Our last day in Siem Reap

Saturday the 30th our last active day was more temple exploring see much of the Grand Circuit, including the great temple of Preah Khan and the brick sanctuaries of Pre Rup, this vast complex, covering several square kilometers, has carefully engineered canals and reservoirs to control flood waters and survive droughts, was once, the largest city in the world, housing as many as one million inhabitants.

Preah Khan

Banteay Srei is something of an anomaly. It wasn't built by a king, but rather a spiritual teacher, Yajnavaraha, the Brahman of King Jayavarman V, in AD 967. At that time it was called Tribhuvana Mahesvara, and stood in a town called Isvarapura. The name Banteay Srei means the "Citadel of Women", and is one of the first temples to be restored by the French. It is sometimes called the pink temple.

Banteay Srei 

We drive by a number of sites, but our group is very tired and we head back to the hotel.  We catch a late lunch at il Forno tucked away in a charming little alley just a few steps away from the bustling main street, is the perfect place to relax. We have a pizza and take it easy before a great dinner with the people we traveled with the past weeks.

We have our last dinner at Touich Restaurant run by  Sobey, a friend of our guide Peter. The owner was a child soldier in the Cambodian army laying land mines and hoped they wouldn't kill anyone. Years later he was part of the effort to remove the land mines.  He put ribbons on the mines he placed, and upon removing some of the same mines he saw some that didn't blow anyone up.  He studied culinary arts in France and now runs this amazing restaurant with his wife Touich.  What a great finish to a great trip.

The next morning we head home with a rest stop in Hong Kong before the big 14 hour flight home to San Francisco.

Angkor Wat

Saturday the 29th in the morning we wander the grounds of the splendidly preserved 12th Century temple of Angkor Wat. Considered the best example of ancient Khmer architecture, it is the largest and most impressive of all Cambodian monuments and generally regarded as one of the finest religious structures in the world.

Angkor Wat

Another view of Angkor Wat

We then visited Angkor Thom the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire, it was established in the late twelfth century by King Jayavarman VII with an area of 9 km². There are many monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by other kings. At the centre of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Bayon, with the other major sites clustered around the Victory Square.

Angkor Thom

Most of the great Angkor ruins have vast displays of bas-relief depicting the various gods, goddesses, and other-worldly beings from the mythological stories and epic poems of ancient Hinduism which were modified by centuries of Buddhism. There are images are actual known animals, like elephants, snakes, fish, and monkeys, in addition to dragon-like creatures that look like the stylized, elongated serpents with feet and claws found in Chinese art.

God riding elephant

We were also treated to monkeys following us in our trip.  The weather was very hot and humid and we take a break for lunch at a local restaurant before heading to a few more temples.  The vast space and sheer number of things to see is beyond belief.

Monkeys viewing a temple

We visit the Elephant Terrace which was used by the king as a platform from which to view his victorious returning army. Then to the Terrace of the Leper King with a statue depicting the Hindu god Yama, the god of death. The statue was called the "Leper King" because discoloration and moss growing on it was reminiscent of a person with leprosy, and also because it fits with a Cambodian legend of an Angkorian king Yasovarman I who had leprosy. The U-shaped structure is thought by some to have been used as a royal cremation site.

Elephant terrace

We head back to the hotel for a swim and some R&R and then decide to hire a tuk tuk to watch the sunset at Sras Srang or the Pool of Ablutions. We watch the local kids climbing over the tuk tuk and offering us all sorts of things to buy. We enjoy the sunset before heading back to town for a relaxing evening a bit overwhelmed at what we saw.

Sunset at Sras Srang

Our tuk tuk driver

Our traveling companions

Some people have asked, so who are you traveling with?  It turns out when we planned this trip so many years ago we looked for a tour and couldn't find one from an American company that was what we were looking for. We could find backpacking trips with public transportation geared for people earlier in their lives than us and we did that type of traveling for years or we could find high end tours that also didn't seem like what we were looking for.  Finally we remembered when we went to the Soviet Union years ago we found a Canadian group and it turned out to be a good trip.  So searching the Canadian options were discovered Adventures Abroad out of Vancouver that specializes in small group tours for people over 50 with exercise adventure and a local feel.  We chose the Vietnam to Cambodia leg of the Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Mymamar trip.

We started as 20 people in Hanoi with our leader Peter a mid-thirties Canadian of Sri Lankan parents currently living in South Africa who has been doing these tours for 7 years. Unfortunately on the first night of the trip one of the people missed a step and broke her leg. There was great support for her by Adventure Abroad and she had a operation in Hanoi and has traveled back to Las Vegas, proving there is a reason for travel insurance.

So the group is evenly divided between Americans and Canadians, those traveling as a couple and singles, men and women.  It is a very good group where everyone gets along.  Most of the people were well traveled, the exception being one couple on their first trip outside of the US. We had one Vietnam vet that went back to where he was stationed in DeNanag.

When you travel with people you get to know lots about them.  Peter our guide is great at providing the group things with options and alone time.  He has an easy style giving you information but not being dictorial.  He chooses the local guide and we had a variety of styles and ages in these guides. In Cambodia our guide lived through the killing fields experiences and was very candid about what it was like and how the country has recovered since it ended. Our guides in Vietnam were able to explain what it was like to live through the Vietnam war and the communist period that followed.

At this point in our lives, it was the perfect option for us.  It would have taken months to put together what we saw in three weeks.

Friday the 28th we did a lot of waiting like these Cambodians. We were to fly to Seim Reap, gateway for Angkor Wat / Angkor Thom from Phnom Penh. Well there has to be at least one day on each trip where things don't according to the plan and this is ours at least so far.  Our morning flight is canceled so we are on the 2 pm flight.  Once we check in our flight is delayed 2 hours, so by the time we get to our hotel its dinner  time.  All day for a 40 minute flight, oh well.  The hotel is wonderful, we have a nice dinner and prepare for our biggest attraction on the trip

Hotel Somadevi Angkor Boutique and Resort

Viet Dog

If you own a dog and it is part of your family, you look to see how other cultures and countries live with their dogs.  Since the dog can be found almost everywhere in the world, we wondered how things would be for the dogs we saw on our trip. I was dreading the plight of the dog in Vietnam. I'm happy to say I have not seen neglect, lack of food and none of them looked like strays. There is a particular size and shape of most of the dogs we saw in Vietnam, mostly in the smaller towns which we have labeled a breed know as Viet Dog.  In the cities you do see a few designer dogs, presumably by people who are better off financially.

Most of the dogs we saw have jobs like watching over the family or minding a shop. As you would expect they do this job even though they appear to be sleeping.  Like at Mrs. Gong's laundry in Hoi An where although appearing to be sleeping he announces a new customer and Mrs Gong comes running. Others are obviously family pets and live a life of leisure like our dogs in the US.

Yes, in in very rural parts of Vietnam people still eat dog but you must remember they eat everything. No one knows exactly when the Vietnamese started eating dog, but its consumption, primarily in the north, underlines a long tradition for drinking parties, family reunions and special occasions and is said to increase a man's virility, warm the blood on cold winter nights and help provide medicinal cures, and is considered a widely available, protein-rich, healthy alternative to other meats. When you talk to people about eating dog they seem to separate their dog which they would never eat from the dog meat for sale which isn't like their dog.

When we got to Cambodia we also saw dogs with jobs, for example a dog on a Tut Tut wearing a cape, hat and goggles. There are noticeably fewer dogs in Cambodia and we saw only a few that didn't look like Viet Dog.

A day in Phenom Phen

On Wednesday the 27th we visit the National Museum, which houses one of the world's largest collections of Khmer art, including sculpture, ceramics, bronzes, and ethnographic objects. The museum's collection includes over 14,000 items, from prehistoric times to periods before, during, and after the Khmer Empire, which at its height stretched from Thailand, across present-day Cambodia, to southern Vietnam. The Museum buildings, inspired by Khmer temple architecture, were constructed between 1917 and 1924.

We then walk the short distance to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. We also stop in at Wat Phnom, a magnificent temple overlooking the town, said to be the spot whereupon the city was originally founded.

Royal Palace

The Royal Palace, Preah Barum Reachea Veang Nei Preah Reacheanachak Kampuchea is a complex of buildings which serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. The Kings of Cambodia have occupied it since it was built in 1860s, with a period of absence when the country came into turmoil during and after the reign of the Khmer Rouge. The complex is divided by walls into four main compounds, on the south side is the Silver Pagoda, to the north side is the Khemarin Palace and the central compound contains the Throne Hall and to the west is the private sector or the Inner Court. The buildings of the palace were built gradually overtime, and some were dismantled and rebuilt as late as the 1960's. But some old buildings dates back to the 19th century.

Spirit house in front of  Throne Hall

The Silver Pagoda houses many national treasures including gold and jeweled Buddha statues. It also has the small green crystal Buddha or the Emerald Buddha of Cambodia and a life-sized gold Maitreya Buddha decorated with 9584 diamonds, the largest of which weighs 25 carats. It was created in the palace workshops during 1906 and 1907, the gold Buddha weighs in at 90 kg and is dressed in royal regalia commissioned by King Sisowath. Photos are not allowed inside.

Outside the Silver Pagoda

After our tour we take a Tuk Tuk to find a hidden gem, the ARTillery tucked away in the new creative alleyway of Phnom Penh. It is an organic cafe serving fresh, healthy, creative homemade food and drinks. They specialize in raw, vegan, gluten free food and everything is prepared fresh every morning.The ingredients are organic and fair trade wherever possible. We then get into another Tut Tuk and head to the central market to buy kramas which are a sturdy traditional Cambodian garment with many uses including as a scarf, bandanna, to cover your face, for decorative purposes, and as a hammock for children.  Then another Tuk Tuk ride back to the hotel for a rest.  In case you are wondering a Tuk Tuk ride cost $1 per person.

Lentil and chimichurri baguette

Tuk Tuk ride with new friends from Canada

Saigon to Phnom Penh

Tuesday the 26th we fly from Saigon to Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city in Cambodia located on the banks of the Tonlé Sap and Mekong River. It has been the national capital since French colonization of Cambodia. Engineered by the French, Phnom Penh was once filled with beautiful tree-lined streets and colonial mansions. Today many of the old buildings exist, although they any are in disrepair.

Cambodia is about half the size of Vietnam with about a sixth of the number of people and a younger population.  It is a much poorer country with its GDP about a tenth of Vietnam. Buddhism has existed in Cambodia since at least the 5th century, and in its earlier form was a type of Mahayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism has been the Cambodian state religion since the 13th century (excepting the Khmer Rouge period), and is currently estimated to be the faith of 95% of the population. It does have some practices from other beliefs such as the spirit house which is normally in the form of a miniature house or temple, and is mounted on a pillar or on a dais to provide a shelter for spirits that could cause problems for the people if not appeased. The shrines often include images of people and animals. Votive offerings are left at the house to win or regain the favor of the spirits. More elaborate installations include an altar for this purpose.

Spirit house

We begin with a challenge but necessary visit to the infamous Tuol Sleng Prison, now a museum illustrating the atrocities committed by Pol Pot during the 1970's, and the nearby Choeung Ek, aka the "Killing Fields." The buildings at Tuol Sleng are preserved as they were left when the Khmer Rouge were driven out in 1979. The regime kept extensive records, including thousands of photographs. Several rooms of the museum are now lined, floor to ceiling, with black and white photographs of some of the estimated 20,000 prisoners who passed through the prison.

Barbed wire in front of  Tuol Sleng Prison

Offerings for victims buried in the Killing Fields

It is as difficult to imagine what happened in Cambodia as any genocide that has occurred in the world. After their defeat by the Vietnamese in 1979, they held onto Cambodia's UN seat until 1993, when the monarchy was restored and the country underwent a name change to the Kingdom of Cambodia. A year later, thousands of Khmer Rouge guerrillas surrendered themselves in a government amnesty. As our guide explained in the Buddhist way of thinking the amnisty was necessary for the country to move forward.

Traveling in Vietnam

We have a few topics that we will do a post for and one that hits you immediately is how people get around in Vietnam. Today the motor scooter or small motor cycle is the most common form of transportation and the one that most people can buy ranging from cheaper ones made by the Chinese and the higher end Japanese ones like Honda. A used scooter can be $500. We were told that there are 7 million of these in Saigon for 9 million people.  The import cost and tax make a $20,000 car in the US $60,000 in Vietnam, so while there are cars they are not as prevalent.  The Vietnamese carry as many as 4 people on a scooter and many loads from birds in cages to whole bundles of every imaginable size and shape.  The cost of living is about 45% lower than the US. The average wage around $150 per month, but there are wide variations by location and profession.

Delivery Service

The roads especially in the cities are interesting to watch and challenging to cross especially in the big cities.  If you are sucessfull at learning the technique of crossing the road you feel you have arrived.  You just walk slowly without stopping and the traffic moves around you.  Its hard to believe but it works and they come within inches of you and go around.

Try crossing the street with this traffic

It is a never ending fascination to see how the 91  million people in Vietnam go about their daily life with relatively little conflict.  If we had traffic lie this we would have road rage on steroids all the time.

Vietnam has all of the types of transportation, airlines, buses, and a railroad built by the French.  The railroad is a narrow gauge track and quite old. So far we haven't see the train, but in Hanoi we were near the main train station and saw lots of people moving about to take the train.

Bicycle

Boats

Taxis

We don't mean to leave out the bicycle traffic and of course the people walking. Its 91 million people with the widest array of transportation options.

Thoughts on Vietnam

As we are ready to leave Vietnam for Cambodia, we discussed our impressions of the country.  As with any developing country that we have visited there are multiple perspectives on life in Vietnam. If it is viewed from a US perspective, it is a poor country of many people with underdeveloped infrastructure, and all that results from that situation. It doesn't look like the US. If you try and view it from a Vietnamese perspective, we realize we would have to be here for months before we can see life as the Vietnamese see it. So we have no insight to offer in this regard.  We realize we looked at it from a position of watching and not understanding but enjoying it. All we read didn't prepare us for how rich and complex Vietnam really is. To some it up we totally enjoyed it and have very positive feelings about the country and the people.

It is 91 million people with an average monthly disposable income of $250 enjoying one of the longest periods in their history without war.  Children are growing up never having known a conflict with the Chinese, French, Americans, or Cambodians.  The country moved from a communistic economy where a family got bowls of rice and one egg a month to a free market economy in the mid 1980's where now people have enough food.  It is a rice, vegetable and meat or fish diet, with noodle soup of Pho as the national dish.  The food is complex and delicious with many different spices that vary according to region.  We eat at a number of special restaurants where enterprising chefs are investing and creating interesting cuisine.  These people are capturing the tourist dollar which is expanding each year.

As with most developing countries, labor is inexpensive so many things are done with manual labor that would be done with automation in the developed world.  Development projects are looked on favorably since they bring higher paying jobs.  Most Vietnamese want to accumulate money to start their own business, be it a shop selling almost anything. The cost of development is much less valued than in the developed world as most people are concerned about moving beyond subsistence levels of income and the downside of development is distributed to all.

Vietnam has a national hero in Ho Chi Minh or Uncle Ho as he is referred to.  He was above all a nationalist with a single vision of an independent and united Vietnam and he pursued this dream his whole life.  He adopted the communist philosophy, but was always willing to be pragmatic to gain the independent united Vietnam.

The Vietnamese are very superstitious and often rely on fortune tellers to advise them of decisions.  An example is the beginning of anything seems excessively important to many Vietnamese. To many superstitious street vendors, the success of their day is determined by how it starts and by their first customer. When you are the first person to come by their cart and you do not buy anything, they might consider you a harbinger of bad luck. To redeem it, they would burn a piece of paper and wave or hop over it nine times, as to clear the air and burn out all hovering, ill-fated karma. There are other practices that can ensure good luck as well, such as scattering rice grains and salt.

Transportation has been transformed from human power with the motor scooter, which provides more independence in where people live. Given the importance of family in Vietnam with typically 3 generations living in the same house, plus unmarried siblings, people tend to stay near where they were born.

It appears that in many families the women work much harder than the men.  Many hold jobs outside the home, but still do the morning household work and arrive home after work and shopping to prepare the evening meals.  The husband we are told often has beer with his buddies and comes home later.  There are exceptions to this where the work is equally shared.

Visually Vietnam is amazing in its diversity of landscapes.  If you want to find the consequence of human life like trash, cell towers, electric lines, etc; that is here to see. The developing world is always under construction and you see it all over Vietnam.  Get some money and do a bit more and repeat the cycle until the home is completed many years later.

It appears to be a very peaceful country with very nice people that are working hard to improve their lives and that of their children.  We don't mean to paint a fairy tale, and maybe its the basic Buddhist nature of the country; but we thoroughly enjoyed our time here and the people we met.

To circle back to our opening comments, we have gained this perspective by watching and talking to people, our local guides in each of the areas we visited were very open and talked about their lives.

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Heading to the Mekong Delta

Cao Dai Temple

Sunday the 24th we leave Saigon for the Mekong Delta often referred to as the rice bowl of Vietnam, producing three crops of rice per year, the fertile Mekong Delta is also famous for its tropical fruits and flowers. We stopped at a Cao Dai temple. This hybrid religion took root in southern Vietnam during the 1920's after Ngo Van Chieu, a civil servant, was visited by Cao Dai or the Supreme Being. The Cao Dai later told Ngo in a seance that he was to be symbolized by a giant eye. Being a humanist religion, it quickly gained support of a large following of dispossessed peasants. Today there is thought to be about 2,000,000 adherents and 1,000 Cao Dai temples. There are temples in the United States in California and Texas.

Inside Cao Dai temple

We then enjoy a river boat ride to see what life is like is like on the river and its canals.  There is every imaginable water craft carrying anything you can imagine. Traditional transportation in the Delta is boat, with a vast network of canals and channels. Boating along these canals we see the floating markets. We make a stop for lunch at a river side restaurant where we have a special crispy fish served whole and eaten like a spring roll, Crispy fried elephant ear fish rolled into spring roll, large shrimp, vegetarian spring rolls, rice, bbq'd chicken, vegetable soup and fruit all for $8 US.

Crispy Fish

Couple working on their boat

Not sure what this boat is used for but we saw a lot of them

We stop at the Cai Be handicraft village which is a small village where we get to see how they make pop-rice. We see a demonstration of how rice paper is made as well as coconut and ginger candy. We see the them making snake wine as well as the bottles of snakes. It includes tasting the rather raw drink. We purchase some ginger candy which is quite spicy.

Susan tasting snake wine. Mmmm!

Making rice paper

We make a return boat trip and travel to our hotel for the evening to the Ninh Kieu 2 in the town of Can Tho.  A city of about a million and a large city for the delta. We get some rest and have dinner along the river about a 5 minute walk from the hotel which is a roof top restaurant  with blue lobster from the area as well as six other courses including duck with papaya and coconut ice cream.  We are back to Saigon tomorrow after visiting a morning floating market.