Arrived in Hanoi

Arrived in Hanoi and going to sleep! Tomorrow we're off to visit Ha Long Bay. 

Siem Reap and Kompong Phluk

Cambodia has left an indelible impression on us. We will miss it and we will not soon forget it. 

It might be foolish for a traveler to say that he is proud to have gone somewhere, for upon what basis can they claim the pride of a region? Oh well; I am proud to have visited Cambodia.

Its overwhelmingly Buddhist people are fundamentally peaceful, which makes the horrors they suffered in the far too recent past all the more shocking and painful. But you can't see that or feel that by visiting them, by talking to them. They bear no ill will to any visitors nor each other. Only hope that the world, first through Angkor Wat and by visiting the rest of this beautiful country, can recognize Cambodia for what it is now rather than what has happened here before. 

No other place I've visited has had this kind of impact on me in such a short time. Perhaps that's because the people we've met have been enthusiastic and honest. The show we saw last night, for instance, could have been campy and put on, but the performers had such earnestness that we recognized they really cared about introducing their culture to the hoards of visitors descending for a tasty buffet. 

With that unwieldy prologue past, we can get to today.

At 9am we were met by the same driver, Bun, who had picked us up from the airport on Tuesday night. We'd arranged with him to see the floating village down on the Big Lake and then several other temples in the Angkor complex. On the drive, my first question to him was why we were seeing so many 2002-era Lexus RX 300s, Toyota Camrys, and Toyota Highlanders. Seriously, everywhere we went it felt like we saw our moms driving in front of us (circa 2002, of course). He explained that the cars come from the U.S. secondhand and they're refurbished by Toyota and resold to Cambodians after they're fixed up. 

After about an hour driving through the outlying Siem Reap neighborhoods, villages, and rice fields, we got  to the outskirts of the Big Lake. There, we got on a small boat and slowly headed through the canals to the floating village - 500 houses and 2,500 people strong. 

Drifting through this village was like nothing we'd done before. We came through and several locals waved, but we didn't interrupt their routines and, by and large, they didn't seem to change their behavior around us. We could really just see this unique community as it is. (This is aside from a few enterprising female businesswomen who drive small boats around and offer refreshments - fruits and drinks - to tourist-laden vessels).  

Along the way, Bun stopped the boat a few times: first to show us around the local secondary school and a beautiful community pagoda, and second so we could take an even smaller flat row boat through the village and also the surrounding, beautiful mangrove forests.

Next, we got back on our main boat and our captain took us out to see the expanse of the Big Lake - 110km by 75km. It earns its name. 

Bun then drove us to a great restaurant for a quick lunch before we continued on to visit some of the more distant Angkor temples. Our first stop was East Mebon, a 3 stage square complex, completely symmetrical, which was guarded by stone elephants and lions on all of its sides and at its entrances. We scoured it in the heat for as long as we could bear before retreating to Bun's air conditioned Camry and heading to the next stop. 

That was Ta Som, a smaller version of Ta Prohm from yesterday, in that it, too, was losing the battle with nature and, particularly, the Spung trees. It was well worth the extra visit as we saw a beautiful mix of nature and stonework with many fewer other visitors around. 

Our third stop in Angkor was Neak Pean, a very unique temple that we had to cross a long bridge to get to. The temple, itself, was quite small and located in the center of another watery moat. With the clouds rolling in overhead, it was beautiful. 

Finally, we headed to Preah Khan, a very large mazelike complex. To get in, we crossed a long bridge with stone guardians. Once there, we walked through the whole temple (and Simon only bumped his head once! Apparently I'm a little taller than most ancient Cambodians). We enjoyed our last moments in this remarkable place before reuniting with Bun and heading for the airport. 

Now we're relaxing in the remarkably luxurious Plaza Premium Lounge in the Siem Reap airport. Thank you Chase Reserve. We're being treated nicer than we might ever deserve, Simon's first airport shower was awesome, and the food and drinks are delicious :)

We'll soon be on our flight to Hanoi and we'll check in from there. 

Angkor Wat

It'll be tough to use enough adjectives to adequately describe how incredible the Angkor temples were so this post will have more pictures and less writing. 

After an excellent breakfast at our hotel, we were picked up by our tour guide, Phi, at 8:15 and headed to Angkor Wat. We briefly stopped to get our complex passed before leaving the bus on the east side of Angkor Wat and beginning the walk into the magnificent temple. 

Even the entrance pavilion to Angkor Wat is immense and imposing, rising out of the jungle and directing you to something even grander. 

We continued down the path under some generous cloud and tree cover until Angkor Wat opened up before us. 

The next three hours flew by as Phi told our small group about the history of the temple, the ancient Khmer civilization, and somehow also became the best photographer we've ever had as a tour guide! He knew all the best places to stop and educate us (finding all the shady spots) and also the best locations for photos. Incredibly, he also found a way to clone us. 

Halfway through our tour of Angkor Wat, we climbed the tight and steep steps up to the top level and were thrilled by expansive views of Cambodian jungle all around us. 

Our selfie game was also on point. 

Finally, only because we had more to see, we descended and made our way away from the first temple, slowly. 

Very slowly... to the reflecting pool for our obligatory, amazing post card views. 

Finally, dragged kicking and screaming away, we were pulled back on the bus and driven to the entrance to Angkor Thom, the former political center of the empire. 

There, we visited the stunning Bayon Temple where there are 196 Buddha faces chiseled into the limestone blocks. 

And some of our own. 

On the way out from the Bayon Temple we stopped at the Terrace of the Elephants, and Erika wanted to get quite close. 

Then, after a stop for some delicious, traditional Cambodian lunch, we made it to Ta Prohm, also known as the Tomb Raider temple. The remarkable site is slowly being eaten alive by nature and it is breathtaking to see it. 

Finally, we left the complex (for today - we're headed to other temples tomorrow) and went back to our hotel for a delicious mango smoothie. I won the race to the bottom. 

We finished the day watching a fascinating Cambodian cultural performance over dinner. Now we're gearing up for our last day in this remarkable country before flying to Hanoi tomorrow night. 

HCM City to Siem Reap

We had a great last morning in Ho Chi Minh City before taking a short flight to Siem Reap. 

We started with one last, excellent breakfast at the C Central Hotel Bui Vien, but this time we fueled up for our long trek through the city with more traditional Vietnamese fare - stir fried noodles and rice with beef. I might start having this breakfast more often. 

After absorbing the awesome protein, we navigated our way several miles from our hotel through the city and to the History Museum, relying on just one map this time, a nascent memory of where things were two days ago, and some more dumb luck. We were also pretty proud of ourselves for climbing the pedestrian learning curve: we annoyed significantly fewer drivers and walked the city and its lack of formal sidewalks like not novices. 

The museum is pretty stunning on the inside and outside. 

Once there, we spent a couple hours going back in time, seeing artifacts that ranged from the most primitive humans all the way through the mid 1900s. Luckily we made it all the way through by the museum's midday close so we trudged the multiple miles back to our hotel in high heat - mid 95 with a heat index of 113 (though we didn't realize it at the time). We did, admittedly, seek some tourist shelter in a Starbucks beside our hotel, but we swear it was just only for a half hour and just for the a/c (and some delicious iced tea drinks). We regret nothing. 

We then took a cab to the airport, checked in for our flight, and then settled in for a late lunch of delicious Pho. What you can't see under my hat is the delirious smile I'm trying to suppress so I won't choke on the noodles. 

After lunch, we got to the gate and took a small bus up to our prop plane. Erika and I were both a bit nostalgic since we hadn't been on propeller planes since college trips to Charlottesville, but this little one and Cambodia Angkor Air got us to Siem Reap safely and 40 minutes ahead of schedule. 

We cleared customs, took a transfer to our hotel, and then lounged here for a bit before going to enjoy probably our best dinner yet (and that's saying something) at the GrillWine Cafe near our hotel. Erika's curry was great (she says) and my Cambodian beef tenderloin lasted just long enough to be photographed before I wolfed it down. 

Finally, after dinner we walked back to our hotel and are getting ready for a big today tomorrow, exploring the Angkor temples. We'll check in after that!

Mekong River Delta

After spending much of yesterday in the city center, today was dedicated to learning more about the culture of southern Vietnam and seeing the nature of the Mekong River Delta using as many different forms of transportation as possible. 

We started by taking a bus with our small tour group one and a half hours south from Ho Chi Minh City while our guide, Phat, told us about the history and culture of the region. 

Our first stop was the Vinh Trang Pagoda, where we saw three Buddhas (happy Buddha, sleeping Buddha, and the Buddha to honor our ancestors). We were also privileged to witness the monks as they conducted their midday prayers. 

Next, we took a small boat across the river to an island where we first had some honey tea and watched a performance from local musicians. Then, we walked over to the honey farm and met some of its occupants. 

After that, we visited a coconut plantation and saw how they turned the fallen coconuts into very tasty candy. Following the candy sampling, we wandered to the edges of the complex where, for some ungodly reason, they decided to keep two pythons named Tony as pets...

After that, we took an even smaller boat to our lunch destination, deeper in the heart of the island, accessible by narrow canals. 

After a big, and very tasty Vietnamese lunch, we strolled around the crocodile farm and realized they also kept porcupines. The crocs moved just enough to convince us they were still alive but the porcupines were eagerly scurrying around the cage, trying to enlist our help in their escape. 

Upon successful porcupine rescue (just kidding), we boarded an even smaller boat called a sampan and rowed through even narrower canals. Simon showed off his hard earned summer camp canoeing skills while the rest of the boat lounged deservedly. 

Finally, we hopped on the back of a pickup truck - a tuk tuk - to make our way back to the coconut plantation, all the while dodging rogue branches and aggressive leaves. It was a blast zooming past the locals and sharing the streets with them. 

After a long and busy day on the delta, it was time to get back on the largest of our boats and float across the Mekong, enjoying some fresh coconut water and learning about the local fish farming practices. 

While on the bus back to our hotel, we managed to catch a few moments of shut eye,  and, even after 11 hours of sleep last night. But we both woke up in time to see the Russian roulette traffic game that is Ho Chi Minh City driving. 

Now, we've had another delicious dinner (apparently it's hard to find a bad meal here!) and are looking forward to visiting museums tomorrow before our flight!