Are the places, in that order, where many a photos have been taken by yours truly since the last post.
Highlights (again, shall be brought to you in full colour on picasaweb when I find a computer to upload them and a few hours to caption them):
Mekong delta-- homestay 30 mins from Can Tho (capital of region), which is only accessible by motorbike, and a leisurely walk through a foot of water in wellies. Floating market at Cai Rang (and on-land market too). My Tho canal ride. General feeling of being as in the bush as possible.
Phnom Penh-- lots of crazy Khmer Rouge genocide-related thing (e.g. Choeng Ek Killing Fields, Tuol Sleng genocide museum), Royal Palace. Meeting cool Swedes and Aussie.
Siem Reap/Angkor-- Remarkable temples from 1000 years ago. Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, Banteay Srei, Bayon, and so much more! 3 days and 4 nights well spent.
Bangkok-- The principal tourist attractions of Grand Palace and Wat Pho, as well as the christmas tunes on the subway in the leisurely 28 degree (85 F) weather.
Ko Samet-- The perfect way to end the trip. Relaxing and magnificient. The seclusion of our wooden bungalow and the tiny beach.
New York-- the constant feeling as if I've never left despite having been here not more than 15 days over the past 15 months.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
We built Ho Chi Minh City on Rock and Roll...
So we arrived into HCMC (Saigon) on Monday afternoon and leave tomorrow morning at the butt crack of dawn (technical speak) for a 3day/2night journey to Phnom Penh via the Mekong Delta, which will get us into Cambodia's capital on Saturday afternoon. HCMC has been great-- very different from Hanoi, much bigger, more Western, etc. Photos forthcoming but fear not they exist! Monday night we met up with Paige, who was in the year below me at Stuy, and went for dinner at Bo Tung Xeo, this beef place Benny recommended and was quite good. Afterwards we went to a bar near our hotel in the backpacker area, met up with Huy, another one of Paige's friends, and had a hearty and healthy night of Tiger beer.
Tuesday rolled out of bed quite late but managed to see some sites, went to Notre Dame Cathedral, the Opera House, walked down Dong Khoi (formerly Rue Catinat), had lunch in a very nice cafe called Mojo, part of the Sheraton I believe. Afterwards saw the beautiful People's Committee Building (former Hotel de Ville), and did a bit of nighttime wandering. Everything is so busy! The main difference from Hanoi is that even at 10 or 11 o'clock things are still lively here whereas in Hanoi everyone is asleep by then.
Recouped at our hotel after that, watched a bit of Western TV *cough* Desperate Housewives *cough*, and had some decent Vietnamese food nearby. Bought fruit juice from 999 Mart.
Today we filled up on western breakie in Kim Cafe on De Tham, walked around and went into Ben Thanh market (we walked around the outside last night), then the Fine Arts Museum (though the 2nd floor with all the political stuff was closed for renovation), and had some very nice fruit smoothies at Cafe terrace in Saigon Centre. Then War Remnants Museum (very crazy), followed by a trip to Pho Binh, the Pho (noodle soup) cafe which served as the secret headquarters of the Viet Cong during the US-Vietnam War. It was just 100m from the former US Intelligence HQ!! US soldiers ate in there everyday!! And it was here that the VC planned the 1968 Tet offensive and other attacks. Very crazy indeed to be sitting there slurping up some (rather good mind you) Pho.
After that headed over to the Jade Emperor Pagoda for some religious vibe and then taxi'd through rush hour back to our hotel. Exchanged what was left of our teaching salary into USD and some Thai Baht for use over the next couple of weeks. Should hopefully see Paige again tonight and get some more of this high quality South Vietnamese food Benny has hyped up for the past two months!!
Next post should be from Phnom Penh.
P.S. Picked up some old "Banque de l'Indochine" Piastre money from 60+ years ago. So if I fall into a time warp and land in French colonial Indochina I should be good to go for at least a bowl of Pho.
Tuesday rolled out of bed quite late but managed to see some sites, went to Notre Dame Cathedral, the Opera House, walked down Dong Khoi (formerly Rue Catinat), had lunch in a very nice cafe called Mojo, part of the Sheraton I believe. Afterwards saw the beautiful People's Committee Building (former Hotel de Ville), and did a bit of nighttime wandering. Everything is so busy! The main difference from Hanoi is that even at 10 or 11 o'clock things are still lively here whereas in Hanoi everyone is asleep by then.
Recouped at our hotel after that, watched a bit of Western TV *cough* Desperate Housewives *cough*, and had some decent Vietnamese food nearby. Bought fruit juice from 999 Mart.
Today we filled up on western breakie in Kim Cafe on De Tham, walked around and went into Ben Thanh market (we walked around the outside last night), then the Fine Arts Museum (though the 2nd floor with all the political stuff was closed for renovation), and had some very nice fruit smoothies at Cafe terrace in Saigon Centre. Then War Remnants Museum (very crazy), followed by a trip to Pho Binh, the Pho (noodle soup) cafe which served as the secret headquarters of the Viet Cong during the US-Vietnam War. It was just 100m from the former US Intelligence HQ!! US soldiers ate in there everyday!! And it was here that the VC planned the 1968 Tet offensive and other attacks. Very crazy indeed to be sitting there slurping up some (rather good mind you) Pho.
After that headed over to the Jade Emperor Pagoda for some religious vibe and then taxi'd through rush hour back to our hotel. Exchanged what was left of our teaching salary into USD and some Thai Baht for use over the next couple of weeks. Should hopefully see Paige again tonight and get some more of this high quality South Vietnamese food Benny has hyped up for the past two months!!
Next post should be from Phnom Penh.
P.S. Picked up some old "Banque de l'Indochine" Piastre money from 60+ years ago. So if I fall into a time warp and land in French colonial Indochina I should be good to go for at least a bowl of Pho.
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