Wonders of the Wonders: 7D 6N Trip to Vietnam & Cambodia

This will be a very brief one. In the whole trip, I had taken a total of 5 flights! All of them are by Vietnam Airlines.

My flight experience:
There is a type of weird smell for the wet tissue given. The food onboard is quite nice. They do serve the local tea with slices of lemon, very nice. However, there are no chocolate drinks. The air stewardesses are quite tall.

In KLIA

Onboard Meal

We took a flight transit in Ho Chi Minh city (formerly known as Saigon) and the experience was terrible. In the city, there are 2 separate airports for international and domestic flights. These airports are just next to each other. However, we need to take a bas to travel between the airports. In addition, we need to bring out our entire luggage and check in again in the other airport. It is really inefficient!

It seems that traveling between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city via flight is something common in Vietnam. The flight we took was full. The locals there like to pack their check-in luggage in boxes. At the luggage claiming place, I saw boxes in a variety of sizes. Gosh, I even saw comforter set! I felt I was in a warehouse and people were loading boxes of goods. The locals there just pushed their way through to get their luggage - a very unpleasing experience indeed.

The airport in Siam Reap is a nice one. It is single storey and the airport is well decorated with statues. It is not crowded and the people there are friendlier.

Day 1-Day 4
There are “4 slims” in Vietnam – Country, Road, House and Women. The roads in Vietnam are very narrow. Thus, the most common transport there is motorbike. It is rather difficult of pedestrians here as the motorbike riders don’t seem to slow down and give way. The electric cables there are really scary. It seems to be common that people there die from electric shock. If your house phone line is down, it will take them 3 days to find the line. The mini tangerine oranges are very fresh and tasty. The flowers are beautiful!

Mini Tangerine Oranges

Fresh flowers

During these 4 days, I was in North Vietnam – Hanoi and Halong. My favorite spots are Temple of Literature and Halong Bay.

The Temple of Literature (Van Mieu ), dedicated to Confucius, was founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong. In 1076, Vietnam's first university was established here to educate Vietnam's administrative and warriors. There are many huge stone turtles there with carvings of names and poems. These are the names of the top scholars. The locals here will normally go pray in this temple before they sit for exams. By touching the heads of these turtles, they believe that they will be able to excel in their studies.

For more information, you may refer to the website: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/vietnam/hanoi/templelit/templeoflit.html

The gate of Temple of Literature

Halong Bay (literally Descending Dragon Bay) was awarded by UNESCO as a natural heritage in 1994. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. The scenery there reminded me a lot of a scenery in the last movie of Pirates of the Carribean.

For more information on the legend of Halong Bay, you may refer to the website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha_Long_Bay

Souvenirs:
There are many nice lacquerware and handicrafts here (bags, shoes etc). The handicrafts are very fine and relatively cheap. You can pay in Malaysia Ringgit, USD or Vietnam Dong. Sometimes, it’s more worth while paying in Malaysia Ringgit or Vietnam Dong.

Lacquerware factory

Lacquerware Factory

Other places of interest:

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

One Pillar Pagoda

A temple beside the Sword Lake

Day 4-5
I was in Siam Reap most of the time during these 2 days. Siam Reap is formerly known as Angkor. Angkor back then was always attack by Siam. Thus, people there ran away from Angkor, fearing the attack from the Siamese. After they regained Angkor, the King renamed it to Siam Reap (meaning free from Siam).

Around year 2000 or 2001, Siam Reap was developed. There are many investors from Korea, Japan and China/Taiwan. They build hotels and restaurants. Thus, you will notice that the hotels there look relatively new. There are quite a number of Korean restaurants in Siam Reap as well.

70% of the people in Cambodia are poor. The monthly salary of a policeman there is around 25 USD per month. Along the road to our hotel, we saw some stalls along the road, selling petrol in plastic containers (the normal 1.5 litre soft drink containers). According to the tour guide, the price is much cheaper than buying from the petrol station (plastic containers by the road side – 0.75 USD per litre; Petrol station – 1 USD per litre).

There is nothing special about the food and dance in Cambodia. You can see huge Siam influence in there. However, compare to Vietnam, the people in Cambodia are poorer and friendlier. Infrastructure such as roads there are very poor.

The highlight here is Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Angkor Wat is a temple whereas Angkor Thom is a city. As you arrive in Angkor Wat, you will notice that there are a lot of statues with missing head and hands. They are been stolen by the locals before it was declared as part of the Angkor World Heritage site. In ancient Cambodia, temples and universities were built with stones; houses were built with wood, they were burned down during the Siam attack.

Cambodia is a much better place than I thought.

*it was extremely hot here*

Purchasing entrance ticket for Angkor World Heritage Site. Our face will be captured and the photo will be printed on the ticket.

Four Face Buddha

Victims of the landmines

Day 5-7
I was in South Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City and Cu Chi. There is a lot of buildings in HCM City with French influence.

Notre Dame Catheral

City Hall at the back

The War Museum in Vietnam is a small, but interesting. For many Americans, Vietnamese, and others, the war in Vietnam was the defining event in their lives. It was a conflict that divided families and brought violence both to Vietnam and to the United States.

Cu Chi Tunnel is a must visit for those who would like to learn more about the Americans and Vietnamese in Vietnam. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance to the Viet Cong in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually persuading the weary Americans into withdrawal.

Trap used during the war