Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Angkor Wat)

Like Vietnam, I was not afraid to admit that I did not know that much about Cambodia. I had heard a little bit about their unfortunate past, but I was interested to learn firsthand what had actually happened. It is weird that we do not learn much about Asian history, even though the United States played a part in a lot of what was going on in that part of the world during the 1970's and 1980's. I understand that the Vietnam War is still a sore subject to discuss, but should it really just be omitted from our history books or brushed over quickly?


We had not allocated many days to Cambodia, so we had only a few stops planned - Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. We arrived first in Phnom Penh after a mostly sleepless night on the overnight bus from HCM. We arrived at the Cambodian border just after 4AM, but since it did not open until 6AM, we just sat there and waited. I am not sure why they do not plan the bus times better to avoid these kinds of things! When the border opened, we had to walk across with our bags after being checked by security on the Vietnam side. We had already all given our passports to someone who worked for the bus company, along with the $25 he said it cost to get a visa to Cambodia. But when we were walking across, there were clearly marked signs everywhere that said the visa was only $20! We asked, and no one gave us a clear answer to where the other $5 went - that's Asia for you! We had a few more hours on the bus from the border to Phnom Penh, but right when we got off of the bus, we met our tuk tuk driver for the next few days, Kasul.

One of my friends who had travelled in SEA a few months ago had recommended lots of places to see and do, as well as places to stay that she had enjoyed. She had spent a lot more time than we would be able to in Cambodia (and SEA actually), but we were still trying to hit as many things as we possibly could. We checked into a hostel that she had recommended (Okay Guesthouse), and after dropping off our laundry and showering, we had Kasul come pick us up to take us around town. Sidenote - laundry in SEA is one of the little luxuries that is easy to get accustomed to. For only a couple of dollars, all of your laundry is washed, pressed, and ready to go the next day! They do such a good job, I do not think my clothes have ever been washed that well haha.

Being driven around by tuk tuk is another one of those luxuries that became our favorite mode of transportation in SEA. Especially because I was not able to walk very easily (it was killing me since I love walking!) and tuk tuks are so cheap, it was perfect for us. We did feel like such tourists though, because it was typically only the tourists you would see being carted around all day, but we did not even care. We felt like royalty, and we were able to get around and see more in our limited time.

Trying Cambodian food for the first time was a pleasant surprise, as we both really enjoyed it! Surprisingly, Cambodia was a little bit more expensive than Vietnam, and we had to use American dollars to pay for everything. (Even when you took money out of the ATM, they gave you US$). For lunch, we split spring rolls (still prefer Vietnamese rice paper rolls!), a Cambodian curry and banana leaf soup, and we bought a drink for our tuk tuk driver (he refused our offer to buy him food) and spent about $4 each.

It was good that lunch was tasty, because we needed something to lift our spirits after visiting the Cheung Ek killing fields outside of Phnom Penh. We had Kasul drive us there, and on the way, we got a view into how many Cambodians live. Even though Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia, it has not returned to its pre-Khmer Rouge status as a thriving city. Most people still live in houses built on stilts that balance precariously and look like they could fall at any moment. Most people get around by piling into the back of a pickup truck with many others or they ride around on rusty bicycles. It was a view for both Nashy and I into how the other side of the world lives, and we both watched with open eyes as we zoomed outside of town. Even though the people were living in such poverty and many did not even have proper clothes/shoes, they would smile and wave as we passed. And we had enjoyed a few delicious aromas as we passed houses where people were preparing lunch.

I could not believe that the same people who had experienced the sad, awful history of Cambodia were now smiling and waving at us as we drove past. The killing fields gave us a brief insight into how terrible things were after Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge Army took over Phnom Penh in the 1970's. Sadly, many of the people living in Phnom Penh at the time actually cheered when the Khmer Rouge soldiers marched into the city, because they believed they were there to help the people. Little did they know, that the Khmer Rouge regime would become (still today!) the 4th deadliest instance of genocide the world has ever seen.

After the Phnom Penh takeover by Khmer Rouge, all of the city residents were forced to leave behind their houses and move to small towns and villages. The idea was to convince the people that Khmer Rouge were actually protecting them from attackers (Vietnam, USA, etc) while actually attacking them themselves. The lucky people got to go to labor camps and the children were trained as soldiers or worked alongside their parents. The unlucky people were taken away and never seen or heard from again. Even while the killing fields were being used, many people were not aware of their capacity or that they even existed. And it was the strategy of the Khmer Rouge to kill the smart, professional people like doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. so that the Cambodian population would not be smart enough to figure out what they were doing and could focus on growing rice on farms.

The killing field that we visited had not been completely excavated even to this day, but there were already thousands of skulls and bones discovered - many of them women and children. When it rains even still, there are more bones and clothing found as the soil is washed away. We saw some of the torture methods used to kill people, but I think the worst was a tree where they had just bashed babies until their heads caved in, so sad!

I think the worst part of the killing fields was discovering that after everything he had done, Pol Pot had escaped from the Vietnamese Army (they eventually came in and helped the Cambodian people) into the jungle where he lived until he died. He never served any time or received any justice for the unspeakable things he did to Cambodia. And even to this day, many of the highest officials of the Khmer Rouge are still on trial and many have not served jail time before 2005. In fact, only one official has even acknowledged the crimes that he committed - everyone else is still pretending that nothing happened! The difficult thing about charging Khmer Rouge soldiers for their crimes is that many of them only joined the army to escape being killed themselves. And during the Khmer Rouge reign, many of them switched sides and may have fought for the Cambodian Army, the Vietnamese Army, and even the Khmer Rouge at some point. It is a moral puzzle as to what the world courts should do, but hopefully the Cambodian people can receive justice for the horrors that they survived through! Somehow I just don't see that happening...

We had originally planned to also visit S-21, the prison in Phnom Penh where "criminals" were held until they were most likely sent to the killing fields, but we had seen enough depressing things for the day. We went back to our hostel and decided to give Cambodian beer a chance (Angkor beer is bad but Anchor beer is okay). While we were drinking away, we met an American girl named Megan who had been living in the Philippines for the last 3 years working at an NGO. We chatted with her about possibly sharing a ride to Siem Reap the next day, but we never decided on anything before we left to go find some dinner.

Down by the river in Phnom Penh, there are a lot of touristy restaurants, and we had Kasul drive us down there in search of some "happy pizza." A tourist tradition in Cambodia, "happy pizza" is basically any normal pizza but with marijuana included. We decided Ôwhen in CambodiaÕ, and gave it a try but it really just tasted like normal pizza to us. It was kind of a nice change (and a surprise to our stomachs) to be eating Western food! While we were eating dinner, many children came by to offer us things to buy such as postcards, bracelets, books, etc. We were becoming accustomed to this from Vietnam, however these kids were really quite pushy (and young!). I ended up buying one of the kids food and a Coke, but this ended up being a mistake, because then every kid in town also wanted something. We heard that we should not encourage this bad behavior and buy anything from the children, because if they are good salespeople, their parents do not let them go to school. However, it is really difficult to say no to children, especially when they are pestering you like crazy!

After dinner, we wanted to get a feel for the nightlife in Phnom Penh, but it was really quite disappointing. We did not find many other backpackers, but instead ended up playing a game with some girl bartenders at one of the locals' hangouts. If Nashy or I won the game, they gave us shots for free, but if either of them won, we had to buy shots ourselves. Unsurprisingly, the bartenders made this dice game look easy and always won. Neither Nashy nor I even came close! We were happy when it was time to meet Kasul for our ride home, because we were starting to feel a little bit duped.

The next morning, we booked a bus for Siem Reap for 5PM (the trip would take 6 hours), so we had most of the day to explore the rest of Phnom Penh. We had arranged for Kasul to pick us up in the morning, but we had slept through our alarm and were later than our agreed time. He was still sitting there waiting though when we made it outside, and he did not even say anything about us being late. When we asked him where he lived, he told us "in his tuk tuk." At first, we were not sure that he understood the question, but then he explained that a lot of tuk tuk drivers park in the bus station at night, pull down the curtains on either side, and the tuk tuk seats become his bed. We felt a little weird then knowing that our ride was actually Kasul's home!

We started the day off by trying some amok, or Cambodian curry, and then we set off for S-21 prison. We figured we would go to the prison in the morning so that we would have the rest of the day to sightsee and maybe even forget what we saw there. The prison was not as depressing as the killing fields, but we saw photographs of nearly every person who spent time there. When they entered the prison, they had their photograph taken and were given a number (much like a Nazi concentration camp). You could tell by looking at the pictures that not many of them knew what they were getting into, because many of them were smiling in their pictures. There were three different types of holding cells, and we got to go into each of them. The first was for cadres of the Khmer Rouge Army. These cells were actually quite large, and they were used to keep the Khmer Rouge soldiers unsure. The holding cells for individual prisoners were tiny, and I could hardly imagine anyone sleeping or living comfortably in these brick enclosures. The final type of cells were group holding cells, where many people were chained around the edges of the room, and they sat facing inward towards each other. As I said before, not many of these prisoners (or really anyone in Cambodia) was aware what exactly was happening at these prisons or killing fields, but there was definite evidence of torture and sometimes even death.

To erase the images of all of the prisoners' faces that had been burned into our memories, we had Kasul take us to the central market, which was a mad house! Selling everything from handicrafts to gold jewelry to cheap electronics, we were overwhelmed and felt caught in a maze! Everywhere you turned, there was someone else giving you a bargain, and we allowed ourselves to buy a few souvenirs.

Before we left Phnom Penh, we wanted to take a quick look at the royal palace, and then we wanted Kasul to take us to see the bridge where only a little over a month before, thousands of people were killed when a peaceful festival turned deadly. The festival was to celebrate the changing direction of the river, and many people were killed in a stampede over a bridge or were electrocuted by the cables of the bridge. We tried to explain to Kasul that we wanted to see this place, but he did not understand, so we had to use one of his friends as a translator before he took us to see the bridge from that fateful day. As of yet, there was no memorial or anything special on the bridge signifying all of the lost lives, but it was interesting to see all the same.

Even though we had seen Phnom Penh quickly, both of us were ready to move on to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. It was difficult keeping track of the day of the week, let alone the date, so we were both quite surprised when we realized that it was actually Christmas Eve! Normally on this night, I would be eating 13 different things (no meat though!) and exchanging gifts with family, but this holiday, I would be taking a long bus ride in Cambodia. Both Nashy and I had already decided that Christmas was just not happening for either of us this year, since we were without our family, friends and traditions.

Before we left Phnom Penh, Kasul recommended one of his friends in Siem Reap (who was also a tuk tuk driver) to meet us upon our arrival. We were glad that we had planned this ahead of time, because we arrived in Siem Reap after midnight (officially Christmas!) and we were exhausted. We had booked into a hostel that Nashy had heard about that was only $1/night and is famous for its $0.50 beers and rooftop bar. However, apparently they were full the night that we arrived - even though we had a reservation! - so they had us sleep at a place down the road. We did not mind because we were so tired, but we made sure to move to the main hostel for the rest of our stay in Siem Reap.

Neither of us really knew much about Siem Reap, but we knew that we wanted to spend at least 2 full days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat. We decided to explore Siem Reap first though, and we let Tiki (our new tuk tuk driver) show us around. He drove us to a river village, and on the way, we got another insight into Cambodian life. I have never seen so many stray dogs and people just lazing about everywhere. It is sad, but I feel like the philosophy of a lot of people in countries like Cambodia is that they cannot make their situation any better, so they choose to just do nothing. I would go crazy from boredom!

At the river village, we hired our own private boat (and even paid for Tiki to come along), and we floated past houses built on boats, a floating school, and many locals in their own boats. We went all the way through the river until it emptied out into a large lake, and then we started to float back the way we came. We were a little bit hungry, so we stopped at a floating restaurant for lunch. While we were eating, my parents called me to wish me a Merry Christmas and also to clarify what had happened to my leg during my motorbike accident. One of my friends (Caitlin) had told my mom that I had broken my leg based on my Facebook status, so my parents thought I was much more hurt than I actually was, and they were really worried, sorry!

While on the river, we saw many other children being exploited by their parents for a couple of tourist dollars. One boat pulled up next to ours, and when we looked closely, we noticed that the little girl had a large snake around her neck. Her dad asked us to give them a couple of dollars. In Cambodia, it pays to have cute children!

Next, we decided to visit the museum in Siem Reap to gain a little bit of cultural knowledge as a preview to visiting Angkor Wat the next day. It was very interesting, and we spent a few hours looking through all of the exhibits. We learned about the great kings of Cambodia's past that had built Angkor Wat, and their religion changed from Buddhism to Hinduism, so many of the temples included symbols from each.

One particular story that interested me was about Ganesha, who is represented with the head of an elephant. Apparently, when Ganesha was just a young boy, he protected his mother from males who wanted to court her. He was doing fine, until one man came and cut off Ganesha's head, killing him. His mom was so upset, that she ordered the man to bring Ganesha back to life and to bring her the head of the first animal he came across facing north. That animal happened to be an elephant, which is why Ganesha now has an elephant head, and his symbolism is seen in temples, on tourist shirts, etc.

At the museum, there was a special visiting exhibit featuring batik painting by a French artist who was in Cambodia selling his artwork. Batik painting actually originates from Indonesia, and it involves a process of dying fabrics to form designs and pictures. I fell in love with one painting in particular, and I ended up buying it from Pascal, the French artist (after much negotiation). He explained to me that the two women in the painting were dancing, and the title of the work actually meant "joyful" in Sanskrit.

Since it was Christmas day after all, our hostel was having a buffet for dinner on the rooftop bar, so Nashy and I decided to join in on the festivities. I can say that we did not eat traditional Christmas food, but the spring rolls, curry, fried rice, and chicken wings were quite delicious. After dinner, an Asian Santa came out and handed out candy to everyone, and we played some games with the other backpackers. Our friend from the day before in Phnom Penh (Megan) had also shown up at our hostel, and we were all celebrating together. We planned with a big group to meet on "Pub Street" which is pretty much the main street in Siem Reap where all of the bars and restaurants are located.

Before everyone else met up with us, Nashy and I were talked into trying a fish massage by some other backpackers. For a fish massage, you stick your legs into a fish tank, and the fish come and nibble the dead skin off of your feet! We started in the tank with the smaller fish, and when we were brave enough, we moved over to a tank that had larger fish. The larger fish definitely had teeth, and it tickled (and even hurt a bit!) as they nibbled on our toes. I think we must have stayed at the fish massage place for almost an hour, and when we pulled our feet out, they were actually smooth! What a weird experience!

We ended up meeting up with the other backpackers from our hostel at a bar called Angkor What? and we danced for a few hours. I started dancing with one of the guys staying at our hostel, and I looked up in time to see Nashy walk out the door to the bar. I thought that maybe he would come back, but he didn't. Instead, I walked back to the hostel with the other guy and Nashy was already in his bed when I got home.

The next morning, we had planned to meet Megan at 9:30AM - she was going to share our tuk tuk ride to Angkor Wat - but when I woke up, it was already 9:30 and Nashy was not in his bed. In fact, his bags were also gone and there was no evidence that he had even been there at all. I went into the lobby of the hostel, and Megan was waiting there for us, but there was still no sign of Nashy. Megan said that she had not seen him, and neither had anyone else at the hostel, including the people that worked there, strange! I did not want to leave and go see Angkor Wat without him, so I decided to send him an email, a Facebook message, a text, and I even called him but there was no answer and I left a note at reception.

Megan and I spent our day with Tiki, exploring the furthest temples until sunset then we headed back to Siem Reap. When we got back, I had still not heard anything from Nashy, and I was starting to get worried. I was just so confused about why he would just leave and not say anything to me! Megan and I had heard that there was actually a Mexican restaurant on Pub Street that was supposed to be good, so we decided to go there for dinner.

While we were eating, I saw Nashy walk by with some other backpackers. I ran outside and had to run down the street to catch up with him. When I caught him, he seemed surprised to see me and told the others to go ahead without him. He was acting really strangely and told me that he had already booked a bus for Bangkok for the next morning. I was so confused why he would do this, and he was not really explaining himself. I could not remember getting in a fight with him the night before, but he was about to walk away from me again. Finally, I got him to just explain to me why he was upset, and he told me that he had become jealous when he saw me dancing with the other guy at the bar. I was completely shocked, because I had always just seen him as a friend, but apparently he had started to see me as something more. Maybe it would be a good idea for us to spend a few days apart - we had been spending literally every second together the entire trip so far!

I kept my plans with Megan to wake up to see Angkor Wat at sunrise - we woke up at 4:30AM! - and Nashy went on to Thailand without me. Our second day at Angkor Wat was amazing (minus how many other tourists were there and how annoying the vendors were), and we had a great full day of exploring some more temples. We particularly enjoyed Angkor Wat and Bayon, and seeing the sunrise was definitely worth the lack of sleep.

That night, I would also be taking an overnight bus to Bangkok, Thailand that would leave at midnight. Originally, Nashy and I had planned to be in Thailand by December 28th, so that we could go to the Full Moon Party for New Year's Eve on Koh Phangan. I was not sure if we would be meeting up again or not, but I decided to stick with the original plan anyway since I wanted to see this party that I had heard so much about.

When the bus arrived (after midnight!) to take us to Bangkok, it was completely full and even some people were worried there would not be enough seats for everyone. Luckily, I was still getting the sympathy card because of my leg brace and I ended up sitting next to a Brazilian guy who had also gotten hurt in a motorbike accident. We would not get a lot of sleep that night, and we ended up having to switch to a smaller van at the Thai border but more about that in my next entry about Thailand...

Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh, Mui Ne, Hoi An, Hanoi, Sapa)

I just want to start off by saying that I am trying my best to upload these late blog entries quickly, but it is a struggle while on the road to find internet and even power sources to keep my computer battery charged!  We are having an interesting experience with four of us living in a campervan, I cannot wait to write about it, but for now, onto Vietnam...

From the moment that we got into Vietnam, I would say that Nashy and I were a little overwhelmed.  After getting off of the plane at the airport, we had to pick up our visas upon arrival.  There was a very serious-looking guard behind the window who either accepted your form or did not, and when he did not, sometimes he did not even tell you why.  I was a little worried that Nashy was not going to be let into the country when he started getting frustrated that they would not take his form.  However, we both were able to get our visas, we collected our bags, and went outside to try and find a way into Ho Chi Minh City, but nearly nothing was in English and we were not really sure where to go.  We found a bus that had other tourists on it so we climbed on.  Clearly marked on the outside of the bus, the ticket price was 4,000 dong (~20,000 dong= 1 USD), so when the guy came around and insisted that we pay 20,000 dong, we knew we were getting the tourist price.  And that would be a start of a trend in Vietnam and really all of SEA...

Instantly upon driving into the city, we were stunned by the amount of traffic and how many motorbikes there were!  We would later be told that the population of Ho Chi Minh  (HCM) is approximately 8 million, but there are over 4 million motorbikes because of how cheap they are to buy.  The only problem though is that they create a lot more pollution, and the entire time we were in HCM, we did not see the sun.  It was not really because it was cloudy either, but rather that the pollution was so thick and even when there were shadows on the ground, the sun was not visible in the sky.  A lot of Vietnamese people wear masks, especially while riding around on their motorbikes.  I worry about their life expectancy, having to constantly breathe in that pollution everyday.  It was difficult for me to do it just for a few days!

One of the things that pleasantly shocked us upon arriving in Vietnam was the exchange rate.  When I went to the ATM for the first time (to take out 3MM dong!), I found out what it was like to be a millionaire when I saw my account balance.  And when we ate our first meal of lunch, we ordered lots of food after we figured out we could have appetizers, soup, main meals and drinks for less than $4 each!  We chose this cute restaurant just down the street from our hotel (which would become our favorite in HCM) and ordered our first pho (rice noodle soup!).  Pho would become a staple food that I would eat nearly everyday we were in Vietnam - sometimes even for breakfast - because not only was it cheap, but it would keep you full and warm for hours, delicious!

After lunch, we acquainted ourselves with HCM by walking around, starting first with the market.  On the way to the market, we noticed that adding to the traffic was the fact that no one pays any attention to what the traffic lights tell them to do.  They use them more of a suggestion, but somehow it works for them.  And crossing the street is an exhilarating adventure!  The trick is that you cannot stop walking and you cannot get intimidated.  You just have to take it slow and keep moving until you are all the way across.  You may have some close calls (we even saw a pedestrian get hit!) but chances are you will be fine.

The market was definitely overwhelming, and Nashy and I were literally being pulled in every direction to different stalls.  We knew that we could not buy a lot because we would have to carry everything in our backpacks for the rest of our trip, but everything was so cheap that we made some exceptions and bought some of our first souvenirs.  I also bought the Vietnamese equivalent of mamones (a fruit we had tried and loved in Costa Rica!) so that we could snack on them as we walked around.

We got our first dose of Vietnamese history at the Reunification Palace which was originally built in 1871 (now called the Independence Palace) where we learned about how Vietnam had been divided into North and South Vietnam until 1975 when two military tanks crashed through the front gates and the military declared Vietnam reunified.  Prior to this, the palace had been bombed and was entirely rebuilt, so the one that stands there today is quite modern (it was finished in 1966).

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I did not really know that much about the specifics of the Vietnam War before visiting Vietnam, so I really wanted to learn the different perspectives of what happened.  Neither Nashy nor I really had a clear understanding as to who was on which side during the war, so we wanted some clarity.  Even after visiting the CuChi tunnels and the War Remembrance Museum, I was still a little cloudy about what had happened.  We had been told a lot of things by tour guides and information cards, but it was still not clear to us.  I decided to purchase a book called “The Girl in the Picture” from a street vendor that had been recommended to me in the hopes that it would clear up some of my questions and give me a better understanding of the war.

The book is about a famous picture that was published worldwide during the war after a napalm bomb exploded in a small town called Nha Trang, burning this little girl.  The picture shows her running towards the camera naked, crying, with her family running behind her.  The story details the incidents leading up to this famous picture as well as tells the rest of the girl’s story (which was incorrectly printed in a lot of newspapers).  It is a really good book, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to hear an interesting perspective about the Vietnam War.

As I mentioned, we did a tour of the CuChi Tunnels outside of HCM, where the Vietcong soldiers lived for 21 years during the war.  We spent a few hours walking around the grounds, during which Nashy fired an AK-47!  I was too scared, but I just pretended to shoot it, and I felt surprisingly empowered like Robyn from How I Met Your Mother haha.  We also got to go down into a tunnel (that the entrances had to be widened so that tourists could fit through!) and it was a little claustrophobic.  I could not imagine being down there for a few hours, let alone actually living in there day and night for years!  Our tour guide’s dad was a Vietcong, so he had an interesting perspective to share with us about the war.  He said that the Southern Vietnamese peasants did not understand that America were trying to end Communism, but rather they thought they were trying to take over Vietnam (like the French and Chinese before).  And many of them received “American Killer” medals for their heroic acts during the war.

On the way to the tunnels, we stopped off at a place where people who were handicapped during or after the Vietnam War work to make arts and crafts that tourists can buy.  Some of the people working were quite young and are still suffering the effects that Agent Orange had on the areas where they were born or on their parents.  It was really sad.  We also saw lots more pictures of babies still being born in the 2000’s at the War Remembrance Museum who are also still effected by Agent Orange.  I am not sure (but I do not think) that the people in Vietnam who are still being effected by Agent Orange received a settlement like the US soldiers and their families who were effected did.  (Which is really sad and unfair...)

Before Nashy and I left HCM, we decided to see what the attraction at the park was at sunset that kept everyone busy.  We discovered these shuttlecock things (think like the badminton ones but more springy) that people kicked back and forth for sport.  We had to buy one and figure out what all of the fuss was about.  While we were sitting and watching all of the guys kick the shuttlecocks back and forth, we were approached by some local university students who wanted to practice their English with us.  Nashy and I took the opportunity to ask them some questions about Vietnam from a local’s perspective and were interested by some of their answers.  They did not come from wealthy families, and they were concerned that they would never be able to move up in the class system.  Even though they were studying at university, the best jobs upon graduation go to the wealthy kids whose parents have the best connections.  They said they are not allowed to talk about politics in public, and they were not sure which political party was currently in power in Vietnam.  They also wanted to ask us questions about America and Australia and we humored them for over an hour!

Our last to-do before leaving HCM was to take a night tour of the city (on the back of motorbikes drove by people that we met on the side of the road!).  We saw some important buildings but we also found the equivalent of the Macy’s Christmas windows at a Vietnamese shopping center.  We were so excited that America was represented with the Golden Gate Bridge and that Australia was represented at all haha.

We had not planned on seeing much of Vietnam, because we only had a limited time for our entire trip of SEA and lots that we wanted to see, but we decided to explore a little bit after all.  From HCM, we bought sleeper bus tickets to Mui Ne then up to Hoi An.  We would fly from Hoi An to Hanoi and then back to HCM before taking a bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  We realized that it would have made more sense to start in Hanoi and travel south down to HCM, but as I said, this was all planned last minute, so we made the best with the time and money that we had.

The bus ride to Mui Ne was only 5 hours or so, but the sleeper beds were tiny and a little uncomfortable.  We were glad to get off in Mui Ne to sunny weather and beaches!  We had no idea where to stay, so we walked with our backpacks until we got tired and then chose a nice resort right on the beach with a pool.  After dropping off our bags and changing into clothes for warm weather, we decided to explore the town of Mui Ne and get some food.  We had not even gotten far from our hotel when a guy on a motorbike pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride.  I am not really sure how, but we ended up convincing him to give us his motorbike for the day - with 2 helmets - and he got a ride home with a random stranger!  We paid him $10, and he said that he would come to our hotel the next day to come get the bike after we had left.  We literally could have kept his motorbike based on that arrangement, but we did not want bad karma for the rest of the trip, so we didn’t.

Driving our new motorbike, we found a pho restaurant for lunch that was the best pho we would have in Vietnam!  A tiny shop run by a husband and wife, they used the freshest ingredients and it was delicious.  We had to fill up the motorbike with petrol after lunch, and we discovered that instead of gas stations, each little store had a tiny bag of fuel out front that you used.  We were planning to drive out to the sand dunes, and we had no idea how far it actually was, so we wanted to have a full tank of gas just in case.

On the drive out to the sand dunes, we passed the cutest little fishermen’s village where women were wearing the traditional Vietnamese hats and laying out prawns to dry.  Mui Ne was such a cute, little town!  The sand dunes were actually quite far out of the town center and we had to wait for some cows crossing the road before we actually reached our destination haha.  We decided to go sand boarding, so we climbed up to the top of the white dunes.  There were some women there who tried to convince Nashy that sliding down on his butt was the way to go, but we discovered that head first was way more fun!  We watched the sunset over the sand dunes, then drove back to Mui Ne, and I was able to have my first fresh seafood dinner by the beach!

The next morning, we visited the other sand dunes outside of town.  We met some kids who said they would watch our motorbike for us, but instead, they ended up coming with us to explore the dunes.  None of them had ever been to school, but they spoke English pretty well.  They said that they had an English teacher a few years ago that had taught them what they know.  They told us that none of their parents work, and their families survive on what they are able to make by renting out sand boards to tourists.  We did not really feel like sand boarding again, but we shared our Tim Tam’s with them and gave them a few dollars which they excitedly took.

We walked through the local market in Mui Ne, and I was perplexed by the stands selling fish parts.  I was curious to try some dragon fruit though, and when we got back to our hotel, they cut it into the shape of a flower for us!  We hung out around the hotel by the beach until we had to catch our next bus up to Hoi An.

After six hours on the bus, we stopped for about twenty minutes in a small town called Nha Trang, but Nashy and I were continuing on to Hoi An.  We just got off to get some food and some more snacks for the bus since we would on it until morning.  When we got back on the bus, literally every single bed was taken, and mistakenly, I had left some of my stuff on my bed.  Luckily, most of it was still there and it had stopped anyone from taking my spot.  But then I noticed that the smelly French guy behind me had my neck pillow around his neck!  Ahhh!  I got it back, but it would never be the same again.  It held sentimental value for me since my Dad had bought it for me for our long flight to Africa, and it had been everywhere I had been since.

Hoi An would become one of my favorite stops in Vietnam if not all of SEA.  We arrived the next morning at 8AM, and were still pretty tired since we had not gotten a good sleep on the sleeper bus.  We were instantly overwhelmed by people surrounding the bus when we got off, trying to convince us to stay at their hotel.  We had gotten a recommendation from a traveller we met along the way to stay at a place called Grasslands, so we set out in search of that.  Once we began walking, a woman approached us (named “Zoom-Zoom”) and gave us directions of how to get there.  She actually called us a taxi since we were a little far away from it, and told us she would meet us later to take us to her cousin’s clothes-making shop.

Hoi An is known for being a picturesque little town, but it is also a really good and cheap place to get clothes and shoes custom-tailored.  We knew that Zoom-Zoom would probably get a commission from taking us to her cousin’s shop, but she did help us out, so we felt obligated to go with her when we randomly ran into her later.  I ended up buying a blue, racerback dress and Nashy bought two dress shirts there, but we would also get two pairs of shoes each at another place.  When we got our shoes made, they measured our feet and we got to choose the fabric, style and color that we wanted.  I made two pairs of leather sandals while Nashy had sneakers and boots made for him.  One of the girls who worked at the shoe store had a sister that owned a dress shop, so I went to take a look in it.  After looking around all of Hoi An, her shop was definitely my favorite, so I had three dresses custom-made, for $15 each!  I got to choose the fabrics and she showed me all of the styles she had done before, and I picked my favorites.

Getting tailor-made clothes and shoes in Hoi An made my day, but then we realized that the town was also known for having some of the best food in Vietnam.  I think we tried all of the Hoi An specialties (white roses, Hoi An sandwiches, chicken rice, pork rice paper rolls with pancakes, Cao Lau noodles, and Hoi An waffles) and of course also had our obligatory pho too haha.

In between getting clothes made and eating, we walked around and saw the sights in Hoi An.  It was such a cute little town!  In the beginning of AD, Japan had a lot of influence over this region of Vietnam and this was obvious in the famous Japanese covered bridge as well as some of the architecture.  We stumbled upon a random wedding photo shoot in a back alley during our walk and visited the local market (we tried to make it a point to always visit the market to see how they differed).

The more interesting places we saw included the Handicraft Workshop where we watched women making lanterns and a traditional performance as well as a family temple.  At the family temple, we learned why most temples have a step you have to cross over before entering.  By forcing people to look down, they are automatically bowing upon entry and they are also more aware of their surroundings, smart!  We also learned about ancient yin and yang coins.  Tradition is that you make a wish and then shake the coins in your hands and throw them down.  If one lands on yin and the other lands on yang, then your wish will come true.  If not, don’t worry, you have three tries so try again!

On our second day in Hoi An, we decided to take a trip to see the My Son Holylands which were outside of the town.  The ruins that are located on the site were built by the ancient Cham people, and they are really quite a sight.  Modern archaeologists are still not sure how the ancient Cham people were able to build the temples at My Son without using any mortar to keep the bricks together.  There is actually a part where you can see how the modern bricks are not as close together and they have moss growing through, whereas the original parts are completely preserved as if they were built yesterday (instead of thousands of years ago!).

Before the tour, our guide warned us that much of My Son Holylands had actually been ruined by the US during the Vietnam War (he would repeat this throughout the day), and sadly many of the temples are just a pile of bricks now.  Also, he made a point to tell us that none of the statues on the temples have their original heads, because the French came in and stole them to display in the Louvre!  We happened to see one statue though that supposedly still has its original head though - although it looked exactly like all of the others.  One final warning from our tour guide (and I am still quite surprised he said this) to be careful of walking in places that did not appear to have been walked on before.  There are still known active land mines in parts of My Son that have not yet been cleared.  I made it a point to stick to all marked pathways and tourist-weathered tracks just to be safe!

We had taken a bus to get to My Son Holylands, but we decided to take a boat ride back to see something different.  The actual boat trip was actually freezing cold and quite boring; there was not much to see and the water was brown and dirty-looking.  We did stop off at a boat-making village shortly before returning to Hoi An though where we watched wooden boats and handicrafts being made by hand.  To purchase, they cost roughly $1,000 US for a small one and up to $30,000 for a larger one.

Back in Hoi An, we only had a few hours to collect our luggage and tailor-made clothing and shoes before we would have to catch our plane up north to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.  We had been able to find a flight that was slightly more expensive than taking the bus and would save us a lot of time, so we decided to do that.  Nashy went on a mission to find us some food to snack on at the airport, but he failed miserably haha.  He ended up bringing back some weird shellfish things that both of us were too scared to actually try and some weirdly sweet pancake things covered in peanuts and coconut.  And sadly, all of the other food in Hoi An was so amazing, oh well!

The flight to Hanoi was easy and short, and we were so thankful that we had chosen plane over bus.  When we arrived at the airport, we took a shuttle bus into the main city center (or I should say we were crammed into!).  While we were driving, we started chatting with a girl sitting next to us who was from America - and it also turns out she lives in Phoenix, AZ and went to U of A!  We convinced her to get off the shuttle bus with us at Hanoi Backpackers (which had been recommended to us by other backpackers - good recommendation!) and come out with us later that night.

Right after Nashy and I checked into our hostel, we went up to the room and changed to go out for the night.  We met a Spanish guy who was staying in our room, and also invited him to join us.  We met up with Jessica and Erin (she had met a Canadian girl who was staying in her room) and we all went in search of some food and drinks.  Not far from our hostel, there were a bunch of Vietnamese people around our age packed outside of what appeared to be a restaurant/bar sitting at small tables, so we decided to go check it out.  It turns out that this place did not actually serve food or alcohol, but somehow they convinced us to stay and they would bring us some food and beer from other places.  We found out that all of the people sitting there were drinking either tea or these yoghurt drinks and eating sunflower seeds!

As promised, they did bring us food and beer, although I do not know if any of us were satisfied with the food or even knew what we were eating.  There were sausage like things on a stick that were covered in something very sticky (we think it may have been dog!) and some dried fish.  Erin and I tried the yoghurt drinks though, and those were actually quite nice.  They had some colorful gummy things in them which made them a little weird but still good.

The boys were wanting to go find drinks as soon as we were finished eating, so we went with them and met some more people who were staying at our hostel.  Jessica, Erin, and I started chatting about how we all wanted to go to Sapa the next day.  Sapa is in the northernmost part of Vietnam - on the border with China - and it is a small mountain village town where the locals all still wear their traditional dress and the view of rice paddies is supposed to be amazing.  Nashy and I had been planning to take a train there, but after chatting with the girls, we thought it would be much more fun if we all rented motorbikes.  We sprung it on Nashy, and he was a little hesitant but agreed that it would be an adventure - none of us had any idea what an epic adventure it would turn out to be!

Also that night, we tried flaming sambucas - the bartenders light the bottle of sambuca on fire and then you drink it from a straw before taking a shot of something else.  It was quite a spectacle!  And the women who worked at the bar gave us some homemade rice wine for free (although I can say that none of us actually enjoyed that!).  Jess, Erin, and I were still hungry, since we were not satisfied by our earlier “meal,” so we went in search of food while the boys continued drinking until late hours of the night.

We found a restaurant down the street that was definitely not authentic Vietnamese, but rather much more of a combination of Asian and Western dishes.  I think one of the things we ate was a spaghetti dish with mushroom sauce!  And at one point while we were eating, the people who ran the restaurant closed the gate to the outside even though there were still people inside.  We came to the assumption that Hanoi must have a curfew or something, because we noticed that all places that served alcohol did something similar.  As long as you could not see that people were still inside drinking, it would probably be alright?

In the morning, we had all planned to meet to go see Ho Chi Minh’s body which is weirdly on display at the mausoleum.  I still do not really understand the need to preserve Communist figures like Ho Chi Minh and Lenin, I think the whole thing is a bit creepy!  But I still wanted to see it for myself!  We had heard that we needed to get there before 10AM, because the body is only able to be viewed in the morning for some reason.

When I woke up, Nashy was not in his bed so I went down to have breakfast and find the others.  Apparently he had slept in the wrong bed, but I was a little concerned since I had not been out with him all night...  We rounded everyone up and then headed over to the mausoleum for the viewing.  There was really heavy security that we had to go through when we arrived.  We had to leave all of our bags and cameras behind, so unfortunately I do not have any pictures to share.  Even when we walked through, there were two rows and you had not walk past the body without stopping.  You were not allowed to talk (or smile!), and I was only in the mausoleum for about two minutes in total.  The whole thing made me feel quite weird, and Ho Chi Minh actually looked like he had died yesterday instead of in 1969 (I think that’s right?).  We actually heard that he goes to Russia for two months each year to get re-embalmed, but there is a rumor going around that he actually goes to Madame Tussaud’s for some wax haha.

After seeing Ho Chi Minh, we made the most of our day in Hanoi and walked around the city.  We bought some jackfruit (I had never heard of it before but it actually tastes like a combination of mango, orange, and banana, yum!) from a fruit vendor, and then we had to try carrying her load - it was really heavy!

We wanted to see some things of cultural importance in Hanoi, so we made a stop at the Temple of Literature (Hanoi’s first university!) and the Women’s Museum.  Hanoi is also famous for the beautiful lake in the middle of the city, so we walked around that area before we bought tickets for the water puppet show for the evening.

We had been walking around all day, so we were all glad when it was time to go to the water puppet show that night, so that we could sit down.  The seats were not made for tall people though, so we were all squished in up against the people sitting in front of us.  Even still, as soon as the lights turned down for the show to start, I saw Nashy and Erin nodding off next to me.  I stayed awake the entire time, and to be honest, the whole thing was a little bizarre.  The stage is filled with water, and there are people who operate the puppets behind a curtain.  The puppets themselves are pretty elaborate and even come out holding fire torches and other things, but I did not really think that the water part of the show was really necessary.  Apparently, the water puppet show originated in Hanoi to celebrate their rainy season, and it has been famous (each show sells out!) ever since.

That night, we recruited a few others from the hostel and went to do a big group dinner.  We tried so many different dishes among them, and everything was delicious!  We were definitely loving the food (and prices!) in Vietnam.  We had decided that we were definitely going to leave the next morning for our 3-day motorbike trip up to Sapa, so we wanted to go to the night market to buy some warmer clothes.  Since Sapa is up in the mountains, it can be quite foggy and cold, and we did not want to be unprepared for the journey.

At literally every market in Vietnam, they sell “Adidas” jackets, so we decided to each buy one in a different color so that we would look like a motorbike gang (and be able to find each other on the road).  Nashy got red, Jess got a black one, Erin chose white, and I ended up getting a bright blue one, and we negotiated a group discount.  We also bought gloves and scarves, and Nashy and Jess even bought masks like the Vietnamese people wear while driving haha.

Next morning, we found a place to rent motorbikes for $6/a day, so we each chose one and practiced driving them around our hostel.  They were semi-automatic, so you had to change gears, but it was actually quite easy to figure out.  We had a general sense of how to get out of the city (we thought!) and we also needed to fill up on gas, so Nashy led us on our way.

I would say that the traffic in Hanoi is not nearly as bad as the traffic in Ho Chi Minh, but we were all still terrified!  There are literally no rules of the road and anything goes!  And there are so many motorbikes that when you stop at a traffic light (if you even choose to stop!) you are surrounded and there is no such thing as personal space even when it comes to driving.  Within about ten minutes, we had already lost Jess, but luckily, she caught up with us since it was just a straight stretch of road.  She was already having problems with her bike though, that would continue for the rest of the trip.

We were able to find a gas station, but we were starting to get really confused with how to actually leave the city!  We did not have a map, so we were going by what people told us and it was really confusing reading the Vietnamese street signs.  We thought we had figured it out though, and we seemed to be getting more comfortable navigating through the crazy traffic.

Then as we were driving down one of the busy roads, a bus pulled out in front of me, blocking the others from my view.  I was not too concerned because I thought I could just pass the bus.  However, when I was able to get around the bus, I could not see any of the other Adidas jackets, and just like that, I was by myself in Hanoi!  I tried not to panic, because I figured that they must just be up the road a little further.  I continued to drive, but I still did not see them!  I circled back around, just in case I had passed them, but still no sign of any of my friends.

Not smartly, Nashy was the only one among us who had a cell phone, and it was with him.  I decided to pull off at a nice hotel I passed and ask for directions to get to Sapa.  I figured if I continued driving along the way, I would probably be able to catch up with them.  I had no idea if they had even noticed that I was not with them!  I ended up buying a map, so that I could get directions and continued on the way.

After about 10km of still not seeing them, I thought I should pull over and try to either call or email Nashy to see where they were.  It took a little while before I found a place that had internet, but I was directed to a coffee shop that had free wi-fi.  I must have looked crazy and panicked when I entered the coffee shop and disheartened when they told me that their wi-fi was not working, because the shop owner invited me in.  His house was just behind the shop, and he had his own personal computer and internet that I could use.  Nashy had already sent me a message telling me that they were sorry that they had lost me, but that I should meet them back at the hostel.  I thought it would be better if they all came and met me, so I called them and we planned to meet at the coffee shop.  We would be closer to leaving the city, and I would not be trying to navigate around the city by myself!

Phan Anh who owned the coffee shop was my hero that day, and I am so thankful for all of his help!  Not only was he such an amazing host (he gave me snacks and drinks for free) but he was also an interesting person and a new friend.  I was really enjoying chatting with him, and I was a little sad when the others showed up and it was time to continue on.  He invited us to drop by on our way back, and he also extended an offer for us to attend a traditional Vietnamese wedding with him that weekend to see what they were like.  We thanked him, but told him that we would be in Cambodia by then, but I was intrigued and really flattered by the offer.

Now that we had clear directions (and a map!) out of the city, we were able to find our way finally.  We had planned to make it to Sapa by nighttime, but we had just wasted so much time with me getting lost, that we were way behind schedule.  Also while I was lost, Nashy had already taken a spill on his motorbike and tore his jeans and bloodied his knee.  We had only brought enough clothes for the three days, so he would have to continue wearing them.

For the rest of the day, I cannot even tell you how many more times we got lost or stopped and asked for directions.  One of the roads I had been told to take on the map turned out to be a planned route, which means that it has not been completed yet!  It was starting to get dark, and we had barely even begun our journey!  And you would think that driving outside of the city would be less scary, but it definitely was even more so.  It does not matter even if you are a safe and cautious driver, because everyone else is literally crazy!  There is no patience, and cars will come into your lane to pass other cars, even when you are driving there.  A few times, we were forced to drive off of the road to let them come into our lane, and at one point, Jess and I collided into each other.  It was a pretty slow crash so both of us were fine, but we were a little scared to continue on.

Even in the first day, the trip was turning out to be a bigger adventure than any of us had thought possible.  We were all really excited for all that was still to come, but at this point, we figured that we would be lucky if we all made it to Sapa and back alive!  Driving at dark turned out to be a bad idea when Jess took a spill, because she did not see some branches in the middle of the road (that is how they warn you that there is road construction ahead!).  She ended up bending part of her bike, and she was having a really hard time shifting gears after that.

We stopped for an obligatory pho for dinner, but continued driving for a few more hours even though it started to rain.  It was pretty cold and miserable driving in the rain, but we could not find a hotel that would take us.  We were actually refused from one, because he said it was full (but we think he was lying!).  After we could not bear the rain and cold anymore, we pulled up to a hotel that looked closed, but I rang the bell outside.  A guy actually came down and let us in, but he would only look and talk to Nashy and he ignored the girls.  We did not even care, and we ended up staying there even though it was pretty disgusting.  We had to lay out all of our clothes overnight to dry since we would be wearing them again the next day, but our hotel window would not even close properly, so we were freezing cold all night!

The next day, we woke up to another rainy morning, and we had a little trouble starting our bikes.  Luckily, there was a repair shop across the street from where we had pho (for breakfast!), but right after they fixed my bike, I dropped it and broke something else!  It was not serious damage, but they did not have the part that I needed.  They said I would be able to drive to Sapa with no problems, but my bike would just make really loud noises, kind of like a Harley.  I think it sounded more like a cartoon character (Daffy Duck?) haha, and I ended up getting a lot of stares and weird looks as we drove past.

Before continuing to drive in the rain, we bought some ponchos to wear, but they only had the really cheap ones that are like garbage bags, so they ripped easily.  It looked pretty hilarious actually - we would be driving and our ponchos would be blowing in the wind behind us.  We started to make some really good progress, but then we would continue to get lost and have to stop and ask for directions.  And Jess had another fall - her helmet had come undone while she was driving, and when she pulled over to the side of the road, she accidentally drove her bike into a ditch!  Luckily, some truck drivers saw her and were able to help her get it out, but she was shaken up and embarrassed.  We finally got to the point where we started seeing signs for Lao Cai (a China border town we had to go through before Sapa), but it was starting to get dark again already.  It had taken us nearly two days to even get there, but we did not even mind - we were on an adventure of a lifetime!

The road up to Sapa was a windy one that took us through fog up the mountain.  It was a shame that it was dark and we could not see the views, but it might have been a little bit more scary with how fast we were rounding the corners.  At different points along the drive, we saw some mountain village people walking, and then we were thankful that we had our motorbikes.

The fog was still really thick when we arrived into Sapa, and we could barely see a few feet in front of us as we drove.  Thankfully, it is a tiny mountain village town, and we did not have to drive far to find a place to stay and some food to eat.  There was a string of outdoor barbecue type restaurants, and as you walked by, the people working there would call you over to come to theirs instead of the others.  They all looked the same to us, so we chose one and sat down quickly before we saw the disappointment of the other vendors.  We tried a variety of barbecued meat and vegetables, some bamboo sticky rice, and some dumplings.  Almost everything tasted good, and we were finally feeling warm and exhausted.

The next morning, we walked to the market in Sapa and had to fight off vendors trying to sell us things on the way to breakfast.  Nashy and I got our first taste of Vietnamese coffee with sweet milk, and we were instantly hooked (and neither of us drink coffee!).  The market vendors were literally waiting outside of the restaurant waiting for us to come out so that they could badger us some more.  We all really wanted to buy some handmade goods from the villagers, but they did not make buying from them an easy feat.  If you bought one thing from someone, you felt guilty that you should buy something else from the others.  During all of this commotion, I met a really pretty villager named Mu who had a baby on her back wrapped in cloth, named Su.  They were both beautiful, and her English was really good.  She was only 21 years old and already has 2 children.  She walks 3 hours each morning from her village to get to Sapa, and her husband and mother help her make all of the handicrafts that she sells.  I ended up buying a few things from her, because I enjoyed speaking with her.  All of us were given free bracelets (mine from Mu) which would start us on a bracelet connection in the rest of the countries we would visit.

We also met some pretty aggressive villagers who were upset that we did not buy from them, and they told us that if we drove our motorbikes into their village, they would kick our tires!  I thought that was a little extreme, so we decided to leave the market and actually drive into one of the mountain villages (hopefully not theirs!).  We had been intrigued by the opportunity to do a homestay in Sapa, but since we had arrived too late, we had just stayed at a hostel.

We drove our motorbikes to a village called Ta Phin, and we were welcomed by a few women and children into their homes.  All of the men of the village were off working, so the women made us some lunch.  They literally killed one of their chickens in front of us and made us some rice and vegetables to eat with the meat.  It was fascinating seeing how the villagers live (cooking by fire, wearing traditional dress, farming, etc.) and they spoke English really well.  They said that they learned English from all of the tourists coming through, and I am sure that they also made a lot of money that way too.  After lunch, we had to leave to start making our way back to Hanoi.  Jess had a flight back to America the next day, and Nashy and I had a flight to catch back down to Ho Chi Minh where we would be taking a bus to Cambodia.  We were starting to look a little dirty - our new jackets were now covered in dirt and even had a few small rips, and we were a little concerned of when we would next be able to shower.  We hoped we could make it back to Hanoi early so that we could find a hotel or hostel for the night.

The drive back to Hanoi was so much easier to navigate, and we found our way with minimal problems.  We were not far from the city when it started to get really cold and foggy, so we were literally all wearing everything that we had brought with us to wear.  It was probably dangerous to be driving at night in such foggy conditions, but we had a mission to make it back to Hanoi so we did not miss our flights for the next day.

About 23 km outside of Hanoi, without warning, the pavement suddenly ended and turned into a dirt road in the lane where we were driving.  Erin was leading us and was able to slow her bike enough to control it, however mine completely wiped out from under me and I crashed hard!  I was probably driving 70km/h before I lost control too, and I landed really badly on my right knee.  To make it worse, moments later, Jess crashed into the back of me and also flew off of her bike!  Poor Nashy was driving behind us and saw the whole thing happen, but luckily, he was able to avoid the same fate.  He ran over with a look of fear on his face, because he said that the crash was so terrible, he was worried what state we would be in.

My entire body was in pain, but my legs felt like they were on fire.  When I was helped to stand up, I knew something was not quite right.  I could not bend my right knee, it was really painful!  But we were extremely lucky that other than that, we both only had a couple of bruises and scratches.  Our bikes were looking a little broken though, and we were worried about how much we would have to pay for the damages.  We were not far from the city, so we decided to get back on our bikes and drive the rest of the way.  Unfortunately, none of us could remember the exact way to get back to our hostel when we got into the city, so it took us a little while (and a lot of driving around) to find it.  I was literally in tears I was in so much pain, and I still could not bend my knee!

When we got back to the hostel, it was past 1AM, and we were all frozen and exhausted.  The others helped me take off my 3 pairs of pants to finally reveal the damage to my leg.  Weirdly the top two layers of pants were not ripped, but my leggings on the bottom had a couple of holes.  And my knee was pretty banged up, but when I bent it, it started to squirt blood out of one of the holes!  Nashy thought I would need stiches, but they helped me to elevate it for the night, and I tried to sleep even though I was still shivering from being so cold.

In the morning, the others took care of returning the bikes while I slept, and I ended up having to pay $70USD for the damages!  It may not sound like a lot, but in Vietnam, I could have almost bought my own motorbike for that amount.  Nashy and I went to a medical center that was recommended by our hostel, and it was actually quite nice and efficiently run.  I do not even think we waited for 10 minutes before I was taken in to see someone.  The doctor who saw me ended up being a cardiologist from Brazil, and we found out that the medical center is actually an international training facility.  He wanted to do an MRI on my knee, but I convinced him to just do x-rays so that it would not be so expensive.  He was worried about the internal damage that I did to my knee ligaments, but luckily nothing was broken.  They cleaned up my other cuts, and then fitted me for a brace that I had to wear from my ankle to my thigh that prevented me from bending my knee.  Not only was it the same exact bright blue color as my Adidas jacket, but it made me walk with a limp.

The benefits that came along with wearing the awfully ugly brace was that Nashy carried my big backpack and everyone always gave me the seats with the most leg room on the bus.  The downfall was that I was literally dragging my leg behind me, which meant I could not walk over things and kept tripping.  I also could not run, and when Nashy and I were worried we were going to be late to our flight to HCM, I had to skip through the airport.  I definitely got lots of weird looks!

We were already on our way to the airport when we realized that Nashy had left my neck pillow at our hostel in Hanoi.  It had been traveling with me around the world for awhile and saved me on so many overnight buses, but it was no longer.  But we were on our way back to HCM; we made our flight even though we cut it really close!  Back in HCM, we only had a few hours to kill before we caught our night bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia which would be leaving around midnight.

I convinced Nashy to come with me to get a manicure and pedicure (his first!), and we ended up paying $1 for each!  I could definitely get used to how cheap Vietnam was, and I was hoping Cambodia would also be similar.

While we were waiting for our bus, we heard a motorbike accident happen down the road from where we were sitting.  We did not actually see what happened, but there was a little boy laying in the middle of the road, and his face was covered in blood.  I was instantly thankful that even though I was hurt, my injuries were quite minimal.  The police were still standing around the bike even though the boy had been taken away in the back of a truck, but when they started putting tape on the ground, someone told us that the boy had probably died on the way to the hospital...

Vietnam had shown us an amazing time, and we were introduced to a new culture that was completely different from that of Malaysia.  Some of the Vietnamese people we met were nice to us for no reason (like the girls practicing their English, Phan Anh, and a family we met who owned a pho shop that we went to on the way and return trip of our motorbike tour), and others who tried to blatantly rip us off.  Sometimes when you would have your change returned to you, it would be completely wrong.  They probably hoped that you did not notice and walk away, but if you did notice, they feigned surprise and went to get you the rest.  Our palates tasted new flavors, and both Nashy and I were a big fan of Vietnamese food and coffee!  We had enhanced our knowledge about Vietnam’s history, made new friends, and made it out alive, barely!

Next would be Cambodia where we would be spending an untraditional Christmas and hopefully going to see Angkor Wat.  It would be interesting with me hobbling around, but I was not going to let anything hold me back from seeing more of Southeast Asia.  It was already turning out to be such an interesting and different place from anywhere I had ever been.