We left Phnom Penh and headed into Vietnam at 5am. It was a trend on the river to cruise until 11pm and get a rude wake up when the anchor dropped and another rude wake up at 5am when they pulled the anchor back up to continue the journey. Being in the room nearest to the anchor didn't help any. Pretty sure I didn't sleep more than 4 consecutive hours the entire 7 days on board, in hind sight I should have sorted out some ear plugs. Entering Vietnam it was hard to tell that we were in a new country because this part of the Mekong Detla used to be part of Cambodia before the French seperated it to Vietnam. It's still home to many families of Cambodian decent. Our first stop in Vietnam was a bird sanctuary. This is easliy one of the most amazing places we visited. It's a section of swamp protected by the government where hundreds of birds call home. We were taken through the park first in a long motor boat then transfered to a small canoe. The scenery was increidble and very peaceful. The birds were squaking and flying around us all over the place. Very cool experience! We had a really exotic lunch here. It's not fare to say it wasn't good it just isn't anything we're used to. Aside from this meal everything we ate in Cambodia and Vietnam was excellent! We spent the next few days cruising towards Siagon (aka Ho Chi Mihn City) with stops at several markets and pagodas. They were all amazing but I have to admit after a while they start to look alike! The markets had everything you can think of. The meat and fish sections were questionable and a little off putting however. A memorable lunch took us to a small island where they farm crocodile, procupines, frogs and snakes for eating. Chris was brave to try the crocodile turned out it tastes similar to chicken! I stuck with a veggie noddle dish, the market turned me off of meat for a bit I have to admit. On this Island they also produce popped rice and coconut candy. The popped rice was super neat to watch. They put rice in a large pot and stir it over a fire until it pops like pop corn. It only takes a few seconds for this to happen then they mix it with sugar and fruit flavours to create some truly excellent snacks. Even better Chris can eat them despite his allergies! After a few more restless nights on board we made it to Saigon! It's a remarkable city with a lot of French influence and about 8 million motor bikes. We stayed at the Continental Saigon hotel dating back to the 1880 which claims to be the first hotel in Vietnam, located in the heart of the city. Our G guide to us to a well know Pho place near the Binh Tay Market called Pho 2000. Bill Clinton graced this place in 2000 during his visit to the city and they've used this to popularize the restaurant. On top of photos of the former US president scattered around the restaurant they have what he ate listed at each table. Chicken Soup Pho with a Mango Smoothie. If it's good enough for Bill Clinton it's good enough for me, and it was! Highly recommend Pho 2000. That afternoon we took a 4 hour bus ride out to the Cu Chi Tunnels. It's an immense serious of underground tunnels used by Viet Cong sodiers as hiding during the Vietnam War. They would set up boobie traps and land mines to keep from being caught by American soldiers. They'd hide the dirt from the tunnels in bomb craters and use dirt mounds to hide air holes. For cooking they had a serious of chimneys filled with cotton so the smoke would be absorbed and spill out of small openings several meters away so low it looked like fog in the morning. It's extermely impressive what they accomplished here. They also used old tires to make backwards shoes so when you walked one way it appeared you had walked the other direction. These shoes were tell tale signs of what side you were on and if you didn't wear this who you'd be shot by the Viet Cong Soldiers. Most of the tunnels are off limits to visitors due to saftey concerns but some tunnels have been created so visitors can get a sense of what it was like. We went through a few meters of tunnel and it wasn't comfortable to say the least. The Cu Chi site also has a gun range so as you're going through the tunnels you hear gun fire going off giving the whole place a very erie feeling. Chris and a few other of the boys shot off some rounds during our visit with the big guns. Our second day in Saigon we explored the markets, a local art gallery and went out for one last dinner with some of our new friends we met on the G tour. The over all experience with G Adventures was exceptional and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique and easy way to explore Cambodia and South Vietnam! We took off for Hanoi after this and met up with Chris' parents for 4 days in Halong Bay.
0 Comments
Cruising the Mekong, in my opinion, is the best way to experience Cambodia and South Vietnam. Life is dependant on this body of water and the people have adapted in unique ways to exploit it. We travelled on board the Toum Toui II with G Adventures and a group of 24 other fantastic people from all over the world including Australia, Switzerland, Germay, USA, Canada and UK. Our first stop was at the village of Chnok Tru where the locals specialize in silver and copper punching. Along with a demonstration we were greeted by a group of children who ran around holding our hands and playing. The older children were selling jewelry made by their parents making it difficult to determine if it was appropriate. In many cases the parents keep them out of school and use the money to buy beer but in other cases it's actually funding their schooling. What to do! A little girl stole my heart as we walked along the village chatting away with me in very impressive english. Another little girl played with my skirt and held my hand. For a few days after all I talked about was babies successfully driving Chris nuts. I later learned it was common in this village for young people to sell items in the morning and attend school later in the day easing my concern. We were also treated to a talk from a local teacher who survived the killing fields during Khmer Rouge. He's 72 now and runs a local school free for students to learn reading, writing, math and a bit of french. There are public schools in Cambodia but it's not always an option for the students to make the trip out to them so this is an excellent way to ensure they get some studies in every day. With our guide as a traslator the man told many horrifing stories from the days of Khmer Rouge which began in 1975. He explained how during Khmer Rouge intellectuals were rounded up and sent to jails all over the country to be tortured and later sent to the killing fields to be murdered. Because he was a teacher if the soldiers found out about him he would have certainly met his death. Fortunately someone warned him not to expose his profession so he lied when asked suggesting he was a farmer. He had to pretend over and over again that he couldn't read or write. The soldiers would look at this hands to see if he was lieing as well. Because he went to the gym regularly he had rough hands like a farmer saving him from being discovered. This went on for a long time as he was forced into harsh farming conditions along with some 2 million others across Cambodia, taken away from their villages and family. Many people died from starvation during this time with the soldiers thinking that a hungry person worked harder and a well fed man is lazy. After Cambodia was liberated in 1979 the teacher returned to his village where he was reunited with his surviving family and started the school. He was one of the luncky few with roughly 3 million people being killed by Khmer Rouge during this short time. Now he runs this school which survives off donations and contributions from the local village people. It's a vital source of knowledge and opportunity for the local village children. He is an inspiration and we were lucky to have met with him, it was one of the most memorable parts of our trip in my opinion and taught us a lot about Cambodia's complex and sad history. Our afternoon was much lighter as we cruised through one of the largest floating villages in Cambodia. Despite the village being in Cambodia it's made up of mostly Vietnamese families. Cambodia's traditionally build their houses on stilts where Vietnamese will opt for the floating house. It's an extremely interesting way of life completely dependent on the river for transportation and food. We headed ashore to Kampong Chhnang where we bicycled through the village to the house of a local pottery maker. It was a really fun ride but also nerve wracking with motorbikes whizzing by in all directions. The way back was even worse because it had gotten dark by the time we left for the boat! A woman greated us at her studio in the underside of a house on stilts. The way she made clay potts was fascinating to watch as she spun herself in circles beating at the clay to produce the correct shape and thickness of the clay. I imagine she's got the best behaved children in the village the way she expertly handled the whacking stick. We walked across the road to a palm sugar producer who also makes palm wine. We're pretty sure he had been quality controling the wine before we arrived because he was hilarious and all smiles! He showed us how they collect the palm juice by climbing up the tree on bamboo ladders and tap the correct branches of the palm trees. From there they reduce the palm juice in a similar way to making maple syrup to create the palm sugar. We all had a taste of the sugar and the wine, good stuff! We probably needed the liquid courage to cycle back so it worked out well. Day two on the Mekong we made our way to one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in Cambodia, via Ox Cart. It's as luxurious as it sounds and fast too, only took us 20 minutes to get 2 km (insert sarcasm). The monastery looked pretty beaten up and the newer buildings surrounding it made it look even older. Several monks live in the monestary most are elderly people and some orphaned children as well. They are taken care of by the local villagers and in return the monks assist with village ceremonies, blessings and anything else they can do to support the village. We were privledged to have a monk bless us during our visit. We're not religious in any way but it was nice to have him say kind words over us while flicking water and after this he tied a bright red bracelet to our wrist for goodluck. That night we arrived to Phnom Penh where we had 2 days. We were treated to a cyclo tour (rikshaw) of the city upon our arrival. G Adventures supports a cyclo project which gives underprivileged people a job and also helps save the dying tradition in Cambodia. Many of the people who operate the cyclo bikes were at some point homeless, lacked proper education and training so this is fantastic opportunity for them. It was pretty hilarious to be taken around the city with them, my driver was a cheery chap who knew a few words of English and was all smiles to have me on board. We had a good laugh together when a young man on a motor bike with his girlfriend on the back smiled at me and said hello promptly followed by a hard smack in the head and a couple beats on the shoulder from the young woman on the back on the bike. That night we had the option to join a local family for dinner, 10 of us decided to do this and jumped in some tuk tuk's. The tuk tuk through Phnom Penh at night was something else, ridiculous traffic! The host's wife had prepared an absolute feast for us of local dishes that were incredible! We ate our hearts out and had a chance to speak candidly with our host and his daughter who both spoke English. He was very honest with us about the state of Cambodia and his experiences during Khmer Rouge. He explained that in Cambodia when you get married it's customary for the man to move in with the wife's family. In his house there were 5 families living together from his wife's side. 5 rooms, 1 for each family with a total of 30 members living under 1 roof. It was hard to imagine such a scenario because the house was not very large. He explained that during the day he turned 1 of the rooms into a school to teach English to local village students as well and teach them about the Khmer Rouge since schools limit what they teach about it. It was a very humbling experience and we learned alot from this man and his family. The next day in Phnom Penh was the most difficult part of our trip emotionally. We spent the morning going through the genocide museum with a local guide before visiting a killing field where thousands were sent to be killed during the Khmer Rouge. Our G guide, Sarou, was a fantastic guide and was with us all the way on our trip except for this portion. He explained that he went once when he was in school and it was not a something he needed or wanted to do again. I can't blame him, both sights are extremely emotional places to visit. They made me feel sick to my stomach and I wanted very badly to skip them. In hind sight I'm glad we visited them but it's not something I would want to do again. The Cambodian people have worked hard to ensure that their kids and future generations have an opportunity to learn about this dark time in their history so it will never be repeated and so that they appreciate what they have now.
Now the City is growing and building at an impressive rate pushing to increase it's tourism, industry and opportunities. It's really impressive how far the country has come and the future looks very bright for Cambodia. It's been a while since we've updated the blog because we've been travelling with G Adventures down the Mekong River. We started our journey in Siem Reap staying at the Royal Angkor Resort, an absolutely beautiful hotel! On our arrival day we decided to try a traditional Khmer Massage (Khmer is the local name for Cambodia). It's not like a traditional massage, instead of using oils they put you in robes and have you lie face up on a bed. Once your comfortable they proceed to kneed, slap, bend and step on you in all directions. It may not sound very relaxing to have a 100 lb Cambodian woman man handle you but once we knew what was happening it felt really great and got some kinks out! Next day we snagged a tuk tuk and headed to Angkor. Angkor is a massive complex built in the 10th to 14th century spread over 400 sq ft with over 150 temples to explore! It's impossible to see them all so we decided to visit the main temple of Angkor Wat. It's an absolutely incredible building to explore with endless sculptures and carvings to admire and long hallways leading to various parts of the temple. It's built in three layers. The top layer is comprised of the towers that are iconic to Angkor. This space was reserved for only the King, nowadays anyone appropriately dressed is welcome up to enjoy the view from the top. f you havn't got your shoulders and knees covered to the liking of the local guards you arn't permitted inside. This is because it's a still used as a holy place for the monks living next to the Angkor Wat. Once a month the top portion of Angkor Wat is closed to tourists so the monks can worship. We saw tons of monks in their bright orange robes around the complex during our visit. Some where even offering blessings to anyone interested. Here the men don't have to be a monk for life they can do it for a short time if they like, many children are sent to be a monk for a short time here as well. IThe second level includes 4 pools (now empty) representing the 4 elements where the king would bath to purify himself before heading into the top temple. The bottom level includes several walls of base relief sculptures representing various Hindu stories and stories of the king. Angkor Wat took us around 2 hours to look through and I'm sure we could have spent longer if the heat and rain hadn't washed us out. The next morning we returned to Angkor Wat at 5am to watch the sun rise over the temple. We weren't the only ones with throngs of people out to catch that perfect photo. It was worth the eary wake up to see the magnificent views. While most of the other tourists headed back to their hotel for breakfast we continued onward into the Angkor Complex. We visited a bit more of the Angkor Wat temple with our G guide before heading to Ta Prohm, made famous by Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider in 2000. It's a beautiful temple unique because of the many tress growing out of them. Bird droppings are to thank for the massive trees that now grown within the original temple ruins creating a beautiful harmony with nature and the man made. Our last stop was Angkor Thom and the Bayon Temple. This temple is made up of 52 faces sculpted into the towers representing the 52 states of Cambodia at the time the temple was built. Its a wonderful temple complex and a great way to end our visit to Angkor. You may have noticed the water surrounding the temple, this is how they transpoarted the stones from the main river, using these man made moats. It also created extra protection for the temples and it's very beautiful. The large temples have these moats surrounding them including Angkor Wat. Makes for a really surreal setting and excellent photo ops! After Angkor we went to G Adventures Planet Terra poject, New Hope. It's a school set up in a small village where students come to learn vital skills that help them get better jobs. They teach english, cooking, bar tending and many other skills that allow the villagers to get better paying jobs in the community. We had an excellent Cambodian lunch here though the grasshoppers weren't my favorite. After lunch we drove 4 hours to the port and boarded the Toum Tiou II. It's a small river cruise boat owed by G Adventures perfect for traveling the Mekong River. The staff were incredible, rooms were great and the people on the tour with us were excellent travel companions! We did so much in 7 days that I'm spreading it over a few blogs, more to follow soon!
|
Nicole & ChrisWe've left our jobs to travel the world! Categories
All
Archives
March 2017
|