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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Vietnam

In April, Cambodians have a one week holiday called Khmer New Year. It's not as exciting as you might think... there are no parties in the streets, fireworks, or water fights like in Thailand. Most Khmers head home to their provinces and the city pretty much shuts down. We took the opportunity to travel to Vietnam for a week.

Val's mom was visiting (HOORAH!), so we had a girls trip consisting of Val, her mom, our roommate Shiloh, and our friend Christine. The five of us took a boat down the Mekong River on a three day cruise into Vietnam. I have a new ranking of preferable travel methods:
#1 - Boat. How amazing!! Freedom to walk around, fresh air, an unspoilt look at fields and houses along the river. It was so incredibly relaxing, and everything seemed effortless.

Our boat took us to a couple of River towns -- Chau Doc and Can Tho. We were on a tour and it was laughably touristy, but we got to see interesting things like fish farms, weavers, a floating market, rice factories, and the inside of a REAL VIETNAMESE HOUSE (just kidding... kinda strange they took us there). I didn't mind the tour so much because I got to see a lot of the culture and didn't have to think for an entire three days about transportation, housing, or activities. Priceless, really.

We finally arrived in Saigon, where we spent a whirlwind 24 hours. My favorite experience was a visit to a water puppet show, which is a typical vietnamese experience and very entertaining. Shiloh and I spent our day touring around the city with our friend Eileen, who also did the languagecorps program. We saw her apartment, and she showed us a little of her life there -- what she eats at the market, where she finds good homemade beer, and she even took us for a spin on her moto. We spent the afternoon visiting the Vietnam War Museum (the Vietnamese call it "The American War"), which was mostly depressing. They really held nothing back, and I was pretty revolted at the pictures of napalm bombings, decapitated bodies, and dead babies. I guess they got their point across. It was also propaganda at it's best... which I expected from Communist Vietnam, but the anti-American sentiment was overwhelming. It was odd because aside from the war museum, barely anyone mentions the war and there is absolutely no hard feelings towards Americans. Pretty strange that 25 years later, your children can be tourists in a country that was your enemy. Can you imagine if in 25 years my children go as a tourist to Iraq?? I hope they do.

We escaped the heat of Saigon to the beautiful mountains of Dalat. This was a major French outpost during Vietnam's colonial period, and most of the architecture and lifestyle still represents that time. There's even a miniature Eiffel tower. The best thing about this city, however, was the WEATHER! Beautiful, marvelous, cold weather, where I actually had to buy a sweater. Dalat is also surrounded by mountains, so the first day we took a short trip to a nearby "mountain," known to anyone in Colorado as a hill. It took us about 4 hours to scramble to the steep summit, and was about 8 miles total. The view was beautiful and my favorite part was the smell of the pine trees that covered the hillside. I was in heaven--cold weather, mountains, and pine trees. To top it off, Dalat is known for it's wine. It was no French wine, but definitely the best I've had in South East Asia.

On our second day in Dalat we rented motorbikes with an American tourist who was motorbiking through the country. He served as our guide as we whizzed around the mountains on rented motobikes.
My 2nd favorite form of transportation --- MOTORBIKES! They are so fun, especially on the winding roads of a mountainside. The views were incredible, and the motorbikes gave us the freedom to explore a lake we spotted, and a beautiful temple set into the hillside. We went as far as a viewpoint that stretched to the Pacific Ocean. Great day, although Shiloh and I got rather nasty and unattractive looking sunburns on our thighs and hands.

I was reluctant to leave the amazing Dalat weather, but we took a bus down to Moi Ne, a coastal vacation town in southern Vietnam. Untouched beaches, cheap resort pool, and good company made it an easy day of relaxing on the beach, writing post cards, and reading. Finally it was time to head back to Phnom Penh, and Christine and I jumped on a bus early Saturday morning, expecting to reach our homes that night. When we arrived in Saigon to catch a connecting bus, we discovered every bus was sold out for the rest of the day, and we had to wait until tomorrow where we scored the last two seats on a bus leaving for Phnom Penh. We were surprised because every moment of our trip in Vietnam had been so effortless thus far-- we had found the exact transportation with the perfect schedule, we found cheap places to stay with no trouble... everything had been ideal. Christine and I bunkered down for the night in a hotel room and made the best of our extra night in Saigon.

This brings me to by #3 and all time least favorite EVER form of transportation.... bus rides. The bus ride began OK... we crossed the border with no problems, and we even had good air conditioning and a bathroom on board. We thought we were lucky. Our problems arose when we came to the ferry that crosses the Mekong to reach the city of Phnom Penh. Because it was the end of the biggest Cambodian holiday, everyone was coming back to the city and there was a line of cars waiting to board the ferry that was SEVERAL kilometers long. We didn't think it was that big of a deal, until we noticed that in the first 2 hours, we barely moved 100 feet. SEVEN HOURS LATER.... we finally made it onto the ferry. Seven hours, in busy traffic, a now-smelly bathroom, in the heat of the hottest month in Cambodia... torturous.

In the end, it was a wonderful trip and I would recommend a vacation in Vietnam for anyone. It's a beautiful country, and perhaps my favorite in South East Asia so far.

We're on the last week of our time in Cambodia now, with only 6 days left before we begin our 5 week long journey back to America.
My itinerary: Phnom Penh--Kuala Lampur--Mumbai--Delhi--Kathmandu--Mt. Everest--Delhi--London--Washington DC/Lancaster--ESTES PARK!

We're excited for our adventures to come and also excited to see everyone at home seemingly soon. I'm craving mountains, and am looking forward to that most of all. Miss you all!!!

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