Category: Vietnam

Because this was an entirely new part of the world for me, I didn’t know what to expect. The languages were so vastly different than what I am used to that it made it more overwhelming to plan as the names of the various places just sort of blended together. But plan I did, and I think I did a pretty damn good job.

The Highlights

Angkor – Seriously, such a magnificent place. I was honestly worried that I wouldn’t get much out of it, and especially that I wouldn’t be entertained by temples for three days. But I needn’t have worried. It’s impossible to not be impressed visiting. And while I will never be one of those people who could spend forever checking out every single temple, there was plenty to keep me occupied and happy for half a day those three days, and then balance it out with swimming in our pool and going out to Pub Street.

Even after my research, the complex was so much larger and more spread out than I had imagined. The main temple, Angkor Wat, was arguably the most impressive, but if we had just seen it, we would have missed out on all my favorites – Ta Nei, Preah Khan, Banteay Srei. Actually, I almost feel like I’m cheating by putting all of Angkor as one highlight.

And the details. The carvings and sculptures were so immaculate, and the stories behind them just absolutely fascinating. Which is why I would encourage everyone to hire a guide for at least one day like we did to really learn about what you’re looking at. Happy Angkor Tours added so much more depth to our visit.

Kayaking in Ha Long Bay – Honestly, all of Ha Long Bay was great. I didn’t know what to expect since depending on who you ask, it’s either a “must do” or it’s not worth it. Our experience put us on the “must do” side of the equation. The views are gorgeous, and it’s a welcome change of pace from the cities and roads of Vietnam.

Sitting up on top, relaxing while passing by gorgeous karst landscapes. Having big, delicious meals served to us. Sleeping on the junk in a peaceful lagoon. But kayaking was definitely the best part. Kayaking through the caves themselves was really cool, but coming out to these calm, quiet lagoons, having them all to ourselves while listening to the wildlife… that was amazing.

I also like to stay active while on vacation. Relaxing on top of the junk is wonderful, but without the kayaking and swimming intermixed, I would have gotten bored. And strangely, the sun seemed to always come out for us once we got in our kayaks, which was much appreciated.

Motorbiking around Ninh Binh – What a way to see the countryside! I enjoyed the activities in Ninh Binh, too – Cuc Phuong National Park with its primate rescue and turtle conservation and Cave of Prehistoric Man, Trang An, Bai Dinh, etc. – but really, what stands out the most was just riding on those motorbikes, taking in all the beautiful landscapes and all the unique culture, smiling at the children and seeing their faces light up, seeing the water buffalo pop out from their ponds, being mesmerized by the flat fields of blowing green rice paddies, with their dramatic karst mountain backdrops. There wasn’t a single part of that drive that wasn’t lovely.

The food – Yum! I’ve traveled to a lot of places not known to have the most remarkable local food, notably Central American countries and Iceland. Vietnam, on the other hand, is indeed known to have good food, particularly in regards to its street food. And while it’s not known to be terribly vegetarian friendly, I managed to have no issues whatsoever in finding delicious, vegetarian Vietnamese food.

The real surprise for me, though, was how much I liked Cambodian, or Khmer, food. Anthony preferred Vietnamese, but I loved the sweet and sour sauces and curries, and the hot soups. It seemed to be this wonderful fusion of Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Indian influences. So now I know to keep my eyes open for any Cambodian restaurants in the States.

What I Would Do Differently

Trade out time in Hanoi for Highlands – This makes it sound like I didn’t like Hanoi, which is not the case. However, it was probably my least favorite, and it’s where we spent the most time. Hanoi is a bustling, crazy city packed with culture that I would enjoy immensely for one day, and then I’m ready to move on. And I had oh-so-badly wanted to be able to fit in somewhere in the northern highlands, such as Sapa, or Ha Giang, or Mu Cang Chai, with their gorgeous terraced rice paddies, mountains, and abundance of cultural ethnic groups. If I were to do it over again, I would make that happen.

Bring mosquito repellent – I made the assumption that I would easily be able to find bug spray once we arrived in Vietnam, but I ended up not finding any until our first day in Cambodia when we specifically asked our guide if they could take us somewhere where I could buy some. And then I wasn’t able to bring that giant thing of bug spray back to Vietnam with me, so I had mosquito repellent for a whole 2.5 days of our trip, resulting in over 30 bites. Bugs. Love. Me.

I would guess most people would not have as hard of a time finding some bug spray as we did, but it’s probably wise to just go ahead and bring some with you. Fortunately, my bites only resulted in itchy discomfort, but depending on where you are going, it is possible to get dengue, malaria, or Japanese encephalitis.

 

That’s honestly all I can think of. Everything went surprisingly smoothly, we enjoyed ourselves immensely, and we came in well under budget. What more could we ask for?

On our second day in Siem Reap, we finally ventured into the city. At least when you’re a tourist, getting a ride “into town” means going to Pub Street, the ultra touristy part of town. I like it, though. It’s great seeing how the locals live and getting out of our element, but it’s also nice having a retreat back into what we are more accustomed to from time to time. Pub Street is filled with restaurants and bars and shops that cater to tourists.

I bought a couple skirts, we sent a postcard, drank a couple mojitos, ate some ice cream… and then we were approached by “Batman Driver.” His tuk tuk was decorated with a batman theme, and he came dancing over to us, singing the theme song, and then loudly introducing himself and insisting we look him up on Tripadvisor. It was a tad obnoxious, but we did need a ride out into the countryside to see the temple Banteay Srei (“Lady Temple”), and he spoke good English which is, of course, helpful for us, so after a tiny bit of bartering, we hired him.

He bragged about how fast he drives and how old people hate him, and sure enough, when we climbed in, he tore off, passing all the other tuk tuks in the street, and swerving around singing the batman theme song some more.

The drive to Banteay Srei was a long one, but it was rather pleasant looking out at the various stores and farms through the countryside.

We arrived at the hottest part of day, and it was a bright, harsh sun, but the temple really was spectacular.

It’s an extremely old temple, built in the 10th century, older than Angkor Wat, and is an almost pink sandstone with the most intricate details.

It’s also a rather small temple, though, so we were done in half an hour. We found batman, and were once again on the road.

We took a break from the heat by cooling off in our fabulous pool.

And then we made another trip to Angkor Wat, to see its magnificence in the later afternoon, when the crowds were smaller. But it was hot. We sat down in the shade for a bit to drink some cold coconut water and people watch, a favorite pastime of ours.

The lack of crowds and late afternoon sunlight made up for the insufferable heat though. We stood side-by-side with the monks mopping sweat off their foreheads, and just took in the beauty.

And took pictures. Because you have to. This is the kind of thing that you need handheld memories of.

Once we had our fill, we went back to Pub Street for dinner. We watched groups of people ogle the food stand with bugs and scorpions and snakes, and even watched a group of brave Australians taste-test all of it. Their verdict seemed to be that the scorpion was the worst, and the snake was the best.

We found a less busy restaurant and went up to the upstairs patio for better people watching. I like the food in Cambodia. There are a lot of vegetarian options for me, and the flavors tend to be sweet and spicy, or sweet and sour. It’s pretty delicious. And cheap. Cheap is pretty great too. Our dinner, in what I would assume is the priciest part of town, included four beers, one appetizer, and two entrees for a grand total of $15.

The next day, we woke up and arrived at Ta Prohm just after opening time to try to see it with fewer people. That part, we succeeded in.

However, the sun was already extremely harsh, making the lighting not the best and making us sweat pretty much instantly. Still pleasant though.

We met back up with our tuk tuk driver and he took us to Ta Keo.  

Here, I had a bunch of scary steps to climb up. I had recovered from my stair hatred, but these ones were steep and shallow, and the going up was one thing, but going back down made me feel like I was going to plummet to my death.

Our next and final stop was Preah Khan, and honestly, we may have saved the best for last. To be fair, there were dozens of temples we hadn’t seen at all, so maybe my favorite is still out there, but Preah Khan was pretty beautiful.

It’s largely been left unrestored, so there are many ruins throughout, as well as the trees growing on and within similar to Ta Prohm and Ta Nei. It was also huge. We weren’t even able to explore all of it.

We went through the middle of it, checking out the shrines, the carvings, and the hallways of doorways.

We also went around the outside of it a ways, trying to get a sense of what it had looked like in its prime.

Even the moat outside of Preah Khan was pretty.

Once we were done at the park, we had 5 and a half hours to kill between check out and our ride to the airport, so we went back into town for lunch and shopping and hanging out.

We don’t typically shop on trips, but I’m a sucker for colors and elephants, which this town is full of. Plus everything is so CHEAP. We have limited space since we’re carry-on only though, so I had to not go overboard.

Check out time was at noon, and our flight wasn’t until 8 pm, but our hotel was nice and stored our luggage and let us hang by the pool for awhile and take a shower before giving us a free ride to the airport. Our flight was not delayed this time, which was pretty great, and we made it to our AirBnB on West Lake by 11pm.

We had a wall of windows looking out over the lake which was nice, but we didn’t have any bottled water waiting for us, so we went walking down the street in search of some, taking in the atmosphere. It was still very much Hanoi, but quite a bit calmer than being in the middle of Old Quarter. Right next to our apartment was a place called “Bromance & Beer” with a group of people having a jovial time, so we stopped there for some water and beer overlooking the water, enjoying our last night before heading home.