Vietnam
Sept 5th: the "quick naps" I was talking about in my last post lasted 6 hours (gotta love jetlag), we woke up, wandered around our area a bit, had supper in this local restaurant chain called Subway haha then went back to our hotel and fell asleep again!
Sept 6th: this was the day we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, they were really interesting! The tunnels were used by the Cu Chi people and the Vietcong during the Vietnam War to fight against the Americans. Our tour guide, Mr. Dong, actually fought if or the Vietcong when he was 21 and used the tunnels himself so he was very informative and passionate about everything he was telling us about!
There was a section of the tunnels that we could go through if we wanted to get a sense of what it was like to live and fight down there. It was 1m x 60cm at the widest part and the section we were allowed in was 150m long with exits every 20m. Lauren and Chris bailed after the first 20m but I went to the end and at one point near the end I had to remove my daypack and throw it ahead of me down the tunnel so I could try and squeeze through the narrow section of the tunnel! I was absolutely dripping in sweat when I exited the tunnel!
After the tunnels we went to the War Remnants Museum and it was very intense. I teared up a couple times as I was reading the stories and looking at pictures of the horror that he Vietnamese people went through during the war, especially those affected by Agent Orange.
Cambodia
Sept 7th: we woke up early this day and took a bus across the border to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh! The bus was about 7-8 hours. We met some fun Australians on the bus and it was next to empty so we each got our own row to stretch out on. The driver put on some kind of Bollywood movie that I assumed was in Khmer, the national language of Cambodia, I couldn't understand a word they were saying out I was very into the movie, it was a romantic, action movie and they would occasionally break out in random Bollywood dances, very entertaining hahah
We stayed in our first guesthouse in PP called Eighty8 Guesthouse. It was really, really nice, I would recommend it to anyone! It was vey clean, there was a restaurant/bar on site with delicious local and western food, a poo lwith a volleyball net, pool table, lounge area, and the staff was very friendly and helpful! There were also always tuk tuk drivers (tuk tuks are like motorized rickshaws) waiting outside to drive you places. We went to a local restaurant that night and I had frogs legs for the first time! They were surprisingly delicious!
We stayed in an 8 bed dorm room at Eighty8 and met some pretty cool people. While we here we met solo travellers Simon (from Bristol, England), Danny (from Australia even though is accent sounded extremely British) and Lottie (from the UK), we also met Phil and Alex (friends from the States) and Cinnamon and Dallas (a couple from Vancouver -- and yes, Cinnamon is her birth name!).
Sept 8th: this was the day we explored Phnom Penh. We got a tuk tuk for the day ($15!) and started by going to the Genocide Museum which was about Pol Pots' Regime and the Khmer Rouge. During that time a third of Cambodia's population was needlessly and viciously slaughtered. The museum was a high school which was converted by the Khmer Rouge into a secret prison. Where thousands of men, women and children were held, tortured and killed. It was very emotional. It had the same air that I'd imagine Auswitchz would have. There were pictures of victims and stories of survivors. It was a lot to handle especially when you thought about how recently it happened (about 40 years ago in the 70s). I can't believe that I had no idea that this happened until I started researching what to do in Cambodia. This genocide happened 40 years ago and I would venture that the majority of people I. North America have no knowledge of it whatsoever.
After the museum we went to the Central Market which was humongous and we got a lot of souvenirs there! We then went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which is gorgeous! We got a tour guide which was money well spent because there weren't any signs or anything describing what you were looking at.
Sept 9th: we got another tuk tuk for the day and drove about 90mins outside the city to the Killing Fields. Just as with the Genocide Museum, the Killing Fields were very surreal. They had headsets for everyone that you wore as you walked around the compound. The Killing Fields were where hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children were sent by the Khmer Rouge to be executed. Only 7 men ever survived the Killing Fields.
In the middle of the compound was a gorgeous stoma that was built to hold almost 10 000 bodies which were exhumed from the many mass graves on the compound. A stoma is a like a crypt in Cambodia; a building to hold the dead that can be visited by their family and friends. Archaeologists had divided the bones into different levels of the stoma based on age group and how they were killed. Bullets were expensive so the majority of the victims were bludgeoned to death or had there throats cut before being thrown into one of the many mass graves. After the Killing Fields we didn't feel like doing anything so we went back to Eighty8 and just lounged by the pool all afternoon.
Sept 10th: this day we took a 7 hour bus ride to Siem Reap, had pepperoni pizza for supper (classic), and went to our new guesthouse; Sweet Dreams Guesthouse. Mr. Nini, the owner, met us at the door, was very sweet and he showed us to our room (which we paid $4 a night for) and told us that if we needed anything to just let him know!
Sept 11th: it's not often that I wake up at 4:30am but we did this morning because it was the day we went to Angkor Wat!! Angkor Wat has been on my bucket list for quite some time so I was very excited for this day! We woke up so early because we were told that it's worth it to see the temples at sunrise! And it was!! This was one of my favourite days thus far! The temples were absolutely gorgeous!! We started at Angkor Wat then went to Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom, Ta Phrom and one more that I can't remember the name of. They were everything and more than I expected! We got some wicked pictures too!
We also spotted our first real elephants at the temples!
Sept 12th: this day we went to Kulen Mountain! We paid to have a guided tour up the mountain. First we saw 100 linga which was a bunch of sculptures under a shallow river then we went up a path and came to this little pond that honestly looked more like a puddle that apparently has no scientific explanation as to how it works. Water comes up through the mountain and shoots up from the bottom of the hole. The locals believe that it is holy water and that if you drink it, it will give you good health. Our tour guide said we could try it if we wanted so I had a sip and splashed some on my face. It was cool and refreshing and tasted really good! But it didn't instantly make my cold go away hahah
After the spring we climbed what seemed like a million stairs to see a reclining Buddha statue which apparently represents the moment that he reached nirvana. Then we went to the waterfalls!
The waterfalls were spectacular! Go on, google a picture of them! Phnom Kulen Waterfalls! There were three levels, the first was slow and shallow and is apparently were families take their kids to go swimming, the second was an actual waterfall about 8-10 feet tall. The water was very refreshing which I discovered after I fell down a hole to my armpits when I was walking across the rocks! Chris and I had a bit of a dip, got some pictures and then we went down to the thirs level and my jaw dropped at the beauty of the area!! The falls were about 10-15m tall and the scenery was picturesque! Our guide then took us and the couple from the Czech Republic who was with us on the tour to a local restaurant then back to Sweet Dreams.
Malaysia
Sept 13th: woke up early. Tuk tuk to the airport. Flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! Taxi to Oasis Guesthouse which is...not an Oasis I will say. I wouldn't tell my worst enemy to stay there but it's one redeeming quality was that it was on Jalan Petaling which is the Main Street for the Chinatown market so we did some souvenir shopping, walked through the Central Market and had supper at Reggae Bar.
Sept 14th: we went to get our free breakfast from Oasis which consisted of borderline stale bread and butter and then decided we'd rather go to the Starbucks down the street! Hung out there for a bit and it started to DOWNPOUR! We had planned to go the the Petronas Towers but since it was calling for rain all day we decided to instead go bowling! So we found an alley that was in a huge mall nearby and bowled for a bit. Then we went back to Chinatown and, not wanting to spend too much time in our Guesthhouse, we wandered around the market again, picked up a couple souvenirs and had supper at the stalls. I got a fruit smoothie from one stall and Pau from another, boiled bread with different kinds of stuffing (I got the pork stuffing), it was really good!
Sept 15th: we got up early and took a 4 hour bus ride north to the island of Pangkor! A couple we met a few weeks before the trip absolutely raved about Nipah Guesthouse on the island and since we didn't have any concrete plans for our time in Malaysia we figured it was worth it to check it out! And I'm so glad we did!! The couple that run it are incredibly sweet, the A frame cottages are adorable and their 3 year old daughter Aila (pronounced like Isla) is precious! Plus it has a pool and it's a 5 minute walk to a virtually private beach called Coral Beach! We checked in and headed straight for the beach!
Sept 16th: woke up, had free breakfast, and beached, beached, beached! Then went back, chilled in the pool, had a little siesta then went for supper at a cute little restaurant for the equivalent of like $3 each! We may or may not have gotten slightly burnt hahah
And this brings us to the present!
Sept 17th: today we're travelling all day to get to Krabi, Thailand! It'll take us about 11 hours to get here between taxis, a ferry, buses and a plane but I can't wait to finally get to Thailand!!
