Cambodia/ Vietnam

First off, let me start by saying how much I miss my girls back at PSU, and all my friends from home. If you are reading this, you know how much that means to me, and I really would give anything to see you right now. Vietnam was an amazing country, and our stay there went by with a blink of an eye. Most people stayed in Ho Chi Mihn City, but through an SAS trip I got to travel to Cambodia for the first three days. This was such a unique experience and I’m so glad I was able to see both countries. Doing SAS trips however, are extremely challenging because you really have to go by their schedule, and you can’t really travel on your own. However, this SAS trip, and the one in India, were the ones to do. I would recommend doing these trips to anyone doing SAS in the future, but THAT’S IT- because you can have a lot more fun traveling on your own.
On our first day, we flew from Saigon (Vietnam) to Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Getting off the ship in Vietnam was definitely an eye opener. It was brutally hot. I mean hot- like scorching. When you breathed in the air it smelled humid, and you were constantly sweating. The streets of the city were pretty dirty, and all the buildings looked like they were falling apart. It was pretty cool to see temples in between some of the buildings. These temples were beautifully colorful, and made the city feel very spiritual. However, this isn’t what I had pictured Vietnam to look like. I was expecting more greenery, and more lush farmlands. Although there were those straw pointy hats everywhere! When we got to Cambodia, the cities looked and felt pretty similar. First, we drove to the National museum. Oh- and our bus broke down on the way… minor detail. The museum was great- very different than going to a national museum in the States. It was all outside, and the relics were incredible (all buddhas). We then drove to our sunset cruise on the Mekong Delta River. We got in these junk boats (all 60 of us), and floated down the river, enjoying the blue and purple sunset. After the ride we drove to a near by orphanage (Palm Tree Orphanage) that was actually created by a SAS alumni. Many alumni seem to go to remote countries and help out after completing this voyage, probably because they can’t sit still after this incredible experience. I can definitely see myself doing something after this trip in a third world country for a while. The orphanage was an eye opener as well. The kids immediately jumped on us and were attached to our hips for the next couple hours. One girl who I became close with was named, Srey Rith. She was about 8, and quite possibly the cutest girl I had ever met. I can see why Angelina and Brad Pitt adopted from Cambodia- these kids were precious! We ate dinner at a local restaurant called, Khmer Surin restaurant, where we were served traditional Cambodia foods. My favorite food that we ate that night was these rice cakes dipped in a bean and peanut sauce (must try at home!). Getting to our hotel we were all dead tired from this busy day but of course rallied to go out on Pub Street. Cambodia had great nightlife- which I wasn’t expecting. We took these tuk tuks (Cambodian rickshaws) to a famous club called Heart of Darkness, and tried their famous drinks (the flaming shot). A lot of fun this night- riding on the backs of motorcycles… ya ya you get the jist.
Our wake up call was at 4:30am (we all pulled all nighters), to go see some of the famous temples. How we sight see with no sleep is beyond me… we went first to a place called the Silver pagoda which was near the Royal Palace. Both were such beautifully designed structures, and it was crazy to me that the king was actually in the palace that we were looking at. We had to take off our shoes at most of these places and we had to cover our knees and shoulders (just like in India). This trip felt a lot like India because we were looking at very similar buildings. However the structures in Cambodia felt a lot more Asian by design. More pagoda-like, and with deeper red colors. We then traveled to the Toul Sleng museum, which was a museum on the killings of the Cambodian people. There was so much history I didn’t know about the genocide in Cambodia- I was never taught about this movement so this day was extremely interesting to me. We visited the Killing Fields afterwards, which was by far the most moving experience. There was white powder on the ground that was the bone remains of the Cambodia people. The fields stretched for miles and there were actual skulls and bones spread out through the fields. I can’t really describe the feeling I had throughout this visit because it was such a mixture of emotions. I was sad, obviously for these people, disappointed, that I didn’t know about this huge event, and glad, that I had the rare opportunity to see such a historic place. After the killing fields, we went to Sorya restaurant, which was near the central market. Favorite food here was the dessert- a green tapioca jello (freakin awesome). The market though is what blew me away. There were about 10 entrances all bombarded with people and stands of souvenirs, jewelry, clothes, food, makeup- you name it. People here weren’t as aggressive with trying to sell you things (compared to India). They really just sat in their stand, ate their foo (traditional Vietnamese food), and waited for you to come and name your price. The best part was however, was that everything was beyond cheap. For example, an OPI nail polish was $1! Thank god I didn’t bring money or it would’ve been a bad day for Visa. We then flew to Siem Reap (Cambodia) for our next couple days. Dinner this night was the most incredible meal ever. For those of you who have been to Hawaii and done a Luao, this was very similar. We entered the Kulen II restaurant, to find a huge room with a stage and an enormous buffet of traditional foods. We ate (more than 3 courses) and watched the traditional men and women perform dances. Back at our hotel that night we heard that you could order massages to your rooms. We immediately made appointments and boy were we in for a surprise. My friend Nat and I shared a bed while these miniature women came in and gave us “massages”. More like beat us up. They were hitting us and laughing the whole time. It was extremely uncomfortable and definitely an experience!
The next morning we woke up again around 4:30 to see the sunrise tour of Angkor Wat. Unfortunately this morning was really cloudy and we didn’t get a sunrise, but it was still cool to see Angkor Wat for the first time. For those of you who don’t know what this is- Angkor Wat temple is one of the natural wonders of the world, and the largest Hindu temple in the world. It was magical. We toured around the temple, took a ton of photos, and then went to another famous place called, Ta Prohm temple. This was the temple were Tomberator was filmed at. Huge trees were coming out of the stones, and took over the sight. This was probably my favorite temple we visited. We then visited the south gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon, Baphuon, Terrace of the leper king and Elephant terraces. All lot of sight seeing on no sleep. We flew back to Saigon that night, and went out in Ho Chi Mihn City. Went to a club called Apocalypse Now (by scooter), and had a great time with everyone who stayed in Vietnam.
Supposedly the thing to do in Vietnam is to get customized suits or dresses made. Because it is so cheap to do so, a lot of people told us to go to the market and try to get it done. The market here was a lot like the one in Cambodia except a lot more compact. There were soooo many people, everywhere. People were eating bugs, cutting up eels, selling fake purses, you name it. I found a dress place where I sketched out a dress, and picked out the fabric. I felt like a real designer! I did some damage at that market… and then was pulled away to go see the Cu Chi tunnels. This sight was probably the only real important thing to see in Ho Chi Mihn, because it was the famous tunnels used in the Vietnam War (or the American war as the Vietnamese call it). We climbed through a 100 meter long tunnel, which was 30 ft underground. We shot AK47s and walked around the grounds. This was also a unique experience because there were pictures of American soldiers being killed and tortured everywhere. There were also traps all along the grounds explaining how they caught the American soldiers. This was definitely hard to see, and made me really uncomfortable at some points. After the tunnels, we went back to the market and got our nails done. Also a cultural experience (in a different way)- very cool to have a Vietnamese woman painting your nails in Vietnam- can't really explain it… you have to be a nail salon go-er. That night was our last night in Vietnam, so everyone went crazy. We all rode around the city on motorcycles and hit up two awesome clubs called Lush and Crazy Buffalo. There were surprisingly a lot of tourists here, or people who were in Vietnam for business. I met this one man from Paris, who really changed my perspective on traveling, made me really reconsider my life, and what I want to do in the future. I loved how he put into perspective how small we are, and how you can really live anywhere you want (and do whatever you want). I always thought that living in the states and going by the book was my only option, but I now realize that the world is so much bigger than that, and if I want to live in a foreign place, no one can really stop me. I know, I know, this might sound crazy, and I'm sorry mom and dad for probably scaring you right now, but it was a great eye opener to feel so independent and so in charge of my own life.
For our last day, we did some last minute shopping at the same market, went to a local water park to play with Vietnamese children, and got sushi. I did a lot of damage in this country… not going to lie. But the experiences I had, and the moments of complete awe that I captured, were by far more important. I learned a lot about myself in this port, learned a lot about the world, and really got to understand how to travel. I’ve now realized that I love traveling in small groups, I love airports, I love meeting people from around the world, and I love motorcycles. However, I don’t like buses, tour groups, or negative people. What I love the most about SAS is that everyone on this voyage is somewhat similar to me. They are up for adventure, live to travel, and most importantly are optimistic. I can’t believe how fast this trip is going by, Vietnam and Cambodia felt like a blink of an eye. It was truly amazing to me how just that little snapshot in my life can change so much of who I am.