Day 1 (Friday):
Arrived to Ho Chi Minh city and had our check in meeting with the Intrepid travelers group. After, we explored the streets of Ho Chi Minh city, grabbed some yummy Vietnamese dinner, and soaked in the atmosphere. At one part, the sidewalks were covered with people just sitting and hanging out, having a drink. We joined :)
Day 2 (Saturday):
Woke up to experience Ho Chi Minh by daylight. Gorgeous place. There was a large park close to our hotel that tons of local people were at. Doing tai chi, jazzercise, walking, they were busy! Left by bus to drive to Phnom Penh. To get there we had to take a large ferry across the Mekong River. Busses and cars and people piled on! Once we arrived, we took a tuk tuk tour around the city, stopped at a market to try a bunch of local fruit, saw some important places. Ended the night by meeting up with friends from Malaysia, plus a few from our travel group to hang out a bar for awhile.
Day 3 (Sunday):
We visited the killing fields, and the genocide museum. Both were very interesting, and incredibly disturbing. The afternoon was free, so I took a walk around the city with a few other travelers, and saw the Royal Palace. That night, we took a river cruise on the Mekong River and had $2 cocktails. Whoo! It was beautiful and I love being on the water. Went out with our guide afterwords, and ended back at our hotels rooftop bar, using our iPhones to have a dance party! Side note.. almost got my purse snatched by a guy on a motorcycle but it's all good.
Day 4 (Monday):
Left early to drive in a van to Siem Reap. Roads were terrible, so the jostling, bumpy ride was quite terrible. We stopped at a roadside market and tried fried spider (yuck! too oily!) and then stopped for lunch at a nice little silk farm. We learned about the silk process, and met some local women who work there. After arriving in Siem Reap, we had free time. Some of us went to the tourist center and wandered the night market before heading to bed.
Day 5 (Tuesday):
Visited Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (Bayon), elephant terrace, and the Lady Temple at the Angkor Wat complex. This place is amazingggg and I highly recommend everyone going. Before Cambodia breaks out into another war, which I think is entirely possible. Touring took quite a long time, and exhausted me. Swam at the hotel for a bit, and then went back to Pub street for dinner and to meet up with a few people from Malaysia. Early bed though.
Day 6 (Wednesday):
Sunrise at Angkor Wat! We were there by 5:30 and watched the sun come over the temple. Absolutely stunning. After that, we toured the Tomb Raider temple (from the movie!). It was also incredible, the roots that have grown into the temple give it a really neat feel. A bit later in the day we visited the floating village of Siem Reap. Didn't really enjoy it because the people are so poor, and I felt like they were in a zoo that we went to. Interesting though to see an entire village floating in a lake. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping and enjoying some poolside time. That night, we had a huge party on pub street. There are 2 bars that blast music directly across from one another, and we danced and danced. If one bar had a bad song, we took 5 steps in the other direction and danced to the other bar's song. Great night. Probably my favorite of the trip!
Day 7 (Thursday):
Drove to Battambang today, and had a delicious western style (thats huge for me at this point) at a nice little cafe. Later we took another tuk tuk tour to see how the locals make a sticky rice dish, and noodles, and then went to where the old bamboo train is. We got to ride the bamboo train to a little village and explore, before going back to the main city and touring a traditional Khmer house. Had an absolutely wonderful home cooked meal at a local house, and went to bed.
Day 8 (Friday):
Drove almost all day to get to Bangkok. Entering the country was crazy busy, but we made it through alright! After checking into our hotel, we had one last group dinner and bar time. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone in the group, as we'd had such a good time together.
Day 9 (Saturday):
Bangkok Day! We did a walking tour around the main part of the city, and ended it by visiting the famous reclining buddha at the Wat Pho temple. After that, I took a mental health break and sat by the pool for a few hours. We then moved to our hostel, grabbed some food, and took a bus to check out the famous Chatuchak market. It was huge! and sold so many things! After wandering, we went back to our hostel (on the main party road) and discovered that the Thai New Year Celebration had already started. It's called the water festival and is the biggest water gun fight ever. We were drenched within 2 minutes, so obviously bought a water gun and took to the streets. Exciting wet night, and crazy how busy the street got.
Day 10 (Sunday):
Went to the amulet market (apparently the biggest one in Thailand) to wander a little in the morning, and then came back to Khao San road to pack up and head to the airport. Made it to the airport, bought the most overpriced meal and starbucks of my life, and got ready to depart back to Malaysia. And school. And classes. And homework. UGH.
So quick summary: Vietnam. Cambodia. Thailand. Tons of fun. SPRING BREAK 2014!
also, 46 days left in Malaysia for me. Time is moving fast.. but also so slow. Weird.
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