Cambodia: Week 1

At the moment, I'm sitting in a little cafe on Serendipity Street in Sihanoukville, drinking a fresh mango smoothie with old school Mariah Carey playing in the background. Life is good. The rain is pouring down outside (don't worry- it'll be hot and sunny in a minute or two) and the noise makes me wonder if this roof is made of tin? So loud! Eager tuktuk drivers sit in their vehicles, beckoning the business of tourists. They're not so much pushy here, as they are assertive. "Ok, miss? Tuktuk now?" Their unique approach makes me laugh to myself as I shake my head and decline the seven to ten offers I typically get when I leave the grounds of my hotel.With its dirt roads, bipolar weather and blend of both foreign and wealthy Cambodian tourists, Sihanoukville is a special place. Most of the guesthouses and cafes are located on Serendipity Street, which leads directly from the main traffic circle in town to Occheuteal Beach. I get the feeling that most of the establishments are not Cambodian owned, but the majority of staff members are Cambodian, so that's good; jobs aren't necessarily being taken from the locals.
Perhaps its due to Cambodia's newer status as a mandatory stop on the S.E. Asian backpacker route, but there's a different energy towards tourists here. People are anxious for your business, but not to the point where they will harass you (ahem, Vietnam). I neither feel like an outsider, nor like I have a dollar sign tattooed to my forehead. Its refreshing.

My first week in Cambodia was spent in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. My whirlwind trip through Phnom Penh included a nice riverside hotel with my new friend Aaron from NYC and visits to both The Killing Fields (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Fields) and S-21 Prison (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum). Visiting these places within my first few hours of arriving here was both overwhelming and heart-breaking, but it immediately put Cambodia's history into perspective for me and gave me a real sense of the tragedy that the Khmer people have only recently overcome.
My first night in Cambodia, we got home from a night of pizza & beer to find my FAVORITE movie playing on TV: Scream. Aaron had never seen it and it had been at least a few years since I sat down and watched the whole thing. In the morning, we woke up just in time to catch the second half of the final Celtics vs. The Kobe Show game. It was actually a very odd morning- not only to be in a hotel room (mostly hostel dorms for me), but to have a TV in my room, be able to watch a live NBA game and chit-chat through the entire thing with a fellow American, who I had only met 24 hrs earlier at a bar in Vietnam? In fact, I think we agreed to share a room in Phnom Penh before we even exchanged names. Strange things happen when you travel. And I love it.


From Phnom Penh, it was off to Siem Reap via conditioned bus (only $5!) through the Cambodian countryside. Aaron and I were lucky enough to get the front row passenger side seats, which gave us a great view of the scenery from the huge bus windshield. On our first day in Siem Reap, we wandered around the town and walked along the river to the Palace. Figuring that it would be smart to visit the museum before seeing the temples, we stopped by the newly constructed Angkor Wat National Museum; wait a minute- its $12 to get in?! And its only $20 to visit the actual Angkor Wat temple? What's going on here? We (obviously) didn't go in, but I hope they lower the price of the ticket soon! In Cambodia, $12 is a large sum of money. Outrageous.

That evening, we hired a tuktuk driver to take us to Angkor Wat for a few hours. A little birdy told us that if you head to the temples after 4:30pm, they don't check your tickets at the gate. Since we were planning on spending the early morning and afternoon at the temples the following day, our first visit was just in time for sunset and I was honestly blown away by the majestic beauty of Angkor Wat. In fact, I actually caught myself saying "unreal" so many times that I had to make a mental note to knock it off. There is so much beauty and so many details to take in -it is mind-boggling to think that the entire thing was built back in the 12th century!

Angkor Wat temple is only one of many, many temples on the grounds, but we decided to focus on just the one site for that afternoon. After spending about two hours getting lost in the hallways, stairwells and rooms of Angkor Wat, we sat on the wall of the entrance gate and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. And thats saying a lot because both the Baltic Sea and Karon Beach provided some stiff competition.

At one point, we turned around and noticed there was even a rainbow over Angkor Wat behind us. When I set off on this journey, I knew that I would be visiting many famous and beautiful places, but that afternoon at Angkor Wat was on another level. The Taj Mahal was breathtaking and Halong Bay was stunning, but Angkor Wat was, simply put, "unreal".

Adventures in Vietnam (co-starring Mom & Dad)

Ok, I'll say it. I didn't love Vietnam. I really LIKED Vietnam and I had a fun, interesting and eventful two weeks with Mom and Dad during their visit at the end of May. The food was great, the beer was cheap and each city had its own lovable quality. But overall, I never felt fully comfortable in Vietnam. With people constantly walking up to you on the street, offering motorbikes, books, rooms, sunglasses, taxis & spa offers, etc. it was hard to ever relax. There were far too many times where myself or the group I was with somehow got ripped off or scammed. The air quality was pretty bad in the main cities and overall, most cities had litter all over the streets. I didn't write any blog posts while I was there, due to lack of inspiration. I realize that tourism is somewhat new to Vietnam (compared to places like Thailand) but their effort to accommodate as many as possible, as soon as possible results in a lack of compassion & pride for showing off their country. Every restaurant sells bikes/ books tours/ has a guesthouse above it oh- and the owner has a brother who can drive you to the airport for $5. Its just too much.

I was in Vietnam for three & half weeks and spent the first chunk of my trip with my parents! We agreed to meet at our fancypants riverside hotel and ironically, when Mom and Dad pulled up in their taxi, I was standing outside of the hotel, arguing over the cost of my taxi from my hostel to the new hotel. Ahem. M&D spent their first day touring the sites while I worked on my tan at the pool. I had already seen most of the attractions during my first two days in Ho Chi Minh with two friends from Paly High that I ran into at the Bangkok Airport. Small world!
While in Ho Chi Minh, we did a Mekong Delta Tour (eh), visited a few night markets, had some fantastic meals & enjoyed the roof top pool at our hotel. After two days, Mom and Dad flew to Nha Trang and I took the five hour bus to Mui Ne & hung out on the beach for two days before taking a NINETEEN HOUR bus ride up to Hoi An. I will never again, as long as I live, EVER save $40 by sitting on a bus for nineteen hours, haha. Lesson learned: my time and my back alignment are very valuable to me.

We had a lovely time in Hoi An- stayed at the wonderful Long Life Hotel, which we highly recommend! (http://longlifehotels.com/main.php) The majority of our free time was spent in tailor shops, having suits and shoes and shirts and dresses made. If you know me, you know that I am a complete bargain-shop-a-holic, so I was in absolute heaven: spending less than $100 a pair of leather boots, 100% designed by me. Which leather do you want? Which heel do you like? We have a few zipper choices for you. How tall do you want them to be? Fabric swatches, sketches of dresses and measuring tape. I had a blast and each of my purchases turned out really well! Cafe 43 was a gastro highlight of Hoi An & I really enjoyed renting bikes one day and checking out Cua Dai Beach.

From there, we all flew to Hanoi, where we immediately headed to Halong Bay. Mom and Dad treated me to a snazzy cruise package with a visit to the caves, kayaking (where Mom and I came in second place during a race back to the dock), wine happy hour, and three fancy meals per day in the dining room of the boat. This was definitely the highlight of my trip to Vietnam: Halong Bay was gorgeous and majestic- see it for yourself as soon as you can!


After Halong Bay, we had one more night in Hanoi before Mom and Dad headed home. One last delicious and fancy dinner (at the swanky Highway 4 restaurant) , then a Vietnamese Water Puppet show, followed by coffee and dessert on a balcony, overlooking the bustling streets of Hanoi. After a teary and bittersweet goodbye, it was back to hostel-living and extreme budget travel for me!

Before heading down to Ho Chi Minh to catch the bus to Cambodia, I decided to travel up to the northeastern mountains of Vietnam in Lao Cai to visit the hill tribes of Vietnam. Originally settled by the French in the late 1800's, Sapa is only a few miles from the Chinese border and therefore, has an interesting blend of influence from both cultures. In Sapa, the air is cooler & cleaner, the locals are dressed in traditional Hmong costumes and the views are spectacular. My tour (which can be arranged by any of the tour shops/restaurants/internet cafes in Hanoi) consisted of a 10km hike the first day, overnight with Hmong family in a home stay, 6km trek on day two, one night in a hotel in Sapa Town and a 3km hike to a waterfall on day three. Overall, I would recommend a visit to Sapa but suggest doing two nights in a hotel, since most of the "home" stays are actually only buildings put up within the last three years, to accommodate tourists. Usually one or two Vietnamese girls take care of the cooking and cleaning; I had a great experience and the food was spectacular, but I felt misled by the term "home"stay. Oh well.

Above: child carrying child in Sapa.
Below: view of the valley in Sapa.

Upon returning from Sapa, I spent three more days checking out Hanoi and then flew down to Saigon, where I spent another two days hanging out with new hostel friends and taking in all of the sights. From Saigon, I took a 6 hour bus across the border to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Due to bad planning, I unintentionally managed to visit the Vietnam War Remnants Museum, The Killing Fields and S-21 within 48 hours: arguably three of the most heartbreaking cultural sights in Asia, if not the world. Each site was powerfully moving and disturbing but left me with a new appreciation for the astounding resilience of these countries.


Above: Memorial at The Killing Fields, outside of Phnom Penh.
Below: S-21 prison, where 20,000 Cambodians were jailed & then killed during the Khmer Rouge Regime of the late 1970's.