Hey Blog! This one's gonna be picture heavy... so strap in.
I left for Cambodia early Sunday morning (June 9th), and arrived in Siem Reap that night after an airport layover in Phnom Penh. I went with three of my friends and we stayed in a hotel/hostel in Siem Reap. We ate at only Cambodian restaurants for every meal! So, the first night we had a big dinner at 10 pm, and then headed to bed after. The next morning was our temple day, so we had to be up at 3:30 to get out in time for a sunrise at Angkor Wat! Sadly the sunrise was kind of a bust because it was cloudy most of the day, but the early wake up was worth it to escape the brutal heat that came later in the morning. Angkor Wat was incredible! We had a guide talk us through the different parts which was definitely worth it because its easy to miss important things on your own, and I personally am not the best at history so it was good to learn along the way. : ) Angkor Wat was originally made in the 12th century, and was a dedicated Hindu temple, but then became a Buddhist temple in the late 12th century. It was rediscovered not too long ago and they have been trying to restore it to the best shape it can be, as it is considered the largest religious monument in the world. The King and royal family would live there, but the bottom floors were open to the public where people could pray and practice their religious beliefs. We got to explore all three floors and see incredible intricate carvings in the sandstone and lava rock, which all told stories. They were huge murals which was insane and everything was mostly free range, so you could walk anywhere. They had four huge empty pool spots on the bottom floor which represented the four elements in the Hindu religion, and people would bathe in them in the past.
Inside the temple
Outside view
Second floor view
After Angkor Wat, we explored the area of Angkor Thom (“Great City”) which is composed of multiple temples. We ended up going to four of them and all of them were super impressive, but of course none of them were as big as Angkor Wat. That night we also did a sunset hike to the top of another temple, where we sat for a couple hours and took in the kinda disappointing sunset (it was so cloudy).
A part of Angkor Thom
Cool shot of a tree taking over the temple (saw this sort of thing in a lot of areas)
Post sunset... but there's a little sun in the back!!
On the next day we went to a floating village off of Tonle Sap Lake. We had to ride over an hour in a tuk tuk to get there, and again, we were the only tourists we saw. We visited at a time where no tourists really come, predominantly because the floating village didn't really exist. It was during a VERY dry season there, so all of the houses were a few floors off the ground, and our boat ride was in super low water- basically mud. But, it didn’t matter because we got to see all of the cool spots without water and see all of the houses in full. When its wet season, cars and motorbikes have to be taken away or locked up completely because the water covers everything (which is really impressive because it is a DRASTIC amount of water that needs to come in order for that to happen). This was one of my favorite days!! We got boated to the middle of lake where we had lunch and then we went back to land and walked around. We were in a school area so it was fun to see all of the kids playing and hanging out outside. Some of them came up to us and had a lot of questions. I’ve met a lot of curious kids in Southeast Asia :) After our trip there, we went to the Khmer Rouge memorial/museum which was really informative and a worthwhile stop. The rest of the day wasn’t too exciting, just hanging out and dinner.
The houses in dry season (so charming)
The colorful view from the water
In the boat on the river!!
In the local town (by the school)
A few things that stand out to me in Cambodia are how clean most of it was, their Cambodian cows (zebu), the crocodile that we ate for lunch (and the snake that my friend attempted to eat), their incredible “amok” (coconut fish curry), and the fact that they have USD as a currency there. It was so weird spending the few American dollars that I ended up having in my wallet.
Alright, now moving onto my trip from Cambodia to Vietnam…
This is a PSA for Americans wanting to travel to Vietnam: You NEED to do the Visa process early. I did it about two weeks before leaving (you can typically get it back in a couple of days), and I got the visa back, but needed to add my middle name to the form. So, in the midst of finals week I amended it and sent it back, but it was apparently too late because I got denied to enter my flight to Vietnam on the 11th. It's crazy, but there is absolutely no Visa on arrival option for Americans (there is for other countries) so I was pretty screwed. I ended up having to pay $105 USD to get it expedited to the next day, had to travel an hour back to Siem Reap, find a place to stay for the night, and book a new flight for the next night (June 12th) and wave goodbye to my friends who got on my original flight. The process was kind of a mess but I was grateful for the Vietnam Airlines worker who helped me and my friend as much as he could, even though the Visa service is really strict. This was super frustrating but I wanted to include it so you can learn from me and not make my mistakes! I did it early but there is no budging, even if its about a middle name, so just make sure you check all the visa requirements carefully wherever you go. :) We can laugh about it now it’s ok.
So, now, Vietnam!! I arrived on a Wednesday night and only had until Saturday morning- so it was a quick trip too. But, given that I only had a couple days we made the most of it. On Thursday we went to a super famous area called Ha Long Bay. Genuinely made the whole stress of the trip worth it and I'd recommend visiting here to anyone traveling to Vietnam. We booked a tour to make sure we didn’t miss any key areas, so we got picked up from our hostel around 8:30 AM. It was about a 3 hour drive to the boat, and once we got there they served us a big Vietnamese lunch and we began the trip into the bay. The views were stunning and there’s few things like it (except a few areas in Thailand maybe). Each mini island was so green and stood out against the water. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather so I spent a lot of time taking everything in on the roof of the boat by myself :).
Ha Long Bay
Our first stop included a 500 step steep hike up one of the islands to get the best view!! After, we swam for a little bit and then got back on the boat to hit the next stop: kayaking!!! We got to choose between doing a group bamboo boat where someone else rowed us, or doing a 2 person kayak where we row. So, I picked the kayak with my friend Emily. We got to adventure around, kayak under a cave, and see the islands up close. After that, we went to our last stop which was a huge cave called Hang Súng Sôt. This cave had three huge areas to walk through and it was right on the outside of an island-super impressive. It was a good change of temperature from the 90 degree day we had on the water. After the cave, we headed back to the mainland and got on our bus back to Hanoi. We didn’t get home until really late, so we basically ate dinner and then went to sleep. Also, I didn’t have enough time to do this on my trip, but my friends went to a clothes tailor in Vietnam because that’s apparently a big thing there! Each of them got around 5 pieces of clothes custom made (they just showed some pictures from online, picked out fabric colors, and got sized)! This is a cool thing to do if you ever visit Vietnam!
Our little kayak
On our tour boat
The next day was another long one. We took a day trip from Hanoi to Nihn Bihn. After the long bus ride, we began the day with a pretty steep hike up a mountain called Nui Ngoa Long (I’m missing some accents on that) which means “the lying dragon mountain”. We were completely out of breath by the time we got to the top, but the views were incredible!! There was a huge stone dragon at the very top and it went across a huge portion of rock, so there were at least 20 people trying to climb around it (which was pretty dangerous and we gave up trying to get a picture up there).
Almost at the top of the the mountain!
Flag views
After that adventure, we got lunch, visited a temple, and then headed to the “Be River”. We hopped in a two person kayak again (with another person rowing us) and stayed on the river for close to two hours. The Vietnamese locals who rowed us used their feet to maneuver the oars THE WHOLE TIME. It was kind of mesmerizing especially given that most of them had to be over 60. I asked the lady who rowed us if her feet hurt and she said yes, ): they do the same trip about four times a day.
Hopefully you can see her rowing with her feet
After the boats, we headed back to the city. Once we got to the city, we did one more stop at the clothes tailor, and then got dinner all together. We ate a lot of pho and bánh mì (local sandwich), and also tried different beef stews and fresh rolls. We also went to the Hanoi night market, and night markets always have a fun vibe. I bought something cool for someone but I can’t share it yet... next blog! :)
Sadly, Saturday morning was my last day in Vietnam. I got to see Train Street (I timed it so I got to watch a train go by), the temple of literature, and a lake in Old Quarter before my flight back to Singapore. I got to all of these places by motorbike (the common app in Southeast Asia is called “Grab” instead of Uber, so you can book motorbike rides there and it’s SO fun).
Where I sat on Train Street (drank a delicious black Vietnamese coffee while waiting)
Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to see so many things, but I don’t regret going to Vietnam at all. I’ll be honest, after all of the visa stress, missing my original flight there with my friends, and being stranded in Cambodia for another night, I was feeling a little done with travel and I was wishing that my flight back to the US was a few days earlier. BUT it was a character development moment and these things happen (**last year in my Germany semester I accidentally went on the wrong train which took me to Italy instead of back to Germany, and I lost all of my luggage). Soooo moral of the story is that everything ends up fine and it all makes for a good story later. ;)
Now that I’ve covered the last two countries that I visited, it means that the blog adventures are coming to an end. I plan to post about Singapore and my trip home (in the next couple of days) and an overall semester reflection post after that. So only 2 posts left!!!
Also a P.S.
One thing that I want to remember about this semester are the bugs of Southeast Asia (for the sake of documenting the good AND the bad). We’re spoiled in Singapore because they keep up with spraying and keeping mosquito levels down, but anytime I travel I’m reminded that I will never win the fight against mosquitos. My friends and family now know that I can EASILY get 30+ bites in a day if I’m not completely covered, and I apparently experienced that last weekend when I was in Malaysia on the island. I’ve been fighting for my life against all the bites and had to get a steroid cream, but I’m still getting bit even with bug spray. At this point my legs are covered in bites and its been driving me a little bit crazy. So, that part is making me miss home a little...
Ok that's it- I appreciate you for following along on this ride!!
With love,
Brigitte <3
Comments