Phnom Penh

We stayed in a great hostel in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. We payed six dollars to stay in a big, air-conditioned dorm, where we met some fun Brits. The hostel had a really cool area to hang out, a bar, a restaurant, and a pool.

While in Phnom Penh, we visited Tuol Seng, the school that was transformed into a prison during the Khmer Rouge regime to detain, interrogate, torture, and kill those suspected of being enemies to the regime. The school, in the middle of the city, is now a genocide museum.

After visiting the museum, we headed a bit out of the city to visit the Killing Fields, where we witnessed previous detaining and executing areas, skulls and bones of victims, and mass graves. The most heart-wrenching part of the visit was walking by the Killing Tree, where infants were grabbed by their feet and smashed against the tree, heads first.

The next day was a more uplifting one. We traveled to a Buddhist monastery, where we made an offering to the monks, prayed with incense, and were finally blessed by the monks. We left soaked from the blessing, and content.

With the temperature inching toward the fifty degree mark, we lounged by the pool in our hostel a lot, enjoying our books, when we weren't going out on our excursions.

Photos:

1. Praying area in Wat Phnom
2. Detention and torture room at S-21
3. Mass grave at the Killing Fields
4. Killing Tree at the Killing Fields
5. Hostel

A very long two days

On our way from Ho Chi Minh City to the town of Chau Doc on the Mekong river, we chilled on an awesome sleeper bus, watching the lush Vietnamese countryside go by. But we weren't at peace forever, because soon enough blaring cheesy music came on, along with accompanying live music videos, each with an elaborate plot.

Our supposed three hour bus ride ended up taking six and a half, and since no one spoke a word of English, we didn't know when we were supposed to get off. When we finally arrived in Chau Doc, it was almost eleven o'clock at night. When brought to our hostel, it was closed, probably because it was too late. Then while going around the town, we found out that all of the other hostels were closed too. Our driver brought us to the only open hotel in town, a majestic building overlooking the Mekong. When we found out the lowest rate for the night was 150$, our hearts sank. I mean, there aren't many broke university students who can afford a room like this.

We were called a taxi, who drive us around town, trying to find an open place. We were considering pulling off an all-nighter, since we had to leave at 6:30 the next morning to catch our boat. We were brought to another nice hotel, which charged 50$ a night. But then a tuk-tuk driver told us he knew about a place that charged only 20$ a night, and was still open. We quickly drove there, and collapsed on the bed, sticky, tired, and hungry, for we hadn't eaten dinner.

We got up at 5:30 the next morning, ready for another long, yet exciting day. This day comprised lots and lots of traveling. We spent 4.5 hours on a slow boat cruising down the Mekong, stopping to visit local fish farms and to visit a river-side village, then we then spent 2.5 hours in a very hot van. We had to do several stops in various different immigration offices in the countryside before being allowed to enter Cambodia. Once the passports and visas completed, we sped down country roads on the way to Phnom Penh. The road which we took was mostly covered of massive tarps covered in corn kernels for drying. They would sometimes cover half the road, making for a very windy drive. There were also a ton of gigantic colorful temples pn the side of the road. Once in Phnom Penh, the van dropped off several French backpackers that had joined us that morning and then had the hard task to try to find our little hostel. We had a very nice drive through the city before arriving to destination. We arrived to some very cold air-conditioned rooms, because if we haven't mentioned this enough yet; it's really hot. This concluded a very hectic two days of travel.

We are now hanging out in the hostel trying to handle the heat. We walked around a little today, but it will take some acclimatization before we can do some serious exploring.

Elena and Alex

Picture in order:
Real tunnel entrance used during the Vietnam war in the Cu Chi forest.
Street in the backpacker district in Ho Chi Minh City.
Sleeper bus, much better than buses back home.
Floating houses. These were everywhere on the Mekong River.
River banks on the Mekong river.

We are now in Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

Alex & Elena

Tunnels and motorbikes and markets, oh my!

We quickly got the hang of this bustling city of ten million inhabitants. The first small feeling of success we felt was crossing the street without getting killed by the myriad of motorbikes flying by.

On Saturday we did nothing but walk around the city, visiting the Ho Chi Minh City museum, then a nearby market. Surprisingly we didn't get lost, thanks to Alex's innate sense of direction. Then yesterday we booked a day tour to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. Getting there was an adventure in itself.

First, one must understand that when you're told to take a certain bus at eight o'clock, you don't expect there to be dozens of buses, many of which are going in the same direction. So finding the right bus is a challenge. But then we realize we don't have the receipt confirming our booking that I've left in my pocket in another pair of pants in our room. So Alex runs back. When he comes back a few minutes later, out of breath and drenched in sweat, he reminds me that we had locked away all of our possessions in a locker in our room, including my pants. So after I hand him the key to the locker, he runs again. When he comes back again, he takes a very long time to recover. You see, our room is on the fourth floor of a very tall, skinny building, with no elevator.

Clearly, we'd missed our bus. When we tell those responsible for the tour, they call the tour guide, who picks us up by motorbike a few minutes later. So we rode separately on this machine likely to cause injury or death to the tour office. From there a woman walked us to our small bus parked on the side of the road. We were very grateful for all the help we'd received.

After that, apart from the tight squeeze in the bus and the lack of air conditioning, it was a good day. We didn't even burn in the blistering 35 degrees Celsius, which felt like 45 degrees with the humidex. The tunnels were great; we got swarmed with propaganda and Vietnamese pride, and were amazed at the Vietnamese people's resilience during the war against the Americans. We explored the complex layout of tunnels and the many traps they had made.

We finished our evening where we always did the last three nights, in the little restaurant across our hotel which served food that we looked forward to every day. During the night, at around 4:30 am, we were once again woken up by a man ringing a bell incessantly in the temple next to our hotel, presumably a monk.

I am presently writing from a sleeper bus heading to Chau Doc, a city from which we'll be taking a boat in the morning to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We were told the bus ride would only take three hours, but it looks like we're looking at six. But, as we keep telling each other, "it's an experience," like so many others.

The chaos of adventure

Hi everyone,

Elena and I will be posting on this blog every few days so you can keep up with our adventure to south east asia. (And so you know we're still alive).

The first two days of our trip comprised getting here. We spent two days flying around the world. We had a quick first flight to Minneapolis, several hours later flew to Paris (which had an awesome terminal in which we hung out), we topped it all off with a 12 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City which is where we are currently staying. We are in a nice little hotel in the backpacker district.

The drive from the airport to the hostel came as a bit of a shock. The road circulation here is absolutely mad. It's like being in a bicycle race with scooters. Hundreds of them at a time. The road etiquette seems non-existent. People driving scooters down the sidewalks, going both ways down a one-way street, skimming cars and trucks and honking like madmen. It's quite the contrast from the organized chaos of Winnipeg.

We walked around our little street to get a better feel of what we are getting ourselves into. We found lots of little shops with a beautiful array of colorful clothing, bags, bracelets and other little trinkets. We had supper at a little restaurant across the street from our hostel. And then briefly explored the surrounding area and its bustling night life.

Tomorrow will include a little trip the nearby market and the parks around the hotel. We still need to get used to the heat. Oh yeah, it's really hot here. Way more than Winnipeg. Jealous?

The pictures are as follow:
The really cool Paris airport terminal
Elena ready to go for two months
First real meal of Vietnamese food (absolutely delicious)
Nightlife in the backpacker district

That's all for today, we're going to bed, it's 12 hours ahead here, so good morning to you all.

Alex & Elena