VIETNAM / CAMBODIA

I know ya’ll are wondering why I am first posting my blog about Vietnam…let me try and explain.  The intervals between countries have been getting shorter and shorter.  From Malaysia to Vietnam we only had 3 days at sea, and from Vietnam to Hong Kong, 2 days.  I barely have enough time to unpack my bags, upload my pictures onto my computer, and repack my bags for the next country.   If you haven’t been able to tell from my blogs so far, I don’t really get much sleep while in port, so I try to catch up on some sleep while at sea.  Oh yea, and I have to go to classes, study for exams, and do some work.  I am sure ya’ll can imagine what my room looks like on the ship…  Anyways, I am sorry for taking so long to update you on my travels; there is just so much I can do in the 2 days I am on the ship.  Nevertheless, here is my blog about Vietnam, hope you enjoy it…

 

March 27, 2008- Arriving into Vietnam and leaving for Cambodia

I woke up around 0430 to watch the sun rise over Ho Chi Minh City.  As it has been in the last few ports, the weather did not permit me to really see the sunrise.  It was rainy and overcast.  However, pulling into port in Ho Chi Minh was definitely the most interesting port arrival.  Our boat had to go through the Mekong Delta to get to our dock.  We saw tons of homes on the water, and a variety of different boats.  Vietnam is one of the countries that I was most excited for.  I was pretty excited to see the country that Khoa and his family are from.

 

After watching the “sun rise” over Ho Chi Minh City, I went back to my room, packed up my bags and took a little nap; the ship had not been cleared yet.  At 1100 I went up to the union to meet with my group for my trip to Cambodia.  I know it sounds kind of strange, we just pulled into Vietnam, and here I am leaving to fly to Cambodia.  I spoke to another girl who went on SAS last year (Jordi) and she recommended doing this trip.  Cambodia has one of the 7 wonders in the world, the Temples of Angkor Wat.  I also decided to do this trip because although we would be in Cambodia for 3 days, I still had 2 days in Vietnam.  I figured I could experience a little bit of both countries. 

 

At 1130, I left with my SAS group to the airport for Phnom Phen.  To make it easier for our group leaders to keep track of all 60 of us, he had us buddy up; everyone just had to make sure that there buddy was on the bus before we left to go anywhere.  My buddy for this trip was Theo.  Theo and I didn’t really know each other before this trip, so we decided to be buddies and get to know one another better. We got into Phnom Penh at about 1500.  Straight from the airport we drove to the National Museum.  On the drive to the museum, almost everyone fell asleep; it is kind of our means of survival.  Anytime we are able to sit on a bus or a moving vehicle, we sleep!  The buildings of the National Museum had such unique, beautiful architecture.  We got the opportunity to walk around the area for a while, look inside many of the buildings and observe numerous statues.  After the National Museum, we headed to the Mekong River for a Sunset Cruise.  On our drive to the Mekong River, we saw the streets filled with motorcycles, hundreds of them.  This is how most of the people get around; it is more gas efficient, cheaper, and easier to get through traffic.  The one thing we were told not to do before getting to Vietnam was to NOT ride on the motorcycles…

Anyways, we got to the Mekong River for our sunset cruise at about 1720.  What a life!  We all sat around the boat, drank some beers, and got to know one another.  It still amazes me that we are more than halfway into our trip and there are still kids that I have yet to meet, or that I don’t know much about.  As we cruised down the Mekong River, I got to see some houseboats.  I think I would like to try living in a small houseboat for a few days.  Its not the kind of boats that we would see back at home; they are these little wooden boats, one level, nothing fancy, that these families live on.  It wasn’t much of a sunset for some reason, but it was still a great experience cruising down the Mekong Delta.  I should also mention that our SAS group to Cambodia was made up of 60 people, so we had to be split onto 2 boats to do our Mekong sunset cruise.  Interestingly enough, the engine of the boat that I chose to go on didn’t work at first, so we had to be pulled by the other boat…what a sight!  The “cruise” was a great way to view the culture and get to know other kids on my trip.  During the cruise I got to know/talk to Theo, Derek from Long Island, Katrina, Alyssa, and Katie.  It was kind of nice going on a trip without my closest friends…I got to meet and hang out with new people.

 

Next stop on our itinerary was the Palm Tree Orphanage.  When we got off the bus to walk to the orphanage I was nervous as to how the orphanage would be because we were walking through some shady looking streets.  I just didn’t have a very good feeling.  To my surprise, the gates opened to the Palm Tree Orphanage, and the kids were soooo happy to see us.  As I walked through the gates, kids were running up to me grabbing my hands and putting their arms around me for a hug.  I never expected to see such active, happy kids in an orphanage.  One of the kids on my trip, Derek, brought these little whistles to hand out to each kid as a little toy to keep and play with.  Little did we know that all the kids would be blowing their whistles at the same time, and as loud as they could…you could only imagine!  Poor planning on Derek’s part, but the kids absolutely loved the whistles!  One of the little girls took me by my hand and walked me into her orphanage to show me around.  Many of us went into this big room where one of the kids on my trip, Jason, used the orphanage’s guitar to play some music for us to sing and dance with the kids to.  The kids were so happy and had such big smiles on their faces.  It is amazing how we are all capable of making these children’s day.  One of the children taught me how to play a few hand games with him.  Like other children that I have come across in other parts of the world, these children were fascinated with the digital camera.  I took tons of pictures with them and allowed them to use my camera to take pictures on their own.  They loved being able to view the pictures of themselves and the pictures that they themselves took.  After one of the little girls showed me around the orphanage, we went back outside to their swing set area.  I swung in the swings with her for a good 20 minutes and just talked with her and had a good time.  I think the children long for one on one human contact and relationships.    One of the things that amazed me about these children was how well they knew English, as Khmer was their first language.  Leaving the orphanage was of course the hardest part.  Kids kept grabbing my hands, tightly grabbing onto me for a hug and saying “BYEEE….THANK YOU.”  Although leaving this orphanage was hard, I knew the children were in good hands.  The Palm Tree orphanage is directed by a man known as Mr. Pole; his goal was to establish a learning facility for orphans.  By the looks of it, he has done a spectacular job!  The children live at the Palm Tree Center and take a variety of classes from English language, to computer training, to classical dance instruction.  I could go on and on about how great of an orphanage the palm Tree Center appeared to be, but I won’t; instead I am just going to give you the website and if you wish to see what else they have to offer their orphans you can take a look:  www.palmtree.org.kh .  This is definitely a place that I would love to go back to and help out with. 

 

After our time at the orphanage, we went to Khmer Surin Restaurant for some Thai food.  Unfortunately my stomach still wasn’t doing so well, so I couldn’t really eat much of the food.  I did however try the spring rolls and these rice cakes with peanut sauce.  Hopefully when my stomach feels better, I will try Thai food again.  Of what I tried, I really enjoyed it. 

 

We finally made it to Sunway Hotel at 2200 to first check in.  I got assigned to room with this girl Caroline who I had never met before; I was glad to be rooming with someone new, it gave me the opportunity to get to know one more person on my trip.  Caroline and I each took a QUICK shower.  When I say quick, I mean QUICK, no more than 4 minutes each.  We showered, got dressed and met a group of SASers back downstairs in no more than 30 minutes to go out to the bars.  We took a bike with a carriage attached to it to the bars.  We decided to go out to a bar named Cathouse….yea, I am pretty sure it was a Brothel, there were about 20 young women working there and not many customers.  All of the women were very flirty, and fairly good looking.  We just pretended to be oblivious Americans and remained at the bar.  We had a few drinks, and played a few games of pool.  I beat Theo and some Cambodian chick that worked at the Cathouse in pool (uh-oh Eric, you better watch out).  At about 0100, we decided to leave the Cathouse and walk back to our hotel.  After all, we had to wake up in a few hours.

 

March 28, 208 – Cambodia: Day 2

After a night out at The Cathouse, I woke up at 0600 for breakfast…Miso Soup and Banana Bread.  By 0700 we were checked out of the hotel and on the bus ready to explore.  Our first stop was to the Toul Sleng Museum.  Toul Sleng is recognized as the location where the Khmer Rouge (KR) regime set up a prison to detain individuals accused of opposing Angkar.  Toul Sleng was the most secret organ of the KR regime, and was Angkar’s premier security institution, specifically designed for the interrogation and extermination of anti-Angkar elements.  Prisoners were kept in small cells and were chained to the walls or the concrete floors.  Before the prisoners were placed in the cells, they were photographed, and stripped to their underwear.  Everything was taken away from them…I saw the individual cells that the prisoners were kept in.  Upon entering the museum, there was a picture sign of a person smiling with an “X” through it, showing that smiling was not allowed.  As the prisoners entered Toul Sleng, smiling for their photograph was prohibited.  The museum portrayed walls and walls of the photographs of the prisoners that resided here…not one of them was found smiling.  There were pictures of men, women, and even very young children.  It was very sad, to say the least.  I don’t understand how people can be so cruel.  One of the things I have thought a lot about on this trip is WHY are people so bad/cruel; I don’t understand.  I saw the pictures of the different people that were tortured here, the cells that they stayed in, and pictures of many of the victims being tortured or killed.  I purchased 2 books here to learn more about what happened during this time. 

 

After the Toul Sleng Museum, we visited the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace.  Once again, the architecture amazes me.  You never see anything like this in the states.  Our buildings are so boxy looking and boring.  As I walked around the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Place, I had a hard time getting the images from Toul Sleng out of my head…

 

Next on our itinerary was the Killing Fields.  Millions of people were killed here under the Pol. Pot Regime.  As we entered the killing fields, we first saw a tall, glass building that was filled with thousands of skulls; the skulls of the people who were killed here.  One of the signs at the Killing Fields read:

 

“ Here, was the place where trucks transporting victims to be exterminated from Tuol Sleng Prison and other places in the country, stopped.  Trucks would arrive 2 or 3 times a month or every 3 weeks.  Each truck held 20 to 30 frightened, blindfolded and silent prisoners. 

When the trucks arrived, the victims were led directly to be executed at the ditches and pits or were sent to be detained in the darken and gloomy prison nearby.

After January 07, 1979, one truck remained, but it has since been taken away.”

 

We got the opportunity to walk around the Killing Fields and view many of the ditches and pits where victims were executed and “buried.”  I say buried in quotation marks because the bodies were just thrown into these large ditches.  In the corner of one of the ditches, a sign read “Mass grave of 166 victims without heads.”  I also walked by a tree that had a sign next to it that read “Killing tree against which executioners beat children.”  Next to the tree laid cinder blocks, and remaining pieces of human bones.  It is hard to put into words everything I saw at the killing fields.  For one, it makes the same question run through my mind…WHY are people bad… HOW can people be so cruel?  As I walked through the Killing Fields I couldn’t help but notice the pieces of clothing and bones that stuck up through the dirt.  Many of the victims were stripped naked before they were executed.  There was another tree that I saw in the killing fields that really sticks out in my mind….it was called the magic tree.  “The magic tree…the tree was used as a tool to hang a loudspeaker which make sound louder to avoid the moan of victims while they were being executed.”  I don’t really know what to say about everything that I saw today.  It’s not an easy thing to look at, nor is it an easy thing to digest. 

 

After the Killing Fields, our group went to Sorya Restaurant for lunch.  My buddy (Theo) and I decided to skip lunch and shop around the nearby Central market instead.  The market was HUMONGOUS and there were so many different things to shop around for.  Since we were leaving to go to the airport in about an hour and a half, we were on a very strict time limit.  Time limits and a big shopping area don’t go well together; it becomes very overwhelming.  I managed to bargain myself a few things here and there in enough time to get back on the bus for the airport.  Shopping seemed more of a priority to us, so we decided to shop for the full hour and a half and skip out on lunch.

 

I have already done and experienced so much today, yet my day is far from over.  We got back on the bus and headed for the airport to fly to Siem Reap, where the Temples of Angkor Wat are located.  Our plane to Siem Reap…a small propeller plane.  Unfortunately, my bag didn’t fit in the overhead.  There could be 2 possible reasons for this: 1.  The plane is to small; or 2.  I keep buying too much stuff  …I would like to think it was number 1, but I am not totally sure.  Anyways, it was a short plane ride, but of course long enough for me to fall asleep for a good 45 minutes.  Not that I had trouble with this before the trip, but I have learned to sleep anytime I sit down in a plane, train, car, bus, or any other moving vehicle.  We got off the plane and right back onto another bus to drive to Angkor Wat to watch the sunset.  The temples of Angkor Wat were pretty and unique.  I am actually unsure of the significance of the Temples of Angkor Wat… I should probably figure that out.  However watching the sunset over them was really pretty, especially with the reflection in the body of water that lies in front of it.

 

After watching the sunset, we went to dinner at Kulen II Restauarant.  This was a buffet style dinner.  I mostly ate spring rolls, French fries and fried rice.  As we ate our dinner, a cultural dance show was taking place on a stage within the restaurant.  All in all, dinner was a great experience. 

 

From dinner, we drove straight to Borei Angkor hotel.  Once again, we checked into our hotel, took a QUICK shower, and went out for the night.  Before going out to the bars, Katrina, Theo and I decided to go to a nearby place to get a full body massage with some other kids on our trip.  $15 bucks for 1 hour…you can’t beat it.  After our massages, we came back to the hotel to meet up with everyone.  Our first stop was to the karaoke bar that was right across the street from our hotel.    As usual, SAS took over the bar.  Karaoke + overtired, drunk American kids…need I say more.  After karaoke we made our way to another bar called Angkor WHAT??  Pretty clever, huh?  Everyone had a good amount to drink, danced, played pool, and just had a good time.  After a night out in Angkor Wat, we took a rickshaw back to the hotel.  We managed to squeeze 8 people into 1 rickshaw, what a sight.  We all piled in on top of each other.  I finally went to bed around 0200, only to wake up at 0500 to watch the sun rise over the Temples of Angkor Wat.  It is hard trying to get the full experience of each country, nightlife, morning, and day…I am exhausted!!!

 

March 29, 2008 – Elephant Riding in Cambodia

I only went to sleep 3 hours ago…and here I am at 0500, waking up to watch the sunrise over the Temples of Angkor Wat.  Even though I am exhausted, I don’t want to miss a thing while in port.  The sunrise was beautiful, especially with the reflection in the water.  After sunrise, we went back to the hotel for breakfast.  I am pretty sure I tried dragon fruit during breakfast, it was purple on the outside, and white on the inside….pretty tasty.  I ate breakfast with Katie and convinced her to stray away from the scheduled itinerary with me and go elephant riding.  So we quickly finished our breakfast and found a rickshaw driver to take us to the South gate of the Temples of Angkor Wat, where you can go elephant riding.  Rickshaw rides are always fun in and of themselves.  You get some fresh air and just get to look out at the world around you.  One of the things I have noticed while in Cambodia is that families squish in on one motorcycle and ride on it together.  Often times you see a husband, wife, and their children all on one motorcycle…none of which are wearing a helmet.  We got to the South gate and signed up at a small stand to go elephant riding, but we had an hour and a half to kill.  Luckily for us there were plenty of nearby stands set up for plenty of shopping!  Before we began shopping, I gave one of the ladies who was in charge of the elephants a dollar, and she gave me a bushel of bananas to feed to the elephants.  What an experience.  I used to think elephants were these cute animals…not anymore.  Every time I pulled a banana off the bushel and held it out, the elephant’s trunk came at my hand to get the banana.  It was kind of scary.  The elephant’s trunk was really long and hairy.  A few times its trunk would touch my hand….gross…it looked like I had nasty elephant boogers on it!  Luckily for me, I brought my bottle of hand sanitizer.  After feeding the elephant, I got to practice my bargaining skills once again.  I got a variety of things such as paintings, and headbands.  Unfortunately my stomach hurt most of the time we shopped; maybe this was a good thing because I probably would have bought more if I was feeling 100%!

 

It was finally time to ride the elephant.  I was riding an elephant with my friend Katie.  We had to climb up a few stairs in a tree in order to get on the elephant.  Sooo, elephant riding…we basically sat on a wooden plank that was attached to the elephant.  This wooden plank also had a little wooden rail that protected us from falling off.  With every step the elephant took, we sure as hell felt it.  It was a very wobbly, shaky, bumpy ride.  It was pretty uncomfortable, but definitely an experience.  The elephant ride took us around the Temples of Angkor Wat, so it was a beautiful, uncomfortable, scenic ride.  I am glad that I got to ride an elephant out in nature, and not in a zoo.  The guy who “drove” the elephant did so by kicking it in the head in order to direct it.  It was really cruel.  If I would have known how the elephant “driver” directed the elephant before hand, I am not sure that I would have done it.  

 

After elephant riding, Katie and I went to the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed.  It was called Ta Prohm Temple.  The temples are an absolutely amazing sight to see.  The stones/bricks that make up the temples form different face images.  It was kind of uncomfortable to walk around the temples being that is was 110 degrees F, but we did our best.  I think today was the hottest of all our days so far in Cambodia. 

We went back to the hotel to meet up with the rest our group for lunch, and to check out of the hotel.  After checkout we went back to the South Gate of Angkor Thom and walked around the temples with our tour guide.  I walked around mostly with Katie, Derek, and Theo.

 

At 1600 we made our way to the airport for our flight back to Saigon.  I am glad that I got to go on this trip with students that I didn’t really know too well before hand.  It gave me the opportunity to meet and get to know different people on my voyage.  I especially got to know Theo more, as well as a few other kids.  After this trip, there are a new group of familiar faces that I can recognize on the ship.  I don’t think I will ever be able to know every single person on the ship!

 

By the time we got back on the ship, it was about 2000.  I have done so much in the past 3 days, my body needs a small rest.  None of the kids on my Cambodia trip were going out tonight, so I decided to stay in, unpack my bags, and attempt to get a few more hours of sleep.  Before going to sleep, I looked through a few magazines and ripped out a few pictures of dresses that I thought were pretty.  Apparently everyone was getting dresses made in Vietnam because the fabric and cost to make them were really cheap.  I figured I could pick out some fabric and bring it to a dressmaker early in the morning…

 

March 30, 2008- My day with Zach in HCM

Zach and I woke up at about 0730 to get breakfast and spend our day together in Ho Chi Minh City.  So we got off the ship and did exactly what we were told NOT to do during our stay in Vietnam…we rode the Motorcycles into town.    I loved the motorcycle ride!  Our original plan was to take a tour on the Mekong Delta and see the floating markets…it never happened!  I told Zach that I wanted to get a few dresses made while I was in Vietnam, and he said that he would take me to the Ben Than Market to look for fabric.  We went to the market, picked out a few pieces of fabric, and brought them to a seamstress.  I brought my stuff to the same seamstress that Zach was getting a shirt made from, so I figured I had nothing to worry about.  The lady told me that my dresses would be ready tomorrow at around 1700.  We left the seamstress and headed toward a travel agency to book a tour to the Mekong Delta.  No luck, all the tours had left at 0900…we were too late.  We couldn’t book it for the next day because we had plans to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels, so we decided to spend the day walking around Ho Chi Minh.  As we left the travel agency, Zach spotted a store that made suits and said “Hey, why don’t you get a suit made?” … so I did.  I got a custom-made business suit.  Zach had gone the day before to get one made, so he was already set in that area.  After getting fitted and picking the perfect fabric, we continued exploring HCM.  We spent a good portion of the afternoon looking in another store through magazines and fabrics, trying to pick out another dress that I could get made.  You know how I am with decisions.  Lets just say that Zach had the patience of an angel with me.  He helped me look through the magazines and fabrics, and waited with me until I found something I liked; not many guys would do what Zach did…he really is a good friend and I am SO glad that I bumped into him at the roulette table in the Bahamas!

 

All afternoon Zach had been telling me about this place that he went to the other day for lunch, Wayne’s Texas barbeque and steaks.  He said it was real southern barbeque; the guy spoke English and had a real southern accent.  So we went to Wayne’s Texas BBQ and steaks for lunch.  I don’t know if I just haven’t had a real hamburger in months or if this was the best hamburger I have ever had in my life, but it was delicious.  Here we were in the middle of Vietnam, eating hamburgers, potato salad, French fries, and pickles…I couldn’t have been any happier!  After a very satisfying lunch, Zach and I took cyclos back to Ben Thanh market to shop around and bargain.  After a few hours of shopping around, we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner, PHO 24.  Zach got a nice big bowl of Pho…I decided to get a plate of spring rolls!  By the time we were done with dinner, the Ben Thanh market was closed, and the night markets were set up.  We looked around the night markets for a little while, stopped off at a grocery store, and caught the bus back to the ship.  I had a great time spending the day with Zach.  I haven’t really gotten the chance to really hang out with him in a while, so today was nice and refreshing.

 

By the time I got back to the ship, I had 30 minutes to get ready to make the last bus back out to town.  So, once again, I got a quick shower, got ready, and met Theo, Derek and a bunch of other kids outside.  But, we missed the bus.  Our only other option was to take the motorcycles into town.  Right outside the gate of our ship, there was a group of people waiting for us to take us on their motorcycles into town.  So we did what we had to…we took the motorcycles.  I love riding on the motorcycles, I think it is so much fun.  The wind blows in your face and you get to cut through all the cars and traffic!  I am sure this is just what some of you at home want to hear…

 

My night out in HCM…I first went with Derek and a few other kids to a sports bar to get a few beers.  They had a dartboard there, so we hung out for a while and played a few games of darts.  I haven’t played darts in a while, but I wound up doing pretty well, and had a good time.  After a few beers and a few games of darts, we relocated to a bar called Apocalypse Now.  There were a ton of SAS kids at the bar, but there was still a good amount of locals.  Like every other bar, we all drank and danced for a few hours.  At about 0200, I decided to head back to the ship.  Although you can’t ride on a motorcycle with another friend, it is a good idea to find other people to take other motorcycles back with you.  I found a group of other kids who were ready to go back to the ship at the same time and we all got motorcycles to stay together.  I went back with Ashley, Will, and Katie.  When we told the motorcycle guys that we wanted to go back to the ship, we had to keep telling them to make sure they stayed with the other motorcycles and that we wanted to see our friends at all times.  A lot could go wrong taking a motorcycle back to the ship, but luckily everything worked out well and we all got back safely.

 

March 31, 2008 -  My last day in Vietnam

0630….another early wake-up.  By 0700 I was ready and on the bus for the trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels.  This was a SAS run trip that I went on with Andy, Zach, Adam, and Qi.  We had a good, hour-long bus ride to get to the Cu Chi Tunnels, so as usual I took a little nap.  We watched a video about the war, and the making and usage of the Cu Chi Tunnels.  The Cu Chi Tunnels absolutely amazed me.  I can’t believe that people thought to build this whole system underground.  So much thought and effort was put into building these tunnels.

 

Our guide took us over to an area in the woods and asked us to show him where the entrance to the tunnel was.  We had no idea…it was hidden so well.  It just looked like leaves covering the ground, but there was area that lifted up that was a small entrance to get into the Cu Chi Tunnels.  You had to be on the smaller side to go into them.  I got the opportunity to go inside the Cu Chi Tunnels…luckily I didn’t get stuck.  We walked around the area and got to look at the different devices that were used to trap the enemies.  Some of the traps were hidden so well, and were cleverly thought up.  We had the opportunity to shoot AK-47’s…I chose not to; the sound was way to loud for me.  There was no way that I could cover my ears and aim to shoot the gun.  After a bunch of kids shot the AK-47’s, some of us chose to crawl through the Cu Chi Tunnels…not the thing to do if you are claustrophobic.  The tunnels are extremely narrow and dark.  It was quite interesting to see how the Vietnamese got around during the war.

 

We got back from the Cu Chi Tunnels at about 1300.  I spent the day with Zach and Adam.  We went with Adam to get a suit made since he hadn’t had the chance to do so yet.  We also went to pick up the suit that I got made.  The suit came out looking amazing…hopefully it still fits by the time I get home.  After picking up my suit, we all went back to the market and shopped around for a few hours.  We had plans to meet Andy, Bayla, Sarah, and Jake for dinner back at Wayne’s Texas BBQ and steaks at 1800.  So we killed a few hours shopping around, and then it was time for me to pick up my dresses at the nearby seamstress…what a mess!!!  No joke, the dresses were big enough to fit 3 of me in them.  I don’t know how the seamstress messed up so badly, she took my measurements and everything…maybe she added a “0” onto each measurement!  Lets just say that I flipped out; there was no time for her to fix the dresses, we were going out to dinner, and then we had to be back on the ship.  Luckily I hadn’t paid the lady yet, but I did pay for the material already.  I basically played tug of war with the seamstress, telling her that I wasn’t going to pay for the dresses because they looked like absolute *&%# and they were meant for someone 200 pounds heavier than me.  I wound up having to pay a very little amount for the dresses.  Hopefully I can get them fixed when I get home.

 

The whole thing with the dresses made me work up a BIG appetite.  So, once again, I ordered a big, juicy cheeseburger and French fries.  It was so good!  I would have to say that burgers are definitely one of the foods that I miss most on this trip.  After dinner, we took a taxi back to the ship…I would have really liked to take a motorcycle, but I bought too much stuff to be able to fit on the motorcycle…oh well!

 

I am glad that I got to experience a little bit of Cambodia and Vietnam.  Vietnam is definitely a place that I hope to come back to in the future.  I would love to come back here with Khoa and learn more about where his family is from.  It would also be much easier to come back here with someone who can speak Vietnamese.  From hearing other people’s stories, I would like to come back and visit Ha Noi and Ha Long Bay.   From what I got to see of Vietnam, it is a beautiful country.

 

Goodbye Vietnam….Only 2 days until the next port of call, Hong Kong…