Nam

We crossed via the Mekong River, a colorful introduction to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Several times in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) we almost got killed by speeding motorbikes.

During our two weeks in the country we did not encounter any negative sentiment because we were Americans and were at war less then 40 years ago. However, when we visited the War Remembrance Museum it was a different story. The museum spoke of the horrors that the American force inflicted upon the innocent Vietnamese people. This of course is only half of the story, but it was valuable to view from a different prospective.
Outside of the museum we played badminton with the cutest girl in Asia. She was hysterical laughing at Seth’s shoes.


Benjy showing her sister the pictures.


During the war Cu Chi was a communist stronghold outside of Saigon in Southern Vietnam. The Vietcong built an elaborate maze of underground tunnels that they lived and fought in for 10 years during the war.

They would travel over 6 miles in one night though the tunnel to go and fight the Americans/South Vietnamese. Seth made it 20 meters.

A little to much city life and traveling we decided to treat ourselves to some beach time in Mui Ne. Mui Ne had beautiful sand dunes

Great beach

And surfing...kind of.

We don’t have any pictures to prove it, but Hanoi was a truly beautiful city. Constructed with mostly French architectural style, virtually every street both wide ‘Parisian’ boulevards and small hectic Asian alleys are lined with trees. Hanoi acted as our home base for our two Northern Vietnam excursions.

First we took an overnight train to the mountain town of Sapa. We spent two days hiking with a local guide through the mountains and countless rice paddies.

We spent the night in a local Hmong families home.

The Hmong people were very friendly and welcoming to visitors.



We actually were invited and went to a traditional Hmong wedding.



Our next excursion was to Halong Bay, probably the best known tourist site in Vietnam and a natural marvel. There are more than 3,000 islands that shoot out of the bays calm turquoise waters. We spent our first night on Cat Ba, the only inhabited island in the bay. Early in the AM we hiked up to one of the islands viewpoints.

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing on a junk floating around Halong Bay

The exchange rate in Vietnam is 17,000 dong to the dollar. We were in fact Vietnamese millionaires many times over.

Khmer

The reality of Cambodia hit us like a speeding truck or maybe we should say hit us like a cow. Our taxi crossing the countryside came to a screeching halt and just avoided a head on collision with a cow crossing the street. The cow may as well have been branded “Welcome to Cambodia”

Originally the capital of Cambodia, Siem Reap is now a small charming city lined with dirt roads. Many tourists come here because of its close proximity to the Angkor ancient ruins.

The driver from our hostel took us to a floating villages located outside the city. We jumped on a boat skippered by a 16 year old and his first mate no older than 12 for a journey down the long winding murky river.
The river opened up to a lake that housed an amazing floating village.

Half way across the world, in a floating Cambodian fishing village Seth found the ultimate basketball court.
Our young captain brought us to a house boat where some old men were celebrating their new year with home made rice wine and fresh fish. They did not speak one word of English, but spoke the international language of Lets All Get Drunk.


About an hour and many many shots of rice wine later we headed back down the river. Apparently being 16 years old and drinking a ton of rice wine does not equate to greater boating skills. Who would have thought that those kids couldn’t hang with a bunch of full (and extra full) sized men? The boat repeatedly veered into the river bank and Benjy was called on to do most of the 1st mates duties. Seth was sprawled out on the deck in a blissful rice wine slumber.

After over 5 hours at sea, our hostels driver became panicked and contacted the police. No simple explanation was acceptable in this part of the world and a mosquito/lizard infested floating house was converted into a makeshift police quarters for further questioning. We stood by confused and a bit scared as the trial progressed with all parties present. Finally we told and recorded our story as it happened and were excused without bail. The underage drivers were found guilty and await sentencing.



Angkor Tom was an ancient city built in the 12th century occupied by over two million people. There are hundreds of temples surrounding the city including the world famous Angkor Wat. This temple is the pride and joy of Cambodia and is represented on their flag. Its massive structure took 37 years to build and was for the use of one man.


Another notable temple is called Bayon or Temple of Smiles.

In the 15th century the Siamese (Thai) invaded Angkor and the Khumer (Cambodians) abandoned the city and temples and fled to Phnom Phen. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the French stumbled upon the ancient cities ruins. After 400 years, the jungle had completely overcome the city as the last temple we visited clearly showed

From Tomb Raider
In the 70’s there was a civil war in Cambodia. The communist, Khmer Rogue came to power under Pol Pot and began to exterminate all of the educated Cambodians and anyone who dared to act as an individual. In a massive genocide Pol Pot and the Khmer Rogue Regime murdered 3 million fellow Cambodians. The killing fields where tens of thousands of people were taken to be executed and dumped in mass graves. In the center of the fields they have erected a monument with over 9,000 skulls that were found when the fields were discovered.

Clothing still remains from victims.

In Southest Asia they let you shoot guns. American muscle, The M-16.

The Cambodians have yet to recover from their lengthy civil war. Poor living conditions exist across the country. Despite their poor fortune we found the people to be among the friendliest in all of our travels.