This morning Colby and I woke up bright and early to catch our bus from Phenom Penh to Siem Reap (we were only in Phenom Penh overnight, which I was originally a bit bummed about but after spending 5 hours there I was totally fine with it...eeeek!).
By this point in our trip we are totally used to long bus rides. You know, the kind where you constantly say to yourself "Are we there yet?" and you are always curious when the next bathroom break is going to be. This bus ride was nothing of the sort, it was wayyyyy too entertaining...
So the bus pulls out of Phenom Penh and we hit the road. I, as per usual, glue my eyes out the window to take in my surroundings. And what surroundings they were! Everyone in this country owns at least 1 ox and they roam the streets like they own the place. There are no public buses, so local people get around by cramming into vans. When I say cram I definitely mean cram - 30 people in a van meant for 11 plus the 20 extra people who sit on the roof as the van speeds on down the barely paved road. I found this whole scene to be completely fascinating and was totally confused as to why Colby wasnt paying attenting to our outside surroundings as well. Well, there was a good reason for that....
The TV in our bus was playing Khmer (Khmer=Cambodian) karaokie music videos. Picture the most hilariously bizarre music videos ever then multiply that by 12 million AND put it in a different language. It was HILARIOUS. Everyone on the bus had their eyes glued to the screen watching every word and every action. Colby and I watched as well, but while the Cambodians were watching it with sincere enjoyement and excitement, we were watching it and trying not to laugh out load inappropriately.
Equally hilarious is what we discovered when our bus stopped for a break about 2 hours into the trip. Colby and I get off the bus to take in our surroundings, and are ATTACKED by small children wanting to touch us and sell us stuff. We befriended 2 of them and what did they lead us to to show us....a booth that was selling spiders and turantulas and other gross insects to eat. Yup, thats right, to eat. Although they tried to convince us that they were tasty and we should give it a go we politely declined and got back on the bus...
As we were walking to our seats on the bus, we heard what we thought were chickens. Both looking at eachother totally confused and bewildered, we took a few steps back to take a look around. Lo and behold, we found a chicken coup with like 2 or 3 chickens underneath one of the seats. Yup, thats right, chickens were on our bus. The real question however is, do they have to pay for a ticket as well or do chickens ride for free?????
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
10 boats, 7 tour guides, 4 suitcases--3 days
The Mekong Delta is a world in of itself. It is the area at the south of Vietnam at the mouth of the Mekong River that has been disputed for years by Vietnam and Cambodia. Vietnam currently has claim (and probably will for a while) but the Cambodians still call it "lower Cambodia"at times. There are not only floating markets but floating houses, schools, gas stations, and everything you could imagine..all on really gross and dirty water.
We booked a 3 day 2 night tour here. Navigating the waterways on one's own seemed a bit too much for the relaxation we were looking for. 3 days of pre-planned river fun was just the ticket! We asked ahead of time about the number of luggage transfers we'd be making since we had so many bags (thanks to Hoi An and the amazing tailors there....). We were told that we've have one boat for the whole trip. Perfect!
We began in Saigon at our hotel where we picked up by bus to get to the Saigon River. We hop on board for a 3 hour ride. It then starts to pour outside, yuck! We were sitting outside with water splashing in every few seconds. 1) the Saigon river is DIRTY!!!! and 2) it was cool out so being wet was not so welcome. We then get to an island for lunch. All pre-planned, nothing gourmet but we were hungry. Our bags then find us at our next boat. We go through a series of tasting candies, see small factories that make the candies and do fun things with rice. it was all great fun. Except that in that first day we totalled 2 boat moves, not fun.
We get to our homestay destination on the small island in the Vihn Long region of the Mekong for the homestay. Debra elaborated greatly on this:-)
Day 2: More boats, more candy. We are awake at 6:30 am and on a boat by 7:30. We proceed to do the same things as the day before...boo, and change boats a whopping 5 times!!! The highlight of the day was the early evening when we had an hour to spare in the little Mekong town of Sadec. It was exactly what we'd hoped the 3 days had been. Crazy markets, people who think we being westerners are the tourist attraction, trying to communicate with hard motions and thumbs up. It was a blast. We bought great fruit and lots of snacks from the local market for our 12 hour overnight boat ride. The night boat was lots of fun. All of the beds were bunk style in one room, it was like camp! Both Debra and I miss camp like you wouldn't believe so this was just great. We had met some wonderful people on the trip as well and after 2 long days together we were all excited to sit around and relax.
Day 3: The boat woke us at 6am (Debra at 5:15 she'll reinforce) for the floating market at Chau Doc, the last major town before the Cambodian border. It was interesting to see but we were sad not to participate in the fun of buying from the locals. We then went for a short time to teh Cham village, a small ethnic minority that is exploited almost as much as our native poeple in the U.S. very sad. However this is the place we'd want to spend money. We only had a few minutes before the transfer for the boat to Cambodia but we did find amazing silk scarves:-) Okay, we're now up to boat count of 9 for the 3 days. That's also 9 luggage tranfers, ugh.
The border: We get to the border after a 4 hour boat ride in small hard wooden seats. We welcome the crappy restaurant as we wait for our papers and visas to go through. We board (trumpets please) boat number 10! But only after walking, yes walking, across the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. This boat takes us two hours and then right before a storm hits we get into mini-vans and we are on the way to Phenom Pehn.
We've made it. 10 boats, 7 tour guides, 4 suitcases (moved frequently, one needed tape which be bought in Sadec, fun story on that one. How do you say "tape"in Vietnamese?) and our third day of adventures in the Mekong comes to a close as we arrive in Phenom Pehn.
We booked a 3 day 2 night tour here. Navigating the waterways on one's own seemed a bit too much for the relaxation we were looking for. 3 days of pre-planned river fun was just the ticket! We asked ahead of time about the number of luggage transfers we'd be making since we had so many bags (thanks to Hoi An and the amazing tailors there....). We were told that we've have one boat for the whole trip. Perfect!
We began in Saigon at our hotel where we picked up by bus to get to the Saigon River. We hop on board for a 3 hour ride. It then starts to pour outside, yuck! We were sitting outside with water splashing in every few seconds. 1) the Saigon river is DIRTY!!!! and 2) it was cool out so being wet was not so welcome. We then get to an island for lunch. All pre-planned, nothing gourmet but we were hungry. Our bags then find us at our next boat. We go through a series of tasting candies, see small factories that make the candies and do fun things with rice. it was all great fun. Except that in that first day we totalled 2 boat moves, not fun.
We get to our homestay destination on the small island in the Vihn Long region of the Mekong for the homestay. Debra elaborated greatly on this:-)
Day 2: More boats, more candy. We are awake at 6:30 am and on a boat by 7:30. We proceed to do the same things as the day before...boo, and change boats a whopping 5 times!!! The highlight of the day was the early evening when we had an hour to spare in the little Mekong town of Sadec. It was exactly what we'd hoped the 3 days had been. Crazy markets, people who think we being westerners are the tourist attraction, trying to communicate with hard motions and thumbs up. It was a blast. We bought great fruit and lots of snacks from the local market for our 12 hour overnight boat ride. The night boat was lots of fun. All of the beds were bunk style in one room, it was like camp! Both Debra and I miss camp like you wouldn't believe so this was just great. We had met some wonderful people on the trip as well and after 2 long days together we were all excited to sit around and relax.
Day 3: The boat woke us at 6am (Debra at 5:15 she'll reinforce) for the floating market at Chau Doc, the last major town before the Cambodian border. It was interesting to see but we were sad not to participate in the fun of buying from the locals. We then went for a short time to teh Cham village, a small ethnic minority that is exploited almost as much as our native poeple in the U.S. very sad. However this is the place we'd want to spend money. We only had a few minutes before the transfer for the boat to Cambodia but we did find amazing silk scarves:-) Okay, we're now up to boat count of 9 for the 3 days. That's also 9 luggage tranfers, ugh.
The border: We get to the border after a 4 hour boat ride in small hard wooden seats. We welcome the crappy restaurant as we wait for our papers and visas to go through. We board (trumpets please) boat number 10! But only after walking, yes walking, across the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. This boat takes us two hours and then right before a storm hits we get into mini-vans and we are on the way to Phenom Pehn.
We've made it. 10 boats, 7 tour guides, 4 suitcases (moved frequently, one needed tape which be bought in Sadec, fun story on that one. How do you say "tape"in Vietnamese?) and our third day of adventures in the Mekong comes to a close as we arrive in Phenom Pehn.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Mekong Delta: The Homestay
Well, as the title of this post aptly puts it, we have arrived in Cambodia after our voyage down the Mekong Delta! And what a voyage it was....
We will write more later (we're hungry!) but heres a quick taste of the Mekong....
Our first night on the Mekong was spent at at homestay. It was amazing. By far the highlight of our Mekong voyage at least in my book! After boarding our 3rd boat for the day (we were on a total of 10 boats in the past 3 days....this is a bit of a sore point...) we sailed off to this semi-deserted island. Arriving at said island, we were greeted by a ladder which didnt so much seem like it would support the weight of a feature, let along a bunch of backpackers and their crap. Anyways, after clammoring up said ladder (many more of these have been found since and I have to say, teh fact that they dotn collapse is quite impressive!) we were introduced to our host family for the evening.
Our host family (who all 7 of them combined spoke about 10 words of English...) were the nicest people ever. Together we cooked dinner and played an awesome game of charades whereby we (Colby and I) tried (successfully) to communicated to them that we were vegetarians. We proceeded to eat some of the best food we have had in Vietnam. DELICIOUS, which is super exciting because teh food in VIetnam was incredible disappointing (bland - no taste - booo).
Although the entire family was super nice, their son, Bo, was fantastic. 13 years old and well on his way to being ridiculously intelligent, he stayed up all night listening to us talk and trying to improve his English. He was so inquisitive and had us write down many words in English so he would know how to say and spell him. Obviously I loved him alot....me and my desire to steal an Asian baby...although Colby tells me I can't because they have owners :(
We will write more later (we're hungry!) but heres a quick taste of the Mekong....
Our first night on the Mekong was spent at at homestay. It was amazing. By far the highlight of our Mekong voyage at least in my book! After boarding our 3rd boat for the day (we were on a total of 10 boats in the past 3 days....this is a bit of a sore point...) we sailed off to this semi-deserted island. Arriving at said island, we were greeted by a ladder which didnt so much seem like it would support the weight of a feature, let along a bunch of backpackers and their crap. Anyways, after clammoring up said ladder (many more of these have been found since and I have to say, teh fact that they dotn collapse is quite impressive!) we were introduced to our host family for the evening.
Our host family (who all 7 of them combined spoke about 10 words of English...) were the nicest people ever. Together we cooked dinner and played an awesome game of charades whereby we (Colby and I) tried (successfully) to communicated to them that we were vegetarians. We proceeded to eat some of the best food we have had in Vietnam. DELICIOUS, which is super exciting because teh food in VIetnam was incredible disappointing (bland - no taste - booo).
Although the entire family was super nice, their son, Bo, was fantastic. 13 years old and well on his way to being ridiculously intelligent, he stayed up all night listening to us talk and trying to improve his English. He was so inquisitive and had us write down many words in English so he would know how to say and spell him. Obviously I loved him alot....me and my desire to steal an Asian baby...although Colby tells me I can't because they have owners :(
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Things Commies Do/Don't Like
We have complied a list of the likes and dislikes of the communist party here. It has provided us with great enjoyment and we have created this list with help of other fellow travelers who agree with our categories.
Likes:
* Bargaining for everything even currency exchange rates. Seriously, we bargained our rate of exchange today it was so weird.
*Prostitutes: Colby played pol against one at a bar (but lost by once ball, damn!)
*American Dollars: Evidently they hate us and the war which they call the "American War" but for some reason they prefer us top pay for things in dollars, weird
*Rice: they love it and we are sick of it
*Capitalism: clearly in Vietnam you are free to make money and do whatever you want financially but you have no say in the government, things that make you go "what?"
*Squatting: we have no clue how their knees joints can take this at all...
*Motorbikes: our record is a family of four on one bike, no helmets on kids. There was also a guy with four computers in boxes on his bike but they weren't strapped down, we were impressed.
*Pollution: goes with the 10 million motorbikes currently in the country and counting
*Pringles, Oreos, and Ritz: no explanation here
*Yelling: Vietnamese is a very harsh language. Even when people are friends they sound like the are yelling at each other, all of the time. So when this translates to English we feel like poeple are actually screaming at us...not so fun. Bad for business.
O.K. onto the dislikes. This is a fun one since there are some things that they just don't have here.
Dislikes:
*Built in bra tank-tops, they don't sell them anywhere!
*Lines: lots of pushing no que, we finally started to push back. It's funny when trying to get on a plane and people shove past you...argh
*Traffic laws: like other Asian and Middle Eastern countries traffic laws are simply a "suggestion" rather than a law to be strictly followed.
*Shower curtains: bathrooms are one big room with a shower head on the wall, fun times
*Making change: sometimes you give too much money to pay for something so that you can get a larger bill back as change. This concept has not reached this area of the world and people frequently will hand you back the extra you gave...this gives us lots of small uselss bills since 16,000 Vietnam Dong is $1...oy
*Safety regulations: crossing the street here is a party, just take our word for it you walk, don't look don't stop and don't worry you only THINK they'll hit you....eap!
*Helmets on children: this one boggles my mind. The grown ups where helmets but not the kids? I guess if the kids get past age 5 without falling off the motorbike they are cleared for their own....
*Shotglasses: we found one today they only one and only design (with a commie star of course) in the whole country!
I hope you enjoy this list as much we enjoy the viewing opportunities here:-)
Likes:
* Bargaining for everything even currency exchange rates. Seriously, we bargained our rate of exchange today it was so weird.
*Prostitutes: Colby played pol against one at a bar (but lost by once ball, damn!)
*American Dollars: Evidently they hate us and the war which they call the "American War" but for some reason they prefer us top pay for things in dollars, weird
*Rice: they love it and we are sick of it
*Capitalism: clearly in Vietnam you are free to make money and do whatever you want financially but you have no say in the government, things that make you go "what?"
*Squatting: we have no clue how their knees joints can take this at all...
*Motorbikes: our record is a family of four on one bike, no helmets on kids. There was also a guy with four computers in boxes on his bike but they weren't strapped down, we were impressed.
*Pollution: goes with the 10 million motorbikes currently in the country and counting
*Pringles, Oreos, and Ritz: no explanation here
*Yelling: Vietnamese is a very harsh language. Even when people are friends they sound like the are yelling at each other, all of the time. So when this translates to English we feel like poeple are actually screaming at us...not so fun. Bad for business.
O.K. onto the dislikes. This is a fun one since there are some things that they just don't have here.
Dislikes:
*Built in bra tank-tops, they don't sell them anywhere!
*Lines: lots of pushing no que, we finally started to push back. It's funny when trying to get on a plane and people shove past you...argh
*Traffic laws: like other Asian and Middle Eastern countries traffic laws are simply a "suggestion" rather than a law to be strictly followed.
*Shower curtains: bathrooms are one big room with a shower head on the wall, fun times
*Making change: sometimes you give too much money to pay for something so that you can get a larger bill back as change. This concept has not reached this area of the world and people frequently will hand you back the extra you gave...this gives us lots of small uselss bills since 16,000 Vietnam Dong is $1...oy
*Safety regulations: crossing the street here is a party, just take our word for it you walk, don't look don't stop and don't worry you only THINK they'll hit you....eap!
*Helmets on children: this one boggles my mind. The grown ups where helmets but not the kids? I guess if the kids get past age 5 without falling off the motorbike they are cleared for their own....
*Shotglasses: we found one today they only one and only design (with a commie star of course) in the whole country!
I hope you enjoy this list as much we enjoy the viewing opportunities here:-)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Black Market Sunscreen
Trying to be good responsible adults, Colby and I purchased extra sunscreen while we were at the beach in Nha Trang so that we could be properly protected from the sun. Good right?
Well, we thought it was all good, but then we both got REALLY burnt. I mean, I know I have pale skin, but even I if I reapply SPF 50 every 2 hours shouldn't get burnt. And Colby tans - not burns. No no, we figured out that we had been sold fake sunscreen. Whether it was expired or was just never actually sunscreen we don't know. What we do know is that we are pissed. And we are red. We are actually thinking of writing to Lonely Planet and telling them to include a section in the book about fake products. Not cool not cool at all.
When we were in search of Aloe Vera today upon returning to Saigon we were worried we wouldnt be able to communicate with the shop person what we were looking for. But the universal language of showing someone your burnt shoulders I guess always works afterall!
Well, we thought it was all good, but then we both got REALLY burnt. I mean, I know I have pale skin, but even I if I reapply SPF 50 every 2 hours shouldn't get burnt. And Colby tans - not burns. No no, we figured out that we had been sold fake sunscreen. Whether it was expired or was just never actually sunscreen we don't know. What we do know is that we are pissed. And we are red. We are actually thinking of writing to Lonely Planet and telling them to include a section in the book about fake products. Not cool not cool at all.
When we were in search of Aloe Vera today upon returning to Saigon we were worried we wouldnt be able to communicate with the shop person what we were looking for. But the universal language of showing someone your burnt shoulders I guess always works afterall!
Our trip from Nha Trang back to Saigon
Our trip from Nha Trang back to Saigon was supposed to be an easy voyage. We had even sprung the extra $20 to fly instead of taking a 6 hour bus. Easy was not in the cards...
1. We were told that the bus stop to go to the airport was at 86 Tran Phu. What no one told us was that there were 4 blocks all of which had the same addres....86 Tran Phu. 4 blocks with the exact same address!!!!!!!!
2. Our flight was delayed...a lot.
3. As we are beginning our decent to land in Saigon the Captain comes over the intercom and tells us that we are going to be circling for about 30 minutes because tehre is a storm in Saigon. Thinking this is just another one of their rains (it is the rainy season afterall) we didnt think much of it. No no, this was not just any type of rain, this was a MONSOON. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY rains.
4. We get a taxi at the airport to take us to our hostel. But the roads were so flooded that the taxi could barely go. When we did finally get to our hostel we got out of the taxi to get our bags only to find ourselves standing in a foot of water. The streets of Saigon were completely flooded!
Needless to say, we did get to our planned Friday evening activities (which included Chabad :( ). Instead, we attempted to dry off our shoes....
1. We were told that the bus stop to go to the airport was at 86 Tran Phu. What no one told us was that there were 4 blocks all of which had the same addres....86 Tran Phu. 4 blocks with the exact same address!!!!!!!!
2. Our flight was delayed...a lot.
3. As we are beginning our decent to land in Saigon the Captain comes over the intercom and tells us that we are going to be circling for about 30 minutes because tehre is a storm in Saigon. Thinking this is just another one of their rains (it is the rainy season afterall) we didnt think much of it. No no, this was not just any type of rain, this was a MONSOON. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY rains.
4. We get a taxi at the airport to take us to our hostel. But the roads were so flooded that the taxi could barely go. When we did finally get to our hostel we got out of the taxi to get our bags only to find ourselves standing in a foot of water. The streets of Saigon were completely flooded!
Needless to say, we did get to our planned Friday evening activities (which included Chabad :( ). Instead, we attempted to dry off our shoes....
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Mama Linh's Boat Trip
This trip includes everything you can imagine and more. It was highly recommended by our Lonely Planet book as well as other travelers, we decided to hop on board the touristy, kitchy, all inclusive boat trip around the nearby islands here in Nha Trang. We got to the boat and it was full of Asian tourists who stared at us strangely. We both looked at each other and thought, "oh crap do we really want to do this???" Then a few more tourists that looked like backpackers got on to the ship, hurray! We chatted up a two people from Montreal, they were great and mentioned to us that they were relieved to see other westerners. Another few folks got on the ship and we set sail. The trip started off pretty quiet and relaxed...but then the party got started after lunch as soon as the boat staff created a "live show" for us. This live show was hilarious. They sang a few songs accompanied by an old guy with huge glasses on guitar and a drum set made of old plastic pails, awesome. The "band" then pulled up tourists from various countries and hand then sing a song from where they were from. Waltzing Matilda from Australia was by far the liveliest of the offerings. Although the Frere Jacques in Chinese was also a fun listen. We being from the US were lumped together with Canada and England and we were pulled up on stage to sing Yellow Submarine. We knew only the words to the chorus...
After this they threw a guy in the water and created a "floating bar" serving the most disgusting red wine imaginable. Think Maneschevitz mixed with Brandy...ugh. Most of us poured ours into the water and then got stung by jelly-fish, fun times.
In all the day was great. We met good people to hang out with tonight and got some fantastic videos of us dancing in towels and bathing suit while doing the Twist in 12 different languages.
After this they threw a guy in the water and created a "floating bar" serving the most disgusting red wine imaginable. Think Maneschevitz mixed with Brandy...ugh. Most of us poured ours into the water and then got stung by jelly-fish, fun times.
In all the day was great. We met good people to hang out with tonight and got some fantastic videos of us dancing in towels and bathing suit while doing the Twist in 12 different languages.
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