May 27, Da Lat, Vietnam

I finally got to sleep in a bit which was really nice. I’m staying at the Peace Guest House 2 which has really nice rooms with balconies and is only $8. After a great lunch on the street corner from the woman selling brie sandwiches on fresh baguettes, I walked about 2.5km’s to the “Crazy House.” Crazy House is essentially an Alice in Wonderland themed guesthouse, designed by a Vietnamese architect who studied in Moscow.

Based on a recommendation by Will, I stopped in at the Easy Riders Club to check out the tours they offer. The Easy Riders are a bunch of informal locals who take tourists on tours of the city and countryside via their motorcycles. They offer an array of trips from one day to 30 day trips. After a long talk with the owner Rocky, one of the most energetic and exciting person I've ever met, I signed up for his 3 day, 2 night trip through the central highlands to Buon Ma Thuot. This should be an exciting trip, one that's described as a great local experience and far better than taking the bus (which I originally planned to do). The next blog update will have to wait until after this adventure!

Lunch lady

So Crazy!

Me at the Crazy House

One of the bedrooms (The Kangaroo Room)

May 26, Da Lat, Vietnam

Today I again woke up early, this time to jump on the bus to Da Lat. I was excited to go here because, aside from the friendly people, Da Lat is in the central highlands of Vietnam meaning the temperature is much cooler. During the day it's about 80 degrees, but being at around 3,000ft, at night it dips down to around 55 degrees. The nights remind me of being in San Francisco. After a wild 6 hour bus ride, I now know why it takes that long to go 100km, I arrived in what looked like a small European town.

After sitting on a bus for awhile I wanted to explore a bit so I walked around town. I first came to the bustling market where you could buy anything and everything. I bought some really good local candy and dried fruits, part of which I've been using to give out to people on the streets (this was a friendly tactic Steph, Will and I developed in Cambodia). Following the market, I headed towards the central area of Da Lat and to the "famed" Vietnemase rendition of the Eiffel Tower - a small salute to the French influence. After a half day of wlaking around town, I stopped at the friendly Peace Hotel for some dinner and company of fellow backpackers.

Vietnamese Eiffel Tower

Women selling fruit at the market

Central Da Lat

May 24-25, Nha Trang, Vietnam

My last two days in Nha Trang were pretty relaxing and more or less what I was hoping for. On Monday I spent pretty much the entire day sitting on the beach reading and hanging out with these two Canandian girls whom Steph and I met a few weeks back in Laos. It's funny because you quickly learn while traveling here that there are many people doing the same route or circuit through SE Asia, so you can more or less rely on the fact that you will bump into someone you met before.

Tuesday was another early morning to wake up in time for the days scuba diving adventure. The boat ride was about an hour long to the two dive sites, Madonna Rock and Hon Mon East. The first dive was real nice with a variety of species. Highlights included ghost pike fish, cuttle fish and extremely colorful coral. The second dive was less about the fish and more about the terrain. There were numerous swim throughs and some of the narrowest caves I've ever dove through.

May 23, Nha Trang, Vietnam

I woke up early again today, this time in order to catch the 10 hour bus from HCMC to Nha Trang (a coastal town known for it's beaches and diving in Vietnam). Although not much to talk about for this day since I was on a bus most of the time, I wanted to show some photos of the drive here. The scenery was amazing and like nothing I've seen before. It was certainly nothing I expected in Vietnam. On one side there was the beatiful, turquoise water of the South China Sea, and on the other was red desert and large sand dunes. At times, you'd have the desert in the foreground, then green rice paddies, and the picturesque ocean in the background. It was definitely amazing to see.

Desert, rice paddy, desert, forest...

Desert, lake, forest...

Red desert and ocean in background

Sand dunes on the China Sea

My new friend in Nha Trang. Somehow he

managed to carry my pack and me on his

motorbike.

May 22 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

On Saturday I woke up early to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels (about 2 hours from HCMC). Cu Chi is a district of HCMC and was the base for the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive. The tunnels here were part of an extensive tunnel system spreading over 200km through central and western Vietnam. The tunnels were used as a hideout from US soldiers during the day and were extremely elaborate. They were built on three different levels (1m deep, 6m deep and 9m deep) with bamboo shoots reaching the surface to supply fresh air, kitchens, and even "bedrooms". We were able to crawl through parts of the tunnel which was fun although very small (about 1m high by 1/2m wide). Our amazing tourguide (he repeatedly sung songs for us) told us how it was made for Vietnamese, not people with big "boom booms." Aside from the tunnels we also saw the trenches that were dug by the Viet Cong, including several elaborate and brutal trap doors. One of which if you stepped on you'd fall a few meters onto sharpened bamboo that would impale the enemy and break off inside of you on impact. There were also many B-52 bomb craters in this area as well.

After getting back to HCMC in the afternoon I met up with my friend Will (Seattle) where we explored more of the city and found some great local hangouts.

Entrance to the tunnel

Inside the tunnel - there didn't

used to be electricity. It was hot!

Viet Cong trench and bomb shelter

Trap door with sharpened bamboo

B-52 bomber crater. Or, as sometimes called

here "presents from the US"

May 21 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I finally got a good night's sleep which felt amazing. Despite how hot it is outside I was able to find a cool room that was also nice and quiet.

Overall, HCMC is loaded with history. It feels like anywhere you go there is some sort of remembrance of what happpend 35 years ago in this city. After a quick bite to eat, ham and cheese croissant, I set out for what was to be a day walking around HCMC. My first stop was the Reunification Palace aka Independence Palace (the name was changed to Reunification once North and South Vietnam were reunited in 1975). Reunification Palace was the home and office of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and was the site of the end of the Vietnam War when on 30 April 1975, a communist tank crashed through the front gate leading to the fall of Saigon (HCMC) to the Communists. I decided to take a guided tour which was okay, but most interesting of all we were shown the basement of the palace where the War Room (where many crucial conversations with the US took place) and the rooftop where a northern communist spy dropped a bomb on the building on 8 April 1975.

Following the tour, I headed to the War Remnants Museum which documents the atrocities of the Vietnam War/Conflict. This was not an easy site to take in. The museum had numerous floors which were full of hurrendous photos of people napalmed, shot or bombed by the US (the US dropped 14,300,000 tons of artillery or bombs during the war). What was amazing was that there was zero censory on what was shown. The museum certainly made it apparent that the US made a mistake there, killing so many civilians, and they were not shy about showing this viewpoint. It was interesting to see that the famous photograph (at least in the US) of Kent State protest took up only a small corner of the museum. After the museum I set out for a quick stop at the Notre Dame cathedral which was nothing too exciting.

At night I went out to dinner with some people I met on the bus to HCMC.

Exact location of where the communist tank
broke through the gate of the Reunification Palace
on 30 April 1975. The Palace is in the background.

On 8 April 1975 a communist spy dropped
two bombs at this location in the Palace.

President of South Vietnam's meeting room.

"Tiger Cage" at the War Remnants Museum.
POWs were held in these cages made out of
barbed wire. They were just big enough for a small
person to lay down in.

The "War Room" at the Reunification Palace
kept tallies of troops in S. Vietnam on 29 June 1968.
The US is the first listed with 541,933 troops
-- hundreds of thousands more than other countries.

Vietnamese Notre Dame

Inside Notre Dame

May 20 Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM

May 20 (Siem Riep to Ho Chi Minh)

With Steph heading back to the US for her sister's graduation I jumped on a bus for Ho Chi Minh. The 13 hour bus ride wasn't too bad, luckily it was over night, so I was able to sleep for a bit. The border crossing was pretty smooth and much more together than the crossing from Laos into Cambodia. I arrived in HCMC around 1pm and found a guesthouse in the backpacker neighborhood. Thankfully, I was quick to realize that people here try and get an extra dollar out of you anyway possible. In the taxi I saw the meter jump out of nowhere several dollars and later in the day in getting change from my lunch bill they only gave half of what they owed me back. Luckily, I realized you always have to be paying attention and was able to get my money back in both instances.

In the late afternoon I headed to the local market where everything imaginable was being sold (from live fish, to fake silk, to seahorses as a snack. After the market I went to dinner at Pho 24 for my first of what I expect to be numerous courses of Pho. After dinner I grabbed a couple beers at a local bar before heading to sleep.

Traffic is crazy here.

Ben Thanh Market

Most disgusting snack I've ever seen

May 17-19 (Siem Reap, Cambodia)

May 17-19

From Phnom Penh we took a bus to Siem Reap for a couple days. Siem Reap is famous for the nearby Angkor Wat complex – the largest religious monument/structure in the world and one of the eight wonders of the world. Angkor is sprawled over 60km’s so in order to see what you want you need at least half a day there. Because it’s so hot we decided to wake up at 4:30 and watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Constructed during the first half of the 12^th century, Angkor Wat is certainly one of the most amazing sites either of us has ever seen. After walking around the inner walls of the temple we rode around in a tuk-tuk to approximately five other temples. These included: Bayon (faces) temple and the tomb raider temple, to name a few.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Trees cover many of the ruins

Steph climbing down the steep

stairs of Angkor Wat

Us at the faces temple

Faces everywhere!!

And Steph's...

Angkor complex

Angkor Wat

May 15 (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

May 15

We knew today was going to be a difficult day as we prepared ourselves to visit S-21 aka Tuol Sleng Genocide Musuem (the notorious security prison ran by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in the 70’s) and the killing fields. As soon as you stepped foot in s-21, you could feel its eeriness. Aside from the obvious that it was a torture chamber for people of all ages, s-21 is pretty much in the city of Phnom Penh. Additionally, before it was a torture chamber it was a high school which in a nutshell represents what Pol Pot was doing (exterminating any educated and/or high ranking officials). Additionally, this all happened only 30 years ago!!! From ’75-’79, about 17,000 people were imprisoned at s-21. It was tough to swallow everything during the tour, as we were able to walk through the cells of prisoners, view skulls of the people killed there (some you could even see bullet holes where they were shot in the head), and see some of the torture instruments used.

In the afternoon we took a ride out to the killing fields where countless people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge (estimates vary between 700,000 – 3.1 million people). Obviously this was a heavy site to handle. When you first enter the museum, there is a huge stupa filled with the skulls of the victims of the killing fields (in Buddhism, having this stupa is a way to show respect to the dead). After the stupa, you walk through the field where deep holes are easily visible (once graves of the dead), as well as massive burial sites of women and children where you could see bones, teeth and the victim's clothes in the ground. What certainly struck us was in the back corner of the field a bunch of kids were playing behind barbed wire. Apparently there is a school right next door to where this tragedy took place.

It’s quite devastating to see what the Khmer Rouge did in the 70’s. It’s also interesting to note that none of us were ever taught in detail what took place. Being able to see this firsthand was certainly an eye-opener and the fact that this happened in the 70’s is a shocker.

Inside s-21

Cells in s-21

10 rules all prisoners had to follow

14 graves of people found at s-21

s-21 was a converted high school

Stupa at the killing fields

May 14-16 (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

May 14

We got back to the capital city around midnight on the 13^th and went directly to the Mekong Palace Hotel right on the river. The next morning Pete got up early to drop off his Passport at the Vietnamese Embassy. When he returned we met up with our friend Will from Seattle and walked to the National Palace and the Silver Bagoda. Unfortunately, all offices, museums and royal houses were closed for the Kings 57^th birthday. Instead of going inside, we decided to walk around the grounds and made our way to the famous Russian Market. After a 45 minute walk in the intense heat (at least 100 degrees everyday) we reached a deserted market. Today seemed to be a fail in terms of doing things so we went to an AC café and relaxed until 4:30 when Pete’s Vietnam visa was ready.

At night we met up with one of Pete’s cousins good friend, Josh, who has been living in Phnom Penh for 7 years. It was great to catch up with him and to hear more about life in Phnom Penh from someone living here. We then made our way up to the top of the FCC building for drinks and to watch the fireworks for the Kings birthday. Josh gave us some good recommendations for places to go out that night, so we started with Nagaworld, the local casino where Pete mastered blackjack winning on all hands for himself, Steph who also won for herself and Will (who gave Pete $100 to play for him). After the casino and a few hundred dollars richer, we went to Plantoon for some drinks.

Phnom Penh Market

Pete and Will

Just an elephant walking down the street

during rush hour. No biggie.