28,000 Words from Vietnam

So, I figured it was about time for our first picture post from Vietnam.  We have seen tons so far, and we still have over a month left in the region.  Hopefully, the rest of our tour keeps getting better and better because it is getting harder and harder to impress me.  I’m just spoiled though :)

This is a shot of the walk down to the restaurant and beach from our bungalows on Phu Quoc Island.  We were lucky enough to score a great deal on a huge bungalow and ended up sharing our beach with a fantastic group of friends.  We had no problem spending a week lounging on the beach, eating yummy food and having some cheap Saigon Beers at Paradise City.

 

AH!  I can think of worse places to spend my birthday and our Anniversary.

 

A lovely sunset :)  My favourite!

 

I decided that I wanted to spend my birthday diving off the coast of Phu Quac, which was made possible by my parents.  Thanks Mom and Dad for the birthday gift:)  Unfortunately, this was one of our dive sites.  Yes, those are rows upon rows of fishing nets.  I knew right then that we would be disappointed.  Not the greatest diving but at the end of the day a day of diving is better than a day not diving.

 

We stopped along the way to pick up some seafood for lunch on the boat.  UM- I can’t really think of a dive operator that serves sea food.  I found it a little strange to swim with fish and then serve them fried up with rice after but I guess every company is different.  The photo above is of a fishing net full of various sea creatures.  There were crabs, various species of angel fish and tons of small sharks.  I asked if they were going to throw any of it back but I guess everything they catch is sold at a local market for food or to be dried and made into powders for tablets.  Poor fish :(

 

OK, so I am bit of a hypocrite.  It turned out that they bought sea urchins from the fisherman.  I hate sea urchins, they seem to be everywhere and for some reason they are huge in Vietnam.  Evil poky things!  So I ate one and it was tasty:)  Ha- watch out sea urchins- you poke me and I will eat you!

 

Awe :)  This was my sweet little monkey friend.  I felt pretty bad that my guesthouse had a baby monkey but at least he had friends to play with- I guess.  Anyways, he was super adorable and so little.

 

He He.  Not only did they have a cute baby monkey but they also had a cute baby kitty- and they would play together.  So precious.  I did have to wonder though…. do they just trade in the big cat and monkey for smaller ones once they grow to be too big.  Tourists do like baby animals better than big animals.  Hopefully my theory is totally off base but something tells me that it’s not.

 

OK.  So this picture was taken in the city of Can Tho, in the Mekong Delta.  We were up at dawn to start our boat trip to the floating markets.  Hmmm, I was a little disappointed with the result but it is still a nice way to spend a hot day. 

This is one of the floating markets that we made the stop in Can Tho to see.  It wasn’t as colourful and bustling as the ones in Thailand.  Everything seemed to be brown.  Brown water, brown boats- no colour.  

I have been tempted to buy a Vietnamese hat because they are like an umbrella hat but more functional.  I haven’t caved yet, mostly because I think I will look like a idiot wearing one.

OK seriously.  I am so jealous of the fruit trees out here.  Banana trees, pomello trees and mango trees, just to name a few.  Yum!!  I want a banana tree…. and a mango tree and a pomello tree:)

This bridge was one of the best parts along our Mekong Tour.  Not sketchy at all :)

 

Thank goodness for Ho Chi Min City (Saigon).  It has been the city we have been waiting for all this time.  It is what we thought Bangkok would be like and we LOVED it.  If you take the time to chat to the street vendors they are very pleasant, they will often teach you a little Vietnamese and if they recognize you later they wont hassle you quite as much.  That being said, if I would have bought sunglasses from every street seller in Asia, I would have enough to open a knock off store back home.

There is nothing like an illustrated guide to the different animals you can consume in one sitting.  Tasty.

A beautiful street view of District 1 in Saigon.

So Dan and I braved yet another war museum, The War Remnants Museum and quite frankly I think they should have kept the original name, The Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes.   We only took pictures from the outside because I am sick of the way people treat other people and I don’t feel like documenting it anymore.  This was an American cargo chopper used during the Vietnamese war.  Freaky shit.

I don’t know anything about planes… sorry.  This I think was a small bomber plane?

This was the only picture I took in the museum.  It was an exhibit of children’s paintings from all over Vietnam.  Now that’s nice.

This palace was one of the sweetest we have seen so far- and we have seen our fair share of palaces over the past few years.  When the communist government took power in 1975, the palace was seized and to this day it remains much the same. 

Check out this swanky 70’s meeting room.  Rad right?

I love 70’s architecture.  Nice!

This is the swankiest games room I have ever seen.  Bitchin’ sofa.

Another shot of District 1 in Saigon.  So many eateries, bars and stores, we love it!

OK, back to the war mumbo jumbo.  This picture was taken at the Cu Chi tunnels just outside of Saigon. The Cu Chi residents had hundreds of kilometres of tunnels dug out, where they lived and fought off the American invasion. The Americans were never able to take this part of Vietnam, and the villagers that defended it are revered as heroes.

This, as well as the picture above, was a secret entrance to the tunnel system. The cover that Dan is holding literally covers the entire hole, and when covered in leaves and twigs, is virtually impossible to detect. Dan was able to get into the hole, but was too tall to fold his arms in once he got his body inside!

This was the largest section of the tunnel, it only got smaller and darker as we descended.

Getting smaller! It was basically pitch black…. There were a few lights at the beginning, but soon we were in total darkness. I couldn’t imagine crawling through these holding your rifle while bombs and mortars were exploding only a few metres above!

Temporary Forever Friends

I have had a little hiatus from blog posts as of late.  I have no inspiration… I am bored of Asia and ready to move on to explore an entirely different part of the world.  Unfortunately, for the first time on our journey, we are tied to a timetable that will keep us in Vietnam ‘til October.  Don’t get me wrong- Vietnam is lovely but just- Same Same But Different- compared to some of the other stops we have been on, and I hope the situation will change with the coming weeks.  I guess at the end of the day, it is all a state of mind and not only that, it’s about friends.  Just the other night, as I sat at a bar with some new found friends, I realized just how lucky I was and on top of that, I wished that I would have documented our chance meetings a little better along the way.  I felt almost emotional- hmmmm, it could have been the cocktails- but really, that is one thing that makes travelling interesting and exciting.  It is about the people you meet, their ideas and their inspirations.  We have met many like minded people on our trip- some for just moments and others we have spent days, weeks or even months with.  They are the people you can talk to about life, share travel stories and shared destinations and in the end, often learn a different idea or view on life.  For the moment, they become a comfort, a way to re-centre and come back to reality and when you are on a long journey, reality tends to get away from you.  Whether they offer a reminder as to how lucky we are to be on an extended trip or just offer a good night of drinking and dancing, a temporary friendship is like nothing I have experienced at home.  The relationships you build on the road are short lived and I think for that very reason they are more intense.  There is something to be said about having a forever friend for only hours, there are no lines that are tiptoed around, there is no courtship- it just is what it is, you just are who you are, and it’s nice.  It is so nice, that often the goodbye is just too hard to handle.  Dan and I have gotten good at delaying the tearful goodbyes by simply avoiding them all together.  A simple see you later will suffice.  Like I mentioned, I have not documented many of the great people and the times we have had with them as much as I would have liked but there are a few that have made it into our photo album along the way.

Obviously, after spending so much time in Khanna, our friends became more like family.  I hope that one day Dan and I can show them the same hospiality they showed us, in our own home back in Canada.  One day it will become reality.

Awe- Khajil was my favourite.  She and I had a certain connection even though we hardly spoke each others languages.  She is such a beautiful, bright girl. 

 

This is a lovely picture of all the family we stayed with during our tour through the Punjab.

 

A nice little trip through Amritsar with the ladies – we miss you!

 

Ah Monty and Sonu… good times, thanks for showing us around Delhi.

 

Ha Ha Monu… you will never live this down.  Oh Shit God, Shit God, Shit!… Ha Ha.

 

Johnny and Rizwan- you two made our trip to Udipur all that more memorable.  "Chai, Chillum, Chapati!"

 

Some whiskey with some friends during the colour festival always makes for good times.

 

Hey!! Our first fellow Canadians.  Because of you guys our stop in  Macleod Ganj was the longest to date.

Yum.  Great iced tea- thanks for the bracelets and the friendship.

Hey Lilli!!  Why do I only have three pictures of you?  Miss having you around :(

 

Oh my..this was an interesting evening.  There is nothing like a small dance party on our first night in Saigon.  Strange, just strange.  Thanks for the  warm welcome, staff at the New Pearl.

 

Oh ladies, Audrey & Arianne, You two made our trip through the Cu Chi tunnels, well, absolutely

hilarious. Thank you for teaching us so much about life in the Phillipines, and for a fun day. It was great to meet you!

While our friendships on the road have been unique, special, and oh-so memorable, more than anything it makes us miss our dear friends back home. You guys and girls are what 'Home' really is, and we wish more than anything that you could be on this adventure with us. My life-long best friend, Jessica, is at home busy with her new awesome business, and you can check out her website here. http://www.living-simply.ca/ So unique, and incredibly special, definitely check it out!

Are you Superstitious?

I asked myself, while our van was broken down in a cloud of billowing smoke in no mans land (the space between borders) if our trip to Vietnam was in fact cursed and doomed to fail.

I am not usually a superstitious person but I guess when you are travelling in this part of the world, it rubs off on you.  It would be difficult for the common Westerner to fathom just how much weight superstitions have in the basic decision making processes in other parts of the world.  Don’t even think about sweeping at night in India or you could risk sweeping your fortunes out the door.  Or have you even thought about spirits when you have rented, built or bought a house?  Next time you really should because they could be roaming your halls right now spreading their bad luck.  But today was different and I found myself realizing that I do in fact believe in a few harmless but perfectly rational superstitions myself.  Like when the van we were piled into started randomly smoking and we found ourselves stranded after clearing customs in Cambodia but before actually entering Vietnam.  The sun was scorching hot and stupid me says- ”at least it's not raining”, and sadly there wasn’t any wood to knock on.  Ya you got it, 10 minutes later, it was raining.  Luckily, I have good karma so it only sprinkled :)

After our sweaty stroll to the Vietnamese border crossing, we found our way to the guard and handed over our passports.  While we waited to be cleared, Dan voiced what we were both thinking,”Is Vietnam cursed for us?” I know that was the first thing we thought of while we watched our van smoulder on the side of the road.  Then I used yet another superstition to help ease our worries- “Don’t worry, bad things always happen in threes and the van was number three.”  Too be honest I felt better because bad things always happen in threes- am I right or am I right?

First we couldn't go to Vietnam as planned when departing India ("As The Wind Takes Us"). Second, we couldn't fly through the country to return to Laos ("Air Travel Should Be Easy"), and now we can't even seem to make it over the border with all required documents in place without a mechanical catastrophe.

I am a little freaked out though because our first bad thing involving Vietnam (our lack of required paperwork to enter) brought us to Malaysia which turned out to be one of the best things we have ever done.  So, does that mean that we still have one more instance of bad luck to round out the three? 

My Cambodia Wrap up

I can hardly believe that we are already done our trip through Cambodia.  It went by in the blink of an eye and just like that, we are in Vietnam.  I figured I would do one last picture post of Cambodia since I didn't really do many on the country while we were there.  I can say that it is one of the top on my list, the people are the friendliest yet, if you can believe it, and the country has some really amazing sights to see.  Here are a couple pictures of some of what we did and saw in Cambodia.

Dan and I made a special trip to the city of Kratie in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the rare and endangered Mekong River Dolphins or Irrawaddy Dolphin.  Our quick stopover proved worthy and we were pleasantly surprised when our boat captain found a family group of 5.  They swam around the boat for about 20 minutes or so before we took off.  They are so cute and I was so excited.  Sorry, no good snaps but check them out on Google- they're adorable.

AH- Pub Street.  Siem Reap was our absolute favourite stop in Cambodia.  The city is beautifully clean, lush and completly chill.  The nearby Angkor temples are the biggest draw to the city- and the country- and for that reason there are many foreigners here but it's still a lovely, authentic city.  It offers some amazing eats, great sights and awesome night life.  Good Times!

Or, if Pub Street is too much for you to handle, you could always hit up the Night Market.  Maybe get your ears candled in the middle of the market, right next to a restaurant.  Appetizing!

Or how about some dried sea food from the Old Market- smells yummy :P



Or a fish spa? 

After all that shopping at the market, you are bound to get a little famished.

Now, I know you want a beer but I don't know how you're gonna decided between the Frog or Tarantula pizza...they both sound so tasty.  This restaurant was in Phnom Penh- the capitol city of Cambodia.

Unfortunately, it rained every day while we were in Phnom Penh.  In the picture above, we were eating lunch and the sky just opened up.  Within 5 minutes the streets were flooded.  When motorists drove by they literally created waves.

On the day we left, it was beautifully sunny out.  This picture was taken outside the post office.

OK.  Now for the heavy stuff.  I decided against doing a post on the next couple sights we saw because they upset me far too much.  I still find the memory really upsetting but I figured I would post some pictures for educational purposes.  If you are interested, read up on the Khmer Rouge's genocide in Cambodia- I don't feel like getting into it in the detail required.  The picture above is a monument built to honor the people that died under the Pol Pot regime.  It is 17 storeys high and houses the bones from over 80 mass graves that surround the monument.

Some of the many skulls of the victims of the Killing Fields. 10 of the 17 storeys were for skulls.

A picture of the excavated graves.  Just over 80 of more than 120 have been excavated at the sight.

These are the uniforms that the Cambodian people were forced to wear while the Khmer Rouge was in control of the country.

No explanation needed

S-21 Prison was where victims were taken to be tortured before being shipped off the the Killing Fields.

Prison Cells

S-21 was formerly a school before being converted into a prison. In each classroom in this section of the complex, 26 cells were constructed. In other sections, brick and mortar were used.

The Khmer Rouge documented all the prisoners that entered S-21.

The museum is full of mugshots.  Of the thousands that entered, only 7 made it out of the prison alive.

On a lighter/brighter note.... This is a photo of Dan, trying to type on the computer and avoid the glare and heat of the sun.

Our first rainless day in weeks, we spent the day at a neighbouring resorts pool- Nice.

While visiting the town of Kep we rented a scooter to check out one of the world famous pepper farms.

I hadn't a clue how pepper was grown but now I know the difference between white, green, red and black pepper.

Pepper seeds.  These can be picked to make green pepper or soaked in water an peeled to make white, rippened longer to make red or dried to made black pepper.

A rad lizard sunning himself at our bungalows in Kep.