Continuation of Hoi An...
$3 bike tour seeing lotus flower, rice, corn, herb, veggie, and shrimp farming. Some of our group rode water buffalo! Spent afternoon at beach enjoying $1 Larue beer and a $3 squid and chips lunch. Swam in the refreshing South China Sea (Vietnamese call it the East Sea)...this has been one of my favorite days. Love the beach! That night some of our group played Vietnamese bingo on the streets and our whole group did a cooking class. Made squid stir fry, spring rolls, sweet and sour wontons, and banana leaf fish. Ate our meal on the rooftop over the river-enjoying all of the amazing flavors and our hard work.
Following day was one of the highlights of my trip. Julia and I went abseiling (repelling) on Marble Mountain. Went down 2 caves and a rock wall-the final cave was 55 meters down! It was scarier then I thought it would be, but absolutely loved it!-and we rocked it! We dropped down into a temple w/ Budda glowing and bats chirping with smells of incense-such a cool unique experience. The mountain was beautiful, too. Steps worn down where you cool see the pink and white marble, monks chanting, many caves, temples, pagodas, and lookouts to explore. Flowers and butterflies everywhere. I even passed by a probably 2 ft. snake as I hiked up to a lookout point; heard it slithering and flopping down the marble steps before I realized what it was. Just glad I didn't step on the little fella! Views of the ocean and Hoi An from the top were just gorgeous!
Afterwards I rented a bike again for $1 and met Julia at the beach (she ran!) and relaxed for a bit. That night had sunset boat ride with the gang in little wooden boats paddled by sweet elderly Vietnamese ladies selling lanterns you could light and float down the river. Others were selling peanuts, coconut and dried sugar-coated bananas. Ate at a nicer restaurant called "Streets". Started by an American to keep kids off of the streets. They can work and train there for 18 months, then most are able to get jobs at 5 star restaurants and hotels. I had the local dish, Cao Lau (sp?), which is pork, fresh herbs over noodles and broth. We enjoyed Sangria and wine. Went to a garden patio with Norma, John, Orf, Sally and Elke and had fruity drinks under the stars and watched the moon pop up over us. It was a fine evening.
Headed to Ho Chi Minh City next day-1 hr. flight. City of 7 million. Much more cosmopolitan than Hanoi; it seemed more flashy and progressive. We had happy hour next door to our hotel which was the local beer house. Draft beer served on block ice or a bottle of the local Saigon beer-we chose the latter in fear of the probably bucket made ice;). Great fun with our group and also watching the locals interact. Grace sat with two older Vietnamese men chatting and one asked to be pen pals so he could practice his English. Snacks included rice type cakes, peanuts, quail eggs sold by ladies walking around with baskets overflowing with goodies. Dinner was at a cook-it-yourself nice BBQ joint-had diff. types of beef marinated in honey, lime, chillies, spices-yum! Jazz club afterward which was awesome! Ru Rung is one of the top two saxophonists in town and was fabulous! Played several diff. instruments including native flutes used in the past for courting rituals to playing two saxophone type instruments at once. It was such a fun night. We all danced and really enjoyed the covers (Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Elvis, jazzy rendition of The Sound of Music, Moon River) and their original music. Made our own dance video (Matt's brilliant idea) on the walk home in front of the government house with the statue of Ho Chi Minh looking on.
First full day in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC, or the south still calls it Saigon City) was a range of emotions. We had an excellent local guide for the Cu Chi Tunnels. Hai (pronounced "hi") was the cutest little Vietnamese man, 66 yrs. old, and fought for the south and was an interpreter for the Americans during the Vietnamese War. He joked about how liked working with the Americans because they had better food (hamburgers and coke compared to tapioca) and they were all much bigger than him, so he felt he could hide behind them to be protected;). He was very open about his experience with the war and told many stories, shared many experiences and smiles. When asked if he felt any current anger or bitterness he replied "no-what good would that do now in my life". He was such a positive man with a sweet soul and stated he was very happy with his life in Vietnam. The north Vietnamese communists (named Viet Cong by the south Vietnamese and Americans) set boobie traps and hid in these tunnels just outside of Saigon during the war. We saw recreations of the traps and crawled through part of a tunnel which was surreal. Couldn't believe I was standing on ground and walking through wooded jungle-type terrain that was once a battle ground. There was a shooting range on the grounds, as well, if people wanted to shoot, so hearing gunshots in the distance made this experience especially chilling. Watched a video (war propaganda of course) that explained on these grounds that the villagers (who Hai explained a lot of the rural people were for the Viet Cong) made these traps and tunnels for protection "from the Americans". Went to the War Museum later that day, too, which was a bit upsetting. Here the war is called the American war and looking at all the exhibits and propaganda, the southern fighters were never referred to as such, always just said "the Americans". Main take home point though to me was it was war, and war has terrible consequences. Very hard to see it from this closer look, esp. from the other side. A whole wing was about the agent orange, as well. Heartbreaking to say the least. I had been so pleased and thankful to have had our time with Hai; and then the museum only amplified those unsettling feelings about war overall and I had such sadness for all of those affected...definitely has made my heart heavier since.
$3 bike tour seeing lotus flower, rice, corn, herb, veggie, and shrimp farming. Some of our group rode water buffalo! Spent afternoon at beach enjoying $1 Larue beer and a $3 squid and chips lunch. Swam in the refreshing South China Sea (Vietnamese call it the East Sea)...this has been one of my favorite days. Love the beach! That night some of our group played Vietnamese bingo on the streets and our whole group did a cooking class. Made squid stir fry, spring rolls, sweet and sour wontons, and banana leaf fish. Ate our meal on the rooftop over the river-enjoying all of the amazing flavors and our hard work.
Following day was one of the highlights of my trip. Julia and I went abseiling (repelling) on Marble Mountain. Went down 2 caves and a rock wall-the final cave was 55 meters down! It was scarier then I thought it would be, but absolutely loved it!-and we rocked it! We dropped down into a temple w/ Budda glowing and bats chirping with smells of incense-such a cool unique experience. The mountain was beautiful, too. Steps worn down where you cool see the pink and white marble, monks chanting, many caves, temples, pagodas, and lookouts to explore. Flowers and butterflies everywhere. I even passed by a probably 2 ft. snake as I hiked up to a lookout point; heard it slithering and flopping down the marble steps before I realized what it was. Just glad I didn't step on the little fella! Views of the ocean and Hoi An from the top were just gorgeous!
Afterwards I rented a bike again for $1 and met Julia at the beach (she ran!) and relaxed for a bit. That night had sunset boat ride with the gang in little wooden boats paddled by sweet elderly Vietnamese ladies selling lanterns you could light and float down the river. Others were selling peanuts, coconut and dried sugar-coated bananas. Ate at a nicer restaurant called "Streets". Started by an American to keep kids off of the streets. They can work and train there for 18 months, then most are able to get jobs at 5 star restaurants and hotels. I had the local dish, Cao Lau (sp?), which is pork, fresh herbs over noodles and broth. We enjoyed Sangria and wine. Went to a garden patio with Norma, John, Orf, Sally and Elke and had fruity drinks under the stars and watched the moon pop up over us. It was a fine evening.
Headed to Ho Chi Minh City next day-1 hr. flight. City of 7 million. Much more cosmopolitan than Hanoi; it seemed more flashy and progressive. We had happy hour next door to our hotel which was the local beer house. Draft beer served on block ice or a bottle of the local Saigon beer-we chose the latter in fear of the probably bucket made ice;). Great fun with our group and also watching the locals interact. Grace sat with two older Vietnamese men chatting and one asked to be pen pals so he could practice his English. Snacks included rice type cakes, peanuts, quail eggs sold by ladies walking around with baskets overflowing with goodies. Dinner was at a cook-it-yourself nice BBQ joint-had diff. types of beef marinated in honey, lime, chillies, spices-yum! Jazz club afterward which was awesome! Ru Rung is one of the top two saxophonists in town and was fabulous! Played several diff. instruments including native flutes used in the past for courting rituals to playing two saxophone type instruments at once. It was such a fun night. We all danced and really enjoyed the covers (Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Elvis, jazzy rendition of The Sound of Music, Moon River) and their original music. Made our own dance video (Matt's brilliant idea) on the walk home in front of the government house with the statue of Ho Chi Minh looking on.
First full day in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC, or the south still calls it Saigon City) was a range of emotions. We had an excellent local guide for the Cu Chi Tunnels. Hai (pronounced "hi") was the cutest little Vietnamese man, 66 yrs. old, and fought for the south and was an interpreter for the Americans during the Vietnamese War. He joked about how liked working with the Americans because they had better food (hamburgers and coke compared to tapioca) and they were all much bigger than him, so he felt he could hide behind them to be protected;). He was very open about his experience with the war and told many stories, shared many experiences and smiles. When asked if he felt any current anger or bitterness he replied "no-what good would that do now in my life". He was such a positive man with a sweet soul and stated he was very happy with his life in Vietnam. The north Vietnamese communists (named Viet Cong by the south Vietnamese and Americans) set boobie traps and hid in these tunnels just outside of Saigon during the war. We saw recreations of the traps and crawled through part of a tunnel which was surreal. Couldn't believe I was standing on ground and walking through wooded jungle-type terrain that was once a battle ground. There was a shooting range on the grounds, as well, if people wanted to shoot, so hearing gunshots in the distance made this experience especially chilling. Watched a video (war propaganda of course) that explained on these grounds that the villagers (who Hai explained a lot of the rural people were for the Viet Cong) made these traps and tunnels for protection "from the Americans". Went to the War Museum later that day, too, which was a bit upsetting. Here the war is called the American war and looking at all the exhibits and propaganda, the southern fighters were never referred to as such, always just said "the Americans". Main take home point though to me was it was war, and war has terrible consequences. Very hard to see it from this closer look, esp. from the other side. A whole wing was about the agent orange, as well. Heartbreaking to say the least. I had been so pleased and thankful to have had our time with Hai; and then the museum only amplified those unsettling feelings about war overall and I had such sadness for all of those affected...definitely has made my heart heavier since.
As Hai told us about capture of the Viet Cong and how they would ask about where the traps and other tunnels were, we asked if they were shot if not sharing information. He said no, they would be taken by the South to prisons, and a lot of times he would interpret to the Americans that the captured solider was hungry, and the Americans would give them chocolate. Who knows if he was just telling us nicer stories, but it was good to hear about simple acts of humanity and kindness.
Later that day enjoyed Pho street-side with Norma, John, Grace and Elke-then walked the city back to hotel after the War Remnants museum-stopping at the Reunification Palace, beautiful post office (had old phone booths inside and was grand like an old train station) and Notre Dame Catholic Church on the way. (Vietnam has Catholics along with Buddhism-the Vietnamese Buddha is the "happy Buddha"-big fat belly and smiling face, but still the long ears like the Thai and Laos Buddhas representing longevity).
That night was our last one with Sally and Elke :(, and we met Jackie and Carrie who would be joining us for the Cambodia and last leg of our trip. They are both RNs, around our age, from Canada. Lots of medical professionals on this tour! I ate Elephant fish (whole fish fried and brought to your table upright perched up on 2 little stands like it's still swimming happily along in the river) and all the fixin's to make spring rolls with it-yum! Bought a belt at the Ben Than Market (complete with staples and tape) as you sweat so much your pants fall off ya!-then home to bed.
March 2nd: Let's hit the Mekong Delta! Bus to boat to smaller boats to Unicorn Island to mainland to view of Turtle Island to people holding pythons, large shrimp, learning about fruit and coco trees, enjoying green tea and colorful fruit in the jungle with beautiful local music, instruments, singing performance to more boat rides, coconut candy and rice paper eating, snake-scorpion rice wine drinking to amazing lunch including Elephant fish spring roll and sticky rice puffed up like a balloon to more boats through the canals, under canopies of water coconut trees to drinking fresh coconut water out of what else but a coconut to falling asleep on the bus ride home-whew!!! Very cool and busy day! Finished it off with large beers at the local LARGE German beer hall (hilarious) next to the gay bar-good times!
March 3rd: Goodbye Vietnam. Approx 5 hr. bus ride to Phnom Penh via public bus. Not bad at all, although the Cambodians are quiet people, the Vietnamese are not;), and it took some serious strength to keep from bonking my head while using the bus bathroom. Other than that only took about 30 min. for the border crossing, etc. and enjoyed the Phnom Pehn Central Market upon arrival with Julia and Grace. Ate fried puffy sticky rice thingies while taking to a Cambodian with good English. He told us the Cambodian name for the tuc-tucs (although they still call them that here as that's what the tourists know them as) and local foods to try. He studied English as a monk in Siem Reap and was in Phnom Penh doing some research to extend his studies in economics and agricultural business I believe. He had just graduated university. Sweet guy. He was missing an arm. You see quite a few people here with missing limbs which I think many may be from the still present cluster bombs that we learned more about in Laos. Such a scary reality for them. Also had a sandwich made by a little lady on the street for less than 50 cents (here they use the Riel and the American dollar for their currency). Was the Dong in Vietnam, Kip in Laos, and Baht in Thailand-as Julia says "That Dong Kipped my Baht for Riel"-ha ha!;)
Cyclo ride that night through the city to see some sites-riverfront, Wat Phnom and Independence Monument (to commemorate their independence from France in 1953). Sun was setting and this city was alive! I was surprised by Phnom Phenh's size and development. May have enjoyed it even more than Bangkok, although our time was so short here. Bob switched with his cyclo driver which was hilarious. They zoomed by me and I realized he was driving! He lost his flip flops in the process!
Another very special home visit dinner that night just outside the city. Rode in tuc tucs basically on a highway-crazy! but at this point we're almost oblivious to it as this is just how you travel here!
(That or a family of 4 on a motorbike or by Lexus-LOTS of Lexus here-Matt says people here are either pretty well off or fairly poor). The family we visited seemed to be doing pretty well. All in the immediate family were very educated. Father works as a tour guide and pays a teacher to come in in the evenings to teach the kids English as they also want to be tour guides. We spent a lot of time speaking with the 18 yr. old girl. She was so sweet and a beautiful girl (I find the Cambodians to be very pretty people). She has been accepted to a yr. of the tourism program and will go to university thereafter. We sat on mats on the floor (same room where many of them sleep at night-30 live in the home!) and enjoyed chicken curry, beef kabobs, pork noodles, sautéed vegetables and fried spring rolls. Tarantula rice whiskey (can see the spiders in the bottom of the bottle!) was offered thereafter while we played outside with the kids, but I have yet to partake in drinking things with critters in the bottom! We've also seen a lot of cooked/spiced insects for sale to eat-Jackie and Carrie ate some. Just left a rest-stop also offering fried tarantulas (or you could have live ones crawl on you-I also deferred this;) and frogs. Anyway, after leaving the home visit a few of us checked out a local bar with lots of people watching. Phnom Penh is the capital city of 4 million and definitely a bustling place.
March 4th: Toul Sieng Prison and Choeung Ek Killing Fields
This was yest. and absolutely horrifying, depressing and chilling. Caution if you decide to read on as it is disturbing, but with this being my journal, I want to document some of what I saw and learned.
Saw the Security Prison (S-21) of the Pol Pot Era (as the locals call it), also called the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979...Cambodians will quote the exact 3 yrs, 8 months and twenty some days of terror): a high school turned into hell when Pol Pot and his people forced the people out of Phnom Penh and to the countryside to man rice fields. He had some sort of crazy idea of a land with peasant life and those who refused, were too educated, etc were killed/put in this school now turned prison/tortured. No one can understand just what this person and those involved was trying to accomplish with such evil and cruelty to our fellow man. Many times during our visit I wanted to just break down and cry. We saw class rooms turned torture chambers (pics and blood on ceiling too much to bear), the old cells with small metal boxes that was meant for the prisoners' waste), art by prior prisoners depicting some of what they went through and rooms full of haunting prison photos of these people's faces. Could see the despair in their eyes-so chilling and so sad. At the end of the Pot Pol Era, only 7 prisoners were living, saved by their contributing skills of painting and photography. One was there on the grounds selling his book and allowing photos. Our guide (age 16 at the time) escaped death as his family agreed to work in the rice fields, although one day they took his father and said they were taking him to do some learning/class work...he never returned. He and his family were not allowed to show emotion, no one was allowed to cry, etc, again, so hard to wrap your mind around all of this...and so depressing that they were virtually helpless until the Vietnamese liberated Phnom Penh on April 17th, 1979. Our guide said no one would believe those that escaped on what was really happening in their small country. We all have our own ideas and as someone so fortunate to have been born where I was, I can't help but feel so uneasy about the fact that there wasn't significant help extended...and obviously this is not the only place where such tragedies have occurred. There needs to be continued and even more awareness of the world around us and we need to be thankful for our rights and safety-but at the same time of being thankful, my mind can't understand why or how these things happen, esp within such a recent time, so my heart breaks for all of those affected.
The killing fields was where the 17,000 people from the prison where brought to be put in large graves, usually bludgeoned to death to save money on bullets. Hundreds of graves were found at this particular site, some with 100 + bodies including women and babies. No one was spared. We walked through the Memorial Stupa (contained 17 glassed shelves with over 8000 skulls excavated from the land-17 to represent the 17th of April when the Cambodians were liberated) offering flowers and incense for those many many lives lost...a very heart-wrenching day.
Went to the Russian Market afterward for a local lunch of stir fry noodles with beef, veggies and a fried egg for a little over $1 and had a delicious needed (it was H-O-T hot in the middle of those little aisles and food stalls as we were deep in!) iced coffee and did some shopping. Saw Royal Palace afterward with Grace, Jackie and Carrie. Colorful buildings with the beautiful Cambodian style roofing, peered in open air windows to get a glimpse of the King's chair surrounded by chandeliers, lavish tile floor and rugs and intricate wall and ceiling murals. Next saw the Silver Pagoda (has 5000 silver 1 kg each silver roof tiles), also called the Wat Preah Keo meaning "pagoda of the Emerald Buddha", as inside there was a huge beautiful 17th century green Buddha made from Baccarat crystal. Down below and just in front of this was a life-sized gold Buddha covered in over 9,000 diamonds. The room was filled with Buddhas given to the king by royalty and common people, and admired diamond and emerald encrusted cigarette boxes, gold head pieces and other lavishes of royalty.
Last night Matthew took us to a great local restaurant with a smaller breed of cow on a spic inside! They would carve the meat and throw it on the grill. Also had pitchers of Angkor beer, french fries, seafood noodles, fried rice, fried corn and sautéed veggies. I'm definitely not losing any weight on this trip! Fun tuc tuc ride home and to bed.
This am had approx. 6 hr. bus ride and just arrived to Siem Reap. These rides haven't been bad at all as love watching the countryside and have now caught up on my journaling;). We stopped at the largest lake in SE Asia, Tonle Sap Lake, for lunch. Gonna relax by the pool perhaps before din. Great to have some downtime, but it's 3 am at home, so can't catch up with anyone and Internet not working in the room again! Oh Asia! Head to Angkor Wat and the other temples tomorrow for sunrise. Can't wait to see this-another site I've pictured for quite some time when thinking about this trip. Signing out--SNK
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