Exploring along the Mekong

Once again I was faced with the fact that after I started working, the time I want (and need) to do the travelling I want to, is not there anymore. But on the other side, with work comes money. So when I was looking around on the web to figure out where to go after Siem Reap, I came across Cambodian Pride Tours. The tours they offered seemed down to earth and could give us the opportunity to experience real Cambodia with the limited time available.
Instead of going taking the short and much travelled road to Phnom Pehn via Battambang and Tonle Sap River, we decided to take the longer road and do the Mekong Explorer.


The day before our journey started our guide was supposed to meet us at the guesthouse, but since he was on an other trip, Sithy, who is running the company, met with us. We had received plenty of information before hand, but it was nice to be able to go over the trip and check if we have everything we needed for the 5 days.


7 AM is early at home, but in Cambodia I think it is kind of late in the morning. Any way, that is when we started travelling from touristic Siem Reap towards the Mekong. We where the only two people on this trip so we had both a guide and a driver at our disposal the whole time. And they made it very clear that if we wondered about something, or if we wanted to do something different than what was in the iterary, we should say it straight away. It would not help us complaining about it afterwards and they were there to give us the best possible experience:) We liked them from the beginning!

One of many narrow bridges. Notice the kid on the right side.

Day 1 was mainly driving and we quickly understood why the driving would take as long as it did, the standard is not the same as back home. But on the bright side it gives plenty of time to look around and ask all kind of stupid questions. Which were all answered politely and the guide had no problem sharing his stories with us.

The goal of the day was Preah Rumkel where we stayed at a homestay, ate at Anlong Cheuteal where a family prepered food for us visited the Sopheakmet Waterfall and swam in the Mekong. A very relaxing evening looking over the Mekong.

Sopheakmet waterfall, tha Lao border is in the middle of the water somewhere

One thing I found disturbing visiting this place was the dam we saw the Chinese are building on the other side of the Mekong in Lao. How will the dams upstream Mekong effect the behaviour further down. Today in the rainy season the water in Tonle Sap River flows from Mekong River and to the great lake Le Tonle Sap while it is the other way around during dry season. Amazing isnt't it? But of this change what will be the consequences I dare not think about it. Also there are freshwater dolphines in this area, but they are almost gone.

Our "restaurant" where we had lunch, dinner and breakfast:) Cambodian style:)

I must have the most sporty boyfriend. Even though he had not tried kayaking before he jumped in a river kayak and did not want to go with a guide. We were ready to experience the flooded forest of the Ramsar Wetland. The kayaking was much longer and more thrilling and challenging than we anticipated and we ended up being wet (to our guide's amusement:), tired, sun burnt and very, very happy. I love coming up close with nature like this.
Luckily we only kayaked with the stream and a boat came to pick us up and take ut back to where we started.

Ready! :)

Picnic lunch with our guide, the boat driver and the kayak guide.

A quiet part of the flooded forest.

On our way from Strung Treng to Kratie I wanted to visit the Mekong Blue. A humanitary non-profit organization giving a way out of poverty for women and families. They do so by teaching them how to weave silk. Because it was Chinese New Year when we visited, just some of the workers were there, but it was still amazing to see their work. Sadly I did not get the chance to buy a scarf cause they were really lovely, it would have been a perfect souvernir.

We also visted the famous 100 pillars pagoda where our guide showed out to be a really good story teller. And as he pointed out to us several times,  Cambodian people believe a lot of weired and unbelievble stories, so they are an important part of their culture and lives. At the end of the day we were suppose to visit Koh Trong, an island in the Mekong, but as we sat in the boat waiting and waiting for it to leave and our guide looking more and more often on his clock he decided we would not have time to explore the island before we had to catch the last ferry back. That is just how it goes when ferries do not have schedule. We understood, but we could see our guide felt bad. Then he came up with the idea that we could do it early in the morning before going to Phnom Pehn and he was back to being happy again:)

Beautiful sunset from our hotel in Kratie

In Kratie, our guide's home city, we did heaps of every day activities:)

Visiting the local market and fish market



Wathching TV Cambodian style, three channels at once

Farming. Yummy vegetables!

Floating villages inhabitated by people from Vietnam

Tasting home made rice wiskey

 When visiting the man who made rice wiskey we wondered what he earned of his production. A small destillery in his back yard. He earned only the rice that he used a second time to feed his pigs. It was shocking to hear how little he got from all that work. The wiskey was good so our driver bought a couple of bottles;)

Sugar cane juice, YUMMY!

Making rice noodles

We also had a really nice Cambodian dinner in the home of Sithy's parents. They were really nice and the food equally good. At Koh Trong we got invited into the garden of our guide's old class mate and he told us of how to do agriulture on the island.

Cycling around the island, no traffic!

The things you see

Our last meal together, we were sad to say goodbye

All in all, this trip is my favorite of all the things we did in Cambodia. Not only because of the places we visited and the things we did, but also bacause of the laughter and knowledge our companions brought to the table, the small things like chatting and hanging around. They really gave us the best experience we could ever wish for, and they did it with their heart:)

Cambodia

Back in Norway after our 2 week long vacation in Cambodia. Why do you want to go there? Pople in Norway asked, and in Cambodia we were met with the same question: Why have you come here? Well, we chose to visit Cambodia because it was a country we did not know to much about, actually hardly anything, and because we thougt it would be a very different country from our own. We were not disappointed! I have learned so much about the country.
The history of the country is horrifying, but even though the sadness is close in time, people seem happy and smile. For us Norwegians they appear very fiendly and talkative. Asking questions about whatever we were curious about was easy and we got insight into everyday life I had not hoped to get beforehand.



OMG! The traffic... I don't know where to begin to describe it, I think one just have to experience it. In the beginning I did not understand much, but I think this must be some of the main rules they are thought at there driving schools:

• Do not stop unless you absolutely have to
• Take all possible short cuts
• You must never give way
• Use the shoulder of the road at every opportunity

I can't say I got used to the traffic, and I would certainly not drive myself (for my crossing the road in Phnom Penh was challenging enough), but I was not scared to death the whole time at the end.


What I notice first in a new country is the contrasts comparing with Norway. One of them was the extreme amount of littering everywhere. Luckily it seems as there is a cultural change starting, but this young country do not seem to have the systems to handle all the garbage yet. I hope they do get it so the litter doesn't ruin the beatiful country.


In Norway most people live in the city, but in Cambodia most people live on the countryside. Some argue that the people living on the countryside are more happy and have more say in their own life than the people living in the city who is corrupted by money. For me, living on the countryside, I can related to that as people in for instance Oslo seem stressed to me.


Well, this was some of the main impressions I got. After visiting a country with so much bigger challenges than what we face at home it is difficult to find motivation for reading political papers. While we discuss whether or not to have wolves in Norway, they are working to take care of their wild tigers and this is a country with a lot less resources than us. And of course we expect them to do so. Sometimes I feel ashamed.

Visiting Frankfurt

Finally I got some time off from work and got a chance to travel to Frankfurt to visit friends:) -Cause when you travel, you get friends all over the world! Vanessa, whom I stayed at, I got to know while we were both studying in Sydney and that also goes for Alex who also lives in Frankfurt.

This was my first visit to the city, of course I have been on the airport before, but only to rush from one plane to an other. So it was a bit odd to look for the exit and don't stress anywhere. I did not have any problems at the airport, but I must say it is one of the slowest ones I have been to. It took forever to get my luggage! When I finally got it, it was time for sightseeing and lots of catching up=)

The first place we visited was the Main tower, the only skyscraper with a public viewing platform. Funny that at they want to do the weather forecast from this one. You have to pay to get up, but it is worth it to get an overview of the city. It really comes in handy for the rest of the sightseeing. If you have a student card you get a discount, I even got one with my Norwegian card.

The weather forecast, notice the many air planes in the sky 

Me and Vanessa on the top of Frankfurt

I visited Frankfurt just before the election so there were politicians and speeches everywhere. One day it was crowded with police before a demonstration. I couldn't understand why there were so many police present for an election campaign, but it turned out it was the right wing party having a demonstration and some of their opinions are a bit on edge I guess.

The demonstration coming closer

Even though Frankfurt is a very modern city being the financial centre of Germany and populated with several skyscrapers, there are a lot of history in the city. A lot of Frankfurt was destroyed during the second world war, but at the town hall square, Römerberg, some of the original buildings have been reconstructed so you can get an impression of how the city ones was like. This is also an historical place: This is where the book burning started in 1933.

The reconstruction

Everywhere I travel there are many religious buildings, and Frankfurt was no exception. Within a short walking distance I visited to very different churches. I am always amazed by the decorations and the architecture, nothing is ever the same. Dom St. Bartholomäus and Alte Nikolaikirche are worth a visit if you like visiting religious buildings.

Scary art in one of the curches

From Dom St. Bartholomäus

From Alte Nikolaikirche

In Frankfurt there are several bridges crossing the Main. One of them is Eisener Steg, a footbridge filled with padlocks. Couples come here to put there locks together and drop the key in the river. I guess it is for good luck. The effort people have put into it is very different, some have their names in-scripted while others doesn't have anything on them. There is also a trend to put a little lock onto the "couple locks" once the couple have had a baby.

On the bridge filled with padlocks

One of the days I visited Vanessa, she was invited to a birthday party, I was invited to come along. This was a totally new experience to me: Not having to bring any alcohol when I'm going to a party. I was so stressed minutes before we had to leave because I had not bought any alcohol, Vanessa of  course did not understand what I was stressing about. It was lovely being at a party like that, I think I can get used to it. I could also get used to their popular drink Hugo:)

A lovely cake:)

Just outside Frankfurt lies Mainz a beautiful city that was rather different from Frankfurt ,kind of more German-like, even though it was just a short train ride away. Much more quiet and calm. We just wandered the streets and relaxed. We also payed a visit to the Roman ruins of a theatre. The city was actually founded by Romans

Some of the Roman ruins

An Australian pub in Frankfurt?? Of course we have to visit:) Drinking the Aussie beer again the good memories came flooding.

It's all good:)

Frankfurt is famous for its fairs and luckily the IAA was on when I visited. Who knew I could spend a whole day checking out cars and the likes. Al though the best part must have been the expression the men from Mitsubishi got when I asked questions about their generator technology. There was a lot to see and to at the fair, and I would recommend more than one day if you're really interested!

Where to begin?

The Norwegian flag?

hmmm, what am I looking at?

Some of the big car producers even had shows that were really entertaining. The message from BMW was: The future is here, and it is electric. We have to take care of our environment. The message from Mercedes was more about the new smart cars, really cool demonstrations.

Is VW big in Germany?

VW put on a dance show and even some from Mercedes were inspired and joined:)

In Germany it is a lot cheaper to eat out than in Norway, and my friend said she hardly cooked at home during weekdays. But I convinced her to make a proper German dinner while I was there:) Sauerkrat and meat tastes as if it could have been made back in Norway actually. Thank you, Vanessa:)

Sauerkraut

I simply love markets:) They are filled with all sorts of delicacies with good quality and the atmosphere is lovely. There are always someone offering a sample and of course I want to taste, with the usual outcome that I buy some afterwards:p There are several markets in Frankfurt and Vanessa was so kind that she showed me one of them. It was not easy to spot if you did not know what you were looking for. My expectations were met.

So much to see and buy, if only we had this at home instead of supermarkets...!

Die Kleinmarkethalle

Goethe Uniserity Frankfurt is also filled with history. Here you find IG Farbenhaus that during the second world war was used by the Nazis for production of bad things and ironically after the war was used as headquarters for the Supreme Allied Command. The university had amazing buildings and sculptures and since the students were on holiday there were non to remind me of the struggle of being a student.

Sculptures doing heavy thinking

I love everything that can be helpful to save our planet from the climate crises, so when we found this bookshelf on the street I was happy. I hope we can get something similar in Norway. Here people can leave books they do not want any more and others can pick them up if they want one. Just like at hostels. There were several of these bookshelves spread around the city.

The old stock market(and the new one) is located in Frankfurt and since Frankfurt has this financial status it was worth to learn a bit more about it, in German of course:) Visiting the stock market is popular so you have to sign up for a tour in advance. Then you get an introduction to the stock market before you are allowed into a viewing platform where you can see the floor of the exchange. Educational.

The floor of the stock market

The floor of the viewing platform: green lights=rise, red lights=decline

The terms bull market and bear market describe upward and downward market trends

Just outside the city centre lies an old Jewish cemetery with graves back to year 1272. Around the cemetery is a huge wall with metal stones sticking out of it. Each stone has a Jewish name of someone who died during the second world war who came from Frankfurt.

And it goes on and on and on

A creepy cemetery, I wouldn't like to be here after dark

Vanessa showed me a party street where we did not get a chance to visit, and claimed it was chaos. I have to go back and check it out because I doubt it can be any worse than a normal pub area in Norway.

Party street

The food in Germany was easy to like. Even though I tried to eat typical German food, a lot of it was very similar to Norwegian food. The huge difference was the price and the size of the portions. I don't ever think I haven't been able to finish a plate in Norway, but in Germany that was more the rule than the exception.

The green sauce was lovely, a visit to a traditional Frankfurt restaurant

Soccer is obiously very big in Germany, and we saw several games on the TV while I was there. I think a visit to a match would be fun to do the next time I visit Germany because the emotions just sitting at home were heavy.

Vanessa is not very satisfied with her team...