Day 80: Bangkok

It’s hard to believe this is our last post for the trip. We’ve had an incredible time on our journey we’re glad we were able to share it with everyone.

After a great time in Cambodia, we look a car to the Cambodia/Thailand border to then board a train with bench seats and no AC for 6 hours. It was our first train ride of the trip so we were excited. We had a great view of the countryside and small Thai villages on our way to the big city. The poverty level became even more apparent as we saw the families who lived directly on the train tracks. We arrived late at night and made our way to the Hilton in Bangkok (another gift from the Pennings!) The hotel was incredibly nice and we definitely didn’t fit in with our backpacks and grungy clothes.

On our first day, in the 90 degree heat, we took an awesome all day bike ride all over Bangkok (recommended by allison’s dad and step mom). The cool thing about this tour was that it didn’t focus on the tourist attractions, but they took us to places that we would have never known existed. We started the tour riding through the narrow dusty streets of Chinatown. We then took a train about 40km outside of the city of Bangkok. Most of the sidewalks outside of downtown Bangkok are elevated on stilts due to high water levels. This makes for very difficult bike riding! You have to concentrate very hard or else you fall in to the dirty, black river water. We biked through many different communities…. A Muslim community, the wealthy suburban area, and many many slums. We also biked through some of the areas that were hit hard by the floods a few months ago. By the end of the day, we biked over 40km and took 2 trains and 1 boat. We would highly recommend the Co Van Tessel bike tour company we used.

Our second and third days were primarily spent at the incredible pool at the Hilton. The sun chairs were all in six inches of water overlooking the river and city, an incredible view. On our last night, we went to the top floor of the hotel with a bottle of champagne to celebrate our incredible trip and topped it all off with our last street market/mayhem experience at the famous Koh Saon Road.

Day 76: Cambodia – Siem Reap Part 2

The second half of our visit in Siem Reap evolved around the temples in the Angkor region. These temples were built between the 9th and 12th centuries during the Khmer Empire. Many of the temples have started to crumble over time, but now that this area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Khmer people have started to restore these structures. Angkor Wat is the most famous temple. It is the worlds largest religious structure and has been in the debates whether it should be one of the wonders of the world.

The first temple exploration day, we rented bikes and slowly meandered through the ancient stone structures. We biked about 20 miles in total and hiked through 5 temples. Each temple is so unique. The rock carvings are so intricate and tell stories of the past.

Our favorite temple of the day was called Ta Prohm. It is famous because it was the filming site for the movie, Tomb Raider. This was our favorite because it had these huge trees growing out of the crumbled rock. It really made you feel like you were surrounded by 1200 year old structures…

The second day, we gave our legs (and butts) a rest and hired a tuk tuk to take us to the temples that were farther away. We explored about 5 more temples before arriving to the 6th and last temple, just in time for the sunset. We thought that we had this awesome idea to climb to the top of this temple to see the sunset… However we quickly realized that about 200 other people had the same idea. Luckily, we got there early enough to buy some local beers (Angkor beer) and grab a seat before it was standing room only. It was an incredible sunset and the perfect end to our Siem Reap visit.

A couple things to mention about our time in Siem Reap. We had 2 incredible meals while we were here. Both restaurants (Cuisine Wat Damnak and Touiche) pride themselves in preparing gourmet food with the local ingredients. Some of the dishes we ate included: green jack fruit salad with frog meat, a whole Red Snapper cooked in the ground, and Pan fried Sanday fish with pumpkin, peanut, crispy ambok and local mesclun. Delicious meals!

We also spent time on the infamous Pub Street… A street that has incredible people watching. There are many bars which are all full of tourists, which means that it also attracts every local entrepreneur selling just about everything. We grabbed a couple front row seats at a local bar that had 50 cent draft beers and watched the evening go by. We saw everything from prostitution to young children selling their homemade bracelets. There is one girl in particular that we want to tell you about. She was about 10 years old and quite the sales person. She was selling roses and her homemade bracelets. She would make her way through the crowds using her various sales techniques. The first time around, we said “no” and she scowled and moved on. About an hour later (and several beers later), she made her way back around. Somehow… She convinced us that we could by 1 bracelet for $1 or 5 for $7. We stupidly chose the 5 for $7 deal? We blame it on the 50 cent beers. We also saw this girl sell her entire bouquet of roses to a woman and then she somehow convinced that woman to give the roses back to her! A little later that evening, we moved to a new bar and found the same girl and 2 of her comrades dancing on the street. They were quite the little dancers and lured many drunk backpackers (ourselves included) in to the street to dance with them. It was quite the party and a very fun evening. Here is a link to a video that we took of the dance party.

Video: Floating Village in Cambodia

Day 76: Cambodia – Siem Reap Part 1

After a fun time in Saigon, we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia. We are going to split up our Siem Reap post in to 2 parts since our visit was action packed. Siem Reap is best known for its temples, most notably Angkor Wat. We spent about half of our time exploring the hundreds of temples in the area and the other half in the countryside visiting various villages. Let’s start with the countryside….

Our first trip to the countryside was to a “floating village” which came highly recommended by Allison’s coworker (thanks Kirstin!). We took a car out to a boat dock and boarded a wooden boat to take us to a cluster of three villages called Kampong Phluk which has about 3,000 residents. Cambodia has a significant rainy season which puts a lot of the country around the Tonle Sap lake (a large lake in the middle of the country) under water as the level rises 6-10 feet. We were there in the dry season so the water level was down. We rode through what looked like a flooded forest to get there. Most everything is accessed by boat but we had the opportunity to walk through a bit of the village as well. It was a very unique visit… Definitely a highlight!

The second visit to the countryside was via ATV. We signed up for a 4 hour tour and it was just the 2 of us and our guide cruising through rice paddies, small villages, farms and we got to see a truly inspiring orphanage and school where 71 orphans live. We had to wear face masks because of all the dust!

We really loved our treks through the countryside because it got us away from all of the tourists and we could see how the Khmer (native Cambodians) people lived.

Day 71: Saigon

After hearing horror stories about the Saigon traffic being worse than Hanoi, we were pretty apprehensive about arriving. However, upon arrival, we were pleasantly surprised! Saigon (or Ho Chi Mihn City) is actually a very pretty city. There are many parks and gardens and there is less pollution and trash than Hanoi. The weather was also very nice- 80 degrees and sunny. Thanks to our awesome friend, Tony, we were set up with an incredible suite at the Sheraton – right in the heart of Saigon. Our suite had an amazing view of the city and river. It even had 2 bathrooms…just in case. Thank you Tony!!

The day we arrived, we arranged for a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels…. An area about an hour and a half north of Saigon where some of the Vietnam War was fought. We got a tour of the tunnel system (which is over 200 km in total!) and got to see many of the techniques that the Vietnamese used against the Americans. The tunnels were tiny…. And these tunnels were widened so all of the fat Westerners could crawl through! We quickly realized that this tour was pretty anti-American after our tour guide kept using phrases such as “kill the Americans!”, “hunt for Americans,” and kept telling stories about the “American killers” who were honored for killing many American soldiers. About an hour in to the tour, our guide asked us where we were from and we quickly replied in unison, “Canada.”
The highlight of trip was a chance to shoot some rather large guns. Alex got to shoot an M-60 and Allison shot an AK-47. You can see the pictures and video we took on our previous post.

The rest of our visit in Saigon was centered around New Years Eve. The hotel had a rooftop bar and restaurant that provided a gorgeous view of the entire city. For the NYE celebration, the restaurant was offering a 7 course meal and admission to their “nightclub” afterwards. We decided to go for it and we are so happy that we did! The meal was incredible. The menu included salmon, foie gras, lobster, black cod, lamb and delicious chocolate cake. And of course, yummy wine. After the 3 hour meal, we headed over to the “nightclub” where we had a table reserved and an incredible view of Saigon’s version of times square. From above, we could see the streets below packed with people waiting to ring in the new year. In the club, there was quite a variety of patrons dancing in their own unique way and it was very entertaining to watch. The band was also very entertaining. A bottle of champagne and several cocktails later… We stylishly rang in the New Year.

Day 3 in Saigon was the laziest day of our entire trip. It was nice to have such a luxurious room where we could nurse our hangovers. We didn’t feel as guilty spending the day inside. We did leave the hotel once, and that was in search of greasy food. And we sure did find it! We stumbled upon a Sarpinos Pizza restaurant about a block away. Since we’ve been on this trip, we haven’t had much western food – we’ve been trying to stick to the local food. We attempted to order pizza once in Laos, but quickly regretted it after realizing that the pizza sauce was ketchup. Luckily, we did not have this issue this time and the pizza was the best pizza we’ve ever had (or at least that’s what we thought at the time). The rest of the day was spent laying around our hotel room and watching HBO movies and bad TV. It was glorious.

We’d like to take this time to get a little sappy – just for a quick moment. 2011 was an incredible year for us. So many wonderful things happened to us and it’ll be a year that goes down in the history books for us. But it wouldn’t have been as special if we didn’t have our family and friends to share it with. While we are sad that our trip is coming to an end, we are excited for what the new year will bring and we hope that we can share it with all of you!

But before we make it home we’ve got one more country to visit! Next stop: Siem Reap, Cambodia!

Video: Fun with Guns in Vietnam!

We visited the Cu Chi tunnels today in Ho Chi Minh city and they let us play with these…

This is for you mom!

Look at Allison’s face! She’s handling an AK-47.

Day 68: Dalat

We arrived in Dalat after another flight on a dual propeller plane. They give you free drinks and food on these short flights. No fees for checking bags. US airlines should take some notes.

On our first day in Dalat we took a tour by car around the countryside. Dalat is located at the top of a mountain and the countryside is stunning. We got to see waterfalls, elephants, ostriches, a mushroom and coffee farm, temples, a BIG happy Buddha, the silk making process, a flower farm (Dalat is famous for their flowers and had their big annual flower festival going on), the “crazy house” (a guesthouse in town with very funky architecture which felt like we were in Alice in Wonderland) and a rural home where rice paper was made. We got to ride a “roller coaster” through the forest down to a waterfall where we were lucky enough to take pictures on a pony with a Vietnamese cowboy! Another interesting fact about our day was the company we had on our tour. We shared the tour with a family of four from…New Caledonia. If for some reason you haven’t heard of New Caledonia, here is some help. It’s a French speaking country somewhere in between Australia and New Zealand. The population is about 250,000. This family didn’t speak much English, so Alex was finally able to use his 7 years of French classes. Very… Interesting family to say the least. Our guide was also a character. He was Vietnamese and he quickly taught us what is and isn’t polite in Vietnam. For example, he let out multiple belches at the lunch table and acted like nothing happened. Quite funny.

On our second day, we explored the city – walking around the lake in the middle of town and meandering through the markets. They call Dalat the Vietnamese honeymoon capital, we really couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was the swan shaped boats on the lake. They gave us a good laugh.

Dalat was the first place in Asia where we really felt like an anomaly. Due to the flower festival, there were many people visiting Dalat, many of them from small villages where they had never seen a Westerner before. Many people would approach us and stare and smile, take pictures and say, “HELLO!” It made us feel like celebrities!

Another thing we learned is coffee is big in Vietnam and especially Dalat. We learned about a very special and expensive brew called weasel coffee which we have yet to try. Have a read about it.

We’re glad we made a stop in the countryside and got away from the coast for a few days. We’re off the the big city, Saigon, for New Year’s Eve. Hopefully we make it out alive!

Day 65: Vietnam – Hanoi, Hoi An

We arrived in Hanoi after our incredible, laid back time in Laos. We were warned that Hanoi would be quite different and incredibly busy. As you can see form our prior video post, it’s crazy! We haven’t been in a large city since Cairns, Australia so this was a wake up call from all the relaxing towns we had visited. We flew into Hanoi in a dual propeller plane which scared us at first since we didn’t know they flew them anymore! We only had a two nights and one full day there which was plenty for us. We did the touristy sights there but unfortunately the major site, Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body monument, was closed.

Overall, our highlight of Hanoi was a restaurant that was recommended to us called Quan An Ngon. Southeast Asia is known for its street food. However, the authentic street food isn’t always accessible to tourists. This restaurant was a collection of street vendors serving their food through a large menu which is ordered from a waiter who speaks English to give explanations and recommendations. We tried many things we wouldn’t have elsewhere and loved them!

After Hanoi, we headed to Hoi An which is another UNESCO World Heritage Site (like Luang Prabang) and dates back to the 1st century. We stayed on the beach but unfortunately had bad weather so we weren’t able to enjoy it. We spent a lot of time in the “old city” which has been preserved and the architecture is incredible. We had some incredible food here as well. Our favorite being a restaurant called Miss Ly. We went back twice. Hoi An is know for its artwork and textiles too so we took advantage and bought ourselves a painting and some custom made clothes! Alex got a custom fitted blazer and button down shirt and Allison got a dress. Quite cheap and perfect for our fancy New Year’s Eve we have planned more on that later on.

Although we had a bit of a sour taste in our mouth from our resort’s hidden fees and charges, we loved the old town in Hoi An and would highly recommend it.

Next stop is the mountain town of Dalat!

Video: Hanoi Traffic Chaos!

Motorbikes are the way to get around we’ve found. There are no lane markers or traffic rules. Cars have their horn honking more than not. We think it’s New York City on steroids.

Merry Christmas from Vietnam!

Merry Christmas to everyone at home! We miss everyone but are certainly having a unique Christmas this year that we won’t forget.

We arrived in Hoi An on Christmas Eve after a two nights in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi. The best way to describe Hanoi is insanely busy (more on that in a later post). Hoi An is on the South China Sea on the east coast of central Vietnam. We booked three nights in a nice resort on the beach to treat ourselves for Christmas. We rode from the airport to the resort in a nice Mercedes and knew we would be living the high life for a few days. We get to the hotel, check in and are made aware that there is a “compulsory” Christmas Eve Gala at the hotel for all guests which was news to us and wedged into the fine print of our reservation. The ticket price was $75 each which is 1,575,750 Vietnamese Dong (yes that is the currency here…) which is A LOT of money here.

The evening included drinks (for the first hour only…), photos with Santa!, Christmas hats (be sure to read Alex’s carefully), live music and a large buffett of Western food. We ended up having a great time even though we feel like we got a bit taken advantage of by the hotel. We danced the night away and got ourselves a bottle of champagne to make this Christmas truly unique.