Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Antics of Earthbound Astronauts

Yet again, it has been a while since we have posted a blog, a podcast or any photos, and for good reason. We’ve left Cambodia and have been “occupying” ourselves in Vietnam, but more about that later.

To listen to the podcast click here!

Feb 26^th

Unfortunately, the appeal of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, was purely due to the remnants of the Khmer Rouge regime and the reminder of Cambodian genocide a minute forty years before. The emotion of this day definitely outweighs any other on our trip thus far. The anxiety we both felt as we walked towards the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, which in the height of Khmer Rouge reign was known as Security prison 21 (S-21), was extremely burdening to say the least. S-21, was originally Tuol Svay Prey high school, a fact that is still more then evident at the museum. As we apprehensively visited each room of the three story buildings of the four that formed the complex, we caught glimpses of the horrific brutalities that occurred in each, contributing to a systematic regime of torture, interrogation and inhumane slaughter. The S-21 staff were meticulous with the information collected on each prisoner, this fact will haunt us both as we passed the photos of scared and confused men, women and children whom had succumbed to the mindless hate of their own people. After leaving S-21 in shock as we contemplated what man was truly capable, we still had one destination, the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. After much deliberation on whether we could emotionally handle another gruesome reminder of Khmer Rouge reign, we decided we should see this iconic resting place of nearly 17,000 innocent Cambodians.

As horrible as the Killing Fields really were, it was presently very tactfully and was a place of memory and tribute to the potential three million people killed during the three year and eight month Khmer Rouge reign. We were guided around the site by an audiotape stopping at gravesites, which had been adorned with mourners’ wristbands. The voice of the man that guided us on this journey will be a hard one to forget as was his wise words about genocide having occurred before and, hauntingly, the inevitability of it happening again in the future unknown, a chilling thought after witnessing the travesties that are so deeply engrained into the culture of each and every Cambodian. We then had a very solemn tuk tuk ride back to our hotel, lost in reflection trying to digest the emotional day piece by piece.

Feb 27^th

Deciding to stay an extra day in Phnom Penh, determined to finish our time in Cambodia on a high, we decided to walk to Psar Tuol Tom Pong or the “Russian Market” to conduct a bit of retail therapy and acquire me some new thongs as their predecessors were held together by a can ring pull found on the bridge at Angkor Wat. This proved to be quite an enjoyable endeavor as we left with items we had no intention of buying prior to our Russian Market experience. We had a nice dinner where Casey ambitiously ordered frog from the menu, which was actually quite nice, and prepared to leave Cambodia the next day. Our time in Cambodia has been a life experience that will never be forgotten by either of us, yet we were ready to leave and progress into the next leg of our trip, Vietnam.

Feb 28^th

We boarded the bus in Phnom Penh, said our goodbyes to Cambodia, and excitedly watched the evolution of the bus’ external surroundings as we crossed from Cambodia into Vietnam, where our visa had been valid from the previous day. I must note, that whilst on the bus, the choco pie incident was rectified by the parties involved. Intending to stay just under a month in Vietnam before we moved on, we were ecstatic to be starting what appeared in our minds to be a new adventure within itself. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, shocked by the lack of tuk tuks and decided to walk to our hotel positioned in the tourist district. Vietnam is a communist country, the first I believe I have ventured into, my expectations were pleasantly surpassed as we were had entered an obviously prosperous country with a strong history and culture. Our one issue lay with the lack of Facebook access, which, unbeknown to us, was restricted in Vietnam. After quickly rectifying this issue, finding a relatively easy solution, we were able to calmly plan our next step. We enjoyed dinner and inspected the nightlife of Ho Chi Minh City, finding the shear number of near-to-empty bars full of Vietnamese women quite peculiar…

Mar 1^st

Sorry about the earlier ambiguity about our activities in Vietnam, however to reduce the worry and stress of our family and friends we refrained from earlier sharing the details of our adventure South of Ho Chi Minh City. This is primarily due to the fact that we hired a motorbike each and ventured onto the perilous roads that form Vietnam’s traffic system. We decided to venture south of Ho Chi Minh City to My Thó, a city on the Mekong. Our tenacious initiation to the roads of Ho Chi Minh City were both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. As we got use to riding on the right-hand side of the road and the laws of the Vietnamese roads (a reconstruction is listed below) our confidence began to skyrocket as we both had to reign in the adrenaline junky within. As we arrived in My Thó, we ran into difficulty, as each hotel wanted two passports, yet Casey’s passport was being held as collateral for the motorbikes. After painstakingly finding an Internet café and printing of a copy of Casey’s passport, we were able to find a hotel that would house us for the night. We were also desperate to find accommodation due to our stupidity of wearing singlets and short shorts, we were inevitably burnt on our faces, arms, shoulders, thighs, hands, ears and feet. We enjoyed a cold shower and a nap before feeling like we had to explore the town. It was that night that we determined that it’s not a Vietnamese dish unless it has three types of meat in it, as we enjoyed an omelet/pancake hybrid with chicken, prawns and pork.

Mar 2^nd

From My Thó we ventured about 110km south to Can Thó, which the Lonely Planet labels “the epicentre of the Mekong Delta”. Other then the persistence of locals trying to secure our business on “boat trips” the following day, Can Thó didn’t seem to be as vibrant as we hoped and it was definitely a short lived stay. The multitude of tourists here was also another reason that we disliked this town. We enjoyed some of the local Vietnamese beer, Saigon Green, the VB of Vietnam, and called it a night planning to travel to a city on the east coast of Vietnam the following day, hoping we could visit a beach.

Mar 3^rd

The town that was in proximity to the beach was Bạc Liêu. Now, this town was more like what we had in mind when we wanted a town that was untouched by tourists. We stayed at a establishment that on one side was a hotel and on the other was a karaoke bar “Karaoke 168”. We utilised the Lonely Planet to determine the Vietnamese word for hotel and found this relatively new business in an area that seemed to be densely populated by other karaoke businesses. We walked to a local karaoke bar, after a misunderstanding with the karaoke staff in our hotel thinking we wanted to “order” two girls to sing karaoke with us, and watched people sing memorised songs. Interestingly, everyone stopped to look at us and found our attempts to thank them in Vietnamese an opportunity to playfully mock us. It was obvious that they didn’t have much experience with tourists, especially western tourists. We continued to walk around the town, intrigued by the number of lights that draped the city. We came across a number of men that were sitting in front of a convenience store drinking beers and ushered us over to them. We then enjoyed a very animated conversation with these very generous and friendly people that offered us food and drinks, whilst taking photos of us with each member of the group. It was great to be included and really did feel like we were at the heart of Vietnam and were fortunate enough to have enjoyed this opportunity with some very gracious people. We decided we liked Bạc Liêu and decided to stay an extra night affording ourselves the opportunity to go to the beach the following day and try to recover from our reoccuring sunburn.

Mar 4^th

Enthused by the opportunity to visit the beach, we rose and headed in the direction of the beach. We were sorely disappointed. What we had imagined to be a pristine, untouched beach, turned out to be a polluted wasteland that was used as a fishing port. We returned to our hotel feeling very disillusioned and after a visit to a “Mart” that sold clothes and had a supermarket upstairs, we retreated to the hotel with a box of choco pies in hand. We then enjoyed a day of recuperation and dinner in a night market, where, like most establishments, people argued over who would have the difficulty of serving people that couldn’t speak Vietnamese. This marked the point where we decided we would start making our way back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Mar 5^th – A month down

Determined to travel to a town on the other side of Vietnam, Rạch Giá, without retracing any of our previous steps we travelled south. We travelled down some of the quaintest roads that were barely big enough for a single vehicle, this didn’t stop trucks from playing Tetris with our lives! They were truly beautiful riverside roads though, that deserve mention. We continued on until we reached the town that we knew would lead us north to Rạch Giá. Due to a lack of signage, or highly ambiguous signage, we had no real idea if we were going in the correct direction. Poorly calmed by the insistence of locals that we were in fact heading to Rạch Giá, we continued onwards. That said, we were very confused when we arrived at a point that required we board a ferry. Having no idea where the ferry was heading and seeing no mention of Rạch Giá, we adventurously decided to board. We competed to get to the ticket booth to buy our ferry pass and then waited in a caged section that was used to limit the number of motorbikes on each ferry. We were released from the cage and progressed onto a ferry to the delight of the other ferry passengers, whom found it very interesting to see Westerners using this mode of transport. After getting off the ferry we continued onwards until we finally saw a sign indicating a town that we knew was right next to Rạch Giá. We continued on and by some miracle, we stumbled into our desired town. We shook hands and marveled at our day’s accomplishment.

Not only was this a pretty interesting day worthy of report, but this day also marked our first month milestone. We enjoyed a beer to celebrate the day and to celebrate the month. With some reflection, it is amazing how much we have seen and experienced in such a small space of time. It makes me wonder about what is install for the Earthbound Astronauts in the coming months… However, I digress.

Mar 6^th

We continued on our pilgrimage back to Ho Chi Minh City, and intended to stay in the town we stayed in on the first night, My Thó. This day was inevitably one of the largest riding days we had, at roughly 240km, which on Vietnamese roads can take a while. We were traveling as planned and hadn’t run into any directional issues as of yet. We’d been riding for a while, and we were both starting to feel it and were ready to call it a day, yet we hadn’t seen any signs for My Thó for some time. We progressed towards signs indicating towards Ho Chi Minh City, knowing that My Thó was just outside the city. Casey, spotting a “sign” suggested we turn right. We continued down a small road that eventually lead to another ferry. Casey then confessed that the sign was an “unofficial sign”. We backtrack to a hotel on the road right next to the main highway. We neglected the plan to make it to My Thó, willingly as we had already visited the town, and call it a night. Yet, not before enjoying chicken with soup containing chunks of liver.

Mar 7^th

Finally the day had come when we got to return to Ho Chi Minh City and return the motorbikes. We had an amazing time with them, yet our bodies were starting to feel the strain of travelling every day. The roads were extremely busy today, it was mayhem! After a few near misses we were definitely ready to get back and return the bikes from whence they came. Casey was spotted by a policeman travelling in the heavy vehicles lane, and ushered to the side of the road. He was asked for his motorbike papers and license, which of course, he could not procure. The officer then told us that he would have to take the bike, which we could collect and pay a fine. He then went on to say that we could also pay the fine now and drive away. It seemed very much like a bribe, which was definitely confirmed when he offered Casey “50% off”. We paid him one million dong ($50), but gained an experience, our first bribe! We continued into the city, where the Laws of Vietnamese roads (Constructed in a list below) truly came into play. Our experience driving in the city can really be summed up by one statement “these people have no desire to live!”.

We said goodbye to the motorbikes, celebrating that they didn’t claim our lives and reacquainted ourselves with a bakery that had been at the pinnacle of Vietnamese bakeries so far. And that brings us to know. Our bodies are incredibly sore and are in need of numerous days of recovery, but we have gained an amazing experience that money truly can’t pay for. Unless you’re Casey in the heavy vehicle lane...

LAWS OF A VIETNAMESE ROAD*

1. Small gives way to big (Most of the time)

2. If you want to do something illegal, beep. The more you beep the higher the illegality of your actions eg. Going in the opposite direction to traffic requires constant horn work.

3. Stay to the right, unless of course, you don’t want to!

4. Wear a helmet, anything on your head will do…

5. You need to surpass the speed limit if you want to survive.

*Note: Any of these rules are subject to change without notice and may indeed be false.

The Vietnamese roads are not for the faint-hearted or those that value their lives.

Next we are going north.

Keep posted.