New Caledonia

This week I’m in New Caledonia for work. The only flight available was on a Saturday, so I had to spend a Weekend, all alone, on a tropical island. First of all, the food is absolutely beautiful, the weather is fantastic and I have a 5 star hotel. Looks like a good start to a good week.

I decide to go diving with the local operator. We dive at the Amedee Island. It is a marine reserve filled with fish. I see my very first Eagle Rays flashing by. They are very fast and always seem to be playful. A school of grey sharks are interested in us a come in for a closer look, they size us up and decide not to have a go at us.

And then, it happens: a giant Manta ray, about 5 meters is hovering just above the sea floor. There is a very strong current so I have to hold on to the rocks. I make as little bubbles as possible and slowly claw closer to the enormous animal. I have to breathe and the bubbles scare it away. With 2 strong flicks of it wings is whooshes off, but! It makes a giant full circle and I can see it’s going to come back exactly where it was... I quickly take a few deep breaths; hold my breath while clawing to the exact location where it was earlier... aaand there it is, just above me about 50 cms. Like a giant blanket! The other divers look at me, slightly worried, slightly jealous. I extend my arm and touch it. It feels like the inside of your cheek, but you can feel clearly the strong muscles just below the skin. I now have to breathe again, and I expect it to fly away, but it doesn’t.

Cambodia

We make our way up to Phnom Penh over the Mekong by fast boat. After having eaten noodles every day for a while, we decide to indulge and go to the best restaurant in town. Emma has certainly planned this trip to perfection. After the bus ride from hell, where we were overtaking a car, that was overtaking a truck, that was overtaking motorcycle, that was overtaking a cyclist that was overtaking a cow (no shit!), we arrive in Siem Reap.
We’ve met a couple who lived in Siem Reap for a year and they recommended us Yut as the best guide in town. Yut made us visit what he believes are the 4 most interesting temples around Siem Reap.
I guess we feel what a million people before us felt: this is pretty amazing stuff. Some of the temples are over 1000 years old. The level of detail of the carvings is stunning. Our guide lets us climb where ever we want, the site isn’t sealed off and you can go everywhere your courage will allow you. 
Emma gets to fly over the region in an ULM and spots temples and the (not) floating villages.

Vietnam 2

After beautiful Hoi Ahn Ho Chi Min city, or Saigon as the locals still prefer to call it. Emma has a friend here from her Barbados days and decides to have a serious wine session. I decide to leave them drinking and jump on a Moped-taxi. Zipping through dense Saigon traffic at night having drunk a few beers is good fun and somewhat surreal, especially when my driver decides to do a U-Turn and go against traffic for a while. The next night we sleep somewhere on the banks of the Mekong at some bloke’s house. (home stay). Then, one evening sitting at the table we are suddenly raided by 20 students, they want to understand the tourists as they are studying Tourist Consumer Behaviour. Their tactic is to get us talking by feeding us rice wine and beers. We talk for many hours but Emma is still paying for her big night in HCM city with a headache and goes to bed early.

Vietnam 1

To maximize our time and squeeze every last drop of enjoyment out of this trip, we take the night train to Sapa in a very luxurious, private sleeper. Upon arrival, we go straight to the local market and see, chickens, ducks, vegetables, clothes and unfortunate living fish being chopped in half. The rice fields are stunning (the main reason we came here). Our guide, Miss May, knows the best places to eat and drink with the locals and shows us how the local people live their lives.

After a quick night trip south we go to Halong Bay where we sleep on the boat and visit the Caves and go squid fishing. I give Karaoke in Vietnamese a go and everyone has a good laugh at me.