Good Morning Vietblog (and Cambodia. Mostly Cambodia)

The only thing I got to do in Vietnam before going on my trip was to wish it a good morning as Robin Williams did. But I’m not complaining- I had a wonderful time!

We pulled into port sometime around 11 and went through the immigration process really quickly! So administration started calling groups to head to the gangway to disembark by 11:30ish- which was the perfect amount of time to get lunch, repack my bag for the billionth time, and meet up with my traveling group by 12:30.

After signing in, we all debarked, hopped on a bus, and completed our routine passport check. Which is a good thing- because we were missing two passports, which added a little bit more time to our waiting game. Once we got the necessary passports- we were off for our 3 hour bus ride to the border of Cambodia. We  went through customs relatively quickly- except for one member of our group. She kept having to go back through the passport check- and we had no idea what was going on. Our trip liaison urged us to go ahead and get our visas and he would figure our how to get her through customs. We later learned that when all of our passports were being stamped for us to gain entry to Vietnam- they skipped hers and so she was sent back to the ship (that’s right—back three hours) to get everything sorted out. *she wound up flying to meet us the next day – and she really didn’t miss too much.

Just a long ride to Phnom Penh

We got to our hotel rather late that night (somewhere around 2200) for dinner and went to sleep. Well, I went to sleep. My roommate for the trip was the “go hard or go home” type.

You can only imagine how difficult she was to wake on the mornings we had to get up at 5:30. It was like waking a rock. A rock that is under several layers of dirt. With a playground on top of it.

I think you get the picture.

Gotta love her. She’s genuinely is a ball of fun!

ANYWAY.

Fortunately, our first morning we did not have to be out the door until 8:00. Which was a REAL treat.

Britt needed a cat nap!

In the first part of our day we visited the National Museum of Art in Cambodia, Royal Palace (where my friend Grant sang songs from the King and I), Silver pagoda, and a local market (Toul Tom Pong market.)

We then took a break from walking around in the hot, hot, sun and had lunch at local restaurant. Exciting things happened! The girl that had to return to the ship joined us! Oh- and I drank something strange that made me feel like I was going to black out. Fret not, I warned my friends so that I would not be left alone on the streets of Cambodia.

Up next on our agenda was to take a 45 minute bus ride (thank goodness for those 45 minutes- because I needed that time to recoup) to visit the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, Killing Fields and Russian Market.

I’ve got to tell you – that evoked a great deal of emotion, as dark tourism does.  It was difficult to see that tragedy such as this occurred to innocent and kind people like the Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge regime showed no prejudice- and arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government (or any other government for that matter), including professionals, intellectuals, and children. 

There was somewhere over 20,000 mass grave sites on the premises – and many different ways to commemorate those whose lives were taken from them. Rooms of the  Toul Sleng museum contains thousands of photos taken by the Khmer Rouge of their victims- I still have many of those images burned into my brain. But the site that affected me the most was that on the fences and signs around the mass graves of children, people have placed hundreds of colorful bracelets over the years. Just after my years at camp and hours of making friendship bracelets with kids and counselors alike made the loss the nation endured really hit home for me. 

Two survivors remain, and we had the opportunity to meet them (after we had seen the cells in which they were imprisoned). And I bought Chum Mey’s book (one of the survivors), and I’ll read it on the next long stretch at sea.

As you can imagine, this visit was incredibly sobering and I’m thankful we had some time to think about it and decompress a little bit. We got on a boat and took an evening cruise along the Mekong Delta (this seems to be something that happens quite often- I always wind up on a boat of sorts). The ride ended and we stopped at a restaurant along the river called Titanic- hoooow appropriate. After dinner (which ended at 8:30- I know, I’m a grandma) we returned to the hotel- and thank goodness for that. It was a long day.

Remember when I said my roommate was the go hard or go home type?  After the aforementioned long day was over- she and a few other folks went out.

And what did I do? Took a shower, put on my pjs, talked to Mark, and basked in the glory of not having a roommate for a short period of time. As much as I love hanging out with new friends, it’s nice to just relax and talk to a familiar one.

I turned in by about 11…I talked to Mark for a lot longer than anticipated- and I knew that I had an early morning coming my way. And I had to wake my roommate up (she got in somewhere around 2am). She requested that I wake her up at 5:45.

I got myself up at 5:30 so that way she would maybe just hear me rustling around and get up. Not the case. And she did not respond to John Mellencamp. Or my voice. Or saying her name. It took shaking her awake. I really thought that I was going to have to flip her out of the bed. She warned me that she was a heavy sleeper- but she didn’t tell me that she was just short of being comatose while sleeping. I finally won the war at 6- and we got downstairs just in time to grab breakfast and hop on the bus.

For a 7 hour car ride to Siem Reap.

Everyone else complained about the length of time (kind of funny, some of my group had a “long” distance to drive from home to school. Long being two hours), but the concept of a 7 hour car ride to me is old hat.

HOWEVER

Driving in Cambodia is sort of like a combination of frogger and Whose Line is it Anyway, where the drivers make up the rules of the road and the lanes don’t matter. 

And the roads are bumpy. OH, and did I tell you that although I was enjoying Cambodia, my body was rejecting it entirely? Perfect time to be stuck on a bus.

It was truly the most miserable I’ve felt on SAS thus far. Not a good feeling to have.

By the end of it, it seems as though the tables had turned. Those who were initially grumbling were talking about how the ride was not as bad as they thought- and it felt like ages to me.

This bus ride was on Friday 13th...and let me tell you, it was certainly an unlucky one. At least for me. I'll leave out the details...just know that I was REALLY sick.

I was just so thankful when I saw our hotel in view. It was a beautiful sight. From both my health standpoint, and in actuality. This is a 5 star quality place, that costs under 50 US dollars a night. It was AWESOME. If you were to pick up the Angkor Empress and move it to Dallas, TX- it would probably be about 400 USD a night.

We were given a little bit of time to freshen up before we had a late lunch (which was lovely, but at this point in time- I decided that it would be wise to only eat rice) and then head to Angkor Wat.

I’ve never been one to notice the differences between different types of architecture (normally I just look at a building and I think- I like that building. That is a nice building) but Angkor Wat was incredible. People are/were so creative.

I still was not feeling 100% at this point in time, so I could not muster up enough strength to climb to the top.

MEANWHILE.

I played my ukulele for some monks

 and women dressed up in traditional garb. I really just wanted to pose with the women with my ukulele- but they insisted that I play.

So, I sang my go to song “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz and then asked for another one…

So I gave them an Angkor.

Yes, yes. I know that I used that joke on Facebook/instagram- but it’s far too good to only use in one instance.

At least in my opinion.

Moving along…

We departed Angkor Wat and had dinner at a local restaurant. By this point in time, I was exhausted, feeling dehydrated, pretty crappy. 

Don’t worry Mom and Dad, I chugged water like a freshman in college trying lite beer for the first time.

Bad joke? Probably.

The following morning, I slept in while some of our group awakened at 05:00 to watch the sunrise at Angkor Way- but my body was not having it.

You know when you go on a walk with your dog and your dog decides “hmm, we have gone a long enough distance- I believe I will stop and lay down here”? 

Then you have to carry said dog back home? 

That is essentially what was going on between my brain and my limbs. So I slept in and the rest of our group that stayed behind with me met up for breakfast and were on the bus with everyone else by 08:00.

(The group that went said it was pretty- but that it was sort of cloudy, filled with tourists, and that they were exhausted.)

Good choices made by Sam.

On this day, we visited Angkor Thom with Elephant Terrace, the Terrace of Leper King, Bayon Temple and Ta Prohm. All very beautiful with that same, old-stone architecture. However…they should not have led with Angkor Wat. By the end of this day we were “templed out.”

ALSO, there was one temple that I could not go in because my shoulders were not covered.

Struggles.

Needless to say- we were relatively excited to stop sightseeing and sit down and eat at the hotel- even for a short time. Next we drove to Tonle Sap lake just to walk around. We  then headed to the Leadership School for Young Women. Which, by this point, we were not into that idea as a group. Our lesion wanted us to prepare a song and was making the evening sound sort of un-fun.

But I must admit- the school was easily the highlight of the entire trip. We got there and they had decorated the courtyard with balloons to welcome us, and better yet- they all looked so excited for us to be there!

I couldn’t help but to be excited as well. We cut the speech idea, and just hung out with the girls by means of painting, dancing, and having a baby powder fight.

These girls are so special not only because they were so welcoming to our group, but because they are the best and the brightest. They are from all over Cambodia and were brought to this school because they had the highest grades, learned English quickly (and were amazing) and will all get the chance to go to the university. Such a sweet group of girls looking to create big futures for themselves- and that is exactly what they will do.

We were all sad to leave in the end- we had a grand ole time.

Our next move was to a dinner at a local restaurant with cultural dance show- which was certainly interesting. So interesting I don’t know how to describe it.

It was like...interpretive dancing. With baskets. And straight faces. Maybe I didn’t get the message behind it…but that’s what I saw. There were also a few other SAS groups at the same restaurant.

I don’t know why we find it so exciting to see each other in country- we all live together- but for some reason there is still a thrill of sorts to see a familiar face(s) in a foreign country.

The following morning, we got up and took a flight back to Ho Chi Minh- our time in Cambodia is over. And with so little time,  in the city- we didn’t really know what to do.

Upon our return, we allotted ourselves a couple of hours to freshen up- and then me, Grant, and Talon went out to find some pho for dinner.

We ran into a couple of girls from our group that were trying to find the night market- but did not have a map. We did not want to leave them until they found their direction.

They fumbled around on their phones for a minute before I grew impatient (as I do. Especially when I’m hangry) So I asked a nice looking local standing nearby. He pointed the girls in the direction of the market, and they were off. The three of us spoke with him for a while, because he had been such a great help to our friends. We learned that his name was Quang (and likely still is), and he had learned English by talking to tourists that come and go- he asked to practice with us and we agreed! We asked him to point us to a restaurant that served good local food and we would treat him together. He gave us a little bit of history of the city and led us to a great place where we each ate for under $3. It was brilliant all around.

He was a great guy, and I’m so thankful we ran into him. We had plans with other friends at the Heli Bar (Which is on the 52^nd floor of the Bitexco Financial Tower) already in place, so we exchanged emails and parted with Quang.

We got up to the top and our friends wanted to do the whole bottle service thing- but me and Talon might as well be grandparents and didn’t want to be out too late.

So we went to the bar to get a drink to have the experience and then head back to the ship.

I asked the bartender what her favorite thing to make was (in the event that you do not know- that’s the best way to get the tastiest drink. At least in my experience) she said she could make anything- so I said something from the specials.

As it turns out, one of her own creations had made it onto the specials menu and so that is what I had her make! It was delicious. I snagged the recipe from her.

Chi (yes, we are totally on a first name basis) was such good company. She said that we were the nicest Americans she had ever met (which is incredibly sad for the US, but good for us- because we had a good time and free bar snacks) Talon and I wound up staying there for a while longer than we anticipated because we simply lost track of time. When we regained track, we said goodbye…but not before I asked to take a picture with her. Chi asked if I wanted to come behind the bar and hold a shaker like James Bond…you know I was all about that.

We gushed about what luck we had all the way back to the ship, and then again the next day when we met up with some other friends to go to a market. (and yes, we bragged about our evening to them as well- how could we not)

It was an unexpected and awesome end to this port. I’d do the last 24 hours again.

Things I love about today:

1. Strangers turned friends

2. Friends turned better friends

3. Pepto…and Imodium