The End is Here: Back to Saigon

After one final SE Asian night bus (we had every intention of taking a day bus, but they were all sold out due to the previously mentioned Water Festival), we returned to Saigon. We had officially come full circle because, as our dedicated readers may remember, this is where we began our trip 8 weeks ago. After weeks of new places, it was nice to be somewhere we had been before. Being back in Saigon also showed us how accustomed we had come to the ways of SE Asia. We barely gave a second thought to the motorbikes or darting across several lanes of motorbike traffic to cross the street. We had no problem handling the smells, crowds, or persistent salespeople at Saigon's Ben Tranh Market where we hadn't lasted 5 minutes without having to escape on our previous trip to the city. It didn't even feel that hot outside. It's amazing how things that seemed so foreign 8 weeks ago had become so normal. We spent our last 24 hours in SE Asia walking around, getting some last minute gifts for family, and eating at a Pho place where Bill Clinton had eaten when he was president:

The table where Bill had eaten had a description of his and Chelsea's order underneath the glass.

I was intent that our last meal of the trip would be street food. We ordered 2 of whatever they were serving and although I'm not really sure what they served us, it looked pretty nasty. Kind of disappointing especially since we had had such good luck with street food throughout the trip but it made us less sad about leaving (and getting back to American food).

We ended the night with a beer on our balcony and cheers'ed the end of an incredible trip. If you haven't gathered from reading this blog, we had an awesome and eye-opening experience. We are definitely motivated to book our next adventure. And until then......

Phnom Penh

We somehow managed to be in another SE Asian capital city during a festival. One might think this might be cool or fun, but in places where efficiency, rules, free flow of information, and crowd control barely exist it can be annoying and unfortunately in the case of Phnom Penh's Water Festival, deadly. (A day after we left there was a stampede in here during the festivities where 350 people died.) Our bad luck with Cambodian buses streak continued as a trip from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh should have taken 4.5-5 hours ended up taking 8. Why might you say? Well, we don't really know (shockingly); all we know is that about 15 km outside of the city we got stuck in gridlock for 3 hours. Not traffic, gridlock. As in no movement for 3 hours. Of course no one knew what the deal was but thought it might be related to the 2 million people descending on the city for the annual Water Festival, which marks the end of the rainy season, and because we had become accustomed to not knowing what was going on ever, we accepted our fate and waited. But once we hit the 3 hour mark, we got a little restless and eventually hired a tuk tuk to try to find us another route into the city. Another reason to never ask why in SE Asia came to us as we quickly got into town by simply taking another road. I may be an inpatient American but come on! Is there no communication in this country?


Anyway, we eventually made it to a hotel (with HBO! for only $20!), but called it an early night figuring we planned to stay another night in Phnom Penh (We didn't. All the buses from here to Saigon on the day we wanted to leave were booked so we had take - our last thank God - another night bus.) + we had a busy and quite depressing day planned for the following day (more on that later).


As much as we didn't want to, we sucked it up and did some touring of the Khmer Rouge's Choeung Ek killing fields and Tuel Sleung prison, which was a former high school converted into a prison/ torture facility during their regime where only 7 people survived. Visiting both of these places, I had never felt such disgust and profound sadness at what humans are capable of. My reaction to visiting 86 mass graves, 8000 Cambodian skull memorial, a guillotine, and blood spattered floors was visceral. I'm sure it's the feeling one feels when visiting the concentration camps. One positive thing that came out of this touring was our experience of riding on the back of some guy's motorbike to and from these memorials. Duncan, me, and some Cambodian man all squeezed onto a motorbike (helmet-less....don't tell my mom) whizzed through the streets and outskirts of Phnom Penh, just like we had seen natives do throughout our journey. It was scary but exhilarating. And quite convenient, as the guy's tire blew out right as we arrived at our last destination. It had been on my list of things to do before leaving SE Asia.


After we returned we were in the thick of the Water Festival extravaganza. We had heard how good the food was in Phnom Penh but didn't really get to experience it because most of the restaurants we had on our list were closed due to the festival. Then we had to get on the night bus to Saigon. 


Some pics:


The hard to describe/ capture via photo Cambodian Water Festival:

Skulls of 8000 victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields:

No picture from the 3-person motorbike ride. We were going so fast, we were afraid we might lose the camera.

Sihanoukville: Lazy Last Days

With about one week left in our SE Asia adventure, we wanted to spend several relaxing days on the beach to (almost) end our trip. After a shitty night bus trip, we arrived in Sihanoukville, a supposedly beautiful city on the beach in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand, and were immediately disappointed. I guess I should clarify - I was disappointed as Duncan was still sick and didn't really care where we were. In my head, I had envisioned beaches similar to Thailand and Vietnam - white sand, relaxing vibe, clear water. What we encountered when we arrived to the infamous Serendipity Beach was trash-filled streets and beaches and overpriced hotels that were not even on the beach. I even went searching along the beachfront (alone, as Duncan was resting in a designated spot) for the beautiful beaches the guidebook told us about or any type of beachfront bungalow, but all I found was a discarded shrimp in my foot (cheap seafood restaurants lined the beach), a stray cat shitting on the beach, and a dirty old Western man with a young Cambodian girl (gross but unfortunately not uncommon occurrence in SE Asia). Perhaps I'm a beach snob or was exhausted from care-taking & decision making or sleep deprivation from a shitty night bus (it was about 6:30am), but whatever the reason this was not where I wanted to spend our last days. So we decided to take a chance and hired a tuk tuk to Otres Beach since our trusty guidebook had one bungalow hotel listed in this area (but no other information about the area). My confidence wasn't restored when our tuk tuk driver began driving us down a totally abandoned rocky road. But luckily, we eventually turned off the road and discovered the chill Otres Beach, a beach hidden from view from Serendipity Beach and lined with one cheap bungalow hotel after another. Our beach vacation was saved as we found a bungalow for $10 per night right on the beach. Sadly, Otres Beach as we experienced it may be no longer as the government (who owns the beach) had already began bulldozing the beachfront bungalows and forcing the hotels to move to the other side of the street (not on the beachfront) to make room for cheap restaurants, a sad replica of the beach area we had just escaped.

We had told ourselves throughout the trip that if we stayed under budget we would be able to splurge once we got to Cambodia. This was even more true after all the money we saved with Duncan being sick (food, drink, and activity spending went way down). Good thing that locals were selling stuff and services up and down the beach. By the end of the 5 days, we knew all the various characters who would be constantly attempting to sell us stuff, which comprised of young kids and older women (still not sure what all the men do because this is the case all over SE Asia). They loved me because I bought at least one thing everyday, including a daily $5 hour-long massage from my masseuse Mai, and mani-pedi on the last day for $5, bracelets, ornaments, sarongs, fruit, seasoned lobsters, and more. The young sellers on Otres Beach should really come to America and become car salesman with the lines they would use to get you to buy stuff. These included "if you get a pedicure the sun will come out" or "thinking makes you old". Another common sales tactic was simply to insult you so you would indulge in one of their beauty services, especially threading, which I did not indulge in. They would tell you how hairy you were and how you would never find a significant other being hairy in order for you to allow them to remove your hair by threading. After seeing friends and other travelers wincing with tears in their eyes after succumbing to them, I opted to say no to this service.

Alright, enough of my narrative:

The afternoon storms made way for ridiculously beautiful sunsets, like the ones above.

Chillaxing on the beach:

One of our favorite salespeople on the beach:

Getting small lobsters seasoned in pepper:

Me making the most of the beauty services offered beachside:

It's self portrait time!

Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

Your memory of a place is how you experienced them rather than how they are described in guidebooks and travel blogs. Although Siem Reap is known as the gateway to Angkor Wat and other ancient temples, my biggest memories of this place are my worry over Duncan being really sick with dengue fever, running all over this hot city looking for gatorade, crackers, medicine, and medical advice for my sick travel companion, and movie channels.

We did manage to do a day of temple touring because despite being ridiculously sick (including body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, exhaustion, fever, a rash), Duncan did not want to miss the thing to see in SE Asia. But more on that later. However, with my travel partner literally down for the count, all the trip planning and endless amount of decisions that need to be made while traveling fell on me. I had to do everything - and alone, all while worrying (and researching) what illness Duncan had and whether he was going to be alright aka. not die during our trip. No wonder at the end of the day (and all day in Duncan's case), I took comfort in watching several American movies of a wide variety of quality, such as a made for TV movie about the Natalie Hollaway disappearance. (It's amazing how your TV standards drop while abroad)

On the afternoon of our second day in Siem Reap, we hired a tuk tuk (who was somehow related to the bus driver's assistant whose guesthouse we stayed at on our first night in Siem Reap, which I made the executive decision to leave the next day in order to stay at a hotel with AC and movie channels...for $13 per night) to drive us to Angkor Wat for sunset. Despite being somewhat under construction, the temple was still quite amazing and breathtaking. We also had the rare experience of being in the temple with hardly any other people. It was actually pretty eery being there alone and as night was setting in.

Duncan being a trooper and walking ridiculously slow while touring the temple:

A little scared while exploring the temples alone and at night:

Gratuitous self portraits:

The next day we hired an air conditioned car to transport us from temple to temple for the day, which gave Duncan some precious time to nap in between touring. Our day started with a 5am pick-up so that we could be at a temple..err man-made lake (which was one of the king's swimming pools) for sunrise. Despite having to get up ridiculously early and Duncan being sick, it was worth it. Aside from kids begging us to buy things (yes, at 5am!), it was such a peaceful way to start our day. As the sun rose up over the lake, we heard monks chanting as these temples are still used for religious purposes.

Sra Strang for sunrise:

Duncan talking his way out of a sale with a young boy:

After sunrise, we successfully beat the crowds of European and Japanese tourists to Banteay Srey temple, which was a little outside the area with most of the temples:

Then we traveled a little further (after a bit of heckling with our driver) to Kbal Spean, which is the site of numerous carvings in the riverbed and surrounding areas. We had to hike about 1.5 miles into the Cambodian rain forest to see it. I told you Duncan was a trooper.

Our luck re: avoiding/ beating tourists crowds ran out at Ta Prohm temple, but it was okay because this temple was AWESOME. Here, the jungle was literally taking over the temple with trees growing out of the buildings. This is also where Duncan's energy really started to fade so we started a system where he would sit down somewhere, I would scope out the things to see, and bring him back to them to avoid unnecessary walking on his part. Another side note about this temple - this was where Tomb Raider was filmed, which eventually led Angelina Jolie to adopt her first child from Cambodia.

One of Duncan's resting spots:

The last stop of the day was Angkor Thom, which was once a gated city. Here are the gates entering and exiting this former city:

Within Angkor Thom, we visited our last temple, Bayon with over 200 stone faces adorning its towers. We added one more:

Worst Bus Ride Ever - Introduction to Cambodia

It would have been hard to leave the relaxing and magical Don Det anyday, but especially when we had what was supposed to be a 13 hour multi-connection trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia ahead of us when Duncan woke up the night before with what would become his 7-day experience with dengue fever. After 22 hours, one boat ride, one mini-bus ride, 2 bus breakdowns, one 2 hour stopover in a dusty Cambodian town for 2 hours waiting for a new bus, being crammed with 80 fellow passengers on a sleeper bus (in the daytime) meant to hold 35 people with barely functioning AC, fear of death by bus accident, worry of being left on a Cambodian roadside at 3am (after the second bus breakdown), and one very sick travel companion, I would have done anything to be resting in a hammock with a happy shake or beer lao. Travel in foreign countries, especially by bus, is wrought with the unexpected but this trip definitely has taken the prize for worst bus ride ever for both of us....for now and hopefully forever.

We should have known it was going to be a long day when the bus that was going to take us to Cambodia never arrived after waiting 2 hours on a hot dusty roadside. Eventually a barely functioning sleeper bus (not our bus) pulled aside and agreed to let 60+ people load onto an already full bus. Apparently there are no safety regulations in this country.

After 4 hours (it should have taken less than one), we arrived at the Cambodian border.

The beautiful town of Stung Treng, Cambodia where we were stuck for 2 hours waiting for a new bus after our first bus (which was just a fill-in for the bus that never showed) finally broke down after several attempts at us passengers demanding a new bus (because we felt there was a strong possibility that we might die on that sleeper bus).

After our second bus rescued us (but was still not big enough to allow everyone to have a seat, so the aisles were filled with people), we continued on for 5 hours to Kampong Cham where the people heading to Siem Reap got off and boarded another bus, which was basically a very old school bus. The ride was uncomfortable but uneventful until around 2:30am when the bus broke down about 30 miles outside of Siem Reap in the middle of nowhere for about one hour while the bus driver & others attempted to fix it. As we had come to expect both after traveling in SE Asia for 6 weeks and after the nightmare day we had, no explanation of anything was given. At that point I resigned myself to the fact that we would probably spend the night on this bus in the middle of nowhere Cambodia. But surprisingly, at around 3:30am the bus started moving again and we finally made it to Siem Reap. And of course, one of the bus drivers assistants owned a guesthouse where the bus made it's final stop...but at that point I would have stayed anywhere. Welcome to Cambodia.

Si Phon Don - Been There, Don Det

or "Hammock Time, The Remix"

Si Phon Don is a chain of islands in the Mekong River at the southern most point in Laos.  Only a few are inhabited; they are about the chillest of spots as can be found on this great globe of ours.   Talk about lazy days - hanging in hammocks overlooking the river, under the shade of palm trees, with emerald green rice fields, speckled with slothful water buffalo and sundry other livestock.   It's so peaceful and authentic (i.e., living with locals without that normally palpable divide) that you immediately relax with restful smile across your face, a feeling that never leaves until you do.

We took a bus down to these islands, and by "bus," I mean this thing:

Seriously, this was Kate at the 'bus station' standing next to our 'bus.'  We would later cram 30 people on this thing, along with fowl, carburetors, random electronics, boxes of who knows what, and this monk.  The distribution channels over there are incredibly efficient.  You're never just on a bus or a tour, you also stop at a random, roadside shop or hut and pick up some chickens or drop off a stack of buckets at another. It wasn't too bad of a ride, and we were even offered these snacks at stops along the way (biggest regret of the trip was not sampling 3 inch grilled crickets):

But, then Kate got stung by a bee-like thing, and for those who don't know, she's allergic.  We tried to hold off panic as I read her Epipen instructions, and then I crawled up on top of the truck to fish some benedryl out of our bags, stepping on top of people and belongings (no one really called me out on it because they could tell something was wrong).  Luckily she did not have a bad reaction.  Crisis averted, and by crisis, I mean that would've been a serious fricken crisis (hopping off the bus/truck, paying someone to drive us hours back up north to the nearest town with a decent looking clinic - lord knows how far that would be - yikes).

So arriving safe and sound, we hit up two of these islands.  The first was Don Khong, which is the biggest but also the most sleepy. We stayed in a beautifully old wood guesthouse on a strip of dusty road overlooking the river.  All we did on this island was rent some scooters and cruise around the outside of the island, dipping into little towns and getting greeted by all the kids, who would shout "Sabaidee!!" (hello) waving their hands - we felt like celebrities.

This was the "gas station": (man, I'm using a lot of quotes in this one - it's just that kind of place)

Kate actually took a pretty good spill, skidding out in some fine dirt.  She bounced back well, but while we were at dinner on the river, the guy we rented from came up to us complaining that we ruined his bike (it was easy to find us since there were only 3 restaurants, and they're all right next to each other).  I rubbed the dirt off that he pointed out, but then he was going on about the alignment being off.  He wanted $15 bucks, but I was not buying that crapola because I mean part of our rental payment goes to maintenance and there are just too many scammers in SE Asia to go handing money to anyone who cries about his little scooter.  But not wanting to ruin this place for the next westerner, I gave him $6 and he seemed sincerely thankful - so I could return to my dinner.

After one night at this island we headed down to Don Det for 3 nights (part of that catchy title), where we stayed at a bungalow on the river with dual hammocks running us a cool $3.25 a night.  There's me and then the bungalow next to us is where our Chicago buddies stayed (we met up with them at 3 different spots in Laos and Cambodia).

We biked around, walked the path along the river:

Watched sunsets from the bridge:

Ate "happy pizza" and drank "happy shakes" in our hammocks (they put a little something in it that starts with "p" and rhymes with "hot"):

And cavorted with water buffalo, kinda... we cavorted, the buffaloes ate.

Oh, and of course the rice fields and our neighbors:

We were very sad to leave this chillaxing and move on to Cambodia, especially because that's when I got dengue fever.  Kate will take over the Cambodia blogging since I wasn't really participating in that part of the journey, just existing, really... barely.  Sunrise from our bungalow the morning we left:

One more pic because it was so awesome: