Vietnam

Hanoi

As I mentioned the first city we visited was Hanoi, where we flew by AirAsia from Macau through Bangkok. We arrived there on 4.4. in the evening quite tired of whole day traveling. In Hanoi we stayed only the next day and headed to Ho Chi Minh in the second morning. The whole day in Hanoi went wondering around Old quarters.

Wondering around:




There truly were many motorcyckles. I haven't seen such traffic anywhere, but miraculously it is surprisinly smooth. You just have to walk, the motorcyckles will bypass, hope...


We also went to see famouse water puppet show. It was funny at the beginning, but too long. Worth the price though.


The electricity works in Asia are sometimes wonderous. The best ones I have seen were definetly in Vietnam:


In Hanoi we stayed in two hostels, though they both were under the same owner. The first one, which we booked through internet was the crappiest ever, but the second was quite nice.

Hostel analysis:

Hanoi:
Little Hanoi Questhouse 9$/room. Our room was totally molded. In worst condition I have experienced.
BlueSky or something 14$/room. Same company as Little hanoi, but in much better condition. Helpful staff.

Ho Chi Minh and Mekong River delta

To Ho Chi Minh we arrived in the morning of 6.4. We settled in to hostel 265 in backpacker area which name I currently don't remember. Our plan was quite unclear, and for couple of hours we were trying to figure out what to do. Going through travel agencies to ask how to get to Sihanoukville in Cambodia etc. We wanted to visit the Vietkong tunnels, but it turned out that we'd had to go to Sihanoukville through Phnom Penh, which would take more time, so we ended up skipping that too and booked a 2 day Mekong River delta trip, that would end up in Phonm Penh. Afterwards said, it would be possible to take a ferry from Chau Doc (or something like that) to Cambodia, where we slept a night during our trip near the border of Cambodia. And then continue by car or something to Sihanoukville. Many of the hostels in Sihanoukville would arrange a pick up from the border.

Ho Chi Minh is much more westernalized city than Hanoi, and the center is full of high class brand shops. But the smaller alleys and millions of motor cyckles still remind that you are in Asia.

Two good looking guys somewhere in a park in Ho Chi Minh city:


And a good looking girl who has just spotted Notre Dame, not quite as marvelous as in Paris, but nice try anyway:




Nice example of the traffic in Vietnam (believe or not but we crossed the road):


In Mekong river trip we experienced a lot of this kind of boat travelling. Some of the trips were 5 hours or more...


This was the closest to Vietnam jungle guerilla experience we got, still on boat though:


Some where in the Mekong we also drove a short trip by bikes, it was really nice, but too short. I realized how much I really miss my bike and cyckling...


In Chau Doc early in the second morning we experienced the floating fisher villages on small wooden boats, very nice morning activity:


The border crossing to Cambodia was definetly the most unofficial I have seen. If you look carefully you can see the bar on the border blocking the way in front of the motorcyckle. After the barrier you are in Cambodia.


Although the Mekong trip included a lot of sitting in a boat, it wasn't that bad. There was a lot of time to relax:


Hostel analysis:

Ho Chi Minh
265 14$/room. Very nice and friendly staff, free breakfast around a corner. Not bad.


Cambodia

After all the boat tripping in Mekong river delta we ended up in a small village somewhere in Cambodia where we continued by bus to Phnom Penh, where we arrived in the evening of 8.4. The traffic in Phnom Penh can sometimes be quite bad, and we got stuck in a traffic jam for about an hour. We tried to get a bus or taxi to Sihanoukville on the same night, but it turned out to be too expensive, so instead we settled in to Okay guesthouse and booked bus tickets for next morning. The guesthouse was quite nice, and nicely priced. The rooms were really small, AJ had to keep his head down all the time, for me they were just perfect =) They really trust people there, what ever you order from the restaurant you write into a book yourself and then pay it all when checking out, really convenient.

Getting around:
Inside cityes and for relatively short distances it's most convenient to hire a tuktuk, which are open cabins fixed after a motorcyckle. Really nice and cheap way to go around sightseeing. You should be able to hire a tuktuk for a day for 10-15$ depending of the distance travelled. But keep in mind that gasoline is quite expensive in Cambodia, over 1$, and the wages really low, so if you bargain too hard the driver is likely to cut his salary really low. Remember to agree on the price and the route in advance, otherwise you might find it difficult to get where you want and back without paying a lot extra. If you find a nice tuktuk driver you can pay him a bit extra (just couple of dollars is already a lot for them) and get a lot better service and smiling driver waiting for you in the next morning also. On short distances don't pay too much, drivers usually ask at least 100% too much. 2-3$ to anywhere in Phnom Penh should be enough.

For longer distances bus is the best option in Cambodia. They are cheap and relatively comfortable. The roads at least between Siem Reap-Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville were in quite good condition.The only problem with buses is that it takes a lot of time. Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville 5 hours, Siem Reap-Phnom Penh 6 hours, Sihanoukville-Siem Riep 12 hours. And all the buses leave early in the morning so you easily spend whole day in bus. Since we didn't have that much time we decided to pay more to see more. We took a flight from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap which was 75$ plus airport fee 6$ that you have to pay in the airport. If you are planning a trip to Cambodia, reserve enough time for getting around.

Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville is just 4-5 hours by bus South-West from Phnom Penh in the coast. Bus costs 5,5$ or so if you book from a hostel, including transportation to bus station, but if you are adventurous enough it should be possible to buy the ticket for 3,5$ or so straight from bus station. So we took a bus from Phnom Penh early in the morning on 9th and arrived before the noon.

Sihanoukville is a pretty nice beach place, that has been very much in favor of backpacker, but has recently started to get more attention on charter holidays also. There are already quite many rich, big stomached (germans) with local girls lying in the beach during days and doing you know what during nights. But there are still many backpackers there and quite affordable hostels and restaurants. Alltogether a very nice and recommendable place to go relax on a holiday. It's not that much of a fun to be going from place to place and sightseeing all the time, you have to lye down and relax every now and then, otherwise travelling starts to feel like work...

Besides lying on the beach we took a half a day island hopping/snorkling trip. One of the islands we visited was Bamboo island if you happen to go to Sihanoukville I would recommend taking a boat to that island, walking accross the island through the jungle to the other less, visited side, where you can find a really really nice beach with just couple of bungalows. I bet you can rent one for quite affordable price.

The really nice beach on Bamboo island:



Snorkling is a lot of fun, though the visibility nor the amount of fish wasn't the best:


I can also recommend a manicure, 2$ or something like that:


The basic night activity in Sihanoukville is to hang in the beach, eat well and drink very affordable drinks. Basic coctails for 2-3$, beer for 0,5-1$. There are supposed to be couple of night clubs in the center, but we didn't go. Heard a rumour that they are not that great anyway. The parties are not big, at least the ones we found, but if you are into weed or something it's very easy to get it here.


The beach during night, plenty of restaurants, but just a handful of people:


On the way to the airport we saw one of the most efficient/hazardous transportations ever, the car was full of people, and i mean full, in the front seat 4 adults, back seat I couldn't even calculate, also couple in the trunk with all the stuff, and the last guy had jumbed on the buffer. And our "taxi" was driving just a few meters from the car. Hope the guy didn't flip his feet...


Hostel analysis:

GST guesthouse, 5-7$/night for a fan room. Quite nice place. Nothing special, nothing to complain about. Perfect location just 150m from the Serendipity beach.


Siem Reap

Siem Reap is a must for everyone who visits Cambodia. This is because of the Angkor Wat and other ancient Khmer temples that are close to this smallish city that has turned to a complete tourist place. There must be several hundreds of hotels and hostels in the region, and although the place is very popular thank's to that the prices are quite affordable. In here I experienced the best price quality ratio for accommodation ever on my travels - Mandalay inn guesthouse, opposite to a very popular backpacker  guesthouse, Popular guesthouse.

We arrived to Siem Reap in the evening of 11.4. by flight from Sihanoukville. That night we didn't do much more than went to eat out, drank couple of margaritas and went to sleep. The food and drinks, although a bit more expensive than elsewhere in Cambodia, were still quite affordable. Bucket of the best margarita I have ever tasted was 5$, well enough for 4 people to have a glass.


The next day we woke up quite early and headed to the temples. The temple area is actually around 200km2 and the temples are scattered around. Most convenient is to hire a tuktuk for a whole day. Remember to agree which temples you want to see, if you want to go far a way, they want quite a lot extra and if you really want to get there during the day you don't really have any other choise but to pay. In the first day we agreed for 10$/day, but didn't agree on the route so our driver would have wanted more to go to almost anywhere. So we just went through the temples in relatively small area, which was plenty though.

Temple:


Another temple:


Gilrs on the stairs of a temple, the stairs were often really steep, quite good excercise:


Some of the temples were quite well covered by jungle:


Finally the Angkor Wat, they claime that this is "the mother of all temples". We actually went to see it in the very early morning of the second day to see the sunrise. No sunrise because of the coulds, and after seeing a whole day of temples the day before, it seemed like just another temple. But don't get me wrong, overall I really liked the temples, especially the ones that were still covered by trees and jungle. But if you really are not a huge fan, one day is enough...


Hostel analysis

Mandalay inn guesthouse, 7$/fan room. Very nice rooms, very nice staff. The best value for money ever. Their slogan: "It seems expensive, but is not" is true.

Phnom Penh

The capital city of Cambodia is relatively small compared to many of the cities around here. In Phnom Penh the major attractions are the museums and historical sights that witness the horrors of Khmer Rouge during the 1975-1979 revolution, which turned out to be the blodiest genocide in the history of mankind. Although also the civil war after the revolution that lasted till the end on 90s, has also left it's marks on the country, the people in Cambodia have imasingly maintained their positive attitude and friendliness.

Hostel analysis:

Okay questhouse 9$/room. Nice but small rooms, good backpacker atmosphere, ok restaurant
Spring guesthouse 14$/3person aircon+hotwater. Very nice rooms but no restaurant.

The victims of notorious S21 interrogation and torture camp:


The cousy beds of the fellow visitors:


And the rules of this nice summer camp:


The mass graves of victims of S21 and other interrogation camps in the Killing Fileds just outside the Phnom Penh:


Where bones and clothes are still witnessing what happened here. To save bullets they for example killed children by taking a grip from legs and banging the head hard against a tree, the exact same way as hare are killed when hunting if left alive after shooting.


The monumet built for the memory of the victims:


Filled with the skulls of the victims, appropriate or not but definetly effective: