Vietnam and Cambodia - a great adventure...

Ho Chi Minh City or otherwise known as Saigon is a charming city that is booming with high end retail stores and small shops selling local goods and food. We docked in a tourist port that was right outside of downtown and had easy access to the main tourist area of the city. Because it was difficult to walk there we had shuttles that took us into the center of town and dropped us off at the well-known Rex Hotel… knowing that I only had 2 days in the city I tried to maximize as much as I could by prioritizing my time. The first day I led a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels which was an area that shows the way the Viet Cong built and dug tunnels underground as a strategy against those they were fighting in the war, including the U.S. They were pretty interesting… the guide showed us the various ways they would hide the tunnels and create ways to survive below ground including a hospital and kitchen… we were also able to walk through 2 of the tunnels which were pretty intense… and cramped… we also were able to go into a tunnel through a hidden entry way that was super small… After seeing the tunnels we returned home and I went back out to check out the sights in the city and shop a little. We walked over to the Ben Thanh market and then had dinner at a highly recommended restaurant called Vietnamese House. As usual, I tried the local beer which I really liked called 333 (or in Vietnamese it would be called bah bah bah). After dinner we headed over to the Majestic Hotel and Casino to go up to their rooftop bar for a beautiful view and great drinks… including a live band…. While we were there a few friends randomly showed up and while we were talking, I learned that the places that make suits for folks were open until late – midnight…. So we had a few drinks and headed over to Nam Silk, a tailor shop that I wanted to get suits from… I didn’t think I was going to be able to make anything because of my limited time (since I had to go to Cambodia for most of my trip) but they were able to turn it around in 2 days… and a friend picked up the final items for me so I was set! Long story short… I got 2 suits, 2 shirts, pants, and shorts made for me and the woman threw in a tie! Pretty cool… I also got some nice dress shoes for 20$ at the market so I am pretty set for job interviews and the Alumni Ball!

The one thing that I forget, as do most tourists, how the prices in Vietnam and Cambodia are so low that you end up spending more than you want because you feel like you can buy anything and everything… I can’t speak on personal experience because I gave myself a budget at each port, but I noticed other people who go all out in purchases – but then I think… do they know how much they have spent cumulatively? Because I hear people going to the ATM everyday or even twice a day… sure it is great to have items for so cheap but you end up spending more than you want! So note to travelers, unless you put yourself on a budget, you may spend more than you think you want to! For example.. massage for an hour for $6… amazing… North Face backpack (of course its fake)… $5.00… or t-shirts for $2. I spent more money of food and ate more than I needed too but yeah… a dollar can go far here but with our American tendencies to indulge in excess, it can actually be pretty pricey.

Anyway… so along the lines of spending money… The following day I decided to just walk around and soak in the city and eat some more! It was great to see the Market again and experience what life is like inside. I had a fun experience as the vendors, mostly women, were heckling me and asked me to buy their goods. I went in on the experience very jovially and really entertained their assertive sales pitches… well anyway, one woman grabs my arm (I am also getting pinched a lot…) and asks me where I am from and I tell her… umm.. New York… so she says back, “no, where are you really from?” and so I say… “ok, L.A., California..” and then she pauses, frowns, and then asks, “ where are your grandparents from?”… so I tell her that she got me and that I was Korean… and then she proceeds (while still holding my hand) to ask me if I wanted a t-shirt… since I didn’t want one I kept telling her “no thank you” and as I try to pull away, she asks “what about a massage?” and cracks all my knuckles of the hand she is holding on to… mind you while this is happening another woman walks right by and smacks me in the behind… what a sight… it was all very entertaining and the people I came to the market with were just laughing.. .as you can only laugh at the spectacle that was happening… all in all it was a fun experience and I wont ever forget my time in the market.

Cambodia was just as educational, fun, and amazing… not only were we able to see the temples of Angkor Wat but we also added a few other temples in Angkor Tohm and the Elephant Terraces as well as check out the night life and markets. We stayed at really nice hotels and I guess that is what you also pay for. Siam Riep, the city that Angkor Wat is located in is also beautiful and really built to cater tourists… we had great food, a fun cultural show at the buffet we had for dinner, and the night market wasn’t bad either. But first we visited Phnom Penh, which is the capital of Cambodia that maintains the King’s Palace and was a site for the Killing Fields Pol Pot used for the mass genocide he executed a few decades ago. Compelling and shocking at the same time we saw the remnants of the concentration camps and area where he murdered thousands of people due to his want for the utopian agrarian society. It was sobering and astonishing that something like that could happen to a group of people. We also visited a children’s orphanage called Palm Tree where they housed over 100 orphans from Cambodia. It looked like a great place with some vibrant staff and children. We only had an hour there and I wished we had more since it was just picking up when they told us we have to leave. We played games and it was great to see the students on the trip really immerse themselves into the environment. I have to admit that and the sunrise at Angkor Wat was one of the most memorable experiences I will have from the voyage. It was a great trip but too short, I do have thoughts about coming back here again and for a longer duration of time so that I can really soak in the sites and get a true feeling of the vibe of both Vietnam and Cambodia… the people here are very friendly and welcoming. All in all it was a great trip and I am so happy to have saw and experienced what I did with the time I had here…

Oh as for the food – the Pho is really different here. The noodles are round and thicker… so I was concerned I didn’t get the right dish but after a few observations it was clear that the Pho in the U.S. is different… but I did see similar noodles at a few of the street stands. I cant be sure what to call authentic now but all I know is that the food is out of sight – although I can say that the food I have tried at home is pretty similar… so when people are freaking out or saying how delicious something is it is hard for me to be on the same boat… the one other great thing about the food, especially in Cambodia, is that they always have kimchee because they have a lot of Korean tourists. I must have ate kimchee for breakfast, lunch and dinner, at every place we went too… it was nice to have familiar flavors – especially because I am starting to get tired of the ship food…