This is super interesting. When did this start? Had no idea. How does Poppa Hun Sen feel about the Muslim missionaries?
I’m not sure exactly when it all started, but around 3 years ago, I saw my Muslim friend from Singapore’s Facebook posts which showed his trips to Cambodia on an annual basis with an Islamic missionary group, to do charity work, and work with young Cambodian-Muslim youths. Prior to that, I was not even aware that there were Muslims in Cambodia!
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Some of the photos taken on this day are posted in the first post so I’m only posting other ones.
Leaving Chau Doc for Rach Gia this morning. In hot countries people get things done before the mid day heat. The sun rises early, too. Like here, at 6am.
There were no Western fast food back in 2004 and manual labour like tricycle pedalling kept men thin and fit.
Sour cherry vendor at the bus station. I bought some for the bus ride to Rach Gia.
Mobile ice seller’s bike next to my bus. They deliver ice to restaurants and shops. Like in the US, crushed ice is in most drinks.
A few photos taken on the journey to Rach Gia. I really enjoyed observing people and things in the countryside. Big cities make me hate most countries.
A little local ferry seen from my approaching little ferry.
My ferry:
Pontoon bridge, just like in war films (almost).
Lunch in Rach Gia. Staying here the night.
Not sure why we ordered 2 different dishes of cuttlefish, but one rarely has a bad meal in Vietnam.
Soya milk. So much crushed ice!
Did some walking after lunch until the golden hour. Local girls and women bathing in the sea were all fully clothed and they were not Muslims. I did go swimming in a regular swimming pool in HCMC and all the females just wore normal, conservative swim costumes. (As in no high cut around the thighs, hips, cleavage, back, armpits etc)
Did not have a real dinner. Ate some of these steamed buns. They were big and filling.
After sunset we ate some snacks and drank a lot of beer at a local place near our lodging. It was a very long day travelling. We must have gone out like a light when we got back to the room.
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The memory continues…
Savoury soup at 7am. (Looks a bit strange because I merged 2 photos together here. I like to sit close to the kitchen or where they prepare the food so I can watch.)
Check out the stunning price! VND8k = 35 cents! The price of any of the meals listed. VN only has 2 things going for us: the food and the price.
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I was already on the bus. The Honda drivers wanted to take a photo with the partner. I like this photo very much. All the men looked so happy as they posed for me. If I ever go this way again I will bring copies of this photo and look for the men at the bus station and give it to each of them.
Bus ride to the place from where we took the boat to Phu Quoc island.
Ticket office (there are many). People today have it good. There was no smart phones back then. No translation apps, only a little phrase book we had with us and it was useless.
After securing boat tickets we had some time to kill before departure. We did eat and drink but I only made a couple of photos of this drink, pennywort juice. Apologies for the terrible photo. Also, back then it didn’t occur to me to take photos of everything I ate.
We survived the boat ride. So many Vietnamese women had to use the sick bags. Luckily motion sickness didn’t affect me. Strange that I have a bad case of motion sickness at home but when travelling it disappears.
First meal on Phu Quoc island and it was in darkness. Was surprised to find out our lodging only had electricity for a couple of hours during the day. Crab for me and fish for the partner.
Simple fried fish with a sauce of fish sauce, lemongrass, garlic and chillies. Simple is best.
And where is Phu Quoc? A big island below Kampot (Cambodia). Back in 2004 there was no direct connection to Phu Quoc island so we had to back track Kep-Kampot-Phnom Penh (Cambodia), crossed the border at Chau Doc, on to Rach Gia and finally from there to Phu Quoc.
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First morning in Phu Quoc. Waiting by the roadside to be picked up. We joined a group to go snorkelling. One of these lodgings was ours but I can’t remember the name. Only had electricity for a few hours during the day, no internet, no TV, no laptops, no other foreign tourists save for one who stayed in one of these guest houses near ours. I knew it would be our best time in Vietname here on Phu Quoc island.
Most roads are unsealed so you get the red dust on everything and inhale it, too. When you wipe your face with a cloth you’ll know. The cloth turns red.
The following photos were taken during the snorkelling tour.
This is the speed boat we took from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc. Even back in 2004 Vietnam was already more developed than Cambodia. The boats we took in Cambodia were all death traps.
So tropical. Palm trees everywhere. A house with a separate toilet and there are no neighbours. Fishing boat is probably theirs.
Man in his woven bamboo basket boat. These basket boats came into existence for one reason: it’s not a real boat so the owner doesn’t have to pay tax on it.
Boy rowing a little boat
Catching fish with a spear and diving mask, lying on an inner tube.
Woman cleaning fish. There’s a basket boat on her boat, and the boy looks straight at me smiling.
Life on the water
Fishing boats and the day’s catches in nets
Not many of us could squat like this. They are slim over there.
The people on the snorkelling tour with us came from a “resort” type of hotel not far from our simple (but fantastic) guest house. We never saw any foreign tourists the whole time besides them on this tour and Mitch the Scott who lived on a boat in Nothingham. We went for a walk at sunset and found that resort hotel we were told about. They had some chairs on the beach but their guests only lounged around the hotel pool. We had no pool so we lounged around on the beach.
No dinner photos. We ate fish and prawns in the dark, a couple of oil lamps on the table. Turned out it was like this for the whole week but we had one and only fellow traveller, Mitch the Scott. We got on very well. He was the only other foreign tourist we ever saw in the first couple of days here and we ate dinner together every night, and chatted about everything deep into the night. Only the sounds of the waves and crickets at night. No news of the outside world and we didn’t miss it.
My snacks today:
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