trips for a while, it wasn’t the most comfortable, or eventless considering I managed to get on the wrong bus for half the journey, but definitely one of the most interesting. While Vietnam offered an insight into a country recovering from war and moving fast, or trying to anyways, into the ‘modern’ capitalist world that defines us today, Cambodia offered an even more vivid and raw example of that.

As soon as the bus crossed the border the landscape changed radically. Gone were the few apparent elements of modernity I saw in vietnam, replaced by a single tarmac road surrounded by a lot of nothing but rundown buildings, shacks, huts, temples, fields and animals. Even though the journey from the border to Phnom Penh, the capital, was just a few hours it was enough to already give me a feeling that Cambodia is struggling with a lot more than some of its neighbours.

That feeling was repeated once I’d got to Phnom Penh, slightly less chaotic than the Vietnamese cities, but just as noisy, polluted and visibly more grimey. And then it all continued as I connected directly on a bus headed to the south coast of Cambodia and a town called Sihanoukville, a tourist resort of sorts, all beaches, sea and relaxing.

Continue reading »

Popularity: 5%

written by Laurent \\ tags: beaches, Cambodia, friendly, infrastructure, people, Phnom Penh, pollution, poverty, Sihanoukville, South East Asia, temples, travelling, warm