Exploring Vietnam: Post SIT Travels: Cambodia

I know it has been over a month since my last blog post and I apologize. My program ended on December 11 and then from December 12 to December 20 I traveled throughout Cambodia and Thailand with three other students on my program. I returned to Vietnam and spent two nights with my host family in Ho Chi Minh City before departing to NY. It was a lot of traveling, but I was use to it after already living out of a suitcase since the end of August. My adventures in Cambodia are below and the rest will follow shortly.

After a couple rounds of tear jerking goodbyes to some of the students on the program who were leaving to fly to different countries, I was off to start my own post-SIT adventure. (After the program ended, the eleven students on my trip were in seven different countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, U.S., England, Israel, and Thailand.) I met up with three other women who were on my program and we boarded the Mekong Express bus at 8:30 a.m. to travel to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The coach bus was actually really nice. It had air conditioning ( a must since it was about 90 degrees outside), there was a Jackie Chan movie playing, and we got some pastries for breakfast. It cost around $11. Once we arrived at the Cambodian border we had to get visas. When entering and exiting Cambodia, people are fingerprinted by an electronic pad. Some people had obtained their visa's online (it cost $20), but I did not so I had to pay $25 at the border for my visa. After passing customs, a man holding passports asked for mine. Once all my friends got through, I panicked that I had given my passport to a random person when I saw that they had their visas with them. After picturing myself stranded on the border without my passport, I realized that it was because they needed to put my Cambodian visa in the passport. (My friends had gotten the e-visa online.) We stopped for lunch and arrived in Phnom Penh in the late afternoon.

*A quick note about the pictures to follow in Cambodia and Thailand... My camera was stolen in Vietnam right before I left on my trip, but it was my fault. Vietnam is a very safe country. Civilians are not allowed to own firearms (I read that shotguns are excluded, but I'm not positive), handguns, or assault weapons. When I was in Vietnam, I was never afraid for my safety at any point (well maybe at the beginning while trying to cross the street, but I soon got the hang of that). As a young woman, I was not afraid to walk by myself or take public transportation alone. I never saw any violent crimes, but petty crimes were rampant, especially in the big cities. iPhones, laptops, and apple products in general were targeted. I once saw a woman talking on her iphone on the side of the street then heard her yell as a motorbike driver zoomed away clutching her phone. When my camera was stolen I was out dancing and I think I forgot to zip my purse, which I had moved behind me to dance. The next thing I knew my camera was gone, but at least no one was hurt, and really it was only a camera. So I must give a big THANK YOU to Anna for letting me use the photos on my blog that she took during our trip to Cambodia and Thailand!

Jenny and I in the tuk tuk that took us to our hostel, The Mad Monkey. The covered seating area was attached to a motorbike.

We only had one night in Phnom Penh so we decided to go to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Each of us had very little knowledge of Cambodia's history. We had heard of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, but that was all we knew. The Genocide Museum was very eye opening. The museum was in a former high school that had been used by the Khmer Rouge for the Security Prison 21 from 1975-1979.

A classroom used for torture in Security Prison 21.

An estimated 17,000 people went through the prison. Once they were brought there, prisoners were interrogated. After they admitted the crimes they were charged with (however false the accusations were) prisoners were executed. There were rooms upon rooms filled with black and white photos of prisoners that were all photographed upon their entry into the prison. The photos were very powerful. Some of the people stared back at the camera in defiance, others looked into the distance, and some looked defeated. Only 7 people are known to have survived the prison.

After visiting the prison, we decided to walk around the city and have dinner. Cambodian food, like Vietnamese food, focuses on balancing flavors, using seasonally appropriate ingredients, and the presentation of the dishes. Amok is a typical Cambodian dish that is usually prepared with fish, spices, coconut milk, egg, and peanuts that is steamed in a banana leaf. Lok Lak is also popular. It consists of stir-fried, cubed beef served with onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and a rich brown sauce.

Phnom Penh at night.

On the morning of December 13, we left Phnom Penh and bordered another Mekong Express bus to travel to Siem Reap. A friend of our last tuk tuk driver met us at the bus stop and dropped us off at the Siem Reap hostel, which only cost us $6 per night. We explored the night market and Pub Street, which is a street with lots of restaurants.

Pub Street

The morning of December 14, we woke up at 4:30 a.m. to meet our tuk tuk driver who drove us to Angkor, the largest Hindu temple complex in the world, to see the sunrise. Before we entered the World Heritage Center we had to purchase a $20 one day pass that allowed us to enter the site multiple times throughout the day. Once we received entry, our driver took us outside perhaps the most famous temple, Angkor Wat. It was still pitch black when we arrived and I was glad that the other tourists that surrounded us walking towards the temple had thought to bring flashlights. The sky started to get lighter around 5:30 a.m. and the sun completely rose around 6:20 a.m.

Sunrise over Angkor Wat.

After the sunrise, we walked around Angkor Wat temple and explored the brilliant architecture and carvings. Construction on Angkor Wat started around the 12th century. Some of the scenes depicted battles with people riding elephants carrying swords and shields. We ate some noodles for breakfast near the temple and went to find our tuk tuk driver. The Angkor World Heritage site is made up of more than 1,000 temples, though many are in ruins. We spent the rest of the morning driving around to the large temples that are still standing and walking throughout the buildings and the surrounding area.

Notice the face carved on the left of the tall column.

There were reconstruction projects occurring at many of the temples.

The temples were HUGE! Our tuk tuk driver would drop us off in front of the temples and leave us to explore. We went through about six and were exhausted by the end. They would seem small, then there would be a lot of doorways that led into new bigger sections with more exits into different sections. We also were able to see the temple where the film Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie was filmed.

Photo courtesy of Sarah.

In the tuk tuk. Photo courtesy of Sarah.

The four travelers.

An impressive tree over a temple door.

Photo courtesy of Sarah.

After walking through the temples, we went back to our hostel to go on a food tour of the local market. Remember how I said I will eat anything? Well if you're eating now, finish your meal before you continue. The first place our guide took us to was a stand that sold fruit, vegetables and bugs. Now I had seen fried bugs before and swore I would never try them. But, it's an experience, right? So, I tried a wide variety just to say I did it.

Fried frogs. Fried snakes are in the upper left corner.

Fried crickets.

Fried grasshoppers and big black beetles.

Most of the bugs like the grasshoppers and crickets tasted like grease, as did the fried frogs and fried snakes. Our guide told us that they were caught in the rice paddies, so I guess they're fresh...? They were not as bad as I was expecting until I tried the big black beetle. As you can see from the before and after pictures below, it was not good. Actually, it was probably one of the worst things I have eaten in my entire life since it tasted exactly how cow poop smells. I somehow managed to swallow and almost begged for some of the fried snake to get the taste out of my mouth.

Before eating the black beetle

After eating the black beetle. I'm in the upper right hand corner.

After the bugs, we moved on to try really delicious crab, meatballs, and vegetables and an indoor market stand.

We finished that off with dessert. It was similar to Vietnamese "che" where you could choose your own combination of beans, sticky rice, pudding, coconut milk, tapioca, banana, and ice to make your dessert.

Dessert

Leftovers anyone?

We rested after the food tour and took the tuk tuk back to Angkor to see the sunset at 5:30 p.m. We hiked up a small mountain to reach a temple we had not yet been to that provided an excellent view of the setting sun. There were hundreds of tourists and the view was spectacular.