Vietnam 2

I don't think this city sleeps... We went to bed and the street was still having a party outside, we woke up to the sound of cars, people and recordings of what type of Bahn Mi this vendor was selling

We asked our hostel girl what else was good to eat around here and she suggested Com Tam down the block from us 

Com Tam is a rice dish, different vendors will specialize in different toppings/proteins so we got a variety and enjoyed

Fried pork chop, ground pork in tofu, and curried squid with vegetables... Served with pickled daikon and carrots... The fried pork was the best, nicely seasoned and still juicy. The pork stuffed tofu was a bit rubbery and didn't taste like much. The curried squid was good too.... All this for abut $10!

We decided we want to visit the War Museum today so we walked about a mile from our hostel to the museum... It gets hot quick here so the earlier you start your day the better, then you can siesta in the afternoon and go out in time for dinner and drinks!

On the walk there, we saw some men playing some form of Chinese checkers or backgammon... Not much work get done here...

This guy rigged his bike to sell ice cream out of the back... I didn't try it cause it would've probabaly melted in 5 seconds but it looked good!

The War Museum.... It costs 15,000VD ($0.75) to enter... Around the perimeter are some propaganda posters and some war material the US left behind. It was nice that you can go up to these machines and touch them and take pictures with them, you know in the states there would be a 10ft fence wrapped around everything. It was cool to walk around outside and then we got inside...

Once inside I couldn't get myself to take pictures of much.... As I didn't want to seem disrespectful for not really being in the present and taking in their information, and I was incredibly surprised at their point of view on the war... Not that they're wrong or we're wrong but just to see their opinion on the matter was moving

Many people during the time of the war opposed it... Many people now don't even know why the states got involved in the war to begin with... It was to stop the spread of communism. They saw it as if one state went commie, others would follow and our government doesn't like that... It was a French occupied nation and we even kicked the French out to be in charge! 

There were so many propaganda posters depicting the support against the "US Aggression" from Russia, Cuba... And other countries... It was weird to see the war called The US Aggression. They spoke about the terrible things that US troops did to civilians and their use of dioxins in the southern region... They showed photographs of people and their following generations that have been directly affected by Agent Orange, the malformed births that took place afterwards, how Dow and Monsanto were responsible for developing these dioxins, how a US judge overturned a lawsuit against Dow... I'm not saying either side is right or wrong or that I know everything that went on during the war on both sides but it was really shocking to see their view of what happened and I felt quite embarrassed to admit I'm an American 

After the War Museum we walked by the Reunification Palace... Didn't see a need to go in and it was getting really hot so we passed it up, but if you want to enter it costs the same as the War Museum

We had a quiet and somber walk full of self reflection and loathing down the street to the Ben Thanh market where we were bombarded by a different kind of frustration... Ben Thanh market is open during the day and is a hall the size of an airport hanger full of food and stuff (it was so hot and stuffy in there), at night it closes and outside on the streets is the night market we went to the night before 

We were warned that Ben Thanh is a tourist trap and they charge a lot for things here so we asked some prices and sure enough it was astronomical... And they are just as aggressive and crazy

We didn't buy anything and opted to go cool off in the hotel room and take a nap 

Earlier in the day we met a couple in the lobby of our hostel, we overheard them talking and found out they're from San Francisco so we started chatting. Alex and Sam had been traveling for 5 months already and decided on a last minute trip to Vietnam... They were such a sweet couple, so when they asked if we'd like to join them for dinner, we jumped at the chance! Mostly cause we needed stimulation from other people during our trip... And making friends is fun!

They told us about a place a block from our hostel called Five Oysters, it was reviewed on Trip Advisor and seemed like a good option... And there was rooftop dining!

That's Sam.. And the street below

Alex and Sam had just come from Cambodia so we asked them their experience and some logistically things... We found out that in Cambodia they mostly accept US dollar as currency, if the change is less than a dollar they'll give it back in Riel (it's 4,000R to $1)... We weren't quite sure what they would accept so we bought both dollar and baht... It is imperative to have absolutely clean and nice looking bills, they will refuse the bills if there are markings or tears in the bills! As for Vietnam, we had each exchanged $50 worth of baht to dong before leaving Thailand, for 4 days I figured it would be enough for food and some souvenirs... I guess that depends on the person... I had exactly enough but Sherena and Chris were out of dong before we left for Cambodia!

Walking back to the hostel I noticed this place... Specializing in pizza, pasta, Vietnamese and Mexican food.... So diverse and so unappealing at the same time... Something for every tourist

We decided to call it a night was we would be getting up early to head to Cambodia! We'll be back on 4 days so we would catch up with Alex and Sam again later

Originally the trip to Cambodia was supposed to be a 3 hour drive from Saigon to Chau Doc, stay the night, next day take a 2 hour boat ride up the Mekong River to Phnom Pehn, then catch a 7 hour bus ride to Siem Reap and same for trip back to Saigon but staying the night in Phnom Pehn instead of Chau Doc.... It sounds like a crazy hassle right? So I looked up a budget friendly way to get us to Siem Reap and CAT Mekong Express Limosusine company got the best reviews... The downside is that it's a 15 hour bus ride.... But they say they have wifi so I thought we'd be all good

Luckily the bus stop was the next block over from our hostel but I had to get our tickets printed. The office was also conveniently located across from the bus depot, I asked the first lady about printing my ticket and she pointed in the general direction behind her, so I asked for clarification pointing at the computer station behind her and she nodded her head... I stepped behind a woman to get to the computer station and she started yelling at me asking what I was doing... Apparently she didn't pay attention when I asked about printing my tickets, I told her the other lady pointed over here and she still raised her voice at me! Strike one against this company and strike two against this country...

When we were boarding the bus an attendant asked if we had a place to stay or a pick up in Siem Reap, we said yes to the stay but no on the pick up.. He took down my name and said his cousin would meet us at the bus stop, we asked how much and he said "Depends".... Great, I guess we'll see when we get there

This was our bus... Many other foreigners on the bus as well

They gave us pastries, water and a moist towelette 

The start of the trip!

So the people of Vietnam and Cambodia have limited knowledge of English... They didn't see it necessary to learn the parts that explain the border crossing process to anyone... At the beginning of our trip the attendant collected all of our passports and kept them with her until we got to the border

This is the Vietnam border... But no one told us this, they asked us to get off the bus and stand in an unorganized manner in front of the customs area until our name was called and our passports handed back to us. I used my Thai passport as I do not need to obtain a visa with it and lots of blogs I read said you can obtain a visa for Cambodia at the border for $25, no problem. When Sherena and Chris's passports were handed back, they were taken away again but not explained why... Then we got back on the bus and drove 25ft and got off again... 

At the Cambodian border their passports were handed back it them and we all went through customs again... Basically what happened was we had to get our passports stamped for exit from the Vietnamese immigration, because Sherena and Chris didn't already have a Cambodian visa prior to arrival, their passports were taken away again to get the visa put in it (full page visa), then we had to get our entrance stamp from Cambodia immigration, and back on the bus... None of this was explained to us so we were all confused and annoyed

After crossing the border the bus stopped for us to get lunch for 20 mins. They had fresh spring rolls, curry with rice noodles or a hot buffet option... I opted for the cihicken curry with rice noodles ($2) and a can of orange juice ($1)... The curry was sweeter than expected and not very hot but is was starving so I ate it and jumped back on the bus

Cambodia was very very back country... There was so much red dust everywhere! The houses were all really simple and some were lucky enough to have electricity

The bus went on a ferry to cross a river... I hadn't done this since I was a kid so it brought back memories of going on road trips with my family 

Ladies selling their wares

That's a tray of fried bugs on her head!

Very poor

We arrived at Phnom Pehn around 2pm and another bus was leaving for Siem Reap at 2:20 so we basically got off and got on another bus, after 7 hours we still had another 7 hours to go! Kill me now... Alex and Sam warned us the road from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap was in terrible condition so it was very bumpy.... Let's just say I had to get creative when attempting to use the bathroom at the back of the bus... On top of all this, the supposed wifi on board did not work for either leg of the trip

The road was pretty bad but our bus driver still drove like a maniac over the pot holes, took up 2 lanes and cut people off!

After several naps and a 20 mins stop for dinner ($5 plate of fried rice), we finally made it to Siem Reap at 10pm... There was a crowd of people waiting at the bus stop, all of them tuk tuk drivers wiaiting for jobs... There was a guy holding a paper with my name on it so we asked him how much to get to the hostel and he kept dodging the question by asking us how many days we need a driver for Angkor Wat. So finally we pushed him to answer how much he'll charge to get us to the hostel, he said he wouldn't charge cause we would use him as a driver to/from Angkor Wat but he still wouldn't tell us how much he was charging for that either... Fine... we were tired and we just wanted to shower and sleep. We let him take us to the hostel and when we pressed him for a price for his services per day he said $30... I read serveral sites that said it shouldn't be more than $5 per person to hire someone for the day... Or $15-25 for the tuk tuk per day (depending on distance or amount of work they do)... This guy was high! We gave him a couple bucks for the ride to the hostel and said no thank you

When we checked in to our hostel, (sorry no pics) Velkommen Guesthouse, we asked about a tuk tuk driver for the next day and they said they can book one for us no problem for $16 per day (paid to the driver), we said we'll see him at 8am

The hostel was decent... Room for 3, private bathroom, tv and wifi for less than $10 per person, per night. It's away from the touristy area known as Pub Steet and closer to Angkor Wat so it was nice

When we got to the room I was able to do some research on this tuk tuk situation and I found a blog of a girl recounting her horrible experience with a tuk tuk scam involving the seemingly nice tuk tuk driver asking for $15 per day and once he got them half way he asked for $60, they renegotiated for $30 and he demanded payment right away, she gave him $5 and he took off leaving them there!! Her suggestion was to book through the hotels cause they can account for the people they call for you and to not pay until the day was over

Let's see how this plays out for us

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