Well its been quite awhile since our last post yet again, and for such we are sorry. but lets delve right into the details.
After we finished our jaw-dropping 3 day angkor wat experience, we hopped on a bus back to the beautiful city oh phnom penh. Little did we know , when we boarded, that we would actually have to stop about 25 kms outside of the city and from there arrange our own tuk-tuk to take us into the actual town. The reason the bus could not make it into Phnom penh itself was because of the annual water festival that occurs there. This festival is a few days long and cambodians from all over their beautiful country flock there to watch the dragon boat races, the fireworks and the elaboraely lit up boats at night. When we arrived we tried to get a room at the guesthosue we stayed at before, but because of the festival and the fact that it is so close to the river also meant that it was full already. We walked a little ways further and found ourselves a pretty shabby room, which thankfully we has for only one night. That afternoon we both had a nap to regain some energy, and ended up seleping through the fireworks, but we woke up and were able to see the lit up boats ttraveling up and down the river. The streets were blocked off from traffic and there were people everywhere, but it didnt feel like too much of a festival, at least to myself. After walking aroud the streets, watching the boats and hearing abit of a boy band concert in cambodian we returned to our room for the night.
The next morning we got up bright and early and walked to the diamond guesthouse to get a ride to the bus station for our bus from Phnom Penh to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City (HCM) in vietnam) evi edntally we were able to levae the city by bus but not arrive by bus. The trip wasnt too bad at all, until after the border crossing into vietnam. The border went smoothly with no disturbances, However within 10 minutes of our bus departing from the border, the AC died... the next 2 hours of our life were spent inside a sauna. I am not exagerating. There was no air flow at all and the temperature steadily rose inside, making it almost completely unbareable, but its all part of the adventure, and it made us all the more apprecitative of the fan we had in our next guesthouse.
The following morning we went on an organized tour to the cu chi tunnels outside of saigon. This vast underground tunnel system is in total 250 km and is only 80cm wide by 120cm tall. At this site we were also able to go to the shooting range. Also we were able to see all the different booby traps used by the viet cong as well as all the different sorts of rooms in the tunnels and the overall architectural ingenuity of the viet cong guerillas. later that day we also went to the war remnants museum.
We have purchased an "open bus ticket" what this is is a bus ticket to a variety of stops that have no predetermined dates on them. so our trip through vietnam has consisted of and will consist of HMC --> Mui ne --> Da Lat --> Nha Trang --> Hoi an (where we are now) --> Hue --> Hanoi. Tommorrow we will actually be heading to hue at 8 int he morning and then at 5 oclock in the evening of the same day we will board another bus that we will take overnight to hanoi, where we will spend the 24th. We will be flying from hanoi back to bangkok on nov.25.
we sepnt a total of 3 days in mui ne. the first day we found a guesthouse and just enjoyed an easy evening. The following day we took the morning to relax in our room and in the afternoon we each rented a motorbike. one very new one and one more vintage if you will... the official name of the vintage motorbike is "baby blue beauty". We tried to find the local sand dunes, having herd fo the sand sledding there, but we rode right past them and a few km down the road we decided to just park our bike and walk down to the beach. the waves were crashing nicely and the tide was slwoly coming in and the best part was that there was no one else on the beach. It was good to just get to relax on a beautiful beach. After spending some time there we got back on our bikes and set out to return to the guesthouse. on the wway back carson ran out of fuel and luckily it was right at the sand dunes, so we didnt miss tem ont he way back. After getting soem gas, we walked up onto the dunes where the wind was blowing furiously at times and i got to do 2 runs of sand sledding... needless to say afterwards i was covered in sand. not the best of feelings... The next day we spent pretty much only bumming around hte guesthouse. it was our first official day off where we did nothing, and boy did we need it! we both felt re-energized afterwards.
from mui ne we took a bus up to the central higlands town of da lat. that first night when we arrived we went to a cooking class with the owner of our hotel. After our inner, and as we were walking home, we were actually cold for the first time on this trip while beingoutside.... it was very much like going for a walk ona brisk summer night back home. the next day we just walked around town, went t the market and walked to the local flower garden. the following day we left fro nha trang. another beach but this beach was not as nice. the water was murky because it is now rainy season in vietnam i believe and the wind was extremely powerful.coupled with the torrential downpours walking around outside was not the most enjoyable of activities, but watching the large waves break on the shore was a relaxing passtime. We spent 1 night in nha trang and then two nights ago from today we took an over night sleeper bus from nha trang to hoi an. one thign i've found time and time again while traveling out here is that southeast asia is not meant to accomodate someone 6'2'' or so...
We arrived early friday morning and spent the day wondering around town looking in all the shops and just enjoying the old town feel where there were no tourists around. and tonight we will spend one more night at a new hotel , because of some problem at the first one we were at, and tomorrow we head to hue for the day and then at night we will be traveling to hanoi.
-Adam
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Waterfalls - Angkor temples.
Sorry it's been so long since our last post here. it's hard to find time to write down all of our stories in the hour time frame that we get every once in awhile, but we thought we should put up some highlights. (sorry in advance for the vagueness in the descriptions).
The day after the tiger temple we went with our newfound british friend (craig) to the erawen waterfalls. these falls were so gorgeous and there are 7 levels. every one was better than the last. To access some of the waterfalls we had to wade through knee deep water and climb over trees and up little waterfalls, but when we got to the top it was completely worth it! one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen in my life! Carson and I were both speechless for awhile.
That night we came back to town and walked on and took pictures of the historic "bridge over the river kwai"and came back later that night because we thought there was a light show and some excitment that was going to happen. we showed up and the only thing happening was soem thailand cheerleading practice... so we took that night off and enjoyed just sitting and talking, then returned to our bungalow and slept.
The next day Carson and myself took a bus into bangkok and then after a very confusing time at the bus terminal we made our way on another bus to lop buri, wehre we spent the next two nights at an OMF missionary guesthouse. the owners were so nice and coomodating and gave us soem good tips on where to go and just overall it was one of hte better guesthouses. The next day we went and saw the monkey temple in town and had monkeys crawl all over us, and one even tried to steal carsons toque. After that we made our way to the train station and took a train to the old capital city of thailand "Ayuthaya". spent the day there doing a tour looking at all the ruins around the town. By the end of the day we were both agreeing that "a pile of bricks is a pile of bricks", but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. we came back on the train and had a little bit of confusion with a motorcycle taxi bringing carson back to the right guesthouse, but it all worked out.
The next day we took a mini bus into bangkok. definitely not wroth the hassle.. it would have been alot easier to take a train. but oh well. we got there got to ride the skytrain and the subway around town till we got to an area of town called lumphini. (A huge thank you to Cynthia for showing us the ropes when we first arrived in this crazy town a month ago!) we got off and made our way to find a guesthouse, and we found one for surprisingly cheap for being in bangkok (only 160 baht) but it was 4 walls, practically a slab of rock for a bed, and a shared bathroom. but oh well we managed there for a night. that night we went out to see a traditional muay-thai (thai-boxing) match. the atmosphere was absolutely electrifying and crazy with the people betting and just the cheers and shouts of the crowd. It was like a mini BC place when the lions have just scored a touchdown. The experience was amazing... The next day we got up soemwhat early and tried to find the candian embassy to get our vietnam visas... after running into soem fellow candians from victoria we found the place and were told we had to go to the vietnam embassy... byt his time we were already pushing it to be at the airport 3 hours before our international flight to cambodia. so we just got a cab and told him to take us to the airport... For those of use who dont know, bangkok has two airports... we didnt know that, and guess what we found out the hard way. so we arrived at the wrong airport after telling our cab driver the right one and we thoguht he understood but i guess not. We had to take a bus from that airpor to the main one and we're already only 2.5 hours before our flight leaves the ground... so an hour later we finally made it to the right airport and got checked in an hour and a little bit before our flight left. grabbed some luncha nd then we were in the air off to phnom penh (the capitol of cambodia)
As soon as we arrived in cambodia there was a difference... the people here were all smiles and just a warm people. carson and i both love the vibe out here... we found a place for the night and then hit the sack. the next day we went to see the killing fields, the genocide museum and the royal palace... the killing fields were horrendous. jsut to think of all the horrors that happened there and just the anguish and pain of the cambodian people... it was heart-breaking for myself. then we went to see the genocide museum at security center 21 (s-21 / tuol sleng high school) a high school that was used to torture and brutally murder innocent cambodian people suspected of treason to the pol pot regime duing the 1970s... Again this epxerience was heart-breaking. Just walking down the street afterwards and having this new understanding of the people and where they are coming from and why you dont really see anyone over the age of50-60 around... after seeing these two places we finshed hte day by seeing the royal palace and the silver pagoda... The highlight of this sectio of the day was getting to sit down with some guys playing music and get to play with them on some form of xylophone type thing, but Carson and I were both too tired to really enjoy it... plus after seeing the royal palace in bangkok, this one didnt compare.
The next day we headed off to Siem reap to sepnd the next few days looking at the ruins of the Angkor wats. They were stunning! the ngiht we arrived we went to see a sunset and it wasnt actually that great but the following 3 days carson and I got to explore the other ruins and we had a blast. I dont htink we needed anymore time becaseu by the end we were getting templed out but just seeing these vast and amazing structures and the murals and sculptures. Amazing! The photos taken dont do it justice at all. And the feeling of being indiana jones... priceless! Also in our time spent in siem reap we discovered the cambodian version of the mennonite favorite "roll kuchen". Though no where near as good as my mothers, it was still a nice treat to have every breakfast.
Today we got on a bus and made our way back to phnom penh. WE had to stop about 25 km outside of the town becasue its so busy here for independance day (nov.9) and the water festival that accompanies it. There are dragon boat races going on right now ads i type. And tonight there is suppsoed to be a firework show that Carson and I are going to try to go to. And then tomorrow mornign we take another 6 hour bus to the city of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) in southern vietnam, and we'll see what adventures await us out there.
-Adam
The day after the tiger temple we went with our newfound british friend (craig) to the erawen waterfalls. these falls were so gorgeous and there are 7 levels. every one was better than the last. To access some of the waterfalls we had to wade through knee deep water and climb over trees and up little waterfalls, but when we got to the top it was completely worth it! one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen in my life! Carson and I were both speechless for awhile.
That night we came back to town and walked on and took pictures of the historic "bridge over the river kwai"and came back later that night because we thought there was a light show and some excitment that was going to happen. we showed up and the only thing happening was soem thailand cheerleading practice... so we took that night off and enjoyed just sitting and talking, then returned to our bungalow and slept.
The next day Carson and myself took a bus into bangkok and then after a very confusing time at the bus terminal we made our way on another bus to lop buri, wehre we spent the next two nights at an OMF missionary guesthouse. the owners were so nice and coomodating and gave us soem good tips on where to go and just overall it was one of hte better guesthouses. The next day we went and saw the monkey temple in town and had monkeys crawl all over us, and one even tried to steal carsons toque. After that we made our way to the train station and took a train to the old capital city of thailand "Ayuthaya". spent the day there doing a tour looking at all the ruins around the town. By the end of the day we were both agreeing that "a pile of bricks is a pile of bricks", but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. we came back on the train and had a little bit of confusion with a motorcycle taxi bringing carson back to the right guesthouse, but it all worked out.
The next day we took a mini bus into bangkok. definitely not wroth the hassle.. it would have been alot easier to take a train. but oh well. we got there got to ride the skytrain and the subway around town till we got to an area of town called lumphini. (A huge thank you to Cynthia for showing us the ropes when we first arrived in this crazy town a month ago!) we got off and made our way to find a guesthouse, and we found one for surprisingly cheap for being in bangkok (only 160 baht) but it was 4 walls, practically a slab of rock for a bed, and a shared bathroom. but oh well we managed there for a night. that night we went out to see a traditional muay-thai (thai-boxing) match. the atmosphere was absolutely electrifying and crazy with the people betting and just the cheers and shouts of the crowd. It was like a mini BC place when the lions have just scored a touchdown. The experience was amazing... The next day we got up soemwhat early and tried to find the candian embassy to get our vietnam visas... after running into soem fellow candians from victoria we found the place and were told we had to go to the vietnam embassy... byt his time we were already pushing it to be at the airport 3 hours before our international flight to cambodia. so we just got a cab and told him to take us to the airport... For those of use who dont know, bangkok has two airports... we didnt know that, and guess what we found out the hard way. so we arrived at the wrong airport after telling our cab driver the right one and we thoguht he understood but i guess not. We had to take a bus from that airpor to the main one and we're already only 2.5 hours before our flight leaves the ground... so an hour later we finally made it to the right airport and got checked in an hour and a little bit before our flight left. grabbed some luncha nd then we were in the air off to phnom penh (the capitol of cambodia)
As soon as we arrived in cambodia there was a difference... the people here were all smiles and just a warm people. carson and i both love the vibe out here... we found a place for the night and then hit the sack. the next day we went to see the killing fields, the genocide museum and the royal palace... the killing fields were horrendous. jsut to think of all the horrors that happened there and just the anguish and pain of the cambodian people... it was heart-breaking for myself. then we went to see the genocide museum at security center 21 (s-21 / tuol sleng high school) a high school that was used to torture and brutally murder innocent cambodian people suspected of treason to the pol pot regime duing the 1970s... Again this epxerience was heart-breaking. Just walking down the street afterwards and having this new understanding of the people and where they are coming from and why you dont really see anyone over the age of50-60 around... after seeing these two places we finshed hte day by seeing the royal palace and the silver pagoda... The highlight of this sectio of the day was getting to sit down with some guys playing music and get to play with them on some form of xylophone type thing, but Carson and I were both too tired to really enjoy it... plus after seeing the royal palace in bangkok, this one didnt compare.
The next day we headed off to Siem reap to sepnd the next few days looking at the ruins of the Angkor wats. They were stunning! the ngiht we arrived we went to see a sunset and it wasnt actually that great but the following 3 days carson and I got to explore the other ruins and we had a blast. I dont htink we needed anymore time becaseu by the end we were getting templed out but just seeing these vast and amazing structures and the murals and sculptures. Amazing! The photos taken dont do it justice at all. And the feeling of being indiana jones... priceless! Also in our time spent in siem reap we discovered the cambodian version of the mennonite favorite "roll kuchen". Though no where near as good as my mothers, it was still a nice treat to have every breakfast.
Today we got on a bus and made our way back to phnom penh. WE had to stop about 25 km outside of the town becasue its so busy here for independance day (nov.9) and the water festival that accompanies it. There are dragon boat races going on right now ads i type. And tonight there is suppsoed to be a firework show that Carson and I are going to try to go to. And then tomorrow mornign we take another 6 hour bus to the city of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) in southern vietnam, and we'll see what adventures await us out there.
-Adam
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