Day 55: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Markets and Museums

So I've been going to all these markets which have been pretty cool since it's Tet (Lunar New Year). All the family's are out and about. AND there's this huge flower market outside my door, which may be to blame for my horrible horrible allergies right now. It's bad. I've just been buying all kinds of random souvenirs... getting my shoes fixed... buying decent sandals... washing everything... some jackets/vests/shirts/pants... yup.

Hired a horrible moto driver for a couple hours and saw the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, Emerald Pagoda, China Town, and some other pagodas. I called the police and was about to call the embassy, cuz this guy wanted me to pay him $50/hr for driving. Hah! Yeah, right! (I ended up paying him $25/hr just to end it. Vietnam is full of swindlers!)

6PM: I leave Asia for Africa. Maybe until the 20th? Who knows. PS: SGN airport sucks horribly. BKK... a little better. 25hr of flying. Woo!!..... SGN -> BKK -> Dubai -> Joburg -> Durban.... At least L lives like 5min from the airport... I bet she's cooking for me as we speak..... or I speak. Whatever.

Day 54: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Cu Chi Cu!

830AM: Took a bus to the Cu Chi Tunnels which the Vietnamese guerrillas dug to fight the foreign occupants. They were super tiny (even I couldn't fit through), but we walked through some that were reasonably widened. There was a huge network of them underground, and we saw a lot of the guerrilla traps that they used.

Later, we went to the War Remnants Museum to see pics and artifacts about Agent Orange and all that stuff. ...Informative.

Day 53: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Tet

Another amazing 11hr bus ride later.................

In Vietnam.

Day 52: Phnom Pehn, Cambodia: Museums and Chillin

Went to the market, National Museum, and S-21 Museum. Also hired a tuk-tuk to drive me around the city and show me all the random markets, monuments, embassies, and hang-out spots.

The National Museum was actually the best one I've seen in SE Asia.

The S-21 Museum is at the S-21 Detention Center, where Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Communist Party interned and tortured nearly 30,000 political dissidents who were later executed at the Killing Fields (which I saw yesterday).

Day 51: Phnom Pehn, Cambodia: Moto!

10AM: Got into town on a sleeper bus. Found a good, cheap hotel for 6USD. Hired a moto for 14USD to drive me around to the Killing Fields, Wat Phnom, and the Royal Palace.

The Killing Fields are where Pol Pot of the Khmer Rouge executed 1000s of Cambodians and dropped them in mass graves in the '70s.

The Royal Palace was originally from around the 13th century, but was mostly rebuilt during the 19th. Pretty epic, though!

Day 50: Siem Reap, Cambodia: Stuff

Oy. Just... gift shopping for L's fam? FINALLY, met up w/Thibauld, too! Jeez.

Day 49: Siem Reap, Cambodia: Tuk Tuk!

530AM: Woke up to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat w/the Brits. We hired a tuk-tuk for the day for $20. We checked out the Roluos group of temples.

We hired a few boats to take us through an amazing stilt village. 100s of buildings and houses, each about 5m off the ground. Then we floated through a flooded forest that led to the largest lake in SE Asia.

We drove to the other side of the lake and hired more boats to take us through the floating villages. 1000s of houses and buildings and... basketball courts?... all on old wooden boats in the middle of the giant lake. It's just like a normal village except... on the water! It was pretty crazy.

Day 48: Siem Reap, Cambodia: WAAAAT

730AM: Met up w/Juliette and the other Brits, and we biked to Angkor Wat: the largest religious structure in the world. It was built by the Angkorian Khmer Kingdom in the 11th century during their Classical Age. It is pretty epic, and the entire structure is meant to represent the universe, w/the very center tower representing Mount Meru, the home of the Hindu Pantheon.

We also checked out Ta Phrohm, a temple that you see in the Tomb Raider movie with trees growing out of the walls and everything. Saw them filming a movie here also.

Then Wat Thom, a massive set of palaces and temples surrounded by a huge square wall. There's Phimeanakas, Baphuon, Bayon (another Mount Meru allegory covered with faces of a king; what you imagine when you think of Cambodia), and the Terrace of Elephants.

Day 47: Siem Reap, Cambodia: Stuff

Washing clothes, mailing things, booking hostels for the next week, buying bathroom supplies, using the net, getting additional medical supplies (for my toes, which I'm actually doing an okay job of taking care of)...

I'm at a different hostel called Green Park for tonight. 5USD.

Oh, and I bought a ticket to... Durban, South Africa.

Day 46: Siem Reap, Cambodia: OMGosh, TRANSPORTATION

8AM: Juliette and I left Don Det, Laos for Siem Reap, Cambodia. After a boat, a van, a border crossing, a bus, another bus, and a tuk-tuk, we FINALLY GOT THERE. FOURTEEN HOURS LATER. Oi. The hostels were all full, but I found a big, nice room for 8USD.

Day 45: Si Phan Don, Laos: Don Det/Don Khon

830AM: Took a boat through the Mekong River delta to another island called Don Det. Met up w/Juliette (a British Mathematician/Lawyer), and we cycled all around Don Det and Don Khon. Jungle, waterfalls, rice paddies, villages, lovely sunset... and we stayed in a nice little hut (30,000kip/4USD for a double) on the river facing the sunrise at a place called PARADISE. Beautiful!

Day 44: Si Phan Don, Laos: 4000 Islands!!

Woo, we're finally here! After a tuk-tuk, a boat, a van, and a boat, we finally got here! We're at Muang Khong on the large northern island, Don Khong. We took maybe a... 30km bike ride around the southern perimeter to some old wats and through some tiny villages. 4000 Islands/Si Phan Don is basically a part where the Mekong River turns into a big delta and there are 1000s of little islands throughout it. We saw a wat (Wat Phou Khao Kaew?) that also had pre-Angkorian ruins. Tight! Oh, and we saw 100s of rice fields in every direction, all bright green. Animals (farm animals) everywhere. I think while we were riding, we had to say "sabai di" (hello in Laos) about 100 times. People here are so friendly! Awesome!

Day 43: Champasak, Laos: Smog

*cough cough*
Oh gawd. So we had to go to Pakse to get to Champasak. So we stood next to the highway for about 15min until someone wanted to give us a ride. Except when we got to the Pakse bus station, we had to wait there... for 3 hours! Boooo! It wouldn't've been so bad if these tuk-tuks and everything weren't SUCH gross pollutors! We also got on a car ferry to cross the river, which was kinda hilarious and unexpected. After all of that smoke, I was kinda sick. But we saw Wat Phou (Laos for "Mountain Monastery"), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its founding is pre-Angkorian Hindu Khmer. So 5th/6th century. Pretty tight!

Day 42: Tad Fane, Laos: Transportation?

We decided to see the south side of the Bolaven Plateau. We could go back to the city (Pakse) and take a bus there. But we wanted to try something different. So we got a tuk-tuk further into the plateau to Ban Beng. We waited on the corner until a van came along that would take us to Tha Teng. Then we hung out until another tuk-tuk would take us to Pak Song. When we got there, we decided that it sucked, so we went to a resort right next to Tad Fane. Again, the resort was RIGHT THERE. There was a 200m waterfall right outside our door. We took maybe a 10km hike through the jungle (with my trusty compass to guide us). We crossed some rivers and waterfalls, and came to another amazing one called Tad Yuang. Sweet!

Day 41: Tad Lo, Laos: Relaxing

Just hung out by the falls, took a little dip, read, relaxed....

Day 40: Tad Lo, Laos: DETOUR

Got to Pakse after the overnight bus and decided it was lame. So we went to this little village on the Bolaven Plateau near Tad Lo (a giant waterfall). Well, I say "near", but we were actually staying in a hut on the river maybe 100m from the falls.