travel days

Note:  I wrote this on Sunday December 9th.

I’m kind of grouchy today, and tired (maybe I’m grouchy because I’m tired).  We are currently on a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.  I like to use flight time to write because usually it’s a long enough span of time to get some good work done and it distracts me from the travel time.  Today’s travel day seems a little more difficult than some of the previous ones, it’s probably because we are nearing the end of our trip, and they (travel days) have been a little more frequent in this part of the world. 

On December 5^th (also known to me as my sister’s birthday – Happy Birthday Marisa!) we took a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.  The bus ride was a long and bumpy one – it took us a little over 6 hours, with one 20 minute break, to make the journey between the two cities, but we made it in one piece and were relieved to find that there were easy to arrange tuk-tuks waiting at the bus stop.  I was very happy to have one 6 hour bus ride and another travel day behind me, and was dreading the one from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City a little less.  

Some of the snacks for sale at our rest stop (we didn't partake).

We arrived at our hotel after dark and had to find a restaurant for dinner, we walked toward the busy riverside area of Phnom Penh in hopes of finding a restaurant.  We saw one across from the park near our hotel and decided to stop in, it was one of our least favorite meals of the trip, but at least we had eaten.  On our way home we discussed our poor restaurant choice and vowed to find a better spot the next night.  Our plan for the next day was to visit the two museums in the city that provide the sad history of the Cambodian people under the Khmer Rouge.  We knew that it would be a heart wrenching and difficult day, but we felt that it was important to visit the museums while we are here, in order to better understand the history of the country and the suffering of the Cambodian people. 

The museums were terribly hard and sad to see.  My heart sank over and over again as I read stories from the war and learned about the genocide that occurred here.  All of it was so hard to see and hear and read about.  I am glad we went to the museums though and I think we both had an easier time with the information in the museums since we had read books written by survivors in the weeks leading up to our visits.  After our draining morning of learning about the painful past we didn’t have much energy for any more sightseeing.  Instead, we spent the afternoon just hanging out around our hotel, something we both definitely needed.  That evening we succeeded in finding a better restaurant option for dinner, we had a delicious Cambodian dish called Amok at a restaurant near the river. On our way home Charles was invited to play soccer in the park, see the "team" picture below.

Amok - delicious

Pickup soccer in Phnom Penh

The next morning we had just enough time for a visit to the Central Market in Phnom Penh before we got on our bus to Ho Chi Minh City.  I especially enjoyed walking through the food stalls in the market and seeing the various types of fish and produce available.  The variety was like none that we have seen anywhere.  

 

Central Market, Phnom Penh

Seafood for sale in the market

That afternoon we got on the bus to head to Vietnam, another travel day.  We lucked out on this bus trip, we had seats 1a and 1b on the bus, and it was awesome.  Well, as awesome as riding on a bus for almost 7 hours can be.  In the early evening we arrived at the border.  After the ordeal that we underwent getting out of Thailand and into Cambodia, we weren’t really sure what to expect.  Relief waved over us when we got off the bus to see there were no lines to be stamped out of Cambodia.  We each gave our fingerprints, had our photo taken, and were stamped on our way.  We got back on the bus and then drove few minutes to the customs for Vietnam.  This was a little less organized and there was a little waiting involved.  We met a really cool couple from Colorado while we were in line and really enjoyed chatting with them – they are crazy fast travelers like us!  Once we were stamped into Vietnam we were on our way, back on the bus and headed to Ho Chi Minh City.  A few hours later we were nearing the city.  Charles had chatted a little more with Chris (our new friend from Colorado) during the second half of our bus ride and had been warned about scams and thieves in Vietnam.  We braced ourselves for the possibility of getting ripped off as we got off the bus. 

The place where they let you off the bus in Ho Chi Minh isn’t really a bus station, it’s just a street.  They let you off the bus and start unloading your bags onto the sidewalk, where you are surrounded by pestering taxi drivers and peddlers.  Charles and I assembled all of our belongings and before we knew it we were being assured by one of the cab drivers that he knew our hotel and could take us there.  Wanting to get out of the madness on the street as soon as possible, we agreed to let him take us to our hotel.  After Charles put his last bag into the back of the taxi he turned to get into the back seat, while the taxi driver began rearranging the bags in the back of the van.  Charles noticed the cab driver had his hands on his backpack.  Charles got into the back seat and immediately turned around to lift his backpack over the backseat into his lap, the zippers had been pried apart.  Since our incident in Jerusalem we have started keeping locks on our bags, and this time the lock prevented the bag from being opened, but we were bothered by the fact that our cab driver had just tried to open our bag and steal from us.  We were already in the car with all of our stuff and the car was moving, we weren’t sure what to do.  We made sure nothing had been taken from the bag and I pulled my daypack bag into my lap to check the zipper and lock, it seemed untouched.  We rode muttering to each other in the back seat, at this point I was worried when he dropped us off he would try to drive off with our bags in the back of the van.  After winding the long way through the city we arrived near our hotel, but the driver said he couldn’t pull up in front of the hotel.  I pulled as many of our items into my lap from the back of the van ready to get out, in case he tried to take off.  He charged us $20 for the cab ride and did not turn off the engine or get out of the car to help us get our bags from the back of the van.  Charles wanted to yell at the guy for trying to get into his bag, but we were also worried about him taking off with our stuff.  As soon as we pulled our bags out of the van the guy took off.  Charles was walking toward the driver's side door to talk to him about tampering with our bag but the guy was speeding forward and all Charles could do was point towards the backpack that had been tampered with.  Needless to say, we didn’t feel we had the best welcome into Vietnam or Ho Chi Minh City.  We were tired and hungry and discouraged.  After venting about the ordeal in our room and making sure none of our belongings had been tampered with we went to find some dinner.  The hotel front desk warned us to be careful of pick pockets while walking around, for that reason we picked the first restaurant we saw.  The food was good and the staff was friendly and helpful and best of all, they all sang along to the various American songs playing over the sound system in the restaurant – it definitely brightened my mood. 

The next morning we took it slow and didn’t head out for sightseeing until about 11:00.  Our plan was to visit a few museums in Ho Chi Minh and maybe check out the well-known Ben Than market in town.  We enjoyed walking through the city parks and the Notre Dame Cathedral on our way to the War Remnants Museum.  We both were prepared for another emotional day, but had heard from several people that the museum was worth visiting.  It was, but it was very sad and it definitely made us see the Vietnam War in a new light.  It left me feeling sad for both sides, so many people died in such horrific ways.  I also learned how the war continues to affect the people of Vietnam – Agent Orange.  I had heard the term, but I really had no idea the ramifications it had on the human body.  I didn’t know that it continues to mutilate the genes of children born in Vietnam today.  It’s so sad. 

When we left the museum we were both quiet, and we walked in silence in the heat and decided it was time for lunch.  We stopped into the first restaurant we saw and ordered Pho Bo – beef noodle soup.  It took us a few minutes to get our heads in the right frame of mind to discuss the things we had seen in the museum.  As we sat in the restaurant eating our soup the restaurant owner began putting up Christmas decorations and a few minutes later started playing Christmas music.  It was just the thing we needed to move us out of our somber thoughts and into the present. 

We braved the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and darted across the street, grateful for every near miss we had with a motorcycle.  Eventually we made our way to the art museum.  Looking at art in a beautiful old building was the perfect way to end the afternoon.  That night we visited the historic Rex Hotel, which is where the press corps held their daily “Five O’Clock Follies” conference with the American military command.  The hotel has an interesting history and a great view of the city, which is full of Christmas light displays.  It was a day full of history, and while it was somewhat difficult to swallow at times, we are happy with our time in Ho Chi Minh and the information we learned while there. 

Christmas decorations in Ho Chi Minh

Art Museum in Ho Chi Minh

Rooftop Bar at the Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh

Which brings us to today, our most recent travel day from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, I had to stop writing this post about half way through because we were landing at the airport and I had to turn off the computer.  So, the last portion of this was written in Hanoi.  My mood got better once we landed in Hanoi and my grouchiness totally dissipated when on the ride to our hotel from the airport our driver honked happily in rhythm with the dance techno music playing on the radio – it was awesome.