Christmas in Cambodia

After, what felt like a really long flight, we made it to Cambodia!!!! We were in Siem Reap

Going into this trip knowing very little about Cambodia, I was quite surprised at what I saw. We arrived at night, so we could not really take in all of our surroundings, however we were able to see the bright lights of the MANY 5 star hotels. I had heard that Cambodia was a beautiful country, and now after seeing it, I agree. However, there was a greater focus on tourism than I would have ever thought. Everywhere you looked there was a hotel, the next one nicer than the first. Regardless, our time in Cambodia was great!!! A good example is our hotel. The pic below is the front of our hotel. It was extremely nice inside, probably the nicest hotel we had on our whole trip. However, when I looked out past the gates of the hotel, to the left and right, the hotel seemed out of place. The streests, as you can see, were basically dirt roads, buidlings were barely standing straight, it seemed to be a rather poor area of town. And yet, here stood this magnificant, easily 4-5 star hotel, right in the middle of it all.

Well below is our group. There were six of us in total, all of which are teachers in Korea.

This was our van shot on the first day in Cambodia.
Our first stop was the Angkor Wat temples. The pictures don't really do these sights much justice, as it was so mch beautiful in person. In the Khmer language, Angkor means city and Wat means temple, a good description of Angkor Wat itself, as there was much to see.


The detail in some of the temples was amazing... look really close. What do you see? Yup two monkey's cleaning each other. This picture was zoomed in a lot, but as you can see, the one below is not as close, it really shows the detail a bit better.

The amzing thing about these carvings is that they all have a meaning. They are not just a bunch of random drawings, they actaully represent certain people, the king, some of the king's interest, etc...

Below is the carving of the three-headed elephant.

We couldn't resist the group photo...

At the Bayon temple in Angkor Wat we saw the smiling Buddha. Apparently this is a popular place for tourist to take their picture, so, why not...



More temple....

Below I thought was a really nice picture. There were many monks around the temples, and this looked like such a peaceful shot.

The next day we went to another temple, where Trevor and I got lost from our group for about 15-20 mins. Trevor got surrounded by the local children trying to sell stuff to him, and of course its really hard to say no to these kids, so as our group moved forward, we remianed in the same spot. Now I know that 15-20mins doesn't seem like a long time to be lost, but when you see these temples, there are many many ways to go through them and tour around, I got a little worried, but we found them. Our tour guide was releaved when we all met up again...

Below is our our guide playing a Cambodian instrument that some of the local people were selling inside the temple.

This temple was the same temple used in the movie Tomb Raider, which our tour guide liked to mention quite often.. hahah but apparently all the local people really liked having the movie filmed there as it created more jobs for many people, as well as it brought more to their economy, both of which are obviously good. This temple had all of these really REALLY big trees growing in, on and around it. You've never seen big trees, until you've seen these...
This is a popular spot for couples to stand and take their picture, so being the only couple in the group, we did.
While we waited for our tour guide, we met some local children, who spoke English. We were able to learn a bit about them as well as learn some Khmer language from them. It was a really fun experience to meet these kids. They seemed really well behaved and really just seemed interested in us. We gave them some candy, which I think they really liked, because we ran into them later and they asked for more....

The War Museum was after lunch. It was interesting to see some of the history of Cambodia. There were even some areas fenced off, as they apparently contained real landmines, that had not been set off. This is actually still a problem in Cambodia, and many people, innocent people, have come in contact with these bombs, and have lost limbs and even lives. In the lonely planet guide, some advice it gave was, if you need to go to the bathroom, and there are no toilets, don't be too modest and go to far into the woods, because you may find a landmine, there is nothing wrong with going just at the side of the road....

Christmas day, was a great day; we got to ride an elephant!!!! I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty scared. It was something that both of us really wanted to do, but when we got close to the elephant I got really nervous. Once I was on, I felt ok, as Trevor was pretty calm which helped me calm down. I felt kind of bad for the elephant, because she had to take us up a pretty big hill. Along the way we had to pass other elephants who were on their way down, which made me a tad nervous, but we got to the top of the hill to see Phenom Bakheng, where we sat to watch the sunset.

Phenom Bakheng was very tall, but we climed it!!! I look really smal but you can see me on there (Pink top black pants) The climb was well worth it!! The sunset was amazing. You could see forever before the sun started to go down, but as soon as it was down, we had to move quickly. We had a good climb down ahead of us and it got dark really quickly.Earlier that day we learned a little more about Cambodian history and the whole Pol Pot regime. Below is a small board that was up, showing all of the innocent people that lost their lives during that time (1975-79). There was also a small Pagoda type building with glass on the sides. Inside were the skulls and bones of many of the people killed by Pol Pot. It was a hard thing to read about and see.

On our last day in Cambodia, we had some free time before heading to Vietnam, so we decided to walk around town a little. Below is a picture of the middle of a park, four lions, I think representing North, East, South, West.

After the park we did some more shopping then found a little restaurant to have lunch in. Overall, Cambodia was a great experience. Although we did see and experience a lot of poverty, which was a hard thing to see, we also learned a lot and were able to really enjoy and appreciate such a beautiful country.

The last picture I took in Vietnam was of this post in the street. It says, "May Peace Prevail On Earth". After learning so much about Cambodia and Vietnam, I thought this post was something that more people should be looking at and really thinking about.

Vietnam...

Vietnam was AMAZING!!! Before looking at any of the pictures below, I must warn you that many of these pictures do not do any justice for how beautiful, and at the same time, how sad, some of the places are. Seeing everything in person was an amazing experience and trying to capture every beautiful detail of the country was impossible. Perhaps if I had a better camera, the detail would be easier to see. However, after seeing some of the poverty that many vietnamese live in, and seeing how little some of them have, it really makes me appreciate even having a camera. I feel lucky to have been able to have the opportunity to travel and to experience all of this in person. Most of what we saw on our tour was a lot of beautiful temples and islands and land. However we still saw a lot of poverty and a lot of history that demonstrated the hardships that this country has experienced, and is still experiencing today.

We started our Vietnam adventures in Hanoi. We arrived from Cambodia to Hanoi at night time, so we couldn't really see all of our surroundings. We went right from the airport, out for dinner then headed to the hotel. In the morning, I looked out the window of out hotel room and this was the view. The picture looks fake almost, partly because of the morning fog and dampness, but mostly because it is hard to imagine this is a reality.



That day, we went on a junk boat ride along Halong Bay. Below is our boat. Our tour guide is the one in the beige jacket. This boat cruise was our first real taste of ow beautiful Vietnam really is.



This is a pic taken from the boat. Much like many of the surroundings, much of the area looked very tropical like this. Something I was not expecting.
And of course we couldn't resist taking the 'hair blowing in the wind' picture, while on the boat.
This was the name of the island we went to.
The scenary on this island was absolutuley amazing. On this island there was a huge cave that was filled with sandstone. When the tide was high and the water would come in, it would change the shape of of the ceiling and walls of the inside of the cave. Inside the cave, there are many stones that resemble different animals, like dragons or lions. Mind you, you do need to use your imagination a little bit, but you can see it. Even the stones that don't actually resemble and specific shape are really cool to see. Stone was hanging from the ceiling, mush like icicles or even mushrooms. The cave itself had coloured spotlights throughout it to add to its ambiance, as I think this is a popular tourist stop, but regardless, still very cool to see. I know its kinda hard to make out the picture, but trust me its there... and very cool.

After our cave tour, we took our original boat to a floating dock where different fish and other sea creatures were caught and kept (this was where our lunch was coming from.. talk about fresh seafood!!!) We then transfered ourselves on to this small flat boat that took us further in, and around, some of the islands. Below you can see us as the boat is going through a small cave. At first I didn't think we would fit.... but then I realized how small and low our boat was. It was just a small cave, but it brought us into this small little cove of high cliffs and mountains.

On the way back to our orginal boat, we passed the floating village, which is exacly that. A bunch of homes that float on water; little house built on docks. We even saw one that had pool table in it!!! We thought maybe it was the local bar...

We soon got back to our boat for a fresh seafood lunch. It was sooooooo good. I don't think I have ever eaten such fresh tasting seafood. We had shrimp (regular shrimp and another kind that was bigger and a slightly purplish colour), crab, which I had never had before, and many other types of seafood. Below are some cuddle fish (i think)... I'm pretty sure they were in our lunch as well.
That night when we got back to the city, we were suppose to see a water puppet show, which is a very popular event in Vietnam. We arrived back and hour early, so for that extra hour, against my will, we all did one of the most touristy activities I think I have ever seen. I think they were called 'Cyclicks', basically it was very similar to those ice cream bikes, or, if you will dicki-dee's, where a guy is riding a bike and you sit in a cart attached to the front of the bike, and he rides/pushes you around town. The traffice in Vietnam was absolutely CRAZY BUSY!! Almost everyone rides a scooter and no one really obeys any traffic laws, so we got to sit in these carts and were literally in the middle of the traffic. My cart got cut off a few times, and we almost lost the rest of the group (we had 5 people all doing this at the same time so the guys all followed each other throughout the city). Trevor's cart hit some guy in the arm as he walked by, also in and amongst the traffic. I was in the last cart so the pic below is of the carts in front of me, also in and amongst the scooter traffic.
The water puppet sow was really good, but we were not suppose to take pictures inside.

The next day, we headed to Hoa Lu, which was an ancient capital of Vietnam from 968 AD to 1010 AD during the Dinh and early Le Dynasties. We saw two small temples of teh Kings, each of which was over a thousand years old.

While there we were asked if we would like to ride a Water Buffalo for $1. Of course Trevor jumped at the chance!!! It turns out it wasn't actually a ride, you really just sat on the Water Buffalo. Nonetheless, still funny. The guy even let Trevor wear his hat in the picture.

After the temples, we Thung Nang, where we took a boat trip on a river surrounded by rice fields and limestone formations.
While on the boat we went through another small cave which was much bigger, in length, than the last one. This cave had limestone formations all throughout it, on the walls and on the ceiling. The people steering the boat had to bring out a flashlight to make sure we didn't hit out heads on any of the stone hanging down. There were a few times where we had to duck down pretty low so as to not get hit. This was the best part of that day...
On the way back, the two women, who happened to be mother and daughter, rowing and steering the boat brought out some merchandise and tried to sell us all of it. Feeling like we should buy something, we bought an embroidered t-shirt made by the mother and a little embroidered bag. The total was 70 000 dong, we paid with a 100 000 dong bill, but never received any change. We brushed it off thinking that was their tip. They continued to try to sell us stuff, and even got some more t-shirts passed over from other boats, so we could have more selection. Close to the end of the trip, the daughter kept asking us for money, although it took us awhlie to figure this out... We gave them a tip, only to be asked for more. We found out later that the other people in our group also had the same experience on their boats. You can't really hold this against these people though, as I don't think they have very much.

The next day we left Hanoi and flew to Ho Chi Minh City. On our first day in Ho Chi Minh city was my favourite day of the trip. To begin, we saw a beautiful temple (below) and went to My Tho province for yet.... yes.. another boat ride. This ride took us around the small canals in the Mekong delta.

We first went to Turtle island (there are four main islands, Turtle, Unicorn, Dragon, and Pheonix). Here we were given a small feast of fruit and tea (I think honey and lemon tea). All very tasty.
Afterwhich, we were taken on a small tour of a coconut candy making factory. We got to taste the candy and then see how it is made. Also very tasty!!!
We walked through some more jungle-like scenary only to come across the chance to hold a HUGE Python!!! Trevor did it of course, along with one other lady that was in our group. As we started to walk away, I decided I should just get over my fear and do it. And I did!! I held the Python!!!! The first picture below you can see Trevor, cool and comfortable...
When they first put the snake on me, a freaked out a little... as expected. THEN the snake turne his head and started moving towards my face.... then I really freaked out.. hense the picture below. The snake people came and re-adjusted the snake, as they could see the panic in my face... well I wasn't being very descrete about my fear either... I don't think I screamed though...

This next picture is basically be saying... "Ok.. just take the picture..." I was done with the snake.
After this we were given another small feast of rice-wine, tea, dired coconut and peanuts. Only to move onto, yup you guessed it, another boat ride!! This one was really cool though. The palm trees and other vegetation made like a tunnel-effect over the river as we sailed through it.
When we returned back, we got on our original boat to take us back to land. They gave us some coconuts to drink, which as many of you may know, is something I have always wanted to try. We are wearing our new hats here.. nice eh?? We couldn't resist.

Our last and final day of our trip was a busy one. We saw the Cu Chi tunnels, which are an amazing underground, network of appox. 200km. They were constructed by Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War. These tunnels had hospitals, homes, accomodations and even schools.

Below is an Trevor in a type of tunnel that was used for sodiers to hide in.
Here we are discussing a plan with the soldiers.
the Vietnamese were clever in their work. They had many traps, such as the one below. Others include the swinging up trap, folding chair trap, window trap, klipping armpit trap, etc....
Me heading down into a tunnel.
Inside the tunnel....I had to take keep taking pictures so that I could see where I was heading...

After our trip in the tunnels, we were given some type of potatoe like-dish that the soldiers would eat. They would pretty much live on this for as long as they could. It was pretty tasty though.
Our day then lead us to the War Remnant museum. Not really knowing that much about the Vietnam war, it was interesting to see. There were many pictures from the war, as well as many pictures of the many casualities. One area was all about 'Agent Orange' the substance that the U.S used to destroy trees and forestation in order to see the enemy. The exhibit showed many pictures of people who were effected by this horrible substance. It is thought that even three generations later, the grandchildren of Vietnamese soldiers, are still being affected by Agent Orange, with birth defects. This entire museum, although very informative, was very hard to see at the same time. It really makes you see the effects of war and really opens your eyes to history and how some of this is still seen today. It really made me think about how many unnessecary deaths are happening even today, because of all the fighting.

I heard once that we learn about history to help prevent it from happening again. And yet, even after learning and knowing about what has gone on in the past, as we speak, there is currently another war going on. We are all learning about the past, but this doesn't seem to be preventing the same thing from happening again. Does anyone else see a problem with this? How are we not learning anything?

Well after a long day of learning and thinking, we went on... yup... another boat ride. This one was for dinner. We had dinner then set out for an hour cruise, before heading back to the airport.

Well that was pretty much our trip. We spent new years in the airport, but it was still fun. We found the bar and brought in the new year with some Vietnamese Beer. We even wore our new Vietamese hats for our New years kiss in Vietnam.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!